Chapter Text
Alberto placed his clothes in the bag they had given him for that purpose and put on the hospital gown. He still hated the sorry excuse for a garment, but at least he had gotten used to them, albeit in a way that he never wanted to.
Today was the day. The beginning of the rest of his life, a life he’d actually get to live .
He’d gotten new x-rays yesterday so they would have a map of everything in his lungs, and he was more excited than he ever thought he’d be for something so scary.
“Alright my friend,” A nurse with too much energy exclaimed as he walked back into the room. “Get comfortable, we’ll get you an IV and then the doctor will be in to talk to you before we go into the OR,” She had her hair pulled back into a bun that looked way too tight, it seemed like her eyelids were being held open by it and Alberto swallowed a chuckle at the thought.
He gave her a feigned smile and obeyed, getting onto the gurney and letting her put a flimsy blanket on him. She gave a manic smile and left the room. Alberto’s mind wandered again to Nurse Giordano and for a moment he panicked that he didn't have the poster with him before remembering that he’d left it at the house on purpose, for safekeeping. It was tucked under his pillow, securely hidden in plain sight.
Hushed voices spoke just outside of the door to the room he was in, it sounded like Doctor Esposito and some other voices he wasn’t familiar with, though he couldn't make out most of the words.
“...because of sea monster anatomy,” he heard a slightly louder voice say, there were more incomprehensible whispers and then, “...our findings from the other boy,” more hushed mutterings and then, “...according to the samples taken from LuPa.”
Alberto was confused, what other boy? What was LuPa? Oh. Oh.
Oh my god…
Something clicked, sliding into place in his mind but not completely. Luca had been letting the doctors examine and experiment on him. He’d done something he’d said he’d never do… for Alberto.
Before his mind could wander further The nurse returned with Doctor Esposito and some other doctors in tow, Alberto felt a sense of calm at seeing the one person in this place he trusted, but his mind was still stuck on the fact that…Luca had subjected himself to something awful, just so Alberto could be alright.
Doctor Esposito pulled up a chair and sat, putting himself on the same level as Alberto. The nurse with too much energy was preparing his IV and Alberto held out his arm. The rest of the doctors seemed busy, huddled off to the side of the room.
“So I have your x-rays from yesterday, none of us have seen them yet, I just wanted to go over them with you, give you an idea of what the surgery will be like,” Doctor Esposito said, pulling out a folder and then opening it.
The good doctor held out the filmy sheet and looked closely at it. He was silent for a minute, and then two. He cocked his head at the dark image and squinted.
“Huh.” He said, and then got up from his seat. He walked over to the window and placed the image against the harsh winter sunlight, as there was no light-box in this room.
“Nurse Martini, the lights, if you will.” The nurse who had just finished putting in Alberto’s IV bounded towards the switch and turned off the fluorescent lights.
“Doctor Bianchi, a second opinion, if you please,” One of the other doctors, a severe-looking man with a firm wrinkle in his brow, joined Doctor Esposito at the window. There were some whispers, none of which Alberto could discern.
He tuned them out for a moment and then realized he’d forgotten to take off his necklace, the pendant sitting against his skin, beneath the hospital gown. It was easy to forget he was wearing it, he hadn’t actually taken it off since Luca had gotten it for him. He reached back and unclasped it, taking the pendant in his hand and gripping tight, never taking his eyes off of the doctors discussing his ailment.
The pair of doctors turned around and looked at Alberto with puzzlement on their features, something one does not ever want to see on the face of a doctor.
“Any…revelatory conversations recently, Alberto?” Doctor Esposito asked, and Doctor Bianchi nodded in agreement.
“Uh,” Alberto wasn’t sure what they were getting at and a pit of fear grew in his stomach. “Why? What’s the problem?” He asked, the pit growing.
“Come on over here and take a look at this.” Doctor Bianchi said, and Alberto looked to Doctor Esposito as if asking permission. Doctor Esposito gave a nod of his head and Nurse Martini disconnected his IV.
He carefully got off of the gurney and walked over to join the doctors at the window, his bare feet against the cold linoleum floors.
“Tell me what you see,” Doctor Esposito said, holding the x-ray image up to the light, right in front of Alberto.
There were his ribs, and beneath them, his lungs. Before his thoughts could go further, Doctor Esposito spoke.
“This is all scar tissue and scabbing,” He said, pointing to cloudy blurry bits in the image, there was quite a lot of it, “And here,” He said, pointing to another part of the image, “are your flowers.” Doctor Esposito pointed to a cluster of two flowers at the bottom of his left lung, and one flower in the middle of his right. They looked small, their petals drooping…like they were wilting. Hadn’t he had like nine the last time they’d checked?
