Perceiving a strange stroking sensation on his chest, Lovino stirred a bit. Figuring it was his cat (as he sometimes pawed at his owner for food in the morning), he muttered drowsily, "Stop it, Romano." To go along with the order, he tried to push the furry paw away, but to his alarm, felt no furry paw.

In lieu, it felt like a human hand.

His eyes bolted open immediately, his gaze locking onto a man that had a nest of brown curls crowning his cranium, a soft shell of sun-kissed skin, and vibrant green eyes. Too bad he couldn't drink in his appearance for a little longer, because the stranger didn't look so bad, but as soon as Lovino's eyes fell upon him, a shriek escaped his lips, resulting in the man to topple backwards out of surprise. Sounds of crashing followed.

The Italian male shot up on the cot of leaves and twigs blanketed with a golden and black pelt he lay upon and looked around, bewildered, trying to find a passage that led to freedom. Registering the abnormally massive leaf in the front of a doorway, Lovino sprang off the cot and made a run for it, ignoring the cry of the man he had scared. When he passed the makeshift curtain, he suddenly found himself lurching over a tall drop down to the soggy soil below. He struggled not to lean over the edge of the wooden planks he stood on any further, but it seemed he didn't have the favor of fate.

Just as Lovino was about to take a tumble down to the ground (and probably snap his neck), he felt arms wrap around his waist and tug him away effortlessly from the verge and possibility of death. "You..." a pause, searching for the correct words, "be more careful..." was whispered into his ear huskily by a mellow voice. Lovino turned his head to find the man from only seconds ago, his eyes widening.

"L-let go of me! Weirdass idiota!" He squirmed around in the man's tenacious grip in vain.

"Lovino?"

Both males directed their gazes toward the voice which seemed to flow from ahead of them. It was only then that Lovino saw the rope bridge that appeared to be unstable connecting his and the man's location to another rather large, similar hut across from them, constructed of wood, leaves, and other various plants somewhat sloppily. It rested on wooden planks that formed a square around the hut, serving as a floor, and was built around the trunk of the tree with the sturdy branches supporting its undercarriage and the square of wood flooring. Out of the corner of his eye, Lovino could see three more similar structures connected to each other with respective rope bridges, and what appeared to be a massive tree trunk in the middle class of all of them, but his gaze was drawn away by Femke, who stood in front of the oversized leaf that was the doorway into the other hut straight across from him and the man.

"Lovino! You're awake~!" she called, relief and blithe sandwiching her voice. Elated and daringly, she bounced across the rope bridge that didn't snap (thank God), beaming. "How are you feeling?" she inquired when she made it over.

Upon further examination, Lovino easily picked out the scratches and cuts littering the Belgian's face, arms, and legs. Her bright yellow sundress trimmed with the white of snow had been ravaged by the plane crash, but it was mostly still intact. Her golden locks were severely disheveled and her red ribbon clung to her head somehow, but it appeared she didn't care about her appearance. At the moment to Lovino, Femke was the sun that in the end, chased away the melancholy storm clouds that utterly decimated towns. He was glad he wasn't alone in this rainforest or wherever they were with the weird man.

Elbowing said weird man in the gut and ignoring his soft groan of pain, Lovino grumbled, "Yeah, I'm awake. And I'm feeling terrible," he replied with candor.

"I see you met Antonio~" she sang, still smiling enthusiastically as she always did.

His eyebrows rose in surprise then followed the motion of his golden eyes narrowing in befuddlement. "Who the fuck's Antonio?" He folded his arms over his chest, wincing when pain surged to the area of contact. Moving his arms back to his sides, he glanced down only to find a furious red cut embedded into the thin membrane of his skin stained a light shade of pomegranate. Streams of blood trickled down from the wound, sliding behind the fabric of his torn up olive shirt.

"That me! Hola~!" the man from before chimed with a genial smile gracing his features. God, even with only a few words, his grammar sucked so bad that Lovino felt his chest wasn't the only part of him bleeding.

"English isn't his native language?" the Italian guessed, scowling at the tall brunet. "He has poor taste in clothes too," he stated, digesting the jaguar or leopard pelt (whatever it was) splayed over his body, one of its paws draped over one of Antonio's shoulder, diagonally dipping so the pelt revealed the left side of his chest.

