Disclaimer: I don't own it, I just ship it
Warning: AU, strong language, boy x boy pairings, violence (more so bullying in the beginning), and because this was inspired by the manga Iris Zero, there may be some minor spoilers for it.
Holy crap, did this thing just hit 100 reviews?! I knew it was close, but didn't realize it happened until the 100th reviewer pointed it out to me (I warned you lovely readers that I'm number illiterate). You guys are the greatest! You shall be rewarded with another long chapter while I go prance around the room in some form of victory dance! And pandahero2P, your gift fic is in the works! Congrats on being number 100 :)
oOo
Alfred was a ninja.
Or at least he liked to think so. Every morning for the last week and a half, Lovino had taken a different route to school. The Italian had used backroads, secret alleys, and a wide assortment of shortcuts. He never left his home or arrived to school at the same time. On a day he felt particularly clever, Lovino even cut through the field on the opposite side of campus.
And every morning Alfred had found him.
The Italian had accused him of bugging his backpack or hacking a satellite feed somewhere, to try to explain Alfred's crazy Lovino-Radar. The blonde would always laugh and give him some incredibly cheesy, Saturday-Morning-Cartoon answer like "The Hero will always find you!" or "Best friends always find each other!" Eventually, Lovino gave up and went back to taking his normal route. Sure, the hyperactive, six foot tall puppy joined him every morning and drove him nuts with his incessant ramblings about McDonald's and action movies that they just had to see, but he could do worse for walking companions, besides…sometimes Alfred brought coffee.
"What's your problem, bastard?" Lovino carefully sipped the cappuccino Alfred surprised him with. "…N-Not that I care or anything. I just realized you were actually quiet for longer than five seconds."
"Your shoes…" he pouted.
"My shoes?"
Alfred explained how Lovino had gone and wore his standard school-issued shoes, not his gym shoes like yesterday. The blonde had worn his gym shoes today so they could match.
"Dumbass…Why the hell would you do that?"
"…I know how much you hate standing out."
Lovino didn't know whether to be touched that Alfred cared or hit him for being an idiot. Heat began to burn his cheeks and he quickly found the sidewalk incredibly interesting. The tsundere was about to say something else when Alfred began waving to someone in the distance.
"Kiku! What's up, dude?" he shouted. "Wow, coincidence running into you out here."
"Yes…what a coincidence," the Japanese boy smiled innocently.
Lovino gave him a look. He saw through his bullshit. The rice bastard was up to something… Kiku himself continued smiling, knowing that the brunette undoubtedly realized something was off about them meeting out here, but was too smart to call him out on it for now.
"Don't you usually drive to school?" asked Alfred.
"I thought walking would be a nice change of pace."
"No doubt. Did you wanna walk with us?"
"I wouldn't be…interrupting anything would I?"
"Not at all!" Alfred insisted, Kiku's tone going right over his head. However, at his side, Lovino was quick to glare at their black-haired friend, who fell in stride with them. The Italian did not like what he was trying to imply.
"Che stronzo…" Lovino growled.
"Sorry, he gets cranky and Italian when he doesn't get his coffee right away."
"Ah, I see."
"I'm standing right here, assholes!"
"So anyway, I was hoping to run a few pep rally ideas by you guys…" The Hero tried to change the subject and calm his buddy down.
Alfred explained that it was his first time being Student Council President, so he wanted to make this Homecoming something everyone would remember. He knew from the kitchen bandit mystery that he could do something bigger and better if he had the others backing him, so he wanted their help at the pep rally he was supposed to speak at.
The two boys were willing to help, as long as Alfred's stunts stayed within the realms of reality. (his jetpack idea was shot down right away). They listened to all his ideas, trying to weed out the doable creative from the downright crazy…a category the blonde had more than enough ideas from.
"So, I was thinking we unleash a flock of eagles into the audience to mark our grand entrance…" Alfred began excitedly.
"…Eagles?"
"Yeah, you know, like a magic trick or something, maybe add a fog machine for special effects" the blonde waved off the details. "Anyway, the eagles would be trained to pop a bunch of balloons hanging over the audience to rain down confetti and—"
"Not gonna happen," Lovino vetoed the idea. "We don't have enough time to train your eagles to home in on balloons and not people."
"Alrighty, then how about elephants?"
"Elephants?" Kiku blinked, the President's ideas were quickly becoming weirder and weirder. "I don't know about that…"
"We are not riding a bunch of damned elephants into the auditorium, bastard!"
