Chapter 4 Almost there
Antonio slept through the entire rest of the day, as well as the night. Lovino had finally woken up around two, but had not dared to move. He was warm and comfortable next to the Spaniard, and who could deny the fact that he felt safe and secure in his arms? Finally morning rolled around and the well-rested Spaniards eyes slid open. He yawned silently, noticing Lovino was curled up against him. He had no idea Lovino was awake, however. "Sweet little Lovi…" Antonio murmured affectionately, placing a ghost of a kiss on the Italian's forehead. Lovino did his best not to move as to alert him of being conscious, but he felt heat spread throughout his body from the spot on his head.
Antonio slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, giving Lovino a good chance to open his eyes and pretend like he'd just woken up. "M-morning, bastard…" Lovino muttered, still feeling heat in his forehead. Antonio, as usual, ignored the rude ending and smiled happily.
"Buenos dias~!" he said cheerfully, reaching over and ruffling the Italians hair. Lovino scrunched his nose and flinched, he had never liked people messing with his hair. Usually because it let to tugging on his curl, and that always ended badly.
"Do you feel any better?" Lovino asked, slowly raising a hand to the Spaniards forehead to feel for a temperature. Surprisingly, Antonio felt remarkably cooler, Lovino couldn't tell he ever had a fever to begin with. "Wow…" The Italian muttered, pulling his hand away.
"Si, I feel all better!~" he replied joyfully, then came a knock upon the bedroom door. "I wonder who that is?..." He wondered, "Come in!"
The door opened and in walked Gilbert, grinning as usual. "Hey Tonio, have good sex?" Was the first question out of the Prussian. Lovino squeaked in embarrassment and even Antonio felt his cheeks light up slightly, but he smiled none the less.
"We did nothing of the sort Gil." He said with a cheerful laugh, hopping out of bed and walking over to Gilbert who raised an eyebrow, clearly doubting.
"Yeah yeah, the awesome me doesn't really care. Hey, I need to talk to ya in your study, so I'll wait there." He said, skipping out of the room. Antonio sighed, he really wanted to go back to lying with Lovino, not discuss some paperwork he didn't do due to his sickness.
"Sorry Lovi, I've gotta go work on this…" Antonio muttered, wanting more than anything to crawl back into bed and hug Lovino.
"It's fine, I'll make breakfast." The Italian said, standing up slowly and beginning to walk to his wardrobe as Antonio walked out.
"Gracias!" Antonio chirped, walking down to his study.
Lovino rifled through the closet, finally finding a pair of brown slacks, a white dress shirt, and the same colored brown over-coat. He buttoned the jacket up and looked down at himself, yet another good outfit. With a content sigh he walked out of the room and into the kitchen, walking across the marble tiling and to the fridge. He pulled out what he had yesterday with a few different tweaks to the meal such as French toast.
He hummed quietly to himself and tapped his foot on the flooring as he danced across the kitchen, getting lost in the smell of breakfast. Another ten minutes and the godly food was done. Antonio walked in at the exact time. He smiled and walked over to Lovi, helping him carry the food into the dining room and set it down. The Spaniard was happy to see Lovi sat down in the seat next to his, and he wouldn't try to eat alone again.
"So what was Gilbert talking about?" Lovino asked between a mouthful of pancakes. Antonio nearly choked on his food.
"Hm? Oh nothing, just a birthday party coming up for some people…" He lied, regaining his breath. He had always been a terrible liar, but having to lie to someone as sweet and innocent as Lovino was practically impossible. He watched as the Italian tilted his head to the side slightly in question then shrugged his shoulders and nodded. The two finished their divine breakfast in silence, each of them simply enjoying each others company. Finally they finished and Antonio stood up. "Excuse me, but I have to return to work." He said, Lovino quickly shot up out of his seat.
"Can I come with you?" He had asked before he had even thought about it, he wanted nothing more than to simply be with the Spaniard.
"No." Antonio said quickly and harshly without even thinking about it, then saw Lovino flinch at his tone and he immediately regretted it. Antonio just didn't want Lovi to be scared of him, mafia bosses were generally scary people, and he thought that it may scare the Italian. "Sorry Lovi, but I need to work alone." He said in a softer tone, walking closer to the Italian and affectionately ruffling his hair. Lovino blushed slightly and shied away from his hand but sighed and nodded.
"Alright…" He said quietly, looking away from the Spaniard.
"Alright, I have to go and Lovi, you're welcome to go in the garden whenever you want. You remember how to get there right?" He asked, pausing at the doorway to see the Italian nod in confirmation. With that he walked out of the room and into his study, already dwelling on Gilberts previous words.
