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The Dippy Cone ice cream truck stopped at Hima park at 12:03, every day, just like clockwork.
And, also like clockwork, at 11:45 every Tuesday and Thursday, Lovino Vargas made his way down to the park; he knew (but not because he cared enough to time himself or anything!) that it was only a 13 minute walk from his front door to where the truck stopped -- to where Antonio, possibly the most attractive guy Lovino had ever seen, ever, stopped as he manned the truck every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.
He usually went with his friends as a buffer (who were, in reality, little to no help as they teased Lovino when he stuttered or blushed around the hot ice cream man) but on that day both were busy, so he was forced to do something horrible.
"Come the fuck on, you little snots, I'm offering you free ice cream; why are you struggling so much?"
"I'm almost 14, Lovi!" Feliciano whined, "I don't need you to take me to the park!"
"Yeah, you do. And our birthday was like three months ago, you're not almost 14, punk," Lovino stuck his tongue out in response to his older-younger brother's pseudo-glare. "Now, 'Cello, what the hell is your problem?"
Marcello pouted, "I wanted to play with Leon and Emil. Plus, the ice cream truck goes through our neighborhood! Why are we walking all the way to the park?"
Lovino's short answer was, "Because I said so. It's not that far, stop whining," but really, the answer was more like Because Antonio's truck doesn't go through residential areas, and he's literally the only reason I buy ice cream, but that sounded really pathetic and obsessed out loud so he didn’t say it.
After taking way too long to pull his complaining siblings along, they were finally there. And just in time, as the ever-annoying, staticy speaker interpretation of “Do Your Ears Hang Low” blared through the park.
“C’mon, brats, hurry up or we’ll miss it!”
Feliciano stopped struggling for a moment and blinked at his older brother, “Fratello, you’re more excited about this then we could ever be.”
Lovino flushed, “I just like ice cream, okay? Is that a fucking crime?”
“Uh-huh, okay fratello,” Feliciano nodded, obviously not believing him. Yeah, well, fuck you too Feli. I don’t need your judgement, damn it.
After more agonizing moments of pulling them, Lovino got himself and his siblings in the line. When they reached the front, Lovino was assaulted by the warm, fuzzy, chest-clenching feelings that came with Antonio's smile. Everything was-
"Oh, hey Lovino!"
Horrible.
See, Lovino had sort of forgotten that Antonio had started actually talking to him and while this would usually be the opposite of a problem, Lovino could see the look in his brothers' eyes. He knew what that look meant.
"Ciao, mister ice cream man!" Marcello chirped, putting on his best 'innocent young child face'. "How do you know my older brother?"
Antonio smiled at Marcello (No, you dumbass, don't fall for his tricks, Lovino thought aggressively).
"Lovino and I go to the same school!" Lovino's eyes widened; he definitely didn't know that. Antonio also looked like he hadn't meant to say that, his ears tinted slightly against his tan skin. "Ha, um, I mean, he also comes to get ice cream all the time, so."
"Lovi hates ice cream." Feliciano was leaning on the counter and scrutinizing Antonio.
"I don't hate ice cream." Lovino argued, glaring intensely at him.
Feliciano rose a single unconvinced brow. "You refuse to eat ice cream all the time."
"No I don't, shut up."
Marcello made a understanding noise, "Oh! This is like when Arthur says he doesn't like Francis! Lovi is saying that he doesn't hate ice cream but he really does, right?"
Lovino and Feliciano said "No" and "Yes" at the same time.
"But," Lovino's attention snapped back to Antonio and, pardon his swooning, but he looked sinfully cute when he was confused. "Then why do you always buy ice cream? I mean, you've come all summer and that's a lot of money to spend on ice cream that you're not going to eat."
Lovino flushed violently. It was a lot of money and even with his weekly 'thanks for not running away/completely corrupting your brothers' allowance, his wallet was feeling the blow.
"Please don't listen to them, I do like ice cream," I like you mostly though, Lovino's brain unhelpfuly added. "We'll take two ice cream sandwiches and... What was it that you wanted again, 'Cello?"
"The Spider-Man gumball popsicle!"
"And one of those."
Antonio nodded and winked, and god, what that did to Lovino's heart rate, "Coming right up!"
While Antonio was busy with ice cream stuff, Lovino took a moment to yell at his siblings in Italian.
"What the fuck, guys."
"You shouldn't lie to him, Lovi," Feliciano replied with smug tone and a smirk, "Truth is an important thing for future boyfriends, after all."
"Lovi has a-!" Marcello started in English, before switching at the simultaneous glares, "A crush on the ice cream man?"
"Yes. And he's being a baby about it."
"Shut up, I am not," Lovino grumbled, "And I don't have a crush."
Feliciano and Marcello both leveled him with disbelieving looks. "Nice try, Lovi, but I've literally seen you throw away perfectly good ice cream before. There's no way you'd be here if you didn't have a crush."
"Wait, wait, I have an idea!" Marcello turned back to the truck, where Antonio seemed to be fighting with the freezer. "Mister ice cream man! My big brother has a crush on you!"
Lovino's face heated up violently and he wondered if he could destroy Marcello and also disappear into the ground.
Antonio's head snapped up, obviously surprised. "Que?"
"He has a crush on you! At least, I think so," Marcello repeated, and now Feliciano was shaking with suppressed laughter and Lovino was going to kill him too because this was clearly his fault as well. "So he should probably buy you a toy now, because my friend Leon won an action figure for my friend Emil once and now they're dating, like real dating, so I think that'd work. What do you think?"
"Um," Antonio was looking at Lovino with (incredibly pretty, incredibly green) wide eyes. Lovino prepared himself for never being able to leave his house again because of embarrassment and shame. "Well, dinner or a movie would probably work, but I do like toys, I guess."
What.
Feliciano nodded, as if he had expected his weird change of events, "Lovi likes movies. Wait, give me your hand." Antonio complied, passing Marcello his popsicle as he did. Feliciano pulled a pen out of his pocket and scribbled something on his skin, "That's Lovi's number. You should call him."
Antonio glanced at Lovino, and it seemed like they both were at the same level with understanding what had just happened, aka mostly confused. Lovino shrugged.
"I do like movies. I mean, if you-"
"Um, yes, I definitely- I would like to go out sometime. With you," Antonio clarified, "Possibly to a movie."
Lovino smiled. Maybe his annoying, busybody little brothers weren't that horrible after all.