AN: Hey, guys! Good news on my part - I finally get to shift my image. I've been trying to get the nerve to for years now, but I was too scared I'd get into huge trouble at school for it..and the principal already hates me, he didn't need any more shit against me, ya know? I got to thinking recently...ya know, it's time for a change, I'm sick of being the freaking victim and crap. So...yeah, I'll try to keep updated here..and if you have any suggestions for me on the change...let me know, I'd appreciate ideas, since I've gotten about as far as deciding I need a change. Since it's summer, I have a chance to do it, too. Finally.

Anyways, on with business.

To those who reviewed:

Spamano4ever: Glad you liked it!

ThatRandomReview: Of course he wouldn't! That's blasphemy!

LaniKat84: Glad you liked it!

Enjoy.

Sometime during the middle of that evening, Lovino's phone rang. He answered it, laughing softly at something that Gilbert was doing. They'd all been acting crazy, since they were hanging out without worries again for a change. "Ciao, Lovino speaking!"he said into the phone.

He paused and tilted his head, an eyebrow raised. This made everyone fall silent to listen.

Lovino grinned at Feliciano, then spoke. "Yeah, sure I can. Thanks for letting me know!"

After he hung up, he gave the group a soft smile. "So, did you guys know they're asking for people to perform and stuff tomorrow at school? In the cafeteria, at lunch. Everyone's going to be outside. It's something they're doing because it's the last week before we have a break."

Gilbert smiled. "They asked you to perform, didn't they?"
Lovino nodded. "They sure did."he said. "And I have something I wanted to run by you and Francis, Gil, because of it."

Francis nodded for him to go ahead.

Things settled quite a bit then and Lovino spoke. "You guys remember all those parties and stuff we went to all the time back a couple years ago?"

The two nodded.

"Think it's okay for me to pull on those times? Because I have an idea for a song and I need something to pull on for it."

Francis smiled faintly. "Go for it, but don't get into trouble. Toni seriously just got you out of trouble yesterday."

Feliciano spoke. "What's the song?"he asked.

Lovino gave him a soft smile. "Can't tell ya that, Feli, it'd ruin the surprise. Let's just say nonno wouldn't be happy with me if he heard it."

Nobody bothered Lovino about it the rest of that night.

The following morning was quiet for the longest. Lovino had disappeared to his room to get his guitar.

Once he came back, the morning started moving a lot quicker.

Vash had wished him luck as soon as they had to split to go to first block. It wasn't the best idea, since Lovino had already been stressing out over it that morning.

By lunch, Lovino was ready to have it done and overwith. He hated performing in front of the school as it was. This was just torture. The good thing was, they waited until everyone had thrown their trays away and stuff to get started.

Lovino was the first one to be called up onstage.

It was then that the others wished him lunch.

As soon as he was onstage and had met his group's eyes, he calmed down immensely.

He smiled softly and finished tuning his guitar in silence. As soon as he had it tuned and hooked up, he started.

"Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs, with the boom box blaring as we're falling in love, got a bottle of whatever but it's getting us drunk singing here's to never growing up."

Gilbert and Francis both laughed softly. Of course it'd be something like this.

The others smiled faintly as well.

"Call up all our freinds, go hard this weekend, for no damn reason, I don't think we'll ever change. Meet you at the spot, half past ten o'clock we don't ever stop, and we're never gonna change. Say, won't you stay forever Stay, if you stay forever Hey, we can stay forever young."

Matthew smiled at Lovino and nudged Antonio knowingly.

The Spaniard rolled his eyes, but smiled goodnaturedly.

"We'll be running down the street, yelling 'Kiss my ass!' I'm like yeah whatever, we're still living like that, when the sun's going down, we'll be raising our cups singing here's to never growing up."

Ludwig could see that the teachers were less than happy with Lovino for what he was performing, but none of the students were objecting to it. Quite a few were clapping along, actually. It was surprising to him.

"This is who we are, I don't think we'll ever change. They say just grow up, but they don't know us. We don't give a fuck and we're never gonna change."

When Lovino finished, he unhooked the guitar and went back to his group, putting the guitar back in it's case. He laughed softly as Gilbert pulled him into a hug. "Why the hell didn't you tell us that's what you were planning?"

"Better as a surprise."Lovino said.

Ludwig spoke then. "I don't think the teachers are too happy with you for that, Lovino."he commented, looking over at the teachers.

Lovino followed his gaze before shrugging. "Oh well. They can't do anything to me."

"Except have you expelled."Ludwig pointed out.

Lovino snorted. "They won't though. Because they know that the minute they do, I take Feliciano with me and leave. Feli's one of the ones who've been bringing so much positive press to this school, they don't want to lose it."he said softly.

Gilbert shook his head. "Man...I think you nailed our group with that, Lovino."he said softly while they waited for the next person to go up.

Lovino shrugged. "Naturally."

