"Hey Lovino!" I heard my roommate yell, as he noisily burst into our apartment.

I slowly lifted my eyes from the magazine I was flipping through, to shoot him an unamused look. "Welcome back Alfred," I answered, sarcasm dripping off each word.

"Oh my god, guess what?" he shouted, as he squeezed in beside me on the couch.

I tossed the magazine to the side, before crossing my arms over my chest. "What?" I asked, clearly irritated.

Well, in actuality I didn't mind that Alfred was talking to me. He was a broken record at times, but it wasn't as if there was anyone else in the apartment I could share a conversation with. I looked at Alfred, and got ready to listen to some boring crap about his life.

"I'm going on a business trip to Vancouver in two days!" he exclaimed, while waving his arms around for emphasis.

I had no idea where that was, so naturally I stared at him with a blank expression. Alfred kept grinning, while looking at me as if he was expecting a response. Eventually it got awkward to the point where I had to reply.

"Sounds interesting," I said, attempting to seem legitimately interested.

"But that's not the best part!" he declared, grabbing me by my shoulders.

I shrugged him off, and tried to position myself as far away from him as the couch would allow. But in the end it didn't help, because nothing discouraged Alfred.

"Guess who gets to come with me?" he asked, while leaning over and trying to grab me again.

I smacked his arms away, and tried to suppress a chuckle. It wasn't that I enjoyed wrestling with my roommate or anything, Alfred's face just looked so ridiculous.

"God dammit, just tell me you idiot!" I shouted.

Alfred laughed and and sat back on his heels. "Just my favourite Italian roomie!"

I crossed my arms, and smirked at him. "I didn't know we had another roommate," I exclaimed, with fake surprise. "Where does he live, your closet?"

"Dude," he pouted, dragging out the syllables. "Come on, Canada's great, we'd have an awesome time and you know it!"

I thought about the offer. On one hand, staying at the apartment would be pretty dull. But there was no way Alfred could convince me to take a plane, and go to some strange place called Vancouver. I was perfectly happy in Syracuse, where everything was familiar and normal.

"So is all this quiet a yes?" Alfred asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I paused for a minute, before providing him with a harsh answer. "No."

"Okay, well you asked for it!" he said with a devious smiled on his lips.

"Asked for wha—"

I was cut off by Alfred attacking my stomach with his fingers. Okay maybe he was just tickling me, but it seemed more like an attack. I felt laughter being forced out of my throat, as my stupid roommate relentlessly slide his fingers up and down my sides. I tried to fight back, but the idiot was sitting on my lower body so all I could do was try to grab at his hands.

"S-stop!" I choked out, between gasps of laughter.

"Only if you come to Vancouver with me!" Alfred smirked.

That goddamn jerk was too mischievous for his own good. "Ugh fine, I surrender!" I gasped out.

I stopped struggling and raised my arms above my head. "So you'll come?" he asked, while getting off of me.

I covered my face with my hands and let out a loud sigh. "Fine, but what am I even suppose to do while you're at meetings?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "But it will be like a little vacation!"

"Dammit, I don't like vacations!" I sighed loudly again. "How long will we be gone?"

"We're only going to be there for four days, so pack light!" he said with another stupid grin.

"I will," I replied, sounding less than excited.

Alfred got up off the couch, and walked towards the kitchen. As he passed by where I was lying, he ruffled my hair. "Dude, I promise it will be fun," he smiled. "Don't you trust your bestie?"

"No, I'm not an idiot," I retorted, with a smirk.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Alfred laughed as he left the room.


To get to our destination, Alfred and I had to take a plane from Syracuse to Toronto, then another from Toronto to Vancouver. Sadly enough the two days past quickly, and the next thing I knew, I was being dragged off towards the Syracuse International Airport.

"I'm so happy you agreed to come," Alfred said excitedly, with a big smile on his face.

"You forced me to, don't think I'm doing this out of my free will," I retorted.

He was in the middle of hauling our two carry-on sized suitcases into the trunk of his car, while I watched with a frown. Alfred was a sales representative, and was always traveling for his company. Honestly, I hoped he wouldn't have too many meetings to attend because I hated being alone. That was kind of the main reason I agreed to come in the first place, with his relentless tickling coming as a close second. I rolled my eyes at the memory.

