A/N: I'm back! And with a new chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. I do, however, own this fanfic. But that's irrelevant. Here's your chapter.

Chapter 2: A Dormire Tra Le Tue Braccie

Fridays always seemed to drag on. For Lovino, even more so.

His eyelids were heavy; threatening to close at any minute and stay that way until he got the rest he deserved.

Ducking behind a pole in middle of the cafeteria, he speedily scanned one of the lunch tables. He noted that one person was missing from the specific group of people, and therefore deemed it an acceptable place to rest for the lunch period.

He couldn't bring himself to face said person at the time, and he didn't think he'd be able to any time soon.

Lovino removed himself from the behind the pole and walked away from there like nothing happened. He took a seat at the table of 'morons', and without any warning, crashed his head down onto to the table startling those around him.

"What's the matter Fratello? You're never late for lunch." Feliciano pointed out, poking his brother's head while doing so, "Fratello?"

"You think I wanted to be late? You think I enjoy staying with that bitch?" he barked loudly and glared at his brother before resting his head back on the table, "...She kept me in after class... I fell asleep in the middle of the lesson," he muttered.

Everyone's head turned to look at him in mild shock. Lovino sat up and gave them all a questioning look.

"What?"

"Lovino-san, you never sleep in class," a small Asian boy by the name of Kiku said, "You're not the most..." Kiku paused, thinking of the most polite way to phrase the rest of his sentence,"the most... diligent student, but you've never fallen asleep in class before"

The Italian thought about what Kiku said and realized it was nothing short of the truth. Despite his nasty attitude and daily shenanigans, Lovino was a good student. It may not show with his homework completion record, but he was, by definition, a good student. He attends all his classes and is mostly never late. He doesn't always pay the most attention, but he always gets the information he needs to complete his work, when he does it. He studies for all his tests and gets decent grades. He does all that and has never once in his high-school years been called on by a teacher for sleeping in class.

So, they did have a bit a reason to be shocked/worried after his statement.

"I didn't plan to fall asleep," he said, absently scratching the back of his neck, "I guess I'm just really tired today..."

"But how?" Feliciano chimed in.

"hmm...?"

"You went to bed so early yesterday. You didn't even come down for dinner. We were having Eggplant Parmigiana, but when I told you that, you just growled me!" his brother whined, "You never refuse Eggplant Parmigiana! It's your favourite!" he said, his voice gradually growing higher in pitch with worry.

"Well, I..." Lovino trailed off.

For once, Lovino was at a loss for words.

Could he tell his brother? Could he tell him about what had happened after school? About how he went home and curled himself into a ball spending the rest of the night staring at the sheets and thinking.

Thinking about what almost happened and could have been. Not closing his eyes once through out the night, afraid of what scenarios his mind would've made had he done so.

Could he tell him?

The Italian looked up at his sibling, confused and unsure.

He opened his mouth to speak, but whether or not he would tell him wouldn't have mattered. Because at that point he wouldn't have been able to say anything at all.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late~"

Lovino eyes darted towards its owner as they found a seat right across from him.

He froze up. Whatever words he was about to say had died at his lips.

"Oh hi Lovi!" the Spaniard spoke with a hint a cheeriness, as he always did, "How's your day so far?" He asked with a goofy smile plastered on his face.

Their eyes locked for a moment, but as soon as they did, Lovino tore his own pair away from the olive orbs across from his. He could feel this odd warmth crawling on his skin. It made it's way along the back of his neck and burst forth through his cheeks, dusting them with a faint blush. He lowered his head, hoping no one would notice the pink shade his face had adorned.

Why is he so fucking cheery? He thought, Is this bastard trying to act like nothing happened?

As he continued to mull over the other teen's demeanour, the unexplainable heat continued rising from his chest, and travelled towards his head. The whole sensation was making him a bit light headed and the room seemed as if it were beginning to spin.

"Lovi? Is something wrong?"

Antonio's voiced rang out louder than the rest in the cafeteria and its clear and crisp sound made the Italian's heart jump. At this point it had already been pounding out of his chest, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out the reason why.

