Archive of Our Own

The day couldn’t get any better for Guido Mista.

The date was August 15th, which meant a nationwide celebration of Ferragosto in Italy. Mista wasn’t one to think about the origins and reasons for celebrating it, a public holiday was a public holiday and he was going to take what he could get.

After a long, eventful day at the beach with his friends - which involved him nearly embarrassing himself in front of almost everyone in a game of beach volleyball -, Mista decided he wasn’t tired enough to not take advantage of the cool night breeze, the aftermath of the Ferragosto celebration still wafting in the atmosphere across his neighbourhood.

And so with his not-so-old folding camping chair tucked under one arm, and a chilled can of beer in his other, Mista made his way out his front door, greeted by the gentle breeze blowing his slightly oversized clothes, as well as the stubborn curls peeking from under his favourite beanie.

The first thing Mista noticed was the inky sky being plagued by several dots, most white, others varying colours and some even seemingly blinking. Mista always found starry nights beautiful, a shame some of his past dates had found stargazing to be “boring” and “uneventful” though. There was something about looking at the celestial bodies billions of miles away, yet looking like they were just out of reach, that calmed Mista. 

Maybe it was because he thought of the way the stars would reflect in the darkness of his own eyes, maybe it was because he and his mother would watch the stars twinkle together on the soft grass of their backyard, or maybe even because of the story he’d learned of in school of Neverland, a magical place beyond the stars.

Maybe he just enjoyed looking at the stars, and Mista found no problem with that.

Mista huffed and made his way to the backyard of his house, the soft grass tickling his feet in the open sandals protecting them, the occasional swing of either leg to ward off the tiny insects that collided with his skin as he walked. Probably a bad night to wear shorts, he could get bitten by mosquitoes and deal with the consequences later.

That was the least of Mista’s problems, though. He was going to enjoy this night the way he wanted. He’d already spent the day with his friends, watching TV didn’t seem like a great option, and as much as he liked reading some romance novels good books, this night didn’t feel like one to do so. He was simply going to admire the stars with absolutely no problems.

Finding a spot deemed good enough, Mista carefully set down his chair and opened it up, glad that it came with chair-arms so he could rest his arms while relaxing his back. Settling into the chair, Mista adjusted himself till he was comfortable, a satisfied sigh leaving his lips. He cranked the beer open with a lively *hiss* and took a swig, small droplets running down his chin in the process.

After lowering his arm, Mista let out a small unexpected burp, followed by a small sigh as he closed his eyes and slouched in his seat. Things felt too good at that moment, like everything in his life was in place. He had a decent-paying job at the local restaurant just down his street, he had great friends he considered family, his love life….was still being worked on but he’s getting there!

Eventually…

Opening his eyes, Mista focused on the stars above once again. It felt like the stars were putting on a show just for him. He noticed some lights flashing by at a lightning speed and Mista assumed they were shooting stars. His mother had taught him of shooting stars, and that whenever he saw one he should always make a wish, that someday it could come true. Ever since then, whenever Mista saw a shooting star with his mother, he’d make a wish in hopes of it coming true.

Mista remembers the nights he would wish earnestly on any and every shooting star he saw in hopes of his mother recovering from her serious illness. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to save her.

Mista shook his head in remembrance, a small smile on his face. He had cried when the news of his mother passing had reached him. From that moment onwards, he stopped wishing on stars. It was the one thing he had come to dislike, though not as strong as his dislike for the number four, which he thought was the absolute worst. 

No, Mista thought to himself. This was supposed to be a happy moment. His mother would want him to be happy and smiling, not dwelling on things that would make him sad. He took a look at the stars once again, later on closing his eyes as a reminiscent smile crept onto his face. Maybe he could make one wish tonight. For mama’s sake.

“I love my friends and all, they’re my family, sure, but it would be nice to...you know, have someone that I could also have that special connection with?” Mista spoke out, slight nervousness in his voice, like he was standing in the centre of the universe with the burning focus of the stars on him.

“I don’t mind if it’s a guy or a girl, just...I see my friends and other strangers being happy with their significant others and while I’m happy for them, it would be nice to have someone I could smile like that with too. So um...yeah.” Mista finished and let out a breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding. He felt just the slightest bit silly, but he was doing it in memory of his mother, so that was a consolation.

