I just got out from the dentist's and my teeth huuuurt.


Xanxus could practically hear the old man's words echoing in his ears.

"He'll replace you with someone better. He'll replace you with someone better. He'll replace you with someone better…"

No, seriously, what could be that good about the Cavallone scum? Just because he wasn't as ugly as a pig meant nothing – well, in a more impartial opinion, the man was simply a piece of art in himself: tall and slender body, shiny blond hair, soft and dark eyes and stunning face… the Cavallone guy sure was matching the silverette's gorgeousness. But surely the fact that Dino and Squalo were childhood friends wasn't helping the raven at all. That was what the blond was explaining to Xanxus.

"Yes, we were almost inseparable. Do you remember, Squalo?" He said while looking alternatively at the silver haired man and the dark haired one. At that moment, Dino Cavallone had left his place on the ground and was sitting in an armchair in front of the incongruous couple. "Um, well… More exactly, he was more the one who would always look after me when I was in trouble. Even today…"

Xanxus grunted and started tapping a foot nervously on the carpet. Just what the fuck was that kind of situation? Why did he have to listen to some boring shit from some scumbag's life? No, really, he, Xanxus Vongola would not listen. Though, if he had, this is what he would have heard.

That morning, Dino Cavallone was in a very deep worry: he was absolutely sure the girl he had been dating for more than a month was cheating on him with someone in the same company as her. At first, he didn't want to believe it – and it wasn't a matter of over-confidence like Xanxus. To tell the truth, unlike the raven and in spite of an incredible handsomeness combined with a wealth that could turn any Hollywood actor green of envy, the blond had never been a very self-assured of a person when it came to personal affairs. Clumsy and hesitant, he was more the type to let people come to him instead of coming to them. Women can smell those kinds of guys from miles, and most of time, if there isn't at least a lot of money and power involved (which is the case here), they'll never get close to them. But it seemed his girlfriend got tired of the blond, thus her cheating on him, thus Dino's worrying and finally finding out what's been going out.

So the young man was strolling miserably in the streets, sick at heart, when he met with Squalo in quite funny conditions.

"A car almost hit you?" Xanxus inquired, suddenly resuscitated.

"Aa, yeah, it's not that dramatic. The driver was on the phone. He didn't see the red light. At that moment, I was crossing the street and the provisions were blinding me. I didn't see the car coming…"

Xanxus glared at Dino. "So that trash saved you?"

"Not really…" Dino said apologetically. "Actually, I wanted to push Squalo away from the car (I didn't recognize him at that time. His hair sure has grown longer) but I slipped on the sidewalk and we fell together… Oh, fortunately the car deviated at the very last moment so we avoided the worst."

Squalo showed his now bandaged foot. "Yeah. I got out of this with a shitty sprain on my ankle."

It didn't matter to the raven that that foot got off of the leg, or even that the whole leg got cut off by a car, what Xanxus' brains actually remembered was the image of a trash-like Don Juan with his hands all over his possession, and them almost making out in the middle of the street. What was truly irritating was the furtive yet obvious heavy stare the blond would from time to time cast to an oblivious Squalo. Just what the fuck was that? Had decency totally disappeared from their civilization? And why was the Cavallone still sitting there, in his (Squalo's) living, making googly eyes at the silver haired trash like nothing ever happened?

"And one thing leading to another I got here." Dino stated innocently. "But it's still awesome, isn't it, to see you (he was talking to Squalo) here after all this time. How have you been doing-"

"Cut that shit off, Cavallone." Xanxus finally crossed his legs and pulled a dumbfounded silverette's ass to him. "Now, whether you get out, whether you watch us fuck here in the c-"

"I'm leaving." Dino suddenly got up, a nervous air on his face. "Bye, Squalo!"

He then left in such a hurry he didn't even think about closing the door after him.

"Vooi, are you going mad? Why did you have to tell him that?" Squalo yelled indignantly and got up.

"Shut up, you bitch. And I don't want that scum to come around you anymore."

The silver haired man ogled at him with wide eyes half filled with anger, half with stupefaction. The cheeks were faintly flushed. "Just what the fuck are you… Oh, and get lost!"

"Where are you going?" Xanxus inquired sinisterly when he saw Squalo walking to the door, ready to leave.

"I just don't want that clumsy idiot to believe strange shits."

