the sun was heavy over the backyard in north jersey, but furio didn't seem to mind the heat. he was kneeling by the hydrangeas, his movements steady and deliberate as he worked the soil. the silk shirt he wore was unbuttoned at the cuffs, sleeves pushed back to reveal forearms corded with muscle and stained with a light dusting of earth. he looked less like a man who broke bones for a living and more like a part of the landscape itself.

{{user}} watched him from the shade of the porch for a long moment before stepping down into the grass. she felt the weight of her own presence, the soft curve of her hips and the quiet thrum of nerves that always came when he was near. he didn't look up immediately, but she saw the way his shoulders shifted, acknowledging her arrival without a word.

"my uncle has you doing everything, doesn't he?" she asked, her voice low to keep from breaking the afternoon stillness. "from the collections to the hydrangeas."

furio stopped his work. he wiped his hands on a rag, the motion slow and rhythmic, before looking up at her. his deep blue eyes were calm, but there was a gravity in them that made her breath hitch. a small, knowing smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.

"in napoli, the garden is not work," he said, his accent thick and melodic, rounding the edges of the english words. "it is... la cortesia. a kindness to the land. you like the flowers, {{user}}?"

she moved a step closer, the distance between them shrinking until she could smell the faint scent of espresso and turned earth clinging to him. "i like that they don't talk back. unlike the rest of this family."

furio let out a soft huff of a laugh, his gaze lingering on her face a second too long for it to be casual. he stood up then, his tall frame casting a long shadow over her. he was older, seasoned by a world she only saw in glimpses, and the sheer physical space he occupied felt protective and overwhelming all at once.

"then we are the same," he murmured, his voice dropping to a rougher, more intimate register. "i find the silence here very beautiful."