#-nicknames

[asksafpepandbruno]

Peppino's cleaning the dishes while Bruno wipes the other ones dry.

("Can you say it again?")

"What? Alisso?"

("It sounds nice.")

"You like every nickname I give you."

("Yeah, but this one's special, Cactus.")

"Heh, want me to call you Aly?"

("I'd like that,") Aly said.

[asksafpepandbruno]

Peppino's driving back with a grin on his face. Not every day they get a huge order that also tips well. Even managed to get everyone else's orders in time.

He expected to come back to find Bruno either cleaning at the front or maybe even making a pizza for a single customer that wasn't aware of their usual schedule.

He did not expect to find him single-handedly managing what looks to be a full house.

He parks his scooter to the left of where his usual spot is. There's a couple of cars occupying his space plus two more on the other side. From what he can tell through the windows, they're almost done eating.

A couple of what look to be college kids walk out, content as far as he could tell.

The bell rings as he walks through the door and he sees Bruno's ribbons subtly straighten to hearing it while he's grabbing plates from the table.

Bruno puts them down and starts writing in his notepad as he comes towards the door.

("Hi! Welcome to—") Bruno looks up, ("Oh, Pep! You're back!")

He leads him to the counter and asks him to wait as he goes back to put the plates in the sink. Peppino's eyes widen as he opens the cash register and finds it mostly full.

How much did they—?

He adds the tips in his pocket and counts. A family of four walks out, the kids are talking about Bruno's eyes being odd and their mom shushes them for being rude.

Bruno comes back and the rest of them went out as they were talking. Apparently, it went mostly smoothly. There was a rude customer— or how he would describe him some fucking asshole— at the start that refused to order until he "treated him with respect and use his words," but he says it's fine. He didn't leave a tip after he ordered and used a lot of names for him, but besides him, most of the customers were nice.

Polite. Most of them were, at the very least, being polite, but since he's not usually the one that has to deal with the customers; it's good that this went as well as it did.

With the two of them being the only ones left in the pizzeria, Peppino puts his anger towards that one guy away for now and focuses on what's important.

"Ottimo lavoro, alisso mio~"

There's a pause as Bruno recalls what exactly they mean, then it starts with his cheeks turning pink. His eyes get a bit brighter, there's somewhat wet slaps against the counter, and there's pure glee even as a bit of his head is getting drippy.

Though to Peppino's surprise, it didn't last long. Realizing something in the middle of melting.

("Wait, are you supposed to say mio after?")

"Yeah? That's how it usually works—"

He realized it at the same time as Bruno.

("Really? Is that why—")

His whole face turned red from embarrassment, "Hey! I wasn't exactly thinking straight— And the other way around works too!"

[asksafpepandbruno]

How busy they are at the pizzeria depends on a lot of things: The customers eating here, how many pizzas they ordered, are Noise and his crew around, and are there any orders for delivery?

On a lot of days, delivery time usually has less customers coming to eat here. Pep doesn't take long on deliveries. He'll have a couple of pizzas at the back of his scooter, come back after an hour, and he'd see him either wiping down tables or mopping or sweeping.

A customer called earlier and placed an order for a dozen pizzas to be delivered by three o'clock, then a couple more delivery orders from their regulars came around two thirty. The back of Pep's scooter needed to be tied; the stack of pizzas on it was around half of Pep's height!

It's cold outside, the engine's not starting, and Pep's getting red and swearing at it.

A couple more key turns and they hear it rumbling.

("Stai al sicuro, Peppino.") he tells him as he checks the side mirrors.

He turns to face him, eyes and voice soft as he speaks, "Sì, te lo prometto, Bruno."

Pep drives off.

[asksafpepandbruno]

Mornings with Pep take a while. Bruno's usually up before him, no matter what happened the night before.

He'll be watching the sunrise and Pep would come up next to him, still tired and needing a cup of coffee.

And on most mornings, he'd hand him his cup, wisps of steam rising as the sun does too, and they'd spend some time watching. Not too long if it's a work day, but he appreciates him being there no matter how long he stays.

Today, Bruno woke up a bit late. Pep's not up, still in deep sleep, but sheetfuls of grey clouds are covering most of the sky. The room's a little cold; the bed isn't! Does it count as the bed if he's mostly on Pep?

He lays his head back onto Pep. Lively heartbeats, warm breaths, the slow rise of his chest.

Maybe, he didn't see the sun rise today, but he still feels the same warmth when he's around him.

("Ti amo, mio sole.")

Bruno goes back to sleep.

[asksafpepandbruno]

Their bed smells like flowers. At least this time the metalic scent is gone; he could just focus on how how good Bruno's treating him right now.

As he whimpers from his tongue retracting, Bruno raises his head, lips wet and asks, ("Do you want to keep going, Fiore?")

Head still buzzed, he stares at those honey-colored eyes then replies, "Keep going, Bee. I lo—"

His tongue went faster than usual.

[asksafpepandbruno]

("Van or Cactus?")

The question randomly pops out of Bruno as they're laying on the couch— Peppino just leaning into Bruno so they can both fit on the old thing.

Confused, Peppino looks up at him, "What?"

("Van or Cactus?") he repeats with no other context.

"Cactus?" He tells him. Only because he remembers the day he confessed.

("Okay,") he tilts his head down to look at him, ("how are you, Cactus?")

There's a moment of amused silence as he opens his mouth, half of a laugh coming out as he realizes why the other option was Van.

"Really? Van isn't great, but there's gotta be a better nickname than Cactus."

Bruno tilts his head as he thinks.

Seconds pass and he tells him with absolutely no malice and every bit of affection in his tone:

("Prick.")

He can't stop himself from bursting into laughter. Damn it that's actually perfect. Anyone else calling him a prick? He is cussing them out so hard, but him?

Only Bruno would make that sound sweet.

He finally stops and is met with Bruno's wide grin.

("Sounds like you like it.")

"I like how it sounds when you say it."

[asksafpepandbruno]

Pep's kitchen doesn't have as much space as the one in his pizzeria. Over there, they could move as much as they want to and prep in separate counters.

In here, they're pretty close. Pep's to his left, cutting one of the chicken breasts in half while he's at the stove heating up some olive oil along with garlic, salt, and oregano.

As Bruno waits for it to heat up, he grabs the mortar and pestle next to Pep and crushes tomatoes for the sauce as Pep starts pounding the chicken into shape.

Once Peppino's done, he looks to his right; the salt is on Bruno's side of the counter.

"Hey honeybun, could you pass the—"

He already started melting when he heard the word honey. Combining that with bun just made him do it faster. His grip on them is tight enough that they slowly fall to the floor with him instead of crashing.

Pep snickers, "Could you scootch over there, hun? Still need to grab that salt."

The pinkish puddle of dough slides right and up towards the stove, mortar carefully held so it doesn't spill. He can smell that it's done heating up.

He forms a solid enough arm to add it to the pot and stretches further to grab and add the sugar.

Bruno reforms while Pep's making the breading. The sauce has been simmering. He checks if it looks thick enough then puts in a couple more tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkles some salt and pepper, and adds a few basil leaves before turning the stove off.

Pep hands him the lid.

"Grazie, Peppi."