Gifted And Talented

Chapter 4 - 3 Years Later

"Come on bastard! Wake up" Lovino yelled throwing open the door with a bang. Antonio stirred instantly as the door didn't move from the wall.

"Lovi? Is there a fire?" he asked looking at the door. The Italian tutted and yanked the door back again to slam it shut revealing the crumbling plaster behind it. A groan escaped the Spaniard lips as he buried his head back under his pillow. That was going to cost him…

"Idiot I just found out a new kid turned up and I want to go see!" he perched himself on the edge of the bed where Antonio curled up under the covers making space for him.

"But Lovi~" he protested "it's a Saturday! And why do you care? You've never cared about any of the new students that have come before"

"I had a change of fucking heart" Lovino lied obviously, Antonio had come to hear the little hints over the past 3 years in the boy's voice that gave away how he felt. He secretly called it Lovi-talian which only Francis and Gilbert knew and were sworn to secrecy as well.

"Ok ok…" The boy sat up and stretched yawning "let me just get dressed mi tomate and we will be on our way"

Lovino nodded and turned his back blushing a little willing his heart to keep calm least he blows up the TV. Antonio did the same, trying to calm down very aware of the situation as he stood half in the wardrobe picking out the uniform and putting it on. The two had come to greet the awkward period of the other dressing like an old friend remaining silent till the one changing had finished.

"Ok ready!" Antonio laughed as he attached his badge to the sweatshirt; Lovino looked over his shoulder and sighed seeing he was having trouble.

"You never can get this on by yourself can you Seven" he muttered getting up and taking the pin from the Spaniard before getting to work himself on putting it on. Antonio smiled and just watched the other as he concentrated in such a cute way. It was strange to think that the hot-headed strong and in some ways independent boy was the same crying child he decided to approach that evening.

Lovino spent the first year of the school at home but quickly took up a dorm in the school in his second year although his motives were never clear and he swore to himself he would never tell anyone.

Never again after the first year did he want to be chauffeured to and from the place by his so called Nonno, the man insisted that since Lovino could walk to the fucking building, then they could have bonding time. There was a year's worth of mornings of his life he'd never ever get back.

"there it's on" he muttered heading for the door as Antonio rubbed a thumb over it.

"Gracias Eight" he winked. The number thing had become a quick way of calling your attention to someone, sometimes like with the level Fives, it was a little redundant too many students and a lot of them hated being distracted from their work.

Lovino rushed ahead having to stop as Antonio didn't seem to understand the situation. Not that he could with Lovino withholding that one piece of vital information which was why he wanted to do this in the first place. Lovino grumbled to himself all the time thinking that the other was nothing more than a stupid bastard who needed to understand that there was no need to ask fucking questions and he should just do as he was told, Antonio seemed none the wiser to the deep meaningful thinking of his closest friend.

Once they had arrived at the council's building and made their way inside they saw Romulus speaking with a boy who seemed to have a similar appearance to Lovino. Antonio would have pointed this out if Lovino hadn't already gone over and started chatting with the two, well it seemed apparent that he knew the boy.

"now be kind to your brother Lovino he's new so he won't get how things work" Romulus spoke and Lovino nodded ruffling the younger boy's hair.

"si si I know Nonno" he grumbled "I'll take good care of him"

The councilman apologised to the younger brother that he had other duties to attend to. Antonio sheepishly made his way over to fill in the spot the tutor left behind.

"Antonio…this is my younger brother Feliciano" Lovino introduced the bouncy Italian next to him who waved at Antonio smiling happily. He was definitely different to Lovino, more happy and upbeat, but the Spaniard had a feeling you'd have to be a special kind of person to keep up with him.

"ciao I'm Feli~" he cried hugging Antonio who was oblivious to the slight fist curling of the elder brother. " I just started coming here"

"I can see that" Antonio laughed "and what level are you?" he asked wondering if he knew. Feliciano on the other hand just smiled warmly producing his badge

"I'm a level 3" He turned to Lovino and hung off him "isn't that great fratello ve~" he asked

"huh oh yeah that's great what can you control?" Lovino asked showing great interest in this new development.

"I paint things and they come to life!" he seemed really proud of this

"oh…like that story Yao told me…the magic paintbrush I think" Antonio mused. Feliciano smiled and apologised saying he had to go. In the doorway were two boys, the German kid brother to the albino and a Japanese boy, both of which had started attending the school recently and who had powers of something that Lovino had no care for.

