AN: Hey bros! So, here's the deal..there's been a lot of planning going on the past two days at school and stuff, which is kinda why my writing is so lacking recently, I apologize. I'm just...I'm hanging around a bunch of other bros at my school and I'm so syched about it! It's awesome, being near people who understand your references!
So... anyways.
To those who reviewed:
Spamano4ever: Yeah, true enough. CALM DOWN! No HetaOni/Ao Oni stuff right now, please?! And no one needs to be killed. It's ELEMENTARY school! Kids are cruel, it's nature. Calm down, damn it!
Enjoy.
Everything was going rather well, surprisingly enough, for the group up until sometime in the middle of the month after Romeo arrived and they settled into a calm pattern again, a comfortable one. Lovino came in from after school rehearsal and collapsed beside Antonio, grumbling under his breath in Italian.
Feliciano sighed as he watched his brother.
Romeo shot up from where he was and moved to give his eldest brother a tight hug. "Lovi~! It's okay!"
Even Lovino managed a smile in response. "I know, Romeo...but..."he started, trailing off. "Listen, there's a lot going on right now. I'm not going to act normally sometimes..don't let that scare you or catch you off guard too much, okay?"
"Okay.."Romeo said, but pouted.
Lovino met his eyes before he rolled his own and got up again, picking his younger brother up and spinning him. "Now, where's that smile of your's at, you little monello?"
Romeo wrinkled his nose. "I am not a brat!"he exclaimed, but giggled.
Lovino grinned. "Nope. You're a brat and a liar!"he teased, setting the boy down. "Go help Feli with the food, huh? We'll play a game after supper. Your choice this time."
Everyone who knew Romeo knew this was a bad idea because he would choose something that would scare not only himself, but his brothers. The last time, it was a lot of fun, but Lovino had to stop playing because it had scared him so much. They didn't play games often.
Romeo grinned and took off to help Feliciano while Lovino headed to get a shower to refresh himself after rehearsal.
Once he was seated again, Antonio wrapped his arms around him tightly and kissed his cheek. "How was rehearsal, Lovi?"he asked softly.
Lovino shook his head. "I am getting so sick of those people."he grumbled. "It's a big play and nobody else is taking it seriously!"
Antonio chuckled. "They'll get it together, I promise."
Lovino huffed. "I hope so."he grumbled, leaning back against Antonio, who served as a comforting presence as well as a rock to keep Lovino focused on what was going on around him. It was a system they had picked up since Lovino had gotten so busy recently with rehearsals and work and school and looking after Romeo. It was too much for the Italian. Everyone could tell. Lovino had stopped eating with the rest of them, opting to finish what homework he had during that time, or study lines for the play, or make sure everything was set for him to go to work the next day. It worried everyone because he was losing so much weight by stressing so much.
Antonio worried much more than anyone - besides Feliciano and Vash did - and it really set him on guard when Lovino opted out of dinner with the group. Tonight would be the first night in a month they had all sat down and ate, Lovino included. While he knew that Lovino was still eating, he knew that stressing so much wouldn't end well for the Italian. He wasn't used to seeing his boyfriend act like this.
"Te amo,"Antonio mumbled.
Lovino gave him a soft smile. "I love you too."he mumbled, stealing a quick kiss just as Romeo came back to tell everyone the food was done.
Romeo blinked at them before fake gagging at the sweetness and announcing that the food was done.
For the next month or so, things fell into routine, Lovino found a nice rhythm between his work, school and rehearsal schedules, which overlapped far too much for one person to manage perfectly.
But he was back to normal, he was gaining back the weight he had lost slowly, and he was acting closer to normal.
But Antonio could hear him when they all stayed the night as a group somewhere, late at night. He would sit up after everyone else was already asleep. Antonio had started pretending he was asleep so he could check up on his boyfriend, out of worry. There were times where he would hear Lovino break down, and he couldn't do anything about it because he knew that Lovino didn't want to explain to anyone, much less the entire group.
Still, the most recent sleep-over that happened at the Italian's home, when Antonio heard Lovino start crying, he started worrying. He knew that Lovino was asleep, he'd been exhausted after coming in from rehearsal and work and had all but collapsed the first chance he got. He shifted and tried to wake Lovino up carefully.
Lovino's breath caught as he woke and he met Antonio's eyes in a panic before he broke completely, Antonio pulling him into his arms carefully.
The lights flickered on then and Feliciano blinked at them blearily.
Romeo woke up then too and looked over at Lovino with wide eyes when he heard him sobbing.
Feliciano frowned. "What happened?"he asked quietly.
Antonio shook his head. "Night terror. He'll be okay."he said softly. Honestly, he didn't know if Lovino was okay, or if it was really a night terror that had made him break, but he knew that was the only way to keep everyone from asking questions.
Feliciano nodded and sighed. "Get him outta here, Toni. I'm sure he won't want to be in the same room as us when he calms back down."
Antonio nodded in understanding and got up, picking Lovino up carefully before he disappeared.
Feliciano sighed. "God..this again."he grumbled.
Ludwig frowned in concern. "Again...?"
Gilbert nodded. "He's always had night terrors,"he said. "I didn't know until quite recently,"
Matthew sighed. "He'll be okay. Just get some sleep and let Toni handle it. Lovino won't be happy with us if we don't just forget we saw him break like that."
Feliciano nodded in agreement with that statement.
Antonio sighed as he tried to comfort the sobbing Italian in his arms.
It took a while, but once Lovino backed off, sniffling, Antonio reached up and dried his boyfriend's face gently. "You okay, love?"
Lovino nodded. "Yeah,"he said, but he didn't seem too certain.
Antonio kissed his forehead. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"he asked.
Lovino shook his head. "I can't."he grumbled. "Toni, really, I can't...don't."
Antonio sighed, but nodded in understanding. "Just know I'll always be here for you."he said quietly.
Once Lovino had gone back to sleep, Antonio carried him back to the living room and laid him down before laying back down himself. After that, he started thinking. He was curious as to what really made Lovino break so easily, and he worried about what was going on with Lovino. He'd acted so distant recently and it worried him. He didn't know how to deal with Lovino acting distant anymore. He'd stopped doing that last year.
Antonio suddenly smiled faintly, remembering something. They'd been together for over a year. It was a nice thought, that they'd managed to go through so much together and still be a couple.
And with that, he fell asleep as well, finally letting his mind rest.
Alright..I gotta go. I need some damn sleep, because I was informed today that for the class play we're doing for the school in my Drama class, I'm stage manager. The student director and the teacher agreed on it and...that's just a lot of responsibility..and I have to be assertive and I just...England cosplayer or not, I'm not good at stuff like that, damn it! And tomorrow starts our rehearsals. We're on a time crunch. Prepared before Christmas break. Fun right? No room for screwing around.
Gr...now...back to watching Pewds and Cry. That's where the rest of my evening will go until bed time.