O_o I just realized that I might have gotten the lyrics to "You and I" wrong. I apologize...
Would you believe me if I told you that my inspiration for this chapter was Evanescence?
...
Me neither...XD
ENJOY!
Chapter Seven – (Feliciano) Italy
"What the hell was that?"
Grunting from the person being talked to.
A 'humph' from the speaker.
"I specifically told you not to do that!"
An exasperated moan.
A scoff.
"Hips outwards provocatively—not inwards as if you're virgin watching porn for the first time in your life and you can't even keep it in your pants!"
An exasperated sigh is the only response from the other person in the room besides the speaker.
"It's not that fucking hard for your body to move like that! You just have to let your body flow naturally—not as if you're about to spasm or throw up right now!"
"Don't you think that you're being too rough on Matthew~?"
Music, that was playing the entire time, is abruptly cut off at Feliciano's comment.
"Well, do you want to tell him how he should move around?"
Matthew sighs.
So far, they've been rehearsing for around half an hour—and within that span of time, Romano has managed to work him down with knowing the beat to each song; Feliciano has told Matthew where the important parts of the body go up against the main places of the pole.
All at once, that is.
Add the fact that they're practicing in the house that Matthew lives in—along with a portable pole—pretty much sums up what they're doing at the moment.
Romano rubs in between his eyes.
'Fucking great. All that me and Feli were supposed to do was show Matthew a few simple moves here and there—but to find out that he doesn't even
know to dance—it's gotten even more complicated!'
Feliciano walks up to Matthew—who was sitting on the floor in exhaustion—and quickly pulls him to his feet.
"I think that we should start with how you position yourself without our help Matthew, no~?"
Matthew and Romano both sigh.
"Alright, it's not as if I've had much time to know anything else…"
Feliciano smiles at Matthew.
"That's the spirit~!"
Matthew walks up to the portable pole, and grabs it with both hands; one hand on top of the other.
"Good job Matthew~!"
Romano humphs.
"Now, try to figure out which parts of your body should meet the pole."
Matthew hesitantly—but confidently—brushes his cheek, chest, groin, thighs, knees, and calves around the pole.
Almost as if he was straddling a lover instead of the pole in front of him.
"Wow~! You're doing great Matthew~!"
Romano hums his approval.
"Okay. Now try to rub up against the pole as if it were the most ultimate imaginary person that you have the hots for."
Matthew—who was about to do what Romano said—automatically pulls himself away from the pole, blushing in embarrassment.
"W-What? I-I'm not doing that!"
Feliciano blinks at Matthew in confusion.
"Why not~?"
Romano grins at Matthew.
"It's because he doesn't wanna show how well he fantasizes about his 'sexy' piece of man."
Matthew blushes even more.
Romano laughs.
"That shouldn't worry you Matthew. The whole point of pole dancing is to give off the image that you're dancing to let everyone know that you'd be willing to give every single one of them your attention."
Matthew, who has calmed down from the blushing, looks at Romano in amazement.
"Why don't you tell him that he's also dancing because he'll find his one True Love if he dances good enough to catch his Love's attention Lovi~?"
Romano coughs quiet suddenly in embarrassment from Feliciano's sudden outburst.
"Just because you've managed to find yours quickly enough doesn't mean that it'll be a sure win for Matthew! You don't see me with someone—and I've been working at this club longer than you have—do you?"
Feliciano and Matthew look at Romano in confusion.
"I thought that you didn't like to bring your boyfriend into the club because you don't want him to be unfaithful—"
"It's not that I don't want to bring him into the club—he's not my boyfriend, we're just friends!—he prefers to pick days when I'm working, that's all."
Matthew looks at Romano in amusement.
"Why don't you show him how to do normal-paced songs Feli?"
"Ve~? Okay~!"
Matthew walks over to where Romano is at—against a wall near the entrance to the house—both watching as Feliciano walks up to the pole.
Romano turns to look at the radio that Matthew let them borrow—mentally shuddering at the color—and pushes the 'play' button.
Automatically, Feliciano is swaying his hips from side to side around the pole.