You know, I couldn't really picture Alfred all dressed up for a meeting. Whenever I saw him, he was always in casual clothes, acting borderline annoying. Like today for example, he was wearing ripped up skinny jeans, and a light brown hoodie. His golden blond hair was all tousled, and he looked like a teenager, not someone about to attend important meetings.

Well, I guess I couldn't really talk. I was also wearing skinny jeans, except I had on a navy blue button up shirt, which I rolled the sleeves up to my elbows. Being fresh out of college, I didn't have too much in my wardrobe, but this shirt had always been my favourite.

It was early October, so naturally we had fall weather. I didn't know much about Vancouver, but I sincerely hoped I had packed for the right temperature.

"Alright, let's go!" Alfred exclaimed as he slammed the trunk of his car closed.

I made my way to the passenger seat, while Alfred revved up the engine like a teenager in his first car. The drive to the airport was short, yet tedious. Alfred droned on and on about how great Vancouver was going to be, while I tuned him out and gave him the occasional yeah or okay.

However, the next part of the trip would be by far, the worst. I mean I already hated road trips, so obviously I found planes so much worse. The only decent part of flying was the fact that I could just sit down, and wait for it to be over.

Alfred's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Here's your boarding pass," he said, while handing me the papers he had printed off the night before.

Afterwards we headed to security. It didn't take too long, and to my relief we were finally allowed to board the plane afterwards. Almost the second I sat down, I wrapped my neck pillow around my neck, and promptly fell asleep. I could hear the flight attendant's shrill voice fade out, as the plane's engines groaned to a start.


"Lovino?" Alfred's voice invaded my head. "Lovino wake up, we're landing."

I yawned and stretched as I woke up. Even though I had gotten a good sleep the night before, my nap definitely made me feel more alert.

"You have to put your seat belt on," he informed, while gesturing towards his own seatbelt.

I snapped the straps across my waist, before leaning back, and staring out the narrow window. I wondered wether the trip would be fun or not. I had never been to Canada, so the whole experience would be new for me.

It took a while for the plane to fully land and start letting people off, so I had a very long time to day dream. I thought about how it was kind of interesting that Alfred and I stayed friends all these years. We had met in our junior year of high school, and six years later we were sharing an apartment, while trying to get our lives started. Back in high school, we got along fairly well. It was a surprising friendship though, because he was the stereotypical jock, while I was just your average guy. But it didn't matter because now we were, what Alfred likes to call, "best friends for life".

"Race you through this tube thing," Alfred joked, while gesturing towards the small tunnel like structure that connected the plane to the Toronto airport.

"Stop being so immature," I said with a glare, trying to sound mature myself.

Alfred and I were dragging our carry-ons through the connector, and there was a large amount of people tailing and leading us. He was such an idiot, I thought with a small smile.

The plane was fairly close to the airport, so it didn't take long for us to arrive in the terminal. Once there, we were ushered to the Canadian customs.

Alfred handed our passports to the border patrol, and did all the talking. He blabbed on and on about the business he worked for, and the meetings he had to attend in Vancouver, while I stood behind him with my arms crossed.

"Alright sir, who are you traveling with?" the man behind the glass asked, finally acknowledging me.

"Oh this?" Alfred said, sounding like he had forgotten about my existence. "He's my friend, I didn't want him to get lonely or anything so he's coming to Vancouver with me."

I suppressed a glare, as Alfred made me sound like a complete loser in front of the border patrol.

"Okay," the man said with a smile, while stamping our passports. "Enjoy your stay in Canada."

Alfred smiled back, while taking our passports. "Okay Lovino, now we just have to wait an hour or so before getting onto another plane!" he exclaimed, as we wheeled our carry on suitcases towards one of the many waiting areas in the airport.

"Whatever, I don't even want to be here," I mumbled.

Alfred and I sat down in the large waiting area for our next plane, flight one-fifty-seven. I wasn't surprised to see that we were pretty much the only ones there. Boarding wasn't for an hour, so I guessed more people would show up later.

