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Laughter wasn’t… uncommon when it came to Lovino R. Vargas, you could say. However it also was not easy to come across. To say the eldest Vargas brother was guarded was a bit of an understatement.
That’s not to say he was joyless. No! Lovino found joy in a lot of things. When prank shows went horrifically wrong… that time when the girl who made Feliciano cry once spilt her favourite l-l-lipstick all over her Valentino white bag, or when any of Antonio’s friends rage quit games accusing him and his boyfriend of cheating solely because they were better than the other two.
But even if those occurrences made him smile just a bit, they weren’t nearly enough to make Lovino laugh. Not even an exhale a bit more pronounced than the rest. Mirth played in his eyes, and it was just cheeky enough that Antonio would burst into laughter just noticing the entertainment that played on the Italian’s face.
Even so, it wasn’t enough. Not when Feliciano had videos of when he and his brother were children and Lovino’s carefree, bubbly laughter would ring through the speakers of the phone. Antonio longed to be able to hear the same jovial sound from his boyfriend at his current age. Would it still sound as bubbly? Probably not.
Lovino’s overall person was not bubbly. That was his brother and it made sense that he grew out of it. The eldest Vargas was more fireplace smoke and warm sweaters on a chilly autumn day than he was bubbly. Maybe those weren’t fair comparisons, but it was true. There were hundreds of better ways to describe Lovino, and none of them were single words. Not to Antonio, at least.
It was a huge shock to find out this ‘you-can’t-touch-me’, elite boy was ticklish. To think- tickling?! Antonio stopped being ticklish when he was ten after his mother kept using the tactic against him. Lovino didn’t seem to have the same issue. Not judging by the light laughter that had mixed threats and curses thrown in at random.
It was late summer when Antonio found out the weakness. The summer before Antonio would start university while Lovino stayed in their shared hometown to finish his last year old high school. The mood had dropped to be just a bit too melancholy for comfort, in the Spaniard’s opinion. Of course, his surly love wouldn’t be much help in fixing that. He was too much of a pessimist, and he could never forget his worries for long. That’s why, to at least get his attention, Antonio poked his side.
The movement was instantaneous. Lovino immediately jerked to the side to evade the touch. His eyes widened upon realizing his mistake of reacting so heavily, but it was too late. The older had already gotten an idea, if the playful grin that rested on his lips was anything to go by.