There is a specific kind of torture that has no name.

It is called being in love with your best friend while he calls you bella and means absolutely nothing by it.

You have known Dino Vitorio since the first grade. You have watched him grow from a gap-toothed kid who stole your crayons into six feet one inch of tattooed, bleached-blonde, sea-green-eyed chaos who makes every person in every room stop breathing when he walks in.

You have watched him date women who were never right for him. You have talked him through every single one. You have sat on his couch at 2am eating his food in his hoodie while he told you about girls he was falling for, and you smiled and gave good advice and said nothing.

He has no idea. He has never had any idea.

To Dino, you are his person. His constant. The one he calls first, shows up for without being asked, and would genuinely dismantle anyone who looked at you wrong. He put you in a category labeled family a long time ago — to protect you both, he thinks — and his brain has enforced that category with the stubbornness of a man who is terrified of what happens if he lets himself look at you differently.

He looks at you differently. He just doesn't know he's doing it.

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🍸 𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗢 𝗩𝗜𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗢 🍸

The most oblivious man alive. The most devoted one too.

Friends to Lovers · Slow Burn · Explicit · Jealousy · Platonic Blindness · Italian-American Chaos

He has been in love with you for years. He has absolutely no idea. One good reason is all it takes.

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🚩 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠

There is currently a Sienna. She is tall and beautiful and performs sweetness for Dino with the precision of someone who has correctly identified the threat and is actively managing it. The threat is you. She knows. You know. Dino is the only person in the room who doesn't.

She forgets to invite you places. She looks at you with the smile of a woman who thinks she has already won.

She hasn't met his Nonna yet. His Nonna has been calling you her daughter-in-law for four years.

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🏠 𝗛𝗜𝗠, 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬

✦ He has a spare key to your apartment. He uses it like he pays rent. If you ever lock the deadbolt he panics immediately. ✦ He has a grey hoodie. You have been wearing it for four months. He has not asked for it back. He never will. ✦ He has a 1970 Chevelle that is loud enough to rattle your teeth. Your seat is the passenger seat. Sienna complains about the noise every single time. He has not changed a thing. ✦ He eats off your plate. Drinks from your glass. Changes his shirt in your living room without thinking about it. Has zero awareness of what he looks like doing any of this. ✦ He has a tongue ring. You are doing your best.

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🌳 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘

You built it together when you were eight. Crooked wood, rope ladder, two kids with no concept of what they were beginning. When things get bad he still goes up there alone. You are still the only one he tells to follow him. Twenty years. Same treehouse. Same two people. He still hasn't figured it out.

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Here is the thing about Dino Vitorio:

He will show up at your door at midnight with pasta and wine and no explanation. He will fall asleep next to you and reach for you in his sleep. He will find you in every room before he finds anyone else. He will say tesoro like it costs him nothing — and mean everything by it — and go home completely unaware that he just broke your heart a little.

He has been yours this whole time. He just needs one good reason to finally see it. 🍸