The first thing he was aware of was the incessant rain on his face, falling thick and fast from the stormy grey sky. Within seconds he was soaked from head to toe, chilled to the bone and highly uncomfortable. It really didn't help that he was wearing pyjamas; they absorbed the water like it was the sole aim of their existence and were quickly twice the weight they usually were.
It was dark too, and, added to the sheets of rain, he could barely see. But, what he instantly realised was, that he was back in Lovino's world, on the same hill he'd woken up on last time.
His first thought was uncontainable joy. There was no way he'd dream of the exactly the same place two nights in a row, so it had to be real. A smile blossomed across his face. He wasn't crazy. He was just...somehow turning up in another world whenever he fell asleep. At some point, he really needed to find out why that was. But he wasn't really objecting much at the moment.
Even through the downpour, Antonio could still see the beauty of the landscape nearby. The place had a different perception, too. It somehow felt more real than reality itself. It was rather strange. Confusing too. Why did he keep coming here? At least he assumed he was going to keep coming here. It had happened two nights in a row, after all.
But why was it raining? Lovino wasn't the type who'd like days like this – it was clear from last time that he much preferred warmer weather. It wasn't even tropical-storm type weather at the moment, it was too cold and dreary for that. If Lovino could control what this place did, why make it pour with torrential rain?
Nevermind that now, though. He could ask Lovino soon, once he'd found him. And he knew just the place where he'd be.
Antonio set off running and pelted towards the tomato fields over the hill beyond, bare feet squelching unpleasantly in the soggy mud of the fields.
"Lovi!" he called wildly as he ran. "Lovi! Where are you?"
But, even through the rain he could see that the rain-drenched tomato fields were devoid of life that wasn't of the fruit-bearing variety. Slightly saddened, he kept scanning the area, trying to spot the young Italian.
"Lovi?" he said again, more uncertainly this time. But, save for the incessant drum of rain, he was answered only by silence. Lovino was clearly elsewhere.
Where would he be? This place was huge, and most of it Antonio hadn't even seen. It'd take forever to find one person in its entirety. Actually, thinking logically, anyone normal would be inside in weather like this. So it was most likely that Lovino would be in the town.
With renewed vigour he set off in the other direction, back towards the distant shape of the town. By now, his hair was plastered to his head and droplets of rain ran off his fingers and nose. Mud was splashed up his thin trousers almost up to his knees. But he wasn't deterred in the slightest, in fact he felt more awake than he had in days.
The familiar arches of the town raced up to greet him seemingly seconds later and Antonio began calling again, peering inside every door and window he passed.
But, an hour of fruitless searching later, Antonio had come to the conclusion that Lovino wasn't in the town; it was as deserted as it had been the last time he came here. Perhaps even more so. There wasn't even a single sign of life, like a lit-up window or an open door. In fact, all of the doors had become securely locked, preventing his access to any kind of shelter. It was almost unfriendly, intimidating.
Lonely and downhearted, he wandered out of the far side of the town, all thoughts of shelter gone. He'd long since resigned himself to the fact that he was going to end up made of more water than person if he stayed out in this weather, and he didn't have much choice in that matter at the moment. But there wasn't anything else he could really do, aside from finding cover and waiting for himself to wake up, and he really wanted to find Lovino again. There was so much left to ask, too.
A few minutes later, a white blur some distance away caught his eye. Antonio put a hand above his eyes and squinted at it through the sheets of water. It looked somewhat like a large house, but it was too far away to be sure. May as well head towards it though.
As he got closer, the building was indeed a large house, almost mansion-like, made of white stone with a red tiled roof. There looked to be acres of beautiful gardens surrounding it too, but it was hard to tell through the rain, which still hadn't stopped, or even so much as slowed.
Either way, it was shelter, and Antonio was getting too cold and wet to care. He ran up the gravelled driveway, flinching slightly at the rough stones against his bare feet, and leapt up the half-dozen marble steps by the front door. He pushed open one of the oaken double doors – it swung open surprisingly quietly – and padded inside.
His footsteps echoed eerily in the wide marble entrance hall. Each droplet of water falling from his hair and clothes hit the floor and resonated loudly off the walls. It was cold, empty, silent. Almost even sinister. There were no lights, save from what little was visible through the windows, and long shadows dominated the empty space. The place felt like it had been abandoned for years, yet it was far too clean for that. It just felt out of place.
