Lambo had his head resting against the solid chest of his lover, his emerald green eyes heavy lidded as he fiddled with his lover's hand in both of his own.
His lover's hand was large with scarred knuckles and a callous palm; his fingerprints had been rubbed away over time and now it was much like staring at a blank map as he studied the appendage before him.
Behind him, his lover shifted, Lambo situated between his legs as the man bent his knee to achieve greater comfort. "What are you doing with my hand, cow?"
Lambo tilted his head somewhat, acknowledging the question but not answering. He laced his fingers with his lover's and squeezed warmly, waiting to see if his lover's returned the action; he did not. Yet he also didn't rip his hand from Lambo's, so that was good at least.
"Cow." There was a warning note to his lover's voice.
"Reborn…" Lambo paused, not quite sure what to say. He had known what he had wanted to say a moment ago, but now the words had slipped away and he was left staring at their joint hands with little comprehension. "… Reborn…" He blinked, shaking his head slightly to clear away the shadows. "Reborn… What would you say if I told you I was scared?"
His lover's answer was a snort. "You're always scared. Now tell me what brought this up."
Lambo smiled sardonically, wrapping Reborn's arm around his torso and nuzzling into his chest, feeling a chill invade his naked flesh. "Nothing… Just an odd thought…" His eyes fluttered shut, ignoring Reborn's subtle scowl in his direction.
It really wasn't any of Reborn's business… It was just… It wasn't important.
The next day, Lambo was languishing in Tsuna's office, an arm thrown over his eyes as he feigned sleep. The sound of papers rustling and shifting both lulled him and grated on his nerves.
He swallowed thickly, aware of how scratchy his throat felt. His forehead was hot to the touch, but there was a cold sweat across his face. He felt cold and yet his own clothes were too coarse against his skin. The couch was lumpy beneath him – something it shouldn't be considering the soft fabrics and giving fillings it was made of – and his heart was unusually loud in his ears.
He had a pounding migraine.
He didn't know when the movement of paper stopped or when Tsuna stood up, but suddenly there was a hand moving his forearm away from his head, a delicate wrist pressed to his temple.
Tsuna's soft voice broke through his feverish haze. "Lambo, is there something you want to talk about?"
He could have laughed. Had it been Gokudera, Ryohei, Haru, Kyoko, anybody else with the exception of possibly Yamamoto, they would have thought he was dying or had caught a terrible flu.
Not Tsuna; Tsuna understood him. Tsuna understood that he only got this way when he was bottling up his emotions. After all, Lambo was a very sensitive teenager who was very strong on expressing himself; when he denied himself that privilege…
He became ill; like right now.
Tears bathed his cheeks. "Vongola-" He paused. "… Goodness… What would you say if I told you I was scared?"
Tsuna frowned and patted Lambo's hips, a sign for the teen to scoot over a bit to make room for his big brother on the couch. Tsuna put his hands on his knees as he sat down, his eyebrows drawn together in thought before he looked with concern down at Lambo. "… What are you scared of?"
Lambo did laugh this time – his tone full of irony and funereal humor. Again, only Tsuna would bother to know the truth; if Lambo was scared of something miniscule, he wouldn't have minded to come right on out and say it – hell, he would have wailed and sobbed about it by now.
But Tsuna knew him. Tsuna knew he wouldn't ask such a question if it served no purpose either than to point out his horror over something small such as Bianchi ten years in the past or Hibari in both past and present. Maybe something about the absence of candy or milk or grapes – those were the fears others expected of him whenever he was to say 'I'm scared'.
Tsuna was frowning, looking more and more perturbed by the minute.
Lambo's laughter broke down into sobs. His shoulders shook and he tried to hide his tears behind one quivering hand. "I-I think Verde d-did something t-to me…"
Some months back, the sadistic former thunder arcobaleno had captured Lambo and held him over a three day period until Tsuna had barge in, saved Lambo, and destroyed Verde's laboratory. Lambo knew the reason why Tsuna hadn't arrived any sooner was because Lambo hadn't been expected back from his trip to Japan to visit Nana for another week; the only reason Tsuna had begun his search so early was because of his extraordinary instincts.
Lambo had admitted to not remembering much from that period; he vaguely recalled needles and some prodding, but no pain, no torture, and only Verde's cynical eyes boring into him.
When Dr. Shamal had taken a blood sample to assure them that Verde had not mutated Lambo's DNA, they had found an elevated level of drugs, a number of them unknown and a few others sedatives. They had kept an eye on Lambo to make sure that there was nothing wrong and when Lambo had shown no signs of being biologically enhanced or weakened, they had all allowed themselves to relax.
Now Tsuna tensed, frown becoming severe as his jaw clenched. Lambo knew that Tsuna hated it whenever he felt that any of his guardians were in trouble – especially at the hands of others. Over the years as Tsuna had grown into a respectable, unbending don, he had also aged considerable years mentally.
There was no doubt in Lambo's mind that Verde would be found by twilight and at Tsuna's mercy by dusk.
"What do you mean?" Tsuna's hand swept through his hair, aiming to assuage his fears. Lambo let his eyes flutter shut and turned his head into the attention, feeling starved for affection.
Reborn wasn't an abusive lover like most would have thought – but he also wasn't one for PDA… No matter whether the P stood for 'public' or 'private'. Reborn knew two modes when it came to being in a relationship: no touch or naughty touch.
Lambo wouldn't have minded if Reborn had struck him repeatedly if it just meant the older man would touch him without invading him.
"My body… Vongola, there's something in my body." Lambo's voice held the edge of hysteria.
Tsuna's frown turned from angered to confused. "… What?"
"I… Goodness… I've been… throwing up a lot lately… Every morning and afternoon. And, umm… I've been having these odd cravings… I-I've been eating a lot of stuff that I usually don't…" Like coffee, saltine crackers with ice cream on top, pickles in strawberry jam, barbequed burger with ranch dressing on top… "And I've been having dreams!" He blurted out this last part fast, feeling as if he had to get that over with and continue quickly onward or else they would have to linger on the subject.
He didn't want to admit that he had been having dreams of a child who looked oddly like himself and a little bit like Reborn. No, he didn't want to admit that he dreamt of two children, both of them as different as night and day and yet Lambo knew that both of them belonged solely to him and his lover. It was too odd, too scary, too… Too… Goodness… He was a man. And yet he had dreams that those two children were labored from his own body.
Which wasn't possible. Because he was a man.
