Our Secret

It was Spring break for all of the students at the academy. Most of the student and staff population either went home to visit families and friends, or went on some other fun vacation. After all, that would be the normal thing to do, right?

So why the hell am I stuck here?

Lovino thought to himself, as he sat on an outside bench eating his lunch. Antonio and Francis left him behind as they went to visit their families, and they wouldn't be back until a couple days before Spring break was over! So now, all he could do was sulk, alone. He wanted to have fun, too. He wanted to spend time with the only friends that he had.

Gilbert was walking from playing a short game of baseball (by himself), when he saw Lovino sitting alone. He'd known Lovino since middle school, but they never really hung out since Gilbert was three years older than the Italian. Although, since Antonio was Gilbert's best friend, he'd been talking to Lovino since the latter entered High School. This was a great chance for them to become close, since they weren't the best of friends, but were more than acquaintances.

"Lovino!" he called out, running over to the younger boy.

"Oh, hey Gilbert.." Lovino wasn't in the mood to be teased or anything like that. He'd hoped that Gilbert would quickly leave as he had came.

"Whatcha sittin' here alone for?" Gilbert asked, in a rather annoying tone.

"What's it look like, idiot? I'm eating my lunch." Lovino was already irritated by the weird albino guy.

"Well I can see that, but you look as if you just got dumped," he laughed, but soon stopped as he noticed the Italian was not laughing with him or at least getting angry.

"It sucks, you know. Everyone else gets to have a fun Spring break while I'm here, alone." Lovino let out short sigh and continued to eat.

"What about your classmates? All of your friends from there are gone, too?"

"What friends?" Lovino looked at Gilbert in confusion, "They're all bastards.. Every single one of them. The only people that hang out with me are Antonio, Francis, you, and my annoying little brother. Besides, he's still in the middle school section of this place."

"Well, I know you miss Antonio and all but-"

"I don't miss him! He just.. Provides me with entertainment is all." Lovino blushed slightly as he tried to hide the fact that he did miss his old friend.

"I'm still here, you know! You and I can have lots of awesome fun together!" Gilbert assured him, putting a hand on Lovino's shoulder only to have it pushed off.

"I guess that's true.. But no forcing me to do weird things, you bastard." He wouldn't admit it, but he was happy that Gilbert was there. Having at least one friend to mess around with was better than having none.

"What're ya eating? It looks good! Let me try some," his mouth almost drooling, Gilbert stared at the mysterious food Lovino had been chowing down on.

"It's my pasta, get your own damn lunch." Lovino slowly ate another fork-full, teasing the hungry albino German.

"Please please please let me try it! Don't be like that, Lovi~" he begged as he grabbed Lovino's shoulders and gently shook him.

"Fine! Damn, now stop that," he was starting to get a headache from being so annoyed, "oh, you're out of luck. I don't have another fork-" but Gilbert had already taken a bite from the fork Lovino was using.

"Wow! This is awesome! Did you make this? I didn't know pretty boy could cook~" Gilbert laughed after he tasted the pasta. He'd never had it before, but to him it was almost as good as potatoes.

Lovino began turning bright red, no one had ever praised his cooking before. "It's just pasta.. But if you liked that, you'll definitely like my Fettucini Alfredo dish."

After they finished what was originally Lovino's lunch, they were bored. Oh so very bored.

"I know! Let's pull a prank on our little brothers!" Gilbert finally came up with the idea of getting rid of their boredom by annoying the only two people that could not fight back.

"What do you have in mind?" Lovino was quite interested, he didn't like how Ludwig was always around Feliciano. It became so bad that Ludwig was all his little brother talked about!

"Well.." and then Gilbert proceeded to explain the plan.

This should be fun.. I'll get that potato bastard for tainting my little brother!

They stood on the outside stairs of one of the old school buildings with a bag full of water balloons. As childish of a joke it was, Lovino was having fun with Gilbert. He anticipated his moment of revenge.

"So, I texted Luddy and told him to bring your brother and meet under this spot- Oh look here they come, duck down so they can't see you." Gilbert said, he was just as eager as Lovino was to have a little fun.

"Ve~ what do you think your brother wanted to give us? Oh I hope it's pasta!" Feliciano was smiling innocently as he held hands and walked with his best friend Ludwig.

"I don't think it would be pasta.." Ludwig replied, leading them to the spot they were suppose to meet Gilbert.

"Oh hey look! A coin!" Feliciano exclaimed as he picked up the shiny coin, "Ve~ another one! We're lucky today~!"

"Now!" Gilbert whispered to Lovino, signaling them to start dropping the water balloons.

SPLAT.

"What the-" surprised, Ludwig looked up.

