Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not mine (excluding a few OC's) any character not created by me credit goes to Zagtoon, That being said the writing is all my own so please don't steal or copy, thank you. All chapter titles taken from Rachel Platten song titles.
So, I'm back with the sequel to Your Lies are Art, sorry it took so long. If you haven't read the first it would be more helpful if you did to understand this one, but I mean it's not a law that you have to. There is some Italian written down in this and obviously, I must warn you that it could be inaccurate as I used Google translate. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the first chapter ;D.
Nathanael let out a sigh and lay his head on the table. Rose and Juleka glanced across the room at him before looking at each other. "He's been like all day, the poor darling" Rose said.
"All day! More like for the past three weeks!" Juleka hissed.
"Juleka, be nice!" Rose frowned.
Juleka put her arms on the desk "Sorry…it's just…he's so mopey lately!" she quietly grumbled.
"He misses Lila, it's only understandable," Rose said, she glanced back over at Nathanael who was sitting upright again and staring out the window with sad blue eyes not listening to a word Miss Bustier was saying. Rose gave a soft smile to Juleka "Wouldn't you be like Nathanael if I wasn't here?"
Juleka blushed "Of course I would miss you…but I wouldn't annoy everyone else about it!"
"Juleka" Rose chided.
"What? He's acting like she's dead!" Juleka said folding her arms "She's only in Italy, she'll be back in like…I don't know, three days"
Rose giggled "Well, until then you've got to be nice and put up with Nathanael's moodiness, okay" Juleka nodded as Rose smiled. Then the bell rang for the end of school. Its rings echoed through the corridors as Children rushed out of their classrooms like a herd of stampeding bulls as the pushed each other in a hurry to get out of school.
Nathanael did not rush as he packed away his things slowly. Lost so far in his own thoughts that he did not notice Rose coming to stand alongside him. "Nathanael," she said, shocking him out of his thoughts. He jumped a little and looked at her with wide blinking eyes. She looked at him in concern "You okay?" He nodded "Uh yeah, sorry...you just surprised me…I was lost in my thoughts"
Rose giggled "I could tell"
"You two coming?" Juleka called from beside the door.
"Yes, wait up," Rose said, walking down towards Juleka.
Nathanael stood up and followed behind slowly.
As the trio walked down the school steps in silence, the crowds of hyper teenagers mostly gone Rose decided to speak. "So, Nathanael have you heard any word from Lila?" She caught Juleka giving her an annoyed glare over Nathanael's head. She ignored her. Nathanael glanced at Rose "Yeah, we text each other every night, sometimes if we have time we video call each other"
"So is she enjoying Italy?" Rose asked.
"I don't think anyone would enjoy going back home because their grandad died" Nathanael responded bluntly.
Rose and Juleka's eyes widened at Nathanael's bluntness. He caught their stares and a small blush dusted his cheeks in embarrassment. "Er, sorry, I didn't mean to be rude…I just miss Lila…Ignore me" Juleka cast a look at Rose that said 'Look what you've started now' Rose once again ignored her.
"No, It's okay, it was kind of a silly question," Rose said with a sheepish smile. Nathanael said nothing as he stared at the ground. An awkward silence hung over them like a dark cloud before Rose couldn't take it anymore and decided to ask another question. "When's she coming back to Paris?" Rose asked "Lila, I mean…"
Nathanael brightened up. "She said she should be back sometime this week."
"That's great!" Rose said with a smile.
"Thank God" Juleka muttered to herself.
Nathanael glanced at Juleka "Did you say something?" Rose cast a warning glare in her direction. "Oh, I just said that…that's good news"
Nathanael smiled "Yeah it is"
"Well, this calls for Ice cream!" Rose said as she skipped ahead. "You say that about every happy thing!" Nathanael smirked. "Because Ice cream makes everything even better!" Rose called back. Juleka and Nathanael rolled their eyes and grinned as they followed Rose.
Nathanael walked into the apartment, setting his satchel down by the stairs. "Nath, Is that you?" His mum called from the kitchen. "Yeah, who else would it be?" Nathanael said as he entered the Kitchen. "Might have been your Grandpa over for a visit" Miss Kurtzberg replied from her seat over at the table.
Nathanael nodded and headed to the cupboard to get something to eat. His Mum watched him "Do you ever stop eating?" He glanced over his shoulder with a glare "I'm hungry!"
