The blonde boy woke up at the sound the air conditioner makes. A white noise. The sun was rising and his roommate was still unconcious.
Rubbing his eyes and subconciously doing his braids, he blinked seven consecutive times to wake himself up completely. His phone beeped as it received a message, waking Ruby up.
It was Sheila, saying that the dirty deed is done.
'What a wonderful news to start the day.' he smiled as Ruby sat up groaning. "Ughh... I didn't do anything dumb this time, did I?" she asked, half awake.
He smiled as a reply "Goodmorning Ruby. We need to talk."
She was suddenly fully awake. "E-Eh?! Wh-Wh-Wha- Did I do something wrong?!"
Giorno went silent and tried to think of a way how to explain his dream. No, not the origi- I mean the recent dream with Neo.
Ruby was a bit weirded out since Giorno's hair was still as classy as it is even after sleeping. But she's nervous, did she do something inappropriate?
"Hey, let's get some breakfast shall we?"
...
Ruby was treated in all sorts of luxury around Remnant, since team RWBY was one of the best huntsmen team, they are treated quite nicely compared to the average team. So this wasn't anything new to her. 'Everyone was so formal and posh, Weiss would found herself at home here.' she thought as she took a bite out of her salad. Giorno explained that vegetable dishes are quite dominant around Italy.
The blonde boy seemed to notice that she doesn't seem to be enjoying her shiza salad, spoke "I'm sure you'll love the dessert."
"Hm? I- no, I love the food too, it's just... Not my favorite." Ruby chewed. It made him chuckle "You'll get used to it."
She swallowed. The people around them looked to be rich businessmen, and politicians. They seem to look at Giorno with respect, even though the man was just wearing a casual attire.
However, they look at her with disdain. Her silver eyes fluttered around, she can hear their whispers because of her heightened sense of hearing.
"Who's that girl with the don?"
"Probably just some gold digger whoring herself."
"She didn't even bother to wear something appropriate."
"That's because her only purpose was to be don Giovanna's screw toy."
Giorno frowned after noticing her in distress, she looked down in embarrassment. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing... I just think I'm not 'dressed to kill' enough to fit here."
Giorno scoffed. "You're ridiculous. Don't mind them."
Ruby avoided his gaze "I-I know but... Wouldn't it hurt your image or something?"
Ths blonde boy rested his face at his palm "Why would I care? The only thing that matters is that we're here, enjoying our food."
Her hair hid her flusterred face, but the whispers about Giorno being her sugardaddy was too much for her to handle. Giorno tilted his head, noticing that she was trembling.
She suddenly stood up "I-I don't think I'm gonna wait for dessert."
"Ruby, wait." he stood up as well but she ran away.
"Sheesh, how did she hear us?" Giorno slowly turned to face a rather old couple whispering at eachother. "She should know her place, she had no right to act hurt considering her job as an escort." the old man chuckled.
Giorno merely ignored them and went after her.
As he exited the dining hall, he heard screams from everyone inside.
"My fork turned in to a lizard!"
Now where did she go? She only had one place to go.
Giorno stepped inside the elevator and waited. He headed towards her room.
The doorknob was cold, he didn't even bothered to turn it, because he realized she wasn't here. The blonde boy sighed and decided to head to the reception to ask where she is.
...
'There you are...'
He saw her sitting at the lobby near the receptionist. Ruby looked up to him apologetically "Hey... Sorry I just needed some fresh air."
"Don't worry about it." Giorno replied. His eyes then widened as he realized something. "Hold on, I gotta make a phone call."
Ruby simply nodded, Giorno left her on her own thoughts for a little while.
Tears threatened to fall as she ran. Ruby halted after reaching the door that leads to the women's restroom. Rubbing the tears away, she told herself she won't cry anymore. 'I need to think of a way on how to get back, I don't want to waste time crying.' she entered the restroom and used the faucet to wash her hands. Ruby glared at the mirror. 'I have to be resilient... Like him. Yeah, that's right.' her features slowly softened. So what if those people judged her? They didn't know the full story.
Ruby blushed at her own reflection 'And as long as he's fine with me...'
