Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

October 1991
Naples, Italy

Giorno clutches his head, kneeling over as his step-dad brings down his belt. Over and over again. Giorno has long since learned not to cry out when these beatings happen, his stepdad not sympathetic to Giorno’s pain. Eventually, after what feels like days, but what it is really minutes, his stepdad spits an insult at Giorno, and hobbles away drunkenly, collapsing on the raggedy couch.

Giorno runs away as fast as he can. He makes his way to his room, which is basically a large closet. He grabs the library book sitting on his bed, and curls up on the foot of his hard mattress, his large blue-green eyes devouring the story of a young prince, who rescues a princess from a ferocious dragon. He squeezes his eyes shut, imagining his stepfather as the dragon, himself as the princess, and his real, faceless father as the glorious prince.

While Giorno has never met his father, he’s seen the small photo that his mother keeps in her vanity. Giorno sees the star birthmark on the man’s back and knows that this man is his father.

Snapping back to reality, the sound of his mother’s door slamming open makes his eyes widen, and his harsh grip on the book tightens. He hears his mother yelling something at his stepfather about “Going out!” and then he hears the front door of their house slam shut as his mother leaves. Giorno lets out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding, and loosens his grip on the book, gently turning the page. He desperately wants someone to save him, but he knows that it will never happen.

Later that night, his mother comes home and ends up in a screaming match with his stepfather. Giorno wakes up in the middle of it with a start, his cheek pressed up against his still open book. He cringes at the yelling down the hall from him and winds his arms around himself. Suddenly, his door slams open, and his mother is standing there seething. “Useless,” she hisses, fuming, and stomps away.

Then, in a flash, his stepfather grabs him by his dark hair and drags him off his bed. “You creepy kid,” the large man shouts at Giorno and raises his arm to smack the boy. Giorno winces at the impact but doesn’t try to get away. He knows better. He just tries to focus on the cracking paint on the walls of the small house he lives in. This is the second beating today, an occurrence which is usually rare, but in recent days, has been coming more common. Giorno just squeezes his eyes shut, and waits for the pain to stop.

Eventually, it does stop, and his stepfather stomps to bed. Giorno gets up weakly, walks to the kitchen, and opens the refrigerator, grabbing a frozen packet of peas. He presses the bag to a particularly inflamed bruise on his thigh, his eyes welling up with tears at the cold sensation on his burning skin. He closes the refrigerator, and hobbles back to his room, still pressing the frozen peas to his thigh. He sighs, laying down in his bed again. The clock on his bedside table informs him that it is 2:48 am. He frowns at the time but decides that it is alright, as it is a Friday, and he won't have school until Monday.

Giorno squeezes his eyes shut, and attempts to sleep, despite the pain emanating from all over his body. Eventually, sleep overtakes him, and his furrowed brow smooths out as he relaxes.

When Giorno wakes up, the sun is shining through his window. However, that isn't what wakes him up. He suddenly feels extremely hot, and he crunches up his small faces as he curls up in pain. A shiver wracks his small body, and he suddenly is overcome by a feeling of nausea. He buries his face into his pillow as he groans in pain.

“Oh no,” he thinks, “why did I have to get sick now?”

He shudders suddenly, feeling hot and cold. He opens his mouth to call for his mother, but snaps it shut, remembering how disgusted she had been the last time he was sick. When Giorno woke up with the flu last year, his mother had looked at him like he was a piece of trash, told him “take care of it yourself,” and slammed his door before walking away, and not checking on him.

Giorno rolls over, reaching out for his book that sits on the foot of his bed. He begins to read, trying to distract himself from the fever and chills that shake his small body.

A few hours pass like that, Giorno shifting between small, fitful naps, and reading his book, still feeling awful. Giorno is in the middle of one of these naps when his door slams open, his stepfather standing there, looking smug, but angry.

“Still asleep, brat?” the man hisses, “Lazy, ungrateful kid.” He looks at Giorno condescendingly and stalks closer to him. Giorno’s stepfather looks down at him, eyes squinting. “What are you, sick?” he sneers. Giorno says nothing, just reaches up to scrub one of his eyes tiredly. He feels too sick and awful to even flinch away from the man. Luckily, his stepfather just clicks his tongue and walks away, giving Giorno a scalding look as he leaves.

Giorno hears the man stomp down the hall towards Giorno’s mother. “The little shit is sick!” he yells loudly. “Yeah? Well, what do you want me to do about it?” Giorno hears his mother say, non committedly. Giorno hears nothing after that, and then his stepfather’s heavy footsteps go into the kitchen.

A minute later, Giorno’s mother sticks her head into his room. She glares at him, and sneers, “Stay out of my way, I don’t want to get sick.” She raises an eyebrow and waits for Giorno to nod, before she shuts his door again, hard. Giorno rolls over, thinking, “At least they don’t hit me while I’m sick.” He then falls back asleep.

In Giorno’s dreams, he is free. He sits in a large, green valley, surrounded by trees, flowers, and small animals. The breeze blows around his dark hair, and Giorno sucks in a large breath. Here, there is no stepfather to beat him, no mother to sneer at him, and Giorno’s small body is unbruised. Giorno gently touches a wildflower that is sticking out of the grassy ground and uses one finger to pet its leaves. He gets up, and walks over to a large tree in the middle of the field, looking up at its wide, all-encompassing branches.

Suddenly, a hard breeze almost knocks Giorno over. He hears a bird cry out, and he whips around. The scene shifts, as the wildflowers all seem to grow and grow, becoming as tall as the tree behind him. He sees a gold glimmer in the distance suddenly, and he impulsively begins to run after the glimmer, curious as to what it is. He gets closer and closer to it, seeing a small golden figure begin to emerge from behind the giant flowers.

Giorno sits up, gasping for breath. He suddenly feels like he’s running out of the air, and he begins to shake as he desperately sucks in breaths. He suddenly feels cold as ice and wraps his thin blanket closer around himself. Still, despite this, the gold glimmer from his dream sticks in his mind. Giorno desperately thinks of what the image could be an omen of but comes up blank. Another round of shivers wrack his body, and he squeezes his arms around himself. Giorno closes his eyes, wishing to be back in his dream world. Eventually, the cold wash of sleep overtakes him, but this time, no dream awaits him, and Giorno’s sleep is black and silent.

When Giorno wakes up again, the sky is dark, and his grumbling stomach is what sturs him. He rolls out of bed for the first time that day, going to the kitchen to search for something to eat. The options for food are meager, but Giorno grabs a box of cereal and starts to eat the dry flakes straight from the box, just to try to fill his stomach. He still feels sick, the cereal doesn’t seem to be aggravating his stomach.

After a few minutes of eating, he puts the box back on the counter and drags himself back to his room. He squints out of his window and realizes that the sun is rising. He frowns, unhappy that he wasted a whole day just being sick, and barely even read any of his book. He decides to start reading again, and sits in his bed, eyes drinking in the story in front of him. He reads for a couple of hours before his eyelids get heavy again, and he nods off, face down in the book’s pages.

The next day goes similarly to Saturday, with Giorno still feeling very sick, with shivers and hot flashes, and he nods in and out of sleep. However, Sunday night, Giorno suddenly feels sicker again and ends up emptying the contents of his stomach into his toilet. It’s not a pleasant experience, and when he finally emerges from the bathroom, his mother is standing there, looking disgusted.

“You have school tomorrow,” she states, glaring at Giorno, who nods in reply. She sighs at him, and says, “If I send you they’ll just send you home.” She pauses, still glaring at Giorno scaldingly. “You’ll be fine staying alone, silently, won’t you,” she hisses out. Giorno lowers his gaze to the floor and nods again. She smiles then, a small smug smirk, and says, “Good,” before walking away from the small boy, not even asking if he’s alright.

Giorno shuffles back to his room once again and falls asleep immediately, the sickness exhausting him. The next time he wakes up is late Monday, and the afternoon sun is shining brightly outside his window. Giorno is beginning to feel better, and although he still feels hot, he doesn’t feel the same shivers and nausea that he was experiencing the day before.

He blinks his eyes open, and rubs his hand over his face, waking up. Then, suddenly, he notices a golden figure sitting on the end of his bed, and he scrambles backward, head bumping against his wall.

His eyes widen comically, and he stares at the figure. It’s the same size as him, but it’s golden, metallic skin, and large bug-like purple eyes make it clear that it is in fact not human at all. Giorno stills, staring at it. Then, he carefully, and slowly begins to approach the thing. He gets closer and then reaches out to touch it, feeling like he is magnetically drawn to it. He gently strokes the golden figure’s arm, and then jumps back, feeling almost a static shock.

“Are you… me?” Giorno asks, almost whispering. The figure says nothing, but Giorno knows the answer already. “What is your name?” Giorno asks again. The figure moves then, reaching out a hand to touch Giorno’s face. The touch is odd, and Giorno feels the sensation of touching his face on his fingers. Giorno squeezes his eyes shut, and then opens them again. “Gold Experience,” he says, resolutely. Gold Experience nods, barely, but the affirmation is there.

Gold Experience reaches out again, this time touching Giorno’s hair. Giorno looks down then, gasping in shock as he sees how long and blond his hair is now, almost magically. He grabs a handful of his newly light-colored hair, and lightly pulls on it, almost expecting it to come off, like a wig. It doesn’t though, and instead, Giorno feels it pulling on his scalp. He inspects his hair, captivated for a few moments, but looks up when a warm sensation wraps around him, and he realizes that Gold Experience is gone. Well, not gone. Giorno can feel Gold’s presence swirling around in his body, but it’s certainly not a bad feeling.

Giorno smiles to himself, pleased at his newfound friend.

Giorno’s happiness ends, however, later that day, when his stepfather barges into his room, presumably to see if Giorno is well enough that his stepfather can beat him again. “What the hell?!” he exclaims loudly, striding over to Giorno and grabbing his hair. “What did you do, you brat,” he yells. “What’s happening?” his mother says, sliding into the room. Her eyes get huge when she sees his hair, and whispers, “Dio.”

His stepfather whirls around, glaring at his mother. “What the hell does this have to do with God?!” “It’s nothing,” his mother mumbles, leaving the room briskly. Giorno curls up, awaiting his stepfather’s violence. His stepfather swings a hand, smacking Giorno harshly on his arm. He does this, again and again, all while screaming, “What did you do?!”

Then, all of a sudden, the blows slow, and then stop. Giorno hearing his stepfather make a pained, gasping noise, and Giorno uncurls from a ball, looking in shock at the scene in front of him.

The blankets on his bed and his small nightstand have all been turned into thick, green vines that are wrapping around his stepfather's arms and neck, and are strangling him, making his face turn purple and blue. Giorno looks up, and Gold Experience is hovering there, looking as angry as he can possibly be.

All of a sudden, Giorno’s mother is in the doorway of his room, and she shrieks at the scene, running away, screaming something about “Police!”

This seems to distract Gold Experience, who loosens the vines, and then Giorno’s stepfather collapses in a heap, unconscious.

Giorno stares at the body for what feels like years, and then suddenly the door of his house slams open, and the sound of feet come towards his door.

Standing in his doorway are two portly policemen, who stare at the scene, eyes wide. They look confused at the large unconscious man, who is wrapped in loose vines, and the small child, who looks blankly at the body.

Giorno’s mother stands, positively shaking behind the two policemen. “He’s just like his father!” she shrieks “He’s going to kill me next!” Her statement spurs the men into action, one of them checking his stepfather's pulse, and confirming that the man is alive. The other policeman kneels in front of Giorno, and quietly asks him, “Did you do that?” gesturing to his stepfather’s limp body. Giorno pauses and then nods minutely. The policeman looks even more confused at the affirmation, and mumbles “How the hell…”

“Please!” his mother yells, “Take him away! He’ll kill me next!” Giorno just sits on the floor, shaking.

Chapter Text

Miami, Florida

Jotaro picks up his cell phone, staring at the case file sent to him by the Speedwagon Foundation. It’s grim, but he doesn’t understand why it was specifically sent to him.

“Hello?” he mumbles into his phone, still examining the manila folder.

“Jotaro!” his grandfather’s loud voice shouts into the phone. “Did you see the file I sent you?” Ah, well then, that’s why Jotaro got sent this. His grandfather is meddling once again.

“Why did you send this to me, old man. I already have enough work on my plate as is,” he grumbles into his phone, side-eyeing the pile of work he has to do for his college classes.

“Yes, yes! My hard-working grandson of course. However! I sent this file to you because it’s special.” Of course, how like Joseph. Jotaro pinches the bridge of his nose, annoyed, and feels a headache coming on. “If you’re not going to give me a straight answer, I will hang up.” That just gets a laugh out of Joseph, but he answers anyway, “That kid is Dio’s son.”

Jotaro opens his mouth to reply but is shocked into silence, eyes widening. He snaps his mouth shut, suddenly gritting his teeth. “That. Bastard. Had. Kids?” Jotaro manages to get out, red anger clouding his vision. “Calm down, Jotaro! The kid is six and just manifested his stand. There’s plenty of time for us to intervene, and make sure he doesn’t turn out evil!’

“Us?” Jotaro asks, accusatory. “He is family, after all. He’s technically my uncle,” Joseph replies, sounding way too casual for Jotaro’s taste. Jotaro frowns harder, and seethes into the phone, “How long have you known about this kid for, and why the hell does it sound like you’re planning to adopt him?”

“Don’t worry, Jotaro! I’ve only known about him for a few years!” Jotaro tries to protest at that statement, but Joseph keeps talking, still sounding awfully cheery. “I’ve been talking to Holly about him, ever since he manifested his stand a couple of days ago, and she insisted that she take him in. He is also Jonathan’s son, after all.” Jotaro resists the urge to slam his head into his desk and takes a deep breath before replying to Joseph.

“Why would she agree to do that? Take in a possibly evil, stand user child?”

“Jotaro,” Joseph says, suddenly sounding serious, “You’re off in America in college, and who else is going to take in this kid? When his stand awoke, it was to protect him from his abusive parents. He had to be taken into custody by the police because his mother went hysterical, claiming that he was going to kill her. Who else is going to take care of him? He’ll just end up on the streets, or in the care of foster parents who don’t know how to deal with stands. And at that point, we’re just allowing him to become another Dio.”

Jotaro sighs heavily, the terrible details of this child's life sinking in. “Good grief,” he mumbles into the phone, “Fine then, do what you want.” Joseph cheers on the other end of the line. “But, I want to meet this kid, and make sure he isn’t a little demon that’s going to ruin my mom’s life.” “Of course,” Joseph says, “Listen, I have to go now, but I’ll talk to you again later, okay?”

“Okay.”

Giorno has no idea what’s happening. First, he was taken by the police after his mother wouldn’t calm down, and it’s just been a whirlwind of events since then. Now, he’s sitting in the office of a stern-looking man, who told Giorno that he works for some sort of “Foundation.” Basically, Giorno has no idea about what’s going on, and he doesn’t know what is going to happen to him.

After a few minutes of sitting in a fairly comfortable chair, there is a knock on the door of the office, and two more men dressed in blue shirts and white pants come in, one of them holding the door for a giant, middle-aged man, who immediately smiles at Giorno widely.

“Mr. Joestar,” the man, who’s office Giorno is in, greets the larger man in English, who is assumedly the aforementioned ‘Mr. Joestar.’ Giorno shifts in his chair, suddenly nervous.

The large man sits in a chair and turns to Giorno still looking friendly. Giorno isn’t fooled though. His stepfather was just like that at first, friendly. But look at how he ended up. Giorno tries to keep his face neutral, but there is an uncomfortable, nervous feeling crawling up his spine. He knows he did a bad thing. He hurt his stepfather badly and made his mother scared of him. He knows that good children aren’t allowed to fight back. He’s been bad, and these men are here to punish him.

Mr. Joestar asks him in Japanese, “What’s your name?” That surprises Giorno. He hasn’t talked in his native tongue since he and his mother moved from Japan two years ago. He also wasn’t expecting the easy question. He was expecting the first thing these men to say was something along the lines of “you shouldn’t have hurt your stepfather.”

Giorno takes a deep breath, and answers anyway, still in Japanese, “I’m Giorno.” The big man smiles at him again and replies, “I’m Joseph Joestar. I’m actually related to your father.” That gets Giorno’s attention. His gaze snaps up to Joseph and his big eyes widen. “You are?” he whispers, shocked.

Joseph’s smile softens but stays on his face. “Yes. Giorno, do you know why you’re here?” The question makes Giorno squirm, and he hangs his head, ashamed. “Because I hurt my stepdad.”

Then, to Giorno’s surprise, Joseph places a gentle hand on Giorno’s shoulder. Giorno flinches away instinctively but relaxes when Joseph’s movement stays nonviolent. “No, Giorno, you’re here because you’re special.” Giorno furrows his brow at that, confused. “Special?” he whispers. “Yes, in our family, many people have incredible abilities, and I believe you have received an ability as well.” Giorno stares at Joseph, and then lightly nods his head.

“Do these people also have special friends?” He wonders.

Then, his question is answered. Joseph raises his arm, and then suddenly, there is a glowing purple vine wrapped around it. Giorno looks at it, mesmerized. Joseph smiles at the reaction. “It’s called a stand,” he explains, “There are different ways to get one, but for you, it was genetic, caused by your father also having a stand.” Giorno nods at the explanation but is only half listening, still enthralled by the stand. “Mine is called Hermit Purple. Can I see yours?” Joseph asks.

Giorno bites his bottom lip lightly, but nods. He scrunches his face and brings out Gold Experience. The golden stand grips Giorno’s shoulder, half hiding behind him, eyeing Joseph warily.

“He’s amazing, Giorno,” Joseph says, honestly, “What’s his name?”

“Gold Experience.”

“That’s a great name, Giorno.”

Giorno nods, and then unsummons Gold Experience, who sinks back into Giorno.

