A/N: WARNING: MAJOR ANGST-FEST. I felt like rewriting the series (or the Romano parts at least) from Romano's POV. Why? It was 2-flocking-AM and I was bored. So, please enjoy Romano's Dream!

I look at my fratello, asleep in the bed across the room. I'm still awake, sitting at a desk in some crappy hotel somewhere in Nevada. This is the worst place I've ever stayed in, but we have a world conference tomorrow, and this was the best hotel in the area.

I lean back in the chair and look up at the cracked ceiling. I can barely make anything out-the lights are off so I won't disturb Feliciano. Even if I turned on the lights, he'd probably stay asleep. Hell, even if I lit the damn hotel on fire, he'd sleep through it.

I sleep a lot, too, but I'm not tired tonight. Just in a thinking mood.

What? Like you've never been in a thinking mood?

I shake my head. I have to get to sleep.

Without changing out of my military clothes, I slide into the bed next to Feliciano. "Buonanotte," I whisper to nobody in particular, close my eyes, and fall asleep.

I laughed happily, playing with the small wooden toy. Francis watched, laughing with me. Heiliges was sitting in the back, but I could tell he was having fun, too. The toy stopped on the painted red square. "Okay, Francis, your turn!" I giggled.

He grabbed the toy from my hands and spun it around. We weren't entirely sure how to play the game, but Grandpa Roma said it was fun, so we were sure it was. Besides, we were all so silly, it was fun anyway!

We played mindlessly for a few hours, unsure of what we were doing but having a ton of fun anyway. It was Heiliges that mentioned Feliciano.

"Who's that?" I asked curiously.

"Our brother, of course~," replied Francis with a smirk. "You haven't met him?"

"No," I replied, feeling a little dejected. "But I'd love to!"

But they day we'd set aside to go and see him, Francis and Heiliges came running into my house, panting. I looked up from my game, concerned. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"G…Grandpa Roma…took…he took Feliciano…away…" panted Heiliges.

"Where?" I asked, shocked.

They shrugged. I ran up to my room and buried my face in the pillow, sobbing. I'd finally learned that I had a little brother, that I wasn't the youngest, and now I might never get to meet him.

"That's Feliciano?" I asked incredulously. "He's so…tiny. And pathetic."

Francis nodded, laughing. But Heiliges simply stared at him, absorbed. "That's…that's creepy," I commented. But no, that wasn't the only creepy part. Francis had this crazy look on his face, the kind of look a guy got in movies before…

Mio dio. My brothers were insane.

Feliciano shivered a bit. He must have been nervous. Francis and Heiliges had changed so much since Feliciano had left, and he'd never met me.

I went through my rehearsed introduction mentally: Ciao, I'm your youngest older brother, Lovino. Mind if I call you fratello? In my house, that means brother.

But I got flustered and it came out a little harsher than intended. Actually, it came out very coldly: "Fratello, you're a twerp compared to me!"

Dammit.

Feliciano looked terrified, poor kid. I wanted to apologize to the auburn-haired boy, but before I could, Heiliges broke out of our group and started chasing him, shouting, "Stop! You must become part of the Holy Roman Empire!"

Screaming and crying, Feliciano ran away. I chuckled bitterly. He leaves with Grandpa and probably expects to see his loving brothers. But we'd all changed so much. Dammit, he didn't even know my name.

Francis put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, it's alright! I'll give you a turn when you're older!"

"Wha-? Francis!" I exclaimed, realizing what he meant. "That's disgusting! He's our little brother! Mio dio, what the hell is wrong with you?"

He laughed. "You'll understand when you're older!"

"Let go of me, dammit!" I shrieked, struggling to get out of Roderich's grasp. "Bastard! Let me go!"

Next to me, Feliciano cried quietly. He was always one to give in quickly, but I wasn't. I was going to fight until the bastard let both of us go!

Of course, he ignored us and threw us into a carriage. I jumped up and pounded on the closed carriage doors. "Dammit! Let us out, you bastards! Damn you!" I screamed over and over again, and I screamed the whole way to Roderich's house, and all the way inside, too.

Once inside, we split up. Feliciano went with Roderich, and I went into a room to meet some woman named Elizabeta. She lad long brown hair held back from her face with a flower clip, and she looked very friendly. "Hello, sweetie," she said with a strange accent. She seemed like she might have been nice. Well, nice if her bastard boyfriend (or whatever he was) hadn't kidnapped me and fratello.

"Don't call me sweetie! My name is Lovino!" I protested, crossing my arms and turning away. "And I'm not planning on being a good little hostage. If you want grandpa's inheritance, you're looking at the wrong guy, so you can let me go, okay?"

She laughed a little. "Oh, Lovi, I-"

"LOVINO."

"Lovino, I don't want anything from you. It's Roderich that does." She sighed sadly. "He seems to be wanting more and more these days." Shaking her head, she changed her tone of voice. "Well, you and your-what did you call her?"

I rolled my eyes without responding.

She frowned. "I just wanted to be correct. Plus, your language is so much fun!"

"We're not going to teach it to you," I growled, "so vaffanculo."

Elizabeta's frown grew larger. "Well, you and your sister are supposed to become servants here. Roderich will take over your government, and you just have to obey him loyally, alright?"

I was speechless, too stunned to realize that she's said "sister." My normally caramel-colored eyes were probably gold right now, the way they got when I was upset. "N-No, dammit! We can handle ourselves just fine!" I cried angrily.

