Chapter Text
Carlo Greco slid out of the dreams of Scipio Massimo for the final time.
***
Surprisingly, falling asleep by a canal on concrete wasn’t as uncomfortable as Scipio had originally thought. Or maybe it was because he’d been depriving himself of sleep the last few nights and he’d let it get to the point where he could lie down anywhere and fall asleep. Scipio shifted, nearly falling into the canal. He opened the back door and slid into the Stella. No one was awake yet, so he crept to the top balcony and settled into the nest of blankets he and Prosper had created on the floor.
***
When the light began shining in, turning the wall to bright gold, everyone except for Scipio started shifting. Prosper rolled over. Relief settled over him when he saw Scipio was asleep. Since their conversations a few days before, Scipio had barely gotten any sleep at all. Now, Prosper hesitated waking him up. Prosper ran his fingers through Scipio’s hair. Scipio’s hand fluttered up touching Prosper’s cheek. The next second, Prosper and Scipio had seemingly melted together.
Davide had thought about seeing how Scipio was faring. He had no idea that Scipio had fallen asleep next to the canal and had slept most of the night. Davide had heard the noises from the second balcony and had thought better of it. Instead, he’d opted to join Hornet, Riccio, Mosca and Mike downstairs in the kitchen.
“What’s going on up there?” asked Mike.
“Prosper and Scipio are doing it again,” Davide replied.
“How did Scipio look?” asked Hornet.
“I thought I’d leave them to it,” said Davide. “I really didn’t want to walk in on that.”
“Good planning,” said Riccio.
“We can get them later,” said Mike. “We should let them have some time alone.”
“You really think that’s a good idea?” asked Riccio.
“It’ll be good for them,” said Mike. “I think they need it. Scipio’s been feeling ill for weeks.”
“Then shouldn’t we...” Hornet started.
“I’m just tired and feel like shit.”
The group turned. Standing behind them were Scipio and Prosper. Prosper had an arm around Scipio. It looked to the group like Prosper had to support Scipio.
“You really should be lying down,” said Davide.
“Here,” said Mosca. He stood, dragging Riccio with him. “Get up, you goof.” Mosca and Riccio sprawled on the floor, leaving Scipio and Prosper to curl up on the couch.
“You think it’s going to be okay?” Mosca asked.
“Don’t you have any faith in us working this out, Mosca?” asked Prosper.
“It just seems like from the second Scipio came here, he’s been hurt or ill.”
“Blame my father,” Scipio muttered.
“If he can even rightly be called that,” said Davide.
“I think it’s fair to say that all of us have had a difficult life or one reason or another,” said Hornet.
“Speak for yourselves,” said Davide. “My life’s been...” Davide stopped talking abruptly. Scipio thought he knew what that was about. He knew that Davide’s mind had suddenly turned to Carlo. Even though they hadn’t been speaking, Scipio knew what was going on in Davide’s head, or so he thought.
“Don’t water down your time and brain power thinking about Carlo,” said Scipio. “He hasn’t deserved it since he turned against us.” Davide nodded. He knew Scipio was right, but when his mind turned to Carlo, he had a hard time turning his mind away from the boy who had betrayed the friends he’d once held in the highest regard.
“Want me to heat up the waffles?” asked Mike.
“And make more,” said Riccio. “Me and Mosca may have made some of them into a late night snack.”
“Great, you ate the breakfast, good going,” said Hornet.
“At the time they didn’t know,” said Davide. “Give them a break.”
“Come on, Davide, help me will you?” asked Mike. Davide followed Mike into the kitchen. He knew Mike had picked him to get him out.
As Mike and Davide worked to prepare breakfast, Hornet walked in. Her hair was normally braided, but now she wore it tied sloppily back off her face. Long strands of light brown hair hung down everywhere.
“Can I help?” Mike whirled around, dropping the eggs. Hornet glared. “I think I know what my first task is going to be.”
