Chapter Text
Giorno Giovanna had accepted magic as a part of his daily life, incorporating it seamlessly into his routine once he finally had a grasp of it at the age of seven.
Before then, the small and strange occurrences that seemed to happen at his will were things he had initially brushed off as just coincidences; he had no other point of reference for it. However, at every ‘coincidence’ his stepfather happened to catch, he would hit Giorno extra hard once his mother had left. Giorno would hope they would lessen, but the occurrences just steamrolled on, as if with a mind of their own.
The neighborhood kids bullying him was just the foam icing on the cardboard cake that was his life. He much preferred his mother’s indifference.
Giorno had quite literally walked by trouble on his way home from school a few weeks after his seventh birthday. A man covered in blood had seemingly passed out beside a cracked building, his hat still firmly in place. Giorno hesitated for only a split second, but began to reach out, stopped only by loud voices coming closer. He misdirected the group’s attention easily. He felt similar to the man.
The grass had gotten much taller; Giorno hoped that his father hadn’t somehow seen that.
A couple of months later brought change to Giorno’s life. The man approached him during a light rain, expressing his gratitude, then simply walked away. Later that evening Giorno found a small, black bag casually resting on his bed: containing a long, yet thin, wooden box, and three books, with a post-it on each scrawling a number. First, ‘A Brief History of Magic.’ Second, ‘How to Explain Magic Abilities to Your Confused Child.’ Finally, ‘An Introductory Book of Spells.’ The first one’s post-it including a “pls read these in order, b4 U open the box. ty.”
Giorno’s father had stopped beating him soon after, the neighborhood kids became extremely friendly, and he would sometimes spot the man casually observing him.
It had all begun to make sense in Giorno’s mind.
Giorno knew first impressions were everything. It wasn’t impossible per say to change one’s perception after the original meeting, but it was best to just make an excellent first impression. Giorno took his time getting ready most mornings with that in mind. However, today was special; he needed to look perfect.
An initially scalding shower to open his pores that, after applying conditioner, he turned icy to properly close them. Following a cold blow dry, Giorno styled his bangs into three flawless spirals above his forehead; finishing his hair off with a firm, yet puffy, French braid. His hair had only been blonde for less than two weeks, but he had already mastered styling it. Next was ten minutes of dental care. Sunscreen. Uniform.
Within roughly two hours, Giorno was presentable and confident about starting the trip to his first boarding school.
He had already packed the day before, so all that was left was to catch the train. Luckily, his stepfather was already out on one of his many petty magic dealing hustles, leaving only his loving mother to wish him a heartfelt goodbye.
“Oh, was today the day you finally leave for that creepy hick-side boarding school?” A nod. “Ah! I’ve been waiting for practically forever to turn your room into that personal yoga vlogging studio. Make sure you get on the… uh… train? Also, don’t get expelled and come crawling back.” With that, she turned back to finish applying her mascara.
Giorno supposed twelve years was quite a bit of time to sort of raise a child.
At the doorstep, Giorno paused to pull out his jet-black wand. Making use of his free hand, he gently gripped the handle of his suitcase using his fingertips. A self-assured wave over said suitcase, matched with an equally calm ‘Reducio,’ resulted in it quickly shrinking to the size of an apple. He then returned his wand to his robe pocket, placing the small suitcase into his other pocket. Much less troublesome, in many ways, for the twenty-minute walk to the station.
Giorno stopped only to grab a final gelato from his favorite shop, Gelateria, on the way; one scoop each of chocolate and strawberry.
However, he kept a casual lookout on the off-chance that he would happen to see that man with the long coat and hat. It had been almost a full year since Giorno had last seen him, but he had never stopped checking his surroundings.
He had given Giorno hope when he needed it most, helping end his physical and mental abuse at the hands of many, fueling the resolve he needed to pursue his dream at the Speedwagon Academy of Magic.
Giorno Giovanna is going to become a Wiz-Star-d.