"Dad, Papa, this is Dino." I gestured to my tall friend, and they turned to him. "His family hates him as well."

"Lucio!" Both of my parents glared at me.

I held my hands up. "What?! He's fine with it, because he has me and Romeo."

"I only have myself." Dino popped in, and I scoffed.

"This is why you have no friends."

"Then why are you my friend?"

"I already told you!" I sighed and turned to face away from him. "I'm mad."

"Ok."

"Oh ok..." My parents chuckled awkwardly, and Dino turned to them.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Xavier, Mr. Enzo." He gave a firm nod to my parents, whose eyes widened.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Dino." They both returned the nod.

"Hey, Romeo." Papa patted his back.

"Hi." Romeo shyly smiled at my parents.

Georgie came up to us. "Dad, where's Pops?"

"Ah, he's running late, but he'll be here later. He's taking care of some stuff back at the warehouse." Dad briefly explained, so Georgie nodded a bit. Dad smiled sadly, then sighed. "Alright, I have to make dinner, so don't come into the kitchen."

"What are we eating for dinner?" I asked as I followed him.

"Depends on what you boys have." Dad opened the fridge and scanned the shelves. "Dinner will definitely not be a feast because there's barely any ingredients here, so I'll go for something simple, then."

I nodded, kissed his cheek, then left for the living room. The front door opened and I peeked my head around the corner to see Uncle Jace walk in with Uncle Reece.

"One of your dads is here, Tony, Frankie."

They quickly got up and the rest of us followed them. We quickly greeted them, then I introduced them to Romeo and Dino. They went to my parents who were in the kitchen.

After an hour of hanging out in the living room and playing video games, we watched the rest of my uncles walk in.

"The party has started—!" Uncle Gio stopped when he saw the new face. "More friends, Lucio?"

"Gio!" Uncle Marco whipped the back of his head with the tie he had just taken off. "Don't be rude. They're kids, and Luci is allowed to make as many friends as he wants."

"And?" Gio raised a brow, then turned to me. "What's his story now, hm, Lucio? Does his family hate him, too?"

"Yes." I smiled and rubbed my hands together. "I'm just picking up the kids with family issues."

"Hey, Lucio, be nice." I froze when I heard my papa's voice behind me, so I turned to him and quickly nodded.

"Yes, Papa."

"Uncle Manuel, is my pops still working, or is he on his way?" I heard Georgie ask Tony's dad.

Uncle Manuel smiled sadly. "He's still caught up in work. He told the rest of us to go ahead of him, so we left him at the warehouse. I'm not too sure when he'll be here, but he might be a bit late."

I frowned to myself and watched Georgie's smile drop a bit, but he cleared his throat as he nodded. "Oh, ok. I hope he gets to make it before dinner is ready, at least..."

"We hope so, too." Uncle gave him a small smile, then turned his head when Tony pulled his attention away.

I peeked at my papa and saw him already making his way toward Georgie. He grabbed his hand and gently pulled him out of the living room. I told Romeo and Dino to just hang out in the living room, then followed my papa and brother.

I could see Papa hugging Georgie and walked closer to hug my brother from behind. "It's ok, Georgie. At least Dad, Papa, and the rest of us are here."

I felt him nod and he pulled away. "Yeah."

"Your pops will be here, Georgie." Papa cupped my brother's face and gave him a small smile. "I promise."

"But how could you be sure, Papa?" Georgie pouted a bit.

"Because I know that he'll do his best to come and be here with our family, ok?" Papa smiled, then leaned up to peck Georgie's lips. "Don't worry, Georgie."

My brother nodded. "Ok."

I moved in front of Georgie and hugged him tightly. "You already know that we're always here, Georgie."

"Yeah, thank you." He hugged me tightly, and I kissed his shoulder.

We pulled away after a few seconds, then joined our family again. The parents talked in the kitchen, and the kids played in the living room on the game console.

After another half hour, we got bored and it was already seven in the afternoon.

"Dinner's ready!"

We jumped up when we heard my dad's voice and ran to the kitchen. Even Dino and Romeo ran since they loved Dad's food. The table was set, but there were only ten seats, and there were nineteen of us, not including Bubba.

Dad chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the top of his head. "Ah, there's not enough chairs, so I thought that the kids could eat in the living room, or if you want to stand?"

"That's fine." I nodded.

Dad handed us our bowls which were sitting on the counter. "Thank you, Dad!"

Georgie and I pecked our dad's cheeks. Our cousins thanked him as well with kisses on the cheeks, then Dino and Romeo looked at each other.

"Thank you."

