Past-Part Fills Post 1 -- CLOSED
Thanks to anon's suggestions we are now enforcing a past-part fills post
Fresh past-part fills post HERE
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"But you look so cute!" the young man explained, grinning. "What's your name?" Before the child could answer, a voice called out to them from the distance.
"Loviiiiinoooooo~!"
Panting, Feliciano finally caught up. "Lovino! Where have you been? Grandpa was looking for us! He says we have to go home now." The older boy's green eyes lit up. "Twins!" he exclaimed, excitedly looking from one to the other. "So cute!!" It wouldn't look too weird if he took one in each arm and gave them a big hug, would it? But just a few steps behind the other boy was a much older man. Despite being called "Grandpa" by the boys, he didn't look that old... Perhaps it was because of his toned physique or the boyish twinkle in his eyes, but one might say he was handsome-the rough-around-the-edges kind of handsome. Like the children he had rich brown hair and eyes, and a smaller but more disorganized curl in his rumpled dark brown hair. As Feliciano ran up to his brother for a hug, "Grandpa" Vargas spotted the young man with Lovino.
"Antonio, is that you?" he called out, waving. "Antonio?" Lovino muttered, struggling to get out of his brother's grip to look at the young man behind him. So the idiot's name is Antonio. "Señor Vargas!" Antonio greeted the older man with a handshake. "How are you, sir?"
"Good, good!" Grandpa responded, clasping the teen's hand with both of his. "But how many times do I have to tell you? Call me Grandpa Rome!" Antonio grinned and rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. He still wasn't sure why this man wanted everyone to address him as if he were a place rather than a person, but, well, if it made him happy... "Alright, Grandpa Rome," he said, nodding. "It's good to see you. I really can't thank you enough for paying for my plane ticket. You shouldn’t have!" he faltered, realizing he sounded a little too familiar or perhaps rude. "I mean, you really didn't have to...!" "Nonsense," 'Rome' snorted. "Your parents are good friends of mine, and I couldn't let you miss out on that scholarship you worked so hard for just because the ticket fare wasn't covered with the other expenses!" "Muchas gracias, Señor Rome" Antonio repeated fervently, shaking the man's hand again.
"So, where are you going, again?" Grandpa asked, as the twins gazed up at them. "Madrid," Antonio answered, "I'll be living there for a while..." "Oh?" the older man mused, "No idea when you'll be back?" The teenager shrugged. "Well, I was born there; maybe I'll get so used to it, I'll want to stay for good? After all, Spain is the country of passion, and what better place is there to live for someone person like me?" He grinned brightly. Without warning, Grandpa Rome gave him a hug, surprising the young man. "That's the Antonio Carriedo your parents are so proud of!!" he howled, tears of delight leaking out of his eyes. Flushing embarrassedly, the Spanish boy awkwardly patted his old family friend on the back.
Thunk. THUNK.
Blinking in surprise, Grandpa Rome let go and looked down to see one of his grandsons with a furious pout on his bright red face. "It's not fair!" Lovino thought, kicking his grandfather's leg again. He never got many hugs from Grandpa! Why does this completely stranger get one? Does Grandpa like everyone more than him? His pout turning into a downright scowl, the child prepared to kick Grandpa Rome again, but before he could, he was lifted into the air by a pair of surprisingly strong arms.
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"Here you are, chico," Antonio said warmly, taking Lovino's hands and placing the tomato inside the tiny chubby palms.
Lovino stared, gazing blankly from the tomato in his hands to the boy leaning down to look at him. And then back again. "What the hell?" he sputtered. He had never been given random presents by a stranger before. "What are you trying to say?!" he demanded, hiding his gratitude by glaring at Antonio and turning redder. "That you're cute, like a tomato," Antonio answered honestly, still smiling. This only made Lovino flush darker. "Come on Lovi," Grandpa Rome rumbled, "Be nice. What do you say?"
Lowering his head so his bangs covered his eyes, Lovino muttered something under his breath. "What was that?" Grandpa asked. "G... Gr..." Lovino mumbled.
"Grazie."
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Many years later...
Throwing his backpack onto the floor, Lovino rummaged in the refrigerator and found what he was looking for: a big juicy tomato. He quickly washed it off and took a bite, heading out to the backyard as he munched. With practiced steps, he strode to the far left corner of a small vegetable garden, as he had done almost every day for the past several years, and stopped in front of a small but leafy vine. There it was.
"Still alive, huh?" he mumbled, taking another bite. He'd forgotten when he'd stopped being so surprised at the plant's continued existence. It was definitely one of the older things in the yard, but what was so remarkable about how long it'd lasted was the plant species itself. Really, it had more to do with the miracle of this particular tomato plant surviving for nearly eight years ...and not the person who had given him the original tomato... that kept Lovino coming back to it every day and taking extremely good care of it. He just wanted to see how long it would last, out of curiousity... It persisted day after day... like some kind of weed, but somehow too wonderful to be looked at as one. Lovino continued to chew, looking down at the tomato plant, remembering how it got there to begin with.
