(A/N) Hi, everyone. I am sooooo sorry for being inactive for two full months after the cliffhanger I left you all on. I had barely any time to myself within all that time and it frustrated me to no end. I feel so bad. If you're all still with me I'm so happy you are.

Now let's get to the next chapter! I hope you enjoy this one.

That Same Day - Outside the Paguro Household

As fast as he could, Alberto swung down from a branch that was attached to a tree just outside Luca's bedroom window that he previously had used to climb up there moments before. Once Alberto stumbled as he landed on the grass. Not from the high jump down but from how unstable he was from what he had just done with Luca inside his bedroom. The older boy had barely managed to stay on his feet. Alberto turned the corner, now in front of Luca's house. He leaned against the brick house to catch his breath. His heart was beating so fast and he felt weak in the knees.

"Stupido. Stupido. Stupido! " Alberto said, berating himself. "How could I let that happen? How could I do that? "

But he knew why. Alberto gripped his hair tightly, causing strands to come out of place and stick out due to the gel in his hair. He looked a mess.

"…I'm such an idiot. I probably ruined everything…" Alberto couldn't stand up straight anymore. He slowly slid down and sat on the ground, feeling hopeless. He shivered as the cold November wind blew past him.

"THEY'RE BORN!"

Alberto's heart jumped at the sudden loud voice and he immediately stood to his feet. Alberto turned his head to where he heard it come from, to his right which was next door. There Alberto saw Giulia, beaming with excitement.

"I AM AN AUNTIE!" Giulia shouted again.

Giulia then started running towards him. Alberto froze in place. He knew he probably looked terrible.

"Oh, man. Luca is gonna lov-" Giulia halted her sentence when she finally noticed Alberto. "Alberto…what are you doing here?"

"I-I was just leaving." Alberto quickly said as he moved past her.

Letting the scene sink in, Giulia thought for a moment. Alberto was just below Luca's bedroom window and he did look flustered. Then it hit her.

Giulia quickly turned around and grabbed Alberto by the arm. "Wait a sec."

"Hey, what are you doing?" Alberto tried to pull his arm out of her grasp but it was no use.

But then Giulia noticed the bruise on the older boy's cheek, seeing his face clearer. Her previous thoughts were forgotten.

"What happened to your face?" she asked, concern in her tone. "That wasn't there at lunch."

Alberto had noted the redhead's tone change but brushed it off, feeling embarrassed that she had caught him in a vulnerable state. It was already bad enough that Luca had witnessed it and look what happened.

"It's none of your business, okay?" He said bitterly. "Can you let go, now?"

Alberto's response took Giulia aback. She was being nice to him, what was his deal? Something must've happened between him and Luca but Luca wasn't a violent person. It must've been someone else. Giulia wasn't about to give up. Alberto was a tough one to crack but if Luca could do it to some degree Giulia figured so could she. Giulia would tell Luca the news later. Alberto probably needed this.

"Not until you see them. Come on!" Giulia said as she started to pull him by the arm to her house.

"Wait, what? No." Alberto said between grunts, trying to pull away from the girl once again but to no avail. How was she so strong? "Who's 'them' anyway?"

"You'll see," she said in a sing-song voice.

They reached the front door and went inside. Alberto had given up trying to get away at that point. There was no getting out of this. This girl was relentless.

"Papa! I've brought a friend to see them!" Giulia yelled.

Alberto saw a large shadow coming towards them in the next room over. Giulia's dad's footsteps were loud. How big was this guy? Then the man entered the room, focused on drying his one and only hand, to Alberto's surprise, against his apron.

"Ah, so Luca came to see-" The man looked away from his hands. His eyes, which looked almost covered by his bushy eyebrows, landed on Alberto. "Oh…who is this?" he asked his daughter.

Alberto studied the man. His missing arm was a surprise that was for sure. The boy's green eyes tried not to focus on it too much to not get caught staring. Though Alberto wasn't sure why making a good first impression on this guy felt like a big deal to him at all. Maybe it was the fact that this man could probably take him down in seconds.

