Chapter Text
Giorno darted around from flowerbed to flowerbed, working as best he could to get the garden back in order. He gave as much attention as he could to each plant, gently patting them down and clearing out any weeds or unwanted critters as he went. His wings beat hard against the wind, this was going to be a rush job— and it was definitely not his best work by far— but he would rather be ground up into pixie dust then allow this small plot of land, his sanctuary, to rot away on him. The pixie held no love for the previous owners of the property, but at least that human mother had a working green thumb!
Meanwhile, this oblivious bastard waltzed into Giorno's favorite garden, planting away to his heart’s content without any actual understanding of the plants he left to wither! He planted flowers clearly meant for spring in the early summer, never allowing them a chance to blossom. And don’t get the pixie started on the garden placement! Tomatoes need healthy, rich soil and something to support them. Any long wooden stake would have been fine but instead they are doomed to fall over at the slightest gust of wind!
He tried to recall the idiot’s name… maybe idiot was a strong word to use. Oblivious one, plant challenged, or how about, dense tomato killer! No… he hasn’t done any irreversible damage to the tomatoes yet…
Hopefully this human will, at the very least, appreciate the hard work he put into the garden this time around. The last human’s only redeeming quality was that she remembered to water the garden more than twice a week! This one is… preoccupied.
Giorno wiped the sweat that had gathered above his eyebrows, his hard work almost complete. The last thing he needed to do was one more overview, in order to sniff out any noticeable damage that remained.
With a final burst of energy, he flies off, ascending just below the leaves of the tree that hugged the garden’s far corner. It was the perfect height to view the small garden beds below. The whole yard was nestled between several large human buildings, stretching out into all directions with very little natural vegetation left to blossom. This last little nook of peace and serenity, hidden away from the loud machines the human’s used to travel, was the only place he ever knew. This was his home and he was going to make sure that it looked presentable, even if he had to share it!
The sudden noise of the backdoor being pried open alerted Giorno that it was time to hide again. He followed his gut instinct and darted headfirst into the nearest tomato bush, doing his best to avoid the human’s gaze. Humans and pixies weren’t allowed to interact. Those rules were put into place a very long time ago and while no one was around to enforce them, Giorno rather liked his peaceful solitude. The rules were just fine for him.
Within the tomato bush, he rested on one of the largest vegetables (Or was it fruits? Proper human classifications still eluded him) of the bunch and waited for the human to walk out and see all his hard work.
But!
That unnaturally beautiful jerk said nothing!
Not. A. Single. Word.
As the man sat down on his chair, drinking his stupid tea that his human boyfriend made him while continuing to read that heavy novel that he never got past the second chapter on!
Giorno was absolutely livid. No amount of ancient rules would stand in his way, tossing them aside like the constraints they were as he buzzed right in front of the human, landing on the book to get his full attention, ignoring the sound of ceramic breaking against the patio. He gestured his arms out over to the garden in an attempt to showcase all his hard work and dedication, flailing away to make a point before huffing and tucking his hands back underneath his armpits in frustration.
The human blinked.
Giorno groaned.
Finally, the human pulled himself together, just enough to string a complete sentence. "Wha... are you?"
"A MIRACLE WORKER!" The pixie screeched out. But his voice was too high pitched for the bobbed haired man to understand, devolving into a series of nonsense squeaks and buzzes.
“Are you some kind of fairy or...?”
“That’s not the point of this conversation right now!” Giorno shouted using all the air in his lungs.
“You’re so small and kind of adorable.” The human smiled and tried to pat Giorno on the head, only for the advancing hand to get swatted away by an aerial round-house kick. A rather impressive maneuver, if he wasn’t only five inches tall.
Giorno shook his head. It was no use, nothing he said was going to get through to this giant. Then, a light bulb went off in his head. It was a rather time consuming plan, but considering the hours he had already sunk into this backyard project, at this point it was go big or go home.
The pixie landed on the book which had now found itself on the table, the man’s spot lost in within the rest of the pages. Giorno got to work finding the letter’s he needed to string together in order to communicate his thoughts. He tapped his palm against the first letter to get the raven haired man’s attention.
