THE CAFE OF DOUBLE LIVES...

Chapter 7

Sitting on his bed, Lovino waited for Feliciano to come back to the dormroom. Although it was a Tuesday morning, he had no classes to attend and he knew his brother didn't have any either as they both had the same schedules. While he was waiting, he stuffed his mouth with tomatoes to help calm himself down but after what he saw yesterday in the Figure-Sketching-Class, he was anything but calm.

Finally, Lovino heard the jingle of keys outside the door and saw Feliciano entering the room. His brother was momentarily startled to see Lovino rushing up to him, asking sharply, "Were you with Potato Bastard all this time?"

Shivering at the intense tone Lovino spoke with, Feliciano nodded. "His name is Ludwig, not Potato Bastard."

Lovino fumed, "I don't a give f*ck what his name is! I forbid you to see him!"

Baffled by Lovino's reaction, Feliciano asked, "Eh? You never had a problem with me hanging out with Ludwig before. Why are you saying this now?"

In an angry tone, Lovino replied, "That was when I thought your relationship with him wasn't serious. Clearly it's different now, so stop meeting him." With his voice faltering, Feliciano inquired why. Lovino answered, "It's because he's out to trick you."

Feliciano was confused, so Lovino explained, "That bastard and his brother come from a rich family, yet he decided to work in the Pet-Store after you joined it. Don't you think that it's odd? I bet he has ulterior motives. He can't be trusted because in the end, he'll break your heart and leave you."

Lovino saw that his brother was actually listening to what he had to say. For-a-moment, he felt that not all hope was lost but it vanished the second Feliciano said, "Ve, I'll go ask Ludwig," and immediately ran out of the room with Lovino screaming at him to come back.

The older twin had never expected Feliciano to actually go and ask Ludwig. He brainstormed on what to do next and subsequently left his dormroom. Walking towards his college, he finally reached the Dean's office.

Rushing through the doors and then banging them shut, Lovino saw the Dean sitting at his desk who stated, "Lovino, just because you're my godson doesn't mean you can act like you own the place."

Moving towards the desk, Lovino stared at the Dean who was his Arts-Professor and his godfather as well. "Uncle Roberto, it's important!"

Roberto leaning back on his chair. "What is so important that you almost had to break the hinges off my door?"

Lovino declared, "I need you to expel Ludwig Beilschmidt." Giving him an incredulous stare, Roberto inquired why. Lovino was silent for awhile before whispering gloomily, "He's stealing my fratello."

Roberto's expression softened when he heard that. 'I had a feeling something like this would happen after Feliciano gave me the Sketch Portrait.'

Feliciano was an extraordinary artist but this particular Sketch had such fine detail paid to it -like the look in Ludwig's eyes, his slight smile, the overall expression on his face- it was clear that the younger Vargas twin had amorous feelings for Ludwig and vice-versa (Roberto wanted everyone to see Feliciano's beautiful masterpiece, however Professor Gerald didn't want his son on display, so he had to take it down.)

Observing Lovino, Roberto wasn't surprised that his godson was possessive of his younger twin -

When the twins were little, their parents passed away. Since they came from a poor family, they were tossed from relative-to-relative whenever expenses rose. Being their godfather, Roberto wanted to help, however he himself wasn't in a stable job: so having them live with him wouldn't have made their lives any better.

Finally as the years passed, he became the Dean and had the resources to help his godsons who by then were 18. When he found out that they wanted to apply to Arts-College, he made the necessary preparations to make up for all the times that he couldn't help them.

Feliciano was extremely gifted, so he easily got the scholarship. In Lovino's case, Roberto had to pull some strings, but in the end, he was able to get that scholarship for him as well. He never mentioned this to them, however he had a feeling that Lovino knew he played a role in acquiring the scholarship for him because Lovino would pick on him every-once-in-awhile saying it was payback for reducing his self-esteem and later, he would thank Roberto for everything he had done: it always amazed him to see both of Lovino's frustrated and caring sides one after the other.

Since the twins moved from one family to the other, they became quite self-reliant. They refused Roberto's financial assistance to pay for rent, saying that they wished to do it themselves.

However, Roberto noticed that though the twins didn't rely on others, they heavily relied on each other: Feliciano depending more on Lovino making the older brother feel needed and important in his twin's life. In Lovino's case, Feliciano was the one constant thing in his life, so nothing-else mattered as long as his twin was beside him.


Now with Feliciano depending more on Ludwig, Roberto mused that Lovino felt less significant. He also realized that Ludwig taking away the only constant thing in Lovino's life reinstated his fear of abandonment which was why Lovino loathed the German.

