Chapter Text
It was one of those days where Giorno’s mother, If you could even call her that, pretended to be a mother for the day. To be honest, it was more to flaunt at the other moms on how successful and “happy” her life was with her new husband. Giorno knew all this was just one of those rare formalites his mother did. Once she had her fill of “motherhood”, she’ll just drop him again and forget about him for another 8 years. He just wished for once it could be real. Even, if it was for only a second.
That was, until she saw him.
The man with the golden hair.
He was idling around the outside of a recently leased building, sitting cross-legged on top of one of the many boxes littering the outside of the building. His attention was fully absorbed into his phone until Giorno’s mother called out to him.
“Dio!”
She immediately dropped Giorno’s hand and ran over to him, leaving her son once again. Giorno stood there, shifting on his feet, watching as she got further away. The warmth on his hand had long since faded. Giorno wasn’t sure if it was even there to begin with.
The blonde man snapped his gaze away from his phone in confusion. As she made her way to him, familiarity flashed in the man’s eyes and his lips slowly curled into a smile. The two conversed for a while and Giorno caught the man stealing a few glances at him. Before long, the man pointed at him and his mother hardly gave a glance back as she replied. The man looked surprised for a second before that smile quickly appeared back on his face. They chatted a bit more before his mother made her way back to Giorno, now at the side of the tall blonde man.
“Here he is. Your son, Haruno.”
Your son?
Giorno’s eyes widened, looking back up at the man presumed to be his father. The more he looked, the less convinced Giorno was. ‘How could this man be my father? He hardly looked anything like me!’ But then, Giorno saw it.
His eyes.
Those golden, shining eyes. It was captivating and eerily similar to Giorno’s own.
“Come, now! Let’s go catch up with each other over some coffee.” His mother said, leading the man over to the cafe.
It took a moment before Giorno realized he needed to follow them or risk being lost on the street. His little feet sped off, rapidly tapping against the sidewalk to catch up with his parents.
The pair of adults chattered away to catch up on each other’s lives leaving Giorno to his own devices. Giorno decided to use his time to examine his long lost father. Dio, from what Giorno observed, seemed almost bored.
Actually, strike that.
He was definitely bored. He had been casually answering his mother’s questions with little detail, instead feigning interest in what she was doing and how her life has been. Giorno learned, from what little the man provided, that he was a lawyer and staying in Italy for a few weeks. It took a moment of watching before Giorno could see the heavy disinterest in his eyes.
But, his mother just kept talking away. She seemed to not pick up on any sign that he was completely over this conversation and excitedly went into detail about how great of a time she had with her friends out or how she met her new husband and offhandedly mentioning she wouldn’t mind if Dio took her back.
Although Dio held no interest in her, he still listened to every detail of what she said and responded accordingly. It was as if he was looking for something. Giorno wasn’t sure what he was looking for. As time passed, Dio grew more and more tense, tapping his finger on the table occasionally. Finally, he interrupted her.
“And what about your son?”
She stopped, confused. “What about him?”
“What have you two done together? Any fun plans?”
She nervously laughed, “O-oh. Nothing really, he tends to keep to himself.”
“What does he do?”
“He tends to go outside a lot and play with his friends. Ah! That’s right! I saw him playing with the other kids just the other day! They seemed to be having fun.”
Giorno took an interest in studying his fists that sat on his lap. That actually happened just a month ago. There was no way it could have looked like playing. He was being ganged up on with a wooden board and 6 older kids. He came home limping that afternoon and his stepfather decided to add onto the bruises while his mother was out.
“What about birthdays?” Dio asked. “Surely, there was something you did together.”
“Uh-um, He doesn’t like to make a fuss on his birthday.”
The tapping was quicker, now at every other minute.
“How old is he anyway?”
“I think he’s just about to turn 10-”
“You think?” There was slight hostility in his voice as his eyes narrowed slightly. “He is your son, no? Do you even know when his birthday is?”
“I-i do! It’s just that-”
Dio clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. His face was obviously displeased now in fact, he was clearly angered by something Giorno couldn’t put his finger on.
“When was the last time you sat down with your son and got to know him? When was the last time you even interacted with your son for more than a few mere minutes? It seems to me like you don’t know a damn thing about your son at all.”
She sputtered, rapidly trying to think of a way to defend herself. But, he continued,
“Everything you’ve told me just now, none of that ever fucking mentioned him. Not. Even. Once.” He stood up, putting on his best lawyer face. “I’m afraid you aren’t suited to raise him, let alone be a mother.”
Dio turned his piercing gaze to Giorno, who was now looking back up at him. His eyes were commanding and shined fiercely. “Come.”
“Since she isn’t fit to be a parent, I shall take that roll.” And with that, he turned and walked toward the exit.
Giorno was dumbfounded.
He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He hardly registered his mother crying out to Dio, begging him to come back.
But, what he couldn’t believe even more was that his own two feet had got up and followed the blonde man out the door. Giorno didn’t look back.
Not even once.