𝑺𝒆𝒂 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 // 𝑨𝒍𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒐 𝒙 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

Ch.11

Alberto carries me inside his home, completely forgetting the mess. His fins rose immediately out of embarrassment. He gritted his sharp fangs anxiously, his fins lowering as he placed me on the ground. "Eh, excuse the mess."

My brow furrows at the mess. Various items have been ripped apart and broken on the floor. As I step fowards to examine the extent of the damage, I wriggle in my sticky clothes, hoping they would dry soon. Kneeling on the floor, I run my finger over the wood and come to a piece of paper. It's a vespa poster that looks like it's missing pieces. My eyes trail towards the wall which had various markings on the wall. Like a never ending tally chart.

"Alberto.." I sigh softly with the shake of my head. Standing back up, I pivot around on my feet to face the sea monster who was awkwardly looking down at his arms. Taking one of his large hands, I look him dead in the eyes. "Please, don't tell me what I think those marks mean." The thinning of his pupils tells me that what I suspected was right.

Pursing my lips to withhold my emotion, I run my fingers over his knuckles delicately. "I'm sorry you've been alone up here for so long. You didn't deserve that. Nobody deserves that."

Alberto's aquatic, fin like hair lowered and pressed to his head. The sea monster released my hand and plopped to the floor. His hands reached up to grab me gently by the waist, pulling me down to sit with him. I fall back into him, the back of my head smacking into his chest. "Oops, sorry."

He chuckles softly and nestles his head into my soaked hair. "Don't worry, princess.." Alberto speaks softly, shaking off the water from his scales before his tanned skin started to show.

"Think you could teach me that immediate drying trick?" I giggle quietly, peeling my soaked hair from my face like it were a soaked cloth. Alberto grins cheekily. "Well, I probably teach you a thing or two." He nestles his face into my hair, feeling the dampness of it.

"You realise you didn't have to come to me in a storm, you could've gotten yourself sick, ya know, (Y/N). The oceans aren't calm either." Alberto lightly scolds me, using his hand to try and wipe off some of the moisture coating my skin, only resulting in his scales being shown.

I shake my head quietly, leaning against him. "No, you needed somebody. I would sail across a thousand seas if it means you're happy." Tilting my head up, I kiss his chin. He hums quietly in appreciation, wrapping his warm arms around my waist.

As I touch his forearms, he hisses and recoils slightly. "Alberto?" I look towards his forearms to see rather deep scratch marks. "Oh amati, you poor thing. Please try not to do that, okay?" I place my cold hands over the warm cuts.

After a few moments in silence, a deep sigh passes my lips. "I'm afraid the race is on tomorrow. On a less, positive note..I go home two days from now." I chew my bottom lip, looking at my feet as I sway them softly.

Alberto frowns quietly, pouting softly as he grips me tighter. "Can't you stay for a little while longer? Portorosso isn't..too far from your home, is it?"

I blink the emotions away from my eyes, moving up my hand to wipe my eyes a little. "If you count a couple hours drive, then..maybe? I really wish I could stay, I really do. But it's my Mama and Papa's decision. You'll still have Massimo,"

The tanned boy did know that Massimo took a liking towards him, but Giulia and Luca would rather attend school than hang around with him. "I know, you're right, (Y/N)."

To lighten the mood, I flip around and rest my head on his shoulder, hugging him tightly. Alberto wraps his arms around me in return, nestling his face amongst my cold skin. "Besides, you wanna see me beat Ercole, right? I gotta get revenge on him for hurting your precious face."

Alberto rolls his eyes with a cheeky smile. "You kidding? I would like to see that. But, it's too late for you to sail back home and I can't swim properly in this storm. We should get some rest." Yawning, Alberto extended his arm amongst the pile of destroyed items, pulling out an old duvet. As I'm about to speak, he hushes me immediately. "Don't ask me how I got this." He snuck a mischevious wink as he wrapped the duvet around the both of us.

An overwhelming wave of tiredness overcame me and I slump against Alberto, shutting my (E/C) eyes and succumbing to a peaceful slumber.

✮ ∴ ∵ ✰ ∵ ∴ 🐚 ∴ ∵ ✰ ∵ ∴ ✮

The sun arose over the horizon, glittering beautifully against the water as the day began.

Rays of morning light peered through the small windows to Alberto's towers beaming down onto my face like mother nature's wake up call. It's warmth tickled by nose but burned my eyes immensely. Cracking one eye open, I groan in displeasure at the burning sensation.

I am enveloped in a duvet, but there are no signs of Alberto. On another positive note, my clothes are dry! They're slightly wrinkled, but dry. "Yesss, no more sticky t-shirt." I whisper quietly to myself. Getting to my feet I let go of the duvet and examine the tower. It's a little cleaner than it was, some objects organised and the wooden desk which was knocked over had been uprighted. Now where was Alberto?

My question was answered to head a splash of water outside. Gazing out the window, I see him swimming about the island in his sea monster form, performing tricks and laughing cheerily to himself. "Alberto! Stay there, I'm coming down!" I shout from the window, catching his attention.

Grappling my way down the tower, I hurry to the waters edge and kick off my shoes and socks on the grass. Shuffling towards the ocean, I submerge my feet into the warm ocean and wiggle my toes against the sand.

"You're not coming in?" Alberto questions, only his head peaking from the almost crystal clear water. "These clothes have just gotten dry, I'm not- GAH!" I feel something wrap around my lower leg and pull me into the water with immense force. I 'somehow' end up staring face to face with Alberto. "Hi." He says with a toothed grin..

I pout softly and shake my head, my now soaked hair smacking me in the face with a sharp sensation. "I JUST GOT DRY- Now that's just betrayal right there. Buuut I can't stay mad at you."

Alberto releases my ankle with a smirk. "How 'bout a morning swim, hm? I can grab you some cool stones and shells."