A/N: Wow, I'm pumping out KHR fanfic like Octomom pumped out babies! Get it while it's fresh, request some stuff, why don't you?
But this fic is just a cute collection of Dino and Squalo events during the school days. You could see it as DinoxSqualo or SqualoxDino if you want, I guess. Also, this is joke that appears later in the story, but just so you know, Filippo is an Italian name that mean, "Lover of horses" xD
The last body fell to the floor, twitching and drenched in blood.
"Squalo!" Dino called out happily, approaching his fellow student. "You really need to stop with that." He commented casually, pointing to the pile of wounded and worse on the floor.
Squalo merely grunted and picked up his bag. "They were the ones attacking me."
Dino laughed as they began their trek to school together. "Yeah, right!"
"Who are you punks?" A tall, violent-looking boy barked. "Why you think you can take our seats in the cafeteria? Everyone knows these seats belong to my Famiglia."
Some students began watching and gathering around, hoping for a fight while Dino hid his face behind Squalo, praying there wouldn't be one.
"Eh? Do you really want to challenge me?" Squalo roared with a smirk.
"Squalo, let's just apologize and leave!" Dino whispered, tears leaking out his eyes.
"No way, it's either fight with this guy or get the shit beaten out of us!" Squalo said, elbowing the blond away from him.
"They're both the same thing to me!" Dino whined. He bit his fingernails while hoping that the bully wouldn't agree to a match with Squalo. Suddenly, he found himself wondering why he was friends with Superbi Squalo in the first place.
"Yeah, I do want to challenge you!" The bully said, charging his fist towards Squalo who swiftly dodged the attack.
Soon a ring was formed around the two with spectators chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The tall guy swung another punch, but Squalo tilted his head to the side and countered with a kick to the head.
"Guh!" Squalo's opponent cried out, falling to the floor where Squalo repeatedly stomped on the boy.
"Who's the punk now?" Squalo hollered, kicking and beating without mercy. The audience of the brawl now became uneasy, looking to each other and muttering, "Isn't he going a bit far?"
Dino heard these whispers and was going to stop his friend, but instead he tripped over a huge piece of air and toppled onto Squalo's foe, knocking them both out.
"Did you see that?" One student shouted. "Dino Cavallone gave the final blow!"
"What a douche, the guy was already beaten up enough by that silver-haired kid!"
"Yeah, those guys are complete dicks, huh?"
"Seems like it. Let's not mess with them."
Squalo shook his head and scoffed. He then picked Dino up, slinging him over his shoulder. "You freakin' loser." He murmured while storming off to the nurse's office, dragging his unconscious enemy along.
The silver-haired boy and future Cavallone boss sat atop the school roof while other students played in the pool embedded in it. Dino's face looked strained as he stared at the characters before him. Squalo raised an eyebrow and tapped the book in his friend's hands. "What is that?" Squalo asked.
"Huh? Oh, I'm studying Japanese."
Squalo's face scrunched up. "What the fuck? Why?"
Dino smiled. "Well, the Cavallone have allies and a base in Japan and my Dad's going to take me there sometime, so I wanted to learn a little of the language before going."
"How long will you be gone?" Squalo asked uneasily.
"A few weeks."
"A few weeks?" Squalo grabbed Dino's cheeks and stretched them out making the other boy cry out painfully. "When? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Ow, ow, ow! Sorry!" When Squalo let go, Dino rubbed his face and mumbled, "I'm leaving next Thursday."
"What? That means…" Squalo began counting on his fingers.
"Ten days." Dino stated.
"Shut up! I'm not stupid! I could've figured it out!" Squalo said, hitting Dino on the back of the head.
"Yamete… kudasai? Go… men… nasai?" Dino said uncertainly, the words stumbling out slowly with his accent strong and overpowering. Some syllables came out stressed and others soft.
Squalo had to keep himself from laughing. "What did you just say?"
"I think I said, 'Sorry. Stop,' but I'm not sure…" Dino said, rereading the page.
"Give me that!" Squalo snarled, ripping the book from his buddy's clutches. "It'll be harder if you're doing it on your own! We'll both learn it, got it?"
Dino flinched and stuttered, "Y-Yes!"
