Chapter 2
When Allen once again awoke, he frowned when he saw it was still dark outside his window. He sat up and groaned under his sore muscles. Rubbing one of his eyes furiously, Al sat up, thinking for a minute as to what had him crammed into his chair–in a position that made him wonder how he'd gotten any sleep at all–instead of comfortably wrapped in his toasty blankets.
He cringed when he reached over and turned the lamp on next to his dresser. The afterglow of stress still lingered in the form of a headache pounding in his head. He blinked once, twice, then placed a hand to his forehead. He furrowed his brow as he gazed about the room. Something seemed oddly amiss in the too silent, completely still atmosphere. He couldn't quite put his finger on it…
Allen stopped moving entirely when he spotted what was wrong with this picture. The blankets on his bed were spread evenly across the equally smooth sleets. The pillows hardly looked disturbed, dare he say it looked like no one had been there at all. Had it all been some product of his imagination or possibly lack of sleep?
One look down at his still bloodied hands told him otherwise. And besides he hardly ever made his bed that neat after sleeping in it. He pushed himself off the chair and swiveled his head around in search for the evasive Italian. A rustling of clothing made moved his attention toward his door. Quietly Allen stepped forward, revealing Luciano attempting to pull his jacket back onto his bare shoulders. Evidently he'd completely removed the torn shirt he had worn underneath it. He visibly winced in the process, a hiss of pain slipping past his teeth as he tried to stand up straight.
Despite everything, Allen grinned. Something about this he found pretty hilarious. "Well, well, what do we have here?"
Luciano hitched in his step and turned wide-eyed in Allen's direction. He clenched his teeth and ground out quietly. "What does it look like to you?"
"Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like you're walkin' out on me again." The humor was promptly sucked out of the moment.
He scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm committing a crime."
"Nah. But it seems a bit rude considerin' I jus' saved your ass."
Luciano placed a hand delicately to his ailed side. "What do you want from me?"
"Calm down. I jus' want a few answers. Ya see, when you stumble onto a man bleedin' out in the streets it crops up a few fundamentals."
Luciano scowled at him again and at this point Allen's patience for him was wearing thin. He hadn't even realized he'd been slowly running out of it until that look broke the emotional dam he realized he'd been building.
"Don't gimme that look." Allen took a step toward the Italian. "You wanna know somethin'? Yeah, I want you to tell me where you've been. I think I've earned the fuckin' right for you to let me know when you're 'round. I want to know why you just up and left without telling me anything. I don't think it's too unreasonable to give a shit when I find you bleedin' out to want to know what happened; and I certainly don't think I deserve your attitude."
Luciano's expression didn't waver in the slightest, causing Allen to grind his teeth and bristle right up. How, just how could he just stand there and stare at him like that after everything?
"Allen," Luci began, his calm voice further irritating him. "I'm sorry to say I think you've chosen the wrong person to 'give a shit' about."
The American's eye twitched. It took all the self control he could muster not to punch a hole right through the wall.
"I saved your ass." His voice shook as he spoke. "I don't care whether you give a damn about me or not you're giving me some answers."
"Don't you get it?" Luciano hissed, his eyes narrowing further. "It's because I give a damn about you that I'm not telling you."
"If that's even a little bit true you've got a real funny way of showin' it," Al scoffed.
"Let me put it like this." Luciano threw his shoulders back and stared Allen down. For once he stared right back, as though he'd completely forgotten how dangerous the elder man could be when he wanted to. He was injured, but the threat behind his tone was clear. "If I told you, it'd be a death sentence. I prefer people I don't hate alive."
"Well how about this," Allen countered, his tone daring Luciano to continue his little song and dance. "If it weren't for me you'd be dead, you owe me one, so how about you tell me everything I want to know, not kill me, and maybe we can call it even."