Even if he was in a hurry, Squalo hadn't forgotten to slam the door behind him. Fast enough to avoid the coffee table the raven kicked to him.

But Dino actually hadn't gone that far. Hardly did he take three steps in the staircase that his foot slipped (again), making him trundle like a hoop over five meters, then slumping on the landing of the fifth floor. This time, the blond couldn't find the strength to get on his feet again. Lying on his back, he was staring blankly at the ceiling, up there above his head.

He sighed. "So they live together." He murmured. "He's with that man. Does that mean Squalo loves him?..."

After all, back then, it was only a one-sided feeling. The blond knew it since the very first time. They hadn't seen each other for more than ten years, Dino thought the unrest he used to feel when he was near the silverette would have settled by now… Yet when he set his eyes on the same face, the same (no, slightly different) hair and caught that harsh tone in his ears, the agitation came back in waves. 'What is bred in the bone cannot come out of the flesh.' His father would always say.

Anyway, it was too late to try to come back to what they were in the past. That was because of his cowardice, Dino knew it perfectly, however… however, seeing the gorgeous silver haired man he was accustomed to talk to, to laugh and fight with now totally out of reach was kind of painful. Questions like "why him? Why couldn't it be me?" were whirling in his mind.

Dino's trail of thoughts paused and he somewhat sat up when he heard steps from the staircase. His heartbeat perceptibly grew faster when the young man spotted long and shiny hair coming closer.

"Voi, what are you fucking doing on the floor?"

"Nothing… I was waiting for you? Just kidding." He added very quickly. Never joke with Squalo. Never. "I'm happy for you."

"Huh? Why?"

"That's because… You seem doing well with Xanxus. How long has it been?"

It was the silverette's turn to sigh, but with exasperation. "I'm not doing well with that bastard. He's just passing by. That's all."

Dino smiled. "That's why you came here? Only to tell me that?"

"And also…" Squalo hesitated one second before resuming. He really wasn't used to such sentimentalism! The silverette was unconsciously stamping on his feet, his face was frowning; a hand brushed a silvery lock behind his earshell. "To give you your fucking answer." Here it comes, Dino gulped down. Yes, back then, he had been too coward, not to ask the silverette but to listen to that answer. In fact, back then, he was so afraid he just ran away like a bloody idiot instead of waiting for it. "Don't misunderstand me, voi! Back then, after the graduation, I would have given you a proper answer. But you just disappeared without leaving your new address and all… I was fucking frustrated, damnit!"

Was it reproach the blond could hear in Squalo's voice? It wouldn't be surprising since everything was damn right. More than ten years ago, he used the opportunity of his father moving abroad to confess to the silverette so that, no matter what the answer was, he wouldn't have to suffer of it after. A lousy dumbass, indeed.

"If I remember well…" Dino kneeled before the silverette and took the latter's hand in his. "The exact words I used… 'I love you. I've loved you for years, ever since we met. Would you mind going out with me?' Somehow, when I tell it like this, it sounds quite stupid, doesn't it?"

Dino's tone was jovial, but Squalo remained grave. That was also one of the many reasons why he fell in love with the silver haired man: that always serious and apprehensive air that suited him so well.

"… I can't." the answer came, but not without a faint uncertainty at the beginning. Dino didn't want to ask for the reason. The only fact he wasn't yelling and cursing at him was enough for the blond. He got up and took a deep breath.

"Ouch. That's the second time I'm being jilted today."

Xanxus rubbed a thumb against his temple and grunted. What had happened, just right now? Did that trash actually run after Cavallone? The whole situation was so warped it was nearly laughable. It was slowly, slowly slipping through his fingers; everything was starting to be out of control, and that was something he had never been through. If they had been in a 'normal' relationship, maybe they would have talked about it and find together a compromise… What the fuck. Does the raven look like some kind of gay fucktard?

Something was changing… No, something had changed. Xanxus wasn't a fraidy-cat enough to say it frightened him, but it sure annoyed him. Somehow, the thought of Squalo being held by another man was maddening him to no Hell. He'd rather see the silver haired trash dead than being another man's. Was that what people call jealousy? Like Hell. That he, Xanxus, would become attached to someone to the point of feeling this kind of insecurity… The trash did change something in he didn't want that to happen.

The ring of his cell phone came in the nick of time.

