#dolco

Paulus looked down at him, as if he was considering it. Arms crossed in front of him, his tunic still tightly belted.

When Lucius tried to reach out to him again, he was kicked away with a snort.

Where was that strength coming from? He'd always loved those lean legs, those fast legs, that wiry mass of muscles in his arms. The man was 45, Lucius' knees ached.

"Don't be like that, come on," he said and wondered where his sweet Ganymede had gone, knowing full well he'd never been one. He was getting irritated.

"I think I'm going to be like that." The smile on Paulus, the stern eyes now decorated with crows eyes. Smug little bastard. He felt 26 again, when he first laid eyes onto Paulinus, no longer a child underneath his sister's watchful eye. And yet, still a boyish appearance, coupled with a mind that would have put quite some of his military tribunes colleagues to shame.

Maybe cruelty was what such a mind had to resort to after being chained for all its life, but a tool had been more useful than a man. A tool did not put their skills to work for themselves.

"No," Paulus told him again as he ran one hand along that leg, that beautiful, beautiful leg, and got hit in the face that it made him grunt. Paulus chuckled at that.

Right. No more playing games. "Paulus," Lucius got out, smile on his face, voice husky with strain, as he got to his knees. "Don't make me do this."

Still smirking, now up at him. Lucius could hear himself pant through gritted teeth, but that seemed to not bother the other at all. Of course it didn't. "I don't think you're spending the night here." Another attempt at a kick, this time to his stomach, but Lucius was faster. Slapped it away, with such force Paulus fell backwards, but caught him by the neckline.

Heaved him up, he didn't know where he's been taken the strength from, each day he felt his age more, with every lock of hair he lost at the back of his head, every gray curl he spotted on himself in the baths.

Not now though, hand twisted in Paulus' tunic. Again, eyebrows slightly helpless if he wouldn't be tweaking with aggression. "Don't push me like that. I don't want to be like that." The excitement in those hazelbrown eyes made him weak in the knees.

He pulled him in for a kiss, only managed a peck on the lips and let go of him, immediately descending onto the bed as well.

Paulus still pushed at him, but laughed, as Lucius buried his face in his neck, eager to cover the other in lovebites. "Your eyes creep me out."

"Shut up, you love them," he got out, breathlessly and with a smile in between kisses.

~*~

"I'm thinking of going to Brindisium," Lucius said and Paulus was abruptly jerked out of his bliss.

"You're kidding me," he told him, who was still catching his breath next to him and didn't even have the courtesy to look at him. Only smiled at the ceiling with an open mouth and heaving, sweaty, naked chest, hands on it. Paulus missed the curls of black hair that fell into his face. Ever since he had begun to lose hair in the back, he kept it shorter in the front as well.

He had grown his hair out again, past his ears. Because it suited himself better, he had lied to himself. There was a certain comfort in waking up with Lucius' breath tickling the nape of his neck.

"Well, what do you want me to do, stay here?" Finally, Lucius looked at him, tone and expression both serious. If one wanted to call the look of bewilderment serious. What had ever been serious about the man, though? "Caesar's coming, it's simply a fact now and I never was a particularly good follower to him, was I now? I don't have much of a chance staying here. You don't have to come with me, though. You're free to stay."

"What, so that I then can see you again on the other side of the battlefield?"

The smile was back when Lucius shrugged. The most painful part was to know that he meant it.

Paulus let out an aggravated sigh. He slapped Lucius' chest. "You're a tit."

"I know." Another sigh. Paulus felt the bed move and a kiss pressed to his cheeks. Afterwards, Lucius' began to play with his curls. When their eyes met, no smile on either face, Paulus' eyebrows now furrowed in worry, he said: "I'm sorry."

☀️ SUN - are they a morning person? what is the first thing they do in the morning?

Considering how much he gets up to at night, I think he tends to wake up at 9 am or sleep in even further, depending on when he went to bed. He usually wakes up, goes to the bathroom and grabs breakfast before he actually gets ready and dressed. Depends of course if he gets breakfast at home or at work/at a bar.

