Chapter Text
“How was yesterday?” Martino was taking a stroll around the campsite as he was on the phone with his mom. Gesticulating kids would run around him and scream every step of the way. Strangely, it didn’t annoy him in the slightest.
“Great, great. I didn’t feel like doing much. I relaxed and read a bit.” His mom responded on the other end of the phone. Her tone was genuine which reassured Marti.
“Good. I hope you soaked that vitamin D.”
“Ahah, I did Marti. I did.” And then added, “What about you? Did you do anything fun?”
“Yes actually, we went to Anzio yesterday.” Martino realized his mistake too late. Now he would have to explain why and how they went there. He closed his eyes, waiting for the sentence to fall.
“What? You didn’t tell me about it.” His mom was definitely sounding apprehensive now.
“I’m telling you now,” Martino tried to reason.
“Marti… You should always warn me beforehand whenever you do something like this. We’ve already talked about it a million times.” She sounded so tired, it made Marti feel bad.
“Mom… Listen, it was a last-minute decision, I didn’t think to tell you.”
“It costs nothing to send a text Martino. It’s the least you can do,” she reprimanded him.
“I know, I’m sorry.”
She softened a bit, “It’s fine. Just remember to do it next time… So how did you get there?”
Martino hesitated, should he tell her the truth or not? He decided he didn’t want to lie to her. If there’s something he learned in the past months, is that holding stuff from his mom wasn’t helping their situation.
“We...” Martino cleared his throat, “we went there with a group of boys we met on the beach.”
“Ok… who drove?” Martino sensed her inquisitor mode was activated.
“One of them. He has a cousin who lives in Fregene and we took his van.”
“How old are they?”
“They’re a bit older than us. 2 years older.”
“Alright… I hope you were being safe,” she sighed, “so you had a good time then? You get along with those boys?”
“Yes, they’re really nice, really chill.” Martino couldn’t help thinking of Nico. He wanted to tell her about him. To tell her there was a boy with incredibly warm eyes and smile, who made him feel things he’d never felt before. But he couldn’t do that, not yet. He tried to tell her in his own way, “I really get along with one of them in particular.”
“Yes? That’s nice.”
“It is.”
“What’s his name?”
“Niccolò. You’d like him a lot, I think.” Martino was glad she couldn’t see him blush. It felt both scary and liberating to be able to say his name out loud in this way. It was as if he was fixating his name in the space around him - it didn’t belong solely to his head anymore. Now that his mom knew of his name, it couldn’t disappear in thin air.
“Does he live in Rome or somewhere else?”
“In Rome, yes. Maybe you’ll meet him someday.”
“Well, I’d love to!” Martino smiled softly. He would always be glad for his mom’s kindness and openness.
After hanging up, Martino went back to the tent feeling somewhat lighter. Gio, Elia and Luchino were in front, eating their breakfast and chatting.
“Hey Marti! How’s your mom?” Gio asked him as he sat with them.
“Good! She almost had an aneurysm because I didn’t tell her we went to Anzio yesterday. Other than, she seems to be doing good.”
“Trust me, I’ve decided it’s better to never mention it to my dad. But it’s great if she’s doing good,” Gio smiled at him in the way he reserves for his best friend.
“Yeah… It kinda slipped my mouth involuntarily.”
“So… you didn’t tell us, what did you with Nico yesterday?” Elia asked suddenly while munching on his biscuit.
“Uh? I told you, we just walked a bit,” Martino had to try his hardest not to stumble on his words, “we found a cave. Well… Nico knew of this cave and he showed it to me. We swam, and we came back.” Martino reigned in his expression as much as he could.
“Ok. But why did you leave, just the two of you?” Elia insisted.
“Ok Elia, why do you need to know?” Gio interrupted, “are you jealous or something?”
“Jealous? Of who?” Elia responded as if it was the most absurd idea he’d ever heard.
“I don’t know, bro. He’s allowed to spend time with whoever.” Marti wanted nothing but to hug his best friend in his instant, who somehow always knew when to cover for him. Gio added, “ok moving on, I was thinking, I really want to skate right now, I wish I had my skateboard.”
It’s all it took to distract Elia from the subject of Marti and Nico, “woah we didn’t skate in ages. Is there a skate park around here?”
“Yes, I’ve seen one near the beach,” Gio answered.
“We should go. We could always ask some guys there to lend us their boards,” Luchino intervened. Martino, Gio and Elia exchanged a look and snickered.
“Why are you laughing?” Luchino asked them. He seemed completely oblivious as to what went through his friends’ mind.
“Honestly Luchino, do you remember the last time you tried to skate?” Martino reminded him.
“And? You’re not better than me.”
“He’s got a point,” Elia conceded.
“What? No, no, no. Ok I’m not the best, but Luchi you literally fell after two seconds last time. And after that you ran into a lamppost.” Gio and Elia burst out laughing at the thought.
