Guess what guys, it's actually a beach episode! And it's not even completely angsty.
There is a warning for brief abuse at the end of the chapter.
Chapter Seven
Giorno left early the next morning, both to avoid his stepfather—even though he was pretty sure the man was still passed out—and also because he was sure Trish wouldn't be en route yet. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her, he just wasn't ready to face her alone first thing in the morning when she might be more inclined to ask about yesterday.
She probably didn't even think anything was weird, Giorno told himself. It's you who's hypersensitive because you live there. He hoped that was the case anyway. As much as he appreciated his new-found friends, he still wasn't ready to have them find out about his home life. It wasn't a problem—not one they needed to worry about anyway. Maybe it was partly selfish on Giorno's part. He didn't want them to treat him differently. He just wanted things to go on as they were. His little slice of normal where he didn't have to be reminded of all the things he wished he could escape from. He could be a normal teenager, not a burden, an unwanted nuisance; not a freak who liked frogs and plants more than people. With them, he was just Giorno and he wanted to keep that for as long as possible.
Bruno was coming into school on his bike when Giorno got there and he gave the older boy a wave.
"Good morning, Giorno!" Bruno called back and Giorno met him at the bike rack as he pulled his lock out and crouched to apply it. Bruno always seemed so cheery in the morning. Giorno wished he could feel half as refreshed as Bruno looked this early.
"I've been meaning to tell you that the plant you gave me is doing well, by the way," Bruno said as he stood up and retrieved his bag from the bicycle basket. "It's practically doubled in size."
Giorno smiled. "They do grow fast. Let me know if you want any more."
"I think I should try to keep this one alive a little longer before I agree to adopting any others," Bruno confided with a laugh.
Leone strode over, and his brows drew in slightly as he caught sight of Giorno as usual, but evened out quickly enough. "Morning," he grunted. "Remind me before I leave because I have some books Fugo wanted to borrow in my car."
Bruno nodded in confirmation and then glanced over, seeing Narancia and Mista coming over to join them. Giorno also caught sight of Trish coming in through the gates, and she waved to them.
He felt more tension leave his body. Back to his little slice of normal.
The day proceeded as usual. Giorno tried his best to concentrate even though he was frankly exhausted. He hadn't slept well the night before, his mind too full of a million uncertainties and dreams that would never happen. Some people were good at lying to themselves. Giorno had never bothered. There had been no reason to. He had found that denial only ever made reality worse in the end.
And so, as always, he survived.
As he and Trish made their way to their last class that day, she asked, "So, you still on today to work on the project?"
Giorno's stomach turned slightly in memory of the day before, but he nodded. "I brought the book and everything."
"You want to do it at your house again?" Trish asked.
Giorno's stomach twisted further. "Um, actually, I was thinking maybe we could go to that café down the street from here. I could really use a coffee today." He glanced over at her. "If that's okay with you?"
"Yeah, definitely," Trish assured him with a smile. "Sounds like a good idea to me. Some caffeine should help the process along. We might even be able to finish it today."
"Lucky you, we're still trying to decide what to do for ours," Narancia said as he hurried to catch up with them.
"Just pick a song or something," Trish told him.
Narancia sighed. "It's not as easy as you think. Especially since Illuso and I can't seem to agree on anything."
"Well, you still have until the end of the week," Trish said. "Don't blame me if you don't get it done in time."
Narancia stuck his tongue out at her and they continued to class.
Once school let out, Giorno and Trish made their way to the café and after ordering coffee and something to eat, they got to work, determined to finish their project that afternoon.
"Okay, I think I have it, let me know if this sounds good," Trish said with a sigh and started to read off her translation. Giorno stopped her only a couple of times to offer suggestions which she took down in agreement.
"Great! Now, read the poem to me?"
Giorno picked up his notepad and cleared his throat, feeling slightly self-conscious as he read out the poem as he had translated it into Italian. He stumbled slightly over a couple of the lines because they didn't exactly flow the same as the original, but he did feel that the meaning was there, and that was the important part anyway.
"That was really good," Trish told him sincerely when he had finished. "Seriously, you should do more translations."
Giorno shrugged. "It's only because I know the original pretty well."
