Three high school music departments had gotten together and decided to rent out the local theatre in the city and have a combined spring concert. They were just ambitious like that. Antonio watched the acts from backstage, while tuning his guitar. He and his two best friends would open for their school, World Series. Gilbert went to find some friend from another school, Eliza, or something like that. Francis was making sure that their pep section was in place, and Antonio had been assigned to scope out the competition. So far he couldn't say he had seen anything to write home about. He watched the last solo performer from White Valley high school prepare for her act.

She looked a few years younger than him, maybe a sophomore or freshman to his senior. She had brown hair cut shoulder length. Antonio felt like it would have looked like a bob, except it was nice and soft-looking, and wavy, and it was held away from her face by a green ribbon. She wore a blouse that looked new, as though it had been picked out especially for this occasion and a skirt that fell a few inches past her knees. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down before she stepped onto the stage. Antonio found it a bit cute, so he flashed a thumbs up at the girl and smiled, but if she saw him, she didn't show it.

The spot-light turned on and swiveled so it shone directly on her, making her lightly tanned skin appear translucent. She blinked a few times before taking the microphone from the performer who had gone before her.

"My name is Lovina Vargas, and I'm going to sing 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri." Roderich, a boy in Antonio's own grade played the opening measures of accompaniment before Lovina opened her mouth and sang.

It was sad, mournful, soulful, desperate, several emotions rolled into one. Antonio had never heard anyone sing like that before. The entire audience, who had started to get restless after the rest of the concert, was just as struck as Antonio. Roderich's playing smoothly accented Lovina's singing perfectly, and once she was done she held out one arm, acknowledging the accompanist before giving a tiny curtsy and hurrying offstage, being deafened by the applause.

"That was amazing!" Lovina stopped short, her way blocked by some grinning idiot. She nodded brusquely (hey, facts were fact, she had just killed that song, you know, in a good way) and tried to step around him, but he was blocking the narrow way. "I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo." He announced proudly, holding out his hand. The vile-tempered girl raised an eyebrow, askance. Who on earth shook hands anymore?

"I announced what my name was earlier."

"Si! You're Lovina Vargas! I'm from World Series high, and I guess you were wrapping it up for White Valley, huh?" Up close, Antonio noticed that she had one curl that strayed erratically from her head band. He didn't notice his hand reaching up to move it behind her ear until she swatted his hand away and took a step back, careful not to enter the stage again.

"What do you think you're doing?" She hissed.

"Sorry, you've got a hair. . . Say, if you're not busy later-"

"I've got plans." She said evasively,

"That's too bad, I was thinking we could catch a movie or get married or something. . ." Antonio enjoyed swapping comments back and forth, it was kinda fun because he wasn't quite sure how cute Lovina would counter him.

"You want to get married because you liked my solo?"

"Married? Don't you think that's a little fast?"

"You're the one who said it! Chigi!" Lovina turned crimson, which Antonio found utterly adorable, and it took him a few moments to respond.

"Huh?"

"It slipped out, buddy." Another stupid voice said. Antonio turned and greeted two boys; one had long wavy blonde hair and some stubble on his chin, the other one was pale, with white hair and red eyes, an albino. He was the one who had first spoken.

"Oh, Gil, Franny I didn't notice you two here!" Antonio turned to address the cute Lovina. "Well, we could catch a movie or go eat something . . ." he trailed off listening to the pitter patter of feet coming. Then a girl who looked almost exactly like Lovina peered around Antonio anxiously. She was maybe an inch shorter, with brown hair that leaned towards auburn, and her curl stuck out on the other side of her head. Her skin was also a few shades lighter than the pretty tan that Lovina had.

"Sorella, you were amazing! But, um, we should probably go now. . ." Lovina shoved past the rude boy and took her sister's arm ignoring his two weird friends.

"What's wrong, Feli?" The sister squirmed and looked around nervously.

"I was getting popcorn to eat because you were the last one from our school, and so I went to the lobby and I got popcorn, with extra butter, but they didn't have any salt, so they went and got some salt, and I put it on the popcorn, but then I saw-" Lovina stiffened when a boy who looked like he was Antonio's age approach, doing the stupid slow clap thing.

