Diclaimer: I don't own the characters or the series. Amano Akira does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.

Best Laid Plans

Proper planning, Dino often thought, made things always much easier. When you knew what you were going to do and what you should be prepared for, it also became much easier to handle the things you hadn't exactly planned for but that showed up nevertheless. Having everything thought out in advance made it less complicated to adapt to changes.

Of course, when your entire plan was pretty much thrown out of the window at the first step, he found himself less than prepared.

"What do you mean, Kyouya isn't here?" He was pretty sure he was staring at Kusakabe with a rather stupid expression. He certainly felt like it. What did the boy mean, Kyouya wasn't at the school? It was a school day, and mid-morning at that. Of course Kyouya would be at school. Not necessarily in class, no, but certainly on the school grounds.

"Ah, he didn't come in at all today," Kusakabe replied, looking just the slightest bit awkward. "He called me in the morning and told me to take care of things. And, well, I really don't question the chairman..."

"Of course not. That'd be stupid." Dino sighed, running a hand through his hair. Now what was he supposed to do?

It had been such a simple plan on the surface. Come to the school, find Kyouya, convince him to spend the day with Dino. Perhaps the last step wasn't quite that simple to put into practice, but other than that, he hadn't expected to run into too many obstacles. To think that his glorious plan would fail on the very first stage was just too cruel.

"Ah... if I understood right, the chairman was planning to spend the day at his house," Kusakabe then said, the voice of angels in Dino's ears if he'd ever heard such sweet sounds. "At least, that's what I concluded from what little he said. It might be worth checking out, at least."

"Oh, thanks!" Dino was beaming, now. A ray of hope in his misery! However slim it might have been, he was determined to hang onto it with all his might. "I'll be sure to go and look for him!" He turned to look at Romario. "Did you hear that, Roma? Tell the driver we're heading off to Kyouya's place!" His second-in-command nodded and got out his cell phone to call the chauffeur waiting just outside the school grounds.

"You know where he lives?" Kusakabe blinked, apparently surprised by the fact. Then, Dino supposed it couldn't be helped; Kyouya wasn't exactly known to be the most sociable of beings. Nevertheless, he flashed the younger man a bright grin.

"Yeah! Don't worry, though, I'll only use this knowledge for good." Then, not wanting to waste any more time, he rushed off, leaving Kusakabe looking after himself, shaking his head.

On the way to Kyouya's house, Dino was starting to get anxious. It was the plans again, he concluded. He'd gone through how he was going to present his business over in his head so many times, now that he wasn't able to do so he was thrown off. But then, he thought, leaning his head against the window of the dark limo, gazing out, nothing involving Kyouya was ever nice and simple and easy.

Romario was looking at him, not saying anything.

Finally they came to a halt in front of a familiar, traditional Japanese-style house. Dino instructed the rest of his men to wait on the street outside while he and Romario headed in.

His calls went unanswered as they arrived at the door. After some hesitation, he decides to head right in, a small sense of dread spreading within him. It certainly wasn't like Kyouya to let just anyone walk into his house like that without even answering a clear call. Something had to be wrong.

Quickly striding through the house, he did his best to remember the layout from the rare times he had been allowed inside earlier. After checking some of the more obvious choices such as living room and kitchen, he finally came to the door to Kyouya's bedroom. He paused a bit, then steeled himself, opening the door and stepping in. "Kyouya?"

Kyouya's bedroom, he noted, looked unsurprisingly just like it always did. Ascetic, minimalistic, a school uniform neatly folded away, a futon laid out... the form of a person curled up under the covers of the futon. Well, that was new.

"Go away." Kyouya's voice was hardly audible, most of him hidden under the cover, yet the tone was clearly cranky. Dino found himself feeling strangely relieved. If Kyouya could find the energy to be grumpy, he couldn't be too badly off.

"No, I won't," Dino replied, walking to the side of the futon and crouching down. "Honestly, Kyouya. You can't be absent from school and expect me not to be worried about you."

"You're not supposed to be in Japan," came the slightly muffled response. "Go back home."

"If it were that easy to get rid of me, I'd have never finished training you for the ring battles," Dino pointed out wryly. "So what would prompt you to leave your precious school in someone else's care, even just your second's?"

"Nothing." Kyouya hid even deeper under the covers, only a few strands of his hair visible. "I'm just tired. Go away and let me sleep."