"But the Headmaster would love it!" Alfred insisted. "Doesn't he have an elephant? Toto?"
"We're still not doing it, dumbass."
"Fine…"
But none of those could compare to Alfred's favorite plan. One he liked to call Operation Firestorm. Operation Firestorm consisted of riding a bunch of motorcycles through the auditorium and onto the stage, where they would jump through a series of fiery hula hoops and land epically on the opposite side. Obviously, they'd all be wearing color-coded capes and matching helmets too. Alfred thought it was a darned good idea. His two friends, on the other hand…well, they weren't biting.
"You realize doing that could actually get us killed, right bastard?"
"Or worse…expelled," Kiku shuddered.
Back to the drawing board…
oOo
The morning bell rang and students settled into their homeroom classes. In one of the Senior classrooms, Roderich explained when and where the tickets would go on sale. He was in charge of overseeing the operation this year and would do his best to ensure Seniors got an early opportunity to purchase them before they were all sold out. It was their last Homecoming, after all.
"Ah, a kind gesture, but I'm afraid you will scare off more buyers with your prickly personality than anything…" Francis chuckled.
"And you think you could do better?" Roderich replied coldly.
"I think I could gather more people than there are tickets, mon ami!"
"And I think you'd have more people running off, thinking it was a scam," Elizabeta replied with a sweet smile.
Francis caught the bite in her tone, however. He had forgotten she was dating Roderich. A bit of an oversight, considering his Iris showed their 'Affection Arrows' pointing at each other, but nothing he couldn't recover from.
"I think that the person selling tickets to amour should be one better suited with amour~"
"Then there's no one better suited than Elizabeta!" laughed one of her friends. "She isn't the founder and president of the SHIP club for nothing!"
"Just call me Cupid…" she agreed, smirking.
"How ridiculous, that's practically my title!" Francis sneered, several of his fangirls nodding enthusiastically.
"Would you like to prove it?" Elizabeta refused to back down. After all, you don't insult her boyfriend and her pride in one sitting and expect to get away with it. Most people were afraid to even insult one or the other in her presence.
"I don't think it would be fair to you, mon cher, but far be it from me to turn down a request from a lady…no matter how foolish that request is."
Fortunately for everyone in the room, Francis and Elizabeta's argument turned into a competition before a real battle broke out. They made the bet over which two-person team could bring the most people together for Homecoming by the end of the day. Bringing people together counted as buying tickets to the Homecoming dance, which was also how they'd measure who won. The winner would receive the title of 'The Cupid of World Academy' and the loser had to cover the cost of a limo for the winner's entire party. Since they were both Seniors and took their last Homecoming very seriously, neither wasted any time snatching up a roll of tickets and dashing out of the classroom to find their partners in the upcoming contest.
"…Um, can they do that?" a student asked.
"Really? You've gone to school with them this long and you still have to ask?" another replied.
"I'm not exactly sure what just happened here…" their elderly homeroom teacher scratched his head. "…But I suppose getting into the Homecoming spirit is a good thing…Let's return to today's announcements, shall we?"
oOo
In a nearby classroom, second year students were already excitedly talking about who they would ask to the dance. For many of them, it would be their very first time going. Feliciano had been talking about the possibility of a pasta corsage/boutonnière set with some nearby friends. Nobody could settle the dilemma, so he turned to his rational German friend.
"Ve, are you okay, Ludwig?" Feliciano asked. "You don't look so well…"
"I-I'm fine," the German insisted, swallowing slowly and building up his courage. "I wanted to ask you if you—"
"FELICIANO VARGAS!" someone shouted excitedly, as he slammed the door open. Several people jumped and turned to face the new arrival. Ludwig merely buried his face in his hands; he had the absolute worst luck with this sort of thing.
"Francis?" Feliciano tilted his head curiously. "What are you doing here?"
Francis explained the contest he and Elizabeta had going for the title of 'Cupid of World Academy' to help boost Homecoming ticket sales. He said he chose Feliciano for his partner due to his incredibly handy Iris that could see the name of a person one cares for. The Italian was ready to accept the offer and begin right away, but his homeroom teacher had a different opinion on the matter.
"Is this even school-related?" she crossed her arms.
"Of course it is, Mademoiselle…" Francis turned on the charm. "Surely a bright and beautiful professor like you understands that."
