Lovino arrived at his apartment building to find that, of course, the elevator had not been repaired yet. He glanced at the staircase and groaned loudly before beginning his thirteen-floor trudge upward.

By the time he reached the door of his apartment, he was pissed, tired, sore, sweaty, and somehow still dripping wet and freezing from his dip in the harbor. He just wanted to fall asleep somewhere beyond the door of his apartment and not be disturbed for a good couple eternities.

He yawned as he took out his keys and tried to fit the right one in the lock. After a couple of tries he pushed the door open, stumbled in and immediately ran into the couch that blocked the entrance. He was about to put his foot through the flimsy piece of furniture for good when he noticed Feliciano out of the corner of his eye.

He was seated at the tiny desk Lovino had managed to buy for him, working on a watercolor painting. Lovino felt something constrict painfully in his chest.

He took a deep breath and flopped over the couch, carefully making his way over to Feliciano through the cluttered mess of the apartment floor. The young boy had his small CD player beside him, quietly entoning some two hundred year old melancholic instrumental.

Lovino could never quite understand how it was that Feliciano managed to enjoy all of the things you'd least expect a ten year old boy to appreciate.

He came up behind the boy and peered over his head to see the painting. The scene depicted a sunset, viewed from an Italian gondola crossing the canals. Lovino actually recognized this particular sunset, an ancient picture of himself, back when he and his family still lived in Italy. It seemed no less than a thousand years ago.

Lovino placed his hand gently on Feliciano's shoulder, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. Feliciano turned around with a bright smile and twinkling eyes as he cuddled up to Lovino.

"What are you doing up at this hour, Feli?" Lovino asked quietly, insistently pulling Feliciano away from the incomplete painting.

Feliciano, who was clearly exhausted by the hour, happily let himself be led. "Marcello said I could stay up to wait for you." He murmured packing up his brushes quickly, before chasing after Lovino who had already entered his room. Lovino grumbled quietly.

"You're only supposed to listen to what Marcello says if it doesn't sound like bullshit."

Lovino suddenly paused, realizing something. He peeked his head out of his bedroom door to glance around the small apartment, as if it would've been possible to miss the teen the first time around.

"Where's your brother?" He asked Feliciano, feeling he would not be happy with the answer.

"He went out." Feliciano said nonchalantly and Lovino tried not to blow several fuses. Just what he needed after tonight's disaster, to know that Marcello had left his ten year old brother alone in the apartment God knows how long ago with permission to stay up late.

Once they were in Lovino's room and Feliciano took the liberty of sitting himself at the bed while Lovino rummaged around his drawers for some pajamas.

Feliciano nodded, late in his response to Lovino's earlier admonishment. "I know, but you were so nervous about tonight, I thought you'd appreciate it." Feliciano turned to look at Lovino with an optimistic smile. "How'd it go?" He asked, with sweet innocent eyes.

Lovino sighed, leaning heavily on his drawers. "I think I can easily call tonight the biggest disaster of my life."

"Oh." Feliciano said quietly, his gaze dropping as a guilty look overtook his face.

Lovino stopped on his way walking out to caress Feliciano's face. Feliciano leaned against him. "Get to sleep, bambino."

Feliciano felt he wasn't entitled to question his father any further so without hesitation he buried himself under the covers and allowed sleep to carry him away nearly instantly.


The alarm blared loudly throughout the whole apartment. Lovino reached over, only fumbling twice before punching the snooze button. He rolled back into bed, only to almost crush Feliciano, who had taken the liberty of moving into the middle of the bed in the two and a half seconds it took Lovino to shut off the alarm.

"Move." Lovino said pushing on Feliciano's shoulder. Feliciano pretended to snore loudly and obnoxiously before breaking down into giggles. Lovino chuckled and wrapped him up in hug, trapping the boy in his arms as he slowly threatened to tickle him.