"Those two are strange, no?" A girl said quietly to her friend.
He nodded back. "Yeah, the loudmouth and the klutz."
"It's sad, Dino would be really cool if he weren't so awkward and clumsy. I'm sure he'd be really popular."
"And Squalo would have tons of lackeys if he was more approachable, but he's so noisy that he's hard to deal with."
They agreed and the two continued to criticize the others under their breaths.
"You hear them, don't you, Squalo?" Dino said glumly from his desk. Squalo was sitting on the Cavallone's desktop, eating chocolate gelato. He didn't say anything, just looked at the gossiping pair with sullen eyes.
Squalo eyed the mustached man suspiciously. "Vooooooi." He whined. "Why does this guy have to come along with us to the arcade?"
Dino snickered. "Why? Do you not like Romario?"
Squalo shrugged and glanced at Romario once more. "I don't have a problem with him, I just think it's weird that he has to come with us."
"He came to pick me up from school, but didn't know we were going to hang out, so it's not like I can just tell him to leave."
"Tch. I guess."
Once they arrived at the arcade, Squalo played many bloody fighting games (and won) and though Dino enjoyed those games too, every now and then he wanted to try and get a stuffed animal at the claw games.
"Damn! There's a really cute stuffed horse and I can't get it." Dino cursed, fists slamming onto the machine.
"Why do you want it? To give to a girl?" Squalo sneered.
With a bright red face, Dino avoided Squalo's gaze, muttering, "Uh, sure, y-yeah…"
"Let me try, young master." Romario suggested.
"Yeah, let him do it." Squalo laughed. "You're too graceless to even play a simple game."
Dino pouted before stepping to the side and allowing Romario to give it a go.
Romario clutched onto the joystick then carefully, precisely, aptly… he grabbed it! Mechanically with the clicking of the gears, the claw carried the toy to the drop-off area and let go, plopping it into the bottom of the machine. Dino eagerly reached into the slot and pulled the stuffed horse out, hugging it lovingly.
"Awesome, Romario!" Dino said.
Romario smiled warmly, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly. "Oh, it was nothing!"
Out of the blue, a woman was pointing at them. "Hey!" She yelled to her boyfriend. "Filippo! That brat took the last of the toy we wanted!"
Then a tall, muscular man came to her side with his veins pulsing. "What?" he bellowed in a mega-deep voice.
Dino could feel the life suck out of him. He was about to offer them the horse when Squalo (of course) stepped in.
"Voooooooi! We got it first! It's ours! Deal with it!" The loudmouth shouted.
"You wanna pick a fight with me?" Filippo sneered. "Pfft! I think you'd rather not have every bone in your body broken, kid!"
"You obviously don't know who you're messing with!"
Squalo was about to attack, but was interrupted when Romario jumped in front of him, back facing the silver-haired boy.
"I'm sorry about the rude boy, sir," Romario said. "We'll be leaving now."
"Not until you give us that horse. We've been trying to get it for a while now and my girl really wants it."
"Yeah!" The woman cheered. "Tell'im, Filippo!"
Romario covered Dino who was shivering and holding onto the stuffed animal for dear life. "I'm sorry, but I won that for young master."
With snot dripping from his nose, Dino tugged onto Romario's suit jacket and said, "Let's just give it to them, Romario. I'm scared."
"But…"
"No way!" Squalo chimed in. "We need to show'em they're messing with a future mafia boss! I mean, you spent a lot of time trying to get that thing too! What makes them think they have the right to take it?"
"I must agree with master Squalo, sir." Romario said firmly.
Dino looked into Romario's fierce eyes then nodded. "Do what you want, then."
"So you're not going to give up?" Filippo grumbled.
"Don't let some old man and kids push you around, Filippo!" The woman jeered.
Filippo gulped and nodded. "R-Right! C'mere, old man!" He grabbed Romario by the collar. "Tell your runt to give me the stupid toy or you'll get it!"
Romario just glowered back at the large man, angering him further. "That's it!" Filippo howled, pulling back his fist. Romario closed his eyes, bracing himself for the punch when he heard a smack and a thud. The mustached man opened his eyes to see Dino lying on the floor with a swollen cheek and the stuffed horse loosely in his hands. "Young master!" Romario hollered.