"What are you doing here? This area's only for the performers." She demanded, glad they had thought to move behind the stage where their conversation couldn't disturb them setting up for the next school performing.

"What? Are you saying a guy can't come to congratulate his girl for a song she sung for him?" The sister, Feli, shuffled nervously, making 'Ve~' noises and Lovina bristled. How dare that ass say that in front of these complete strangers!

"I broke up with your sorry ass weeks ago, and I didn't sing that song for you." He raised an eyebrow sardonically.

"Oh? Who else would you sing for?" Struck by an impulse, Lovina took Antonio's hand and stood beside him.

"Maybe I sang it for my boyfriend. Maybe it was for my sister. Either way, there's no way I would sing for you." She hoped that her stupid ex would take the hint from the distain dripping off of her tone, but he just chuckled.

"This guy is your boyfriend?" He asked, looking Antonio up and down.

"Sí, she said yes after I serenaded her. But mi prencesa has a point, unless you're a performer, you should get out." Antonio let go of Lovina's hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her towards him. He was a little confused, but if Lovi didn't like this guy, and he scared her, then he would go along with it. Besides, it's not like he really minded being this close to her.

"Sure, I'll be outside. Just remember, babe, I'm not going to give up so easily." A pale hand grasped the red-head's shoulder.

"I know you're not talking about stealing my friend's girl right in front of him, right Francis?" This time there was nothing friendly about the albino's smile, and both of the Vargas sisters felt unnerved but the sudden lack of humor in his blood-red eyes.

"Oui that would just be rude." The blond who turned out to be French also seemed a little dangerous now, his sentence coming out closer to a growl than a purr, which they would later recognize as one of his idiosyncrasies. Antonio rested his head on Lovina's shoulder, smelling her hair. "I think you've overstayed your welcome." The red-headed ex-boyfriend snorted again and stalked out of the green room where performers were encouraged to wait and hangout before and after their turn on stage. Once he was safely out of sight, Lovina pushed Antonio away and pulled out her wallet.

"Well that was fucking uncomfortable. Feli, next time just grab me and pull me out of the building before he shows up."

"Ve~ sorry, Sorella, I just can't shut up when I'm nervous. Do you think he'll try anything?"

"That coward wouldn't do anything unless he had friends with him." She pulled out a five dollar bill and shoved it at the confused Antonio. "Here, now we're even."

"Huh?" Antonio felt a little bad that his vocabulary seemed to disappear when he looked directly at the cute Lovina.

"You stood in as my fake boyfriend, so I'm paying you, and now we're even. Feli, we're out."

"Wait! How about instead you watch me and my friends perform! We're a band, and-" she cut out his babbling.

"Maybe." Without another word she took her sister's hand and pulled her along.

"Ve~ it was nice to meet you! I'm Felicia Vargas, and thanks for helping Sorella!" Lovina snorted and pushed open the door leading from the back-stage area to the hallway, which lead to the parking lot and the auditorium. The last thing she wanted was for her or her sister to get buddy-buddy with three weird guys. She winced inwardly when she saw that That Guy was waiting for them.

"So are you ditching your fake boyfriend already?" He asked, black eyes glittering at them from where he was posing against the wall, one leg bent against it, arms crossed over his chest. Lovina flipped him the bird and tugged on her sister's hand.

"No, it's just better to watch Antonio and his band from the audience." To her eternal annoyance That Guy followed behind them, close enough to make Feli sweat, but far enough away that Lovina couldn't justify turning around and decking him.

"Oh? What kind of music do they play?" he asked, the amusement in his voice showing them all that he was testing Lovina.

"Fuck you!" she threw over her shoulder. Her sister looked at her, stunned that her sister would tell her something like that. "Not you, Feli." The relief on Felicia's face was clear for everyone to see.

"Is that an offer?" Really, it was like she was spoon feeding him these opportunities.

