Author's Note: Hi again! I've been meaning to upload this chapter for a while now, and I finally go around to it. I apologize for it being so long of a chapter and that it still might not be exciting. I don't care for this chapter that much except for the last section; but I hope you all enjoy it anyhow! Reviews and critiques are welcomed and very much appreciated!
As usual, Lovino was woken up by the loud, but soft singing of his younger brother the next morning. He rubbed his eyes, growling to himself as he glanced at the clock. 8:27. "It's too early…" he complained, kicking off his blankets. Lovino shuffled out of his room, turning down the hall to see Feliciano setting the table. Typically, Feliciano would have already eaten breakfast, leaving his brother's portions on the kitchen counter, and would have been gone for classes by the time Lovino was awake.
Hearing the muffled shuffling noises from the hallway, Feliciano looked around the corner to see that his big brother was indeed, awake. "Big brother!" he sang, smiling brightly. "Did you wake up to eat breakfast with me today?"
"No," Lovino replied, plopping down in a chair. "My stupid boss wants me at work by nine today. Such a prick." Feliciano's smile quickly faded away.
"Oh." He placed a plate in front of his brother and took the seat next to him. Feeling guilty, Lovino let out a frustrated sigh.
"And yes, I wanted to eat breakfast with you." he added. Feliciano gasped and the bright smile from earlier was plastered back on his face.
"I knew it!" he cheered, leaping forward to hug Lovino. "I knew you hated eating breakfast alone all the time!" Lovino pushed him away, giving him a scowl.
"Don't touch me." he grumbled. Feliciano smiled and nodded, beginning to hum another song as they ate.
"I didn't know you got a job, Lovino." Feliciano then said. "Where are you working then?"
"At some run down market." Lovino answered. "It doesn't even seem like people even shop there. When I was at the owner's office to fill out an application, there were envelopes and papers everywhere. I think they were probably notices that the dump was closing soon."
"Maybe you can help bring more business. It sounds very exciting to me." Feliciano stated. "Maybe I'll come and visit while you're working there."
"Don't even bother," Lovino slid his plate away. "The owner of the place has issues and is strange." Silence fell in the room before Feliciano stood up and gathered the dirty plates.
"Is he at least nice?" he asked, walking over to the sink.
"He's overly friendly. Plus, he has an obsession with tomatoes."
"He sounds like fun!"Lovino only rolled his eyes as he stood up, shuffling back to his room. He closed the door behind him and began to find decent clothes to wear for work. He faintly heard the loud banging noises of Feliciano rushing to get his shoes and jacket on, knocking over things in the living room. The front door opened with a loud screech and there was the jingling sound of keys being put in a pants' pocket. "I'm off to class, Lovino! I'll see you later this evening! Ciao!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Lovino called back, shrugging on a buttoned shirt. He then pulled on some black, dress pants and shoved his bare feet into his old, worn, leather shoes. He quickly glanced at himself in the mirror, smirked to himself and bolted out the door.
Working in the market in of itself is one thing, but owning one and running it all without any help is another. Each day, Antonio would go to the shop early in the morning just to organize everything inside. Trucks would swing by around 7:30 to drop off the produce he had ordered to keep up with a fresh stock (even though most of it would go to waste). The shop opened by 8:30, and Antonio would walk around the aisles, making sure everything looked perfect and was clean. On a good day, he would get at least 10 customers. But typically, that was extremely rare.
As Antonio had finished bringing in a box of zucchinis, his new employee (his new cute employee, he might add) stepped inside. "Buenos días, Lovino!" he greeted. "You came just in time; I need some help bringing in the peaches." Antonio handed him a small plastic rectangle with 'Lovino' written on it. "And here's your name tag. Just stick it on your shirt pocket, like so."
"I know how to put on a name tag, you dipshit." Lovino spat, snatching the tag away from him. "Do you think I'm four years old or something?" Antonio laughed before walking away.
"Come on! The peaches aren't going to bring themselves in!" he hollered. Chuckling when he heard Lovino groan, the cheerful Spaniard led the way to the back of the store where one crate sat, waiting to be pulled in. "I'll take one side and you take the other; if we work together we'll be done bringing this crate inside in no time."
