Antonio had always been the boy with the best smile, the one whose laugh was contagious and spread through those gathered around him like a virus. There was never a cold shoulder, warm bodies on either side of him at all times. It was easy for him, the boy with natural, good natured charm.
Yet he doesn't think he has ever felt so alive as he does now, crouched down in the cereal aisle, fingers twitching with every second it draws nearer to closing. There is fire in his veins, rushes of heat that have been washing over him in intervals since that night.
He had picked up the phone with abandon, expecting nothing and wishing for everything with the sort of morbid hope that twists tighter round your neck with every loss. His hands had been steady when he punched the numbers in, but they are surely shaking enough now to make up for it. Tonight is the night he will see him again. Lovino.
It was too fast. Antonio can feel it, the way his feet are slipping on the edge of a dangerous precipice. He is already too invested, too absorbed in the fantasy that is Lovino. The way his voice sounded, rough and smooth over the muffled phone line sends shivers down Antonio's spine just remembering. It is all too fast.
As the second hand finally hits twelve though, the brown haired man already ripping off his crimson smock cannot bring himself to care. Tonight is the night.
There is sweat gathering on his palms already, still blocks away from where they agreed on. Antonio doesn't remember most of the conversation. He feels his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth, and he wonders how he was ever able to force the invitation out so smoothly in the first place.
He knows the faint echo of Spanish music, drifting across an abandoned courtyard is meant to soothe him, and for a moment he allows it. The way the melody winds around him like a friend with a story to tell is familiar, reminding him that he came from somewhere.
He has a fantasy of dancing to this tune, body in sync with a shorter, brown haired man before him. He imagines how they will move together, stirring the air like a batter and cooking it with their heat.
But there is the man himself, standing on the corner, and Antonio doesn't need to push the fantasy from his mind because it is already blank.
His dark coat overwhelms him, his fingers just poking out from beneath the too-long sleeves, an olive scarf engulfing his neck. His black shoes are scuffed from where he has been shuffling along the curb, head turned to look down the busier side of the street. His forehead is creased into a scowl, brows pushed together almost comically.
When his lips part to let out a breath that steams in the cold air though, Antonio's own mouth opens not in laughter but in awe.
Then their eyes are meeting, and it is hard to translate the look that flits across the other's face.
Odd how easily the boy so good with people has been undone.
For the first time in a long time, Antonio doesn't remembering telling himself to put the smile on his face.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" He wonders vaguely why he is breathless in that moment, why laughter threatens to pour out of him, bubbles in his chest floating upwards until he is almost afraid they might carry him away.
"You should be, bastard. It's fucking cold out." He does laugh now, his eyes crinkling like tissue paper at the corners.
"I'll have to make it up to you then! Come on, I'll show you the restaurant. It's always warm." The well bundled man nods shortly, kicking the sidewalk with his first step as though reminding it to lay flat before him. Antonio does not know why he finds it so endearing.
The restaurant elicits no response from the shorter man, and Antonio swallows the small pill of disappointment. It is one of his favorites, a place that reminds him of his mother. He imagines she would have liked it here, the music and the lights that illuminated bright paintings on the wall.
Perhaps he should have chosen somewhere else for Lovino, some place fancier, or less personal.
They are sitting now though, Lovino finally shrugging off the coat much like an insect would it's outer shell. He glances across the table towards Antonio, hazel eyes meeting chocolate ones for only a second as he nods.
"It is warm."
And suddenly Antonio feels it too, the unbelievable warmth of the place, blooming inside him and spreading to the tip of every digit. And he is smiling so wide his cheeks hurt, aching in commissary with his pounding heart.
"Yes." Again, he is breathless. "Very warm."
Hello again~ To Errui, thank you so much for your lovely review! It made me very happy AND motivated me to get another chapter out . Thank you all so much for reading!
