A/N: Hello? *ducks to avoid flaming objects* Oh hey! Yeah… it's been awhile hasn't it? If you're mad at me now, wait until you read the chapter. ^^"
In years to come, Alìce would look back on the week that followed the World Meeting in New York and wonder just how they all managed to survive. Any hopes that she and Feliciano had still foolishly been holding onto of being "one big happy family" were quickly dissolved the following Monday by a single Facebook status post.
Antonio Fernandez Carriado is In a Relationship.
Like. Comment. 3 hours ago
Carmen Fernandez Carriado, Bella Jensen, Elizabeta Hedervary, and 16 others like this.
And the comments that followed.
Francis Bonnefoy: Ohonhon, did our resident sweetheart finally confess to his bad-mouthed Italian?
Like. 6 people like this. 3 hours ago
Antonio Fernandez Carriado: I'm just waiting for him to accept my tag request :)
Like. 10 people like this. 3 hours ago
Lovino Vargas: I THOUGHT WE AGREED WE WEREN'T GOING TO TELL ANYONE YET!
Like. 13 people like this. 2 hours ago
Antonio Fernandez Carriado: But, Lovi, when I agree not to tell anyone, my best friends don't count. :D
Like. 16 people like this. 2 hours ago
Gilbert Beilschmidt: And you consider everyone on your friend list your best friend?
Like. 1 hour ago
Antonio Fernandez Carriado: Yup! :D
Like. 15 people like this. 43 minutes ago
Gilbert Beilschmidt: Alright. Just checking.
Like. 37 minutes ago
Lovino Vargas: You idiot! Delete this post before my sister sees it!
Like. 30 minutes ago
Chiara Vargas: Too late. As if I give a fuck that Antonio has low standards.
Like. 22 minutes ago
Lovino Vargas: Fuck you, bitch. Green doesn't look good on you. Of course nothing does.
Like. 19 minutes ago
Chiara Vargas: Sleep with your eyes open tonight. Sleep with them open.
Like. 11 minutes ago
Felicano Vargas: Please don't fight...
Like. 7 people like this. 9 minutes ago
Chiara Vargas: Stay out of this, Feli! For the love of god just mind your own damn business!
Like. 8 minutes ago
Lovino Vargas: Don't start on him, putanna!
Like. 8 minutes ago
Feliciano Vargas: Your my family! It is my business!
Like. 3 people like this. 5 minutes ago
Gilbert Beilschmidt: *You're. This is possibly the most awkward relationship update I've ever seen on here.
Like. 3 minutes ago
Antonio Fernandez Carriado: …right… I think I am going to delete this post. Sorry, Lovi.
Like. 2 minutes ago
Gilbert Beilschmidt: Too late! Screen capped! This one's going in the memoirs!
Like. Just now!
Chiara Vargas: Will you get the hell out of here?!
Like Just now!
The post had been removed after that, but the damage had already been done. Lovino and Antonio were together and Chiara knew. Alìce countered this by updating her own status.
Alìce Vargas: Forecast for the next several months: There's a 100% chance of shit storm.
Like. Comment. 23 minutes ago near Rome, Italy.
Feliciano Vargas likes this.
Feliciano Vargas: I'll go see our people tomorrow and stock up. I have a bad feeling we're gonna need a lot.
Unlike. 13 minutes ago
Alìce Vargas: Good plan. -_- Maybe we should all go to church together this Sunday….
Like. 11 minutes ago
Chiara Vargas: No.
Like. 6 minutes ago.
Lovino Vargas: For once, I agree with her.
Like. 3 minutes ago
Alìce decided to take this moment to reflect on the effect technology was having on their world. Sure, it made it a lot easier to coordinate World Wide events like meetings and holiday parties but it also made things like this happen: passive aggressive fights and everyone knowing everyone's business all the time. Sometimes she missed the times when you couldn't hear from other countries for days and weeks at a time. She also desperately missed the times when Lovino and Chiara didn't absolutely hate each other. But that was a much more distant memory.
