Yes, I dissed Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is the bane of my existence. When your parents work in the photo lab and is the assistant manager at another Wal-Mart about an hour's drive from us, you seriously develop a sort of love-hate relationship with it.

Stupid Wal-Mart.

Max and the girls are my lame attempt at the "states" Spain has; called the "comunidades autónomas". There are seventeen of them (listed below), represented by Max's grandkids. Max himself is supposed to represent Spain under Moorish rule (why he has Antonio and Lovino refer to him as their al-arabe grandpa). Al-arabe comes from the Spanish word "arabe" meaning Arabic (what the Moors were) and how many of the words the Moors contributed to Spain began with the prefix "al-". In short, this is my terrible attempt at showing my Spanish teacher that I DO listen in class. XD

Los deicisiete comunidades autónomas de España:

Galicia- Gail

Asturias- Astrid

Cantabria- Candace

País Vasco- Patty

Navarra- Navarre

Cataluña- Catherine

Castilla y León- Leon

Rioja- Rose

Madrid- Maddy

Aragón- Aaron

Comunidad Valenciana- Valencia

Extremadura- Trey

Castille-la Mancha- Manny

Andalucía- Lucy

Murcia- Murray

Menorca- Noria

Mayorca- May

Chapter 7

It was all quite funny, to be honest.

In some strange work of fate, Antonio and Aria had come to America at the same time, respectively from Spain and Italy. Heta High School had always been the kind of school where things spread quickly, so everyone was eager to steal the foreigners away for interrogations. For the first few weeks at Heta, Antonio was surrounded by the Spanish class. They helped him with his English in exchange for lessons in his language. Aria had a slightly easier time, already having known little English from her father at Harvard.

But once the shock had died down and Antonio was eventually left alone, he met Francis and Gilbert.

The two friends knew absolutely no Spanish and for years couldn't understand his accent. It was a game of charades trying to speak with each other. Elizabeta and Roderich, who also made up their fine group, were the ones who first introduced Antonio and Aria. Like with Francis and Gilbert, the Spaniard and Italian didn't have much in way of conversation. But knowing there was someone else who wasn't very fluent in English made learning the language much easier.

While Francis and Gilbert chased after every girl that passed their way, Antonio had fallen in love with Aria at first sight. She was beautiful and smart, two things Antonio really wasn't, but she liked him just the same. He would make her lunch and she'd help him with the dreaded English homework. After Antonio, Francis, and Gilbert's soccer games he'd treat everyone to dinner at the Wang family's restaurant, Red Flower, at the mall. Antonio wasn't exactly made of money like Aria, but he did well enough doing odd jobs here and there on the weekends and over the summer. He could fix anything that came his way- bikes, cars, and broken hearts. Antonio was everyone's go-to when things went wrong.

He was happy to help. After all, it was the least he could do for the friends that'd stuck by him when he first came to America. Even when he was forced to stay after school to try and mend an argument between Francis and Arthur or Gilbert and Roderich (Gilbert was always mad at Roderich for making moves on his "girl", as he liked to call his lifelong friend, Elizabeta), Antonio didn't complain.

More people starting walking over him, shrugging their problems off on Antonio to take care of. It never really bothered him. He could take it all no problem, no complaints. Bottling everyone's cares inside him, Antonio became their perpetually happy shield against the bad things in life.

But he never had anyone to lay his cares on. Most people ignored him or changed the subject, leaving him to carry his burdens alone.

He also grew used to this. Antonio had always been a strong boy- growing up on a farm was a good way get some muscles- so surely he would be alright on his own.

Today, Antonio wasn't sure he could handle things on his own.

The court room was too stuffy and he felt weird dressed in a suit when his usual attire consisted of t-shirts and jeans. Lovino and Feliciano were sitting with Roma and Damaris; their Greek grandmother being present a surprise to everyone. Lovino was shockingly silent, kicking his legs back and forth under his seat. Feliciano was awake but thankfully just as quiet as his brother.

In fact, the only one talking was Aria, trying to convince the judge to allow her full custody of the kids. Antonio wouldn't be okay on his own. Lovino and Feliciano wouldn't be okay on their own! Who was supposed to take care of them when Aria was out and about? Surely she couldn't keep up with both of them at once! His palms started to sweat. Another stolen glance at Lovino showed that the four-year-old was really starting to get bored. He looked up, feeling Antonio's emerald eyes on him. They exchanged a tiny smile before reverting their attention back to Aria, seemingly finished with her speech.