My dad smiled and we went to the living room to sit around the coffee table. Some of us sat on the floor, while the rest of us sat on the couch and turned the tv on. Georgie ate quietly beside me and I knew that our family could tell that his mood wasn't so great, but they continued to talk since Dino and Romeo were here.

"Hey, Lucio." I stopped mid-chew to slowly turn my head and look at Dino's wide eyes. "You think I can get some more pasta? It's really good."

I jerked my head back in surprise when he showed me his empty bowl. I quickly finished chewing my food and wiped my mouth. "Wow, you really ate it that fast?"

"Yes. What's the green stuff in the pasta?" He pointed at the green speck on his fork, my eyes widening even more when I noticed that his bowl was cleaner than it should've been.

"That's pesto sauce. It's just chicken pesto with pasta. That's why it had chicken pieces in it." I eyed his bowl, then smiled. "You really want some more?"

"Yes, please." He quickly nodded and held his bowl out to me. "Also, you think I can take some? If not, then that's ok, but ask your dad if I can take some back to my dorm."

I raised my brows, but nodded. "I'm pretty sure he'll let you take some home."

"The dormitory isn't my home, but ok." He gave me a thumbs up with a weird smile, and I blinked, covering my mouth as I got up.

"O-Ok, Dino..." I snickered to myself as I made my way to the kitchen and Dad looked at me. "Did you ask your friends if they wanted anymore, Luci?"

"This is Dino's bowl actually..." I filled the bowl up with some more of the pasta and turned to Dad. "Did I ever tell you that he loves your food? Like, he loves food in general, but he loves your food. He even asked if he could take some back home."

"He's tried my food before?" He raised a brow at me, and I nodded.

"He's basically been taking my lunch ever since I let him try that one special sandwich that you made for me and Georgie for lunch that one time." I explained, and my dad gasped.

"He's been stealing your food?"

"Yes, well...he splits it between us, but it's usually against my will, so..." I shrugged. "Whenever you make me lunch, make sure it's enough for two people, now."

Dad shook his head, but nodded. "Alright, but tell Romeo that he can take some of the pasta home, too."

I nodded, then walked back to the living room, handing Dino his bowl as I sat back down. "My dad said you can take some, but you have to stop stealing my lunch."

"He didn't say that. I didn't hear him." Dino quickly shook his head, then shoved a forkful of the pasta into his mouth. "Scrumptious!"

I furrowed my brows and sat back, moving my head back as if he was about to explode. I went back to finishing my food and the rest of us finished.

Georgie was quiet as we helped clean up the kitchen and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. I guess I could understand why he was sad, because it has been a while since the whole family got together, excluding Andrea, for dinner. Bubba wasn't here with us because of work, but that's what happens when you take a blood oath.

In the mafia, work always came first, especially after doing the blood oath. The blood oath ruled that if you were ever called by your boss, you'd have to immediately report to them. It didn't matter if your wife, dad, brother, or whoever was on their deathbed. If you were called in to your boss' side, then you'd immediately have to leave your loved one's side to go to your boss.

It was something that our parents have always hated, and wanted to make it disappear, but the other Italian families never agreed with us. It didn't matter if we were the head families or were the biggest, if we couldn't come to an agreement with the other Italian families, then whatever was being argued, wouldn't happen. Some of the older bosses and leaders liked the blood oath rule because it played a pretty big part in the mafia, and there were quite a few old bosses, so we've never won.

The blood oath also helped people climb higher up in the hierarchy. If a Made Man or trainer, or whoever in the lower two of the hierarchy wanted to become a general or a sergeant, which was the head of the soldiers, they'd have to take the blood oath. That's why the lower two levels were usually preferred by the newbies.

It all ran in a system. Associates were at the bottom. They were sometimes involved in missions, but most of the time, they weren't. The associates would take care of any businesses that the boss would own, like a restaurant or store. The stores were used to transfer dirty money back and forth, so the associates usually did the most dirty work out of the rest of the statuses, which is why they had a higher chance of getting caught by the police.

Made Men, the soldiers/guards, who could also be trainers if they were chosen by the boss, were pretty self-explanatory. They were soldiers who would go on missions, or defend the warehouse/headquarters if it was under attack by another gang.

Caporegime/sergeants/general, or head of the soldiers, were the people that took the blood oath to be in the position they're in. They took direct orders from the boss for the bigger, intenser missions, but if they were regular, simple missions, then they'd get orders from the underboss.

The underboss would be the position that Alvaro was in. He was the second in command, and had control of the side businesses that the boss owned. He also ordered the generals on what to do during the simple missions.

And finally, the boss, Bubba. He was known as Capo Crimini in the Five Families, the chief of crime, but was known as Capo dei capi, or the Godfather in the media and law enforcement. He was the boss of all bosses. His grandfather is the main reason why the Five Families is so known, but also because when we combine with the four other bosses, my dear uncles, we had the biggest gang in the world. Bubba has control of everything in the Five Families, but usually leaves things to Alvaro when they're not so important in our gang.