"Lovi! Don't be so mean-"

"Don't call me 'Lovi' out here, dammit," he interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb in annoyance. "Especially not in front of this bastardo."

A sigh escaped the blonde's lips, her smile fading slightly. "Fine, fine... No promises though! But yeah~! His native language isn't English, it's Spanish~!" The upside down rainbow was resurrected and expanded when she saw Antonio cautiously reaching over to Lovino's chest, probably wanting to staunch the blood flow. Only, his plan was foiled when Lovino slapped his hand away.

"Don't fucking touch me like that, you idiot!"

Antonio pouted in feign hurt, hugging his hand the angry male had assaulted. "Lovi hurt..."

"Am not!" the model retorted, brusquely feeling light-headed. "A-and don't call me that...!" Sluggishly, his hand slipped up onto his forehead and his eyes screwed themselves shut.

"Lovino, you okay? You're really pale..." Femke asked, concern swirling around and squeezing her voice.

"J-just fine..." was mumbled.

Femke would be a fool if she believed him. She requested, "Antonio, can you take Lovi in," she pointed to the hut looming over them from behind, "and stop the hurt?"

Nodding, he scooped up a reluctant, adamant Lovino and carried him inside with the latter pounding against his chest with his hands clenched into fists feebly. Once inside, Antonio set Lovino down on the abandoned cot and shucked the male's shirt off with difficulty, since the auburn-haired man was trying to make things harder for him than they had to be.

"Calm, Lovi, por favor..." Lovino didn't have to speak or know Spanish to know what that met. He grumbled a few curses and stopped his resistance, abashed from the brunet's eyes raking over his torso and digesting all the injuries and scratches. "Fem, fruit!" Antonio called even though she stood in the doorway, taking a leaf from nearby wooden table and dipping it into a wooden bowl of water he retrieved from the same area.

"On it!" she replied and dashed off to wherever her destination was.

He could feel a blush disperse all over his face as well as anguish when his face contorted after Antonio brushed the main injury that caused concern with the damp leaf. The Italian could hear Antonio cooing that it was alright, that he was just going to clean his wound and to relax in his very broken English. From that point, his embarrassment increased, and Lovino wasn't completely sure why, but he felt that it was pathetic he couldn't take care of a "simple" cut like that, plus the fact that his shirt was off and Antonio was looking at his torso, but he found that peculiar. Lovino was a model, and he did do photo shoots and the like—hell, even nude ones—but this scenario was different.

It was only minutes before Femke came back with an armada of fruits in her arms and hurried over to them. "I got them!"

"Gracias. Lovi." He pointed to the Italian.

Setting the bunch down on the floor delicately as if they were made of glass, Femke grabbed a sunset-orange mango as well as a typical kitchen knife and sliced it in half, removing the seed. Finished with that, she held a half up to her friend's lips, and egged him on, "Come on, Lovino, it'll give you some energy! It tastes good too, I swear! I had some yesterday!"

Yesterday...? They were here yesterday?

Docilely obeying for once, Lovino took the fruit and bit off a piece. Energy and strength coursed through him instantly, and it didn't taste bad either. The soft flesh was sopped with its natural sweet and tart juices, succeeding in stealing the attention of the model's mind away from the acute stinging sensation of his wound. It wasn't as good as tomatoes though, as weird as that sounded to most people (who the hell besides him ate raw tomatoes?), but it would have to do.

"Taste good?" Femke asked, smiling as Antonio firmly applied some crisp leaves to Lovino's chest, the latter wincing. He nodded, and she said, "Good. Now finish that piece up and you can have the other half; Antonio's almost done."

Lovino nodded again, continuing to eat the half of the mango currently in his possession. He couldn't help but feel a bit remorseful about the way he had acted when Antonio had woken him earlier; the weird bastard was probably trying to fix his cut up or something of the sort and he involuntarily decided to jump to conclusions and flip his shit, nearly plummeting to his death in the end if not for his supposed assailant. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew he owed Antonio an apology, and a thank you for saving his life and helping him out right now with his injury.

"Hey, we're back!" a familiar voice called suddenly, cutting through the silence that had plastered over the trio. "It'd be great if you could drop the rope ladder!"

"Oh! I'll go do that!" Femke said, scrambling out the door.

