Chapter Text
Fugo had been staring at Giorno's ceiling for who knows how long.
He, Mista and said other were all hanging out and had run out of things to do. Mista could only think of so many jokes on the spot.
Currently, the other blonde was out of the room, he had left to cook them some snacks and make drinks, leaving only Mista and Fugo. The older was watching some stupid video on YouTube, and it didn't catch Fugo's attention at all in the slightest, hence, why he is zoning out staring at a ceiling.
But it was boring, as one could guess.
"Guido, do you have any ideas at all on what we could do? I'm tired of hearing whatever you are playing, it probably is rotting our brains just by existing. Also, I've been counting these bumps on the ceiling and I'm pretty sure I've actually been counting the same ones over and over and I'm losing my mind."
Mista snorted, “Fugo. You don’t know any real culture. This is WatchMojo. It isn’t supposed to rot your brain cells, it’s informative .”
Of course, the screen was displaying some brief clips from a select anime. A woman’s voice was droning in the background, listing off a pathetic reason as to what made the show appealing.
Though, it only took him a few more seconds until boredom began to slouch over his shoulders.
“Hey, wait a sec. You know how your parents won’t let you do jack shit?” he asked.
"...Yeah? Why do you ask?" Fugo glanced over, raising a brow as suspicion settled in.
"You better not be implying doing something illegal, Guido,” he warned, sitting up so he could actually make eye contact with the older.
“Pfft, no. Unless you consider talking to strangers online illegal. You know how everyone says it’s dangerous? I don’t give a shit about it, so neither should you.” Mista loaded up a new tab on his laptop and after the brief clacking of his keyboard, a new webpage was pulled up.
“This is called Omegle. Basically, it’s where you get paired with someone else from god knows where and you can talk to them through video call,” Mista explained.
Upon glancing at the site, Fugo actually moved a bit closer to see it just a bit better, his interest was caught, just by a bit. Not like he would ever admit that though.
"Omegle? ...Are you sure this isn't dangerous? What if we see something or one we don't want to— You realise my family is famous right? What if I get liked...threatened. Or like...conversation leaked of something I said on here. Okay, maybe I'm paranoid. You do more of the talking if we do this."
“If you’re really that worried, just put on sunglasses or some shit, I dunno. You’ll be fine. Some people on here are just there to be horny and do dirty talk in the text chat, so we’re skipping them for sure. But sometimes I like to mess with them and just copy-paste an entire chocolate chip cookie recipe over and over until they leave.”
"That sounds kinda funny. I hope we don't run into horny people or I will die. Literally."
Fugo squinted down at the screen, his glasses made the glare from it worse, and the graphics looked horrendous,
"I'm gonna change into my contacts, I can't handle this damn glare from your laptop, while I do that will you set it up?... Wait, will they hear us? Do we have to talk or is it like...Texting?" Fugo asked, crawling to the bottom of the bed where his bag rested.
“It’s like both. You can either just text or use video chat at the same time,” Mista answered. “Do you already want me to start a chat going or do you want me to wait for you?”
"You can start. It gives me a bit of time to prepare myself. Will...you just give me a heads up before you start? I don't want to say anything embarrassing."
Taking off his glasses, Fugo folded them before laying them gently back into their case,
"Do...you think anyone will recognise me?" He asked quietly, Fugo was actually paranoid about it, he knew Mista said not to, but he couldn't help it. After sliding the contacts onto his eyes, the blonde blinked, trying to adjust to the feeling once again.
"If someone does, can you help me think of a lie? I don't want to think about someone figuring out it really is me."
“Lemme think as we go.” Mista was speaking as if his head actually had the capacity to think. “You could tie your hair back or something, or wear a hat. It’ll sorta cover your face. That’s what celebrities do when they don’t wanna get caught out in public. But I doubt anyone will know who you are.”
