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Sheila E could hold her poker face pretty well, even though she held up a hand to hide her smile at times, Trish was not so good, her expression revealing her feelings. Mista didn’t even bother and was sniggering every time he even looked at Fugo. Cannolo kept his straight face as he cleared his throat.
“We think this might be the effects of a stand, and we have sent out people to investigate it.” He said.
Fugo nodded, as he wished that he could just sink through the ground, neither participant seemed to think that this was as urgent as it really was. They were in Giogios second office. Not the one where he worked or had meetings, but the one he used specifically to be able to have meetings with his closest personnel (and friends). And Giogio himself, was happily sitting in Fugos lap. He was currently braiding the hair in Fugos neck while humming lowly, surprisingly unaware of the situation.
“So, what information do we have so far?” Sheila E asks.
“Well, there have been a few cases that can be related to this one. Someone would suddenly find themselves falling for a person around them for a period of time, believing that they have been something akin to lovers for a long time. Changing some of the victims’ memories to match. Then when realising this, they find that almost everything they own are gone. A pretty smart way for a crook to be honest, distract the victim and then take their stuff easily. The whole situation, kind of screams stand user doesn’t it.” Cannolo reports from the manila folder he has open in front of him.
Mista snorts loudly at that, Fugo sends him one of his deadliest glares, but he can’t do much more with Giogio in his lap, Mista sniggers even more when he realizes that and Fugo curses him in his mind.
“And the plan from now on is?” Trish asks. “Because I start my tour in a week, so I can only help out so far.”
“We try to find the stand user while tightening security around the headquarters, not more else can be done now. The two involved will just have to deal with the situation.” As logical as it sounded when Cannolo said this, Fugo did not want to believe this. Out of all people, why was he the one in this situation? And out of all people, why must it be Giogio, the person of his affection?
“What I can’t understand…” Giorno suddenly says as he looks up at the people around the table. “Is why you all are making this into such a big deal, we have been together for a while now, you all have seemed to have forgotten that.” Giorno talks with that calm sincere voice of his, the one that was impossible to mistrust, there was no way Giorno was lying.
Yet, there was the obvious fact that this was not true, there was no way that they would ever be dating, Giogio would never like Fugo in that way. Fugo brought a hand up to his neck and found out that Giorno had sealed his braid with a rubber band and that there were flowers in it.
“So that’s the plan for now? Just ignore…this?” Fugo asks.
“It seems like that yes, I’ll go out and find more information, the faster we find this guy the faster it’ll be over.” Cannolo says while he stands up and then exits the room.
Giorno looks back at Fugo. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” he asks and backs away a bit, the look on his face kind of kills Fugo inside.
“No, it’s okay.” Is the only thing he can say because he can’t deal with being the one that put that expression on Giogio. The small smile of Giornos face could have very well lit up a whole room and Fugo fell a bit harder for this literal angel as Giorno took a napkin from the table, turned into a flower, and put it behind Fugos ear. Fugo might have done a tiny ‘aaaahhh’ sound at that because suddenly Mista was laughing loudly.
Fugo knew that Mista knew of the crush he had been trying to keep secret since Giorno had taken him in. Mista had gotten to known it for sure the day a few weeks ago when he had sat down next to Fugo in the library and simply said “So, you have a crush on Giorno huh.” And Fugo had spluttered out a “Hunh, what, no!” whereupon Mista had told him that there was no way he hadn’t and then coaxed Fugo into spilling the beans.
Mista had been respectful about it, a few points and nudges here and there, but he had kept quiet about it and made sure not to tease Fugo too much.
And now that asshole was laughing like no tomorrow because of the situation Fugo was in. Fugo made a mental note that Mistas’ death would be slow, painful and look like an accident.
After that, Sheila E excuses herself to check up on the security, Trish did the same, but with the notion that she was going to practice. Mista stays for a little while longer, first to calm down and then going through the work for the day with both Fugo and Giorno before leaving them to pick up the essentials he and Giorno would need for the meetings that day, effectively leaving Fugo and Giorno alone in the room.
It was quiet for a while before Giorno rests his arms on Fugos shoulders and starts humming again, it felt calm and serene, until Giorno backed off again.
“Are you really okay with this? You seem… distracted. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, okay.” He asks, again with that expression that makes Fugos stomach heavy, he starts to move off of Fugos lap when Fugo circles his arms around Giornos waist and hides his face into his neck. He feels ashamed, but can’t help to take advantage of the situation now, after all Giorno will probably hate him after this is cleared up and Giornos memories are back to normal.
