Work Text:
There was a problem.
No one had seen Giorno all day.
Normally, that wasn't unusual, seeing as he liked to lock himself in his office all day and do paperwork, not even coming down to eat. Bucciarati normally had to send someone up to drag him out of the office to eat something at least once each day. He would fuss and refuse but eventually, whether by force or choice, would come down and join them for one of their meals. It was normally dinner, but if the man knew the teen's schedule was packed for the evening he would pull him down for breakfast or lunch, the same for morning and afternoon.
Today was no different, at least, it was supposed to be. While he was setting the table for everyone he told Narancia to go get the blonde teen. The ravenette pouted and complained, but got up and went up the stairs to do as he was told. All was right in the world; Abbacchio was sipping his wine, waiting for everyone to arrive at the table to eat because Bucciarati said that he had to. Fugo was arguing with Mista about something, probably his cannibalism theory, and slowly gripping his fork tighter and tighter. Mista noticed how much he was pissing the silver-haired teen off and continued talking anyway, finding joy in the fact his face was slowly turning red. Trish was simply watching with minor disinterest, pitching in every once in a while, making sure it was clear she wasn't on either of their sides.
"Fugo, Mista, stop before you find your entire fork in your mouth and your lips zipped shut. Trish, don't entertain them. No one wants to hear about cannibalism right before dinner." There was a tone of finality to his words as he put a plate in front of where Giorno sat. They didn't have designated seats; they just always happened to sit in the same seats every time they had dinner.
Mista pouted and Fugo looked somewhat relieved yet angry that he didn't get the last word in and prove to the gunslinger that he was wrong. Trish just shrugged and Abbacchio mumbled, "Finally, you shut them up" into his wine glass. The pink-haired girl snorted a bit at the goth's words, causing his lips to quirk up in a small smile.
Taking his seat, all they had to do was wait for Narancia to come down with Giorno, which hopefully wouldn't take long. Today hadn't been a particularly stressful or hard day, but they all wanted to relax and eat. Plus, Bucciarati's -- and Mista's, he pitched in as well -- food smelt heavenly.
"Where're those brats?" Abbacchio pulled his purple-tinted lips away from his wine glass to speak clearly, looking at Bucciarati for answers. The black-haired man simply shrugged, guessing that the blonde teen was being particularly stubborn today. Giorno was known for being stubborn and determined, it was what allowed him to get into the position he was in now. Becoming the Don of Passione wasn't an easy task, and they all almost lost their lives multiple times. Truly, they owed their lives to their boss, without him half of them would be dead.
Deciding to focus on the present instead of living in the past, he tuned back in on the conversation at hand. "I'm just saying, maybe Narancia lost him, it seems like something he'd do," Mista spoke while waving his fork around, not exactly addressing anyone but instead leaving it open for anyone at the table to answer. Fugo took it upon himself to entertain the gunslinger, looking the man upside the head with a scowl. Okay, maybe he was still angry from their previous conversation.
"How would he lose him, though? Narancia's not that dumb, give him more credit-"
"Guys! I can't find Giorno!"
All heads looked towards the entrance of the kitchen where a distressed-looking Narancia stood. They were all silent for a few seconds, processing the information they were just told.
"Told ya so-"
"Shut up, Mista."
"What do you mean you can't find him, Nara? Like, he isn't in his office?" Trish, instead of entertaining Mista, asked productive questions to try to find where the apparently missing teen was. Abbacchio had simply quirked an eyebrow at the news the ravenette delivered before refilling his glass of wine, losing interest. Bucciarati sent him a look, telling him not to drink too much that the goth rolled his eyes at, before looking at the teen in the doorway.
"Yeah! I looked all over his office, even under his stacks of paper on his desk!"
Fugo was next to ask questions, looking a bit skeptical. "Did you check his room? It's possible that he's taking a break or a nap." Not that anyone believed that, Giorno would never willingly take a break even if he was sick with a fever of 103°. Still, the silver-haired teen asked, just because you could never be too sure.
"I checked there too! No sign of him-"
"The bathroom. Did you check the bathroom?" Bucciarati cut Narancia off, starting to get worried himself. This wasn't like their boss, -- it still felt odd calling him that -- there were very few places that he would be at a time like this. He told them that he was just going to do paperwork today since it was a slow day and therefore would be in his office all day. His worry began to reflect on the other's faces, Fugo and Trish getting concerned while Mista tried to stay optimistic and Abbacchio didn't care. Well, at least he looked like he didn't care, but the man knew the goth too well to be fooled.
"Calm down guys. He's probably just..." The gunslinger trailed off, trying to think of something that didn't make the situation as bad as it looked right now. Sadly, he couldn't think of any, and his attempt to calm the rest of his friends down backfired.
None of them said anything negative, but they were all thinking the same thing. What if he was hurt? What if he had been kidnapped? He was still just a teenager. Someone could have gotten the jump on him while his back was turned and they weren't there to protect him-
No. If someone did try to kidnap him they would have heard some type of scuffle, Giorno wouldn't have gone down easily. Especially since the blonde had Gold Experience Requiem. Anyone who tried him would regret it.
But still...
"I got it! Narancia, use your tracker to search for his breathing. We're all right here, grouped up, no one else should be anywhere nearby." Fugo perked up, snapping his fingers when the idea came to him to get everyone's attention. They all visibly relaxed when they heard what he thought, even Abbacchio. The ravenette nodded, determined to find their missing boss now. He summoned his stand, sending it flying around the house while he looked at the radar.
Everyone else could only hold their breath while they watched him work, waiting for results. The goth started to drink his wine again but kept his eye on Narancia, Mista subconsciously fiddled with the fork he was holding, Fugo started picking at the skin on his lips with his teeth, Trish started trying to take off a hangnail she had, and Bucciarati sat still and watched. It was completely silent for what felt like ages as they all watched the teen for answers.
