Can I Hold You Now? ~Luberto~

~11~

Okay, before I even start writing, *clears throat* WTF? I opened my phone after school and saw 50 NOTIFICATIONS, from Wattpad? None of my other fics have blown up like this before.

Thank you! I'll try my best to make this extra special. If you'd like any ocs or anything featured, please feel free to put them in the comments. Thanks again!

Now enough about me, now to the truly superior being here; Luberto.

~

Luca clapped his hands to his mouth, "Santa Mozzarella! What have I done?" He shouted, then his hands flew to the sides of his head, "I'm sorry! I- I- Uh-" he stuttered and stumbled.

All Alberto did was stand there, his face empty and unreadable, making Luca panic ten times more. Alberto's gaze suddenly turned to Luca.

"I-I'm sorry!" Luca sputtered, wiping tears from his eyes, "it was just a dare! I can stop wearing skirts, too, if you'd like! Just- Alberto! Say someth-"

Out of nowhere, Alberto grabbed onto the back of Luca's head and pressed his lips to Alberto's, silencing Luca's sad cries.

Luca closed his eyes and let his worry fall away. He put his arms around Alberto's neck and raised one foot.

Giulia's jaw dropped and she fumbled with the camera for a few seconds before finally lining it up to take a good picture. She pressed the button and tried not to squeal as the picture printed, then she snagged the piece of film and stuffed it in her pocket; the safest place she knew.

Luca pulled away and took a deep breath, then realized a group of four was watching intently, including a pink sea monster and some other young kids. Luca blushed and tried to hide in front of Alberto, away from the little kids' stares.

"I knew it!" The sea monster shouted triumphantly, "gimme gimme." She waved her hand in front of one of the little boys, who sighed and put a bar of chocolate in her hands.

The other girl in the group waved to Luca, smiling. Suddenly, the little sea monster ran up to the boys, "Are you Luca? Pleasure to meet you! Mister Alberto talks about you all of the time!" She said with a sweet tone as if trying to manipulate Luca into believing what she said.

"Hey, can I introduce him to you later?" Alberto said, stepping in front of Luca, "We have a lot to catch up on,"

"Okayyy." The sea monster's tail flopped onto the ground sadly, then picked up again as she skated over to her small group of friends.

Luca looked after the girl, then back up at Alberto, "Who's that? And why is she still a sea monster?"

"I'm not sure," Alberto watched as she skated around, "but her name is Aurora, I heard, and I think it's a deficiency or something keeping her from changing."

"Poor girl," Luca added sadly.

"Yeah, I guess," Alberto responded, "but she's happy, and loves bugging me about you. That reminds me, do you know what 'ship' means?" He turned to Luca.

"Like- shipping people?" Luca knew what the word meant, but was surprised Aurora knew what it meant.

"Yeah, sounds about right."

"It means she- wants us to be together- romantically."

Alberto blushed again, then remembered what happened not too long ago, "well good for her! We're shipped!" He wrapped his arm around Luca's shoulder and pulled him in.

"Okay, boys," Giulia intervened, grabbing each of them by one wrist, "we should get Luca home, or at least back to our place."

"Home!" Luca shouted, "I need to see my parents! I gotta tell Grandma Paguro, she helped me with some of the- letters and stuff," Luca blushed again, "I mean- uh."

"Oh, so she ships us too then?" Alberto guessed, "I wouldn't mind meeting her."

"Sure," Luca replied nervously.

They walked back to Massimo's house and Luca grabbed his things, then Alberto and Luca went back to the beach. Luca took a deep breath, the water seemed cold, and he hadn't been fully submerged in a couple of months. What if he didn't transform? What if he froze to death?

"You coming?" Alberto asked, wading into the water. Luca whispered a certain phrase to himself, then followed Alberto under the ice.

Luca was right, the water was freezing cold. It felt nice to transform back into his true self, but the temperature made it hard to enjoy.

"Are you okay back there?" Alberto asked, grabbing one of Luca's hands and helping him swim faster.

"Y-yeah," he stuttered due to the cold, "just a bit out of practice." He smiled and squeezed Alberto's hand gently.

They swam past the nearly empty fields of kelp, and the old clearing where the statue of Smuka once stood. It made Luca happy to remember all of the time he spent here.

"Is this it?" Alberto asked, pointing to Luca's house.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Luca asked, looking at Alberto.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I uh- followed you home once or twice, ya know, just to make sure you were safe. I totally wasn't hoping you'd see me or anything," he said sarcastically.

Luca giggled a bit and swam up to the house. He grabbed Alberto's hand tighter and knocked on the doorframe.

"Hello?" A familiar voice called from inside. Then swam forward the larger shape of Luca's mother, Daniella.