Full summary: Short boy with piss-olive skin and vomit green eyes attempts to stay calm, fails miserably. French drama queen seeks attention and love, is flipped off and kicked in the shins. Happy boy is happy to make friends on every occasion, breaks the kneecaps of every person that looks at him funny. Red-eyed white toublemaker attempts to fight a bird, the bird wins and leaves him sobbing. Wicked woman wishes to be an immigrant in the 17th century to confuse people with her crossdressing, is mad at society. This is their story.

Note 1: Hi guys! Here I come with my second story! This will be a multi-chapter story, dealing with a lot of bad things (ex. depression, RAD, abuse, abandonment issues, eating disorders, problems of today's society and economy, trust issues, swearing etc.), while also dealing with friendship, love, trust and happiness. If you're uncomfortable with these kind of things, then I suggest you don't read it. It will also be kind of educational, as I will try to include facts about all the cities that they would travel through.

Note 2: I planned exactly 60 chapters, but knowing me, I'll probably go over the limit. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! This is only the prologue so it may be a bit boring(I actually put a lot of effort to make it seem more interesting pfft-) but fear not! It will get more and more interesting as the story unfolds! Please review, I'll appreciate it!

Note 3: I hope my Spanish doesn't suck balls, if you see a mistake, don't hesitate to correct me!

Ciao!~

"I am a stranger,

learning to love the strangers around me."

-June Jordan.

(Carribean-American poet, essayist and activist)

XxX

Lovino couldn't believe this.

He's been staring at his phone for over 15 minutes now, wondering why the hell did he put up with other people's shit when he's only trying to distance himself from them.

He licked his dry lips.

Man, Erzsébet was such a manipulative bitch. No wonder he gave in so easily. Especially if he had a nosy and annoying brother like Veneziano, who couldn't mind his own business and who constantly nagged at Lovino to go on the trip.

He frowned.

Right as he woke up in the morning, drool still on his chin, eyes squinted and with a horrible bedhead, he received a call from a too-delighted Eliza, who begged Lovino to come with her on a trip with her and 'some friends', or so she vaguely said. Maybe it was because of the early time or because he got only two hours of sleep, or maybe because of Veneziano who constantly kept poking Lovino's cheek, but he said he would be there.

A horrible decision, really.

"Hey, hey! Don't stare at your phone like that ve!~ It's creepy!" Veneziano said, making Lovino snap out of his haze.

"It's not my fucking fault I'm staring like that!" Lovino snapped at him. He jumped from his bed and made his way to take a shower, ignoring his brother's whines.

"But! You're gonna make friends! Isn't that nice?"

Lovino stopped right as he was about to enter the bathroom and gave Veneziano an annoyed look. "No fucking way."

And then he slammed the door shut.

He sighed and undressed himself, making his way to the shower. He struggled to make the water not too hot but not too cold either and when he succeded, he entered the stream of water. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the slightly colder water hitting his warm body and then he thought.

He thought about this trip. Eliza said that he should be in the usual café at 12am today to discuss some basic stuff so he couldn't take a long shower.

Last night, Eliza's albino friend found out that he won at the lottery. Right. That guy is rich now, having enough money to run his own company but what do you think he wants to do with all that money?

He's planning a fucking trip around all of Europe.

Utterly stupid.

Especially if Lovino was dragged into this mess too.

He didn't want to go. Call him childish or a murderer but he thought he's going to kill someone on the first day if he ever spend that much time with some idiots that he didn't even know that much about.

He did know Francis thought, oh yes. Surely that wine-loving ass would come on this trip too. After all, he's one of that albino's friends. He knew him from the IED university. A charming man that dazzles all the rooms and halls with his pretty and flirtatious face, making all the girls flock to him and swoon over him. A real player, really. Hands always manicured, hair always combed and always well-dressed, he could get all the girls he wanted with a single wink.

But he never chose one girl for more than a night.

