[APH] The Six Degrees of Separation (2nd° Part 2)
Title: The Six Degrees of Separation
Category: Axis Powers Hetalia / Hetalia World Series
Characters: Greece, Egypt, Japan, Turkey, France, England, America, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Sealand, North and South Italy, Russia, Germany, Prussia, Spain, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, China, South Korea
Pairings: France/England, Spain/South Italy, Germany/North Italy, Lithuania/Poland, Turkey/Japan, Finland/Sweden
Genre/Rating/Warnings: friendship, romance, drama, family/PG/AU, human names, shifting POVs, language shifts (which I really hope people won’t get confused by)
Summary/Excerpt: The Six Degrees of Separation is the idea that everyone in this world is connected by at most six people. It’s an empowering, intimidating thought to know that the world can be shrunk within just one city and that lives begin to affect one another as people converge and intersect. Our story begins with a pair of brothers who manage a fruit shake stand in Dotombori, Osaka and bear witness to different fates being drawn together from all over the globe.
Prologue | 1st° Part 1 | 1st° Part 2 | 2nd° Part 1 | 2nd° Part 2 | 2nd° Part 3
3rd° | 4th° | 5th° | 6th° | Epilogue
In this installment: Lovino and Antonio straighten out the twists in their panties while Francis and Arthur gain quite a few in theirs.
The Six Degrees of Separation
Second Degree (Part 2)
♠ a cake walk and tying ties
Antonio placed the bakery’s cordless phone back in its cradle with a satisfied air. He had just finished instructing Natalia and Katya their tasks for the following days of his indefinite leave. He couldn’t just leave his students in the air while he was gone, that’d be unfair. Besides, he was fairly confident the sisters would properly conduct his classes. He had more pressing matters to attend to.
Francis stood waiting beside the cashier, dressed to leave. The clock read 4:08pm.
“Come on, Antonio. The boys don’t like waiting.”
“Alright, alright,” he said and stepped out into the crisp, summer afternoon air. “Who are these boys you’re picking up anyway? Don’t tell me you got married and no one knew about it!” he laughed.
Francis clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I’ll have you know, Tonio, they’re sons of a good friend of mine. You should meet them. They’re angels.”
Antonio hummed, wondering what exactly a friend did Francis entail to have children entrusted to him. Not that he doubted the Frenchman’s child-caring abilities, it was just that his friend had never struck him as a family man. The thought made Antonio feel, despite all the smiles and jeers they were currently enjoying, that time indeed made friends of strangers and strangers of frieds. His heart sank a bit.
“Oi,” Francis continued. “Are you seriously going to accompany me to work everyday? I feel kinda bad about it, making you wait. Besides, Feliciano’s flight should have arrived by now. Shouldn’t you be rushing to get Lovino’s affections back before his brother finds out what you did?”
“I don’t mind coming with you to work. I can teach you that Spanish bread recipe I learned from my abuela. It’ll be a hit!”
“Aah~ I remember those. We used to have them every November when we went to your house. Do tell me. I’ll add it to my menu, merci…”
“No problem.” Antonio scratched the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. “And to be honest, I don’t know how to approach Lovino so I’m kind of nervous.”
Francis snorted. “If you had told me that ten years ago, I wouldn’t believe you.” They walked in silence for a few minutes before he continued. “At least you’re seriously thinking about this, you know.”
The Spaniard made a face. “You’re mean, Francis,” he said as his friend heartily laughed. “I’m only warming up to the fact Feliciano will be angry at me before I start patching things up.”
“Did Gilbert tell you where they’ll be staying?”
Antonio shook his head. “I don’t think he knew. Probably at Lovino’s…well, wherever he is.”
“We’re here,” Francis announced and Antonio looked up from the swept sidewalk they had been following.
“Haha!” he said and clapped his hands. “Only two blocks away from the store? How convenient!”
“A little too convenient,” his baker friend said. “Their father’s office is also two blocks away from my store and I don’t see him coming to fetch his kids.” He sighed. “That man can get too busy for his own good.”
Antonio regarded Francis with a knowing look. “Now, I’m curious to see who your good friend is…” They rounded the corner and crossed S-preschool’s small playground.
“Good afternoon, Francis-san,” Kiku greeted, coming out of the classroom with Matthew and Alfred clinging to his legs. “They have been wanting to eat,” he began and paused when he spotted Antonio. Kiku gave a smile in greeting.
Antonio returned the gesture and spoke in Japanese. “Um, hello. I’m Antonio Carriedo, his friend,” he said somewhat lamely, pointing to baker.
The kindergarten teacher bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Carriedo-san. My name is Honda Kiku.” They briefly shook hands.
“Franciiiis…” Alfred wailed, staring ruefully at the Spaniard while Matthew watched in mild interest. “Who’s that?”
Francis bent down and gathered the boys in his arms and gave them a kiss each. “This here’s my old college friend, Antonio. He owns a dance school in Kobe, but he’s here on some important business so he’ll be staying with us for a while.”
Antonio smiled brightly at the kids. “Hello. May I know your names?”
Alfred peered at him like a detective would through a magnifying glass, deemed him harmless and smiled so hugely it shone like sunshine. “My name is Alfred and this is my brother, Matthew. Mattie, say hi.”
Matthew waved shyly and clutched his bear backpack tighter to his chest.
“Are you daddy’s friend?” Alfred asked.
Antonio blinked and glanced at Francis chatting with Kiku, about him probably because he could pick up the word ‘dance’ from their conversation. The teacher looked highly familiar. He couldn’t place a finger on it but he could swear the guy was someone he’d seen before.
“I will be,” he answered the boy cheerfully. “Will he pick you up tonight?”
“Yep!” Alfred said, clutching Antonio’s hand as the man stood. “We’ll be having dinner with Francis. Wanna come?”