Matthew blushes as he sees Feliciano having fun.
The music goes into a change; making the rhythm that Feliciano had speed up.
Feliciano turns around the pole—facing it—and dancing with it. Everything that he could touch—hands, legs, arms, his face—he put up against the pole.
When the beat would slow down—Feliciano would slow down; when the beat would come back more hypnotically—Feliciano would twist himself around the pole and swing his hips to the rhythm.
He kept on dancing through all of the pauses like that until the song ended.
When there was a moment of silence, Feliciano releases the pole from his grasp and walks towards Romano, who was smirking.
Matthew blinks in amazement.
Romano laughs happily.
"It's really memorizing when you see it all pieced together, no?"
Matthew nods his head in agreement.
"But you messed up around the part when you're supposed to slide against the pole—not brush up against it Feli."
Matthew turns to look at Feliciano nod happily at Romano's criticisms in surprise.
"I felt as if I was about to slip at that moment, so I only brushed up against the pole to prevent me from falling on my face~!"
Romano—nodding at Feliciano's comment—looks over at Matthew and frowns.
"Are you sure that you're dressed properly to continue with these lessons?"
Matthew, who was thinking about how to move his body and let it go with the music, sees that Feliciano is also looking at his clothes in contemplation.
Matthew furrows his eyebrows.
"I thought that you said that athletic clothes would work just fine. No one told me that I had to specifically wear something while pole dancing."
Romano eyes Matthew's clothes closely: he's wearing some sweat pants and a tank top. While the tank top looks promising—the pants don't.
End of discussion.
"Your pants look like crap."
"Maybe if you wear a pair of skinny jeans instead of the sweat pants~?"
Matthew sighs.
"Do I really have to do that?"
Romano and Feliciano both nod in mutual agreement.
"Okay, I'll change pants. I'm warning you now: if you see Alfred spontaneously burst through the door in the next couple of minutes—"
"Why would he do that~?"
"It's because he wants to annoy Matthew every chance he gets—the bastard."
Matthew laughs at both comments spoken at the same time.
"It's more like to make sure I'm not doing anything illegal enough for him to tell our parents about it automatically."
Matthew shrugs nonchalantly.
"It's been pre-programed with him, so no stopping him there. Although if he asks what the two of you are doing—"
"We'll tell him that I'm going over the minor details of the bet with you—"
"And I'll tell him that I'm helping you how to pole dance~!"
Matthew's eyes widen.
"Don't tell him that—!"
"Why would we tell him that—?"
Romano has a horrified look on his face.
Along with Matthew.
Feliciano laughs at their horrified expression on their faces.
"I'm not going to tell him that~ It would ruin the fun, no~?"
At Feliciano's comment: Romano smacks his forehead while Matthew just stares at him in amazement.
"How about you work on getting those skinny jeans on?"
Matthew nods at Romano's suggestion, heading towards his room.
The moment that Matthew rounded the corner, Romano walks in front of Feliciano.
Feliciano, who was looking at the radio in fascination, looks up to see Romano's hurt expression.
"Is it really that obvious that I don't want that Tomato Bastard to cheat on me?"
Feliciano, expecting for Romano to smack him again, lowers his arms from his face and brings his brother into a warm hug. Rubbing his hand on Romano's back in comfort.
"I never said that it was obvious—I meant that you probably don't trust him enough to believe him when he tells you that he wouldn't do that to you. He has mentioned that right?"
Romano sighs.
"More than you can count. He wants my attention day and night! He won't even let me sleep! What the hell! If you have the energy to bug people day and night, why not do it to your friends first and then your loved ones!"
Romano slaps a hand over his mouth and blushes automatically.
Feliciano looks to see Romano struggling from his hold on him.
Frowning, Feliciano releases Romano.
Feliciano sighs.
"I've told you this before: I think that Antonio is the right person for you. Not because he's after your money. Not because he's after your body. Not because he's going to use you and then abuse you. It's because he cares about you! How many people are willing to hang around you not including me?"
Romano sighs.
