Just a Simple Word Chapter 1

January 18, 2009

The day had started like any other. Wake up, press the snooze button, wake up, press the snooze button, wake up screaming "I'm going to be late dammit!", get dressed, wake up Feliciano, drink coffee, eat breakfast, wake up Feliciano, drink more coffee, slam his shin against the table for the umpteenth time, drag Feliciano forcibly from bed and tell him that "he better get his lazy ass out of bed or no pasta for a week!", comfort Feliciano (Who loved pasta too much for his own good, drink more coffee, take an aspirin, and hurry to catch the bus before the psychotic bus driver left without him again. Yeah, just an average morning.

He plopped onto the bus, sighing in relief that he had managed to secure a seat away from "The Bad Touch Duo" consisting of Francis Bonnefoy and Gilbert Beilschmidt.

"Surely you must ve joking!" Francis asked in an amused manner, his accent sounding like something out of a bad French movie.

"I swear, I saw it with my own eyes, kesesese!" Gilbert laughed in that annoying laugh of his; his freakish laugh freaking out nobody (though several people had thought there was a gas leak when they heard his laugh the first time)

"A panda?" Francis asked as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yes!"

They both burst into laughter at this. Lovino was not curious, not in the slightest. Anything they thought was funny was bound to be naughty, irresponsible, or gross. Considering that Francis was laughing so hard, he figured it was naughty.

He tuned the two voices out of his head and stared out the window, watching the elegant, graceful, ugly trees pass by. He hated winter, why couldn't it always be fall?

The bus was always noisy, hell; the people at his school were noisy in general. Gilbert was always picking fights with the Austrian guy about how "awesome" he was, and the Danish guy was always swearing that "he'd pound that meatball bastards face in". (Mathias probably had a death wish, or was even more stupid than he looked. Berwald was the second freakiest person in school, the first being that to-happy-to-be-sane Russian guy) If it wasn't those two making a fuss, it was that damn Polish transsexual with the shrieky voice.

He groaned. Why did he have to be stuck in a school with these morons, and why did it seem like there was no Americans at their completely American school? He was only a freshman dammit! He still had three and a half more years trapped in that purgatory like school! Not to mention how lonely it was. That to.

He growled and purposely wacked his head against the window. He wasn't lonely! He really wasn't! It's just that his mature and genius mind needed stimulation in the form of other mature genius minds! The only mature guy who wasn't scary as hell in the entire freshman class was Arthur, and that was only when Francis wasn't around. Not to mention he was a huge prick on top of it all.

Yeah, he didn't need friends at school. They were all morons anyway, just like everyone else he had ever met. He didn't need friends at all, after all, he had lived without them his entire life, it wasn't like he knew what he was missing.

Francis and Gilbert burst into laughter again and Lovino felt a strong wave of loneliness pass through him.

"Dammit." He whispered, feeling lonelier in that crowded bus then he ever had when he was alone.

The day passed by like it usually did. Ivan cheerfully claimed that the Lithuanian guy belonged to him, causing the Polish boy (girl?) to start throwing some of the most cringe worthy insults Lovino had ever heard. (He even wrote some of them down for later use). Ivan actually seemed afraid of him after it was over. During lunch the Greek male had actually stayed awake long enough to get into a violent argument with the Turkish guy (who wore a mask for some reason) about something having to do with cats. Then Francis jumped into the fight and demanded that they fight over him. (Because he was the only thing in the world worth fighting about, apparently.) Then he got the crap beaten out of him by Arthur for being a moron.

Just a normal day, but he was still exhausted by the end of it. He trudged his way through the crowded halls, feeling sluggish. Every laugh that he heard, every exclamation of emotion, stabbed itself deeply into his heart. Even if they disliked each other, even if they fought, the people in this school, were like, were like . . .

A family. Yes, they may not like each other, but they were a family all the same. If any one of them got into trouble the others, even if they were enemies with that person, would step in to help. Like when Ivan's big sister had her nervous breakdown. Everyone had been especially kind and gentle towards her ever since. And everyone was super supportive of that Turkish guy (Sadik was it?) when he quit smoking. Even the Greek guy had given him encouragement, and they were like, well, cats and dogs most of the time! Even though his classmates acted like they hated each other, when it came down to the important stuff, they were all in it together.

