third pov
"Alright sweetie...one more step and we'll take a break."
Alejandro wanted to sob, every time he even tried to lift his leg and put it in front of the other, it felt like a knife was being stabbed in his hip. And Mattia breathing down his neck definitely didn't help.
"Just one more step babe, you've got this."
"That's a lot easier to say when you aren't the one doing it, Mattia." Alejandro hissed, glaring over at him with a look that could kill because who even says that to someone in pain?
"Sorry..." Alejandro heard him mumble as he sat back down in the corner of the small physical therapy room.
"N-no, I can't move it, it hurts to even put too much weight on it. I-I have to sit."
His doctor nodded, putting her hands above Alejandro's waist and helping him sit down across from her.
Dr. Valencia was Alejandro's official therapy doctor. And as nice as she was, the little pep talks she gave him every two seconds were useless and honestly gave him a headache.
"That's fine sweetheart, you did amazing today. The goal was five steps, and you did just that. You don't have to push yourself so hard, it's your second day. You're doing great." She nodded with a smile, rolling over Ale'z wheelchair and setting it in front of him. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Dr. Valencia asked him, patting his leg and giving Mattia and him a smile before leaving.
Alejandro rolled my eyes, looking over at Mattia as he sighed and stood up, brushing his hands off on his pants before walking over, kneeling down to Alejandro's height and putting his arms under the younger boys legs and behind his back.
"You good?" Mattia asked, lifting Alejandro with an grunt before locking the breaks on the wheelchair with his foot and sitting Ale down on it.
"Yeah, just have stitches on my asshole, and on my foot, a cast up to my fucking hip, and I just pushed a fucking baby out of me, but yes. I am doing just great, Mattia, thanks for asking." The younger boy said sarcastically, folding his arms against his chest and leaning back on the chair.
"R-right...sorry..." Mattia apologized, again. Before turning the chair and wheeling Alejandro down the hallway and back to his room.
"It's not fair...you, Luna, and Nano get to go home and I have to stay here for another week, and even then, Dr. Valencia has to check if I can walk...I hate this." Alejandro mumbled, playing around with his gown as Mattia lifted him up again, laying him down in his bed and pulling a blanket over it.
"That's fine, at least you can come home once you're all healthy...and the kids and I will be waiting for you," Mattia smiled, deciding to sit down on the bed with Alejandro, near his feet, being careful not to accidentally sit on his cast.
"Speaking of kids...we need to talk about Luna."
Mattia looked up, playing with the strings of his hoodie and nodding, as a sign of asking what happened
"It's about her birth certificate."
Finally, Alejandro felt like it was the right turn to bring the probably sensitive topic up.
"Okay...well what?...did you wanna change her name or something? Because I really like 'Luna' it just rolls right off your tongue, and she looks like a Luna too." Mattia pouted, he really hoped that Alejandro would let her keep her first name, he thought it was just beautiful.
"No, it's about her middle name," He replied foxing a pillow behind his neck.
Alejandro waited for a reaction out of him once he said that, confused when he didn't get one. "Okay, and?"
Alejandro tilted his head, if Mattia chose Luna's middle same, he should know what this conversation was about.
"The middle name that you chose for her...do you not see the problem...?" Alejandro asked, watching as Mattia shrugged, jutting his bottom lip out as he stared at his husband, waiting for an answer.
"No...? It's a nice name, why? you don't think it's cool?" Mattia questioned, scratching his knee. Probably because of the damn itchy sweatpants Alejandro told him not to buy. Nothing ever goes right when Mattia shops by himself.
"I-I would think it's a cool name if you hadn't shot the person who's name is belonged to...let alone my mom's." Alejandro mumbled the last part, hating to even say the sentence out loud. It made his heart hurt.
"I just...I thought it'd be a nice gesture...d-do you wanna change it that bad?" Mattia said, sounding like he was just joking with the last part.
"Well...yeah. I don't really want that to be her middle name..I was finally getting over her and you just wanted to go and do this dumb name shit..."
Mattia stood up off the bad, laughing a bit because he really thought that Alejandro was joking, it was supposed to be an adorable thing that Ale could cherish, and now he just wanted to change that?
‼️
Alejandro wasn't sure how he was gonna break the news to Mattia, but he knew he wanted to do it today...at least before Mattia and his kid went home.
"Hey baby, how you doing in here?" Alejandro looked up, seeing as Destiny was walking in, her heels stomping on the ground and she shook her heavy winter jacket off. laying it down on the chair behind her.
