(A/N) Before we start I would just like to say that I now have an Instagram account! prettyflyingprincess
I made it because I've been missing out on seeing a lot of great fanart for this fic. I am so flattered. I love you guys. If you have any fanart you have made for this fic, please do tag me and of course numjumo.
That same night
On the ride back over his house, the rain had stopped and the speed from his bike had caused Alberto's scales to dry off from his body. As he had done before he had started his plan, Alberto had parked his motorcycle a little further away from his house so as to not wake Bruno. He prayed with every fibre of his being that Bruno had stayed asleep the entire time. Bruno was not known to be an early riser.
When Alberto, to the best of his ability, soundlessly entered the house, he saw that Bruno was indeed still asleep in his chair like before. He hadn't moved from that spot. Alberto then carefully slipped the keys back into Bruno's pant pocket. As if they had never been taken at all.
Then Alberto made his way back upstairs to his room, his mission now being to catch up on some much-needed sleep. His heart had been racing practically the whole night in fear of getting caught. But Alberto had done it. Finally, things were working out in his favour for once. When he made it to his room he now laid in bed, left with his thoughts.
What was to happen on Monday when he would see Luca again? Would Giulia tell Luca what he had done for her? What he had done for Luca ? What would Luca think of him knowing that he had done that? Alberto had done what he did to try to make things right after his gang messed everything up. That's why he did it. Right? But, now that Alberto was alone to think about his actions, his mind started to wander.
Sure he had done all that to fix things but was that it? Was there something else? What else was there to gain? He already gained Luca's trust. So then why did Alberto feel like he did it because of more than just fixing things?
Then Alberto thought of something that made him immediately sit up. His thoughts had drifted to an epiphany that scared the hell out of him. But that couldn't be why he did what he did...it can't be why...it most definitely shouldn't be why! Alberto's heart started beating frantically. No. No, no, no. This was bad. This was so bad.
'Fuck! I can't be having….feelings for -' No. Alberto couldn't even finish that thought.
He didn't like Luca like that! He wasn't gay, god damn it! ...He wasn't… He couldn't be…
The Next Day - Sunday Morning
Once Giulia came back inside the night before, she had dried off from the rain and had gone to sleep. Giulia decided to keep the truth about how she got the money from Massimo. If Giulia had told him the truth he most likely wouldn't have accepted it, thinking the way she got the money was too sketchy and probably illegal.
When Massimo had woken up, she had told Massimo that she had found it in the mailbox, saying that Maria had sent it to them after she had called her, telling her they needed some extra money to hold them over for a little while. Massimo had bought the lie but felt a little mortified and Giulia knew Massimo was not going to bring it up to her mother due to his pride being shot and wanting to drop it. Nonetheless, he had accepted the money. He couldn't afford not to.
After handing the money over to Massimo she went back to catch up on sleep while she waited for Luca and Luna to wake up. When they did, she told them what had actually happened with Alberto.
"He did what …?" Luca asked Giulia, wanting to make sure he had heard her right.
"Alberto gave me money to hold my dad and me over for...a really long while. He's made it so I can stay in Portorosso!" Giulia clarified.
"Whoa...that's wild..." Luna said.
This new development took both Luca and Luna by surprise.
The fish in Luca's stomach had returned. He couldn't believe Alberto had done this. Alberto had made it so that his best friend could stay in town. Alberto knew how much Giulia leaving had upset him. This news was huge. Alberto...really cared. Knowing Alberto had done this...did he do it for him ? Thinking about that being a possibility… Luca's face heated up. He was going to have to thank Alberto big time when he saw him again.
Luna, on the other hand, didn't know how to feel. Yes, of course , she was so happy Giulia was going to be staying in town but she remembered she had kissed Giulia the night before only because Giulia could have been leaving and Luna wouldn't have to feel any guilt because Giulia would have been leaving Guido too. Now last night was going to haunt her forever, though a dark part of her didn't regret doing it. Luna glanced up at Giulia. Giulia caught her gaze. Who was she kidding? Luna couldn't pretend nothing had changed.
"I think I should get home," Luna said suddenly, starting to pack up her things.
Giulia stood. "Huh? B-but I was thinking we could all go over to the store and buy our Halloween costumes." said, hopeful. "I no longer have to make my costume now. I can actually buy a nice one." Giulia joked.
"I already got a costume," she said simply, going into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her to get changed.
Giulia sighed. Something had changed between her and Luna. The dirty blonde had made that more than clear by her recent attitude. Giulia knew now that it had been a bad call to suggest practicing kissing. But if Luna was so quick to have a problem with it why had she agreed to do it? Giulia's head was starting to hurt. She decided to drop it for now and let Luna be.
When Luna had left the house for home, Giulia turned to Luca.
"Hey, Luca, I didn't want to mention this when Luna was around because I wasn't sure it'd be okay."
Luca turned to face Giulia. "What is it?"
"Were you ever going to tell me that Alberto was a sea creature?" she finally asked.
Luca's eyes widened. "He told you?"
"Well, not exactly. When he gave me the money it started to rain and...well you can guess by that on how I found out."
"Oh…" knowing this allowed an imaginary weight to be lifted off his shoulders. Now he only wished Giulia knew about Luna. "Well, I wanted to but when I found out he was one he didn't want me to tell you even after I told him you knew about me."
"Hmm…I see. I guess that's understandable. Well, let's talk about it more on the way to the store. I have a lot of questions." Giulia said as she went upstairs to change.
Luca was slightly wary of what specifically it was that Giulia wanted to ask him.
At the costume store
Luca and Giulia were now browsing the store looking for the perfect Halloween costumes. As the two were doing so Giulia had been going on and on about Alberto. She had been asking him what other things about Alberto that he may have been hiding from her. Most of Luca's answers had been short but also a bit dodgy here and there. Luca knew Alberto was a secretive person and he probably didn't want any more information about him out. To Luca, it sounded like Alberto had been forced by mother nature to trust Giulia with his biggest secret.
"But honestly, I had no idea Alberto had that in him," Giulia said.
"Yeah…me neither…" Luca almost trailed off again but then caught something as Giulia continued to talk about Alberto. "I've noticed you've started calling him by his first name."
"Well, that's because he's earned my respect. So he better not mess that up," she replied. "You make sure he doesn't, ya hear?"
"Heh…I will." Luca said, picking out a costume that caught his interest.
Giulia smiled at the confirmation. Then she had a passing thought she had almost let slip by. "Last question…you and Alberto…is there something going on there?"
Luca flinched, not liking the emphasis his best friend put on the words 'going on'. Fearing she was implying something. Something he didn't want to acknowledge.
"W-what do you mean?" he asked, acting dumb.
"Well, it's just…Alberto doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do what he did just for anybody . Know what I mean?" Giulia pressed.
"Well…, Alberto isn't a bad person. It sounds like he was just doing something nice."
