Title: Can't you see my stacked broken thyrsus
Characters: Asari Ugetsu; Sergio Tiberinus (aka Acheron, aka Checker Face, aka Kawahira); Giotto | Vongola Primo; Sephira; Vongola 1st Gen
Relationships: Asari Ugetsu & Sergio Tiberinus (friendship)
Summary: It is surprisingly Ugetsu who best gets along with Sergio Tiberinus.
Warnings: Pre-Daemon Spade shenanigans. First Gen stuff.
Song of the chapter: Dionysus – BTS
Of all the Vongola, it was surprisingly Ugetsu who got along best with Sergio Tiberinus, though it wasn't always that way, and for good reason.
Sergio Tiberinus, the illusionist with a barbed tongue whose patience was thin, and vengeance swift but subtle, was powerful and dangerous. G was ninety-percent sure that some of Daemon's infamy was mislabelled, and actually due to Sergio's rather than Daemon's actions, but neither raised their voice about it to correct any misgivings.
Or rather, G did, after Daemon insisted that this or that incident actually hadn't been because of him when Giotto inquired, and Giotto sighed before putting the matter aside.
G, naturally, protested to Giotto's disturbingly lacking sense of caution against the Giglio Nero's Mist Guardian.
"This is serious, Giotto," G warned. "You know how powerful he is."
Ugetsu hadn't witnessed it himself, having been on his way to Italy at the time, but he'd heard the tale. Daemon and Sergio had engaged in a 'friendly' battle of illusions when they were first introduced, and Daemon had seemingly come out on top, Sergio left bloodied and torn.
Only for the illusion to fall apart after victory was declared, revealing that Sergio had been at Lady Sephira's side the whole time, eating and watching with everyone else, not a hair on his head harmed. Daemon had never noticed until then, and neither had even Giotto.
Lady Sephira had apparently smacked him on his back and said that he'd still lost, to which Sergio had merely shrugged and agreed like he didn't care. That was a bigger blow to Daemon's pride than the revelation itself, obviously. To this day Daemon still ground his teeth with fury when Sergio was mentioned or appeared in the vicinity.
"I know." Giotto grimaced, like he had just recounted a bad memory. "But trust me when I say that he won't hurt me, or the Vongola."
G tried to argue, but Giotto was stubborn, and eventually the redhead threw his hands into the air and told him to do what he wanted, like he always did.
Giotto, Ugetsu thought, had an oddly confident approach to Sergio. As if he was certain Sergio Tiberinus would not harm him.
It was the kind of certainty one had in the sun rising the next day, or the tides coming in and retreating. The kind of certainty one had in the heat of flames, the chill of ice before their eyes. As if it was a natural phenomenon, something that just was.
Odd, because Sergio Tiberinus did not make his dislike of Giotto subtle, at least not to Giotto himself or to the Vongola's Guardians. He kept it reigned in when other eyes were present, the young ones of Sephira's daughter included, but that was about the only restraint that could be expected from him.
Giotto just took it in stride, and Lady Sephira always apologized on behalf of her Mist Guardian, looking mortified at her Guardian's behaviour, but Sergio never stopped.
He never attacked, either, so they kept their guard up, the only thing they really could do. At least his dislike for G had a reason. His antipathy towards Giotto and Simon Cozzato was unexplained.
But they were not interested in earning the favor of someone who blindly disliked them, did not have the energy in their hearts to spare for such a pointless endeavor, and so they kept their distance as well.
If Ugetsu had not one day witnessed Sergio strumming the strings of a pipa with the expertise of someone who had played his entire life and singing a song in Chinese, he might have kept his distance like everyone else.
Ugetsu would always make the choice he did back then, to leave Japan and come to Giotto's aid. His friend needed it, to the point where G had been desperate enough to contact the foreigner that grated at his nerves. Of course he would come.
But at the same time, he had missed his home quite a lot. The pipa was nearly identical to the biwa, and odd as it was for Sergio to play it so expertly, the music had filled something in Ugetsu he hadn't known was missing.
If that had been it, Ugetsu would have contented himself with listening. For all that the man was acerbic, his music was not. It was beautiful, food for ears fit for a king, and Ugetsu marvelled at his skill, but there was more to it than just beauty.
