Lovino felt pretty certain that his little brother regarded him as God.

He spent all his time looking admiringly at his older brother. Somehow finishing college seemed like something extraordinary to Feliciano, possibly because he was only in his freshman year and found it really hard or something.

At first, Lovino had rather liked the fact that Feliciano always bragged about him to his friends. But then it got annoying. I mean, suuure, Lovino was awesome, but really, did everyone have to know that?

Maybe that's why it was such a relief when he met Antonio. After all, Antonio knew absolutely nothing about how awesome Lovino was, and Lovino intended to keep it that way. At first.

AYE**LUV**YOU

They first met in the middle of a grocery store. Someone bumped into Lovino, knocking a handful of loose change from his palm. Cursing, Lovino kneeled on the ground in an effort to pick it all up. Money was tight for him and Feliciano, and, with no family to help support them, paying for his brother's college was taking a lot out of him.

His scrabbling fingers met someone else's hands as he reached for one last quarter. He was just about to shout that it was his when the hand held out the coin and a voice gave a cheery "Here you go!" Lovino held out a hand and the coin was dropped into his palm.

"Th-thank you," he stammered, suddenly unsure of himself.

"Anytime!" the voice said. Lovino looked up just in time to see warm tan skin, chocolate hair, and the brightest green eyes he had ever seen in his life. Instantly Lovino committed this man's appearance to memory. He would keep an eye out for this man. Oooh yes, he would.

AYE**LUV**YOU

They next met in a second-hand bookstore. Lovino was shopping for textbooks for his brother, who was currently out with his friends, Sakura and Ludwig. Who knew what those three demons were doing. But honestly, what they were getting up to didn't matter at all when he laid eyes on the green-eyed man for the second time.

The first time had been a couple months before, and the man's hair had grown in that time. He now had silky chocolate waves instead of just short, messy-looking hair, and he looked, in Lovino's opinion, far more attractive. His green eyes were still as bright and his skin was still as tan, but... there was a certain stoop to his shoulders that made him look like he was Atlas, with the weight of the world resting on his shoulders, and that's what made Lovino make contact with him.

"Um, hey there..." he said, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. "Are you... okay?"

The man looked up and, to Lovino's surprise, immediately recognized him. "Oh, you're the one- from the grocery store- you dropped all your change~!" He smiled in such an excited way that Lovino couldn't seem to get words out of his mouth. "I... I am right, aren't I?" the man asked, sound suddenly unsure. "You... you do remember me, right...?"

"Um, y-yeah, of course I do, I just didn't think that you would remember me."

The man shot Lovino a relieved smile, then slumped slightly down. Lovino frowned. The man had seemed so happy the first time he had seen him. What had changed him in the last couple of months?

"What's wrong?" Lovino asked again. He didn't care if he was prying; he was going to find out what had hurt this man, and then he was going to make it all better. Maybe even kiss it all better, depending on if the man swung that way.

"Oh, nothing, nothing..." the man said, waving a hand through the air as if waving away the question- or perhaps the trouble. After a few consecutive minutes of Lovino's piercing, demonic stare, the man finally relented.

"I made a mistake, that's all." the man said with a sigh. "I thought... I put my trust in the wrong person, I guess, and... it was just a mistake, that's all." The man let out a low, empty laugh. "I can't believe I'm telling you this. A random stranger who I'm just meeting for the second time. I've fallen so far..." The man shook his head in disgust that was directed at himself.

Lovino wouldn't stand for it.

"You haven't fallen anywhere!" he retorted forcefully. "I'm sure you're a perfectly wonderful person! You've just had some shit happen to you, that's all."

The man stared at Lovino, and Lovino felt himself blush. "Do you really think that?" the man asked, suddenly sounding hopeful.

"Of course I do," Lovino said, business-like all of a sudden. "And don't think I'm making special allowances for you or anything, because I'm not. Everyone is perfectly lovely, and so are you, and if you keep being all depressed I'm going to have to cook you dinner."