“So, now that you know what I’m talking about, I’m gonna ask again,” Doctor Esposito said with a barely concealed smile. He said the next words slowly, leaving a space between each one. “Any revelatory conversations recently?”
—-----
Luca was gloomy, Alberto had just left the house, silent and contemplative.
He was back in the hospital today, at least it was scheduled though. He’d be getting surgery that would hopefully save his life. There must have been a lot of risk involved or something because Alberto had mentioned he’d had a hard time deciding if he even wanted to do it. It was positively terrifying to think about, Alberto all alone and hurting. Luca only hoped that the help he’d given the doctors would be beneficial, if not to Alberto then at least to other ailing sea folk.
Luca felt like he was haunting Signorina Agostini’s house, gloomily drifting from room to room, not having anything to say or do. Giulia tried cheering him up but nothing really worked and she’d gotten fed up with him after a while.
After what seemed like hours of aimless meandering, he wandered into his room, or rather, the room he and Alberto had been staying in, and let himself fall heavily onto Alberto’s bed.
The bed they’d been sharing every night for nearly a week.
The springs creaked as he used his momentum to kick his legs up onto it and he turned towards the wall, curling up in the exact position he always took when he was sleeping entangled with Alberto, though it was stupid without him there, the flat bed doing nothing to comfort him. He reached up to grab a pillow to shove under his head. Maybe if he squeezed his eyes tight enough and held the pillow close enough this would all go away. He slipped his hand under the pillow to grab it but his fingers clasped around something beneath it. It felt like a thick piece of folded-up paper.
Luca pulled it from beneath the pillow and sat up. Without thinking, he unfolded it and looked at it. He took in its contents, his eyes scanning the paper again and again, his world turning upside down. He quickly refolded it and slid it into his pocket, before running from the room. His mind was racing as he stumbled down flights of stairs.
“Giulia!” He shouted, to no response,
“Giulia!” He tried again, as he came to a screeching halt in the kitchen. Giulia was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book, the Signoras were nowhere to be found. She looked up from her book, confusion and annoyance on her face.
“Who does Alberto have Hanahaki for?” He demanded, no room for argument in his voice. Giulia looked like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“What do you mean?” She tried to play dumb, and she did it quite poorly.
“Who,” Luca began, stalking towards her and pulling out the folded paper, “does Alberto have Hanahaki for?” He reiterated, slapping the paper down on the table in front of her.
Luca stared at Giulia for a minute, and she stared right back at him. She picked up the paper, unfolded it, looked at it, and then refolded it and placed it back on the table. Her poker face was good, but not that good. Her attempts to keep a straight face were for naught, and suddenly Luca knew.
He grabbed the paper and backed away from his friend, he felt betrayed and Giulia must have seen it on his face.
“He made me promise not to tell you!” Giulia shouted, standing up from the table and dropping her book.
Luca stormed to the door and began to pull on his boots and coat.
“Where are you going?” Giulia asked, hands gesturing wildly.
“I have to get to the hospital, stat.” He said, trying to tuck his scarf into his coat and eventually giving up.
“Wait, why?” Giulia questioned, coming up to Luca and unzipping his coat enough that she could tuck his scarf in properly. Luca paused and then took a deep breath.
Say it you coward.
“Because I’m in love with him.” The words felt odd and delicious on his tongue. Giulia stood there, shocked.
“Are you sure?” She asked dumbly, Luca gave her a look that he hoped conveyed irritation.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” His voice cracked and he suddenly realized he’d begun to cry. Giulia’s expression morphed from confusion to understanding.
“You’ll never get there in time if you walk,” She said, pulling on her boots, “follow me.” She didn’t bother to tie them or put on a coat. She grabbed a set of keys from the pocket of a coat hanging in the vestibule.
She opened the front door and trudged around the house to the back, stopping in front of the garage. She opened the door, flipped a light switch, and Luca’s eyes landed on something in the middle of the garage.
“No way…”
—------
Alberto looked at the images and then the doctors in puzzlement. Back to the images, and back to the doctors.
It was impossible…it had to be…because that would mean…
Alberto was rubbing his thumb nervously against the back of the pendant clutched in his grip. It wasn’t smooth and flat like he’d expected. There was something engraved on it, he realized, and he opened his hand and looked down at the pendant. Saint Christopher stared back at him from the front and Alberto flipped the pendant over to the back. His breath left him in a single rush.
There, professionally engraved in cursive on the silver, were three words.
I love you.
Alberto stumbled into a nearby chair. He had to have been imagining that… he squeezed the pendant as if the silver would give, and then looked at it again. There it was…clear as day;
I love you.