"I've also been depressed lately…" Lambo had been down in the dumps before – had cried his fair share (more than so) of tears and had let loose his anger a healthy amount of times… But he had never actually been depressed. He was emotional, sure; sometimes he liked to think otherwise and assure himself that he was a cold, calculating guardian of the Vongola family, but this was one of those times where he had to face the cruel facts.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Because those symptoms made them both think of one thing.
"… Lambo…? Can I see your belly?"
Lambo nodded and lifted his shirt up to his chest.
A few nights ago, Reborn had carelessly commented on the fact that he should stop eating so many sweets; aside from the fact that Reborn hated the taste of candy whenever he kissed Lambo, he had also noticed that Lambo was gaining weight.
That weight was just hardly noticeable; it was a barely-there slope between his usually jutting hipbones.
Lambo's bottom lip wobbled. "My pelvis has been hurting a lot too…" He decided not to mention that it sometimes felt as if his organs were being strangled; that sometimes he swore there was something sticky attached to his organs that made them group together and clench painfully.
Tsuna was pale, his caramel eyes unusually wide. However, being Vongola, tenth generation, he did not freak out. He kept his cool, released a shallow sigh, and shut his eyes as he debated what to do next.
Lambo wasn't sure if Tsuna was thinking the same thing as him – that this was unnatural and frightening and, goodness, it hurt…
But he hoped Tsuna wasn't going to say what Lambo had feared Reborn to say.
"… We have to get rid of it." Tsuna said finally, remorse in his tone.
Lambo's heart dropped into belly, leaving his chest strangely cold. "W-wait, we don't have to rush things… Let's just see how this goes…?"
He felt invaded, cheated, terrified… yet taking the life of whatever was growing inside of him wasn't appealing in the least. Even though he was depressed, in pain, and rather disgusted by the things he was eating, he still didn't want to kill this… creature being created in his unaccustomed abdomen.
"Lambo… You're not a woman. I don't know how Verde managed to accomplish this, but Dr. Shamal completed a body scan and there was nothing to show that your body had changed to accustom to a… baby."
There – the forbidden word: baby.
"We can ask Mukuro – " No, not Mukuro. He would ask for Tsuna in payment and that would start a third world war between the illusionist, Tsuna, and Hibari who was extremely possessive of his lover as well as still very pissed off at Mukuro. "We can ask Chrome for help."
Tsuna sighed again, a sign that he was considering the idea with the possibility of its failure in mind. "Does Reborn know?"
Lambo flinched. "… I tried… a few different times to bring it up…" The night before had been the closest he had come yet to addressing the oddity that was his body.
Tsuna continued to pet his hair. "… He'll figure it out soon enough. After all, Reborn does know everything."
Lambo wasn't sure if that was comforting or not. "… Why would Reborn guess that I'm… this way when I happen to be a man?"
Another awkward silence…
"… Well… I don't think it would be the strangest thing we've seen in our lifetimes…" Tsuna pointed out.
Lambo could agree to that; their lives had been full of activities and events that would make a normal person go insane. Yet he was sure that, even if this wasn't the strangest thing they had gone through, it wouldn't be taken kindly or calmly.
"Vongola…" A sob broke loose again. "… I'm scared."
Tsuna shifted around until Lambo's head was resting in his lap and the teen's face was buried into his torso as he cried his heart out.
He was only vaguely aware of the door opening in the background. He heard an exchange of words between Tsuna and the intruder, the intruder's voice strongly akin to Hibari's.
Some time later, the door shut and they descended into silence… Before Lambo could consider his actions, he fell asleep, mentally and physically exhausted.
When he woke up, Yamamoto's face was barely an inch from his own, amber eyes curious and lips turned into a careless grin. "Mah mah~ you slept straight through breakfast, Lambo!"
"Gah!" Had the back of the couch not been there, Lambo would have collapsed off the other side away from the rain guardian. "Goodness! … What are you doing here?" He glimpsed around himself, becoming confused as he took in the features of his own bedroom.
Hadn't he fallen asleep in Tsuna's office? Than again, maybe Tsuna had moved him for his own comfort…
Wait a second… "… What are you doing in my room, Yamamoto?"
The man gave a cheeky grin, pointing one finger in the air. "Tsuna told me to watch over you until your appointment with the doc! Reborn has been sent on a mission to the Caribbean, so the fact that you're prego is a secret for now!"
Lambo gawked. Apparently, it wasn't much of a secret if Yamamoto knew!
"Haha! Don't look so nervous!" Yamamoto stood up from where he had been crouching, slipping his hands into his pockets as he hummed noncommittally. "Are you scared because of the baby?"
Lambo flinched and looked down. He nodded. "… Maybe… Maybe I'm just dying… Maybe there is no baby… Goodness…" It was odd to try and use death to soothe his nerves; as a matter of fact, it did no such thing. He was much more content to coddle the idea of another living being growing inside of him than a disease.
Yamamoto, however, couldn't read his thoughts. He frowned, suddenly resembling Hibari somehow as he stared down at Lambo. "You'd rather die than have a baby?"
"NO! No, no, no!" Lambo stared up at him with wide, earnest eyes. "No."
Yamamoto's severe expression slipped away to a lopsided grin once again. "Mah mah~ I think I actually kind of like the idea of you having a baby bump! Only Ryohei and Mukuro have girlfriends, but Hana hates kids and Chrome can't have babies, so it's like you're going to give me the niece or nephew I've always wanted!"
Lambo tried to return Yamamoto's smile with great failure. That was Yamamoto for you – always looking on the bright side.
Three days later, only Reborn was in the dark about Lambo's pregnancy. Gokudera had found out through Yamamoto because Yamamoto was incapable of denying his lover the reason why his precious Tenth was so focused on Lambo and everyone else found out because, the moment Gokudera realized that Yamamoto had just told him that Lambo might be pregnant, the storm guardian had lost his hard-earned cool and had screamed the forbidden four words loud enough that no one within Vongola HQ had been left clueless.
"THE STUPID COW'S PREGNANT?"
Lambo had been dragged away by Spanner and Shoichi, both tempted to take some time off from the machinery to question the possibility of a baby-wielding male. They had taken Dr. Shamal's place and had, after some hours of questions, prodding, testing, and hypothesizing, come to the conclusion that there was indeed something growing inside of Lambo. Not only was there something growing inside of Lambo, there was also a womb developing – blooming within his abdomen like a flower to the sun.
That wasn't comforting, though.
Spanner was nonchalant as he stared at the faces of the guardians, Tsuna among them with Kusakabe in Hibari's place. Shoichi had his eyes downcast to the floor, an arm wound tightly around his cramping belly.