"Then make something filling instead of eating snacks all the time," His mum said. Nathanael grumbled to himself as he closed the cupboard door "I'm not hungry anymore" he headed towards the door when his Mum called him back. "Nathanael!"
He looked at her "What?"
"How was school?" She asked.
Nathanael shrugged "I dunno, the same as always"
His mum raised an eyebrow and then slowly a smirk appeared on her face "So you're not missing Lila?"
Nathanael felt his face heat up "That's none of your business!" he snapped
"Nathanael!" she scolded. Nathanael just glared at her before heading out of the kitchen towards the stairs. She rolled her eyes "teenagers" she muttered.
He went into his room and took his phone from his pocket and saw he had recently got a text from Lila. He went into the messages.
Rossifox: Are u able to video chat later on tonight?
Nathanael smiled as he typed out a message.
SuperNath: Yeah.
He sent the message and put his phone on his desk when his mum called him.
He headed out of his room to see what she wanted. "What is it?"
"I'm heading off to work now but there is some microwaveable food there so make sure to eat something, Okay?" Adina said, her forehead creased as she looked at Nathanael.
"Yeah, yeah" Nathanael muttered "I'll eat something don't worry"
"Good," She said "Now I'm off, bye" she quickly ruffled Nathanael's hair despite his glare of annoyance and headed off.
He headed back to his room and picked up his phone and checked to see if Lila had messaged back and she had.
Rossifox: Great, I have news! 3
Nathanael's eyes widened and he raised an eyebrow wondering what the news was.
'I'll go get some food and then I'll find out' He thought as he felt his belly ache from hunger. He headed down to the kitchen.
Later that Night Nathanael was laying on his bed as he video called his girlfriend.
"Hey, Nathy," Said Lila through the phone screen, she was wearing a red tank top and probably ready to go to sleep,
"Hi, Lila," Nathanael said. "So how's Italy?"
Lila gave a half-smile "It still feels weird without Nonno but me and my cousins spent most of the day down at the beach so things are slowly getting back to normal…well as normal as it can be"
Nathanael nodded "That's good"
"What about Paris? Anything exciting happening?" Lila asked.
Nathanael laughed "No, just the usual…last night there was some Akuma that called themselves the phantom thief"
Lila laughed "Let me guess he was trying to steal stuff"
Nathanael grinned "yeah, some big diamond that was being shown at some rich man's house and he tried to take it but Chat Noir stopped him, quite easily and then he contacted Ladybug who came later to purify the Akuma"
Lila nodded "So the same old story"
"Pretty much," Nathanael said.
"Lil-Lil leggimi la favola della buonanotte" (Lil-Lil read me a bedtime story) one of her little cousins said as he came into her room. He had dark brown hair and warm brown eyes.
"Non posso in questo momento, Leo, sto parlando con Nathanael" (I cannot right now, Leo, I'm talking to Nathanael.) Lila replied.
"Vieni e salut" (Come and say hello.)she said, signalling for him to come up on the bed to say hello.
Leonardo came over carrying his picture book and clambered up onto the bed. He looked at the phone and shyly waved "salve" (Hello.)
"Er…Salve?" Nathanael replied not fluent in Italian.
Lila giggled "we got to teach you Italian, Bello" she softly running her fingers through Leonardo's hair as he sat listening to them.
Nathanael laughed. "So you said you have news, anything exciting?"
Lila's eyes lit up as her mouth curved into a smile "Oh yeah! I nearly forgot!" she laughed.
Nathanael smiled and waited to hear the news.
"Okay, so I may as well just say it…I'm coming back to Paris on Saturday!"
Nathanael's eyes widened in surprise and he grinned "Really! This Saturday?"
Lila nodded as she smiled.
"That's great! I never expected you to be back so soon though…" Nathanael said.
"Yeah, Nonna said I could stay as long as I want but to be honest it's no fun without you" Lila blushed "I miss you too much"
Nathanael felt his face heat up as a light blush dusted along his face. "I miss you lots too"
"Well, I'll be back soon so we won't have to miss each other for long" Lila said.
Then Nathanael watched as her younger cousin, Leonardo poked at her arm.
"Lila, storia ora…per favore" (Lila, Story now…please.) He said, looking up at her with large round eyes.
