CHAPTER 4: Life Goes On
This was how Antonio Carriedo came to live with the Vargas family, and how Lovino's life began to change. Throughout the years, the boys began to learn more about each other, sharing experiences such as birthdays, family dinners (Antonio thought that HIS family was large), holidays, and many more events.
"Okay Feli, open this one next!" Grandpa Rome shoved a large, bright-green colored package into his grandson's lap. Feliciano all but tore into the wrapping paper, and sent a torrent of little strips down in a mini rainstorm. As he ripped off the last piece he gave out a little squeal and jumped up and down as he saw that what he received was a small, but never-the-less impressive, art kit, filled with brushes and easels and other supplies to subside his growing love for painting.
"It was a joint gift from Lovino and I," Grandpa said as Feliciano bounded over to hug him, "I am glad you like it."
"Antonio helped pick it out, don't forget Grandpa," Lovino mumbled. He sat on the couch next to the forgotten gift-giver, who perked up from his sullen state as he heard that he was given credit. Grandpa frowned, and looked upwards, as if trying to remember something.
"Oh yeah, he was there! I'm sorry Toni boy, I guess I forgot. You were kind of quiet that day, it's almost like you weren't even there!" And Grandpa brushed off his "mistake" with a slap of his knees and a large guffaw.
Lovino knew it was a mistake, because there was no denying Antonio's presence in the art shop. He was bounding around like a surprise puppy, looking for the perfect art kit for Feliciano. Heck, it was even his idea to get the damn thing. Lovino glared at his Grandpa, who shrugged and smiled. Antonio gave a nervous little laugh, and rubbed the back of his head.
"I guess I was just having an off day, no?" Antonio gave off a louder laugh, and smiled. The idiot was playing along! Lovino gawked at him for a moment, before he heard his brother laughing and bounding over to him.
"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I am so happy, now I can stop begging Grandpa for paper and paint!" Feliciano giggled, then dashed over to the Christmas tree in the back corner of the living room.
"Aha! What is this?" Feliciano said, pulling up a small, circular package from the farthest most corner of the pine tree. As he looked around for a name tag, Antonio cleared his throat and called out.
"Ah, that would be for Lovi. Yup" Antonio nodded and smiled at Feliciano, who then slowly walked over to Lovino, carefully examining the crudely wrapped parcel. He handed it over to his brother and smiled, sitting down on the floor directly in front of him.
"I didn't see that one there earlier. I wonder what it is? Open it Lovi, open it!" Feliciano proclaimed.
"Yeah yeah, be patient you weirdo," Lovino said, as he practically shredded open the wrapping. He was just as confused as his brother; he didn't think that Antonio would get him, and only him, something for Christmas. Speaking of Antonio, Lovino could feel him bouncing up and down on the couch in anticipation. Lovino shot a glare as to say "stop bouncing you idiot," but Antonio only smiled and laughed. Lovino rolled his eyes and tore off the last piece of wrapping, and held up his present.
"It's a fucking tomato. A fucking wooden tomato," He said, and though his words insinuated disappointment, his tone was that of surprise and happiness. Antonio picked up on this and just smiled wider and nodded. He held out his hand, asking for the wooden fruit, and Lovino delicately placed it in his palm.
"I carved it out of one of the fallen branches from the orange grove, and then painted it with supplies from when we went to buy Feli's present. It took me a few days, but I finally got the shape right, though it looks slightly bruised on this side." Antonio slowly turned the tomato in his hand, stopping to show a side that, indeed, looked like it had fallen and hit the ground. Lovino stared at it in wonder, then noticed that there were Band-Aids covering Antonio's hands.
Holy fuck, he hurt himself doing this. What, how do I deal with that? Lovino thought, slightly flustered at the gift. However, he wasn't about to let his emotions be shown, so he grabbed the tomato from Antonio.
