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meridian_roseTitle: To See Beyond the Veil
Fandom: Da Vinci's Demons
Pairing/Characters: Vanessa/Riario, Leo, implied Leo/Vanessa, Lucrezia
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5138
Prompt: For the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
writerverse big bang challenge
Summary: Modern AU. A chance meeting at a vending machine leads Riario out of his comfort zone and into the complicated waters of Vanessa and Leo's world and relationship.
Content Notes: No standard warnings apply.
Riario watched the pretty redhead feed coins into the vending machine and press a number of buttons. When the machine grumbled and rattled but did not dispense her choice she swore.
"Allow me," Riario said, because the damn thing had done that to him an hour ago and he'd dealt with it the way he dealt with anything that would not respond to words nor money.
She eyed him warily but stood aside while he gave the machine a thump on its side. It dropped the chocolate bar into the tray below and Riario retrieved it, handing it to her with a flourish.
"Thank you," she said, tearing open the wrapper.
"You're welcome."
"Can you believe they want to get rid of traditional vending machines in hospitals?" She took a bite, chewed angrily, swallowed. "Health nuts think you should only be able to get fruit from them. Yes, after four hours stuck here what I want is a rotten apple. Idiots."
Riario glanced her over. She was wearing a long deep blue skirt over calf high boots, and a similarly coloured velvet top which was long in the body, reaching to her mid-thigh, but short sleeved. She wore silver earrings, a ring on her left index finger, and a jewelled hair comb.
"Are you here for yourself or are you here with someone?"
"Leo," she said around another mouthful of chocolate. "He fell off the roof. I told him, use the ladder, but would he listen? He didn't want to come but honestly one of these days he's going to get a concussion and he's not going to die on my watch."
Riario nodded politely, slightly disappointed. "You must be a very dedicated girlfriend."
She gave him a sideways look. "It's not like that. Not as such. We're close, God only knows why sometimes. But he's an artist, highly strung, I make allowances." She finished her chocolate, tossed the wrapper into the nearby bin. "What about you? Visiting someone?"
"My father," Riario said. "He had an accident." He kept the quote marks suppressed around 'accident'. As far as anyone else was concerned it was just that, even if Riario had his suspicions otherwise. "They're taking some x-rays, running some tests.."
"I hope he's all right," she said, brushing a loose strand of hair back from her face.
"Thank you."
"See, Vanessa, I told you I was fine!" A man strode along the corridor and stopped in front of Riario's new acquaintance. "Nothing broken, no sign of a concussion, didn't even need a CT scan. They said there are just some bruises and worst thing of all they wouldn't give me any decent painkillers as compensation for all the inconvenience."
Vanessa gave a sigh. "Let's get you home, Leo." She gave Riario a warm smile. "Thank you again."
It was only after she'd disappeared, one arm steering a still protesting Leo, that Riario spotted the hair comb on the floor. He picked it up, and headed for the exit, but Vanessa was nowhere to be seen.
His phone buzzed and Riario sighed, pocketing the hair comb, once more thrust into his father's business affairs.
#
Lucrezia was sprawled on the chaise longue skimming through a fashion magazine while Riario talked. She was technically employed by the company but her "Network and Development" post duties were so vague and meaningless, that she got to do almost whatever she wanted. What she wanted involved a lot of lunches and shopping and Being Seen in Public with other people whose main purpose in life, as far as Riario could ascertain, centred around Being Seen.
Riario had tried to get her an office elsewhere in the building. He'd offered to pay for office space for her in another building. Another city if she wished. But his father liked having her where he could keep an eye on her, and she liked pissing Riario off, so they shared an office.
It ought to be noted that the office was larger than many a London flat, but somehow it seemed tiny when they were both present. They were like cats who tolerated each other, would curl up together for warmth sometimes, would defend each other against the neighbour's dog, but they could fight over nothing and would often sit glaring at each other for no good reason.
When his father had been released from the hospital later the previous evening, Riario had taken him home, and then headed for his own apartment. On taking off his jacket he remembered the hair comb and had taken it out to examine it. To his surprise it wasn't a cheap accessory, as he'd assumed. Those were real sapphires if he was any judge.
This morning he'd stopped off at a jewellers and had it appraised. It was indeed an old piece, definitely valuable, possibly a family heirloom that he needed to return to its owner, the mysterious Vanessa.
"I could ask if they'd put in the lost property box at the hospital," Riario mused, lifting the comb to the light. But he wasn't sure how safe that would be, or if Vanessa would even return there when she realised she was missing the accessory. She might think she'd lost it elsewhere. "I suppose I could put an advert in the paper."
Lucrezia stared at him. "If you were Sherlock Holmes in Ye Olde London," she snorted.
"Put it on Twitter?" Riario returned. "Hashtag #lostproperty?"
Lucrezia rolled her eyes. "I thought you were good at investigating people."
"I usually have a little more than a first name and a face to go on," he said. He hadn't even known that much until her friend had ambled over.
Leo, she'd said. Some sort of artist.
"I need to find her friend, an artist named Leo. How many artists do you think there are in London?" Riario asked, fingers poised over the keyboard.
"Probably only one or two," Lucrezia dead-panned. "Jesus, why don't you just go and knock on every door and hope you find her?"
Riario gave her a dark look. She got to her feet. "Why are you so obsessed with this anyway?"
"I'm not obsessed. I just want to return her property." Riario typed rapidly and hit the enter key. He scanned the results, clicking on a few promising results. No. No. Dear God, no. What the hell, how was that art? No, and no, and wait.
"Is that him?" Lucrezia asked, peering over Riario's shoulder. The website was a single page with a photo of Leonardo da Vinci, a few photos of his work, and his contact details. "Kind of cute."
"I didn't think poor and scruffy was at all your type," Riario said, printing off the page.
"You could put the details on your phone, like someone from this century," Lucrezia snarked in return, fetching the paper from the printer.
"You're the one destroying the rainforest with your magazines," Riario retorted, snatching the sheet from her.
She huffed. "Can I come?"
"No."
She pouted.
"I'll take you to lunch when I get back," Riario said. He needed to talk further to her anyway, bring her up to speed with what he knew about his father's supposed accident once he got the final details from his contacts later this morning.
"I get to choose where."
"Make sure you don't bankrupt me."
She scoffed, and went back to the chaise longue, kicking off her heeled sandals and curling up with her magazine once more.
#
The studio was an in old industrial area. The factories had been converted into flats and workshops, but no-one would use the word 'gentrification' about the overhaul which was now showing its own age.
The door to Leo's studio was propped open although Riario knocked before he entered. The room was a fairly large, somewhat empty space, with easels and boxes and a long table scattered around the place, though the walls were full of pictures. A door to one side led to a more private space, while a rear door was propped open to let in more light.
