"Dude, just gonna borrow that navy shirt. We need to do laundry ASAP." Luca came into my room. My whole face hurt. Memories of the night before crossed my mind. The alley, the disgusted faces, the man who helped me. "I'm leaving, but if I were you, I'd get up already and take a shower." Luca chuckled. He obviously hadn't seen my face. "Don't come too late."

"O-okay."

"Had too much fun last night?" I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Yeah..."

"I'll leave you get dressed and stuff. My phone is about to die. See you later."

"Luca, I-"

He closed the door. After a few moments, I heard the front door closing, too. I sighed and tried to get up from my bed. I was still wearing last night's clothes. Except for the T-shirt, that was on the floor, covered in blood. Putting my feet on the floor, I pushed myself up and a sharp pain ran up my back to my head.

"Merde."

I walked slowly towards the bathroom, my dizziness slowly fading every time I took a step. I breathed out slowly and rested both hands on the sink before I tilted my head back and stared at myself in the mirror.

The first thing I noticed was the black eye. My face was incredibly puffy, mostly clean, but I still had a little bit of dried blood on my left eyebrow and around the cut on my lip. The guy that helped me gave me something to clean myself up. I remember him telling me to go to the hospital, but I used the taxi to go home instead. I hated hospitals. I had spent too much time in them, surgery after surgery.

My torso was the worst. I had bruised ribs and my arms were scraped. It hurt to even look at it.

My eyes became watery. People were fucked up.

I couldn't go like this. I needed to call Luca. I went to grab my phone but it wasn't on my bedside table where it normally would be. I looked around my room but then remembered I still had my jeans on. I patted one of my pockets and got out the phone from one of it.

"Merde." I repeated. The screen was cracked and it didn't turn on. I grabbed my charger and plugged it in before I went to have a shower. I couldn't even scrub my body with soap. I limited myself to gently rub it and let the water fall down upon it. I got out with difficulty, my ribs were killing me. I don't think they were broken but it was mostly because of the bruises. I looked for the first aid kit I knew we had somewhere around the kitchen. Riley bought us some essentials since she was cooking some day and cut herself. Needless to say, we had nothing to treat the wound, so we had to call our neighbor. It was the first time we met the family that lived in front of us.

When I found it, I put on some antibiotic ointment and a few band aids all around the cuts and scrapes in my body. Since I was feeling a little better and my phone wasn't turning on, I decided to go to Ace's house and explain everything to Luca. I'd talk to him and tell him I couldn't stay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ace's parents' house was not an alien to me. I had been there at a party before. I knew I had to use the intercom outside the gate, so I prepared myself to just ask for Luca. I couldn't let people see me like this. Least of all, in a nine year old girls' party. I was wearing a big hoodie to cover myself up, but I couldn't hide the marks on my face.

With difficulty because of the pain in my ribs, I achieved to extend my arm and press the button. After a while, someone responded.

"Hello?"

Good. Ace. I could deal with Ace.

"Uhm- Hi. It's Nico. Is Luca around? Can he get out?" I asked more nervous than I would've liked.

"Sure. Come in." And he opened the gate. Putain, no. I didn't want to get in. Maybe he thought I was shy or something. I counted four cars outside the garage, that meant all those people didn't live there. Great, the house was packed and I got a black eye.

I walked slowly towards the door, my hands trembling a little, hoping that I got some of my luck from yesterday back. After I rang the door bell, I turned around. I didn't want to scare whoever was opening the door.

"Dude, what took you so-" I spun around letting out a big breath and Luca's eyes almost jump out of his face. "What the fu- what happened?!" Luca rested his hands on my shoulders and examined my face. I winced a little when he touched me and he pulled back quickly.

They beat the shit out of me last night.

"I- I got into a fight last night. Just thought you needed to know, I'm leaving now." I mumbled, not daring to look at him in the eyes.

"What? No, you can't leave like that. What happened?" He asked serious. My eyes got watery once again and I looked up at the sky, trying to calm myself.

Why couldn't I get used to this?

"You know how guys are."

He frowned and shook his head slowly. "No, I don't... Nico, what happened?" He repeated for a third time.

This time, I stared straight into his eyes and spoke slowly. "I'm bisexual." I shrugged with a frown, a knot starting to form in my throat. "And I can't run."

