[When Bruno gets up to his room again, there will be a package leaned up against his door, garnished with a card marked TO BRUNO in Giorno’s distinctive hand. The package is wrapped in black and white-striped paper with a neatness that probably indicates the wrapper spent way too much time on it. The contents of the package are likely familiar to Bruno; they’re a reprise of the gift set Giorno gave Bruno last Christmas, their first big holiday together. The package contains: an amber necklace, cool to the touch; a fashionable sweater, made of alpaca wool, soft and loose; homemade potpourri (cedar, cinnamon, jasmine petals, pine shavings); fall leaves, preserved in glass paperweights; spices (freshly-ground ginger, paprika, basil, some Mystery Peppers); dried pumpkins + gourds with ginger and lavender-scented tealights; and a collection of twisting branches, decorated with tiny glowing lights.]
[The card is, perhaps surprisingly, short and simple. It reads: Bruno, I bet you thought this would be crammed with words, didn’t you? There’s no need. I love you and that’s what I need to say most of all, and most often. I love you. Buon compleanno from your Giorno.]
[On the other hand, the card is also full of gold glitter, so who does Giorno honestly think he’s fooling?]
[Bruno brings the packages inside his room to open, which he is fairly careful about doing. (It'd seem wrong just tearing into it when that much attention had been put into its presentation, honestly.) He takes the time to go through each of the contents, piling and stacking them carefully. Fortunately, he still has the box in his lap when he opens the card, but he's probably still going to find gold glitter for weeks in various places in his room.]
[And yet, it's not something he entirely minds. It just wouldn't be a present or message from Giorno if it didn't contain some of his usual flair.]
[Bruno takes the time to place and put away each of the presents Giorno's given him, but it's the card that gets a little more mental consideration than anything. It's not to say that Giorno's gifts aren't nice, but given how recently it's been since Bruno and Polnareff said I love you to one another, and Bruno has had to at least start to face the fact he wants to go home, Giorno's short and simple message strikes a deep chord with Bruno.]
[Bruno isn't stupid or self-deprecating to an almost insulting degree. He's aware of the influence he's had over the others, but it's sometimes easier to forget that influence over Giorno from time to time. Giorno hadn't needed him as much as the others had. He was already headed down the right path before he even met Bruno. He just needed a little more time and a little more patient guidance to settle into it without question. No, it's always so much easier to think of things with Giorno as the other way around. It doesn't take much thought at all to begin feeling gratitude for everything, for having met and for being given a second chance. In some ways, it's felt more like Bruno needed Giorno more than the other way around, and maybe that's true. Maybe it isn't. But does it really matter?]
[Before Bruno even leaves his bedroom, he decides that it probably isn't. It really is as simple as Giorno wrote it in the card because everything else pales in comparison.]
[Bruno heads down the hall, stopping outside Giorno's bedroom door, and knocks.]
[He isn't actually expecting Bruno. To be perfectly honest, he thinks Bruno will go see Fugo first and him later, and that's fair. He wants it, even, because Fugo organized so much of this, and Fugo deserves that attention.]
[Of course, while Bruno has been looking through his gifts, Giorno has been bullying Fugo into a nap. He isn't sure Fugo will stay down, but it was a promising bullying, so he's fairly satisfied that it will culminate in a rest, at least, if not a nap. As a result, though, he's heading down the hall as Bruno is knocking and starts a little in surprise when he sees him. Then he laces his fingers together behind his back and nods slightly.]
Buon giorno, Bruno. Are you having a good birthday?
[Fugo will certainly have his attention when it's his turn, but with the tendency to err on the side of modesty and shyness, Fugo will need a little more space between his bestowing of presents on Bruno and Bruno's gratitude to unwind from the preparation. Giorno requires no such delay as he has the tendency of basking in a job well done even more when he's offered praise for it.]
If you exclude having to pick glitter off my couch for the next year, it hasn't been so bad so far.
Wow. Who gave you so much glitter? That's very silly. You don't like glitter at all.
[HIM. IT WAS HIM. HE DID THAT. He did, in fact, set himself up for a joke at his own expense, and he's pretty glad that it obviously made Bruno smile at least a little bit.]
Maybe they just wanted you to think of them often. While picking glitter off your couch. Something like that.
Is that the reason? [Bruno hums thoughtfully because if Giorno's going to poorly play dumb...] I'd like to think they'd already know how often I think of them.
They have that sort of personality that makes it hard not to, anyway.
See, now you're trying to trick me into actually admitting it was me. But I won't. Because I know you're very grateful and this is a fun game, so you can't make me.
