"Feliciano! Feliciano!"

"Feli-kun!"

"Feli!"

Feliciano's eyes flew open, and he shot up from his seat, oddly expecting to wake up on his feet. He grabbed at his forehead when he wobbled and clutched onto the back of his chair for support.

"Feli-kun!" Kiku held his hands out in case he lost his footing. "We called and called your name, but you were unresponsive!"

An older man spat from the other end of the table, "He should have not been sleeping during a meeting in the first place!" The stink eyes tossed in the Italian's direction said that they agreed.

Ludwig put a hand on Feliciano's shoulder, while his other friend went toward the drink machine. "Sit down before you fall over."

Feliciano complied, and Kiku set a plastic cup of water from the fountain in front of him. "Are you ill?"

"I don't think so? I really didn't get enough sleep last night."

Ludwig settled into the adjacent chair. "You should make a sleeping schedule. It will help you keep your activities organized and develop a healthy pattern..." he trailed off when Feliciano and Kiku exchanged and look and giggled. "What? What is so funny about taking care of yourself?"

A zappy voice broke the trio apart, "Are we going to continue, or not?"

Another droned, "Mr. Vargas, your presentation is next, if you may."

Feliciano stood up, his legs quivering like a newborn foal's. "S-si!" He scrambled his papers into a sloppy pile and walked to the front of the room. He flinched when the projector lights shone in his eyes, and he tripped over the cord connecting it to a wall socket. "Hello," he called out with a squeaky voice.

All the gathered people's eyes were on him. He looked at his two friends. Ludwig nodded while Kiku flashed a thumbs up. Feliciano struck a bright smile, and he brought up his presentation.

"There are a lot of little kitties out in the streets that deserve a pet on the head and a warm lap to curl up to! They have thoughts and feelings, and with our political voice, we should do something about the population of cats in our furry town!"

"Mr. Vargas," A woman started, "we have came here today in hopes of every member giving important and useful information of what the citizens think is the most glaring problem that needs to be taken care of..."

A man's voice came out garbled, "How many people have brought up the issue of the town's feline overpopulation?"

Feliciano fiddled with his fingers. "I talked to a guy that was sleeping in a field."

"That's it?"

He nodded and bit his lip.

Ludwig stood up. "I believe we have sufficient information for the bosses for this week. I thank everyone for cooperating. Meeting dismissed."

The room filled with a collective sigh. Most of the members tossed Feliciano a few glares as he tripped over a chair in the process of eagerly gathering his supplies. He hummed as he stuffed his papers in his shoulder bag. "Hey! We should get something to eat! I'm starving!"

Kiku was almost out the door. He spun around and quickly bowed. "I am sorry, I have to get to the bus stop as soon as possible. I will see you again at the next meeting."

Feliciano turned to Ludwig. The man nervously pulled at his shirt collar. "Erm, I was going to go home and walk my dogs right away."

"Ooh! Can I join?"

"I don't know, Feli. They can get very...hard to control around visitors."

"But you're amazing with your doggies!"

"I know, but I was really looking forward to some alone time with them. I have not been able to give them the proper attention in several days with all this paper work."

"Alone time," Feliciano pouted and dropped his gaze to his paper work strewed across the conference table. "Never mind. I'll just go home." He almost added, 'To my empty house,' but stopped before he could upset other people.

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

Green paint splattered onto the canvas Feliciano stood before, and the goop jumped from the sheet and flung itself back at Feliciano. He squeaked and flinched. "My trousers! Where's my apron?" He asked, even though it was too late for his slacks.

While his painting was drying, Feliciano wanted to try to make his own milkshake, something he heard one of the tourists that wander in herds on the streets chatting about, and decided to test it out. His kitchen cabinets wound up partaking in the beverage when he forgot to properly screw on the lid to the blender.

"Some pasta before bed will cheer anybody up!" He chirped, only to open his cabinets and see there were no more boxes of noodles. "No!"

"What's up with that yelling?"

Feliciano shot up from sobbing into the pantry closet to face his brother. "We're out of pasta!"

Lovino's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me?!"

"I wish I was! It's too late to get some more. The stores closed at sunset!"

"It's never too late. I'm going out and getting some pasta right away!" Lovino pushed by his brother.

"Lovi, wait! You can't go outside now!"

"I have to get pasta. And go to work, but the pasta is more important."

"What about the mafia men that are going around now? They beat people up and leave them on the walkways!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Lovino snapped. "Do you want pasta or not? I'll get it to you in the morning, so do not wait for me."

"Be careful!" Feliciano called out to his brother as he threw open the side door and breezed outside into the dark night.

His stomach rumbled, but Feliciano did not feel like cooking anything else at the moment. He glanced at the clock on the stove top. It was not nine o' clock yet, but he could not resist the thought of wiggling underneath a bunch of warm covers. Sleep was a friend, and there was somebody that would be waiting for him.

Author's Note- Pasta = Life.