Seeing that Lovino was still waiting for his reply, Roberto sighed. "I can't expel Ludwig without any reasonable charges." Lovino frowned and asked why. He replied, "Because it isn't right. Also the fact that Ludwig is the son of Vice-Dean Gerald, it's all the more reason not to expel him: I love my life, so I'd rather not lose it."

Lovino was now curious by what his godfather meant, so Roberto revealed, "I recently hit on Gerald's wife which didn't amuse him at all. Then I realized what a handsome man he was, so I started pursuing him instead. The end-result was that he almost punctured my lung: so I definitely will not expel Ludwig because I'm too good-looking to become a corpse."

This time, it was Lovino's turn to give Roberto an incredulous stare, "How can you be such a pervert!" and then stomped towards the couch nearby. Sitting on it, Lovino crossed his arms around his body, wearing a sour look, his demeanor screaming defense.

Roberto walked up to his godson and sat next to him. They remained quiet for awhile til he said, "Lovino, I understand why you're feeling this way but believe me when I say this, Feliciano will always love you. Whenever I converse with him, your name comes up every-five-minutes which shows you're in his thoughts even though you both don't hang out as much."

As he saw Lovino's stance become looser, Roberto continued, "You never have to feel like you're alone because there are others around who you can consider family as well: you just need to open up a little." Noting that the Italian wasn't going to say anything anytime soon, he finally added, "I know I haven't always been there when you both were younger but please remember from now on if you ever find yourself feeling lost or helpless, don't hesitate to depend on me."

After he said that, Lovino slowly rested his head on Roberto's shoulder. Silence took over them again as they remained in that position: Roberto was surprised that Lovino was showing his vulnerable side so easily since he always puts a tough-guy-front but Roberto figured with what Lovino was going through, it was to be expected: he felt all he could he could do right now was show his godson that he wouldn't abandon the twins like how their relatives did.

Their family bonding moment was interrupted when a knock was heard. The person on the other side of the door. "Sir, it's Antonio Fernandez, can I please come in?"

Before Roberto could grant permission to the Spaniard, he saw Lovino immediately getting up from the couch and doing a panic dance- flailing his arms and jogging in place, saying, "OHF*CK! OHF*CK!" He watched confusedly as godson hid under his desk.

Surprised by what just happened, a few minutes passed before Roberto finally found his voice and told the Spaniard to enter. He asked Antonio to have a seat on the adjacent couch while they talked- Antonio stated that he won't be able to pose for anymore Sketch-classes. When Roberto asked if it is because his schedule, he saw the Spaniard blush slightly before saying, "Among other things."

Roberto smiled. 'Oh, young love,' he thought, and prodded Antonio for details. If Gerald was there, he probably would have admonished him for being familiar with the students, but Roberto never cared for norms like that, so he listened to the Spaniard go on about his crush. As Antonio spoke, Roberto felt that something was wrong since it sounded like he was describing Lovino, except the crush was a redheaded girl.

But when Antonio added, "She becomes bright as a tomato and loves playing hard to get," there was a BANG from under the desk.

Roberto chuckled while Antonio looked worried, asking what that noise was. Roberto replied, "Oh, that's the sound of my cellphone in my desk- it vibrates loudly." Surprisingly (or not), Antonio believed that blatant lie and left.

As soon as the Spaniard was gone, Lovino emerged from under the desk, rubbing his head in pain. Roberto asked teasingly, "Is there something you would like to share?"

To that, Lovino huffed, "What are trying to insinuate, you pervert?"

Before Roberto could reply, Lovino's cellphone chimed. Excusing himself, his godson checked the message. "Feliks just invited me and the others to have brunch. I guess I should go, right?" Roberto noticed his slightly-apprehensive-look, so the elder told him to trust his instincts. Lovino thought for a moment and replied, "I guess a little brunch won't hurt anyone."

Roberto smiled, happy that Lovino was finally willing to open up to others and stated, "I couldn't agree more."


Feliks decided to treat the others to brunch but mostly it was an apology to Yao for tricking him into thinking that the week's outfit was modest. Well, it was modest by Feliks' standards but not according to Yao's. He knew beforehand what standards the ebony-haired man had, yet he couldn't resist making that slit higher than normal. 'They all have such pretty legs, I felt it would've been a pity for them to be hidden.'

