Chapter Text
When the moon found the sun, he looked like he was barely hanging on
June, 1988
Pozzuoli was a small fishing town outside of Naples, nothing of true notoriety; it was a simple place for those who wanted a relatively quiet and unbothered life, a bit stuck in the past for the most part, given most residents skewed on the older side of things while youth would often move away from university or just wanted a better life in the city. Most people worked with their hands there, fishermen, carpenters, some other types of craftsmen, several good, homey restaurants; the place was absolutely a small town lover’s dream.
Summertime though was when things were at their most interesting though, tourists by the hundreds came and stayed in small vacation homes for weeks at a time, or there would be day trippers who wanted to experience the quiet, beautiful beaches, sailing, and local sights.
Of course Summer was always Bruno’s favorite time of year, he liked the warmer weather for sure, but he loved the people watch, and even better, he was able to spend all the time he liked out on the beach or on a boat with his father, helping him work, his mother would take him to the movies and get gelato together, it was the same thing every year and he loved it.
Though this year in particular would be quite different from all the others, it was almost a full year since the divorce, since his mother left him behind and moved halfway across Italy. Maybe she would visit again finally; after all, the last time he saw her was around March. He wasn’t about to get his hopes up though, it had only a year into these arrangements and she was already getting shaky with those promised visits to see him once a month. Every month started turning into every other, and soon it would be regularly irregular. He’d be lucky to see her once a year at the rate things were going, and for the first time ever, summer felt depressing.
“Bruno!” The boy looked up when his father called his name from the end of the pier. “I’m heading out to the get the crab traps; you stay here and wrap the rest of the equipment up for me, okay?”
“’Kay Papa! Leave it to me!” The eight year old waved back and shout at the top of his lungs, running to get to work, folding the nets and dumping the melted ice from the coolers. If he had spare time, maybe he would go shell hunting again, or see what the tide pools had to offer him.
As the boy worked, he watched the cars go by out of the corner of his eye, ones that he recognized and ones that looked new, probably the tourists coming in for the season. He always watched them from a distance, imagining what their lives were probably like, making up stories for them all in his head.
One van in particular pulled up nearby, the door sliding open; a young girl with long, curly black hair jumped out, running around the back towards the trunk while her mother got out of the passenger’s seat. Next he saw a dark gray cat jump out and an older man came around to help the girl and woman, pushing the cat aside with his foot, not harshly, but enough to make it obvious he didn’t like the creature. Bruno frowned at that, he had learned a long while ago that trusting people who didn’t like animals was always a red flag. He was about to ignore the family altogether and get back to work when he saw someone else jump out of the van, a boy, and he looked to be his age, well that was new, it wasn’t all that common there’d be boys his age that would vacation there, it was mostly older adults or families with much older kids.
The new boy had leaned over and picked the cat up, holding him close to his chest in a firm hug, trying to readjust his little backpack, following the older woman at her heels, she was probably his mother given how much they kind of looked alike. He took his time to scratch the cat’s ears, but he turned his head and the two boys made eye contact, just for a split second before the new boy was pushed along by the assumed father, though they didn’t really look all that similar.
Bruno, with a newfound curiosity, hurried with finishing his work with the nets, still watching the family out of the corner of his eye as they grabbed their luggage and headed down the beach, towards the old house on the other side of the pier; so that’s who the place belonged to now. He had recalled seeing an older man living there since he was quite young, he could never remember his name, but he was always at the market on the weekends.
Done with his work at last, he decided to investigate the newcomers that had intrigued him. He found the boy was sitting on the first step of the house, the cat curled up at his side; he was lazily drawing with a stick in the sand.
“Hi! I’m Bruno,” Bruno chirped, jumping in front of the boy, setting down a bucket he was carrying with him in the damp sand. “I haven’t seen you around! Did you just move in?”
The boy recoiled a bit at Bruno’s forwardness, clearly lost in his own thoughts, but he shrugged a little, “for the summer,” he looked back at the opened door, his voice was so quiet.
“Cool, I live in that house over there with my dad, so we’re neighbors now I guess!” he pointed beyond the pier where his father always docked their boat. “He’s a fishermen, and I help,” Bruno excitedly explained. “What’s your name?”
“Leone,” the boy quietly replied, pulling the cat onto his lap, burying his mouth in the fluffy charcoal fur as he did earlier. “This is Alexander,” he mumbled more, scratching behind his cat’s ears.
“It’s nice to meet you!” Bruno gave a nod, holding his smile.
Leone leaned forward a little, looking at the bucket the other boy had dropped in the sand. “What’s in there?”