"What?" Xanxus roared in the phone. A panicked squeak resounded in the receiver.

"M-mr Xanxus… There's some news… about Daulay's buyer… Mr Ieyasu told me to call you, he said you have to come at the office right now. A car is waiting for you outs-"

Click.

And one more shit, Xanxus pondered. He looked at the mess in the room: the broken table, the shattered trinkets and soiled floor. The room looked too much like a scene of domestic dispute – or to be more precise, of domestic violence. In that case, was he the cuckold husband or Squalo the flouted wife?

One way or another, he had to go. At least that was a good pretext to leave the devastated room (not as if a man like Xanxus needed a pretext to run away from any kind of trouble). Xanxus was about to get out when the door suddenly open, letting the long haired man in. He gawked in annoyance at the mess, then at the raven, ready to go hysterical. But his mouth shut close as fast as it opened when the dark frame of the tanned man drew close to him within a fraction of second.

"Xanxus?..."

But the latter barely paused by. Only a dark and icy glare at the silverette, and he went past him. Not a single word, nothing. Squalo wasn't used to that unexpected muteness, that different attitude from the raven. Xanxus was always angry, condescending and violent. He wasn't that… cold.

"Wait…" The silverette wanted to stop him, as though his instincts told him if the raven got out from the living, he wouldn't go back anymore. But too late. Xanxus was already outside.

Only the humming of the motor stirred the raven from his apparent torpor.

"Damn whore," the raven was mumbling angrily, "go die you and your fucking Romeo…"

"Um, Mr. Xanxus?" A voice suddenly startled him. "Is something bothering you?" Without him noticing, Xanxus was already in the meeting room with Kikyo's sarcastic eyes staring at him since quite some time, it seemed. "Maybe you've drunk too much." Which wasn't wrong. Xanxus nearly drank a bottle of scotch in one gulp since he left the apartment.

And the fact that the entire Board of VR Co. was in the room didn't affect him that much. Actually, since the start, most of them were only men and women of straw set at their places to play a role dictated by the raven. And that day they were supposed to hold an emergency meeting related to the Daulay case. That day, they would finally find out who was the Danish's backer.

The other party took heed of letting no clue that would have allowed anyone to retrace their track. And if Xanxus had taken trouble reading the 150 pages report already open on the desk then he would have seen that the Danish wasn't an isolated case: for the past few years, VR Co. had seen its expansionist policy hindered by divers little encumbrances over and over again.

At first they were nearly unnoticeable and the Danish case had been the biggest of them. Ieyasu finally discovered, behind a multifaceted and intertwined webs of sharings and offshore branches, a threat way more critical than dropped sales: slowly but surely, VR Co.'s shares were being gulped down by a single opponent. They had taken advantage of the small trifles inside and outside of the company, of the smallest slump in prices, then Bang! They were in the game. The strategy had been simple still so subtle no one until now took it in. And the name that would always come back over and over again: WHS Holding.

"I don't need your crummy psychoanalysis, you shithead. And what the fuck are you doing here?"

A tall and dark haired man jumped to the raven, sweat drenching his forehead. "Boss! Mr. Byakuran is coming soon. Um… Have you read Ieyasu's report? Not yet? Please, sir, it's very important, there are very important changes in our plans…"

All of a sudden, the double door opened up, letting in a white haired man with a wide grin stretching his lips. The man was pretty young – at most he was Xanxus' age; and seeing his outfit (very plain sweater, blue jeans and baskets), it would have been easy to mistake him for the delivery boy. Ieyasu was following him from behind; he closed the door.

"Very nice, sirs!" The white haired man smiled at everyone in the room. "I'm sorry for coming unexpectedly. Now shall we begin?"

"This man is Byakuran," Ieyasu said in a hurry as the look of bewilderment on Xanxus' features gradually changed into irritation. "He's the WHS Holding's current boss and starting from today-"

"Part of VR Co.'s Board, of course with our dear boss' approval." Byakuran ended the older man's sentence while taking place at the other side of the table, right in front of Xanxus. Ieyasu rapidly walked to the raven then whispered something in the latter's ear. It barely took more than thirty seconds. With a sign of his hand, the raven dismissed the older man.

A wicked smile made its way on the raven's lips. "You damn asshole. You don't have the slightest idea what you're getting involved in."

TBC