"It's not that I don't doubt you Feli—quite the opposite. What if I lose my heart and he's not willing to give it back? What if I go too far to come back? Those kinds of questions bother me night and day. More than they should Feli. It makes me doubt my relationship with that Tomato Bastard every day that he doesn't call me…"
Feliciano looks at Romano incredulously.
"What? Are you serious? This is Antonio that we are talking about—not Matthew's father!"
Romano flinches at Feliciano's comment.
"I know, it's just that—"
"It's just that what Lovi? 'That was different. You won't understand.' Bullshit! Of course I would understand! I'm your brother! And don't siblings know when they know that they're bothered by something?"
Before Romano could respond to Feliciano's comment, Feliciano raises his hand to Romano's mouth.
"I'll always be your younger brother that may sound annoying—I'm not going to change that habit very soon—so don't assume that I won't understand some things just because of my age alone. I don't want a void to be there between us when we least expect it. I'd just wish that you could confide in me more often…"
Feliciano lowers his hand, his voice growing soft in sadness.
Romano grabs Feliciano by the arms, and pulls him into a bone-crushing hug.
"I wish that I could tell you everything…but I can't. It's not just my side to tell. I'm sorry to disappoint you. You're right: I won't close up about most stuff anymore. Again. Thanks Feli."
Romano lets go of Feliciano and gives him a sincere smile.
Feliciano smiles back at Romano.
Both sigh.
"So…what now~?"
BAM!
Both Italian brothers jump in surprise as the front door slams open.
"Raise your hands up where I could see them!"
Feliciano and Romano both raise their hands up in the air at the booming voice's instruction.
A moment later, they hear laughter erupting from the front door.
Romano—pissed off—walks up to the door and drags a laughing Alfred from the front door to the living room floor.
Feliciano—who let his arms fall down after seeing Alfred being dragged—tries to stuff the portable pole back into the bag that Romano brought before Alfred could start asking uncomfortable questions.
It wasn't looking too good at the moment.
"What the hell was that? You scared the shit out of me and Feli here!"
Alfred laughs even louder as Romano tries to hit him on his head and stomach.
"Dude, calm down! I thought that Mattie was entertaining that one dude with the specks again—but when I saw your Camaro® parked in the drive-way—I knew that it was you two. I just couldn't pass up the chance to really scare you, so I didn't!"
Feliciano's whimpering catches Romano's attention.
"I have a feeling that you trashed my car. You're coming with me to see if you ruined anything at all!"
Romano starts to drag Alfred back outside.
"Whoa! I never said that I was going to do that—hey! Let me go! I did nothing, you hear? Noth—!"
The door slams behind them.
Feliciano quickly tries to properly stuff the stupid piece of shit inside of Romano's bag.
Hey, Feliciano only uses foul language when it's necessary.
You all should be thankful.
As Feliciano pushes the remaining part of the portable pole down Romano's bag, Matthew walks in with Kumajirou within his arms.
"I'll only let you out if you promise not to be anywhere near Romano again, alright?"
"Yay!"
"…I guess that's all that I can ask from you at the moment…"
Matthew looks up to see Feliciano zipping up the bag carrying the portable pole.
"Why are you shoving the pole inside of Romano's bag Feli…?"
Feliciano, who is done stuffing the pole in Romano's bag, jumps upon hearing Matthew's sudden voice from behind him.
"I'm guessing since Romano doesn't want Alfred to find out about the pole—they're both outside~!—he wants me to hide the pole from Alfred's line of sight~!"
"…How did Romano manage to haul Alfred outside without him having to see a six foot pole in the middle of the living room?"
Feliciano blinks at Matthew's question.
"That's exactly how he did it~!"
Matthew looks at Feliciano in confusion.
"Wait—what? How did he do that exactly—?"
Both stop to listen the shouting coming from outside of the door.
"YOU OBVIOUSLY SCRATCHED THE PAINT JOB!"
"I DID NOT! WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THESE WILD IDEAS FROM?"
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHERE I GOT THEM FROM—!"
Matthew's eyes widen in panic.
"Did I forget to mention that I can't have a fight in front of the house?"