He didn't have any place in that family. Even Berwald was on better terms with their classmates then him, and he had a face that would put a thug to shame! Why was that? Why was he always fading into the background? The only time it seemed like he got acknowledged at school was when Francis was messing with him, and even then it was only for a few minutes. It was to be expected however, he was always forgotten in favor of someone more interesting. When he was little, it was his brother, now it was anyone who wasn't named "Lovino Vargas." A nobody had no place in the family.

He scowled, disgusted at himself. Who cares if they were a family? It's not like he wanted to join their damn family in the first place! He didn't need any morons pulling him down! Not at all! Not at all . . .

He sighed, feeling even more depressed with those thoughts in his head. He just wanted to go home, drink a cup of coffee, and drown himself in the shower.

That's when his day went from ordinary, to the most extraordinary day in his life. No, he wasn't abducted by aliens; no he didn't start shooting lasers out of his eyes, nothing like that.

What happened then changed his life.

One second, he was contemplating his untimely death by water. The next, he was flat on his back with a franticly apologizing Spaniard standing above him.

"Lo siento! I'm sorry! Let me help you up!" He said franticly, obviously very flustered.

"Stay away asshole! You've already done enough!" Lovino spit as he swatted at the mans outstretched hand. Great, he was having the worst day of his life and fate made it worse by having a bastard run into him. What the hell?

"Sorry! I was running and I ran into you and-" He tried to explain.

"I know what you did, dammit!" God, did this guy think he was a moron? He knew what had happened! The universe decided to punish him like it always did!

Some other students were watching the scene with curiosity. Lovino glared at them and got up with minimal clumsiness. (Okay, so he had stumbled and the bastard had to grab his wrist to keep him from falling okay?)

"Please, I am sorry for knocking you over. Can't I make it up to you somehow?" He asked, practically begging. Lovino didn't understand why he was acting so upset. He was a teenager, right? Most teenagers would run into someone and keep walking without an apology. Why was he getting so worked up about it? Not that Lovino forgave him for running into him like an idiot, but still . . .

"I already said that you've done enough." Lovino said, trying to put as much spite into his voice as possible. It came off short though and he ended up sounding weaker than he had wanted to. He just wanted to go home and he was being delayed by some clumsy bastard. He turned his back to the man and prepared to walk away before he heard five little words that immediately stopped him in his tracks.

"I can buy you a coffee?"

". . ."

"Fine." Lovino said. The man clapped his hands excitedly, but that's not what caught Lovino's attention.

What caught his attention was the beautiful, perfect, absolutely stunning smile on the guys face. Though his brother had an amazing smile, this man's completely threw that onto the water. The man's smile was like sunshine, bright, warm, and utterly overpowering. It was like no smile, no emotion, that Lovino had ever seen. It was the perfect smile, the perfect expression, and Lovino felt his heart leap in his chest when he saw it.

"Yay!" The man exclaimed. "I'm new to this town, so you would have to show me to the nearest coffee shop."

"Whatever." Lovino mumbled, still dazed by the smile. The man settled into a place beside him. Luckily, there was a coffee shop less than a mile away from the school. Both he and the guy, he still didn't know his name, got a coffee and sat down in one of the small booths.

Lovino was the type of guy who treasured every second of sleep he could get. He hated waking up before ten, absolutely hated it. And worse, his high school started an hour earlier than his middle school did (another crappy thing about the school) so he got even less sleep than usual. That's why he needed coffee. Without coffee he'd be just like Berwald, a mumbling mess who stumbled through school. Other than the energy boost it gave, Lovino liked coffee for its taste (he didn't like those Frappuccino/Mocha/whatever the hell it was, though) Of course, his love for coffee was completely dwarfed by his love of tomatoes, but that was another story.

The two teenagers drank in awkward silence for approximately two seconds before the man began talking.

"I haven't asked you your name yet, have I?" He asked cheerfully, shooting out another one of those golden smiles.

