This really isn't our best chapter, but whatever. We did our best and hopefully it's enough. I binge watched all of Steven Universe on Saturday. And went to the zoo Sunday and had a rather horrible day. Hopefully you're all having better weeks than we.
Hearing the doorbell, Lovino paused, then tried to pull free from Antonio. "H've t' go g't the d'mn d'or….." he mumbled to himself. "L't g' b'st'rd….."
Antonio nodded, then held his hand to keep the other from tripping over himself as they made their way to the front door.
On the other end of the hallway, Feliciano pouted. "I guess it's time to go down," he said, clearly reluctant to give up this rare cuddle time.
"Sorry….." Ludwig mumbled, also upset that their time was interrupted.
"We could go on a date sometime soon?" Feliciano asked, his eyes sparkling hopefully.
Ludwig blushed and nodded. "J-Ja….."
Feliciano smiled warmly, kissed Ludwig sweetly one last time, then headed downstairs.
Finally, Lovino made it to the door and started fumbling as he tried to grab onto the doorknob.
Antonio helped him open the door. "Hola, guys~!" He greeted cheerfully as it opened and revealed their friends.
"H-Hello….." Matthew said with a small smile.
Lovino yawned as he glanced between them, then tried to pull away to head back into the house.
Antonio laughed and let him, welcoming the rest of their friends into the mansion, cooing happily at all of their adorable pets.
Lovino yawned again and staggered into the living room, then accidentally crashed right into Feliciano.
Feliciano squealed in surprise, his arms shooting out to catch his twin. "Are you okay, Lovi?"
Lovino sleepily glanced at his brother and nodded before snuggling into Feliciano's hold and closing his eyes.
Feliciano giggled and snuggled him back, happy for this unexpected twist.
"….. w'rm….." Lovino murmured softly.
The younger Italian laughed. "Yeah, I sure am," he agreed, carefully and slowly moved to the couch so he could sit down, Lovino curling up on top of him.
Now clinging to his brother, Lovino slowly drifted off to sleep, refusing to let go at all.
"I-Is Lovino-kun alright…?" Kiku asked worriedly.
Feliciano nodded. "Si. He took benadryl on accident instead of ibuprofen. He'll be alright once the medicine wears off," he assured his friends.
"I-If you say so…." Matthew stuttered, petting Kumajiro. "Anything we can do to help….?"
"Nah, let's just have some fun today~!" Carefully shifting his brother off him, he bounced up onto his feet. "Hello, little cuties~!" he cooed at all the animals.
"And just what the bloody hell are we supposed to do?" Arthur huffed as he pet the cat in his arms.
Alfred, who had been distracted by his cat trying to steal his glasses, stood beside his boyfriend, their cats nuzzling each other in greeting. "I don't know what the others will do, but you seem to have a full schedule of standing here looking drop dead sexy," he said, smiling lovingly.
Acting quickly before Arthur could strangle both Alfred and Francis, who had started laughing, Matthew nervously said, "S-Should we see if they want to play a game?"
"Yeah~! I have yarn balls and little chew toys from when Lovi and I first changed and nonno wanted us not to bite the furniture~!" Feliciano chirped.
The entire room did a double take.
"Er… What?" Ludwig asked, confused. "Chew toys….?"
"Why are you so surprised? How else do you think nonno kept us from ruining his house?" Feliciano asked, clearly not understanding their confusion and surprise.
"Oh… I guess I never thought about it…." Ludwig muttered. "How exactly did that work….?"
"It's a cute story~! Here's what happened:"
A tiny Feliciano and Lovino were playing together in their room when Romulus entered, holding something in his arms.
"Hey bambini, look at this," he said, kneeling down and showing them the items in his arms. It was a bunch of doggie chew toys. "I bought these today for when you… change… you'll have something to chew on and play with without me needing to replace the furniture every month. Think you two can do this for your nonno?"
The five year old Lovino paused in making his stuffed dog attack Feliciano and pouted when he saw the dog toys. "I'm not a puppy, dammit! Those are for doggies, nonno!" he whined.
"It's for later, Lovi. I just wanted you guys to hold them for a little bit," Romulus said gently. He had already gained the general idea that things that the twins could recognize slightly tended to be things that smelled familiar to them.
Feliciano reached out a tiny hand, taking a bone shaped toy and giving it a little squeak. He giggled happily at the sound.
Lovino blinked then giggled too as he grabbed a squirrel shaped one and squeezed it, giggling as he did so. "It sounds funny, dammit! And smells funny!"