Antonio laughed as the small boy tugged, wanting to walk. “I hope I’ll be invited then.”
Francis bade Kiku goodbye and carried Matthew. “How was school today, cher?” he asked but saw the little one was staring at Antonio and Alfred a few paces ahead of them, talking energetically about robots and castanets. “What’s wrong?”
Matthew turned and clung to Francis' neck as if to wave away any thoughts he had. The baker hugged him tighter. The boy must be terribly shy around new people. His heart throbbed as he remembered their first meeting. Matthew was the one who talked while Alfred was the one who kept silent.
“Will daddy be coming soon?” he asked in a soft tone.
“Your daddy has a business meeting to attend. He’ll be back to have dinner with us,” Francis reassured. “Can you wait until then, mon coeur?” He felt Matthew nod beside his ear and they returned to store.
♠ perhaps one elephant in the room is more than enough
Arthur’s Rolex ticked 7:38pm as he ran toward Rose Bakery. A few paces away, he spotted Francis waving goodbye to his employees before they left in a group, chatting amongst themselves. The baker himself returned inside, talking to a personage silhouetted against the dim light. He approached and knocked.
“Ah! Speak of the devil, he’s here,” Francis was saying in English and opened the door.
Arthur stepped back in slight surprise as the aroma of a home-cooked dinner assaulted his senses. Matthew and Alfred came running from the kitchen yelling ‘Daaaad!’ before giving him a hug.
“Good evening Arthur,” Francis greeted.
The businessman looked up with an expectant grin on his face and saw the baker wearing a fond smile with tenderness he couldn’t quite place yet.
“Good evening, Francis,” Arthur returned, laughing as his sons pulled him toward the kitchen, complaining of hunger. “Wh-what’s the occasion?”
“Nothing much,” he replied. “I have a friend over for a few days, the one I told you about who was asking for Lovino, and he wanted to cook tonight.”
Arthur blinked, having not registered ‘friend’ in the situation and was slightly annoyed at the feeling of disappointment they wouldn’t be alone. “…oh! You said he owned a dance studio, right? Sure. Um, does he speak English?” he asked in a low tone and Francis snorted.
“Don’t worry, cher. He’s an old college friend, of course he speaks English.”
“Heeeh? You’re the father of Alfred and Matthew?” Antonio absolutely gushed at a confused Arthur, whose arm was being shook vigorously in greeting as soon as introductions were made inside the kitchen. “I’ve heard a lot of you from Francis. Your kids are very sweet. You must be a great father!”
Francis watched as Arthur stammered thanks, clearly not being used to receiving compliments. He hoped Antonio wouldn’t slip and say something out of line, for he had briefed him with Arthur’s financial and family background in the hopes of conducting a smooth dinner atmosphere. For the life of him, the baker didn’t know why he had been so nervous about the prospect of these two meeting. It was almost as if he was introducing a bride to his parents.
That particular train of thought came to a screeching halt as Matthew tugged on his shirt. “Can we eat?” the boy asked. “They’re taking long…” he said pointing to Antonio and Arthur, talking animatedly about Lovino and how one knew the other.
Huh, at least he knew Antonio was thorough about business. He looked at dinner spread out on a countertop-Spanish bread, paella (from Japanese ingredients, he wondered how that would taste like) and rainbow cake for the boys-and heard his own stomach rumble.
“Gentlemen,” he called out. “If we could perhaps discuss that over dinner? The children are getting hungry.”
Arthur cried out an apology and without further ado, the small party proceeded to eat.
“Wow…” said the businessman, hesitantly turning over a large scallop still lodged in paella rice. “I…I do believe I’ve never had this before.”
“Do have some!” Antonio offered. “I’m quite glad I haven’t forgotten how to cook my grandmother’s recipies after being gone for so long.”
Francis helped Alfred pry open a clam with his fingers while Matthew awkwardly spooned rice into his mouth. The peas left uneaten on side of the plate and Arthur tutted. “Eat your vegetables, boys. They’re good for you.”
“But I don’t like peas,” Matthew said meekly. Alfred looked curiously to see what was going on, lost interest and chose a squid sticking out from the rice.
“Ah, I know how you can eat them,” Francis said. Before Matthew could protest, he took his fork and mashed the peas before mixing them into the rice. “There, all gone!”
Matthew looked at his plate in horror before venturing a bite. He brightened like flowers waking out of winter, soft and glowing with thanks. Francis beeped his nose. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Matthew shook his head.
“Francis! Mash my peas too!” Alfred called and the baker turned to him laughing ‘alright alright’. Arthur and Antonio stared.
“He’s awfully great with kids,” the Spaniard said, breaking a bit of bread with his hands and eating it.
Arthur blinked. “He wasn’t like that before?”
Antonio laughed with reminisce. “Hell no. He was a lecher, that one. Tried to go out with every female in our batch.”
Arthur snorted. “Somehow, I’m not surprised.”
“So!” Antonio continued, facing him with eagerness. “How did you meet Lovino?”
“Ah, this is kind of embarrassing really,” Arthur began. “But it was around two months ago and I was a new transfer in my office. A few of my colleagues had invited me to dinner after my first few days at work and we got piss drunk in Lovino’s bar. Crazy, isn’t it?”
Francis hummed a bit while he listened, feeding the boys as if the conversation passed over his head. He had heard of Arthur drinking once in a while but hadn’t known it was actually the man’s vice. He’d love to see the man drunk, perhaps, and made a mental note of that.
“Lovino doesn’t strike me as the type to dance though, “ Arthur continued. “That’s really surprising to hear. So he established a dance school with you?”
Antonio nodded. “In Kobe. You should visit the place some time. It’s isn’t Osaka but it’s lovely. Lovino was my dance partner and taught our students with me The school was only five years old when kinda he left. I haven’t exactly heard from him since.”
