Alberto's POV

Today was the day. The day that I got to see Luca again. After he left for school, everything kind of got boring. The only thing that distracted me long enough was Massimo taking me fishing.

He started letting me herd the fish into the net, it's kind of our thing now I think. Luca and I use to write to each other sometimes. Massimo would have to read it to me and I'd tell him how to reply, but it wasn't like talking to Luca. I don't get reading. I can't even read. It's nothing like talking. Or listening. It's just not me and Luca.

Then it started to get frustrating, he'd tell me about all these things and I don't even know what he's talking about and the words he would use, I don't even know if they're real words. So I just stopped trying to read them. Eventually, I just let Massimo reply for me.

I miss him but I want to see and talk to him.

I've been waiting in the tree house all afternoon and still no sign of him. I even climbed higher to scope out the area and still no Luca. 'I thought you'd be here by no-'

"Boo!"

"Holy sh- wA!" And just like that, my foot slipped and I splatted on the wooden floor of the tree house. My eyes fluttered opened to a familiar musical laughter, and when my eyes focused, I saw Luca.

I kind of forgot about the pain for a second and just stared. His button nose, huge brown eyes and dorky smile.

"Alberto?" His mouth said.

I shook my head a little and focused back on him. Then I remembered that what I was thinking was actually in my head, so to him, I was just staring at him like a weirdo.

I bit my lip and laughed, sheepishly. "Sorry about that. It's Bruno. He called."

Luca smiled and screamed, "Silencio Bruno!"

And of course, by the law of old-time-sake, I had to join him. "Silencio BRUUUNOOO!"

When the laughter died down, our eyes met for a second and I couldn't help but pull him into my arms.

That's when I realised, my best friend was home. Nothing had changed. He was still small and warm and his hair still smelled like Luca. Everything was still Luca. I sighed through my nose and settled into the hug; for a moment it wasn't weird. Until he talked.

"Uhh…you're not gonna fall asleep on me are you?"

I rolled my eyes and pulled away, flicking his ear. "Ow, hey! What was that for?"

"You're late." I folded my arms and looked at him like an angry spoilt child. To be honest, I felt like one. "You didn't even know when I was getting here."

"That's not an excuse." I walked to the edge with my arms still crossed. I didn't even know where I was going with that.

"You guys already having an argument?" 'Ah shit. I forgot about her.'

When I heard her voice, it honestly sounded like noise. Like worse than her morning trumpet routine. Why did she have to be here now? I just got him back.

"Hey, Bertie. Miss us?" She said, obliviously chirpy. 'I missed him. Not you.'

"Yeah, yeah sure." I said, brushing her off, still turned away from them.

I heard Luca giggle so I knew she did something stupid behind my back. "Oh, Luca, remember what I was telling you about on the train?"

'Huh?'

"Oh, about Medusa?"

'Who?'

"Noo, after that. About planets and gods?"

'Wait, what?'

"Wasn't Medusa part of that?"

'What are they talking about?'

"No, that's Greek mythology."

'Mythology? Great. More big words.'

"Oh yeah, with Thor and Freya, right?"

"Nooo, that's Norse mythology, you're getting better at differentiating them though."

THUD!

I turned around, and no one was there, and the window was closed.

'He left? We didn't even talk…'

I walked towards the clear glass and saw them surrounded by books with pictures and words, a lot of them. And they were looking at them, smiling and shit. Luca, was looking at it smiling as if it were so goddamn interesting.

He literally left me for a book.

"Woahhh…" I heard him say from behind the glass.

I grunted and stomped back to the edge and jumped down and just sat under the tree.

Throughout the whole day, they talked. Luca would try and include me sometimes but Giuilia would somehow take the conversation somewhere else and he would forget about me. It was annoying, I just wanted to spend time with him and she was ruining it.

Even at the dinner table, they would just talk about school and work and teachers, and I'd just sit there and listen. Even Massimo was ignoring me. Halfway through the meal I lost my appetite and Giuilia picked up my plate not even realising there was still food on it, dumping it in the sink and took him up to her bedroom again. I just helped Massimo clean up that night.

