Chapter Text
Present Day – early June 1977 – Pisa, Province of Pisa, Italy
“Come on, Lu, what are you going to do here by yourself for the entire summer?” Giulia pleaded.
Luca leaned back in his chair and took another drink of his San Pellegrino, casually surveying the passersby from behind his sunglasses. It was barely June, but the air was already hot and muggy, and if he was being honest, the thought of a swampy summer alone in the city wasn’t incredibly appealing. But the alternative…
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Spend some more time at the observatory. Get started on my research proposal… Just, you know, stuff…” he trailed off. Giulia looked unimpressed.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You’re coming with me.”
Luca opened his mouth to protest, but Giulia stopped him before he could get a syllable out.
“Nope, don’t even try. You’ve been miserable lately and I’m not leaving you here by yourself for three months. If left to your own devices, you would never go anywhere but home, the observatory, or your office,” she said decisively.
“I don’t see how that’s such a bad thing,” Luca grumbled.
“Because it’s not healthy, Luca!" Giulia insisted. "Jesus, you're always so much worse about this in the summer. You and I both know it’s just a way to keep my brother out of your head.”
“Again, I don’t see how that’s such a bad thing…”
Giulia looked at him over the top of her round sunglasses. He rolled his eyes.
“Come on, Gi, it’s not exactly like he’s been beating our door down trying to contact me. It’s been nearly seven years. He moved on a long time ago, and that’s what I’m finally doing, too.” He picked at his sandwich to give himself something else to focus on. She continued to stare pointedly at him across the table.
“He didn’t,” she insisted. “And neither are you.”
Luca mimicked Giulia’s stare, dramatically pulling his aviators down the bridge of his nose and raising his eyebrows at her.
“Bullshit."
“It’s not! He’s miserable and he misses you. Trust me, I’m his sister, I know him-”
“Yeah, well I thought I knew him, too,” Luca interjected hotly.
“Sì, so you should know that all of this self-destructive crap he’s been up to the past seven years is obviously just a coping mechanism because he’s too stuck in his head to actually talk to you!” Giulia argued.
Luca looked down and scratched at a nonexistent itch on his thigh. Maybe she had a point. But even so, he certainly wasn't going to admit it.
“Yeah, well, that just goes to show he can’t handle things like an adult, and that’s what we are, so…” he trailed off. It didn’t sound quite as convincing as he had hoped.
“You’re one to talk, Dottore Hermit Crab.”
Luca glared at his friend across the little bistro table, but the full impact of his withering look was somewhat lost behind his sunglasses, so he settled on sulking instead. Failing to think of a good response, he pretended to become suddenly invested in a blossoming argument across the street between a corriere and a man who was clearly displeased with the condition his parcel arrived in.
“He misses you, Lu,” Giulia continued undeterred. “He’s miserable without you. And I know you miss him, too.”
She wasn't wrong. But between the frostiness of their last interaction and the lack of any attempt from either man to reach out in the intervening seven years, attempting reconciliation not only seemed like a long shot, but something akin to being shot into space without a suit just to see what would happen. He did his best to maintain his façade of interest in the the dispute across the street, which did now seem to be escalating, in order to avoid having to acknowledge this.
“Look, if nothing else, you can visit your parents. It’s only fair; you’ve made them come all the way to Pisa the last five years.”
Luca groaned. He loved her, but Giulia could really be a pain in the ass sometimes.
“Fine, I’ll come,” he relented. She wasn't going to give this one up without a fight, and it was just too hot to put in that kind of effort. “But don’t hold your breath for him to care enough for anything to change.”
Giulia smiled. “Good, because I already bought your ticket. We leave tomorrow morning.”
Twelve years ago – June 1965 – Portorosso, Liguria, Italy
“Can you believe a man was actually up there just a week ago? Not even in a shuttle or anything- just out there, floating around,” Luca said breathlessly. “It’s incredible.”