Mista was about to take another swing at his near-forgotten can of beer when something in the far distance caught his eye. Something abnormally bright. Mista set his arm down and squinted at the sky. From afar it looked like a really huge star that just seemed to be getting bigger and brighter. Huh, pretty, Mista thought to himself, dismissing the “star” as nothing important. 

That is, until the “star” looked like it was coming closer.

Slightly alarmed now, Mista sat up in his seat, a questioning look on his face. This wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen before from all the nights he’d watched the stars. 

The “star” was getting even closer and it looked like it was headed in...Mista’s direction. Panic rising even more, Mista tried calculating the path the seemingly falling star would take were it to crash to earth. Pointer finger in the air tracing the space between the star and space behind him, occasionally turning to look behind his back, Mista estimated that the thing would not  crash at his house, fortunately.

Unfortunately, it was set to crash somewhere not too far.

Mista, now on his feet, watched as the falling star got dangerously close to the earth’s surface, eyes wide in shock and feet rooted to the ground as he was paralyzed by fear. His brain barely registered that he should definitely get out of there, but the brunette really wanted to see what would happen next.

Mista watched as the “star” flew overhead, feeling the searing heat from the burning, the trajectory set in such a way that it barely missed the roof of his house and flew past.

BOOM!

The sound of an explosion and the feeling of the ground shaking got Mista to wake up from his daze and turn to where the “star” had crashed - inside the forest, not too far from the start of it, and Mista could see some sort of light shining from that direction.

“Shit!” Mista dropped the can of beer that had been in his hold all this time, not caring what happens to it, and began to run in that same direction. He should have stayed indoors. What was he doing? He wasn’t thinking clearly. After some running, Mista found himself at the edge of the forest. Where was everyone else? Did no-one else see or hear that?!

“This is a bad idea…” Mista said to himself but ventured into the forest nonetheless. Despite the slight darkness, the light of the moon provided some clarity on Mista’s path, not to mention the brightness of whatever had just crashed leading Mista to its destination before it could die out.

After walking for what felt like an hour, Mista finally found his way to a cleared up path, some trees looking like they were on the verge of falling over with the way they had been damaged on the sides, leaves scattered everywhere. Mista took note of a really large tree and saw how it had been dented badly, but definitely didn’t miss the shimmering form lying at the base of the dented tree.

Holy shit.

Mista’s mind was screaming at him to run the other way but reasonableness be damned, things were already bizarre as they were. Moving slowly towards the “star”, Mista observed as the blinding light began to dim, taking note of a physical form in the midst of all the shining. He could finally make out something that seemed hunched over, leaning against the bend of the tree, and tiny digits that looked like...toes.

Huh.

As the light continued the dim Mista took in more features, the apparent toes connected to seemingly human feet, which were connected to pale legs that didn’t seem to have a single scratch or blemish on them. The light had mostly died down and Mista was close enough to make out that the form was in a crouched position, torso and head tucked away behind long, slender legs. As the last bit of light died down, Mista could make out a mess of hair where the head would be - blond.

What the fuck?

Was this a human being?

What the fuck?

“A person falling out of the sky? Impossible…” Mista muttered to himself, not quietly enough apparently, as the figure before him slowly started to move.

Mista paused in his tracks, unsure of what his next move was. Of all the things he expected to find crash landing at night - or even any time of the day - he didn’t expect... this. 

A grunt and a stir came from the person in front of Mista and rather than moving away from any potential danger, the brunette chose to stay still and observe, his interest increasing by the second. He decided to stop being useless and do something, anything.

“Hello?”

Stupid. Of all the possible things he could say, it had to be that. Mista watched as the star - no, the person in front of him stirred some more as if waking up from a long slumber, unfolding their legs and stretching it out alongside the arms, and Mista found himself looking the person over.

Wait a minute, is that-

Not even the night air could keep Mista’s face and neck from warming up. ..

That was a dick. This was a guy. And it had just dawned on Mista that he had no clothes on.

Mista turned away as the guy in front of him continued to stretch, feeling slightly embarrassed that he had come across this of all things. It’s not like he hadn’t seen another one before, he just had the sudden and urgent need to give this...person his privacy.