A shitty reputation he made there. That's why Lovino kind of hated him. He never looked past that grin on the asshole's face and he intended to keep it that way. Not that he cared anyway.

He knew Erzsébet too well. A girly and also tomboyish girl who was in Lovino's classes and which mother tongue was too hard for any sane person to understand. She was smart and she could probably lead an entire army if she would live in another life. Always dressed like a dumpster or in some floral dressed and shirts, there is no in between.

She was sensitive and sweet, but damn if you made her angry. She always had some kind of photo for blackmailing people and she wasn't afraid to post them on social media. Freaky.

She was also a huge pervert, but let's not talk about that.

He knew Gilbert too. One of the Beilschmidt's. German. Freakishly white. A damn blogger.

He only met him about two times in the past year but Lovino feels like he knows him too well for his own good. He was the kind of person who had a face that literally screamed 'HEY! LOOK AT ME! I'M GREAT!' and he was completely the opposite of Francis. No class at all. Only drinks beer. He doesn't flirt with anybody. Loud and irresponsable. And now days even rich.

Lovino hated him too only for the fact that he was related to the 15-years-old potato bastard, Ludwig. Also he was annoying as fuck.

And then there was those two's other friend. The tomato bastard. The most annoying, bothersome, irritating and at the same time the most wonderful person Lovino's ever met.

He wanted to hate him too, oh how he wanted to wipe that too-bright smile from his tanned face, but he couldn't.

Because he actually loved him.

He was shocked when he realised that on a sunny day, not even 6 months ago. He barely even knew the man at that time and he was also not okay with all of his annoying touching and attention, but it all changed that one day. Or maybe that feeling was there since they met one year ago?

He was strolling through the busy streets of Madrid, camera in hand, massenger bag over his shoulder and a serene and relaxed look plastered on his face when it hit him all at once.

He wasn't even doing or thinking something huge and mesmerising, he just crossed a street and decided to take another route to get home. He rounded a corner and he remembered there was a small flower shop. Lovino didn't know why, but the flower shop seemed to call to him at that time, and so he entered.

There were many kinds of flowers all around the shop- carnations, sunflowers, roses, tulips, orchids- and in the middle of it, at the countertop, there was a guy that didn't even bother to look up from his book and he kept smoking -was that even allowed in here?

Lovino couldn't give two damns about that guy right then so he decided to keep looking at the flowers.

He remembered catching a sign of a pretty tall tomato plant and he instantly thought that Antonio would've love that.

And then it hit him. All the moments he's thinking about him, all those stupid random things that reminded Lovino of him, all those times he tried not to smile at the thought or sight of Antonio, the way his heart always jumped a little everytime Antonio touched him.

He fell in love so fucking suddenly and hard.

He avoided him 2 whole weeks then until Francis pulled his ass out of his bed and drove to Antonio's place to "make up already" or so he said.

Another shoking surprise waited at Antonio's at that time but that's a story for another time.

Why was he even thinking about this now?

He sighed and got out of the shower, dried himself up as best as he could and tried to style his hair. After some futile tries he gave up on combing it and just dried his tangled mess of hair as it was. He sighed again and dressed himself in a casual, but pretty fucking fashionable button down with simple jeans, an outfit he could rock like a pro.

He watched himself in the mirror and smirked proudly at himself. Dang, he looked good!

If only he didn't have those marks on his arms and bags under his eyes.

XxX

After he drowned four cups of coffee in one sit and took his old and rugged messager bag, he ran out of his small apartament, ignoring his brother's pleadings to eat. He jumped down the stairs and made his way to the café.

It was a pretty café. It was small, but not too small and the huge windows let a warm glow inside of it. The walls were cream coloured and the scattered tables were ornated with small, violet flowers. The same kind of flowers ornated the windowstills, both inside and outside the café. There was the register and on the other side of the room was an ice-cream machine, a tired, but happy-looking Antonio making his way from one to another, trying to please a granny with her niece and a businessman at the same time.