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT.

The water balloons came dropping down, soaking both Ludwig and Feliciano as they ran away, yelling. Gilbert and Lovino looked at each other, and then burst out with laughter at how easy it was to scare them off.

"Who knew scaring a couple of 13 year olds would be so hilarious," by then, Lovino was crying from laughter.

"I told you my plan would work! Luddy hates being wet, and Feli.. Well he's scared of everything."

"Well, they'll surely figure out what we did soon enough. So, what should we do for now?" Lovino asked, as he dusted off his pants and picked up the empty bag that was once full of balloons.

"Whatever you wanna do, Lovi. It has to be awesome though, or else I'm out."

"Of course it'll be awesome, idiot! Hmm, let's explore the old Gym the teachers never let us go in, I bet the rumors of the headless body or flying ghosts are true."

"Kesesesese~ alright Lovino, let's go! But don't piss your little pants~" Gilbert teased as he began walking down the stairs.

"Why do you do that?" Lovino suddenly stopped him, grabbing his arm.

"Do what?"

"Sometimes you call me Lovi, but then you go back to calling me Lovino.. Just call me Lovi like everyone else. I mean, we're friends, aren't we?" he said, blushing and looking down.

Gilbert laughed loudly and patted the little Italian on the back, "Sure, sure Lovi. In return, you must call me 'Awesome Senpai'!"

"Hell no." Lovino instantly declined such a ridiculous request.

"Aw, why not? I'm a senior and you're a freshman! That makes me your Senpai~" Gilbert smiled while pinching Lovino's cheek.

"You're nothing like a Senpai," he said, pushing Gilbert's hand away, "You're a.. Gilbert. Gilbert is Gilbert, and that's all."

"I'm the Awesome Gilbert though, right?" Gilbert began to make a pouting face, he knew he was awesome. So everyone should call him that!

Sighing, Lovino just agreed so that they could move on. "Yeah yeah, you're the 'Awesome Gilbert' now let's go!" he began finally making his way down the stairs, blushing slightly and pulling Gilbert by the hand.

They spent the rest of their afternoon disappointed at how the scary rumors weren't true, messing with their brothers again, and arguing about what was awesome and what wasn't. After eating a late dinner, they went back outside and laid together on the soft grass, looking up at the many stars across the night sky.

"Man, I wanna see a shooting star!" pouted Gilbert, he had never seen one in his entire life.

"Be patient, damn it. You'll see one, though it might not be tonight.." Lovino began to doze off until Gilbert started speaking again.

"I wonder, if stars had personalities, which ones would be cute, grumpy little tomato lovers like you~?" he teased, starting to laugh a little.

"What the hell are you talking about? Weirdo," closing his eyes, Lovino slowly fell into a light sleep as Gilbert continued to talk about unnecessary nonsense.

Mmm.. It's kind of warm…Eh? It's talking? It's.. saying my name..

"Loviiii, wake up~!" Gilbert called, gently shaking Lovino's exhausted body.

Opening his eyes, Lovino suddenly saw that it was Gilbert, kneeling over him.

"G-Gilbert..?" blushing as he noticed how close his face was to the German's.

"Get up, you can't sleep here. I'll walk you back to your dorm room," he offered as he helped Lovino get up from the cool grass.

"No, I'm not tired! Let's go to your room and play that scary game you were talking about earlier today." Lovino still wanted to have fun, in fact he had had so much fun that day with Gilbert, he didn't want it to end. Although, it was quite clear that he was exhausted.

"Well if you say so, but be warned, that game is true terror! But not for the awesome me~"

After a few hours of playing videos games and eating candy, Lovino's eyelids felt heavier than ever. Thus, he decided it was about time for his 'awesome' day to end.

"I'm going back to my room now, we can play more tomorrow.." trailing off, he slowly got up from the floor and lazily made his way towards the door.

"Wait, why not just sleep here?" Gilbert asked as he got up and helped Lovino, who was heading for the closet door instead of the door to the hallway.

Lovino looked around the room and asked sleepily, "Where am I supposed to sleep? I'm not sleeping in your bitchy roommate's bed," he growled, staring at the bed belonging to Vash. Even though he and his young sister were gone for vacation, Lovino still didn't want to take any chances.

"Then, you can sleep in my bed with me! I've got lots of room. Kesesese~" laughed Gilbert, pointing to his own bed.

"…Goodnight." Lovino rolled his eyes and headed for the exit again.

"Aw! Well good luck in that long dark, empty hallway out there. Your room is on the first floor, huh? Ouch, three flights of stairs below. Hope nothing happens to ya." smiling mischievously, Gilbert waved goodbye.

