Antonio was doing weeding around the yard when he saw it.
A balled up piece of paper near the spot of the porch where Lovino liked to sit in the afternoons sometimes. He looked around for his cold, estranged friend, but found him nowhere to be seen. Antonio picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. Upon it was a not too shabby drawing of a garden- the one in front of the porch with pretty flowers. It was evident that whoever was trying to draw the picture had finished it, been displeased with the result, then scrunched up the paper and thrown it away. Antonio's only guess was that it was Lovino's. Lovino practiced drawing often, and although he wasn't as bad as he thought, he was still putting himself down about it, and about not being as good as his younger brother.
Antonio sighed and then walked back inside his large home. He spotted Lovino sitting on the couch, watching television, as he suspected he would be.
"Lovi, you dropped this in the yard." Antonio said loudly, making Lovino jump. He turned to see Antonio holding up his drawing. His eyes widened, "Don't look at that, you bastard! Rip it up! It's horrible!" He got up and marched over to Antonio, trying to snatch it away from him. Antonio was, however, taller than Lovino, and easily held it up out of his reach. "Calm down, Lovi! It's not that bad, you know."
"It's awful! Not like my little brothers, I tried drawing like him but I just can't-"
"Hey, it's good. Have you ever seen me try and draw like this? I get the legs on my stick figures uneven, for goodness sakes. This is really good. I'll frame it, even."
"Bullshit, you're only saying that, but you don't mean it!" Lovino said, crossing his arms defiantly. Antonio shrugged, and then walked out of the room. He returned a few minutes later with the drawing in a frame, which he then hung up on the wall in the lounge room. He turned around to Lovino and smiled, "See? It looks beautiful there, and that's where it'll stay."
"But… It's not… good…" Lovino mumbled awkwardly, and Antonio laughed, "I keep telling you, it's better than what I could do. And hey, at least you gave it a go, you tried it, and you did the best you could. That's all that matters, really, Lovi." Antonio said softly, smiling down at Lovino. Lovino didn't look at Antonio, yet he mumbled with a slight blush, "… Idiot."
To anyone else, it would have seemed a little rude, but Antonio knew that was Lovino's very own peculiar way of saying thank you.