"You've never celebrated Valentines Day, _______?!" Feliciano asked, a surprised look planted on his face.

You looked over to the Italian and away from the book you were currently reading. "How did you figure that out?" You asked, squinting an eye.

"Antonio told me!" He answered happily, leaning forward slightly.

You had never been one for celebrating the holiday. It's not that you didn't want to- it's just you never had anyone to spend it with. On Valentines Day, you were usually sitting on the couch snuggled in a blanket, re-watching a lovey dovey movie you saw every year and eating chocolates you might have recieved that day. Truthfully, you thought a day dedicated to love was pointless. If you had someone to share your love with, and they knew that you liked them, then why spend a whole day goggling over it? Why exchange each other roses that would die, stuffed animals with little hearts that would be donated, and chocolates that could be bought at the supermarket any other day of the year?

Sighing, you marked the place in your book, setting it down on the armrest next to you.
"It's no big deal, Feli." You said, planting a fake smile on your face, setting your chin in your hand. "I've never celebrated it, and i'm likely not to anytime soon."

Feli, flinching at your comment, took your hands in his, your eyes now staring into his brown orbs. You had rarely seen his eyes open, since they were usually closed. This surprised you the slightest bit, but you kept silent.

"______, Valentines Day is the one day in the year completely dedicated to love~! Havn't you ever wondered what it was like to give chocolates away to your closest friends, maybe even a love interest?" He asked, a sad smirk on his face. "Even the slightest bit?"

You pondered at his question for a moment. Indeed, you had wondered what it would have been like to give out little gifts instead of recieving the occasional one or two from a friend. But it's not like you were going to tell him that. If you had, he would probably be the one to drag you around, showing you the ins and outs of the holiday, making it seem more complicated than it actually was.

Before you could get another thought in, Romano, or Lovino, walked into the living room, plastic bag draped over his shoulder. He looked over to you, a little surprised to see you sitting in his living room. You stared at him, your ears and cheeks getting hot. A little part of you had always loved the italian, but never really wanted to admit it. Shaking the feeling off, you decided to talk instead of stare.

"Hey, Lovino." You said, Feli's hands still entwined with yours.

He didn't reply, but instead looked down to your hands, then back up to you, seeming to ignore his brother. Shifting the bag behind his back the tiniest bit, he finally answered.

"Idiota, what are you doing with that bastards hands?" He sneered, standing above the two of you.

"Lovino! It's not nice to talk about your brother like that!" Feli sniffed, his grip around your hands tightening.

You smiled, continueing to look up at the italian, not seeing anything new about the way he had talked to his brother.

"Oh, nothing. Feli was just telling me I should celebrate Valentines Day this year." You said plainly, shrugging your shoulders. "I was contemplating on whether or not I actually wanted to. But-"  A sly smile spread across your lips, a playful glint in your eyes. "Maybe I would consider it if you finally decided to join in on the celebration."

He seemed to shrivle back at your comment, the bag in his grasp crinkling as he did so.
"W-Why would I want to celebrate a holiday like San Valentino with a Ragazza like you?!" He shot back, the slightest blush on his cheeks.

You held up your hands defencively, smirking at the man. "Don't need to get so touchy! I was just thinking since you're not really the type to celebrate it either, we could start together. That's all."

Hesitating, he looked to the side, murmering something under his breath.

"You don't have to do anything big!" Feliciano said happily, trying to convince him further. "I have some cupcake mix and frosting in the kitchen that I was saving for Antonio and I to work with later. Maybe you two could bake instead~!?"

Sighing, Lovino looked over to Italy, then over to you. He hesitantly took a few steps forward, grabbing your hand and dragging you off the couch. Your eyes widened as you toppled off the furniture and into the chest of the angry italian. He looked over at Feli with one last glare, then grabbed your hand without another word, leading you towards the kitchen. You thought you heard a faint 'Have Fun!' as you were dragged away.

xxx

Lovino set the gray plastic bag on top of the counter, grabbing the pink box with the Pilsbary Dough Boy plastered on the front, motioning to a few perfect looking cupcakes, red frosting and sprinkles evenly decorated on the top. He ripped open the wrong end of the box, emptying the bag that contained pink powdered substance. Grabbing the top, he forcefully tried to get the plastic that surrounded the mix open.

