''Lovino? Answer me!'' Antonio got up off the floor and banged on Lovino's door. No answer.

Antonio frowned.

''Look, what do I have to do to make you forgive?

I already apologized...''

No use. He's not replying...

Is he okay in there?

A horrible thought crossed Antonio's mind. Surely Lovi hasn't... done anything? Knowing him, there was a strong possibility he could have done something to hurt himself in a serious situation like this. Antonio didn't want to think about it.

No...

He sat down beside the door and sighed.

I'm not leaving until you let me in.

...

He woke up on the floor. What happened? Judging by the dim light that was coming in from the windows, it was already the evening. He had been sleeping for a long time. Seriously, when had he fallen asleep? He didn't remember anything. He still had dried tears on his face. He remembered Lovino and instantly stood up. He tried to open the door.

Still locked.

He gulped. Lovino hadn't left the room in a long time. And the door was locked, for God's sake, there's no way he could not be inside!Had he fallen asleep inside there? What if he was just exhausted and wanted to sleep?

Antonio kicked the door in desperation.

Why did this have to happen? Why? Why couldn't it have been someone else? Why the people he cared the most about in the whole world?

He was alone. All alone. Why wasn't he used to that?

Why not?

...

''Mon ami, you need to stop drinking!'' Francis said, but handed another beer to Antonio. He was a total mess: he hadn't slept for days, nor had he eaten or done actually anything. But drank.

So there he sat, at the bar that Francis and Gilbert, his best friends, owned. There were no customers anymore; it was already late in the evening. It was just the three of them.

''Yeah,'' Gilbert said. ''Something happen?''

Francis smacked him. ''You would think that you knew, being his friend and all.'' He said, annoyed. ''Feliciano's sick!''

''I knew that already, dumbass! Who doesn't?'' Gilbert yelled at him. ''I ment did something else happen. I guess not.'' he added quietly.

''Lovino...'' Antonio started but began sobbing before he could finish.

Francis and Gilbert gave each other a look.

''Has something happened to Lovi?'' Francis was worried. Gilbert went to get some tissue from the cupboard for Antonio.

Toni pulled himself together somehow and wiped his face from tears.

''He went missing. I haven't... I haven't seen him in days.'' he managed to say.

This was bad news.

Gilbert gasped quietly. ''What? When?!''

''The... the day before y-yesterday...'' Antonio stuttered.

''Why would he disappear just like that? It doesn't make sense.'' Francis had a puzzled expression on his face.

''He h-h-heard...'' he buried his head in his hands. He regretted everything he had said. He just wanted his tomato back.

Was it too late?

''Hey? What did he hear? Did you say something bad?'' Gilbert took Antonio by the shoulder and shook him.

He breathed heavily. ''He heard us, Francis. He heard us on the p-phone...'' He started crying again.

Francis went all white from his face.

''Oh... when you said...-''

''Yeah...''

There was a silence. Three minutes of silence, but it felt like three hundred. The only sound they could hear was Antonio's quiet sobbing.

Then Gilbert broke it.

''What... what did you say, then?''

Antonio raised his head.

''It doesn't matter, okay?!'' He didn't want to repeat it. ''It doesn't matter anymore.''

Nothing matters anymore.

''But what if he has...-'' Francis said, but was interrupted by Antonio's sinister voice.

''No. He hasn't.''

''Whatever, mon ami. Should we call the police, then?''

''The police can't do anything! They can't do anything... they'll just say he's...-''

''Dead.''

''GILBERT!''

''What?! It's the truth! You don't need to smack me all the time! I'm not saying he is, but that's what the police would say and get back to eating cake!''

''Then what do we do? Now that we can't use the police's help, does that mean we'll go to look for him on our own?'' Francis had an idea. Not necessarily a good one. It's a big world, Lovino could be anywhere by now.

''I know! Let's hire a detective!'' Smack. ''Ow...''

Antonio got up.

''I don't know... I just want to go home... I just want to go home and see that they're both there, alive and well.''

''Don't! Toni, don't. Lovino is alive. He's alive and we're going to find him and get him back home. Hell, even if he's dead in some gutter...'' Gilbert shook his head in hopes that wasn't indeed the truth. ''We'll find him. For sure.''

Antonio pulled a faint smile before getting out from the door.

For sure.

He had walked home without even realizing it. He was in his thoughts.

We'll find him for sure.

He walked past Lovino's room. ''Goodnight.''

He walked past Feliciano's room. ''Sleep tight.''

He collapsed on his own bed and pulled the covers over him. He was cold.

...Yeah, for sure.