Feliciano was playing with his food. Mostly because he wasn't hungry; he was somewhat nauseous, had been all morning, and the prospect of eating wasn't exactly a pleasant one. But today Antonio had cooked, which meant that Feliciano had to at least pretend to eat, or risk incurring his wrath-or at least, incurring his overprotectiveness.

"Are you sure you're healthy, Feli?" So he'd noticed. Felicano looked up at Antonio, whose expression was now one of concern. "Because normally you eat a lot more than this, and your Moon is coming up. It's not healthy to go without eating." That was another reason why it was a good idea to eat your breakfast if Antonio was there; he'd stop a perfectly good conversation at five minute intrevals to tellyou to eat something. Worse, Feliciano was afraid he'd actually worrried Antonio. (Lovino, on the other hand, just looked angry, but it was early in the morning and in any case this was rather typical.)

"I am fine," he said, forcing a smile. He didn't know how convincing it was. "I'm sure I'll eat more later. It's just early, that's all." Antonio did not know anything of 'the incident', which was shocking to Feliciano because he'd assumed that Lovino would be quick to spread it around. Only when he gave it more thought did he realize that this would never happen, that Antonio of all people would never find out. In short, 'the incident' reflected poorly on Lovino, and if Antonio were to find out about it, it would guarantee that he'd never leave their house again. And on top of all that, even Lovino didn't know about what had happened at Kiku's, or what had happened after.

"As long as you eat at lunch," said Antonio, and Feliciano knew he was fine. Not eating breakfast was one thing, since in Verona (and especially Spain, where Antonio was originally from) breakfasts were relatively small compared to those of other places, or so he'd heard. Not eating lunch would be something else entirely, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. Or he'd make sure to be gone by lunchtime.

"So Feli," said Lovino, jabbing his fork in his direction, "didn't you go to Kiku's to pick up your lycan shit yesterday?" Feliciano blinked, utterly shocked, until he remembered that he'd left a note.

"Yes?" He said it like a question. "I mean, yes. I did. Why do you ask?" He considered taking a bite of the toast on his plate just to have something to occupy himself with, but he didn't.

"I ask because I got a phone call today from Kiku today. Says you forgot to take your 'delivery' home with you." Merda! (He didn't mean to think it, it just happened.) Of course he had. He'd left the store with that vampire and he'd totally forgotten to take his things with him. That was typical. He was more frustrated than anything (he'd gotten the crying part over with on the way back home, to the point where his tears had all but left once he'd crossed the threshold of his home) until he wondered what, exactly, Kiku might have told Lovino.

"Did I?" he asked. He took a long sip of the freshly-squeezed orange juice and pretended to consider this. "I guess you're right," he mused. "I'll have to go back into town later and get them."

"Damn right you will," said Lovino. "He wanted me to come get them, said you were too 'absent-minded' to be trusted with running errands." Lovino, who was actually eating, took angry bites of his toast in between paragraph breaks. "But I said, 'fuck that'! I told him, "My brother may be an idiot, but he knows how to buy his kinky werewolf shit! He's been doing it for years! Decades, even!" Feliciano watched as he took a long sip of his coffee and slammed it down on the table. Normally he'd have at least put up a half-hearted argument about how (since he didn't use it for anything sexual) his restraints weren't at all kinky, but today he lacked the energy. "So yes, you 'will' have to go back into town later. I'm not your errand boy."

Antonio, who up to this point had seemed to find the whole exchange amusing, now had his 'concerned face' back on. "Lovi, do you think Feli needs to be leaving the house? He doesn't seem well." But Feliciano didn't want Lovino talking to Kiku. Sure, so far he hadn't appeared to say anything incriminating, but knowing Lovino, he'd go in there and ask something like, 'how could my brother be so stupid?' and it would only be a matter of time before he knew. And that would be too much for Feliciano to bear.

"I'm fine, 'Toni," he said, making sure his smile was wider and more genuine looking. "Really, I am. Just 'cos I'm not hungry doesn't mean I'm sick."

Lovino nodded in agreement. "For God's sake, Antonio, the little shit is fine. Fine like always. His immune system is constantly working overtime to keep his dumb ass alive, and he didn't catch anything from-" Feliciano watched as he stopped himself from saying 'that vampire', which, had Antonio not been there, Feliciano knew he would have said. "-Francis's party, so he's in perfectly good condition to run errands."

Antonio considered this. "Well, as long as he eats a good lunch," he said, and Feliciano knew everything would be fine.

Feliciano was in his room, lying on his bed and dangling Florence above him, when he heard the door opened and he jumped.

"Who's there?" he asked, bolting to an upright position and dropping Florence into his hands. He relaxed when he saw Antonio standing in the doorway.

