Mafia!Romano X Reader ~ The Love Boat Ch.1
A/N1: Yes, yes, the title is a joke.
A/N2: Usually, I write reader-inserts in first person singular because it always made more sense to me to read reader-inserts in "I". However, since this time there will be scenes where the reader isn't present, I've decided to use a narrator, so the story will be writen in third person singular, "She"
Lisbon (Portugal) → Casablanca (Morocco)
The seagalls were flying around the ship while she abandonned the harbor of Lisbon. The young woman smiled and admired the rising behind the mountains of Portugal sun that was painting the skyline of the city in wonderful, sweet colours. This beautiful city had hosted them in a more than welcoming way and the people there were so friendly and positive, making the previous day even more amazing, as if vacationing with always cheerful and adventurous Alfred wasn't enough to make every moment enjoyable.
"It's a real pitty" she thought "that Ivan couldn't make it. But, his loss is my gain!" she smiled contently. The Russian boyfriend of her best friend would normally be the one travelling with Alfred on this cruise, but his week off was canceled at the very last minute: The other leader of the famous ballet theatre got injured and Ivan had to take his place for all the performancies. At least, he would be extra paid for this.
When he found out, Alfred got hugely bummed, but Ivan explained that the only other options were for him to either quit or be fired. Alfred whined and whailed for his to-be lost, pre-paid, week-long relax cruise and finally, announced to Ivan that he'd go anyway with a friend of his. Ivan smiled sweetly at the love of his life and replied that if Alfred dared to leave with a male friend then he could say goodbye to his boyfriend and also his life. They finally settled for Alfred inviting _, a very dear female friend of both with the rule that she'd keep an eye on Alfred.
_ took a deep breath and allowed the cool, salty air to fill her lungs and wake up her brain. She hadn't slept very well this past weekend considering the fact that Alfred and she arrived to Lisbon – after a forever-long plane travel from New York – at six in the morning of Sunday and then, instead of going to the hotel to rest, Alfred had dragged her along all over the city claiming the remaining time "was not enough to see everything", resulting in going to bed at one and then getting up at five, to make sure they would catch the ship.
It was worth it, though. _ had multiple times seriously considered to strangle Alfred with her bare hands, but she had to admit he had taken time to be ready before arriving to the capital of Portugal and knew where was what and how to get there, resulting in the least possible tiredness.
"So, girlfriend, are you ready for the vacations of a life time?" Alfred cheered, snapping her out of her thoughts, and gave her a friendly hit on her back. "Oh, and do you think we'll finally get you laid?"
"Shut up, Alfred!" she replied, looking around her, terrified, to see if anyone had heard. Thank god, no-one had.
"It's not a big deal, girl! I'm not telling you to get a boyfriend asap; Get one whenever you're ready! But, until then, you don't have to just keep it there, collecting dust, you know?"
"Alfred, shut up!"
"Okay, okay. I'm just messing with you!" Alfred cackled. In reality, the American wasn't stupid; He was indeed messing with his friend and also had already checked that no-one was around when he first opened his mouth.
The duo settled their hands on the rails and enjoyed the changing scenery for a while.
The silence was broken by a grim Alfred. "I really miss Ivan. I wanna call him. I wonder what's the time over there." he said. "Do you think I'll wake him?"
"Well, it's almost eight here so it must be three in New York." the young woman replied, looking at the screen of her cell-phone. "Three in the morning" she clarified because she knew her friend wasn't good at this particular task.
Alfred visibly deflated.
"Alfred..." a worried _ turned to look at her friend. "Yesterday we did so many stuff and went all over Lisbon and I could see in your eyes that you weren't happy. You can't spend today like this as well! You need to stop feeling sad over Ivan not being here and enjoy this journey and have fun! Come on, let's go meet people and make friends!" she urged him.
Alfred grinned from one ear to the other. "Fuck yeah! So awesome! We'll form a big gang and we'll go sightsee EVERYTHING!", a moment of pause as his eyes suddenly flickered, "And we'll add them as friends on Facebook and they'll tag us on the pictures they'll upload! That'll show Ivan to have collegues that get injured! Stupid commie!"
_ laughted with her cheerie again friend and urged him to move along on the deck.
They soon reached a more crowded place on the wooden board. There were a few small parties and the young woman asked: "Who do you think will be the most interesting to meet, Alfred?"
