After the doctors were sure that the worst of things were past for Giorno, he was allowed to go home. He had never been so happy to get back home in his life. Bruno and Mista had come to pick him up. He was certainly glad to see Mista.
"I thought I would never get back here," Giorno said as they pulled in front of the house.
"Here, I'll introduce you to our goat." Mista got out and ran around to open the door for Giorno.
Giorno got out and was led to a pen they had put together where the goat was standing eating some feed. Mista called it over and it came to the side of the pen. It nuzzled Giorno's hand as he reached in to touch it.
"Well, hello there, new friend," Giorno told the goat as he scratched it on the head.
Mista smiled, watching Giorno. "Her name is Coco, at least that's what we're calling her."
"She's very cute," he said as he stood back up again.
He looked over at the duck pen. "The ducks even look bigger!" he announced.
Mista chuckled. "You haven't been gone that long!"
Giorno nodded and stared at the ducks for a little longer. "I know, but it feels like it's been a long time for whatever reason. Maybe that stuff they gave me made it feel like it was longer, though."
He rubbed at the bandages still on his forearms and thought about the things that drove him to do something like that to himself. He shook the thoughts away. They would heal. And there would be scars, but it would be okay, because Mista would be here for him. An he had a father to get to know. That was a bigger surprise.
"What're ya thinkin' about?" Mista asked as he bumped hips with him.
"Oh, just everything that's happened. Just, I could have died in that place. I felt like I was dying some of the time, but to really die like that?" He shook his head and broke his gaze from the ducks. "I can't imagine going through anything like that again."
"Well, you're home, and you don't have to worry. Come on, I think Narancia made dinner for your return to the house." Mista put a gentle hand around Giorno's back and guided him toward the doorway.
Giorno went along with him, happy for the first time in the last few days. This was much better than being at the hospital. He could see his friends an he didn't have to worry about the constant barrage of doctors and nurses. He felt the crawling sensation, though. Now and then. It would feel like something was still on his skin, and he didn't know what to do about that. He wondered if he should tell Mista about that. He would probably just worry. There was no reason to worry him more than he already did.
"I am so glad to be home," he said as they opened the door and were met with the smell of dinner that had been cooked for them. Bruno had already come inside and was sitting at the table with Fugo as Narancia finished setting out the food.
"Welcome home, Giorno!" Fugo said from his place on the side of the table. "Have something besides that horrible hospital food."
Giorno smiled and sat down, enjoying just being with everyone now. He hadn't even been here that long, but it was like he'd found his own little family in that short amount of time. He had never thought of home as a good place to be until now. Here, he wanted to be an he wanted to see the people in his life.
They had dinner and Giorno heard all about what had happened while he'd been gone. He was impressed at how much everyone had done to try and help find him. He appreciated the friends he had now that would go to such lengths to try and locate him. He wouldn't have expected them to practically launch their own investigation into his disappearance. He had found a rare group of friends, that was for sure.
After dinner, everyone was tired and ready for bed. Giorno certainly was ready to get some sleep in his own bed. Even if he did share with Mista. He had come to know it as his own. He fell into the bed with a deep sigh and then looked over as Mista crawled in beside him. He smiled and Mista put his hand on Giorno's face.
"I was so scared while you were missing," Mista explained.
"I was scared, too," Giorno responded.
"I'm just glad you're safe and home now," Mista said, leaning in to kiss Giorno on the lips gently. "But you need some sleep and real rest. That hospital wasn't the most restful place, I'd imagine."
Giorno shook his head. "No, not at all," he said and leaned over to kiss Mista again, this time letting the kiss linger and then deepen when Mista's tongue flicked out at the seam of his mouth.
They kissed for a minute or two, breaking when the need for breath won over their desire to stay connected. Mista, panting a little, smiled at him. "Time for that later. You need to get some rest."
"Yeah, there's plenty time for that sort of stuff," Giorno agreed, feeling the weight of exhaustion pulling on his limbs greatly by now. He just hoped that he was able to sleep.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
He was stuck in a chair, unable to move, unable to make a sound. He was terrified and even if he wasn't bound, he probably wouldn't have been able to move. The walls were closing in around him and the bugs were crawling over his skin, driving him mad. He would do anything to just make it stop, anything at all to end it.
The oppressive feeling in his head was enough to split his skull. The world was swirling and spinning, and he couldn't stop it. He had to try and stop it, but it was all too much. He cried out, begging someone, anyone to come and help him. There was a door and it wouldn't open. He couldn't scream, he couldn't do anything.
Please find me! He wanted to scream it, but he couldn't make more than mumbled noises around a gag. If he didn't let them know he was here, they couldn't save him. He was lost, alone, and he had to get out of this place. He was panicking, and there was no one there to help him. The walls moved, growing in size before closing down on him again.