Now for the hard part.

"I… I think the kids should stay with me… because… um…," Antonio stole another look at Lovino, who nodded for him to continue. Antonio cleared his throat. "Because I know them better than anyone else. Lovino will only eat the crust on his bread if you give him two slices of tomatoes. The same goes with taking a bath: he must have his tomatoes."

A slight chuckle escaped the judge. Antonio grinned, taking that as a good sign. "And… and Feliciano. He has lots of toys, but he likes playing with people's fingers more. He eats at least five times a day and wakes up every night at eleven for some reason. I guess because he's going to be a night owl or something.

"Both of the boys love each other dearly," Antonio continued. "Lovino takes great care of Feli and Feli would rather play with him than anyone else. I think they'll be okay on their own."

Antonio flinched. Oh no… probably shouldn't have said that.

The judge cocked an eyebrow. "On their own? Please elaborate, Mr. Carriedo."

"W-well… I'm a mechanic. I figure they could hang out around the shop with me, and when I have to go under the cars or something, they could… I don't know, do what kids do to keep themselves entertained?"

"We're talking about a four-year-old and a baby, Mr. Carriedo."

Aria was trying her hardest to keep the smirk off her face. Antonio was just digging himself into a deeper hole, getting himself in trouble rather than helping. But suddenly, before Antonio could say anything else, a small voice picked up. "Oh, come on! I know I'm four, but I take care of Feli all the time!"

Antonio, Aria, and Roma palmed themselves. Lovino stood up indignantly, every eye in the room turning on him. "And I'd rather stand around in a cool shop with tools than be led around in a mall! I bet Feli would like that too!"

"But wouldn't you miss your mother?"

Lovino nervously looked down at his feet. "Well… yeah. Of course. I love Mamma. But I love Papá, too. He takes me camping and doesn't fuss at me for stuff like Mamma. And he really does know how to make a tomato sandwich. Besides, Papá has funny friends. They're all really nice, too. Mamma's friends are kind of annoying. They talk too loud. Well, so does Arthur, but it's funny when Gilbert and Francis yell at him to quiet down."

The dark-haired four-year-old marched up to the front. "You all are dummies for arguing here, too! Is that all you adults do? Don't you bother to ask me what I want, since you're all arguing over me and Feli?"

"L-Lovino, darling, sit down," Aria nervously twittered, knowing this wasn't going to end well. Nothing ever went well when Lovino decided to voice his opinion.

He pursed his lips. "Give Papá a chance, will you? I like them both, like I said, but I promised Papá a while back that I'd stick with him if this ever happened. Papá is always really happy, but it's us and Mamma that makes him happy. Without us, he'd always be sad."

He paused, letting this all sink in. Aria frowned, certainly not happy at all that Lovino had just chosen Antonio over her in front of all these people. Lovino turned around to the judge. "So how're we going to do this?"

"I figure that if you feel that strongly about all this," the judge started, lacing his fingers with a smile, "I suppose you'll be fine with your father. Are you sure you won't miss your mother too much? This is permanent."

Lovino looked back at Aria, staring at him hopefully, trying to force him with her mind to reconsider. When he turned back, nodding, Aria's lips quivered.

The judge cleared his throat and banged his gavel to make it official. "Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo has custody of Lovino and Aria Vargas has custody of Feliciano. Case dismissed."

"Wait a minute," Lovino burst, amber eyes going wide in fear. "What do you mean, Feliciano is going with Mamma?"

"He's just a baby," the judge explained. "He needs his mother- all young children do."

Lovino shook his head, horror written all over his face, turning back to Aria. "You promised me Feli and I would stick together! You can't take him with you!"

"You're telling me what I can and can't do?" she demanded, dabbing at her eyes. "You just told everyone that I'm trash! I deserve Feliciano more than you!"

That, to Lovino, was the same as saying she loved him more. Lovino shook his head slowly, taking a step back. "I didn't… I didn't say that!" He swallowed back tears threatening to come. "You promised me."

People don't always keep their promises, a small voice told him. Lovino gripped the hem of his shirt in order to keep himself from reaching out to Aria. He was going with Antonio. Feliciano… would not be with him. Permanent, the judge had said. Lovino knew that word. It meant "forever". Did that mean he would never see Feliciano again? Feliciano needed him! Who else would play with him? Feed him when Aria was arguing?

