Chapter Text
The big moving truck's engine was still rumbling when Mista, barely six years old, popped his head over the wooden fence, drawn by the noise and activity. In his young mind, a moving truck meant only one thing: the chance to get a new playmate. Without giving it much thought, he ran out of his yard and walked down the sidewalk, completely ignoring the busy movers hauling furniture inside.
Mista strolled into the front yard as if he owned the place, looking around for anything that might point to a kid living there. It would be a real shame if the new neighbors didn't come with kids to bring more fun to the neighborhood. He wandered a bit deeper into the yard to check if there were any toys among the cardboard boxes. Reading carefully, he checked the writing on each box until he spotted one labeled «toys».
Awesome! Now the side quest was finding the owner. On cloud nine, Mista straightened up, ready to turn around and introduce himself politely. As luck would have it, he bumped right into the quiet presence of the kid he was looking for. He looked about his age, standing perfectly still, watching him with a curious gaze.
"Hi! I'm Guido," Mista announced enthusiastically, rocking back on his heels. "We're neighbors now. I live next door. What's your name?"
The boy with light blonde hair didn't flinch, but he tilted his head slightly. His deep turquoise-green eyes stayed locked on Mista without uttering a word.
"Hey, I'm talking to you," Mista insisted, closing the distance between them. "What's your name? Do you like playing tag? I also have a soccer ball back at my house. Or a basketball, if you prefer."
Silently, the boy brought his hands up to his chest. His fingers traced a quick gesture in the air, paired with a wrist motion that struck Mista as strange.
"What are you doing? Is it a magic trick?" Mista tilted his head, confused. "Speak up, I can't understand you if you don't say anything."
The blonde boy pouted slightly and shrugged. Immediately, he pointed his index finger at his mouth and slowly shook his head. He repeated the motion calmly, making sure to get his point across. Mista blinked; it took him a few seconds to process the sign language, but comprehension hit him all at once.
"Oh... You can't speak," Mista whispered, dropping his voice for the first time all afternoon. His tone quieted down a bit, but his curiosity kept his energy from fading completely. "For real? Zero words?"
The boy gave a single nod, and without wasting any time, he turned toward one of the boxes sitting on the grass and pulled out a worn-out, hard-cover book. He sat down on the ground, opened it up on the lawn, and motioned for Mista to come closer.
Mista dropped to his knees beside him and fixed his gaze on the page the boy was showing him. There was a detailed illustration of a yellow flower. The boy pointed to the page with his finger and then tapped his own chest.
"Are you named... Flower?" Mista guessed with genuine hesitation.
The boy smiled for the first time, revealing a missing baby tooth. He shook his head while letting out a silent giggle—more like a little tremble of his shoulders—and pointed to the page again, this time at a specific spot: the letter «G».
"G... Gerbera... Is that your name?" Mista tried at random, but received another shake of the head.
Trying again, the boy pointed to the bold letter and flipped through the pages quickly until he found the section for «Iris». That was when Mista figured out what his new friend was trying to do.
"Are you spelling out your name with each letter you point to?" Mista asked.
The boy's eyes lit up. He nodded eagerly and gave him a thumbs-up in approval.
"So your name starts with G. Next comes I..."
The sound of rustling pages filled the air between them until he stopped at «Orchids».
"Gio!" Mista perked up, jumping to conclusions before getting an answer. "Wait, let me guess your name. Is it... Giorgio?" Another shake of the head. "I got it! Your name is Giovani, right?" Another no. "Hmm, then what is it?"
Once more, the boy flipped through the pages until he reached «Ranunculus». Mista gave him the green light with a thumbs-up, and the blonde boy flipped over to the page for "Narcissus," staring at him intently to see if he had gotten the message.
Mista spelled out the letters in his head: G-I-O-R-N... It struck him as a weird, incomplete name, and he couldn't imagine anyone naming their kid that. Then, with his tiny index finger, the blonde boy pointed up at the sky. Mista looked up and saw the bright sun blazing overhead... Giorn...
"Giorno! Is your name Giorno?"
Giorno nodded enthusiastically, and Mista celebrated with a wide grin, sitting down cross-legged beside him to get comfortable.
"Alright Giorno, I'm Guido Mista. Wanna be my friend?"
Giorno nodded again, a soft smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Mista looked at him with curiosity, but mostly with total excitement—he had just made a new friend, and he didn't even have to choose from four options to guess his name.
"So," Mista hesitated, "why didn't you just point at the sky from the start? I would've guessed your name way faster."
Giorno moved his hands and lips in that way of his that seemed like speaking. He definitely said something, though Mista still hadn't cracked that language yet.
"Giorno says he wanted to show you his favorite book about flowers."
Mista jumped, hearing a deep, warm voice behind them. Looking up, he saw a man who seemed absolutely huge from down where he was sitting.
"Hi there, Giorno's new friend! Do you live nearby?" Mista nodded slowly and pointed to the house on the other side of the fence. "Oh, awesome! That makes us neighbors. By the way, I'm Julius, Giorno's dad. What's your name?"
"Guido," he answered softly, still a bit stunned by the man's presence. He seemed friendly enough, but his sudden appearance had caught Mista off guard while he was so wrapped up in Giorno.
"Guido, nice to meet you," Julius said. "The living room is all set up and ready to go if you guys want to hang out in there while we unpack the rest of the house."
Giorno nodded quickly and gave Mista a soft nudge on the shoulder to get his attention. He pointed to the house, and Mista nodded without hesitation. They scrambled to their feet and ran inside hand in hand. Plunging onto the biggest couch, Mista took the chance to flip through the book until he found flowers that looked just like the ones his grandma planted.
"Giorno, do you really like flowers? My grandma has some like these in her garden in every color. You can come over and check them out with me sometime. We should go to the park, too—I bet there are way more there."
As Mista rambled on with stories and mapped out their upcoming adventures together, Giorno never took his eyes off him, a sense of wonder shining in his gaze. Not once had Mista been rude or awkward about his muteness, treating him just like any other kid. Mista didn't need him to speak to get what he was trying to say. So, even as the light outside turned to shades of orange, Giorno kept thinking that he had just found a great playmate—and a wonderful friend.