“I gotta go,” Alberto said dazedly and slowly as if someone had just hit him over the head. He looked up from the pendant and over to the doctors though he wasn’t really seeing them. That thing from before, that hadn’t quite clicked into place in his mind, suddenly clicked about three more times. Luca loves me, he thought to himself. Everything suddenly made sense, though if Luca loved him then why had Alberto even gotten sick in the first place? Luca must have fallen in love with him just this past week. Oh my god.
The doctors didn’t say anything as Alberto stared blankly at them.
The sound of a high whining motor from outside broke the silence and Alberto’s gaze wandered to the window.
There, in the distance, was a figure approaching the hospital at high speeds on a bright yellow Ducati. The figure’s coat looked familiar and Alberto instantly knew who it was.
He stood from his seat, his chest full of something other than pain for the first time in years .
“I gotta go,” He said again, before turning on his heel and sprinting from the room.
The voices of doctors and nurses shouted after him but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He ran down the hallway, down the stairs, bare feet slapping against the linoleum. He made it into the lobby and ran past Papa in the waiting room. Papa looked up from the book he’d been reading and Alberto registered his confused,
“Beto?”
as he ran by. The gaggle of doctors and nurses rounded a corner and one of them pointed at him. He paused, staring at them before turning and running again. He still had the IV port in the bend of his arm and he didn't have his oxygen tank. His damaged lungs burned like hell, but he had somewhere,
someone,
to get to, dammit.
He ran through the double doors of the hospital and into the cold.
There, right in the circle drive, removing a fucking motorcycle helmet , was Luca.
His cheeks were red and tear-streaked, and his hair was a mess. His glasses looked damaged from having been squished under the helmet. He stood there in front of the bike and looked at Alberto, eyes wide and afraid.
Alberto closed the distance between them with a few strides but stopped short as soon as they were face to face.
The air was freezing and stagnant and heated all at the same time and for fucks sake just say something, Alberto’s mind screamed at him.
“You…” Alberto started, hope flooding through his voice, the pendant still in his grasp, the chain dangling from his fist. He looked down at Luca’s big brown eyes, pupils dilated wide, “you love me?” Alberto asked carefully, his voice nearly a whisper.
Luca looked at him and a tearful smile broke onto his face.
“Yeah,” Was all Luca said before he dropped the motorcycle helmet, and threw his arms around Alberto’s neck. For a moment Alberto thought he was going to kiss him, both of their breaths heavy, unable to take their eyes off of each other. A barrage of chatter came from behind him and Alberto twisted to see what it was.
The group of doctors stood in the double doors, Doctor Bianchi leading them. They stared at Luca and Alberto for a moment before the crowd split and Doctor Esposito and Papa came tumbling through. They looked at the boys standing at the edge of the circle drive and then seemed to come to a realization in tandem.
“Alright, nothing to see here.” Doctor Esposito said, making a shoo-ing motion towards his colleagues.
“Si,” Papa agreed with Doctor Esposito and began to make the same motion with his hand, “ andare, dottori, andare via,” He rushed out, and the group of doctors took the hint and hurried away, shepherded by Doctor Esposito and Papa, who turned around and gave Alberto a thumbs up.
Alberto’s face burned from embarrassment and he looked to see Luca’s was also bright red. Luca let out an embarrassed chuckle and dropped his head to Alberto’s chest.
“That was so embarrassing.” Alberto laughed and Luca nodded. Alberto wrapped his arms around Luca who looked up at him.
“I love you.” He said, still bright red but in a totally different way.
Alberto felt warm despite the biting cold and his lack of real clothing.
“I’m not sure how Hanahaki works,” Luca began, “but I’ll say it as many times and as often as you need me to because it's true,” He chuckled.
“I love you,” he repeated, “I love you,” He said again, “I am in love with you,” he stressed, and Alberto couldn't help but laugh.
“Luca,” Alberto started, “I have loved you since the day I met you.” he finally admitted, and it felt so good to say out loud.
“I’m sorry it took me so long,” Luca said, eyes downcast and lip trembling.
“It’s alright now,” Alberto said, gently placing his knuckle under Luca’s chin and turning his gaze upward.
Luca looked at him with those big brown eyes, glistening with unshed tears, and then stood on his tiptoes, and pressed his lips to Alberto’s in an absolutely earth-shattering kiss.
Alberto was surprised for a moment but then returned the kiss with enthusiasm, holding Luca’s slight form and pulling him closer. Luca gasped for air but then returned to the kiss and Alberto threaded his fingers into Luca’s hair, his chest tingling warmly. Almost as if he could feel those final flowers withering away for good.