"How did you do this before you hired me?" Loving asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Oh, I just had the delivery workers help me." Antonio answered, grinning. He picked up one side of the box, patiently waiting for his new employee to do his part. Lovino smirked, grabbing his side with one hand and tugged; except the box didn't budge. Flustered and frustrated, Lovino pulled harder, continuing to try to lift the box with one hand. With countless attempts, the box finally moved slightly, landing on the poor Italian's foot. In agony, Lovino let out a scream as Antonio did his best to slide the heavy box off of his foot. After jumping around for a bit, trying to get rid of the pain, Lovino slumped against a wall. "Are you alright, amigo?"
"Yes, of course!" Lovino shouted. "I'm perfectly fine after having a box flatten my toes into paper!" Antonio did his best to hide his laughter as Lovino crossed his arms. "Don't you have something easier for me? Couldn't I put price tags on vegetables or slabs of meat?"
"Huh? Come on, this isn't that hard!" Antonio bargained.
"Can't do it!" Lovino said, throwing his arms up in the air. He slowly stood up and began limping his way back into the shop. "That crate is way too heavy!" Antonio followed him inside, frustrated.
"You'll get used to it, I swear!" he assured. "Besides, it's the last one I need to bring in!"
"Didn't you hear me? It's too hard!" Lovino hissed. "I'd rather pick up dog shit with my bare hands than bring that in!"
"Well I can't bring in the box all by myself and I certainly can't just leave it out there!" Antonio hollered.
"Not my problem!" The two continued to argue, not even noticing a little, delicate, old lady had stepped into the shop. Eventually, Antonio managed to convince Lovino to help bring in the supply of peaches and with teamwork, the successfully set the box in its proper place (without crushing Lovino's poor foot).
"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Antonio teased, nudging Lovino with his elbow. He froze when he saw the old lady waddling around the shop with a tiny basket. "Ah! A customer!" he cheered. "Lovino, go to the register and wait for her to check out, okay? I'm gonna talk to her."
"You're acting as if it's some achievement that a customer walked in." Lovino muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't you get customers on a daily basis? How are you even keeping this place running?" Antonio did not reply; instead, he kindly greeted the old woman and led her around the store. In the corner of his eye, he watched Lovino shuffle his way to the register and wait patiently. It wasn't until ten minutes later that the woman was ready to check out. The Spaniard watched her make her way to the register, praying that Lovino would be at least polite to her.
"Good morning, ma'am." Lovino said, smiling for the first time that morning. "Did you find everything you needed?" The elderly woman glanced up, adjusting her glasses.
"I did." She replied. "That young gentleman kindly showed me around the store." Lovino nodded, going into auto pilot as he listened to the woman ramble.
"That'll be twenty Euros, ma'am." Lovino stated, carefully putting the produce into paper bags.
"Is that all?" she asked. "Wow, this is one of the cheapest markets in town then!" Antonio slid over next to Lovino, grinning.
"That's right! Lowest price for fresh produce everyday!" he added. The old lady giggled as she carefully carried her paper bag in her arms.
"I think I shall tell the girls about this place." she said, waddling towards the exit.
"Please do!" Antonio called, cupping his hands around his lips. "Have a nice day, ma'am!" The glass door closed behind her as Antonio jumped up and down. "Wow! Maybe she'll tell her friends and we'll get more sales!"
"She'll probably forget in five minutes where she bought those fruits and meats." Lovino said. Antonio froze, turning to look at his employee. "I'm taking a break; I'm tired." The Spaniard nervously chuckled.
"The day has barely started!" he muttered.
"I said I'm tired." Lovino repeated. "I'm going to sit over there if you want me." Antonio sighed, relenting and leaned against the check-out counter, scratching the back of his neck. A small smiled curled on his lips.
"You certainly are an interesting one." he thought. "Mister Lovino."
His new job certainly wasn't interesting at all; Lovino stood in the middle of aisle 3, lazily pushing the mop back and forth. Antonio didn't seem to notice that the Italian hadn't moved since he started cleaning, despite the fact that the Spaniard had walked past several times. When Lovino finally finished cleaning the aisle, his manager stood in front of him, holding to small paper bags. "Lunch time!" Antonio announced, holding out one of the bags to Lovino.
