Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. Not me.


There was always one special person who could invoke emotions other than anger in a certain Italian. He was a grumpy guy who loved to insult others yet was easily flustered. He loved tomatoes, but he loved that one special person even more.

Lovino Vargas, a 23 year old man who worked at an Italian restaurant, wasn't the nicest person on Earth. In fact, he was one of the worst. Always cursing, everything that comes out of his mouth are vulgarities and he was a pathetic excuse for a man. He had olive skin and hazel-brown eyes, his dark brown hair was neatly styled but there was a curl that stuck out to his right. No matter how much he had tried, he couldn't make it not pop out. And he only tried once, because touching it had resulted in some very serious consequences for the young man.

But, under all that grumpiness and coldness, was a smiling and caring angel.

And only one person could pull it out.

xxxxx

The lunch rush today was as busy as ever. Lovino quickly kneaded pizza dough and spread tomato sauce on it, then put toppings and other necessities. He then pushed it into the large oven while taking out another, already done. He slid the pizza across the cleaner countertop next to his flour-covered one and one of the waiters at the restaurant took it.

Immediately he went to prepare another pizza. The lunch rush was a busy three hours of work as office workers, school kids, and couples came to dine at the Italian restaurant. Lovino was the best pizza maker, and the only pizza maker since he could never get along with any of his colleagues, in the restaurant and he liked it that way.

His boss, Mr Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, was a Spaniard with a love for Italian cuisine. That man was practically married to tomatoes, being the co-manager of a huge tomato processing plant. How he had time to run such a popular restaurant, no one knew. He was known to be lazy and happy-go-lucky, obliviously cheerful, and a complete idiot.

Lovino chucked another pizza into the oven and slid out another. He was long familiar to the routine, having been working at the restaurant for nearly seven years already. He had to earn a living at a young age of 16 due to his family's financial problems. He was a part-time worker at the restaurant, working only during the rush hour. He was also a student at a university nearby, majoring in botany. He even had a garden full of all sorts of plants at home.

Once the lunch rush had passed, Lovino rested his back on the wall, waiting for his shift to end. It ended a few minutes later. Lovino grumpily walked to his locker and pulled out the set of clean clothes he brought to change into. His colleague, Gilbert, came into the locker room as well.

Gilbert Beilschmidt was a student in the same university as Lovino, but he majored in engineering instead. He was an albino, so he always wore long sleeved shirts and long pants and carried an umbrella wherever he went, despite of the weather being as hot as exceeding 40 degrees Celsius during the summer, he still wore the same attire. The man had a head of white messy hair and gleaming red eyes. He was best friends with Mr Antonio apparently, and another man who owned a French restaurant. They were, apparently, the same age, but Gilbert was the only one who pursued higher education after they graduated from school.

Gilbert opened his locker and pulled out a black long sleeved shirt and ripped jeans.

"Hi there grumpy," he said mockingly. Lovino just glared at him.

xxxxx

It was a Sunday and Lovino had no lessons that day, so he went home immediately after work. Mr Antonio had also given him his pay for the week, so Lovino went out to buy groceries.

Lovino lived with his brother, Feliciano Vargas.

Feliciano Vargas was slightly shorter than Lovino, being the younger brother. He was not in school anymore and worked as an artist, selling his drawings to collectors at large auctions around the world. He was only 21 yet he was a talented young man. Compared to his brother, he was an extremely cheerful person who was a complete idiot as well as a crybaby. His hair was a few shades lighter than his brother's and he also had a curl, which stuck out on the left side. His eyes were a sparkling hazel and his skin is fair but mildly tanned from playing at the beach during the summer months.

When Lovino arrived home, Feliciano was sitting in front of a blank canvas, preparing his paint and looking for something to paint.

"Ah fratello! You're home! " Feliciano exclaimed and ran up to hug him.

"Oi let go!" Lovino shouted but made a half-hearted attempt to push his brother off. Feliciano clung onto his brother tightly.

"Neh Lovino~, I missed you," Feliciano whispered the last part of the sentence into Lovino's ear, causing a blush to erupt on his face.

Lovino pushed his brother off this time, placing the groceries and the money he got for the week on the dining table.

"J-Just go back to painting already. Bastard, you're the one who insisted on being a painter so go do your job already," Lovino said in his usual grumpy tone.

As he saw his younger brother go back to attending to his blank canvas, Lovino briskly walked to his room and slammed the door shut.

"Damn that bastard, making me feel like this. Dammit. Why am I even feeling like that?! He just whispered in my ear…and hugged me. DAMMIT!" Lovino muttered and jumped face first on his bed.

After a minute of mumbling into his pillow, Lovino tossed his stuff to one side and left the room to prepare dinner, blush having receded to just a faint tint of pink on his cheeks. Feliciano was busy painting a vase of flowers he had set up. Lovino, not wanting to distract him, walked past to the kitchen, grabbing the bag of groceries on the way.

xxxxx

"Fratello!"

"What?!" Lovino snapped, turning his attention to his brother for a moment.

"I'm hungry!" Feliciano whined, walking into the kitchen and resting his hands on the kitchen counter.

Lovino tched him and went back to making his brother's beloved pasta. The noodles had been in the boiling water for a little too long and had become soggier than needed. Lovino quickly took them out and poured the bubbling sauce into a separate bowl. He placed both items on the dining table, with a hungry Italian following him behind.

Immediately the hungry man jumped into a chair and took out a plate and cutlery from who knows where and put some of the pasta onto his plate, then poured some sauce onto the noodles. Lovino sighed at his brother's starved behavior and slowly took the bowl of pasta.

The door to the house opened then and in walked the youngest of the Italian brothers, Sebastian Vargas.

