There comes a time in a young sea monster's life when they start looking for a suitable mate.
When he was young, before he went to the surface all those years ago, Luca's mother had explained to him that when a sea monster reached adulthood, their bodies would begin to search for a mate. Daniela had sent a warm look to Lorenzo before explaining that, in most cases, a group of sea monsters would gather and begin to flare their fins, showing their intended partner their interest. If they reciprocated, the other sea monster would present their fins and the two would show their prowess in swimming with a chase before, well… His mother drew off then, and then quickly shooed him off to his room, where his grandmother proceeded to tell him that the pair would then have sex, much to his mother's horror.
Luca had been flustered at the moment, but when he had met Alberto and traveled to the surface, it was wiped out of his mind as new, brighter opportunities were offered up to him. School at Genoa took up most of his mind, although as he grew his mind wondered further towards home, the ocean, and a certain sea monster, who eventually became his boyfriend. So when he felt an overwhelming itch to go into the water and present himself to his future mate, Luca wasn't worried.
It was a couple of summers since the two had originally become boyfriends, and Luca knew for certain that Alberto was the one he wanted to become life-long mates with. While Luca stayed short and thin, something that he learned biking and reading books all the time didn't help him build that many muscles, Alberto grew tall and broad chested while he worked with Massimo hauling in their fish they caught. When he and Giulia arrived back at Portorosso and stepped off the train, Alberto swept him into a hug that made him feel warm and safe as the other rested his chin on his head.
So when they finally headed to the sea to swim, Luca was ready.
Skin morphing to brilliant blue and green scales as he touched the water, Luca waited momentarily as Alberto barreled into the water. Human teeth turned into sharp fangs as Alberto grinned at the younger before shouting a "come on!" and flicked his long tail to propel forward in the water. Pushing his instincts aside for now, Luca laughed as he chased his best friend in their traditional play.
Luca knew that Alberto didn't swim that much for fun when he wasn't there to join him, so the two had made an unspoken promise to play around in the water like they first had when they were kids when he came home. A bit rusty from the lack of swimming in the city, Luca trailed behind the larger sea monster as Alberto breached the surface and splashed back in, overjoyed that his companion was back with him. The purple sea monster looked back at him, eyes darting upwards for a split second before resting his gaze on him again. Alberto spun so that he was swimming on his back, and pointed upwards. Rolling his eyes, Luca sped forward and jumped out of the water, scales briefly turning back to skin before he returned to the sea and Alberto's cheers and whoops.
Hours passed, and it was only when the two swam lazily through the water when Luca felt it. Swimming a bit faster to be in front of Alberto, he spun around quickly and lifted his tail so it was between them. The other sea monster's mouth formed the beginning of a question before it died in the other's throat as Luca spread out his caudal fins. The largest fin blocked the most of Alberto's sight of Luca's body, but his eyes watched, entranced, as the other boy flattened it before quickly flashing it a few times as he began to slowly swim around him.
Green eyes never left the dark blue fins for long, although they did travel to the ones on his arms and the concealed dorsal fin that was under Luca's shirt. His presenting probably would've been a bit better with it off, but Alberto's warm gaze made his stomach flip, so Luca felt like he was doing a pretty good job so far.
His heart pounded, though, as he watched for Alberto to mimic his dance. It was always a chance, being rejected when flaunting their admiration for their potential mate. Even if they were boyfriends for some years now, Luca knew in the back of his mind that Alberto could reject him. So he watched the other's fins like a hawk, looking for a twitch or anything that meant that Alberto agreed-
Luca couldn't help the small chirp he let out as he saw the large, purple fins stretch out in a sail on his tail and limbs. It wasn't as intricate and eye catching as Luca's display of his own, but his heart soared as Alberto started to swim with him. He spun happily as he swam, a huge smile on his face as he looked at his partner - no, his mate. The fins that replaced his human ears twitched in excitement, and he crooned softly to Alberto.
The other echoed him, and Luca kicked with his legs to start the chase only to stop in his tracks as Alberto froze, his croon morphing into him clearing his throat. His eyes finally left Luca's form as he stared into the empty sea below, and his caudal fins slowly went down.
