Ten years, a whole decade had passed since his high school graduation, since he lost his twin sister in that fire. In many ways, he had lost a lot more than just a sister that day… he’d lost his best friend, his confidant, his wombmate… in the beginning, it was just very difficult to fathom the idea of growing without his sister by his side. Lui had managed to keep it together for Gio’s birthday, but once he got back home and locked himself in the safety of his own room, he collapsed in on himself, sobbing, as the pain flooded his senses once again.
Losing a twin could be comparable to losing both of your legs, in that while you yourself may remain alive, the magnitude of such a loss may make you not want to remain alive without them. Like his legs, Aline has been with him since birth, and no matter the reassurances of other people, the repetitions that his life wasn’t over because of this loss, it certainly felt like it was.
His broken leg slowly healed, and he progressed from confinement in a wheelchair to the more freeing crutches, to a cast he was pretty much walking in until anything even resembling a cast was removed and his leg was almost as good as it was before the damage. It was upsetting though, for him to have such clear evidence of the time that went by, while his sister’s body would just slowly decompose in its grave. It was almost impossible for him to be able to separate the idea of his growth without thinking of the lack of growth that Aline was experiencing, the growth that she would never get to experience.
That year, that first year without her was the most difficult for him. In more ways than one, it was a year of learning how to walk again, learning how to support himself without Aline’s presence at his side. It was like getting lost in the middle of the ocean and having to get back to shore without any navigational gear. Some days the waters were rougher than others, some days it felt like he was barely holding on to the boat, but whenever he felt like letting go, there was someone pulling him back into it and so they paddled on.
One of these rescues was the birth of his little sister, Daiane.
Lui had deferred his first year of college, thinking it was better to stay with his family for that year with Aline’s passing having been so recent, and so he was there when she was born, just as he’d been for all of his other sisters. He got to hold her small body in his arms, peering down at her while she blinked slow at him, her soft brown eyes wide as she took him in. “Hi,” he whispered softly to her, a small smile curving his lips. “Welcome to the world chiquita.” In the midst of the happiness he felt at her birth, there was also a small tint of sadness from the thought that Aline wouldn’t ever get to see her.
Having a newborn baby in the house was a total shift in their realities, as it had been a while since their household had such a helpless baby to attend to. For Luciano though, the extra responsibilities created by the child provided him with a way to distract himself from being submerged in the pain of losing someone who had been so important to him. Spending time with his family, in general, was helpful as they were all going through the same thing as him, but with Daiane, there wasn’t anything that he was expected to do or say, besides give her food, love and change her diaper. He could just talk aloud, speak the words on his mind without having to hear a response he didn’t want. There was something so simple about Daiane as a baby that was immensely comforting at the time and it was her total dependency on him and her caretakers, as well as the honest love she had for anyone who paid her even the littlest piece of attention, that helped him to move out of his cycle of self-deprecation and back into a more healthy routine—one in which he wasn’t constantly replaying the events of #that day.
The other rescue, the strong hand whose grip remained tight on his even through the worst of the storms, was Gio.
He had pulled Lui from the wreckage, and in a way, it was like he never let go of him again. There were moments at the beginning in which he felt like he wasn’t the man that Gio deserved, times where he withdrew from him, thinking that would be better for him but Gio would never let him go far. He was unfailingly by his side, a steady constant as he moved through each day. It wasn’t until Gio explained to him that he too was a twin, and had his taken too early from him too that Luciano finally understood why Gio was so understanding of everything he was going through. It was then that he realized that this wasn’t going to scare him away, and it was here in which the last of his defences finally crumbled, and he let himself be sad and be truthful with this sadness.
The truth of the matter is that Aline’s death broke him, left him shattered and in pieces across the floor. Healing wasn’t easy, it was messy and delicate and took multiple tries before he could even reach a semblance of who he used to be before her death. Even now, it would be inaccurate to say that he has completely moved on from her death; he wouldn’t ever really move on, but now he could feel positive emotions without feeling guilty, could share memories of her without crying. Although the distinct feeling that a part of him was missing wouldn’t ever fully go away, it was subtle now, and some days he forgot it was even there.
The years after, he attended a college within the state so he could remain relatively close to home, studying to become a teacher—elementary though, he really was not itching to have to teach a bunch of seniors if they were anything like the seniors at Cerulean High. He did really like working with children though, so as far as that went it was a no-brainer.
