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Chapter Text

Alberto Marcovaldo had been taught at a young age never to trust sea monsters.  They stole from fishermen’s nets and would drown you if you got too close.  He was taught to steer clear of them and if a sea monster came too close, put a harpoon in its back.  The only good sea monster was a dead one.  

~*~*~*~

Alberto could see the sun behind his eyelids.  Even with the sunlight begging his eyes to open, he couldn’t do it.  Alberto was becoming more aware of his situation, though.  His body felt heavy in the sand, the cold water lapping at his bare feet.  He was leaning on something cold and wet. . . the weirdest part was that it was vibrating.  Then he felt a hand touch his face.  Well, he assumed it was a hand.  It was the right shape for one, at least.  It wasn’t warm and dry, but cold and wet like the weird vibrating rock he was resting against.  He felt a curl being brushed away from his face.  The vibrating was soothing. . . then he noticed it was a tune.  The rock wasn’t vibrating, it was humming a song to him.  

“Citta Vuota,” he whispered.  

The rock gasped and the hand stopped it’s gentle strokes.  Alberto was able to think fast enough to grab the creature’s arm before it could get far.  Slowly, his eyes finally blinked open against the sunlight.  He could only see a silhouette in the light before whoever it was pulled away.  

Alberto heard a splash and sat up in a panic.  He soon learned this was a mistake as the world tilted without him and he fell back to the pebbly sand.  

“Wait!” he shouted, even though he knew it was futile at this point.  They were probably long gone.  “Per favore!”  

He sat up slower this time, leaning heavy on his arms.  In the water, he was surprised to see a figure standing there.  A boy?  No. . . suddenly the cold, wet body he had been leaning on made more sense.  The figure had bright green scales instead of tan skin and blue fins instead of hair.  Red eyes circled in yellow looked at him from the water.  

“Ciao,” Alberto forced out.  

The sea monster timidly waved back with a webbed hand.  

“Did you save me?”

He nodded, crimson eyes wide and fearful.  

“Thank you.”  It was all Alberto knew to say.  

The sea monster smiled, showing sharp teeth.  The image should have been frightening.  A sharp toothed creature with snake eyes and claws. . .

“Sei bellissimo.” (You are beautiful)

The sea monster looked away shyly and opened his mouth to say something.  His eyes caught something down the beach, startling him enough to escape into the water.  Alberto saw a tail flick out of the water and the sea monster was gone.  No amount of begging could bring him back.  

~*~*~*~

Alberto worried he’d imagined the whole thing.  Perhaps it was all a dream that his mind conjured in it’s water-logged state. . . The sea monster never said a word, but he still remembered the sound of it’s humming. . . He remembered the feel of it’s scales. . .  

He sat on his bed with an open sketchbook, trying to get the creature’s image onto paper before it left his mind.  He’d been so clear in Alberto’s mind. . . he had to be real, right?

“I can’t stop thinking about him.  Stupid, right?”

“Meow.”

“Meow yourself.”

Machiavelli purred and rested his head against Alberto’s leg.  Alberto sighed and scratched behind the cat’s ears.  Machiavelli hadn’t liked Alberto when he first showed up.  He had to bribe the cat with fish to make him stop glaring at him.  When Machiavelli warmed up to him, though, they became nearly inseparable.  The chubby, grumpy cat was usually close by and even started sleeping in Alberto’s bed.  

Alberto had been confined to land since the incident.  He felt a week was overboard, but his father had insisted.  

It gave him time to draw, at least.  Mostly, he drew pictures of the sea monster, though.  Sometimes he had to force himself to draw something else just so he could show his family some of his work.  He had to keep two sketchbooks now: one for his fever dream and one for normal things so his family wouldn’t worry more about him than they already did.  

“Knock knock, Beto,” a voice called from the other side of his door.  

“You can come in, Giules,” he called back, quickly flipping his drawing pad closed.  

Giulia pushed the door open with a smile and a big bowl of pasta.  

“Lunch!”

“Grazie, I’m starving!”

“You’re always starving,” she said, handing him the bowl and a fork.   “How are you feeling, Beto?”

“Meh, not too bad,” he said around a mouthful of trenette.  

“How’s the head wound?” Giulia asked, touching his split eyebrow.  “Need a new bandaid for the boo-boo?”

“Get off me you pest,” Alberto said as he playfully slapped her hand away.  

“Is that any way to treat the person who brings your trenette?”

“It’s fine.  I’ll just have a new badass scar, no big deal.”

“Getting any of those memories back?”

Alberto froze up for a moment, then resumed chewing.  

“Nah.”

His sister tilted her head, eyes narrowing.  

“What?” he asked, mouth still full.  

“You’re lying.”

“Shut up.”

“I mean. . . how do you explain what happened?” Giulia asked.  “You just washed up on shore?  Alive?  With no help?”

“Must have.  I’m tough, Giules.  A little water isn’t going to take me out.”  He flexed one arm like it proved his point.

“No amount of muscle is going to save you from water inhalation, stupido.”  

“I’ll have you know my lungs are surrounded by pure muscle, sorella--”

“Alberto,” her tone said this was not the time for jokes.  

“. . . I was passed out for most of it.  I don’t know what happened or who saved me.  If someone saved me.”

Giulia looked down at her hands, rubbing anxious palms together.  

“They said you were shouting at the ocean when they found you.”

Amore mio!  Come back, per favore!  How will I find you again?!

“I was delirious, I guess.”

“Alright,” Giulia sighed, clearly not believing a word her brother said.  “I’m here whenever you want to tell me, yeah?”

“. . . Sure, Giules.”

Chapter Text

Alberto was just glad to be let out of the house at this point.  The first place he went?  The beach.  No reason.  He wasn’t looking for anything.  Or anyone.  No sir.  He also didn’t bring his guitar for any reason other than that he liked the way it sounded on the beach.  There was one particular part of the beach he thought it would sound especially nice, too.  It just so happened to be the spot he was found after his near death experience.  

The spot they had found Alberto was a more private part of the beach.  It was surrounded by rocks you had to climb over to get to it.  Once he reached the spot with his cat in tow he stood and looked out over the sea.  Alberto could easily pinpoint where his sea monster had stood in the waves.  He could almost see the worry on the creature’s face at being caught, then the bashful smile that replaced it at being called beautiful.  

Alberto took the guitar from his back and sat down on a nearby rock to play.  He had played Citta Vuota before, but this time he felt he understood what he was singing about more than he ever had before.  He had never experienced lost love before now.  Alberto sang to the ocean about his loneliness, about never being the same until he saw his love again, begging him to come back so he could be whole. . .

Was this love?  It hurt like love.  

It was Machiavelli rubbing against his legs that finally snapped him out of wherever he had gone.  It took him a moment to realize he had been crying.  Alberto wondered if he was loosing his mind.  How could he have such deep feelings for someone whose name he didn’t know and whose voice he hadn’t heard?

“Mrow?”

Great.  Even his cat was worried about his sanity.  

“Gimme a sec.  I need to calm down,” Alberto told Machiavelli and took out some cigarettes and a lighter.  “Just don’t tell, papa.”

The cat gave him the most unimpressed look Alberto had ever seen before going to fight a hermit crab.  

Alberto noticed some of his golden-brown curls had fallen loose from his bun and were sticking to the side of his face.  He wondered if he looked just as crazy as he felt.  Some tattooed fisherman who sang to the ocean smoking on the beach with his hair falling down and his emotional support cat fighting a crab (and loosing).  Yeah, this jackass had spent too much time at sea.  Cigarette held tight in his teeth, he took his wild hair down and tamed it back into something manageable.  One more smoke and he’d save Machiavelli from the crab and head towards home.  

~*~*~*~

“If it really was a sea monster, they must not be so bad, right?” he asked Machiavelli.  

“Meow.”

“I mean, if he was going to drown me, he would have.  He wouldn’t have saved me and brought me to land.”

“Mrow.”

“Just what I was thinking.”

“Mrrrrr.” Machiavelli stopped their leisurely walk along the shore, his ears flattening on his head.  

Alberto looked up, trying to find whatever danger his cat had picked up on. . . but all he saw was a boy.  Well, he wasn’t much younger than Alberto.  Maybe sixteen or seventeen to Alberto’s nineteen.  He eyed the cat warily, flinching back with an arm across his chest.  The boy looked normal enough.  Nothing that should have set off Machiavelli, but the cat hadn’t liked Alberto at first either. . . The newcomer had curly brown hair and wide brown eyes to match.  His face was round on top of a skinny body.  He wore a blue and white plaid shirt with blue shorts and no shoes.  He was. . . cute, honestly.  

“Machiavelli,” Alberto admonished his cat.  Said cranky-puss climbed up Alberto and sat on his shoulders, still wary of the stranger.  

“Ciao,” Alberto said.  

“Ciao,” the boy greeted.  

“Alberto Marcovaldo,” he held out a hand.  

“Luca Paguro.”  

He put his hand on top of Alberto’s thumb like he didn’t know what a handshake was.  Alberto decided not to say anything, but fixed it for him.  Luca looked down at his hand in awe once Alberto let go of it.  Like he couldn’t believe Alberto had touched it.  

“New to Portorosso?” Alberto asked.  

“You could say that,” Luca glanced at the water then back at him.  

“Need a tour guide?”  

“As long as it’s you,” he answered, a dreamy tone to his voice.  Luca gasped when he realized he’d said that out loud and covered his mouth with his hands, cheeks turning a brilliant red.  

“Is that right?” Alberto asked, winking at him.  He put an arm around those slim shoulders immediately.  “Come on.  Let me show you around.”

~*~*~*~

Machiavelli jumped off Alberto’s shoulders when they got close to the pescheria.  The look the cat gave Luca before going inside wasn’t lost on either of them.  Alberto just shrugged.  

“Don’t mind him.  He doesn’t like most people.  Didn’t like me, either,” Alberto said.  “At least he didn’t jump on your head.  He scratched the shit outta me.”

Luca couldn’t help but giggle at the mental image of Alberto with Machiavelli wrapped around his head.  

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up.  Still could happen to you if I’m not there.”

Alberto heard a frightened sound come from his new friend.  He put an arm around Luca again and gave him his most charming smile.  

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone with Signor Machi.”

Alberto felt Luca’s shoulders sag in relief.  

“You like gelato?” Alberto asked as he showed Luca to the gelateria.  “Got a favorite flavor?”

“Um. . .” Luca looked a bit lost.  “You pick.  I’m sure I’ll like it.”

“Two pistachio cones, per favore.”

The moment Luca tried it, his brown eyes lit up like he’d never had gelato before.  

The fountain was one of Alberto’s favorite places to sit.  Luca eyed the fountain warily when they reached it, nearly backing away like it was going to bite him.  

“Violent, isn’t it?” Alberto said.  It was of a man wrestling a sea serpent, after all.  “We can sit somewhere else if you’d like?”

“N-no.  It’s okay.” Luca perched on the edge of the fountain, keeping a close eye on the water.  

“What brings you to Portorosso?” Alberto asked.  “Family, vacation, on the run after killing a man just to watch him die?”

“Well, it’s certainly not the last one.”

“Too bad.  That’s why I’m here.”

“What really?!” Luca’s eyes widened for a moment before he saw Alberto’s grin.  Luca laughed and shoved him.  

“Sorry, you have to be at least a level three friend to unlock my tragic backstory,” Alberto said.  

“I’ll just have to level up then.”

“At this rate you’ll be level three by the end of the day.  Maybe even five.”

“What do I get at level five?”

“Perks.” Alberto winked at him and continued to bite his cone.  “You’re avoiding the question.  What brings you to my humble town?”

“I, uh. . . I wanted to make some friends.  My parents are a bit. . . protective?  Yeah.  We live outside of town.  I snuck out.”

“Are you a runaway?” Alberto asked, eyebrow arched in suspicion.  

“No, I’m going back.  I just needed to. . . find someone.”

Alberto noticed Luca said that like there was someone particular he was looking for.  

“Well, you found me,” he said with a shrug.  

Luca turned bright eyes on him and Alberto felt his heart do something funny.  

“I did.”  

It wasn’t until Luca had decided he’d pushed his luck enough for one day and had to go home that Alberto realized something.  During the whole time Luca was there, Alberto’s thoughts had been off the sea monster who had saved him.  

Chapter Text

Alberto stared down at the water, watching the sunlight shine off the ripples like diamonds.  Somewhere under those waves was his sea monster.  Was the sea monster keeping an eye on him since the incident?  Did he care?  Would it take nearly drowning to see him again?

“Alberto?  Figlio?” Massimo’s voice cut through Alberto’s thoughts.  

“Si papa?”

“You were far away just now.  Is being out in the water again bothering you?”

“No, no,” Alberto said, smiling a little.  “Just the opposite.  I’m glad to be back.”

His father's boat was a little cramped with two large men on it, but Alberto was just happy to be on the water again.  His own boat was still being repaired from the storm.  He was glad that they were able to salvage it since it was his seventeenth birthday present.  Alberto had only had it for two years, but it was his.  Once it was fixed maybe he’d be able to take it out near Isola Del Mare. . . He heard that was where sea monsters could be spotted.  It wasn’t very far from there that he had gotten trapped in the storm that nearly lead to his death.  Perhaps choosing to fish there had saved his life?  

“Will Luca be coming by today?” Massimo asked.  

Luca could only come around for a little while a couple times a week.  He wouldn’t say where he lived, he would just meet Alberto on the beach in the afternoon.  When Luca wasn’t around, though. . . he would just go down to the beach where he had been saved and play his guitar, green eyes watching the water for any signs of his sea monster.  

“I think so.”

“Good, good. . . I like him.”

“Papa, it’s not like that.”

“Of course it’s not, figlio.”  

“Thanks for the blessing anyways.”

The chuckle in Massimo’s voice didn’t go unnoticed by Alberto.  He rolled his eyes at his father and looked back down into the sea.  This time he saw a silhouette under the water.  

“Sea monster!”

Hearing his father’s shout and seeing the harpoon go into the water made Alberto’s heart stop.  The harpoon came back out in Massimo’s large fist to reveal it had only been seaweed.  Both men sighed for completely different reasons.  

~*~*~*~

Alberto knew he could be clingy with his friends.  Being with Luca was a whole other level, though.  He couldn’t stop himself from touching Luca.  His first reaction to him was to put an arm around his shoulder to steer him towards the town.  Alberto would find little reasons to touch his arm, lean on him, pull him close to speak in his ear. . . Luca didn’t seem to mind, though.  He leaned into the touches easily and looked at Alberto with adoring brown eyes.  

Luca was the one being touchy as they sat in Alberto’s old treehouse.  He was running his hands over the tattoos that decorated Alberto’s left arm.  An anchor decorated with red roses that went over his shoulder and the other a sea serpent that wrapped around his forearm.  The other forearm had Silenzio Bruno written on it.  

“How’d you do these?  They don’t wash off?” Luca asked, tracing the sea serpent with gentle fingers.  

“I worked with a tattoo artist to design them.  They use a needle filled with ink to get under the skin and make it permanent.”

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Luca asked, making a pained face.  

“Oh yeah.  Like hell.”

“Are you going to color in the sea monster?  Like you did the roses?” he asked.  

“Wasn’t sure what color when I got it.  I’ve been thinking green and blue recently.”

Luca’s face did something strange.  For a moment it looked like fear.  

“What, you don’t like green and blue?” Alberto joked.  

“N-no.  I like green and blue. . . I was thinking purple would look good, though.  It would look nice on your skin.”

Alberto looked down at his arm and pictured the sea serpent with periwinkle scales and darker purple fins. . . That could work. . .

“What are those things?” Luca asked, pointing up toward the stars.

Huh.  First Luca had never seen tattoos before, now he didn’t know what stars were?  Alberto didn’t think he was that much younger than he was, but most people learn stars and planets in elementary school. . . maybe his parents were really bad at homeschooling?

“Anchovies,” Alberto said easily, picking his nails.  

“. . . Really?”

“Yeah, they go up there to sleep.”

“Alberto!” a new voice shouted from the house.  

He started laughing and looked at the window where Giulia was leaning out of.  

“Si sorella?” he asked, innocently.  “We’re just enjoying the anchovies.”

She went back in and threw a book into the treehouse before climbing out to join them.  

“Don’t listen to him,” she told Luca, holding out a friendly hand.  “I’m Giulia.”

“I’m Luca!”

“Trust me, I’ve heard about you,” she winked at Alberto who couldn’t help but turn a little pink.  “My stupido fratello was just messing with you.  Here.”  She opened the book and set it between them.  

“I was kidding, Giules,” Alberto said, rolling his eyes.  “I would have told him eventually.”

“And you should know I will not take such blatant misinformation from you, Beto.  Stars are my thing, so shush.”  

~*~*~*~

Alberto could only keep Luca to himself for so long, it seemed.

He was trying not to glare daggers across the piazza at Luca and Giulia as they bonded over some book.  Luca laughed at something she said and Giulia touched his arm.  Alberto glared harder.  

“I see big brother isn’t happy about Giulia’s new boyfriend, huh?” Matteo asked, smirking at his friend.  

“They’re not dating,” Alberto snapped.  

“I dunno, man.  They look pretty cozy if you ask me.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you.”

Was that the problem?  Protective older brother instincts kicking in?  No. . . he was definitely more angry at Giulia for getting into Luca’s space.  Every time Luca laughed at something someone else said it felt like a knife in his heart.  Why though?  Why would he be jealous of Luca getting along with his sister?  Shouldn’t he be happy about that?  It wasn’t like he had any claim over Luca. . .

His eyes met Luca’s across the piazza.  Was it just his imagination, or did Luca smile brighter at him than at Giulia?  He certainly hoped it was true.  Luca turned and said something to Giulia before he got up and went to Alberto.  

“Would you like to go for a walk before I have to leave?”

“Sure.”

Alberto walked him to the beach, feeling even more touchy than usual.  He held his hand as they climbed over rocks, sometimes not letting go after he should have.  They were nearly shoulder to shoulder for most of the walk, fingers wrapped around each other.  They stopped to watch the sunset and Alberto put his arm around Luca’s shoulders.  This time Luca put an arm round him, too.  

Chapter Text

Finally, Alberto’s beautiful boat was back and sea-ready again.  He even got up extra early and was gone before his father’s own boat had hit the water.  The sun was only just peaking over the sea and Alberto was thankful it wasn’t a red sky.  He’d hate for his first day back by himself to end in another storm.  It already felt like he was tempting fate by where he was fishing.  

Isola Del Mare looked strangely beautiful draped in the morning fog.  Alberto was only here because he always got a good catch when he wandered into these waters.  It had nothing to do with sea monsters being known for hanging around this area. . . Well, maybe it did.  If he happened to see one that would just be a coincidence.  

Alberto looked down at the water before he threw his net in.  He watched the water ripple under the fog and wondered if this was why the area was known for sea monsters. . . It was hard to see the water at times.  If a ripple was bigger than normal the mind would think they’d seen a fin splashing up from the waves. . . Or perhaps they had seen a fin and brushed it off as a wave.  

The sound of a soft splash caught his attention just before he started to bring his net up.  He walked as quietly as he could to the front of the boat.  From the water, partly covered in fog, a green head poked out covered in soft cobalt fins.  The creature was looking at something. . . it placed a webbed hand on the side of the boat with a fond smile, like it was saying hello to an old friend.  Alberto saw the moment the sea monster’s eye caught him watching, frozen as he processed what he was seeing.  Was this real or had his lovesick heart imagined the sea monster returning to him?  

Neither of them wanted to speak and break the tense silence that settled over them.  The sea monster was clearly terrified, its fins flared and teeth bared.  Alberto slowly raised his hands to show he held no weapon.  The creature relaxed and tilted it’s head at him, red eyes still wide and curious.  Then Alberto heard a gentle humming.  He could almost hear the question behind the soft sound: do you remember me?  He smiled and leaned over the boat, gently humming the notes back.  Yes, how could I forget you, amore mio?

The sudden roar of a speedboat broke the moment.  

The sea monster disappeared under the foggy water with the same little tail flick as before.  

Alberto turned and growled at the speedboat only to realize it was coming much too close to his own newly fixed little fishing boat.  A wave burst behind it and splashed over him, soaking him to the bone.  

“What’s wrong with you, stupido?!” Alberto shouted, shaking himself off.  

The boat had slowed while Alberto was trying to dry himself, coming along the side of his fishing boat for a chat.  

“I see you got that old dingy up and running again, Scorfano!”

“Fuck off, Ercole!”  

Of course it was Ercole.  Bastard only showed up to break beautiful moments like these. . . Had the moment even really happened?  Was it the result of being up too early without enough caffeine?  Had he fallen asleep on his boat and being doused in cold water had woken him up?  It had all happened so fast. . . Was his sea monster just some strange reoccurring dream?

“That hasn’t been my name for five fucking years and you know it,” Alberto growled, rubbing a hand over the words tattooed into his arm.  Hearing the name Scorfano always made him seethe.  

“Oops, old habits,” Ercole said flippantly.  

“Why are you out here so early anyway?  There are no victims for you at this hour.”

“I hear sea monsters are more likely to be out this time of day,” Ercole pulled out a harpoon.  “There’s been a reward up recently.  You know how I love to win prizes, Scorfano.”

“Like sea monsters actually exist,” Alberto scoffed.  “I’m out here all the time and I’ve never seen one.”  

He was lying through his teeth and he knew it.  What was he supposed to say?  Just saw one and I was going in for a kiss when your bitch ass showed up.  Being a denier was his best defense, though.  No one would believe someone who denied sea monsters existed was actually searching for one.  

“If you ever saw one you’d probably try to fuck it anyways.”*

Well, that was a weirdly specific (yet solid) burn.  

“Fine!  You got me, Ercole.  I’m out here looking for a sea monster to fuck and you’re cramping my style.  Happy?”

“. . .Wait, really?”

“No jackass I’m a fisherman!  Why else would I be out here?” Alberto asked, motioning towards his net.  

“So rude, Scorfano!  You act like you need to get laid.  Perhaps you will find a nice sea monster who will help you with that if your little boyfriend isn’t doing it for you.”

“Luca’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh?” Ercole looked genuinely surprised for a moment.  “Well, if he’s not interested in you, you think he’d go for a guy like me?  Bet I could show him a real good--”

There was a harpoon pointed at Ercole’s face with a very angry Alberto on the other end of it.  

“Touch Luca, go anywhere near Luca, and I will fucking end you.”

Even with a shiny spear just barely touching his over large nose, Ercole was far from scared.  The bastard actually smirked at Alberto.  

“Not your boyfriend my ass.”

“Maybe it’s none of your business, ever think of that?”

Ercole swatted the harpoon away.  

“My town, my business, vagrant.  Your boyfriend is hiding something haven’t you noticed?  Do you even know where he’s from or what his parents do?  Does he just appear from time to time and then disappear into the night?”

“What are you trying to say, Ercole?  Luca’s a ghost or some shit?  First you believe in sea monsters now you think my boy-no, wait shit-best friend is a spectre.”  

“I’m not stupid, Scorfano.”

“You’re still calling me Scorfano after being a Marcovaldo for five years, so yeah I’d say you’re kinda stupid.  Now, I have fish to catch and you have a town to terrorize, so ciao stronzo.”

