The alarm clock wouldn't shut up.
Lovino rolled over in bed, smacking the snooze button for the eleventh time. He knew he would be late for work, but was tired. Hadn't grandpa told them that sleeping was more important than anything else when he and Feliciano were kids? Or had he misunderstood and taken the wrong advice to heart?
The door creaked open and his younger brother poked his head in. "Fratello," Feliciano said, softly. "You're gonna be late for work." Lovino didn't respond, only rolling over in his bed. Feliciano took I upon himself to step in and shake his brother's shoulder. "Lovino?" he whispered. "Loviiinoooo."
"What?!" Lovino shouted, smacking his brother's face by accident.
"You're gonna be late!" Feliciano wailed.
"I heard you the first time!" The infuriated Italian rolled off of the bed, rubbing his eyes.
"You didn't say anything!" his brother whimpered, patting his throbbing nose. "You've only got fifteen minutes to get ready, eat breakfast and get to work." Lovino opened his dresser, searching for clothes of decency.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" he asked, yanking a dress shirt off a hanger.
"It's Wednesday; I don't have class until later today." Feliciano answered, walking to the door. "We could walk together to your work place." Lovino pressed his lips together, thinking. "Since I have class and you have work, it'll be nice to spend some time togeth—"
"It's fine, just don't be such a sap." Lovino mumbled. After getting dressed, he quickly grabbed an apple and followed his younger brother out of the flat and into the streets.
"The weather is so nice here." Feliciano chirped, running ahead of his brother. "The sun is so warm and the birds are singing. There's the pretty flowers and pretty buildings and—" As Feliciano continued rambling on about utter nonsense, Lovino turned his attention to the shops they were walking past. Just like Antonio's market, the small stores all seemed to be owned by families. The flower shop, bakery, candies…everything had the small, "folky" feel to them. "…I wonder what kind of candy they have in the candy shop." Feliciano continued.
"Hey," Lovino sighed, tapping his brother's shoulder. "We're here." The younger Italian stopped in his tracks, grinning.
"It looks so nice!" he cheered. "And you said your boss gave you the food from last night for free? He must be rich to be able to get fresh produce and goods everyday!" Lovino pulled the door open slightly, looking over his shoulder.
"I guess I'll see you later." he said. "Have fun at class."
"No, no, I'd like to come in and look around!" Feliciano said, pushing pas his brother. "I'm not doing anything for a few hours anyway."
"It's just food!" Lovino hollered.
"Lovino?" Antonio peeked out of his office, then flashed them a smile. "You're here just on time! Who's this?" Lovino glanced at his brother, who had already wandered off.
"He's just my little brother." Lovino answered, begrudgingly.
"You didn't tell me you had a younger brother." Antonio added, walking after Feliciano.
"Well, it wasn't a question on the resume, so I didn't think it was that important." Lovino muttered.
"Are you going to introduce us?" Antonio smirked. Lovino rolled his eyes, stomping over to his brother and pulled him towards Antonio.
"Feliciano, this is my boss, Antonio. Antonio, this is my little brother, Feliciano." he grumbled. He walked away, beginning to push a crate of strawberries to the fruit section.
"It's so nice to meet you, Antonio. Lovino has told me a few things about you." Feliciano greeted. "I heard you really like tomatoes?"
"Feliciano!" Lovino shouted. That boy didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. He heard Antonio let out a playful laugh.
"I guess I do like tomatoes. They're good for a lot of things." he said. "Lovi never mentioned you; I assumed he lived alone."
"Nope, he has me to keep him company. Although, we don't speak to each other much." The younger Italian mumbled. "I'm going to the art school here; Lovino's taking care of me."
"Ah, I see. So you're a first year?"
"Sì!"
Lovino plodded over to where the two were talking and pushed Feliciano to the door. "Go to class and paint blobs or something!" he scolded. "Can't you see we're both busy?"
"No one's here…" Feliciano began.
"There will be soon! Go! Shoo!" Lovino said, sternly. "Have a good day!"
"U-uh, bye Lovino!" Feliciano stammered. "Have a good day at work!" The door slammed shut and Lovino sighed with relief. He hated when his brother was the centre of attention.
"So, are you into art as well, Lovi?" Antonio asked, breaking the silence. Lovino shot him a glare, scowling.
"Do I look like some schmuck who's into that artsy-fartsy shit?" Lovino snapped. "And don't call me Lovi!" Antonio's smile didn't disappear as he shrugged.
"I just thought it might be a family trait." he said.
"Well, everyone in my family has talent except me." Lovino mumbled. "I'm a worthless piece of shit."
"Don't say that!" Antonio cried, following him to the storage room.
"Why the hell shouldn't I? I've never done anything important or fantastic." Lovino added, shrugging his shoulders.
"That's still no reason to call yourself a worthless piece of shit." Antonio assured. "Everyone and everything has a niche on this earth."
"If I had one Euro coin for every time I heard someone say that to me, I'd put them all in a sack and hit them with it." Lovino hissed. "If I was so important, I'd know it by now. I'd be somewhere else, not this dingy little shit-shack." Angered, Lovino began carrying crates around the store to their general locations. Antonio watched him with a frown which made the Italian more furious and flustered. "Stop staring at me! What's your problem, eh?" he shouted, sliding jars of jam on the shelves.
"You take care of your little brother." Antonio finally said.
"So?" Lovino asked, giving a stern glare.
