LOVE, Absolutely

Chapter 2: AMOUR

Seychelles was in dilemma-land. On one side of her, Francis sat, blowing her kisses and winking, and being all romantic and French. She glanced at his wavy, gorgeous blonde hair, his long legs, his beautiful eyes...and sighed. Perfect. However...on her left was Arthur. The hottest Brit ever, with the sexiest British accent, the cutest eyebrows, the funniest personality, adorable, ruffled blonde hair, and a frankly alluring dominant aura. Well...dominant might not be the right word...

"Please take out a fresh piece of paper, you're going to take notes." the teacher piped up. Seychelles grabbed a piece of paper from her blue binder and placed it on the desk, accidentally bumping elbows with Arthur.

"Sorry.." she murmured with a smile. He scowled at her.

"Okay, this is my desk, and that is yours. Please don't get them mixed up." he said firmly. Seychelles drew back, sensing that this guy, hot as he was, was clearly not very...French. "Oh, okay, sorry." she said, stung. He immediately backtracked. "Er, that is to say...It's okay to touch me...um, not like that, but it's just, there are rules, and public touching laws and stuff, so...um...be more careful in future, please." he finished shortly, beginning to furiously copy down the notes the teacher put on the overhead. Seychelles grinned at the Brit, whose ears were burning red. Suddenly, Francis' arm slid around her waist, and she turned to look at him.

"Ignore him, ma cherie. He is too much of a punk to appreciate your touch. S'il te plait, touch me as much as you want..." Seychelles blushed, knowing exactly what he meant.

"Um, Francis.."

"You pervert, stop touching her! I'm sure she doesn't want you to-" Arthur put in, furiously removing Francis' hand from her waist.

"What would you know about it, you little punk?" France retorted, slapping Arthurs hand away.

"How dare-" Arthur slapped back.

Slap.

Slap. Slap. Slap. Slap. Slappy-slappy-slap.

Seychelles sighed and began to copy her notes as a sissy-fight began over her head.

Well, at least she met some interesting boys.

Huzzah.

XxXxXxXx

Lili looked up as her desk shook again. Seychelles was clearly the object of a love triangle already. How fun! And yet... Lili observed the French guy and the British guy bickering before her eyes slid to the girl slumped between them. She was obviously getting a bit tired of their fighting. Lili tore a piece off her paper, and wrote a note to the girl in front of her, under Roderich's disapproving gaze.

She folded it up, and tapped on Seychelles' chair with her foot. She turned around, a quizzical look in her eyes. Lili smiled and subtly gave her the note. Seychelles beamed at her and turned around again as the teacher looked their way. Lili began doodling shoes on her notes, wondering how long it was until break time.

Seychelles opened the note Lili had given her under her desk. It was so nice to already have a friend! She giggled to herself as she read the note. Love triangle already? Lucky, but I bet it gets tiring. Underneath the message was a cute little doodle of Francis and Arthur on either side of a sighing Seychelles. Seychelles grinned and immediately began to scribble a response. Francis and Arthur had gotten tired of slapping each other's hands, and had begun a kick-under-the-table war. Seychelles tucked her feet around the legs of the table to keep them safe, and subtly moved her hand behind her chair, clutching the note.

Lili saw Seychelles move her hand behind her chair, and took the paper from it, smiling as she read it. Absolutely. But it makes me want to laugh! Do you ever the feeling that you want to suddenly laugh in the middle of class, but are scared that everybody will stare at you? I feel like that all the time...especially when these two keep insulting each other. Do you want to be friends with me? I just moved here, this summer Also, please tell me if you can't understand me. C'est parce que I speak...er...it's complicated, but the language of my country is a mix of English et Francais, so...there are words in English that I don't know except en Francais. I tried to get a French-English dictionary, but I...was to lazy to carry it around. Sorry.

-Seychelles.

Lili smiled. It was nice to have a friend already! She quietly tore a new piece of paper and replied quickly, then passed it back to Seychelles, who smiled at her before unfolding it under her desk.