"Can I help you?" Leo was standing by an easel. He was wearing the same clothes Riario remembered from the previous night. No artist smock for Leo, either. "Oh, you're here for the horse sculpture. It isn't finished yet."
"No," Riario said, and before he could elaborate, Leo was off again.
"I paid the rent!"
"I'm not here about the rent."
Leo visibly relaxed, flicking a long strand of hair back from his face. "You look familiar."
"We met in passing yesterday. I was talking to your friend Vanessa, you were complaining about the lack of painkillers."
Leo's eyes lit up. "Oh. Right. I didn't get your name."
"We were not formally introduced. You ignored me quite successfully in fact."
"Sorry. Hospitals make me crazy," Leo said. "I just wanted to get out of there. Even if you were cute. Are, I mean.”
Riario wasn’t sure how to react to that. Thankfully Leo showed no signs of stopping and continued his conversation without pause.
“So how did you find me? Did Vanessa tell you about my art? Here, look at this."
Riario bit back a sigh and followed Leo over to an unframed canvas on one wall, where a horse was galloping through a field, mane blowing in the breeze. Leo barely let him look at it before he hustled him to the next one.
"This is my favourite," Leo confided. "But it's not finished."
The huge canvas was filled with white and blue hues and a majestic bird soared through the clouds.
"Sometimes I tinker with it, but somehow it's always missing something." Leo stared at the picture, lost in it for a moment. Then he blinked and grinned at Riario.
"I'm not sure these are to my taste," Riario began diplomatically. He wasn't here to buy artwork, only to return some lost property. Leo ran off to one corner of the studio and ferreted about under a dustcloth. He returned with a canvas which he proudly flipped over in front of Riario.
Riario drew a sharp breath. The colours were vibrant, and the whole evoked a Renaissance feel. This was more like it. The subject was undoubtedly Vanessa. Her hair was loose, though ribbons were pinned throughout it. She was dancing, he guessed, from the way the locks and ribbons alike were flowing in the breeze. Her mouth was open in a smile, or possibly a laugh. She looked very young, very innocent.
She was also painted down as far as her navel and she was utterly naked.
Riario had grown up privileged and had received an excellent education which included exposure to the Classics in all their forms. He was no stranger to artistic nudity and he would never consider himself a prude. However there was something shocking about viewing the portrait when it was someone he knew, and worse, knew only slightly. It seemed voyeuristic, an invasion of her privacy to stare at her breasts without having asked her permission.
Leo looked the painting and then at Riario. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Yes, she is," Riario said huskily. He cleared his throat. "How much?"
"What?"
"For the painting. How much?"
Leo clutched it possessively. "It's not for sale. This is mine. I use it when I have artistic block. I smoke – er, I smoke a cigarette," he said carefully, Riario swallowing a smile at the idea of him bothering to inform the police of Leo's dabbling in hallucinogens. He was an artist, Vanessa said, with an artistic temperament. Riario would have been disenchanted if Leo had been some sort of straight edge type, not that it seemed likely from a man who fell off a roof because he refused to use a ladder and whose only concern was the lack of good painkillers.
Besides, looking at the canvas near the back door made Riario want to sit down when he stared at it a little too long, becoming dizzy from seeing not just the psychedelic starry galaxy it at first appeared to be, but a myriad possibilities. Not the work of someone who cared about being rooted in reality at all times. Leo was not afraid to peer beyond the veil.
"And after a smoke and a good look at my muse," Leo went on, cradling the portrait, "I usually have a half dozen or so ideas to be going on with."
Vanessa was Leo's muse. Riario felt emotions he couldn't place at that, but this wasn't the time for introspection.
"Oh, I know." Leo was off again before Riario could ascertain what it was he knew. Leo put the painting away and returned with a sheet of paper. It was a rough sketch of Vanessa, just her head and shoulder this time, looking a little more serious but with the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth. "You can have this."
"How much?" Riario asked again.
"Five?"
"Hundred?" Riario asked doubtfully.
Leo stared at him. "Are you mocking me?"
"Not intentionally," Riario said. Maybe there was some smoke lingering in the studio because Riario was feeling a little unbalanced. What had he said? Had he bid too low? Surely not, the artist had a website a toddler could put together in a few clicks, he surely wasn't pulling in thousands of pounds? On the other hand the work was good. The product didn't match the presentation or the location.
"I meant a fiver," Leo said. "It's only a rough sketch. God, my last painting sold for two hundred quid and my last sculpture only went for three hundred and the client was a right prick, kept having me change things. Must have cost me twice that in terms of my time."
Riario took out his wallet and handed over a twenty. "Keep the rest for more, er, supplies," he offered.
Leo nodded, not arguing. They tucked their respective pieces of valuable paper away.
"Why are you not making more money?" Riario asked. "I'm no expert, but some of this looks quite good."
"Thanks, I think," Leo said. "Lorenzo ruined me."
"De Medici?" Riario's hackles rose. He hated the Medici family on general principle since they felt the same about him and his relatives, and the two clans would, if given the chance, engage in a Montague vs Capulet style civil war.
"That's him. Commissioned me to paint a portrait of his wife, Clarice. Which I did. She loved it. Said I took ten years off her, I said five at most. Lorenzo didn't love that, nor the painting. He accused me of sleeping with her."
"Were you?" Riario asked, never one to pass up on potentially embarrassing material where the De Medici's were concerned.
"No! I can look at breasts without screwing a woman!" Leo shook his head. "Lorenzo paid me, mostly because Clarice made him. Enough to pay the rent for the year. I told you I paid the rent?"
"I'm still not here to collect the rent," Riario assured him.
Leo nodded. "Right. But Lorenzo put word around that I was unreliable and not that talented and not to be trusted with women. Which was unfair, because he could at least have said I'm not to be trusted with men, either. Then work began to dry up."
Cute, Leo had said casually about Riario, and this statement confirmed him as bisexual. Riario filed that away for future reference and gave Leo a sympathetic smile. "Lorenzo is not a man I have much respect for." And vice versa.
"So why are you here, if my art's not to your taste, though you did just purchase something?"
If he mentioned the rent again, Riario was going to suggest he return to the hospital and insist on a CT scan.
"Your friend Vanessa dropped her hair comb at the hospital. I wanted to return it."
"Oh. Why didn't you take it to her?"
"Because I don't know who she is or where to find her. I tracked you down by sheer luck via that rather shabby website you maintain."
Leo laughed. "Buy me a better website if you don't like it. Well it's nice of you to try and find her. I'll give her the hair comb back."
Riario stopped himself reaching for it. "I don't have it with me," he lied. "It's rather valuable and I didn't want to carry it around unnecessarily."
