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After having Lovi's hair cut from the back of his neck down to the nape (Braginski turned out to be the large man Lovino faintly remembered from that day, who looked like he would stab your eye out with the scissors if you looked at him funny), Antonio insisted that the two go out to eat, at a popular restaurant that was endorsed very highly in the area.
"I promise you, you'll love it!"
Lovi just rubbed the back of his neck, unaccustomed to the lightness there. Yes, the people in that twisted menagerie had cut his hair a few times, but since Feliciano was generally unskilled at this sort of thing, it usually meant Yong Soo over-enthusiastically hacking away at the back of his head with a pair of rusty scissors. He tried to avoid this dangerous process for as long as possible, often being forced to by the show's manager when his hair reached his shoulders. No matter how much Yong Soo insisted, he never let him within ten feet of Feliciano's head with those dangerous weapons from hell, and this meant he had to cut Feliciano's hair himself.
Feliciano...
"Sure. Whatever." He mumbled, still thinking about his lost little brother.
"Aw, Lovi, don't be sad." Antonio wrapped one arm around the Perfect's shoulders, causing him to flinch.
"D-don't touch me, bastard."
"Lovino, is everything alright?" Antonio suddenly looked concerned. "You seem pretty out of it."
Took you long enough to notice!
"Nothing, I'm fine." Lovino mumbled. "Just a little fucking shaken because of that jerk bastard Feliks."
Antonio sighed. "Look, Lovi, Feliks is a dick. Everybody knows this. You don't need to beat yourself up over it." He rubbed Lovi's shoulder with one hand, surprised when he didn't shy away like he had in the past.
"I'm never going to treat you like a pet, Lovi. Never. I think that's cruel and the fact that our whole social class revolves around treating your species- sorry, class, I mean...ay."
Antonio rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Just call it a class, dumbfuck." Lovi rolled his eyes.
"Okay, class, like garbage. I purchased you because I wanted a friend, not a fucktoy. Please, just.. Don't listen to Feliks."
You fucking liar! I saw how you looked at me!
"Okay, okay, just shut up about it already." Lovi grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I get it. Feliks shouldn't be listened to and the social class system is severely fucked up. Can we go eat now?"
Antonio sighed, then smiled. "Sure. Let's eat."
They walked down a few more streets, no more words being exchanged. Antonio kept his arm firmly wrapped around Lovi's shoulders, and Lovi didn't dare protest, for fear that he might 'punish' him again. To his surprise, he found that after a few minutes, he didn't actually mind. You'd think that he'd have minded, being susceptible to so many prods, squeezes and other teasing touches in the past. He hated it, hated them, for violating his body so many times, in so many different ways. Then, before he could stop it, a huge black whirlpool of bad memories blossomed in his mind, just waiting to push him over the edge and topple in.
No, no, no!
A small, cramped room, with a single showerhead hanging from the middle. Lovino and Feliciano huddled together, shivering madly. "The water's going to be really cold, like always. Ready?" The smaller brunette (ah, when Feliciano had been shorter than him) nodded, wrapping his arms around himself like a straitjacket. Lovino jammed the button on the wall, causing a torrent of ice-cold water to rain down upon them, causing Feliciano to let out a little scream. Lovino gritted his teeth and started to run his hands through Feliciano's golden-brown locks, trying to dislodge as much dirt as possible. It was rather hard, without any soap, but he managed to get them cleaner than before, albeit not by much. He then began to clean his own body and hair, trying to do it as fast as possible before the water ran out.
The door slammed open, revealing a huge, burly man with bright blue skin and yellow eyes. His grin was positively maniacal, scaring the living daylights out of both the boys. "Aw, come now, kiddies, don't be scared! I only wanna play with y'all a little bit."
"Play with us?" Feliciano whispered. He was rather naive, considering what he'd gone through, but he knew what that meant.
"We're nineteen years old, dumbass. Get the fuck away from my brother and I." Lovi stepped in front of his brother.
"Fratello, you can't go through this again! Remember what happened last time?" Feli whimpered. Lovino growled at the man who stood in front of them.
"Get the fuck out."
The man held up his hands and left, smirking to himself. Lovi went back to washing his hair as if nothing had happened. Feliciano started to cry.
"Fratello, he was going to rape you!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it. Now come on. The water will be gone soon."
"Lovi? Lovi! Hey, anybody in there?" Lovi blinked a few times to see Antonio's startling green eyes frighteningly close to his own. Flinching, he shoved him away, both arms extended in front of him. Antonio stumbled back a few paces, then frowned, grabbing both of Lovino's wrists.
"I know you may be sensitive about people touching you, and I can understand that. But I never, never, want you to lay hands on me like that again."
"Yes, sir." Lovi looked at his shoes, a blush rising to his cheeks. Antonio smiled, then took his hand and continued to walk.
"Here! It's italian! I thought you'd like it." Antonio's smile was so bright, it nearly caused Lovi to become blinded.
"It better not be this industrialized crap I'm so sick of seeing." Lovino muttered to himself, following Toni into the warm restaurant.
"Table for two, please."
The server smiled at them and led them to a free table, setting two menus out for them to browse.
"What would you like to drink?" Antonio asked, looking at the plentiful choices.
"Iced coffee." The spitfire brunette said quietly. Antonio nodded.
"One iced coffee and some sparkling lemonade, please."