“Well, Giorno, I brought you here for another reason besides seeing your stand,” Joseph says, sounding serious. Giorno waits for him to continue. “I don’t think that your mother is prepared to take care of a stand user.” Giorno’s heart sinks at that, although he already knew his mother was itching to find an excuse to get rid of him. “However, as you are family, I can’t let you get placed in any random family.” Giorno looks at Joseph again, now thoroughly confused as to what he is getting at. “Giorno,” Joseph starts, “How would you feel about living with another family member, my daughter Holly.” Giorno shrugs at that, at a loss for words.

“Holly is the sweetest person I know,” Joseph gushes, “She lives in Japan, so you could live there with her, and you would be able to train your stand.”

Japan… Giorno always wanted to go back to Japan. However, as soon as his mother married his stepfather, she banned Giorno from talking in Japanese and made him change his name from Haruno to Giorno. He decides then, he’ll go live with this Holly woman.

He takes a deep breath in, and replies a simple, “Okay.” to Joseph. Joseph grins at the answer and claps his hands together. “Great! It’s decided then!”

Giorno ends up staying with Joseph at a hotel nearby, and a Speedwagon Foundation Employee comes by with a small bag of all of Giorno’s belongings. It’s meager, really, with just a few articles of clothing, and a small stuffed cat, who looks like it has seen better times. However, when Giorno sees the plushie, his eyes light up, and he hugs it close to his chest, whispering “Kitty…” to it.

Joseph explains to Giorno that they will be flying to Japan tomorrow on one of the Speedwagon Foundation’s jets, and from there they will drive to Joseph’s daughter, Holly’s, house. Giorno takes in the information slowly, with it still sinking in that he will have a new family, and he won’t ever have to see his stepfather or mother ever again. He doesn’t know how to feel about it. He hopes that Holly will ignore him less than his mother does, and he hopes that Joseph won’t hit him as much as his stepfather does. Joseph has been nothing but nice so far, but Giorno knows that he’ll do something bad eventually, and Joseph will turn on him. It’s simply inevitable.

Giorno falls asleep in the hotel room that night with thoughts still swirling in his head, uncertain about the future.

The next morning, Giorno wakes up with Joseph bright and early in the morning, and travels to a small airport fairly close to them, and gets on a big private plane, which is apparently owned by the SPW Foundation. Giorno takes in the sights eagerly, having only flown on a plane once before, and never anything fancy, let alone a private jet. Joseph looks at the starstruck child, already fond of his careful, but enthusiastic demeanor.

“It’s cool, right Giorno?” Joseph asks once he and Giorno are settled in their seats, sitting across from each other, and the plane is getting ready for takeoff. Giorno nods vigorously, and then says quietly, “I’ve never been on a plane like this before.” Joseph smiles softly at that and looks out the window of the plane, eyes swirling with thoughts. “I remember my first time on a plane. I was young then, like you. Although I really haven’t had good experiences with planes since then,” he chuckles. Joseph looks back at Giorno, whose face is swirling with curiosity at the statement, so Josep continues. “I’ve had a lot of crazy times involving planes in my time. When I was young, I tried to fly a plane. My best friend, Caesar, could tell you about it. I’m sure you’ll meet him eventually.”

Giorno nods at that but doesn’t dare to ask any questions. Just then, the plane begins to take off, snapping Giorno out of his thoughts. For the next several minutes, Giorno stays glued to his plane window, staring out at the runway, and then Naples, as they slowly disappear.

Eventually, staring at clouds gets boring, and Giorno turns his attention elsewhere. Joseph is sitting, quietly reading a book, and there’s no one else on the plane. Giorno wants to get up and explore, but he’s not sure if he’s allowed to do that, and he doesn’t want to do anything that would make Joseph mad at him. So, he stays put in his seat, sitting quietly. Giorno begins to watch Joseph read, observing the man’s minute face movements. Then, Joseph looks up, and Giorno pales, thinking back to his stepfather’s reactions when he would catch Giorno staring at him.

Giorno waits for the, “What are you looking at, you creepy freaking brat?” But it never comes. Instead, Joseph smiles, and says, “There’s no need to look so nervous, Giorno, you haven’t done anything wrong.” Giorno blinks, surprised at that. Joseph continues, “Are you hungry? I could eat right now if you want to join me.” Giorno pauses but replies quietly, “Okay.” Joseph waves to one of the women sitting in the back of the plane, and begins talking to her, while Giorno pretty much zones out of the conversation. However, he snaps back to reality when the woman brings them food a few minutes later. She brings them fruit and cheese and fresh-looking bread, and Giorno realizes how hungry he is. He hadn’t eaten since several hours ago, at the hotel with Joseph. He begins to scarf down some of the fruit, while Joseph nibbles on a few things.

After eating for a little while, Joseph leans back in his chair, and says, “I had a feeling you were hungry.” Giorno widens his eyes at that, gulping down the food he has in his mouth. “Don’t worry!” Joseph assures him, “I just want you to tell me if you need anything, anything at all. I want you to feel comfortable and safe, and not like I’m going to hurt you, Giorno.”

Giorno nods, and mumbles, “Okay.” Everything Joseph is saying sounds good, but Giorno still isn’t completely sold. He decides that he’s going to wait before he decides to trust Joseph completely.

The quiet atmosphere of the plane eventually causes Giorno’s eyelids to get heavy, and he slips into sleep.

The rest of the trip is uneventful, but by the time that Giorno and Joseph get to Holly’s house, Giorno is exhausted. He nearly forgets about that when the car that he and Joseph are in pulls up to a very large traditional Japanese house. Giorno’s eyes widen, and he gapes at the house, never having thought that he was going to be living somewhere like this.

Joseph slips out of the car and opens Giorno’s door. “Come on, kid,” he laughs, “You can stare later, let’s go see my daughter.”

Just then, the front door of the house opens, and a woman with bright, blond hair and blue-green eyes runs out. Giorno gapes at her, surprised that she looks like him.

“Papa!” she shouts, joyously, and runs into Joseph’s open arms. “Holly!” he shouts back. Giorno stares at them, surprised. He never got that kind of treatment from his mother. A glimmer of hope in his chest whispers that maybe he could get that love from someone too.

He slips out of the car and stands awkwardly in front of the open car door before Joseph steps away from Holly, and gestures to him. “This is Giorno,” he starts, “Giorno, this is Holly, my daughter.”

Holly steps towards him, still smiling brightly and says, “It’s great to meet you, Giorno, it’s been so lonely here with my son, Jotaro, at college. I want you to feel welcome, if you need anything, please tell me!” Giorno stares at her, and nods slightly, already liking her. Holly leans down, and offers him her hand, looking expectantly at him. Giorno pauses for a moment but decides it would be rude to not hold her hand, so he grasps it, and Holly’s smile widens. “Come on then, I’ll give you the grand tour!” She leads him towards the house.

The house is huge, and to be honest, very overwhelming for Giorno. It feels almost like a maze to him, with its many rooms, and outdoor hallways. Giorno likes it, though, because it reminds him of his childhood in Japan, and likes how different it is from Italy. Quite honestly, he was tired of Italy.

At the end of the tour, Holly opens a sliding door to reveal a comfortable looking bedroom. “This is going to be your room!” she says, enthusiastic. It’s a much bigger room than Giorno has ever had before, in Italy or Japan. He steps into it, looking around with round, curious eyes. “Thank you,” he says quietly, “This is amazing, Mrs. Holly.”

“Mrs. Holly?” she giggles at that, “Giorno, you’ll be living with me now, you can just call me Holly! No need for formalities!” Giorno turns to look at her, and then nods, “Ok… Holly.” She claps her hands together at that, grinning. “Perfect, thank you, Giorno.” Giorno nods again, and Joseph says, “I’m starved from traveling, should we eat?”

“Oh! I almost forgot I made lunch for you two!” she briskly leads them back to the kitchen, and grabs two plates, heaping with food, from the counter. Holly lays the plates down in front of them, and Joseph begins eating immediately, barely getting out a, “Thank you Holly!” before he digs in.

Giorno looks at the plate slightly overwhelmed, but Holly says, “Go on Giorno, eat something!” He doesn't want to be rude, and not eat, so he nods and begins. The food is good, better than anything his mother would have fed him, if she fed him at all, and he begins to feel a little more at home.

Chapter Text

The first day Giorno spends at the Kujo household is fairly uneventful, but he learns a little about Holly and Joseph. The three of them eat breakfast together, and enthusiastically tell Giorno about themselves, but also make sure to ask Giorno plenty of questions as well.

Holly’s husband, a famous jazz musician, is away on tour, and her son, another stand user, is in America at college. She tells Giorno, “You’ll meet Jotaro soon enough! His classes take a break in two months, and then he’ll come back to visit! I’m sure he’ll bring his friends as well, they’re all stand users. It will be nice to meet other stand users, right?” Giorno agrees with her quietly, but it’s genuine. He really does want to meet other stand users. So far, every stand user that he’s met has been nice to him and has told him how special and powerful he is. He likes it.

Giorno also learns more about Joseph. Joseph has had an eventful life, but now he’s living in New York City with his wife, Suzi Q, and his best friend, Caesar. Joseph comments, “I’ll bring Caesar here soon enough. He’s Italian too, so you’ll be able to speak it with him!” Giorno learns that Caesar isn’t a stand user, but instead practices some kind of technique called “Hamon.” Giorno doesn’t really understand it but wants to meet Caesar anyway.

Holly and Joseph ask him all sorts of things. Holly smiles softly at Giorno, and asks, “What’s your favorite color?” “Pink,” Giorno says, smiling, “It’s pretty.”

Sitting in Holly’s kitchen, Giorno feels safer and happier than he’s been in years, possibly ever. However, in the back of his mind, there’s a nagging sensation, telling him that even though things are so good right now, there’s always the chance that Holly and Joseph could turn on him, and things would go back to being like how they were in Italy. That thought scares Giorno, but for now, he pushes it aside.

After breakfast, Joseph takes him out into Holly’s garden and sits him down in the grass. “I was thinking that we could explore your stand’s abilities a little bit,” Joseph says, calmly. Giorno squirms a little at the idea, thinking about how his first experience with his abilities went, but nods and goes along with it anyway. He brings out Gold Experience, who peers curiously at Joseph. Joseph smiles at the stand and gestures to the grass around them. “Based on what has happened, I assume that your abilities have something to do with growing plants. Why don’t you try to make this grass grow?” Joseph asks.

Giorno nods and presses his hands to the ground. He scrunches up his face in concentration and focuses his energy on the ground. Then, suddenly, the grass begins to grow and keeps growing. Giorno’s eyes light up as he sees it but then fills with fear. The grass reaches its peak, and then all at once, wilt, brown, and die. Giorno gasps and pulls his hands away from the ground. He stares in fear at what he has done and then looks at Joseph.

Joseph’s eyes are wide, and he’s awestruck at the child’s abilities, but he doesn’t look angry. “Giorno,” he says, calm and steady, “Don’t worry. I’m not angry. It was my idea to test this. Do you want to stop?” Giorno looks back at Joseph, eyes watery. He nods.

“Okay, then,” Joseph says, getting up from the ground. He offers out a hand to Giorno, who grasps it. “Why don’t we go inside, and Holly and I can show you how your stands work?” Giorno sniffles, but quietly agrees with the idea.

Holly is sitting, drinking tea when Giorno and Joseph come in. She looks worried at Giorno’s unhappy expression, but when Joseph shakes his head at her, she decides not to comment. “Holly,” Joseph starts, “I was thinking that we could show Giorno what our stands do.” Holly nods at that, and says, “Why don’t you go get a camera, and I’ll show Giorno what mine does while you do that?” Joseph nods at the idea and leaves to go look for a camera.

“Now,” Holly speaks, “Can I touch you, Giorno?” Giorno blinks, curious, and then quietly says, “Yes.” Holly smiles at him, and then reaches out to gently touch his arm. Then, her stand manifests. It’s a mass of green vines, covered in roses, similar to Joseph’s stand. A single vine wraps around Giorno’s arm, and then he blinks, suddenly somewhere else.

With a shock, Giorno realizes that he’s watching a memory. It’s one of the few times that his mother was kind to him. In the memory, his mother leads him by the hand, fairly roughly, into an ice cream shop, and although she looks tired and annoyed, she gets them both ice cream. Then, they walk along the street together, eating ice cream.

The memory ends, and Giorno blinks back into reality. Holly is sitting there, looking at him expectantly. “Did you like it? My stand, Three Roses, can make people relive memories. I made you remember a happy one.”

Giorno pauses, but replies, “I did. Thank you. Your stand is very nice.” Holly looks happy with the answer but doesn’t have a chance to say anything before Joseph whisks back into the room, this time holding a camera.

Joseph sits down with them, and grins, “Watch this Giorno!” Suddenly, he summons Hermit Purple and punches the camera. Giorno jumps slightly at the violent movement, but when Joseph gestures to the broken camera, Giorno realizes that it is printing out a photo.

“This is my stand’s power!” Joseph declares, “I decided to check in on my dear grandson.” Giorno watches, mesmerized, as the photo clears up, showing a tall, tired young man talking to another young man, this one with red hair.

“Ah!” Holly exclaims, “That’s my son Jotaro, and his friend, Kakyoin.” Giorno examines the photo and realizes that the taller person in it, Jotaro, looks shockingly like Joseph. “Imagine how mad Jotaro would be if he knew that we were spying on him,” Holly giggles.

They get off the topic of stands, to Giorno’s relief, and the rest of the day is spent by Giorno helping Holly with chores around the house, despite her telling him that he doesn’t need to. After the three of them eat dinner together, Holly and Giorno end up washing dishes together, while Joseph naps somewhere. Holly pulls up a chair so Giorno can reach the sink, and the two of them work in silence for a bit.

Then, Holly turns to Giorno, hands still in the sink, and says, “I hope you’ll like it here Giorno. I really want you to be comfortable here.” Her voice is strong and full of emotion, and Giorno doesn’t know how to reply at first. He pauses, mouth open, and then murmurs, “Thank you, Holly. Everything has been nice so far.” She beams at that and goes back to washing the dishes. “I was thinking that we could go shopping for clothes tomorrow. Joseph told you that you’re going back to school next week, right?” Giorno nods, but protests anyway, “You don’t have to do that for me.”

Holly puts down the plate that she’s holding and frowns. “Giorno, you have hardly any clothes, and it would make me happy if I could get you clothes that are nice and new. We could even get some pink clothes if you want.” Giorno shrinks a little under Holly’s intense stare, but agrees, whispering a little, “Okay.” The two of them go back to washing dishes in silence after that.

Once they’re done, Holly tells Giorno to follow her, and she leads him to a closet, which is full of boxes of old books, and toys. “These were Jotaro’s when he was little,” she explains, “No one’s used them in years, and I was thinking I could give them to you.” Giorno looks at the boxes, slightly awestruck. “Okay,” he agrees.

Holly leans down, grabbing one of the boxes of books. “Come, I’ll bring this to your room.” Once they get to Giorno’s room, Holly puts down the box. “I already put some toys in there,” she says, pointing at a small toy chest in the corner of the room. “It slipped my mind to bring books though.” She opens the box of books and takes one out. She sits down on Giorno’s bed and pats a space next to her. “Do you want me to read you a story?” Giorno nods eagerly and clambers up next to her. Giorno grabs his small stuffed cat, pressing it to his chest as he looks at Holly expectantly.

Holly begins reading the book, a story about a cat and a mouse going on an adventure together. Lulled by Holly’s voice, Giorno soon falls asleep, slumped against Holly. She smiles at the little boy, amused at his small, sleepy form. She maneuvers him, getting him under the covers, and kisses his forehead before turning off the light in his room, and leaving.

Holly walks to the living room, where Joseph is awake, sitting calmly. “Holly,” he calls out, “I want to talk to you.” “Of course, Papa! What do you need?” she replies.

His expression shifts then, going serious. He sighs, speaking, “I’m concerned about the nature of Giorno’s stand.” Holly blinks, surprised, “Okay, go on.” Joseph continues, “Today in the garden, I asked him to try to make the grass grow. I assumed that his stand had something to do with making plants grow. However, when he used his stand on the grass, it kept growing and then began to die. It scared him. I’m just worried that his stand has to do with making plants go through their life cycle, and that he might accidentally kill one.”

Holly’s face turns pensive and turns over Joseph’s statements in her mind. “You’re worried he can use his power on other living things, aren’t you?”

Joseph sighs heavily and nods. “Papa, I know what you’re suggesting, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you’re misunderstanding his power? We can’t just assume that he’s going to end up like Dio.”

“Holly… I…” Joseph murmurs, “I think if he stays here, with you, he’ll end up good. Still, I want you to be careful.” Holly’s expression softens, and she gives Joseph a hug. “I think maybe we should try testing his powers again. Maybe try doing it on seeds, or even just dirt? See what else he can do,” Joseph suggests. “That sounds good, Papa. If he’s anything like either of his fathers, his power is more complex than what we’re seeing now.” Joseph makes a noise of agreement, and replies, “Tomorrow though, it’s getting late.”

The next day, Joseph and Holly bring Giorno to a nearby town, to get him new clothes. The weather is nice for early October, fairly warm, but the breeze is cool. “We should get to a new winter coat too,” Joseph comments.

Holly pulls Giorno into a shop for children’s clothes and immediately starts picking out different clothes for him, asking Giorno’s opinion, and handing them to Joseph. Soon his arms are filled with clothes. Holly notices that Giorno is getting overwhelmed by everything, and pauses for a moment. She places a soft hand on Giorno’s shoulder, telling him, “We’re almost done, don’t worry!” Giorno looks up at her and nods. True to Holly’s word, they finish quickly, and Giorno gets a bunch of new sweaters, pants, and other cozy clothing.

