Mafia!Romano X Reader ~ The Love Boat Ch.5

Roses (Spain) → Monaco (Monaco)

_ felt her conciousness coming back to her and smiled. Without opening her eyes she streched her arm to touch Lovino only to find that the space next to her was empty. She sat up and looked around the room for him.

Sure enough, he was there, sitting back in a chair with his feet on the desk and had a small notepad on his lap, seemingly doodling. "Buongiorno, bella!" he smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes" she nodded, beaming, and just watched him for a while, curious. Was Lovino sketching?

She wrapped the white sheet around her body, got up and hobbled towards him, the edges of the covers sweeping the floor.

Lovino saw that and made a mental note to change his top sheet. "I've already seen you, you know" he said without raising his eyes from his work. "So, why are you hiding?"

"Why are you dressed?" she asked back.

"It's different" he shrugged.

She was behind him now and leaned to wrap her arms around his shoulders, careful to not bother his right hand. Looking at his drawings, she asked: "How is it different?"

"I'm a man" he simply answered without stopping sketching.

She nuzzled his hair behind his ear and kissed his cheek and again, turned to look at his work. "Isn't that unfair?"

He corrected a line with an eraser. "Maybe it is, but I still want to see you"

She chuckled. "Alright" she said and un-hugged Lovino. She looked around the room. "Where are my clothes?"

"I put them in the closet"

_ took her bathing suit and beach dress and placed them on the bed. She, then, let the sheet drop. Lovino, finally, stopped drawing and raised his eyes from his paper.

She had decided to offer him a show and therefore, even though her heart was beating furiously from embarassment, she took her sweet time to dress and sometimes even posed. When she was done, he was in a trance, and she took advantage of the fact to indirectly ask him: "I didn't know you were the artsy type"

Lovino blinked, waking up from his daze, but was still unprepared. "Eeehr... Yes, eeehr... I like to paint..."

"This isn't painting, that's just sketching" _ objected, pretending she didn't notice his stammer, flushed cheeks and glazed eyes. But, inside she was smirking.

"I like sketching too... Eeehr, I mean painting... I enjoy it more..." he shook his head, in an effort to kick the recent images out of his mind. His hair and curl were whipped along. "I like sketching, but I like painting more" he, finally, said firmly.

"Oh, you like to paint!" she said, excited, trying to get him to talk. As an art conservator, she had great interest in art and specifically in paintings. Not to mention she wanted to know everything about this man. "Will you show me?" she nodded towards Lovino's sketchbook.

Lovino flushed more than before, if possible, but said nothing.

"Come on! I really wanna see!" she urged him. "I bet they're beautiful!"

"I only have doodles here..." he mumbled and surrendered, giving her his sketchbook.

The glee she felt while sitting down on the floor and opening it, reminded her of when she was a child and, having long ago reached the limits of her patience, was tearing the wrapper of her Christmas presents. Yes, she definitely wanted to know everything about this man.

The sketches were cute, but intricate. They showed off vast imagination and more than enough dedication. Studying his curves and lines, she realized Lovino must had a very stready hand. This was a very "handy" feature in almost all kinds of art.

She looked at him, scrunching her eyebrows, confused. These weren't just silly doodles. The man had talent.

"What?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "I like them" she answered, nodding in reassurance. "What about your paintings? Can I see any of those?" she asked. "I mean, since you prefer painting..."

Lovino was embarassed, but realized he couldn't deny anything to those cute eyes that were looking up at him through their lashes. He wanted to talk about this with someone anyway and his "collegues" weren't a safe choice. "Bring me the iPad that's over there" he said, pointing with his finger.

He chuckled to himself when she just got up and followed his order without any nagging or even questioning his manners; He wasn't used to this behaviour without the others knowing of his power and influence.

She fetched him the tablet and sat back down and he turned it on. Brushing the screen with his fingertips he got where he wanted. "Here" he said and gave it back to her.