'This guy has killed things for sure' Alberto thought, but he didn't feel threatened.

The man was huge in height and muscle. Even taller than his dad. His dad had some muscle too, boy did he know that for a fact, but not nearly as much as this man had.

"This is Alberto, a friend from school." Giulia introduced.

Alberto raised an eyebrow in bewilderment at Giulia when she had used the term 'friend'. She considered him a friend? She had sounded genuine. Somehow the term felt different than whenever Luca said it about him. Sure, Luca meant it, Alberto was sure of that but, given their situation, especially after tonight, he wasn't sure what they were. But with Giulia, he didn't know she had considered him one at all.

Signore Marcovaldo's large hand took Alberto's to shake, breaking the boy out of his thoughts.

"Well, it's always nice to meet new friends of my little Giulietta." The man said.

As the large man shook Alberto's hand he could tell Signore Marcovaldo was studying him as well but Alberto didn't see any judgment in his eyes which he wasn't used to when meeting new people. It seemed as if the man was trying to read him. Finding the idea of anyone doing that off-putting, Alberto stopped looking at the man before him in the eyes, putting his walls back up.

"Good to meetcha, heh…" Alberto said awkwardly

The handshake ended. Giulia's hand then returned to holding onto Alberto's arm.

"Alright, alright, come look at them now," Giulia demanded and she dragged him into the next room.

Soft tiny mewing could be heard. Alberto looked down at the source of the mewing and saw a cat bed that held eight very tiny newborn black and white kittens, a couple of them were just black. They were curled up next to a very tired-looking, and larger black cat, which he assumed to be their mother.

"Aren't they absolutely adorable!" Giulia squealed.

The two teens went to get a closer look but didn't get very far when a larger cat stepped in front of them in a protective stance and narrowed his eyes at Alberto in particular, blocking them from the mother and babies. Alberto assumed the cat was the father. This cat had mostly white fur, black fur on its back and a very noticeable black patch of fur on its front left leg.

Giulia shook her head and let go of Alberto's arm, putting her hands on her hips.

"Machiavelli, be nice." The redhead scolded. She turned back to Alberto. "Don't worry, he's usually harmless and keeps to himself. He won't bite."

The two only got a few inches toward the other cats before Machiavelli started to hiss, making Alberto and Giulia stop their actions.

"Non ne sarei così sicuro, Giulietta." Massimo interjected. "Once a father's child is born, in this case - children, his protective nature is instantly heightened. Take it from someone who knows."

Alberto wanted to roll his eyes at the sappy lie Giulia's dad had just told as if it were fact. But he held back his cynicism.

"But Papa, I brought Alberto over to see the kittens," Giulia whined.

Massimo chuckled. Then he bent down next to Machiavelli and started petting him.

"Do not worry, I will make sure nothing will happen to your babies," Massimo told the cat.

The cat leaned into the older man's palm, affectionately. Alberto knew the cat didn't completely understand the man but it was as if the cat had some idea of what his owner was getting at because right after he said that Machiavelli's tensive stance simmered and he let Giulia and Alberto pass but still kept an eye on the teenage boy as Giulia's dad continued to stroke him.

Alberto and Giulia then walked closer to the basket and sat down on the floor in front of it, seeing the kittens now up close.

"Aren't they soooooo so cute? I could just stare at them forever." Giulia said, trying not to excitedly shout her sentence causing her to sound squeaky instead to avoid startling Mia and her babies.

Alberto rolled his eyes at her cooing but he had to admit, they were pretty cute.

"Yeah, sure," he replied.

Giulia raised an eyebrow at him. She could tell the boy next to her was just trying to act cool. She was willing to bet he was holding back what he really thought of them.

Giulia scoffed.

"What?" Alberto asked.

"You know you don't have to act cool in front of me. I'm not one of your gang member doofuses, I'm your friend."

'There's that word again.' Alberto thought.

"A real friend. Do those guys even respect you?" Giulia continued. "I thought you were their new leader or something."

"Huh? What makes you think they don't respect me?" Alberto said back, offended by that assumption.