"sì, io fare esso adesso, piccola scimmia" (yes, I do it now, little monkey) Lila said gently pinching Leo's cheek as he laughed.
"Sorry, Nathy I've got to go now," Lila said with a rueful smile.
Nathanael gave a sad smile back "That's okay, we'll talk later"
"Yeah, bye," she said before signing off.
Nathanael also went out of the Chat and sighed. "At least she's back on Saturday, I just have to get through tomorrow and that's it" he muttered aloud.
'I never ask her what time her plane would arrive in so I could meet her…I'll text her tomorrow morning…I need to sleep' Nathanael thought as he rubbed his tired eyes, eyelids already fluttering closed.
He put his phone on his bedside locker and fixed his pillows before pulling his blankets over him as he lay down to sleep, eyes falling shut.
Nathanael looked around the airport. Eyes searching out for Lila. He couldn't see her in the crowds of people coming and going through the airport.
"Where is she?' He thought to himself 'I hope she's okay…maybe she didn't arrive in time for her plane…she would have texted me though…' As Nathanael continued his inner panic he didn't notice or hear the footsteps of a person creeping up behind him.
Then suddenly his vision went dark as someone covered his eyes with their hands, then the unmistakable sound of Lila's voice whispered in his ear "Guess who"
Nathanael rolled his eyes and smirked, "oh, who could it be?!" Nathanael said in dramatic sarcasm.
Lila laughed as she removed her hands from over his eyes. He turned around to her.
"So did you miss me?" Lila asked, her eyes bright.
Nathanael gently smiled "You already know I did"
Lila placed a gentle hand on Nathanael's cheek "I missed you too" she whispered placing her forehead on Nathanael's.
A light blush dusted across Nathanael's face much the same for Lila. Lila moved her hand from his face and ran it through his red hair, stopping to rest it on the back of his head.
"Nathy, can I have a kiss now?"
She could see the blush on his face darken as he slowly nodded his head. He placed his arms around her neck as he stood on his tippy toes and pressed his lips softly against hers.
Lila wrapped her arms around his torso holding him steady as she closed her eyes and melted into his touch. It was a short but sweet kiss as they broke apart with soft smiles.
Nathanael passed a gentle hand across her cheek "Welcome back" he said.
"It's good to be back" Lila grinned. "Now we better head on, Mia is waiting for me by the car"
"What about your suitcase?" Nathanael asked.
"Charles already brought that out to the car," Lila said. Then she held out her hand with a smile "you coming"
Nathanael smiled and took her hand, interlocking their fingers together as they headed out of the airport.
Lila led Nathanael out of the Airport and towards the black car waiting for her. Charles was sitting in the driver's seat but Mia was waiting outside the car looking anxiously around. She saw Lila approaching and relief washed over her face.
"Lila, where did you run off to?" Mia says, rushing towards her.
"I told you I was going to meet Nathanael," Lila says, then rolls her eyes "You never listen do you?"
Mia's attention turned to Nathanael "Oh, hello Nathanael I had no idea you would be meeting Lila today"
Nathanael's eyes rounded "Um, is that problem?" he looked to Lila with worried eyes.
Lila laughed "Of course it isn't, Ignore Mia she just gets frazzled by any unexpected plans, she likes to live life by lists"
"Never mind that, Miss Rossi we better get you home," Mia said ushering the two into the car.
"Ohh, she used Miss Rossi that means she's mad" Lila giggled.
Nathanael smiled at her.
Mia ignored the girl as she shut the car door and headed to sit in the Passenger seat at the front. Charles started the car and started to drive off.
Lila stared out the window at the passing scenes and the car was plunged into silence.
Nathanael sat awkwardly looking around the car, it was the first time he was in the Rossi car well one of their cars he knew they had many. Nathanael looked to Lila who was still looking out the window a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Um, Lila," he says, the heavy silence making him feel more awkward.
She looks to him with a smile "Yeah?"
He tries to think of something to talk about and blurts out "So why aren't your parents travelling with you?"
Lila frowns and Nathanael mentally slaps himself 'ugh, I'm an idiot! Any topic but that topic!'