The air around them suddenly became much more stuffy than usual, almost to the point where Lovino felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Lovi-" Antonio started but was cut off by the younger teen across from him slamming his palms onto the lunch table.

He was standing up with his chair overturned, breathing heavily, and with eyes as wide as his fatigue would allow. It didn't take him to long realize that almost everyone in and around the group was staring at him. His face reddened even further from embarrassment. He took a few shaky steps backwards, inching himself away from the table. Getting closer to the doors, he spins around and hastily makes his way out of the cafeteria.

Everyone's eyes followed him until he's out of view.

"Did I say something wrong?" Antonio asks the group, but they just shrug it off and continue eating their lunches.

"Maybe I should go after him?" he mutters to himself, but no one around him acknowledges him speaking.

Lovino was running through the halls making no attempt to neither slow down nor try to be inconspicuous as he charged pass the various classrooms of the school. He heard a few of the staff members reprimand him for running, but none of it really registered to him in his mad dash to get away from the foyer. It seemed more than pointless to continue running, seeing as how he'd eventually loop around the school, but as much as he tried to understand why, he couldn't stop himself.

What's happening? He asks himself, Why do I feel so weird?

He could feel his legs starting to burn, but they wouldn't let up. All the energy he had left started to drain from his being, and felt as if he were about to faint. But he kept moving. On top of his own motion, the spinning had not only continued, but became worse as he trekked through the halls.

The young man found himself beginning to slow down as he reached the far end of the school where the music hall was located. Considering the time, the entire section was empty and Lovino was quite content with that. He could easily have fallen asleep in the hallway, but even as he slump him self against the walls, he couldn't seem to settle his heavy breathing and racing heart.

What do I do?

He repeated the mantra in his head, gazing desperately towards the ceiling, as if it had the answer for him. He racked his brain for a solution to his little predicament, but he continued to come up blank with his ideas. Straightening himself as best he could with his current bodily state, Lovino finally thought of something useful.

He spotted a washroom down the hall and thought to wash his face in an attempt to erase his fatigue along with the burning heat. But his plan was effectively crushed when found that the doors to the washrooms were locked.

He collapsed down to his knees. His eyes were still fighting to close on him, and his head was spinning more than rose up a hand to clench at his chest. It was also getting increasingly harder to breathe by the second.

Fuck! I can't take this anymore!

Lovino struggled at first, but eventually he got up. His legs began to carry him elsewhere but he wasn't running any more. He just staggered his way through the halls, searching for the closest exit.

When he found one, he looked up at it with a sort of desperation in his eyes.

I need to get out...

He reached for the door handle; his last resort, his final salvation, and opened it.

Just like that, he walked out of the door before closing it and leaning back against it. He breathed in the fresh air, feeling freed from that thick atmosphere that was looming over him before.

He slid down against the door, seated himself on the ground, and gently closed his eyes. He didn't care if he got in trouble for skipping class. He didn't care if this hurt his attendance record.

He just wanted sleep right now.

To bad his wish wasn't going to be granted anytime soon.

The trampling sound of footsteps were heard in the halls once more, but it wasn't Lovino this time.

"Carriedo! Stop running in the halls!" A teacher called out from his classroom.

Antonio stopped abruptly.

"Ah, Sorry sir~ I didn't mean to disrupt your class!" He says, scratching his head and smiling apologetically, "I'd love to stay, but I'm in a hurry!" he announced before running off again.

"I said stop running!" He yelled, but it fell on deaf ears as Antonio continued to run through the corridors of the school in search of a certain someone.

Antonio ran aimlessly around the building, thinking of every possible place, his friend could be but to no avail. Every place he checked he left empty handed. There was only a few minutes left till the end of the period, but Antonio wasn't going to give up until he found Lovino.

He rounded the corner once more and wound up back in the foyer. He breathed heavily, his body becoming tired from exertion. He was beginning to lose hope in finding his friend when one final idea popped into his mind. He spun around quickly, dashing forward once again to check one last place: the music hall.