"Luca." Giulia started as she roughly put a costume she was considering buying back on the rack. "Alberto gave me free money . He and I don't know each other like that. We are only, at most , acquaintances. People like him don't give acquaintances free money 'just because'."
"What exactly are you getting at, Giulia?"
"He must've done it for you , Luca. Not me . You and he know each other and have been spending a lot of time together. I assume you were upset about me leaving town, you weren't subtle about it and he just wanted to make you smile again. Look, the bottom line is, I think he like, likes you."
Luca's cheeks instantly turned pink. "What? T-that's crazy."
Giulia ignored Luca's denial. "Now my next question is…do you like, like him ?"
"Giulia, stop it. You don't know what you're talking about."
"But you should've seen the way he acted yesterday night. It was as if he was doing something that took a lot of courage for him to do."
"That doesn't prove that he likes me like that . We're just friends."
Giulia sighed, this was a battle she wasn't going to win. "Fine. Be that way. But he gave me that money for you . I may not know him very well but I know a grand gesture out of love for another when I see one."
Luca and Giulia stared each other down for a few seconds before Luca broke and returned to browsing the costumes. Giulia proceeded to do the same, dropping the subject for now. But Giulia knew she wasn't crazy. She could tell Alberto had it bad for Luca and had a suspicion that Luca felt the same judging by how Luca reacted at the mere mention of Alberto liking him like that.
Soon, Luca and Giulia had picked out their costumes and then headed home.
Lunch Period - Monday
On the way to the cafeteria, Luca, Giulia, Luna, Guido and Ciccio passed by a new poster for the Halloween dance.
Halloween Dance!
Oct. 31st
5:30 P.M. - 8:00 P.M.
Save the Date, Bring a Date!
After reading the poster, as the group sat down with their food, Guido turned to Giulia with a smile. "Well, It says to bring a date so…, Giulia, wanna go together?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah, sure." Giulia replied.
Luca looked over at Luna hearing that. Luna looked irked, looking at Giulia and Guido. Luna noticed Luca's gaze.
" What? " Luna said quietly with slight hostility in her voice.
"Nothing," Luca said, returning his attention to his lunch.
Third Period
Luca was sitting in his usual spot in the art room waiting for class to start. But he was also waiting in anticipation for Alberto to get to class. Though Luca was able to pay attention to classes here and there, through most of it, all morning Luca had been slightly out of it. His mind kept on drifting to what Alberto had done for him so much that he kept getting caught not paying attention to what was going on around him. It was starting to become a bit of an annoyance.
Luca had just finished setting up his canvas when, who he assumed to be Alberto, entered the room. The boy he was seeing had Alberto's face and jacket but he looked different in terms of his usual style of hair and his eyeshadow was absent from his eyelids. The taller boy's hair looked the same colour as Alberto's but there didn't look to be any gel added to it. Alberto was a bit too far away to get a better look but his demeanour looked a little out of it as if he were on edge. Come to think of it, Luca hadn't seen Alberto hanging around his gang at all at lunch. This was his first time seeing him since Friday.
Alberto looked Luca's way and froze in place. Seeing Luca in person. Alberto had been unable to stop thinking about Luca the day before. It was bad enough being paranoid that Bruno might know of what he did. Bruno hadn't given any hints that he knew but the thought still haunted Alberto. He had been so worked up over everything that today he had overslept and couldn't focus enough to make himself look presentable. He had skipped the morning half of school to have a little while to think and collect himself. Alberto thought he was ready to face Luca again since their last awkward encounter where, after they had held each other, he swore that they had been about to- ...And now Luca probably knew of him giving Giulia money so she could stay in town. What did Luca think of that? All kinds of new questions kept on popping up in his head now that he was seeing Luca again. It felt like fish were swimming around in his stomach non-stop and he no doubt looked like an idiot.
Alberto panicked and chose to sit at the opposite side of the room away from Luca. Just the thought of sitting next to the person who was making him feel things, that he wasn't supposed to feel, was too much to deal with at the moment. Alberto knew he was going to have to do that exact thing in tutoring with Luca but that didn't mean he couldn't push doing so back a little.
Seeing Alberto do that caused Luca to blink in confusion. Why did it feel like Alberto was avoiding him? Then the younger boy was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of his teacher's voice.
"Alright, class. I've decided that today we will draw something that speaks out your emotions. Really let your feelings show through your creativity. Draw whatever you feel." She said, setting up a canvas of her own.
The class then let out murmurs of excitement. The class loved it when they were allowed to do whatever they wanted but for Luca and Alberto, their thoughts and feelings were elsewhere. Nonetheless, Alberto forced himself to draw something, not wanting this rare opportunity to go to waste. Luca, however, continued to stare at a blank piece of paper, trying to figure out what was up with Alberto.
Later, Alberto had finished the drawing part of his picture and was now working on colouring. Throughout the process, he had been letting his hand take charge over his brain. At this point, Alberto had been only going through the motions. On autopilot, not paying attention to what he really had been drawing for the past hour. But just as his mind was slowly starting to return to reality he looked at his colour palette. It consisted of blues, greens and aquas. He forced himself to actually look at his drawing. Alberto's eyes widened as he realized what exactly he had been working on.
Absentmindedly, Alberto had been drawing Luca in his sea creature form. Mio Dio, he had to get out of here before anyone saw this. Alberto quickly grabbed the drawing from the canvas, stuffed it away in his backpack and hurriedly left the classroom.
Luca watched Alberto rush out in shock. Everyone who saw him run out looked confused. Class time wasn't even over and Luca didn't even get a chance to thank him or even say anything at all to him. Luca was starting to get discouraged. If Alberto was avoiding him he was getting worried if he was going to show up for tutoring. But Alberto had promised he'd never leave him hanging again. He wouldn't.
Luca looked at his drawing. Just like his mood, he didn't know what to think of it. It didn't really look like anything. Just abstract nonsense. Luca sighed. No matter what it was, it still was a drawing and he had to have something to hand in.
Fourth Period
When Alberto stepped into Math class, most of the class, including Guido and Luna, noticed something was off about the boy. Alberto then noticed all the eyes on his form, making him feel even more uncomfortable. He was starting to sweat which forced him to take off his jacket. He then sat down in his usual spot next to Bartolo and hung his jacket on the back of his chair. Alberto left out a small huff. This day couldn't get any worse.
"Hey, what happened to you? You look like shit." Bartolo whispered to him.
"Nothing. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Got a lot of my mind." Alberto answered, annoyed that Bartolo was asking questions he didn't care to engage in.
"Like what?" Bartolo pressed.
"Like how I think your questions are fucking annoying," Alberto whispered harshly.
"Jeez… never mind then," Bartolo said, dropping it.
Overhearing the exchange, Guido and Luna glanced at each other and shrugged.
Tutoring session - After classes
Alberto was late. Luca was starting to get nervous, tapping his foot underneath the table. The chance of Alberto not showing up was starting to look more and more like a real possibility. Luca had been wanting to give Alberto the benefit of the doubt but the more he waited the more disheartened he got.