The only thing she understood was that she had the little charmer in her homeroom class two years ago and that he tried to flirt his way into and out of everything. She wasn't buying it.
"Then where's your documentation from Headmaster Shinawatra?" the tall woman asked with an arched eyebrow.
"It's…"
"It's running late because I authorized it, not the Headmaster," Alfred spoke up with a grin. He thought the contest sounded fun. As long as he made the formal approval before the end of next period, there shouldn't be a problem. "Sorry, ma'am. The paperwork should be in later this afternoon."
"Well, as long as it's school-related, I suppose you can be excused…" Feli's homeroom teacher dismissed him. She figured she could trust the Student Council President, Alfred was an honest boy. "Good luck, Feliciano."
"Grazie!" He beamed and took off to join Francis, who waved appreciatively to Alfred.
On the other side of the school, Elizabeta was storming into Mei's classroom to recruit her for a similar reason – Mei could see red strings connecting people to others they cared about. She also had extensive knowledge of pre-existing couples and secretive couples due to her involvement with the SHIP club. This made her a perfect partner for finding couples to sell tickets to. Elizabeta dashed into the classroom excitedly, telling Mei to suit up, they had a mission to accomplish.
Mei's professor let out a shriek upon seeing the Senior in Matchmaker-Mode and dived behind his desk to hide. Everyone else stared at the Hungarian girl while she explained the contest with glee. Ever the businesswoman, Elizabeta offered a 10% discount to anyone in Mei's room who wanted to buy their tickets now. Several rushed over to take advantage of the deal, eagerly handing over money to the girls. When the line dwindled down, the two set out for another area to sell tickets.
"Is…Is it over…?" The middle-aged professor called out from behind his desk.
"Yes, sir. You can come out, she's gone now."
"Oh, thank heavens…" he crawled out and dusted off his suit. The Hungarian girl had him spooked ever since that time she tried to forcibly hook him up with the school librarian. The fact that he and his librarian friend were straight and married (himself with two children) did little to quell her motivation, and she only stopped when the Headmaster politely asked her to.
"Where to next, Elizabeta?" Mei asked her.
"The main lobby, so we can catch the largest flow of student traffic when the bell rings." the brunette replied, taking out her phone. It had begun to play Bad Apple, a sign she had a text message from Kiku. "I need to take this; can I count on you to secure a table for us?"
"Just leave it to me!"
"Wonderful! I'll handle this and meet you with decorations in five."
The girls departed and Elizabeta opened her message from Kiku.
Alfred has officially authorized your contest with Francis. The school is yours. Good luck, Shachō.
A cat-like grin spread across her lips as she darted into the SHIP clubroom, where they always had displays and decorations for emergencies such as this. She picked up a box of art supplies and replied to Kiku in one swift motion.
Excellent. Show him my appreciation by providing him with a few pictures of him, Lovino, and their little red panda family.
Understood.
"Elizabeta!" Mei called to her from the fancy table she managed to take over. "I was also able to borrow a speaker to hook up to a phone to play music."
"Fabulous work, Mei. I knew I was right in teaming up with you for the contest," the brunette smiled appreciatively. They had this in the bag! No way was that arrogant man-slut going to take her rightful title as Cupid! "Care to test your doujinshi skills out on some eye-catching poster work for our table?"
"I-I'll do my best!" she uncapped a few markers and got to work. Mei had lots of experience designing various costumes for the SHIP club, so she told herself not to worry, as she began drawing fancy clothes and accessories next to Elizabeta's block letters, advertising the Homecoming tickets.
oOo
Meanwhile, Feliciano and the "arrogant man-slut" became highly efficient at storming Phy. Ed., theater, and other classes with a large number of students present to find couples. Feli would read off the names he saw and Francis would confirm if their Affections Arrow matched up. It was their way of double-checking to see if Feliciano was seeing a boyfriend/girlfriend, versus a close friend or family member, since Francis only saw romantic affections with his Iris. Francis would keep a mental list of potential couples and focus on them when he and Feliciano approached the classes to actually sell the tickets. Currently, the pair was perched near the bleachers outside, watching the combined classes playing football.
"Ohonhonhon! There is no way I will lose to that rotten, scheming, freak of a fangirl!" Francis chortled. "Now tell me what your Iris can see, Feliciano."
"Ve…Let's see…Feliks and Toris?"
"Yes, but we already sold their tickets to Toris."
