Chapter 6

When I woke up the next morning, Antonio's arms around my waist, my nose pressed into his collarbone I felt safer and warmer than I had ever felt. Not wanting to wake him I close my eyes again, breathing in his scent. He smells like seawater, sweat and tomatoes... Mmmm, tomatoes...

"Lovi, you're drooling on me."

"Argh! Bastard, don't scare me like that! I thought you were asleep." I try to calm my racing heart. He's lucky I didn't sock him in the jaw.

"No, I've been watching you sleep for a while now."

"Yeah, 'cause that's not creepy at all, watching me sleep." I don't put much effort into the sarcasm, I'm usually a really bad morning person but because of the shot of adrenaline I'm wide awake now.

"You know you're so cute when you're sleeping. And you sleep-talk too, did you know that?"

"I do! I didn't say anything weird did I?" I feel my face getting warmer, of course I know I do, but only Feli knows that.

"Yeah, we had a wonderful conversation about umbrellas."

"Umbrellas..."

"'ey zhere love birds! I brought you gifts of food and wine! Open up or I will 'ave my men break down the door!"

" ¡coño! It's Francis. Pretend you're asleep and maybe he'll go away."

"I can 'ear you! Now let me in or I will talk about Lovi's beautiful voice when 'e's screaming out in pl..." The door was wrenched open cutting him off mid sentence.

"Ah, I knew you would see it my way." The flamboyant Frenchman walks, no, struts into the room; I can practically see the flowers in the background. Two men close behind pushing a trolley wafting breakfast; one of them sets the table with delicate silverware and floral china, the other begins serving out the food. Once their done, Francis sends them away; I pull on my pants from last night and a fresh tunic before I make my way to the table. My back hurts, and I wince when I sit down, Francis smirks at me, if Antonio didn't have his hand on my leg the bastard wouldn't have a mouth to smirk with. I must say, the French really live up to their reputation; breakfast was divine: bacon, eggs, beans, pineapple and fried tomato. As I tucked in, grabbing an extra large portion of bacon and tomatoes, Francis offered to pour me a glass of wine.

"Really? For breakfast? French people..." I mutter.

"I think Lovi doesn't need any more wine for a while, amigo. Especially after last night." I couldn't help but blush, it was all fuzzy but I'm sure I embarrassed myself.

"Oui, but you could 'ave at least invited me to join you. Three is better than two, non?" Antonio and I both choked on our food.

"What the hell?! Don't say such perverted things while people are eating!" My face is obviously very red; Antonio has his hands covering his face. I can see from the corner of my eye his ears are red.

"Yes Francis, that was completely inappropriate." His voice was muffled by his hands still on his face.

"It is the troos zhough! Toni, mon ami, you remember Maria in Portugal..."

"That's enough Francis!" Antonio slams his fist on the table.

"Please, just shut up." Nobody said a word after that and we finished our meals in silence. Antonio kept sending me anxious glances; just to fuck with him I ignored them. By the end he looked like he was going to cry if I didn't look at him.

"Well I will be leaving soon, Au revoir, it was wonderful meeting you Lovino. Feel free to come and find me if you ever get bored of Toni, oui?"

"Mmm hmm. Whatever." As soon as Francis was gone Antonio practically grovelled at my feet.

"Lovi! Speak to me! I'm sorry if you're jealous but that was a long time ago and I have you now nobody else matters! Please please please please look at me! Don't be mad... I love you, only you ever, I promise I will never look at another person again! I'll cut out my eyes if you want, I'll do it!"

"Don't be stupid, I like your eyes were they are now. I was only messing with you; I'm not mad, really... Idiot." Antonio looked at me like I'd slapped him and I felt kinda guilty.

"Thank god..." He sighed, collapsing onto the bed. I giggled and crawled over to him, plonking myself on his chest and playing with his necklace. The pendant had some kind of family crest on it; there was a female wolf with tiny red stones in the eyes and two baby boys playing beneath her.

"Hey, where did you get this?"

"Huh? Oh, the previous captain gave it to me before he died. I loved that man like my own father." His eyes softened and became darker green, like the light in his eyes was turned off. I played with the pendant for a little while, studying every detail. There was a name engraved on the back, 'Romulus'. Something about it felt familiar...

"Do you want to have it?" I jumped at the sudden noise.

"What, no! It's just very pretty, it looks good on you."

"No, I want you to have it." Apparently I didn't have a say in the matter because he had already removed it and was putting it over my head.

"There." I lift the pendant up and examine it again. It feels comforting, the weight.

"Thank you." I look up and he's staring at me. His beautiful green eyes shining like precious emeralds, but you don't see your reflection, it's like he's absorbing you into him. He leans forward and kisses me gently; I let my eyes flutter closed as his hands twine around my waist, rubbing small circles into the small of my back. A knock at the door startles both of us.

"Captain, Sir Francis is leaving now." Antonio sighs.

"I'll be there in a moment." I reluctantly move to sit on the edge of the bed, allowing him to get up. He got dressed quickly, running his fingers through his hair.

"I'll be back soon; do you want to wait here or come see him off?"

"I'll stay here; I'll probably take a bath." He looked thoughtful for a moment before kissing me again, this time more hungrily. Pink crept across my cheeks at the sudden fierceness. Slowly he pulled away, making my lips protest at the loss of sensation.

