Chapter Text
It had been many, many summers since he'd laid looking up at the ceiling of his grandmother's guest room — well, he was typically her only guest. Long ago, his parents thought sending him to stay the summer with Grandma Paguro would be good for him; spending time with other kids his age, away from his books at home, would get him to make friends they (wrongly) assumed.
It wasn't that he didn't enjoy spending time with others, but back then, kids his age didn't want to listen to him rattle off facts about stars and the planets — they much preferred if he'd just kick the ball back. Slowly, over time, he had gathered a small circle of friends and acquaintances — even starting the astronomy club at his high school — but Giulia was really the only one he'd call a best friend.
His grandma had always said he knew how to pick the good ones.
Tired of ruminating on his childhood, he sat up and pushed himself off the bed to head back into the main room where Giulia and Grandma Paguro were making lively conversation over a cup of espresso.
"Ah — bubble," his grandma turned away from Giulia, greeting him as he joined them at the table. "You know, Giulia and I wouldn't need to spend so much time gabbing about you if you'd call more...."
Giulia snickered.
"I'll keep that in mind, Grandma," Luca smiled at the gentle ribbing.
"Here, hold out your hand," she said, pausing to stand up. Walking just a few steps over to the kitchen, she rummaged around in her purse before shoving a few crumped bills into his hands. "Go have fun-"
"Grandma, I'm 24. I appreciate the gesture-" Luca said, starting to protest. She leveled a sharp look and raised a finger in warning. Luca shut his mouth.
"You're not kidding anyone; college students are college students — broke and bored," she finished. "Now go have fun and I'll see you both for dinner."
Last time he had checked, a small, sea-side town didn't really need three gelato shops but here he was, sitting at a table with three separate cups of espresso al cioccolato — two of which were already pretty melted.
Giulia sat across from him, studying the three specimens before them, hands clasped together under her chin in concentration.
"They're melting-" Luca began before he was again cut off as she held up a hand in silence. Reaching into the back pocket of her high waisted, paper-bag style pants she produced a well-worn, handheld voice recorder.
"I have to know definitively which gelato place is best," she lowered her hand, clicked the faded record button and muttered a few notes about each gelato reacted to room temperature. Clicking the button again she turned to him. "Come on Luca — you ARE a scientist, aren't you?"
"Sure, but I take pictures of the sky — not dissect the butterfat milk to sugar ratio of three gelaterie in the same town."
She smirked.
Of course he would add the tidbit about the specific kind of milk.
Hours later, the two landed on a conclusion: the western-most gelateria with the bored looking teenager behind the counter served the best gelato in Portorosso.
Out of money and over-stuffed — Giulia insisted they gather more samples — the two were laid out on the docks downtown, legs dangling over the edge.
"I don't think I've ever had that much gelato in one day — not even as a kid," Luca groaned, hand massaging his poor belly. Giulia didn't seem to be fairing much better as she splayed herself out fully on the rough, salt-worn dock.
He had to admit, even as uncomfortably full as he was, this was nice. The setting sun warmed his body, the breeze swept through his hair and water occasionally splashed up onto his bare calf; why couldn't he do this more often?
Slowly, with some amount of effort, he brought himself up to a sitting position. Looking around, he remembered how carefree his summers used to be.
Recalling how much things still looked the same, it struck him how quickly he seemed to have changed. Being here, breathing the same salty air, old canzoni d'amore crackling faintly from a radio left out, the sun splashing orange across his face — time stood still, but the life within overflowed.
Ouch- Luca sucked in a short breath through his teeth, screwing his eyes shut as a sharp pain coursed through his head. Rubbing his temples, he slowly opened his eyes again.
Just as quickly as it come, it was gone.
Giulia, who had rolled onto her side and propped herself up on elbow, caught his gaze.
Dropping his hands into his lap, he offered a weak thumbs-up and a poor excuse for a grin.
"Brain freeze?"
"Santa Mozzerella," she dropped back onto her back. "Even when you're relaxing, you're stressed."
Again. Too much food.