Luca checked the clock on the wall. The older boy was now 15 mins late. Sure it hadn't been that long of a wait but Alberto had seemed so distant. What else was he supposed to think? Luca sighed. If Alberto hadn't arrived yet he most likely wasn't going to arrive at all and Luca wasn't about to wait for him throughout the whole hour once again. With that thought filling his mind, Luca stuffed everything into his backpack and stormed his way towards the library exit.
He was almost in the hallway when he suddenly bumped into someone. Luca had almost fallen but was held up steady by two hands holding him by the arms. Realizing what had happened Luca felt like a total klutz. He had just bumped into this unsuspecting person while being caught up in his own stupid drama. His face was still in the chest of whoever this was.
Luca started to apologize. "Mi dispiace tanto! I -"
Luca's voice stopped working when he looked up at who it was. Alberto was staring back down at him looking a little apprehensive. Both of them had frozen in the position they were currently in. Neither of the boys were in the sensible mindset to know what to do next. Alberto's expression started to get calmer and his eyes slowly became half-lidded. Seeing this, Luca started to tense up.
This was starting to feel a little similar to what had happened between them the Friday before. Back then they had broken out of whatever that, some kind of trance, he supposed, was and never acknowledged it again. But now it had just happened again. Their faces got closer to one another's and Luca was finding himself unwilling to pull away. Luca's eyes were about to flutter closed…
Then suddenly Luca felt the heat from Alberto's body leave his. Luca widened his eyes again, looking back at Alberto who was now a few feet away from him, avoiding Luca's gaze.
What had almost just happened had hit Luca like a splash of water and his face started to heat up.
'D-did we almost…?' Luca shook his head, refusing to finish that thought.
All the while, Alberto's heart was beating way too fast. He almost didn't show up for tutoring because of his mind thinking a million thoughts about a certain boy who was in the room alone with him right this minute. One of those thoughts was what he had just been thinking about doing so. Alberto was just thankful he was able to stop it before his…desires? NO! Before the idiocy plaguing his mind took over.
Luca cleared his throat before speaking then said, "Y-you're late…"
"...Yeah. I know…I…I lost track of time…" Alberto lied. He finally mustered the courage to look at the younger boy and saw him with a peeved expression while his arms were crossed. "I'm sorry I made you wait," he added.
Adding that tad apology seemed to fix a bit of the damage considering Luca had loosened up now. Alberto took a look at Luca seeing he had his backpack on. Alberto then concluded what had been about to happen if he hadn't arrived when he did.
"Were you leaving?" Alberto asked.
"W-well…I didn't think you were going to come." Luca replied.
"I'm only 15 minutes late."
"Well, could you really blame me? You've been acting weird and distant all day. What? I'm not good enough to sit beside anymore?" Luca said, raising his voice.
"Okay, look, I've had a pretty shitty day alright! My mind's been all over the place lately." Alberto tried to reason.
"That's not my fault."
'It sort of is…' Alberto's inner thoughts said.
"I didn't say it was," Alberto said. "If you want me to sit beside you then I'll do that. I just want to focus on tutoring, okay?"
Luca sighed, giving up. "Fine." Then Luca remembered. "Oh…I uh, heard about what you did. Giving Giulia money so she could stay in town..."
"Oh…"
"Yeah…I just wanted to say…thank you. Y-you have no idea how much that means to me…"
"Actually I do. You made that pretty clear last Friday."
Luca couldn't help asking what he said next. "Why did you do it?"
Alberto looked offended at that. "What? Is it so hard to believe I did it out of the goodness of my heart?"
"It's not that. It's just…you didn't have to." Then Luca smiled. "I'm happy you did though."
"It's was no big deal," Alberto said, trying to wave it off.
"Wrong. Very big deal." Luca corrected.
Alberto gave a half-smile. "Well…you're welcome."
Luca's first instinct was to hug him to thank him but then he backtracked on that idea, not wanting a possible repeat of the moment that had happened just moments before. That had been way too much on his nerves so he kept his hands to himself.
The two boys then went back to their usual table and started setting up. Luca looked at Alberto again, now having a better look at Alberto's change in appearance. It was different from what he was used to seeing on Alberto but he didn't hate it. The loss of eye shadow was a major difference. And his hair without gel was unexpected. Alberto then noticed Luca's staring.
"I didn't get a chance to gel my hair this morning. I know I look stupid." Alberto said.
Luca shook his head in protest. "I don't think you look stupid. Actually…I like your natural hair."
Alberto tried to hide his blushing face behind the lapels of his jacket, not expecting the compliment. His natural curls had always made him feel insecure. He always found himself unable to control the cowlick that always made its presence known. Something he couldn't get rid of with just a comb on its own. And using hair gel was usually expected among his peers. But he didn't mind hair gel. In fact, he liked wearing it. The problem was that he didn't use to care about what others thought of his hair. It wasn't until high school that he started to use it a lot more than before. He had never had someone say that they liked it in its natural state before.
"T-thanks…" Alberto said shyly.
Yep. Alberto wasn't acting like his usual self. He seemed less confident. Less sure of himself. Luca wondered what had happened over the weekend that had caused him to become so out of it. But he decided not to push on the subject any longer and proceeded to move on to the tutoring session.
Later, the tutoring session was finished. Luca had been a bit thrown off considering Alberto hadn't tried to tease him or say anything to try to make him squirm for fun. Usually, Luca would call this a good development but all it did was worry him. As Luca was putting his things away he noticed a copy of the same poster for the Halloween Dance that had been in the cafeteria, on the wall nearby. 'Bring a date'? Surely that wasn't mandatory. But Luca wondered if Alberto was going to be bringing a date.
"So…are you going to the dance this Friday?" asked Luca.
"Oh, that thing? Mmm, I dunno. The other guys will probably make me go like last year." Alberto said nonchalant.
"So then…are you…planning on taking a date?"
Alberto raised an eyebrow at that. "No. I'll probably just go stag. Not too much into the dating game."
"Oh…" Luca let out, sounding slightly disappointed.
"Heh, why do you ask?"
"Just wondering is all." Luca then said bluntly, standing up now with all his things packed up.
"If you say so," Alberto said, also standing up.
The two boys reached the hall. Alberto was heading in the opposite direction towards the parking lot. This was unusual for Luca. he was so used to him and Alberto walking to the soccer field together after tutoring. Sure, there was no reason for Alberto to keep on walking with him after but it had become routine and it had felt...nice after a while.
"H-hey. Where are you going?" Luca asked stammering a bit.
Alberto stopped moving and turned to face Luca, albeit a bit unwilling. "I'm uh, gonna go home?"
"Well, yeah I guessed that but…"
"But what?"
"It's just usually…I'm just so used to…" Luca tried to find the right words to explain his confusion without feeling stupid but could find none. He gave up. "Nevermind. I'll see you tomorrow then."