"Girl, you do it wrong! We can't choose like that! We'll get to know everyone and then decide!"
"What?! So, we'll just go from one party to the next?!" _ asked stressed all of a sudden. She liked meeting new people, but this sounded too scary.
"Yeah! It's gonna be so awesome, I'm telling ya!"
_ didn't answer. They looked at the various people for a while, trying to decide on which to start until suddenly, Alfred burst into laughter.
"What?" she inquired, intrigued now.
"Do you see that guy over there? The short, brunet one?" Alfred asked.
"No. Where?"
"Over there, to the left. The one talking to that sexy, blond guy" he helped.
"Alfred, remember that I'm here to keep an eye on you."
"Oh, come on! I can't even look?" the American pseudo-pouted and went on: "Anyway, the brunet looks exactly like a real' dangerous mafioso that goes by the code-name "Romano" ".
The young woman looked towards the place her friend was pointing descretely. She hummed unimpressed.
"They seem interesting. Let's go meet them!" Alfred grabbed _ by the arm and tried to pull her along.
But, she resisted. "No".
"Why?" Alfred almost whinned.
"First of all, the short grump is likely a mafioso and secondly, you only wanna meet them because of the sexy, blond guy. Be honest!"
"_, you know I won't cheat on Ivan, you know I really love him. But, there's no harm in getting to know people. Besides, as a policeman, I really wanna meet the one that looks like "Romano" " the American replied. "I wonder if he knows about it" he added as an after-thought.
"What if it is him?"
"What the hell would he be doing on a week-long cruise? That's like asking to be arrested! It's not him!" the police expert said firmly. "Now, let's go." Alfred said and dragged _ over there.
They were noticed relatively quickly by the others. The short grump smirked at the young woman and the sexy blond smiled seductively at both of them.
The blond guy's smile made _'s heart flutter like a silly schoolgirl's, but the shorter one was exactly her type. She thought both of them were drop dead gorgeous and the brunet had the most stunning eyes she had ever seen, a very rare colour, amber.
"Hi! We're Alfred and _." the American introduced themselves and offered his hand for a handshake – towards the blond guy's side.
The young woman also offered her hand. "Hello!"
"Ohon hon hon" the blond laughed funnily. "Hello to you, too! I am Francis Bonnefoy" he said and shook Alfred's hand.
The shorter guy held _'s hand rather firmly. "And I'm Lovino Vargas. Nice to meet you, _" he said staring straight into her eyes. "And Alfred" he added as if he had just realized it would be very rude not to. In any case, he didn't offer Alfred his hand.
Alfred didn't even notice. Instead, he watched Francis bowing to kiss _'s knuckles. He would rather have the sexy blond pay more attention to him and acted accordingly: "Francis, your accent is... I bet you are from France!"
"Oh, mais oui! Parisien!" he answered in an effortless, definite french accent.
"Parisien, eh?" the American tried to immitate the Frenchman's accent and failed miserably. "This means specifically from Paris, right?"
"Right" Francis nodded.
"And Paris is in France, right?" a clueless Alfred asked with a goofy smile.
"Bien sure, it's the capital!" Francis informed him. "And you are American...?"
"Wow, you're good!"
Bonnefoy and Vargas looked momentarily at each other in a somewhat mocking manner. _ noticed it and felt uncomfortable for the whole scene and embarassed on behalf of everyone.
"So... you're travelling together?" _ asked in her effort to get to know these people.
"Oui, but in separate cabins" Francis answered and winked at her.
"Jesus Christ, Francis!" Lovino said, offended. "Of course in separate cabins! She just asked if we're travelling together, not if we're a couple. Don't give the wrong ideas to people!"
"Oh, yeah, I was just asking if you're friends or if you met here. I really didn't think you were together." she paused. "As in... "together" " she quoted "together" with her fingers in the air.
"See, stupid Frenchman? You made the bella ragazza feel uncomfortable"
"Oh no! Not at all!" she now turned to Francis. "Don't feel bad about it at all! I'm not unconfortable with gays!" _ cleared up. "I have plenty of gay friends!"
Hearing that information, Francis smiled at Alfred. "And are you two travelling together? But, as in... separate cabins...?"