"Yeah, but you really have a knack for languages," Trish said. "Even your suggestions on the English one were things I wouldn't have thought of."
"If I could figure out the spelling, I would do better in class," Giorno told her with a small smile, then, for some reason, he found himself adding. "Italian is actually my second language. I lived in Japan until I was four."
"Whoa, really?" Trish asked, eyes widening. "So, I guess you had to learn Italian pretty young, right?"
Giorno nodded, remembering his mother's insistence that he learn after she had met Giovanna, refusing to acknowledge anything he said unless he spoke to her in Italian, even though she had been a lot worse at it than he had.
"Do you still speak Japanese?"
Giorno shrugged. "Not fluently. I haven't spoken it for years so…"
"That's cool though. I always wanted to learn multiple languages; I want to travel," Trish said wistfully and something passed over her face before she quickly shrugged it away with a renewed smile. "But I guess I'm pretty happy here for now. Maybe I'll actually be able to pick up English fluently enough to speak it. That will be a start."
Giorno smiled back and they polished up the two pieces before heading back home. They said their goodbyes at the road they split off on and Giorno continued home, once again feeling the darkness creep back in.
"Ta-da!" Narancia said Friday at lunch, shoving a paper into Bruno's face.
"Check it out, my first A this year!" Narancia said proudly.
Bruno took the paper so that he could actually see it and grinned as he saw the grade, reaching across the table to give Narancia a high-five. "Nice job!"
"Hey, I deserve partial credit for that A," Illuso called from further down the table.
"Well, it's your first A of the year too, so it's yet to be determined who was responsible for that," Prosciutto pointed out.
"A joint victory," Narancia amended as he took the paper back. "I didn't realize it would be that easy to translate stuff."
"Don't get cocky," Leone told him. "You got an A because you put in the work."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Narancia said. "Hard work, blah blah. You don't have to turn into Fugo just because he's not here."
Leone snorted and Bruno turned to Giorno and Trish. "How did your project go?"
"Great!" Trish said. "We also got an A."
"Then I guess that means it really is a good weekend for a celebration," Mista said with a grin.
"Agreed," Bruno said. "You're all planning on coming to the beach tomorrow, right?"
"Sounds great!" Narancia said.
After making plans and deciding on a time to meet, it was time to head back to class.
Bruno rode back home that day, looking forward to the weekend to come and some time to relax with his friends. He was somewhat surprised to find the house empty when he got back. Fugo hadn't had much interest in going out aside from running errands with Bruno, but maybe he'd run to the library or something to pick up research books or use the computers there.
As he glanced out the window toward the marina, he saw his father's boat in from the sea early and decided to go down to help him with his haul.
He wasn't expecting to find Fugo out on the docks, dressed in one of his father's old sweaters, helping haul the day's catch in, and hang the nets out to dry under the fisherman's coaching.
"Easy, hold it out so it doesn't tangle and then just throw it over."
"Hey, how's it going?" Bruno called.
Fugo looked over at him, pale skin pink from the sun, freckles standing out more pronounced than usual on his cheeks. He was actually smiling as Paolo turned to greet Bruno.
"Pannacotta helped me out on the boat today," he said.
"Really?" Bruno asked, slightly surprised.
Fugo nodded. "I didn't have anything else to do and your father mentioned the weather would mean a big haul so I thought I might as well try to help out when I could."
"Kid did a good job for his first day," Paolo told Bruno with obvious respect in his voice as Fugo climbed back into the boat to retrieve the last of the equipment.
"I know he wants to feel like he's doing something," Bruno said quietly. "Even though I told him he doesn't have to."
"Some men just need a purpose in their lives, even if it's small daily tasks," Paolo said knowingly. "He's doing okay though, I think. Haven't seen him so alive."
"You do say the sea air is a cure all," Bruno said fondly.
Paolo gave a small smile. "It does have a certain magic to it. If we bulk him up a bit, he might actually make a decent fisherman."
Bruno laughed fondly and helped Fugo haul the rest of the equipment out of the boat as he father finished with the nets, setting aside one to bring back to the cottage for repairs.
