A/N: This will make up for the terrible joke yesterday! Trust me, kids. You'll be even happier I daily-update (if you care at all). I know I said I probably won't be able to, but goddamn it you have no idea how wrong it felt not to.


Mr. Carriedo was less than pleased to see his son return home with a group of people when it was almost midnight. He had taken Antonio aside to scream at him for quite a while. Francis, Gilbert, Ludwig, and Feliciano tried to make small talk outside to ignore it. They couldn't help but catch a few particular words and accusations… "First you say the fucking house is haunted and now you're inviting all your little hooligan friends over past your curfew?! Where did I go wrong with you?"

His father loudly stomped up the stairs and Antonio rejoined his friends on the front porch. "He's not happy but he never is, so whatever." They were perturbed at how nonchalant he was. Instead of going through the house they circled around through the fence and into the backyard. It was freezing out but the snow hadn't fallen in a while. It was predicted to melt and bring an early spring, which was something none of them could believe when they couldn't feel their noses.

They approached the large tree and broken swing and Feliciano felt the icy, broken rope, commenting how Lovino had set it up to teach him to swing when he was old enough. He instead had to learn at a park with his grandfather. The only things he knew about his brother were what he was told by his grandfather or Lovino's old friends.

Antonio rubbed his arms and craned his neck for a better view of the window to his bedroom. He couldn't see anything inside, which was expected since Lovino rarely made himself visible if he wasn't there. He picked up a small rock and blew on his numbing but still pained fingers.

The rock smacked the glass and the ringing was exaggerated by the stillness of the night. The window jiggled before it slid up. The group watched, waiting for an angry Carriedo to stick their head out. A small breeze brushed Antonio's shoulder and he felt the goosebumps again. Lovino was here.

Antonio smiled and turned around to the group. "Okay, Lovi's here. Lovi, that really muscular guy is Ludwig, Gilbert's brother. And the next to him is your brother. Don't be shy, Feli really wants to meet you, too."

There was nothing. No sounds, so winds, nothing to indicate Lovino was actually there. Antonio feared he was wrong. Maybe that was just a chill he felt? Maybe Henrique was home and in his room, messing with him? It was pretty dark out.

A creaking startled them and they turned around to find the swing moving. The torn rope was knotted, making the seat uneven. There was a tugging on the repaired rope, tightening the knot. Slowly, as if unsure, Lovino's body came into view. He was pure blue and still transparent, but he was there. Feliciano gasped and stared as his brother filled out more, finally becoming fully visible. His coloring returned in bursts of smoke, like exhaled breath in the air. He floated inches above the snow, making him the tallest one there.

Feliciano lunged forward, trying to hug the apparition. He made a noise when his arms went straight through, but was not deterred. He stepped back and held his arms around Lovino's airy form, accepting the simulation.

"Jesus Christ, you were always a needy little fucker."

Feliciano giggled and stepped back. "Toni was right! You do swear a lot."

"Ask him how many people he fucked. I'll look like a fucking angel."

Antonio's face went red and he mumbled that it wasn't that many people. "Admit one drunken night and you never live it down…"

Lovino flipped him off and guided Feliciano to the swing. While he couldn't push his brother, he could still move the seat and rope. The sight of Feliciano laughing on the crooked swing while Lovino held the ropes, feet on the bench, was the sweetest thing Antonio had ever seen. After nineteen years Lovino could finally follow through on his promise to push Feliciano on the swing.

The temperature continued to drop and the boys congregated at the back porch, hoping the house would block the winds. While Gilbert and Francis wanted to jump in their cars and go home already, everyone else protested—either living there or still not satisfied with the amount of time spent with the ghostly man.

Lovino would laugh at them and mock them for feeling the cold. "Being dead finally fucking pays off!" Antonio and Feliciano seemed to be the only ones who still found Lovino to be a delight.

The moon was obscured by the clouds and Ludwig grumbled about it being very early in the morning and needing to go home. The group split up but Feliciano stopped, taking Antonio's phone to program his number in. "Call or text any time. Both of you." He winked at his long-gone brother and waved before he rounded the house with the others to leave. Antonio rubbed his hands together and entered the house with Lovino.

They made it back to the bedroom and Antonio immediately shed his clothes off, getting down to just his boxers. He made a beeline for the dresser and ripped drawers open to pull out his warm, fleece pajamas and hiking socks. Then he dived under his covers, wrapping himself up tightly. Lovino watched the entire time, glad for once that he couldn't feel. The cold must suck.

Antonio was still shivering so Lovino left the room to raid Henrique's abandoned one. He took all the blankets from the bed and all the quilts from the closet. When he returned to Antonio he layered them over his form but saved one thin quilt for himself. Antonio was half-asleep but aware of his presence. The Spaniard cracked an eye open only to find Lovino putting on one of his own jackets. It looked odd and unreal, this partially-visible man in his old track team jacket.