It had started with the tomato he'd been given as a kid, by a complete stranger. His Gramps seemed to know the guy, but then again, Gramps did know lots of people and was even willing to hang around those he didn't know as well as he should, provided they knew how to throw a good party. Lovino made an irritated face. Someone "Rome's" age shouldn't behave that way. But the stranger had been different. He didn't seem the type to accompany his grandfather on his more hedonistic excursions. More than anything, he seemed really gentle, and had actually paid more attention to Lovino than to his more popular twin brother, showing him a kindness he was not used to. He was even kind of handsome, now that Lovino thought about it, but memories of exact features escaped him. Ruffling his hair, and leaving a tomato that shone like a ruby in his hands, the stranger had left, smiling warmly at the child Lovino as he waved goodbye.
Lovino unconsciously stopped chewing for a second, his cheeks warming.
He was thankful Feliciano didn't have the understanding to tease him about the gift, but even though he didn't want to give anyone else the chance to, he had kept it safe on a shelf in his room, eating it only when he was afraid it would go bad. The seeds had gotten everywhere anyway and he was in the middle of picking one up when Grandpa suggested planting them. For the next few weeks, he and Feliciano had taken care of the small but budding tomato garden, hoping eventually they'd never be short on fresh tomatoes. Unfortunately, because they were kids and their grandfather wouldn't help out, many of the seeds never made it to adulthood, and one year while the plants were still young, a rabbit had made its way into the garden and decimated all but one: the one Lovino now stood in front of.
Raising an eyebrow, Lovino bent forward to get a better look at something he hadn't noticed earlier. "A new bud?" he mumbled, poking it. Strange. It was totally out of season. But maybe this was a sign that something good was going to happen. A rare smile tugging at his lips, Lovino reached behind it and picked up a small spray bottle of sugar water. After spritzing the plant a couple of times, he put it away and walked back toward the house, remembering to put his smile away as well.
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"Didn't you hear what I said?" the older man growled, miffed at being so blatantly ignored. Teenagers...! "We're having a guest for dinner, so come help out in the kitchen." Lovino blinked. Kitchen? Him? The same thought just occurred to 'Rome.' He frowned and said, "Go clean up the living room or something." Silence. "Uh, on second thought, why don't you help me unload the rest of the groceries, then get the door when he comes." Lovino sighed and got up, hearing his grandfather recruit his twin for cooking and cleaning duties as he slammed the door shut behind him. The old bastard didn't even wait for him to be out of earshot before asking Feliciano to do everything that he, Lovino, couldn't. Still, this friend... He scowled. The last thing he needed was to meet another one of his grandfather's crazy friends, and to make it worse, he had to sit through dinner with this guy, at HIS house. Maybe this one would try to flirt with his brother too. This was not going to be fun.
He was watching television when the guest finally arrived. He seriously considered not letting the man in but was forced to when Grandpa Rome decided to stand in front of him wearing a frilly apron over his work clothes until he did. Still quivering from the horrific sight, Lovino tried to calm himself down before he reached the door. This was HIS house, and this guy was going to get it through his most likely thick skull, one way or another.
He opened the door.
"Buenas noches, is this the Vargas house?" A tall man with a mop of wavy dark hair stood in the doorway. "My name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo; I was invited here by Señor Vargas?" There was something oddly familiar about his bright green eyes... Catching himself staring, Lovino frowned and remembered to answer and show him inside. The man grinned cheerfully and sauntered in after the very puzzled Italian, who was still trying to figure out where he had seen those eyes before. "Um, excuse me?" Antonio tapped Lovino on the shoulder, earning him a sharp glare. Unfortunately, instead of being cowed into silence like he should have, the man smiled again. "You're Lovino, right?" Lovino's jaw dropped. "How did--??" he stammered, pointing a shaking finger at the man's chest. "You've gotten so tall!" the man sighed, lost in what appeared to Lovino to be utter glee, completely ignoring the younger boy's rudeness. "And your face still turns tomato-red!" Horrified, Lovino slapped his hands over his cheeks to cover them. Who was this bastard?! And how dare he treat Lovino with such familiarity?
