Romano x Reader~Improvvisamente~Part 3

Improvvisamente~Part 3

There was nothing much to listen to except for the occasional rocking of the train's wheels against the tracks taking it and its passengers to its next destination. Sometimes you would hear a person walk by exchanging conversation with another passenger or speaking on the phone, but other than that, there was only silence.

The sun of the first day had set, and Lovino had yet to eat dinner. You were afraid something like this would've happened so you came prepared with a package of leftover ravioli you had purchased from the dining cart.

"Lovi, if you don't eat something, you'll get hungry," you insisted holding out the container of pasta. "The dining cart's closed already. Come on…You're not mad at me for diving into your dreams, are you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Lovino mumbled. "Just don't do it again."

"Sorry." It was something you didn't have to be asked twice. Nevertheless, it couldn't hurt to ask Lovino if he wanted the ravioli.

"Lovi…Last chaaance~"

"Don't talk to me like I'm some kid!" Lovino snapped making a face at you when you held your outstretched arms to his face.

"It's actually good," you said. "I don't want your stomach keeping me up all night if you don't eat."

"Then don't sleep," Lovino coldly answered.

Ouch.

Whenever Lovino fell asleep, he would wake up with a cold sweat. He didn't sleep like a normal person would in that he would frequently take quick naps and wake up a few minutes later. You hadn't noticed it before since you had tried to initially avoid eye contact with him, but now you were able to clearly see the dark rings forming around his eyes. He looked like he hadn't gotten a proper rest in days.

"Lovi, you're going to kill yourself like that if you don't get enough rest," you told your cabin-mate.
"Please...you need to take care of yourself more."

"I'm fine, dammit," Lovino pouted. "Why do you even care?"

"What else would you want me to think?" you responded impatiently. "Am I just supposed to stand around while you whither away?"

Lovino gave you a scrunched look and turned his body away from you, grumbling incoherent rambles all the while.

Stupid head…He just doesn't want me looking into his dreams… you growled in your mind. Why the heck do I bother in the first place?

And just like that, the conversation had ended. You ended up falling asleep, though.

-----

The trainride ended quicker than you had expected. Had two days really gone by? Apparently so because you found yourself retrieving your single rolling luggage from the baggage cart and catching Lovino walking out of the station with only his briefcase in his possession.

"Lovi!" you shouted after your former cabin-mate. While running to him, you noticed he flinched when hearing the nickname you had given him and turned around with every ounce of reluctance weighing on his shoulders.

"What?" he grunted.

While Lovino wasn't the most likable person you had ever met, he had shared something with you that no one else had: knowledge of your existence. It made you feel better knowing there were those who knew people like you existed. So, you thrust your spare hand forward.

"Take care of yourself, Lovi," you said with a smile. "It was nice meeting you."

Lovino scoffed and tilted his head towards the sky in a curt gesture. "As if you really mean that."

"No, I do," you insisted, your hand still held out. "I've never known a normal person who knew what a dream diver was. It makes me feel…how would I put this…? Normal."

"Normal?" Lovino repeated. "_____________, you must live under a rock if you think someone like me is normal."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," you laughed. "If there was any definition of normal, it would be hard to be unique."

Lovino blinked his golden-tinted eyes. "That wasn't what I was going for, but whatever." Then, to your surprise, he actually took your hand and gave it a reluctant shake.

"O-Oh…" you stammered.

"What's wrong?" Lovino frowned.

You chuckled. "I didn't think you'd really shake my hand. I thought you were going to brush me off or something."

"Stupid girl…" Lovino grumbled and released your hand and placing his own back in his pocket.

"Bye, Lovi!" you waved.

Lovino didn't say anything and kept walking until he faded into the sea of passengers and staff.

"Okay…" you exhaled and reached into your pocket to pull out a small slip of paper containing an address. "I should be able to get a clue from the information booth…" With that, you began to look for the nearest information booth.

