"Fucking bastard," Lovino muttered, shoving wet hair out of his eyes as he stuck out his tongue at his fogged-up reflection in the mirror.

"That idiot," he muttered as he tugged his shirt on, expertly doing up the buttons in a manner of seconds.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" He muttered as he grabbed a tomato from the fridge, slumping down on the end of his bed. It had been an hour since he had awoken, and so far all his thoughts had been of that stupid Spaniard. It didn't help that he had had some weird dreams last night, dreams that he had thankfully forgotten in his still-burning anger for Antonio.

Lovino had never met Antonio in his life before last night; THAT he knew for certain. So why had that bastard acted like he knew him? And calling him by that stupid name as well, Romano or whatever it was… The Spaniard must have mistaken him for something else. That was the only explanation. Lovino would probably never see him again. The Italian gave a small satisfied nod, taking a bite of his tomato and savouring the sweet taste. No need to be hasty and start panicking over some guy he'd never met before in his life.

Nonetheless, Lovino was restless throughout most of the morning. He tried to watch some television, but all that resulted in was endless channel surfing as he groaned and wished something decent was on for a change. He attempted to continue reading the tacky romance novel he had bought the other day at a second-hand store, but he couldn't get into the story, especially when the author was describing the hero with "gleaming, chiselled abs the colour of a sun-kissed morning sky". Antonio had been tanned, he thought for a moment, and then he flung the book at the opposite wall in fury that he had even had that thought, that he had even bothered to notice little details like that.

Growing ever-frustrated within his small flat, Lovino finally gave up. If Antonio was still outside, then fine, Lovino didn't care, but he was going to go get himself some food and damn the Spaniard if he even thought to interrupt Lovino's lunch hour.

He trudged through the streets, hands shoved firmly into pockets, his spirits only rising as the man who had become the bane of Lovino's existence within less than twenty-four hours refrained from jumping out from a bush or something. It looked like he had left, thankfully, and Lovino had to bite his tongue to hold back his sudden grin.

"Lovino!" A voice behind him suddenly chirped, and Lovino let out a startled yelp and instantly twisted around, swinging out with his fist and catching Antonio heavily on his jaw in the same place he had hit him last night.

The Spaniard stared at him for a moment, stunned, and then whimpered, clutching his face. "L-Lovi, why do you always go straight for the face? I just wanted to say hi!"

Lovino was glaring at him, his hazel eyes narrowed in anger. "Look, fuck you, whoever you are! I told you to get lost! What are you even doing, trying to follow me?" He shoved his hands into his pockets again, searching for something he could use as a weapon. He should have brought the pepper spray… did he even OWN pepper spray anymore? Dammit, he was buying some pepper spray as soon as he could!

"I just wanted to say hi!" Antonio repeated, looking hurt as he massaged his jaw, and Lovino was unable to hide the small twinge of pleasure when he saw that there was already a faint bruise against the Spaniard's tanned skin. "I want to be friends, if that's okay."

"It's not freaking okay!" Lovino snapped back, recoiling at the prospect of having to spend any more time with him than he needed to. "Why're you so obsessed with me all of a sudden, huh? It's weird! You're mistaking me for someone else." He spun on his heel, stalking off. Fuck Antonio. If the Spaniard followed him again, he'd receive a quick to the crown jewels, and see how Antonio liked THAT.

"You love tomatoes!" Antonio shouted behind him, and Lovino stopped dead. It wasn't like that was a secret, but for this stranger to yell that out at random – Lovino loved tomatoes, yes, but they weren't the most important things in his life.

"So?" Lovino yelled without looking back, walking forwards again. He heard the quick tread of footsteps that weren't his own and groaned as he realised Antonio was following him.

"You're scared of turtles! You swear all the time!" Antonio sounded desperate now, sprouting random phrases – and yet to Lovino's disbelief, they were true. But anyone could have figured them out.

"You have a cute younger brother who's in love with a German!" Antonio added, sounding a little breathless as he reached Lovino's side, keeping a good distance in case Lovino struck out at him again. "You never felt like you were as good as him!"

Lovino stopped dead for a second time. He had never told anyone in this town about Feliciano… never. Unless Antonio was a dedicated stalker and had hacked his phone or email, he couldn't possibly had known – unless maybe he had spoken to Feliciano himself. He gritted his teeth, throwing back his shoulders and glancing at Antonio squarely in the eye. "You know my brother?"

Antonio stared back, for a moment looking surprised that Lovino was going along with him, like a deer in the headlights. Then he nodded eagerly, his usual stupid grin returning. "Sí! Of course I know him! I know him the same way I know you, Lovi!"

"Stop it with the stupid nickname!" Lovino retorted, scowling heavily. "And you don't know me at all, so stop acting like you do. Did Feliciano tell you I was down here?"

Antonio kept nodding. "Ludwig's brother is a friend of mine, so he found out that way! And now we've found each other again, right…?" He sounded a little uncertain for once, gazing at Lovino as if he expected the Italian to suddenly fall into his arms and agree with him.

Well. Fat chance of that happening.

"I don't know who the fuck you are or what you want with me, I just want you to leave me and my brother alone!" Lovino snapped instead, pushing back his fringe as the bangs fell across his eyes. "Do I look like I care about you at all? No? It's because I don't give a fuck!"

Within a split second Antonio had darted forward, grasping Lovino's hands tightly between both of his own. "Lovi, please, please remember me," he pleaded, trying desperately to meet Lovino's eyes. "Romano? Romano, come back to your Antonio, por favour…"

Lovino stared at him, and for some reason he didn't pull his hand away instantly. His skin was tingling uncomfortably where Antonio's hands where touching it, and for a moment he did feel like darting forward into the Spaniard's embrace.

A murmur, so soft that it could be mistaken for a breeze.

A laugh, the laugh that he loved more than anything to hear.

A warm taste of spices and tomatoes in his mouth…

Lovino came back to his senses with a jolt.

"Get the fuck away from me!" he hissed, bringing his knee up firmly into the other man's groin and tearing his hand away at the same time. "Don't talk to me again, don't talk to my brother again, just get the hell away from here!"

He turned heel and ran back towards his flat, desperate to get away, desperate to clear his head and curl up and just shut everything out. All he wanted to do right now was go back to pretending that the events of the last twenty-four hours had never happened. He didn't know what was going on or even what he had to do with it, but Lovino hated it. He didn't even bother looking back at Antonio – the yelp of pain had been sufficient enough for him. The bastard would have to crawl back to wherever he was staying.

He shoved his way into the flat, firmly locking the door behind him before heading to the bathroom to wash his face, trying his hardest not to think about what had just happened. His cheeks felt hot to the touch; he glanced up to see their familiar redness in the mirror, his chest still rising and falling quickly as he adjusted from the quick sprint to standing still. He groaned, running his hands back through his hair.

And then he stopped, his eyes suddenly widening in shock.

Sticking out from the side of his head was a small curl of hair that was refusing to lie flat. Lovino was used to gelling it down, and he wasn't surprised to see that it had sprung up again. That wasn't the problem, though.

What had happened was that Lovino had shoved the curl back along with the rest of his hair, and in that same instant his knees had gone weak, his cheeks had flushed even redder and a small moan had escaped his lips as a sudden wave of heat swept through his entire body.

Lovino hesitantly ran his fingers along the same curl and felt a less powerful rush through his body, but still enough to cause him to grit his teeth in an attempt not to moan again.

"…w-what the fuck," he muttered, staring at his reflection. He didn't need this. As if Antonio wasn't enough.