If It's Love Ch.8

If it's Love

Chapter Eight: A Birthday Wish
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lovino heads out of the shower and to the kitchen, hoping for a simple lunch. So far this morning was simple, nothing more than a 'happy birthday' from his brothers and Antonio. He knows better though. They are plotting something and he really doesn't want to find out what it is. Going into the kitchen he sees Antonio leaning against the counter and eating a tomato.
"Hey Lovi." Antonio says casually and Lovino looks at him suspiciously.

"…Hey." Lovino mumbles before leaning into the fridge and going to grab a tomato himself. Before he can, however, a pair of hands are suddenly over his eyes. "Ah! Antonio get off!" He yells and Antonio laughs.

"Nope~! We have somewhere to take you now!" Antonio coos, dragging him off to the car.

Lovino contemplates struggling and making a scene, but he has no illusions Antonio will just ignore it and probably carry him or some embarrassing shit like that. They get in a car, Matthew's most likely, and drive off somewhere. He doesn't know where they are going since Antonio refuses to move his hands, although he can guess. After a few minutes the car stops and they head into a building. Sighing to himself, Lovino waits for Antonio to remove his hands so he can see that damned restaurant that he is getting tired of.

"Ready Lovi? Look!" Antonio exclaims, moving his hands so Lovino can see exactly what he expected. The restaurant is decorated to the hilt with a tomato theme and the table in the middle was full of different styles of food, all things he likes. "What do you think?" Antonio asks excitedly and Lovino looks around.

"Impressive." Lovino says and Antonio grins.

"Really? That's great!" Antonio says happily, leading him over to a table filled with presents. "Open your gifts!"

"Doesn't that come after dinner?" Daniel asks and Antonio laughs nervously.

"It does? Hahah! Opps! I'm not used to birthday parties, sorry!" He says, a look of disappointment coming to his face momentarily and Lovino sighs.

"We can start with that, it's not like there is a written rule on what you do at a birthday party." Lovino mumbles, making Antonio smile at him.

"No, let's start with food. We don't want it to get cold!" Antonio says, bringing Lovino to the food. Resigning to the birthday party he never wanted, Lovino does the things expected of him; eating the food, socializing with the guests, and smiling. Unexpectedly to him, though, he enjoys it all. It's not like his normal birthdays where they do something simple like share a store bought cake and then go on their way, it's a party that is actually celebrating him. Something he hasn't had since his mother died. Something he thinks he could get used to.

After everything is said and done Lovino goes over to Arthur, who like the other waiters of the restaurant were working for this party. "Hey, can I talk to you alone?" Lovino asks and Arthur looks at him surprised for a second before nodding.

"I guess you can. Come on, we'll go to Roderich's office." Arthur says, bringing the Italian boy to the back as the others begin to clean. "So, what do you want?"

"You know about magical stuff, right?" Lovino asks and Arthur nods. "So…do you know how to make an angel come to you?"

Arthur stares at him shocked. "…Angel? Y-you know of an angel…?"

"Well…Antonio does…and I want to ask it something about him…" Lovino mumbles and Arthur sighs.

"Well…I guess…since it's your birthday you can pray for him to come after eleven but before twelve." Arthur says and Lovino looks at him confused.

"…Why such a specific time…?"

"N-no reason. Er…I mean…angels can come see you on your birthday but it has to be before midnight, yet before eleven is…um…just do it, ok?" Arthur huffs and Lovino rolls his eyes.

"Fine, whatever. Thank you for the help." Lovino says and Arthur nods.

"Yeah..." Arthur mumbles as Lovino leaves the room.

After the party is completely over and everyone has left, Antonio and Lovino stay behind with Roderich. Rather than mess up a table, they all head into Roderich's office and sit down to talk. Lovino has no illusions what it's about, and he can see Antonio doesn't either. The room has a strange feeling of calmness from he and Roderich, and unsettlement from Antonio. It makes Lovino wonder how shady Antonio thinks the two of them are.

"So Lovino…" Roderich says, leaning back in his chair behind his desk. "What are your plans for work?"

"I don't know. It will have to be a job with really good money, I can't settle for minimum wage." Lovino says, eying Roderich in an almost challenging way.

"I understand, four people living together and only two working. I suppose if you would like, you could work here. Since you have the skills I require already I can give you an immediate…twenty five cent raise." Roderich offers and Lovino scoffs.

"Yeah right. One dollar."

"Fifty cents."

"One dollar."

"Seventy-five cents and that's the final offer." Roderich groans and Lovino sighs.

"Fine." He mumbles, standing up and shaking hands with Roderich. "Are we done here?" Lovino asks and Roderich smiles.

"I believe we are." He says and begins gathering his stuff. "You two may leave now, Vash should be coming soon."

"Of course, let's go Antonio." Lovino says, tapping the man's shoulder to make him stand up and follow him out. When they exit the restaurant Antonio lets out a heavy sigh of relief. "Hm? Something wrong?" Lovino asks and Antonio nods.

"I think I hate being in a room with you two alone. I feel that if one of you says something that displeases the other a gunman will come out of nowhere and shoot the offender…" Antonio mumbles and Lovino huffs.

"Stop comparing us to the mafia! We're nothing like that! It was simply a man hiring a boy."

"It is still creepy…no wonder Vash left for a while…I should have joined him." Antonio says and Lovino groans.

"You're an idiot. Let's just go home." Lovino orders and Antonio nods.

