Angry Sky, Bright Earth
Hollow
Xanxus leaned his head back until the back of it hit the top of his chair and let his eyes flutter shut.
He could feel the warm weight of Enma's thighs pressed against his own, the younger boy straddling him, and his heat from his fingers crawling up his stomach.
"What are you doing?" Xanxus muttered. His voice was slurred with exhaustion.
It'd been too long since he'd slept properly. Enma's touch was quickly sending him off, though.
"Just touching." Enma's fingers stopped their crawl. He placed his palm over Xanxus heart, his fingers sprawling out around it. "Am I not allowed?"
For a second, Xanxus considered telling him that he could touch all he wanted because it was thanks to Enma that there was anything to feel. It was Enma who had given him a reason to have a heart instead of closing it off again.
Instead, he said, "Do whatever you want, Trash."
Enma's voice was soft and affectionate when he answered, as though he had heard what Xanxus hadn't said, "That's what you always say."
Ice
Enma pulled away from their kiss. He let out a soft sigh as he pressed their foreheads together.
"What's this all about?" Xanxus questioned. He pushed away from Enma and propped up on one elbow to watch him."You come straight in from a training session, jump me, and then you want to fucking cuddle?"
Enma stared at him, eyes darting along the lines of Xanxus face. He said, "Tsuna showed it to me while we were sparring."
"Showed you what?"
"The Zero Point Breakthrough."
Xanxus felt his whole body go rigid.
When he moved, it was one swift motion.
He moved so he had Enma caged under him, hands pressed down on the pillow and knees on the mattress.
"Why the fuck would you do that?" he demanded. He loomed over the redhead and let his eyes rake down him. He hadn't noticed any new marks on the boy's body when they had been fucking, but he hadn't known there was any reason to look then.
His feelings on the matter must have been apparent because Enma reached up, grabbing his face again. Xanxus tried to shake the touch off, but Enma refused to move.
There was a silent moment before Enma said, softly, "He didn't use it on me. He said there was a line and he wasn't willing to cross it with me, no matter how much I asked."
"But he did it with you in the room," Xanxus hissed. "You saw it?"
Enma nodded and Xanxus couldn't help the sharp, angry sound that left his mouth.
Enma said, "Don't be upset with Tsuna. I asked him to do it."
"You can't-" Xanxus cut himself. There were so many emotions bubbling inside of him that he was finding it hard to quench them down. He settled for telling the truth, just this once. "That's the one thing I can't have happen to you."
"It won't. Tsuna would never do it to me and your father is pretty much out of commission at this point." Enma's hands shifted, his thumb settling over the scars on his face. Xanxus allowed himself to lean into the touch as Enma swiped digit along them, his touch gentle. "But, Xanxus, I'm so sorry you went through that. I'm so sorry your father did that to you. No matter what you did, that was too far. That technique is-"
Xanxus shook his head.
Enma dutifully shut his mouth.
They didn't say any other words, instead Enma let his fingers dance along Xanxus body and trace over the scars that marred his skin.
He couldn't get rid of the mental or physical reminders of Xanxus' time under the effects of the Zero Point Breakthrough, but he could at least show him comfort in this way.
Ignite
Timoteo watched his son from across the ballroom.
Xanxus was leaning against the wall on the side of the room. The redheaded boss of the Shimon was squatted down next to him with one arm dangling between his knees, whiskey clasped lightly in his grasp. They were looking at each other, a scowl on ones face and a smile on the others. They were focused completely on each other and whatever conversation they were holding.
The sight warmed Timoteo's heart while at the same time making it squeeze painfully.
It was clear that the boy had chipped away at Xanxus' exterior and wormed his way into his heart.
At the same time, there was a pain in knowing that it was his confession that had turned Xanxus bitter and his flames that had left the scars on Xanxus skin and his heart.
There was a pain in knowing a stranger was closer to his son then Timoteo ever would be again.
Illusion
His memories of the time right after his discovery were clouded and sketchy. It was as though there had been a veil keeping him from being able to see properly.
He remembered wandering around the house without a purpose as anger, sadness, and betrayal bubbled in his stomach.
He remembered stumbling upon Enrico sneaking cookies from the kitchen up to his room, remembered seeing Massimo walking down to the labs with rolled up blueprints shoved into the pockets of his pants, remembered catching sight of Federico slipping out into the gardens with his headphones shoved into his ears.
He remembered passing his mother curled up on the couch with a book in her hand.
He remembered seeing all of it and thinking about the fact that none of it was real because this wasn't his.
These weren't his brothers.
This wasn't his stepmother.
His father wasn't his father.
Imprisonment
The thing is, Xanxus hates how much he lets it affect him.
He hates feeling weak, hates how it fees like his father is still controlling his life.
He hates that he's staring at Tsunayoshi and the file in his hand, honestly considering turning down the mission because there's snow on the ground in England and he hasn't been able to deal with shaved ice much less snow.
"Hey," Tsuna said. His voice was soft, making an attempt to be comforting and Xanxus hated that more because this was not how he and Tsuna worked. They mouthed off to each other and pretended they didn't care. "I talked to Enma about it. He said he was gonna go out there too. You could go out to do the job and he'd meet up with you afterwards."
The knot in Xanxus' chest unwound a bit and Xanxus hated that too because he shouldn't fucking need the redheaded twerp to go to a cold country.
He reached forward, yanking the file from Tsuna's hands. He reached over after and slapped it against Tsuna's head, glad for the normalcy of the pained yelp Tsuna let out.
"Whatever, trash," Xanxus bit out, putting forth as much venom as he could manage. "It's not necessary but he can do whatever he wants."
E/n: This one definitely has an unintended theme of being about Xanxus feelings about his time frozen. I enjoyed writing it though.
Esp Ice. I'm a little bit in love with that one.