Just as she disappeared from view, Antonio lightly patted Lovino's chest that was covered with leaves, smiling a smile that just screamed his cheerful personality. "Finish." He began to clean up, starting with the tossing of the leaves that were stained with natural ruddy liquid out the window after pushing the leaf that veiled it aside.

"Uh... Yeah, thanks for that," Lovino grumbled, sitting up apathetically. "Can I take off these leaves soon? They're uncomfortable as fuck." Without waiting for an answer, he began to peel one off, but a hand suddenly grabbed his. When he looked up, he wasn't at all surprised to see it was Antonio.

"No, Lovi," he said. "No off. Only I say."

A groan dipped in frustration escaped the Italian's lips. "Fine... I won't take them off... unless..."

When Lovino didn't continue, Antonio raised an eyebrow. "What unless?"

"Unless you let me teach you proper English, dammit," he grumbled. "I've been awake for only fifteen minutes and just met you, and I swear your bad English makes me wanna fucking cry, and I never cry." He was taken aback when he saw Antonio's eyes sparkle at the offer, nodding violently.

"Sí! Sí! Lovi, me, English!" He leaned in closer to Lovino, beaming at him brightly as if he were the sun. It would be just like when his Daniella taught him English!

"Don't call me that." Lovino could feel his blush that had probably faded away a short time ago be resurrected and invade his face once more. "And don't get too close to me," he added, pushing the man away.

"Lo siento," Antonio apologized, an adorable pout seizing him. "I... excited! Happy!"

Before Lovino could roll his eyes again and mutter that he could tell, Henry abruptly entered the room and remarked with joy and relief staining his voice, "Lovino! You're finally awake!" His normally flawless hair was severely disheveled, and his clothes were just as torn and tattered as his sister's, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it either. A genuine smile was glued to his face as proof, and only enlarged when he stepped closer to Lovino and embraced him in a gentle hug, mindful of the injury on his chest blanketed by leaves.

Halfheartedly and awkwardly, Lovino returned the hug and scoffed, "Obviously." He could feel heat radiate from his face and was certain it was dusted with a flamingo blush for the millionth time today, as he wasn't too used to physical contact. Through his peripheral vision though, he saw Antonio's smile waver a bit oddly, and then grow more stable when they pulled away shortly after. Deciding to seem as if he hadn't noticed, Lovino inquired, "How long was I out?"

"For about four to five days," Henry replied, sitting down at the foot of the Italian's makeshift bed. "And before you ask, everyone's alright. Eliza, Ned, and I just came back from salvaging through the wreck of the plane for any belongings that weren't too damaged. We were actually successful in that!"

"Well that's good, 'cause I need some clothes that aren't fucking slashed up like some maniac with a knife got to 'em." His blush worsened when a soft chuckle escaped the blond's lips.

"Lovino, they're pretty much all ruined, just not as much as the other stuff we found among the wreck and all the ashes."

Groaning, Lovino rubbed his hands over his face in gall. "There was a bunch of designer and fancy, expensive clothes in my luggage! Fuck!" He sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Please tell me our cell phones work so we can call for help and leave..." His plea was laced with desperation and despair. Despite his prayer, he knew they were in the middle of what he presumed to be the Amazon, and there probably weren't any cell phone towers because what sane person would live in a dense jungle/rainforest (he didn't care what it was specifically anymore) like this?

Henry rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly smiling. "Well, all our phones are broken, if you couldn't guess," he stated. "But even if they weren't broken, we probably wouldn't be able to use them anyway, 'cause you know, no signal. But Nelson woke up a while ago, and he's wandering around trying to find some help."

Antonio was finally able to contribute to the conversation, "Neil son... is male... drive big bird in sky, yes?"

"Yeah...? And it's Nelson," Lovino answered and corrected him. "And if he left to look for help, he's probably screwed. This is one big ass jungle with a hell of a lot of monsters and animals probably looking for people to eat, like Nelson à la mode or whatever..." Sirens suddenly began blaring throughout Lovino's body as he said "animals."

Where the hell was his cat, Romano? He hoped he wasn't dead. Romano had been with him for so long and Lovino felt like the feline could understand him whenever he was in a predicament and vice versa. Their bond was stronger than titanium, and whenever one was in need of the other for comfort, the other was always there (Lovino needed most of the comforting).

"Something wrong, Lovino?" Henry asked.

