With everyone around Tsuna neatly wrapped around his finger, it only inevitable that Tsuna's reach would expand and start pulling people in from the outside.
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Verde hadn't slept in last 64 hours. This was not strange; he was quite wrapped up in an experiment. When he reached this state, nothing really registered and he wasn't all that aware of his surroundings. However, the lack of sleep must clearly be getting to him because he was imagining a brown haired toddler, pulling at his lab coat.
"Lion!" said the toddler.
Verde blinked once, twice. He stared at the fluffy brown hair, wild and unruly like flames. Hmm… Lions and flames…. He could work with that.
At the 70th hour mark, Reborn, Lal, and Viper burst into Verde's lab with mixed reactions. Mostly horror, a bit of relief, but mostly horror.
There, passed out on the couch was Verde, asleep and Tsuna playing with a small lion cub with a Sky Flame mane.
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"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Lal raged.
Verde nursed his head, trying to drown out Lal's screeching. Viper sat in the corner, furiously writing reports and Reborn was gently(?!) trying to convince Tsuna to let the potentially dangerous lion cub go.
"Fascinating," Verde said, pushing up his glasses. "How on earth did I create such a creature?"
"You don't know?!" Lal shouted.
"Tsuna," Reborn said patiently. "Please let the cub go."
Tsuna clung to the lion cub harder. "No! Mine!"
"I'm surprised you just don't snatch it from him. Since when do you play nice?" Verde remarked. A pillow went flying across the room, hitting him in the face courtesy of Viper.
"What has gotten into your three?" Verde asked, exasperated. Lal's shouting aside, Viper and Reborn were actually almost parental in their reactions.
"We're trying to minimize the negative and insane influences on Tsunayoshi's life and you. Are. Not. Helping!" Lal said, smacking him on the back of his head.
"Padrino," Tsuna whined as Reborn gently extracted the lion cub from Tsuna's arms.
"If it's safe, you may get him back," Reborn said kindly. He dumped the trembling lion cub into Verde's arm.
"You're his godfather?" Verde asked, eyebrow raised.
Reborn scowled. "Iemitsu's idea. I want to know how stable this lion cub is, why the hell did you think it was a good idea to combine it with Sky Flames, if it's going to grow and how dangerous it is. Understood?" 'Or you're a dead man' went unsaid.
He didn't wait for Verde's reply before sweeping down to pick up an upset Tsuna and stalking out of the room.
"This has to be a joke," Verde said flatly. The lion cub meowed at him, curiously looking around.
"It's not," Viper said, floating past him.
"You're going to fix this Verde. Or there's going to be a whole slew of people pissed off that you got Tsuna's hopes up like that," Lal said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
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One did not simply understand Tsuna's obsession with lions. However, the blame could largely be placed on Iemitsu.
As the Young Lion of Vongola, his general scruffy appearance and frequent trips to the zoo with Tsuna, Iemitsu had solidified Tsuna's love of lions into something that would stay with him for the rest of life. Some (Viper) thought it was a manifestation of Tsuna's (odd) love for his father (who was still an idiot). Others (Xanxus) thought it had to do with the fact that Iemitsu often dressed up as a lion to cheer Tsuna up. A few (Lal) blamed the bedtime stories like Wizard of Oz that were read to Tsuna. Reborn was the only one who, often in the dark and by himself, wondered if the blasted stuffed lion he had given Tsuna on the day they first met was the cause.
(To date, no one actually knew where Tsuna's favorite stuffed lion had come from outside of Reborn. As far as everyone was concerned, Iemitsu had bought it on one of his many shopping sprees. Iemitsu thought someone else gave it to his precious tuna fishie).
So, confronted with the idea that he had a real lion that was taken away from him, absolutely crushed Tsuna. He often sat in the corner, listlessly playing with his blocks and ignoring everyone.
Those were very dark days in the CEDEF headquarters. Lal's blood pressure went through the roof as more and more people were tripping over themselves to cheer up Tsuna. Iemitsu flipped between swearing to kill Verde, threatening to punch Reborn and downright begging Tsuna to smile. Reborn took it upon himself to sit in Verde's makeshift lab, patiently waiting for Verde to finish his tests. His dark and deadly aura filling the room, causing beads of sweat to roll down Verde's neck. Viper… Viper budgeted an extra 200% to the repair bills because sooner or later something was going to explode.
Verde on the other hand, had no idea what he had gotten himself into.
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"Natsu?"
Verde rubbed his tired eyes, staring at Tsuna who was once again tugging at his lab coat. He threw his hands up, fed up. "You know what, here. Take him." He handed the lion cub to Tsuna.