*Earlier that day*
Gilbert closed the door behind Antonio to his study and dropped his goofy demeanor, walking right over to a chair and sitting down. Antonio noticed right away something was wrong, his usually relaxed friend was perched on his seat, like he was going to bolt at any second, and his crimson eyes were "casually" surfing the room and all its nooks and crannies.
"Mi amigo, what's wrong?" Antonio finally asked, settling in his seat behind his desk. Gilbert snapped out of his dream land and looked up.
"I need to tell you something, right now." He said, looking his friend right in the eye.
"Si?" Antonio's voice cracked out of nervousness.
"Ivan's getting restless, he wants an alliance with Ludwig badly, and I think he's about to do something crazy, like hurt mein brother." Gilbert took a deep breath and ran a hand through his messy white hair, Antonio noted he looked ten years older than he really was, "I need you to do me a huge favor and take him and his boyfriend in for a while, please dude, I can't sleep at night I'm so worried about him." Gilbert finished, giving him a desperate look.
"I… I don't know amigo. I usually wouldn't mind, but with Lovi here, if things get messy he could get hurt too and I could never risk that." He said slowly, glancing out the window to keep his attention off of Gilbert.
"Please Tonio, I don't have anywhere else to go. Francis thinks I'm paranoid. And hiding them at my house isn't an option, it's too obvious." The albino pleaded.
With a tired sigh, the Spaniard nodded, saying no more. Gilbert had thanked him again and again, and then left without another word.
And now Antonio was back in his study, watching as the Italian sat on the edge of the fountain, watching in mild fascination as the Koi swam all around. His tail swished lazily behind him and his ears twitched every so often. He was adorable, so freaking adorable. Antonio sighed, why in the world had he agreed to this? Lovino could get hurt, if worse came to worse.
Antonio stood up after a while, he just couldn't focus on anything. He decided to prepare a bedroom for their guests, who would be arriving soon. He walked down the halls lazily, digging through a few closets to find clean sheets. He was finally rewarded with said sheets and he ambled down the hallways, finding a room that would suit the guests.
After he was done preparing he just wandered, then realized that he should be spending these minutes with Lovi, and not all alone wandering the halls. When he was about to turn to walk to the garden, he heard the doorbell ring. "Here already huh?" Antonio asked aloud, hurrying to the front door.
Standing there was a man around the same height as Antonio, but his hair was a light blond which was combed back, and he had a pair of piercing cerulean eyes staring at him inquisitively. Beside him was a shorter male, about Lovino's height. Antonio realized that the boy looked a great deal like Lovino, but his hair and eyes were a shade lighter, and he had a 100 watt grin plastered on his face.
"Ciao!" the presumable Italian said, immediately pushing his hand out for Antonio to shake. Antonio wanted to laugh, and here he had been wondering if this boy and Lovino were related, no way, they were polar opposites!
"Hola!" Antonio said right back, shaking his hand firmly. He turned to the man whom hadn't said anything yet, and assumed he was Ludwig. "Hola, you must be Gilbert's brother?" he asked, giving him the curdecy of announcing his own name.
"Yes, I'm Ludwig." He said in a serious tone. "And I'd like to thank you in advance for letting us stay here." He thanked.
"Of course of course, oh Lovi, come here, we have guests!" Antonio said, seeing Lovino walking in from the garden. Said neko looked up at Antonio questioningly when he was ten feet away, then stopped in his tracks completely. His face was completely unreadable for a brief moment, his eyes were wide and it seemed he was staring at one of them.
"F-Feliciano…" He muttered, Feli looked up at Lovino, and his eyes widened as well.
"LOVINO!~" He cried out happily, bounding over to his long lost brother and hug-tackling him to the floor. Lovino got over his shock and grinned wider than Antonio had ever seen. He wrapped his arms tightly around his brother who already had tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. "Mio dio Lovi, I thought you'd died!" Feliciano sobbed, hugging his brother tightly and crying into his shoulder, mainly out of happiness at the moment. Lovino wiped the few tears swimming in his eyes and hugged his brother back happily.
Antonio and Ludwig were watching from the doorway, both were thoroughly confused at the scene. Antonio was mainly marveling at the sight of Lovino's smile. "I-I remember Feli mentioning he had a younger brother when he was younger, but he was kidnapped when he was five. He said that he was never seen again, no ransom note, no anything…" Ludwig whispered, and Antonio finally saw the smallest hints of a smile on the Germans face.
