October 17, 2023

Getting out of Venice and heading to Verona feels like a breath of fresh air. And Nathan isn't only feeling that way because Verona lacks revenants in plague doctor garb.

The differences between the two cities are manifold. Nathan thinks there is great beauty in Venice, but, at times, it feels like an open air museum filled with boatloads of tourists rather than an actual city. Verona, by contrast, is a city people call home, a city they live in—they work, study, exercise and party in an old-world urban jungle where history and modernity intermingle as much as they clash.

Verona has cars, which Nathan had almost forgotten existed; his mental image of what constitutes a primary means of transport has been replaced by watercrafts in mere days. And although both cities are touristy, Verona's tacky souvenir shops are rife with Romeo and Juliet paraphernalia rather than Carnival masks in all shapes and sizes.

The day trip has been progressing smoothly. Jamie was grumbling under her breath when her offer to pay for everyone's train tickets got declined—"So Stella gets to treat us to ice cream, but nobody will let me do anything nice?"—but her mood improved fast at the prospect of seeing Verona and its novelty. It's a welcome change of pace.

On that, at least, the entire family is in agreement, which works wonders for the atmosphere. Nathan didn't think he'd say it, but the morning spent getting a feel of Verona's old city center and visiting the house said to have inspired Juliet's almost became harmonious.

When the group breaks up around lunch time, with Emilio and Linda heading off by themselves in search of 'the finest spaghetti and meatballs lunch in town', Jamie seizes her opportunity. She accosts Stella with enthusiasm, leaning on her sister's shoulder with her most excited grin on full display.

"Stellaaa! You didn't know this yet, but we're ditching these guys. Girls' shopping trip. Right this instant!"

Stella is truly in high spirits, for she laughs, which Nathan hasn't seen her do ever. But he supposes it is a sunny, sorrowless day in a pretty Italian city, and she has been successfully crossing cherished places off her bucket list all morning—a veritable recipe for happiness.

"Are we now?" Stella asks playfully. "Poor Gino and Nathan might have wanted to enjoy lunch with us."

"What happened to sisters before misters? They can grab lunch with us whenever, but we're only in Verona for a day, and the shopping streets are so much better here than in Venice." Jamie conjures up her best puppy dog eyes; Nathan doesn't know how Stella could possibly say no to that face. "Come on, Stel, please? When was the last time we really hung out?"

The wistfulness creeping into Stella's smile says the answer is too long ago. She turns to Gino and Nathan. "You two will be able to fend for yourselves  for a few hours?"

Gino blows his fiancée an exaggerated kiss, pairing it with a wink. "I will survive, amore. Go forth and conquer these streets."

Nathan's own reply is a simple "Uh-huh", which has the girls in stitches within seconds. Nathan doesn't mind this. There is no malice in it and, ulterior motive aside, Jamie isn't feigning her zeal. She'll enjoy this quality time with her sister.

Let them try and have fun, make a couple good memories together for a change. At its core, that's what the whole trip was supposed to be about, anyway.

Nathan is readying himself to initialize working the precious few social skills he has on Gino when Jamie turns back, motioning for her sister to halt. "Wait a sec, one more thing. Nate, what's your favourite colour?" She smiles. "Because I thought it would be nice to get you, like, a little souvenir gift or something, and it'll be good to have a colour to keep an eye out for."

The love Nathan feels right now is going to be the death of him someday. He's enjoying every second of it.

"It's ditchwater green," he says, thinking nothing of this, even though maybe he should have.

Jamie laughs again. "That doesn't sound like a very pretty colour."

"If I may assume, I suspect he just means a brownish kind of green." Stella regards him with far too knowing a look, but there is mirth in her expression rather than hostility. Huh. "Does 'hazel green' approach the the term you're looking for, Nathan?"

"I dunno. Maybe."

"Hey, if you like the colour, you like it—doesn't matter what it's called. I'll see if I can find something like that." Jamie turns to leave with her sister, properly this time. "Let's go, Stel– What are you looking at? There's nothing on my face, is there?"

