- Elizabetha's POV -
"This will be your room. Next to yours is mine and Roderich's," I said as I opened the door to the empty room, "We have a bed and drawers in each room so you don't have to worry about that,"
"Thank you, Elizabetha," The young girl said as she sat on the bed, "You and your husband are very kind,"
I smiled at the girl and sat next to her, "Can I ask you some questions?"
The girl looked at me and nodded.
"How old are you?"
"16,"
"You're so young... Why are you all alone?"
Lily stayed quiet for a while before answering, "I don't want to talk about it..."
"It's fine. I don't want to push you to say or do something you don't want to,"
Lily nodded and looked around in her room, "Is it really fine for me to stay?'
"Of course. You can stay here for as long as you need. As long as you follow our rules, you will have this roof above your head,"
"What are the rules?"
"They're pretty simple. You do have to work in the café as payment. And we have a curfew and we would rather have the human contact as limited as possible. Those are the basic rules. You can ask me anything,"
"I will work here?"
"Yes. But don't worry. You won't start soon. Maybe next week once you're settled,"
"Alright," the girl smiled, finally feeling more comfortable in the new setting, "So you, Roderich, and the twins live here?"
"There's also Gilbert. He has the day off so he's probably sleeping in his room. You'll meet him soon. He also came here a couple weeks ago so you're not the only new one,"
The girl sighed and nodded. I stood up and headed to the hallway, "I would stay and talk more but I need to go downstairs to help. I'll see you later,"
I closed her door and went downstairs. Feliciano was serving a customer and Lovino was leaning on the counter, "Lovino, get off the counter and do something useful,"
The young ghoul rolled his eyes and started to clean the counter slowly. A couple minutes later, Lovino looked up as a costumer entered and silently whispered, "Shit,"
"Lovino, what did I tell you about cussing while working?" I scolded him but I became confused when he turned around, having his back face the tables.
"Lovino?" the costumer who entered said, "You work here?"
Lovino slowly turned around and glared at the man, "What are you doing here?"
"Lovino, don't be rude to the costumer," I reminded him. I went to wipe a table but listened into their conversation.
"A friend told me they've seen you here so I wanted to check it out," the man ran his hand through his brown curly hair, "I just didn't know you work here,"
"No, what I meant was...," I peeked over to see Lovino have a concerned expression, "Shouldn't you be resting? You'll break you're other leg if you wander around like that,"
"I got bored of staying at home," The young man shrugged and sat down on a stool to face Lovino, "It's nice to see you be worried about me, though,"
"I'm not worried, idiot," Lovino rolled his eyes and leaned on the counter. I've known him since he was a child and I knew he was lying. And it honestly shocked me for two reasons. Lovino was concerned for someone other than his brother and the fact that he was talking with a human without yelling at him.
I decided to walk over to get more details, "So Lovino, is this a friend of yours?"
"No," Lovino quickly answered.
The human chuckled and put out his hand to shake mine, "I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo. I'm a classmate and his math tutor,"
I smiled at the polite greeting, "I'm Elizabetha, Lovino's guardian,"
"I'm almost 20, Elizabetha," Lovino groaned, "I don't need a guardian,"
"As long as you live here, Lovino, you have to follow our rules," I reminded him.
Antonio tilted his head and stared at Lovino, "You haven't told her about moving out?"
I raised an eyebrow at Lovino, "Moving out?"
Lovino closed his eyes and glared at Antonio, "Well, I guess now I will have to..."
"Sorry! I didn't know!" Antonio apologized.
"It's alright," I reassured him, "I'm sure Lovino was going to tell me soon. Right Lovino?"
Lovino looked away and scoffed, "Yeah..."
"We will talk about this when it's time to close the shop," I started to walk away to greet another costumer, worried about Lovino's ideas of moving out.
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The sun has set and we closed up the coffee shop. After closing the door and covering the window with curtains, I turned to see Lovino trying his best to sneak up the stairs.
"Lovino Vargas, get over here!"
He froze and reluctantly turned to face me. I signaled him to sit on a chair and he dragged himself there.
"Roderich, can you come here as well?"
"Do you have to make this a big deal?"
"I make everything a big deal, Lovino. You should know that by now,"
Roderich went downstairs and saw Lovino and me, "What did he do this time?"
"Why do you always assume I did something?!"
Roderich ignored him and sat down next to me, "Why am I dragged into this conversation, Elizabetha?"
"Well, Lovino here, was thinking of moving out,"
"Moving out? Lovino, is this true?"
Lovino only stared at the table and crossed his arms but answered calmly, "Yeah? So what? I'm in college and I want my own space. I see it as reasonable,"
"Lovino, you're fine here. You don't have to go anywhere,"
"It's my decision. I'm an adult," Lovino paused for a second before continuing, "I understand why you two are worried but I can handle myself,"
"Lovino, I don't understand why. We have food here and it's safe. Your father put us in charge of you and your brother!"
"My father is gone, OK?!" Lovino finally slashed out, "I'm tired of being watched over like a child!"
"You certainly are acting like one!"
"This is stupid," Lovino shook his head and laughed.
"We have rules for a reason. We have given you some freedom these past years. What more do you want? Why can't you just follow them like everybody else in this house?"
"Well, when I'm out of here, I'll be able to do what I want," With that, Lovino pushed the chair and left to his room.
Roderich sighed and pushed up his glasses, "What has gotten into his mind?..."
"He's different..." I said out loud.
"What do you mean?"
"Usually, he would cuss us out more and start arguing from the beginning. In fact, he wouldn't even bothered to stay. It was like he wanted to talk to us,"
"You're right. And Lovino hates talking to people in general,"
"That's the other weird thing. I think he has a friend,"
Roderich smirked, "Lovino? Have an actual friend?"
"Roderich, I'm serious!" I laughed, "And it's a human. I think he said he was his tutor or something but it surprised me to see Lovino actually getting along with him,"
"Really? That's hard to believe,"
I nodded in agreement, "I just wonder what they'll do next. Feliciano never given us any trouble but this would be Lovino's biggest decision,"
"He has a point, though. He is an adult,"
"Even adult ghouls don't live for so long, Roderich. I'm worried,"
"We're doing all we can, Elizabetha. He may be inviting danger in, but in the end, it will be his decision,"
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A/N:
Finally updated
This has 2k views now!! Yee
I may have messed up some of the characters' ages but I'll make ref sheets soon so I can have this au organized
Thanks for reading so far! I appreciate all comments and votes and I'll see ya next update! ╮(─▽─)╭