It was then when Francis felt something in the air and he sat a bit straighter, watching the children eat while keeping an ear on the conversation. Arthur too had stiffened a bit in his seat and the expression on his face was close to betraying exactly what he thought about Antonio and Lovino’s relationship, or at least what he was hearing from the former. Antonio was oblivious and Arthur’s politeness was all Francis could hold on to to stop himself from interrupting and changing the subject.
How could he have not seen it before, how uncomfortable Arthur felt? The baker felt a small pang of hurt in his chest.
“I actually want to get him back, that’s why I’m here,” Antonio confessed. Arthur tried to keep his expression neutral.
“So you’re…together?” he asked, hoping not to sound too weirded out.
“Aah, hopefully,” Antonio said, waving a hand and finishing the paella on his plate. “Wish me luck, won’t you? You’ve been a huge help.”
“Don’t…don’t mention it,” Arthur managed to say, turning to his dinner and finding he couldn’t quite stomach the fact he just helped two men find love...or find it again in Antonio's case. Francis could clearly read his disbelief.
“Why don’t we cut the cake?” he asked cheerfully and the children yelped with joy.
♠ the light of home and other things you miss once gone
The old wall clock above the shelves of wine and Kirin beer silently proclaimed 7.39pm to the clients of Bar Vargas. The dim orange lights from intricate ceiling lamps gave an intimate mood to those seated at the tables.
Lovino Vargas was manning the bar, and from where he was, he could see everything from the people who entered the place to his right, to everyone drinking and laughing in front of him. Cigarette smoke rose from the far left corner, romanticizing the evening’s band in a misty haze. Lively shouts and sounds of orders of sizzling escaped from the kitchen behind him. Waiters burst through the kitchen doors at frequent intervals, carrying a plate of yakitori or some other popular item on the menu, pausing to pick up cold beers or cocktails Lovino whipped up before delivering the orders to their waiting customers.
It’s been a year and business was moving along swimmingly. Lovino’s bar was a small place, but it spelled home for him, a comfort he couldn’t exactly call such but can’t name anything else. Honestly, he didn’t think things would turn out this way. After leaving Kobe, he had been near penniless and was a thread’s width close to being deported when the former owner of this very bar offered him work. The former owner was the father of one of Lovino’s students. His only daughter by then was already abroad, touring with the dance troupe she had always dreamed of being a member. After the old man died in a car accident, the bar was passed on to Lovino’s name and he valued working in it ever since.
Lovino regretted none but one thing, and he wondered why his heart wasn’t bitter like it usually would be, just detached that it frightened him on some lonely nights. He had thought he was missing something since he left, but hadn’t felt the press of such a loss (if any) since he had been so busy making a decent living for himself. Seeing Feliciano and Ludwig sitting in front of him on the bar made him wonder if the secrecy of his break up with Antonio had been the right thing. After all what did he have to hide? The fact he was refilling his brother’s fourth mug of beer while Ludwig was still nursing his second didn’t console him.
“Brother,” Feliciano began with a steadiness that liquor usually brought to the fore. “How exactly did you break up with Antonio?”
Ludwig watched the two silently, the initial relief from finding Lovino like a lighthouse on the shore making way for tension pounding in his chest. He took a hefty gulp from his beer mug. Watching the way the older Vargas’s face contorted, it seemed he had a hard time admitting things to himself, not that he wouldn’t put it past the guy to act as such.
“It…it happened a month before I left.” Lovino began, expertly mixing a cocktail for a patron beside them. “He and I had an argument over lessons to teach the students.” This is horrid, Lovino thought. Listening to himself made things sound so childish. “I didn’t think Antonio would snap but he did. He told me I wasn’t a very good teacher if I still thought in such a way and I just blew my top. I didn’t want him to choose between his work and me so I just left. He hasn’t contacted me since…so…we aren’t really pining away or anything. I guess it’s mutual.”
He waited with baited breath for Feliciano’s reply, prepared for a declaration of his return to Rome which he really didn’t want at the moment. Or a war cry against the Spaniard.
“Ve…” Feliciano began pensively. “That’s not a reason for you to call it a break up,” he said with an air of a scholar. “Was this your first fight?”
“Of course not.”
“First big fight, I mean,” his little brother continued mildly. “Because if it is, then everyone has those! Even I do~” He gave Ludwig a big grin and the German blushed. “If you really love him, you wouldn’t want to call if off just yet, would you?”
The statement struck Lovino with such quiet brilliance that he put down the martini glass he was wiping and smiled. “Come on, you two. I’ll order barbeque for you, on the house.”
“Ve~! Ludwig we get free food!” Feliciano exclaimed happily and Ludwig took a moment to react.
“Hey, n-wait! Lovino! At least let us pay,” he said, reaching for his wallet.
Lovino waved away the offer. “Please, it’s not everyday I’d do this for you, potato bastard,” he said grinning. “Besides, I really missed you guys.”
A couple of hours passed by, spent catching up on each other’s lives and sharing tips on the best of Osaka’s tourist destinations.
“I’d take you around myself,” Lovino said as he gave two empty plates of the bar’s signature pasta dish to a passing waiter. “But we’ve always been a bit shorthanded around here, so I can’t leave. Well, perhaps I could but I’d have to make a few arrangements.”
“Oh, it’s alright,” Feliciano said, “We’ll get around fine~” and Ludwig sighed.
“He’s a real wonder,” the German said, looking at his boyfriend. “I don’t know whether we should be thankful or not we reached this part of the city.”
Lovino laughed. “Don’t worry. The people are really nice. You’ll get a hang of the streets in no time. How long will you two be staying here again?”
“Two weeks,” Ludwig replied.