"I'm going to look for something to eat," Alfred said, while standing up. "Is there anything you want?"

I knew for a fact that airport food was always over priced, and usually less than satisfactory. But I also knew that I had to eat something, because we'd be on the plane to Vancouver for five hours, and airplane food would be ten times worse.

"I'll just have whatever you're having," I answered with a sigh.

Alfred just nodded, before running off, down the long hallway.

There really wasn't much to do while waiting, so I began flipping through one of the magazines the airport provided. It was just an average female fashion magazine, but it was better than doing nothing. The images were of overly thin models, wearing clothes that were way too revealing. All I knew, is that I wouldn't want to see any of those outfits on a woman I'd be interested in.

Suddenly I was pulled from my thoughts by a pleasant Spanish accent. "Um excuse me sir, is this where the flight to Vancouver boards?" A man with slightly curly brown hair asked.

He was wearing a light fall jacket, over a thin grey hoodie, with dark skinny jeans and black combat boots. Much like Alfred, he could have passed as a teenager, I thought with a smirk.

He better not have seen the magazine I had been reading, because that would be somewhat embarrassing. I quickly flattened it across my lap, and awkwardly leaned over it, before giving the guy a quick reply. "Yeah, but not for another forty minutes."

"Okay then, I guess I'll just have to wait," he sighed with a small pout. "Do you mind if I sit here?" he continued, his facial expression quickly changing to an annoying smile.

"Sure, I don't care," I answered.

Honestly, the only reason I agreed was because the magazine was getting boring. Besides, this guy seemed friendly enough.

"I'm Antonio by the way," the brunet said, while sitting down in the seat beside mine.

"Lovino," I introduced myself.

He was eying the magazine across my lap, so I quickly explained it. I could feel my face heat up as I talked. "Uh, there weren't any others, and I was really bored, and—" I was cut off by Antonio's soft laughter.

"So Lovino, why are you going to Vancouver?" he asked, and to my relief, changed the subject.

"Alfred, the guy I'm traveling with has a bunch of meetings there, I figured I'd tag along," I replied, trying to make myself seem less lame. "Why are you going?"

I was never any good at making conversation, but for some reason I had felt like trying that day. Alfred liked to think of me as anti social, but in reality, I just hate people too much to bother talking to them. This Antonio guy seemed, alright. I mean compared to most people, he was only a little annoying with all that smiling.

"I've got some friends that live there, and I'm visiting them for a week," he answered.

"Oh that's uh, nice," I tried to sound genuine.

"Yeah. I haven't seen them in a while, I'm pretty excited," he said with another big smile.

"So why are you going to Vancouver?" Wait, I already asked that, crap this was bad I thought, after accidentally letting the question slip.

I felt my cheeks heat up again as I waited for his obvious reply. I hadn't meant to ask the same question twice, in a row, I just wanted to say something and that was the first thing that popped into my mind.

"You're funny," Antonio chuckled. "Am I making you nervous or something?" he continued, while staring at me with a questioning gaze. Okay, well I hadn't been expecting that reply.

"W-what?" was all I managed to say, before finding my words, "no I just, I forgot what you said dammit!"

"Okay, well I'm going to Vancouver to meet up with some friends," he repeated.

Antonio probably thought I had problems. At first I felt a bit embarrassed, but then I remembered that there was no way I'd ever have to see him again, so there was no reason to feel bad.

"That's sounds nice," I said, trying to keep the conversation going.

Antonio laughed again. "You already said that too Lovi!"

Oh right, I had already said that—wait did he just call me Lovi? It was probably suppose to be some sort of nickname, but to me it just sounded odd. Especially coming from a stranger, I thought with a cringe.

"What the hell you idiot!" I exclaimed, forgetting about the fact that I had been trying to have a normal conversation. "You can't just give a complete stranger a nickname!" I felt my cheeks heat up for the third time that conversation.

"Well you can't call a stranger an idiot, unless they've cut you in traffic, or done something equally rude," he replied with another laugh.

You'd think I was a comedian with the amount of times I'd made that guy laugh, I thought, while trying to hold back a chuckle of my own.

