Chapter Text
Mista taps his fingers on the steering wheel of the car in tandem with the Radio which despite the intimidating and business-like exterior is blasting Barbie girl full blast through the intense sound system. The Don of the most powerful organization in Italy Sits, not in the backseat as one would expect, but instead in the passenger seat watching in amusement as his driver/bodyguard/close friend terribly butchers the English lyrics with his dominant Italian accent.
Giorno wills his attention back to the paperwork sitting in a file on his lap.
The papers details the work and members of the team of Passione he's is on his way to go and inspect.
It's been almost a month now since The Gang had Taken down Diavolo, a harrowing experience that very nearly cost three of their valued friends and team members their lives.
Abbachio and Narancia managed to get away with only a few weeks in hospital thanks to Golden Experience managing to fix most of the damage. Things had been so fast paced that as much as he wanted to stay around and make sure they healed sufficiently under his own guidance, he knew that despite the guilt that pooled in the pit of his gut he had done the right thing with continuing on and that nobody blamed him; especially not when the teen managed to somehow reeled in The Speedwagon Foundation to take over their healing process.
Bruno got off a lot worse and had only just recently been released a mere three days ago. Whilst his body seemed perfectly fine externally, there had been some significant internal damage that Giorno couldn't heal correctly with gold experience due to his lack of medical knowledge and the understanding of what needed to be swapped and transplanted for Bruno to be back up and running again.
He would need to thank Koichi once again for convincing the infamously cynical Jotaro-san to send in The Speedwagon Foundation for assistance.
With Passione being so closely related to stand activity it was no doubt that his distant relatives and acquaintances-as few as they may be- heard of the chaos that blanketed the whole city during the more widespread and high profile fights. Such as when Narancia set an entire street ablaze whilst fighting Formaggio.
Everybody in a city suddenly swapping bodies all at once was bound to draw attention to an organisation such as The Speedwagon Foundation.
Giorno thought of his friends and their recovery. When Narancia was released from the hospital, his first plan of action was physically dragging Giorno and Mista with him to find Fugo. Leone stayed behind in the hospital making sure that when Bruno woke up he wouldn’t be alone; somebody would be there to explain the end results to him.
They eventually found Fugo playing Piano in a bar somewhere around the North of Napoli.
It was a spectacle to watch as Narancia acted as the older of the two for possibly the first time.
He silently allowed Fugo to rant at him, at them. Scream about their irresponsible and stupid decisions and actions and Narancia didn’t speak a word. Giorno watched as Fugo got further and further to the edge, as he approached Narancia with a look in his eyes that was unreadable, even to Giorno, Who was ready to step in.
But what happened was most unexpected.
Giorno watched as Fugo toppled Narancia, grasping onto his shirt front and lowering his forehead onto the elders chest before letting out a single shuddering, guttural sob.
His voice trembled and hitched as he tried to find his words which had at this point, dwindled into mulled whispers of "Thank God." "I was so scared you stupid Idiots." "You could've died!" "I didn't want to watch any of you get hurt"
And finally Narancia opened his mouth and broke the tense atmosphere with a single, wet laugh.
"We missed you too." He laughed, though he wasn’t fooling anybody with those tears in his eyes.
As Fugo finally raised his head, he met eye to eye with Giorno who smiled softly and held his hand out to help the other blonde up.
"Welcome Home."
The sombre moment was broken with a single "Fuck it" from Mista who decided that screw the professionalism he had tried to keep and enwrapped the two blondes in a bone crushing hug. This only lasted a mere few seconds before Narancia barreled into the three like a game of human ten pin bowling and sent the four teens sprawling onto the floor. Two of them laughing with tears in the eyes, one of them smiling softly and the other wondering why he ever let go of what he had in these wonderful people.
It took Leone a little bit longer to warm back up to Fugo but that's only to be expected. The man was only just starting to warm up to Giorno, and by warm up, It really means he wasn't telling Giorno something along the lines of "Go fuck yourself" every time they so much as crossed in the corridors.
