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It was once again summer in Italy. Alberto was now 13 years old. It had been a couple of months since he last saw Luca and Giulia, but now he’d be able to. He often got lonely since he didn’t go to a real school, and instead was homeschooled by his new father. Sure, Luca and Giulia would visit during school break sometimes, but it was never for more than a couple of days. He really missed Luca though. He missed his big toothy smile and nervous laughter. Whenever that boy was around, Alberto felt his heart skip a beat. He didn’t know why it happened, but it did.
Now that it was summer, the heat started to become unbearable. Giulia decided to take advantage of this and gather everyone down to the water to have a small picnic. The picnic was really fun and Alberto got to hear all about the school year. But even in his tank-top, he was sweating to death. Luca was shirtless and Giulia was in a crop top, so they felt fine.
Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore and he needed to get inside where there were fans and air conditioning. He hated to leave Luca, but he was certain he was about to get heatstroke if he stayed outside in the sun any longer.
“Hey, I’m gonna head inside for a bit and cool off, you guys can join me if you’d like,” He excused himself from the group and walked inside.
Right when he entered the house, he went right up to his room and practically ripped off his shirt, revealing the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest. Ever since Luca left, Alberto’s body started changing. At first, he thought he was just getting pecks and often bragged about it to the kids in town, but then they got pointy and he realized they weren’t pecks. They were boobs.
He hadn’t told Massimo that he was born a girl and needed to keep it that way. He didn’t want anyone to know. After all, his birth father stopped being around more often after he told him he felt like a boy, not a girl. Who’s to say everyone won’t abandon him like his bio father did?
But in order to keep his secret, he needed a way to hide his chest. A couple months ago, he tried to find ways to hide it. After a bunch of trial and error, he settled on a large bandage wrap that he’d tie around his chest. It worked the best, but hurt like a putanna (Ty to Italian family for teaching me curse words) and made him sweat like crazy. But it was worth it.
Alberto sat down on his bed and sighed, taking in the nice breeze from the fan. He took a short, sharp breath, wincing a little as his ribs ached. But he felt satisfied now that he was cooling off. His shirt that he tossed to the side was already drenched in sweat. However, just as he was enjoying the cool air, his door suddenly opened.
“Ay, Fratello, we got gelato downstairs- DIO, WHAT HAPPENED?!” Giulia yelled as she saw the bandage wrapped around his chest, “Did a hunter get you?!”
“N-no, I- I can explain,” Alberto said nervously, covering the bandages with his arms. He really didn’t want to explain, but his mind suddenly blanked as he tried to think of excuses.
“How can you explain this?! I need to get dad-”
“DON’T GET HIM, PLEASE, HE CAN’T KNOW!” Alberto cried, pure terror in his voice as he reached out. He couldn’t have another father figure in his life abandon him. Not again.
Giulia stopped in her tracks. Her brother looked terrified. She saw him practically tremble. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him look so scared. So she respected his wishes. She shut the door and sat down on the bed, trying to keep her brother from panicking.
“Sorry, Fratello, I just freaked out. Can you explain to me now?” She asked in a calm voice. Alberto took some deep breaths the best he could (Which weren’t very good, Giulia could tell) and hugged his knees to his chest.
“I’m gonna tell you something that you cannot tell anyone else. Do you promise?” He started. He couldn’t even imagine what would happen if the townsfolk found out about him. She nodded.
“I promise. I won’t tell a soul,”
“Okay, thank you,” Alberto sighed, “When I was born, I had a spiky tail and still do. Spiky tails are a female trait in the seafolk world and curvy smooth tails are male. I only lived with my dad and he always treated me like a girl. He gave me a girl’s name and taught me the way girls are supposed to act, but I never liked it. I wanted to do the things I saw other fish boys doing. I wanted a boy’s name, a boy’s outfit, and to be treated like a boy. I told my dad this once and he left, abandoning me. So I decided to do things myself. I named myself Alberto, stole any clothes he left behind, and cut my hair.” He explained.
“So basically, you were born a girl but you feel like a boy?” Giulia asked.
“I don’t just feel like a boy. I am a boy. Being a boy just feels so right. I don’t think I could ever be a girl again. Just thinking about going back to being a girl makes me want to barf,” Alberto said, “The reason for the bandages is that…I started growing a chest after you guys left. I needed it to be flat though and the only way to do that is to bind them,”
Giulia listened and nodded. She knew what was going on. There was a transgender boy at her school. She vaguely remembered him talking about being trans, but it sounded a lot like what Alberto was going through. However, she remembered how he talked about how dangerous bandages were but she never understood why. She knew now.
“Thanks for telling me this, Fratello. I know what’s going on. In our human culture, it has a name. It’s called transgender.” Giulia said.
“Transgender? That sounds… kind of cool,” Alberto smiled.
“Yeah, I guess it does,” Giulia chuckled, “But anyways, I love you, Alberto, you’ll always be my brother,” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. Alberto felt incredibly gleeful. He was so glad that Giulia was okay with this.
“You’re gonna need to tell dad though,” Giulia told him. Alberto was afraid she’d say that.
“I just… I don’t want him to leave like my biological dad did,” He said, fidgeting with his fingers.
“He won’t. He’s not like that, trust me,” Giulia placed a hand on his shoulder to give him some comfort. Alberto looked up at her and smiled.
“Okay, I’ll tell him after dinner tonight,” He promised.
“Alright, You don’t have to rush it though. Come out at your own pace,” Giulia assured, “But we need to get you something else to bind with. I doubt that’s comfortable,”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Alberto chuckles.
Giulia stood up. She was glad that got to have that conversation with her brother. But she was very shocked how she didn’t see it before. She and him shared a room after all! She was at least happy that she knew now and could support her brother.
“Oh yeah, papa brought home some gelato,” She said before leaving the room. Alberto smiled and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. Happy didn’t even come close to how he felt. He was so relieved. Plus he got to find out that it apparently was something that humans also experienced too! Alberto quickly put on another shirt and ran out his door. This day was going great. Giulia accepts him and he gets gelato!