(A/N) Goddamn! This is 26 pages where I wrote it. This is the longest chapter I've written ever! It was really fun writing it. Enjoy the long chapter. :)

The Marcovoldo Household that same day

Giulia and Luca had made it home. They said their goodbyes to each other and went into their houses.

Giulia opened the door to her home. But as soon as she stepped into the house, the aura had felt dim and low-spirited. She found her father sitting at the table. He looked distraught. He didn't even notice her come in. Machiavelli and Mia were perched on the table next to him. Those cats could always sense when something was wrong.

"Papa?" Giulia spoke finally, making herself known.

Massimo snapped out of his sad staring into space. "Giulietta! You're home. H-how was your day?"

Throughout Giulia's life, her father had always put up a strong face. Always tried to hide how he was feeling. It worked on most people but not on her. She came closer to the man, taking off her jacket as she did so.

"Papa, what's wrong?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Massimo sighed. He was never able to hide how he was feeling from her. "Non posso ingannarti, vero? I have...some bad news…I have been let go at the fishery," he said, unable to face his daughter.

"What? Why?!"

"They are struggling with financial issues. They can no longer afford me…"

"Oh no…" Giulia cast her eyes downward. "Then...what happens now?"

"I don't know." Massimo rubbed his tired eyes with his thumb and index finger and shook his head. He had to be strong for Giulia. "But, I have been dwelling on this all day. How was your day?"

Giulia wanted to press on about his work issue but the man seemed too tired to think about it anymore today so she let it go.

"Well, I...agreed to go out with Guido today. We're going out tomorrow." Giulia said nervously.

Massimo raised an eyebrow at that, making one of his eyes more visible. "Is he a well-behaved boy?"

She knew her father was just concerned. "Yes, Papa. I've known him for a month now. He's a very nice boy."

"Where is he taking you?"

"I actually don't know. He wants it to be a surprise."

Massimo let out an unsure 'hmm?' of suspicion.

"Don't worry, Papa. I'm sure it's nothing extreme. He's not the kind of person that would do anything dangerous." Giulia assured.

"Hmm... Alright, you can go. I'm trusting your judgement of character."

Giulia gave out a playful scoff. "I wasn't asking permission, you know."

"In this house, my input matters in who I trust my daughter with."

Giulia sighed. "Yes, Papa." Giulia then went to leave the room to head to her bedroom but before she went any further she stopped at the room's exit and turned to look at Massimo. "I'm sure we'll get through this, Papa. I don't want you to make yourself sick over this, okay?"

Massimo smiled at her and nodded. Giulia headed up the stairs, leaving Massimo with his thoughts. He was going to have to think of a solution soon. If he didn't find another job he wouldn't be able to support Giulia's schooling or be able to provide her with the things she needed. If he couldn't afford to have Giulia live with him he would have to send her off to live with her mother, Maria, in Genova. If he did that he wouldn't get to see Giulia as often as he'd like.

Maria was currently paying child support and was successful in her work as a famous painter. They had divorced when Giulia was nine. They cared for one another but they had wanted different things for themselves. Maria wanted to live in the city and work on achieving her dream as a painter. And she achieved that. She wanted more than to live in a small town as a fisherman's wife. She wasn't able to spread her wings in Portorosso. Massimo hated big busy cities so he couldn't follow her. When they separated, Giulia didn't want to leave her best friend, Luca, so they had allowed her to stay in Portorosso. Massimo had been overjoyed that she chose to stay with him. The divorce had been hard on Giulia and he was thankful to Luca who had been there for her through the struggle.

Massimo was afraid to let Giulia know that all of that could become a possibility. Giulia loved her mother but leaving town would devastate her.

Giulia sat on her bed thinking about what she had just been told by her father, her chin resting on her knees. What were they going to do if he didn't get a job? Money had already been tight. This didn't help the situation at all. She needed to talk to someone about it.

Giulia went into the hall to the phone and picked up the receiver. She was about to punch in Luca's number but then retracted her hand. Maybe she shouldn't bother him about it. The fishery did belong to his uncle. She didn't want to seem as if she was bad-talking him, especially now since he had gone through god knows what, a couple of days ago. Giulia shook her head. She instead punched in Luna's number. Giulia never got to talk or say goodbye to her after practice anyway. Maybe she'd listen. After the third ring, someone picked up.

"Hello?" a man said on the other end.

Giulia figured it must've been Luna's dad. "Um, hi. Is Luna there?"

"Yes, she is. Who's this?"

"It's Giulia. Her friend from school."

"Oh, I didn't know she had friends at school. She never talks about anyone from school. Hmm. Well, I'll go tell her." he said.

Giulia thought that fact was a little strange to know. Maybe she'd ask about it sometime. She then heard the other end's receiver being picked up.

