First date?

Leonardo actually told Alfonso that he is skipping their weekly dinner on Friday just so he can go for a date with Mariella, making Martin complains that Leonardo now pays more attention to a lover than friends, while Ricci told him not to mess things up in the usual Leonardo fashion. And that’s when Martin decided to tail Leonardo to make sure he didn’t mess his date up.

The brunet showers in a record time the moment he reaches home, making Ricci raises an eyebrow at him when he sees him wearing a newly washed turtleneck sweater that he hanged at the balcony, and when he checks his appearance a little and even comb his hair once with his hand, he then shouts at Ricci and says, “tell Alfonso I’m not coming for dinner! See ya guys later!”

“What? Where the fuck are you going?”

“Making sure Leo didn’t mess up!” and he exits the apartment without waiting for Ricci’s reply, and when he finally reaches the restaurant Leonardo said he is going to, he tries not to be suspicious and looks through the window on where the couple are seated, and that’s when someone taps on his shoulder and he shouts from the shock of being discovered.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

And that’s when Martin turns to see the familiar blonde and he sighs in relief, “I thought Leonardo found me and I was so ready to sprint off- wait, are you here to check on them too?”

Giorgio chuckles nervously and turns away, whispering, “I’m just worried.”

“Of course you must be worried! Wait, let me see where they are seated-” Martin looks through the window again and Giorgio pulls his hand, making him turns back to look at him, “yes Gio?”

“Maybe we should enter the restaurant together, and see what they are up to closer?”

“Oh! You are a genius! Come on,” when they reach the entrance of the restaurant, the hostess shows them in and when they see the couple in a booth, Martin asks the hostess whether they can get seated at another booth beside them, and when they get what they want, they quickly sit down.

All they can hear from the couple is giggling and some hushed whispering, but can’t make out what they really said. Giorgio decides to hide his blushing face behind the menu, because he realized he is alone with Martin for dinner, and his heart is beating so much faster than usual from this realization. Martin decided to enjoy this dinner with Giorgio since from their giggling, the couple is doing well, so he doesn’t need to intervene, yet.

“What do you want to eat? I have no idea what specials this restaurant serves.”

Might as well enjoy this while this lasts. “I heard that their grilled seafood platter is a must try, though I never get to try because Dr Seiji loves fish more than us.”

“Huh??”

“It’s just a joke. He loves us too.”

The brunet laughs and he shakes his head, “well, he is a marine professor right? Surely he loves fish or something.”

I love his laughs and smiles, but how do I even tell him without making this awkward between us? After the waiter comes over, Martin starts ordering and when Giorgio asks for his dessert to serve first, Martin holds his laughter and after the waiter leaves, the brunet looks at Giorgio and he wriggles his eyebrows playfully, “are you so eager for something sweet before even diving into the main course?”

Giorgio pouts and Martin’s eyes focus on the plushy pink lips and he sucks in a deep breath, but immediately recovers when the blonde opens his mouth to speak, “stop teasing me. You were the one that shouted for strawberry cake right in front of everyone else.”

“Heh, alright. Though Gio, I think you are cute whenever you pouts.”

When Giorgio’s eyes widen, Martin feels like he said something too weird between them and he quickly tries to explain, “well! I mean- you are cute in a good way! Not that it’s bad to be cute- yeah!”

Their drinks arrive and Giorgio quickly sips on his hot cocoa with marshmallow while Martin sips on his iced coffee and changes the subject, “so, do you miss Naples sometimes?”

Giorgio puts down his cup on the saucer and he shakes his head, “not really. I- well, I don’t really have much happy memories growing up there,” and he chuckles to lighten up the mood when he sees Martin looking sorry for bringing the topic up, “I was not born there, but I stayed there since I was four years old after my mother remarried to an Italian man.”

“Oh… Erm, then what about your mother? Did she pass away?”

“No. But she is too eager to get rid of me once Dr Seiji pays her a visit when he finds out about my family situation. That’s when he adopted me- and Mariella, when Mariella herself became an orphan after- something happened.”

Martin didn’t expect to hear such a sob story from the blonde, and he keeps scratching his neck and tries to console him, “but everything’s good now, isn’t it? You got a great family, studying to be doctor-”

“A vet.”

“Yeah! Doctor for cute animals, and now you have us as your friends! You have me as your friend.”

They stare at each other for a moment until Martin starts, “you know, I didn’t exactly have much good memories in Naples as well, but there’s something good that happened too! I mean, luck is like a coin, yeah? You know, the good and bad are at the different sides, but they share the same. You won’t be unlucky all the time, and definitely not lucky forever. Well, I met my current friends, when Alfonso bail me out of jail-”

“Jail-?”

“Oh,” Giorgio sees him chuckles nervously and he sighs, “I hope you don’t see me in a bad way or something, erm, well, actually- I-” he trails off and he calms down when Giorgio gives him some confidence by holding his trembling hand, and he looks down and grins, while the blonde nods at him to continue, “well, I used to roam the streets, you know? Beat people for cash, a dropout from school and stuff, and there was once I saw some shit happened, and I got involved.”

“You go to jail because you got involved?”

“Yeah. I- saw some thugs hitting and tried to rape a poor lady, so I intervened, took one of their guns, and shot them dead. I got a life sentence until Alfonso used connections from the mafia to bail me out, and I worked with him for a couple of years until we moved to America after it disbanded.”

“Disbanded-?” Giorgio is now a little surprised, but what are the odds of Italians migrating to the US and not being involved in Greco previously? He then shakes his head and asks, “is the mafia, the gang, called Greco?”

Martin gawks and he nods, “yeah… Oh, you heard of them too? Well, it’s no surprise, since almost everyone who lives in Naples knows that name. Erm, you won’t see me, or us as lesser now that you know we were gangsters before?”

How can I, when I used to steal and scam in the streets before Dr Seiji found me? “Of course not. If it makes you feel better, I used to steal too, though I did that on tourists at the airport area.”

“Really?! Heh, with your looks and all, you must be a pretty successful thief, charming your way with the people.”

I want to charm you too. Instead he just nods and their food arrives, with Giorgio’s dessert, a chocolate brownie placed in front of him, and Martin grins, “dig in! I’m starving!”

Their initial goal of entering the restaurant has long forgotten.