Luca But Make It Gay(er)

Part 2

(Fanart by musicalhog on Tumblr)

"Giuseppe..."

Luca swam over to him and shooed him away, then his eyes grew round as he saw the object.

He picked it up and explored it with his gaze.

Suddenly, it let out an ear-piercing alarm, making Luca yelp and drop it for the second.

Due to being in the water, it floated until Luca's heart stopped racing in terror.

He picked it back up again and noticed it hadn't bit him or anything, so it must be harmless.

Oooh... I've never seen this... Why haven't I?

"Oh. Huh?"

He looked up to see something else a few feet ahead of him, and he slowly swam forward to see a card of some sort lying there.

He picked it up gently and flipped it over to see the other side of it.

Two cities... Pretty.

He chuckled at it and looked up to see another thing, but just then, a motor whirred above.

"Land monsters!" Luca cried out, shoving everyone under a ledge in the rocks. "Everybody, under the rock!"

He joined under himself and looked up at the boat in terror, then found himself daydreaming about it.

He swam up to the surface and raised his head above it, looking at the boat to see someone, dark and not to be seen because of the ripples.

He stared at it in awe, then put his hands against the bubble and found it wouldn't budge.

"Huh?"

Luca began to push and grunt, but he was shocked out of his daydream by his mother's call.

"Luca! Lunch is ready!'

"Be right there!"

He turned to his fish.

"Come on! We gotta get back!"

As the herd swam away, Luca looked back down at the possessions he had found, and quickly hid them under the rock and joined the fish.

He put them back in the barn, which was just a rock formation, and swam to the entrance to his house, where he saw his mother.

"You're two minutes late," she growled. "Was there a boat? Huh?"

"Uh..."

"Did you hide?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Because if they catch even a glimpse of you..." His mother, Daniela, shook her head. "You think they come around to meet new friends, huh?"

"No."

"Make small talk."

Daniela waved her hand dismissively.

"I... I don't."

"No," Daniela confirmed. "They're here to do murders."

She mocked a spear in her hands and thrusted it, then patted Luca's back.

"Uh-huh."

"So, I'm just making sure you know," Daniela informed him.

"Thanks, Mom."

Luca smiled a bit as Daniela led him inside.

"When I was a kid, we'd go weeks without seeing a boat, and let me tell you, they did not have motors," she commented. "Just a sweaty land monster with a paddle."

"Hi, Grandma." Luca kissed his grandma on the cheek. "Mwah."

"Hey, Bubble." His grandma smiled.

"Hi, Dad."

"Luca!"

His father waved him over, and he obediently swam over to see his father holding a light maroon crab.

"Look at Pinchy-pessa." His father looked so happy and showed her off. "She's molting."

They both looked at the crab, one more in awe than the other.

"Oh, it's magnificent..."

The crab squeaked.

"Now, here's a champion show crab if I ever saw one."

His father lifted it again.

"Oh, nice."

Luca grinned and stared into the beady black eyes of Pinchy-pessa.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" his father gasped. "Don't look her in the eye!"

"Sorry," Luca apologized.

"But don't apologize! She can sense weakness."

The crab snapped her claw over Luca's head-fin, making his pupils constrict.

"Oh!" was the most composed reaction he could do without bursting into pained tears.