"Giulia?" Giulia heard Luna's voice.

"Ciao, Luna."

"Hey, h-hows it going?"

"I, uh, just wanted to talk. Is...that okay?" Giulia asked, twirling her finger around the phone's wire.

"Of course!" Luna said excitedly.

Giulia giggled at her enthusiasm. "That's good to hear."

"So, what's going on with you?"

There was a few seconds of silence before Giulia replied. "It's...uh...well, my papa got laid off today."

Luna gasped. "What? Oh no! I'm so sorry, Giulia."

"Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen. I just hope this won't be a thing for very long. I just...needed someone to talk to."

"Oh, Giulia…"

Giulia sighed, sitting down on the floor to get more comfortable. "It's just...high school is already a pain in the ass right now. I just got used to my school routine for god's sake. Why does this have to happen? It's like, nothing is ever easy anymore. The only things that help me get through it are you, Luca, Guido and Ciccio, really..."

"...Hang on a sec," Luna said suddenly.

"Uh..okay."

A few seconds passed and Luna was back on the phone again, sounding a bit out of breath.

"Back! Um... so…, I just went to grab this brochure I had in my room that we got in the mail today and...it's for this aquarium downtown. It's brand new and it looks really fun...have you ever been to an aquarium?" Luna asked timidly.

"Actually, no," Giulia said.

In all honesty, the reason for that was Giulia never had anyone to go with. Luca couldn't go for obvious reasons. He was always too afraid to risk something like that. Too afraid that there was a chance that water would get all over him.

"Really? Well, I was thinking, maybe, you and I could uh..go there on Sunday?" Luna then started rambling. "If you don't want to I completely understand. I mean you're already going out tomorrow with Guido, you'll probably be too tired too because we'd have to get on a bus and it'd be a school ni-"

"Yes!" Giulia said immediately, stopping her ramble.

"Wha? Really!? You want to?" Luna said, surprised.

"Yeah! Sounds like fun."

Luna let out a sigh of relief. "Wow, that's great…UH! Um, why don't we go in the morning, so we have more time together."

"Yeah. Let's meet at the bus station at 10:30 am then, okay?"

"Yes! Absolutely!"

At the Agostino house

The two girls had just hung up. Luna couldn't believe she had just done that. Since when had she become so impulsive? Her better judgment had told her not to go to the aquarium. After all, her dad had thrown the brochure in the trash after getting it out of their mailbox. She knew her parents wouldn't want her to go to an aquarium of all places. That was an accident waiting to happen. A high chance of being revealed in front of everyone. That didn't scare her though. What did scare her was Giulia seeing her in her sea form. If that happened she'd probably have to move again or worse, she'd have no chance with her. Just because Giulia accepted Luca for who he was didn't mean Giulia would be interested in her romantically. Interested in being with a sea creature. Hell, she didn't even know if Giulia even liked girls that way.

But then she forgot...Giulia was going on a date tomorrow. A date with Guido. A boy. A human boy. Maybe that was proof enough. Giulia was probably straight.

'Ah, man, what am I thinking. I can't even think about being with her as a possibility in the first place. Then everyone would know I'm…' Luna couldn't even bring herself to finish that thought.

She shook her head and tried to reject those ridiculous thoughts. She had only wanted to cheer up her friend. Her friend ! It wasn't a date. Giulia wouldn't see it like that anyway. Sunday was just going to be two friends hanging out. That was all it was.

Luna was just going to have to lie to her parents about where she was going. They never let her out if she told them the truth.

The next day - Saturday

Luca was now waiting at the end of his street for Alberto to pick him up and take him to god-knows-where for their catching up with tutoring. Along with his backpack filled with what they'd needed, he was also carrying a helmet that he would wear whenever he'd ride his bike. He wanted to be protected while on Alberto's much bigger, and intimidating, bike.

As he checked his watch he heard the sound of a very loud motor coming closer to his position. Luca looked up from his watch and saw, which he assumed was Alberto considering his helmet was covering his face on his motorcycle, now coming to a stop in front of him.

Alberto took off his helmet revealing his charming smile. Why the hell did that smile make his stomach feel like fish were swimming in it? It was a very weird feeling and it made him nervous.

"Hey, Luca~. How do you like my baby now that you see it in person?" asked Alberto, his elbow resting on one of his bike's handles.

'There he goes saying my name like that again!' thought Luca.

The childlike wonder in him was saying 'Yeah! It's super cool!' but the more practical side of him reminded him that Alberto was already arrogant as it is. He didn't need to make his ego bigger. So he went for a middle ground reply.

"It's pretty cool, I guess," Luca said.

Alberto looked disappointed with his half-assed compliment but he took what he could get anyway. He looked down and saw the helmet in Luca's hand.

