A/N: Timeline-wise, this takes place after the second chapter, once Pegasus starts becoming good at cards, but before teaching Giovanni anything in the third chapter.

It had been a relatively quiet night up until he showed up. Giovanni and Pegasus had split up once their lesson was over; Giovanni to the bar to drink while waiting for someone to catch his eye, and Pegasus to start a card game. When the man came inside, Pegasus was between games and was watching Giovanni. Giovanni interested him; he found him difficult to read (except in one aspect) and his one mood of "annoyed" seemed to be there to mask what he was thinking. Pegasus took learning to read Giovanni better as a secret extra assignment to help himself improve. Which is why he was surprised when Giovanni turned around and avoided eye-contact with the newcomer, who had noticed him anyway and came towards him. Giovanni had often told Pegasus he was afraid of no one. Pegasus couldn't let such an opportunity pass him by and moved closer to Giovanni to observe. Giovanni noticed Pegasus and glared daggers at him while the other man slapped Giovanni on the back.
"Johnny! Long time no see!" said the man, who was about Giovanni's height and had the same skin tone. His hair was dark and regular length; he was dressed in the current style with nothing in particular that made him stand out. Pegasus wondered what was so threatening to Giovanni from this man.
Giovanni didn't turn around and didn't answer him.
"Johnny? It's me! Tom!"
Giovanni finally muttered something in reply.
"Aw, don't be like that, Johnny!"
"My name is Giovanni!" It wasn't yelled, but the sharpness made it sound like it was.
Tom sat down in the next chair and ordered a beer.
"We're not in Italy; no one is named "Giovanni"! Get with the times, Johnny."
He growled, "It's my name, and it's Giovanni. You're going to call me that unless you want me to pummel you, Thomasio."
Tom pulled away from him in anger. "Geeze, lighten up. Alright. I'm just saying you're not fresh off the boat, are ya? Why you gotta hang on to the old country?"
Giovanni sighed, "Our great-great-grandparents were the last ones 'fresh off the boat'. And now it's heritage."
Tom gulped his drink in an amazing display of animalism, thought Pegasus.
"It's not anything but a problem. I bet you still don't have a decent job! You're just going to re-enforce old stereotypes! We have to help raise our people, John-er—Not drag them down. Take me for example: I went to school and got a good job and now I got a fast car."
Giovanni stared at him. "That's all you really wanted to talk about, wasn't it?"
Tom grinned at him, "It's a Corvette. It might be a bit old, but at least it's 'Merican. No Fix It Again, Tony for me!"
He finished the rest of his beer and went over to some other people who had been waving at him for awhile, laughing.
"…That's for a Fiat, you idiot…"
Seething, he paid for his drink and left the bar.
It didn't completely surprise Pegasus about an hour later, after Tom exited the bar, to hear him scream. When it wasn't one of pain, Pegasus had to investigate why that was. He came out to Tom staring at an open parking space.
"My Corvette! It's been stolen!"

Pegasus knew his target well enough to guess what would happen to the car, and so he quickly made his way to where most of the night clubs in town were located. It didn't take him long to find Giovanni, who was leaning against the car under a streetlight, watching the passing women and deliberating.
The image fit him so well it negated most of the predatory look that it gave Giovanni. What little was left he relished and used to his advantage.
Pegasus came over to join him, much to his annoyance. He stood off to the side, engaging him but not standing under the light.
"Tom's found out about his car. He was going in to report it stolen when I left."
Giovanni just nodded, staring straight ahead, trying to get him to leave by acknowledging the information.
"You might want to get rid of it."
"They're not going to go crazy over one guy's car this late; besides, I've already changed the plates."
Pegasus couldn't help but admire the planning he had put into this spur-of-the-moment plan.
He came over to lean against the car with him. Giovanni swerved his head suddenly at Pegasus.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Joining you."
"Drop dead."
"What's the matter?" Pegasus enjoyed trying to get Giovanni mad. And it was easiest to do that when it concerned women.
"I'm busy," Giovanni said through his teeth.
Pegasus said nothing in reply; he just waited. The women kept passing down the street, and while Giovanni knew he could still pick any one of them up, he didn't want Pegasus there. First of all, because there was always a chance of his techniques being stolen (though he more or less believed the man that he wasn't interested beyond the one he already had); but mostly it was because Giovanni was a very possessive man, and he didn't even want to even share the experience of chatting with whomever he had targeted with anyone else. He wanted it all of it to be his own.
Pegasus finally broke the silence, "I can't help but notice that you haven't lit your cigarette."
"I don't smoke if I have a job the next day."
"But, why have one at all?"
Giovanni gestured to include the car, the street, himself and the whole scene they made:
"Completes the image."
And then he gave Pegasus a hard stare that told him that he clearly broke the image, and he had better get out before Giovanni did something he'd regret. And by "he", he meant Pegasus.