"Lemonade, what are you, a child?" Lovi scoffed. Toni shook his head. "No, I just really like lemonade. It's very refreshing." The brunette seemed completely unfazed by Lovi's harsh words, which caused Lovino to wonder. Whenever he verbally abused his 'Master', he took it in stride, but when he did something physically such as ignore him or push him, he got angry. Maybe it was because he was just used to verbal harassment, and not physical harassment.
"Lovi? What do you want to eat?"
"Um..." Lovi scanned the menu. He had only briefly tried italian food from a restaurant once, when he still lived with his parents, and he had hated it, for the ingredients were cheap, and it had a greasy taste, as if somebody had been frying something in gasoline next to it while it cooked. Needless to say, they never went back there again.
"Pizza. And panna cotta. Yeah, pizza and panna cotta." Lovi said, snapping his menu closed.
"What kind of pizza?"
"Tomato." The bright red fruit had been a treat, back when he still lived in that filthy squalor of a zoo. Something to look forward too, among the oatmeal gruel and hard meat that was akin to a salt lick. Sometimes a previous customer, named Ned, brought fresh produce, a whole basketful of cherries and carrots and, of course, tomatoes. Lovino had always been first in line to grab two of the brightest, plumpest, most colorful fruits, often having to shove his way to the front of the line in order to snatch one. Not that Ned minded, as long as people were eating the food he grew, and he was getting money for it, he would let Lovi push and shove and claw his way to the front for a few tomatoes.
It was like a pack of wild dogs.
Raivis, always getting shoved to the bottom for his two cousins to clamber atop him to get ahead. Yong Soo, trying to run to the front but getting used as a springboard for other, stronger Perfects like his brother Leon. Tino getting shoved to the very back for his reluctance to fight. Vladimir having to bite his way to a spot near the front (his teeth were his best weapon, being oddly pointed for a Perfect), often drawing blood. And himself, was he any better? Keeping Feli safe while injuring others, all for himself and his brother's safe. Punching, biting, kicking, furiously running as fast as he could to stay in the lead. If you didn't fight your hardest, to stay on top of whatever came your way, you would die as quickly and easily as if a plague of rats had descended upon you and chewed you up, leaving nothing but bones.
"One large tomato pizza and two panna cottas please." Antonio broke him out of yet another stupor by simply placing their order. Lovino scoffed.
"Bastard, you could have ordered something different."
Antonio looked confused. "That would be wasting food. You can't eat a whole pizza all by yourself."
"Watch me." Lovino muttered, crossing his arms and looking down at the flowery tablecloth that was surprisingly clean for such a busy restaurant. There was something nagging away at the back of his mind, something he had been thinking of, subconsciously, ever since he had gotten into that yellow VW Beetle that fateful yesterday. It seemed like weeks ago, when he had been torn apart by his brother, when really it was only around 24 hours. Still this thought ate away at him, unrelenting, joining the fray of the other thoughts that always hung around his head, reminding him of how he was a total fuck-up who nobody loved and was really only around Antonio for the looks, like a pricey trophy.
That, and the sex appeal.
Lovi looked at Antonio, who was amusing himself on his phone. He was playing one of those stupid addicting games that everybody hates, but can't stop playing all the same. Lovino started to fume. If he had the time and patience to take him out to eat, he should at least pay attention to him, dammit!
"Hey, bastard! Get off your phone and talk to me! You should pay attention to the people you're eating with, or haven't you heard of manners?"
Antonio looked up from his game playing and smirked. "You could do well to practice what you preach, little fireball. You haven't spoken to me once since we got here except to say what you wanted to eat, using my money. You really are a hypocrite, aren't you?" As he said this, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and leaned forward on his elbows, resting his chin on intertwined hands.
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
"Anything, I honestly don't give a shit." Lovino stuck his nose up in the air. Antonio chuckled.
"Okay then, Mr. Stuck Up Italian. Remember, any infractions here can easily be punished back home." He punctured this statement with a little wink. Lovino slowly lowered his chin until it touched his neck.
Geez, he says that so nonchalantly! Sadistic bastard.
"Okay, fine. You win. I'll be a good little sheep and listen to whatever rules you may throw at me. Now, what the hell do you want to talk about?"
"Let me get to know you a little bit better. I barely know anything about you except that you love your brother, you don't like being touched, and you make these adorable little sneezing sounds when you sleep."
"Hey!"
Antonio leaned back in his chair, smiling. "Let's start simple. How about favorite food?"
"Haven't really had much choice, since I was stuck living off begging money for the last, oh, I don't know, thirteen years of my life? Out of hard-ass bread, old vegetables, and stale water, I guess I would pick-" Lovino's rant was cut off with a worried look from Antonio, who was staring at him as if he had just said he had a fatal disease and would die in three days.
"You were living on the streets? I thought you had been in that hellhole since you were a kid." Lovino gaped.
"Hell no! I'm not that stupid that I'd get caught so easily! Now shut up, our food's here and I don't wanna talk about it anymore." Lovino crossed one leg over the other and shot Antonio a look that meant 'I swear to god, if you bring it up again, I don't care what rules you have in place, I will slaughter you'. Antonio, to his surprise, shut up about it, and accepted the offerings of tomato pizza and saucers of panna cotta that the waitress proffered.
"We'll talk more about that later. Now, c'mon, Lovinito. Let's eat!"