"Oh. Okay." Leo stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Can you tell me where to find her?" Riario asked when his patience became strained.
"You're not a creepy stalker are you?"
"To the best of my knowledge I am neither creepy nor a stalker," Riario said. "Though I did hunt you down, it was with the best of intentions."
Leo nodded. "The Barking Dog," he said, and this non-sequitar was almost enough to have Riario take him to the emergency department until Leo added, "Vanessa tends bar there. I can give you the postcode for your GPS. It's nice. Not to your standards, I expect, but nice."
#
The pub wasn't the sort of place Riario frequented but it wasn't so terrible either. He made his way to the bar where Vanessa was serving a customer, chatting as she poured a pint.
She was wearing a crisp white blouse and black trousers, her hair neatly tied back and yet was, if anything, more attractive than the night before. Possibly the dimmer light, more forgiving than the fierce fluorescents of the hospital corridor, or possibly a lack of concern over her friend was making her smile brighter.
As soon as she'd finished with her customer she headed over. "What can I get you?" She faltered. "We met last night, didn't we? Vending machine guy. Sorry, I didn't get your name."
"I didn't give it. Forgive my lack of manners. Girolamo Riario."
"That's quite a mouthful," she said, but with a smile. "What do your friends call you?"
"I mostly go by Riario," he said, because 'friends' wasn't really a concept he had much experience with.
"Vanessa Moschella," she said. "How is your father doing?"
"Fine," he said, surprised by the question. "Thank you for asking. I saw your friend Leonardo so I know he's none the worse for wear."
"You saw Leo?"
"I was looking for you," Riario said. "As I didn't have your name, but I did have his name and profession, I started my search there. I'm not, as Leo suggested, a creepy stalker. I found your hair comb. You must have knocked it loose at the hospital. I wanted to return it."
His hand strayed to his pocket but he again refused to take out the item.
"Oh, thank you! It has sentimental value," Vanessa said. "Leo brought it for me after I got this job.
"It has monetary value too," Riario said. So Leo had purchased the expensive gift. Leo the not-as-such-boyfriend. Didn't Leo know what it was worth? "It's an old piece. Possibly even dates back to the fifteenth century."
Vanessa blinked at that. "I had no idea. Leo shouldn't have given me something so expensive."
"Perhaps he was unaware of its origins. Some men don't know the value of what they have," Riario said, and damn, he hadn't meant to lower his tone and be flirtatious but it had happened and he couldn't unsay it.
Vanessa spotted another customer approaching the bar. "I'll be right back," she promised and went off to take their order. Riario scanned the pub. Clean, cosy, with standard pub food and drinks on offer. Nice enough, as promised.
"Can I get you a drink?" Vanessa asked when she returned once more.
Riario checked his watch. Lucrezia would be starting to wonder where he was. "Another time? I have a prior engagement."
"Business or pleasure?"
Was she flirting with him? "I'm having lunch with my cousin, Lucrezia."
"Lucky her," Vanessa said with a grin.
Riario took a breath and a risk. "Vanessa, I didn't want to carry the hair comb around with me while I tried finding you." The lie slid smoothly from his tongue. "May I take you to dinner and return your property then?"
Vanessa gave him the once over. "I'd like that. Give me your phone."
Riario unlocked the screen and handed it over. Vanessa took a selfie and added her contact details before returning it. "Call or message me and we'll set something up," she said.
"I shall," Riario said and hell, yes, that was flirting for sure. He gave her a smile and walked away, suppressing the urge to whistle.
#
"So, did you find your artist?" Lucrezia asked, studying the menu.
"What?" Riario looked up from the wine list, brow creased.
"The cute artist you went to see."
"Yes," he said shortly. "Choose something, Lu, so I can pick the wine."
Lucrezia made a selection, Riario made his, and chose the wine. When they'd ordered, Lucrezia said, "What was he like?"
"Artistic."
Lucrezia gave up and moved the subject on. "And did he lead you to your Cinderella?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The girl with the hair comb."
"Vanessa," Riario said without thinking.
"Vanessa," Lucrezia repeated with a smirk. "Was she glad to have her knight in shining armour return her comb?"
Riario nodded.
"And?"
"And what?"
"There's more," she said. "I can see it. I know you too well."
He sighed. "I'm having dinner with her."
Lucrezia laughed. "You have a date? Oh, that's too precious."
"I have plenty of dinner dates," Riario protested.
"Of course," Lucrezia said. "All those business dinners and set-ups with would-be trophy wives and that incident with She Who Is Not To Be Named."
Riario managed to change the subject for a while. As far as anyone could make out Alessandro's accident had been just that. Of course he'd called Riario incompetent at that conclusion, given him an earful about not insisting on private medical care from the second the accident happened, and generally made the entire incident to be somehow Riario's fault.
"Uncle Sandy's a prick," Lucrezia said with a hint of sympathy.
"Don't say that," Riario said, but more for the chance of it being overheard than any actual disagreement.
"But it's true."
"Not in public," he said, his tone firm.
Lucrezia shrugged and they moved on to safer, business related, topics.
#
Vanessa was waiting outside the restaurant when Riario arrived. She was wearing a lovely blue dress which Lucrezia would probably describe as azure or sapphire, and her hair was pinned half-up with the rest cascading around her shoulders.
He was inexplicably nervous. Would Vanessa expect at least an air-kiss on the cheek or was that too forward in her social circles? He settled for holding out his hand and greeting her warmly. When she placed her hand in his, he lost all reason and lifted it to his mouth to press his lips to her knuckles.
"Aren't you a charmer?" she said with affection. She held onto him as he led the way into the restaurant, though he wondered if that was due to apprehension on her part. This place was a thousand miles away from the pub she worked out and it was possible she felt out of her depth.
If she was nervous she didn't let it show. She gave another soft laugh and warm smile as he pulled out her chair for her.
"I hope you're paying," she said. "Because while I would normally be happy to split the bill, I can probably only afford a side salad here."
"I invited you to dinner," Riario said. "Of course I will pay." He'd paid for lunch as well because Lucrezia had a policy of never paying for anything she could get for free. Nonetheless he'd never expect a woman to pay for her meal when it was a date. Was that sexist now? Did it depend on their income levels? Did Vanessa know this was a date?
He reached into his pocket and brought out the hair comb handing it over reluctantly.
"Thank you," she said, putting it into her handbag. "I do appreciate the trouble you've gone to."
"No trouble at all." Riario tried to not to stare at her cleavage but he kept thinking about the portrait and wondering if Leonardo had painted her accurately or if he'd taken liberties. She was not the most well endowed woman but there was a firmness and symmetry to the mounds that had been pleasing in the portrait, the light brown aureole surrounding ruddy pink nipples.