And then Nathan is alone with Gino, who gets to witness exactly how red his face can turn.

"There we are, abandoned by the ladies." If Gino has an opinion on Nathan's sudden tomato complexion, he is too polite to bring it up.  He chuckles and pulls out his phone. "I don't know what your lunch plans or preferences are, but I'm going to try and find the little place I saw selling döner kebab near the Arena. You can come along if it sounds good to you."

Nathan doesn't know what food Gino is talking about, and walking back to the Arena from the ancient square they're standing in will take them ten minutes at least. In fact, they're already surrounded by restaurants, bistros, cafés and every other type of eatery one could name. That would normally be enough for Nathan to thank Gino for the opportunity and sit his ass down at the nearest table looking like it belongs to an establishment selling food that won't poison him. But today, he needs Gino's boat, and no better opportunity is going to present itself.

"Sure. Is döner kebab an Italian thing?"

"No, Turkish. Don't misunderstand, I'm proud of and love my country's cuisine. Each time Stella breaks spaghetti before cooking it, a piece of my soul dies. But I also enjoy kebab, and I've yet to find a good place to eat it in Morales, even though it's been close to a decade since I moved there."

Nathan trails after Gino while the man tries to figure out which direction his phone is telling him to walk in. "So no hunting for the finest spaghetti and meatballs with your in-laws today?"

"That's a quintessentially American dish." Gino grimaces, a little pained. "And between you and me, I consider all my in-laws best experienced in low dosages. Please don't take offense at that."

Nathan isn't sure why he should be offended. It's an intriguing confession, though it confuses him, too. He puts his quest to obtain a boat on the backburner for the time being, eager to hear Mr. Perfect out while he's about to lay his cards on the table like this. Gino has a loose-lipped side to him, if Jamie is to be believed.

"But they like you a lot," Nathan observes, "and you get along with all of them so well."

"Yes, that's true. And I like them, too, I really do. But they're a complicated bunch and embroiled in petty conflict more often than not." A fruit stand they pass distracts Gino momentarily, but he continues to walk and talk again before Nathan has to remind him to. "Jamie is a wonderful and extraordinary person, but let's not deny she's a handful. Emilio and Linda treat her too harshly, in my humble opinion, though they mean well in their own way. But their war is theirs, not mine. All of them have always been good to me. I have no reason to be fighting on the frontline for either side."

So that's how it is. Nathan himself wouldn't have any trouble picking sides here. He'd fight for his choice tooth and nail. "Where is Stella in all of that?"

"Stella... The constant conflict bothers her. Very much. She just wants her loved ones to get along, so she does what she can to keep everybody together, and she does so by staying in the middle. By trying to be a bridge. I've always loved her determination to mediate and keep the peace." Gino pauses, gathers his words. "What I do is everything I can to support her—in the middle, not taking sides. When her family goes around shattering precious things, we pick up the pieces and we work to glue them back together. Being the neutral faction among the warring parties best allows us to do so."

They cross a busy road without looking left and right, simply moving with the crowd as it meanders along. Nathan wonders how long they've been walking. "There's people out there who'd claim that kind of neutrality is just a cover for cowardice."

"Those people can say whatever they like. What I'm describing isn't cowardice, not to me. It's pragmatism. Realpolitik, as the Germans would call it. And in the end, I'll always do what I think is best for the people who matter to me most: Stella, my own family, my very best friends." Gino smiles slightly. "The people who don't force me to think about my personal life in political terms. Is that something you understand?"

Nathan remains silent. He understands choosing your own over the rest of the world perfectly well, but there's a nagging feeling he can't shake. That feeling is the realisation Gino and Stella have mentally placed themselves outside of a conflict they play a much bigger role in than they themselves seem to believe.

"When people talk about Shakespeare's most famous play, it's always the tragic romance they remember." Gino runs his finger along fridge magnets on display outside a souvenir store—Romeo, climbing up to Juliet's balcony. "But if there's one thing to take away from the work, it's that family conflict sucks."