Chapter Text

The flames from the bonfire were already licking the night sky when they arrived on the beach.  The only music so far was somebody’s radio.  People were milling around, drinking and laughing together in the firelight.  

Alberto got their drinks and carefully carried three cups in two hands across a crowded beach.  

Luca looked into the cup before taking a sip.  He made a slight face as he smacked his lips. . . then took another sip and smiled brightly at Alberto.  

“Not bad, right?” he asked, taking his own drink.  “We’ll move up to shots later.”

“You are the worst influence, Beto,” Giulia said.  

“What, you don’t wanna do shots?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Albert laughed at his sister and pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter.  The flame lit his face for a moment before he clicked the lighter shut and took a deep drag from his cigarette.  

“First you suggest shots and now you’re smoking,” Giulia said, rolling her eyes.  

“Want one?”

“Yes.”

He held out the box and let her use his lighter.  Once she was set he looked at Luca and raised his eyebrows in a silent question.  Luca made a slight face, button nose wrinkling, and shook his head.  

“Not sure I like the smell,” Luca explained.  

“No pressure.  You mind that we’re. . .?”

“That’s fine.”

Alberto only had one cigarette so he could cuddle up to Luca again without blowing smoke on him.  

Matteo came around with the first round of shots for the night.  

“Alberto!  You got your guitar?” Matteo asked, before handing Alberto his shot.  

Alberto just smiled and patted the strap across his chest.  He reached for the cup and Matteo held it just out of reach.  

“Ah ah ah.  Only if you play us something.”

“Alcohol first and I’ll play.”

“Deal.”

Matteo handed them all a small cup and gave Luca a wink.  Alberto showed Luca how to knock the alcohol back in one go.  

Alberto took his guitar off his back and sat it across his lap to tune.  The moment people heard the strings begin there were scattered whoops and cheers across the crowd.  

“Say, Luca right?” Matteo said.  

“Si,” Luca answered, nodding.  His round cheeks were already flush with alcohol.  

“I’ve been confused about something: you with either of these guys?” Matteo motioned between Giulia and Alberto.  

“Start hitting on him and I’ll kill you,” Alberto cut in without looking up from his strings.

“That answers that question.”  Matteo put up both hands in surrender and walked away.  

The first cord of Tintarella di Luna filled the air.  

It was sometime during Iko Iko or Mamma Mia that Giulia got Luca to dance with her.  They were fast dances that didn’t involve holding each other and swaying so he didn’t glare too hard at them.  Still, he wished he wasn’t the musician for once so he could hold Luca for a song.  Luca was right back on the log beside him after a couple of dances and smiling at him like this was the only place he ever wanted to be.  

Citta Vuota crossed Alberto’s mind, but that one felt too private right now.  He couldn’t sing it without baring his heart.  Alberto looked over at Luca, his eyes glazed with alcohol and swaying to his music.  He swallowed, going through his head for a song. . . maybe a song for Luca?   

“Wise man say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you. . .”

The moment those notes started to play and he started to sing he started to panic.  This song was supposed to be for Luca. . . and he chose this?  What the fuck was he doing?!  

“Shall I stay?  Would it be a sin, if I can’t help falling in love with you?”

Their eyes met for a moment before Alberto looked back down at the guitar.  He heard some knowing ooooohs from a couple people around them and couldn’t help but smile.  Luca blushed for a reason that had nothing to do with how much alcohol he had ingested.  

“Like a river flows, surely to the sea, darling so it goes, some things are meant to be. . .Take my hand.  Take my whole life too.  For I can’t help, falling in love with you. . .”

Alberto sat his guitar down after that, feeling a little shaky.  The music had hit closer to home than he’d intended.  It struck something in his heart he wasn’t sure if he was ready to acknowledge just yet. . . Maybe Citta Vuota would have been better.  

“You okay?” Alberto asked.  

Luca smiled and nodded.  Alberto could see something going on in Luca’s head, though.  He wouldn’t meet his eyes no matter how long Alberto watched him.  He tried not to panic and wondered if singing Elvis had been too much, too soon for them.  Alberto gently touched Luca’s arm with the back of his hand, trying not to startle him but hopefully bring Luca back from wherever his mind had taken him.  When Luca finally met his eyes again Alberto could see how unfocused he was and put two and two together.  

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Dunno.  Cup of wine and like. . . three of the little things.”

“You’re a lightweight.  Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Never drank before.  Didn’t know.”

Alberto looked around the beach for a moment and saw Giulia talking to another girl.  He waved for her attention and she gave him a thumbs up to signal she was okay to stay.  

“Alright, let’s get you home,” Alberto said, helping Luca stand.  He put one arm around his waist and pulled Luca’s arm around his shoulders.  “Where’s home anyway?”

Luca laughed like Alberto just made the funniest joke of the night.  

“You--haha--you can’t go there!  It’s impossible!”

Alberto decided it was best not to ask.  

“Alright then, you wanna stay at my place for the night?  I’m not leaving you alone.  You’ll stumble into the ocean or some shit.”

That made Luca laugh even harder.  

“Sure!  Why not!  My parents are gonna kill me anyway.  Might as well wait until morning.”

~*~*~*~

Alberto’s bed wasn’t exactly big, but they would fit.  He found Luca some pajama pants and a t-shirt to sleep in.  Alberto only ever wore boxers to bed unless it was winter.  

Alberto couldn’t help but notice Luca trying to act like he wasn’t looking at him.  Those wide eyes would shoot over to him and his pale cheeks would turn pink each time.  

Alberto wasn’t overly drunk, but he was tipsy.  Tipsy Alberto had trouble keeping his mouth shut more than Regular Alberto.  He was usually a flirt, but Tipsy/Drunk Alberto?  Well. . .

“If it bothers you I can put on a shirt,” Alberto said, standing in front of Luca.  “But that would be depriving you of a lovely view, wouldn’t it?”  He wiggled his eyebrows at his friend.  

“I was just. . . you have more tattoos?”

Alberto threw his head back and laughed.  Luca was just so cute sometimes.  

There was indeed another tattoo.  A knife was just under his right pectoral, following the curve of the muscle.  

“I should get another one, si?” Alberto said.  “I’m planning on a compass with more roses on the other arm.  Maybe a shark jaw around my elbow.  Your name, right over my heart.”  He patted his chest where his heart was and winked at him.  It took Luca a moment to register what he’d said before blushing fiercely and looking away.  

Drunk Luca was fun.  Flirting with Drunk Luca was even more fun.  

Alberto let his hair down and sighed, shaking out the ringlets so they fell around his shoulders.  He chanced another glance at Luca who now looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.  

“See something you like?”

“I do.”

Alberto bit his lip.  

“Yeah?” he asked, not really meeting Luca’s eyes.  

“Mm-hm.  D’you. . . D’you know how handsome you are?  Like, really?”

Alberto shrugged, suddenly self-conscious.  He was used to hitting on Luca just to see him blush, he wasn’t used to Luca actually hitting back.  It was his turn to blush now.  

Luca stood from his place on the bed, wide eyes scanning over Alberto like he was trying to pick his favorite part of him.  

“Like, your hair,” Luca reached out and pulled on a ringlet, wrapping it around his finger.  “It turns gold in the sunlight.  And your arms are so strong.  You could easily pick me up if you wanted to.” He put his hands on Alberto’s upper arms, marveling at how his hands didn’t even make it halfway around.  Luca’s eyes came up and looked directly into Alberto’s.  “And your eyes.  I’ve never seen eyes so green.”

Luca’s hands moved from his arms to his shoulders, pulling himself closer.  Alberto leaned in, putting his hands on slim hips.  Just as noses started to touch and breath started to mingle--

“Wait,” Alberto whispered.  

“Why?” Luca whispered back.  

“You’re drunk.”

“So?  What if I’ve wanted this since the moment I saw you?”

Luca touched his face so tenderly Alberto almost gave in.  He put his hand on top of Luca’s, threading their fingers together and brushing his lips against his open palm.  

“I’d rather you actually remembered the first time we kissed.”

Luca took their tangled hands and pressed his lips to Alberto’s palm in return.  The kiss made his whole arm tingle and his mouth go dry.  Luca smiled and pressed their hands together, fingers laced and kissed palms touching.  

“Close enough.”  

Oh.  Oh shit.

Falling in love with the sea monster had been so sudden.  It was like being blinded by lighting from a summer storm.  

Falling in love with Luca had been slow.  It had been like watching the tide come in until he was engulfed in the sea again.  Now he was drowning for Luca and didn’t know which way was up.  

Alberto’s bed suddenly seemed much too small.  

“Maybe I should sleep on the floor.  You can have the bed.  I have a sleeping bag--”

“I’m not kicking you out of your bed.”

“Gonna trust me to keep my hands to myself, then?” Alberto tried lightly flirting again.  He expected one of those little blushes and for Luca to look away all shy again--

“Who says I want you to?”  Luca looked him directly in the eye as he said that.  Alberto wasn’t sure if it was an invitation or a dare.  

He takes his thoughts on Drunk Luca back.  Drunk Luca was a menace.  Drunk Luca was gonna kill him.  

Chapter Text

Alberto was under water.  He wasn’t frightened.  He didn’t feel like he was drowning.  Why would he?  He was a sea monster, after all.  

His green and blue lover swam towards him with a sharp smile.  He took Alberto’s purple clawed hands in his, pulling him towards a kelp forest to play chase.  The kelp tickled Alberto’s nose, though.  

Alberto caught his lover behind a rock, wrapping his arms around him.  He nuzzled against blue hair paddles and pressed himself against his back.  

“What do I win?” Alberto asked in a fin-like ear.  

His lover turned his head and kissed him.  

~*~*~*~

Alberto woke up curled along Luca’s back with an arm draped over a skinny hip.  His nose was buried in dark curls.  He understood why he kept dreaming of kelp tickling his nose now.  Luca smelled good, though.  He always smelled like the ocean.  

Then Alberto noticed what had woken him: his very interested dick against Luca’s backside.  Shit.  

Alberto carefully pulled his hips back so he wasn’t pressing against Luca’s ass anymore.  It was the opposite of what he wanted, of course.  He was dying to rut on Luca, kiss his neck, run his hands over his body. . . Would he taste as good as he smelled?  

“Gonna trust me to keep my hands to myself, then?”

“Who says I want you to?”

Those words flashed through his mind, reminding him Luca had practically given him permission earlier. . . It was just Drunk Luca doing some playful flirting.  Alberto shouldn’t take anything Luca said that night seriously.  Surely once Sober Luca was back he would be mortified by everything he’d said.  

Alberto liked waking up like this, though.  Wrapped round Luca. . . He wondered what it would feel like after a night of making love to him.  To wake up with a sweaty, sated Luca in his arms.  Not worried that he was hard against him because Luca would let Alberto do whatever he wanted to him. . .

This was not helping his boner.  At all.  There was no getting rid of this thing now.  He’d have to get up and take care of it in the bathroom.  

Alberto slipped away as carefully and quietly as he could. . .

“Alberto?” Luca’s sleepy voice asked.  

. . . Not quiet enough, apparently.   

“Yeah Luca?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just gotta go to the bathroom.  Be back in a minute.”

He heard a soft mm-hm and saw Luca turn over, rubbing a sleepy eye.  Hopefully he’d go back to sleep soon.  

Alberto saw Luca’s eyes catch the moonlight. . . he swore for a moment they glowed. . .

Alberto didn’t know exactly what to picture in his minds eye as his hand moved over his cock.  One moment it was sweet brown eyes and soft curls, then it was red snake-like eyes and blue fins, pale freckled skin, green scales. . . He had to stop trying to picture someone and try just for what they felt like.  Gentle hands. . . sharp claws running down his back. . . Okay, not sure that helped.  

He took a deep breath and brought back the image he’d had in his head that brought him here in the first place.  Being curled around Luca, kissing his shoulder while grinding on him.  The fantasy expanded to having no clothes between them and open, wet kisses.  To Luca kissing down his chest and taking him in his mouth. . .

Alberto had to bite his hand to keep from screaming out Luca’s name.  

He had never touched himself to a specific person before.  It was usually just vague thoughts and feelings. . .

Despite what Ercole (and anyone else) thought, Alberto only looked and acted like someone who got laid a lot.  There had been interested people, of course.  The problem was that he wasn’t really interested in them.  He would tease and flirt.  He had been kissed and made out with a couple of people.  That’s where it ended, though.  He had offers for more, but. . . he was never really attracted to any of them.   

Alberto was definitely attracted to Luca, though.  Falling in love with him had been easy as breathing.  Luca was sweet, cute, funny. . . human.  He was human and he wasn’t hiding under the sea.  Luca is here and he let’s Alberto hold his hand and flirt with him.   

Alberto loves someone he can’t have and it’s making him stupid.  He can only have his sea monster in dreams.  He needed to stop chasing a dream and look at what’s right in front of him.  

The choice should be obvious, right?

. . . Right?

~*~*~*~

A low groan came from a large lump under the blankets.  

“Ugh.  What’s that bright thing?”

“The sun?”

“Fuck the sun.”

“Awwww baby’s first hangover.”

“I will bite you.”

“You say that like it’s a threat.”

“Just get me something to help this.  Water.  Drugs.  I don’t care.”

“Water helps.  So does caffeine.  You want Tylenol or the hard stuff?”

“Tylenol I guess?”

Luca looked more like himself after some medicine and an espresso.  He refused to leave the bed just yet, though.  

“Guess it’s time to face the music,” Luca sighed, stretching thin arms over his head.  “At least I’m not drunk anymore.  Stay out all night and show up drunk?  That’d be really bad.”

“True,” Alberto hummed. “You’ll have to explain why you were out all night, though.”

“Ugh, right. . . Can’t tell them I got smashed and staid in a guy’s bed, could I?” Luca sighed at the ceiling.  “Guess I’ll come up with something.”

Alberto pulled a shirt on and started taming his hair in it’s usual bun.  He could see the disappointment in Luca’s eyes as he picked up his own clothes.  Luca started to go towards the bathroom, but paused just short of the door.  After a moment he spun around and faced Alberto again.  

“You said you wouldn’t kiss me while I was drunk because you wanted me to remember it.”

Alberto blinked at him for a moment, trying to follow the abrupt change in topic.  

“I’m surprised you even remember that much.  You were hammered.”

Luca laughed and took Alberto’s hand.  

“I remember a lot about last night, really.  I remember you singing.  I remember you keeping people from hitting on me like a jealous boyfriend.  I remember, besides the excessive flirting, you were being a perfect gentleman for once in your life--”

“Hey!”

“--and there I was hoping I wouldn’t die a virgin in the morning.”

Alberto swallowed and licked his lips.  

“You were drunk,” he said.

“And now I’m sober,” Luca took a step forward, looking up at Alberto with a glint in his eye Alberto had never seen before.  “And I get the feeling we should probably talk.”

“About what?”

About the fact I’m in love with you and I’m still processing it because my stupid brain only realized it last night?  About the fact you know exactly what you want and I’m not as sure?  I should be.  I fucking jacked off to the thought of you last night.  About that you’re not the only person I’m in love with?  That your competition is a fucking sea creature?  How about we just skip all that mess and awkwardly loose our virginities to each other?  That’s more fun.  Let’s talk about that instead.  

“Now, I know I’m sheltered, Beto.  But I’m pretty sure it’s not just friendly flirting to look into someone’s eyes and sing about falling in love.  Then later talk about wanting to make our first kiss memorable.”

Luca got closer, almost as close as they’d been last night before Alberto stopped their first kiss from happening.  He reached up and held Alberto’s head in his hands.  

“I think you want more from me than just friendship, tesoro.”

His first reaction should have been to kiss Luca.  To pounce on him, wrap him in his arms, kiss the breath from his lungs, tell him to get back in his bed so he could show him just what he’d been thinking about doing to him last night. . .

Instead, Alberto looked away, breaking whatever spell Luca had on him.  He took Luca’s hands from his face and held them between them.  Luca’s face became less sure, his smile tugging downward and the glint in his eyes disappearing.  

The fuck was he doing?  He wanted this.  He knew damn well he wanted this.  He needed to give up on the sea monster and this was his chance to do that. . . Was. . . was he using Luca as a rebound?  Luca didn’t deserve that.  He wanted to be with Luca, but. . . Luca deserved his whole heart.  

“Alberto?  What’s wrong?” Luca’s worried voice broke him out of it.  “I thought. . . That was too much, wasn’t it?  I’m sorry, I. . .”

There he was, making Luca wait for him again.  

“There’s someone else.”  The moment those words left his mouth he wanted to put them back.  “I’m sorry.”

Luca jerked his hands out of Alberto’s and stepped away from him.  He folded his arms across this chest, closing himself off.  

“Who?” he asked, voice shaking around that simple word.  

“I’m not really sure how to explain myself without sounding like a crazy person.”

“Then try.”

Alberto took a deep breath, trying to gather his scattered, lovesick thoughts.  

“I’ve only seen him a couple of times.  We haven’t even had a proper conversation and I may never see him again but. . . he’s stuck in my head.”

“You’re dumping me for someone you may never see again?  While I’m right here?”

“I’m sorry.”

“So you’ve been. . . what?  Leading me on?”

“No!  I really do-- I do like you, Luca.”  I love you.  I’m crazy about you.  “I just--fuck, I don’t know what’s wrong with me anymore.”

Luca looked away, brows knitted and shoulders tense.  

“I won’t use you to get over someone else.  If. . . If I’m going to be with you I want you to have all of me,” Alberto desperately tried to explain his own heart.  “Not just part.  You don’t deserve that.  I can’t give you all when. . .”

“. . . Okay,” Luca finally said.  Alberto had a feeling it really wasn’t.  

“It’s stupid.  I know it’s stupid,” Alberto said, putting his head in his hands.  “We’re from different worlds.  I know that much.  Even if I do find him again we . . . we can’t be together.  It can never. . .”

He pulled his head out of his hands and looked at Luca.  At least he didn’t look upset anymore, grazie dio. . . Now he looked. . . pitying.  It was almost worse.  Scratch that, it was worse.  

“But you love him?” Luca asked him.  

“I don’t even know his name.”

“But do you love him?”

“. . . Yes.”

“Then I hope you find him.”

The breath that escaped Alberto rattled in his chest for reasons he didn’t understand.  

Chapter Text

Alberto sat on his usual rock, looking out over the ocean.  The guitar sat beside him, waiting until he was ready to start playing in another desperate attempt to lure out his sea monster.  

This was crazy.  He was sitting here each day trying to see if sea monsters were real.  It had probably been a dream.  Why was he so obsessed with a dream?  With seeing this creature just one more time?  Why did he love a creature that shouldn’t even exist, maybe didn’t even exist. . . ?  

Why was he doing this when Luca was right there?  He could have Luca.  A human who he knew would be there when he needed him.  He could have a life with him.  

Instead he sits by the ocean, playing music for a sea monster that won’t show. . .

This was it.  This was the last time he was going to do this.  Then he would forget about his sea monster.  Hell, when he saw Luca again he was going to beg his forgiveness, kiss his lips, and ask him to be his.  No more stupid fantasy sea monster romance.  Just him and Luca. . . If he saw Luca again.  Maybe he hadn’t completely fucked that up.  

Alberto picked up the guitar and strummed a couple of cords to make sure it was tuned.  Once he was sure it was ready, Alberto started to play Citta Vuota for what must be the millionth time.  Alberto sang the words softly, keeping watchful eyes on the water.  

. . . was that a ripple or just wishful thinking?  Maybe he’d finally looked at the ocean too long.  Or he’d finally cracked.  Okay, that was another ripple, but closer. . .

He brought the song to a close and sat his guitar by the rock he’d been sitting on.  His heart was pounding as he slowly went towards the water.  The last ripple had been close to a large rock.  Perfect size for hiding behind.  Alberto slowly stepped into the ocean, the water tickling his bare feet.  The water went up past his hips before he reached the rock and peeked behind it.  His heart caught in his throat when he saw his sea monster hiding there.  

Crimson eyes met his and the sea monster gasped, jumping away.  

“No, wait!” Alberto held up his hands.  “I won’t hurt you.  Just, per favore, don’t run away.”

The sea monster didn’t run, but looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes and teeth bared.  The same thing he’d done the last time they’d seen each other.  

“How do you know I won’t hurt you?” he asked.  

“Because if you were going to drown me and eat me you would have already done it.  You saved me instead.”

The sea monster relaxed and looked away shyly.  

“Why did you save me, anyway?”  It was a question that had plagued Alberto for many sleepless nights.  

“Because. . . because the world would be a much darker place without you in it.”

Alberto swallowed, near tears at the sea monster’s confession.  

“You love me?” he asked, voice breaking.  

The sea monster didn’t answer beyond a sad trill.  Alberto reached out, careful not to startle him, and ran the back of his hand down his arm.  He just needed to touch him to know he was real.  

“It’s really you. . . I was so close to giving up. . .”

“You were looking for me?” The sea monster’s eyes were wide with shock.  “I’m the one you want?”

“Yeah.  My eyes barely left the ocean since I first saw you.”

“I thought. . . I thought maybe you’d rather be with a human?  Someone like that boy you’re always with. . .”

“Luca?”

He nodded and his ears did a funny fluttery thing.

“He loves you, too.”

Alberto blushed a little.  Even a sea monster could see it, Dio mio. . .

“I have feelings for him, too. . . I mean, I almost went for it but then I thought of you and. . . I needed to try one more time.  I’m glad I did.”

“You really said no to a human. . . to be with me?  A sea monster you don’t even really know?”

“I’m stupid, I know.”

“A little, yeah,” the sea monster giggled.  “But, I guess I left a good impression?”

“It was love at first sight, amore.”

“I felt the same!” he said brightly, putting a webbed hand over his heart.  “You were the first human I’d ever seen and. . . well. . .”

“I left a good impression, too, then?”

Alberto had a feeling the sea monster was blushing under those scales.  He started to lean in a little closer, hoping maybe to steal a kiss--

Then the sea monster ducked under the water for a moment and stood back up.  Alberto couldn’t help but raise a questioning eyebrow at the sudden, odd action.  

“I need to stay wet,” he said quickly, knowing exactly what Alberto was thinking.

Alberto just smiled and cleared his throat to ask his next question.  

“What’s your name?”

The sea monster kept quiet, not really looking at him.  Instead he dug a distracted claw into the moss that grew on the rock beside them.  

“Then I’ll just have to call you tesoro or amore.”

That got another smile out of the sea monster, his crimson eyes turning more coy than shy.  Alberto smiled back, leaning in closer again with heavy eyes.  

“Perhaps bello?” he continued.  

“What should I call you then?” the sea monster asked, earfins fluttering.  

“You can just call me yours.”

He gave a happy trill and covered his flustered face in green claws.  It made Alberto think of how Luca reacted to his flirting.  He felt his throat grow tight for a moment when he thought of Luca. . . He swallowed and put the suave smile back on his face.  Alberto was trying to woo a pretty sea monster right now.  He needed to focus.  

“Or you can call me Alberto,” he added.  “Or even that human that wants to kiss you.”  

This triggered a bunch of chirps and another dunk under the water.  The sea monster poked just the top of his head out from the sea this time, a little farther back so all Alberto could see was his eyes and hairpaddles.  Those red eyes had gone from flustered to almost glaring at him.  