Opening the door, Lovino stared into the pitch black hallway before shutting the door again and turning back around.

"Well, I suppose it's not a bad idea to spend the night in here.." he was shaking a little and furiously blushing. He quickly walked back over to Gilbert's bed and climbed in, hiding his head under the soft blanket.

Lovino tossed and turned in the bed. Groaning, he reached out and grabbed something soft. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get loose. He whimpered a little, he felt hopeless. Suddenly, his eyes shot open and he stared into darkness.

Damn it, that dream again…

Looking up, he saw a pair of bright red eyes staring at him in concern. He then looked down and noticed he was tightly holding onto Gilbert's shirt. He felt himself blushing deeply and quickly let go of his grip.

"Sorry…" apologizing and looking away, he started to get upset.

Why did I have to have that dream tonight? Why now, of all times?

"You were making weird noises and moving around a lot, did ya have a nightmare or something? I didn't think the game was that scary.." Gilbert said, fixing his shirt.

"It wasn't the game!" Lovino blurted out, then realizing he was quite loud, "I mean.. it's just this nightmare that I have once in awhile.. Ever since I was little. I just need a moment.." he explained as he tried to get his heart to stop beating so fast.

"Well, the good thing about nightmares is that they aren't real. So when you wake up, you feel relieved!" Gilbert was trying to reassure his friend, as he could feel that Lovino was really embarrassed.

"I know that.. I know." Usually when he had the nightmare, he would be comforted by his grandfather or his brother. Only then would he be able to calm down. But there was no one now, he had to deal with it.

He tried not to think about it, but it stayed in his mind. He could feel the tears starting to swarm into his eyes, he could feel his head burning.

I can't believe I'm going to start crying about a stupid nightmare.. I'm in high school now! I shouldn't cry about stupid things like this.. Especially in front of Gilbert, of all people.

He expected to start hearing laughter and teasing from Gilbert. He expected to hear him say how 'uncool' he was for being so upset over a dream and how he was 'so not awesome' anymore. He would then kick the albino jerk in his vital regions and storm out of the room, not caring about how dark the hallway was or how long the stairs seemed. Instead, none of that happened. In fact, the opposite did.

Gilbert reached his arm out and grabbed Lovino's waist, pulling him close. He then placed his hand on the Italian's head and began gently stroking his hair. Occasionally, he whispered things like 'It's okay' and 'There, there'.

Stunned, Lovino only managed to utter one word, "What.." as his heart was beating twice as fast now, and his face burning dark red. He was glad it was still night, so his face was hard to see.

"This is something I used to do whenever Luddy was upset or had a nightmare~" he said softly as he continued to nurture and caress Lovino.

He feels so warm..

It was becoming hard for Lovino to stay awake again, for he was far too comfortable now. So, he nuzzled into Gilbert's neck and instantly fell back to sleep.

For the next week or so, Lovino and Gilbert spent every day together, doing things from breaking rules and getting into trouble, to playing games and messing with their brothers. And every night they slept together. Although, Lovino never had that nightmare again.

"Stop, damn bastard!" Lovino said, but he couldn't help but giggle as Gilbert continued poking and elbowing him in his side. He wished he'd never let the silly German find out about his weak spot. They continued walking around, looking for something or someone to mess with.

"There's nothing here, so where do you wanna go, Lovi?" Gilbert sighed, tired of walking around the large school.

"I would suggest swimming, but last time you tried to drown me, jerk!" Lovino started fuming. He wasn't the best swimmer, but he loved to relax in the water. It was soon ruined by Gilbert, though.

"Kesesesese~ I was just messin' with ya! Pretending to be a shark and pulling you under the water isn't the same as trying to drown you," he began to laugh, putting his arm around Lovino's shoulder.

"I don't care what you were doing, you scared me half to death, idiot!" He started to blush again and tried to change the subject, "Anyways.. I heard a commotion earlier near the front gate. Let's check it out."

As they neared the front gate, they started seeing more and more students. Then Lovino noticed two in particular that he hadn't seen in almost two weeks.

"Hey! Antonio and Francis are back!" Lovino shouted, waving to them. They soon noticed him, and smiled happily, signaling for he and Gilbert to come over.

Gilbert watched as Lovino ran to greet them, then the Italian pretended not to have missed them much. He was happy to see his 'bros' were back, but for some reason he also felt a bit disappointed. He was jealous of the relationship Antonio had with Lovino. He was jealous of how Antonio and Francis had known Lovino for almost all of their lives. He wanted to have Lovino all to himself, for just a bit longer.

Letting out a long sigh, Gilbert began walking over to greet them. Smiling to himself, he mumbled, "I can't believe I'm falling for the kid~"