Beautiful Mistakes || Luca x Alberto <3

Care about You

After breakfast, Giuila helped her father wash the dishes, while Luca took Alberto's hand and they left kitchen, heading to Giuila's room. Without saying a word the whole way, they entered the room and Luca shut the door.

Alberto turned around, frowning at him, "Um, Luca?"

Luca looked at him with anger in his eyes. "What has been going on here in Portorosso, ever since I left?"

Alberto stared at him, "Uh...what?"

"Answer the question!" Luca demanded, taking a step closer to Al. "What has Ercole's group been doing the past year? You haven't told me much about him in our letters, but I HAVE to know! Tell me, Alberto!"

Al flinched a little, surprised at his sudden outburst. "Woah! Calm down, Luca! I already told you back at the island, Ercole has been the SAME person even after you left! All he's done was bother kids like usual, it's nothing new!"

"Yeah but you never told me that he had a new group- a BIGGER and WORSE group!" Luca raised his voice. "Now there's more older kids here, HARASSING the younger ones! And NO ONE has done anything! How long have they been a group for?"

Alberto took his eyes off of Luca, answering, "Gosh, I dunno...since about...a couple of months after you left."

Luca's jaw dropped. "So nearly seven months? Alberto, WHY are they doing this?!"

Alberto growled, getting frustrated. "Because they're stronger than most people here, Luca! They're lying, manipulative, selfish jerks! Blame their parents for raising them that way, and for letting all of this happen! I tried getting them to stop, I really did! But it only made matters worse! Most people here don't bother getting them into Juvie because they're 'kids' and they're still 'learning and growing'. Antonio isn't exactly a teenager anymore, but people still let his behavior slide, because he intimidates even the adults here! They always win, Luca!"

Luca shook his head in disbelief, "No...it doesn't make any sense! They didn't let us get harmed whenever we turned into sea monsters!"

"That was different!" Alberto told him, "Ercole had a weaker group at that time, but now that he's found stronger kids to form a group with, it's been a lot harder to protect the younger kids here. Most kids have been staying in their homes because they're that afraid! Only very few of us here have managed to get them to back off."

Luca was quiet. He looked up at Al, asking him in a lowered voice, "They didn't...hurt you, did they?"

Alberto's eyes widened a little, going quiet too. He then scoffed at Luca, waving his hand in the air. "What does it matter if I got hurt or not? I'm still here, aren't I? I'm still alive and ok! Don't worry about me-"

"NO." Luca grabbed him by his shirt collar, "I WILL worry about you, and I AM. You're my BEST friend, Alberto. And if ANYONE here has been hurting you, I DESERVE to know about it. Because I care about you a lot, you have NO idea! I was afraid that this was going to happen, that right after I left, you'd just get bullied again, because I KNOW how much Ercole hates us! I KNEW he wouldn't change, ever!"

Luca's body began shaking, and his eyes started watering, Alberto's mouth dropped when he saw his tears.

"B-but I left anyway..." he whispered. "I just left you...all alone...to fend for yourself. Y-you don't know how selfish it felt, leaving you behind...I-I wish you'd just gotten on the train with me...I wish it n-never ended that way..."

Alberto was shocked, unable to find a way to respond. He just stood there as Luca pulled on his shirt, quietly sobbing. Now Al felt guilty.

He put his hand on Luca's shoulder, but Luca shoved him away and climbed out of the window, outside, shutting and locking it.