"No! No!" Feliciano shrieked with laughter, wholly enjoying himself as Lovino gave his best evil villain laugh and struggled to escape the range of Feliciano's flailing limbs.

It was only after Feliciano was tomato red and wheezing that Lovino let him go, to roll over and gasp for breath. Feliciano smacked Lovino's arm playfully.

"It hurts to smile!" He whined, despite grinning widely at his father.

With that there was a knock at the bedroom door and Marcello peeked in. "I made some breakfast." He chimes in.

Lovino, who has any and all grudges catalogued extensively to be called upon at even the happiest of times, grabbed his pillow and sent it Marcello's way.

Marcello squeaked and barely managed to dodge. "What was that for?" He whined. Feliciano had scrambled off at the mention of food and Lovino took the opportunity to smack Marcello upside the head.

Marcello grumbled quietly as he rubbed the spot and followed Lovino out to their 'kitchen'. In reality it was just a corner with a two burner stove and something that could pass for a functioning refrigerator if you squinted at the right angle.

"You know exactly what. The next time you leave Feli alone in the apartment I'm taking your keys and shoving them down your throat."

Marcello gulped uncomfortably.

The both of them joined Feliciano at their rickety little table and tried not to knock into each other too many times as they ate their food.

Marcello was the first to get up, claiming he was going to look for some part time work, though Lovino stopped believing that bullshit months ago.

"You're missing something." Lovino said loudly as Marcello tried sneaking off. Marcello threw his head back and groaned. Feliciano shoved the last couple of bites in his mouth and ran off to pick up his sketchbook and jacket.

He ran up to Marcello and gave his brother a bright smile. Marcello rolled his eyes and messed up Feliciano's hair playfully as he grabbed his keys off the hook and walked off with his brother in tow, to give him a ride to his weekend art classes.

Lovino sighed as he heard the door close and breathed deeply, trying to fill his lungs with as much air as possible. It wasn't working.

His brain had had plenty of time to calculate some conservative estimates for his losses yesterday and the results weren't going to compete for Miss Universe.

He bit his tongue to keep from screaming out in panic.

He set about washing the dishes quickly and gathered his things to leave. He resisted the urge to hit his head against the door as he locked up

Off to crush his dreams then.


"You're like, totally late." Feliks said as he pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against.

"You try public transport any time?" Feliks immediately opened his mouth to respond but Lovino stopped him before he could speak.

"Recently?" He added, watching with a smirk as Feliks' face fell a bit.

"Well, I was just looking over our inventory to try and get a better perspective of our losses." Feliks began as Lovino threw his jacket into the corner and rubbed his hands together, pulling up his sleeves. Feliks rolled his eyes and pulled up a chair for himself.

"Well, our biggest loss is obviously not getting paid for the event." As he said this he pulled out their checkbook and his phone's calculator to start quantifying their despair.

"That alone puts us under…" He verifies the records of the money invested into the event, punched some numbers into his phone. "Three thousand dollars." He confirmed, voice filled with sarcastic glee.

Lovino nearly had a heart attack.

"What?" He barked. Feliks sighed. This always happened when squaring checkbooks. He flipped the records around so Lovino could see for himself.

"The cost of ingredients, labor, adding the fact that we owe Arthur and Tolys two paychecks and" Feliks said loudly when he saw that Lovino was going to protest. "Deducting Carlos', yours and my paycheck. For the past three events."

Feliks angled a glare at Lovino, who had the decency to look somewhat sheepish.

"We add to that the fact that that payment was supposed to cover our debt on the rent, which sets back another twenty-five hundred and last but not least, I went over inventory while you took your sweet time getting here, and between all the cutlery, utensils and cookware we lost, being generous towards the offers you might be able to find to replace all of those that's…"

Feliks paused a moment to reconfirm with his calculator.

"Seven grand total."

Lovino balked.

Feliks sighed before his boss could open his mouth to speak.

"Yes, I ran the numbers four times. Yes, I accounted for every possible debt we could push back and yes," He glared. "I deducted all of our paychecks."