"I have a scrunchie I can use, I recently dyed my hair so I shouldn't be as like...recognisable. So I'm sure I'll be okay, anyone could recognise me when I had my white hair. I mean, what other kid by chance has white hair and pinkish eyes? And my haircut. So...I think I should be good." Tying up his hair with the said accessory, Fugo bit his lip before moving back next to Mista, curling up a bit towards him just as a comfort thing.
"If I see someone's dick or breasts I'm going to scream, just so you know."
Mista was about to say, ‘no promises’, but he knew that would only convince Fugo that this was a bad idea and put him on edge.
“Nah, don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine,” Mista assured. “Ready?”
Fugo took a deep breath, "Yes."
Mista began to click through, and of course, there were some people that started the conversation with the standard ‘M or F?’ text.
“How about we play Would You Rather with them, Fugo? You know how that game works?”
"Isn't that the game where you ask two questions and I choose one?"
“Yes. Except we’re gonna ask these guys as we go through. Like..”
Mista tapped his chin thoughtfully.
“Heh, I got one.” Mista had a smug smirk on his face as he started a video chat.
So, they went through, and Mista kept proposing questions right off the bat.
‘Would you rather have feet as long as skis or arms without joints?’
‘Would you rather have to eat shaving cream in place of ice cream for the rest of your life, or survive only on popsicles and ice cream and nothing else?’
‘Would you rather feel like you’re being tickled for an entire day, or feel like you’re being stabbed for 12 hours?’
Mista ended up getting both fun answers, and also just people answering and then asking for his Facebook to “talk more”. Which definitely meant they were interested in something else.
“Sorry, but I’m too sexy for a dick sandwich like you,” Mista said, then quickly left. He sighed and turned to Fugo.
“Alright, you’re up. If anyone asks for anything more, just leave. Or I’ll chew them out. Either way works.” Mista shrugged. “Anyway, it’s up to you to give another question, since it’s.. that number. Think you can give it a shot?”
"Not like I have much of a choice.." Pulling the laptop closer to himself, Fugo sighed and thought of his question(s) before starting up another chat.
Fugo wasn't expecting to be paired immediately with a boy around their age, well, he thinks they are around their age, maybe a bit younger?
Fugo couldn't tell to be honest, but glancing over the others' features, he would guess he couldn't be much younger…
Long black hair with purple tints, bright purple eyes, and olive-toned skin. He looked so lively, compared to some of the...weirdos on the site. It was a relief and a good change.
Now wasn't the time though to be looking over the boy— It will look like he is checking him out-
Just, be normal, Fugo—
"Just ask a question that doesn't sound boring and get them to leave immediately…" He whispered to himself as his fingers glided across the keyboard.
' Would you rather have to pilot over the Bermuda Triangle or directly over the Himalayas?'
The boy looked like he was pondering the question for a moment, but a hint of excitement lit up in his eyes. Maybe planes were something that he found interest in. Then, he went to type.
‘bermuda triangel sounds the most dangerous since it’s misteryous. id pick that one. i think it would be super cool’
Fugo felt a small smile tug at his lips, he was just glad he was able to come up with something at least somewhat interesting enough for the other to answer,
'The only downside is plane crashes happen so often there because their systems go down. Same with ships, I think it would be interesting though if someone managed to get across and live. Or even survive out in it, being able to explain what exactly is causing the outages so constantly. What do you think?'
Fugo was actually a little shocked...he was talking- texting, a bit more than he expected. He thought he would just ask and then leave, like how Mista was doing.
The next response came.
‘then id be the first to make it out alive :D i know thats a strech but i like to think that i can do it’
“Look at you go!” Mista chuckled. “By the way, he can hear us.”
"H-he can?!" Fugo completely forgot about that part.
Quickly looking at the boy, his face was a bright red, just because he forgot completely about the fact this was a video chat.
A laugh was heard from the other end of the call upon seeing how embarrassed Fugo had gotten. It wasn’t in a mocking manner at all, moreso that he was having fun with this.
“I can hear you, but I can just pretend I didn’t,” the boy assured.
"U-uh.." Just keep typing or you won't be able to get anything out of your mouth.