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"What?" he asked, suddenly snapping to attention. "Do you still like tomatoes?" the Spaniard sitting across the table asked innocently. Lovino twitched. 'Still?' What did that mean? Even if Antonio was an old family friend, the overly familiar tone was starting to get on his nerves. And besides that, the way he talked to Lovino made it seem like they had met before. But they couldn't have. Lovino's only memories of meeting unusually kind strangers involved that day he and Feliciano had been playing football as children. Lovino was taking too long to answer, so Feliciano jumped in. "Ohh, yes he does! We managed to grow some tomato plants from that one you gave Brother here, all those years ago~" Abruptly, he turned to Lovino. "Ve~ You remember right? That time big brother Antonio gave you that tomato? And how we got a garden from it? Ve~ Fratello~?" He poked Lovino's cheek, which was suddenly drained of all color. "What?" Lovino asked, his appetite vanishing with the blood in his face. Antonio looked slightly disappointed and slightly confused. "You... don't remember?" he asked. All eyes were now on Lovino.
Lovino bit his lip, trying to stop the gears turning in his head. No, he didn't remember this guy, whoever he was. He remembered someone who had given him a tomato out of nowhere but didn’t remember the face very well. And whoever that was, it couldn't be this guy.
...Or could it?
The awkward silence at the table was broken by a loud cheer from Feliciano, because Antonio had just set a small basket of bright red tomatoes on the table. "A small thank you for dinner," he explained. "Ah, you're too polite," Grandpa Vargas declared, clapping the Spaniard hard on the shoulder. "You'll always be welcome here," he said, as Feliciano smiled cutely and nodded so rapidly he almost got whiplash. Antonio turned to Lovino, no doubt expecting some form of agreement from the hopeful smile on his face.
Lovino's eyes narrowed. If it really was this guy...
The handsome stranger who had given him the tomato was not, in fact, a handsome stranger at all. Just another stupid family friend of his grandfather's who preferred Feliciano to him, and a complete idiot to boot. And from the look of things, he might be dropping by a LOT more now.
The new bud on the tomato plant was NOT a sign of good things to come.
It was a sign of disaster.
Writer!anon shall go back to her study hole now and hope when she comes back to post again there won't be rotten tomatoes thrown at her. *runs*
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I can't wait for more! 8D
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If I may be a little picky with your grammar, whenever someone new speaks you should have a line break in the dialogue. So instead of having a solid paragraph where everyone talks it's a little more spread out and it's easier to follow conversations. It's something I had trouble with, too, so yeah.
Sorry, I've taken up all this space talking about grammar. Keep up the good work~
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and don't worry about the picky/taking up space. I kept thinking something was wrong when I was writing this but couldn't figure out what exactly --got a little too caught up in writing storyline *nervous laugh*
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Hope to see more soon! :-)
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A few days later...
Lovino winced. Gramps was going to KILL him. One would think that he'd be good at Spanish, since he was Italian, and often spoke Italian with Feliciano when he didn't want their conversation to be overheard... But well, some things were similar here and there and some things weren't. And today's pop quiz had been entirely on the things that weren't. Lovino stared at the paper, as if hoping the numbers would reverse themselves into a more acceptable score.
"Brother~~!"
Lovino hastily stuffed the paper into his pocket as Feliciano skipped over to him, waving, his friends Ludwig Weillschmidt and Honda Kiku trailing after him. Lovino's eyes narrowed. Honda was polite enough, so he could tolerate the Japanese boy, but he absolutely hated Ludwig. He still couldn't understand why his younger brother hung around such a tight-lipped, macho, idiotic bastard-who-ate-nothing-but-potatoes all day. But then again, he thought to himself, an unbent corner of the failed quiz jutting out of his pocket, there might be a few things he didn't want to, or would never be able to, comprehend.
"Let's walk home together, okay~?" Feliciano suggested brightly, taking one of Lovino's hands the way a kindergartener would.
Lovino glowered. Well, it was probably better than walking home alone. Probably.
"Sure."
The walk home was actually more pleasant than he thought it would be. The sun was shining, Feliciano was walking in the middle so at least Lovino didn't have to breathe the same air as the potato bastard, and Honda was talking about something that was actually pretty interesting. Not that he'd admit it, of course.
He completely forgot about his abysmal score until they reached his house... when it happened. Lovino reached into his pocket to pull out the keys, but as he did so, the paper fell out of his pocket.
"Ah, Lovino-san, I believe you dropped something."
The brunette looked down, and sure enough, there it was. Before he could make a move, Ludwig scooped it up and uncrumpled it, frowning his disapproval.
"How disorganized. Paperwork should always be filed and kept..."
As he stopped talking, Honda peering over his shoulder, Lovino felt the color draining out of his face. Damn it!! This was why he hated that anal bastard! He snatched the paper out of the blonde's hands as quickly as he could, hastily crumpled it up, and flung away it as far as possible. It went over their heads, over the mailbox... and almost over a certain Spanish man's head.
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Antonio reached up and touched the top of his head, where a small paper ball was nestled in his thick dark hair. Gingerly, he unfolded it as he walked down the street toward the Vargas house. His eyes widened.
"¡Dios mio!" he cried, clutching the side of his head. "¡Qué horror!"