Anger covered Luca's dark eyes. "They did not. They fucking did not." He stated opening his nostrils.

"Yeah, they did." I chuckled humorlessly touching my eyebrow. "It's okay, I'm fine. I'm used to this. My phone is broken, I-"

"Fucking bastards, I swear if I-"

"What's wrong, Luca? Why don't you guys come in?"

A strong Italian accent came from inside the house. The feminine voice was approaching. Luca was so furious he wasn't even thinking of the consequences of that woman seeing me. I didn't have time to turn around to hide myself when Ace's female and older version stepped outside. Her eyes opened wide in horror.

"Santo cielo! What happened?"

"N-Nothing." I shook my head quickly and stepped backwards. "I was just leaving."

"Giulia, this is my friend Nico-"

"Come in, tesoro. Don't just stay there." She grabbed my shoulders gently and pushed me towards the door.

"It's okay, I better go."

"Nonsense. Luca's friends are our friends. Do you need anything? Water? Some painkillers? A beer?" She asked sympathetically.

"I'm fine, thank you." I glanced at Luca seeking for some help but he was in trance. He was furious, I could see that, but he obviously couldn't take it up on anyone.

"I'll let you guys talk. Luca why don't you show your friend around?" Giulia asked rubbing Luca's back.

Luca nodded and guided me to the kitchen. Not too long after, Ace, Luca, Riley and Martina were listening to my short version of what had happened the night before. I was embarrassed and I wanted to leave, but they all were so worried and understanding, it was... comforting. And I had never felt like that before. Not in my family, not with any group of friends.

"Hope you don't mind, but I kind of told his family." Luca mumbled in my ear, handing me a coke. "I didn't want them to worry." Ace's twin sisters, his parents, his big sister with his husband and son were outside. Good, now everybody knew. I didn't want people to pity me, but if I was staying, which seemed like I was, it was better like that. I didn't want them to think I was some type of drunk who got into fights or something.

"Okay." I sighed.

"I'll bring you something for that cut." Ace said. "It doesn't stop bleeding." He pointed at my eyebrow.

I nodded thankfully with a tight smile.

"Why don't we go outside? It's warm today. We can sit at the table, you'll be more comfortable." Martina offered.

Before we stepped outside of the kitchen by one of the big glass doors, Riley cupped my neck and tiptoed, placing a light kiss to my cheek. I stared at her with a frown. "Don't ever feel like you can't come to us."

I nodded pursing my lips, the knot once again tightening around my throat.

"Okay?" She asked softly.

"Okay."

Ace's family didn't allow tension to get in the way. They were all so nice and cheerful. Even his father when he talked to me. He was really interested in my career choice. I wasn't used to parents being this nice. Least of all, parents being interested in art. They usually thought I was a failure. I showed Richard my camera that I had in the car, and let him take pictures. He said he used to like photography when he was young.

I glanced at Luca every once in a while, and I regretted it every time. I knew I ruined his day, I shouldn't have come. He was lost in his mind, his jaw clenched as he gripped hard his beer bottle. Riley tried to comfort him, giving him food, placing little kisses on his face. He would smile at her but tense again when she wasn't looking. He engaged in some conversations but his head was somewhere else.

Getting up slowly so no one would notice, I walked towards the inside of the house. I needed the solitude the bathroom could give me.

As I was walking, a soccer ball hit my calf. It wasn't too hard, but it made me turn around with a frown. Claudia, one of Ace's twin sisters was running towards me. "I'm sorry." She looked scared when she grabbed the ball and gripped it hard against her side.

"It's okay." I gave her a small smile. I know I would've been scared of someone who looked like me when I was a kid, too.

I spun around just to be stopped by her voice. "Does it... does it hurt?"

I raised my eyebrows. "This?" I pointed to my face. She nodded. "Nah, just a little."

"Who hit you?"

I sighed and sat down on the step, trying not to wince. "Some really bad guys."

"They hit you because you like boys?" She asked, sitting down in front of me, on top of her soccer ball.

"Who told you that?" I asked surprised.

"I heard it." She shrugged moving back and forth on the ball.

"I like boys and girls." I said quietly.

She frowned and twisted her mouth, staring up at the sky pensively. "Is that bad?"

"No, it isn't." I shook my head.

