.+*[the little sea monster]*+.

ch.5

alberto slips underwater, somehow making drowning look graceful . . . focus, luca!
luca rushes over to him, the breath knocking out of him as he loops his arms around the much bigger body and desperately tries to pull him back up to the surface, ignoring the feeling of his hands on the boys chest and how it makes him burn with the fire of a thousand suns.
he finally manages to break them both from the water, catching a breath he didn't know he was holding as he struggles them to land, dawn breaking in.
luca lays next to a still unconscious alberto, looking down at him as scuttle joins them. luca isn't sure if it's him dripping water onto albertos yellow and scared singlet, or if it's his tears. he croaks.
"is he . . . dead?" he looks up to scuttle.
scuttles face screws before he opens albertos eyelid and inspects the boy. "it's hard to say . . ." he waddles down albertos stomach and to his feet, holding it up and pressing it against the side of his head, "oh," he croaks, when he hears nothing. "i can't- i can't make out a heartbeat." he says in horror.
luca let's out a cry, sniffing as he looks up at alberto hopefully, gasping in a wave of emotions as he sees the boys chest rise and fall evenly, if not a bit shakily.
"no," he gasps, before hissing and trying to relax himself as not to scare the awakening boy, "he's breathing . . ."
he leans in to look at the boy, seeing every pore and freckle perfectly as he gently brings a hand to the boys cheek. if he thought staring at him a tail length away was close, he definitely should get his head checked out.
he's too fixed on alberto to notice that since his body is drying up, out of water, he's slowly doing the change, transforming as he plucks a curl away from albertos face, "he's so," he breathes, "beautiful."
he can't help himself and begins to sing, hoping to further coax the boy awake by singing, even if it sounded like a lullaby.
"what would i give,
to get to live where you are?
what would i pay,
to stay here beside you?
what would i do to see you
smiling at me?"
unbeknownst to luca, giuseppe and grandma paguro wash up nearby, and giuseppes jaw opens in shock at seeing luca transforming into what he wants to be so desperately, grandma stares off too, slack-jawed as well, while scuttle chuckles and closes their mouths.
"where would we walk?
where would we run?
if we could stay all day in the sun?
just you and me,"
alberto groans, feeling warmth on his cheek that feels nostalgic as he brings his hand up to it to find a hand, he flutters his eyes up, eyes adjusting to the light before he sees what he feels is an angel.
"and i could be,
part of your world . . ."
luca breathes as he smiles back down at alberto, before freezes up suddenly and turns around, hearing frantic cat yowls.
he suddenly scampers off, crawling frantically and then diving back into the waters, transforming back into a sea monster.
"alberto!" cries giulia, jumping over a rock as machiavelli runs over and jumps on alberto, knocking the air out of him, "alberto!"
giulia rushes over to help him up, hiccuping and sniffling as she quickly rubs it away, shaking alberto by the straps off his singlet as the boy is limp in her grasp. "you really delight in these sadistic stains on my blood pressure," she hisses, barking, "don't you?"
but alberto is glazed and smiling like an idiot, swinging as he finds the words, "a boy- rescued me . . . he was- singing!"
he shakes his head and gushes, holding giulia as the girls struggles to hold him up with an audible crack, "he had the most . . . beautiful singing voice."
"ah, 'berto," giulia pats his chest, before swinging his arm around her neck and supporting him, "i think you've swallowed a bit too much seawater. off we go," machiavelli suddenly sniffs out a familiar scent, but doesn't get to chase it as- "off we go, machi!"
giuseppe babbles as luca swims past him, scampering up on a rock and staring off into where he and alberto were just laid, breathing breathlessly and eyes shining. "we gotta forget this whole thing ever happened. daniela, nor lorenzo, will know. you won't tell him, i won't tell him, and i will stay in one piece."
"i don't know when,
i don't know how,
but i know something's starting
right now!"
lucas tail flicks determinately against the water, as it crashes behind him.
"watch and you'll see,
some day i'll be,
part of that world!"

"the child is in love with a human," mumbles grandma paguro as she pulls at her peddles, gripping them as she slouches on the table instead of eating breakfast, "and not just any human, a fisherman."
"luca, dear," calls daniela, voice uncertain and afraid. she was still unsettled by wether she was too hard on her son, but it was tough love. "please, for me, come out!" she laughs awkwardly, "you've been in there all morning!"
luca emerges from his room finally, humming and smiling to himself as he twirls in delight.
"what is with him lately?" daniela asks her mother, who just shakes her head. luca trills as he picks up a lotus, smiling it before twirling and almost barging into his father.
"oh," luca giggles, swimming behind to place the lotus into his fathers hair, "morning, papà."
daniela and lorenzo peer out from the cave, watching luca who twirls and swirls better as he sings, grabbing his shepherds stick and leading the goatfish away.
"oh," hisses grandma paguro suddenly, "he's got it bad." she groans.
"what?" squeaks daniela, twirling around to her mother, "what has he got?"
lorenzo gasps suddenly as he realises, "isn't it obvious, daniela?" he shakes daniela excitedly, before hugging his wife with a sigh. "our little luca's in love."
"luca?" asks daniela, breathing as she plucks the flower from lorenzos head and looks down at it in shock, "in love?"