Chapter Text
Fifteen year old Narancia Ghirga was desperately searching garbage bins for food to eat. He knew he’d lost weight since leaving the detention center a year ago, and picked up an eye infection in the process. The infection still lingered, the eye red and inflamed, hurting more when light shone on it. The pain from the light sensitivity caused Narancia to constantly keep it covered with a piece of cloth he had found, a discarded towel with a few stains. Narancia was horrified about the knowledge of his eye infection, but did his best to make due.
Will I die like my mother? Narancia gulped in fear. This thought was constantly in the back of his mind but whenever he acknowledged it, he further feared for his life. Narancia would often reminisce about times before his mother died, he missed her and what that time represented. Being loved, not constantly starving, and belonging. He yearned to have it back but he knew it was in vain. A pit formed in Narancia’s stomach and a lump in his throat as he silently sobbed over missing his old life. Narancia rubbed his one exposed eye and resumed looking for food.
Narancia resorted to searching garbage bins and dumpsters since stealing food would often provoked restaurants and market vendors into beating him. He had no friends and no allies to help him steal from restaurants since going into the detention center. No one would stop Narancia from eating the scraps in the garbage. Nor would they acknowledge him. Until today.
“Hey what are you doing?”
Narancia jumped in fear and reflexively stepped away from the trash can. His heart was racing. His eye focused on a blond teenager standing at the end of the alley. The teenager was wearing a finely tailored turquoise suit with depressed circles on it. Under the jacket was a fresh pressed orange dress shirt and a yellow silk tie. The sheen from the silk shone brightly in the sunlight As Narancia’s gaze returned to the other boy’s face he noticed the surprised expression.
He must be about my age. Narancia thought.
“I- I’m. Nothing!” Narancia finally responded. His face flushing with embarrassment.
“Were you looking in the trash for food? You’ll get sick like that.” The boy replied harshly.
Narancia averted his gaze, looking at the wall of the alley. He embarrassed by what he felt driven to do just to survive. His stomach rumbled audibly.
“I’m just hungry.” Narancia said softly.
The boy approached Narancia and sat down cross legged on the ground of the alley, his back against the wall. He took out a small orange from one of his pockets and patted the ground, signaling for Narancia to sit next to him. Narancia hesitated and stood in place.
The boy rolled his eyes. “This is for you, talk to me.”
Narancia hesitantly sat next to the strange boy, mirroring the position except that Narancia had his hands balled into fists and resting on his knees, head down staring into his lap. He heard the boy next to him peeling the orange. The citrusy smell perfuming the air around them. A slice was presented in front of Narancia’s face. Narancia blinked in surprise. Hesitantly he unclenched his right fist and reached for the orange slice. He finally met the boy’s gaze and found him with a friendly, small smile on his face.
“My name is Panacotta Fugo, I apologize if I scared you at first. What’s your name?”
Narancia returned his gaze to his lap. He couldn’t remember exactly the last time he had fresh food, or food that didn’t have a couple maggots on it. The flavor and texture of the fresh orange reminded him of better times, his mother, his eyes teared up. His mother would bring home oranges from the market every time she went and make fresh squeezed orange juice just for him.
“N-Narancia. Narancia Ghirga.”
Fugo held the freshly peeled orange slice in his index finger and thumb and looked back at Narancia. Smirked to himself and handed the next slice to Narancia.
“How old are you Narancia? I’m fourteen.”
Narancia knew he didn’t look fifteen anymore. He lost so much weight recently his clothes dwarfed him and he had to use rope as a belt to keep his pants up. Even then they were bunched up at his waist and still sometimes would slip a bit from where he fastened them. Narancia thought about how gaunt his face in particular had become. His boyish face was no longer round and slightly chubby. His cheekbones jutted out. His eyes were sunken in from lack of sleep and weight loss, and obvious dark circles had settled below his eyes. Narancia never felt rested when he did manage to sleep. Narancia spent his days searching for food to silence his rumbling stomach. Rarely was he successful. Food scraps only nourished him so much, he’d try to eat around the mold on some food but sometimes he’d still get sick from something he ate.
“I’m fifteen.”
Fugo made an effort to hide his surprise, but it didn’t work. His eyes went wide and his eyebrows went up as he looked at Narancia. Fugo could tell by Narancia’s voice that he wasn’t a child since his voice was too deep; but he thought Narancia might have been thirteen even with his underweight condition. Fugo knew from looking at medical textbooks in his spare time in college that Narancia was severely underweight for his age and height. He handed Narancia the rest of the peeled orange. He felt sympathetic and wanted to help Narancia in any way he could.
Maybe Bruno could help. Fugo thought.
Fugo pondered his past. The pressure from his parents. Never having friends. College. Fugo could sense that this teenager was also hurt and abandoned by those around him. If this teenager was loved by anyone, he wouldn’t be rummaging through garbage for scraps. Fugo knew if he wasn’t as lucky and met Bruno, his time on the streets would’ve quickly lead to a situation much like Narancia’s. Fugo clenched his jaw as he wished he would’ve found Narancia sooner. His mind was made up. He stood quickly.
I’m going to take him to Bruno. He’ll know what to do.
Fugo reached his hand out to Narancia who was still sitting on the floor of the alley.
“Let’s get you a nice hot meal. I know I could go for one too.”
“B-But I can’t pay. I can’t give anything in return.”
“I don’t want anything from you. I want to help you. It may not seem like it, but I could’ve been in the situation you are in right now. That’s why I want to help you.”
Narancia couldn’t believe what he was hearing. No one had shown genuine compassion to him since his mom died five years ago. It felt like so long since he had opened his heart to anyone he could even potentially trust. Not since Bro. But this felt different than back then.
I don’t have anything to lose anymore.
“Okay, I’ll go with you.” Narancia reached out his hand to Fugo. With some effort he helped the other boy off the floor of the alley.
Little did Narancia know that this was the beginning of the rest of his life.