“This image is engrained in my brain forever,” Elia said through his incontrollable laughter.
They ended up going to the skate park and managed to cop two skateboards. It was mostly Gio and Elia who skated while Marti and Luchi cheered them on. Martino didn’t stay focused more than a few minutes before his mind wandered back to the events of the day before. Even though he’d been thinking about it non-stop since the moment he said goodbye to Nico, he still couldn’t believe what had happened. Sometimes he would wonder if it was all just a dream, but then he remembered he wasn’t imaginative enough to come up with such a scenario. He kissed Nico. He kissed him. Multiple times. Nico told him he wanted to be with him and Martino returned the sentiment through flushed cheeks and love-filled eyes. It struck him in this instant that Nico essentially was… his boyfriend. Martino wanted to say it out loud, feel the sensation of the word coming out of his lips. But he couldn’t. Not for now. As he was deep in thoughts, he felt a buzz in his pocket. Nico sent him a text.
Niccolò Fregene: Where are you? <3
Martino: We’re at the skate park! Are you on the beach already? We’ll go there soon <3
Niccolò Fregene: Yes we are! skate park? Are you a skater boy? ^^
Martino: Ahah no… sorry to disappoint. I suck at it.
Niccolò Fregene: I’m not disappointed 😊
Martino: Ok ^^
Niccolò Fregene: I’ll be waiting for you to get your ass here then.
Martino felt so giddy it was embarrassing. He couldn’t stay still, buzzing with excitement at the thought of seeing Nico. He looked around him to check if anyone was looking at him, glanced at Luchino next to him, but the latter was staring in awe at the tricks of a particularly skilled skater. If Martino had a hard time controlling himself because of texts Nico sent to him, he feared for how he’d react once he’ll see Nico in the flesh again.
Martino: On second thought, me and my ass might not come.
Niccolò Fregene: …☹ why
Martino: Because I won’t be able to control myself when I see you.
Niccolò Fregene: Ahah… We’ll find a way to escape 😉
This was enough to make him lose all restrain. Now all he wanted was to get to the beach as fast as possible.
“Hey Gio, Eli!” He shouted.
“What?”
“Are you done embarrassing yourselves?”
“Fuck you Marti!” Elia shouted back as he passed by them on his board, not stopping.
The boys made it to their usual spot on the beach about half an hour later, and Martino had to stop himself from running there. He kept repeating the same words in his head: keep it cool Marti, keep it cool. But how was he supposed to keep it cool when Nico seemed to be even more beautiful than the day before? As they were greeting the four boys, Nico reserved him a special smile and a pair of bright eyes. Marti couldn’t do any different than respond to him with one of his uncontrollable lopsided smiles. If Martino didn’t think he was screwed before…
There wasn’t a free spot to lay down his towel next to Nico, which was probably for the best, so he settled next to Amir.
“So, how is it going?” Amir asked him. There was always so much warmth coming off of him, Martino could easily understand why he was Nico’s best friend.
“Good, really good. We went to the skate park, no major fall to report. It’s kind of sad, really.” Amir chuckled. “What about you?”
“Good as well, me and Nico went for a run this morning. There were no tourists around, it felt nice.”
“Do you do that often? Morning runs I mean.”
“Yes, about once a week. And then we go to the gym together about once a week as well.”
“That’s some dedication. I wish I could relate,” Martino chuckled lightly.
“It can be hard at first, but then it becomes a routine and you barely have to think of it. It does a lot of wonders physically and mentally, I can assure you. You could try it with us sometime. I could help you get into it. As well as Gio, Elia and Luchino of course.”
Martino had to suppress a laugh at the suggestion, “I don’t think you understand what you’re proposing. We’re total disasters. We spend most PE classes at the bar near the school.”
“That’s a challenge then, I like challenges. Also, it could help me figure out if this is something I would see myself do in the future. You know the whole coaching thing.”
“Yeah right. It might deter you from ever doing it again though, I’m warning you,” he told him jokingly. “Thank you for proposing though, I’ll think about it.” Amir smiled at him. He didn’t know him well enough to decode his “I’ll think about it” as another way of saying “no thanks”. Amir would be an amazing coach, Martino had no doubt about it, but he wasn’t looking to put his body through torture any time soon. The only thing that could make it worthwhile was so he could observe Nico in all his glory as he runs, lifts, benches… Martino was getting a little sidetracked here. Speaking of the devil, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Nico was looking at him and Amir, probably curious as to what they were talking about.
Amir added after a brief silence, “... I think Nico would love it if you tried it once with us.”
Martino didn’t know what to respond to that. He was pretty sure that Amir suspected there was something going on between him and Nico – he couldn’t miss the way he’d been looking at them - but he didn’t know how much he knew. That’s when Nico decided to appear next to Marti out of nowhere, sitting really close to him.