Alberto nodded and continued his way to the parking lot. He let out a tiny breath he had been holding when Luca had stopped him, wondering where he was going. Alberto was in the clear. His heart could finally beat at a normal pace now. He had been right about the tutoring session possibly being nerve-wracking. That had been part of the reason he had been thinking about not showing up. But in the end, he couldn't do that to Luca again.
The soccer field - After practice
Luna had been off her game all practice which wasn't good considering a real game was going up real soon. Ever since Guido had asked Giulia to the dance as dates, Luna had been only thinking about that. She knew she should have expected that to happen. They were, after all, an established couple. So why was that distracting her so much? She had been doing so badly during practice that the couch had benched her out of concern, believing her to be unwell and that she might as well go home early and rest it off. And maybe she should have. But she stayed hoping she'd get a second chance to jump back in. She never did.
The end of practice came. Luna had just been watching Giulia from where she sat for the remainder of practice. Luna didn't know why she was torturing herself. Ever since their kiss things had felt different than just being able to stand by while Giulia and Guido continued to be together. Guido seemed none the wiser. But then again there was nothing for him to be suspicious about. That kiss wasn't real anyway no matter how much she wanted it to be.
"Is everything okay, Luna?" Luna suddenly heard Luca ask as he arrived on the field, breaking her out of her thoughts.
"Luca! Oh..uh. Yeah. I was just thinking about the dance, ya know?" Luna said awkwardly.
"Yeah, well, I was thinking, since Giulia and Guido are going to the dance as dates…, I know you and I aren't together but…wanna go as my date?" Luca asked nervously.
Luna sighed. She needed to get better at being discrete when being around Giulia and Guido as a couple. It seemed now that Luca must've been catching onto something being wrong. But maybe she was safe in assuming that Luca didn't know all the details on what exactly it was she was upset over.
Luna sighed. "That's real sweet, Luca but I'd rather not be a charity case."
"You wouldn't be! I just think maybe it could be fun to go together."
"Well, what about Ciccio? Isn't he not into becoming a fifth wheel?"
"Nah. Ciccio told me he's had his eye on this girl in his science class. So let's go together."
"You guys are going to the dance together?" Giulia asked, coming towards them along with Guido.
Just seeing Giulia and Guido stand next to each other for the hundredth time made something tick in Luna she was unable to control, causing her to instantly stand up and tightly wrap her arms around Luca's arm, catching Luca by surprise.
"Yes! We are absolutely going together!" Luna practically shouted.
"Cool. Now all of us will be going with dates. It'll be like a triple date." Guido said.
"Heh…yeah…great…" Giulia said stiffly. "Come on, Luca. Let's go home."
Giulia left, expecting Luca to follow. Luca got the hint but Luna still had a hold on him. He glanced at her. Luna then caught his glance. Feeling embarrassed and a bit ridiculous she quickly let him go. Then Luca went to follow the redhead. Guido waved bye and left as well.
Luna was left alone again. She had no idea what had just come over her. Was she trying to make Giulia jealous? She should've thought better. That'd never work. Now she was just starting to sound pathetic. At least now she wouldn't be going to the dance alone.
The rest of the week went by slowly but surely. Alberto had gotten a little more at ease as time went on. Bruno never asked him any questions about missing money. Nothing seemed to be amiss in Bruno's eyes. Alberto got semi better sleep but his newfound feelings that he had tried to repress didn't disappear as he'd hoped. And then out of nowhere, Bartolo and a bunch of the other guys had ambushed him with the sudden news that they all had dates for the dance including a girl they got for him to take as well, who was more than willing to be his date. Alberto had never even met her and she, along with a few of the other girls, didn't even go to the same school as them. They were a bunch of private-school girls that were looking to be rebellious by going out with gang members unbeknownst to their most likely strict parents.
Alberto had met his date for the first time the day before the dance, with plenty of pushing to do so from the other guys. The girl's name was Mona. She was a year younger than him and was a total poser who reeked of desperation even though she hid it behind a high and mighty attitude since she came from money. Mona had fair skin, very curly blonde hair that parted in the middle, she wore way too much makeup and had a smile that never seemed genuine. She had demanded to meet Alberto the day before the dance so she could find out what he was going as and wanted to match with his costume. Alberto could see that Mona was clearly using him to live out some sort of bad girl fantasy and Alberto had dragged his feet throughout the entire meet-up. He had refused to call it a date.
Luca had begrudgingly forced himself to become accustomed to Alberto's recent distancing even though Alberto had told him he wasn't avoiding him. It just didn't make sense to Luca. He had made it so Giulia could stay and then suddenly he was treating Luca like a stranger and he hadn't been invited to the tower since the Friday before. This week had not been the greatest and Luca hoped that he would at least enjoy himself at the dance with Luna.
Giulia's love life had become a whirlwind of confusion and now on both Giulia and Guido's ends. Giulia and Guido had gone out on another date amind the week. Guido had taken Giulia to see a movie and then afterwards they had dinner at a sports bar. A place that wasn't the ideal romantic place to eat but Giulia liked to eat there and Guido had let her pick the place.
After dinner, Giulia had planned to let Guido kiss her. She was ready. She had to be. But when the night was over and Giulia had leaned in when he started to, when their lips were a millilitre from each other, Giulia had panicked which caused her to turn her head slightly. When the two teens made contact Guido's lips had only touched the corner of hers making for an awkward position. Guido had laughed about it after it happened, thinking it was a mistake in aim but when he tried to make a second attempt Giulia didn't allow him to when she then suddenly rushed inside her house after it had happened out of embarrassment.
Giulia couldn't believe she had just done that. She failed in doing one simple thing she had been ready to do. That was the whole goal and she blew it. Why did she turn away? And then she just left Guido out there without so much as a goodbye. Giulia could only imagine how he felt now. Guido probably thought she didn't like him like that…because she did…right? She knew she wanted to kiss him. When she had kissed Luna she had really…, really liked the feeling. She wanted to feel that again. Why had she backed out? She didn't know. She just hoped that Guido wasn't too upset with her now. She had noted to apologize to him the next day.
The following day was the day of the dance, Friday. As soon as Giulia saw Guido at school she had gotten a dirty look from Ciccio. From that look alone there was no doubt in Giulia's mind that Guido had called Ciccio to vent about what had happened on their date. But Giulia had ignored the look and pulled Guido aside to apologize. Guido had accepted her apology but Giulia could tell he was still unhappy with her actions. Giulia only hoped that the dance would make him get over it and just have fun.
Halloween night
The dance was going to start soon. Since all of the friend group had dates, they planned to all meet up at the dance in pairs.
Luca had gotten dressed in his costume and was now on his way to Luna's house. Luca had dressed up as a scarecrow. He had on blue overalls, a red shirt underneath and topped it all off with a straw hat. To complete the look Luca had added a bunch of stray straws sticking out all over his costume.
Luca soon stepped onto Luna's porch. This was the first time Luca had ever been to Luna's house. He had also never met her parents before. None of Luna's friends had. Luca didn't know what to expect.