"It's Lovi-" Lovino immediately shut his mouth. He had answered the question almost automatically (and it was not because he was still dazed by that smile,dammit!).

"Lovi? That's so cute!"

He squealed. The guy squealed. Was he a kindergartener? Teenagers, especially guys, do not squeal. Ever. And over such a stupid nickname?

"Lovino. Not Lovi." He spit out, knowing that his cheeks were red (from anger, not embarrassment of course).

"Lovino? That's a nice name Lovi!" The man said brightly before taking a large sip of his coffee. His cheeks grew even redder at this.

"Don't call me Lovi." He spit. What was up with that stupid nickname? The man pouted.

"But Lovi is such a cute name!" Cute. There it was again. That damn word. The word "cute" would be the last thing anyone would use to describe anything about the rude, smart aleck, known as Lovino, and this moron was using it so freely? How dare he? What was his problem?

"LOVINO! NOT LOVI!" He said (maybe he accidentally yelled a bit, but only a bit. He ignored the other customers who were looking at him funnily) He expected the man to get mad, to get defensive; he did not expect the man to burst out laughing.

"You're funny Lovi!" He said with that amazing smile on his face. Lovino spluttered, not knowing how to react.

"It's Lovino dammit." He said wearily. He took a sip of his coffee and mentally sighed. The guy laughed and Lovino's cheeks turned brighter.

"I'm Antonio. It's very nice to meet you Lovi."

Antonio . . . so that was the douchebags name. And he was still calling him Lovi dammit! Lovino started to get the feeling that the gu-no, Antonio, would never stop calling him that.

Antonio was still smiling, why was he being so damn affected by a damn smile, dammit! His brother smiled all the time and Lovino barely reacted, why was this guy's smile so different?

"So Lovi, what year are you in?" Antonio asked, eyes sparkling, obviously amused at Lovino's slightly immature display. Lovino scoffed.

"I'm a freshman." He said with a glare, daring the man to make any jokes about it. One of the upper classman's favorite activities were making lives a living hell for the freshman. He remembered the first day of school when he was trying to find one of his classes and he ran into a "helpful French asshole" who then directed him into a closet.

"Oh a freshman? You look older than that!" Antonio said, looking a bit surprised. Lovino got that a lot, since he had a somewhat permanent scowl on his face; he looked a lot older than he actually was. Lovino decided not to bother with replying.

"I'm a sophomore; or at least, I think that's what you call it over here.

Lovino rose an eyebrow. What did he mean "over here?" As if reading his mind, Antonio mock slapped himself.

"Oh, I just moved here from Spain. I started school last week." He said. That would explain a lot. It was a fairly small school and he had never seen this guy before. And hadn't he apologized to him in Spanish before?

Lovino merely grunted in response and continued drinking his coffee.

"I like the school here a lot, the people are really friendly!" Antonio said. Lovino snorted. Looks like Antonio wasn't having the same problems he was.

"But," Antonio said, the bright smile still plastered onto his face "It seems like they're one big family, yes? Even though they fight . . ."

Lovino almost spit out his drink. Someone else thought the same way as him? And was able to figure it out in a week when it took him four months? Crap!

"I hadn't noticed." Lovino said, trying to hide what was going on in his head. Antonio's smile dropped a bit and suddenly he seemed very unsure about himself.

"Bu-but, it would make sense!" He added, avoiding Antonio's curious gaze. He had only said it because it did make sense, not because Antonio had looked like a puppy that had been kicked.

With those words, Antonio's smile returned to its full strength.

"Si! Yes, they are all very comfortable around each other! Makes me a little jealous . . ." Damn him. Damn that bastard for feeling the exact same thing as him. Damn him for running into him! Damn him for having such a nice smile. . .

Antonio tilted his head.

"Ne, Lovi? Are you jealous to?"

"I most certainly am not!" Lovino exclaimed loudly (and no one, no one, could doubt that he was telling the complete, undisputed, truth!) Then he cursed at himself, he hadn't even noticed the bastard had used that stupid nickname! He took another sip of his coffee, finishing it off.

