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Bucciarati had already settled into handling business for the day when he realized that Giorno still hadn't made an appearance. Which was slightly odd considering Giorno was usually an early riser.
Reluctant to wake him if he was finally taking rare a moment to sleep in, Bucciarati weighed his options until he realized that Giorno would likely be upset if he was allowed to sleep for much longer so he went to wake the teen up himself.
However, by the time he got to Giorno's room and knocked on the door, he heard some shuffling inside that told the occupant was awake after all.
"Giorno? I was just seeing if you were awake," Bruno called through the door.
Another slight shuffling. "Um, yes, I'm up. I'll be down soon."
Bruno couldn't help the small frown that furrowed his brow. Giorno sounded slightly off but it was probably because he had just woken up and was still a little flustered. Bucciarati didn't really think anything of it and went back to the office, making several important calls for the day.
By the time he had finished those, he realized with surprise that it was nearly noon and Giorno still had yet to make an appearance in the office. So unless he was slacking off, or engaged elsewhere, Bruno had no idea where he had gotten to.
A brief glance around the house told Bucciarati that everyone else was either out or engaged with their own activities. Bruno returned upstairs to see Giorno's door still closed and the frown returned and deepened between his eyes. He knocked again.
"Giorno? Are you okay?"
There was silence for a few seconds, leaving Bruno to wonder if the boy was actually in there, but then, "I—I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Bruno asked, growing frustrated and slightly worried now. "You've been in your room all day, Giorno. Are you sick."
"No, I…no."
Silence stretched out, Giorno making no move to open the door. Bruno reached out and touched the door knob, resisting the urge to just head inside. "Can I come in?"
There was no reply, but that wasn't necessarily a no either, so Bruno turned the knob and pushed the door open.
Giorno was sitting up in the center of his bed, still in his pajamas as far as Bucciarati could tell. He had a blanket draped around him and held tightly together where he clutched it underneath his throat. Bruno frowned again, thinking the action odd considering it wasn't even a cold day—it was the middle of summer, after all, and if anything rather stuffy in the room. Was Giorno hiding something? And if so, what could he possibly be hiding?
"I'm sorry, I'm just tired today and not feeling very well," Giorno said quickly. "I…I thought it might be a good idea to get a little more sleep."
"Giorno," Bucciarati snapped, causing the boy to cast his eyes down self-consciously. "Don't lie to me."
Giorno clutched the blanket tighter around him and it was then Bruno saw two lumps behind him that seemed out of place, covered by the blanket. He had thought they were pillows at first, but Giorno was sitting in front of the pillows and Bruno could have sworn that he had seen those lumps move when Giorno had shifted.
Slightly unnerved, Bruno started toward the bed. "Giorno…did something happen?"
Giorno shifted slightly so that his face was tilted away from Bruno, but as he did, the blanket moved, and something showed from underneath. It was hard for Bruno to place it at first, but then he realized he was looking at large white feathers.
"What is that?" he demanded, pointing the feathers out, a strange feeling overcoming him.
Giorno made a strangled sound and buried his face in his hands. "I don't know what happened," he said, voice muffled. "I just…woke up like this and I can't figure out how to get rid of them."
Bruno, realizing that interrogating Giorno wouldn't get anywhere, softened and sat on the side of the bed, facing the distressed teen. "Giorno, can you show me?"
Giorno shuddered, once against clutching the blanket to him. "I…I don't know. They're so bizarre…"
"I'm sure it won't bother me," Bruno assured him, sitting patiently.
Giorno took a deep breath and allowed the blanket to slip off his shoulders, pooling behind him as two white wings were revealed, shifting open slightly to allow the blanket to fall.
Bruno couldn't help but gasp at the sight. Strange, yes, but they were also undeniably beautiful.
Giorno sat there, eyes subconsciously turned down, shoulders slumped, yet tight at the same time. Bruno finally managed to find his words again and asked, "What happened?"
"I don't know," Giorno said helplessly. "I guess…I mean, it must have been Gold Experience. A bird flew into the window yesterday and I had Gold heal its wing. There was…I suppose I haven't had the best week. I felt so much longing watching the bird fly away, wishing I could be a bird with no care in the world. I used to do it all the time as a child. But…Gold wasn't nearly so powerful back then. And with the Requiem power, he acts on his own. I think he did this on some subconscious wish I had without recognizing fantasy and reality. I tried to get Requiem to reverse it but all it does is look at me. I—what am I going to do, Bucciarati? I can't go around with two giant wings!"
His eyes were growing damp and Bruno reached forward and took Giorno's hands in his, squeezing briefly. "We'll figure this out, Giorno. In the meantime, you haven't eaten yet today, have you? How about I bring something up here for you?"
Giorno sighed and gave a small nod. Bruno patted him on the knee and stood up, heading down to the kitchen where he put together some breakfast and tea for Giorno.
"Hey, have you seen Giorno anywhere?" Fugo asked, peeking his head in.
"He's not feeling well today," Bucciarati replied simply. "I'll be back to the office soon to take care of whatever is needed."
Fugo furrowed his brow, but nodded, disappearing back in the direction of the office. Bucciarati carried the trey back upstairs and found Giorno trying to reach over his shoulder to get to the wings, a scrunched up look on his face.
"Do they hurt?" Bucciarati asked, realizing he hadn't thought of that until now.
Giorno sighed, giving up. "No, they don't hurt really, they're just…uncomfortable. The feathers get all crooked and they pull weird."
