I don't normally write multi-chapter stories, and this one will be written in a different style than what I'm used too, but when I got the idea for the story, I really wanted to give it a try. Any helpful criticism is always appreciated. Thank you for reading. :)

Warnings: Language

Disclaimer: Hetalia and characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya. All rights reserved.

This was unbelievably stupid. Lovino gritted his teeth painfully together to keep himself from spitting a number of colorful words. Oh sure. They said this would be good for him. Would help him adjust. It most certainly would not be absolutely humiliating, absurdly pointless, or damaging to his pride in any way shape or form. Sure. Right.

Unfortunately, Lovino wasn't given much choice in the matter.

"No, seriously guys, check this out!" Antonio gushed loudly, pushing an obnoxiously bright flyer into the faces of his two best friends. "This could be the best thing ever! It's like a get-out-of-class-free card!"

"What? That sounds too good to be true!" Gilbert exclaimed in response, snatching the flyer from Antonio's hands to get a better look.

"Hmm, indeed it does, mon ami." Francis agreed with a skeptical look and also looked down at the flyer that was now in Gilbert's much too excited grip. Gilbert's expression quickly grew confused as he read the flyer while Francis's grew more skeptical. "The mentor-mentee program?"

"Yeah," Antonio nodded excitedly. "You know how we always hear those announcements over the intercom about it? Well, now that we're in our senior year, we can actually be a part of it if we want!"

"Awesome!" Gilbert agreed enthusiastically. "Don't they always get to skip class and go on field trips? That is like a get-out-of-class-free card!"

"Exactly!"

The three friends sat at the overly crowded lunch table of their high school cafeteria. On the first day of school, the cafeteria schedule was always a mess. The first lunch period would be too full, the next would be too empty. It always seemed to take the school at least a week to get it all sorted out. The three of them had been excited to have gotten the same lunch period, and hoped it wouldn't change in the next week. Antonio took the flyer back and smoothed it against the grey cafeteria table.

"It would be the perfect way to make senior year the best ever!" Antonio continued excitedly.

"I don't know about that," Francis said. "Isn't this program for, you know, mentoring people? I'm not sure a program made for helping sad little kids was really meant as a 'get-out-of-class-free card.'"

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy, Francis," Gilbert scoffed. "It's not like anyone actually takes it seriously. Every does just use it to get out of class. I mean, c'mon. Who really thinks pairing a teenager up with a middle-school kid honestly helps anything? I'm with Antonio, man. I think this sounds awesome."

"Right!" Antonio beamed at Gilbert. "It just says here to talk to the Dean of Students in the Middle School office sometime this week and they'll pair you up with whichever student they think you fit best with. I was thinking of heading there during student break today."

"Great! I'll go with you!" Gilbert said with a grin that somehow seemed to large for his face.

Antonio's own smile faltered. "Um, I'm not sure if they'd let you do it, though.

"What? Why?" Gilbert asked, looking appalled.

"Well, they sorta check your record to see if you're suitable to be a mentor," Antonio explained, a sheepish smile on his face. "You know, to make sure you won't be a bad influence on the little kids or anything…"

"And you, mon cher, do not have to cleanest track record," Francis finished.

"What?" Gilbert said, affronted. "What is wrong with my record?"

"Dude, not even counting all the detentions you've gotten, you came to school wasted, snuck into the main office, went on the intercom and sang the Prussian national anthem before puking all over the principle's desk and passing out." Antonio replied, exasperated. "I was surprised all you got was a suspension."

"As was I, " Francis agreed over Gilbert's noisy objections before returning his attention to Antonio with a disapproving look. "Well, mon ami, I will not stop you from doing this if you really want to, but I think maybe you should reconsider your reasons for doing so first." Antonio rolled his eyes before Francis finished with, "Because, I do not think this will be as easy and fun as you are anticipating."

The next class went just about the same as the first three that day. Antonio sat with a painfully bored expression that matched the rest of his classmates' nearly perfectly as the teacher at the front of the room went over her syllabus, which was, of course, identical to the other three Antonio had already gotten that day. At least the first day of school each year was easy. After an hour of severe boredom and the sweltering, sticky heat that always clogged up the school's air during the first few weeks of school, class was let out for student break.

