Chapter Text
“WHAT?!” The collective cry from Trish and Narancia rang through the flat, causing Sticky Fingers to perk his head up at the noise.
“Shh! Not so loud.” Bruno shushed as he typed away on his computer.
The two teens were still playing back what they heard from Bruno; since the time that Abbacchio came out as genderfluid, he’s never taken the opportunity to present as female in public. Both of them weren’t strangers to calling Abbacchio ‘Mama’ and referring to him with female pronouns on the days he wanted to present as a woman. Hell, they liked it since the goth seemed to lose most of his prickliness in favor of being a little softer towards everyone.
“That..kind of sucks if you think about it.” Trish mused, leaning against the arm of the couch.
Bruno nodded with a soft sigh as he finished typing to turn and look at the duo.
“And you haven’t given him the chance to go out as a woman?” Narancia asked before getting bopped on the head by Trish, prompting a chuckle out of Bruno.
“Believe me when I say that I have offered,” Bruno sighed, walking over into the small kitchen. “but every time I’ve tried to take him out, he’d say he wasn’t feeling good or that he was tired or ‘not tonight’.”
Trish and Narancia murmured soft agreements to each other as Bruno pulled a cold water from the fridge.
“If I’ll be honest,” The dark-haired man continued, cracking the bottle open. “I think he’s still afraid of what might happen.”
“Of what happening?” Narancia asked, tilting his head. Bruno shrugged.
“Most likely something going wrong. Most of it is up here.” The dark-haired man tapped the side of his head to demonstrate as he sipped at his water.
Narancia slammed his hand down against the island.
“That’s dumb! Dad should be able to look like and be, well, a mom and not have to hide!”
“Nara, it isn’t that easy.” Trish tried.
“It’s true. You can’t just push someone and expect something good to come of it. You of all people should know that.” Bruno continued, his ocean eyes turning icy and causing Narancia to flinch and shrink back.
The younger deflated, slumping and propping his chin on the cool counter.
“He makes all of us feel better, in his own way. Shouldn’t we try to help him feel better?” The black-haired boy mumbled.
Trish and Bruno each gave a sigh in silent supplication.
“I hear what you’re trying to say, Narancia,” Bruno began.
“But you think I should wait until he’s made it clear whether or not he’s comfortable enough to take the next step.” Narancia drawled, feeling like he was having a talk with Fugo during a lesson.
Bruno paused, biting his tongue as he prepared the words that closely went against his own thinking.
“But I want you to at least let me talk to him before you spring anything on him.”
The energy in the room regained a spark as Narancia’s head shot up, wild raven hair bouncing.
“Y-You mean we can..?”
The dark-haired man shook his head in resignation with a small smile and a chuckle.
“Maybe you two can get to him where I can’t. He has a hard time saying ‘no’ to you kids, especially you, Narancia.”
“Except Giorno. He can definitely say ‘no’ to him.” Trish added with a crackling smile.
“True.”
Bruno almost fell as Narancia launched himself over the counter and pulled the older into a tight hug, squealing into the fabric of his shirt.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom!!!” The dark-haired boy squealed, violently nuzzling Bruno’s shoulder and squeezing him tighter.
Bruno smiled, gently returning the hug and tapping Narancia to say ‘enough’. It made the young man’s heart swell to see such a wide smile on the younger’s face. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door and everyone in the room froze. Everyone went quiet and a familiar albino’s head popped around the corner, scanning the room before relaxing and stepping in the room. Narancia slid over the side of the counter to embrace the other boy, nuzzling him before giving a quick peck on the cheek, to which the other blushed.
“I’m guessing the talk went well?” Fugo asked, looking down at the dark-haired boy wrapped around him then to the older at the island. Bruno nodded.
“We may be able to take Dad out soon.” Narancia said, face partially muffled by his boyfriend’s shirt.
Fugo looked at Bruno with a confused face that said: “Are you really going to let this happen?”
To the unasked question, Bruno nodded and gave a small smile and Fugo only shook his head.
“Well, I think now that you had your little talk, we should go.”
“What?!” Narancia’s eyes widened and his mouth fell agape.
“That means Bruno can talk with Abbacchio and maybe they can set up a time and day.”