They turn a corner. The Arena di Verona enters Nathan's line of sight. The vast, ancient structure awes him as much now as it did the first time—two stories worth of colourful archways set into a round open-air venue bigger than a football field, its stones far older than everything man-made in Morales.

This building is a colosseum, like the one in Rome. Nathan thinks they're all called colosseums, anyway, though he isn't entirely sure. He could ask Gino, but he doesn't want to look like an even bigger idiot in front of the man.

Jamie can probably tell him what's up with it. Later. In the here and now, Nathan still has a mission to accomplish.

When they've gone past and Gino is zoning in on his treasured kebab haunt—a no-frills, hole-in-the-wall place—he cuts right to the chase.

"Can I borrow your boat sometime soon?"

Gino halts on the sidewalk, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "It... depends. What exactly are you planning to do with it?"

"I'm... considering asking Jamie out on a date. A first." Nathans reddens again, just a little. Jamie's comment about Gino and Stella's romantic boat rides got the gears in Nathan's head turning. This way, Gino for sure won't be able to guess Jamie had a hand in his request. "I thought it would be nice to take her for a boat ride on the canals. Just the two of us, no hired guide or driver. So I'd like a boat ready and accessible in case she says yes."

Gino pulls a face so baffled Nathan instantly feels insecure. Isn't this a good idea for a first date? Maybe it's only acceptable for a second, a third, a fourth...

He doesn't actually know. It has been a long time since Nathan has been in a relationship, and neither of the two he was in came even close to being successful. His first was before he dropped out of high school, with a classmate who thought dating one of the local bad boy dealers would make her the hottest shit on the block; this relationship lasted until the girl in question dumped him after a few months, once she'd figured out that Nathan was, in her words, a 'moody, arrogant jerk without the slightest bit of romance in his soul'.

(Nathan still doesn't understand how she didn't figure that out during their very first week together.)

The second was a few years later, with a woman who was only with him in order to dip into his drug stash behind his back. That relationship still haunts him every once in a while—he kicked that sleazy thief to the curb and warned her in clear language not to pull that shit on any other dealer, for he knew guys who wouldn't hesitate to give her a beating or do damage much worse. But the last time he saw her—years ago, in passing on the street—she sported a black eye and looked more dead than alive.

He was pretty done with relationships after that. Wrote them off entirely after his mother died, unwilling to endanger anyone by dragging them into his mess of a life. It was better to play it safe and easy and pay a prostitute every once in a while.

Not quite romantic. Maybe his first ex had a point.

"Was something I said weird or confusing, Gino?"

"You're telling me," Gino says slowly, "that you and Jamie are not dating as we speak?"

"Uh... Yeah?"

"No secret relationship at all? Not even a little bit?"

"None whatsoever. Swear on my mother's grave."

Gino looks like he just found out his favourite celebrity couple is only real in the fevered minds of rabid Internet fangirls. He mutters under his breath in Italian. "Siete pazzi o cosa? Coppia di scemi..."

This Nathan doesn't like. There used to be a couple ethnic gangs Derek dealt with on the regular, in alliances or feuds depending on the time and place. Mafiosi, Latin gangbangers, Eastern Europeans babbling in incomprehensible Slavic tongues—Nathan would inevitably end up in confrontations with these guys and, when encountered in pairs or groups, the fuckers would code-switch amongst themselves in the middle of a conversation.

Nathan could never tell if they were merely swapping inside jokes or if he was about to get jumped. Eventually, it made him want to get chatting in the Language of Fists straight away.

"Bro, cut the shit and talk to me in a language I understand. Do I get to use your boat or not? I'm just trying to do something special for my girl here."

It's a little extra and not entirely accurate for him to be calling Jamie his girl, but it flows out of him with remarkable ease. Nathan kind of likes the way it sounds.

"Woah. Keep your cool, Romeo. I'll lend you my boat." Gino takes a cautious step back, like he's realizing only now that Nathan is a big dude, strong enough to hand him his scrawny ass in a fight.

