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Chapter Text

Luca is packing up for his trip back home to Portorosso. This has been a long semester for Luca and he was really missing his friends, Giulia and Alberto. He throws on his tiny backpack, puts on his black lensed glasses and heads toward the train station. This was going to be his last summer before senior year, he loved learning about Space, and history and making new friends. Yet he was always thrilled to be heading home for the summers, he never forgot his first adventure onto land and meeting his best friend Alberto, and then Giulia. He smiled as he remembered how he got here, the train whistle snapping him back to reality. He got giddy as the doors slid open, and standing there was Alberto.

“Alberto!!! What are you doing here?” Luca runs to wrap his arms around his best friend. Alberto takes him in and then slowly pushes him off, “Well I couldn’t let you take the train back alone now could I? We have so much to catch up on!” Luca smiled, “Yeah! I have to tell you more about the fish in the sky.” Alberto rolled his eyes playfully. They sat on the train, talking the whole way, the sound of playful laughter all throughout the train cars. “Well what have you been up to since I’ve been away?” Luca nudges his friend. “You know, the normal stuff, fishing with Marco, playing with Machiavelli, gazing under the stars. I sometimes just go to the ocean as far out as the eye can see and float all night just thinking.” Luca looks encapsulated with the idea of floating, the calm of the ocean, his tail to support him and his scales shimmering under the moon. “Wow, that sounds amazing. Why didn’t we ever do that before?” Alberto smiles, “we did! Laid under the stars, that is, we have a whole summer to do stuff like that!”. The train whistle blows again and they see Portorosso coming into view, a dark tunnel waiting to engulf them back home. As the train pulls up, everyone is waiting. Giulia and her father Massimo, Lucas parents, his grandma and of course Machiavelli, grumpily pacing on the wall behind them all.

Luca bolts off the train and runs to his mothers arms. “I’ve missed you so much!” His mother smiles and holds him tight, “I missed you too” Luca’s dad jumps in on this hug, smiling. Giulia coughs, “Luca get over here!”, “Giuilia!” He runs to her and hugs her tightly. I learned so much this semester! I miss you at school!” Giulia laughs and smiles, well I had to graduate at some point, now I’m exploring the world, looking under every rock and crevice”. She flexes jokingly and they all laugh. Giulias father puts his hand on lucas shoulder, one eye raised, with a smile on his face, while Machiavelli purrs at Lucas feet. “Giulia, Alberto! I’m so excited for our camping trip together, there is so much we can explore this summer!” Giulia looks down awkwardly, “Luca, I can’t go on the trip anymore, I got accepted to a summer program in Spain, we’re going to use their big telescope and track the stars and constellations”. Luca looks disappointed and then smiles excitedly, “That's amazing Giulia! I graduate next summer anyway, and then we’ll have so many more adventures together!” Giulia smiles, and Alberto grabs Luca from behind, messing up his curls, “guess you’re stuck with me this trip”. Luca turns around tickling Alberto, “Guess I am huh?”Giulia is laughing and they both turn and run to tickle her, all three of them laying on the ground laughing and out of breath.

Later that evening after a dinner at Luca’s place, they decide to go for a late night swim, to check out the stars. The water is gliding over their bodies, Luca never noticed how fast and strong Alberto looked when he swam. They both swam and jumped in and out of the water, scales glimmering, laughter in the cool night air. They finally reach a spot far enough away from land and the lights that usually dim out the stars. Luca watches as Alberto talks. He loves the crease in his smile when he laughs really hard, the way his hair looks wet, and those big green eyes, how looking into them seems to unlock some hidden secret from within. “LUCA!” Luca snaps out of his thoughts and back to reality. “What were you thinking about? You were zoned out” Alberto giggles. Luca blushes and tries to hide his discomfort and embarrassment. “I was just thinking how I could totally beat you back to land”, Alberto raises his eyebrows and smirks, “GO”. They swim all the way back, Alberto beating him out per usual, “No fair! You have more time to swim.” Alberto laughs at this, “That’s okay, you have the smarts and I have the manly strength”, they both laugh. “Let’s get some rest before we head out tomorrow” I agree. They swim back to land, just in time for a late night gelato. They walk through the alleys of Portorosso laughing and talking, “so I kind of got a surprise for us” Alberto smiles. “A surprise, what kind of surprise?” Luca investigated Albertos face for answers. “Well I know that we have our camping trip planned, but I thought for our last night in town we could stay at The Portorosso Inn?” Luca’s eyes got wide, “I’ve always wanted to stay there!” Alberto giggles, “Well tonight, I already booked us a room with two king beds, because we deserve to live like KINGS”.

