Chapter Text
"You... kissed Fugo? Our Fugo?"
The woman across from Giorno asked with a raised brow, and Giorno quickly grimaced at the tone in her voice. Trish was finally back in Naples after a tour, and the two had gone out to a small café to catch up. Trish had shown up in casual clothes, grey sweatpants and a crop top alongside a bandana that covered most of her hair, and sunglasses so she wouldn't be recognised. Giorno just showed up in his usual outfit. Maybe he should've worn someone more lowkey? Well, it didn't matter now. After exchanging pleasantries and a bit of small talk, Giorno confided in her about that night at the club.
"Yes...I did. Please do not say it as if it is a bad thing." He responded, watching the pink haired woman stir some sugar in her teacup. Trish let out a small snort, taking the spoon out of the cup and leaving it on the table next to the napkin holder.
She was honestly surprised that Giorno had finally made a move. Even if the blonde himself hadn't realized it until now, it was quite obvious he had a thing for Fugo. The way he talked about him couldn't be described with any word that wasn't 'homoerotic', in her opinion. Giorno's protests whenever she teased him about it never deterred her. If he didn't want to be made fun of for an obvious crush, then he shouldn't make it so obvious.
"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just...surprised, is all." She started, pursing her lips in thought for a second before continuing. "Was he a good kisser?"
The blonde let out a small huff at her words while she just laughed, taking a sip of her beverage.
"That's not the point, Trish." He deadpanned, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
"Come on. Humour me." She pressed on, a teasing smile crossing her features.
Giorno bit his lip before he let out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose before responding. "...Yes. He was good."
Trish let out a thoughtful hum at his words, putting her cheek in her hand. "Damn. I didn't know he had it in him." She murmured and then turned back to Giorno. "And you're upset because?"
"I..think I've made things uncomfortable between us. He's been avoiding me unless it's anything work related lately. I'm scared that he only kissed me back out of some obligation." He confessed, a sad expression coming onto his face.
Giorno couldn't help but keep thinking about that since they kissed. What if he ruined everything? What if Fugo didn't feel the same way and kissed him back only out of thinking that he owed it to him, due to the fact that Giorno was his boss? What if he only kissed him back because he was drunk and regretted it the next day? His thoughts were running wild, and he felt himself going crazy at all the possibilities.
Trish immediately noticed that Giorno was overthinking things, and she quickly snapped her fingers in front of his face to break him out of it.
"Hey, cut that out. You know that's not true. First of all, if he didn't want to kiss you, he'd probably just punch you in the face." She said, attempting to make a bit of a joke to cheer him up. When she saw that he chuckled a little, she smiled and continued. "And second, it's Fugo. You know how he gets..He probably just needs to think it over."
Giorno pouted at her words, before an idea came to his mind. "Could you ask Sheila if he's told her anything?" He asked, and Trish snorted at his question.
"Why would I do that?" The pink haired woman questioned back, raising an eyebrow at her friend's request.
"Because she's Fugo's best friend and your girlfriend." He retorted, intertwining his fingers and putting them on the table as if he were in some business meeting. Muscle memory, he supposed.
"You're her friend too, you know." Trish reminded him, folding her arms across her chest as she spoke.
"I'm aware. But she's more likely to spill it to you rather than me. Especially if Fugo asked her not to tell anyone."
Trish murmured something under her breath and shook her head. "I'm not putting my relationship in the middle of your mess of communication, Giorno."
She said, and then let out a sigh at Giorno's disappointment.
"Look..just give him a bit, alright? If the person I was into for ages kissed me out of nowhere, I'd freak out too."
She said, and Giorno immediately furrowed his eyebrows at her words. Someone he's been into for ages?
"What do you mean?"
Trish stared at him blankly for a moment before she let out an over exaggerated groan, a few other people turning to look at the two of them at how loud the pink haired woman was being.
"Sometimes I seriously forget how dense you are, Gio. Fugo's been into you for pretty much forever now. Have you seriously not realised?"
The blonde was completely taken aback by her words. Into him for ages? Fugo? No. Giorno prided himself on his ability to read people, so if Fugo liked him in that way, he definitely would have noticed by now. Surely.
"No. Why do you say that?"
"Well..he just gets all stupid when you're around. Staring at you and stammering. Not to mention how he's the only one who calls you GioGio." She spoke like she knew that she was right. And everything she said got Giorno thinking.
Fugo did act like that, didn't he? He wasn't the type to stutter, as he always talked like he was sure what he was saying was correct, but whenever Giorno was around, he did speak differently. More nervous like. And he really was the only person who called him GioGio, even though he'd asked almost everyone to call him that instead of boss. He thought of every other little thing that came to his mind aswell, the way Fugo immediately snapped his gaze away when he was caught staring, the way he always made sure everything was done perfectly for Giorno, even when they were just at a restaurant and they brought him white wine instead of red. How he remembered little things that Giorno told him about himself that someone else would deem small.
