Summary: When his school holds a masquerade dance in honor of Halloween, Lovino doesn't expect to attend, let alone attend disguised as a girl. And on top of that, he has to make it home by midnight! This is starting to sound like a bad Cinderella story...

Warnings: Shounen-ai, and, well, Lovino being Lovino.

A/N:

Alright, so, xSecret-Magicx gave me this awesome plot idea, and has also volunteered to edit! xxKittenBluexx has also helped out a lot with this, so big thank yous to those two!

*ahem* So, this is really kinda just a quick preview of the story, since I don't have anything else written down yet. After I finish writing the story, though, be expecting weekly updates ^^

I might also post this on Gaia, my username is XxFullmetalKittenxX there.

Critiques are always welcome! ^^

It was the night before Halloween when Lovino strode through the large, heavily decorated gym doors and into and equally heavily decorated and even larger gym, wearing the most girlish and pink dress that has ever existed, and wondering just how he'd gotten himself into this mess.

'Oh, right,' he thought to himself as he followed his much to cheerful brother deeper into the gym, his eyes narrowed in what would have been a piercing glare, had not most of his face been covered by a glimmering mask. How could he have ever forgotten?

Feliciano, the previously mentioned much-too-cheerful younger brother, had heard of the masquerade that was to be held in the school's gym, in honor of Halloween of course, and immediately wanted to go. And of course he was also looking forward to dragging his brother along as well! So, you could imagine the look of disappointment on his face when their grandfather refused to allow either of the two to go. While Feliciano was utterly devastated, Lovino had been practically jumping for joy at not being forced to attend yet another stupid, cheesy school event.

But Feliciano was not going to give up, despite their grandfather being a teacher and having connections to the school. So he came up with a plan, and before Lovino could protest Feliciano was on the phone, chatting away to his friend Elizabeta and asking for her help. And that his how Lovino found himself in his current position; disguised as a girl in a pink-and-sparkly-as-heck dress. Elizabeta had claimed that they had to disguise themselves so that their grandfather wouldn't hear that they were there from any of his teacher friends that may be attending. They even got assigned female names to use in case they had to introduce themselves to anybody.

That was the last time he was ever going to let that Hungarian demon of a woman "help" him and his brother ever again. Ever.

So, while Feliciano was spinning around exclaiming how "OMGBEAUTIFUL" his dress was like the stupid girl he was, Lovino stood with his arms crossed, glaring at any poor that dared get too close. Eventually, though, Lovino's gaze drifted away from the people around him, donned in ridiculous costumes and masks, and to the large gym in which he was standing.

From the tall ceiling hung paper bats and orange streamers, and the white walls were decorated with cardboard cut-outs of skeletons and green-skinned witches. Oh, yes, there were a few attempts at being scary amongst the childish decorations, such as the cloth ghost splattered with red in the corner. Every once in a while a yelp of surprise could be heard, following the sound of fake, cackling laughter as someone passed by one of the motion-sensing skulls scattered amongst the tables bearing punch and holiday treats. And lastly, there was one corner of the gym that was reserved for dancing and from it loud, obnoxious pop music could be heard as people made fools of themselves underneath the purple and orange lights.

'Honestly,' Lovino thought, placing his hands on his hips with a huff. 'You'd think that some point they would actually try…'

His thoughts were interrupted, though, as he felt an arm link around his own. And, with a small tug of said arm, his balance was thrown off and he was forced to be twirled around by who Lovino soon found to be Feliciano. Before Lovino could yell at him, though, he was suddenly released. Having not had a chance to regain his balance, along with the fact he was not yet used to wearing high heels, he stumbled forward before colliding with something warm and soft.

After getting over the momentary shock, Lovino looked up to see just what he had run into, and found that he was actually in the arms of a very confused looking man, gazing down at him with wide, green eyes. And elegant mask was placed upon his face, outlining his eyes in black and making them seem almost blindingly bright.

Lovino blinked, gazing back up at the man. He recognized him, but he couldn't put a name to his mostly covered face. Then, the man, after recovering from the shock as well, spoke. "Are you alright, Miss?" He asked him. Lovino felt his face heat up. 'Miss'? Before Lovino could open his mouth to protest, or come to realize that he was supposed to look like a girl, another voice spoke up.

"Kesesesese, what've you got there, Toni?"

Lovino felt himself freeze. He knew that odd laugh, chuckle… noise. That was Potato Head's brother. And that meant… Oh, shit. Now he knew who this was. And that meant…

…he was surrounded by the Bad Friends Trio.

Those three had to have been the most well-known people in all the school. And they didn't exactly have a good reputation, either – depending on who you asked, of course. Lovino and Feliciano had spent many a long dinner listening to their grandfather's frustrated grumbling about whatever prank they had decided to pull that day. As if the two didn't already know; they had to witness these acts of immaturity nearly every day. Hell, Lovino even had a few classes with the jerks.