The man seemed stunned by this. "A-are you... inviting me to dinner?" he asked, sounding shocked and hopeful at the same time. Lovino instantly felt super embarrassed but did his best to hide it.

"Possibly. I-I mean, if you want. It's not a date or anything."

"O-of course not!" the green-eyed man agreed immediately. "Completely normal!"

"Absolutely!" Lovino said, voice slightly higher pitched than usual. There was an awkward pause while they both wondered what they should do now, and then Lovino said, "Um, so, do you... do you want my number? We can... um... arrange d-dinner then..."

The green-eyed man avoided Lovino's eyes and nodded embarrassedly. "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll give you mine too." He reached into a briefcase-like-thing by his feet and pulled out a notebook, scribbled something down in it, then tore out the page and ripped it in half. "Write your number on here, okay? And you're name, since, ah, I don't know it..."

Lovino laughed awkwardly at this. It sounded high-pitched and strange and caused him to blush with embarrassment. "My name's Lovino. Vargas. Lovino Vargas, heh heh..."

The man smiled and reached out a hand. "My name's Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, and I'm very pleased to meet you~!"

AYE**LUV**YOU

"Ve, fratello, guess what happened to me today!"

Lovino idly doodled on a piece of scratch paper as he let Feliciano's high-pitched voice wash over him. He vaguely realized what Feliciano was going on about and nodded or replied monosyllabically every once in a while, but his mind was too full of the slightly melancholy smile of the green-eyed man- Antonio -for him to really pay attention.

"Fratello, are you listening?" asked Feliciano. "I was just telling you about Ludwig-"

"I don't care about Ludwig," Lovino said, rather more harshly than he had wanted to. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so-"

Feli giggled. "Lovino, did you meet someone when you went out today? Was it a pretty girl~?"

Lovino groaned and rested his head on the top of the table. "No, Feli, there was no pretty girl." There was a pretty man, though, but he wasn't about to tell his little brother about that.

"Well then, what could make you not listen to me?" Feli asked, pouting.

"Nothing, Feli..." Lovino sighed. "Continue with... whatever you were saying."

"No!" Feli said firmly. "Tell me what you were thinking about!"

"Nothing, Feli, I was just-" His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he fell off his chair in surprise. He grabbed it quickly and answered the call, pressing the phone to his face and saying a breathy hello.

"Hi, Lovino Vargas, this is Antonio and, um... sorry to call... I hope I'm not being a bother... but... I've just been kicked out of my house because I can't afford the rent and, um, if it's no bother, can I just... spend one night there? Tomorrow I can buy a train ticket to where my friend lives, but I need to get some stuff first, and I don't want to come on such short notice-"

"No, don't worry, you can totally come over," Lovino said instantly. "Stay as long as you want, really. I mean, we've got a sofa that no one uses, so you're welcome to stay there."

"R-really...? I mean, I don't want to impose, it's just, well, I had no one else to call except my ex, and that would just be awkward, you know?"

"Totally," Lovino said, voice breathy and high-pitched. He gestured frantically to Feliciano, who looked at him with wide eyes. He mouthed the words start making pasta, then tuned back in to Antonio.

"-if you don't want me to stay I can just sleep on a park bench-"

"No no, don't even think about it. Like I said, my brother and I will enjoy the company, so don't you worry your pretty little head about it." Even as he said the words he knew they were stupid, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. Oh Jesus Christ.

"Well... if you're sure..."

"I'm totally sure," Lovino said, then proceeded to take a leap of faith and give Antonio directions on how to reach his and Feli's apartment. Immediately after that, they said goodbye and hung up, and then he seemed to transform into a whirlwind as he picked what little shit there was on the floor off of it, and vacuumed everything from the rugs to the ceiling, then made pasta, heated up some leftover tomato sauce from the night before, made a quick salad, and polished all the silverware in the house, for whatever reason.

In this time, Feliciano managed to disappear somewhere, leaving Lovino aaaaall on his own with some random guy he'd barely even met before. Oh god, this was not going to end well...

