"I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don't notice."
Antonio had the gall to laugh after that and I felt the unfortunate heat of a blush rise in my cheeks. I huffed and crossed my arms, turning away so he wouldn't see my embarrassment.
"Impossible," I spat, "I don't look at you in any special way." Antonio only laughed harder and danced around me, following whichever direction I turned my head until I gave up and looked at him, alighting my face with an aggravated glare. I refused to admit to him (and a little to myself) that I looked at him at all, let alone in some sort of way that would stir up a conversation like this.
"Lovi, you're so cute when you're flustered!" I felt my cheeks burn brighter and I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation, taking several deep and calming breaths.
"Dio dannato..." His hands were suddenly on mine, pulling them away from my face, drawing them to his chest. He smiled brightly at me and I felt my chest flutter, much to my great annoyance. I tried to ignore the butterflies stirring in my gut, determined to mentally squash every single one of them into tiny little pancakes for noticing how damn handsome he was when he smiled.
Antonio doesn't just smile with his mouth, he smiles with his entire being. His eyes light up, his face brightens, his whole person seems to just vibrate with happiness, and he was focusing it all on me. The eternal sunshine was shining down on the eternal rain cloud and I was entirely uncomfortable with so much brightness invading my familiar darkness. How could any mortal being's eyes sparkle like that? He wasn't good for my health when he turned his full attention to me, my blood would run thick in my veins and my head would suddenly feel like it was fully of helium. Was that normal? Did he have that effect on anyone else? Part of me hoped he did, that would make what I was experiencing normal; however, there was a part of me that so desperately desired for him to only look at me like that, for him to only make me feel like this. It was impossible not to get sucked into his felicity, whisked away to Neverland where problems melt away into a puddle that no longer matters and dreams really do come true.
His smile slid from his face and my heart ached with the sudden disappearance of happiness, his mouth forming a surprised 'O'.
"That's the one!" He said suddenly, "that's the face!" I scowled.
"What is this face?" I demanded to know so I could stop if from turning up in the future. He released my hands and skipped back, making a grand display of inspecting my features.
"Your eyes soften," he said, looking at me between his thumbs and forefingers like he was framing up a potential photograph. "They glitter," he added, tilting his head, "your cheeks get all rosy and," he dropped his hands and approached me again, his lips pulling into another easy smile that left my heart racing away. He stared at me for what felt like an eternity, drawing out his sentence and leaving me hanging, waiting with my breath caught somewhere between my chest and my throat. Finally, "you smile," he said at last.
I felt dizzy.
"I don't smile," I whispered, torn between backing away and leaning in as he inched closer; mio dio, I could feel the heat rolling off him and crashing into me like comforting waves – could waves be comforting? I was mildly irked somewhere in the back of my hazy mind that I felt entirely too comfortable with Antonio leaning in so close, looking for all the world like he was going to kiss me.
He did kiss me, and my heart stopped for a split second before it thundered so hard in my chest I could feel it behind my elbows and knees and in my temples. I froze against him, one of his hands warm against my cheek as he held it, the other snaking around my waist and pulling me against him before my instinct to flee could kick in. He was kissing me, Antonio was kissing me.
That jerk bastard didn't even ask for my permission, he just leaned in and put his lips to mine – where they still were presently and oh, it was hard not to respond when he turned his head and I felt myself melting into him. Every single thought in my brain flushed out of my ears and pooled somewhere on the ground at my feet; I no longer cared and I trampled all over those thoughts as I shuffled my feet so I could press into him further.
Why hadn't he done this sooner?
He stopped kissing me and only one thought resounded in my recently emptied skull, 'that jerk bastard didn't ask my permission to stop' and he smiled, pressing his forehead to mine.
"But you do smile, Lovi," he said, "you smile at me."
I suppose I did, if I gave it any sort of consideration. Of course, I didn't have time to consider smiles and my own feelings of happiness because he was leaning in again and I was ready for it this time.
AN: I intended this for a request prompt I received on Tumblr (the prompt was "I see the way you look at me when you think I don't notice") HOWEVER, I accidentally wrote the wrong pairing! But, I still liked the story, so I kept it instead of scrapping it - heh.