Luca Vitale is a high school student and a main character in Be Dazzled, a 2021 YA romance by Ryan La Sala. Luca is a soccer player who’s also secretly into anime and video games, two hobbies his parents don’t really understand or approve of. Unfortunately, his parents also disapprove of his bisexuality.
Because of this, Luca hides much of his true personality at home. He won’t openly watch anime or play video games, and he definitely won’t share his burgeoning interest in cosplay and crafts, which his parents see as stereotypically feminine and therefore inappropriate for the athletic and masculine Luca.
Though Luca is good at keeping himself a secret, things get more complicated when he meets protagonist Raffy Odom. Raffy doesn’t judge or shame Luca for his interests and instead offers to teach him new crafting skills, which Luca is thrilled to learn between make-out sessions. While the boys are able to date in secret and work on cosplays together for a time, their relationship splinters as Raffy increasingly demands artistic perfection; Luca’s parents also begin to suspect that Luca is lying about his whereabouts. Raffy and Luca have a major falling out just prior to cosplaying together at Blitz Con, and then they don’t speak for months.
That lasts until Raffy and Luca find themselves competing against each other at Controverse, a fictional convention that hosts a major cosplay competition. Though Raffy and Luca once talked about competing together, Luca has teamed up with Raffy’s former friend Inaya, which feels like an added betrayal to Raffy: Luca is willing to cosplay with a girl. This makes Raffy feel like his gender and sexuality were the real problem, not the cosplaying.
Though Luca and Raffy argue early in the competition, they remain civil for the latter portions and are even forced to work together for the final round, in which the remaining teams must create a brand-new outfit together from scratch on live TV. This forced proximity helps Luca and Raffy reconnect on the things they love—and it helps them talk through, albeit briefly, the things they struggle with.
Luca’s mom eventually voices her support for her son, in both his hobbies and his sexuality; she invites Raffy over for dinner to show him that they no longer need to hide their true selves.