"As though you would skip school just to sleep." Dino frowned. "I was sure I'd come here to find you dead or something."

"I called Kusakabe Tetsuya to inform him I would not be present today. I couldn't have done that if I were dead," Kyouya grumbled. "Leave me be."

"There has to be something wrong simply because I'm still unscathed," Dino said calmly. "If you were just sleepy, you would have already beaten me up." He could practically hear Romario rolling his eyes in the background.

"Well, maybe you should just do as I say instead," Kyouya replied, finally sticking out his head to glare at Dino. "You're the one who's always telling me I should talk instead of using violence."

Dino was startled, though not as much by the rather uncharacteristic argument as by Kyouya's appearance. There was a bright flush on his student's face, and a rather worrying look in his eyes. Almost instinctively, he reached out a hand to try Kyouya's forehead. "Woah. You're burning up, Kyouya."

"I'm not sick," Kyouya insisted, drawing away from his touch. "I'm just tired."

"Being tired doesn't make you feverish."

"I don't have a fever." Yeah, right. "I'm freezing, you idiot."

"That means your fever's going up!" Dino snapped. He was getting worried again. Whether Kyouya admitted it or not, he was obviously ill.

"It means it's cold out." Kyouya made to disappear under the covers again.

"You're flushed, hot to touch, and you can't even get out of bed. I'm sorry to say this, Kyouya, but you're sick."

There was no answer.

"I don't understand why you're being so difficult, Kyouya," Dino sighed. "Being sick is not weakness, you know."

"Don't you have anyone else to bug?"

"Actually, no." Dino sat down on the floor next to Kyouya's futon, stretching out his legs. "I'd planned to spend the day with you anyway, so I don't have anywhere else to be."

"Well, go find someone else." Kyouya again peeked out just to glare at him.

"But Kyouya, there's nobody else I'd want to spend today with." Dino returned the glare with a grin, quite unaffected. "I mean, sure, I'd rather take you to a nice restaurant or something, but there's no way I'd let you be alone on a day like this, certainly not when you're sick."

Kyouya gave him a rather flat stare." Restaurant?" he echoed.

"It's Valentine's Day, Kyouya," Dino said, giving the younger man his most charming grin, not that he expected it to make any difference. "Of course I wanted to make it special."

"You're an idiot." Kyouya scowled. "Neither of us is a woman."

"That has nothing to do with this." Certainly most would not agree with him, but he supposed he could afford to be selfish about one thing in his life. If that one thing was his choice of who to love, well, he'd just have to accept any hardships that came with his choice. Even if it meant dealing with a rather irate cloud. "I like you, Kyouya, not a woman."

"...Idiot." Kyouya closed his eyes, curling up further. He looked rather bad, Dino noted, and certainly exhausted. "I'll beat you up later..."

Dino frowned. For Kyouya not to give out his promised punishment right away was... concerning. "Kyouya... do you have anyone to take care of you here? Any family or anything?"

Kyouya gave him a fevered glare again. "Have you ever seen anyone but my subordinates around here?"

"I'll take that as a no." Dino sighed, leaning back on one hand while raking the other through his hair. "This just won't do, Kyouya. You can't even get out of bed by yourself; how do you expect to get better in an empty house like this?"

"Not all of us have or need servants to jump at our every whim," Kyouya snapped. "Kusakabe Tetsuya is needed to guard the school. He has no time to watch me sleep."

"Well, you can't just go all day without eating anything!"

"I'm not hungry." The words came out as a tired murmur.

"Well, you will be," Dino replied. "And even if you aren't, you'll just feel worse if you don't eat anything." One might have said he made his decision immediately, but really, there was hardly any decision to make. It was more like the simplest fact. "I'll look after you."

"No you won't." Kyouya sounded rather annoyed at the mere suggestion. "I'm definitely not going to have your idiotic herd trampling around in my own home when I'm too tired to even beat them up."

"I know better than to make my men crowd you, Kyouya." Dino shook his head. "I'll send them all away." As Kyouya still looked rather cranky, he added, "If you'd prefer, I'll have them patrol the school area."

This offer got what was probably the first even borderline positive reaction he had got from Kyouya in all this time. The boy relaxed, ever so minutely but still. "...Long as they don't disturb the students."

"Then, you'll let me stay?" Oh, he was most definitely determined to stay either way, but things would go easier if he got Kyouya's agreement.