'What do you think causes them? For sure there is a logical explanation, but some people still theorise that it's supernatural or the US government. But why would they take down their own aircrafts? Most of the ships and aeroplane crashes are explained, but there are two they have yet to figure out what happened to them, which was Flight 19 in 1945 and the USS Cyclops in 1918. But other than those two, NOAA says it is tropical storms and hurricanes that cause it.'
After saying that, it took him a while to read what Fugo had typed. He was squinting, clearly struggling to understand, silently mouthing the words as if sounding them out.
“I think you’re babbling too much over science, this poor guy is trying to figure out what the hell you typed,” Mista teased.
“No, I got it! Just.. give me a minute,” the boy answered, completely forgetting that they were probably only trying to limit the conversation to text.
“I dunno anything about logic and stuff like that.. but I think that’s the fun of it. Maybe the only way to figure it out is to make it out of there alive. I know a ton of people say it’s aliens but I think it would be stupid that they’re just targeting people in the middle of the ocean.”
“Maybe that’s one of the only places where they can corner people without leaving a trace of evidence. Aliens are real, I know they are,” Mista butted in.
"We don't have any evidence that extraterrestrial beings exist, but, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt because there is no way we are the only living life forms in the entire universe. It seems absolutely impossible and crazy to say we are. For there are two hundred billion to two trillion, and more, galaxies within our universe."
Once again, Fugo remembered they were on call with a stranger, and so he went red again and cleared his throat,
"A-anyways...Shut up Mista. I'm having a conversation without you."
Fugo quickly turned back to Mista's laptop so he could type, there was no way he would be able to talk like that to this stranger.
' Anyways, so, do you have any questions?'
“I’m having a conversation without you too, Fug-..gue” Mista stopped. He remembered distinctly that Fugo said he didn’t want anyone to recognize him. Playing it safe would definitely be a good idea. Even if it sounded stupid as hell.
‘i didnt know you could talk :o’
The boy was grinning teasingly as he typed that.
“Fugue, huh? I’m Narancia.”
‘are you talking about would you rather questions or airplane ones’
Blinking, Fugo stared at the text on screen for a bit, his chest feeling tight, not in an anxious way, but in an angry kinda way...Why wasn't this guy capitalising?
Maybe he should just stick to talking out loud so he didn't yell at some stranger.
"U-uh...so, wanna just talk out loud? Now that we have for a bit...what would be the point to k-keep...texting," Fugo murmured, shifting his collar a bit as he pulled on it, "And, the question can be whatever you want it to be. As long as they aren’t about personal information or something like that, I guess."
“Yeah, we can keep talking this way, it’s easier. I’m kinda shocked, usually when I get on here, conversations don’t last this long. It’s also a bad idea saying personal things on here, so don’t worry ‘bout it,” Narancia assured.
“At least we know you aren’t out for lewd bullshit, that’s definitely a good thing.” Mista laughed.
“Yeah, that stuff’s nasty.” Narancia wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I only get on here cause I get bored or lonely.”
"Lonely? But you seem so nice.. I thought you had a bunch of friends and we haven't even spoken for ten minutes." Fugo laughed, it wasn't anything mean, it was more so a shock kinda thing, in a way.
Mista shot Fugo a look, like ‘are you already calling this guy a loser?’, but Narancia didn’t look like he took offense at all, and was already talking.
“Yeah.. I do have some friends, but you guys are really cool too. My roommate is away right now and I have nothing else to do, so I’m just on here messing with other people.”
"Oh, well, we should be able to keep talking for a while if you want…"
Fugo didn't think he would be saying that. Like– at all. And before he could try to cover up and add more to his sentence, the door opened,
"Hey Mista? Can you help me? I can't reach the sugar, and I can't find the step stool." Giorno spoke before he noticed the laptop, and the site that was pulled up, be blinked before smiling.
"I won't keep you long."
“Oh, okay, yeah I’ll come help. Fugue, will you be fine on your own?” Mista stood up to go after Giorno.