"I already have friends and everything ve" he smiled before running off calling the German's name and making Lovino skin crawl. Antonio thought it was cute the new kids were getting to know one another when he noted Lovino had gone incredibly quiet.

"Lovi are you-"

"did you see that Antonio?" he cried looking shiny eyed and excited. It creeped Antonio out a bit and at the same time made Lovi adorable. "I…I have a higher level that Feliciano!"

"that doesn't seem like something to be excited about…remember I explained the levelling system"

"just let me have this bastard ok? It's… it's just important for me to be better at something ok?"

Antonio nodded and bit his tongue not wanting to pry when he knew the other would never tell him in a million years. So he smiled warmly

"Want to get breakfast off campus?"

Lovino was always quick to accept food off of campus, not that there was anything wrong with the food provided at school it was like a mouth party every single time but being confined to the grounds of the buildings could send you a little loopy. Generally if someone asks you to go off campus what they mean to say is, you look like you are going a little crazy about something and so am I so want to go somewhere else so we don't do something stupid we regret later.

Antonio always took him the same place, a small café at the end of the hidden road to the school. There were a few tables outside and inside was full of small booths around a counter. The couple who owned the place were coming up to a retirement age but they both seemed to refuse to give up working, they didn't even question the fact their largest intake of customers were students from a school they had never seen. They truly were nice and made the best cake in the world!

But never tell Belle you said that or she would murder you.

"so what's eating you bastard?" Lovino asked as he shoved a large forkful in his mouth watching the other with suspicious eyes. Antonio looked up from his piece and blinked almost confused.

"I just thought you might like to come get cake for breakfast what could possibly make you think that I had something eating me?" He laughed it off and then stopped seeing the unimpressed look on Lovino's face. The Italian pointed to the cake in front of the Spaniard and it was only then Antonio realised he had turned to pointed half of the sweet into a pile a cake rubble.

"ah Lo siento" he laughed twitching a finger and re-assembling the cake. Lovino smacked him over the head with a fork.

"not. IN. PUBLIC" he hissed "seriously you're the one taking the exam today and you still don't think before you use your powers?" he noticed the other physically twitch at the mention of testing.

"so that's it" Lovino mused and Antonio looked up "you're nervous about the exam aren't you?"

The boy across the table looked away "they want me to do things I don't want to do…" he sighed "they want me to move a human through the air…"

"that isn't so bad is it?" Lovino wondered finishing his piece of cake and setting his fork down

"they want me to throw the person into a hay stack" he nearly yelled looking upset. Without thinking and jumping a little from the shock Lovino threw his hands forward and wrapped them around Antonio's hands.

"hey it's ok…it's just a test" he managed a small smile for the other "once it's done I'll do… whatever you want…within reason" he blushed bright red and the other seemed shocked before a wide grin set on his face

"if Lovi thinks I can do it then I can!" he declared laughing curling his fingers around Lovino's fingers.

"awww isn't that sweet" a new voice made them both jump and looked over to see the waitress with drinks in her hands "are you two?" she asked a curious little look in her eye. Both boys' looked down to see their hands intertwined and embarrassed quickly separated themselves looking in opposite directions and as red as beets whilst the girl laughed placing down the drink on the table and excused herself. The rest of their time out was in a strange silence before leaving to head off to the school.

The road from the town up to the school was a long dirt road up a small hill. As The two climb up side by side they took the time to note the scenery and other students along the way. Most used their powers to get up and down the hill without a problem but sometimes it was nice to just walk along it. The sun was high in the sky now and when they reached the grounds most of the student body were up and walking around. Although every day had tutoring only on weekdays were their regular planned lessons that required an early start. Today there was a lot of free time outside of tutoring and other things. Antonio sighed

"I need to go get some things for the exam so I will see you later ok?" he asked and Lovino looked at him and nodded as they passed through the main gate, the large guard staring down at them.

"fine I'll see you after the exam…good luck" he muttered and the Spanish boy smiled before jogging off towards the west building. Now alone Lovino found he had nothing to do and just decided to stroll around the courtyard for a bit until something more interesting came up.

In the centre of the courtyard there were large amounts of equipment being set up for the testing of the students at about age 16 years old like Antonio. He watched as a large pile of all the equipment needed was carried around and arranged by one of the student Lovino's age. His name was Alfred, and his power was super strength, so they tended to use him for odd jobs. He spent a lot of time around Arthur but not under any mental influence, the American teen tended to do anything for a burger.

After a few moment of watching this, the Italian became bored and decided to head off into the West building and maybe just wish Antonio that last bit of luck for today. As he opened the door though he smacked into someone head on and yelled out falling to the floor.

