Hello everyone! I am back with Chapter 12! This one is a 100% fluffy chapter, so I really hope you guys will like it! D: I was really insecure while writing this one because I don't know how many people would want 1000+ words of my attempt at fluff. :( I do feel that loads of the stuff I write can be awkward at times and that makes me panic a little! Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I will be doing my very best to finish this story by December! Thank you all so much for reading, and I wish you all a great week ahead. 3 Please drop a review if you like my story! It'd mean a lot! :D
Lovino is still sulking by the time Antonio pulls up into the parking lot.
"Come on, I heard the food's great!" Antonio attempts to placate the other man, who's muttering non-stop about the inferiority of French cuisine to Italian food.
Lovino takes one long stare at the weakly smiling Spaniard, before shaking his head and pushing the car door open. "They better have good wine."
A friendly waiter ushers them in, and leads them to their table after Antonio gives him his name. Their seats are located at the back of the restaurant, away from the chatter of the rest of the diners. Lovino smugly congratulates himself for getting a date who knows how to pick tables, but when Antonio asks him if the seats are alright, he just grunts.
A candelabrum has already been placed onto the centre of the table, and the waiter lights the candles with ease.
"Are the lights dim enough?" he asks Antonio, gesturing to the lights above. The latter nods and thanks him, and he leaves them to mull over the menu.
"Are you alright with a candlelit dinner? I really didn't know if it would be your kind of thing but…" Antonio pulls out Lovino's chair and flashes him a sheepish smile.
Lovino bats his hand off the chair.
"It's fucking perfect. Stop worrying."
Antonio's eyes light up, but before he has the chance to say anything, Lovino shoves the menu at him. He chuckles and flips open the menu, but does not make it a few pages in before he decides to sneak a peak at Lovino. The second time since they first met at the drugstore, he finds himself immediately staring into fiery amber. Realising that Lovino was trying to catch a glance at him too, Antonio blushes lightly, while Lovino just quickly covers his face with the large menu.
They leaf through the pages before deciding on the food and gesturing for the nearest waiter. A waitress heads towards them this time, and Antonio notices that Lovino is flashing one of his rare smiles at her.
His smile is one that carries more than a hint of flirtatiousness, and Antonio doesn't even hear their orders being rattled off by Lovino. He knows the waitress is beautiful, sure, with a cute smile and an attractive laugh – was Lovino interested in her?
Suddenly, Lovino clears his throat loudly and Antonio turns his head to see that he has become victim to one of Lovino's glares again. He watches as Lovino gestures to the waitress, and upon getting the cue, nods to confirm his order.
As the waitress leaves their table, Lovino diverts his attention back to Antonio. "What happened? You were staring at her really weirdly."
"Ah, do you think she's cute?"
Lovino frowns and stares deep into Antonio's eyes, as if searching for something. Antonio finds himself shifting forwards slightly as well, just so he can see Lovino's gorgeous amber eyes better.
"You are interested in her."
"What? No! I thought you were interested in her."
"Goddammit, Antonio. I didn't agree to drag my ass on a date with you just so I could meet pretty waitresses. And," Lovino takes a sip of his water and averts his eyes. "I'd say you're doing alright so far."
Swallowing down a sigh of relief, Antonio gently nudges Lovino's foot with his. "Thank you, Lovi. You're doing more than fine too."
When their food arrives, Lovino takes a bite of his magret de canard and realizes that maybe French food wasn't so bad after all. Of course, it might have been a rather biased revelation of his, influenced by the company he had for the night.
"So," Antonio begins. "Tell me about Florence."
"It's fucking beautiful. We lived away from the tourist-y areas though – dumb tourists and all their photo snapping annoy me sometimes."
Antonio feels guilty because he may or may not be one of those "dumb tourists" whenever he travels.
"Anyway. Feliciano and I, we lived with our nonno. We grew up in Rome with our parents, but then went to Florence to study art and decided to stay there after that."
"Why did you move here then?" Antonio asks, swirling his wine thoughtfully.
Lovino tries not to blush at the way Antonio's bright green eyes are twinkling with genuine interest, instead focusing on the reason behind him leaving Florence.
"Feli got a job here. As a sculptor."
"How about you? Why did you come along? I mean, I wouldn't want you to not have come along with your brother, because then we wouldn't have met."
Antonio is resting his chin on his hand and smiling affectionately, and Lovino mentally adds that combination to the list of things that might possibly lead to him getting a future heart attack.
"I… I wouldn't want him screwing around anyway. Someone had to keep him in check, and nonno wanted us to go together. When Feli gave up his job to open a restaurant with the potato bastard, nonno wasn't too happy but agreed anyway."