"… So… Lambo… is dying?" Tsuna finally broke the silence.
The toothpick that Kusakabe had been chewing on fell from his lips without his visual notice, eyes wide on the two geniuses.
"… Th-that's not fucking possible…" Gokudera was pale, body moving subtly towards his lover in an unconscious search for consolation.
When Yamamoto gave it in the form of a hand on the silverette's shoulder, Gokudera flinched and snarled at him something incomprehensible. Yamamoto, nonetheless, wrapped an arm tightly around Gokudera's torso and dragged him closer. Gokudera, aside from some harsh insults, couldn't bring himself to fight the annoying man properly.
Ryohei was staring at Shoichi and Spanner without appearing to know what they had just said. He raised his hand, let it fall back to the table, stood up, and then sat back down. He opened his mouth and then shut it, blinked and then stared at them sightlessly.
Mukuro appeared untouched by the news, but his expression had quickly melted into concern as Chrome had begun crying silent tears. He was close to her, whispering into her ear. She nodded after a while, yet the tears came endlessly and she pressed a hand to her mouth to suppress sobs.
"Lambo, being a male, doesn't have the correct organs or bodily functions to carry a fetus." Spanner interjected into the woe. "His organs will be crushed as the fetus continued to develop and the strain on his spine will eventually become agonizing. His pelvic girdle will in time break. His reproductive diagram is not companionable to developing a womb, nor can we do anything about vascular structure around it. Lambo will die sooner or later." There was no emotion in his voice.
Shoichi was almost doubled over, clutching his belly as waves of cramps assaulted him. Nervousness did that to him; but this went beyond nervousness, this was telling someone that a 16 year old boy was going to die because of a pregnancy. And not any 16 year old boy, but the same exact person that had all but introduced him into the life he had now with the family he was now a part of.
He whimpered pathetically and Spanner wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull him close. There were three things that got through to Spanner and those things were Robotics, Japan, and Shoichi. He felt some regret for the lost life, but he couldn't bring himself to care extensively for someone he hardly knew. But he knew Shoichi – better than most, he might add – and he cared for him more than a friendship could define.
Gokudera broke the cold silence that had begun to choke them. "Than let's get rid of it." His voice was toneless now, but his eyes still depicted uncertain horror. "It hasn't been too long and if we get rid of it now, than there's not so much of a chance of the cow – "
"That would work…" Shoichi spoke up, wincing as he stood straight and leaned against Spanner for support. "… Except how do you suggest we get the fetus out?" Shoichi looked up at them desperately. "He's not a woman, he doesn't have a uterus! His bladder is male… We can't get the fetus out unless we operate on him and that will be too dangerous because of how his original organs are shifting. We could poison the fetus, but then having the body clean itself out might kill him instead. There is nothing we can do."
Shoichi was shaking badly. Spanner was staring down at Shoichi.
Tsuna was staring at his lap and Kusakabe was staring at Tsuna, not sure how he was going to explain this to Hibari. Gokudera was completely numb to Yamamoto's embrace and Ryohei had yet to understand what exactly was being said. He was caught on that 'Lambo is dying' part, somewhere toward the beginning of the meeting.
Chrome was staring at Mukuro, hoping for him to boldly step forth and offer a solution such as he had for her own organs, but Mukuro was silent. Mukuro, as much as he adored Chrome, knew that a favorable situation was being presented to him. In not too long, Tsuna would break and come to him for help, knowing that he was the only one able to save Lambo's life.
Chrome's horrified eye went to her lap; for the first time, she realized that her Mukuro-san might be the monster everyone else claimed him to be. Mukuro, reading the thought, released her and put space between them.
Yamamoto's expression was blank as he stroked Gokudera's hair.
That same day, Lambo received many odd visits from his fellow guardians and Vongola plus some. He wasn't sure why they looked as if they had been crying and/or screaming, but he accepted their company graciously – if not uncertainly when Gokudera came to him and fearfully when Hibari also dropped by, Hibari being the only one who looked unaffected and yet still scrutinized Lambo as if there was something wrong with him.
Chrome had cried when she saw Lambo and held him tightly. Mukuro had been, strangely enough, no where in sight.
Ryohei had been silent, never speaking a word as he just stood in Lambo's doorway, hands clenched at his sides and eyebrows drawn angrily together.
Yamamoto's smile had been strained and he had ruffled Lambo's hair, offered a few inaudible words, and then speedily left.
Shoichi had rested his head against Lambo's shoulder and had asked him a bunch of irrelevant questions about how he was feeling, if he remembered how they had met and – are you in any pain right now? We have medicine for that. Spanner hadn't been too far behind him, but he had only clapped Lambo on the shoulder and than trailed behind Shoichi as they left.
That night, Tsuna asked if he could bunk with Lambo; Hibari was out for a short trip and wouldn't be back till morning – that had been his reasoning.
Tsuna had hugged Lambo in a way he hadn't done so even when Lambo had been a child. The teenager lay curled against his big brother, his emerald green eyes dry as he realized there were tears wetting his sable black locks.
"… I'm going to die, aren't I?" Tsuna's shaking was answer enough for him. "… Goodness…" He felt no fear. He had no idea why he felt no fear, but he just knew that he wasn't scared anymore. Everyone else was too scared for him for him to feel terror any more. "… Vongola?"
"Yes?" Tsuna's voice was hoarse.
"If my baby lives, do you promise to love it? Don't tell it that I died carrying it; I don't want it to feel burdened or guilty. I want it to know that it has a family to turn to, alright?"
There was silence.
"… Okay…"
"Thank you, Vongola."
Five months later, after completing his mission as well as taking a vacation in the Caribbean climate and torturing a few lower mob families 'not worthy' of Reborn's attention and yet somehow worthy of his abuse, the hitman returned to Vongola HQ.
None the wiser.
His first clue was the somber aura; then the expressions of the inhabitants.
And then his bedridden lover with a swollen belly drove the cold, unbending fact home.
He appeared more pissed than horrified.
"This wouldn't have happened had you stayed in the designated area instead of wandering off and being captured by Verde." He frostily sniped at the sickened teen.
He had claimed a seat near to the cow's bed, crossing one leg over the other with his ankle on the opposite knee.
"… Sorry…"
"If you had let Shamal complete the tests before leaving the hospital, you wouldn't be like this."
"… Sorry…"
"You're going to die."
"… Sorry…"
Reborn settled for glaring icily at the teen, the teen's back to him. "You're pathetic. Is that all you can say: sorry?"