The three of them step out of the store, and Joseph suggests, “Why don’t we get something to eat?” Holly nods eagerly at the suggestion, and replies, “There’s a nice cafe pretty close to here, why don’t we stop in there?”

They do just that. The cafe that they enter is small but cozy. The three of them sit down at a table in the corner of the cafe, and Holly says, “I’ll go order. Do either of you want anything in particular?” Joseph shrugs and says, “I trust your judgment,” and Giorno shakes his head. “Ok, then,” Holly states, and goes up to the counter in the cafe to get food.

When Holly comes back, she’s holding three sandwiches and cookies. The smell of fresh bread hits Giorno, and his stomach grumbles. “Someone’s hungry!” Holly giggles. She puts down the food, and the three of them start eating. Giorno eats his quickly and finishes before Joseph or Holly. Holly notices and slides Giorno a cookie. “I wasn’t sure what kind of cookies you like, so I just went with old reliable, chocolate chip.”

Giorno smiles gratefully at her and bites into the cookie. It’s good, and Giorno makes a small noise of happiness. Holly looks happy that he likes it. For Giorno, back in Italy, cookies were a rare treat. His parents barely ever had much food in the house at all, and sweets were seen even less. With Holly, he’s had more good food and sweets than he’s had probably ever. It’s nice, and with each passing day where Joseph and Holly treat him with respect, he’s trusting them more and more.

Once all three of them are done eating, Joseph picks up the bags of clothes that they bought, and they head home. Home. It’s odd, even less than a week living in Japan with Holly, Giorno already feels more at home than he’s ever felt before. He likes it.

Back at home, Holly helps Giorno put his new clothes away. Then, she brings him into the living room, where Joseph is waiting, holding a few objects. He says, “I know things didn’t go too well yesterday, but I was thinking that we could test out your stand again.” Giorno shuffles his feet, uncomfortable, but nods anyway. He doesn’t want to say no to Joseph, he’s been so nice so far.

Joseph smiles and hands him a couple of seeds. “Can you try to grow these?” Joseph asks. Giorno nods again and feels his stand rippling underneath his skin as he channels his energy into the seeds. The seeds all begin to sprout and grow, twisting around Giorno’s fingers. Giorno stops suddenly, not wanting the new plants to die like the grass yesterday. Joseph nods, looking pleased. “Good job, Giorno.” Giorno gently moves his hands, looking at the plants wrapped around them.
“Could you try making the plants go back into seeds?” Joseph asks. Giorno nods, and stares at the plants, trying to take the energy he put into them away. Sadly, nothing happens, and the plants don’t change back into seeds. Giorno frowns. Joseph, sensing Gioro’s frustration, quickly interjects, “Don’t worry! Let’s try something else.”

Joseph then hands Giorno a new object, a small rock. Giorno looks at it, slightly confused. “I want you to try growing a plant out of it, just like the seeds,” Joseph requests. Giorno frowns at the rock in his hands, but not wanting to disappoint Joseph, he once again uses his stand on the object. His eyes widen when the rock twists and shifts, turning into a green sprout. He stops, staring at what he did. Joseph claps him on the shoulder and says, “Well then! It seems like your stand is more complex than we originally thought.”

Giorno touches the plant, slightly confused. “How…” he mumbles. Joseph interrupts his thought process, saying, “Why don’t you try turning it back into a rock?” Giorno nods but doesn’t think it will work, just like the seeds. However, to his surprise, when he activates his stand again, the plant turns back into a rock. Joseph’s expression is shocked for a moment, and then he clears his throat, saying, “We’ve only tried using your stand with plants so far, Giorno. Why don’t you try to make the rock into an animal?” Giorno nods, getting excited as he discovers more of what his power can do. He focuses on the rocks again, and suddenly the shape is twisting, and the rock turns into a large frog. Giorno grins, moving his hands to pet the frog. “Froggy,” he whispers. Joseph stares it, thoughts racing. However, he pushes that aside for the time being, and says, “Try to turn it back into the rock.” Giorno nods and does so. Giorno hands Joseph back the rock.

Joseph sighs and says, “I think we’ve done enough for the day. Why don’t I get you something sweet as a reward?” Giorno’s eyes brighten, and he nods eagerly. Joseph walks to the kitchen, Giorno following him closely behind.

Chapter Text

The next week, Giorno goes back to school.

The day before that, Holly and Joseph had helped him prepare, and told him about the school. They also told him to not use his stand at school, which he understood. In movies, characters with superpowers always hid that they were special, and he supposed that this was the same.

The morning Giorno goes to school in Japan for the first time, Holly kneels down in front of Giorno, helping him get into his grade school uniform. She coos at him lightly, saying, “You look so sweet!” Giorno blushes at the compliment, unused to such positive attention.

After Giorno is properly dressed, she brings him to the kitchen, where Joseph is cooking eggs. Joseph smiles at them when they appear in the doorway, saying, “Ready for school, Giorno?” Giorno nods shyly. “That’s good!” Joseph finishes cooking the eggs, plating them with a piece of toast, and putting them down at the table, in front of Giorno. “Eat up, kid!” Giorno digs in immediately.

Joseph finishes another batch of eggs and hands a plate to Holly. He finishes up his own eggs, and then the three of them sit, eating quietly. Once they’re all finished eating, Holly gently takes the dishes and puts them in the sink to do later.

“Come on, kid!” Joseph says, sounding happy, “We’re driving you to school!”

Joseph and Holly do exactly that, piling into their car, Holly gently clipping Giorno into his car seat in the back. They drive Giorno to his new elementary school, looking excited. “Gio, are you excited to make new friends?” Holly asks. Giorno nods, curious about his new classmates. “I’m sure they’ll love him, Holly!” Joseph reassures his daughter and Giorno, “I mean, look at the kid! He’s so sweet and cute!” Giorno blushes at the compliment but takes it nonetheless. Holly and Joseph’s loud, cheerful chatter subside any nerves he had and makes him look forward to meeting the kids from his school.

Back in Italy, the kids in Giorno’s neighborhood were unfriendly at best and would make fun of him for his appearance. The kids were ruthless, saying he should go back to where he came from. They would call him “creepy” and “weird” and other names. It hurt him a lot, and he hoped that the kids at his new school wouldn’t be so mean.

Before Giorno knows it, Joseph is pulling up in front of his new school. Giorno doesn’t know too much about how the school years work here, having never attended school in Japan before he moved, and only having gone to school in Italy for a few months. However, Holly had told him that the second semester of school had already started, but assured him that although Giorno was coming in at nearly the end of the year, he would still be able to make friends and fit in fairly easily.

Joseph opens Giorno’s car door, helping him out of the car seat, and out onto the sidewalk. Joseph ruffles Giorno’s hair and grins, “I’ll see you after school! Have fun!” Giorno nods, a little solemnly for Joseph’s taste, but he takes the reply. Holly offers her hand to Giorno, smiling. Giorno takes it, and Holly leads him to the school. Holly leans down in front of Giorno, saying, “Have fun Gio! Tell me everything when you get home.” Giorno nods again, shuffling his feet slightly nervously. Giorno waves bye to Holly, who returns the gesture enthusiastically.

Inside the school, kids turn to look at Giorno, whispering. His long, blond hair makes him stand out, and Giorno shrinks under their gazes. “Giorno Kujo?” a young, tall, dark-haired woman stops him, smiling gently. Giorno nods, and the woman says, “Follow me, I’ll show you to your class.” Giorno does so, and the woman leads him to a classroom. The kids in the class look up when the teacher and Giorno walk in, and begin to eye Giorno with unbridled curiosity, in the way that kids do.

“Class will start soon, and then you can introduce yourself, but I thought I’d give you a little rundown of how we do things before then!” the teacher waits for Giorno’s response, and when he nods shyly, she continues, “I’m Mrs. Sato, and I’ll be your teacher!” Mrs. Sato elaborates on how the schedule of the day goes, while students trickle in and begin to fill the classroom. Giorno gets many curious looks from his classmates, and many of them stare at him, whispering to their friends. Once the classroom is full, and Giorno has gotten an explanation of how the school day will go, Mrs. Sato turns to the class. She clears her throat, and the classroom quiets down quickly.

“Good morning class!” The students drone back, “Good morning Mrs. Sato!” Mrs. Sato smiles at the response, and says, “Today we have a new student joining us! This is Giorno Kujo! Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself, Giorno?”

Giorno nods at her, and says quietly, “I’m Giorno. I just moved back to Japan after living in Italy for two years. I like frogs, and the color pink.” Sensing that Giorno is finished, Mrs. Sato slaps her hands together and says cheerfully, “Thank you, Giorno! Why don’t you sit next to Ryota, right there!” She points to a boy who smiles at Giorno immediately. Giorno nods and shuffles over to the boy, slightly awkward. “Nice to meet you! I’m Ryota!” the boy whispers, friendly. Giorno nods and whispers back, “I’m Giorno.”

Then, Mrs. Sato begins to speak, and both boys quiet down. Mrs. Sato seems nice and keeps Giorno’s attention intact for the whole lesson.

Soon enough, there’s a lunch break, and Mrs. Sato leads the class to the lunchroom. Giorno pauses when they get there, watching the rest of the class sit down at the class assigned lunch table. “Giorno! Over here!” a boy that Giorno hasn’t talked to yet waves to him, enthusiastic. Giorno, not wanting to be rude, sits down next to him. “Hi! I’m Shouta! These are Ibuki and Yuto, my best friends.” The boys that Shouta introduced smiles widely at Giorno, who returns the friendliness with a tiny smile, feeling slightly overwhelmed. “Hello,” he says, quiet.

He gets out the lunchbox that Holly packed for him, intending to start eating right away. However, he is interrupted by one of the boys, Ibuki. “You said that you were living in Italy?” Giorno nods in confirmation, and Ibuki's eyes widen. “Cool! So can you speak Italian?” Giorno, once again, nods, and Yuto cuts in, “Can you say something in it?” Giorno replies, “Mi chiamo Giorno, piacere di conoscerla.” The three boys gasp in amazement at the small action. “Whoa, cool!” Shouta says. “Thank you,” Giorno replies, shy. “Your Japanese is so good!” Ibuki exclaims. “I lived here until two years ago, and then moved back again a little while ago,” Giorno explains. “Oh,” Yuto says, “That makes sense.”

“Are you Japanese at all?” Shouta asks. Giorno nods, “Half.” “I never would have guessed!” Giorno squirms, slightly uncomfortable. He doesn’t tell the boys to stop asking him questions though, not wanting to be rude.

However, he’s saved from this conundrum when the teacher walks over, telling them, “Boys, you can ask Giorno questions later, you all should eat now before there’s no more time!”

The boys nod, obeying the teacher. Giorno lets out a little sigh of relief and begins to eat. The lunch that Holly packed for him is really good, and he finds himself gobbling it down, hungry from the day's activities so far. Soon enough, lunch is over, and the class files back to the classroom, where the day resumes.

Giorno finds himself interacting with most of his classmates through the rest of the day. They ask him all sorts of questions, and shower him endlessly with compliments, telling him, “Your hair is so pretty!” “I wish I had eyes like yours!” and all other sorts of things. Giorno finds himself slightly awkward and at a loss of words under the shower of attention, unused to it.

During one activity, they’re studying different types of animals, and Giorno finds himself paired up with one of the boys he sat with at lunch. The boy's name is Ibuki, and Giorno finds himself liking the boy a lot more now that they’re one on one, instead of being in a group. Ibuki tells Giorno about his pet cat, Fuku. Giorno listens raptly as the boy describes his cat, a tabby cat, who prefers Ibuki’s older sister, Himari. Giorno carefully stores the information away in his mind, hoping to remember everything about his new friend. In return, Giorno tells Ibuki about the mice that he would see sometimes on the streets in Naples, and the two of them ponder if mice are different in Japan. Giorno finds himself enjoying his time in class, and he hopes that every day is as good as this one.

The kids in his class here in Japan are much nicer to him than the kids in Italy, and he sees himself becoming friends with them in the future. He especially liked the boys who sat with him at lunch. Even though they overwhelmed him at first, they’re very kind and helpful to make him feel accepted and feel like he’s fitting in.

When the day draws to an end, the boys say bye to him enthusiastically, and tell him “See you tomorrow!” and Giorno finds himself looking forward to going back to school the next day.

When Holly comes to pick him up, there’s still a smile on his face. “Did you have fun, Gio?” Holly asks, smiling back at him. Giorno nods enthusiastically.

“Mrs. Kujo!” Mrs. Sato, Giorno’s teacher, calls out.

Holly waits for Mrs. Sato to approach them. Mrs. Sato bows lightly to Holly, who returns the gesture. “I’m Mrs. Sato, Giorno’s new teacher. It’s nice to meet you!” Mrs. Sato says, face open and kind, “Your son is a great addition to my class! He’s such a sweet kid.” Mrs. Sato smiles at Giorno, who shyly smiles back, blushing. “It’s great to meet you, Mrs. Sato,” Holly replies, friendly. “You and your son look so much alike!” Mrs. Sato remarks. Holly laughs lightly at that, while Giorno freezes up a bit at the remark. Holly and Mrs. Sato chat casually for a minute more, before Holly waves goodbye to Mrs. Sato, who replies, “It was lovely meeting you, Mrs. Kujo! I’ll see you tomorrow, Giorno!” Giorno waves lightly back at Mrs. Sato.

Holly holds Giorno’s hand, and they walk back to their car. Giorno’s thoughts are still consumed with Mrs. Sato’s remark. He’s never had a parent that acted like his parent, and it hadn’t sunk in yet that Holly was his new mom. Holly opens the car door, smiling as she holds it open for Giorno. However, he doesn’t get in yet, shuffling his feet nervously.

“Is something wrong, Gio?” Holly says, looking at him worriedly.

Giorno pauses for a second, before asking, almost inaudibly, “Can I call you Mom?” Holly grins and kneels on the ground, wrapping Giorno in a hug. He freezes for a second, before relaxing into the hug, but freezes again when he feels his shoulder start to get wet, and Holly begins to cry softly. “I-I-I’m sorry, Holly, I didn’t mean to make you c-cry,” he gets out, still fairly shocked.

Holly pulls back from the hugs, eyes watery. “These are happy tears, Gio, don’t worry,” she sniffles, “Of course you can call me Mom! I’m just happy that you trust me enough to want to call me that,” she sniffles again, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. Giorno smiles softly at the ground, still slightly disoriented at the situation.

“Come on Gio, let's go home.”

Giorno nods at Holly, and she helps him into his car seat, before driving them home.

Back at home, Holly sets up Giorno in the kitchen with a snack, while Joseph asks him about how his day went. Giorno answers shyly, but answers nonetheless. He’s certainly getting more comfortable with Holly and Joseph.

“Giorno, did I tell you that I’m going back to America next week?” Giorno looks up at Joseph and frowns. “I think so,” he says quietly, but doesn’t look happy about it in the slightest. Joseph smiles at him and reaches over the table to ruffle Giorno’s hair.

“Don’t worry Gio, I’ll be back in less than two months for Christmas. With you going to school, that will pass in no time at all.” Giorno nods at him.

Chapter Text

Time really does fly for Giorno during his first months with Holly. Joseph goes back to America, and Giorno misses him a lot, but he’s so distracted with school and his new friends that he hardly has time to think about how much he misses Joseph.

Giorno ends up becoming much closer to the group of boys he sat with on his first day at school. As it turns out, Ibuki lives very close to him, to Holly often walks him over to Ibuki’s house to play, and after school, sometimes Ibuki’s mom will pick them both up, or Holly will pick up Ibuki as well, and Giorno and he will play together after school. Giorno also grows closer to the other two boys, Yuto and Shouta. The four of them end up forming their own little friend group, and they make Giorno feel settled and happy in his new school.

Giorno opens up to his friends and Holly, and when they accept him, he keeps getting more cheerful, healing the wounds from his past with his mother and stepfather. Giorno hardly even thinks about them anymore and is growing into being a happier person. He still stays reserved and quiet, but speaks his mind more, and tells Holly absolutely everything that happens to him.

One day, he comes home, face scrunched up in frustration. Holly asks him, “What’s wrong, Gio?”

Giorno looks at her, and blurts out, “Shouta said that blood is actually blue and that’s why your veins look like that, and I know he’s wrong! I was so angry I was going to use Gold Experience to pinch him, but I didn’t because that’s mean.” Giorno's face is scrunched up with anger, and Holly kneels down to get eye level with him.

“Sometimes people say wrong things, but it’s okay because everyone does it, even you. It’s good that you weren’t violent though, violence is always bad, Gio.” Giorno nods at the floor, and mumbles, “I know.” Holly smiles at him, and says, “Why don’t you eat something sweet to calm down?” Giorno’s eyes light up, and he nods vigorously and walks hand and hand with Holly to the kitchen.

Holly ends up helping Giorno style his hair as well. She asks him if he wants to cut it, which he shakes his head vigorously at. So, she ends up showing him how to braid it. She spends hours learning how to do new, interesting braids in Giorno’s hair, while he watches her with bright eyes. He’s a fast learner, and although his braids are sometimes messy, he quickly learns how to do his hair himself. Holly thinks that he’s the most adorable kid on Earth.

Holly also helps Giorno grow his stand. While she doesn’t have too much experience with stands, she still helps Giorno to control his stand. Holly really doesn’t want Giorno to get worked up at school, and suddenly turn his desk into a plant. She shudders, imagining the phone call.

“Mom!” Giorno yells, holding up a cat, that was just a plate, to show Holly. Her heart melts at the sight, and she says, “How nice, Gio!”

Holly loves Giorno, but his power has been growing, and fast. She’s worried that she’s not equipped to help him grow more than he has already. She’s not concerned that he’ll turn out like Dio, he’s too sweet and loves nature too much for that, but Holly wants him to have as much control over his stand as possible.