"Ah, I see you came prepared. Very smart," said Alberto.

"Yeah, well, when I remembered I was getting on that thing today I just thought maybe I would die. You know, if I wear didn't it." Luca said coolly.

"Hey, I was gonna make sure you'd be safe. I was going to lend you my helmet."

Luca looked at Alberto like he was crazy. "Alberto, that's nice but kinda stupid, don't you think? We both need to wear helmets."

Luca had a point. He didn't know why but he liked the idea of Luca wearing his helmet while they rode on his bike together. But, then again, this way was probably safer for both of them.

Alberto then gave a sheepish expression. "Heh, I guess you're right." Alberto patted on the space on the bike's seat behind him. "Well, get on."

Luca gave an unsure look at the seat but got on behind him anyway. Once on, he held tightly onto the back of the seat with both hands, preparing for probably the most daring thing he has done his whole life.

Alberto started the motor, making Luca even more nervous, letting Luca know that what was about to happen was actually going to happen. At the last second, Luca realized that this wasn't going to be like riding a regular bike on the back of Giulia's bike like they used to do as kids. So just before Alberto started to drive Luca quickly leaned forward and tightly wrapped his arms around Alberto's waist, causing Alberto to tense up in surprise unbeknownst to Luca. Alberto then remembered he was driving and snapped out of it, speeding up to distract himself.

Outside the Marcovoldo's house.

Guido, getting off his bicycle, was now making his way up onto the porch of Giulia's house. He was wearing a nice navy blue long-sleeved coufran shirt with the collar turned up, black pants and blue running shoes. He had a sweater on top since the weather was starting to get a little colder.

He rang the doorbell. A very large man opened the door. The man looked like, if he stepped on him, he'd probably die. The man looked kinda scary but Guido put on the best smile he could muster at that moment. This man was most likey Giulia's dad and the last thing he needed was to make a bad first impression.

"Uh, ciao. You must be Giulia's father. I'm Guido." Guido said finally, holding out his hand for the man to shake.

The man did nothing but stare at the boy's hand at first, making a hesitant face. But shortly shook Guido's hand. Guido noticed he had a very strong grip.

"You must be the boy that my Giulietta is going out with today," Massimo said simply.

Guido didn't want to be on the man's hit list if he had one, so he kissed up a bit.

"Yes, sir. I plan to take good care of your daughter today and make sure she makes it home before her curfew." Guido said politely.

"See to it that you do," Massimo said back.

Giulia came up from behind Massimo finally. She was dressed in a gentian blue jumpsuit. The zipper was zipped up halfway showing a simple black tank top underneath. She was also wearing a black bandana on her head. It was a simple look but she still looked great. He was thankful she hadn't dressed up fancy considering where he was taking her.

"Wow, you look great, Giulia," Guido said.

Giulia blushed. She had never gotten complimented by a boy on a date before. Not that she'd been on a date before this. It was unfamiliar but it was nice.

"Thanks. You look pretty snazzy too," said Giulia. "So, I'm not underdressed then?"

"Nope, good choice. Can't wait to show you where we're going."

"Neither can I. It's been hard being patient so let's go already!" Giulia grabbed Guido by the arm and walked towards his bike. She turned to her father and waved to him before getting on. "Ciao, Papa!"

"Giulietta, take this with you," Massimo said handing Giulia her jacket. "The days are starting to get cold."

Giulia took it. "Thanks!"

The two teens then put on their helmets, and then off they went.

Luca and Alberto finally came to a stop. Alberto turned off the bike expecting Luca to let go and get off as fast as possible. However, Luca, with his eyes tightly shut, still had his arms, now firmly, wrapped around Alberto. The shorter boy had not yet registered that the motorcycle had come to a stop. Alberto flushed.

Not sure what to do he just said. "Uh, hey...we're here."

Luca slowly opened one eye then the other. He looked around. His tight grip on Alberto's waist loosened but he didn't let go.

Luca recognized the area to be Protorosso's docks but this part of the docks seemed to look secluded. No one else was around but them. Luca was thankful for that face when he realized he still had his arms around Alberto's waist. Luca panicked, instantly letting go of him and getting off the bike as if the seat was burning hot. He then looked away from the other boy, embarrassed as his face turned pink. He breathed in and then exhaled. He needed to calm down.

Still not looking at Alberto, waiting for his face to feel back to normal, Luca finally spoke. "So, uh, why are we here? Don't tell me this is the place. We can't work here."

Alberto got off his bike. "Oh no. This isn't the place. We just can't ride the rest of the way."

"What do you mean?" Luca asked, now facing him.

Alberto turned to overlook the ocean and pointed at something towards it. "You see that tower all the way over there?"

Luca's eyes followed where Alberto was pointing to. Luca could see a tower on a tiny island far off into the distance.