"Filippo!" The woman cried. "What the hell? You hit the kid!"
"I didn't mean to!" Filippo retorted. "He came out of nowhere! Let's split, I don't want to get in trouble." With the girlfriend in a huff, the couple left quickly.
"Young master!" Romario said again, shaking Dino. "Are you alright?"
"Asshole!" Squalo called out after the pair. He switched his verbal abuse to Romario. "And you dumb uncle! If you had let me kick that guy's ass, this would've never happened."
"Ro…mario?" Dino mumbled, slowly sitting up. "Are you okay? That guy didn't hit you did he?"
Romario's eyes shimmered as Dino asked him several questions worriedly. "Young master!" He said joyfully, hugging the boy. "You're fine!"
"Yeah, it hurts, but I'm okay. Are you?"
"Yes, thanks to you, but never do anything like that again! What if you had gotten seriously injured?"
Dino blinked and raised an eyebrow.
Squalo knocked Romario on the back of the head. "Retard! Dino could ask you the same question!"
Romario ruffled Dino's hair. "You're too kind, young master. You need to remember, you're much more important than me. Than a lot of people. You don't recall that enough."
Dino squeezed the stuffed horse a bit tighter as Romario said those words and this did not go unnoticed by Squalo.
"How is he supposed to become a mafia boss?"
"Yeah, he's so inept and... caring…"
"Exactly the type of person who shouldn't take one step near our underground world."
"When he becomes the tenth, the Cavallone will certainly fall."
"So noisy and violent!"
"He's too scary to even come near."
"But he's very strong, with lots of victories."
"He'll definitely have a fairly high seat within the Vongola…"
"Hey, Cavallone!" Squalo shouted, as he rarely says things (even more rarely, whispers them). "What the hell is wrong with you? You haven't talked to me for hours! The school day's almost over!"
Dino snapped around to glare into Squalo's eyes making the other boy grimace slightly.
"Leave me alone!" Dino bellowed before turning around, running away, and tripping. He sat up from his fall and remained there, unmoving.
Squalo rolled his eyes then walked to where Dino was seated. He became shocked to find that the blond was crying. Squalo reflexively kicked him.
"What the fuck?" Squalo said. "Why the hell are you crying?"
Dino sniffled and stood, wiping his eyes. "It's not fair…" He mumbled. "It's not fucking fair…"
"What is up with you?"
"You!" Dino screamed, pointing at Squalo. "It's not fair that I have to become a mafia boss when I'm weak and nice like this! I'll be a failure! I'm nothing more than some loser in comparison to you who will surely go far within your family as strong warrior… while I'm some kind kid who just so happens to be the son of a mafia boss. I don't want this at all. I'll never be able to protect anyone of my family..." Dino's eyes casted downwards and washed over with self-hatred. He was brooding over his issues until he was suddenly hit on the back of the head with the back of a sword.
"Are you retarded?" Squalo yelled. "Is this the Dino who KO'd that bully earlier in the year talking? Is this the same Dino who protected Romario from that 'roid raging dickhead in the arcade! Stop fucking whining like a little bitch, Cavallone! You're perfect to be a boss, idiot! You'll protect your Famiglia better than anyone! Of course you're nothing more than a brat now, but I just know that there's a strong person inside of you, Cavallone. All you need to do is figure out what is the key to unlocking his cage and letting him out. Become stronger. So strong that one day, you might actually be close to my equivalent!"
Dino trembled, staring intensely at Squalo who equally returned this look. "Squ… Squalo…" He leapt for the boy, arms outstretched. "Squal—"
Squalo kicked the blonde's face, sending him several feet away. "Hell no! I'm not going for any of that mushy crap! In fact, don't get your ego up, you stupid piece of trash! I was just saying the fucking truth! You have potential, but that doesn't mean anything other than that!" Squalo then began walking towards their last class period. Dino hurried to his side with blood trickling from his nose and mouth.
"Ah, gomenasai, Squalo!"
"Bakayaro!"
"Eh? When did you learn that? What does that mean?"
"Find it your on your own!"
And off they went, young boys, laughing.