"…"
"… You're useless." He snarled.
He left the room, disgusted with the teen.
Within the room, Lambo petted a hand over his bulbous abdomen, choking on tears. "… Sorry…" He didn't have it in him to insult the man, nor did he have the strength to throw something at him. "… Sorry…" It was all he could do.
Apologize.
In those five months he had been missing, not even Tsuna's super intuition could find the missing Verde.
After Reborn's arrival, the search party began to wane in numbers.
Tsuna slammed his hands against the table, meeting Reborn's abysmal gaze with hellfire in his own. "What are you doing?"
"You're wasting funds and manpower, stupid Tsuna." Reborn pointed out coldly. "You're better off searching for a new thunder guardian than hunting down Verde. He's gone missing and he won't surface until the moment he chooses to do so.
"Is it that easy for you?" The Don cracked. "Is it that easy for you to accept that Lambo's dying?"
"People die. There is nothing you can do about it."
Tsuna stared at him with so much rage, so many tears in his caramel eyes…
And then he began to relax. "… You're wrong… There is something I can do about it." He sat back down in his chair with a calmness that had been formerly missing. "If you'll excuse me, Reborn, I have to make some phone calls." His voice was void of emotion.
Reborn narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but left nonetheless. He had once served under the ninth Vongola and now his loyalty was promised to the tenth; there wasn't much else he could do about it except rebel and there was no point in rebelling thus far.
Hours later, the 10 year bazooka was being carted in by a clueless Bovino subordinate.
Reborn broke down the door to Tsuna's office. "You can't cheat death, stupid Tsuna." He cornered the man at his desk. "Shoichi can reverse the affects of the bazooka, but how exactly do you expect to alter it so it only goes back a year?"
Tsuna stared at him with dead eyes. "I'm not going back just a year. I'm going back the original ten."
Reborn's scowl thinned into a frown. His obsidian eyes glittered in thought as he gave Tsuna's determination an once-over. "…" He smirked. "You're going to separate us, aren't you?"
It would be impossible for Tsuna to remove Lambo as a guardian and equally impossible – even more so – to remove Reborn as his tutor.
But that didn't mean Tsuna couldn't go back and remove Lambo from Reborn. Lambo would just be six years old now if going through the 10 year bazooka; easily impressionable and simple to persuade. Tsuna could move Lambo to wherever else and younger Reborn wouldn't fight the decision if presented with good enough reasoning.
There was a solid plan in Tsuna's eyes that said he knew exactly what he was doing, what he was going to do, and how he was going to do it.
Shoichi came in to tell Tsuna that he was ready and that his younger self would have received the note by now to catch younger Tsuna with the bazooka.
Reborn stepped to the side as Tsuna swished past him, never looking back.
A sardonic leer decorated the hitman's lips.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
When Tsuna arrived in the past, it was to the awed gaze of Gokudera and the confused amusement of Yamamoto. Also there was Hibari who glowered at the grown Mafioso and took a stance, demanding a fight.
Tsuna didn't have that kind of time, so he ordered Gokudera and Yamamoto as their Vongola boss to distract Hibari as he made a mad dash for his own home; apparently, he had been at school.
Shoichi had promised him an hour. For everything he had planned, he hoped he could achieve his goal in time.
He made a phone call to his grandpa in Italy, Timoteo's tone welcoming to his ears. He gave a speedy summary as to how he was calling him and than gave an even speedier request which was, after a thoughtful pause, accepted.
He ran into his home, luckily unseen by his nana, and entered his room just in time to watch Lambo about to throw a water balloon at a seemingly dosing Reborn.
"HEY, TSUNA!" Lambo laughed raucously and, for a moment, Tsuna was blinded by the sight of his smile that he hadn't realized he had missed so direly.
Teenage Lambo didn't smile anymore. Sometimes he tried, but they either turned into pained grimaces or blank frowns.
"Stupid Tsuna." Baby Reborn had decided to 'wake up' and now stared at Tsuna with narrowed black eyes. "What are you doing here?"
Tsuna grabbed baby Lambo. "Get packed, Lambo, you're going to back to Italy to be trained at Vongola HQ."
Lambo picked his nose, uncaring. "Okay, but what's in it for me?"
Tsuna had almost forgotten how selfish Lambo had been as a child. Nonetheless, he smiled. "Grapes. Lots of grapes."
The child was out of his arms and grabbing at random things – some of them Tsuna knew for a fact weren't his – and putting them into a duffel bag he pulled out from his afro. "GWA HAH HA! Tsuna should have said so in the beginning that there would be lots of grapes, nyaah!"
"What is the meaning of this?" Reborn was staring at him with a focus that should have been reserved for murderers and rapists.
Tsuna was tempted to tell him – really, he was. … But he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He looked at Reborn… knowing that he was the one who would ultimately kill Lambo in 10 years. Verde had been the cause, the baby had been the reaction, but Reborn… As always, Reborn had been the final judgment and he had judged that Lambo was to die. Maybe it was unfair to accuse him directly of killing Lambo, but Tsuna couldn't get over how uncaring and distant he had been.
Nothing Lambo had ever done had deserved such harsh treatment – especially from his own lover.
"There will be a driver here to pick him up by noon and take him to the airport. I have already called Timoteo and he has arranged for a tutor…" Reborn was giving him a hard look that suggested that that wasn't good enough reasoning.
After all, Reborn wanted the guardians to train together; their connection was supposed to be one of a family and to estrange their youngest member was basically something he did not want even if the youngest member also happened to be the person he disliked most.
"… He'll become stronger this way." Tsuna finally reasoned. "He will survive. You can – " Was he sure he wanted to make exceptions? Yes. " – create dates in which he can come visit and mingle with the family, but he will be solely tied to the headquarters and will have no more than a week's vacation here at most once every year."
He didn't want for there to be any chances. The intimacy in Reborn's and Lambo's relationship came from ten years of never being apart.
He could only hope that absence didn't make the heart fonder.
Five minutes to the hour, Tsuna had managed to convince Reborn, Lambo was ready to go, and Hibari had found Tsuna.
Tsuna hugged Lambo, gave a silent prayer to Yamamoto and Gokudera who were most likely bloody pulps back at Namimori high, and then kicked Hibari's ass black and blue before disappearing in a pink cloud.
"Hey, Tsuna!" Lambo crawled up onto Tsuna's knee, the teen – for one reason or another – sitting down with his body hunched forward as if just waking from a nightmare. "You look like you've seen a ghost!" He poked the teen's snow-pale cheek. "GWA HAH HA! Tsuna must have seen something scary! Lambo wouldn't have been scared!"
