Open post.

[omertae]

I got gas in the tank
I got money in the bank
I got news for you, baby,
You're looking at the man ☞

Open post.

text, action, pic prompts, whatever, do what u want i'm not ur mom

Comments

im ur dad

[likenemesis]

The most courtesy Alastor ever offers is the texts or calls that give Angelo fair warning. Beyond that, there's no knock or even the sound of a key in what was certainly a locked door two minutes ago: he just bangs his way in and swings the door shut behind him.

"Cannoli delivery for one--" he pretends to peer at a delivery slip. "Michael Corleone? That can't be right."

[omertae]

"Very funny."

Angelo's apartment usually smells like cigarette smoke, which he never notices unless he's been elsewhere for a while. He's been away on business for a week and he just got back, so he can smell it, which is why there's a candle that smells like Christmas burning on his coffee table, to offset the tobacco. It's nowhere near Christmas. Besides the candle, there's no lights on, just the warm orange from the flame and the blueish lights from the city outside. All his windows are open and it's bitterly fucking cold; he never opens the windows usually because it's too high up to get a nice breeze, but he's airing the place out. Needs must.

Needs must, again: he has no pants on. This wasn't an 'Alastor is coming' thing, he just has no clean pants right now. Maybe it's antithetical to his candle plans, but he's smoking on his couch. No pants on, big shirt. It's fucking freezing in here.

"When do you have time to watch movies?" He tips ash onto a saucer balanced precariously on the arm of his couch. "I don't have time to watch movies."

[likenemesis]

"I make time. I saw The Godfather parts I through III in theaters. And every once in a while I rewatch it, just to make sure I've got the right mindset for dealing with your family."

Whether or not he's joking is entirely up for interpretation and probably not worth considering, ultimately. Also antithetical to Angelo's intentions is the fact that Alastor brings heat with him wherever he goes -- usually little more than an aura of warmth, sometimes as noticeable as the flare of the candle when he passes. Occasionally he'll burn an entire building to the ground. That's not really his style, though.

"You could make time, you know." He joins Angelo at the couch, balancing on the end of one arm, wafting a cannoli past his face. "You work too hard."

[omertae]

"Say that on fuckin' record, will ya," he grumbles, snatching for the cannoli irritably. That little waft of warmth that comes with Alastor isn't enough right now, he's all goosepimples in the chill. "I've been told I don't work hard enough. You believe that? Me?" He gestures emphatically at himself, beating his chest with the flat of his hand, the cannoli already forgotten in favour of some choice gesticulations. "Anyway, since when are you dealing with the rest of my family? You get an invite to my little cousin's sweet sixteen?"

[likenemesis]

Alastor clicks his tongue in soothing disapproval, shaking his head. "I know. It's no wonder you can't relax. But you know how hard you work. All the effort that goes into maintaining an empire like this -- and the secrets it keeps." He rises from the arm of the couch and crosses to the window. "Your little cousin doesn't interest me," he adds, as he closes the window and locks it. "You know that."

[omertae]

Angelo turns side-on on the couch, kicking his legs up onto it and crossing them at the ankles. A pause, and then he tips his head back to watch Alastor upside down. "I was being funny. You know that."

[likenemesis]

"What I mean is," Alastor says patiently, drawing the curtains shut with just a glance back over his shoulder, "is that I'm not here for anyone else in your family now." A little grin, wicked in the dark. "Just you."

[omertae]

"Yeah yeah," Angelo mumbles, still watching him. There's a distance to his tone, thanks to the way he's roundly distracted by the way Alastor's shoulders move under his shirt. "Making sure I get my cannolis."

[likenemesis]

"Among other things." He comes back across the room, and the candle flares again, like it's reaching for the ceiling before settling back into its bright glow. Alastor would have preferred a fireplace, personally. He comes up behind the couch, toward the end where Angelo is resting his head, and leans over it, arms folded, gazing down at him steadily in the near darkness, with just the candle making his eyes gleam, too bright.

"You know I could take the weight off your shoulders, for a little while. Or forever. If you wanted."

» aimsthegun

[omertae]

[ ☜ cont'd. ]

It matters
You're not stupid enough to think it doesn't

[aimsthegun]

[He's been called stupid for less, if he's honest.]

Mate, I could think you were the biggest cunt I'd ever met, and it still wouldn't matter because if you paid me to shove a brick of C4 down someone's throat I'd do it and you'd get exactly what you want regardless. It's not about what people think. It's about what they'll do for you anyway with their mouth shut because they know what'll happen if they don't.

Anyway, what's the other option? Hunting down every stupid bastard who's ever thought "Salucci's an uppity little prick, isn't he?" just because your pride feels a little tender? Don't be daft.

» tunnelled

[omertae]

[ ☜ cont'd. ]

You don't like to have fun?
That's sad Tommy

[tunnelled]

that's life.
you might have too much.

» allchokedup

[omertae]

[ ☜ cont'd. ]

[ Angelo doesn't reply for a long time. He hates whenever they text and it turns into a whole thing – he hates any time it turns into a thing, but especially over text. He can never seem to type fast enough to get things out of his head the way he wants them, and it's frustrating as hell.