‘It’s good that he’ll be able to interact with other stand users soon,’ Holly thinks, excited for Giorno to meet Jotaro and his friends.

When Holly turns back to Giorno, the cat is gone, and his lap is covered with frogs. He sees Holly watching him, and excitedly says, “Froggy!” and hands Holly a frog. She accepts it gratefully, and Giorno stands up, hands full of frogs. He looks at her seriously, and says, “Frog family.” Holly smiles, and replies, “Frog family.”

Giorno settles well into his new life with Holly, and Giorno ends up glued to Holly’s side anytime he’s not at school or with his friends. Giorno helps Holly keep the house clean, and always follows her around. Often, Holly will be walking through her house, when she hears the telltale pitter-patter of Giorno’s feet running after her. It never fails to make her happy.

When Jotaro was a kid, he was never as clingy as Giorno was, and over the years he resisted Holly’s affection more and more. However, the longer Giorno spends with Holly, the more he wants to do things with her.

On weekends, when Giorno isn’t with his friends, the two of them often sit in the living room, watching cartoons together for Giorno, or Holly’s cheesy soap operas. The two of them sometimes end up watching Italian soap operas to keep Giorno’s Italian sharp.

Weeks pass and late fall edges into winter. Before Giorno knows it, his school goes on winter break, and Joseph comes back to Japan, this time with his wife, Suzi Q.

“Joseph!” Giorno comes running towards the man, crashing into his legs. Joseph grins down at him, ruffling his hair. “Hey, kid! You’re not having too much fun without me, right?” Joseph jests playfully. Giorno looks up at him with his bright blue-green eyes and shakes his head. A chuckle sounds from behind Joseph, and Giorno looks up at the woman standing behind him. She smiles at him, and says, “It’s very nice to meet you, Giorno. I’m Suzi Q, Joseph’s wife, and Holly’s mother.”

Giorno steps back from Joseph, and bows at Suzi, before straightening up and saying, “I’m Giorno. It’s nice to meet you.” Suzi smiles at him and replies, “My! You’re so polite!” Giorno nods and blushes at the compliment.

Holly jogs towards them, and shouts, “Papa! Mama!” Joseph catches her and lifts her up in a tight hug before he lets her go, and she hugs Suzi tightly. “Come on inside! You must be exhausted from the flight!” Holly ushers her parents into her house, and Suzi into the living room, while Joseph drops their luggage off in their room. She claps her hand together, and says, “I’ll get tea and coffee started, why don’t you catch up with Giorno?”

Suzi nods at Holly, and Holly walks out of the living room, saying, “Great! I’ll be back in a minute!”

Giorno sits down on the couch next to Joseph, who smiles at him, and asks, “How’s school been, Gio?” Giorno’s eyes light up at the question, and he replies, “Good! I made friends.” Giorno smiles softly, while Joseph prods him, “Tell me about them!” Giorno does just that, detailing the personalities of his friends, and regaling Suzi and Joseph with stories about his friends, like the time Yuto climbed up a tree, claiming he could climb higher than anyone else. He did just that but got stuck.

Suzi and Joseph sit quietly, enjoying Giorno’s quiet, but passionate retellings of his adventures in school. Eventually, Giorno trails off, and asks, “Suzi, do you have a stand?” Suzi smiles at him, and replies, “No, but I’m okay being separated from all of that.” Giono nods, and just then, Holly comes back in, this time with a tray with tea, coffee, and some assorted sweets. “Here we are!” she says, laying down the tray on the coffee table. Joseph takes his cup of coffee, while Suzi takes her tea, and Holly hands Giorno a cup of apple juice. “Thank you,” Gioro says.

“Papa, Mama, what have you two been up to?” Holly asks.

Joseph’s eyes light up at that, and he jumps into a story about his recent business ventures in real estate but finishes the story by saying, “I’m thinking about retiring in a couple of years, though,” he smiles at Suzi, continuing, “It would be nice to relax with my wife in my old age.”

“What about you, Mama?” Suzi pushes her glasses up her nose, and replies, “Well, now that I’m retired, I’ve still been sewing, but my friend got me involved with a charity, so I’ve been making clothes for disadvantaged children.”

Giorno looks at her, eyes wide. Holly’s parents were so nice and selfless, not anything like his original parents.

The four of them chat for a while longer, before Joseph yawns, and Suzi pats his arm and says, “It’s getting late, we should head to bed.” Holly smiles and replies, “Your room is all ready! Jotaro and his friends are arriving a little before noon tomorrow, so you two should sleep in!”

Joseph and Suzi say goodnight to Holly and Giorno and then head to their room.

Holly helps Giorno get ready for bed, and soon enough, the house is silent.

The next morning, Giorno wakes up, excited, and slightly nervous to meet Jotaro and his friends. Giorno goes to the kitchen, where Holly is already up and has pancakes sizzling on the stove. She smiles brightly at him, and gestures for him to sit at the table, he does so, and sits quietly, watching Holly flips a pancake expertly.

Once a couple of pancakes are done cooking, Holly places a plate in front of Giorno, whose mouth waters at the delicious smell. “American style pancakes!” Holly says, cheerful, “I don’t usually make these, but I thought we would do them today for my parents.”

Giorno nods, and when Holly’s gestures at his plate, he digs in, making an “mmh” sound at the first bite. Holly looks delighted that Giorno likes the pancakes, and then turns back to the stove to make more. Holly piles pancakes on a plate next to her, and just when she finishes, and is about to serve herself, Joseph strides into the kitchen, smiling broadly at her. “Pancakes!” he says. Holly beams at him, replying, “Good morning Papa, yes, pancakes.”

Joseph serves himself, and Holly joins them a second later. The three of them eat in silence for a minute before Suzi comes in as well, and greets, “Good morning! Thank you for making breakfast, Holly.” Holly replies, “Good morning! Feel free to serve yourself.” Suzi does so, and the kitchen is filled with the sound of clinking silverware.

After breakfast, Giorno gets dressed and comes back out to see Holly chatting with her parents in the living room. Holly smiles as soon as she sees him through the doorway, and gestures for him to come in. Giorno does so, clambering up onto the couch beside Holly.

Before Holly can say anything, she hears a noise from outside, and she stands up, announcing, “That must be Jotaro!” Holly walks out of the room, Giorno on her heels.

Outside, a tall young man, who Giorno assumes is Jotaro, is getting out of a car. Another young man, who Giorno doesn’t know, gets out of the other side.

Holly runs towards them, yelling, “Jotaro! My baby boy!” Jotaro looks at her, and pulls down the brim of his hat, before Holly crashes into him, pulling him into a hug. Jotaro lets her hug him, his arms hanging awkwardly at his sides before he hesitantly pats her on the back.

The other boy that is with Jotaro greets, “Hi Holly! How are you?” Holly pulls back from Jotaro to hug him as well, squeezing him tightly. “I’m great, Kakyoin, how’s college been treating you?” He smiles in reply, “It’s been pretty good!”

Holly pulls back from the other boy, and gestures for Giorno to come closer, he does so, and Holly tells the newcomers, “This is Giorno! Giorno, this is Jotaro,” she gestures to the taller, “And Kakyoin,” she gestures to the boy with red hair. Giorno gives them a tiny smile, and tells them, “I’m Giorno, it’s nice to meet you.” Jotaro nods at him, face inscrutable, while Kakyoin offers him a smile.

Giorno shuffles his feet, feeling slightly nervous, but Holly breaks the tension by saying, “Joseph and Suzi are already here! Why don’t we go inside?” The three boys follow her inside, where Joseph and Suzi are in the living room.

“Jotaro, Kakyoin! My boys!” Joseph greets, standing up, smiling. “Hey, old man,” Jotaro replies, while Kakyoin says, “Joseph! It’s been too long!” Joseph claps them both on the shoulder, and gestures for them to sit down, saying, “Tell me about college!”

Giorno listens closely while Kakyoin enthusiastically explains his classes and teachers, while Jotaro occasionally adds details or makes corrections. He learns that Jotaro is extremely interested in Marine Biology, and is planning to go to grad school for it after he finishes his undergrad in Florida. He also learns that Kakyoin is very interested in art, and plans to try to become an artist once he graduates college.

He ends up sitting, listening to Jotaro and Kakyoin for hours, before Holly gets up, declaring that she’s going to start dinner. Giorno immediately follows after her.

Holly ruffles his hair, and tells him, “You don’t have to have me, Gio! You can keep talking to Jotaro and Kakyoin if you want.” Giorno shakes his head, and tells her, “I want to help you.” Holly grins at his reply, and says, “You’re so good.”

Holly and Giorno fall into their daily groove of making food. “I’m making nikujaga tonight!” Holly tells him, and Giorno nods happily, mouth already watering at the prospect of the delicious potatoes and beef.

Holly takes out ingredients and starts to cut them, giving Giorno things to do that don’t involve knives, like washing vegetables. Soon, the kitchen is filled with the smell of cooking meat and onions. Giorno sits down at the kitchen table, watching Holly skillfully work. Jotaro walks in the kitchen at one point, and Holly beams at him, telling him, “I’m just about to add the carrots and potatoes,” Jotaro nods, and pulls out a chair at the kitchen table, sitting down.

Giorno looks at Jotaro with big curious eyes. Jotaro looks back, face flickering with emotions, before he asks Giorno, “You’re in school, right? Do you like it?” Jotaro shifts, looking slightly awkward. Holly smiles at him, appreciating his effort. Giorno nods, and says, “People here are much nicer than they are in Italy.” Jotaro’s brow furrows, and he asks, “Were people not nice to you there?” Giorno stares at the table and nods minutely. Jotaro frowns, and says, “Oh. Ok. Do you want to see my stand?”

Oh my god, I don’t know how to interact with children, Jotaro thinks.

Luckily, Giorno nods eagerly, looking excited to see another stand. Jotaro summons Star Platinum, mentally crossing his fingers, hoping Giorno won’t be scared. However, as soon as Giorno sees the stand, his eyes widen comically, and he beams at the stand, summoning Gold Experience in response, who reaches out to touch Star Platinum. Giorno’s smaller stand whizzes around Star Platinum, examining him thoroughly.

Holly puts the top of the pot back on the nikujaga and smiles at the stands. “I should get Kakyoin in here as well, so he can show you Hierophant Green.” Giorno nods eagerly at the suggestion and goes back to studying Star Platinum.

“What does he do?” Giorno questions quietly. “He can stop time,” Jotaro replies. Giorno gasps slightly, and exclaims, “That’s so cool!”

“What does yours do?” Jotaro counters. Giorno’s eyes gleam mischievously, and he responds, “Gold Experience can give things life.” Jotaro’s eyebrows rise at the response, and Giorno stands up, grabbing a fork from a drawer, and turning it into a frog. Giorno holds out the frog to Jotaro, who takes it gently, and examines it. He nods in approval at it and gives it back to Giorno, who whispers “bye” to the frog, turning it back into a fork, and putting it back into the drawer. Jotaro’s face stays impassive, but Holly, from across the room, can tell that he’s impressed.

“That’s quite a powerful stand,” Jotaro tells Giorno, who blushes, “Thank you.”

Jotaro tells Giorno a little about some stand users who he had fought in the past, and Giorno’s gasps and gawks at the stories.

Then, Holly has to break the moment, announcing, “Dinner is almost ready! Would you two set the table for me?”

Jotaro nods, and he and Giorno do so, grabbing plates and silverware before heading to the dining room. Soon enough, everyone in the house has filtered into the dining room, and Holly is bringing in a huge steaming pot.

Once everyone has sat down to dinner, the atmosphere relaxes, and the room fills with the sound of clinking silverware and idle chatter.

Giorno finds himself sitting in between Holly and Suzi, and across from Jotaro, Joseph, and Kakyoin. Joseph tells Holly, “This is amazing, Holly! It’s so nice to have home-cooked food.” Holly smiles in reply, taking the compliment gratefully.

Once dinner has been finished, Giorno helps Holly clear the table, and Kakyoin offers a hand as well. In the kitchen, Giorno stands on his little stool, doing the dishes, Kakyoin joining him as well. Across the kitchen, Holly is heating water for tea and coffee on the stove.

Giorno looks at Kakyoin, not really sure what to make of him. He looks nice, but Giorno hasn’t talked to him much as of yet. Then, a green tendril wraps itself around the plate that Kakyoin is holding, and an equally green stand peaks over Kakyoin’s shoulder. Giorno nearly drops the plate that he’s holding, looking at the stand.

Kakyoin smiles at Giorno, and tells him, “His name is Hierophant Green, I’ve had him since I was a kid, like you.” Giorno nods happily and gently touches the tendril that Hierophant offers him. A grin breaks out on Giorno’s face at the stand. “He’s pretty,” Giorno tells Kakyoin. Giorno summons Gold Experience, who Hierophant pats on the head.

“Good baby stand,” Kakyoin whispers. Giorno looks at him curiously but doesn’t question it. The two of them finish washing the dishes quickly with the help of their stands, and while they wash the dishes, Kakyoin tells Giorno more stories about stand users and fills him in on details that Jotaro may have missed, or left out.

Once the dishes are done, Giorno ends up sitting in the living room again but is stifling yawns into his hand, as it is getting late. Holly notices, and says, “I’m going to put Giorno to bed, it’s been a long day, and more people are arriving tomorrow.” The rest of the people in the room nod in agreement.

Holly carries Giorno back to his room and helps him get into bed. Holly gives Giorno a goodnight kiss, and tells him, “Sleep well!” Giorno blinks at her sleepily, and nods back, “I will, thanks mom,” before sleep overtakes him.

Chapter Text

The next day, Polnareff and Avdol arrive at the Joestar household bright and early. Giorno isn’t too sure what to make of them and is even less sure what to make of their small, but ferocious dog, Iggy.

Later, Caesar, an elderly Italian man, who is supposedly Joseph’s best friend, arrives as well, grinning.

According to Holly, Caesar is the last to arrive, and Giorno is grateful for that. After being in the large Kujo residence alone with Holly for so long, it’s odd to have so many people around. He’s also worried that the newcomers won’t like him.

However, his worries are soon disproven.

Polnareff is large and rather imposing, but he’s goofy and makes it his first mission at the Kujo residence to befriend Giorno. He whips out his stand, Silver Chariot, which Giorno is immediately taken with.

“Woah!” Giorno gasps, “He’s a knight!”

Polnareff grins at Giorno, and nods, “Yup! My Silver Chariot is the perfect example of a stand balanced in its beauty and power.” Polnareff preens under Giorno’s wide-eyed innocent affection. Avdol snorts at the interaction and Giornk asks quietly, “What is your stand?”

Avdol grins at that, answering him with a flick of his hand, and Magician’s Red appears. Giorno’s eyes get impossibly rounder as he points and enthuses, “Birdy!”

Polnareff snorts ungracefully at the reaction, while Avdol takes it in stride, answering, “Indeed, he partly takes the form of a bird.” Giorno whispers, “So cool…” while carefully looking up at the stand, examining it.

Jotaro and Kakyoin look at the scene from across the room, amused. “I’m having trouble believing Dio could have produced something as cute and innocent as Giorno,” Kakyoin mumbles. Jotaro eyes Kakyoin from under the brim of his hat, and replies, “Technically he’s not related to Dio, so he’s really Jonathan’s son.” Kakyoin pauses at that, and shrugs, “Same difference.” Jotaro sighs at that.

Giorno offers Silver Chariot a flower, and Kakyoin snorts at the mental image of Giorno offering Dio a flower.

Jotaro mumbles, “Good grief. He’ll end up fine, as long as Joseph doesn’t corrupt him.” Kakyoin barks out a laugh in reply.

Right on cue, Joseph strides into the room, dragging Caesar in behind him. “Giorno!” he shouts, “My boy! I just realized that you should practice your Italian with Caesar!” Caesar looks like he half wants to strangle Joseph, but also half curious at Giorno.

“Ciao, Giorno,” Caesar greets, face shifting to be friendlier, more open. Giorno returns the greeting, and Caesar asks him in Italian, “Where did you live in Italy?”

“Naples. Where do you live?” Caesar smiles at Giorno’s answer, and offers,

“I was born in Genoa, but I lived in a lot of places, Rome, Venice, even Naples. I traveled around a lot. I was quite chaotic in my youth, much like Joseph.”

Giorno’s eyes widen and sparkle at Caesar’s answer, happy to be speaking Italian again. While Giorno didn’t have the best time in Italy, he still loved the culture, the food, and the language.

“What was Joseph like when he was young?” Giorno questions, enthusiastic. Caesar laughs lightly at the question, and replies, “Much like he is now. Impulsive, strong, brave, not the brightest, but most definitely the most loyal man I’ve ever met. He was just filled to the brim with energy, not that that has changed much as he’s aged.” Caesar’s eyes twinkle as he reminisces about his youth, and he gazes across the room at Joseph, who is gesturing animatedly to Jotaro and Kakyoin about something.

“I can tell you a little about the adventures Joseph and I went on if you want.” Giorno nods eagerly, and whispers, “Yes, please.” Caesar grins at him and begins to recount the story of his and Joseph’s journey. Caesar tells Giorno about learning Hamon and continuing his family tradition and meeting Joseph. He describes their master, Lisa Lisa, a strong, powerful, and beautiful mentor, who turned out to be Joseph’s mother.

Caesar gestures expressively, describing the Aztec gods Wamuu, Esidesi, and Kars, and his fights with them.

“Wamuu nearly killed me, I just barely got out alive. I really didn’t know if I was going to make it out of that battle, but I had to, I had to get the antidote for Joseph.”

Joseph wanders over at that point, saying, “It’s been too long! I used to know a little Italian, but I’ve long since lost it. I heard my name, though. What are you two talking about that involves little old me?”

Caesar smiles good-naturedly at him, and replies, “We’re just about up to the part where Wamuu almost killed me.”