Tsuna didn't take notice of the beaten Hibari some feet from him or the fact that his room was almost completely abolished with a wall caved outward, allowing him to see the sky where his roof had originally been. He stared at Lambo with horrified eyes.
Slowly, oh-so slowly, his eyes turned to Reborn.
His caramel eyes spelled it out for them to read.
Ten years in the future, Tsuna was appalled.
Nothing was different. Absolutely nothing… was different. Reborn was still in his office where Tsuna had left him, leaning nonchalantly against the Mafioso's desk. "I contacted Timoteo some time after you left." Reborn commented, talking about in the past. "I cancelled Lambo's trip to Italy."
Tsuna stared at Reborn. "… Why?" His voice was coarse even to his own ears.
"Because that isn't how a family is created." Reborn straightened and then made his way to the door. "Lambo is going to die. There is nothing you can do about it."
He left a moment before Tsuna dropped to his knees.
There was one solution left. Tsuna grabbed for his cell phone. On his contact list, Mukuro's picture – which he hadn't put there – grinned maniacally at him.
Just when he was about to press the 'TALK' button, a steel tonfa destroyed the hapless device.
"No."
The Don's world collapsed around him.
For the very first time in a very long time… he felt… helpless.
And he cried against Hibari's thigh, still on the floor.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
At seven months, Shoichi made a shocking discovery as he performed an ultrasound on Lambo.
Again, there was a conference, this time with Reborn and Hibari in tow, Chrome and Mukuro sitting seats apart, and Tsuna keeping Hibari close to his side for the strength his cloud guardian wordlessly offered him.
"… He's having twins…" Tsuna didn't even put it in the form of a question. He was simply too numb, too exhausted to question the truth.
Shoichi nodded, having also taken a seat. His stomach cramps had become excruciating over the months.
Spanner was standing behind him, massaging his back to try and make him more comfortable. "One girl, one boy." He clipped tonelessly, the stick of his lollipop bobbing between his lips.
"I see…"
"The good news is that we think we can perform a surgery now." Shoichi tiredly offered. "His organs haven't stopped shifting, so we have to be quick about it."
There was a unanimous agreement, the only ones remaining silent being Mukuro, Reborn, and Hibari; Hibari, however, gave his okay through eye contact while Mukuro continued to fake a smile and Reborn had his fedora tipped down over his eyes.
17 hours later, there were two tiny, shriveled infants in an incubator, both just barely breathing and more recognizable as aliens than humans.
Lambo was, miraculously, alive.
Chrome was missing.
Strangely enough, after dumping the two infants in the incubator, they were almost completely ignored – not out of cruelty, but because of the fact that Lambo was alive.
The Vongola family was squeezed into one tiny room just so they could stare at the unconscious boy.
A shadow slipped into the babies' room, a head of electric green and eyes like olives behind glasses a part of his features.
He grinned when he looked into the incubator. "So the experiment was a success." He shoved his hands into his lab coat. "This was almost too easy."
His grin disappeared when there was an audible 'click'.
"… You fooled me, Reborn." The man admitted, still looking into the incubator. "I thought you wouldn't have cared." In all honesty, he had come to assume that maybe the hitman would be happy for it.
Reborn steps out of the corner of the room, a semiotic pistol pointed at the direct center of the back of Verde's skull, a vengeful, bloodthirsty smirk on his handsome face. "You assault my lover, commit unheard of experiments on him, and then nearly kill him with your damned to hell curiosity. You should have seen through my façade, Verde."
"So you knew that had I known you were affected by your lover's condition, I wouldn't have personally come for the children." Verde quipped.
"I thought it was worth a try." The gun jabbed into Verde's wild hair, painfully gouging into the back of his head.
"There is no reason to get feisty."
"I'm not." Reborn's tone insinuated otherwise. "I'm just making sure that you bleed; I wouldn't want to mistake you for one of your robotic lookalikes."
"I'm bleeding; so why are you still pressing?"
"Because it amuses me." Reborn's leg came out, sweeping Verde off his feet and to his knees. "Because I have spent the last two months watching my lover suffer for another one of your schemes that will never come to fruition."
"Tell me, Reborn – now that you have played the part of an uncaring lover, how do you expect to be a part of the boy's life? Of the children's lives? Even the Tenth holds a grudge against you."
"They will get over it." Reborn's hand tangled into his hair and shoved his head back so that he was looking straight up into the barrel of the pistol. "You're a different story."
Verde's eyes were wide as he realized that maybe he had taken the experiment a little too far. Reborn was going to kill him. "Now, now, Reborn, let's calm down and not do anything irrational-" He flinched when the gun clicked, Reborn's pressing down on the trigger.
No bullet.
Reborn's smirk said that he wasn't worried about that. Verde swallowed thickly; the hitman was playing Russian roulette with him.
"There is no need for violence – as you can see, your lover is just fine, the children will eventually – " Another click; no bullet.
Verde tried to keep his suave cool, but his eyelids were trembling and it was becoming harder to breathe.
"You can't kill me, Reborn – that would be violating the code we made as arcobaleno!"
"Number one: you never bothered to stick to the code. Number two: we're not arcobaleno anymore." The gun went off a third time.
There was a bullet.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Lambo woke up, pumped full of sedatives and pain killers. He looked at his friends and family around him – "… Babies?" –and could only think of his infants.
Yamamoto disappeared and a minute or so later, an incubator was carted in. Inside were two tiny, tiny little infants, both of them looking no larger than Lambo's palm.
He stared at them, awe making his mouth gape open. "… Those… came from me?"
Shoichi nodded. Spanner was standing close to his side, at the ready in case Shoichi's stomach cramps began again.
"… They're ugly…" Lambo observed through his drug-induced haze. "… I love them." He reached out and placed his hand weakly against the glass. "… Hello, ugly darlings…"
The room was torn between laughter and tears.
Tsuna wiped at his eyes and stepped forward, putting his hand over Lambo's on the glass. "I'm sure they'll grow up to be beautiful."
Lambo just smiled.
"THEY'RE EXTREMELY SMALL! I COULD EAT THEM IN ONE BITE!" Ryohei smashed his face against the incubator, luckily not breaking the brooder. He grunted. "… They're naked…"
Yamamoto laughed and leaned over to look at the babies he had brought in. "Mah mah~ That's how babies are born!"