"Well, why else would your cheek be all bruised up? Surely one of them must've done that to you. Do you guys rough house or something? What are you guys, five years old?"

"Wha- what are you even talking about? No." Alberto said, trying his best to keep his voice down.

"Then what happened? Who did that?" Giulia asked again.

"That's none of your business."

"But it-"

"Giulietta, may I speak to you in the other room?" Massimo interrupted sensing the conversion getting heated.

Giulia sighed, getting the idea that she was in trouble. "Yes, Papa…"

She dragged herself onto her feet and followed her father into the next room.

When Giulia and Massimo had left the room, leaving Alberto alone with the cats, Machiavelli snarled at Alberto as a warning. Alberto instantly put his hands up to the cat to show he had no intention of harming any of his family. Seeing this, Machiavelli slowly sat back down but didn't look away from the teenager.

"Giulietta, what have I taught you about boundaries?" Massimo scolded.

"Ugh, Papa, please, I know about boundaries. I'm not a little kid anymore. You don't need to talk to me like one." Giulia said, rolling her eyes.

Massimo put his hand on his hip. "Oh, I don't do I? Then don't give me a reason to."

Giulia huffed. "But that is, like, a really enorme bruise. I just want to know what happened. Why's he gotta be so stubborn?"

Massimo continued. "Let the boy come to you when he's ready to talk."

Then it was Giulia's turn to put a hand on her hip. "And how exactly do you know if he'll talk at all?"

"Just a feeling." her father replied. "Now, are we clear?"

Giulia sighed. "Cristallo…"

"Good." Massimo then turned around toward the kitchen, grabbing his apron that was nearby. "I'm still in the process of making dinner. Oh, and, ask the boy if he'd like to stay for dinner."

Giulia nodded and returned to the other room to see Alberto, who hadn't left his spot, staring intently at the sleeping kittens. Giulia leaned against the doorframe and couldn't help but notice that the boy looked tempted to scoop one of them up. She found it cute.

"You should adopt one of them," Giulia said, making her presence known to Alberto.

"What?" Alberto asked softly in surprise.

"Well, not right now. But when they're ready to leave Mia you totally should." Giulia suggested.

"Well…I-"

"Now, I would keep them all if we could but…if we did then money would get slim real fast." Giulia interrupted, ignoring what she sensed was about to be a would-be protest. "Wouldn't want to burn through all that money you gave us."

"Hey, keep it down. Do you want your dad to hear? " Alberto said in a harsh whisper.

"Relax, big guy. He can't hear us over all the noise he's making in the kitchen. Wanna stay for dinner by the way?"

Alberto blinked at her sudden invite, bewildered at how she was able to change topics so fast.

"N-no. I-I think I should go." He declined awkwardly, feeling like he was imposing.

Giulia's forwardness and overbearingly welcoming manner felt so foreign to him. He had never been invited over for dinner anywhere before. Not that he ever had the kind of friends that would ask him to or had the time to. Alberto felt he had better leave while the going was good. If he agreed to it he'd probably mess things up or say the wrong thing. He seemed to be on a roll with that today he thought. Alberto got up from the floor, headed for the front door and started to put on his coat.

Giulia stepped in front of him "Aw, don't be such a party pooper. Come on, Papa is making my favourite, Trenette al Pesto. You'll love it."

As if right on cue, there came a delicious scent that wafted from the kitchen into the room they were in that was very coaxing.

"No really, I'm not even hung-"

Suddenly Alberto was interrupted by his growling stomach. Alberto's eyes widened in embarrassment.

Hearing that, Giulia gave him a look. "Santa Mozzarella. Just take off your coat, hang it on the rack and meet us in the kitchen. If you're not there in one minute and try to leave I'll just run after you. And you and I both know I will catch you."

Alberto raised an eyebrow, unamused by her bossiness. No one other than his dad ever dared to boss him around.

"Are you this bossy with everyone?" He asked.

"Only when someone is being a hardass. You gotta eat, don't cha'? I mean…that's pretty obvious according to your stomach." Giulia giggled and then turned to go to the kitchen.