It was a folder full of photos of paintings. She scrolled one after the other, slowly figuring out his technique, appreciating the vivid colours and feeling the emotions Lovino was sharing. Each was better than the previous. "Lovino, you have talent!" she exclaimed.

He abruptly exhaled a big glob of air, something between an ironic laugh and a tsk.

"I'm not kidding!" _ complained, scrolling through again from the beginning, quickly this time, to evaluate them as a whole now. "You're taking advantage of the rough texture of the canvas, your colours are matching and compliment each other, you have a clear understanding of perspective, your themes are very interesting..." she trailed and looked back at him, standing up. "It takes years to get to this point!"

Lovino didn't answer, he just kept looking away.

"I'm a failed artist and an art conservator, I would know" she said and went on: "Your works remind me a lot of the ones of a very talented Italian painter! He's not very famous yet because he's very recent, but everyone in the art world knows of him. Maybe you've heard of him too. His most famous painting is called: "Wild violets at dusk of a Holy Wednesday beyond piazza San Martin" or something..."

Lovino only turned to look at her.

She made a face of shear what-the-fuckery. "Yeah, except for his talent, he's also famous for the obsurdly long titles he gives to his paintings."

"You mean: "Wild violets at dusk of a Holy Wednesday beyond piazza San Marco" " Lovino corrected her with a sour expression on his face.

"Oh, so, you've heard of him" she said. "How do you remember this train of a title?"

"The artist, Veneziano..." Lovino smiled bitterly, "He's my brother..."

"Veneziano is your brother?!" she was astonished. "You must be kidding me!"

"I'm not" his reply was curt. "My brother's dream was to study Fine Arts in Venice. You see, he got to study what he wanted; I wasn't even given the chance to study anything, let alone what I wanted" a now choleric Lovino said. In a weak moment, he tried to revenge: "He keeps his real name a secret. He told me that he swore to Saint Marco, the patron saint of Venice, that he'll never reveal it. Go ahead and tell everyone that his name is Feliciano Vargas. He will be forced to stop painting and his career will be ruined for ever."

_ smiled sadly, but deep down she was glad. Yes, Lovino was envious of Feliciano and yes, he had a lot of brother issues to work on, but he obviously loved him. If he really wanted the famous artist's real identity to be revealed, he could do it himself. He certainly didn't need anyone's help to expose his own brother. Warily, she asked: "What did you want to study, Lovino?"

Lovino lowered his gaze, embarassed, and mumbled: "Fine Arts..."

The whole conversation shook _ and didn't know how to handle it. At the same time, Lovino seemed distant, obviously regretting the whole incident. After some awkward minutes, with the excuse that she should check on Alfred, _ left.

She entered her cabin and found her American friend lying on his bed, tapping on his phone screen.

He instantly turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow, annoyed and ironic at the same time. "I'll excuse your yesterday rudeness of ditching me if you have a good gossip. And judging by the time it is and your walk of shame, I bet you have."

"Get down here" she said, smirking.

Alfred didn't need more urging from his friend. He got down from his upper bunk bed and was standing in the middle of their small cabin right away. "I'm listening..." he smirked back.

"Well... To put it simply... " she hesitated, "Yes" she nodded.

"Awesome!" Alfred celebrated by throwing his arms in the air and then, hugging his friend. "I knew it! There is a God! We finally got you laid!" he exclaimed and, at once, released her and asked: "How was he?"

"First of all, I got me laid," _ answered with a pseudo-annoyed look on her face, "and secondly..." her eyes sparkled now and she beamed, "He was amazing!" she cheared, "Amazing! He was oh-my-GOD amazing!"

"Congratulations!" a playful Alfred shook her hand vigorously.

"I'm telling you, the expression "In heaven, the lovers are Italian" is not random AT ALL!". _ was smiling like an idiot.
"Wow!" the American admired. "That good?"

"Yeap!" she nodded with excitement.

"Care to share any details?"

