“Oh, is it so? I’d say that’s exactly like you. Don’t argue.”
Tony watched as the man leaned onto the wall in a very much catlike fashion, as if he was gracefully melting into its surface.
“You watch me too much, that’s not healthy,” Roosevelt mumbled and turned on his other side, away from the familiar warm shape that approached.
“That’s what you need. To be watched, with as much attention. I have never been wrong in this regard. Don’t try to pretend I can be wrong.”
“That’s not how- It is- I am not supposed to let anyone see the vainest part of me,” he laughed in attempt to write it all off as a mediocre joke of happenstance.
“Antonius.”
Tony sighed once again.
~*~
"This will not do..."“This will not do,” said Tony leaning onto the clean bar countertop and instantly tracing it with his fingers absentmindedly. He liked the feel of rough wood covered with a thin layer of gloss paint that hardly rid the surface of its original texture. “You know very well I’m done going down that road, and you understand why. What’s the point of asking me anyway?”
He chuckled to himself, straightening up and turning away from his interlocutor, who was gathering his thoughts for an answer. On Tony’s memory it was for the first time ever that he needed a pause to find the right way for the words.
“Dino,” Tony continued softly, gazing at the rows of meticulously labelled expensive bottles, which were the best decorative elements the bar could ever dream of, “ I like it here. It’s my safe space. I don’t have to face the things that went wrong, and I’m not alone.”
“I understand,” said Ferdinando. “But you were never alone, not really.”
“Sure,” Roosevelt had to glance back to smile at the man standing in front of him in that official attire that cut him completely out of the picture of the homey establishment. “But in my mind I was always lonely.”
~*~
"Alright, alright, I will help you..."“Alright, alright, I will help you,” sighed Tony. “Mind you, I still have no idea why you bother involving me into this, but if you say you don’t care if you have to share the dough, then… well. Let it be as you say.”
Dino smiled brightly at the former attorney, who, supposedly, became at this very moment also the future lawyer.
“That’s what I like hearing, my friend. You are a family, so I was obliged to offer a family deal, don’t you think?”
Roosevelt laughed at that wholeheartedly.
“If you put it like that, yes. I do think this is fair, and, after all, I like the idea of it being fully legal.”
“That’s the idea, yeah. I know how you feel about the shady stuff, but I also know how good you are at finding legal ways of going through the most illegal issues.”
Tony shook his head.
“Yes. But you have to know that I’m doing this only for you, Dino. I trust you to keep your side of business on the decent side of this life, and if I were to find out otherwise… But I trust you enough to put my life at stake, that should be enough of an indicator.”
Ferdinando nodded.
“I would never betray your loyalty, Antonius. It is too valuable and hard earned. I would never disrespect you that way, brother of mine.”
“Then you have me,” smiled Tony.
~*~
"Without any further ado..."”Without any further ado,” said Tony. “Let’s start. I’d like to finish as soon as possible, since this is not something I’d like to keep for long.”
“Ja, sure, this is not something that anyone would like to endure for too long,” the Mongoose held the needle in his left arm. “Why do you want to do it again?”
“You ask me this one more time, and I’ll have no more reason to tell you,” chuckled Tony. “I want to mark myself so I can never forget. I know I will regret it deeply, but that’s the purpose. I will regret reminding myself, but at the same time I will be grateful I decided to do so.”
“Good, I like your spirit,” Ernst started to work, and Tony bit the knuckles of his hand. “No cheesy-wheezy, that stuff is repulsive. If I heard anything even remotely reminding me of all those boyish soldiers, giving their lame reasons to get a nice picture for a fair price, I’d turn you down. As you’re a friend of my boss, I’d do that nicely. Probably treat you to a bar, who knows. You seem smart enough to be a good companion, I love good talk.”
Tony would shrug if it were not for his shoulder being under attack from sharp pain and ink.
“Good to know we have something in common. It actually hurts so much that I won’t be able to shut up for hours,” he huffed.
“Then you have all the time of your still young life to tell me your story, right?”
“Right. Alright, so… Where shall I start?”
~*~
"I’m not quite sure what you’re implying here..."”I’m not quite sure what you’re implying here,” Tony almost dozed off, despite the dull sting on his skin, to which he miraculously got used during their session. The Mongoose worked with a steady hand, not even once requesting a pause to let his neck rest. That was a rather solid moment to start believing he was an actual surgeon. “Why are you so kind to me? They described you as a bitter type, I never expected to be comforted by a bitter type.”
Ernst chuckled, and Roosevelt saw him grin out of the corner of his eye.
“You know, I never quite expected to comfort anyone. You’re just making it very comfortable and natural thing to comfort you. I wonder whether this could be expanded to other circumstances, but… if it can, I now understand why you’re considered the best at what you do.”
“I am the best failure of the century at what I did,” said Tony. “Nevermore.”
“You’ll see. If it’s you, I mean, what you do is what you are, then this is not the end of your attorney self. And now I start to actually hope that it isn’t, I’d like to see some more.”
Antonius smiled at that.
“Dino told me exactly the same thing this morning.”
“Well, truth spoken by two is a point of concern. Would you care to join us here so we three could validate it?”
Tony huffed.
“I’ll think about it.”