"It smells like plastic bambino," Romulus said, smiling at his adorable grandchildren as they each took some of the toys to squeak them.
"I'm not a puppy…" Lovino pouted slightly while looking down.
"I know that, Lovi. Remember what I said on why you have these now?" the elder Italian asked.
Lovino nodded. "…. Why don't you play with us then…? Is it because we're bad…?"
"Oh, no no no, bambino!" Romulus quickly scooped the tiny child into his arms, rubbing his back gently. "You aren't bad at all. You're both angels sent straight from heaven. I just can't play with you two because you're both much stronger than me. I can't afford to be hurt, I need to care for you two. So I got you toys so you'll have things to play with." He kissed Lovino's forehead. "I promise you aren't bad."
"Strong…?" Lovino asked in surprise. "I don't get it…."
"You're a powerful lil thing," Romulus cooed, lightly tapping the child's nose, smiling. "Even stronger than your old nonno!"
"Then Lovi said something back, but I don't remember if it was him saying of course he was stronger, or something about being hungry. And that's the story of how we got these toys~." Feliciano finished brightly.
"Ohohoho~. You both sounded so adorable~," Francis laughed before slowly glancing at Lovino's sleeping form. "And just when he looks so cute and defenseless right now~."
Antonio stepped smoothly between his boyfriend's sleeping form and his pervy best friend. He smiled widely at him, an air of warning about him. "What was that, Francis~?" he asked, his voice full of false chipper. "I didn't quite hear you~."
Francis 'eep'ed at the look and quickly shook his head no. "N-Nothing~!"
"If you're sure~."
Feliciano began the festivities then. He gave Gilbert a bunch of the rolls that came with paper towels and toilet paper on them. "Here~! Make Gilbird a cool little obstacle course~!"
Gilbert grinned and set to work, promising his chick to make the most awesome course ever.
The Italian handed Francis a bag of freshly peeled carrots. "Treats for the cute bunny~!"
He made his way around the room setting up little things for the pets. Gino followed around his heels, meowing happily at the other animals as Gio followed, looking like he was pouting. Feliciano took the dogs and other cats outside to play, casually taking Ludwig's hand as he walked past him. Once outside, Gino seemed to take charge, meowing at the other pets to get them to start playing.
As he watched all of this, Ludwig was unable to hide the soft but perfectly audible chuckle that escaped him.
Feliciano's eyes lit up and he looked over at the German, giving him a brilliant smile.
Ludwig blinked, then smiled back lightly. "You're good at this… You should be proud."
Feliciano blushed happily at the compliment. "Thanks, Luddy. I think I wanted to be a vet or something. I love animals so much~."
"You should do that. I… I can see you being one of the best…." Ludwig replied, now starting to blush himself.
Feliciano smiled happily, shyly turning to look at the happily playing animals as they chased each other around.
The German vampire watched him for a few moments before clearing his throat to get Feliciano's attention, then mumbled something.
The werewolf looked at him curiously. "What did you say, Luddy? You were to quiet for me to hear you," he said.
"May…. M-May I kiss you?"
Feliciano's face turned scarlet. He looked down shyly, then nodded. "S-Si~. Of course you can~," he said, shifting closer to him.
Ludwig swallowed and also shifted closer before leaning down and pressing his lips to Feliciano's.
Feliciano threw his arms around Ludwig's neck, deepening the kiss, completely forgetting anyone else around them.
Back inside the house, Lovino quietly mumbled something and shifted around.
Antonio, who had been feeding his turtle little salad leaves, glanced up and smiled brightly. He moved to Lovino's side, greeting him warmly. "Good morning, sleepy head~."
Lovino yawned as he slowly opened one eye and glanced at Antonio. "….. what the fuck happened to me…?"
Antonio smiled and sat next to him. "You took the wrong medicine when you were looking for ibuprofen."
"….. what?"
"You took benadryl."
Lovino blinked, then cursed as he sat up. "Fuck…. What the fuck happened when I was out of it?"
"Nothing. Everyone got here and you fell asleep on the couch."
Lovino watched him skeptically. "So… I said nothing… at all? And I did nothing?"
Antonio shook his head. "No, I don't think so," he honestly said.
Lovino stared at him then huffed and looked away. "So what the hell is going on now, bastard?"
"Uh… Gil is making a playground for his bird, Francis is feeding his bunny, and everyone else is outside playing."
Lovino nodded and started trying to get up.
"Be careful," Antonio said, standing up quickly.
"I am, dammit!" Lovino snapped as he started staggering towards the backdoor.
The Spaniard followed closely behind him, wanting to make sure he would be okay.