They head to the Portorosso Inn, a very friendly Italian woman with white streaked hair and a badge that says “Francesca” is awaiting them. “Good evening and welcome to the Portorossa Inn, are we checking in?”Alberto takes the lead, “Yes we have a room booked under Alberto Scorfano.” Fransesca starts flipping through the pages, “Ah yes here you are, one room, with a twin sized bed!”. Alberto is confused, “no, there should be two king sized beds”. “I’m sorry Mr. Scorfano, this is all that's available, we get pretty booked during the summer”. Luca sees the frustration on Albertos face, “That's okay! we can figure something out!, I’ll sleep on the floor or we can just go back to my parents place, or Giulia’s!”. Alberto drags his hand down his face, frustrated, “No, we'll take the room.” He places some money on the front counter and she hands over a key, with dangling threads off of it. “Enjoy your stay, gentleman!” They both say thank you and head towards their room.

Luca sees Alberto is bothered, “is everything okay?”. Alberto begins to tear up, I just wanted tonight to be perfect, I haven’t seen you for months and I wanna enjoy this time together”. Luca pats his friends back, “I always enjoy my time with you, but you didn’t have to do this”. Alberto reaches for the door and pushes it open, “I just knew you would love it”. The walls were painted a beautiful dark blue, there were murals all over, stars reflecting off the ocean. Perfectly hanging portraits of Portorossa's history. Lucas' eyes began to tear up, as he stared at the ceiling he saw a painted mural of a beautiful sea creature, it looked like him and Alberto. Luca had never seen this painted in a way of beauty, rather than fear before. Luca hugged Alberto so tight, “thank you for this, it's beautiful”.

The night went on and Alberto lay on the floor, while Luca lay on the bed. Luca crawls to the end of the bed head popping out from under the covers. Alberto is laying there shirtless, in sleeping shorts. He looks backwards over at luca hanging off the edge of the bed. “What are you doing?” Luca gets awkward, “well..well.. I was just gonna say, "I'm pretty small and there’s a lot of room up here, why don’t you just sleep up here?”. Alberto laid there, his back already hurting from the hard floor, “okay but only because this floor is so hard”. He gets up and Luca crawls back to the head of the bed. Alberto stretches and throws his pillow on the bed now, climbing in. “much better”. They both break out laughing. Alberto looks over at Luca, he seems a bit distant in some ways this trip. “Hey Luca, is everything okay?”. Luca begins to tear up a bit, Alberto concerned turns over to face him, “What happened”. Luca grabs onto Alberto crying onto his chest. “They…they started bullying me at school….” Alberto is angered by this, he grabs Lucas' chin and pulls it up towards him, “Who!?, I’m coming back with you and I’m gonna deal with these bullies!”. Luca looks up into Albertos eyes, “it’s my fault really….. I was sketching in class and a group of boys saw what I drew and they told everyone”. Alberto looks worried, “what did you draw Luca?” Luca puts his head down and mumbles, “me kissing a boy”. Alberto is silent, “oh.. Luca.. I didn’t know, did you meet someone at school?”. Luca sits up and punches his pillow, “I’m already a freak, a fish boy who came on land and went to school. They accepted me in Portorosso after everything that happened, but now this freak fish boy, who likes boys… I used to be a good kid. I wish I never came on land”. Alberto reaches over and puts his hand on top of Luca’s, who were you kissing in that drawing Luca?”. Luca is mortified at this question…. “It.. it.. Was yo.. uuu…”. Alberto laces his fingers through Luca's. Luca is caught off guard his tears on his face, scales disappearing as they dry. Luca is shaking. He's so nervous, it can’t be real. Alberto put his other hand on the side of Luca’s face, wiping away one last tear. He notices every crease from his smiles and his frowns, his button nose and those big brown eyes, always so full of innocence and compassion. Alberto rubs his fingers through Luca’s curls towards the back of his head pulling him closer. Luca can’t believe what is happening, but he doesn’t want it to stop. Alberto’s face is close to Luca’s now, they can feel each other's breaths. “Luca, you aren’t a freak, we’re different. Different is good, you have a soul full of adventure and love, I never want your light to be dimmed. Remember, Silenzio Bruno!”. Luca smiles slightly, “sometimes Bruno’s voice is too big Alberto and I can’t stop it”. Alberto pulls Luca in, their noses touching, warmth transferring between their faces, maybe this will help.” Alberto’s lips reach for Luca’s interlocking, his lips are smooth, breath warm against Alberto’s. Both of their hearts are racing, Luca grabs Alberto’s face and holds it, taking in everything, the beauty of a friend he’s loved all these years. He kisses him back with passion, and no restraint. Alberto lays down and drags Luca onto his bare chest. Luca can hear Alberto’s heart beating, he feels like he’s at home, for the first time he’s not a weirdo or a freak, he’s just Luca. Luca is all he wants to be.