Joseph grimaces a little at that, and mumbles, “Isn’t that a little heavy for a six-year-old?” Giorno shakes his head adamantly at Joseph’s statement, “No! I want to hear how it ends.”

Caesar smirks at Joseph, “Well, then I guess I have to finish the story!” Joseph rolls his eyes at that, and retorts, “I’ll help.”

The two of them finish describing the battles, how Wamuu was defeated, and then Kars’s evolution into the ultimate being, and finally, the plane crash, and subsequent volcano eruption, and finally, Kars being blasted into space.

“Luckily, I had Suzi Q to nurse me back to health,” Joseph finishes.

Giorno exclaims, “That story was so cool! I can’t believe you two did all of that!” Then, Giorno’s expression shifts slightly, and he asks, “Why did you stop using Hamon?”

Joseph and Caesar glance at each other, and Joseph explains, “I wanted to grow old with Suzi Q. Hamon can make you live much longer than a normal human, and I didn’t want to look 30 years younger than my wife.” Caesar nods, and says, “After what happened, I started using Hamon less. It made Lisa Lisa mad at first, but I think she understood in the end. I didn’t want to grow farther apart from Joseph and Suzi because of Hamon.”

Suddenly, Giorno asks about what Joseph had been dreading all night. “Did my dad know Hamon?” The question itself is innocent enough, but the energy of the room shifts with the mention of Dio.

However, Joseph is saved from answering, when, right on queue, Suzi comes in, Holly on her heels.

Holly claps her hands together, announcing, “Dinner is ready!”

The group moves into the dining room, where the table is piled with different types of foods. Everyone takes a seat, gratefully digging into the food, making sure to compliment Holly.

The atmosphere in the house is calm and friendly, and the dining room is filled with the happy voices of Giorno’s new family. It’s odd, Giorno had never experienced anything like it before then, but now, he really felt like he was being accepted.

As dinner winds down, and everyone finishes their food, Holly begins to clear the table, with Giorno jumping up quickly to help her. Like most other nights, they fall into the rhythm of Holly making tea and coffee, while Giorno obediently washes the dishes.

The boisterous sound of conversation echoes from the dining room, but instead of being afraid of the noise, Giorno finds it strangely comforting. He vaguely hears Joseph’s loud laugh echo through the house and finds comfort in his newfound family.

Chapter Text

After winter break, Giorno goes back to school, and his family goes back to their respective countries. He misses the house being full of joyful conversation and the eccentric members of his family. Before he leaves, Joseph promises to visit soon, and Giorno hopes he’ll come back very soon. Giorno can’t wait for next Christmas when he’ll be able to see all of his family again.

Some of the peace is nice, though, and Giorno likes being in the house with Holly, the two of them cooking, reading, cleaning, and doing all sorts of other activities.

Giorno likes school as well, with his close group of friends, and his kind teachers. He likes his classes, likes learning things, and loves to read. His teachers tell him that he’s very smart, and he bushes whenever they praise him.

Often, he will sit in the garden reveling in the peace and quiet, practicing growing plants with Gold Experience, and turning rocks into frogs and ladybugs, giggling when they hop and crawl over his hands.

That peace is broken, however, with one phone call in January.

“Pregnant?!” Giorno hears Holly yell from the other room. Holly is normally calm and collected, so the loud exclamation immediately catches Giorno’s attention. He closes the picture book in his lap, and peaks around the corner, watching as Holly, shocked, listens to whoever is on the phone.

“I-I don’t understand! How could you be so careless, Jotaro?” This shocks Giorno. He has never heard Holly reprimand Jotaro ever, and he can’t imagine what would make her so frustrated. There is silence on Holly’s end for several moments, before she sighs lightly, “I’m glad that you’re taking responsibility. You need to make sure this child feels loved. It wouldn’t be right to let that girl take care of them all by herself.”

Giorno studies Holly’s face carefully, watching as the frustration and confusion melts into acceptance. “You should call Joseph. This child will be his great-grandchild after all.” Another pause. “Yes. I love you. Please call me soon. Goodbye.”

Holly puts the phone down with a click. She notices Giorno peeking around the corner, and beckons him to come in. “How much of that did you hear?” she asks him, calm.

Giorno shakes his head, “Not much. I don’t understand what’s happening.”

Holly takes a deep breath, “Jotaro is going to have a baby.” Giorno’s eyes widen a little, “A baby?” Holly nods, “I’m not too sure of the details myself, but it seems like the mother, a girl named Viola, is going to give birth in about four months.” Giorno drinks in the information, thinking to himself, I wonder if the baby is going to live here?

Giorno voices his thoughts to Holly, who pauses, “I’m not sure, it’s up to Jotaro. I’ll tell you as soon as I know anything, though, don’t worry Gio.” Giorno nods seriously, and Holly ruffles his hair, “Don’t look so solemn! Want to help me make dinner?” Giorno grins at that.

The next four months pass without much other disruption to the peace. Jotaro still calls more often to give Holly updates, and if he doesn’t, Holly will call him incessantly, and scold him about calling her more often.

Holly always updates Giorno on whatever Jotaro says, “The baby is healthy!” “They’re having a girl!” “The baby is going to live in Florida, and go back and forth between Jotaro and Viola.”

When Giorno asks, “Is Jotaro going to marry her?” Holly pauses for a moment, and then tells him, “No, they’ve decided to just be friends.” Giorno nods. He understands that people who have a baby together don’t have to stay together, just like this mother and father. Giorno hopes that Jotaro will stay there for the baby, though, unlike Giorno’s father. Giorno also hopes that Viola will be nice to the baby.

When Jotaro’s baby is finally born, Giorno and Holly fly to Florida. As soon as Jotaro called Holly and told her that the baby was coming, she booked a flight and called Giorno’s school. Joseph is already in Florida when they arrive, and they’re picked up by a car organized by Joseph, and they immediately drive to the hospital, where the baby has already been born. As they’re driving from the airport to the hospital, Holly is talking to Joseph rapidly on the phone. “The baby is so cute!” Joseph says, excitedly.

Holly asks Joseph about a million questions before they get to the hospital, but he answers each one dutifully and calmly.

When the car Holly and Giorno are in finally pulls up at the hospital, Holly gives the driver the address of the hotel, and he goes to drop their luggage off there.

Outside of the hospital room, Kakyoin is leaning against a wall, an odd look on his face. The expression disappears, however, when he sees Holly and Giorno approaching. Holly hugs him and asks how he’s been. He replies, “I’ve been good. It’s nice to see you and Giorno again.” Giorno grins up at him, and Kakyoin leans down to give him a hug as well. Kakyoin jokes with Giorno, “You get bigger each time I see you, Gio! Don’t outgrow me while I’m gone!” Giorno giggles at that, but notices something in Kakyoin’s tone, making him sound slightly different than how he normally does. “Anyway, I’m actually heading out, but I’ll see you two tomorrow.” Holly nods at that, and Giorno decides not to comment on Kakyoin’s slightly odd behavior, as Holly leads him into the hospital room.

Giorno has never met any babies as young as this, and he isn’t quite sure what to think. The baby is sleeping at the moment Holly and Giorno walk into the room, but Giorno thinks she looks a little like Jotaro. She already has some black hairs sprouting from her head, and her face is twisted a little as she sleeps, reminiscent of an expression that Giorno has seen Jotaro make before.

Giorno thinks that the woman that Jotaro has had the baby with, Viola, is very pretty. She reminds Giorno of the women that his mother would go out with in Naples, but scratches that comparison from his head when she sees the way that she smiles at and dotes on her new baby.

Viola's father is still at the hospital, although most of her family and friends have already come and left by the time Giorno and Holly arrive. Joseph is conversing calmly with her father, who smiles good-naturedly at whatever Joseph is saying to him. Holly smiles at Joseph, who immediately wraps her in an embrace. “Holly! It’s so wonderful to see you!” Holly returns the sentiment, “Papa!”

Joseph leans down to ruffle Giorno’s hair before hugging him. “Giorno! How have you been?” Giorno smiles up at Joseph, replying, “Hi! I’ve been good, school is fun!”
Holly turns away from Joseph and Giorno to introduce herself to Viola’s father. “I’m Holly Kujo, Jotaro’s mother, it’s nice to meet you.” The man shakes Holly’s hand, “I’m Marco Argento, Viola’s father, and likewise.”

Jotaro waves Holly and Giorno over to the hospital bed, looking even more tired than he usually does. He stands up from the chair he’s sitting in, and Holly immediately gives him a huge hug and a kiss. Giorno simply smiles and waves hello to him. “Hi Mom, hi Giorno,” Jotaro murmurs.

“Mrs. Kujo, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Viola says from the bed. “Do you want to hold her?” Holly perks up at the mention of her and grins at the prospect of holding her granddaughter. “It’s wonderful to meet you as well, Viola! Did you decide on a name for the baby?” Giorno furrows his brow a little, trying to translate the conversation in his head with his minimal English skills.

Viola smiles as she passes the baby to Holly. “Yes. I think that we’re going to go with Jolyne.” Holly laughs lightly at the name. “That’s a beautiful name. It definitely fits in with our family.” Holly gently coos at Jolyne, who stirs a bit but does not wake up. Giorno looks up curiously at her, and Viola addresses him suddenly.

“You’re Giorno, right? Jotaro doesn’t talk much, but he and Joseph explained who was coming.” Giorno nods in response to the question. It takes him a moment to speak, carefully saying with heavily accented English, “It is very nice to meet you, Miss Viola.”

Viola’s eyes crinkle with amusement at his response, “You’re so sweet and polite! It’s very nice to meet you too!” She doesn’t comment on his accent, which Giorno appreciates a lot.

Holly makes a noise, and comments, “Ah! She has the Joestar birthmark!” Viola looks at where Holly has pulled back the blanket wrapped around Jolyne to reveal a small star on her shoulder. Viola blinks, “I hadn’t thought to check that! Jotaro has the same birthmark, but I didn’t know it was hereditary.”

“Yes! Every person in our family that directly descended from Jonathan Joestar has the same birthmark. It’s a little odd, but it can help to identify family members,” Holly explains. Viola nods, and says, “That’s a nice connection to have with your family.”

Giorno yawns, breaking Holly’s attention away from the baby. “Oh Giorno, you must be tired!” She hands Jolyne back to Viola, “We should probably go to the hotel. It’s been a very long day. We’ll come back tomorrow! If you need anything, just tell Jotaro to call me, and I’ll get whatever you need in a heartbeat.”

Viola smiles brightly at the both of them, “Of course! Thank you for coming.”

Holly and Giorno wave goodbye to Viola, and Holly leads Giorno by the hand over to Joseph, “Are you two going?” he asks. Holly nods. “It’s been a long day, and the jet lag is catching up with us!” Joseph nods understandingly. “Of course, get some rest.” Holly and Giorno say their goodbyes to Marco and well, and then leave the hospital. Holly calls a car, which gets there fairly quickly, and then the two of them go to their hotel.

When they arrive, their luggage is waiting for them in their room, a suite. Giorno barely manages to get to his room and take off his shoes before collapsing into his bed, exhausted. He falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. Holly peeks into his room, not surprised to see him asleep already, despite it only being the late afternoon. She gently untucks the blanket on his bed, pulling it up over him.

The next day, Giorno and Holly wake up brightly and early, as the sun is barely rising. They order room service, getting a large assortment of breakfast foods. They eat a lot, hungry from the long day before. After they finish eating, Giorno and Holly both take showers, and change into fresh clothes. By the time they are done with all of that, a few hours have passed, and Holly calls Joseph and Suzi, who are staying in a suite a few floors below Giorno and Holly. Joseph and Suzi are eating breakfast, but they invite Holly and Giorno to come down to have tea.

After that, the day goes by quickly for Giorno. They have tea with Joseph and Suzi and then head to the hospital again. Viola is getting discharged from the hospital, so they all help her head home, with the addition of Viola’s mother. Viola’s parents live in Florida, near the hospital, so they go there. Joseph and Holly have chipped in, giving Viola and Jotaro a nice stroller, and a nice crib. Viola’s parents have also provided other furniture for the baby, as well as plenty of clothes.

Jotaro silently holds Jolyne for most of the time, looking slightly scared and slightly awestruck at her. The rest of the time, while Viola is holding Jolyne, he helps to put the furniture together. Soon, the crib and stroller are all assembled, and most of the day has already flown by.

Before Giorno knows it he’s heading back to the hotel with Joseph, Suzi, and Holly. Giorno is still jet-lagged, but he knows that he’s heading back to Japan tomorrow with Holly, which makes him happy. He likes the new baby and Viola and her family and loves Jotaro, but the excitement of the new baby and place is a little much for him, and he’s looking forward to being back in his own bed again.

That night, Giorno stares at the ceiling of the hotel room, thinking about Jolyne. He wonders if she’ll have a stand, and he wonders what it will be. He knows that Viola and her family don’t have stands, and he knows how scary stands can be. He hopes that Viola won’t reject Jolyne if she has a stand, like Giorno’s mother did.

Jotaro’s stand is so cool and powerful, with its ability to stop time, and Giorno wonders if Jolyne will have a similar stand. Giorno thinks about Christmas when everyone comes to Japan. He wonders if it would be weird to be the only person besides Suzi and Caesar that doesn’t have a stand.

As he thinks, Giorno gets sleepier and sleepier, and eventually nods off.

Chapter Text

Even after Giorno and Holly fly back to Japan, they still stay in contact regularly with Jotaro and Jolyne. Jotaro sends them letters with pictures of Jolyne, and Holly calls him at least twice a week, if not three, or even four times. Joseph goes down to Florida more often as well, often taking Jolyne for a day or two, giving Viola and Jotaro a break.

Giorno likes listening to Jolyne’s babbles over the phone, the soft sounds of a happy baby. Giorno knows that she’s getting love from all of her family members, and it makes him really happy. He remembers how kind Holly and Joseph were when they took him home, and he’s sure that Jolyne will end up being just as kind.

As soon as they’re back from Florida, Giorno goes back to school. At snack time, he excitedly tells his friends about his new family member, and his adventure to a new place, Florida. Giorno tells his friends about the plane he rode on with Holly and then meeting Jotaro’s new tiny baby. “Wow! I’ve never been to America, but it sounds cool!” Yuto exclaims.

Giorno nods, “It was so hot there, even though it’s still spring. My mom told me that it never snows in Florida, even in the winter.”

His three friends make noises of amazement. “Wouldn’t it be sad to never make snowmen?” Shouta asks, looking pensive. “Hmm, I guess so,” Giorno says, “In that case, when she gets old enough to build snowmen, I’ll get Jotaro to bring Jolyne here!”

Yuto laughs, “That’s such a long way to travel just to build snowmen!” Shouta retorts, “Yeah, but I think it would be worth it.” Giorno nods in agreement, “Plus, when Jolyne and Jotaro come here, they get to visit Mom and me! I think Jotaro misses Mom.”

Ibuki pokes fun at him, “Wait! Jolyne makes you an uncle! You’re too young to be an uncle! You can’t even tie your own shoes, and my uncles are both old enough to be bald!”

Giorno furrows his brow, retorting, “I’m not really an uncle, Mom adopted me.” This seems to confuse his friends, Shouta questioning, “So where’s your real mom?” The question hurts a little, Giorno thinking of Holly as his real mom, but he doesn’t take offense, and simply replies, “Probably still in Italy. She’s mean, and I don’t care what she’s doing.”

Yuto nods seriously, “If she was mean it’s good that you’re not with her anymore. No one should be mean to you Giorno, you’re too nice!”

Giorno blushes at the compliment, but another question from Shouta breaks Giorno out of his embarrassment, “What about your dad?” Giorno purses his lips at the question, “I don’t know. I never met him. I don’t really know anything about him besides the fact that he’s related to Mom and Joseph.”

“You should ask your mom about him then! Maybe you’ll be able to meet him, and he’ll be nice!” Yuto exclaims. Giorno nods in response, “I’ll ask her tonight.”

Their teacher claps her hands together then, getting their attention, “Snack time is over everyone! Let’s clean up!”

When Giorno goes home, he stays quiet on the car ride home, but when he’s sitting in the kitchen with Holly, he asks, “Where is my real dad?” Holly pales a little at the question, and hesitates for a moment, hands hovering over a plate of cut-up fruit.

She doesn’t speak again until she lays down the plate in front of Giorno. “This might be a question that would be better off answered with the help of Joseph. Why don’t we call him tonight?” Giorno nods, always eager to talk to Joseph, even though he’s not thrilled about waiting to find out answers about his father.

Holly keeps her word, though, and the two of them call Joseph that night. Joseph picks up after a couple of rings, greeting, “Hello?”

Holly greets back, “Hi Papa!” Even though Holly sounds normal, something in her tone must sound off to Joseph, because he asks, “Holly? Is something going on?”

She sighs lightly, nearly imperceptible, “Giorno has been asking about Dio.”

Giorno practically tingles with anticipation at the mention of his father’s name. “Is Giorno with you?” Joseph asks over the phone, after a short pause. “Yes, and you’re on speakerphone.”

“Ok,” Joseph starts, “Why don’t we start from the beginning?” Giorno’s eyes light up, sitting up straighter in his seat as he prepares to learn more about his father.

“First, Giorno, I need to tell you that your father is no longer with us, sadly.” Joseph’s words make Giorno’s heart drop, a frown settling on his face. While he had no indication that his father was alive, he still had a drop of hope that he was. However, Giorno stays silent, and Joseph continues speaking,

“Dio had great ambitions, Giorno. He wanted power and was willing to do practically anything to get it. He could have been a great leader if he put his mind to it. However, he had a hard youth, and his father was not kind to him. This made Dio angry at the world, it made him unkind. He ended up getting into a bad group of people, and he made many bad decisions. Once Dio gained his stand, The World, he became even more power-hungry. His stand was incredibly powerful, and with its ability to stop time, the same as Jotato, he was often unstoppable.

