Silenzio Bruno!

Chapter 13~ Alberto

The morning sun shone directly into Alberto's eyes. He grimaced and buried his head in the blanket. His face touched something soft, something that definitely was not his blanket. He opened his eyes to see Luca sleeping peacefully below him, their arms entangled. Alberto smiled.

The light from the open window illuminated Luca's soft brown hair, giving him an ethereal glow. A warmth spilled out from Alberto's heart and into every part of his body. He couldn't believe that a person so beautiful would ever go out with somebody like him, but here Luca was, sleeping next to him.

Alberto yawned and stretched. Luca was still fast asleep, so he might as well make breakfast. He carefully removed his arms from Luca's and crawled out of the bed, being sure to not wake up the sleeping boy. Once Alberto had successfully gotten out of bed, he pressed a soft kiss to Luca's forehead and left the room.

Giulia was already in the kitchen when Alberto got there. She took a sip of her expresso and gave him a sly look.

"So..." she said over her mug, "Anything.... eventful happen last night?"

Alberto glared at her. "What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know... between you and Luca??" Alberto still looked at her in confusion. "Ugh, you are so dense," she sighed. "Did you two... you know..." her voice trailed off.

It took Alberto a moment before it hit him.

"GIULIA!" he shouted, lunging at her and attempting to strangle her. "NO! OBVIOUSLY! WE ARE LITERALLY 14! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT??"

She laughed maliciously and ducked his attacks. "Geez, I just thought that since you two are so in love and had to share a bed..."

Anger and embarrassment flushed Alberto's face as he snatched a butter knife and took a furious step towards his adoptive sister. Giulia jumped up from her seat and hurried towards the safety of her bedroom.

Once she was gone, Alberto sat down in a chair and buried his head in his hands. Ugh, why does Giulia have to make everything weird??

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A little while later, Alberto pulled a batch of freshly-baked muffins from the oven. He sat them down on the counter and took a step back to admire his work. Sure, they were a little lumpy, and yes, a couple of them were spilling out the sides of the muffin tin, but they were still muffins. Blueberry muffins, which he remembered were Luca's favorite.

Just as Alberto was taking off the oven mitts, the other boy trudged into the room still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Luca!" Alberto said, rushing to wrap his arms around him. "I made muffins for you!"

Luca gasped and smiled, eyes sparkling. "Blueberry! My favorite!"

Alberto blushed. "Yeah, I remembered you telling me that a while ago, so I decided to surprise you."

"Thank you so much, Alberto," he said as he took a warm muffin from the tin.

The two boys sat at the table together and ate breakfast, happy and content in each other's presence. Giulia came back in after a while but remained cautious, as Alberto was still shooting her dirty looks.

"Good morning, figli," Massimo's deep voice called from the doorway. When the three kids turned to greet him, they saw something white and powdery on his coat.

"What's that?" Alberto asked, pointing to the flakes that had collected on his adoptive father's shoulders. Massimo looked down and laughed, a warm sound that filled the kitchen.

"This," he said, brushing the white flakes off of his coat, "is snow."

Alberto and Luca looked at each other, neither one of them understanding. Giulia noticed and giggled.

"Have you two never seen snow before?" she asked. Alberto and Luca shook their heads in unison. "Well, snow is the stuff that falls out of the sky when it gets cold! It collects on the ground, and then you can make snowmen and snow forts out of it!"

Alberto thought for a moment. He had lived out of the water almost all of his life, how had he never seen snow before? Then it hit him. Every winter, his father would leave for the human town and leave Alberto by himself. Once it got too cold to stay in the tower, Alberto stayed underwater in a small cave and only emerged when it got warmer.

Luca's excited voice cut him out of his thoughts and back into the present. "Can we go outside and see it??" he said, nearly jumping out of his chair.

Massimo laughed again. "Of course, go put on some warm clothes and follow me."

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