Lovino gazed at his wings in the mirror, running a hand over the bright feathers as he stretched his wings out to their full span. They were soft, but they could have been in a much better condition if he'd taken the time to preen and care about them in general.
It wasn't often that he truly looked after them, he didn't see the point when they would return to looking like they did currently in less time that it would take to care for them. Most of the time he just stretched them like he was doing now, it was important that he did so since he usually kept them folded all day.
His wings were different than most people's. While they usually had wings that were their hair or eye colour, he had wings that represented his sexuality. This was a trait passed down from his mother, but only he had received it out of him and his brother, which only made him more negative about his wings. The blue, purple and pink feathers in all honesty were quite beautiful, but he refused to admit they were because of the struggles they'd caused him.
"Fratello! I'm leaving now for school, Luddy's flying with me today, isn't it exciting?" Lovino sighed as he heard the excited voice of his two years younger brother Feliciano from behind the door, folding his wings up and pressing them against his back before putting on a large, black sweater that hid them. He left the bathroom, rolling his eyes at the other and beginning to head towards the stairs.
"Whatever, have fun with the potato bastard," he said as he walked past him, ignoring any other comments that Feliciano had to make. It was the first Monday of the second week back at school at the start of his senior year, and Lovino wasn't in the mood to deal with his brother bugging him all morning.
He grabbed his lunch from the fridge that he'd made the night before, packing it into his bag that he'd left on the floor next to the stairs. Even if he could seem quite lazy and unmotivated, he was actually quite prepared most of the time, something that in hindsight made life easier.
After returning back to the kitchen to grab an apple, he left the house with his bag slung on his shoulder, beginning to eat it on his way out. Lovino wasn't usually someone who ate breakfast, but he didn't want to have to wait until lunch to eat.
The walk to school wasn't too long, but it was hot outside and it was times like these that he regretted wearing a sweater all the time. However, he would put up with it to avoid having his wings been seen, he had been doing the same thing for years and he could last just a little bit longer. "Why the hell is it this hot this early," he grumbled, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows to try and cool down a little. At least he hadn't run into anyone too annoying that morning, though he knew that was likely to change very soon.
He knew that he had been right when he heard the soft flapping of wings as someone landed behind him, not bothering to turn and look since there were a limited amount of people that it would be.
"It's the start of fall, of course it's still going to be hot for a little while. Winter is still a couple of months away," came a soft voice. Lovino only then turned to look at the other person, a less annoyed, almost gentle expression on his face that he only reserved for a select few.
"Morning, Matthew," he said with a nod, gesturing for the other to follow him. He'd known the Canadian ever since Lovino had moved there two years ago to live with Romulus and Feliciano, he'd been one of his first friends since he'd arrived. Although his friendship with Matthew could be considered unexpected, particularly considering their personalities, they got along extremely well.
Matthew was calm and level headed (unless he was playing hockey or had a good reason to be angry), and was patient enough to not get frustrated when Lovino was annoyed, and Lovino had the tendency to get annoyed very quickly, particularly around those he didn't trust. Lovino was more outgoing than Matthew usually was, and was one of the very few people that would speak up if people didn't listen to him, but he was also good at listening to him if there was something wrong.
Matthew gave a smile to his friend, following along beside him in comfortable silence until they got to school. Mornings weren't Lovino's thing, something the other knew quite well, and so most of the time if Matthew walked with Lovino to school it was in silence. The quiet was gladly welcomed, since most of their day was surrounded by loud people anyway, particularly when they mainly hung around the Bad Friends Duo- no, trio.
Francis was Matthew's cousin, and Gilbert was Matthew's crush. More complicated then that, Gilbert had also managed to become Lovino's closest friend (other than Matthew) because of some things that had happened when Lovino had first arrived, and so even if the Italian didn't really like Francis they still hung out as a group.
The start of the new school year was bound to be a cause for change, however, and so when he'd arrived the week before he'd discovered that there was a new addition to the Bad Friends Duo, creating the Bad Friends Trio. This new person was Antonio Carriedo, a Spanish man that had transferred to the school for his last year, and Lovino found him unbearably annoying.
The Italian was frustrated more often then not at school because of him, the male was too damn happy all the time and wouldn't leave him alone. Apparently there must be something interesting about him though, since no matter how much he'd shouted at him the Spaniard wouldn't be disheartened and would continue hanging around him.
There wasn't much he could do though, he could tell that Gilbert and Francis already were quite fond of him as their friend, and he couldn't bring himself to truly make an attempt at kicking Antonio out of their group. He sighed thinking about it, walking a little slower since the building was now in sight and he wanted to extend the time he had before he officially arrived at school. He still had a good twenty minutes to go to his locker before the warning bell went, so it wasn't like he was in a rush.
Of course, it wasn't like he would have his way, and an excited voice could be heard as someone ran up to him, and a pair of arms could be felt wrapping around him. He wasn't surprised at who they belonged to, there was only one person that would greet him like that.
"Hey Lovi! Did you have a good weekend? Mine was awesome, I met up with Gil and Franny and we hung out, I haven't gotten to do that with anybody since I arrived," Antonio said cheerfully, a large grin on his face. The Spaniard's emerald green wings, the colour of his eyes, were spread out a little in his excitement.
"Why the hell would I tell you, tomato bastard," he growled, pulling himself away from the other. A light blush coated his cheeks when he did pull away, but if anyone asked it was 'because he was angry, there was no way that he liked being hugged, especially by Antonio'. As usual though, his harsh reply didn't wipe the grin off the other's face, which made Lovino sigh slightly.
"Because we're friends," was the reply, causing Lovino to scowl a little and begin walking off towards the school gate, Matthew following close behind. He didn't know what was worse, he'd managed to escape one annoyance, Feliciano, but now he was stuck with Antonio, who was likely to follow him around until he saw Gilbert or Francis.
Antonio did follow him, and he kept on talking about what his weekend was like, and Lovino resigned to staying silent and pretending he wasn't there. Even when Matthew had gone to his own locker, Antonio had stayed, not seeming to mind in the slightest that Lovino wasn't giving him much attention.
At last, when he got to his locker, Antonio had spotted Francis and said goodbye to Lovino. He could hear the cheerful greeting that the other was giving Francis from his locker, and the reply back sounded pretty happy as well. A sigh escaped his lips when he opened his locker, as much as he didn't like the Spaniard it was a little bit nice to have someone that would bother to talk to him, right now he had nobody until he arrived at his class.
He got his books for his morning classes, chucking his bag in his locker before closing it, walking off quite fast and seemingly annoyed on his way to his next class. There wasn't any point hanging near his locker anyway, it wasn't like anybody was paying attention to him.
What Lovino didn't realise was that a certain Spaniard was watching him with curious green eyes as he walked off, that bright grin still present.