It was the absolute last place he expected Lovino to be, so he hadn't really thought to look there. Lovino had once mentioned to him that he couldn't stand to stay around those 'horrible' rooms. He said that the students at their school had no musical talent whatsoever and that he loathed listening to the 'irritating' sounds of their playing. It was pretty unlikely for him to have run off there given all that. Even as Antonio was running there, he came to be increasingly doubtful towards his decision.

The Spaniard found himself in said hall in practically no time at all, and as he he suspected, Lovino was no where to be seen. He let out a sigh of disappointment, leaning on the wall while trying to catch his breath.

Antonio checked his watch. There was five minutes left before the bell would ring. He began to think that Lovino had already left for his class.

The Spaniard had just about given up at this wild goose chase when he noticed someone leaning against the outside of the door. He thought to just dismiss it as some random dropout student who was going through their daily ritual of skipping class, but something in the inside told him not to.

He pushed himself off of the wall, moving closer to the exit. The teen peered through the glass window, trying to take a guess at who was on the other side. But as he looked closer, he really didn't have to guess. He'd recognize that chestnut brow hair and bouncy stray curl anywhere.

He carefully opened up the door trying to not startle his friend and crouched down to his level where he met with Lovino's tranquil, sleeping face. The older teen brushed the back of his hand against the other boy's cheek. He tensed up at first, but soon leaned in to it a bit. Noticing this, Antonio leaned in closer and whispered into his ear:

"I found you~"

Not even a few minutes had passed before he heard the soft click of the door next to him opening and, shortly after, closing. He paid no mind to it but the light footsteps that followed got him a bit worried. At first he thought it was a teacher, but as he felt a warm hand caress his cheek, the thought was quickly ejected from his mind. He subconsciously relaxed in to hand, not knowing who it belong to until they whispered three little words in to his ears. The voice was soft and gentle, making the Italian boy feel a bit more at ease as he relished each slightly accented word that slipped in to his ear.

What a beautiful voice, he thought, it almost sounds like...

Lovino's eyes shot wide open, as he realized whom the voice belonged to. He pushed the Spaniard away with as much strength as he could muster. Antonio lost his balance and fell backwards.

"Oww, Lovi, that hurt," the older teen whined.

"Like I give a shit! Don't fucking touch me, bastardo!"

"Language, Lovi,"

"Vai a farti fottere," the Italian spat out, "What are doing here anyways, you stalker?" He asked. The minuscule amount of sleep he got made him feel less drowsy (but not by much) and he felt a strong headache coming on.

"I was looking for you. I was worried about you when you ran off all of a sudden..." the Spaniard's words trailed off and he looked up innocently into his friend's hardening glare. Lovino's heartbeat skipped a bit as his partner spoke. His gaze softened after hearing those words.

"Y-you... were worried about me..." he spoke softly, " But why?"

Antonio didn't answer just yet. Instead, he pulled up his sleeve to check his watch. A small wave of panic washed away his bashful smile.

"Oh mio Dios, we're late!"

Before Lovino had time to question his 'answer', Antonio grabbed his hand, opened the doors, and began charging through the halls with his friend in tow.

"Let me go! Antonio!" Lovino demanded, growling at his partner when he didn't comply.

Antonio zigzagged through the students who were beginning to pool in said halls. With the most of them just standing around there, it made it a tad bit difficult to navigate towards their last class of the day.

They eventually made it to their destination, slouched over and out of breath. Antonio's lungs were burning from all the running he did and Lovino felt like his legs were about to give out on him for good. It took a while to notice, since they were trying to compose them selves again, that they hadn't let go of each other's hand. Antonio still had a firm grip on the his friend's hand, but even as the two quickly came to realize this, they didn't do anything about.

It wasn't until they could feel everybody's gaze on them that Lovino hastily tore his hand away from Antonio's grasp. His cheeks started to brighten again after realizing how long he'd let the Spaniard hold his hand for. The warning bell rang out, and the Italian suddenly remembered something.