"Hmm, don't you do art too?"
"Yes, but I never did make a career out of it. Unlike my brother. I've always wanted to win an art competition, at least, but it never happened. Guess I'm stuck forever at the drugstore, huh?"
"I'm not an artist myself but… Judging from what you said that night when we were texting, I do feel you'd make a great artist."
"Really?" Lovino sounds bitter.
"Really. Art is about passion, isn't it? Putting down your emotions onto canvas. Expressing yourself and uh, I feel you do have a lot of emotions to express, Lovi. It's like…" Antonio fumbles for the right words, "I feel you have this fire within you, and Dios Mío, the first time I saw you, I could already tell."
The moment the words leave his lips, Antonio realizes that he means every single one of them. He continues, "I remember you were sketching something under the counter."
At the mention of his sketch, Lovino groans in embarrassment. "I have already explained it! I do shit on a whim and later regret it-"
Antonio chuckles. "Well, you did make art on a whim. And I think that is what a true artist would do! Breathe and make art."
"My art is shitty."
"I doubt that's the truth. You should show me your art one day!"
Lovino puts his fork down. "We'll see about that. I was actually working on a painting for this art c-competition – argh never mind it doesn't matter."
"No!" Antonio gasps. "It matters!"
"No, it's just a stupid competition. I'm not even sure if I can complete the painting in time anyway. Why the heck are you so interested anyway? You haven't even told me about yourself yet."
Antonio fidgets, and for a moment Lovino thinks he looks uncomfortable.
"What do you want to know?"
"You. Your favourite colour, your hobby, your favourite kind of people to hang out with. Okay, maybe not the last one. I don't want to hear about your cronies."
Antonio playfully prods Lovino with his foot again, saying, "And you said I was the cheesy one."
"Fuck you." But Lovino is smiling. It's not a big smile, but his lips are curled in a way that makes him look rather handsome, and at that moment Antonio believes that he can spend an entire lifetime gazing at that smile.
"I like red. And well, I don't really have a specific hobby – I love doing loads of things! But ah, I do love dancing and playing the guitar. As for the last one…"
"I said to ignore the last one, dammit!"
"I love hanging out with cute Italians."
"You can have my brother then. I heard he's much cuter than I am."
Antonio laughs again, "I'm not done yet. I only love hanging out with a certain particularly attractive one by the name of Lovino Vargas."
Lovino's hand is resting on the table, and Antonio covers it with his, reveling in the way Lovino's muscles tense before relaxing into his touch.
"Is this okay?" The Spaniard looks up at the other man, whose ears are rapidly turning pinkish. Lovino nods shyly.
The rest of the evening is spent on Antonio telling Lovino about his childhood in Spain, and how he eventually picked up Psychology but chose to switch jobs for a change. He did leave the part out about Emma though; such things were not meant to be brought up during first dates. Lovino turned out to be a brilliant listener, albeit the occasional sarcastic comment about how Antonio should not have chosen Francis and Gilbert to be his "lifelong buddies" and how disgusting a name like "Bad Friends Trio" was for a high school rock band.
They finally exit the restaurant, and Antonio volunteers to fetch Lovino home. He stops the car a short distance away from Lovino's apartment, just so he can walk him to his door, and for a while they walk side-by-side in comfortable silence.
"So… How did I do?" Antonio finally asks when they are both in the elevator.
"Not bad." Lovino tries to shrug it off, but Antonio can tell he's trying not to smile.
"It was amazing getting to spend time with you." Antonio tells Lovino honestly, joining the other in leaning against the wall of the elevator. They are both standing very close, and Antonio inches his hand over slowly, brushing his pinky across Lovino's fingers. He is surprised when Lovino hesitantly reaches over and touches his palm, and before he knows it they are holding hands.
Antonio feels his brain short-circuit, and suddenly everything feels much much much hotter and his heart feels like it's about to fall out of his chest. He realizes he's at the corner of the elevator when Lovino, blush evenly spread across his cheeks, leans in. The world becomes nothing but Lovino at that very instance, and Antonio can smell his cologne and count the tiny spread of freckles across his nose. Lovino's eyelashes are fluttering, and Antonio finds himself staring at the other's lips once more. He feels himself leaning forwards as well, closing the distance between them, but then suddenly Lovino's voice is at his ear and he's saying,
"Got you. I don't give kisses right after the first date."
The elevator door opens, and Antonio stands stunned as Lovino saunters out smugly.
"I'm picking the venue next time. Ciao." Lovino says and gives a hasty wave before walking off.
When Antonio returns to his car, there is a spring in his step.
That's all for this time! Please review 3