Casting his eyes about nervously, Antonio cautiously walked down the length of the hallway. The weight of the rain off his head and back was a relief, although he was now acutely aware of how damp he was. Corridors and doors peeked out from between carved marble pillars, each resolutely shut, inky-dark and forbidding. He passed each by, expecting them to be impassable just like the town had become.
Except for one, he noticed. Halfway down the hall, about twenty metres ahead of him, a solo door stood ajar, with a tiny chink of light escaping through the gap. Hope rekindled slightly, Antonio aimed for it and quietly poked his head around the frame.
The room inside was sizeable, probably some sort of lounge or parlour, with several large plump sofas and armchairs scattered about. Out of three large candelabras on the ceiling, only one was lit, but it provided just about enough light to see by. It was the sort of room that, if the owner of the house were to throw a party, would be quite happily filled with people sitting and chatting.
And, to Antonio's delight, sat on the bay window-seat was Lovino, staring glassy-eyed out at the rain. He was half cast in shadow from the darkness outside, wearing a baggy t-shirt and ripped jeans. His knees were drawn up to his chest, and he was clutching something red and fluffy.
Failing to repress the smile rising on his face, Antonio knocked gently on the open door. "Lovi? Hello?"
The Italian was so startled he almost fell off his seat. He turned towards Antonio with an expression perhaps even more disbelieving than the last time. Yet, there was some semblance of hope in it, it was visible in his eyes.
He put down the red, fluffy object – which Antonio could now see was a tomato-shaped cushion – and walked slowly over to Antonio, frowning ever so slightly.
"How..?" Lovino murmured, staring at Antonio as if he was an apparition.
Antonio lost no time in sweeping Lovino into a tight hug. "I'm sorry Lovi! I didn't mean to leave last time. I just got woken up by my alarm – I only seem to come here when I'm asleep. I'm so glad I'm back, though!"
"Ack!" Lovino spluttered indistinctly. "Let me go, you bastard! You're all soggy!" Antonio reluctantly released his grip and Lovino sprung away, brushing water droplets off his clothes, his face crimson.
Antonio couldn't help but melt at the look on the Italian's face. "I can't help being wet, Lovi. It's the rain outside. By the way, you look so cute when you blush," he smiled. "Like a tomato.~"
Lovino continued to splutter incoherently, scowling at the floor in a failed attempt to hide his scarlet face. Antonio was about to launch another hug at him – he seriously wanted to – but something stopped him. Not a noise, but rather, a lack of noise.
"Hey, the rain's stopped," he said quietly, peering round at the window. Not only had the downpour ended, but there was even a thin sunbeam poking through a gap in the clouds. "It's been going on for hours, and it's just suddenly stopped."
There was a faint hum of acknowledgement from Lovino's downturned face, which still looked bright red. "I guess it has."
"Hey," Antonio said slowly, his smile widening as he remembered something Lovino had told him the previous day...er, night. "Has this got anything to do with me being here?"
Lovino jumped and that adorably flustered look returned to his face. "Absolutely not! I know this stupid place adjusts itself to suit my thoughts or emotions or whatever, but for some reason it translates sunbeams from 'pissed off as hell at the unwanted appearance of an annoying Spaniard'!" He scowled again and folded his arms across his chest.
This was too much for Antonio, the Italian was radiating was more cute than he could handle. He jumped at Lovino and enveloped him in another hug, rubbing his face happily with his own. "Tan lindo!"
"Get off, damn it! I'm not cute! And you're getting me all wet again!" Lovino tried battering Antonio with his hands, but his efforts were rather futile, seeing as how his arms were currently pinned to his sides. Eventually Antonio relented and let him go again, but deliberately kept him fairly close should another reason to hug him arise again, despite that Lovino might get annoyed.
There was a short silence as Lovino fought to get his breath back and banish the blood from his face. Antonio, meanwhile, was more than happy just to be where he was, just watching the other's face. He could tell just from Lovino's shining eyes that he wasn't anywhere near as angry as he was trying to be. Plus, the world was altering itself to suit his emotions again, and it didn't seem anywhere near annoyed. Even the candles near the ceiling had somehow burst into life. Outside, the clouds had almost completely dissipated and the sun had returned to its bright warming splendour at the top of the sky.
