Hey... *Dodges tomato thrown at my head* Your aim is getting better.
Anyways, as you can see, I have not given up. It has been exactly one year since my last update and that may have been a bit excessive.
My plan is to finish this story, and hopefully I'll have your next chapter by next week. I still hope you read, enjoy, and review! And thank you to everyone who did that already. :)
Disclaimer: We both know it, so don't make me say it.
Chapter 8: Two Sides to a Story
Once Mattie's brother and his German friend had gone, the two went back to watching their movie.
"I promise you, you'll love it," the blond assured her Italian friend.
Lovino squinted at her, placing the popcorn onto the coffee table. "I just don't understand what all the hype is about. They're toys that come to life. If anything, it's creepy."
The Canadian shifted her legs so that she was sitting on her calves, resting her hands on her knees. "You need to be more open-minded."
"Like about that stupid double date with your brother's soccer playing friends?"
"You're calling it a date?" Mattie inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"You and the loud-mouthed albino, sure. Antonio and I are going to be accompanying you, is all."
"Really? I could've sworn it was the other way around."
"Yeah, well, you'd be fucking mistaken."
The Canadian raised her hands defensively. She was going to say something but was interrupted by the sound of the dorm's door opening. Both people on the turned their heads to see a brunette walk in.
"Rumor has it that you guys are dating soccer players," the Hungarian squealed. "Please tell me it's Gilbert and Antonio! That would be so cute."
Lovino turned to the blond beside him to see if she held the same look of disbelief, and then back towards the other female, "How you could possibly know that?"
"I have my sources," she shrugged.
"What kinda fucking sources? Private investigators? Oh god. Is that why Kiku always has a camera with him?"
"Let's not fret about trivial matters," the brunette suggested. "I want to know all about your date with the bad touch trio boys."
"There is no date!" Lovino insisted.
"We're spending a day with them, and afterwards Lovino is never going to talk to Antonio again," the blonde explained.
"That's an interesting way to treat your boyfriend…" Elizaveta commented.
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"Come on, the whole school knows you guys like each other. Tomorrow's date is the perfect chance to make things official."
The Italian turned to the girl nearest to him. "Am I speaking English?"
She nodded.
"Then why doesn't your crazy roommate fucking understand me?" He turned to the Hungarian. "It's not a fucking date, and I want nothing to do with that sexy Spaniard!"
She raised an eyebrow. "You think he's sexy?"
"UGH! Mattie, can we please just watch the movie?"
The Canadian agreed and put the DVD in. While she fast forwarded through the pre-movie commercials, Elizaveta kept talking.
"What about you Mattie?"
"Huh?"
"Do you like Gil? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. He's not nearly as awesome as he thinks he is. God knows if his ego gets any bigger he won't be able to fit it through the front door, but I admit he's cute if you're into that kinda thing."
"Um, I never thought about him like that to be honest, but he's nice. And he doesn't forget about me."
"Hmmm," the brunette seemed to ponder what to do with her new found information. "Okay, have fun with your Toy Story trilogy." She turned to go to her room and let the two alone as the movie started.
About five hours later, Lovino had become fully aware of how much childhood pleasure he had missed.
"That's why you don't trust people, because you have no clue who's going to turn out to be a Lotso Huggin Bear!"
"Is that why you won't date Antonio?" Mattie asked, putting the last movie back in its case.
"Yes! I mean no. I won't date him because I don't like him. If I did like him, then I wouldn't date him because I don't trust him. He hangs out with your brother, and no offense or anything, but he's a manwhore. So I can only assume that he's going to be the same way. I mean, he dated that Bella girl for like a week, right? How can anybody trust that? People don't change."
The Canadian simply nodded at all this, knowing better than to question him. "So? What now? It's only six-ish."
"Mario Kart!"
"How can you even like the game anymore?" she inquired, inserting the game into her Wii regardless.
"Because I'm amazing at it. Plus, if I don't keep my skills sharp, I might end up owing other people days of my life and losing once was more than enough for me." Lovino got two remotes and placed them in the wheels, and then tossed one to his competitor.
"Can we at least play easy courses this time?"
"As if," the Italian smirked. "Go hard or go home."
"So then… we start with the Special Cup?"
"This is why we're friends."
A few more hours passed until Lovino declared that he was hungry.
"I can make us some pancakes," the Canadian offered.
The brunet liked the sound of that. He remembered how good her pancakes were and decided that 'some' wasn't enough. "Let's make a game out of it."
"Hmmm?"
"Eating contest."
"What do I get if I win?"
"..." Lovino pondered for a bit. He had never challenged Mattie to this kind of thing before, so he had no clue whether he could come out on top or not. If she ate anything like that American friend of hers, he was at a lost, so he had to make sure to bet something he could lose, but wasn't entirely worthless. "Next time we play video games, you can choose."
The Canadian smiled. "Deal."
Far too many pancakes later, Lovino and Mattie were lying on the floor breathing heavily. The Italian won in the end because the blonde ran out of syrup and refused to eat pancakes without it.
"I didn't know I could eat that much, but I never want to again," Mattie stated, trying to stand up.
"Agreed."
The two didn't speak much after they confirmed their mutual understanding. Instead, they did their best to drag their bodies to Mattie's bedroom, where the two hastily prepared for sleep. All that food made them tired beyond belief. It was a miracle that they didn't simply pass out on the living room carpet.