He starts to stutter "S-sorry I di-didn't mean to-"
Lila cuts him off "No, it's okay" she manages a smile "They came to the Airport in Italy with me and I thought we were all coming back here together but then it turns out they were getting different planes" Lila's smile vanished "Turns out they had urgent work duties they had to take care off I guess I knew that would happen even during our time in Italy they couldn't be bothered with sitting around"
Nathanael's eyes widened at her words and he reached out placing his hand gently over hers. She looked him a blush spreading over her cheeks.
"Sorry was I rambling…"
Nathanael smiles "No, you weren't…I'm just happy you feel you can trust me"
Lila laughs "You're such a dork, of course, I trust you"
After that, the car ride is more relaxed with no awkward silences as the duo talked about everything they had missed out on during their time apart.
The Car pulled up beside the Rossi House and Nathanael became lost in his thoughts. It wasn't a very big house like the Agreste's even though Nathanael knew Lila's family could afford a place like that what with her Mother being a diplomat and her father owning many car companies. The place was still bigger than the small apartment Nathanael lived in with his mum. Still, he couldn't help but wonder how a girl as beautiful, rich and smart as Lila was, wanted to date him of all people.
"Nathanael, you coming?"
Nathanael blinked out of his thoughts and looks to see Lila looking at him with concerned eyes. He blushed.
"Yeah, I was just lost in my thoughts," Nathanael says as he gets out of the car after Lila.
Lila giggles "Should have guessed that"
Nathanael looks to see Charles taking suitcases out of the boot of the car and he hurries over. Lila raises an eyebrow and watches where Nathanael goes
"Do you need any help with those?" Nathanael asked.
Charles looked at the boy in surprise "Oh…well" he looked Nathanael up and down "I don't mean to be rude…see Miss Lila likes to over pack and…"
"Hm…?" Nathanael looked up at him with bright eager eyes. Lila silently giggled behind her hand at how cute he was.
Charles gave a slight cough "Nothing…Thank you that would be a great help" he purposely takes out the lightest suitcase and hands it to Nathanael who smiles happily.
"Nathy, come on you can bring that up to my room" Lila smiles. 'How the hell is he that adorable?' He follows her into the house and up the winding stairs to a long corridor which they walk down towards Lila's room.
They reached the door to Lila's room. They walk into a room that is perfectly clean what with Lila not living in it for a month, the afternoon sunlight spilt in through the small window making the lilacs and pinks on her wall softer, creating a warm cozy feeling throughout the room.
"So where do you want me to put this?" Nathanael asks, holding the suitcase.
"Oh, just put it over there" Lila indicates to the floor near a large bookcase. Nathanael nods and puts the suitcase down while Lila sits on top of her bed, the zebra patterned duvet crinkling underneath her.
Then he stands awkwardly in the middle of the room glancing around at the posters and pictures that highlighted the walls. Most were Italian landmarks or pictures of Lila with her family in Italy. He bites on his lower lip and looks to the impressive mask collection that covers the other half of her walls. Well, Nathanael didn't know whether to call it impressive or creepy.
Lila giggles "You just going to stand there?"
Nathanael blushes and looks to Lila who is looking at him with bright green eyes and a soft smile playing on her lips.
She pat's the bed beside her "You can sit y'know"
Nathanael nods and slowly walks over and sits beside her. He keeps staring at the masks before curiosity gets the best of him as he asks "What's all the masks about?"
Lila follows his gaze to the wall of maks and smirks "That's my collection of disguise masks, I can murder people without them knowing who I am"
Nathanael rolls his eyes "Vey funny" he says drily. "What's the real reason"
Lila smiles "That's totally the truth"
He raises an eyebrow.
She laughs aloud "Okay, they're from the fairs in Venice, Nonna takes me and my cousins every year and buys us a mask each"
Nathanael glares at her "Could have just said that first" he grumbled.
Lila giggles "Wouldn't have been as funny"
"Whatever" Nathanael rolls his eyes.
"Oh, I almost forgot I got you something," Lila says standing up.
"You didn't have to!" Nathanael says.
"I know that but I wanted to," Lila says heading towards the door "Plus I missed your birthday during my first week in Italy so I felt bad"
Nathanael stood up "I told you I didn't care about that" he followed her down the corridor.
"Yeah well, I've bought it now so no complaining" Lila declared.
They headed back down the stairs into the main foyer and Lila's other 3 suitcases were sitting there.