"Hi Des, I'm good. What're you doing here?" Alejandro asked, finishing up his water and leaving it beside him. She smiled, pushing the long curl of her hair out of her face as she sat down next to him. "It's visiting hours, and I wanted to see how you and the baby were-and! I heard your first session of physical therapy was this morning. How was it?" She asked, looking over at the young boy as she leaned her head on her arm.
"Oh, it was okay...mostly boring though, I barely stood up and walked. I just can't wait for the pain to stop so I can go home." Alejandro smiled lightly.
Now's your chance to get a second opinion.
"Hey Des, I was won-"
"Oh! and Mattia told me you chest-fed Lu a few days ago, how'd that go? Did she eat well? Did you use the nipple cream I gave you?" She interrupted, suddenly sitting up because of the amount of excitement. Which was weird since they were talking about his man boobs.
"Uh...yeah it was fine. It sorta hurt at first but it went away after a bit, she ate a lot...and no I didn't, and I don't wan't to." Alejandro made it very clear that he didn't feel comfortable rubbing some weird ointment on his chest, just because it seemed gross, and he never really touched himself like that unless it was to get him aroused...
"But it's organic, and smells like coconut, I'll get you another extra tube and you can use that in private. Nobody will know except for me, and I'm not one to judge." She shrugged with a smile, taking something out of her pocket, Alejandro seeing it was her phone.
"Okay, that's great. But Des I want-"
"If I order it now, it can get here before you go home, whixh is some time around next week, sound good? Oh-did you want the large tube or the one you can carry around?"
"Destiny-"
"Screw it, I'll get both, you can keep one in your diaper bag. and one at home in the bathroom. Just make sure you tell Mattia not to touch it because he's and idiot and probably gonna use it as face wash one day by accident. But just use it at least twice a day so the baby-"
"I'm leaving Mattia." He finally said.
Watching as Des dropped her phone in her lap, turning her head to look at the boy beside her, a shocked look on her face.
"R-really?...what? why?" She stuttered, not thinking of any reason why anyone would wanna break up with her cousin. She's always thought Mattia was a great guy and anyone would be lucky to be called his.
"Do you now know...what happened...?"
Destiny sighed, rubbing her forehead at the memory of Mattia telling her what happened with Alejandro and his family.
She knew Mattia was a kind, and caring sort of guy. But she also knew he got so jealous over anyone he was protective of, all he wanted was to keep Alejandro to himself. Destiny knew what he did was wrong, but she loved her cousin, and supported whatever sort of relationship he and Alejandro would have in the future with their children.
"I-I do...but...just think of all the good things he's done...are you sure you wanna just end your relationship with him...? it's not that easy, you're gonna have to file for a divorce, and the custody battle over Luna-are you sure you wanna put her through-"
"I never said I wanted to keep Luna...Mattia can deal with her, one baby is already enough. Nano is a ton of work already...I'm already gonna have to go through the stress of explaining Nano's scar sign, I can't do it with Luna too...she's not gonna understand what the line on her back means until she's older...and I'm glad I won't be around to witness it." Alejandro shrugged, looking over at the small crib in the corner of the room, reminding him of Luna.
"W-what? You don't...you don't even wanna try to do split custody? A-and how are you gonna find someone else to marry? Star scars are rare-"
"I don't care. That's my final decision, I'm not gonna try to change it. I just needed to get a second opinion, but now that I know where you stand, I don't see a point on going on with this conversation." Ale told her, playing around with his nails, breaking eye contact with the girl as she sighed.
"Okay honey...just-just tell Mattia know as soon as you can, cause Lu might be going home today."
‼️
Mattia smiled as he made eye contact with Alejandro, walking into the hospital room as he set down Luna's small baby bag, deciding that he'd start packing up for his daughter since it was a possibility that she'd be going home today. And Mattia couldn't wait to bring her to her nursery.
"I just went home and cleaned the hell out of the house, just so Luna can come home to everything being fresh and clean. And, I got you these flowers on the way over, from the gift shop." Mattia told him with a smirk, leaning over and setting the small plastic vase of roses on the table in front of Alejandro.
"Thank you...why...?" Alejandro asked as Mattia leaned over, kissing his forehead with a quiet 'smooch' before continuing to pack his daughters tiny clothes in her bag.
"Cause you're so strong and beautiful. And I'm really proud of you for everything...like walking, and having the baby. You just did amazing with all of it. I'm really happy about it all...so it's just a little gift to show that happiness." The older boy shrugged, folding a pair of Luna's pants into a tiny square and fitting it in the small pocket of her bag.
"T-thank you..." Alejandro said quietly, admiring the beautiful flower petals.
