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Hey everyone!

Here it comes the new chapter, right from the hanger of the previous one :3 Hope you will like it, and that you will voice that with a comment, a vote or a fave, they are always very appreciated

Thanks Gritou, you are the best fiancé ever! He was such a sweetheart to draw the fanart that makes the cover of this chapter You can find the original drawing here Roman Life - Luca !

"Heya!"

The purred greeting came from behind, so Luca spun on his heels to face the feline newcomer, who was just a few meters away from him and closing the distance between them. The clear and powerful summer sun gave a golden shade the cougar's reddish pelt, one he hadn't noticed the first time he had seen Edward. A broad grin was splitting his white furred muzzle, showing all the youthfulness of the American boy.

"Hi!" The lupo returned the greeting, smiling, his mind switching to English automatically, as it always did when talking with foreign furs. The puma's cheerfulness was contagious, and the restorer found his tail wagging at a moderate pace despite his better discernment.

"Hello Luca! You're early." The feline purred, now standing in front of him and extending a paw for a good shake. The lupo didn't wait and grabbed it with his own, the intertwined paws shaking a couple of times before separating.

"Yeah, but so are you." Luca pointed out with a smile.

"I'm not yet used to your metro. I always arrive too early because I miscalculate how long it takes." The slightly shorter male explained with enthusiasm.

"Knowing Rome, you do the right thing." The lupo laughed, thought he was serious: taking the bus or any public vehicle was a terno al lotto1on how much it would take to arrive. He looked around and about, twisting his head, expecting an American specimen of young female, but the few girls around them were just passing by without stopping.

"What are you doing?" The puma chuckled at the restlessness of the restorer, his round ears flicking in amusement. The question made Luca blush a bit; he hadn't realized that he was behaving foolishly!

"Uhm, is your girlfriend coming by her own?" The wolf asked, blushing a bit more. Maybe the two lived in different places or something, though it didn't sound like that, from the texts. His question was met with another chuckle, and some more ear flicking.

"Johanna had to go to work, one of her coworkers couldn't go and Twinset2needed here." Edward said, and he didn't sound too much devastated by this sad turn of the events. His smile didn't faltered, and the lupo noticed how it extended to his golden eyes, making them sparkle with life.

"That's too bad, the more we are the better!" The words were truthful, Luca did expect some more people since, allegedly, the tour was also a mean to make Stanley meet other furs. Plus, a female presence was always good, he admitted to himself, although he shamefully loved to have only boys around him.

"She was looking forward to have a walk through Rome with someone who really knows about architecture." The American cougar sighed, his voice gaining now a hint of pity for the poor girl. "But work is work, and we are just underpaid students!"

"I understand, I would have done the same." The lupine expressed his sympathy. He hadn't experienced it first paw, but he knew that when your employer demanded your presence, you had to obey; more so when he could easily replace you with some other fur in need of money.

"I'm lucky, the pub opens at six and my next shift is tomorrow, I have the whole Saturday free!" Edward chuckled happily for the day of rest and fun. He really couldn't blame him for that, after all he was the same, looking forward to the days where he could just relax and not think about work. Except that he was going to work that Saturday, in a way, and for free! Still, he was sure the two ragazzi3would be much more satisfying than most of his paying clients.

"I assume your girlfriend is a fellow Yankee by her name." Luca stated, curious about the unknown girl. "Is she studying with you?"

"Yep to both, we come from the same town in Illinois." The feline grinned broadly, showing his white fangs. "We went to the same school since we were just kittens!"

"Oh, nice! You both attend the faculty of Architecture in your university, and you both wanted to come here in Rome." The older canine resumed briefly. It was sweet to hear that, two sweethearts being together for so long, and he stubbornly pushed away any cynic thought about that kind of relationships.

"Yep. You guessed right! There was this opportunity for an exchange in Rome, and we jumped on it!" The light brown fur exclaimed his happiness, something that was quite contagious since Luca's tail just increased its wagging.