“Where...where am I?” Mista heard a voice smoother than honey and turned his gaze back to the boy in front of him, this time at his face.

What Mista didn’t expect was to look into what could be the most dazzling pair of eyes he had ever seen. The shine of the turquoise made it seem like those eyes carried the stars themselves, and the gaze felt more intense than Mista could put into words. He felt charmed.

Mista’s body seemed to be moving faster than his mind as his hand was extending towards the boy’s face, eyes still locked on the other’s, unwavering. Consuming. From the border of his eyesight, Mista could make out three victory rolls that crowned the boy’s forehead, though they seemed to be coming undone, and the splay of long hair that seemed to glimmer all over. It looks so soft, Mista thought to himself, his thoughts being confirmed as his fingertips came in contact with a few strands of hair in front of the boy’s face, moving them away so he could take in more of-

WHAM!

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Mista reeled back swiftly, holding his nose with his face scrunched up, pain written all over. He swore he could taste blood. “You just punched me!”

The boy in question paid no attention to Mista as he finally stood up, dusting himself and tilting his body from side to side whilst looking around, an indifferent expression on his face as Mista continued to voice his complaints. After a few moments, the boy spoke up.

“You were getting too close, I don’t know who you are.”

“Well shit I don’t know you either but you don’t see me punching you! Fuck, I think you broke my nose…!” Mista said, his voice having a slight nasal touch as he tilted his head back and held his nose slightly to prevent any potential blood flow. Mista hissed as he felts his nasal nerves slightly act up, but concluded he would have to worry about that later. He still had the boy to confront. 

“I’m not going to apologize. Imagine yourself in my place.” Well, shit, the dude had a point, Mista would have probably done the same thing, or worse.

“I don’t even know who the fuck you are. Why did you just fall out of the sky?” Mista asked with no real venom in his voice, lowering his head to look at the mysterious boy in front of him, still very interested to know what was going on. Looking at the other much better now, Mista noted the blond seemed to be around his age, if not a bit younger. He was slim, yet built, his muscles looking softly accentuated in the moonlight. He had a petite face, his expression shifting to different modes that Mista couldn’t exactly identify.

All of a sudden, the boy took a huge step forward and before he knew it, Mista found himself face-to-face with the blond, those cerulean eyes just a breath away from his onyx ones. His eyes seemed to be scanning for something, as if he were reading Mista’s eyes and body language, and the brunette found that he could do nothing but stay still and wait for what would happen next. The blond’s arm suddenly shot forward.

“What are you-”

Everything went white for Mista.

He was hearing voices. Words. Muffled, but they were there. Who was speaking? What was being said?

They were getting clearer. Deep ones. Lighter ones. They sounded troubled. Angry. Intimidating. Yet, gentle. Chilling.

Mista couldn’t see, but he could feel. There were people there. Humans? He didn’t know, but people were there.

"Please! Reconsider!”

Mista recognized that voice almost instantly. He had just heard it. It was the mysterious blond boy, the one that just fell out of the sky. Why was he here? Where was here? Where was Mista?

“We are light, young one. Stars that illuminate the galaxy. We have no business with darkness. It is a taint. That is what your father did when he took over my grandfather’s body.”

Mista could feel himself floating. What was going on? Who was speaking to the blond? What was he talking about?

“Your father mixed his own darkness with my grandfather’s light. They created you . And though you are light, you also carry darkness. We sent your father away with my grandfather’s body, the same must be done to the bearers of darkness.”

Mista could feel the panic of the blond. He wasn’t sure how he knew the blond was panicking, he just...felt it. 

He felt his consciousness blink. All of a sudden he could see a star. Pale, imprinted on the shoulder of a person, partly covered by flowing blond hair. It was the boy. He had a star on his shoulder. What did that mean?

“No! You can’t-”

“I’m sorry it has to be this way, young one. Perhaps we will meet again...one day.”

Heat. So much heat. Mista felt like he was burning. It felt like all the air around him had been sucked up at once, at the same time battering him from all angles. He couldn’t breathe. He was lost. What was happening???

There was an ear-piercing scream, followed by a boom like something had broken the sound barrier. The environment around him felt more catastrophic. The air around him gave way. Mista was falling.