"We did?" Feliciano blinked. "I don't remember that."
"Toris wanted to surprise Feliks afterschool with them," the blonde smiled and tilted the Italian's face back to the crowd. "Who else do you see?"
"Marcello and Olivia?"
"Very good. I'll make sure I catch them."
"Emil and Lukas?"
"No, they're brothers," Francis chuckled. "Although, I'm sure Elizabeta would be all over that. Do you see Mathias anywhere?"
"Um…yes! Oh, Mathias and Lukas?"
"I have a match there, too."
When they had enough names to focus on, the duo moved in to sell tickets. Not surprisingly, a circle formed around the boys as they approached the group of students on the sidelines, waiting for their turn to play. Feliciano got to work right away gathering people around him with his cute antics and pasta song he informed others that he would perform at Homecoming if they won the ticket sales contest. After they were lured in by the Italian, Francis would charm them into buying tickets. In this manner, they made their rounds across the two fields, selling tickets left and right. Once they had finished their rotation, Francis suggested returning inside to find another class to exploit…er, provide a marketing service to. Both had turned their backs to the game behind them, so it was no surprise they didn't see the stray football whizzing towards them.
"F-Feli!" a voice shouted.
"Ve?" the amber-eyed boy turned around and panicked as he was suddenly pushed to the ground, the football rocketing over him a split-second later.
"You idiot! Get your damned head out of the clouds, fratello!" Lovino scolded him.
Feliciano only smiled and happily hugged his older brother for saving him. Lovino shoved him off angrily.
"If you're going to blindly run around the field like an idiot, at least try to focus a little, dammit."
"Okay, I promise!" Feliciano tried to thank his brother again, but got the cold shoulder.
Lovino felt bad, but didn't want to gather too much attention. More than that, he didn't want to ruin his brother's chances of winning the contest he was having so much fun with, just because people saw him hanging around the Iris Zero. Lovino had already caught more than a few angry glances cast their way. Idiots probably thought he was somehow poisoning the tickets or something.
The Cupids-in-training finished their ticket sales (Francis made use of the risking their lives angle to catch a few more students on the field) and started heading back inside. Soon the bell would ring and they had been having good luck catching couples walking together in the hall. Feliciano looked around for his brother to wave goodbye, but didn't see him. He could feel himself deflate a little. Feli was certain his fratello was making himself scarce because he was afraid of making him look bad. The younger Italian let Francis guide him back inside. He didn't understand why things had to be this way…
Back outside, Lovino tried to relax in the shade of the building. He had been doing well maintaining a low exposure until a particularly obnoxious girl and her prissy posse stomped over. Judging by their expressions, they were his brother's fangirls. He sighed, this could only end well…
"Hey, you! Iris Zero!" the girl in front called out to him, golden hair blowing in the breeze. She wasn't pleased with his interference in the all-important contest. "Who do you think you are getting in Feliciano's way?!"
"Don't you have anything better to do?" Lovino glared at her. He wasn't overly-fond of bitchy girls, no matter how pretty they might pretend to be.
"Did you even realize what you did?" she didn't seem to hear him. "You could have cost Feliciano the entire contest! I bet you want him to lose because you're just jealous of him! How pathetic!"
"Yes, it would have been much better if I let the football hit him," Lovino rolled his eyes. "That would be very big-brotherly of me."
"Well, thanks to you, he almost got hurt!" the girl snapped at him. "Don't think I didn't see how hard you pushed him! I know the truth! I know that Iris Zeroes bring nothing but bad luck!"
Lovino ignored her once more. He'd love to meet the dumbass who started that rumor so he could share some of his 'bad luck' with him.
"You're horrible! You'd better stay away from Feliciano or you'll regret it!" the primadonna threatened him.
He wished he could remember her name so he could make her regret it. Lovino rarely started actual fistfights and he would never hit a girl, but there were ways around this.
"Who are you to give me orders?" he replied smugly.
She haughtily reminded him she's from the noble and famous Rosenwald family, which makes her better than him even without the Iris Zero condition…at least in her status-driven world. The Italian was tempted to remind her that her beloved Feliciano was his brother, so she was indirectly insulting him in the process, but managed to hold back this time.
"Right…" Lovino could only smirk.
