Diego POV.
It was my last day in New York, so we took full advantage of it.
Eli's brothers surprised us with tickets to go see Chicago on broadway, which got Eli fangirling hard. Musicals were always Eli's and Carlos' thing, but I loved the tradition, that they had become.
We went to the met and the museum of modern art, before walking around time square and then central park. I could see Eli's brothers tire down, after the first hour of me running around the modern art museum and gawking at the works. The sheer amount of famous paintings I had always wanted to see, in the same place was astonishing.
Time square was exactly, how it's portrayed in the movie we watched. It was full of lights and crowded with people. Eli never liked crowds, but I liked it. I loved being around so many people, it made my life seem so insignificant. I was just a tiny little dot. Given, that I was a tiny little dot, walking around with the most influential people in the world.
I knew I would be going back to New York to see Eli, so it wasn't so much of a goodbye. IN a whole other sense, it was more of a goodbye, than ever before.
We were both going to live lives, that existed without the other one. Eli was going to live with their brothers, and I was going to live with Ida. I didn't need them like I always had, and they could live without having to worry about me as much. We were going to have separate, healthy lives. I never thought that would happen, as we always talked about Eli adopting me and us riding off into the sunset, but I guess those dreams had to change.
I knew I would still always have Eli to lean on and vice versa. Still, I didn't want it to change, or I guess, I was just too scared of it. I was scared, that I was losing a part of my life. The chapter was closing, so to say, and it was scary as hell. My brother died, and Eli was all I had, so I guess closing that chapter was also closing the one that was still connecting me to the life I had with Carlos.
My head was a fucking mess, but one thing was clear, as Eli took my hand in theirs. I would never be able to lose them.
"How did you get these seats?" I asked as we sat down on the stall seats.
We were so close, that I could touch the stage if I tried to.
"I made a couple of calls," Alessandro said with a stone face.
I looked to my right to see Eli practically jumping up and down in their seat, as the show was about to start. I swear, sometimes it felt like they were the eleven-year-old.
Well, I guess they never got to be one, so I just let them beam and gasp as the curtain opened.
Lorenzo POV.
I had asked Alessandro about us taking Diego in, but after a lot of talking, we came to the conclusion, that Diego would be better off in Chicago with his friends and caretaker. We made sure, that Ida Willams was good enough to take care of Diego.
She was a retired teacher, with a perfect record. She seemed like a lovely old woman, and there was no reason for us to worry. I ended up calling her, just to be sure, and she sounded very understanding even with the second degree I gave her. She wholeheartedly laughed and I could hear the warm smile on her face. She also assured me, that she cared a lot about Diego, and she would take good care of him. I explained our decision, to pay for Diego's school, to which she thanked me profusely, and invited us to go over to her place, so she'd make us her famous apple pie.
The whole day, we went around the city with Eli and Diego pulling us along. We bought them whatever they liked, which Eli was seemingly uncomfortable with, but Diego just thanked us with a huge grin. He was a great kid, and I just knew we were going to see him a lot more.
While Diego was with us, we got to see a whole other version of Eli. They were kind, bubbly, and open, which was something none of us could've predicted. We learned so much about both of them, it was crazy.
Sunday morning, we were all at the airport, saying our goodbyes. We had made sure, that Diego had a first-class ticket, and that Ms. Williams was in Chicago waiting for him.
Diego hugged us all and whispered in my ear:
"Take care of them for me, okay?"
He looked me dead in the eyes waiting for an answer. I could see the tears in their eyes, and I knew, how important it was to him.
"Of course," I said tears pooling in my own eyes.
He had trusted me with keeping Eli safe.
Diego hugged Eli for a long time, as he cried in their arms.
"It's okay. You'll call me when you get there, and we'll talk every day until we see again," Eli said fighting their tears.
They kissed Diego's forehead and pulled him to a hug one more time before he boarded the plane.
We stayed at the gate until the plane took off, as Eli just stared out the huge window.
"We'll see him again soon," Gabriele said flinging his arm around Eli's shoulders.
"We fucking better. His birthday is in two months," Eli joked waking up from their trance.
Eli POV.
After Diego left, I felt that familiar emptiness crawl in my chest. Once again, I was alone. That was until, I felt my brother's arm around me, that I was reminded of everyone, that I had, and for once, I actually liked someone touching me.
I knew Diego would be okay. He was going to start school and I just knew he would love it so much and make a shit ton of friends. He had that way to him, where you just wanted to be around him. Ms. Willams was a wonderful woman, who'd do anything for Diego, so I knew he was in good hands.
