As the Surface Caves In

Ease the Pain

Luca shifts himself to kneel over Alberto as he pins him against the wall of the cave. Alberto feels his heartbeat in his ears. It feels as if it's beating faster than when he used to have to rush to make deliveries on time for Massimo. He just knew he could win a race against Giulia on that bike.

Agh shut up! Don't think about either of them right now...

The water around him feels like it's come to a boil. His limbs start to feel numb, possibly because all the blood has shot straight to his face. It's so difficult to keep eye contact with Luca, as if he's repelling the two wrong sides of a magnet. Though, It's basically impossible to look anywhere else since Luca's face is getting so close to his... He notices Luca's jaw is clenched and his whole body is tense. He wants to shift his face away just to ease the tension he himself feels, but at the same time, he wants to get even closer.

Don't look at his lips, don't look at his lips... Ah-ha! Close your eyes! That's what those people do in the movies! C'mon act like you've done this before, idiota.

Alberto softly closes his eyes and ever so slightly inches his face forward towards Luca's. He grips the floor tightly with his fingers...

SLAP!

"OW!"

Alberto feels a burning pain on the side of his cheek and quickly rubs it back and forth with his hand.

"What the hell? Did you just slap me?!" Alberto shrieks, pushing Luca off of him. Luca falls backward and floats back toward the middle of the cave.

"I uh-" Luca stammers using his tail to place himself in an upright position. "I don't know... I still feel like I'm extremely mad at you for some reason..." He digs his nails into his scalp, "There's so many emotions going on in my head right now--I can't...." He runs his hands down his face and glares down at Alberto on the floor. His crimson sea monster eyes look terrifying right now. There's not a speck of care for Alberto in them like there was before all of this. His lips start to quiver.

"I can't EVEN LOOK AT YOU!" Tears start to well up in the corners of his eyes. Alberto's eyes widen and he pushes himself up off the ground, adrenaline flowing through his entire body.  Luca scowls, his eyes glowing with hatred and slams himself into Alberto, pinning him up against the wall yet again. He secures just one of Alberto's hands up against the wall with his arm and lifts up the other with his fist clenched. Alberto braces himself.

"You remind me of everything I lost!"He screams as he quickly reels his fist toward Alberto's face. Alberto catches the punch in his hand, less than an inch in front of him.

Santo pecorino, what is wrong with him?

Luca has never let his anger consume him so much as to get physical, at least to Alberto's knowledge. This type of thing is much more expected of Alberto. He even has what he calls 'battle scars' scattered all around his body from fights he supposedly 'won'--or at least that's what he tells everyone around him. Luca on the other hand would never even hurt a fly. He's never been in a physical fight besides that time Alberto crashed Giulia's bike into the pier their first summer together. That explains why he's so bad at it.

Alberto wriggles his other arm from Luca's grasp and pushes his chest away with both hands. Luca stumbles almost all the way to the entrance of the cave.

"Everything you... lost?" Alberto stammers, "Listen, Luca, I know a lot has happened and it's all crazy--believe me--but it's messing with your head now..."

"I look at you..." Luca pants, "and all I see is Giulia breathing water into her lungs in my arms." He takes a step forward. "I look at you... and I see Portorosso with fires everywhere-- completely demolished." Another step closer. "It's all GRIEF, Alberto. Grief and..." He pauses before he takes another step. Alberto notices a small blush appear in Luca's cheeks. It's usually hard to tell when he's a sea monster, but it's there all right. Luca fights with the thoughts appearing in his head for a few seconds and finally inhales to speak again, "I don't know! All I know is I want to hit you right now!" He lunges toward Alberto.