THURSDAY LATER: Don't run on the corridors. It's tiring.
NOTE: angst, uhm, humor? fluff, oocness and unannounced change of POV though I guess it's easy to tell which is which. And sorry for updating later than usual… Coz… writer's block? something like that, sorry.
Lovino promised himself never to associate with otakus again. Ever.
"D-Don't ever come near me again!" Lovino cried as he finally managed to throw Elizabeta and Kiku (10m each) off him and snap the female uniform into millions of pieces. Then he stormed off the room.
Meanwhile…
"He sure has a bad temper," the Hungarian commented while slouched at the corner. "Not getting our sense of humor at all."
"Maybe he's just shy…" Kiku murmured from his own corner.
"So… you took it?"
"Hai," the Japanese man showed Elizabeta his camera, eyes glinting.
"Good."
Back to Lovino.
He was walking briskly at the hallway, uncaring if the bell will ring in five minutes. He has to find Antonio. The bastard probably misunderstood the situation big time. He has to clear things up. And so he searched for him. He can't be that far already, right? Lovino managed to escape those two creepy weirdos seconds after the Spaniard slammed the door close.
He turned on the far corner and heard familiar voices.
"Uhm… here," a female voice that sounds like Bella said.
"T-Thanks," a male voice that sounds like Antonio said.
Lovino peeked and found Bella and Antonio on the corridor, Antonio taking whatever Bella handed him.
Oh.
He felt his feet move on their own and broke into a run.
"Lovino is absent?" Mr. Edelstein asked the class after he took the attendance. Elizabeta flinched. Could he still be sulking over that little dress-play? she thought guiltily.
"Hey, you know something, right?" Antonio whispered behind the Hungarian. His voice held something uncharacteristically menacing. The Hungarian felt goose bumps on her nape.
"W-What are you talking about?" she said shakily, feigning ignorance. A knife suddenly landed on her chopping board.
"Hey. You know what?" the Spaniard boringly said. "We can make it the easy way of the hard way."
Elizabeta gulped.
"So… you choose."
Later…
"Antonio, why are you raising your hand?"
"Teacher, I have a headache."
Class's reaction: 'But you're holding your stomach!'
"So…" the Spaniard acted cute. "Can I skip class?"
Class's reaction: 'Who would fall for such a blatant lie?'
The Austrian adjusted his glasses. "Alright. Be careful then."
Class's reaction: 'What! Seriously? He fell for it! Maybe… there really is something between those two!'
"You see, Lovino ran away almost right after you saw us. He even overthrew me and Kiku. Well, at least Kiku managed to steal some candid shots, I must really praise his skills. Anyways, I think he ran after you. Didn't you catch him?"
"No. I didn't see him."
"Well, that's all I know. So… will you search for him?"
"Yeah. I guess. And also, those candid shots you were talking about… give me some copies."
After learning that the Italian went running after him, Antonio felt that he just have to find Lovino. There must be something he wanted to say, right? After all, they haven't talked at all since that awkward scene yesterday. And also, he feels somewhat worried. Why would Lovino go as far as to skip class? Why didn't he saw him this morning if he really was looking for the Spaniard? He wants answers to these questions.
And perhaps… he could also give Lovino some answers.
Why did you kiss me?
Lovino wondered why he run.
It's not like he hates to see Antonio and Bella together… Or did he?
But he shouldn't. He can't. Why should he? If there wasn't a misunderstanding… wouldn't Antonio and Bella together be a normal occurence this week?
Why doesn't he want to even think about it?
What's wrong with him really?
He glanced at the wall clock. It shows 9:00. Is it that late already? Could he still return to the class?
Nah. So troublesome.
HA! He even played hookie… just because he can't seem to face Antonio.
'Atta boy, Lovino.
Wai… What?
Antonio?
Why Antonio?
He smacked himself in the face.
Isn't he… supposed to like Bella?
*growl*
Hungry.
Elizabeta felt a sneeze coming. "Achoo!"
"Are you feeling sick?" Bella asked her friend as they walk to cafeteria for the break.
"No, just the scent of these prints," the Hungarian brushed it off.
"What prints?"
"It's nothing. Just… errr… recipes."
"Can I see?"
"NO."
"Erm… okay… Hey, I think I haven't seen Lovino, is he absent?"
"I think he skipped class…"
"Like Antonio?"
"Uhm… yeah…"
"He must be really sick, that guy," Bella said.
Wha-? She fell for Antonio's act? Elizabeta grimaced. "How do you say so?"
"Well… this morning, he had a nosebleed and I have to give him some tissues…" (Bella learned to keep a box of Kleenex with her ever since she learned about yaoi)
Elizabeta's eyes glinted.
"Say… what time was that?" she smiled dangerously, realization forming in her not-so-clean mind.
"Hey, do you know where to look for him?" Elizabeta asked Antonio before he run off.
The Spaniard doesn't. So he just run all over the school building, thanking his soccer stamina or else he would be a heaving mess now. But he's also feeling tired now. So he decided to rest and think for once.
Where could Lovino be hiding?
