Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Massimo: It would take forever to get there on a Vespa.

Alberto: It wouldn't take forever. If I go a steady 60 mph for 1,800 miles it would take a total of 30 hrs to get there.

Massimo:

Alberto: If I can only drive for 11 hrs straight, then have to sleep for at least 3 hrs, then it would take 39 hours. That's only about two days and two nights if you include extra breaks. If I took Luca with me, we could share the driving, and it would go so much quicker.

Massimo:

Giulia: How do yo-

Alberto: It's a Vespa. I have to know. *Distant, Sparkly-eyed smolder*

Chapter Text

Teacher: Alright class, A train leaves Station A at 6:15 am on Tuesday and travels a total distance of 2500 miles to Station B with a constant speed of 60 mph. What time would the train reach Station B?

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

(Giulia is doing summer homework while Alberto is reading a Vespa magazine in the same room.)

Giulia (who is getting frustrated at summer math): *looks over to see Alberto.*

Chapter Text

(Alberto spent his birthday with Massimo, so he learned the tradition of baking sweet foods for people on their birthdays. Luca is back from school, and his birthday is coming up.)

Alberto: Okay, the recipe yields 6 cupcakes. Hm, no. Luca needs more than that, I’ll double it. *picks up the measuring cup before staring at the recipe book* Uhhhh….

Massimo: *enters the room and glances over Alberto’s shoulder*

(Alberto, unaware that Massimo has entered the room, continues to talk to himself.)

Alberto: If I double 2 cups of flour… if I double… that would mean… Uh…

(Massimo glances next to the cookbook, where Alberto has placed a hand-drawn picture of the cupcakes he wants to make. Next to the cupcakes is a drawing of Luca absolutely adoring the cupcakes.)

Massimo: Alberto.

Alberto: WAAH!- N-nothing! I *ahem* I didn’t hear you come in Papa. I’m just- uh-

Massimo: *nods towards the cupcake recipe* For Luca.

Alberto: I uh- yeah… *scratches his arm as he looks away*

Massimo: *places his hand on Alberto’s shoulder* Sometimes the best way to figure something out, is to step away for a moment. Let’s talk about Vespas.

(Massimo gently coaxes Alberto to sit at the dinner table. When Alberto is turned, Massimo grabs the cookbook and hides it on a different chair. He then joins Alberto at the table.)

Massimo: The shopkeeper in town would like to double the amount of Vespas he has in his shop. He has 3. *waits patiently, knowing that Alberto will speak*

Alberto: Then he’d have 6 Vespas! That’d be great! *smiles*

Massimo: *makes a small grunt as he nods in approval* And maybe later down the line he’ll decide to double it again.

Alberto: Ooh! 12 Vespas!

Massimo: *makes another grunt and nod of approval* Alberto, are you thinking of Vespas right now?

Alberto: Yeah! Maybe one day he’ll have a whole bunch! Then Luca and I would have our pick out of so many different Vespas!

Massimo: And if the shopkeeper doubled 2?

Alberto: Then he’d have fou-

(Alberto realizes that Massimo didn’t add “Vespas” as a unit at the end of the question. He’s nervous that the answer is wrong. Massimo takes notice. He pulls the cookbook off the chair next to him and places it on the table. He faces it towards Alberto before pointing at the flour measurement.)

Massimo: Go on. If you double 2, you get?

Alberto: I-I don’t know. *gazing anywhere but Massimo’s eyes*

Massimo (speaking gently): Alberto, you are right, you just need to have confidence in your answer. What do you get if you double 2?

Alberto (timidly): F-four?

Massimo: Correct. You’re good at math mio figlio. You can do this. And if you need help, you can always come to me.

(Alberto has a teary-eyed smile on his face as he tackles Massimo in a hug. The large Italian man happily returns it. Massimo doesn’t know what made Alberto doubt his intelligence so much; but now that they’re family, he’s going to help his son gain back some of that confidence.)

Massimo (as he breaks the hug,  but keeps his hand on Alberto’s shoulder): I’ll let you get back to your baking.

Alberto: Actually, Papa, would you help me? *smiles brightly*

(Massimo gives one more grunt and nod of approval before they begin baking together.)

Chapter Text

Alberto has recently discovered that his math abilities span past Vespa math. However, he doesn’t see the point in doing math without Vespas. They’re the only thing he’s interested in calculating; well, besides food. He’s decided to stick to Vespa math and Vespa math alone.

(Alberto enters the kitchen to find Giulia doing summer homework at the table. She recently used him to figure out math answers, and he’s still pretty mad at her for it. When he glances over her shoulder, he can see that she’s doing different math now, though she’s just as frustrated. She won’t use him this time. Actually…)

Alberto: The answers are [-4- _/144,718]/3 and [-4+ _/144,718]/3 for the one question, and 12 for the other. (_/ is the sign for Square Root)

Giulia: Ooh! For which ones?!