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

LOUD. To be fair, he doesn't come into a room unaware that he's booming, he's doing that a lot on purpose. Most of the time he's got an average volume and speaks as the situation calls for it, but when he gets excited or upset, he does get louder.

He has a very noticeable Neapolitan accent in Italian, when he isn't speaking Neapolitan outright to himself - his English is accented as well, even if less so. He tends to, again, speak to people in their language/in the way he wants to be perceived by them, but tends to stay more on the informal side or poetic waxing rather than overly stilted or clinically to the point.

💡 LIGHTBULB - is your oc a planner? do they write down every small detail or just wing it?

Francesco lives in the moment, but he does plan - in the sense that he calculates outcomes and the necessary parts to achieve them. He never writes anything down, it all stays in his head, but when he works with others, the other person usually writes down the plan they hash out. (If it's Fabio or Dolcetto at least - Gabriella and Lovino sometimes write things down, but Lovi also rather lets others do this and when he's with Feli, Franci has to jot some things down because of Feli's adhd.)

👑 CROWN - what does your oc want to be remembered as? why?

He enjoys the notoriety he has achieved in parts of the European underground, but he doesn't have many plans for cultural and social immortality. What he really wants to be remembered as is 'that magnetically charming weirdo you met on your holiday once.' He wants that plenty of versions of him, his zest for life, lives on other people's life, even if they're complete strangers. It meshes with his philosophy that from the micro to the macro, you can find the beauty and fascination of humanity in everything. As time goes on with him as part of Team Italy, he also wants to be remembered as a good friend and lover to those closest to him.

📦 PACKAGE - what's some "most likely to..." that can apply to them?

Most likely to smooch the enemy, much to Lovino's dismay. (He wants to fuck Michele so bad, just because Miché hates his guts and Franci likes his gusto). Most likely also to end up in the deepest shit, at the same time most likely to get away with most troublesome behaviour without having to pay the price. Who could be angry with this guuuuy?

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

A lot of people assume Francesco is just a loving macho who runs his mouth but can't or wouldn't back it up. They are mistaken about the backing it up part but right about everything else. Others think that his happy, earnest joy and whimsy is simply a façade that covers up a cruel cunt of an overly curious manipulator. They are mistaken about his joy and whimsy being fake, but right there there IS an overly curious manipulator as well.

💘 HEART W/ ARROW - what traits do they look for in a relationship? do they believe in love at first sight?

Excitement! Francesco has never earnestly dated (not counting teenage school romances) before Dolcetto, but he loves loving. He doesn't have a physical type nor really one when it comes to personality, though someone stubborn in one way or another can always be a fun challenge. And someone horny's always good, because my god, he's horny too. To be in love, to indulge what you become when you tie yourself to someone else, and be it only for a night, is part of being human, which he loves!

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)?

The one and only motherfucker unlimited Francesco Belfari. Francesco is his first kiss, too, due to Dolcetto's atrocious social skills and thusly resulting disinterest in mingling with people.

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

He's a ghiottone! He has a sweet tooth and especially can't get his fill of chocolate!

💼 - What do they do for a living?

Babysitting Feli and being a ruthless bastard! Like many of my characters, he's part of the mob, in this case as a right hand of the Vargas' Bros.

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

Already answered here! However, I do want to draw attention to the tags by outright stating - I think wanking should count as a hobby when you are as horny and suppressed as this goblin.

🎯 -What do they do best?

Keeping others on track. Don't get me wrong, he is quite hot-headed and can lose sight of things that are important and chronically overworks himself, but he's a perfect fit as Feli's right hand for a reason. He truly is ruthless in the sense that he sees a way that goes from A to B and is not interested in any frilly side-adventures. He's dependable as all hell and while not as creative as the Bontade twins, actually a good match for them in terms of thinking on his feet.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

Francesco. He loves to see plan work out and reap the rewards. He loves to achieve either a physical feat (like rock-wall climbing and reaching the top) or a logistical one (getting one over the Bontades) and get a pat on the back. If it involves hurting people, so be it, good way to get his aggression out, if it involves hurting himself, all the more so be it.