Not too long after that, the Italian was rudely awakened with a knock-curse his light sleeping. Lovino lazily went to the door to see who hated him to such an extent that they would deprive him of his much needed rest. He was not surprised in the slightest to see a German and Spaniard on the opposite side of the threshold. He stood before his guests solely in his boxers. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were filled with fatigue.
"What do you want?" Lovino barked.
"Lovino..." A feminine voice beckoned from inside the room. "Why did you get up? Close the door, come back to bed," the voice whined.
"We have visitors," the Italian stated calmly.
"Lovino?" Gilbert asked quietly.
"No, this is Arthur. The fuck do you want?" The irritated teen quipped.
Mattie tried to make her way to the door, but her eyes were full of sleep. She tripped over herself and landed on Lovino, whose cheeks reddened slightly with surprise. Picking herself back up, she mumbled a thank you to her Italian friend for keeping her from face planting into the floor, and then opened the door and stood up properly so that her guests could see her fully. She was wearing the same button up shirt that Lovino had on earlier, as far as they knew, that's all she was wearing. Her hair was absent of her usual pigtails and completely unkempt. She ran her fingers through her hair to fix it.
"Is that Lovino's shirt?" Gilbert inquired.
Mattie blushed slightly. "Is it? I must not have noticed. I was so tired. Lovino was riding me all night." The albino stood there, mouth agape, trying to process what he heard. In Lovino's defense, he only spent some of the night yelling at her to man up, the rest was trying to keep his food down.
"That's because you didn't listen to me the first time," the Italian argued, turning to face the girl, forgetting about the guests.
"You could've at least have gone easy on me," she protested modifying her stance to get a better view of the brunette.
If I don't blue shell you, then I practically give you the win...
"That takes the fun out of it!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "You know it wouldn't be good that way."
"Maybe just once," she muttered, twiddling her thumbs.
"If it's not rough it's a waste of time," he reasoned, crossing his arms.
"But I guess it was fun. There was a moment last night I was sure I would never be able to stand again," she smiled, meeting the boy's eyes.
"Hey, you knew fully well what you were getting into."
"Yeah but, I think I opened my mouth so wide it unhinged," she said, rubbing her jaw.
"You obviously need more practice," the Italian smirked, letting his arms fall to his sides.
"And who would I practice with? You? You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she questioned, raising her eyebrow. Inwardly, she was complemented at how much Lovino enjoyed her pancakes. Her brother always did prefer crepes.
"Obviously, last night was amazing. We need to do that sort of thing more often," the brunette smiled.
"Yeah," the girl nodded. "But now I'm out of syrup. I've never-" the Canadian began, only to be interrupted by a certain red-faced albino. The German had finally gotten his grip back on reality.
"La la la la" Gilbert sang, plugging his hands into his ears. "I don't need to hear about any of your lewd acts ok," he stated, sick of hearing the two talk.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, pervert? We're talking about an eating contest and Mario Kart game." You're fucking messed up," Lovino asserted.
"I'm messed up? Did you not hear yourself?"
"I don't have to fucking deal with you," the Italian declared, already turning to back into Mattie's room. He would have made it too, if not for a hand that reached out and grabbed his.
"You promised no cursing, remember?" the Spaniard inquired.
"That was before I knew you'd come knocking at my door at this ungodly hour!"
"It's kind of Mattie's door," Antonio offered.
"Speaking of which, why are you here?" Gilbert snapped.
"I don't have to explain sh-" the Italian began before stopping himself. He was not going to give the Spanish bastard an excuse to ask for more time with him. "It's none of your business. I can be wherever I want, whenever."
"We had a late night," Mattie explained. "Um… Here, let us get changed, and we'll be right out."
"Maravilloso," Antonio smiled. He turned to go sit on one of the living room chairs while the two sleepyheads went back into the room to prepare themselves. When the door closed, Gilbert went to join his Spanish friend.
Lovino finished first and laid on Mattie's bed, not wanting to confront the two teens beyond the door alone; however, it didn't take him long to realize that laying down was in no way a good idea. Sleep was still thriving in the corner of his eyes, and the relaxing position he was in was not helping him stay awake. With a sign, he decided Mattie would be out soon enough. He could deal with those idiots on his own for a few minutes.
He left the room to be greeted with a smile from Antonio-it was so bright, he was tempted to shield his eyes.
Who could possibly have that much energy this early in the morning? And what the fuck is he so happy about?
"I promise we'll have fun today," he assured the other two.
Gilbert looked like he wanted to punch Lovino for some reason, but the Italian was used to that. He was never much of a people pleaser.
"First we're going to go star gazing," Antonio continued. He took out a sheet of paper from his back pocket and showed the brunet his list.
"What the fu-freak is this?" Lovino hissed, yanking the paper out of the taller man's hands. "You made an itinerary? Are you sixteen or sixty? Seriously?" He tossed the paper back in the-now saddened-Spaniard's direction.
"I just wanted to make sure we had fun…" Antonio stated softly, voice practically dripping with dejection.
"Ugh," the Italian sighed. "I'm sure you had the best intentions."
"I did," he commented, face lifting slightly.
Mattie finally finished, and the four of them set out on their day.
Just twenty four hours… how bad can it be?