He gasped and took a gulping breath, sitting up in the bed. He panted for breath for a few minutes, trying to be quiet and not wake Mista. He rubbed his eyes blearily. He looked around and knew he wasn't going to get back to sleep. He sighed and decided to go to the bathroom and wash his face off. He came out, still groggy and went to go for the door.
At first, he was wondering why Mista was making so much noise. Then he blinked and realized he'd gone in the wrong room. He hadn't returned to his and Mista's room, instead he'd walked into Narancia and Fugo's room, and they were currently quite occupied with each other. He froze at first, not sure what to do, then realized he'd been seen. Fugo locked eyes with him and then made a shooing motion with his hands.
"Sorry, sorry!" he exclaimed and turned and stepped back out of the room, closing it behind him. He took a breath and then headed down the stairs. TV sounded good right now.
He flopped in the sofa and before long, he heard someone else coming down the stairs. He looked to see Narancia and Fugo.
"I'm so sorry," he said, blushing hard. "I thought I was going back to my room, and I just opened the wrong door, and…"
"It's okay, we're not mad or anything," Narancia told him and put an arm around his shoulders.
"I just had a nightmare, or flashback, whatever you want to call it. I just, I don't know what to do with the things I see," Giorno said with a sigh. "I just keep seeing the things I saw while I was there, over and over again in my head."
"Things will get easier," Fugo assured him.
"You know we have trouble now and then, too. The drug test they subjected us to were hard to deal with afterward. Between the withdrawal at first and the flashbacks that we still have, we know what it's like to go through this," Narancia explained with a gentle squeeze of the hand.
"Does it get better?" Giorno asked with a sigh.
"Better, yes, but as you know, it never really goes away," Fugo explained. "You learn to cope with it. At first, when I was here, I used to fly into rages all the time. In the middle of the night, I'd have to go outside and scream. Good thing we don't have near neighbors. I scared Mista, Bruno, and Narancia. Hell, the first time Mista saw it happen, he was ready to call 911 on me." Fugo took a breath. "I had one while you were missing, and I hadn't had one in a long time. But the stress got to me."
"I sleepwalk sometimes," Narancia put in. "I've woken up outside a couple times. It can be kind of scary when you wake up and don't know how you got there."
Giorno nodded, leaning into Fugo. "I just feel like I'm coming out of my skin most the time. Most the withdrawal they said would pass quickly since I wasn't being dosed with it for very long."
"That, at least, is good," Narancia told him. "Withdrawal can be hard. I had a problem wetting the bed during it, myself… And the hallucinations are killer. I sometimes had this one where my arms and legs were being cut off, or someone was sexually assaulting me… They can be so real that it's frightening." Narancia smiled. "Fugo used to say during that time I was in an 'altered state of consciousness' or something like that."
"Luckily, it just seems I'm anxious most the time," Giorno explained with a sigh. He rubbed the bandages still on his forearm. "It's bad enough the damage I did to myself…"
"Sometimes it will be hard, sometimes it won't be so hard. Either way, all of us are here for you." Fugo squeezed his shoulders again.
"Thank you, so much." Giorno sighed, feeling a little sleepy but knowing he'd never get to sleep again tonight.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
After a couple of weeks had passed, Giorno got a phone call from his real father asking if he could come by to visit him. Giorno had said yes, of course, as he did want to get to know him better. He was still surprised to find out he had a real father that cared about him after all. He sort of resented the fact that he had taken so long to check on him, but he supposed if he looked at the surface, his life had seemed normal. Anyone who looked at the Giovanna family would have seen a nice, suburban family.
So, Giorno and Mista sat waiting in the dining room for Dio to come by to see Giorno. He was nervous but excited at the same time. He'd only briefly talk to him in the hospital so to get to sit down and talk to him at length was going to be interesting. The knock on the door surprised them both into standing up.
"I'll get it," Giorno said, smiling at Mista who sat back down slowly.
He went to the door and opened it to see both Dio and Vanilla Ice standing there. He gestured for them to come in.
"How are you doing since you got out of hospital?" he asked as he sat down at the table. Ice remained in the living room and sat down on the sofa.
Giorno sat back down across from him. "Better. I have been having trouble sleeping, and I have some crazy dreams when I do sleep."
Dio nodded. "I can imagine that's a little hard for you to get used to. I'm glad it seems your arms have healed up well."
Giorno looked at his arms, with the bandages off, they looked kind of rough. The scabs were giving way to new pink flesh that was growing in. Among the new scars, though, his old scars could clearly still be seen. He rubbed his forearms and nodded.
"Yeah, most of it has healed well." Giorno still was resisting the urge to cover his arms up again. This time it was even stronger that before. He knew it would be hard to resist when it grew too warm to wear his hoodie again. "Um, what is it you do?"