His school bag. He had left it in the cafeteria, and it was too late to go get it now.

"Fuck," the profanity dragged on as he said it, making himself sound so exasperated.

"Forgetting something, Lovino," a quiet voice chimed in beside the two. Lovino glanced over towards where the voice was coming from. He came to look at a boy with a fuck-ton of books in his hands along with Lovino's messenger bag, which dangling off of his arm.

"Thanks Matthieu," he said taking his bag back from the boy, grateful to his friend for the favour.

He was a meek looking boy, with shoulder length blonde hair and soft violet eyes. He was Lovino's homework buddy, but Matthieu was also a good friend to the other teen, and never did him wrong in times like these.

"It was no problem," he said, smiling sheepishly.

"Hey! No fair!" a different voice rung out from behind them. It was a loud, booming, and annoying voice.

God, not him, Lovino thought as the voice's owner moved closer to their location. He had a striking resemblance to Matthieu but he had a bit more height and weight on him than the meek little Canadian.

"What's wrong Al?" Matthieu asked

"Mattie! I wanted to bring the bag," the Alfred whined, "Why couldn't I bring it and be the good friend?I'm the Hero after all!" he asked, causing Lovino to choose that time to intervene.

"Because, one, your not my friend, and two, you're not a hero," Lovino stated simply, too brought down by his remaining fatigue and newly sprung headache to add any sort of profanity to his the end of his statement.

"That was cruel!" the American exclaimed, completely taken aback by the statement. Lovino only look back at him with contempt. At that point, the Spaniard slowly realized that he was being ignored and spoke up.

"Hey Lovi?" Antonio asked and Lovino looked back at him with the same look of contempt, "Am I your friend?"

Lovino just stared at the teen. He tried to give him an answer, but he couldn't seem to form a simply 'yes' or 'no' answer. His head was pounding and the drowsiness and heat began creeping back up on him again.

The cheeriness began to fade from Antonio's face with each passing second that Lovino didn't give him an answer. The Italian tried to speak again but the second bell buzzed out in the halls and the students started filing into the classroom. The two stood out their for a while longer than the others. Antonio continued to stay until he got an answer out of Lovino, but alas, none came. His face turned glum at Lovino's silence and, he too, walked into the class.

The Italian boy stood outside, dumbfounded. He face-palmed himself and marvelled at how he couldn't answer such a simple and innocent question.

Of course he's my friend... So, Why couldn't I just say that? Idiota... you're more than a friend. Lovino blinked before his face became completely flushed. Che diavolo! Where the shit did that thought come from.

He mulled over it a while longer before reluctantly following everyone else in.

The classroom was silent for the majority off the time, due to the fact that there was a test coming up. The teacher had allowed the students to have a study period in class before they had their test the following Monday. Everyone had their faces glued to their study notes, except for Lovino.

He had his textbook and binder sprawled out on his desk, but it was only to cover-up the fact that he wasn't doing anything. In actuality, the teen sat through his entire class with total disregard for what the rest of the class were doing. He spaced out occasionally and was called on by the teacher multiple times to get to work. He did try, but there were other things on his mind such as:

His fatigue; he knew sleep was just about looming over him and his eyes, which were rapidly getting heavier, proved that fact.

The events from yesterday evening; every now and then when he thought about or looked over at the Spaniard, his mind start to venture in to what could have happened had they actually kissed. But every time something like that would pop up, he vigorously shook his head as if the action would rid him of said thoughts.

And then there was Antonio's question... It plagued him for the entire class. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why he couldn't answer. He could have snapped out sarcastic sounding 'yes'. Antonio would've believed him and he wouldn't be going through this entire self-interrogation process.

Why couldn't I just say yes?

Lovino shook his head again, attempting to clear his head of all the nonsense that was flying around inside of it. It worked for the most, but he couldn't get Antonio's depressed face off his conscience. Something about his pouting expression always made Lovino feel guilty, especially if it was him that caused it.

