Chapter One: Sleeping Softly

"Nonno, I can't take over the compan-"

"Of course you can, you're the last Vargas. I'm passing the business over to you when I'm gone." I frowned at my grandfather across the desk. He just kept smiling and stood up to open the beige curtains off to one side.

I'd always liked being in his office. It held old memories of when we still lived in Italy, from the small plants in the corner to the rich, wood furniture he said was my mother's favorite. And with the curtains open, to let light trickle in, it gave me the false sense of still being a little kid and running around free of any care. It was simple, but there were so many details in the little things around his office. It felt more like a part of home than business.

"So what if I'm last the fucking Vargas? I'm not the best option to run this company!" I had tried to tell him this before, but he would never listen. He kept saying I would make the company better, help it grow into more than it already was. "I won't be able to run it alone, dammit!"

"Lovino, listen to me this once." At that point, he had walked towards me and sat down on the edge of the desk. Trying to forget that he had scolded me for doing the exact same thing when I was younger, I kept listening to him. "I don't want this company falling into the wrong hands and I never said you had to do it alone. You have Antonio, don't you? He wouldn't let you try to fix everything by yourself. You two are the only ones I'll trust with my business."

"But Nonno-"

"Wait, I'm not finished. You will succeed me in running this company. I've seen you work hard for what you want. You'll do fine, okay? Plus, I have a few more years ahead of me. I'm just making sure you know." He smiled again ruffling my hair, so much like his own in color, making me scowl. Sometimes, just watching him made me wonder what my parents had looked like, if I even looked like them. I resembled my grandfather in looks and almost every which way, people had even mistaken me for his actual son.

"Then why the hell are you telling me now? You're anything, but sick or old."

Nonno was always able to confuse me and this was one of those times, it was almost like a talent of his. He was healthy as hell, healthier than me even. There wasn't any reason for telling me about something that might not even happen for maybe one more decade, two at the most. But then again, Nonno had the weirdest way with things. It was just the way he always was and had been.

"You never know what might happen. Sometimes, your past catches up to you or something goes wrong." I blinked, my mouth opening in confusion, what in the world could he have been talking about? I watched as he sighed and turned to look out the window. He suddenly seemed older than he actually was, hardened up by the past, and pained with some burden no one knew about. I had finally realized that maybe… his time was more limited than I'd thought.

"I know that, why…"

"I know you do, but remember that, won't you? Think of it as… a motto. The Vargas motto." He pulled me forward into a hug. "I can never get over how much you've grown, you know."

Surprised, I tried pulling away. Nonno was always one to show affection through physical contact, even though he hid his true emotions well. I should've been used to it, but even after growing up around it I still wasn't. "Hey, can you let me go now? Dammit, this is uncomfortable."

He had laughed ruffling my hair one last time before gently shooing me off and telling me to finish today's work and go home. I ran into Antonio right afterwards, on my way back to my own office. I don't remember what he said exactly, if it was important or not. Just that he chuckled, gave me a chaste kiss on the lips, and rushed off somewhere with a manila folder in hands that seemed like it was going to burst. I'm not sure, my mind was still on my grandfather's eerily placed words.

Looking back… that was a few weeks before I ended up where I am.

~ooXoo~

The walk from the clinic to the apartment Antonio lived in wasn't long. Actually, the apartment was near the center of town with everything within a close walking distance. The only time it took longer was when he took a detour to the park or his favorite bakery, but like his visits to Lovino, that wasn't often.

If someone asked him, Antonio wouldn't lie that he missed Lovino's warm side pressed up to his own on those walks. The office they worked in was in the same direction as the cryogenic clinic and walking down the sidewalk always made him remember Lovino's laugh whenever he tripped and the times when he was asked to stop by the library since 'we need a new book to read, dammit.'

Sighing, he glanced up at the apartment building not having realized he'd already arrived. It wasn't even entirely his, Lovino still partly owned it. He refused to think of anything in there as just his, it was just how he thought things should be. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he went up the round glass elevator to the top floor. Out of habit he unlocked the door and swung it open, left over from Lovino wanting to get inside first and letting him through.

The apartment was anything but shabby; thanks to working for Romulus they had been able to afford a nice place only slightly short of being called a penthouse. A natural stone fireplace stood to one side of the door and above the mantel a television could be hidden within the sliding wooden panels. The living room itself was divided from the kitchen by a breakfast nook which Antonio never remembered them using, preferring to eat at the circular wooden table that stood just a ways away from a sliding glass door. If anything, it looked extravagant even though the decorations were simple which both Lovino and him had agreed to.

Right as he went walked over the threshold, tossing his jacket onto a coat rack, his phone went off displaying the Vargas company's logo. His phone was constantly ringing with decisions to be made, more paperwork, and, sometimes, incompetence from the employees of the company. It was doing fine, not great, but well enough so that Antonio could leave the office early. Not that Antonio didn't have daily paperwork and the such, it was still a lot of work to maintain and run the company without Lovino.