The string of rapid-fire Spanish that followed, bemoaning the graphite marks that butchered-nay, slaughtered!-his native language, was cut short as he saw the name in the upper right hand corner: Lovino Vargas.
***
"What was that?"
"None of your damn business!" Lovino snapped, now scrabbling for the keys he'd dropped on the sidewalk in his haste to throw the incriminating document away. He jumped to his feet and jammed the key in the lock. He was just about to turn the handle when a voice calling out to him made his blood run cold.
"Lovino!"
"Ah! It's big brother Antonio!" Feliciano exclaimed, waving enthusiastically.
"Big... brother... Antonio?"
"I wasn't aware that you had another older brother, Feliciano-kun."
"Oh, I don't. He's one of Grandpa's friends and he's really, really nice! And he's handsome too, isn't he?"
"No he's not!!" Lovino hissed, jiggling the keys again.
"Ve~! Big brother Antonio~! Hello~~!"
"Stop talking to him!"
Lovino tried to swallow his growing panic. What was that guy doing here?! And why wouldn't the fucking door open?! It was like a scene from a horror movie! In the full minute it took him to realize he was trying to turn the handle the wrong way, Antonio had made his way up the driveway and to the front door, just as Lovino was trying to close it from the inside.
"Hold it!"
Lovino stopped trying to shut the door when he saw long tanned fingers gripping the edge. Crossing himself, he swallowed and opened the door. But instead of sunlight hitting his eyes, his big, fat, ugly quiz did.
"What... is the meaning of this?"
The brunette grimaced, taking a step backwards. Honda whispered something to Ludwig, bid the twins and Antonio a quick farewell, and dragged his friend away.
"Um..." Lovino stammered, looking left, right, anywhere but at Antonio's face while Feliciano darted in the house behind him. Oh God. Antonio saw it. Antonio who was Gramps' good friend saw it. Antonio who would now tell Gramps about the score that should never be reported saw it. SHIT. What was he going to do?!
"This is terrible!"
Lovino blinked. Were those... tears in Antonio's eyes?
"Ay, Lovi!"
Antonio let out an overly dramatic moan, holding the paper as if it were a death certificate (it might as well have been-this was language homicide!).
"I cannot believe this... this..."
He struggled for words adequate to describe his mortification.
"This saddens me! You are obviously having difficulty learning one of the most beautiful of languages, and it is such a loss for you!"
"I didn't know you, uh... felt so strongly about this," Lovino muttered, almost amused at how Antonio was reacting, despite his dislike for the man.
"Strongly?"
Antonio jutted a thumb towards his own chest.
"It is my passion!"
Lovino could have smacked his own forehead in annoyance. Yes, yes, he got that much. Maybe if he punched Antonio hard enough, he could give him amnesia, steal back the test, and feed it to the neighbors' dog, Hana-Tamago, before Gramps got home. Yes, that was a good plan. Problem was, his stray hair curl was the only part of him that was tall enough to reach the Spaniard's face. But hey, then again, maybe that special head-butt attack he read about in a comic book would work...
"Say, Lovino, which grade are you in?" Antonio suddenly asked, unwittingly stopping Lovino, who had already started bending his knees a little.
"Ninth."
Lovino frowned. This was starting to sound like trouble...
"Great, this should be easy then!"
Lovino straightened up, wishing he had laser vision, as he glared at Antonio.
"What should?"
"I'll tutor you in Spanish!" Antonio declared, clapping his hands together, his eyes shining.
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"It's a good idea, no? I'm very qualified: Spanish is my native language, I've been living in Madrid since I was your age, and I'm also studying Spanish literature in college, so you can ask me anything you want about it!"
Interpreting Lovino's shocked silence license to continue, Antonio blabbed on excitedly.
"This will be great! I owe your grandpa a huge favor from years ago, and now I finally have a chance to show my gratitude by helping you!"
He tugged the quiz above his head as Lovino made a desperate grab for it.
"Don't worry, I won't show him this. I'll just tell him you've taken a greater interest in the subject, and I would be more than happy to help. How's that sound?"
He grinned broadly at the brunette, whose face was now the color of uncooked pizza dough.
"Hooray! Isn't this wonderful, brother?" Feliciano cheered, running up to give Antonio a hug. Lovino was too busy being horrified to remember that his twin had been behind him during the whole exchange.
"Would you like some extra Spanish lessons too?"
Then he would have two adorable little students to teach! That would be wonderful!
Feliciano giggled.
"Thank you big brother Antonio, but I'm taking German," he replied cheerfully.
"Oh. Well, that's okay. I guess you've got me all to yourself then, Lovi~!"
He fluffed Lovino's hair before he turned on his heel to leave.
"Chigi! Don't call me that, you bastard!"
"I'll come pick you up after school tomorrow, alright? ¡adiós!/
"Ciao~~!"
Lovino yanked his brother inside the house and slammed the door shut.
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