"Go to Hell," with that they were in the auditorium and Lovina scanned the empty seats, looking for two together. She found some in the third row from the front, in between a tall blond guy and another guy with curly brown hair who appeared to be asleep. That Guy seemed put out, and he grabbed a seat by the door in the back. Felicia noticed and cheered up considerably. Lovina told herself that she would just watch Antonio and his stupid boy band, and then she and her sister would ditch, and hopefully use that Taser she had hidden in her purse on That Guy.

She looked up at the stage and watched the blond French guy set up keyboards, the albino position a drum set, and Antonio finish tuning his guitar. Feli leaned over to whisper in her sister's ear.

"Sorella, he's hot!" Lovi started a little, before she noticed that Feli was talking about the guy she was sitting next to, instead of the Spanish guy up on stage. Not that she was overly-looking at him or anything. Where would you get a stupid idea like that from?

"What, this guy?" Lovina asked sardonically, leaning around her sister to get a better look at the blond guy sitting there, who was looking extremely uncomfortable at the sisters' conversation. "Please, just look at him! I bet he eats forty-fucking potato's a day! Can't you tell he's nothing but a damn Potato Bastard?"

"Hey, everybody! I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, and my amigo on the drums is Gilbert Beilschmidt, and my other amigo on piano-"

"They're called keyboards, Mon Ami!"

"Yeah, he's Francis Bonnefoy! And together we make the Bad Friends Trio!" it seemed like most of the people from World Series high school cheered enthusiastically. Lovina rolled her eyes, then stiffened when Antonio caught her eye. The jerk winked at her, and looked like he was about to say something when Gilbert grabbed the mike away from him.

"Hey! Hey! West! West!" Gilbert waved enthusiastically, trying to get someone's attention. The boy sitting next to Feli face-palmed, muttering in German under his breath. That was another strike against him in Lovina's book. Ugh, German.

"Yo! West, can you hear me? Can you see me? Can you see me? It's your awesome big brother, West!" the poor boy nodded and tried to look like he otherwise didn't know the albino making a fool out of himself on stage. Antonio snatched the microphone back and proudly declared

"Our first song is for mi Querida, sitting there in the third row!" He pointed enthusiastically at her, and everyone around stared at her. Oh. My. God. Lovina was going to be committing a homicide tonight.

"Querida, can you see me?" he waved, and Lovina tried to scoot down lower in her seat, even though by now her head was level with her knees.

"At this time, I don't have anyone I want to publically embarrass in the audience, particularly in the third row," Francis said in an amused voice, having taken the mike away from Antonio. Lovina was sure she didn't hear the entire row sigh in relief.

"Well, the point is that the first song is for Lovina Vargas, my super-mega-awesome-foxy-hot girlfriend. I love you!" Antonio stole the microphone back, but thankfully started the song before one of the annoyed music teachers could shoo them off the stage.

Lovina's eyebrows furrowed. "Feli, do you recognize what song they're playing?"

The German boy leaned over to answer for her sister, to Lovi's annoyance. "Bruder and his friends only perform original songs. He says it's because it insults his 'awesomeness' to copy someone else's song." That was strike three, interrupting her sister like that. The nerve.

To her horror, however, Lovina was mildly impressed. Not that she would ever admit it under pain of death. She looked back up at the stage and watched them play. They were a solid group, she supposed, giving credit where it was due. All three of them swapped up who sang which lyrics during which song, though the other Potato Bastard's voice was too scratchy, and the French guy's was too oily. Antonio's was acceptable, she supposed.

Once they finished their set, Lovina noticed that a lot of girls were calling Antonio's name, although Feli later pointed out to her sister when they were trying to get to sleep later that night that they were also calling for Gilbert and Francis. But the moral of the story was that once they were through, Lovina took her sister's hand again (what, her younger sister had a habit of running around if Lovi didn't keep a tight leash on her, stop judging!) and tugged her up the aisle. She was going to have to find a new fake boyfriend, because she was murdering Antonio Fernandez Carriedo.

She stopped short though, realizing that That Guy was scanning the aisle, waiting for her and her sister to exit. She looked back and saw the Potato-Jerk still sitting in his seat. "Hey, you." She demanded crossly. He looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"My name's Ludwig." He said, introducing himself politely. The younger sister answered him happily.

