Whoo! It lives! I do intend on releasing more chapters of this...cuz I'm not that big a fan of one-shots by themselves. I'm open to ideas cuz, ya know, the humorous part of my brain is a shrivelled up prune and would be hard pressed to keep coming out with ideas that might actually make people laugh.
Thanks to all who read and reviewed. I hope you enjoy this chapter too ^_^
Dino had just placed the last dish on the table when eager small hands began to reach for the food. "Guys! How many times do I have to tell you to wait until everyone's seated?" he asked, looking at his charges.
Kyouya didn't care and kept piling food onto his plate. They were having grilled steak with boiled potatoes, peas, and sauce. The black-haired boy was a surprisingly big eater, considering he was quite slender. Two pieces of steak, what might have been twice the weight of that in potatoes, and several spoonfuls of peas, all topped off with creamy white sauce.
The complaints would begin soon.
No sooner had the thought formed in Dino's mind that Tsuna spoke. "Dino-Nii!" he whined. "Kyou-Nii's taking all the food!"
"What are you talking about, herbivore?" Kyouya said, pointing at the serving dishes in the middle of the table. "There's plenty of food left."
"Kyouya, can't you moderate your appetite? Even though I did make extra…" Dino sighed. He helped Tsuna get his food in his plate. No matter how much food he made, Kyouya always took most of it. He was only eight but he ate the portion of two healthy men!
Kyouya didn't respond. Tsuna looked down unhappily at his plate. "It's…it's so less." He looked up at Dino with troubled eyes. Dino's heart almost broke just looking at him. "Aw, Tsuna, you can have my share if you want." he offered.
Tsuna smiled brightly. "Really?"
"Sure." Dino unloaded his untouched food onto Tsuna's plate. There really was very little left. He gazed sourly at Kyouya, who was eating calmly, his attention on his food. He rarely talked when he ate…but he rarely talked at all. He was a well-mannered child. He just wasn't very sociable.
"Thank you, Dino-Nii!" Tsuna cried happily, digging into his food with gusto. He cast suspicious glances over at Kyouya and shielded his plate with one arm.
The younger of the two boys made a big mess so, halfway through it, Dino started to feed him like he always did. Tsuna was like a little baby.
Kyouya finished eating first. He held his plate out. "I want seconds." he said.
"You can't have mine!" Tsuna yelled, guarding his plate as Dino continued to feed him. The man sighed, "Kyouya, I think that's enough for today."
"Your cooking is awful." the black-haired child mumbled as he hopped off his chair and made his way out of the room.
"Oi, Kyouya! It's your turn to wash the dishes today!" Dino called out. "Kyouya!"
As usual, he was ignored. He groaned. He would have to do the task once again, as he always did. Tsuna and his butter fingers were much too unreliable for the cutlery. He could barely carry a plate to the sink without falling over and breaking it. Dinner was such a chore for Dino. Sometimes, he wished he could order takeout every day, but that was unhealthy, and Kyouya didn't like too much fast food.
After Tsuna was done eating, Dino told him to go wash his hands and his face, where bits of food had stuck. The boy jumped off the chair and headed over to the sink. Dino started piling the plates up. His stomach grumbled loudly. He made a face. He'd get something to eat after the kids went to bed.
Tsuna hopped out of the kitchen. "I'm going to watch TV, Dino-Nii!"
"What's on for you at this time?" Dino called after him, but the child was already gone. Clicking his tongue, he went to deal with the dishes.
He was cleaning up the countertops and putting everything away a few minutes later when Kyouya came in. "I'm going upstairs now." he said.
Dino nodded. "All right. Good night."
"Good night."
He never understood why the child did that. Every night, he came to find Dino before he retired to his room. It had been a peculiarity he'd had since he'd first come here. Dino wanted to ask him why he did it but if he did so, Kyouya would probably stop it and, at least this way, he was interacting with his guardian a little.
When the cleaning in the kitchen was done, Dino made himself some coffee and went to the living room. In the doorway, he almost tripped over an errant toy. "Whoa!" He reached out and caught the doorframe before he could fall. Hot liquid sloshed over the rim of his mug and onto his hand. He hissed and stood up straight. The toy was a car Tsuna had gotten a few months back. Dino shifted it to the side with his foot and went to put his mug down on the mahogany table.
On the sofa closet to the TV, Tsuna was curled up and sleeping. Dino went over to him, mindful of more toys littering the floor. He shook the child's shoulder. "Tsuna." he called gently.