Lovino caught himself. Aria wouldn't be arguing anymore. She would have time to take care of Feliciano. She would have all the time in the world without Antonio and Lovino there. Aria could go shopping in peace, could lose her money and realize she was the one at blame.

She probably wouldn't miss them at all.

"I thought you'd be coming with me," Aria said, suddenly sounding exhausted. "Lovi…." She sighed, standing and going to meet Roma and Damaris with Feliciano.

Roma was instantly before Lovino. The first thing he did was crush him a hug. Lovino had always thought Roma's clothes smelled warm, like cinnamon or something. It always made him feel better for some reason. Roma pulled back, smiling at Lovino. "You're going to grow up big and strong, yeah? Bigger than Antonio and probably bigger than me! And you're going to have the coolest watch ever one day. Trust me, the girls will love it."

"Roma," Damaris playfully warned.

"Haha, just wait until you're older, Lovi. But I want you to smile, okay? All the time. People look up to those who smile and strive to get to where they want to go. It's how you gain respect, and without respect, you can't expect to be someone Feli will look up to one day."

"But-"

Roma ruffled his hair, cutting him off. "I know what I'm talking about. Trust me. You'll see each other again someday, or I'm not the great Roma Vargas! And now that I've said it, you absolutely will meet!"

His abuelo stood, pulling Antonio into the next hug. "Keep an eye on this one, Carriedo. He'll be all grown up before you can even blink."

Antonio offered him a tiny, gracious smile. "Gracias, Roma. Take… take care of Feli for me, okay?"

"Prometto."

Roma gave Lovino a final goodbye, turning back to follow Aria and Damaris outside. He called out behind him that he would be sending them some money to help them get settled into their new place and again reminded Lovino to smile.

"No!" Lovino shouted again, reaching out. "You can't take him with you! Mamma promised! She promised!"

Antonio stopped him, wrapping his arms around him. "Shh, it's okay, Lovi!" But even he knew it wasn't. Slowly but surely, as Aria walked away with Feliciano, Antonio felt his world come crashing down around him. "It's okay, it's okay," the Spaniard repeated, more to himself now than Lovino. "It's okay."

More people rose from their seats, awkwardly skirting away from them on their way out. No one made any move to console them- not that they would have noticed anyway.

The courtroom was empty, Lovino asleep from exhaustion, when his sniffling finally came to an end. Antonio quieted carried him out to his car.

It was a silent drive away from everything Antonio had ever known.

((((()))))

With a quiet gasp, Lovino woke up. He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window at the fleeting scenery passing by. The happy, bustling town he was used to had turned into hilly pasture land, mountains off in the distance. It looked like the place they had went to for the school reunion. Maybe they were going to find a house there? Lovino vaguely remembered Antonio calling Francis, asking if he knew where he could find a cheap place to stay for a while.

"Did you finally wake up?" Antonio asked, looking back at him in the rearview mirror.

Lovino stubbornly frowned and drew his knees to his chest. "Leave me alone, you jerk," he muttered. With a tired sigh, he rested his head against the car door. He watched as the pastures slowly turned into roads and then a Wal-Mart on the outskirts of town. This was definitely where his father's old school was. "How long was I asleep?"

"A few hours," Antonio said. "I didn't want to wake you up for lunch so we'll eat when we meet up with Francis, alright?"

He nodded, settling back into silence. Lovino really didn't want to see Francis; or anyone, for that matter. He wanted to go back to sleep and wake up in his old bed by Feliciano's crying. That way he'd know that they were still together.

But this wasn't the dream. This was the reality.

Feliciano was gone forever. Lovino wouldn't see his brother again- it didn't matter what Roma had told him. He knew the judge was right.

It made him wonder if he had been right, choosing Antonio over Aria. He had lost his home, his brother, and half of his family. I should have kept quiet. I should have just let them argue, and when they were done and they realized they were acting stupid, we could have gone back home.

The silence was broken by Anotnio's phone ringing. Lovino perked up, hoping that it would be Aria to apologize and ask them to turn around and come back. But when Antonio answered with a peppy, "Oh! Yes, this is Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo!" Lovino's hopes came crashing down. With a tired huff, he turned back to the window. "I called earlier, but I guess you were off to lunch. Mm hmm. It's just me and my son, so if we could possibly get one with two beds? No, no, we don't need a kitchen that elaborate. I'm not much of a cook. Lovino? He's four. Yep, this time next year, he'll be in school!"

