Peter had to admit, Venice was beautiful. Not that he thought it was going to be anything different, but the slight water spray as the boat bobbed up and down towards their destination, to the soundtrack of clicks of his classmate's camera's at all the buildings they were passing, with Katya's hand in his and her foot hooked around his own- he felt like he could finally relax for a second.

They passed by houses flush with the water, and under the beautiful white marble arches that Venice was known for. After they got into the city, however, they turned down into a smaller alleyway, and it became apparent that they were headed towards a more run-down portion of Venice than Peter had expected. Eventually the boat came to a stop in front of a place that said hotel, but there were tarps propped on either side- it looked like it was under construction.

"Looks like we're here!" Mr. Harrington said, as the boat slowed. "Looks like they're doing some renovations to the place. Get some upgrades."

"This is trash." A classmate behind Peter said, and he felt almost bad agreeing.

Once they'd all filed off the boat they entered the hotel lobby, which held some empty tables, a run-down couch, and a man behind a desk. A cat meowed from somewhere. Peter felt his feet squelch into a few inches of water and he recoiled. Katya, in her typical boots, probably didn't get her feet wet, but furrowed her brows all the same. She broke away for a moment to speak to the man- who looked like he wanted to be literally anywhere but here- behind the counter as Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell conversed- though it sounded more like bickering- behind the group of students amongst themselves.

Peter had no clue what Katya and the man were talking about but it was in rapid Italian, until she thanked him graciously- Peter could tell by her body language- and returned to the group. "He says we're in the right place."

"This place is sinking." Snorted Flash.

Mr. Dell hopped to the front of the group. "All right everybody, drop your bags off, get settled, we're going to meet at the Da Vinci museum at three! Vamanos!"

"It's andiamo" Katya corrected, too loudly for it to be considered under her breath but not loud enough that she seemed to expect anyone to hear or care. Peter smirked.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do!" Mr. Dell encouraged, "When you're in Venice, your socks get wet!"

—- —-

Once they'd put down all of their things in their respective rooms, the class ventured out into the courtyards of Venice. In the middle of the piazza, amongst the throngs of tourists and locals alike, there was a healthy flock of pigeons. Katya grinned, backhanding Peter's shoulder lightly to get his attention. "Watch this."

She ran into the group of pigeons, which disturbed most of them, but they fluttered back almost within the moment. They were oddly similar New York pigeons in that they didn't seem to give too many damns about anything. She stood entirely still for a moment, her arms out, and about five landed on her, including one on her hand. Her face split into a grin.

"Whoa!" Brad Davis, who seemed to materialize out of nowhere, kneeled down to snap a picture. "How'd you do that?"

Peter, who had also been taking a picture, was somewhat glad when Katya raised a dumbfounded eyebrow. "They're used to being fed by tourists. They're not scared of anything." She let her arms down and the pigeons flocked away. "Here, you try." She stepped up to Brad and raised his arms a bit out at an angle and soon enough, a few landed on his head as well. He laughed and handed over his phone. "Take a picture!"

She did so, before calling out to Peter. "You try! Seriously, they're not scared of anything!"

The snake in his stomach that had been beginning to rear up again died down a bit, and he did so, flinging his arms out like that statue in Brazil of Jesus. Before he could even get a response out he was flocked with birds- almost too many, he had to start swatting them away. "Jesus!"

Katya laughed and took a few pictures with her own phone after handing Brad's back to him. "Yes, you are! Bird Jesus!"

Peter laughed. They both knew that wasn't what he meant.

"Stop swatting your disciples!" Katya called as she angled her phone for another picture.

Once he got them far enough away that he could see again, he laughed and came over so she could show him the pictures. "Send those to Aunt May, she'll love them."

Now he had to find a way to execute the second part of his plan- his real plan, that he'd been talking with Ned about all along- procure a glasswork necklace. Since the first part- sit next to her on the plane- had failed so spectacularly, he had to get this one right.

"Hey, I'm going to go run and find a bathroom," He said the first thing that came to mind. "Will I find you back here?"

Katya nodded, clearly caught up in the giddiness of it all. "Yeah- Betty and Ned are getting their pictures drawn over there, I've got to see that," She said, with a laugh. Peter laughed too, and kissed her forehead before heading off into one of the nearest alleyways.

— —

He'd looked it up on his phone long before they'd even got to Venice, and found the small glasswork shop easily, greeting the storekeeper with one of the few words he knew in Italian "Buongiorno."

The storekeeper looked up from his counter and smiled, greeting him the same. "What can I help you find today?" he said, in perfect English. Peter's ears went red.

"I'm looking for a necklace, with a sunflower, if you have it."

"Sunflower?" The man repeated, before diving into one of the glass cases before him. He did a bit of sorting, and pulled out a silver-chained necklace with a small, sunflower pendant that he held up to the sunlight, where it glinted, translucent. "Girasole," he told him.

Peter smiled as he watched the sun catch the delicate yellow petals. It was perfect. "I'll take that."

Once it'd gotten packed away- very delicately, into a cushioned box, and then a small golden gift bag- Peter paid, and left, tucking away the gift bag as delicately as he could into his backpack.

He barely had time to leave the small, winding alleyway before Katya nearly pounced on him. "Boh!"

It took him a minute to register that bag was safely in his backpack and out of sight, so he could stop panicking. "Huh?"

"Boh- I just learned it from the portrait guy! he was talking to some tourists and they were hassling him, so he finally just said boh and waved them away, but I'd never heard that before."

"So what's it mean?"

"That's what's great about it, apparently it technically means "I don't know", but like, super slang, and can also be used to mean 'get out of my face' or 'fuck off'. It's the perfect word."

Peter chuckled as they made their way off the sidewalk back to the piazza. At a nearby dock, nearly a hundred blue crabs were swarming, all rushing to scuttle out of the water.

"Whoa…" Katya bent down to snap a picture on her phone. She turned back to look at him, uneasy. "That's not good."

Peter barely heard her as he was busy watching all of the run off that would naturally flow into the drain embedded in the sidewalk near them get practically sucked in, leaving the pavement entirely dry.

Katya stood, her eyes raking over the canal, where rough waves were forming. "What the hell?"

They all seemed to converge into a spot in the greater water way before disappearing completely.

"Pauchok…

Then the water exploded.