Prompt: "You look a lot like my good friend so I ran up behind you and grabbed your ass with both hands I'm so sorry"

Warning: slight homophobia, cursing,


If there was one thing Antonio did not regret at all, it was when he grabbed the wrong person's ass.

There Antonio was with two of his friends, walking down the crowded hall to his first class. Nothing out of the ordinary. A few people who knew the trio briefly smiled at them, before turning it into an eyeroll the moment they passed by.

(They weren't the most popular group in the school, but they tried.)

Then, Antonio saw him. Feliciano Vargas. One of Antonio's best friends, who had been absent from school for the past week. The Italian said he was really sick, but Antonio chalked it up to nerves over the speech in English he had.

Feliciano was standing with his back facing Antonio, and was talking with a couple of other people Antonio faintly recognised from around. (Now why was Feliciano standing with the Scandinavian exchange students? That was new…)

Antonio grinned, and said to his friends, "There's Felici! I'm gonna go talk to him, okay?"

Francis peered at the Italian, a frown slowly gracing his face. "Is that really him?" He asked incredulously, looking back at Antonio.

Gilbert said nothing, as he was focused on his phone and had his headphones in.

"Of course it is!" Antonio laughed,and walked ahead of his friends towards Feliciano. When he was only a few feet away, he fell into a crouch and ignored the weird looks he was getting from- well, just about everyone.

"What is he doing?"

"It was nice knowing him…"

"He's gonna die."

Antonio blocked out the murmuring, focused only on his new mission: grab Felici's ass without him seeing him first. Just one more step...the ass will be mine…

The people talking to Feliciano finally noticed Antonio, and gave him warning looks. They knew what would happen.

He ignored them...his hands came closer and closer...Feliciano was still unaware...he was so close...

Finally, victory was his! Both hands were touching the butt, and Antonio could finally live his life in peace.

...That is, until Feliciano turned around, and was in fact, not Feliciano at all.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Not-Feliciano screamed, and immediately slapped Antonio across the face, causing the brunet to fall to the ground.

The two had already gathered quite an audience, and if one looked close enough, one could see money being passed between people.

Antonio covered his face with his arm, shielding him from any further harm. "Oh-oh God," he cried, "you're not Feliciano!"

Not-Feliciano scowled and rolled his eyes. "Of course not, you dumbass! The fuck are you on?!"

"Nothing, I swear! Please don't hurt me!" Antonio whimpered, regretting every choice that had brought him to this moment.

Not-Feliciano only sighed and scoffed. "Oh, shut up. I'm assuming you're," he drug his eyes up and down Antonio's body, making the one on the floor feel oddly offended, "one of Feliciano's friends?"

Most of the people surrounding them had moved on, disappointed there wasn't a full-blown fight and thus left to find something better to do. Francis and Gilbert- who had taken out his earbuds by now, were standing still with their eyes wide open, torn between watching the interaction and helping their friend.

Those who Not-Feliciano had been talking to earlier had cautiously backed off with mumbled excuses of studying or going to class.

Antonio slowly stood up, sure not to make any sudden movements lest Not-Feliciano were to attack him again. "Y-yeah…"

"Well," Not-Feliciano bit out, "he's still at home, sick. What's your name, idiot?"

Only vaguely did Antonio think this interaction was a bit cliché- mistaking your best friend for someone else? (Not to mention Not-Feliciano was kinda hot, come to look at him…)

"Uh, Antonio. Antonio Fernández Carriedo." He answered, confused. Now why Not-Feliciano want to know that?

Not-Feliciano sneered up at Antonio. (Would you look at that, I'm taller than him, Antonio thought.) "Hmph. So you're the idiot Felici always talks about, huh? I'm not too impressed."

Antonio's brow furrowed, and he frowned a little. "Are you his friend, too?"

"No, stupid," Not-Feliciano answered, "I'm his brother."

