New friends
This has been an interesting week for Martin, where he comes face to face with some misfortunes, but whenever he is spending his free time with Giorgio, everything seems to go smoothly during their time together. With this kind of coincidence, he will not be surprised if fortune tellers tell him that Giorgio is his lucky charm, or the guardian angel that guards him from his misfortunes.
Friday finally comes and he is skipping to the medical faculty after sprinting out from his own class, where Kai is calling out to him as Martin left his notebook behind but he never turns back. Today is the day where his friends aka family will be meeting Giorgio and even Mariella, who Leonardo seems to be crushing on.
When he sees the medical faculty building, he enters the lobby hall and catches Giorgio climbing down the stairs just in time, and he waves and shouts, “Gio!”
When the blonde snaps his head to look at the brunet, Martin’s heart actually skips a beat when he sees Giorgio’s expression turn from a blank look to a smiling one, directing to him. How is he so cute and beautiful and handsome at the same time?
Martin snaps from his thoughts when Giorgio approaches him and he tries not to appear gay for him, in fear of jeopardize their current friendship, “ready to go?”
“Yeah. I need to get Mariella though.”
“Then let’s go to the art faculty together, since I need to get Leonardo anyway.”
When they are going to exit the building together, someone shouts from upstairs, “Giorgio!”
The blonde looks up while Martin follows his gaze together, wondering who is calling for Giorgio, and his eyes widen when he recognizes the infamous ‘pompadour king‘, Tao Akihiko in a lab coat, who happens to be best bud with Kai.
“What is it Tao?”
Strange, isn’t Tao a third year? And does medicine have overlapping subjects with veterinary? Tao grins and he shouts, “tell Uncle Jin I’m coming for dinner tomorrow!”
“Okay!”
And Tao immediately runs off after that, while Martin is a little disappointed that Tao didn’t greet him, or maybe it’s too far away and Martin’s hairstyle didn’t exactly stand out, while he didn’t wear his signature beanie since the beginning of the semester.
“How do you know Tao?”
“Hmmm?” Giorgio looks at Martin curiously, “you know him?”
“Who in the campus doesn’t know him? He is the infamous ‘pompadour king’. Insult his hair if you got a death wish, they said. Though I know him personally since I know his best friend Kai.”
Giorgio doesn’t seem to recall anyone named Kai from Tao’s list of friends, but he just nods as his brain is occupied with thoughts of meeting new people. Despite Martin’s constant assurance that the others are as friendly as him and Leonardo, he still can’t stop being nervous. When they finally enter the art faculty building, Mariella and Leonardo are already waiting at the lobby, where Mariella seems to be stealing glances of Leonardo, while Leonardo seems to look tired, sweaty even, where he is closing his eyes for a rest maybe.
“Leonardo!”
He opens his eyes and he greets lazily, “Martin.”
“Wow, you look tired man. Long hours of practice?”
“Yeah. Been working on a new choreography, and I got chosen to have a solo part.”
“Congrats!” Martin pats on Leonardo’s back and he almost falls faceward from the force, while Mariella looks on quietly and she greets Giorgio silently, and Giorgio looks carefully at where she is staring at and he smirks, “someone’s been watching someone intently.”
“Did not.”
“It’s useless to lie to me. I know you like the back of my hand.”
“Says the guy that ditch his little sister the moment you see your crush for lunch dates.”
The both of them have a staring competition and Martin waves at them, “hello, earth to the both of you, stop staring at each other.”
Mariella rolls her eyes while Giorgio just shakes his head, and Leonardo is still a little heartbroken that they seem close, and he didn’t feel like he stands a chance to even talk with Mariella more. Martin feels himself getting a little out of breath from the constricting and burning feeling on his chest, but he tries to stay calm. They exit the building and that’s when Martin sees the familiar orangey blonde hair approaching.
“Hey Ricci! We are here!”
Both Giorgio and Mariella are stunned when the guy called Ricci suddenly starts storming towards them, and he takes a thick book and hits Leonardo right on the head, “Leo! What did I say about washing laundry last night?!”
“Owwwwww!!! But I did my laundry already!”
“Yes, but you hang at the kitchen area instead of the balcony. How are we supposed to cook for tomorrow?! Rizzo is furious and kept complaining to me on the phone!”
“But the forecast said there might be rain…”
“Enough, both of you, don’t be embarrassing in front of our new friends.”
“And you Martin! You haven’t paid me back for the last two days’ dinner!”
“Har?! I will pay you after I get my pay this Sunday! Geez, is your thong twisted or something?”
“I didn’t wear a thong!”
“So you are naked underneath?”
Ricci glares at Leonardo and raises his arm with the book in his hand, and Leonardo raises his arms and shouts, “sorry sorry! I was just joking!”
Mariella leans towards Giorgio’s side and whispers, “their interaction kinda reminds me of our household.”
“Yeah, a common occurrence when there are two sisters who keeps arguing which chick flick to watch.”
“You are the first and eldest sister in the house.”
“So,” Martin clears his throat and gestures to the new face called Ricci, “this is Silvio Ricci, first year in bio- what is it again?”
“Biotech Engineering.”
“Right. This here is Giorgio, while this is Mariella. They are both from Naples as well.”
“Hey,” Mariella greets and Giorgio waves, “ciao.”
“Sorry to let you both see us arguing right from the start. Come on, let’s go before the last shuttle bus takes off.”
“Right! We need to hurry,” Martin looks at his phone and they start jogging to the main entrance, and when they are just in time to see the shuttle bus coming, they sigh in relief while Giorgio asks, “so, where do you guys live?”
“It’s actually right near the restaurant, so after dinner we can walk back home. Do you guys need a lift after? Alfonso is the only one with a car so he can drive you guys back.”