"Same cabin, but we're not a couple" the American readily answered, pointing his index finger up for emphasis.
Francis smirked. "Interesting..."
Alfred's eyes twinkled at the Frenchman and then, for the first time he turned to Lovino: "You know, I'm a policeman in New York. I'm in the department fighting organized crime – you know, the mafia – and you look A LOT like a worldwide known arch-mafioso who goes by the name "Romano". I mean, you totally look like him!"
Lovino stared at him for a second. Finally, he smiled. "I have a few police officer friends, they say the exact same thing..."
"Haha, I know right?" Alfred gave a random, short laugh. "Oh, I have an idea! I could use you as bait to capture that famous mafioso! It'd be so cool! I'd get a promotion asap and most likely a medal, too!" Alfred's blue eyes sparkled, staring somewhere far away. "Oh, you'd get something as a reward, too, I'm sure!" he added, too late to fix his mistake.
Lovino's laugh didn't reach his eyes. "It's funny: My friends in the police force also say that."
Alfred perked up excitedly. "We could all co-operate!"
"Come on, Alfred, stop it". The young woman had noticed a rather heavy atmosphere coming from the short, yet very attractive, grump.
"How do you know it's not me? That "Romano" guy?"
The joyful American smiled sympathetically. "Oh, it's SO obvious you are not him! It's SO obvious you have absolutely no relation to the organized crime whatsoever. I bet your job is completely irrelevant."
"That is true. I'm the chairman of an italian restaurants chain."
"Does that mean you're the owner?" Alfred inquired.
"Yes..." Lovino confirmed, nodding firmly once.
Alfred whistled impressed as Lovino smirked at _.
There was a pause and Lovino asked again: "You didn't tell me how you are so certain that that mafioso guy... is not me..."
"If you knew anything at all about the mafia, you would already know the answer"
The short grump scrantched his brows, tilting his head. He was genuinly curious.
Alfred gave an "american smile" and explained: "You don't wear the "ring of succession". All the heads of mafia families have one, you know, to show who's the boss"
"Seriously?!" Lovino was dumbfounded.
"Yes! It's not just a "Godfather" movie stupidity. It's really real!" Alfred answered. "It's actually quite well-known as a fact – the ring of succession thing. Whoever has watched this movie knows about it. Haven't you watched it?"
"Sometime in the past. We didn't think this was something that actually occurred." Francis interfered.
"Don't feel bad for it! I honestly didn't know either!" _ tried to comfort them – God, sometimes, Alfred was very thick. "But, Alfred is top at his job" she went on, doing a hand gesture that showed absolute certainty. "He's the right-hand man of the chief of the department fighting against organized crime. He thinks that such a basic principle for his job is known by everybody."
Lovino looked at his hands. "Well, in any case, I have no such thing" he said and showed off his fingers.
"And you, Francis? What do you do for a living?" the young woman asked, just in time to avoid another akward silence.
"I'm in the same field with mon ami, I'm the owner of a french restaurant in Rome. What about you, ma chérie?"
"I'm an art conservator..." _ mumbled, feeling uncomfortable about her low-paying job.
"Oh! An art conservator! What an important profession!" Lovino told her admiringly with a big smile. "You are the "invisible artists" as I say: You contribute so much to culture, by preserving every piece of art, and yet, nobody pays any attention. Such a pity..." he shook his head in disapproval.
_ goggled her eyes at him. "Oh, my God! Yes!" she loudly exclaimed, unbelieving, and turned to Alfred: "Finally, someone gets it!". She then, looked at Lovino and gave him a big, grateful smile while placing both her hands over her heart. "Thank you! It's so nice to see there are people that apreciate our work!"
"Sure!" Lovino grinned and shrugged as if it was no need for her to thank him.
At that moment, Alfred looked at his watch and said: "Breakfast will start in a few minutes, and a hero like me-"
"A hero?" Francis abruptly cut him, perplexed.
"I'm in the police force: We save people's lives and kick bad guys' asses!" Alfred beamed proudly, fistpumping the air.
Francis raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"As I was saying, a hero like me has to eat well" Alfred loudly repeated, with his trademark, somewhat conceited tone. "Care to join us?"
"Non, merci" Francis politely denied the offer. "We woke up really early and we could use some more beauty sleep" he said.