And falling. And falling…

Mista jolted where he stood, his knees temporarily unable to support him as he crashed on one knee, his breathing heavy. He could feel the sweat on his forehead and neck. What the fuck just happened?

With his breathing slowly getting back to a steady rhythm, Mista gazed at the unexpected visitor, who now had his back turned to him. Slowly, Mista stood and silently walked over to the blond, now taking note of his left shoulder.

There it was. That star he had seen in his...vision? What did he just see?

Mista was unbelievably confused. Who was this person? Why did he fall out of the sky? What did he see? Who had been speaking in his vision? What’s with the star on the blond’s shoulder?

Mista instinctively reached out to touch the star. Smooth, there was no feeling of a bump anywhere. It wasn’t a tattoo. A birthmark? But who had birthmarks like this-

“Guido Mista, aged 23.” Mista shook out of his reverie upon hearing his name. He also saw that his wrist had been clenched by the other, his head now turned back to face him. Wait-

“How did you know my name? I never made mention of it…”

“I learned the basics of what I needed to know when I… read you. I needed to know I wasn’t in danger, as well as know what planet I fell to.”

Huh? Planet? “What are you talking ab-”

“Earth.” the boy mused, letting go of the brunette’s wrist as he took a look around the forest. “I had heard so many things about it from my time up there, but never in a million lightyears did I think I’d find myself here…”

Mista noted the blond had a somewhat melancholic tone in his voice and for some reason, it made Mista feel...uncomfortable. He didn’t want to see the boy sad or hear the sadness in his voice, despite having just met him. 

“What...what was that thing I saw? I heard you...you seemed to be begging someone for something…” Mista started, unsure of how to approach the subject and gain some clarity in what was going on. The boy then turned to him, his eyes slightly widened in surprise and Mista inwardly thought he looked adorable with that expression. No, Mista. Focus.

“You saw that?” Mista nodded. “By Orion, I didn’t expect you to see that. I apologize for any...discomfort you may have felt.”

Mista found it endearing that the blond was apologizing for that, and the fact that he genuinely seemed he didn’t expect Mista to see anything while he was being “read”. 

“Care to explain what all that was about?”

“I owe you nothing.” Yikes, why did he sound so defensive all of a sudden?  Mista decided to try and plead his case.

“Uh, yes you do. You ‘read’ me without my permission. That’s something you don’t do with friends.”

What the hell was Mista saying? Friends? With some naked dude who just fell out of the sky and made him have an out-of-body experience? How stupid was that?

The other boy seemed to share his thoughts. “Friends…? What makes you think we’re associates?”

“First of all, ‘friends’, not associates.” For the love of all things beautiful, shut up Mista. “And second, I found you before anyone else could and you sucker-punched my nose in return, seems like the basis of a beautiful friendship to me” Mista finished with a grin on his face.

The blond didn’t seem to say anything for a while, and there was a momentary silence before there was a dull yet audible growling and the boy held his stomach.

“There seems to be something wrong with me, my body is having these...vibrations and it feels somewhat empty, and now it’s making this weird noise.” He said, innocence lacing his voice and Mista was amused.

“That means you’re hungry.”

“Hungry?”

“Yeah. You need food. Didn’t you have food where you fell out from?” Mista asked with a snort, finding the whole situation strange yet cute.

“I...I didn’t. We never experienced this. I was a star, I didn’t need food. I was a star…” Mista heard the blond’s voice trail off to a whisper. He wanted to do something, to help the blond in any way he could. He found himself wanting to be useful.

“Tell you what!” Mista chirped up, appearing at the blond’s side and slinging an arm across his shoulders, not wanting to think about the boy’s lack of clothes. “I’ll take you to my house and I’ll get you some food to eat. Not to brag, but my food is fantastic , you have to try it out. I’ll even throw in a place for you to crash for the night!”

The blond was about to speak when Mista continued. “BUT, in exchange, you’ll have to tell me all about yourself...and where you came from, anything and everything I have to know. It’s not every day something like this happens. Plus you’ll have to tell me what the fuck was up with what I saw. Deal?”

