Letting his eyes shift over to the tank he had of baby turtles, Toni set the green animal onto the counter, staggering to the phone. Antonio had woken up that morning with a big smile on his face, ready to embrace the warm summers day...
But when he came into the room, the recently deceased turtle had sunk under the low water of the tank, with the other turtles crawling atop him as if he were one of the rocks in the aquarium.
Shakily picking up the phone, Toni sniffled, rubbing his eyes with the back of his arm. He could call Francis...But the perverted Frenchman would probably make a joke about turtle soup, and that would set Toni off. He could call Gilbert... But the Prussian would more than likely take things to the extreme, and then bring up something about how awesome he was and completely forget about Antonio's problems.
So who else could the boy call? Toni rubbed his forehead, sliding down the desk the phone was placed on, the speaker placed to his ear as he listened to the dial tone. He could call that old lady next door to him... But she wouldn't understand why Toni was so upset. Toni lived on raising his turtles. They were his whole life, well, besides being a nation... And tomatoes. Those things were pretty important as well.
Tapping his forehead with the hard plastic of the telephone, Toni tried to think about all the people he cared about in his life and there was only one other option. There was one person who was always with him...Who knew a lot about the boy when he didn't even try to get to know him.
Lovino Vargas... The most uncaring and spiteful man he knew. The boy that he had cared for ever since he was little... The cute, chubby cheeked douchebag who never completed a single chore in his life... The only one that he ever shared his secrets with.
Pulling in a shaky breath, the Spaniard pressed the clear buttons on the phone, having Lovino's number memorized. Biting into his lip, Toni lifted the phone back to his ear, listening to it ring. Several moments he sat there, waiting and waiting, hoping that the other would answer, but when the boy didn't pick up, he let out a soft sob.
Keeping the phone in his hand, his arms slung over his knees in defeat, trying to keep himself calm. But of course, he couldn't manage to keep himself composed.
Lovino threw himself down on the couch, a long yawn slipping through his lips as he lazily turned on the Tv, unhappy to see that there was nothing on...like usual.
Lovino had been in a bit of a depression lately. He had been seeing things negatively. Not to mention, his whole week had sucked balls.
With the roll of his amber eyes, he lifted a slice of the tomato from the plate he had set on the table for himself. Nibbling the end of it, he glared at the phone that lay on the floor. He had gotten angry at it earlier because it wouldn't stop ringing... But obviously slamming it down didn't teach it a lesson.
Groaning, he leaned down, picking the stupid phone up to look at the caller ID. Spain.
Lovino tilted his head to the side as he finished the slice of tomato, staring at the TV as he answered the phone, pulling it up to his ear.
"What the hell do'a you want, Spain?" Lovino spat, waiting for the others reply, but it never came.
Blinking in confusion, he drew the phone back down and slapped his forehead in frustration. Lovino had managed to screw up again by rejecting the call on the poor idiot. Dialing the Spaniards number, Lovino waited for the answer and was greeted with the all too happy sounding man on the other line, but Lovino never even got the chance to say hello before Toni went on a short rant.
"Oh! Mi amigo! I'm so happy to hear from you! I was sitting around my house and I decided to call you because... Because..." Lovino listened as the male sniffled on the other line. A pang of hurt hit the Italian's chest. Had Toni been...crying?
"Because'a what?"
Lovino couldn't help but ask... Over the years, no matter how many times Lovi had cursed out the Spaniard, he had grown close to him.
"My...Tortle..."
The way Toni had said the word 'Turtle' made Lovi furrow his brow, and for a couple of moments, he didn't understand what the boy had said.
"Tortle? What's a tor- Oh! You mean'a turtle? What the hell happened to your'a turtle?"
The saddest words Lovi had ever heard came after that.
"He died... Est muerto, amigo..."
The frown on Lovino's face was growing as he listened to the other man break down. It was heart breaking... Absolutely horrible.
"Sto venendo. Rimanere l ." Lovi said quickly as he hung up the phone, standing up quickly. He needed to get to Toni's house... If he wasn't there with him, Toni would probably weep over his dead turtle for hours by himself... He couldn't let him be alone, no matter how stupid the situation was.
Antonio struggled to understand the foreign language that was spoken, but ultimately he failed and sighed as he dropped the phone to the ground, standing up once again as he hurried back to the still animal. Pulling in a long breath, he rested his elbow on the counter, setting his chin in the palm of his hand as he thought about what to do.
"Dios mio...You didn't live very long. I do weep for your life, peque o, but for some reason... I weep now because I'm afraid that this will be Lovi one day. He's so reckless and est pido. I don't want him to get hurt or end up muerto.."
Toni stood up straight and glanced at the other turtles; the other turtles who had no sense of the Spaniards feelings. They only cared about what was inside of their own minds...and their own feelings.
Listening to the rain pour down outside, Antonio bit down on his lower lip, trying to think about what he should do with the deceased turtle. His only option was evident.
Pulling out a cardboard box from his closet, Toni assembled the make shift grave together with a few strips of tape. With a smile, Toni laid the turtle onto its stomach in the box. He couldn't help but think of that lazy, boring turtle being Lovino...
As soon as the echo of Lovi's name left Toni's mind, he heard someone pounding on his front door. Wiping his hands onto his shirt, Toni curiously wandered to his front door and opened it, blinking in surprise when he saw a drenched Lovino standing there, his head lowered and his fists clenched, as if he were angry with the whole world.
"Lovino... Er... Amigo... What are you doing here? Qu pasa?"
Without a word, Lovino stormed inside the house, shaking off the rain as he peered into the turtle's grave.
"A box? How'a boring." He said softly, pulling open the drawer in Toni's kitchen to reveal a ton of markers. Lovino knew the Spaniards house like the back of his hand... So it was really no surprise to Toni.
"I'm sorry my choice of grave disgusts you, amigo."
Lovino pulled the box to the floor, sitting down with the hundreds of markers surrounding him. Antonio could only stare at the strange boy.
"Well, are you'a going to help me decorate this freaking box or'a not?"
Toni was taken aback. Throughout all of his years with Lovino, he never knew him to be such a caring person... But at that moment, Toni understood. Lovino acted tough on the outside... He never let that hard shell of his break... He wanted people to respect him. But now Toni knew the truth. His outside personality was completely different from the person inside. Lovi was actually the most caring and thoughtful person Toni had ever met.
It was true that a lot of times neither of them could get along... And that Lovi was stubborn... And that he hated being around Toni (Or so it had seemed.)
But it was also true that no matter how much Lovino pushed Toni away, he always ended up pulling him closer.
Antonio wiped his eyes and eagerly sat down next to the Italian, a big grin capturing his face as he took ahold of a red marker, drawing a happy face on the side of the box.
He noticed Lovino's stare shift from the box, up to his own eyes.
"That's'a the stupidest thing I've ever seen."
Of course, Lovino didn't draw much better. He managed to draw a stick person... A triangle, and a spiral of some sort along the sides of the box, which made Toni laugh. Never would he have expected Lovino to rush to his side in a time of need... But he did and Toni respected that.
"Your stupid tortle would roll over in his'a damn grave if he could see the drawings on this box," Lovino commented softly as he capped the marker in his hand, glancing up at Toni just in time for the Spaniard's lips to hit the Italian's.
For the first time that day... Toni was happy. And no matter how many times Lovino beat on his arm and called him an idiot for kissing him...Toni knew he liked it.