"You have all night for this," Pegasus said, motioning to the night-clubs and women on the street in exasperation. "Don't you want to see what this car is capable of? Let's take it on the mountain road."
"I might have changed the plates, but I'm not dumb enough to go and give a cop a reason to pull me over."
Pegasus patted his shoulder in an assuring way that made Giovanni's skin crawl. He never wanted a man to be that friendly with him. Ever.
"Don't worry, Gio," Pegasus patted his wallet. "I have a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. Come on, let's go to Highland Peak. The road will be empty this time of night."
Giovanni had wanted to test out the car even before Fancy Pants suggested it; he allowed himself to be convinced and entered the car with Pegasus gleefully following. He watched as Giovanni twisted some wires together below the steering wheel and the engine roared to life.
He let the car idle for a few seconds before turning to Pegasus and saying, "Have you committed a crime before?"
"I'm not going to feel guilty and turn us in after this, if that's what you're worried about."
"I'm not. You've just been touching everything in and on the car and," his hands tightened on the steering wheel. Pegasus just now noticed he was wearing leather gloves. "It'd be a pain to have to wipe everything when we're done. But we'd only have to do that if you're on record."
"Your concern is uncharacteristic but welcome, Gio. You don't have to worry."
"I don't want you going to jail before you hold up your end of the deal."
They started to pull out of the parking space, and Pegasus asked, "Where did you get those gloves?"
"I always have them."
"Really?"
"Surely you don't forget our first meeting?"
Pegasus left the statement at that.
Before pulling on to the long stretch of road that led to Highland Peak, Giovanni had one last question.
"You don't get car-sick, do you? Because you're cleaning any mess by yourself."
But he floored the accelerator right after that, so Pegasus never was able to answer.

It was the car that got sick.
Giovanni had driven it as fast as he could handle, and what he lacked in experience he made up for in brashness. The car couldn't take the rough treatment without protest and had finally overheated at the top of the peak, refusing to move and becoming a hissing monument to their run.
"Shall I call for ride back?" asked Pegasus.
Giovanni said nothing and instead searched around in the back for something. After a struggle, he was able to come back out with a gallon of water.
"You can jump ship, but I'm still planning on making use of this baby. Once she cools down, I can put the water in and drive back to have some fun."
Giovanni was not a man to hum in satisfaction, but he allowed himself a half-smile as he got out of the car. Being in a small space next to Pegasus was less than ideal. He'd be more comfortable in the night air waiting for the car to cool. He found a picnic table used by tourists when they came up to the visitor's center at the top of the peak (closed at this time of night) and laid down on top of it. He was planning what to do first when he got back to the city when he heard the other door open and the crunch of footsteps on gravel and then grass. They stopped next to the picnic table and Giovanni sat up, to be in a less vulnerable position. Pegasus ignored this and sat down on the bench, looking at the view the peak offered. It was a tourist attraction for a good reason. He opened his mouth to speak,
"—Don't you dare comment on the view," Giovanni spat. "This is awkward enough as it is. Is your ride coming?"
"I thought I'd keep you company, Gio-boy."
"You want to be thrown off that cliff, don't you?"
Pegasus shrugged, "Suit yourself. But it seems awfully self-defeating to keep me from going to jail only to throw me off a cliff."
Giovanni came down off the top of the table to sit at the opposite end of the bench seat.
"But at least then it'd be something I'd done with my own hands…"
With a final glance of contempt, Giovanni resigned himself to his fate and started planning his evening again, blocking out Pegasus' existence from his mind. This was his preferred way to spend the time waiting for the car, but Pegasus always needed something to be going on. He liked to talk; he liked excitement; he couldn't sit in silence.
"Gio, tell me how you learned to hotwire a car."
He got a strange look in reply, "Why are you interested in that?"
"I've never met anyone who could actually do that," he explained.
"Too bad for you," Giovanni commented dryly. "But curiosity killed the cat. I'm not tellin' you nothin'."
"Can I apply the rules of double negatives and extract a story anyway?"
He got a snarl in return.
Pegasus was even more desperate than before to get the story; it was just something he was wondering about before, but this denial made it seem special. He turned to desperate measures:
"Oh, pleeeease, Gio! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Pleeeeease!"
That it was beneath him was beside the point. He knew Giovanni would cave to get him to stop whining.
"Shut up!" he finally snapped. "Listen, if you want something from me, I need something from you. That's the way things work."
"What do you want?"
"The "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Give me that and I'll answer your question."
Pegasus took out his wallet and considered; most of the cash was from cards earlier tonight, but it was still a large sum and he didn't stay rich by giving his money away. On the other hand, he was rarely able to make Giovanni do anything, so that alone was worth it. He slowly handed over the bills, saying, "With as much as is in there, I think that's worth two questions."