"Yeah, I should be fine, I think.. I'll let you know if not."
Fugo let out a sigh as Mista left with Giorno, "Sorry about that...We are at our friend's house, I guess his father put the sugar container up too high for him to reach— His father is like a giant. It's crazy!"
“My friend’s dad is super tall too. Mista’s your friend’s name, right? Is he a giant too?” Narancia teased.
"Actually, yeah, Mista is like, 6'0. Though, my other friend is the same height as me, he got his mother's genes more so, but, everyone else in his family is really tall. The second shortest is probably like...5'11? Around that height. So...I guess while on the topic, how tall are you, Narancia?"
Narancia’s face burned out of shame.
“..You won’t laugh, right? I get picked on a lot for it.”
"Why would I laugh? It's just a height."
“I’m 5’4.” Narancia winced and averted his eyes from the camera. He didn’t want to see Fugo’s reaction. “I dunno if it’s genes or what, but I just.. stopped growing pretty early on. It’s alright though. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I said I was 18- Err- 19.”
It was odd that Narancia corrected himself. Wouldn’t someone know their own age? Unless they had just barely turned.
"5'4? You are 4 inches shorter than I. I'm 5'8. Well, kinda. It's like a borderline height, but I'm basically 5'8…"
Upon hearing Narancia’s hesitation of his own age, Fugo raised a brow,
"...Do...you not know your own age? That wouldn't make sense though…"
Use your brain idiot, put that 152 IQ to good use.
"Was your birthday recent?"
“Yeah. Today’s my birthday, actually,” Narancia answered, perking up and turning his gaze back to Fugo.
Fugo wasn't expecting that.
"Your– Today?"
And he was alone?
"Happy birthday, Narancia," Fugo murmured, a small hint of sadness. But, he smiled a bit, "Uhm...I don't really, have anything I can do...But I can type it out for you to see or something."
As Fugo began to figure out what to say next, the WiFi cut out completely, and his eyes went out.
"W- HEY THE WIFI WENT OUT!"
He yelled out, freaking out as he tried to somehow communicate this to Narancia— But the site already went to the screen that said 'you are offline'.
The blondes eye twitched, and he held the screen tightly in his hands,
"Just as I was making a friend…"
Not long after, Mista entered the room, and he saw the crestfallen face Fugo was making.
“Hey, what’s the matter? Did he turn out to be a horny bastard after all?” he asked.
"The WiFi died...just as he told me it was his birthday…"
“Oh.. do you wanna see if maybe you guys can reconnect? Or is the WiFi still down?” Mista crouched beside Fugo and pulled the laptop to take a look himself.
"I dunno... I wanna reconnect, but what are the chances we will? Or that he will want to talk to me again..? It looks like I just left because he told me it was his birthday…"
“Then let me give it a shot. I’m sure he gets it. If he sees me, he’ll know it’s us.”
Now it was a mission to reconnect with Narancia.
“Should I tell Giorno there’s something up with the WiFi or is it back?” Mista attempted to try refreshing the page again.
As Mista refreshed the page, Fugo watched the little circle spin before it finally loaded,
"IT'S BACK! FIND HIM—"
He hadn't meant to yell, but, Fugo was desperate, he never got to socialise or got along with people this well ever...and so, he continued to bark orders at Mista, shaking his arm like crazy.
“Jesus Christ, this is a boy you’ve barely met and you’re already freaking out.” Mista wasn’t mad, more so just surprised at how abrupt Fugo’s behavior had become.
Mista continued to start more chats, disconnecting when it was somebody that wasn’t Narancia. This kept going for minutes. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. No sign of him.
“..Maybe he logged off for the night. It is getting late.”
"B-but…"
Fugo stared at the disconnected screen, they hardly got to talk at all...he was finally making a friend…Fugo didn't want to give up...Not yet, he had to find Narancia and apologise—
" Come on! Please Mista! "
“I’d say that you can try and look for him yourself. But I don’t want you running into the bad people I talked about earlier. If we keep going and we can’t find him, why don’t we try again tomorrow? If you can hang out?”