"ah!" the other cried. Looking a lot like Alfred but with paler head and a strange curl off his head Lovino recognised him as the younger brother Mathew who gripped his stuffed bear on his chest and looked upset to have caused the boy to fall.

"I am so sorry Lovino I didn't see you there I was just looking for Alfred and…" was all Lovino caught of the sentence as the boy's power took over and he entered supersonic sound. Gripping his head from the ringing until the other calmed down he sighed.

"Alfred is outside putting his power to use" he commented as Mathew offered his hand and pulled him to his feet "do you know where the students taking the exam are today?"

Mathew looked at him curiously and smiled "you want to go see Antonio?"

Lovino blushed and spluttered some excuse but the Canadian hushed him "just head down there the doors on the right" and with that he left laughing to himself.

Lovino rolled his eyes and headed off down the corridor he had been pointed to. Up ahead he could see the door of the room. He stopped and sighed trying to find the courage. Soon the door opened and the group of 16 year olds came out of the room. Seeing Antonio Lovino went to move forward, but stopped to just watch as a blond girl with her hair in a ribbon came out of the room last and asked Antonio to wait. This was Belle, a girl who liked making sweets and cakes and things…that Antonio liked, she could make them dance and move at will. Lovino just watched unnoticed as Belle said something to the Spaniard who laughed moving closer to her and she to him. They embraced for a long time and Lovino found tears reaching his eyes for no reason he could think of. He curled his fists and felt a heat within him he had never felt before, was this why Antonio wanted to leave so soon? When the two before him broke the embrace they seemed happy to stand there talking loosely in one another's arms before they turned and headed off down the hallway towards the exam. The heat built and built until a voice brought him to his senses.

"Ah I'll get it Desu-yo!" a small boy with a similar appearance to Arthur jumped out of one of the classrooms where a bunch of the youngest students were hanging out and stared at a bin that had just spontaneously combusted. Lovino paled realising he had done that. The boy glanced back into the room he had been in and stared intently at a bottle of water of the table before turning and raising his hands shooting water into the bin a large hissing as the fire was extinguished filled the hall.

As the students went to congratulate the boy Lovino ran back outside not wanting to be associated with the incident and the fact the testing was about to begin. As he approached he noticed Antonio seemed to be searching the ground, eyes lighting up and smiling brightly as the emerald orbs zoned in on the Italian, it made Lovino's heart flutter a little but he remained calm glancing back at the West building.

The test was different for each student as they all had different powers. Gupta, the Egyptian kid did what he always did, looked at loads of different language and read them all out perfectly in English. Lovino wasn't too sure what Arthur did during his exam but the amount of shouting Antonio was doing when the Italian came back to reality suggested he was a part of it. Gilbert brought a bear into school, and Ivan covered it in flowers which held the animal in place. Yao had 10 seconds to memorise ten different food pictures and then replicate them; it was that day's lunch menu so a lot of faith rested in what he remembered. Johan, the Dutch kid and brother to Belle, create a smokescreen over the entire school which was great but the smoke he controlled originated from his cigarette. Everything suddenly felt wonderful and made the student really hungry. Belle made chocolate move and dance as she made it and Tino…Tino was a special kid from Finland was could make it snow, so he did, a lot. Berwald was greatly impressed.

Antonio turn came and a man kitted up in protective gear awaited the power. He raised his hand and swallowed shaking visibly. Everyone waited in silence.

"I can't do it…" he muttered "I can't move him"

"yes you can Antonio" a member of the council tried to encourage him as he looked at them with terrified eyes.

"I can't!" he protested getting worried "it's a horrible use of this power and I don't want to do it"

"Antonio listen…if you don't do this you won't pass"

"Fine then! I accept a fail!"

"you won't know unless you try Antonio…go on dear"

The boy felt frustrated as they continued to talk, they didn't understand! They didn't get it! He didn't want to do this but they were still pushing and pushing.

"Fine!" he yelled thrusting his hand into the air, the man shot off backwards missing the hay going over the crowd and smashing through a window"

Lovino panicked and rushed through the crowd towards the line of students jumping over the rope that cornered it all off and dashing up the stage to grasp the Spaniard who looked pale and terrified. No one attempted to stop the boy as he ran up

"Antonio?" he asked the boy in question blinked and looked at him

"L-Lovi…I did it…" he muttered ashamed. Lovino sighed

"Yeah it's ok…you don't have to do it again now"

Antonio smiled at that thought, now all had to wait for was the results. Wouldn't that be a fun day?

To be continued...