[Fic] Tomates y Amor-- Chapter 5: Listen With Your Heart
Title: Tomates y Amor-- Chapter 5: Listen With Your Heart
Author: cutthroatpixie
Character(s) or Pairing(s): (this chapter) Spain, Fem!Spain, Romano, Belgium, Veneziano, Germany. Overall fic will eventually be some form of Spain/Romano.
Rating: PG-13 for the fuck word
Warnings: Human names. Your mom.
Summary: Far, far away, beyond the borders of dreams and wishes, just past where fantasies live, there sat a quiet, peaceful little kingdom. In a not so far, far away land, closer to where dreams go to die, sat a very disgruntled Italian man. This is the story of how these two realities came to meet.
Note: It's been seven months oops. I don't even remember what happened before it's okay if none of you do either ;)
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
April Fools Day Interlude
Antonio burst through the manhole at the end of the well's portal, landing gracefully on the hard asphalt and startling the crew working diligently on putting said manhole back in its place.
"Oi, buddy," one of them said. "What's your deal?"
Antonio gave him a winning smile and dusted off his shirt. "I'm looking for a woman."
"Aren't we all," one mumbled.
"A specific woman," Antonio clarified. "With eyes greener than tomato vines and a voice straight from the heavens. I'm sure she's been by here?"
"I'm sure she has." A third man ushered him out of the way. "Get moving. We need to fix this again."
Antonio was a fair man, and very polite as well, so of course he moved along, thanking the men for their help and continuing on down the street, listening closely just in case his bride-to-be happened to be nearby.
"Hey, buddy, you're in the--"
Suddenly, a loud screech rang through the air as some sort of large, hulking machine stopped in front of Antonio. Antonio stared at it for a moment. It didn't stare back, for it had no eyes, but upon seeing the horrified faces of the people within, Antonio knew this creature was up to no good!
"Stand back, beast!" he cried, pulling his trusty sword (his mother gave it to him, of course he brought it with him!) from its scabbard and jamming into the creature's... mouth? Antonio had never seen a beast quite like this, but when the sword barely managed to break the skin, he knew he was up against something terrible.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Antonio assumed it was the monster speaking and jumped atop its head, jamming the sword in through the top, above where he'd heard the noise. People started flooding out its side, screaming and rushing off toward the sidewalk, and Antonio knew he'd done a good job, since every single one got out alive.
"Did you just stab my bus?" one of the women asked, looking at him with furious gratitude. At least that is what he thought it was. What else could it be?
"No need to thank me," Antonio said with a smile, patting the woman on the shoulder. "You're all free from the beast, rejoice!"
With that, Antonio set off to find Antonia. He knew she'd understand his being distracted, but he really did want to find her soon! He set off down one of the many streets, hoping his heart (and possibly a stray tomato) would lead him to his love.
---
"Antonia, I have to go to work."
"Oh, but I made you all this nice food and it's so early! Can't you just wait a bit? You look so tired."
"It doesn't work that way." Lovino yawned for what felt like the billionth time and grabbed his bag. "I'll be late if I wait any longer." His stomach growled, letting him know that it had indeed noticed the large spread of food currently taking up his entire kitchen table. "Shit. Fine. I'll take some to go, but I really need to leave."
Antonia sighed. "What a horrible place this is if you don't even have time to eat!"
Lovino rolled his eyes at her, grabbed a piece of toast, and set off. "You stay here. Don't touch anything. Don't open the door for anyone."
"What if--"
"No. Goodbye."
Lovino quickly left before Antonia could ask any more questions. He looked at his watch, cursing when he noticed what time it was, and ran down the hallway, taking the stairs two and three at a time. He continued running when he got outside, weaving in and out of the crowds of people taking up the sidewalk, holding tight to his bag and making every effort possible to not run into somebody and add minutes he didn't have to his commute.
Apparently, other assholes weren't as considerate as him, because some douche who looked like he was on his way to a Renaissance ball bumped into his shoulder and sent him stumbling into stairs outside the call center. "Watch where you're going, dickbag!" He stood up quickly and went to dust himself off, but said dickbag beat him to it.
"I'm really, really sorry!" he cried, quickly running his hands over Romano's scuffed trousers. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, stop touching me."
"Right, sorry!"