"Ehehehe, no American can resist the charm of the Eternal City!" The lean lupine jabbed at him. He knew perfectly well that furs abroad thought the Urbe4to be one of the most romantic cities ever; even more so for those who studied architecture and the likes.

"Yep. We have another reason, Johanna and I." The cougar teased him, without adding more, making Luca boil in his own juices; he couldn't resist long, he could be as bad as a cat when his curiosity kicked in.

"Oh? What it might be, I wonder..." The wolf mused, assuming a thoughtful expression on his long muzzle.

"Aren't you going to guess?" The other pouted a bit. Felines were the best pouters, with those tiny lips and short muzzles, so he gave in and seguì il gioco5.

"Uhm, one of you have relatives here." Was his first guess. He knew he was wrong from the amused smile of the puma.

"Nope. We don't even have Italian ancestry!" Edward said, his tail lazily moving behind him.

"Maybe... One of you watched La Dolce Vita as a kitten and fell in love with the city?" He tried again, knowing that it was far fetched as a theory.

"Never seen the movie. Go on, keep guessing!" The shorter feline taunted him. His tongue flashed out, licking his chops like he was having the best bowl of milk ever.

"Okay, but this is the last one!" The lupo warned, one paw rose with a monitory finger up, to make his point certain. "You either met some Roman at the college or during vacations or on the net, become friends with him or her and wanted to come to Rome so you could pass some time with him or her!"

The feline didn't answered right away, taking pleasure in keeping the suspense going, as most cats did, to Luca's knowledge. Carlo had been particularly guilty of that, making him beg most of the time; he liked it most of the times, but it had been a great nuisance too, especially when there was no reason to do that.

Luckily, this time he didn't have to demand an answer, probably the American boy knew that, as they said there, il gioco è bello quando dura poco6, since when he was about to speak again he opened his own muzzle.

"Weeeeeeeeellll nope. Sure you don't want to have another attempt?" The younger fur grinned widely. It seems that Edward was full of smile and grins, something that seemed to suit him just well. He had noticed it when he had served them in the pub; probably it was a characteristic put in good use there, a smiling waiter was always appreciated and earned tips.

"I'm pretty sure I don't." Luca said, grinning back. By now his curiosity was at its highest peak, so he wanted nothing more than the true answer.

"You are a spoilsport!" The puma accused him, nudging the other male with an elbow. "Well, it has to do with our hometown."

"Uh? So you have a high percentage of Italo-americans or something?" The wolf spoke up the only theory that came to his mind. Maybe the fact of having so many furs with an Italian origin might have influenced them enough to want to come here!

"Not so different from any other part of US." Edward shook his head, and then came closer as if he was going to tell a secret. "Well, we are Romans too."

That revelation made the tall ears on his skull flicker as if they had parasites in them. "But you said you have no Italian ascendance!" The wolf exclaimed in dismay.

"Yep. But our hometown is called Rome too, so we are Romans." The cougar snickered, quite amused by the reactions of the other, there was no doubt in that.

"You came from another Rome!?" Luca worded his disbelief. It was pretty shocking to hear that there was another town, out there, with the same name as the Eternal City; his ears just couldn't stay put at the moment.

"Well, one of the others. Mine is Rome, IL, but there are ten or so more out there." The waiter student chuckled. He was still pretty close, and the wolf noticed like the shirt was quite adherent to his body, showing that he had some pretty nice muscles on his frame.

"Guess they all tried to mimic the real deal." The lupine shook his head. He didn't quite understand why the furs who went to the New World wanted to name their towns like famous ones; one thing was if they were from a place and named their new home like their madrepatria7, but he was pretty sure that no one from Rome founded the newer, American one.

"Yeah.... And most of them aren't up to the name. My Rome is a tiny town of one thousand souls!" Edward mused, not offended by what could have been understood as an insult.

"Wow, that's pretty small! I guess you had to commute to go to school and so on." The wolf wondered. He had always lived in Rome, so he could just imagine how was the life in small hamlets like this Rome in Illinois.