Gokudera leaned against Yamamoto's shoulder in a nonchalant way, giving the babies a cursory glance with feigned carelessness. "Tsch… I hate kids." He tapped a finger against the incubator, gently so. "I bet they're going to grow up just like their damn – …"
A thought occurred to everyone – except Lambo who was still caught in the midst of drugs and was content with poking the glass, repeating beneath his breath 'ugly darlings' – at the same exact moment.
"… Hey, cow." Gokudera leered at the blankly staring teen. "These means you're a mother."
The thunder guardian tilted his head up to look at Gokudera, eyes blinking. "… I guess I am…" He agreed in a drone tone. With that, he turned back to his babies, poking the glass. "My ugly darlings… What to name you ugly darlings…"
Kusakabe took a picture with his cell and mailed it to Hibari. For further measure, he also took a picture of Tsuna's expression as he looked at the babies and also sent that to the cloud guardian.
Shoichi smiled at the scene before him, tilting his head to then look at Spanner whose icy blue eyes looked lazily on to what was occurring. "I think we can go back to working with machinery now." Shoichi commented almost teasingly.
"Ah. Finally." Spanner took his lollipop from his mouth and grinned down at Shoichi. "I'll be happy to get back to work."
They left silently, Spanner tangling his hand with Shoichi's.
Mukuro wasn't there.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
At one point, everyone left. Because of Lambo's pleas, however, the incubator remained.
The teen had been dosing but now he stared avidly at his children.
The drugs were beginning to wear off; he was aware of discomfort in his midriff, but not to the extent where there was pain
"Hello, ugly darlings…" He put his hand flat to the glass. "Stupid says that I'm your momma…" He blinked then smiled. "I'm happy that I have you two. Your papa's an asshole." He frowned. "I mean a butthole… You're both going to grow up without using foul language."
He tilted his head when he heard the door to his temporary room open, blinking uncomprehending eyes when a man came into view. "Speak of the devil… There's the butthole." He cocked his head. "Hey, there's blood on your shirt."
Reborn came around and looked down into the incubator. "… What are their names?"
Lambo smiled. "Not telling. You've been a butthole."
Reborn raised a brow at the new nickname, but decided against commenting on it. "You don't know, do you?"
"Nope." Lambo looked back at the twins. "… They're my ugly darlings… They're gonna be my heart and soul."
Reborn smiled disdainfully. "No room for me?"
"Nope. You've been a butthole…" Lambo blinked. "… Maybe… Why is there blood on your shirt?"
"What do you mean, maybe?"
"Maybe there's no room for you. What's with the blood?"
"How are you not sure if there is room for me or not?"
"The blood?"
"I had to kill someone and I did it with relish. Now explain the maybe."
"I love you." Lambo paused at his own comment. "… Goodness… That was a little strong…" He pointed at the boy in the incubator. "I was gonna name him Ambrogio… But than I decided that I didn't want you to think that I was gonna miss you."
Ambrogio was an Italian name meaning 'reborn'.
Reborn stared down at the tiny infants. "… And the girl?"
"… Oh, yeah… I was gonna torture myself with her, too… She was gonna be Rinascita."
Rinascita was Italian for 'rebirth'.
"… Fulmine looks more fit for her."
Lambo's gaze shot to Reborn's face, but his expression was hidden by the shadow cast by his fedora.
Fulmine was Italian for 'thunderbolt'.
"… Why were you so mean?"
"I had to kill someone."
"Oh…" Lambo tried to make a connection and somehow managed to do so, this time possibly aided by the drugs instead of hindered; they did make him think up some crazy things and this crazy thing seemed crazy enough to fit. "… Hey, Reborn… You wanna be a part of our family?"
The hitman came around the incubator before Lambo's foggy mind could even realize he had moved. And then coffee and clover invaded his senses as lips covered his own chapped pair.
"I thought you would never ask." Reborn growled once he broke away from the kiss.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Reborn had purposefully forgotten to erase the video cameras that had been stationed in the same room as the incubator.
This led to another conference, which was absent of the two mist guardians, that eventually led to redeeming Reborn.
Some days later, Mukuro turned back up, unconscious Chrome in arms.
The reason for their absence?
"You mean if it wasn't for Chrome, Lambo would be dead right now?" Gokudera gawked.
"Kufufufufu~ my dear Nagi has taken on quite the will of her own lately." Mukuro sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair situated close to the pristine white hospital bed that temporarily held the female illusionist. "I am lucky to have found her when I did. She knew she was going to die after she helped with the birth, so she tried to hide herself."
"… I'm sorry… That wasn't what I wanted…" Tsuna stood some feet from the tricky mist guardian, eyes on Chrome. "She must have felt pressured watching all of us in such distress… I'm sorry." It had never crossed his mind to switch one guardian for another – even if, technically, Mukuro was the inheritor of the Mist ring.
Maybe himself, but never them.
"You forget that my beautiful Nagi is extremely sensitive. She went through seven months of watching everyone break down over the cow-child's condition and so she was hard pressed to do something." There was a bitter edge to his voice.
"Yeah, well if you had helped to begin with, this never would have happened." Gokudera sniped coldly.
"Gokudera." Tsuna looked at his right-hand man in reprimanding.
"I apologize, Tenth."
"For once, the octopus dog is right." Mukuro surprisingly admitted, making both Gokudera and Tsuna gawk.
And then the nickname penetrated Gokudera's shock. "Who are you calling an octopus dog?" He growled low in his throat, resolve flames fluttering about his Storm ring.
Mukuro ignored him. "I will one day possess you, Tsunayoshi; however, such will not come at the cost of my dear Nagi's life."
Tsuna stared at him in thought. After a long moment, he smiled gently. "I won't use that against you two – well, unless something like this happens again, maybe… We could have really used your help on this one, but the fact that Chrome nearly sacrificed herself for Lambo…" He bowed low to the unconscious woman. "Thank you, Chrome; you are an amazing woman." After another minute, he bowed to Mukuro as well.
The long-haired man raised a brow. "Kufufufu~? May I ask why for you praise me?"
"Than you, Mukuro, for giving Chrome her life back and letting her join our family. I know you hate the mafia with a passion and I know you must feel a little betrayed right now – but thank you nonetheless. And thank you for never giving up on her."
Behind him, Gokudera bowed as well – though distaste was obvious in his expression and he bent forward tensely.
Mukuro allowed himself a small smile. "She has grown to love you all, hasn't she?" He gestured towards the door. "If you would, Tsunayoshi, I wish to be alone with my beautiful Nagi now. Your octopus dog is dirtying the air just by breathing and you are growing to be too endearing for my health."