Tsuna let out a happy cheer, hugging the cub. The newly dubbed Natsu purred, rubbing against Tsuna's cheek.
"If the lion cub hurts him, you're dead, you know that right?" Lal said calmly. She was leaning against the doorway of Verde's makeshift lab in CEDEF Headquarters, watching him.
"If it gets everyone off my back," Verde snarled, "it'll be worth it!" He was sick of everyone breathing down his neck.
Something hit his leg and Verde looked down to see Tsuna hugging his leg. "Thank you!" Tsuna said, beaming.
Normally, that would be the end of it, but like all things with Tsunayoshi, it never really was that simple.
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Verde fell into the same trap as Viper. He simply never left. Tsuna didn't give him a choice in the matter.
First:
"Natsu!" Tsuna held up Natsu for Verde to see. The small lion cub purred, his Sky Flames glowing brightly.
"That's nice," Verde said, noting down a few observations. Iemitsu insisted that Verde stay a bit longer and Verde wasn't going to complain about free food.
Second:
"Why do I have to do this?" Verde asked as Tsuna finger painted his white lab coat, a mirage of colorful spots.
"Pretty," Tsuna said.
Third:
"Play?" Tsuna asked, Natsu in one hand, tugging on Verde's lab coat.
"This the fifth day you've asked me this," Verde complained.
"Oh my god. You're his favorite. Reborn and Xanxus are going to kill you," Lal laughed as she realized what Tsuna was doing.
"What?!"
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Everything came to a boiling point when Verde walked into a room to find Tsuna and Natsu balanced precariously on top of what could only be described as a death trap.
"Ready for your super fun slide Tune-fishie?" Iemitsu dressed as a clown for some reason. At the top Tsuna clapped his hands.
Verde would forever deny it, but his Flames immediately jumped out of him, wrapping Tsuna and Natsu up in a tight cage, shocking Iemitsu and dismantling the death trap.
"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!" Verde shouted.
"But but," Iemitsu said.
"No!" Verde cut him off. "Are you trying to kill your son? What kind of father are you?"
A hand spun him around, shoving chocolate into his open mouth. Verde found Viper looking at him unamused as Lal dragged off Iemitsu and Tsuna safely in Reborn's arms. Natsu on the ground, wrapping himself around Reborn's legs.
Verde swallowed. His head hurt, his heart was racing, why the hell did he think staying was a good idea? "Is it always like that?" he hissed.
"Yes," Viper said.
"Every day. It's been tame while you were here so far," Reborn said dryly.
"How has Tsunayoshi survived this far?" Verde asked.
"Why do you think the three of us are here?" Viper said, sulking.
"How are you three surviving this?" Verde asked.
"Lots of alcohol," Reborn answered.
Verde took off his glasses and rubbed his face. He could hear Lal reaming out Iemitsu in the next room. "I don't know how, but somehow I'm going to incorporate some sort of protective feature in Natsu."
"You do that," Reborn said.
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Verde twitched as he watched Dying Will Flames explode all around him. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, Tsuna was wandering about, watching the brightly colored orange flames dance around him. Verde wasn't sure on the how or why, just that somewhere along the way a fight broke out between Iemitsu, Xanxus, Dino and Federico.
Lal took pity on him and handed him a glass of wine.
"This happens all the time?" Verde asked in disbelief. He drowned the entire glass of wine in a single gulp, slamming the glass down on the table.
"All the time," Lal confirmed.
"And you're not worried that Tsuna is in the middle of that fight?" Verde asked.
"Reborn will take care of it, if it gets too dangerous," Lal said. "He takes his duties as godfather very seriously."
Just as he said that, Verde found Tsuna plopped into his arms. "Watch him," Reborn said. He poked Tsuna in the forehead. "Behave."
Then Reborn proceeded to trounce everyone's ass, proving again, why he was the World's Greatest Hitman.
Tsuna clapped at the performance.
"What are you three trying to do here?" Verde asked warily. He was almost afraid to hear the answer.
"Make sure that Tsuna doesn't grow up like Iemitsu," Lal said plainly.
Verde tried to image Tsuna like Iemitsu, staring intently at Tsuna. Tsuna scrunched his face in response to Verde's staring. "Verde?" Tsuna asked.
Verde drew in a sharp breath. Yes, not corrupting this child into that madness was a brilliant idea.
"Where do I sign up?"
And just like that Tsuna trapped another one.
Another Acrobaleno gets dragged into the mess. You know it's really fun writing the Arcobaleno as the only sane people in this group. And look Natsu!
Also I finished this story, it'll be a total of 10 chapters.
Please leave a review on your way out!