Nathan makes an effort to relax his body. He unclenches his fists and fights off the intensity in his gaze, the force in his voice, the latent aggression in his stance. He reminds himself this isn't a mafia thug he's dealing with, but his Italian pal Gino who has only ever touched legal drugs in his life. "Sorry. I didn't mean to act like that."

"It's fine—cavolo, you're intimidating—it's fine. I like your date idea, so go for it. Just let me know in advance when you'd like to use my boat, and... Please, for the love of all that's holy, listen carefully to my instructions and take it out for a trial run first. The Venetian canals are already difficult enough to navigate for experienced boatsmen and I don't want you and Jamie to drown."

Nathan mentally rejoices as it dawns on him they've acquired a boat. Mission accomplished.

"I'll be a good student. Thanks."

"Anything for love, no?" Gino relaxes. Then, he makes for their restaurant of choice. "Now let's get ourselves prime kebab."

~~

Gino makes for surprisingly good company—the man knows how to keep a conversation going, especially where boats are involved, which makes it easier for Nathan to stay engaged. That kebab stuff he's into is pretty neat, too, so Nathan resolves to help him find the good stuff once they're back in the States. But although they have a decent time, Nathan is still happy when, after a quick exchange of messages between Stella and Gino, they meet up with the girls near the Arena.

"Nate, Gino, hey!" Jamie isn't sprinting to meet them, but she is moving faster than she should. She is holding a chocolate milkshake and sports that thousand-watt smile Nathan fell so hard for. Considering how rough the past few days have been for her, he cherishes the sight of it even more.

"Hi." Nathan doesn't have to make an effort to smile himself. He is happy Jamie seems to have had fun with Stella, and he has good news to share on top of that.

When Jamie halts in front of him, she sends him a questioning look—Gino is much too occupied waving excitedly  at his fiancée to notice it. No words are necessary for Nathan to understand what she means to ask. He nods, almost imperceptibly so.

It isn't lost on Jamie. She grins and whispers nice in his ear, her breath on the sensitive skin sending shivers down his spine.

"I got you a gift like I said I would," she announces then, out loud this time. "It's... It's just something small, but I hope you like it."

The gift in question sits wrapped in a tiny paper bag Jamie hands him. Nathan opens it on the spot, too curious to wait until they're back in their room. It turns out to be a golden necklace with a pendant, a symbol he doesn't recognize. A charm in the shape of a twisted horn, reminding him of a chili pepper.

"Okay, it might be kind of stupid." Jamie sounds oddly self-conscious. "But that charm is called a corno or cornicello—and it's actually a Neapolitan thing, but shops catering to tourists don't give a fuck about that, I suppose, and that's, uh, that's irrelevant again, isn't it?—and it's said to protect the wearer from, from evil and bad luck, so..." She scratches the back of her neck. "They only had gold, nothing in that ditchwater green colour you mentioned. Sorry."

Protection against evil and bad luck. Nathan isn't really a necklace type of guy, but the gift is sweet and he reckons he could use some of what it promises—superstition or not.

He puts it on. "I'll wear this. Thank you."

"Shame on you, Jamie. You're omitting important information." Stella, who trailed after Jamie with their bags at her own pace, reached them just in time to catch her sister's infodump. "The cornicello is also a virility symbol."

"Wha– how do you even know that?"

"I believe it came up in one of your videos." Stella doesn't bat an eye, taking a sip of her own milkshake with a growing smile. "It's easy for you to forget, but I tune in for those like clockwork every week."

Jamie gets all flustered and blushy. "That shop didn't sell any perfectly innocent four-leaf clovers, Stel. I can't fucking help that, can I?"

Stella laughs at her sister's bewildered outrage, laughter turning into howling when Jamie goes on cursing her working memory a little too loudly. And Nathan, watching this, allows himself to think that maybe, just maybe, some of the thinking he has been doing has been less wishful than he has been telling himself to protect his feelings from disappointment.

So when they're out of danger, when the Doctor has been adequately dealt with, perhaps he could ask Jamie out on that date for real.

Nathan laughs along with the sisters, and feels like he's king of the world.