AN: New chapter.

To those who reviewed:

ThatRandomReview: Vash is only trying to look out for Lovino. He's just very overprotective of Lovi and Feli. He's worried. And Lovi..well, he did kinda blow up, but considering what he'd gone through? Perfectly justified on his part.

Penguin Braginski: Definitely quite dynamic. And quite insane. All of us. Including me. We're all screwed up in the head in some way, and I am actually the only masochistic type..surrounded by a bunch of sadists. Fun..we trade stories a lot, get each other's input. And I do feel bad for both Vash and Lovi..but they've always been that way with one another. Feli..he knows a lot more than he lets on. He does it so that his brother doesn't feel like he wasted his effort and everything trying to keep him in the dark, still innocent.

Evelynyamine: I will most definitely do that! I'll try to include that in one of the chapters after things settle back down! I love reading those, and writing them..hm, new challenge. Thanks.

Spamano4ever: Lovi's okay, I promise!

Enjoy.

It took a while after that for things to settle back down to normal again.

But..Lovino was glad when they did calm back down again. He hated when things got thrown out or proportion like they had been recently. He just wanted things to go back to how they had been when he'd first gotten together with Antonio. It had been so much more simple.

Matthew and Alfred were still treating him like porcelain, and it was driving him slowly insane.

Currently, the group was sitting on the floor like they always did of the mornings. Alfred was saying something, trying to shift what he was saying so that it wouldn't trigger any of Lovino's memories.

Lovino listened to this for a good minute longer before he snapped. "For god's sake, stop doing that!"he said, voice snippish. "If you want to say something, just fucking say it."
Alfred blinked at him uncomfortably.

Matthew spoke. "Lovi...listen..I know you hate when people think you're weak and stuff, but...I've seen you after one of those nightmares or sudden memories. It's not good."

Lovino took a calming breath before he spoke again. "I know it's not. But you guys are not helping by trying to avoid saying something just so it doesn't trigger a memory. It's making it worse, so just stop it."he said. "It happened, okay? It's in the past, I'm over it. If I wasn't, nobody would get in my personal space without getting hit, not even Feli and Toni. So stop."

Matthew nodded once and Alfred continued, no longer coding his words.
Lovino relaxed a bit then.

"He's only trying to make you feel like you can trust him,"Antonio told Lovino as they were walking to the Italian's first hour.

"I know he is..but..I would get past all of this so much faster if you guys just behaved normally around me. All of you."Lovino said. "Am I sorry I snapped like I did? Yeah. Am I sorry that it made Alfred start acting normally around me again? Fuck no."

Antonio stopped outside of Lovino's first block class. "Well..just remember, if you don't feel up to staying, let me know and I'll take ya home."he said softly.

Lovino smiled faintly. "I will. I love you."he said.

Antonio grinned. "I love you, too."he responded, kissing Lovino's cheek before he headed to his own class.

Oh, this so was not going as planned, Lovino thought as he winced. When he said he wanted things back to normal, he meant with his friends. Right now, with his spine pressed back against the edge of a bookshelf? No, not so much. He couldn't go any further back, and he couldn't go any other way, either. He was trapped. Never a good thing.

He closed his eyes tightly, waiting on the blow. He wasn't going to fight. He didn't want to get into trouble for it.

But then someone called out. "Hey, leave him alone!"
Lovino had never been so happy to hear that voice. As soon as his shoulders were released, he sunk down to the floor, letting a shaky breath out.

The jock that had been standing in front of him had disappeared. Now, it was...another of the old mafia inductees. The same one who'd asked him about helping him get out.

He kneeled down in front of Lovino, eyes concerned. "You okay, there, Romano?"

"It's not Romano. That's my middle name."Lovino responded.

The male smiled faintly. "Alright. How about introductions then?"

Lovino nodded. It was odd. He was so used to seeing the other shaking. The only time he'd seen him was when they had been summoned, and he knew that he, himself, had been shaking the entire time, as well. "Hi, I'm Lovino."he said, offering a hand.

Another faint smile. "I'm Raivis."

The handshake was short, but it was better than the terrified introductions that had happened all those years ago, both of them going by different names than the ones they used now.

"Nice to meet you,"Lovino said. He glanced at his watch before he cursed. "Shit. Toni's probably freaking out."he grumbled.

Raivis got up, moving away and helping the Italian to his feet. Or attempting to. Lovino shrugged it off.

The two walked to the cafeteria together. Lovino knew that Raivis had to be new to the school, as he had never gone to a public school before from what he knew of the slighter male. So he pointed things out on the way.

As soon as Feliciano caught sight of his brother and Raivis, he spoke. "Toni, Lovi's here."

Antonio looked back with a faint smile, which faltered slightly at the sight of Raivis. He remembered him all too well.

Lovino let the male over and spoke softly. "Hey, guys. This is Raivis. He was one of the other inductees a few years back..he just recently got out as well."

Lovino continued on with introductions, and by the end, Antonio felt a bit better about the newcomer.

As soon as Lovino had a seat, Antonio pulled him into a tight hug. "Don't do that, I was scared something had happened to you!"he said, nuzzling Lovino's cheek lightly as he pulled back.

Raivis spoke softly. "Actually...someone was tormenting him in the library. I found him when I was trying to find someone to ask for directions here."he said softly.

Antonio looked at Raivis before he offered a kind smile. "Thank you,"he said softly before he pushed his tray to sit between Lovino and Raivis. "I got extras, since I knew that they close up the lines pretty early."

Lovino shook his head, pushing the tray over to Raivis before he nestled against Antonio's side. "I have some snacks in my bookbag. I can skip lunch for once."

Antonio laughed lightly.

Raivis was hesitant, but he finally settled down into the 'normalcy' of the group as he picked at the food in front of him.

Lovino watched him curiously before he spoke. "How much did those guys feed you?"he asked, curious, since he knew Raivis was one of the ones who was there constantly.

"Not much. Enough for me to still be healthy just in case..."Raivis answered. "You know how those guys are.."

Lovino scowled and nodded. "Then eat."he said. "And how about you tell me where you plan to go?"

Raivis sighed. "I'll probably go stay with one of my old friends. He said if I needed a place to stay after I got out..I could come stay with him..."he said quietly.

Lovino nodded. "Kind, right?"he asked.

"Beyond kind."Raivis countered.

The topic changed after that, thanks to Ludwig being good at picking up on the group's air by now.

Turns out, that 'friend' of Raivis's, Lovino knew. He had his last block with him.

By the end of the school day, he understood much better.

Still, he was also exhausted.

As such, when they entered the house and had eaten dinner for the evening, he collapsed with his head resting in Antonio's lap and fell asleep.

Nobody bothered him.

Here you go. By the way, this is very important. Tomorrow is the Day of Silence. As such, I probably won't post anything tomorrow to emulate that silence here. So..I'll make that up this weekend if I do that. Also, the plan for tomorrow that my school's drama club is doing? A skit. I get to keep my silence, though, I've cleared it with the director and everything! It's perfect! It's a set up bullying scene, but nobody outside of Drama and the outsiders involved will know that's what's happening! It's going to be great!