Lovino debated going to greet him but dismissed the thought. Poor guy, he looked histerical, grinning and apologising while holding a tray with a cup of coffee, honey and sugar for the irittated businessman, who had to wait for Antonio to give the small girl her ice-cream first. Heh.

Also there they were. Francis, Eliza and that albino fuck, sitting at one small table, waving excitedly at Lovino like he was the salvation and like he would bring peace to the world.

He rolled his eyes and made his way to them, scanning the room for any avabile chair. He took a random one from a table and flopped himself in the corner, between Eliza and the albino shitface. No way was he going to sit near that hairy, french snail.

"Aww, no love for me, mon chouchou?" Said snail pouted, but smirked when Lovino's frown deepened.

"As if." He crossed his arms and decided to just watch Antonio work.

The white rabbit slapped him on the back, almost making him fall down from his chair. "Cheer up buddy, we're going to be stuck together for a whole summer!" He shouted -he always shouted.

Eliza gave him an irritated look. "Don't slap him like that Gilbert, man, you're such an ass."

"What? But I didn't do anything!"

Lovino wanted to snap at them both to shut up but then Francis-the-French interrupted their argument with a snap of his fingers.

"Let's not fight, we don't have time for that." He then turned to Gilbert and raised an eyebrow. "I believe you said you wanted to tell us the details, no?"

Gilbert blinked and then scratched his head, "What?"

"You know-" Eliza made a vague gesture with her hand, "-the trip? Focus."

"Oh yeah!" He finally got it and Lovino fought the urge to slap his face in annoyance. Idiot. This guy is nothing more than a huge joke.

But nobody could read minds, so Gilbert continued.

"I actually want to wait until Toni makes it out alive from there." He gestured at the register, where Antonio was making a Cappuccino -really? cappuccino at this time of the day? ugh- for a shabby looking guy.

Antonio apparently heard them because he gave them a smile and he waved. "You guys continue, I hear everything you say!" He then turned to Lovino. "Hola sweetie!~"

Lovino blushed and waved lazily. "Y-yeah. Hi."

"Can I have my coffee now?" The shaggy man said impatiently.

"Oh! Right! Here!"

"So anyway," Gilbert's annoying voice made Lovino snap out of it as he addressed them again. "I was planning a 90 days trip around all of Europe and I wanted you all to come with me since you're my buddies-"

"We're not friends." Lovino and Erzsébet said at the same time.

Gilbert ignored them and continued "-and I didn't want only the bad touch trio to come since I want more people to experience my awesomeness. I decided that five people are enough to make this interesting so I added the angry Italian kid and the Hungarian glove-wearing bitch!"

The bad touch trio. Francis, Antonio and Gilbert. Three childhood friends with personalities so different, that one might think they would've hated eachother over their differences. But no, here they are, best friends for 15 years and still kicking.

Lovino was envious of their friendship.

He only scoffed. "I'm not a fucking kid, you dumb albino squirrel."

"And I'm not a bitch, it's not my fault I have this!" Erzsébet flailed around her wrist support gloved hand.

Gilbert ignored her, making her groan in annoyance, and addressed Lovino. " Uh, yeah, you're a kid. A little kiddo, what are you, twelve?" He grinned mockingly at Lovino's sudden frustrated red face.

"I'm not twelve dammit, I'm nineteen!" He shouted in embrassement and scowled at him.

"Aww, look at that pouty face, you remind me of little Feli!" He laughed.

"Stay the fuck away from Veneziano." His voice dropped warningly but nobody seemed to be fazed by Lovino's tries to look and sound intimidating.

"Anyway, I'm bored." Gilbert swiftly changed the subject, "so are you all in?"

"We didn't even plan anything." Francis muttered under his breath.

Gilbert heard him and he shrugged. "Well, I'm not gonna do it."

Lovino slapped himself. "You're the one who wants the goddamned trip to happen!"

"That does not mean I'm good at planning it!"

"Well you should think before saying stupid fucking things then!"

"Hah! Like you're better! With your fu-"

"ENOUGH!"