Why hadn't he thought about it before? That place definitely suits Lovino best in the whole school.
Antonio found Lovino sleeping in the music room. Or so it seems.
Lovino's stomach unexpectedly growled. The Spaniard snickered not too softly.
"W-What?" the Italian suddenly awakened. "Oh… it's you…"
"Lovi… why did you skip class?" asked the Spaniard as he approached.
Lovino remembered his thoughts before he fell asleep. He felt his face warm up. "None of your business," he muttered.
"You look like a tomato~" the Spaniard cooed. "Here," he handed Lovino the tomato from this morning. "Today's share."
Lovino grabbed the fruit (or vegetable?) and took a bite. "So this is some kind of a duty for you?" he scoffed.
"You don't like it?"
The Italian paused eating. "Do you… Do you also give your ex-girlfriends tomatoes?"
"No. Not at all," Antonio said flatly. They don't know the real essence of tomatoes for life, he added to himself.
"Is that so?" he continued eating, faintly blushing. The Spaniard stared at him curiously.
"Why'd you ask?"
Lovino sighed. He finished the tomato and glanced at the wall clock. Still 9:00? Did he sleep only for a second?
"Hey… what time is it?" Lovino asked.
Antonio glanced at his watch. "It's 12:11." So he has been searching for Lovino almost for two hours? He is so not good in searching.
"I'm still hungry. Lunch?"
The Spaniard complied. So this must be how Lovino felt when he doesn't answer his question yesterday. Probably more confused.
For the record, the cafeteria food has become more edible this time. That or Lovino was just too hungry to care.
"I think the manager finally fired the waiter who keeps messing around with the food," Antonio told Lovino.
"Serves that bastard right," the Italian groused off-handedly. It seems they are slowly coming back to normal. It's good.
"Oh… you two seem pretty close!" a Hungarian voice behind them commented. What the hell is Elizabeta scheming about? Lovino glared daggers at the woman. Elizabeta stared back as if saying, 'Come at me, bro.'
"Oh, I've also noticed," Bella said from beside her best friend.
"What do you want?" Lovino snapped rather harshly. What the… he even snapped at Bella! Even Antonio was stunned.
"Oh, I was just going to give Antonio something, if you don't mind," the Hungarian smirked at lovino as she gave Antonio an enverlope. What the hell is she up to? Elizabeta deliberately brushed her hand over the Spaniard's when she was sure that lovino was looking.
"What's that?" Lovino frowned at the woman.
"Just a treat for our favorite Spaniard," and with that she winked and walked away with Bella.
W-W-What the hell? What is she trying to do? I thought we were friends? H-H-How could she flirt so openly like that with Antonio? Lovino flared. He glanced at the bastard to see if he's willing to flirt back…
Is that nosebleed?
"H-Hey… you're bleeding…" Lovino said not concernedly. He saw the Spaniard staring at the contents of the envelope. What the hell are those? The Italian stood on tip-toes to see…
"W-W-W-What the fuck! Y-Y-You sick pervert! BASTARD!"
"Lovi wait! I can explain!"
"What explanation do I need? Y-Y-You sicko!"
"Lovi!"
Why is that bastard have those… pictures? Why does he want those from Elizabeta?
He's not flattered, dammit!
He's running again.
.
.
.
Until dismissal… Antonio is still running after Lovino. They attended class that afternoon, by the way. The Italian was quickly gone as the teacher left the class room.
"Hey~ Lovi… please don't run!"
Why is he running away?
Why does he keep on running away?
What is he escaping from?
Is he afraid that the Spaniard will finally catch up?
Why is he afraid?
Lovino stopped running. Antonio bumped at him.
"Uhm… don't stop so suddenly either…"
"Antonio, I've been thinking."
"Hmmm?"
"All this time… I'm just running away."
"Yeah. You were running away from me all day."
"Heh… I wonder why is that?" Lovino turned to look at the Spaniard, smiling. "Why are we running away? Even from our own questions?"
Even Antonio felt guilty about this running away scheme. Yeah, that's right. He also chose to run away from his question yesterday.
"Maybe… for once, we should stop with the running," Lovino spread out his arms and turned around and round and round like a child playing... "Maybe we should embrace the things we are running away from…"
Antonio watched Lovino in the afternoon sun. He looks pretty in orange.
"Hey Lovino…" the Italian paused from turning and face the Spaniard. "Even if you still want to run… I'll always try to catch you." Lovino gave him a small smile.
"But I'm already tired of escaping."
The Italian approached Antonio, arms still spread out and hugged him…
But he also pushed him back quickly, looking down, his bangs covering his eyes. Antonio fell on his butt.
"Lovi…?"
The Italian was already walking away. "Come on, let's go home."
Antonio held out his hand and reached Lovino's.
"Can I hold your hand?"
Lovino tightened the grip.
This feels warm.
TBC
Again I'm so sorry for uploading later than usual. I was staring at the monitor for like 8 hours and I just keep on rewriting and rewriting things. Sorry if this is still crap... My eyes feel hurt by now so I just submitted what i can.