Alberto watched her form go into the kitchen. It was at that moment that he gave up. Alberto was hungry but he hated having given the redhead the very false satisfaction of feeling like she had any power over him. He was staying on his own accord. Not because she had practically ordered him to. Alberto was going to stand by that statement. Besides, he didn't know when his next meal was gonna be anyway. It was too soon to return home after what happened with Bruno.

Though, Alberto had to admit that Giulia, with her crazed bubbly antics, was a good distraction from thinking about what had transpired between him and Luca only a half-hour ago.

Giulia and Alberto were sitting at the table waiting in anticipation for the food Massimo was now putting on their plates.

The girl next to Alberto knew what she was about to consume and was excited about it. Fitting since Giulia had said it was her favourite. Alberto didn't know what to expect. He had never had this 'Trenette Al Pesto' before but judging by the smell of it he was 85% sure it most likely tasted good.

Massimo then placed a bowl of the pasta dish to each teen. The aroma of the pasta up close was even more delectable than from the other room. Out of politeness, Giulia and Alberto waited for Massimo to get his own bowl and sit down as well. Giulia tapped her foot impatiently under the table. This was harder for her to do whenever it was Trenette Al Pesto night. But finally, Massimo did come and sat down with his food, causing the table to shake as he did so.

"Mangia." The man said as he got out his napkin and put it on his lap.

Giulia immediately grabbed her fork and started digging in. Alberto looked down at the plate of pasta. He had had pasta before, sure, but this type with its potato and green-coloured toppings was new. Alberto looked back up at Signore Marcovaldo. The man was staring back at him expectantly. It was a tad intimidating but Alberto couldn't be sure if his staring was trying to come across that way. Within the very short time knowing the man, that seemed to be his resting face.

Without breaking eye contact with the Signore Marcovaldo, Alberto picked up his fork and swiftly twirled it in the pasta, gathering it up around the utensil and then he put it in his mouth.

As soon as the pasta hit his taste buds Alberto went into a daze of delight. This was the best-tasting pasta he had ever had.

"Mmm!" Alberto let out, adoring the new taste.

Then the older teen proceeded to instantaneously stuff the meal in his mouth one quick bite after the other. Giulia giggled at his actions as she continued to consume her own pasta dinner. Alberto heard her laugh but he was too high on the feeling like he was in heaven to care. Massimo showed a small smile at the boy's approval that went unnoticed.

"So, tell me a bit about yourself, Alberto." Massimo started. "What classes do you take at school? Are you in any classes with Giulietta?

"Uh, no. I'm actually a year higher than Giulia. We aren't in any classes with each other." Alberto replied.

"Ah, so you are in the same grade as Giulietta's boyfriend and her friend, Luna?"

In his peripheral vision, Alberto could see Giulia's shoulders slump a little when Luna's name was dropped. He wondered why that was.

"Yeah, they're both in my math class," Alberto said. He would think about that other thing later.

"I see. So then how do you know Giulietta personally?" Massimo asked.

"Oh…um…" Alberto was stumped on how to answer that question. He couldn't tell the man about the whole money thing.

"Through Luca," Giulia answered for him, coming to the rescue. "He's Alberto's math tutor."

The beating of Alberto's heart returned to normal speed, thankful for her quick thinking. He wished he thought of that instead of looking like a speechless jackass.

"They've been getting super close," she added.

Now that last comment was unneeded, Alberto thought, giving the redhead a small dirty look. Giulia ignored it with a smirk on her face.

"Yeeeah…he introduced us," Alberto said before she uttered anything else and then took another big bite of his pasta.

"Ah. So, what do your parents do?" Massimo asked, continuing the conversion.

Alberto instantly went wide-eyed at that, pausing his chewing. What was this? An interrogation? Instead of answering Alberto decided to chew his pasta slowly to have the slightest bit of time to think of a good lie. This big guy probably didn't approve of the town gang and Alberto wasn't interested in having a confrontation about it.

Giulia however, could see that Alberto's mouth was full so she answered for him.