Suddenly, Lovino felt it was within that time frame that he needed to get back in touch with Antonio somehow. He knew it was quite selfish to impose such a need to Feliciano and Ludwig, who came here on vacation, but a burning urgency overrode his guilt.
“He might have changed apartments by now,” Lovino thought outloud. “Who knows where Antonio is.”
“Ve~ we called his apartment in Kobe and no one was answering,” Feliciano said. “Then we called the dance studio and got told that he was on an indefinite leave.”
Lovino frowned. It wasn’t like him to do such a thing, leaving his students in the air. “…did the person who happened to answer you be a lady or something?” he asked.
Ludwig nodded.
Ah, so he left the school to Natalia and Katya. But where on earth would he go?
“They told us he was in Osaka,” the German continued and Lovino almost dropped the gin canister he had been shaking.
“What?”
“We thought he’d be with you, ve~” His brother added.
Lovino didn’t answer immediately. He mulled things over in his head. Antonio was on an indefinite leave, since when? Why would he be in Osaka of all places? Per…perhaps he knew? He had gone on a passionate, overblown search for him, complete with roses and a galleon on the roaring sea to find out where he worked? No, Lovino didn’t want to get his hopes up. They had a falling out, didn’t they?
He breathed a heavy sigh and watched as people slowly filed in and out of his bar. Feliciano, with flushed cheeks, observed the crowd over the rim of his newly ordered drink.
“It’s quite late,” Ludwig remarked more than meant as a parting note.
Lovino nodded. “Most of them come here after their dinner.” He smiled at the pair. “If you guys are willing, my shift’ll be over at ten. I could take you back to your hotel.”
Feliciano brightened at the proposal. “Ve~! We could pass by the fruit shake stand!”
“Again?” Ludwig asked while Lovino looked at them curiously.
“What fruit shake…oh!” He laughed wryly. “I’ll tell you something about those two,” he began with the sense of an airy barman brimming with gossip. “They’re actually half-brothers. One’s Egyptian and the other’s Greek. Different mothers.”
Ludwig looked intrigued. “I thought they were…Japanese. A lot of Japanese here look foreign.”
“Ve~ they speak Japanese and English very well.”
Lovino nodded again. “They’ve been in Dotombori for a real long time. Rumor has it, they left home right after college and made a living here.”
“Sounds like a lot of people I know,” the German muttered and downed his beer.
Lovino ‘tut’-ed. “What I meant was they had family issues. I can understand why, if you ask me. The father’s a playboy who’s been out of work for several years and neither mother wants to support them. The grandmother ran a tailor’s shop that’s been around since the war or something and they’ve gotten by with her income. Unfortunately, when the grandmother died, the family fell apart.”
“Heeh?” Feliciano exclaimed, unable to associate the cashier’s warm smile to a rough past.
“That’s admirable, I think,” offered Ludwig. “I mean, if you found out your own dad had a child with another woman, would you really get along with the kid?”
“I guess they’re the only ones who understood each other in that family,” the barman replied. “Since the grandmother died, the brother who mixes shakes doesn’t talk to anyone else except the cashier.”
“Ve~ that isn’t very nice,” Feliciano commented. “Don’t they have names?”
At this, Lovino proudly puffed out his chest. “Herakles and Hassan. They’re actually pretty easy to talk to once you try and get to know them. Before I began working here, they’re the ones who actually helped me out. I stayed overnight in their place once…I forgot what the occasion was but, damn the pizza they made tasted just like home.”
“Uwaa! I’d like to do that some time!” Feliciano said happily. It was rare his brother praised cooking other than his and Antonio’s-begrudgingly more often than not-and he was real picky with his food. These two must be really good. “Where do they live?”
Lovino looked at the cocktail he had just finished with a wan smile and had a waiter deliver the drink before answering. “Above their store, right here along this street. Their house is very small, but it’s homely enough.”
His friends fell quiet at the statement. There was an expression on Lovino’s face they could only imagine-a loneliness felt by those who have left their homeland for a long time, perhaps unable to go back and could only view the memories they left behind a film of gilded gold and sepia.
“Ve~ brother,” Feliciano began. “How do you plan on getting back with Antonio?”
“I don’t know,” answered Lovino. “But if he’s in Osaka the perhaps it’d only be a matter of time?”
“That’s awfully carefree of you,” Ludwig said and he shrugged.
“Shift’s over, wait here. I’ll just inform a staff of mine to close the shop in an hour then we’ll leave.”
The pair obliged.
“Why do I feel that they’re getting back together awfully easy after not speaking to each other for a year,” Ludwig said, counting the drinks they consumed for the night and pulling out a few yen.
Feliciano giggled and ate the olive of his now-finished martini with a flourish. “Silly Ludwig, as I said, if two people love each other, they wouldn’t give a relationship up so easily. You notice when old friends meet after ages and ages, they talk and laugh as if time hardly passed between their meeting and parting? It’s magic, you’ll see,” he winked and Ludwig couldn’t help but believe him. It was this optimisim reflected in the perception and the depths of the boy’s photographs that Ludwig found himself falling in love again. Feliciano continued.
“Though I wouldn’t discount brother for being fickle like this. I wonder if he’ll go back to dancing. The drinks are divine and people flock to this bar.”
“True. It’ll be a shame if he gives this up,” Ludwig said and frowned at a sudden thought. “Hey, are you still going to buy shakes from the fruit shake stand?” He wondered if all their yen would be wasted on food and no souvenirs like he promised Gilbert.
“Ve~! Brother said they were nice people. I want to see them again.”
At this point, Lovino emerged from the kitchen dressed in a shirt and jeans, folding his work clothes while giving instructions in rapid Japanese to a nodding staff person.
“Uwa, he’s really good in speaking the language now,” Feliciano remarked wistfully.
“Ready to go?” Lovino asked, turning to them.