Finally the two Italians pulled themselves together enough to stand up, but they remained interlocked tightly together. "Hey Lovi, if Ludwig doesn't mind, why don't you two go to your room?" Antonio offered, Ludwig nodded in approval. Lovino grabbed Feliciano's hand and dragged him off, still grinning like a maniac.
"I'm glad…" Antonio said softly, watching the two go. Ludwig looked over at him.
"What?" He asked in a deep German accent.
"I wasn't sure about two people I didn't know coming here with Lovi, he's usually either timid or cussing. So I'm glad he knows Feliciano." The Spaniard finally motioned for the German to come in, and shut the door behind him.
"I'm surprised to be honest, Feliciano had always said he was sure he was dead. He cried every time the subject had ever been brought up, but he said that there was a really big amount of blood where he went missing, and the cops said that amount of blood loss could easily kill a five year old." Ludwig mumbled, then turned to Antonio. "Anyhow, is there a place for me to set down my and Feliciano's stuff down?" He asked, motioning to the two backpacks on his back. Antonio nodded and directed him to the guest room.
Two hours later the two pairs of males were chatting away, Lovino and Feliciano were laying on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, their hands were interlocked tightly like they never had any intention to let go. Lovino had told Feliciano roughly about what had happened, only that he was kidnapped and sold, but he left out all the grimy details that would make his brother cry. Still by the end of the story, the smaller Italian was indeed in tears. Lovino quickly changed the subject.
"So, who is the guy you're traveling with?" He asked, turning his head to look at Feliciano. His eyes lit up at the question and his eyes quickly dried.
"My boyfriend, Ludwig!" He said cheerfully. Lovino's eyes widened slightly, he was intrigued.
"So, tell me the details." He said fast, really wanting to know.
"Si! I met him a few years ago while I was on an exchange program in Germany. I was picked on a lot because I was gay, but Luddy was gay too so it was cool and he was really really nice to me! And then we just sorta… happened, he didn't go to the same school as me so every second together was like magic, and I couldn't bear being without him, so of course I left with him to come here when he asked!" Feli finished with a deep breath. And then he continued about how amazing he was, "Mio dio, when we first met these bullies had just beat me up and my nose was bleeding and Luddy found me, so he took me back to his house and helped me! And then I met him again on accident after that, and then I got his number and we just started hanging out! And then one night he asked me out and then BOOM!~" He finished, waving his free hand around in the air to express their love for one another.
Lovino just listened, their story was beautiful. Feliciano went into further detail on their first date, it was obvious it had been important. Ludwig had taken them to a nice German place near a river, and afterwards they'd walked around downtown. And finally the blond had taken Feliciano to the top of a hill and watched the 4th of July fireworks. And then they'd kissed. Lovino listened to his brother talk for hours, and finally the two, thoroughly exhausted, fell asleep next to each other.
Antonio had learned that Ludwig loved beer, so he had immediately sat down with the German and a pint each of his best beer. He found that Ludwig was easier to talk to when he had a slight bit of alcohol in his system, and he told about the troubles with the mafias. After a few hours of nonstop talk on the subject, Ludwig had had enough beer to start talking about Feliciano. He was a bit more tight mouthed than the Italian, but he did admit lot's of stuff, loving him, willing to die for him, the usual.
Antonio began to wonder after Ludwig had described being in love. Was he in love with Lovino? He always felt the same way, butterflies in stomach, he couldn't stand to be away from him, and his smile was the best thing that had ever graced the earth. With just a little more beer, Antonio was convinced he was in love, and there was no time to waist, he had to tell him right now.
The Spaniard stood up abruptly, setting his beer down.
"Where are you going?" Ludwig asked, looking up at him with slightly flushed cheeks due to the alcohol.
"I loveeeeeeeee Lovino, and I wanna go tell him!~" Antonio purred "love" for a while, before taking a step towards the door.
Suddenly the door was flung open, and in came a crying Feliciano, with a bit of blood splattered on his forehead. Tears were soaking his face and he was shaking like mad. Ludwig immediately sobered up and stood up, running over to him to make sure he didn't have any wounds. Antonio felt the alcohol wear of slightly as well.
"Feliciano, what happened?!" Ludwig questioned. The Italian was still taking deep and ragged breaths from running, and he was battling tears, but he panted, "I-I-I woke u-up a-and Lovi was g-gone and there was b-blood everywhere!" he sobbed. Antonio went completely pale, and he had the feeling that the Italian had something else to say.
"Anything else?!" Antonio questioned.
"T-there was a n-note, from someone n-named… I-Ivan…" He whispered before falling unconscious.