Riario took a long drink of water and tried to think of something to say that didn't involve nipples. His mind was blank. This wasn't a business client, wasn't one of the women his father had "suggested" he take out. He was painfully aware of the gulf between them. They had nothing in common. Their paths would never have crossed but for a couple of accidents that led them both to be standing around by a vending machine.
"Tell me your name again," Vanessa said. "Slowly this time."
"Girolamo," he said.
"Girolamo," she repeated with care. "It's pretty. What does it mean?"
"My father's a pretentious asshole who didn't care how much bullying his son would get over it?"
She laughed, but she reached over the table to clasp his hands.
"I wasn't the only one," he added. "There was a Rupert Everhard Clifton-Jones in my class, and a Jean-Marie Thibault de Angelo. But Jean-Marie was popular where I was not."
She gave him a sympathetic look and Riario went on, "By the way, what's with your friend; who names their child Leonardo?"
Why the hell had he brought him into this? Stupid, Riario told himself.
"His mother insisted," Vanessa said. "Or so his father says. But she left when Leo was a baby. He doesn't like to talk about her."
Riario understood what it was to grow up motherless. He rubbed at Vanessa's fingers with his thumbs. The waiter came to take their order then and Riario had to release Vanessa.
"Tell me about yourself," Vanessa said, while they waited for their food and drinks to arrive. "You know where I work and I know next to nothing about you. What do you do?"
"I'm Chief Operating Officer for Sixtus Enterprises," Riario said.
"You're definitely paying the bill," Vanessa said. "So, what does that involve, exactly?"
"Paperwork. Lots of boring meetings." Other things that Riario wasn't about to mention, being of the less legal variety. "My father is CEO so you can say I only got the job through nepotism."
"I'm sure you're very efficient," she said. "Sixtus Enterprises; the name's familiar but what is it you do?"
"We have our fingers in a lot of pies." The business was a conglomerate, with a variety of subsidiaries and shell companies. Industry, travel, fuel, entertainment; there weren't many areas Sixtus didn't have some concern with. It wouldn't be entirely untrue to say that the business mostly moved money around between its various holdings, skimming off large chunks for Alessandro's personal fortune and going towards his power grabs by funding politicians and overseas concerns.
The food arrived and they talked a little about Vanessa, who'd been orphaned at a young age and raised in a Catholic foster home. She'd thought about becoming a nun but it hadn't seemed right for her. Then she'd tried to get admittance on a Medical Science degree course but her grades weren't quite good enough. She'd had a variety of jobs since then, the bartending position coming along after a time of unemployment.
"I like it," she said. "You get to meet people and talk to them. I'm taking an online course to improve my science grades, but I'm no longer sure if I'm cut out for medicine."
"Perhaps you could join the management side instead and insist on vending machines that both work and dispense chocolate."
She laughed. "I don’t think I have the grades for that either."
A little while later she checked her watch.
"Do you need to leave?"
She shook her head. "No, but I need to keep an eye on the time. If I'm not home by eleven Leo will phone, and if I don't give him the codeword he'll decide I'm in trouble."
"You have a codeword?" And a curfew? Cinderella indeed.
"Yes. Two codewords, actually. One to assure him that I'm fine and a distress word to make it clear if I'm not."
Riario considered this. "He seems very protective." Or was it just Riario he didn't trust?
"He worries about me," she said. "And I worry about him. Don't fret, I won't let him call the police."
Riario nodded. Maybe he and Lucrezia ought to have some codewords.
"Would it be inappropriate for me to offer you a ride home?"
"No," she said. "I think that would be all right."
#
Riario parked the car outside the terraced house she directed him to.
"Thank you for a lovely evening," he began. He leant over, deciding to risk a kiss. She smelt of jasmine and her lips were painted a luscious deep pink. Before he could complete the act however, the front door opened to reveal Leo standing in the well lit doorway.
"Why is he here?" Riario asked, without stopping to think if it was a rude question.
"I live with him. We're housemates," Vanessa said.
The moment had gone, Riario decided. "Well he can see I brought you home safely."
"I had a nice time," Vanessa said. She leant over and kissed his cheek before he could react. She winked at him as she got out of the car. Riario watched, still stunned, as Leo wrapped one arm around Vanessa's shoulders. They both waved and Riario blinked, focussed, and flicked on the indicator to pull away.
She lived with Leo. Who was clearly some sort of boyfriend. She was not of his class. She was a bartender. She was all kinds of inappropriate and it would no doubt get all kinds of messy if the artist was so involved in her life. Leo was more her type, surely, unafraid to challenge reality let alone social mores. Riario shouldn't see her again. He should steer clear of them both.
The next morning Riario had a text from Vanessa saying, "Thanks again for last night. If you want to do it again, let me know. XXX" and he knew without a doubt he would call her before the end of the week.
Not (yet?) posted to AO3. I'd like to expand on this but it will probably take a lot more work, more words than I might have in me to tell the story I want, with Riario struggling to untangle his feelings for Leo and all three finding a way to make things work. Given the rare-pairing (it doesn't exist at AO3, let alone Riario/Vanessa/Leo) and the additional characters and plot-line I'd like to explore – including bi-romantic Riario, rather than bisexual Riario and how that plays out within the polyamorous relationship – I don't think there would be any real interest in it. This will, if I continue, a labour of love, for myself alone.
Fandom: Da Vinci's Demons
Pairing/Characters: Vanessa/Riario, Leo, implied Leo/Vanessa, Lucrezia
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5138
Prompt: For the
writerverse big bang challengeSummary: Modern AU. A chance meeting at a vending machine leads Riario out of his comfort zone and into the complicated waters of Vanessa and Leo's world and relationship.
Content Notes: No standard warnings apply.
Riario watched the pretty redhead feed coins into the vending machine and press a number of buttons. When the machine grumbled and rattled but did not dispense her choice she swore.
"Allow me," Riario said, because the damn thing had done that to him an hour ago and he'd dealt with it the way he dealt with anything that would not respond to words nor money.
She eyed him warily but stood aside while he gave the machine a thump on its side. It dropped the chocolate bar into the tray below and Riario retrieved it, handing it to her with a flourish.
"Thank you," she said, tearing open the wrapper.
"You're welcome."
"Can you believe they want to get rid of traditional vending machines in hospitals?" She took a bite, chewed angrily, swallowed. "Health nuts think you should only be able to get fruit from them. Yes, after four hours stuck here what I want is a rotten apple. Idiots."
Riario glanced her over. She was wearing a long deep blue skirt over calf high boots, and a similarly coloured velvet top which was long in the body, reaching to her mid-thigh, but short sleeved. She wore silver earrings, a ring on her left index finger, and a jewelled hair comb.
