A Helping Hand

Chapter Twelve: Dense


Lovino yawns and wakes up, immediately noticing a few strange things. First, rather than his nice warm bed, he's asleep on the couch. Second, and this is a big second, is that rather than actually being on the cushions of said couch he is laying on a certain Spaniard who is still sound asleep. "Oh dear god…" He groans , sitting up on Antonio's stomach. "Get up, you idiot."

Antonio stretches beneath him before flashing a lazy smile. "Morning Lovi."

Lovino blushes and stands up quickly. "D-don't smile at me so stupidly."

"Wooow, you sure are cold this morning." The Spaniard teases, sitting up tiredly.

"Ugh, my neck hurts…why did I have to sleep on the couch?" Lovino groans, stretching out. "And on such an uncomfortable object." He grumbles and Antonio huffs.

"Rude, Lovi, rude."

The two of them fall into a tense silence for a minute before Lovino looks back over to him. "Last night…um…"

"Ah! Right! We have to get in contact with your family now, right?" Antonio asks and Lovino twitches.

"Well…yes…but I was talking about-!"

"Ohh man how do you get ahold of them? Do you know their numbers?" The Spaniard smiles. "We can get Matthew to look them up."

Lovino sighs in defeat. "No…I know how to contact them…" He mumbles, looking over to him. "But…I was wondering…last night did you mean what you said?"

Antonio looks at him curiously. "I meant everything I said last night. Which part are you referring to?"

"Y-you said you loved me! Do you love me?" Lovino asks annoyed.

"Oooohhhhh! Of course I do, Lovi! I love you a lot!" The Spaniard grins and Lovino goes bright red.

"Y-y-y-y-you do?" He squeaks out.

"Of course! I love all of my friends!" Antonio points out. "You love me too, right? Last night you said so…in your own roundabout way. You meant it, right? We're definitely friends!" He says happily, going to hug him.

"I. HATE. YOU." Lovino hisses, punching Antonio in the gut when he gets close. "You stupid bastard!"

"Ugghh…" Antonio groans, collapsing to his knees and holding his stomach. "Wh-what was that for?"

"You're an idiot!" Lovino yells. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

"Huh? But I didn't…" The man looks at him confused. "I don't…what did I do?"

"JUST GO AWAY! I'm going to Matthew's place!" Lovino turns, heading out.

"No! No! Wait! What happened? Lovi!" Antonio runs after him, getting a door slammed in his face. "Owww….damn it kids are so weird these days…"He sighs to himself, plopping down onto the couch. "Francis and Gilbert have younger brothers…maybe they would know." The Spaniard muses, pulling out his phone and calling his two friends up.

Not long after his call, both men come barreling through the door. "Tell me what happened!" Francis orders dramatically. "Every detail! Word per word! Action per action!" He says, sitting next to him. "Give me the details!"

Antonio stares at him confused before looking to Gilbert, who shrugs. "Um…well…here's what happened." He goes on to explain the night, excluding the details of what Lovino told him about his past. "Then this morning I told him I loved him as a friend and he got mad…"

Gilbert and Francis look to each other before glaring at the Spaniard. "IDIOT!" They yell in unison.

"My god! That poor boy's fragile little heart was broken by your stupidity!" Francis scolds. "You can be so dense sometimes it physically hurts!"

"What? But…but…what did I do…?" Antonio asks confused.

"He thought you meant in love, not friendship love! God sometimes I just wanna punch you!" Gilbert groans.

Antonio blanches in shock. "He…loves…me?"

"Apparently. For whatever reason." Francis sighs. "That poor boy."

"H-he…he…loves…me…?" He repeats.

"He said as much last night, didn't he? Then he got angry when you said it was friendship, right? What the hell else could it be?" Gilbert asks.

"So…do you love him, too?" Francis interjects. "I mean, it's important that you know why he's upset…but…what are you going to do about it?"

Antonio sighs heavily. "Well…I...it's a really bad time for this. I mean so much is happening right now and to get caught up in a new romance would be really bad so maybe we should just-!"