Sebastian Vargas was the youngest of the three Italian brothers. He was only 18 and was going to enter the same University as Lovino the next year to major in economics, although cooking and flirting were his main interests. Sebastian had green eyes and brown hair a few shades lighter than Lovino's but darker than Feliciano's. He also had a curl that stuck out on his left side but was asymmetrical. His skin was tanned but did not have Lovino's olive complexion and was obviously much more tanned than Feliciano's. Basically, he was the in between of his two brothers, though he was the youngest.

Sebastian had went out to meet a few friends of his, mainly Peter Kirkland, Arthur's younger brother. They were a chaotic duo, wanting their brothers to realize that they were no longer that little.

He put his bag down in his room before sitting down at the dining table and grabbed the pasta and the sauce, pouring large amounts of both on his plate.

"Sebastian! What are you doing putting so much food on that plate?!" Lovino exclaimed, shocked at his brother's behavior.

"Fratello… I'm hungry~," Sebastian whined. Lovino could only sigh.

Both his younger brothers were equally immature. There was no denying that. Lovino ate his plate of pasta in peace while Sebastian talked about how he flirted with this friend of his and how he managed to scare Peter. Feliciano laughed along with him, Lovino just sulked.

He was not feeling grumpy, he just didn't want to show his true emotions. He was happy that his youngest brother had grown so much, but he was still an idiot.

Once every single drop of the sauce disappeared, Lovino picked up the dishes and placed them in the sink. He never trusted his brothers to be able to wash the dishes and put them back without a single one of them falling to the ground and breaking. Then he would have to clean up the ceramic shards and buy a new plate.

Feliciano had went back to attending to his now not-so empty canvas and Sebastian was in his room, probably talking to Peter on the phone or playing his video games. It was his break now so he should enjoy what he had before he was as busy as his oldest brother.

Knowing that both his brothers were happy and full of pasta, Lovino was in a good mood. He only saw one 'potato bastard' that day and his brother hadn't said anything about the other one.

And Feliciano just had to choose that moment, when Lovino was thinking about how good the day was, to tell him that the second 'potato bastard' was coming over to their house.

"Fratello~! Ludwig's coming over to show me some designs he made!" the cheerful Italian said happily. Lovino immediately scowled.

"Why are you still hanging around that Potato Bastard?!" Lovino asked angrily. Feliciano winced.

Sebastian peeked his head out of his room when he heard his older brothers arguing, or more of Lovino just shouting at a whimpering Felciano. Just then, there was a knock on the door. The other two were too 'engrossed' in their argument to hear it so Sebastian just went and opened the door.

"Hello Ludwig. Came to see Feliciano?" Sebastian asked, smirking.

"Yes," Ludwig replied.

Sebastian moved away so that he could walk in. When the other two heard footsteps, they looked out from the kitchen.

Feliciano immediately ran up to Ludwig and hugged him tightly, saying how happy he was to see him and how much he missed him. Lovino started shouting curses and vulgarities at the German, which Ludwig ignored. Sebastian just went back to his room, snickering all the way.

"Ve~. So what did you have to show me Ludwig?" Feliciano asked, sitting down on the couch after putting his painting aside.

"Some designs I made. I want to know your opinions on them," Ludwig replied, placing the sheets of paper he had taken out of his folder on the small coffee table.

Feliciano looked the sketches over and just smiled at Ludwig. "They're great."

Ludwig smiled back and collected his designs.

Ludwig Beilschmidt, Gilbert's younger brother, was a muscular man. He was a student at the same university as his brother but majored in Architecture. He had slightly tanned skin, blonde hair, and cerulean eyes, very much different from his older brother. In fact, it was hard to believe they were even brothers to begin with.

He was also Feliciano's best friend, along with a Japanese man named Honda Kiku.

Lovino hated it whenever the German came over. He was currently in the kitchen, sulking, drying the plates.

"That damn potato bastard… Getting close to Feliciano like that…" he grumbled on, putting down the ceramic plates a little too hard.

"Damn him. Why did that idiot even befriend him in the first place?! Damn it…" he continued grumbling.

At this point, he was just angry at the German and wasn't paying attention to how much force he was using until a crash was heard. Lovino felt the sharp sting moments later.

He bit his lips to stop himself from screaming and looked down to survey the injury.

There was a thin cut down his arm and some cuts on his leg where the sharp ceramic shards had hit. He cursed in Italian and quickly ran his arm under the sink to wash away the blood before his brother freaked out.

Too late.

Feliciano, Ludwig and Sebastian rushed to the kitchen once they heard the crash and saw Lovino's arm and leg bleeding. Feliciano went hysterical and jumped around asking if his brother was alright and what they should do. Ludwig sighed and went to find the First Aid kit. Sebastian picked up a broom and started sweeping the shards up to prevent anyone else, especially his second oldest brother, from injuring themselves.

Once the mess was cleaned and Lovino's wounds treated, Ludwig thanked Feliciano for his opinions and said goodbye to the Italian brothers. Sebastian waved happily while Lovino just glared at him until he was out of sight.

"And I thought that Potato Bastard would never leave," Lovino said, happy that Ludwig was gone. He was sick of seeing how Feliciano would fawn over him.

Sebastian could only smile at his oldest brother's behavior and how his other brother was trying to convince him that Ludwig wasn't that bad a person. But of course, it didn't work. He sighed and went back to his room, it was late.


Hey there.

Eh someone reported my story so I moved it somewhere else which is not ff . net... The link is at the end.

I know the first part here is nothing much so you might think it's not very interesting but please read on...if you like it. Not forcing you to...

Anyway the link is kirukohaku . livejournal . coom /917 . html without all the spaces and remove the extra o in coom.

Please review here anyway! ^^;