Giovanni counted the bills, which ended up being more than he thought it would be, and gave a quick nod of acquiescence. He figured he had better humor Pegasus, or he just get more whining again.
"Alright," he said, pocketing the cash. "Your first question?"
Pegasus thought. "What's the history between you and Tom?"
Giovanni narrowed his eyes, "That's too general. You get specific questions only."
"Then tell me how you know him."
"We grew up in the same neighborhood. Next question."
"Gio, I paid good money to have you talk. Either give it back or man up and speak."
Giovanni took a deep breath to calm himself. Pegasus was on his last nerves.
"…Alright. He moved into town during high school. He unfortunately lived next door to me and seemed to think that made us friends."
"And the whole 'Johnny' thing?"
"He's got a thing against foreign countries. I don't know why. He hates anything—even names—that aren't from around here. And that is all I can stand to talk about him. Next."
Pegasus wanted to press further, he was sure that somewhere deep in Giovanni's past was a story about a double-date gone wrong that eventually twisted him into what he was today; but he decided not to try his luck. Instead he asked, "Now tell me about the hotwiring."
Giovanni looked at the car, but it was still hissing, though with less vehemence. He hoped that it would be cool by the time he had finished. He wasn't about to dance for Pegasus all night.
"This is a fond memory of mine…" he started.
"Oh no," Pegasus interrupted. "This is going to involve women. I want to change my question."
"Too late. Now, when I was just starting out with the band, we didn't have that many regular gigs. We'd take whatever odd jobs to support everyone, and I spent most of my time trying to book us anything in the meantime. I ended up in every bar in a 10-mile radius, and at some point I ended up with a reputation for being a Don Juan."
" 'Ended up'…"
Giovanni ignored the dig, "One night, my drummer and I struck out with every joint we tried to get booked for, so we went out and got hammered. In the process, he comes up with the idea that we could use my skills to make some money. I pick a chick at random from the room and I get fifteen minutes to go all the way with her."
Pegasus was appalled, "All the way? Right there? That's—that's—"
Giovanni gave him a look of contempt, "I have standards. Very few morals, but standards. As long as I got the panties, they took that as proof enough. Moving to the bathroom was usually enough engineer that outcome."
Pegasus was now disgusted for a different reason, but refrained from more questions. He didn't want to add on to his misery.
"Of course, it wasn't long before they insisted I got handicaps. First it was that I couldn't target anyone who had more than three drinks. Then it was I had to come in early evening, before the freaks came out. And then it was that they had to pick out the woman for me."
He paused and seemed to be waiting for comment.
"I'm sure you rose to the occasion," Pegasus finally humored him.
"Of course I did. But I went a step beyond. I worked out a system. I knew this one girl, Ginger, and she was into role-play. Not my thing, but she loved it. I would have her dress-up and be in the crowd on the nights when I was working my magic. Most of the time she ended up being the one they picked."
"So, you cheated."
"You're so simple," he sighed. "First of all, it wasn't a guarantee, though I would ask her to dress like an Ice Queen. Next, I might have known her, but she took her role-play seriously. I still had to seduce whoever she was that night. And, lastly, I don't bet to lose." He paused to catch his breath before continuing. "But my finest hour came on an evening she couldn't make it."
Pegasus yawned and Giovanni smiled thinly.
"You're the one who asked for this story. Don't worry, your question is going to be answered soon. As I said, Ginger couldn't make it and I was wondering who I was going to try my charm against when this one guy comes up to the bar and slaps down this huge wad of cash. The bets so far had gotten a couple hundred, but this was at least a thousand. He says that he has a proposition for me with a few extra rules, if I'm willing. I thought about refusing him; this guy bet against me regularly and was one of the more vocal losers. And on top of that, he seemed to live vicariously through me—You know the type. Lots of the guys there were like that, but they usually bet for me and he just felt a little off."
Pegasus thought it wasn't just him that was off but kept it to himself.
"But I decided the money was too good to pass up and so I asked the conditions. They ended up being that he gets to pick the target, and that I have to get her to go all the way in this car parked out front. Most of the time, a neutral party picks the target so no one feels cheated. But for the amount he was offering, I knew there was going to be a catch or two. The car wasn't that much of an obstacle, so I just waited for the guy to show me the girl and so he points to me what has to be one of his buddies' kid sister. She didn't look like anything other than jail bait, and there're few women who're worth the risk."
"You mean there are some?"
Giovanni looked seriously at Pegasus, "Your problem is that you haven't lived."
He contemplated him for a few seconds more, pitying his limited experience of the world, and then continued.
"I went for it anyway, because the guy might've been planning something, but he wasn't the kind to risk some under-age girl to a guy like me. He was the White Knight-type."
Pegasus seriously doubted that a White Knight would bet a woman, period.