“What are you two talking about? I thought I heard my name.” He had his biggest smile plastered on his face.
“No and it’s none of your business,” Amir retorted.
“Oh, come on, tell me,” Nico turned to Martino and looked at him with pleading eyes. It took the redhead a few seconds before he was able to speak again.
“No, you don’t need to know,” Marti told him, smug.
Nico pouted. It was so adorable, Martino wanted to kiss it away. He was sitting so close to him that he could feel the heat coming off of his body.
“Ahah look at these two dumbasses!” Amir’s voice made Martino reluctantly turn his head away from Nico. He followed Amir’s line of sight to find Elia chasing Luchino with a seaweed on the water edge. Luchino tripped and fell into the water, the waves swallowing him whole. Right as he emerged, Elia put the seaweed on his head which prompted a high-pitched scream from Luchi. But he wasn’t going to let Elia go without a fight, as he then went after him with two handfuls of wet sand.
Amir and Nico were snickering next to Marti, visibly entertained by his two best friends. Martino rolled his eyes – could they not behave like children for a whole two minutes? – but this was mostly to keep up a cool façade when in fact he would never trade his friends for the world. He turned to look at Nico who was looking at the two idiots with a hint of endearment in his eyes. This warmed Marti’s heart in a way he wouldn’t have expected.
“Guys, do you want to play or something?” Aurelio proposed to them right after he suppressed a yawn, lying on his towel with his hands under his head.
“To volleyball?” Gio asked him.
“Yeah. Or we could pass the ball in the water, as you want.”
“Yeah ok.”
“I’m in,” Nico told them. He turned to Martino and looked straight into his eyes before adding with a smug smile, “it will be like the day we met.”
Things like these should come with a warning. Martino was completely baffled by Nico’s words and by the way he was looking at him. Nico may think he was being subtle with this, but he was nothing but.
Marti and Nico were facing each other on each side of the net, just like the day they met. Nico kept grinning widely, his usual headshake particularly uncontainable, sometimes making silly faces at Martino. The latter had to try really hard not to be subdued into meeting him on the other side and crashing his lips on his.
This time the teams were mixed. Gio was in Nico’s team along with Aurelio and Luchino. While Martino was siding with Amir, Elia and Stefano. Gio and Nico found a great dynamic and kept scoring points; they never missed an opportunity to let it be known to the opposing team, cheering loudly and clasping their hands at each score. Amir was pretending to not be bothered by the fact his team was losing but it was clear his competitive fiber was buzzing under his skin, ready to burst out at any moment. It finally got the best of him and he scored a lot of points in just a few minutes, but it wasn’t enough to make their team win.
Gio and Nico clasped their hands once again, looking very pleased with themselves, before forming a group hug with Aurelio and Luchino.
“Nico, from now on, I’ll always be in your team!” Gio exclaimed, giving him a rigorous pat in the back.
“Gio, don’t forget where you come from. The victory is getting to you,” Elia snickered.
“Oooh don’t be jealous Eli,” Gio replied with a sugary tone to mock him, “you’re allowed to join us too.”
“Ok, what about me?” Martino had to say. After all, Gio was his best friend and Nico… his boyf-…, his boyfriend?
“Ok ok, what is it? I claimed Nico first, get yourself another one. I’ve got my power duo sorted, thank you very much,” Gio retorted. Nico was chuckling next to him with his whole body. He seemed to be enjoying the attention quite a bit. Martino wanted to tell Gio that he had no idea what he was talking about, and if somebody had a power duo sorted with Nico, it wasn’t him. But of course he couldn’t say that, not yet. The feeling of frustration was only ephemeral, however, because the thought of Gio and Nico getting along was enough to make him feel better about the situation. Even though Gio didn’t know who Nico was to him, he seemed to appreciate him a lot. It’s not like it was humanly possible to resist Nico’s natural charm and personality, Martino thought, but it meant a lot to him regardless.
Martino noticed Nico was glancing at him tentatively with his head bowed down and his lips drawn to the side. It seemed like he wanted to communicate something to him, but he wasn’t sure what. The desire to be alone with Nico had increased progressively during the game, now reaching an agonizing level. He couldn’t do it anymore. He had to have Nico for himself, only if for just a few minutes, only if for them to talk. Martino thought for a few minutes of a way out that wouldn’t sound any alarms. He blurted out the first flimsy excuse he could find:
“Uhm guys, I forgot my money in the tent, so I can’t buy anything to eat and I’m starving. I’ll go get it now.”
“I can lend you some money if you want, it’s no problem,” Amir offered. Of course, Martino hadn’t thought of that possibility. It really was the lamest excuse ever found.
