"Italy is so nice." Looking around at his two friends and seeing them nodding in agreement, fourteen-year-old Yamamoto Takeshi smiled brighter; he was glad that they agreed, having not had any idea on what to expect when their mutual friend invited them to Syracuse for a holiday.
"Yeah, it is." Their host for the trip, a young blond named Dino Cavallone, pointed out a particular building on their right, a pizzeria he had often eaten at before moving to Japan for work. "We'll have lunch there; have you ever had pizza before?"
Two of the three teenagers in question shook their heads; without leaving their own country, they hadn't had many opportunities to try foreign foods - the only one of the trio who had was an Italian-Japanese male by the name of Gokudera Hayato.
"I think you guys would really like it, but I'll show you around a bit more before we eat; there's lots to see." Gesturing across the road from them, the Italian man then said, "Over there is a pasticerria; I used to go there before work to have my breakfast."
In awe of the blond's willingness to leave behind such an astounding country like Italy, the smallest of the trio, a brunet by the name of Sawada Tsunayoshi, couldn't help but question this; if he were the teacher, he wasn't sure he'd want to leave behind everything he had known for pretty much his entire life. "How come you transferred to Japan for a few months when you could have still been teaching here?"
"I thought it would be good for a change, and I don't regret it; I met you guys, after all." Patting Tsuna's head, Dino beamed down at him. Hayato scowled, his cigarette hanging out of his mouth, almost as if he were jealous someone else was touching his best friend - Tsuna knew that would most likely be the case as the silver-haired teen had always been much like an overprotective puppy towards him.
The four continued walking, Dino chatting happily as he explained bits and pieces about his hometown. The teenagers were so enthralled, they were surprised when their friend suddenly fell silent, turning his head to the left to look out towards the river flowing past the edge of the town, the rush of water audible even from a considerable distance away.
"Dino-san?" Looking up at the blond, Tsuna wondered what could have grabbed the other's attention like this; taking a closer look, he noticed someone sitting near the shore, their long, silver hair flowing languidly down their back as they rested against the trunk of a large tree. It was hard to take much notice of any other features, that beautiful hair taking all of his attention.
"Sorry, Tsuna; that's my friend." Looking down at the three, the blond offered an apologetic smile. "I'm just going to make sure he's okay; he won't stay more than a few hours with anyone, so he's always out on the streets."
The teenagers were surprised to hear this, but they didn't question it; Dino was already walking towards the long-haired person. They followed, not sure what to think; it certainly seemed that whoever was sitting out beneath the tree didn't want to be bothered by anyone – they wouldn't be out here if they were looking to socialise, after all.
Sighing as he got close enough to kneel next to his friend, Dino was gentle as he spoke; he knew the other had an extremely short temper, and it would be only too easy to get himself screamed at for trying to help.
"I thought you would still have been at my home when I got back, Squalo." Speaking in Italian, Dino cocked his head to the side. "I left food in the fridge for you in case you got hungry."
"I'm not even fucking hungry…" The long-haired man looked at his lap, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. He lifted a hand from the grass, putting it on the shoulder belonging to the body curled up in his lap that Dino hadn't noticed until now. "This brat stole a shitload of food from a street vendor; I've picked at it."
Looking around at the empty bottles of alcohol surrounding the two, Dino felt his chest hurt; no matter what he did, he could never get his friend to stop drinking – and what made matters worse was that he was bringing a teenager into his bad habits as well. "Has Bel been drinking?"
Squalo Superbia shook his head, absentmindedly patting the head of the boy in question. "I gave him heroin; there was only enough for one of us so I let him have it."
Dino winced, wanting to shout and rant about every single reason why that was dangerous, but he knew he would only be wasting his breath; Squalo didn't listen to anyone, and if he had been giving the smaller blond drugs at eight-years-old, he wasn't going to stop now that said boy was sixteen.
Instead of trying to explain to the younger man about everything that was wrong in this moment, Dino instead reached out, scooping the sleeping teenager into his arms. "I'll take him back to Mammon's; he should be getting some rest."
While Squalo argued against this, Takeshi looked around at his two friends, a confused smile on his face. Scratching at his cheek, he said, "What are they talking about?"
"Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna looked over to their silver-haired companion, knowing the older male would understand, him being mostly Italian himself.
Huffing, Hayato crossed his arms against his chest as he stuck his nose up in the air. "The creep's on drugs; how disgusting."
At these words, dark eyes turned to fix on the teenagers, Squalo jumping to his feet so fast, the Japanese students flinched at the sudden movement. His shout was loud enough to convince the trio that they were about to go deaf, their ears ringing from the unexpected volume. Screaming in perfect Japanese, Squalo tried to get closer to the younger group, Dino holding the back of his shirt to keep him where he was. "Voi! You little fucking shits; I can understand you! Say it to my face! Say it to my fucking face and fight me!"
While Hayato shouted back, making the problem worse, Dino got in between them, trying to diffuse the anger; he knew that if he didn't step in now, Squalo would kill them.
"Squalo! Stop!" Pushing the smaller male back, Dino stood in front of the teenagers, wishing Hayato would quiet down; the silver-haired teenager really didn't know what he was getting into by pissing Squalo off, after all. Looking down as he felt the boy stir in his arms, Dino chewed at his lip; waking up to fighting wasn't a good start to the day, especially after taking such hard drugs. "Squalo! You're upsetting Bel!"
Squalo only seemed to stop at these words, his angry eyes looking at the younger blond. "..."
"Squa..." The boy twisted, raising a hand to his face. He groaned loudly before he coughed, forcing himself to the side so he could throw up.
"Nothing I can do will stop you giving him anything, but..." Dino sighed, lifting the hem of the younger's striped shirt to wipe away vomit, "...at least only give him tiny bits... It'll make him sick again, Squalo."