"We are not that far from Chillicothe, and what isn't there we can find in Peoria. It never had been a big deal for us." The young waiter explained. The name of that town was unknown to Luca, but he wasn't going to be rude and tell his new friend.

"I see!" He laughed. "Do you have seven hills too?"

"Several, not only seven." The other smirked.

"The same here, even the historical Rome didn't cover only seven hills8." Luca smirked back to the young feline. "I know you are as far from the ocean as someone can be in the US, but are you close to the Great Lakes?"

"Nope, far from them, actually! It takes two hour and a half to travel from Rome to Chicago, so we rarely go there. But the town sits right on the shore of Goose Lake, so we don't really miss Lake Michigan!"

"I can imagine why you never went to the ocean, since you had a lake on your doorstep...." The wolf pondered, images of little cougars going for a swim flashing in his mind. "Lakes are as good as the sea for cooling off."

"You're right, I didn't go to the sea often before I came here." The cougar cooked an apologetic smile for his lack of sea-related fun.

"Awww, poor you! Where have you been? Ostia, Fregene9?" He asked, curious to hear what was the opinion of the feline on the subject of beaches familiar to him.

"Yep, we went to those, and a place called Marina di San Nicola too9. It was fun, the water was sooo hot!" Edward crooned, seemingly a fur that enjoyed his bathing water like that.

"What do you expect, the Mediterranean is a closed sea, it gets far warmer than the ocean!" The restorer boasted, showing off all of his knowledge about maritime temperatures and related topics. Mentioning the heat made him realize that the sun was getting fiercer and quickly passing from a gentle caress to a full-out slap in the face.

"Say, we have to wait for Stanley, but we shouldn't sweat ourselves off while doing it. Better to find some shade." Luca suggested. It was way too soon for their clothes to drench in salty and smelly liquids, and the day was going to be long.

"Yeah, sure. I don't know how you Southern furs live with this heat!" The Yankee cat taunted him, while looking around for some shadow.

"You know that Rome is pretty much on the same latitude as Chicago, right?" The wolf jabbed, snickering a bit. "But I guess we are still in the South for you!"

"Yeah, whatever, the heat is much worse here!" The cougar snorted back, and the lupine didn't have the heart to point out that it might not be true. "Where do you suggest we might sit?"

"Uhm, let's see..." The wolf looked around too, searching for the right place. The piazza was devoid of trees, and the buildings were too far to make a shadow. Sure, they could have gone somewhere else and wait for the actual meeting hour, but it would have been rude, and he preferred to remain in loco10just in case...

"There!" He shouted, his arm extended and his big paw pointed up the stairs leading to the fountain, where some shade gathered just besides the murmuring waters, still not claimed by anyone. In short, the perfect spot to stalk for a husky with the comforts of being somewhat refreshed by the shadow.

"Gotcha!" The other exclaimed, darting in the indicated direction. Luca followed suit, leisurely, since he didn't see anyone pressing to get the place before them. The feline wasn't really running toward it, just walking faster than usual, showing that he needed to get some cover from the Italic sun.

They both climbed the stairs, taking them by pairs, and reached the still vacated spot without a problem, their breaths slightly heavy for the very brief exercise. But now they were under the shade, and from there they could peer into the piazza and locate the approaching canine immediately and without troubles of any sort.

"Gosh, it's nice here!" Edward panted, seemingly relieved that they got away from the mean celestial body that had threatened to roast him. He leaned on the wall, facing the piazza, and the wolf just copied him, resuming together their patient wait.

"Yeah, plus from here we can catch a rare refolo from the river." The wolf noted, enjoying the weak breeze that sometimes kissed his fur.

"... Refo-what?" The feline asked, after a short silence during which he had probably tried to understand the meaning of that word.

"Refolo. Oh shit, sorry, dunno why I used the Italian word." The lupine apologized, noticing only now of his blunder. Sometimes his brain didn't do the translation, and that could lead to misunderstandings... Though most of his clients liked the little local word now and then.

