Chapter 24

AN

Thank you guys for all the response after last chapter, sorry this took so long! I haven't written in a while so sorry if this is really bad! Also sorry if you feel like this is a pointless chapter but I like it and it is mildly important for the next AND LAST chapter.

Guest Review:

Mrs. Van Houton: First thank you so much for the review! Second I love your name, is that a TFIOS reference? I hope so! And thank you for the pairing suggestions, but alas you did not know (though you probably do by now) this is just about the end of the story so there really isn't too much I can do with them at this point but I did end up getting some pairing suggestions earlier. And thank you for all the compliments on my writing, you're too kind! If you are willing to read any of my other stories I would be more than happy to put some of your pairings in them, just let me know. Thank you again for reviewing!

"Feliciano are you sure you have EVERYTHING we don't want you forgetting anything," Lovino berated his brother as he hopped around trying to get his shoe on while brushing his teeth.

"Shi frlatello, I haf efrythingh" he responded around the toothpaste before spitting into the kitchen sink and making Lovino grimace in response.

"You better wash the damned sink when you're done. And if you have everything then where the fuck is your gown?" This question caused Feliciano's eyes to go wide before he darted out of the room stumbling and trying to find the most precious item of today's event. Lovino sighed and moved to clean the sink before the toothpaste left a crust.

Moments later Feliciano came out of the room fully dressed and carrying a clothing bag with both hands like it was made out of gold or something. "And where's the-" Lovino started but was soon cut off.

"In the bag."

"Are you sure, do I need to check?" Lovino spoke as he reached a hand out toward the bag in his brother's arms.

"NO! I told you, you can't see until my big moment fratello!" Feliciano pulled the bag to his chest before Lovino could touch it.

"Whatever idiot, fine let's just go already, we can't have you being late and the other idiots are probably already waiting," Lovino dropped his hand and straightened his own blazer instead before turning to the door and grabbing the keys.

"Ve- okay fratello!" Feliciano said regaining his typical hyper-ness and bouncing after his brother and half-sprinting to the car in his excitement while Lovino followed rolling his eyes.

The second they got to the college gym Feliciano ran off and joined his classmates leaving Lovino watching with a faint smile, that was until a pair of arms wrapped around his torso from behind causing him to bristle. Then he heard a familiar voice lean down to his ear and whisper "This is going to be hard on you, isn't it mi amor?"

Lovino whirled around and punched Antonio's chest screaming "Vaffanculo bastardo! Of course it won't be hard on me!" while fighting the brush that had seemed to establish a permanent residence upon his cheeks. After a moment he calmed down and turned back to watch his brother as he talked animatedly to a blushing Ludwig before whispering "The idiota has to grow up sometime…" Antonio smiled at that and grabbed Lovino's hand giving it a gentle squeeze that he was either too distracted to notice or he didn't mind… for the moment.

They stood there for a few minutes Antonio watching Lovino and Lovino watching Feliciano as he flitted around the auditorium with his friends. Antonio hated to pull him away but eventually he pulled on the hand he was still holding and said "Come on, we should go get seats the ceremony is supposed to start in about ten minutes and we need to get good seats." Lovino nodded and took a step before pausing to turn and take one more look at his fratellino one more time before heading to his seat.

After they were finally seated and had to battle a crowd to get their seats Lovino had regained his normal composure, "You know them saying it is starting in tem minutes means that it won't start for half a fucking hour right?" he asked causing Antonio to chuckle and try to put an arm around his shoulders which the feisty Italian shrugged off. A few moments later a loud voice boomed through the auditorium speakers announcing that everyone take their seats as the ceremony was about to start. And of course that was the moment that a very loud "Prussian" came bursting through the doors tugging on his jacket with a winded Canadian running after him quietly scolding that he needed to "Slow down" and "He had said they would be late" as Gilbert approached his two "friends" or well one friend and one somewhat tolerant acquaintance. When Antonio saw him he stood up to wave and call him over until Lovino put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back down.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing idiot? Do you want him to see you and come sit over here? He is just going to be loud and obnoxious the entire time, just like he always is." Lovino scolded keeping an eye on the albino to make sure he didn't make his way over.

