Work Text:
Abbacchio had been scribbling on his sketchbook since the meeting has initiated. For some reason, he thinks that he could focus better when drawing.
They had been in this escorting mission for quiet a while now. And they had to frequently change places for privacy purposes. At least, he could clear up his mind – even just for a few minutes – by scribbling random stuff.
But instead of listening what was going on; Abbacchio was staring at Bucciaratis hair, trying to shade his hair as perfect as possible. There weren’t any normal pencils at the house so he used a ballpoint pen – even though he doesn’t really like to use when drawing- which meant that if he made a mistake, there was no going back.
He heard “… dismissed.” among many decisions that were perhaps be important but didn’t really cared about them during it.
He didn’t realize that everyone besides him and Bucciarati went to their rooms. Meanwhile, they were sitting at the kitchen.
“Thinking about something?” Bucciarati asked. His question caught Abbacchio off guard, getting him out of his focused state.
“Wha?”
“Nothing. I thought you were thinking about something.”
There was an awkward silence between them. Until Bucciarati said “You know, you’ve been staring at your sketchbook and me back and forth for the entirety of the meeting. You’ve been doing this for like a … week or so.” He stated while looking at the sketchbook from a distance. Couldn’t really figure out what he was cooking up there.
“It’s just that I focus better when I draw.” Abbacchio explained. He felt a bit flustered because one, someone – that being Bucciarati—noticed that he was drawing –which wasn’t really that bad. Two, the possible question of “Can I look at your sketchbook?”. At least he can consent if he wants his drawings to be seen or not. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t trust Bucciarati. It’s just that approximately 55 percent of his drawings had been Bucciarati. And that would probably be extremely embarrassing for him to show himself to him.
“Shit…” he muttered as he dropped the pen on the page. He kept staring at the page while supporting his head on his hands. “This looks so shitty.” He thought to himself. It was extremely obvious from his body language that he fucked up something.
“If you’re okay with it… Can I look?” Bucciarati asked while coming next to him as well as bringing his chair with him too.
His eyes perked up at the question. Should he really let him look at what he drew. He was skeptical because he would love to have at least a simple criticism from outside but also, he thinks that it would be awkward for Bucciarati to know that he’s fixating on a mistake of a drawing of himself. But Abbacchio knows that he will definitely fixate on that mistake for weeks, coming back to the very exact page and self-loathe at himself.
“Um…” he thought and thanked for his heavy makeup that’s hiding its slight blush that was forming on his cheeks.
“I mean… If you don’t want to, you can just say so.”
“Fuck it…” he thought “Actually its fine…” he said while handing the sketchbook to him. At this point he was dying inside.
When he saw the drawing, he immediately went “Oh…” right when he saw himself on the page. A slight smile formed on his face the more he looked at it.
“I-it’s just some random sketch… nothing much.” He looked at Bucciarati, who was in awe of what he saw.
“Don’t say that Abbacchio it's beautiful” Bucciarati looked at him, smiling “Can I look into your sketchbook?” he asked.
“Yea sure…”
When Abbacchio allowed him to go through his sketchbook, Abbacchio felt like he was having a heart attack.
Around the first and the middle pages, most of the drawings were dated around 1999. Those drawings were usually police sketches, random animals or objects.
Bucciarati was mesmerized from what he’s seeing “I didn’t knew you could do that…” he said while flipping through the pages.
When he got to the more recent pages, the random portraits of himself became more frequent. There were some random bird drawings though…
“There are actually… pretty good.”
“You think so… That was like an old sketchbook. Back when I was new to the police department. I found it when I was going through my drawers back in Napoli.”
“That’s cool…” Bucciarati said as he gave the sketchbook back to him.
“If you want, I can get rid of those- “
“No way! Don’t be ridiculous, why would you just throw away all the effort that you put onto.”
“Because it’s not perfect…”
“Everyone is not perfect…” he said as he stood up. “Anyways I have to go. Keep it up.” He encouraged as he patted Abbacchios back and left.
Abbacchio just stared at the sketchbook. He zoned out for a while that he didn’t notice Mista getting snacks from the fridge.
“You okay?” Mista asked when he saw Abbacchio zoning out.
