"Antonio, where are we going?!" Lovino demanded; he was sick of being left in the dark.
This morning the crazy Spaniard had woken him at ten with breakfast in bed consisting of a magdalena, a fette biscottate, and a cup of coffee with milk.
At first he had panicked. Was it their anniversary? No, that was a couple months ago. Was it his birthday? No, that had also passed already. Was it Antonio's birthday? No, he wouldn't have been the one woken up by breakfast in bed.
When he realized that there was no significance to the date, he calmed down but quickly became suspicious instead. There was no reason for him to randomly make him breakfast in bed but he ate it anyway.
Once he finished, he had been dragged out of bed and into the bathroom to take a shower. While he was washing, Antonio laid out a pair of shorts and a loose shirt for him to change into after he got out. He then picked up the dishes, pilling them back on the tray and took them to the kitchen to clean them.
Walking out of the bathroom in a towel, Lovino spotted the clothes and after a few moments of pause, staring at them curiously and judging them. Finally deciding they weren't that bad, he secreted liked the outfit choice, he pulled them on and stepped back into the bathroom to fix his hair, easily avoiding the prominent curl.
Downstairs he found the dishes and utensils drying in the rack but no other sign of the Spaniard he lived with. Spotting a note on the counter he picked it up.
'I went out to do some errands. I'll be home this evening. While I'm gone, just relax, si? I love you.'
~Antonio
The end of the note was signed with a heart and doodle of a turtle; a doodle of a tomato was in the top corner of the page.
Frowning, he crumpled the note and shoved it into his pocket. What was he supposed to do all day? And why wake him with a breakfast in bed just to ignore him the rest of the day?
He decided to check on Antonio's pet turtle he had adopted after the hundreds of baby turtles that had overrun their house were returned to the sea. Antonio had wanted to keep them all, like an idiot, but Lovino and his boss had convinced him that wouldn't be healthy for the turtles. To make up for it, the two of them had gone to the pet shop the next day to pick out small turtle.
The little turtle seemed fine and that morning had already been marked off on the feeding chart so he let it be. Unable to think of anything else to do, he stomped into the living room and dropped onto the couch. "Stupid Antonio. Leaving me alone all day with nothing to do." He crossed his arms and huffed. "Fine. I'll just watch some TV."
About an hour passed before someone knocked on the door.
"Antonio! Get the door!" he yelled, not thinking. They knocked again. "Antonio! Hurry up!" Whoever it was knocked once more. "Fine! I'll get it then!" Pushing off of the couch with a glare, he walked over to answer the door.
On the step was a man holding a small parcel.
"Are you Lovino Vargas?" he asked.
"Si. That's me."
"Could you please sign here, Mr. Vargas?" The man held out a clipboard, pointing to a line.
"Yeah sure." He quickly signed his name and gave it back.
"Enjoy."
The man handed him the package.
"Thanks."
He closed the door and went back to the living room. The box was set on the table beside him as he went back to watching TV.
Ignoring the box proved difficult however and about five minutes later it was in his lap and torn open. Inside was a small tin which turned out to be holding an assortment of chocolate. He pulled the tin out and noticed a small note attached to it.
'Sorry I'm busy today. Hopefully these will sweeten up your day.'
~Antonio
"That jerk is trying to apologize through chocolate?!" He frowned and picked one up, inspecting it. "I'm only going to eat this because I'm hungry and Antonio isn't here to make lunch."
With that he popped the piece he was holding into his mouth and resumed watching TV, slowly making his way through the tin.
Another hour passed in this manner until once more there was a knock at the door.
"What now?"
He begrudgingly got up to answer the door for the second time that day.
This time a woman was waiting on the side with flowers in her hands.
"Mr. Vargas?"
"Si?"
"These are for you." She held out the flowers. "Please sign for them and they're all yours."
"Uh. Okay." Again, he quickly signed his name on the clipboard offered to him before taking the flowers from the woman and closing the door. They were carried to the kitchen so their stems could be cut and put in a vase. "Cheap Antonio. He didn't even buy a vase." Hunting around the room for the item he needed, he managed to find it a few minutes later.
Next came the hard part: finding a place to put the flowers.
Going from room to room for the next twenty minutes, testing spots out, he finally settled on the dining room table. The dining room was rarely used except for special occasions so it was perfect; Antonio could see them easily but they weren't on public display.
Once they were set in just the right way, he studied them with a small smile. Antonio had sent him white lilies, his favorite flower; not many people knew what his favorite flower was which made it all the more special to him.
A tag attached to one of the tags caught his eye.
'I don't mean to make you wait so long but it's almost over. Please be patient for a lily bit longer.'
~Antonio
He scowled at the lame pun and let the note fall back to rest against the stems once more.
"He's such an idiot," he muttered though he honestly loved the flowers.
