Chapter Text
Loud and rambling chatter mixed with the sound of utensils clinking against plates filled the kitchen of the Abbacchio-Bucciarati household as the budding family began clearing dishes from the dinner table. Mandatory family dinners started out as an activity that was painstakingly enforced, mostly by Bruno, shortly after all four of their kids had officially been adopted. Each of the boys had missed out on experiencing the stability of a structured routine in different ways, and aside from providing a loving and supportive home, both parents made it a top priority to make every day reliably predictable.
“Che diavolo, Nara!? You ruined my Vogue, and don’t even try to tell me it wasn’t you because it reeks of orange juice and you’re the only one who drinks that shit 24-7!” Mista fumed at Narancia while holding up his now sticky fashion magazine between his thumb and pointer finger in disgust.
“Then I guess we’re even. You wanna know how I know that, Mee-stah?” Narancia shot back, adding in some dramatics by overexaggerating his brother’s name, causing the older boy to roll his eyes in impatience. “Because you busted my CD player on purpose with your stupid fizzy water, and we all know you’re the only cagacazzo in this house who drinks that shitty stuff!” He said triumphantly before promptly being smacked square in the face by Mista’s soggy magazine, and put into a headlock.
“HEY! Abba!”
“Shut up, butt-munch!”
“Ragazzi! Watch the freaking language.” Leone frowned sternly from his place at the kitchen sink. “For fuck’s sake, those two.” He muttered under his breath with a shake of the head before being handed dirty plates and cups from Pannacotta and Giorno, causing the two blonde teens to giggle softly.
“Knock it off before I put you two on dish duty tonight.” Bruno warned the two eldest boys, knowing that washing dishes was the most hated chore in their household and required a fair rotation of responsibility. But at certain times, it was an excellent motivator for quickly correcting behavior.
“That’s a great idea, Papa!” Pannacotta chimed in cheerfully, hoping to get out of his chore for the night.
“What!? No way, I did them last night!” Mista instantly let go of Narancia while protesting Bruno’s suggestion. Bruno was busying himself with wiping down the kitchen table of all the food and drink debris that was mostly concentrated around Narancia and Giorno’s spots at the table.
“Then listen to your Abba. Enough with the cursing and acting like gremlins. Mista, get started sweeping the floor. Nara, take the trash out to the curb. GioGio and Panna, finish up loading the dishwasher then go get showered.” Bruno had gotten task delegation and their family routine down to a science. He eventually learned it was impossible to get Pannacotta and Giorno out of bed in the mornings so they were strongly encouraged to shower at night to allow them extra time to wake up. The two eldest boys seemed to have the opposite problem of staying up late into the night while somehow managing to spring to life the moment the sun came up, so it only made sense for them to shower in the morning.
~~~
Soon after completing their respective night time routines, all four boys were getting settled in their rooms for the night, aside from Giorno who was peeking his head inside of Bruno’s home office. The man was deep in concentration at his computer as he had put off several work tasks during the day to take care of the boys while Leone was at work.
“Hey, Papa?” Giorno knocked softly on the door frame to get his dad’s attention. Bruno flinched slightly and looked up before relaxing with a soft smile at the sight of his youngest dressed in turtle patterned pajamas, holding a brush and small scrunchie. His hair was dripping slightly from the shower he took as he looked at Bruno with a hint of expectancy in his expression. The man felt a small pang in his chest as he knew that Giorno’s nightly routine included having his hair brushed and braided by his Papa, but tonight the man was on a tight schedule to review and edit his colleague’s proposal. “What’s up, GioGio?” Bruno gestured for Giorno to come in, though he stayed with his body facing his computer.
“Almost ready for bed. You just need to do my hair.” Giorno said matter-of-factly as he walked up to Bruno, placing his purple brush and orange scrunchie on the desk. Bruno couldn’t help but chuckle softly and rub his face in his palms, partly out of exhaustion from what had been a busy day, but also because disappointing any of his kids in the slightest was the last thing he ever wanted to do.
“I’m so sorry caro mio, but I have a lot of work to get done tonight and really need to focus so I can’t tonight.” The man explained softly, taking a moment to see how his youngest would react.
“Oh… But—Oh.” Giorno’s posture deflated slightly at Bruno’s answer, but soon stiffened as he realized who his alternative hairstylist would be. “But Abba’s never done my hair before.” He secretly dreaded the thought of Leone having control of detangling his curly locks. He knew his Abba loved him dearly, but Giorno sometimes had difficulty approaching the man due to his icy exterior.
