Warning: Boring story time ahead and it may/may not make sense. Maybe this is why I hate writing serious plot…
Fanfictiondotnet is giving me Error 2, anyone know a fix?

-x-

Lovino couldn't stop himself from smirking slightly as he walked up the metal stairs leading towards Antonio's place. Of course he wasn't smiling because he was seeing Antonio, no of course not.

…well, that was part of the reason. The other reason was the fact he had the handle of a large, black case clasped between fingers. The brunette hummed to himself, as he rummaged for the spare key the Spaniard had given him earlier. Feeling adventurous, he kicked the door open after hearing the click of it being unlocked.

"Hm?" came an airy voice, turning to the cause of the loud noise. "Ah, cheri, your little boy toy is here," he said, glancing at Lovino making his way through the door. He gave a small wink at the Italian, and gave Antonio an affectionate pat somewhere further south than Lovino hoped he was seeing. Lovino decided to pretend he didn't just hear that, or that at least, it wasn't about him.

"Francis!" hushed Antonio, flicking him with his fingers as he made his way past. "Don't call him that, I thought you knew better!" he scolded, but Lovino couldn't help but notice the childish grin on the duo's faces. He felt his face go warm as he stared at the Spaniard's handsome face, illuminated by his laugh, looking almost radiant….

Lovino pinched his arm. "Eww, did I… I really just think that? What the fuck is wrong with me?" he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he unzipped the case. "Bastard, I brought it here because I don't trust myself tuning this thing," he muttered. "So you better teach me, dammit! Next time you're paying if it breaks!" he frowned.

"You're right, the kid does have an attitude," sniffed Francis. "Bonjour, Lovino, remember me?" he asked, eyes twinkling as he lay on the sofa sending those looks towards him.

Lovino was feeling lucky, and slightly snarky. "How could I forget you, France?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. He took great amusement at the surprised look on the Frenchman's face.

But Francis' features changed in a matter of seconds. He'd gone from flirtatious and teasing to cold and serious. But this look – glare, to be more exact – wasn't aimed at Lovino, but instead towards one of his closest friends. "You told him?" he hissed, eyes narrowing

Antonio gave a surprised look, raising his arms. "Well you're the one who told me that I should tell him some time, remember?" Antonio replied, evidently confused.

"Well I didn't think you'd actually tell him!" retorted Francis.

"Well I don't want to keep secrets, Francis," he said, raising his eyebrows strangely. Apparently it was some kind of signal between the two of them, before Francis seemed to understand exactly what it meant.

"… Fine. Do as you please," he huffed, closing his eyes.

Lovino wondered if it was just him imagining that slightly … upset part to Francis' statements. It was almost as if… No, Lovino couldn't quite get it, but there was something about the way he spoke that seemed… sentimental almost? He now felt a little guilty for saying it like that, but hey, the damage was done. He lowered his head and set his concentration on unzipping the case that contained the guitar, and gave a small smile as the ever-familiar shape of the instrument glazed his sight.

Whoever fixed the instrument also did a lot of touch-ups. No longer was the guitar dusty and worn-looking, but instead polished and glazed nice and shiny. The string had been replaced, and the pegs all tuned to absolute perfection. If the case didn't have his name on it, Lovino would find it sort of hard to recognize it, having not known it other than the old and used appearance. Now it looked brand-new (kind of) and it felt more… fresh. Like it was really his, not just... Antonio's ex-guitar.

Antonio sauntered towards the sofa, and leaned against it with his arm. He watched Lovino like a hawk as he hoisted the guitar into his arms, and let the pick run against the strings delicately. Even Francis tilted his head towards the Italian, eyes glancing over him.

"Well?" asked Antonio, eyes eager. "Going to play something?" he asked.

Lovino swallowed. "Well," he began sheepishly, reaching for his bag. "There's this song I printed the other day and er, I thought it was kind of…" he paused. He was going to say 'pretty', but he realized how damn unmanly of him that would be. "It was pretty cool," he decided. He prayed that the song didn't sound corny, since he was pretty bad when it came to deciding on these things.

There was a moment of silence throughout the room, as he began to play the tune. Nobody said a word, until about thirty seconds into the song, when Francis broke the concentration abruptly.

"Antonio," he said quietly. Francis stared at Antonio icily. It was such a glare that Lovino hadn't witnessed before, and to tell the truth it sort of… scared him. "Wasn't this…"

Antonio said nothing, and it made Lovino wonder whether the two nations had some kind of telepathic communication between one another as he held the guitar awkwardly in his hands. He was really beginning to wonder if he'd done something wrong.

Lovino observed as a long, tense silence filled the room. His eyes darted between the Frenchman and Spaniard, wondering who or what the bloody hell they were talking about. He finally decided to speak up. "Uh, sorry to ruin this little moment between the two of you but… am I uh, interrupting something… or something…" he said awkwardly, making random gestures with his hands. He was half turned towards the door, and was tempted to make an escape if he was indeed interrupting something.