"Wow a bruised wooden tomato. Thank you so much Toni," he said, the sarcasm dripping from his voice. And though he rolled his eyes and looked unimpressed, he actually really loved the tiny fruit. Antonio, oblivious to the sarcasm, lit up at his thanks, and reached over and hugged Lovino.
"Yay, I'm so glad you like it! Merry Christmas, Lovi," He said, laughing and avoiding Lovino's flailing arms as he tried to detach himself from Antonio.
"Whatever just stop hugging me, stupid." He huffed. However, all throughout the rest of the day, the little tomato never left his possession.
"…Happy Birthday Feliciano and Lovino, Happy Birthday to you!" There was a round of applause from the menagerie of relatives situated around the mahogany dining table. They were all laughing and smiling, then cheering once more as the twin brothers blew out the 14 candles haphazardly placed on the birthday cakes. Grandpa Rome split through the crowd to cut the cake. As he was cutting everyone slices, he glanced over his shoulder to find a mess of dark brown hair in the corner of the kitchen.
"Hey, Toni!" Grandpa called to the boy standing in the back, "Go down to the wine cellar and grab a bottle or two of a nice red wine. It's time to celebrate!" The adults cheered again, already making promises for designated drivers and plans to be wasted. Antonio smiled and dashed away down to the wine cooler in the garage. Grandpa Rome gestured to the adults to follow them into the living room, announcing that it was "Present and Wine time." Feliciano bounded out of his seat, nearly dropping his slice of cake, and dashed into the living room. He plopped himself onto the worn out leather couch and smiled eagerly. Lovino glanced towards the basement, and realized that Antonio hadn't gotten a slice. He cut a fairly average slice and meandered over to the couch, rolling his eyes at his brother's ecstasy.
Birthdays have never been his forte. He never really enjoyed the fact that every, single, family member had to visit in one single day. They all piled into the house and just made the place sweltering hot. Too many people in one area made him feel strange. His brother however, loved the partying and the multitude of attention he received. It was always Feliciano who was the life of the party, having a seemingly endless stream of things to talk about and questions to ask. The relatives ate it up, and weren't afraid to voice their opinions. Too many times Lovino had accidentally walked in on a conversation about how he could be so "unsociable and grumpy", which was how they put it. "So unlike the rest of his family, barely even Italian". Lovino had gotten used to the comments and usually ignored them. Once or twice a particularly snarky jab from a younger cousin would reach through his barrier, but he would just reply back with an even greater demeaning insult and send the kid crying. This ends up with an angry Aunt and an even angrier Grandpa, so Lovino learned to lay low at events like these, retreating to his bedroom or the stables as quick as he can.
As Lovino lowered himself onto the couch next to his brother, Antonio came up out of the basement with two bottles of Lambrusco. Grandpa noticed him, and waved his hand in the air.
"Come here Toni, bring over the alcohol." Antonio nodded and carefully walked over to him, slightly struggling to carry the wine bottles. He managed to hand them over to Grandpa, and then whirl around and flop onto the couch next to Lovino.
"Hey, watch it! You almost sat on the cake, idiot." Lovino huffed, replacing the two plates on his lap. Antonio laughed sheepishly, and then noticed the spare plate.
"Lovi, you're eating two pieces of cake? You're going to get chubby if you eat so much." Antonio reached out and pinched Lovino's cheek. Lovino swatted away his hands, and thrust the spare plate into Antonio's hands.
"I'm not eating two, dumbass. You forgot yours, so I had to bring your plate over." As Lovino said this, he noticed that Antonio had a dumbfounded look on his face. It was there for a split second, before it was replaced by a smile that could have lit up the room.
"Wow, thank you Lovi! You didn't have to do that for me, you are a really nice guy." Antonio flailed around a bit before snuggling up against Lovino, who flushed bright red and flailed around as well. Lovino struggled to push the happy Spaniard away from him, but quite miserably failed. He gave up with a sigh, and begrudgingly returned the hug.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It was nothing." He brushed off. Antonio laughed and ruffled his hair, then turned his attention back to the party at hand, watching Feliciano open his first present. Lovino smoothed out his hair, save for the one stubborn, wayward curl that always stood out, and wondered why it was that his heart started pounding.
