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Feliciano had a huge grin on his face as he walked out of the grocery store. He had just restocked on his supply of pasta for the n-th time. Aside from having access to pasta, and his bright personality producing a smile on his face 90% of the time, he was also doing very well health wise from the economic boom the country was currently having.
Lovino felt very similar to his brother as he walked beside him with a restock of tomatoes. Although it wasn’t nearly as showing on his face with the current neutral expression. He was just as relieved as his brother about the nation’s prosperity after decades of war, poverty, and corruption. Every Italian was pretty much better off than they were years ago.
As the two brothers were loading their goods into the back of their car, they heard a vehicle with a very loud engine driving on the nearby road. “Ve~. Fratello, what’s that?” Feliciano looked towards the road.
Lovino turned his head in the same direction. A moment later, a car came flying down the road, easily speeding. “It’s another one of those fucking Ferraris. The bastard is driving like a reckless idiota.” Seeing the act of stupidity soured his mood.
The other, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. He looked at their own car again, so old and rusted that it would qualify as a beater, and towards the road where the Ferrari had been. “We could get our own Ferrari. We can get around much faster than we can now!”
“And have you hurt yourself from driving at such high speeds? Not a chance.” Lovino got into the driver’s seat.
“You’re the one that drives more often anyway.” Feliciano joined his brother in the passenger seat. “And, this car has long been falling apart, sí? Don’t you think that we should get a new one?”
When you put it that way…” The elder was reminded of the car’s horrific condition as the engine had to stall once before successfully starting up. Damnit this stupid car! “New car or no, getting a Ferrari would be a fucking stupid idea.”
“Ve…” Feliciano sighed as he looked out the window while Lovino drove. Fratello may be right. It’s dangerous to drive so fast. But it also looks so much fun!
The drive towards their home was calm until another loud engine sound was approaching from behind. Another Ferrari. The vehicle in question came up rapidly from behind in the lane next to the Vargas brothers. Lovino kept an eye on the car in his mirror while trying to drive. Feliciano was moving around in his seat trying to get a good look at the vehicle.
Soon, the Ferrari was right next to the Vargas beater. It was a bright red that made it stand out in traffic. Feliciano was not too familiar with Ferraris in particular, so he struggled to identify the model. The cars were a rarity on the road after all.
The Ferrari stayed in the same spot for a bit due to there being a car right in front of it. As soon as the car in front got a bit further away, however, the Ferrari stepped harder on the gas. The car cut in front of Lovino and began to drive off into the distance. The engine was roaring as the car got away due to the lack of traffic that was in front of Lovino initially.
As the car had cut them off, Lovino had no hesitation in slamming down the horn. “WATCH WHERE YOU’RE FUCKING GOING YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” He slammed down the horn a second time in rage as the Ferrari sped off. “Damnit another stupid idiota!” The driver was a bright red tomato with anger.
The passenger was both terrified and in awe. Italian cars were getting more powerful. He had never seen one go that fast that was not in a race.
“Fratello. We’ll get a Ferrari.” Lovino’s voice went scarily deep that was reminiscent of the mafia days.
“Ve~! I knew you wanted one.”
“Don’t rub it in.”
~~~~~~~~Small Time Skip~~~~~~~~
After getting their groceries stored in their house, the Vargas brothers drove their way to the nearest Ferrari dealership. It wasn’t that far as Ferraris were slowly rising in popularity. The Vargas beater stuck out like an awfully sore thumb amongst the other vehicles as Lovino parked the car.
They didn’t immediately go inside the building. Instead, both of them checked out the lot. All the cars were made within the past 10 years: sitting nice and pretty in their spots as the painted metal shined in the sunlight.
Feliciano was more attentive to how a car looked. The shape of the car, color, and size were all taken into account by his own analysis. He liked how the 250 GT Gabriolet and 250 California looked in particular. Though he couldn’t help but be reminded of Ludwig when looking at a 250 GT Berlinetta.
Meanwhile, Lovino was looking more closely at the performance aspect of each vehicle. This was when he realized that he did not know much about cars, as stuff like engine type confused him. The one thing he did understand, however, was top speed. 252 km/h! So much faster compared to our own car. And we could have possibly caught up with the bastard that cut us off earlier. Though all of this other stuff is fucking confusing.
It was at this moment that the brothers were approached by a salesman. “Ciao! How are we doing today? Do we need more time to browse or do we have a certain model in mind?”
“Could you happen to explain what some of the performance aspects mean?” Lovino wasn’t quite prepared to deal with the sales people yet. He found the name tag of the man in question that read “Luigi”.
“Sí! I can explain all of them in great detail for you.” Which was what Luigi did. All of it went past Feliciano’s head, but Lovino seemed to get an idea of how it all came together. “If you want to compare models and such, we can do that inside where everyone can be comfortable.” Luigi had a hopeful look in his eye.
Feliciano was quick to agree to the offer. Lovino could only nod his head in agreement as Luigi led both of them inside.
~~~~~~~~Another Small Time Skip~~~~~~~~
In the end, the brothers walked out with the keys to a new Ferrari 250 California that was painted a bright red nearly identical to the Ferrari seen previously. It was a nice compromise between the desires of Lovino’s performance, Feliciano’s appearance, and what their budget allowed them to get. The beater went straight to the junkyard on the risk of not making it back to the Vargas home.