He turned to see Alberto’s reaction. He knew his friend wasn’t nearly as enthralled with space as he was, but dai, how could anyone not be completely fascinated by the fact that an actual Earth man had been out there, just floating through the abyss? It was nothing short of mind-blowing. The other boy did have a somewhat awed expression on his face, although he wasn’t looking up. A dreamy smile played across Alberto's lips and Luca felt a funny little flip in his stomach. ‘Weird. What’s that about?’ he thought, only mildly confused. Bodies were weird, and he was a newly minted fourteen-year-old, which so far had come with all kinds of alarming surprises. For the smallest moment, he considered asking Alberto about it; after all, he was almost a whole year and a half older. But something in the back of his brain told him that he definitely did not want Alberto to know about this. Which was also weird. He made a mental note to ask Giulia about it later. She’d been fourteen for eight whole months already; she’d probably know.
“I mean, just think about it- two years ago, I’d never even seen the stars. And now I know there are actually people up there…”
Alberto let out a short laugh.
“Bet none of them have touched the big fish, though,” he said with a smug smile.
Luca laughed. They both knew there weren’t really any fish in the sky, but he was glad they still pretended there were. It was nice to have something that was just between the two of them. It felt like an unbreakable connection binding them together, and it helped a little to ease the feeling he always got come September, like a piece of him was missing when they were apart. Alberto’s bright smile widened at the sound of his best friend’s laughter.
“So, what’s the big plan for this summer?” the older boy asked. He laid back on the platform, his head cradled in his hands. Luca was taken off guard by the slight swell of his upper arm as his bicep flexed gently with the movement. He realized he was staring when Alberto prodded him with his foot. Heat swept up his cheeks to the tips of his ears.
“Oh, uh, yeah- Giulia mentioned something about giving the race another go-,” he stammered hastily.
A crash from somewhere inside Giulia and Alberto’s shared bedroom drew the boys’ attention to the open window. Seconds later, Giulia’s vivid curls appeared above the sill, shortly followed by the rest of her.
“Parli del diavolo…” Alberto muttered, but Luca noted he was still smiling.
The older boy still sometimes tried to act like he found Giulia irritating, but Luca knew he loved his sister fiercely, not least because even having a sister in the first place meant that he had a family he could call his own. Seeing how healthy and happy and secure his best friend had become since officially becoming a Marcovaldo filled him with such pure happiness. Two years of hard work, three square meals a day and unconditional love had definitely had their effect on the fifteen-year-old. He carried himself with less false bravado and more easy confidence. He’d grown still taller since last fall, and Luca couldn’t help but notice yet again that his arms weren’t as scrawny as they had been when they met. All in all, Alberto Marcovaldo was very nice to look at, in Luca’s opinion. He briefly wondered if other people felt this way about their best friends.
“Psst, ragazzi!” Giulia whispered, climbing out on all fours onto the branch of the old olive tree. There was something sticking out the top of her yellow blouse, but Luca couldn’t make out what it was. Some kind of bottle, maybe?
“I brought vino!” she said, clambering onto the platform. Sure enough, she pulled out a large bottle of what appeared to be red wine and waved it in front of them.
“Where did you get that?” asked Alberto, taking the bottle from her and examining it under the string lights.
“Guido. It’s hush money.”
Alberto balked. “Hush money? For what?”
“Can’t tell. I’ve already accepted the hush money.”
The older boy rolled his eyes at his sister and shoved the bottle back into her hands.
“Fine, whatever. I don’t care anyway. It probably just came from a bad batch that his dad couldn’t sell.” He tried to sound very cool and disinterested, but Luca could see the gears turning in his head and knew his curiosity had been piqued.
Giulia ignored her older brother.
“I thought we could take it down to the beach. You know, add a little toast to our summer tradition,” she explained.
Last June, when Luca came back from his first year at school, the trio had celebrated their reunion and the coming summer with a bonfire on the beach. They stayed out all night, casually draped over each other on the blanket, watching for shooting stars and talking about everything and nothing. It seemed like the only true way to welcome summer, so they all agreed to make it an official tradition.
The two boys sitting on the platform looked at each other, the younger asking silently,‘what do you think?’ and the older answering with a shrug. ‘Sure, why not?’
The trio slipped silently out the garden gate, around the corner, and down the rocks that separated the beach from the town. Luca was spreading the blanket on the ground when Giulia plopped down in the middle.
“Okay, pronti! Corkscrew, per favore,” she said, holding out her hand expectantly. The boys exchanged uncertain glances.
“Uh-”
“I didn’t-”
Giulia smacked her forehead. “I knew I was forgetting something.”