Luckily for him, Yao didn't seem angry at him anymore and agreed to wear the outfit for the rest of the week. Surprisingly he didn't ask for any alterations to the red Cheongsam: Feliks mused it must have slipped his mind since he had to deal with a certain Russian whom Feliks also didn't like.

Infact, Feliks wasn't very fond of the whole Braginski family considering the reason why his best-friend left was because of one of their members. 'Geez, I totally don't get what Toris saw in Natalia- was it because of her obsessive nature, or her ability to dislocate people's limbs so easily? Ah whatever! As long as he's happy, I'll be happy for him too.'

After looking over the café's accounts, Feliks left his office to check the situation at the cafe. Everything seemed to proceed well with the customers being tended to by the 'waitresses.' He wasn't surprised to find Antonio here as well. The Spaniard had become a regular costumer to the cafe eversince Lovino started working here.

Feliks chuckled when he heard Antonio saying, "Wearing that outfit, you really resemble a tomato." He knew the Spaniard was trying his best to elicit a reaction from Lovino- in this case, trying to make 'Lovina' punch him again for making the tomato comment, so that he can bribe 'her' to go on another date. But it seemed that the Italian had wisened up and didn't raise to the bait.

This went on until closing time with Antonio pulling all the tricks he could think of. The strangest thing was that Lovino didn't once lose his temper. 'Hmm, Lovino seemed to be bummed out during brunch as well. Did something happen earlier?' but when he asked if something was wrong, the Italian replied he was fine and left the store soon after.

Now, as he preparing to close the cafe, his batchmate Orlando arrived. Feliks crossed his arms. "Your timing is like way-off. I told you to come here two hours ago."

Orlando smiled sheepishly, "Sorry but when you invited me for a cup of Cappuccino, I wanted to bake you something in return. They just got done, so they are still warm," and shoved a Tupperware container with a batch of brownies inside it at Feliks.

Atfirst, Feliks wanted to comment on the odd choice of the gift Orlando was bringing to a place which already has brownies but he figured it was a sweet gesture since the Dutchman baked them himself. However he had to ask, "Are those Hash-brownies by any chance?"

Taking one of the seats inside, Orlando replied with a sullen look, "Contrary to popular belief, I don't smoke pot all the time."

"Naprawdę?" Feliks decided to test this theory by going closer to Orlando. He started to sniff his neck, "Hmm, it's true. You smell of cologne instead of a joint," but when he saw Orlando blushing, he became surprised. "Woah, your face is like totally red. Are you alright?"

Orlando started trying to put as much as distance between himself and Feliks as possible. "I've got sensitive ears. As long as you don't go near them, I'll be fine."

The moment Orlando said that, Feliks' eyes widened in awe. "For realz?" Now he really wanted to touch his friend's ears- he had the same reaction when he found out about Lovino's hair curl and Roderich's mole. As if devil horns had formed on his head, Feliks started to pretend as if he was sniffing near his ears just to see his reaction: Orlando squirmed, begging Feliks to stop but he continued this til he saw Orlando turning beet-red.

Then snickering slightly, Feliks said in a jovial tone, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, like, make you feel uncomfortable. It's just that I couldn't help myself: never tell me not to do something cause I'll totally do it." Orlando raised his eyebrows but the Polish blond quickly added, "I don't do this with everyone. I only tease those whom I'm like really close to."

This was the truth- Feliks was shy of strangers, so it's difficult for others to get close to him. But once he becomes familiar with someone, he becomes comfortable around that person, which was how it was with Elizabeta and Toris. This was one of the many reasons why he was upset when his best-friend left. But Orlando made sure not to make him feel alone which he appreciated.

Going to get that cup of Cappuccino he promised, Feliks remembered how Orlando and he became the cafe's fashion designers -

Feliks had no clue what he was in for when he inherited his family business. As much as he tried to run the cafe the normal way, he wasn't getting any customers even after hiring Roderich and Heracles, both of whom were exceptional in what they made.

Finally when couldn't handle the loss of finances, he confided his problems to his close friend Kiku. He noticed the other was deep in thought, who later inquired whether the blond knew about Cosplay-maid-cafes. Surprised by the odd question, Feliks nonetheless answered no. Kiku then began explaining that the waitresses there, wore maid costumes while tending to costumers- these type of cafes were popular, so he suggested Feliks to try running his cafe like that. The blond thought about it and figured why not: he didn't have anything to lose, so he was willing to give that idea a shot.

Before Feliks attempted to design the maid-costumes, Kiku came up to him, bringing a tall spiky-haired guy along. He introduced the other as Orlando who was an expert in making 'Lolita'-styled-costumes: Kiku stated that maybe he could help Feliks design the maid-costumes by adding a special touch to them.