Erzsébet got up and slammed her hands on the table, making everyone at the table shut up. Antonio almost dropped a danish on a old man and Francis smiled in amusement.

"If you shout I'll have to kick you out." Antonio warned her but even if he tried to sound convincing, his slightly shaking voice and worried eyes made it clear that he'd hate to kick someone out.

She ignored him, looking intensely between Lovino and Gilbert. "Shut up! I'm gonna do it okay! I'm gonna calculate everything! Just say how much money do you have and it will be done by tomorrow!"

And then she sat down in her seat, out of breath and still frowning at Gilbert's shocked face.

He then smirked. "Damn, alright, no need to get mad!"

"Cut the crap, Gil."

"I have 40000 euros, is that enough for your highness?"

She just ignored him. "Right. Lovino, do you have anything to say?" She raised an eyebrow.

Oh shit, she knew. She knew about his trip to Italy. How the fuck? Is she a freaking witch? Can she read minds or some-

Oh, wait. Dammit Veneziano and his big mouth.

"I… might have 7000 euros, yes."

Francis' eyes widened and he smirked. "Mon Dieu, and what you were going to do with those money?"

"Not of your smelly fucking business."

"Alright!" Eliza avoided another conflict. "Now, everyone, don't disturb me or I might castrate all of you."

And her words were final.

XxX

The conversation continued on the topic of the trip. They settled everything that had to be settled and they calculated everything that had to be calculated. Lovino almost felt giddy as he listened to the excited voices of the others, who were now deciding which cities to visit. They needed exactly 58 so that the trip would be perfect. Everyone's eyes were sparkling and even Antonio joined them with coffee and pastries, still looking after possible customers.

Eliza was scribbling down the calculations in a small, yellow notepad that she got from her backpack. Even if she was frowning a bit, chewing a pen, she still looked excited to be here.

Francis was discussing the wonders of French cities to Antonio, the latter listening to him with a huge grin and shiny eyes. He also tried not to burst into laughter as Gilbert silently mimicked Francis' every move and word.

As for Lovino… he was just…

There.

Observing. Watching every movement of the others. Listening to the tone of their voices and the words that flowed out of their mouths. His eyes moving over every feature of the people around him, trying to take in all of their quirks and tics.

Not that he cared about all of that. No, Lovino didn't care how Francis always smiled mischievously when his eyes screamed for release. He didn't care how Gilbert was always shouting, while hiding a small insecurity in his eyes and posture. He didn't care how Eliza slightly flinched at every quick movement, while trying not to take her hands from the table. He didn't care how Antonio's smile litterally froze at the mention of Belgian waffles.

But he couldn't unsee it.

All of his life he's been watching people. It's in his blood. When he was little, he never engaged in conversations or social events. He was always watching other kids play with eachother from his bedroom window. He never responded when other people tried to comfort him. And he always was so sad and angry for no reason. Nowadays, he had to learn to see beauty in every imperfection and to capture it in pictures. But this always came with a downside.

Observing people's beautiful side made him observe people's ugly side too.

And he didn't want to. All he wanted was to be oblivious of the ugly parts of life, making room for positivity. He didn't want to know about people's nightmares or dreams or life in general.

He didn't want to get close again.

And you know what made Lovino feel even worse? Nobody seemed to have the same problem.

Everyone was trying to ignore the other's ugly side or they simply didn't see it.

Bullshit. This was total bullshit. Lovino felt himself getting angry at that thought but then he caught Francis' intense blue eyes for a brief moment.

Everyone, except Francis.

He met him one year ago in the first day of college. Francis' calculating eyes observed every little detail of Lovino's being that day, a fact that made Lovino hate him with a burning passion. It's like he was trying to deschiper Lovino's life in one simple look, without asking him. He only observed a certain person for a few times until he thought he got the information he needed.

And that was the difference between the two.

Lovino didn't want to know anything but Francis was trying hard to understand everything.

Terrifying.