She took a deep, happy breath. "Our timing was perfect, he would caress and kiss me non-stop, he sometimes whispered with his gruff voice italian in my ear – I didn't understand a word, but who cares?" _ sighed dreamily remembering all that. "The best part was that I barely had time to think that I wanted him to do something: As soon as I would think "I hope he'll do this", he just did it!"

"On his own?" Alfred asked doubtfully, "Without you straightforward asking for it or subtly letting him know?"

_ just nodded vigorously, beaming.

"Damn, now I wanna try him too!" the American joked.

_ teasingly hit her friend's shoulder, still smiling. And then, she smirked again, "Not to mention the endurance..." she raised a full-of-meaning eyebrow.

Alfred copied his friend's grimace, but in a teasing way. " "Endurance" I hear..."

"When we stopped and went to sleep, it was dawn..."

The American got confused. "How did you know?"

"I saw it through the porthole" _ answered, wondering what kind of question was that, now of all times.

"HE HAS A PORTHOLE? Why don't WE have one?" the American asked, appalled. "That's discrimination! I'll complain to the company!"

"Alfred, FOCUS!" _ ordered her friend. "He has a suite room and that's not the point anyway!"

"Oh, okay, right!" he complied. And then, he returned to the topic at hand: "That long, eh?" he asked without really expecting an answer. "You go, girl!" he gave an "american smile" and two thumbs up.

"Ah," she sighed with sparkling eyes, "it was amazing, Alfred! So amazing!"

"I'm very happy for you!"

Her smile dropped a little, but not completely. "I wish the day after wasn't so weird..."

"Why? What happened?" the American asked worriedly. If he was one of those douchebags that threw out the girls as soon as they'd take what they wanted and treated them like dirt instantly afterwards, he would beat the asshole to the death!

"Everything seemed to go fine, but..." she hesitated, "we had this conversation and, I think he was in a weak moment or something, he told me something very sad about his past that still pains him..." she said. "I mean, it's not bad that he confided in me, but later I was getting the vibe he was feeling very uncomfortable for exposing himself..."

"Well, you've known each other for a very little time" Alfred agreed. "On the other hand, you just had sex, so..."

_ tilted her head. "So?"

"Eh, you're not strangers!" the American replied with an "isn't it obvious?" gesture. "So, did he ask you to leave?"

"No, I left on my own. I didn't know how to console him or what to do..."

Alfred now relaxed by the fact that Lovino hadn't kicked _ out, teased her: "Or who to do..."

The young woman lost all enthusiasm she had left at once. "Oh, shut up!" she ordered seriously.

There was a pause and then, Alfred asked: "So, what's gonna happen now?"

_ shrugged. "We agreed to meet at the top of the escalator at 7. I think he wanted some time alone to save face. We'll see then how things will go."

The American nodded. There was another pause and he asked, tendatively: "_, how do you feel about him?"

_ suddenly gave a painful expression. "I really, really like him..." she said, worriedly. "I think you'll have to pick up my pieces again when we get home..."

Alfred just hugged her.

They stayed like this for a while and then, releasing herself from the bear hug, _ asked: "So, what did you do yesterday after you left us? Was the food at the tavern good? Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, the food was so tasty! I ordered a beef steak and it was tender and awesome – they have very high quality beef there as a tourist told me. Later, I went for a walk around the town and took some pictures that I later send to Ivan when I sat at a small cafe to have some ice-cream. It was a nice walk, I just wish people spoke english!"

"They didn't?" she asked, confused. Up until now, people would speak english very well.

"The place is small and doesn't attract many tourists. The elderly couldn't understand a word! The rest would speak few, broken english."

"So, what?" she asked. "It's not like you had any interest to talk to the locals, right?"

"No, but I wanted to buy a gift for Ivan and communication with the shop-owners was impossible!" he quite loudly complained. "I mean, c'mon! I know your place doesn't attract many tourists, but there are some tourists for crying out loud! It wasn't enough that they were all slothful as if they had just woken up from their siesta, they also didn't speak english!" he lashed out. "Do your fucking job!"