“What, do sea monsters not kiss?  Is it a sign of war or something?” Alberto asked, worried he’d offended him in some way.  

“No, we kiss. . . I just realized I shouldn’t be up here talking to you.  I should go now.  Like right now.”

No.  Don’t leave, never leave, I can’t loose you, too--

“Okay,” he shrugged, trying to act like it wasn’t a problem.  “Will I see you again?”

The creature slowly stood from the water.  He looked torn now.  Biting his lip and looking anywhere but at Alberto.  

“I-I don’t. . . I don’t know.”

Alberto took a few steps forward and gently touched his arm again.  

“What if I gave you a reason to come back to me, tesoro mio?”

“What are you offering?”

“What do you want?”

The sea monster swallowed, his eyes running over Alberto’s body then quickly away.  

Jackpot.  Pretty sea monster wants my body?  I can do that.  

“I’m yours, remember?”  Alberto placed a hand on the side of the creature’s face, tilting his head up to meet his eyes.  

“Then I don’t need anything else.”

Alberto leaned down and brought their lips together in a gentle kiss.  It was soft and sweet, just testing the (figurative) waters. . .  They pulled back and looked at each other, talking with their eyes.  

The second kiss was like being pulled in by the tide.  They crashed into each other with hungry mouths and grabbing hands.  Alberto gathered the sea monster’s slim body in strong arms, tilting his head for a better angle.  The sea monster didn’t hesitate to wrap himself around Alberto, his arms around broad shoulders and tail around his waist.  Alberto ran desperate hands over green scales and blue fins, trying to commit every curve to memory before he was forced to let go again.  He ran a hand over the sea monster’s tail, making him chirp and his ear fins flutter.  Alberto cupped a hand and filled it with water, gently running it over his lover’s shoulders and head to keep him hydrated.  

Alberto had found a creature that shouldn’t exist and his first reaction was to make out with it.  He was a little surprised by how clean the sea monster tasted.  He had half expected him to taste like fish or seaweed, but he was only a little salty and. . . was that pistachio?  Did sea monsters eat gelato?

Clawed hands found the bottom of Alberto’s shirt and pushed it up over his head, breaking the kiss.  The sea monster nipped at his neck and shoulder.  He pulled at Alberto’s hairband, letting his hair fall loose and wasted no time digging his hands into the thick, golden-brown curls.  

“Always wanted to do that,” the sea monster sighed against his lips.  

“What else have you always wanted to do to me?”

Instead of answering with words, the sea monster made another noise.  This time it was a deeper trill, almost a growl.  Alberto could feel the pure lust in that noise.  Goosebumps raised on his skin that had nothing to do with the cool water surrounding him.  

Fuck yes.  Loosing it to a sea monster in the ocean lets fucking go--

Alberto pulled him in for another hungry kiss.  His hands found the top of the sea monster’s woven seaweed pants and dipped his thumbs inside the waistband.  

“Wait,” the sea monster gasped, breaking the kiss.  That torn look was on his face again.  

Alberto put up his hands to show he wasn’t going to do anything his lover didn’t want.  He wanted them both in one hundred percent before things progressed.  Just because the sea monster wanted him, didn’t mean he was ready yet.  

The sea monster looked away, eyes searching the ocean as he thought over his options.  After a moment he looked back at Alberto, though he still looked a little unsure.  

“Next time.”

“Really?” He couldn’t keep the grin from his face.  “You’ll really come back?”

“Yeah, I just. . . need a little time, okay?  But I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Right here?”

“Right here, amore.”

Chapter Text

“Hey Giulia,” Alberto knocked on his sister’s door.  “My salvataggio shirt get put in with your laundry?”

“I dunno.  It’s probably at your boyfriend’s house.”

“Haha very funny since I don’t have one.

“How about the guy you dumped Luca for?”

“I didn’t dump--wait.  How’d you know about that?”

“I’m Luca’s friend, too.  He actually tells me things.  Unlike some people.”

Alberto growled through the door.  He had noticed she’d been a bit stand-offish with him recently.  He hadn’t gotten to talk to Giulia about whatever had put him on her shit list since he’d been dealing with being the center of a weird human/sea monster love triangle. . . thing.  

“Can I come in?  I’m gonna be late.”

“Guess so.”

He leaned in the door to find Giulia sitting on her bed.  She folded her arms and tried not to glare directly at her brother.  Alberto saw the shirt right away, folded on her dresser.  He couldn’t help but give her the side-eye as he picked it up.  

“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes.  “Don’t tell me you don’t have a boyfriend and then come in here with a hickey.”

Alberto yelped and put a hand on his neck.  Right.  His sea monster nipped him.  He hadn’t broken skin but it must have been hard enough to bruise.  

“It’s, uh. . . complicated?”

“Who is this person, anyway?” she asked.  “The only person you’ve been all over is Luca.”

“I’ll have to tell you later,” he said, pulling the shirt over his head.  “I’m gonna be late if I try to explain right now.”

~*~*~*~

On an empty street, Alberto ripped down a reward poster with more force than was probably necessary before ripping it up and throwing it away.  He had started taking down any reward posters he saw for sea monsters.  The people of Portorosso wanted his lover’s head and he didn’t like being reminded of it.  Had any of them actually talked to a sea monster?  No.  They threw their harpoons and asked questions later.  Alberto wanted to figure out a way to destroy his father’s news clipping wall full of sightings held up by knives, but he knew he’d have to make it look like an accident.  He grew up with that wall and it had never bothered him before.  It was just a fact of living in the Marcovaldo home.  Now. . . Now when he looked at it he was filled with dread.  The thought of his sea monster dead by his father’s hands. . .

Alberto snarled and ripped down another poster.  

He wondered what Luca thought of sea monsters.  He’d noticed that whenever Luca saw some of the art around town of sea monsters being killed he got nervous.  Alberto figured his friend just didn’t like violence. . .

He hadn’t seen Luca in a week.  What if Luca never came back?  What if his sea monster never came back?  What if he’d just lost Luca for nothing?

Who had he been using the most?  Had he been using Luca to get over the sea monster, then the sea monster to get over Luca?  Luca had riled him up before he’d met the sea monster again.  He’d slept in his bed, held his hand, promised him more. . . then Alberto had rejected him.  A couple days later he’d made out with someone he barely knew but somehow loved more than he had any right to.  

Alberto almost wished the sea monster hadn’t shown.  It’s what Alberto deserved.  To be alone.  He didn’t deserve either of them.  He’d just fuck up their lives like he did everything else--

Alberto stopped and put a hand over his Silenzio Bruno tattoo, took a deep breath, and let the words go.  

~*~*~*~

Alberto could only avoid Giulia for so long since they lived in the same house and all.  She pretty much cornered him in his room after dinner that night.  

“Pretty sure everyone at the party thought you and Luca were together if they didn’t already,” Giulia said, arms folded and a slight glare in her brown eyes.  “You were laying it on thick, too.  Warning Matteo off of him, looking into his eyes as you sang Elvis.  There might have been a pool going over if you two fucked that night or not.”

“Is this going somewhere, Giulietta?” Alberto snapped.  Unlike their father, Alberto only called her that when he was annoyed.  

“You lead my friend on then left him high and dry for someone else and you better have a damn good reason for it!” she shouted, an angry finger in his face.  

Alberto growled and slapped her hand away from him.

“I love Luca.  I do.  But. . . Shit, Giulia, I can’t. . . He deserves better.  He deserves someone who won’t leave him for. . .” Alberto bit his lip and turned his back to her, hands grabbing his hair in frustration.  

“For what, Beto?”

Alberto took a few deep breaths and let his body relax.  His hands let go of his hair and fell limp at his sides.  

“. . . Remember when I nearly drowned?”

“Like I’d forget.”

“I lied.  About not knowing who saved me.  I needed to protect him.”

He pulled out his most recent drawing pad and started flipping through it until he found one of the more recent pictures of his sea monster.  It was one of his favorites that he’d colored with pastels.  

“You can’t tell anyone.  Not even papa.  Especially not papa.  Clear?”

“Crystal.”

He took a deep breath to brace himself and handed her the drawing.  Giulia blinked at it for a moment.  After the shock wore off she gave a surprised laugh, looking at her brother for the punchline.  Just the look on Alberto’s face told her there wasn’t one.  She turned back to the drawing, taking in every detail.  

“Santa mozzarella.”

“I know.”

“He saved you?”

“Yeah.  He sat with me until I woke up.  I guess he got me to shore, too.  Can’t remember that part cause, y’know.  Passed out.”

“You’re sure this wasn’t some vivid hallucination?”

“I wasn’t sure for a long time, then when I found him again. . . lets just say he felt very real.”  Alberto motioned to the bruise on his neck.  

“Whoa whoa whoa-- did you have sex with a sea monster?!”

“No!” Not for lack of trying, though. . . “No, we just y’know. . . kissed a little.”   

“You made out with a sea monster?!”

“Judgy much?  Geeze Giules. . .”

“What was that like?”

“Wet.”

“Well obviously.”    

Alberto laughed and watched his sister flip through his secret sketchbook.  It felt good to have his secret out to someone.  

“Not mad at me anymore?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m still furious with you over what you did to Luca, stupido.”

“Fair,” Alberto said, nodding his understanding.  

“He’s crazy about you.”

“I’m crazy about him, too.”

“But you’re also in love with a sea monster which is. . . also crazy.”

“It’s fucked up is what it is.”

“You got me there.”  She closed the book with a sigh.  “So, just so we’re clear: you’re dating a sea monster?”

“Sort of?  It’s not like we can date exactly, I mean. . . He’s kinda confined to the ocean?  He couldn’t dry out.”

Giulia groaned and rolled her eyes upwards for a moment.  Alberto could be so dense sometimes.  

“What I’m asking is: you’re choosing the sea monster, over Luca, as a romantic interest?”

“Yeah.  Guess so,” he said with a shrug.  The fact he couldn’t meet her eyes told another story.    

Chapter Text

Alberto continued going back to the beach daily.  Sometimes he played his guitar, but most of the time he just sat and watched the ocean for any sign of his lover.  The sea monster said he would be back so he didn’t feel the need to serenade him out anymore.  He just hoped his sea monster told the truth. . .

Alberto paused as he climbed the rocks to their beach.  Someone was already there.  For a moment Alberto thought his sea monster had returned, but then he realized it was Luca.  Alberto’s heart did something complicated at the sight of him.  Luca sat on top of a rock, his head buried in his knees and fretful hands rubbing his legs.  

“Luca?” Alberto called to him from the beach.  

Luca looked up and over his shoulder at his friend.  It was clear even from this distance that Luca had been crying.  He sniffed and rubbed his face with the back of his arm.  

“What’s wrong?” Alberto asked.  

“Things. . . went a little sideways,” Luca sighed and stood up.  He made his way carefully from rock to rock until he was on the beach in front of Alberto.  

“What went sideways?”

“My life,” he shrugged.  

Alberto reached out and pulled Luca into a hug.  His friend easily returned the embrace and they stood like that for a long time.  Alberto hadn’t gotten to touch Luca in so long. . . he wished the circumstances were better.  

“Would you be mad at me. . . if I wasn’t who you thought I was?” Luca asked into Alberto’s shoulder.  

“What do you mean?” Alberto asked with a confused laugh.  “You’re Luca.  You’re my best friend.  I mean, you are still my best friend right?  After, uh. . .”

Luca looked up at him for a second, eyes soft.  

“Always, Alberto.”

Those words made Alberto sigh in relief.  

“But that’s not all I am, amore.”  Luca started pulling away, looking at the water like it was going to attack him at any moment.  “I’m not supposed to be here.  We were never supposed to meet.”

“Don’t say that.”  Albert couldn’t keep his voice from shaking now.  Never meeting Luca?  . . . the world would be a much darker place without you in it.

“My parents finally found out I was coming here to see you.  Now they’re. . . they’re sending me away.  I’m starting to think they’re right.  I should go so I can’t screw things up here anymore than I already have--”

Panic rose in Alberto’s chest at the thought of Luca being sent away.  Dealing without Luca for one week had been rough enough.  He started pulling Luca close again, a hand on his face to make Luca meet his eyes.  

“Don’t, per favore--” Alberto cut himself off, trying not to outright beg his friend to stay.  “It’ll be okay.  You can stay with me.  You know my family likes you.”

Luca sobbed, but there was another sound behind it . . . almost a chirp.  

“What if my parents come looking for me?”

“I’ll protect you.”  Alberto put up an arm, showing off an impressive bicep.  

Luca huffed out a laugh.  He smiled up at Alberto, eyes sparkling in the sunlight.  Alberto was overcome with the need to kiss him.  Like he’d read Alberto’s mind, Luca pulled himself up and brought their lips together.  Alberto gasped into his mouth but pulled Luca closer with a hand on the back of his neck.  The way Luca felt in his arms, the curve of his body in Alberto’s hands, the way their lips moved together. . . it all felt so familiar.  It was when his fingers got tangled in dark curls instead of blue paddles that he truly realized what he was doing.  Alberto pulled away, his breath shaking.  

“Wait,” he gasped.  “I, um. . . that guy I told you about?  I kinda found him.  We’re. . . together?  Shit.  I feel. . . have you ever felt like you’re being pulled in two different directions?”

“You have no idea.”  Luca tilted his head, a smile Alberto had never seen before gracing his lips.  It told him Luca knew something Alberto didn’t.  He wasn’t sure he liked that.  

“Yes I do!  I’m in love with two different people!”  Alberto motioned towards the ocean with desperate hands.  “One is this beautiful, ethereal creature and the other. . .” he turned back to Luca and put his hands on his shoulders.  “The other is my best friend.  He’s sweet and cute and funny and. . .”  Alberto ran out of words and just pulled him into another kiss.  “I don’t want to lose you.  Please stay with me,” Alberto said against kiss-swollen lips.  

“What about your sea monster?” Luca asked, nodding towards the ocean where Alberto had been motioning.  

“I don’t know!  I just know I don’t want to lose you again!”

It took Alberto a moment to realize something: he’d never told Luca his lover was a sea monster.  Implied, maybe, but still. . .

“Wait--”

“What if you could have both?” Luca interrupted.  

“. . . W-what’s happening here?”

Luca just took his hand and started towards the water.  He stopped and gave Alberto a nervous smile.  

“Please. . . don’t hate me for hiding this from you.  I didn’t think it was safe, but then. . . Just, let me show you.”

Luca turned and took both his hands, walking backwards into the waves.  It wasn’t until Luca was over waist-deep that Alberto noticed what was happening.  A familiar green and blue tail flicked out of the water behind him.  A wave came over Luca’s arm and turned his skin to scales, his fingers to webbed claws.  He dunked his head under the water and popped back up so Alberto could look into slit eyes.  He could see now that they were actually brown, but the yellow surrounding them made them look more red.  

Alberto froze, unable to speak as he saw his best friend become his sea monster.  

The silence was deafening.  The waves crashing over the rocks was the only sound as Alberto processed what had just happened.  

“Please say something,” Luca- the sea monster- finally said, breaking the tense silence.  

Alberto swallowed and leaned in close to Luca.  

“Dio santo. . . I can’t believe. . . it’s you?”

“It’s me,” Luca nodded, still looking terrified.  “I’d been watching you on your boat--not like, in a creepy way!  I just. . . I told you it was love at first sight and. . . and the storm came and I couldn’t let you die and I thought maybe if you thought I was human you could love me back and--”

“Whoa whoa, babe!  Slow down.  It’s okay,” Alberto said, taking hold of Luca’s shoulders.  “It’s okay, I swear.  I’m just really not used to getting this lucky.”

“Lucky?” Luca asked, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.  

“I mean. . . you’re telling me that my best friend is also the love of my life?” he said, smiling.  “Then I must be the luckiest guy in the world.”

Luca smiled back, the relief washing over him more refreshing than the waves.  

Chapter Text

“We’re both just walking disasters aren’t we?  Well, you’re a swimming disaster but close enough.”

That made Luca laugh.  

“Why didn’t you tell me last time we met?  I obviously wasn’t upset you were a sea monster since I was sucking on your tongue--”

“I needed to process!  I mean, the time before that you dumped me and I thought maybe you just didn’t feel that way for me.  I worried if you found out I was the sea monster you would be disappointed.  You talk about how beautiful the sea monster is and I. . . I want you to find both of my forms beautiful.”

After a moment of thought, Alberto pulled off his half-wet shirt.  Luca arched his eyebrows and stepped back, unsure where Alberto was going with this.  Alberto used the driest part of the shirt to wipe away the jade scales from his face and turn his cobalt fins back into chocolate curls.  He paused and dropped the shirt in the water.  

“You’re finding that for me later,” he told Luca, making him laugh again.  Alberto took his now dry friend’s face in his hands.  “I have been so fucking confused for the past few months.  I was in love with a sea monster.  Then I was in love with my best friend.  I had to choose between the two of you and. . . do you know how relieved I am?  I thought I didn’t understand my own heart and it turns out. . . I’m just in love with you.  No matter what form you’re in.”  

Alberto wrapped his arms around Luca, pulling him close and kissing him.  

“So, um. . . You’ll stay?  With me?”

“Of course I’ll stay.”

Alberto looked so relieved he could cry.  Many kisses followed that.  Some wandered over Luca’s face, cheeks, forehead. . . neck. . . the neck kisses made the giggles turn to soft moans, making Alberto smirk against a pale throat.  

“I just remembered what you said.  When I made a move on you as a sea monster.”

“Yeah?”

“Next time.”  He kissed Luca softly before continuing.  “It’s next time now.”

“So it is,” Luca smiled.  

The next kiss lingered, full of promises. . .   

“You’re sure?” Alberto asked against his lips.  “If you’ve changed your mind--”

“I’m sure.”

“I’ll stop the moment you ask me to.”

“I know.  I trust you.”

“Then come here,” Alberto took his arm and pulled him to the rock they’d last met behind.  It was still the perfect place to hide.  He rested his back against the rock and held Luca to his chest.  

Alberto helped Luca unbutton his shirt with shaking hands and pushed it off his shoulders.  Luca’s shoulders and arms were already starting to dry out in the sun.  He held up his hand and let Alberto watch the webbed claws become fingers.  Alberto put his own hand up and wove their fingers together.  

“You’re amazing,” he said, voice filled with awe.  He could see Luca’s blush now.  

Alberto cupped his hand and picked up water like he had done for his sea monster just a couple of days before.  Watching the skin turn to scales and back again was mesmerizing to him.  

“It doesn’t hurt?” he asked, watching Luca’s five fingers become four claws again.

“Not at all.  Tickles if anything.”  

Alberto placed a large, wet hand over half Luca’s face and pulled it back so he could see the two people he had been in love with over the last couple of months.  Green scales, pale freckled skin, blue fins, brown curls, sharp teeth and slit pupils. . .

“I feel like you’re finger painting on me!” Luca said through giggles.  He ducked under the water so he was fully sea monster.  “You can play with my human form later.”

Luca was kissing him again, legs and arms wrapped around his lover.  Alberto became more aware of the sharp claws running along his shoulders and pulling down his hair.  He was pretty sure a claw was used to cut his hair tie instead of pulling it off.  Luca nipped at the side of his neck that hadn’t been marked last time.  

Don’t trust sea monsters.  They’ll drown you if you get too close.  

“Anything I need to know before this goes any farther?  You guys aren’t like black widows, are you?” Alberto asked, half joking.  

The sea monster snorted.  

“I’m a fish, not a spider, amore!”

“So you won’t eat me when you’re done with me?”

“Like I’d ever be done with you.”  He paused and tilted his head like he was considering something.  “I might bite you, but I won’t eat you.”

“I can deal with that.”  

“I though you said you trusted me not to eat you?” Luca pointed out with an arched eyebrow.  

“Well, I don’t know what you guys get up to after sex, do I?”

Luca laughed and kissed him again.   

Alberto found the top of Luca’s pants and looked him in the eye for a moment, silently asking permission.  Luca nodded and Alberto pushed them down.  They were discarded with the flick of a green tail.  Alberto opened his own pants and pressed himself against his sea monster.  He quickly learned sea monster dicks are not the same as human dicks.  It was softer and moved around more instead of being hard and rigid.  In fact, it wrapped around his dick like another hand.  

“Dio santo, that’s. . . that’s new,” Alberto said with a breathless laugh.  

“It’s okay, though?”

“Very very okay, amore.  Ah!” he gasped as he felt his dick being squeezed.  

“Is this what you want?” Luca asked, squeezing Alberto’s dick and making his eyes roll back in his head while a (very manly, I assure you) whimper escaped his lips.  “Or do you want more?”

“I want everything,” Alberto managed to force out.  “Wanna fuck you in both forms, then let you fuck me.  Wanna suck you, ride you, shower sex oh fuck I bet that’ll be amazing--”

“But right now?” Luca giggled and squeezed again, trying to bring his lover back to the moment.  

“You choose.  Can’t make a decision to save my life right now.  I’m all yours.”  

The sea monster took Alberto’s hand and pressed it around the base of his dick.  Alberto felt a ridge around the bottom and realized it was a slit where it came out of.  Then he brought his hand lower, just under it where there was a hole he could easily slip two fingers inside.  Alberto moaned into his shoulder.  

This was how he was loosing his virginity: to a creature he’d been told since he was a child to avoid at all costs and kill on sight.  

“Is this what you want?  Really?” he asked, nuzzling his lover’s cheek.  

“Only if you want it, too.”

“You know I do.”

Alberto pulled back and kissed him before resting their foreheads together.  He worked his fingers in and out a few times, letting Luca buck against his hand.  Alberto slipped in another finger to be sure his lover could take him.  A sudden chirp made him pause before Luca told him it was okay.  

Luca gently untangled their dicks and helped Alberto get into position.  Alberto pressed the head against the opening and looked at his lover’s face to know he was ready.  Luca nodded and Alberto didn’t waste another moment before thrusting inside.  The sea monster made the most beautiful noise he’d ever heard, a moan that was intermingled with a trilling in the back of his throat.  Alberto had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming.  He held them together for a moment, breathing deep and trying not to let this be over in just a couple thrusts.  He wanted to make this good for Luca.  

“Oh yes, tesoro mio,” Alberto breathed, voice shaking in pleasure.  “I’ve never felt anything so good, baby.”

Luca was trembling, happy little clicks the only noise he could make right now.  

Alberto took hold of his legs, holding them at just the right angle that Luca made the sweetest sounds with each thrust.  The water churned around them with each movement, a tail flicking out of the water erratically.  Alberto felt claws run down his back, digging into his skin enough to bleed.  He felt teeth on his shoulder and for a moment didn’t believe he was going to make it out of this alive.  If the sea monster decided to go black widow on him, honestly, he’d die happy.  

Luca brought their lips back together, the kisses open and deep until they ran out of breath.  They had to let go and rest their foreheads together, just panting against open mouths.  

“So fucking beautiful,” Alberto growled against his lips.  “Shit, this isn’t gonna last as long as we’d like.  You feel too good, baby.”

“S-same,” Luca was able to get out through the clicks and trills he was making.  