“Yeah, thank you, but I’d rather go the tent anyway, I don’t feel comfortable with the fact that it’s there and anyone can get in and take it,” Martino tried to sound as casual as possible, occupying himself by putting his shirt on. Martino glanced at Nico briefly so that he would get the message. He looked back at him with recognition in his eyes, opening his mouth right away to say he’ll accompany him to the campsite. Martino couldn’t miss the way Gio was looking at him as Nico put his shirt on, getting ready to go with him. He was frowning and his eyes seemed to have been replaced by one big question mark. Not only alarms were sounded, they were now flashing red lights all around Martino with the sound in full blast. It was too late to backtrack now. He might as well spend this long-awaited alone time with Nico – and deal with the consequences later.
“Ciao boys!” Nico waved as they started walking away.
“Ciao! We’ll meet in town, let us know when you’re there,” Amir told them.
“Sure!”
The whole 15-minute walk to the tent felt excruciatingly long, the longest it ever felt to Marti. He wanted to feel Nico’s skin, to feel his warmth under his fingers. But he had to wait a few more long minutes. They kept stealing glances and blushing like two smitten teenagers on their first date – it suddenly downed on Marti, he was a smitten teenager (even though he’d be turning 18 this year, he definitely wasn’t an adult yet) and Nico was his first boyfriend.
“How are you?” Martino asked him to try and distract himself, but also because he genuinely wanted to know.
“Pretty good,” Nico smiled softly, “what about you?”
“Pretty good,” Martino mirrored his words with a grin. He welcomed the sense of familiarity he felt whenever he was with Nico.
“Good thing you came up with an excuse by the way, I was searching for one, but nothing came up except for some of the most absurd excuses,” he chuckled.
“Yeah… it really is the worst excuse ever though, I don’t think they bought into at all, especially not Gio.”
“Did he… Do you think he suspects something?”
“I think he does,” Martino sighs, “he’s too perceptive not to. After the first day here he asked me about you. It was like he was fishing for information.”
“Really? What did he say?”
“He said that we seemed to get along and… that you’re really handsome,” Martino tried to act nonchalant as he said that, but the way his voice faltered on the last words gave him away.
Nico was looking at him with a smirk, “well… he’s right about one thing.”
“What’s that?” Martino sensed the trap but dove in anyway.
“I’m handsome indeed.”
“Pff asshole…”
Nico’s face broke into a huge smile as he chuckled, the tip of his tongue peaking out. He was obviously very pleased with himself.
“So, what did you and Amir talked about earlier?” Nico asked suddenly.
“You’re not going to let it go?”
“No… wouldn’t you want to know if I chatted with Gio and you weren’t there?” Nico retorted, leaning his head to the side.
“Ok… you’ve got a point,” Martino conceded.
“By the way, I would take you in my team,” Nico blurted out. Martino had a hard time keeping up with his train of thought.
“What?”
“You know, when Gio said he wanted to be in my team. I’m telling you that I’m choosing you to be in my team. Gio can stay with us, of course.”
The smitten teenager in Marti wanted to blush and squirm at that revelation, but it’s teasing Martino that won this time, it was only fair payback after all, “Oh well, I thought for a second you had already forgotten about me and fell for Gio’s blue eyes.”
“Hmmm you’re not wrong, I would definitely fall for his eyes.” As it turns out, two could play this game.
“Oh really? Is that so?” Marti said with a fake incredulous voice.
“Yes. In fact, he’s top of my list among your friends,” Nico said without missing a beat.
“Ok, good to know! I’m glad this is out in the…”
“But see…” Nico interrupted him, “I’m already dating the cutest boy of the bunch so… I’m quite immune to Gio’s charms.”
This time, teasing Martino had a hard time staying on top. Blushing and lovesick Marti was really close to doing an apparition. He was left dumbfounded for a few seconds. “Uhm… I’m not doing too bad in that department either,” he told him with a smirk. They smiled at each other warmly as they were finally nearing the campsite.
They wrapped each other’s faces with their hands the moment they got into the privacy of the tent, their noses bumping. Nico whispers a soft “hey you” and Marti did the same in response, before they pressed their lips gently. Martino had a prickling feeling coursing all over him. Just like the day before, his lips were stretching into a smile he couldn’t contain. Nico’s eyes darted down to the mattresses sprayed over the tent. When he looked at Marti again, his eyes were scintillating with mischief.
“Which one is yours?”
“Are you eager or something?” Martino teased him. He gave him a little peck before taking his hand to lead him to the mattress on the far-right of the tent.
They sat on the edge of the single mattress staring fondly at each other in comfortable silence. Nico’s eyes swerved to Martino’s lips for a split second before he pushed him gently on his back and captured his lips into his. Marti unwillingly left a giggle escape his mouth. How embarrassing. Nico had his arms propped up on either side of Marti’s face, staring at him with bright eyes.
“It’s not exactly the comfiest spot to make out,” Martino chuckled. The mattress was narrow and made some squeaky noises with the slightest of movement. It also felt quite hot and sticky in the tent, the heat and moisture of four boys captured in its flimsy walls.