Though the blond appreciated Kiku trying to help him, he was wary of Orlando because even though they went to the same classes, he never spoke to the other. Hence he wasn't sure of interacting with him. Kiku however assured him that having Orlando around would prove useful, so he finally agreed to the collaboration, reasoning to himself that it was only going to be a one-time deal.

While they were discussing, Feliks was surprised by how innovative Orlando was, showing various designs to how the final costume could look like. As soon as they had chosen the final outlook which was a blue and white Maid-Lolita-dress, they started working. When they had finished making the outfit, Feliks couldn't believe how pretty it looked.

Now, usually when Feliks makes an outfit, he wears it immediately just to see how it would look when worn. So, without thinking it through, Feliks started to strip and wore the costume to take a look in the mirror. Observing himself, the blond saw that the costume looked even more gorgeous when worn.

Feliks continued to admire himself till he noticed in the mirror that Orlando was looking at him with a wide-eyed expression. Faltering slightly as it registered to him that he had stripped naked in front of someone else and also exposed his closely-guarded habit, Feliks finally stated in a sassy tone, "Fine, I like to crossdress! There is no need to look so shocked."

Orlando slightly covered his mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. It's just that it looks beautiful."

Reading no scorn in his eyes, Feliks smiled. "It totally does, doesn't it? I never thought it would turn out like this."

Gazing at the dress and all the design-sketches, Feliks on the spot decided the waitresses wouldn't just wear a single costume throughout the year and that he would now use the cafe to practice his Fashion skills by designing all the costumes. But he would need a little bit of help.

Turning to Orlando, Feliks asked, "If I were to propose a deal for you to design costumes along with me for the cafe, would you take it? I totally promise to pay you once the cafe starts bringing in profits. Though I'm not sure when that will happen but I'm positive if the waitresses wear the costumes that we make together, it'll be a hit. So, are you in or out?"

Orlando thought about it for while and agreed to be his fashion partner-in-crime.


While they were sipping their Cappuccino, Feliks started rambling, "Oh geez, I'm so pissed off right now. Just when we finish one project, our professor decides-on-a-whim to give us another one. We can't simply do a report on 'French Fashion.' One needs to be at the heart of it to truly express what it is."

Taking a bite off a brownie, Orlando replied, "So, let's go there the day after tomorrow." Feliks wasn't sure what Orlando meant, so he inquired what his friend just mentioned. Finishing the brownie-slice, Orlando declared, "Let's go to France and experience what fashion there truly is."

Staring at the other for awhile, Feliks finally asked pointing at the tupperware, "Are you sure this batch isn't Hash-brownies?"

Orlando frowned. "I'm being serious here. I've connections, so you don't have to worry about buying the Airline tickets. All you need to worry about is what to pack for a whole week and a half."

"Omigosh, just get up and leave? What about our classes?" Feliks enquired.

Orlando answered, "Our department isn't strict with attendance. It's not like they'll notice we are missing for a few days. To be on the safe side, we can ask our friends to cover for us. So, what do you say- want to come to Paris with me?"

Giggling in a exaggeratedly coy manner, Feliks joked, "Teehee, that's the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me."

However as he thought it, the blond started becoming excited. "It's a spur-of-the-moment type of thing, but sure, why not? Though I've to admit, it totally blows my mind that you even came up with this." When Orlando asked why he felt that, Feliks replied, "Well, normally you seem indifferent about most stuff, so to do something spontaneous like this seems out-of-character. But I'm not complaining: it's all good."

Orlando smiled and then started making a few calls on his cell. Feliks decided that he too should make a few arrangements, namely informing Yao that he was placing the Chinese senior in charge of the cafe till he came back (though he loved Elizabeta, he feared she might turn his cafe into something more perverted, if left in her care), and also decided to message Toris that he was going to Paris.

After he was done with his tasks, Feliks saw Orlando waiting for him. Locking the cafe up, they discussed what they would be doing next- Feliks being ecstatic at the prospect of going to France so soon.

X

A/N: So, here's why Lovino has a huge-brother-complex (Ancient Rome is the Vargas' godfather, instead of being their grandfather; & Gerald is Germania) ... About Feliks guarding his crossdressing-habit? Since it's not common in the manga, it's a secret here.

Oh, apparently South Italy's hair curl and Austria's mole are erogenous zones for them (hence for Lovino and Roderich- it's sensitive for them here as well), so Orlando's excuse about his ears are like that too ^.^