" Ti Amo, Ti Voglio " - A Disney Pixar's 'Luca' Fan Sequel

~ 1 ~

The summer of 1968 flew past like a full clothesline on a windy day.

You found yourself herding goatfish one day, sitting on a rock and watching the seagrass sway back and forth. It was simple and quaint, with a mesmerizing flow. Flow that was broken when you went home only to face the wrath of your protective mother. The guarded answers to your burning questions only stoking the fire.  With wishful thinking, you watched the sun set from deep under the water. Beneath the blue waves, you only caught a small glimpse of colorful sky above. Your eyes were always filled with wonder, your scales pricking with the icy undertow of fear. To be so close to another world so big, while you'd always been so small, it set off an eel of stinging nerves.

Until one day, when you found yourself whisked away from your low reef home into something new. By someone new. Suddenly he'd taken you to places never seen, teaching you about things you never knew could exist. You spent days, weeks on end sneaking away to explore his universe. The humans' universe. And you couldn't help but feel you were getting the best of both worlds, with someone you couldn't help but feel so attached to. Everything was good.

When your mom found out and threatened to take it from you, take him from you. You didn't think, just ran. Ran away with him.

The next thing you knew, you had won the Portorosso Cup. And everyone was getting along. Sea monsters and humans alike... In one town, all living harmoniously because you and that special boy made a difference. Made it happen.

And then, the season was over.

He sent you off to school, and your tears fell onto his back as you hugged him goodbye. Knowing you'd see him again next summer.

It felt so far away, but it came again.

The summer of 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972. The seasons kept flying by faster and faster. Sooner and sooner you'd be looking into those beautiful green eyes and hearing that c-major voice grow deeper and deeper each year. A biological phenomenon he loved to brag about.

Until finally, school was permanently over.

Luca Paguro was sitting at his desk on the very last day of the very last year of his schooling. He had learned so much during his time there, even if fitting in had been hard. The first member of his family to graduate from a human curriculum. Boy, was he proud of himself.

"I love to see that smile, Luca! We actually made it!" His good friend Giulia gave him a light punch in the shoulder before plopping down next to him. "Only a few bruises, yeah? And you took 'em all like a champ."

The brown-headed boy chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "We sure did. Though I'm less worried about the bruises, and more worried about how many times your mom's gonna suffocate me before we get on the train."

A nudge from the pretty, olive-skinned redhead. She loved to do that. "... or how many kisses Alberto is gonna give you when you get off the train. "

"Hey!" Called the disguised sea monster, "Alberto and I never kissed. And I doubt we ever will." His face, of course, well developed as he approached manhood, flushed.

Of course, that was a lie. Because they had. Though, only once.

Sitting together in Giulia's hideout tree one night. The last night Luca would be in Portorosso before the last school year. Seventeen, and alone with eighteen-year-old Alberto Scorfano.

"Luca," Said Alberto, "can we at least pretend the stars are fish? And that the falling ones are swimming back down to the sea... Just me and you, you know. Can that be space for us?"