"I.."
"Finally getting it now?" The pink haired woman snorted after noticing the change in her friend's expression. Smirking over the rim of her cup.
He stared at her in silence before his expression completely changed into one of fiery determination, putting his hands flat on the table. "I need to talk to him."
"But after this, right? We're still waiting on the pancakes." Trish reminded him as she sat back against her chair.
"Right, of course."
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Fugo hit the mat under him with a loud thud, letting out a low, gravelly groan as he tried to get his bearings together. The woman above him let out a sigh full of nothing but disappointment as she walked forward, holding her hand out to help him get back up.
"You suck, dude."
Sheila E said, and Fugo immediately grimaced as he snapped his eyes back open. The two were in Fugo's office, having pushed some of the furniture back to make a small clearing right in the middle of the room. They put a few gym mats on the ground and made their own little training area for hand to hand combat.
"Shut up. I'm just a bit rusty. And you have a hell of a fist."
He tried to defend himself as he took Sheila's hand and got back up on his feet. The black haired woman snorted at his words, crossing her arms and watching her friend straighten himself up.
"Yeah, right. You look like total shit. Even a gust of wind could knock you down right now." She retorted, putting her hands on her hips and eyeing Fugo up and down. "You gonna tell me what's wrong? You don't normally just take a beating like this, and you've been weird for a few days now." A hint of worry crossed her expression as he spoke, and Fugo immediately felt guilty over that.
The man ran a hand down his face, thinking of how to word what was on his mind without sounding like a total fool. Sheila was gonna make fun of him anyway, he just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be as bad as it could be.
He wasn't really looking forward to how the woman would reply to what had happened, as his crush on Giorno was a running gag between the two of them for years now. But then again, calling it a gag wasn't entirely the right term. It was more of a thing that Sheila brought up whenever she needed to shut Fugo up, or whenever she just wanted to make him miserable just because. Their friendship was good. Honest.
"..You remember how I asked you to go to the club with me the other night? And even though you said no, I went anyway?" He started speaking, walking forward until he got to his desk and making himself comfortable on top of it. The woman just nodded in response, following after him and sitting next to him as she waited for him to continue.
"Well, I ran into Giorno. He was there too. It was..fun. We talked, had a few drinks...a good time." He continued, lowering his gaze while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh my god. You kissed him, didn't you? That's why you've been so messed up!" She exclaimed. A big grin coming onto her features while Fugo groaned, his face flushing red from embarrassment.
"He kissed me, first of all!" He attempted to stand up for himself, but was cut short when Sheila threw a hand around his shoulders, bringing him closer to her side.
"It doesn't matter who kissed who, Fugetto. What matters is that it finally happened. I can't believe you had the balls to do it on a random Wednesday. I should've been there." She teased, and the white haired man huffed, looking off to the side to avoid looking at his friend.
"So, now what? You're dating now?" She questioned, and Fugo immediately deflated at the question.
What was going on between him and Giorno anymore? He didn't even know himself. He had been avoiding him like the plague, just dropping off paperwork here and there, but other than that, he didn't speak to the blonde whatsoever. Giorno didn't talk to him either, so it was probably just a drunken kiss. Nothing more. He couldn't deny that the thought of that killed him a little. But honestly, who did he think he was? Expecting Giorno to be into someone like him was insane.
There was a small moment of silence before he responded. "Well..no? I don't think so, atleast." He said, and Sheila immediately pulled back a bit to face him properly, making a small hissing sound.
She squeezed his shoulder a bit before speaking "Oh..shit. That's why you're so down." She murmured, and Fugo just nodded in return, keeping his gaze on the floor.
"Have you like...you know. Actually tried to talk to him about it, though? Like how normal people do whenever something like this happens?" She deadpanned, and the sarcasm in her voice had Fugo rolling his eyes. She was right, though. Why did she have to be right?
Fugo took in a small breath before his next response. "No. I haven't. I don't know how to bring it up." He replied.
"...Uhuh. Of course you don't." She commented, and got a harsh glare from Fugo in return that had her biting her lip to keep in her laugh. "Okay, okay, sorry. But you can't deny the fact that this isn't the stupidest situation ever. You're both adults, and yet you can't even talk to eachother over some stupid kiss. Seriously, man up and talk it out. There's no way he kissed you for no reason."
The man just crossed his arms. Talking to Giorno about this sounded awful. What if it was just a mistake and Fugo got his hopes up for nothing? These thoughts were eating him up inside, but Sheila was right. He had to talk to him and get some closure atleast.