Christmas break, junior year, he went on a vacation for the holidays with Gio. It had been a pretty busy year, full of student teaching, so this little escape was even that much more rewarding. Not to mention all of this uninterrupted time that he would be getting with Gio during this holiday. Even after all these several years of being together, Lui was not any less in love with him than he was in high school, so yes, it excited him to be going away with his boyfriend. He hadn’t been expecting anything huge, mostly just relaxing, maybe some sightseeing or something in the new city. For certain though, he definitely didn’t expect to be walking away from the vacation as an engaged man though.
It was a nice suite, the windows serving as a connection between the floor and the ceiling, the setting sun casting its hues of violets and dark blues into the room and across the two men who cuddled together on the couch. A warm silence had drifted in between them, but Lui let it be, rubbing slow circles on G’s shoulder.
Gio whispered his name, the noise just loud enough for him to hear. Lui tilted his head down towards him, his attention refocusing onto Gio. “Yeah?” And the absolute last thing that he had expected Gio to say were the words that fell from his mouth: “Marry me.” His brows furrowed in surprise and a shocked laugh escaped his lips. Thinking he must’ve misheard, he answered “what?” but Gio gave a small smile and repeated himself. The laughter faded from his face as he realized that Gio was not joking, and was in fact being dead serious. “Gio-” He murmured, but then Gio continued on, saying he would do it properly, and proceeded to go down on one knee, even sliding one of his own rings off of his finger and holding it up.
The smile spread across his lips as Gio said his little speech. He had definitely dreamed of marriage with Gio, knew that one day he would marry this man and spend the rest of his life with him, but he hadn’t thought of it happening anytime soon. But here Gio was, on one knee, telling him that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him, and Lui couldn’t think of anything he wanted more. To him, this proposal was perfect—maybe it wasn’t flashy, and maybe Gio didn’t have a proper ring (which, I mean, is lowkey required for a proposal but anYWAYS), but it was genuine and honest and that’s really all that he would’ve wanted. “Gio… tesoro… I love you, more than anything. There’s no one else that I’d rather be with, no one else I’d rather wake up beside and go to sleep next to. I want to grow old with you, so can you stop almost dying please?” He laughed slightly, bending down to press a kiss against Gio’s lips. “Of course I’ll marry you,” he added softly, gazing at him tenderly.
So they got married within the next year. It was a beautiful ceremony, absolutely perfect… though they could’ve gotten eloped in Vegas and he would still have thought it was perfect. It really didn’t matter to him, he just wanted to get married to the man he loved, and at the end of the day that was exactly what he got. The only thing that would’ve made the day better would’ve been if his sister was there, but he knew that she would’ve been so happy to see the two of them getting married. It felt like… maybe she was smiling down on him from, well, wherever she was now.
Now, they’ve adopted Mila, the sweetest little girl, and he loves her beyond words. Becoming a father has been a wild experience, but he loves it so much, and even more, he loves seeing Gio with her. It’s precious, really, watching him play with her and give her all this love. Everyday, he finds another reason to love Gio more.
All in all, these have been a pretty good ten years for him. Even with his stepfather’s tax evasion scandal and then his diagnosis with Alzheimers a couple of years after, Luciano has been more happy than not and that’s the goal, isn’t it? The reunion today was an interesting concept, and he wasn’t sure what to expect with it. Maybe it’d be nice to be reacquainted with the people he knew from high school, or, at least to see what they’re up to now.
“Here we are,” he murmured as he got out of the car with the husban. He reached for his hand, intertwining his fingers with Gio’s. Lui knew Gio wasn’t totally looking forward to it, as his high school years weren’t filled with all good times, but he was unbelievably proud of everything that Gio had accomplished in these ten years, and he felt like Gio should be too. He couldn’t say that he enjoyed every moment of his senior year, especially not its ending, but all of it had led them to where they were now, and he couldn’t be more thankful for that.
Heading onto the yacht, he looked at Gio, a slight smile gracing his lips. “Can you believe it’s already been ten years since high school, since… everything?” Lui chuckled slightly, his eyes dancing across the venue. “It feels like yesterday sometimes—remember when you took me to that storage unit where you first told me about how you were into drag? And now here we are, ten years and 2394856327 of your drag shows later and you’re practically a superstar.” His smile was adoring and affectionate, but the look he gave his husband was even more so. “Don’t forget us when you’re internationally famous, okay?”
@CerealKiller idk why this is so long anyways bye
