A/N: Hey all! So I promised myself that I wouldn't start a new story until it was almost complete…well I couldn't keep that promise. I swear though that updates will be pretty regular and once a week minimum. Anyway, No one won the contest for this story and I have titled it myself. I would, however like to thank America the Hero for her submission that will be the title for another story. As always, Lady Pyrien is an awesome beta and I appreciate all of her help and support in the endeavor called story writing.
"GOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL! Take that you Potato Bastard! In your face! That only proves that us Italians are smarter, better, faster and stronger then you!" Feliciano sighed as he watched his older brother dance around his living room laughing at a very distraught Ludwig. It was official; the Italians were headed to the Euro Cup finals and Lovino Vargas couldn't be more pleased.
Gilbert, on the other hand, was lying out on the floor, wailing about how the game was called unfairly and begging Matthew to make it right. Ludwig rolled his eyes at his brother's antics and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek, begrudgingly telling him that it was a good game. Feliciano smiled and shook his head.
"It's ok Luddy Ve~ I know you wanted your team to win and go on to the finals, but now we can cheer for my team together in the finals."
Ludwig looked at Feliciano and laughed a bit, glancing at Lovino who was still dancing around the living room, cheering like a five year old. "Ja, you're right Feliciano. I will cheer for Italy just as loud as I would for Germany in the Finals." Feliciano beamed and threw his arms around his tall German boyfriend. Lovino stopped and glanced at them and sneered.
"Why don't you take your touchy-feely fest somewhere else, Feliciano?" Lovino crossed his arms, glaring at them and pouting a little.
"Ve~ But it's so nice Lovi! Maybe you need more hugs Fratello." Feliciano got up and made his way toward his older brother, who was slowly backing away.
"No! No more of your hug therapy! I'm perfectly healthy! I don't need i…" but it was too late, Feliciano had already wrapped his arms around his squirming older brother, hugging him tightly. Both Matthew and Gilbert had sat up and were watching the Italian brothers closely, laughing.
When they were able to recover and Feliciano had stopped hugging Lovino, the rest of the evening went by rather smoothly, the couples (and Lovino) enjoying a dinner of pasta, wurst and pancakes. It's totally better than it sounds; kind of like breakfast for dinner…with pasta.
The night wound down and as it came to an end, Ludwig hugged his brother and shook his future brother-in-law's hand goodbye. Feliciano waved as they closed the door and he turned back to his boyfriend, smiling. "That was fun Luddy, Ve~ we should do that again for the final game." Ludwig nodded and smiled, taking Feliciano's hand and leading him towards their bedroom only to be stopped by Lovino.
"Where do you think you're taking my brother you stupid bastard!" He took Feliciano's free hand and yanked him away from Ludwig.
Ludwig sighed, "I was taking him to our bedroom Lovino. This is our house after all. You're just here as our guest, remember that."
Feliciano stepped away from his brother and returned to Ludwig's side, nodding. "It's true Lovi…maybe you should go home now." Feliciano looked a bit guilty as he said that, and he put his head down, but he meant it.
Lovino looked to the Potato Bastard and then to his brother, baffled. "Fine, if you want me out, I'll just go back to my apartment…alone." Lovino stormed towards the door, but stopped as he was opening it. "Don't expect to be welcome in my apartment again Feliciano...I don't want to see a traitor like you ever again." And with those words he was out of his brother's apartment.
The six block walk back to his own apartment was long and he had to try really hard to not cry the entire way there. His brother had turned on him, had given him up for some stupid German bastard.
His apartment was a cluttered mess and there was an obvious stench lingering in the air. Lovino huffed a bit. Feliciano knew that he was no good at any sort of cleaning and yet he still expected him to be able to maintain a nice looking apartment. He sorted his way through the mess to his bedroom, removed some garbage from his bed and fell asleep, trying to forget how lonely it was in the room without his annoying little brother.