"Whatever." Romano would have liked to tell the weirdly dressed idiot off, but he had only a minute before his shift started and if he hurried he could clock in just in time...
"I don't want to bother you, but I'm looking for--"
"You are bothering me, go ask somebody else."
"Oh, alright! Nice meeting you!" The man smiled radiantly, giving Lovino an energetic wave before taking off running down the street. He narrowly avoided running into Edmée as she rushed by and Lovino rolled his eyes.
"You scare him off or something?" she asked on their way in to work. "Should have made him wait for me, he's cute."
"Probably a nut job, did you see how he was dressed?"
"Maybe he's going to a costume party. Or getting back from one, it's pretty early."
"Too early." Lovino found his desk, located right next to Edmée's, and quickly seated himself after checking around for their boss.
---
Ludwig had hoped, for a brief moment as he passed through the strange portal between worlds, that Antonio wouldn't have gone far by the time he got through. He knew it was futile, however, as everyone knew once Antonio got an idea into his head it was near impossible to get it out of there, and he was surely halfway to... wherever it was he was going... by the time Ludwig came crashing through the manhole.
"Motherfucker!" a man in a strange yellow hat exclaimed. "What is it with people today? Let me guess, you're looking for some chick too?"
Ludwig quickly dusted himself off before standing up straight in front of the other man, who he now saw was surrounded by others dressed similarly to himself. "I apologise for my intrusion. I'm looking for a man, actually, perhaps you've seen him?"
The crew grumbled and picked up the manhole, to attempt once more to put it back in its rightful place. "Whatever floats your boat, buddy, just get the hell out of here."
Not wanting to upset the crew further, despite their lack of help, Ludwig quickly set off down the street.
---
"Hey, Vargas!"
Lovino looked up at the sound of his name to find one of the security guards standing in the door of the company's break room. "Yeah, what?"
"Some lady is here to see you. Says she brought something you forgot."
Lovino had no idea what "lady" would be visiting him at work, since Edmée was in the room with him, nobody in his family ever visited him at work, and-- oh. "Dark hair, green eyes, really obnoxious?"
"Hey, if you don't want her, I'll gladly--"
Whatever the security guard would gladly do with Antonia, Lovino never found out, because she burst in the room just then, waving around a paper bag. "Lovino! There you are. You didn't bring anything for lunch and Feliciano said I should bring this over! He even walked me here on his way to the store, isn't that so sweet of him?"
"So, so sweet of him," Edmée replied, drowning out Lovino's response of, "No, that is not sweet at all." She looked Antonia up and down and then winked at Lovino. "Is this the reason you never want to hang out with us on weekends, Lovino? You're so mean, keeping a secret girlfriend from me."
Lovino was quick to deny this "secret girlfriend" business, but Edmée's grin didn't fade at all until Antonia agreed with him. "Oh no, Lovino's just a friend! I'm staying with him until my fiancé comes to find me and take me back to the palace."
"Palace? Where is there a--"
"It's just some huge ass house in the country," Lovino lied. "She's exaggerating"
"I'm not, it really is a palace!"
"Sure it is." Lovino grabbed Antonia by the arm and tried to lead her away before Edmée could ask any more questions, but she followed them out of the break room.
"Sooo," she started. "How do you know Lovino, then?"
"We just me--"
"Friend of my cousin's," Lovino interrupted. "Gave me some shit about how she can't see the groom before the wedding and pawned her off on me. You know how she is."
"Same as you are?"
"Is not. She's a crazy bitch."
"Aw, you shouldn't say things like that about your family." Antonia pouted at Lovino as if he had personally insulted her and he scowled back at her.
"Well she is. Thanks for the lunch, you should go now." He took the bag and tried to wave her off, but Edmée grabbed her arm.
"You can't make her walk back by herself, what if she gets lost?"
She had a point. Unfortunately. "I'll call Feliciano to get her, then." He grabbed his phone before making his way over to a quieter corner of the building. "Don't go anywhere, either of you. I'll be right back."
"We won't."
"And don't ask her too many questions. You're nosy, it annoys people," he called out.
"Sure thing, Lovi."
Lovino pressed the phone to his ear, willing Feliciano to pick up quickly so he didn't leave Edmée and Antonia alone with one another for too long. "Pick up, pick up..."
"Hey! You've reached Feliciano! Well, his answering machine! If you--"
"Fucking hell." Lovino called back again, willing his brother to pick up the damn phone.
