Angelo Caduto (Gakuen SpaMano)

by Renriri

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HETALIA. ALL CHARACTERS ARE BY HIDEKAZ HIMARUYA. - "I'm straight." Lovino is sixteen - and is pretty sure he's straight. He's a ladies' man, after all. (But he doesn't have much smarts.) Antonio, on the other side, is handsome and smart...but oblivious. But when the two are paired up at school for two years - could something between them change?

14. Chapter 14

p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I appreciate gays and all things gay," Liz proudly announced. "It irritates me that none of you have told me that we have a homosexual couple in our school – even more, a gay person in my class!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Lovi twitched. "I'm bisexual, but okay…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Oh?" Liz asked. "Me, too. What about you, Toni?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Uhm, I'm pansexual—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Wonderful. Now, let's all hang out at Kiku's house, like you were doing just a while ago, hm?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanLovi and I gaped at each other. How the hell did she know?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Her lips curled up into a smirk. "I honestly don't mind if you two end up making out in the car, really. Feel free to do anything."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"My boyfriend twitched. "Dammit, she's terrifying."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Because we couldn't all fit in one car, we split in half, and so one group went in Ludwig's car, the other in Liz's./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Unfortunately, people were quick to choose Ludwig's car – too quick, and so Lovino and I ended up in Liz's car./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"With Clarisse./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"And the other girls./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"And of course, we sat at the back again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"We attempted to refrain from doing anything 'suggestive'./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Well, maybe a little kiss, but that was all./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Lovi smiled at me. "You always say that I'm different from what you expected, but I find you more different than how you were when we first met."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Is that so?" I asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Yeah. You're dense, but sweet. I thought you were ignorant of love, but you're the complete opposite, dammit. I should've known not to judge you based on our first encounter."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I hugged him. "T-That's one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Lovi rolled his eyes. "Well, I have to be honest, don't I? There no lies when it comes to love."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""That's true," I said, nodding. "Good point."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Although…there's something that did end up being true," he said. "I always had a theory that you had a darker side. And it was true. Also, I thought that you looked hot, despite your personality. And you are – and you can act hot in some scenarios, too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I blushed. "Oh. Thank you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""We're here," Liz called out. We all stepped out of the car, in front of Kiku's house./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""There will be some rules," Kiku sighed. "As there are now many of us, the females will stay in that room—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""How dare you call us 'females'!" Liz screeched. "You shall refer to us as 'women'!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""They're the same fucking thing!" Lovino retorted./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""As I was saying!" Kiku said, looking even more worn out, "the women will stay in that room, and the remaining men will stay in this room here. Any questions?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"The room was still and silent./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Very well. You may begin unpacking your items."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""WOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTT!" /span/emspan lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Alfred screamed, throwing out packets of junk food from his bag./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Lovi grinned. "Dumbasses. Ah, well, I've been tired lately, so this shouldn't be too bad – engaging in a shitstorm like this."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Francis grinned. "Hey, Lovi…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I smiled, and pushed him aside. "I'm sorry, but you can't use that nickname around him or anybody else. That nickname is specifically reserved for me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Ah…sorry…" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Lovi flinched. "Uhm, well…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I was just going to ask," Francis said, "have you two done anything, well, suggestive at all?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"My boyfriend cast a glare towards him. "No."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Ah…denying it so casually…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Why would we do anything like that? We've only been together for more than a month, you perverted asshole. Do you think that we've really gotten that close in that little time? Mind you, this is my first time loving someone – and my lover is a man. I haven't considered what it really means to love a man, so how could I possibly share anything even close to intimate with him? Think of it this way – we're just a young couple, and an average one at that, too, dammit. People are attached to new things, but as time passes by, they grow apart, and the new things are no longer new. Stop assuming such things."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"…Yikes. He's harsh./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"No mercy there, too./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Isn't this going a bit far, even for him?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"-/span/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"POV (Lovino)/span/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"-/span/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Think of it this way – we're just a young couple, and an average one at that, too, dammit. People are attached to new things, but as time passes by, they grow apart, and the new things are no longer new. Stop assuming such things."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"This 'Francis' bastard…he really pisses me off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"No – almost everyone at this fucking shitstorm of a school pisses me off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio laughed. "Ah, you're so straightforward, Lovi. Just as usual."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"He was smiling, though I could see that he was slightly pained by my words. I looked away, trying not to think about what I had just said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Are we going to do anything yet?" Alfred asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Yeah," Gilbert said. "I'm so bored."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Arthur grinned. "We could summon spirits."