The problem is, Ludo can't have the last word. Nobody can. He won't be able to sleep at all, and he's already halfway to giving up on that, sitting out on his bitterly cold balcony. It's always cold out here at night.

Angelo lights another cigarette and flicks through his phone till he finds Ludo's name in his contacts, and then calls him. ]

[allchokedup]

[After a point Ludo assumes his brother is done with the conversation. Naturally, he doesn't push it. But when his phone rings and he sees who it is that's calling he hesitates before actually picking up the phone.]

...Yeah?

[omertae]

[ Angelo pauses to inhale and exhale a lungful of smoke before he replies. He doesn't know what he's planning on saying here, just that he can't let this go. ]

Wassamatter with you, bambino? [ he decides on eventually, tipping ash onto the ground. ] You get dumped?

[ He doesn't even know if Ludo's dating anyone right now, but that's not the point. ]

[allchokedup]

No, I didn't get dumped, [he answers with a long suffering sigh.]

Nothing's the matter. I'm peachy.

[omertae]

Oh really. [ The disbelief in Angelo's voice is palpable. He's already irritated – who fucking says peachy – but somehow he manages not to get petty about thirty seconds into this call. ] You seem sensitive. More than usual.

[allchokedup]

[Small miracles.

Ludo knows he shouldn't, because he inevitably ends up disappointed, but he can't help but feel a little glad that Angelo called him to ask him what's wrong. Because he could have just gotten annoyed by Ludo being emotional in any way and ignored him. That's why he's being careful now.]

I'm not. [What is the least annoying way to put this — ah, that's it!] Just got kind of annoyed.

[That's infinitely better than saying he got his feelings hurt, right? While still not clamming up and not talking about it, because damn, he likes to talk out his issues. It's unfortunately a complicated matrix to navigate when talking to his brother, though.]

» roseapothecary

[omertae]

[ ☜ cont'd. ]

[ ...oh no ]

It's stained???

[roseapothecary]

Look
It isn't the target's fault when you miss.

[omertae]

[ Angelo has been living on his own for a while now, ever since his father gave him a salaried position ostensibly managing one of the family's restaurants, but Ludo still lives with their parents in Hewlett. At this point the home could well be considered ancestral; a huge, sprawling Georgian-style mansion built in the late 1800s, it's been in the family since their great-grandfather bought it, and Angelo's always quite liked it, at least from a distance. But his father, obsessed with the concrete-and-glass brutalist style, has started work on a modern extension, which Angelo considers practically a sin. He'd wanted to inherit the house, but every time he comes by here now and sees the hulking grey abomination currently being fused onto the back, he finds himself hoping it's left to Ludo.

He's not intending on sticking around here, though; he just has to poke his head in, ask Ludo a quick question, and get the hell out. His mother tells him Ludo's upstairs in his room, so Angelo takes the stairs two at a time and swings around the corridor to get to Ludo's door, which still has the goofy, childish nameplate fastened onto it. He bothers to knock, but it's functionally useless since he's opening the door and striding in at the same time. ]

Hey. I need to talk to you.

[allchokedup]

[ Ludo used to hate the nameplate on the door. The funny thing is, when Angelo moved out he found himself less embarrassed by it. He can't imagine why! It's probably the same reason why he stopped hiding some of his more "childish" belongings. Why he went lax on trying to appear as "grown-up" as possible around the house.

Someone knocks on the door but it opens before he can look up from one of his textbooks. His face wears surprise to see it's his older brother, and suddenly he felt...unprepared? Taken off guard. A movie was playing on his T.V and he was awfully speedy to grab the remote and turn it off.

It was a tragic love story. The girl he had a crush on, Stephanie, said it was her favorite movie. He lied and said he had always wanted to see it which resulted in her loaning him her copy.

It actually wasn't bad. ]

—Abbie, what's up?

[omertae]

[ Angelo stops near the door, hands on his hips, eyes narrowed. Ludo was definitely watching something on the TV before he came in, he could hear it through the door. Probably porn. Gross. ]

I'm getting married.

[ Aside from Alastor, Ludo's the first person he's told about this. He's only known Vic for about two months, but it felt like a good idea when they were talking about it and it still feels like a reasonably good idea now, so. Here he is. Saying that. ]

[allchokedup]

[ It takes Ludo a moment to register what's being said. At first, he thinks he's mistaken and tries to correct himself in his head. But it doesn't take long for him to realize that he, in fact, heard Angelo say that he was getting married. ]

Oh, what? [ Give him a second here! Once the shock subsides and his big eyes stop resembling golf balls in size, the realization that his brother has found someone that made him happy enough to marry sets in. ] That's great!

[ Ludo is grinning now, getting up and clearing the second seat by his studying desk of whatever books he had piled on there. He got in the habit of just keeping a second chair there, as he had begun tutoring some of his younger peers.

Yes, the implication is that Angelo should sit down and not lurch in the doorway like a vampire waiting to be invited! ]

So...how'd it happen?

[ Like every interaction he has with his brother, Ludo goes into it with a small hope Angelo will do something like, you know, stay a while and talk about his life-changing milestones. He never goes into a conversation assuming he will be shut down because then that means he's given up. ]