“It will do for now,” Nico responded with a head shake, seemingly unbothered. He leaned down to kiss his cheek and then added, “what’s your room like?”
“Uhm, quite… uh… basic.” Martino had a hard time focusing on the conversation when Nico turned to his other cheek to give him another soft kiss.
“Basic?” Nico snickered.
“Yes… I don’t know! It’s… sky blue with some wood, and… some posters.”
“Hmm Hmm,” Nico hummed in response. It was now his chin’s turn to be kissed. And then his closed eyelid. Nico was peppering his face with kisses, but he was taking his time with it. It made Martino melt into the mattress. He closed his eyes and let himself feel the emotions and the tenderness that poured out of each kiss. He was so out of it; he wasn’t expecting the sudden warm and wet sensation on his neck. Nico was now kissing his neck with an open mouth, the sensation and the sounds of suction weirdly comforting.
Martino reluctantly emerged from his haze to speak, “Ni?”
“Hmm?”
“I’ve figured out what you are.”
This made him interrupt his languorous kissing, “What?”
“You’re a vampire. Your ‘supernatural’ powers you were talking about yesterday. That’s because you’re a vampire.”
Nico chuckled, “do you presume vampires become vampires because they get struck by lightning?”
“Oh… yeah maybe not then.” Martino tried to come up with a comeback, but he was pretty much useless now. “I mean, what do I know right? Maybe our myths and legends got it wrong all this time?”
“Ok Marti. Let’s say I’m a vampire if it pleases you,” Nico grinned and resumed his attack on his neck.
Martino carded his fingers into Nico’s black curls, scratching his scalp gently. The sensation on his neck was incredible, but he missed his favorite green eyes so he drew Nico’s face back to his to look at him. His hair was gloriously messy, curls darting in all directions and strands peaking out like a porcupine, it made him chuckle.
“What is it?”
“You’re so cute,” Martino let out. He wasn’t even ashamed. Nico grinned so sweetly that he couldn’t be.
Martino craned his neck to capture his lips in a tender kiss and he pulled the hem of his shirt without barely thinking about it.
“Are you eager or something?” Nico repeated Marti’s words from before.
“Shut up!” Martino retorted in a chuckle, “see, I’m used to seeing you half naked all the time, it would be a shame if I didn’t get to enjoy it on our private time.”
Marti pulled his shirt up completely and then let Nico do the same to him. Martino turned them around swiftly, now on top of Nico. Seeing Nico sprayed on his mattress, relaxed on his sheets, with his hair forming a messy halo around his face and his torso heaving made him feel things he couldn’t describe. He ran his fingertips on his smooth torso from the base of his neck to his low abdomen, a feathery light touch. Martino leaned to take his face in his hands and kiss him yet again. Their kisses turned hungrier, sucking into each other’s open mouths and their chests pressing into one another.
After a few minutes of heavy kissing, Martino laid next to Nico in the confine space – the left half of his body almost on top of Nico and their legs intertwined. Nico interlaced his fingers with Marti’s, periodically detangling them just to interlace them again right after, a hypnotic and relaxing motion.
“Can I ask you something?” Martino broke the comfortable silence.
“Of course.”
“Did you already have to hide a relationship from your friends?”
“No…” Nico stopped the movement of their hands to caress one of his fingers.
“And feelings?”
“Feelings… yes. Not necessarily romantic feelings though.”
“Ah… What do you mean exactly?” Martino looked up at Nico, taking his eyes away from their hands between them.
“Sometimes I feel so many things… too many things. It’s either I let it all out in an unstoppable flow or I keep it all to myself, because I’m afraid of overwhelming the people around me. And if I stop talking about how I feel, I’ll bottle it all up and… I’ll isolate myself. Which isn’t good obviously. I’ve been trying to find a balance… But that’s probably not the answer you were expecting.” Nico turned to him and gave him a reassuring smile. Marti saw in Nico’s eyes that this subject meant a lot to him, it made him want to reach out and comfort him.
“No, I mean… I kinda understand, I think? I’m more of the bottling it all up type…” he sighs, “and I also realize it’s not really healthy.” He had been holding a lot of frustration and anger inside for a while, when his father left, when his mom’s depression felt like too much to handle for him alone… It’s only when he finally opened up to Gio about it that he was able to breathe again.
Nico was tracing circular motions on his palm, “right. If you leave a message in a bottle, it will be lost at sea. And it might never reach another island.”
Nico’s voice soothed Martino like a lullaby, he could fall asleep right then and there. The words he uttered weren’t quite reaching him in his zoned-out state, “was that a metaphor?”
“Yes,” Nico chuckled.
“I didn’t know you were a poet,” Marti said teasingly.
Nico shrugged, “I like poems.”