"Mr Charles was right about you over packing!" Nathanael teased.
Lila pouted "I don't over-pack I just make sure to be prepared for everything"
Nathanael Laughs "Sure whatever you say"
Lila knelt down and opened the second largest suitcase, it was black and covered in white spots. She took out a wrapped gift and stood up then handed it over to Nathanael.
"Wow, you even wrapped it" Nathanael chuckled.
Lila placed her hands on her hips "Of course, I don't do a job by halves"
Nathanael rolled his eyes yet again, but a smile was evident on his face "Well, Thank you"
"Open it!" Lila says excitement sparkled in her eyes. She was almost bouncing on her toes in excitement.
Nathanael starts to carefully unwrap the paper while Lila looks on grinning, he finally unwraps it to a thin rectangle box. Nathanael looked to Lila "This better not be like a series of boxes thing"
"No, just open it!" Lila said impatiently.
"Okay, Okay!" Nathanael laughs and opens the box and sees a folded light grey hoodie. He raised an eyebrow and slowly lifted it out of the box "A hoodie?"
Lila's eyes twinkled "Look at the back" she giggled.
Nathanael turned the hoodie around and laughed when he saw the writing it had Nathy written in bold red letters and under was an embroidered tomato.
Lila smiled "So you like it?"
"Yeah, of course" he put the box down on the ground and held the hoodie out full size "It might be a little big though"
"I didn't know your actual size and didn't want to ask you in case you guessed I was getting you a gift," Lila said.
"No worries, I still love it," Nathanael said as he carefully folded the hoodie back up. Then he lifted the box to place it back in and his eyes widened "Wait…" he noticed an envelope in it and picked it up.
"Oh yeah, the other gift," Lila said.
"Another? But-"
"Just open it before you start complaining," Lila says.
Nathanael sighs. He opens the envelope and his eyes widened "This is tickets to Anonymous Noise, Lila! These sold out so fast!"
Lila laughed "I knew how much you wanted to go"
"Wait…these are for their Italy tour during summer," Nathanael says looking at the tickets closely and then to Lila.
Lila blushes "Oh yeah um well I thought if you wanted to that you could come to Italy with me during the summer holidays, I know it's a long way off…" she plays with her bracelets, eyes downcast.
Nathanael's cheeks turn red "Seriously, wouldn't your family mind?" he asks.
She looks up at that "Of course not, Nonna said she would love to have you over and she's the boss so you can't disappoint her now can you?" Lila smirks.
Nathanael smiles "Then I can't wait" then he pauses "That's if my mother lets me go"
Lila grins "If you're too scared to ask I'll ask her for you"
"I'm not scared!" he frowns "It's just you know how overbearing she can be, still I'm sure she'll let me go as she loves you"
Lila blushed "That's not true"
"It is and it's a good thing too as it means I can go with you to Italy" Nathanael grins.
Lila grins, happy to know he'll be with her next time in Italy and she won't be missing him each day.
"Great now that we've sorted all that out how about we watch a movie," Lila says.
"Shouldn't you put your suitcases back up in your room?" Nathanael asks.
Lila pouts "I suppose"
"Don't worry I'll help!" Nathanael says as he picks up the suitcase closest to him.
Lila zips back up the other suitcase also picking it up and the final one and they head back up to her room.
"Okay, so what movie are we watching?" Lila asks.
Nathanael sits down beside her "I don't really care, you choose"
Lila pouts in concentration as she uses the remote to scroll through the listed movies "How about…triple risk"
It was a movie set 1920's Italy about the Mafia more accurately it is about one man who betrays the mafia by saving the baby son of a family the Mafia kills for 'snitching' and then he goes on the run with the boy while also having to protect him. It was an old school film but Lila liked those type the best.
Nathanael nods "Sure that's okay"
Lila smiled "Great I'll just get the Popcorn!" she stood up and headed towards the kitchen.
Soon she was cuddled up next to Nathanael as they watched the movie.
"I still think it's a little over the top for them to want to kill a baby," Nathanael said as he grabbed some popcorn from the bowl,
Lila glanced at him "Well, maybe it's so when he grows up he won't be a threat, after all, he would want revenge for his family"
"Then they could have just lied to him his entire life by saying they died in a car crash or something," Nathanael said exasperatedly.