Of course I'd like to be friends with you! And I have that feeling all the time! I remember I once laughed out loud at a bus stop, and I didn't have any reason except that I was thinking of something! It was awful, because everybody stared, and I didn't have a book or an Ipod or a friend to pretend with...ugh it sucked. And don't worry, I can understand you just fine. I think it's pretty the way you talk and write, and it sounds cool. Plus, just think! It's perfect, considering you're TOTALLY crushing on a Brit and a French guy. It's like fate!

Seychelles laughed when she read the note. Everybody stared. Lili began coughing to save her, and Seychelles pretended to sneeze. The teacher rolled her eyes and continued to explain about foreign borders. Soon enough, Lili got a reply to her note. That story was TOTALLY HILARIOUS! And merci for saving me...that was embarrassing...You're totally right, too! I can tell I'm talking to a total romantic, like me! Do you have anybody you like?

Lili bit her lip: to tell her, or not...? The teacher suddenly spoke loudly.

"Okay, everybody. There's only ten more minutes left in class, so you can get started on your homework, or introduce yourselves to Seychelles and Lili. Seychelles turned around in her seat and grinned at Lili.

"So, do you have anybody you like?" she asked with a big smile. Lili blushed and fought very hard to say no.

"No...No...No I do not have anybody I like..." she said, looking out the window. Seychelles laughed.

"So that's a no?" Lili nodded furiously, and Seychelles grinned.

"Has anybody ever told you how adorable you are?" she asked, and Lili blushed again.

"N-no...nobody has ever done that." An outright lie, of course. Lili could think of one person who told her that every week. Seychelles hummed a little bit before shooting Lili a sly glance.

"Y'know...je pense que tu aimes quelqu'un..." she smiled, and Lili bit her lip.

"Um...okay, well...Ich denke dass Sie auch wie jemand. Die zwei Jungen neben Ihnen, richtig?" Seychelles blinked at her and Lili laughed. Suddenly, Roderich spoke up from Lili's right.

"Oh, wirklich? Ich hätte nie geschätzt." Lili laughed again and asked him if he spoke German, to which he replied 'Yes, but I'd have thought that was obvious.'

"Hello? What were you guys saying?" Seychelles asked, pouting. Lili smiled.

"I said, 'I think that you also like someone. Two boys beside you, right?' "

"Not so loud!" Seychelles hissed as Francis and Arthur looked around vaguely, and Roderich coughed to cover a chuckle. "Okay, okay." Lili flapped her hand, continuing.

"So then Roderich said, 'Oh really, I would never have guessed!'" Seychelles laughed, but was interrupted when France smacked her butt. She turned around, cheeks flaming, and told him off.

"Francis! Tu es vraiment un pervers total! Que veules-tu?" she demanded the Frenchman, who was smirking at her.

"Ma belle Seychelles, j'ai seulement voulu ton attention! Est-ce que je peux te serrer dans mes bras?" Seychelles blinked at him.

"Pourquoi?" Francis pretended to be mortally wounded.

"Quelle quéstion terrible, ma chérie! Seulement parce que je t'aime!" Seychelles turned bright red, and muttered a tiny 'okay..' Francis wrapped his long arms around her and pulled her to his chest. Lili watched with amusement as Francis winked at Arthur over Seychelles' head. Arthur scowled and stood up, walking around the desks to stand in front of them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your warm and heartfelt reunion," he began tersely, his ears pink when Seychelles looked up at him. "But such lewd demonstrations of affection are prohibited inside classrooms. As the school prefect, I must ask you to stop."

"Awww, the little punk is jealous!" Francis teased, pulling Seychelles closer to him. He kept eye contact with Arthur as his hand travelled further down her back, until he grabbed her butt.

XxXxXxXx

Francis' hand was on her ass. Squeezing it. Hot French guy or not, that was not allowed. Seychelles pushed herself off of him (something she'd been trying to do for the last two minutes) and slapped him hard across the face.

The room suddenly fell silent, as they tend to do when anything dramatic happens. She heard Lili gasp behind her, and saw Arthur grin, but all Seychelles was looking at was France's shocked, slightly reddened face.