_ gave a smile of amused pity and asked: "Did you manage to buy something in the end?"

"Oh, yes" Alfred calmed down immediately and grabbed his backpack. "I got him this T-shirt and I also got this magnet for our fridge. What do you think?"

The paradise green T-shirt was something Ivan would wear with his favourite jeans for a long time and, after a year or two of constant use, it would turn into a practice shirt as usual. The magnet had apparently the coat of arms of the municipality, three red flowers with a crown over them. On the bottom, it was written: "ROSES, CATALONIA, SPAIN".

_ didn't need to lie about the T-shirt; Alfred had done a wonderful job in picking it. She wondered, though, why Alfred bought the fridge magnet. "The T-shirt is very nice. The colours will suit him and it seems just the right size! The magnet is cute too!"

"Oh, yeah!" Alfred chuckled, "the magnet glows in the dark!"

'Ah, yes...' she thought, now understanding, and asked: "Why?"

Alfred shrugged. "No reason. They just made it!"

_ nodded, smiling. "So, what did you do later? After the ice-cream?"

"Oh, yeah. I got here and took a shower to get rid of all the salt and then got out to get dinner. Luckily, I found Francis at the restaurant. We ate chinese; It was good"

"It sounds you had a nice time. So, no hard feelings for me...?" she asked with big puppy eyes, batting her lashes.

Alfred smiled at the sight. "No hard feelings for you, baby!"

"How's Ivan doing?" she inquired. "Did he like the pictures?"

"Ah, yeah. When I sat at the cafe, I kept myself busy by exchanging messages with Ivan for a while. Thankfully, it was day in the US and he wasn't sleeping. I would send him the pics and write a little something for them and he would comment. Soon, I thought 'What the hell? Why aren't I calling?' so, I just called. He's doing fine, by the way. Thanks for asking!"

"I know you miss him" _ told her friend. "Patience, we'll be back in New York soon!"

"Lol" Alfred said without any sign of amusement. "I'm having the weirdest vacations of my life. On one hand, this voyage has been awesome so far, on the other hand, I wanna be back home as soon as possible" he said. "Sucks!" he concluded, crossing his arms over his chest with a childish pout.

_ just patted his head.

"And then, there's you" Alfred went on, "I wanna go home as soon as possible, but I can't ignore the fact that you want this cruise to last as long as possible!"

She chuckled. "We'll see what's gonna happen with that. Don't feel bad for this; it's not your fault" she said and tried to take her friend's mind away from those things, by changing the subject: "Did you have breakfast today?" she asked. "I didn't!"

"Yeah, I just took a sandwitch and a coffee in hand; I didn't wanna sit alone" he answered. "To be honest, when yesterday the boat sailed away, I was a little afraid that you might have missed it, but Francis assured me that under no circumstances Lovino would miss it. I knew you were with him so, I was good."

_ nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna hit the shower and then, we can do whatever you want!" she said. "See it as an "I'm sorry for ditching you". Whatever you think it'd be fun!"

Alfred's blue eyes twinkled. "Oh, I already know, baby!" he replied with a smug smile.

"Really?" _ asked mockingly with a disappointed look on her face, while she stood in front of their aisle. "That's what you had in mind?". Bowling was not a favourite activity of hers. Actually, she disliked it a lot.

"Yeah, you don't like bowling, Ivan can't play anyway, the last time I played was three months ago with my collegues. And let me tell you, they totally ruined it for me. Sore losers!"

"But you do one strike after the other! If I had any interest in it, I would be annoyed too!" _ protested and then gave in: "Whatever, I said we'd do whatever you wanted, so I have no right to complain. Let's do this!" she, finally, smiled and pinched her friend's cheek as if he were a baby.