For a moment, there was silence. Finally, Kyouya said, "As long as you don't disturb my sleep."

Dino couldn't help the faint smile on his lips. "I'll do my best not to, Kyouya." He certainly knew better than to disturb his cranky little student's rest.

Kyouya, somewhat unsurprisingly, ignored him now, burrowing deeper under the covers instead. Dino shook his head and stood up, walking over to Romario and quietly giving him some instructions. Romario simply nodded and walked off to pass the word along, apparently not at all surprised by Dino's decision. He wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing.

By the time he returned his attention to Kyouya, he found that the boy was indeed asleep. Smiling faintly, he carefully tested Kyouya's forehead. He'd been right the first time around; it was far too warm. "I hope he's not seriously ill," he murmured.

"I'm sure it's just a harmless cold," Romario reassured him. "He's a strong young man. It's certainly nothing to worry about."

"...I'll hope." Dino managed a faint smile before sitting down next to Kyouya's futon on the floor. He almost started to speak again, then fell silent. Kyouya had told him not to disturb his rest, after all.

Perhaps he was crazy, he thought. He was a powerful don, after all, with five thousand men to care for. He had better things to do than spend his day watching a grumpy young man sleep, hoping that when he next woke up he would be less grumpy or at least feeling slightly better. However, right now, he found himself unable to care. All he managed to concern himself with was seeing Kyouya get better.

Surely, Kyouya would get better.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he had spent simply sitting quietly, watching the covers move minutely as Kyouya breathed in his sleep, as his quiet musings were interrupted by Romario arriving with a pot of freshly brewed tea.

"Won't do any good for you to get cold as well," Romario murmured, pouring and then handing him a cup of hot tea. "Have him drink something when he wakes up; fluids are important. I'll go and get some groceries in the meantime."

Dino nodded, smiling feebly at Romario. Trust him to always be practical. Dino himself probably would have been perfectly happy just watching Kyouya sleep all day, so what if he had said things about making sure the boy ate at least a bit. ...Well, perhaps not all day, he was quite worried after all, but he certainly wouldn't have been in that much of a hurry to stop watching.

With Romario gone, Dino sipped quietly at his tea, still deep in thought. This was quite different from how he had imagined he would spend the day. He'd been planning to drag Kyouya off for some sparring, hopefully followed by a nice dinner at a fine restaurant. Now, neither of these points was possible, given Kyouya's current condition. He did feel slightly disappointed, but then Kyouya's health was obviously more important than his sappy little plans.

Even then, a small part of his mind found the energy to be excited about the fact that Kyouya hadn't immediately attacked him for daring to suggest he would think of Kyouya as the ideal partner for spending the day generally reserved for couples. The more practical part that sounded awfully much like Reborn reminded him that Kyouya had, nevertheless, promised to beat him up for such idiocy, and that the boy wasn't exactly up to any actual fighting at the moment so he might very well be simply biding his time. The rest of his brain reminded these two to shut up and let him enjoy this rare moment of silence in Kyouya's presence.

"You really are troublesome, aren't you," he murmured at the unconscious teen, looking at him. Kyouya's sleep was somewhat restless, and his head had ended up out of the covers again, the bright flush clear on his cheeks. "Catching my interest like that..."

"Not my fault." The quiet murmur surprised and almost startled him. Kyouya cracked one eye open, looking at him blearily. "You're the idiot..."

"Kyouya!" Dino recovered quickly, quickly shuffling closer. "How are you feeling? Any better? Are you hungry yet? Here, Romario made some tea, it should be still warm and you really should drink something..."

"I'm not sick," Kyouya still insisted, against all evidence to the contrary. He made to sit up, only to hiss and lie down again. "Tea... want something warm..."

"Ah, here." Dino didn't ask whether Kyouya needed help; he was rather sure that would have earned him a beating regardless of Kyouya's sickness or lack thereof. Rather, he simply poured tea into the other cup Romario had left him with, crawling closer so he could set Kyouya's head in his lap, elevated just enough that the boy could manage to drink without spilling the tea all over himself. Kyouya grumbled something inaudible but didn't exactly complain. Apparently using Dino as a pillow did not qualify as accepting help from him.

Finally, Kyouya sighed, leaning his head back in Dino's lap. His eyes appeared glazed over with the fever. "I don't want to eat," he murmured.

"Would you eat if we made something you like?" Dino offered, not about to get discouraged that easily. "Like hamburgers?"