Suddenly, something caught his eye. A large white sign had the picture of a giant tomato painted on the front of it. "Hey, Papá, look!"

"Papá!" he called again.

Lovino narrowed his eyes and bellowed, "PAPÁ!"

Antonio slammed on the brakes, coming to a screeching stop. "What is it? What's wrong?" he burst, turning back worried. Lovino pointed to the sign. "Lovino, yes, it's a tomato. Now please…. Wait a minute." He cocked his head, reading the sign with interest now. "Max's Tomato Farms. Now… HIRING! Lovino! Do you what that means?"

"Free tomatoes?" he asked hopefully.

"Even better!" Antonio happily burst. "Forget being a mechanic; we're going back to being farmers!" He swerved back to the turn off, going way too fast than was probably safe. He skidded to a stop upon arriving at the tomato fields. Antonio skipped around back to let Lovino out, grinning like he had just won the lottery. "Vamos, Lovi~!"

Antonio practically fainted on the spot when he saw an old sign, paint fading, that said "WELCOME!" between two round tomatoes. "This is amazing, Lovi!" he gushed again, picking the four-year-old up and smushing him tight. "Muchas Gracias, mi Lovi! Te amo MUCHO!"

"Ugh, enough already, jerk! Put me down!" Lovino angrily shouted, squirming to get out of Antonio's massive hug.

Antonio laughed and spun him around for good measure first before finally setting the dizzy four-year-old back on the ground. "Ugh, I feel like I'm to puke…."

"Cheer up, Lovi!" Antonio chirped, merrily bouncing through the gate in search of "Max".

Under a wide shed were three girls, all tending to young tomato plants they had just planted in the plastic pots one saw at the garden section of Wal-Mart. At least they knew this was the right place. "Hellooooo!" Antonio called out, still rocking on his heels in excitement.

The girls perked up in an instant, their eyes straying down to Lovino. "SO CUTE!" They simultaneously squealed, the eleven girls, ranging in ages from seven to seventeen; running up to pinch Lovino's cheeks. "What's your name, cutie?" the oldest cooed, patting his hair down. "You have the most adorable bed hair!"

"Ooh! Look at his sweet little frown- cheer up!" the next one burst, pulling at his cheeks in an attempt to allieviate the solid frown on Lovino's face.

"SO CUUUUUTE!"

"Girls! What're you doing?"

All eleven stood up to attention. The oldest cracked at a smile at the old man coming into view. "Hi, Grandpa! Lunchtime, yet?"

Their grandfather absently nodded, waving them off for their break. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Max, owner of the farm. Who might you be?"

"I'm Antonio Fernandez-Carriedo. Uh, the sign back there said you were hiring?"

His dark eyes lit up. Max's grin grew wider. "Yes, we are! With all my slackers of grandchildren and such a big farm, it's gettin' mighty hard to keep things running smoothly," he started enthusiastically. "It's about the time when he harvest and sell to the markets, so the work isn't so bad, but once spring hits planting season hits and it's really gonna take it out of you- but you look like a farm boy. Antonio, you said you were?"

"Yes, sir," he replied with a blinding smile of his own. "My family and I used to have our own farm back home in Spain. We left for the states when I was fifteen. This here is my boy, Lovino."

At being prompted to speak, Lovino pursed his lips stubbornly. "Hi," he muttered, keeping his amber gaze on the verdant summer grass.

Max chuckled, patting his head. "Hello to you too, Lovino. You both can call me Al-Arabe or Grandpa, alright? How soon can you start working, Antonio? Oh! The pay! Right, well, during harvest it's seven an hour. Planting season is ten an hour and summer is seventeen. Hard work."

"I can do it, don't worry! But can I ask a favor?" Antonio started. "Do you think Lovi could hang out around here while I'm out in the fields?"

Max's smile grew a little sad, instantly interpreting that as meaning they were in this alone together. "Of course. If you haven't had lunch yet, you can eat with us, if you like. The boys should be finishing up soon and my daughter's fixing tomato sandwiches."

"Tomato sandwiches?" Lovino asked, finally looking up.

Max and Antonio simultaneously grinned.