A harsh bump in the road startled Giorno out of his mind as Mista rolled down the car window to produce some... Mildly inappropriate hand signs at some guy in a posh looking sports car who almost cut them off.
"Can't believe some people. They can be so rude sometimes. That ass hole- driving around like he owns the place. I'm sure he wouldn't be so cocky if he knew who exactly was in this car. I mean, could you imagine his face if he found out he just nearly overtook the Don Of Passione."
Giorno laughed quietly at the man's enthusiasm. Ever since they had come to inhabit their new roles in the organisation, Mista was the most excited of the perks his new job landed him. As The Don's Right Hand Man and Personal Bodyguard he had all the money he could ask for and got to spend nearly all of his time hanging out with his friends and family and feeling as though he was always worthy of protecting them with his life. Yes, reality was a little bit tougher than that and the job came with its own share of constant working out and exercising, constantly being on guard and alert of danger. But he wouldn't have it any other way. This was where he wanted to be. Protecting his family no matter the cost.
"Unfortunately Guido, even if you were so thoughtful as to inform that man of my presence, it's likely he wouldn't take you seriously anyway. My appearance is admittedly not of the most intimidating nature, which is precisely why I am making it a point to introduce myself to every Squad and Team of Passione individually. There is no use of somebody having a respect and fear for only my title if they have no face to match it to."
Mista only grinned wide at a recent memory." Man Gio, You're right. Did you see the faces of the guys we were with just a few hours ago??" The man laughed boisterously." Those poor guys! They looked as though they were just waiting for the ‘real’ Boss to come out of the shadows and attack them the whole time. In fact, I think that if you hadn’t literally said “I’m your Boss and The Don of Passione,’ They would've just stared at you the whole time. Giorno sighed in exasperation. "I admit, It was rather comical, however, I have a feeling that people’s oubt over my title is going to get infuriating sooner rather than later."
Mista just Turned up the music, opening the sunroof and laughing again. He must be in a really good mood today. "Don't worry Gio. I'm sure that by this time next week, people will see your face and scream. They'll be rolling out red carpets whenever you go into the convenience store. Oh man. That’d be a sight to see.”
Giorno didn’t know how to feel about that. He didn’t particularly need a red carpet if he was just running in to get a pot of pudding. That would be extremely uncomfortable but he could also see where Mista could get comedy from the situation. He just hoped nothing like that would ever really happen
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It took the two another ten minutes to arrive at their destination and by then Giorno had re evaluated and memorised the information in each of the files. The team was large, around 20 members all working beneath one of his newly appointed Capo’s.
The previous leader of this squadron had been taken out by Mista when word got out that he had a hand in an underground drug ring. Since then, the team has been handled by their second in command, Rico Sullivan and has been put in charge of protection fees and general order in the town.
As the car pulled into the front of the restaurant where they had arranged to meet, Giorno checked his watch which proved him to be a near hour early. Well, better to be an hour too early than a minute too late as they say. Literally in this case.
“Mista, I need you to please familiarize yourself with all of the faces and names included in the files I have left on the front seat. When you’re done, meet me inside.”
“But Giogio! I’m Your Bodyguard! I can't let you go in on your own!”
“I’m sure I can handle myself just fine for ten or so minutes. I'm simply going to make sure that they are ready for us. We are rather early. “
“If you say so Boss. “
As Giorno entered the building, he was met with absolute Chaos. Faces he recognised from the previously mentioned files ran amok carrying food and clothes and screaming at each other to make sure everything was ready and in place.
Somehow Giorno had a feeling he wasn’t supposed to see this.
The blonde was brought out of his thoughts by a hand being placed firmly on his shoulder.
Turning around, Giorno was met with one of the faces of one of the members of the team, the second hand to the capo. Teel haza. The man seemed out of breath and frantic. He had short, Buzz Cut hair and a slight layer of stubble around his angular chin with a short scar adorning the left side of his bottom lip
“You the new guy?” He asked and Giorno barely withheld a frustrated sigh.