"Dude, you gotta' slow down." You said, setting your hands ontop of his, trying to get the bag away from him. "If you want these to turn out right, you have to take it slower."

He looked down to your hands, his face turning red as a tomato. You looked up to him, putting your head to inches away from his.

"You having issues?" You asked, opening the bag of mix.

"Fine.." He murmered, opening the top off the frosting, setting it aside and grabbing a spoon.

You smirked, pouring the pink substance into a glass bowl that Feliciano had left out. Grabbing the box, you scanned over the back, trying to see what to set the oven for. You clicked the knob on the oven to '350', and set the timer on the microwave for thirty five minutes.

"Hey, could you be helpful and grab three eggs out of the fridge?" You asked, getting a cup full of water and carefully pouring it into the bowl. He gave you an angry grunt in return, throwing the fridge open and rummaging around for the cardboard carton. When it finally looked like he found it, he shut the fridge and set the eggs on the counter. Pouring 3/4 cup of vegitable oil into the bowl, you looked over to the cardboard carton, then up to Lovino.

"Could you get three out?" You asked, turning your attention back over to the layers in the glass bowl, seeing the oil flow over the water, making little blotches and not mixing with it.

Just as you said, he took out three, hard white eggs, and put them into the bowl.

Without cracking them.

You looked into the bowl, the eggs floating in the water and oil mix.

"Lovi," You started, not taking your eyes out of the bowl. "Have you ever, I dunno'....baked before?"

"W-Why?" He asked, his voice rising the tiniest bit. "I just got the eggs out. What the hell could I possibly do wrong?!"

"Well...first off, you need to crack the eggs before you put them into the mixture." You stated, grabbing a wet egg out of the bowl with your middle finger and thumb, looking up to him.

He gave an embarrased blush, folding his arms across his chest.

"Look.." You said, holding the egg in your palm. "This is how you crack an egg."

Tapping the side of the egg against the bowl forecefully, yet gently at the same time, it cracked open, the yolk running out. You held it over the bowl, opening the middle of it. It's contents spilled out, sinking into the water and oil, down to the pink mound at the bottom.
"See?" You asked, taking the other two eggs, holding one out to him. "Now you try."
Eyeing the egg, he picked it up, the watery oil falling into his palm. He walked over to the bowl, knudging you aside lightly. He almost did it like you. Cracking it against the bowl, putting the contents into the ingredients. Although, he hit it harder than nesecary, egg shell falling into the batter.

You simply smiled, carefully picking out the hard shells that fell in, putting them into the pink box the powder came in.

"I think that egg was defective." He murmered, not wanting to admit it wasn't the eggs fault.
"No, it wasn't." You stated gently, holding the other out to him. "I think you just need practice, that's all." You guided his hands to the bowl, setting the last egg in his grasp. "With a little help, you'll get the hang of it."

Lovi scrunched his lips back, flinching at your sudden closeness. None the less, he didn't move back, but instead let you continue with what you were doing. Nodding, you set your hands ontop of his, moving them to the side of the bowl. You lightly tapped the egg on the edge, just enough to open it. Thinking this was enough, you slid his hands to the left.

"Now open it as slowly as you can." You told him, not yet moving your hands away.

He did as you said, making sure not to get any shell in this time.

And just as you had before, the yolk came out and went into the batter, nothing more added. You smirked, taking your hands off his, grabbing the shell out of his hands.

"Congrats!" You said, putting it into the box, turning your head to look up at him. "You just sucessfully cracked your first egg."

xxx

After that, Lovino seemed to get the hang of baking. Besides the batter incident, the walls now painted with pink substance, he had done good for his first time. You had told him to put little cups into the cupcake pan, making sure he didn't put more than one in a slot. Surprisingly, he had done just that, even pouring the correct amount of batter into each one. In a way, you had felt a sudden burst of accomplishment soar through you.

When the oven had heated, you carefully put the pan in, pressing the start button on the timer.