Luciano twitched. Clearly he was the kind who hated owing anyone anything. Luci's jaw tightened. "Fine," He spat venomously. "Fine." He walked past Allen and sat down in the chair then American had recently vacated. "Fine." He scowled, positively spitting with irritation. "If this is what you want I suggest you sit down, shut up, and don't expect me to save your sorry ass if someone comes looking to kill you. You're not my problem." Allen obeyed, choosing to sit down opposite him on the neatly folded blankets of his bed. Now that his counterpart had agreed he was starting to feel a lot less in control of the situation. Briefly the Italian placed a hand back to his side and took a shuttering breath.
There was a few moments where nothing but Luciano's heavy breathing filled the room.
"Well get on with it then."
"I'm trying to think of where to start…"
"How 'bout the beginnin'?"
"Oh, wow, what a fantastic idea. Can't believe I hadn't thought of it first."
"It's not that hard you know. Don't be such a fuckin' prick about it."
"You'd certainly think it would be easy, wouldn't you? But unfortunately for the both of us I don't know where this mess started."
"Look, I've got someplace to be tomorrow so I'd appreciate it if you'd just start talkin'."
"Gee, I'm sorry," He sneered. "I don't think you realize how long this is going to take. If you thought this was going to be wrapped up in three minutes flat you're even less intelligent than I give you credit for." Luci leaned back against the chair and returned Allen's glare with equal fire.
"My apologies your highness." Allen's voice rose. "Do take your time. It's not like I don't have anything better to do."
"This was certainly not my idea. It doesn't make any difference to me if you hear any of this or not."
"I'm waiting."
"You know, I don't remember you being quite this insufferable," Luci spat.
"Well a few things change when you're gone for nearly half a year." Luciano looked him up and down, his face scrunched up as he scanned the American's face. He looked almost like he was searching for something in Allen's appearance. "Enjoying the view, are you?"
"Less than I thought I would." Luciano rubbed his temples.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Allen demanded.
"Nevermind that now." Luciano wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Allen hadn't realized how much perspiration had collected there. "I think... I think I've got this figured out. Just give me a minute." Luci looked down at his chest and slowly began buttoning his jacket up. Allen watched the progress as the Italian fumbled through it. "Sorry," He muttered, his fingers shaking slightly. "I don't like being half-naked while talking to people. It's uncomfortable."
"Right. Here." Allen stepped forward and did up the last two. It was almost painful to watch him near-struggle with it. Luciano was staring at him again. He took small comfort in the fact he was allowing him so close and to do something so simple for him. The glaring had also come to a stop. Al lingered just a few moments more than necessary while he gently straightened the jacket and patted Luci's shoulder. "There."
"Thank you."
"No problem."
"All right." Luciano braced his elbow against the armrest and rested his cheek against his palm. "So, I guess I should start with that bar. You want to know why I 'up and left', don't you?"
"That'd be nice, yeah."
"Right, well, let's see…" Luciano thought for a moment or two. "How do I say this… I was only there to begin with because of a job I'd been assigned by my grandfather."
"Wait, wait, hold up." Allen crossed his legs underneath him. "You told me you didn't have any family. What gives? And… really? You're still lettin' your grandaddy make your life decisions?"
"First of all, smart ass, I hardly consider that senile old man my family. He's unpleasant all around and I sincerely doubted you wanted to hear about him. Secondly, I'll get to my life decisions in a minute so hold onto your ass."
He looked away from Luci. "I… guess I figured you'd mention it."
"Maybe this wasn't very clear to you, but I don't exactly like spilling my private life out in bars to people I hardly know."
"Right… jus' get back to whatever you were sayin'. But you'd better not try feedin' me some bullshit. I ain't stupid."
Luci snorted. "That's debatable. I have no reason to lie to you now. You can either believe me or you can pass me off as a liar. It doesn't matter to me anymore."
"You keep sayin' things like that, makes me wonder why you feel the need to remind me how much you don't care."
"Do you want to hear me or would you rather just bitch all night?"
Allen rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah go on."
