Giovanni was startled awake by a loud knocking noise and he was swallowed by a strange feeling of déja vu. The sun was blindingly painful against his eyes and he had to blink shut to get accustomed to the bright glare.
Groaning tiredly, he wiped a hand across his face and a yawn left his mouth stretching open widely. Looking out his window, he blinked at the silhouette cast against the glass. The eyes looking back at him look very familiar. The white hair too. Slowly, he blinked the tears in his eyes away. When the person outside his car raised the quilt he gave him last night, it finally hit him who he was. Fuck, what was his name again? He was pretty shit at remembering people's names.
Luca?
When Luca's eyes widened expectantly, he wet his lips and then reached over to roll his window down with a soft, exhausted groan ringing behind his throat. The Los Angeles air hit him and already, it was humidly hot even during these early hours.
Luca smiled at him stiffly.
He blinked at him blankly.
He looked so much different during the day. His hair was actually a nice cross between white and a light blonde underneath the rays of the sun. It did not seem as though he had been on the streets for very long too what with his clean trousers. They did not seem the least bit tethered. A nice bit of stubble shadowed the lower half of his face and under the piercingly bright sun, his green eyes shone up at him guilelessly. The only thing that stuck with him was the air of naïvety.
"I brought your quilt back," Luca said, holding it up for him to take from his grasp.
"Aren't you gonna need it?" he mused instead, his voice gruff. "For tonight?"
Luca's gaze stuck to him for a really long time.
He held it boldly.
Afterwards, he pursed his lips thoughtfully and then he asked, "Then would I not owe you two favours?"
Humoured by his question, he grinned widely.
Luca remained stoic.
"No, you would not owe me two favours."
"Oh."
"If I may offer up my advice, maybe don't bring up second favours to someone you already owe a favour to, cunt. You're lucky I am not like most people. Most would take advantage of your innocence."
"I am not innocent," Luca argued, glaring at him angrily.
He bobbed his head up and down sarcastically, wearing a shit-eating grin.
"Also, I am not sure I want to take advice from the man who sleeps in his vehicle instead of going back home."
Pulling the quilt back against his chest, he searched his gaze with his deep greys. Luca similarly looked at him.
He was an intriguing character. He had never met someone the way he met him. To think he was not dead for trying to break into his van. He was lucky he did not try to steal it. This van had sentimental value what with it being a gift from Batuhan and all.
"When are you gonna tell me what I have to do to clear my debt to you?" Luca asked.
"Why?" he murmured, curiously and then sarcastically he added, "Are you planning on going back home to the wife and kids?"
"No," he answered decisively, resting his arms on the open window. "I do not like the feeling of being underneath someone's thumb."
When he saw the desperation lying under the monotonous look in his eyes, he was instantly reminded of someone. He blinked thoughtfully. After staring at Luca for a long second, he eventually figured out who he reminded him of. He reminded him of himself when he was indebted to Batuhan.
He remembered that feeling he just described. Feeling as though you are underneath someone's thumb and you cannot escape that pressure unless they finally alleviate it. That was how he felt and it was horrible. He would not want to put anyone through that. Even when he mentioned the favour that Luca owed him, he was only half joking. He could care less about a fucking favour.
But also, he could not tell him that he did not owe him shit, because for some weird fucking reason, he was intrigued by him. If he told him he did not have to deliver on his favour then what was keeping him here, what was forcing him to have this conversation with him? Nothing really. He could just take his quilt and fuck off and he would probably never see him again.
No, this way was more interesting. Luca was interesting.
Maybe, because he was still trying to place his accent. He was curious as to why he was in Los Angeles. Was he born here or did he fly over like he did? Why was he in the streets and why was he trying to break into his vehicle? These were questions that needed to be answered. That was the selfish bit of him though.
Just as he was about to tell Luca that he did not owe him anything, his phone rang, cutting him off immediately. He held up a finger, silently telling Luca to give him a minute. As always, he looked around the mess to hear where the sound was coming from. After lifting the paper bags, sifting through his glove box and coming up short, he defeatedly sank back into his seat. Maybe it was high time he cleaned this shit up.