Alfred took a black ball and placed his fingers in it and threw it. The ball rolled smoothly on the wooden floor and crashed against the triangularly placed pins. Strike.

"Perfect" both Alfred and _ said simultaneously, but in a completely different context.

The kept on playing, alternatively throwing balls and eating hot dogs from the bar – it was needed since they had missed lunch.

The game was more or less humiliating for _. She knew in advance she would lose and, as a result, she wasn't even trying.

Fortunately, Alfred didn't notice. "Another strike!" he cheared, "I'm awesome"

The young woman smiled. She may not enjoyed bowling, but she still enjoyed hanging out with her best friend.

The game ended quite quickly – with Alfred making a new high score for the bowling alley of the boat and writing his name with golden letters on the top of the "All-time top 10 scores" board – and, with Alfred smiling like an idiot, the two friends went to relax and take a short nap.

They woke up a little later and went to grab coffees in hand and sweets at the closest to their cabin saloon, and headed back to their room. Loud, upbeat music from their phones, enough caffeine and chocolate, a little conversation and plenty of friendly teasing in this extremely private party, raised their spirits high, while they were getting ready for their outing.

They put on their most expensive, designer clothes – that they had in advance thought to bring along – because this outing would be in the world-famous, super extravagant and luxurious Monaco!

At 7 sharp, they met Francis and Lovino. After the greets, the four friends descended the escalator, and along with the other passengers, flooded the Port Hercule.

The cabs had formed a long line, waiting for voyagers to quartet of friends entered one and ordered the driver to take them to the biggest casino of the tiny country, the "Casino de Monte-Carlo".

_ and Alfred were astonished by the luxury of the place and the wide, clean streets; not a single piece of garbage was littering them. Very soon – only a few blocks later as it turned out – they reached at the famous casino and _ wondered at its structure and the great fountain in front of it. It looked like Vegas, but more elegant and sophisticated. Francis paid the taxi fee and, after they were checked, they were allowed to enter.

High marble ceilings, mahogany tables and what appeared to be only people of the high class – unless some weren't, but were still dressed like them – made Alfred and _ marvel and gulp uncomfortably at the same time.

The two friends had in advance made clear that they wouldn't bet, they would just wander around for starters and later, keep company to the Italian and the French. Francis and Lovino were fine with that and, after the two left to take a stroll inside the building, they sat at the closest poker table.

Alfred and _ gossiped relentlessly at the exaggeration of everything surrounding them: The implausibly expensive clothes, the impossibly intricate hairstyles of the ladies, the astronomically high bets and even tips to the waiters, the over-the-top, fake politeness...
"Huh..." Alfred was speachless. "I guess it wouldn't be over-exaggerating if we said they're over-doing it"

They kept on walking around and crossed various halls that were filled with tables for roulette, poker, Blackjack, dice... They also found two halls stuffed with slots; these were the most empty.

"I was thinking of playing once or twice on one of those," Alfred nodded towards a fruit machine, "but I changed my mind, now.."

"I see..." _ only answerd. "Well, we've seen all there is. Let's go back find the others"

They were back quickly, just as the poker game was getting "warmed up". They had already played a few rounds.

At the table, along Lovino and Francis, were sitting one woman and two more men, one of them, familiar. 'The Japanese guy!' _ thought astonished.

The croupier was a cute, blonde girl with glasses over her blue eyes and her long side braid was adorned by a red ribbon. "The Big Blind is raised to 200 euros. The Small Blind is raised to 100 euros" she said.

_ had no idea what this meant, but nonetheless, watched Francis and Lovino bet 100 and 200 euros worth chips respectively while the croupier was dealing the cards. The five players checked their cards and evaluated their chances for a few seconds.

The guy on Lovino's left simply placed a 200 chip in front of him.

"I fold" the Japanese man said and gave his cards back, obviously withdawing from this round.

"I'm in" informed the woman and bet accordingly.

A french accented "I'm in too" was then, heard by Francis who placed another 100 worth chip in front of him.

