Part 5
Lovino
He was anxious. Too much so for his own liking. Antonio was taking far too long to get back, and the only reason that would happen is if that 'situation' had started again. It was infuriating, for everyone to act like that toward HIS man! None of them even liked him, let alone love him, but just on this stupid day, for the last few years, everyone wants a piece and it makes him sick. He was the only one who truly loved Antonio, so he should be the only one he spends this day with, but no. He has to be so kind to everyone, and make shit for everyone else and spends half of their love holiday catering to others, Antonio should only be catering to him, and vise versa! So why was he never there when he wanted him? Why was it for these last few years he was the last person he spent his time with? The last few good minutes of Valentine's Day spent with an exhausted Spaniard and a sleepy kiss on the cheek as he nods off on Lovino's shoulder. He wanted more than that! And this year he went above an beyond to make sure this year, he would have his man for more than 5 minutes tonight.
Oh, he did indeed go above and beyond this Valentine's Day, and he was just waiting for it all to come together.
Arthur
Staring down his older brother put him on edge. Why was HE here? What was he planning? But he didn't have the opportunity to spit anything back at him as Mathew bustled through the door with Lars and Alfred following not far behind. He saw in his hands a plate staked with pancakes and in Lars's hands was the other toppings that pancakes should have, butter and maple syrup. What the hell? Again, right as he was about to ask what was happening, Mathew interjected with a "Oh, your awake! I'm glad, is your head OK?" he didn't answer, instead Allistor did, with a nonchalant tone he assured Mathew that he was just fine, that if that hit had been enough to put him out for such a short time, it wasn't a big deal.
What the hell would he know! His head was throbbing! Does he forget how strong Alfred is? No, he's just making fun of him! It's boiling his blood, and he wants more than anything to bite back. And yet he can't get a single word in edge wise before someone cuts him off with their own opinions. It's Alfred this time who butts in, but he can't stay mad for long, as he breaks down and apologizes profusely for hitting him. Alfred truly feels bad about it, and he can tell, it makes him feel bad himself for some reason, he's still mad, but surprisingly not at Alfred anymore.
He still demands an explanation though, what the hell was going on? Why were all these random people here? Why had Alfred hit him? And why did he bring him to Mattie's? He's just about to explode when Mathew pipes in for the last time, he's be furious had it not been for the first few words out of his mouth.
"I'm sure you want to know what's going on right about now, eh Arthur?"
Oh god yes! Finally!
Antonio
Valentine's day was always odd. For a very long time this day was always made into a disaster some way or another. But this was by far the strangest one yet. Something about being carried by Mathias was both alarming, and yet strangely thrilling. He had never been carried by anyone as a grown man, heck, he vaguely remembers anyone caring him around as a child, so this feeling was a tad foreign yet comforting in a way. Why Mathias found he needed to carry him still when they had escaped the Love Struck's a long time ago though he was a bit afraid to ask. He could walk on his own now, but he also felt that if he was up for it, why not just let him keep going?
He really wished he was with Lovi now though. The day was crazy and he was already getting so tired, this Valentine's Day was ending up just like the rest, and it was bumming him out hard. He had so many wonderful plans he had prepared, so much food he planned to make, all the flowers he was going to buy and place all over the house, romantic mood music to dance too, candles to light as they sipped wine by the fireplace around midnight. He had it all perfect, this Valentine's Day he would make it up to Lovino for all the other V-Day's he had failed to fulfill. Nut now this one was another bust, and he kind of just felt like crying.
He was now fully glad Mathias was carrying him, because with how heavy his heart-felt, he may have just fell to his knees.
Alfred
It had all been Børre and Lovino's doing. Last year it was Børre who had given it away as to the chocolate being tampered with, so this year he knew it would be the same, because he was the one that put the word out that there would be no Valentine's party with the nations. As for why he hit Arthur, well, that was because they were doing Lovino a favor. Lovino wanted more than anything to have a perfect Valentine's Day with Antonio, and if it meant threatening, or in this case bribing, Alfred to knock Arthur out and keep him somewhere for a while, then so be it.
Lovino had to go through so many people to get this to work, from promising to cook for him for a week, to paying off Mathias in confetti and stickers to get Antonio out of Berwald's house when everyone ambushed them there, to agreeing to pay Berwald in whatever damages that would be made in the chaos, the whole deal. All for Antonio, Lovino went all in for his love.
It was a serious pain, and Alfred was deeply impressed by how far Lovino was going for Antonio. It kind of made him jealous, and yet he was also happy that all the things he was worried about earlier had not come to pass. He was actually safe this year, well, magic wise and stuff, he'd still pay for knocking Arthur out later. While Arthur was unconscious he had explained it all to Mathew and his guests who conveniently arrived in time for all of this mess. He knew Arthur would also be mad about that, seeing as Allistor was one of the few people Arthur would want knowing anything about him and the things he does. But that was now beside the point, now what mattered was doing the last step in Lovino's Valentine's Day plan.
Getting Arthur to undo his 'Love potion' spell he was hoping would be easy.
Antonio
Mathias had carried him a long way, far longer then he thought he would. He only stopped right as they reached the outside of the nearest city, where Mathias proceeded to lead him toward an airport. As they reached the gates Mathias had pulled out a ticket from inside his jacket pocket and held it out to him with a huge smile. He took it in his hands and opened it to see his destination: Italy. He was heading to Lovino? He wanted to ask what was this all about, but hen he listed his head back up, Mathias was already gone.