Suddenly, Alberto’s face lit up. “Wait, no! I know what to do! Dammi questa,” he said, snatching the bottle from his sister’s hand.
He pulled off his left sneaker, shoved the wine into it, and walked over to the large rocks that formed the natural walls around the little beach. He raised his shoe as if to smash it against the rock, holding tightly onto the neck of the wine bottle with his other hand.
“Ma sei pazzo? What are you doing?” Giulia shouted. Alberto turned and fixed his companions with a confident grin.
“You’ll see! Trust me, I know what I’m doing. I’m basically an expert.”
Luca couldn’t help but snort at this pronouncement. Alberto responded with a wink, and immediately turned and began hitting the shoe against the rock.
“I learned it from Guido.” WHACK “If you don’t-” WHACK “have a-” WHACK “corkscrew-” WHACK “you can hit it-” WHACK “against a wall-” WHACK “with a shoe.” WHACK, WHACK, WHACK, WHACK, WHACK
He paused and shook his arm out, grimacing from the effort. Luca thought this seemed more like one of those questionable tips kids passed around at school rather than something that would actually work.
“Are you sure that’s how he did it?” he ventured uncertainly. Alberto waved a dismissive hand at them.
“Yeah, of course. I just wasn’t hitting it hard enough,” he insisted. “Just- just give me a minute. I’ve got this.”
After ten more minutes of smacking the bottle in his shoe against the rock, the cork was finally sticking out just enough that they could pull it the rest of the way with their hands.
“See?” Alberto said confidently. “Told you I could do it.”
Giulia rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him over. She grabbed the bottle from him and seemed to be hit with another realization.
“Oh… looks like I forgot cups, too.” She looked around pensively for a few seconds, then shrugged. “Eh, oh well. Alcohol kills bacteria, right? If it was good enough for the Middle Ages, it’s good enough for me.”
After four semesters of history, Luca wasn’t quite sure he agreed with that particular sentiment. Humans had had all kinds of weird ideas in the past that hadn’t necessarily stood up against scientific investigation, but as he didn’t currently have any alternatives, he didn’t feel it was his place to argue. Giulia raised the bottle to the sky.
“All’estate! Saluti!” she said, and tilted it to her mouth, taking a long drink and passing it on to Luca and Alberto, who each echoed her toast in turn.
Luca had never had wine before, or at least not as strong as this, and it didn’t take long for it to go to his head. It filled him with an odd sort of heavy, floating sensation- his body was so weightless that he was hovering somewhere around half a meter above himself, yet his arms weighed twice as much as they usually did. His face was somewhere on the spectrum between tingly and numb. Every idea was a good idea, and every observation was funnier and more insightful than it really should be.
“Y’know, this was a good idea, Giules,” Alberto acknowledged. His words slurred together just a little. “I’m glad you caught Guido doing- whatever it was that he was doing.”
Giulia giggled and muttered something that sounded like “Rosina” into the bottle. Luca was only about half sure he understood what she meant, but he laughed anyway, mostly because the other two were laughing, and the wine told him that meant it must be very funny.
It also assured him that he needed another drink, so he crawled across the blanket on slightly wobbly limbs to where Alberto sat holding the bottle and leaned in until their noses were touching. He wasn’t sure why- it just seemed like the thing to do, and that was reason enough.
“I want this,” he said, taking the bottle from a very astonished Alberto, who only blinked in response. “Thank you,” he added. He looked so cute when he was surprised, with his green eyes wide as the moon and his lips parted just so, Luca couldn’t resist placing a quick peck on his freckled nose. Giulia rolled backwards with laughter, pointing at Alberto and clutching her stomach. Luca again wasn’t entirely sure what made that so funny, but he laughed a little in agreement so he at least didn’t look like he didn’t understand. He tipped the bottle back, filling his mouth with wine until he felt Alberto’s lips pressed to his cheek and his stomach flipped so violently that he choked and spat half of it onto Giulia’s face. He tried unsuccessfully to catch the rest of it in his hand, which she also found hysterical.
Eventually, after the three of them had recovered- Giulia from her breathless cackling, Luca and Alberto from their flushed faces and awkward laughter- the conversation turned back to their summaries of the past eight months, and from there, on to plans for the coming summer, both realistic and completely fantastical. They might give the Portorosso Cup one more go, but they might also steal Ercole’s Vespa and take it to Roma. The point was, they had options.