The three stood up, bade goodbye to a few waiters and set off into the cool summer night.
to the Second Degree Part 3
Category: Axis Powers Hetalia / Hetalia World Series
Characters: Greece, Egypt, Japan, Turkey, France, England, America, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Sealand, North and South Italy, Russia, Germany, Prussia, Spain, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, China, South Korea
Pairings: France/England, Spain/South Italy, Germany/North Italy, Lithuania/Poland, Turkey/Japan, Finland/Sweden
Genre/Rating/Warnings: friendship, romance, drama, family/PG/AU, human names, shifting POVs, language shifts (which I really hope people won’t get confused by)
Summary/Excerpt: The Six Degrees of Separation is the idea that everyone in this world is connected by at most six people. It’s an empowering, intimidating thought to know that the world can be shrunk within just one city and that lives begin to affect one another as people converge and intersect. Our story begins with a pair of brothers who manage a fruit shake stand in Dotombori, Osaka and bear witness to different fates being drawn together from all over the globe.
Prologue | 1st° Part 1 | 1st° Part 2 | 2nd° Part 1 | 2nd° Part 2 | 2nd° Part 3
3rd° | 4th° | 5th° | 6th° | Epilogue
In this installment: Lovino and Antonio straighten out the twists in their panties while Francis and Arthur gain quite a few in theirs.
The Six Degrees of Separation
Second Degree (Part 2)
♠ a cake walk and tying ties
Antonio placed the bakery’s cordless phone back in its cradle with a satisfied air. He had just finished instructing Natalia and Katya their tasks for the following days of his indefinite leave. He couldn’t just leave his students in the air while he was gone, that’d be unfair. Besides, he was fairly confident the sisters would properly conduct his classes. He had more pressing matters to attend to.
Francis stood waiting beside the cashier, dressed to leave. The clock read 4:08pm.
“Come on, Antonio. The boys don’t like waiting.”
“Alright, alright,” he said and stepped out into the crisp, summer afternoon air. “Who are these boys you’re picking up anyway? Don’t tell me you got married and no one knew about it!” he laughed.
Francis clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I’ll have you know, Tonio, they’re sons of a good friend of mine. You should meet them. They’re angels.”
Antonio hummed, wondering what exactly a friend did Francis entail to have children entrusted to him. Not that he doubted the Frenchman’s child-caring abilities, it was just that his friend had never struck him as a family man. The thought made Antonio feel, despite all the smiles and jeers they were currently enjoying, that time indeed made friends of strangers and strangers of frieds. His heart sank a bit.
“Oi,” Francis continued. “Are you seriously going to accompany me to work everyday? I feel kinda bad about it, making you wait. Besides, Feliciano’s flight should have arrived by now. Shouldn’t you be rushing to get Lovino’s affections back before his brother finds out what you did?”
“I don’t mind coming with you to work. I can teach you that Spanish bread recipe I learned from my abuela. It’ll be a hit!”
“Aah~ I remember those. We used to have them every November when we went to your house. Do tell me. I’ll add it to my menu, merci…”
“No problem.” Antonio scratched the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. “And to be honest, I don’t know how to approach Lovino so I’m kind of nervous.”
Francis snorted. “If you had told me that ten years ago, I wouldn’t believe you.” They walked in silence for a few minutes before he continued. “At least you’re seriously thinking about this, you know.”
The Spaniard made a face. “You’re mean, Francis,” he said as his friend heartily laughed. “I’m only warming up to the fact Feliciano will be angry at me before I start patching things up.”
“Did Gilbert tell you where they’ll be staying?”
Antonio shook his head. “I don’t think he knew. Probably at Lovino’s…well, wherever he is.”
“We’re here,” Francis announced and Antonio looked up from the swept sidewalk they had been following.
“Haha!” he said and clapped his hands. “Only two blocks away from the store? How convenient!”
“A little too convenient,” his baker friend said. “Their father’s office is also two blocks away from my store and I don’t see him coming to fetch his kids.” He sighed. “That man can get too busy for his own good.”
Antonio regarded Francis with a knowing look. “Now, I’m curious to see who your good friend is…” They rounded the corner and crossed S-preschool’s small playground.
“Good afternoon, Francis-san,” Kiku greeted, coming out of the classroom with Matthew and Alfred clinging to his legs. “They have been wanting to eat,” he began and paused when he spotted Antonio. Kiku gave a smile in greeting.
Antonio returned the gesture and spoke in Japanese. “Um, hello. I’m Antonio Carriedo, his friend,” he said somewhat lamely, pointing to baker.
The kindergarten teacher bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Carriedo-san. My name is Honda Kiku.” They briefly shook hands.
“Franciiiis…” Alfred wailed, staring ruefully at the Spaniard while Matthew watched in mild interest. “Who’s that?”
Francis bent down and gathered the boys in his arms and gave them a kiss each. “This here’s my old college friend, Antonio. He owns a dance school in Kobe, but he’s here on some important business so he’ll be staying with us for a while.”
Antonio smiled brightly at the kids. “Hello. May I know your names?”
Alfred peered at him like a detective would through a magnifying glass, deemed him harmless and smiled so hugely it shone like sunshine. “My name is Alfred and this is my brother, Matthew. Mattie, say hi.”
Matthew waved shyly and clutched his bear backpack tighter to his chest.
“Are you daddy’s friend?” Alfred asked.
Antonio blinked and glanced at Francis chatting with Kiku, about him probably because he could pick up the word ‘dance’ from their conversation. The teacher looked highly familiar. He couldn’t place a finger on it but he could swear the guy was someone he’d seen before.
“I will be,” he answered the boy cheerfully. “Will he pick you up tonight?”
“Yep!” Alfred said, clutching Antonio’s hand as the man stood. “We’ll be having dinner with Francis. Wanna come?”