Alberto felt him come, tightening around him and making desperate sounds.  He heard Luca whisper his name like a prayer before sinking teeth into his shoulder.  Alberto’s eyes rolled back in his head, both pain and pleasure flooding his body.  His sea monster continued riding his dick until he came, moaning and swearing into green scales.  

They were both shaking with aftershocks and holding onto each other tightly.  Alberto couldn’t help but shudder when he felt his softening dick slip out of its warm home.  He was vaguely aware that Luca’s slit had closed around his own dick.  No fair.  Alberto wanted a dick pocket to keep him warm.  He stuffed himself back in his pants but it didn’t really help.  Everything was still wet and cold.  

“You alright?” Alberto asked into a fluttering ear fin.

“I’m amazing, amore.”  Luca giggled a little, nuzzling the side of Alberto’s face and neck.  “Was I good for you?”

“So fucking good, mio amato.  Already looking forward to doing it again.”

“Give me ten minutes.”  

Alberto let out a tired laugh, not quite sure if he should believe Luca or not.  

“I’m still having trouble believing this is real,” he admitted after a moment.  “All that searching. . . and you were right there.”

“You found me.  That’s all that matters.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Chapter Text

Luca’s POV

Luca Paguro had been taught at a young age never to trust land monsters.  They stole food from the ocean and a harpoon would be in your back if you got too close.  He was taught to steer clear of them and if they fell in the water, let them drown.  The only good land monster was a dead one.  

~*~*~*~

Luca kept his distance from the land monsters most of the time.  He had never come up to the surface before. . . well, before now.  

He’d done what he was supposed to do when he saw a boat and urged the goatfish under their usual hiding rock.  Luca watched it go by with wary eyes. . . then, something fell from the boat and floated downwards.  He saw the boat stop and a hand came down, trying to catch whatever it was before it got too far.  The land monster gave up after a couple of splashes and moved on.  Whatever it was landed in the middle of the grazing field.  

Luca went to investigate.  Make sure it was safe.  

The thing was round and shiny. . . Rriiiiiing! and loud.  He wasn’t expecting that.  Huh.  It looked harmless.  He found a spot under their hiding rock for it.  So the goatfish wouldn’t mess with it, of course.  

Luca looked back up at the boat and noticed it had stopped not far away.  That was rare. . . they usually went along their way in this area.  He could tell the engine was off and a net had been dropped into the water.  After a few moments Luca decided to get closer, just to see. . .

Luca peaked behind the rocks at the fisherman.  He’d never seen a land monster before.  He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t this.  

The fisherman was tall and muscular, tight brown curls that shone gold in the sun and tan freckled skin.  Luca wanted to get closer so badly.  He wanted to know what that sun-kissed skin felt like. . . what it smelled like. . .

The fisherman picked something up to move it out of his way.  A long stick with a sharp, shiny end.  It looked dangerous and Luca ducked lower into the water when he saw it.  It must have been one of those harpoons his parents always warned him about.  This was as close as Luca would ever get to the human, he realized.  If he valued his life, he’d stay away.  

~*~*~*~

Luca didn’t stay away.  

~*~*~*~

The storm was sudden, but strong.  Luca staid low in the water, watching the fisherman’s boat try to make its way to safety.  

It failed.  Luca saw a body hit the water but the man seemed to be a strong swimmer.  But he wasn’t strong enough.  Not for the waves that had come up, nor the strong tides. . . After a few futile attempts to get back in his boat the fisherman started to sink.  Seeing this, Luca panicked.  He swam to him without a second thought, bringing him to the surface and holding his head above water.  

Luca brought him up on a deserted part of the beach and waited for the storm to pass.  The rain kept him wet and in his sea monster form as he waited for the fisherman to wake up.  It wasn’t until after the rain stopped and the sun started to come out, that he could properly admire the man in his arms.  His fisherman was even more handsome up close where Luca could see the freckles splashed across his nose.  He mostly smelled like fish and rain right now.  Luca wasn’t complaining, of course.  He liked those things.  The man’s chest was rising and falling, so that was a good thing. . . He wasn’t waking up, though.  

Luca remembered the music he would play on his singing lady machine and tried to remember the words to some of the songs.  He mostly remembered the tunes, especially to one song.  Luca started humming to his human, touching his face and brushing the hair from his eyes.  The man started to stir a little bit, a small smile gracing his lips.  

“Citta Vuota,” he whispered.  

Luca gasped and pulled away, starting to jump into the water to make his escape.  The fisherman grabbed his arm, stopping him.  He opened his eyes and for the first time Luca could see how brilliantly green his eyes were. . . Luca forced himself to slip away and into the water.  

“Wait!” the man shouted towards him.  “Per favore!”  

Despite every cell in his body telling him to swim like hell, Luca stopped and turned back.  

“Ciao,”the fisherman forced out.  

Luca timidly waved back with a webbed hand.  

“Did you save me?”

He nodded, eyes wide and fearful.  

“Thank you.”    

Luca smiled, surprised.  

“Sei bellissimo.” (You are beautiful)

He looked away shyly, feeling hot all over.  He wanted to tell the fisherman the same thing. . . But when he heard people approaching, he had to dive into the water or risk getting caught.  Even as he heard his fisherman begging him to return. . .

~*~*~*~

Luca waded to the edge of the beach where he’d saved Alberto only a few days ago.  He tried to stand, but then gravity hit and he fell on his face.  

“You can do this,” he told himself, pushing himself up on his hands and knees.  He looked down at his hand and saw it change before his eyes. . . green scales turned to smooth pale skin and traveled up his shoulder.  It kind of tickled, like his skin was rippling as it changed.  The weirdest part was not having a tail but swearing it was still back there.  A dark brown curl fell over his forehead, making him go a little cross-eyed as he tried to see it.  He was able to get up on his knees and look down at himself.  He’d need some different clothes.  Most humans he’d seen wore a shirt and didn’t wear anything made of woven seaweed.  

Luca tried standing again and once again fell over.  He’d have to work on that, too.  

~*~*~*~

It took a little while before Luca felt he could walk normally and track down some clothes.  Someone left some on a string outside that fit him nicely.  He tried on some shoes but they made him fall on his already unsteady feet.  He supposed he’d be fine without them for now.  

“If it really was a sea monster, they must not be so bad, right?”

Mother of pearl that was him!  The fisherman’s voice!  Okay okay, stay cool.  

Luca brushed his hands over his shirt to straighten any wrinkles.  He looked up just in time to see the fisherman walking along the sand with a cat walking beside him.  Luca gripped his own arm nervously.  

“I mean, if he was going to drown me, he would have.  He wouldn’t have saved me and brought me to land.”

“Mrow.”

“Just what I was thinking.”

“Mrrrrr.”   

The fisherman looked up properly now and for a moment Luca felt like his heart had stopped.  

Oh, he’s so handsome. . . 

This would have been much more romantic if it wasn’t for the growling cat.  

“Machiavelli,” the fisherman admonished his cat.  Said cranky-puss climbed up and sat on his shoulders, still wary of Luca.  

“Ciao,” the fisherman greeted him with a smile.   

“Ciao,” Luca said back.  

“Alberto Marcovaldo,” he held out a hand.  

“Luca Paguro.”  

~*~*~*~

Each time they met, Luca fell even more in love.  

Being affectionate felt completely natural between them.  He knew one day Alberto would be his mate, but had no idea how humans went about relationships.  Even though Alberto was probably an expert at relationships, he decided to keep it quiet and ask Giulia.  She was also good at answering his questions.  Both siblings knew Luca was sheltered and never asked why he didn’t know everything he probably should.  

“This is about Alberto, isn’t it?” Giulia asked with a knowing smile.  

“. . . Maybe?” he said, cheeks flaming up at the thought of his friend.  

“Dio mio, you have such a crush on my brother.”

“Do you think he could have a crush on me, too?”

“He could, but he might be too dense to understand it just yet.  I won’t pretend to understand everything Alberto does, but maybe I can help you figure it out.”

“Grazie, Giulia!”

From there on she helped Luca understand dating, which Luca understood was the way humans found their mates.  It wasn’t too far off of sea monster customs.  

It sounded like humans could have multiple romantic and sexual partners throughout their lives, though.  Sea monsters could only have one mate.  If Luca started sleeping with Alberto he’d be tied to him for life.  Alberto wouldn’t be tied to Luca.  It was a risk Luca would have to decide if he could take.  

~*~*~*~

“Alberto’s so jealous he can’t see straight,” Giulia told him softly.  

“You think so?” he asked, blushing.  

“Sneak a look.”

Luca looked up at Alberto.  Oh, he was fuming.  

“You should do something about it.  Really,” she said pretending to still be interested in the book held between them.  

He looked back at Giulia and smiled.  

“I think I will.”

~*~*~*~

“Wise man say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you. . .”

Luca met Alberto’s eyes and could feel that he was singing this song to him.  He listened to the words, hoping he understood just what Alberto was trying to tell him.  Was Alberto really falling in love with him?  

“Like a river flows, surely to the sea, darling so it goes, some things are meant to be. . .”

~*~*~*~

There was someone else.  How could there be someone else?  The way Alberto acted around him, touched him, looked at him with literal hearts in his eyes. . . Not to mention his jealousy.  Then last night. . . He’d felt Alberto against him.  How could there be. . . ?  What was Luca missing?  Giulia said Alberto only acted this way around him!  And Alberto was denying him over a man he didn’t even really know!

Luca raced down the stairs like he was on fire, rushing past Giulia in his haste to get as far away from Alberto as he could right now.  

“Luca?  Hey, wait!” Giulia called after him.  

He stopped just short of the gate and sighed.  

“Whoa.  What happened?  Was the sex bad or something?”

“No, Giulia, we didn’t have sex.  He, uh. . . He loves someone else.”

“Cosa?  That idiota couldn’t possibly--!”

“He does.  He chose him.  I’m the idiot in this situation, Giulia.”  The words crackled in his throat as he forced them out.  “I’ve gotta go before my mom turns the ocean upside down looking for me.  If she hasn’t already.”

~*~*~*~

“Where were you last night?!” his mother shrieked.  

“I was with my friends.  We lost track of time and I just ended up staying there. . .” Well, it was the truth.  Most of it.  

Daniela tilted her head, looking at him carefully.  

“Luca?  What’s going on?  This isn’t like you.”

Luca bit his lip, rubbing his arms like he was cold.  

“There’s. . . a guy.”

Daniela looked less concerned now.  

“Oh?  A potential mate?”

“I thought so, but now I don’t think he feels the same.”

“Oh. . .” she deflated a little, then hurriedly went to comfort her son.  “Well, it’s his loss!  There are plenty of fish in the sea, dear.”

There’s only one Alberto, though. . . 

Luca just nodded and gave a half smile.  

“You know, the Branzino’s boy is your age.  Unless that’s the boy who broke your heart?  No?  Good, though I’m not sure how I feel about having Bianca as an in law. . .”

“I don’t think I’m up to looking for someone else just yet, mom,” Luca sighed, getting up from the table.  “Thanks though.”

~*~*~*~

It was for the best, wasn’t it?  If Alberto had gone along with what Luca wanted when he wasn’t sure about who he truly loved. . . then he chose someone else in the end. . .

Luca couldn’t decide if he wanted to see Alberto again or not.  The thought of never seeing him again hurt.  The thought of seeing him again hurt.  That’s why they must call it heartbreak.  It was painful in a way he couldn’t see, only feel deep in his heart.  

In the end he decided to start small.  Maybe he could just listen to his love’s voice for a little bit so he could decide if actually seeing him again was possible.  

Sometimes, when Luca couldn’t get away to be with Alberto, he could hear him singing on the shore.  On their shore.  Luca could usually get close enough to hear his voice as he sang without being seen.  Then he would hide and pretend that Alberto was singing for him. . .

Luca’s emotions must have gotten the best of him.  Made him make stupid mistakes as he went behind a rock to listen to Alberto’s voice sing to him of lost love.  He heard Alberto close the song and usually he would start to swim away when he heard a song end, but Luca wasn’t ready to leave yet.  Just knowing Alberto was still close by made him stay.  

Luca didn’t feel the water shifting until it was too late.  Emerald eyes met his and Luca gasped in surprise, jumping away.  

“No, wait!” Alberto held up his hands.  “I won’t hurt you.  Just, per favore, don’t run away.”

Luca didn’t run, but looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes and teeth bared.  

“How do you know I won’t hurt you?” he asked.  

“Because if you were going to drown me and eat me you would have already done it.  You saved me instead.”

He looked away shyly.  

“Why did you save me, anyway?”  

“Because. . . because the world would be a much darker place without you in it.”

Alberto swallowed, near tears at the confession.  

“You love me?”

Luca made a sad trill in the back of his throat.  

Alberto reached out, careful not to startle him, and ran the back of his hand down his arm. . .  

“It’s really you. . . I was so close to giving up. . .”

Something clicked into place once Alberto said that.  

Oh.  

Oh, Alberto. . . It was me you were looking for?

“You were looking for me?” Luca’s eyes were wide with shock.  “I’m the one you want?”

“Yeah.  My eyes barely left the ocean since I first saw you.”

Luca asked him about, well, Luca.  Alberto actually blushed a little when they talked about him and it made his heart flutter along with his earfins.  

He was fully aware that Alberto was going in for a kiss at one point. . . but then he had noticed the spot on his arm that Alberto was touching was loosing it’s scales and he panicked.  Luca jumped in the water before Alberto could notice.  

When Alberto brought up kisses Luca was flustered at first.  He chirped happily and went under the water again so Alberto couldn’t see him in this state.  After he’d calmed down the memory came back to him of the last time they flirted and talked about kisses. . .

“I’d rather you actually remembered the first time we kissed.”

“You said you wouldn’t kiss me while I was drunk because you wanted me to remember it.”

“There’s someone else.  I’m sorry.”

Luca felt the bitter urge to deny him back.  Make Alberto feel the same heartbreak Luca had gone through just days ago.  

“What, do sea monsters not kiss?  Is it a sign of war or something?” Alberto asked, worried he’d offended him in some way.  

“No, we kiss. . . I just realized I shouldn’t be up here talking to you.  I should go now.  Like right now.”

Luca should have swam away after saying that, taking Alberto’s heart with him. . .  

“Okay.  Will I see you again?”

He should have said no.  He should have disappeared into the ocean giving Alberto no hope of ever seeing him again. . . but the sea monster was weak for his fisherman.

Luca came so close to giving in.  To sating every bit of lust he felt for Alberto.  They both wanted it, but. . . doubt crept into Luca’s mind.  

What if Alberto rejected him the moment he found out it was just Luca?  It was clear the way Alberto looked at him in his sea monster form that he saw him as something precious.  He would play and flirt with Luca the human, but he worshiped Luca the sea monster.  To Alberto the sea monster was mysterious and beautiful.  What would he think if Luca was the one beneath those jade scales he worshiped with his mouth and hands?  The mystery would be gone and Alberto could break Luca’s heart a second time. . .

When he said that all he needed was time, that he’d be back, it was the truth.  The only obstacle at this point was Luca himself.  

~*~*~*~

Luca was still starry eyed and giggly as he made his way back home.  He could still smell Alberto on his scales.  He hated for it to fade, but at the same time hoped it would before he saw his parents in the morning.  

He had thought he needed to be human for Alberto to love him, but after what had just happened. . . clearly Luca being a creature of the sea wasn’t a problem for Alberto.   The real problem was telling Alberto his best friend and his lover were one in the same. . .

Luca’s mother met him at the door, eyes glowing in anger and arms folded.  

Oh. . . shit.  

“I told you I was seeing my friends, Mom.”

“I didn’t know these friends of yours were land monsters or that you were going to the surface to see them!  Do you have a death wish?” she turned to her husband.  “Do you hear that, Lorenzo?  Our son has a death wish!”

“I’m always really careful!  Only one person has seen me and I don’t think he cares that I’m a sea monster, anyway-- ”

“What?!  Who?”

“My. . . friend, Alberto.”

She didn’t look like she believed him for a moment.  

“Is Alberto the reason you smell like a land monster right now?”

Luca nodded slowly, not really meeting his mother’s eyes.  

“And he’s seen you?”

“Yes.  And he didn’t hurt me.”

“I’m sure if he had the chance he’d put a harpoon in your back!”

“I love him!” he shouted.  “And he loves me.”

Daniela stared at her son, then turned to Lorenzo.  

“Lorenzo, get your brother to come.  He’ll take care of this.”

“Daniela, are you sure. . .?” his father started.  

The growl she gave him was answer enough.  

Luca frowned.  He’d only met his Uncle Ugo once when he was younger.  He knew they brought him to scare him away from going to the surface by telling him the story of how he’d nearly been killed by some land monsters.  Now Uncle Ugo lived in the Deep, as far away from the surface as he could get.  

“Uncle Ugo?  What’s going on?” he asked.  

“You’ll be going to live with him for the rest of the season,” his mother clarified.  

“But Uncle Ugo lives in the Deep!” Luca shouted.  No light, just darkness, no where near the surface. . . no where near Alberto. . .

“Exactly.”

“You can’t do this!”

“Watch me!”

“I’m not a little kid anymore!”

“You’ll be treated like an adult when you start acting like one.”  Daniela went to touch her son’s face.  “The world is a dangerous place, Luca.  If I have to send you to the bottom of the ocean to protect you from it, then so be it.”

Luca pulled away.  He couldn’t look at her anymore.  

“Hey,” she said, he knew the tone and what would come next.  “Look me in the eye.  You know I love you, right?”

Luca swam away without answering.  

Chapter Text

“You’re sure your dad won’t mind?” asked Luca, sitting down at the kitchen table.  

“I told you, he loves you.  You had his blessing after knowing you a couple weeks,” Alberto said, getting them both a glass of water.  “We’re gonna be fine.  At least for now.”

“For now?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Portorosso is dangerous for sea monsters.  On top of that your parents aren’t far away.”  

“But what else can we do?  Leave?  I wouldn’t ask you to leave your family for me.”  Luca pulled his knees to his chest, curling in on himself as he tried not to let his anxiety take over.  

Alberto was silent for a long moment, gathering up lost memories from the past.  

“When I first came here I was just trying to raise money for a Vespa,” Alberto admitted.  

“A Vespa?”

“Yeah, it’s a scooter.  I didn’t plan to stay.  My dad left me on the streets and I just figured I’d find a way to see the world on my own.  Then I found Giulia and Massimo.  I made money helping Massimo fish and me and Giulia won the Portorosso Cup that year.  Pissed off Ercole to no end so that was a plus.  Just before I bought the jankiest Vespa you ever saw. . . Massimo asked me if I’d like to stay with him.  I thought he just wanted me as an employee but by the time Giulia returned from school the next summer I had been adopted.”

“So you never got the Vespa?”

“I kinda forgot about it,” he said with a shrug.  “Turned out I didn’t need it because. . . I had a family and I didn’t need to be alone anymore.  Haven’t thought about that dream in years. . . ”

Luca huffed out a laugh and nudged his boyfriend.  

“You liar.  You said I only needed to be a level three friend to learn your tragic backstory.”

“I said at least level three friend.”

“I’m like level ten now.  What level friend is it for sex?”

“Sixty-nine.”

They both burst into laughter and leaned in close to each other.  

“I guess, I told you that so you would know that. . . if you wanted to leave, I have the money.  Massimo pays me for my work, but he always fed me and kept a roof over my head.  Originally I was saving for a better Vespa (at least that’s what I told myself) and well. . . . I could get one now.  If my math is right.”

“You’d do that?  For me?”   

Alberto took Luca’s face in his hands.  

“For you?  I’d do anything.”

~*~*~*~

Giulia knew Alberto and Luca were very affectionate people.  The scene she walked into was truly gag-inducing, though.  Alberto and Luca sat at the table, Alberto holding Luca’s round face in his large hands and speaking soft, comforting words.  Luca was running gentle hands over Alberto’s arms.  They were too wrapped up in each other to notice Giulia enter the kitchen.  

Then Alberto pulled Luca in for a soft kiss.  Well then.   

“Dio mio, are you two going to be even more insufferable now?” she asked, making both men jump.  

“I don’t know. . . what do you think, mio amato?  Can we be even more insufferable?” Alberto asked Luca, rubbing their noses together.  “Luce della mia vita.”

“Oh barf.”

Luca squeaked and hid his red face in Alberto’s shoulder.  Alberto couldn’t help but chuckle, running a gentle hand over his boyfriend’s curved back.  

“You idioti together now?” Giulia asked casually.  

“Si,” Alberto said, pressing another kiss to Luca’s curls.  

“What happened about, uh. . .” Giulia arched her eyebrows at her brother instead of saying it aloud.  

“Oh, it’s cool,” Alberto said with a shrug.  “They turned out to be the same person, so. . .”

“. . . Cosa?”

Luca picked up his head and looked Alberto in the eyes.  Alberto reached across the table and held a glass of water out to Luca.  

“It’s okay,” Alberto said.  “I told her I was saved by a sea monster.  You’re safe.”

Luca gave a small smile and put his hand in the water, the pale skin becoming jade scales.  Giulia gasped, staring at her friend’s hand in wonder.  

“You. . . you saved Alberto?” she asked.  

Luca nodded and wiped off his hand.  

Giulia walked around the table and pulled him into a tight hug.  Luca easily reciprocated, holding his friend close.  

“Thank you,” she said into his shoulder, voice breaking.  “Thank you for my brother.”

They slowly let go and smiled at each other.  Giulia tried to discretely thumb away the tears in her eyes before her brother could see.  Alberto saw and pretended not to.  

“So, wait, you dumped Luca. . . for Luca?” Giulia asked.  

“Well, when you say it like that it makes me sound like an idiot,” Alberto said, offended.  

“There’s no ‘sounds like’ about it, Beto,” she turned back to a giggling Luca.  “Talk to me.  How’d all this go down?”

Luca took a deep breath and tried to explain as best as he could.  

“I’d always been told to just let land monsters drown if they fell in the water,” he admitted.  “Then I. . . I just couldn’t do it.  I’d already been watching him on his boat.  Falling in love with him from a distance. . .” He looked over at Alberto and gave a shaky laugh.  “Then I came to the surface so I could find him again.  While I came to be with Alberto, I ended up falling in love with your world, too.  The stars, the sun, music, gelato--” as quickly as his face brightened for all the things he loved about the surface, it fell.  “Now my parents want to send me away from everything I love.”

“Turns out sea monsters are just as afraid of us as we are of them,” Alberto said.  “Luca’s parents found out he was coming to the surface to see me.  They want to send him deeper into the ocean as punishment.”

“That means never seeing Alberto again.  Never seeing you again, Giulia.  I can’t--I won’t do that.”

“Living in Portorosso is dangerous, though,” Giulia said, motioning at the harpoons on the wall.  “Our father hunts sea monsters!”

“Alberto!” Massimo called from outside.  “I can use some help with the nets!”

“Speak of the devil,” Alberto said fondly.  “Be right there, papa!”

Alberto ran outside to help his father with some nets as well as a couple barrels of fish.  

Luca stared at the door Alberto had left through, his leg bouncing as he waited for his mate to return.  

“Are you okay, Luca?” Giulia’s voice broke through the silence.  

“Huh?  Oh, yeah, Giulia!  I’m fine, I just. . .” Luca’s eyes kept anxiously shooting towards to door.  