The announcer's voice rang in on the speaker system and announced all the now boarding flights. Sweden to South Italy, 5 o'clock boarding, please have all your baggage and carry on items checked and ready at the. . .
He couldn't really believe it, but with nothing on his person, he took his ticket, boarded the plane and sat, amazed and looking out over the world from the plane, excited to get home to his Lovi.
Arthur
He wouldn't, no way now how, not a chance! This was his day to pay back that Spanish fool for years of being a pain in his arse! Why should he break his tradition to satisfy the wishes of one of those silly Macaroni brothers? It was preposterous! And h wouldn't do what they were asking of him. Undo his spell? Not a chance!
No matter how much begging from Alfred or Mathew, or the glares from Lars, or even the threats from Allistor would make him change his mind! It was his final decision. Nothing was going to change it, nothing.
Alfred
It didn't look like Arthur was gonna budge on this one. It was a shame, he wanted to do this peacefully, but seeing as his hands were getting tied tighter and tighter by Arthur's stubbornness, he was left with no choice. He would have to do it. He didn't want to, not entirely anyway, but now that it had come down to this, it was the only thing left he could do.
He didn't hate Arthur, never, but he didn't love him either, their relationship was rocky, but he still cared about Arthur, and for some reason when he called him up a few days earlier, and for as long as he's known him, his impressions of Valentine's day have been bitter and resentful. He was curious about it, and finally decided to ask, why did he hate Valentine's Day so much, and why did he feel the need to target Antonio because of it. The story he got was surprising, he hadn't expected, but it made sense as to why he was so bitter.
Francis
It was a joke. A seemingly harmless joke that had gotten out of hand, and one that he would never forget, not even a couple hundred years later. It was always fun and games to tease the little rabbit, and on this particular day, he thought he'd teach him a whole new meaning to life, he would make that bunny learn to love a little. In order for it to work though, he recruited some help from Antonio, who's happy-go-lucky attitude made him easy to manipulate for this otherwise, terrible prank on Arthur.
All he did was dress Antonio up in beautiful female clothing, and with his artist skills in beauty, he turned Antonio into a most stunning young woman. And with both of their knowledge of Arthur, they felt it was a sure thing to get the little rabbit to nibble at the bait. And he did, hard, way harder than either of them would have imagined.
By prying on their knowledge of Arthur, they snared his little heart in the trap. He fell in love with a Spanish girl who shared things with him that as of yet, no one else did. She was nice, funny and charming, with a most striking smile. She was beautiful, and they had so much in common, everything he said he liked, she liked too, and they talked about things he had not felt comfortable to share with anyone else like him. By the time the day was almost over, he asked the girl for her name, he truly wanted to know the name of the first person to make him feel the way he did that day.
And it was that question that ended the prank and had Antonio reveal who he really was. Arthur's face, as he looked back, was so unbearably broken, but at that age, he laughed and laughed at the little rabbit and he and Antonio joked about it for a long time afterwards. He and Arthur have never, and probably will never have an undamaged relationship, and no amount of punishment will break their fate, but that didn't mean Arthur couldn't turn his rage from that day onto his partner in crime.
Looking back, it was because of him that Valentine's Day was so terrible, and he'd feel bad about it, but looking at it now, he didn't hate the way things ended up.
In fact, he really enjoyed it.
Alfred
Now was the time, knowing what had happened, and understanding Arthur's hatred, he was left with his final weapon. He left the room temporarily to go grab a box he had carried all day in his pocket. He had taken it out and set it on the dining room table to make sure it didn't fall somewhere while he was moving about in Mathew's home. He retrieved it now and brought it back in where Arthur and everyone was, he took a seat next to Arthur, and very seriously looked him in the eye.
"I know you don't have the best view of today, I know what happened all that time ago hurt you, and still hurts you, and that sucks, that something like that still stings all these years later, and makes you want to make everyone else have a shitty day too. I'm sorry. . .but to be completely honest, it's gotta stop, not just for Lovino's plans, but for everyone, this is the day of love man, and we should all be feeling it, ya know? I know it's not anything major, and it's not some love confession either, but, but if it's not too embarrassing, or you know, stupid or something, you could ah, um, well. . ."
He pushed the box from his hands into Arthur's, and blushing pretty intensely just told him to open it.
Arthur
He held a palm sized box in his hands, it had been forced there by Alfred and he was curios about what it was, but also fearful of what could be inside. He looked at it for a while, not knowing whether he should open it, but after quickly glancing around and meeting everyone's eyes briefly, he decided that the curiosity might end up killing them all. So he opened it.
Sitting inside was the tackiest, big plastic pink ring in a heart shape, and on its face was a sticker in red, white and with neon pink letting that read "Be my Valentine".
It made him want to bust out laughing, be appalled, throw it across the room, and, hold it so close to his chest, it might just melt into his heart.
He just barely heard Alfred say Happy Valentine's Day Arthur, over the volume of his beating heart.
"Yes, Happy Valentine's Day Alfred"
*A/N: OH GOD, THAT WAS SO CHEESY. I'm sorry, I really have no idea where this last part came from. No, I don't hate France, he's a good guy I promise. And yes, the "2000 some odd years" thing Francis was thinking about in the beginning of the story with Gil was indeed this memory. In fact, the whole Francis titled memory section was his memory before he ate the spell-caste chocolate. So he's not recalling this memory in his Love Struck mind. I just felt it was better to have it told from him then from Alfred recalling what Arthur told him, because Arthur's version of it would have been much darker and gave little lee-way to poor Antonio who's been made the bad guy L