"You're late, jerk."

The familiar voice greeted him as Antonio once again came to on the springy grass of the hill he always woke up on. Lovino's words weren't true, as Antonio was actually here at the time he was expected, but the greeting had become a tradition, partly because Antonio often was ten or fifteen minutes late, and partly because Lovino wasn't particularly into cheerful greetings, or even pleasant ones. He much preferred criticism, even if it wasn't entirely true, as it was easier to say, and Antonio had come to see the words as they were beneath the surface; Lovino was actually happy to see him.

"Hi, Lovi!" Antonio replied, jumping to his feet and running over to give Lovino a hug. It was a relief to see him after the emotional turmoil of earlier, and Antonio was slightly worried that this would be one of the last times that the two would see each other. If Ludwig got his over-logical way, it would be, and Antonio didn't want to face that possibility.

"Ow," came an indistinct mumble from the vicinity of his chest. "Can't breathe."

Antonio realised he'd been hugging Lovino rather hard during his unanticipated bout of anxious thinking and quickly released his grip. "Ah, sorry, Lovi."

"You should be," Lovino grumbled, extricating himself from Antonio's arms and dusting himself off as he gulped much-needed oxygen. "I don't intend suffocating from hugs, of all the stupid things."

"Hugs aren't stupid," Antonio protested. "Wait – is it even possible for you to suffocate here? You're already dead."

Lovino rolled his eyes and began a slow, sarcastic clap. "And the Tact Of The Year Prize goes to…" He clicked his tongue and his applause ceased. "Anyway, I don't know. They don't exactly provide a manual of the mechanics of this place when you arrive. I'd doubt it is possible though. I mean, there isn't exactly a 'heaven's heaven', so what would happen to you? Unless you went to hell for, I dunno, spurning heaven or something." He shrugged dismissively. "Dunno. Who cares?"

Meanwhile, Antonio had gotten set off on another train of thought by Lovino's words. The Italian didn't know much about how this place worked, so were there even rules, and if so, were they enforced? It would be really interesting to know the stance on visitors from the normal world. Especially as Ludwig was arguing partly on the basis that Antonio was violating some kind of unwritten law with his visits. But if it turned out that there wasn't such a law, then Antonio would be free to visit Lovino as much as he wanted, and a lot of Ludwig's arguments would become invalid. And this, in turn, would make Antonio's case so much stronger, so-

Something flashed in front of his face and Antonio refocused. Lovino was waving one hand a few inches in front of his nose in an attempt to catch his attention, a scowl on his face once again. "Oi, jerk. Stop zoning out, damn it!"

"Sorry," Antonio apologised, hoping Lovino wouldn't pry into the matter. He wasn't entirely sure how to bring it up, let alone how to phrase it, and he was almost certain that Lovino was going to get upset. He didn't want to upset Lovino, even if it was important. Plus, he wanted to get a few thoughts straight on the matter first. He would mention it, just…not yet.

Fortunately, Lovino was used to Antonio's absentminded tendencies by now, and didn't say anything further on the subject, opting instead just to shrug again. "Whatever. So, what do you want to do today?"

"Uhh…" Antonio wondered, his brain still fried from all the flustered thoughts, and the unexpected question took a minute to register. But the answer came to him quickly, as there was only one in this situation. "It's nice out today; why don't we go down to the tomato fields for a bit and just chill?"

"It's always nice out here, idiot," Lovino pointed out. "Fine. As you'd say, '¡Vamos!'" He promptly took Antonio's hand and began to lead him away from the shade of the oak tree and down the hill.

Due to many hours spent in the delightful company of the luscious tomatoes, the two had developed a quick route to the fields from Antonio's arrival hill, or 'the bastard's hill', as Lovino chose to refer to it. The tomato fields were their favourite place to go, although it was a hard choice due to the brilliance of almost everything here. Lovino's designs made it possible to want to be everywhere at once, although that was one thing that did seem impossible to do. But there was a certain quality to the fields; the place where the tomatoes were always ripe and delicious, where the sun seemed brighter, where nothing scary or stressful could ever reach you. Antonio could – and on many occasions did – spend many hours just lying there in peaceful tranquility with Lovino. It was the place he had instantly thought of as the best spot to come to terms with his thoughts.

"Question," Lovino said abruptly as the two headed down the small hill just before the fields themselves. "What's up with you?"

Antonio inwardly winced. He hadn't wanted to bring this up so early, but it was evidently bothering him more noticeably than he thought, so much so that Lovino had brought it up. "Eh, it's nothing, Lovi. Don't worry about it."

"Che palle," Lovino scoffed. "There's something up with you, and I don't want to walk around all day with you trailing behind with a face like someone burnt your favourite pizza. Now spit it out before I deck you." The Italian had his hands on his hips and was giving Antonio an annoyed look that he couldn't describe as anything but adorable. He knew Lovino wouldn't hit him, but Antonio really couldn't not give into that face, or almost anything Lovino did. And then again, Lovino might hit him.

"Well," Antonio sighed, unsure as how to start. "You're not really going to like this, but earlier today, Ludwig-"

"Yep," Lovino interrupted. "If the potato bastard's involved in this, it's guaranteed I won't like it. Already not liking the fact that you brought him up, but go on."

Antonio paused, slightly startled by the unexpected interruption, and dived into his next sentence rather more abruptly than he had been intending to. "Uh…Ludwig said that me seeing you is a problem."

"That bastard!" Lovino growled, kicking vehemently at the ground and creating a large muddy dent in the pristine grass. His face had morphed from the mock-anger at the discussion of Ludwig, to something close to pure rage. His thin, dark eyebrows were low over his eyes, which were blazing with golden fire. Quickly, Antonio laid a hand on his shoulder to prevent the explosion which was about to come, but Lovino only directed the angry look at him.

