AN: I'm slowly going to start porting my latest fics from Ao3 over here because why not, but in general, Ao3's probably going to have my most recent fics quicker than here will. NGL, uploading fics to two sites at once (plus linking on my Tumblr and Pillowfort) is a bit of a pain given the fact I have to go through and check my italics and bolds both times, which is why I've fallen behind.

KHRween2020: Digging up a Body Blood Drinking

Squalo stumbles forward, ramming his foot into something. Gritting his teeth, he looks over his shoulder to where he hopes Dino's standing and yells, "VOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIII! Watch where you're going, Cavallone!"

A moment of shuffling fabric and a couple heavy footsteps passes. "Bit hard to do that right now, but I'll keep it in mind," Dino says behind and to Squalo's left. He guessed wrong then; he thought Dino was to his right.

"You have hands!" He rubs an arm over his blindfold. Fuck did dried sweat itch like a bitch.

"I also have a shovel. Shall I wave that around in front of me instead?"

Squalo grumbles exactly what Dino can do with that shovel under his breath. Preferably starting with using it to punt his tiny tutor into the atmosphere.

"Do you even know where we're going?"

Squalo thinks he deserves a medal for not screaming or trying to kill the Cavallone heir. Even so, he stops where he's at and takes a few deep breaths. The night air offers no clues to where they are, not that he expected any. A cricket chirps to his right.

Dino walks straight into his back. "Ow! Warn me before you stop!" he says, undoubtedly rubbing his still swollen nose. Squalo smirks. That was a good sparring session.

"VOI! Do I look like I know where I'm going?"

"Hard to tell at the moment given the-"

BANG. Dino curses. "Less talking, more moving," Reborn squeaks somewhere above Squalo's head.

Squalo scowls underneath his blindfold and mutters, "This would be easier if we knew where we were going." He starts walking again. Here's to hoping he doesn't trip over any more shit.

"It can't be that much further, can it?"

He's about to snark back over his shoulder when suddenly he steps down on air. Rolling in the air, he lands on his back with an 'oof.' Dino lands on top of him, knocking Squalo's head against the ground. The shovels clang together, thankfully not on their heads. Squalo shoves Dino off and starts stumbling to his feet. Fuck Reborn and fuck his shitty blindfolding. "VOOOOIIIIII! Shitty Arcobaleno!"

"Squalo. Shut. Up," Dino hisses.

Click goes Reborn's gun. "What was that?"

Squalo has never claimed to have a high wisdom score. And really, what did Reborn expect? Him not to make a mouthy comment? Please. "Voi! You knew there was a hole there! You could have warned us!"

BANG. A new bruise inevitably begins forming on Squalo's shoulder. "Stop shooting me! VOI! Those things hurt!" He rubs his shoulder with a hiss.

"…be thankful they're rubber."

"Start digging. Or else." Click.

Dino curses and trips over Squalo's foot. Squalo sighs and feels around, trying to find his shovel to step on it and push it into the earth. The gritty smell of dirt tickles his nose as he tosses the shovel behind him. Judging by the lack of shovel connecting with head, he managed not to give Dino a concussion."You mean he's shot real ones at you?" he asks, sending his shovel back into the ground with a chop.

"Uuuuuuhhhhh…" Squalo imagines Dino doing his usual shifty-eye manuever when he knows he's been caught. He grits his teeth and clenches his shovel. The rough wood digs into his hands.

"I'm going to kill him."

Dino chokes. "You can't do that, Squalo." There's a stumbling sound, probably Dino tripping again. "You can't even say that. What the fuck."

"I'm not scared of a baby-sized hitman."

"Shut up, he'll hear you."

"Too late, idiot Dino." BANG. BANG.

"Reborn!"

"VOI! Stop shooting us! Do you want this thing dug up or not?"

Click.

"Shit. Squalo, where'd you toss my shovel." Dino grasps Squalo's leg for a second before he crawls past.

Squalo rubs his ribs where the rubber bullet connected this time. "I didn't toss it anywhere, horse shit. You're the one flailing all over the place." Wiping sweat off his cheek, he starts digging again. Behind him, Dino makes a sound of triumph, and then the familiar chop, chop of his shovel through the dirt starts again.

After an unknown amount of time, Squalo brings his shovel down, and, instead of hitting more dirt, it clangs against something hard. He lifts it up and looks down in what he hopes is the correct direction. "Voi, is this it?"

"Well done, Dino, Squalo. You have completed the mission." Fuck Reborn for sounding so damn smug about this whole affair.

"Can we take off the blindfolds now, Reborn?" Dino at least sounds exhausted. Squalo drops his shovel with a sigh. His arms hang at his sides like wrung out noodles.

"Yes."

Thank fuck. Squalo tears off his blindfold and lets that fall to the ground as well. Looking down, he finds a shiny, slightly dented, bar of metal sticking out of the ground. "Voi, what is this?" He rubs the dirt away to reveal polished wood.

Dino knocks against the wood and wipes off more dirt further down the… rather rectangular hole now that Squalo thinks about. "Is…is this a coffin? Reborn?" Dino asks, looking up at their merciless taskmaster who's leaning over the edge with a smirk.

"Maybe."

Is this what the youngest Vongola heir feels like all the time? This insane and powerful urge to just go absolutely batshit and kill a bitch? Because if so, Squalo can relate. "VOOOOOIIIIII! Why are you making us dig up your shitty kills?" he screams. "Don't you have people to do that?"

Reborn raises his green gun and with a bang sends another rubber bullet into the ground where it then bounced up into Squalo's shin. As Squalo hops on one foot to rub at the bruise, Reborn says, "Verde needed a body." As if that was all the necessary explanation needed.

Dino covers Squalo's mouth. "Don't ask," he whispers in Squalo's ear. "Trust me. You don't want to know."