-----

The details eluded you now, but according to the attendant at the information booth, the place you were looking for could simply be reached by walking. The road was unpaved and poorly compacted after years of being treaded on so vehicles weren't allowed to drive over it. If you hurried, you would be able to make it to your hotel room before sunset on foot, too.

The more you walked, the more remote your surroundings became. The buildings faded away, and the buzz of people clamoring to go about their business faded into a lush silence surrounded only by a warm breeze and a vast, open sky. It was a perfect day for relaxing.

When you looked at the road ahead of you, you noticed there were dips and walls elevated around to road in the case that the area flooded. On a good day like this, though, one could conveniently use the banks for a comfortable resting spot—and it just so happened that you spotted someone sleeping on the side of the road, basking in the warm sun. Even more interesting was that on further inspection, you recognized the person right away.

"Lovi!" you gasped going over to watch your former napping cabin-mate. All of those hours of not sleeping in front of you finally got to him. Lovino was sleeping like a log, his arms crossed over his head in a satisfied sleeping position. From this perspective, his peaceful expression gave you the impression he was enjoying this brief nap.

I wonder what Lovi's doing out here… you thought gazing over Lovino's sleeping face. While you were getting curious, you already knew it wouldn't be polite to dive into his dreams again. Still, there was the question of what Lovino was doing all the way in this remote location. Aside the residence you were headed towards, there wasn't much else to see or do. Maybe Lovino was going to the same place you were going to? He knew what dream divers were, after all…

"Hey, Lovi—" You stopped. Who were you to suddenly come up to Lovino and poke him awake? He wasn't happy when he had to share a cabin with you, and something told you he wouldn't be happy if you woke him up when he had just gotten what appeared to be his first real rest in days.

So, you decided to wait. You had time. When Lovino would wake up, you could ask him what he was doing out here. It sounded harmless enough considering you were able to meet up with him again.

-----

After what felt like at least two hours of waiting, you finally decided that you were either going to wake Lovino up yourself or go on your way. No one napped this long. No one. Even when you slept outside, you could never sleep as much as this person. Who knew? Maybe he was dreaming again.

No, ____________! you told yourself. He didn't like it when you did it the first time, and he won't like it if you do it again!

Just when you were about to get up and continue on your way, you heard a low grunt escape Lovino's lips. Then, he began to stir and roll to his side shutting his eyes as though he were trying to make himself comfortable—as if he didn't look comfortable enough. After a few seconds, he stretched a few times, and then, he opened his eyes slowly to adjust to the new brightness of the afternoon sun still high overhead.

Then his eyes met yours.

"Eeyaaah!" he screamed and shifted his body away from you before sitting up. "__-____________?! What the hell are you doing out here?!"

You shrugged. "I could ask you the same thing."

Lovino frowned and rubbed his eyes. "It's just business."

"This business involves you taking naps?"

"I was tired, okay?!" Lovino snapped. "Wait—You didn't by chance—"

"I didn't," you answered. "I swear on my life, I didn't look."

"Better not have…" Lovino grumbled. "So are you going to answer my question or not?"

"I'm here because I was looking for a person who was a dream diver, too," you answered.

Lovino cursed. "Goddammit, I'm going to see him, too."

You perked your spirits up. "Really? That's cool! We can go together then!"

"That's the last thing I'd want to do!" Lovino growled. He cursed again. "And I thought I was finally going to have some time to myself…"

"Aww, don't be like that, Lovi," you giggled. "It'll be more fun if there are more people."

"I disagree," Lovino frowned.

-----

From there, the walk was much livelier. You kept talking to Lovino about what sorts of things you had seen in other's dreams and how each person's dreams were different; you didn't mean that by content-wise, but rather, the style of the dreams were different. Some were very vivid, others jumbled, and then there were those who switched up so fast you found it hard to keep up with the different pacing. Since Lovino knew you were a dream diver, it was very relieving being able to talk so freely about what you saw. He never gave you any input; you weren't sure if he was even listening, but either way, it was nice being able to share your experiences with another person.