“Well, it won’t hurt to give him a try at least once. He’s not gonna bite.” Bruno gave an apologetic smile before gently handing Giorno his brush and scrunchie. “Go ahead and ask. Last I checked, he was in our room. Go on, tesoro.” He coaxed, giving Giorno’s hair a gentle ruffle.
The golden-haired boy sighed, sulking his way out of the home office and toward the stairs, attempting to make his steps as small as possible to prolong the inevitable. He somehow found himself ascended to the top of the stairs, staring down the master bedroom at the end of the hall. He caught glimpses of Leone through the slightly cracked door folding a pile of the boys’ laundry on the bed before he advanced further, eventually standing in the space between the door and door frame.
Leone could hear the small creaks in the floor boards the moment Giorno began shuffling down the hallway. He soon felt the boy’s big green eyes glued to him from the doorway. “What, stalker?” He deadpanned while putting a stack of folded clothes neatly into the laundry basket.
“Um…Papa’s busy working.”
“I’m aware.”
“So… he—Well, I—”
“Need a minute to rehearse?” Leone’s eyebrow quirked upward expectantly as his hand found itself resting on his hip. He turned to face Giorno which made the boy feel like he was under a hot spotlight.
“I just… Need you to braid my hair… Please.” Giorno meekly revealed the brush and scrunchie he was holding behind his back. Leone stood still, seeming to internally scrutinize the boy’s request before shocking Giorno by giving an unceremonious pat to the spot on the bed directly in front of him.
“Siediti.”
Giorno raised his eyebrows, but figured taking too long to comply would serve to irritate his Abba further. He hastily sat down on the indicated spot and instantly regretted looking up at Leone’s imposing figure standing in front of him. “Face the other way.” He was then ushered to sit criss-cross on the bed, facing away from Leone to allow him to access his all of his hair easily.
The silver-haired man ignored Giorno’s hands offering him the brush and scrunchie, opting to grab a towel from the clean laundry basket and toss it over the small boy’s head. Giorno let out a tiny squeak of surprise which would have made Bruno melt in adoration if he had witnessed it. Leone only allowed the corner of his black painted lips to quirk upwards in the faintest hint of a smile which he was thankful his son couldn’t see with his head covered. He started to work the towel in small circles all around Giorno’s head, lightly squeezing it over the ends of his hair to press out the excess water. Meanwhile, Giorno felt his tensed shoulders relax at the sensation of the warm lavender-scented towel drying his hair.
Once Leone decided his hair was sufficiently dried, he instinctively tossed the towel so that it laid halfway over his shoulder for easy access when he needed it again. He furrowed his brow and lightly sucked his teeth, deep in thought while examining Giorno’s hair. He gently worked his fingers through the slightly damp golden locks before abruptly pulling away.
“Aspettare.”
Giorno barely had any time to react before Leone strode away from him, moving towards the master bathroom. The boy craned his to neck to see what his Abba was doing, but could only hear light rummaging before Leone re-emerged moments later holding a glass jar of expensive looking hair product.
The man twisted the lid off the jar, swiped up a dollop of the velvety looking product with his finger and rubbed it between his hands quickly. He then skillfully worked the sweet-scented product into his son’s hair, making sure to scrunch it onto his ends. “Brush.” Leone pointed to the object in his son’s lap with his free hand, gesturing for Giorno to hand it over. The boy passed it up to his Abba and braced himself for what he assumed would be a rough detangling session.
Several moments passed in which Giorno anticipated to have his head yanked back by the brush catching onto a tangle, but no such thing occurred. Leone was standing behind him, delicately running the brush in short strokes, starting at the ends and making his way to the top of his head until the brush was able to glide smoothly all the way through his hair. Giorno was almost speechless at how effortless the whole process seemed for his Abba.
“You’re really good at this, Abba.”
“I am.”
“How did you know what to put in my hair?”
Leone made quick work of parting the boy’s hair into three clearly defined sections before weaving the sections together. “My mother was a hair dresser. Owned a salon in Napoli.” He pointed to the scrunchie that was being played with between Giorno’s fingers before it was promptly handed to him.
“Nonna had her own salon?”
“She did. My older sister, Lucia and I worked there to help put us through school. After my mother passed away, Lucia took over the business and has been running it ever since.” Leone’s usual dry tone gradually shifted into a softer, almost inviting hum that Giorno had never heard from him before.
“That’s really cool, Abba.” Giorno smiled softly, feeling as though Leone shared a secret with him that no one else knew, although he was sure his Papa already knew more about Abba than all four of their kids combined.