“Actually, I’m-
“TEEL!! Get your ass over here and help!” echoed a strong voice from somewhere within the chaos.
“OK “I’M COMING!!!” Giorno winced, convinced that his ear drums just raptured. “Look new guy I gotta scram, but bring your things in here and I’ll send somebody over to take ‘em through to the back until we can get you settled into the base.”
“I’m sorry But-” Giorno tried to rectify the misunderstanding.
“TEEL!!!!”
“Look, I gotta go but I’ll catch you later- what's your name?” The man looked like he was about to take off sprinting by the way he was bouncing in the balls of his feet.
“... Giorno.”
“Well Giorno, today's a great day to be joining us. Good luck in there.” Teel turned away from the teen, giving him one last pat on the back for good measure.
Giorno watched the man walk away back into the sea of chaos; An idea slowly formulating inside of his head.
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“What do you mean you’re staying here?” Mista tried to understand as he watched Giorno detransform one of the butterflies kept in the trunk of the car into a ready packed suitcase.
“I’ve been presented an opportunity which I don’t wish to give up.”
“And that would be?”
“They seem to have mistaken me as their new recruit. I’m simply going to play along.”
‘OK. Look Gio. I‘m all for a good prank, you know me. Hell, I’d even give Narancia a run for his money but, is this really a good idea just for shits and giggles.”
“You don’t understand. When you’re at work and your lounging and reading magazines. Yes I know you do it- When me or bucciarati walk in, what do you do- Realistically.”
“Well, I’d try to make myself look busy and hardworking-” The Gunman mused thoughtfully before being overcome with a look of panic. “Please dont tell Bruno.” He begged, only to be ignored.
“That’ exactly my point. If they know that I’m coming to inspect them, then they're going to be on their best behaviour and most likely their demeanor and work ethic will do a whole 180. This is a chance for me to see the completely unbiased, clear cut teamwork and dynamics between their team. And more importantly, I can catch them out if I feel they aren't up to my standards.”
Mista Sighed as he contemplated the sound logic and reminded himself that Giorno is the Don for a reason. He can handle himself with ease. “If you say so, But I’m giving you two days at max and then if I don't hear from you by then, then I’m bursting in there guns a blazing.” He leveled Giorno with a stern look. “You get me?”
Giorno gave a small, true smile at the care his friend was showing him. “I Can’t suspect I’d be there past tomorrow morning. and that’s if I’m Lucky. I’d give it maybe an hour before Rico finds out who I am, and after that, I suspect by the end of tonight- My cover will be completely blown”
Mista hesitantly opened the car door to step inside. “Ok. But I want your word that if anything goes even the slightest bit wrong then you will let me know right that moment.”
“I give you my word to call you immediately as soon as anything comes up.” Giorno reassured him.
Mista stared for a moment before getting back out of the car, he mumbled something about ‘careless idiots’ under this breath before approaching and pulling Giorno into a tight hug.
The blonde stiffened in the unexpected grasp before slowly relaxing and lifting his own arms around the gunman's back, one hand resting on the nape of his neck.
“Guido?” He questioned quietly.
Mista didn't move away. “Sorry, it's just. With everything that's happened recently I don't think I could handle it if you got hurt. Hell. Even Fugo freaks if you so much as get a paper cut. And Abbacchio almost had a melt down the other day when Narancia fell down the stairs.” he sighed, pulling Giorno a little bit closer. “We’re all on edge and I know that nobody is going to be happy about this decision. But I trust you. I trust your strength and your smarts. So-” He pulled back finally, his hands coming to rest on Giorno’s shoulders and his eyes, filled with unshed, anxious tears leveled the blonde with a determined stare. “So don’t you dare so much as chip a nail or a swear to all things holy that I will cut that hair of yours off Giovanna.”
Giorno laughed, tears in his own eyes as he thought of what the group had gone through. But he couldn't pass up this opportunity because it will never happen again.