He still hadn't decided which one he hated most.

Luckily, though, he'd ended up in the arms of, from what he'd seen, the least trouble-making of the three. If he was remembering correctly, his name was Antonio. Well, at least he hadn't ended up with Francis, the third and most perverted member of their little group.

Lovino then decided that it was time to get out of there, before they tried to actually talk to him. After tearing himself out of the arms of a still very confused-looking Antonio, he turned and stomped away. As he walked, Lovino kept a sharp eye out for Feliciano. He had quite a few things to say to his idiot of a younger brother. He soon picked him of the crowd of people. As expected, he was chattering away to that stupid potato-eater, Ludwig. Lovino gave a small "tch" of annoyance before striding over to them. He hated that guy, Ludwig. He didn't know why, of course, just that he did. Besides, did he really need a reason?

Anyways, while trying to give Ludwig as little acknowledgment as possible, Lovino took his younger brother by the arm and almost literally began dragging him away. There was much protest from Feliciano's side at first, but a harsh glare from Lovino silenced him almost immediately.

After making sure that they were a good distance away from both Ludwig and Antonio, Lovino turned back to his brother. "What the hell was that?"

Feliciano quivered under his elder brother's rather intense gaze. He could be so scary sometimes…

Twiddling his thumbs, Feliciano looked away before speaking. "W-well… you looked grumpy, so I thought that maybe a quick dance would cheer you up…"

Lovino gave a long, drawn out sigh to show his irritation. His younger brother could be such a moron sometimes… so annoying. Though, he knew that he had been trying to help, so Lovino let him off with only a small cuff to the back off the head.

Next time he would make sure he wasn't so lucky.

"Whatever," he scoffed, turning away. "Go have fun that Potato Head or whatever the heck you do. I don't care. Just remember that we have to be home before midnight." That's right, midnight. Their grandfather was out with his friends that night, and had said that he would be home by around midnight. If they weren't home and in bed by that time, there would certainly be consequences.

Lovino watched as Feliciano skipped off with a small "ve", whatever that noise meant. He leaned back against the wall, watching everyone laugh and have fun around him. Not that he wished to participate, of course. In reality, he wished for the exact opposite. He'd much rather be at home, studying, or, better yet, sleeping.

That wasn't going to happen, though, because soon after the departure of Feliciano, Lovino found himself face to face with that Antonio guy from earlier. And, to make matters worse, he even started talking to him. And he was irritatingly cheerful.

"Hey, you ran off before I could apologize earlier, so I thought I'd do that now and ask if I could make it up to you with a dance? Oh, but I guess I should ask for your name first, ahaha!"

Oh, God, not only was he irritatingly cheerful, he was an idiot as well. And all he got in response from Lovino was a glare, naturally. The large smile on the idiot's face faltered for a moment, but didn't disappear. In fact, it grew. Lovino thought his face would split in two, the smile spread across it so far.

"Ah, well, if you don't want to tell me, that's alright. We're still dancing, though, okay?" As Antonio spoke, his hand reached down to take hold of Lovino's, and he began to drag him towards the crowded dance floor.

The loud, obnoxious sound of pop music rang in his ears, effectively giving him a massive headache as they got nearer. Just as they got onto the stage, though, there was suddenly a dramatic change in the genre of music being played. Replacing the loud, upbeat tune of pop was the drawn out notes of a much slower song. Lovino turned to glare at whoever the D.J. was to see none other than Francis standing by said D.J., talking. When he felt Lovino's gaze on him, he turned around and gave them a wink. Then he understood. The jerk had requested the stupid song!

When Lovino turned around again, Antonio still had that stupid smile on his face, his hand still gripping Lovino's tightly. And then, well… they danced. And as much as Lovino didn't want to admit it, he had a pretty good time. And when that song ended and another started, they danced again. And again. They even started talking, and at one point Lovino even found himself laughing along with Antonio.

So, it came as no surprised when Feliciano came over and interrupted them, Lovino was about ready to strangle him. When asked, in not the most polite way, why he had bothered the two, Feliciano just pointed to the clock. Lovino turned his gaze upon it, and the time on its face made his eyes widen to an almost comical size. They had to leave, and quickly, if they ever wanted to make it home on time!

Swearing loudly, Lovino gave Antonio a quick "gotta go!" before turning and making a dash for the door. "Wait!" he heard Antonio call after him, but Lovino did not slow. "You still haven't told me your name!"

Turning on his heel, Lovino paused only to yell the fake name Elizabeta had given him. "Romona!"

And then he was gone.