"Yeah?"

"That's the place."

Luca's eye widened. "Over there?! That's really far. We don't even have a boat."

Alberto chuckled. "Ha! We don't need a boat. We're sea creatures, remember? If we swim we'll get there no problem."

Luca backed away a tiny bit. "Oh...I don't know. I've never swum that far away from Protorosso before."

"Oh come on. Trust me, it'll be fun." Alberto pressed. "Leave your shoes and socks though. Wet socks. Not a great feeling. Also, flippers practically suffocate in shoes."

Luca had to agree. When he turned full-on sea creature in the darkroom at school, his flippers had slowly started to hurt. Luca was still skeptical about the place Alberto wanted to go. But he was a little curious about the tower. There was a little voice inside of him that was telling him to be adventurous for once.

Luca sighed. "Alright."

Alberto smiled excitedly. "Awesome. Alright, let's do this." he took off his shoes and socks, hid them under his bike and then started running toward the docks.

Luca did the same, then he took off his sweater vest in his backpack and then tightly zipped it back up, protecting that and everything else that was in it. Once Luca caught up with the taller boy, Alberto turned to him.

"Just follow my lead." He said and then he jumped into the water.

Luca rolled up his sleeves and jumped in after, the water making his sea creature form appear on his body.

Now in the water, the seawater felt good on his scales. Luca always loved this part when he rarely got to do this. He looked around the water for Alberto. Then Luca heard his voice behind him.

"Whoa…"

Luca looked in the direction he heard the voice. He saw a purple sea creature across from him, staring at him, looking almost in a daze. But then, staring at the sea creature opposite of him, he found himself at a loss for words. His purple and indigo scales were...so pretty. This was how Alberto really looked like? Sure he had seen Alberto's sea form before but the darkroom didn't allow him to witness the true colours of his scales.

Alberto, looking at the younger sea creature's blue and green scales, had him speechless as well. The darkroom hadn't done Luca's magnificent scales justice. The green and blue almost gave off a radiant shimmer of aqua.

They swam closer to one another, not taking their eyes off each other.

"You look-" they said in unison. They both stopped mid-sentence.

They laughed awkwardly as both their faces started to heat up. Both of them thanked God that blushes didn't appear as present on their faces while they were in their sea creature forms.

"You first." Alberto insisted.

"Uh...well, your sea creature form looks really-"

"Awesome? Intimidating? Frightening?" Alberto interrupted.

"Pretty…" Luca finished.

Alberto froze. Not expecting that compliment.

Seeing Alberto's reaction, Luca quickly covered his mouth in surprise. He couldn't believe he just said that to his face. Alberto probably thought that was weird to say.

But that couldn't be further from the truth. Alberto's heart felt like it had flipped when Luca said that. But he tried his best to contain his true reaction. Refusing to show Luca's compliment had a strange effect on him.

"Um, thanks… You look-"

"Yeah...?" Luca said, quickly turning to face Alberto again expectedly. But just what was Luca hoping for him to say? Did he want a similar compliment? Would Alberto even say anything like that about him? No way. Alberto was way too cool for that. And yet...maybe?

Alberto looked into Luca's brown eyes, but now they had a yellow sclera colour to them. They were truly something to behold on their own. Alberto could see hope for a meaningful compliment in those eyes. A genuine one. He usually wasn't good at those but looking at Luca in this way how could he pretend to act cool? Pretend he wasn't looking at something so...

"Beautiful…"

Luca gave out a tiny soft gasp hearing that and his eyes widened in utter surprise.

The feeling of fish swimming around in Luca's stomach returned but this time it didn't bother him. This time it felt...well he wasn't completely sure what the feeling was but it felt good. Did Alberto mean that? It sounded like he did.

'Oh shit! Tell me I didn't just say that out loud!' Alberto begged in his mind.

Alberto hadn't meant to say that word. That word was supposed to stay in his mind. Forever! How could he come back from saying that? Luca was probably seconds from turning around and running for the hills. He wasn't gay. And he was pretty sure Luca wasn't either, heck, that girl he went to talk to the other day at the soccer field was probably his girlfriend or something. But that comment could come across as if he were gay. He wouldn't blame Luca if he thought that. Should he pretend he was joking? Would Luca buy that?

"Th-thank you…" Luca said finally with a timid tone. He was going to ask if Alberto meant that but he was too scared Alberto might take it back and say he was kidding around. For some reason, Luca wasn't sure he could take that. He'd rather believe that Alberto did mean it.

'He didn't think that was weird? Huh…' Alberto thought.

"Uh…, yeah, sure, whatever," Alberto said, playing it cool.

"Let's head to the island now." He said quickly, turning away and swimming off in the island's direction.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Luca yelled, swimming after him.

