AN: Hello everyone! It turns out that by some horrid mistake, I left out a crucial part of Chapter One. So if you haven't read Chapter One after 08/03/11, then you should read Chapter One again. Things will make much more sense then.

Otherwise, thank you for those who reviewed! Remember, reviewing will make me write faster...(:D)

Smiling When It's Cold Should Be Illegal

Antonio smiled cheerfully at the two men who stood guard in front of Arthur Kirkland's Office.

"I'd like to speak with your Boss."

"And who are you, Sir?"

"I am Boss Antonio Fernandez Carriedo of the Spagna Familia. Arthur Kirkland has personally invited me to his office." His smile grew wider and started to unnerve the two men standing guard.

"S-Sir I'm not sure if we have permission from—"

"What are you twiddling idiots doing?" A voice came from behind the double doors, distinct to the Boss of Britannia.

"Antonio, come in. Don't let the dolts halt you." The Spagna Boss gave a cheerful wave at the two men and shoved past them, opened the doors and walked in; Ciro following close behind.

The room flourished with treasures that he had pilfered from the trade ships they often intercepted. Although Britannia's headquarters were in Venice, his control of Italy's trade expanded all throughout the country, owning many different ports and sinking any ships that invaded Britannia territory without permission. Including many of the Spagna ships a decade ago.

They had fought many wars but after a few years they settled down with an agreement.

"So what business are you here for that you would request my assistance?" Arthur rose from his oak desk and walked to one of the furnished cabinets, pulling out a bottle of rich French wine. He made a face, "The frog-bastard keeps giving me bottles of wine and obscene… toys." Arthur glanced at Antonio's clueless expression with his emerald eyes and then sighed, "Just tell Francis to stop sending me 'gifts'."

"Alright." Antonio nodded.

"So really now," he beckoned his old enemy to sit in the chair in front of his desk and he grabbed the wine glasses, "what are you here for?"

The Spaniard waited for the wine to be poured into the glasses before he spoke, "The Guaio Familia," he leaned forward to swirl the wine in his glass, "have you heard of them?"

Arthur shook his head and Antonio laughed.

"I'm not surprised, I hadn't heard of them either until they tried to strike a deal with me." Arthur raised a thick eyebrow; there weren't many families he hadn't heard of since he had connections and alliances with so many.

"They must be rather small then."

"Yes," Antonio nodded, "they offered to pay for our drug manufacturing expenses, two million dollars, if we would be in alliance with them."

Both of Arthur's eyebrows rose, "That is quite an unusual deal."

"It was, so of course, I decided to look them up." They both took a sip of wine.

"It turns out that they were trafficking children, kidnapping them from nurseries, orphanages, and schools to sell as sex slaves." Arthur narrowed his eyes and Antonio's smile faded into a frown.

"They shove the children into the cargo bays and then ship them off to different areas."

"That is disgusting." Arthur drained his glass of wine, "so I am assuming you want me to stop these ships? Do you have the names of the ones they use specifically?"

"No, but I do have the ports they sail from. I think the reason why no one has caught them is because they use different ships each time. One of my spies told me that they leave from these ports." He pulled out a sheet of paper from the manila folder he brought with him and placed it in front of the Britannia Boss.

Arthur subconsciously rubbed the emerald ring on his index finger as he read the paper; the Spaniard knew that the emerald ring was the heirloom to Britannia, proof that he was the Boss. He had a similar, forest-green emerald ring.

"Ah yes," Antonio was pulled out of his musings, "I have access to these ports. All of them actually." Arthur took the paper and made a copy of it. "I will close down these ports three days from now at 12:00am. However," he paused and glanced at Antonio with a smirk, "you'll have to do the searching." He poured himself another glass and refilled Antonio's. "I have plans I must attend to. If you can't find any of Guaio's lackeys, then contact me and we will figure things out from there."

Antonio nodded, grinning at the fellow Boss and shook his hand.

"I'll make sure to take care of them personally."

"Yes, of course, I expect no less from my old enemy."

"Pirate."

"Cheerful Bastard."

The two men sported feral grins.

"Have fun with Alfred, Arthur."