There was silence for a minute. Antonio was in shock. Feliciano had a brother? And he went to this school? Since when?

"Um…" Antonio replied intelligently. The full severity of the situation sank in, as well as the faint laughter from the students lining the hall. His face felt like it could easily roast a marshmallow, so he buried it in his hands with the hope no one saw it.

Of course, Not-Feliciano did. He snorted, from the sounds of it, and patted Antonio's shoulder. "That was dumb," he said unnecessarily.

Antonio nodded, not daring to look up. The shame set in, and he felt more embarrassed than he could ever remember being in his entire life.

The laughter continued in the background, not getting any louder, but certainly not going away. The few people who had stayed were highly amused at Antonio's reaction, apparently.

They started to murmur about the whole ordeal, pulling out a few of their phones. One girl looked back up, snickered, and turned her attention to her phone again, thumbs rapidly moving across the screen.

Antonio took the chance and glanced up for a second to see the damage.

'Okay...not too bad...' he thought warily, slowly looking around him. 'Maybe it wasn't that bad!'

At that very second, a boy in the grade above Antonio's walked by and said loud enough for everyone in the general vicinity to hear, "Keep you and your boyfriend's PDA out of my sight, faggot."

Antonio's eyes went wide, and he stared in shock at the back of the retreating upperclassman. His eyes shifted to Not-Feliciano (What was his name, anyways?) only to find pure rage set on the slightly shorter boy's face.

Not-Feliciano was seething, his hands had turned to fists, and his breathing had sped up. He opened his mouth, and Antonio winced in fearful anticipation.

"What the hell did you just say?!" He yelled after the boy, eyes wild and maybe Antonio thought it was enrapturing, watching the emotions flicker through the shorter boy's ever-changing eyes.

The offending student stopped and turned with a smirk on his face. "You heard me, fag." He replied smugly, like he was above Not-Feliciano and Antonio for some reason.

Not-Feliciano (Antonio was getting tired of mentally referring to him as such, and thus dubbed him Feliciano's brother until he figured out his name.) visibly recoiled, and his face went terrifyingly blank. Antonio faintly thought if that was directed at him, he might not live to see the next day.

Instead of fighting back, like the other boy as well as everyone else was expecting, Feliciano's brother simply turned back to Antonio and took his arm more gently than Antonio ever expected he would. Without making another sound, he led the two of them down the hall, away from the slowly growing noise.

Feliciano's brother took Antonio and himself into a classroom currently being used as a storage room, and closed the door behind them.

Slowly, he inhaled. Just as slowly, he let it out. Then, he began to speak softly. "I," he started, as Antonio sat up on one of the desks, "I'm very sorry about that."

"Sorry about what?" Antonio interrupted without thinking. He did that a lot.

"Sorry you had to be a part of that," Feliciano's brother whispered patiently, "I didn't mean for it to happen."

He then took his own seat on a desk parallel to Antonio's and sighed inaudibly.

Antonio shook his head and reached out for Feliciano's brother. "It's alright," he lied, "it wasn't your fault." In reality, those kinds of comments didn't bother him anymore, after all these years, but it seemed to be a big deal for the other, so he decided not to mention it.

"Yes it was!" The shorter boy burst out, then flinched at the volume of his own voice.

"No, it wasn't," Antonio insisted gently. This...was a delicate matter. Antonio had to choose his words carefully with this one. "I was the one who attracted all the attention, you had nothing to do with it."

"But-!"

"But nothing. If anyone should be sorry, it's me."

Feliciano's brother looked at his slowly dangling feet, the action causing hair to fall in front of his eyes. He said nothing, but Antonio thought he heard a sniffle. Oh boy.

Antonio stared at him helplessly for a moment. "Hey," he started, making sure his tone was friendly, "what's your name, anyways? I never got it."

"Oh... 's Lovino." Came the quiet, muffled reply.

Lovino?...Lovino Vargas. Hmm, Antonio liked that name. But didn't it...?

