Lovino woke and stared at the ceiling. With his mind still clouded by the remnants of sleep, there were a few precious, carefree moments of not remembering before everything that he agreed to the night before came crashing down again. He took a deep breath. For a long minute he considered simply staying in bed and ignoring the world and everything in it. His plans were interrupted by the sound of his brother hammering on the door.
"Lovi? It's breakfast time. Hurry or the food will get cold."
Lovino sighed and rolled out of bed. Remembering the meeting, he threw his uniform on, despite it being Saturday, tried and failed to flatten his hair down, and eventually decided that he was as presentable as he was ever going to get, and trudged downstairs.
Once in the kitchen, he went over to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice, pouring some into a glass. Roma was busy cooking something on the stove. From the heavenly smell drifting upwards, Lovino guess it was tomatoes and bacon, enough for all three of them and then some.
"Why have we got so much food so early in the morning? It's not like it's going out of fashion or anything?" he asked, sliding into a seat at the table. Feliciano sat opposite him, seemingly not paying attention, staring out of the window with a sleepy expression.
Roma didn't bother turning round, but waved the spatula at his grandson in a vaguely threatening manner.
"Feliciano has morning practice and needs the energy, and so do you. You don't eat enough anyway. Besides, you'll need it if you're gonna face your headmaster. That man even scares me sometimes, and that's saying something."
Lovino remembered what he had to do and gulped. He knew from too much experience that the headmaster, Mr Kirkland, was not to be messed with, with a temper to match even Lovino himself. He couldn't help shuddering slightly in trepidation. He scowled at his grandfather's other words.
Roma noticed his grandson's silence and came to stand in front of him. He slid plates laden with plump tomatoes and rashers of thick, crispy bacon in front of them both.
"Here, eat up, both of you. Feli, try to wake up. You have to be at practice in half an hour. We'll pick you up after, so just wait for us inside, alright? I don't know how long the meeting will go on for, but it shouldn't be too long."
Feliciano looked up at his grandfather sleepily. "Si, nonno." He seemed to wake up as he ate, finishing hurriedly and running upstairs, then dashing down again a few minutes later, and grabbed his bag from its place on his chair.
"Bye nonno! bye Lovi! Good luck with the headmaster! Don't argue with him, ok?" He hugged them both, Lovino struggling as usual, kissed Roma on the cheek, then ran out the door, waving as he went. Roma waved back absently, then shut the door behind him and turned to his elder grandson with a serious expression. Lovino, who had sat picking at his food and looking down at his plate as his brother left, now looked up, his face finally showing the worry and fear he felt.
Roma went over to him and sat opposite him. He steepled his hands on the table, looking at Lovino solemnly. They sat in silence for a moment, then Roma finally spoke.
"I'm not going to sugar-coat this for, Lovi. You will have to do this absolutely perfectly or you won't get another chance. So tell me, how are you gonna do this?"
Lovino hesitated before answering, still pushing his food around his plate. Eventually, he answered quietly "I go into the school. I say I have a meeting with Mr Kirkland. I give him the letter. I, uh, apologise, and say that I agree to the terms of the letter. Then, uh, I..." his voice trailed off.
Roma furrowed his brows. "And?"
Lovino looked at him wide eyed. "And what? What have I missed?"
"You apologise, all well and good. And then what?"
Understanding dawned. "I, uh, I tell him I'm very grateful for the opportunity" he said, his voice sounding slightly torn.
Roma smiled. "Si. That's better."
Lovino did not looked convinced. Seeing his grandson's expression, he said
"Don't worry, Lovi. I'll be there with you, remember?"
Lovino blinked in surprise. Roma chuckled. "Did you forget that? I have to be there, remember? The letter was addressed to me, not you."
His eyes widened, then he blushed, looking away. His voice was almost inaudible as he asked
"He'll be there too, right? He said he would be."
Rome couldn't keep a smirk from forming. He replied breezily "Si, I expect so. He has to introduce himself, after all."
Lovino frowned, his face reddening further. "But I already know the bastard" he muttered.
"Si, but Mr Kirkland doesn't know that."
Lovino's head shot up. "What?!"
"I, ah, haven't let the school know the full extent of your history. I expect it is in your records, but I'm not completely certain" he said, scratching his face with one hand in embarrassment.
Lovino looked furious. "How the hell could they not know that the bastard practically adopted me?!" he yelled.
Roma raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with his grandson's outburst. He replied calmly "For one, he hardly adopted you, he simply looked after you until I could get custody of you two after Maria passed, god rest her soul' -the two crossed themselves - 'and secondly, while it may be on your health record, it is nothing to do with your academic transcripts, so there is a chance it isn't part of your school records. If you had ever seen a school psychiatrist before, it would be another matter, but as this is first, and, I hope, last, time, there should be no problem." He sat back and waited for Lovino to reply.
At first, Lovino looked angry, then, as his grandfather's words sank in, his anger turned to confusion, worry and settled on a mixture of trepidation and something close to fear.
"But what if they find out? What am I gonna do then? They wouldn't let me see him anymore, right?"
If Roma noticed the way his grandson's voice wavered as he spoke, he didn't show it. Instead, he replied "I suppose there is that chance. However, first and foremost Toni will be your counsellor. Whatever he was to you in the past is gone. If there was likely to have been any problem, I expect the school would not have suggested this in the first place. As such, they must have come to the conclusion that it will be alright. Now, go and get ready. We'll take the car; these old legs won't walk all that way."
Lovino still didn't look entirely convinced, but accepted his grandfather's words nonetheless. He nodded reluctantly and got up from the table, taking his plate over to the sink and throwing the remaining food in the bin.
He got ready slowly, brushing his teeth and trying yet again to make his hair look presentable. He yelped as he accidentally caught his curl with his hairbrush. He didn't know why, but that one stray lock felt sensitive somehow, as though it had feeling in it. He was fairly certain Feliciano was the same, since he remembered the two of them both crying one time when they were little after having entangled their hair together. He shook his head, dismissing the memory, and focussed on trying to get his tie straight. After a while he gave up and went and found Roma, who merely chuckled and fixed it.
"Seventeen years old and still can't tie a tie properly. What are we gonna do with you?" he said, laughing. He ruffled Lovino's hair. Lovino shook his hand off angrily.
"Grandfather! I just got my hair to lie flat! You're gonna mess it up again! I need to look right for this damn meeting!"
Rome laughed again. "Really? From what I've seen your headmaster could do with a comb himself, huh? And his clothes, urgh! So old-fashioned for a man his age, no?"
Lovino tried and failed to keep from snorting, a laugh escaping him despite himself. Oma smiled delightedly, pleased that his tactic to lessen Lovino's nerves had worked.
"Well, we better get going. Take your bag just in case, you might need to show them work. What you have of it, anyway."
Lovino nodded and ran back upstairs to get his bag. He grabbed the book his class were studying in English and stuffed it in, then ran back downstairs again. Roma was standing with the car keys in his hand, waiting. He was dressed unusually neatly as well, in the suit he used to wear to church when they were little, a silk tie round his neck and shiny cufflinks in the shape of little crosses glinting on his sleeves.
"All done?"
Lovino nodded.
"Right. Let's go."