Ti Penso Sempre

Prologue: Vespa

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He had liked her from the moment he'd met her.

He remembered the day he'd met her perfectly, too. The four years that had passed had done nothing to tarnish his memories.

Night had fallen over the city of Venice, the city's lights flickered and reflected off of the canal's deep black water. He and Bo were huddled close together in an alley, shivering from the cold damp air. The only sound was the slap of water against wood and Bo's unrelenting cough. Prosper pulled his little brother closer to him, trying his best to keep him warm, but it was no use. Bo had been coughing ever since they had arrived in Venice and had only gotten worse. He was even starting to get a fever.

Prosper closed his eyes and tried to remember what his mother had done whenever they'd gotten sick. She would make sure they were wrapped up tight in warm clothes and tucked into a nice soft bed. She would make them a hot chicken soup and gently coax them into taking medicine. But Prosper couldn't do the same for Bo. They didn't have any clothes other than the ones on their back and they certainly didn't have beds anymore. As for chicken soup… they couldn't even afford a scrap of bread. Prosper had tried to steal a bottle of medicine, but he had been so nervous and then the pharmacist had startled him so much he accidentally broke the bottle. He and Bo had barely managed to run away from the angry pharmacist.

Prosper had thought everything would get easier once they came to Venice, but even though the city was beautiful and wonderful he and Bo were barely scraping by. Now, here they were, sleeping in alleys with the rats.

He gently shook Bo awake.

"What is it, Prop?"

Prosper didn't answer. He knew if he told Bo what he was about to do he would make such a fuss he'd wake up the whole city. Luckily, Bo was too groggy to care and just held tight to his hand as he led him out into the streets of Venice. Bo had no idea that Prosper was looking for a policeman to say "My brother and I ran away, but now he is sick. Can you please call our aunt?"

Beside him Bo kept coughing.

"É malato?" The soft low voice seemed to have come out of nowhere, but looking up Prosper saw it's owner walking out of another dark alley. It was a girl. She was carrying some rather heavy looking groceries and looked no older than himself. Her large grey eyes stared at him inquisitively as she repeated her question. She was asking if Bo was sick, he could understand that much. He nodded.

"Ah, povero angelo," She ruffled Bo's hair with a comforting smile before frowning. "Ha la febbre. Dovresti tornare a casa e nel letto."

Now it was Prosper's turn to frown. She said something about a fever, and something about a house and then something about a bed… Bo had a fever and he should take him home to bed? Was that what she had said? He tried to string together what little Italian his mother had taught him to form a good answer but it was too late the girl had already noticed his confusion.

"Parli Italiano?" she asked. He knew what that meant. Did he speak Italian? He gave her an honest answer.

"Si, un poco." Yes, a little.

"Turista?"

He shook his head, he didn't think he and Bo really qualified as tourists at this point. She frowned again, obviously puzzled. He could feel her eyes looking them over, from the top of their messy hair to the bottom of their worn out shoes. Bo leaned against his legs, he was obviously tired. Usually he would've been chattering away and smiling, but now he just closed his eyes and squeezed Prosper's hand.

"Dove sono i tuoi genitori?" She asked something about parents. Prosper just shook his head. Her eyes widened a little. "Siete orfani?"

Orfani… orphans? Well, she had just asked about their parents, so that made sense. Still, he hesitated a little before nodding.

She bit her lip and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, she cast one more look at little shivering Bo before shifting her groceries onto her hip and offering Prosper her hand.

"Venga con me."

Looking back Prosper wasn't sure what made him comply. He had taken hold of her hand automatically and he and Bo had indeed followed her to the Stella. They met two other boys there. One was small with spiky hair and bad teeth, the other was tall and as dark as a shadow. Riccio and Mosca she had called them. They washed up in the men's bathroom and were given clothes to choose from, but not before the girl had cajoled Bo into taking a whole spoonful of medicine.

It wasn't until she was serving them bowls of soup that Prosper realized he didn't even know her name.

"Come ti chiami?" The girl looked up, surprised, then she laughed.

"Non posso credere che non ti ho detto il mio nome!" She chuckled a little more before saying very slowly and clearly: "Vespa."

"Vespa?" Didn't that mean wasp or hornet or some other stinging creature?

She nodded and turned around, grabbing her hair as she did so. "Come una vespa."

Prosper smiled, that long braid did sort of look like a stinger.

"E tu?"

"Prosper."

"Prospero?"

He shook his head, "Just Prosper."

She nodded at Bo who was scarfing down his bread. "E lui?"

"My fratello. Bo."

"Prosper e Bo" she smiled, "Benvenuti nella nostra famiglia."

If it hadn't been for Hornet he and Bo would've gone back to Esther for sure. If she hadn't offered him her hand that night they never would've met Riccio or Mosca, or Scipio. They wouldn't have all gone to steal the wing and discover the secret merry-go-round. They would have never ended up living in Ida's big comfy house. In the end it was all because of her. All because she had seen two orphan boys and taken them in without a second thought.

Now she still lived with him and Bo in Ida's house, but four years had gone by and what had once been a little crush had grown and grown over the years. Grown to the point where Prosper sometimes felt he couldn't contain his feelings for her, but in the end he also felt he had to. So many years had passed… surely she didn't think of him as anything more than a brother. Confessing to her would just make everything awkward. It would be bad enough if she just ended up rejecting him, but they had to live together as well. No, there was no way Hornet could ever know he liked her.

Sighing he reached over and turned off the little lamp on his bedside table. Bo was already snoring softly on the other side of the room. Prosper pulled the bedcovers over himself, closed his eyes, and dreamed of the grey eyed girl in the bedroom across the hall.

A/N: Well? What do you guys think? Please review and let me know and tune in for the next chapter!

Oh! And if you're confused as to why she's referred to as Vespa… well, basically I was trying to imagine this from Prosper's point of view, who at the time still wasn't very fluent in Italian and would most likely still think predominantly in German. After he learns Italian better and uses it as a main language I imagine he just starts thinking in Italian more, so Vespa eventually becomes Hornet in his mind. At least, that's my rationalization and I'm sticking to it!

The real Italian word for hornet is actually calabrone but I used vespa, which can mean either wasp or hornet, mainly because it just sounds more feminine. Also, sorry if the translations aren't totally accurate! I'll fix them if I find better ones.