Chapter Text
Under The Tree
SiM
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0:35 ───●──────── 1:26
With that said, Bucciarati begins to recall the two's high school years together out loud...
A/N: my writing of their past will obviously be in more detail than what Bucciarati's saying for story purposes, in fact I'm starting before the two even met but you get the point
Four years earlier...
Abbacchio woke up to the sound of her alarm, the sound she hated with a burning passion, she hates it more than anything, she would much rather just sleep forever
But she reaches over to turn it off anyway, knowing how much trouble she'd be in if she tried to sleep in or skip school, especially on the first day of the new year
She sighs and groggily gets herself out of bed "fuck this..." she mumbles to herself but gets ready for the day anyway, it's not like she has a choice
After getting ready and skipping breakfast she heads to school, trying not to be angry at every single person she passes for no reason at all, it's not like they bumped into or talked to her, they're just minding their own business and she still hates them for no reason
At least she can use her shitty earbuds to block the world out by listening to (in his opinion) banger music
It's the only thing that keeps her sane at this point, well not the only thing but one of the bigger ones that she's actually allowed to do
However, something strange happens
As she walks into the school someone actually greets her
Most people just pretend she's invisible so the black-haired transfer student that is clearly trying to talk to her is odd
At first she assumes that she's talking to someone else but that's not the case since they're the only two in this hallway right now
Once she realizes that fact he takes out an earbud "Are you talking to me?" she still asks in case
The boy nods "You seemed lonely so I thought it should talk to you" he says
Abbacchio narrows her eyes, she doesn't trust the guy, I mean really what kind of person strikes up a conversation with the emo kid who also looks like she'd murder someone for no reason
"Well I'm not lonely, I'm fine." Leandra says back, she doesn't want to be friends with someone who would literally talk to anyone
"Calling you lonely probably sounded kind of derogatory huh..." the boy says before pausing "I didn't mean it like that, I mean, I don't know anyone here so I guess I'm not much different"
Abbacchio raises an eyebrow, now she's even more confused, what kind of person just admits shit like that. Her guess is that the other had a great childhood, of course she's mistaken but how would she know
"My name's Bruno Bucciarati, nice to meet you" he says, putting his hand out for Leandra to shake
But will Leandra shake his hand? Hell no!
"Uh... Right..." is all she says in return
"Oh- sorry" Bruno puts his hand back at his side, he's definitely a lot more awkward now than as an adult, but that's expected in high school
"Don't apologize" Abbacchio feels a bit bad for the other now "I'm Leandra Abbacchio" she hates introducing herself but here we are
Bruno nods "Nice to meet you, Abbacchio"
Abbacchio does like that the other is using her last name rather than just assuming that they're friends now and calling her by her first name, so that's a point for Bruno
"Mm" Abbacchio still hates talking though so that is the answer Bruno's getting from her
Abbacchio’s a whole foot taller than Bruno at this point, just because Bruno’s a year younger, but their height difference will get less drastic in the future
"I'm guessing you're older than me, right?" Bruno says
Abbacchio just nods in response, she's never really liked talking, who knows if it's from her trauma, if she's neurodivergent, or maybe she simply doesn't like talking, but the reason doesn't really matter
"What are you listening to?" Bruno asks, honestly he's starting to get on Abbacchio's nerves, but she doesn't want to hurt him still so she answers
"Something... You haven't heard of it" Abbacchio says
"I might have" Bruno responds
"No." Leandra doesn't feel like exposing her music taste, she thinks it's embarrassing
"Oh, uhm, ok then" Bruno says, just giving it up, not wanting to be pushy, especially to someone he just met
"I have to go" Leone says before just walking away, not bothering to wait for a response and just heading into the washroom. It's her morning routine at this point, mostly just to put her makeup on where her parents won't be able to find out about it
If they found out that she was actually trans she'd be dead, which is why she's been keeping it a secret for about two years now, she's out at school, not that it matters since no one talks to her but that just makes it easier so she doesn't meet someone who decides to tell her parents or something
She knows that not every girl wears makeup but it helps with her gender dysphoria so she just wears some cheap makeup she was able to buy without anyone noticing
Namely, she wears a purple lip gloss and black eyeliner, it’s not much but it still helps, so it’s worth it
She wishes that she could have some trans-affirming wear but she definitely couldn’t buy that without her parents noticing so this is the best she has until she can finally move out
Once she’s done applying her makeup honestly better than most teenage girls she exits the washroom and heads to her first class
For some stupid reason they still do those introduction things at the beginning of the year so she just excuses herself to the bathroom a little bit before it's her turn to that she doesn’t have to introduce herself to the class before returning soon after they finished with the last person so they completely forget about her, just how she likes it
About an hour and a half earlier...