He gently took Mista’s hands from his shoulders and held them delicately in his own.
“I'll try my best not to chip a nail. I do quite like my hair long after all.”
Mista blinked his eyes dry “Ok.” he stated even though it sounded more like a question.
“Ok?” Giorno gave the older man's hands a slight shake, bringing him back out of his thoughts.
The gunman shook his thoughts clear of his head “Ok.”
They let go and Mista walked, more confidently this time, over to the car. Getting inside and closing the door before rolling down the window.
Before he drove away, he leveled Giorno with one last threatening stare.
“I mean it GioGio. I'll pack my scissors when I come to collect you. And I'll let the Pistols take charge. It'll be a disaster.
“Yes, I know. I'll be fine. Go on back home and try not to let Fugo kill you for this.”
Mista paled. “Oh shit.” He thrust an arm out of the window, pointing accusingly at the Blonde before him. “If I die today, it's on you!” He cried before driving off away to face the wrath of the team.
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The inside of the building was just as hectic as when he left, however he had to admit that now the restaurant was significantly more pleasing to the eyes. The tables had been covered in glorious sheets and he could see more being added to the tables in the far corner.
Giorno Stood as much out of the way as he could by the entrance and waited for somebody to come and tell him where he could put his things as he was promised.
He didn't have to wait long as 5 minutes of rather amusing people watching, he was approached by a rather young looking boy he’d probably place at about the same age as himself.
“Hey, Are you Giorno?”
“Yes. That’s me.”
“Great. Well my names Jaque.” The boy was about the same height as Giorno himself. He had dark, Almost black hair that was pulled into a rough man bun at the base of his neck. He was dressed in a full black suit Identical o everybody else In the restaurant now that he looked at it. He probably stood out like a sore thumb in a blue edition of his classic pink, suit, Boob window and all.
“Come on, I’ll Show you where to put your things for now.”
Taking Giorno's case into his own hands (Giorno watched very closely to make sure that nothing came out or was slipped into the case.) Jaque led Giorno into one of the staff rooms where he placed his bag into one of the lockers.
“Is it always this hectic? “ Giorno ventured to ask.
“What, out there?” The boy questioned. Giorno only nodded in response.
“Nah, Only for today.” he explained, watching with an odd look as Giorno gave his suitcase a simple pat. Unbeknownst to Jaque he was affirming that nothing had been tampered with by the use of Golden experience.
“What’s so special about today?” Giorno prompted him.
Jaque grinned from eye to eye, excitement written clearly on his face. “Today, The boss of Passione is coming to see us himself.”
“The boss..?” Giorno was already starting to feel slightly awkward.
“That’s right. The boss. So everybody is trying as hard as they can to make everything perfect to try and impress him. That way, we'll be in his good graces. Hopefully at least.”
“And you’ve never met the Boss before?” The blonde asked, already knowing the answer.
“No. Never. Before now, he’s been completely mysterious. The only person who knew who he was was his second in command. And even then nobody knew who the second in command was. Nobody knows why he suddenly changed his mind but it's put a lot of people on edge.”
Giorno watched as Jaque turned towards the door and grinned mischievously. “Come with me. I know just the person to explain It to you.”
Before Giorno could even reply, He was dragged by the wrist straight back into the mayhem and towards an extremely muscular man who looked to be around his mid 30’s, hunched over a computer in the very far corner of the main hall.
“Yo! Marcus!” Jaque started and Giorno watched as the man raised his gaze from the screen in front of him to glare at the two that approached. “This is the new guy, Giorno. He wants to know about the Boss.” The boy stated before pushing Giorno forwards towards the intimidating muscle man. Not that Giorno was actually intimidated, He’s the Don of passion of course. He’s faced down some terrifying things to get to where he is now.
The man's facial expression seemed to do a complete 180 as his eyes suddenly lit up and he patted the seat next to him. He closed the laptop and slid it away. to the centre of the table.
