𝕊𝕆𝕃𝕀𝕍𝔸𝔾𝔸ℕ𝕋║[ᴅ. ᴡᴀʏɴᴇ]

ᴘᴜɢɴᴀᴄɪᴏᴜꜱ

"Weird day at school." Vin started off with as he kicked off his shoes and threw his bag on the crushed velvet, red chesterfield ottoman by the front door.

"And why is that?" Vin's grandpa, Michaelo, asked as he took another puff of his cigar before rearranging his cards. His grandpa knew some English but always swore by the homeland's language. Vin walked by the table, waving idly to his grandpa's "business" partners, who were playing poker as he entered the kitchen. He ooh'd at the pot of bubbling sauce on the stove and the noodles boiling but knew better than to touch the food before it was done. His grandmama could be across the house, slipper or wooden spoon in hand, faster than he could exclaim Mammia Mia!

"New kid. He's a strange one. Rich, but not like any kid there. He's arrogant but not in a trust fund kind of way. Isn't flashy; more reserved and isolated than anything. I'm meeting him at his place for an art project this weekend." Vin shrugged as he looked through the mail he had picked up from the box. Most of it was for his father, but his mother would usually deal with it.

"Got a crush there, Vinny?" One of his father's trusted right-hand men, Leonardo, teased through his whiskey glass with a smirk.

"What, just like you got one on my pops? Kiss of Death, my ass." Vin threw back casually as he pulled out strawberry milk from the fridge. He smiled smugly as the men at the table laughed uproariously at the memory of Vin's father, Leo, and some of their men getting plastered drunk and reenacting scenes from the Godfather. The morning after that, Vin came to the breakfast table and smiled innocently at his father until the man gruffed out about how they were Italian and that movie was their birthright. Vin laughed from breakfast to fourth period that day and found his mother still snickering at his poor father when he arrived home.

"God's sake-" Leonardo muttered, facepalming. "We were drunk already! End of story, case closed." Vin only hummed doubtfully, popping open his milk carton and taking a refreshing sip.

"Think he's strange-strange, or just strange?" Michaelo asked, raising an eyebrow without moving his gaze away from his cards.

Vin paused for a moment, "I'd like to say just strange, but one mustn't assume."

"Indeed." His grandpa murmured.

Vin took a swig of his drink and left the men to their game. He tossed the empty carton into the trash as he left the kitchen and chose to leave his bag by the door as he had finished all of his homework. Heading to his room, he began loosening his tie to change out of his school uniform. He toyed with washing out the hair gel his father had lightly run through his hair that morning but decided to leave it since his mother and grandmama seemed to find it heartwarming when he looked like a younger version of his father.

He slid down the ridiculously opulent grand staircase and headed back to the kitchen, through the side door, and into the backyard. He smiled at the stablehands as they tended to his aunt's prized stud, Gabriel the Victorious. He always thought the name was a little on the nose and would be a tad awkward if the horse were to lose. But Gabriel never had, which only cemented his aunt's belief that names brought power. It was one of the reasons for his own name, and he had gotten lucky with having only three middle names. He was always infinitely grateful that his parents hadn't allowed her to give him the five she wanted to hitch him with for the rest of his life to "enhance his potentiality". And she wasn't the only one with poor naming abilities; his father had wanted to name him Vito of all cursed forsaken things.

Thank god for his mother.

Vin shook his head at the thought of his ridiculous family and pushed open the door to the glass greenhouse, where his mother and grandmother should be harvesting their plants. It was always fresh ingredients with his family or starve. His grandmother absolutely abhorred the processed food and the amount of sodium that some items on Gotham Academy's lunch menu had and always made it her mission to keep her precious grandson healthy and reasonably fattened up. Vin always found amusement in her frustrated expression when his body refused to gain any actual weight. He did appease her eventually when he showed her delicious food was helping him grow muscles so he could be big and strong like his beloved Papa and Grandpop.