"H-hurry up and make him go away, who knows what the pervert could do next." He chuckles, softly patting my undoubtedly messy hair. He leaves without another word, something seems off about him. Was it something I said? Is it about the necklace? I sigh angrily, who cares, he doesn't want to talk about it, I don't give a damn anyway. I stomp into the bathroom and start running the bath.

I was covered in hickeys: all over my neck and collar bone, a couple on my thighs, 2 near my navel, and my nipples felt tender too. Just 'because I was bored like hell I counted them. 36. What a nice number. My attention turned to the ten 10 small bruises spread out along my hips, perfectly fitting Antonio's grip. My cheek tinted pink from the memory. No no no no! There was a soft knocking to the door.

"Lovi? Are you in there?"

"Yeah."

"Can I come in?"

"..." I was nervous, but the promise from lifetimes ago floated in my mind. 'You promise to bathe with me'

"Give me a second." I found some soapy stuff and put it in the bath, it bubbled immediately and smelled lovely, not like I care if I smell good or anything... I carefully let myself into the warm tub moving to one side, making sure there were enough bubbles that you couldn't see anything important.

"Ok, you can come in now." I was surprised how calm my voice sounded compared to how I felt. He cracked the door open a little, and poked his goofy head through the gap; apparently making sure I wasn't going to attack him. He entered, and I could tell he was trying really hard not to peek at me. He moved over to the sink, well, actually more like a birdbath, and hung up his crimson coat. As he did my heart started beating faster; I could see the tan muscles working as he washed his face. There were scratches and a bite mark clearly visible through the thin tunic; I couldn't help but smirk, I wasn't the only one marked.

"Can I join you?" He turned around wiping his face with his towel and sitting on the edge of the tub; his cheeks tinted red. I couldn't help but notice the water that had splashed on his tunic had become see-through; drawing my eyes to two darker spots on his chest... What the hell?! Am I a pervert now!

"Mm Hmm..." I sink lower into the bath, skimming the water and the bubbles tickling my nose. It took all my strength and determination not to look as he undressed painfully slowly. I began scrubbing my arms absently to distract me when Antonio entered the warm soapy water. The bath was huge so we both had plenty of room; the silence was extremely awkward, but neither of us wanted to speak first.

"Here, let me wash your back." Although he was asking, he already had a cloth in his hand, waiting. I saw no problem with it. He was just washing my back right?

I turned and sat in front of him; a silent consent. His hands were gentle; massaging my back and shoulders removing all the stress and tension. I hate to admit it but I started purring. I didn't notice Antonio had stopped until I shivered from the lack of fresh warm water. I was about to complain but he beat me to it; winding his arms around my waist and pulling me into his lap, burying his nose in my hair. I yelped at the sudden motion, but soon relaxed into his embrace.

"I love you so much Lovi." He whispered against my neck, tracing small kisses up and down.

"Y-you better. Ah, c-can I wash yours?" he froze for a second. "Your back stupid." I clarify, he relaxes again.

"If you want to." I shifted my position, turning so that I was facing him. His eyes grew wide and he opened his mouth like he was going to say something but just stared gawking at me. A deep blush flushed my cheeks; I took the cloth from his hands and softly washed his shoulders. He winced as I brushed over the scratches but never once broke eye contact. I shifted forward a little more, running the cloth along his spine; suddenly he grabbed my face in his hands and guided me into a passionate kiss. I closed my eyes, it lasted for like 15 seconds, but it could have been years for all I cared. He broke the kiss locking me in those swirling green depths that are his eyes. I moved in again, opening my mouth without being asked to which he gratefully responded by sliding his tongue to the other side of my teeth. I tightened my grip on his neck as a certain part of me filled with heat, cloth laid forgotten in the water. I could tell Antonio was suffering too so I closed the distance between us more, producing delicious friction between myself and his stomach. His hands previously holding my around the waist grabbed onto my already bruised hips and made me grind harder into him. By this time we were both painfully hard and panting into each kiss.

There was frantic banging on the main door.

"This better be fucking good or you're shark bait!" Antonio was breathless but still managed a deadly tone.

"We need you on deck Sir! Honda spotted a navy ship in pursuit of us. It's the Britannia!"

"Fuck! This is ridiculous!" I retreated off his lap and he go out of the tub; wrapping himself in a towel and picking up his clothes from the floor.

"What's going on?" He didn't answer me. He was fully dressed in record time minus: boots, coat and hat.

"I have to go. Get changed and meet me on deck." And he stormed out. Just like that. Fucking give me orders and ignore me! I almost slipped out of the bath (again) and grabbed my own towel.

"Antonio!" Slam. Well fuck. That bitch is so going to get cockblocked. Bad.

A/N: YAY! i finally updated! This chapter was gonna be longer but I thought I'd cut it off here instead. (Hehehe!) Not really much plot in this chapter, but I've hinted at some important information that will soon present itself. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Aaaaaanyhoooo, the pendant Lovi gets is based off the story of how Rome was founded by none other than 'Romulus' (Guess who!) and Remus.

A couple of people have asked about when we will see Feli. HOLD YOUR HORSES! IM GETTING THERE! Sheesh...

Till next time...

~WickedBanana