"I'll bring the truck around for the fish. There's too much to carry back by hand," Paolo told them. "You boys take the rest."
"How did you like being out at sea all day?" Bruno asked, admittedly just a bit jealous of his friend.
"It was really nice, actually," Fugo replied sincerely, carrying one end of the box that carried the equipment and the damaged net as he and Bruno made their way back to the house. "I see why you like it so much. It's…peaceful being out on the sea. Gives you a lot of time to be contemplative where there's no one around to worry about."
Bruno nodded. "I've always found that to be the case. I know Papa is really appreciative of you helping out. I know he's okay on his own, but he doesn't mind having company either. He'd never say it, but I think he gets lonely working by himself most of the time." He smiled. "I'm actually glad you can be here to keep him company in my place."
Fugo sighed. "Well, I have to have something to do when I can finish a week's worth of schoolwork in a day, and I really don't mind helping."
"Speaking of schoolwork," Bruno said as he set the box down for a second to open the shed on the property. "Narancia got his first A of the year."
Fugo's eyes widened in obvious pride. "He did? On the English project?"
"Mm-hm," Bruno acknowledged as they stored the stuff.
"That's great! I'm glad he's doing okay. I feel…I hope he doesn't think I'm abandoning him."
"No," Bruno said firmly as he took the net from the box and closed up the shed. "He knows he can come over here any time if he needs your help on anything. We all miss you, of course, but everyone knows it's better that you're here. I wouldn't want to go back either."
Fugo nodded silently and Bruno made a point to catch his eye before he opened the door. "You don't have to worry about disappointing anyone anymore, remember? Not your parents or teachers, not us. Definitely not us."
Fugo hugged himself and gave a short nod. "It will take me a while to get used to that."
"It's okay," Bruno smiled. "We'll be here to remind you if you need it."
Fugo offered a small smile back and the two went inside to wait for Paolo to come back with the catch.
"Is everyone still coming over to go to the beach tomorrow?" Fugo asked and he helped Bruno select some of the fish for their own dinner.
"Yup, it should be fun," Bruno grinned. "It's been a while since we've just had a day to get together and hang out. Hopefully the weather holds."
Saturday dawned beautiful, the sun even making its way into Giorno's window. He got up and shifted his plants so that the ones on his dresser could get some light and then went to get dressed, rummaging through his clothes to find something beach appropriate. He didn't have many things that were public appropriate as it was, but he would have to make do.
He wasn't planning on swimming anyway. That wouldn't work out well. Even if he wore a shirt, all of his clothes were light or too thin, and would definitely show the scars on his back through them if they got wet. It would be mortifying for everyone to find out about them like that, turning their fun day into a dour one, and all because of Giorno. He certainly didn't want to be reminded of his troubles that day, that was why he was getting out of the house after all.
He finally dug out a t-shirt and light over-shirt as well as a pair of shorts that had definitely seen better days, but at least they wouldn't look too short on him like every pair of his pants were.
He grabbed his backpack and threw a couple books and his wallet in just in case, before he headed downstairs.
"Where the hell are you going?"
Giorno froze with his hand halfway to the doorknob, turning around to see his stepfather standing in the doorway to the dining room, cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Giorno fought the urge to cough.
"I'm meeting my friends at the beach," Giorno told him.
The man snorted, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and blowing smoke purposefully toward Giorno. "When the hell did you get friends?"
Giorno shrugged, not having a reply to that.
"Is that pink-haired bitch gonna be there?"
Giorno stomach curled with anger, wishing he would stop talking about Trish like that. His hand tightened around the strap of his backpack. "I don't know," he replied honestly. She hadn't actually been sure she was going to make it or not.
Giovanna grunted. "Just remember what I told you, brat. Otherwise, do whatever the hell you want, I don't give a shit."
Giorno took that as a dismissal and grabbed the doorknob, hurrying out of the house, taking a deep breath of fresh air.
He felt better as he walked away, and headed toward the corner Mista had promised to pick him up at.
Trish was already waiting there wearing a pink sundress. She waved as she saw him. "Good morning!"
Giorno smiled back. "I'm glad you could come," he said sincerely.