Luca then rang the doorbell. The door opened a few seconds later and Luca was greeted by Luna. Luca took one look at her and was stunned by her appearance. Luna had on a very pretty seafoam green mermaid costume. Her hair was down and there was a lavender coloured flower in it. Luna's top was see-through in the shoulder and stomach area and her chest was covered with a darker, thicker seafoam green fabric. Lastly, Luna's matching skirt, which acted as her tail, was made with fabric that shimmered in the light. It hugged her body and the bottom of it opened up in a slit at the front up to her knees and she wore simple seafoam green sandals underneath.
"Wow…Luna, you look really pretty." Luca finally said.
Luna smiled. "Thanks. You look cute."
Luca chuckled. "Thanks. What made you choose a mermaid?"
"I dunno. Maybe I'm just trying to pretend I have free will to be myself," she said, trying to make a deadpan joke.
Luca knew what she meant. "Well, let's get going then."
Then an older woman that had the same coloured hair as Luna, came up from behind her.
"Oh, are you Luna's date?" She asked.
Luca politely smiled and nodded. Luna had been hoping to be gone before her parents had spotted Luca but she seemed to have underestimated her mother's speed.
"Uh, mom, this is Luca." Luna introduced.
"Aww, isn't that sweet, Luna and Luca. My daughter didn't tell me she had such an adorable little boyfriend." Luna's mother gushed.
Luna wanted to facepalm right then and there. But she chose to say nothing, believing it would be faster and easier to just let her mother believe whatever she wanted. But Luna could sense that Luca was about to try to correct her mother.
"Actually, Senorita, Agostina -" Luca started.
Luna quickly rushed up beside Luca, wrapped her arms around his arm to distract him. "Please just go with it..." Luna whispered into Luca's ear through clenched teeth.
Luca wasn't all for lying about his relationship status but judging by the desperation of Luna's voice he went along with it.
" YES! I am her boyfriend. Thanks for allowing her to accompany me to the dance. I will make sure she gets home at a good time." Luca said finally.
"Aww, you're so sweet. Well, have a good time, you two," she said to the two teens.
"Yep, we will. Ciao!" Luna said back, turning to leave while leading Luca along.
The Halloween Dance
Luca and Luna soon arrived at the school. The dance was being held in the gymnasium. As the two entered they could see the lights were dimmed and the whole gym was lit up with plenty of candles inside of pumpkins that had creepy faces carved into them. And there were fake skulls with fake candles on top of their heads. There were also black and orange streamers hung around, black balloons, fake ghosts were hung around and Halloween music was playing to dance to.
Walking further in, Luca and Luna had found Giulia, Guido, Ciccio and his date at the snack table. Guido was dressed as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde where half his body was to represent both sides of the character, Ciccio was dressed as a mummy and his date looked to be dressed as Cleopatra, and finally, Giulia was dressed up as Pinocchio and she wore face paint to give off the illusion that she had a puppet mouth. Luca remembered that story being one of Giulia's favourites as a little kid. Giulia had been in the middle of getting herself a drink from the punch bowl when Luca and Luna approached the group at the table. When Giulia finally saw Luna, her cheeks went pink and her eyes widened in awe at the older girl's costume. The redhead had gotten so mesmerized that she had forgotten what she had been doing, causing her to messily miss her cup as she was trying to pour the punch into it. Guido had been eating a skull-shaped cookie when he saw Giulia making a mess.
"Giulia," he said, nudging her. Thankfully that had allowed her to break out of her daze.
"Oh!" Giulia immediately stopped what she was doing and put everything down. "Heh, thanks."
"Mmhm…" Guido let out, sounding disinterested and looking away.
Giulia could tell that things were no longer comfortable between Guido and her. Sure, Guido had 'forgiven her' but ever since that night it had felt like they were just going through the motions. They had agreed to go to the dance with each other prior and Guido wasn't the kind of person to just backtrack on an idea he came up with and leave her out to dry last minute just because he was upset. It was because of that that Giulia felt more guilty. She didn't deserve him. She felt like the worst girlfriend in the world. Luca and Luna then had arrived at the snack table and Giulia was broken out of her thoughts by Luna.
"Ciao, guys." Luna greeted.
"C-ciao! Wow! Luna you…you look so gorgeous!" Giulia complemented, Still pink on her cheeks.
Luna blushed. "Th-thank you. And you look really adorable."
Feeling bashful, Giulia's face turned red and she started to play with her red curls. "Thanks! Heh…" she turned her attention to Luca, almost forgetting that Luna had come here with Luca as his date. She smiled at her best friend. "I like your costume too, Luca." then she pinched his cheeks. "But you're too cute to be scary." she teased.
Luca quickly brushed her hand off him in embarrassment. "Knock it off, Giulia!"
"Ahem!" They heard Ciccio's date clear her throat suddenly.
Ciccio quickly caught onto his date's meaning. "Sorry! Guys, this is Cianna. She's in my science class and my date." he said proudly.
"Ciao! Nice to meet you." Cianna greeted Luca and Luna.
"Ciao." They both greeted back in unison.
Then all of a sudden, the group heard a commotion over at the gym's entrance. They all looked over to see the Scorpions of the school entering along with their dates on their arms. Alberto with his date was among them. Alberto was dressed up as a vampire. His black leather jacket was replaced with an amethyst phlox-coloured leather jacket, he wore black dress pants, heavy dusty gray-coloured eyeshadow, fake fangs, a very light green victorian style ascot necktie with a simple red brooch pinning it together.
Luca would never admit out loud that Alberto's costume looked really cool and…kind of alluring but aside from that, Luca had also noticed that Alberto's date was wearing a female, sort of slutty 'Vampira', version of Alberto's costume. Probably so they could match which made a part of Luca want to gag. What was Alberto's deal? He had said he wasn't going to bring a date.
'Who was this girl?' Luca asked himself in his thoughts.
Alberto was on his last nerve with this Mona girl and they had only just entered the gymnasium. As soon as he and the other guys had met up with the private school girls, Mona had possessively grabbed onto Alberto's arm. He would've argued that she had practically almost dislocated his arm. Then she dared to critique his costume, complaining that some of the shades of his costume didn't match entirely with her costume. He wanted to leave the group but he knew that was easier said than done when he was in a public setting forced to dawn a new human weight on his arm. Nonetheless, Alberto found himself looking around for a certain shorter boy with dark brown hair. Looking up at him, Mona saw him do this. She wasn't one who liked not being the center of attention.
She yanked on his arm. "Uh, excuse me . Are you expecting someone?" Mona asked, distaste in her voice.
"Huh? Uh, no." Alberto lied. "Could you let go of my arm for a bit? I feel you nearly dislocate it every time you pull on it."
Mona scoffed. "Fine! Whatever. I'm going to go see my friends. Don't go anywhere." she had said the last bit in a singsong voice as she walked off.
