A kiss to build a dream on

I… I hope this passes for something Snow White-ish. orz Anyway, this takes place during the Varia Arc, and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but I REGRET NOTHING, I TELL YOU. NOTHING!

Just for the record: I don't know who the patron saint for lost causes actually is, and I'm not even sure whether he or she exists. Oh, and the title is taken from the 31 Days theme for November 10, 2007.



Given the fact that he was Reborn's ex-student and he dealt with Strangeness of All Kinds on a regular basis, Dino Cavallone really shouldn't have been surprised at the most recent turn of events. The young boss was, however, the sort of guy who really appreciated it when he knew exactly how a lot of the Strangeness actually happened, for if there was one thing that he had been taught over the years, it was that even the strangest events had a particular logic behind them.

"…So he ate an apple meant for Tsuna."

"You forgot to add 'poisoned' to that."

"And it was poisoned why?"

"Well… Bianchi-nee thinks that Reborn-san will pay more attention to her if she can get rid of all the people distracting him!"

"Sorry, I'm… still a little lost. How did Kyouya get a hold of the apple in the first place?"

"Um. Maybe he was hungry?"

Reborn yawned. Fuuta, on the other hand, had the grace to look sympathetic. Romario seemed to share the same sentiments as the boy, but he did not really count since he was almost always on his boss' side anyway. Dino did not like where the situation was going at all.

"I still don't know where I come in on this."

"You are his home tutor," Reborn cut in; Dino could not see his former tutor's expression from under the shade of his fedora. "Taking care of him is part of your job. We need Tsuna's Cloud Guardian up before his fight with Gola Mosca."

"But I don't even know what happened to him! Can't we ask Shamal?"

"Shamal-san refuses to help, Dino-san," Fuuta piped up. "He claims that he already did us a big favor by treating Yamamoto-san."

Dino felt a headache coming along. The Italian boss lifted a small, soundless prayer up to the patron saint of lost causes before speaking again. "So I'm supposed to bring Kyouya home and see what I can do for him?"

The look in Reborn's beady eyes and the Arcobaleno's mysterious little smile was the only answer Dino needed to know that he was right on the money.

Dino found himself carrying Hibari Kyouya up the stairs of the hospital he had his men take over and through the door of his room. Romario dutifully trailed after him, making sure that the young boss did not trip, stumble, or break anything along the way just by being there.

"We can deal with a life-or-death case like Squalo's," Dino muttered as he walked in, "but this?"

"Maybe the answer's more obvious than we think it is, boss," Romario put in. The bespectacled man lingered by the doorway, looking on as Dino carefully lay his (often VERY unwilling) student unto his bed. He only blinked when Dino sent him a questioning look. "Well, the Poison Scorpion used a poisoned apple. Doesn't that sound familiar?"

"Eh, what do you mean by—" Dino abruptly cut off. "…No."

Romario only smirked. "Maybe you should restrain him before you try and wake him up, boss," the man helpfully suggested as he turned away. "Given your track record with Hibari-kun, I doubt that the kid's going to appreciate a good morning kiss from your end."

As he watched the door click shut behind his most trusted subordinate, Dino vaguely wondered what he had done to deserve the sort of situation he was in. The young man, however, almost immediately remembered what had recently come to pass between him and Hibari. He drew up a chair by the bed with a sigh, and it wasn't long before he fell to watching the boy on the bed. Given the fact that his usual dealings with Hibari involved him clutching his whip and the prefect glaring daggers at him from across Namimori Middle School's rooftop, it was a little unsettling, seeing Hibari in that state. He looked at peace, almost like he was only sleeping and would get up at any given moment.

This kid has the potential to take me apart.

When Reborn had approached him about training one of Sawada Tsuyanoshi's future Ring Guardians, Dino had not been sure about what to expect. Hanging around with Tsuna had given him an opportunity to relate closely with Gokudera Hayato and Yamamoto Takeshi, and both of them had honestly surprised him with the sheer amount of potential that they possessed. He had not expected to be completely blown away by a wild-haired, pouty-lipped kid just three years short of being ten years too young for him with an odd oral fixation and enough murderous intent to kill an army.