Where could it be? He closed his eyes to try and focus on where the noise was coming from, but being deaf in one ear did make shit difficult sometimes. When a throat loudly cleared, he opened his eyes and then glanced back at the guy by his window inquiringly.
"I think it might be underneath that," he pointed over at the sandwich on his dashboard and then wrinkling his nose in disgust, he ended, "whatever the hell that is."
Quickly, he lifted the sandwich and it stickily grabbed hold of the dashboard. Then lo and behold, his ringing phone emerges from the depths of humid, melted hell. He dismissively tossed the sandwich somewhere in the van. He would worry about it later. He wiped his phone against the shirt, dirtying it brown. When he looked at the screen, he immediately stiffened up to see who the caller was.
Without wasting another second, he instantly answered the call and held the device against his working ear. Hopefully, they weren't angry at him for taking so long to pick up the phone. They would understand if he told them about the sandwich, right?
"Perque," he said when the line grew silent.
"Lloyd," they responded, and just like always they had a voice changer on so he could not tell who they were, if they were male or female, "I require your expertise. In the next hour and a half, I need you to acquire and deliver a Porsche 911 Cabriolet to a random location."
"That shit bucket?" he mused, furrowing his brows in perplex. "Why do you need that?"
"I require some parts from it," Perque stated stiffly, "so don't fuck up the vehicle too much. I will send you the information in thirty."
"Alright."
"Goodbye, Lloyd."
After Perque had hung up the call, he dismissively threw his phone in the passenger seat. Then he glanced back at the guy who was still awaiting him, patiently leaning on the opening of his window. He seemed really intrigued by whatever task he had in store for him. In reality, he had no idea what to do with him. The longer he stared at him, the brighter an idea began to brew in his mind. A really, really bad idea, but also something that could be immensely fun.
"What do you suggest I make you do to repay me?" he questioned Luca, closing the distance between them and pushing his arms off the window.
"I could," he looked up, pondering his options and then after glancing down at the spark plug he still had in his hand, he said, "I could teach you how to break into a vehicle. That is something you mortals strangely like to do, break into other's spaces and steal their possessions."
He immediately had a really hard time keeping his amusement off his face. Was this not one of those 'the pot calling the kettle black' situations? Luca was trying to break into his van too. "Judging by how last night went, I doubt you would be the most informed person to ask about that, but… alright, you have convinced me. Get in the van. You are gonna teach me how to break into a car."
"We do not need to drive out for me to teach you how to break into a car. We can just practise on your van right here."
"You think I do not know how to lockpick a van?" he mused, glancing over at him through an unimpressed gaze.
His face dropped and all the colour drained from his face as he stared at him widely.
"Vans are one of the easiest vehicles to break into. No, you are gonna teach me how to lockpick a real car. Come now, hurry up. I don't have all day."
He hesitated outside his car.
"Don't worry. It's not gonna be something illegal," he reassured him, his lips twitching from the smile trying to escape him. It was most definitely going to be illegal.
After a minute, Luca reluctantly walked around the van and quickly he leaned over to open the passenger door for him. Again, those green emeralds stared at him cautiously and a silent chuckle left him at his apprehensive behaviour.
Slowly, Luca climbed into the seat. It also took him just as long to close the door behind him. The quilt got thrown somewhere in the backseat and after he had settled into his seat as comfortably as he could, he turned to look at him. Again, his eyes held a guilelessness. He really was innocent. Nothing like the corrupted mess he was. He was almost afraid of what he could do to him.
Immediately Luca's nose twitched and then his face scrunched up in disgust. "It smells like shit in here," he muttered, quickly rolling his window up after tampering with the handle.
He started the engine of the van and before driving out, he asked for confirmation, "What was your name again?"
"Luca," he answered distractedly looking around his van at all the loose garbage, seemingly not offended that he forgot his name. "What's yours?"
Giovanni wore a simper on his face, a bright hilarity dancing around in his eyes. Did this mean his memory was as shit as his or was he merely returning the favour just for the sake of doing so? The latter seemed likelier. "I think I'm going to like you, Luca."
He scowled at him, looking him up and down cautiously. The look in his eyes reminded him of his words last night, about how he was not… a man who lies with other men.