“He believed many things, including the power of fate. He believed that people were drawn together for a purpose and that it was impossible to avoid it. I agree with that, and after he gained his stand, his family did as well. Sadly, Holly was not strong enough to handle her stand at the time, and the only way to stop her from being hurt by her stand was to stop to the source, to stop Dio.

“So, Jotaro and I, with the help of Kakyoin, Polnareff, Iggy, and Avdol, went to stop him. Power had made him angry and greedy, and sadly, we were not able to save him, and he passed away.

“Giorno. Please don’t be angry with me or your family members. While I do believe that Dio possibly could have been saved, when we got to him, it was too late. I think that if he could have been brought into our family as young as you were, he wouldn’t have become so bad. Also, Giorno, I really think that he would have loved you. I think that he would have thought your stand was incredible and treated you very well.”

As Joseph finishes speaking, Giorno begins to sniffle. Holly gently places down the phone, and wraps Giorno up in a big hug, “Oh, Gio, don’t cry,” Holly soothes him, gently rubbing circles on his back, “It’s all going to be ok.”

Giorno chokes out, “He was just like me. I think I would have become bad too if I stayed with my parents.” Holly pulls away from the hug, “No, Giorno, I don’t think you would have been bad. You’re so kind and wonderful.”

From the phone, Joseph breaks the moment, “Gio? Are you alright?” Giorno rubs one of his eyes with his hand, “I’m ok. It’s not your fault, Joseph. I’m not mad at you.” Joseph lets out a sigh of relief, “When you’re a little older I’ll tell you more, but the story is very sad, so I think that was enough for now.”

Giorno nods and then realizes Joseph can’t see him, so he says, “Yes. Thank you for telling me that.”

Holly speaks to Joseph for a couple more minutes, but Giorno spaces out, lost in thought. He thinks about his father, also beaten and treated badly by his father. He thinks about another thing Joseph said, that his ability was the same as Jotaro’s. Giorno knows that stands are your soul, so since his father and Jotaro had the same ability, they must have a similar soul. He uses this as confirmation that if his father had been given a kinder childhood, he would have ended up good.

Then, Giorno thinks about his own ability, Gold Experience. He wonders if The World looked like Gold Experience if it was also gold. Giorno knows that Gold Experience is also powerful, and while it does a lot of good, growing plants and making rocks into frogs, it can also be bad.

He wonders if he was mistreated as long as his father was if he would have become angry and mean too. He hopes not, but whenever he thinks about the dirty, unkind household of his mother and stepfather, he feels mean feelings towards them. Anger, sadness, fear.

Holly's hand on his shoulder breaks him out of his thoughts. “Giorno?” she asks, a concerned expression on her face, “Are you alright?”

Giorno shakes his head, still on the verge of tears. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry about your dad.” Giorno chokes out, “Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”

Holly’s expression softens, “Why don’t we have your favorite tonight for dessert? Does chocolate pudding sound good right now?” Giorno nods his head, and Holly picks him up, walking to the kitchen.

She sets him down at the kitchen table and grabs two chocolate puddings from the fridge and two spoons.

Giorno digs in immediately, the sweet flavor of the pudding helping him feel better immediately. Once he’s finished with the pudding, Holly puts another in front of him almost right away, “You can have two tonight. It’s been a hard night.” Giorno sniffs, and thanks Holly, before diving into the second pudding.

Holly eats her own pudding slowly, watching Giorno. She thinks that he’s stronger than her already, able to cope with such horrible news so well. Even so, she hopes he won’t have to lose anyone else for a very long time.

Giorno goes to sleep early that night, tired from the day’s events. However, despite his tiredness, he finds himself unable to sleep, still thinking about his dad. Silently, he swears to himself that he’ll live the life that his dad should have had, full of love and happiness. Joseph's words echo in his thoughts, “He could have been a great leader if he put his mind to it.” Giorno promises himself that he won’t let his bad past make him bad like it made his father bad. He wants to make his dad proud, imagining him looking down on Giorno from wherever he is now.

He goes to sleep with his energy drained and his heart full of hope, letting his eyes drift shut as he thinks, “Dad, I’ll do my best to help other people.”

Giorno tries to keep good on his promise, practicing using Gold Experience to make pretty things during the weekends, in the garden, coaxing the new spring growth to get bigger and healthier. He presses his hands to a cherry tree, making the fruit go from green to yellow to red. He stands on his tippy-toes, just barely grabbing a cherry from one of the low branches.

At one point, he makes a rabbit out of a rock, and as it hops away, he chases it, laughing lightly. Then, he trips over the root of a tree, falling and scraping his knee. It hurts, and tears burn at his eyes, but he wipes them away harshly, looking at his knee.

He summons Gold Experience, silently asking for help. Gold examines his knee, and then suddenly hands him some dirt. Giorno stares at the dirt in his hand for a moment, and then his eyes light up, realizing how he can use his stand. He shoves the dirt onto his scrape, wincing at the feeling, and quickly activates his ability, morphing the dirt into new skin.

It stings and burns badly, but Giorno pushes through the hurt, and once he takes his hand away, the scrape is gone, along with the pain. Gold Experience shimmers back into Giorno, as he gasps a little. He pokes his freshly healed knee, staring in wonder as no pain comes from the spot.

Then, he gets up, and sprints back towards the house, calling out for Holly. She pokes her head out of the living room, looking curiously at him, “What is it, Giorno?”

He reaches her quickly, panting slightly from running so fast, “I can heal!” Holly looks questioningly at him, so he continues, “I fell and hurt my knee, but Gold Experience helped me, and I realized that I can turn dirt into skin, and fix the cut!”

Holly smiles gently at him, “That’s wonderful Giorno, but try not to get hurt.” Giorno nods seriously, replying, “I will! It hurts a little when I heal.” Holly looks slightly concerned at that, but brushes it off, “Do you want to have tea with me?” Giorno replies affirmatively, and the two of them head to the kitchen to make some tea.

As they sip the hot tea, Giorno thinks, “With this new ability, I can help people even better. Even if anyone gets hurt, I can make it better.” He gently smiles into his cup, happy that even if the people he loves get hurt, he’ll be there to make it all okay.

The first time Giorno uses his ability on someone else, it’s while he is over at his friend Ibuki’s house for a playdate. They’re playing with Ibuki’s toys, a mix of soft stuffed animals, his older sister’s old dolls, and hard plastic race cars.

Ibuki is running a small red car along the wall of his room, while Giorno watches, a small bird plushie gripped in his hands. Then, Ibuki drops the car, and looks at his finger, mumbling, “Owch.”

Giorno goes over to him and realizes the hard metal shell of the car has cracked somehow and nicked Ibuki’s fingers. Giorno gently takes Ibuki’s finger, examining it. Joseph’s words of warning not to show anyone his stand ability echo in his head, but he ignores them in favor of grabbing a bit of fluff from the carpet and pressing it to the cut, healing it.

Ibuki tries to jerk away, but Giorno holds tight, releasing the finger when it’s all healed. Gasping, Ibuki holds his finger close to his eyes, examining the place where the cut was.

“How did you do that?” Ibuki exclaims. Giorno holds a finger up to his lips, shushing his friend, “You can’t tell anyone! It’s a secret!”

Ibuki nods seriously, telling Giorno, “I pinky-promise I won’t tell anyone, not even my parents!” Giorno replies, “Thank you, I’m not supposed to let anyone know about my power.” Ibuki’s eyes widen, “Wow, are you magic?” Giorno shakes his head rapidly, “No, I’m just a normal human, I just happen to have a special ability.” Ibuki gasps a little, “How did you get it? Can I get a magic power too?”

Giorno shakes his head again, “I got my ability from my dad, and I don’t know how he got it, but I don’t know how other people get their powers.” Ibuki seems a little star-struck at the idea that people could have amazing abilities like healing. “That’s so cool! Thank you for letting me in on your secret.” Giorno smiles, “Thank you for promising not to tell anyone.”

True to his word, Ibuki doesn’t tell anyone about Giorno’s power, and Giorno doesn’t use Gold Experience on anyone else. The rest of the semester passes fairly normally for Giorno, learning new things, talking to his friends, and then going home to Holly. He still keeps practicing using Gold Experience and begins to make bigger and bigger things. One weekend, he grows an entire new cherry tree, but it makes him very sleepy, so he decides not to grow trees too often.

By the time summer break comes, Giorno is sad to say bye to his friends for a month, but happy to see his family again, as he and Holly are flying to New York to visit Joseph and Suzi Q, before flying to Florida to see Jotaro, Jolyne, and Kakyoin.

Chapter Text

Besides the inevitable craziness that comes with stands, Giorno’s childhood is fairly normal. He stays close with his small group of friends and gets through school fairly easily. Of course, he has struggles, but Holly is always there to get him through whatever problems he runs into.

Giorno gets his fill of craziness, though. Gold Experience seems to get more powerful and capable every day, and it’s becoming a struggle to not use his stand, especially when at home, it’s second nature to use it. However, he’s able to exercise Gold Experience when he’s around his family.

He still sees his family during Christmas, and Joseph still comes to visit occasionally. Giorno always jumps on any opportunity to see any of his family members.

Once Jolyne gets big enough, Jotaro starts bringing her to Christmas as well. After he and Kakyoin graduate college, they begin renting a small house together, and Jotaro ends up entering a Ph.D. program, with his goal being to get a Ph.D. in Marine Biology. Kakyoin starts doing freelance work as an artist, and Jolyne switches back and forth between being with Kakyoin and Jotaro, and Viola. Giorno and Holly fly down to Florida about once a year to visit, and Giorno is always amazed to see how much Jolyne grows every year.

In what feels like a flash, years pass, and soon, Giorno is graduating elementary school, and moving into middle school.

Some of his friends come and go, but he stays close to Ibuki. Luckily, Ibuki never tells anyone about Giorno’s more strange abilities, and eventually, he forgets mostly, thinking that the event had just been a strange blip in his childhood.

Holly really tries her best to make sure Giorno feels normal. She tries to keep their lives free of bizarreness and makes sure that Giorno always knows that he can come to her for anything, no matter how big or small.

Holly also keeps up with Jotaro and Kakyoin, calling them and asking them to send her pictures and updates on Jolyne. Jotaro and Kakyoin seem happy, and it’s no surprise to Holly when she gets a letter in the mail, inviting her and Giorno to go to Florida for Jotaro and Kakyoin’s wedding.

The wedding takes place in the fall of 1998. It’s not legal, sadly, but the meaning it carries is still there. Little five-year-old Jolyne runs around in a pretty blue dress, big butterfly hair clips decorating her black hair and buns.

The whole Joestar clan is there, and everything seems to be going great for them.

Holly hopes that the positive turn will stay, and her family won’t find hardship again.

Therefore, when she calls Jotaro for their regular talk a few months later, and the answering phone picks up, she doesn’t think much of it.

Holly tries again a few hours later, and when no one picks up again, she starts to get a little worried. A third time and a furrow has crept its way in between her brows.

She always calls on Wednesdays, and Jotaro always picks up.

Holly frowns and decides to call Jotaro’s cell phone. He picks up almost immediately.

“Hello?” Holly sighs in relief, hearing Jotaro’s gruff voice. “Jotaro! I tried to call your house, but no one picked up! Are you out somewhere?”

She hears a familiar voice in the background, and smiles, “Is Kakyoin there too? Say hello to him for me!” Jotaro replies, “Of course. I’m a little busy right now, is there something you need?”

“No, but now is our regular time to talk! Call me as soon as you get home, okay?”

“Of course. Goodbye.” The line goes dead, and Holly hangs up the phone. Even though Jotaro didn’t say anything, Holly can tell that something is going on. He’s often curt with her, but there was something in his tone of voice that was different than usual.

Holly decides to call Joseph and ask if he knows anything. Suzi picks up the phone, and Holly greets her easily, “Hi Mama! Is Papa there?”

Holly can practically taste Suzi’s distaste and frustration over the phone when she replies, “No, Joseph is in Japan. Did he not tell you?” Holly pauses. “Tell me what?”

Suzi sighs deeply over the phone, explaining, “That idiot had another child. He’s in Japan with Jotaro right now smoothing everything over.” Holly gasps, “What? He cheated on you? Oh no, Mama, I’m so sorry!”

“You have nothing to apologize for, dear. I’ve already partly kicked some sense into Joseph. As soon as he gets back from Japan, I’ll finish.” Suzi’s voice is tinged with anger and annoyance, but she’s obviously suppressing it for the sake of her daughter. Holly thinks for a moment, “Where in Japan are they? Jotaro was acting odd when I called him, but I didn’t think he would hide something like this from me.”

“I don’t think you should go to wherever they are, sweetie. Joseph wasn’t originally supposed to go, but it seems that they ran into some trouble with a stand user. It could be dangerous.” Holly frowns, “A stand user? I should call Jotaro again.”
“You can do that if you would like. I talked to him briefly, and he seemed furious with Joseph as well. Maybe he’ll explain what’s going on to you.”

“Thank you, Mama. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“It’s no trouble. Goodbye.”

Just as Holly hangs up the phone, she hears movement outside. The living room door slides open, and Giorno peeks his head in, “I’m home!” he announces, a small smile on his face.

Holly gets up immediately, pushing the phone call to the back of her head for now. She gives him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, asking, “How was school?” He accepts her affection with ease, answering, “Good! We started doing biology in science, and it’s really interesting.”

Giorno just started school a couple of days ago, entering his second year of middle school. He’s always been popular, with his calm and friendly demeanor, and his foreign features. Luckily, Giorno never became a delinquent, and he’s always at the top of his class, his teachers gushing to Holly about how good of a student he is.

“I’m going to Ibuki’s house later to hang out, is that ok?” Holly smiles and nods, “Get your homework done first! We can’t have you slacking off!”

Giorno nods and leaves the room, heading off to his room to get to work. Once Giorno is gone, Holly sighs. She doesn’t want to tell Giorno anything until she’s completely sure of the whole situation herself.

She sits back down, dialing Jotaro’s cell phone number again. He picks up after a suspicious amount of rings, and sounds wary when he answers, “Hello?”

“Jotaro! Mama told me that you’re in Japan! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jotaro sounds tired when he answers, “I know you want to come here, but it’s not safe right now. I’ll tell you when you can come.” Holly responds, “You have to promise! I want to meet him! He is my brother, after all.” Jotaro mumbles, “Good grief,” but says, “Ok. I promise I’ll tell you as soon as you can come.”

Holly smiles into the phone, “Thank you! I’ll talk to you later, ok?” Jotaro responds affirmatively and says goodbye before hanging up.

She gets up and walks to Giorno’s room, and he looks up at her when she opens the door. She explains her phone call with Jotaro and Suzi, and his face shifts between emotions, going from confused to hurt to hopeful. “So you’re going to meet him soon?” Giorno asks. Holly nods, “As soon as Jotaro gives me the go-ahead, we’ll drive to wherever he is.” Giorno nods, “It will be nice to meet a new family member, especially a stand user.” Holly agrees wholeheartedly.

True to his word, Jotaro calls Holly as soon as everything has settled down, and she and Giorno pile into their car, driving to Morioh.

Driving up to the front of a large hotel, Giorno thinks that the town is quaint, if not a little odd. The sky seems to be quite yellow, and any place with stand users is not normal.

Joseph, Jotaro, and Kakyoin are standing outside of the hotel, and Holly quickly parks the car and runs out to hug him. “Jotaro!” she greets him enthusiastically and lands a large kiss on his cheek. She turns to Kakyoin and does the same, while Giorno walks up to them, catching up to Holly. She frowns at Joseph, saying, “How could you cheat on Mama?” He looks sheepish, but there’s a flicker in his eyes that tells Giorno he genuinely feels bad. “Sorry, Holly.” She makes a hmph sound, but gives in and hugs him anyway.

Giorno smiles and greets Jotaro, and Kakyoin wraps him in a tight hug. He waves to Joseph as well, and Joseph returns the gesture.

“Josuke and his friends are waiting at a nearby cafe. Follow me,” Jotaro’s voice leaves no room for argument, and everyone follows him.

As soon as they reach the cafe, Giorno picks out Josuke and his friends immediately. Josuke’s hair is large and styled a little strangely, not that Giorno is one to talk. Josuke has the same curve to his nose as Joseph, and his blue eyes flicker to Jotaro, lighting up with recognition.

Josuke is sitting with two boys, one short one with silver hair, and another with strange scars on his face, and an interesting hairstyle.

Jotaro approaches first, pulling out a chair and sitting down before gesturing to Holly and Giorno, and saying, “This is my mom, Holly, and my brother, Giorno.”

Holly smiles, “It’s really nice to meet you!” Josuke looks a little starstruck at her, and gets up, “I’m Josuke Higashikata, it’s nice to meet you as well, Ms. Kujo.” Holly wraps him in a hug, which makes Josuke look even more surprised, and she says, “Ms. Kujo is too formal! Just Holly is perfect.”

Josuke nods. Holly turns to Josuke’s friends and greets them as well. Josuke’s shorter friend says, “I’m Koichi Hirose! It’s really nice to meet you!” The last member of their group introduces himself as well, “I’m Okuyasu Nijimura!”

Giorno notices that Josuke is looking at him, and he smiles, “It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Josuke.”

Josuke returns the smile, “I never knew Jotaro had a brother! You must take after Holly, what with the blond hair and the friendliness.” Giorno laughs at the comment, while Jotaro scowls.

Okuyasu and Koichi are looking between Giorno, Holly, and Jotaro. Giorno supposes that he looks like Holly more than Jotaro does, despite being related to her fairly distantly. It’s a little ironic. He takes a moment to look between Joseph and Josuke. It seems to Giorno that Josuke takes after Joseph in his carefree personality.