"….. I'm not a damn bambino, you bastard…." The Italian grumbled under his breath.
"I know, I just want to make sure I'm here if you need me is all," Antonio said gently. They opened the front door and Lovino was treated to a perfect view of Feliciano and Ludwig making out in the middle of the yard.
Lovino froze before his eyes narrowed and he began to growl lowly. "I fucking knew it…."
"Knew what, querido?" the vampire asked. "Is something wrong?"
However, Lovino didn't answer him as he started making his way over to the couple.
Feliciano didn't notice his brother, a bit preoccupied with his current business.
When he was right behind Feliciano, Lovino stopped with his arms crossed and tapped his foot loudly before letting out a cough to get his brother's attention.
Feliciano pulled back slightly, a slight blush on his face. "O-Oh, hi fratello," he said. He wasn't very scared or embarrassed for being caught, after all, it was completely normal to kiss the person you were dating. He loved his brother, but he was getting rather sick of pretending he wasn't in a relationship.
"Hmph…. If you're going to do that shit make sure it's not in the middle of the backyard," Lovino scoffed. "And not when you're supposed to be watching the stupid animals. Something could pick up Gio or Gino."
"Lovi, Al and Arthur are right here. And so is Kiku. No one would steal our babies," Feliciano answered.
"W-Whatever…" Lovino stuttered. "What fucking time is it? Do we have to feed them yet?"
"It's like 1:30 or 2 I think," Feliciano said, "I don't know though, I don't have a clock."
Lovino went to reply, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he froze up and quickly covered it as his face started to look a bit green.
Feliciano blinked and put a hand on his back worriedly. "Fratello?"
Behind him, Antonio was beginning to look sick as well. He sat down quickly, taking slow and steady breaths to try and calm his turning stomach.
Lovino squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head a tiny bit, instantly regretting the action due to the wave of dizziness that hit him.
Feliciano wrapped an arm around Lovino's shoulders and slowly knelt down. "Just relax a moment, maybe you just moved too fast after laying down for so long," he suggested.
Starting to tremble violently, Lovino took a shaky glance up at his brother and nodded. "A-Antonio….? H-How's…. How's Antonio….?"
Feliciano looked back at the Spaniard and quickly looked away. Antonio looked just as bad as Lovino. "Uh…. He's fine," he lied.
"L-Liar…."
Feliciano stomach churned and he smiled nervously. "I'm not lying," he said slowly. He bit his lip, taking a few slow breaths. His stomach was beginning to get angry at him, he could feel it. He sat down next to his twin, laying back in the grass and covering his eyes.
Lovino frowned as he watched, then shakily reached out and placed his hand on Feliciano's forehead to feel his temperature.
"U-Um, fratello….? D-Did you just suddenly start to feel… really sick…?" Feliciano asked.
Lovino swallowed heavily and nodded. "Y-You too…?"
"S-Si. Just now…"
"F-Fuck…."
"What's going on over there?" Arthur called over, seeing how Lovino, Antonio, Feliciano, and now Ludwig were looking.
"It looks like they all just got sick. Weird," Alfred said.
Scowling, Arthur walked over to the group and started to check on them.
"Arthur, what's wrong with us?" Feliciano whimpered, fear in his voice.
After a second, the mage asked, "Your bond… when did we first create it?"
"A little over a year ago, I think," Antonio murmured in response.
"The hell is this about…?" Lovino grumbled.
Arthur ignored him as he stood up and headed back into the house before coming back out with his spell book. "I'll need to use your kitchen for the potion. It's safe to say that we need to renew your bond."
"Where the hell did you pull that from? Do you just always carry that huge ass book around in case you need to whip it out?" the Spaniard grumbled.
"Shut up!" Arthur snapped back, then glanced at the others who were outside. "We need to get them inside now. Hurry!"
Confused, but accepting this, Alfred, Matthew, and Kiku helped the four back into the house. Matthew and Kiku set Lovino and Feliciano gently onto the couch while Alfred put Antonio and Ludwig into armchairs. Gilbert and Francis, who had been working on the little course, turned to face them. Seeing his little brother, Gilbert jumped over and went over to him, worried.
"They'll be fine once they drink this," Arthur said as he started working on the potion. "Or rather, they'll be fine in a couple of days."
"W-What is this going to do….?" Matthew asked.
"It will switch their species like before. However, this time they'll be switched differently. For one or more days we'll have two pairs of vampire mates. Then they'll switch and be werewolves instead. Now shut up and let me work!"
The four were too sick to argue. They simply laid still and accepted their fate.