Beautiful Mistakes || Luca x Alberto <3

Promise

The next morning, Luca and Alberto hadn't said much. After helping each other tend to their injuries, Luca left the cave to find some food for them. Alberto stayed since Luca wanted him to rest, but Al wished he didn't need to.

They didn't talk during breakfast either. Instead, they sat away from each other and ate. Luca wanted to say something to Alberto- a lot of things, actually. But after last night, he just couldn't even look at him. He feared what Alberto was thinking right now. He feared talking to him. But he knew that they would have to work something out if they were going to stay together.

During the next hour, they sat quietly in the cave, hearing nothing but the echoing sounds in the big space. Luca watched Alberto as he sat against the wall, picking at the moss. Luca sighed. How am I going to do this?

He perked up when Al glanced at him. Luca quickly looked away, hoping he didn't see him watching him. He snuck a quick look at Al again and saw that he went back to playing with the moss. Exhaling, Luca got up and swam over to him.

"H-how are your wounds?" Luca asked quietly, sitting down beside him.

Without looking at him, Alberto replied, "Fine...You?"

"I'm a little better..." Luca shrugged, lowering his head. "How...how are you?"

Al grunted and shrugged.

Luca frowned at him, "Y-you sure you're ok? I can take you back to the hospital-"

"I'm fine," Al sighed. "Really."

Luca sighed, "Ok, ok. But...how did you even leave? Did anyone see you?"

"Probably..." Al muttered. "But there was no one around to stop me...so..."

"Why did you do it?" Luca whispered, looking at him sadly.

"I...don't know." Alberto crossed his arms and avoided looking at him.

"No," Luca sat in front of him. "You DO know, you're just not telling me! Why can't I know, Alberto? Why do you keep hiding from me?!"

"I'M NOT HIDING!" Al snarled, scowling at him. "Why do you keep ASSUMING that?! WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH?"

"HOW COULD I NOT CARE?!" Luca choked as he could feel the tears coming. "After EVERYTHING we've been through...after all the fights, the confusion..."

He wiped his eyes and glared at Alberto, "Why get so angry because of that? You KNOW how close we are, don't you? We used to tell each other everything! We...we used to be best friends...doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Alberto goes quiet and frowns at the ground. Luca spoke again, "It must mean something...because you came back, even when you didn't want to see me anymore."

"I didn't leave for you," Alberto said coldly.

Luca backed away from him, feeling like his words had struck him like a knife. "W...what?"

"I didn't leave the hospital to find you..." Alberto admitted. "I...left, because...I was going to run away."

Luca stared in both shock and disbelief, mouth agape. "I...really? Why...why would you do that?"

"Because..." Al started, close to tears. "Look what I've done...I've ruined everything! I've tried so hard to be a better person...but I only ruined my chance of being a good son...a good friend. All I do is start fights...I'm horrible to you guys, I'm the reason we're even in this mess! This is all MY fault!"

"Alberto..." Luca spoke softly. "You...didn't cause any of this to happen, it was all Ercole! I know you, I know you would never mean to hurt anyone on purpose, unless it was...someone like Ercole. But who can blame you? Everyone here hates him! I know for certain that if he had never been around to torment us, you wouldn't be acting like this..."