"Are you here for yourself or are you here with someone?"
"Leo," she said around another mouthful of chocolate. "He fell off the roof. I told him, use the ladder, but would he listen? He didn't want to come but honestly one of these days he's going to get a concussion and he's not going to die on my watch."
Riario nodded politely, slightly disappointed. "You must be a very dedicated girlfriend."
She gave him a sideways look. "It's not like that. Not as such. We're close, God only knows why sometimes. But he's an artist, highly strung, I make allowances." She finished her chocolate, tossed the wrapper into the nearby bin. "What about you? Visiting someone?"
"My father," Riario said. "He had an accident." He kept the quote marks suppressed around 'accident'. As far as anyone else was concerned it was just that, even if Riario had his suspicions otherwise. "They're taking some x-rays, running some tests.."
"I hope he's all right," she said, brushing a loose strand of hair back from her face.
"Thank you."
"See, Vanessa, I told you I was fine!" A man strode along the corridor and stopped in front of Riario's new acquaintance. "Nothing broken, no sign of a concussion, didn't even need a CT scan. They said there are just some bruises and worst thing of all they wouldn't give me any decent painkillers as compensation for all the inconvenience."
Vanessa gave a sigh. "Let's get you home, Leo." She gave Riario a warm smile. "Thank you again."
It was only after she'd disappeared, one arm steering a still protesting Leo, that Riario spotted the hair comb on the floor. He picked it up, and headed for the exit, but Vanessa was nowhere to be seen.
His phone buzzed and Riario sighed, pocketing the hair comb, once more thrust into his father's business affairs.
#
Lucrezia was sprawled on the chaise longue skimming through a fashion magazine while Riario talked. She was technically employed by the company but her "Network and Development" post duties were so vague and meaningless, that she got to do almost whatever she wanted. What she wanted involved a lot of lunches and shopping and Being Seen in Public with other people whose main purpose in life, as far as Riario could ascertain, centred around Being Seen.
Riario had tried to get her an office elsewhere in the building. He'd offered to pay for office space for her in another building. Another city if she wished. But his father liked having her where he could keep an eye on her, and she liked pissing Riario off, so they shared an office.
It ought to be noted that the office was larger than many a London flat, but somehow it seemed tiny when they were both present. They were like cats who tolerated each other, would curl up together for warmth sometimes, would defend each other against the neighbour's dog, but they could fight over nothing and would often sit glaring at each other for no good reason.
When his father had been released from the hospital later the previous evening, Riario had taken him home, and then headed for his own apartment. On taking off his jacket he remembered the hair comb and had taken it out to examine it. To his surprise it wasn't a cheap accessory, as he'd assumed. Those were real sapphires if he was any judge.
This morning he'd stopped off at a jewellers and had it appraised. It was indeed an old piece, definitely valuable, possibly a family heirloom that he needed to return to its owner, the mysterious Vanessa.
"I could ask if they'd put in the lost property box at the hospital," Riario mused, lifting the comb to the light. But he wasn't sure how safe that would be, or if Vanessa would even return there when she realised she was missing the accessory. She might think she'd lost it elsewhere. "I suppose I could put an advert in the paper."
Lucrezia stared at him. "If you were Sherlock Holmes in Ye Olde London," she snorted.
"Put it on Twitter?" Riario returned. "Hashtag #lostproperty?"
Lucrezia rolled her eyes. "I thought you were good at investigating people."
"I usually have a little more than a first name and a face to go on," he said. He hadn't even known that much until her friend had ambled over.
Leo, she'd said. Some sort of artist.
"I need to find her friend, an artist named Leo. How many artists do you think there are in London?" Riario asked, fingers poised over the keyboard.
"Probably only one or two," Lucrezia dead-panned. "Jesus, why don't you just go and knock on every door and hope you find her?"
Riario gave her a dark look. She got to her feet. "Why are you so obsessed with this anyway?"
"I'm not obsessed. I just want to return her property." Riario typed rapidly and hit the enter key. He scanned the results, clicking on a few promising results. No. No. Dear God, no. What the hell, how was that art? No, and no, and wait.
"Is that him?" Lucrezia asked, peering over Riario's shoulder. The website was a single page with a photo of Leonardo da Vinci, a few photos of his work, and his contact details. "Kind of cute."
"I didn't think poor and scruffy was at all your type," Riario said, printing off the page.
"You could put the details on your phone, like someone from this century," Lucrezia snarked in return, fetching the paper from the printer.
"You're the one destroying the rainforest with your magazines," Riario retorted, snatching the sheet from her.
She huffed. "Can I come?"
"No."
She pouted.
"I'll take you to lunch when I get back," Riario said. He needed to talk further to her anyway, bring her up to speed with what he knew about his father's supposed accident once he got the final details from his contacts later this morning.
"I get to choose where."
"Make sure you don't bankrupt me."
She scoffed, and went back to the chaise longue, kicking off her heeled sandals and curling up with her magazine once more.
#
The studio was an in old industrial area. The factories had been converted into flats and workshops, but no-one would use the word 'gentrification' about the overhaul which was now showing its own age.
The door to Leo's studio was propped open although Riario knocked before he entered. The room was a fairly large, somewhat empty space, with easels and boxes and a long table scattered around the place, though the walls were full of pictures. A door to one side led to a more private space, while a rear door was propped open to let in more light.
"Can I help you?" Leo was standing by an easel. He was wearing the same clothes Riario remembered from the previous night. No artist smock for Leo, either. "Oh, you're here for the horse sculpture. It isn't finished yet."
"No," Riario said, and before he could elaborate, Leo was off again.
"I paid the rent!"
"I'm not here about the rent."
Leo visibly relaxed, flicking a long strand of hair back from his face. "You look familiar."
"We met in passing yesterday. I was talking to your friend Vanessa, you were complaining about the lack of painkillers."
Leo's eyes lit up. "Oh. Right. I didn't get your name."
"We were not formally introduced. You ignored me quite successfully in fact."
"Sorry. Hospitals make me crazy," Leo said. "I just wanted to get out of there. Even if you were cute. Are, I mean.”
Riario wasn’t sure how to react to that. Thankfully Leo showed no signs of stopping and continued his conversation without pause.
“So how did you find me? Did Vanessa tell you about my art? Here, look at this."
Riario bit back a sigh and followed Leo over to an unframed canvas on one wall, where a horse was galloping through a field, mane blowing in the breeze. Leo barely let him look at it before he hustled him to the next one.
"This is my favourite," Leo confided. "But it's not finished."
The huge canvas was filled with white and blue hues and a majestic bird soared through the clouds.
"Sometimes I tinker with it, but somehow it's always missing something." Leo stared at the picture, lost in it for a moment. Then he blinked and grinned at Riario.