Lovino, who was sitting on Francis' left, just knocked his knuckles on the table.

"The flop" the girl declared and opened three cards in front of her.

Quickly, the unknown man also knocked on the table.

The woman simply said "I check"

Francis took a moment to evaluate the situation. "I raise" he, finally, challenged and added two 100 worth chips to the previous two in front of him.

_ cringed. That was a lot of money for her.

Lovino rubbed his jaw in thought. "I'm in" he said and copied Francis' movement.

_ cringed further.

The man on the Italian's left took a deep breath, thoughtfully. In the end, he gave in: "I'm in"

The woman, hesitated, but also added a 200 chip to her bets in front of her.

The croupier opened one more card.

Again, the same thing happened, the man and the woman checked, Francis raised the bet and Lovino and the unknown two followed.

_ was now feeling very anxious and she was hoping Lovino – or at least Francis – wasn't clueless.

The croupier opened the last card.

The woman checked and Francis checked, but it was Lovino the one to raise the bet this time. The man and woman seemed unsure, but nevertheless, refused to fold their cards. Francis, the one who had been raising the bet all this time, just folded.

_ raised her eyebrows. Francis' cards were obviously bad and he had all along been bluffing.

The three left players opened their cards.

"Full house," the blonde girl said, "the gentleman wins".

The three players gave back to the croupier their cards and, _ wouldn't know who had won, unless Lovino, with the croupier's help, didn't gather the bets and added them to his stack of chips.

_ took a deep breath in relief, realising that this was more than enough stressful only by watching it. 'I hope they know what they're doing!' she prayed silently for her moronic, new friends.

Turns out, they did. As time went by, both Francis and Lovino seemed to be perfectly able to calculate the chances and avoided unnecessary risks. Every time they raised their bets it was, indeed, because either the one or the other had a good hand – at least, whenever they had to reveal it because sometimes the others would just withdraw.

Alfred and _ stayed there, watching and whispering to each other about how the game was evolving. It seemed the woman and the unknown man would lose money to Francis, Lovino and the Japanese guy, but Francis and the Japanese guy would, in turn, lose money to Lovino: The stacks in front of the unknown two were getting smaller, the stacks of the Japanese and the Franchman were staying relatively steady and Lovino's stack was getting taller.

After 30 minutes to an hour – _ wasn't sure because all time telling devices were forbidden inside the casino and anxiety wasn't helpful to properly count the time either – Francis turned to his cousin: "Mon ami, I'm getting poor!"

"And I'm getting hungry!" the Italian agreed. "Let's go!"

The two friends rose from their seats and joined _ and Alfred. After a few exchanged words, they agreed to go get dinner. As they walked towards the exit, they broke in two smaller parties as was tradition by now: Francis and the American were leading the way and, a few steps behind, Lovino and the young woman were following.

"Aren't you a lucky star!" Lovino marveled, "I've never made this much at a casino! Here, this is for you, bella!" he said and offered her a 100 euros worth chip.

"No, I'm sorry, I can't accept it!" _ answered almost offended, pushing his hand.

"Why not?" Lovino asked. "You saw the tips I gave to the croupier and the waiter. It's tradition at casinos, if you win, to tip the croupier at your table, the waiter that served you and whoever brought you luck" he informed her. "Just so you know, I'm not giving it in exchange for anything; you have made it crystal clear to me by now, that you are not this kind of woman" he told her and leaned to whisper in her ear: "We already slept together..."

_ blushed from one ear to the other. "Shut up!" she said, totally embarassed. "I'm not taking it no matter what!"

Lovino just chuckled and playfully kissed her cheek.

The little gang reached at the exit of the casino and Francis and Lovino cashed out their earnings. After they took back their mobiles and personal items, they redeployed and started walking down "Avenue de Monte-Carlo", thusly approaching the port.

"I think I have an admirer on the ship" _ said.