Mista extended his free hand to the other with a smile on his face, the blond seeming to think for a moment. Mista wasn’t entirely sure why he was suddenly being hospitable to the strange boy, but he couldn’t help but feel this was somehow connected to his wish. As farfetched as it seemed, Mista reasoned that a whole person had fallen out of the sky and lived , so a measly wish from a shooting star coming true didn’t seem like the wildest occurrence of the night.

After some time and thinking, the blond slowly raised his hand to hold Mista’s in a soft grip, the brunette feeling his eyes widen slightly at how soft the other’s hand felt.

“Deal.” he said, a small smile on his face. Mista beamed at this, evidently happy he would get to know about the boy.

“Fantastic! Great dealing with you, uhh…”Mista trailed off at the realization that he didn’t even know the other’s name. “Sorry, what is your name anyway?”

“My...name?”

“Yeah, your name? What did the other uhh, ‘stars’ call you?”

“I...don’t seem to remember being referred to by a ‘name’” Mista was evidently surprised at this and detached himself from the boy, who gave him a strange expression at the sudden surprise like it was a really big deal.

Well, Mista reasoned it was a big deal, he couldn’t just call him ‘dude’ for the time they’d be together, now could he?

Mista looked the boy over once more, humming to himself, arms folded in thought of a suitable name. He looked at the other’s blond hair, which still carried a certain glimmer to it despite its unruliness, like the stars of the night sky themselves had taken shelter in his hair. His golden hair reminded him of the sun when dawn broke, high in the sky and spreading its light to the whole world, mesmerizing yet dangerous, an integral part of the daytime.

Daytime. Day. Giorno.

Giorno.

“How about ‘Giorno’?” 

“Giorno?”

“It means ‘day’ .“ Mista spoke up and took note of the blond’s expression at the suggestion. His ears seemed to perk up, his eyes squinting slightly. He seemed to mumble something to himself for a while before he refocused his gaze on Mista, a growing smile on his face once again.

“Giorno...I like it. I like it a lot.”

“Well, that’s settled then, Giorno.” Mista tested out the new name, sliding beside the blond once again and taking his hand to lead him out of the forest. “Come on, let’s get going now before it gets really dark out here.”

Giorno let himself be dragged and led by Mista, not minding being directed by the brunette. For some reason, he felt compelled to...trust the older one. It felt like some way, somehow, they had met before in some distant universe...in another timeline. Giorno couldn’t explain it, but he was eager to find out more about this Guido Mista. As well as get some food in his stomach, he was starving.

Mista, on the other hand, had a lot going on in his mind. A part of his brain was scolding him for doing something like this, another larger part put at ease by Giorno’s presence - he even managed to forget he was lacking clothes! Something about Giorno had intrigued Mista, and he was admittedly willing to know more about him. Perhaps this really was an answer to his wish? Maybe his mother was watching him from above? Come to think of it, no-one else had appeared at the crash site. Had Mista been the only one to witness the whole thing? Was it all engineered for him alone?

Whatever it was, it had brought him Giorno. A bit strange, yes, considering he fell out of the fucking sky. But Mista did wish for “someone”, even if he didn’t expect it to be like this. Plus, Giorno felt...familiar. He didn’t know how to describe it, but it felt like they had met ages ago, despite Mista never meeting him before.

Well, he wasn’t one to complain now. Not like he could back out of this situation.

Mista’s thoughts were cut short when he felt part of his weight fall, dragging him downwards, and looking back he saw that Giorno had collapsed to his knees.

“Sorry, it seems I’m much weaker than I thought…”

Well duh , you’re hungry and you fell out of the sky, Mista wanted to say but instead decided to keep his mouth shut and rather walk to the blond’s side. Ignoring Giorno’s confused look, Mista proceeded to scoop the younger into his arms, earning a slight yelp from Giorno as he clung on to Mista’s shirt.

“I can walk fine on my own, Mista.”

“Clearly not.” Mista snorted and began moving forward again. The blond stayed silent in mock annoyance for a few moments before delivering a not-so-painful punch to Mista’s shoulder.

“That’s for holding me against my will.” Mista looked at the blond and saw the playful smile on his face, causing the brunette to break out in laughter, Giorno letting out small huffs of laughter himself.

Yeah, Mista couldn’t wait to know more about Giorno.