"S-sorry," I stuttered out, trying not to laugh.

"It's okay," Antonio replied with a smile, "but only if I can call you Lovi."

I sighed, before crossing my arms over my chest. "Fine," I agreed.

"So Lovi," he began, putting emphasis on my name, "where are you from?"

"Syracuse," I replied. "I'm guessing you're not from around here," I continued.

He just grinned. "Actually I'm Canadian," he clarified. "My accent must have thrown you off."

"Yeah, it did," I admitted.

I wasn't one to judge; english wasn't my first language either. I internally smiled, as I remembered the fond memories of Alfred and I suffering through projects in english class. At least I had an excuse for having trouble, he was just plain dumb.

"I moved here fifteen years ago, when I was eleven," he explained. "From Spain."

I absentmindedly calculated his age in my head. It took a few moments, but I concluded that he was twenty-six, four years older than me.

"What about you?" he inquired.

"I grew up in the US, but Italian is my first language," I replied.

"Ciao, ti amo," he said, out of nowhere.

I felt my heart speed up as I understood the words, regardless of the slight mispronunciation.

"W-what?" I exclaimed.

"Hello and I love you," Antonio shrugged, before running a hand through his light brown hair. "They're the only words I know in Italian."

"That's weird," I exclaimed, a small smile grazing my lips.

"Well what words do you know in Spanish?" he asked, eyeing me with kind green eyes.

I had never taken any Spanish classes in school, so the only words I knew were from television, or celebrity interviews.

Reluctantly, I mumbled out the words I could recall, "Hola, dame un beso."

"Wow, that's so much better than me," he laughed, sarcasm laced into each word.

Suddenly Alfred interrupted our conversation. I had been concentrating so much on Antonio I didn't even noticed him walk into my line of vision. "Hey I brought you a burger, who's this guy?" he asked rudely.

I was about to answer, but Antonio beat me to it. He turned around to face Alfred, "I'm Antonio, you must be the guy Lovi's traveling with?"

"Um yeah," Alfred replied, in an annoyed voice, rather than his normal happy one. "Listen dude, you're kinda in my spot so—"

Antonio cut him off. "Oh no worries, I'll just go over there," he said in friendly voice, while dragging his suitcase over to the other side of the waiting area. "Bye Lovi," he called, "it was nice talking to you."

"Yeah, bye," I replied.

You know, I was never amazing at sensing the mood, but in this situation the tension was so thick I could almost see it. Meanwhile, Alfred grumpily sat down beside me, and passed me my food. "Eat up dude, we're going to be on that plane for a really long time."

I nodded, before taking a bite.

We sat in comfortable silence, until finally, a flight attendant told us they were ready to start boarding the plane. Since we had gotten there, a large amount of people had accumulated in the waiting area for the flight, so it took a while for us all to board.

Unfortunately, Alfred and I weren't able to to get seats beside each other, so rather than being beside me, he was several rows in front. It hardly mattered though, it wasn't like I was planning on talking to him, I thought while pulling out my neck pillow. After listening to the flight attendant's instructions on using the oxygen masks, I got into position to take another siesta.


Suddenly I was rudely awoken by the loud ding of the intercom. "We are experiencing some turbulence, so please fasten your seat belts," a flight attendant's voice informed.

Since I had woken up, I was able to feel the plane being jerked around in the wind. Some turbulence? It felt more like major turbulence. Now that I thought about it, I had never experienced so much turbulence in my life.

The plane was in a death match with the wind for a few more minutes, before a loud metallic tearing sound was loud in everyone's ears. "What the fuck is going on?" I heard someone scream behind me. There were many more similar screams that followed.

"We are now experiencing some more serious turbulence, please keep calm—" another strong jerk to plane, sent it spiralling to the side.

I felt fear grip my chest. All I could think about was how high the plane was, and what could happen if we crashed. Suddenly I watched as the plane's right wing tore completely off. The loud tearing noise it created sent the entire plane into panic.

But just as quickly as it came, there was nothing.


Thanks for reading chapter one! Please feel free to leave a review, your input/opinion would be greatly appreciated.