Gokudera sputtered. "D-dirtying? Says a man waiting to stab us in the back!"
Tsunayoshi brought a hand up, a gesture for Gokudera to be silent, though he did so with a gentle smile so Gokudera gave into his demand without a fight. "Tell her thanks for us when she wakes up, please."
With that, they left the two illusionists to themselves.
The hospital room disappeared, shaping itself into a meadow by a small lake.
Chrome waited by a tree in a short lace dress, her hair flowing over her damaged eye, but leaving the other violet orb cutely enhanced by the purple wave.
"Nagi." Mukuro breathed into Chrome's subconscious mind.
Chrome turned from the lake and smiled at him. "Mukuro…" She breathed.
He returned her smile gently, stepping close. "Why is my beautiful Nagi so short?" He teased her.
She flushed and looked down to his white sleeved vest. "I-I'm not short…" She frowned and her delicate eyebrows drew together. "… I'm not…"
He cooed and left the subject at that. "… Are you still angry with me?"
She gazed up at him once more. Slowly, love and adoration filtered into her eye. She wordlessly shook her head. "I-I should be the one asking you that! You gave me life and love and a family, but I betrayed you… I'm sorry…" She stared out to the lake with shame apparent.
"Do not apologize, my beautiful Nagi. Do not ever apologize." He slipped a hand beneath her chin and tilted her face up to his. "I could never be angry with you." Carefully, he pressed his lips to hers. "You are too lovable." He cooed.
Chrome flushed a brazen red. "Really?"
"Yes. Really." He kissed her a little harder this time, driving his point across. "Kufufufufu~ My Nagi is most important to me."
Glassy tears filled the woman's eyes and then she smiled brightly, shoulders squaring as she laughed softly. "Mukuro is most important to me, too."
Their hands interlaced and Mukuro brought Chrome to his chest. Music began in the background, where it was originating from unknown. "My beautiful Nagi…" He stepped away form her, keeping their hands intertwined. "Will you dance with me?"
Chrome stared down at the gown she was so suddenly wearing, a silky white dress that touched her knees in a series of ruffles and bows that raised her cuteness level to where any normal being would instantaneously die of extreme blood loss.
Mukuro's outfit had been replaced with a simple black suit that only enhanced how handsome he was.
Chrome nodded and put her other hand on Mukuro's shoulder as the illusionist cooed and swept her away on a dance in the stars.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Yamamoto was in danger. He wasn't afraid, but he knew he was possibly going to lose his life at any moment.
Across from him sat Hibari, looking subtly irritated and yet Yamamoto could feel the killer intent wafting from him thicker than usual.
Again, he wasn't afraid; he was just aware.
"Mah mah, Hibari! You should cool down a little! Mukuro's not going to do anything bad."
The forbidden name mentioned, Hibari shot him a glare that could have made frozen an inferno or set flame to an iceberg.
Yamamoto, neither an inferno nor an iceberg, merely grinned into the face of evil.
Luckily, before they could begin the dance of 'who dies tonight', Tsuna and Gokudera revealed themselves from the private hospital wing of the Vongola Headquarters, Tsuna looking appeased and Gokudera pissed off.
Hibari stood to his feet, eyes focused on his lover. Yamamoto continued to lounge on the couch, smiling at his angered silverette.
"Hello, Hibari, Yamamoto!" Tsuna greeted them with a warm smile.
"Yo, Tsuna!" Yamamoto offered a two-finger wave. "Hey, Gokudera, how'd it go?"
His lover shot him such a dirty look, he felt his pants tighten; it wasn't even the dirty look as in 'naughty', but the dirty look as in 'say another fucking word and I am going to bloodily maim and than castrate you'.
Yamamoto could be labeled a masochist – technically, he just loved everything about Gokudera including his sometimes sadistic nature. But he would accept it if someone called him masochistic because he was pretty sure no one else became turned on by a visual death threat.
His gaze flickered to Tsuna and Hibari who stood only feet apart and yet both looked blissfully content, much like a couple would after a long bout of making love. Hibari, of course, didn't look that content – him being Hibari – but the point was that they weren't even touching or speaking to each other and yet they were so obviously lovers.
He guessed that all couples had their kinks. While Gokudera would insult, abuse, and sometimes ignore Yamamoto, the rain guardian had come to accept that he really couldn't have asked for more in a person. Because Gokudera was beautiful, smart, quick of wit, strong, daring, and loyal without fault… Gokudera wasn't perfect, but he was as close to perfect as Yamamoto ever wanted to get.
He finally stood to his feet, urged on by Gokudera's growled insults. He threw an arm across the silverette's shoulders, humming beneath his breath as Gokudera temporarily went silent to flush darkly at the affectionate display.
"Hey, Tsuna, now that everything's good again, do you think we should get the girls back from Nana?" Yamamoto cocked his head curiously.
Towards the beginning of Lambo's pregnancy when they had first found out, Tsuna had sent the girls back to Japan with Fuuta and I-Pin in tow. Even though they had debated whether or not to bring them back so they could spend time with Lambo once they discovered that there was an overwhelming possibility of Lambo dying, they had in the end decided to keep them away at the thunder guardian's wish, though that had never sat well with Tsuna.
The Vongola nodded, smile growing. "We'll have to explain what happened to them…. But maybe Haru and Kyoko will still cook a feast, at least for Lambo." He scratched his chin. "… I think we should get the whole family here, actually."
" I'll call the old man!" Yamamoto referred to his dad. "And Bianchi!" Because he knew Gokudera wouldn't.
When Reborn had turned to Lambo for a lover, Bianchi had gone off the deep end and had finally gotten over her rage about Romeo – she then tried to poison Lambo every time she saw him because he was Lambo.
Nonetheless, after some time, Reborn had penetrated the thick haze of hatred around her and she had eventually calmed to the idea, though whether or not she completely got over Reborn was up for debate.
That didn't mean that Gokudera and Bianchi were on friendly terms yet; Gokudera had mostly gotten over his urge to vomit every time he saw his sister's face, but there were still bitter feelings. Not a lot, not nearly the amount of hatred Gokudera had originally shown, but enough that it was clear that there still wasn't complete forgiveness.
Gokudera snorted. "Why call her up? She's not going to be happy about this."
The thought went through all four of their minds that she might actually try to kill the children.
Yamamoto hastened to continue. "I'll go make the phone calls!"
"I'll go – "
"To bed." Hibari finished for Tsuna. "You have slept a total of seven hours in three weeks. You are going to bed." He left no room for argument, a soundless 'or I'll bite you to death' attached to his words.