"You hadn't noticed that I admire you up until now?" Lovino asked with a smirk, teasing.

The woman chuckled, flattered. "No, I mean, someone other than you"

The Italian gave a pseudo-worried expression. "Well, that doesn't sound threatening to me at all..." he joked.

_ chuckled again and playfully hit his shoulder.

Lovino remembered a tall, ripped Dane with standing, blond hair. "Whom are you talking about?" he asked, now genuinely worried.

"I don't know, it could be just my imagination, but..." _ paused for a second, smiling, "There's someone stalking me, I think"

The Italian turned to look at her and scrunched his eyebrows. "That sounds unsettling" he said. "Why are you smiling?"

"He seems too shy and most likely doesn't know how to approach me. Nothing dangerous, I'm sure. I don't get the "creep" vibe" she replied. "Besides, I'm with either you or Alfie or both you and Alfie and Francis. Never alone"

Lovino grunted. This still didn't sound safe enough to him and repeated his question: "Who is that guy again?"

"Oh," _ said, "that Japanese guy that was sitting with you at the poker table. He's always on his own and somewhere around if you've noticed"

It was Lovino's turn to chuckle. "Really?" he asked, amused. "Okay, I'll keep an eye out for him from now on"

"Do you think I'm delusional?" she asked, suddenly doubtful. She didn't want Lovino to think that she was trying to show off to him. Teasing him with Mark was more than enough. "I mean, I might be wrong..."

"Oh, I'm sure you're not" he said and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "He'd be blind if he didn't like you!"

The four friends were now walking on "Avenue d'Ostende" and passed in front of "Princess Grace Theatre" where they stopped for a while so that Alfred and _ could take some pictures. A few meters away was a restaurant that Francis thought looked nice and, mentally praying that its prices won't be absurdly high, the American and the young woman reluctantly agreed to go there to eat.

That wasn't the case, though. After seeing the prices, _ momentarily wished she had accepted the damn chip. She looked at Alfred with uncertainty over the menu. He gave her back a just as worried look. They would have to pay by card; their cash wasn't enough! So, they chose the cheapest things on the menu and proceeded in engaging themselves in a pleasant conversation with the other two, while waiting for their food to be brought.

The food was marvelous, but sparse on the plate. All this "haute-cuisine" had really annoyed the two who felt like they'd pay a fortune for just a sniff of food. The young woman and the American looked at each other again and silently communicated that they'd go get snacks and sandwitches from a bar when they'd get back on the ship.

Very quickly, the plates were empty and Lovino asked if anyone was interested in ordering dessert. Everybody replied negatively. Francis was cautious of "his silhouette" and Alfred and _ couldn't afford buying something more, not to mention they wanted to go back to the ship as soon as possible so that they'd actually eat something.

The bill was brought and Lovino strictly insisted that he'd pay it on his own. "I said "no". This one's on me" he told them. "I won a lot at the casino and I wanna treat my friends with my winnings."

No-one resisted much, not even Francis, because he had lost money to Lovino. Finally, after the check was paid, the quartet of friends got up to leave.

They kept on walking down "Avenue d'Ostende" and soon, they found themselves back in Port Hercule. The four friends climbed aboard the cruise ship that would sail away shortly.

After a relevant proposal, _ made clear to Lovino that she'd sleep in her cabin for tonight, something that confused the Italian, but he decided against expressing it. She was a free woman and if she didn't want to sleep with him tonight, then, there was nothing else for him to do but to respect it.

When she and Alfred were again alone, they headed straight to the closest snack bar. They bought a great amount of sandwitches, hot dogs and chips that they took back to their cabin to pig out with, away from judging eyes.

The role distribution of this fic is based on user XRC's comment under this AWESOME MMD video: watch?v=8sCDmasEAq8. Seriously, YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS!

Since I don't have a YouTube account, could someone do me a favour and let the commenters in the thread know about this fic and give them the link, please? It's been weeks and no comment so far... :(