Tsuna wiggled around a little before settling down again. "Kyou-Nii's a demon…" he mumbled, hugging his favourite action figure. Dino pried the toy away and then bent down and picked the child up from beneath the arms. Tsuna murmured a protest before he settled his head against Dino's shoulder.
Dino traced a careful path back to the door. There were a few toys on the stairs too and, clumsy as he was, he nearly fell several times. He managed to right himself before he could, though. His clumsiness wasn't as bad as it had once been, before these kids had come.
Upstairs, he crossed the brown-carpeted hallway and went to the room directly opposite the stairs. This was Tsuna's room. It was an absolute mess. The dark blue bedcovers weren't made, clothes were falling out of the open wardrobe door, and toys were all over the place. These toys were going to be the death of him one day.
The boys hadn't had a chance to redecorate their rooms since they'd come, in the seven months that they'd been here (not counting Tsuna's various scribbles over his bedroom walls). Dino didn't feel it was necessary yet. When they grew up a little more and decided how they wanted their personal spaces to look, they could redecorate then. For now, they'd have to make do with the bland walls and the brown carpet.
Dino pushed a small teddy out of the way as he laid Tsuna down and pulled the coverlet to the boy's chin. Dino knelt at the bedside, watching the child. Tsuna was a really cute little kid. Out of the two, he relied more on Dino's support than Kyouya did. He got scared easily and clung onto his guardian frequently, which was unusual for most five-year-olds. Dino didn't mind it, though. It felt nice, knowing that he was wanted…somewhere.
He rose after a few moments and, pausing to tuck in Tsuna's duvet a little, he turned. Tsuna didn't like the dark so Dino lit the lamp on the bedside table before he went. He closed the door, leaving it a little ajar just in case. The room to the right was Dino's and the room to the left was Kyouya's. Dino went over to that door too.
He knocked, because Kyouya didn't like having his privacy invaded. When no answering response came, Dino swung the door open anyway. If the child was awake, he'd respond, even if it was to say "don't come in".
The room beyond was dark. The curtains were drawn over the windows. They were thick curtains, and black, and they didn't let it any light from outside. Kyouya had a thing for black; most of his casual wear consisted of black clothes, most of his room was black, most of the gadgets he was interested in collecting were black. Like the PSP he usually carried everywhere. Shiny black. Dino had asked him one time why a kid would like black so much and the child had simply said "style".
Dino stilled his movement for a while, until he could properly hear the regular breathing of the room's occupant. After standing there just a moment longer, he retreated, closing the door carefully behind him.
On the way down, he cleared up the toys in the hallway and the stairs. He tripped at the landing and went down, hitting every single step on the way. Clutching his head with both hands, he waited for the pain to subside. He hoped he'd not woken the kids up. This was his free time. He was hungry too. He needed to get food. He'd never get it if the kids woke up.
Moments passed and no one came. Dino stood up and crawled back up the stairs to grab all the toys. He took the load to the living room and dumped it in the big plastic toy box situated in one corner.
His coffee was getting cold. He turned the TV on and took the mug to his favourite sofa and browsed through the channels. Ah, quiet. So nice. He didn't mind at all that those two had been dumped on him so suddenly but, sometimes, peace and quiet was just heavenly.
It was early one mild autumnal morning that Dino walked down the hallway of his small apartment. The door rang again. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming…" his sentence culminated in a yawn. One hand was under his blue and white shirt, scratching his stomach.
He'd just gotten out of bed, as was apparent because he was still in his pyjamas and his hair was sticking up all over the place.
He opened the door and blinked out at the three people outside. Silence stretched. Dino blinked. "Can I help you?" He yawned.
Two little boys looked up at him. Behind them was a man in a four-piece black suit. He had black hair and wore glasses. "Good morning, Master Dino."
Dino stared for a little bit longer, still scratching at his abdomen. The three visitors stared at his white pyjama bottoms depicting loads of little yellow smilies with different expressions. There was one big one on his shirt and it was grinning widely.
He blinked a few more times before he caught on. "ROMARIO!"
Romario snorted under his breath, "that was quick." He smiled at the young man. "How are you, Master Dino? We rarely get calls from you back at home. Everyone is worried about you. Including your father."