"So this person…why are you going to see him?" you asked after finishing a story of the time you explored a child's dreams. "Does it have something to do with your brother?"

It was fleeting, but for just a fraction of a second, you could have sworn you saw Lovino tense up.

"It's none of your business," he bluntly replied. "You're here for your thing, I'm here for mine. It's as simple as that."

"You're not a very optimistic person, are you?" you pouted.

"And what got you thinking that?" Lovino sarcastically asked.

You shrugged playing along with your travelling companion's cold demeanor. "Just a hunch," you answered with a casual tone.

Lovino snorted. "Stupid girl…"

-----

All of the talking you had done made the trip seem to go by faster. Soon, the two of you had reached the little house at the edge of the trodden dirt road where a dream diver resided.

"Have you met this person before?" you asked in a hushed voice before knocking on the front door.

Your travelling companion shook his head. "I heard about him from a different source." Then, he redirected his attention to the door. "Are you going to knock or not?"

"Right, sorry," you apologized quickly and rapped the door with the back of your hand three times. Then, the two of you waited….and waited…and waited.

Lovino cursed under his breath. "What the hell…? There's no way he could be out…"

This time, he was the one who knocked, only, he used his fist and pounded so hard on the rickety door, you were afraid the hinges were going to go flying—and they did much to your dismay.

"Crap!" Lovino cried, startled that the door simply fell over like a cut tree. "I didn't—Aw, hell, forget it."

"Wh-Wha…?" you babbled as you watched Lovino casually step through the doorway and into the small house. It was almost like he was used to this sort of thing—maybe in a different time period or a different dimension, he was a killer or something!

______________, you idiot! You really need to stop reading those stupid things! you scolded yourself and went after Lovino taking care not to step on top of the door.

The air smelled different in the house. It lacked life; it was dry and stale like the windows hadn't been open for a small eternity. Maybe that was true. But if that were the case, then how were you supposed to talk to the other dream diver?

Suddenly, you jumped. Lovino was cursing up a storm, stomping the ground with his shoes like he was throwing a childish fit.

"Shit! Fuck! Goddammit! Goddammit!" he shouted.

"Lovi, what's wrong?" you asked approaching the storming young man with caution.

"See for yourself," Lovino hissed and stepped to the side to reveal what he was so upset about.

When you walked over to Lovino, your eyes naturally fell to the floor and onto a shocking sight sending you screaming and tripping on the fallen door.

"Holy—Oh my goodness…Lovi, is he…?"

Lovino shook his head. "No, he's not dead. But it's not like this is any different."

You breathed in relief when you heard Lovino confirm the person was still alive. Then, you gathered yourself together and walked back towards the man whose body was rested flat against the ground with his eyes closed. Now that you looked closely, you could tell he was sleeping, but his peaceful expression almost gave off the impression that he was dead.

"He's…" you furrowed your eyebrows. "I don't get it. He's sleeping?"

Lovino nodded, his face wearing a defined disgruntled expression. "He must've drowned."

That was a new term to you. "Drowned? What do you mean?"

"To put it simply, he dived too deep," Lovino explained. "There are some people who don't even need to be close to a person to dream dive. This was one of them. He must've gotten caught in a dream and went too far in. Now's he's stuck. He's probably dreaming forever."

"That's horrible…" you breathed, your knees suddenly starting to feel weak. "Lovi, is there something we can do? Do you think maybe I could—"

"NO!" Lovino yelled so loudly it shook the entire house and sent small whiffs of dust flying into the air. "_______________, if you do, you may never come back. Believe me, I know…"

"B-But…" your voice croaked and looked at the man who was fast asleep. To think that he would never wake up was a fate just about as tragic as death. He was lost in another world, probably never going to be able to return to the world of the waking again.

"Just leave it, _____________," Lovino sighed. "I don't want to see another one getting caught up in this."

"Another one?" repeated. "Are you talking about this person?"