Alberto swore this bitch was crazy. Her slight mood swings creeped him out. When he was sure Mona was out of sight he snuck away. Though Alberto had been trying to distance himself from Luca lately, during the night he had had so far, he was desperately looking for a change in company. But he didn't have to go far because it seemed that Luca had been the one to find him . However, Luca, with his arms crossed, didn't look too happy to see him.
"Hey, cute scarecrow costume. You could never be scary though. Looking for me?" Alberto asked, trying to make light of whatever Luca was possibly upset about.
Luca ignored the question and his previous complement. "So…you ended up bringing a date, huh?"
Alberto noted that his tone sounded a little passive-aggressive. "Uh…yeah I did. It's whatever."
Luca raised an eyebrow at that. " 'It's whatever?' Wow, is that how you talk about all the people you date behind their backs?"
That comment confused Alberto. "What do you care about that?"
Before Luca could answer, Giulia and Luna had come from out of the crowd, pushing past a couple of people. They spotted Luca.
"Ah, Luca, there you ar-" Luna then noticed Alberto. "Oh…it's you…" her voice switching from confusion to standoffishness.
Giulia said nothing, trying to figure out what was making the air so heavy between the two boys. She noticed the blonde girl that had been attached to Alberto's arm when they had entered. Then she got it.
"Nice to see you too," Alberto said sarcastically.
Luna disregarded the older boy's sarcasm and turned her attention to Luca. "Sorry to interrupt. Are you going to come back to the rest of the group soon?"
"Yeah, sorry. Let's get back. I don't even know why I came over here." Luca said as he turned around following Luna back to the group.
Alberto watched them leave, still confused. He knew he did something to make Luca upset at him. He just wasn't sure what.
"What are you doing?" Giulia asked out of nowhere.
"Oh…you're still here?" Alberto said a little put off guard that she had gone unnoticed to him.
Giulia ignored the remark. "Who's that?" she asked, pointing to the blonde.
Alberto followed where the redhead's finger was pointing and saw she was referring to Mona. "Oh, that's nobody."
"She didn't look like a 'nobody' when you guys walked in together."
"I missed the part where that was your business."
"Pfft, okay, buddy. But just so you know, I think Luca is totally jealous you showed up with some random girl." Giulia said as-a-matter-factly.
"Yeah. Sure he is…" Alberto replied, not buying it.
Giulia shrugged, letting the situation go for now and went off to find her friends.
Watching the girl leave, he thought about what she said. Luca did seem to be interested in the fact that he brought a date. With that thought in mind, Alberto wanted to believe Luca was jealous somehow. But then again it seemed that Luca had brought that Luna girl as his date. If Luca wasn't jealous Alberto knew he sure was. And he hated every second. Alberto knew where he wasn't wanted so he reluctantly returned to the gang and his date.
A bit later
Luca had spent time with his friend group dancing, conversing and carving pumpkins at the carving table, trying to distract himself from what had been on his mind since Alberto had arrived. He didn't understand why it pissed him off so much. Now, for the last hour, Luca had just been hanging around the punch table with Guido. Guido also seemed to not be having the greatest time. Luca noticed that Guido had been staring at Giulia and Luna a lot as he had noticed Giulia had been paying more attention to Luna than him the entire time. But, to Luca, that observation was slowly becoming less relevant to him.
The punch he had been drinking seemed to be helping with his mood. The more time Luca spent downing the punch the less angry he felt. The punch tasted way more smooth than any punch he had tasted before. It had tasted different the first time he had tasted it but by the second or third cup, he didn't remember, it had tasted way better. Luca was now feeling a little more warm and cozy. He wasn't sure where the feeling had come from but it was welcomed.
"Hey, Luca?" Guido suddenly asked.
"Hmm?" Luca hummed.
"I don't know if it's just me buuuut, I feel like…Giulia isn't into me anymore. You feel that?"
"Yeeeah…I can see that. I don't wanna speak for her but…..I think she might be…into the other team. If you know what I mean …" Luca said without fully thinking.
"Wha- hey! Fuck you!" Guido yelled, suddenly swinging his mood to defensive.
Luca side-glanced at him looking bored, not at all affected by his words. "Hey, hey, hey…, I'm just being honest with a fellow bro."
"Non ho bisogno di questo, stronzo!" Guido shouted, now walking away towards Ciccio and Cianna, albeit a bit unsteadily.
"Poor, guy," Luca said to himself, downing another cup of punch.
Over where the Scorpions resided with their dates, bored-out-of-his-mind Alberto was now thirsty and decided to make his way away from the others to the punch table. When he got there he found Luca alone and not looking too alert to his surroundings. But Alberto did catch that Luca had a big smile on his face. The taller boy hoped that meant Luca was now in a better mood. Alberto made his way over dawning his signature charming smile.
"How's it going, Luca~. " Alberto entered by saying the boy's name the way he knew made him squirm."
Luca took notice of him and then gave Alberto a smile he had never seen Luca make before. Luca's eyes were half-lidded and the smile had almost made Alberto go weak at the knees which was something no one had ever made him do. It had definitely taken him by surprise.
"Ah, Alberto~ ," Luca said more sensually than when Alberto had said his name. "You know, I may have been a bit harsh on youuu lately." Luca then got closer to Alberto and grabbed ahold of his tie, pulling him down towards his face. "How about you come here and drink some punch with me..."
Alberto turned red in the face and stared back down at Luca. Did Luca forget that they were in public? Alberto was slowly starting to panic now. Luca was acting extremely uncharacteristic. Was this some kind of payback for all the times he had teased Luca? Revenge wasn't Luca's usual ammo though. But why was Luca acting like…like him ? Alberto could also hear a tad difference in Luca's voice as well.
"Uh, yeah s-sure," Alberto said, stuttering in his words.
Alberto removed Luca's hand from his tie causing Luca to pout. Alberto then poured himself a cup. He took a sip and once he swallowed some of it he instantly pulled the cup away from his mouth. This didn't taste like regular punch. There was something off about it. Then it hit Alberto. The taste, Luca's unusual and overly friendly attitude…
"Just so you know…" Luca started, interrupting Alberto's thoughts. Luca continued. "I know what you're about. And you are not going to break me. I knowwww what I'm into and you're not going to confuse me, you- you- you incubus!"
Slowly trying to process the crazy shit Luca had just uttered, Alberto's suspicions were confirmed. Luca was definitely drunk. Alberto just hoped nobody heard Luca say any of that.
"I-I gotta go check something!" Alberto said, rushing back to where his gang was.
"There you go again! Running away as always, you freakin' tease!" Luca yelled after him.
"Hey, Luca, let's dance. You've been over here for the past half hour." Luna said, appearing next to him and wrapping her arms around Luca's arm.
"Eh, stop pretending to be straight. You're not fooling anyone." Luca told her bluntly, whipping his arm lazily out of her grasp.
Luna stiffened. "Huh?"