Claudia stared at me with a calm expression and pushed her messy hair away from her face. "I think I like boys and girls, too."

I stared at her with a small smile. "That's fine."

"Yeah. Mom says so, too." She looked down before getting up slowly and walking towards me.

My heart clenched before she opened her arms and gave me a hug. Her head resting on my shoulder. "It's okay if you're sad."

"How do you know I'm sad?" I whispered, resting a hand on her back. I could feel her shoulders move up and down as she shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes old people look like they wanna cry, but they don't." She pulled apart and stared at me.

I frowned and chuckled. "I'm not old."

"Uhm, yes you are." She chuckled rolling her eyes. Whoa. Where did all this sassyness come from?

I pinched her stomach and she laughed. "Say that again."

"You're old."

I gasped and tickled her again, lifting her up and lying her down on the grass. She laughed and kicked her legs, trying to break free.

The last thing I had imagined today was that a nine year old girl could make me feel any better.

But she did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is it okay if I smoke?" I asked when the sun started to set. I had been hanging in there, but I really needed a cigarette.

"Yes, tesoro. I'll bring you an ashtray." Giulia said.

"It's okay, mom." Valentina, Ace's older sister stopped her. "I'll go. I'm getting fat from sitting down so much." She chuckled. I checked her out. She looked pretty hot to me.

I smiled at her before she could realize what I just did and stretched out my legs on the chair. "Did they hurt your hip?" Riley asked beside me.

"I think it was the fall." I explained.

"You need to tell Phil on Monday." She said taking a sip of her beer. She looked quite tipsy and it was cute.

"Who's Phil?"

"Your therapist. What did you think his name was?" She laughed confused.

"I don't know, I call him Monsieur Grincheux."

She cocked her head and frowned.

"Mr. Grumpy." I explained.

She snorted and covered her mouth. "Yeah, I can really see why."

Valentina brought the ashtray and I could finally "breathe" a little. Luca seemed way calmer now, he was playing with Marco, Ace's nephew, who was jumping on top of him as if he was a monkey and Luca was the tree.

"We're not adding a bounce house to our wedding." Ace said.

Martina laughed looking at Valentina's husband's -whose name I had totally forgotten- phone. He was showing them some pictures of his friend's wedding. "Why not? That looks so much fun."

"I thought it was gonna be a child free wedding." Ace mumbled.

Morgan, who was getting asleep in her father's lap, raised her head with a frown. "I can't go to your wedding?"

Everyone laughed.

Martina did not. "Of course you can, sweetheart." She then looked at Ace. "First of all, we haven't discussed the children free thing. I want it to be fun for every one. Kids included." She started. "Plus, that bounce house it's not only for the children." She said as if it was obvious.

"Hello? I'll be mad if you didn't let me bounce on that." Luca informed as Marco pulled at his ear.

"See?" Martina smiled at him.

Ace sighed resigned as he tried to fight the smile on his face. He wrapped his arm around Martina's shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "Whatever you want, babe."

Martina's eyes then landed on me. "What do you say about a wedding in Italy, Nico?"

"Sorry?" I asked a little confused as I let out the smoke.

"You'll come to our wedding?" She asked again.

I glanced at Luca confused but he was just smiling at me. "Uhm, I don't know, I..."

"Come on, it'll be fun." She insisted.

"Yeah. Think of that bounce house." Riley added with a laugh.

I smiled and took a sip of my water. "I'll think about it."

"June fifteenth. Don't make any plans." Ace pointed at me with his beer.

"What we really need is a swimming pool." Martina added staring at the swimming pool in the house.

We all looked at it. Valentina jumped excitedly. "Oh yeah!"

"Oh my god, I love that. Riley add that to our list." Luca said from across the table to his girlfriend.

"What list?"

"Our wedding list." He smirked staring straight at her.

Riley blushed deeply. "We're not getting married."

He raised his eyebrows. "Yet."

She blushed even harder and tried to mask it taking a sip from her drink.

Letting my eyes wander around, studying all the couples in the backyard, I thought that maybe it wasn't that bad to have what they had.

Maybe love wasn't that bad.

I just hadn't known it yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys! So there you go, as you asked, a little bit of Ace and Martina there. I know it's not much but their relationship with Nico is still very recent.

Hope you liked it! Thoughts about it?

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote and let me know what you think in the comments ❤️