"No," Lovino answered with a heavy sigh. "It's someone else."

Then it hit you. He had touched upon it very subtly almost right after you dove into his dreams.

"It's your brother, isn't it? He's just like this man."

Lovino winced. Then, he twisted his lips together and looked away with a pained expression.  

"Lovi…" you whispered.

"My brother would call me that, too," Lovino said in a low voice. "On top of that, because you're a dream diver—and a talkative one—you just—" He shook his head as if trying to blot out the memories of his brother. "Dammit, the idiot went too far. I would say that he got himself into that mess, but it involved me, too."

You blinked, confused. "I don't understand."

Lovino tapped his head. "He's stuck somewhere in my dreams. I was hoping that I could've used this guy's help to look for him with me, but I guess he drowned, too."

"So that's why…" you mumbled. You had initially come to this person because you had wanted to be able to cast out your dreams, too, but after seeing what had happened, you were suddenly beginning to have grave doubts.

"Oh, but, Lovi! I could help you look," you offered. "Please, I could—"

"The reason I wanted this guy to help me was because he didn't mean shit to me," Lovino growled. "If he got lost, then I wouldn't care. ____________, you, though…" You caught Lovino giving you a reluctant stare. There was something odd about the way he was looking at you, like there was something he wanted to tell you but couldn't.

"Lovi?"

"I—Never mind," Lovino sighed and looked away with his hardened expression returning to his face. "I'll just have to keep looking."

"But, Lovi, I'm right here!"

"No means no," Lovino snarled throwing you a dark look that made you step back. "See? This is why I don't like to get involved with people. It's too much work." He sighed. "I haven't slept well in days because of this shit. Even when I'm dreaming, I'm still awake. It's becoming a mess."

"But I could fix that," you stubbornly insisted.

"No," Lovino said and began to head out of the house without even bothering to fix the door. You hurried after him like a loyal dog also ignoring the fallen door that revealed the sight of a man who would sleep for eternity.

"Just give me a chance! I promise I won't dive too far. Just let me try."

"Why the hell are you so bent on helping me, ____________?!" Lovino shouted getting impatient with your meddling.

"Because I feel like it's the right thing to do!"

"Stupid girl!" Lovino snapped. "Leave me alone!"

You puffed your face and continued to follow him. "There's only one path back to civilization, anyway."

"Goddammit, you're something else," Lovino groaned and shut his mouth from there doing his best to ignore your presence. You continued to trail right behind him like his shadow as the sun began to slowly set in the sky. By now, the brilliant blue hue of the sky had melted into a soup of warm reds and pinks splashed with blotches of deep violets and indigos. Even when the two of you had reached the city and Lovino had checked into his hotel, you had made a call to cancel your reservation at your own hotel so you could reserve a room next to his, unbeknownst to his knowledge.

For the longest time, you remained patiently in your room waiting for the tween hours to come around. Finally, when the clock struck three in the middle of the night, you took a deep breath, put on some comfortable clothes, and opened the door to your balcony.

The night breeze in this city was fairly warm bringing a wave of desired sleep to your eyes, but this was no time to be thinking of falling asleep—not yet, anyway. The balcony right next to yours was just a simple hop away. Since the railings were so thick, you had no trouble supporting your full weight onto the edge and standing up without having to find your balance. Then, you hopped over to the other side and tested the lock on the sliding door leading into Lovino's room.

After a few careful tests, you heard a click! indicating the door had successfully opened.

Yes! you squealed silently in your head and slipped stealthily inside taking caution to close the door behind you. Sure enough, to your expectations, Lovino was fast asleep in his hotel room. He looked even more rested than when you had found him napping on the back earlier the same afternoon. He wouldn't be expecting you any time soon.

When you had made yourself comfortable over his head. You shut your eyes and steadied the pace of your breathing letting your lungs fill with air with each passing breath until finally, you mind began to grow sluggish, and your body went limp as you fell into a deep sleep preparing to dive into Lovino's dreams once more.