Welcome to the Vargas Café!

Chapter 8

One week later...

It had been an entire week since Ivan and João first arrived in town. The commotion around them had mostly died down and nosy neighbours had gone back to minding their own business.

Feliciano was excited because today was Friday, the tenth anniversary of the Vargas coffee shop. Lovino and him had spent their entire Thursday before decorating, while Erzsébet and Yao dug out all the original Vargas recipes they had created over the years in order to make one whole buffet for the guests.

Now the food was laid out on the caffe tables which Feliciano and Lovino had pushed together to create one long table, and the air was filled with smells of various familiar and nostalgic, sweet and savoury foods.

On the wall above the buffet table was a large banner that said happy 20th anniversary, and around it were small, printed out pictures of the Vargas family. A small picture of little Lovino with tomato sauce and flour all over his face, another of seven year old Feli wiping whipped cream over their little brother's face... the biggest picture was of when their grandpa first bought the cafe. He was standing in front of the entrance, his daughter and son in law on either side, and each had one of three little baby boys in their arms. Feliciano smiled softly.

"You'd be proud, nonno," he whispered.

The bell above the door rang, and the first guest came in. Feliciano grinned at Ludwig.

"On time, as usual," he greeted him. Ludwig smiled.

"Yeah, it's a special day for you and this cafe. Thank you for inviting me, Feliciano."

"Of course! It would only be half as fun if you weren't there!"

Feliciano and Lovino had also hung up posters all over their town, inviting people to come. The entry was free, of course, this was a celebration! Though Lovino did insist on putting a donation box next to the front door, which Feliciano couldn't be bothered to argue against.

He hopped towards Ludwig and took his arm.

"Look, Erzsébet and Yao went all out and cooked all these wonderful dishes! You'll love them!"

Ludwig let himself be awkwardly pulled around the buffet, until he gently shook off Feliciano's hand on his arm, in order to grab his hand instead. Feliciano paused in surprise, then felt himself overflow with happiness. He gently squeezed Ludwig's hand and then went on to tell him a funny story from his childhood based on a particular dish that was sitting in front of them.

They were interrupted by Lovino who had gone out to buy some additional flowers for decoration. He stomped through the cafe door, carrying a small bouquet.

"Fucking ridiculous," he ranted immediately. "This tiny thing of flowers cost me all the money I had on me. We should have just picked some from a field or our neighbour's garden. That guy just lets them get swallowed by weeds anyway!"

His eyes fell on Ludwig, and then their interlocked hands.

"Uh, did I interrupt something?" he frowned.

Feliciano blushed,

"No, no, I was just telling Lud about that time where I choked on a noodle and it came out my nose," he said hurriedly. Lovino raised an eyebrow.

"Right, yeah, that was stupid. I'll go into the kitchen and see if the others need any help. Don't forget to focus on any other guests that might arrive." With that, Lovino disappeared through the kitchen door.

Feliciano turned to look at Ludwig, who smiled softly at him. Oh, how he lived for that smile. Feliciano opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the bell above the door jingled again.

This time it was Arthur and Kiku. The Japanese man was apologising profusely for being late, when suddenly a very loud and excitable American burst in, acting no different than a golden retriever puppy.

"YOOO WHERE'S THE PARTY AT" He yelled, while Arthur groaned in annoyance. "Huh, I thought there would be more people?" Alfred looked briefly disappointed, then focused on the buffet. "Hey, these look almost as good as my mum's cooking!"

"Your mum's cooking is shite," Arthur retorted.

Kiku watched them argue, then turned his attention towards Feliciano and Ludwig.

"Thank you for the invite, Feliciano," he smiled. "I have brought you a present."

He presented a little My Melody keychain.

"I have another one for Lovino, is he here?" He looked around the room.

Feliciano took the keychain from his hand, delighted.

"This is so cute, thank you so much! I'm sure Lovi will love his too," he giggled.

Lovino appeared again, just in time, and probably provoked by the commotion caused by Alfred and Arthur.

"Together, they're just as loud as Gilbert," he grumbled as he approached Feliciano.

Kiku immediately held out a Kuromi keychain towards him.

"Thank you for the invite, and happy 20th anniversary."

Lovino blinked in surprise, took the keychain, and studied it, a little confused.

"Um, thank you, Kiku. Very thoughtful of you, but you didn't have to." He put it in his pocket.

The bell rang again as other people started coming in. Feliciano greeted each one excitedly, his hand still holding on to Ludwig's.