flames of love

Warning: This one-shot contains homophobia and mentions of intimacy (I will not get descriptive for personal reasons. The situation was just something that fit and it is already stretching my own personal comfort zone), if you are uncomfortable, please do not continue further.

There was a certain hazel glow in his eyes that sent the women swooning after him. Perhaps it was the way that he walked with confidence, or that he had never courted a lady, whatever it was, the ladies and men were curious about Lovino Vargas. In their town in Italy, it was near sinful to not court one of the beautiful women around. In all honesty, he wasn't extremely attractive. In fact, to most he was ugly. The way he always scowled when he walked and had a frown on his face, the way that he glared at nearly everyone and had a mouth that was more filthy than a sailor's, Lovino Vargas had a bad reputation for that. However, there was the regular flock of women that came after him in the morning when he went to do his chores because despite his attitude, Lovino always smiled when a lady would walk by. He treated them each with respect and greeted them warmly should they walk up to him.

For that reason only did he have the hearts of many of the girls. The grumpy Italian was walking to the market to sell some of the produce he had grown. That was a another thing; Lovino Vargas lived alone. The poor lad had lived with his grandfather and sister, but both caught the plague and went to dance with the angels. Many blamed that for his nasty attitude. After all, they were all he had and he had loved them very much. He had only ever smiled constantly when he was around his younger sister. He had loved Daisy very much, and he had loved his grandfather, to find them dead after a trip to deliver goods was something that traumatized him. He never spoke much anymore, but then again, this was the Vargas boy. He never said anything nice anyway.

The young man wiped the sweat from his brow, the summer heat was unbearable. He kept moving, carrying baskets and bundles in his arms. People watched him but only turned away. There was no need to come in contact with him anyway. Rumors went around that Lovino would not accept help and was violent when asked. In reality, he wanted help and lots of it. Working by himself was much too much.

He set up his shop and watched as people passed by, every once in awhile, one would stop and buy some things from him. Bored with waiting, he scribbled on some paper, writing poems and short stories. He would attempt to draw but that had always been his baby sister Daisy's forte.

Near the middle of the day, his stomach growled and clenched in agony. He shook his head, he would eat when he got home. However, his stomach continued to growl and it was very loud and embarrassing. Unsure of what to do, Lovino continued to write until he heard laughter. Looking up with a furious and frustrated look, he found a man. Normally he didn't pay attention to people, but two things caught his eye about this man.

The first, he didn't know who he was, and the second, he wasn't Italian. The way his face was structured and his eyes twinkled with a passionate joy, it was obvious to him. He huffed and glared at the man, "Did your mother fail to raise you with proper manners? It's rude to stare!"

"You must be the Vargas boy I've been told so much about. Amigo, I don't think you're the right one to be talking to me about manners; rumor has it you have a mouth more dirty than the streets of England."

So he was Spanish. He was a bit surprised to find that this man knew Italian, although he could use a bit of work on it, he sounded absurd. Lovino folded his arms and cocked one of his dark eyebrows up, "Are you dense enough to take your sources from rumors? You must be a special kind of idiot."

The man laughed once again and this time, it sent chills down Lovino's spine. His laugh was something musical. Oddly enough, he found himself enjoying the sound of it.