"That's a terrible name."

Lovino's head jerked up to reveal a shocked look on his face.

Antonio quickly shook his hands in front of him, continuing his sentence. "No wait, that's not what I meant! I mean, it sort of translates to 'I ruin', doesn't it? That's a terrible thing to name your child. Well, either that or 'the wine', I think, depending on the language we're using, but still."

The corner of Lovino's mouth twitched, and he relaxed. "You know a lot about names." He stated, almost impressed.

Temporarily forgetting about the matter at hand, Antonio nodded and closed his eyes. "Yeah, and your brother's name means, like, 'happiness' or 'good luck', right? That's weird, for the both of you to have such opposite names. Besides, yours isn't actually a real name, which is pretty strange in itself, and-" he cut off, seeing how Lovino had covered his mouth and was now shaking with what Antonio realized was laughter.

"Oh man," Lovino got out through his breaks in laughing, "you're a nerdy know-it-all, aren't you? You're one of those types! That's hilarious!"

Antonio sat there, the shocked one now. Why was Lovino suddenly laughing? Wasn't he about to cry not even a minute ago? Thi

After a few seconds, Lovino calmed down. "Okay...okay, that was pretty funny. But no one's really known what my name means, so kudos to you for that one."

"Um...alright? You seem pretty okay with having a name like that...is that your real name?" Antonio asked curiously.

Lovino shook his head with a now-barely-there smile. "Like you said, it would be terrible to name your child that. But it's what I like to go by."

"...Should I call you that, then? Or is there something else?"

"If you want, or you can call me Romano. That's my given name." Lovino supplied.

Antonio smiled. "Romano it is. Say, if that's not your real name...then is Feliciano really, well, Feliciano's name?"

Lovino- er, Romano, Antonio supposed, smirked. "Nope," he popped, leaning back on his desk. "But don't tell him I said that, he hates his real name. I would too, it's pretty dumb."

"What is it then?" Antonio asked.

Romano looked around as if to see if there was anyone watching. He leaned forward, so he was almost touching, and whispered, "I'll tell you."


And thus was the first real interaction between Antonio and the love of his life. Or, so Antonio liked to think. Romano didn't seem to share the same opinion.


It was a few weeks later, and Antonio and Romano's relationship had progressed rather quickly. Romano chalked it up to the fact that Antonio had already been friends with Feliciano for years now, but Antonio said it was simply chemistry.

Antonio was laying on Romano's bed with his head hanging off the side a little, looking at Romano upside down.

Romano sat, legs crossed, on the floor in front of the bed ("Well- well, you're the guest!" He had angrily exclaimed when Antonio had asked him why on earth he had taken a seat on the floor) with a textbook in his lap and his finger on an open page.

The two were studying- well, Romano was, Antonio was trying to help him -for the upcoming test in their shared World History. They had been at it for a couple of hours now, and Antonio was getting bored. Feliciano had gone for some sort of practice, and the brothers' parents were still at work, leaving the two alone in Romano's house.

"Give me another one!" Romano demanded, shut the book, and handed it to Antonio.

Antonio took it and put it by his feet, thinking for a moment before saying, "Turkey."

"Istanbul." The answer came immediately. "Not Constantinople."

"Funny, and correct...how about Belarus?"

"Minsk."

"Uh...The Netherlands."

"Easy. Amsterdam."

Antonio sighed. "Romano, there's no need for you to study. You know literally all the capitals, where they are, and a brief summary on how their countries were formed. You're going to totally ace it."

Romano mimicked him and rested his head beside Antonio's own. "I know, but what if-?"

He was cut off by the other student, who groaned loudly and drowned out the rest of Romano's sentence. "Oh my God, you're going to do fine! Trust me, you'll have the best grade in the class. Even better than Arthur, or Feliciano."