"Do you think I should try to get Stacy to steal us some of those diapers and blankets from the nursery? Apparently they're really good for baby's skin. But the diapers don't even fit her...or should we wait until she's a bit bigger to take that stuff?" Mattia rambled on, thinking of how tiny Luna was and how everything was way too baggy on her.
"I don't...don't know...but Mattia, uhm-uhm, I have to talk to you about something...it's important." Alejandro said, sitting up more and taking a deep breath as he watched Mattia's face go serious before he sat down beside his husband.
"Is it about her name again? Cause if you really wanna change it-"
"No, it's not about her name...but it is about her a-and us so...it's very serious. Depending on how you take it."
Mattia nodded, leaning in towards Alejandro's direction as he waited for the young boy to go on.
Which was very hard because of how scared Alejandro was to talk about this, with someone who makes him so confused. He doesn't know if he loves Mattia one day, or hates him because of what he did in his past.
"Okay so...y'know how like...like before I said how...how I wanted to be there with you and Luna, and I was saying how much I love her..?" Alejandro asked, tilting his head to the side a bit and pulling at his fingers.
The older boy nodded, smiling a bit as he recalled the beautiful memory of when Alejandro first laid eyes on Luna. He was tired and in pain, but he loved her with his whole heart already. "Yeah...why?"
Alejandro stuttered, once again pulling at his hospital gown. Scared to say what he was thinking of next.
"And...I just got to thinking...and I'm still-still pretty young...and I don't...I don't wanna be with you, o-or Luna...anymore..."
Alejandro finally said.
The room going silent as the two boys just stared at each other, and Alejandro was starting to get incredibly awkward under Mattia's gaze.
The older boy took a minute before taking a deep breath, nodding slowly, and pushing himself off of the bed.
"Okay." Mattia said, running a hand through his hair, averting his eyes from Alejandro, carefully starting to pack up Luna's bag again.
And Alejandro was a bit in shock seeing that the older boy was acting like nothing was wrong.
"That's...that's it?" Alejandro asked, waiting for Mattia to start crying or something.
"Hm?"
"That's it?...like...like...you aren't...y-you aren't gonna yell at me or anything?" Alejandro questioned, laying his hands down on his stomach.
"Why? Did you expect that?...I'm not gonna beg you to stay Ale." Mattia told him, zipping up the baby bag and leaving it on the small couch with a blanket on top of it.
"I didn't want you to-"
"No Alejandro, that's exactly what you wanted...you wanted me to get on my knees and cry, and plead for you to stay with us...and I'm just not gonna do that. I'm done trying to make you stay when you clearly can't make up your mind. So instead, you just choose to get my hopes up for nothing."
"I-I didn't..." Alejandro wasn't even sure what to say as he watched Mattia go in some of the hospital drawers, grabbing some extra baby bottles and stuffing then into another duffle bag to take home.
"No...you were right, we were broken the second we met each other...there was never any hope for us...or a future." Mattia mumbled.
Alejandro bit his bottom lip to stop it from wobbling, remembering all the fights him and Mattia used to have all the time about the most pointless things.
Mattia could breathe too loudly and Alejandro would flip.
He missed when they were in that lovey dovey phase.
"We could have worked...if we really tried, or if you had nev-"
"We're not bringing that up again." Mattia told him firmly, completely stopping Alejandro from going on.
"If we don't work, we don't work...I-I'll file the papers, soon if you want...just give me some time to get Lu adjusted." Mattia told him
Alejandro nodded slowly, rubbing his arm awkwardly as he stared down at his lap.
"I-I just...I hope that...you and Nano have a good life...and that your leg gets fixed and stuff...and I'm sorry for everything that happened..." Mattia told him, grabbing the bags, giving Alejandro a small smile that didn't reach his eyes, before using his elbow to push down on the door handle, pulling it open with his foot before leaving. Probably to load up the car with the bags and everything.
Alejandro was speechless. He didn't wanna believe it was really over, and Mattia just left. Without saying anything else, obviously he'd be back to grab the last of Luna's baby things but still...
Maybe Alejandro would have liked a kiss on the forehead, or a hug before he left, just so he had some sort of closure. But nothing?
They were over, just like that.
This was what Alejandro wanted, but a part of him was missing Mattia's presence.
‼️
"It's okay sweetie...it's okay," Des soothed the crying boy, rubbing his shoulders softly and trying to get him to calm down.
"You didn't see his face...or hear what he said...and the way he said it...it was awful. I'm surprised I didn't cry right there and then." Alejandro sniffled, holding onto Des tightly, tears streaming down his face at the thought of how Mattia just gave up.