"Oh come on Toni, just cover for me one day…but I would…ok so maybe I wouldn't, but still! If you do this for me this one time…" Lovino rolled his eyes at the rambling Albino Freak, taking his place behind the desk.
"Oi you, Albino Bastard, who are you mumbling to? You have work to get done!"
Gilbert looked back at Lovino and sighed, hanging up the phone. "I was trying to get my next shift covered. Birdie and I made plans to go cake testing this afternoon and I totally forgot that I was scheduled to work until 8pm today." The albino pouted, crossing his arms. "Now I have to call him and cancel for today…I hate doing that to him…" He pulled out his phone and began dialing Matthew's number before turning to the grumpy Italian, grinning. "Lovino…do you think that you could cover my shift for me? I know it means you'll be working a lot later, but I promise you I will return the favor. Please Lovino!"
Lovino laughed, preparing to throw down the Prussian's request but he then grinned, flashing an evil smirk at Gilbert. "Ok…but to pay me back you have to clean my apartment for a month. Deal?" Foolishly, poor Gilbert agreed to Lovino's demands.
As Lovino's shift—a whopping ten hours—ended, he grabbed his coat, not looking forward to the lonely night back in his once shared apartment. He used to almost enjoy returning to the small apartment he shared with his brother, but now it was just too empty for his likings. He thought of anywhere else he could go and nowhere immediately came to mind. He and Feliciano had fought and the Potato Bastard was still there, so that was a no and he really didn't have any friends. He sighed and then remembered. Gilbert had a place pretty close by with his fiancée…Marcus, Michael, Melvin…no none of those were right, but whatever his name was, they had a place together that he could visit.
Lovino knocked (read pounded) on Gilbert's door, tapping his foot impatiently. Dammit how long did it take to get to the door? It's not like their place was that big anyway. He humphed slightly and was ready to just give up hope when he heard someone unlocking the door. Finally! On the other side was a very disheveled, almost angry, Matthew. "Lovino? What…what are you doing here? What do you want? It's really late." Lovino took no notice of the Canadian and simply walked right in.
"Well you know, I was just in the area and thought that it might be nice if I stopped in to say hello." He shrugged, pretty smug with himself, plopping down on the couch.
"Mattie! What's going…?" Gilbert stopped when he walked into the room and noticed the little Italian. "Lovino…what are you doing here? Why aren't you at your place?"
Lovino huffed and stood. "Way to be hospitable. I came over purely out of the goodness of my heart because I thought you might like to see me, but no, it seems like I'm unwanted." He stood, getting ready to leave.
Matthew, like the truly good person he was, stopped the huffing Italian. "Just…wait for a minute ok Lovino?" Matthew grabbed Gilbert by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen. Lovino, being the nosy little turd he was, stood flat against the wall so they couldn't see him and listened.
"Birdie, he can't just barge in here uninvited! We both know that it's rude and that he's unwelcome here!" Gilbert huffed, obviously angry.
"Yeah I know, I know, but we can't just tell him that now can we? We need to be nice…he's probably having a hard time dealing with the fact that he's living alone…"
Gilbert scoffed, "You're talking about him like he's a lost puppy Mattie. The fact is, he's a big boy and he knows how to take care of himself."
Matthew sighed in defeat. "I know Gilbert…I just feel bad for him, ya know? He's just so impossible to live with and to be around…I would pay my entire life savings to whoever could live with that…"
Lovino bit his lip, putting on the grumpiest frown he could muster and he stormed out of the house, heading the opposite direction to his own apartment. How could they say things like that about him? He wasn't that bad to be around and he wasn't a lost puppy or impossible to live with. In fact, he was rather fantastic to be around. He wasn't useless; he just…had better things to do most of the time.
His apartment didn't support his way of thinking very well and he humphed again, heading straight for bed, not wanting to deal with it anymore. He wasn't that bad was he? Was it really so hard to be around him that people had to whisper about it behind his back?