Antonio laughed as the small boy tugged, wanting to walk. “I hope I’ll be invited then.”
Francis bade Kiku goodbye and carried Matthew. “How was school today, cher?” he asked but saw the little one was staring at Antonio and Alfred a few paces ahead of them, talking energetically about robots and castanets. “What’s wrong?”
Matthew turned and clung to Francis' neck as if to wave away any thoughts he had. The baker hugged him tighter. The boy must be terribly shy around new people. His heart throbbed as he remembered their first meeting. Matthew was the one who talked while Alfred was the one who kept silent.
“Will daddy be coming soon?” he asked in a soft tone.
“Your daddy has a business meeting to attend. He’ll be back to have dinner with us,” Francis reassured. “Can you wait until then, mon coeur?” He felt Matthew nod beside his ear and they returned to store.
♠ perhaps one elephant in the room is more than enough
Arthur’s Rolex ticked 7:38pm as he ran toward Rose Bakery. A few paces away, he spotted Francis waving goodbye to his employees before they left in a group, chatting amongst themselves. The baker himself returned inside, talking to a personage silhouetted against the dim light. He approached and knocked.
“Ah! Speak of the devil, he’s here,” Francis was saying in English and opened the door.
Arthur stepped back in slight surprise as the aroma of a home-cooked dinner assaulted his senses. Matthew and Alfred came running from the kitchen yelling ‘Daaaad!’ before giving him a hug.
“Good evening Arthur,” Francis greeted.
The businessman looked up with an expectant grin on his face and saw the baker wearing a fond smile with tenderness he couldn’t quite place yet.
“Good evening, Francis,” Arthur returned, laughing as his sons pulled him toward the kitchen, complaining of hunger. “Wh-what’s the occasion?”
“Nothing much,” he replied. “I have a friend over for a few days, the one I told you about who was asking for Lovino, and he wanted to cook tonight.”
Arthur blinked, having not registered ‘friend’ in the situation and was slightly annoyed at the feeling of disappointment they wouldn’t be alone. “…oh! You said he owned a dance studio, right? Sure. Um, does he speak English?” he asked in a low tone and Francis snorted.
“Don’t worry, cher. He’s an old college friend, of course he speaks English.”
“Heeeh? You’re the father of Alfred and Matthew?” Antonio absolutely gushed at a confused Arthur, whose arm was being shook vigorously in greeting as soon as introductions were made inside the kitchen. “I’ve heard a lot of you from Francis. Your kids are very sweet. You must be a great father!”
Francis watched as Arthur stammered thanks, clearly not being used to receiving compliments. He hoped Antonio wouldn’t slip and say something out of line, for he had briefed him with Arthur’s financial and family background in the hopes of conducting a smooth dinner atmosphere. For the life of him, the baker didn’t know why he had been so nervous about the prospect of these two meeting. It was almost as if he was introducing a bride to his parents.
That particular train of thought came to a screeching halt as Matthew tugged on his shirt. “Can we eat?” the boy asked. “They’re taking long…” he said pointing to Antonio and Arthur, talking animatedly about Lovino and how one knew the other.
Huh, at least he knew Antonio was thorough about business. He looked at dinner spread out on a countertop-Spanish bread, paella (from Japanese ingredients, he wondered how that would taste like) and rainbow cake for the boys-and heard his own stomach rumble.
“Gentlemen,” he called out. “If we could perhaps discuss that over dinner? The children are getting hungry.”
Arthur cried out an apology and without further ado, the small party proceeded to eat.
“Wow…” said the businessman, hesitantly turning over a large scallop still lodged in paella rice. “I…I do believe I’ve never had this before.”
“Do have some!” Antonio offered. “I’m quite glad I haven’t forgotten how to cook my grandmother’s recipies after being gone for so long.”
Francis helped Alfred pry open a clam with his fingers while Matthew awkwardly spooned rice into his mouth. The peas left uneaten on side of the plate and Arthur tutted. “Eat your vegetables, boys. They’re good for you.”
“But I don’t like peas,” Matthew said meekly. Alfred looked curiously to see what was going on, lost interest and chose a squid sticking out from the rice.
“Ah, I know how you can eat them,” Francis said. Before Matthew could protest, he took his fork and mashed the peas before mixing them into the rice. “There, all gone!”
Matthew looked at his plate in horror before venturing a bite. He brightened like flowers waking out of winter, soft and glowing with thanks. Francis beeped his nose. “Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Matthew shook his head.
“Francis! Mash my peas too!” Alfred called and the baker turned to him laughing ‘alright alright’. Arthur and Antonio stared.
“He’s awfully great with kids,” the Spaniard said, breaking a bit of bread with his hands and eating it.
Arthur blinked. “He wasn’t like that before?”
Antonio laughed with reminisce. “Hell no. He was a lecher, that one. Tried to go out with every female in our batch.”
Arthur snorted. “Somehow, I’m not surprised.”
“So!” Antonio continued, facing him with eagerness. “How did you meet Lovino?”
“Ah, this is kind of embarrassing really,” Arthur began. “But it was around two months ago and I was a new transfer in my office. A few of my colleagues had invited me to dinner after my first few days at work and we got piss drunk in Lovino’s bar. Crazy, isn’t it?”
Francis hummed a bit while he listened, feeding the boys as if the conversation passed over his head. He had heard of Arthur drinking once in a while but hadn’t known it was actually the man’s vice. He’d love to see the man drunk, perhaps, and made a mental note of that.
“Lovino doesn’t strike me as the type to dance though, “ Arthur continued. “That’s really surprising to hear. So he established a dance school with you?”
Antonio nodded. “In Kobe. You should visit the place some time. It’s isn’t Osaka but it’s lovely. Lovino was my dance partner and taught our students with me The school was only five years old when kinda he left. I haven’t exactly heard from him since.”
