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[prontissimo]

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[prontissimo]

[ Alberto shoots him an exaggeratedly incredulous look, waving his hands wildly at him in silent question, jokingly exasperated but... not really joking. Thanks for just casually dropping that new detail, Bruno, yeah! Alberto's perpetually impressed, how is it that Bruno never stops getting cooler??? He doesn't even realize it!!

Alberto's smile is stuck on from the moment Bruno sits down, though. He takes the box gingerly, glancing between it and Bruno a little uncertainly, still so moved that this is happening at all. His face lights up once he opens it, and again, he starts looking between it and Bruno and back. Obviously this one's a hit. Alberto knows what Legos are from visiting the toy store with Pepa a couple weeks ago, though he hadn't bought any Legos for himself then — but they definitely didn't see this then, or else he probably would've...! A 1,100 piece Vespa figurine is indeed an ambitious fidgeting project — and were it anything but a Vespa, he might've abandoned it, it's true. But this? This will hold his interest for at least a couple weeks — he'll see it through to completion for sure. And after that, it's just another cool piece of decor, one with even more meaning than the rest; so of course it'll get a special place somewhere as a new focal point in the home. Maybe beneath his old Vespa sign by the stereo? He's already envisioning it...! It takes him a second to say anything, just grinning as he better inspects the box. After a giddy moment to process this gift, he taps at the name of the model on the box and turns his grin back on Bruno. ]

Hah— y'know what's funny...? The Vespa we bought back home — the one I sold? That one was a blue 125. So s'kinda like we got it back, ha~ ...Just, y'know, without all the rust on this one, heh.

[ He wags the box in his hand a little, raising his brow teasingly. Don't get him wrong, their Vespa back home was amazing (for the ~12 hours they owned it...), rust and all, but now Alberto can tell Luca Bruno bought them a "brand new Vespa" and not technically be lying! You bet those will be the first words out of his mouth when Luca's done with his bath. Alberto's tickled pink, though, his goofy jokes aside — and it's just one more coincidence he can chalk up to cool-spooky-bond-with-Bruno-stuff (rather than popular Vespa marketing, nevermind that part), like so many other uncanny little things like this between them. What are the chances Bruno found him a blue Vespa 125, right?! High. But Alberto's take is sweeter. ]

[wedonttalkabout]

[It's just a new power kid, wow wow, he gets them all the time!

He smiles as Alberto opens up his gift, clearly pleased that it's gone down well. It's not like he has a lot of gift-buying experience. He's pretty new to this.]

I remember you saying, that's why I got it. Even if I couldn't get that authentic rust look for you.

[He definitely asked for it. He hands over the next parcel which has a helmet in it. He raises his hand before Alberto can get TOO excited.]

Okay, so this isn't an actual Vespa because you're fifteen and everyone I talked to told me apparently you having one is illegal. Which...rude, honestly. But this is a promise that for your next birthday, we can go and pick one out- whichever one you want.

[It's also a promise that Bruno plans to stay here - that he isn't planning on taking whatever exit that comes up when people leave this place. That he has every intention of sticking this out and not abandoning Alberto if he can gosh-darn help it. ]

1/2

[prontissimo]

[ You can see the gears upstairs turning so fast, the shifts in his reaction written plainly across his face. Alberto's eyes go wide as he opens the gift, but when he looks up to Bruno excitedly, the man holds up a hand before his amazed smile can even finish forming on his face. He furrows his brow some when Bruno mentions the legality issue — an issue Alberto has not considered, so of course his first instinct is to protest. But Bruno's next words cut that knee-jerk reaction off. His brows knit with anticipation at the word "promise," hearing the stress there, but with every word after that, his face is painted with shade after shade of surprise. He glances down at the helmet in his lap, but then just stares at Bruno for a moment after, apparently speechless. ]

2/2

[prontissimo]

[ But then the widest, fondest smile he's ever worn spreads over his face — the kind of smile that almost hurts the cheeks. Still speechless, apparently. He all but shoves the helmet off his lap onto the mess of cushions beside him, before he launches himself at Bruno and into a hug. Guess they— do this... now...? ]

[wedonttalkabout]

[Bruno's felt a little nervous about how well this would be taken. He's not exactly practised in gift-giving, especially not in this whole modern world with modern gifts. He's EXTREMELY glad for the hug, chuckling a little as he returns it- patting Alberto on the back. ]

I guess that means you like it?

[prontissimo]

Yes?! Yes, I like it, aha! Grazie, Bruno...!

[ Alberto nods enthusiastically even while they hug, but when he pulls back to thank Bruno face-to-face, his grin's gone lopsided, so verklempt by all of this. The Vespa is the symbol of all the boys’ dreams coming true, after all — though now they already enjoy quite a lot of freedom and adventure just living in Kaisou at all... But the Vespa's still holy. Things are turning out drastically different than how they’d imagined, granted, but things had turned out drastically different than expected back in Portorosso, too. But the boys relish in their own plot twists, surprising themselves both then and now. Despite being cosmically displaced, Alberto’s ironically come to feel more at home here than he has anywhere else before. The month he’d spent with Massimo felt like so much longer, for how significant it was and still is in his life; but Alberto’s not seen Portorosso now for something like half a year (he’s not really been counting), and his initial hopes of “resuming” his old life have become more conflicting to Alberto as of late. The boys enjoy getting nostalgic for their lives in Italy, but for Alberto, it’s become just that: nostalgic.

Unreal as it may seem, this is his life now. Time marches on. At first he’d thought his life story was being interrupted by being spirited away to Kaisou, but now he thinks it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him (next to meeting Luca, maybe). Despite all the instability of his new normal, his life here is far more stable and normal than it’s ever been back home — and far happier. Alternate dimension or not, here he has a routine, a schedule, plans, friends. Alberto can procrastinate doing laundry in favor of watching astrophysics documentaries with Luca in bed, simply saying “eh, we’ll do it tomorrow.” He can expect to hear from Bruno almost every day, because they’ve talked almost every day since April — and truly talked, Alberto never having been so open with someone before, let alone someone who makes sure to check in on him every day the way they do. What luxuries, “every day” and “tomorrow” — simple words he’s come to put a lot of trust in as time passes here, more than he even realizes. So far Alberto and Luca have remained blissfully untouched by loss in Kaisou, and without that looming threat, Alberto’s living quite comfortably with words like “every day” and “tomorrow.” Good friends make the future seem guaranteed, in some sense. So much so that it takes Alberto a second to register the deeper gravity of Bruno's promise for his birthday "next year." Once that clicks, though, his giddy smile melts into one much warmer, fondness in his eyes; he doesn’t find his words as easily as he’d like to, so instead places his hand on Bruno’s shoulder with a little pat and an earnest look, hoping it shows some of the resonance he truly feels. It's a simpler affectionate gesture than being ambushed with another hug, but still hopefully enough to say that he trusts in Bruno’s promise that they’re really in it for the long haul — at least as much as the universe will let them be. ]