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Veee!" my brother exclaimed. "That sounds fun~"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Yes," Matthew agreed. "Dangerous, but fun. Just please don't kill anyone here, okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I looked back at Antonio, who merely smiled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Had I really said that much? Too much?/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Antonio," I said, tugging onto his shirt. "I didn't mean what I said back there. I'm sorry."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""It's alright," he laughed, though I could tell it wasn't genuine. "I know you didn—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I know I'm stupid, but do you think that I'm that much of a fucking moron, dumbass?!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"He flinched. "Are we really going to talk about this now? Here, in front of everyone?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Does it really fucking matter to you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"But he's right, isn't he? Even though everyone is occupied with their own business (demon summoning, apparently), we'd end up creating a scene…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Fine," I spat. "We'll go to the spare room."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""You're so stupid," I yelled. "Thinking that you can just hide it from me like that."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""What do you mean—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""It's what I said, isn't it? Everything I said back there to your friend?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio sighed. "It is bothering me a bit, but—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I didn't mean all of that. I was just embarrassed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"His features softened. "I know. There's no need to cry, darling. Come over here, okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Your words were harsh, but I know that you'll always hold the same feelings for me," he said. "You're the type who doesn't like to let go of things you get attached to. That's the way it is for you with your brother, too, isn't it?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I wiped away my tears. "But you're not the same as my brother. He's my family. I…I don't want to let go of you at all, Antonio. I'd never be able to recover if you were to leave me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio smiled. "I'll always be here for you, okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I'm sorry I cry too much," I mumbled. "Dammit."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I'm not surprised. I'd cry even more than you if I had a past like yours. And that's why I'll do everything I can to make you happy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, babe," I muttered under my breath./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"He smiled. "What did you just say?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Nothing. Let's go already, dammit. I wanna see if they actually ended up summoning a demon."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"-/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"On our way out of the room, Antonio smiled at me. "You know, I forgot to tell you this, but for some reason, I can't stop thinking about that time you wore that dress."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I smirked. "What, do you have a fucking dress kink or something?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio grinned. "I just thought you looked cute. I'd love to see you wear a dress again in the future. But of course, that's entirely up to you~"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Spoiled brat," I muttered under my breath. "I already promised you that I'd perform a five-minute strip-tease in front of you, and now you want to see me in a dress em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"again/em? Tch. I knew it – you really have been influenced by that perverted baguette bastard, dammit!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Aww, please?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Hmph. Maybe." I cracked a smile. He's grown more desperate for me over time, just as I have for him. But I'm not telling him that./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Do you have any nicknames we could refer to you as?" Matthew asked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Alfred grinned. "I like to call him 'Vino."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I refer to him as 'Lovi', but that's reserved for me and family members," Antonio said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I shrugged. "When I was little, my parents would sometimes call me 'Roma', because of my middle name – Romano."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Lovino Romano Vargas,"/span/emspan lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;" Antonio said, smiling. "It suits you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""So you could call me either 'Vino or 'Roma', I guess. But I suggest not calling me 'Lovi' unless you're particularly close to me – otherwise you'll face the wrath of my boyfriend," I snorted, causing Antonio to let out a laugh./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Feli smiled. "Our parents would call me 'Feli' or 'Vene', because my middle name is 'Veneziano'."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Woah," Alfred laughed. "How come 'Vino's stuck with a middle name like 'Romano', and then you've got something as fancy as 'Veneziano'?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"My brother giggled. "I don't know."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I rolled my eyes. "Let's not forget that 'Lovino' literally means 'the wine' in Italian, dammit."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio grinned. "I still think it suits you."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""What, because I drink? Fuck off," I laughed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""No, it's beautiful." He smiled warmly. I looked away, for I was blushing again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Feliciano smiled. "Though my big brother comes off as rude and vulgar, he's actually very sweet in reality. I'd say he does a better job of being a big brother than I do."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I blushed and smiled a little at Feli, who winked understandingly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""You have another brother?" Kiku asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Yeah, Romeo. He's back in Italy, but he'll be coming to the academy next year."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I rolled my eyes. "Oh, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Romeo./em That kid thinks he's practically an adult, but he's three years younger than me, dammit. He goes on and on about getting a job and becoming rich, but he's literally thirteen, dammit!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Feliciano laughed. "Yes, he is a bit of a handful."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I always have to keep telling him, 'You're thirteen, you dumbass! Act your age – and hey, don't even fucking think about getting a girlfriend, I swear to God!' He's so annoying, dammit."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio chuckled. "I know how it feels – having to look after younger siblings. I've got quite a few."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""But it's even worse for Lovi," Feliciano sighed. "Ever since our parents died, things were tough. Lovi and I moved to a different place with our grandfather, and Romeo stayed with our aunt – he was only a baby at the time."