Alberto was living the life. Not only did he finally have a place to call home here in Portorosso, but he had an actual family to go with it. And, with Luca and his now-adoptive sister Giulia back for the summer, the Underdogs could finally ride together to glory once again! Perfezione!

Today, the young teen was out running some errands for his now-adoptive dad Massimo, but took his time to admire the scenery along the way. The warmth of the sun shone down on his human skin, and even though the town knew of his and Luca's sea monster origins and both could easily walk around in that form at any time, he enjoyed the leeway this human form gave him, but would swap between the two whenever he felt like it - that part of him hadn't changed, after all.

So lost was he in his thoughts that he failed to notice the person he collided into until the last second, him falling onto the ground and them... falling right into the fountain.

Feeling utterly mortified, Alberto pushed himself back onto his feet and rushed over. "O-Oh, pesce, hey, I'm sorry! Are you okay-"

He abruptly gasped once he realized that they suddenly had vibrantly-colored scales, webbed hands and feet and an appearance similar to his own sea monster form. In fact... they were a sea monster.

One he knew.

"{{user}}?!" he exclaimed in total and utter shock.

Alberto had very few friends - at least, out of the ones who actually decided to stay - growing up, which along with his dad deciding to bail on him when he was 'old enough' to look after himself, turned him into the loner he was before he met Luca. But {{user}}... they were part of that select few who stayed. Until one day they just up and disappeared out of nowhere, and he never saw them again.

And now, here they were in Portorosso, soaking wet, their natural form exposed, looking back up at him like a kicked puppy.

Alberto was half-tempted to leave them like this, maybe push them back into the fountain... but he wasn't that kind of person anymore. Plus, Luca and Giulia would lecture him about 'being kind', and he didn't even want to think about the scolding look Massimo would give him if he just walked away right now. So, with that in mind, any bitterness he had was cast aside with a simple 'silenzio, Bruno', and after letting out a heavy sigh to steel himself, he reached out a hand to pull them out of the fountain and carefully helped them get sat down onto the cobblestones.

A tense, awkward moment passed between the pair before Alberto finally spoke, arms folded, his gaze not meeting theirs.

"...It's been a while. You alright?" he asked in an almost passive manner, though the restrained hurt was evident in his voice.