Antonio left with a chuckle at the sight of Arthur's red face.

It was quite late already.

Lovino sat in his and Feliciano's favorite Chinese restaurant, Cai Long, nursing a strong mug of delicious Italian espresso. The restaurant was owned by Wang Yao, a friend of Gramps and nearly the same age as well, although he looked quite young. Probably from all the Chinese medicines he was always subjecting himself to.

The place had an oriental feel to it: red, black, gold, and dragons set the theme. Either way, the staff at Cai Long was considered part of Roma, although it wasn't official.

With a sigh, Lovino placed his head in his arms, trying to smother the jealousy building up in him.

It was true, that for some reason he was chosen as the next Roma Boss, the one to replace his grandfather. But even on Gramps' sick bed, the Roma Boss always asked for his younger brother to accompany him and teach him what he could.

What about Lovino? His actual heir? The man smiled at him when he passed by but all he could conjure up was a scowl for his predecessor who taught him nothing of how to run a Mafia Family.

Stupid Feliciano, always taking all the attention. He rubbed his eyes on his sleeves before cursing, realizing that he might have gotten tear stains on his very expensive shirt.

"Stupid shirt—"

"Lovino-san?" The Vargas looked up from his sleeves to see that Kiku, a friend of Feliciano's that he actually liked and a waiter in the restaurant, was peering at him in concern.

"Mn, Kiku," he spoke in a quiet tone, trying to swallow the lump in his throat from his crying, "w-what's up?"

"I should be asking you that, Lovino-san. You look troubled." Kiku took the seat in front of him.

"It's nothing, ch-chigi."

"It doesn't sound like nothing. Please, tell me if you'd like." It was then that Lovino noticed Kiku had brought out another cup of espresso and placed the drink in front of him, taking his older, now cold, cup.

"Thanks."

Kiku nodded in response. Lovino then took a deep breath, calming his nerves, and began to tell him what was troubling him; because real men expressed their feelings dammit.

By the time he was finished, the darkness had expanded and the moon was already in the middle of its cycle.

Kiku patted his hand, "I believe your grandfather means no offense."

"Like Hell." Kiku smiled slightly at his Lovino-like denial.

"To me, it seems that he has a plan in store for you. You are very important to the Kazoku, the Family, despite how you believe other people think you are not as crucial."

Lovino frowned in thought, not seeing what Kiku could possibly be hinting at.

"Think of it this way, Lovino-san. The Boss of a Kazoku is like the keystone in an arch." The heir leaned in slightly, interested in Kiku's comparison with architecture.

"The other stones that hold the arch together may be ornate and complicated, showing off fabulous designs and carvings; but it is the keystone that prevents the entire arch from collapsing."

The older brother's eyebrows rose in comprehension. Causing Kiku to smile at his expression.

"So you see, Lovino-san, that when you become the Boss you will need to be that keystone. As I said, perhaps your grandfather has plans for you or you are already in his plans but are just not aware of it."

Lovino drew back into his seat, leaning against the cool leather. Perhaps this might be the case. "But what about mio fratello?" he brought up the other point, "I swear that potato-bastard is going to steal him away from me."

Kiku couldn't hold back a giggle so he pretended to cough into his sleeve to hide his smile.

"Perhaps you should talk to Ludwig, himself?"

"You know him way better than I do," Lovino muttered.

"Hm, then perhaps you should get to know him as I do," Kiku rose from his seat, "Ludwig is quite a nice person once you become acquainted with him."

Lovino scowled and rose as well, noting the street lamps already lighting the roads.

"That muscle freak better not hurt Feliciano. I just know that my idiota brother is going to fall for his macho-potato ways." He cracked his knuckles as threateningly as he could (despite his thin build) and then tried to hand the proper amount of Euros for the coffee to Kiku, but was refused. After a little arguing about the bill (Kiku won), he glanced at his watch to see that it was already 12:06am.

"Thanks, Kiku. I better go back home before Feliciano freaks out and sends a search party out… again."

"Any time, Lovino-san." With a wave, the older Vargas left the restaurant.

He stepped out into the streets and wrapped his arms around himself. Dammit, it was cold.