"..." Grunting in response, Squalo turned his back. "Whatever; take him back to Mammon's; I don't give a shit..."
Dino sighed, farewelling his friend. He turned back to the Japanese trio, nodding at them as he started walking. He frowned as the smaller blond started crying, needing to get him back to his guardian; Squalo knew he wasn't supposed to be giving the boy drugs and alcohol, but he did so anyway, only making the other's already-questionable mental and physical health worse.
"Who was that?"
Looking down at Tsuna, Dino rocked the younger blond in a soothing manner as he said, "That's my best friend. His name's Squalo. He's been out on the streets for the past couple of months and won't let anyone help him. And this is Bel; he's a bit of a street urchin himself and you usually find them together. He's meant to be staying with one of my friends but he disappears every now and then; I think he doesn't feel very comfortable having a home."
While Hayato could understand what it's like living on the streets, Takeshi and Tsuna couldn't; the brunet was struggling to comprehend everything they had been told, while the tallest of the trio instead knew he wanted to do something to help, but didn't know how; he knew nothing of their situations, and the fact that he couldn't speak Italian and didn't know their customs and culture would only make things harder.
~~XX~~
Everyone knew Dino had money, so it came as a surprise to find that he wasn't living in some huge mansion and instead had settled for a nice house on the coast. There was plenty of room for everyone, and they were all happy to sit in the living room with Dino, snacking on the extra pizza the blond had brought back for them.
"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Tsuna asked, looking at his friends. He was content with anything; he was having fun spending time with his friends, and he didn't mind if they weren't doing anything amazing; it was nice just to have some time out for a change.
"There's an ice skating rink in town," Dino pointed out. "I haven't been there myself, but I know Mammon's taken Bel there before. He seemed to have fun."
The teenagers, trying to imagine their klutz of a friend on ice skates, chuckled; they could just imagine how many times the other would fall if they were to put him on ice.
"Ice skating sounds fun!" Takeshi smiled, cocking his head slightly. "Can we invite Squalo and Bel? They might want to join us."
"I highly doubt Squalo would want to come along, Takeshi." Gentle as he explained things to the Japanese males, Dino could feel himself becoming upset; what he wouldn't give to be able to help his friend. "He just wants to be left alone these days. He might come and stay here for a few hours, but he won't come into town at all with me anymore."
Takeshi knew these words hurt him, but he didn't express it - he couldn't express something he didn't entirely understand, after all. Deciding he would talk to Dino later when it was just between the two of them, Takeshi changed the subject. "What about Bel, then? Will he come?"
"Bel might, but that depends on if he's doing okay after having drugs; you've seen what they do to him. I'll talk to Mammon soon and she'll ask him if he's still there later today; he might go back to the streets again."
"I hope he can come." His eyes crinkling with joy, Takeshi was as kind as ever; he didn't like the idea of leaving someone out. "Squalo, too."
"What about me?"
The four occupants of the room turned around at Squalo's voice, finding the long-haired man approaching them with an agitated look on his face. The newcomer was speaking in Italian, a sure sign that he was only interested in talking to the blond.
"Don't fucking talk about me behind my back."
"We weren't, Squalo; Takeshi just wanted to know if you and Bel would like to come ice skating with us." Dino was relaxed, seeing that his friend, while clearly in a bad mood, was sober; he was much more tolerable when he wasn't drunk or high.
Squalo snorted, taking a seat on the couch next to the blond. "You on ice skates? You'll end up killing yourself and whoever's next to you."
Chuckling, Dino shook his head. "That's why I'll watch."
"Either way, I'm not fucking going." Reaching out to grab a slice of pizza for himself, Squalo shrugged. "You can get fucked if you think I will."
Dino couldn't show how disappointed he was; he knew it would only make Squalo more agitated if he were to do so. Instead, he turned to Takeshi, saying, "Squalo would rather not come with us tomorrow. I'll see if Bel would like to come instead."
"Voi! That brat already has plans with me tomorrow!" The sudden anger inside the long-haired male was startling, and though it made Takeshi a little nervous, he saw past the other's outburst and instead saw the hurt and worry in the younger Italian; what had happened for him to be this way?
"What plans are they, Squalo?" Dino was calm, knowing he had to keep an eye on what Squalo and Bel did together, because if he just let them go, it wouldn't end well; for the eight years Bel had been following Squalo for, the long-haired man had encouraged him into some terrible situations.
"He was going to come with me to the strip club tomorrow."
Tsuna and Takeshi, not speaking Italian, were confused when Dino's eyes became the size of saucers and he gasped. Hayato, however, scowled, understanding exactly what had been said.
"Squalo, you are not taking Bel to a strip club with you! He's not stripping for any stranger! Just because you do it doesn't mean Bel can!"
Squalo shrugged again, taking another slice of pizza. "He's sixteen; the little shit can strip for whoever he wants, and he wants to strip with me. He's already had sex because I let him; he's old enough to do what he wants and not what you and Mammon tell him to do."
"Squalo! He's got enough problems to deal with without you letting him add more! Why do you think he follows you around all the time? Because he knows you're the only one who can understand how much he hurts, and because you can numb him with drugs and alcohol. You need to stop letting him follow in your footsteps if you care about him, because you're only going to mess him up more than he already has been!"
Hayato stood up when Squalo became more aggressive at this accusation, reaching out for Tsuna's hand. "C'mon, Tenth; you don't need to hear this shit."
Tsuna allowed himself to be led away, and while Takeshi followed behind, he stopped to look back; sure, Squalo was loud and angry, but he could tell that there was something more to this than meets the eye, and he wanted to know how he could help – he hated leaving his friends hurting, after all.