"...Okay. If you say so...so, uh," Romano stood up and stretched, before looking down at Antonio, "what do you wanna do now? I mean, we didn't have any homework, and it's Friday...do you want to stay, or?"

Antonio yawned and stretched as well, but didn't move from his spot. It was very comfortable. "Sure, if that's alright with you guys. I don't have any plans or whatever."

"Cool. We don't really have much to do, now that I think of it...but we do have Netflix?" Romano suggested, already moving to get his laptop.

"Sounds great!" Antonio agreed, setting the book on the floor and rolling over so Romano had enough room as well.

Romano hummed in acknowledgement, bringing the laptop over to the bed and setting it down. "You'll have to sit up, dummy."

Sighing over dramatically, Antonio rolled his eyes and did as he was told, shuffling to sit against the wall.

Turning on the laptop, Romano took his place next to Antonio and settled down.

Antonio automatically scooched as close as he could to his friend. It was a habit he had picked up over the last couple of weeks, to cling to Romano whenever he had the chance. At first, Romano had pushed him away, just like he did with everyone else, but their first encounter seemed to really get to him, and he eventually opened up around Antonio.

It was great for Antonio, who had a first class ticket to seeing who Romano really was under that annoying shell of his.

Turns out, Romano was really just as adorable as Feliciano was, if not a little more cold and sarcastic about it. He was surprisingly innocent, and simply wanted the best for his little brother. A little brother who was old enough to take care of himself, and got slightly irritated at the overprotective things Romano did, but respected him more than basically anyone else.

One reason as to why Romano was so cold was he expected no one to like him, so to save them the trouble, he made them dislike him. Antonio had no idea why anyone wouldn't like Romano, and he said that every chance he could. It was worth it to see the little blush Romano would get.

Antonio remembered the one time when for some class, a survey of heights was needed, and when Feliciano found out that he was taller than Romano by a half-inch or so, he actually denied it, saying, "I've always looked up to Lovino! There's no way he's taller!"

It was quite adorable, seeing the two interact like that. Antonio wished he had that kind of relationship between him and his brother, but that was a whole different story...

"-nio?...Toño?" Romano waved his hand in front of Antonio's face, shaking the brunet out of his thoughts.

"Sorry," he grinned apologetically, out of instinct grabbing Romano's hand and placed a quick kiss on it.

Romano's eyebrows jumped up to his hairline, but he didn't look offended. Only vaguely amused and a little curious. Oh, and beet red.

Antonio blushed as well and dropped the hand, instead directing his attention to the laptop. "Uh, how about Leverage?" He asked, hoping to change the subject right now.

Romano blinked, but didn't take his eyes off of Antonio. "Sounds good," he said quietly.

"Awesome." Antonio clicked on the pilot episode, and it began.


A couple of episodes later, Antonio- the idiot -had fallen asleep, and his head had come to rest on Romano's shoulder.

Romano had rolled his eyes when he saw Antonio was asleep, but a small smile graced his face.

He slowly moved Antonio so his head was on Romano's thigh, and the rest of his body was lying parallel to the bed. A second later, Antonio smiled in his sleep and relaxed, causing Romano to let out an involuntary coo.

Romano's hand went to Antonio's head, and he paused for a moment before carding his fingers softly through his hair.

His eyes widened. Jesus fucking Christ, it was as soft as it looked, if not more! Holy shit!

Careful not to wake the sleeping Spaniard, Romano continued to run his hand through Antonio's hair as the episode played quietly on the laptop.

In a few minutes, Romano found himself somehow becoming drowsy as well, so he decided to change shows.

With his free hand, he exited out of Leverage and onto the browsing page. "What to watch...what to watch?" He mumbled to himself, scrolling through the countless shows and movies.

As he hovered over the show he wanted, he took one more quick glance at Antonio to make sure he was asleep. It would be a disaster if his friend saw him watching it...seeing Antonio was still out like a light, he clicked on the next episode of Glee and sat back.


