Work Text:
It all started when the new guy started working here.
“Everyone,” The manager said in their fake nice voice, “This is Giovanna Giorno. He’ll be working with you guys from here on out.”
The new guy did a slight bow, his braid shifting behind him. He looked like he was still prepared for summer instead of the sudden late August cold drifting through the air. In somewhat broken Japanese with a completely different accent, he said, “It is a ple-a-sure to be in your care.”
And with that, they got to work.
---
Of course, there were rumors. Three of the five girls working there on shift had already developed a crush on him, and they loved to chat any moment they could. They were an annoyance, but listening to them gossip about their families helped pass the time during the slower hours.
They thought that, maybe, with his golden hair and elegant way of standing, that maybe he was a runaway prince from a faraway land. Or, with his Italian name and accent, that perhaps he was part of the mafia. Because wouldn’t it be cool, if this beautiful and muscular man was also deadly? But those were just rumors, and even more so, evidence that those three were spending way too much time on booktok.
---
Mafuyu never mentioned it to Giorno (he insisted everyone called him by his first name. That was what he was used to, after all), but she actually knows Italian. Yes, she’s still learning and probably butchers a lot of the language, but she can write down paragraphs with the language and can understand it spoken when said slow enough.
She’s heard him talk to himself a little bit, but she’s only been able to pick up a few words here and there of what he says. Apart from the names of foods in his native language, she’s heard him say the words “relaxing” and “vacation”. With those tiny bits of clues she had, Mafuyu guessed that perhaps he intended on taking a trip to Japan and got stranded, having to find a job for himself.
But it isn’t her problem, so there’s no use caring.
---
“Giorno Giovanna! I know you’re in here!” A strange man yelled in Italian only a few days after Giorno first started working here. Mafuyu was working cashier at the moment, having wanted a small break from the frier. She worried that perhaps he was a mobster, chasing him here after an unpaid debt, or something like that.
Much to her surprise, Giorno actually came out to the front. He had a look of recognition and wasn’t fearful, so maybe things won’t work out badly. Behind him, the other employees were trying their best to not get caught watching. Evidently, they weren’t trying hard enough.
“Nice to see you here, Fugo. Are you ready to order?” Giorno gave him an innocent smile, but she could tell that he was ever so slightly smug about it.
“Don’t tell me that! What the ???? are you doing in Japan?” There was a word she didn’t understand, but in the context of it all, she assumed it to be a cuss word.
“I simply thought it would be nice for me to go on a little vacation. You’ve been talking to me about it, and I thought this place is nice enough.”
“You took a vacation from work only to still work? And at a McDonalds of all places? There’s McDonalds back in Italy! You could have even opened up your own restaurant! You didn’t even tell us you were leaving!”
“I left a note.”
“Yeah, one that took us an entire day to find by accident. You can’t just leave like that! Italy needs you. I need you!”
“I left everything you need to know about running Passione back in by desk. I have enough trust in you to keep the country running while I am gone. I can trust you, yes?”
The man, still visibly frustrated, sighed and turned towards Mafuyu. In perfect Japanese, he said, “I’m very sorry about that, ma’am. Could I order a small fry and a strawberry milkshake?”
Mafuyu punched in the order. This isn’t her problem.
---
She looked up Passione later and found that the rumors and little bits of confirmed information supported her theory about her new coworker.
Not every Italian is in the mafia, but these ones are, and Giorno is the boss.
This isn’t her problem.
---
The albino man wearing the red suit with holes in it that yelled at Giorno stayed around for a couple of days. She could tell that Giorno was happy about it, with how he sometimes hummed to himself or mentioned the guy’s name a few times in a positive light. He also mentioned the word that translated to “pudding” occasionally when he talked to himself. It was a bit odd, but perhaps it was the hole guy’s favorite food. Or maybe a nickname.
But after a few days the man stopped showing up to order food, and they both realize that he must have gone back to Italy.
---
Sometimes, Mafuyu wonders what the boss of the Italian Mafia is doing working at a McDonalds in Tokyo. All he ever does is work, never taking the time to even have a break aside from lunch. And even then, he rushes to get back to work as soon as he can.
At this rate, Mafuyu is starting to think he’s a workaholic.
He’s the first one there in the morning shift, and the last one there in the closing shift. Mafuyu can work either because she doesn’t have a sleep schedule, and she’s starting to think Giorno doesn’t either.
But that’s his life, not hers, so she shouldn’t care.
---
There’s been a guy in a fancy black suit coming in for the last four days. He doesn’t order anything and likes to stay for Mafuyu’s entire shift. Or rather, Giorno’s.