"Then he tells me I've got ten-minutes and to go. Not only do I get less time, I've gotta get her outside and pop her cherry. It's hard enough to find an experienced woman comfortable enough to do it outside, but never, ever a virgin. They're always scared and want it to be some magical, special experience for themselves. It's tedious and I hate them. So I go over and start talking and I can tell she's going to take longer than ten-minutes. But there's serious dough on the line. I'm not about to kiss it goodbye. So I wrap my arms around her and whisper what's goin' on to her. I tell her if she plays along, she's in for a cut. She gets all quiet and I wonder if I'm going to have to drag her away and force the panties off. But then she nods and we walk out to the car together. I hold her close so no one can see her face. I didn't want to give anything away. We get to the car and she tells me that I should get in first; she'd feel more comfortable if I wasn't pinning her down. I said they were tedious before, didn't I? It's harder on bottom, but since she was wearin' a skirt I let her have her way. So I get in and lay down and she follows after me so timidly that I'm sure the whole thing's going to be blown. But once she gets on top she finally starts to act the part and grabs my shoulders and puts her face close to mine and starts to move against me. I start my hands down her back and towards the skirt when all of a sudden her lips are all over my face and then my mouth and her tongue is—"
"-Please, I don't need all the details."
"You wouldn't. Anyway, her sudden change of attitude surprises me and so I stop doing anything to her for a split-second. And it's at that point that I find myself handcuffed to the passenger-side door. She gets off me and says, 'Sorry, buddy. Nothin' personal.' And hotwires the car and drives off with me to parts unknown. I say to her, 'You didn't strike me so kinky.' And all she does is smile at me and go back to driving. We drive like that for about twenty-minutes and then she starts to slow down, so I ask her what it's all about. She tells me that I've made some enemies in the bar and they want to take me down a peg. She's going to stop the car outside the city limits and get something from the trunk that'll make me quiet for a couple hours, and then the car'll be reported stolen. And I know it's all true. This was the kind of plan that guy'd come up with."
White Knight, Pegasus thought again.
"So she pulls over and shuts off the car and gets out and goes to the trunk to get whatever is gonna knock me out. What she's not expecting is that when she gets back, I have my hands out of the cuffs and I bring her down to the ground. I grab her arms and squeeze her wrists until she lets go of the syringe she was holding and then drag her back into the car. I sit on top of her stomach and hold her as still as I can. Luckily for me, she wasn't that strong. She wouldn't have been able to cuff my hands if she hadn't taken me by surprise. So the first thing I do is return the favor and cuff her to the door—"
"Wait, how did you get the handcuffs on her? Did you pick the lock?"
"You think I can pick a lock that quickly?" he asked. "I dislocated my wrists. I cuffed her to the door by opening them with the key."
"Where did you get the key?"
"She was wearing a blouse and a skirt. Where else would a woman keep something as important as a key? It's common sense."
"…Of course it is."
Giovanni ignored the tone.
"Now we've reversed positions, but she still has the advantage and she knows it. I can't start the car, and sooner or later they'll report it as stolen anyway and then she'll add abduction on to the list. We just look at each other for a few minutes, and then I tell her she's going to teach me how to hotwire the car again.
'Why would I help you?'
'Because I think more than the car, the police would be very interested in that syringe you had earlier. The one that has only your fingerprints. But you help me out of this, and I think I can help you out of that.'
She looks at me, and I can see her weighing her options. I can see her weakening.
'And maybe I'll show you how to get out of those cuffs yourself. You can have your own private lessons.'
It clinched it as I thought it would, and she talks me through starting the car. I'm able to bring the car back to the bar without a scratch on it. I walk in and the guy is silent as the grave as I collect my money. Just before I put it away, he demands some proof that I succeeded and I give him all the clothes the girl was wearing. He doesn't bother me again and I go back to my apartment."
"…Where the girl is waiting?"
"That goes without saying."
There was silence. Pegasus broke it at length with, "I was hoping for something a bit more exciting."
"Like what?" he asked, irritated.
"That the girl turned out to be a cross-dresser or something."
"…You're sick."
Pegasus was pleased he wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable anymore.
But Giovanni didn't notice; the car was ready and he was filling it with water.
They drove back in silence, Giovanni and his half-smile again making an appearance and Pegasus wishing he had called for a ride home after all. Giovanni dropped him just inside the city limits, insisting that he had wasted enough of the night with him already.

Pegasus later found out that Tom eventually got his car back, but only after it had been towed from the next city over. It apparently had been parked in a public fountain.
When he next saw Giovanni, he asked him about it.
"Why did you park it in a fountain?" he asked as discreetly as he could.
Giovanni considered the question.
"Do you really want to know?"
"…No, I probably don't."
"Then you've learned your lesson."
Don't ask questions unless you want the answer: It was one of the hardest lessons Pegasus had to be taught. And the most expensive.