Ah, finally. Afternoon hell is over. I stood up from my seat and stretched my arms as I went out of the classroom. It should be legal for a student to stand up and stretch their muscles during classes if their butts start hurting from sitting all day. As if that would ever happen, ugh. Anyway, I still have a mission to do. I began my search for Antonio, remembering that I had to give him the tomato ring (hey, stop laughing!) and tell him the new song I found last night before I slept.

Remembering that he was a third year, I decided to go up to the 3rd floor, where their classrooms are located. I got more than what I bargained for when instead, I saw "him". Somehow he made cleaning look...really good looking. I could just spend hours watching him reach every nook and cranny in the classroom making sure it's spotless.

Gah-! Focus Luciano! You came up here to find Antonio, not ogle over your future husband! I took a deep breathe and called for his attention. "Toni!"

Antonio stopped what he was doing and turned to face me. "Mi amigo! It's you!" He placed the wet rug on one of the tables and told one of his classmates that he'll get off early.

"It's day 2, are you ready?" I asked as I watched him fix his hair and adjust the guitar bag on his back.

"Si si. Do you have a gift I can give him?" A wave of embarrassment flowed through my body as I slowly took out the ring box and placed it on his open palm. "It can't be that bad. Let me just- ah..."

"I-I can explain! He has a thing for tomatoes and that was the only themed item I found in the gift shop!" I defended, already expecting that he would literally be speechless when he saw the ring.

"No no! It's alright! I think Lovino will like the ring!" Antonio replied, trying to make me feel better.

I forced a smile on my face and just nodded it off. "J-just listen to this new song..." I took out my phone and played the audio file of the downloaded song. We stood there in silence as the sounds of a guitar filled it. I paused the video and turned to him. "What do you think?"

Antonio thought for a moment. "That sounds nice but I haven't memorized that much Italian songs yet..."

"I can handle that. I'll flash the lyrics behind the tree. Just try not to make it obvious through your eyes." I suggested, planning to have a quick trip to the computer lab to print out the lyrics in a big font size. I'm smart, aren't I?

"Ohhhh interesante (interesting). That can work. Same spot?" Antonio had high expectations about the plan so we bumped our fists and parted ways. I went one floor down to where the lab was located and went inside. It was empty. Seems as if research was scarce at this time of the school year. I sat down on one of the seats and turned on the computer and got to work.

One long printing session later...

Oh sticks, this is a lot of paper. I really shouldn't have underestimated how much paper this would use. I (attempted to) staple the pages together and flipped them to ensure that they were together. Perfect. I thought. Now all I had to do was find Lovino and send him to the east fountain. Knowing that classes had basically already ended, he was probably at the plaza with his brothers so I decided to go there.

And there he was, chatting like nothing's wrong. I waved to get his attention. "Lovino!" I called. Lovino looked behind and had a soft smile.

"Oh, it's you. Do you need anything?" He asked.

"Do you remember the east fountain?" Lovino nodded when I mentioned it.

"Si? What about it?" I hid the stack of stapled papers inside my shirt, trying not to make it obvious.

"It's Antonio, the guy you met yesterday. He wants to meet you again." The moment I said that, a blush creeped on Lovino's face, causing his two brothers to whisper and tease with kissy sounds.

"O-Oi! Stop that!" He yelled, to no avail since they kept doing it. "I-I'll go follow, just let me deal with this first..." I giggled a little and departed for the fountian. Antonio was already there, tuning the guitar by rotating the pegs.

"He's coming! I have the lyrics!" I told him. Antonio got up, did some testing and got into position. I hid behind the tree and grabbed the papers out of my shirt. A couple of them fell to the ground to my shock, looks like the staple didn't catch some of them. I quickly gathered the fallen pages, silently thanking myself for putting numbers on the top right side of them so that I would arrange them easily.

Lovino and his brothers arrived and I motioned for Antonio to come out of his hiding spot and get his attention. Lovino turned around, as if feeling that he already knew the presence behind him. "You're here!" He exclaimed, a hint of happiness and excitement in his voice.

"The ring. Give it." I ordered. Antonio reached into his pocket and took out the small ring box.

"I got this for you. I hope you like it." Lovino took the box and opened it. He gasped, eyeing the tomato ring and inspecting it.

Uuuungh, I knew I should've gotten something better... My head scolded, cursing at how low my money was right now.

"I-I love it! Grazie!" Lovino slipped the ring on and it was a perfect fit. I did a quiet sound of happiness. Looks like he really believes in "It's the thought that counts".

"I learned a new song. Would you like to hear it?" Antonio offered, and sent me a silent signal with his feet to flash the papers. Lovino nodded and he began to play the guitar, filling the silence with his singing voice.

Se ti vuoi

Fidare davvero di me

Fallo fino in fondo

Oh, findo in fondo

Fatti piu' vicina

Regalami il tuo sogno

Regalami il tuo sogno

Te lo custodiro

I let the guy serenade his future boyfriend while I flipped the pages. Even his two brothers took their phones out to record the moment, seemingly unaware of the boy in red behind a tree looking like an idiot with stacks of paper in his hands. Eventually, he finished the song and did a few deep breathes to cool down. "Did you like that?" He asked, waiting for Lovino's opinion.

"That's a very popular Italian love song! When did you learn the time to study that?" He asked.

"Well, let's just say I've been studying it for a long time..." Antonio answered, keeping the guitar.

"I suppose that's because of word similarities. You can be a singer someday." Lovino commented. "Ah! I have to go. Same time?" Antonio nodded.

"Si. Here's my number." The two exchanged phone numbers and Lovino left with his brothers, not being spared from their teasing. I came out of my hiding spot, surprised.

"I didn't know you studied Italian..." I said, my face still stuck in it's open mouth form.

"It's easy if there are words that have the same meaning and pronounciation as your first language." Antonio remarked. Huh, never thought of that. We eventually parted and went back home, standing close to my brother while he chatted with his boyfriend.


happy new year lol