It didn’t really surprise Marti. He seemed to him that Nico was a sensitive and imaginative person, that he liked to reflect on and heighten day-to-day reality through creative activities. Martino, on the other hand, was much more down to earth and practical. But he loved to hear about Nico’s world inside his head and the way he perceived the things around him. Martino thought of Nico’s words about the message in a bottle, replaying them in his head to understand their implicit meaning.
“I want to tell Gio about it.”
Martino’s voice pulled him out his thoughts, “about it?”
“About us,” he said in a low voice.
Nico smiled at him. “That’s great. You’ll feel relieved after.”
“Do you want to tell Amir, Stefano and Aurelio about us?”
“… I already did,” Nico said hesitantly, looking sheepish. “I mean, they don’t know about yesterday, don’t worry. But they know I have a crush on you.”
“You… wait what?” This piqued Martino’s interest.
“Yeah. I told them right after we met for the first time, once we got back to the house. I guess it shows you how I can’t keep things in sometimes. I couldn’t help gushing about you. They’ve been teasing me about it every day since then.” Martino was dumbfounded, his mouth slightly agape from the revelation.
Nico added, poking Marti’s nose with his finger, “what can I say, you stole my heart.” He leaned in to capture his upper lip and pressed his lips gently. Martino chased his lips when he pulled away much too soon for his taste.
His curiosity got the best of him, “What didn’t you tell them about yesterday then?”
“Because, you’re not out. I want you to do that in your own time.” Martino nodded, his ‘thank you’ stuck in his throat. He knew he didn’t have to thank him, but he felt grateful nonetheless. Nico added, “trust me, they bombarded me with questions once we got back from Anzio, but I managed to resist.”
They made it to town a lot later than what a quick trip to the campsite would require. Martino was preparing himself for an onslaught of questions.
“Well look who decided to grace us with their presence,” Elia said mockingly when he spotted them.
“Sorry, we lost track of time,” Martino told the group. He didn’t miss the way Gio was looking at him. He probably was confused as to what Martino was up to these days. And he couldn’t really blame him.
“Yeah sorry, we stopped at a snack bar to eat something,” Nico added.
“Ok, good thing we didn’t wait for you to get something to eat,” Stefano said, more amused than anything.
“Oh, but we did wait at first, thank you for warning us Marti,” Elia said. He seemed a bit bitter.
“Chill Elia, we waited for what? 20 minutes? You’re not going to starve,” Gio retorted.
“Damn, you sound exactly like my mom,” Elia retorted. Gio responded by giving him a slap on the back of the neck.
They wandered around town for a while and Martino felt eyes on him all the time. He probably was being a bit paranoid, but he did catch Gio looking at him strangely a couple of times. Martino thought back to his conversation with Nico earlier – he wanted to tell him, the sooner the better.
Once they got back to the tent later, and Luchi and Elia went to take a shower, Gio asked Marti if he wanted to pass the ball around in the court. This was the perfect opportunity for Martino to open up to Gio. He could do it. He will finally do it.
They chatted lightly for a few minutes, and Martino was trying to find the strength to let the words he wanted to say out of his mouth. As he was searching for the right words to start this conversation, Gio beat him to it.
“You know…” he started, “you can always talk to me. About anything.” Gio had the ball and kicked it towards Marti.
“I know that. And I appreciate it.”
Gio nodded. Now was the time, he couldn’t backtrack. “Actually, there is something I didn’t tell you,” Martino let out slowly, kicking the ball back to Gio.
“Yeah. What is that?” Gio encouraged him.
Marti felt his throat constricting. The ball was back at his feet already. It’s Gio, you can tell him anything, he won’t judge.
“I-” Martino swallowed with difficulty, “I have a thing for someone.”
“You do?” Gio hesitated before asking, “who is it?”
Martino bowed his head and threw the ball to Gio, “can’t you guess?”
“Uhmm… no I don’t know Marti.”
“Come on, you have to have some idea.” Martino tried to sound light but he was nothing but.
“Well… All I know is that you’ve been sneaking off with Nico a lot.”
Martino nodded shyly.
“It’s him?” Gio asked with wide open eyes.
“… Yes.” Gio still had the ball and didn’t throw it back. He didn’t say anything and stared at the ball his feet. Martino couldn’t read his expression and forgot to breathe for a minute.
He couldn’t wait for him to talk any longer, so he said “are you going to pass me the b-”
He couldn’t finish his sentence because Gio was rushing to him and enveloped him in his arms, hugging him in silence for a few seconds before saying “you little fucker” in a teasing tone.
“What?” Martino let out a chuckle of relief. He felt infinitesimally lighter he could fly.
Gio pulled back and ruffled his hair, “did you really score the hottest guy in Fregene?”
Martino nodded with one of his uncontrollable lopsided grin on.
“Who would have thought that such shitty flirting skills could get you so much.”