"God fucking damn it!" he spat. "Why can't he just let things be for once without sticking his stupid macho potato head in? Didn't you do something?"

"Of course!" Antonio protested. "It just takes a lot of convincing to get him to change his mind, and, well, I'm not the best at logical arguments."

Lovino growled low in his throat and his fingers curled into fists. Antonio rather hoped that the potential blows that were inevitably being visualised in his mind weren't going to be directed at him. "Well, either change his mind or shut him up, damn it! The bastard's caused enough trouble already. If I was able to, I'd punch him right in his meddling squishy potato face!"

Antonio was about to reply, but a sudden burst of thunder rolled across the sky and his words died in his throat as he looked up. The previously cloudless, azure sky was now an ominous shade of graphite as the clouds gathered above them, their bellies swollen with rain. Within seconds, the sun was cut off from view, obscuring most of the light and casting a shadowy gloom over the land. Sometimes having a short-tempered boyfriend whose emotions dictated the weather was a burden. Although Antonio had to admit that while he'd never seen a thunderstorm here yet, he certainly didn't want to be out in the middle of one.

He tapped Lovino on the arm gently. "Uh, Lovi? Do you think we should go inside? The weather looks like it's about to turn nasty." He indicated the sky with one finger to emphasise his point.

Lovino blinked, anger momentarily cut off, and sighed exasperatedly. "Fine. But this isn't over." With these short words, he turned abruptly on one heel and stormed off across the grass. Antonio quickly followed, looking apprehensively at the sky every so often. His pace was almost a jog, trying to keep up with Lovino, whose anger seemed to be fuelling an unusually fast speed for the normally lazy Italian. The two crossed the fields, heading – as Antonio guessed – towards the house on the far side of the town, Lovino's old home.

It was a fair distance, but due to their fevered pace, it wasn't long before the proud white structure came into view. Luckily, the weather held until they reached the house, possibly because nothing was further aggravating Lovino at that point, but the clouds were still thick and grey, and most of the sunlight had long since vanished. It almost seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for a final word before deciding to unleash its full vengeance down below .

After shutting the heavy double doors behind them, Lovino strode down the hallway, keeping up the same quick, irritated pace that he'd been walking to the house with, and . To Antonio's surprise, instead of heading to one of the rooms they usually used, Lovino crossed the shadows of the stone hallway and entered the far lounge, a room Antonio hadn't been in since his first visit to the house almost a month ago. As was the case with the rest of the house, the lights were off and the room lit only by the feeble strains of light coming in through the windows, but as Lovino walked in, one of the candelabras flickered into life as if lit by an invisible match, casting long shadows across the room and providing just about enough light to see by.

Lovino threw himself onto the bay window seat, leaning back against the wall. Now Antonio could see his face instead of following the back of his head, Lovino didn't seem as angry as he had a few minutes ago, more tired and exasperated. The Spaniard's face crinkled in concern, and he settled onto the soft cushions next to Lovino, slipping one arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.

"You alright, Lovi?" Antonio asked gently. He knew the answer, of course; it was more of a conversation starter, a way to try get Lovino to open up.

Lovino sighed. "Damn bastard," he muttered softly. "Can't be content with how things are. Has to fuck up everything." He looked up at Antonio briefly. "Did you tell him he's created the world's biggest anomaly? I mean, how the hell is it meant to be possible to be sad in heaven? Yet here we are. Or I am. You don't really belong here. Which I guess is the potato's point, but it's not his point to make. It's happened, why can't he let things be?" Lovino's voice cracked, and he quickly burrowed his face in Antonio's shirt.

Antonio held Lovino close, his free hand now stroking the younger's hair. He wasn't sure what to say. He hated seeing Lovino like this, so lost, so broken. He worked hard to bring a smile to his little tomato's face, and yet the smallest bit of sadness so easily wiped away weeks of work. It was certainly disheartening, but he wasn't about to give up just yet. This had always been a crazy enough situation, so there had to be a suitable way to get this to work. Otherwise, why had it happened in the first place? Things like this didn't just happen so randomly.

Outside their window-seat, there was a brief flash of lightning that lit the sky up yellow, then the ceiling began to echo with the soft sound of rain as the finally-unrestrained droplets began to lash the roof and walls. Antonio bit his lip, glad that they were inside, but the bad weather left him uneasy.

"Hey, don't be sad, mi querido," he said, trying to keep a small smile on his face to cheer Lovino up. "I'm not going to let anything happen. I'll persuade Ludwig out of getting me to stop coming here. We'll be fine, I promise."

"Hmmph," Lovino muttered, still unconvinced. "Well, joke's on him anyway. Not like there's a way to get you to stop going here, or I'd have found it by now." The hollow words punctured a hole in Antonio's heart; it was Lovino's usual flippant insult, but without any of the emotion behind it. The Italian was trying desperately to stay strong, but it just wasn't working, and Antonio couldn't bear to watch it.

"Lovi…no, Lovi, look at me." He brought a hand under Lovino's chin and tilted his head up so the two were eye-to-eye, hazel-gold locked with emerald. "Even if there was a way to stop me coming here, I wouldn't let it happen, you hear me? I'll fight for you, Lovi, no matter what it takes. I love you. Don't forget that."

Lovino gaze wavered, and a tear trickled down his face. "Bastard," he whispered. He gave up trying to hold back and collapsed forward into Antonio's embrace once more as further droplets joined the first traitorous escapee en route down his face. Antonio gently held him as he sobbed, stroking his hair and whispering soothing words in his ear, all the time wishing that there was no need for this dejection. It was a few minutes before Lovino stopped crying, and even then he still didn't move from Antonio's grasp. The two just stayed as they were, listening to the persistent thrum of the rain against the windows. The shower, though it had started some time ago, was so much more noticeable among the roaring silence; constant and almost hypnotic. It was hard not to just stay still and frozen, listening.