"Ve~ nice to meet you! I'm Felicia Vargas, and this is my Sorella Lovina!"

"Yeah, you're going back stage to congratulate your stupid brother for making an ass out of himself on stage." The younger sister, Felicia took his hand, making those strange noises. And so Ludwig found himself marched out of the auditorium without getting the chance to ask why. He did notice that Felicia clung to him when they approached the doorway, and the elder one, Lovina stiffened, keeping her eyes determinedly forward, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

Once they were back stage, Ludwig found himself the victim of a noogie, his brother cackling about "Did you see me? We were Awesome!" He pulled off the arm holding his head, twisting it behind his older brother's back for a moment, just to prove he could, before releasing Gilbert, pushing him a little away from him.

"Did I do something to you, Bruder?" Gilbert stopped to consider it for a moment before shaking his head in the negative.

"Nah, I just realized on stage that I hadn't done anything to mess with you yet today, but now I'm good for the next week." Francis and Antonio wandered over, attracted by the sound of Gilbert's voice.

"Lovi! Did you hear us? What did you think? We dedicated the first song to you, and-" Antonio was cut off by a fist to the shoulder that tickled more than hurt.

"You jerk! What were you thinking, announcing to the entire city, pretty much, that we're going out! You block-head! Idiot!" Antonio realized that his girlfriend (she was fake, but only for now) was fighting tears.

"Lo Siento, Mi Amor, I just thought that if we made it clear we were going out that guy would take a hint-"

"I've been trying that for two months! He'd never give up that easily. And how am I supposed to show my face at school tomorrow! What am I supposed to tell my friends?" Antonio wrapped his arms around Lovi, pulling her close in a hug.

"Then I'll just have to stick around until he gets it, ¿Sí? And we'll tell our friends the truth. Just don't worry about what anyone else says, Querida." To his delight, Lovi allowed the hug for a moment, relaxing in his arms for a few seconds before pushing him away.

"Wait, are you not really dating Lovina?" Ludwig was completely lost.

"Right, West. Well Toni fell in love with her after that song she sang, and he was asking her to marry him when her cute sister comes up. . ." Gilbert explained their current situation, and when he was done, Antonio looked at Lovina, confused.

"So the reason why you were upset was because I announced to everyone who goes to our schools, and St. Wisteria" (the third school who had rented out the playhouse with their schools to have a combined concert) "that we were going out, and you're embarrassed?"

"You're an idiot and I'm going to castrate you."

"Querida, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, I'm not ugly, and I'll treat you right, and-"

"Seriously, just stop talking before I hit you." She hated it when he talked like a stupid romantic. That's why her face was so red, because of fury. Yeah.

"Aww, Lovi's face is just as red as a tomato!" Antonio cooed, stroking the side of her face with one hand. She took an instinctual step back, and Feli perked up from where she had been chatting with Ludwig.

"Ve~ do you like tomatoes too? Sorella is obsessed with them!" Antonio pretty much could have powered the city from the energy of his bright smile.

"Really?" He was so happy, it turned out that they had something in common.

"That's it, this time we're leaving for real." Feli sighed, disappointed. She had really wanted to talk more with Ludwig and his funny brother and his friends, but when Sorella got that tone of voice it meant that she should do as she said without question. "Ve~ I guess I'll see you around, Ludwig!" He smiled a little, but mainly blushed and awkwardly shifted from foot to foot. It was so cute!

(A/N: just in case somebody was confused, I don't own any nyotalia or hetalia characters, or anything much really . . . muchos gracias to my nee-sama maya-chan2007 for beta-ing for me, apologies to the lovely people who read my (fail!) stories before (I've deleted them, for the health of fanfiction.) Also, thanks to mywritingalias for encouraging me and getting me to work up the nerve to post this. I really hope you all like it!)

(Edit: so I'm going through and re-editing my chapters because a lot of people have given me corrections and translation mistakes that Beta-sama and I didn't catch, so I apologize to people who might have gotten their hopes up for a new chapter.)