Chapter Text
fugo sits on the balcony of their apartment, watching mista on the street below kiss his date goodbye. mista waves as the taxi drives off, and walks back into the building. fugo pulls his feet back up and puts his cigarette out, walking back inside, seeing as mista enters the apartment.
“how do you do it?” fugo asks. mista grins at him, heading towards the kitchen to start making coffee.
“do what?” he says, “want one?” he holds a cup up to fugo, who shakes his head and walks over to sit on the kitchen bench.
“like, get women. or men. its like you’ve got a new person over every other week. and they’re always completely into you as well.”
“is it hard to believe that i’m likeable?” mista looks up at fugo, beaming. “i have natural charm.”
fugo rolls his eyes.
“sorry mista but it’s hard to believe you get by just on your “natural charm””
mista laughs, pouring himself coffee and moving to sit on the island across from fugo.
“well i don’t know. it’s not that difficult, you just have to be nice and funny or something. like, be yourself i guess. why are you so interested anyway? is there someone you’re interested in?” mista wiggles his eyebrows.
fugo’s eyes widen, a faint blush showing on his face.
“n-no! i’m just curious that’s all. a-and even if i was i wouldn’t need any help i do just fine.”
“mhm” mista takes a sip from his drink, and fugo squints at him.
“what?”
“no offence fugo but when was the last time you had someone over that wasn’t giorno, sheila, or trish.”
fugo takes offence anyway.
“that doesn’t matter. sorry im not a slut who needs a new tinder date the second the last one drops me.”
mista raises his eyebrows and smirks at fugo, who’s on the verge of losing it. after receiving no response from mista, he quickly calms down.
“that was mean wasn’t it?”
“a bit”
“sorry”
mista laughs.
“don’t be, it doesn’t bother me.” mista hops off the counter to leave the room. “and if you do genuinely want help with these things you can just ask you know?”
fugo pauses before shyly nodding his head. mista smiles and walks into his room, leaving fugo on the kitchen bench.
—
fugo awkwardly approaches mista, who’s sitting on the couch reading a magazine. unsure how to start, he opts for clearing his throat to get mistas attention.
“what’s up?” mista looks up at him.
fugo blushes, shuffling his feet and looking anywhere but mista’s eyes.
“i need your help.”
“did giorno call us in?”
“no.. not like that. like what we spoke about yesterday...”
“yesterday?…” mista stares off into space like a goldfish. “oh wait right! you want me to help you pick up girls!”
fugo looks stunned.
“WELL LIKE NOT LIKE THAT I JUST MEANT LIKE… LIKE YOU KNOW..”
mista laughs and stands up.
“chill i know what you mean.” he grabs fugo’s arm and leads him towards fugo’s own room. “this’ll be fun. operation get fugo laid.”
fugo feels himself regretting this immediately.
—
the two guys sat on the floor of fugo’s bedroom. fugo had reached for a pen and paper, before quickly being laughed at and stopped by mista for being a nerd.
“it sounds obnoxious, but being yourself really does work.”
“i’ve been doing that and clearly it’s not working.” fugo sighed.
“okay, be yourself with a bit less… rage… and bitchiness..” mista teased. “you also need to put yourself out there, like approach people.”
fugo nodded nervously.
“don’t use pick up lines. i promise it’ll fuck everything up. unless youre super charming and hot like me of course.” mista grinned, and fugo punched him in the arm.
“be serious man, you’re supposed to be helping me.” fugo said, staring at the carpet.
“i am! you wanna compliment them on how they look and what they’re wearing. and buy nice gifts. if you can’t think of anything, i always go for flowers or chocolate. girls like flowers and chocolate.”
fugo nodded attentively, regretting not keeping his notebook because it was a lot and he needed to write it down.
“you make it sound a lot easier then it is.” fugo groaned.
“it’s practice man.” mista said. “why don’t we try it”
“w-what like now?!” fugo panicked. they had barely been talking for half an hour and he had not reached a level of confidence to apply this to real life.
“yeah! not outside though dumbass, just like… a roleplay! yeah!” mista smiled. “pretend i’m some pretty guy you met at a bar. how would you start?”
fugo thought for a moment before responding.
“um.. hi?”
mista rolled his eyes.
“be confident! otherwise it’s weird and awkward.”
“i am weird and awkward.”
“just try again.”
fugo furrowed his brows and nodded.
“hey how are you?”
mista smiled and sat up.
“i’m great! what are you doing here tonight?”
fugo was slightly thrown off by the flirty tone but continued anyway.
“i-i’m just here with friends. and you?”
“was bored and decided to check this place out. i’m mista.” mista looked at fugo expectantly.
“i’m fugo..”
there was an awkward pause.
“wow fugo you’re really getting my attention here, i just wanna kiss you right now. please take me home!!” mista said sarcastically.
“what??? what did i say wrong??” fugo sounded annoyed.
“you need to ask questions, interesting questions. and compliment them. you don’t sound flirty you sound.. formal.”
“it’s weird because it’s you.”
mista laughed.
“let’s try something else. pretend i’m a guy you’re interested in and try and say something nice okay?”
“you sound like you’re fishing for compliments.” fugo deadpanned.
mista smirked.