“So. The boss is THE person who is in charge of the entirety of Passione as a whole. There isn’t a single person above him. He’s single handedly the most politically and physically powerful person in the whole of Italy. But nobody knows who he is.” The man's voice was unexpectedly smooth and Giorno could feel himself getting invested in the story which was strange because the story was supposedly about himself.
Feigning ignorance, he asked. “If nobody knows who he is, then why is he suddenly coming here to show himself?”
“Well, You see. That’s where my theory comes in. “ Giorno blinked owlishly. He honestly hadn’t even thought he’d be hearing something like this today. This is bound to be interesting
“Theory?”
Marcus shuffled forwards in his chair towards Giorno and leaned towards the blonde, like an excited child. It was strange to see such a Narancia Like expression on a man with such stature and muscle mass.
“Yes. You see. In the past month or so, The Boss has suddenly become a lot more open and direct. He’s Making actual visits to people. I’m sure we’re not the first person he’s met up with yet. We also now have a name to run off of. He Goes by “Don Giovanna. “ Nobody knows his full name yet that I know of, But I’d hazard a guess that by the way things are moving at the minute, It won't be long until we have a full name and face to match to the title.”
“So what’s your theory?” Giorno asked, genuinely curious.
“I'm getting to it. My theory is that This isn’t the same boss that has been ruling for so many years. It's somebody new, Somebody different. Possibly not even a part of Passione before this all happened. And if so, then not for a long time or somebody would’ve made the correlation by now.”
Marcus had been motioning around with his hands in a frantic manner to try and convey his emotions and Giorno made it an effort to duck every so often to avoid a black eye.
“Furthermore, I can go deeper. I believe wholeheartedly that what happened was that Team Bucciarati suddenly gained a new member and this new member is now the boss. You don’t know who team bucciarati is, But they're a well known group within Passione. Bucciarati was promoted to Capo only a couple weeks before the boss suddenly took a turn in his personality.”
Giorno was awed by how much this guy had gotten right so far. He wondered if this Marcus man would be the one to blow his cover.
“And just before Bucciarati was promoted, the Capo Polpo, which he had been the second hand man to at the time, Committed suicide completely out of the blue and there were rumors about a treasure that the deceased Capo had let behind. So, Bucciarati found the treasure, got promoted to Capo and then was privy to some sort of information that connected him to the boss.”
“How do you figure?” The blonde was already planning on promoting this man into the intelligence division when this fiasco was over.
“Well, around that time, in that same week, there were rumours of the infamous hitman team betraying the boss and attacking team Bucciarati to get some sort of information on the boss. Which wouldn’t make any sense unless Bucciarati had something that could possibly disclose the Boss identity”
Giorno Nodded. This guy was just proof that Appearances could be misleading His appearance would lead you to believe he was some sort of muscle head, but in reality he was clearly incredibly intelligent.
“But how does this lead to the supposed new member from Bucciarati’s team getting the title of Don?”
“Well- This is where things start to get a little bit far fetched. But I believe that The Boss did something that betrayed the trust that Bucciarati had in him and The Team retaliated by betraying the Boss Because One minute, Team Bucciarati is being attacked by traitors and then the next, They’re declared as traitors themselves. Give it another day and suddenly, Boom. Three members are suddenly missing in action and the remaining member is suddenly taking orders directly from the Boss and taking out scumbags like the guy that used to be in charge here. Not to mention all the absolutely bizarre sightings in the city of Rome around that time- where team Bucciarati was seen last. thousands of people suddenly switching bodies, people turning into mould, Helicopters getting attacked by Vines that sprout off of rooftops . Some serious shit went down. I’m telling you and whoever this new Member of Bucciarati's team was, managed to somehow take out the previous boss and claimed his title”
Before Giorno could reply or react to that bomb drop of accuracy, he was interrupted by a voice that sounded from somewhere behind him.
“Well I think you should stop trying to dig into things. You know what happened to those two from the hitman team when they tried to dig into the boss’ identity. And I for one, would rather stay out of anything that has something to do with all that Stand bullshit.”