"Francis," Lovino said exasperated and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second, "you make us sound so gay... Anyway, Francis is right, we have to go sleep, so that we'll be rested when we reach Casablanca."
"I sure hope we'll see you again!" the American said.
"It's a ship, Alfred, don't worry. We certainly will" _ told him, smiling.
"Ah, yes, right" her friend grinned. "Well, see you later!" he said and waved with one hand, while trying to drag the young woman along with the other.
"Yeah, sorry for leaving so abruptly, but when Alfred's hungry, there's nothing stoping him" she teased her friend.
"Sure!" he confirmed, shamelessly. "Do you thing there'll be burgers?"
"Let's just go" she replied and turned to her new friends and waved. "Bye!"
The duo smiled back – or maybe smirked? – and nodded a "good-bye".
As soon as Alfred and _ were far enough, the short grump inquired: "You think he's dangerous?"
"Non. I think he's an idiot."
"I'm not sure. Why the fuck did he say all those things? Maybe that was a bait to see our reaction."
"Wouldn't it be better if he had simply kept silent?" the blond asked.
"But, the bastard knows we can't harm him, dammit! If he suddenly disappeared, the police would swarm the ship and we wouldn't want that. I'm sure he can imagine he's perfectly safe for the whole fucking journey."
"Sure, but not anymore as soon as we reach Rome. If he knows anything, he would know he's dead the moment he steps on the harbor. And anyway, why expose himself just to see a brief, likely vague, reaction? Wouldn't it be more informative – and not to mention, much safer – to keep quiet and spy on us? The only thing he managed to do now, was to make us extra careful." Bonnefoy contradicted. "I'm telling you, he's just an idiot. And it makes me wonder... If that's the second in charge in his against mafia police departement, how much more idiotic are his collegues?"
Vargas smiled. "It's true that our New York branch evolved quicker than anywhere else" he remembered. "Still, we need to keep an eye on him."
"Of course" the Frenchman said and signaled the closure of the subject by changing it: "Nice touch telling her that her job is important. It was exactly what she wanted to hear. I'm impressed!"
"Well, I learned from the best."
Bonnefoy gave a teasing, little laugh.
"I meant my nonno, bastard!"
After a little bitching for the lack of hamburgers for breakfast, the American and _ headed back to their cabin to sleep. They set an alarm to wake them up for lunch, but when the time came, they were both so tired, even gluttonous Alfred wasn't willing to get up for food. After an as short as possible discussion, the two friends just rolled on their other side and went back to sleep.
They woke up around four. According to schedule at that time the ship should be reaching the port of Casablanca. Alfred and _ washed the sleep off their face and got nicely dressed. By then, the ship had moored in the harbor of the city of Morocco and the two friends set off to sightsee the African city.
They didn't have much time in their hands, they would have to be back in the ship by nine, so for starters, they decided to visit the famous mosque of Hasan the II and if they had enough time, maybe walk a little along the coastal Boulevard de la Corniche.
It turned out it was very easy to get to the mosque: It was situated on the seaside, only a kilometer away from the port. The two friends decided to get to the tourist attraction on foot, since the weather was fine and traffic seemed hellish at the moment. The busy harbor and the famous mosque were connected by the coastal Boulevard Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah so, _ and Alfred started walking along it.
It was a pleasant stroll under the framing-the-highway palm trees with a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean. Noumerous tourists and locals were enjoying the same promenade, giving the city a very lively tone.
Soon, the duo reached the mosque and felt their jaws drop. It was an extraordinary, stunning mosque with really high ceilings and filled with beautiful, obscure arabesques. It was built so close to the beach that its two sides were constantly licked by the waves.
While walking around inside it and admiring the elegance that surrounded them, they bumped on two familiar figures. Francis and Lovino instantly smiled at them and _ was glad to realize that they both seemed genuinly pleased to find them there.
"Enjoying your time out?" Vargas asked _.
"Yes, Alfred and I really needed to walk a little and we can in no way believe this place would be so nice!"
"Oh hon hon. I had trouble getting him out of his cabin" Francis said. "It took me a lot of time and effort to persuade him to join me and he was nagging all the way here, but I think now, he is grateful I insisted."
Lovino wasn't any polite: "Shut it". Bonnefoy didn't seem to mind at all.