Chapter Text

Luca shoots up out of bed the next morning. A ray of light is shimmering through the sea blue curtains. Alberto is still sleeping, he’s all curled up with a pillow over his face. Luca watches as he sleeps, smiling to himself. He can’t remember the last time he was this happy. When he first met Alberto on land years ago, he knew it wasn’t like when he met anyone else. A loud knock comes from the door, “ROOM SERVICE”. Luca stresses out and shakes Alberto awake. “Alberto, someone is at the door!”. Alberto wakes up groggy, yawning. “Come back later please!”. Luca is embarrassed for not knowing how to handle situations like that, it makes him all hot inside. “Sorry”. Alberto grabs Luca’s arm, pulling him closer and kissing his cheek. You don’t have to be sorry, that's what I’m here for. Luca smiles and digs his curly brown hair into Albertos neck as they cuddle.

Later that afternoon Luca and Alberto are at Guilia’s packing for the camping trip. Guilia sighs, “I wish I could go!”. Luca goes and hugs his friend, “I know, but think about it this way. You’ll have so much more to teach me about space when you get back!”. Luca holds up the space book she gifted him when they got closer. Alberto is throwing clothes all over Guilia’s room. A pair of space themed boxers hits lucas face.Luca turns red from embarrassment and they all start bursting out laughing. Alberto smiles, “sorry, I guess I gotta be more careful”. They all start giggling and Luca starts picking up loose clothes and starts a clothes battle. They toss clothes at each other until they are on the ground out of breath from all the laughing. Their heads all touch as they lay on the ground. Luca grabs Alberto’s hand and rolls closer to him.

Guilia notices and stands up in shock. “What is that? Wait, what is this? Wait, are you both?....”. Alberto turns red as a cherry. Luca breathes out a sigh of relief, “Yeah, I think it is. I don’t want to make you feel left out though. I know we were all friends first and if it's too weird we can stop and I won’t…. “.Guilia puts her finger over Luca’s blabbering mouth. “I think it’s great. Really Luca”. She grabs Luca’s hand and pulls him up, then Alberto. “You are both so special to me, nothing you ever tell me will change how I feel about either of you”. Luca and Alberto begin to tear up. Alberto hugs Guilia tightly, “I think it was most important for us to tell you first”. Luca grabs Albertos hand “I’m not ready to tell my parents or grandma yet, can we just keep this between us for now?”. Guilia agrees quickly, “You know they will love you Luca, no matter what. Luca fidgets, I know, I just want to do it on my terms, okay?”. They all agree.