Gokudera, always wanting to fight Hibari, had to relent to the truth. "He is right, Tenth; you need to rest. We'll sort it all out."
"I'm alright, really – "
Hibari again interrupted him. This time, it was with a precise strike to one of Tsuna's pressure points, causing the Don to collapse in his arms.
"That was uncalled for!" Gokudera snarled.
He would have assaulted the cloud guardian, but he was oh-so suddenly distracted. By Yamamoto… And his mouth.
As the dubbed baseball-loving 'idiot' kissed the daylights out of him, Hibari sauntered away with his prize held high to his chest.
By the time Gokudera regained his wits, the couple was nowhere in sight. "YOU BASEBALL FREAK!"
But who could stay angry at Yamamoto? Gokudera, for one, was incapable of such a feat.
"… Tsch! Let's get to work."
"Alright!" Yamamoto pumped a fist into the air.
"EXTREME!"
"GAH! Where did you come from, lawnhead?" Ryohei, on the other hand, was a completely different story.
The reception room to the hospital wing was in shambles in .7 seconds.
Yamamoto, in three minutes, completed the phone calls and then saved Gokudera from Ryohei's kangaroo box weapon. "Mah mah, Gokudera! We can play later!"
"How dare you!"
"THIS IS EXTREME!"
"You are all idiots."
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Lambo held his lover's hand between his own, tracing the scars along his knuckles and the calluses of his palm. "… Hey, Reborn…" He smiled. "What would you say if I told you I was extremely happy?"
There was an answering snort. "I would say you're an idiot." He pressed a kiss to the corner of Lambo's lips. "However, you're my idiot."
"You hear that, babies?" Lambo tilted his head to the incubator where his twins continued to sleep. "Your papa is calling me an idiot. When you two grow up, you have to avenge me and beat him up."
"I can tell already that you're going to raise our children to try and do what you could never do."
Reborn smirked.
Lambo smiled.
The twins' lips twitched in their sleep.
"Oh, who's the almightiest twins~ who's the almightiest twins? My Ambrogio and Fulmine~ Ambrogio and Fulmine! They're the almightiest twins~ they're the almightiest twins~ and nobody can deny them or else Reborn's going to kill them! And nobody can deny them or else Reborn's going to kill them!"
"Never sing that again."
"You know you loved it."
"Never. Again."
"You're such a butthole."
Two weeks later, Reborn and Lambo got to hold their children for the first time.
Approximately three hours afterward, all four were reported to have flown to Spain.
When they returned, both wore a silver band on their ring fingers. The twins each had a gold band around a chain loosely tightened around their wrists.
Tsuna declared it to be a wonderful thing.
Author's Note: Hello~ RL community! Oh, how I have missed you all! Yes, yes… I randomly ended the story with Reborn and Lambo getting married.
Here is the scene I couldn't fit into the story that would explain why they randomly got married (deleted scene in italicizes):
Lambo had his head resting against Reborn's chest, his lover staring down at his black sable locks. "… We'll have our children back by tomorrow."
Lambo looked up at him with sparkling eyes. "Really?"
"Yes."
"Finally…" Lambo tilted his head to look to the incubator. "I want to hold them, Reborn… I don't like that I can't touch them." Tears floated in his gaze.
"…" Reborn cocked his head thoughtfully. "… Once they're free, we'll go to Spain."
"Spain? Why?" Lambo didn't look away from his babies.
"To get married."
"Oh – wait, what?" Lambo gawked at him with wide emerald eyes.
"I won't have bastard children."
"Don't call them that! And that's not a good enough reason! Plenty of couples these days have children but don't get married!"
"Yes, but we aren't among those 'plenty of couples'. I have a reputation to uphold."
"Well f- pooey to your reputation!" Lambo glowered at him. "That's a terrible reason!"
"Is that so? What would be a better reason? Love?"
"As it so turns out, yes."
"You love me."
"Goodness…" Lambo tiredly looked away. "… I do… But you don't love me… And I know you, Reborn – you wouldn't sacrilege a marriage."
"You're insulting me, aren't you?"
"What I mean is that you wouldn't be free to leave whenever you got tired of me!" Tears trickled down the teen's face. He angrily swiped them away. "G-goodness…" He looked ashamedly down. "… I knew from the beginning you would eventually get sick of me… I don't want that day to come and you being stuck here. That only makes a relationship bitter and children are sensitive to that kind of thing – I don't want to start screaming matches with you when we think the children are sleeping or give each the cold shoulder when we think the children don't notice. I want them to grow up knowing they're loved, not feeling as if they destroyed their parents' lives."
Lambo had mostly been raised by his grandmother until he had joined the Vongola family; however, he had spent enough time with his maternal parents to be scarred for life.
His mother had hated his father. His father had always been chained down by honor and so had never cheated even though his mother had run rampant among other men.
When it came to marriage, Lambo was insecure.
Reborn frowned down at him. Him being Reborn, of course he knew the story behind the insecurity.
"You're not going to cheat on me; if you do, I'll kill your lover and then I'll kill you and take the children with me. We're not going to scream at each other when we think the children aren't listening because we don't scream – you throw things that usually blow up and I throw them back at you. We aren't going to give each other the cold shoulder when we think the children don't notice because I regularly ignore you and you can't bring yourself to pretend that I don't exist."
He kissed Lambo's temple. "We're not a perfect couple, but we've been with each other for over 11 years now and we know what to do and what not to do, even if we do or don't do it anyway. Our children are going to be raised by us, and that's going to be enough for them."
Lambo was crying again, but for a completely different reason from fear or pain. "… Thank you…" He thanked Reborn for assuaging him. "… So… Spain?"
"Spain."
"… Who's going to be our witness?"
"Whoever the hell we drag off the street."
"Sounds like a plan. What do you little darlings think, Ambrogio? Fulmine?"
The twins made no comment.
I couldn't figure out where to put it! So I feel bad for anyone who doesn't read the author's note…
Love me with reviews and faves?
And, yes, Reborn did kill Verde. Verde deserved it.
And, yes, yes, I wrote about a heterosexual couple in this story (le GASP!) Praise me for my awesomeness.
Please don't kill me for any grammatical or title mistakes. I didn't bother to beta myself because I was so excited to contribute to the RL community once more! And I really wanna get soda…
I HAVE REVISED THIS STORY FINALLY! I was rereading it and I didn't like the amount of errors in it… There still might be some, however; I sped through it.