It took Luciano a second to get back on track. "Well, we were meant to stay for a while should everything go all right. And it did. I thought for those last few nights we were there, it would all be ok." Luciano looked out the dark window. "Then my grandfather found out about you. And we had to leave."
"But… why?" Allen frowned. "What kind of job was this?"
"Well, believe it or not, I'm actually a hitman," Luci replied as though he'd just told Allen his occupation was computing, or engineering, or, you know, something more normal. "I was there for my first job." Suddenly Allen understood why Luciano spent night after night in a bar, alone. Luciano allowed him a minute to contempt that fact before moving on. "So then, I suppose you can guess the mafia is my family business. That's what I'm doing currently."
"You're still… a hitman?" His heart was throwing itself against his chest, a little flutter tickled his navel. Damn that sounded hot: suits, guns, sunglasses, cigarettes, black everything. Not to mention how dangerous it all was. He could see Luciano holding a pair of pistols, one in each hand, and walking down the street like he owned the place–grinning darkly as he held up the gun...
"Sort of." Allen almost jumped at the sound of his voice invading his thoughts. "I'm a little more involved now."
Allen blinked rapidly, trying to process his words after his little reverie. "But… wait, I'm still confused. Why did you leave? What did any of it have to do with me?"
Luciano stopped briefly to run his fingers through his dark hair. "I thought it would all work out, God how I'd hoped it would all work out…" Allen cocked an eyebrow. He waited for Luciano to drag his hand from his head before he went on. "My grandfather thought I was too distracted. At first he thought it was the job. Long story short he found out about you and didn't like it very much."
"So y'all just up and left without tellin' me?"
"...not exactly. Basically, he told me that I needed to take care of 'the problem' or he'd do it for me."
Silence greeted this. Allen frowned. "So…?"
"Stop prodding I'm getting to that," Luci snapped. "He wanted me to kill you, ok? I didn't want to, so I convinced my family to leave once the job was finished." Once again he started running his fingers through his hair over and over again. "I stabbed some bloke outside an alleyway and told him it was taken care of. I managed to pull one over on him. I knew he was going to figure it out eventually, but not like this…" His tone was pulling at Allen's heartstrings. Luciano turned from the window and glared at him. "Good job, you've fucked it all up you idiot. If he figures out you're the guy at the bar he's not going to be very happy."
Allen frowned. "But how would he? I mean, I know I'm incredibly handsome and all that shit but it's not like he'd see me on the streets and say 'Oi, you fucked 'round with my grandson imma stab you bish'."
"Well for one he's Italian and hates your idiotic language so no, I don't think he would say any of those words. Guess you're safe there. Two, he's not going out in the broad daylight, it's all his cronies walking around that would notice you. You should be ok if you just stay under the radar. Don't get into enough trouble to cause anyone to look too far into you. Don't ever mention my name. And by tomorrow morning I'll hopefully never have to dawn your doorstep again."
Allen nodded slowly then stopped moving entirely. "Wait, hold up–you're leavin' tomorrow?"
"I would be leaving tonight but seeing as you wanted some answers and, now that I've had a minute to think about it, maybe going back into that hellstorm blind isn't a great idea, yes, I'll be leaving tomorrow instead. Why?"
"No." Allen shifted forward on his bed. "You ain't leavin'."
The temperature in the room plummeted. Luciano leaned forward with his head tilted slightly to one side. Allen swallowed heavily, trying to remain firm in appearance. "Excuse me?" Luciano snarled in a deadly whisper. "What did you just say?"
Allen gulped. "Nope. You can't go yet. I'm your doctor for the night and you're ain't discharged from the hospital yet."
Pursing his lips, Luciano leaned forward further. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."
Allen crossed his arms. "Nope. You can't even button your jacket properly. You're stayin' here."
"You can't stop me. You know that don't you? I don't care what you think. I'm leaving right now if I have to."
"You just said it's too dangerous to go out right now," Allen said hastily as the Italian began to stand up from his chair.