For a while, Kyouya was quiet, his eyes falling shut again. Then, just as Dino was sure he had fallen asleep, he murmured, "I might eat hamburgers."

Dino found a grin taking over his face. "Hamburgers it is, then." He actually dared to brush a lock of black hair from Kyouya's hair, trying to ignore how hot the boy felt under his hand.

Kyouya showed no reaction to his touch, apparently already on his way back to sleep. For now, he seemed to be resting more peacefully, his head remaining in Dino's lap.

By the time Romario got back, Dino was still quietly stroking Kyouya's dark locks.

To his credit Romario appeared rather unsurprised, either by the situation he was presented with or by Dino's news of Kyouya's request. He merely nodded and informed Dino that, surely entirely by chance, he had already bought the necessary ingredients. Dino smiled faintly and wondered if Romario didn't know Kyouya better than even Dino himself did.

He carefully set Kyouya down at last, quietly following Romario to the kitchen, determined to do what little he could to help in the enormous task of cooking. Certainly, he was no master, but he did dare hope he wouldn't manage to blow up Kyouya's kitchen.

Nevertheless, as they actually got to work, he found himself distracted by his thoughts of the sick teen, to the point where Romario simply told him to move aside before he managed to stab himself despite not even handling knives at the moment.

Dino raked a hand through his hair, feeling somewhat useless."I'm hopeless, aren't I, Romario?" He sighed, leaning against the edge of the counter.

"I wouldn't say hopeless, Boss." How Romario could look so neat and dignified in a frilly little apron was quite beyond Dino's understanding. "You are merely, ah... in love."

"...I suppose." Dino shook his head. "In love with a student of mine much younger than I am... he still attends middle school, Romario!"

"I'm certain we both know that he is not exactly the typical age for a middle school student, though." Romario carried on his little cooking project without much of a reaction to their peculiar topic of conversation. "He also certainly acts more like an adult than you do sometimes, Boss." Now, his second-in-command's tone leaned almost towards teasing.

"And at other times, he acts like a total brat," Dino murmured, not exactly happy with the comparison. "Still... I feel like a dirty old man leering after his young student."

"You're neither old nor dirty," Romario reassured him. "If that's what concerns you, do remember that there's no way he would allow you to take advantage of him, age difference or not."

"That's not all, though, is it, Romario?" He grimaced sadly. "Even if Kyouya returned my feelings – which I'm not too hopeful about – it would still be a huge scandal. I'm the don, it's my duty to marry and have an heir and preserve the good name of Cavallone. I know that and still I'm spending Valentine's Day pining over a violent, antisocial man."

"If you ask me, Boss," Romario said rather calmly, "if you're so willing to bear any potential scandals without a second thought for his sake, these feelings of yours are something you should never let go of."

"I'm selfish, aren't I?"

"All humans are selfish," Romario replied. "We all want to be happy, after all." His lips twitched just a bit. "You dragged the family back from the verge of destruction, Boss. Without you, I dare say Cavallone as it is now would not exist today. I should think that as long as you find a successor of some kind, adopted or otherwise, there are few who won't be willing to look the other way if your choice of a partner is... less than traditional."

"I... guess." Dino gave him a somewhat feeble smile. "Of course, it's rather useless to ponder about such points when Kyouya would probably kill me if he knew..."

"Oh, I doubt he'll kill you, no matter what his opinion." Romario almost sounded amused. Dino wasn't sure he liked it. "Either he'll let you live, or decide that death would be too good for you."

"How very reassuring." Dino made a face. "I'm not even sure if you're trying to discourage or encourage me, Roma."

Now, his right-hand man finally paused to think. "I want you to be happy, Boss," he finally said. "And if casting lovesick gazes at a younger man with a kill count higher than his age makes you happy, all I'm going to do about the matter is pray that you don't end up as another notch on his tonfa."

"I won't let Kyouya kill me, worry not." Dino sighed. "Even though he probably will want to once he gets over his fever and realizes what I was planning to do..."

Romario didn't say anything to that, merely continuing the preparation of the food.

Useless or not, Dino found himself lingering at the kitchen all the way until Romario had finished cooking. Deciding that their own hunger could wait, Dino quickly set up a meal on a tray for Kyouya, carrying it to the bedroom. The teen was still asleep, his hair adorably messed up from all the rolling around.