“But You're forgetting that the boss should be here in about 20 minutes, so we’re going to find out anyway”
“your friend mentioned something to do with ‘stands’?” Giorno was really curious of what an outsider's perspective was in terms of stands and their abilities.
“Oh yeah, Do you not know?” Marcus asked incredulous.
“Cant say I do. No.”
The large man looked as though he was struggling to find the words to explain if. Which was completely understandable in Giorno's book. Even to a man with such intelligence. “So, Ah. A stand is basically like a superpower .”
Giorno did his best to look sceptical. “Superpowers?”
“Look, I know that it sounds crazy, but everybody in the organization is tested for one before they join. If they have one then they automatically get placed in a higher rank, But otherwise, They either get deferred to the lower ranks, like us, or they get turned away from Passione as a whole. I wonder how you managed to get in without taking a stand test.” Marcus asked, eying the teen in front of him suspiciously.
Fuck
“Well I do remember somebody asking me some really strange questions and then they gave me some sort of lighter? Asked me to keep it lit for a day. When I did, I took it back and they gave me my Passione Pin and sent me here”
Marcus’ scepticism gave way to a pitying look and he put a consoling hand on the blondes shoulder. “Looks like you failed bro. Join the club. What I wouldn’t give to be up there with the stand users.”
“Well That’s disappointing, I’m Sure it would’ve been rather Convenient to have a superpower of sorts.” And doesn't he know it.
“Wouldn’t It just?” Marcus sighed and reached across the table back to his laptop and opened it up once again. He looked to be doing some sort of money management. “Well, You’d better go and get changed before Rico has an aneurism. He insisted that everybody wear these stupid suits to try and make us look more professional and I think He’d throw an actual fit if he saw that Boob Widow of yours” He laughed gutturally, leaning back in his chair and pointing towards one of the other staff rooms. You’ll find Elberto in there, He’ll get you a suit. Good luck Buddy.”
“Thankyou” Giorno stated, holding back an angry frown with true difficulty. Absolutely disgusted at the insult about his clothing. He liked his Boob window, thank you very much and he wouldn’t be changing it any time soon.
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Giorno entered the makeshift changing room and was met with a very skinny looking man hunched over and sewing what appeared to be a rip in one of the suit pants whilst another, angry looking man sat on a chair in the far corner, pants less and reading a magazine.
“Is it done yet?” The man asked, flipping another page in his magazine.
“It’ll be done when it’s done. If you hadn’t decided to pick a fight in it, then It wouldn't be ripped and you wouldn’t be in here. It’s your own fault.”
“It was hardly a fight, I was just trying to kick that smug grin off of his face before I strangled him to death. “
“Whatever you say.”
Giorno cleared his throat.
“Erm excuse me, I was sent here for a suit.”
The man who was sewing looked up for barely a second before pointing at one of the racks pushed to the side of the room and filled with identical suits. “Take the one three in from your left, It should fit you perfectly. And If I see It so much as frayed, I will make you sit and resew it yourself. Do you hear me?”
“Yes sir.” Giorno rolled his eyes. It was times like this where he wished that he could tell them who he was, just to see the reaction when they realized just exactly he was talking to.
And why did it feel like everybody was threatening him today?
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Five minutes later had Giorno dressed in a full black suit, No Boob window, Just a plain black tie. He folded his blue suit and, making sure that nobody would see, turned it into a fly which then returned back into a suit once it was inside his suitcase. He did the same with his lady bug adorned shoes. Which had now been switched out for plain black, newly polished loafers.
Stepping into the main hall once again and checking his watch, He should technically be arriving any minute now and he could see the tension in the now still standing team that lined up single file against the back wall. They were all facing a single table that had been set up presumably for him and the Capo Rico. Who had just stepped into the room. He roamed over to Giorno and extended his hand.
“The new recruit I would presume? “ He asked as Giorno took and shook his hand.
“Yes sir, It’s a pleasure to be working with you. “
“No need for such formalities with me.” The man gave a calm smile.