She promised herself to not get involved with any of his mafia business, but if that one guy with the wacky hole suit was part of Giorno’s gang, then chances are, everyone else involved looks just as weird.
With that, the next time they happened to work the registers together, she grabbed a napkin and a pen and wrote “I think that man in the black suit is watching you. Bad vibes.”
He read the message and nodded. He then left to tell the manager he was leaving early for the day.
Mafuyu never saw that man again.
---
“Thank yesterday you for telling me.” Giorno said. He gave a small bow, just like when they first met.
Mafuyu internally cringed. His Japanese was good, but he sometimes mixed up the order of words. That was the trickiest part when she was still learning English (other than the main mind-boggling things about the language), and it’s still a problem she has while trying to learn Italian.
“You’re welcome.”
“Why did you tell me?”
You’re one of the more bearable people to work with, Mafuyu wanted to say. Instead, she said, “He seemed suspicious, and you could probably deal with him better than me.”
Giorno hummed.
He wasn’t her problem, but Mafuyu didn’t want to see one of her preferred coworkers behind bars. Or worse.
---
It’s almost 10am on a Thursday morning, and Giorno just turned a pen into a worm. It happened with a golden glow, and with the way he was spinning it before, it was probably by accident.
She likes worms, yes, but it just transformed in front of her eyes.
Giorno looked down, mostly unsurprised, and turned it back into a pen. He then looked up at her.
“I saw nothing.” She said in assurance.
He nodded.
It’s not her problem, but Giorno being a mafia boss despite their similar age is starting to make a lot more sense.
---
It’s only when that one guy Giorno knows (now wearing an green suit with even more holes) came back that Mafuyu decides that it would be a good idea to tell him she knows Italian.
She doesn’t catch every word they say, but now that hole guy isn’t angry anymore, they’ve been flirting. A lot.
She learns that his name is Fugo from how often Giorno says it, but he calls him Pannacotta (pudding) and only Panna enough that Mafuyu thinks it might actually be his name. And if that is the case, then that’s kinda unfortunate.
She rehearses what she’s going to say in her head, because she only gets one shot at this, and it might as well be conjugated correctly.
“Can you two stop.”
The two immediately whipped their heads around to her. Giorno looked mildly horrified, while Fugo just looked embarrassed.
“You know Italian?” Giorno asked, panicked.
“Yes. I know what you say. I am not fluent.” Hopefully the message gets across.
“Never speak of this to anyone.”
“I will never.” Mafuyu must have said that wrong, because Giorno looked angry. “I’m not going to tell anyone.” She spoke again in Japanese.
Fugo tells Giorno the correct sentence. Mafuyu sighs in relief as he realizes what she meant.
They then started flirting in English.
“I know English too.” Their faces of surprise were interesting to see.
---
“Do you know anything of my other job?” Giorno asks.
“Yes.”
“Have you told anyone?”
“No.”
The next day, Mafuyu received a raise from the manager. No other words were exchanged.
---
“I have a proposal.” Giorno said one day when they were both forced to take a break in the break room.
Mafuyu put down her phone. “Yes?”
“You know some Italian. I know some Japanese. We should help each other.”
That was actually a really good idea. Mafuyu would benefit from speaking to someone fluent in Italian, and Giorno would finally stop butchering words. “I like that idea. We should do that.”
Giorno grinned and stook out his hand.
Mafuyu shook it.
---
Mafuyu isn't sure how it took this long to realize that the manager likes paring the two together. Giorno has been working here for a month and a half now, and the only times they haven’t had the same shifts was before the incident with that suspicions man in the black suit.
So, she asked the manager about it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t because of any personal agenda they had, but because Giorno requested it.
And with that information, Mafuyu asked for a more consistent shift schedule next time they were arranged.
---
“Are you night sleeper or day sleeper?” Mafuyu asked Giorno during a slower time.
He thought for a moment “It’s pronounced more like “Are you a morning bird or night owl.” Try that.”
Mafuyu did. “So, which are you?”
“Night owl. And you?”
“A night owl as well.”
---
After a few days of only working the night shift with Giorno, the other night shift people thought they were friends with the two. And with that, the questions came. They were mostly dumb and Mafuyu ignored them, but they were amusing when they had nothing else to do.
“Here’s a question.” One of her coworkers, the question asker, said. “Do you guys think vampires are real?” Halloween was next week, so most of his questions have been about the supernatural.
Most of the people said no, with one exception said no. Mafuyu said no as well, but wouldn’t be too surprised if they were.
“So, what do you think?” The guy asks Giorno.