Eventually, Lovino sat up, leaving a small damp patch on Antonio's shirt from where his head had been, and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Damn it. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Nothing," Antonio replied softly, leaning forward and gently kissing the tip of Lovino's nose. "And don't think there is. Ever. There's nothing wrong with being upset. Especially if things won't give you a break. But we'll find a way out of this, you'll see."

Lovino frowned, still unconvinced, but he settled against the back of the window-seat and fell into silent thought again.

"Hey, cheer up," Antonio smiled. "It'll be ok. Smile, Lovi! Smile for Boss!"

Lovino scowled at him. "You are such an idiot it's unbelievable."

Antonio gently poked him in the cheek. "You're still not smiling! Shall I do my cheer-up charm, Lovi? Then you'll feel better! Fusososososo~!"

"Shut. Up. Bastard," Lovino growled, but there was no vehemence in the words, and an amused smile was trying to work its way out from behind the persistent scowl, from Antonio's antics.

Antonio flung his arms around Lovino happily. "Yay~! Saw that! You smiled~! I told you my cheer-up charm always works."

Lovino moaned in annoyance. "Shut up already, damn it. It doesn't work, you just look like too much of an idiot when doing it for me not to laugh. And another thing – you're always associating smiling with happiness. Just 'cos you may have got me to look vaguely like I might have been a tiny bit amused doesn't mean I'm happy, you know."

"Si, but it's a step in the right direction…" Antonio froze, the idea he'd almost had yesterday springing back to life in his head, yet infuriatingly just beyond reach. It was like a word he was trying to recall, but it wasn't quite the one he was looking for. Something to do with happiness, Lovino's happiness. The concept hung on a branch that was just inches from his fingertips, tantalisingly close, yet so hard to catch. What if…if Lovino's world transformed in the best way to make him happy…what would happen if…if… Antonio sighed internally as the thought failed to complete itself. The idea had gone again. It was a shame – the thought had felt like it was going to be a really good idea before it decided to go and play hide-and-seek in his own brain.

Perhaps talking about it would help – it often did, even just to get his thoughts in order. "Hey, Lovi?"

Lovino jolted slightly, obviously disturbed from where he'd accidentally been dozing off after Antonio zoned out thinking. "What?"

"There's this thought I'm almost having," Antonio explained. "You know that your world – here – changes to try make you happier?"

"No," Lovino replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I live here and I hadn't noticed a damn thing when stuff around me changes." He directed his patented 'you are an idiot' face at Antonio and rolled his eyes. "If this is the thought you're nearly having, then I think you need to plug what's left of your brain back in – the two cells you use normally just aren't cutting it."

Antonio ignored the jibe, as the thought felt almost like it was about to show itself. "No, not that. It's like, if this place wants you to be happy, then…uh…what if you wanted…it wanted…uh…" He slammed his palm into his forehead in frustration. "Ah! It's gone again. What do you think, Lovi?"

"It'd help if I had any idea what you were talking about, bastard," Lovino retorted. "You're making no sense. Then again, anything that has to do with the workings of this weird-ass place tends to make no sense. It just does whatever it wants, well, what I want, anyway."

Antonio felt light-headed, in an almost surreal atmosphere. "And…what do you want, Lovi? Be honest."

Lovino's cheeks tinged pink, and his gaze dropped to his suddenly fidgeting fingers. "Uh, nothing…uh…Ah, fine! I want to go back to live with you and Feli again! Happy? Shut up!" His face was now an awkward shade of crimson, and he was staring out the window in a blatant attempt to avoid Antonio's gaze.

But, Antonio wasn't interested in catching Lovino's eyes at that moment. The elusive idea had just decided to pay his brain a fleeting visit, and it was forming the beginnings of what might just be a plan. "So…you want to go live with me and Feli back on Earth, right? And this world does whatever'll make you happy, right? So, what if…what if there was a way to get it to do that?"

"Eh?" Lovino, all embarrassment forgotten, twisted his head around and stared at Antonio in disbelief as the idea cleared in his own brain. "You do know that's pretty much impossible, right? Coming back from the dead? That's even worse than you coming here, in terms of 'stuff that's not allowed'."

"So how come I'm here, if it's not allowed?" Antonio asked, still positive about his idea. The concept was solid, even if he didn't quite have a way to put it into practice just yet, and he felt that, in this world at least, everything was impossible enough that every idea needed trying at least once before being discarded in disgust.

"For the last fucking time, I don't know!" Lovino said loudly. "You just seemed to get all sad and wish that you were with me!"

Antonio nodded. "And you wanted me to be here too, right?"

Lovino's face, which had just returned back to its normal colour, flared red again. "Shut up," he said quietly.

"So it was like a connection, right?" Antonio persisted as the last pieces of his idea slid into place with an electric thrill. "You at one end, with your magic world that does stuff to make you happy, and me at the other, who wanted that to happen, even though I didn't know it was possible at the time. Well, what if we tried reversing that? I'm at my end, wanting you to be back alive on Earth, and you here, wanting to go back and stay back until you 'die' again. Which we'll stop from happening until you've had the life you deserve – a long, proper life. Do you think it'd be possible to try that?

It was a couple of moments of silent comprehension before Lovino's expression turned thoughtful and he raised one hand to his chin in contemplation. "You know, that's just about stupid enough to work. After all, as I heard once, 'where there's a way in, there's a way back'. Although that was about computer hacking, not cross-world transportation."

Antonio smiled, feeling somewhat giddy from an unexpected rush of adrenaline. "Same idea, though. What d'you think?"

Lovino shrugged, still frowning in thought. "Nothing wrong with trying, I guess. But it still raises an absolute shit-ton of questions. Am I going to wake up in my grave, for one thing? I'd die of air loss within about three minutes."

