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Sitting in his lounge chair after a long day of paperwork, meetings, and all the shit that goes with being a part of the mafia, Leone pulls out his book for some down time after dinner. With Narancia and Mista upstairs playing on their gaming system, probably fighting over who has the coolest monster creatures or whatever they’re called. Fugo is probably with them, since after rejoining the gang after his mission to end Massimo Volpe, he hasn’t left his friends’ sides due to his regret of staying behind. Bruno is in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner since Leone made it that night.
Sighing, Leone allows himself to sink further into his chair, relaxed with his lavender tea on the small table next to him. With his fiance and the boys accounted for, he can finally begin reading in the welcomed silence the living room brings at this time in the day. That is, until he hears the floorboard squeak.
He didn’t count the blonde brat Giovanna, who now strode into the room with a book in hand. He sat across the room from Leone, thankfully as far away from himself as possible. At least the brat is quiet unlike the others, he can easily ignore Giorno’s presence in the room. He can let this slide, just this once.
But it wasn’t just that time. Ever since Abbacchio let it slide that first time, the brat kept coming back and sitting in the same place with the same book. After the 5th night of Giorno coming and interrupting his silent reading time with his presence, Abbacchio decided he would switch things up a bit.
Since the boys were playing Uno in the living room, Abbacchio decided to move his reading space to the kitchen table instead. It may not be his comfy chair, but at least he won’t have to deal with separating Fugo from either Mista or Narancia for playing a draw 2 card on him, or even worse, ending the debate of whether or not Mista should take 3 or 5 cards when Narancia inevitably plays a draw 4 card on him.
Abbacchio sits at the table with his lavender tea and begins to read his book. After about 15 minutes of no Giorno, it seems that he would finally get to read alone in peace. The scrape of a chair against the tiled kitchen floor startles him out of his thoughts, however, and he looks up and sees him. Giorno Giovanna the golden brat, interrupting his peaceful reading time for a 6th time now.
He is about to growl out a complaint, to tell him to scram and go anywhere but near him, when he sees it. He sees the slight tremble of Giorno’s hands as he sits as far away from Abbacchio as possible, reading the same book he has been reading with little progress as if he isn’t even reading the words on the pages. He’d never admit to being concerned over the brat to anyone, but he wasn’t acting like himself. Observing his face, Leone looks into Giorno’s seafoam green eyes, glossed over and dull, the usual life behind those annoyingly perceiving eyes is gone. There is definitely something wrong with the kid.
Standing up, he walks over to the cabinet where they keep their mugs and pulls one down and pours some of the lavender tea still warm from the kettle. He softly places it in front of Giorno, not getting any reaction that he knows the cup is there.
“Here kid. I made too much and Bruno already said he didn’t want any.” He grumbled out, sliding the warm mug closer to Giorno, hoping it would catch his attention now. Giorno’s head tilts up as he slowly reaches for the mug, and mumbles an almost dismissable thank you as he takes a slow sip from the tea.
Abbacchio grabs his own mug and book, moving to sit a few chairs down from where Giorno is sat, watching him carefully in order to fully understand what is going on, yet the boy remains blank and emotionless. That is, until Mista could be heard yelling in agony as Narancia cackles over playing the draw 4 card on him. Giorno’s breath stuttered out as he set his book down on the table, and he carefully stood and slowly walked out and away from the yelling.
Leone had begun to put the pieces together as he hears Bruno scolding Narancia for tormenting Mista again, Fugo’s poorly hidden chuckles helping to ease the tension in the room.
Now, every time Abbacchio goes to read in his chair, he notices Giorno comes into the room with him. However, everyday Giorno moves just a little closer to him. They never speak nor acknowledge each other’s presence in the room, they simply read and occasionally Abbacchio will bring Giorno tea.
One night as Abbacchio climbs into bed with his fiance, his mind plagued with the enigma that is why Giorno Giovanna chooses to sit alone with him as he reads.
“Leo, I can hear your thoughts from here. What’s going on?” Bruno’s soft, tired gaze is focused on him, waiting for an answer.
Sighing, he responds, “it’s Giovanna. He’s been sitting with me as I read, but that’s it! He’s just sitting there, not even reading the book he has and just stares off as if he isn’t aware of what’s going on in the world. I can’t figure out why and it’s pissing me off. Has he ever done this shit with you?”
Bruno leans back on the bed, thinking about what Leone just said. “You say he’s been sitting with you while you read, but he himself isn’t reading and he doesn’t seem like he’s aware of anything? I personally haven’t seen Giorno do anything like that to anyone; sit with people silently and do his own business yes, but never in such a dissociated state like you describe.”
