AN: Here's the new chapter.

To those who reviewed:

ThatRandomReview: Ouch. Sorry. Those suck. And..perhaps. You'll see, I promise!

Enjoy.

The group's first day back at school, Lovino seemed much more relaxed with the group. Vash and Roderich were once again sitting with them and Vash was glad to see that Lovino was more relaxed. He watched the exchange in the group with a faint smile. They were once again trading playful insults.

He noticed when Gilbert's smile fell, though.

"Lovi.."

But the Prussian didn't finish fast enough before Lovino found himself jerked up and spun to face someone else.

Antonio's eyes narrowed dangerously as he got up.

But Lovino shook his head when he saw Antonio move in the corner of his eye, making the Spaniard stop.

The male spared Antonio the barest of glances before he spoke to Lovino. "I don't know what the hell you thought you were doing when you got your little friend to send the police out, but you do realize what happened to the last person who did that, right?"

Lovino didn't blink. "They were killed. I told no one to do anything. And you aren't laying a hand on any of them."he said, glaring at the male. "And by the way, I'd love to see you try to kill me."

Antonio wanted to intervene, but he knew that Lovino wouldn't like that too much, so he stayed out of it.

"I'm sick of you and your little buddies, okay? You've laid enough threats on the line, go through with one,"Lovino said, crossing his arms.

The male went to do just that, but he hesitated last second at the Italian's unwavering glare. "Fine."he spat. "You're done. Not like you had much use anyways, huh? Just some toy."

Antonio held himself back from punching the man when he said that, but Lovino did no such thing. He managed a good punch before Vash pulled him back. Even so, after Vash pulled him back, Lovino spat at the man's feet. "I'm no one's toy. I never have been. No matter what you or anyone else may think. I did what I did to keep my brother safe. I'd do it all again. But I'm not a toy."

The man's sadistic smile made Lovino faulter for only a split second. "Aw..still so fiesty."he commented. He looked to Antonio before he scoffed. "Have fun with him. Lord knows I sure did."

With that the man left. Antonio glared after him before he closed his eyes and let out a long breath. "He is so lucky I don't have a knife on me."he said, shaking his head.

Vash let go of Lovino and sat back down.

Roderich was looking at Lovino in confusion. "May I ask what he was implying, Lovino?"

"You can. Doesn't mean I'm going to give you a straight out answer,"Lovino responded, looking over at the Austrian. But he got his answer from the Italian's eyes.

Roderich sighed and shook his head. "You're one strong person, Lovino."

Lovino paued for a moment before he responded. "No. I'm not. I just have something worth fighting for. So I fight,"

Antonio sat back down and pulled Lovino down as well.

They were both silent as they walked to Lovino's first block.

"Listen, Lovi..just forget about those jerks, okay?"Antonio said after a while. "It doesn't matter what they say about you or what they've done to you to me. Because I love you no matter what."

Lovino half smiled. "I love you too."

When they stopped outside of Lovino's first class, Antonio leaned down and kissed Lovino once softly. He gave a soft smile when he pulled back. "Te amo, mi angel."

Lovino gave a smile as well, leaning up to steal one last kiss. "Ti amo,"he whispered before he headed into class.

When lunch came around, things had settled back down.

The group was back to trading playful insults and joking around.

Antonio passed Lovino one of the tomatoes he'd packed that morning, gaining an amused smile. It was a running joke with them now. Had been for a while. "Grazie, Toni."

Antonio shrugged and set about eating his own lunch.

The new year had brought around a lot of things. Sadık and Hercales had broken up, but that was probably for the best. A lot of people had changed their outlooks on certain things, and most of the other kids left the group alone. A vast improvement already.

Gilbert smiled softly at something Matthew had whispered to him, giving the canadian a chaste kiss before he responded.

It was nice. Things were calm for a change.

Here ya go!