"It's not open to discussion," interjected Roderich from the doorway. "You belong to me now, so suck it up."

Dammit! "Damn you, you bastard!" I shrieked.

"Lovino!" sobbed Feliciano from where Roderich was standing. "Don't go, fratello!"

I reached a hand out to him. He leaned out as far as Roderich would allow to try and grab it. "Dammit, bastard, let me say goodbye to my fratello!" I complained to the emerald-eyed man holding my wrist.

He smiled at me stupidly. "I'm sure you'll get together soon!" he replied. "Just think of it as a…an almost-goodbye!"

I stared up at him, dumbfounded. He hadn't even told me his name yet, but he was already taking over my life! "No!" I cried, squirming free of his grasp and running to Feliciano. We hugged each other tightly while Roderich watched coldly.

The man came running up behind me, then stopped when he saw us hugging. He smiled. "Aw, that's so cute!" he cooed.

Damn. Bastard.

We broke our embrace. "Essere coraggiosi," I whispered to him. "Be brave."

He nodded. "Ti voglio bene, fratello," he sniffled. "I love you, brother."

Roderich rolled his eyes. "Can you believe this?" he complained to the man and Elizabeta. "They von't even speak in a vay you can understand!" The bastard.

I held Feliciano's hands a bit longer, then followed the man reluctantly-not obediently. "Don't go!" sobbed Feliciano. "Don't go!"

"Roderich, please, you have to take him back! Give me Feliciano! Please, please, please!" begged Antonio, my "boss." "I can't handle Lovino! He's so messy, and loud, and lazy, and obnoxious, and annoying, and he can't clean anything, he eats all my food and complains about it, he's so hard to handle! Let me have Feliciano, por favor!"

I listened from around the corner. Messy? Loud? Annoying? It wasn't my fault! The bastard took me away from my fratello! What did he expect, for me to fucking dance around, singing about rainbows and sunshine?

"Antonio, please, you're being unreasonable!" complained Roderich. "You asked me for an underling, and I gave you vun! Lots of people vould kill to be in your situation!"

Antonio was crying. Actually crying. I had a much better reason to cry, but I was being strong! Okay, no I wasn't. I was sobbing into my hands.

Dammit! I'd spent so long teaching Feliciano how to be brave for both of us, convincing him that dresses were very manly, giving him everything I had, and what do I get in return? All the skills I'd taught him…people liked him more because of them. I wanted to run around Roderich's house screaming, "No! That isn't him! It's me! Me! Me!"

The conversation in the other room went on for a while longer, but I couldn't bear to hear any more of it. I had to leave. Pulling my greenish-grey hood over my head, I raced out of the house, careful to avoid being seen.

Outside, it was raining. Fucking perfect. Rain.

Dammit.

I found a somewhat sheltered bench and sat down. Next to me was a short man with a black hood and the greenest eyes I'd ever seen. "Well, hello," he said, surprised. "Might I ask who you are?"

"Lovino," I grumbled. "Not that anybody cares."

"Tell me about it," he mused. "I had a kid brother, but now that he's strong he's forgotten me. He's forgotten how I saved his life time and time again, then let him do whatever he wanted! But he tried to bloody kill me!"

I nodded, letting out a small breath. "Everybody likes my brother more than me," I muttered, "even though I'm the older one. I'm supposed to be better, right?"

"That's exactly how I feel!" the man replied. "My name's Arthur, by the way."

"Dammit!" I shouted suddenly. "I have to get home! Otherwise that bastard'll think I'm upset. But I'm not, dammit!" I jumped up and ran towards Antonio's house.

"Have a good life, Lovino," Arthur said to the empty space left behind.

"Ciao, bastard," I said, grabbing my bag tightly. Today was the day I was finally going to leave Antonio's house and live my own life. "I'm not gonna miss you at all."

The Spaniard sniffled, "I'm…I'm gonna miss you, mi tomate."

"Dammit, don't call me that," I grumbled as he pulled me into a tight hug. "It's Lovino, not Lovi, or mi tomate, or any variation of either of those, va bene?"

He chuckled a bit. "Oh, I forgot, you're a big boy now, aren't you?" When he let go, I realized that he was crying.

"Stop crying!" I snapped. "I'll…I'll still come to visit, okay? Just don't cry, dammit!"

"Gracias, Lovi~!" he cheered. "You've made me so happy!"

"LOVINO!" I corrected forcefully.

He hugged me again. "Lovino. Well…good…goodbye, mi t- Lovino."

I pushed him off. "Dammit, bastard, I have to go." I flung open the door and stepped out into the warm Spanish air. It was finally, finally time to go home.

I raced off, arms open wide, free. Finally free.

From the window, I noticed Antonio. He looked like he was crying. Damn bastard.

Why did he have to be so fucking amazing?

I scream, sitting bolt upright. Beside me, Feliciano wakes up. "Ve~, what is it fratello?" he yells over my very fucking manly scream.

"Bad…bad dream," I reply, breathing heavily. "Just…just go back to sleep, okay?"

He nods and somehow falls back asleep immediately. I know I won't be going back to sleep any time soon, so I just lay there, looking at my little brother.

Damn him. He's so lovable and incredible and fucking perfect in every way possible. Because of me.

I smile a bit. Even though he is (without a doubt) a bastard, he's my fratello, and I owe him for that. For being the only one that didn't either die or try to molest me. For being more than a brother. For being a friend.

A/N: So...what did you think? Reviews are appreciated in a big way! *hinthint*