Alberto: *smirks* For the two questions you asked me last week.

Giulia: What? But I asked you those last week! I don’t need them now!

Alberto (as his smirk grows): Exactly.

Giulia: *eye twitches and she clenches her teeth as she tries to remain calm* Okay. Then what are these answers?

Alberto: Mm, pass.

Giulia (who is stuttering with rage): W-Why?

Alberto: Call it payback for using me last week. (He changes his tone to “teasing” before speaking again.) Have fun Giulia~!

Giulia: *snaps her pencil in half in rage* That’s it!!

(Giulia screams in Italian as she begins wrestling with Alberto, who’s practically choking on laughter.)

(Alberto got a few bruises from Giulia and decided to get out of the house for a bit. He’s walking through Portorosso when he spots Ercole trying to impress a group of Portorosso’s younger kids. The catfish lost a lot of followers after the Portorosso cup, but some of the really young children are still naive to his tricks.)

Ercole: -he tried to attack me, but I outsmarted him! I used olive oil on the floor to make him slide away. *looks proud of his obvious lie*

Young girl: Wow Ercole! You’re really smart!

Ercole: Of course, I am! I am Ercole Visconti! No one can outsmart me!

Alberto (as he rolls his eyes): Really Ercole, give it a rest. Everyone is smarter than you.

Ercole: *glares at Alberto* Oh really? What do you know? You’re a sea monster, you aren’t nearly as intelligent as a human!

Alberto: *gets up in Ercole’s face* Oh yeah? What’s the square root of 9,806,452,731?

Ercole: Easy. 87,207. *puffs out his chest*

Alberto: *scoffs* Wow, you’re wrong, shocker. It’s 99,027.53522.

Ercole: *practically growls* Obviously you’re lying because you’re jealous of my mathematic prowess!

Alberto: Okay then, I’ll prove it! Er… *spots Signora Marsigliese walking down the street* Signora Marsigliese! Could we borrow a moment of your time? *waves at her*

(She approaches the group.)

Signora Marsigliese: Can I help you with something, ragazzi?

Alberto: Could you ask us a math question that you know the answer to? Preferably something difficult.

Signora Marsigliese: Mm… I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, let me grab a paper and pencil and I’ll work out a problem.

(The group waits as she fumbles through her bag, gets out paper and a pencil, and works out a math problem. Ercole and Alberto glare at each other the entire time. By the time Signora Marsigliese has finished, a slightly bigger crowd has accumulated. They heard the commotion and saw the boys glaring at one another. Luca is among the crowd.)

Signora Marsigliese: Alright then, simplify 3 to the fourth power divided by 4 to the eighth power, times 320 (3^4 / 4^8 x 320.).

Alberto: 0.395507813.

Signora Marsigliese: *looks impressed* Correct.

Ercole: What?! You could not possibly have answered that quickly! He saw through the paper!

Luca: But Ercole, he was glaring at you when he answered.

(Some of the crowd members chuckle.)

Ercole: *stamps his foot on the ground* No! That is not fair! I demand another question.

Alberto: Fine, I’ll let you answer this time. Signora Marsigliese, would you ask a similar question, please?

(The crowd remains silent as she calculates another problem.)

Signora Marsigliese: *makes sure the paper is covered* Simplify 2 to the twelfth power divided by 3 to the fifth power, times 207. (2^12 / 3^5 x 207)

Ercole: Simple. It’s eh…. C-carry the 1…. *sweat forms on his brow* 3,516?

Alberto: 3,489.185185. You’re only 26.814815 off.

Signora Marsigliese: Alberto is correct.

(The crowd gives hums of approval as Ercole begins throwing a fit. He screams and kicks over a barrel, hurting his foot in the process, which causes him to scream some more. Eventually, he stomps away from the scene. Alberto gets some praise. When the crowd dies down, Luca approaches him.)

Luca: Was Ercole picking on those kids?

Alberto: No, but he was lying to them. Probably trying to gain followers that he can boss around again.

Luca: *hmms in thought* He needs to try making honest friends for a change.

Alberto: Not like he deserves them. He tried to kill us.

(Alberto wraps his arm around Luca’s shoulder and leads him towards the Gelato shop. Celebratory gelato is required.)

Alberto: Sooo… were you impressed? *blushes*

Luca: *chuckles fondly and blushes* You always impress me; but admittedly, listening to you do math is amazing.

(Luca wraps his arm around Alberto’s back and both boys lean their heads against one another as they walk. Alberto decides that using his math powers to annoy and impress others is just as fun as Vespa math.

BONUS SCENE

(Alberto and Luca are on the island. They’re stargazing from the roof of Alberto’s tower, like they used to.)

Luca: Did you know humans use a weird phrase to describe people they could get into a relationship with? They call them “fish in the sea.”

Alberto: *chuckles* What?