The young woman smiled widely at the two bitching in a manner that proved they had been friends for ages. "We just finished seeing the mosque, we were planning to go for a walk on the other side of the coast. Would you care to join us?"
"There's not much to see on Boulevard de la Corniche. It's more or less like the highway to get here. I have visited in the past, I know." Francis said. "Wouldn't you rather join us for dinner? There's a fine restaurant with traditional marocain cuisine pretty close. It has great critiques on a tourist guide". It seemed like Francis was using as many french words as possible when speaking in english. And they were always accented in french, too.
"I've never tasted moroccan hamburgers before!" Alfred joked. "We accept this awesome invitation!".
_ realized that a door of brand new tastes had opened in front of Alfred and that it would now be impossible to change his mind. "Okay, we'll join you!" she said nodding. "We'll wait for you outside. We have just finished touring the place."
"We have just finished as well, ma chérie" the frenchman told her. "We can move on at once with our plans."
"Nice, 'cause we're real' hungry, you know: We skipped lunch." Alfred informed.
"Aw, that's so misfortunate!" Bonnefoy exclaimed. "They had french cuisine served today. You would get to taste escargots!".
"You mean the snails? Ew!". Alfred's distraught face didn't need the expresion of disgust at the end of his sentence.
"He's just messing with you" Lovino spoke again. "The kitchen today served various tastes of hamburgers!"
"Aaaaawwwww!" Alfred pretended to wail, making the rest burst in laughter.
The little gang started walking towards the exit of the mosque and quickly after passing though it, broke into two smaller parties: Francis and Alfred were leading the way, while Lovino and _ were following them, only a few steps behind.
"So, _, tell me, you and Alfred are travelling alone, right? You don't have anymore friends travelling with you. Correct?"
"Yeap, just Alfie and me." she willingly answered.
"I take it you're single, then?" Lovino guessed. "I don't think any sane boyfriend would allow his girl, let alone one as beautiful as you, go on vacation without him."
"It's true, I'm single" _ confirmed. Seeing, though, how Alfred was treated by the flirtatious frenchman, she was worrying that either her best friend would get very tempted to cheat on her second best friend or that by the end of this cruise, Francis would be heartbroken. So, she made sure to add: "Alfred's taken, though".
"Hmmm" Lovino grunted, totally indifferent towards the latter information.
"And you? Do you have anyone important in your life?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, I've been alone for a while; business isn't allowing me the necessary free time: Last year, I couldn't even go on vacations" Lovino answered.
She decided to encourage him: "Aw, that's sad... But, on the bright side, it seems business is going well!"
"Hell, yes!" he bragged, grinning widely. "Business has been going greater than ever!"
"See? You just need a little time off work. Maybe by the end of this cruise you won't be single anymore!" she teased.
He looked at her intently and raised an eyebrow at her. "You have a feeling for that?".
"Mmmmmm, no" she teased again.
Lovino smirked knowingly. "You have a feeling for that" he nodded, now very assured.
_ thought that maybe she had gone a little too far and guided the topic of their conversation towards more safe waters. "And Francis? Is he single too?".
"Francis has been in a happy relationship for years".
She got confused. "But things aren't going well right now?".
"No, things are fine. Why would you think that?"
_ stated the obvious: "He's vacationing on his own."
"Ah, yes" Lovino agreed, now understanding. "Arthur wasn't given a leave" he shrugged, almost indifferently.
There was a pause and then, _ asked: "Okay, so Francis and you are travelling alone. No other friends of yours are with you, correct?"
"Yes, no other friends on board" Lovino replied. "Otherwise, they'd be with us, sightseeing."
_'s humming was interupted by Francis letting them know they had reached their destination. "We're here!" the frenchman announced out loud.
The place was cozy and nice, and didn't seem to be meant to attract families with children or couples that dated, but rather companies of friends, so it was perfect.
The menu was elaborate and in english – something that relieved everyone a whole lot – and since they didn't have the world's time in their hands, everyone made sure to order quickly.
As soon as the waiter left, _ was surprised to know that Francis had already found out about Alfred's relationship status: "Alfred, mon ami, how did Ivan and you meet?"
"Why would you care, Frenchie?"
"I just want to know if it was romantic! An American and a Russian breaking the barriers of mutual mistrust and falling in love!" Francis' blue eyes twinkled in excitement. "Ah, I bet it was very romantic!"