At the town Roller Rink

Giulia looked at their surroundings as Guido, with Giulia holding onto Guido's shoulders, parked his bike in the parking lot. The building that they were in front of was the town's roller rink. A pretty popular place. It had been a while since Giulia had been here. She barely went anymore since Luca would always fall, claiming the skates the place gave him were always 'rigged'. Giulia never bought that though. She smiled at the memory.

"Well, this is the place," Guido said as he was locking his bike in safely where other people's bikes were.

"Wow, I haven't been to this place in a few years," said Giulia in response.

"Really? Well, Ciccio and I come here every once in a while. So I guess you could say that I'm pretty much a pro at rollerskating." Guido said, letting out a little chuckle. "You excited to be back?"

"Yeah. I remember this place being fun."

Guido smiled. "Great, well let's go in."

Giulia nodded and they headed inside. They pushed the front doors open. Giulia looked around. The place hadn't changed that much which was welcomed.

"So, what do you wanna do first? Skate or get something to eat at the food court?" Guido asked.

"Hmm...let's skate first. I'm sure that will get an appetite going."

"Alright, let's do it."

Guilia took off her jacket and tied it around her waist. Guido did the same with his sweater but tied it loosely around his shoulders. They then went up to pay for their rental skates in their sizes and went to the bench to put them on.

As Giulia was putting on hers she was a bit nervous. Since it had been so long since she was here she was probably a little rusty at rollerskating. Once their skates were securely on they stood up and walked towards the rink's entrance.

Guido swiftly got on the rink no problem. When it was Giulia's turn to get on, with her hands holding onto the rink's walls, she put one foot onto the rink. As she did so she struggled to get her foot steady. The wheels made her foot slip but, because she was hanging onto something, she had avoided falling. She retracted her foot from the rink back safely onto the carpet floor outside the of the rink.

Guido watched as she looked hesitant. Giulia tried again. This time she slowly put her foot onto the rink and did the same with the other. Once she was successfully on the rink, without meaning to, her skates slowly started to move her towards Guido on their own. She tried to make them stop by stretching out her arms, making a 'T' pose, but to no avail. Guido did not attempt to move out of the way. Their bodies collided but the impact wasn't anything drastic. Guido had kept upright and gently held Giulia steady by her arms.

Giulia let out an awkward giggle. She wanted to step back a bit but she was too afraid to possibly embarrass herself any further by moving even an inch.

"I'm guessing being away from this for a few years didn't do your skating skills any favours, huh?" Guido guessed.

Giulia sighed in defeat. "Yeah...I guess so. Sorry."

"It's okay, don't worry." Guido, not letting go of Giulia, slid his hands down Giulia's arms and stopped once he was holding onto her hands. "I got you."

"O-okay," Giulia said nervously.

Skating backwards, Guido haltingly pulled Giulia by her hands closer to the rink. Now officially on the rink, as others skated by, he let go of Giulia's right hand and skated to stand beside her, both facing the direction they were going to skate.

"Alright, now watch my feet carefully and just do as I do, okay?" Guido instructed.

Giulia nodded. With Giulia watching his feet, the two slowly, but surely, started to skate forward. As the two went along, Giulia was gradually starting to get the hang of it again.

"Hey! I'm doing it!" said Giulia with a wide grin, as she continued to keep her balance. Giulia, in her giddiness, with her free hand, took Guido's free hand and she spun them around in a circle together. Both laughed together as they did so. Then Giulia let go of Guido and she freely skated by herself and then stopped and struck a pose in front of Guido as if she were figure skating on ice at the Olympics.

Guido clapped at her mini-performance. "Outstanding performance, Signora Marcovoldo. Congratulations on winning the gold medal and making Italy proud. What are you going to do next?" he asked joking around as he held out an imaginary microphone to Giulia.

She played along, putting on a fake emotional voice. "Why, thank you! I feel so honoured to be rewarded with this medal. I'd to thank my mom, my dad and all of my friends. I couldn't have done it without them."

No longer able to contain themselves they then roared with laughter. Causing some of the people skating around them to stare at the two.

Luca and Alberto finally reached the surface of the island.

Luca could hardly see a thing since his glasses were soaked. He took them off. There wasn't anything to dry them off with since his shirt was wet as well. Luckily he wasn't blind without them. He just needed them to be able to read better.

"Alberto, you wouldn't happen to have a towel in the tower, would y-" Luca's sentence was cut short when he turned to look at Alberto.

Luca's eyes were greeted by the sight of a now shirtless Alberto from the back who was ringing out the water from his shirt, trying the get the worse of the dampness out.

"What was that?" Alberto asked turning around, giving Luca a better view of his muscles.

"Uhh, d-do you have a towel or something up in the towel-TOWER?" Luca stuttered, reverting his eyes from Alberto.