Antonio smiled knowingly (dammit)

"Well, let's be friends so we can be jealous together~!" Antonio said happily, slamming his coffe cup onto the table for emphasis.

If Lovino hadn't already finished his coffee, he would have spit it out.

"Friends?" He half asked, half said, in a completely shocked tone. This guy wanted to be friends?

"Si!" Antonio said, oblivious to the fact you didn't ask random people to be friends.

Friends. This guy, who hadn't even known him for two hours, was saying so plainly that he wanted to be friends. God, what a moron. He didn't even know Lovino and he had already made the assumption that they would be friends. Better than what everyone else did, he supposed, they automatically decided that Lovino wasn't worth telling the time of day. What made this bastard think that he was worth being friends with?

He had to be an escaped mental patient on the run, that had to be it. A person would have to be mentally unstable to want to be friends with Lovino Vargas.

Despite this great logic, Lovino couldn't stop the warmth from spreading through his heart.

"Stupid idiot."Lovino said, unable of thinking of anything else to say.

"Calling me a stupid idiot is a bit redundant, but it's true!" Antonio grinned. "So does this mean that you'll be my friend Lovi?"

Lovino should have, and normally would have, chucked his empty coffee container at the bastards head but, he was shining that damn smile at him at full blast so he could only say one thing.

"Fine."

"Yay! I'm glad Lovi, you're the first friend I've made at this school!" Antonio said, looking as excited as a kid on Christmas morning.

He hadn't made any friends yet? That was surprising. He seemed like the type of guy who people would flock towards. And that smile, damn . . .

Lovino grunted in response.

"Oh, Lovi, I had an idea!" Antonio said, "Let's start meeting here after school so we can talk!"

Lovino arched an eyebrow. He had better things to do then sit in a coffee shop listening to some Spanish bastard babble, but still . . . if there was coffee in the deal . . . besides, the guy was smiling so brightly, so earnestly, like Feliciano did when he wanted something (And he still hadn't developed an immunity to Feliciano's smile, dammit)

"Fine." Lovino said for the third time that day.

"Great!" Antonio said excitedly, he was practically jumping up and down in his seat. (Kinda reminded him of Feliciano when they had pasta for dinner)

Lovino muttered something unintelligible, threw his empty coffee cup into the trash, and prepared to leave the café.

"No, seriously, thank you." He heard Antonio's voice from behind him. "Thank you Lovi, for hanging out with me today."

Lovino flushed. Da-dammit! He had only "hung out" with him because he offered free coffee! Lovino hadn't even been particularly friendly to the guy . . . Antonio must have been pretty lonely to consider Lovino Vargas friend material. After all, it wasn't easy being the new guy at school, and it was even worse being the new guy in a country. Lovino was born in Italy so he could relate. He could relate how lonely it was . . . how suffocating being on your own was.

"You're welcome." Said Lovino, the rudest guy in the world,. If Antonio was that desperate for companionship, he would give it to him. Because he felt sorry for him of course, it wasn't because he himself was lonely or anything . . .

He heard Antonio laugh, a happy, life filled sound from behind him.

"You're a nice guy Lovi." Antonio said. Then, with the brightest, most heart stopping smile he had had on his face all day, he ran out of the coffee shop.

"See you tomorrow Lovino!" He said, waving his hand for a moment before running out of view.

He had called him nice. He had called Lovino Vargas nice. He needed a reality check, Lovino Vargas was not nice . . . hey wait, had the guy called him by name?

"Fine." He whispered. He would see Antonio tomorrow, and he was actually looking forward to it . . . a little bit. Then he cursed because he had forgotten that he had to ride the bus home. Damn Spanish bastard, making him miss the bus, being too damn cheerful for his own good, making his heart feel so warm . . . Fine. Fine indeed.

It was that day that Lovino Vargas's life truly changed. If he hadn't said that simple word . . .

(Fine)

If he had refused to go get coffee with him,

(Fine)

If he had refused his offer of friendship,

(Fine)

If he hadn't agreed to meet him at that coffee shop everyday

(Fine)

If he hadn't said fine to all those questions, he would have never become friends with Antonio Fernandez Carriedo . . .

And his life would have never changed.