Feliciano And Lovino

Neither Brian or Roy seemed to know or care who the next person on the list was as they seemed certain that Vash needed to talk to the proprietors of the restaurant. Vash soon realized that was a thinly veiled attempt at getting something to eat as it was about lunch. If it was lunch, he wanted to return to the inn and check on Heidi. But if they were using this as an excuse to eat, Vash could not do the same. He had to stay professional. Heidi would understand. She would be fine.

"Hi! I'm Feliciano and this is my restaurant! We never get new people here. At least, not all that often. Here's a menu, but if you want to know anything you can just ask me or my brother! Well, probably not my brother, but you can always ask me! And if there is something you want that isn't on the menu, feel free to ask and we will do our best~"

Vash stared.

Feliciano stared back, smile still on his face.

"We're ready ta order, Feliciano," Brian mentioned.

"Okay!" Feliciano said happily as he went over to the other two policemen.

"Why can I not ask you?" Vash asked Feliciano's brother, who had been standing behind Feliciano during that entire spiel.

"Fuck if I know," Lovino shrugged, leaning back against an empty table.

The brothers returned to the kitchen soon enough, Feliciano saying something cheerfully and Lovino griping back. Not to be deterred, Vash followed them into the kitchen, ignoring whatever it was Brian was saying to him.

"You aren't allowed back here," Lovino said the instant he entered the back.

"I am not here to eat, I am here about the recent thefts," Vash informed them.

"I know!" Feliciano exclaimed, looking amazed. "Out of everything to take, the pasta? I don't even have enough to make dinner for myself tonight! How am I supposed to cook it for anyone else? It's terrible!"

"What do you need to know?" Lovino asked irritably, right before he seemed to consider something. "You don't think I did it, do you? 'Cause that's stupid."

Vash did not miss the fact Lovino was not referring to his brother in that sentence. "I am listing all what was stolen and confirming everyone's alibis." Including yours.

That was not lost on Lovino, but before he could speak Feliciano was speaking again. "Well all the pasta here is gone! I mean, almost all of it. But I certainly did not use it all up yesterday. We needed to order some more, but we had a week left before worrying about it! That's a lot of pasta! As for my alibi, I woke up yesterday–"

"You can start in the evening, if you would please," Vash said, trying not to sound as weary as he felt.

"There were plenty of people who ate here for dinner. Ludwig, Yao, Muhammad, Hakon, Gupta..."

"Ivan showed up and left with Ludwig," Lovino mentioned quickly. "They were acting suspicious."

"Ivan was hiding from Natalia," Feliciano mused, taping a spoon against his lips. "Ludwig was so nice about it! He helped him out. I don't think I could have, Natalia scares me! But Ludwig is so brave to help Ivan out~"

Lovino appeared to be trying not to throw up. Vash felt a bit off too, but it was mostly annoyance at how happy Feliciano sounded about Ludwig.

"Did Mr. Łukasiewicz come for dinner?" Vash decided to clarify.

"Feliks? He came to talk! Dinner was the side effect of that!"

Vash looked over at Lovino for confirmation.

"I left," Lovino snorted. "We were supposed to be closing up by the time he showed up. Wasn't my problem."

"When was that?"

"We were to stop serving around seven, if no one else was around," Feliciano explained. "But it's not like it's an exact time."

"Seven is an exact time. It was my god damned night off."

"Don't be silly," Feliciano said, as if there was something silly about it.

If it was the man's night off though, Vash did not see why anyone would hold him to more if the only person there was Feliks. Still, at least he was getting information. "Where did you go from there?"

"Home," Lovino said immediately.

"Nu-uh. You went out," Feliciano replied.

"I went for a walk before going home."

"And you live with someone named Antonio, correct?" Vash tried to remember.

"What?" Lovino shouted, flushing almost immediately. Feliciano started to giggle, so his brother threw a hand towel at him. "Do not!"

Vash counted to five in his head. "Yet you went home with him, yes?"

"Probably," Feliciano laughed. "Just don't expect him to admit to it!"

"Zitto, fratello!"

Feliciano did not seem to be bothered by the angry words, but true to what Feliciano said it did not seem like Lovino was going to admit to going home with that other man. Not that Vash could quite blame him, perhaps he should have spoken with the man one on one. It meant he would have to hear it from this Antonio before allowing for its truth or not.

Still, what everyone said seemed to be matching up with everyone else. Except for those alibis he had not managed to ask about yet. And Maddox, who had not given him one.

Despite this, he got out of the way as both the Italians made whatever it was Brian and Roy had ordered. Feliciano rushed in and out of the kitchen, not really appearing to pay attention to what he was making. It smelt good nevertheless. Meanwhile, Lovino took a little more time and attention on what he was working on.

"Is it hard having to handle your retarded brother?" Vash asked him when Feliciano was out of the kitchen.

Lovino looked up, seemed about to say something angrily, then thought twice about it. "Yeah. I manage. Not always easy though."

Vash nodded. He could probably act better about it, but Vash could not blame him from being short with other people if he had to deal with Feliciano's shortcomings on a consistent basis.

Leaving the kitchen, Vash stopped short when he saw Maddox sitting at a table, staring at a menu.

"What are you doing here?"

"Staring at a menu," Maddox replied.

"Sometimes he doesn't even order," Feliciano added sadly.

"Where were you yesterday evening?" Vash demanded as he strode over to the table, standing right next to Maddox. Slowly, very slowly, Maddox looked up at him.

"Not staring at a menu."

Vash became even more suspicious.

Notes:

Maddox is not lying.

Ouch, Vash. That hurts. Of course, you know that if Vash calls someone retarded, it is because he thinks they actually have that mental problem.

My favourite line in this entire story so far has to be Feliciano's last line in this chapter.