It's been ten years, so far. It only took a minute for Dino to become interested in Hibari. It was a year, though, before he actually fell in love and realized his own feelings. Another year still for Hibari to even acknowledge his feelings. Another half year to accept them. Three more for him to even start to reciprocate. Two more until they started dating. Another year until they finally slept together. And it took another year for Hibari to finally vocalize his feelings. And now, six months later, they had fallen into an easy routine. Ten years spent together.
Chapter One: The First Minute
When Dino had been called over by Reborn to meet his new "little brother", he wasn't surprised at the lack of concern that Reborn had for any other plans he might have had. Which, of course, was to be expected. It was Reborn, after all. But for once, he wasn't actually all that upset, because the higher up members of his famiglia were urging him to get married, and had set up a meeting for him with a "nice young lady from another famiglia". Of course, he didn't want to meet her, or get married at all, and so he jumped at the opportunity his ex-tutor had provided. He really wanted to meet the future boss of Vongola anyway.
But because of the strong suggestions of marriage, as he left for Japan, he was thinking about love and marriage (unconsciously, for the most part, but it was undoubtedly on his mind). Thus, he was thinking about what kind of person he'd like to marry, what sort of person (and face) that he liked and picking out traits that he found attractive here and there, keeping them in mind for the rest of his trip. And that might have been part of the reason why he was so interested in Hibari from the moment they first met.
Dino will be the first to admit that his first thought about Hibari was incredibly shallow. The first thing he noticed was his appearance, after all. He was mesmerized by his smooth but angular features, his flawless skin, and steely eyes contrasted by feathery, dark lashes too long to belong to a man. Slender body, he observed, though not greatly feminine, he also had long legs and slight curves. Dazedly, he thought that he was very beautiful, and fit many of the criteria of his "ideal type". Until, of course, a tonfa smashed into his face. Hmm… Violent. And as Hibari intoned his usual, "I'll bite you to death," Dino noted the fluid and sexy quality of his voice - seconds before being hit again. Twice. On both sides of his face.
Bleeding from his nose (was it broken? Either, way, "strong" was a good quality – one on his list), he laughed and stood back up. He could see the boy was startled, though he hid it well, not used to having people stand back up after he had hit them. But Dino had been through worse, and, while clumsy, he was very durable. He saw a glimmer in the kid's eyes acknowledging that, but when he announced that he was going to be training him doubt took its place and Dino was left bleeding on the roof.
Of course, it was too late for Dino's heart (and subsequently, his well-being) as the cogs of his heart and mind began to move, and he developed an unhealthy interest in the violent teenager. Something sparked his interest in the teen called Hibari Ky ōya, and that interest would eventually evolve into mutal love over the next ten years. And though it would be the cause of many of his injuries in the future, he would look back and find that there was no instance that he regretted ever loving or pursuing the dark-haired man.