Francis opened his mouth to say something, but Antonio managed to cut in just before him. "N-no, we're just…" he paused, really unsure of what to say.

"The similarities are remarkable, cher," commented Francis, staring out the window.

"The what?" asked Lovino, frowning slightly.

"Both Lovino and…" he stopped.

"What?" Lovino insisted, now slightly agitated.

Antonio watched as Francis swallowed, and his eyes looked away. "What, after hundreds of years you still can't bring yourself to say her name?" he asked, earning a glare from Francis. The Spaniard scoffed as he realized he'd hit the nail on the head. "Come on, she was just a human," he smirked.

When he heard this, Lovino felt slightly offended. His heart was screaming 'well I'm sorry we're not all immortal personifications of the fucking earth,' but his brain knew better, and kept his mouth shut.

Francis scoffed. "We're human too," he said indignantly. "And so is your friend over here," he added, nodding towards Lovino.

Antonio winced as he remembered Lovino was in the room. "N-no offense, Lovi," he said awkwardly, giving him an apologetic look. "You know what I mean."

Eyes narrowing, Francis sighed. "Antonio, I can't even remember what she looks like anymore. It's been centuries."

A shiver went through Lovino as he heard this. He wasn't sure if this thought had occurred to him previously, but it sounded extremely daunting right now. He was mortal, and Antonio immortal, to a certain extent. But regardless, Lovino was pretty sure he'd be outlived. And hearing Francis state how he couldn't remember what… whoever the hell it was they were talking about looked like, wouldn't that be the same about him and Antonio in the future? He'd most likely be forgotten, too.

"You're terrible," he murmured. "Would that mean you'll forget what Gilbert looks like?" Antonio asked, sounding serious.

"Of course not. I knew him longer than… L-Laura." He said her name to make a point to Antonio that he could say her name.

"Uh, who's Laura?" asked Lovino, although he knew by their conversation it was someone who was most likely… dead right now.

"She came from the town that wrote the song you were playing," explained Antonio. "We were living there once and you playing it all of a sudden kind of… brought back memories," he said.

"That weren't meant to be remembered," added Francis, but shut his mouth after a glare from Antonio.

"Uh, a long while ago Francis, Gilbert and I were kind of … adventurous and would move around towns a lot. To keep the story short, we met this girl Laura, and…" Antonio paused. "As Francis said earlier, you're a lot like her. At first we approached her as a joke. Francis being himself, as well as Gilbert, tried to hit off with her… she wasn't that stupid."

"You mean we were just unlucky," insisted Francis.

Antonio rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say. Anyway, we ended up becoming friends but… we were a bit scared to tell her that we were countries. I mean, even these days how many people would believe that I'm actually Spain? They'd probably throw me into an asylum," he smirked. "It was a lot worse back then. So we kept it to ourselves."

"Laura wasn't dumb though," said Francis, no longer lying lazily on the sofa, but sitting upright. "She did suspect something, and she even asked us… But we didn't tell her."

"One day she followed us and heard us talking about a war. She stood behind us, and said nothing," said Antonio quietly. His voice was faltering slightly, although he tried his best to keep it steady. "It'd been more than three years since we'd met her, and she felt offended and cheated that we kept that secret for so long," he murmured.

Lovino didn't see what the story had to do with him, but he was listening purely because it would probably be rare for him to hear stories of Antonio's younger days – not just stuff in history textbooks.

"Ah, thinking over all this again makes me feel so sentimental," said Antonio, scratching the back of his neck. 'Just like a human,' he thought, but he didn't dare voice that with Lovino around. "I don't even know why she took it so badly, I'm sure she probably had secrets that she didn't want to share either, right? Besides, we were going to leave soon anyway…"

Francis stared at Antonio like he was retarded. "You do know that she liked you right?"

There was silence. Lovino found this conversation that was basically between Francis and Antonio pretty awkward to be stuck in.

"Yeah," Antonio said, looking back. "I also know that you loved her."

"And we all agreed we wouldn't repeat our mistakes, remember?" said Francis.

Antonio frowned. "Yeah, I know… that's why I'm telling Lovino this now, I mean, you don't see him running off in tears, right?" he asked.

It took a moment for Francis to realize that he was talking to Antonio of all people, and that he probably didn't get what he was trying to hint. He wasn't even sure if he understood what he'd meant by 'like', but he decided to ask that another time.
'You idiot, I'm talking about you and Lovino!' he wanted to yell. But he refrained from doing so, probably because he knew he'd gain much amusement from watching their (possible) relationship grow.

"Yeah, you're right," Francis simply said. "Anyway, I just remembered that I have a meeting with Arthur in a bit, so I'll be heading off," he announced, getting up from his seat and giving Antonio a friendly slap to the shoulder. He paused over Lovino, and put a hand over his head. "Don't get too cocky, now," he smiled, just loud enough for the Italian to hear. "Remember that you're just a human."