It was then when Francis felt something in the air and he sat a bit straighter, watching the children eat while keeping an ear on the conversation. Arthur too had stiffened a bit in his seat and the expression on his face was close to betraying exactly what he thought about Antonio and Lovino’s relationship, or at least what he was hearing from the former. Antonio was oblivious and Arthur’s politeness was all Francis could hold on to to stop himself from interrupting and changing the subject.
How could he have not seen it before, how uncomfortable Arthur felt? The baker felt a small pang of hurt in his chest.
“I actually want to get him back, that’s why I’m here,” Antonio confessed. Arthur tried to keep his expression neutral.
“So you’re…together?” he asked, hoping not to sound too weirded out.
“Aah, hopefully,” Antonio said, waving a hand and finishing the paella on his plate. “Wish me luck, won’t you? You’ve been a huge help.”
“Don’t…don’t mention it,” Arthur managed to say, turning to his dinner and finding he couldn’t quite stomach the fact he just helped two men find love...or find it again in Antonio's case. Francis could clearly read his disbelief.
“Why don’t we cut the cake?” he asked cheerfully and the children yelped with joy.
♠ the light of home and other things you miss once gone
The old wall clock above the shelves of wine and Kirin beer silently proclaimed 7.39pm to the clients of Bar Vargas. The dim orange lights from intricate ceiling lamps gave an intimate mood to those seated at the tables.
Lovino Vargas was manning the bar, and from where he was, he could see everything from the people who entered the place to his right, to everyone drinking and laughing in front of him. Cigarette smoke rose from the far left corner, romanticizing the evening’s band in a misty haze. Lively shouts and sounds of orders of sizzling escaped from the kitchen behind him. Waiters burst through the kitchen doors at frequent intervals, carrying a plate of yakitori or some other popular item on the menu, pausing to pick up cold beers or cocktails Lovino whipped up before delivering the orders to their waiting customers.
It’s been a year and business was moving along swimmingly. Lovino’s bar was a small place, but it spelled home for him, a comfort he couldn’t exactly call such but can’t name anything else. Honestly, he didn’t think things would turn out this way. After leaving Kobe, he had been near penniless and was a thread’s width close to being deported when the former owner of this very bar offered him work. The former owner was the father of one of Lovino’s students. His only daughter by then was already abroad, touring with the dance troupe she had always dreamed of being a member. After the old man died in a car accident, the bar was passed on to Lovino’s name and he valued working in it ever since.
Lovino regretted none but one thing, and he wondered why his heart wasn’t bitter like it usually would be, just detached that it frightened him on some lonely nights. He had thought he was missing something since he left, but hadn’t felt the press of such a loss (if any) since he had been so busy making a decent living for himself. Seeing Feliciano and Ludwig sitting in front of him on the bar made him wonder if the secrecy of his break up with Antonio had been the right thing. After all what did he have to hide? The fact he was refilling his brother’s fourth mug of beer while Ludwig was still nursing his second didn’t console him.
“Brother,” Feliciano began with a steadiness that liquor usually brought to the fore. “How exactly did you break up with Antonio?”
Ludwig watched the two silently, the initial relief from finding Lovino like a lighthouse on the shore making way for tension pounding in his chest. He took a hefty gulp from his beer mug. Watching the way the older Vargas’s face contorted, it seemed he had a hard time admitting things to himself, not that he wouldn’t put it past the guy to act as such.
“It…it happened a month before I left.” Lovino began, expertly mixing a cocktail for a patron beside them. “He and I had an argument over lessons to teach the students.” This is horrid, Lovino thought. Listening to himself made things sound so childish. “I didn’t think Antonio would snap but he did. He told me I wasn’t a very good teacher if I still thought in such a way and I just blew my top. I didn’t want him to choose between his work and me so I just left. He hasn’t contacted me since…so…we aren’t really pining away or anything. I guess it’s mutual.”
He waited with baited breath for Feliciano’s reply, prepared for a declaration of his return to Rome which he really didn’t want at the moment. Or a war cry against the Spaniard.
“Ve…” Feliciano began pensively. “That’s not a reason for you to call it a break up,” he said with an air of a scholar. “Was this your first fight?”
“Of course not.”
“First big fight, I mean,” his little brother continued mildly. “Because if it is, then everyone has those! Even I do~” He gave Ludwig a big grin and the German blushed. “If you really love him, you wouldn’t want to call if off just yet, would you?”
The statement struck Lovino with such quiet brilliance that he put down the martini glass he was wiping and smiled. “Come on, you two. I’ll order barbeque for you, on the house.”
“Ve~! Ludwig we get free food!” Feliciano exclaimed happily and Ludwig took a moment to react.
“Hey, n-wait! Lovino! At least let us pay,” he said, reaching for his wallet.
Lovino waved away the offer. “Please, it’s not everyday I’d do this for you, potato bastard,” he said grinning. “Besides, I really missed you guys.”
A couple of hours passed by, spent catching up on each other’s lives and sharing tips on the best of Osaka’s tourist destinations.
“I’d take you around myself,” Lovino said as he gave two empty plates of the bar’s signature pasta dish to a passing waiter. “But we’ve always been a bit shorthanded around here, so I can’t leave. Well, perhaps I could but I’d have to make a few arrangements.”
“Oh, it’s alright,” Feliciano said, “We’ll get around fine~” and Ludwig sighed.
“He’s a real wonder,” the German said, looking at his boyfriend. “I don’t know whether we should be thankful or not we reached this part of the city.”
Lovino laughed. “Don’t worry. The people are really nice. You’ll get a hang of the streets in no time. How long will you two be staying here again?”
“Two weeks,” Ludwig replied.
Suddenly, Lovino felt it was within that time frame that he needed to get back in touch with Antonio somehow. He knew it was quite selfish to impose such a need to Feliciano and Ludwig, who came here on vacation, but a burning urgency overrode his guilt.