His eyes were terrifying when he did that. And he never asked anything. He would just act like his perverse self after he thought he knew you. And he knew that I'm observant. He even knew that I know what's he doing.

Ugh, that's fucking confusing. Nevermind.

"Lovino!" Gilbert snapped his fingers in front of his face, making him stop staring at Francis. He blinked and looked at him.

"What?"

"I've been calling you for two minutes now, slowpoke." Gilbert said.

"I'm not a slowpoke, you asshole!"

"Guys, shut up." Eliza butted in.

"Hey, Lovi, I was just wondering if you'll come with me at my mama's." Antonio put his hand on Lovino's shoulder, making him tense up.

"Yeah, sure, yeah." He muttered. "Why not?"

"Great! Then let's go!" Antonio pulled him up from his seat.

"Wait," he gestured at the table, "what about the idiots?" And then he added, "and the shop."

"Don't worry! We have plenty of time to plan this trip!" Antonio said. "Also my mother will come soon, that's why we have to go now!"

"Aren't you going to be late to class?" Eliza asked, not looking up from her notebook.

"Merde!"

And then Francis ran past Antonio and Lovino and exited the shop. Gilbert only laughed and then he turned to the two standing.

"Bye you gay suckers!"

"Fuck you!" Lovino flipped Gilbert off and Antonio waved at him. He took Antonio by the collar and off they were.

XxX

They made their way to the bus stop in complete silence. They sat down and waited.

Lovino felt Antonio trying to grab his hand, but he wouldn't let him do that. He put his hands in his jeans' pockets and gave him a slightly pleading and irittated look.

Please don't touch me in public.

Lovino could see Antonio wanted to say something about it, maybe a few soft spoken words or words of disagreement -Lovino didn't know-, but then the bus came and they hopped in. They found two empty seats and they sat down, Lovino at the window.

"Hey, are you excited for he trip, sweetie?" Antonio finally broke the ice.

God, what the hell was with Antonio and his pet names? Couldn't he speak normally? Lovino always felt embarrassed when Antonio said those kind of things.

"Not really, no." He answered honestly.

In truth, he was scared. He didn't know what was waiting for him on this trip. He was going to spend his entire summer break with four other people and that thought wasn't so pleasing right now. What if someone gets lost? What if he will say some bitchy stuff and ruin everything?

Oh God, what if he will say some bitchy stuff and ruin everything?

Antonio gave him a slightly worried look, but then he smiled. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Everything will be okay! And if it's not, then I'll be there to make it okay, okay?~"

Lovino had the urge to touch his face, but he quickly dismissed it.

"Yeah, I guess."

He scanned the bus to see if there were many people. There was only a granny in the back of the bus. Heh. Guess a lot of people have their siesta right now.

As if.

So Lovino went over his pride and allowed himself to lean his head on Antonio's shoulder. Antonio sensed him and he beamed lovingly at him. He was doing his best in standing still so that Lovino wouldn't get uncomfortable, but he was too excited and happy to not move or to not hum a tune.

Lovino closed his eyes. God, how lucky he was to have Antonio by his side.

XxX

Antonio's house was a small one in the outskirts of Madrid. It had an earthy hue and it literally screamed Antonio. There was a little garden with flowers in the front but if you went in the back, there was a bigger garden with all kinds of vegetables like bell peppers, lettuce, onions and, of course, tomatoes. The inside of the house was larger than it seemed, having two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The living room was supposed to be large, but with the aquarium in the middle of it, it seemed a lot smaller. The house also was decorated with a milion of colorful stuff and succulents, and the walls were bright yellow. Muffled electro pop from the back garden was heard every time he entered this house and Lovino would've hated it if he wouldn't have been used to it already.

If Antonio said that he decorated the house, he would believe him in a heartbeat.

"Ma! I'm home!" Antonio shouted right as a small sunshine exited one bedroom in hurry.

"¡Papi, ven y juega conmigo!" Little Lucía screeched excitedly.

The shoking surprise that awaited at Antonio's house.