"Are you with Giorno S. Giovanna?" a rather sketchy woman in a dark blue suit asked, grabbing her attention. "Oh so his middle initial was an S..." Ruby pondered out loud. "So? Do you know him, young lady?" the middle aged woman smiled.
"U-Uhh yeah! He was a very close friend of mine." she stuttered. "Are you sure that's the extent of your relationship with him?" the older woman asked.
"Y-Yes! May I ask who are you?" Ruby asked. "I'm nobody important. I just asked because you two seemed like a cute couple."
"Ahh! No no no, don't get the wrong idea, we're- we're just friends, heh." Ruby laughed nervously, but her blushing face betrayed her poor attempt at playing it cool. Oddly enough, the woman suddenly turned to leave.
Ruby was still a bit weirded out about it, but she decided not to think much of it, considering her situation, she should consider herself a tourist and that odd behavior was normal.
But her silver eyes widened as she saw two men with the same dark blue suit were staring at her from the stairs.
"Ruby. Hey." Giorno appeared in front of her field of vision. "Oh... Hey. Who'd you call?" Ruby asked. "I called Fugo, a subordinate of mine. He said he'll be taking care of my chores for the day. Which means I'll show you around." he smiled. "You guys have funny names." She returned the gesture.
"Well, we can't help it. We love making people smile. Now allow me, Giorno Giovanna, to tour you around Rome."
She saw first hand yesterday that this place is very beautiful while she wandered the streets asking for change. And now, she can't wait to explore.
"Aweso-" she suddenly realized that it looked like the blonde boy just asked him out.
Giorno raised an eyebrow, observing that she was frozen in place. "Ruby? Hey. Signorina Rose."
"Ahh! I'm sorry I just zoned out a bit I uhh yeah let's go out but not on a date or anything but just to show me around and get me familiarize around the- the city or something yeah..." she just blurted out.
"... Okay? Let's go."
...
"So... What did you wanna talk about?" Ruby fiddled her fingers while Giorno drove the car. "Ahh, right. Thanks for reminding me. It was about... Well..." he clicked his tongue, he still doesn't know where to start.
"Heh, if you're ready to spit it out, I'm all ears, Mr. Giorno." she replied. "Stop it with the formalities, just talk to me like I'm your friend." he said with annoyance. "Okay, okay, no need to get riled up, Giogio." the girl teased.
"Gio... Gio?"
"Yeah, your name is alliterative it's so cool."
"Well. I... I like that."
...
"That right there is called the Pantheon." Giorno said as they arrived on a monument. "Wow! It looks like one of those abandoned castles we saw on the way to Haven." she muttered.
Giorno parked the car. "Oh umm..." she started. "We're going out. I'm guessing you'd love to take a picture as a souvenir." the blonde boy proposed.
She snickered "You guessed right."
They inspected the beautiful buildings around, noticing that there are stalls that sell food to the tourists and people who will offer to take a picture.
"Be on your guard, Ruby. Italy was quite known for pickpocketers." Giorno reminded her. "Yeah, I literally experienced it yesterday, no need to tell me, Giorno." she waved off casually.
Giorno rolled his eyes and revealed that he had her scroll.
"HEY WHEN- WHAT?"
"I told you, be on your guard."
"You never told me you're one of them!"
"All's fair in terms of survival. Here." he handed it back to her.
Giorno then told her about the Pantheon's history, being intact for two centuries, surviving a fire and being regulated by Popes.
"What's a pope?" she asked.
"The highest position one can achieve on a church in Christianity, something like that." he shrugged, not really interested on that.
"So like an ultra mega priest?"
"Y-Yeah..."
...
"Hehe! My bestfriend Weiss was a sucker when it comes to bizarre architectures like these, she's gonna be so, so jealous." Ruby giggled as she browsed photos of her smiling around the Pantheon.
Giorno simply smiled as they drove towards the next destination.
*snap*
He heard a sound of something being photographed, Giorno turned towards her to realize that she just took a photo of his face. "Hey what gives? I wasn't ready." he complained calmly.
"It's not fair that you don't have any pictures so I thought you'd appreciate it." Ruby shrugged. 'He looks so photogenic...'
"I live here, no need for me to get any souvenirs. So please dispose of the picture." Giorno said.