"Well... It kinda was..." the American replied.
Francis wanted to know more: "Really? Was it fatal?"
"FATAL?!" Alfred was shocked. "I think you mean "fateful"!"
"Ah, yes, right. Excusez-moi! My english, indeed, need improvement."
Alfred took a moment to think. "Sure, it deffinately was fateful."
"Alors, what happened?"
Alfred took a deep breath. This was going to take a while. "It was two years ago. At the time, we were dealing with a case of russian mafia – very dangerous mobs. We had orders to check every Russian we would come along: You know, ask for their ID and residence permit. Back then, I hadn't yet taken my big promotion; I was a simple policeman wandering the streets on patrol. And one night, coming home from a movie, I saw Ivan. I have to tell you, dude, sometimes, he looks pretty scary and you would easily mistake him for a psycho killer – especially when he smiles – and that's what happened to me. I didn't get scared at all of course – heroes don't get scared; Yeah, I deffinately didn't – but when he smiled at me, I was certain he had to be at least as deranged as Stalin. And this way, I realized that that guy waiting at the bus top, smiling suspiciously at me, had intense slavic features". Alfred paused to take a few gulps of his zero coke that was just brought to the table along with the rest drinks. "Anyway, I asked for his papers, he asked me if I were a policeman, I said "yes", he didn't believe me... I didn't have my badge with me 'cause I wasn't on duty, so I couldn't prove I actually was a policeman and wasn't kidding around. I ended up considering him very suspicious since the very first thing he told me was to ask me if I were a cop and was denying showing his ID..."
"But," Francis cut him "the very first thing you told him was to show his papers. Of course he'd ask if you were a policeman".
"Yes, I know, but at that moment I was really scar... I mean, alarmed 'cause of that mafia gang plundering New York." Alfred replied. "I ended up calling the station to come pick the suspect up."
"And then, what happened?" the French asked.
"The station sent a car and I went along to see if my instict was right" Alfred told him. "Turns out, it wasn't. Ivan was a rising star, working for the "American Ballet Theatre" and had moved to New York from St. Petersburg only a few weeks before. We even called the ballet company to make sure, they confirmed it."
"Sorry," Lovino interupted, "your boyfriend is a ballet dancer? Did I get that well?"
"Yes" Alfred nodded.
Lovino brought his hand over his mouth, in a fruitless effort to hide his amused, silent chuckle. In any case, the American didn't seem to notice.
"And then?" an impatient Francis pressured, certain that now was the good part of the story.
"Then... After every misunderstading had been cleared up and Ivan called me an idiot, he asked me out."
"And...?" the frenchman was looking at Alfred, full of expectation.
"And I accepted".
Francis visibly deflated. " "Kinda romantic"?" he repeated Alfred's previous words. "Well, that was a disaster! Forget "fateful", that was "fatal" indeed!"
"It doesn't need to happen in rain or include candle-lit dinners to make a story romantic. You, French people, need to realize that at some point!" Alfred scoffed. "And, anyway, it was definitely fateful: If we didn't have that russian mafia case at the time, I wouldn't have talked to Ivan."
"But, it appears he would have talked to you" Francis smiled naughtily, eyes sparkling again.
Alfred looked at him, confused. "What?"
The frenchman instantly changed his mind. "Never mind" he said and turned to look at the waiter that was aproaching with a tray loaded with their dishes.
Moroccan cuisine turned out to be very spicy, tasty and colorful. _'s "kefta tagine" a kind of onion sauced meetballs made her stomach growl in pleasure. Thankfully, the music was loud enough to cover the inappropriate sounds.
Everybody seemed to enjoy their food even though they basicaly had to gobble it down because of the ticking time. Alfred was eating super fast and managed to balance out his lack of lunch by ordering dessert.
The small company of friends got up a little after eight and hastily made their way back to the ship. When they were safely on board and the ship was sailing away again, they decided to have a drink or two under the beautiful, starry sky. It was late when they, finally, said their "goodnights".
A/N:The role distribution of this fic is based on user XRC's comment under this YouTube video: watch?v=8sCDmasEAq8.
Since I don't have a YouTube account, could someone do me a favour and let the commenters in the thread know about this fic and give them the link, please?