Antonio grinned and walked briskly out the door of the classroom, not even bother to drop his books off at his locker, before making his way to the Middle School. In the small town where the school resided, there was only really enough space for two small schools. One was the Elementary School, which was about a mile down the road, while the other was a small, single story building that made up both the Middle School and High School, which were only separated by a small hallway in the middle of the building. Because of this, the school had been able to set up the mentor-mentee program in the first place, as it meant there was essentially no travel involved for any of the students.

Antonio was fairly relieved that the middle school classes were still in session as he walked to the other end of the school where the office was. He didn't really like the idea of wading through a sea of ten to fourteen year olds, especially in the school's tiny hallways. And heat. Which was somehow worse in this end of the school where the children were just hitting puberty and hadn't yet learned how to properly wear a thing called deodorant.

When Antonio reached the office and opened the door, a rush of cool air swept across his face. A twinge of annoyance pulled on his expression unpleasantly. Of course they would have the office air conditioned. Leave the kids to melt while the adults got the nice working conditions. Sure. Antonio stepped into the office and walked up to the receptionist at the main desk.

"Hi," Antonio started rather awkwardly. The elderly woman at the desk looked up from her computer curiously. Antonio held up the mentor-mentee flyer. "I'm here for the mentor-mentee program. Is there a place where I should sign up or…?"

The woman smiled brightly and said, "Oh, of course, dear! If you would just go to the Dean's room around the corner, he'll get everything set up for you."

"Okay, thanks," Antonio said with a smile and walked to the room the receptionist had pointed out. Antonio spotted the middle aged man at his desk and stood awkwardly by the door for a brief moment, unsure if he should just walk into the office or knock on an open door. He settled for letting out a small cough to get the man's attention.

The man jumped a bit before spinning his swivel chair to face Antonio in the doorway. "Come in, come in," the Dean said kindly, waving his hand towards an empty chair in the room. Antonio quickly walked to the chair, sat down, and set his books on the floor beside him. "So, you're interested in being a mentor?"

Antonio nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I thought it would be a lot of fun." After a brief pause, he quickly added, "And, y'know, it'd be nice to make a difference."

The Dean nodded approvingly. "It's nice to see kids wanting to really help. I feel like there's getting to be less of that these days. Kids only care about partying or skipping class it seems," the Dean sighed, and Antonio tried to keep his face from showing any guilt. The Dean quickly reached into his desk and pulled out a piece of paper. He placed it on the small table next to the chair Antonio was seated in. "This is just a form so we can get some of your contact information and a bit of an idea of your personality, so we can pair you with the mentee we think will be the best fit," the man explained with a smile.

Antonio returned the smile and picked up the pencil he had brought along with his books. He quickly filled in the spaces for his name, email, and phone number, before slowing down to look at the rest of the paper. It was mostly a basic survey of what hobbies he liked and some basic background information about him and his family, such as which languages were spoken most at home. He wrote his answers hastily before handing the sheet of paper back to the Dean.

The Dean took the paper and stood up, extending his hand. Antonio hurriedly stood up as well and took the man's hand and gave him a firm handshake. "Thank you," the Dean quickly glanced at Antonio's name on the paper, "Antonio. We'll be sorting through all the possible mentors and mentees this week and should have everything figured out by the end of the week. If you could stop by the office sometime on Friday, I'll let you know if we've found a good match for you."

"Thank you very much, sir," Antonio said, picking up his books. "I'll see you then."

The first week of school went by almost dizzyingly fast. The school still hadn't figured out the cafeteria situation, much to everyone's displeasure, and didn't sound like it was going to until the end of the next week. The heat in the classrooms was still sweltering, causing many teachers to attempt to book the air conditioned library to hold their classes, which was at least a small relief. Gilbert had already managed to land himself a detention, Francis was being surprisingly studious, especially when it came to his art and design classes, and Antonio was struggling to stay awake for most of his classes, since he wasn't yet used to waking up so early each morning for school. Before he knew it, Friday had rolled around and Antonio found himself back in the Middle School Dean's office.

"So, how was your first week back at school?" the Dean asked him as he took a seat across the table from Antonio.

"Good, sir," Antonio answered. "A bit fast though."

"Oh, I know what you mean," the Dean replied with a tired smile. "But at least it's been a good fast, right?"

Antonio nodded with a grin. It was pretty good to be back to seeing his friends every day. "So have you figured everything out with the mentees?" he asked. "Is there one that's a good match for me?"