"Francis, please don't do that. I don't like to be touched like that. I am not some...some...some girl who allows guys she hasn't seen in years to grab her ass whenever they feel like it! I'm not a slapper! Ne touchez pas." she ordered, then turned back to face Lili, staring at the floor. Arthur flicked Francis on the nose before smugly returning to his seat. Francis spent the rest of class rubbing his cheek and looking at Seychelle with some kind of...'what a woman' expression on his face.

The bell rang for break.

Seychelles stood up, grabbed her bag, took Lili by the hand, waved goodbye to Arthur and Francis, and walked out.

"Let's go find our lockers!" she said cheerfully, skipping down the hall. They had checked their locker numbers before, and knew that their lockers were right next to each other. They found them quickly enough, right next to a water fountain. Lili opened up locker number 23 and Seychelles number 22.

"Seychelles, behind you." Lili murmured. Seychelles turned around subtly and found Arthur passing by, talking to Alfred, the big, tall American.

"Isn't he cute?" Seychelles sighed, sticking pictures of sunsets and fish to her locker with magnets. Lili nodded.

"Behind you...again..." she hissed about four minutes later. Seychelles didn't need to look, because two long arms accompanied by French cologne and Francis wrapped around her shoulders.

"Seychelles, ma belle, I'm so sorry I offended you! Please allow me to make it up to you." he asked softly. Lili hummed to herself as she filled her locker with pictures of herself, her great-aunt and uncle, and second cousin during the summer vacation.

"Okay, Francis. I'm sorry I hit you. I was surprised." Seychelles said, hugging Francis before he left to talk to some friends.

"Isn't he cute?" Seychelles sighed, continuing with her locker decoration.

"I know, right! But watch out, he's a perv." a loud, cheery voice suddenly interrupted, accompanied by a very curvy, pretty girl with beautiful long brown hair. She leaned against the locker next to Lili's and grinned at the two girls.

"Hi, you guys. I'm Elisabeta, but you can call me Hungary, it's my nickname. Or...well, everybody calls me that because 'my name is too long'." the girl made a face, and Lilli and Seychelles giggled.

"So, I caught you making eyes at...er...England and France! Love triangle, I bet!" Hungary said quickly, twirling her hair around a finger as she raised her eyebrows at Seychelles, who looked a little embarrassed.

"It was that obvious?" she asked, and Hungary laughed.

"Of course! But relax, I'm the only one that noticed. Oh, and if there's ever anything you girls need to know about the guys in this school, I'm the girl to ask, okay? I know everything." she said in a conspiratorial voice.

"Oh, that's fabulous! How awesome! How do you know so much?" Seychelles asked. Hungary put her hands behind her back and smiled.

"Well, I've lived here for my whole life, and during my younger years I was a total tomboy. So I heard everything the guys would talk about, like what girls they like, what they do at sleepovers..."

"What do boys do at sleepovers?" Lili asked, intrigued. Hungary tapped her nose and smiled, looking behind Lili and Seychelles.

"Later. Somebody's boy toy is coming this way." she whispered before flouncing away down the hall. Seychelles immediately turned around, probably expecting Francis, who seemed to follow her around everywhere. But it wasn't.

"Lili, is this your cousin?" Lili turned around, too, excitement filling her. Vash was standing behind her, looking a little awkward (probably because of Seychelles), but mostly happy.

"Big brother! How was your first class?" Lili asked, blushing a little bit because of his intense gaze. She wanted to hug him...she wanted to hug him... She unconsciously raised her arms slightly as he replied that he'd had a reasonable morning, considering... He drifted off, watching her. She didn't notice he had stopped talking until he awkwardly moved towards her and hugged her stiffly. Lili barely had time to gasp, blush, and inhale his scent before he backed away and coughed stiffly.

"Um...um...thank you!" Lili blurted before falling silent again, staring at her shoes.

"So...is this a new friend?" Vash began again. Seychelles, catching on that Lili was...a little shy around her 'brother', introduced herself.

"I'm Seychelles. C'est un plaisir to meet you, Switzerland...or Vash..."

"It's nice to meet you, too." Switzerland responded, and Lili finally spoke up again.

"Um...who do you sit with, in your class? A...a girl?" she asked, cursing herself for being so totally blunt. Lili twisted her hands behind her back as Vash smiled slightly.