"You'd end up back here, right? And then we'd know it'd work when I turn up here tomorrow night, so I could dig you up and try again the next day." Antonio grinned, trying not to think about being alone in creepy graveyards in the depths of night, and especially not about zombies attempting to eat his brains.

"Yeah…dying of suffocation is really something I want to go through," Lovino replied sarcastically. "What about if it actually does work? Everyone knows I'm dead. What happens when I turn up suddenly alive again? How are we meant to explain it? And then there's, you know, all legal documents and shit?"

Antonio shrugged, wondering why there had to be so many tiny holes in his plan. "I dunno. Maybe get Ludwig or someone who knows things like that to work it all out, once we've got you back. I mean, the documents aren't the important bit, right. No point having those if you're not alive, right?"

Lovino sighed, having lost all point in trying to find flaws. It wasn't as if he wanted to get rid of Antonio's plan in the first place. "Fine. We have one idiot-assed plan, based on a load of guesses and theories. Let's get this thing over and done with already." He was promptly hugged by a delighted Antonio, whose stomach was already a spinning ball of nerves.

XxxxX

"I feel utterly stupid," Lovino growled.

He was sat up, still fully dressed, in the soft white sheets of the large futon that occupied the master bedroom of the grand house. It was a giant room that was probably about the same size as the entire top floor of Antonio's house, but it was bright and airy, and voices echoed slightly off the whitewashed walls. Antonio was stood by the side of the bed, fingers tapping on the side of his shorts with pent-up energy. It was several hours after the plan's first conception – Lovino had declared the time to be twenty-five past six a couple of minutes ago, so it wasn't going to be long before Antonio was whisked back to his normal life by his alarm clock, and their theoretical plan could be put into action. Hopes were high, but Antonio knew they were more than likely about to be dashed against sharp rocks.

Lovino was continuing his rant, background to Antonio's nervous thoughts. "I mean, I'm sat in a bed, about to try 'wish' my way back to life. This sounds like the badly-formed plot of a fairytale, or some shit like that. Wishing never gets people anywhere, and I'm about to try it for myself." Lovino folded his arms over his sandy-brown t-shirt and scowled at Antonio, who just smiled. The sharp words were just a way for Lovino to let out the tension he was repressing; he didn't want to let on just how hopeful he was that this would work. They both were, really.

Antonio leant forward and gently kissed him. "It'll be ok, Lovi. Once I leave, if you try going to sleep, and just keep longing to be back home, ok? Back with me and Feliciano, where we can go to school together, and play football, and eat tomato pasta, and you can play with your cat, and everything else you want to do. Just wish yourself there, ok? I'll be at my end doing the same thing, and we can hope the connection works. I mean, your world wants to make you happy, so by not doing this it's effectively disobeying its own principles~." He laughed, but it was a tense laugh. He'd be so disappointed if Lovino didn't wake up beside him. And then he chuckled to himself at how that last thought sounded.

"Whatever," Lovino shrugged. "Let's get this over with. Got what, about half a minute now?" He glanced at his watch and nodded. "Well, if this doesn't work, I'll see you later tonight. On the off-chance that you're actually right, I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Ok," Antonio replied, trying to keep the nerves and anticipation out of his voice. "Bye-bye, Lovi." He leant forward and gently kissed Lovino, who scowled anxiously and settled down into the bed in an attempt to sleep. Once he was motionless a few seconds later, the room became deathly silent, and Antonio found himself almost longing for the final heart-rending seconds to be up and for the wait to be over.

BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP!

Antonio's stomach somersaulted through his throat as his vision extinguished into the familiar ethereal transportation from heaven back to his own world. Consciousness came back to him slowly, but eventually the soft covers of his bed faded into sense around him, and after a few seconds, his brain caught up with his body and the ability to move returned to him. Automatically, he blindly reached out one hand and shut off his alarm, tumbling the room into ominous, expectant silence. He didn't know if his plan had worked, or even if it was possible for it to work, and the possibilities were beginning to freak him out after so much wondering, so much hope.

Heart in his throat, he opened his eyes and looked around. His bedroom was exactly how he'd left it; disorganised and disappointingly Lovino-less. "Lovi?" he called cautiously. "Querido, you there?"

To his increasing distress, there was no response.

"Lovi!" Antonio called, louder this time, but the only thing he could hear was his own voice bouncing back off the tomato-print walls. Undeterred, he leapt out of bed and began to search the house, sure that Lovino would have turned up somewhere within in it, if he was to turn up at all. Come on, Lovi. You have to be here somewhere. Please?

But, eight rooms later, his house was clearly proven empty and his heart was a ball of lead sat sorrowfully in the pit of his stomach. His hopes dashed, Antonio sighed and sat dejectedly at the bottom of the stairs, futilely wishing that Lovino had appeared already. The plan had seemed like such a good idea when he'd thought of it. All the pieces had been there – why hadn't it worked? Although, if he thought about it, they knew virtually nothing of how anything to do with heaven worked, so it wasn't as if it was based on solid facts, or even known theories. It could have had any possible consequences, even – and Antonio hated thinking this – that it would have stopped him from going there altogether. It wasn't a particularly comforting thought, but it was hard to think of anything that wasn't the crushing dismay.

With a soft noise of disappointment, Antonio picked himself up off the stairs and trudged up to his room, realising that, after all this, he still had to suffer through another day of school, and also probably of Ludwig convincing him that staying with Lovino was a bad idea. He wasn't sure if he could take that at the moment. Perhaps I should just call in sick, he thought as he scavenged his uniform out of various drawers and off of floor spaces. But he reckoned that that would also be a bad idea – someone would come investigating after school if he tried to avoid them. Ludwig would want closure on what he brought up yesterday, Feliciano would be concerned for his welfare, and Gilbert and Francis were just nosy. And, to cap it off, Antonio didn't really want to face a day at home with nothing to do, whereas at school he would at least have a reason to be bored and people to talk to in classes.