"I'm not sure these are to my taste," Riario began diplomatically. He wasn't here to buy artwork, only to return some lost property. Leo ran off to one corner of the studio and ferreted about under a dustcloth. He returned with a canvas which he proudly flipped over in front of Riario.
Riario drew a sharp breath. The colours were vibrant, and the whole evoked a Renaissance feel. This was more like it. The subject was undoubtedly Vanessa. Her hair was loose, though ribbons were pinned throughout it. She was dancing, he guessed, from the way the locks and ribbons alike were flowing in the breeze. Her mouth was open in a smile, or possibly a laugh. She looked very young, very innocent.
She was also painted down as far as her navel and she was utterly naked.
Riario had grown up privileged and had received an excellent education which included exposure to the Classics in all their forms. He was no stranger to artistic nudity and he would never consider himself a prude. However there was something shocking about viewing the portrait when it was someone he knew, and worse, knew only slightly. It seemed voyeuristic, an invasion of her privacy to stare at her breasts without having asked her permission.
Leo looked the painting and then at Riario. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Yes, she is," Riario said huskily. He cleared his throat. "How much?"
"What?"
"For the painting. How much?"
Leo clutched it possessively. "It's not for sale. This is mine. I use it when I have artistic block. I smoke – er, I smoke a cigarette," he said carefully, Riario swallowing a smile at the idea of him bothering to inform the police of Leo's dabbling in hallucinogens. He was an artist, Vanessa said, with an artistic temperament. Riario would have been disenchanted if Leo had been some sort of straight edge type, not that it seemed likely from a man who fell off a roof because he refused to use a ladder and whose only concern was the lack of good painkillers.
Besides, looking at the canvas near the back door made Riario want to sit down when he stared at it a little too long, becoming dizzy from seeing not just the psychedelic starry galaxy it at first appeared to be, but a myriad possibilities. Not the work of someone who cared about being rooted in reality at all times. Leo was not afraid to peer beyond the veil.
"And after a smoke and a good look at my muse," Leo went on, cradling the portrait, "I usually have a half dozen or so ideas to be going on with."
Vanessa was Leo's muse. Riario felt emotions he couldn't place at that, but this wasn't the time for introspection.
"Oh, I know." Leo was off again before Riario could ascertain what it was he knew. Leo put the painting away and returned with a sheet of paper. It was a rough sketch of Vanessa, just her head and shoulder this time, looking a little more serious but with the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth. "You can have this."
"How much?" Riario asked again.
"Five?"
"Hundred?" Riario asked doubtfully.
Leo stared at him. "Are you mocking me?"
"Not intentionally," Riario said. Maybe there was some smoke lingering in the studio because Riario was feeling a little unbalanced. What had he said? Had he bid too low? Surely not, the artist had a website a toddler could put together in a few clicks, he surely wasn't pulling in thousands of pounds? On the other hand the work was good. The product didn't match the presentation or the location.
"I meant a fiver," Leo said. "It's only a rough sketch. God, my last painting sold for two hundred quid and my last sculpture only went for three hundred and the client was a right prick, kept having me change things. Must have cost me twice that in terms of my time."
Riario took out his wallet and handed over a twenty. "Keep the rest for more, er, supplies," he offered.
Leo nodded, not arguing. They tucked their respective pieces of valuable paper away.
"Why are you not making more money?" Riario asked. "I'm no expert, but some of this looks quite good."
"Thanks, I think," Leo said. "Lorenzo ruined me."
"De Medici?" Riario's hackles rose. He hated the Medici family on general principle since they felt the same about him and his relatives, and the two clans would, if given the chance, engage in a Montague vs Capulet style civil war.
"That's him. Commissioned me to paint a portrait of his wife, Clarice. Which I did. She loved it. Said I took ten years off her, I said five at most. Lorenzo didn't love that, nor the painting. He accused me of sleeping with her."
"Were you?" Riario asked, never one to pass up on potentially embarrassing material where the De Medici's were concerned.
"No! I can look at breasts without screwing a woman!" Leo shook his head. "Lorenzo paid me, mostly because Clarice made him. Enough to pay the rent for the year. I told you I paid the rent?"
"I'm still not here to collect the rent," Riario assured him.
Leo nodded. "Right. But Lorenzo put word around that I was unreliable and not that talented and not to be trusted with women. Which was unfair, because he could at least have said I'm not to be trusted with men, either. Then work began to dry up."
Cute, Leo had said casually about Riario, and this statement confirmed him as bisexual. Riario filed that away for future reference and gave Leo a sympathetic smile. "Lorenzo is not a man I have much respect for." And vice versa.
"So why are you here, if my art's not to your taste, though you did just purchase something?"
If he mentioned the rent again, Riario was going to suggest he return to the hospital and insist on a CT scan.
"Your friend Vanessa dropped her hair comb at the hospital. I wanted to return it."
"Oh. Why didn't you take it to her?"
"Because I don't know who she is or where to find her. I tracked you down by sheer luck via that rather shabby website you maintain."
Leo laughed. "Buy me a better website if you don't like it. Well it's nice of you to try and find her. I'll give her the hair comb back."
Riario stopped himself reaching for it. "I don't have it with me," he lied. "It's rather valuable and I didn't want to carry it around unnecessarily."
"Oh. Okay." Leo stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Can you tell me where to find her?" Riario asked when his patience became strained.
"You're not a creepy stalker are you?"
"To the best of my knowledge I am neither creepy nor a stalker," Riario said. "Though I did hunt you down, it was with the best of intentions."
Leo nodded. "The Barking Dog," he said, and this non-sequitar was almost enough to have Riario take him to the emergency department until Leo added, "Vanessa tends bar there. I can give you the postcode for your GPS. It's nice. Not to your standards, I expect, but nice."
#
The pub wasn't the sort of place Riario frequented but it wasn't so terrible either. He made his way to the bar where Vanessa was serving a customer, chatting as she poured a pint.
She was wearing a crisp white blouse and black trousers, her hair neatly tied back and yet was, if anything, more attractive than the night before. Possibly the dimmer light, more forgiving than the fierce fluorescents of the hospital corridor, or possibly a lack of concern over her friend was making her smile brighter.
As soon as she'd finished with her customer she headed over. "What can I get you?" She faltered. "We met last night, didn't we? Vending machine guy. Sorry, I didn't get your name."
"I didn't give it. Forgive my lack of manners. Girolamo Riario."
"That's quite a mouthful," she said, but with a smile. "What do your friends call you?"
"I mostly go by Riario," he said, because 'friends' wasn't really a concept he had much experience with.
"Vanessa Moschella," she said. "How is your father doing?"