"Well, my mom said I should go instead of hanging around the house with her all day," Trish said, a somewhat odd look passing over her face before she shook herself and revived her smile, not giving Giorno any more time to think about it. "I've missed the beach so much. We used to go almost every weekend back in Sardinia."
"That sounds nice," Giorno said almost wistfully. His mother had taken him to the beach a couple times as a child after moving to Italy, but it had mostly resulted in her ignoring him and him getting extremely sunburned. He had a feeling he would have a much better time that day.
A car horn honked and they both looked up to see Mista pulling up to the curb, leaning out his window.
"Hop in!" he called.
The two got in the back, greeting Mista and Narancia before they headed out toward the beach.
Everyone else was already there, waiting at the parking area when they pulled up. Giorno was surprised to see Risotto and a lot of his friends there too. Melone and Illuso were currently pulling Ghiaccio by force out of a car as he didn't seem to be a willing participant in the beach day.
Narancia cackled and went to join the antics as Bruno came up to help Mista pull a cooler out of the back of the car.
"Mama packed plenty of snacks for everyone," Mista said with a grin.
"Sounds good! You'll have to thank her for us," Bruno told him, taking one side of the cooler.
"Thanks so much for inviting us! It's so pretty out today," Trish gushed as they started on their way down to the beach.
"Don't forget the sunblock, Fugo, or you'll burn to a crisp!" Narancia was saying.
"I've already got it on, asshole," Fugo snapped back.
"We set up an umbrella and some blankets earlier," Bruno told them.
As they set up and stowed their stuff around the umbrella, Giorno borrowed some sunblock for his face. Mista, Narancia and Formaggio had already rushed straight to the ocean, kicking water into each other's faces.
Giorno looked around, not sure if he should explore a little or sit under the umbrella for a while first.
That was when he noticed Leone wasn't in a bathing suit like the rest of them, but was standing there in his regular ripped black jeans and dark makeup, holding his combat boots by their laces.
"What's the matter, you're not swimming?" Melone asked him, shucking off his shirt to throw onto the blankets.
Leone wrinkled his nose. "I don't swim, but don't let it ruin your day."
"Oh, I won't," Melone grinned and he and Illuso decided to make it their mission to drag Ghiaccio all the way into the water as he protested and swore loudly.
"That just makes you official snack keeper," Bruno told his friend with a grin.
Leone rolled his eyes as he made himself comfortable on the blankets and pulled a book out of his messenger bag. "That just means I'll actually get something to eat."
Giorno glanced over as he heard Trish shriek and saw Narancia and Mista trying to drag her into the water as Fugo stood by, disapproving. That was, until they got to him next, Mista practically body-slamming him into the waves as Narancia and Trish laughed.
It looked like a lot of fun, but Giorno wasn't quite there yet in terms of being comfortable around everyone. He just didn't want to ruin what friendship they already had by making them pity him if they found out…
Fugo came up sputtering and dunked Narancia right back.
"I should probably go break that up before they drown each other," Bruno said with a laugh as he ran across the beach, diving into the waves alongside his friends.
Everyone had moved down to the water by now except Giorno and Leone, leaving a bit of awkward silence in their wake.
When Giorno didn't make a move to join everyone else, Leone looked up from his book, cocking an eyebrow. "What, you're not swimming?"
Giorno shrugged. "I didn't really feel like it today."
"Whatever," Leone replied and stretched out on his back under the umbrella, pointedly hiding his face behind his book as if in dismissal.
Giorno bit his lip, but decided he would explore the beach himself.
He left his bag on the blankets and kicked off his shoes, making his way across the beach, just soaking up the sun, enjoying the feeling of the sand between his toes. He decided to keep away from the others for now until they got tired of dunking people in the water.
He was soon distracted by searching for shells after finding a pretty nice one and soon had a handful of nice specimens at his disposal.
It was then that he realized that the noise from the others had faded and he had actually gotten pretty far down the beach. He decided it was probably a good idea to go back and made his way toward the striped umbrella with his shell and rock haul.
He passed the others bodysurfing in the waves and allowed the water to lap at his toes as he crouched to wash off some of the shells.
"Woah! That was a good one, Mista!" Narancia shouted as the two rolled onto the sand and leapt back into the water.
