Song 1: The (Shipped) Gold Standard

Artist: Fall Out Boy

Author's Notes: Welcome to Lovino in a nutshell,

Golden optics flickered in between the people in front of him and the chattering Spaniard in front of him, still entirely unsure as to what to say or do. Like the idiot Antonio was, he didn't really notice the others awkward aura and simply thought that he was being grumpy about one thing or another, and didn't feel like speaking. Nope. It was his stupid social anxiety. Sure, he knew Francis and Gilbert, but that didn't mean he was close to (one of) them, and plus they were both perverts and it wasn't like he was experienced with talking to those. Sure, idiots maybe, but not perverts.

Lovino huffed quietly and folded his arms across his chest, frowning at the gossiping Frenchman as he informed Potato-Bastard #2 and Tomato-Bastard #1 about some one night fling or whatever he had had in the past week. But he could've sworn he had said they were a brunette? Had he had more than one fling in the past seven days?! Wasn't that unhealthy? Busy mulling over his own counterproductive thoughts, he didn't realize that the potato was speaking with him until he was nudged slightly by Antonio, snapping him out of his thoughts. He blinked and looked over at Gilbert, who was grinning lopsidedly at him, and his frown deepened into a grumpy scowl.

"Whatever you want the answer is no, now go away," Francis laughed his creepy-bastard laugh as Gilbert's grin fell slightly, and he could hear Antonio chuckling next to him. Lovino's eyes flickered in between the three, admittedly older, men. "What?"

"G- Gilbert was trying to ask your opinion on Elizabeta. And whether he should try to get her to go out with him," Francis said, recovering from his laughter whilst wiping a stray tear away from his blue eyes. Lovino frowned across the table at Gilbert, pondering on the thought. It was no surprise he had decided to ask him, as he and Elizabeta had known each other since they were both smaller and they had grown up together along with Elayna, and admittedly Gilbert too. A Belgian, a Hungarian, a German and an Italian. Nobody really knew how it had turned out that way, but it was true that the city they lived in was quite diverse. Gilbert and Ludwig (ew) were German bastards, Elizabeta was Hungarian, Elayna, Belgian. And her half-brother, Lars, was Dutch. Antonio was Spanish, Francis French, and he and his brother Feliciano were Italian.

So, this was the moment that Lovino looked at Gilbert carefully, examining him and seeing how he and Elizabeta would do. Don't get him wrong that the brunette female was basically his sister, so he wouldn't dare tell this crazy bastard that she was up for being asked out if he thought him even the slightest bit unworthy. Normally, if he didn't take the time to think about his question, his answer would be an automatic 'no', but this was serious business; you can't just go ahead and tell someone they're not fit to ask someone out, romance was a serious matter. That was one thing he could agree on with the frog.

"Eh," He started, earning him Gilbert's face to fall at his half-hearted beginning, "I mean, you two are basically dating without it being said, I mean you're both fucking glued to the hip at this point-" Sure, he had met Gilbert through Elizabeta since the Hungarian had been friends with the German from a young age, and they had always been together often, but they were together in a different way lately. He'd be lying if he said they didn't have feelings for each other. "-so, abso-fucking-lutely you should ask her out." He watched at crimson colored optics brightened and the cocky grin on his face grew, but before Gilbert had a chance to speak Lovino raised one finger, looking at the other seriously.

"But-" He said, golden eyes regarding him carefully, "if you even fracture her heart bastard, you're going to be wishing you never even met me, capish?"

It was those stupid red eyes that widened now, and he swallowed slightly before nodding. Gilbert was probably the only one at this table that had seen him truly mad since he had known him since they were both around the age of six and he had only been introduced to Antonio and Francis a couple years back. Maybe he would never admit it out loud, but he had befriended the stupid German and his more-than-stupid friends, even if he called them all bastards. Okay, well, mostly Antonio. But they were talking about Gilbert's love life, not his.

"Got it," He said through a sharp German accent, shooting him a thumbs up that simply made Lovino to shake his head and roll his eyes, though he had a small smile tilting the corners of his mouth upwards. He propped his arm on the table and rested his chin in the palm of his hand, deciding to tune into their conversation instead of getting lost in his own thoughts, again.

At one point he felt an arm fall over his shoulders and the Italian jumped, his face flushing a light pink color as he turned his head to look over at the brunette Spaniard sitting next to him, beaming at him with that stupidly charming grin of his. Lovino rolled his eyes and returned his head back to his hand, continuing to listen to the conversation. Something about beer and wine. Though the light blush on his cheeks didn't really fully fade away, and he kept glancing over at Antonio out of the corner of his eye, only to find the Spaniard to be grinning at him still.

Eventually, Lovino sighed and lifted his head again, meeting his striking green gaze steadily. "What do you want?" He asked irritably, and Antonio perked up like a puppy getting attention.

"¡Te quiero mi Lovinito!" He chirped cheerfully, and Lovino's face grew to be a brighter shade of red. The Italian quickly turned his head, shifting in his chair, but he could hear Antonio laugh happily next to him. He risked to look up at Gilbert and Francis, but they seemed too infatuated with whatever question they were having so he turned his eyes to look over at the Spaniard sitting next to him.

"Ti voglio bene…"