Once he was fully dressed, he headed back downstairs in search of some breakfast. He wasn't particularly hungry at the moment, but he knew from past experience that he would be before lunch if he didn't have at least something to eat before he left. And it was always really uncomfortable sat in a silent classroom while trying to stop your stomach from growling. Antonio stared momentarily out of the kitchen window, watching the sunlight dapple gently across the plants in his garden. It was a sad day when embarrassment was your motivation to eat.

His phone buzzed in his trouser pocket as he rummaged inside the cupboards for his Tupperware box of emergency churros, making him jump slightly. He retrieved the persistent device and opened the recently-received text.

[Yo, Toni! :) Watch out skool. Wests got a potato up his tailpipe and its nt awsum, so b careful (*v*)]

Antonio sighed again as he tapped out his short reply. He knew the text was from Gilbert even without the nickname for his brother. No one else used 'awesome' in almost every sentence like that, and even fewer people used bird-emoticons as their signature. But the implication wasn't good, and it just made Antonio feel worse about going into school that day. He'd been anticipating another logic-versus-emotion standoff with Ludwig today, but to be directly told that it was going to happen…it just confirmed what he did not want to hear. Antonio didn't like worrying about things, as it often gave him a stomachache, but he couldn't help it about this. It was too-delicately hanging off a precipice for him not to be concerned. If he lost control of how the situation was going, it could end up going down completely the wrong path.

He glanced at his watch while eating his churros, informing him that it was 06:56, and he still had a lot of time to kill before he needed to head off to school. The churros he was eating were ever-so-slightly soggy from being stored overnight, and he briefly debated about using his spare time to make some more, but it was probably an unwise idea straight before school. He was more than likely to spill something on his nice clean uniform while his spare set needed a wash, and then he'd end up with detention for wearing something else.

There was a sudden crash from upstairs and Antonio spun around abruptly, eyes wide and heart thumping. Was that something falling over? Or had he imagined the noise? Or worse; was there someone upstairs? What sort of burglar hunted through houses at seven in the morning?

Antonio padded quickly but silently across the house and towards the stairs, pausing only to grab an umbrella on the way – the closest thing he could spot to a weapon. He gripped the handle like he would an axe, hoping the intruder upstairs didn't have an knife or a gun. An umbrella wasn't really a match for either of those. His heart was pounding in his throat, seeming louder than his footsteps were. This was about the last thing he could cope with; if he survived the encounter, he wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in some sort of therapy ward dealing with stress.

He could hear muffled cursing as he ascended the stairs, proving that there was indeed someone there; quite probably a very mad someone. It would explain why something had gotten broken if they were mad, but it did not bode well for Antonio if they were. At the edge of the landing he paused, wondering if he should charge in and attack the intruder, or wait for them to come out and ambush them. As he had the element of surprise, he decided on the latter, and waited a few feet outside his bedroom door, gripping his makeshift weapon with a look of determination on his face.

"Ah, screw it," muttered the voice from his bedroom, much clearer this time…and somehow familiar. Antonio paused, but he couldn't let himself hope now, could he? But, before he had much time to think, his bedroom door swung inward and revealed the very person he'd been wanting to see his entire waking morning, looking surprised and slightly guilty.

"Lovi!" Antonio cried happily, dropping the umbrella and launching himself at the other boy, who stepped back in surprise just before they collided and Antonio pulled him in close. "Oh, Lovi! I didn't think it had worked! But it did, and you're here, and you're alive – ay, Dios, I'm so happy!" Antonio rubbed his nose against Lovino's cheek, thrilled to feel Lovino against him for real for the first time.

"Bastard, you saw me half an hour ago," Lovino grumbled, but he willingly returned the embrace after trying – and failing – to push Antonio's face off his own. "The only reason it took me so long to get here was that I couldn't get to sleep, damn it. Why, were you worrying?"

"I was so worried, Lovi," Antonio murmured, kissing Lovino's cheek. "I didn't think you were coming."

Lovino rolled his eyes and attempted to swat him away. "You dumbass. Oh, that reminds me. If the school ever accepts me back, remind me to tell them that you're actually not as much of an idiot as they think. This actually was a fucking good idea!" And before Antonio could register it, Lovino's hands grasped the front of his shirt and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

Several minutes later, the two broke apart, flushed and panting slightly. Antonio smiled breathlessly, staring into the depths of Lovino's eyes. "Hmm. If that's how you react, I should come up with good ideas more often~."

"Yeah, but you lack the brain capacity for it," Lovino muttered, trying and failing to stop his face from staying pink.

"Hey!" Antonio pouted, turning wide eyes at Lovino and batting him gently with his hands. "I'm not stupid."

"Ah, fine," Lovino sighed. "I can't be arsed to argue with you at the moment. And…maybe I've got to let you have one 'cos your plan actually worked. Hah!" For the first time in quite a while, there was a clear smile on Lovino's face, and it was one of the most beautiful things Antonio had ever seen. Antonio couldn't help smiling too – not that he wasn't already. Lovino was back, properly alive, and he was here to stay. It was an absolute miracle, and neither of them could be more elated.

"By the way, Lovi, what was that crash?" Antonio asked, remembering the noise that had alerted him to the Italian's presence in the first place.

Lovino's head jerked up slightly, face flushed pink again. "Crash? What crash? There wasn't a crash, damn it, and it certainly wasn't anything getting knocked on the floor and broken!"

Antonio laughed. "Oh, Lovi. Even if it was something priceless that had got broken, I wouldn't mind. I have you here, and that's worth more."

"Oh right?" Lovino shrugged. "Well, in that case, it was a shelf off your bookcase that came off after it was in my way. Think it had a snowglobe on it or something, I dunno. But yeah, it's all on the floor now."