"His dad is the leader of the town gang. He's never mentioned his mom though." Giulia said a little too nonchalantly to Alberto's unpleasant surprise.

'È fottutamente seria?!' Alberto yelled internally.

"Bruno…?" Massimo said softly in shock.

The two teens both instantly looked at the man with wide-eyed confusion.

Alberto finally swallowed. "You…know my dad?"

Massimo then realized his slip-up.

"...Papa?" Giulia said in question.

Did her father know the leader of the town gang? If he did then this was news to Giulia. There was something he wasn't telling her.

"I…uh..yes…I do." Massimo replied slowly, "I was…"

The man was starting to feel overwhelmed. All kinds of long-stored away memories were all flooding back to him. Memories he had put behind him. And if Alberto was Bruno's son then that also meant Alberto was a…

Massimo gathered himself. This was too much all at once. He needed to process it more alone before he inevitably had to explain himself. No doubt Giulia would have many questions. He needed time to think. Massimo saw that the teens were basically done with their food. He looked at the clock on the wall.

"It's getting late. You should return home." Massimo said to Alberto, changing the subject.

The confusion in the boy's expression didn't leave his features and the subject change had only added a feeling of being dejected. Signore Marcovaldo probably had some kind of beef with Bruno and now wanted him out of his home. But Alberto couldn't say he was surprised. Why did Giulia have to tell him the truth?

"What? Papa, you can't be serious. How do you know him?" Giulia pressed.

Alberto got up from his chair. "It's fine. You don't need to explain. I get it."

The boy started to walk away. But Massimo quickly stood up and put a hand on Alberto's shoulder, stopping him, which made Alberto look at the man's firm but also gentle hand on his shoulder and then look up at him. The man could see the hurt in the teenage boy's eyes. It was clear to Massimo that Alberto had gotten the wrong idea.

"It's nothing you've done. I just…wasn't expecting you two to be related but…looking at you now…I can see the resemblance."

Alberto grimaced a bit at that comment. That wasn't a compliment in his eyes.

Massimo had noticed Alberto's reaction to the comment. The boy hadn't seemed to like it very much. Massimo wondered why.

"I'll tell you what, the next time you come to visit I'll explain everything. But you should be getting home now. It'll be getting dark soon."

Alberto's expression instantly changed at that. He wanted him to come back? Should he come back? Alberto was very interested in an explanation.

The boy then nodded. "Okay…"

Giulia let out a huff, bummed out her father wouldn't spill anything he knew right away as she'd prefer. But she let it go for now.

"I'll walk you home," Giulia offered but it sounded more like a for-sure plan. "I'll take my bike with me so I can be back before it gets too dark."

Alberto didn't feel like he needed anyone to walk him home. He had walked around town at this time of night before but, knowing Giulia, she probably wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. So he would let her.

The teens got their coats and shoes on. Alberto headed out first but before Giulia could follow, her father stopped her as he started to speak.

"Giulietta…, when he does come to you about…whatever is going on…tell me about it…even if it is told to you in confidence. Do you understand?" Massimo asked her with a serious look on his face.

Massimo couldn't know for sure that his suspicions were correct but, knowing that the boy's father was Bruno, and knowing Bruno in general, it was a possibility that what he was thinking the wound on the boy's face could've come from...he needed to know for sure.

Giulia's stomach turned at the request. Her father seemed to be confident that Alberto would talk about it with her at some point. She wasn't so sure. And what if he did? If Alberto did come to trust her with the truth and the situation was severe…he probably would never tell her anything ever again if she told her father. But if someone was hurting him? Then maybe betraying Alberto's trust wasn't as important in the long run.

Giulia sighed. "I understand..."

And with that, the redhead went out the door with Alberto, leaving her father alone with his thoughts.

Silence loomed over Alberto and Giulia as they continued to walk down the street together towards Alberto's house, Giulia pushing her bike along with them as they moved.

"Well, that was…interesting," Giulia said, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah…" Alberto replied simply, looking straight ahead, thinking.

"There must be some kind of big story behind it all. I've never seen my Papa act like that before."