"I'll be fine. I've–" He reached back in his pocket then froze. "Allen?" The American crossed his arms. "Where the fuck is my gun?"
"Dunno what you're talkin' 'bout."
"Allen I'm not playing games. Where is it?" He said, deliberately slowly as to get his point well across.
After a few moments of time-stopping silence, Allen tilted his head towards the drawer. "There."
Luciano walked over and dug into the drawer as soon as he reached it. He took out the .22 and checked it over. It took him a minute of two before he turned to Allen with narrowed eyes. "What the hell did you do with the bullets?"
Allen leaned back slightly. "Threw 'em out the window."
Luciano jaw set. "You did what?"
"You heard me."
For a moment, everything was completely still. The American opened his mouth to say something when Luciano flung his firearm across the room. Allen flinched back as it clattered against the wall; the noise almost masked Luciano's voice as he cried. "Fine! You stubborn, inconsiderate, irritating, confusing man!"
Panting now, Luciano sat back down on the chair near the window and huffed. "You win."
"Oi, don't sleep over there," He called after Luciano tried and failed to sit comfortably. "Come on, you're hurt take the bad."
"No. It would be rude of me."
"Are you seriously worried about that after everything else? Just get over here you nerd." He patted the spot next to him on the bed.
Luciano buried his face in his hands and after a few minutes of silence he growled. "I'm too tired for this shit anyway." And walked over to settle down on the bed.
Allen moved off the bed but Luciano refused to let him sleep on that chair. After a few more minutes of bickering, the American found himself squeezed into bed next to Luciano. Al made sure he was near the edge so he would fall–if either of them–instead of his ailed friend. Squished between the wall and Allen, Luciano adjusted himself to try and get comfortable while Allen stretched over to turn the lamp off again.
Allen shifted back onto the bed, causing their knees to crash and their heads to bump against each other. "Ow–shit. Sorry."
"Here," Luciano grunted. He pulled Allen forward until he was flush against him. Before the American could voice his confusion he'd already wrapped one arm around Allen's shoulders and pulled his head so it was resting on his chest. His fingers wound in Al's dark hair and he entwined their legs together. Scooting impossibly closer and blushing vermilion, Allen timidly rested against his shoulder and placed his hand on his counterpart's back, giving him a gentle squeeze. Luciano settled down and rested his chin atop Allen's head. After a minute or two of staring up at him in confusion, Allen relaxed and tilted his head so his cheek rested against Luciano's shoulder.
"Didn't realize you were a cuddler," He teased sleepily.
"This is a lot more practical," Luci snapped defensively. "If you had a larger bed this wouldn't be necessary. I wouldn't be doing this at all if it wasn't so just shut up already and sleep."
"Whatever you say darlin'." He countered Luciano's glare with a huge grin before dropping his head down again to nuzzle into his neck. After a few minutes of silence Luci began to stroke his hair. Nerves went off all along his spine where his thin fingers brushed against his scalp, making him purr in the Italian's arms. A wave of calm spreading throughout his chest, Allen closed his eyes and finally relaxed.
…
"Allen."
He buried his head further into his pillow as someone insistently poked and prodded him.
"Get up."
He groaned and opened his burgundy eyes, only to snap them tight shut as the light stung his eyes and blurred his vision. Something was blaring obnoxiously in the background but he'd much rather just lay his head back down and deal with it when he could properly comprehend what was going on. In his state it took him a minute to see the pillow he was trying to hide in had a heartbeat. He blinked blearily and pulled away, realizing it was Luciano's chest he was clutching onto. A hand reached over and started shaking him, his alarm screeching faraway in the background.
"Nooo," Allen whined. "My head is hurtin' an' I'm warm…" He ignored Luciano's protest and buried his face back in Luciano's chest. "I wanna cuddle more."
Pink shaded Luciano's cheeks as he grumbled. "At least turn off that damn thing before you wake half the building."