Antonio showed up at around six thirty, and Lovino welcomed him inside, sat him down at the table, and made him eat pasta until he couldn't eat anything else. He believe pasta had healing effects. He also believed that Antonio hadn't been eating all that much lately, and should probably start doing so.

After that, he gave Antonio some blankets, set him up on the couch, then left to go nervously pace his bedroom.

The next day when he woke up, Antonio was gone. He had left a note, though. It read:

Dear Lovino,

I'm sorry I was such a bother. I am off to Portland to go live with my friends,

Francis Bonnefoy and Gilbert Beilschmidt. (If you need to get in touch with

me, I've left their phone number.)

I hope to see you again sometime, perhaps under happier circumstances?

Love, Antonio

And that... was all.

Lovino felt tears welling in his eyes, and so quickly made his way to his bedroom, crumpling the note in his hand. He hated... he loved... he wanted... Antonio. FUCKING ANTONIO. Fuck him. He was useless and stupid and fuck, Lovino had known him for a grand total of, like, seven hours in all, and they hadn't even been consecutive, which was, of course, more than could be said for Romeo and Juliet, but this was REAL LIFE, not some stupid play by a fucktard, genius Englishman.

He would never, ever, EVER, think about Antonio Fernandez Carriedo again.

AYE**LUV**YOU

Six months later, Lovino had managed to stay remarkably true to himself. He hardly ever thought about Antonio, although, when he did, it was with such love and longing that he couldn't even breathe. He comforted himself with the knowledge that Antonio could go fuck himself, and then moved on with his life.

UNTIL SHIT HAPPENED.

"Lovino, I'm going to a party that Ludwig's brother and his friends are hosting!" Feli said one night. Instantly Lovino was up and changing out of his pajamas.

"I'm coming with you."

Feliciano rolled his eyes. "Really, fratello, it's fine. It's just a small little thing, and I'll be with Ludwig and Sakura the whole time-"

"No buts," Lovino said sharply as he pulled on a Darth Vader t-shirt. "I don't want you going to some party and then getting fucking high, no sirree. I've been to college before, Feli; I know what it's about, and you are so not doing anything that it's about." Sex and drugs + Feli = not on Lovino's motherfucking watch.

Half an hour later, Lovino pulled up into Ludwig's brother's driveway. The fucker had a house. Well, no, more like a mansion or something. The dude was rich.

Feli and Lovino walked (well, in Lovino's case, prowled) up the path that led to the manion. When they reached the front porch, Feli rang the doorbell. The door was immediately opened by none other than... Antonio.

Fucking hell, was all Lovino could think as he once again stared into those gorgeous green eyes. Antonio stared back, welcoming grin slowly slipping from his face to be replaced by a smile of wonder.

"It's you..." Antonio breathed, taking a step forward. Feli slipped past him into the house, looking for Ludwig. Lovino saw none of this. His knees were going weak, and he felt his eyes blur slightly with tears, which was weird because honestly, this was nothing to cry about.

"It's me..." Lovino said numbly. He couldn't believe... Antonio... he had thought he'd never see him again...

"So it is," Antonio said, and Lovino stopped feeling so stupid, because apparently Antonio was stupid too. "I'm going to have to kiss you now, I think," Antonio said softly, and suddenly his mouth was on Lovino's and everything was good in the world and his fingers were running through that hair and he was totally, irrevocably, in love.

AYE**LUV**YOU

Two years later, Antonio and Lovino were literally never seen apart from each other. Feli had finished college and moved in with his German boyfriend, Francis and Gilbert had done something, Lovino supposed, and he and Antonio were absolutely happy with everything.

And to think, it all started with a handful of loose change.

A/N Aaaaaand this is all unedited and terrible and I'm sorry you guys have to put up with this shit. I can hear birds chirping outside, which pisses me off because HONESTLY, it's only four-thirty, and I have to wake up in six hours, and I don't know what to do with my life now that I've finished all the Supernatural they have on Netflix.

Anyways, this thingie takes place in the same universe as my other thingie I'm Shy, so yeah, that's goodness. Anyways. Be happy. Fucking hell.