“Fuck you Gio, you just don’t want to acknowledge I’m a better flirt than you,” Martino teased back. And it felt so good to do so.
“Hmmm no you’re not…but seriously, I’m really happy for you,” Gio said in a genuine tone. He was smiling softly at him. Martino had to contain the tears that were pooling at the corner of his eyes. He should never have doubted his best friend.
“Did you suspect?” Martino had to ask.
“Uhm… I was mostly very confused as to what was up with you. I did wonder about it… It’s difficult to miss the way Nico looks at you.” Martino blushed at that statement. “But really I didn’t know. I didn’t want to presume anything.” Martino nodded. “So, are you two dating or what?”
“Yes, I guess? It’s all going very fast. But for some reason it just feels right.”
“That’s great Marti. You deserve to have that.”
“Do you think I should tell Luchi and Elia?”
“Sure. I don’t see why you shouldn’t.”
“Do you think they’ll take it well?”
“Marti, it’s Elia and Luchino we’re talking about. Luchi might be ignorant but there’s not one ounce of negativity in his body. Elia might be surprised at first, but once he’ll get used to the idea, he’ll be your biggest supporter. Trust me.” Gio patted him on the back, smiling his reassuring smile yet again. Martino was very much inclined to believe him. Nothing could have reached him in this instant.
Gio and Marti went to shower in their turn, and then the four boys got ready to go out. They had decided to go to a club on the seafront with the other four boys. Gio put on some music and started jamming out to it. Elia and Luchi were finding 1001 ways to wear the tie Luchi had brought with him, each one more ridiculous than the last. Martino was rummaging in his bag to find one decent outfit. He put on his usual jean shirt with black pants first but then decided against it. He changed into a white button-up shirt with a Mandarin collar made up of a breathy material, and a pair of light jeans. This one would do.
“Oh look at you Marti!” Elia patted his cheeks teasingly, “who are you looking to impress?”
“No one,” Martino tried to suppress the smile that was tugging at his lips.
Elia shook his head, “no no no, not to me. You’re planning on catching females, is that it?”
“Yes, that’s it, Elia, you got me,” Martino fake sighed. Gio side-eyed him, stopping in the middle of his air drumming to the song that was playing.
“Wait no… correction,” Elia chuckled, nudging Luchino by his side, “you’ll just be standing there and wait for girls to come your way. Just like you always do.”
Martino responded with an exaggerated “ahahah”. He knew Elia liked to aggravate him and he wasn’t holding it against him. But it made Martino feel particularly phony and distant to get along with it this time.
“I’ll do that tonight,” Luchino said out of the blue.
“Do what?” Elia asked him.
“Stand there and wait for girls to come at me.” Elia, Martino and Gio snickered. “What? You always tell me I’m too desperate! So maybe that’s the solution.”
“Maybe, maybe,” Elia said through his chuckles, “but I thought you were saving yourself for Silvia?”
“I don’t know guys, sometimes I feel like she’ll never be into me.”
“Luchino, trust me, nobody is hopeless,” Gio grabbed his shoulder, glancing briefly at Martino.
The four of them went to the communal bathroom to look at their outfits and polish their appearance. It quickly turned into a mess of teasing and of bumping into one another as people would look at them weirdly. Gio perfumed Martino all over, some of it getting into his mouth and eyes. They got ahold of hair gel and undertook to give Luchino the most ridiculous hairstyles. They took a bunch of selfies to post to their social media accounts. Once they were finally ready, they made their way to the small grocery store to stock up in snacks and beers, before heading back to their tent.
“Oh, guys I forgot to tell you, Gio spotted a girl at the skate park this morning,” Elia told Marti and Luchino. They were sitting in a circle outside the tent.
“Shut up Eli,” Gio said exasperated.
“A real skater girl, you know, the kind that actually looks like a boy,” he snickered. It didn’t make Martino laugh at all.
Gio gesticulated, “and what’s your problem with that? She seemed nice.”
“I’m just saying, you might as well tell us if you’re into that kind of thing.”
“That kind of thing?” Gio repeated. He was looking more and more annoyed.
“Chill ok, I’m just joking around.”
“Honestly, I’d be into a skater girl,” Luchino added, quite oblivious to the awkward silence that was settling within the group.
Gio turned to Martino next to him and gave him his reassuring gaze. He could read in his eyes that he would support him if he wanted to tell them now. That he would be by his side no matter what.
“Uhm… guys?” Martino started.
“Yeah?” Elia responded, taking a sip of the beer he was holding.
“There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
“Ok, what is that?” Luchino prompted. He was munching on salty biscuits.
Martino looked at Gio briefly for reassurance, and then continued “I uh… you probably think I’ve been acting a bit strange since we got here.”
“Yes, we’ve noticed,” Elia confirmed.
“It’s because…” his eyes kept swinging between Luchino, Elia and his hands. “It’s because I like Nico. Actually, we have a thing.” Martino said it in one go.