"Yes...I sit next to Antonio and Katyusha..." he said thoughtfully.

"That's nice..." Liechtenstein said shyly as Seychelles re-tied one of her ribbons, trying not to ruin the conversation. She was very aware of moods, and was good at reading people's responses to things. She knew not to interrupt.

"Who are you sitting next to?" Vash asked. Liechtenstein smiled.

"Um, well, Matthew..., but he wasn't there. And...Roderich." Vash's face froze, and then a small frown emerged.

"Roderich? Okay..." he placed his hands on Lili's shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. She looked back, surprised.

"Please be careful around him. He is...well, just.." Vash seemed to be fighting to explain exactly what was wrong with Austria. "Well...okay, I don't like him. But that doesn't mean he's awful, but, just...please don't hang around with him a lot, okay?" Lili nodded seriously, not doubting a word Vash said.

The bell rang for next class, and Vash hugged Lili awkwardly before walking stiffly down the hall. Seychelles leaned over to Lili, giving her a conspiratorial smile.

"Soooo...your 'brother' seems nice...you two seem to get along really well...He's got a certain, um, how do you say it...a certain je ne sais quoi..." Lili turned to her, blushing but frowning.

"You are not allowed to have a crush on my Big brother." she said firmly, and Seychelles laughed.

"Oh Lili, relax. I was only kidding. I promise I'll never have a crush on Vash, but I will admit, he's got gorgeous eyes..." The pair giggled as they headed to their next class, the bell echoing in the noisy hall.

"Ew, it's math!" Seychelles groaned when they entered the class and saw the posters of 'PI before Pie' on the walls.

"It's okay, I can help you if you like." Lili offered, and Seychelles gave her a grateful smile. There was another seating plan for this class. The students in the class were all the same, of course, since class 1 had all its classes together, but there was a different room and a different teacher. Lili ended up sitting next to an empty desk, yet again, and Arthur. Seychelles was sitting behind her, between Kiku and Eduard. "Please say 'here' when I call your name..." the teacher announced, taking out a clipboard.

"Alfred?

"Alfred is IN THE HOUSE! WOO!"

"...Right. Arthur?"

"Present." Lili zoned out slightly, trying to remember the smell of Vash's clean sweater and his shampoo, which smelled like...leaves and apples. The label 'Smell Pervert' suddenly floated into her brain, ruining her reverie just in time to hear her name called.

"Lili?"

"Here!"

"Natalia?" "...Here..."

The class began with a review of everything they'd learned the previous year. Liechtenstein remembered it all, mostly because Vash had taught it to her that summer. She'd missed the last few weeks of school the last year due to...unfavourable circumstances, so he'd taught her the math she'd missed. Her old school had been using the semester system, so she'd missed almost all her math classes. About ten minutes into the time given to start their homework, a pencil tapped Lili on the shoulder.

"Need help?" she asked Seychelles, who nodded apologetically.

"What don't you understand?" Lili asked, turning around in her chair to have a look at her friend's homework sheet, which was...blank.

"Um...all of it..." Seychelles said sheepishly. Lili smiled.

"Okay, well...number one is asking first for the common factors of 16 and 64. Do you know them?"

"Er..."

"Okay, well, factors are things that you can divide a number by. 16 can be divided by 1, leaving 16, 2, leaving 8, and 4, leaving 4. So the factors of 16 are 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16. 64 can be divided by 1, leaving 64, by 2, leaving 32, by 4, leaving 16, and by 8, leaving 8. So the factors of 64 are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 64. Do you understand?" she asked. Seychelles nodded slowly.

"Okay...so what are the common factors? Just circle all the ones that are the same for each number." Seychelles circled 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 in pink pen.

"Well, that's right!" Lili exclaimed, and Seychelles beamed proudly.

"Now you just have to do that with 4012 and 220." Lili said cheerfully, and Seychelles groaned. After a while, Lili had somehow got her friend going, and was starting on her own sheet.

"Hey..." Lili looked up in surprise to see Arthur giving her a sideways look. "...Is Seychelles having trouble with math?"

No duh.