Feliciano can see Romano about to pummel Alfred through the front door—which was left open—before he hears Matthew mutter a quick 'Take Kumajirou!' and dashes outside.
"How are you today Kumajirou~?"
"Pasta!"
Kumajirou responds back.
"Oh~? Is that a nickname for me~?"
Kumajirou nods his head.
"Yay~! Do you want me to make one for you~?"
Kumajirou just looks at Feliciano.
"Hungry!"
Feliciano laughs.
"I agree~! Let's make some pasta, no~?"
"Yay!"
Matthew rubs the bridge of his nose with two fingers.
"Okay, explain it to me again: what exactly happened within the ten minutes it took for me to change from my sweat pants into my skinny jeans?"
"Me and Feli were waiting for you to come out of your room, when suddenly this crazy bastard thought that it would be hilarious if he managed to scare the crap out of Feli and me. So he does, and I drag him into the house. Then I find out that he must have scratched the paint job on my car, and drag him back outside to see what the damage to my car was.
"Then he starts to claim this 'I dunno what you're talking about' air around him and that gets me pissed off. So then I tell him to look over every part of my Camaro® that may have been marked. After a while, he starts to get all pouty and starts telling me that I'm crazy for thinking that he would ruin my car—knowing that I was going to be over-protective—and starts to tell me off. I tell him that he's crazy and then we were about to fight right then and there—"
"—when you came in all of your 'No one's going to be hurting anyone' glory and pulled us wayapart from each other. And then you asked us what the hell was going on."
Matthew rubs his temples in frustration.
"That's what I thought you said…"
Romano scoffs.
"I don't see why you wouldn't believe me; I was trying to see if he really did ruin the paint job…"
Alfred rubs his head gingerly.
"You sure know how to drag someone heavier than you around—ow!"
Romano smirks as he sees Alfred rubbing a sore spot on his head.
A very sore spot.
Matthew clears his throat, catching their attention.
"I'm not sure that it would have been that big of a deal if the paint job got ruined—"
Alfred laughs at Romano, while Romano gives Alfred a look of disgust.
"—but I agree with Romano on the point that you shouldn't be doing that to scare people Alfred."
Romano smirks at Alfred, while Alfred gives off this 'I don't see why you didn't mention this earlier…' air around him.
Matthew sighs.
"I guess that this means that we're done for today…?"
Romano nods.
"It's about time we head off anyway—Feli's been crying about wanting to see that Potato Bastard—and I want to go eat at that one restaurant."
Matthew looks at Romano in surprise.
"S-So soon? I thought that—"
"I'll see you at the club later on tonight, okay? At least there won't be any distractions while Feli shows you what's inside of that black box. You haven't opened it, right?"
Matthew shakes his head.
"Good. Come on Feli, let's get out of here!"
Romano walks inside of the house at a fast pace as he mentions that last comment, leaving the twin brothers outside to talk to.
Which Matthew wasn't willing to talk at the moment.
"What's he talking about?"
Matthew sighs.
"Romano was just going over the details of the bet with me."
Which is true, in some sense.
Alfred furrows his eyebrows in confusion.
"Is that all that he was doing Mattie?"
Matthew tries to avoid looking into Alfred's eyes.
"He needed a quick place to let Feli practice his pole dancing—and since I'm not a rude person—I automatically offered to let them use the living room. Only Feli didn't get as much practice time as Romano thought that he would."
Alfred nods, accepting this statement.
Matthew releases a sigh of relief.
At that moment, the Vargas brothers step outside—bags and all—and head for Romano's black Camaro®.
Feliciano runs up to Matthew while Romano is setting down his bags inside of the car.
"Are you going to be working tonight Matthew~?"
Matthew laughs at Feliciano's questioning gaze.
"It just so happens that I am."
Feliciano's eyes sparkle in happiness.
"Yay~! Well, I'll see you later then~! Good bye Matthew~! Bye Alfred~!"
Alfred waves good bye while Matthew receives a hug good bye.