“No,” said Mike. “Riccio! Mosca!” Mosca’s dark head appeared around the door. “Go to the store. I just broke the eggs.”
“Blame me,” said Hornet.
“Do we have to?” It was Riccio. Forever the complainer of the bunch.
“Yes, now scat you two,” said Mike, forcing Riccio and Mosca from the kitchen.
“There’s not much we can do ‘til they get back,” said Davide.
“Then let’s go back to the living room,” said Hornet.
***
Scipio and Prosper were deep in a conversation of their own, when Davide, Hornet and Mike emerged from the kitchen.
“What was going on in there?” Prosper asked. “
The usual,” Davide replied.
“So you were breaking eggs on the floor?” Scipio asked. “I thought this was why we came up with the home in the first place so no one knew what we talking about,” said Davide.
“Well since Carlo’s out, I thought we’d spread it.”
“Do you have a problem with it?” Prosper asked.
“Nope,” was Davide’s reply.
“How did you create the phrase?” asked Hornet.
“It’s a long involved story that you don’t want to know,” said Scipio.
“Do you not want to tell me?” asked Hornet.
“What’s the big deal if he doesn’t want to tell you?” Prosper asked.
“I just don’t like being left out of things and living with all guys the past few years hasn’t been easy.”
As Hornet spoke she glanced at Prosper and Scipio. That was a dream. It was never going to happen. Prosper would never see her as more than a sister and usually she was quite happy about that. But there had been a moment, when Scipio had shown up at two o’clock in the morning, pulling Prosper and Bo with him. The two brothers had more problems than she herself had and she was glad to put aside her own problems for someone else’s, but it had consequences. She had grown to love Prosper as more than a brother, and it hadn’t stopped until recently.
“Life is supposed to have challenges,” said Prosper. “Just look at what happened to me before I come here, before Scipio found us.”
“I knew there was a reason I’d chosen to go that route that night,” said Scipio.
“It seems like Riccio and Mosca have been away for hours,” said Davide.
“It’s only been a few minutes,” said Mike.
“Yeah, well, it would feel longer to you,” said Prosper.
The door swung open. Riccio and Mosca walked in. Mosca held the box of eggs and Riccio held a bag of sweets. Davide and Mike swisked away the packages. Davide to start the waffles and Mike to hide the sweets until that night. Riccio and Mosca stood there for a long moment, looking after Davide and Mike.
“Come on, join us,” said Prosper. He knew that if he didn’t distract them, they would go in search of their chocolate. Riccio and Mosca slid into the chairs vacated by Davide and Mike.
***
It was one of the few times the group seemed like a family. The laughter. The chatter. The constant bickering. Riccio and Mosca having arguments about seemingly random things. The smell of freshly made waffles. This was what Prosper had imagined what a family should be like.
It shouldn’t be the crappy shithole of an orphanage he’d been forced to live in by Max and Esther Hartlieb. It shouldn’t be the grand home of the same Hartliebs where Bo had been pampered until Prosper had escaped from the orphanage and rescued Bo. Family had to be more than being related and besides the home he’d had before his parents had died, it was the first place that had left like home.
The Star Palace was sheltering all of them from something. For him and Bo, it was Esther and Max Hartlieb. He had never understood how his mother and Esther had grown up. Everything about the two of them was different. As far as Prosper was concerned Esther and his mother had been born to be polar opposites of one another. For Riccio, Mosca and Hornet, it gave them a place other than the ramshackle shelter in Castillo Scipio had found them in. Mosca’s father was still out at sea somewhere, but Mosca had never seen the need to find him since things had been working out better at the Star Palace. For Davide, it was a place where he didn’t have to be perfect. Signor Ricci and Dottore Massimo were similar in many ways. When it came to raising their sons, they had similar ideas for the boys to look up too and through this, Scipio and Davide had formed a strong bond. For Mike, it was a place where he could be himself. He’d never agreed with his parents, and he’d hoped that Carlo was going to follow his path. But the moment Carlo had ditched Scipio because Scipio was gay, Mike knew that Carlo was lost to him. And as for Scipio...well, Scipio had always been a mysterious figure lurking in the background of their lives. That had been Scipio’s role in the lives of the orphans. It was only when Prosper and Scipio were drawn together that night when the merry-go-round failed Scipio, did Prosper realize how little he knew about the one he considered to be his greatest friend.