Allen turned over and reached to turn his alarm off. He felt around for the right button for a minute and once found he jammed his finger on it, bringing its cries to a halt. Groaning as he settled back in bed, Allen closed his sensitive eyes and relaxed again.
Luciano rolled his eyes. "I thought you had something to do this morning."
Allen squeezed Luci's chest. "Not every day I get a chance to cuddle with you," He purred. "And 'sides I don't really give a fuck. I'm tired as hell."
Luci scowled and swatted at the hands still holding onto his chest. "What's the point in having a job if you're not going to go to it?"
"Who're you, my mom?" Allen ignored Luciano's blows and instead reached down to grip onto his hips. "I wanna sleep damn it."
Luciano rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Not my fault if you get fired."
"I'll jus' make somethin' up, like I had a freak accident an' couldn't make it." In his fatigued state his accent only became more prevalent.
"Not my problem. But, uh…" He winced. "You're holding onto me a little tightly."
Allen opened his eyes and saw Luciano's jaw was set and his hands were balled into fists. He could feel him start to shake lightly and having looked down at the Italian's side, released his hips and shifted back as much as he could. "Shit. Sorry."
Luciano relaxed. "It's fine. But you really should go. You have work and I need to leave anyway."
Allen perked up at once. "Did I not make it clear last night you ain't goin' anywhere?" He narrowed his eyes at Luci. "If I got to stick 'round and hold you down you're stayin'."
The Italian scowled. "Allen, I need to properly address my cut. Tell someone where I am. I can't stick around very long or someone's going to ask one question too many. It's in both our best interest that I leave now."
"Hell, no." Al scooted closer and nuzzled him again. "You can borrow my phone and I can get you some stuff for your cut. But you ain't leavin' til you're all better."
Luciano shifted backwards, holding his head away from Allen. "Stop with that."
"You started it."
"Well now I'm ending it. Stop."
Allen pouted and released him. "Say it."
"Say what?"
"That you ain't leavin' til you're all ok again."
Luciano rolled his eyes. "What will you do if I don't?"
Allen opened his mouth, then thinking better of himself closed it. Shit, he hadn't thought of that. He didn't want to trap Luci. I mean, not really. He wanted to make sure he stayed put but he didn't want to force him to stay against his will. As time ticked gone the need to answer coiled around him and was slowly tightening around his throat. He needed to say something.
Finally, he settled on. "Do you trust me?"
Luci blinked. "What?"
Allen hesitated. Would he laugh? "You–I mean… it only, makes sense, don't it? That you stay? Like, you, uh…" Luciano crossed his arms. Even as The Italian puffed up he winced slightly. Maybe Al needed a new approach. Obviously challenging him wasn't the way to go. He ducked his head and tucked it underneath Luci's jaw. He could feel Luciano opening his mouth to protest when he murmured. "'m jus' worried 'bout you," If there was one thing he learned about Luciano, it's that he didn't like to be told what to do. "Stay, please? Jus' for a little while?"
Luciano relaxed. Allen's heart pounded against his chest. He seized up when Luci shifted and placed a hand on his head. "Why do you care about me so much? Don't you want me out of your life? I'm going to cause you nothing but trouble. I might understand if we were related but I'm nothing to you."
Allen rested his chin against Luciano's shoulder. He was quiet for a moment. "I'm really scared if I let you go, you're not going to come back again."
"Why do you want me to?" Luci reiterated. "What do you stand to gain?"
Allen wrapped his arms around him loosely. Finally he was getting through to him. "I dunno."
Luciano placed a hand flat against his back. For a while they just held onto each other, all the time Allen's heart rate didn't rest. Favoring his more docile side seemed to be helping a lot more. Putting his foot down only seemed to make things worse, and it wasn't really like him anyway. But he didn't know if it would be enough to change Luciano's mind. The man was so unpredictable it made his head spin.
"All right."
Allen's head shot up. "Really?"
Luciano glared again. "Yes really. But I'm not staying any longer than I need to. Just until I can get by without help. You got that?"
He grinned. "Sure boss."