After packing for their trip Alberto and Luca say their goodbyes and head on the road. They are waiting at a nearby bus stop, just chatting. Ercole Visconti, rolls up on his shiny blue vesper. Luca is already irritated, just seeing him, especially after how much he bullied them before.Ercole can’t help himself and pulls up to Luca and Alberto, he flips the kickstand and gets way too close. Alberto puffs his chest up, with his fists out, “What do you want Ercole?”. Ercole laughs in his condescending way, “If I ever needed anything, it wouldn’t be from two fish boys like you. Freaks”. Luca pushes in front of Alberto, “Why can’t you just leave us alone Ercole!?”. Ercole brushes off this comment and continues to torment them, “Where are you two going? A cute little trip eh? How gay is that?” Alberto is irate, “in fact”.. Luca cuts him off mid sentence, “We are not gay Ercole!”. Alberto looks down and backs off, hurt by Luca’s defensiveness. “Seems gay to me” Ercole hops on his Vesper, chuckling as he clasps his helmet, “Tah tah”. He waves them off as the bus pulls up.
Luca looks at Alberto as they board the bus. They walk up and hand the driver their tickets. The driver is a big burly man with a silver mustache, “Going to the woods huh?I used to love doing that, the summer nights there are gorgeous”. He smiles and sends them on their way. Alberto is very quiet, which is rare for him. Luca feels guilty for covering up his feelings for Alberto so quickly, he just didn’t want anyone to know yet. Especially Ercole. Luca squeezes into a seat next to Alberto. Their bags were stuffed anywhere there was room. Luca watches as Alberto stares out the window. “Hey Alberto, I’m sorry for how I acted back there”. Alberto keeps looking out the window. Luca is getting worried about how he acted and starts thinking maybe he did something wrong. He goes to grab Albertos hand, and Alberto begins to cry.

Luca squeezes his cold hand. Alberto wipes his tears, trying to cover the scales as they appear. “It’s not you Luca, I just… I feel like such a freak sometimes”. Luca turns toward him, the bus is basically empty at this point. “You aren’t a freak, why would you think that?”. Alberto starts to tear up a bit more, Luca takes off his hooded jacket and puts it on Alberto. Alberto pulls the hood over his eyes to hide the scales. “Luca, my dad abandoned me, I’m a sea monster and now I’m gay on top of it all. I’m ashamed, I’m tired of having to hide everything from everyone!”. Luca looks around the bus and sees it’s just them in the back. He grabs Albertos face and kisses him, “you aren’t a freak, we are different, but that doesn’t make us bad”. Alberto kisses Luca’s forehead, “what would I do without you, you big dummy”.

Luca passes out on Albertos shoulder, and is woken up by the bus driver yelling. “It’s time to go, end of the road boys!”. Luca and Alberto shoot up and gather their things quickly. Alberto gets off the bus first, stretching his arms and waking up. Luca is close behind lugging a big bag full of stuff. He notices a picture tucked away behind the steering wheel, it's of the bus driver and another man, holding a furry puppy. He stares at it for a moment and the driver takes notice. The driver smiles, “Yeah, that's me and the mister, and our pooch fluffy”. Luca is taken back by this, “You mean, like you’re together?”. The bus driver smiles kindly, “We have 15 amazing years together, he’s my everything. Looks like you may have someone like that too”. He nods towards Alberto.

Luca smiles shyly. “I guess I kinda do”. The bus driver puts his hand on Luca’s shoulder, “Hold onto it tight. People will try to kick you down and tear you apart, love and community is everything”. Luca smiles, “Thanks for the ride, also tell them I said hi”. The bus driver chuckles, “will do”.

Alberto and Luca finally get to their camping spot all set up. There’s a small orange tent, with a big sleeping bag and a few pillows tucked away in the back. The campfire is burning bright, and the sun is starting to set. They are roasting marshmallows over the flames. Luca takes the marshmallow off his stick and gets it all over his face. Alberto giggles and wipes his face clean gently. “Hey Luca”, Alberto looks into Luca’s eyes.Luca turns towards him, “what's up?”. “I know that you have to go back to school after the summer.I love spending time with you, especially like this”. Luca is filled with emotion, “I Love spending time with you too, you’re my best friend, you were my first friend too”. Alberto scoots close to Luca, he grabs a fish hook attached to some fishing line, made into a necklace. “Luca, will you be my boyfriend?”. Luca turns red, he is so full of love and overwhelmed with joy. “Alberto, I’d love to”. Alberto grins and places the necklace over Luca’s head. Luca picks the hook up looking over it. “Why a hook?”. Alberto giggles, hugging Luca closely, “Well we’re both big scary sea monsters, and also you hooked me Luca, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before”. Luca can’t believe that this is happening to him. He remembers when he lived in the ocean, there was so much life out here and he was missing it by hiding away. He decides at this moment that he is not afraid anymore. Silenzio Bruno! He is going to face his fears, because Alberto is worth it. Because he is worthy of love and compassion, and is perfect the way he is. Luca leans into Albertos chest, smelling the smoke on his shirt. He looks up at the stars and in this moment he has found a piece of heaven.

To Be Continued…..