"It's only me. May I come in?" He came in anyway, sitting down on the bed next to him. Feliciano blinked and nodded.

"What is it, Antonio?"

Antonio sighed, as if he wasn't entirely sure how to start. "You've really been worrying me lately, Feli..you seemed fine at breakfast, and then you come up here and play with.." Antonio, being a stricter Catholic than Feliciano, always showed discomfort at referencing Florence by her name, "..your rosario. Which you only do when you're nervous." Feliciano nodded ever-so-slightly, his silent way of conceding that this was true.

"Antonio," began Feliciano, carefully, "do vampires have souls?" He twisted Florence in his hands and looked up at him. This hadn't been worrying him it all (so what if vampires didn't have souls, that wasn't his problem) and yet, it came out before he could stop it, the words spilling out of his mouth and out of control.

Antonio sighed and appeared to consider this. Feliciano considered telling him 'nevermind', to just drop it, but the words wouldn't come out. He kicked his heels against the bed's frame as he waited. Finally, Antonio began to speak.

"You have been raised very well when it comes to protecting yourself against los muertos," he began. Antonio never referred to vampires as anything other than los muertos, the dead. "Your brother has tried very hard to make sure you know the threat that they can be. I have tried to make sure you know the facts about them. Even Francis, who is only half-dead, mind, has tried his hardest to make sure you know that los muertos are not to be toyed with, or spoken to if they're strangers, or anything like this. You know all of this," and Feliciano did know all of this, and Antonio's avoidance of the question made his stomach churn.

"I do not pretend to know everything there is to know about the occult. I do not know if dying sends your soul to Heaven or Hell, and if los muertes have a soul waiting for them there. I don't know if they keep their souls inside of them, where they're very hard to see or even know about it. And I say this, Feli, because most of the ones you meet won't act like they have a soul. They are cold. They are cruel. They are selfish. Most of them have one or all of these traits, you see, it's almost part of the siring. It is almost like, rather than blood flowing through their veins, a sort of hatred for all things living runs through them instead. But does this mean that, underneath all of that, los muertos are souless? I believe no." Feliciano heard himself make a tiny gasping noise that revealed his shock.

Antonio had this sad smile on his face now. "I do not pretend to know everything," he repeated, "but I've never met anyone, even someone dead, who seemed to not have a soul." Feliciano could swear he saw doubt flicker across Antonio's face. "The only person I've met that even came close was a very powerful wizard, but even he probably has a soul deep down. I would rather believe that he does." Feliciano felt a shiver go down his spine at the notion that someone could be souless, but then the joy of hearing that maybe, just maybe, vampires could have souls came back to them. Because if a vampire had a soul, then he had to have a heart. (Antonio, however, didn't need to hear that part of the story. Everyone has a story, he realized, recalling Kiku's words from the shop.)

"Is that what was worrying you, Feli?" Antonio kissed him on the head, a tiny, affectionate little gesture, and got up to leave. "Don't worry yourself with vampires, Feliciano. Probably you will never have to meet one up close." The door was open, and Feliciano tried to manage his smile so that it was not suspiciously large. "Did you have any other questions for me?"

"Just one," he said, still smiling. "What about lycs? Do we have souls?"

Antonio laughed, a happy, twinkly laugh. "Of course you have a soul. If you do not have a soul, then it's unlikely that I do either. Or the dead," he added, and Feliciano smiled wider.

"So I do have a soul! 'Cos I was wondering," he said through his laughter. "I was asking myself, 'do werewolves go to Heaven?' And I thought to ask you." Feliciano felt so much better, he almost felt like dancing.

"Then why did you put los muertos before yourself?" asked Antonio before closing the door. He'd been joking, but the question gave him pause, and before he knew it (though his mood was on the whole better) he found himself needing a minute or two with Florence before he could go out to Kiku's again.

AN: Oh look, another short chapter. Don't worry, everyone's favorite socially-awkward vampire will be back for the next time. This was meant to be tacked on to the last update but that seemed odd to me, so that didn't happen. Yeah, this was meant to be up sooner but I've had driver's ed and real life got in the way. Hopefully over break I can get more writing done! :D

It may just seem like pointless heartthob angst, but don't worry; the conflict of the story doesn't come from Feli actually getting a love interest for the first time in a century or so. If it did, it'd be a short story. Suffice it to say, there's another character coming up soon that will give Feli a problem besides unresolved sexual tension. (Hint: this chapter has foreshadowing for what that might be! And it's not subtle!)

Okay, thanks so much for reading. I love all of you so very much.

XOXO,

Nadie

Edit: A million and one 'thank you's to megagirl3, who corrected my Spanish. I'm a year 3 spanish student but I always make mistakes OTL Anyway, it's been fixed!~