Giorno smirks, as if he’s been waiting to answer all night. “Well, as a vampire myself, I would say we are very much real.” He widened his smile, revealing pearly whites with two long, sharp teeth that hadn’t been there minutes ago.
Obviously, everyone goes crazy.
There’s a lot of yelling and even louder questioning if he was telling the truth. It was annoying, but Mafuyu couldn’t help to admit that the situation was hilarious.
Eventually, things quieted down and they had to finish closing up.
“Well, are you?” She asked Giorno.
“Hm?”
“Are you a...vampire? What’s the word?”
“Vampiro. My father was one, so by extension, I am as well. Although, I have none of the traits other than the teeth. I did get sunburnt a lot as a child, though.”
Huh. Guess you learn something new every day.
---
“Do you have any experience with the...magical? Is that the right word?” Giorno asked. He was working the fryer, while Mafuyu was on burger duty.
“I think so. But not what you know of.”
“Please tell me. I want to know.”
Mafuyu thought about her experiences for what was probably the first time in years. “It was called Sekai. Not world, it was named Sekai. It was a pocket dimension made from music and feelings. It eventually got a lake. I miss it.”
Giorno frowned. “Did something happen for Sekai?
She corrected his mistake. “It went away one day. My feelings evolved, and so I didn’t need it anymore.”
“That’s unfortunate. I hope your feelings are good now.”
“They are.”
---
“Mafuyu, is that you!” A way too excited voice asked.
Mafuyu sighed from behind the cash register. She could recognize that voice anywhere.
“Mizuki. Hi Ena, how are you doing tonight?”
“Don’t ignore me! Jeez, is this how you treat all your friends?”
“No, just you. Are you going to order?” Mafuyu didn’t even need to say that; she already had a large fry and soft drink typed into the system.
Mizuki said exactly as she predicted, and Ena asked for nuggets.
She gave them the soft drink cup and watched as one filled while the other grabbed two straws.
They found a table near the front, but Mizuki immediately popped back up and slid back over to Mafuyu.
“Sooo, where is he?” Mizuki asked with a plan on their face.
“Where’s who?”
“You know...that guy you sometimes talking about! The one you speak Italian with!”
Of course they would want to meet him. “In the back. I’m not letting you talk to him. And can you please quiet down.”
Unfortunately, it was at this moment that Giorno decided to check on her. “Mafuyu? Is something wrong?”
“No, just friends being annoying.”
Mizuki gasped. “You’re that guy Mafuyu talks about!”
Giorno fully walked out from behind the wall.
“Woah. WOAH! Mafuyu, you never told me how tall this guy is! He’s, like, 30 centimeters taller than Rui! That makes this guy 230 centimeters. And his muscles! He could probably crush a watermelon with his hands! Wait, can you cru-”
“That’s enough out of you.” Ena said. She must have walked up when she was distracted. She dragged them back to the table. And when their food came out a minute later, she forced Mizuki to stay seated when she grabbed it.
---
“You have interesting friends, Mafuyu.”
“More like annoying friends.”
“Yes, it’s just...”
“Is something wrong?” He sounded somewhat sad.
“I think I’m starting to miss my friends. Being with you is nice and all, but I’m starting to think I want to go back to Italy soon.”
So that’s what this is about. She was wondering about that. “I think that makes sense. I get it. It would be good for you.”
“Yes, but I don’t want you leave you, or leave here. I like the time we spend together. I fear I might start missing this place as well.”
“We work in a McDonalds; I don’t think there’s much to miss. But I like talking to you as well.”
---
“Hey Giorno.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve been wondering, what caused you to come to Japan in the first place?”
“Panna told me...wait, do you remember Panna? He was the guy with white hair that visited me a couple of times.”
“The guy with all the holes in his suits?” Mafuyu hadn’t forgotten about that, because his name or nickname or whatever means pudding.
Giorno let out a small laugh. “Yes. Him. Well, he said that I was too focused on paperwork to do anything else in my life. And when it wasn’t paperwork, it was meetings or new policies. So, I decided to listen to what he said and come down here for a few months. That reminds me, do you still remember what my other job is?”
“How could I not. You’re the boss of...I forgot. A gang.” She switched over to Italian for privacy purposes.
“Passione. Also, I prefer to be called Don and not boss. Just so you know.”
“Is there a difference?”
“No not really. I just like the name more.”
---
“You never said why you came to Japan specifically?”
“I didn’t? It must have slipped my mind. My mother was Japanese, and I spend the first few years of my life here, so I figured that it might be a nice idea to connect with that side of me.”
“You’re Japanese?”
