Homework. It was one of the many things in life that made you question the school system. It was supposedly 'helpful', but at the moment, Lovino Vargas had honestly no idea why. In fact, he wanted to drop every teacher on Earth into a pit of boiling lava for making him ask for this bastard's help.

"Carry the five?"

"No, carry the one." Gilbert chuckled a little as he took the pencil from Lovino's grasp. "Here, like this." He said, drawing the one over the three in the multiplication problem.

The Italian was never good at math. So, naturally, when their teacher gave them extra homework that day, Lovino was completely at the many numbers' mercy. So he turned to getting help from a friend.

Unfortunately, that friend was Gilbert Beilschmidt. The most bastardous bastard of them all, aside from the other macho potato, Ludwig. Worst of all, they were brothers. It made Lovi quite sick to think about it. He growled, snatching the pencil away. Why did they have homework on a Friday, anyway? It was completely idiotic.

"Yeah, yeah, bastard, I got it," He said quietly, finishing the problem with more than a little difficulty. Gilbert chuckled in response.

"Good job, princess, you got it right. Because the Awesome Me was helping you, of course," He smirked. Lovino responded with a glare.

"I thought I told you not to call me that," He said, voice low in an attempt to be intimidating. Gilbert didn't fall for it. He laughed obnoxiously and ruffled Lovi's hair.

"Okay, sure, princess. Come on, you're almost done," He pointed to the last problem on the sheet. He groaned.

"Do I have to? Fuck, it's late, I'm tired…" He complained, looking at the problem hopelessly. He picked up the pencil again and began to work, aware of Gilbert's lingering gaze. He blushed and sighed.

"Why the hell are you staring at me?" He whined, shrinking back. Gilbert smirked and kept staring at him. Lovino whined.

"Stop iiiit~!" But the albino didn't stop. He just kept smirking that same obnoxious smirk and frankly, the Southern Italian wanted to rip it right off of his face. Painfully. "Dammit, I thought you were helping me!"

Gilbert didn't say anything, he just kept smirking and took the pencil and the math sheet, solving the last problem in less than ten seconds. Lovi sat there, shocked.

"W-what the hell?! How did you do that?!" He stuttered. Gilbert stood up and flashed a victory pose.

"I AM AWESOME!" He shouted, the sound of his voice echoing across the walls of Lovino's home. Said boy jumped up, slamming a hand over his mouth.

"You fucking bastard, you'll wake my damn brother!" He said in a hushed voice. Gilbert nodded, and Lovi removed his hand from the albino's mouth. Lovi's grandfather also lived with them, but he was away; most likely with one of those many girlfriends of his.

Grandpa never failed to disgust poor Lovino.

He sat back onto the couch they were previously sitting on, Gilbert plopping back down next to him. The Italian turned to the grinning albino and snarled.

"You can, you know, leave now," He looked back to the sheet, putting it back in his bag. "Grazie," He mumbled, picking his bag up and walking towards his room.

"Ciao, bastard-" He was cut off by a surprisingly strong arm grabbing his wrist tightly, holding him back. He gasped and whipped around, holding his arm to his chest as if it had been bitten. "What the fuck?!" He shouted.

Gilbert put his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry, princess, sheesh. The Awesome Gilbert needs to ask you a question," He grinned. Lovino responded only with another glare. Gilbert took this as a chance to speak.

He suddenly went a little red, looking down sheepishly. "C-can I spend the night here?" He looked at Lovi's startled face and continued hurriedly, "J-just until tomorrow! Vati has been coming home drunk a lot lately, and he gets grumpy easily. I don't want to piss him off again," He shuddered, remembering all the yelling when he had drank the last beer the last time his father came home intoxicated.

Lovi didn't say anything, he just continued to look at the other in shock, as if he'd ever consider sleeping in the same house as this…..this….bastard! He was about to shake his head no and kick him out, but something stopped him. He looked at the German's kicked puppy look, trying his hardest to not break out in tears just looking at it. He kept his glare.

Finally, he sighed and turned around again. "Are you coming, or not?" He growled, not waiting for an answer as he continued up the stairs to his room. Gilbert's whole face lit up and he practically bounced after his companion.

"Thanks, princess!" He beamed. Lovino sneered.

"You better have something to sleep with, I'm not giving you anything," He said, ignoring the name and not turning around. He opened the door labeled "Fuck Off" And gestured him inside. Gilbert didn't need to be told twice. He ran inside, flopping on the bad and sheathing himself in the many layers of covers.

"Oh, hell no," He snarled. He pointed to the floor. "You're sleeping there." Gilbert's smile faded.

"But-"

"No buts, dammit! Get out of my bed!" He almost yelled. The German sighed and slipped onto the floor, pouting.

"There's no blankets or anything," He lamented, looking at the floor. Lovi just turned off the light and climbed into bed, growling.

"Too fucking bad. Go to sleep," He said, already drifting off, ignoring Gilbert's sounds of protest.

Said German was freezing on the unforgiving hardwood floor, it was the middle of winter, dammit! He didn't even have a pillow…

He looked over at Lovino, who was already asleep with a tiny smile on his face. He grinned a little. Lovi was so cute, though he was so grumpy all the time. It was like a whole new classification of adorable and Gilbert loved it. The pouting, the blushing, the yelling. It was just so damn cute.

He sat there, watching his little Italian sleep peacefully. (A/N: Oh Dio, unpleasant reminder of Edward Cullen) And meanwhile, he just knew he would get hypothermia if he lay on the bitterly cold ground any longer. So, slowly, cautiously, he climbed into bed next to Lovino, wrapping his arms around his tiny waist and sighing contentedly at the sudden warmth.

Then next morning, it took at least three hours to calm Lovino down when he saw Gilbert cuddling him when he woke up. But, he thought as he was violently kicked out of Lovi's house, it was worth the large bruise he now had on his left cheek.

And Lovi still forgot to turn in his homework on Monday.