"Okay. Okay, I'll try to talk to him about it. I don't know when I'll get the chance, but..." He started, and was immediately stopped when the door opened, and Mista poked his head in.
He looked at the gym mats on the ground, but didn't say anything about them. Instead, he focused on Fugo and Sheila on the desk.
"Hey, Fugo, Sheila." He greeted them with a small nod. The pistols were floating around him, but were surprisingly quiet for some reason.
"Hey, Mista. You need something?" Sheila responded, pushing herself off the desk and stretching a bit.
"Nothing much. Giorno just asked me to get you, Fugo. He's in his office waiting for you." He said, and Fugo's eyes widened a little.
So Giorno wanted to see him. In his office. Right now. That was good. Great, even. Totally great.
"Ah..okay. Thanks, Mista." He said, but stayed seated on the desk as Sheila snapped her head to stare at him. If Mista noticed how tense he got, he didn't comment on it, just nodding instead.
"No problem, man." He replied and did that stupid salute that Fugo absolutely hated and left. Fugo could've sworn the bastard did it on purpose.
Sheila just stared at Fugo in silence before letting a small chuckle, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth to do her best to hide it. "Come find me after you're done, yeah?" She said, obviously trying not to laugh.
Fugo didn't grace her with a response, instead muttering under his breath as he got off the desk and marched out of the room and towards the blonde's office.
"Try not to make a total idiot out of yourself!" She called out as the door slammed shut.
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"It'll be fine. This will be just a nice and easy conversation. It'll be over with quickly. It'll be fine. No need to worry. I took over the mafia at age fifteen. I can ask someone out and do it successfully, damn it."
Giorno muttered to himself while pacing around his office, his shoes making a tapping noise against the hardwood floors as he walked in circles. He stopped Infront of one of the bookshelves in the room, leaning down and staring at a tank that was home to one of his pets, this specific one being a small lizard.
He was a rather beautiful thing in Giorno's opinion. A green anole he'd called Roberto. He found him wounded in the streets one day, and his heart broke at the sight of the poor animal. He couldn't help but to take it in and care for it. He was a weak man when it came to animals, sue him. Roberto was great company anyway.
"It'll be fine, right? Surely." He continued, and Roberto turned to look at him as if he understood what he had said. The reptile stared at the blonde and then flicked his tongue at him, almost in reassurance. He let out a small snicker at the action. Oh, how he absolutely adored this little guy.
He wondered what Fugo was doing right now. Had Mista found him yet, or had he gotten distracted with something? Would Fugo even bother to come see him? What if the idea of being alone in a room with him put him off? What if he'd completely ruined his chances with Fugo? Just because there was a possibility that Fugo liked him back, that didn't mean he liked the kiss.
But then again, what if he did like it? What if what Trish said was true, and he just needed time to think it over, and now that they would talk about it properly, he and Fugo would..date? Get into a relationship? The thought of that made him insanely giddy. The idea of holding Fugo's hand, of calling him his boyfriend, of taking him out on dates and just listening to him talk..it made him insanely happy. He had never really felt anything this strongly before. It almost scared him.
He let out a sigh and opened his eyes again, and jumped a little at how the lizard had gone closer to the glass, almost pressing his face against it. Giorno let out a hearty laugh and grabbed the lid off the tank, leaving it on top of a couple of books. He reached his hand inside of the enclosure and let Roberto crawl on his arm, smiling at how he closed his eyes and nuzzled his head against his hand when Giorno gently rubbed his head.
"Adorable." He said under his breath, and then his head snapped up when he heard a knock, a pause, and two more knocks. He recognised the pattern immediately. So Fugo did show up.
"Come in." He called out and watched as Fugo entered the room and closed the door behind him. He felt relief and dread at the sight of the white haired man, but he didn't let it show, instead doing his best to keep his usual demeanour.
"Fugo. Thank you for coming." He spoke in his typical calm and collected tone, doing his best to hide just how nervous he was. He did a pretty good job at it, he thought.
Fugo glanced at the lizard on his arm but didn't say a word about it, watching as the blonde put it back in the tank and petted the reptile's head before putting the lid back on. Did Giorno even know how cute he was? Was he doing it on purpose? He quickly shook his head to stop that train of thought.
"Of course. What did you need, Giorno?"
Giorno hummed and walked over to his desk in slow, powerful strides, making himself comfortable on the chair behind it and clasping his hands together. He took in a breath to collect his thoughts before speaking.
"I think it's about time that we...talk. About the other night. Why don't you have a seat?"
"Oh, uhm. Yeah, yeah. Right. We...we probably should, shouldn't we? Right, right."