“You will probably regret this later, but it’s ok.” Fugo says and Giorno is once again hugging him and humming.
Their moment is cut when Mista returns to the room, telling them that it’s time for him and Giorno to move out for the day, and that Fugo should start his own day. Giorno leaves Fugos lap but presses a kiss to Fugos cheek that makes Fugo splutter before following Mista out of the room.
During the next week, Fugo learns a lot of things he didn’t know of Giogio. He would have thought that dating Giorno would be changing everything, but apparently, it did not change that much out of their normal schedule. They still worked like before, Giorno doing all his boss things like meetings with other bosses and taking care of the politics of the gang, Fugo did his job as a grunt, doing missions and helping where it was needed.
They would meet up during evenings and lunches. This is where most of the things were different, but at the same time not. They would still play chess and read books. But at times Giorno would also cuddle up next to Fugo while they were reading. Or just put down his book and take a nap while cuddling up to Fugo.
Giorno was apparently very affectionate towards the one he would be in a relationship with, Fugo learned. While Giorno still didn’t show much emotion in his face and vocally he did in his actions. But even there it wouldn’t be big things, a hug here and there, a few kisses on cheeks and forehead. Giorno had trouble with expressing himself, he had said to Fugo once while they were cuddling.
Over the course of the next couple of days, Fugo slowly but surely felt himself accepting that this was his life. It was nice… being in a relationship with Giogio.
But he knew that it soon had to come to an end, who was he fooling? There was no way that this would hold on or even be something after the stand user was found. Giorno would come to his senses, be disgusted with how Fugo had gone along with his delusions and then he would ask Fugo to leave him, first leave the mansion and live in one of the smaller headquarters and then make Fugo leave on a long mission in some other country so that he wouldn’t have to see him again. He even knew what kind of face Giorno would make at him as soon as the stand effects were gone, he wouldn’t be angry or scornful, but betrayed and sad, betrayed that Fugo would have taken advantage of the situation that Giorno was stuck in against his will.
The longer the stand attack held, the more Fugo was ready to leave. Most of his clothes were neatly packed into a suitcase instead of the wardrobe, he would write small notes to leave to the ones closest to him. A few books were taken from the library, not to be returned.
But the stand user must have been quite elusive. As nothing happened for another week. And Fugo was starting to become anxious. The situation he was in wasn’t bad per se. he was happy, being in a relationship with Giorno was almost a dream come true. Having Giorno look at him like he was worth something, worth the world even. But knowing that this situation would soon disappear and that that could happen anytime kept the anxiety coming back.
A week and a half into the ‘Problem in paradise’ – as Mista calls it. They actually do find the guy, or well, girl. Cannolo had found her, and he and Sheila E had been dispatched to bring her into Passiones’ custody.
When Fugo sees her, she is bound to a chair in one of the interrogation rooms.
She is not what he had expected really. Now he knew that he should never judge a stand user by looks, his run in with the narcotics group taught him that. But he really wondered what this girls goal had been. Especially since there hadn’t been an attempt at theft, not on any of Passiones’ buildings.
She looks at them with defiance in her eyes and Fugo catches himself wondering if she even knows what kind of trouble she has gotten herself into.
They start talking to her nicely, but she won’t respond. When they start threatening however, she spills everything.
The stand is called ‘Friday’ and when she calls it out it reminds Fugo of a big moth, but its bright green with big purple dots. Apparently, she is a small-scale thief who uses her stand mostly as distraction, no harm intended. There have even been some actual relationships starting between some of the people that she has used it on, though, there have also been a few breakups when the one affected fell for someone other than their partner.
And its by that point where Fugo stops listening because the situation hits him. In a few minutes, as soon as they have decided what to do with her, the stands effect will be broken and his relationship with Giorno will go back to what it was, or more likely, it’ll turn worse. Because even if Giorno won’t remember what happened, the others will fill him in and he will know that Fugo has taken advantage of him while he was not his normal state of mind.
Fugo vaguely registers that the others seem to strike some deal with the girl. He looks up just in time to see Giornos eyes clear up and become a brighter blue, like there had been a curtain of fog over them.
Giorno turns to him, with an unreadable expression on his face and Fugo bolts from the room. Hearing himself stutter out some excuse before quickly turning around walking the fuck away.
Mista found him halfway across town, with a suitcase near the train station.
“I can’t.” Fugo confessed, when Mista had gotten him to sit down at one of the cafés in the train station. “I can’t face him, not after that. Not ever.”