It got dark and I was bored so I went up to the tree house and laid there, soon after he joined me. I didn't feel like saying anything, which was weird because I was practically waiting for him all day and all night and now he was here, I had nothing.

"I have so much to tell you, Alberto-"

'Wait, what?'

"-I learned about all the planets in the solar system and some of them are actually named after gods. It's not actual science, the planet part is, not the gods, that comes under either mythology or religion-"

'He's not for real, is he?'

I looked to him and he was still talking. He hadn't even looked at me. He was just telling me stuff. And I couldn't even hear him. I could, but I just chose not to listen. But I didn't want to hear him.

"Luca."

Almost immediately, he stopped. And he looked back at me.

I bored into those big clueless brown eyes. My belly fluttered a little too much. "Can we go to the beach?"

He gave me a smile that I was too angry to return. "Yeah, you wanna go-"

"Yeah, I wanna go now." I stood up, midway through his sentence, and sat at the edge of the wooden planks on the treehouse. "But can we not talk?"

He didn't respond but I didn't look back to see if he even acknowledged what I said, I just climbed the ladder down to the floor and started walking.

-

While we walked I didn't slow down for him to catch up, but I could hear his footsteps so I knew he was still there. It was quiet but my head was so loud.

It was frustrating walking side by side with him so whenever I felt he was too close I'd speed up a little. If he's so smart, why is he being so stupid?

I didn't realise I was looking at my feet until I looked up when I heard the waves.

I jogged up to a specific rock and climbed on top of it, dangling my feet above the water. I like to think the sea was trying to catch my toes, it made me smile a little.

I heard Luca's feet squish in the sand as he approached, but he didn't sit next to me, he sat on the sand cross legged staring at the ocean.

I took a peek at him a few times in that moment; I wasn't that angry anymore, I had him to myself now but I was still feeling shitty.

"I missed this, y'know."

I looked at him and the anger started to melt away a little more. "Like, being near the water, it's nice."

'Oh right, the water…' I slapped myself,mentally.

I laughed awkwardly and put on a smile, "Yeah.. the water is pretty awesome."

I looked down at the rock I sat on, then at my toes.

"At school, there wasn't any beaches nearby, it was all humans and houses. There was canals but you wouldn't want to swim in those. And lakes but it's not the same."

He sounded sad as he spoke. I looked at him again and he was hugging his knees. Why was he sad?

"I felt really out of place. I wished you were there with me, Alberto." He said, finally looking at me.

"What about Giuilia?" I asked, reverting my eyes to the moon.

"What do you mean?" He asked, cluelessly.

I gritted my teeth in frustration; how could he be so blind?

'You ignore me all day and still have no idea? Is it just me?'

I turned my head away to hide the burning anger that started to swell up inside me. "I mean, she was there with you. Since you guys are so pally with each other, I thought you would've been fine."

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't imagine what it would've been like if you were there with me."

'Really?'

I liked the idea that the whole time he's with her, he's bored and just imagines having fun with me.

Honestly, I just wanted to hear more.

"Did you think of me while you were out there?" I said, looking at him with blatant hopeful eyes.

I needed to know. I thought of him all the time. It wouldn't be fair.

I could've sworn he blushed a little when I asked. But he looked back at the water again and started to fiddle with his pinky toe. "Well…yeah, sometimes…"

That's when I blushed. I turned back away trying to hide it when he looked back up at me. "So why did you ignore me all day?"

"I…didn't mean to. It was just- we learned so much, I wanted to talk to you about this stuff but you never seemed interested…"

I looked at him from my peripheral vision and he looked a bit sad. I guess I never really made the effort to see how his trip was. I just wanted to spend time with him as if he didn't leave.

'Damn it, Alberto.'

In that moment I stood up and sat next to him shoulder to shoulder. I placed my hand in his hair and fiddled with his curls, I only really noticed how weird that is when he looked at me.

I smiled and asked, "How was school?"

We talked about a lot of stuff I still don't really understand but he wouldn't stop smiling so I tried to keep up. I asked a lot of questions and no matter what I asked he would always try and explain; one of the things I love about him.