“We’re going to help you however we can.  It’ll work out,” she continued to comfort him.  

Luca just nodded and got quiet again.  Giulia noticed how he looked like he was going to bolt after Alberto at any moment.  

“Are you having a sea monster thing?” she asked, head tilted in curiosity.  

“Yeah. . . we, uh, get a little needy when we first mate,” he said with a shrug.  

“Dio mio, have I got to hear about you and my brother mating now?”

Luca giggled nervously, but he could see from her smile that Giulia was happy for them.  

“I don’t want details, but I’ll take it you two are sleeping together?”

Luca put his hands on his red cheeks and looked away, unable to look his friend in the eye.  He was so in love he felt his heart may burst from all the emotions carried there.  He’d become mated to Alberto just a couple of hours ago and was still glowing from it.  Luca felt he was still processing that it had actually happened.  That they were together now.  That they made love and could do it again whenever they wanted.  Hell, he would probably be in Alberto’s bed tonight begging him for more--

“I see,” Giulia said, nodding.

“I didn’t even say anything!” Luca yelped.  

“Didn’t have to.  You’re getting it from Alberto.  Congrats and have fun with that.”

“Giulia!”

~*~*~*~

“Hey, uh, papa?” Alberto started, after getting the last barrel put away.  “I was wondering if Luca could stay with us for a while?”

“Of course,” Massimo answered easily before turning to his son.  “Is there a problem?”

“Well, um. . . me and Luca, uh. . .” Alberto scratched the back of his neck and looked down at his feet.  

“Have finally stopped beating around the bush?”

Alberto let out a nervous laugh and nodded.  God his face was red.  

“Finally,” Massimo sighed.  “Well then.  Where is the problem?”

“Luca’s parents don’t approve.  Because I’m a man.”

Massimo’s bushy eyebrows knit together.  

“They want to send him away so we can’t see each other anymore.  To fix him,” Alberto continued.  

His father gave a huff and nodded to Alberto.  

The moment they walked back into the house Luca was back in Alberto’s arms like it physically hurt him to be away from his love.  Alberto wondered if sea monsters were naturally clingy with their mates or if it was just them.  

“I talked to papa about letting you stay for a while,” he said into Luca’s hair.  

“Y-yeah?” he looked between the two men.  “So, um, is it okay?”

“You are welcome here, figlio,” Massimo said with a nod.  

“Grazie signor!”  

Luca looked so happy he might start crying.  Alberto couldn’t help but press a quick kiss to his round cheek.  

“It’s gonna get really gross around here, papa,” Giulia said with a smirk.  

“Even worse than it was?  Dio santo,” Massimo chuckled.  

“Please tell me they get separate rooms. . . Papa?  They get separate rooms right?”

“Are you willing to share your room, Giulietta?”

“Wha--No!”

“Then I suggest you invest in earplugs.”

Chapter Text

There was a knock on Giulia’s door.  She opened it to be greeted by a smiling Alberto leaning against her doorframe.  Silently, he held out two cotton balls and placed them delicately in her hand.  

“Until you get proper earplugs, sorella.”

Alberto winked with a side of finger guns before he went next door to his own room.  

She sighed and rolled her eyes.  

“Ragazzi.”

~*~*~*~

Alberto was still snickering a little as he closed the door behind him.  He sighed, eyelids heavy as he saw Luca getting dressed for bed.  Luca was slipping one of Alberto’s shirts over his head, soft curls bouncing as his head popped out of the neckline.  Alberto hummed and came up behind him, kissing Luca’s neck and slipping his hands under the hem of his shirt to feel the soft skin of his waist.  

“Beto,” Luca giggled, tilting his head to give Alberto’s lips more space to explore.   

“As much as I like you in my clothes, I like you naked better.”

“You haven’t seen this version of me naked yet.”

“All the more reason for you to get your clothes off.” Alberto growled and took the fabric covering Luca’s shoulder in his teeth, pulling at it playfully.  

Luca pulled away from him then, suddenly looking unsure.  

“What’s wrong?  You sore from earlier?” Alberto asked, concerned.  “We can do other stuff if you’d like--”

“I’m fine.  No pain,” Luca assured him.  “It’s just. . . your family is in the house and I don’t want to bother them. . .”

“I gave Giulia cotton balls before I came in here.  It’s fine.”

Luca snorted.  “You did?”

Alberto nodded and gave Luca a peck on the nose.  Luca let Alberto pull him back into his arms, calming their worried hearts.  

“We should still give them a chance to get to sleep, though,” Luca said.  

“Meh.  I guess so.”

They curled up together, facing each other under the sheets.  Luca pulled himself closer into Alberto’s arms, nuzzling the side of his face.  

“I guess sea monsters are naturally affectionate?” Alberto asked, nuzzling him back.  

“With our mates, yes.  Very.”  Luca giggled as Alberto started kissing his neck again.  “I’m kind of scenting you.  Other sea monsters will know you’re mine.”

“Well, I like the way you smell so no complaints.”  Alberto nipped his ear.  “Was biting me a way to mark me as yours, too?”

“Perhaps. . .”

“A little territorial, babe?”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Alright, alright, you got me there,” Alberto admitted, laughing a little.  “What else goes into being a sea monster’s mate?  Besides lots of affection and sex.”

“We’re clingy to begin with.  It might be hard for me to be away from you sometimes.”

“I can be like that, too.”

“Affectionate, territorial, clingy. . . Are you sure you aren’t part sea monster?”

“Yeah, I think I’d know if I was a sea monster by now.  Pretty sure they can’t drown.”

They both laughed and continued to hold each other.  Luca quietly ran his fingers over Alberto’s sea serpent tattoo.  He had gotten colored in a bright purple with darker indigo fins since Luca had suggested it.  

I wish you were a sea monster sometimes.  I could have met you earlier.  Loved you even longer. . .

“Anything else I need to know?” Alberto asked, breaking the comfortable silence.  

Luca thought for a moment before his face did something strange and he couldn’t look Alberto in the eyes.  

“Luca?” he asked.  “What’s wrong?”

Shit.  Luca’s first impulse was to lie.  It wasn’t like it would change anything.  What use was it that Alberto knew anyway?  He’d just feel obligated to stay with Luca even if he stopped loving him. . . But since he’d stopped keeping secrets from Alberto he never wanted there to be any more walls between them.  

“There’s more to being a sea monster’s mate.  I should have told you before we started having sex, but I wanted you so badly I didn’t care.”

“What is it?” Alberto asked, trying not to freak out too badly before Luca got a chance to explain.  

“We mate for life.  I tied myself to you the moment we. . .” Luca swallowed and looked away.  

“So I’m your mate whether you like it or not?”

“Trust me, I’ll always want you as my mate. . . but, I won’t hold you to it.  You’re not a sea monster.  Our rules don’t apply to you.”

“Luca--”

“If you get tired of me you’re free--”

“Never.  I’ll never get tired of you, Luca.”

“Alberto--”

“I fell in love with you twice.  Maybe even three times if you count when I found out you were the same person.  I’m never letting someone who owns my heart like that go.”

“How many times are you going to say such sweet things to me?” Luca asked, voice breaking around the words.  

“Until you finally believe them.  Until you see what I see.” Until you finally realize you’re too good for me.  “And even then, I’ll keep saying them.”

Luca pulled Alberto close and kissed him.  There was really nothing else he could do or say in the moment besides kiss him with everything he had.  

Luca lifted his arms so Alberto could take off his shirt.  Alberto kissed him again, rolling Luca onto his back and pressing himself to Luca’s body.  

Not everyone gets to learn their lovers body in two forms.  Alberto Marcovaldo was one of the lucky ones.  Alberto was already planning some shower sex so he could properly learn every scale and fin of Luca’s sea monster form.  Their first time had been frantic and needy, so he slowed down and took his time with Luca’s human form.  Mapping freckles with his lips and tracing curves with his fingers.  The little chirps and clicks had been traded for deep moans and whimpers.  Luca’s nails weren’t sharp enough to pierce Alberto’s skin anymore, but he had a feeling there would be bruises.  He had nipples and they were sensitive when Alberto kissed them.  It took a little more work but it was worth it.  He couldn’t just slip inside when he felt like it.  Instead there was lube and more work from his fingers involved.  The noises told him Luca loved being fingered open and Alberto loved giving him that pleasure.  

“Mio amato,” Alberto breathed.  “Are you ready for me?”

Luca could only nod and brought his lover in for a kiss.  Alberto pressed inside slowly, keeping an eye on Luca’s face.  The range of emotions went from slight discomfort to pure bliss as he entered.  

This was different, too.  Hotter.  Tighter.  Luca had to bring his legs up, knees near his chest to get Alberto as deep as possible.  The angle was different and he had to find the right way to find the new sweet spot.  

“There?  Is that the spot, baby?”

“Beto per favore!”

“That’s a yes.”

This time Alberto bit into Luca’s shoulder when he finally came, his whole body shaking.  

Alberto was trying to catch his breath, laying on Luca with their arms tight around each other.  He didn’t even want to pull his now soft dick out.  Wanted to stay inside Luca until morning or longer.  

“Wish I could make love to you all night,” Alberto whispered into Luca’s shoulder.  “Take a few minutes and go again and again until the sun comes up.” *

“I don’t’ know about humans. . . but I can do that.”

Alberto pushed himself up on his forearms to look down at his lover.  Those round cheeks were pink and he couldn’t’ help but wonder if it was from all the recent activity or embarrassment.

“That right?”

“Yeah. . . we can do seven times comfortably but I’ve heard ten is possible.”

Alberto choked on his own spit.  

“I guess that’s a lot for land monsters?”

“Yeah, holy shit. . . going on jacking off, I can do two times in a row.  Three is pushing it but possible after a rest.”  A thought came to him and a mischievous smile crossed his face.  “But you. . . I can make you come as many times as you want?”  Bright eyes were almost glowing as his mind started whirring with possibilities.  

“Dio santo,” Luca sighed, but he looked fondly at his boyfriend.  

Alberto burst into laughter and kissed him again.  Then Alberto felt something poking him in the stomach and looked down.  Luca was hard again and the cum between their stomachs hadn’t fully dried yet.  

“Is it my birthday?”

Luca turned even pinker, covering his face.  

“You, uh, you don’t have to--”

But Alberto was already making his way down his body until he was eye-level with Luca’s dick.  He cleaned it with an eager tongue before taking it in his mouth.  Alberto quickly learned blowjobs were harder than people made them out to be.  Trying not to take too much he gagged but not feeling like he was getting enough in his mouth at the same time.  He used his hand to take over what his mouth couldn’t and gave special attention to the head with a swirling tongue.  

Luca was panting out his name and running soft fingers through his hair, so Alberto figured he was doing something right.  

Alberto had to pull off after a little while, his mouth sore and throat tired from checking his gag reflex.  He worked Luca with his hand until fresh cum joined what had been cold and dry on a pale stomach.  

“You alright?” he whispered, pressing a kiss to a sweaty forehead.  

Luca smiled and nodded, feeling too shaky and exhausted to speak right then.  Sea monster or not, he would need a rest after that.  He was thankful Alberto got something to clean them with because he wasn’t ready to move but the feeling of two loads cooling on his skin was getting unpleasant.  He heard Alberto laugh as he ran the warm, wet cloth over Luca’s stomach.

“Glad we waited until you told me you were a sea monster or this would have been a shock,” Alberto said, walking his fingers over the green scales of Luca’s tummy.  **

Luca swatted at him playfully and pulled him down into the bed beside him.  Alberto covered them with a sheet and pulled Luca into his arms again to cuddle.  

“I could get used to this,” Alberto said into dark curls.  “All the sex I want with the most gorgeous thing in existence.”  

“As long as you want me,” Luca whispered back, on the brink of sleep.  

“Always.  I’ll always want you.”

Chapter Text

Alberto opened his eyes, his nose in Luca’s dark curls and an arm draped over his waist.  He couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped him at the familiarity of it all.  This time he let himself openly sniff Luca’s hair, run his hand over his naked hip, press his very interested dick against his backside.  He pressed open kisses to his shoulder and neck, trying to get Luca to wake up so they could have another round.  Luca looked over his shoulder at Alberto and he wondered if Luca had already been awake.  

“Last time I woke up with you in my bed I was so fucking horny,” he whispered, nuzzling the side of Luca’s face.  

“And this time?” Luca whispered back.  

“This time I can do something about it instead of hiding in the bathroom to jerk off.”

“Had a feeling that’s what you went to do,” he said with a knowing smile.  

“Oh?”

“Felt you against me then, too.  I guess you had pleasant dreams?”

“This time or last time?”

“Last time.”

“You could say that.  Pleasant dreams about you.  Well, the sea monster you.  Just some kisses that were going to lead to something else, but then I woke up.  It was what I thought of after I woke up that made me have to run to the bathroom before I could start molesting you.”  

“What did you think about?”

Alberto saw those lashes flutter coyly and a little pout to his bottom lip.  

“About this.” Alberto started rutting against Luca’s ass and kissing his shoulder again.  “And this.”  He ran his hands over bare skin, over Luca’s hip and between his legs to tug at an already half-hard cock.  

Luca was moving back against him, already whimpering his lover’s name.  

“But, what really got me off was the thought of you sucking me,” Alberto took Luca’s chin in hand, running his thumb along his bottom lip.  “This pretty mouth around my dick.”

Luca’s bright eyes became dark, his chest heaving with excitement.  

“All you had to do was ask, amore.”

“You don’t have to--”

Luca cut him off with a soft kiss.  

“Ask me.”

“Okay, then,” Alberto took a deep breath.  “If you want to try.”

Luca was suddenly kissing him and rolling him onto his back.  He let go of Alberto’s lips and started kissing down his chest.  Luca sat up and looked down at his lover, admiring him.  His eyes scanned over him with open love and devotion that made Alberto want to crawl inside himself.  He didn’t know asking for a blowjob was going to make him feel so vulnerable.  He wasn’t worthy of being loved so openly by someone like Luca.  Luca deserved to be taken care of and made love to.  Alberto was made to be the one to do it.  He almost called it off.  Told Luca to lay back and let Alberto take care of him as it should be.  Luca wanted to do this, though.  Alberto couldn’t deny him anything.  

“Am I good looking by sea monster standards?” Alberto asked, covering his nerves by talking about stupid shit as usual.  

“That’s like comparing apples and oranges, Beto.  You don’t have a tail, claws, or a dorsal fin.”

“So I’m horribly disfigured?  I knew it.  I’m hideous.  How can you bare to look at me as a lover?”  

“Beto. . .”

“Does the sex make up for it?”

“You’re just fishing for complements now.”

“Haha!  Fishing.”

“I will say you are incredibly sexy even without a tail, claws, or fins, though.”

“That’s a relief.”

“You’ve got other things.  Like. . . what are these called?” Luca asked, tracing the muscles of his chest.  

“Pecs.”  Alberto flexed and smirked when Luca blushed.  “Pectoral muscles if you wanna be specific.”

“These?” Thumbs slipped teasingly over the dark nubs that crowned each pec.  

“N-nipples,” Alberto tried not to whimper and failed.  

Luca leaned down and kissed one.  Alberto couldn’t help but buck upwards a little, then openly groaned when Luca sucked it into his mouth.  Lips went down his stomach, licking the dent that lead to his bellybutton.  

“Mmm these?” Luca asked, tracing the soft lines of his stomach.  

“Abs.  Abdominal--oh fuck, baby,” Alberto gasped, interrupted by his boyfriend’s next move.  

He skipped the place Alberto wanted his mouth the most, opting instead for his strong thighs.  Luca kissed down to his knee and back up, then did the same to the other.  It was a little ticklish in places, making Alberto’s legs twitch.  Luca nuzzled the heavy balls hanging between those thighs, giving them a couple of soft kisses.  

Alberto was whimpering again.  He reached down and put a careful hand on Luca’s shoulder, needing to touch him in some way.  Luca was between his legs.  Luca was giving little kisses to his balls and gripping his thighs.  Luca was too good for this and Alberto wasn’t worthy--

Luca’s tongue came out and ran from his balls all the way up his shaft.  Alberto’s eyes rolled back in his head as a low moan escaped his lips.  Luca kissed the head, sucking off the precum that had already gathered there.  

“Baby,” the word was forced through Alberto’s throat.  “Oh fuck, Luca, amore mio.”

Luca swallowed the head, careful not to take too much before he was ready.  As much as he wanted Alberto’s dick as deep in his throat as possible, he didn’t want to choke.  Each time Luca bobbed his head he could take a little bit more, though.  

Alberto moved his hand to the back of Luca’s head and gripped his hair.  He didn’t pull or force Luca to take more than he was ready for.  It took all of Alberto’s power to keep from just thrusting between those lips, though.  He was already getting close.  

“Perfetto mio amato.  So good for me.  Think you’ll get me off like this?  Want me to come down your throat?  Fuck fuck--” (Perfect my beloved)

Luca took him deeper and swallowed around him.  He looked up at his lover with wide eyes, a little surprised at himself.  

Alberto shivered all the way up from the base of his spine.  His vocabulary devolved from there.  The only words he knew were baby, more, and Luca with the occasional fuck thrown in for good measure.  He had to cover his mouth to keep from outright screaming when he came in Luca’s mouth.  

Luca pulled off slowly, licking his lips to get every drop of salty cum Alberto gave him.  He sat up on his knees and showed Alberto just how much he was aching for him.  

“How about you?” Alberto sat up and started kissing the side of his face.  “Ever touch yourself thinking of me and my lack of dorsal fin?”  He ran a finger up Luca’s straining length.  “Tell me.  Let me make your fantasies come true, too.”

“So many,” Luca admitted, voice a little shaky and horse.  “And you’ve already made many of them come true.  Just kissing you, having sex in my true form was always a favorite. . . mostly I liked to pretend my hand was really yours and I’d think of the things you’d say while you touched me.”

Alberto wrapped his hand around Luca’s hard dick now.  He put his free hand behind Luca’s neck and held him close so he could talk in his ear.  

“What kind of things?  What were your favorites?”

“Mostly. . . mostly praise.”  

“Bellissimo.  That was amazing, mio cuore.  Always so good for me.  Always make me come so hard.  Sei il mio tutto.” (Gorgeous; my heart; You are my everything)

It didn’t take long, maybe three pumps of Alberto’s rough hand.  Luca came across his lover’s stomach, bucking into his hand and whimpering Alberto’s name.  

~*~*~*~

“You really were amazing,” Alberto said.  “I didn’t say any of those things just for show.  I meant them.  I just. . . I needed you to know that.”

“Really?”

“Of course, tesoro mio.”

“. . . Was I better than the rest?” Luca looked shy as he asked.  Not necessarily jealous, just a little unsure of himself.  Surely Alberto had gotten better from more experienced people. . .

Alberto blinked for a moment, letting the words register in his fucked out brain.  He couldn’t hold back a small laugh when he realized what Luca was asking.  

“Never had sex with anyone else,” he said.  “You were my first, too.”

“Really?!” Luca’s eyes widened.  

“Yeah.  What, I got whore energy or something?”

“Well, I mean. . .”  He looked over Alberto for a moment.  

“What?  I’m hot therefore I fuck?  Can’t spell sexy without sex?”

Luca dissolved into giggles and finally just kissed him so he’d shut up.  

“You flirt.  A lot,” Luca explained against Alberto’s lips.  

“With you.”

“You could have anyone.”

“Don’t care about just anyone.  Only ever wanted you.”

Chapter Text

*CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG*

Luca sat up with a yelp while Alberto rolled completely out of the bed in his confusion.  

*CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG*

“Buongiorno!” Giulia said joyfully, holding up a pot and a wooden spoon.  “That’s for keeping me up half the night!”

“I gave you the cotton balls for a reason, Giulietta!”

“. . . ew are you guys naked?”

“I sure am and you’re gonna see my bare ass in a moment if you don’t get the hell out of my room!”

Giulia ran away laughing.  Alberto rubbed the sleep from his eyes.  Luca collapsed back on the bed.  

“I would have preferred that annoying pretend trumpet thing she did when we were kids.”

~*~*~*~

The boys came into the kitchen wearing their swim trunks.  

“What are you up to?” Giulia asked over her espresso, arching a curious eyebrow.  

“I have the morning off.  We were just wondering if you wanted to go for a swim after breakfast, sorella,” Alberto said, fixing his own caffeine.  

“Isn’t that dangerous?” she asked, looking at Luca who was gently petting Machiavelli.  

“We know a spot that’s safe.  Wanna come?  You can see Luca as a you know what.”

“Let me get my bathing suit!”

~*~*~*~

Giulia linked arms with Luca while his other hand held Alberto’s.  

“I tease because he’s my brother,” she said.  “But I’m glad you’re together now.”

“Thanks Giulia.”

“Besides, I’m glad I don’t have to be in the middle of all that drama anymore.  All the Giulia, do you think he could like me back? And the but Giulia, I’m also in love with a fish!”

“Shut up!” Alberto called at her, but he was laughing.

They showed her the way to the beach, climbing over the rocks that kept Luca’s secret from prying eyes.  The moment Luca saw the water he ran to it, diving in and disappearing from view for a moment.  He shot back out with a whoop and did a backflip before disappearing under the waves again.  

Giulia wondered if there was any science behind Luca’s shape-shifting ability, or if it was just a magic she’d never be able to understand.  

“Y’see that?  My best friend is a sea monster!” she said excitedly.  

“I’ll do you one better: my boyfriend is a sea monster.”

Giulia dug her elbow into her brother’s side.  She ran up to Luca who was now on the surface, but still in his natural form.  She started walking around him, inspecting this knew body her friend was suddenly inhabiting.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not at all!”

“Where does the tail go?”

“No idea, but I still kinda feel it.  Which is weird but you get used to.”

“I guess it’d be hard to wear a wedding ring if you’ve got webbed hands. . .” she pointed out, looking over at Alberto and wiggling her eyebrows.  

“What’s a wedding ring?”

“Has to do with the human kind of mating,” Alberto answered quickly, glaring at his sister.  “Don’t turn my boyfriend into a science project, okay?  Let’s swim!  Andiamo!”  

  Alberto picked Luca up and put him over his shoulder like a barrel of fish before Giulia could ask any more questions.  Once he was about knee deep in the water, he chucked Luca back into the ocean.  Luca popped back up, cheeks full, and spat a stream of water in his face.  Giulia nearly fell over laughing as Alberto tried to catch Luca in the water.  He quickly learned that Luca was the far superior swimmer.  He could even let Giulia hold on to his tail so he could pull her through the water.

Feeling the need to be alone with Luca for a moment, Alberto pulled him behind one particular rock and kissed him.  

“I remember this rock,” Alberto said, nuzzling his sea monster.  “Great for hiding.”

Luca trilled and gave his mate a little half-hearted shove.  

“Amore, your sister is here!” he whispered.  

“Are you two being gross again?” Giulia asked.  

“Just reminiscing, sorella!” Alberto called back.  

“Should I ask?”

“Not unless you want to hear all about the first time we--”

“Never mind!  Don’t finish that sentence!”  

