A few weeks ended up passing by, Giovanni coming in almost all the time. You'd told him how good his soup was, to which he acted overjoyed.
You loved being around him, lost in a happy fluttery daze when he'd come in to keep you company, talking about everything and anything to pass the time.
Hardly anyone came in to the shop, though one of the few times when someone did stands out.
You were both engrossed in your conversation, which mainly consisted of different recipes, that you didn't hear someone come in until they had addressed Giovanni in a surprised tone.
"Boss?"
The guy wasn't even finished exhaling when Giovanni spun around.
"Car Crash?! What are you doing here?"
You're eyes suddenly focused.
This was him. The tax man.
The elusive car crash, who must be loaded.
"Boss! Stop calling me that in-"
He looked over at you and cut himself off, then sighed, and held up the sliced pan in his hands.
"I ran outta bread, and Boss please call me Fred?" At this point your head was going back and forward between the two so fast you felt your neck was getting whiplash.
"Yeah, okay car crash." Giovanni brushed him off, which looked like it had happened before, but the two also looked very familiar with each other, which you couldn't help but smile at.
Seeing Giovanni's smile whenever he was talking about his precious boys made you feel really happy, but it was outshined by his grin now as he interacted with one of his boys.
You ended up going into a daze again, only snapping out when Fred's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to check a text.
Once again more information was learned that only cemented one fact.
Fred was loaded.
In his hand he held an iPhone 12, which hadn't come out yet, so you didn't even know who he managed to bribe for it.
He ended up leaving a minute or two after, getting a text to hurry up with the bread.
Which left you and Giovanni alone again sitting at the counter snacking on some cheetos.
Grabbing a handful of cheetos, you pondered something.
"Hey Giovanni?"
He looked up. "Yes?"
"He called you boss back there, so is that a nickname or are you like, actually his Boss?" You shoved more cheetos into your face.
He paused before answering, and you could see the cutest thinking expression before he answered. "I suppose I am, kinda. But no matter where I go, my boys will come with me!"
You chuckled at his enthusiasm, feeling a sense of deja vu. He was just adorable.
Suddenly something popped into your head. "Wait, so what do you work in?"
This time he froze, beads of sweat beginning to form, and in the least believable voice ever he slowly creaks his neck towards you and says, "T-taxes??"
He clearly feels uncomfortable telling you, or embarrassed, you don't really know, but you still don't mind. You knew Giovanni was too nice to do anything even slightly illegal, so you didn't really have to worry.
You just laughed again, simply enjoying his company. Whenever you were around him everything was better. You were happy.
Suddenly the little alarm clock went off, signaling the end of your shift.
You sighed, getting up and going into the back to grab your things.
When you came out Giovanni was waiting for you, cheetos in hand.
You smiled, and after you locked up, the both of you walked down the block together, parting at the end to go your separate ways.
As you walked along the dimly lit street path, you heard birds beginning to sing. Then an idea came to you.
After everything Giovanni had done for you, you would do something for him.
More specifically, a nice sourdough bread to go with his soup. You could've ran, or even danced down the road home.
_____
You presented a neatly tied up parcel to him the next night.
He was kind of taken aback when you presented it. But happy. And wait- was he crying??? Nevermind False alarm, his eyes just welled up.
The next night, he had brought soup along with him and eventually you both ended up with a habit of cooking or baking something to bring every few days.
And Giovanni was a really good cook.
There was no debate about that.
Once again you'd fallen into your nightly routines with the store, and it was great.
It seemed just being around Giovanni was an adventure, even on the chill days it was fun. Every time you guys were together it was so perfect to you.
Just his positive energy, his attitude, his cooking, was all enough to make your heart pound.
Your birthday rolled around while you were still working there, and almost as soon as you walk in, probably about five minutes after, you heard Giovanni bounce in excitedly.
He presented a cake, a card, and a bear with flames patterned onto it's paw pads, which left you with a stupid grin plastered onto your face for days afterwards.
And you knew you wanted to give him something back, and your gift idea came pretty soon.
A week after about, you and Giovanni were painting your fingernails black out of boredom when he was complaining that his yellow hooding was getting a bit worn.
Then another week passed before you had the present. It was kind of a maroon coloured hooding with a fluffy hood. And a pack of baseball cards to be safe.
When you gave it to him it felt pretty nice.
Needless to say, he really liked it.
_____
Things were good and happy, for a while.
And you felt happy, which was new.
You still felt nervous and antsy, but it felt like when you were with Gio, it went away for a little while.
At least it used to, but now as the two of you sat at a table, with bread and soup laid out in front of you, you've never felt more anxious.
Even though when you both planned to meet up at your apartment and have dinner as friends, your heart wouldn't stop pounding.
Gio didn't seem to notice.
You planned to ask him out tonight on a date, but it wasn't really easy.
So you hated yourself for chickening out again, but as you started conversation about some random museum event about epithets, and that it might be totally sick if they went to see it, you started thinking to yourself.
'It might be selfish, but I want to enjoy these moments for a little while longer.'
_____
Haha bro I can't write like at all but someone wanted this,, which I still can't believe,,
Also the pic for this came from the fact I got one of those vaporwave apps and took the piss.
Sorry if you read this and was let down or smth.
Thanks for reading tho! I'm trying at least right??
And thanks to those people who did the star thingy.
But yeah I really can't write anything fluffy or slightly romantic ish,,
And I abuse italics.
Bye, thx.