Work Text:
It’s in the tan room, with vines printed the most vibrant colors, potted plants, hanging terrariums, that the two boys sit on the bed. Narancia is sprawled out on the queen sized bed and Giorno lays upright against the wall, near Narancia’s feet.
Narancia is watching tik toks at an absurdly loud volume, almost too loud to be considered polite. Giorno scrolls through instagram leisurely. It’s a position they were fully familiar with.
They had just gotten home from a date. It was a simple outing—a coffee at the expensive shop uptown and then a walk in the park. Their dates had never been too fancy or slow paced, and they preferred to keep it that way. It was better for the both of them anyways. After they got home, they went upstairs to Gio’s room to lounge, which is where they were now.
Narancia’s loud cackling breaks off Giorno’s calm Instagram snooping. He startles a bit at the sudden eruption of noise. Narancia scooches closer to Giorno, sitting up and leaning on the blond’s shoulder.
“Look! Look!” he commands in an excited tone. He was smiling with jagged teeth in a genuine grin.
“Hmm?” Giorno lays his head on the boy’s shoulder and takes a look at the screen.
It was a video of sphynx cats. They were mere kittens, all huddled together. His nose involuntarily scrunches up. Giorno wasn’t sure how he felt about the breed. They looked...naked. The fact they were flesh toned also made him slightly uncomfortable. The sphynx kittens stood up and started to walk, albeit shakily.
“Look how cute the Bingi look!” Narancia squeals.
“Bingi?” Giorno asks. He may not be the most well informed with sphynx cats, but he’d never heard any of them being called ‘Bingi’.
The dark haired boy perks up. “Bingi is the plural of Bingus. Y’know?”
“...Bingus?”
Narancia gasps. The boy rights himself and stares almost in awe at Giorno. “You don’t know Bingus? You’re fuckin’ with me, Gio.”
“What’s a Bingus?” The blond asks, feeling out of the know and slightly dumb with the way Narancia reacted.
There were a couple moments of silence and Giorno could tell he said something wrong. Nothing bad enough to prompt a negative reaction, but the unimpressed and exasperated face Narancia was making was enough to fill him in.
“Okay, so, like, Bingus is this hairless sphynx cat, okay? And there's this video and pic of him with a smooth filter on. So, that sparked the whole thing and every sphynx cat is now named Bingus because Bingus is an icon,” Narancia explains, gesturing wildly with his hands. “That make sense?”
“Yes,” Giorno responds, hiding the fact it did not make sense.
“Let me pull up the original Bingus,” he says. After a quick youtube search, he finds the video, clicks on it, and shoves the phone in Giorno’s face.
The cat was being handled, in Giorno’s opinion, rather roughly. Bingus’ big eyes stared at the camera and Giorno felt like his soul was being bore into. The cat just looked so flesh-like. Narancia pulls away his phone as the video ends, turning to face Giorno.
“Isn’t he cute?”
Giorno was just about to comment on his indifference to the breed, until he saw Narancia’s expression. The boy was bright-eyed, grinning ear to ear and overall—beaming. Giorno couldn’t destroy that precious expression.
The blond nods slowly and lies through his teeth with ease. “He’s very cute.”
At the admittance, Narancia bobs his head up and down quickly in agreement. “If there was ever one cat I want, it’d be a Bingus.”
Giorno’s back straightens, as if coming to awareness. He tilts his head at Narancia’s statement—a thought popping into his head. It was a miracle no one heard the lightbulb turning on over his head.
“Oh?”
“Yeah! I love cats. Some of ‘em are dicks though. I think sphinxes need, like, extra care. You have to bathe them pretty often and clean under their nails. They get nasty easily. Plus, if you leave them outside for too long, they get sunburnt.”
“Seems like a lot of work,” Giorno chuckles. Such high maintenance for a cat. There was a chance the feline wouldn’t even be loving and cuddly, something all animals should be, Giorno thinks. He wasn’t sure if it was a good trade off. Then again, the only solid pet he had was a fish that lived for 9 years, perhaps his stand only lengthening the betta fish’s life.
Most of his ‘pets’ were temporary. Summoning them with GE, playing with them for a while, then turning them back to what they had been originally. He could always resummon them when he wanted or needed. The animals never had to be fed or hydrated, though, if they were especially sweethearts, Giorno would give them treats. It was convenient at home to completely vanish any evidence of an animal ever being at home. God knows what would happen if he was caught.
“Probably! I had a cat when I was still with my parents. Her name was Jasmine. She was a real bitch though, always clawing at me. I really wanted a dog, not some bastard of a cat.”
Giorno smiles awkwardly, confused. Maybe it was the fact he could always spawn whatever creature he wanted at a moment’s notice, or the fact he was denied house pets from a young age. “Why didn’t you get a dog?”
“My parents wouldn’t let me! Cat’s are cleaner and less messy, I guess.”
The blond hums in confirmation. “Bucciarati allows me to keep my frog and snake. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if a…’Bingus’ or two happened to appear in the house.”
Narancia’s eyes went wide. “Are you…”
“Am I?” Giorno questions, happy that Narancia had caught onto what he was suggesting without even needing the words.
“Do it! Do it! Do it!”