Giorno wonders what Josuke’s stand looks like. So, he voices this, turning to Josuke and asking, “What is your stand?” Josuke looks a little shocked at the question, but relents to the request, bringing out a large, armored looking stand. The stand is rather imposing and is blue and pink colored. Giorno examines it, looking up at its helmeted face.

“My stand’s name is Crazy Diamond. Its ability is to restore objects and people.” Giorno’s eyebrows raise at this, “So it can heal?” Josuke nods, and his stand disappears. A smile plays at the edges of Giorno’s lips, “Your stand has an ability quite similar to mine.”

He brings out Gold Experience, who wraps his arms protectively around Giorno’s neck. “Gold Experience’s ability is to imbue objects with life, and I can use him to heal.” Josuke looks at Gold Experience, examining his metallic features and purple, bug-like eyes. The stand disappears in a flash of light.

Josuke’s friends were also looking at his stand, and Okuyasu jumps into the conversation, “Your stand is so cool!” He summons his stand, a large white and blue stand. “This The Hand. It can remove things by swiping its hand.” Giorno looks up at the stand, and it stares back blankly. Josuke’s other friend, Koichi, summons his stand as well, a small white and green stand with the number 3 on it. “My stand is Echoes! It can multiply the weight of something.”

Giorno nods, “You all have strong abilities.”

The boys seem to preen under the praise, but Giorno can see Jotaro minutely roll his eyes. Giorno decides to ask him some questions. “Is Jolyne with Viola?”

Kakyoin answers, “Yes! I talked to both of them yesterday, and everything is fine!”

Josuke looks curious at the mention of Jolyne and asks, “Who’s Jolyne?”

Jotaro grunts, “My daughter.”

Josuke and his friend’s faces grow comical. “Daughter?!” Giorno laughs softly at their expressions, “Jotaro, did you not tell them you had a daughter?” Jotaro shrugs non-committedly, “It never came up.”

Giorno raises an eyebrow at that, but Kakyoin rushes to defend Jotaro, “We’ve been quite busy these past couple weeks! I’m sure it would have come up eventually.” Giorno nods, taking Kakyoin’s explanation, but Holly chides them lightly, “Josuke is family! You couldn’t have least explained the family tree a little bit?”

Jotaro shrugs again.

“It’s fine, Holly. Meeting all of you is more than I ever could have asked for,” Josuke adds in. Holly frowns at his statement, “I wish I knew about you sooner, Josuke,” she sends Joseph a pointed look, “Our family may be odd, but I’m sure it’s nice to be around stand users that you’re related to.”

Josuke nods earnestly at Holly, “It’s good enough that you’re all here now.” Holly looks a little sad at his remark but smiles at him anyway. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call,” she tells him.

The rest of the day passes quickly, Josuke showing the newly arrived around Morioh, while Giorno and Holly marvel at how many stand users fill the small town.

Soon, it’s getting late, they say their goodbyes for the day.

Holly and Giorno head back to the hotel, checking in for the night a couple of rooms down from Jotaro, and get into bed, tired from the day.

The next day, they leave early, making sure to say goodbye to their family, as well as Josuke’s friends before they’re on the road.

During the drive, over the low warble of the radio, Holly says, “I hope we’re able to make Josuke feel comfortable in our family. It’s a shame that Joseph didn’t tell us about him earlier.”

Giorno nods, agreeing with Holly solemnly.

Chapter Text

Holly stares at the paper in front of her. “Abroad? You want to go abroad?” She furrows her brow and then looks at Giorno. His face is unreadable, which is not odd for him, but Holly sees a flicker of nervousness in his eyes. 

Giorno has come to her with a bundle of forms, all concerning a program where Giorno can study abroad for a year. 

“Yes,” he says, “It’s been many years since I’ve been to Italy, and I believe my Italian has been getting rusty. I would use this opportunity to refresh my knowledge of the language, and reconnect to the culture.” Holly holds up a hand, making Giorno pause. “Gio…” she starts, “You don’t have to pitch this to me, if you really want to go, then I’ll support you.” She shifts her attention back to the paper and signs it. Holly frowns. “Gio, I’m gonna really miss you when you leave.” She begins to tear up. 

Giono half panics, and rushes to hug her. Holly sniffles into his shoulder, “I want you to go… but it’s just… I’ll miss you.” Giorno’s expression softens, and he sighs, “I promise that I’ll call you, and I’ll come back here during any breaks I have.” 

“Okay,” Holly says, eyes watery, “It’s time you have an adventure of your own.” 

Giorno calls Joseph later that day and tells him. “You’re leaving my Holly all alone!?” Joseph yells into Giorno’s ear over the phone. “Yes,” Giorno replies, “I’m fifteen now, and I believe it would be good for me to get out and have new experiences.” 

Joseph makes an odd noise over the phone, before slowly speaking, “You’re finally growing up, aren’t you?” Giorno crinkles his brow, confused. “I don’t think I understand what you mean,” he says. “Ah, nevermind. If Holly is supporting you in this, then I will as well.” Giorno nods, even though Joseph can’t see it, and says. “Thank you.” 

Giorno spends the rest of his summer break with Holly, making preparations. She helps him freshen up on his Italian, while freshening up her’s as well. She buys a map of Naples, and the two of them sit one day, studying the area around Giorno’s school. 

Holly even gets Giorno a flip phone, a big chunky thing, and makes him promise to call her every day. Giorno deals with her fussing, and politely tells her, 

“Yes Mom, I’ll call you.” “I’ll make sure to eat well.” “Yes, I promise.”

When the day finally comes for Giorno to fly to Italy, Holly is absolutely in tears. “Oh, Gio! I’m going to miss you!” Holly says, dropping Giorno off at the airport. 

Giorno gives Holly a big hug, and she squeezes back hard, almost hurting Giorno with the intensity of it. “I’ll call you as soon as I land.” Holly wipes her eyes, and replies, “I know,” a sniffle, “I’m just going to miss seeing your cute little face every day!” Giorno blushes at that, at a slight loss for words. 

“Now then,” Holly claps her hands, smiling through the tears, “Go on! You can’t stand here forever, just saying goodbye to me!” Giorno nods, smiling a little, and waves to Holly. “Bye, Mom, I’ll see you soon.” Holly grins at him, “Have fun, Gio!” 

Giorno’s flight to Italy goes well, and he lands in Naples, ready to take on whatever it will throw at him. 

Giorno decides to explore Naples a little. It’s been years since he was last here, and he doesn’t really know the area well anymore. After leaving the airport and making his way to his new school, one of the students greeted him friendly and showed him around. 

While walking around his new school, he sees students peek curiously at him, although none of them approach.

After the small tour is over, he leaves his stuff in his dorm room, and exits the building, going out into the streets. 

Giorno leisurely strolls around, examining storefronts, and people walking around. Women with meticulously done makeup in pretty dresses walk with men, some dressed casually, some in suits. Giorno is wary of the gang activity and crime in the area, and carefully avoids anyone who looks to be of unsavory character. 

As he passes as an alleyway, he sees a young boy, about his age, accept something in a baggy from a suspicious-looking man. Giorno doesn’t stop, but a frown flickers across his face, and he looks distastefully at them. 

Giorno keeps exploring, and he catalogues all the information in his mind for later, carefully creating a map of the neighborhood in his mind. Then, he walks down to the coastline, staring out into the blue ocean. The area is beautiful, and even though he loves his home in Japan, the change of pace and scenery will be good for him. 

He leans against a wall, gazing out onto the lower parts of Naples, and then to the sparkling shore. He inhales the air deeply, feeling relaxed. 

Giorno hopes that Naples will be a good change of scenery, somewhere where he can really experience all that the city has to give, without dealing with the craziness of his biological mother, or awakening a stand and nearly killing his step-father.

Giorno shakes his head a little, ridding himself of the depressing thoughts, and walking back to his school. He’s determined to make his time in Naples memorable and positive.

School is fairly normal for Giorno for a while. His classmates take great interest in him, asking about where he’s from, why he doesn’t look Asian, how many languages can he speak, and every single other question under the sun.

Patiently, Giorno answers all the inquiries but isn’t sure how he feels about being the center of attention for so long. 

Luckily, the novelty of a new exchange student wears off after a few days, and Giorno finds that he’s able to more easily settle into a routine.

He still gets invited to eat with different groups and hangs out with different students, and overall has a fairly good time.

His Italian is rusty, despite Holly helping him freshen it up over the past couple of months, but his classes aren’t too hard, so he does fairly well. 

Despite his days being fairly mundane, Giorno likes it. 

However, it changes after one fateful encounter.

When Giorno isn’t doing his homework or hanging out with his classmates during the weekends, he’s walking around Naples. He explores, watches people, and even goes as far as to try to do his part to help the city. Occasionally he’ll  accidentally  bump into drug dealers, slipping money and drugs from their pockets, and dispose of the offending substances while keeping the money. 

Sometimes, Giorno will watch the local mafiosos, noticing who and where they are. He’s seen a threatening man with a shovel by the airport, and Giorno steers clear of him religiously. 

Not far from Giorno’s school, there’s a restaurant called  Libeccio , and he’s seen locals going in and out of it, and even heard people talking about the men that meet there. Someone named Bucciarati, who supposedly helps and protects people.

Giorno hears a florist showering the man with praise to a friend, hears two older women talk about  “what would we do without him ?”

Giorno hasn’t interacted with the mafia much, or directly at all for that matter, but this mysterious Bucciarati certainly is much kinder than Giorno would expect of a man so deeply involved with crime. 

Although Giorno supposes the police, which are supposed to protect and serve the people, tend to be rude and useless.

Giorno isn’t planning on meeting the man, however, not wanting to get involved with that sort of thing. But life doesn’t often go as planned.

The buzzing sound of a plane interrupts Giorno’s walk. He looks towards where the sound is coming from and sees a man being chased by a young boy and a small, red plane. The plane is making the noise that attracted Giorno’s attention, but it doesn’t look like a toy.

A stand , Giorno realizes with a shock. He hadn’t even considered that there would stand users here. 

The plane suddenly flickers with light, shooting the man running away, and he goes down easily. 

“That’s what you get for trying to run away, asshole!” The boy shouts. Two other boys run around the corner, and up to the body of the man and the first boy. “Narancia! Why did you split off from us?” The first boy, who’s wearing a strange hat, exclaims.

“Don’t worry, I got him, so it’s all good!” Narancia seems nonchalant, and seems to be familiar with death, just nudging his victim’s body with his foot.

The second newly arrived boy, this one with white hair and pale skin, rolls his eyes, “Have fun luging the body around. You kill ‘im, you bury ‘im.”

This seems to make Narancia dim considerably, “What?! This dude looks heavy as hell, can’t you at least help me, Fugo?!”

Fugo sneers at him, “No.” He begins walking away, but looks across the street, making eye contact with Giorno. Giorno shouldn’t have stayed, but he was fascinated by the airplane stand, which is still buzzing idly over its user's head. 

Fugo’s eyes flicker up to the stand, and he must realize that that’s what Giorno is looking at, because he shouts and begins to run over to Giorno, “Hey! What are you looking at?”

The attention of Narancia and the third, still unnamed boy, flash to him. 

Giorno freezes to the spot, not quite sure what to do. At that moment, he stupidly tries to play the foreigner card. “I am sorry. I heard much noise and stopped,” he piles on the Japanese accent, his words shifting.

Fugo raises an eyebrow at him, still stalking closer. Giorno raises his hands slightly, “I can not speak much Italian.” Narancia turns his stand to Giorno, which makes him marginally nervous. 

“You can see stands,” Fugo scrutinizes him. Giorno decides that being honest would get him into less trouble than lying, so he replies, “I see that,” and points at Narancia’s stand.

All three boys’ hackles seem to rise at that, Fugo narrowing his eyes suspiciously, and Narancia and the third boy both moving closer as well.

“No fight,” Giorno says, hands still raised.

“I don’t think this guy is much of a threat,” the third boy says, but his fingers are dancing across the handle of a gun sticking out of his pants. “Shut up, Mista,” Narancia hisses. 

“ Where are you from ?  You don’t sound European. ” Fugo asks, this time in English. Giorno curses him in his head, losing his ability to use the language barrier as an excuse.

“ Japan. I’m here studying abroad.”  Giorno’s English isn’t the best, and a mix of an Italian and a Japanese accent bleeds into it, but the other boy can certainly understand what he’s saying. 

“ You don’t look Asian ,” Fugo says, examining Giorno. “ I’m half. I assure you, I am telling the truth .” Fugo shrugs at that, “ Why were you watching us?”

“ I have not seen any stand users in Italy yet. I was curious. ”

Fugo seems to believe him. Mista, the third boy, breaks their discussion. “What is he saying? I can’t understand English, and neither can Narancia.”

Fugo rolls his eyes but tells them, “He says that he’s studying abroad here and that he stopped to watch us because he hasn’t seen any stand users in Italy yet.”

Narancia shrugs, “Sounds believable.”

“I do not want trouble,” Giorno stresses. 

“Let him off, Fugo. He didn’t do anything to us. We can just watch out for him, and if we see him doing anything suspicious then we can decide what to do.” Mista attempts to placate Fugo, and thankfully, it works.

Fugo gives Giorno one last glare before he backs off. “ I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled ,” he hisses.

With that, Fugo and the other two boys depart from Giorno.

After that first run-in with the odd group of gangsters, Giorno ends up seeing them more. Part of his brain tugs forward a memory from years ago, Joseph telling Giorno, “ Many of my interactions with stand users were fairly inexplicable. I’ve been told before that stand users seem to be drawn together like magnets .”

Now, more than ever, that statement seems true. Over and over again, Giorno catches glimpses of a red plane, tiny gold bullets, wild hair and an orange headband, tiger-striped pants, or red strawberry earrings.

Giorno is good at sneaking around and staying under the radar, so he stays unspotted by the group for the most part. 

However, he can’t sneak around forever.

One day, after Giorno has waved goodbye to a group of his classmates, he decides to wander a little before going back to his dorms.

He soon sees the last people he wants to see. Narancia is gesturing wildly about something to Fugo, and Giorno doesn’t see Mista.

Giorno turns on his heels, quickly walking the other direction. 

However, he smacks right into someone. He looks up to see a man with a stern, annoyed, expression staring back at him. The man is pale, and his long purple-white hair is very striking. He would be quite pretty if it weren’t for the ugly sneer that is etched across his face, as well as the angry furrow of his eyebrows. 

“Watch where you’re going, brat,” he snaps at Giorno.

This draws the attention of the last people that Giorno wanted to see, and their eyes light up with recognition. “Abbacchio!” Narancia shouts. “That’s the stand user that Fugo ran into! The one we were telling Bucciarati about!”

Giorno is suddenly overcome with the urge to smack his face into his palm. He resists, however, and simply paints a slightly bewildered expression onto his face, trying to play the part of a doltish foreigner. 

“I apologize, Signore,” he lays on the thick accent, “I did not see you.”

The man, apparently named Abbacchio, raises an eyebrow, unamused and unmoved. Fugo and Narancia move towards them.

“Getting away from people can certainly take all of your attention,” Abbacchio looks unimpressed at Giorno.

Narancia begins to look confused, “Getting… away? From Fugo and me?”

Giorno tries to pacify the situation, “I did not mean to offend. I am trying to get back to my school.”

“I’m not in the mood to interrogate some kid, you guys can deal with him,” Abbacchio waves a hand indifferently at Giorno.

Narancia and Fugo look at each other, “He hasn’t done anything, Fugo, why do we gotta do anything to him?” Narancia grumbles, casting glances at Giorno.

“He’s obviously weird! What if he’s spying on us for an enemy gang?” Fugo seethes back. “What if we bring him to Bruno to deal with?” Narancia exclaims.

Fugo pauses for a moment and thinks about Narancia’s suggestion.

“We  were  going back to the restaurant soon anyway…”

He nods to himself, evidently having made up his mind. “Abbacchio! We’re going to bring him to Bucciarati!” Abbacchio shrugs non-committedly, “Suit yourselves,” and begins to walk off, presumably towards the said restaurant. 

Fugo doesn’t touch Giorno, but he might as well be handcuffed to him with the looks he keeps sending Giorno. Giorno does not attempt to separate himself from the small group. 

Giorno has passed  Libeccio  many times but has never gone in. 

The group leads him to a table fairly separated from the rest of the restaurant, where Mista sits, as well as a man who Giorno assumes is Bucciarati.

Bucciarati is much different than Giorno was expecting. He seems young, maybe college-aged. His thick black hair is cut into a sharp bob style, with square bangs, and two gold hairpins in his hair. 

Giorno’s first impression of him is that he has kind eyes. His eyes are deep blue and hold no malice towards Giorno when he spots him, just hazy curiosity and kindness. Giorno wants to trust him almost immediately. He can see why the old ladies on the streets talk so favorably of him.

“Who’s this?” Bucciarati asks, raising an eyebrow at his team. Abbacchio sits down heavily in a seat next to the man, “Ask the kids, apparently they’ve seen him before.”

Mista waves vaguely at Giorno, who returns the gesture.

Narancia blurts, “Remember how we saw someone watching us when we were going after that Bottarga asshole? This is him!”

Bruno looks dubious, “Why did you bring him here? Did he do anything?”

Fugo shakes his head, “I thought it was odd that we ran into him again, especially since he’s a stand user that’s not in  Passione , so I brought him here.”

Giorno files the name  Passione  away in his mind.

Bruno seems unconvinced that Giorno should be here but invites him to sit anyway. “Let me buy you a meal for the trouble, and you can tell me a bit about yourself.”

The smile that Bruno offers is kind, and Giorno can’t find it in himself to refuse, nodding, and sitting down.

“Where are you from?” the questions start almost immediately.

