Chapter Text
crisp cold air hit his cheeks as he sped through the neighborhood during its quiet hours, the squeaks of his rusty old bike filling in for the silence. lovino skimmed by the sidewalk under calm lavender hue of the sky that is yet to turn blue. he occasionally glances as house after house sped by until the sidewalk diverted away from the autonomy of the neighborhood and into taller side of town with the taller kinds of buildings. he slowed down to a stop with a final shrill squeak, turning his head to the large sign over him saying 'gattomatto cafe'. he carefully puts his bike in its place to the side and brought out his jingling keys. "right, time to get to work"
the door opens with a familiar jingle lovino is so used to by now and made his way through the green walls of the small hallway. the small decorative drawers on the side covered in small little cat ornaments, and then he opened the door, immediately greeted by a good few meows. lovino's face lifted into a smile as he leaned down for one of the cats. " well good morning to you too albert " the fluffy white cat was quick to respond with a responsive and loud meow. another brown shorthaired cat with white spots all over ran over excitedly with a head rub against lovino's leg for a greeting "hello trimasu!". his eyes scanned over the room, 15 cats spanned across the room , some in the their cat trees snoozing, others tangling from the tables, swatting at each other playfully. he gave himself a big stretch before getting started, there was work to do ofcorse before he opened the cafe.
rolling up his sleeves he started by cleaning up, the usual vacuum cleaning, cleaning the tables, taking care of the cats' 'business' and so on. this was routine to lovino, like an unconscious habit at the point, and besides he enjoyed the silence of early mornings like this. as the golden rays of the sun painted the sky blue, lovino checked his watch. 9:30 am, perfect, right on time to open. lovino made his way outside to flip the sign and waited in the cafe.
1:32pm
he stared at his phone as they displayed the numbers and kicked his feet by the counter, at this point he's rearranged things to cleared his mind, played with the cats a little and just was trying to keep his mind occupied. he'd convince himself 'its a slow day! someone will come in for sure' but it felt as if by doing that he was slowly driving himself off the edge. he groaned , planting his face into the counter!' this is hopeless! its been hours and not a single bastard walked in here! why am i wasting my time here even!' he thought to himself. for a good moment his eyes lingered to the door. if he could just leave then why didn't he? no ones stopping him! he could just quit already! but he didn't.... he couldn't. another one of the cats popped up on the counter next to him, rubbing her face against his arm practically begging for attention. with a face like this he couldn't say no, scratching her chin until she purred satisfyingly. he stared at the door again. still not a soul was walking in, the little bell suspended over the door hasn't rung once. as much as he'd hate to admit it, it bummed him out significantly.
another 2 hours or so passed and still not a sign of anyone coming in. by then lovino was scrolling on his phone absentmindedly, its been ages, his eyeballs were getting dry and tired from staring at the screen, and his eyelids were being held up by a toothpick practically. his fingers paused when his eyes caught a post from Feliciano
ofcorse. his dry eyes couldn't contain themselves from doing an eyeroll, ofcorse its another post from is idiot brother, in a neat leaf print shirt and sunglasses and the over filtered background of a regular park. it wasn't the first time lovino has seen posts like these, Feliciano was a frequent poster. he'd be lying if he said he didn't envy him, even a little. he seemed so carefree, as if collage life wasn't a bother.
meanwhile he's got himself winded up in a cafe that was practically invisible to pass-byers, having to care for the cats as well as his little brother and his college fees, and that's not to mention rent for them both and the cafe.
tch, he'd like to see Feliciano handle that much responsibility! with an attitude like that he would crumble into dust!
his eyebrows lowered to a frown and his mouth twitched lower at the thought
as much as he'd hate to admit, he didn't like that thought. sure sometimes he envies his brother from being so free and care of burdens he has to go through, but he wouldn't like to see Feliciano practically collapse under the pressure , he's too frail to carry all that weight on his shoulders. besides, he was the older brother after all, someone had to take care of them both.
he pushed out a heavy sigh as he closed his phone once more and set it aside , away from his hands on the counter. he couldn't be bothered by the media at such a time.
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'bzzzzzzzt! bzzzzzzzt!' his phone vibrates on the counter, the noise like a bee in his ears , irritating. lovino lifted his heavy head up, blinking slowly with effort as he pulled his sticky eyelids a part. reaching for the phone. it was an alarm he set for himself as a sort of reminder. he closed it as the screen turned back to his cat over the wallpaper , with the digital clock hanging over it. 9:45 PM?!?!?! lovino's brain snapped into lucidity as he widened his eyes at the screen! he's slept on the counter the entire day!! now he has 15 minutes until closing time! 'IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT!!! YOURE SUCH AN IDIOT!!' lovino told himself internally, beating himself up for it as he immediately got to work closing things up and getting ready so he can close the cafe, cleaning up the kitchen and making sure cats had their food overnight, all that was done while quietly beating himself over his mistake. and 15 minutes later he grabbed his bag, haphazardly shoving the phone in there and walked out the door (not before petting the cats and giving them all goodbye kisses)
he turned around to flip the sign that now said closed and eventually grabbed his bike to go home.
every peddle felt like he was like he was peddling a tank to move forward with nothing but a chain made out of rubber bands, his, his head just as heavy. it wasn't the first time he'sbikes home looking like this. all he could think of was that he was a failure, he put in all the work to make that cafe a reality and no one even batted and eye.
typical
just typical!
he sped through the street, some shops open wide, the lights from inside lightened up the street more than the street lamps ever did, making the street lamps feel humiliated and overshadowed, with people going in and out getting what they need and what they want. lovino was quick to ignore, he couldn't bother to busy himself thinking about those other people, comparing himself to them. and as the streets with shops and towering buildings, dissolved into the neibourhood once more, lovino surfing the streets with the rusty bike under the blanket of the night sky. the lights of the street light up the streets bright enough to cover over the stars, making the night sky seem darker and lonelier, and yet despite that , some stars were able to burn brighter and make themselves seen.
when lovino came to a stop, he looked at the night sky, spotting a few glowing dots amidst the light pollution the street was creating. he could spot the few stars making up the Orion's belt just faintly there on the dark blue sky. spotted Venus as well much lower on the horizon, neibouring the wanning gibbous moon and taking both taking the spot as the two bright thing in the night sky. the sight was something that made lovino smile a little , despite his earlier mood.
he set his bike aside and made a mental note to oil it before tomorrow, and walked in the house.