Lovino then laid himself on the top of all the covers and pulled the last quilt over himself. Antonio was confused and cold (but warming up) and far too tired to ask what was happening. Lovino's skin burst into small blossoms of pink and purple again as he reached around and laid his clothed arm around Antonio.

"Lovi… are you trying to cuddle me?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"You're the sweetest thing—"

"I will smother you."

Antonio smiled and snuggled into his pillow. There was a light weight he could barely feel through the five blankets that he knew was Lovino's arm in his jacket. Look at that—Lovino found a way to hold him when he couldn't even touch him.


Antonio woke up to see his phone floating above his bed. He turned over and groaned out, "Remember to charge it."

"Whatever."

Lovino didn't bother to become visible. He sat down (as much as he could) on the bed. The jacket was forgotten, draped over his sleepy boyfriend. The phone buzzed a few times and Lovino congratulated himself on teaching himself how to text.


Feli: U learned 2 text :DDD !

Sent: Goddamn it

Feli: does Toni know ur using his phone?

Sent: Yes, he just saw me.

Sent: I mean, he saw his phone. Flying.

Feli: lolol

Feli: I want to see you again.

Feli: Is this better?

Sent: Very much, yes.

Feli: Luddys always getting on me for how I text. Hes too funny

Sent: Shut the fuck up

Sent: …Come over between 7am and 6pm. His parents work then.

Feli: Just unlock the door for me. I don't have classes Monday or Friday :)


The following Friday Feliciano woke up early, unlike his usual routine of sleeping in past noon, to see Lovino. When he tried the front door it opened and he was relieved his brother remembered to unlock it. Feliciano was first met with the sight of the staircase and he shuddered. He always hated that staircase. The sight of the slight damaged at the edges made him cringe. He may not remember Lovino alive but he did remember when he was very small and had to watch his grandfather rip the carpeting out of the steps himself.

Lovino floated through the ceiling, dropping down to meet the visitor. He couldn't help the smile forcing its way to his face. I can't believe he's so big already. He's all grown up. My little brother… thank God he's still here.

"I made Antonio stop at the grocery yesterday after school. You liked pasta when you were little, do you still…?"

Feliciano bounced, excited as ever. "Of course I love pasta! What a considerate older brother I have!" He ran off, locating the kitchen by himself.

"Wait, Feli, it's only nine in the fucking morning! At least have a decent breakfast!"


Feliciano felt nostalgic to walk the house he had nearly forgotten. He hadn't been to it since he was about four but everything was coming back to him. The stairs let out an ugly creaking when he cautiously walked up them and found Lovino's old bedroom. The ghost had already traveled up to it and had all of his old things laid out on the dresser.

"You can take these," he said, motioning to the array of items that were mostly photographs. "You'd have more use for them than me."

They sat together on the bed and began to talk and catch up on what Lovino missed since his death. It was hard for him to listen about Nonno's passing from a heart attack and Feli having to finish high school in a foster home until he could turn eighteen and move on his own. There was a resiliency he saw within his brother that he admired greatly; how this young man lost his entire family but still moved forward and put himself through college. It was amazing that a man with such a tragic past is the happiest and brightest person he's met (excluding the moron that was Antonio).

"Do they know?" Feliciano finally asked, an uncertain look on his face.

"No," Lovino admitted. "I didn't want to tell them… Antonio would be weird about it if he knew how."

"Why?" Feliciano asked. "Why would he be weird? It doesn't mean he'll die the same way if he knows how you died."

Lovino faded slightly. "If he knew he'll want to move. He was the first human interaction I've had since I died! I couldn't even talk to anyone at my wake, I didn't know how to communicate then!"

Feliciano stared at his brother and began to put it together in his head. "You love him. You don't want him to just visit you, you want to be with him forever."

Lovino startled. "What the fuck?!"

"I took a few psych classes."

"You little shit."

Feliciano laughed. "Ludwig says I'm very perceptive. Besides that, I would be the same. If I was stuck in this house for years I'd latch on to the first person I saw. Then I'd never give them any excuse to leave."

"I didn't latch to shit." Lovino grumbled. "He asked me out! I'm just letting him live out whatever weird fantasy this is!"

Feliciano rolled his eyes. He thought it would be best not to call out Lovino on his obvious lie and pink face. "Whatever you say, fratello." The younger brother became quiet and searched his brain for everything he's ever wanted to know since now he had someone to ask. "Fratello?"

"What?"

"What was it like? Dying?"

Lovino looked at Feliciano with wide eyes. "Why?"

"Weren't you curious when you were alive? Did it hurt?"

"No. It didn't. I can't account for everyone's death, but mine was weird. It was like this ethereal world I woke up in. I knew something was wrong but I didn't know what… until I tried to walk and knew my feet weren't on the floor. And when I looked around there I was, floating, light-headed, looking down at my bloody body on the floor."


A/N: Death reveal to happen next chapter or two. Finalize your guesses ;) Well, more for yourself to see if you got it. I didn't do a very good job at leaving hints. You more have to be looking for it to even make sense of it if I'm being completely honest here.