"I'm not sure. The place can get pretty cluttered but I'm sure we can find something." Alberto replied.

"O-okay…" Luca said still looking away.

Why was he reacting this way? It was just another shirtless guy. He'd seen that before and he had never reacted this way. Luca took a deep breath turned around now seeing Alberto putting his shirt back on but holding his leather jacket. Luca had never seen Alberto without his jacket on. It made him look a little different oddly enough, Luca thought.

"You aren't wearing your jacket?" Luca asked.

"Just for now. The water makes my jacket uncomfortably hug my body. Kind of like the wet socks thing. It was hard enough taking it off."

"Oh."

"Alright, follow me," Alberto said, leading the way to the tower.

Once they got closer to the tower Luca looked up at it in awe.

"Mother-of-pearl…" Luca let out. "Is this place yours?"

"Yeah!" Alberto said. Then Alberto faltered a bit. "Well, kinda. No one but me ever comes here. This place was abandoned when I found it. So I made it my own. Apparently, this place is haunted." he chuckled.

"Oh, haha… it's not though, right?"

"Maybe. You scared?" Alberto asked with a smirk.

Luca stood up straighter getting defensive. "No! I'm just asking."

"Heh, well, I've been coming here since I was 12 and I'm still alive. You're fine here. Besides it's not scary."

With that, Alberto climbed the makeshift latter that was hanging against the tower leading up into it. Luca made sure to climb up carefully.

Once Luca made it up, he looked around. He saw that the tower looked homey and not scary at all. There was a hammock to rest on, some shelves with comics and what looked to be drawing pads on them. there was also a radio and many coloured pencils on a table on the other side of the room, stairs leading to the top of the tower, a window of an oceanview where he could see Portorosso far off in the distance and lastly, almost everywhere, there were papers among papers of drawings on the floor and some hanging up on the walls. They were amazing.

Luca picked up a few to look at. "Whoa… did you draw all of these?"

"Yeah. They're alright. Most of them are just simple sketches though." Alberto said nonchalantly.

"Are you kidding? These are so good!"

Alberto gave a surprised look. "Really?" Luca had never given him a real compliment on his drawing before but he knew Luca liked them to some degree.

"Totall-" Luca stopped his sentence when a drawing on the table with the radio and coloured pencils on it caught his eye.

Luca picked it up to look. It was fully detailed, coloured and shaded. The drawing consisted of what looked like glowing blue and aqua anchovies swimming in the night sky. There was a much bigger yellow anchovy in the middle. Luca stared at it in astonishment, at a loss for words.

"Do you...like it?" asked Alberto.

"Alberto...this is...the greatest drawing I've ever seen!" Luca said finally, not looking away from the drawing. "How long did this take you?"

"Mmm, maybe three or four separate days. It's pretty recent."

Alberto had found a hand towel stored away and handed it to Luca. Luca carefully put the drawing back on the table. Luca finally took his eyes off the drawing and took the towel from Alberto to wipe off his glasses.

"Well, uh...let's get to catching up," Luca said, opening his backpack and taking out their work supplies and notes.

It had been a good couple of hours of rollerskating and joking around for Giulia and Guido. They had a lot of fun. Giulia had picked back up her skating skills so fast that she was skating circles around Guido. Guido wasn't going to admit it but she was a bit better at it than him.

"Man, I'm starving." Giulia started.

"Great. Let's get something to eat" Guido said.

They got off the rink, took off their skates and headed for the food court. They got in line at the counter to order.

"So, what are you gonna order?" Guido asked.

"Hmm, not sure yet. I remember liking the hotdogs from here alright. You?"

"Definitely the burger and fries. This place has the best ." Guido went on. "You should order one too. I promise you'll love it."

Giulia laughed. "Alright, I'll try one. I'm trusting you on this one."

When it was their turn they both ordered the burger and fries, with ketchup. Then they found a table and started to dig in. Guido watched Giulia try the first bite of her burger. She chewed and then she perked up with delight.

"Wow! This really is the best!" she said as she then closed her eyes to allow her sense of taste to take over.

But then, as Giulia swallowed, she was startled to feel a cold and sticky dab on her nose suddenly. She opened her eyes to see Guido caught red-handed with a fry dipped in ketchup pointed at her nose.

"Told ya," Guido said chuckling.

Giulia was surprised at first but then quickly attacked Guido by grabbing a handful of his fries and throwing them at him. It was Guido's turn to be shocked but then he snapped out of it and rebutted by doing the same with Giulia's fries against her.

They were making a mess but they were having fun and laughed as they were doing so.

Throughout their tutoring session, Luca had come up with the idea that, as he was going to be showing Alberto the wraps in what his class was learning, he would make up basic ninth-grade math problems bit by bit to stimulate Alberto's brain. It seemed to be working a little. Luca was hopeful that Alberto would pick up on it eventually.

