I don't think I gave their dad a name in this story yet, so I'm just gonna call him Romulus.

Also, I am REALLY sorry it took so long to get this chapter completed. ^^; I've been so extremely busy with college work that it's actually ridiculous...actually, I should probably be doing work right now too...heh...but of course, as I finally finish with this chapter, this website has freaking uploading problems. Just my luck. Ah well.
Also...seriously, how did this get so many followers with just two chapters?!

WARNINGS: bullying, depression, cutting/suicide attempt


Lovino's father stood in the doorway of his room and watched how quickly and silently the boy had fallen asleep. He wanted to brush it off as his son's usual laziness, but something just didn't feel right. Lovi was usually always scowling and arguing. Lately, the boy wore more of a frown or a blank expression and had barely said a word.

Romulus sighed and left the room, rubbing his neck in exhaustion. Walking into the kitchen, he spotted his other son just starting to prepare dinner. "Feliciano, have you talked to your brother lately?"

Feli looked up from the stove and gave his father a quizzical look. "Ve...Lovi doesn't talk to me much, papa," the boy answered with a clueless smile. "How come you're asking?"

"Ah...it's nothing. I was just wondering."

The conversation didn't go much further, and after a while of random small talk, the pasta Feli was making was finally finished. As his father set the table, he bounded off into the hallway to wake his brother for dinner. However, he paused outside the near-closed door when he heard what sounded like sniffling. After listening for a bit, he furrowed his eyebrows in worry and gently pushed the creaky door open.

"Ve~? Lovi, are you alright?" he asked, slight worry showing in his voice.

Lovino stiffened at the voice and stopped breathing for a moment. "I'm fine," he answered stubbornly despite what his thoughts were saying. He sniffed again and subconsciously buried himself into the blanket on his bed, facing away from the door.

Feli tilted his head to the side and frowned. "But Lovi, you're crying."

"I am not crying, Feli! I'm just tired!" the elder twin explained in a raised voice, though it wasn't quite a shout. "And I'm not hungry, so just go eat your damn food."

"Alright...I'll save some for you, okay?" said the younger Italian as he turned to leave the room.

"Wait."

Feliciano turned back toward his brother, who was now facing him. "Yeah, Lovi?" he asked, hoping that his brother would come eat dinner after all, since he rarely ever joins them for meals anymore.

"I just...wanted to ask you something. And I want your answer honestly, okay?"

His brother quirked an eyebrow in confusion. "Um, okay. What is it?"

Lovino sighed and sat up in his bed, staring at his brother exhaustively. "If you can think of anything...is there something you think I'm good at? Like a talent or something."

Feli smiled at the question, though not really understanding the meaning of why his brother would ask such a thing. "Of course, Lovi~ You're really good at yelling and fighting." He smiled cluelessly and didn't really notice his brother's shoulders go slack.

"Is that all?"

"Um, well you're good at taking siestas too~! It's usually hard to wake you, fratello."

Lovino grumbled as he sighed. "Fine. Alright, that's all I wanted to know," he said as he lifted himself from the bed and tripped over stuff on the way to the door. "I'll be there in a bit," he informed his brother while on his way to the restroom. Feli smiled and gave a little cheer as he ran out to the dining room.


"So how's the new school?" Romulus asked his son, who had decided to join them for dinner and surprisingly didn't look tired at all (Lovi was sure to wash his tear-stricken face before coming down).

Lovino groaned as he plucked a fork of pasta into his mouth. "School is stupid," he said at last, after swallowing his food. His father sighed at the answer.

"Just don't be causing anymore trouble."

Lovi gave his father a strange look, weirded-out by the lack of yelling and scolding. His dad was actually being calm. It put him on edge. Cautiously, he twirled pasta around his fork and took another bite, still eyeing his father as if waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened, however, except for Feliciano rambling about random stuff as their father just nodded and occasionally glanced at the older son. Lovino felt uncomfortable with his father looking at him like that. It was usually either anger or nothing at all when they were in the same room together. So why wasn't he being scolded or even ignored? Of course this put him on edge. It was unusual.

'He's probably looking for something to yell at me for,' Lovino thought as he finished his plate and got up to toss it in the sink. He swore he could feel his dad's eyes following him as he left the room without a word. 'Not gonna wash your own plate, Lovino?' he imagined his father saying, but nothing ever came. It wouldn't matter anyway. He wouldn't want to stay there any longer just to be watched so closely. It was as if his dad was constantly making sure he didn't do anything wrong or screw anything up as always.

Lovino flopped back onto his bed, whispering "Fuck" and then slipping into a silence as his eyes bore into the ceiling.

"Dude, he won't stop staring like that," his classmate's voice rang into his thoughts. "He won't even talk to us."

He rolled onto his side and partly wrapped himself in a blanket, gripping tightly to the edge of the fabric.

"What a jerk."

The young Italian did sleep well that night, for his mind was clouded with the thoughts of others. And the worst part was that he'd have to hear it again tomorrow.


"What's up, new kid?" a tall blonde kid asked, taking the seat in front of Lovino. The boy had a large, unkind smirk on his face and had a voice that just radiated throughout the room. Behind him were four others.

The tallest wore glasses and an intense expression. Next to him was a much smaller boy that seemed to sprout happiness in comparison. In the back was what looked to be a younger student (probably a freshman) that had silvery hair and was wearing very tall, laced boots. And lastly, on the end was a very bored-looking fellow with an upside-down cross in his hair.

'Pretty sure that goes against the dress code,' Lovi kept to himself and quirked an eyebrow at the blonde in front of him.

