You are a young girl of 15 who has a severe phobia of water and of fish. Your therapist wants to try exposure-therapy, and hands you a plane ticket. Can a neurotic girl and carefree boy bring out the best in one another? And what happens when you fi...
The song above is the faint music at the beginning of the chapter :)
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When you woke up this morning, it wasn't to the sound of utter chaos and a tornado of kittens. In fact, the small, cosy home was only filled by the sounds of birds chirping, something hitting wood, and very faint music.
Groggily you sit up and throw the sheets off your body, rubbing at your eyes. You felt a little disappointed that Alberto hadn't woken you up this time, his absence filling the space of the room. It was an odd feeling.
You slip from the bed and change into more 'presentable' clothing before leaving the room and making your way down the steps, into the kitchen area. The music became louder the lower you went, although it was still turned down quite low. Massimo was hunched over a counter, his arm striking down as another thump against wood could be heard.
The man turns his head as he hears a creak on the floorboards and smiles, "Good morning Y/N. Are you having a lazy day today?"
"Nah," you scratch your arm, popping yourself down on one of the chairs, "Lazy days sound nice, and then a couple hours in you feel like you're going crazy."
"Don't I know it," Massimo chuckles lowly, sliding a fish head into the bucket beside him before pulling another fish onto the chopping board, "Well, if you're looking to make yourself useful you could always make deliveries for me. Usually my daughter does it but, well, I'm without her until next summer sadly."
"I'd love to but I barely know my way around here," you laugh, "But thanks for the offer. Hey... where's-"
"-Alberto?" He finishes your sentence, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. You don't want to say he's wrong, 'cause he's not, but you'd rather not be teased. "He's out doing his lifeguard duties."
You give him a quiet 'thanks' before leaving the house, peering around the stone wall to the docks. The sight of the ocean being right there made you sick, it felt like something was coming up your throat and you almost wanted to cry. Your heart beat super fast, your anxiety spiking. Then your eyes locked onto the boy you were looking for, perched on the edge of one of the wooden docks, giving one of the kids a very stern talking to. Your heart was still going crazy, but you didn't feel sick anymore. Wait- did you? You couldn't tell. It felt like bugs flying around.
The kid Alberto was talking to just rolled their eyes at him and splashed off to their friends again, leaving the boy sitting there alone. He sighed and leaned back on his hands, before glancing over at the wall you were standing beside. He did a double-take before a large smile spread across his face and he stood up, walking over to you confidently. "Hey Y/N! You should come over and- oh, my bad, sorry."
You chuckle nervously, "No, it's... fine. How, uh, is everyone over there?"
"They're just fine," he shrugs, "There's rarely any incidents anyway. Last time I had to jump in to actually save someone was when some kid hijacked Giulia's bike and drove it straight into the ocean. Man, she was so mad."
Giulia sounded like quite a character, at least from what you've heard about her. A small meow comes from behind you and, looking down at the ground, you saw one of Machiavelli's kittens toddling out the gate. Both you and Alberto looked alarmed but for totally different reasons. 'I don't know if they're allowed out here,' you think, preparing to kneel down and scoop the baby up.
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU BEAST!" Alberto shrieked, his voice going a pitch higher and breaking slightly. The little kitten let out a small hiss before trying to run toward him, being thwarted when you quickly put your hand in it's path and picked it up. It violently wriggled, trying to escape your clutches and complete it's mission, but you held it close to your chest firmly. "How can you just pick it up?!"
"It's cute, see?" You held it toward him and he flinched, as the kitten let out a threatening 'mrow'. You pulled it back to your chest and laughed, "You were making fun of me for being scared of the ocean, but you're scared of a kitten!"
Alberto's eyes were wide and he gestured with his arms, "Um, hello? You saw that thing charge at me, right?!"
"It's just a baby..." you stroke the fuzz on it's head and the little cat let out a purr, "So cute."
The boy opened his mouth to retort, now having a staring contest with the little fuzzball, when some steps came up to you both from the center of town. "Well, well, well, if it isn't fish-boy and the new girl..." You turned to see Ercole striding toward you both pompously, and sighed.
A/N: I now have a Luca x Reader too! It'll get a lot darker than this one, but I like Alberto a lot more so this one will get more updates. It also isn't very good right now but I think I just need to get into the story for my writing to get better in it, like it is with this one.