Bruno laughed and ran toward the shore. "Nice one! I'll be right back," he called, and started toward Giorno.
"Hey, what did you find?" the dark-haired boy asked, crouching next to Giorno as he pushed his dripping bangs back from his forehead.
"Just a few shells. I actually found a conch that was pretty intact and some scallops."
"Oh, and you found some seaglass as well," Bruno said with excitement, pointing toward the blue and green pieces Giorno held in his palm.
"I love going beach combing, I have a collection of stuff back home—I'll have to show it to you sometime," Bruno told him, then cocked his head. "You know, I didn't even ask if you had a bathing suit before inviting you to the beach. If you want to swim I think I have an extra pair of swim shorts back home. It wouldn't take that long to head over there."
"Oh, no, it's fine," Giorno reassured him quickly, trying to stay as nonchalant as possible. "I…don't really like swimming all that much to be honest. But I do enjoy the beach," he added quickly so Bruno wouldn't feel like he was here against his will or anything.
The other boy seemed as understanding as ever though and smiled. "To be honest, I prefer sailing or beachcombing to actually swimming as well, but it is fun with friends, so if you change your mind, just let me know."
"Hey, Giorno!" Narancia shouted, barreling over toward them.
Giorno barely stood up in time before he was hit in the face with a spray of water from Narancia's eagerness. It still caught the bottoms of his shorts, but didn't soak him completely.
"You gonna get in?" Narancia asked. "It's not cold or anything."
"Yeah, come on," Mista added, as he and Formaggio ran up. "Unless you need some help!"
"No, not right now," Giorno tried to protest.
"Come on, it's not too cold, promise!" Narancia insisted, reaching out to grab Giorno's arm as if to pull him into the water with him.
Giorno had a brief moment of panic, but thankfully Bruno stepped in, grabbing Narancia's arm. "Come on, Nara, he's still in his clothes, don't get him all wet. If he doesn't want to swim he doesn't have to."
"Oh, sorry, man, I didn't notice," Narancia said with a grin at Giorno. "Don't think you're skipping out on volley ball later, though!"
Giorno smiled. "I'd love to play," he said sincerely.
"Awesome!" Narancia said and he and the others ran off again, leaving Giorno to deflate slightly, wishing he didn't have to make stupid excuses. The others probably thought he was even weirder now than they already had.
"Don't worry, I promise you didn't offend them," Bruno said and Giorno looked up at him with surprise.
Giorno felt his face heat slightly and he turned back to pick up the rest of his shells and stuff them into his pockets. Bruno had an uncanny ability to read people that Giorno wasn't sure if he was glad about or not. He was just so used to hiding things around everyone.
"Everyone's welcome to do their own thing around here," Bruno added. "It is our day off after all. You should be able to spend it however you want."
Giorno gave him a small smile and nodded.
"Oh, and don't let Leone keep you away from the umbrella either," Bruno said with a short laugh. "He won't mind if you want to just rest quietly."
Giorno wasn't entirely sure about that, but the sun was getting pretty hot now that it was higher in the sky and he would need to reapply sunblock to his face.
"I'm about done looking for shells now anyway," Giorno confided.
"Let me know if you need anything," Bruno told him as he hurried back to join the others.
Giorno made his way back toward the umbrella and crouched on the blanket next to his bag.
Leone's eyes traveled over to him as Giorno unloaded his shells and rocks, leaving them out to dry off completely before he would tuck them into his backpack.
When he was done, he took out the novel he had packed and scooted further under the umbrella's shade, still making sure to give Leone plenty of room.
The goth eyed him again, brows pinching closer together.
"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" Giorno asked quickly.
"Do I look like your mom? Do what you want," came the sarcastic reply.
Giorno sighed inwardly. He knew he had dumped Leone's food on him the first day of school, but the goth really seemed to have taken it personally. Giorno wasn't sure what he could do to fix that, but he did at least want to try to make friends with Leone since he saw him around so much.
That was when he saw the book Leone was reading. A tattered paperback copy of an Agatha Christie novel.
"You like mysteries?" Giorno asked.
Leone huffed and set the book on his chest, craning his head back to give Giorno a longsuffering look. "Good ones, yeah."