“Oh, I was collecting shells,” Bruno smiled, sitting on the ground at Leone’s feet, dumping the bucket out to show him his findings; Leone gave him a funny expression when he did so. “Sometimes I give them to the old lady that babysits me, or the guy the runs the pizza shop, or the gelato man, anyone in town really,” he started to inspect the shells. “I give some to my papa too, and I also like to string them together,” he held up a cockle shell, offering it to the other boy to see. “My mama taught me how to make bracelets years ago,” he explained.
The other blinked, slowly extending his hand out to hold the small shell. “Pretty,” he commented before handing it back to Bruno.
“Oh, you can keep it if you want,” Bruno told him, chuckling, “I have more than enough to make what I wanted.” He pulled the bucket closer, sloshing the wet, sandy shells around, trying to clean them off. “Hey, I think I have enough to show you how to make a bracelet too! You want one?” He suggested.
Leone seemed to ponder the offer; he was so reserved for someone who also looked to be around eight, the complete opposite of Bruno who was so friendly and open, really they were probably a bad match up to be friends, complete opposites, maybe Bruno should just leave him alone, the kid looked like he wanted space.
“I mean, of course, only if you wanna-”
However, the fisherman’s son was surprised when Leone nodded, accepting the offering and allowing Bruno to sit on the porch beside him, intrigued in the process.
“Okay, so let me measure your wrist so I can cut the fishing wire to the right size,” he pulled out the spool of wire and a work knife he kept in his shoulder bag. “And then we knot them like this, and here’s how you string the shells on and secure them,” he walked his new friend through each step, encouraging him the entire time until they were done, a new, matching bracelet on each of their wrists.
“Thank you,” Leone remained quiet as he thanked Bruno, looking at the new bracelet. “It’s pretty.” He shook his wrist, hearing the small clacking of the shells. He had the smallest hint of a smile now.
“You’re welcome,” Bruno smiled wider, happy to see the other kid showed some kind of positive emotion at last. “So you’re gonna stay here the whole summertime?” Leone nodded as a reply. “So I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other right?” The other shrugged. “That’s cool; I can show you everything there is here! It’ll be so much fun!”
“LEONE! Where the hell are you!?”
The harsh voice startled both boys, pulling them out of their quiet, pleasant conversation. Leone quickly pulled down the sleeve of his sweater, over the bracelet to hide it, standing up. “I’m out here Nicoli,” he picked his cat up again, just in time for the man from earlier to come out.
“Wrap up your little playdate and finish unpacking your stuff already like I told you over an hour ago, your mother’s making dinner… and what did I say about leaving damn doors open!?” The man gruffly warned him, giving Bruno a once over before turning and slamming the door behind him.
Bruno frowned, seeing the boy hugging the cat tighter. “I’m sorry, I guess I should go now,” Leone started up the steps.
“I’ll come by tomorrow and show you around town! Okay?” Bruno tried his best to keep the mood cheery, despite having his suspicions about the man from before be practically confirmed right in front of his eyes. “See you later Leone!” He waved, skipping away to greet his father at the pier.
“Bye… Bruno,” Leone trailed off when the boy darted off with his bucket in hand. He pulled up his sleeve again and smiled at the bracelet, maybe this summer trip wasn’t going to be so bad after all. He set the cat down and headed inside like he was told.
July
Leone really thought he was going to be miserable the entire trip when he found out what the plans were; cooped up and not wanting to do anything, but here he was, smiling and having something to look forward to every day. His mother was so happy to see her son was eager to leave the house and be social for a chance, Alexander’s fluffy head sticking out of his backpack, trailing behind the fisherman’s son.
Bruno’s father was equally pleased to see his own precious son had come out of his funk after his mother canceled her trip two months in a row; in fact, he seemed to have forgotten all about the depressing situation. He had yet to officially meet this new boy Bruno had always gone on about, but if Bruno was so fond of this kid, then surely he would be too, his son always made good choices.
“Are you really sure it’s okay?” Leone quietly said as he was pulled into the small house, looking around as Bruno dragged him along while he anxiously rambled. “Won’t he be upset? He won’t be expecting guests and uh, I don’t wanna be a bother- he probably won’t like me!”
“PAPA! I brought my friend over to say hi!” Bruno shouted, waiting for a response as he closed the door behind him. Leone was frozen in his spot, tense as ever.
“Be right there!”
“Maybe we should just leave; what if he doesn’t like me?” Leone started to shake, slouching his head down, seemingly to try and make himself smaller, but there was no time for discussion as footsteps drew closer.
The voice had belonged to a man who looked to be in his late thirties at least, Paolo Bucciarati had hurried into the living room with a smile on his face to greet the boys, almost excited. “So this is the kid you’ve been running off with every morning!” He crouched down and extended his hand to Leone who retracted just a little. “I’m Bruno’s father, you must be Leone, right?” he introduced himself.