"Hey, did you hear? We have new neighbors!"
Lovino looked up from the book he was reading and saw his brother dashing over to him on the front porch. He cocked his head sideways, confused at his brother's statement.
"Whaddaya mean, neighbors? Is it the farm a few minutes down the road from here? I thought that place was unfertilized." Lovino sat up and swung over to sit on the side of the hammock he was sitting on. Feliciano leaned up against the side of the railing, and nodded.
"Yup. Apparently they've re-fertilized it or something. And get this; they have kids around our age! They're from Germany, I think, and their name is Beil… Beilshi? Beilshim? Beil- something. Anyways, it's a big family, there are around four or five kids, and it seems like they all live with a grandpa, like us! The oldest looked around 15, just a year older than us. One of the kids was a cute little girl who seemed like she was our age! Maybe they're friendly, should we go say hi?" Feliciano blurted out. He barely gave Lovino any time to respond before he grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him up off the couch. Feliciano lugged the resisting Lovino, who kept stammering in protest, saying things like "They're German, oh god no god damned potato-eaters. I'm not talking to them, even if there is a cute girl there no way. Stop pulling me, are you even listening to me?" Feliciano wasn't, and he just kept dragging Lovino along.
"Whoa hey, where are you guys going?" Feliciano and Lovino stopped at Antonio's voice and whirled around.
Thank god, maybe Toni will convince Feli to let me go, Lovino thought. He wretched his hand out of Feliciano's and rubbed it. "Feliciano says that there are some new German neighbors, and that we should go and say 'Hi' to the shits." He said.
Feliciano frowned, and said, "Hey, you never know! They may be really nice and fun, but if you keep being a sour puss you'll never meet any friends!"
Lovino rolled his eyes, "I don't need any more friends," he said, and started to walk back towards the house. Antonio blocked his way, and gently grabbed his arm and turned him around.
"Feliciano is right, Lovi. C'mon, you've been reading all day and you haven't talked to anyone! That can't be fun. Let's go say hi to our new neighbors," Antonio smiled, and Lovino groaned. After some thought, he finally complied, though not without a punch to Antonio's shoulder.
"Fine you bastard. Let's go be friendly idiots." Lovino grumbled, as he whirled around to march down the path.
The entire time they walked, Antonio and Feliciano would not shut up about the possibilities of the family. They voiced aloud their wonders about whether the family was nice, if the girl was adorable and their age, whether they could cook, if they liked pasta or not, the list continued on and on. It took all Lovino had not to whirl around and dash towards the comfort of his book. However, even if he did decide to go back, they walk was short enough that they reached the neighbor's house before Lovino could make his escape.
As they walked up to the house, they saw all the movers unloading boxes and furniture from moving trucks. A tall, intimidating man with long, braided, blond hair barked directions as to where the items should go. All around the front lawn, five teens were chasing each other around on the grass. Well actually, a very pale-haired kid was running around holding something in his hands whilst being chased by an angry brunette, boy who was also followed by an even angrier looking blond boy. A small girl in a pink dress just flustered about, trying to tell them all to calm down, but her effort was in vain. Another blond child, also irritated, tried to tell the girl that she wasn't doing anything, but then the pale-haired kid ran past him and poked him in the chest. This caused him to grow angrier, till it was clear that he had the worst temper and he chased around the poker in a fast sprint. The pale-haired kid's face matched his hair as he dashed around the front yard, till he was caught and shoved to the ground by his chasers.
Great. They're all nuts, Lovino thought, grimacing. Feliciano, however, did not understand their insanity, and grabbed Lovino and Antonio's hands and dragged them forward to meet the kids.