Giorno lets out a giggle, a tinny trill that he attempts to suppress by hiding his mouth behind his hand. Golden Experience shimmers to life by his side. The stand stares at the duo for a moment and then they take a random assortment of junk around the room, a couple items being a dixie cup, pop can, and a bottle of nail polish. They place the assortment in a bundle on the ground and look at Giorno and Narancia for confirmation, despite actually needing any. The smaller boy’s grin grows larger as the stand turns their attention back to the pile of items. GE taps each item, imbuing it full of life with ease. Light shrouds their hands for a moment, nearly blinding the two on the bed. When the duo opens their eyes, a litter of hairless sphynx cats took the place of the items. GE smiles down at the cats, sharing the same admiration for animals as Giorno. They dissipate a moment later, leaving Gio and Narancia alone with the large litter of felines.
They were only kittens. They were outrageously wrinkly, small and cute. A couple of them were mewling loudly; their shrill cries falling from their tiny muzzles. They walk into each other, appearing tired and sleepy. Giorno’s heart swirls as he turns to gauge Narnacia’s reaction to the litter. He tries to shake off the dizzy feeling that reigns over him for a moment. Maybe it was the expense of energy while he was already tired, perhaps the fact he created an animal he had minimal knowledge about, or it might’ve been the cute way Narancia was vibrating with excitement.
“Oh my god!” Narancia screams, his hands flapping at his sides in a frantic manner. The boy throws himself at Giorno in a moment, tackling him in a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Gio!” He gives his boyfriend a quick kiss on his lips as an additional thank you and pulls away to take stock of the tiny kittens in the room. Giorno reels at the quick ministrations, but smiles. He lifts himself up and seats himself on the floor, next to Narancia.
The older boy’s hands hover over the kittens in an unsure manner, hesitant to touch them, like he's scared he’ll hurt them. Giorno takes matters in his own hands. He reaches to the pile of kittens and picks one up. Their skin, of course, feels fleshy under Gio’s fingertips. The blond cradles one against his chest, almost like holding a baby. He gives a soft pat to the wrinkly head before holding it out for Narancia to take.
The boy accepts the cat almost like it’s a gift. His eyes crinkle at the corners. He cradles it against his chest, akin to what Giorno did. The kitten squirms around, mewling and crying out for a moment before calming and nuzzling against the fabric of Narancia’s shirt.
“Did you see that? Oh my god, that was the cutest thing, Gio,” Narancia whines. Giorno can practically see the hearts in Narancia’s eyes as he stares down at the creature.
Giorno was not the best with words around Narancia. Maybe it was his compassion for the other making his tongue twist, but he just looks at Narancia and nods. He's sure Narancia understands—the boy always did.
A soft meow close to Gio catches his attention. Most of the kittens seem to gravitate towards Giorno. They must’ve been taking a favor to him over Narancia because of Golden Experience’s stand powers. The bond Giorno and his created creatures shared was immense. A few felines attempt to climb up onto Giorno. Some others opt to lay next to his thigh and sleep.
A gentle thrum of purring fills the room. All of the cats seem content. One is kneading their paws into Giorno’s thigh and another one is doing the same thing to his stomach. It causes the blond to chuckle, finding the behavior odd, albeit a little silly.
“They are kneading dough,” Narancia says. His voice is quieter than usual. He seems to note the sphynx is sleeping soundly in his hands, the reason why he seemed to change his volume levels.
Giorno turns to Narancia with a soft expression. “If dough you mean my stomach and thigh, then yes.”
The blond lifts his hand to pet the ‘Bingus’. His hand makes contact with the kitten and he drags his hand down the cat’s back. On a normal cat, the glide would be smooth and sweet, fur feeling pleasent under his hand. But this was a hairless cat. It felt like Giorno was dragging his hand over a dried out piece of raw, wrinkly and warm meat. The texture made him shiver.
Narancia didn’t seem affected. He pets the cat sweetly, his fingers gently scratching over the cat’s forehead and behind it’s ears. He even gives a couple sweet forehead kisses to the kitten.
“So cute,” he sighs happily. He attempts to run his hands over the cat’s ears, almost trying to recreate the video from the original Bingus. He smooshes the cats face together lovingly. It lets out a meow.
“They are, aren’t they?” Giorno looks at Narancia. The blond could think of something much more cute than the cats, though. The older boy beams, leaning over to Giorno, and giving him an amiable kiss on the lips. Giorno barely has time to close his eyes and appreciate the other boy’s presence when he suddenly pulls away.
Then, there’s a cold, wet nose pressing against his cheek. That was not Narancia, his mind unhelpfully supplied. It was one of the kittens.
Narancia holds it up to Gio’s face, pressing its nose flush against his cheek in a mock kiss. It was such a stupid act, childish and playful, but he felt his chest flutter. Narancia was strange in every way that Giorno liked.
“Thank you, Gio, for the Bingi,” Narancia thanks and watches Gio’s cheeks go pink. His grin spreads even further. “I love youuu~” he coos, rubbing his shoulder against the blond’s. In response, Gio gives a weak punch to Nara’s shoulder.
“I love you too, nerd,” he says.
They spend the rest of the afternoon basking in each other’s presence and playing with the kittens until they fall asleep, along with the snoozing kittens curled up next to them on all sides.