“maybe.” he said jokingly. “they don’t have to be real or about me, it’s just practice.”
fugo nodded.
“you look nice.” he said.
mista nodded at him to go on.
“y-you have nice .. eyes..”
mista tried to hold back a laugh, but fugo noticed immediately.
“STOP! it’s too hard. i’m sorry i’m not good at this.” fugo says, dropping his head into his hands. mista reached out to pat him on the back, still laughing.
“it’s fine. i’m sure you’ll get better at it.”
“i don’t get how you do it.”
“i told you it’s just practice.”
“show me.” fugo said. mista nodded, and grabbed fugo’s face, lifting him up to look into his eyes.
“you look so pretty tonight.” mista said, in a voice which made fugo melt. he could feel himself blushing. even though mista didn’t say much at all, the way he said it made him feel.. weird.
there was an awkward silence before they both pulled away.
“s-see? it’s all about. about how you say it..” mista mumbled. fugo nodded. they both were staring at the ground, and the energy in the room had shifted entirely.
“anyways. i think that’s enough learning for today.” mista said, breaking the uncomfortable silencing. he got up off the floor. “i’m gonna go. finish what i was reading, i guess.” he smiled awkwardly down at fugo who was looking at the floor. fugo mumbled something affirmatively as mista left the room and shut the door behind him.
“what the fuck?”
—
fugo had never thought too deeply about why mista seemed so popular. the two had known each other since they were teenagers, and so to him mista was just mista. they had always been close, but especially after they had repaired their relationship after fugo’s return to passione, they had grown closer then ever. they lived together, worked together, and mista was one of fugo’s few friends.
whether or not mista was attractive was not something fugo thought too hard about either. he figured he was objectively attractive, considering he did well in the dating pool. and of course there were times where fugo thought his friend looked hot or pretty or cute but that was normal, right? they were thoughts that fugo brushed off. it wasn’t until yesterday that it really had hit him.
there was something there, a weird spark in their relationship. an unexplored dynamic that fugo hadn’t considered until then. it wasn’t something he could let go of that easily.
the week that followed their lesson was normal. fugo had woken up the next morning to see mista in the kitchen, who greeted him like nothing happened. fugo went along with it, but he couldn’t drop the strange feelings he’d discovered.
—
mista was called to spend a couple nights across the country on a mission for giorno. ordinarily, fugo would’ve have accompanied him, however, unorganised as ever, giorno had piles of paperwork he needed help with, so mista would have to go alone.
fugo and giorno had decided the best way to get their work done was to pull an all nighter. the two were in giorno’s living room, paper piled up around the room as they worked from the floor, using the coffee table as a desk. empty cups of coffee were thrown into a trash pile in the corner, and giorno’s radio balanced on the side of an armchair with music playing at a low volume.
it was around midnight and they had taken yet another break, leaning against the couch and talking. although they were both focused people, the two of them continued to get distracted into conversation as they worked.
fugo’s phone buzzed from across the room. he scrambled out of his spot to grab it, seeing mista’s contact appear on screen.
“hello?”
“heyy fugo! just checking in to see how your works going!!”
fugo smiled and looked across the room at giorno, who seemed confused. fugo mouthed mista’s name and giorno nodded his head.
“yeah it’s alright. we’re probably halfway through.”
“oo you’re gonna be up all night then? fun.” mista said, giggling a little.
fugo lowered the phone, covering the microphone, and looked at giorno again.
“i think he’s a bit drunk.” fugo said and giorno laughed, shaking his head. fugo brought the phone back to his ear.
“yeah we planned for that though so it’s alright. how’s your night?”
“it’s okay. nothing much. work tomorrow. unfortunately.”
“well that is why you’re there. it’s not a holiday you know.”
“damn fugo you’re such a downer.”
“well you can’t just go spending our money on trips if you’re not going-“ fugo stopped. he thought he heard a voice in the background of mista’s call.
“hey mista is there someone there with you?” fugo asked.
“huh? oh yeah. she won’t tag along tomorrow i promise. and yeah of course fugo i’m gonna work i was only messing with you, you know? you’re so easy to rile up haha.”
mista kept talking but fugo had stopped listening. normally, he would get angry at mista for hooking up while he was on a mission. but a weird feeling was caught in his throat. was he jealous? fugo had never felt jealous before of any of mista’s girlfriends, boyfriends, or otherwise. but for some reason he really really wished mista was alone right now. he wished mista missed him. he wished mista was thinking about him. god what was wrong with him?
“hey? fugo? you there??”
“huh. yeah sorry mista.”
“all good. you sound tired. don’t work yourself to hard, hey?”
fugo nodded, before remembering mista couldn’t see him.
“yeah, yeah of course.”
“alright good. imma go now i’ll call you tomorrow yeh?”
“yeah see you mista.”
fugo thought he heard a woman giggle on the other end of the line before mista ended the call. giorno was still sitting at the other end of the room listening.
“what did he want?” he asked.
“oh, nothing, he was just checking on us that’s all.”
“ah, that’s nice of him. i’m not surprised he’s enjoying himself. it doesn’t bother me though.”
the two of them found themselves back into conversation. they didn’t sleep until 5am, and were still left with enough paperwork to keep them busy until mista returned.
—