“A thing?” Luchino stopped eating. “As in dating?”
“Yes, as in dating,” he confirmed in a low voice.
Elia looked like he had been struck by lightning. He wasn’t moving or making a sound. Gio smiled to Martino and grabbed his shoulder.
As for Luchino, he was still looking confused by the situation, “wait… but wasn’t Nico dating a girl before?”
“He was yes.”
“What does that make him then? Transsexual?”
“What?? Luchi no…” Gio said exasperated. Elia seemed to have come back to life, rolling his eyes at Luchi’s antics. Gio corrected “It’s bisexual, or pansexual, or… actually it doesn’t matter. Marti likes Nico and Nico likes Marti, end of the story.”
“Oh okay, that’s cool,” Luchi seemed satisfied with this information, smiling and resuming his munching. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact at all.
Martino searched for Elia’s eyes who was looking down and seemed to be deep in thought. Probably sensing Marti’s eyes on him, he looked up and gave Marti a small smile. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to.
“So, are you all ready to get wild tonight?” Gio stood up and increased the volume of the music. The boys resumed their talk and shenanigans like nothing had changed. The weight Martino had been carrying on his shoulders for a long time seemed to have evaporated into the clear sky of the still summer night.
“Let’s drink to our vacation in Fregene!” Aurelio exclaimed as the eight boys raised their glass in unison. They were standing near the bar of a crowded club, one of the preferred night spots for students and young people in Fregene. Martino felt the loud music pulsating inside of him. He looked around him and all he could see was a blur of hair and limbs, moving to the rhythm of the music he could feel in his core. He turned his gaze to Nico who was standing next to him. He looked so happy and excited, it made Martino feel the same way.
“Okay next, let’s drink to… new friendships!” this time it was Gio’s turn to exclaim, prompting the boys to cheer loudly and take another big gulp of their drink.
“Okay Okay my turn,” Luchino said. He thought of what he was about to say for a bit, looking around the group, his gaze stopping at Marti. “Ah yes, let’s drink… to new romances!”
“Wait what? I’m not aware of this,” Amir interjected before anyone could make a movement.
Nico seemed completely confused by the situation and looked at Martino questioningly. Martino told him quietly, “I told them.”
“You did?” His eyes lit up even more than before. Martino nodded.
“You told them what?” asked Amir, looking suspicious.
Martino glanced at Nico to make sure this was ok, before stating “… that we’re together.”
Loud cheers and an indescribable commotion followed that revelation. Amir went to hug Nico and ruffled his hair, and the rest of the boys followed suit. Martino was tossed in a sea of embraces, bumps, taps and shakes. In the chaos, he would only catch glimpses of Nico’s dark curls and green eyes, but his laughter was ringing louder than the rest. The six boys were encircling Marti and Nico in some sort of a group hug. Martino felt more than he saw his best friends next to him, and there was no point in trying to control the sheer happiness that took over him in that moment.
“Hear me out, hear me out!” Amir called for the attention of the group again. He raised his glass, the rest of the group doing the same, “let’s drink to Marti and Nico!” And the group to repeat in unison “to Marti and Nico!” Then Gio, Elia and Luchino started chanting “Marti-Nico, Marti-Nico…” faster and faster. Amir, Aurelio and Stefano soon joined in. Usually, Marti would have hated his best friends for bringing attention to him in this way, but this time he couldn’t bring himself to care.
They transferred to the dancefloor and Nico tried to get Marti to dance with him. The latter couldn’t do more than bumping his head to the beat and swaying from side to side, but Nico’s infectious smile made it all more enjoyable. Being with Nico in public was still very new to him, he wouldn’t allow himself more than a few small touches – a brush of their hands, a hand on his waist to push him away from obnoxious dancers, a lingering stare – even though it was pitch dark in the club and nobody would have noticed. Marti tried to convey through his eyes how liberated and happy he felt.
He heard the first lines of a familiar song sounding over the speakers. He hadn’t heard this song in ages.
“Buon viaggio
Che sia un'andata o un ritorno
Che sia una vita o solo un giorno
Che sia per sempre o un secondo”
Nico recognized it too and started singing to the lyrics as he got closer to Marti and made him sway with him.
“L'incanto sarà godersi un po' la strada
Amore mio comunque vada
Fai le valigie e chiudi le luci di casa”
Nico’s voice was faint in the noise of the club, but it was enough to make Martino feel things to his stomach. He always thought it was an over popular cheesy song, but it was like he was able to listen to the lyrics for the very first time, with Nico looking at him in this way and singing the words to him. Nico got even closer, he leaned forward and whispered the following lyrics to Martino’s hear, tickling his hear in the process:
“E per quanta strada ancora c'è da fare
Amerai il finale
Share the love, share the love
Share the love, share the love”