Narancia’s lip jutted out a bit in a pout. Fugo rolled his ruby eyes.
“Maybe on the way back, we can go to Panera.”
The dark-haired boy’s eyes suddenly widened and he ran over to give Bruno a quick hug in farewell.
“Hope everything goes well!” Narancia chirped before running back over to Fugo and clinging to him.
The albino tensed up before taking a breath.
“Sorry to just talk and run, but..”
Bruno shook his head with a smile.
“It’s fine. You two have a good time at Panera.”
“We will! See ya tomorrow, Mom~!” Narancia called with a smile.
With waves from both boys, they were down the hall and out of the flat. Bruno then turned to Trish as she was typing away on her phone.
“I already texted my uncle. He’s gonna pick me up.”
“Alright, good.”
“Are you really gonna talk to Dad tonight?”
Bruno paused to think before answering.
“Yes. I think Leone could use something nice after..what happened.”
Trish nodded slowly, her face falling a bit.
“Yeah..A-Anyways, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow maybe?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. See you soon, Mom.”
With a wave, Trish went the way of Fugo and Narancia, and soon Bruno was alone in the flat. The dark-haired man sighed to himself.
“How am I going to do this?”
✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧
“..Bruno. Bruno!! ”
“Huh?”
“Good God. We already have one space cadet with Ronny, we don’t need two.”
“Yeah..” Bruno mumbled, fork picking at his food.
He could feel Abbacchio’s amber eyes on him, putting on the pressure. After what seemed like an eternity, he balked.
“I was talking with Narancia and Trish today and they were talking about..maybe doing a Girls Day Out with you.”
“Okay?..There’s more, isn’t there?”
Bruno nodded.
“They..wanted to do it on a day where you would present as female.”
The room fell silent. The young man panicked.
“Listen. I-I know you’re still hesitant about going out as a woman, and I can only guess they wanted to do something since we came back, and you’ve been more down. A–And every time I tried to take you out, there was always something so-”
“Jesus, Bruno. Remember to breathe.”
The dark-haired man did, breath rattling through his chest. Abbacchio put his head in his hand, trying to process what his partner said. For a time, both men stayed silent, toiling in their own minds. The silver-haired man could feel his heart beat in his ears and eyes pulsing behind his eyelids; he could understand the sentiment behind the action, but the thought of being out there, anyone could see right through him and see he wasn’t really a..He shuddered. A hand was over his and he looked into the eyes of his partner.
“You don’t have to decide right now. It’s just..something to think about.”
“Y-Yeah, okay..”
The rest of the couple’s dinner was eaten in a tense silence. After dinner, Abbacchio thought over the conversation while washing away the other stresses from the day. When he closed his eyes, he could see Trish and Narancia’s pleading faces but also something else; a small boy with sloppily chopped hair, drowning in one of his hoodies and smiling up at him. He could remember how happy Narancia was when he first stayed with them, the joy and just relief of finally getting to be in his own skin without fearing judgment and knowing he had support. Abbacchio knew that’s what the teens were offering, and it sounded very tempting.
A shiver seized Abbacchio’s body, reminding him of his surroundings. As he stepped out and began to towel off his hair, the silver-haired man looked into the fogged up mirror to see a vague outline of himself. Maybe a day out would be good, it has been a while since he’s gotten to go out just for fun and maybe things have changed. Taken aback by his own thoughts, Abbacchio shook his head with a sad smile.
“God I sound old..” He said to himself.
As soon as he was out and in a shirt and pajama bottoms, he grabbed his phone but hesitated on who to call. Narancia was most likely up; he usually tried to stay up late. Or maybe Trish? It might be easier to talk to her and she wouldn’t get too excited. Abbacchio decided on Trish, tapping on her icon in his contacts titled ‘Wannabe Gamer’. The phone rang for a couple seconds in Abbacchio’s ear, almost triggering his tinnitus, before it stopped.
“Hello?”
“Hey, kid.”
“Oh. Hey Dad.”
“So, I heard from Bruno about your little idea with Ronny and I.”
“Nara was the one who thought of it. I just agreed it sounded good.”
“Yeah. So..I don’t know when, cuz this bipolar storage bank I call a brain is weird, but maybe we could think about something in the near future..”