"Lovi, that's mean, why don't you want to sit with Gil?" Antonio whined trying to peer around Lovino to see his friend and wave him over.

"Because he is an idiot and is as annoying as fuck." Lovino said getting a fairly placid though still eerily angry look on his face.

"Well too bad, he is on his way over here…" Antonio said causing Lovino to whip his head in that direction to see that sure enough Gilbert was headed right toward them.

"Fuck." Lovino snapped under his breath before speaking up to Antonio "Fine but you're sitting next to the idiot," he finished his sentence right as Gilbert took the seat right next to him.

Matthew shot an apologetic look to the angry Italian and moved to say something to Gilbert about switching seats but he was cut off by the Dean's voice coming again out of the speakers.

"Now that everyone is seated" she seemed to look right at the group of four as she spoke this "Please make sure all cell phones are switched off or put on silent and we may begin with today's ceremony. We have prepared a slide show of this year's seniors composed of pictures submitted by both the students and the yearbook staff." She took a few steps away to a chair off to the right with 3 other chairs occupied by Feliciano Kiku and Ludwig. Once seated she called out "Lights" before the auditorium was plunged into darkness only to be lit by a stadium television which was then going through a slide show of all the student's yearbook photos of them in their cap and gowns each followed by several candid shots of that student submitted by other students, some of which you know were not approved by the student in the picture.

Feliciano's graduation picture was one of the last few and in it he wore a large grin and the tassel from his cap was in his face causing him to squint. The following candid was of him hanging upside down from a tree trying to convince Kiku to join him in said tree. The one after that was he and Lovino talking over a meal in the restaurant Lovino worked in. The next was a picture of him as he cooked in one of his many culinary classes. The last turned out to be a picture of he and Ludwig kissing that caused the German to blush and Feliciano to mouth a muted "thanks" to Kiku which was replied to with a slight bow.

After that it was time for the speeches made by the Class President, Valedictorian and Salutatorian, which was, of course, Feliciano, Kiku, and Ludwig, all three were speeches were about life after graduation, but all three took very… unique… approaches. Lovino's face was in his hands after the first sentence of Feliciano's speech in which he compared life to pasta, cooking it, eating it, etcetera, but it ended up making perfect sense about how in order to have a happy life, or good plate of pasta, one must prepare well and be able to try new things, you never know, extra oregano could always make it better (Lovino suspected that he meant adding oregano to both life and pasta would make it better). He also ended it by saying in order to be truly happy you must share your life with those you love, as if you were sharing a meal. Ludwig on the other hand discussed how life is similar to a machine and you must work hard and live right for it to be proper. He talked for several minutes on the aspect of proper maintenance which was supposed to be a metaphor for following the rules but the only purpose it served was putting Antonio, and almost Gilbert, to sleep and having them both be shove awake by their respective boyfriends. Lastly Kiku compared life to anime and ended up actually delving into the terms of the fandom and applying them to real life situations. Like how fan-girls could be considered your friends who meddle in someone's life (or stalkers) and how there are real "yaoi" couples, including the class president and salutatorian.

After that it was time for the class to walk. When Ludwig Beilschmidt was called Gilbert and Antonio stood up and began screaming their lungs out cheering for him resulting in a blush on the German and a stern shout to "sit down and shut up" that could be heard throughout the auditorium without a microphone. Kiku bowed when he received his diploma and said some word in Japanese that was lost among most of the crowd. Then after a few hundred more names Feliciano was called. And no. Lovino did not cry. At all. Nope. Maybe just a little bit. But he most certainly didn't calm down just because Antonio took his and. That would never happen. In a million years. Nope. Okay. Maybe it did.

