Luca (Alberto x Reader)

Chapter 15

Y/n's POV

As the four of us were going to where we sign up, we stop in a crowd of kids who were probably going to sign up for the race. But they were listening to a woman talking about something as she was wearing a fake mustache and had a broom in her hand. And beside her looked like a prop of a sea monster.

"Fellow Portorossans! It is I, Giorgio Giorgioni! Slayer of sea monsters and beloved purveyor of pasta!" The woman says as she destroys the head of the sea monster prop. This makes me tense up a bit.

"A slayer of sea monsters?" I question.

"Ah, that's just Signora Marsigliese. She works for the sponsor for the race. This is gonna take forever," Giulia then says as she lets out a sigh as we listen to Signora Marsigliese speak.

"The finest pasta in Liguria at a price every family can afford," Signora Marsigliese tells us.

"Get to the rules!" Giulia then yells to her.

"Enthusiasm. Love to see it," Signora Marsigliese says as she then starts to explain the rules. Giulia had an empty box of the pasts Signora Marsigliese was talking about, and in the back, it had the map of the race. "To win my famous face, your team must be the first to brave the treacherous waters of the bay, devour a mystery bowl of my delicious pasta, and ride to the top of Mount Portorosso and back!"

"That all sounds pretty hard," Luca says.

"Yeah. Hard to lose. We're going to win," Alberto then tells Luca.

"I love your confidence. But don't forget, we're going to have to go through..." Giulia started to say, but was then interrupted by a familiar voice that I wished I didn't hear.

"Champion coming through. Ciao, ciao! Hey!" The sound of Ercole's voice rang through my ears, making me grumble.

"Ercole," Giulia says in annoyance as he and his goons then goes to Signora Marsigliese and gives her money for the entry fee.

"Aren't you a little old, Ercole?" Signora Marsigliese asks the ugly catfish.

"Signora! I am 16," Ercole tells him, sounding as if he was just offended.

"You said that last year," Signora Marsigliese then told him.

Wait, if she knows he's too old to do the race, why is she still letting him do it?!

"But this year, it's true. You might want to save your money, ragazzi. This year, Ercole's gonna break the record and make it six in a row," Ercole says as he then walks away and passes by us.

He then stops when he notices us standing there. He lets out a laugh as he looks at us.

"Oh, no. I don't believe it. Spewlia, you teamed up with these vagrants and this goddess?" He then asks as he laughs.

"Ignore him," Giulia tells us.

"Already doing it," I say as I cross my arms and look away from Ercole.

"Oh, I wish for you that you could. I'm afraid your friends still need to pay the out-of-town weirdo tax," Ercole says as he then snaps his fingers, making Ciccio to step forward and pull Giulia's hat down, also giving him the chance to take the money from her. Now I was mad.

"Hey! Ercole! You have to give it back!" Giulia tells Ercole as Ciccio give Ercole the money.

"Ercole doesn't have to do anything. He's the Portorosso Cup champion, number one. And number two, his life is amazing and everyone loves him," Ercole says as Guido gives him a sandwich.

"They don't love you. They're afraid of you," Giulia says as she motions to all of the kids around us, then making Ercole to sputter.

"Raise your hand if you love me," Ercole tells the kids. And almost instantly, every kid around us raised their hands. But I could tell they did it out of fear. But I still kept my arms crossed. "See? Everyone. Even you. Bop!" Ercole then says as he boops my nose with his sandwich.

This gets Alberto angry as he then stands in front of me.

"Oh, that's it. Come on, Luca," Alberto says as he gets in a fighting stance.

"Hey! The vagrants want to fight. Wow!" Ercole says as he then hands his sandwich to Ciccio and gets in a fighting stance as well.

Pfft. I bet he doesn't even know the basics to fighting.

"Alberto?" Luca says, sounding worried.

"Silenzio, Bruno. Remember, this is for our Vespa," Alberto tells Luca.

"Stop," Giulia tells Alberto just as he takes a step forward.

"A Vespa? Trash like you can't ride Vespas," Ercole says.

"Ercole, you're just afraid we're gonna put an end to your..." Giulia starts to say.

"'...Evil empire of injustice. Got anything new?" Ercole finishes, and then asks.

"Yeah. Here's a new one. You look like a, uh... Uh..." Giulia starts to say, but couldn't find the words.

Okay, here's something I always wanted to call him.

"A catfish," I whisper to Giulia.

"A catfish!" Giulia repeats. This only gets Ercole to scoff as every kid around look confused.

"Uh, they're bottom-feeders, and they also have two sad little whiskers," Luca explains to Ercole.

This gets him to gasp as some of the kids laugh a bit. Guido even snorts, too. Ercole gets mad at him and throws his sandwich at him to get him ti be quiet. Ercole then looks back at Luca and walks towards him.

"Listen, piccoletto, I eat kids like you for breakfast. I dunk them in my cioccolata and... finiti!" Ercole tells him and slashing his hand over his neck while mimicking a knife swishing noise.

This makes Luca to gulp nervously. I stand my ground and get in between Luca and Ercole.

"Leave him alone, Ercole. Just give us back the money to sign up for the race," I tell Ercole with an annoyed look while crossing my arms.

"Fine, mia belleza. Here, sign up. Mm? I'll make it my mission to destroy your friends," Ercole tells me as he hands me the money.

But just before he could lay one hand on my shoulder, I swiftly and quickly grab onto him arm and twist it a bit, making him to stop whatever he was doing.

"Touch me again and you lose the arm," I tell him, and then roughly let go of his arm. He then brings his arm back and looks at me with an impressed look.

"A feisty one. I like it. It's gonna be some race, huh? Sorry, no autographs today. You can put your hand down," Ercole says as he leaves and passes by a kid who had their hand raised.

I then feel Giulia wrap her arms around me and Luca as she laughs happily.

"Ha-ha! Luca! Y/n! Bravo, we did it!" Giulia tells us as we then go to sign up for the race.

I could tell that this wasn't going to be the last time I see Ercole. So I must be prepared for what he has for us. Mostly me.