Harbinger Of Glory

As they headed out of the training ground together, bags slung over their shoulders and the last bits of training still being dissected between them, Carlo glanced at Leo.

"Need to get home early tonight," Carlo said as Leo looked back at him.

"Why?"

"Gianna’s landing today!"

"She’s finally coming over?"

Carlo nodded, trying and failing to hide how pleased he was about it.

"Then what are you doing here? Don’t you have to pick her up or something?"

"I would have, but she already has a key to the apartment, and she didn’t want to bother training. I think she’s probably in by now," Carlo ended while glancing at her phone.

"Well, good luck," Leo said as Carlo pointed at him, understanding what he meant.

"Funny."

"I know," Leo shrugged as they reached the parking lot and split naturally, Carlo heading toward his Vantage while Leo continued toward the Golf.

Even now, seeing it sitting there made him smile a little.

Suddenly, he was ten again as he found himself all giddy and excited.

"Still ridiculous," he muttered as he unlocked it, slid into the driver’s seat and closed the door behind him.

The scent of the interior greeted him immediately, while he, on the other hand, rubbed his hands all across the wheel.

With a satisfied sigh, he finally pressed the ignition, and the engine came to life beneath him.

A few moments later, he pulled out of the training ground and began heading home.

The drive home took longer than usual because he stopped at the supermarket on the way, which added twenty minutes and a carrier bag of things he’d been meaning to get for a few days.

And by the time he got back to the apartment and carried everything up and set it on the kitchen counter, the afternoon had turned into early evening.

He had just started taking things out of the bag when his phone began to ring with a video call from none other than his girlfriend.

He propped it against the backsplash and accepted it and kept unpacking.

"How is the princess this fine evening?" he said as Vittoria’s face appeared on screen.

It looked like she was walking somewhere, her camera slightly unsteady and on her face was a smile of mischief, immediately signalling to Leo that something was going on with her that he didn’t know about yet.

"Good," she said and kept on smiling.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Leo questioned after a moment.

"Because I’m talking to my boyfriend."

"That’s not why," Leo said, looking at her sideways while he put something in the fridge.

She smiled again, cheekily, and Leo stopped what he was doing.

"Tori," he said slowly. "What are you doing?"

She said nothing, but a second later, her eyes moved away from the camera, looking at something ahead of her, and then she looked back, and her expression shifted entirely.

"Oh my God," she said.

"What? What happened?"

She looked back at the screen with wide eyes and then pointed ahead.

"YOU TRAITOR," she said, smiling and furious simultaneously.

"Come outside."

The call ended, and Leo stood in his kitchen holding a tin of peas and stared at the blank screen.

Then he said, "No way," put the tin down and went to the door.

He came out of the apartment and looked down from the top of the stairs, and there was Vittoria, standing beside the black Golf GTI with her bag over her shoulder and her hand on the roof of the car while looking at Leo like she wanted to murder him, but in a good way.

At that, Leo descended the stairs, trying to process whatever was happening.

"What are you—when did you—how are you here?"

He got to the bottom and wrapped his arms around her, and she hugged him back but then pulled away after a second and took his chin in her hand, looking at him properly.

"When did you get this?" she said, nodding at the car.

"A couple of days ago."

"It looks so familiar," she said, staring at the car before looking back at Leo, who now had a look of mischief of his own.

Vittoria looked at him for a moment, and just like that, it clicked for her.

She opened her bag, put her hand inside and a second later, produced a small Hot Wheels version of the car right in front of him.

The same colour and model.

It was something she’d seen at Leo’s place when she visited a while back, and when she’d found it pretty, Leo had given it to her, telling her to hold onto it for him.

She held it up beside the real one and looked between the two of them while Leo grinned behind her.

"What do you think?" he said, coming closer.

"I think," Vittoria said, looking at the car and then at him, "that no one would suspect a thing."

Leo looked confused for approximately one second and then understood what she meant.

"When did you start getting vulgar?" Leo said as she pulled him closer by the front of his jacket.

"You didn’t even offer me a hello," she said.

And ignoring Leo’s question, she took her hello herself, pulling him in.

The kiss that followed left a mark, and when she pulled away, Leo stood there for a moment, recalibrating while Vittoria turned and walked up the stairs toward the apartment before Leo followed a moment later.

They ate on the couch about an hour later after Leo had thrown together something quickly.

Vittoria was curled into the corner of the couch with her legs tucked beneath her, balancing her plate on one knee, and for the first time since she’d arrived, she looked completely settled.

"So what’s the plan?" Leo glanced at her while she also looked up at him.

"For?"

"You flew to another country with about three hours of preparation and no actual plan beyond getting here."

She pointed her fork at him.

"That’s not true."

"It is."

Vittoria rolled her eyes and returned to her food.

"I’ll figure it out."

After a moment, Leo nudged her foot lightly with his.

"So seriously."

"So I thought about coming to you the moment I knew I wanted that break. Happy?"

Leo stared at her for a second before reaching over and pinching her nose between two fingers.

"I am happy!"

"What was that?" she said, a bit annoyed at herself for liking it when she did stuff like that.

"You know, I still haven’t forgiven you. For missing all those calls."

Vittoria laughed despite herself.

"What can I do to make it up to you?"

At that, Leo flicked her forehead, making her recoil a bit.

"Ow," she said, rubbing her forehead a bit.

"Finish your food, and then we’ll talk."

"By the way, where are you staying?" Leo added.

"The same hotel as always," she answered as Leo sat back slightly.

"You could just bring your stuff here," he continued after a while.

"Really," Vittoria expressed, leaning forward a bit.

"Why not!"

"There is a spare room, so sure!"

For a moment, she simply stared at him.

Then one eyebrow rose.

"Two rooms?" she said, tilting her head a bit and then sighing a moment later.

"Here I was thinking my boyfriend missed me."

"I did."

"And yet..." she gestured vaguely.

"You banish me to another room."

Leo sighed.

"If you’d prefer, I can withdraw the offer entirely."

Her hand immediately smacked against his face.

"You will do no such thing."

A second later, his voice came out muffled behind her palm.

"My mistake, madam."

She finally removed her hand, and for a second they looked at each other.

Then Vittoria started laughing, with Leo joining her a moment later.

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