He didn't go to work the next day, even though it was Wednesday and Wednesday was his time to tell stories to the kids. He may not have been great to live with, but everyone admitted that he was the best with the kids. He just couldn't get out of bed to face Matthew, Gilbert and Feliciano. Matthew made breakfast on Wednesdays, Feliciano was at the desk and Gilbert was the recess duty. He couldn't deal with them all at once, so he stayed home and tried (note: tried) to clean up the apartment but only succeeded in making it worse.
Meanwhile at the children's home, everyone was wondering where the other Italian was. Usually, he was the one that was on time, but this time, Feliciano was the earliest of them. When asked about it, he shrugged, and then got teary, explaining that he and Lovino weren't speaking really.
Matthew sighed and placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder, "The fact is Feliciano, you have to speak to him at some point and apologize for your part of the argument…and maybe the time to do that is today. Listen, I'll take over for you while you talk to your brother. Sound good?"
Feliciano bit his lip a bit but nodded. "Y-you're right Matthew…I need to talk to mi Fratello."
Gilbert stepped forward, scratching the back of his head a bit. "I should probably go with you…I said some pretty awful things about him and I should apologize for it…no matter how true they were." Feliciano nodded and grabbed his coat, heading out the door to his brother's.
Lovino was agitated as he answered the door. He had to climb out of a pile of books just to answer the damn thing and that wasn't very much fun at all. Obviously, cleaning hadn't been going so well and this new intrusion only frustrated him more. He opened the door, ready to scream at whoever was trying to sell him whatever but he was frozen in his tracks at the sight of his brother and the Albino Freak.
Lovino crossed his arms, trying to look as serious and intimidating as he could. "What…what do you two want? I'm sort of busy so make it quick."
Feliciano winced a bit, but Gilbert just rolled his eyes and pulled Feliciano into the house behind him. "We're here to talk to you Lovi. You didn't show up at work and worried some people v-ve~" Lovino snorted at his brother's halfhearted "ve~" and raised an eyebrow.
"Is that what you wanted to say? That I worried some people? Well now you've said it and you can go, good bye!" He did his best to shoo them out the door but to no avail, they stood firm, or at least Gilbert did, Feliciano was ready to retreat the minute his big brother told him to.
"Listen you little brat, we're here to apologize and then bring you back to the home with us. The kids were asking where you were during morning story time. They don't like anyone as much as they like you so get over yourself and get your ass down to work!" Gilbert had to keep from screaming it at the now shaking Italian, but he meant it and he was tired of the cranky little man thinking so little of himself and then taking it out on others. "So are you coming or not?"
Lovino just scowled and shook his head. "No I'm not…I know how unwanted I am among all you couples…I know that you despise me being the third wheel so I'm just going to stay here and learn how to clean." He was a stubborn brat, Gilbert had to give him that, but it was the last straw for him.
"You listen here Lovino, none of us have ever had a problem inviting you along, in fact, we only started disliking it when you became even more of an asshole! You know what I think Lovino? I think that you're just jealous of us and that seeing us together makes you remember how unlovable you are. I mean you really shouldn't try and deny what everyone knows is true. You're single because no one will stay with you. You're rude, arrogant, and loud, you suck at doing anything domestic…hell the only thing you're good at is cooking and telling stories so why would anyone ever love you! I mean, how could anyone love you when you don't even love yourself." Gilbert shrugged, his anger slowly receding. "Come on Feli; let's leave this little brat to wallow on his own." Feliciano tried to reach out to his brother, he could see how hurt Lovino was by Gilbert's words, but the albino was very quick in leading him out the door and back towards the children's home.
Lovino couldn't handle it all at once: his brother's betrayal, the ever growing mess in the house and the fact that maybe, just maybe that damn albino bastard was right. Maybe his problem was that he didn't love himself enough. He just shook his head at the thought, bringing his stuffed tomato closer to his chest, trying not to cry.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of Cruel to be Kind. I will be updating every Monday until the completion of this story. And sorry that there isn't an Antonio yet. Remember to REVIEW and send the story to your friends so they can read it too.