When Grandma Paguro cooked, she could hardly stay in her seat after serving up the main course. Instead, she opted for the edge of her seat, ready at any moment to fuss over you if she perceived even the slightest need for a refill, a pillow for your back, or an addition to the bounty of food she had prepared.
He could see where his mother got it from.
Where as she fussed over his safety, Grandma Paguro fussed over him like any grandmother would — constantly sure you were lying to her about genuinely enjoying yourself.
"Do you like the wine? I bought it from a new pop-up stand at the market, I knew I shouldn't have-"
It was Luca's turn to levy a familiar look at her.
"It's delicious. Everything is delicious. Like it always is. Grandma, relax — you're making Giulia antsy," Luca said, looking over to Giulia who had previously been shoveling food into her mouth. She paused, rolling her wrist and shooting him a very pointed 'what do you mean, me?'
Placated for now, Grandma Paguro settled back in her chair.
"You know I can't help it," she reached over to give his hair a hearty tussling. "Us Paguro's fuss." Giulia nodded emphatically in full agreement, still digging in before Luca kicked her under the table as he smiled sweetly to his grandmother.
"Ouch! What'd you do that for?" Giulia shot him a dirty look, punching him (somewhat) gently on the arm. Grandma Paguro only laughed.
The night wore on and soon enough the dishes were cleared away and a few cookies enjoyed before the three retired to the balcony.
"So tell me again, Bubble. Why am I'm not going to be able to enjoy watching the stars from my balcony while you're here?" Grandma Paguro asked, watching Luca as sat on the floor, digging through the cases he had lugged in from his room.
Glancing up, he looked to the telescope still sitting in its open case.
"I need regular access to the night sky for my thesis project," Luca replied, standing up to deploy a tripod. Satisfied it was study enough, he squatted to heave the telescope into his arms, gingerly mounting to the tripod. "-And you can still sit and watch the stars."
Telescope set up, he picked up his camera case and brought it over to the table.
"Could you move those flowers?"
Grabbing it with two hands, Giulia moved the vase of sunflowers, setting them atop a wide half-column that connected the balcony's railing to the wall.
"These are lovely, nonna," Giulia said, moving the conversation away from Luca to let him finish setting up. "Where'd you pick these up — the market?"
Mouthing a small thank you to Giulia, Luca unlatched the case and began fiddling with the camera's controls as he only half-listened to something about a very nice and strong young man delivering them. His attention was only momentarily drawn back when she had mentioned giving him one of his Baiocchi.
Eventually, the conversation moved on again and Luca progressed in setting his gear up. He had now mounted his camera to the telescope and was in the process of running wires from it to his computer, the screen casting a pale light on him as he worked. Closing it for now, his eyes passed through where the screen had been to see a shop still open — it was almost midnight now — but its warm light from inside spilled out to illuminate a small section of the plaza below the two adjacent buildings.
'I wonder if someone forgot to turn off the lights?'
He had forgotten to turn off the lights.
Alberto had made it all the way home before he realized he had left the shops lights on. Kicking himself mentally, he had already spun on his heel to hustle back.
Normally he would've exited out the front to ensure this didn't happen, but it had been a slow evening. So, he decided to leave a sign asking for customers to knock if they'd like to buy late-evening flowers (no one ever did) and headed to the back to work on a sketch he had started earlier. It wasn't until well after the store closed that he'd realized he was running late for dinner — the dinner Massimo had specifically reminded him to be home for (on-time implied).
Now he would be even later. Whipping out his phone, he shot a quick text to Massimo letting him know what had happened. A few moments later came an 'epic fail' cat gif and a thumbs up emoji.
A wide grin broke out on his face; teaching Massimo about gifs was Alberto's greatest contribution to society. For a man who chose his words carefully and never spoke without intention, he was pretty liberal with the cat gifs. Alberto made a mental note to try and make a few with Machiavelli.
Finally reaching the store he fumbled for his keys and unlocked the door, stepping inside.
