Yay, a new chapter! And what's even better, I have nothing to say between here and the story! Enjoy.

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Spain sighs as he sits in his boss's office and casts a glance at his cell phone to check the time. His boss should have been here nearly an hour ago, and Antonio longs to be home with his Lovi, to have his grumpy little Italian in his arms and a plate of paella and a mug of hot chocolate. He slips his phone back into his pocket and leans forward in his chair, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes before running his hands through his brown curls, wondering how Lovi is fairing without him. Hopefully Francis and Gilbert have heeded his request to behave until he arrives, and hopefully Arthur and Matthew will do their best to keep Antonio's mildly misguided friends from traumatizing his not-quite-defenseless little Lovi.

This was supposed to be a brief meeting, damn it.

Antonio leans back in his chair and lets out a long, slow breath of forcibly-quelled irritation. He's been waiting here longer that the meeting should have taken in the first place and all Antonio wants is to go home and enjoy the company of his loved ones. Francis and Gilbert are most likely at his house right now, or at least Gilbert probably is since Francis likes to be "fashionably late" (and have sex with Arthur), and the only thing keeping Antonio from them is the fact that his boss is, once again, late, and he has a sudden urge to scream, punch a hole in the wall, throw things, because he just wants to go home.

"Damn the man," he mutters, pulling out his phone again and opening his Tetris app. "God damn the man."

He loses the first game quickly and decides that Tetris isn't a particularly wise thing to play when angry and impatient. He closes the app and smiles fondly at the picture of Lovi in the background of his phone, his face lit up in a rarely-seen smile that is genuine and radiant and breathtaking. It's been so long since Antonio has seen his little tomato smile like this, and this picture always tugs at his heart in the most bittersweet way and makes him want to take Lovi in his arms and smother him with affection and drag him into the kitchen to make pasta and tiramisu together. As adorable as Lovi's cantankerousness can be (at least in Antonio's eyes), his smile is beautiful, one of the things that keeps Antonio smiling. Perhaps he will stop by the store and pick up some Italian chocolate on the way home as a peace offering for his little Lovi so he won't be too angry that Antonio is coming home late yet again, today of all days.

Antonio sighs sadly, scrubbing at the back of his head with both hands before wrapping both arms around his stomach. Just as he is contemplating running to the break room for a cup of coffee, his phone rings. Gilbertflashes on the caller ID, and Antonio sighs again as he clicks ignore, not quite up to talking to his dear friend right now. He rises from his chair and heads down the hall. The steam rising off of the coffee pleases him, as does the fresh stock of creamers and sugar packets next to the coffee. At least one thing has gone right today, he thinks wryly as he tosses out the sugar packets he's just emptied into his cup. He has just barely stirred the creamer into his coffee when his phone rings again, but this time the name on the screen brings a bright smile to Antonio's face.

Lovi

"Lovi!" he says cheerfully. "Qué pasa, mi tomate?"

"Antonio, we need you to come home." The voice on the other end is certainly not that of his curmudgeonly Italian.

"Gilbert," Antonio says, mildly shocked. "What's going on?"

"Lovino's hurt. Bad."

Spain can feel the blood draining from his face as panic chokes his lungs and squeezes at his heart. His hand clenches around the cup in his hand, spilling scalding liquid over his hand, the shock just enough for him to find his voice again.

"Mierda," he gasps, dropping the cup and shaking coffee off of his hand. "What happened?" he asks Gilbert in a choked whisper.

"He's been hit by a car," Gilbert says. "He's badly hurt, and he's terrified, and you need to come home."

"How bad is it?"

"I don't know, he-"

Gilbert breaks off when Lovino screams, and Antonio's heart skips several beats with the sound and he forgets how to breathe. Lovino gives a string of Italian that Antonio can't quite make out over the phone but it still brings tears to his eyes. He heads for the elevator at a brisk pace.

"Dios," Antonio whispers. "Oh, Lovi."

"Toni, please hurry," Prussia says. "He's terrified. He won't let anyone other than Feli touch him."

"I'm on my way, Gilbert," Antonio says. "Tell him I'm coming. Take care of him until I get there."

"Alright. See you soon, Toni."

Antonio slips the phone back into his pocket and mashes the down button on the elevator several times. Finally the machine dings and the doors open, Antonio rushing into the (thankfully empty) elevator before the doors have opened fully and slamming the 'door close' button with entirely too much force before punching the button for the ground floor. He keeps his eyes on the numbers above the door, drumming his fingers against the bar behind him, all the while trying to shake the sound of Lovi's scream from his mind. When the doors open again on the ground floor, Antonio sprints out, ignoring the strange and startled looks he receives from others in the building. A security guard shouts for him to stop running, but he cares not. His trembling fingers fumble with the car keys as he tries to unlock his door, but he manages to get in. He pulls away, driving at nearly ludicrous speeds and ignoring the angry honks he elicits from the other drivers.

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Yay, another chapter down. I wasn't originally going to include this chapter, but I had it written so I decided to throw it in.

Spanish Translations:

Mierda: Shit.

Dios: God.