Even in the water, Luca's mouth went dry as his heart plummeted to his stomach. Alberto began speaking, mumbling some excuse to head back to the shore, and Luca's eyes grew watery. No, no, no, no! How could this go from the best moment in his life to one of his worst so fast? His fins drew back to his scales, as if to comfort himself, as he watched Alberto turn away, mouth still moving as he talked words Luca couldn't hear. His mind was swimming as he tried to rake his brain for what he did wrong that Alberto no longer wanted him because of that. None of his actions seemed wrong to him, and the purple scaled sea monster even seemed to reciprocate his feelings. So why had he stopped?
When Alberto was a few tail lengths away, his brain finally caught up that Alberto was leaving and he couldn't help but blurt out, "Why did you reject me?"
When Alberto spun around, brow furrowed, Luca cursed Bruno for not saying anything. The other sea monster sputtered, "Wha-? Reject you?" he asked, eyes confused as he stared at Luca.
The younger nodded shortly, hands curling into fists as his claws dug into his scales. "Y-yeah, reject me!" He narrowed his eyes as he blinked away the tears, trying to look tough as he pressed onward. "We were doing so good, and you, you just stopped!" Luca flung his arms out as his tail curled towards his body. "Was it something I did? Just tell me!"
"What you did?" Alberto echoed. "What? No. You didn't do anything!"
"Then why did you stop?"
"I- I just-" Alberto's arms flung around in the water as he tried to search for the words he wanted to say. One hand wrapped around his neck as he rubbed it harshly, and he exhaled roughly through his gills before speaking again, voice a bit hoarse. "I just made a noise and I never did that before, and I panicked, okay?" he said, seemingly forgetting that Luca also made noises. "It just, I didn't even think about it, I just did it, and it scared me."
Luca looked at him blankly, dumbfounded. "It scared you?" he asked, eyes growing wide. "You mean you didn't know what you were doing? What we were doing?"
"No!" Alberto said, voice growing a bit panicked as he wrung his hands. "Am I supposed to?"
Oh, stars above, he's serious!
Pushing aside the fear he was experiencing, he slowly swam towards Alberto and grabbed his hands in his own. Running his clawed thumb across the back of Alberto's larger hand, he made a small, comforting trill as he gathered what he was about to say. "I take your parents didn't tell you before they left?"
His parents leaving was still a touchy subject with Alberto, and his shoulders went up a bit even as Luca's motions calmed him down a little. "My father didn't say much before he left," he said bitterly. "And my mother…" he drew off, squeezing Luca's hands. "Let's just say they didn't tell me anything about anything."
"Oh, Alberto," Luca said, coming closer to press his forehead against his boyfriend's. One nice thing about being in their true form in the water was that he was able to do this without worrying about their height difference. "You did nothing wrong. It's not your fault you don't know what this is."
"What is this, then?"
"Ah, well," Luca started, drawing back so they could look at each other again without going cross-eyed. "When sea monsters become adults, they start to search for a- a mate," he stuttered, beginning to run his thumb across Alberto's scales again. Usually sea monsters knew all this when they were this age, so it was usually left unspoken when the courting started. Luca could tell that he was blushing a bit, and thanked that his scales hid most of it. "Most don't really have a partner selected before this, so they, ah, present themselves to the potential mates." His tail raised so that it was within Alberto's line of sight and he stretched out is caudal fins. "Like this," he explained. "Some sea monsters just display them like I mostly did, but others like to, uh, flash and move them a lot to catch their intended's eyes. And if they like what they see, they start to present themselves back, and…" he drew off, looking downward as his tail went to curl around himself again.
The silence was a bit deafening, but Luca forced himself to stay still as Alberto took in the words. After moments of just drifting with the ocean's current, he forced himself to look up at Alberto. The other's brow was still furrowed, and his jaw was set as if he was working out some hard puzzle. But his eyes never left Luca's face, and they stared into his when he looked up.
"And the noises?" he questioned.
Luca let out a breathy laugh, relaxing a bit. "They're normal, just a more… primal way to communicate. Chirps, trills, growls-" at this one, Alberto shudders a bit "-all of them are ways to communicate with your mate."
"Really?" Alberto breathed, as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders. "And you picked me?"
"Of course," Luca said quickly, squeezing his hands. "I wouldn't pick anyone else to be my mate but you."
At this, Alberto swooped down and gave Luca a harsh kiss, pulling him closer by their enclasped hands. He drew away just as quickly, eyes darkened. "Can we try this again? Now that I know what's up."
Luca beamed. "Of course."