AN: Hallo!

Here's the new chappy!

To those who reviewed:

Spamano4ever: ..better now..?

GothicKitty1313: True. It will be hard. But..I don't believe any of them know how to just give up so, they'll fight through it. Like always.

Mighty Agamemnon: That will actually be revealed this chapter. The note..probably not. Bits and pieces will be revealed through speech and stuff, but otherwise...

Penguin Braginski: Not all of it. Bits and pieces of it will be revealed throughout the story. Things have been bad for Lovi. For all of them. But things do get bad before they get better, so...

Enjoy.

The end of that school day brought around a lot of yelling on Lovino's part. Vash and Roderich had caught up with him on his way out to meet up with the others, and he was still yelling at the two when he reached the group.

Gilbert bit back the amused smile at this.

"..I don't care about your stupid fucking suggestion, Vash. I get that you're trying to help, but please just stop. Let me do this on my own."

Antonio sighed, getting up from where he was sitting and moving to pull Lovino to him gently. "Hey, calm down,"he murmured softly.

"Don't tell me to calm down,"Lovino snapped, pushing Antonio away from him and huffing, giving him an icy look.

Antonio raised an eyebrow. Lovino never did that to him any more. Hadn't for ages.

Roderich spoke up softly. "Vash and me found him in the hall. It's a long story,"he offered.

Antonio sighed, nodding in understanding. "Thanks,"he said before looking at Lovino.

Francis spoke up from his place nearby. "Let me guess, people went back to fucking with you."he said, a frown evident in his voice.

Lovino looked to Francis, but said nothing on the matter.

After a long while, Lovino spoke, his voice softer this time than it had been before. "Can we just go?"

Gilbert nodded. "Yeah, sure."he said softly.

While the others got up, Vash looked to Lovino. "Listen..I know you don't like people helping you. But don't push everyone away due to it. Let them help you."he said quietly. "And if Feli or you need anything to help you out..let me know."

Lovino nodded that he understood.

When Lovino went to walk away, Vash called out. "Oh, yeah, Lovi?"

Lovino paused, looking back at him curiously. Everyone else had stopped to wait on Lovino to catch up. Feliciano was half smiling when he noticed the faint smile showing on Vash's face.

"Ich liebe dich, kliener bruder. Stay out of trouble. All of you."

Lovino rolled his eyes, flipping him off, but he offered a faint smile before he left.

Gilbert turned to look back at Lovino as they walked, letting Ludwig guide him through the roads so he didn't run into anything. "So. Little bruder?"he questioned.

Lovino shrugged. "He kinda adopted Feli and me as little brothers when we were younger. He's not so bad.."

Gilbert nodded once. "Alright, I'll take your word on it.."he said, though he seemed hesitant to do so.

Feliciano grinned. "Vash is actually...very kind. He just hides that."he offered. "He's always looked out for Lovi and me when nonno was gone or busy or something."

Antonio smiled softly. "I think it's nice,"he offered, catching Lovino's hand in his own.

Lovino looked up at him before managing a faint smile.

Once the group got to the Beilschmidt home, things settled down and fell into a simple routine.

Still, the others poked fun at Lovino for the scene at school with Vash. It was sweet to them that someone cared that much for the Vargas brothers.

Gilbert smiled faintly, sharing a knowing look with Ludwig, who tilted his head in return.

As such, the prussian decided to speak up. "So..Lovi, Feli?"he said, making the Italian brothers look to him curiously. "I want to know...how did you two meet Vash?"

Feli perked up. "We met him when we were still in pre-school. Nonno couldn't come pick us up because of his work schedule that week, and Vash noticed us sitting off by ourselves to wait for him. He spoke with his parents and invited Lovi and me to come to his home until nonno got off work."

"And it became habit every week. If nonno had work, we went to Vash's home until this year,"Lovino finished. "Then I stopped going because of Roderich starting to hang around and Feli just stayed with me."

Antonio tilted his head. "Something the matter with Roderich?"he asked.

Lovino shook his head. "He can be a bit too serious, but..it's more that I'm not a people person and it was just..I can only handle being around so many people at once without a flip out."

Feliciano grinned. "He's gotten better about being around people, though."

Matthew spoke. "I'd think that that would explain why Vash said he was surprised to see you showing affection to anyone,"he said.

Lovino shrugged. "Yeah."he said softly.

Antonio smiled faintly, putting his arms around Lovino, frowning when he felt the brace. "We have to change the guaze, you know."he told Lovino.

Lovino groaned. "Damn it."he grumbled. He grabbed his bag, digging through it.

"You forgot the guaze at my house, didn't you?"Antonio asked after Lovino cursed again.

Ludwig got up and disappeared for a moment, coming back with a roll of guaze. He tossed it to Lovino, who caught it and gave a thankful smile.

Lovino went to get up, but Antonio tightened his grip around Lovino's waist to keep him put.

"No. You can stay in here so that I can help you."he said. "It doesn't matter,"

Lovino huffed.

Feliciano half smiled, giving Lovino an apologetic look before he spoke. "He's a bit self conscious, Toni."he offered. "He only ever does something like he did this morning if he knows it's unavoidable,"

"This is,"Antonio said softly. Then he tapped Lovino's arm gently. "Shirt off, that way we can get this stupid brace off you and change the guaze,"

Lovino did so in silence, shifting uncomfortably.

Antonio backed off to give him his space, knowing that otherwise he would make the Italian more uncomfortable than he already was.

As soon as he had the shirt laying in his lap, Antonio carefully undid the brace and set it aside. He sighed. Blood had seeped into the guaze already. He was careful as he unwound the guaze from around Lovino, placing it on one of his knees before taking the roll of guaze from Lovino and rewrapping his torso. "Just leave the brace off for the night, Lovi."he said softly.

Lovino nodded, putting his shirt back on as soon as Antonio finished what he was doing and got up to throw the bloodied guaze away.

Francis sighed. "Lovino..I don't get how you have so many self-image issues. You act like you hate yourself,"he pointed out.

"That's 'cause I do."Lovino countered, looking up at Francis. "Wouldn't you if you were in my shoes?"

Feliciano scowled. "Don't say stuff like that! And don't imply it, either."

Lovino nodded once, falling silent.

Antonio was frowning slightly as he sat back down and pulled Lovino against his carefully so that the Italian was seated between his legs with his back resting against his chest. "Leave him be, guys. All of us hate something about ourselves. Why question others as to why they do? It's hypocritical."

That ended the conversation then and there and let Lovino relax a lot against Antonio.

At some point before dinner that evening, Antonio shifted, his arm brushing Lovino's side and gaining a yelp and a chuckle. He grinned mischieviously. "Oh, are you ticklish, Lovi?"he asked, ghosting his fingers over Lovino's side.

The Italian squirmed slightly. "Quit!"he said through soft laughter.

This scene got a few faint smiles from the others and Antonio stopped, knowing that Lovino was hurt and that he could make it worse if he didn't. So instead, he kissed Lovino's cheek and went back to listening to Matthew and Gilbert bicker about what genre of movie was the best. The two were cuddled up as well, but they were to where they could meet each others' eyes while they spoke.

The evening settled into a pretty decent one. Even dinner went by without a hitch. Despite everything, it had been a good day.

Here.