There was also a sixth position that was equivalent to the boss, which was the consigliere, which Dad and Papa held. They were basically on the same level as Bubba. They had control of his entire gang and generals, but they mainly helped the boss and underboss do some major business, like an advisor. The three of them were basically the administration team in the family.

But Dad also had his own smaller gang, which is a branch of the Genovese's family. It was more like a stick than a branch because of how small it was, but he didn't want too many people in his gang. Papa was his underboss, so he was usually busier than Dad.

Dad didn't really want a gang in the first place, but my uncles thought it was a great idea that he should make one because of how much control he already had of Bubba's gang when they were younger. He chose about twenty people for the first tryouts, then went up to twenty-five people, which is how many members there are now.

So how things would work for Georgie and I, is that once Bubba wanted to retire, Georgie would be the next boss. Bubba would help Georgie out in the first couple years until my brother got the hang of it.

For me, because I am Georgie's younger brother, I'm one of two underbosses, but also the consigliere. I'll also be taking over Dad's gang once I'm older and he and Papa will be teaching me more about business once I'm a bit older. And I say one of two underbosses because Andrea, my older cousin who's the son of Alvaro, Felix, and Olllie, is the other underboss in the Genovese family. But he stays in Italy to keep control of the other half of the gang, since we're not there.

The same thing would basically happen for Rocky and Vito. Because originally Uncle Gio and Uncle Marco had their own family gangs before they got together, they had their underboss and their team already, but when they got together then had my two cousins, they decided to merge their gangs together, which was a mess but that is definitely for a different story. Rocky would have originally been the boss for Uncle Gio's gang, and Vito would've been the boss for Uncle Marco's gang, even though I think that it should've been the other way around because of their personalities, but this would've been decided by their parents. Now that they're merged together, Rocky is the main boss and Vito is the underboss.

It was a big old mess, but we all just rolled with it.

"Do you want to go to the treehouse later, Georgie?" I asked my brother since we were sitting outside near a fire we had made.

He nodded and laid his head down on my shoulder. I grabbed his hand and gently squeezed his fingers. It was already past eight and Bubba still wasn't here.

"Georgie." He lifted his head up and looked over at Papa. Papa pointed to his left where the sliding glass door was. "Look."

We both turned to look over, and I could see Bubba getting hugged by my family. Georgie straightened up and watched him through the glass. Bubba talked with our family inside and Tony pointed out the door.

Bubba looked up and smiled when he saw us. He made his way to the door, then walked towards us. "Sorry for being late."

Georgie looked down and squeezed my hand. "It's fine. At least you're here, right?"

Bubba sighed, then crouched in front of Georgie as he grabbed his hands. "I'm really sorry, Georgie, especially since the whole family was supposed to be here together for dinner. I promise I'll make it up to you, ok?"

"Yeah." My brother nodded slowly, but didn't look at him.

Bubba slowly exhaled, then turned to me with a small smile. "Hi, Lucio."

I smiled a bit, and he got up. He walked to the door after greeting my papa and stopped before he stepped in. "I'll be inside eating if you want to talk with me, Georgie."

Georgie rubbed his face beside me and quickly got up to follow Bubba inside. The door closed so then I turned to Papa who was sitting in a chair and had his head back to look up at the sky. I moved next to him and laid my head on his shoulder, then closed my eyes.

I felt him wrap his left arm around me, so I hummed happily. "Papa, when did you tell Dad that you liked him, and how did you tell him?"

Papa tensed, then chuckled. "Ahh, that time was really weird, but we were in high school in our junior year, and your dad was actually new to the school. My friend at the time and I ended up getting in a fight with your dad, but he beat us. Twice."

"Really?" I chuckled softly, but nodded. "I guess it does make sense, though."

"Yeah. During our lunch, I confessed that I liked him because he was able to actually beat me up. That was basically it and we started dating from then." He patted my head and sighed. "Then he had to move to a boarding school because he ended up sending the kid on the wrestling team to the hospital."

He laughed at that part, then calmed down. "But I followed him there, too. I followed him wherever he went because he was the first person I had fallen in love with."

"Ew, so sappy." I joked, hearing him chuckle.

"You'll understand once you find that someone, Lucio. For now, continue enjoying the time you have with your cousins, because then you'll find someone or someones who'll completely change your world. Why do you ask?"

"Because I think I like Romeo and Dino."

___________________________________

Uhh, and this is where it really begins, I think... ;3

What do you guys think?

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed! See you all next time, BYE!!! :))

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