"I really don't mind, Lovi," Antonio repeated, still grinning away. "I'll clean it up later. Now I've – oh! What are we meant to do about school, Lovi? Everyone thinks you're dead, but now you're not, what do we tell everyone? The truth'll take ages to explain!"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier, damn it. It's a really fucking complicated situation now. School are all going to be like, 'what the fuck? You're dead!", and then I don't know what we can do. We'll tell the truth to Feli and the bastards, 'cos they already know the score, but otherwise…" he tailed off and shrugged. "Well, we could talk to Feli about it. If it's one thing he's good at, it's stupid ideas. He's almost as good as you at those. Tell him to get his arse over here."

"Yay! It'll be a reunion!" Antonio chirped happily as he pulled out his phone and tapped out a quick message.

[Feli! Something amazing has happened! Get the guys and come over to my house quick!]

"Sent!" Antonio said happily as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, but Lovino didn't even have a chance to form a suitably condescending response before the device buzzed back.

[Ooh, what? :) I'll be right over! :D ]

"He's coming," Antonio informed Lovino, who was craning his neck around to try see the screen. "Hopefully Ludwig'll realise that it's more important than getting to school on time, huh?"

"I'll kill him if he doesn't," Lovino growled. "Potato bastard."

Antonio pocketed his phone and hugged him again. "Aw~. So cute."

"Not. Cute. Damn it." Lovino's muffled voice replied in annoyance as he poked Antonio in the ribs.

Perhaps ten minutes later, there was an excited-sounding ring as whoever was on the other end of the doorbell repeatedly jammed their thumb on the button.

"That'll be him!" Antonio proclaimed, disentangling his arms from around Lovino and racing downstairs. Lovino remained at the top of the stairs, content just to watch until Antonio had explained the situation. They'd quickly decided that it would seriously freak everyone out if Lovino appeared without any warning.

"Ve~!" A delighted cry escaped the younger Italian as Antonio opened the door and was immediately hit by a tackle of a hug. A giant smile was across Feliciano's face – evidently the prospect of good news had excited him greatly. Behind him was Ludwig, Francis and Gilbert, the latter of which's hair was rather damp-looking and had his small yellow bird nesting in it. He seemed to have gotten ready in a hurry, or at least left the house before he would have intended.

"'Sup, Toni," Gilbert grinned as he walked inside. "Feli said you said something amazing happened, so I couldn't deny you my awesome presence. Oh, and West and Franny came too."

"It is nice to know you appreciate us so much, mon cher," Francis said dryly, patting Gilbert on the back. "Now, Antoine, what is it that you have to tell us?"

Antonio paused. He was still really excited from Lovino's sudden appearance, almost too excited to try putting his thoughts into words, which wasn't his strong point at the best of times. And the best way to explain this had completely escaped him, even though he'd been thinking about it for the last ten minutes. "Well…it's kinda hard to explain how it happened."

"Try summing it up concisely," Ludwig suggested. He glanced at his watch. "We don't have very long until we need to be at school, and I don't want to be marked absent unnecessarily."

"Ok," Antonio nodded. "But you'll completely forget about school when you hear this, believe me."

"Oh, now the awesome me has to hear this." Gilbert's eyes lit up at the prospect of having an actual reason to miss school, and he dropped onto the sofa, leaning forward expectantly with his crimson gaze fixed intently on Antonio.

Antonio smiled sheepishly. "Well. I don't really know how to begin this, so I'll start at the beginning of the night. So, I was talking to Lovi last night about Ludwig saying that I shouldn't visit him anymore. He got really mad – the sky looked like it was about to start storming. It was partly because he doesn't like you, but mainly because he's been through so much lately that he didn't want anything else bad to happen. So we went up to his house, the one that looks like the one his grandpa used to have, and tried to talk things through. But neither of us really knew what to do, because you like arguing with logic and I can't do logic and Lovi couldn't argue for me, so there was a lot of silence at first. And then there was this thought that I kept almost having, but I kept losing track of it before it got to the end, and the end was the really important bit. It was about happiness, and Lovi's world morphing itself to make him happy, but I couldn't get the point out of the thought. It was really frustrating. I was pretty sure it had to do with something that Lovi wanted, and it was a way to make everyone happy. Ludwig wouldn't complain anymore about me being in dreams every night, and Feli and Lovi wouldn't have to write letters anymore to stay in contact. So I started talking to Lovi again to see if it would tease the thought out of hiding, and-"

"Goddamnit, you bastard, get to the point already!" a voice from upstairs cut him off, and everyone's heads immediately snapped towards the stairs.

"Who was that?" Francis frowned.

Feliciano had a curious, strangely hopeful expression on his face. "Ve~. I know that voice…"

Lovino's head poked down the stairs and looked at them from a slanted angle. "Hey. Long time no see and all that. I had to kill the surprise; the tomato bastard was making no sense and I got bored." He jumped down the last half-dozen steps and landed deftly on the hardwood floor.

"FRATELLO!" Feliciano yelled ecstatically, leaping to his feet and racing over to his reanimated brother. He flung his arms around his neck and hugged him hard, tears of joy tracing down his cheeks. "You're alive! I can't believe it! I'm so happy! I'm not alone any more!"

"Gah! Feliciano, let go of me!" Lovino gasped, trying to regain the oxygen supply his brother had just cut off. Feliciano let the hug go a bit, but still kept the hold on, enabling Lovino to return the embrace, admittedly after scowling a bit.

The other three, meanwhile, were gaping like drowned fish – this wasn't what they'd been expecting when they went in search of amazing news. Ludwig looked like he'd been hit by a telephone pole, and Francis' fine blond eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into his hair.

Gilbert was the first to recover, albeit looking rather apprehensive. "Uh…Toni…he's not gonna eat my brains or anything is he?" His gaze was directed warily at Lovino, who was still trapped in Feliciano's hug like he'd disappear if Feliciano let go.