"Mrrow!" a familiar screech sliced the seconds of silence that plastered over after Henry's question, followed by barking. All three males snapped their attention to the only entrance of the hut, but Lovino was the only one who was bombarded by a small duo of fluffballs, shoving him back down completely to the cot with the force of a hurricane so that he was laying down once more, the wind knocked out of him. Pain erupted throughout his entire being, and a muffled "What the fuck?!" escaped his lips, but was drowned out by the deafening yelping and barking.

Antonio said something, and the Italian model could feel the weight on him disappear and the pain fading to nothing as the two creatures were removed. Dazed, Lovino moaned and dared not to sit back up, his body aching. "What the fuck...?" he repeated, drawling it out.

"You okay, Lovino?" the blond asked as he petted the mound of white fur next to him littered with rosy cuts and scrapes of pink, effectively quieting him. Resting on the crown of Pelze's cranium was Romano, to Lovino's relief, glowering venomously at the other animal scampering around Antonio gaily, fur bristling in warning not to get too close.

Truthfully, the victim of the assault grumbled, "I don't know... What the hell's that? Human honey eyes were staring balefully at the golden feline dappled with black spots ringing around rosettes and was clambering over and around Antonio, aggressively trying to catch one of the male's wandering, teasing, caramel digits. Judging by its size and playful nature, it was still a cub, perhaps only a few months old.

"Éste es mi hermano, Cazador~!" was blurted out by the primitive brunet as an Adonis-like smile took residence upon his lips.

"...Translation?"

"Oh! Lo siento!" Pointing to the cub with the target finger above his head so it would be difficult for him to reach, Antonio said, "Cazador... brother. Find him next his mama in rain. She leave him..." The smile was expunged temporarily as the gloomy memory surged over his thoughts like bleak storm clouds drifting across the sky to swallow the sun and dominate everything underneath with its darkness and precipitation, but a small portion of it returned when Henry lightly patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"Hey, if she hadn't left him, then you wouldn't have met Cazador, right?" Leaning over, he tousled the tuft of fur that stuck up on the cub's head between the round ears and was immediately attacked by Cazador madly batting his paws against Henry's hand, his mewls mixed with purrs. "Alright, alright, I'll back off," Henry acquiesced in amusement.

Meanwhile, Lovino was staring blankly at them (or was at least trying to with his position) all with an arched eyebrow. "Okay... Oi, Romano come here!" he ordered, lightly patting the spot next to him. Obediently, his cat gracefully sprang off the ditzy canine's head and padded over to Lovino, shooting a nasty glare at Cazador one more time before snuggling into Lovino's side in apology for the assault earlier. In acceptance, the Italian scratched the back of Romano's ear, eliciting healthy purrs like the healthy, running engine of a car. "So... I'm just assuming this, but that jaguar thing or whatever was chasing my cat?"

"More like Pelze was chasing them," Henry said with a laugh. "I guess she didn't want to be left out of the fun."

"Whatever. Just keep those things away from my cat." Then, Lovino stated dismissively, "I'm gonna go back to sleep, so do me a favor and leave. I don't want you creepy bastards watching me sleep." He scowled, pulling Romano closer to him for warmth as he had no blanket, nor a shirt to cover his torso or upper appendages.

Henry nodded and wished him a good night before leaving with Pelze, signaling to Antonio to follow who scooped up Cazador and was about to, but stopped when Lovino grabbed his arm. "Sí, Lovi?"

Drowsy eyes were rolled in response to the nickname. "Hey, tomorrow when I wake up, you better be up and in here 'cause we'll be starting our first English lesson tomorrow."

The smile on Antonio's face couldn't have gotten any bigger. "Sí!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Whoo! It's been a while since I updated! Here's chapter two! :3 I feel like I should make my chapters longer... Meh... :p And I know I used a lot of comparisons with storms and stuff, I don't know why, to be honest. They were off the top of my head, and I wrote this chapter at different times and on different days because of school, plus, I couldn't think of anything else. There's also the fact that I've been craving for some rain and thunderstorms over where I am I guess, but I've got that wish granted! There's a hurricane that might be landing over the weekend! Woo! -3- RAIN AND STORMS!!!

I'm such a weirdo, I know...

Be sure to vote and comment on what you guys think! I would appreciate some feedback~! ^3^

~Wolf