As soon as they were within hearing range Feliciano shouted out in greeting. "HELLO NEW NEIGHBORS!" He jogged up and waved merrily in their direction. Lovino sighed, shook his head, and sauntered over, Antonio half-skipping right behind him. In a seemingly impossible unity, the five children looked in Feliciano's direction. The pale-haired boy smirked, glanced at Lovino's saunter, and mimicked the walk. Lovino glared at him, and immediately decided he was an asshole.
"Hey there. Name's Gilbert, my friends call me Gil." Pale-hair said, with a very prominent German accent. Yup, they're definitely frigging potato eaters. Damn. Lovino thought, and groaned inwardly.
"What friends?" grumbled the brunette boy. Gilbert frowned, and stuck his tongue out in the commenter's direction.
"Like you're one to talk Roddy. Anyways, who are you?"
Antonio stepped forward and stuck out his hand with a smile. "I am Antonio, Toni for short. This is Feliciano," he jerked his head towards Feli, who smiled and waved, "and this is Lovino." Lovino rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Gilbert blinked in surprise, then chuckled and put his hands behind his head.
"Alright. This here is mien familie! There's Roderich over here," he walked over and clapped the brunette on the back rather sharply. Roderich grimaced, then composed himself and stuck out his hand.
"Pleasure to meet you all." He said. Antonio shook hands with him, then moved back and allowed Feliciano to practically squash Roderich with a hug.
"Over here is Lili and Sebastian, or Basch as he likes it." Gilbert moved over to the blonde girl and boy. Lili curtsied, then stood up and smiled, while Basch gave a curt bow. Whelp, they're formal as fuck. Lovino thought.
"Then we have the tight-ass Ludwig!" Gilbert bounced over and gave Ludwig a noogie, to which Ludwig replied with a shove to the shoulder that knocked Gilbert to the ground.
"I am not a tight-ass," he asserted. Ludwig then turned and stuck out his hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Antonio, Feliciano, and Lovino. Am I correct in assuming that you live on the farm 15 minutes away from ours?"
"Yup! That would be our house!" Feliciano said, as he absolutely ignored the hand and went straight for a hug instead. Ludwig turned slightly pink in the face as he fumbled about trying to figure out how to respond to the action. Lovino snorted, quite amused at Ludwig's predicament. Then he grew rather annoyed, as Feliciano did not stop hugging Ludwig. He glared at them, and Ludwig noticed and gently pushed Feliciano away. Feliciano cocked his head, then shrugged and skipped back towards his brother. Ludwig coughed, and smoothed back his hair.
"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, but I believe we must go and help our Grandfather with all the unpacking now. Good bye." Ludwig nodded his head, then whirled around in a military-like fashion and walked back towards his house. The rest of the siblings, minus Gilbert, who was slowly picking himself up off of the ground, followed suit.
"I told you he was a tight-ass." He said as he brushed the grass off of the back of his pants. "In any case, I'm not so stuffy, so if you ever have the need, drop by and say hello, 'kay?" Gilbert smiled, and stuck out his hand once more. Antonio grinned back, and clasped his hand firmly.
"Shall do, Gilbert. I'll see you around." Antonio replied. Gilbert nodded, gave a mock salute, and whirled around and dashed back to his house. Antonio laughed, and started walking back home, Feliciano and Lovino following suit.
"Gilbert seems nice, doesn't he?" Antonio said. Lovino scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"If the definition of nice changed to 'asshole' then yeah sure. Perfectly nice guy." Lovino retorted, causing Antonio to give a great laugh. He has a really nice laugh. Thought Lovino, which caused him to shake his head in embarrassment. Nope, no he doesn't. My brain is being stupid. He walked towards his house quicker, trying to leave Antonio behind. However, his efforts were in vain, and Antonio simply picked up the pace.
God Damn it.
Time went on, and the boys slowly but surely grew up on that little farm they called home. More birthdays, unbearable Christmas dinners, and holidays came and went, until eventually Lovino turned 18. It was in this year that everything Lovino ever was and will be changed.