"It's a pretty big deal. You have to give him a place to stay, cook him food, make sure he does his school work…it's a huge responsibility to take care of someone else, Lovino." Antonio continued. "Just like it's a huge responsibility to own a produce market." Lovino narrowed his eyes. The fuck is he on about? He thought. "I'd say you're pretty important to Feliciano."
"That's nothing." Lovino argued, looking away. There was a soft beeping sound as they heard someone walk in with heavy footsteps. "Shouldn't you go and say hi to that customer?" He heard the Spaniard sigh.
"I suppose I should." Antonio answered, shooting Lovino a grin. He turned away and practically skipped around the store to greet the mother and her children who had just entered the store. Lovino laughed to himself, shaking his head.
"He's weird," he murmured. "I like him."
Antonio kindly carried the single mother's bag to her car, admiring her two kids chase each other in the small parking lot. The kids were precious, flashing their missing-a-front-tooth grins as their mother scolded them and encouraged them to get into the car. "Thank you so much, sir." The woman said. "Is your shop new?"
"It is; it's been almost two months since I've bought it." Antonio answered, handing her the bag.
"I think I'll come here more often." she cheered. "It's quite cheap for fantastic quality." The woman sat down in her car, making sure not to bump her head. "Thanks again!" And with that, she slammed the door shut and drove away. Antonio waved as he stepped back inside to find his only employee dropping a box filled with corn. A few stalks tumbled out and Lovino glanced over his shoulder.
"What're you looking at?" he barked.
"Need any help?" Antonio asked, gently taking the crate away from him. Lovino huffed and stomped away. Antonio let out a sigh, picking up the corn off the floor. He didn't want to fall head over heels for the guy, but there was just something that intrigued him. The cold personality? The brashness? Lovino had something that instantly put a smile onto Antonio's face and he could quite figure it out. "Don't force yourself on him," he muttered to himself. "You're just making things worse."
"Are you talking to me?" Antonio spun around, staring face to face with the Italian. "Are you?"
"No, no, I was talking to myself." Antonio clarified. "Did you put the corn next to the…"
"Yeah, yeah." Lovino blurted, waving his hand around. "What else do you want me to do before I get tired?" Antonio paused and thought for a moment.
"You could always sweep the floors again." he answered. He chuckled as Lovino immediately groaned and complained. "Well, I've got a nice banner to hang up; would you like to do that? Or the both of us could do some paper work?"
"I'll hang up the stupid banner." Lovino mumbled. "Where d'you want it?" The poniard pointed up at the ceiling at two different points.
"See those hooks? That's where the supports for the banner go. Make sure the banner doesn't droop down; don't want customers to get hit with it." Antonio said, walking away. He grabbed the roll of fabric that sat in the corner of his office. He tossed it to Lovino, laughing as he dropped it and turned back to his office. "Let me know if you need any help, okay?"
"Whatever." Lovino answered, opening the utility closet to find a small, step ladder. "Go make-out with your tomatoes." Smiling, Antonio closed the door behind him, the door squeaking a bit and sunk into his chair.
"He's an interesting one, alright." he muttered, rubbing his chin. "That Lovino."
With another long and boring day gone by, Lovino began to put the cleaning supplies away when a customer briskly walked in. "Hello and welcome to Carriedo's Markets." he greeted, robotically. "How may I help you?" He paused when he turned around to see a beautiful woman with wavy, short, blonde hair standing near the cash register. His harsh scowl disappeared and a smile lit up his face. "Buonasera," he added. The woman gave him an amused grin.
"Is Antonio here?" she asked, simply.
"Somewhere, but I'll be glad to answer any of your questions, miss." Lovino replied.
"How sweet of you." she replied, fiddling with her purse. "But I really need to speak with him." Lovino frowned a bit.
"He's been bust with paper work all day, miss. I don't know what's wrong." he explained. "Do you need something?" The woman sighed, brushing her hair back behind her ear.
"Could be a dear and tell him that I said 'everything is out of the house'." she suggested. Lovino crinkled his nose in confusion. "Look, he'll know exactly what I mean." She turned away and made her way to the door. "Have a good night." she added before leaving.
"You too." Lovino muttered, glancing over at Antonio's office. Was something going on between that Tomato Idiot and that woman? Were they dating? Lovino gently knocked on the door, shoving his hands in his pockets. The door slowly opened and Antonio stepped out, holding out another bag filled with groceries. On top, of course, was a tomato, staring at the Italian.
"Here you go, Lovino." Antonio said. "Sorry I wasn't helping out much; I had some business to attend to."
"A woman came in asking me to tell you that everything is out of the house." Lovino stated, carefully taking the overfilled paper bag. Antonio stood in silence, staring at the floor. "I-I didn't catch her name." he added, scuffing his shoe on the tiled floor. "Um, is everything alright? With your personal life, I mean."
"It's nothing of your concern, Lovi." Antonio replied, turning away.
"It's Lovino. And I'm your employee, I have a right to know if something's wrong and it might affect my pay." he spat. "I know I'm not the warmest person to talk to b-but," He bit his bottom lip, blushing. "If you want someone to talk to, I'm here to listen." Antonio smiled kindly, lowering his head.
"Gracias," he muttered. "It means a lot, Lovino." He glanced at the tomato on top of the bag. "Make sure that doesn't fall." Lovino nodded, watching Antonio go back into his office. As the door closed, he set the tomato on the check-out counter, shaking his head. He sighed and left the market without saying another word.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Guess who decided to update a story?! Sorry this chapter isn't that exciting or anything. This whole story isn't that adventurous either. Just, drama, I suppose. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews and critiques are welcomed and very much appreciated!