Luca: *sits up* Yeah! They’re all like: “Well maybe you can’t be with him, but there are still plenty of fish in the sea!”

Alberto: *laughs* That’s crazy!

Luca: I know, right!

(Luca lays back down and looks back into the night sky. He sighs and grows melancholy.)

Luca: Well… I learned that there are about 3.031 billion people in the world. And I know sea monsters have never really gotten a good population count, but the number is probably similar, right? How do they know when they’ve found the right life partner? What if the person they want to be with doesn’t want to be with them?

Alberto: *looks over at Luca* Why are you so worried about it?

Luca: Well…. What if it happens to me?

Alberto: …I can tell you the probability of that.

Luca: *locks eyes with Alberto* With math?

Alberto: *smiles at him* I don’t need math. The probability of you struggling to find someone who will love you and cherish you for the rest of your life is 0%. You’re amazing Luca, and someday you’re gonna meet someone you love that will be very lucky to have you.

Luca: *blushes* Do you really think so?

Alberto: *reaches over to intertwine their fingers* I know so.

(Both boys smile at each other before going back to their stargazing. Their hands remain intertwined with one another.)

Chapter Text

(Luca has just come back home to Portorosso after his first semester of school. Alberto is unsure if Luca plans to go back or not. He also worries that Luca no longer has their dream of traveling around the world together, but he doesn’t want to bring these worries up and ruin their summer fun.)

(The boys are currently eating Gelato near the shores of Portorosso. They’re sitting back on the sand and looking out onto the horizon as the sun sets.)

Luca: Alberto, you’ve calculated how much gas it would take to travel the world before. You calculated how much it would cost.

Alberto: *glances at him* Yeah, at .31 per gallon it would cost about $8,626,747.83, why?

Luca: *stares sadly into the distance* That’s a really big number. How long do you think it will take to get that much?

Alberto: I’m not sure. I’d have to have a steady income, and I don’t. It’ll probably take years.

Luca: And it would take years to travel across the whole world too, right?

Alberto: Well, yeah. There are so many different places. It would take days to travel, and we would want to stay in one place for a while to look around. Er- I-I mean… If you were still going to go.

Luca: *snaps his gaze towards Alberto in confusion* What? Of course, I’m going! That’s our dream. You want me there, right?

Alberto: *eyes widen* I DO! *quickly calms down after seeing Luca’s wide eyes* I-I… I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to. You decided you wanted to go to school. You could just learn about the world that way, and Giulia said it takes years.

Luca: *smiles softly at Alberto* Just because I have another dream, doesn’t mean the ones I made with you went away. *scoots closer to Alberto and leans his head against his shoulder* I want to go to school for a while, it might help us on our adventures, but I still have every intention of seeing the world with you. It’s going to be so much better than reading about it in a book.

Alberto: *lets out a sigh of relief as he cuddles closer to Luca*

Luca: *blushes* Besides… I’ve been saving up. I’ve been working a few odd jobs around Genova to help pay for our trips.

Alberto: *grins brightly* Me too!! I was going to save up a bunch and then surprise you with a trip as soon as I could!

Luca: *looks at him again and smiles* T-that’s what I was doing!

(Both boys laugh for a good few minutes before snuggling down again. They relax for a few more minutes and finish their gelato before talking.)

Luca: *remains close enough to cuddle with Alberto but lifts his head to look at him* So say I made about… $20 in a week. Could you give an estimate of what you make and figure out how much we would have next summer?

Alberto: Uh… In theory, I could, since it’s for our Vespa dream. *winks at Luca* Let’s see, I could make about... $50 in a week.

Luca: $50?! *smiles in awe*

Alberto: Well, I don’t have to do school on top of work, I work with Papa for half the day, and he gives me $10 a week, then I work as a lifeguard for the other half and they give me $20. I work odd jobs in my spare time to make up the rest, but it’s pretty fun. I get to hang out with the other townspeople that way.

Luca: Wow! *sparkly eyes*

Alberto: *puffs out his chest a little* Okay, so you make 20 and I make 50. If I calculate it starting when you start school again, we’d be working for 10 months until next summer. We’d make a total of $2,800.

Luca: How much gas would that buy us? *sits up and vibrates in excitement*

Alberto: 868 gallons, but remember Luca, we have to get the Vespa first. *rushes to continue when he sees Luca’s sad face* It’s okay! We might be able to do the Portorosso cup again, and we’d get enough to buy a way better Vespa this time. Then we wait until the summer after that and we’d have $2,800 again.

Luca: And then we could go on an adventure!

Alberto: Exactly! We just have to start slow and work our way up. *pulls Luca close*

Luca: *leans his head back on Alberto’s shoulder again* Yeah. *daydreams for a moment before sighing happily* It’s going to be amazing.

Alberto: *smiles lovingly before leaning his head against Luca’s* Yeah. It will be.

(The boys go back to gazing at the sunset.)