Soon sunset was upon them and they were done.

"Alright. We are now caught up!" said Luca as he exhaled.

Alberto exhaled as well before he laid down on the floor in exhaustion. "Awesome."

Luca turned to look out the window of the tower. He could see the sunset. It was radiant, Luca thought.

"Wow, you see that?" asked Luca.

Alberto got up from the floor to look out the window as well.

"Aw, that view is nothing special. Follow me." Alberto said, running up the tower's steps to the top.

Luca followed. When they made it to the top Alberto pointed to the sunset. Luca's eyes went wide and he slowly removed his glasses to see it a little better in all its glory. Alberto had been right. Luca could better see all the reds, yellows and pinks that the sunset's beams gave off. Luca and Alberto both leaned on the edge of the tower. Luca admired the sun while Alberto had found something more dazzling to look at.

Thanks to the tiniest of brightness from the sunset, Alberto could see it reflect in Luca's big brown eyes. Alberto had always assumed that Luca's glasses magnified his eyes to be bigger than they actually were but they didn't. Without his glasses, his eyes were no different. They were still big, shiny and full of wonder just the same. A wonder Alberto was only able to see in them when Luca thought he wasn't looking.

"What did I tell ya? Pretty great, huh?" Alberto asked.

"Yeah…" Luca said in a daze.

"Hey, um… what's your favourite colour?"

Luca broke out of his daze at that and let out a tiny laugh. "That's a random question."

"Eh, not really. You seem to love the sunset and the sunset has lots of colours and you liked my drawing with the fish. So...what is it?" Alberto asked again.

Was Alberto trying to get to know him or something? Luca wondered. A basic question to start with but if Alberto was trying to talk to him without teasing, which he successfully managed to do today so far, then he'd take it.

"I like blue," Luca said simply. "You?"

"Ah, I have a hard time deciding."

"What? I just told you mine."

"No really, I do." Alberto laughed. He side-glanced Luca and then smirked, getting a little closer to the smaller boy. "But you know, I guess if I had to pick...maybe green or an aquamarine colour." He got closer to Luca. "I got to see the most vibrant versions of those colours today while swimming in the sea today." The taller boy said, getting even closer.

Luca started to get an idea of what he was talking about. Or at least who he might be referring to. He was teasing him again. Alberto had done this many times before but this time it seemed almost...flirtatious. More personal. It made Luca so confused but he pretended to act dumb.

"Oh yeah?" Luca said as casually as he could muster. But it sounded more like his voice had just cracked for a second. He gulped. "L-like where ?"

Luca could feel himself starting to sweat in nervousness. Why wasn't he moving away from Alberto? Were his feet stuck to the top of the tower? His heart was starting to hammer in his chest.

"I think you know where," Alberto whispered.

That was it for Luca. Mustering up all of the bravery he had left, he pushed Alberto away from him. Alberto looked shocked. It hadn't hurt but it had been enough force to send Alberto a good 6 feet away.

"Can you stop that?!" Luca yelled.

Alberto then caught up with himself. He hadn't meant to go that far. It was just that Luca had pushed for an answer, making him have to think of a colour he liked. But it was true he did have a hard time deciding on his favourite and remembering the colours of Luca's sea creature form were the first colours that came to mind. Maybe he should just lie and say he meant something else. He had almost crossed a line earlier that day when he had called Luca beautiful. That moment had given him a scare.

"Stop what? I was talking about the water itself. The sun does give the water those colours sometimes Heh." Alberto said, trying to play it off.

But that response had only made Luca even angrier.

"No. That isn't what you were getting at. Are you seriously saying you weren't just referring to me, Signore 'Oh, your scales are beautiful, Luca'!" Luca said, trying to mimic what Alberto had said to him earlier that day. "You know, it's bad enough when you tease me by saying all this weird shit. It's a whole other thing when you try to take stuff back or not even mean them at all." Luca got closer to Alberto, now pointing at his chest hard. "I knew you were just screwing around when you said I looked 'beautiful'. Do you ever mean anything you say?"

Alberto didn't answer. What could he say to that? This confrontation had come out of nowhere. He didn't even think he could tick Luca off this much. It was safe to say he had gone too far this time. When he asked about Luca's favourite colour he hadn't meant it to lead to this. But now Luca was thinking he hadn't been serious about saying Luca looked beautiful. That was probably the most serious thing he had said all day considering he hadn't meant to say it at all. That word was supposed to stay in his deep, deep inner thoughts but it had slipped out. But he was serious when he said it, even if he regretted saying it.

When Alberto didn't respond Luca grunted in annoyance. How could have been so stupid?

