Luca But Make It Gay(er)

Part 15

(fanart by FafaMeow on DeviantArt)

Luca slowly swam through the cave he called his home, hearing the snoring of his grandmother and hoping that meant more than just his grandma was asleep.

He had quickly thrown off his plaid shirt and blue shorts, after being out of sight from Alberto, of course, and changed them back to his kelp shorts.

He sat down on his rock bed with a relieved sigh.

"Ahem."

"Ah!"

Luca's red eyes widened and he whirled around to see his mother in the arch of the cave, looking incredibly angry.

He was in trouble, he knew it, so without waiting for her instructions, he went over to the dining table, which was also a stone structure.

He saw his father already there, and his mother sat down there and scowled, before, after a bit, throwing down a playing card and an alarm clock.

The same card and clock Luca had hid in his room.

"Uh..."

Luca clutched his tail and gulped, looking up at his parents with fear in his eyes.

He was a good kid, and he'd never broken the rules before, nor seen his parents this angry.

"Daniela, do we really need to go through with this?" his father asked his mother, looking awkward and scratching the back of his head.

"With what?" Luca asked. He knew it was going to be bad, but since he had never really disobeyed his parents, he didn't really know what they would do.

"Uh, son, you're in big trouble." His father nodded, as if he knew what Luca was thinking. "You need to promise us you'll never sneak off to the surface again."

He put emphasis on promise, never, and again, and every time, Luca flinched.

"Uh, I'm really sorry," Luca apologized, wringing his tail. "But, you know, it's not that dangerous up there. Maybe I could show you-"

He started to rise a bit, getting a bit more confident, but then his mother rose up as well with a snap, "I told you, our son has a death wish."

"But, Mom, we're always careful!" Luca exclaimed, then clapped his hands over his mouth with wide eyes.

"We?" they both repeated, stunned.

Ugh, they might not approve of Alberto... Whatever, he's a good friend.

"Me and my friend, Alberto," Luca stammered out, trying to relax a bit. "But it's okay. He's one of us!"

A light flickered on from behind him and he tensed up, feeling the air sucked out of his lungs.

"Ah, yes. There's usually a bad influence."

The person paused for a little bit, then went on, "Good thing you sent for me when you did."

Luca whirled around, horrified to see an angler fish-esque sea monster with semi-transparent gray-blue skin, revealing his internal organs like his heart, intestines, and ribcage.

His blue eyes were like a chameleon's in a way, facing two different directions.

"Luca, this is my brother, your Uncle Ugo," his father told him, not entirely seeming super pleased about him.

Luca just continued to stare at the creepy half-transparent fish in front of him.

"Thanks again for coming all this way on such short notice," Daniela said politely.

"Of course, and hello Luca!" 

His uncle heaved himself up from leaning on the wall, grinning.

"It's so nice to-"

He got closer to Luca, who braced himself and squeezed his eyes shut, uncomfortable next to such an ugly creature he had to call his uncle.

When he cut himself off, he blinked his eyes open, looking up.

Ugo was facing the ceiling, mouth open, making some sort of whale-like noise with his arms outstretched.

"Luca, I need you to punch his heart."

Luca looked down into his chest to see his red heart, which was now slowly beating, not as fast as it had been.

"That's right, the red thing, punch it."

He balled his fist and cautiously bapped Ugo's chest with it.

"Harder!"

"Oh!"

Luca repeated the punch more vigorously, scared to hurt his uncle.

His uncle shivered back to life and coughed on Luca, who stuck out his tongue and shook himself out in the water, as if he'd coughed some sort of disease on him.

"Thanks for that. Too much... Oxygen up here," Ugo said, looking around the space. "Not like the Deep. As you'll learn."

He elbowed Luca and laughed.

"What?" Luca asked in a whimper, looking over at his parents.

"Sure, there's no sunlight, but there's nothing to see anyway," Ugo went on, swimming back on his back lazily. "Or do. It's just you and your thoughts. And all the whale carcass you can eat."

He rose back up eagerly.

"Little bits of it just float into your mouth. You can't stop it. You can't see it. So, if you- The mouth open, the whale carcass go in. Yeah, it's good. I recommend it." Ugo's head-fins flicked as he talked, as if he was relishing the image. "Come on! No time to waste!"

"M-Mom, what does he mean?" Luca asked his mother fearfully, looking back at her as his uncle licked his lips, thinking about whale carcass.

"You're going to stay with Uncle Ugo for the rest of the season," his mother told him, spreading her hand out on the table.

"No, I can't!" Luca cried.

"Two seasons, then! Wanna go for three?" His mother rose up and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Why are you doing this?" Luca demanded, swimming back, away from her, a bit.

"The world is a very dangerous place, Luca!" his mother chided, curling her hand on his cheek. "And if I have to send you to the bottom of the ocean to keep you safe, so be it.

"You don't know what it's like up there," Luca protested, feeling tears prick his eyes as he fought his mother's arms back and rose above her.

"I know you," his mother sniped, rising above him. "And I know what's best for you. It's done."

Luca was going to argue, but didn't know what to say.

He flitted back down in the water, gritting his teeth.

"Hey. Look me in the eye." Daniela put her hand back on her son's cheek. "You know I love you, right?"

"Ugh!" Luca didn't reply and swam like a torpedo out of the cave, angrily.

Daniela stared after him and exhaled gently.

Author's Note - sorry for not updating this story in a while! I didn't forget about it, I've just had other things on my mind. I know a lot of people look for me to update this, and I'll try to be more on top of it for you guys! ^^ -Emu