Sergio played, and he played with the passion of someone who loved music. In the man who, until now, Ugetsu had been on guard around, he recognized a kindred soul, someone who was like him.
Unable to just pass on such a rare soul, Ugetsu did what he did best and struck up a conversation about music.
The response, of course, wasn't as smoothly accepted. Sergio stopped strumming – a shame – and looked at him, sharp face twisted in disbelief and confusion, as if he had seen something utterly absurd, even for a master illusionist.
Beaming, smiling brightly like this wasn't the first time they were conversing out of more than necessity – one-sided as the desire was – Ugetsu repeated his question phrased as a comment and pushed through as if Sergio wasn't directing an odd look at him. As if he couldn't feel the prickles of stares on his back. G would have words for him later.
Rather than chase him away with his sharp tongue, Sergio sighed before responding in a non-acerbic manner, something that actually surprised Ugetsu. That had been a lot easier than expected, if he was being honest. He expected a lot more resistance, and a lot more time before this kind of response.
In other words, Sergio didn't need to be as worn down as Ugetsu was prepared for. He had a harder time earning G's non-aggressive attitude than this.
But, well, Ugetsu was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. It was a gift, unexpected as it was, and he would accept it as it was.
He was more than ecstatic to learn that Sergio was a fluent musician in more than the pipa. He also played many more instruments from the east such as the erhu, the dizi, and the suona, each with a skilled hand that coaxed out heartbreakingly beautiful music with ease.
It was incredibly exciting. Giotto appreciated music, and G played the piano sometimes. Daemon knew a few things, due to what was expected of nobility in this country, and Elena was always eager to hear him play, but it was just him who loved music the way he did.
In the Vongola, it was also only him who was truly familiar with instruments from back home. Familiar as in not just know of them, or how to play them, but truly – appreciate them, so to speak. Not treat it as some exotic thing to be enjoyed as entertainment, but as a balm for the soul, a form of meditation, an art that was.
Music was such an important part of him, and sometimes it was lonely. Music was beautiful even when played by one person, but harmony could not be achieved by one person, just like how one hand alone could not clap.
For Ugetsu to find another who could play, and more importantly clearly had such passion for music was incredible. Sergio had a few instruments in the Giglio Nero – ones clearly made by craftsmen dedicated to their art – but those that he didn't, he used his talent in illusions to create. It was a method that Daemon Spade might have used for Elena and startled a laugh out of Ugetsu the first time Sergio did it, to play the guzheng.
"Laugh if you want," Sergio said dryly, but the corners of his lips turned upwards as he reached out to pluck at the strings of the real illusion he'd woven, a magic cast to bring forth another, entirely different kind of magic. "But only after lugging one of these around."
That was also the first time he saw Sergio smile – not smirk, not smile sardonically in a threatening, chilling way reminiscent of a snake about to strike, or a panther about to lunge, but an actual smile – at someone other than Lady Sephira or her daughter.
Other than his dislike of Giotto, Sergio was a surprisingly good man, who was very easy to talk to over their shared interests. He also spoke several dialects of Chinese, and to Ugetsu's surprise, spoke a dialect of Japanese. He wasn't familiar with the dialect, but Sergio soon picked up on Ugetsu's faster than Ugetsu picked up on his, and they were capable of communicating in his mother tongue over compositions and rearranging songs.
His friendship with Sergio made the Vongola's meetings with the Giglio Nero a lot less tense. For all that Giotto insisted that Sergio Tiberinus would not hurt him, and Lady Sephira gave her word and even admonished Sergio in public about his attitude, there had always been tension with the guardians when the ice-blue eyes filled with something that could never be interpreted as anything positive had directed their gaze to Giotto.
Ugetsu not only served as a distraction to keep Sergio from glaring daggers at Giotto, but also showed a much different side to the man. Daemon still didn't trust him, vocally expressing his belief that it was all an act to anyone who would listen, but even he could not argue at the sight of Sergio and Ugetsu seriously debating about comparing the sheng to the new reed wind instrument going around recently in Europe, before coming to the conclusion that it was a biased argument they were making since both preferred the sheng.
Seeing the satisfied smiles exchanged between Giotto and Sephira, Ugetsu could guess that this was a plan to prevent tensions from being planted between the Vongola and the Giglio Nero, and he didn't mind his role in it.