For the few days that followed the revelation of Lovino and Antonio's relationship, Chiara and Lovino avoided each other like the plague. Whenever one of them walked into a room when the other was already there, they would stare at each other silently for a moment before one of them would leave. Alìce and Feliciano were both thankful no violence had yet ensued but they both knew it was only a matter of time before one of them lost it. Aside from that, the tension in the house was absolutely stifling. Alìce almost found herself wishing for the moment when her brother and sister would break and go after each other, just so they could alleviate just a little of the built up strain in their home.
She got her wish on Friday, when they received an unexpected visit.
"¡Hola, mi novio!"
"Oh no…," Feliciano moaned, from where he was seated next to her on the sofa. Alìce threw a glance at her sister just in time to see her freeze at in her armchair at the sound of his voice.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Lovino's hushed voice still managed to reach the living room. "I told you not to come over today!"
"I was in the neighborhood~"
"You just happened to be in Rome?"
"My boss sent me on an errand."
"To Rome?"
"Uh-huh! Actually he called it a personal favor."
"Well… that was… nice of him."
"Yeah! He said I was driving him up the wall with my pinning and he would consider it a personal favor to him if I took the rest of the day off and came to see you. His exact words! Well, actually he speaks Spanish so his exact words were—"
"You're more attractive when you don't talk."
"I've been told that. Do you have tomato juice?"
"I didn't invite you in, idiot!"
"You didn't say I couldn't come in."
"Yes, I did!"
And there he was, dressed in the politician-esqu suite he only wore when he met with his boss. It fit him so well… and yet he was still more attractive in his normal clothes, covered in dirt working outside…. This was torturous.
"Hi guys!"
Chiara knew she shouldn't be looking at him, mentally drooling over the sound of his voice, the shape of his mouth.
"Are you feeling better, Chiara? I know you were having a bad day the last time I saw you."
He really was more attractive when he didn't talk.
"I'm fine," Chiara mumbled, eyes trained on the soft pink carpet beneath her bare feet.
"You sure? Your face is a little red. Do you have a fever?"
"In the morning, all through the night…."
"Huh?"
"Nothing. I'm going upstairs."
She had to get out of this room, away from Antonio's innocent, kind smile, away from her family's pitying gaze, the stifling worry and tension. Stiffly, she got to her feet, back straight and turned, headed to the stairs.
"Alright… feel better."
She didn't trust herself to speak, couldn't even manage to look back. The tears were already prickling her eyes again, as she took the first shaky step up the stairs, forcing herself to maintain a reasonable pace despite how much she wanted to run. Not until she had hobbled all the way up the stairs, down the hall, and closed her bedroom door behind her, did she allow her emotions to show, collapsing on her bed, face buried in the pillow.
A knock on the door broke her short moment of peace. Vainly, she thought that maybe if she ignored whoever it was, they would go away.
"Chiara…."
Of course not. Why would they? And why did it have to be him?
"Come to gloat, Lovino?" She spat at him, hastily pushing herself into a sitting position, but refusing to look at him, not wanting him to see her red-rimmed eyes.
Her refusal to meet his eye meant that she didn't see the look of guilt that passed over Lovino's face as he closed the door with a sigh.
"Chiara…," he said with again, taking a seat next to her on her bed, "Listen… I know I'm not the nicest person in the world… or… at all, but you're my sister and I… I tolerate you. And seeing you like this… it's kinda… I don't like it as much as I thought I would."
"Is this pointless rambling going somewhere?"
"Yes. Look, I know how you feel about Antonio. I know because it's… probably pretty similar to how I do and, well, if the situation were reversed I'd be… devastated and probably hate you. And… it's not like I give a shit what you think but…"
"Get. To. The. Point!"
"I'll break up with him."
"What?"
She was so surprised by this statement, she forgot her vow to avoid his gaze. Lovino wasn't looking at her; his eyes were trained on the blue carpet beneath his feet, his face as impassive as possible, but Chiara could still sense how difficult these words must have been to say. What the hell was he playing at?