The brunette decided to skip the rest of class (which is easy when your instructor likes to pretend you don't exist) and headed over to the computer lab after he'd changed back into his normal uniform. He used his new rank on the Student Council to access Miss Rosenwald's school info – specifically her cellphone number. Many students listed those on their school account to have club reminders and school event info texted to them. Lovino was going to use her number in a slightly different way…
He opened up a new program to create a simple poster design, complete with a large picture of adorable puppies in a basket. The brunette's fingers flew over the keyboard as he added text to his poster.
FREE CUTE PUPPIES!
(text 555-3253 for more information)
He finished with a smirk and printed out several dozen copies. With the time he had left before the bell, he discreetly distributed the posters all around the school. Lovino hoped his latest bully enjoyed the mass text bomb that was about to drive her insane for the next 48 hours or so.
oOo
Business was booming for the girls in their lobby headquarters. Mei was making good use of her Iris, but with their elaborate set-up it almost wasn't needed. Students flooded over to them when they heard the announcement about getting Homecoming tickets early.
"Hello there!" Mei greeted the pretty, dark-skinned girl who was next in line. "Would you like to purchase a set of Homecoming tickets?"
"I'll take four of 'em," Adla held up four fingers.
"Four tickets?" Mei asked, wondering if she heard her right.
"Yeah, my brother's too chicken to man up and ask his girlfriend out, so he'll have no choice now," her ponytail bobbed as she laughed. As Mei handed her the ticket, she tucked them away safely in her purse and paid. "Thank you, Miss Mermaid."
"M-Miss Mermaid?"
"Oh, sorry. You probably didn't know…My Iris shows me the kind of story a person likes to tell. It plays out around their face like a book coming to life," Adla explained, squinting a bit. "Yours is really pretty. Lots of flowers, sparkly water, and mermaids, I think."
"Ahahaha…thank you," Mei didn't have the heart to tell her those were Mermen from the doujinshi she was currently working on.
"No problem, I'd much rather come to you than Francis," the Kenyan girl sighed. "He's been pestering me all day. I can barely even look at his filthy face…"
"Oh? What kind of story does he like to tell?"
"Uh…" Adla had the decency to blush. "…You don't want to know. Catch ya later, Miss Mermaid!"
When the majority of the passing students had filtered through the line, Elizabeta noticed Gilbert and called him over.
"Sorry, Liz, I already promised Francis I'd buy my tickets from him."
"I see…" her eyes became cold. "Remind me again…how long have we been friends?"
"Uh, pretty much our whole lives…" he answered honestly, immediately feeling uncomfortable by her change in demeanor. He was frozen on the spot. It felt like tiny daggers were pointing at him from every direction, giving him nowhere to run. The albino couldn't believe he used to have a crush on someone so terrifying.
"And how long have you and Francis been friends?"
"Since…middle school?"
"Mm," She nodded and directed his attention to her shadow. "And what do you see happening to you if you make the mistake of not buying tickets from me?"
His red eyes widened as he saw her shadow mercilessly attacking his own with a frying pan. He quickly forked over the money and took off the instant his childhood friend handed him his tickets. Gilbert wasn't going to take any chances. Sometimes he really hated his Iris…
"Pleasure doing business with you~!" Elizabeta waved cheerfully. "Say hi to Matthew for me~!"
oOo
Afterschool became the final stretch for the Lovey Dovey Ticket Salespeople. The majority of the tickets had been sold and each only had a handful left. Unfortunately, many of the couples had already bought their tickets and the few who didn't had to be hunted down carefully. It was now that the Irises really came into play…
Francis waltzed over to Elizabeta to check on her progress, while Feliciano stuck close to his side, trying to locate any couples in the crowd they missed. The Hungarian girl had ditched the table arrangement and was now walking around the main courtyard to sell off her remaining tickets.
"All by yourself, I see," Francis gloated. "Did Mei give up and abandon you?"
"Of course not," Elizabeta grinned evilly, spun on her heel, and walking away briskly.
The blonde didn't like that look. It was the look of complete confidence, not despair or defeat, which had been what he was expecting. How could she remain so at ease when her partner was nowhere in sight? And armed with only an Iris that measured happiness, she shouldn't be able to single out any secret couples either. At this point in the game, those were just about the only people left. Francis decided to follow her as she walked over to a tall boy with a buzzcut and glasses.
"Hi, Jamar," she smiled pleasantly. "How's your new girlfriend doing?"
"How'd you know about—"
"It's written all over your face, silly! You are definitely in love!" the Hungarian giggled. "And I can see with my Iris that she makes you very happy. The flower blossoming over your heart is in full bloom!"