"Thank God." Lovino grumbled, immediately dropping the mop and rushing over to the exit.
"Where are you going, amigo?" Antonio asked, sitting down on the check-out counter. "I made lunch for the both of us; come, sit!" Lovino looked over his shoulder to see the man grinning and patting the space next to him. The Italian's stern expression softened as he stared at the bagged lunch.
"Did you seriously make me a lunch?" Lovino asked, stunned. Antonio nodded, opening his bag.
"It's just a sandwich inside and it's pretty generic since I wasn't sure what you would like." he answered. "I thought it'd be nice to eat lunch together, eh? We can get to know each other." Temptation filled Lovino's mind, though he felt extremely guilty.
"I can't." he replied. "I'll just go and buy my own lunch."
"No, no, Lovi!" Antonio shouted. "Go on, take it! It's just a sandwich! Besides, you can take anything from the produce if you like. But please," Lovino snatched the bag and sat down.
"Alright, alright, I'll eat your sandwich." he snapped. "Don't call me Lovi." They ate in silence, occasionally hearing sirens cruise by or a child whining to his mother to buy him candy at the sweet shop. Lovino chewed through his bland sandwich and wiped the crumbs off of his shirt. He was about to walk away when Antonio held a bag in his face. "Churro?" he asked, smirking. "They're homemade." Antonio added. Lovino gave him a glare before slipping of the churros out.
"Thanks," he mumbled, nibbling. "For the sandwich and this."
"My pleasure." Antonio replied. Not wanting to let awkward silence to settle in again, Lovino grabbed another churro from the bag.
"So, is this a family owned shop?" Lovino asked.
"No; I bout this little place with my own money." Antonio explained. "I thought it would be neat to own a little market, selling quality goods at cheap prices. Even though I may not get much profit, I like this tiny shop."
"You live an exciting life then." Lovino said, sarcastically. "Don't you have any better ideas than this dumb, little shop? I mean, even a flower shop would've been better than this dump."
"I like appreciating the little things in life, even if they are what you call 'dumb'." Lovino snickered, leaping off of the counter. "I mean it; everything in this store has it's importance."
"Even the garbage?"
"Especially the garbage." Antonio slid off of the counter and glanced at his watch. Lovino moseyed over to the produce, picking up an apple and taking a bite from it.
"So when do I get to go home?" he asked, tossing the fruit up in the air.
"You're very impatient, aren't you?" Antonio chuckled.
"Yeah, what of it?" Lovino replied. The Spaniard smiled and shook his head.
"A few more hours and we'll close up." he answered. "For someone who was eager for a job, you sure don't want to work hard." Lovino shrugged. He was used to being lazy; if he wasn't sitting around, he would always manage to break something. Lovino had been quick to learn when he was younger that he wasn't particularly good at anything compared to his brother. He didn't have any talents of any kind; he was average throughout school, his cooking skills were alright and he certainly couldn't paint or do anything artistic. Even when he had chores, Lovino would end up knocking over something and breaking it. He would often leave his chores to Feliciano to worry about and pay him later.
"Hey, hey! No need to get depressed! I was just joking!" Antonio defended, patting Lovino's back. The Italian smiled slightly, pulling away and walking back over to the mop he left in the aisle. As he began cleaning the floor once again, Antonio hurried over to his office without saying a word. Lovino didn't think much of it, and continued to lazily clean the floor.
Like he promised, Antonio began locking up the shop around 5:00. He stood at the door waiting for Lovino to gather his things and leave, holding a bag of food. Lovino shot him a stern glare, pointing to the bag. "You better not be paying me in food." he snapped. Antonio laughed.
"No, no; your pay with real money is given at the end of the week." he clarified. "This is just a thank you for all of your hard work today." Lovino smirked.
"Well, I'm not one to turn down free food." he said, gladly reaching for the paper bag. "Um, thanks." Antonio smiled sweetly.
"No problem, amigo." Antonio held out a small tomato, smiling brightly. "Tomato?" Lovino scowled, turning away.
"Keep your damn tomatoes to yourself." he spat, turning down the alleyway. Antonio shrugged, setting the tomato on the window sill outside of the store.
"See you tomorrow, Lovino! Have a good night!" he called, unlocking his car. The Spaniard climbed into the driver seat and drove off, taking his time driving home.