"I've only read a couple of Agatha Christie's books, but I did enjoy them," Giorno said.
"Good for you," Leone replied and picked his book back up.
Giorno pressed his lips together, realizing he probably wasn't going to get anywhere with his attempted friendly chat so he simply turned back to his own book and if the silence between them wasn't exactly companionable, it wasn't hostile either.
In a little bit, the others returned from the water after a slightly chaotic episode where Prosciutto had to drag Pesci out of the waves while he was choking up salt water, the longsuffering look of an elder sibling plastered on his face.
"Snack time!" Narancia shouted as he made it to the blankets and began to rummage through the cooler Mista had brought, finding some cookies and a bottle of water.
Giorno stole some as well and soon everyone was chatting and eating, laughing and joking around with each other.
Trish plopped down next to Giorno, wrapped in her towel, her face almost as pink as her hair, with freckles popping out across her nose, Giorno noticed.
"Are these the shells you collected?" she asked, motioning to the small pile next to Giorno's backpack.
Giorno nodded.
Trish sighed wistfully as she looked through them. "I used to have a bunch before I moved. Now a lot of my stuff is in storage. These are really nice."
"You can have one if you want," Giorno told her a little self-consciously. "Maybe it will help you to feel more like you're back in Sardinia?"
Trish looked genuinely touched and carefully picked up a pink and white scallop shell. "Can I have this one?" she asked.
Giorno smiled. "Of course. I think it suits you."
She beamed, then they all looked up as Narancia unearthed the volleyball and a rolled-up net from the stuff they had brought. "Alright, the challenge is on! Who's with me?"
They set up the net and Bruno and Risotto were made team captains with their respective friend groups. Even Leone agreed grudgingly to play because Mista insisted that they needed someone tall to guard the net.
Giorno had never really played volley ball before but it was easy enough—keep the ball off the ground, and hit it when it came to you. He even managed to save it a couple times, once even diving into the sand to hit it toward Mista, much to Mista and Narancia's excitement.
Bruno's team won by two points, and by the time they were done everyone had some sort of bruise or twisted ankle, but it had been a lot of fun.
As they were walking back up toward the umbrella, Bruno's father showed up with pizza for a late lunch.
"Thanks, Papa!" Bruno told him happily as he set the boxes on the cooler to await the ravenous teenagers.
"No problem," Signore Bucciarati said. "You all having fun?"
"Definitely," Narancia said through a grotesquely full mouth as Fugo slapped him on the back of the head, nearly making him choke.
After pizza, everyone headed back toward the ocean, refusing to heed Fugo's warning of swimming after eating.
Bruno hung back and cleaned up the pizza boxes with Leone before he turned to his father. "Can you bring some of this stuff back to the house with you, Papa? I think we're done with pretty much everything."
"Sure," Signore Bucciarati replied.
Giorno got up. "I'll help with this, I don't mind," he told Bruno and Leone who glanced at each other, but shrugged. Bruno thanked him and they headed over to walk down to the water with the others.
Giorno turned to help grab the stuff to carry over to Bruno's father's truck.
Giorno finished up by grabbing the bag of trash so it wouldn't blow across the beach, but as he was lifting it up into the back of the truck, it snagged and ripped open, spilling empty bottles everywhere.
Bruno's father caught a couple under his foot as they rolled away and Giorno was mortified.
"I'm sorry," he said as he quickly crouched to pick up the mess, heart suddenly pounding.
"It's not a problem," the fisherman said levelly, reaching into the vehicle to grab a new trash bag. Giorno flinched as he stepped over to him, but Signore Bucciarati's face was passive and he quickly crouched and helped Giorno transfer the trash into the new bag.
"Sorry about that," Giorno said again.
"Just an accident," Signore Bucciarati replied and tossed the bag into the truck once he had tied it off.
Giorno slowly exhaled, reminding himself that this wasn't his stepfather. Bruno's father might still consider him an inconvenience but he likely wouldn't have the same reaction as Giovanna would in the same situation.
"Can I do something for you, son?"
