Amore mio

While stars twinkled in the sky, the moon shone onto the ocean. The ripples amongst the waves created faint rays of moonlight that illuminated the scales of two young sea monsters.

"Amore mio..." Alberto whispered softly. He was holding the Luca's cheeks, their foreheads pressed together.
"Ti amo... alberto.." Luca whispered in response, even quieter. He felt as if his heart was about to burst out of his chest. He glanced down at the other boy's lips, waiting for him to make a move. Alberto eventually pressed his lips against Luca's.
"LUCA!" Alberto suddenly... started shouting? "LUCA!"

...

"LUCA!!" Luca was awoken by Giulia shouting his name, and when she saw his eyes open she let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.
"Finalmente! I've been tryna wake you up for like five minutes!" she punched his shoulder playfully.
"...ah" He scanned his surroundings sleepily, eventually realising where he was. He was on a train... meaning they had left Portorosso earlier that day. He suddenly remembered leaving Alberto and his family... but he was going to school now, he was going to learn about the stars and so much more. Besides, they'd be staying there again next summer anyway.
"Yup" she ushered Luca to get up. "I didn't wanna wake ya. You looked so peaceful" she giggled to herself.
Luca rolled his eyes and as he was getting up, he slowly started to remember the dream he just had. His whole face flushed bright red. What even was that dream? He'd never dreamt of anything like that before. Okay, maybe once (he dreamt him and Alberto were riding on a vespa... platonically, i swear) but that wasn't even close to what happened in this one! What did it mean? Did it even mean anything? Before he could think anything else, Giulia spoke up again.
"Anyway! Shall we go? My mamma should be waiting outside" Giulia smiled while stepping backwards towards the train exit.
"Oh.. Oh! Yes!" He followed Giulia out, still sort of red.

"Mamma!" Giulia smiled, waving happily to her mother. It was obvious that they were related: they had the same red curls, the same hazel eyes and the same warm smile.
"Giulietta!" Her mother exclaimed. Giulia ran at her and jumped into her arms, Luca was just behind her. Once they stopped hugging, they both turned to him.
"Mamma, this is Luca." She gestured towards him. "Luca, this is my mamma!" She gestured towards her mother.
"Luca! Massimo told me about you over the phone! You can just call me Maria" She smiled in his direction, which made him feel safe. Although he didn't know what exactly a phone did, he had seen them before (like the ones back in Portorosso) so he could claim that he knew what they were.
"Giulia has told me about you, too" Luca smiled back
"Awww has she?" She turned to her daughter and squished her cheeks and kissed her forehead.
"Mamma! Come on, you're embarrassing me!" She tried to get Maria off her, but she couldn't fight the smile forming on her face.

After a short ride, the three arrived at a large apartment building. On the way, Luca was completely engrossed with the city. It was way bigger than Portorosso, but not as beautiful. It didn't feel like home.
"THIS is where you live?!" Luca's jaw dropped as he pointed at the building.
Both Giulia and Maria started giggling.
"No, this is just an apartment complex." Maria spoke up
"Huh? but-but it seems pretty simple to me.."
Both Giulia and Maria erupted in laughter, whilst Luca just stood there confused.
"Ha! You're funny, you know that, tizio?" Giulia pat her friend on the back and shot him a toothy grin. "It's basically just a bunch of small houses inside one building! That's where mamma lives. Inside one of those little houses." As the redhead spoke, it started to click in his head.
"Ohhh.. i get it!" He nodded and smiled.
"Let's go then, shall we?" Maria started to walk inside the building, waiting for them to follow.

Once they were inside their apartment, Giulia showed Luca to where he'd be sleeping, which was in her room on a small pull-out bed that came from underneath her bed. Maria had called Giulia to help her prepare something to eat, so Luca was left alone in Giulia's room for the time being. Just left alone. With his thoughts. Luca's mind immediately wandered to Alberto. He already missed him so so much, and that's when he remembered his dream again. Luca's cheeks slowly started to heat up and he felt strange in his stomach. He still didn't know what it meant, but he knew deep down it wasn't exactly "normal". He told Alberto, his best friend, he loved him, and then they... Luca's heart raced just thinking about it. After a few minutes of thinking, he brought his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around his legs, burying his burning face in them. Was it possible he could...? No... maybe? He doesn't know. He has absolutely zero experience with this kinda stuff... but he did know one thing for sure. Hearing Alberto call him 'Amore mio' made him feel like melting, even if it was only just a dream. He let Dream Alberto's words echo in his head... "Amore mio"

"Amore mio" he repeated out loud.