"It's okay, I am studying Italian, so no need to apologize!" The young student was quick to reply, his paw shaking to show it was okay. "You still didn't tell me what it means, though."

"Oh yeah, sorry!" The lean lupo apologized yet again, his ears flicking in embarrassment.

"Stop apologizing! Geez, you sound like a Canadian." The other chuckled deeply, and Luca wasn't sure if that was an insult or a compliment in the puma's eyes.

"So- Whatever." The canine stopped yet another apology, and decided that he should stop acting like a fool. "Well, refolo means.... Wait, I have it on the tip of my tongue..."

"It's a pretty long one, I'm sure the word has lost itself there." The cougar joked, fishing his Smartphone from his pocket, probably to search for the word.

"Wait, no cheating, I have to remember it!" The wolf yelled, stopping him from using the marvels of the internet to find the answer to his big dilemma.

"Okay, okay, I'm waiting." The student smiled, rotating his eyes in fake annoyance.

"Refolo is.... Is... Oh yeah! Gush of wind!" Luca exclaimed victorious, happy to have found the highly elusive word in the back of his head.

"Ohhhh I see. Why didn't you say wind right away?" The brownish feline asked, entertained by the tiritera11of his guide.

"Well, it didn't come to me. I feel so stupid when it happens." The wolf explained, his ears lying briefly on his skull before coming back to their usual perky state.

"It can happen from time to time, nothing big." The other shrugged the matter away along with his shoulders, giving it the right amount of importance. Which was nothing, at all.

"Yeah, but it still is a dumb moment for me." The wolf replied. He wanted to add more of it, not stopping at a simple phrase, but nothing came to his mind and silence fell. It wasn't awkward, a lull of the conversation that might happen, especially if you didn't know the other fur so well. Plus, they had been talking no-stop for the past half an hour, so they could just take a break.

Edward didn't put away his phone and just browsed it, looking for something and typing from time to time. The lupine was tempted to do the same, but preferred to stay vigilant, watching over the piazza and the furs passing by, in search of a familiar figure.

So far the husky hadn't appeared, nothing to worry about since the hour was just approaching, not still upon them. Tourists milled through the piazza, sometimes in pairs, sometimes with a higher number, and from time to time in a huge herd lead by an umbrella-wielding guide. He pitied the poor wretched fur who had that kind of work, it was already hard with a few furs, let alone with dozens of them!

He thanked the heavens that he never had to go through such an experience. The Figli di Orazio was aimed toward the more wealthy furs, after all, and provided personal guides to them; they were picky on the qualifications of their guides too, but luckily Luca had them. They didn't demand full time work for them, and paid fairly well, money that was always needed after all.

He was considering all the things he had to pay for, almost drowning in the long list of them, when his eyes caught a glimpse of fluffy black and white in the distance, just crossing the river on the pedestrian bridge.

"Look, Stanley has arrived!" He said, pointing at him with a paw.

"Oh my, he came at the right hour, right on the second." The cougar mused, putting back his phone to properly meet the dog. "And I didn't imagine he would be like that!"

The wolf wondered how the feline had imagined the other canine's looks, but there was no time to get satisfaction for his curiosity.

"We better go and meet him." He said, already padding down the stairs, away from the cool shade.

Translation:

1) Win at the lottery with a sequence of three numbers. Expression that means that something is up to pure chance.

2) A clothing store brand. The name is just silly.

3) Boys.

4) Nickname of Rome, derived by the ancient one, Urbs, the capitalized word for city. Because it's The City.

5) Following the game.

6) The game is good when it is short. Usually uttered when there is some friendly mocking involved.

7) Motherland.

8) The Seven Hills of Rome. Please, don't make me list them T_T

9) Series of sea locations frequented by Romans.

10) Latin expression used in Italian, meaning that you find something directly in the place.

11) Rigmarole. Or so Google Translator says.