"Tolys' and Arthur's?" Lovino asked nervously.

Feliks shook his head in exasperation.

"It really doesn't make a dent." He said insistently.

Lovino began smacking his head onto the table. Feliks sighed and softened a bit seeing his friend in this state. It wasn't any easier on him. He walked over and put a hand on his shoulder caringly.

"I already tried brainstorming some solutions. We could sell the locale and hope it covers for its own debt, which would leave us at somewhere close to forty five hundred. If Carlos, you and I could take on an extra part time each, generous calculations could have us more or less up and running in about a month."

Feliks saw Lovino go perfectly still. He wasn't sure what to make of it but when Lovino pulled himself up to look at Feliks though, Feliks knew he should have been scared. Very scared.

His shoulders were slumped, the bags under his eyes seemed to engulf them and the light that always shone in his eyes, ready to challenge the world was frighteningly dim.

"Fuck it." He said softly.

Feliks reeled back.

"What?" He asked, trying to suppress his panic.

Lovino shot up from his chair and slammed his arms onto the table. He held it by the edges so hard Feliks could almost see the wood splintering underneath his fingers.

"I said fuck it! It's over, dannazione! Just send it all to hell!"

Lovino shuddered and, for a fraction of a second, Feliks thought he might break into tears. Instead he grabbed the table and slammed it several times into the floor, which made Feliks jump back and duck for cover.

Lovino went perfectly still again.

Feliks hesitated a moment before approaching. He wrapped his arms around Lovino in a tight hug.

"We'll get through this."

Lovino scoffed. "No we won't. You know that." But he returned the hug anyway, because Feliks was a pretty good hugger.

Feliks had to admit he was having a hard time seeing a way out of this. He sighed and turned on the radio for some background noise, sitting down to just hope they would come up with something before the end of the day.

Lovino plopped himself down as well, looking intensely at the wall.

Several minutes had passed before Lovino sprung up like a cork. Feliks whipped his head around so fast he hurt his neck.

"Ow." He whined, bringing a hand up to it but Lovino was shushing him.

"What?" Feliks asked quietly.

"Fucking shut up!" Was Lovino's answer as he cranked up the radio the highest it would go. Feliks paused to listen.

"Yes, dear viewers I am here live with the one of the nurses attending the case at Elk Cove's General Hospital; Miss, would you mind explaining the incident to us in some detail?"

A different woman's voice came from the small radio.

"Well, our only viable theories remain that he either fell from a boat sometime near dawn, or that he was out swimming in the early morning and the current took him away."

"Yes well, several sources are indicating that the man has amnesia and no recollection of who he is, can you confirm that?"

"As far as we can tell, yes. He's unable to answer basic questions about himself and insists he has no memory prior to waking up this morning. This was most probably due to the shock of the cold water or a possible head injury. We're imploring anyone with knowledge of the man's identity to call the hospital-"

"Excuse me, viewers, we've just gotten clearance from the hospital personnel to speak with the man himself."

Despite the other not having made a noise, Lovino shushed Feliks, who shushed back, now equally interested in the radio program. The shushing went on, escalating until they heard the reporters voice again and both immediately fell silent.

"Excuse me, sir, can you tell us your name?"

There was a long pause.

"My name is… I know it, it's…Ay, virgen, it's..."

Feliks started flapping around like a beached fish. He grabbed onto Lovino's arm like he was the one about to go overboard. Lovino slapped a hand over Feliks' mouth before he got it in his head to squeal.

"Get that thing away from me!" There was the sound of a thud and a brief interruption before the interviewer spoke again. She seemed ruffled, her voice tense.

"Well, dear viewers a reminder that anyone with knowledge of this man's identity is implored to contact the hospital and this has been Carol Smith, live from Elk Cove's General Hospital."

Lovino stared dumbfounded at the radio as it went into a commercial break. He was about to say something when Feliks threw his phone under his nose.