"Hm."

Giulia raised an eyebrow at his extremely short response. Was he even listening to her? Giulia decided to change the subject instead. But to what?

"Oh yeah, you still haven't told me what you were doing at Luca's house," Giulia said, chipper.

That seemed to get Alberto to come back to reality, seeing how his cheeks instantly turned red at that.

"Th-There's nothing or tell!" Alberto replied defensively.

Giulia narrowed her eyes. "I think you're lying."

"I don't care what you think."

"Oh, well then, if that's the case you won't care what I think if you tell me, no?"

Alberto stayed in stubborn silence, red as a tomato.

Whatever happened must've been juicy but if Giulia wanted to get anywhere with Alberto she needed to show Alberto that he could open up to her about a lot of things so she got an idea.

"Tell you what," she started. "If I tell you something juicy about something that happened to me first and then you tell me your thing with Luca."

"...No promises," Alberto said.

"Alright, alright, you don't have to tell me yours tonight but I'll tell you mine now...So, Luna told me…that she is a sea creature."

Alberto slightly turned to look at her, eyebrows raised.

Giulia smirked at his expression. "That's right, I know you knew already…that you found out...before I did..."

"Hmm. Ya jealous?" Alberto asked teasingly, finally showing an expression that wasn't serious or as if he were hiding something.

The redhead chuckled loosely. "Well…a little bit, yeah."

"Well, that's not really that 'juicy' since I already know some of that information."

"I actually haven't told you the juicy part yet." Giulia exhaled before speaking again. "She also told me…she like likes me."

"...Whoa…I knew she'd come out and tell you about the 'being a sea creature' thing but not that part."

Giulia's eyes widened in realization. "Wait, you knew she was into girls before me too?"

"Oh…well, yeah. But in all fairness, she spazzed the information onto me out of annoyance at me assuming some things. It was kinda funny, actually." Alberto chuckled.

"Hey, this is serious. None of this is a joke." Giulia scolded.

"Easy, Spitfire. I'm just pouring out my feelings. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Those aren't your 'feelings', they're your opinion. Two completely different things, Big Guy."

Alberto sighed. "Se lo dici tu. So,…what did you say after she told you that?"

Giulia's eyebrows arched. "I…didn't really say anything…meaningful…In fact, I barely gave her a response."

"Ouch,"

"I know. I feel really bad about it."

"Do you feel the same way?"

Giulia hid her face from Alberto, biting her lip. "I…I have a boyfriend."

"That's not what I asked."

Giulia groaned. "Even if I did feel the same, I'm still with Guido!" then she sighed. "Besides. Luna acted weird toward me today. I wanted to talk about what happened but…it felt like she was trying to get away from me. She's probably mad at me."

After hearing what Giulia said, Alberto had an idea of why Luna could have been avoiding Giulia but he didn't understand why Luna wouldn't want to talk about the situation. Alberto didn't know Luna all that well despite knowing two of her biggest secrets, but, avoiding necessary conversions didn't seem in character for her. On Halloween night, Luna seemed to be a prickly person but not spiteful or a coward. Alberto couldn't imagine what it would feel like if Luca rejected him if he had the guts to confess to the younger boy. He'd probably be the one to do the cowardly option if that happened. Though he probably already messed up his friendship with Luca after tonight. But Alberto didn't want to think about that. He'd deal with that tomorrow.

Alberto wasn't one to stick his nose into other people's business but maybe he could ask Luna why she was acting this way and report back to Giulia. He figured it was the least he could do after she invited him in for a free meal, albeit she did so more forcefully than was necessary, in his opinion.

But Alberto's expression remained stoic. He didn't want Giulia to think he had gone soft.

Giulia clutched the break line of the vine-green coat she was wearing. "You know, this coat is actually Luna's? I accidentally ran off with it around me after she confessed to me…I can't say I'm not conflicted."

"You ran away? Yikes." Alberto commented.

"Shush! I already feel bad about doing that." Giulia inhaled and then exhaled. "Santa Parmigiano-Reggiano …Well, that's my 'juicy' story."