Elizabeta made another sale and sneered at Francis, who stormed over, fuming.
"There's no way you knew they were dating, I didn't even know they were dating!" he threw his hands in the air, outraged. With the crowds, Francis's Iris was more difficult to use. Narrowing down one's significant other was trickier when there were twenty other people standing in the same direction.
"Of course not, that's why the Cupid title rightfully belongs to me," she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Francis couldn't believe this. He looked around furiously and managed to spot Mei on the balcony with binoculars. Gasping, the blonde realized what she was doing the instant Elizabeta's phone lit up with a new text message.
"Feliciano! Get over to the balcony now!" he ordered. "We need to counter this right away!"
"Huh?" the Italian looked at him in confusion.
"Mei's acting as a spotter and texting names to Elizabeta!" he explained. "Even with the crowd, she can do it because she's high enough to see where the red strings lead!"
"You can't copy us!" the long-haired girl glared. "That's cheating!"
"Ohonhonhon! All's fair in love and war~!" Francis proclaimed.
Feliciano watched Elizabeta chase his partner with her trusty frying pan. It didn't seem safe down here, so he decided to join Mei after all. He climbed the stairs quickly and greeted Mei brightly. From the balcony, they watched their gung-ho partners run around, doing far more damage than ticket sales. Since neither would be responding to them for awhile, the two spotters ended up chatting.
"Ve~! I'm so jealous of your Iris!" sighed Feliciano.
"Really?" she asked. "They both have similar accuracy and weaknesses, don't they?"
"I guess you're right!" Feliciano mulled that over. "We can see true love, but aren't limited by it either – close friends and family can also pop up on our radar…"
"See?"
"But you have the advantage of seeing more than one connection," the Italian pointed out. "I can only see a single name."
"True, but I have to weed out the friends and family from the lover, which takes time," she smiled politely.
The two carried on their pleasant conversation while their partners got back to work. It was right around 3:30 that Elizabeta and Francis each sold their last ticket. As they ran over to the other to brag, they realized something terrible…
Roderich had 200 tickets on him this morning, each divided into two equal ticket rolls. Because the Cupid fanatics each took one roll, they had the same amount – 100 tickets. Since each sold all 100 of their tickets, the competition could only end in a draw.
The two were inconsolable for the rest of the day.
oOo
Lovino caught up with his exhausted-looking little brother afterschool. Alfred happened to be hanging out with the tsundere at the time (complaining about some crazy-angry chick he just texted about free puppies threatening to kill him if he tries that number again) and joined him.
"You look like hell," the older Vargas brother said, allowing Feliciano to hang on his arm because he really did look like he'd fall over.
"Ve…I'm so tired…"
"Who knew a little contest like this could become so exhausting…?" Francis agreed.
"So, who won?" asked Alfred.
"It was a tie...!" The Frenchman spat, still a little sore about the subject.
"Serves you both right for being dumb enough to take the same amount of tickets," Lovino snickered.
"Mm? That reminds me, you never purchased your ticket yet…" Francis retorted. "You were planning on going weren't you?"
"Hell, no!"
"Oh, so sad. Couldn't find a date?" the wavy-haired blonde teased. "Would you like me to tell you where your Affections Arrow is pointing?"
"L-Like I care, bastard!"
"It's okay, Lovi!" his brother hugged him. "You still have my name over your head! That means you care about me the most!"
Alfred blinked, finding himself unexpectedly hurt by that. For a second, he could have sworn someone stabbed him in the chest. Maybe they had? The American failed to fight the urge to check if someone had stuck a needle in his heart. The sudden and strange feeling pinched the most there. Alfred came up empty-handed and even more confused. Where had that come from?
"Oh, shut up!" Lovino shoved Feliciano off, oblivious to his companion's dilemma. "That's only because I constantly have to keep you out of trouble, dammit!"
"Ve~"
Francis fell in step with the American and smiled knowingly. They guy practically wore his heart on his sleeve. How lucky for him that matters of the heart were the proud Frenchman's specialty!
"Something wrong, Alfred?"
"Wha-me? No, it's nothing!" he tried to cover it up with a lopsided grin.
"Whatever you say…" Francis shrugged. "It looked like your heart was aching for a moment there."
"My heart was…aching…?" Alfred shook his head. "Heh, you're crazy, Francis! I'm too young to have heart problems!"