Fugo quickly made his way over to the chairs Infront of Giorno's desk. It was honestly a bit surprising the mad hadn't tripped over his own feet with the way he was walking.
When the other man sat down, Giorno furrowed his eyes as he got a closer look at his face and noticed a bruise right under his eye. He immediately leaned forward, cupping his face firmly and running his thumb over the bruise. "What happened? Who did this to you?" He asked, not commenting on how Fugo's face got red at the contact. He was too preoccupied with the injury on his face, alarms already going off in his head.
There were a few seconds of silence before Fugo finally opened his mouth, but no words came out. He kept opening and closing it, almost like a fish, before finally speaking properly.
"I-I'm fine, GioGio. I'm fine. It's nothing. I just did a bit of training with Sheila. That's all. Turns out I'm really rusty."
He said, and Giorno's mouth changed into a small 'o' shape. He immediately pulled his hand away from the white haired man's face, as if his hand had burned. Fugo kind of missed the other man's touch on his skin, but he didn't say anything.
Giorno let out a small cough, looking off to the side and rubbing his cheek a bit before responding
"Ah, I see. I apologise. I overreacted. I just got a bit worried."
Fugo let out a breath at Giorno's words. The blonde always got like this whenever anyone he valued was hurt. Always wanting to be at the front lines to help, even if nothing could be done. He guessed it stemmed from that mission all those years ago, from what he'd been told.
"It's fine. No worries."
They both sat in silence for a while, neither of them really knowing how to begin this conversation. Both of their gazes were on the ground, unable to look eachother in the eye. After what felt like hours of silence, but was probably only a few seconds, Giorno finally took in a breath and spoke.
"I had a great time the other night. Talking to you and even drinking that much, which I'm not usually a fan of, was good. It was fun, and I meant it when I said we should do it again, if you'd like that. But in all honesty, I will not apologise for kissing you, as I do not regret it. In fact, I'd do it again. And I believe that you would too."
He spoke bluntly, waiting to see if Fugo would say anything back. When the man across from him remained silent, Giorno continued speaking.
"I don't want you to feel obligated to be comfortable with everything just because I'm your boss, so don't feel forced to accept my feelings if they're not as reciprocated as I believe. But I simply cannot act as if nothing is going on after that. I like you very much, Pannacotta. That night was a bit of an eye opener for me, I think. I can't pretend you're just a friend to me anymore. So, if you'd like, I would love to take you to dinner. Not as a work thing, but..as a date."
Fugo stayed frozen the entire time Giorno spoke. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Giorno really was into him. It hadn't been a drunken kiss or a one time thing. He really did like him. He'd imagined this so many different times, in so many different ways, but it was finally happening. He didn't know if he wanted to scream, or just nod, or whatever else.
"I...wow."
He said stupidly instead, and immediately cursed himself. Giorno Giovanna, beautiful, sweet Giorno Giovanna just asked him out on a date, and he just said wow. He really was the biggest idiot on the planet, wasn't he? No amount of IQ could make up for this, he thought.
He watched the way Giorno's expression just slightly fell. If it were anyone else, his face would look the same. But not to Fugo. He instantly noticed the change in the blonde's eyes. Fugo immediately sat up straight, his eyes going comically wide and his face getting redder and redder as he replayed the blonde's words in his mind.
"I-I mean, yes! Yes, I'd love to go to dinner with you! I'm sorry- I'm sorry, I just..I can't believe this is like..happening right now. I'm sorry. This is a lot to take in."
He spoke quickly and frantically, waving his hands around like a madman. He took in a deep breath to attempt to settle himself down, before speaking once again.
"I have liked you for..so long now, Giorno. Honestly, if all it took for this to happen were a few drinks, I'd make sure you always drank more than one glass of wine."
He said with a nervous chuckle, and flushed even more at the laugh he got out of Giorno before continuing.
"I would...love to go out with you, Giorno. And the feelings are very much reciprocated, I promise. The kiss was great. I just got a bit..surprised, I suppose."
Giorno immediately brightened up once again at Fugo's words. So he did like him back. He owed Trish another fancy breakfast, but he couldn't even be mad at that. He nodded, a small smile grazing his features.
"Good. How about tomorrow? Libeccio, at 8?"
"That sounds great. I'll be there, GioGio." Fugo replied, unable to keep a grin from coming onto his face at the sight of Giorno's own smile. Did Giorno know just how pretty his smile was? He hoped he did. But if he didn't, he'd just tell him tomorrow. They were gonna go on a date, afterall.
The blonde nodded, his smile still on his face as Fugo pushed his chair back and slowly got up. "Great. See you then, Fugo."
The moment the man left the office, Giorno spun around in his chair and put his hands over his mouth, letting out a high squeal. So this did go well, all things considered.