"But... It's not for you, it's for me." Ruby squeaked.
It was silent, with only the sound of the car engine rumbling.
'Ah gosh why did I have to say that, I could've just lied.'
'That was oddly sweet.'
Ruby lets out an audible gulp and decided to break the ice "I uhh- where are we going- do you have any snacks?!" she couldn't decide whether to ask for food or where they are heading next.
"I think I have biscuits on the backseat." Giorno used Gold Experience Requiem to grab the snack. It had a blue wrapper and was quite lengthy.
"You'll love this one." Ruby heard a disembodied voice.
"Mr. Stand! Don't scare me like that... Wait a minute... Is this what I think this is?" she asked. "Yes. Cookies." Giorno hummed as he took a left turn.
Ruby opened the wrapper and inspected the biscuit, it had creamy filling sandwiched between two dark circles.
She cautiously took a bite.
...
"Mamma mia, calm down, it's just Oreo, anyways, here we are." Giorno parked in front of the Colosseum.
"W-Woah..." she said with total awe as she inspected the place. "I'll show you the interior."
Entering the place, it was like in one of those gladiator arena that were shown in one of those action films Yang loves to watch. Weiss complained that it was barbaric, Blake complimented the swordplay shown and Yang just loves it because of the muscly men fighting.
Giorno explained on how the arena was used for shows that exposes brutality, valor and glory. Ruby mentioned that she was familiar with it but she couldn't believe that it actually exists... On another world.
"The funny thing is... Here is where I achieved my dream." Giorno said with a heartfelt smile.
Ruby simply looked at him, urging him to continue.
"I'll leave the rest to you, Giorno. Let me wager on your golden dream."
"Just about 20 meters from this spot is where I dethroned a tyrant. Willing to kill his own daughter to protect his identity." he started walking around the silent building, Ruby silently followed him.
"I've lost 3 good men pursuing him. I guess what they say is true: When you're going to dispose of someone, there was always the possibility that... You'll end up being the one getting disposed of." Giorno turned to stare at her. Ruby didn't know what to say, so all she could offer was a hand to his shoulder.
"Sorry, I was just rambling." he averted his gaze, realizing they were in the spot where Narancia took his eternal sleep.
"You're a hero." was all she could say. "Pardon?"
"I-It means what it means, okay?! Hold your head up high, the notorious drug killer shouldn't be looking down!" she said in a poor attempt to cheer him up. Somehow, it worked.
"Whatever you say, boss." he teased.
"Don't boss me, you're the boss here..." she grumbled. "Let's just take your picture and get this over with." Giorno said.
"Only if you're willing to join me on the frame." Ruby stuck her tongue out.
"How is that possible?" he asked with sincere curiosity.
Ruby groaned, it feels like she was trying to teach her father how to use the computer once again.
"It's called a selfie, old man! Watch."
...
After having lunch at a nearby fastfood, Giorno received a call.
They were outside the car on the parking lot.
"Ciao." Giorno greeted on the phone.
Ruby sipped on her softdrinks carefully as she noticed a stationary car with a running engine a few blocks away. She squinted carefully and saw that the people inside are- you guessed it- wearing dark blue suits.
"I'm surprised you're here and all but-"
"No buts! Giorno! I want to meet her! So please come to my gig tonight, okay?"
"Alright, Trish. Pushy as always." Giorno chuckled before ending the call. He was glad that Trish finally got over her fragile confidence a few years ago and pursue a career in music.
'Mista sure did spread the false news quite fast, damn him.'
He could only shook his head at what Trish has in store for Ruby. "I think today's tour ends now. Don't worry, we'll have more places to go to tomorrow." Giorno said as he opened the door. "Right..." Ruby got inside the passenger seat.
Giorno noticed her unenthusiasm "Is there something wrong?"
"Nothing! Nothing... I just... Wanna ask if we can buy some Oreos before going back to the hotel." Ruby timidly asked. Giorno scoffed but can't deny that he finds it funny "Of course, of course. Quite understandable."
"I can't help it, I have Oreoporosis."
Another awkward silence commenced while Ruby internally cursed herself for taking a page out of Yang and her shitty puns.