Damnit, I had slept in again. I groaned and rolled onto my side, blinking harshly at the sunlight streaming through my bedroom window. Today was the odd Saturday that I had off, but alas, my lazy, slob-like tendencies always proved to get the best of me.

I sat up on the side of my bed, stretching my arms and raking a hand through my scruffy bed-head. It wasn't long before I was shivering. The apartment had poor heating, which explained why my body had unconsciously decided to stay in bed for so long. It was fucking cold out and only a moron would enjoy going out in this weather.

I grumbled and pulled a fluffy red robe over my tomato print pyjama onesie. Antonio had gotten me that onesie, so damnit it all if I wasn't going to make good use of it. Speaking of Antonio, I would have to call him soon. Although, he probably wasn't up at this point. The Spaniard was the only person I knew who could out sleep me. On weekends, he typically woke up at 3pm.

After brushing my teeth, and hopelessly attempting to tame my raging bed head, I trudged into the living room. The sight that I saw next nearly made me turn back. I would have done so if I wasn't so damn hungry.

The potato was sitting at the dining room table, surrounded by a stack of recipe books, pencils, highlighters, sticky notes, and the likes. As usual, he had a constipated look of concentration on his face as he recited the notes out loud. The sound of his deep, gravelly voice was already beginning to piss me off.

Feliciano was nearby, having set up his painting easel and canvas at the end of the dining room table. The airhead had the radio turned on, merrily humming along to the bubbly pop song that was playing.

I grit my teeth together and stomped past them, heading straight into the kitchen. "Good morning~!" Feliciano chirped.

"What's so fucking good about it?" I mumbled under my breath. As expected, my spiteful comment went ignored.

Ludwig pushed up the glasses that were perched on the bridge of his nose, narrowing his icy blue eyes in disproval as he checked the time on his watch. Knowing that freak, he probably didn't even need a watch. He was an anal perfectionist who timed out his daily activities the night prior. I wouldn't be surprised if he had his biological clock trained to have pre-determined bathroom breaks.

"Actually, it's two in the afternoon."

I looked over my shoulder to give Ludwig a dirty look. The German simply returned my glare with an indifferent expression on his face. It had taken him a full year, but now he was completely desensitized to my volatile temper. "Got a problem with that, dipshit?" I growled.

Ludwig passive aggressively clicked the pen in his right hand. "Nein, of course not." The potato then proceeded to rip off a yellow sticky note from its respective pad, albeit slowly.

I bit my lip. I was this close to grabbing a lighter and setting fire to his school books. That potato knew how much I hated it when he shoved his kumbaya 'study hard and succeed' work ethic in my face. Shrewd, blue eyes were met with fiery, 'not taking any of your shit' hazel ones.

So what if I left my work until the last minute, pulled off all nighters, and pumped my body with an insane amount of caffeine?! All that mattered was that I got my work done, albeit almost killing myself in the process. Shit. I just delegitimized my own argument, didn't I? What the fuck ever. I would never give that potato the benefit of the doubt anyways. I'd rather be subjected to another one of Liza's butt gropes than admit that his study method worked better.

"What's the frown for?" I leered. "Did you forget to have your morning bowl of 'stuck up prick' cereal?"

Ludwig pursed his lips. "Eat a tomato, Lovino. You're not the same when you're hungry."

"Bitch, did you just use the snicker's bar slogan against me?!"

"Hmmm. And so I did."

Feliciano chuckled nervously, for once sensing the tense atmosphere in the room. "Ve, okay! I think it's time for you guys to take a breather." The airhead then set down his wooden paint pallet.

I broke off my stare down with the steroid monstrosity of a human brick, who I totally wasn't scared of just to be perfectly clear.

"Luddy, why don't you get yourself ready for my next painting?"

Ludwig sighed and nodded his head, standing up from the dining room table. "Ja, okay. I could use a break anyhow."

"What you need is a break to the side of the head."

Ludwig spared me one last unamused look before he shut the bathroom door. "Perhaps. It would make dealing with you a whole lot easier."

I opened my mouth in retort only to close it when Feliciano placed a hand on my shoulder. The little bitch even had the audacity to shake his head at me. "Would it kill you to be nice in front of him?" he whined.

I roughly shrugged off Feliciano's hand, turning on my heels and setting my sights on the fridge. I nearly tore off the hinges of the stainless-steel door as I swung it open in an aggressive, forceful arc. "That shithead's the one who fucking started it," I snapped. "You should have seen the judgemental look he was giving me."

"Luddy's hard on me too when it comes to school! He only wants to bring out the best in people, ve."

"That's bullshit and you know it, Feli. Fuck, there's nothing to eat." I blinked and stared hard at the near empty fridge, hoping somewhere deep inside of me that sheer will power would make a fresh plate of pasta appear out of thin air.

I closed the fridge door and settled on eating the homemade croissants that Feli had baked the other day. Feliciano was no longer hovering behind me like an estranged mother. He had long given up on placating my foul mood and was now back to adding the finishing touches to his painting.