"I… I'm willing to… to let you have him. Because I don't want to…."
He trailed off, cheeks burning. Lovino had never been good at this sort of thing: expressing his emotions. It was why it had taken so long for him and Antonio to get together in the first place. This was so outrageously out of character for him, it could almost be laughable.
"Lovino… you love Antonio…."
"I know… but I L—I tolerate you too. And you're my sister so I'm supposed to sacrifice for you and… stuff."
Chiara had absolutely no idea how to respond to this.
"I-I… just last week you told me he'd never want me and to just get over it!"
"Have you ever heard that expression 'I didn't want to go to the party; I just wanted to be invited.'?"
"So you didn't want to be with Antonio?"
"Of course I did! I just… I mostly just wanted him to choose me. I wanted… well I wanted to beat you at something for once…."
"When the hell have I ever beaten you at anything?"
"Oh come on, Chiara, when you put us side by side who do you think people are going to prefer?"
"Are you asking for my honest opinion?"
"You, Chiara. They'd choose you. You're the awkward one."
"Gee, thanks."
"Trust me, it works for you," Lovino said bitterly, crossing his arms over his chest. "People don't realize you're a raging bitch until they get to know you well and by then it's too late to drop you without feeling like a bad person."
"And, just to clarify, you're trying to make me feel better?"
"I think it's the fact that you're a girl. It seems to be more acceptable for you to be bitchy."
"You seriously suck at this."
"Don't I just? Well… I guess I better just… just go do that…." Lovino got to his feet, shuffling to the door, dejection evident even in his obvious attempts to keep it hidden.
"Lovino… wait," Chiara called after him.
He stopped, a hand on the doorknob, refusing to look around at her.
"Lovino… you don't have to do that…."
"Oh thank god," he muttered. Chiara honestly wasn't sure she was supposed to hear that. She chose to continue as if she hadn't.
"Well… it's not like having you break his heart is going to force him to want me… he doesn't think of me like that and he never will so…."
What? What was happening? Was Lovino trying to kill her? Oh god…
No… wait… was he… was he hugging her? He never hugged her. Chiara wasn't even sure Lovino knew how to hug someone. The closest he ever came was having Feliciano tackle glomp him and that always ended with Lovino screaming at him to get the fuck off. She'd never in their lives seen him actually choose to do anything remotely related to physical affection with anyone, least of all her.
"Lovino…," she said into his shoulder, unable to move from the tight embrace he was holding her in. "Are you sick?"
"Shh…."
"Seriously… what the hell?"
"Just let me have this moment…."
"You're seriously freaking me out."
"Give me ten more seconds."
She… really had no idea of how to react to this. Should she hug him back…? No. Too weird. Way too weird. What the hell was wrong with her brother?
After what felt like much longer than ten seconds, he released her, his hands still on her shoulder, his face holding more concern—concern for her—than she'd ever seen. What the hell?
"Chiara…."
"Oh, god, not this."
"Chiara… you're gonna meet someone someday—"
"Nope."
"Whose not good enough for you—"
"Nope."
"But you're gonna want to be with them anyway—"
"Lovino, no."
"And when that happens—"
"I'm saying no."
"I'll be there when they inevitably break your heart—"
"Why is this happening?"
"And I'll destroy them—"
"What did I do?"
"Because I'm the only allowed to upset you—"
"This is your pep talk?"
"And I'll also be there—"
"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"
"If you find someone who is good enough for you—"
"Jesus Christ, my world is crumbling!"
"To put the fear of god in them—"
"I can't. I just can't."
"And make sure they know what they have. Because it's pretty fucking amazing."
"Can we please go back to hating each other now?" Chiara begged.
"I think that would definitely be for the best," Lovino said, finally taking a step back and letting his hands fall back to his side and shuffling awkwardly from one foot to the other. "So… do you wanna go back downstairs…? I think Feli and Alìce are probably worried about you."
