Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was hard to adjust to, at first. With the new baby waking up at god knows what time in the morning it was hard to get any sleep, and Leone’s new job at the restaurant took up most of their time so Bruno was mostly alone with the baby all day until they came home. Occasionally they would take earlier shifts and come home early, much to Bruno’s relief.

Unfortunately today was not one of those days, so Bruno was here as usual waiting for the latest customer to return where he worked at his late father’s boat rental.

Adjusting Stella on his hip, he starts to close up the shop. It’s already so late, I’m gonna have to put her to bed as soon as we’re home. 9pm is way too late for a baby, evident by the fact she’s already fallen asleep on Bruno’s shoulder. He kisses her little head and tries not to disturb her as he flips the ‘We’re open!’ board around on the front door. As he stands outside he sees the forementioned customer dock and load his cargo into his huge truck, agonisingly slow.

“Hey Risotto, think you can speed things up?” he chuckles at his most loyal customer as he walks over to him, since he first started working here 70% of his rentals are made by Risotto. Not that he minded of course, it meant more money and the more money, the happier the baby will be.

“S’rry dude. I’ll hurry. Wouldn’t want to worry ya, busy an’ all.” He eyes Stella, still asleep on Bruno. It’s a miracle she hasn’t woken up yet, “Apologies for docking in so late, I fell asleep waiting for the fuckin’ fish.”

Even though she sees him on a near daily basis, Stella’s pretty shy around him and will start sobbing if he’s around too long. Bruno doesn’t know whether it’s a baby thing or a Risotto thing. He does have an unsettling air to him, mostly because of his eyes. You could tell he was a man who had seen a lot, and there was rumors that he had been apart of a mafia gang before he became a fisherman. I wonder if he was like me, in Passione? God knows how many gangs there are in the holy city of Naples, it could’ve been any of them, but there was something so similar about him to Bruno.

He never wanted to think about it too much for too long.

It has been several years since the incident, 5 years exactly. It had been hard to forget. I don’t think I could forget about something like that. Even looking at the color red too much makes me sick. Sometimes he thinks too much about it, he admits. The day they’d found Leone on the beach, his guts mostly ripped out as he struggled to speak. He remembers telling Leone to breathe, to not look down, to focus on him, to ignore the pain. Luckily Giorno’s Gold Experience had healed him of most of the damage, but it had still left a huge scar across his entire abdomen. I thought I had lost him. He shakes his head to clear his mind. It’s over. It only haunts his dreams now. I have better things to worry about, in the present.

As Risotto packs the last of his cargo onto his truck and ties up the boat properly, he looks at Bruno and waves as he drives off. Bruno goes back inside to get his keys and makes sure all the windows are closed and locks his door twice. Then goes to his car and opens the backseat to put Stella down.

As he closes the car door as quietly as physically possible he remembers to check that the boats are all secure and the gate is closed. Not like anyone’s out here stealing boats, but it’s better safe than sorry. You pick up weird habits after the years. Like looking behind you so no one’s watching every time you lock something then locking it again to make sure it’s locked.

He tries not to think about his past as he drives home and starts instead thinking about what to make for dinner.

Maybe Leone has already started? No… They weren’t supposed to come home yet. They’ll be back soon. Maybe I’ll make some pizza, Leone’s favourite. They’ve been tired lately, both of them have been.

Maybe he could just put Stella to bed and fall asleep on the couch? His stomach rumbles and he grips the steering wheel. I’m so tired though. Maybe I can wait for them to come home and they could make something? They’ll be mad if I skip another meal. Fine, I’ll make pasta or something easy.

Much like routine, with Stella in his arms he closes the car door with his hip and locks it with his keys. As he enters he checks the mailbox as he always does, to find it empty. Nothing? Not even an annoying advertisement for those baby clothes I ordered ages ago? He sighs as he untenses his shoulders. I can sit down once I get in, then I can relax.

As he puts the key in the lock, it pushes itself open. Did I forget to lock it? I’m sure I locked it. Has it been open all day? Oh god, I-

The door opens, and he’s greeted by a very familiar person.

“Hey, Mama.”

Leone looks… dressed up? He hadn’t seen them at all this morning, not even when they usually give him a morning kiss before work, but maybe he had slept through the whole thing. But now they're in front of him, in a tucked polo shirt and Bruno's jeans, looking like they're going out for a date.

“What are you doing here? I thought you finished at 10!” Bruno whisper-shouts as Leone takes Stella from him and he feels 2 pounds lighter.

The lights are dimmed, and the oven is on and there’s obviously something cooking. He can see the kitchen table has been set, with candles on each side, the tissues have even been folded neatly around the cutlery next to the empty space meant for the plates. What is all this?

“I got someone to cover for me, anyway…“ They pull Stella closer so her head’s tucked under their chin, “I’ll go put the baby to bed. Please sit down. It’s been a while since we’ve had some time together, humor me.”

Bruno can only stare in stunned silence. Leone really went through all the trouble? I know they’ve noticed how tired I’ve been lately, but so are they, so I never expected them to do things in advance for both of us. He sits down at the table and feels immensely much more comfortable now he can stretch his legs. Leone been home early explains the letterbox being empty, and the door unlocked- he should lock that now.

Taking the opportunity to look around, he notices Leone’s work clothes over the couch, and… a flower pot? It has pretty pink flowers in it. What were they called? Where did he even get something like this? The gardening shop is out of town- did they drive out of town to buy these? Did they do that this morning?