Prosper realized that he was a part of one crazy happy family and that was enough for him... at least for now.
***
“If it’s possible these are even better than the last time,” said Riccio, through a mouthful of waffle.
“They are good,” Hornet commented, stabbing a piece of waffle with her fork.
“I’m pretty sure last time we didn’t have any of the problems we had this time,” said Davide. “
They startled me,” said Mike, gesturing with his head at Riccio and Mosca.
“It was an accident,” said Mosca, shoving his fork through a piece of waffle and spraying Riccio, Davide and Mike with syrup.
“Ugh... Mosca,” said Hornet. “Do you realize how long it takes to scrub that stuff off the table?”
“It’s...” Mosca started. Hornet sighed. She should’ve known Mosca would try to blame it on Riccio.
“We all saw you,” said Davide. “You definitely sprayed syrup everywhere.” There was a momentary pause where Mosca tried to correct Davide, but Davide broke in. “You sprayed it all over the table.”
“I didn’t mean to,” said Mosca.
“All the same, you’re on table washing duty,” said Hornet, grabbing another bite. “Fine, as long as I don’t have to do it all the time,” said Mosca.
As the group ate breakfast, the chatter subsided and the group began to spread out to do their morning activities. Mosca started scrubbing the table as Riccio, Davide and Mike cleared the table and washed dishes. Hornet left the guys to clean up the kitchen, and went upstairs to read, a favorite pastime that she just hadn’t had time for the last couple days. Prosper and Scipio had other ideas however. They were planning to sit outside on the bridge above the canal. The last time they’d made this decision, they’d both ended up in the canal. They hadn’t been back to the bridge since, but they wanted to get away from their friends, as much as they were grateful that everything finally seemed to be falling into place.
The attempts of Riccio, Mosca, Mike and Davide to clean the kitchen weren’t going well. All they had managed to do was make a mess of the kitchen. And by mess, it truly was a mess. Riccio had knocked over the flour, tripped over Mike’s foot and spilled the rest of the syrup out of the pitcher onto the floor.
“Mosca!” Hornet exclaimed.
“Sorry,” said Mike. “We don’t really have control over him.”
“I can see that,” said Hornet, glaring at the three boys. She edged past Riccio who was standing to the fridge. She popped it open and threw a gulp of cranberry juice down her throat.
“You should just get out of here,” said Davide. “Go paint your boat or something.”
“Want my help?” asked Riccio.
“Sure,” said Davide.
“I...” Mike started.
“Let them go,” said Hornet, looking after the two boys. “They’re not going to be of any help to us in here.”
“Us?” Mike asked.
“I thought I’d help you. I didn’t think Riccio and Mosca would last very long in the kitchen, and I was right.” Hornet grabbed the dish Riccio had discarded and began running it under the water Riccio had left running.
“You don’t have to do this you know,” said Davide.
“I know, but I also know I need a distraction. Prosper and Scipio are having a love fest and now we’ve let Riccio and Mosca go. I have no idea where they’ve got to,” said Hornet.
“Fair enough,” said Davide, and went to wipe cleaning fluid off the table. The table was still sticky, so it was obvious that Mosca hadn’t gotten very far when he’d wanted to get out. He sighed. He thought everyone who lived here was really caring, but he didn’t know how the others had lived with Riccio and Mosca for as long as they had. He’d only lived here a few weeks and Riccio and Mosca had probably driven him to the point of crazy, but the good things about living with this group of people quite simply outweighed bad.