The honest answer was no; she'd actually prefer to stay held up in her room all day and not have to fight off the tears that were threatening to fall. But Lovino was… actually trying to take care of her. That didn't happen. Like, ever. And the concern he was attempting to hide behind a scowl again was so… touching. She should still be mad at him. He'd been acting like a tool, being so unspeakably cruel to her out of nothing but jealousy… but she supposed she'd been acting just as awful. And the mere fact that he'd offered to end his relationship with Antonio to spare… whatever fucked up relationship he had with her… Maybe he wasn't as much of a heartless bastard as she thought.
"Yeah… I'll walk you down…," she said softly.
What could she do? She could be as angry and jealous as she wanted… but he was currently doing very little to warrant her scorn. He even offered her a hand to help her off her bed. What the hell was happening?
The voices that began to make their way to Lovino and Chiara's ears as they made their way down the hall were… not consistent with who they had left in the living room. There should have been three people downstairs but they were hearing four different voices… one much louder and more obnoxious than would have been expected.
"Who is that?" Lovino asked as they made their way down the stairs and to the living room.
"It almost sounds like…."
Oh god, no way.
"Oh, Alìce… why couldn't it have been you?"
Seriously, no way!
"Why couldn't what have been me?"
"What the actual fuck are you doing here?!"
What had she done to deserve this? What god had she pissed off to the degree that this moron had decided to… what was he even doing? Following her around like a stalker, basically.
Gilbert laughed, red eyes closing at her indignation. She rolled her eyes, resting a fist on her hip and waiting for him to compose himself.
"Gilbert stowed away in my back seat, Chiara!" Antonio stated, chipperly from his spot on the sofa.
"Dammit, Antonio, how many times do I have to tell you to check your back seat before you leave?" Lovino asked in exasperation, dropping his head to his palm.
"Ja, I've been telling him the same thing?" Gilbert added, getting to his feet from the armchair he'd been occupying and moving to rest and hand on Antonio's shoulder. "And yet I still managed to hide out for an hour in his car without him knowing."
"What were you even doing in Madrid?" Chiara asked.
Gilbert just smirked at her.
Even in her irritation at seeing him, she couldn't help but notice he looked better than he had the last time she'd seen him; there was a small amount of color in his cheeks, his movements much more vibrant than they had been a week ago. She wondered what he'd been doing that had such an effect on him. Not that she cared.
"So, Chichi," Gilbert said, slyly, sliding over to slip an arm around her shoulders. "Got plans today?"
"Stop touching me."
He laughed but complied and removed his arm from her.
"So… I've been making some calls all day and… I think I could show you a pretty awesome time today…."
"No thanks," Chiara said rolling her eyes again.
"Aww, come on! You haven't left the house since you got back from the World Meeting."
"How the hell would you know that, you stalker?!"
"Twitter. Tumblr. Facebook. Instagram. Technology makes it really hard to keep secrets."
She just stared at him in agitation, growing wearier and wearier of the conversation as he continued to smirk at her in that cocky way of his.
"So not only are you following me in real life… you're stalking my cyber self as well?"
"Some of us Facebook stalk, some of us are liars. I take the moral high road."
"Good for you."
She brushed past him briefly on her path to the front door.
"Where are you going, Sorella?" Alìce asked her as she grabbed her house key from the hook and pulled the door open.
"For a walk. I need to clear my head."
"Oh, Chiara, we're probably going to leave…," Lovino called to her softly.
"Don't worry about it," she said back. She really did want to get out of the house. Gilbert was right; she'd been stuck in her room for a long time and was starting to get a little stir crazy. Walking around town might help relieve that a bit.
She didn't wait for her brothers and sister to respond to her before she step out into the humid summer air, pulling the door shut behind her and setting off briskly through the neighborhood, for once not taking the time to admire the nice area they lived in, instead training her eyes on the pavement beneath her feet.