Lila laughed "Okay but it is a movie it wouldn't be entertaining if they didn't have action"
Nathanael grumbled and rolled his eyes. Lila smiled and shook her head at his dramatics but focused back on the movie.
Nathanael glanced at Lila. His face flushed as he slowly reached and put an arm around her, pulling her closer. Lila glanced at him, she saw his blushing face making her giggle. This caused Nathanael's face to heat up more. In his embarrassment, he went to move his arm away.
Lila stopped him "Sorry I wasn't laughing at you just at how cute you are" she rested her head on his shoulder "I like this"
"R-Right" Was all Nathanael could manage to stutter out as his face was ablaze.
The room turned quiet except for voices and gunshots from the Tv. Nathanael calmed down a little and felt able to speak in proper sentences. "Lila"
"Yea" she answered.
Nathanael shifted to face her on the sofa. "You know I really missed you."
Lila felt her heart flutter faster at his words. She turned to face him "You already said that," she said with a teasing grin.
Nathanael blushed "I know that it's just-" he reached over placing a free hand gently on her cheek. "It's just nice to have you back and…that we can be – like this again." Lila could see the blush on his cheeks.
"My emails weren't enough for you?" Lila teased. "I put some of my best work into them"
Nathanael laughed, and Lila could feel his breath on her face. She hadn't realized how close they'd gotten. Their noses were almost touching. "They were very…inventive, but sorry, no, they weren't quite good enough for me."
Lila reached up and ran tentative fingers through his hair, stopping to rest it on the back of his head. They slowly leaned in to kiss when Lila's phone went off shocking them out of them out of the moment.
They quickly moved apart with blushing faces. Lila looked to her phone on the coffee table where it buzzed and vibrated. Her eyes widened as she reached to pick it up. She gasped a little when she saw the caller ID.
Nathanael turned down the movie's volume looking at Lila in concern. "Who is it?" he asked.
"My Father, he rarely calls," Lila said. She pressed answer and started talking to her dad while Nathanael watched in curiosity and concern.
Lila was listening to her dad sometimes nodding saying "Yeah" or sometimes "Okay" The call wasn't that long as everything Lila's parent's do, they do in a rush much too eager to move on to more piling work.
"What did he want?" Nathanael asked.
"Oh," Lila turned to look at Nathanael with round eyes "It was just about a formal party he will be holding tomorrow he wanted me to alert Mia to prepare for it and book him and mother flights back"
"Oh, okay you better go do that," Nathanael says.
Lila nods "That's if Mia is about usually he contacts her directly she must have her phone off which is strange" she stands up and heads out of the room in search of Mia. Nathanael is left to wait in the Living room.
When Lila finally comes back she is surprised to see Nathanael getting up to leave.
"You're leaving already?" Lila asks. A slight whine in her voice.
Nathanael offer's a rueful smile "Yeah, my mother texted she was worried because it's got so late"
Lila glances out the window and is surprised to see the sun setting casting shades of orange and pink across the sky. "Oh so it is" she looks to Nathanael "Well they do say time flies when you're having fun"
Nathanael laughed as he walked to the door. Lila followed him out into the wide hall and to the front door. She opened it for him, still, she was frowning with dull eyes.
Nathanael smirked "Don't look so sad I'll see you tomorrow well maybe, what day is that formal party your parents are hosting on?" he walks to stand on the doorstep.
Lila pouts "Tomorrow, it'll be so boring" her eyes light up as an idea comes to her "Nathy, you should come!" she takes his hands in hers as she grins.
Nathanael pales "Wh-What, Me but I can't- I mean…"
"Of course, you can and it's the perfect opportunity for you to meet my Parents they're always away on work" Lila smiles.
Nathanael gulps turning even paler at the prospect of meeting Lila's parents especially at what sounds like a pressuring event. He had heard lots about them and they sounded strict and scary. Before he has a chance to make up an excuse, Lila exclaims
"So, you'll come! This is so exciting!"
Nathanael offers a weak smile "Y-yeah, I-I better head back home" he removes his hands from hers and then backs away nearly tripping down the steps. He turns and rushes home hearing Lila shout goodbye after him.
Lila shuts the door, she was wrapped in a happy aura so she didn't bother to question Nathanael's behaviour. She knew tomorrow would be fun.