The whole time he was talking, I was just looking at him and that's when I noticed how pretty he was. Like, he has the most boring coloured eyes and they're still really pretty.

I just kind of wanted to hug him.

We laid back and started stargazing for a bit. We spoke a little more about Giulias mum and their food. After a minute of talking we just laid in silence.

Then a thought crossed my mind that I couldn't ignore. "Random thought, did you ever kiss anyone out there?"

Luca snapped his head in my direction, "What? No!"

I burst out laughing at his reaction, he was all pink with the most horrified expression I'd ever seen.

So, I pressed further.

"Well, maybe it didn't happen but maybe you wanted something to happen." I teased, suggestively wiggling my eyebrows.

He scrunched up his face disapprovingly, and clapped his hands over his face. And in muffled complaints, "Ew! No!"

I held my stomach and wailed even louder.

After a few seconds of howling at the moon, I noticed Luca was quiet; I looked down and he was still covering his face. His hands looked really soft.

I wanted to hold them.

"Peak-a-boo!" I hushed, booping his belly.

"Stop.." He groaned in an achy tone.

I didn't poke him that hard. I looked back at those soft looking hands again and grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands away from his face.

But then he has his eyes closed and he was a little pinker than usual. Never seen anyone as pink as he was.

That's when it hit me. He'd never been with anyone.

"Have you ever…you know…" I asked.

Then he peaked an eye open and shut them just as quick. I'll take that as an awkward no.

"You haven't?"

He took another peak at me and sighed but he was still persistent on having both his eyes closed as he spoke. Crossing his arms over his chest he said, "It's not like I didn't want to, it's just, I've always had stuff to do."

I was intrigued. "With what? School?"

"Huh?-" He looked at me a little confused, "I'm talking about before any of this." He gestured to himself and went back to his eyes being shut.

Took me a while to realise he meant before he was human. What was he busy with when he was all scales and fins?

I never really asked about why he wanted to be apart of the human world before now. I mean, I knew about him almost getting sent away but that's the extent of it; he knew everything about me and I just about know enough to call it a friendship.

"I know you got your eyes closed but I am kind of waiting to hear more."

I shifted myself a little closer and laid on my side with my hand holding my head and just stared at him. He was really adorable.

"I mean…besides managing the farm, there wasn't much time for anything else."

"I didn't know you was a farmer."

He shrugged. "It just never came up."

'Or I just never asked.'

I sighed quietly and ruffled my hair a little bit thinking of what to say next. But he got there first. "What about you?"

I looked at him, confused. "What about me what?"

He moved to lean on his elbows, looking at me. I preferred when he had his eyes closed, he was making me a little nervous. "Have you ever kissed a girl before?"

'Nope. Never.'

"Well yeah, tons of girls."

His eyes lit up like the first time we tried spaghetti; he scooted closer to me with pure enticement. Like really close. So close his face was inches away from mine.

"What was it like?" He asked, eagerly.

I laughed nervously and looked him up and down thinking of what to say. "Well…it was alright."

He looked a little underwhelmed. "Alright?"

I shrugged and grinned. "Yup. It was alright."

He didn't look like he was buying it. It was his turn to look me up and down, but with a lot of suspicion.

I bit my lip and huffed forcefully. I hated Luca sometimes. "Fine! Fine, no I've never done anything either."

I pouted in defeat.

He grinned and shoved me lightly, looking all smug. "Ha! I knew it you little liar!"

I pushed his head away but he just swerved back, giggling in my face. "Yeah yeah, can it, you mackerel."

The giggles died down. We kind of just laid in silence and took in the moment. I wasn't sure about him but I was imagining what tomorrow was gonna be like.

I missed him so much. I'm glad he's home now but he's gonna go back when summer is over. And he's gonna go with her of all people.

'Ugh. She's ugly anyways you have nothing to worry.'

"Hey…Alberto?"

I looked at him and his eyes were already on me. How long had he been staring at me?

"Yeah?"

"When I'm done with school-" He looked hesitant to say what he was gonna say. I was about to press further before he said, "Can we still get a Vespa and ride around the world?"

I grinned ear to ear, and screamed, "Hell fucking yeah!"