While they wait for the Vargas brothers to leave the drive-way, Alfred was lightly smacking Matthew. Matthew starts to punch Alfred back for each smack.
Before they knew it, the Vargas brothers have already left, and it was soon getting dark.
"Hey Mattie—"
"You can stay for the night Al—it's not as if I'm going to be having anyone over tonight."
Alfred smiles.
"Thanks Mattie."
Matthew scoffs.
"Not the first time you've said that."
Alfred laughs.
"It's not my fault that Arthur and France want me to keep an eye on you."
"Why do you keep calling them by their names?"
Alfred looks up from his plate of hamburgers and fries in front of him.
"Ever since I found out that we were adopted, it seemed kind of natural at the time."
He shrugs.
"It's become a habit now. I could ask you the same about Kumajirou, but it's not the same thing."
Matthew nods his head as he eats a piece of breaded fish with some fried beans, rice, and some deep-fried baby potatoes on the plate.
He only likes to eat pancakes in the daytime, you know.
"It still seems weird that the idea that we're adopted keeps coming back at me."
Alfred—who was eating enthusiastically—automatically sets one of his many hamburgers on top of the others.
"We've been over this before Mattie. We just have to accept that our biological parents didn't want to support us at the time. I'm grateful that they left us at an orphanage instead of letting us die out there in the cold!"
Matthew rests his hand on top of Alfred's, squeezing in reassurance.
"At least we weren't separated."
Matthew comments lightly.
Alfred nods his head.
"What are you going to wear tonight Mattie?"
Alfred raises his eyebrows mockingly.
Matthew grimances.
"I have no idea. Romano and Feliciano abducted me to go clothes shopping."
Alfred laughs.
"You're serious? I thought that they were joking about having to drag you out!"
Matthew laughs dryly.
"Did I mention that they sorted through my closet and threw away all of my comfortable clothes?"
Alfred—who was already laughing—busts into a laughing frenzy.
Matthew sits patiently as Alfred releases all of his giddy laughter.
Which lasted around a full half hour.
"Are you done yet?"
Matthew asks with distaste.
Alfred wipes his eyes, low chuckles still erupting throughout his form.
"Al-Almost done!"
Alfred tries to breathe slowly, but upon looking at Matthew's face, starts up again.
Matthew gets up suddenly.
"Since you're obviously not going to listen to me, I might as well find Kumajirou."
Before he was about to leave, he feels a hand wrap around his wrist on his left hand.
He looks over to see Alfred's earlier humor vanish.
"I'm sorry Mattie. It's just that—it was so funny!—and the look on your face—!"
He shakes his head to clear it.
Matthew, sighing, walks back to the table with a stumbling Alfred towing along behind him.
"As you were saying?"
Alfred tries to give Matthew a serious face.
Matthew starts to laugh.
Soon, they're both laughing at the other's expression.
"You weren't kidding when you said that they thoroughly checked your closet."
Matthew sighs.
"I give up. I can't find anything casual to wear at the club tonight."
Alfred looks around the mess of clothes that Matthew left scattered around the floor and at the foot of his bed.
"…Maybe—gee, I don't know—you're supposed to wear an outfit that they've picked out for you?"
Matthew—by reflex—automatically throws a shoe at Alfred's face.
Dead center.
"If you're feeling so high and mighty, then help me find an outfit that's okay for both my taste and theirs."
Alfred—who was rubbing his face—sticks his tongue out at him, but did as he asked.
After a while, they both decided that Matthew would wear black leather pants (Alfred's choice), a red V-neck and a white short-sleeved jacket (Matthew's choice).
"Damn! You look hawt!"
Matthew throws a CD case at Alfred's face.
"What? It's true! You do look attractive right now. You must have gotten the sexy swagger from me!"
Alfred was laughing very cockily.
Matthew laughs.
Looking in the mirror, Matthew admits, he does make a nice picture.
The very image of a bartender.
Just the way that Romano wanted him to be looking.
Matthew shakes his head.
"Ready to go Al?"
Matthew turns to see Alfred rummaging through one of Matthew's drawers.
"Hey! What are you doing? That's my stuff—!"