Dino broke off giving the children a bright grin as he took in Romario's words. "Really? Last time we talked, he was still blathering on about me coming back home…and make him some pasta. What the hell? Aren't there any cooks there?" He scoffed. Before Romario could say anything in response, the young man continued, "What's with the kids?"
He studied them a little more closely. One had cold grey-blue eyes. He was obviously the elder of the two. The other child was shorter. He had a head of wild brown hair. His brown eyes were nervous.
Dino smiled at them as Romario explained. "These children are called Kyouya Hibari and Tsunayoshi Sawada. As per your father's wishes, they were brought here to you. You will be looking after them."
Dino had been about to introduce himself to the kids but he jolted upright. "What? I have to look after them? Why? I mean, no offense to you kids," he quickly said to the children, before returning his gaze to Romario, "but I've got university to think about!"
He was currently in his first year of university. He'd tried very hard to come to Japan for his studies and his father was already pushing things on him. This was so unfair.
Romario looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry. I did suggest to boss that he should tell you about this before we turned up on your doorstep but these children have nowhere else to go."
Dino didn't mind kids. They were funny and cute. So, he wouldn't mind putting up with them for a while. His father had a habit of throwing a wrench in his plans anyway, no matter where he was. He didn't like this next-level meddling but he was used to it. He sighed, "fine, fine. How long will I have to do this?"
"We're not sure yet."
"What d'ya mean you're not sure?"
"Um…master said not to tell you anything beyond them needing your care."
"What? That's stupid!"
"Will you do this?"
The young man scoffed. "Like I have a choice."
Romario smiled, looking grateful. Dino took the two small suitcases that the older man handed over. "All right then, come on in, guys." He grinned.
As instructed, the children stepped over the threshold. Romario stayed outside. "I'm afraid I'll have to go. Before I do though, boss told me to tell you that he said that he thought he'd told you many times to that he wanted you to call. This time, though, he wants to have a word about leaving money in your bank account. He wants you to buy a house and look after the kids properly."
"Eh?" Dino asked, somewhat startled. "Dad's paying me for this?"
Romario nodded. Dino scoffed. "What, a bribe? That's unlike him."
"No, you'll be looking after these children a while so you'll need more funds. Then, I'll be taking my leave."
"Wait, I don't get any more explanations?"
"Sorry. Goodbye, Master Dino." And Romario was gone. Dino sighed and closed the door. He turned. The kids were nowhere to be seen. "Yo, kiddies?" he called out.
"Aah, Kyou-Nii! Don't do that!"
He followed the frightened voice of (he assumed) the younger boy to the living room. There was just one couch in there and it had held all his university textbooks and papers. Everything was now on the floor and the child in black was sitting there. The brown-haired boy lingered anxiously by the arm of the couch, looking frightened. He turned as Dino came in and he tried to disappear into the back of the couch, looking afraid. Dino laughed it off though. "I don't mind you finding a place to sit, but please don't treat other's things like that."
The black-haired boy stared up at him blankly. The smaller child, seeing that Dino wasn't angry, relaxed a little, but he was still edgy. Dino spoke to him as he bent down to retrieve his books off the floor, "So, what's your name?"
"Um…Sawada…Tsu-Tsunayoshi…Sawada."
"Can I call you Tsuna?"
The child nodded. "A-and…and you, Onii-san?"
Dino smiled. "Me? You can call me…Dino-Nii." He turned to look at the other boy, directly in front of him. "So, you're Kyouya?"
"You can't be very bright if you still can't figure that out after being told both our names and you already know which one he is." Kyouya said, tone not changing a single bit as he turned his head to indicate Tsuna.
Dino chuckled, "not very friendly, are you? So, you kids want breakfast?"
"That's naturally what you start the day with." Kyouya replied. "Isn't it?"
Dino sighed and set his load down on the small coffee table. "How old are you?"
Kyouya didn't answer. Dino turned to look at Tsuna. The child splayed the fingers of one hand and then counted on them, "Um…let's see…Kyou-Nii's two years older than I am…I'm going to be five soon…I think."
Dino looked back at the black-haired boy. "Quite rude for a seven-year-old, aren't you?"
Dull blue eyes stared up at him. Not in defiance, not in anger. Just plain…blankness. "And you're quite useless for an adult. I'm hungry."
"All right. I'll get the food." Dino shook his head disapprovingly. Much as he liked kids, he already knew this wasn't going to be easy. What kind of a responsibility was this anyway? He was only five months into his university course and enjoying Japanese life and he already had trouble. Stupid father.