Title: 100 Lifetimes
Chapter Title: Life 25; Smoking Ban
Summary: When Romano finally agrees with one of Spain's corny ideas, they have no idea the journey's that that one decision will take them on, courtesy of a sneaky god.
Chapter Summary: Activist!Antonio x Smoker!Lovino; Lovino's just trying to have a nice smoke in peace; Antonio wants to stop him.
Rating: I think this is actually rated K. No swearing, no bad themes (except for smoking; but that doesn't really count)… Be still my beating heart (ver. 2)?
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia in any of its many shapes and forms. I don't even own all of the one-shot ideas for this fic, since some were ideas suggested by my sister. Others are mini ideas that I had for other fics, usually just a scene or idea. These I do own. But Hetalia, no.
Warning: Smoking, the dangers of Second-hand smoking, my bad writing skills, the shortness of this chapter, probably wrong statistics, etc…
Characters: Lovino, Antonio, Gilbert, Francis, mentions of Feliciano and Grandpa Romulus/Vargas.
Pairings: None; I am prepared for your hatred.
Word Count: 1,951.
Notes: This chapter is pretty much exactly what I want to say to smokers who hang around outside of classroom buildings on campus. There are signs up. They're in college, so I assume they can read. What's making them smoke right where other people can run into them? (You seriously have no idea how much this annoys me)

Lovino was so over school by now.

He had been up at Hetalia University for a couple of months now and already he was starting to think about dropping out. The classes were boring as hell, there was never anything interesting going on, and nobody was interesting to talk to. Pretty much the only reason he had stayed so far was because his stupid little brother would be coming up in a few years and Grandpa Vargas wanted to make sure that Lovino could show him the ropes. Because, you know, that's what older siblings were for; making things easier for their younger siblings so that they wouldn't have to go through the same things that the older siblings had to go through. Well, one of the first things he would tell Feliciano was that the place sucked major balls. Lovino couldn't wait for the next break to go home.

Lovino sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair. He leant against the main classroom building as he watched the different students go by. If his brother had been there, he would have been hanging out with them. As it was, Lovino was really not much of a people person. His frustration was starting to get to him. The last time that he had smoked had been that morning… Lovino couldn't break his smoking habit, even if he had actually wanted to or tried. Not that he'd want to; Lovino loved the feeling of the smoke running through his veins and he just knew that the image of him smoking made him irresistible to the ladies. Sure, his brother and grandfather had been trying to get him to stop for a while now, but it was no use. Smoking was one of the few ways that he could actually exert control over himself instead of having to listen to what his family wanted.

Decision made, Lovino reached in his back pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He had just lit one up and had taken a long, slow drag when someone came up to him and started scolding him.

"Hey, don't you know you can't smoke here?" the man said sternly, pointing to a sign that stood a couple of feet away saying 'no smoking'. Like anyone actually listened to that. "This is a smoke-free campus, you know." Lovino glanced at the sign and glared at the man.

"So? It's not like I'm hurting anyone," Lovino said, taking another drag on the cigarette. "And anyway, everyone else is doing it, too." The man narrowed his eyes, unknowingly making himself seem scary. Not that Lovino thought he was scary, though. Hell no.

"So you've never heard of second-hand smoke?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do you know how many people die a year, just from second-hand smoke? More than people who actually smoke, that's what! Or are you just okay with killing innocent people by your nasty, disgusting habit?" The man had raised his voice when he talked, no doubt so that a few of the other people smoking around the classroom building could hear. A few shuffled guiltily and quickly put out their cigarettes, walking away as fast as they could. A few others just looked at the man in annoyance like how Lovino was doing.

Well, Lovino did feel a little guilty. He didn't want to be the cause of someone else's death… but then again, was that statistic even accurate? What did this man even know about second-hand smoke anyway? Lovino hated people who thought they knew what was best for you and told you what to do all the time. He got that enough from his family, thank you very much. The guy probably was just one of those activists or something; Lovino told the man that, not expecting to see his jaw clench with emotion.

"My friend…" the man said, narrowing his green eyes even further. "My best friend smokes. Because of this, my other best friend ended up dying from second-hand smoke. Don't you tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about."