Lovino scowled at him and stepped on his foot. "I'm pretty sure I'd know that," he retorted, glowering at him.

"Just making sure, we wouldn't want things to happen just like last time, now would we?" he winked, before shutting the door abruptly.

Antonio waited a few moments after Francis left before breaking the tension. "Sorry," he offered, sitting next to Lovino on the sofa. Lovino just shrugged, lying back on the cream furniture.

"It was kind of my fault, wasn't it?" he said, scratching his head.

"No, don't blame yourself, I shouldn't have gone and said all that stuff… man, Francis is probably pissed at me now," he laughed awkwardly.

Lovino frowned. "But I'm sure he can't stay mad at you for long, you guys have known each other for…"

Antonio laughed again. "You'll be surprised, Lovi. Last time we had a fight, Francis didn't talk to me for 3 years! And the longest time he refused to talk to another person was 17 years," he said, giving a look at Lovino.

"That… sounds just like him," smirked Lovino. "Stupid pervert. Anyway… so all that crap about last time I kept hearing was about this Laura chick?" he asked.

"Ah, yeah… After that incident with her… it really shocked us, since we were really good friends and all. You're the first human I've actually really become friends with since then," he confided. "Oh, and just so you know… I wasn't er, you know. Together with her or anything."

"Aww, how touching," replied Lovino sarcastically. "And uh, sure. If you say so."

"I'm serious!" frowned Antonio, giving Lovino a friendly shove. "I didn't want you to go running off like Laura did, that's why I told you," he pouted. "Otherwise you wouldn't have a clue right now that you were talking to the almighty Spain, the country of passion!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Lovino smirked.

He looked up to find Antonio peering at him closely. "Hmm, Francis has a point. You are pretty similar to her," he murmured.

Lovino stared back at him, and frowned on purpose.

"Yeah, you're both pretty scary," he decided.

"Pft, whatever," he said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, I feel like stepping out now. I've kind of been put off the mood to play guitar," he sniffed. He waited for Antonio to say something.

"Oh, alright then. See you Lovi," he waved.

Lovino had hoped that Antonio would offer to take him somewhere, or at least drive him home – looking out the window, it looked cold and miserable outside – but no such luck. "Is it alright if I leave the guitar here? I'll get it another day," he said, pulling on his jacket.

"Mm, sure thing," replied Antonio, busy filling a cup with milk.

"Alright then," called Lovino. "See you," before closing the door. He stood there for a bit, before making his way back down those damned stairs.

But he took his time, taking each step to mull over the things he'd heard both just then and the days before. What would he have done if Antonio hadn't told him about his country-ism now, and left it for a long time just like he did with Laura?

Lovino could understand why Laura did what she did. He assumed that Francis and Antonio didn't quite grasp why, since three years seemed like nothing to them.

-x-

"Hey fratello~" came Feliciano's ever-cheerful voice. "Where's your guitar?" he asked.

"Er, at Antonio's," Lovino replied, opening the fridge. "Uh, can I ask you something?"

Feliciano paused and looked up at his older brother. "Ve, of course~?"

Lovino swallowed. Damn it, if that potato bastard hadn't said anything, then what he was about to say would be incredibly stupid…

"You know that Ludwig guy," he began, watching Feliciano's body language carefully. He scowled as he noticed Feliciano's sudden interest as soon as that name was mentioned. He'd start with something easy. "How old is he?"

Feliciano's hands tensed slightly, and he smiled. "Ve, he's 20 just like me," he said.

Lovino could tell already that his brother was lying. But he felt nice, and didn't want to make his brother say more if he wasn't already blurting it out. He'd got the answer he was looking for – Germany had told his brother what he was, and that was all he cared for.

"Oh, that's pretty young," he said, laughing at those words on this inside. "He's younger than me."

"Ve~," replied Feliciano, as he flicked through the pages in his book.

He took his pasta from the microwave, and shut himself in his room, where he turned on his laptop, while lying on his bed eating pasta. Man, he felt comfortable. He felt relaxed to the extent that he'd forgotten that he'd set his phone on silent.

He was too busy surfing the internet and reading a fashion magazine – because he was just that goddamn stylish – to hear it vibrating against his desk.

x-x-x

OOC moody France anyone? Laura = Human!Belgium, because I didn't want to make a spontaneous OC without it sounding shifty. I was using Elise (I really like that name!) but I just found out today that it was a possible name for Liechtenstein, and now I can't get Spain/Liechtenstein out of my head.

I wrote this chapter but it really didn't sound right so I've rewritten it so many times I'm still not satisfied. I thought of this as part of the plot originally, but now when I actually write it out it doesn't sound very appealing/interesting. It actually sounds really irrelevant to everything else… Feedback on it, please? Because if it's lame I'll think of something else and possibly change it, or maybe take it as a learning experience.

OH – ONE MORE QUESTION: Do you guys feel like there needs to be more Spamano in this? Or is the current bits and pieces of fluff between them enough?