[Bruno has a hard time not laughing at I'm complicated because that is such a painfully teenager-y thing to say. But he purses his lips and the moment passes, and all is well.]
Of course I liked it. You played from the heart, and that's what matters more than anything else.
[Which is not a lie. Giorno seemed to have fun with it, and so did Fugo. So even if it wasn't a technical masterpiece, the fact that they enjoyed doing it together means more to Bruno than anything else because in the end, that's what they were really sharing with him.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
SLIGHTLY LATER ON 9/27
[The card is, perhaps surprisingly, short and simple. It reads: Bruno, I bet you thought this would be crammed with words, didn’t you? There’s no need. I love you and that’s what I need to say most of all, and most often. I love you. Buon compleanno from your Giorno.]
[On the other hand, the card is also full of gold glitter, so who does Giorno honestly think he’s fooling?]
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[And yet, it's not something he entirely minds. It just wouldn't be a present or message from Giorno if it didn't contain some of his usual flair.]
[Bruno takes the time to place and put away each of the presents Giorno's given him, but it's the card that gets a little more mental consideration than anything. It's not to say that Giorno's gifts aren't nice, but given how recently it's been since Bruno and Polnareff said I love you to one another, and Bruno has had to at least start to face the fact he wants to go home, Giorno's short and simple message strikes a deep chord with Bruno.]
[Bruno isn't stupid or self-deprecating to an almost insulting degree. He's aware of the influence he's had over the others, but it's sometimes easier to forget that influence over Giorno from time to time. Giorno hadn't needed him as much as the others had. He was already headed down the right path before he even met Bruno. He just needed a little more time and a little more patient guidance to settle into it without question. No, it's always so much easier to think of things with Giorno as the other way around. It doesn't take much thought at all to begin feeling gratitude for everything, for having met and for being given a second chance. In some ways, it's felt more like Bruno needed Giorno more than the other way around, and maybe that's true. Maybe it isn't. But does it really matter?]
[Before Bruno even leaves his bedroom, he decides that it probably isn't. It really is as simple as Giorno wrote it in the card because everything else pales in comparison.]
[Bruno heads down the hall, stopping outside Giorno's bedroom door, and knocks.]
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[Of course, while Bruno has been looking through his gifts, Giorno has been bullying Fugo into a nap. He isn't sure Fugo will stay down, but it was a promising bullying, so he's fairly satisfied that it will culminate in a rest, at least, if not a nap. As a result, though, he's heading down the hall as Bruno is knocking and starts a little in surprise when he sees him. Then he laces his fingers together behind his back and nods slightly.]
Buon giorno, Bruno. Are you having a good birthday?
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If you exclude having to pick glitter off my couch for the next year, it hasn't been so bad so far.
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[HIM. IT WAS HIM. HE DID THAT. He did, in fact, set himself up for a joke at his own expense, and he's pretty glad that it obviously made Bruno smile at least a little bit.]
Maybe they just wanted you to think of them often. While picking glitter off your couch. Something like that.
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They have that sort of personality that makes it hard not to, anyway.
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[C8 THEY'RE STILL TALKING ABOUT HIM. IT'S HIM. GIORNO GIOVANNA.]
You know several very greedy people. But most of them are me. So maybe it was me.
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[Take that.]
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You saw right through me. [And yet, it is not enough to save Giorno from getting an arm around his shoulders.] When did you get so clever?
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I've always been clever. You know that.
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[Nah, when Giorno wriggles in further, Bruno loops his other arm around loosely and moves this from a mild embrace to a certified hug.]
No, I hadn't noticed at all.
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[So he settles for snuggling, but also pouting.]
Yes you had.
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[Technically, Giorno should not be allowed to have it both ways, and yet he finds a way.]
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[He wrinkles his nose a little.]
You did like it, right? What we did. I should have practiced more, I think, but it sounded pretty good. Fugo didn't let me get lost on the tempo.
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Of course I liked it. You played from the heart, and that's what matters more than anything else.
[Which is not a lie. Giorno seemed to have fun with it, and so did Fugo. So even if it wasn't a technical masterpiece, the fact that they enjoyed doing it together means more to Bruno than anything else because in the end, that's what they were really sharing with him.]
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[The corners of his mouth twitch, nearly-almost-kind-of a smile. He leans his head against Bruno's arm.]
It's okay, you know. You can laugh at me. I'd like it if you laughed on your birthday.
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I wouldn't laugh at you, Giorno, but I think I've had a lot of reasons to laugh and smile this year.