Feliciano exited the school with his messenger bag at his hip, soccer practice having just ended. He walked with his friend Kiku, who was also in soccer.

"Man, I'm glad it's Friday!" The amber haired student exclaimed, throwing his hands out to his sides for emphasis.

Kiku nodded in agreement, his posture relaxing slightly as the school became farther away from them.

"That means we have the whole weekend to do, like, whatever!" Feliciano added, nudging Kiku's shoulder gently with his own.

Again, Kiku nodded, not sure where the conversation was going. That tended to happen a lot with Feliciano.

Feliciano laughed, seeing his friend's confusion. "Do you want to come over and hang out?" He clarified, glancing at Kiku from the corners of his eyes.

"Oh," Kiku realized, "well, I'll have to ask, but I would love to."

"Awesome! I think Lovi's home, so maybe he could come, too."

"That sounds good," Kiku mumbled, taking out his phone and pulling up his brother's number. He sent a quick text asking if he could spend time at Feliciano's house.

"Or...maybe he had someone over, too...I don't remember. Well, we'll have to see." Feliciano shrugged.

Kiku stayed silent, only nodding as he received a reply from his brother. "Yao says yes, I can stay." He informed his friend.

"Yeah? Sweet!"

The two were quiet for the rest of the journey, Feliciano simply looking around and occasionally muttering something to himself, while Kiku looked ahead.

In a few minutes, Feliciano's house came into view, and the duo sped up slightly.

Feliciano walked up the front steps and opened the door for Kiku. "Looooooovi!" He called loudly, cupping his hands around his mouth, "we're hooooome!"

He waited for a moments while Kiku set down his own bag, but Lovino didn't answer. "Huh," he said aloud, "he must be asleep or something. I'll go check on him, you can just go up to my room if you'd like."

Kiku nodded. "Okay, I'll be up there then."

Feliciano walked around the corner and down the hall. Climbing up the stairs with Kiku a few steps behind him, he called again, "Lovi?"

At the top, he gestured Kiku to his own room, and curiously went over to Romano's door. He knocked before entering, walking in to find Romano sitting up on his bed with his laptop in front of him, and Antonio at his side.

"Shut up!" Romano hissed at his brother quietly, "He's asleep."

Immediately, a smirk curled onto Feliciano's face. "Ohhh, that's why you didn't answer then. Has he been here long?" He asked, motioning to Antonio's sleeping form.

Romano glared at him with a challenge in his eyes. "You want to fight me? Leave him alone, we were studying and he fell asleep. That's it."

"Sure, I believe you." Feliciano said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms. "So you still haven't told him?"

"Of course not! Why would I do that?" He trailed off as he looked down at Antonio and ruffled his hair.

Feliciano sighed. "It's not like it'll go away, you know. It'll just get stronger the more you deny it."

Romano blinked, before smiling. "Since when did you get so wise on me, huh? That's supposed to be my job."

"Sorry, Lovi." Feliciano giggled. "I won't do it again."

"Oh, yes you will. I'm getting old!" Romano exclaimed dramatically, using his free hand to cover his face in shame.

Feliciano burst into laughter, but quieted down when Antonio frowned in his sleep and shifted. "You're not old, Lovi. Anyways, Kiku's over, so we'll be in my room if you need me. Have fun!"

Romano uncovered his face to smile and nod, his attention once more going back to the screen.

The younger brother smiled once more before quietly exiting the room and shutting the door behind him.


Romano watched another episode of Glee before he felt Antonio shift. He paused the episode and looked at his friend.

Antonio's eyes fluttered and he nuzzled into Romano's leg subconsciously. His eyes opened and he slowly sat up, still unaware of his surroundings.

"Where…?" He trailed off as he saw where he was. "R-Romano?!"

"What?"

Antonio looked around. "Oh...did I fall asleep then? I remember...we were watching Leverage...and Feliciano came in, I think-?"