Lovino started his long walk back to headquarters. The shadows were uninviting and he tried not to stare into the dark for too long, afraid that something terrifying would spring out.

As he turned a corner, however, he ran straight into a solid body and he screamed shrilly.

"Holy… You have a good set of lungs on you." Lovino scrambled away as fast as he could, looking at the man he ran into. He had brunet hair and was smiling like the fucking sunshine in this damn cold with only a t-shirt on; a t-shirt that had a big red tomato on it.

A quick affirmation that he was dealing with an idiot.

The man stepped closer, "So what are you doing here?"

Lovino gulped, a tall idiot. Fuck, why was everyone so tall?

"W-what?" He stuttered, trying to back away but the man just stepped closer.

"What are you doing out here?" The other man raised his voice as if questioning his own question.

"I should be asking you that, tomato-bastard!" He summed up his most ferocious scowl.

"Tomato…bastard? That's a new one." The man laughed heartily, causing Lovino to stare at him incredulously. How can anyone laugh like that while it's so cold?

"Fuck, you're an idiot."

"You have a dirty mouth." The older Vargas turned bright red, puffing out one cheek reflexively.

"Ahaha, now you look like a tomato!"

"Shut up, tomato-bastard!" His face heating up even more, "Why the hell are you walking around at—" he checked his watch—"12:32 in the night wearing a damn t-shirt and smiling?"

The man blinked and then laughed, "doesn't everyone?"

"Fuck, he really is an idiot." He muttered under his breath.

"I heard that."

"Shut up." The heir started to walk in the direction of Headquarters, to his soft warm bed. The idiot followed.

"So why are you up walking around this late?"

"It's none of your business, tomato-bastard."

"At least let me walk you to wherever you want to go?"

Lovino whirled around, irritated, "we just met, bastard. Do you really think that I would let a stranger "walk me home"? I'm not some little kid that you can kidnap and sell off to the black market, creep."

The other man frowned, "I am nothing like those disgusting people."

"How the hell do I know you're not lying?"

The man stared down at him looking serious, and Lovino realized he had really nice forest green eyes…

"I am nothing like those disgusting people."

It pissed Lovino off that he automatically believed him.

"Whatever, tomato-bastard!" his face sporting a blush again, he whirled back around in the direction of his destination and started to walk a fast pace, hopefully too fast for the man behind him.

"You know, I have a name." the man called behind him cheerfully.

"I don't want to know it."

"Sure you don't. My name's Antonio!"

"Fuck, I told you I didn't want to hear it!" He turned around once more and pointed a long, graceful finger into the man's built chest. "If you are going to decide to "walk me home" (of which I never even said yes to) on your own, at least follow my rules:

One, don't tell me your fucking name. You already broke that rule, so I'm going to call you fucking tomato-bastard from now on.

Two, if I ever see your face again, I will kill you with every piece of weaponry I have. Including spoons, dammit.

Third, I am not going to tell you my name. Ever."

Each time he pushed his fingers into the man's chest, making sure that the smiling idiot nodded to each of his rules.

"Okay." The tomato-bastard nodded.

"Good, now I'm going home."

"Alright." They continued to walk in silence until Antonio—er Tomato-bastard opened his mouth again, "So where do you live?"

"You are such a creep."

"No I'm not! I already told you that I'm nothing—"

"Yeah, yeah."

There was a hearty laugh behind him afterwards, "Are you sure you don't want to tell me why you were out here all alone?"

"I said it was none of your business."

He was suddenly stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Does it have to do with the men and women in black suits that are trailing after us?" The voice was cheerful, but Lovino felt a shiver under his spine, automatically sensing something dangerous about this man.

Lovino made a move to look behind them, but the tomato-bastard whispered in his ear, making him freeze and his heart pound loudly in his chest.

"I think they might be after you. They look like they're part of the Mafia. Maybe even the Roma Familia." The heir was shocked at this man's knowledge. Who the hell was he?

No one outside the Mafia could identify specific mobs so quickly. Was this an opposing family? The information that he was the Heir to Roma was only given to those they trusted, but maybe it had been leaked to an enemy. What if he really did want to kidnap Lovino?