The two friends were sitting down on Alejandro's hospital bed, holding onto each other tight.
"I'm sorry honey...but at least now you can do whatever you want...un-until you need to find a new husband...but just give yourself as much time as you can, I can always take Nano for a night, as long as you need to catch up on rest and-and just everything else. Okay sweetheart?" Des asked, kissing his temple and running her hands through his curls.
"Y-yeah," Ale nodded, quickly wiping his face when he heard the door open, hiding his face in Des' arm.
"Hey Dezzie, I didn't know you were here, thought you were still at work." Mattia smiled as he closed the door behind him, leaning down by the bed and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, just wanted to stop by and see my favorite little girl. Did they approve her to go home?" She asked, a death grip on her hand from Ale because of how awkward he felt being in the same room as Mattia after everything.
"Not yet, they said they'd bring her in soon. I'm excited, hopefully she's healthy." Mattia smiled, once again, thinking about his little girl and being able to just take her home.
The room went quiet again as Alejandro wiped his nose with the knuckle of his pointer finger, removing his head from Destiny's arm.
"See, he's minding his own business, so everything is fine. Just keep talking to me." She whispered, Alejandro nodding as he stared down at the warm bed sheets him and Destiny were laying under.
"Hey everyone. Just thought I'd stop in here with a little surprise." Everyone looked up as they saw Nurse Stacy walk in, holding the room door open with her foot, using her arms to push Luna and her crib inside.
"Hey baby Lu." Destiny smiled, seeing the tiny girl moving around in her crib, her arms reaching out like she was trying to grab at her dad.
"Hey princess, look at you, all awake and smiley," Mattia was grinning from ear to ear as he quickly walked over to Luna's crib, picking her up since she wasn't in a swaddle and instead in a yellow onesies covered in flowers that was way too baggy on her.
"She's doing fantastic so far, lungs and heart are completely healthy. And her breathing isn't shaky anymore which is a very good sign, seeing as she wasn't looking too good a few days ago. And she's gained some weight from feeding often, so she's totally healthy now. Her unsteady heartbeat could have just been from her weight and the fact that she wasn't breathing at a regular rate so not enough air was getting to her lungs. But everything is back on track." She told them all with a nod, seeing that they were all watching her for very curious eyes.
"That's great, thank you so much, t-that's just amazing."
Destiny smiled seeing how happy her cousin was, and she was just incredibly thankful that Luna was okay.
"Does that mean we can take her home today?" Mattia asked, pushing the small curls on Luna's forehead away from her face, seeing her chocolate brown eyes staring up at him with curiosity.
"Not just yet. Luna still has to complete the infant carrier test. And if that's completed, she all set to go home."
Mattia looked up at the nurse with pure confusion on his face, Stacy would be lying if she said she didn't laugh a bit by the look on his face.
"W-what's that? Like an actual test?"
Destiny giggled from her spot on the hospital bed. "No sweetie, it's just a little examination where Luna is gonna sit in a car seat for sixty minutes without any complications and no disturbances."
"What? Why does she need to do that?"
"Every baby who's previously had breathing problems has to do it before they leave the hospital, just to make sure they don't have any respiratory or airway problems once you guys go home." Stacy explained, seeing the now worried look on the boys face, fearing that something was wrong with his baby.
"Even if she didn't have any breathing or heart rate problems, she'd still need to do it with her weight, every baby under five pounds and eight ounces does it...but don't worry. She'll nail it!" Stacy told him with a smile, trying her best to soothe the father.
"O-okay."
‼️
Alejandro giggled to himself, as he listened to Janis from Mean Girls make a joke about some guys mom's chest hair. Looking up when he saw Mattia walk in, looking frantic as he ran over to the small hospital couch.
"I'm leaving now..." Mattia mumbled, grabbing the rest of their stuff, along with this huge black duffel bag, throwing it over his shoulder. "If you were wondering, Luna did great with her test. Slept the whole time, her heartbeat didn't slow down or speed up at all." Mattia told him, grabbing the car seat from beside Alejandro's bed.
Mattia's dad had brought it a few days ago, when Luna was still being treated. Just reminding Mattia to set it up before they left.
"I'm gonna go install this." Mattia said, gesturing to the car seat before speed walking out of the room.
Ale couldn't even get a word out with how fast Mattia left, and he wasn't even in the mood to watch his movie anymore.
‼️
It had already been a few hours, and Alejandro was starting to drift off to sleep, listening to his music playlists on shuffle, his hip starting to bother him again.