The past few weeks at home had been complete hell for him. Ever since telling his ex-girlfriend his secret, the atmosphere in the house was quite awkward. Bella refused to talk to him most of the time, would pack her belongings in cardboard boxes and force Antonio to sleep in the spare bedroom every night. Antonio hated how things had quickly become tense between the two of them when they were once close friends.
Pulling up in the driveway, Antonio sighed as he switched off the ignition. He could see Bella's silhouette through the window as he made his way up to the door. He carefully opened the door as if a bomb were to explode if he opened it too quickly. "I'm home." he muttered, stepping inside. Bella was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, staring at the empty candy bowl on the coffee table. Antonio gave her an endearing smile as he closed the door. "How was your day?"
"Fine." she answered, sternly. "We need to talk." Antonio swallowed as he shrugged off his jacket and hung it up next to the door.
"Of course; what's bothering you?" he replied, rubbing his hands as he took a seat next to her. Bella remained silent, looking away. Antonio laughed nervously. "The new employee I hired is kind of funny. I like him a lot. You'd like him too if you would come back." he said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Of course you like him." Bella muttered. Antonio sighed.
"Bella, don't do this." he murmured. "I told you I was sorr—"
"Really? Don't you see how much of a problem this is, Antonio?" she argued. "We bought this house, we bought that stupid market of yours together. We were even going to get married! We were happy, Toni! And you decide that now is the perfect time to tell me you're gay?!"
"Bella, please." Antonio pleaded. "We can work this out."
"I've already taken the rest of my stuff to my brother's house." she continued. "You can keep this house and the market, but I'm not going to help you pay for the market."
"You know I won't be able to afford the market without you! C'mon Bella, we can still be friends and teammates." Antonio cried.
"Well, guess what, Antonio." Bella muttered. "That's not my problem, now is it?" Bella stood up, making her way to the kitchen. Antonio bit his lip, pressing his thumbs together; he knew he should've kept his secret in. "I'm leaving tomorrow, officially. Hope that new employee of yours helps you out."
"Bella, would you just listen to me…" Antonio started, jumping up from his seat.
"Why?" Bella snapped. "So you can stomp on my heart some more? It's already broken, Antonio. What more do you want?"
"I want to fix it." he said, simply. "I'm sorry, I truly am."
"No you're not." Bella brought a pot of soup and slammed it on the table. "What's he like, huh?" she continued, scooping up some soup with the ladle.
"What?"
"The new employee; what's he like?" Bella clarified.
"Oh come on…" Antonio sighed.
"Muscle toned? Abs? Nice ass?"
"Actually, he almost crushed his foot this morning trying to help me carry in a crate of peaches." Antonio said, laughing. "He also slipped on the floor when he was mopping. I never said that I liked him in that way."
"Please, Toni; it was written all over your face. Have you given him tomatoes like you did with me?" She waited for a moment, setting two bowls on the table before chuckling to herself. "You couldn't even wait until I was gone; you were always a flirt."
"It's nothing against you." Antonio explained.
"Well, it certainly feels like it." she spat back. "I don't think you understand how much it hurts me that this has happened. It makes me feel like…like…"
"You didn't make me gay, Bella." Antonio muttered, touching her shoulder. He spun her around and smiled sadly. "I've been denying it for years."
"Oh, so you've known all along, then?" she hissed. "You've known all this time and yet you still got down on one knee and proposed?"
"I thought I could push it away and live the normal life." he explained, supporting his weight on the table. "I wanted the perfect life with a beautiful wife and wonderful children; that's what I wanted. Or at least I thought." Bella slowly sat down in a chair, holding her head in her hands, letting her wavy, blonde hair fall over her face. "I know I should've said something sooner."
"It doesn't matter now." Bella whispered, faintly. Antonio sighed, sitting next to her and pulled her close. He kissed her forehead and smoothed back her hair.
"I'm sorry I hurt you." he whispered. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. You're still my best friend Bel—"
"Save your breath." Bella mumbled, pushing him away. She left the dining room, marching down the hallway and slammed the bedroom door behind her. Antonio rested his elbows on the table, brushing his hands through his messy hair.
"Dios mío," he whimpered. "Look at the mess I'm in."