"Promise me you will find him if I can't tomorrow…? He— He has to come back online...I...I just started to open up and make friends for once…" Fugo said softly, just staring at the screen with complete disarray. He was more upset than he thought he would be.
"I..I need to get water, I'll be back.."
He murmured abruptly, but it wasn't like it was a lie. He was thirsty. And so, Fugo got up and left to get a bottle of water, leaving Mista to see if he could find Narancia at all.
Mista blinked as he watched Fugo exit the room.
He didn’t have the heart to tell him that this was next to impossible.
But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try. Mista and Giorno knew just how closed off Fugo was, and the fact that he made a connection with someone so easily was unheard of. Giving up would only betray Fugo’s trust in people again.
So, he kept going. 5 more minutes. 10 minutes. 15 minutes.
This was hopeless.
Breaking the news to Fugo was going to break his heart.
It had took Fugo a bit longer than he thought, since he planned to only get the water originally, but Giorno ended up using him as a taste tester, and so that happened, then, Giorno's cats wanted his attention, and if he ignored them, said blonde would know and get upset since these cats are his life, so Fugo gave them all the attention they wanted, but, now he was finally back in the room and making his way back into the spot that he said once before in.
"Any luck at all…?"
“..Fugo, I think Narancia retired for the night. I’ve been running into the same people over and over and there’s been no sign of him. Why don’t we keep looking tomorrow? Maybe around this same exact time. He looked like he was really warming up to you, I’m sure he wants to find you again.” Mista sighed and comfortingly patted Fugo on the back.
“Don’t give up just yet. He’s still out there somewhere. We know he probably lives in Italy because he was speaking Italian, which is also where we live. You’ll find him, I’m pretty sure you will.”
Because tomorrow won't be his birthday…
"What if he doesn't want to talk to me. As soon as he mentioned his birthday the WiFi cut so it looked like I just left him...and he was just talking about being alone on it...B-but yeah...He was speaking Italian, he had a Neapolitan accent. Which means he lives or at least grew up around Southern Italy, like you, Mista...I just—...Maybe its time for us to sleep too...you are probably right...that he got off for the night.."
“Yeah, we’ll get rest and then continue hunting for this guy. I am pretty sure he knew that the WiFi cut out or that he figured you accidentally left, cause from what I can tell, it was out of nowhere. No one just leaves out of nowhere if they’re the one speaking.” Mista folded the laptop closed and then set it aside.
“Are you staying over or are your parents making you go home?”
"I'm able to stay because I told them I was helping Giorno study for an upcoming exam for a day or two, and as long as I come back with proof we actually studied I won't get banned from seeing Giorno again."
“Cool. So you can stick with me tomorrow when we try to find him again. Anyway, I wanna eat whatever Giorno made, and I’m sure you need to eat too. Let’s go downstairs and tell him about Narancia.”
Fugo nodded absentmindedly, sluggishly standing up to follow Mista out of the room and down the steps. As they reached the kitchen, Giorno had already set the table, and all three had a table and glass fixed,
"I hope you two don't mind juice! It's all I had at the moment...I don't think us getting into my father's wine would be the best idea."
"Juice is fine Gio, you should know that already,"
Fugo wishes his voice and tone didn't come out so...dead. Especially since it made it clear as day that he was upset.
"Did Omegle not go as planned?"
“Yeah, we ran into this guy, you saw him on the screen when you walked in. Fugo was deep in conversation with him and then they accidentally disconnected and we couldn’t find him after that anymore,” Mista explained. Seeing how much despair Fugo was in made him frown.
“He’s really adamant about finding this kid, so we’re gonna try again tomorrow. You wanna help us, Gio?”
"Mhm! I'll get out my laptop so we have two going, don't worry Fugo, I'm sure we will find him okay? For now, please eat, it's already late, and I don't want any grumpy morning time attitudes from the two of you."