"Can ya talk, kid?" he asked again.

Lovino sighed and crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat. "Yeah, I can talk," he answered and smirked at the slight surprise in everyones' faces. They must not have been expecting anything.

"So ye can talk after all!" the boy exclaimed excitingly, his smirk morphing into a large grin. "Awesome! Awesome! So I'm the first one ya spoke to, huh? Guess I'm just cool like that."

"Actually, you were just annoying me, and I was hoping you would go away if I answered you," the Italian bluntly answered, causing the blonde to frown confusingly.

A silence filled the room as everyone thought about that until the one will the cross hair clip spoke up. "I like this kid," he said in an emotionless voice and caused the 'annoying' one to quickly turn on him with an expression of exaggerated betrayal.

"Lukaaassss~" he whined to the boy that had spoken.

Lovino sighed heavily. "Listen, I'm trying to not be an asshole here, so don't push me. I get annoyed easily."

"Aw man, you're just like Luke then. Bummerrrr~"

"God, you're whiny."

Before the other could reply, the emotionless one intervened and pulled the blonde from his seat, taking it for himself. He looked Lovino in the eyes. "It can be difficult to ignore the stupid Dane. Trust me, I've tried," he said while gesturing to the annoying blonde. "But Matthias is annoying, therefore I give you permission to be an asshole."

"Hey!" Matthias shouted in defense.

The happy and intense-looking ones stepped forward and introduced themselves as Tino and Berwald. The youngest one stubbornly glanced over and stated his name as Eirikur. Lovino wasn't sure how he'd ended up in such a situation, but somehow, he was invited to lunch by the group of five and was treated fairly well, despite his harsh attitude. Lukas and Eirikur themselves seemed to have bad attitudes (mostly toward Matthias), so they were pretty accepting of him, much to his surprise.

Lovino found it strange to get along with others. It was something that never happened, and yet there he was, laughing alongside these five at lunch. He and Lukas tossed insults at 'the stupid Dane,' who was too carefree and cheerful to be harmed by them.

It felt good to fit in for once. When the other students saw him hanging out with 'the Nords' (one of the cool groups in the school), they seemed to warm up to Lovino as well, assuming that he had just been shy the first day or something of that sort. But in this school, it seemed like the cool kids picked on each other a lot, so of course he figured that it would suit him perfectly.

He was wrong.

It'd been not even two weeks since he'd befriended the Nords, and he already found himself in the middle of a serious argument between them. All day long, he'd sensed some sort of tension in the air of the group...and stupidly decided to ask why they were all being such grumpy bastards. Apparently that was a bad choice because Lukas got uncharacteristically angry and actually began shouting, though it was more directed towards Matthias and Eirikur than towards Lovino. And of course, a huge argument erupted in their group, with Tino and Berwald trying in vain to break it up. He still had no idea what they were fighting over, but he figured that if he said anything else, it might spark yet another argument.

His new-found friends had their own problems to deal with at the moment, and Lovino didn't know what they were; however, his anxiety was building up. Keeping quiet wasn't exactly something he was good at, and he was actually nervous about what they could have been fighting over. From the looks of it, Lukas was angry with Eiriker, and Matthias was probably just trying to defend him or something, though Lovino didn't know for sure because they had argued in an entirely different language.

But no matter how much his senses were saying that it had nothing to do with him, his stomach was doing flips. What if they didn't want him in their group of friends, and Lukas was just defending him? Or maybe it was vise-versa. Maybe Lukas, the one Lovi had become closest to, didn't want him as their friend. No, Lukas was What if they all hated him, and that was why they were speaking in another language? They were debating whether to ditch him or not.

But were they? Maybe this had nothing to do with him after all...


The last school bell rang. Lovino sighed and closed his notebook. He'd been thinking too much during class and had actually forgotten to take any notes. Oh well. That's just another thing to add to the list of things he'd done wrong. Exhaustively, he dragged his feet on the way to his locker, placing his notebook inside while also rummaging through his stuff to see what he needed to take home. By the time he'd finished, the hallway was practically deserted. Normally one of his 'friends' would accompany him out to the school gate, where they'd part ways, but no one was there.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, the Italian closed his locker and headed for the doors. He stopped immediately in his tracks as he walked past the bathrooms, hearing two very familiar voices coming from inside. It was the first thing he heard that caused him to stop.

"Why do you insist on being friends with him?!" demanded a voice sounding like Lukas.

Lovino immediately felt his anxiety skyrocket, but he couldn't help but listen. He wanted it to be a misunderstanding.

"And what exactly is so wrong with him?" Eirikur's voice demanded. "If anything, you should like him. He's stubborn and practically lacks emotion half the time. Yeah, he's a jerk, but he's not so different from you!"

"Do not compare me to that brat, little brother!" Lukas scolded. "Why don't you ever listen to your big brother? I do not want you around him. He is a bad influence on you."

"Seriously?! And what exactly makes him so bad, Lukas?"

What Lovino heard next almost made his legs give out, and he found himself running out of the school with no real destination set in his mind. But his friend's words kept ringing through his head, pounding deeper into his cracked heart with each time it repeated.

"All he's good for is causing trouble."


Hmm...are Lukas and Eirikur really talking about Lovino? But what's Lovi going to do now that he thinks he's lost his first friends? Well, I guess we'll have to see. Hopefully I will be able to make more time to work on fanfics...not sure when I will get the next chapter up, but I will try to not take as long as I did with this one.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter & hope you stick around for whatever comes next. Thanks for reading & please review ^_^