I walked up behind him, craning my neck to the side as I tried to get a good look at what he was painting. It was a child, and a cute one too. The little boy had chubby cheeks, hazel eyes, tanned skin, and curly brown hair. A permanent scowl was situated on the boy's face. He appeared to be very angry about life. Me too, little man. Me too.

"What's that your painting?" I huffed in between shamelessly stuffing half of the croissant into my mouth.

Feliciano grinned slyly. "Your and Antonio's love child."

PFFFFFF!

"Our what?!" Pieces of chewed up croissant flew everywhere. I doubled over, coughing and gasping to get some air into my now struggling lungs.

"Aw~! I didn't think that you would get this excited, fratello! Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?!"

"YES! I MEAN NO! I MEAN…WHAT THE FUCK, FELI?!"

Feliciano looked like a kid who had just been told that Santa wasn't real. "What, you don't like it?"

My answer was cut off short when Ludwig walked out of the bathroom.

For the second time today, I lost my fucking shit.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! WHY THE FUCK IS HE NAKED!?" I screamed, all the while hissing and covering my already blinded eyes with both hands.

Ludwig's brows furrowed in confusion. "Is he not comfortable with nudity?"

Feliciano brought a hand to his forehead and grimaced. "He's not comfortable with anything that breathes."

I screamed and writhed/ twitched my way back into the kitchen. "Feli, where do you keep the bottle of bleach?"

"Ve, under the kitchen sink, why?"

"I WANT TO BURN THIS FUCKING ATTROCIOUS SIGHT OUT OF MY MEMORY!"

Ludwig's cheeks flushed a bright pink. "Did you not think to warn him about this first?"

Feliciano simply shrugged. Most people wouldn't have spotted the hint of a smirk tugging on the corners of his lips. "It was the quickest and easiest way to get him out of the apartment."

…

*Several miscellaneous bangs, shouts, and self-induced death threats later*

*Thankfully, our peeled potato in question, Ludwig, had enough sense to put on some clothes. *

"Feli?"

"S-si, fratello?"

"Liza paid you to make that painting, didn't she?"

An uncomfortable amount of silence passed by.

Said silence ended when the sound of choking and profuse swearing could be heard.

"VE, I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! D-DON'T KILL ME! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO TOP LUDDY YET!"

"VHAT?!"

"COME AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKER?"
…

"TAKE YOUR SAUSAGE FINGERS OFF ME, YOU DAMN DIRTY POTATO!"

"Not until you promise me that you won't try to strangle your brother again."

"Fuck, fine."

"I'm letting go now…"

"CHIGI! LET ME AT HIM!"

"I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER! I'M WAVING LUDDY'S BOXERS BACK AND FORTH, SEE?! THAT MEANS THAT I'M SORRY! AH! NOT THE BALLS! NOT THE BALLS!"

Said German in question looked down, blushed when he realized that his boxers had been taken off without him noticing it, and sighed out of defeat. This was just your typical day in the Vargas twins' household. He had brought it all onto himself, really.

…

A cold wind swept over the courtyard, causing me to bury the lower half of my face into my woollen scarf. It was just past six, and I had no intention of going home any time soon. In fact, staying out here was my way of praying that God would have mercy on me and permanently freeze my eyeballs shut. As you can see, I'm still suffering from the PTSD of seeing that potato naked. Why Feliciano wanted to tap that is beyond me.

*Shudders*

The sun had set a while back. That's one thing that I've always hated about winter, well, other than the tit freezing cold temperatures. Day time typically ended at five, sometimes even four PM. It was pitch black outside, save for the eager beaver Christmas lights that were strung across the rooftops of the various shops that I passed by. I was in the food strip part of the campus, and the loud, pounding thrums of dubstep indicated to me that Liza's café wasn't too far off.

Chigi! How do I always end up going back there? It's like there's an inherent part of me that secretly enjoys being tortured and embarrassed. I sighed. I would just have to make sure not to get too close to the café, otherwise I was sure to be dragged in there against my will. I had booked this night off solely because I didn't want to get caught up in the chaos that was karaoke night.

Not even the trauma caused by hump-pole Wednesday could compare to the horrors of drunk college students screeching to their heart's content. Last time, Gilbert had almost gotten arrested for public indecency. Apparently whipped cream wasn't an appropriate way of covering one's self up. I agreed with that sentiment whole heartedly.

I kicked at the salted gravel under my feet. The fact that it had snowed last night didn't help to alleviate my grumpy mood. I was also a bit ticked off that I didn't have Antonio to bitch and moan to. I had been so quick to leave that I had forgotten my phone back at the apartment. But, if I had to take a good guess, I would probably find Antonio at the very place that I was trying to avoid.

Although, he must be quite worried about me right now. We usually texted all day long if we weren't spending time together. Granted, he mostly talked about how much I reminded him of a tomato, but his stupidity was a nice refresher from the stress of school and just life in general. I suppose that I would have to go to the café after all.