"You didn't do anything to upset Roma did you?" The man backed away from his position near Lovino's ear and grabbed his hand, "Nevermind, I'm sure you have no connection to them, don't panic. We're going to try and lose them."

The man sprinted forward, his hand in Lovino's grip and dragged the distraught Italian with him. He could hear his own henchmen and bodyguards chasing after them, the distinctive slap of their sleek shoes following them.

"Fusilli, that man went in there!"

"Fuck, we have to stop him!"

"Boss will be so pissed."

Lovino stumbled along, the other man taking the lead, and fear grew in his heart. Was this man just a naïve idiot or was he an enemy?

They dashed into the alleyways, the shadows obscuring their path.

He jumped over a bag of trash and then skidded to a halt, putting all his weight into it. Sending the tomato-bastard's arm to jerk behind him and causing him to stop.

"What is it?" He turned to face the irate man and tugged on his hand to move them along but Lovino refused. The shorter man wriggled his hand out of the tomato-bastard's grip.

"You are a fucking idiot. What the hell do you think you are doing?" Lovino shouted, livid and terrified. "Are you here to kidnap me or something?"

"Wha—" the man's expression turned from hastening to utter confusion.

"Because I can guarantee you, you aren't going to succeed!" Lovino yelled as loud as he possibly could, trying to catch his henchmen's attentions. That plank of wood looked like a good weapon—

"Hush!" A hand covered his lips and muffled his sounds, but suddenly the tomato-bastard blushed and immediately retreated his hand. "I'm sorry that you think that I'm trying to kidnap you," he began, keeping his voice at a whisper, "but I'm not. Those men are from a prominent Mafia Familia called the Roma. They're really ruthless to those outside of their family and you seemed to be in trouble when you walked out of that restaurant because they started tailing you then. So I thought I could help and walk you home…" He trailed off at the incredulous stare Lovino was giving him.

This idiot just had to be a really freaking nice idiot. Not only that this tomato-bastard had gotten him in an impossibly hard situation. There was no way that he could tell this man that he was the fucking heir to the Roma Famiglia. He had sworn an oath not to tell those in other Famiglia. This man was definitely a Mafioso. A really stupid one.

"Look, idiota," he began, mentally sighing before making up his mind, "let's go before those Roma bastards catch us." What in God's name am I doing?

The man nodded and immediately made to grab Lovino's hand but the Heir pulled away. The tomato-bastard looked at Lovino in confusion and the Italian scowled, pulling the idiot by his sleeve, "Don't show me that you're a freak and bring me to my house without my directions, chigi."

"Oh, right." He nodded and Lovino lead the way, running away from his own fucking Famiglia because he had a goddamn idiot trying to save his not-needing-to-be-saved-hide. He didn't even understand his own logic anymore, but he did know that at least his guilt for bringing this idiot into a whole bunch of trouble (even though it was totally the tomato-bastard's stupid fault in the first place) was being soothed.

He ran his full speed, surprised that the other man had only a little trouble keeping up. Wow, this man was really fit.

Finally they reached the gate of one of the safe houses that he often used when the Roma Famiglia had business closer to the area. He wasn't so much of an idiota to bring the tomato-bastard to the Roma Headquarters; that would totally defeat the purpose, chigi.

"I think we lost them," the man said, panting, "Whew you run really fast when you want to."

"Shut up, tomato-bastard." Lovino pointed at the man in the chest once more, "now remember the rules: Never show your face again. Ever."

The man frowned slightly, sending something weird fluttering through his stomach. He must have had too much espresso or something.

"Okay…" The fluttering turned into pebbles—no, big fat rocks, dammit.

"Alright, now leave. Before the Roma henchmen track you down."

"Right." The man shuffled his feet, looking downtrodden; then he turned away and started walking.

Lovino felt guilt pierce through his chest, "w-wait, bastard!"

The man turned around, the frown still present, although his eyes lit with curiosity.

"T-T-Th," he stuttered, trying to force it out, it was the least he could do, "T-Thank you." Fuck, he needed sleep. He was giving gratitude to strangers who tried to help him run away from his own freaking men.

The idiot's frown immediately lifted into a sun-defying grin.