Lili smiled at him shyly. "Um, a little bit." Suddenly, a wonderful, devious thought popped into her head. She grinned broadly at the Brit. "Actually, I think that what she really needs is a tutor...somebody who would be willing to spend a little extra time with her, just to...help her understand a bit better. I mean, I'd do it myself, but I live so far away, and I don't think I'm good enough to teach her..." Lili trailed off, finishing a calculation on her sheet.

She didn't need to be psychic to know what Arthur was thinking: she'd checked his page, and knew that he was already done the homework. He was good at math...Seychelles needed a tutor. Lili smirked to herself as Arthur leaned his chair back and struck up an offer with Seychelles, who, of course, agreed joyfully. Lili subtly turned to look at her friend, and was rewarded by a mouthed 'MERCI!" and a thumbs-up.

XxXxXxXx

Lovino was, in a word, pissed. Antonio was at his school. In his classes. The first class of the day, English, hadn't been so bad, because Lovino sat at the back of the classroom with Toris and Mathias, and Antonio sat at the front, next to Vash and Katyusha. But the second class of the day was Lovi's elective, Spanish (NOT FOR THE REASON YOU THINK, DAMNIT!), and that was a living hell.

Spanish class was shared between the people who had chosen to take it in class 1 and class 2. Lovino had comfortably sat down at his desk next to Alfred and Bella, ready for a nice Antonio-free hour and a half. But alas, it was not meant to be. A minute before the bell rang to start class, Antonio walked in the door.

The teacher pointed him towards his desk...right in front of Lovino. Lovi glued his eyes to the floor as Antonio walked towards him, drew back his chair, and sat down. During the teacher's introduction and overview of the year, Lovino glared at the back of the Spaniard's head, mentally calling him every dirty word he knew, in both Italian and English. And a bit of French.

"OK, todos trabaja con la persona detrás de usted. Introduce yourselves, and get to know each other. You'll be partners in the project we're starting next class." Oh shit. She did not just say that. Lovino was scowling so much it hurt. Antonio spun his chair around and beamed at Lovino.

"Isn't this great, Lovi? We already know each other!"

"Yeah, it's fucking brilliant." Lovino snapped, glaring at his desk. Antonio laughed lightly.

"You sure swear a lot more than you did when you were younger."

"Shut up." Antonio sighed and watched as Lovino glared at the floor, then the ceiling, then the opposite wall, and finally at him.

"So...you've evidentially changed during the past four years, so we'd better get to know each other all over again." Spain said, ever-cheerful. Lovino made a non-committal grunt.

"Okay. So, your name is still Lovino Vargas...what's your favourite thing to do after school?" Antonio asked, pretending to hold a microphone under Lovino's chin. The Italian had to fight down an immature reaction of taking the mic and saying 'Well, Barb, it turns out that...' He cleared his throat and muttered something indistinguishable. Antonio leaned forward.

"What's that?" Another mutter. Antonio leaned a lot closer.

"What?" Lovino froze. Antonio was close enough that he could smell him. He still smelled like tomatoes, spices, and tortillas.

"Personal space, damnit!" Lovino protested, pushing the Spaniard away. "I said, I like to eat after school. Doesn't everybody?"

"What do you like to eat after school?" Antonio persisted.

"Um...Pizza."

"What kind of pizza?"

"It changes every time."

"What's your favourite kind of pizza to eat after school?"

"WHY ARE YOU SO INTERESTED, DAMNIT?" Lovino demanded, and Antonio laughed.

"You're just the same, you know. So cute."

"Not as cute as Feliciano, I bet." Lovino muttered under his breath. Seizing the chance to turn the tables on Antonio, Lovi asked the first question that came into his mind.

"What's your favourite Disney princess?" Antonio stared at him. As did Bella, who had heard.

Lovino turned bright red and stared at his shoes. Why the fuck did he say that! He hadn't watched a Disney movie in four years, damnit! Not since...not since Antonio had stopped coming. Antonio laughed.

"Um, interesting question, Lovi..."

"Just answer it, stupid bastard..."

"Okay then. My favourite Disney princess used to be Belle, but lately I started to really like Anastasia."

"Anastasia's a 20th Century Fox movie, dummy." Lovino couldn't help it; he smirked a little. Antonio could be pretty...you know.