“So, what is your plan now. Run away and never come back? Emigrate to Antarctica and live with penguins for the rest of your life?” Mista seemed to be calm about the situation as he sipped his coffee. “Because if you do you have to name two of them Belladonna and Sven, just saying.”
“Why would I name them that?”
“Why not? They are cute they deserve nice names.”
Fugo let out a snort. He didn’t know if it was the stress or the absurdity of the situation that made him do it.
“But on more serious notes now Fugo. Don’t go.”
“Why on earth would I stay? I screwed up everything.”
“I don’t think you did. Chill out Fugo.”
Fugo hit the table with one of his hands, Mistas’ cup clinked against his plate.
“You don’t get it! How can I possibly face him now?”
“Because you did nothing wrong and Giorno knows this.”
“Mista I did everything wrong. I took advantage of him when he was not of his own mind!”
“You did nothing wrong. I will talk to Giorno and he will understand. Just come home with me. No one wants you gone again, it took us long enough to find you last time. And you know we will find you again.”
“Not if I go far enough.”
“We both know there isn’t a ‘far enough’ here. We will find you. So, you can either follow me back now, or we can have a game of cat and mouse for a while and I swear I will physically drag you back to us this time. Cause you have nothing to prove this time, you did nothing wrong.”
“I still disagree with you there you know.”
“You may do, but that doesn’t change the fact. Do you want something to drink while deciding, cause I might need to get something for Sex Pistols to snack on.” And surely enough the six bullets were nagging around Mistas’ hat.
In the end, he did follow Mista back to the mansion. Though, not before Mista and his stand had eaten their fill. Mista offered to buy him something, but Fugo didn’t feel like eating. When they arrived home, Giorno was nowhere in sight, but Fugo guessed that had something to do with how Mista had been texting on the ride home.
Mista had even made sure that Fugo had unpacked his bag before giving him an assignment with filing reports that had been sent in during the last week. Nothing that Fugo would do usually, as his primary job was to guard Giorno. But it was not unheard of, Fugo had actually spent quite some time down in the filing room when he had just re-joined Passione. Back then it had probably been because they couldn’t trust him near Giorno at first, but it just took a while before he was re-assigned into Giornos bodyguard and one of his advisors.
He guessed that the reason Mista had sent him down here this time was because of Fugo himself. Filing reports were not something that took a lot of his mind to do, enough that he could ignore the situation with Giorno, but not enough to wear him out. Another reason for Mista to send him here was that the filing room was out of the normal way. Reports had to be read by either Giorno or someone of his highest Capos before being filed. So no one went down there unless they were going to leave of or file reports, it was mostly empty. In a roundabout way, Mista had made sure that Fugo had something to do and that he wouldn’t get away with leaving since he would have to move through the whole mansion to get out.
Mista picked him up in the evening, taking him to his room for eating instead of the dining hall. Before he leaves he tells Fugo about his schedule for the next day, most of it is administrative jobs, nothing is with Giorno.
Mista knows what he is doing, and that putting Fugo close to Giorno before they are ready can end in disaster. And Mista does not want to find either himself or Giorno face to face with a plague monster just because Fugo panicked. Keeping them separated for now will pay off in the future.
Neither Fugo nor Giorno really knows how to handle these kinds of feelings. He knows it, and he has also seen how they have acted around each other the last few months. This has been going on way before the stand attack, but Mista never knew how to make them deal with it.
Now there might be a way for them to work it out, without causalities or hurt feelings. But for it to work out in the best way, there needs to be some careful orchestrating from his part.
Another week passes and nothing, Fugo honestly doesn’t know if that is a good or bad thing by now.
He has started to roam around the gardens during his free time, that way he can easily avoid anyone who would be searching for him. It had made him a bit calmer to be there, open spaces devoid of others usually did, less lives for Purple Haze to destroy. Sure, plants were life too, and to destroy a garden made by Giorno would suck, but better plants than people.
This day he was walking around in the west part of the garden. Not where he would usually walk since this part of the garden mostly consists of flowers and not trees. It was beautiful, however, all the fragrances from the flowers together, were sickly sweet to him and just reminded him of his own stand. When he accidently told Mista of this, the other had urged him to walk there more often, to get used to it, because “You if anyone need more colour in your life.” After that he tried to go down to that part of the garden at least once a week, and it slowly had become a habit.
So here he was, trying to get used to the scent and enjoy himself.
It almost worked most of the days, but not this one. After these last weeks he almost felt like he was Atlas, carrying the world on his shoulders. But he quickly discarded that thought, his problems were probably not that big when compared to other things. He should be able to bounce back by now. Did he really let one heartache take him out this long?