"Hmm…that is juicy alright." Then Alberto came to a stop in front of his big house. "Well, this is me."

Giulia examined the large home with her brown wide eyes. "Whoa…your house is huge!"

Alberto chuckled dryly and shrugged. "Well, my dad is one rich asshole that picks on people for what he thinks he's owed after all. You do the math."

But Giulia couldn't see why he would find that to be something to joke about. It only raised her suspicions about the culprit behind Alberto's bruise but that was a serious accusation. She couldn't be sure yet.

"I guess I'll see you around at school," Alberto said, walking towards his house.

"Yeah…," Giulia replied.

The redhead started turning to leave but then stopped short and then ran up to Alberto and enveloped him in a hug from behind, making Alberto stiff frozen in her grasp, shocked.

"Uh...what are you doing?" Alberto asked, confused.

"Giving you a hug. What's it look like I'm doing?" Giulia said back, voice a tad muffed due to having her face against his back.

"Yeah, but…why?"

"Because you listened to all that drama and didn't judge the situation too harshly. And also…because I...have this bad feeling that someone is hurting you. I felt you might need a hug." Giulia said softly.

"Oh…well…thanks I guess?" Alberto said awkwardly. He didn't really know how to properly react to any of this.

"You're welcome." Giulia finally let go. "Oh yeah, if you tell anyone what I said, ya know, about being conflicted, I will kill you. It's our secret. Capiche?"

Alberto rolled his eyes. "Yes ma'am," he said sarcastically.

"Good."

Giulia then turned around again heading back home, leaving Alberto. He shook his head slowly. Alberto wondered how Luca survived being her friend every day. She was a bit much and a goof but he couldn't say he disliked her entirely.

Alberto approached the front door of his house, turned the knob, which was surprisingly unlocked and stepped inside. It was dark but not dark for long when a light instantly came on from a nearby lamp that, unfortunately, he saw that Bruno had turned on. He was beside the front window. Great…

"Who was that?" Bruno asked firmly.

"Just…some girl from school." Alberto reluctantly replied, not wanting to tell him anything considering his father was the last person he wanted to talk to.

"Is she a sea monster?"

Alberto found that to be an odd question to ask next. "No."

"Is that so…You fooling around with her?" Bruno asked next.

" What?! No!" Alberto shouted, denying it immediately.

The idea of doing things like that with Giulia had never even crossed his mind.

"Whoa there, she's pretty average but not entirely bad looking. I saw her getting cozy with you. You don't have to lie to me if you're just having a little meaningless fun with her." Bruno said cooly.

"No, really, I don't like her like that." Alberto insisted.

Bruno's smirk disappeared. "Oh, so she's a clinger that can't take a hint. Want me to get someone to scare her off?"

"No! Just…leave it alone. She's nothing, okay?"

"Fine, but just say the word and she's gone. We don't need a human leech on your back." Bruno said, dropping it.

Without another word, Bruno went upstairs to bed. Alberto leaned against the door and let out a big inhale and then exhale. That was awkward as all hell. More awkward than Giulia's hug. At least that came from a good place. The conversion he had just had made him feel queasy. Just thinking about her in that way, in a theoretical relationship, was like how he assumed thinking about being with a kid sister in that way.

The boy was too tired for all this. Entering an art contest, getting no praise of any kind from his father on his passing grade only to get socked in the face by him, fucking kissing Luca and possibly tarnishing a friendship, and then an out-of-nowhere dinner with Giulia and her father who may know his father and then that same father asking if he was having a fling with a girl he had zero interest in.

He needed his bed more than anything so he followed Bruno's example and went upstairs to his own room.

(A/N) Yay! Alberto and Massimo finally meet!

Man, I'm not subtle at all with what I'm clearly doing with Alberto and Giulia am I? If I actually am let me know. I can't tell rather or not that "kid sister" bit was too obvious and/or forced. But if it is and you love that then do let me know that as well.

But let me tell you, once I was on a roll with writing I'm happy I could finally get to this part in particular. I hope you liked /

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