"This is a really pretty house, Lovi," Antonio said, once the silence began to get slightly uncomfortable.
"Hmmph," Lovino scowled. "Maybe. You're getting the floor all wet though. Go dry off or something."
He had a point, Antonio realised. He'd been damp for so long that he was almost used to the feeling, but, thinking about it, it'd be so nice to get dry. "How? I don't have a towel or anything. And my clothes will still be damp even if I can dry myself off."
Lovino seemed to notice Antonio's clothes for the first time and his face cracked into a smirk. "Heh. You're wearing pyjamas. You look so stupid."
The comment stung slightly, but Antonio could tell Lovino didn't really mean it and besides, the smirk was just close enough to a smile that he'd let it pass. "Aw, don't be harsh, Lovi. I was asleep, so of course I'd be wearing pyjamas. Do you have anything I could wear, so I can be dry?"
Lovino shrugged. "I guess you can borrow my stuff, as long as you don't ruin it. It'll be a bit small on you, though."
"Can't you change things here so they fit me?" Antonio frowned.
"Shut up." Lovino was scowling again; he'd obviously forgotten this. "Go upstairs and left, it's the fourth door on the right. You can dry off in there. I'll bring you some stupid clothes if you shut up."
"Yay!" Antonio smiled. "I'll go now!" He promptly spun around and raced back down the hallway to the stairs. He was disappointed to leave Lovino, but he knew he'd be back in a bit, and then they could finally talk, like he'd wanted.
Ten minutes later, Antonio was pretty much dry again. The 'fourth door on the right' had turned out to be a bathroom, complete with spotless white tiles, a giant rack of towels and a bathtub bigger than most people's beds. From the looks of it, it had a jacuzzi function too, which Antonio briefly wrestled with trying out. He decided against it, though, as he really had better things to be doing.
Lovino's hand had stuck around the door a few minutes ago and chucked a set of clothes into the room, accompanied with some muffled cursing in Italian. Antonio had quickly got dressed – he was pleased to find the new shirt, trousers and trainers fitted well – and jogged down the wide staircase back to the room he'd found Lovino in earlier.
The younger teen was sat on one of the squashy sofas, absentmindedly fiddling with the fluffy leaves on his tomato cushion with pale slender fingers. More disturbingly, his face was wracked with confusion and worry, and his eyes seemed a million miles away.
Antonio couldn't help being concerned for his new friend. "Are you ok, Lovi?"
Lovino flinched and quickly reverted his face to its normal, vaguely annoyed look. "'Course I'm ok, you stupid jerk. Get your nose back in your own business."
"Are you sure? Although I don't see why you should be sad. This is kinda heaven after all. Plus this place is so pretty.~"
Lovino scoffed. "Just 'cos it's heaven doesn't mean being happy is obligatory, damn it. Contrary to popular belief. And this place isn't that great. You're building it up too much."
Antonio scooted up closer and wound an arm around Lovino's shoulders. To his surprise, the Italian didn't protest. "It's true, Lovi. I didn't see much of it because of the rain, but it really seems beautiful. Much like everything here~."
Lovino glared at him slightly, but drew himself up slightly and settled back against the cushions. "Maybe. Me and Feliciano used to live in a house like this back in Italy, before Grandpa died. I remember spending time here when I was little, and we came to visit Grandpa. It got sold after he died. I don't know why. I wish it hadn't though."
"I'm not surprised," Antonio smiled. "I would have given anything to have a house like this when I was a kid. It would have been so much fun. The only thing I can see wrong with it is how out of the way it is. It took me ages to find you, especially as I didn't know about this place."
"Well how was I supposed to know you were going to turn up again?" Lovino snapped. "You weren't even supposed to be here the first time, let alone return for a second one."
Hmm. Looked like Lovino still didn't know why Antonio had come here. "I know, but I don't know what I'm doing here either. Not that I'm complaining though," he laughed.
Once again, that delicate blush lit up Lovino's cheeks. "Shut up. I am." But, once again, Antonio could tell he didn't mean it.
:3 This chapter was fun to write. But I had to split it into two 'cos otherwise it was gonna be waaay too long. So...to be continued *suspense music* Hehe~
Oh, and 'cos I'm unlikely to update again before then, Merry Christmas to all you guys! :)