He absolutely loathes having to play along to someone else's games. I bet you he's exploding everyone and himself internally every time he goes to France. At least the Germans are just either as awkward as he is, whatever Gilbert got going on or straight up assholes. He's not good at playing nice, he's not enjoying anyone's attention, he has no interest in being charming at all. He's that Francis Crozier at a party - "Tell us about birdshit island again, that's a capital story." It's the worst part about caring about Feliciano honestly, having to participate in what comes so easily to Franci and Feli.

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

I think he does remember Gabriella very fondly from their childhood. And he also misses Venice sometimes, especially when the tourist crowds weren't around in the old city on rainy, gloomy days. Being landlocked in Rome makes him yearn for seaside.

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

Perhaps when he realized his parents don't care much for him. When they wouldn't intervene with the bullying at school, wouldn't help him much and reach out to him at all. When all his cries for help by acting out got him written off as never making something out of himself. He wasn't the 'little sweet one' they had hoped for, so he was on his own.

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

Yep! Wiry, corkscrew curls, Short - always been my boooy.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

Can't tell you for the life of me, honestly. It's been a long time ...

🌂 - What genre do they belong in?

He should have been in actual gritty gangster drama, to be honest. Not his clownshow, but he is still excelling at it. He's also slaying in nigh every historical AU I have, so he was just made for the drama.

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

Cis man and the flop bisexual nobody wants.

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have?

One! His beloved older sister Gabriella, with who he has an absolutely terrible relationship for many years, because he's pushing her away to not hurt her and she keeps pulling him back so he won't hurt himself.

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

Bad and now non-existent. As I said, the Acerbis (Martina and Bernardo) didn't really know how to handle Dolcetto after Gabriella was such a poster-child of success. They were probably also fairly conservative and saw Dolcetto as someone unwilling to work/who needed to straighten out. Honestly? Lie to them about the mob thing and hide her queerness, they'd take Gabriella back with open arms alongside with her well-to-do Milanese boyfriend. Dolcetto? If he wasn't dead to them before, he'd be now, queer troublemaker with a Neapolitan ne'er-do-well as a partner.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

I like how much Dolcetto's heart is both in the right and the wrong place. He reminds me a lot of my younger self, hell, even of me now at times. He's so focused on having to be useful or otherwise no one will want to have him around that he's willing to destroy himself over it. He thinks if he's not delivering, no one would tolerate him. He IS a bastard, he IS callous often, but he does love and appreciate those around him and I love his journey recognizing that. I love that he finally gains self-worth and not just ego.

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC?

Not as much as I'd like to! I recently drew a tiny headshot of him because I've watched Hazbin and he'd make an excellent exorcist - Plus I cannot resist anything where Dolcetto has a high social status that is yet precarious and along comes Francesco, completely untethered from societal opinion and completely fucking all that up for Dolcetto. But since I've been rewriting Irish Problems for two years now, baby boy isn't as present as I'd like him to be.

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

I mean, I can't imagine Dolcetto growing old, but that's none of my business.

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

Nothing I can think of from the top of my head.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

Marco and Lorenzo! The Bontade twins are one year older than Dolcetto and very much everything he's not. Social butterflies, totally confident in all of their skills, completely sexually open ... To be fair, Dolcetto also looks down upon them and, much like his sister, finds them rather grating and more hot air than skill. In his eyes, with he entire Vargas-Vento rivalry creating this enmity in the first place, them seementitled to something that isn't theirs. So while these two are definitely bullying him, Dolcetto is absolutely not the bigger person. Marco: How could he be? Lorenzo: He'd need stilts!

🎓 - How long have you had the OC?

I was definitely still in middle school. So probably since 11 or 10 years, I don't know how quickly I came up with more characters to populate the LFLS world back then.

🍥 - What age were you when you created the OC?