“He might have changed apartments by now,” Lovino thought outloud. “Who knows where Antonio is.”
“Ve~ we called his apartment in Kobe and no one was answering,” Feliciano said. “Then we called the dance studio and got told that he was on an indefinite leave.”
Lovino frowned. It wasn’t like him to do such a thing, leaving his students in the air. “…did the person who happened to answer you be a lady or something?” he asked.
Ludwig nodded.
Ah, so he left the school to Natalia and Katya. But where on earth would he go?
“They told us he was in Osaka,” the German continued and Lovino almost dropped the gin canister he had been shaking.
“What?”
“We thought he’d be with you, ve~” His brother added.
Lovino didn’t answer immediately. He mulled things over in his head. Antonio was on an indefinite leave, since when? Why would he be in Osaka of all places? Per…perhaps he knew? He had gone on a passionate, overblown search for him, complete with roses and a galleon on the roaring sea to find out where he worked? No, Lovino didn’t want to get his hopes up. They had a falling out, didn’t they?
He breathed a heavy sigh and watched as people slowly filed in and out of his bar. Feliciano, with flushed cheeks, observed the crowd over the rim of his newly ordered drink.
“It’s quite late,” Ludwig remarked more than meant as a parting note.
Lovino nodded. “Most of them come here after their dinner.” He smiled at the pair. “If you guys are willing, my shift’ll be over at ten. I could take you back to your hotel.”
Feliciano brightened at the proposal. “Ve~! We could pass by the fruit shake stand!”
“Again?” Ludwig asked while Lovino looked at them curiously.
“What fruit shake…oh!” He laughed wryly. “I’ll tell you something about those two,” he began with the sense of an airy barman brimming with gossip. “They’re actually half-brothers. One’s Egyptian and the other’s Greek. Different mothers.”
Ludwig looked intrigued. “I thought they were…Japanese. A lot of Japanese here look foreign.”
“Ve~ they speak Japanese and English very well.”
Lovino nodded again. “They’ve been in Dotombori for a real long time. Rumor has it, they left home right after college and made a living here.”
“Sounds like a lot of people I know,” the German muttered and downed his beer.
Lovino ‘tut’-ed. “What I meant was they had family issues. I can understand why, if you ask me. The father’s a playboy who’s been out of work for several years and neither mother wants to support them. The grandmother ran a tailor’s shop that’s been around since the war or something and they’ve gotten by with her income. Unfortunately, when the grandmother died, the family fell apart.”
“Heeh?” Feliciano exclaimed, unable to associate the cashier’s warm smile to a rough past.
“That’s admirable, I think,” offered Ludwig. “I mean, if you found out your own dad had a child with another woman, would you really get along with the kid?”
“I guess they’re the only ones who understood each other in that family,” the barman replied. “Since the grandmother died, the brother who mixes shakes doesn’t talk to anyone else except the cashier.”
“Ve~ that isn’t very nice,” Feliciano commented. “Don’t they have names?”
At this, Lovino proudly puffed out his chest. “Herakles and Hassan. They’re actually pretty easy to talk to once you try and get to know them. Before I began working here, they’re the ones who actually helped me out. I stayed overnight in their place once…I forgot what the occasion was but, damn the pizza they made tasted just like home.”
“Uwaa! I’d like to do that some time!” Feliciano said happily. It was rare his brother praised cooking other than his and Antonio’s-begrudgingly more often than not-and he was real picky with his food. These two must be really good. “Where do they live?”
Lovino looked at the cocktail he had just finished with a wan smile and had a waiter deliver the drink before answering. “Above their store, right here along this street. Their house is very small, but it’s homely enough.”
His friends fell quiet at the statement. There was an expression on Lovino’s face they could only imagine-a loneliness felt by those who have left their homeland for a long time, perhaps unable to go back and could only view the memories they left behind a film of gilded gold and sepia.
“Ve~ brother,” Feliciano began. “How do you plan on getting back with Antonio?”
“I don’t know,” answered Lovino. “But if he’s in Osaka the perhaps it’d only be a matter of time?”
“That’s awfully carefree of you,” Ludwig said and he shrugged.
“Shift’s over, wait here. I’ll just inform a staff of mine to close the shop in an hour then we’ll leave.”
The pair obliged.
“Why do I feel that they’re getting back together awfully easy after not speaking to each other for a year,” Ludwig said, counting the drinks they consumed for the night and pulling out a few yen.
Feliciano giggled and ate the olive of his now-finished martini with a flourish. “Silly Ludwig, as I said, if two people love each other, they wouldn’t give a relationship up so easily. You notice when old friends meet after ages and ages, they talk and laugh as if time hardly passed between their meeting and parting? It’s magic, you’ll see,” he winked and Ludwig couldn’t help but believe him. It was this optimisim reflected in the perception and the depths of the boy’s photographs that Ludwig found himself falling in love again. Feliciano continued.
“Though I wouldn’t discount brother for being fickle like this. I wonder if he’ll go back to dancing. The drinks are divine and people flock to this bar.”
“True. It’ll be a shame if he gives this up,” Ludwig said and frowned at a sudden thought. “Hey, are you still going to buy shakes from the fruit shake stand?” He wondered if all their yen would be wasted on food and no souvenirs like he promised Gilbert.
“Ve~! Brother said they were nice people. I want to see them again.”
At this point, Lovino emerged from the kitchen dressed in a shirt and jeans, folding his work clothes while giving instructions in rapid Japanese to a nodding staff person.
“Uwa, he’s really good in speaking the language now,” Feliciano remarked wistfully.
“Ready to go?” Lovino asked, turning to them.
The three stood up, bade goodbye to a few waiters and set off into the cool summer night.
to the Second Degree Part 3