"Yes, I believe there is," the Dean answered, and Antonio felt his smile stretch wider. Looked like he was getting into the program all right. But his smile faltered as the Dean continued with a too serious face. "But you should know, the mentee we have for you is a bit of a special case."

Antonio felt a wave of anxiety roll over him for this first time. "How so?" he asked nervously.

"Well, first of all, he won't be a Middle School student like the rest," the Dean said. "He's a High School freshman this year. We don't normally all High School students to be mentees, but with his case, we made an exception."

Antonio processed the information and felt his anxiety simmer down considerably. That wouldn't be too bad. If anything, it would make his job easier since he wouldn't need to walk to the Middle School all the time. "Is that all?"

"No," the Dean sighed. "He's also just recently moved to America from Italy. He's been having a hard time adjusting, so we thought it would be good for him to be in this program. The only problem is, he only speaks Italian."

"Wait, what?" Antonio sputtered. He felt his anxiety leap abruptly back into his chest, with reinforcements.

"Since you had written on your form that you were fluent in Spanish, we thought maybe you could understand him best, since Spanish is similar to Italian," the Dean quickly explained, seeing the panicked look on Antonio's face.

Antonio couldn't believe it. Sure, Spanish was similar to Italian, but it was a far cry from being the exact same language. And he sure as hell couldn't speak Italian. More fits of nerves swam under his skin. Maybe Francis had been right about this whole thing. "S-so, you're saying he doesn't understand any English?"

"No," the Dean reassured quickly. "We're told by his grandfather that he's actually fluent in English. It just seems that he's refusing to speak it." The Dean scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "At least, we're hoping that's the case. Hopefully this experience will be able to encourage him to try speaking English at school."

Well, that was a bit better. But still. Antonio was suddenly regretting the whole thing. Sure he'd expecting a bit of work since the program was for troubled kids after all, but he'd never expected anything like this. Why couldn't he just get an easy assignment like everybody else? He forced himself to swallow a sigh. Well, it wasn't like he could back out now that all the paperwork and everything was finished. His unreleased sigh felt thick in his throat.

"Well, okay," Antonio finally managed after calming himself down a bit. "Is there anything else I need to know?" he added warily.

"Nothing else outside the ordinary," the Dean assured. Antonio smiled weakly in relief before the Dean continued, describing the things Antonio would need to do as a Mentor. "You will need to meet up with your Mentee at least once a week. This can be anytime that works well for you. Just ask the office for a pass when you would like to find your Mentee. It would be best if you could find a time that doesn't disrupt your mentee's schedule too much, though. All you need to do is talk, or if you want you can bring something for the two of you to do. The main point is to become something like a friendly role model and get comfortable with each other. For the first meeting, we usually supply a paper with some random questions on it that can serve as icebreakers."

That at least sounded a bit more like what Antonio was expecting out of the whole ordeal. That kind of thing would be fun. His 'get-out-of-class-free card' as he had put it earlier.

"There will also be Mentor-Mentee breakfasts the first Monday of every month," the Dean continued. "Just come to the Middle School cafeteria on those mornings and there will be activities set up for you and your mentee so the two of you can get to know other pairs in the program and spend more time together. Lastly, there will be three field trips you will take with your Mentee. One in the fall, winter, and spring. Don't worry, the school will pay for it, and you'll get plenty of notice ahead of time. All you need to do is show up. Does that all sound good?"

Antonio nodded dizzily. Well, most of that had sounded much more like he had been anticipating when he signed up for this, but suddenly all he could think of was spending all that time with someone who couldn't - or wouldn't - speak in any language he could understand.

"Oh, and the only other thing - and I really shouldn't even have to say this - is to respect your mentee's privacy. Please don't share anything he doesn't want to be shared and don't speak much of your meetings." The Dean shuffled through some papers in front of him, pulled out a few and handed them to Antonio. "This is your Mentee's class schedule, so you will know where to find him throughout the day, as well as some activities and icebreakers for you to try if you wish. The first Mentor-Mentee breakfast is this Monday, and you'll get to meet your Mentee then. And thanks again for doing this, Antonio. I know you can really make a difference for him."