"Kyouya?" He set the tray down on the floor, kneeling next to Kyouya and reaching out to shake him by the shoulder. "Kyouya, hamburgers."

That seemed to be a magical word, considering it actually managed to wake up his grumpy student. Kyouya blinked sleepily at him, then looked over to the tray. His nose twitching as though to capture the scent of his favourite food, he then pushed himself up into a sitting position, reaching to set the tray in his lap. Dino couldn't help but notice that though he had actually managed to sit up now, he still seemed rather wavering.

"Ah, Kyouya?" he said tentatively, crawling closer. "Perhaps you'd like to lean on me?"

Kyouya paused in his preparation to devastate the food to give Dino an incredulous gaze. "You must be out of your mind if you think I'll do that."

"It's not weakness, Kyouya," Dino argued. "You've leant on me to sleep before, right? You said you're tired, so it's all right. You can just go right back to sleep after you've eaten."

Of course, he wasn't exactly sure if that argument counted, considering that a sleepy Kyouya was generally very much like a cat, considering the entirety of the world an appropriate napping place. Why he'd choose to lean on Dino rather than lie on the floor, or the roof, or on top of a desk for that matter if he were simply tired was quite inconsequential. However, it thankfully appeared to be good enough for Kyouya, who only paused for another moment before leaning himself back against Dino's chest, the tray in his lap. Dino didn't dare even think about helping him eat. That would have doubtlessly been grounds for an immediate execution.

Kyouya ate slowly but surely, alleviating Dino's worries another little bit by every bite he took of his meal. As he declared himself finished the plate wasn't even halfway empty, yet neither Dino nor Romario chose to push the issue; this was already more than they had expected. As Romario took the tray away, he leant his head against Dino's shoulder, apparently intent on making good of Dino's earlier offer. "Don't move," he murmured. "I'm going to sleep."

Dino didn't move. He didn't even think about moving. He was quite content to simply enjoy the warmth of Kyouya's feverish body pressed close to himself.

The rest of the day passed in a similar manner, silence only occasionally broken by Dino or Romario, Kyouya waking up every now and then only to fall back to sleep soon. It was not a very exciting day, Dino had to admit, certainly nothing like he had planned, but it wasn't unpleasant, either. Though he was still worried, Kyouya's fever seemed to be slowly wearing off, and a sleepy Kyouya using him as a pillow could only be a good thing.

As the day headed towards dusk, Kyouya's temperature was down significantly. He still had a slight temperature, but nothing like the burning fever of earlier. Dino smiled faintly, brushing a lock of hair from the sweaty forehead. Of course Kyouya would get over it quickly. He never let anything keep him down for long, after all.

"...Cavallone." The quiet voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Yes?" He looked down at the half-open eyes of his student. There was still a hint of fever in them, but they were still much clearer than earlier.

"You wanted to take me... to a restaurant?"

"Yes." He saw little reason in lying about something he had been planning to ask in earnest.

Kyouya was quiet for a moment. Finally, he asked, sounding somewhat disbelieving, "For a date?"

"That's generally the purpose of taking someone out on Valentine's Day, yes."

"I'm male." Kyouya frowned.

"Yes, I know. You also brought this up earlier." Dino gave Kyouya his best grin, trying to ignore the dread spreading in the back of his mind. "I know you're not a woman, but that doesn't matter, because I don't want a woman. I want Kyouya."

Again, there was silence, followed by, "Dating is herbivore nonsense."

"Even the strongest carnivores have mates, though, and mating rituals," Dino reminded him. "Dating is the human mating ritual, designed to make sure the potential mate is desirable enough."

"Still nonsense." Kyouya closed his eyes very determinedly. Then, just as Dino was sure he'd gone back to sleep once again, he said, "...I may be hungry tomorrow."

Dino's lips twitched. "Well, I'm afraid I can't exactly claim to be the best hunter in the pack, but I do know a nice restaurant here in Namimori."

"That... might be adequate." And with nothing more than that, Kyouya fell silent, his breaths evening out soon. How he could still sleep after spending the entire day doing nothing but was quite beyond Dino's comprehension, but then, he supposed being sick would sap on the boy's energy. Not that he actually contemplated such things much right now. He was far too busy feeling damn near ecstatic.

Sometimes, he thought, things just wouldn't go as planned.

Sometimes, he thought, his hands sinking into Kyouya's hair, it might not have been such a bad thing.