It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since then, Alberto realized.  Yesterday evening, just before sunset, was when Luca had shown him who he truly was.  It was only the next morning now.  They’d made love three times and kissed more times than they could keep up with.  He kissed his sea monster again.  

Luca left everything he knew behind for the first land monster he’d ever seen.  Alberto had seen his curiosity grow.  Seen his eyes glow when he took in a world that Alberto had grown bored with.  Now he understood that Luca had known nothing about the surface until a few months ago when Alberto found him barefoot on the beach.  He deserved to see everything this world had to offer.  Even things Alberto couldn’t show him.  

It was a war in Alberto’s heart.  He wanted to hide Luca away and keep him to himself.  Alberto feared he would hold on too tightly.  Smother him.  Like a sunflower forced to look away from the sun.  He’d have to keep those overprotective, selfish urges in check.  Swallow the jealous bile that burned his throat. . . or no matter what Luca said, he would swim away from the man who tried to keep him in a gilded cage.  No matter how beautiful his words or how good the sex was.  

One more kiss and Alberto let Luca out from behind the rock’s shadow.  

~*~*~*~

Luca was sitting on the beach with the water running over his legs, turning them green and blue with long webbed toes.  He looked over at his friends and smiled brightly.  

This side of Luca was so beautiful to Alberto.  He wished more people could see it and appreciate it.  That they could see his shiny scales and soft fins and see the beauty there.  Instead, if anyone in Portorosso saw him like this. . .  

“I got lucky, didn’t I?” Alberto said wistfully.  

Giulia followed Alberto’s gaze over to the boy in question.  Giulia wasn’t attracted to Luca, but she knew a beautiful boy when she saw one.  She felt the same about Alberto.  Giulia had known her brother since he was a lanky kid but then puberty hit him over the head with a 2x4.  A very buff, handsome 2x4.  You didn’t hear that from her, though.  

“Yep,” she agreed.  “When’s a cute sea monster going to sweep me off my feet, huh?"

“I’m sure Luca can set you up.”

Right now, Alberto was the luckiest guy in the world.  He’d said so himself.  He just worried about when his luck would run out.  

~*~*~*~

Sadly, they couldn’t stay in the water all day.  Giulia had deliveries to make and Alberto had to go on lifeguard duty after lunch.  

“You’re sure you’ll be alright?” Alberto asked.  

“I’ll be fine, amore.  Giulia gave me a book I’ll probably take to the hideout,” Luca assured him.  

“You could take it to the beach and sit next to me.”

“I’d just distract you while you should be watching the water.”  

“It’s just. . . You don’t usually hang out in Portorosso by yourself and I know right now you said you’d be clingy--”

“Who’s the clingy one right now?” Luca teased and kissed his mate.  “I’m fine.  I’ll see you after your shift, si?”

“Si.  You know where I’ll be.”

Alberto even walked backwards part of the way to the beach so he could keep Luca in his sight for longer.  Luca waited to head towards home until the moment he couldn’t see Alberto anymore.  He had the overwhelming urge to run after his mate again, though.  It was a battle with his own body to turn away and go in another direction, but he felt he needed to do this.  Luca didn’t want to cling to Alberto every waking moment.  Alberto worried over him enough.  Luca could take care of himself.  

It was just as he was passing the fountain that he felt someone get much too close to him, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up.  

“Ciao piccoletto.”

Luca jumped and spun around to see Ercole behind him.  At least Ercole was alone.  It was always worse when his friends were beside him.  Guido and Ciccio were like attack dogs ready to do their master’s bidding.  

“Ciao Ercole. . .”

“So rare to see you without your fisherman.”

“He has salvataggio duty,” Luca said with a shrug.  

“How is he anyway?”

“He’s fine, thanks.”

“Bet he’s doing real good now that you’re on his dick, hm?”

Luca glared and started to walk away.  Ercole caught him by the arm before he could get far.  

“Mi dispiace, piccoletto, I couldn’t help it!” Ercole said, cackling.  

Luca continued to glare at Ercole as he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes.  Ercole straightened up and smiled at him.  It was one of those dangerous smiles of his that didn’t really reach his eyes.  

“We never talk, we should talk, si?”

“Um. . .”

“I hear you officially moved in to Portorosso.”

“How did you know about that?  That happened yesterday.”

“Why, it is a small town and I am the center of it!  So, where are you actually from, Paguro?”

“Nearby,” Luca answered as politely as he could.  

“How old are you?”

“Old enough to leave home.”

“Old enough to be shacking up with Scorfano?”

“Who?”

“Alberto.”

“Then yes, I’m old enough to be shacking up with Marcovaldo.”

Dark eyes narrowed at him for that.  Luca just tilted his head innocently.  Ercole got uncomfortably close now, looking over Luca like a bug.  A bug he was trying to figure out the best means to squash into the pavement.  

“What is it about you, eh?  What’s got Alberto so head over heals for you?”

“I ask myself that same thing all the time.”

“Do you know what I ask myself all the time?  Hm?  Why the hell are you here?”

Luca knew Ercole didn’t like him for whatever reason.  He also knew Ercole was suspicious of him.  Alberto had joked that Ercole thought Luca was some sort of ghost.  His friends said Ercole had calmed down since they were kids.  Luca was glad he wasn’t around for that.  

“First I had to deal with Giulia Marcovaldo.  Then Alberto Scorfano came along and has been a thorn in my side for five years.  Now you show up!  My life would be so much easier if you were to just. . . disappear.  Understood?”

Luca swallowed and looked up at Ercole.  

“Understood.”

Chapter Text

“Don’t you think Luca is old enough to make his own mistakes, Daniela?”

“This isn’t just a mistake, Lorenzo,” she growled at her mate.  “Luca is going to end up mated to one of those bloodthirsty lunatics!”

“If he’s not already. . .”

“Don’t even go there!  How could he even find one of those horrifying land monsters attractive?”

“To each their own, I guess?”

~*~*~*~

Being threatened by Ercole and then without his mate for a few hours had made Luca extra clingy when they were reunited.  Luca was practically in Alberto’s lap during dinner.  Massimo had arched his eyebrows but brushed it off as part of the honeymoon phase.  Giulia could barely keep a straight face as she twirled pasta around her fork.  

The moment they were alone it became clear that Luca wasn’t the only one affected by the distance.  As Luca opened his mouth and took a deep breath to tell him about Ercole’s threats, his mouth was covered with Alberto’s.   

I missed you I love you I need you so bad yes--

So, it took longer than anticipated to tell Alberto about his run in with Ercole.  Luca even considered not telling him.  The last thing he wanted was to make Alberto worry over him.  Alberto needed to know everything that was going on in order to make a good escape plan, though.  They might just need to get that Vespa sooner than anticipated.  

In the end, it took until the next day after Alberto came home from fishing for Luca to tell him.  

“He said what?!”

“Basically told me to get out of Portorosso because it would make his life easier.”

“You know what would make my life easier?  If Ercole were dead.  I’m gonna have to kill him.  The town will probably thank me and I’ll get a gold statue of me stepping on Ercole’s fat head--”

“Beto, don’t,” Luca put a hand on his mate’s shoulder.  “It will be alright.”

Alberto took a few deep, heaving breaths as he tried to control his anger.  He pulled a box of cigarettes and a lighter from his bedside drawer and took them to the window to smoke.  Ercole was going to make him a pack a day smoker if he didn’t leave Luca alone.  He tried not to smoke in Luca’s presence too much since he said he didn’t like the smell.  Now Alberto knew it was because it bothered Luca’s gills.  

“I already fucking told him to stay away from you.  Pointed a harpoon in his face and everything.  We weren’t even together yet.”

“Maybe me staying here was a bad idea,” Luca said, hugging himself on the bed.  “I’ve only lived here two days and Ercole is already trying to run me out of town.”

“He’s just being a dick as usual.  He was like this when I first showed up, too.  Said this was his town and he didn’t want me in it.”  Alberto turned back to Luca.  “Listen, we’ll figure this out.  All you gotta do is follow my lead.”

“You know I’d follow you anywhere.”

They reached out to each other and tangled their fingers together.  

“I smell like fish and smoke now,” Alberto complained, snuffing out his cigarette.  “So, why don’t you follow me to the shower?”

“Smooth.”

“Thanks, I know,” he said with a wink.  

Luca got up and followed Alberto to the bathroom across the hall.  Once the door was securely closed and locked behind them, Alberto started kissing him and pulling off their clothes.  

“Haven’t got to have sex with you as a sea monster since the first time,” Alberto said, lifting his shirt over his head.  “Of course we’ve only had sex. . .” he paused, counting on his fingers with his eyes pointed to the ceiling.  “Is this four or five?  Blowjobs count, right?  Oh shit, can you do blowjobs underwater?  We gotta try that--”

Luca cut him off with a soft kiss to calm him down.  He loved how Alberto could get so excited about sex.  It was sweet but manifested into rambling sometimes.  

Alberto slipped into the shower first so he could watch Luca transform under the spray.  The water trickled over the lines of Alberto’s body, tan skin staying just as it should under the water.  Luca peeked around the curtain, blushed even though they had seen each other naked a few times before now, and stepped in.  Alberto was sure watching Luca’s body ripple with the change would never get old.  His tail was a little bit of a hindrance in the small shower, though.  Luca was able to settle it around the edge of the tub for the time being.  

Luca helped Alberto wash his hair and back.  The frantic marks from their first time were mostly healed accept for the bite mark on his shoulder.  Luca kissed the bite mark and fondly ran gentle claws over the healing scratches.  

Alberto could see the ridges of the slit that kept Luca’s dick hidden from view.  He couldn’t help but start tracing it with a careful finger, wanting to coax it out.  He hadn’t actually seen the sea monster’s dick beneath the murky water, only felt it.  The tip started coming out of the top as the slit began to loosen under Alberto’s fingers.  

“Nervous?” Alberto asked.  

Luca nodded, not meeting Alberto’s eyes.  

“This is the form I first saw you in.  The one I first fell in love with.  The form I first made love to. . .”

“You didn’t see everything last time.”

“I felt it.  I think I told you: it’s very okay.”

Alberto bent down and used his free hand to pull Luca into a kiss.  

The slit loosened completely and Alberto’s hand was filled with something soft with a mind of it’s own.  Alberto slowed the kisses so he could take a look.  Green, slick, tapered to a point instead of a head.  It was very much a tentacle with a row of blue suckers along the bottom.  It didn’t quite know what to do since it wasn’t actually under water, but it liked clinging to Alberto’s work-rough hand.  It wrapped around the warmth, poking at the gaps between his fingers.  

“Oh wow. . .” Alberto breathed, giving it a squeeze and feeling it squeeze back.  “So you’re the guy who was trying to jack me off under the water, huh?”

“It’s . . . different from yours. . .” Luca said, shyly.  

“I like different,” he kissed Luca again.  “And I like every bit of you, amore mio.”

A couple of suckers started impatiently grabbing at Alberto’s thumb.

“Alright alright, hold your horses.  Trying to be romantic and your dick just wants to fuck.”

“And yours doesn’t?”

Alberto moved their hips closer together and helped Luca’s dick slide from his hand to wrap around Alberto’s.  

“There we go-oh that is fucking good, baby.”  Alberto’s head gave a thunk as it hit the tiled wall just a little bit harder than expected.  He bit his lip, trying not to be too loud.  Alberto had to grab the bar used for holding towels to steady himself and looked down to see how Luca’s dick was wrapped around his.  While most of it wrapped around his shaft, the tip could reach the head.  

Was it one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen or felt in his life?  Yes.  Was it normal for either of their species?  No.  Did he give a fuck?  Also no and fuck you for asking.  

He used his free hand to grab Luca’s ass, encouraging his sea monster to grind against him.  The tail that had settled along the edge of the tub wrapped around Alberto’s waist, pulling him even closer.  

Luca was making those sweet, happy sea monster noises.  The trills almost sounded like purring this time, the vibrations deep in his chest.  Luca’s claws gently traced over Alberto’s chest and back but kept control of himself enough to not break skin.  At least not yet.  Luca’s instincts told him to mark him up more to replace the healing scratches and bruises.  Show the world this was his mate.  They could look, but only Luca could touch.  

Luca started clicking between soft moans, claws starting to get more desperate and grabby at Alberto’s hips.

“Yeah,” Alberto whispered.  “That’s it.  Come on me, gorgeous.  Come on.”

Luca made the prettiest trilling sound when he came, echoing around the bathroom in his ecstasy.  His dick tightened impossibly around Alberto, getting wetter instead of spraying everywhere.  Alberto easily followed, shaking and trying his best not to just collapse into the tub.  

Luca chirped into Alberto’s neck as he came down from his high.  Then he giggled and rubbed his face against his neck.  That post-coital giggle would be the death of Alberto.  

It wasn’t until then that they realized the water had gone cold.  A lot of cursing followed.  

“Holy fucking shit it’s like ice fuck--”

“It’s not that bad!”

“You live in water so speak for yourself!  My nipples could cut glass!”

“Look at that, your dick can disappear too.”

“No shit!”

~*~*~*~

Alberto leaned out the window with another cigarette between his fingers.  He looked over his shoulder at Luca who was taking a nap on their bed.  He was still naked under the covers and his hair a little blue with moisture from their shower.  

Alberto’s eyes caught movement over the garden wall that made him freeze with the cigarette just about to touch his lips.  He arched an eyebrow when he saw dark, meticulously slicked back hair peeking over the wall.  Alberto snuffed out his cigarette and checked to make sure Luca was still asleep before going down stairs.  He was just pulling a shirt over his head as he reached the gate.  

“The fuck you doing here, Ercole?”

There was a yelp as Alberto leaned out the door.  As mad as Alberto was at Ercole, he couldn’t help but smile at scaring him.  

“Trying to get a free show?” Alberto asked, casually leaning against the garden wall.  

Ercole folded his arms and rolled his eyes.  

“That’s not a no,” Alberto teased.  “Still obsessed with my Luca?”

“I wouldn’t say I am obsessed, merely. . . curious.”

“Still think he’s a ghost?”

“I never said that!  I said he has a secret and I plan to find out what it is.”

“If he does, it’s still none of your business.”  Alberto brought himself up to full height, looking down at the man who had once made his life miserable as a kid.  “I know you tried to bully him earlier after I told you to stay the fuck away from him.  He actually is my boyfriend now and I better not catch you trying to mess with him.”

“Always knew you’d be the possessive type, Scorfano.”

“I prefer protective.”

“How did he get you wrapped around his little finger, eh?” Ercole asked, something changing in his voice.  He sounded almost bitter.  “That little twink just shows up out of the blue and--”

A water balloon came out of nowhere and smacked Ercole in the face, effectively cutting off whatever jealous rant he was about to go into.  Alberto burst into laughter, pointing at Ercole who now looked like a drowned rat.  Then he yelped as a water balloon also hit him square in the face.  

“Nope,” a man’s voice said as Alberto wiped the water from his eyes.  

“He’s much too tall anyways, Lorenzo,” a woman said.

“Just covering all my bases, dear.”

“What the hell was that?!” Ercole exploded.  “Who do I have to kill for messing up my perfect hair?  This sweater is wool!”

Alberto caught sight of a middle aged couple running away at the outburst.  Weird.  

Chapter Text

“So, what was your excuse about using up the hot water again?”

“No comment.”

“Thought so,” Giulia snorted and started to get on her bike.  “Do, uh, people like Luca have a really intense honeymoon phase?  Because you guys are having a really intense honeymoon phase.”  

Alberto laughed to himself and turned to answer her, but was cut off as water was spilled over him.  He heard his sister shout and knew they got her, too.  

What the fuck was with all the water?  Really?

“We already checked him, Lorenzo!” came a familiar voice.

“Oh right. . .”

Alberto actually got a better look at the couple as they walked by this time.  The man, Lorenzo, was sniffing the air.  Alberto saw suspicion in the man’s eyes before he went to follow his wife.  

There was a tug on his arm and he realized Giulia had grabbed him and was dragging him down a quiet side street and away from the piazza.  At first he complained about her making him late, but then he saw the worry in her eyes.  

“They were looking for Luca,” she said.  

“You think?” he asked, looking back and trying to see the couple again.  

“They’re getting people about his age wet!  I don’t know how they know about him, but this is bad.  They could end up exposing him to the entire town!”

Alberto scrubbed his hand down his still damp face.  Horrible images crossed his mind of Luca caught in a net with a harpoon about to deal the final blow. . . and all Alberto could do was watch.  

“Go back to the house and warn, Luca,” he instructed his sister.  “He should probably stay in today.”

Giulia nodded, twisting her hands nervously.  

“You’re going to have to leave, aren’t you?”

“. . . Maybe.  I’m not calling it yet.  Not until I talk to Luca.”  

Giulia just nodded and ran back to the house.  

Alberto took a few deep breaths, trying to stay calm.  He opened his eyes and saw another wanted poster on the wall across from him.  Mocking him.  Alberto couldn’t hold back a snarl as he ripped it from the wall.  

“Why do you do that?”

Alberto gasped and turned to see Ercole beside him.  This was not a good time to see him.  In fact, he was the last person Alberto wanted to see right now.  

“Fuck!  What the fuck do you want now, creeper?!” he snapped.  

“I’m pretty sure there are laws against that,” Ercole said, choosing to ignore the rude comment and pointing to the ripped paper in Alberto’s hand.  

“It’s old.”

“It was put up yesterday.”

“Whatever, stronzo.”

He threw the balled up wanted poster at Ercole and started making his way to the water.  To his horror, Ercole followed.  

“You look like you need a smoke,” Ercole said.  

“I do but I don’t have time.”

“Trouble in paradise?”

“My only trouble is you,” he growled.  Alberto stopped his power walk when he realized Ercole wasn’t getting the hint.  He turned and faced him, arms crossed.  “What’s your problem with Luca anyway?  You acted all interested one day then try to run him out of town the next.  Mixed signals much?”

“I was just fucking with you that time.  The last thing I need is another one of you around.”

“Another one of what?  A rival?”

“How cute of you to think we are rivals!” Ercole laughed and patted Alberto’s cheek.  “So stupid.  Grazie a Dio sei bello.” (Thank God you are handsome.)  

Ercole did this weird almost-flirting-but-also-insulting thing with Alberto sometimes.  It never failed to make him uncomfortable.  

“I don’t have time for your-your. . . whatever the fuck this is!  Stay away from Luca.”

“You are a broken record, Scorfano.”

“Still not a Scorfano.”

“Ciao bello.”

“Fuck off!”

~*~*~*~

Even though he didn’t want to make the decision without talking to Luca yet, Alberto knew the time was coming faster than he would like.  

Alberto looked over the water towards his father’s boat.  Massimo was still fishing closer to Alberto than he used to.  Sometimes Alberto forgot he wasn’t the only person with trauma from his own near drowning.  

What excuse would he give Massimo for suddenly running away on a Vespa with his new boyfriend?  Maybe just something easy about how Luca had been a sheltered child who wanted to see the world and Alberto wanted to go with him. . . Maybe throw in something about Luca being worried about his parents trying to find him. . . As long as no one knew Luca was a sea monster, they could always come back to visit.  

If Massimo knew what you were doing in the shower yesterday you’d never have to come back.  He knows I’m having sex with Luca.  He doesn’t care.  He doesn’t know what your little boyfriend is, though.  Doesn’t’ know you like having a tentacle wrapped around your dick and the feel of scales beneath your hands.  Fuck.  You.  I’m not going to feel guilty about who I love.  He hunts the very thing you share a bed with.  You’ll feel guilty when he finds out and kills your lover before disowning you.  You’ll be a disappointment all over again.  You finally found love and it will destroy both your lives--

Alberto put a hand over his tattoo and took a deep breath.  As a child he would start screaming the words until the voice would stop.  

Silenzio Bruno!

Right now the voice was so loud he felt he might have to fall back on shouting to drown out the words.  

Alberto loved his father, but even Massimo held a threat to Luca.  Massimo, Ercole, the people trying to find Luca. . . hell, all the people of Portorosso who would never understand.  It was all getting to be too much.  He needed Luca to be safe.  

~*~*~*~

Luca was too nervous to even read as he waited in Alberto’s room.  

A middle aged couple was throwing water on teenagers. . . Shit.  Someone was looking for him and he just knew it was his parents.  

They were too late, though.  He had a mate now.  They couldn’t be separated.  It was forbidden to try to separate a mated couple.  He sincerely hoped that was still the case even though Alberto was human. . . If not he’d be dragged to the Deep without his mate. . . No.  No, his parents wouldn’t risk it.  The bond was real for Luca even if it wasn’t truly real for Alberto.  

Alberto would always worry over Luca, he knew that now.  No matter where they went or what they did.  He’d be Luca’s protector even if it meant having to hide him behind closed doors.  Luca felt like a damsel in distress, forced to be locked away until their prince returned.  This wasn’t why he came here.  He came to explore.  To see the world and learn as much as he could.  To openly be with Alberto. . . Instead he lived in fear.  

The door to the bedroom opened and Alberto quietly walked in.  Luca could see how deep the lines on his face were from worry.  Luca wanted to comfort his mate, but instead hid his face in his knees.  A comforting hand touched his shoulder.  

“I won’t let anything happen to you.  You know that, right?” Alberto asked.  

“I know, amore,” Luca said, finally picking his head up and trying to smile.  “Tell me about the people you saw.  I have suspicions.”

“I don’t know, they just looked like regular people, but. . . I kinda think they were sea monsters.  The guy was sniffing around and gave me a weird look.”

“They could probably smell me on you.  I think it’s my parents.”

“Explains why they hit me with water twice,” Alberto sighed.  “What would happen if they found you, though?  Would they take you back to the ocean?”

“No, they couldn’t.  Separating mates is explicitly forbidden.  It’s getting exposed that’s more of a problem.  But. . . Beto, I don’t think I can do this for very long. . .”

“Do what?” Alberto swallowed, afraid of what exactly “this” was.  

“I don’t like being locked away,” Luca explained.  “I came here to see and learn and being locked up here. . .”

“We’ve talked about this.  Portorosso isn’t sea monster friendly, Luca.  If you went out without an umbrella on the wrong day do you know what could happen?  Now there’s someone actively throwing water on people your age.  It’s dangerous--”

“You don’t think I know that?” Luca shouted standing up.  “I eat dinner with harpoons on the wall!  Not to mention that damn fountain in the piazza!  I. . . I love a world that doesn’t love me.  Yet here I am.  Risking it all so I can be with you.”

“. . . and it’s making you unhappy.”

“Well, I just. . . I’m just tired of being scared.  I want to be with you more than anything, but I don’t want to hide.”

“You’ll always be hiding in some way.  Even if we leave Portorosso.  If you’re tired of it then maybe you should just go back to the ocean where you belong.”

Shit.  Alberto knew he fucked up the moment those words left his mouth.  

Luca gasped, staring wide-eyed at his mate.  Alberto hated that look on Luca’s face.  It made him think of when Alberto denied him. . . He almost took it back.  Blamed the stress of the day.  But if Luca went back to the ocean, he’d be safe, wouldn’t he?

“What are you saying?” Luca asked.  

I’m not worth it.  You deserve so much better.  You’re only here because you’re stuck with me now.  Being with me is going to kill you in the end.  

“You and me… we never should have been together in the first place.”  The words burned his throat.  