"I'm looking for something that will look nice on you Mattie!"
Matthew—furrowing his eyebrows—walks over to see what Alfred was desperately looking for.
"Aha! Found it!"
Alfred holds a piece of black ribbon within his hands.
Matthew looks at the ribbon.
Then at Alfred.
Back to the ribbon.
Then at Alfred again.
"Um…am I missing something here?"
Matthew looks at Alfred in confusion.
Alfred smiles at Matthew.
"You're going to wear this in your hair!"
Matthew slowly walks backwards out of the room.
'If I could just make it out the door…'
Sadly, he didn't make it that far.
"What the hell are you doing Al?"
Matthew struggles underneath Alfred.
Alfred tries to place the ribbon on top of the rubber band that Matthew was wearing to keep his hair out of his eyes.
When he's managed to get the ribbon on securely (and pulled the rubber band away from Matthew's hair), he stands up, pulling Matthew to his feet as well.
Matthew moves away from Alfred, and walks towards his mirror once more.
Moving his head from side to side, he tries to see where Alfred had left the stupid ribbon.
"Wait…where did this ribbon come from? I'm pretty sure that I've never had a ribbon before…"
Alfred shrugs his shoulders.
"France told me that you would look more approachable if you had a ribbon in your hair."
Matthew looks back at the mirror and sees the ribbon wrapped in a bow where his rubber band would normally be placed.
"Turns out that he was right."
Alfred shakes his head.
"That guy's too good sometimes…"
"Where did my rubber band go?"
Alfred blinks before smiling
"I'm not telling you until you promise me that the ribbon will stay in your hair for the entire night."
Matthew sighs.
"Fine. I promise that I won't take off the ribbon my hair for the entire night. There. Now can I know where my rubber band went?"
Alfred points to his left pants pocket.
Matthew frowns.
"I thought that I was going to get it back Al. I'm not in the mood for games right now."
Alfred's smile gets even bigger.
"It's not in my pocket Mattie."
Confusion written all over his face, Matthew puts his hand inside of his right pants pocket.
Low and behold, his rubber band was inside of his pockets.
And he has to keep his promise about the stupid ribbon.
Matthew sighs.
"Are you going to work tonight Al?"
Alfred shakes his head.
"I'm going on a date tonight."
Alfred wiggles his eyebrows.
"It's going to be hawt! Wish me luck Mattie?"
Matthew laughs.
"Only you would say that a date with Ivan is 'hawt'. You don't need luck Al. Not from me, at least."
Alfred pouts.
"But I need your blessing! If not, the whole date could get ruined! What if he doesn't propose?"
Alfred gasps dramatically.
"What if he breaks up with me? Noooooo! You have to wish me good luck! Please?"
Matthew tries to prevent his laughter from erupting at Alfred's display.
"F-F-Fine. I g-g-give you m-my blessing. H-Have a wonderful t-t-time."
Alfred, who was begging on his knees in front of Matthew, gets up quickly and gives Matthew a bear hug.
"Oh thank you Mattie~! You don't know how much that means to me!"
Matthew rolls his eyes as he scoff.
"When you act like this on every date, it loses its modesty Al."
Alfred laughs.
"Well if I don't do it, who will?"
"Hm…true…"
Matthew comments.
"Aren't you going to be late for work Mattie?"
Matthew opens his phone to check the time.
His eyes widen in surprise.
"I have to go!"
Matthew leaves his room, with Alfred in tow.
"I'll see you later Al!"
"Bye Mattie!"
Matthew looks back at Alfred.
"You aren't allowed to invite Ivan inside—got that? I don't want to explain to Father and Papa whythere's a mess in the kitchen again."
Alfred laughs nervously.
"I'm not even going to let Ivan over. You'd think that I would let him scare the crap outta you? Hell nah! That's my job!"
Matthew shakes his head.
It looks like he might want to buy some aspirin soon.
"Would you mind if he stayed for a bit?"
Make that very soon.
The song that Feliciano was dancing to - Derezzed [Avicii Remix] by Daft Punk