Bucciarati set the tray down on Giorno's side table and the boy reached for the cup of tea first as Bruno studied the wings, realizing the feathers did look a little rough. Probably from being in bed and under a blanket.
"Humans weren't made to have wings. Birds are able to preen with their beaks but I can barely reach them." Giorno snorted. "You know, I was terrified at first, at the power my Stand has to do…this…but now it's just really annoying, you know? How am I going to conduct business with two giant wings? They're ridiculous."
"Honestly, I think they're rather majestic," Bruno told him sincerely. "But I do understand how they can be inconvenient." Even now they were poking through the ripped back of Giorno's nightshirt. Bruno wondered if there would be a way to hide them under a coat until Giorno figured out how to reverse them.
Giorno's shoulders shifted and he grunted as if he had an itch, reaching back again to scratch at the feathers he could reach. "It is definitely inconvenient."
A suddenly thought struck Bruno then. "Do you…mind if I try something?"
Giorno glanced up at him. "What?"
"Well, grooming is usually a group activity for animals, right? Birds preen themselves, but I've seen plenty of them grooming each other. Would you mind if I saw what I could do with getting your feathers back into some sort of semblance?"
Giorno pursed his lips, but finally nodded. "I suppose it couldn't hurt to try."
Bruno motioned for him to turn around and then sat on the bed cross-legged behind him. He reached for the left wing first and felt the bizarre appendage twitch when he laid a hand on the arm of it.
"Can you open it slightly?" he asked.
Giorno concentrated and extended the wing out so that it lay across the bed and Bruno's knees. He wasted no time in getting started on grooming, starting at the base of the wing where it met Giorno's back. It was a strange sight to see. Human flesh turning into a feathered limb. Slightly unnerving in its oddness, if Bruno was being honest, but he pushed those thoughts aside and began to run his fingers through the mussed feathers, putting them into order, straightening them out, and pressing barbs back together on the larger feathers.
He was surprised to find Giorno relaxing halfway through, shoulders slumped contentedly and his eyes closed.
"Is this feeling any better?" Bruno asked.
"Mm," Giorno murmured sleepily. "It's…actually quite relaxing."
Bruno paused to allow Giorno to shift, lying down on his stomach with a couple pillows stacked under his chest. Bruno shifted to the other wing and laid it over his lap as he did the same to this one.
"What bothers me the most if knowing that Gold can do this," Giorno said after a couple minutes of silence. "I don't like feeling like I'm not in control of my Stand."
"Understandable. I'm sure having a Requiem power will be something of a learning curve."
Giorno shifted slightly, wing twitching under Bruno's hands. "I'm sure we'll find a common ground again someday. It's just a bit scary to think about what else Gold Experience might do with only my subconscious as its guide."
"I don't think Gold meant harm by giving you wings," Bruno said quietly as he worked. "I used to think of it as a child all the time, flying with the gulls and the sea birds. They always looked so free." He then remembered what Giorno had said earlier and frowned. "Do you feel trapped here, Giorno?"
Giorno tilted his head to glance back over his shoulder. "No," he said truthfully. "But…I don't really know what I'm doing yet, and sometimes it seems like I'll never really learn everything. I got frustrated yesterday and almost wanted to run away."
Bruno continued running his fingers through the feathers, listening.
"But then I thought about how much I enjoyed being here with all of you. How I…I have a family here—something I've never had before. I would never want to leave all of you just because I felt like giving up for a brief moment."
"It's completely natural to feel that way," Bruno assured him. "And I promise you, Giorno, that you will get the hang of things the longer you do them. You've only been at this three months or so—you can't be expected to know everything. And remember, that all of us are always here to help you with anything you need advice or help on."
Giorno rested his chin on his folded arms. "I know. Which is why I want the wings gone. It was a nice gesture, I suppose, but I don't have need of them."
Bruno smiled as he finished up and sat back. "Well, whatever happens, I don't think anyone will think of you differently, Giorno, wings or not."
Giorno sat up again, his wings held out to the sides, leaving Bruno to see just how large they were.
"Perhaps you'll wake up tomorrow and they'll be gone again," Bruno told him, then shrugged. "But if not, maybe it's not so bad after all. You might find you enjoy it."
Giorno was silent for a long moment, then, "Do you think I can…fly with them?"
Bruno looked at him thoughtfully. "I don't know. I'm sure it would take building up some muscles."
Giorno smiled then. "It's all right. I actually…I don't really feel the need anymore. I suppose I'm truly happy here where I am."
Bruno smiled and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. "I'm happy to hear that, Giorno. I am also happy where I am."
He was surprised to feel himself suddenly enveloped in soft white feathers as Giorno brought his wings around to curve behind Bruno's back in a sort of hug. He hugged Giorno back and they sat there for a long moment, enveloped in a familial warmth.
When he finally pulled back, he noticed that one of the feathers had fallen loose and he bent to pick it up. "Do you mind if I keep this?" he asked.
Giorno shook his head, smiling.
Bruno tucked it into his coat. "I do need to get back to work. But is there anything else I can get you?"
"No, thank you," Giorno replied. "I think I'd still like to stay here for the rest of the day."
Bruno smiled. "Well, I would say growing a pair of wings is as good an excuse as any to take a day off."
Giorno smiled back and Bruno ruffled his hair and feathers one more time before he left the room, glad to see the boy in much better spirits than earlier.
He plucked the feather from his coat and ran his finger delicately along the soft edge, smiling fondly. No matter if the wings were gone by tomorrow or not, he would have a memento of this strange day and the fond memories to go along with it.