After a few more names all the graduates gathered and threw their caps in the air. Lovino could swear he heard Feliciano calling out "Ve" as he watched the hats rain down from the sky. Then after a mass of people tried to exit the auditorium Lovino found himself with Antonio, Gilbert, and Matthew watching Feliciano, Ludwig and Kiku talk with their other friends. No Lovino was not getting emotional, again. But Gilbert was blubbering like a baby while Matthew was patting him on the back. Not even a moment later two sets of brothers were both on the ground, Lovino having been talked by a tearstained, snotty Feliciano, and Ludwig by an equally tear stained and snot ridden Gilbert who was crying "WEEEEEEEEST" into his chest.

Rather than pushing him off like Lovino would normally do he allowed his brother to cling to him while awkwardly patting his back until he could form coherent words, which took a while. Even after he finished crying Feliciano still clung to Lovino until the Elder Italian pushed his shoulders back enough so he could look him in the eye. "Feliciano, if you're done crying can you get the fuck off of me so I can stand up?" The statement brought a smile to the smaller Italian's face as he jumped up and ve'ed before Antonio held out a hand to pull Lovino up. Lovino dusted himself off and turned to his brother, "now that I'm standing again what were you crying for? You graduated, you should be happy!" He said forcing a smile to his face as Feliciano teared up again.

"Ve, well, I mean, I graduated Fratello, that means everything is going to change, I need to get a job, I'm going to need to get an apartment of my own, my relationship with Ludwig is going to change, Kiku… you… It's not going to be the same anymore, we are going to drift apart and not see each other anymore or anything!" Feliciano burst into tears again and buried his face in his hands as he hunched over and sank to the ground.

Lovino responded by dawning a soft, reassuring smile and kneeling down to his brother's level before pulling his hands away and pulling his face so that he would look at him. "Feliciano, I thought the same things when I graduated, but I can assure you everything is going to be okay, change can be a good thing. I can assure you that you will stay friends with Kiku and even if things change between you and Ludwig they could only be for the better. He knows that if he hurts you I'll kill him so I can assure you of that. As far as getting a job and apartment go it's not like I'm kicking you out or anything just because you graduated, you are my fratello and you can stay with me as long as you want to and for jobs working really isn't that different from school and it's not like you have to get one right-the-fuck-now or anything, take your time, find the one that's right for you. And as for things changing between us, it won't, you are my fratellino, you always have been, and you always will be. I promise you that. I'm not going anywhere, I'll be here as long as you want, okay?"

Feliciano nodded before lunging and wrapping his arms around his brother's neck and whispering "Grazie fratello, grazie" as Lovino turned and kissed his head. Lovino had almost forgotten there were witnesses to their display of brotherly affection until he heard Antonio whisper "Tan lindo" and Gilbert yelling at Ludwig of why he was never that nice to him. At which point Lovino promptly pushed Feliciano away to the German.

"Feliciano I am only doing this one time, but as it is your graduation day, go spend time with your potato bastard," he cringed as he spoke but Feliciano wasted no time latching onto Ludwig's arm and talking animatedly about how they were going to go eat pasta and spend the afternoon together "talking about the future". Lovino had half a mind to yell at them "Never mind forget it!" before a strong hand laid itself on his shoulder turning him in the other direction and walking him to the apartment.

"You know, I'm very proud of how you handled yourself today, you were an excellent big brother." Antonio said as he pulled the Italian against his side as they walked down the sidewalk.

"Tch, aren't I always?" Lovino responded with a smirk and sarcastic flip of his hair.

"Sì, but it was still nice getting to see it." Antonio said pulling him even closer and leaning closer to him.

"Whatever bastardo, let's just go get something to eat." Lovino responded trying to ignore the blush creeping over his face as he moved away and walked a little faster.

Antonio replied as he went slightly faster to keep up with his speedy Italian yet still keeping a safe distance between them "Whatever you say mi tomate~"

"I AM NOT A FUCKING TOMATO!"