“N-nice to meet you Signore Bucciarati-”
“Come on, you don’t have to be so formal kid, you’re a guest here,” Paolo laughed, giving the boy one firm shake before ruffling his shaggy, off-white hair. “Really, just Paolo is fine, I promise,” his smile was so genuine, Leone was in disbelief, it was like the complete opposite of what he felt at home.
“Um, okay, nice to meet you, uh, Paolo.”
“Well, it’s very nice to meet you too Leone, thank you for keeping my son company while I’m out at work, from the way he talks, you’ve been a very good friend to him,” the older man looked to Bruno next, “so what are you two going to do today?” he asked.
“Ummm, maybe go to the park or something, I don’t know,” his son shrugged, clearly not given it much thought.
“Well, it’s pretty hot out there, make sure you cover up if you’re going to the park, and here’s some money for the gelato shop, my treat,” Paolo had pulled out some money from his back pocket. “Get all the toppings you two like, okay?”
Bruno stashed the money in his bag and hugged his father tight, “thank you papa, you’re the best!” He giggled, pulling Leone back out of the house. “Come on Leo! Let’s go!”
“Uuuh, thank you Signo- uh, Paolo,” the nine year old fumbled his words as the door slammed shut behind them, still in shock over the whole, rather pleasant exchange.
“Ooh, so that house belonged to your nonno?” Bruno blinked. “Was he the old man that I always saw hanging around?”
Leone nodded, readjusting his backpack strap, their cones of gelato long since spent. “Uh-huh, he died in March, and nonna moved in with us in the city, she didn’t wanna sell the house so she offered it to mama as like, another home,” his brows were pinched up, eyes watering as he explained, staring at his feet as they sat on the bench, his voice was wavering, just enough for Bruno to notice it.
“I’m sorry,” Bruno quietly said. He didn’t really know what it was like; his grandparents were either still alive but not close with him, or they were already dead before he could even have a chance to make good memories.
“Alexander was his cat,” the other held the animal to his chest as he purred in his arms. No wonder he always kept him close by at all times, watching him like a hawk. “When nonno got sick and couldn’t take care of him anymore, he told me I was the only one that could look after him,” he stroked the Persian cat’s dark fur more, trying to wipe his eyes with his other hand.
“Well he looks very happy with you, so I’d say you’re doin’ a great job,” Bruno tried to cheer him up, also petting the lazy cat. It grew quieter between the two. “My mama left…” Leone raised an eyebrow and Bruno shook his head, “not like that, she didn’t love papa anymore I guess, so she just left,” he looked sad now too. “Guess she doesn’t really like me anymore either, because she never wants to visit…”
“Pfft, lucky, I wish mama would leave Nicoli,” Leone mumbled. He felt Bruno’s eyes on him. “He’s not my father, he’s my sister’s.”
“Oh,” well, that made sense now as to why Leone would address the other man by his name and seemed to hold a great disliking for the man. “I see.”
“Yeah…”
“Well, uh,” Bruno tried to change the subject again to something on a lighter note, “mama said though that maybe she’ll get to visit soon, maybe you’ll get to meet her, I think she might like you.” He offered a wobbly smile, but Leone couldn’t help but feel like Bruno was trying to make himself believe that more.
“Maybe,” Leone repeated the word. “If she comes around before I leave for home of course.”
Ah, right…
Summer was more than halfway over at this point, after spending practically every single day together, Bruno’s little heart ached, knowing that he was going to miss the other boy’s company a lot for the other nine months of the year, but all good things must come to an end he supposed.
August
Of course the unfortunate day came where Leone was sitting on the side of the road as his parents packed the rest of their things up, bright and early to beat any traffic going home. Bruno rushed through his breakfast and any morning chores so that he could get the proper chance to say goodbye.
“Promise you’ll write back? Every single week?” Bruno swallowed hard, eyes pricking with tears now that his fear was a reality. He tightly hugged Leone, just in case he’d never get the chance again.
“S-sure,” Leone nodded, looking at their feet when pulling back from the hug, brow furrowed, sad, they didn’t have a lot of time left; his family was almost done and he really couldn’t keep his step-father waiting for even a spare minute without hearing about it. “I promise I will.” He looked up, surprised when he saw Bruno’s pinky was extended to him. He smiled again, doing the same, locking their fingers together.
“I’ll wait for you on that pier, every June.”
“And I’ll be there.”
As Bruno watched the small van drive away, he held his breath. He’d see him again at some point probably, they’ll write and call each other whenever they could and still be somewhat present in the other’s life; this wasn’t going to be the end of this adventure, Bruno wasn’t going to let that happen just yet, not when something good finally came his way.