“Japan,” Giorno answers smoothly, accent still purposely thick. He’s starting to regret using him being a foreigner as an excuse, the act of putting on an accent starting to get tiring.

Bruno seems surprised at the answer. “That’s quite far away. What made you come to Italy?”

“I lived here for two years with my mother. That was a long time ago, but I wanted to come back. I am attending school here now. My Italian is not very good, I apologize.”

“Your Italian is great, don’t worry. Is your mother Italian?”

“No. She is Japanese. My hair is blond because of my father, an Englishman.” 

Bruno nods. He starts to move away from the small talk, delving into more important questions. “When did you get your stand.”

Giorno pauses at that, not sure if he should answer, but wanting to avoid any sort of friction that might result from abstaining, he answers, “I got my stand at six years old. I received it naturally, not from an arrow.”

Bruno’s eyes widen at that, “I wasn’t aware that you could get a stand any other way besides the arrow,” he mumbles quietly.

Giorno nods, “Most of my family members have stands. I believe it is genetic.” Giorno realizes his accent is slipping a bit, and quickly readjusts himself, “Did you get your stands from one of the arrows?”

Giorno isn’t sure if Bucciarati is going to answer, but he does, “Yes. I don’t think I’ve ever met a natural stand user.”

Bucciarati sighs lightly, “I hate to ask you this, but are you involved with crime? My team seems to have pinned you for an enemy gang member.”

Giorno profusely shakes his head, “I am not involved with crime, and my stand is not battle oriented.” To demonstrate, Giorno swiftly picks up a napkin, turning it into a flower, and offering it to Bucciarati. The man takes it with wide eyes, touching it gently. 

The rest of the people at the table stare as well, looking slightly shocked. 

“Woah!” Narancia exclaims, “That’s so cool!”

“Well,” Bucciarati says, “I think you’ve reasonably cleared yourself of suspicion. Why don’t I order you something to eat, and then you can be on your way?”

Giorno agrees easily, smiling.

Bruno does as he said he would, ordering for Giorno, and the rest of the team, and before long Giorno has a dish of delicious smelling food in front of him.

Throughout the meal, the rest of the team, save Abbacchio, shower him with questions, asking about Japan and growing up with a stand and his family, and many other things. Giorno subserviently complies and gains many anecdotes about the team in exchange.

By the end of the meal, he feels he’s become fairly more friendly with them, and quietly tells Bucciarati as he leaves, “If you ever have a need for someone like me, I’ll try to help.”

Chapter Text

After his meeting with Bucciarati, Giorno stops actively trying to avoid the group of gangsters. He doesn’t actually see them too often, but when he does, there’s less suspicion and wariness. 

The first time Giorno really interacts with a member of the group without the backdrop of crime and violence, it’s unexpected.

Giorno often goes to the library near his school to escape the bustle and activity of his classmates, relishing in the silence of books. Now, he’s diligently working on his homework, pen scratching nearly imperceptibly against the page. 

The table that he’s sitting at is fairly secluded, tucked away amongst the tall bookshelves. Not many people are in the library, to begin with, and even fewer are anywhere near him. If he wanted to, Giorno could use Gold Experience to sense life around him, but he doesn’t feel particularly bothered enough to do so.

Giorno focuses on his work, trying to finish it up as quickly and effectively as he can. School hasn’t been boring, per se, but the work is certainly repetitive, and he has to deal with the fact that Italian is no longer his strongest language. 

A noise in the aisle near him makes Giorno blink away from his work. 

Surprisingly, one of the gangsters, Fugo, is standing in the aisle, squinting at the spine of a book. Giorno pauses, wondering if Fugo likes to read. 

Fugo picks a book off the shelf, its worn cover reading “ Dell’arte Della Guerra .”

While Giorno supposes it’s not an odd read for a gangster, it’s certainly not an easy book or one that most would even bother to look at. 

At that moment, Fugo’s gaze locks with Giorno, and Giorno lightly waves at him. Fugo’s brow furrows, and for a second Giorno thinks that he’s going to walk away, but instead, Fugo puts down the book and walks over to Giorno.

“Hi,” Giorno says, his tone soft and quiet.

“Hi,” Fugo returns.

For a second, slightly awkward silence overtakes the two, before Giorno says, “Are you also in school?” Fugo flinches slightly at the question and quickly shakes his head.

Then, Fugo narrows his eyes, squinting at Giorno dubiously. “So, the accent was fake?”

Giorno pauses, eyes widening. He realizes quickly that he dropped his act momentarily, but it was obviously more than enough for Fugo to catch on. Giorno smiles sheepishly, “Ah. You’ve caught me.”

Fugo rolls his eyes, “Why’d you put on that act in the first place if you weren’t willing to go all the way with it?”

Giorno sighs, “Well, usually people are more forgiving if they think that there’s a language barrier. However, I suppose with you speaking English, that was sort of negated. In any case, I wasn’t lying about not being a gangster, nor was I lying about my country of origin.”

“You’re actually Japanese?” Fugo still looks slightly incredulous.

Giorno nods, “Indeed. I was born in Japan, before moving to Italy and living here in Naples for two years, after which I returned to Japan.”

Fugo sits down across from Giorno, looking slightly less doubtful. “Oh. That’s interesting, I guess.” Giorno takes that as his queue to continue, and so he does, telling Fugo about his time in Japan, the plants and architecture, and the cultural differences.

Fugo begins to look less agitated and aloof, face opening up slightly as he listens. 

“That sounds nice,” he says after a long pause. “I’ve always sort of wanted to travel.”

Giorno nods in agreement, “I think that seeing places all over the world is a great experience. I’m lucky my family is so spread out, or I never would have seen half the places I’ve been to.”

“They’re all stand users?” 

“Yes. I only met them when my stand awoke when I was six. Growing up, it was normal for me for all of my family to have stands. Although, I did have to hide it from classmates and teachers in school.”

Fugo begins to look even more curious. “That’s quite interesting. The only stand users I know have been made using the stand arrow, myself included.”

From there, the two of them talk more, Giorno expressing how nice it is to be around new stand users, Fugo wondering how having a stand as a child was. The conversation slowly meanders, both Giorno and Fugo getting more and more comfortable with each other through it.

Before long, they lose track of time, and as the sun begins to set, it casts a ray of golden light across Giorno’s still unfinished work, and he looks up at the clock, surprised to see what time it is.

“Oh,” he starts, “It’s gotten quite late.”

Fugo follows Giorno’s gaze to the clock, and he seems shocked as well.

“Would you like to go and get dinner with me? It’ll be my treat.” Giorno smiles brightly at Fugo. The latter pauses and Giorno thinks he’s going to refuse, but he finally answers, “Sure. I know a couple of good places that are a little out of the way.”

Giorno grins at that and shoves his work in his bag quickly. The two of them leave the mostly deserted library, and stroll down the street at a leisurely pace, with Fugo slightly leading the way.

“You know,” Giorno remarks, “I didn’t think that my first friend in Naples would be a gangster.” He giggles into his hand.

Fugo looks stunned at Giorno’s remark, eyes going wide, an unknown emotion swimming in them. “You’re not friends with any of your classmates? You seem like you would be quite the social butterfly.”

Giorno shrugs non-committedly, “You’re not  wrong , per se, but I haven’t really connected with any of my classmates that much. They’re friendly and nice to be around, but there isn’t much I have in common with them. It makes forming genuine friendships a little difficult.”

Fugo nods understandingly, “Yeah, I get that. I didn’t have many friends when I was in school, either.”

Giorno blinks openly at Fugo, surprised that the other boy is opening up about his past a little more. If he ended up in the mafia, it couldn’t have been pleasant.

Fugo looks away from Giorno, gaze tracing the bricks of a building up ahead.

“I was… different than most kids,” Fugo cringes slightly at the wording, but continues, “A lot of people called me a ‘genius,’ which personally, I think is a load of shit.”

He takes a breath, “Anyway, I skipped a lot of grades, and ended up studying law at some fancy university when I was thirteen. Most of my classmates avoided me like the plague, but those who didn’t were either just curious or trying to get something from me.”

Fugo glances briefly at Giorno, but finding nothing but understanding and encouragement in his gaze, Fugo continues, “I, uh, ended up having a really bad experience there, and I got expelled. Eventually, that led me to be on the streets, and then I joined Passione.”

Giorno can tell that some details have been omitted, but he doesn’t pry.

“I can understand the feeling of alienation from your classmates. My mom always told me to make sure that I never showed anyone my stand, and sometimes it made me a little bitter. I always wanted to share this gift I was given with the people around me, but I couldn’t.”

Fugo nods and then leads Giorno down another side street.

“We’re here,” he says.

They’re standing at the front of a small restaurant, it’s windows and door wide open, with a few tables set outside of it. The atmosphere of the place is homely, and everyone eating is dressed casually, the static noise of conversation filling the air. 

Fugo leads Giorno inside, where a waitress lightly ushers them to a small table, before giving them menus and walking away.

They end up getting a pizza to share. When it arrives, Giorno’s mouth starts watering immediately. The two of them dig in, and it’s as good as Giorno hoped it would be.

During dinner, they continue their conversation. Somehow it gets onto the subject of parents, Fugo confessing, “I haven’t spoken to my parents since I got expelled from school.”

Giorno nods sympathetically, “My biological mother was… not kind to me. I haven’t seen her since I was six. Luckily, my adoptive mother is wonderful, she’s probably the kindest person I’ve ever met.”

Fugo blurts, “My mom wasn’t very nice to me either. I always sort of felt like she was disappointed in me. My dad was always busy with work. He was a bigshot lawyer.” He frowns into his lap, “I never felt like they liked  me , they just liked the idea of a successful son.”

“Apparently my father was going to study to be a lawyer as well. I never met him, though. He was never in a relationship with my mother, and then he died when I was four.”

“That sounds tough. I’m glad that I, at least, knew my parents.”

Giorno shrugs, “I’m perfectly fine with never having met my father. It’s a rather complicated story, but he was sort of related to my adoptive mother, brother, and grandfather, and he nearly ended up killing all of them. Actually, because of him, technically my adoptive grandfather is my nephew.”

Fugo looks confused, so Giorno explains it away with, “It was mostly stand shenanigans.” Fugo nods, a look of understanding crossing his face. 

“Honestly, I really wanted to meet him when I was younger, but as I got older and learned more about him, I became glad that I didn’t meet him. He was… a strange person. He did a lot of awful things, and the only thing that he regretted was that he was defeated, and forced to stop his reign of evil. 

“After I found all of that out, I was afraid that maybe I would end up like him. Corrupted by power, using people like playthings to get power and glory.”

The two of them fall into silence once again, before Fugo looks earnestly at Giorno, “I haven’t known you for long, but I don’t think you’ll end up like your father. There’s just something about you, that makes me feel that you’re a good person. I can’t exactly explain it, but it reminds me of how I felt about Bucciarati when I first met him.”

“Thank you,” Giorno smiles at Fugo again. 

“Honestly, I’ve only known you for a little while, but I can tell you’re the type of person that can lead others.”

Giorno looks a little embarrassed at that, “Maybe someday. I don’t exactly have any grand ambitions right now.”

Fugo shrugs. “Hell, maybe you would be good in Passione. We may be a gang, but Bucciarati certainly does more good than bad. He’s always out there, helping old ladies. Sometimes I think that he’ll end up tired of the crime, and just try to run to be a local politician or something. He would be damn good at it, in my opinion.”

Giorno looks thoughtful at that. “Hm… I’ve never really considered that the mafia could be an outlet for good, but I suppose that I haven’t been exposed to it much.”

“You’ve had your stand for what, ten years? I’m sure you’d be better in a fight than most people.” Fugo pauses, and then backtracks, “Not that I’m trying to recruit you or anything.”

Giorno waves him off, “Don’t worry, I’m not feeling pressured.”

Later, Giorno pays for the meal, and Fugo promises to pay next time, with Giorno grinning at the prospect of a next time.

They part ways, waving goodbye amicably. 

As Giorno walks back to his dorm, he thinks about what Fugo said, that Bucciarati tries to do more good than bad. As he sits down on his bed, he begins to crack a plan in his head. 

A slow smile crosses his face as he imagines the possibilities.

Chapter Text

If you had asked Giorno at six where he thought he’d be in ten years, the answer would most definitely not be close to the reality. Living with his mother and stepfather seemed like an inescapable reality, even if he desperately wanted to. However, Gold Experience, like a guardian angel, rescued him from his dismal home and delivering him into the best possible scenario.

Even years after entering into the crazy and bizarre world of stands, he still sometimes can’t believe the things that happen to him. 

Never in Giorno’s wildest dreams would he have thought that he could have such a large, loving family, and such an interesting group of friends. 

Giorno wouldn’t give up his family or friends for anything, holding onto his connections like a desperate lifeline, willing to do anything to make sure those he cares about are safe. 

At this moment, he’s trying his best to do that, as the tinny sound of Holly Joestar’s voice sounds out from his phone.

“ I’m so happy that you’re settling in well! I knew that you would, but it’s always possible that something could go wrong. ”

Giorno smiles at the warm tone of her voice, replying, “I’m doing great, don’t worry. Are you also feeling well?”

“ Don’t worry about me, Gio! Jotaro and Kakyoin are going to come to visit with Jolyne soon, so I won’t be alone for long. ”

“Ah, that’s good. Tell them I said hi, please.”

“ Of course! But I’m sure they’d be happy to get a call from you themselves.”

“I’ll call them as soon as I have the time, I promise.”

“ Ah, that reminds me! I talked to Joseph yesterday, you should call him too.”

“I’ll do that.”

“ What are they feeding you? You’re so skinny, and I don’t want you getting any skinnier! ”

“The food is very good, it is all very rich and filling. I’ll probably gain weight while I’m here.”

“ Good! If you ever feel homesick, I can send you some sweets! ”

Giorno laughs lightly at that, “That sounds great, mom. Thank you. I might take you up on that offer.”

“ Of course! I’ll find something that will ship well, and I’ll send it to you! ”

Giorno finishes his conversation soon after, assuring Holly that he’s fine and that he’s having a great time. She, of course, dotes on and worries about him, even over the phone. 

Holly calls about every other day or so, constantly worrying over everything Giorno does. He appreciates it, he really does, but Holly can certainly be overbearing. The last time Giorno talked to Joseph, the man had gripped, “I love Holly, but you’re a growing boy! You need your space! Listen Gio, I’ll talk to her and ask her to try to call you once a week instead of three times.”

When he finally hangs up after repeating that he’s great for what must be the hundredth time, Fugo raises an eyebrow at him. 

The two of them are sitting on the ground beneath a tree in a park near Giorno’s dorm. A cool breeze ruffles Giorno’s hair, and the warm, golden sun illuminates everything around him. The sky is nearly perfect, with only a few wispy white clouds meandering lazily across the great expanse. 

Fugo is sitting across from him, shadowed in the great branches of the tree, sitting against its large trunk. He looks comfortable, his usual neutral scowl softened into something that nearly looks like a smile. 

 They’ve been spending more time together, finding themselves to be becoming fast friends. Giorno has been around Mista and Narancia a little as well but finds himself with Fugo multiple times a week. 

“I don’t speak Japanese, but I think that someones a little worried about you,” a tiny, amused smirk dances across Fugo’s lips. “Well, my mother tends to be very attentive,” there’s a look of undeniable fondness on Giorno’s face. 

Fugo makes a small “hmm” noise as he leans back against the tree they’re sitting under.

“That sounds a little like Bucciarati,” he says, snorting as soon as he does. Giorno raises an eyebrow, “I can’t imagine having a mafioso as a mom.”

Fugo shrugs, “Odd things just happen, sometimes.”

Giorno flops down on the grass, nodding in agreement at Fugo’s statement. “I don’t think I can explain much of anything that’s happened to me in a normal way.” Fugo sighs, “Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to be completely normal.”

Giorno glances at Fugo, brow furrowing, “I don’t.” Fugo stares at him, a questioning look on his face. Giorno continues, “If I was normal, I never would have gotten away from my biological mother, I never would have met my family, and I never would have met you.”

Fugo blushes lightly at the last statement, “I suppose you’re right.”

Giorno turns to face Fugo, his green-blue eyes bright and intelligent, “Would  you  change anything?”

“What?” Fugo’s mouth opens a little and then closes again. His eyes swim with emotion, and Giorno backtracks a little, “It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Fugo shakes his head, “No… it’s fine. I-” he takes in a breath, “If you had asked me that a year ago, I probably would have had a million things to say, but now I don’t think I have anything that I would change.”

Giorno grins, “You wouldn’t even finish off your professor?”

Fugo snorts, “Yeah, sure, why not. The one thing I’d change is that I would kill that bastard instead of maiming him,” he looks at Giorno, and they both burst out laughing. 

“Who says romance is dead…” Fugo mumbles.

Giorno stares up at the sky above him. He tracks a cloud with his eyes.  

“What are you thinking about?” Fugo asks him. Giorno props himself up on his elbows, and looks at Fugo, “My family. Us. My future.”

Fugo nods knowingly, “It’s a lot to think about, right?” 

“You can say that again.”

Fugo pushes himself off the tree and flops on the grass next to Giorno. They both fall silent for a moment, watching the clouds and sky, and listen to the chirps of birds and the faint rustling of leaves in the wind. Farther away, the sound of people and traffic is audible, a reminder that Giorno and Fugo are still in a city. 

Then, Giorno sits up suddenly. Fugo blinks up at him, “What’s up?” Giorno turns to look at Fugo, face flickering with emotion, “I’m going to stay here. In Naples.”

“Good. You make this place a little more interesting.” 

Giorno adjusts himself, authority, and sureness bleeding into his posture and face, “Fugo. I have something to tell you.” He says it with such conviction that Fugo feels like he has no choice but to sit up as well, giving Giorno his full attention. 

“I, Giorno Giovanna, have a dream.”