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I nodded. "It got worse as we grew older. Feli and I moved to Japan to get into W Academy, and I had to look after him, because he was barely ten at the time. We ended up looking after each other, and now we live in separate apartments alone, whenever we're in Japan for the school year."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""That's awful," Matthew sighed. "But it's good that you still see each other at school."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Yes, we were quite close when we were little," Feli said, recollecting his memories, smiling at the thought. "It's a shame things have changed as we grew."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""It's like that for me and Mattie, too," Alfred said. "Arthur and I were childhood friends – I was five, and he was seven. Since we were toddlers, I never really paid much attention to Mattie – nobody did, really. It was always me – because I was the troublemaker. I soon forgot about him because I always hung around with Arthur, and now I feel kinda bad about it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Matthew shrugged. "It's alright, Alfie. I'm used to being forgotten or ignored. Francis and I were childhood friends at the same time – but we didn't really talk much by the time I was in middle school. I started hanging out with Gilbert and Liz."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Feli smiled. "You're all connected in a way. It's nice."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Except for us," I said. "We're completely different."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio winked at me, and I smiled. For now, our very first encounter would remain a secret between the two of us – unless Clarisse, Feli or his brother somehow managed to remember./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Matthew sighed. "Hey, you know that kid in Antonio's class? The Russian exchange student – Ivan?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Alfred shuddered. "He scares me. I don't really talk about him much, because I'm always worried that he'll somehow hear about it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""He's really tall," I said. "He's like a fucking giant compared to the rest of us."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Francis shrugged. "I don't know, maybe we shouldn't judge people based on physical appearance. But you're right – there's something unsettling about him."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Arthur paled. "He gives off a dark aura. I always see it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""He always wears a scarf, too," Gilbert says. "Even in hot weather. He never takes it off. What's up with that?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I heard that it's really cold in Russia," Matthew said. "Maybe it makes him feel at home?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I don't know," Antonio said. "He's scary, but I kinda feel bad for him. He's always sitting alone, in class, in lunch, all the time. He's pretty lonely."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I snorted. "I'm not surprised. Did you bastards know that he keeps a metal pipe with him? I saw it in his locker."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Yikes," Feliciano squeaked. "That's going too far…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""And his little sister is even worse!" Alfred said. "Did you see her back there when we crashed their party? She was flinging knives everywhere! And not those disposable plastic ones for picnics – real ones. Real daggers and shit, man!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio sighed. "His entire family is insane. He's tall and possesses a dark aura, his little sister wants to marry him and has a collection of knives, and his big sister…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""His older sister isn't too bad," I said. "I gotta admit, she has some pretty fucking nice jugs."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Alfred snorted. "Seriously, 'Vino? Your only opinion of Ivan's sister is that she has nice boobs?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""What? I don't know her that well, dammit!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Matthew shrugged. "She's nice. I like how she's a caring big sister, even though her younger siblings are creepy. She's friendly, too."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""See?" Alfred glared at me, pointing at his twin. "Mattie actually has some pretty valid and wholesome uwu points about her, and all you can think about are her TODDIES."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Embarrassed, I waved my hand at him. "Okay, okay, I get it, dammit! Moving on!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Anyway, about Antonio's cousin, Clarisse," I sighed./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Arthur raised his huge eyebrows. "The Filipino?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Yeah. Don't you think she's pretty fucking weird?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Francis shrugged. "I don't know. She's cute."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""You pedo, she's way smaller and younger than you, dammit!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Ah, I didn't mean it in that way…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Matthew shrugged. "She seems a little hyper, but she's alright."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""What are we, in third grade?" Arthur scoffed. "We should be summoning demons and faries, not talking about girls!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""But it's an interesting topic," Feli pointed out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""How so?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I rolled my eyes. "Are you fucking serious? Without girls, we wouldn't exist, you dumbass!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio laughed. "He has a point."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""You Italians do nothing but flirt with girls," Arthur said. "You always have it so easy – you're able to find a girl just like that."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Except I found a em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"guy/em," I said, folding my arms smugly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Antonio grinned. "Are you just going to brag about it to everyone now?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Duh. I especially have fun flexing on my brothers, thank you very much. I called Romeo the other day and let him know that I have a boyfriend – and he was furious with envy. Hah! Sucks to be them~"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Feli smirked. "Uhm, there's actually something I haven't told you yet…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""That you're gay? Yeah, we know. Old news, dammit."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Pansexual," he corrected me. "Oh, and that's not it – it's that I'm actually dating Luddy~"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"I dropped everything in my hands./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;"Coke spilled all over the floor, and a tomato hit the ground./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""I have to go for a bit," I said, processing through my mind exactly what my brother just said. "I feel sick."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""Lovi?" Antonio called out. "Baby, I'll go with you. Are you okay?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"span lang="EN-PH" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-ansi-language: EN-PH;""No, I'm fine." I could feel the tears coming. "I'll be okay."/span/p