Time had passed, and the cupcakes had been baked. Putting oven mits on, you took them out, being sure not to get burnt. You set them on the oven top, turning the fan above it on, making it so it could cool down faster.

"Time for frosting!" You said cheerfully, picking up the cup of red frosting, grabbing the spoon Lovi had gotten earlier, rummaging around for another. You found a bigger spoon, and handed it to the italian. He grasped it in his hands, looking over to the simmering cupcakes.
"Shouldn't we, I don't know, wait for the cupcakes to cool off before we frost them?" He asked, taking his gaze off the treat and over to you.

"Think of it as a contest." You said, pointing to the cupcakes. "The one can frost the most cupcakes without it melting off wins."

Knowing Lovi, he couldn't resist a good challenge when he saw one. Plus, you'd thought it would brighten up the strange mood he had been in that day. A mischevious grin spread across his face, grabbing the frosting can.

"Portola, Idiota."

"You got it." You replied, redying your spoon.

Two seconds later, you were both shoving each other out of the way, flailing for a cupcake, trying not to crumble them at the same time. You grasped one in your hand, slathering a spoonfull of frosting on the top, as neatly and as fastly as you could go. Looking over, you saw Lovino had made two perfect cupcakes setting aside on the counter, already slathering topping on his third. At this rate, you knew you'd lose.

Grabbing three cupcakes on your hands, you dunked and swirled them into the cup, taking them out with the tops covered in red. Maybe you'd catch up after all.

Four decorated cupcakes later, you set your red coaked spoon down on the counter, panting slightly. You looked over to your apponents cupcakes, counting how many he had sucessfully decorated.

Eight.

You looked over to your pile.

Seven.

Sighing, you grabbed one of your decorated cupcakes, took the gold foiling off the bottom, and threw it over your shoulder. Taking a giant bite out of the top, you stared up at the frosting-covered man.

"Well played, signore." You said, mouth full of cake. "Well played."

He looked down to you, smiling a toothy grin. You smiled back, glad to see he was in a better mood then before.

In fact, you had never seen him quite so happy. Yeah, there was the occasional time to time he'd give you a quick smirk, but nothing like this. He'd usually be bickering with Antonio and his brother, or be shoving a tomato in his face, chomping on it when he was in a bad mood, or just felt like eating. You couldn't help to feel warm inside at his sudden act of happiness.

"I'm glad you're better, Lovi." You said, licking your thumb and wiping a patch of red, sticky topping off his cheek, letting a small laugh escape your lips. "I really am.."

As soon as you let the comment slide out of your mouth, his smile slowly disappeared.

"..What's up?" You asked, wyping your thumb off on your already dirty shirt.

He hesitated a moment, but answered you back.

"Why would you think there was something sbaglito with me?" He asked, a tiny bit of bitterness detected in his voice.

You stared at him a moment, eyes squinted.

"What?...L-Look, you were just acting a little strange- a little more than usual." You said, frowning. "You kept blushing and wern't talking much. I just thought i'd try and lighten the mood."

"Well, i'm fine. I don't need anyone, especially you, worrying about me." He hissed, grabbing his gray plastic bag off the counter, stomping out of the room.

You scoffed, standing there a moment, hands planted at your sides. "Especially me?" You asked, walking after him. "Hold on a second. What is that supposed to mean?!"
Without answering you, he kept walking on, fist latching harder to the bag.

You glared daggers into the back of his head, walking faster towards him. You gripped onto the bag he held, causing him to stop and whip around towards you.

"Lascia andare!" He growled, tugging back at the bag.

You held on tight, not wanting him to leave without a perfectly good explination on what he meant. Knowing the bag couldn't hold up much longer, what with how hard you were both tugging on it, you pulled harder. You hoped his stupid bag would break. At this point, you really didn't care.

And just as you had thought, the bag split in two, the contents flying across the floor. Lovino angrelly let go of the stretched plastic in his hands, letting it float to the ground next to the object. Before you could get another word out of him, he stormed out of the room.
He, in all honesty, had the worst temper you had ever seen. One minute he had been enjoying a friendly cupcake battle with you, and the next he had blown his top for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Sighing, you looked down to the item that had flew out of the bag.