“Yeah. I get that question a lot, just so you know. My father was apparently British, and his side of the family has much stronger genetics.”
“Your father...the vampire?”
“Yes, the vampire. But he stole the body of his adopted brother, so it is more so the brother’s genes that are so strong.”
“Hm. Anything about your mother?”
“I think she was arrested at some point for drug abuse. Unfortunate, but she deserved it.”
Mafuyu wasn’t sure how to tell him that she had a bad mother as well, so she just ended up keeping her mouth closed about it.
---
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Why did you decide to learn Italian?” Giorno asked.
“I realized that I had nothing left to learn about the English language, so I decided to learn a new one.”
“But why Italian specifically?”
“I asked my friend Mizuki, the annoying one from before, to make a spinner of a bunch of languages. Italian was the one it landed on.”
Mafuyu purposefully decided to leave out the part that she felt the itch to learn because it had been drilled into her since childhood. But, yet again, she kept her mouth closed.
---
“I’ve been thinking of going back home between Christmas and New Years.” Giorno suddenly said two weeks away from Christmas.
“Oh.” Mafuyu thinks she might be disappointed. “And why is that?”
“Well, I think it would be nice to experience Christmas here in Tokyo, but I’m sure that my friends wouldn’t want to wait a year to see me.” He let out a small laugh at his own joke. “We also like to throw a party for the occasion, and I’m sure that chaos would arise if I wasn’t there, or if we didn’t host one at all.”
Mafuyu can respect that. He is an important figurehead, after all.
---
"My mother wasn't that great either, just so you know."
"Oh. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. I just felt like you should know."
She hoped that Giorno realized her intention for saying that.
---
It’s a week before Christmas when Mafuyu asks him. “My friends and I are planning a little Christmas party. Would you like to come?”
His eyes lit up like Christmas came early. “Yes. I would like that very much. How many people will there be?”
“Twenty including me, but everyone’s allowed to bring a friend, so it might be more.”
“Is your annoying friend going to be there?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Good. Now please, give me the details.”
---
“Is it okay if I bring Fugo?
“I heard that one guest is bringing another guest, so it should be.”
---
“I got confirmation that he can come.”
“Thanks”
---
Mafuyu awkwardly stood by the door, waiting for Giorno to arrive. Thankfully, she wasn’t the only one with this idea, as Shiho, Akito, and Rui were also waiting for their guest at the door. Emu’s guest and the guest’s guest were already here, and no one else brought one.
Rui’s guest soon came, some guys even more interested in purple than Rui was with the name Hamato Donatello, but “Please call me Donny”. And Shiho’s guest, Takage Miu with a grey bob, came in soon afterwards.
Mafuyu wasn’t exactly worried, but she did wonder if something happened to him. But a few other people were running late, and Akito’s guest wasn’t here yet, so it’s fine.
---
Giorno and Akito’s guest arrived at the same time.
“Sorry I am late.” Giorno said. “I got, as you would say, lost in the neighborhood.”
“It’s fine. It’s nice to see you too, Fugo.” Mafuyu stuck out her hand. He shook it.
“Likewise. By the way, what is your name? I don’t think I ever caught it.”
“Asahina Mafuyu. What’s your full name? I don’t think I got it either.”
“Fugo Pannacotta.”
Well that solves the name question. Why would his parents name him pudding though?
Eh, whatever. Not her problem.
---
Mizuki bounced up to the group. “Hey Mafuyu! Italian guy’s here too! By the way, what’s your name? Mafuyu refused to tell me.”
Fugo started to say something about not giving out his name, but Giorno interrupted him saying, “My name is Giovanna Giorno, but you can call me Giorno.”
“Cool! And what’s your boyfriend’s name?” Mizuki looked at Fugo. He sputtered and tried to deny it.
“Ah, sorry, looks like I assumed wrong.” Mizuki’s toe was more normal and even a bit serious. “But no one here is going to judge you if you are. I mean, I’m pretty sure everyone here is queer in some way.”
“Ah.” Said Giorno. “In that case, this is my boyfriend Fugo. He’s...not the best with people.”
“I am perfectly fine with people!”
---
The three of them went to the dining room to grab some snacks.
“I’ve been wondering, how is the party here?” Giorno said, referring to the fact that they were partying on the first floor of a mansion.
“It’s one that Emu’s family owns. Her family is wealthy, as in, someone in her family owns an airline wealthy. She’s the host, so that’s why we’re here.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
Fugo took a sip of eggnog he had gotten an immediately spit it back out. “That thing is spiked! Why did someone do that?”