"Fine," he said, surprised by the question. "Thank you for asking. I saw your friend Leonardo so I know he's none the worse for wear."
"You saw Leo?"
"I was looking for you," Riario said. "As I didn't have your name, but I did have his name and profession, I started my search there. I'm not, as Leo suggested, a creepy stalker. I found your hair comb. You must have knocked it loose at the hospital. I wanted to return it."
His hand strayed to his pocket but he again refused to take out the item.
"Oh, thank you! It has sentimental value," Vanessa said. "Leo brought it for me after I got this job.
"It has monetary value too," Riario said. So Leo had purchased the expensive gift. Leo the not-as-such-boyfriend. Didn't Leo know what it was worth? "It's an old piece. Possibly even dates back to the fifteenth century."
Vanessa blinked at that. "I had no idea. Leo shouldn't have given me something so expensive."
"Perhaps he was unaware of its origins. Some men don't know the value of what they have," Riario said, and damn, he hadn't meant to lower his tone and be flirtatious but it had happened and he couldn't unsay it.
Vanessa spotted another customer approaching the bar. "I'll be right back," she promised and went off to take their order. Riario scanned the pub. Clean, cosy, with standard pub food and drinks on offer. Nice enough, as promised.
"Can I get you a drink?" Vanessa asked when she returned once more.
Riario checked his watch. Lucrezia would be starting to wonder where he was. "Another time? I have a prior engagement."
"Business or pleasure?"
Was she flirting with him? "I'm having lunch with my cousin, Lucrezia."
"Lucky her," Vanessa said with a grin.
Riario took a breath and a risk. "Vanessa, I didn't want to carry the hair comb around with me while I tried finding you." The lie slid smoothly from his tongue. "May I take you to dinner and return your property then?"
Vanessa gave him the once over. "I'd like that. Give me your phone."
Riario unlocked the screen and handed it over. Vanessa took a selfie and added her contact details before returning it. "Call or message me and we'll set something up," she said.
"I shall," Riario said and hell, yes, that was flirting for sure. He gave her a smile and walked away, suppressing the urge to whistle.
#
"So, did you find your artist?" Lucrezia asked, studying the menu.
"What?" Riario looked up from the wine list, brow creased.
"The cute artist you went to see."
"Yes," he said shortly. "Choose something, Lu, so I can pick the wine."
Lucrezia made a selection, Riario made his, and chose the wine. When they'd ordered, Lucrezia said, "What was he like?"
"Artistic."
Lucrezia gave up and moved the subject on. "And did he lead you to your Cinderella?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The girl with the hair comb."
"Vanessa," Riario said without thinking.
"Vanessa," Lucrezia repeated with a smirk. "Was she glad to have her knight in shining armour return her comb?"
Riario nodded.
"And?"
"And what?"
"There's more," she said. "I can see it. I know you too well."
He sighed. "I'm having dinner with her."
Lucrezia laughed. "You have a date? Oh, that's too precious."
"I have plenty of dinner dates," Riario protested.
"Of course," Lucrezia said. "All those business dinners and set-ups with would-be trophy wives and that incident with She Who Is Not To Be Named."
Riario managed to change the subject for a while. As far as anyone could make out Alessandro's accident had been just that. Of course he'd called Riario incompetent at that conclusion, given him an earful about not insisting on private medical care from the second the accident happened, and generally made the entire incident to be somehow Riario's fault.
"Uncle Sandy's a prick," Lucrezia said with a hint of sympathy.
"Don't say that," Riario said, but more for the chance of it being overheard than any actual disagreement.
"But it's true."
"Not in public," he said, his tone firm.
Lucrezia shrugged and they moved on to safer, business related, topics.
#
Vanessa was waiting outside the restaurant when Riario arrived. She was wearing a lovely blue dress which Lucrezia would probably describe as azure or sapphire, and her hair was pinned half-up with the rest cascading around her shoulders.
He was inexplicably nervous. Would Vanessa expect at least an air-kiss on the cheek or was that too forward in her social circles? He settled for holding out his hand and greeting her warmly. When she placed her hand in his, he lost all reason and lifted it to his mouth to press his lips to her knuckles.
"Aren't you a charmer?" she said with affection. She held onto him as he led the way into the restaurant, though he wondered if that was due to apprehension on her part. This place was a thousand miles away from the pub she worked out and it was possible she felt out of her depth.
If she was nervous she didn't let it show. She gave another soft laugh and warm smile as he pulled out her chair for her.
"I hope you're paying," she said. "Because while I would normally be happy to split the bill, I can probably only afford a side salad here."
"I invited you to dinner," Riario said. "Of course I will pay." He'd paid for lunch as well because Lucrezia had a policy of never paying for anything she could get for free. Nonetheless he'd never expect a woman to pay for her meal when it was a date. Was that sexist now? Did it depend on their income levels? Did Vanessa know this was a date?
He reached into his pocket and brought out the hair comb handing it over reluctantly.
"Thank you," she said, putting it into her handbag. "I do appreciate the trouble you've gone to."
"No trouble at all." Riario tried to not to stare at her cleavage but he kept thinking about the portrait and wondering if Leonardo had painted her accurately or if he'd taken liberties. She was not the most well endowed woman but there was a firmness and symmetry to the mounds that had been pleasing in the portrait, the light brown aureole surrounding ruddy pink nipples.
Riario took a long drink of water and tried to think of something to say that didn't involve nipples. His mind was blank. This wasn't a business client, wasn't one of the women his father had "suggested" he take out. He was painfully aware of the gulf between them. They had nothing in common. Their paths would never have crossed but for a couple of accidents that led them both to be standing around by a vending machine.
"Tell me your name again," Vanessa said. "Slowly this time."
"Girolamo," he said.
"Girolamo," she repeated with care. "It's pretty. What does it mean?"
"My father's a pretentious asshole who didn't care how much bullying his son would get over it?"
She laughed, but she reached over the table to clasp his hands.
"I wasn't the only one," he added. "There was a Rupert Everhard Clifton-Jones in my class, and a Jean-Marie Thibault de Angelo. But Jean-Marie was popular where I was not."
She gave him a sympathetic look and Riario went on, "By the way, what's with your friend; who names their child Leonardo?"
Why the hell had he brought him into this? Stupid, Riario told himself.
"His mother insisted," Vanessa said. "Or so his father says. But she left when Leo was a baby. He doesn't like to talk about her."
Riario understood what it was to grow up motherless. He rubbed at Vanessa's fingers with his thumbs. The waiter came to take their order then and Riario had to release Vanessa.
"Tell me about yourself," Vanessa said, while they waited for their food and drinks to arrive. "You know where I work and I know next to nothing about you. What do you do?"