“Wait, that’s it. The kid is dissociating, but why is he coming to me instead of you or fucking anyone else?” Over the time spent after taking over Passione, Leone was no longer hostile towards Giorno. He didn’t acknowledge him as a member of the team still, but he no longer went out of his way to torment him. That made it all the more confusing for Leone, as he and Giorno are in no way close to each other.
Bruno just smiled at his fiance, “maybe you should try something out tomorrow. Sit next to him and ask him about it. Maybe you can finally get him to be comfortable enough around us to start opening up. We all know that he’s got some sort of traumatic past, one doesn’t just decide to join the mafia for shits and giggles. It doesn’t help that Giorno avoids any conflict and confrontation as if it’s the plague.”
Leone snorts at Bruno’s words, fulling knowing that he’s right. “And you can’t just walk up to someone and say, ‘hi tell me your traumatic backstory’ and have them immediately open up to you.”
“Shut up about that, will you? I’ll have you know that it worked for Narancia! He opened up to me immediately.”
Leone just rolls his eyes, grinning at his fiance as he pouts. “Yeah yeah, keep telling yourself that. Now, if you don’t mind, I need my beauty sleep.” He rolls over onto his side, back facing Bruno as he pulls all of the blankets over to his side of the bed.
“Leone Abbacchio, don’t be a fucking blanket hog!” Bruno yanks the blankets, pulling his fiance with them to lay against his chest. “Goodnight my sun.”
Leone tilts his head up, gently kissing Bruno’s chin. “Goodnight my moon.”
The next day, Abbacchio makes sure to brew enough tea for Giorno and himself. Grabbing his book and tea, he makes his way into the living room and sits on the couch instead of his lounge chair. As if on cue, Giorno walks into the room with the same book in hand and the same dissociated look on his face.
“Hey kid, c’mere for a second.” He watches as Giorno’s face turns to look in his general direction, unable to make out where Abbacchio is exactly. He slowly walks over to stand by Abbacchio, waiting for whatever he has to say. With a nod of his head, Abbacchio instructs Giorno to sit on the couch next to him.
Sliding over the mug of tea, this time chamomile instead of his usual lavender, knowing that it’s Giorno’s preferred type of tea. “Here, take this. I accidentally made this shit instead of lavender.” He waits and listens for Giorno’s soft murmur of a ‘thank you’ before relaxing on the couch.
After about 15 minutes of silence and Giorno slowly sipping the tea, he finally decides to ask. “Why?”
Giorno looks at his face slowly, setting the mug down on the table in front of them. “Pardon?”
“Why are you sitting with me, especially since I’ve been nothing but an asshole to you the whole time you’ve been with us. So why the fuck are you choosing to be with me?”
He realized a moment too late that his words sounded harsher than he intended, and he regretted not thinking through the words he wanted to say to the blonde. Leone is so lost in his regretful thoughts that he almost misses Giorno’s mumbled response.
“Because you’re safe.”
Safe? What does he mean by safe? He should feel safer with everyone but him! Now he is even more confused as to why Giorno Giovanna has chosen that somehow he was safer with him than literally anyone else.
His confusion must be obvious, for Giorno clarifies his words, “you won’t force me to talk like the others will. You just let me exist.”
Oh.
It all made sense now… Bruno is known for being overly caring when trying to comfort someone, which can be overwhelming if you’re not used to it. Narancia and Mista both have high energy and will bombard you with so many questions that can drain anyone any day. Fugo, to everyone’s surprise, is a combination of all of them: he is overly caring and he asks too many questions, thanks to his inquisitive nature.
But himself? He lets people simply exist. It’s not that he doesn’t care about their emotions, he just doesn’t go out of his way to make them talk to him. ‘That must be what the kid needs,’ Leone thinks to himself. ‘He needs a safe space where he can be vulnerable with no questions asked, and to not be alone with his thoughts.’
Leone sighs as he opens his book and begins to read, “stay as long as you need kid.”
An hour later, Bruno walks in to check on his fiance and youngest member of the team, hoping to see that the two of them have made some connection. However, what he didn’t expect was to see his fiance with his book still open on his lap and his arm on the back of the couch, peacefully napping alongside Giorno, whose head rests gently on Leone’s shoulder. Bruno’s heart melts at the sight, and he goes to cover them up with a throw blanket.
Before leaving, he makes sure to capture the moment on camera, thinking of the many ways he can use this as blackmail towards Leone.