Leaving the flowers along he went back to the living room to finish the movie he had been watching but ended up falling asleep.
He was woken about half an hour later by yet another knock on the door. Groggily he stumbled over to the door and pulled it open.
A man in a postal uniform was holding a letter.
"This urgent message was sent to a Mr. Vargas. Is he here?"
"That would be me."
"Here you go then."
The man handed him the small card and left.
Curious, he opened it as he shut the door.
'Wake up, Roma! I'm gonna be home in about fifteen minutes and you're not even dressed yet! Go upstairs and in our closet you'll find a bag. Pull that out and put the clothes inside on. By the time you're done I should be back. See you soon!'
~Antonio
He could practically hear the cheery Spaniard's voice as he read the card.
Wait, how did he know he'd been sleeping? And what was he planning?
'No way to find out unless I play along, I guess,' he thought. Sighing, he made his way upstairs to where he had started his day. He pulled the door to the closet open and hanging on the back of the door was a garment bag. Inside was a black suit with a dark red shirt and a black tie. "Those aren't bad I suppose."
Quickly he stripped off his casual clothes, pulling on the new ones and after fumbling with the tie for a moment or two and fixing his hair once more he was ready.
Downstairs he heard a faint knock.
"I swear if that's another make up gift…" He stomped to the door for the fourth time that day; he was really starting to get sick of seeing the old wood. "What?!" he shouted as he yanked the door open.
"Buena noches, Lovi," Antonio said warmly, smiling at him. Lovino stared. The air headed jerk was donned in a similar outfit, without a tie, and a carnation was peeking out of his chest pocket. He held out his hand. "Are you ready to go?" He simply nodded in return, too dazed to give a proper response. "Good!" Antonio grabbed his hand and led him to a sleek silver car Lovino had never seen before.
"What's this?"
"Oh just a car I rented for the night." He flashed a cheeky grin at him. "Don't worry. I didn't buy it."
"You better not have. You can't afford one."
Antonio didn't respond, still smiling. He opened the passenger side for Lovino to get in, not caring in the slightest when the man didn't say 'thank you'. Going around to his side, he slipped into his seat, starting the engine and backing out.
They drove in silence for a few minutes, heading a direction Lovino didn't recognize.
"Antonio, where are we going?!" he demanded, sick of being left in the dark.
"You'll see when we get there," the happy man sang back. Finally they arrived at a park where they stopped. "We're here. See? That wasn't so bad."
"Whatever. Why are we at a park?" he asked as they got out of the car.
"This is where we're having dinner," Antonio replied, pulling a picnic basket out of the trunk. "Come on. It will be fun." He led the two of them up the hill to the top, pulling a blanket out of the basket and laying it on the ground. Sitting on the ground, he looked up at Lovino and waited patiently for the other to join him. With a groan, Lovino sat too.
"This is ridiculous."
"Humor me?"
"Fine." Antonio smiled at him. "What."
"I just like looking at you, Lovi," he said warmly, still smiling.
"Whatever."
Reaching over, he took the Italian's hand in his own.
"Lovi, before we have dinner, I want to talk to you." He took a deep breath. "You may fight my affections and try to push me away but I know that you're just used to being forgotten and you're scared that if you get too attached, your heart will be broken. I also know that you've wondered if I'm just wasting your time and might just walk out someday because of your attitude but I never would." Looking up, he met the younger man's eyes. "I love you Lovi and I never want you to doubt me again." He shifted to get on one knee making the other gasp. "Lovi, mi amor, mi tomate-" He pulled a small box out of his chest pocket and opened it to reveal a silver band with a large diamond sitting in the middle, small emeralds on the left side of it and rubies on the right. "Will you marry me?"
Lovino stared at the man he thought he knew so well. He had considered him to be an air-head, a jerk, a lay-about, but he never considered him to be so in touch with his emotions. It was true that all those thoughts had passed through his head hundreds of times and yet as he stayed stock still, trying to decide what to do, he knew what he wanted. "Lovino…?" Antonio asked, smile starting to falter as Lovino remained silent.
"You're an idiot," he replied, frowning. The older's face fell. "Just because I've thought things like that doesn't mean I don't love you too." He looked away to hide his blush. "And si…I guess I'll marry you…"
Once the words had been processed in his head, the biggest grin he had ever seen burst onto the Spaniard's face.
"Oh! Bueno!" He tightly hugged the younger man, kissing his cheek. "I love you so much and I can't wait for our wedding!"
The ring was gently pulled out of the box and slipped on the Italian's finger, sparkling a little in the low light of the moon poking out from behind a cloud.
AN: I promised to write this for a friend like a month and a half ago when she was sick..unfortunately life, laziness, and a crappy original idea pushed that back until now.
I hope you like it Lovi!