"I'm Chief Operating Officer for Sixtus Enterprises," Riario said.
"You're definitely paying the bill," Vanessa said. "So, what does that involve, exactly?"
"Paperwork. Lots of boring meetings." Other things that Riario wasn't about to mention, being of the less legal variety. "My father is CEO so you can say I only got the job through nepotism."
"I'm sure you're very efficient," she said. "Sixtus Enterprises; the name's familiar but what is it you do?"
"We have our fingers in a lot of pies." The business was a conglomerate, with a variety of subsidiaries and shell companies. Industry, travel, fuel, entertainment; there weren't many areas Sixtus didn't have some concern with. It wouldn't be entirely untrue to say that the business mostly moved money around between its various holdings, skimming off large chunks for Alessandro's personal fortune and going towards his power grabs by funding politicians and overseas concerns.
The food arrived and they talked a little about Vanessa, who'd been orphaned at a young age and raised in a Catholic foster home. She'd thought about becoming a nun but it hadn't seemed right for her. Then she'd tried to get admittance on a Medical Science degree course but her grades weren't quite good enough. She'd had a variety of jobs since then, the bartending position coming along after a time of unemployment.
"I like it," she said. "You get to meet people and talk to them. I'm taking an online course to improve my science grades, but I'm no longer sure if I'm cut out for medicine."
"Perhaps you could join the management side instead and insist on vending machines that both work and dispense chocolate."
She laughed. "I don’t think I have the grades for that either."
A little while later she checked her watch.
"Do you need to leave?"
She shook her head. "No, but I need to keep an eye on the time. If I'm not home by eleven Leo will phone, and if I don't give him the codeword he'll decide I'm in trouble."
"You have a codeword?" And a curfew? Cinderella indeed.
"Yes. Two codewords, actually. One to assure him that I'm fine and a distress word to make it clear if I'm not."
Riario considered this. "He seems very protective." Or was it just Riario he didn't trust?
"He worries about me," she said. "And I worry about him. Don't fret, I won't let him call the police."
Riario nodded. Maybe he and Lucrezia ought to have some codewords.
"Would it be inappropriate for me to offer you a ride home?"
"No," she said. "I think that would be all right."
#
Riario parked the car outside the terraced house she directed him to.
"Thank you for a lovely evening," he began. He leant over, deciding to risk a kiss. She smelt of jasmine and her lips were painted a luscious deep pink. Before he could complete the act however, the front door opened to reveal Leo standing in the well lit doorway.
"Why is he here?" Riario asked, without stopping to think if it was a rude question.
"I live with him. We're housemates," Vanessa said.
The moment had gone, Riario decided. "Well he can see I brought you home safely."
"I had a nice time," Vanessa said. She leant over and kissed his cheek before he could react. She winked at him as she got out of the car. Riario watched, still stunned, as Leo wrapped one arm around Vanessa's shoulders. They both waved and Riario blinked, focussed, and flicked on the indicator to pull away.
She lived with Leo. Who was clearly some sort of boyfriend. She was not of his class. She was a bartender. She was all kinds of inappropriate and it would no doubt get all kinds of messy if the artist was so involved in her life. Leo was more her type, surely, unafraid to challenge reality let alone social mores. Riario shouldn't see her again. He should steer clear of them both.
The next morning Riario had a text from Vanessa saying, "Thanks again for last night. If you want to do it again, let me know. XXX" and he knew without a doubt he would call her before the end of the week.
Not (yet?) posted to AO3. I'd like to expand on this but it will probably take a lot more work, more words than I might have in me to tell the story I want, with Riario struggling to untangle his feelings for Leo and all three finding a way to make things work. Given the rare-pairing (it doesn't exist at AO3, let alone Riario/Vanessa/Leo) and the additional characters and plot-line I'd like to explore – including bi-romantic Riario, rather than bisexual Riario and how that plays out within the polyamorous relationship – I don't think there would be any real interest in it. This will, if I continue, a labour of love, for myself alone.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-29 10:11 pm (UTC)I love that Riario noticed Vanessa first and rode in to her rescue. So chivalrous of him! Vanessa is just as lovely and charming as she was in S1-2, with the maturity and common sense that Leo is so often lacking.
Riario and Lucrezia's relationship is very interesting; even though he seems standoffish, Riario must care about her or I'm sure he'd do something more drastic. And I really, really want to know what happened to his father to send him to hospital. It sounds very fishy...
The entire Riario/Leo interaction is GOLD, and I loved every word! Especially how Riario lies so coolly to get what he wants. The misunderstood conversation about art prices was terrific! I love how you always beautifully portray that part of Leo that is a little bit (or a lot) out of touch with the common reality of the rest of us. lol
The Vanessa/Riario date was lovely and achingly in character, and I wasn't expecting the twist that Vanessa and Leo live together!
This story is such a glorious tease because you left me aching for much more! I would trust you no matter where you decided to take this because I know in your hands you could make any or all combinations of these three work. If you decide to continue it, I'm behind you all the way! *__*
no subject
Date: 2016-03-31 06:51 pm (UTC)The damn thing is currently 14k long, nowhere near finished, with huge gaps between the scenes I've actually written. Then I started the relationship study college au and that's stuck at just under 8k because it got more serious and complex than I'd intended.
And I've still got my trope bingo card to finish, plus I've just seen the Unconventional Courtship challenge is back and I so very much want to do that! So much as I still want to write more, I need to make time when I've caught up with other things.
Alessandro; there's no evidence this was anything but an accident this time, but who knows? :)
Riario/Lucrezia; I decided they'd be friends here. OOC perhaps, but what the hell. They bitch at and harass each other but deep down they've got each other backs against Alessandro. Lucrezia actually has good advice later, to Riario's shock.
I'm also thinking, now you've made me question things more :), that maybe Riario put a stop to Lorenzo/Lucrezia, which made him an enemy in Lorenzo but after sulking for a while Lucrezia realised he had a point. But that might be an unnecessary complication in an already overly complicated plot for what's basically a crack threesome in an ooc au!
Riario/Leo is always a favourite thing to write; even when I had Riario romancing Lucrezia away from Leo in "And the Stars Shone Brightly", the scene where Leo befriends Riario over coffee is my favourite. Just put these two in a room and things happen! In this case, much discussion about the rent and that dick Lorenzo (on re-reading, if I write the rest and re-edit, I might hint more about Lorenzo's actual identity rather than there being only one Lorenzo in existence!)
I thought I'd given the game away early on about the living conditions with Leo falling off someone's roof, and Vanessa being there to try and make sure he hasn't done himself any damage, so I'm glad it's a bit of a surprise. Poor Riario. He knows they're trouble, he knows this is a hot mess, and he can't help but be drawn in.