Groaning, Antonio answered his phone mentally adding to turn down the volume on his ring tone. "Hello? Alfonso, is there something you need this moment from me?" He waited for the response from the Italian man on the other end of the line. Alfonso had been working as one of the personal secretaries that Romulus had had for a few years. Annoying as he was, he was trustworthy enough for Antonio to keep him as a close assistant. "No, don't send those to the client… I have an in-person meeting with them to talk about- Alfonso, no. I can take care of it… They'll ask why one of the Vargas' isn't in char-"

Antonio sighed running his hand through his hair and walking over the couch slamming the door behind him. That was why he didn't like being alone for this. Every single time, someone would question why someone who wasn't a Vargas was in charge of the company. "Alfonso, I can take care of it. Just finish filing today's stuff and go home. I'll figure this out tomorrow." There wasn't a single evening when Alfonso wouldn't call him, even if it was to go out to a bar together. Sometimes this had gone far enough as to have several calls in the span of a couple hours.

Finally deciding to turn off his phone after hanging up, he sank down into the couch tossing it towards the loveseat off to one side. Sighing, he relaxed into the sofa wishing thoughtfully that nothing disturbed him.

Just one evening without someone contacting him, just one, would be great. Before all of this, he never had to do work at home that wasn't a simple report to type up. He missed being able to savor a quiet afternoon wrapped up with Lovino in front of the warm fireplace to read a book. Lovino would always stretch out closely to him and lay his head on Antonio's chest with the book placed so that he could read over Lovino's shoulder. A soft 'now?' was enough to chase away the silence for a few moments while Antonio replied with a 'yes, amor' and the turn of the page brushed against the blanket that cocooned them both. Those were always the best, the most comfortable. He missed everything, including the comfortable silence they fell into while one of them was cooking and the other typing away quietly at a report.

Although, the outside refused to be conforming to his wishes with its incessant presence in the form of the knocking on the door. Antonio, wanting to not answer it, still stood up to open it glancing through the peephole. All he could see was the top of a head covered in light brunette hair before he pulled the door open. "Hello?"

The boy standing in front of him turned around with a big smile on his face. He was dressed casually with dark denim jeans and a plain shirt polished off with a scarf. Studying Antonio, his eyes glimmered with emotion. "Lovino?"

That confused him. Lovino? He wasn't…"Ah," Antonio tried to begin, "no, I'm not Lovino. I'm… his boyfriend, Antonio." His voice petered out into a whisper making the boy look at him questioningly.

"Oh, sorry. I was looking for Lovino. Wait, I should introduce myself; I'm Feliciano Vargas! Is Lovino here?" Feliciano, as he called himself, looked around him and into the living room. "Can I see him?"

Antonio frowned, the smile slipping off his face quickly. "H-he's not. Why do you want to see him?" Everyone who knew Lovino, knew him. They wouldn't have confused the two… Nonetheless, he motioned for Feliciano to come in, closing the door behind him when he had entered.

"Hm? Oh, I came to look for him from Italia." He answered still smiling. Feliciano sat down on the loveseat, leaving his two suitcases near the door. "Mamma told me our grandfather had taken him here, to the U.S., and I wanted to meet him."

Taking the opportunity presented, Antonio blurted out his thoughts. "How are you related to him?" He smiled sheepishly and added onto his question thinking it might be deemed as rude. "I mean, Lovino didn't have any siblings. Ever since we've known each other, it was always him and Romulus. No one else."

The Italian shook his head looking confused. "We're brothers… I know that for sure. Here," He fumbled around for a piece of paper in the pocket of his jeans, smiling when he handed it over. "that was sent to my family when I was still little."

Antonio searched the picture smiling at it. He had seen pictures of a small Lovino before, and Romulus had left them to him, but he still loved seeing how cute he had been… That still didn't make sense, he thought, Romulus had always said Lovino was his only grandson. And yet, there was Feliciano with a picture of Lovino and probably even letters from Romulus. "So, he did have siblings…"

"Yes, two of us. I don't know why our grandfather brought him over though, I never had the chance to meet him." He smiled excitedly taking the picture back. "If he's not home, I can come back when he is."

Shaking his head, Antonio sat down trying to figure out how he could tell the younger since he didn't seem to know about Lovino's current condition. "You might have to wait a while."

"Why?"

He's dead. He's frozen and I'm waiting for him to be reanimated. He's not alive. There didn't seem to be a good way to answer. Antonio glanced out at the sliding doors, it was getting dark. He wouldn't have enough time to explain everything to Feliciano, if he really was Lovino's brother, unless he stayed up longer than usual. "Lovino… isn't really… Well, it's a long story."

Seeming to sense the awkward tone in his voice, Feliciano tried to be reassuring, "I have time, nothing's wrong is it? Lovino isn't in a hospital, is he?"

Antonio gulped, smiling at the Italian although it didn't reach his eyes. It was as fake as saying Alfonso wasn't annoying. "No, he's not. It's a little more complicated than that…"

A/N Edit: I accidentally deleted this chapter, so re-uploaded... again.
Anyways, I don't own Hetalia and hope you enjoyed this thus far. Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and alerts~!
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