Well, shit. Now Lovino felt all kinds of guilty. But still, how was he supposed to know that his friend had died like that? It was totally that guy's fault for assuming that Lovino actually knew… and gave a damn!

The man sighed, looking like he had calmed down some. "Look, I don't care if you smoke; that's up to you what you want to do with your own health. But for everyone else's sake, don't smoke around public buildings, and especially not when those public buildings are on a smoke-free campus like this. It's not fair to everyone around you, and it can really damage their health."

Lovino looked at his cigarette awkwardly before stamping it out underfoot. "Whatever," he muttered, looking over to the side. "I didn't do that because of what you said; I was just tired of smoking, that's all." The man smiled and walked away. Lovino watched him go, tempted to smoke another cigarette just because he said not to. But then he saw a group of girls walking by, laughing with each other at some inside-joke or another. Lovino remembered what the man had said about his friend dying because of second-hand smoke… his hand left his pocket and he walked away. He didn't really need to smoke, anyway. Besides, smoking because it was 'cool' just made him a poser, anyway. He could find some other way to stick it to his family, he was sure of it.

Maybe this campus wasn't so bad, if it had people like that one guy who cared about others like that. He would have to tell Feliciano and Grandpa Vargas later.

Antonio walked away, knowing that he had done a good deed. He smiled to himself, happy that he could have made a difference in someone's life. It may have been too late to save Francis, but Antonio was still determined to help everyone else. Antonio walked past the large clock tower that was in the middle of the university campus and checked his wristwatch. The clock tower was notorious for being faulty; the time was always wrong, and nobody was sure which time zone it used. But judging by the time on his watch, he was running late for meeting up with Gilbert. Antonio still hadn't really forgiven Gilbert for sort-of killing Francis with his smoking, but they were still friends. Antonio and Gilbert were actually supposed to meet up so that they could get something to eat later, but Antonio had been sidetracked by that one guy smoking next to a non-smoking sign.

How disrespectful could you get?

Well, Antonio had straightened that guy out. He didn't know, of course, if the guy would actually listen to him or not, but at least Antonio had planted the idea in his mind. What the guy did or not wasn't up to Antonio anymore.

Antonio walked around a group of co-eds towards the dining pavilion he saw his friend waiting for him. Antonio smiled when he saw Gilbert waving towards him. He hurried over and took his seat at the table, looking straight at Gilbert.

"Ah, Cher Anton, how good of you to join us. I thought for sure that you were boycotting Gilbert now."

"Hey, Gilbert, how's it going?" Antonio asked, ignoring the strange voice that floated through their conversation. It was almost like Francis was still with them… But only almost. No matter how much Antonio missed him, Francis would never come back.

For some reason, Gilbert looked amused as he looked back and forth between Antonio and an empty chair. If Francis had still been around, he would have been sitting there.

"Oh, you know. Enjoying not being dead and all," Gilbert said easily. Antonio got the feeling he was missing something, but he didn't know what it was. Gilbert was just strange like that. He had actually gotten a little weirder after Francis' death; Antonio took this as Gilbert's way of dealing with his guilt and grief. After all, Gilbert didn't smoke so much anymore.

"Will you both stop that! I'm still alive, you know!"

Yeah, it was almost like Francis was still with them.

"Gilbert, if you don't stop smoking I swear to God I will smack you down! He'll only stop pretending I'm dead if you quit; don't you feel even a little guilty that he thinks you're the one who killed me?"

"But this is so fun~!" Gilbert said randomly. Antonio looked up to the vast, blue sky above them.

"I wish Francis was still here; he'd enjoy a nice, quiet day like today."

"I'm not dead, darn you!"

Lovino and Antonio never met each other again. Hetalia University was a large campus, so it wasn't that surprising. Lovino eventually did quit smoking, though he would never tell anyone why. Just, 'he felt like a change'. As for Antonio, apparently Francis somehow came back to life. Coincidentally, Gilbert also quit smoking at around the same time.

Strange how life happens, eh?

End of Chapter Twenty-Five; Next Up—We're going to be taking a short break for a while… (chapter will be up on Saturday)