“Yeah! Rico’s just a soft old man at heart.” Somebody jeered from down the line, Causing everybody else to snicker at the said man's embarrassed expression.”
“Now they may be right, But I do still expect some respect hen It’s called for.” The man was Very tanned with a short beard and a head of spiky black hair, with a plain grey headband tied around his for head. Now, I know that you weren't there for the rehearsals, But Don’t worry, I don't need you to do anything but stand here and look professional. Today is really important for me and my men, so just stay right there and don’t do anything. Unless it’s asked of you.”
Rehearsals? Now Giorno was starting to feel bad, these people had spent so much time organising and preparing and now here he was, about to rain on their parade.
“Yes sir.”
“Good, What’s your name kid?” Giorno had to hold back to not grit his teeth. He hated being called a kid, no matter how accurate that description is.
“Giorno.”
“You got a last name?” Rico enquired casually, not being too pushy. People had their own circumstances he supposed.
“No sir, Just Giorno.”
“Ok, I won’t ask.” The man patted Giorno’s head absent minded as he turned to address everybody else in the room.
He took in a lung full of breath.
“MEN! TONIGHT WE’LL Throw A PARTY TO HONOUR OUR NEW TEAM MEMBER GIORNO!”
The room erupted into Cheering and laughter as Rico turned back to Giorno and patted him on his shoulder. “Welcome to Passione”
Giorno smiled at the unknown irony. “Thanks for having me.” He replied.
Suddenly, the cheering and laughter stopped as there came the front door of the restaurant opening and everybody settled down, Rico gave Giorno’s shoulder one last squeeze before taking a seat at the table expectantly, facing away from the rest of his men.
The doors to the main hall opened and everybody- minus Giorno watched on with bated breath as Guido Mista entered, Full Tiger print trousers bright blue shirt and that bizarre hat resting atop his head. He cleared his throat and made eye contact with Giorno and the blonde could tell that Mista was trying his hardest not to give anything away with his facial expressions no matter how much it pained him to ignore Giorno’s presence.
The gun man stood tall and proud, trying and failing to not look at Giorno in a rare black suit. “The boss sends his apologies but something increasingly important came up and he has been forced to go and deal with the matter. He will be around to meet you as soon as he can, However that won’t be today. We’ll let you know as soon as we have another date set. Thankyou for your time.”
Giorno stared at Mista, highly amused at the formal speech coming from the man. He must have phoned Fugo or Bruno and asked them to help him think of something to say and then memorized it. There's no way the gunman could be that formal of his own accord.
“Thank you, For letting us know, please relay to the boss that we hope to hear from him soon.”
“Ah, Erm,” Mista looked over to Giorno once again. “OK. Yep. Can do, I’ll just go and do that Thankyou again. Bye” turning to leave, Mista took one last embarrassed look at Giorno over his shoulder, Clearly trying to apologise for the flustered mess that happened after he had no script to run off of.
Giorno just hoped that nobody noticed the looks sent his way. But he couldn't hold his breath.
After Mista had left, the tense silence was broken when Rico produced a frustrated groan and slammed his head Down onto the table in front of him. It was almost comical if it was so pitiful. Giorno once again felt bad about these men wasting so much of their time.
Giorno was brought out of his thoughts by an arm being slung around his shoulders and he was met face to face with Jaque who wiggled his eyebrows at him suggestively, Marcus following up behind him and smiling amusedly.
“I saw those looks Mr. Big shot was giving you. I’d say it was love at first sight, Did you see how flustered he got after meeting your eyes? You made such a composed man a stuttering mess just by standing there and looking pretty. How do you feel?” Giorno tried to lean away from the fist that was played in front of his face to mimic a reporter's microphone and cringed at their misunderstanding of the situation. Clearly they had noticed Mista’s looks.
“I’m sure that’s not the case” Giorno tried.
Marcus just smiled knowingly and turned away to go and talk to somebody else. “Sure, Lil’ Heartbreaker” he teased.