“Vargas, your break is over! Back to the phones.”
Lovino cursed and peeked back into the room, only to find his phone ringing. “One of you assholes get that, I’ll be in there in a minute.”
He didn’t pay any mind to the voice calling, “I’ve got it!” back at him, just pressed the redial button once more. All he got was the voicemail greeting. He grumbled and went back over to his desk, where Antonia was busy chatting with somebody on his phone.
Wait.
"What are you doing?!" He tried to snatch the phone from her, but she waved him off.
"Is that so? Oh I'm so sorry your day is going so poorly! Of course the com-pu-ter not working would make that worse, huh?"
"Antonia, give me the damn phone."
"And you tried everything to make it work? That is just too bad. Maybe you should go take a nap, that always calms me down when I'm having a bad day. Or go have some tomatoes! Unless you don't like tomatoes, but they really are the very best at fixing up a bad day."
"That's not going to help them, give me the phone."
Antonia shushed him and turned her attention back to the phone, nodding enthusiastically at the (to Lovino) low sound of the person on the other end talking to her. "They can't see you," he mumbled.
"Well why not?" she asked loudly and Lovino nearly snatched the headset right off her head, before he heard what she had to say next. "Yes yes, you should go out with your friends! That's a great idea for making your day better! Then worry about that..."
"Computer."
"Computer later!" she finished. "Okay, you have a nice day too! Bye bye!"
Lovino blinked in confusion and so did Edmée, who had finally decided to reappear. "That's not what I told her to do," she insisted. "But I guess that works too."
"Why are you having her answer the phone for me?" Lovino demanded. "Antonia, give the phone back, you're not doing it right."
"But she sounded so happy! She was really angry when she called in, though I don't really understand why."
"Because she-- ugh. Never mind. Feliciano isn't answering when I call him."
"Probably can't hear you very well from here."
Lovino ignored Antonia's comment and continued. "So just wait here with me, I guess. But not more answering my phone."
Antonia nodded and Edmée quickly shoved another chair over to Lovino's desk. "Don't touch anything. You're only staying here until Feliciano calls me back."
"Alright. But Lovino?"
"What?"
"You haven't eaten the food I brought yet! Maybe that's why you're so cranky."
He ignored Edmée's giggling and pulled a sandwich from the bag. Hopefully it would get Antonia to shut up for a few minutes.
---
Two blocks over, Feliciano was desperately trying to figure out where he had lost his cell phone at.
"It was in my pocket when I left," he said to himself. "And then I used it at the store! Maybe I left it there." He turned around and ran back down the street, unaware of the buzzing coming from one of the grocery bags in his hand.
He was also very much unaware that he was about to bump into another man walking the opposite way down the street. Before either of them could stop and avoid collision, Feliciano was running head first into a shoulder and he and his bags went tumbling to the ground.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He looked up at the taller, scary looking man above him and was instantly glad nothing had spilled on him. "Please don't hurt me, I didn't mean to."
"I wasn't planning on hurting you, I think you did that well enough yourself." Said scary looking man kneeled down and began picking up the scattered groceries. "Does nobody watch where they're going here? That really would avoid collisions like these."
"Ah, I guess we don't..." Feliciano laughed. "It's just I was looking for my phone-- my phone!" He pointed excitedly at an item the man had just picked up. "You found it! Thank you!"
"It must have been in your bags." He handed the phone to Feliciano, who put it back in his pocket where it belonged. "Though it doesn't look very edible, what sort of fruit is it?"
Feliciano laughed again. "Aw, you're funny! You're right, it doesn't belong in with my bags of fruit, I don't know how it got in there. I'm Feliciano, by the way."
"Ludwig." The man held his hand out to shake Feliciano's once they had both stood back up and Feliciano took it, enthusiastically shaking it between his own despite the fact that he had just been scared of Ludwig a few minutes earlier.
"Nice to meet you Ludwig! Here, let me get you a drink, to thank you for helping me!"
"Oh, that won't be necessary."
"It is! You found my phone and everything, I have to thank you."
Ludwig looked like he was about to refuse, but he sighed in defeat after a moment of hesitation. "I suppose. If that is the custom here."
Feliciano, Ludwig, and the slightly wrinkled bags of groceries went back up the street, not noticing as Prince Antonio walked into the store Feliciano had just been running towards.