A drop of water broke his thoughts, and the drop was soon followed by another, and another, and a few more and soon he was standing in the middle of a light drizzle. As he was already getting wet, he didn’t bother to run inside, instead opting to walk to a gazebo he knew were a bit away.
As he walked through, the rain became heavier, and after a while making it hard to see what was in front of him. He looked down at the ground as he kept walking, letting the path take him to where he knew the gazebo should be.
As he stepped into the gazebo and the rain stopped, he tried to slap away the water on his arms. It didn’t work that well though.
“Oh…”
The voice hit him, and he looked up, even before seeing the face of the voice he knew who it was. There is absolutely no way he would mistake that voice.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you would be here Giogio.” He said, looking away from the other boy in the gazebo. Giorno was sitting in one of the plump armchairs, a book still open in his lap, his head turned to the entry.
“That’s not something you need to apologize for. I was merely sitting here reading. But you did enter at a good time, I was about to do something about this myself soon.”
Fugo stood awkwardly just inside the entrance to the gazebo. He wondered if it was better to just walk away and ignore the situation, one part of him screamed that, yes he should walk back to the mansion and hide in his room because he was not ready for this, another part of him reminded him that he would need to do this, to walk away would just be to postpone it to another day. A third part just straight up screamed in his head. Against two, or at least one of the voices, Fugo turned to Giorno.
“Why now?” Why not earlier, or later? Hadn’t Fugo entered this gazebo by chance? Was this whole thing being orchestrated by Giorno from the shadows, but he couldn’t possibly make the rain happen?
“I thought I had left you to your thoughts long enough now. Won’t you sit with me?” Giorno says, looking straight into Fugos eyes.
“You know I cannot refuse you.” Fugo looks away but sits down on an armchair next to him anyway.
“Is that because of me being your boss or because of me being me?” Giorno asks and Fugo honestly doesn’t know how to answer that, so he doesn’t, instead he looks out at the roses surrounding the gazebo. Since the gazebo is sitting on top of a small hill, you can see most of the gardens from here. There is a great view, even in the rain.
Giorno seems to take his silence as an answer and they continue to sit in silence because Fugo has no idea of what to say or do.
The rain kept smattering against the roof of the gazebo, creating a calming rhythm above them, and making the awkward silence easier for Fugo to deal with.
“How are you feeling? About it all, I mean.” Fugo asks after noticing that Giorno wouldn’t start this conversation.
“How do you think I should feel?”
“I don’t know, betrayed, angry, hate me?”
“Why would I feel that?”
“Because I took advantage of you!” Fugos’ fingers dig into the armrest of his armchair, trying to keep his temper in check. “You weren’t in your usual state of mind and I took advantage of that!”
“Is that all you think happened?”
“Yes, what else? That girls stand put some weird thoughts into your mind and then I used that to force my stupid feelings onto you. How can you even be in the same room as me without being disgusted?” Fugo looked down on his hands, not daring to look up to Giorno.
“Did you listen when signora Miron explained her stand?”
There wasn’t any need for Fugo to actually answer, both knew that he had stopped listening due to his own mind that had been drowning out her confession.
“Her stand does not create feelings out of thin air, it takes the feelings the person affected already has and creates memories to suit those feelings.“
“But then how?”
“Do you really need me to spell it out for you now Fugo?”
Fugo was at a loss of words. Was this real, could it be what Fugo thought it was, or was this how it all went down to flames? All kinds of thoughts were spinning around inside Fugo. How would this affect their everyday life? Good? Bad? Was this the moment that Giorno would kick him out for good, or was there still a tiny chance that it would work out? No, that couldn’t be.
“Fugo, come back to me.”
Those few words pulled Fugo out if his mind. Giorno was sitting in that chair, the sun had started to break in from behind the clouds and the shine gave him a halo. Fugo almost fell for him again.
Giorno took that chance to move closer to Fugo.
“I do like you Fugo, much more than you think. If possible, I’d like to know if these feelings of mine are requited or not.”
He took one of Fugos hands and placed a light kiss on the back of it. The shock was shown all over Fugo, from the shake to the wide-open eyes. It was pretty cute to be honest.
“…yes.” Fugo said when he had some time to clam down. “They are, your feelings, I mean.”
“Thank you.” Giorno said, and Fugo couldn’t understand why, if anyone of them should say thank you it would be him.
Giorno leaned over to Fugo, placing his face right in front of Fugos.
“May I kiss you Fugo?”
Fugo slowly nodded his head. “Please.” He whispered.
And Giorno does.