"Spare me. I knowww I'm not the person you really wanted to come here with." Luca spat.
With that, Luca left her and walked in the direction Alberto had gone. Luna just stood there, frozen in shock at his words.
Alberto found the other Scorpions. He noticed Bartolo with a cup in his hand and not looking like he was in his right mind considering his date looked uncomfortable. Mona was with them looking unimpressed. Then she spotted Alberto.
"Alberto, can you do something about your dumbass friend? He's been saying some seriously tasteless things into Brandy's ear. It's gross!" Mona ordered.
"Ah jeez…" Alberto uttered and went over to Bartolo.
Bartolo saw him coming and looked overly chipper to see him. "Alberto! You're a sight for sore eyesss!" He put his arm around his shoulders and leaned away from the girls. "Hey, my date is hot and all but it doesn't look like she's gonna put out. Can we switch dates? Mona seems more promising."
Alberto forced himself out of Bartolo's grip. "Wow, I forgot that you are just the worst drunk. Who spiked the punch? It better not have been you." he warned.
"It was Ercole's brilliant idea."
"What? "
"Yeah. He said he wanted to see how all these squares would be like drunk. I just saw Guido puke in the corner over there. Guesssss he hasn't touched alcohol in his life and does not have the capacity for it. I swear I think I saw tears!" Bartolo burst out into laughter.
Alberto rolled his eyes. "Where did he go?"
Bartolo took some time to recover from his laughter before answering. "Phew! Ha…He and someone else went out in the hall to talk about something."
Hearing that info, Alberto made a b-line to the hallway. He wasn't sure exactly what he was planning to say when he saw Ercole but he knew he was going to let him have it. In his search, he started to hear a voice that sounded like Ercole's around the next corner. As Alberto headed towards the corner he let out a yelp as he was suddenly pulled into the janitor's closet.
The closet was dark and cramped. He thought he saw a figure in front of him but using his good eyesight he quickly found the light switch and pulled on it, making the light come on. When it came on Luca was in front of him looking a lot more unstable than the last time Alberto saw him.
"Luca!?" Alberto yelled in surprise.
"I geeeett it now." Luca started. "You wanted to pull this eeelaborate prank on me. Get meee to f-fall for you so that when I dooo you can turn around and screwww with my feelings. Just so youuu could see if even guys can fall for you just to boooooost your ego. That'ssssss it, right?"
"What?"
"Yeah! You wanted to see if it'd work. Weeeell guess what? It didn't ! Nooope! Niceeee try! But for yourrrrrr information, I'm not gayyyy." Luca slurred.
Alberto ran his fingers through his hair and groaned. "Luca, you're drunk."
"Whaaaa? Nawww, I've just been drinking punch this whooooooole time. Do you know what's in it? It's amazing!"
"It's vodka, Luca! It's been spiked!"
Luca blinked at him. "...OHHHHHHH…" Then Luca started to giggle. "Haha! I guess that explains a loooooooot!"
Luca was about to take another sip of the punch in his hand but Alberto slapped it out of his hand before he could. Luca watched it fall and hit the floor, the remaining liquid leaking out from the cup.
"Yurrr no fun..." Luca then said.
Then the door was suddenly opened by Luna who was now dawning an angry expression.
"Luca! Found you! Who do you think you are to say shit like that to me!?" Luna yelled.
"LUUUUUNA! Come to join us in the closet?!" Luca joked.
Luna flinched at the double-meaning joke and only got angrier. Alberto could sense the girl was about to snap and didn't want to see Luca possibly get slapped.
"He's drunk." Alberto intervened.
"What?! How? What did you give him?!" she accused.
Alberto's eyes widened. "Mi scusi?!"
"Oof." Luca let out quietly. Then he started to gag and his face was turning green. Both Alberto and Luna knew what was coming next.
"Oh, merda …Whatever. Come on, Luca. Let's get you to the bathroom." Luna said, taking Luca by the wrist, pulling him out of the closet.
Luca didn't fight her gasp, knowing he was about to hurl. Alberto came out of the closet shortly after. He wanted to make sure Luca was alright but he wasn't sure they wanted to be followed.
Luna and Luca reached the bathroom. By instinct, Luna chose to go into the girls' bathroom. Luckily no one was in there when they entered. As soon as a toilet was in sight Luca rushed towards it and retched into it. Luna bit at her nails nervously, wondering how things had gotten this bad.
"Ah, man. What did he give you?" Luna asked.
Luca finally finished puking feeling like crap but found the strength to speak. "H-he didn't give me anything." Luca inhaled and then exhaled. He then stood up, went to the sink and turned on the tap to wash off whatever was left of the vomit. Then he continued. "Y-you know, …Giulia isn't gonna want you if you continue to assume the worst about people."
Luna's mouth went agape at that. She didn't expect this side of Luca. If this was Luca drunk she didn't like it. She then angrily splashed at his face with the running water, making his green scales appear.
Luca didn't seem phased by the action though. He didn't bother to remove the water from his face. "That's right. I was awake when youuuu two made out. You two are terrible at being quiet." Luca then splashed her back with even more water. Luna gasped. The water completely covered her face, showing all of her sea creature form in her face. Luna's face was plastered with shock. Luca crossed his arms. "Ah..Therrrrre you are."
"Whoa…I was afraid to come in here but I am glad I did."
Both Luca and Luna turned in the direction of the unannounced voice. It was Alberto standing there, now looking intrigued by what he was seeing.
"Oh no, no, no! Look what you did, Luca!" Luna panicked.
"Relax, he's one toooo," Luca assured.
"Y-you are?" Luna asked Alberto.
Before Alberto could reply they all heard Giulia approaching the bathroom.
"Guys?! Luna, are you in here?!"
Luna let out a squeak, ran into one of the stalls and shut the door, shielding herself from view.
Then Giulia came inside, seeing Luca and Alberto. "What are you guys doing in the girls' bathroom?"
"Uh! Luca got sick and I brought him in here. I didn't know where else to take him." Luna said from inside the stall.
"Oh." Then Giulia got a better look at Luca who was standing a bit unsteadily. Seeing his green scales Giulia rushed over to him and wiped off the water from his face. "Careful. Don't let her see you," she whispered.
"Pfft, yeahhh, sure. SHHHHH! " Luca replied, aggressively putting his finger to his mouth and leaning, almost falling over.
Giulia held him up. "Oh no. Not you too. Guido is drunk too. He seems really angry at me and…emotional. I have to take him home. Ciccio can't do it because he has to take his date home on time. Ciccio seems pretty insistent I do it too. I think they're both pissed at me."
"Mayyyybe it's because you've been lying to him for the past two months, Pinocchio! " Luca shouted.
Giulia was taken aback at Luca's comment. "Uh…okay…Hey, can I trust you two with Luca for the rest of the night? Take him home?"
"Wha, me?" Alberto said, not expecting her to trust him with Luca let alone ask him for a favour.
"Yes, Lover Boy. Both of you."