Antonio smiled softly and pulled Lovino to him. "Let's try not to get into too much trouble, okay? That way we can cause a bit of trouble at the festival."

Lovino smirked at the others. "And we've corrupted him."he said, then turned to look at Antonio. "I love that idea."

Antonio grinned and stole a kiss.

Nobody else said anything because the next person was onstage.

It was odd, trying to convince their mom to let them do something, Lovino realized. He'd been begging for the last hour for her to let Feli and him go to the festival. Still, she was saying no. She'd gotten a call earlier about the performance and was not happy about it.

"Why not?"Lovino finally asked again.

"Because, Lovino."Emiliana all but screamed. "I don't want a son who goes and pulls a stunt like that. You know better. Your nonno raised you better than that! And now to find out that you've gone and basically killed every rule in that school...you want me to allow you to go to that festival. No."

Lovino withdrew like he'd been hit. "I was trying to be nice for a change by asking to go. Today at school? It was nothing. Just a fun song for the beginning of break. If the fucking teachers are too stupid to see that, then it's their own fault and they need to find a new damn job. It's not their choice what I listen to or perform, and they have no right to tell me anything, they don't have any sort of control over me. I'm not going to listen to them tell me to 'grow up' when I've done nothing but do that to keep Feli safe after you and dad abandoned us, Mother. You know I've drank before and everything. You want to know why? It was because of you. You and dad. It let me forget for once in my motherfucking life."

The others in the group winced when they heard it. The two had been in the kitchen for a while now, and the yelling told them enough.

Something was said in a low tone to the point they couldn't understand. They understood Lovino's response though.

"Fine."

When Lovino came out of the kitchen, he immediately went to his room.

They could hear things being thrown about in hast.

Antonio got up and went after him.

He sighed when he saw Lovino finally fall to his knees on the floor after catching his hand against the metal door that led to his closet. Antonio had always wondered why it wasn't wood, but looking at the walls told him that it was to keep Lovino from punching it in anger and putting holes through it.

He moved to kneel beside Lovino, drawing him into a hug. "What's going on?"

Lovino didn't respond to the question. He just pushed himself up again. "I'm sick of sharing a house with her. She keeps trying to control how Feli and me live our lives. That's not her job anymore. It hasn't been since Nonno adopted us. It will never be her job again."

"So you're leaving?"Antonio asked.

"Yeah."

Antonio sighed. "Where will you go?"

Lovino stopped then. "I don't know. But anywhere's better than here."he said.

Antonio sighed. "Listen...you and Feli come stay with me until we work something else out, okay?"

"Toni, no..."

Antonio caught his hands gently. "You keep getting hurt here, so come stay with me, both of you. You said you can't stay with your mom, so..."

Lovino shook his head. "You don't get it. She knows what I've gone through, she knows I grew up too fast. She knows I'm going to pull stunts like the performance at school to try to be a kid my age again. And she gets mad about it. But I'm not letting you get yourself pulled into it."

"Too late."Antonio said. "I was pulled into it when she said she didn't accept you for you. Nobody gets to say that about my boyfriend without me getting involved. So let me help. Unless you can get her to see reason about the performance."

Lovino shook his head. "No. It's been made more than clear to me that she doesn't want me as her son, so I'm not going to reach out to make amends this time."

"Then let me help. Just until you two get your own place."

Lovino hesitated, then nodded.

Antonio kissed his cheek before he went back to the others. Emiliana had left, so Antonio told them the plan softly.

Feliciano got up to go get packed as well.

Gilbert shook his head. "I don't get why she does this to them, knowing all that's gone on in their lives. She knows how bad Lovino had it, she knows he never gets to act like a normal teen. She doesn't need to go off the wall when he does something as small as a fucking performance at school. He could've done worse."

That evening, the group shifted to Antonio's house. It was almost completely empty of any decoration on the inside, making it seem empty.

"Home sweet home,"Antonio mumbled.

While they'd discussed hanging out there before, none of them ever had. They'd found new places to hang out instead.

Lovino frowned at the empty feeling. "You live here alone?"he said.

Antonio nodded. "Yep."he said. "Ran away from home a few years back, stayed with an old friend until I could afford to buy my own place and stuff."

Lovino tilted his head, looking around. "Well, let's see if we can't make it seem more like a home, then."he said softly, noticing the fireplace. He went out for a while, gathering wood bits from the back before coming in again and building a fire in the fireplace. Once it was lit, it gave the room a friendlier feel to it. The group got to work unpacking boxes and bringing stuff from the attic. It was a good distraction, and as soon as they were done, they all agreed it felt more like a home.

Here you go. By the way...Here's To Never Growing Up by Avril Lavigne was the song used in this chapter. I just listened to it for the first time today and thought it fit what I wanted to do pretty well. So...yeah, hope you liked it!

~Kretari, daughter of Hermes.