”Don’t say that!  Alberto—“

Luca reached towards him, trying to touch his arm.  Alberto pulled back and it was the most painful thing he’d ever done in his life.  Luca’s hand froze in the air for a moment, his body taking a moment to process what had just happened.  His hand slowly fell back to his side and closed into a fist.  

“You’re afraid,” Luca said all too knowingly.  

“I don’t get afraid,” Alberto said petulantly.  “I have everything under control.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Luca got a glare for that, but he held his ground.  

“Tell me.  What are you afraid of, tesoro?”

Alberto took a deep breath, forcing his voice not to shake.  

“You already know.”

“Loosing me?” Luca reached towards Alberto again, touching his face.  Alberto let him this time.  “Then why push me away?”

“Because. . . being with me?  It isn’t worth the risk.”

“Yes it is!” Luca turned his face, forcing Alberto to look in his eyes now.  “I chose this world, your world, because I think it’s worth it.  And I chose you because you are worth it.  You are worth going to the surface during a deadly storm.  I saved you because I love you and think you are worth the risk.”  

Luca pulled him into his arms.  Alberto slowly returned the embrace, nuzzling into Luca’s hair and sighing.  

“I’m sorry,” Alberto said.  “You’re right.  You shouldn’t have to hide.”

“I’m sorry being with me has made things so difficult for you.”

“Luca--”

“You’re right, too.  Once we leave, no matter where we are, we’ll be running.  Because of me.  Because of what I am.”

“What you are is beautiful.  I just wish everyone else could see that.”  Alberto pulled back and pressed their foreheads together.  “But no matter what the future holds: you’re worth it.”

“We’re worth it.”

“We are, aren’t we?” Alberto laughed a little.  “You realize. . . if it wasn’t for you I’d be at the bottom of the ocean right now?”

“And if it wasn’t for you. . . so would I.  So,” Luca gave him a stern look.  “Don’t you ever try to send me back again, alright?”

“Alright.  Sorry.  Again.  So. . . I think I already have something that will help you forgive me for being an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot and you don’t have to do anything!” Luca reassured him.  “Just being together and working through these things is enough.”

“It’s got to do with our escape plan, though.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah so. . .  This was just as a precaution!  But after we talked about Vespas the other night, then all this shit started happening and I got to thinking what if we need to leave fast?  Like really fast?  What if I can’t get something in time and--”

“Beto?”  Luca’s gentle voice brought Alberto’s rambling to a halt.  

“Huh?”

“Did you buy a Vespa?”

“. . . I did.”

“Why didn’t you open with that?!”

“I was gonna get to it!”

Luca got on his toes and kissed him.  

“Show me?”

Chapter Text

Alberto sat at the kitchen table, looking over maps and brochures.  He paused to fix his hair as the curls started coming down and trying to fall in his face.  Luca watched the muscles in his arms and shoulders work while he did the simple action of fixing his bun.  

Alberto knew Luca saved his life once and went against everything his kind stood for by doing so.  That Luca did it because he loved him even though they hadn’t even really met yet.  Now Alberto felt he needed to show his love by saving Luca in return.  

“Alberto?”

A hand touched his shoulder and he looked up into his mate’s soft eyes.  He put a hand over Luca’s and kissed his wrist, feeling his heartbeat under his lips.  

“Come to bed,” Luca said into golden curls.  

Alberto arched his eyebrows and couldn’t help the cocky smile that crossed his face.  

“Oh?  Wanna thank me for the Vespa, Luca?”

Luca kissed his forehead so tenderly Alberto’s eyes dropped shut and his body relaxed.  

“I want to thank you for being the man I love.”

The sweet, sincere words made him melt even more than the kiss.  

Luca didn’t know until earlier how deep Alberto’s insecurities ran.  He hid them well and projected confidence with his head held high.  As much as Alberto made himself out to be the strong one who protected everyone, he needed sweet affirmations, too.  Needed to be held and told how much he mattered to Luca.  

Luca gently tugged his hand and made Alberto follow him to their room.  Soon Alberto crowded Luca against the closed door, wrapping his arms around him and kissing him deeply.  

“What do you want, amore?” he murmured against Luca’s neck.  “Want me to fuck you?  Get on my knees and suck your dick?”

“Actually, I want to take care of you.”

Alberto’s heart hammered in his chest.  He didn’t even think he deserved a fucking blowjob from Luca.  How was he supposed to handle his lover saying he wanted to take care of him?  Did Luca. . . did Luca want to top?  Shit, not that he wasn’t interested in that, but how was he supposed to keep it together?  He feared he might crack open and Luca would see what’s inside.  

The smallest thing could make Luca realize he’d made the wrong decision choosing Alberto as his mate.  

“Is this about the fight earlier?” Alberto couldn’t help but ask.  “Make up sex?”

“Not make up sex, but it does have to do with our fight,” Luca admitted, gently pulling Alberto towards the bed.  “You always make me feel so loved.  You never hold back when you reassure me or when you make love to me.  I need you to feel the same.  To know I would do anything for you in return.”

“You saved my life.  I know how much you love me.”

“The way you talked earlier made me think otherwise.  I think I need to remind you.”

Alberto knew it wouldn’t hurt.  Luca would take care of him.  But that was the problem: Luca would take care of him.  

Alberto closed his eyes and let himself feel Luca’s kisses on his back and gentle fingers working him open.  He moaned into the pillow when Luca found that good spot inside of him.  There was a kiss placed on the small of his back.  Dio he was already shaking.  

“Per favore mio amato,” Alberto breathed, unsure what he was asking for.  “Per favore.”

He was afraid to face his beloved, but gentle hands turned him on his back.  Alberto whimpered, a pathetic choked off sob, and Luca wasn’t even inside of him yet.  

“Are you okay?  Did I hurt you?” Luca asked, looking panicked.  

It was then that Alberto felt the tears falling down his face.  He was already cracking.  

“I’m okay.”

“You’re sure?  Beto. . .” Luca touched his face and wiped away some of the tears.  “We don’t have to--”

“Don’t stop,” Alberto pleaded, voice broken.  “I want it.  Per favore amore mio.”

Alberto brought him down for a kiss.  Luca slowed their kisses, sitting up between Alberto’s legs and running his hands down thick thighs.  

“You’re afraid to let anyone take care of you, aren’t you?  Even me?” Luca asked.  

Alberto bit his lip to keep in the broken sound that threatened to tell Luca everything.  Somehow Luca already knew the answer.    

“Lay back and let me make you feel good.”

“I’m not--I don’t--” I’m not worthy.  I don’t deserve it.

“Yes you do.  Don’t feel guilty for letting me do the work every now and then.”

Alberto gasped, back bowing as he was filled.  Oh.  Oh he liked this.  It was Luca, so of course he did, but. . .

Luca took Alberto’s large hand and kissed the palm, then each finger, then each scar. . . Luca kissed the tattoo inside his arm, counting the letters with his lips.  

Worship.  He was being worshiped again.  Enveloped in Luca’s love for him and all he could do was lay back and take it.  

Luca took that hand and placed it over his rapidly beating heart.

“Do you feel that?” Luca whispered in his ear.  

Alberto could only nod, feeling new tears fall.  

“It’s yours.  It’s all yours.  Please trust in that.”

Alberto pulled his lover into a kiss, holding him tight.  

Luca rolled his hips slowly at first, kissed and touched whatever skin he could reach.  

“My beautiful mate.  So handsome, so strong,” Luca whispered into tan skin.  

“You’re the beautiful one, mio caro.”

“Have you looked in a mirror recently?”

Alberto started moving more desperately against him, grabbing at Luca’s hips and ass in an attempt to make him go faster.  His legs wrapped around thin hips to pull him in deeper.  Luca smiled down at him, but it looked like he took the hint.  He started moving harder, making Alberto cry out and beg for more.  

They didn’t even have to say they loved each other.  It was felt so deeply in their hearts, in the very marrow of their bones, that words weren’t needed.  

~*~*~*~

“I told you we mate for life and I don’t understand why you still think I’ll change my mind.”

“I don’t. . . I don’t want you to be with me because you have to be.  Because of whatever sea monster instinct you have.  I want you to be with me because you want to be.”

“Always.  I’ll always want to be with you.”

“Don’t throw my words back at me.”

“Why not?  They’re true for me, too.”

“I don’t deserve such sweet words.”

“You do.  And I’m gonna keep saying them until you finally believe them.  Until you see what I see.”

“Luca.”

“And even then I’ll keep saying them.”

“You asshole,” Alberto groaned and covered his face.  Shit, Luca was going to make him cry again.  He hadn’t cried this much since Massimo presented him with signed adoption papers.  

“Learned from the best,” Luca giggled and kissed the scar that cut through Alberto’s eyebrow.  “Would it help if we were mated in the human way?”

“You don’t have to--”

“What if I want to?” Luca continued to kiss his face.  “Tell me how.  I want to be connected to you in your way.”

Alberto swallowed and licked his lips.  

“The human way is called marriage.  It’s more complicated, I guess.  One of us would ask the other for their hand in marriage--”

“Just the hand?” Luca made a face.  “I want you to have all of me.”

“It’s just a figure of speech,” Alberto said, laughing a little.  “Then we have a ceremony where we vow to be together forever and exchange rings to show everyone else that we’re married. . . But you can’t wear rings because you shape shift. . .”  He rubbed at the stubble on his chin in thought.  

“Maybe a necklace?”

“Yeah, maybe we’ll just put a ring on a chain for you.”

“Anything after that?”

“Depending on what we can afford, there can be a party with dancing and cake.”

“That sounds fun!”

“Then there’s the honeymoon,” Alberto grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.  “That’s were we take a vacation together and have lots of sex.”

“That sounds like even more fun,” Luca grinned back and trilled as much as his human vocal cords would allow.  “Then what?”

“Then we’re married,” Alberto shrugged.  

“Okay.  I think I get it now.”

“Yeah?”

“How do I ask you?  Do I need anything special?”

“You, uh, don’t have to--I mean um. . .” Alberto turned bright red.  Holy shit was this happening?  Now?!  “Most of the time there’s another ring involved but it’s not necessary. . . Would you mind if I asked you, though?”

“Does it matter who asks who?”

“No but. . . I just kinda want to?”

“Alright.  It’s your tradition anyway.”

Well, it looked like they were doing this.  Fast by human standards but not really by sea monster standards he guessed.  They were already mated for life.  This was just another way to do it.

“Okay, um. . .” Alberto cleared his throat.  “Let’s get clothes on.  Stand up.  I want to give you the full human experience, alright?”

They got their clothes back on and stood in the middle of their room.  Alberto gently took Luca’s hand and got down on one knee.  

“Luca Paguro,” he began, looking up hopefully at his mate.  “Will you marry me?”

He saw something click into place behind Luca’s eyes.  

“Oh!  I get the hand in marriage thing now!”  Luca said, squeezing Alberto’s hand.  Alberto couldn’t help but laugh and squeeze back.  

“And, yes.  I’ll marry you.”

Chapter Text

Alberto woke to the feeling of Luca pressed against his back, rubbing his face along his shoulders and neck.  It was a normal morning routine now.  His sea monster instinct telling him to scent his mate.  

“Possessive little sea monster,” Alberto said, turning over and hugging Luca.  “I’m gonna start breakfast.  Get up when you’re ready.”

~*~*~*~

Alberto got his espresso and started working on some eggs.  He had some leftover sauce he could use and some cheese, too.  Alberto set the ingredients on the butcher block and went to get his cast iron skillet.  He paused and did a double take, nearly dropping his skillet.  

There, beside his father’s butcher block. . . the dreaded sea monster wall was gone.  Instead there was a shopping list, a news clipping that had nothing to do with sea monsters, and a picture of their family.  No knives.  No wanted posters.  No sea monsters.  

“Buongiorno!  What’s for breakfast?”

Alberto jumped, Giulia’s voice bringing him back to reality.  

“Uh, probably eggs in purgatory.  Could you get me an extra tomato?”

“Sure thing.”  

Giulia picked a tomato off a plant sitting in a nearby window.  

“Grazie. . . say, uh, Giulia?”

“Huh?”

Alberto pointed at what had once been the sea monster wall.  

“You see it too, right?”

“See what?”

“Look.”

“I don’t--wait.”

“Right?”

The sibling’s talked with their eyes, unsure if they should say anything out loud.  

“Buongiorno.”

Alberto and Giulia nearly jumped out of their skin at hearing Massimo’s voice.  They quickly greeted him and went back to working on breakfast.  They glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, saying as little as they could as they worked.  

What do they do?  Do they say something?  Ignore it?  Hope their father tells them exactly what the fuck is going through his head?  Yeah right, like that would ever happen.  

“Luca and I are engaged,” Alberto said offhandedly, cracking some eggs into the tomatoes.  

“What, really!?” Giulia yelped.  

“Yeah.” Alberto couldn’t help but smile while she elbowed him.  

“It’s a little early,” Massimo mentioned.  Alberto heard some concern in his father’s voice.  

“I know, but sometimes when you know you know, right?”

“Do Luca’s people do things differently than we do?”

Alberto and Giulia both froze in their motions.  Twin statues in front of the stove and eyes shooting towards each other in fear.  

“What do you mean, papa?” Alberto asked, trying his best to keep his voice level.  

“Mostri marini.  They do things differently?” Massimo asked, like it was nothing.  

“Y-yeah. . . we’re technically already married by their standards?  It’s. . .it’s called mating. . .”

He heard Massimo hum in understanding behind him.  

“Mostri marini, they don’t mind that name?”

“No.  Yeah.  It’s fine, Luca says.  They call us land monsters, so. . .”

Giulia snorted.  “Land monsters?”

“And what do we call them, Giulietta?”

“Sea mons-- okay I see your point.”

Alberto laughed and covered the eggs.  He turned around and looked at Massimo, both of them chuckling to themselves.  

“So,” Alberto said.  “How did you find out and how long have you known, papa?”

“I’m your father.  I know everything.”

Alberto swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing.  This was a man Alberto had seen try to kill vaguely sea monster shaped kelp in the ocean.  

“Then why is my Luca still alive?”

“I knew killing him was to kill you as well.  I figured if you knew and trusted him, I should try to trust him, too.”  Massimo sighed and leaned back in his seat   “So, how did you two really meet?”

“I thought you knew everything,” Alberto said, a little smug.  “He saved me from drowning.”

“I should thank him, then.”

Alberto saw Luca climbing down the ladder into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and yawning.  

“Breakfast?” he asked.  Luca easily tucked himself into Alberto’s side, unaware of the conversation he had just walked in on.  

“Almost ready.  Luca,” Alberto leaned down to whisper to his fiancé.  “Papa knows.”

“That we’re engaged?”

“That you are a sea monster.”

Luca froze.  Brown eyes were wide, almost looking betrayed as he looked up at Alberto.  He slowly turned to the large man sitting at the dining room table, not really meeting his eyes.  Massimo stood and went to the couple, looking down at them.  

“You saved my son.  You are always welcome here, figlio,” Massimo said, his hand on Luca’s shoulder.

Luca put a hand over Massimo’s.  This time he really did start to cry.  

“Grazie signor.”

~*~*~*~

Massimo had questions and Luca patently answered them.  Alberto staid close to his fiancé and the reason wasn’t lost on Massimo.  He was still deciding if he trusted his father not to hurt Luca.  Alberto calmed down by the end of breakfast, it seemed.  Massimo had never seen his son be so fiercely protective of anything.  If Massimo hadn’t been so accepting and tried to hurt Luca. . . he had no doubt he would have died by his own son’s hand.  

“What should we do, papa?” Alberto asked.  “You accepted mio amante. . . could the rest of our town?”

“I am only one person.  I know Luca.  I know that he is good.  Convincing a whole town of people who have made their lives around hunting his kind?  That is not so easy.”

Alberto was quiet for a long time.  

“I got the Vespa as a last resort,” he admitted.  “Do we need to go ahead and put it to use?”

“. . .Si.  That would be for the best, figlio.”

~*~*~*~

Splash!

“Mrrrrrooow!?!”

“That’s a cat, Lorenzo!”

“Well, humans look so weird I thought maybe it was a human in it’s larval stage!”

“Is our son in his larval stage?!”

“Uh. . . no?”

Alberto stepped out of the garden to see a soaking wet Machiavelli running towards him.  The cat hid behind his legs and shook itself off.  He looked up and gave Alberto a disgruntled meow like he could do something about these crazy people.  The best Alberto could do was offer him a shrug.  

“Hey!”

Alberto looked back up to see the couple coming towards him.  This. . . this was gonna get awkward.  

“You’re that human that smells like Luca but isn’t!” the man said, pointing an accusing finger at Alberto.  

Shit.  

The woman’s eyes became hard as she looked him over.  

“I know who this is.  You must be Alberto?”

Alberto swallowed and gave her an apologetic smile.  

“Si signora.”

“Where is our son?”

“My mate is in the house.  He can’t go out much because some crazy people are trying to expose him to the town and get him killed.”

Lorenzo made a face at being called out, then looked sheepish.  

“Mate?” said Daniela, still furious at the audacity of this human.  

“Si,” Alberto answered, a little smug.  

“Alberto, is the Vespa ready?  I can’t wait to try it out before--” Luca froze when he opened the gate and saw his parents standing there.  

“Luca!”

They both reached for their estranged son but he backed away, taking hold of Alberto’s arm.  Daniela and Lorenzo paused, deciding not to force themselves closer to him yet.  

“Luca?” Daniela asked.  “This man says he’s your mate?”

“He is,” Luca looked up at Alberto with love in his eyes.  

“He’s human!  He can’t be your mate if he’s human!”

“Yet here we are,” Alberto deadpanned.  

“You can’t separate us,” Luca said.  “You know that’s forbidden.”

Daniela looked like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to scream or cry.  

“You actually want to be with-with--” she angrily motioned to all of Alberto.  “This?!”

“I dunno, Daniela,” Lorenzo said, rubbing his chin and looking over the human Luca had chosen as a mate.  “I kinda get it now.”

“Nobody asked you!” his wife yelped.  Daniela pinched the bridge of her nose and took a few deep breaths.  “You can’t stay in this world, Luca.  Human’s can’t be trusted.  No matter how much you love him or he claims to love you--”

“You think I can’t feel his love because he’s human?” Luca snapped back.  

“Signora?  Signor?” Alberto asked for their attention and took a step forward.  “I. . . I love your son very much.  It was love at first sight and he wasn’t even in human form.  We’re still figuring this out, but. . . we want to make a life together.”

“Alberto is even my fiancé now!” Luca said, bouncing a little.  

“Fiancé?  Is that something you eat?” Lorenzo asked.  

“No!  No it just means we’re going to be mated the way humans do.  It’s called marriage,” Luca explained before turning back to Alberto.  “Did I say all of that right?”

“Yeah, you got it right,” Alberto said, grinning at his fiance.  

The Paguro’s looked at each other, talking with their eyes for a moment before putting some space between their son and his human mate.  

“Has this sort of thing ever happened before?” Lorenzo asked.  

“Not that I know of,” Daniela sighed.  

“Is it, I dunno. . . viable?”

Daniela looked back at the couple, still unsure about the whole thing.  She took a deep, settling breath.  

“I think it is.  Remember when we first became mates?  Look at them.”

Alberto and Luca were turned towards each other.  Alberto had an arm around his fiancé's waist and Luca kept subtly rubbing his face on his mate’s shoulder.  There was no doubt in the human’s eyes when he looked at Luca.  Alberto was very much in love with their son, human or not.  

Daniela and Lorenzo looked at each other and nodded.  They went back over to the younger couple.  

“Would you mind telling us more about this marriage thing?” Lorenzo asked.  

“Sure!” Alberto said, beaming.  “Would you like to stay for dinner?”

~*~*~*~

They moved a table to the courtyard so they could seat everyone comfortably.  

“The two families are supposed to come together for a dinner anyways,” Daniela said as she helped bring out some chairs.  “It was supposed to be before the mating, but. . .”

“I didn’t think it was going to happen for obvious reasons, mom,” Luca sighed.  

“At least we’re getting a dinner, even if it’s not in the right order.”

“Anything else I need to know we missed?” Alberto asked.  

“There’s a little more of a dating period, I guess,” Luca said.  “Gifts, food, singing and dancing. . .”

“We did that, though.”

“Huh?”

“I gave you gelato when we first met.  Well, technically the second time we met but I didn’t know it.”

“Right.  You did.” Luca started blushing thinking of their first official meeting.  

“And!  And. . . I sang to you on the beach.”  Alberto went to Luca and started leading him in a waltz, making him laugh.  “Wise man say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you.” Insert a spin here.  “Shall I stay?  Would it be a sin, if I can’t help falling in love with you?”

“You’re just showing off now,” Luca said, trying to cover up how hopelessly besotted he was in the moment.

“I’m always showing off.  And you love it.”  Alberto nuzzled the side of his face and kissed him a couple of times.  

“You two are going to take my appetite away,” Giulia sighed before going in to help get the food.    

They talked and laughed over food and wine.  They learned about each others cultures surrounding relationships and family.  

Luca and Alberto openly told their story to their families.  

“I thought he’d rather have a human so--”

“I told you when I first saw you that you were beautiful!”

“And I thought you were still addled from, y’know, almost dying!  I didn’t know if I should take you seriously or not!”

The people closest to them knew and they accepted them.  It was all a breath of fresh air.  

“You’ll visit, right?” Daniela asked as they started to leave.  

“I’ll try,” Luca said.  “We don’t know how much longer we’ll be in town, though. . .”

“You’re leaving?” she asked, immediately concerned.  

“Just because the Marcovaldo’s accept us, doesn’t mean the rest of the town will.  We have a way to leave together and see the world.  But I’ll come back when I can.”

Daniela hugged her son and took a deep breath, trying not to cry.  

“Hey, look me in the eye,” Luca said.  “You know I love you, right?”

She gave her son a sad smile and kissed his cheek.  

“I know.”

~*~*~*~

Luca was in the treehouse, but he wasn’t looking upwards like he usually did.  Instead, he stared out onto the ocean.  

“You alright, mio amato?” Alberto asked, sitting down next to him.    

“I think I need to be in the water,” Luca confessed.  “I want to go to our beach again.  Before we leave.  Just one more time, amore.”

“Luca, it’s still dangerous.  What if someone sees you?”

“We have our Vespa.  We have a plan if anything goes wrong.  Per favore, Beto.”

When had Alberto ever denied Luca anything?

Alberto opened his mouth to say so, but then felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.  He looked over his shoulder, eyes tracing the lines of the fence that bordered their yard.  

“What’s wrong?” Luca asked, on edge at his mate’s behavior.  

Alberto staid quiet, not ready to answer until he knew it was safe.  Then he nodded to his fiancé and gave him a soft smile.  He kissed Luca’s cheek.  

“I can’t say no to you, tesoro mio.”

Chapter Text

Ercole’s POV

Alberto Scorfano showed up in Portorosso a skinny street urchin when he was about thirteen.  He was a natural born fisherman and much too confident in himself.  Ercole hated him on sight.  He had tried to run Alberto out of town but the Marcovaldo’s took him in.  When he was adopted by Massimo, Ercole had to accept that the vagrant was here to stay.  