All of that scared me. He would no longer need me like he always did.
After I lost Carlos, I still had Diego. He was so much like his big brother, that I knew, I didn't truly lose Carlos that day. I saw him in Diego every day. He had the same smile, with the same dimple on his left cheek, when he had that cocky grin. He had the same hair, that I always ruffled up. Diego's eyes were a bit brighter, but when the sun hit them just right, they had the same gold.
I wasn't just saying goodbye to Diego. I was saying goodbye to Carlos.
It was a few weeks after my first suicide attempt. We were once again sitting on the rooftop, smoking 'till our lungs hurt, and our eyes couldn't see through the smoke. We had an empty bottle of bourbon sitting between us, as we laughed at nothing.
The fire before us lit up the dark night and shone its golden light on us. We had gone around the city and collected all the confederate flags we could find. One guy got out of his house in pajamas with a shotgun, as we were driving off, but it was all worth it, as we watched them burn in a gasoline-fueled glorious bonfire.
We had a majestic ritual, where we stacked up the flags, and then Carlos lit up a match, I took a swing of bourbon, and spit it out, torching the flags on fire.
"Diego missed you," Carlos said, as we sat next to the fire just taking in the dancing flames.
"He did?" I asked.
"Yeah, he kept on asking: 'Where's Eli?', 'When can Eli come around to play again?' It would've been annoying if it wasn't so cute," Carlos said with a chuckle.
I didn't answer. I didn't want anyone to miss me. I didn't think they really would, or maybe I just didn't care.
"You know, how much we care about you, right?" Carlos said putting out his cigarette.
I couldn't find the words to answer. Deep down, I knew how much they cared, but I wouldn't accept it for a long time. A part of me would never accept being cared for, or even tolerated.
"I'm pretty sure, Diego loves you more, than he loves me," Carlos said with a grin.
"Shut up," I said taking another drag.
"I know, you don't wanna talk about shit, but you can't kill yourself," Carlos said getting more serious.
"I know, that your life is shit, but you can't do that to us. Remember the plan? Four years from now, I'll be eighteen, and we'll run away. You can't just break that promise," Carlos said tears pooling in his eyes.
We never talked about serious stuff, because I didn't want to, but at that moment, Carlos didn't care.
"I promised, that I would get you out of there, and we'd go see the world, so don't fucking make me a liar," Carlos ended.
That night, I curled up against my big brother, and hugged him tighter, than ever before.
"Diego needs you, you know? If nothing else keeps you alive, think of him," Carlos said after crying all his tears out.
"Promise me, you'll never leave us," he said locking eyes with me.
I couldn't say anything, without bursting into tears, so I just nodded before continuing our hug. Carlos rubbed my back, and quietly sang some melody I could never understand. At that moment, I promised to never leave my brothers.
Matteo POV.
After the plane took off, we returned back home, where Alessandro went to catch up with work, as I started cooing lunch with Eli.
As Eli got more comfortable, with us, they go really bossy too. Especially in the kitchen, they always took charge and knew what to do. They clearly had a way to do things, and diverging from that way was not an option.
When we were making something, they were used to making, they were so efficient, you could barely count to ten before everything was done.
"If you can't take the heat, got out of the kitchen," they always said while stirring three pots at the same time.
If they were in a good mood, they slowed down, and just enjoyed cooking with me, but that wasn't one of those days.
Gabriele POV.
After we go back home, I went into the art room, to clean up. I put away the paints and brushes Diego used, before taking a look at the painting they made. He put a lot of thought and effort into it and worked on perfecting it for a long time. It was fascinating watching him work. He was a young kid, but he was so talented, that it blew my mind.
I turned the canvas around and took a step back. The painting was absolutely gorgeous. It illustrated a drop of water falling into a completely still lake. The drop was something between liquid and gas, as it was somehow filled with black smoke, that bent in weird ways barely staying inside the waterdrop. You could see how the drop would disturb the clean surface of the water leaving behind rings, that would turn into waves.
When I looked at the canvas for long enough, I could make out a face in the black smoke. It was screaming, but that was all I could say. It left you craving for more, waiting for the smoke to move, or the water to drop, but it never did.
I found a single tear fall down my cheek as I stared into the painting. This kid had a gift, that could move people, in ways, that I could never. I saw so much pain and maturity in the layers of the painting, that it made me mourn for something, I didn't know.
It was weird how Eli had only been with us for a couple of months, but in a way, it was like they had always been there, and Diego was with us for a couple of weeks and it felt like he belonged here. Still, that fantasy was shattered every time, we realized, just how little we knew about Eli.