Giorno chuckled, pinching their cheeks,
"Wha- G-Giorno! Come on, why do you treat us like kids—" Fugo whined, "When we are older than you!"
"Just because, now sit! I made crab linguine!" Giorno hummed, before he set off to go grab napkins for them.
“I think it’s really sweet of him. And he made dinner for you, so you can’t argue against getting your cheek pinched,” said Mista, who also pinched Fugo’s cheek for good measure.
“Thanks a ton for this by the way, Giorno, it looks fantastic.” Mista let go and then dug into his food, which did prove to be very delicious.
"Thank you, Guido!"
"Mista is right, it does look and smell great...Thank you Giorno," Fugo said quietly, shooting Mista a glare as he messily ate before rolling his eyes and began to slowly pick at his food.
"Do you not like it Fugo?"
"Huh?- What? No, I do.."
"You are just picking around at it, it's okay to say you don't," Giorno insisted, smiling reassuringly.
"I promise it's amazing, Gio, I'm just...not hungry. I'm feeling kinda down. That's all."
“We should save it for leftovers then. Is there anything we can do to cheer you up for now?” Mista questioned, setting down his fork. He was literally like a vacuum cleaner. All the food that was on his plate had disappeared within a minute.
Fugo pretty much watched Mista in disgust, the older had always been a messy, fast eater from what the blonde could see, but, to the other side of him, Giorno laughed at Mista's behaviour, he even brought it upon himself to clean the older off.
"...I dunno. We've done a lot already and so it just seems boring now."
"I can get my Wii down and we can play Just Dance before going to bed?" Giorno said with a small grin.
“Yeah, that’ll tire you out quick! That way tomorrow will be here sooner and we can find your friend!” Mista eagerly agreed.
"Can either of you even dance though?"
"Not that good but that makes it fun! Watching each other fail to keep up with the dance!"
“I’m super good at dancing, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mista half-joked, “It’s better than just sitting around, though.”
"Not to boost my own ego or anything, but I'm probably better than you by so much Mista," Fugo quickly retorted.
“Then let’s fucking go.” Mista hastily kicked his chair out of the way as he stood up.
Giorno watched as Fugo stood up as well, not as aggressively as Mista, but he was close.
"Don't destroy the living room now okay? I'll be dancing too so please don't hit me!"
"...I forgot you were going to dance, sorry Gio, promise we won't hit you, I think Mista would hit himself before he ever laid a finger on you.'
“Yep, he’s right,” Mista reassured. “Fugo and I are just gonna prove who will win. Which is obviously gonna be me. His legs are too long for his god damn body.”
"H-HEY! THEY AREN'T THAT LONG—"
"Your legs are pretty long.."
"Not you too!"
"It's the truth, I'm sorry Fugo! You got like...a weirdly proportioned body. You are all limbs and no torso."
"But I can still dance! I have been in dance classes for years. "
“Then let’s go and prove it!” Mista was gone within a matter of seconds. He probably went to set up the game.
Eventually, after setting the Wii up, the three went through every song on the game, as requested by Mista. Fugo eventually lost track of the score, so it basically turned into them just trying to remember what songs they fucking already did. And Fugo was 99.9% sure they did Walk like an Egyptian 3 times. But, he was way too tired to remember.
Now the three of them were in Giorno's room, the younger blonde had his laptop playing a movie for them all to fall asleep to, which was Castle in the Sky, before that they had watched Ponyo, and usually Giorno would repeat it the entire time, but he finally decided to switch things up a bit.
Not much longer, the three of them passed out on Giorno's bed, the only noise(s) being the fan and Sheeta speaking in the movie.
~
Somewhere else in the world, sat Narancia at his desk, groggily burying his head into his folded arms.
He wasn’t able to get to sleep. There was a storm and Trish was gone.
Why did his birthday have to take a turn for the worst? The person he met online had disappeared, but he had said he had a message for him. He still wondered what it could be.
But, he had the feeling that it was a fateful encounter. That wasn’t the last he would see of him.
With the comfort of that thought, he was finally lulled into sleep.