Antonio laughed. "No. Don't be silly. If Lovi wanted to eat brains, I'd probably have found out by now."

"You don't possess any brains though. He'd starve if he tried to feed off you," Gilbert sniggered.

"Hey!" Antonio protested.

"Oi, fucktard," Lovino called, his voice somewhat strangled. "I'm not after brains. Stop being a dumbass. And someone get Feli off me."

"Nooo~," Feliciano hummed. "I want to keep fratello. Don't let go."

Ludwig's deep voice cut through the somewhat-more-trivial part of the conversation. "Ok. Before we miss the concept altogether, will one of you explain how on Earth Lovino is back? If that is indeed him." It was the first time that Antonio had seen proper surprise on Ludwig's face; it was a strange, almost disconcerting expression.

"I was me last time I checked, potato bastard," Lovino retorted promptly. "And you've been a jerk throughout most of this, from what I've heard, so you can shut up right now, damn it."

"To be fair, Ludwig hasn't been a jerk, just a little more sceptical and logical than anyone else," Francis pointed out. "Someone has to listen to reason, even though it is a far from popular choice."

Lovino scoffed. "Whatever. I still hate the bastard." He squirmed slightly in his brother's hold. "Right, you've hugged me for long enough now, Feli. Let. Me. Go."

"No!" Feliciano moaned, tightening his hold on his brother. "I haven't seen you in ages and I need to make up for all the hugs you missed out on."

"I've had more than enough hugs from the tomato bastard lately," Lovino retorted. "Get off!"

Antonio wasn't sure if Lovino was actually annoyed at Feliciano or not, but decided to step in before a sibling argument got accidentally caused and laid a hand gently on Lovino's shoulder. "Aw, don't argue, you guys. It's the wrong time to be fighting! You should be happy! If you don't want to hug, how about you go sit down, and you can sit next to each other! Besides, we didn't answer Ludwig's question, and he probably wants to know what happened pretty badly."

Lovino shrugged offhandedly as Feliciano reluctantly released his grip. "It's not as if there's much to it. Dunno how most of it happened and the rest of it is damn madness." Nevertheless, he disentangled himself from his brother and dropped onto the end of the sofa that Gilbert wasn't on. Feliciano immediately jumped onto the seat next to him with a delighted 've~', grasping onto his hand as if it were a lifeline. He had a giant smile even bigger than his normal one plastered across his face. Antonio couldn't blame him – he'd just been granted an unthinkable miracle that had previously been deemed impossible. He must be happy beyond belief.

"It would still be interesting to know what happened," Ludwig disagreed, taking the spare armchair by the wall as Francis sat in the one by the window. Antonio settled down on the floor – the others were the guests, after all, and they deserved the seats.

Gilbert nodded. "Yup. You know, what with the entire coming-back-from-the-dead-and-not-eating-our-brains' thing. Be useful to know how you do that."

"You are not raising an army of ex-dead people, Gilbert," Ludwig said severely, knowing what his brother was like.

"Not an army," Gilbert grinned roguishly. "Just a few people. Like Friedrich the Second. Now he was an awesome guy if there every was one."

"You are not bringing back old Prussian emperors either," Ludwig rebuked. "Don't be irresponsible. Now, Antonio, where were you in your explanation?"

Antonio was wondering the same thing, and was about to reply when Lovino cut him off. "You're seriously asking him what happened after last time? He took about five minutes to explain fuck all."

"I wasn't explaining nothing!" Antonio protested. "It was a bit of background so they understood what was going on."

"Yeah, but you didn't need to go into detail about how you couldn't think of that idea for ages," Lovino countered. "That's complete overkill. All that happened was that the tomato bastard" – he jerked his thumb at Antonio – "thought that if my world, you know, my part of heaven, responded to whichever way makes me happy, and I wanted to be back with him and Feliciano here, then it'd do that. Like the reverse of how the tomato bastard was brought there. So we tried it, and voila. Here I am." He spread his arms briefly and shrugged before getting attacked by another of Feliciano's hugs, squawking as he got pressed into the back of the sofa.

Francis laughed. "He is happy to see you, non? But I have to say I am surprised. I would have thought that returning from the dead was a harder task than it has turned out to be."

Ludwig frowned. "If that's the case, if it's that simple, then how come people haven't been able to do this before? How come Lovino's the first person to have come back to life? If there were others, we'd have heard about them, surely?"

"My theory," Lovino replied, "is that it requires a connection between here and there. From what I heard, the tomato bastard's the first person who's ever been able to go between the two, even though that was a complete accident. So it'd be the first time that there's ever been the connection needed to transport someone. 'Course, it's all theory, and more than likely that it's complete bullshit, but it's how I've managed to explain everything."

Antonio nodded. "It required both me and Lovi for things to work, so it fits things so far."

Ludwig sighed. "Well, as long as this doesn't initiate an influx of people returning from the dead, then I suppose I'll accept things as they are. I can't really complain too much, as it really makes everyone a lot happier than they were a month or so ago. But again, there is one last thing. How do we explain this to everyone? And what about identification, official records, school, et cetera?"

"Well, me and Lovi have been talking about it a bit, but we were rather hoping you'd have a few ideas on how to do that," Antonio answered uncertainly. "I don't know about all that paperwork-y stuff."

Ludwig sighed again, as if to say 'why me?'. "Very well. But," he glanced at his watch, "it will have to wait until after school. I am very close to being late as it is, and the day will give me some extra time to think about how to sort this whole mess out. Lovino will be best off waiting here until we return."

Gilbert stared at him incredulously. "You think we're off to school today? Ain't happening, West. I'm sticking here, and not just 'cos it's an excuse to skip the day. And you really think Feli's gonna pick a day full of teachers and homework ahead of his brother who's just unexpectedly alive? You ain't gonna win there. Kesesese. Skive ALL the days!"