Your eyes widened, bending down to pick up what seemed to be a heart shaped box, a neat green bow wrapped around the red cardboard. What had surprised you the most was the tiny white envelope taped to the front of it, your name written in the neatest cursive handwriting. You took it off, setting the box on the counter as you ripped the top open with your fingernail.
Peeking inside, you saw a pink slip of paper, a red tomato printed on the front of it.
What kind of card was this?

You took it out, seeing as though there was more cursive writing at the bottom of it. Peering down at it, you tried to make out the handwriting the best you could.

Dear _____,

To tell you the truth, i'm not the best at writing cards...or speaking my mind, for that matter. But, here it goes. I've known you for as long as I can remember, seeing as though you were a ostinato little ragazza when you were little, and I could never quite seem to shake you off me. To this day, i'm grateful for it. I've always, no matter what the circumstances, liked you. No matter how sconvolto I can get, you've always seem to be there.

And you'll always mean more to me than all the tomatos in the world.

~Lovi

You re-read the card a few more times after you were done, wondering whether or not Lovino had actually wrote this. Granted, it was a short letter, but it pulled at your heart either way. You set the card down next to the heart box, tromping in the direction the italian had disappeared through.

Peeking your head into the living room, you saw Feliciano and Antonio sitting on the couch, looking over to you. Without even having to open your mouth, Antonio pointed his finger towards the stairs. You nodded, setting your hand on the winding stair rail and started to walk up slowly.

When you had finally gotten to the top, you were out of breath. You stould there quietly, looking for his bedroom. Whenever you had visited their house, Lovino always ended up retreating to his bedroom after a spat with his brother.

When you finally spotted it, you made your way towards the door, opening it with a creak.
There he was, sitting on his bed, a tomato halfway into his mouth. The man stared over at you, chewing the fruit, light red juice running down his chin.

"What," He frowed, swallowing the food. "Do you want?"

"Do...Do you like me?" You huffed, your cheeks growing pink.

His eyes grew, the color of his cheeks now matching the color of the food in his hand. His eyes narrowed to the ground, staring at the carpet. "Well, yeah..I guess so."

You held a hand up, walking towards him and plopping down on the bed. "N-No. Do you like me?"

He just stared into your (e/c) eyes, again, not giving you a proper answer.

"Well?" You asked, staring back at him, hands bundled together in your lap. His eyes yet again wandered the room, his hands rubbing the back of his neck. Tears prickled at the edges of your eyes. You gave a small sniff, standing up from the bed and turning towards the door.
"Glad to know how you feel." You murmered quietly, barely loud enough for him to hear.

"______, wait." He said, getting up off the bed and walking towards you.

"NO!" You hissed, turning to face him, now relizing he was only a few inches away from you. "If you truly can't give me an honest answer, it only proves that you don't like me, no matter what the letter you gave me said. Hell, you didn't even give it to me! I had to pry a bag out of your bare hands just to relize that you even got me anything!"

He shifted uncomfotably, looking down once more. "Look, ______..."

You were already halfway out the door, planning to just leave and go home like you had planned to earlier that day, before Feli had bothered you with the Valentines Day nonsence. Before you could make it out, Lovi grabbed the back of your shirt, pulling you back towards him. You sighed, turning around once more, ready to tell him to just leave you be so you could leave and get out of his way. But instead of recieving a hard glare from him, a pair of arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you forward.

"Deficiente. I don't like you," He whispered, not quite finishing his sentence, pushing his lips roughly into yours.

At first you stould there, your mind racing and contemplating on what to do. Your stoumache churned, wondering whether or not your friend the cupcake would make a second appearance. You set your arms on his shoulders, leaning into the kiss.

But it eventually ended, due to the fact that humans needed to breath.

Stupid Lungs... You thought to yourself, staring down to the ground and blushing like mad.

You felt a hand cup your chin, bringing your head up so you were staring, once again, eye to eye with your childhood friend.

"Ti Amo." He murmered, giving you a quick peck on the fourhead.

You gave a light smile, closing your eyes.

"Anch'io ti voglio bene."