You weren't expecting to fall for him either.

Dino suppressed another sigh; the blond man reached out, brushing Hibari's cheek with the back of his hand, gently tracing the curve of the boy's lips with his fingers. The whole situation suddenly felt like some sort of joke set up to test his resolve. He had not planned on trying anything funny again until the whole Varia incident was over. His last lapse of judgment (Time & Location: 6 PM, Namimori Middle School's Disciplinary Committee Room; Situation: one couch, no bed, flimsy bandages, sturdy whip, rain, frustration, pale blue eyes) had done little beyond give Hibari one more reason to want to kill him whenever they sparred with each other. Back then, however, the future of the Vongola Family had not been in as much jeopardy as it was at present, with Tsuna's one potential trump card out of the running.

Even that sounds like a lame excuse for wanting to kiss someone, Cavallone.

Hibari's breathing remained steady and calm, even after Dino's fingers had strayed into the boy's mouth, gently parting those pale pink lips. The young Italian had just one more moment of hesitation before his other instincts got the better of him, and he bent down, replacing his fingers with his own lips. He held that position, kissing the boy lying on his bed. It wasn't long before disengaging was the farthest thing from his mind, even after he felt Hibari stir beneath him, even after he swallowed the surprised gasp that threatened to break out of the boy's throat. Payment came in the form of a small fist rather violently connecting with the side of his face.

"Heh. Welcome back, Kyouya."

Dino grinned from where he had stumbled off his chair and unto the floor, rubbing his jaw and looking up at the boy glaring rather viciously down at him. Hibari was now very much awake and sending him a look that could curdle milk from five hundred meters away; Dino could feel the waves of righteous indignation rolling off Hibari's form.

"…What happened to me?"

"You had a Snow White moment."

"You're not making sense at all," Hibari snapped. The dark-haired kid pushed himself off the bed, stood up—

—and promptly stumbled into Dino's arms. The latter had stood up on the pretense of righting his chair, and had ended up with an arm full of flustered boy who no longer seemed capable of supporting his own weight. Dino stared down at Hibari with no small amount of surprise; he listened to the boy's ragged breathing, noted his flushed cheeks. There was the kid who ruled Namimori with tonfa and an uncompromising hand was currently shaking in his grip, barely strong enough to lift his head.

"…Kyouya, are you all right?"

"Do I look like I'm all right?"

"A little less lip, please. I'm trying to help you here."

Dino said this as he lowered Hibari back unto the bed, moving with the same amount of care that he had used to bring the boy over to the hospital. Dino went through all the regular motions of checking someone's condition; he was left to wonder why Hibari suddenly couldn't look at him up until the point where one of his hands brushed over one of Hibari's nipples through the fabric of his shirt and the boy trembled anew, biting his lip and suppressing something that sounded suspiciously like a moan.

Well now.

Dino wordlessly moved from the chair at the side of the bed to the bed itself, staring at Hibari with new eyes – the boy matched him gaze for gaze, but the glare was softened by the fact that he was obviously having a difficult time holding himself together. The blond Italian considered his options for a moment before he finally decided to throw care to the wind and went for the zipper on the boy's pants. He grabbed Hibari's wrists with his free hand the moment the boy attempted to brush him away, slamming them against the spot just above Hibari's head.

"W-what do you think you're—" Hibari cut off with a gasp as Dino reached into his pants, brushing long, cool fingers over his briefs. The boy was hot and hard, just as Dino had suspected.

"Reborn told me to take care of you," said Dino, in a low and quiet voice. "I can't just leave you like this, now can I?"

Two hours and hell lot of hand jobs/blow jobs/licking/rimming/finger fucking/kissing/petting later, Dino discovered that he rather liked being fully clothed with a very naked Hibari stretched out beneath him, torn between struggling and submitting, fighting him off and begging him to keep going. Dino paid for it dearly the morning after, when he woke up in time to stop an extremely irate Hibari from throwing him out the window (they were on the third floor of the hospital), but he considered it a price well-paid.