At least she was getting along decently with Lovino now, she reflected mildly. That was… a plus…. But it came at such a heavy price on her part. She sighed and attempted to shake the thought from her mind. Lovino had said it before; Antonio had never wanted her. You can lose something you've never had….
"Guess who!"
She'd been so lost in her own head she hadn't noticed someone had been coming up behind her until they had slipped their hands over her eyes, the exclamation making her jump.
"Gilbert, I swear to god!"
"Hey, you called me by my name," was Gilbert's excited response as he removed his hands and fell into step beside her.
"What is your sudden fascination with me?!" Chiara shrieked in irritation.
"Hear my soul speak: The very instant that I saw you, did my heart fly to your service; there resides, to make me slave to it."
Chiara actually froze in the shock at hearing that come out of Gilbert Beilschmidt's mouth. He was several steps in front of her before he noticed she had stopped and turned around.
"What?" he asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.
"Was that… was that Shakespeare?"
"Oh…," he seemed embarrassed, a pale hand coming up to scratch the back of his head awkwardly. "Ja… it's… it's a quirk."
"You quote Shakespeare?"
"I try not to… it's more of a bad habit, really."
"You know enough Shakespeare to be able to quote it often enough for it to be a bad habit?"
"I… kind of have a weakness for literature."
Chiara raised her eyebrows at him. He'd been looking at the ground before this but now, probably sensing her gaze, he looked up at her?
"What?"
"You know literature?"
"I had to be good at something," he offered lamely. "That's part of why my eyes are so bad; I read a lot. And write a lot. Usually in bad lighting."
"You write too?"
"You didn't know that? There's an entire room in my house devoted to my journals."
"Well, yeah I knew that. Everyone knows that. But I… I guess I just always thought you were writing monologues about how awesome you were and embarrassing things about everyone else."
"Oh, there's definitely a lot of that," Gilbert said with a laugh, as she fell back into step beside him. "But… that's not all there is."
"What else is there?"
Gilbert threw that cocky grin of his back at her.
"Aww come on. I can't give away all my secrets. At least… not until you let me show you what I had set up for today."
She scowled at him, her cheeks going red in a combination of irritation and embarrassment… and yet she wasn't saying no right off the bat like she normally would.
"Why the sudden fixation with taking me places?" she asked to give herself time to think.
"Let men that hope to be beloved be bold," he said, still smirking at her.
"Really? This is going to be a thing now that you know I find it endearing?"
"Oh? You find it endearing?" he simpered, taking a step forward to block her path.
She bit her lip but said nothing, trying her best not to grin at him. When had that become something she needed to do?
"By endearing… I mean, peculiar."
He said nothing. Just stood in front of her, arms crossed, smirking at her.
"Dammit… fine! I'll go on whatever stupid adventure you set up!"
"Thought, you'd see it my way, princess," he said with a laugh, moving to slip his arm around her shoulders again.
"Stop touching me," she said wearily.
"I see your wit is as nimble as your tongue."
"Gilbert…."
"You said it yourself; it's endearing."
Oh lord, what had she gotten herself into?
A/N: It took me OVER A YEAR TO WRITE THAT. WHAT. THE. HELL. Okay… So, on the off chance anyone still wants to follow this story, drop me a review stating how awful a person I am. If I have enough people interested, I'll do my best to get the next chapter out in a couple of weeks.
Ya know, I don't typically like to portray Antonio is the simple-minded airhead because I think he's more complex than that... but he's really just comic relief in this story. Actually, most of the character aside from Chiara and Gilbert are, now that I think about it. This is not good writing xD
Also! If anyone is interested, I set up a Tumblr account devoted to my fan fictions. I'm hoping the pressure of having people watch me over there will be enough to get me to update more frequently. Just search StarProphecy7279 on Tumblr and you should find me. There's also a link on my profile. Come on over and feel free to ask me questions, make predictions, harass me about why I haven't updated… or do all of that in the reviews over here! I'm not picky. Just talk to me. I need friends ;_;
I love you alllllllllll!