"It's him!" He shrieked, waving around a news report on the case, complete with a picture of a confused, very pissed looking Antonio Fernández Carriedo in a hospital gown.

Lovino could do nothing but stare.

"Oh my god, do you know what this means?!" Feliks shouted.

Lovino did not respond. The gears in his brain were slowly starting to turn as he began musing at the beginnings of an absolutely bat shit crazy plan that might just be the thing to save them all.

Feliks hadn't noticed this. "Maybe if we go down and tell him who he is he'll thank us by paying the money he owes us!"

Lovino laid his hand gently over Feliks' shoulders. Feliks stopped his rant and turned to look at Lovino, who was staring straight through the wall and into the divine.

"Or," He said softly.

Feliks frowned.

"Or?"

"Or," Lovino insisted. "We could not do that."

Feliks wondered whether Lovino had finally lost his marbles. "And what, let the man rot there? How is that going to solve our debt?"

Lovino raised an eyebrow at his right hand man.

"Tell me, Feliks, did Antonio seem like a particularly grateful person to you the last time we met?"

Feliks hesitated. "Well… no, but-"

"So then," Lovino immediately interrupted Feliks. "What do you think would happen if two nobody cooks who served him Arthur's food, trashed his dining room and refused to leave afterward show up and tell him who he is?"

Feliks slumped his shoulders. "Okay so he's probably not going to pay us regardless. Still, we have to go inform the hospital-"

"Or,"

Feliks was getting kind of sick of Lovino saying that like it was some invocation for the patron saint of failing catering businesses.

"Or what?!"

Lovino gave his friend a wicked smile.

"Instead of informing the hospital they have Antonio Carriedo the millionaire in their care, we could just go pick up Antonio Vargas, my lovely slave of a husband."

The idea was so insane, Feliks didn't even understand what Lovino was saying for a moment. And then his jaw dropped.

"Are you out of your pasta loving mind?!" Feliks shrieked, jumping away from his friend. "Do you have any idea how many kinds of illegal that is!?"

But Lovino gave Feliks a hard look.

"You said generous estimates have us up in about a month. That means you discounted the part of our paychecks that need to go towards our livelihood, and that plan only works if we sell this place."

Before Feliks could try protesting, Lovino went on.

"Now think about it. I take Antonio home, he works four part time jobs and helps me keep my house running so I can do the same. With four people pouring cash into this we pay off the whole seven grand in…"

Feliks stared back at Lovino as he trailed off and gave Feliks his cue. Feliks sighed and tilted his head back as he considered the numbers. His face grew more and more pensive by the second.

"Times fifty… carry the three, plus our 25 hundred."

Feliks eyes widened.

"The whole seven grand in less than two months." He said softly, turning to look at Lovino in astonishment.

Lovino took a stage bow. "I rest my goddamn case." He said as he extended his hand. Feliks raised an eyebrow at this. Lovino sighed.

"Your phone, please, I couldn't pay my bill this month." Feliks rolled his eyes and handed it over.

Lovino punched in some numbers and waited for an answer.

"Hey, whassup, mano? It wouldn't happen to be my paycheck would it?" Feliks could hear Carlos' voice clearly, even several feet away.

"Even better. You still faking documents?"

Carlos scoffed.

"Who do you take me for, ah? I'm a good and proper American citizen under the eyes of God and the law now, I don't do that shit no more."

A pause.

"Wha' chu need?"

When Lovino got off the phone with Carlos he tossed it back at Feliks, who complained that if Lovino broke his bedazzled cover he'd be paying for it.

"Call Arthur and Tolys and swear them into secrecy. I've got a husband to pick up."

Lovino walked out the door with a bounce in his step that Feliks hadn't seen in years. He sighed. If you're going to do something illegal, do it right.

"Liet, sugar, we've got a situation on our hands."

A/N: Three days into class and school's already kicking my ass. Ha, that rhymed. Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you have a lovely week and see you next Sunday.