~*~*~*~

Things started shifting when Alberto was about seventeen.  Matteo had talked Alberto into bringing his guitar to one of the summer bonfires.  Ercole remembered that was when Alberto still wore his hair down, curls just brushing his shoulders.  

“Don’t wanna live as an untold story, rather go out in a blaze of glory

I can’t hear you, I don’t fear you

I’ll live now cause the bad die last, dodging bullets with your broken past

Well, I can’t hear you, I don’t fear you now.”

He met Alberto’s eyes and saw something defiant when he sang those words.  When was Scorfano ever afraid of anyone?

“Wrapped in your regret, what a waste of blood and sweat

Oh oh oh

I wanna taste love and pain, wanna feel pride and shame, don’t wanna take my time, don’t wanna waste one line, I wanna live better days, never look back and say

Could have been me

It could have been me.”

Ercole refused to applaud with everyone else.  How dare Scorfano be sexy and talented!  Wait, when did he get sexy?  That overconfident, string bean little kid had become a man and it confused Ercole to no end.  

Ercole wasn’t the only person who wanted in the young fisherman’s pants after that.  Alberto had grown up and Portorosso had suddenly noticed.  

Alberto was aloof, though.  He was somehow a slut and a prude at the same time depending on who you talked to.  From what Ercole had heard, Alberto had only kissed one girl while the rest were boys.  He figured he had a pretty good shot since it sounded like Alberto leaned gay.  Perhaps Ercole could be next in line for some of Alberto’s kisses. . . They hadn’t exactly gotten along in the past, though.  Alberto was one of the few people in Portorosso who wasn’t afraid of Ercole.  He downright hated his guts and the feeling was mutual.  However. . . what Ercole wanted, he got.  Love didn’t need to be involved in sex, of course.  It never was when it came to Ercole’s past hookups anyway.  Alberto would just be a new challenge and when had Ercole ever backed down from a challenge?  

The way he saw it, he had two options:  

1. He could try to make friends.  Shift their relationship into something else that could win over Scorfano.  
2. They could continue as they were and let it finally explode into angry yet satisfying hate-sex.  

One had more work involved than the other, of course.  Ercole would actually need to change the way he acted around Scorfano for option one.  Ugh.  Why would Ercole ever change for anyone?  He must be fucked up over this boy if he was actually considering such a thing.  

~*~*~*~

Ercole felt he had a chance once.  One evening on the beach when Alberto was struggling with his lighter.  Ercole cleared his throat to get his attention and held up his own lighter.  Alberto looked wary at first, but approached him.  It made Ercole think of a feral animal coming to a human with their hand full of treats.  He clicked the lighter on and Alberto bent down to light the cigarette between pink lips, the flame illuminating those emeralds he called eyes.  Ercole snuffed out the light and looked up at the fisherman, who was still standing close to him.  It was probably the first time Alberto had ever been this close to him and not on the defensive.  They weren’t getting in each others faces fighting over something stupid.  They were calmly sharing a light as the moon climbed into the night sky.  

“Grazie,” Alberto said after a deep drag.  

Ercole nodded, struck dumb for a moment.  I can think of some fun ways you can thank me, bello. . .

Alberto just smiled and gave him a a salute with his cigarette hand before walking off.  

Much like their lighters, it seemed like Ercole was the only one who felt a spark.  

~*~*~*~

Only a week later Alberto was caught in a storm that nearly killed him.  Ercole couldn’t help but feel a little vindictive about it.  He was still bitter over not getting something out of Alberto for that light.  

Then Luca showed up.  

Luca was cute, no lie.  He got all of Alberto’s attention, though.  It was almost like he was under a spell.  Ercole didn’t like how this skinny boy could entrap Alberto where no one else could.  Ercole liked getting what he wanted and Luca dared to take something he’d set his sights on.  

Ercole got the chance one morning to soak Alberto on his boat.  He pretended not to leer at the wet shirt plastered to Alberto’s firm body while he teased him about Luca and sea monsters.  He feigned interest in Luca to throw Alberto off.  He’d almost gotten speared for it.  

~*~*~*~

“Ciao bello.”

“Fuck off!”

Ercole chuckled to himself and pulled out the wadded up paper Alberto had thrown at his head.  He gently opened it for curiosities sake.  It was just a reward poster for sea monsters.  Weird thing for Alberto to take his aggression out on.  

~*~*~*~

“I want to go to our beach again.  Before we leave.  Just one more time, amore.”

“Luca, it’s dangerous.  What if someone sees you?”

“We have our Vespa.  We have a plan if anything goes wrong.  Per favore, Beto.”

He saw Alberto freeze up and his gaze suddenly shoot over his shoulder.  Ercole barely disappeared under the wall before those watchful eyes could see him.  

“I can’t say no to you, tesoro mio.”

Ercole frowned.  They were running away together, then?  Why?  They were (much to his annoyance) well loved and welcome in Portorosso.  Signor Marcovaldo approved of their relationship.  Luca’s parents did not but they lived elsewhere.  Luca had already run away from them to be with Alberto. . . why more running?  What was this danger in someone seeing Luca?  

Every fucking time he listened in on these two and he was left with more questions!

At least he had some sort of lead now.  Ercole had been suspicious of Luca since he showed up.  No signs of family, much like Alberto, but he still had a place to go at night.  He wasn’t sure what he expected from the shy boy who had won Alberto’s heart, but he wanted to find out.  

When he saw them going towards the beach, he followed and hid behind the rocks.  Perhaps he’d find out something.  Perhaps he’d just get a free show.  Either way it was a win.  

They were on the shore, Luca straddling Alberto’s lap as they kissed.  Luca had taken Alberto’s hair down to play with.  That was a sight Ercole hadn’t seen in a long time.  Alberto gazed up at Luca like the sun shone out his ass.  He tilted his head so Luca could kiss his neck.  They talked softly to each other.  Ercole couldn’t make out what they were saying which was a pain.  Luca said something in Alberto’s ear that made him growl and start thrusting against him.  

“Fuck yes, I wanna do that,” Alberto’s voice finally carried.  “Water?”

Luca nodded and they waded in.  That’s when Ercole noticed something. . . funny, about Luca.  His skin was doing something, but he couldn’t get a good view of it.  They got in waist deep before they started to kiss again. Then Luca pulled his hands out of the water to play with Alberto’s golden curls again and what the ever loving fuck was that?!  Luca’s hands had gone from five fingers to four claws held together by webbing?  Luca had fucking webbed claws?!  Was that a fucking tail flicking out of the ocean?  How was Alberto not horrified by this?

“If you ever saw one you’d probably try to fuck it anyways.”

“Fine!  You got me, Ercole.  I’m out here looking for a sea monster to fuck and you’re cramping my style.  Happy?”

Well then.  Truer words had never been spoken.  Apparently.  

Luca ducked under the water and Alberto leaned his back on a nearby rock.  He closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip to keep the sounds in.  Ercole heard him say something about watching the sharp teeth.  

Goddamn.  Scorfano was getting a blowjob.  From a sea monster.  In the ocean.  

Clearly the couple wanted privacy for more than one reason.  

All Ercole could see was Alberto now.  Leaned on the rock and taking his pleasure.  Hair down, toned body on display, looking like a fucking god.  

“Suck me so good, baby,” his voice whimpered.  

Alberto started pulling at Luca, dragging him from the ocean and kissing him with everything he had.  Now Luca’s hair was blue and it didn’t look like hair anymore, but more like soft fins.  Alberto held green scales in his hands, pulling long legs around his waist and shifting his lover until Luca’s back arched and his head was thrown back.  A noise came out of him that wasn’t human.  The creature trilled and let Alberto fuck him.  Their bodies moving together with the familiarity of two people who had done this before.  

Ercole couldn’t watch anymore and had to look away.  If this is what Alberto chose he was a sick man.  He was off giving it to sea monsters and ignoring his own kind.  

That’s why no one else had a chance: Alberto Scorfano was a monsterfucker.  

~*~*~*~

Ercole was strangely calm as he re-entered the piazza.  Ciccio and Guido were already there.  Good.  

He calmly picked up a bucket and dipped it in the fountain.  

“Guido, Ciccio,” he called.  He barely had to raise his voice for them to be by his side.  “Ciccio, get the harpoons.  Guido, the nets.  We are going to catch ourselves a sea monster.”

Chapter Text

“Watch the teeth, bello.  You got sharp ones.”

There was a hum under the water to show Luca understood.  Alberto leaned against a rock, running his hand over green scales and blue fins.  He felt claws pull at his hips, encouraging him to thrust.  

Underwater blowjobs.  Definitely a perk to dating a sea monster.  

~*~*~*~

“Wow, um. . . we didn’t even get behind our hiding rock. . .” Luca said, looking bashful.  

Alberto laughed, resting his head against the rock he’d been leaning on.  

“That would have taken much too long.  Didn’t feel like waiting a whole extra minute to get inside you.”

Luca trilled in agreement.  

“I love your sounds.  Have I told you that?” Alberto asked, nuzzling his mate’s neck.  Luca chirped, making Alberto laugh again.  “I want to stay but I have to work. . .”

“I’ll probably swim until you come back.  I need to just. . . be in the ocean for a bit.”

“I’ll see you at home later, then.”

~*~*~*~

“Ercole?”

“Si Ciccio,” he grunted.  

“Why are we in the piazza looking for sea monsters?  Shouldn’t we be at the water?”

“I have all the water we need,” he shook the pale at his friend.  “Sea monsters are trickier than we think.  They can walk among us as long as they’re dry.”

“. . . Ercole, no offense, but I think you’ve been looking for sea monsters for too long--”

“Silenzio idioti!  I know what I’m talking about!”

Luca poked his head out of the gate, looking a little skittish as he did so.  Ercole had hardly seen the boy by himself recently.  Perfect.  

“There,” he growled.  

Guido and Ciccio exchanged a look behind their leader, but followed him anyway.  

“Buona sera, monstro marino.”

Luca gasped and spun around, eyes wide at Ercole and his gang.  Ercole didn’t give him a moment to react and doused him with the water.  Both the men with Ercole couldn’t help but shout when Luca changed into a sea monster before their eyes.  

“Don’t just stand there!  Net!” Ercole shouted.  

Luca had started to run, but Guido caught him.  The sea monster tripped over the netting and fell.  Frightened clicks escaped his throat.  He was able to get on his hands and knees before hissing at his assailants.  

“What have you caught, Ercole?” Alberto’s voice came, making Luca perk up.  

“Alberto!” Luca started chirping at the sight of his beloved.  

“Whoa!  It speaks!” Alberto said, jumping back in surprise.  “Is that an actual sea monster?”

Luca felt himself deflate.  What was happening?  Why was his fiance treating him like a stranger?  Like he was no more than a fish caught in a net?  Was it because they were around humans?  

“Si,” Ercole motioned down at the creature.  “I told you they existed, Scorfano.”

“Well, you made a believer out of me.”

“I knew your little boyfriend had a secret.”

“That thing is Luca?” Alberto looked disgusted by the fact, glaring down at him like he had never seen this side of Luca before.  Like they hadn’t made love just that morning while Luca was in this very form.  

“Beto?” Luca asked, his voice small.  “My mate?”

Alberto turned away.  

“Can I kill it?” Alberto asked.  “I’m a fisherman, after all.  My aim’s better.”

Luca went from betrayed and sad to angry and feral in a heartbeat.  His fins stood up and his teeth bared.  Luca hissed angrily at the man he had once called his lover.  His parents were right.  He should have known better than to trust a land monster.  

“I dunno, Scorfano.  Reward might be higher for alive.”

“They’re just gonna kill it anyway.”  He reached out for Ercole’s harpoon.  

Luca could feel himself panicking as his world crumbled around him.  He let out a high pitched shriek that made all the men around him cover their ears and brought them to their knees.  Some nearby windows even cracked.  Harpoons clattered to the ground as they chose to protect their ears over their weapons.  Luca finally ran out of breath and all that was left was the sound of their ears ringing.  

Alberto snatched for the harpoon nearest to him, but Ercole was faster and slammed his foot on Alberto’s hand.  Alberto yelled and held his wounded hand close to his chest.  

“Knock it off, Scorfano.  I know what you’re trying to pull.”

“I’m not--”

“How do you think I knew about your freak of a boyfriend, hm?”  Ercole leaned over a still kneeling Alberto, eyes full of disgust.  “I saw you fucking that creature in the ocean.”

The jig was up then.  Alberto should have known better than to try to bullshit a bullshitter.  

“Is that right?”  Alberto smirked up at him.  “You watched us, huh?  Sounds like you’re the freak, Ercole.”

“You fuck sea monsters and have the balls to call me a freak?”  Ercole spat in his face for that.  

Alberto wiped his face with the back of his hand, glaring at Ercole.  He turned and threw the net off of Luca, helping him stand up.  

“Luca?  Baby, you okay?” he asked, holding Luca’s face in his hands.  

Brown-red eyes blinked up at him.  The sounds the sea monster was making still sounded distressed.  

“Is that how you really feel?” Luca asked.  “Y-you called me a thing.  Do you really hate what I am?  I thought-I thought--”  

Alberto could see him gearing up for another ear-splitting scream.

“No!  No, shh, caro,” Alberto hushed him gently.  “It was a lie.  I didn’t mean a word I swear.  I was just trying to get his harpoon.  I love you.  I love every bit of you.”  Alberto kissed his forehead.  Luca softened and gave a soft trill to show he understood.  

“Ugh,” Ercole groaned, breaking the moment.  “This just makes me want to kill you more.”  

There was a crowd gathering at the commotion.  Shit, they were surrounded now.  People in this town moved fast when a sea monster was involved.  

“I saw it first!” Ercole shouted at them.  “The reward is mine!”  

Alberto looked around at the gathering crowd with their weapons and nets.  He had nothing to protect Luca with, but he wasn’t going down with out a fight.

“Wait.  I need. . . Just let me speak for a moment, alright?” Alberto said, keeping himself between the mob and Luca.  “Most of you know I made a stupid mistake a few months back and got caught in a storm.  I should be dead right now, but instead I woke up in the arms of a sea monster.”  

“Sea monster’s don’t save humans!” Ercole shouted.  

“Well this one did!” Alberto shouted back.  “His kind are just as afraid of us as we are of them, but he saved me.”

“He should have let you drown.  You call yourself a fisherman and you let a sea monster live?  Then let me finish the job for you, coward.”

Ercole shoved him out of the way.  He changed his hold on the harpoon from a stabbing motion to a throwing motion, holding the weapon over his head and down at Luca.  

Luca always knew Ercole hated him, but the look in Ercole’s eyes right now was full of pure loathing.  

“You should have left when I told you to.”

It’s true when someone sees a loved one in danger, sees a gun or knife or harpoon pointed at them, their body just moves.  Perhaps it’s actually their heart saying no, I will take the blow for you.  I will die for you.  The world would be a much darker place without you in it.  

Then there is the selfishness of leaving them behind to pick up the pieces.  

“Alberto?  Alberto!”

Chapter Text

He remembered the anger and determination on Ercole’s face when the harpoon struck.  It quickly changed to shock and fear.  

He remembered pain.  

He remembered falling into Luca’s arms, gentle claws touching his face.

“Are you okay?” There was a taste of iron in his mouth as he spoke.  

Luca nodded and kissed his forehead.  

“I love you.”  

He remembered feeling rain pattering on his body. . . or perhaps they were tears?  Was Luca crying?  Was it both?

“Don’t touch him!” he heard Luca snarl at someone.  

He remembered shouting from different voices.  

He remembered the feeling of being moved.  

He remembered pain.

He remembered darkness. . . a darkness he’d experienced once before.  It felt like sinking in the ocean and he didn’t have the strength to reach the surface.  

“He’s still alive.  I can feel his heartbeat. . . but it’s slowing down. . . Stay with me.  Per favore amore mio.”

.

.

.

.

.

The heaviness of Alberto’s eyelids and limbs felt frighteningly familiar.  He knew this feeling.  He’d almost died.  Again.  This time was more painful, though.  Alberto felt the need to apologize to any fish he had ever harpooned.  

“That boy needs to stop having near death experiences, dio mio.”

“At least it missed anything important.”  Giulia’s voice lowered.  “You do realize. . . if it had been Luca. . .”

“I know, Giulietta.  I know.”  

Alberto’s eyes slowly blinked open to see Luca was holding his hand.  He was asleep in a chair he had pulled up to the side of Alberto’s bed, his head resting on the white sheets.  

“Luca?”

Brown eyes opened and he smiled at his mate.  

“Alberto. . .”

“Am I in heaven?  Must be, cause you’re the prettiest angel of them all.”

Luca giggled and kissed the hand he was holding.  

“You can still flirt.  I think you’ll be okay.” Luca looked across the room at Giulia and Massimo.  “Should probably let a doctor know he’s awake.”

“Hospital, huh?” Alberto said, finally taking in his surroundings.  He was hooked up to some things and the place had that sterile hospital smell.  

“Yeah, your family got us here.  We’re a town over from Portorosso.”

“. . . The town knows about you now.”

“They do.”

“We can’t stay any longer.”

“Actually. . . I think it’s gonna be okay.”

“Really?  Well, what happened after Ercole speared me?”

“They helped get you to the hospital.  Everyone was more worried about you than me.  A couple of people still tried to catch me in the chaos but Massimo and Giulia protected me.  The Aragosta sisters beat up Guido and Ciccio when they tried to harpoon me as well.  The people protecting me and you was greater than the people trying to cause us harm.”

“. . .The Aragosta sisters beat up Guido and Ciccio?  And I missed it?”

“Yeah,” Luca said, laughing.  “They’re sea monsters, too.”

“What. . . what the fuck. . .”

“Okay, caro, calm down.  You’re still recovering.”

Luca motioned to the bandages wrapped around Alberto’s ribs.  The wound just under his left pec still felt sore even with whatever medicine they’d given him.  

“Ercole.  What happened to Ercole?” he asked.  

“He tried to take the harpoon out but I knew that would cause more damage. . . so I bit him.”

“You bit Ercole?!”  

“He ran away screaming after that,” Luca said proudly.  “He has a surprisingly low pain tolerance.  I barely broke skin but you’d think I’d ripped off his arm.  Last we’ve heard there’s a reward out for him.  Kinda ironic, really.”

“Please tell me there are wanted posters.”

“There are.  I’ll get you one.”  

Alberto relaxed into the bed again.  

“I’m sorry,” Alberto whispered, fighting sleep.  “I’m so sorry for what I said.  Making you think I didn’t know you or love you.  I can’t seem to stop hurting you, can I?  You deserve better--”

“Don’t.  I understand what you were doing now.  I’m more upset at myself for doubting you, even for a moment.  But. . . It’s okay.”

No matter what Luca said Alberto could still hear his heartbroken scream ringing in his ears.  For a terrible moment the sea monster thought his lover had betrayed him.  

“It’s not okay.  I saw them get you and I couldn’t just go get my own harpoon because they would kill you while I was gone so I thought if I could get them to trust me--”

“I know, amore mio.  I understand.  I also understand that you are high on pain medicine and need to rest.” Luca caressed Alberto’s cheek and kissed his forehead.  

“I love you.  I love you so much.  I’m going to say it every day for the rest of our lives together.  I’ll never let you doubt me again, I swear.”  

“I love you, too.  We’ll talk more about our future later.  You rest.”

“You’ll be here when I wake up?”

“Aren’t I always?”

Chapter Text

Five years later. . .

Alberto could see the sun behind his eyelids.  His bed was warm and he’d just been having a lovely dream.  A warm body was laying against him, humming a tune while tracing the tattoo on his chest.  Alberto finally blinked his eyes open and smiled down at Luca.

“Buongiorno, caro,” he sighed, carding his fingers though dark curls.  

“Buongiorno,” Luca said, smile as bright as the sun that filtered in their window.  

Luca pressed a kiss to the blue and green name inked into his mate’s tan skin.

“I still can’t believe you did that.”

“I’m a man of my word, amore.  Besides, you’re my husband and I’m your mate.  No take backs.”

 ~*~*~*~

A year after getting engaged, Luca and Alberto got married in the piazza.  For a touch of irony, it rained during the ceremony.  The human guests all held umbrellas while the sea monsters allowed themselves to be seen in their true forms.  

The sky finally cleared when they shared their first kiss as a married couple.  

Yes, there was a rainbow.

~*~*~*~

Alberto sat on their balcony with a cigarette in one hand and a pencil in the other.    

Luca leaned on the door with his hands wrapped around a mug.  The morning sun making the wedding ring that hung around his neck shine.    

“What are you drawing?” Luca asked, taking a sip of coffee.

“My favorite subject,” Alberto said with a wink.  He held up the sketch of Luca just as he was.  

“I have bedhead and am still waking up!”

“Sei bellissimo.”

~*~*~*~

“Fuck yes,” Alberto growled out between clenched teeth.  

He held on to the towel rack with both hands.  The water from their shower poured over Luca as he took Alberto from behind.  They had become experts at shower sex over the years.  This was one of the only ways to make love that Luca had been apprehensive about at first.  It quickly turned into one of their favorites, though.  Because of the tentacle shape of Luca’s dick as well as the fact it self lubricated there was little to no prep work needed.  It never got as hard as a human dick so he had to move differently, but Alberto loved how it filled him up.  Then there was the way the suckers massaged his prostate.

Alberto felt Luca’s hand rest on the scar that marred his ribcage.  He had other scars.  Luca worshiped all of them with mouth and hands.  This one was different than the others.  It was the only one that almost took Alberto away from Luca.  

Alberto brought one of his hands down and put it over Luca’s, holding it in place over the raised skin.  

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”  

Alberto had kept his promise to say those words every day.  Whenever he thought about them, he said them.  

~*~*~*~

Alberto pushed his boat away from the dock and started the motor.  There was a splash beside him and Luca poked his head out from the water.  

“Alright bello, show me were the best fish are at,” Alberto called to him.  “We need money to fund our next trip.”

Luca chirped and started to swim ahead, feeling the currents so he knew where to find the best catch.  It wasn’t long after that Alberto had a net full of fish.  

Alberto wasn’t the only fisherman with a sea monster anymore, though.  The others caught on and hired their own.  Sea monsters didn’t really get the concept of money at first so it was a learning curve.  They knew how to trade, though.  Some just wanted a portion of the fish caught.  It got to where if a fisherman didn’t have a sea monster he might as well pack up.  

Sea monsters found other jobs on land and traded goods that humans had never seen before.  Soon, sea monsters took up about a quarter of Portorosso’s population.  

All because a sea monster fell in love with a land monster.  

Even though Luca and Alberto knew Portorosso was a safe place for them, they had trouble staying still.  Luca still wanted to see the world and Alberto wanted to show it to him.  

They staid in touch with their families during trips, calling or sending letters at each stop.  Giulia had started collecting the postcards they sent her from their adventures, taking up a wall in her bedroom.  

 They would settle down one day.  Perhaps in Portorosso or another town they liked.  They’d make a home for themselves.  

Right now, they were just enjoying seeing the world together.  

“Alright, I think this should do it for today,” Alberto called.

Luca climbed into the boat and shook himself dry.  Five years and that sight had never gotten old to Alberto.  

“Where to next?”

“Wherever you want, amore.”