I don't know why but the title is satisfying to me haha.

So yeah! It gets so exhausting running around a market all morning...good thing they know a good place to have lunch... ;)

And then there is gonna be a-uhhh little something. You'll see ;)

Enjoy! :)

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"You about ready for lunch?" Spot asks after they've spent a few more hours in the marketplace, new trinkets and flowers and snacks in hand.

"I...well..." Race trails off. His stomach answers for him by growling. "Guess so," he mumbles.

Spot chuckles. "I figured."

"So where's the clostest restaurant?" Race asks as they exit the marketplace.

"I know a couple good ones nearby," Spot answers. "What do you feel like eating?"

One part of Race's brain wants to answer with anything, and the other part wants to say bread. So naturally he says "breadything."

Spot turns his head back as he walks, eyebrow raised, amused smile. "Come again?"

"I..." Race's face flushes. "I meant to say I'm good with anybread. I mean-anything." He groans at himself.

"Today's just not a word day, is it?" Spot sympathizes, amusement on his face.

Race sighs dramatically. "It appears so."

"So to summarize, you're good with anything, but you have a strong preference for bread right now."

Race nods. His stomach growls in agreement.

"Well it so happens that near the Manhattan-Brooklyn boarder, there's a really good restaurant a special someone showed me a few years ago. The chef is very pleasant, good at feeding you, and makes the best bread around."

Race's eyes light up. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

Spot grins. "You'll see."

And so Race happily lets Spot lead him to his favorite Italian restaurant, even if he does know the way, and is pretending that it's still a mystery where they are going.

Race's stomach growls louder every extra second he goes without food and every step closer to entering Moretti's ristorante.

Spot glances at Race. "Did you not eat enough this morning?"

"Nah, Nonna fed me very well," Race responds. "But also you gotta understand I often live in a state of always being hungry."

Spot smiles. "Fair enough."

Together, they push open the door. The bell chimes, letting their favorite chef know that two more people have arrived.

Race grins as Signor Moretti comes into view, his back currently turned to the door. "Benvenuti a Moretti, ristorante of authentic Italian-"

"Buon pommerigio, Signor Moretti."

Signor Moretti whips around faster than looks humanly possible. "Mamma mia! Sei tu davvero, Antonio?" Is it really you?

"Sono io," Race responds. It's me.

Signor Morretti grins widely. "Vieni qui bambino."

Race grins as he enters Signor Moretti's open arms.

"Vorremmo pasta y pane," Spot practices his Italian from behind them, making Race's love for him grow exponentially by the second. "Ci puó fare, per favore?" We would like pasta and bread. Can you make some for us please?

"Ovviamente, ragazzo d'Antonio!" Signor Moretti exclaims in return. Of course!

Race blushes when he hears Signor Moretti call Spot Antonio's boy. Of course there is nothing wrong with the word ragazzo. It's just in this case it's less in the literal sense of "boy" and more along the lines of "lover."

When Signor Moretti finally lets go of Race (He's kinda reminding me of Jack right now, Race muses), he leads them to an empty table for two...

...which happens to be right next to another table for two that is occupied by two people bantering and playing cards, two people they know well.

Race grins. "Ciao, ragazzi."

The two look up at Race, surprsied to see him. "Ciao, Giocatore!"

Without even communicating verbally, the four work together to push the two tables together to make their two 2-person tables into one 4-person table. Race sits next to Andrea, Spot sits next to Giacomo.

"I hope we aren't interruptin' nothin'," Race says as they settle in.

"Not much," Giacomo assures him, not looking up from his solitaire game.

Spot blinks. There's a bunch of playing cards in the middle, but Giacomo also has his own pile. "Wait. Are you...playing Solitaire while you're...?"

"Playin' Go Fish? Of course he is," Andrea answers with a dramatic eyeroll.

"I enjoy multitasking," Giacomo responds breezily. "I'm teaching myself how to be a mastermind. Someday."

"Is it just me, or have you been getting more cryptic and vaguely ominous lately?" Race asks.

Giacomo only shrugs and smiles. "I don't know. Just know that if I ever do become a mastermind, I won't harm you, Race."

"I feel so assured."

Signor Moretti comes back with two big bowls of pasta, setting one in front of Spot and Race, and the other in front of Giacomo and Andrea. "Buon apetito!" He sets down a basket of bread, grinning, before going to check on other customers.

"Guess we had the same idea," Race comments as he looks at the two big bowls of pasta on the table. They're huge, and now he can see why there's two when obviously one person couldn't finish it by themselves.

He takes the first piece of bread out of the basket, delighted that it is still warm, grinning and closing his eyes as he enjoys the bread thoroughly.

The pasta is delicious too. Race's body, convinced that it's in a famished state, welcomes each mouthful of pasta, urging him to keep twirling the fork to get more pasta on and shoveling it into his mouth.

(A/N HELP MEEEEEE I'M MAKING MYSELF HUNGRYYYYYYYYY)

Spot eyes Race amused as he takes his slow bites of the pasta, because "unlike you I wanna enjoy this meal."

It happens when Giacomo is looking down at his Solitaire cards as Andrea stares out the window.

Without knowing it, their forks grabbed opposite ends of the same noodle, and so, slowly, as they continue bringing it into their mouths, their lips are very close to touching.