It wasn't until everyone else had turned in that Luca had finished setting up his equipment — save for the final piece to his cameras battery adaptor. Angling the camera end of the telescope up, he turned away to rummage through his bag.
After a few moments, he gave short cheer and held the missing piece aloft before before suddenly remembering it was the dead of the night and he was being much to loud. Turning back to the camera, ears tinted slightly red, he fiddled with the finicky battery compartment to try and slide the release with the corner of the adaptor.
"-Dammit," he cursed. Trying to open it like so proved to be less than ideal as the piece slipped from his hand and clattered to the stone-tiled floor of the balcony — sliding underneath the table and coming just shy of slipping of the edge.
Gingerly, he dropped to his hands and knees reaching for it. As he closed his hand around it, he noticed that the plaza was darker than before — the light from the shop before off. Almost not giving it a second thought, Luca noticed a figure moving in the window.
'A plant thief?' (Plants could get pretty pricey)
Keeping his eyes trained on the window, Luca continued to try and sus out what was happening.
Why he turned off the light before checking to see that the shop phone was set to forwarding, Alberto would never know. Finally managing to feel in the dark for the handset, he clicked a few buttons — the green LCD illuminating his face briefly.
Satisfied he had done his due diligence, he worked his way back to the front door, the twinkling bell bidding him goodnight as he stepped back into the fresh air outside.
Finally seeing the alleged plant thief step outside, Luca noted how brazen he was being — stepping out through the front door and not even TRYING to sneak around. Very, very suspicious.
Very, very invested in being witness to this crime, Luca watched the thief reach in his back pocket to produce a set of keys. As he brought the keys up to the door, he heard the thief curse — the keys had slipped from his hands and fell to the floor and he'd bent down to get them.
'Huh, he's got a nice butt for a criminal.'
Luca blinked.
Since when did he idly comment on how nice someone's butt was? Shaking his head, he returned his focus to what the thief was doing.
Opening his eyes, Luca saw what he was doing — staring up at him.
"Shit — are you kidding me," Alberto cursed, maybe overreacting a little at dropping his keys. He was already late and every minor inconvenience like this was personally out to make him even later, he decided.
He was pocketing his keys after locking the door when suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck rose and goosebumps peppered his arms.
Turn around.
He did.
Look up.
He did.
Unsure of what drove him to do so, Alberto couldn't ignore the fact he was now looking up at someone — a young man, right around his age — shaking his head like he had water in his ear. A beat later, the man opened his eye, now making direct eye contact with Alberto.
"OH, FU-" having been made, Luca tried to stand up but bashed his head against the underside of the table. The man below winced, watching.
A pause.
"Uh, you alright up there?" the thief asked, calling up; shouldn't he be trying to make his escape? Luca backed out from under the table and stood again, rubbing his head. Still confused with what exactly was happening here, he walked to balcony's railing.
"Oh, um, yes — I am," Luca replied, before quickly adding. "T-thank you for asking!"
The man nodded, glancing awkwardly to the side and coughing, muttering out a 'No, prob.'
A beat passed.
Then another.
"I thought you were a thief," Luca blurted out, unprovoked, in another unfortunate fit of small talk. It was Luca's turn to wince, but, to his surprise a genuine belly laugh came from the other. Luca slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Well, I guess I'm not much of a thief if I come out empty handed," he said, coming down from his hearty laugh. "But, ah, no — I work here. I just came to turn out the lights."
Embarrassment bloomed across Luca's face as the (not) thief explained himself.
"Is that yours?" The man motioned to the telescope.
"Oh, yes- I like stars!"
Another beat of silence.
This is why he was a STEM and not an English major.
Sensing he shouldn't subject this poor boy to any more small talk, the other man just nodded, chewing on his lip briefly before nodding again — beginning to walk backwards.
"Well, thanks for checking to make sure no one was stealing, and, uh, enjoy your stars," he said, moving faster now, shooting a two-fingered salute. "Ciao!"
At that, he turned right-way forward, slightly tripping over himself doing so, before catching himself and continuing on his way.
Luca just blinked, still staring at where the man had just been.
What just happened?