On my way to the café, terrified shrieking echoed behind me. I looked over my shoulder, only to nearly piss myself out of fear. Two people, both of whom I was absolutely petrified of, were heading straight for me, or rather, in my general direction.

Ivan, who was normally characterized by a sly, stoic expression on his face, had his lips parted open in horror. The Russian giant was running away from his cackling, lunatic sister, who by the looks of it, was reaching out to grab him by the end of his scarf.

"Big brother! Wait! You forgot to take something with you!"

"W-what's that?"

"Me!"

"Go awaaaaaay!"

I ducked behind a tree as the feuding/ sobbing siblings sprinted past me. There was simply no escaping the craziness of this University. It was literally everywhere.

I had found myself a whole new level of crazy when I stopped to stand in front of the café. Bright disco lights flared on and off, reminding me of that one Pokémon episode that had caused dozens of kids to have epileptic seizures. Overkill much?

High pitched scratchy screeching, which was complimented by a soft, feminine voice filled my ears. I peered inside and spotted the make shift stage that had been set up inside of the café, which was really just a whole bunch of tables haphazardly pushed together.

What I saw next surprised me. Gilbert and Roderich, who I'm assuming were drunk out of their minds, were standing on top of the make-shift stage, arm in arm, singing along to a random Taylor Swift song that I had never bothered to learn the name of.

Honestly, I shouldn't have been so surprised. This was just your typical night at the cafe. Although, if Gilbert didn't take his arm off Roderich soon, Liza was sure to beat his head in. It would explain why she was irately pacing back and forth, pan in hand, and with an evil, slightly murderous expression on her face.

I smirked when I spotted a certain goofball sitting in a booth by the window. It wasn't long before Antonio caught my gaze me and sprinted out of the café. The bastard nearly tripped over his feet a grand moronic total of five times.

Antonio pulled me into a crushing hug. "Loviiiiii~! Mi Tomatito! Where have you been?! I was so worried!"

Spluttering for air, I pounded a fist against Antonio's back, causing him to lessen up on his grip. The Spaniard stepped back a little to get a good look at me. His green eyes were glazed slightly, twinkling under the bright lights surrounding us. I had my suspicions that he had been drinking, but I didn't let this fact bother me.

"I forgot my phone back at the apartment," I grumbled, burying my head into the crook of his neck.

"Oh! Okay! Why don't we go inside then? The fun's just getting started~!"

I pulled away and shook my head. "I just came by to say hello. I still have a lot of work to catch up on."

Antonio sighed. "You push yourself too hard, Lovi."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't you dare worry about me, bastard. I can take care of myself. Now go on, enjoy the rest of your night. I'll text you when I wake up tomorrow."

I turned on my heels to leave, only to falter when Antonio grabbed onto the sleeve of my coat. "I think that you're forgetting something," he purred.

"Oh?" I deadpanned. "And what's that?"

"A goodbye kiss!"

I paled and swallowed awkwardly. "A k-kiss?" I squeaked. "R-right here?"

With all the people walking around in the area, I felt as if a bright spotlight had been cast onto me. I was suddenly much more self conscious of my actions. I was embarrassed and I hated myself for feeling conflicted over something that any other person would view as natural.

Antonio's face broke out into a wide grin. "Si, right here, right now!"

The Spaniard bent down to kiss my lips. I quickly tilted my face so that he merely pecked me on the cheek. Antonio frowned and moved to kiss me again. This time, I had no choice but to avoid him entirely.

"Do you not want to kiss me?"

"W-what makes you think that?"

"You just look really uncomfortable. Did I do something to make you feel that way?"

Fuck that bastard for caring and knowing me so well.

I shook my head back and forth, albeit not making direct eye contact with him. "No, of course not."

Antonio used a finger to tilt up my chin, and it wasn't long before he was kissing me. Ten seconds passed before I forced myself to break away, biting my lip out of frustration.

Anger began to leak into his voice. "Okay, there's definitely something that you're not telling me."

I didn't say anything.

"Lovino?"

Shit, he was being serious now.

"Y-yeah?"

"Are you… embarrassed by me?"

I took too long to answer.

Antonio's face fell, and a new look of hurt crossed over his face. "Wow, okay. I see how it is."

"N-no!" I stammered. "It's not that, I promise!"

"Then what is it?"

My eyes began to burn with fresh tears. "I can't tell you," I whispered.

Not without risking you getting the wrong idea, I thought, but didn't dare to say.

Antonio inhaled sharply and turned his back to me. "I've been mistaken. Clearly you aren't as committed to this relationship as I thought."

"That's not true!" I croaked. "I…I…"

"You don't trust me. It's as simple as that," Antonio snapped.

For the first time, I heard bitterness in his voice, and let me be the first to say that it didn't suit him.

At all.

My words fell short on my tongue. I was paralyzed by fear, and rendered helpless by my inability to confront it.

Antonio chuckled bitterly. "That's what I thought."

The slamming of the café's front door could be heard.

And because I was such a shitty person and coward extraordinaire, I didn't chase after him.

I raked a hand through my hair and swore under my breath. "Fuck."