"Mmm," Feliciano agreed. "Sorry, Ludi, but I wanna stay here with fratello!" He still hadn't let Lovino go, although the latter had managed to get into a slightly more comfortable position despite having his brother sat on top of him. "I'll go to school tomorrow, I promise."

Ludwig frowned. "Am I the only one who has any respect for rules and attendance here? There's no point in school if we don't regularly go. But, that aside, I can see that I'm not going to be able to persuade you into it. I will see you at about half four, and we can think this through further. Now, I'm going to go before I am late." He got up from his seat, brushed off his blazer, picked up his backpack and headed for the door, as the others bade him goodbye.

"West's such a stickler for the rules," Gilbert grinned. "Now we can just chill here, and we've got the little spitfire back too! This is almost as awesome as me!"

Feliciano nodded happily. "Yay! It's the best! Ooh, I know! I'll make some pasta as a celebration!" He leapt to his feet eagerly before his brother pulled him back down.

"It's not even half eight in the morning, you moron," Lovino bickered. "You can't have pasta for breakfast. Make it at lunchtime or something."

"Aw, I can't argue with you, fratello," Feliciano smiled, not even slightly put off by his brother's sharp words. "I'm just too happy! We'll make pasta later! With lots of tomatoes for you."

"You'd better," was Lovino's short response, but it wasn't hard to tell that, inside, he was as happy as his younger brother was.

XxxxX

Several weeks later, Antonio and Lovino stood leaning against the wall outside the gates of the school, hand in hand. Their bags were slung on the floor next to them, useless and almost forgotten. The leaves of the trees overhead were a spotless emerald green, bright and healthy, and the few birds that weren't bothered by the students below sung harmonies in their depths. It was a bright summer day, the kind of day where the sun shone down from a virtually cloudless sky, the kind of day where it was hot, but not sticky and sweltering, and a cool breeze appeared just often enough to keep the edge off the heat.

It had taken a lot of paperwork, bureaucracy and complicated explanations to get Lovino back into school, and back into the system of the world in general. Papers saying Lovino wasn't dead had been relatively easy to obtain, thanks to Ludwig's skill and some useful connections of Gilbert's, but the tricky part had been getting various friends and acquaintances to believe that Lovino was alive. Most had been fobbed off with a very convoluted lie saying that Lovino hadn't been dead all along, but in the end, they'd been forced to tell the truth to some people, and even then they were met with suspicion and disbelief. Although the support of the ever-serious Ludwig had been enough to convince many that it was real, and Antonio was eternally grateful for his assistance in everything. He was pretty sure that Lovino was grateful too, but the Italian adamantly refused to show any appreciation for Ludwig, even if Antonio asked him. But now, the two lovers were oblivious to the rest of the world, content to just stand and watch it go by.

Antonio smiled and squeezed Lovino's hand. "Well. It's the end of the year. Bet you never expected to see this day here, Lovi."

Lovino shrugged. "Actually, I did. You know, seeing as how I never expected to be dead in the first place, I was pretty sure that finishing the year was inevitable."

"True," Antonio laughed. "But, small points aside, I'm glad we're here now. And we've got the whole summer ahead of us."

Lovino grunted. "Yeah, then you're off to university fifty fucking miles away."

Antonio drew up the hand that was holding Lovino's, pulling the Italian close. He dropped the hand and linked both of his around Lovino's waist, leaning his forehead against that of his now-blushing companion. "Sorry, Lovinito. I didn't know that you were so special when I decided where I was going. But I'll come visit every weekend, and you can visit me too. And I'll spend the days in the middle of the week counting the hours until I next see mi amor."

"Sappy bastard," Lovino muttered, his face the wrong shade of red to be angry, and Antonio knew easily that he wasn't.

Antonio kissed him happily. "And I'm your sappy bastard, Lovi. I always will be. But let's not think about September yet. We've got to find loads of fun stuff to do over the summer! And then we get to do it!"

Lovino shrugged. "Hmph. Sometimes I miss having whatever the hell I want at the click of my fingers."

"Aw~. But having me and Feli and being back on Earth makes up for it, right?" Antonio pouted, blinking large green eyes at Lovino. He occasionally wondered if Lovino regretted his decision to come back, and if he hadn't been happy with Lovino's return, it would have worried him.

"Shut the fuck up," Lovino retorted, scowling in a futile effort not to look embarrassed. And in Lovino's repertoire, that was synonymous with a resounding 'yes', and Antonio was more than happy with it.

"Te amo tambien, Lovi," Antonio smiled, giving the Italian another quick kiss before looking up at the sky. It really was a nice day, almost like one of the days they'd had in Lovino's heaven, and Antonio wanted to make the most of it while it was here. "Come on. If we get home quick, we can go up to the river before dinner."

"Whatever," Lovino shrugged, and leant down to pick up his bag. After handing Antonio his and the pair had slung them over their respective shoulders, they set off down the street, out of one chapter of life and into another. It had been a wild ride, these past few months. Neither was entirely sure how a lot of it had happened, and they probably would never know the full explanation for sure, but they wouldn't exchange the happiness they had found for the world. It was a second chance at a life that they would otherwise have never had.

Fin

Monster chapter, this. But I didn't want to split it, so it took ages to do to the point where I liked it. Originally, the ending was meant to be sad, but I thought Toni and Lovi had been through enough, so we have some nice fluff at the end. :3
I'm going to miss writing this…

A final thank you to all readers, fav-ers and reviewers! I never expected something I wrote to become this popular, and it has been a real inspiration throughout! Hope you enjoyed reading! :)

If you wish to see more of my work, my next fic The Heartbreaker is up as of a week or so ago and updates will commence as of a few days time. More Spamano! (I like Spamano~)