"Hi Alejandro, sorry to wake you. But I was just wondering if you'd seen Mattia. Luna is waiting in the 'ICU' all ready to go and we've been waiting for a while to send her off," Nurse Stacy softly knocked on Alejandro's hospital room door.
Alejandro opened his eyes to see her with her hands folded in front of her, her hair in a messy bun, and she looked exhausted.
"Hm?" He hummed, reaching over to his phone and turning his music down. Confused because Mattia had left to set up her car seat almost three hours ago, and he just left Luna up in her nursery?
"Uh..he went to go set up the baby's seat, he still hasn't come back?" Alejandro asked, sitting up and trying to straighten out his hair. "Uh..no. I saw him leave but I haven't seen him since, maybe he went to grab something? If you could give him a call and let him know that Lu's ready, that'd be great." She gave one last smile before leaving.
Alejandro sat up, turning the small light next to his bed on and grabbing his phone, going onto messages to ask Des if she's seen him.
‼️
Mattia drove up to the dark alley way, looking around and seeing there was only one light nearby that gave him some sort of path to walk so he wouldn't trip.
Knowing this area of town, people were killed here. So Mattia really was scared shitless.
He'd always been taught to be strong when it came to confronting people and making business deals. But this time, he was terrified, he had a baby to worry about now. So if something were to happen to him and god forbid he leaves his daughter alone, he'd never forgive himself, even if he was dead.
He pushed himself against his car, looking behind him every time he heard any sort of noise.
"Alright...I'm here!...hurry the hell up." Mattia yelled, glancing around, trying to see any other form of life around him. But there was no one.
"God...please don't let me die tonight...I need to take my baby home." Mattia whispered to himself, pulling at his fingers and nearly dropping the huge duffel bag he had been holding ever since he parked the car and got out.
It had been another few minutes of Mattia standing there and waiting, he nearly went back to the hospital, and even pulled out his phone and one point to call his dad and tell him to do the job himself.
Before he saw headlights.
He watched as two men stepped out of the car, the car lights turning off as they both walked over to Mattia, scaring him because of how tall and bulky they both looked.
"My favorite Polibio, I bet you were waiting here for a while...sorry 'bout that. I like to take my time with people who annoy me." Donatello said firmly, fixing his suit sleeves as he looked the young boy up and down.
"W-whatever...here..." Mattia said roughly, throwing over the huge duffel bag to the mans feet, stuttering a bit and wanting to punch himself because he probably made himself look weak.
"This all of it?"
"Y-yes...well...actually, we'll get the rest to you soon. I just need some time." Mattia told him, continuing to pull at his fingers until he heard his nipples crack.
"So how much is in this bag right now, Polibio?"
"J-just half...but I-I swear we'll get the rest to you next week."
Donatello looked up, slowly unzipping the duffel bag and not breaking eye contact with Mattia as he did so. "We agreed on thirty million."
Mattia just stared, feeling paralyzed without his dad here to stand up for him. "Well I'd like to see you try to fit all that money in a tiny duffel bag-"
"What did you just say?" Donatello asked, his voice louder and more rough now.
Mattia watched as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out what looked like a gun from the angle he was standing at, and it was really starting to scare him.
"N-nothing...but we'll get it to you soon. You can do so many things with fifteen million Dona-"
"You're a coward...all scared now that you don't have your precious father here to protect you...let me tell you something Mattia, you're gonna get me the rest of that money by tomorrow. And if you don't, I might just have to take your daughter, and husband, how'd you feel about that?" Donatello asked, stepping closer to Mattia so his chest was touching the younger boys.
Mattia stood there, not being able to move or speak. The thought of Donatello hurting his family terrified him.
"Or the other one...what's his name? Short kid, brown hair, glasses...he's not yours, that's for sure..." The old man said, jamming something into Mattia's stomach.
And Mattia just knew he was talking about Nano.
And he finally got the courage to speak, but only a small squeak came out.
Before everything went black.
‼️
"Mattia, if you're getting this, please get back to the hospital. Luna needs to go home, me and Destiny are waiting here. Please, please call back the second you hear this."
messages
mattia polibio
6:38 P.M
hi matti
can you get me some fries :((
super hungry
might die from starvation
pleaseeee
Of course, be back in twenty, just need to finish feeding Luna
thank you :)
read yesterday
7:49 P.M
mattia??
you need to get back here
like rn
luna wants to go home
i'm sure she misses you
and everyone is really starting to worry
i asked your dad and he said he hasn't talked to you since yesterday. is everything okay????
please come back
delivered
‼️
lot, some shits gonna go down...