"So what did Arthur have to say?"

"To pray between eleven and midnight for the angel to appear…so…from eleven to midnight don't be in my room."

Antonio smiles. "Of course! I really hope you can work something out! If anyone could it would definitely be a shady guy like you." He teases and Lovino glares.

"You're a jerk. I'm not shady for Christ sake." Lovino says and Antonio shrugs.

"Maybe not on a daily basis, but when you want something you sure are." Antonio points out and Lovino rolls his eyes. "Heh, hey…Lovino…you know the gift I gave you?"

"The tomato plushy, yeah. It was cute." Lovino answers, making Antonio blush a little.

"I'm glad you think so, but that's not all I got you." Antonio says excitedly, taking Lovino's hand. "Come with me!" He drags Lovino off to an empty park, sitting him down on a swing.

"…What are we doing here?" Lovino asks and Antonio smiles.

"Look familiar?" Antonio asks back, making Lovino look around and recognize where they are; the park they met.

"Ah…why are we here?"

"Well…it's been a month since we met over there." Antonio says, sitting on a swing next to him and pointing to the hamburger he had once hidden in. "A month since I found out that there are better forms of love than I had previously known…" He looks over to Lovino and smiles. "And I know the same goes for you, in some way. It's at least been a big change, having an adult in your home trying to take care of you and your brothers…"

"And try to get in my pants." Lovino adds, making Antonio blush a little.

"Th-that's not…" Antonio coughs awkwardly. "A-anyways…I just thought it would be nice to come somewhere quiet, like you originally wanted. I wanted to come here the whole time, but of course it isn't quiet until late at night."

Lovino looks over at Antonio, watching a blush spreading across his face, and he feels a small smile come to his face. He needs Antonio to stay as he is, to give Lovino the strange calmness he gives him. "Antonio, I..."

Antonio turns to look at him curiously and goes to say something before Lovino gets up. "Hm? Are we leaving already? But I still-!" His words quickly change to a surprised gasp as Lovino leans down and hugs him.

"I'm not going to let you leave. You're a great friend and person and I don't want to ever lose you." Lovino says quickly, making sure he gets the words out before he loses his nerve. "A-and while I wasn't initially, now I'm really glad I met you that day. Even though what you want is a romantic love that I cannot give you, I'm still glad you came here."

Antonio sits on the swing in shock as Lovino talks, allowing the rushed and slightly jumbled up words to really sink in before he speaks. "Lovino…" He smiles and hugs him, pulling him closer. "Even though you don't feel the same…I'm so glad you feel even just this. If I can't stay with you, knowing you feel this way is enough for me."

Lovino bites his lower lip and remains silent, burying his face in Antonio's shoulder. He has to keep him, he absolutely has to. "Antonio…"

"Yes Lovi?" Antonio asks.

"What time is it?"

"…Seriously? Lovi we are having such a-!"

Lovino pulls away and looks at him annoyed. "Just look at your damn watch."

"It's…almost eleven! Crap!" Antonio gasps, jumping up from the swing and grabbing Lovino's hand, dragging him home. Luckily they make it in time and Lovino goes to his room alone, turning off the lights and praying. Within a few minutes he hears something lightly land on the floor of his room.

"Hello Lovino." The voice says and Lovino looks behind him to see a man whose appearance is strikingly similar to Arthur except with large white wings and a shinning halo.

"…Arthur? Arthur!" Lovino yells and Arthur runs up, clamping his mouth shut.

"Shut up! Antonio doesn't remember me, thank god, and I don't need you running around and telling people about this! Understood?" Arthur practically hisses out and Lovino nods. "Good! Now, what do you want? Me to turn Antonio back before the year ends?"

"No…the opposite actually…" Lovino mumbles and notices a look on Arthur's face that says he already knows. "I want him to stay this age even if I don't fall in love with him."

Arthur looks at him amused. "I see, well let me tell you something important; I can't undo a former contract. You must love him or lose him. So sorry."

Lovino glares. "What kind of angel says something like that you asshole?"

"What kind of person calls an angel an asshole?" Arthur fumes and Lovino twitches.

"You're no angel." Lovino says before standing up and going up to him. "So you won't give me what I want out of kindness…I guess I have to get, as Antonio calls it, 'shady'. You give me what I want or I will tell everyone, even the news, what you are."

Arthur stares at him in shock. "You wouldn't."

"Oh I would…" Lovino corrects, sitting down on the bed. "Now, let's make a deal Arthur."

Arthur glares at him fiercely and stands in front of the bed. "Well…let's think for a minute."

"Sounds good."

"There are many loves, right? I never told Antonio it had to be 'falling in love'…so…if at the end of the year you feel any form of love for him, he can stay like this." Arthur says. "That's my only offer."

"Deal. I love him as family already, so you can just do what you have to in order to end your contract." Lovino says and Arthur laughs.

"Oh no! Number one, you wait until the end of the year. Number two, that is a lie. You might not know it is, but it is. You like the feeling of being special to someone, that is all. Number three, at the end of the year you must give me the CORRECT love you feel for him, or he changes anyways." Arthur says, making Lovino glare.

"I don't have much choice in the matter…so I suppose I will take it." Lovino stands up and holds his hand out, Arthur reaching his out to shake it. "We have a deal?"

"We have a deal. Good luck." Arthur smirks before disappearing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well here it is. Lovi is such a blackmailer XD