Lovino had a rare smile on his face as he turned the keys to the ignition. The brand-new engine started up right away. “Already a good sign.”
The younger was practically bouncing in his seat. “Ve~! This will be fun!”
“Oh, it will be, fratello.” Lovino drove them out of the lot. He initially kept to the side streets to get a feel for the car. “This already feels much smoother and handles better than the other car. How about going on the highway for a bit?”
Feliciano nodded enthusiastically with a grin. He watched as his brother drove towards the highway. Once on said highway, Lovino pressed harder on the gas. The car accelerated naturally in response with the engine giving an appropriate roar.
The speed limit was forgotten as the Ferrari California navigated through the traffic easily. Lovino had a sinister grin on his face as he drove. Let’s see anyone else try to be a jackass and cut us off now, those bastards.
The passenger was cheering and laughing as the wind blew through his hair. Going fast was even more fun with the car top down. “Hey fratello! May I have a turn at driving the car?!” He had to shout over the sounds of other vehicles to be heard by the driver. Including the honking they were getting from driving recklessly.
In the brightest of moods he has been for a while, Lovino chose to be nice. “Sure! Let me find a spot to stop at!” This was in despite of the known risk involving Feliciano driving, but Lovino can at least admit to himself that he wasn’t much better of a driver compared to him. At the next exit, he got off the highway to pull into the nearest parking lot. Then the brothers swapped seats.
Feliciano got comfortable in the driver’s seat. The steering wheel felt comfortable in his hands. The pedals were a good distance for his legs to reach. The engine roared once again as the car was started back up. It all felt like it was made for him. And for Lovino, of course, who got really comfy in the passenger seat.
No time was wasted getting back on the highway. The engine responds loudly as expected with the increased pressure put on the accelerator. Speed limits were once again forgotten as Feliciano drove similarly to Lovino. Feliciano had a huge smile on his face as he made his way through traffic. Honks from other cars were disregarded as annoyances to block out.
At a particular highway entrance, a familiar engine sound got louder. Lovino looked over to his right towards the noise. “We got another Ferrari coming on, fratello. Looks like it’s the other model we thought about getting for ourselves. Although not the same fucker from earlier.”
Feliciano took quick glances to not lose too much focus from the road. The fellow Ferrari was a burgundy color rather than a bright red. The driver drove their car at the same speed as the bright red counterpart. When Feliciano sped up, the other Ferrari sped up to match. Same with slowing down. “We got a Ferrari buddy!”
“Looks like he wants to be with us for a bit.” Lovino observed. “Let him. It’ll make things interesting.”
The two Ferraris caused havoc together. They waived through traffic at dangerously high speeds. Several close calls were made but no accidents ever occurred. Suddenly the burgundy Ferrari slowed down drastically, disappearing from view.
Why did he slow down? Lovino thought to himself. He tried to look to see what happened but the other Ferrari was already long gone.
Feliciano wondered the same thing as he kept on driving. And then there were sirens.
Lovino could look completely behind them and did so. “Merda! Fratello, pull over!” Fucking police! No wonder why it was so sudden damnit!
Feliciano no longer had a smile on his face as he got over into a safe lane to pull over on the shoulder. The car was shut off. He was going to panic. “Fratello! I don’t want to go to jail! I was just having fun! What would Ludwig think?!” He was going to cry.
The other sighed. He ignored the mention of the potato bastard. “It’ll be fine, Feli. Just be calm and make the officer tell you why you got pulled over. You’ll get a ticket at worst.” And the government doesn’t need to know about this either.
The cop who pulled Feliciano over got out of the car and approached from the driver’s side. “Ciao, boys. How are we doing today?”
“Well, officer.” Feliciano tried to stay calm. Lovino wisely kept his mouth shut.
“That’s good. Do you know why I pulled you over just now?” The officer observed the situation.
Feliciano wished that the officer wasn’t wearing sunglasses so he could see his eyes. “No. I was just driving along, sir.”
The officer nodded. “Well now. You looked like to be doing 130 km/h in a 90 zone. I hope you realize just how dangerous it is to be driving that fast. May I see your license?”
Feliciano handed over his license. The officer went back to his car with it. After a bit, the cop came back. He handed back Feliciano’s license. “Valid license. Although please do tell me one thing. Did you get this car recently? I’ve heard Ferraris are expensive.”
Feliciano could only nod. There wasn’t a need to say that it was just bought earlier that day.
“Well, I’ll let you off easy this time.” The cop was still writing a ticket, much to the dismay of both brothers. “I’ll write you up for 20 over instead of 40. You kiddos got to learn how to drive more mindfully, even with the temptation of exploiting a Ferrari’s power.” The ticket was handed to Feliciano, who handed it to Lovino.
“Have a good afternoon. And remember what I said about driving slower. You got lucky that no serious accidents happened. The ticket has instructions on how to pay for the fine.” The cop went back to his car. Then drove off.
“Fucking bastard ruined our fun.” Lovino spoke once again in a huff. “Let’s head home, Feli. Do you want me to drive?”
“Please drive.” The brothers switched seats again. “I don’t think I could drive anymore today. And we should do the limit this time.” Feliciano let the tears caused by anxiety fall at last.
“Don’t worry. I planned on doing the limit this time.” Lovino started up the car. “We’ll make lasagna for dinner tonight, sí?”
“Sí.”
Lovino drove them home, safely.