Scowling, he ripped a piece off of the corner of his page and scribbled down a message on it before crumpling it and chucking it at Antonio's sulking face. The projectile hit the Spaniard directly on the nose and bounced back onto his desk. He cringed and started rubbing soothingly at his nose as if it had been quite painful and continued to do that for a while after.

It had taken about 3 minutes before noticed the the paper ball. If it had taken any longer for him to notice, Lovino would've chucked another ball at him, or possibly something harder like an eraser.

Antonio stared long hard at it, as if it where most bizarre thing he'd ever seen. Cautiously, he unravelled the paper and found a little message inside. The letter was riddled with Lovino's shaky writing, and it looked like it had taken him a lot of effort to write.

Idiota-

Your ugly mug is distracting me. Stop frowning... because even though your a tomato bastard, we're still... friends. Be grateful.

-Lovino

P.S. If you show this to anyone, I swear to you I will tear you apart with spoon. And then eat all your tomatoes. Bastard.

Antonio smiled at the threat at the end of the note and the crudely rendered tomato drawn next to his name. Looking around the class, he spotted Lovino, flashing a genuine smile before mouthing the words 'Thank you'.

The Italian quickly tore his eyes off of his friend, willing the shade of red his face had adorned to go away. He could hear Antonio chuckle not so silently and thought to flip him off, but he was too embarrassed to look at the Spaniard, let alone give him the bird. He tried to distract himself by actually studying for the upcoming test, but no sooner did he look at his paper did the final bell of the day ring.

As everyone else in the class packed up there booked and swarmed out of the class, Lovino sat in momentary awe of the fact that he spent basically the entire hour and fifteen minutes of class thinking about Antonio. He shuddered at the realization as he too packed up his books and prepared to leave for home where he was sure to get some well deserved rest.

Too bad that too was not going to happen for him. Not today, at least.

As soon as his bag was packed, Antonio came out of nowhere and abruptly grabbed onto Lovino's arm, dragging him out the classroom and down the hall. They went down the flight of stairs, through the music hall, and stop in front of the doors to one of the schools larger aerobics rooms. Lovino, who was protesting the entire way there, tore his hand away from his friends grip and the now fuming Italian began demanding an explanation.

"What the fuck was that all about?" He shouted, "Why'd you drag me all the way here?"

"But Lovi, don't you remember what today is?" the Spaniard said, looking at hi expectantly.

Lovino was about to snap out a reply in the negative, but as he slowly took in the date and location, it all came back to him.

"D-dance club..." the word were shaky as they slipped out of his mouth.

"That's right, Lovi~ Now, let's get going. We're already kinda late."

With that said, Antonio grabbed a hold of him once more, but this time he met with no resistance from the younger teen. He didn't question it, but instead walked into the room, with Lovino in tow, and greeted everyone as he dropped off his bag and joined the circle of other students. But he joined them alone. Lovino stood in the doorway unable to move his limbs or speak.

He managed to staggered forward a few steps before stopping again. The room began to spin around him, and vision was becoming impaired. The face of his peers began to distort and fade into black. He could hear some of them calling to him, but all of their voices fell deaf on his ears, except for one.

"Lovi? What's wrong?" He heard the Spaniard's voice ring out louder than the rest before it too began to fade.

He lurched forward, stumbling towards the disappearing voices, before all strength left is body.

"Lovi!"

Antonio's voice was last thing he heard before everything faded into a black void; Sleep taking him by the hand and leading him into a deep slumber.

A/N: Can you say UPDATE! Oh my God, that took so long. I honestly didn't think it would take so long, but school has really taken over my life. I just started my first year of high school and I wasn't prepared for the work load. It's not like I'm failing any of my courses, but there's a lot of homework being given out and it's not giving me enough time to write my stories. BUT, it's almost the end of first semester, so the work load is starting to let up and I've been getting more spare time to write up my fics.

Well, next I'll be update my Gerita fic "L'amore Prende Forma". Hopefully it doesn't take three months to write~

Until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Comments and Critiques are welcome; No flames please.