Bruno wakes up in the morning without the need for an alarm, he has such a habit of waking up at this time already that he just does it
He gets out of bed and stretches, almost forgetting that he’s starting at a new school now
In all honestly, the reason he had to switch schools in the first place was because he started a fight with another kid, but they deserved it, they were a drug dealer after all, and that’s one thing that Bruno really hates
He’s just hoping that he won’t freak out like that again so that he doesn’t have to switch schools more than once because of being expelled
Bucciarati puts on some clothes that are more normal than his usual attire, mostly just because he doesn’t want as much attention to be on him until he figures out what the rest of the school is like
Bruno then heads out of his room to the kitchen where he wishes he could be greeted by his parents, but sadly that can’t happen, his mom lives too far away and his dad is still really injured from when he was shot
That also means that Bruno’s pretty much been taking care of himself since he was twelve, he does have help from others sometimes but usually it’s just him
It’s just become normal to him now so he doesn’t mind the fact that he pretty much missed most of his childhood
He then cooks himself a fast breakfast that he eats just as quickly as he made it
He then exits his apartment then the main exit to walk to school, he wouldn’t have been able to do this in the small fishing village he used to live in because the nearest school was in the neighbouring town, well they couldn’t drive there either since they didn’t own a car but you know.
Since his father needs to be monitored constantly now they were moved into Capri where his father spent most of his time in the hospital
But despite all of the thoughts running through his head he keeps trekking on, just trying not to think about it so that he can hopefully have a good day
When Bruno arrives at the school, however, he has no idea where he’s going, which pretty much just causes him to stand around for a while, trying to figure out where he’s going
He does become a bit late because of this but that’s not his fault
He sees someone walk through the door, they seem like another student, probably around six feet tall
But they seem a bit lonely, so Bruno decides to talk to them to help with that... Well he’s also hoping to ask them for directions but you know
“Hello” Bruno says to the taller person, not realizing that they have earbuds in and can’t hear him
The other takes an earbud out "Are you talking to me?" they ask, seeming confused
Bruno nods "You seemed lonely so I thought it should talk to you" he says in a friendly tone so that it doesn’t come off as rude
He notices the other narrow their eyes, they look suspicious, oh dear, did he mess this up already?
"Well I'm not lonely, I'm fine." they say
Ok, actually that makes a lot of sense now, not a lot of people would take being called lonely well
"Calling you lonely probably sounded kind of derogatory huh..." Bruno says before pausing to think of the best way to say this without making everything worse "I didn't mean it like that, I mean, I don't know anyone here so I guess I'm not much different"
He likes being honest with people, even if it’s something that most people would try to hide, he doesn't care all that much
They raise an eyebrow at him, clearly even more confused now, welp, apparently he’s not the best at talking to people like this
"My name's Bruno Bucciarati, nice to meet you" he says, putting his hand out for the other to shake, hoping he can turn this first impression around
"Uh... Right..." is all they say in return
"Oh- sorry" Bruno puts his hand back at his side, wow. Could this get any worse?
"Don't apologize" they say "I'm Leandra Abbacchio"
Ah, so she’s a woman, Bruno really wasn’t sure, well the other looks pretty stereotypically male but he just had a feeling that she wasn’t one and he was correct
Bruno nods "Nice to meet you, Abbacchio" Maybe she likes respect? Ya, that’s what we’ll try next
"Mm" Abbacchio replies
So... Was that a good or bad reaction? He really doesn’t know but he’ll probably find out soon so he doesn’t bother thinking too much into it
"I'm guessing you're older than me, right?" Bruno says, struggling to find another topic to talk about
Abbacchio just nods in response
Well... She doesn’t seem too annoyed at him so he’ll take that as a win
"What are you listening to?" Bruno asks, genuinely curious, he’s open to most kinds of music, not that he’ll like it all but there isn’t a genre he really hates
"Something... You haven't heard of it" Abbacchio replies
"I might have" Bruno responds, again, he’s open to a lot of music to he might know about whatever she’s listening to
“No.” Leandra is more firm this time, meaning Bruno shouldn’t push any further
"Oh, uhm, ok then" Bruno says, just giving it up, he doesn’t really feel like getting punched either, that seems like something Leandra would do to him if she was annoyed with him
"I have to go" the tall woman says
“Oh, alright, b-” he cuts his own sentence off
Oh. She’s already gone he thinks to himself with a light sigh, that was a disaster, what a great way to start out in a new school
Well, maybe he’ll have more luck with someone else, though, he had a feeling that that girl was really hurting so he wanted to help, but it doesn’t seem like that will be happening anytime soon...