It took a while to Abbacchio to understand what he asked “Wha- um… I’m good. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“You sure? I heard you and Bucciarati talking…”
“That’s none of your business…” he answered.
Mista smiled, realizing there might be tea that hadn’t been spilled yet. “Yea it is. If you don’t then…” he thought what he can do to get the cat out of the bag until he saw the sketchbook, unprotected. “I won’t give it back to you” he took the sketchbook and immediately ran upstairs.
“You son of a bitch…” he grunted as he got up. When he got upstairs, he saw Mista looking at the corridor from the lidded door who immediately closed and locked the door when he saw Abbacchio.
He tried to open the door but it was useless.
“If you don’t tell me then I won’t give it to you.”
“I told you that’s none of your business.” He hissed.
“Then I won’t give it to you.” He said in a sing songy voice
“Then I’ll tell what you said to Fugo about Trish to Bucciarati.” He said mockingly.
“Oh… um…” he unlocked the door to see Abbacchio crossing his arms, looking pissed off.
“Look I just wanted to know what was going on with you. ‘Cause you know you’ve been acting kinda off…” Mista tried to explain as he flipped through the pages as discreetly as possible. “Oh my…” he thought to himself as he saw the drawings of Bucciarati.
“Can you just give it back now?”
“Oh… yea right you can have it. Sorry for what I did.”
Abbacchio sighed as he went to his room, wanting to just end the day as soon as possible after what happened.
Mista stood over the door with pure surprise and amusement on his face. Giorno noticed that and asked “What did you see?”
Mista immediately came close to Giorno and sat down in front of him. “You won’t believe what I saw.” He had the excitement of a teenage girl. “Abbacchio has drawings of Bucciarati” he whispered just in case if anyone hears them.
“Really?” Giorno perked one eyebrow up.
“But that’s not all. Abbacchio drew those. I mean it was kinda obvious cause you know he was anxious because I took his sketchbook. But you should’ve seen his face when I took it from him.” He laughed at what he said.
“Isn’t that like… disrespectful?”
“Well maybe… But- “
“You literally took Abbacchios sketchbook without his permission.” He said that a bit aggressively.
“I wanted to know what he drew-”
“You could’ve just asked him!”
They were silent for a while until Mista continued to gossip “Anyways, I heard Bucciarati and Abbacchio talk at the kitchen or dining room or whatever the fuck that room was.”
“It’s both in a way.” Giorno corrected.
“Yea that. They had a small talk and Bucciarati asked to see the drawing – all rights reserved. And I didn’t really saw how he reacted but from what he said I think he loved it. And if I saw it correctly the most recent thing he drew was Bucciarati.”
“Could you please cut to the chase. I need to sleep.” Giorno yawned.
“Okay okay. Long story short, Bucciarati saw the Bucciarati drawing or drawings that Abbacchio made and when he left, Abbacchio was in this weird ass state that I couldn’t really explain…” he concluded as fast as he could but also put the pieces together and probably saw the whole picture.
“I think I know” He looked at Giorno with excitement.
Giorno already laid down and was trying to sleep until Mista noticed something. “What?” he asked as he lifted his sleeping mask and he saw Mistas excited face.
“You know how he acts around and towards Bucciarati, those drawings, his reaction after he let Bucciarati see the drawings.”
“You have a point.” He sat up
“What I’m trying to say that I think” He got close to Giorno to spill the ultimate tea “He’s head over heels for Bucciarati.” He whispered and then attempted to silently scream out of excitement.
“I thought you already knew that.” He laid back, trying to go back to sleep.
“What do you mean?” Mista was confused by what he just heard from Giorno.
“Besides you and Bucciarati everyone knew that Abbacchio had something towards Bucciarati. Even Trish knew that he had a thing for Bucciarati”
“W-why didn’t you tell me then!” Mista stuttered out of pure surprise caused by what he just heard.
“Because I thought you were smart enough that you would notice it right away.” Said Giorno as he attempted to sleep. “Anyways please don’t disturb me. I’ll sleep.” He said as he shrugged the blanket.
“Yea right. Goodnight.”
“…”
Mista turned off the light and had his not-so-midnight-just-night snack in the dark. Asking himself how he didn’t notice what was going between them from the start.
“I’m so fucking dumb…” he thought as he sat on the couch ,that he sleeps in, while eating chips.