Author: cutthroatpixie
Character(s) or Pairing(s): (this chapter) Spain, Fem!Spain, Romano, Belgium, Veneziano, Germany. Overall fic will eventually be some form of Spain/Romano.
Rating: PG-13 for the fuck word
Warnings: Human names. Your mom.
Summary: Far, far away, beyond the borders of dreams and wishes, just past where fantasies live, there sat a quiet, peaceful little kingdom. In a not so far, far away land, closer to where dreams go to die, sat a very disgruntled Italian man. This is the story of how these two realities came to meet.
Note: It's been seven months oops. I don't even remember what happened before it's okay if none of you do either ;)
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
April Fools Day Interlude
Antonio burst through the manhole at the end of the well's portal, landing gracefully on the hard asphalt and startling the crew working diligently on putting said manhole back in its place.
"Oi, buddy," one of them said. "What's your deal?"
Antonio gave him a winning smile and dusted off his shirt. "I'm looking for a woman."
"Aren't we all," one mumbled.
"A specific woman," Antonio clarified. "With eyes greener than tomato vines and a voice straight from the heavens. I'm sure she's been by here?"
"I'm sure she has." A third man ushered him out of the way. "Get moving. We need to fix this again."
Antonio was a fair man, and very polite as well, so of course he moved along, thanking the men for their help and continuing on down the street, listening closely just in case his bride-to-be happened to be nearby.
"Hey, buddy, you're in the--"
Suddenly, a loud screech rang through the air as some sort of large, hulking machine stopped in front of Antonio. Antonio stared at it for a moment. It didn't stare back, for it had no eyes, but upon seeing the horrified faces of the people within, Antonio knew this creature was up to no good!
"Stand back, beast!" he cried, pulling his trusty sword (his mother gave it to him, of course he brought it with him!) from its scabbard and jamming into the creature's... mouth? Antonio had never seen a beast quite like this, but when the sword barely managed to break the skin, he knew he was up against something terrible.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Antonio assumed it was the monster speaking and jumped atop its head, jamming the sword in through the top, above where he'd heard the noise. People started flooding out its side, screaming and rushing off toward the sidewalk, and Antonio knew he'd done a good job, since every single one got out alive.
"Did you just stab my bus?" one of the women asked, looking at him with furious gratitude. At least that is what he thought it was. What else could it be?
"No need to thank me," Antonio said with a smile, patting the woman on the shoulder. "You're all free from the beast, rejoice!"
With that, Antonio set off to find Antonia. He knew she'd understand his being distracted, but he really did want to find her soon! He set off down one of the many streets, hoping his heart (and possibly a stray tomato) would lead him to his love.
---
"Antonia, I have to go to work."
"Oh, but I made you all this nice food and it's so early! Can't you just wait a bit? You look so tired."
"It doesn't work that way." Lovino yawned for what felt like the billionth time and grabbed his bag. "I'll be late if I wait any longer." His stomach growled, letting him know that it had indeed noticed the large spread of food currently taking up his entire kitchen table. "Shit. Fine. I'll take some to go, but I really need to leave."
Antonia sighed. "What a horrible place this is if you don't even have time to eat!"
Lovino rolled his eyes at her, grabbed a piece of toast, and set off. "You stay here. Don't touch anything. Don't open the door for anyone."
"What if--"
"No. Goodbye."
Lovino quickly left before Antonia could ask any more questions. He looked at his watch, cursing when he noticed what time it was, and ran down the hallway, taking the stairs two and three at a time. He continued running when he got outside, weaving in and out of the crowds of people taking up the sidewalk, holding tight to his bag and making every effort possible to not run into somebody and add minutes he didn't have to his commute.
Apparently, other assholes weren't as considerate as him, because some douche who looked like he was on his way to a Renaissance ball bumped into his shoulder and sent him stumbling into stairs outside the call center. "Watch where you're going, dickbag!" He stood up quickly and went to dust himself off, but said dickbag beat him to it.
"I'm really, really sorry!" he cried, quickly running his hands over Romano's scuffed trousers. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, stop touching me."
"Right, sorry!"
"Whatever." Romano would have liked to tell the weirdly dressed idiot off, but he had only a minute before his shift started and if he hurried he could clock in just in time...
