I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

BFF Faceoff: Tin Can Challenge

"This is a stupid idea."

I-Pin's face filled the screen of Lambo's laptop, and she watched her best friend with wary dark eyes. The young boy was currently ripping labels off of five silver cans without looking at them and throwing the paper into the garbage. Picking up a black marker, he wrote on the lids of the cans, marking them from one through six.

"It's going to be fun," he replied without looking at his friend. "Got your cans ready?"

The girl glanced at her own set of cans, set up neatly in front of her on the kitchen table. "I'm supposed to be meditating right now," she muttered. "Master isn't going to be happy if he catches me."

"Well, he's meditating right now, and he completely tunes out the world, so you're good for ten minutes," reasoned Lambo, bringing his cans over to the marble kitchen island where his laptop was set up. He was sleeping over at his brothers' place for the weekend, as he often did.

It was seven in the evening and he was the only one in the kitchen. Earlier that day, he was struck with inspiration of something he could do with I-Pin and immediately contacted the girl to share his idea. It took some persuading, but she gave in (as she tended to do).

"The Tin Can Challenge," said I-Pin, a slight frown on her face as she studied the bare cans in front of her, numbered one through six as Lambo had instructed her to do. "I've seen videos on the Internet of this. Why are we doing it?"

"Well, why not? It's something we can do together without having to physically be in the same room."

"So our frequent three-hour conversations aren't enough? You have to torture me?"

"I'm doing it too," pointed out Lambo, settling himself on the cushioned stool. "Besides, you only have to eat the contents out of three cans. There's a chance you'll get all three good ones."

"There's also a chance I'll get the bad ones," returned I-Pin. "I can't believe I agreed to pick up dog food."

"You can't do a tin can challenge without pet food. I got cat food, so you had to get dog food."

"Can't believe I spent my money on that," sighed I-Pin. "I'm also going to have to explain to Master why five cans of food are missing."

"We'll deal with that later," dismissed Lambo. "You remember the rules?"

I-Pin nudged the bowl beside her, which held six paper slips. "I pull a number for you, and whatever number is on the paper is the can you have to open and eat. Same goes for me. We have to eat the contents, and if we spit it out it's considered a loss. We only have to do three of our six, so that we won't know if we'll be eating all good, all bad, or an uneven mix of both."

"You got it! Who's going first?"

"I guess I will. Let's get this over with."

Lambo reached into the plastic container sitting beside his elbow and pulled out a slip of paper. "Can five," he said.

Reluctantly, I-Pin picked up her can opener and opened up the designated can. She let out a sigh of relief once she saw the contents. "Sliced oranges."

Lambo snorted. "Of course."

She cheerfully popped a spoonful of oranges into her mouth. She then picked out a number from her bowl. "Can one," she said through the mouthful of fruit.

Lambo picked the can up and opened it. His nose twisted up in disgust. He lifted up his spoon, which showed a jiggling white and grey mass of mushroom soup mix. I-Pin grinned. "That looks nasty."

"Could be worse," grumbled Lambo. He hesitantly rose the spoon to his lips and ate the contents in one go. He gagged slightly but managed to get it down. "Ew. I don't even like this stuff when it's cooked."

He set the spoon aside and grabbed another slip of paper. "Can two."

I-Pin opened up can number two and peeked inside. "Ugh!"

"What is it?" Lambo asked with a grin of anticipation. "Is it dog food?"

I-Pin tilted the can so that her best friend could see the contents. Lambo wrinkled his nose. "What is that?"

"Sauerkraut, I think," she muttered, poking at it with her spoon. "It smells so gross."

Piling the stuff onto her spoon, she quickly shoved it into her mouth. Face screwing up, she dropped the spoon and clapped both hands over her mouth.

"Spit it out, spit it out, spit it out," he chanted.

"Shut up!" she mumbled through her fingers. After a great amount of effort, she swallowed the pickled shredded cabbage. The second it went down she grabbed the bottle of water resting beside her computer and chugged it.

Lambo frowned. "Darn. My turn."

"I hope you get cat food next." I-Pin reached into the bowl and plucked out a slip of paper. "Can two."

"Please be caramel," he begged as he twisted off the top. A wide smile crossed his face. "Yes!"

"Not cool," groaned I-Pin.

Lambo happily ate the sweet, thick substance. "Alright, last can." He pulled out the third slip of paper. "Can four."

Taking a deep breath, I-Pin slowly opened her final can. "Oh, thank you," she breathed, spooning out some olives and shoving them in her mouth. She then reached into the bowl and pulled out the third slip of paper. "Can six."

Lambo snagged the can opener and opened up his final can. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

"Yes!" cheered I-Pin. "Oh, you've no idea how happy I am!"

"Shut up," snapped Lambo, eyeing the cat food moodily.

"Don't snap at me. This was your idea." I-Pin crossed her arms and grinned. "Eat up."

Taking a spoonful, Lambo winced and hastily crammed the wet brown pet food into his mouth. "Ugh!"

The foul taste was too much to bear and he dropped down to the tiled floor, grabbing hold of the trashcan. As he retched into the plastic bag, I-Pin's laughter rang throughout the kitchen.

"I win!" she whooped in between fits of hysterical laughter. "I win!"

"You suck," he rasped, gagging. The taste in his mouth was now cat food mixed with caramel and mushroom soup, which only caused him to vomit more.

Rushing footsteps sounded towards him and soon Tsuna and Gokudera appeared in the kitchen. The two took in the scenario; Lambo retching into a trashcan and I-Pin hunched over on Lambo's laptop screen, her laughter increasing in volume and tears running down her face.

"What is going on?" demanded Gokudera, bending down and helping Lambo to steady himself.

"We-we-we-ha ha ha ha!"

Tsuna stared in bewilderment at the collection of cans on the marble counter and then at I-Pin's own collection of cans on the computer screen. "What were you two doing?" he asked, though he doubted he really wanted to know.

"We did the Tin Can Challenge," muttered Lambo, slumping against Gokudera, who ran a hand through his black curls in a soothing motion.

"He ate cat food!" cackled I-Pin.

"Ahoshi, what is wrong with you?" demanded Gokudera.

"Apparently, lots of things."

"Whew…oh man." I-Pin finally got her laughter under control and she sat up in her chair, wiping tears of mirth off of her face. "That was great."

"You're both insane," said Tsuna, staring at the open can of cat food with an expression of disgust. "Whose idea was this?"

I-Pin arched an eyebrow. "Do you really need to ask?"

"Don't play innocent," snorted Gokudera, helping Lambo stand up. "You've come up with your fair share of stupid ideas."

"But it really was my idea," piped up Lambo, wiping the back of his mouth with his hand.

"Alright, I think the two of you have had enough contact for one day," said Tsuna with a shake of his head. "Lambo, go brush your teeth a hundred times. I-Pin, what are you supposed to be doing?"

The girl grinned sheepishly. "Meditating."

"Then go do that."

"Alright. Bye, Tsu-nii, Haya-nii. Talk to you later, Lambo."

"Bye," said Lambo. He reached over and ended the video chat. "Ugh. I don't feel good."

"Why would you eat cat food?" asked Tsuna, sweeping the open cans into the garbage can.

"That's, like, the staple of every Tin Can Challenge," exclaimed Lambo. "You have to have some sort of pet food."

Gokudera shook his head. "That's the stupidest thing I've heard. And you've said a lot of stupid things. Go brush your teeth."

Lambo took off for the bathroom. Tsuna glanced at his right-hand man. "So…never leave them alone again?"

"Too bad that's not practical. That'd solve a lot of our problems."