It wasn’t particularly good wine (Luca suspected that Alberto may have been right about why Guido had pawned it off on Giulia in the first place), but it was something to do, so they passed it around until it was empty, talking about everything and nothing, just like the year before. They stayed out until well into the early morning, and Luca couldn’t imagine a more perfect beginning than this- just three teenagers once again piled on a blanket on a rocky beach, giddy with youth and wine and summer.
Present day – early June 1977 – Pisa, Province of Pisa, Italy
Luca’s dreams that night were filled with every conceivable version of Alberto, running the gamut from violent nightmares to torrid interactions that would leave Don Giovanni blushing. He woke up the next morning feeling completely unrested and slightly cranky. Maybe it wasn’t entirely fair, but he couldn’t help blaming the other man for his restlessness, at least on some level. It may have been Dream Alberto haunting him, but he didn’t think the real man was entirely innocent in the first place, and therefore decided not to feel too bad about it.
This wasn’t off to a great start.
After a cold shower to both wake himself up and calm himself down, he rifled through his wardrobe for something to wear. He needed something that said “I’m here because I’m a mature adult and I can handle myself as such. But also you need to notice how good I look.”
But, you know- casually.
He rarely had a reason to travel far enough to make owning a car practical; he preferred to ride his bike, anyway. The effects of his daily commute were not lost on him, and it was this knowledge he had in mind as he selected a pair of shorts and a light blue linen shirt. Red espadrilles to complete the look, and- sì, that should do it. He preferred shorter, looser shorts in general merely from a practical standpoint- they weren’t as constricting on his thighs when going around the city on his bicycle and allowed for more range of motion- but he couldn’t deny the aesthetic value was also really working for him. He stood appreciating his image in the mirror when he noticed Giulia’s reflection leaning on the doorway behind him, arms crossed and smirking.
“Oh, yeah, you’ve totally moved on, Paguro,” she said, laughing at his startled jump.
“Oh, stai zitta, Marcovaldo,” he mumbled, hastily turning back to shove the rest of his things into his bag.
His nerves increased with each passing hour as they made their connections and the train hurtled its way northwest up the coast. After trying and failing to distract himself with an article on gravitational fields surrounding binary pulsars published in the March edition of Astrophysical Journal (“Wow, that couldn't hold your attention? Figuriamoci!" remarked Giulia), he gave up and resorted to staring out the window, jiggling his leg to release the energy bubbling through his nervous system. Giulia put her hand on his leg to stop his twitching.
“Dai, smettila!”
“Spiacente, Gi. I wasn’t expecting to be this nervous,” he said meekly. “It’s just… I thought I was fine, and then the closer we get, the more I think about, you know, what am I going to do if he’s there with some other guy, and he’s completely forgotten about me, and oh Dio, he’s probably with some buff lifeguard or something, and I’ll just be there with my bag full of books and scrawny arms and- why did I wear this? I look like some nerd who can barely handle physical labor-”
“LUCA! Calmati, amico!”
Luca bit his lips and looked at Giulia sheepishly. “Sorry, I got carried away.”
“You are a nerd who can barely handle physical labor,” she started. Luca scowled at her. “BUT- you look great, and trust me, those shorts were the right choice, my friend. Beto’s always had a weakness for your thighs. Poor guy doesn’t stand a chance.” Luca blushed and sank down into his seat. He hoped the other passengers in the car weren’t paying too much attention to their conversation.
“And besides,” she continued, “I don’t think it ever bothered him that you’re not much of a manual labor guy. I think he kind of liked feeling like he could protect you and provide for you, you know? Probably some weird caveman thing. Cavefish thing?” She paused and looked thoughtful for a second, then shrugged and continued. “As for this potential buff lifeguard, the last I knew, the lifeguards now are all either girls or teenagers, so… you probably don’t have anything to worry about there. He hasn't worked at the beach since he was 21, anyway.”
Luca sighed and looked out the window, noticing with a leap of fresh anxiety that they were approaching the Portorosso station. He sank even further down in his seat, his eyes barely high enough to peer out the window as the train slowed to a stop. Massimo’s huge form was impossible to miss standing behind the average-sized citizens making up the small crowd on the platform, and next to him...
"Cazzo, there he is,” Luca groaned, sliding so low in his seat now that he was practically on the floor. Giulia kicked him.