“EVERYBODY!” Rico yelled to get everybody's attention. Seen as our plans have been cancelled, we shall take this opportunity to Welcome Giorno with a party. Help yourself to any food and drink. Make Giorno feel welcomed!”
Giorno had to hold back a wince at the resounding “YESSIR!” an was whisked into the centre of the mayhem.
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Rico sighed as he walked into one of the back rooms. All of that work down the drain, He knew that he couldn’t blame the Boss, he was a very busy man after all. But it still stung to be cancelled like this. His curiosity was burning more with every minute. He wondered what the boss looked like. Would he be angry by nature? Quiet? Loud? Happy? Gentle? Harsh?
He was bought out of his thoughts by his cell phone ringing. It had been left in the backroom to make sure that it didn't go off in the meeting with the boss and embarrass himself.
Answering the phone, Rico prayed for his eardrums in the future.
[RICO! I’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ALL DAY!!!!!!]
“Jesus, Carlo, Calm down, what do you want?” he sighed, pinching the ridge of his nose In hopes of avoiding a headache.
[OK, OK, OK. Guess who I met today!!!!]
“Alright, Jeez. Who did you meet?”
[DON GIOVANNA!!!!]
“Wait what?! You’ve met him?”
[Yes! He was round here to inspect the team just this morning he said something about coming over to your team next, and I thought hey, I’ll ring Rico, and see what he thinks!]
“Yeah, well unfortunately, the Boss had to cancel on us, he sent Guido Mista in to tell us that something Had come up and he couldn’t make it.” Rico swayed over to a chair which he pushed up against the door to keep his Nosy men out.
“Man I was dying to meet him. What’s he like?! Wait no! Don't tell me! You’ll get in trouble.”
[Nah, I’ll tell ya, He gave me his expressed permission to do what I want with what I now know, So long as it doesn’t harm the organisation or include Trying to look into his past etc. Etc.]
“He really said that?” he asked for confirmation.
“Yep. Complete certain 100% sure.”
“OK then, I give, Tell me. “
“Well first off! Holly cow! The kid’s young! And I don’t mean that lightly either. He can’t be over 16, no way.”
“That young?! Seriously?!” Rico could feel his eyes practically bulging. This was unbelievable already.
[YES! I know! At first, I didn't believe it, I was waiting for the ‘real’ boss to hop out of the shadows any minute. But that never happened. And his hair! Oh My- He looks like an angel, I don’t think anybody else could pull that off ever!]
“Why? What’s up with his air?!”
[Well He’s got this pure blonde air, and these bizarre donut-like curls on the top of his head then the rest is pulled behind him into a braid of sorts. and then you add in the suit to the mix. Didn't think that anybody other than Bruno Bucciarati could pull off a boob window like that and still look professional. And then-]
Carol Kept on going, but Rico couldn’t hear him over the beating of his heart that reverberated through his skull.
It couldn’t be.
No way.
“Carlo, I gotta go. I’ll call you back tomorrow, sorry it’s an emergency I promise.]
[Aight but-] And Rico hung up the phone.
He stumbled towards the door and headed straight for the makeshift changing room where he was sure to find George, the temporary tailor, considering he’s the only one in the team that knows how to sew. He found the man Sifting through the Clothes that had been handed back in as people had started to get changed back into their casual clothes.
“Hey, George You don’t happen to remember what the new kid was wearing when before he got a suit do you?”
“huh, Oh yea, I do- Was some sort of blue two piece suit with ladybug ornaments in both sides of his chest and some sort of boob window. Why? “
“Oh, no reason, Got to go- Sorry- Thankyou!”
Before letting George reply, Rico ducked out of the room and scanned the room for his target who he found sitting at a large round table with Marcus on his left and Jaque on his right.
Rico had to physically withhold a long suffering groan because there sat Don Giovanna. Watching in barely concealed amusement as he watched two of his subordinates get into a fist fight over a game of go fish.
What the fuck.