"Don't think too much about it, tomato-bastard!"

"Alright! I'll see you later!"

"No, chigi, you'll never see me again!"

"Right. Bye!" He ran off into the alleyways, the red of his tomato-shirt dimming in the shadows.

Lovino waited for his henchmen to catch up to him so they could take him home.

Shit, he had a lot of explaining to do.

That night, after explaining and calming down his lackeys for a good half hour, they got into the limo and returned back to headquarters. Home.

They had to travel along a cobblestoned road in the expanse of a deep forest, used for a little privacy and to prevent enemy Famiglia from finding headquarters so easily.

The intricate black gates opened, leading to an expansive garden full of different fruit trees, flowers that mixed with the fresh scent, and ornate statues of the nine muses pinpointed each corner of the garden. A fountain of Aphrodite and her son, Cupid, let out a steady stream of water that cascaded into the base, resulting in a soothing bubbling sound.

Behind the gardens stood headquarters, a tall, roman style, four-floor mansion with west and east wings.

Lovino waited for the tall doors of the mansion to open and he walked in as quietly as he could, hoping that his brother would be asleep and he could just sneak in without the entire ruckus.

This plan was foiled, however, by Fusilli.

"Sir!" He shouted in the entrance hall, getting Lovino's irate attention.

"Sorry sir, but I just wanted to let you know that we will try to search for the identity of the man that tried to "help" you tonight."

The heir slapped himself on the forehead in frustration, "Fusilli, these are orders: Do not search for that tomato-bastard of a man."

"But Sir—"

"An order, dammit!"

Fusilli bowed, "Yes, Sir…"

"Good, now leave, before I get mad at you, chigi."

His head henchman gave a little smile, the heir was surprisingly nice at times, even though he swore like a sailor.

"Buonanotte, Sir."

"Whatever, buonanotte." He crossed his arms and glared at the man as he left. What the hell was he smiling for, chigi.

The doors closed with a slow creak, the lock resounding through the spacious empty hall, Lovino let out a sigh. Today had been an especially long day.

He cursed to himself and made his way up the long flight of stairs. Stupid stairs, why do they have to be so long?

By the time he was in his quarters, he was dragging his feet over the carpet. He passed his brother's bedroom and opened the door quietly, peeking inside.

The large king sized bed was empty of its usual occupant.

Lovino frowned as he was struck with loneliness. The idiota must be at that German's house tonight. It wasn't like he expected Feliciano to wait for him to come home or something, right.

But it was okay, dammit, because he was Lovino Vargas, and he could handle a little loneliness. He swallowed a lump in his throat and wiped at his eyes before walking into his spacious closet that was separate from his bedroom. He wearily folded his clothes and then, still in his boxers, he went into the bathroom to prepare for bed. Padding over to his bedroom, the moonlight in the halls did nothing to comfort him.

But as he walked into the darkness of his own quarters, he saw a lump hiding under the sheets.

The lump slowly inhaled and then exhaled, signifying that it was indeed a person. Lovino held his breath and a soft "Ve~" confirmed that it was his little brother sleeping in his bed.

He had waited for him after all.

Lovino couldn't help let a small smile pass his lips. Because it wasn't like his brother was a sweet kid at times. Really he wasn't.

He wiped his eyes once more and carefully lifted the sheets, sliding into the cool silk and next to his fratello.

"Lovino…" Feliciano mumbled, half-asleep, and wrapped his arms around his waist. "You came home, Ve~"

"Go to sleep, idiota."

"Mkay."

Note: Famiglia, Familia, and Kazoku all mean Family in Italian, Spanish, and Japanese.

As you might have noticed, each Family's members are named in code for specific things.

The Roma Famiglia's members are named after pasta, for example.

You'll have to figure out the other families as they come along! :D

Note: Famiglia, Familia, and Kazoku all mean Family in Italian, Spanish, and Japanese. So for those who thought I misspelled Family, I didn't! Muahahaha.

As you might have noticed, each Family's members are named in code for specific things. The Roma Famiglia's members are named after pasta, for example.

You'll have to figure out the other families as they come along! :D

Please take time to review, comment, and criticize what you want!

Love,

Petaldancer