Papa Pio
I know... I released Mia's headcanons just a little while ago, but I'm in a writing mood, so... y'all are gonna have to put up with me for a little while here 😅
This time, we're goin' in on the bros' dad. Just givin' ya a head's up, I got A LOT of stuff in mind for both him, his brothers, and their family. Buuuuuuut for the sake of length, I'm just sticking with him for now lol. I already did touch up on him a smidge (see here) but that was solely related to his job rather than him as a person... soooooo we're doing that now.
Aight, enough yappin. Imma get started on this.
(TW: financial struggle, chronic illness, racism (briefly), classism, parentification (unintentional), misogyny (briefly))
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Pio was born on May 25, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York to his parents Carlo and Santina (RIP). He was the oldest of his twin brothers (Arthur and Tony) who were born just four years later.
The five of them lived in a rather small apartment centered in Brooklyn. It wasn't the nicest area (Carlo and Santina had only moved there from Sicily at the start of the decade, so they didn't have much money to their name), but it had a decent school district and a lot of other families and kids to play with, especially during the summers. And, coincidentally, a lot of them were of Italian descent, so Pio learned a lot about his parents' culture... and he's quite proud of it!
Still, even though he was still young, Pio had very little time to play, or even be a kid.
In fact, he had to grow up fairly quickly due to money being short. At the time, his mother, Santina, had been struggling with Parkinson's Disease, as well as many other health problems, and was in and out of the hospital a lot. As such, the family struggled with a myriad of hospital bills, and with jobs not coming easy to immigrant families like his own, even when Carlo became a professional boxer... it was hard on all of them.
Thus, Pio did whatever he could to help make ends meet while his parents took in what they could. It wasn't until he was 12 that he got his first official job as a paperboy. From then on, he took whatever jobs came by. On the off-chance he had some free-time, he'd spend it by getting some toys for his brothers, or crayons to make a card for his mother. Or, if he was able, he'd play with them for a short time.
As you can probably imagine, he had a difficult time being outwardly affectionate towards others as he's VERY work-oriented. To him, his way of showing love is to work hard and give those you care about the things they needed.
AC needed fixing? He'd buy a toolkit and fix it himself if his dad wasn't able to.
Sink clogged up and the landlord won't call maintenance? He'd teach himself the plumbing and have it fixed in just an hour.
Because of this, he had little time to think of anything for himself. To him, all that mattered was making sure his brothers had something to eat. Due to his hard-headed demeanor, however, they often found him extremely stand-offish, and even mean. His parents, meanwhile, worried for him; they wanted him to be a kid, but he was adamant that he help them.
Because so long as they were fed, that was all he cared about.
Another thing to note was that Pio had undiagnosed ADHD at the time, but as he didn't show any of the obvious symptoms, it went undetected up until he was well into his forties. At the time, though, he simply attributed it to him being a hard worker.
... despite the fact that he felt like death every time he came home.
However, even though he never dedicated much time to himself, he always wanted to go into construction work, seeing it as a respectable business, which he eventually did.
When he was 16, he dropped out of school and signed up to be a construction worker, which happened quite easily as he'd already had a hand in mechanics. However, since he was still quite young (one of the youngest members in the crew at the time), he was placed on the lower ranks... which was where he met Spike. (Just to clarify, I did go over his and Spike's relationship in this post, but this is strictly talking about them as friends in more detail, rather than just them as work colleagues.)
Spike was quite influential to Pio... albeit not always in a good way. He often talked about women as though they were objects, and made some pretty insensitive remarks towards Pio about his lovelife, family situation, and even background. At the time, Pio was relatively used to this, so he brushed it off, even if it didn't exactly sit well with him.
Still, Pio liked Spike as a worker, and was willing to put up with whatever bullshit he threw at him... no matter how much it hurt.
But that all changed when he was 20.
Pio had been running behind on work, and he ended up finishing late... right as it started raining. It was getting unsafe to keep running home, especially with traffic getting worse, so he ducked into the one dry place he could find: Punch-Out Pizza.
As soon as he got the rain out of his eyes, the first thing he saw was a girl around his age... rather confusedly gathering the plates on some empty tables.