"Oh, I'm a wealthy businessman. I started at the bottom though. I worked my way to the top with my charisma and intelligence. Which it seems you might have inherited since you're doing well in school. What is it that you're studying?" he asked as he looked at Giorno seriously.
"Biology," Giorno responded, trying to keep from looking away from Dio's face. The urge was strong to not look him in the face. "I've just started, though. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it. I like studying living things of all sorts, including plants. I've always had a lot of interest in it and used to want to garden but I wasn't allowed to have one at home. Now I think I'll plant one here in the spring."
"Well, I was planning to offer you a better place to live," Dio said with a half smirk. "But that seems unnecessary now since you have these people to live with." He paused and smiled genuinely now. "I would, however, like for you to accept some financial assistance while you're going to school."
As much as Giorno would have loved to turn him down, he really didn't have much choice while he went to school. "I would appreciate that greatly," Giorno told him as he felt blood rush to his cheeks. "Even living here, it's hard to keep up with food and transportation on the money I get for school."
Dio nodded. "I can see how that would be difficult. Living like this, with a good bunch of people, makes it a lot easier than going it on your own. That can make a difference in success and failure, the people you keep around you."
"I'm glad I found these guys," Giorno said with a glance over at Mista. "They've made all the difference in the world to me. They've shown me what a real family lives like, even though none of them are related. Caring for one another like this is really a great thing. I can't ever thank them enough for what they've done for me."
"Good friends will take you far," Dio said with a nod of his head. "But just remember to watch out for yourself too. You've got to take care of you before you can take care of anyone else."
"That's true," Giorno agreed. "If someone doesn't take care of themselves, they won't have anything to give."
Dio flashed him a broad smile. "That's the idea. Always look out for yourself. You never know what others are going to do when you aren't looking."
Giorno nodded, understanding what he meant by that. "You said I have other siblings?" he asked, curious now about them.
"Yes, three brothers. Donatello is the next one after you, followed by Rikiel and then Ungalo is the youngest. I've been in contact with some of their mothers now that I'm beginning to get involved in their lives. I don't want any of them to suffer a bad home situation like you did. I'm still quite upset with your mother for letting that happen," Dio expressed, sighing.
"I got used to it," Giorno said, trying to downplay the seriousness of being in an abusive home.
"You shouldn't have had to, though. I feel at fault for not keeping better track of the things that were going on in your life. I mistakenly thought your mother would care for you." Dio looked very bothered by this fact and wasn't trying to hide it.
Mista spoke up then. "But it's all okay now. He's with us, and that stuff is in the past now."
Dio smiled at him. "You're right. Talking about the future is more important than talking about the past. Going forward, we have only positive things that are going to happen, and positive thoughts for the future."
"That seems fair," Giorno said with his own smile.
"I guess that was all I came by to talk with you about today, just wanted to get to know you a little better and offer you some financial help. I'll set things up in a bank account in your name, so you can have a card of your own." Dio stood up slowly as he spoke.
"I appreciate that," Giorno stood up too. "I will put it to good use. I'm very responsible with money," he explained. "I never got a lot of it growing up, so I had to keep it saved in order to do anything with it."
Mista got up, too. He followed Dio and Giorno into the living room where Ice was sitting. "I might send Ice here by occasionally to check up on you and see how things are going if I'm too busy to come by."
"That's fine, he's always welcome to come in and hang out while he's here," Giorno laughed. "There's always someone here doing something!"
"And you," Dio looked toward Mista. "I'm counting on you to take good care of my son."
Mista felt his cheeks flush and he nodded. "Yes, sir. I will do that."
Dio smiled and clapped him on the back as he headed out the door with Ice behind him. "Take care, Giorno. I'll be in touch."
Giorno shut the door and looked at Mista. "He's so intense!" he gasped as he looked at him.
"But he's going to give you money, that's amazing!" Mista said with a grin. "You won't have to wear ratty clothes anymore and you'll be able to eat at school rather than skipping lunch!"
"I don't skip lunch," Giorno tried, but Mista glared at him. "Sometimes I skip lunch."
"As skinny as you are, you do it more than sometimes! I can count your ribs!" Mista wasn't going to listen to him about this issue.
"Alright, but now I will be able to afford lunch every day," Giorno said, trying to get off the topic of his weight.
They looked up as Bruno came down the stairs. "How'd it go?" he asked as he stepped off he last stair.
"Good, he's giving Giorno money!" Mista said excitedly.
"Well, that is a good development. That way you don't have to get a job outside of school," Bruno said as he went into the kitchen for some tea. "How about celebratory tea?"
