No, no, NO! Don't do this to me now! you mentally screamed as you frantically wiggled your key in the lock. Despite your best efforts, your apartment door remained firmly shut. No matter how many times you had complained to your landlord, he had never seemed to get around to fixing this stupid lock. Now, you were paying for it: after a particularly exhausting long shift at work, your car had run out of gas two blocks away from home, and it had begun to rain as you walked the rest of the way, only to find that you couldn't get into your apartment.

You leaned your forehead against the door and tried to think what to do. It was nine-thirty already, and all you wanted to do was sleep. This was the worst day ever. Racking your brain for ideas, you finally thought of one. Your friend (could you call him a friend? maybe just a really good acquaintance. either way, you had a desperate crush on him, for some odd reason) Lovino lived not too far away. You could phone him and see if he could help you out somehow. Pulling out your mobile, though, you saw that that plan wasn't going to work.

You groaned dismally as you looked down at the waterlogged phone. Beseechingly, you held the power button down, but nothing happened. This was just icing on the cake. Broken car, broken lock, and now broken phone: what where you going to do?

Rubbing your burning eyes, you decided the only thing left to do was to walk to Lovino's house and talk to him face to face.

Stepping back outside of your apartment building, you were met by rain that was falling much more thickly than before. You felt tears gathering in your eyes, but you held them back, knowing that there was nothing more you could do besides start walking. You turned up your thin collar and began the trek to the Italian's house.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

About fifteen minutes later, you arrived at Lovino's home. You trudged through the dark pathway to the door and wearily rung the bell. Standing there for a moment with no answer, a terrible thought occurred to you. What if Lovino wasn't even home? There was nowhere else you could go! The idea was too much for you, the tears you had been choking back started to spill down you cheeks.

So when Lovino answered the door just a few moments later, he was greeted by the sight of you shivering on his dark doorstep with rain and tears streaming down your face. He looked at you in surprise and confusion before quickly pulling you inside.

"(y/n)? What the heck, ragazza? It's ten o'clock! And it's raining! What are you doing?" he demanded, but not unkindly.

"The lock…was broken…" you choked out, sobbing slightly.

You hastily tried to wipe the tears from your eyes, but more kept coming. The Italian looked at you for a moment and then pulled you further into the house, grabbing a blanket from the back of a chair and throwing it over you.

"It's okay, ragazza, don't cry," he sighed, pulling the blanket tight around you.

This only made you cry harder. He waited until you were done, rubbing your shoulder comfortingly.

"Now, what happened to you?" he asked once your tears had stopped.

You explained your whole terrible day to him. Standing there talking made you realise just how cold and tired you were. By the time you had finished the story you were shivering uncontrollably.

"Sounds like today wasn't such a good one," Lovino commented, gently ruffling your dripping hair.

You shook you head, clenching your teeth so they wouldn't chatter.

"Well, you're not going to dry off any in those clothes. Let me get you something else to wear," he told you, turning and walking quickly down the hall and into his room.

He returned a minute later with a t-shirt and a pair of boxers, along with a fluffy towel.

"You can go get changed in the bathroom," he said, pointing you to said room.

You dried off and changed wearily. The boxers too big, but not so big that they wouldn't stay on. The t-shirt was obviously oversized, but that just meant you could cuddle into it. You took a moment to revel in the scent of Lovino that lingered in his shirt. Then, you hung your soaking clothes on the shower rod and walked back into the living room. Lovino was sitting on the couch and looked up as you entered.

"Thank you," you said, trying to smile, but probably just looking even more pitiful.

"Don't mention it, ragazza," he said gruffly, motioning you to come sit down, too.

He picked up a quilt and wrapped it around you as you sat down. You sighed, settling into the fabric as you pulled it up to your face. You were still chilled from walking all that way in the rain. To your surprise, Lovino put one arm around your shoulders. When you looked up at him in surprise, he was looking the other way, red-faced. Enjoying the warmth and the unexpected kindness from the Italian, you snuggled in closer.

"So, you're obviously staying here tonight," Lovino began, breaking the silence.

"Oh…Lovi, if that's too much trouble-" you started to say, but were cut off.

"Don't be an idiota; where else are you going to go? And don't call me that," he replied, looking down at you again, "You can sleep in my bed; I'll take the couch. I suppose you're pretty tired?"

You blushed at his insistence, but nodded in response to his question. You really were exhausted. Just then, as if to prove it further, you yawned softly.

"Come on, I'll show you the room," he said, helping you up off the couch.

You stumbled almost immediately: your fatigued legs tangling with the quilt around you.

"Clumsy ragazza," muttered Lovino.

To your astonishment, the Italian quickly picked you up, sweeping you and the quilt up into his arms. You wrapped your arms around his neck to help him out, blushing deeply.

"I'm sorry," you murmured.

"Don't apologise," Lovino answered, looking straight ahead.

He carried you right to his bed, setting you down on the sheets. As he pulled the blankets up around your form, his expression looked less disgruntled and more…caring?

"Lie down," he commanded, and you obeyed, reclining onto the soft pillow.

You yawned again, blinking to try to keep your eyelids from drooping.

"Buonanotte, (y/n)," he said softly, "Let's make tomorrow a better day, hm?"

"Goodnight, Lovi. Thank you…thank you so much," you murmured as your eyes fluttered shut.

Lovino, after calling you by your own name for once, did not scold you for using the nickname he so despised. Instead, he gave you a little smile and bent down, gently kissing you forehead. You sighed softly as you were almost immediately asleep.

"It's no problem, amore. No problem at all."