“No problem, we can call for a cab though-” Mariella trails off when the shuttle bus door opens and they start rushing inside to get seats, and after securing seats for every of them, the bus takes off.
Their ride is mostly silent, with Martin idly comments on some stupid things happening on the sidewalk to the whole group while Mariella is commenting on the items for sale on the display windows to Giorgio. They alight from the bus when they reach their stop, and they enter a quaint looking restaurant that doesn’t look like a restaurant from the outside. The host recognizes them and just lets them enter after Martin gestures to both Giorgio and Mariella that they are with them.
“Yo Rizzo,” Martin greets a guy that is wearing headphones and has long bleached hair sitting with a teapot at the table. He looks up and he frowns when his gaze is on Giorgio, and Martin wraps his arm around Giorgio’s shoulder and says excitedly, “this is the friend I made this week, Giorgio! He is Italian just like us. And this is Mariella.”
He takes out his headphones and he gets up, confusing the others and when he is near Giorgio, he glares at him and states quietly, “you are not Italian.”
Leonardo tilts his head with a confused look and he says, “but he can speak Italian well and even have the Neapolitan accent.”
“Kid, you can fool the others with your mask, but you can’t fool me. I’m willing to bet my lunch money for a week that you are not even born in Italy.”
Mariella rushes to defend Giorgio, because she knows how sensitive Giorgio can get whenever his heritage is being questioned with him being a half Japanese living in Italy, “so what if he is not born in Italy? That doesn’t mean he is any less Italian!”
“Ho? What a pussy, having your little girlfriend here to defend you.”
Giorgio puts a hand up to block Mariella from baring fangs on Rizzo, and she looks confused while Martin tries to defuse the situation, “hey! Don’t question my friends!”
“Good day, Rizzo,” Giorgio bows a little and though he almost walks off from this rude man, he decides to be on the defensive since even Mariella feels insulted, “first off, I applaud you for noticing that I’m not born in Italy. I never thought I look young enough for you to realize which hospital I’m born in.”
Ricci actually coughs a little before resisting a laughter, and Leonardo is grinning because not many can stand up to Rizzo. Rizzo is still glaring but now he is crossing his arms, and Martin is still thinking how to help while Alfonso is on the way, since only Alfonso can keep his boyfriend in check.
“Secondly, I’m as Italian as everyone here. I might not have a drop of Italian gene in my blood, but I lived in Italy until I was 15.”
15? That was 5 or 6 years ago… That’s when we moved to America after the gang disbanded. Martin’s expression didn’t get unnoticed by Ricci, since he pats on his shoulder and Martin glances at him for a second before looking back at Rizzo, hoping he didn’t resort to fist fighting.
“Thirdly, you insulted Mariella by calling her my girlfriend. She is my sister and she loves that fact a lot more than being romantically involved with me. Though she hates me sometimes since I’m her possible love rival if we got a crush on the same man.”
Same man? Wait, he likes man? Am I dreaming? Martin feels like a huge boulder in his heart has been destroyed, and he tries to contain his smile and continues to stay alert. Leonardo’s eyes widened but he didn’t say anything, and Ricci was the first to ask instead of the taller man, “wait, but aren’t you both the same age?”
“Yes,” Mariella looks at her nails now, getting unimpressed with this meeting since she already dislikes Rizzo, “we were childhood friends when we were in Naples. We both got adopted together after moving here and thus we are siblings.”
“I thought I’m your eldest sister?”
“I call you my brother or sister whenever I want,” Giorgio chuckles and looks at Mariella with a look that screams I’m proud of you, while she suddenly turns away and asks, “so are you done questioning him? I assume we are not welcomed here if this is the reception Giorgio gets.”
“Wait!” Martin tries to stop Mariella and that’s when their savior comes to the scene.
“What’s happening here?”
A man in white with black polka dots all over his suit enters. Rizzo seems a little flustered and Martin is the first to snitch, “Alfonso! Your boyfriend here insulted my new friend Giorgio here-”
“Yeah! But he got roasted back!” Leonardo finally howls in laughter after resisting and even Ricci is laughing, while Alfonso sighs and he asks, “Tiziano, what did I say about using your skills on a new friend?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I believe that the one needing your apology is not me.”
The couple seems to be glaring at each other for a bit, before Rizzo sighs and he looks at Giorgio and quickly whispers, “sorry.”
“I can’t hear you.”
“I’m sorry for Rizzo’s behavior,” Alfonso bows a little and explains, “he is always suspicious of anyone due to his work and studies, focusing on criminal behavior. Wait, do I know you? I believe I do see you in the medical faculty often.”
Giorgio just shakes his head and he grabs Mariella’s hand when she is trying to walk off to hold her in place, earning a hiss from her, “I’m a major in Veterinary though, so it must be why you see me in medical faculty. And the one that needed an apology is Mariella here, since she is angrier than me despite me being the one questioned.”
“I’m sorry for his behavior, signora Mariella,” Alfonso bows at her and she just shakes her head, “he is the one that needs to apologize. What is he, a pussy for letting his boyfriend clear his mess?”
Leonardo wows at Mariella’s comeback and he even claps his hands while laughing, and Martin who were tense earlier barks in laughter while patting on Ricci’s arm, and Ricci is shouting at him to stop hitting him, “I’m not-”
“Tiziano!”
“Fine. I’m sorry. You are lucky because I don’t smash girls’ kneecaps.”
“Nope, I’m not as forgiving as Giorgio here.”
Mariella cools down when Giorgio pats on her arm, and she just rolls her eyes and no longer says anything. Then Alfonso tries to ease the tension by changing the topic, “I’m sure most of you are famished. Let’s have dinner while getting to know one another.”