And with that, Antonio was left feeling utterly overwhelmed as he left the Dean's office and headed back towards the High School. He shakily looked through the papers he had been given. Two of them where just conversation suggestions and interest questions that he could use when he met his mentee. The third was his mentee's class schedule. His mentee's name was printed in bold letters across the top of the page.

Lovino Vargas.

"He can't even speak English?" Francis repeated incredulously.

The three friends stood in the almost deserted afterschool hallways. Francis and Gilbert had, naturally, cornered Antonio and begged him to tell them all about his new job as a mentor.

"Well, I guess he can, but he just doesn't," Antonio explained, sighing loudly.

"Haha, sucks to be you," Gilbert laughed loudly.

"Shut up, Gilbert," Antonio glared at his light-haired friend. "At least I don't have to sit in detention for two hours tonight." This of course, earned his own glare from Gilbert.

"I hate to say I told you so, mon ami," Francis started dramatically.

"Then don't," Antonio said, preventing him from finishing. "Though you were probably right," he admitted sourly.

"Hmm, what did you say his name was, again?" Francis asked.

"Lovino. Lovino Vargas."

Francis hummed in thought before saying, "I can't say the name Lovino rings a bell, but Vargas certainly does."

"Really?" Antonio asked, surprised.

"Yes. Apparently there's an eighth grader named Feliciano Vargas that just moved here from Italy as well. They must be brothers," Francis mused. "He's been making quite a stir in the art department. The art teachers are all in a tizzy about how great the kid is. Nothing short of a prodigy, I hear. There's even been talk of letting him take the advanced High School art classes." Antonio felt his eyebrows pull up, impressed. "But," Francis added with a shrug, "I have never heard anything of this 'Lovino.'"

"Well," Antonio said with another sigh, "hopefully he won't be as hard to deal with as everyone seems to expect."

Monday came too quickly. Antonio shifted his weight nervously from one foot to another as he waited outside the doors of the Middle School cafeteria. The Mentees were already inside the cafeteria being instructed by the program supervisors. Until they had all the mentees in place with signs with their mentor's names on them, Antonio and the rest of his fellow mentors were told to wait outside the doors until they were opened for them.

In all, there were about twenty-some mentors. Antonio wasn't sure if this made him feel better or worse. He was comforted though, when he saw some student's in his grade that he certainly wouldn't have pegged as a mentor. At least he wasn't the only who looked out of place. Antonio jumped when the doors of the cafeteria finally opened and they were called in.

The mentors shuffled their way into the relatively small cafeteria. The children inside the room stood nervously with signs of their mentors names written on them. They all looked fairly drawn in, with hunched shoulders and tired eyes. Antonio felt a yank on his heart and began looking for a sign with his name on it, which was surprisingly hard to do, considering there weren't all that many students to choose from. Though the reason for the difficulty of his search was quickly made clear.

Wedged far into the back corner of the cafeteria, stood a young teenager who looked slightly older than the rest of the children in the room. His dark auburn hair hung slightly over his face which was pulled into an unfriendly scowl. He had one hand shoved forcefully in his jeans pocket while the other limply held a sign down by his side. Antonio frowned. That must be Lovino then, since all the other children appeared to have already found their mentor.

Antonio hesitantly made his way over to the scowling teenager. Great. He just had to get the only kid in the room who looked positively livid about being there. Certainly, the other children all looked nervous, and quite honestly, pretty sad, but at least they were smiling, however sad or small their smiles were. As he drew closer, he managed to glimpse his name scrawled on the sign that the sour faced kid was holding in a way that almost seemed like he was trying to hide it all together. This was definitely Lovino, then. When he reached the dark haired teenager, he stood awkwardly for a moment, before forcing a smile to his face. The kid however, still refused to look up from the floor.

"Lovino?" Antonio asked, sounding as cheerful as he could.

The young teen finally looked up, his hazel eyes digging into Antonio's. Antonio tried to ignore the angry look and held out his hand with a smile. "I'm Antonio! It's nice to meet you!"

In return, Antonio was suddenly met with a loud, angry stream of Italian. Antonio blinked at the sudden barrage of undecipherable words, though there were a few that Antonio didn't even need to bother translating to understand. Words like 'idiota' and 'bastardo' for example.

Antonio felt his smile falter as he awkwardly dropped his extended hand, while the angry Italian boy, whom was now his mentee for the next nine months, glared at him accusingly.

What had he gotten himself into?