"Oh, really?" he asked in surprise before his face fell. "That sucks. Well then, I guess that leaves Meg from Hercules. That's Disney, right?" Lovi actually didn't know.

"Um...sure." Lovino crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window. Antonio sighed.

"You still hate me, don't you?" Lovino was shocked; he never knew that Antonio had found out.

"Er..." Lovi looked at the Spanish boy who was leaning on his desk. He actually looked...sad. Lovino's snappy remark suddenly got lost on its way up. "Um...well, not that much." he admitted reluctantly, and Antonio immediately cheered up.

Some people's minds just seem to work on one level.

"Siiii! Todos, back to your seats please!" The teacher sang from the front of the room. Antonio winked at Lovino, then turned around, leaving the latter in a frozen state of shock.

"Ooh, I wish I had your partner, Lovi, honey. I've got Ivan...Brr. He gives me the creeps!" Bella whispered to him. Lovino shook his head. "I'd rather have Ivan...Antonio's...er..."

"Smexy? Yum." Bella said, giving him a naughty smile. Lovino shook his head, but didn't say any more.

"Okay, todos! Now, one group at a time, please come up to the front and present your partners!"

"Oh shit." Romano muttered; he'd barely learned anything about Antonio worth mentioning...

"How about we do this alphabetically...I believe that Antonio and his partner are up first! Ayayayayayyyy!" All the students stared at the teacher, who was shaking maracas energetically. "Erm...okay, just come up." she said sheepishly.

Lovino sighed as he followed Antonio up to the front of the class, feeling very un-toned and short compared to him.

"This is Lovino Vargas. He's sixteen years old, and he lives with his brother Feliciano and his grandfather. He loves to eat tomatoes and pasta. Lovi sucks at housework, and at expressing his feelings. He likes to spend time outside in the sunshine, and to eat candy apples at amusement parks. When he was younger, his head looked like a tomato, and it still does if he blus-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH, BASTARD!" Lovino snarled, elbowing Antonio hard in the ribs. He took a deep breath, shoved his hands into his pockets, and scowled.

"This idiot is Antonio. He's seventeen, and he sucks at school. He's always smiling, which is just weird. If you're in a bad mood, he's the worst person to talk to, because he'll cheer you up. He wouldn't be able to sense a bad mood if it gave him a lap dance. He adores tomatoes, and would probably not eat anything else if he had enough of them. Also, he didn't know that Anastasia's not a Disney movie." Lovino finished with a disapproving glance at the boy he was describing. Antonio had an unreadable expression on his face. For some reason, Lovino couldn't meet his eyes.

"Thank you, chicos!" The teacher cheered and clapped while they walked back to their seats. The rest of the class, Lovino zoned out, thinking about...Antonio. He was out of his seat and out the door the moment the bell rang.

XxXxxXx

C'est parce que It's because
...je pense que tu aimes quelqu'un... ...I think you like (love) someone... (Aimer can mean like or love, Ex: J'aime le crayon, Je t'aimes - I like the pencil, I love you)
Tu es vraiment un pervers total! Que veules-tu? You really are a total pervert! What do you want?
Ma belle Seychelles, j'ai seulement voulu ton attention! Est-ce que je peux te serrer dans mes bras?" My beautiful Seychelles, I only wanted your attention! Can I hold you in my arms?
"Pourquoi?" Why?
"Quelle quéstion terrible, ma chérie! Seulement parce que je t'aime! What a terrible question, my dear! Only because I love you!
Ne touchez pas . Don't touch.
todos trabaja con la persona detrás de usted Everybody work with the person behind you.


Hope you guys liked the chapter! Oh, and if there's ever anything wrong with my translations, please tell me! I am in French Immersion, so hopefully that'll mostly be okay, but German and everything else I might use could be wrong, because I'm just using online translators for them. I'm in Spanish class, but I suck, so that could be wrong too. I felt so embarassed writing the math scene, because I did a unit on factoring in October, but I had to check Yahoo answers to make sure about the calculations! Argh I totally suck...

anyways, hope this is okay! Please give me any kind of advice you might have!