"Ugh, whatever. I'm going home." Luca said, turning around and starting to walk down the tower steps.

Alberto wasted no time chasing after him. "Hey wait!"

"Leave me alone," Luca said as he climbed down the ladder.

Alberto then, without thinking, jumped off the tower from where the latter started to try to beat Luca to the ground.

"Alberto!" Luca cried out, seeing him land hard on the ground.

The landing was not a nice one as Alberto had practically face-planted. Alberto groaned in pain. Once Luca was at a safe distance to do so, he jumped the rest of the way of the latter and bent down beside Alberto who was still face down on the grass.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?!" Luca yelled.

Alberto slowly rose but only got as far as resting on his forearms on the ground, looking up at Luca.

"Heh, well it got you to stop didn't it?" Alberto tried to laugh but the pain wasn't worth it.

Luca rolled his eyes. "That isn't the point. You're lucky you didn't break anyth-"

"I did mean it," Alberto said suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"The 'beautiful' thing. I wasn't screwing with you when I said that. Just don't read too much into it, okay?"

"O…kay…" Luca stood up and turned away from Alberto. "I just want you to stop teasing me. It's making me feel...I don't know, it's just weird. I want you to stop."

"Ooo...I don't know if I can do that. " Alberto joked.

"Alberto," Luca said in a warning tone.

Alberto put his hands up in defence. "Ok, ok. I'll tone it down."

Luca sighed. He was getting tired of his nonsense. He started heading to the water. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go home."

"Luca, wait!"

Luca stopped but didn't say anything.

Alberto continued. "I'm sorry...for making you uncomfortable. I'll stop. I just wanted to say that, up until now, this, hanging out with you here, it was...fun. So...if you don't hate me….maybe come back here tomorrow? I mean, if you liked that sunset view you should see the sky at night out here. You seem to...like that kind of thing."

"You want me to come back?" Luca questioned.

"Yeah, sure. If you want to..."

Luca turned away from him once again, a tiny smile he did not wish to show Alberto appeared on his face.

"I'll think about it…"

Alberto had wanted a more absolute answer but he figured he didn't deserve one so he accepted it.

"Alright, I'll be here waiting tomorrow then."

Luca nodded then walked down the steepness of the island to the water to go home. Alberto decided to stay at the tower a little longer. He assumed Luca wanted space and would prefer if he did not follow him.

Back at the Marcovoldo's house

Guido stopped his bike in front of the house and Giulia jumped off his bike and he walked her to the door.

"So, was today fun for you too?" Guido asked, hopeful.

Giulia smiled at him. "Yeah, I had a good time."

"Really? That's great...would you ever want to do this kind of thing with me again?"

Giulia knew what he was really asking. "You mean, go on another date with you?"

"Yeah…"

Giulia did have a great time with Guido and he had been a gentleman when he wasn't throwing her fries at her. She had never dated anyone before so she didn't have anything to compare it to. If what they did today was what dating was then what was the harm? She was still unsure how she was supposed to feel about Guido. Maybe if she did this again, the way she was supposed to feel would come more naturally. After all, this had been her first date ever.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Giulia said.

Guido gave a big smile. "Really? That's awesome to hear. Well, we'll make plans again soon then."

Giulia nodded. With that, Guido then kissed Giulia on the cheek, surprising her. She hadn't expected him to do that. Guido, seeing her reaction to what he had just done, immediately apologized.

"Sorry! I uh, I thought you might've been expecting me to do that. Not that I felt obligated to do that or anything! I actually wanted to. But I should've asked first." Guido rambled.

"It's okay. It just surprised me, that's all." Giulia assured.

"I'll ask next time. Goodnight." Guido finally said as he headed back toward his bike.

"Good night," she said back, waving.

She watched as Guido rode off. She could get used to this. She was a teenager now, Giulia thought to herself. Dating is a part of growing up, right? So, she should be dating boys by now. Guido was ideal boyfriend material too, it seemed. This was normal.

(A/N) Oh no, now I'm putting poor Massimo through drama X(

But there are going to be some repercussions after Ugo not paying the gang and having to pay double that he owes now.

I swear, whenever I write romantic Luberto scenes it's like my hands have a mind of their own. I end up on a roll and have a hard time stopping.

Yay, I finally get to do a 70's roller rink part. It's fun coming up with fun '70s stuff for the characters to do. Is it cruel that I made Giulia and Guido's date go well and it was kind of cute? If yes and I have just made you conflicted that's okay. I'm aiming to have you guys feeling that way because Guido is a nice guy and he wanted to show Giulia a good time.

For anyone who is worried about Luca walking home, he's fine. It isn't completely nighttime yet and he knows his way home from the docks. He'll be fine. Lol

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Reviews are very much appreciated! They really do motivate me and make me feel good. I read every single one.