Fran pressed his forehead against the window, hoping to shoot down the headache that was starting to form.

"You okay, kiddo?" asked a strawberry blonde from the drivers seat.

"Peachy," Fran grumbled and pressed his head further into the window.

Fran groaned when he felt himself being pulled away from the window by his hood.

"Alright, what's got your panties in a bunch?"

Fran sighed and leaned back in his seat, arms crossed against his chest.

"Out of all the people Spanner knows, why'd he have to send me to Italy with you."

Dino Cavallone chuckled, "'Cause he trusts me?"

"Dude, Shoichi doesn't even trust you and you two have been together for how long now?" Fran questioned, looking over at Dino out of the corner of his eyes.

"Four years," Dino said dreamily. "When we were in our last year of high school, I gave him my second button and he accepted my confession."

"Second button?" Fran asked, turning in his seat to face Dino.

"In Japan, a male student gives the second button from the top of their tops to the person they're in love with. It's the button closest to the heart," Dino explained, a large smile on his face as he thought about his teenage years.

"Fascinating," Fran sighed and turned back around again, pulling his legs up on the seat and wrapping an arm around his knees.

"Hey!" Dino frowned as he swatted at the air in a failed attempt to get Fran to put his legs down. "Feet off, I just bought this."

Fran ignored him in favor of curling up in the leather seat of the Cadillac Escalade.

Dino sighed as he flicked his turn signal, "Why are you so against me taking you to Italy?"

"I'm not. I'm just…a bit grumpy. A lot has happened in the past month and I haven't been taking it well," Fran answered.

"Well, you'll be resting as much as you possibly can while we're here," Dino said, a large grin on his face, "I'll make sure of it."

"I wanna eat Gelato," Fran said, green eyes flicking over to Dino.

"I promise to take you out to eat one of these days, today we'll settle in, and you'll catch up with Alden and Luche," Dino said, reaching over and patting Fran's knee in a comforting gesture.

Fran nodded and perked up at the sight of the Villa that Dino was currently driving up to.

"What's up with people and their large, fancy homes," Fran grumbled as he slid out of the parked car, thought on Mukuro's summer home and Verde and Bel's apartment building.

Dino whistled as he looked up at the white painted Villa, "Neat."

Fran rolled his eyes and moved to the back to grab his suitcase, ignoring Dino's excited squeal of 'they have a swimming pool, Fran!'

"Need help?"

Fran, thankfully, froze in place instead of jumping out of his skin as he normally would have done if someone sneaked up on him like that. Except that they hadn't snuck up on him as much as they had just stepped into his line of view.

Fran nodded and handed his bag to Alden who took it with a small smile to his adoptive son before heading into the house and leaving Fran to grab his duffle bag that held the other half of his clothes. As he passed Dino, Fran flicked the blonde's ear to grab his attention.

"Stop fangirling over a home and get your suitcase," Fran said before stepping into the Villa and leaving Dino behind.

"Fran!"

Fran suddenly felt himself being pulled into a tight hug by Luche. The scent of freshly baked cookies and flowers surrounded the woman and Fran hugged her back, holding her nearly as tightly as she held him.

"I'm so glad you decided to come spend the summer with us," Luche murmured as she ran her fingers through Fran's hair.

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice since papa Alden said he wanted me here for whatever reason," Fran said back, warmth flooding him at Luche's motherly touch.

"Can't a man see his young son?" Alden chuckled as he pulled Fran into a one armed hug before pulling away to get a good look at Fran. "You've grown so much since I last saw you."

"That's what us teenagers do, grow," Fran said with a shrug.

"You must be tired," Luche said as she watched Dino stumble into the house, two suitcases in hand, and two others under his arms. "Um, are all of those yours?"

Dino gave a small embarrassed smile as he nodded his head and fell over onto the marble floor of the foyer with a screech.

"Oh my," Luche gasped as she hurried over to the fallen man. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, this happens a lot," Dino replied brightly as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"Can you believe he's twenty-two?" Fran asked Alden, his green eyes looking up at the elder.

Alden chuckled and ruffled Fran's hair before going to help Dino with his luggage.