“Mom! I’m home!” He called out.

A woman with long black hair and the same vibrant green as her son’s left eye appeared. Even if Davide hadn’t just called her mom there would have been no doubt of their relation, she had the same face shape, the same nose. She looked like if Davi was a chick. She had a flannel tied around her waist and looked like she was probably interrupted unpacking,

“I want to hear all about mio capolavoro’s first day! Also, hello there, are you a friend of Davide’s?” Her Italian accent was a bit surprising.

“Yeah, I’m uh, my name is David Caputo,” He held out his hand.

She shook his hand, “David and Davide huh? Now that sounds like a duo asking for trouble.”

David laughed a bit nervously, “Oh no ma’am, just a couple of good students.”

“I’m teasing ragazzo, promesso.”

David nodded,

“Who is this?” A tall and very wide man walked into the room. He had a stern face, short brown hair, and hazel eyes. He wore military dog tags around his neck. His eye color and resting bitch face was about the only thing he gave to his son, appearance-wise. He was an extremely imposing figure,

“Uh, I’m David Caputo, sir.”

“Ugh, don’t sir me. Not in the army anymore,” He said with no inflection in his voice.

“Uh, sorry s- uh. Mr. Maloney.”

“You can just call me Martin, kid.”

David nodded, he still somehow felt like he was doing the wrong thing, “Yeah uh, sure Mr- Martin.”

“So, you one of Davide’s classmates I’m guessing?” Martin asked, still with that hintless inflectionless tone.

“Oh no actually. I just uh, saw him in the hallway and thought he looked cool.”

Davi turned towards him and tucked his bangs behind his ear with a bit of a shy smile,

“You think I look cool?”

Was it not obvious? “Uh I mean duh, have you seen yourself, Davi? You look like the lead singer of a punk band what other word could I possibly use to describe you?” He motioned to Davide’s earrings.

“I dunno I just,” Davi scratched the back of his neck, “never been called cool before.”

David shrugged, “Well you’ll probably have to get used to it. You’re by far the coolest guy in our damn grade, probably the whole school.”

“You’re a very sweet boy David,” Mrs. Maloney said.

David shrugged, “I’m just being honest. Also may I uh, use your bathroom before I head out?”

“Not staying?” Martin asked.

“No uh, I didn’t ask my dad if I could hang out at someone else’s today and he’s probably wondering where I am,” He explained.

Martin nodded and turned to his wife, “I’m going to get back to unpacking.”

Davide told David how to get to the bathroom and he slipped away. The bathroom looked like it was one of the first rooms the family completely unpacked which made sense, piss waits for no man. The soap was honey lavender scented, did he even know what scent his own soap was? Why was he taking notes of every little detail in this place? He shook his head and went about his business. He spotted a pencil on the counter while he was washing his hands with the previously mentioned honey lavender soap. He leaned in to get a bit of a better look at it. It was an eyeliner pencil, based on the edgy lettering of the brand name it was probably Davi’s. David supposed it did make his eyes stand out. Not that Davi needed much help in that department. His eyes were unlike anything David had ever seen before, his wearing guyliner just made them even more attention-grabbing than they already were. Why was he thinking about a guy’s eyes this hard? He shook his head and dried his hands off, he really needed to be going home. The Maloneys probably had a bunch more unpacking to do that he was delaying with his continued presence.

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David walked out of the bathroom. Davi’s dad had vanished, but his mom was still around, ripping open one of the boxes in the living room. Davi was helping her.

He waved, “I’m gonna head out, thanks for letting me use the restroom.”

Davi rushed over and hugged him. His body was surprisingly warm against David’s especially given how skinny he was. Not that he was like, thinking about Davi’s body under his clothes or anything, that would be weird. David chuckled a bit but hugged Davi back rubbing the other guy’s back a bit,

“No need for dramatics man, I’m gonna see you tomorrow.”