Alberto went red at the nickname.
"Yeah! Yep! We can do that!" Luna said, still hiding in the stall.
Giulia raised an eyebrow. "Luna, are you okay?"
"Yes, yes! I'm just…uh…" Luna struggled for an excuse.
"She got food crumbs all over her costume. She's wiping them off into the toilet." Alberto said, coming up with a lie for her.
Giulia seemed to buy it. "Oh. Alright, well, actually don't take him home. His mom will make a huge fuss if she sees him like this. Luna, can he crash with you tonight?"
"Yeah sure," Luna answered.
"Good. Thank you, guys." Then, with that, Giulia left the bathroom.
"She's gone. You can come out now." Alberto said when Giulia was completely gone.
Hearing that, Luna finally stepped out of the stall, now dry. Luna faced Alberto. "Thank you…for covering for me."
"Yep…" Alberto then saw Luca yawn, start to lose balance and pass out. "Luca!" Alberto yelled.
Luna turned around and gasped. "Luca!"
Both of them ran to him. Luna got on her knees and turned him over.
"Oh, carp! What do we do now ?!" Luna yelled, freaking out.
Alberto got closer to Luca. Alberto let out a breath of relief. Luca looked to be asleep and breathing fine. "It's okay. He's just asleep. I think he got it all out of him when he had puked earlier. Let's just get him to your house."
"What do we do with his body? I don't think he's waking up for anybody."
"Put him on my back. I'll carry him." Alberto said, bending over, his back facing Luna.
"Ah, got it." Luna helped put Luca on Alberto's back and they left, leaving the school grounds.
Evening - Portorosso Streets
Luna and Alberto, with Luca on his back by piggyback, were making their way to Luna's house. They had passed a few trick-or-treaters but they were all too busy on their missions to get candy to take a second glance at them.
They had been mostly walking in silence since leaving the school. Mostly because they didn't know what to say due to finding out big secrets about one another. Alberto wasn't much for talking anyway but they had been silent long enough that it was getting weird.
"So, why were you hiding your scales from Giulia?" Alberto asked.
"Well, normally I wouldn't tell you but since you covered my ass I guess you deserve an answer…I want to show her but…I also want to know why I can't change at will anymore when I try to show her." Luna replied.
"You can change at will?"
"Could. "
"Well…so what? Just get yourself wet and show her that way."
"Yeah, I'm aware I can do that but…then I might never find out what is stopping me from just showing her by myself."
"Hmm…Must be hard to see your boyfriend like this, huh?" Alberto said nonchalantly, gesturing to Luca on his back.
Luna groaned. "Oh my god! I don't like Luca like that! And I'm never going to like Luca like that. You wanna know why? Because I. Like! Girls! Okay?! "
Then Luna, realizing what she just said out loud, covered her mouth, but it was too late.
"Ahhh, so now we're at the route of the problem, huh?" Alberto said, smirking.
"Wha- No fair! You egged me on!" Luna whined.
"Man…a sea creature girl like yourself into a human that is a girl! Mommy and daddy must love that."
Luna sighed. She was starting to realize she wasn't going to be able to keep anything from this guy since he was continuing to poke his nose in her business.
"...They don't know," Luna admitted. "They don't even know that anyone at all knows I'm a sea creature in this town. Forget about them knowing that I'm into…well, you know. If they knew, I'm sure they'd want to drop me off at the fire station if they could."
"Yeah? Well…my dad would strap on an obedience collar around my neck if no one asked questions about it." Alberto joked.
Luna didn't laugh at his dark joke. "That's rough…"
"Yeah…"
"...I don't know. I should just get over Giulia. She'd probably turn me down as soon as she found out what I am anyway."
"How do you know that? She's friends with this dork." Alberto said, nodding to the boy on his back. "And she knows he's a sea creature. I don't see her running from him because he's different from her."
"It's not the same, Alberto. I'm talking about a human wanting to date someone who isn't all human. A human has shot me down because of what I am before. How do I know if-" Luna suddenly stopped speaking at that and froze.
Alberto stopped in his tracks, wondering why she stopped walking. "What?"
"I…I think that's it!"
"What's it?"
"I know she'll accept that I'm a sea creature but I'm afraid she won't accept me in the way I want her to. Romantically. That's why my body won't change…why didn't I figure that out before?"
"Wow, you are confusing. Just tell her how you feel and get it over with. I doubt Giulia would be a bitch about it."
"Oh yeah? Okay. Let's make a deal then." Luna said, hands on her hips.
"What do you mean?"
"I will tell Giulia how I feel when you tell Luca how you feel."
Alberto's eyes widened. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't I?"
"Nope. How about this? Now that you know why you won't change, just get wet in front of Giulia. Go swimming with her or something. See how she reacts. Then if everything seems in the clear, then you tell her how you feel."
"I..actually can't swim…" Luna said timidly.
"Seriously?" Alberto sighed. "I don't care how you get yourself wet. Jeez, hard to believe you're a sea creature at all."
"I have my reasons, okay?"
Alberto rolled his eyes. "Just keep walking."
"Alright, alright." Luna gave.
Soon they reached Luna's house. Her mother opened the door.
"Oh no! What's wrong with Luca?" she asked, seeing Luca passed out.
"He partied a little too hard. He's okay though." Luna said. "Can he sleep here for the night?"
Her mother seemed a bit uncomfortable with that suggestion. "Oh honey, I don't know. You two are just dating and are much too young-"
"He's not my boyfriend," Luna said instantly. "I lied earlier…"
"Why would you lie about that?"
Luna's heart started to beat faster. Unsure how to answer that. "I…I-"
"My back is starting to get sore. Can we move this along?" Alberto interrupted.
Luna's mother then remembered she was dealing with an underage drunk teenager. "Oh, you're right. Yes, yes, lay him down over here on the couch."
The older woman led Alberto inside. As Alberto passed Luna, Luna mouthed 'Thank you' to him.
Alberto gave her a knowing look as he passed her. He then gently laid Luca down on the couch. He had felt so bad that he had allowed Luca to get like this. Alberto planned to make Ercole pay somehow.
After Alberto left, Luca had barely woken up, still not sober. "Luuuna? ...Why doesn't Alberto like, like me?"
Luna shook her head. "I actually think he does…don't worry…" she said quietly.
(A/N) Wow, that was a lot to write for one chapter. I may take a break from writing this until Christmas passes. I just wanted to give you a lot of reading material before I took a break. But this is just a maybe. I might put out another chapter before Christmas but I make no promises. This Month has had me real busy. I love putting gay fish through gay panic. You guys have no idea how fun it was to write the dance part. What did you guys think of drunk Luca? Not pretty.
I'm really sorry this took longer than usual to get out. I knew what I wanted to happen I just had a hard time piecing it all together in an order that made sense story-wise. And my daily life only allowed me to work in three scenes a day if I was lucky.
Reviews are very much appreciated! They really do motivate me and make me feel good. I read every one.