((((()))))

Francis was tired; and that in itself was a major understatement. When was the last time he had slept, anyway? Sometime yesterday- a quick nap between working night shift at Wal-Mart (which was when the real crazies came to visit) and running around on his already sore feet all day at the expensive bistro in the next town over; the ride to which took nearly an hour when traffic was bad.

Any spare time he had was spent cooking a hasty breakfast that he rarely got eat with everyone else. He ate on his way to the bistro, where being a waiter to stingy rich people quickly got tiring.

However, today was his day off. He still had to leave for the atrocity that was Wal-Mart at ten, but that was better than the bistro.

"Francis!" Alfred burst when he shuffled in the door. "Guess what, guess what!"

"Hmm?" he absently asked, struggling to keep conscious. Francis honestly felt like he could pass out on the floor and sleep right that second.

"Daddy helped us bake cookies! You gotta try one, Francis!" Alfred zoomed over to the kitchen where Matthew was standing guard over their morning's hard work. "They're chocolate chip," he explained, reaching as far as he could, trying to grab him a plate.

Francis easily got one himself. "They look…." Certainly not edible, if Arthur had any part in their making, but…. "…nice," he said at last, gingerly taking a bite.

He was certainly right about Arthur having done most of the work. Francis forced a smile on his face and choked out, "V-very good, you two."

When Alfred and Matthew, clutching Kumojiro close, turned to get their own cookies, Francis spat out the awful brick in the trash. "Antonio hasn't come yet, has he?" the Frenchman asked with a yawn. If Antonio and Lovino didn't get there soon, Francis was going to sleep, and that was that. "Uh, how about we eat the cookies after lunch? I got a pizza. Where's Arthur, off embroidering the pillows or something?"

"I was doing laundry!" said Englishman indignantly huffed. "There was a mountain growing in there."

Francis rolled his eyes. "Cooking, doing laundry… sounds to me like someone is turning into a little housewi… housemaid." The blonde silently put the pizza in the stove, shrugging off the sad looks Arthur tossed his way. Francis didn't need pity from the likes of him. He was alright so long as he didn't think about Jeanne…. The nightmares weren't as bad anymore, and Matthew was finally starting to speak out again, albeit quietly. Francis was more troubled with Matthew more than anything. He was so silent, all the time- almost to the point that one would forget the three-year-old was present. Matthew clung to his bear, holding it close to him like it was the only thing keeping him from breaking down.

It just wasn't right, Francis knew, but it wasn't like he had any time to do something about it. The sooner Arthur recovered and Francis got back on his feet, the better.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, YOU DUMMY, SHUT UP ABOUT THE STUPID FARM! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!"

"Looks like Antonio's finally here," Arthur said unnecessarily, opening the door right as the Spaniard posed to knock. Stunning them all, Antonio was smiling. Lovino, of course, glared at his shoes, obviously fed up with his father's excessive cheerfulness. "U-um, are you okay, Antonio?"

"You won't believe this," he started, his smile growing even wider, "but I've got a farm to work on again!"

Lovino dropped his forehead on the doorframe. "We get it, you jerk face, now shut up."

"Lovi, cheer up~! You have Max's grandkids to play with now!"

The four-year-old scowled up at him. "I don't care about them! I want to play with… with…. Darn it! I wanna hurry and go home, you dummy!" Lovino burst, crying into Antonio's arm.

Matthew frowned, tears filling up in his bright eyes. He shied up against the wall and clutched Kumojiro tight. "Why are bad things happening to us?" he quietly wondered. No one heard him, now concerned with comforting Lovino. Alfred solemnly handed the fellow four-year-old a cookie in an attempt to cheer him up. Lovino took it quietly but refused to meet anyone's eyes. He kept an iron grip on Antonio's wrist- there was no way he was going to leave him like Aria and Feliciano had.

Lovino couldn't take any more loss. He didn't care about who he'd play with or where he would sleep. He just didn't want to be alone.

The cookie tasted bad, but Lovino didn't have the strength to care. He quietly repeated that he was tired, looking up to see Matthew give him an encouraging smile and Alfred with a wide grin on his face. Terrible things had happened to them, too, and yet they smiled.

Maybe… maybe Roma was right. Somehow, someday, maybe Lovino would get to see Feliciano again.

But until that day, he was content with being with Antonio and the others.

Translations:

Italian-

Prometto- I promise

Spanish-

Vamos- Let's go

Muchas Gracias, mi Lovi! Te amo MUCHO- Thank you so much, my Lovi! I love you so much!