"I don't want to bother you, but I'm looking for--"
"You are bothering me, go ask somebody else."
"Oh, alright! Nice meeting you!" The man smiled radiantly, giving Lovino an energetic wave before taking off running down the street. He narrowly avoided running into Edmée as she rushed by and Lovino rolled his eyes.
"You scare him off or something?" she asked on their way in to work. "Should have made him wait for me, he's cute."
"Probably a nut job, did you see how he was dressed?"
"Maybe he's going to a costume party. Or getting back from one, it's pretty early."
"Too early." Lovino found his desk, located right next to Edmée's, and quickly seated himself after checking around for their boss.
---
Ludwig had hoped, for a brief moment as he passed through the strange portal between worlds, that Antonio wouldn't have gone far by the time he got through. He knew it was futile, however, as everyone knew once Antonio got an idea into his head it was near impossible to get it out of there, and he was surely halfway to... wherever it was he was going... by the time Ludwig came crashing through the manhole.
"Motherfucker!" a man in a strange yellow hat exclaimed. "What is it with people today? Let me guess, you're looking for some chick too?"
Ludwig quickly dusted himself off before standing up straight in front of the other man, who he now saw was surrounded by others dressed similarly to himself. "I apologise for my intrusion. I'm looking for a man, actually, perhaps you've seen him?"
The crew grumbled and picked up the manhole, to attempt once more to put it back in its rightful place. "Whatever floats your boat, buddy, just get the hell out of here."
Not wanting to upset the crew further, despite their lack of help, Ludwig quickly set off down the street.
---
"Hey, Vargas!"
Lovino looked up at the sound of his name to find one of the security guards standing in the door of the company's break room. "Yeah, what?"
"Some lady is here to see you. Says she brought something you forgot."
Lovino had no idea what "lady" would be visiting him at work, since Edmée was in the room with him, nobody in his family ever visited him at work, and-- oh. "Dark hair, green eyes, really obnoxious?"
"Hey, if you don't want her, I'll gladly--"
Whatever the security guard would gladly do with Antonia, Lovino never found out, because she burst in the room just then, waving around a paper bag. "Lovino! There you are. You didn't bring anything for lunch and Feliciano said I should bring this over! He even walked me here on his way to the store, isn't that so sweet of him?"
"So, so sweet of him," Edmée replied, drowning out Lovino's response of, "No, that is not sweet at all." She looked Antonia up and down and then winked at Lovino. "Is this the reason you never want to hang out with us on weekends, Lovino? You're so mean, keeping a secret girlfriend from me."
Lovino was quick to deny this "secret girlfriend" business, but Edmée's grin didn't fade at all until Antonia agreed with him. "Oh no, Lovino's just a friend! I'm staying with him until my fiancé comes to find me and take me back to the palace."
"Palace? Where is there a--"
"It's just some huge ass house in the country," Lovino lied. "She's exaggerating"
"I'm not, it really is a palace!"
"Sure it is." Lovino grabbed Antonia by the arm and tried to lead her away before Edmée could ask any more questions, but she followed them out of the break room.
"Sooo," she started. "How do you know Lovino, then?"
"We just me--"
"Friend of my cousin's," Lovino interrupted. "Gave me some shit about how she can't see the groom before the wedding and pawned her off on me. You know how she is."
"Same as you are?"
"Is not. She's a crazy bitch."
"Aw, you shouldn't say things like that about your family." Antonia pouted at Lovino as if he had personally insulted her and he scowled back at her.
"Well she is. Thanks for the lunch, you should go now." He took the bag and tried to wave her off, but Edmée grabbed her arm.
"You can't make her walk back by herself, what if she gets lost?"
She had a point. Unfortunately. "I'll call Feliciano to get her, then." He grabbed his phone before making his way over to a quieter corner of the building. "Don't go anywhere, either of you. I'll be right back."
"We won't."
"And don't ask her too many questions. You're nosy, it annoys people," he called out.
"Sure thing, Lovi."
Lovino pressed the phone to his ear, willing Feliciano to pick up quickly so he didn't leave Edmée and Antonia alone with one another for too long. "Pick up, pick up..."
"Hey! You've reached Feliciano! Well, his answering machine! If you--"
"Fucking hell." Lovino called back again, willing his brother to pick up the damn phone.