“Azaleas.” Leone is leaning against the doorframe to the hallway now, looking directly at Bruno. “It means to take care of yourself. It can also mean passionate love, or an abundance of wealth, whichever you prefer, but I think they’re all relevant right now.” They chuckle and gesture to the seat opposite their side of the table, “I thought we could use another addition.”

“Is it not crowded enough in here?” he snorts. Leone, buying flowers with sappy meanings, what’s gotten into them? He thinks as he sits down. Not that I’m complaining. Not at all. Leone goes to check on the food, and seeing it’s done, takes it out and starts serving. It's a Margherita pizza, Leone's favourite, with one side covered in mushrooms just for Bruno. 

“Thank you for the flowers.” He can’t help but smile as he immediately grabs a slice while Leone cuts the entire pizza, “What’s the occasion? What’s all this for?”

“Am I not allowed to treat my lovely husband once in a while?” they scoff, but they aren’t offended, “I know you’ve been really tired recently, with the baby and everything, so I wanted to make sure you had someone take care of you.”

“You always take care of me, even when I’m not here, dear.”

“Physically-“ they wiggle their eyebrows, “I wanted to treat you. It’s the weekend now and I thought we could do something nice.”

“The weekend?” sneaky euphemism aside, “Do you have anything else planned? Should I start packing?” I’d love to go on a trip, but there’s only so many places you can go with a little 1 year old baby. “Do we need a babysitter?”

“No- Listen.” They pour some white wine for both of them and sit down. “Tuck in, mio amore. You wouldn’t guess who texted me with what this morning. Mista told me the rest of the gang is free this weekend and he suggested that we could go to the beach or something, you know, to meet Stella.”

“You don’t look very pleased with this idea, Leone.” He stops chewing to look at them, they’ve got a sour look on their face, like they’d rather not do anything at all.

“You know I’m not that fond of them.”

“Don’t be silly Leone, you love them. I’ve seen you sharing your headphones with Narancia, playing chess with Fugo and-“

“Okay fine I love the little shits.” They grin into their glass of wine, “But I don’t trust Mista or Narancia around Stella, they’re bad influences.”

“Mista is great with kids! And so is Narancia! Fugo is a bit awkward but I’m sure he’ll be fine around her. Giorno…could be better.”

“Fine, you’re right, but I do want a little alone time.” They pout, and Bruno takes their hand in his. “And I also don’t want our kid to grow up listening to that shit Nara listens to.”

“You love a little Snoop Dog.”

“LISTEN.”

“A beach day sounds lovely, dear. It’ll be fun, we’ll make a day of it. Stella will love it. She’s never been to the beach before and we both need a break.” He’s grinning despite his exhaustion, I really needed this.

“I’ll let Mista know. Was the pizza nice? It’s my grandmother recipe.” They say proudly.

“It was really fucking good, Leone. You know I love your cooking.” He’s using his hands to eat now. Even though Bruno spent most of his childhood alone at home, he had to admit he’s not a very good cook. Most of what he ate was ready meals and takeaways.

Leone however is amazing at cooking and makes most of the food they eat whenever they’re not working. The eggs and bacon they make every Saturday morning is something Bruno looks forward to every single weekend. He wipes his mouth with the napkin as Leone gets up from their seat.

“Where are you going?” Bruno watches them.

They go into the hallway and there’s the sound of their bedroom door being opened. When they return they are holding the CD player like it weighs nothing and set it down on the kitchen counter, then they retreat to the bedroom again and come out with a CD case. Before Bruno can read it, Leone takes it out, puts it in and walks over to him.

They extend their hand.

They’re holding a flower.

“Viscaria.”

Bruno looks up.

“Will you dance with me?”

“You know I can’t dance, my dear.”

Leone puts the flower behind Bruno’s ear and the other arm snakes around his waist, bringing him closer. Leone starts swaying and twists, bringing him with them. “Just follow my lead.”

Their eyes stay glued to Bruno as they both sway to the music, it’s an Italian song about love but he doesn’t stay and listen, just tries not to step on Leone’s feet. The look on both their faces is like something from a romance movie. We both needed this, I think.

“I didn’t know you could dance. Is there something you’re not telling me, Leo?” at the rare nickname, they sober up a little and grin.

“I may have taken a class or two. You know, after the tragedy that was our wedding dance.” Bruno chuckles, it was terrible, they both had no idea what they were doing. At some point there was pain. They still have photos somewhere.

“You got blood all over my white suit.” Bruno’s grinning big, careful, you’ll be stuck like that, “Mista busted a lung laughing.”

“Did you see the selfie he took with me after he took me in the bathroom to clean up? Fuckin’ bastard.” They’re both smiling now, “I wouldn’t change it for the world though.”

“You big sap.” He tilts his head up to kiss them, just a small little peck, but Leone catches his lips before he can disconnect. They’ve stopped dancing now, both giggling between kisses and not paying attention to the song. He's snickering like a schoolgirl. “I love you.”

Leone looks starstruck like this is new information to them, then without warning they grab Bruno and starts kissing him furiously.

“Leo! Please! You’ll make me scream!” he can’t contain himself as he starts laughing, loud enough for the entire country of Italy to hear. “Basta, amore mio!”

Then before it can go any further, the baby starts crying.

“Great.” Leone’s still smiling smugly, “You woke the baby!”

“Oh I woke the baby, you were attacking me!” he wriggles out of Leone’s grasp and starts to head for their bedroom, not before kissing them quickly on the cheek.

“I can agree that we’re both at fault here.” They mumble, as they follow him.