And he managed to say the most romantic thing ever:
"Uh… I know you're closin' up, but can I stay here a bit? It's pissin' rain out there… don't know if you noticed…"
Thankfully, she found his bluntness cute, and even got him a clean dishrag to dry off with. Since it was still pouring rain, she offered to let him stay for a while, even when it was far past closing time. At first, he was hesitant, seeing as he had to get back home, but she insisted, even offering to make some pasta if he was hungry.
... somehow that got him to stay real quick.
While he was there, he learned that her name was Mia. She was rather talkative, which surprised him, but he wasn't complaining. As she was making the pasta, she talked nonstop about cooking, traveling the world, and even growing her own vineyard at some point. He wanted to tell her she'd need a lot of money to do those things... but at the same time, he liked how happy she got just dreaming about it all.
It even made him think about what he wanted, too...
By the time he left, he'd already written down the address to the same place. It wasn't too far off from the construction site, so he could go there any time he wanted.
... even if it was just to hear Mia talk again.
Within just 7 months, the two of them were already in love.
On Pio's part, he'd never felt so connected to anyone before, especially not someone who was willing to hear him out like that. He tried not to show it too much, but he began unmasking a lot more, even during his work hours.
To him, the end of the day was the best part... all because he got to see her.
His family was the first to catch onto this, and they were MASSIVELY supportive, especially his brothers. For the longest time, they didn't even think Pio COULD smile. Even though he was embarrassed, they often helped him out just to see Mia. Carlo gave him date ideas, Santina gave him gift ideas, and his brothers each took turns taking him out whenever.
Sadly, though, not everything was good.
For one, Spike... Spike was furious that Pio had found a girl that he liked. He'd often make snide remarks that he needed to "put Mia in her place" with some of the worst dating advice you can probably think of.
And Pio had NONE of it.
For the first time in a while, he finally snapped at Spike for everything he did. They had a huge fight, which ultimately ended with Pio taking up a different shift from him, just to get away from him. It was painful, as Spike was the only thing he'd had that was close to a friend, but he loved Mia too much to let something like that slide.
It had to be done.
He stayed with Mia for quite a while afterward.
To him, the hardest part was meeting his family, as they were stand-offish towards him, but they eventually warmed up once Mia expressed how much she cared for him. They've since mended things, however. It's even one of Pio's favorite stories to tell.
However, he is glad that her pseudo-adoptive parents, Carlotta and Giovanni, were openly accepting... although he could've done without them asking when the wedding was 😅
His family, on their part, openly welcomed Mia right out the door. She immediately became one of them to the point where they prepared an extra bed just for her whenever she wanted to sleep over (she... didn't, but she appreciated the thought).
And it took a long time, but he eventually married her when the time came.
He'll never admit it, but he still tears up just thinking about his wedding. To him, it was never anything about the ceremony (they didn't even marry at a church; they actually just got married at the park... the same spot where he'd proposed to her). Just the fact that she became his wife that day was all that he needed.
Their marriage was a bit shaky at first as Mia's family had decided to move back to Tuscany just a few months after. Pio did all that he could to ensure Mia felt safe with him and his family, even though she became depressed from it. It was hard for him to watch, but he was willing to do anything for her.
Without telling her, he set up savings just to afford a ticket to Tuscany whenever she wanted to visit them. He took on extra hours to earn more, all so she could have more money.
And whenever she talked about missing them, he could smile proudly and hand her the money, much to her shock.
... to say Mia was grateful for this would be an understatement.
However, just after he thought things were handled, he noticed that Mia had started becoming more withdrawn.
She'd come home more exhausted than ever, and she'd have random mood swings even at the smallest things. He handled it the best that he could, though it worried him greatly.
But then, just when it became too much, she finally sat him down and explained... and what she said still sticks with him to this day:
"I'm pregnant..."
To say Pio was shocked would've been underselling it.
He'd already had it in mind that he didn't care if they had kids or not, just as she had. They'd even already considered that they wouldn't have any by normal means due to Mia's PCOS. Add on to the fact that they had only been married for a year and had little money... yeah, this was overwhelming for him.
Thankfully, Mia was the one to guide him through it.
After seeing how happy she was just saying those two words... he knew this was the right choice. Even if they weren't quite ready, knowing that his wife would be the mother of his kids was a good enough reason.
And he made damn sure he'd love those kids just as much.