***
Nothing unusual happened for the rest of the morning. No one saw Scipio or Prosper until they sat down at lunch, and then only briefly. As soon as possible, the two escaped back to their canal side retreat.
Prosper had been the one to discover it and he’d only shared it with Scipio. None of the others even knew it existed. Now, Scipio pushed the curtain of moss aside, allowing Prosper to slide through the gap. Scipio slid in beside Prosper, letting the moss curtain fall into place, hiding them from their friends. The canal sloshed up onto the banks of the canal again. It was amazing how different the canal sounded when it was sloshing against a safe place. A place Dottore Massimo would never think to look for his son.
According to the newspapers, Dottore Massimo has stopped searching for Scipio. Dottore Massimo had searched frantically for the first few weeks. That is, until his business ventures had gotten in the way. After Dottore Massimo had quit, Carmela Massimo had taken over. She’s hired Victor Getz to find Scipio. When Victor found Scipio, Scipio had ignored his mother’s plea for him to come home. Scipio hadn’t looked back since.
Scipio leaned back against the rock face. Over the past few months, Scipio had learned that the option of running away had always been there for him, and he’d had a place to go. He’d had a place ever since he’d planted Riccio, Mosca and Hornet in the Stella. Why hadn’t he taken the option before?
“Scip?” It was Prosper, dragging Scipio from his thoughts. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” Scipio replied. “Just thinking.”
“Scip, come on,” said Prosper. “You were looking distressed.”
“I’m questioning myself.”
“You should never do that,” said Prosper. “You shouldn’t question yourself. You have nothing to question yourself about.”
“If you’re telling me that, then you don’t really know me,” said Scipio. “You don’t know how long I wrestled with the idea of running away from it all. I think it was better the way I ended up doing it.”
“Are you aware of what you looked like that night, Scip? Are you aware of what flashed through my mind when I saw you like that?” Prosper laid a hand on Scipio’s arm. Scipio finally turned to face his boyfriend. “I was scared,” Prosper continued. “I was scared that you weren’t...”
“Don’t you dare think like that, Prop,” said Scipio, sternly. “I’m right here. I never to hear that about to come out of your mouth ever again.” Scipio pulled Prosper closer to him. “I’m right here, Prop,” he whispered. “I’m right here.”
“I know you are,” said Prosper, settling into Scipio’s lap. “You just scared me that night was all.”
“I don’t blame you for being scared,” said Scipio. “I don’t blame you at all. Put in your position, I would’ve been scared that night too.” Scipio paused, collecting his thoughts which were now swirling around his brain. “I really wasn’t with it that night, was I?”
“No, you weren’t,” replied Prosper. “You weren’t yourself for at least a week.”
“But you were there for me.”
“Of course I was, don’t think such nonsense. It should be outlawed for you to even think of such a thing.”
“I can’t help what I think,” said Scipio. He bent his head over Prosper’s and buried his face in Prosper’s curls. “How did I get so lucky?” He whispered.
“I have no idea,” Prosper whispered in reply, leaning more into Scipio than he already was.
“I love you, Prop,” Scipio murmured.
Prosper wasn’t startled. He turned around, facing Scipio. “I love you, too,” he said firmly. “And I will never doubt that.”
Scipio smiled. Prosper began to pull him into a kiss. Unlike the first time, Scipio was completely willing now. He let Prosper kiss him. He knew it was what Prosper needed. Prosper leaned Scipio back onto the moss-covered floor. The moss poked Scipio in the head, but he didn’t notice. His fingers laced through Prosper’s curls, brushing them out of his eyes.
Prosper pulled away. “Don’t,” Scipio muttered, rolling into a sitting position and pushing Prosper playfully to the ground. Prosper laughed. The sound echoed around the cave. It mixed with the canal sloshing against the stone, unaware that the cave was the secret hideout of two boys who had been first best friends, then lovers. Scipio smiled. It felt good to be this happy again. It felt good to have somewhere he belonged and Prosper...well...he was the best thing of all.