Mafuyu sighed. Unfortunately rehearsed, she said “That was Emu. She did that last year as well. I was hoping she wouldn’t do it again this year. Sorry for not warning you in advance. Everything else should hopefully be safe, thankfully.”
The two accepted her apology, even though they thought there was nothing to apologize for. They then all grabbed some water instead of the fruit punch, just in case.
---
Mafuyu overheard Rui and his guest whispering about a new invention idea. Something about a toaster with legs. She then realized that they both drank the nog.
Those two are going to be a disaster later.
It’s not her problem, but she doesn’t want him to explode anything this year.
---
Emu finally made her appearance from upstairs, bringing along her two guests along with her.
“Hi Mafuyu! Are those your guests? These are mine! You guys should meet.”
Giorno and one of Emu’s guests stared at each other.
“Josuke? What are you doing here?”
“I’m hanging out with Emu. What are YOU doing here?”
“The same as you, hanging out with Mafuyu.”
“No, but what are you doing in Japan? Aren’t you supposed to be in Italy doing...stuff?”
“Technically, yes, but I needed a vacation and decided to come here. Unfortunately, I am nearing the end of my stay and will be leaving tomorrow.”
Giorno’s leaving tomorrow? She didn't expect this, but she should have. But even so, it feels too soon.
---
“You two know each other?” Emu asked Josuke and Giorno after a bit more conversation.
“We’re distant relatives.” Giorno said.
“It’s best not to question how.” Josuke added. “The family tree gets confusing way too fast.”
With what Mafuyu vaguely knows about Giorno’s father, she trusts him on that.
---
Mafuyu figured that it would be good if Kanade and Giorno met before he leaves.
“Guys, this is Kanade, my roommate. Kanade, this is Giorno, my friend from work, and his boyfriend Fugo.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you. Mafuyu likes talking about you.”
Standing close to each other, Kanade looked like a child and Giorno a giant. But that didn’t really matter. Mafuyu just thought it was an interesting little factoid to mention.
They got along well. Mafuyu was glad.
---
Rui and his guest somehow turned a toaster into a bomb.
She knew that it wasn’t going to kill anyone, that much she was sure on, but a few people would be going to the hospital soon if no one did anything about it.
“Giorno, you know that animal thing you can do?”
“Yes?”
“I think Rui over there, the guy with the purple hair, and his friend somehow made a toaster bomb. Could you...?”
Giorno nodded and walked over to where they were. With the absolute subtly of a duck in a grocery store, he turned it into a pig. She’s not even surprised as it ran away to eat the food people dropped from shock. Although, she never noticed the golden hand being used for Giorno's power before.
Eh, not her problem.
---
“Giorno, did you tell Mafuyu about your stand?” Mafuyu overheard Fugo ask.
“Yes, or at least the main power. I did not see much of a problem with it, and she never told anybody.”
“You don’t know that for certain.”
Mafuyu decided that this was her opportunity to talk. “If I told anyone, you would know, because I would be dead already. Besides, Mizuki hasn’t said anything about it, and if I told anyone they would find out at some point.”
Fugo paused for a second before his anger came back. “Did you tell her about your first job too!”
---
The night eventually came to a close, with Emu happily loving on her new pet pig. Giorno assured that it won’t transform back after he leaves, but if it suddenly does one day, assume he died. Which, that wasn’t fun to hear, but it was nice knowing that it wasn’t going to transform back in a week and explode her.
“So, you’re going back tomorrow?” Mafuyu asked. Their little group was one of the last few people left.
“Sadly, yes. I’m sorry for not notifying you sooner. I wasn’t sure how.”
“It’s alright. I understand.”
“I’ve enjoyed the time we spent together. I will miss it.”
“I’ll miss you too. I hope you have fun back in Italy.”
“And I hope you have fun with your friends without me.”
The conversation grew awkward, as they weren’t sure what to say now. Not even Fugo, who started standing around with them now. Giorno then left for a moment and found a piece of paper he scribbled on with a pen.
He then returned and found the words he wanted to say. “Well, if you ever happen to travel to Italy one day, you should visit me.” He gave her the note. “It’s my personal number, in case you ever want to contact me.”
Mafuyu looked down at it, then back up at him. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Although, I do have one more question.”
“Yes?”
“What are of Italy do you live in?”
Giorno smiled, perhaps remembering home. “Naples.”
Mafuyu might not have thought of any of this as her problem, or thought that she didn’t care at all, but that that wasn’t true at all. Perhaps she did care just a bit too much, and now she got a friend out of it.
Mafuyu smiled. Perhaps she’ll take Giorno up on that offer one day.
This is a problem of hers, after all.