"¡Luci, mi felicidad, mi tesoro!~" He said while swooping the little giggling girl off her feet and cuddling her small frame.

His four years old daughter.

Lovino was used to seeing Antonio give so many hugs and kisses and affection in general to his daughter after every reunion, but to a normal person, it might seem a little over the top. He didn't mind that, obviously, and he didn't interrupt them, only leaning in the door's frame, but he also felt kind of uncomfortable to see Antonio love his daughter so much because…

Because he didn't receive that kind of treatment when he was little.

"I'm gonna be late!" Antonio's mother yelled as she exited the kitchen.

And there she was. Miss Carmen Carriedo Reyes. Antonio's mother. A poor 40 years old lady with a smile of silver and a voice like sugar. She looked like a splitting image of Antonio, only her skin was darker, her hair was longer and she was shorter. She had a very thick accent and Lovino had to listen carefully to understand her, but he got used to it. Her clothes were kind of rumpled and her apron was stained with all kinds of food, but she looked like she didn't mind it. She was holding a large bowl with whipped cream and a mixer, trying at the same time to get her disheveled hair out of her face.

Lovino quickly took the bowl and mixer from her hands and smiled at her, a smile that looked like the owner wasn't used to smiling.

"I'll take that, miss Carmen." He made his way to the kitchen that was filled with all kinds of little cakes, probably for the cafe or something.

"Still aren't calling me mom, are ya?" Miss Carmen said right before slamming her bedroom door shut.

He cringed a bit, maybe because of what she said or maybe because of the door, but he put the things down and went to see what is that idiot Antonio doing.

He was unsurprisingly playing with Lucía with some toys, making her laugh and flutter her hands around.

"Hey, can you watch her for a minute?" Antonio then made eye contact. "I have to talk with ma."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

So Antonio left the living room and left Lovino with the kid. He…

He didn't really like kids, especially if they're crying, and he never knew how to act around them. Also the cursing. It is kind of bad when he cursed around a kid and that kid mimicked him.

He sat down in front of Lucía, who was sitting on the couch, and tried to smile at her.

It came more like a scowl.

Fortunately, Lucía was Antonio's daughter and she couldn't possibly cry at such a silly face. So she smiled brightly at him.

She then took Lovino's face in her tiny hands and started blabbering in Spanish.

Lovino couldn't really communicate with her. After all, he didn't really know Spanish, even if he lived in Spain for an entire year already. So he only slightly frowned, trying to deschiper her kiddy talk, but to no avail.

Lucía was… a long story, really. Nobody, except for her father, really knew from where she came from or who was her mother. But her curly hair and her smile showed that she was, in fact, Antonio's biological daughter. The only difference between them was that Lucía had lighter hair and skin, and that her eyes were a different kind of green, a paler shade.

Antonio never talked about her mother. Not even his best friends knew about who she was, and they were around him when it happened, unlike Lovino, who didn't know Antonio back then. He never really kept secrets, it was not in his blood, but this was weird as fuck.

He was so shocked when he first found about Lucía. At that moment, he thought that Antonio was actually a married man and that he was cheating on his wife with Lovino. But his paranoid thoughts never came true, and that was a huge relief, after all, if they were true, he would've had to kick Antonio's ass into oblivion and he would've had to never see him again.

"You're cute, you know that?" He said to the still talking girl, who stopped to give him a confused look.

"¿Qué?"

He only pressed his lips and looked away, catching Antonio's eyes, who was exiting the bedroom.

He gave him a smile and sat next to him, begining a conversation with his daughter, who was excited that her father was finally in the same room as her.

Watching these two was a blessing, really. There was no other way to explain the pure happiness that radiated from them. He sighed and put his hand on Antonio's hand.

He gave him a questioning sideways glance but said nothing when he noticed Lovino's relaxed and tired posture, only continuing to talk to his daughter in that sweet language that Lovino loved to listen to.

"And if it's not, then I'll be there to make it okay, okay?~"

Okay.