Lovino is leaning up against his locker, totally not watching Madeline. He also didn't stop in whatever he was doing during the week to stare at her. It's also not creepy shut the fuck up. It doesn't help that Madeline notices half the time, stopping what she's doing to smile at him. It annoys him. It makes him happy. It annoys him that he's happy. He bangs his head back on the locker.

She's talking to some person he doesn't know. He doesn't really care to know either. They're tall and wearing a long scarf around their neck. Madeline is chatting easily with them. Lovino is not jealous. He has no reason to be. What would be the point of being jealous over someone he doesn't know, doesn't care about, talking to someone he also doesn't care about. He rolls his eyes and heads to class on time for once, getting there almost early.

He bites on his pencil during class. He's supposed to be teaching Madeline more dance steps today. He bites harder when he finds himself wondering who she talked to earlier. It's stupid. Who cares who she talks to. She can talk to anyone she wants. Lovino sighs.

He doesn't have many friends. He knows that. It's pretty obvious. Most people get pushed away from his 'don't give a shit' attitude. He used to have friends, but they got nit picky and gossipy and he couldn't do it. That scene just hadn't been for him. He started to find a lot of things didn't matter. No big deal. Just how things played out for him.

One of those things just happened to be his romantic life. Not that he didn't want to hold someone's hand or talk to them after a long day. He just didn't find someone he could do that with. He's had chances of course. Chances that he almost accepted then rejected at the last second. The first had been Carmen. She came in like a tornado to his life. She had liked him despite everything and that had been new for him. Someone who liked him despite his neutral angry self. He had nearly liked her back, but she kept going off about how cute he always acted, even if something really upset him. She couldn't see the difference between his real anger and his outer pissed off mood. He couldn't do that.

Then came Julchen. He tried to listen and hear her out. The more she talked the more he grimaced though. She really liked his devil may care attitude, wanting to pull pranks with him and have fun. He liked the idea of that. However, that's all she seemed to really care about. There could be no seriousness with that. Plus she never shut up. Amelia showed up soon after. And he had really wanted to like her. She could have fun and be serious, but then she let it slip how cool it'd be to date the bad boy of the school and Lovino cut that off that immediately. She just wanted to date him for his reputation that he never even asked for.

He nearly couldn't think of a response when Lars asked him on a date. He and Lars barely talked, and when they did it never felt normal, kind of forced interaction. He couldn't for the life of him see why Lars liked him. He didn't really like him either. So he had to say no. He wouldn't date someone he didn't like. That wouldn't be fair to either of them. Lovino isn't that mean.

He drags himself out of his seat when the bell rings. He's so close to being able to dance. He just needs to get there. He rolls his shoulders when he gets out of the classroom. He shoves his things in his locker like always. He freezes when he turns around. Madeline is there talking to that same tall dude with the scarf. He's playing with the ends of the scarf, his face red. Lovino watches with a bored expression. Madeline brings a hand to her mouth. She shakes her head. The tall boy looks to the ground. They each say something else, then the tall boy is looking right at him.

Lovino keeps his face blank. The tall boy stares at him, judging him. He says something else that makes Madeline puff up in a blush. The tall boy smiles down at her and hugs her. Lovino will deny that his blood boiled. The other boy pulls away, a smile on his face and waving down the hallway. Lovino moves then. He heads to the bathroom to change out of his winter ready clothes for something looser for dancing.

Madeline is already in the room when he gets there. She greets him with a smile and he flippantly waves his hand in response. He throws his stuff in the corner.

"Let's go over what you remember from last time," He says. She skips on over to him and they line up together. Madeline remembers a lot of what they covered. It's simple to reteach the parts she couldn't get the hang of. She smiles brightly at him.

"Can we try it together now?" The question makes Lovino pause. He glares at the ground.

"I guess so." He mumbles out. He backs away and taps out a few steps for the part he's supposed to dance. He doesn't want to accidentally start doing the girls part after doing it for so long. He waves her closer. She giggles in excitement and steps up to him. He takes a deep breath and guides her hands to the proper positions, one hand on his shoulder the other in his. He places a hand on her waist and stands proud. He counts out a slow beat, wanting to keep it easy for her. They both watch their feet as they move across the floor. Madeline is biting her lip and smiling. Lovino can't keep his eyes off her. There's a bit of a confusion near the end and toes are almost stepped on but they get It. Madeline looks up to him, her eyes sparkling. Lovino bites his tongue.

She pulls away and spins in a circle, her blonde hair twirling around her. Lovino runs a hand through his hair. Madeline pulls him close for a hug. Lovino freezes, the air leaving him. It takes a conscious effort to hug her back. She's warm against him. She pulls back to face him.

"Can we do it again?" She asks sweetly. How could he say no to that. He sighs and pulls her back to the center of the floor. He counts out a quicker beat this time. Madeline stumbles just a little, still watching her feet. Halfway through she gets confident, looking away from her feet and laughing. Lovino clenches his teeth. He's not sure if it's the dancing or the way she's smiling at him that's causing his heart to race the way it is. He'll blame the dancing.

The end of the steps come and Madeline bites her lip in concentration to remember the footwork. She fumbles a little but Lovino catches her, bringing her flush up against him on accident. She smiles for him. He's stuck in his spot. Her eyes are bright and regarding him so sweetly. He doesn't move, and doesn't let her go. There's a brief panic in his head. What is he doing? The smile on Madeline's face falls away slowly, her expression changing to concern. Lovino bites the inside of his lip. He lets go of her hand and runs it through her hair. He pulls her close quickly and kisses her deeply. Madeline lets out a squeak.

He pulls away sharply at that. He lets out a huff of breath. Shit. He steps away from her without a word. She just stands there and watches him as he gathers his things, not bothering to put on his winter clothes, and exits with a bang of the door. Lovino is surprised he doesn't run home. He shouldn't have done that. It was stupid. He shouldn't be caring so much about this. About her. He doesn't. It had been because of that dance he did what he did. He didn't really like her. He was caught in the moment. Or at least that's what he tells himself.