"Spain..."
Lovino sat at the kitchen table, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His curl was drooping slightly, his face hid behind a small fringe of hair falling into his eyes.
"Why did you keep me, all these years?"
Antonio blinked, his hand dropping the wooden spoon it held into the mixing bowl in front of him. "You're my henchman, Lovi~! I couldn't just get rid of my henchman!" Grinning, he reached over and stuck a tomato on top of Lovino's head, giving him a fond pat. When the younger didn't respond, or reach up to pick the tomato off his head and glare at his former caretaker, Antonio's smile disappeared. "Lovi? You okay?"
"... I was horrible. I made messes, never cleaned them up, hurt you so many times, even though you helped me. I hurt you, badly, and you never got mad at me. You never yelled; you never struck out; you just smiled, as if everything was okay. It wasn't." His voice was muffled, as he buried his face into his arms. Antonio reached out to put a hand on Lovino's shoulder. "Lovi... It's okay-"
"NO!"
Lovino jumped up, pushing his chair away from the table. "I was awful! Horrid, cruel, mean, and I didn't care! Why do you still care, then? I'm still, still all those things, except worse!" Pacing back and forth, his hands shook as he clenched them into fists. "I was a brat; a spoiled brat! I can still remember times when you gave up supper or lunch, and even breakfast just so that I'd have something to eat, so I'd be happy! And I wasn't, I still complained! You just smiled, and made up a silly excuse so I'd be happy!"
Antonio sat quietly in his chair, watching Lovino as he raged. Tears were beginning to fall from the Italian's eyes, and he scrubbed at them with the back of his hand. "Just tell me you hate me, that you're tired of having me here with you!" Lovino yelled, picking up a ceramic plate off the table and throwing it down, the glass pieces shattering at his feet.
"Send me away, hit me, anything! Don't just stand there and take it like a smiling idiot, insult me back! Tell me how much you hate me!"
His shoulders were shaking, his brows drawn together in a frown. Tears were filling his eyes and blurring his vision, sobs catching in his throat and making his breath hitch. "Say it!" Lovino yelled again, stepping in front of Antonio. "Just say it, you idiot! Push me away, kick me out! Tell me how much you hate me, how much you detest my existence, how much you want me dead! Don't lie and tell me that it's okay. Tell me you hate me!"
Antonio remained quiet, his head bowed as Lovino panted. His hands clenched into tight fists, Lovino pulled back and hit Antonio on the shoulder, half sobbing. "Say it! Say I hate you!"
Finally lifting his head, Antonio's emerald eyes locked onto Lovino's teary hazel ones.
"Why? I love you."