Surprisingly, the one to break the silence was Abbacchio, and he did so by placing his wine glass down on the table and asking, "So? What do you see?" He sounded mildly annoyed, but they all knew it was because he was just as worried as the rest of them. They all looked at him expectantly, and he looked away from his tracker to address them.
"He's not- uh, in the villa, anywhere."
There was a sharp gasp of breath, from who was unknown, but none of them really cared at the moment. Mista narrowed his eyes, getting up and drawing attention towards himself as he walked out of the kitchen. The sound of him opening a window could be heard as he called back, "Come check the surrounding area Narancia! He might still be here, just not inside."
The teen hurriedly nodded, running out of the kitchen and into the living room. Aerosmith came from upstairs, flying out of the now open window and up into the sky. A trail of footsteps could be heard as everyone got up from the table and followed the two of them into the living room, the food on the table forgotten. They had varying looks of worry on their faces, Trish looking the most concerned and Abbacchio looking the least. Once again, Narancia focused on his tracker.
Thankfully, it didn't take him as long as it did last time to get results, and from the way he perked up, it was good news. "The garden! Giorno's in the garden!" He could barely get the words out as he began to run towards the backdoor that led to the garden. Of course the blonde was in the garden, why didn't they think to check there before freaking out? There had been multiple sighs of relief before Mista ran after the ravenette, yelling after him. Fugo shook his head but was clearly relieved, walking after the two males. Trish followed, clearly trying not to break out into a sprint with how much she wanted to see Giorno with her own eyes and make sure he was okay. Bucciarati laughed at himself a bit for freaking out so much, going to make sure they didn't smother their boss to death in relief. Abbacchio rolled his eyes but followed anyway, wanting to make sure that his former capo didn't stress himself out trying to keep the 'kids' under control.
"Giornooooo!!!" Called Narancia as he burst from the backdoor and into the garden, running towards the dot on the tracker. The garden was rather large, per the blonde teen's request. He didn't talk about his love for plants and animals out loud, but he definitely showed it through his actions. Hell, his stand was the embodiment of his love for nature and life, if the multiple potted plants he put up around the villa weren't enough proof.
Finally, the teen could see the other they had been so worried about, but instead of rushing towards and tackling him, he paused in his tracks. Mista, who had been running directly behind him, tripped over his feet trying to stop himself so he didn't crash into the ravenette. "Hey! What the hell bas?!-" Suddenly the gunslinger was cut off, staring at the scene before him in shock. Fugo, walking calmly behind him with Trish at his side, tilted his head in confusion at their silence and lack of action. "What are you two do?-" Now that the silver and pink-haired boy and girl had witnessed the scene for themselves, they were too speechless.
"Guys? Are you alrig- oh my." Bucciarati spoke, pushing the motionless teens to the side to see what was going on for himself when he reached the silent crowd. Abbacchio simply glanced over them to see what all the fuss was about, frowning when he saw what it was. "Of course."
Sitting on the ground with an array of flowers surrounding him, was Giorno Giovanna. Some flowers were in his hair as well; snuck into his braid and slipped into the free part of his hair. The sunset seemed to grace him, making him look mystical as he pet a calico cat that was in his lap, a tuxedo cat curled up against his side. Both of the cats' purring could be heard by the group who stood a few feet away. That wasn't all though, not only glowing in the sunset like some kind of Greek God surrounded by flowers, multiple bugs and insects had found their way onto him.
Normally, when anyone else was covered with bugs or insects it would look disturbing, but Giorno wasn't anyone else. It looked right, like that's where they belonged, especially the ladybugs that had settled on the ladybug brooches on his chest. He was wearing the white and gold suit he got from Trish, making him look even more angelic. Caterpillars crawled over his arm and he didn't look the least bit bothered, in fact, he looked like he was enjoying it. Beetles rested on his shoes and crossed legs where the cat wasn't laying.
A frog rested in his free hand, one that he was looking at with great interest and a smile on his face. For once, he looked content, like this was truly where he belonged, among nature. Even a bird was standing on the ground next to him, bees and butterflies flying around the flowers that acted as a shield from the outside world. It was like a snapshot from the Garden of Eden, truly and utterly breathtaking, beautiful. Orange melted into pinks in the sky above, clouds dotting the sky as if it was a painting and adding to the scenery.
There was an air of tranquility around him. It was a miracle that none of the animals around him were fighting. The cats looked too content to worry about the birds, the frog looked too happy to worry about the flies, everything was just fine the way it was. It felt like if you even tried to bring violence into Giorno's little bubble that you would be kicked out and denied. Like you physically couldn't bring yourself to do it and had to take a step back.
And he had the nerve to raise his head and look surprised like he hadn't expected them to be there. They were all too shocked by the scene to say anything and were even more speechless when he smiled at them, looking like the purest thing ever. His oceanic blue-green eyes shone, reflecting the sunset in them. They looked like the clearest and most serene ocean- it was as if pollution was nothing but a myth where the ocean existed. The group had come to a silent agreement that Abbacchio had the prettiest eyes they had ever seen, but right now Giorno had him beat.
"Oh, hello everyone. I hope I didn't scare you; I simply decided to take a break in the garden after finishing my paperwork early for the day. I was playing with some flowers when all these animals came up to me, I don't know why. I would have felt bad for shaking them off, so I simply allowed them to do as they pleased. Animals and insects alike have consciousness just like us, ya know? They think and evaluate like anyone else, who would I be to rid of them? Plus, it's kinda nice... I must have lost track of time, is it time for dinner?"
The gang was silent.
"...Oh my God, you're a fucking Disney Princess-"