Davi pulled back and looked shy again, “I know but I just. I dunno wanted to thank you for like, showing me the ropes and shit? I wouldn’t have even talked to Shirley and Marcus today if you hadn’t introduced us so like, thank you for being my first friend like, ever?”

Davi looking at him like that made David feel a unique swelling of pride in his chest. He smiled softly at Davi,

“Sure man. It’s my privilege. See you tomorrow,” He patted him on the shoulder and waved goodbye to Mrs. Maloney again as well. Then he got in his car and cracked his knuckles before he started the trek home. He turned on the radio, it was some sappy pop song. Normally he would change the station but he didn’t care enough. He listened to the high-pitched woman’s melody about dancing or a hot guy or maybe it was both as he made his way home. He might have even found himself singing along a bit, what the hell he never sang. The song ended and so did whatever strange feeling had come over him at that moment. It wasn’t too long before he arrived home. His house was admittedly pretty damn nice, it’s what happens when your father is a CEO of a major tech company. It was a two-story older home that was completely updated inside. He pulled into the garage and got his shit out of the trunk. He kicked his shoes off, he didn’t like how the cold tile felt against his feet but he liked hearing lectures about trekking dirt into the house even less.

“I’m home!” He said as he closed the door to the garage behind him.

“You’re later than expected. Lots of traffic?” His father, Armand Caputo asked. He did not look up from his laptop. He was tall but not imposing in the way Davide’s father was. He had mousey brown hair like David did but slightly greying at the edges from stress.

“I met a new kid and gave him a ride home. Ended up talking to him and his parents for a bit. I must have just lost track of time, sorry.”

“New kid huh? What’s his name?”

“Davide Maloney. His family just moved here.”

“I am aware of what being a new kid entails David and, wait Maloney? What’s his dad’s name?” His father looked up at that, his tired grey eyes assessing him,

“Martin. He apparently grew up around here.”

“Oh, that fucking prick. We went to high school together,” His dad said with a huff.

“He seemed kind of…Intense. Turns out, he just got discharged from the army,” David said. He wasn’t sure why Davi’s father wigged him out so badly but he did.

“He enlisted right after high school. Guess he had to come crawling back now.” His father scowled.

“Did you uh, know him well?” David asked as he took a seat at the glass dining room table across from his dad.

“We had at least two classes together every year. So I’d say we were more than acquaintances.”

David elected not to say how that sounded like very much the definition of acquaintances.

“I think his wife is an immigrant. She had a bit of an Italian accent,” David said.

“How do you keep finding immigrant kids?”

“They…go to school with me?” David hoped this did not become A Thing like it did when his father found out Shirley’s mother immigrated from Colombia.

“Armand, if you didn’t want our son having a diverse friend group you could’ve sent him to Catholic school.” David’s mother, Eunice said from the kitchen, where David heard the distinct sound of her electric wine opener at work.

“Nothing against them it’s just what are the odds of him finding two?”

“Not that low apparently.”

“Well regardless. How was your first day aside from this new kid?” His dad ran his hand through his hair, a light brown that was starting to grey at the edges.

“It was fine. Mr.Dunlop was impressed to hear my dad runs VitaTech.”

“As well he should be,” Father got to his feet and brushed some nonexistent dust off of his grey suit jacket, “Did he mention what sort of things you’ll be studying this year?”

“Probably more programming, like Java and stuff.” He chuckled a bit, “He did say definitely no robots, though.”

Armand snorted, “Oh, you wouldn’t be smart enough for that anyway.”

David blinked a bit, “Wow uh, thanks, dad.”

“Just being honest.”

“Do you have a lot of homework?” Eunice came into the dining room. Her light blonde hair was tied back in a bun. Her brown eyes looked tired as usual. She must have just come back from a run since she was still in workout gear and David knew she’d let her gym membership lapse over the summer.

“Mostly need you guys to sign syllabi saying I won’t like, cheat and stuff.”

Eunice reached out, “I suppose I can handle that.”