“It is indeed.” Leone swiftly tied the scrunchie onto the end of his son’s braid, returning to his usual deadpan tone. “Alright, the clock says it’s time for your eyes to be shut. Off you go.” He removed the towel he had flung over his shoulder and used it to wipe the excess hair product off his hands.
Giorno stayed on the bed, only rotating his body so that he was sitting criss-cross facing Leone. “Tell me more about Nonna and zietta Lucia.” Which came out as more of a demand than the boy had expected it to.
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“But Abba, I—”
“Bed. Now.”
Leone noticed how his harsher tone made Giorno’s eyes go wide before the boy slid off his parent’s bed and scurried to his own room one door over. The man sighed and leaned against the bed, squeezing his eyes closed in the hopes that it would undo the events of the past thirty seconds. When no such miracle occurred, Leone was left to stew in his feelings of shame and guilt. He rubbed the back of his sore neck while turning to grab the clean laundry basket when he noticed something fuzzy sticking out from under a stack of t-shirts. He dug through the clothes, effectively ruining his neatly folded stacks to pull out a thready, color faded ladybug plushie.
At first, Leone held it up with a confused expression before he remembered an incident the day prior that involved Narancia accidentally spilling orange juice on the plushie at the breakfast table. He remembered the devastated look on Giorno’s face when the juice spilled, and how well he attempted to hide it moments later. There was no question that Bruno snuck the ladybug in with the normal laundry, intending for his husband to find the old comfort item.
The man sighed, letting go of whatever pride or ego he clung to and allowed his feet to guide him to the bedroom next door. Even though the door was wide open, Leone tapped his knuckle on the frame. He was met with the sight of Giorno sitting up in his bed underneath his frog patterned comforter, his right pointer finger lingering at his mouth as he nipped at the skin sporadically. In that moment, Leone felt like the world’s biggest asshole. Giorno watched with wide eyes as his Abba entered the room.
“Looks like Papa got Dottie all cleaned up for you.” The man said in the softest tone he could manage while offering his child the ladybug plushie. Giorno made haste of taking the plushie from his Abba with his free hand, keeping the other close to his mouth and giving in to the strong compulsion to bite down on his finger.
“Smettila. Smettila, Giorno. We don’t do that anymore, okay?” Leone’s brow furrowed in concern as he carefully reached out and pulled Giorno’s hand away from his mouth, earning a petulant whine from the baby of the family. The young parent was prepared for this though and began rubbing small circles onto the back of Giorno’s hand, causing the boy’s eyes to water at the much-needed physical comfort. His shoulders started shaking, trying to suppress any sobs from escaping his body. Leone took notice of this and gently lifted his son’s chin.
“Can I give you a hug?”
The simple question seemed to open the floodgates as Giorno let out a high-pitched hiccup and moved to sit up on his knees so he could wrap his lanky arms around Leone. The latter gladly returned the gesture, encasing his son’s petite frame in a firm embrace. He leaned his head down and pressed a tender kiss to the top of Giorno’s head, making sure to steadily rub circles on his back.
“I’m very sorry, GioGio. I just—I have a hard time talking about my family, even with your Papa. But that does not mean it’s okay to snap at you like I did.” The man hummed out, keeping his face close to the top of his son’s head, making his words almost come out muffled.
Giorno continued to sniffle into his Abba’s chest, feeling himself calm down at the sound of his steady heartbeat. “I was nosy.” He said pitifully while playing with a loose string on the back of the man’s blouse.
“You weren’t nosy. It’s normal to be curious. You’re a kid.” Abbacchio gently swayed him from side to side, keeping his voice soft and steady. “Listen,” He carefully helped Giorno sit back down on the bed before taking a seat next to him. “Before my mother passed away, I decided to share with her that I was in love with your Papa. She had a very hard time understanding our relationship and ultimately didn’t approve. I tried to get Lucia to help talk to her about it, but she thought it was no use to cause her more stress since she wouldn’t be around much longer.”
Giorno stared at his hands in his lap, trying to absorb all that was said and when it finally hit him, he reached over and grabbed his Abba’s hand, rubbing small circles onto the back of his hand just how both his dads had done for him countless times.
Leone let a watery chuckle escape his chest as he looked at his youngest in what could only be described as admiration. “Hey, hey, I’m alright. That’s my job.”
Giorno just shrugged and rested his head against his Abba’s strong shoulder, holding his hand a little tighter.