"So," he started curiously, keeping his eyes on the road, "where are you from?"
"Earth," he responded brusquely.
With an amused smile, he subtly rolled his eyes at the obvious reply. Earth. Well, he gathered that much. He was more asking him where he was from here and why he was essentially homeless. Perhaps it was too early for him to divulge that. When would it be appropriate for Luca to share his backstory and him, his? Did he plan on keeping him around for much longer than anticipated?
"Me too, mate," he responded with a soft grin on his face. "Pure blood Aussie, to be specific."
"I can tell."
"What gave it away?" he mused, peeking over at him through his peripheral. "It was the bucket hat, wasn't it?"
Before turning away from him to glance outside his window, he caught his lips subtly twitching in amusement at his rhetorical question. A weird sense of accomplishment filled him from almost getting a smile out of Luca. He struck him as the sort of person who was not open about his emotions whereas he was more or less always wearing his heart on his sleeve.
When a notification noise sounded from his phone, his eyes glided over to Luca who was looking down at it. The device was beside his thigh on the passenger seat. He must have moved it. He hurriedly grabbed it and flickered his gaze back and forth between the windscreen and the device to read what the message was.
You have received a contract from Perque Maitre.
"Do me a favour, Luca," he said, chucking his phone on the dashboard. "Grab my laptop from the glovey, mate."
For a moment, Luca did not move an inch. All he did was stare at him inquiringly. Until he gave him an expectant look through the corner of his eye and gestured at the dashboard by tilting his head. That made him do as told, quickly sifting through a bunch of rubbish and unpaid tickets until he found his laptop. He instructed him to turn it on as he was driving and after a couple of seconds of him glancing around at the keyboard in confusion, Luca managed to switch it on.
Was this his first time seeing a laptop, he could not help but wonder.
Luca asked him what to do next. He told him what his password was without hesitation, and this caused him to furrow his brows in confusion.
"Are you not afraid to give out your password to a mere stranger?" he mused, his fingers slowly clicking on the keys on the keyboard and he immediately made note of his typing speed. He seemed efficient enough to do the task he was bringing him along to do. Did he want to risk it though, that was the question.
Perque would kill him if he failed to deliver this car.
"You're not a stranger. You're Luca," he responded, distractedly pulling his visor down to grab his flash drive. He firmly fitted it into the USB port. "Now do you see that dingy-looking app with the skulls and whatnot?"
"Uh… yeah."
"Launch it for me please."
"Launch it?"
"Yeah, open it by double clicking on the pad."
"Okay…"
"Tell me what you see."
"I see a loading screen and something about a potential virus. Is that a good thing?" he asked worriedly and he reassuringly nodded.
When the traffic light turned red, cutting him off he stretched back into his seat and wrapped his arm around the passenger seat's headrest. Luca snapped his head to the side and his stare pierced into his arm glaringly.
"Jesus Christ, relax," he said, bringing his hand down to grab the handbrake instead. "I wasn't going to do something that could lead to you potentially lying with another man, as you so subtly put it last night. Besides, I'm not gay."
He was bisexual, but if telling him that would cause more discomfort than anything else then he was better off not sharing that detail with him.
Luca's cheeks turned the slightest bit cherry red before he turned to look away from him and his embarrassment caused a smirk to break out over his lips.
Through the corner of his eye, he saw a police interceptor pulling up beside him and his heart skipped a beat, the smile on his face dropping instantly. When the cop in the passenger seat glanced over at him, he tried not to sink into his seat suspiciously. Instead, he smiled at her casually and sent her a callous salute. She stared at him with a squinted gaze. It took everything within him not to break out in a nervous sweat.
Did she recognise him? From the bank robbery. There was no way she recognised him since he changed his clothing after last night; burned them all. Even though Airi constantly forced them to after every single job, this time the bloodstains were more than incentive enough for him to do so. All, except for the bucket hat on his head. He would never burn it. Then again, he was also not wearing a mask last night.
Was he about to get shafted?
When they honked at him, he jumped up slightly and irritably she gestured at the green light which made him smile apologetically, putting the car in drive in reprieve.
"You seem nervous about something," Luca mused to him after a moment of silence.
"I'm fine. I just don't like the cops."