Mista and Giorno both joined him in the kitchen for just that.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
As the winter weather approached, the household began to get ready for it and the upcoming holidays. Before it got too cold they decided to move the ducks into an unfinished room upstairs and invest in duck diapers. It would be a challenge, but they couldn't leave them outside when it came time for it to snow.
Giorno headed up the duck transfer. They were taking them one at a time to the room, so they didn't get too spooked or anything. Giorno would hand off a duck to someone and they'd take them up to the room carefully. While they were getting things ready, they started talking about the upcoming holidays and how everyone was going to celebrate.
"Well, I don't usually do much for the holidays myself," Fugo explained. "But if you guys want to do something and decorate, that's fine with me."
Giorno picked up the first duck and handed her to Fugo, who tucked her in his arms and took her inside. The room they were using needed to be gutted anyway to have the floor replaced, so any water that was spilled in there wouldn't matter. Narancia was next up to take one of the ducks, taking her also carefully into the house.
Mista spoke from behind Giorno. "You know what you want to do for the holidays?"
Giorno sighed. "Well, I'd like to celebrate here. I'm certainly not going back to my mom's place for any of them."
By that time, Fugo had come back to retrieve another duck. Giorno handed him over and smiled. "I think we can have a good holiday together," Mista said, picking up the feeding trough and dumping the seed out that was left in the bottom.
"Holidays were never great for me," Giorno sighed. "I mean, we never really celebrated much. My mother would put up a tree and that was about it. We never did any other kind of decorating or anything."
"Well, we'll have to change that," Mista told him emphatically. "Hey Fugo, do you have any decorations?"
Fugo, who had run a duck and come back again, shook his head, taking another duck. "Nah, I don't have anything, but put up anything you like. It's fine with me."
Once the got all the ducks situated and in the room that was lined with a layer of hay on the floor, everyone went down for a cup of tea and to discuss further their holiday plans.
"Well, we can get a fresh tree," Narancia suggested. "And buy a bunch of decorations from the dollar stores cheap."
Bruno sat down the cups for them and took his seat, listening. Mista sipped at his cup thoughtfully. "There's a lot that we could put up easily, like some lights outside to brighten things up a bit."
"That could be fun," Giorno agreed with a smile. "Maybe do some of those things that you stand up out in the yard too."
"Those giant blow up things?" Narancia asked with an arched brow.
"Maybe nothing that big," Giorno chuckled. "We don't need to turn into the house that spewed Christmas."
The last of the ducks were secured inside the house, warmly put away in the duck room. They had also gotten duck diapers so the ducks could be taken out of the bedroom to other areas of the house.
"It's getting cold, how about we go in a warm up with some tea?" Mista asked as they finished up with outside.
In short order they were all inside the house again, seated with a nice, calming chamomile tea for everyone. They were all a little chilled from being outside in the cool evening air.
"Mista, did your family do anything for the holidays special?" Giorno asked as he sipped his tea.
"Nah, nothing special. Oh hey, Bruno," Mista looked up as Bruno came down from the upstairs.
"Hey guys," he answered, going in the kitchen and finding a cup for tea himself. "Did you get all the ducks put away?"
Giorno nodded. "Yeah, they're all put up, happily using their new play area. It will be a little messy to clean up, but we only have to keep them inside for a couple months until the snow isn't a threat anymore."
Bruno sat down and glanced around the table. "What else have you been talking about?"
"Holidays," Mista told him, drawing a long drink from his tea. "We were discussing maybe doing some decorating around here and whatnot."
"That would be fun," Bruno agreed. "We've never really decorated for anything before. We'd have to buy all the things to put up."
"We'll get a fresh tree, so it'll smell like pine in here," Narancia reminded them.
"I haven't had a tree in years," Bruno said as he sipped at his steaming cup of tea. "It could be a lot of fun. What do you think, Fugo?"
Fugo shrugged. "I said they can do whatever they want so long as they put it up and take it down. I don't want the place looking ridiculous either, so there's that."
"We can put up a lot of decorations that will make it look festive, not ridiculous," Mista assured him. "Maybe we can even have a holiday party or something."
Giorno smiled and stared around the table at everyone. Mista leaned over and bumped his shoulder. "What's the smile for?"
"Just this is pretty amazing to me. Last year, I wasn't able to do something like this, planning things for the holidays and having a wonderful time. So much has changed since then in just a short amount of time." Giorno put his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands. "I honestly hadn't thought my life would change any. I thought I was stuck forever in that house and that my life was going to stay that way."
Mista put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. "Well, you don't have to worry anymore about that. We've got you now."
"Yeah, I know," Giorno said, still smiling. "I just appreciate you all so much and you have no idea how much all this means to me."
"Well, a toast, to our crazy household," Bruno said, holding his teacup up. Everyone held up their cups and smiled, taking a sip together. They were a crazy household, but they were a family.