“Ah, I see. I suppose this is a better means of communication for the both of us.”
Giorno spelled out “You suck at gardening.” which, while crass, was a lot faster than trying to spell out “Your gardening skills are inadequate and even a cactus would die in your care.”
The man was clearly offended. “Excuse me!? You went through all that effort to tell me that?”
Giorno pointed to the ‘yes’ already spelled out on the page.
“By the looks of things, I’d say I’m doing a pretty good job.”
Giorno crossed his arms in an “x” formation before tapping his feet on the page. “All me! Tomatoes were wilting!” He then jumped off the book and dived off the patio tabled, flying in the direction of the tomato bushes. In some stroke of genius, the man brought the book over with him as he bent down on his knees to meet Giorno, who had found a wilted part of the tomato bush.
Gently, the pixie brushed his hands over the wilting foliage, imbuing the plant with life once more. At this point, if he was going to break one ancient pixie law, he may as well break all of them.
“You’ve been… helping with the garden? All this time?”
Giorno nodded profusely.
The human blushed with embarrassment. “I can’t really take credit for all of this then, can I? Thank you for your hard work.”
The man was just about to get up when Giorno screeched at him again. Using a mix of letters and words, he spells out “Your turn. Learn to garden or else.” Short and sweet.
“Or else?”
Giorno squinted at the man, refusing to elaborate. He honestly didn’t know what he could do other than pester him a bunch without easily getting smacked out of the air. Thankfully, his hollow threat was successful with the man staying deciding to stay in place.
“If you insist. Can I ask the name of my new gardening teacher?”
Giorno paused, debating on giving out his real name… What’s the worst that could happen? He quickly spelled out “Giorno.”
“Nice to meet you Giorno. My name is Bruno Bucciarati.” The man, er, Bruno offered his hand only to immediately retract when he realized they couldn’t exactly shake hands without Giorno being tossed around like a rag doll.
“Lesson one.” Giorno walked over to a small leaf poking out of the soil near the stem of the tomato bush. The beginning of a weed. While he had no issue with them in the yard, when it came to promoting the growth of certain plants, they had to go.
The pixie walked up next to it and pointed at it with his index finger. Then, he made the motion of him squatting down to yank the offending plant right out of the ground.
“You want me to remove it?” Bruno correctly guessed.
“Yes.” Giorno gave a thumbs up to ensure that his squeaks would be understood. Maybe this human had some hope after all. Bruno leaned forward and gave a light tug on the weed, easily popping it out of its grip on the earth. If Giorno could train this human to do this more often, then this garden will finally be easy to manage!
He was about to point to more weeds that needed to be cleared, when a new voice called out from the house. “Bruno! What are you doing on the grass? And with your white suit too! Do you know how hard it is to get grass stains out of white clothes!? Really damn hard.” It was the emotionally aggravated human who looked like rain clouds personified.
Giorno instantly hid once more, deciding that he wasn’t going to reveal himself to the other one.
“My apologies, Leone.”
“This is why I wear dark purple and black Bruno. It has a practical purpose.” Giorno watched as Leone stepped outside “What are you doing over here, anyway?”
Bruno turned back around, unable to find Giorno from deep within the tomato thicket. “I well… I decided to take gardening a bit more seriously. You could say that my excitement got the better of me. It was one of my mother’s favorite hobbies.” The man stood up and wiped his pants off. While his face wasn’t looking at the other human, he gave a wink in Giorno’s direction. If Giorno had to guess, it was some kind of assurance that the human would keep his secret or that some dirt got into the man’s eye.
Either way, Giorno was content with what he accomplished today.
“Shit, Bruno… Just don’t get too attached to your plants. You already know what happened to the cactus upstairs.”
Cactus? Was this Leone implying that Bruno destroyed a cactus? How? He didn’t actually think that would be the case but…
“That wasn’t my fault! Narancia was the one who knocked the shelf over while running in the house.”
Leone smirked. “We both know that plant already had one foot, er, root in the grave. I’m just saying that it will take a freaking miracle for this gardening thing to work out.”