“Vargas, your break is over! Back to the phones.”
Lovino cursed and peeked back into the room, only to find his phone ringing. “One of you assholes get that, I’ll be in there in a minute.”
He didn’t pay any mind to the voice calling, “I’ve got it!” back at him, just pressed the redial button once more. All he got was the voicemail greeting. He grumbled and went back over to his desk, where Antonia was busy chatting with somebody on his phone.
Wait.
"What are you doing?!" He tried to snatch the phone from her, but she waved him off.
"Is that so? Oh I'm so sorry your day is going so poorly! Of course the com-pu-ter not working would make that worse, huh?"
"Antonia, give me the damn phone."
"And you tried everything to make it work? That is just too bad. Maybe you should go take a nap, that always calms me down when I'm having a bad day. Or go have some tomatoes! Unless you don't like tomatoes, but they really are the very best at fixing up a bad day."
"That's not going to help them, give me the phone."
Antonia shushed him and turned her attention back to the phone, nodding enthusiastically at the (to Lovino) low sound of the person on the other end talking to her. "They can't see you," he mumbled.
"Well why not?" she asked loudly and Lovino nearly snatched the headset right off her head, before he heard what she had to say next. "Yes yes, you should go out with your friends! That's a great idea for making your day better! Then worry about that..."
"Computer."
"Computer later!" she finished. "Okay, you have a nice day too! Bye bye!"
Lovino blinked in confusion and so did Edmée, who had finally decided to reappear. "That's not what I told her to do," she insisted. "But I guess that works too."
"Why are you having her answer the phone for me?" Lovino demanded. "Antonia, give the phone back, you're not doing it right."
"But she sounded so happy! She was really angry when she called in, though I don't really understand why."
"Because she-- ugh. Never mind. Feliciano isn't answering when I call him."
"Probably can't hear you very well from here."
Lovino ignored Antonia's comment and continued. "So just wait here with me, I guess. But not more answering my phone."
Antonia nodded and Edmée quickly shoved another chair over to Lovino's desk. "Don't touch anything. You're only staying here until Feliciano calls me back."
"Alright. But Lovino?"
"What?"
"You haven't eaten the food I brought yet! Maybe that's why you're so cranky."
He ignored Edmée's giggling and pulled a sandwich from the bag. Hopefully it would get Antonia to shut up for a few minutes.
---
Two blocks over, Feliciano was desperately trying to figure out where he had lost his cell phone at.
"It was in my pocket when I left," he said to himself. "And then I used it at the store! Maybe I left it there." He turned around and ran back down the street, unaware of the buzzing coming from one of the grocery bags in his hand.
He was also very much unaware that he was about to bump into another man walking the opposite way down the street. Before either of them could stop and avoid collision, Feliciano was running head first into a shoulder and he and his bags went tumbling to the ground.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He looked up at the taller, scary looking man above him and was instantly glad nothing had spilled on him. "Please don't hurt me, I didn't mean to."
"I wasn't planning on hurting you, I think you did that well enough yourself." Said scary looking man kneeled down and began picking up the scattered groceries. "Does nobody watch where they're going here? That really would avoid collisions like these."
"Ah, I guess we don't..." Feliciano laughed. "It's just I was looking for my phone-- my phone!" He pointed excitedly at an item the man had just picked up. "You found it! Thank you!"
"It must have been in your bags." He handed the phone to Feliciano, who put it back in his pocket where it belonged. "Though it doesn't look very edible, what sort of fruit is it?"
Feliciano laughed again. "Aw, you're funny! You're right, it doesn't belong in with my bags of fruit, I don't know how it got in there. I'm Feliciano, by the way."
"Ludwig." The man held his hand out to shake Feliciano's once they had both stood back up and Feliciano took it, enthusiastically shaking it between his own despite the fact that he had just been scared of Ludwig a few minutes earlier.
"Nice to meet you Ludwig! Here, let me get you a drink, to thank you for helping me!"
"Oh, that won't be necessary."
"It is! You found my phone and everything, I have to thank you."
Ludwig looked like he was about to refuse, but he sighed in defeat after a moment of hesitation. "I suppose. If that is the custom here."
Feliciano, Ludwig, and the slightly wrinkled bags of groceries went back up the street, not noticing as Prince Antonio walked into the store Feliciano had just been running towards.