It's only when they're about a millimeter apart when Andrea realizes this, and so he pulls away violently, making the chair screech on the ground, almost falling over. Giacomo reacts by pulling away in surprise, realizing now what almost happened, his face beginning to flush.

Spot and Race blink at the two, then at each other, silently asking, what happened just now? because neither of them saw what happened. They shrug and turn back to look at Giacomo and Andrea, trying to assess the situation.

Andrea coughs. "I...uh...er..."

"Sta bene," Giacomo replies quickly, eyes very focused on his cards, his hands moving with purpose.

Andrea clears his throat and starts gulping water, cheeks red.

Spot and Race smirk at each other.

Race wonders if Spot is also thinking up a way to get Andrea and Giacomo to talk about the obvious thing going on between them.

"What was that all about?" Race asks curiously, feigning innocence. "Was there a hair in your pasta or something?"

"There couldn't have been a hair in there, Signor Moretti is much to clean," Spot argues, playing along with Race.

"It was nothing," Giacomo answers, and Andrea repeats "nothing."  "We just..."

"It was nothing," Andrea interrupts firmly. "Nothing happened." He starts shoveling pasta into his mouth again.

Giacomo starts twirling his fork in the pasta, mumbling to try to justify what happened, "I mean, there are only so many noodles, it's not like it would be impossible for that to happen..."

Although Race did not see with his eyes what happened, he has a feeling he has a pretty good idea now.

So they drop it for now.

Until Race and Spot have their own moment when they also start chewing on the same noodle. Except while Andrea and Giacomo stopped before their lips touch, Race and Spot's brush against each other. They freeze for a moment, and then grin and turn it into a chaste kiss.

"That's what almost happened to us!" Giacomo exclaims as Race and Spot lean back in their chairs still grinning.

"No it didn't!" Andrea tries to deny it.

Giacomo tilts his head. "I mean. It almost did."

"But it didn't!" Andrea exclaims.

Giacomo tils his head a little bit further, and Andrea starts muttering under his breath. Giacomo just sits there and blinks.

Spot smiles, amused. He understands what's going on. Andrea is finding The Head Tilt of Confusion to be cute, and he can't handle just how pure and cute Giacomo is.

Spot understands because it's exactly what goes through his head whenever he sees Race do his own head tilt.

"This is really good bread ain't it?" Andrea changes the subject abruptly.

"The best," Giacomo agrees smoothly. It's hard to tell if he's questioning the subject change or not.

Race looks around, and while there aren't many people sitting near them he doesn't want too many ears to overhear.

So maybe today is not the time to bring up whatever Andrea and Giacomo have going on. 

But he will find a time to talk to them about it. He's determined now.

After they say arriverderla to Signor Moretti and say their ciao's, Le Carte da Gioco and Spot and Race part ways.

"So now what, pardner?" Race asks. "Your marketplace, my Moretti...where are we spending your afternoon?" But before Spot answers, he keeps going: "Wait, marketplace...Moretti...where are we going to next that starts with an M?"

Spot chuckles.

That's when Race realizes. "Oh right. I was gonna let you tell me. Actually, it doesn't matter if it starts with an M or not. So where we goin'?"

Spot grins. "Well, we could hang out in the park or go to the Brooklyn docks where the sunset is going to be."

"I like the sound of both of those. Lead the way, pardner."

And so they continue their journey, enjoying everything today has to offer.

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I liked that.

I mean. The "a-uhhh something ;)" in the beginning didn't make it into this chapter, but I think I covered the "& More" pretty okay regardless. That "a-uhhh somthing" is going to make a show in the next chapter methinks.

A Lady and the Tramp reference was too good to pass up haha.

(Lady and The Tramp didn't come out til the 50s so they wouldn't have known about it but it's not like they needed to see the movie in order to have their own moment like that haha)

So...what do you think about Andrea and Giacomo and the fact that they might be crushing on each other?

So "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" still aren't terms yet, but Italians have always used ragazzo/a to mean boy/girlfriend, so I can get away with them technically saying "boyfriend" in Italian haha.

Anyone else laugh at the beginning when Race canonically said breadything haha. Most shows/books/etc don't include all the little slip ups people say in real life when they are trying to speak, and I thought I should include at least one to make it feel more relatable. Because absolutely no one says what they are trying to say all the time.

So I got curious to when bells were added to stores/taverns/etc when the door opened, and while I couldn't find a definitive answer, I did find a reddit thread about someone asking if that bell had a specific name, and every response was like "you can just say the bell chimed above them and everyone reading your fic will understand what you're talking about" and that got me laughing because of course it was a fic-driven question.

Whaaaaat this ol' thing I had no plan for is 1700 words now?

The pacing...the pacing...uhhhhh I'm  very much figuring things out as I go haha. I wanted the first ten chapters at least to be mostly fluffy. And then there might be a bit more plot after that ;)

Well, see you next chapter! :)

.........once I post it haha.

Please, no homophobia/tranpshoiba/aphobia, profanities directed at other wattpad users, hate etc in the comment section at all times.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who has had "Somewhere Only We Know", an OST for the GMMTV Thai Gl Pluto, sung by Namtam Tipnaree, playing on repeat several nights while writing this story)