Romano's eyes went wide, and he paled noticeably. "You heard that?"

"Yeah, I think so. What was it you hadn't told me?" He asked as he sat up and yawned.

"It was nothing," Romano replied instantly.

Antonio narrowed his eyes and he stared at Romano. "Romano," he said slowly, "it's okay. You can tell me anything. Remember?"

That's what Antonio had said as the two departed the first day they met.

Romano shook his head. "Re-really, it's not important." He lied.

"Romano," Antonio insisted more firmly, "tell me."

To his surprise, Romano felt his eyes burning and tears gathered at the edges of them. Swiftly, he wiped them off with his sleeve and looked away from his friend. "It's nothing!"

Antonio frowned. He moved the laptop from its place and replaced it with himself. Settling himself to mimic Romano's pose, he took the shorter brunet's face in his hands and gently turned it so Romano was looking straight into his eyes.

"Hey," he murmured, "it's okay. I won't get mad, no matter what it is."

Romano exhaled shakily. "Gimme a minute," he mumbled.

The two were silent for a while as Romano collected himself, Antonio patient as he waited. "I...really like you, Antonio."

Relief and confusion filled Antonio. That...was it? "Romano, I like you, too. It's alright to admit that."

"No no no," Romano shook his head as well as he could in his current position. "I mean...I mean I like you, Antonio. I'm so sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen-"

Antonio cut him off with sudden laughter. "Oh my God," he wheezed, "that's great. It's perfect, you're perfect!" He leaned forward until their foreheads were touching.

Romano had never felt more confused in his life. He voiced that particular thought.

"Oh, Romano! Lovino, Lovi, Roma, do you even know how long I've waited to hear you say that?" Without letting Romano answer, he continued. "Ever since I first met you! I've liked you ever since." Sobering up, he smiled at Romano.

"Darling...I...I think I love you." Antonio whispered, placing a kiss to Romano's head.

This was overwhelming. Romano had been stressing about his stupid crush ever since it crept up on him, and turns out Antonio liked him the whole time?! Impossible! This was-!

Romano's nerves overtook him, and he fainted.


The next thing he knew, he woke up on the couch in his living room with Antonio standing, worried, over him and Feliciano pacing next to him.

"What the fuck…?" The attention of both his brother and his crush was on him, and they broke out into identical grins.

"Roma!"

"Lovi!"

Romano frowned and sat up. "Did I...did I pass out or something?" He asked.

Antonio nodded, still smiling. "Yeah, I kinda confessed to you and you, like, fainted? 'm sorry about that," he added as what seemed to be an afterthought.

"What? Really? Oh."

Feliciano chuckled knowingly. "I think I'll leave you two, I've got homework." He said and left to his room.

Romano looked up at Antonio. "So...you confessed. What does that make us?" He asked bluntly.

The standing brunet rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Uh, together? Maybe?"

"Huh. Together. I like the sound of that." Romano smiled brightly up at Antonio.

"How will we break it to everyone else?"

"Oh, I can think of a few ways…"


That was how it all went down. Romano wouldn't admit the two were actually dating until a week after that, where it accidentally came out in the middle of the day.

What happened after that is up to you. I'll tell you, though, they all lived happily ever after.

...Too cheesy? That's good.


Well...so that happened. This is the second gift I made for the amazing Italian Skunk. (It was supposed to be uploaded alongside Normalities, but I never got around to finishing it until today. Sorry about that!)

This is way longer than it should've been. It was originally supposed to be completed at the first line break, but I then I thought 'oh, I'll just add one more scene...' 3,500 words later...here it is.

Alright, so I'm almost done with the next chapter of Safe Haven, and plan on publishing it this week. I'm really sorry about the long wait between chapters, truly I am.

That's it for now! I think Italian Skunk is asleep right now (or, they should be!) but when you do see this, here you go! Isn't it soooo like Normalities? Kidding, kidding…

See you guys!