“Get up and stop being dramatic. I swear, you two are made for each other if for no other reason than you’re the biggest pair of drama queens I’ve ever met.”
Luca pretended to faint theatrically and Giulia responded by dropping his satchel onto his stomach.
“Uf! Okay, fine, fine! I’m coming!”
He pulled himself up, slung his bags over his shoulder, and followed her out of the car onto the platform. His breath caught in his throat when he saw him in the flesh for the first time since 1970. For seven years, he’d tried and failed to forget him. No matter how hard he tried, his was still the face Luca saw at night. He’d changed a bit since the last time they were together, but he was still as handsome as ever. The years had seen the angles of his face become a little squarer and his hair grow a little longer, now tied back at the nape of his neck in a short ponytail. His freckled brown skin practically glowed under the summer sun and Luca’s fingers twitched with memories of smooth skin turning to goosebumps under his touch. The sleeves of his tee shirt were ever so slightly stretched across his biceps, and Luca felt himself bite his lip before remembering where he was and what he was doing, shaking his head to clear out the inconvenient daydream detour. He watched as Giulia ran forward and flung herself into her brother’s waiting arms.
“Ciao, fratello! I’ve brought a surprise for you,” she said. Alberto laughed (which Luca noted with some small annoyance that he still found completely charming.)
“Some fancy gadget from the old city?” he asked.
This was it. Luca took a deep breath.
“No, not exactly,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. His heart thumped nervously in his chest as he saw Alberto freeze, his eyes open wide in shock.
Giulia just smirked and moved aside, resting her elbow on his shoulder.
“Definitely something fancy, though,” she said.
“Ciao, Alberto.” Luca offered a nervous smile and a wave.
Alberto just gaped at him for what seemed like an eternity.
‘Dai, just say something already,’ Luca thought with a combination of anxiety and irritation.
“Luca! Hey, man! It’s been… a while,” the taller man finally managed.
“Yeah, this genius has finally decided he has enough degrees for now. I convinced him to come home with me for the summer before he starts at the university in Pisa this fall.” Giulia punched Luca on the arm in what he was sure she thought was a light, affectionate sort of way, but the redhead was much stronger than she seemed to be aware of. He rubbed his bicep and shot her a look.
“I thought you just said he had enough degrees?”
“I’m going to be teaching, not studying,” Luca corrected quietly.
Alberto seemed more amazed by this revelation than he expected. How was that surprising?
“Oh, wow. That’s awesome, man. Might need to work on that stage presence if you’re going to be lecturing a bunch of college kids, huh?” he said.
Was that supposed to be a friendly joke? Or did Alberto actually think he didn’t have it in him to be a university professor? Luca forced a smile.
“Uh, yeah. Thanks for the feedback,” he said as flatly as he could manage, trying to keep the anxiety and aggravation out of his voice.
Giulia looked between them somewhat nervously as if she was concerned a fight might break out. Well, he certainly wasn’t going to be the one to start it. He was here to prove he was an adult who could manage his relationships in a healthy, productive way. Alberto, on the other hand, just continued to stare at him with an inscrutable expression, cocking his head to the side slightly as if he couldn't decide what to make of the man in front of him. The motion exposed the spot on his neck that always drove him crazy, and Luca swatted away an intrusive memory of himself nibbling at it, Alberto trapped and squirming with pleasure beneath him. He briefly wondered if Alberto still liked to be bitten before catching himself. Damn, is this what he had to look forward to all summer? Alberto being frustrating and confusing and Alberto, and Luca jumping between wanting to yell at him for letting Bruno ruin everything and wanting to tackle him to the ground and cover every centimeter of his stupid body with lingering kisses. He thought somewhat longingly of his empty flat and his office at the university where things made sense. Maybe he should have stayed...
The tension between them was going nowhere, Luca noted with some discomfort. Maybe because it was so damn humid that not even metaphorical concepts could find it in themselves to move along in any kind of hurry.
Fortunately, Massimo came to the rescue.
“Who’s hungry, eh? We’ve got fresh trofie at the house. Andiamo,” he said, picking up Giulia’s luggage and leading the way out. Luca didn’t need a second invitation to flee the uncomfortable platform. He quickly picked up his bags and followed the enormous fisherman through the station.