Giorno looked up sharply, realizing he had just been standing there. Signore Bucciarati had a slightly concerned look on his face, so Giorno quickly shook his head. "No, I…I think that was everything, right?"
The man nodded, and Giorno again cringed at his awkwardness. "Thanks for lunch," he blurted.
Bruno's father gave a very small smile and pulled his keys out of his pocket. "Hope you enjoy the rest of your day."
Giorno hurried back toward the beach and buried his face in his book. Maybe, if he could stop acting so strangely around everyone, people might like him more. That's what his stepfather seemed to think anyway. Giorno tried not to put too much credence into that, but the man might have a point.
Thankfully though he managed to avoid any more awkward encounters the rest of the day. He even went back down to the water to walk in the waves and found a few more shells to add to his collection.
He felt pleasantly tired by the time they packed up and he and Trish caught a ride back home with Mista as the sun was starting to set.
"That was a lot of fun, we'll have to do it again sometime," Trish said to the others as she and Giorno got out.
Narancia was already asleep against the passenger side window but Mista waved to them.
"Definitely. See you guys Monday."
Giorno slung his backpack over his shoulder as he closed the back door to the car.
"Goodnight, Giorno," Trish told him.
"Goodnight," Giorno said, then realized how dark it was getting. "Did you want me to walk back with you?"
"Oh, it's not really necessary, it's only a couple minutes," Trish told him. "I'll see you Monday though."
Giorno nodded and they parted ways.
Giorno trudged down the street until he got to his house. It looked like most of the lights were off inside, but the car was still out front. He rummaged through his bag for his key and unlocked the door.
He could hear his stepfather snoring on the couch and figured his mother must be out with her friends like she usually was on Saturday night.
Giorno dropped his backpack off in his room before he ventured back down to the kitchen. He thought he would have a snack before he settled in for the night and looked around to see what they had.
There wasn't much. The fridge was mostly empty but there was some sliced cheese Giorno pulled out. The counter was mostly covered with empty beer bottles his stepfather had consumed during the course of the day.
Giorno finally spotted the loaf of bread on the top shelf of the cupboard and he had to stand on his toes to reach it.
His shirt must have brushed up against one of the bottles because as he lowered the bread back down, it caught and the bottle fell over, creating a loud chain reaction that had Giorno scrambling to stop it.
He didn't get to it in time though, and two of the bottles fell onto the floor and shattered.
"What the hell is going on in there?"
Giorno froze, heart pounding in his ears as he frantically tried to clean up the mess, sweeping the glass up with a towel as the footsteps got closer and closer.
"What did you do, you little shit?" Giovanna demanded as he stepped into the kitchen, face red with drunkenness and fury.
"I-it just fell. I'll clean it up," Giorno said quickly.
But the man wasn't having it. The smell of drink was still heavy on his breath as he leaned over and grabbed Giorno by the back of his shirt, yanking him up before throwing him against the cupboards.
Giorno couldn't quite catch himself in time and his cheek struck the counter as he stumbled, leaving the left side of his face numb. Another bottle fell with a shatter.
"How many times have I told you not to fuck around while I'm asleep?" Giovanna demanded. "Is it too much to ask to get a little rest in this house?"
"I was just getting something to eat," Giorno told him as he pulled himself up, holding his face. "You left all the bottles out on the counter."
He knew he shouldn't have said it even as it slipped past his lips and he saw Giovanna's face ignite with fury.
"You little shit!"
He backhanded him across the face before he slammed a fist into Giorno's stomach. The blow sent the teen to his knees, gagging, his insides aflame now. He readied for the familiar sting to his back, but his stepfather seemed to realize at that moment that he wasn't wearing his belt.
He growled, kicking Giorno in the thigh for good measure before he grabbed another bottle and started out of the kitchen.
"Clean this shit up. If I get a piece of glass in my foot tomorrow, I'll have your hide for it."
Giorno stayed there until he left, then slumped, swallowing down the furious lump in his throat as he started to carefully pick up all the glass with his shaking hands, cutting himself a couple times before he was done.
He abandoned his snack and just went to bed after he had finished, curled around his bruised stomach.
He found himself wishing he could have stayed on that beach forever, but he knew that he would always have to come back to this. That was just how it would always be.