Francis bit his tongue and decided against quipping about that not being true with the way he eats. Instead Francis glanced at the arrows floating above his friends. Sometimes a person's heart knows true love, but it has to plant the seed in the person's brain for it to grow and finally set in. He was grateful his Iris measured the former and not the latter.
As the group passed the gymnasium, Alfred decided to duck inside and see how the progress was going. Even from the outside, they could tell it was a circus in there. Naturally, Feliciano wanted to see too and ended up dragging his older brother with him. Francis had spotted Antonio and wanted to inform him about his life's woes and how Gilbert was a backstabbing little traitor who went 'hos over bros' when his life was only mildly in danger. Noticing the new arrivals, Antonio stopped by, giving his favorite cousin a hug without warning.
"Hola, Lovi~!" he greeted him brightly. For reasons better left unexplained, Antonio was wearing a Santa hat covered in colorful streamers and held a large bouquet of red and white carnations.
Lovino grumbled, but tolerated it when Antonio apologized, claiming he just wanted to hug him. As Francis dragged him and Feliciano off to help him plot revenge against Gilbert the Horrible, the Spaniard looked over his shoulder.
"Be careful around ladders if you're helping decorate!" he reminded Lovino. "Oh, and the columns in the Italy section are a little wobbly too! Make sure you don't climb on them, Lovi!"
"As if I'd ever get involved in decorating this stupid school…" the tsundere scoffed.
"Why the sudden concern?" Alfred asked, a little confused. Antonio had always been somewhat protective of his younger cousin, but that was downright mother hen-ish.
"It's his Iris…" Lovino sighed. "Antonio can see when people are in danger by the size and alertness of a Grim hanging around them."
"A Grim?"
"It's a black dog with red eyes, but we've always called it a Grim like in the stories we read as kids," explained the Italian. "The tomato bastard will always give me random hugs whenever the Grim is hanging around me…Idiot probably doesn't even realize he's giving it away. I'll have to be careful the next few days to avoid whatever danger Antonio's Iris was warning him about."
"Do you think it's something serious?" Alfred asked, growing a little worried when he double-checked with his own Iris and Lovino qualified as someone in potential danger.
"No, he always warns me if it's really bad," the brunette brushed off his concerns. "Ever since that day…"
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
Alfred tilted his head to the side, as if considering something, before immediately brightening and wrapping his arms around Lovino, surprising the latter with the hug. When he released the flustered tsundere, he got a green-eyed deathglare.
"What the hell was that for?"
"My Iris told me you qualified as 'someone who needs a hug from me,'" the blonde grinned.
"Well, stop asking it weird questions like that!" Lovino felt his ears burning.
"Do you at least feel a little better? I'm told I give out good hugs."
"Sure, nobody can dish out hugs like you," Lovino rolled his eyes.
"Is that disbelief in your voice? Do you need another hug to prove it?"
"No thanks, jerk."
"Nuh-uh! My Iris says you qualify for another hug!" Alfred broke into a wider grin and spread his arms out wide.
"K-Keep away from me, crazy bastard!" the older boy began running. "Dammiiiiiit!"
oOo
A/N – And there's your extra-long lovey-dovey contest chapter. I guess that makes Elizabeta and Francis both Cupids of sorts. As long as they don't start shooting people with arrows in order to "help" them I think the school will be okay.
-Rajikka
Translations
Fratello – Brother (It.)
Tsundere – A type of character seen in anime or manga known for appearing cold or hostile, but having a hidden sweet side. "Tsun Tsun" is the aloof or irritable side, while "Dere Dere" is the lovey dovey side. (Jp.)
Che stronzo – "What a bastard" or "What an asshole" (It.)
Mon ami - My friend (Fr.)
Mon cher - My dear (Fr.)
Shachō – President (Jp.)
Doujinshi – Fan-created comics usually of an already-existing series. You could also think of it as the graphic novel equivalent of fanfics. (Jp.)
Marcello – Made-up human name for Seborga. It means "hammer" (taken from the Latin 'marcellus').
Olivia – Made-up human name for Wy. As a side note, she's the same age as Marcello in this, so 15. I actually prefer her with Peter/Sealand, but needed him to be younger for a different role. It means "from the olive tree."
Adla – Made-up human name for Kenya, it means "Justice."
Jamar – Made-up human name for Cameroon, it means "handsome."
Hola - Hello (Sp.)