"So you want to ignore it?" Gilbert asks dully. "You coward."

"He doesn't want to ignore it." Francis says. "See that look? That's not the look of someone who wants to follow what he's saying."

Antonio frowns. "Francis…what should I do then?"

"Hmmmm…." Francis leans back on the couch. "I think…you should talk to him."

"Yeah…yeah I need to talk to him." Antonio agrees. "But he won't come home."

"Just leave that to us!" Gilbert says, grinning at him. He jumps up and grabs Francis, the two running off to grab Lovino.

Antonio waits, pacing around the house as his mind wanders. Of course he loves Lovino, far more than he thought originally. However, now isn't really the time to deal with such a thing, right? Men are coming after Lovino, they need to be focused on that, not on their feelings for each other. Why did he have to open his big mouth and say he loves him? "Aaaaahhhh dios mio!"

"Damnit, let me go!" Lovino's voice screams from outside the door before Gilbert opens it, showing Francis carrying him over his shoulder as he kicks and punches.

"We have delivered the package!" Gilbert says as Francis drops Lovino onto the couch. "We expect to be paid in full next time we meet." He teases before Francis and him leave.

"What the hell?" Lovino glares at Antonio. "Why did your fucking friends kidnap me from Matthew's? Abel and Raivis were over and we were watching movies!"

"You'd rather be there than here?" Antonio asks and Lovino remains silent. "Hey, Lovi…um…when I said I love you last night…I didn't realize what you were thinking." He says, sitting beside the now tense Italian. "But…even though I didn't originally intend for it to sound like that…I do love you like that."

Lovino stares at him before noticing the man's hands are now shaking. "Ah…you…you really mean that, don't you?" He asks and Antonio nods. "Why do you look so scared?"

"I'm not scared." Antonio says. "I'm just unsure. Do we really have time to think about this sort of stuff when men are coming for you?"

The Italian laughs a little. "What the hell, Antonio? Aren't you the one always acting on impulse? NOW you realize there are times when you should and shouldn't act?" His laughing suddenly stops and he glares at Antonio. "Dick move."

"Don't give me that, you little brat!" Antonio scolds. "Now come here so I can kiss you!"

"Whoa! I didn't say kissing was okay yet!" Lovino says, backing away.

"H-huh? No way!" The Spaniard whines. "Well…well I'm gonna kiss you anyways!" He decides, moving forward and grabbing the now nervous Italian's hand, placing a light kiss on it.

"…Ah…" Lovino blushes. "Wh-what the hell was that?"

"I wasn't going to force you into a kiss, Lovi. The hand, however, is okay isn't it?" Antonio asks, smiling innocently at him.

"Idiot…it's all okay." The younger man mumbles, looking away shyly. "Wh-wherever you want to."

Antonio laughs a little. "You're so cute, Lovi." He coos, leaning in and kissing him on the forehead.

"What the hell was that?" Lovino fumes and Antonio smirks.

"What? I kissed you, didn't I?" He asks innocently.

"W-well….yeah…but…." The Italian pouts.

"But~?"

"Fuck you I'm not saying it!" Lovino yells, crossing his arms.

"Aawww so no kisses? Well it's your loss." Antonio says, leaning against the couch. "I can twist a cherry stem into a knot easily."

"If you want to kiss me so bad than just do it." Lovino grumbles and Antonio laughs.

"I'll take that as the Lovi way of saying 'please kiss me Antonio'!" He teases before leaning forward and lightly pressing his lips to Lovino's. As soon as he does, however, both of them distinctly hear the cocking of a gun. "Umm…"

"What are you doing to mi bambino?" A deep voice says and they both turn to see an older looking Lovino standing there and smiling darkly.

"P-papa? Um…hey…." Lovino says awkwardly and Antonio pales.

"AAaaahhhhh crap."


A/N: Rome has arrived! Sorry it took so long to get this up, school and asthma attacks sending me to the ER and whatnot. But it's all better so I should be able to get some more stories done today since we're snowed in thanks to Nemo.