Chapter 9: The Neighbor Owes an Even Bigger Debt
Xanxus didn't realize it until he was nearly done with his gourmet and not at all Japanese breakfast, but he hadn't felt that same blank apathy or soul wrenching emptiness since meeting the baby trash the day before. Hadn't even given a single damn thought about the cuffs on his wrists or the series of events that had left him nearly bereft of everything that made him him and exiled to some out of the way villa in the middle of fuck knows where like the unwanted son of some rich bastard's mistress.
Granted he got to choose the location and he was pretty sure that only the highest sanctioned circle of the Vongola and Varia knew where he was but fuck if he wanted to be pissed about it all, then he was going to be pissed about it all…or he would if he wasn't feeling like he was about to be drained again.
His rage was building again and so were his flames. He could feel it rising towards the threshold that would activate the cuffs and take away everything and no amount of hasty meditation or repetitive breathing techniques were going to stop it. Fuck. He was going to be out of it for at least a few days.
The servants knew better than to be around him any more than they had to. Even if he was about to be turned into an empty walking breathing shell, that didn't mean that he still couldn't flip and throw shit at everyone in the moments before it happened.
The nearly finished tube of Frutips caught his eye from just beyond his fist on the table. The case he had ordered hadn't arrived yet, so he had been saving some so that he wouldn't have to go outside to buy more before it came. He didn't talk to the servants any more than he had to and he wasn't about to for something as embarrassing as a craving for candy some random trash off the street had given to him.
The cuffs were lighting up just a little and he could see the foil reflecting just the slightest tinge of orange.
It brought back memories of the brat who must have been the same little boy that had been watching him move in that one nearly forgotten morning with those bright glowing eyes.
"Welcome to Namimori…your majesty."
The memories of annoyance and confusion and not quite happiness and not quite pleasure, but not bad thing…and the delightful taste of blackcurrant Frutips…
Xanxus found himself clutching what was left of the tube and chewing on a gummy.
He looked down at the tube again. About two inches were left. And he was still in possession of his emotions and his thoughts.
….what just happened? He had never been able to stop the drain when he was so close to the edge before.
Could it be? Did he actually just find a solution? From a piece of candy from a piece of trash that he fucking still didn't know the name of?
Shit. Now he really owed the brat. Big time. But fuck. Why did this unforeseen counter to the drain have to involve him being infected by stupidity?
Xanxus has found a counter! He believes that he must be exposed to stupidity for it to work. Which to be fair…that's kind of true…in a roundabout way…
He also now has a legitimate reason to stalk everyone's favorite Tunafish no matter how much he doesn't want to. No one is going to be suspicious of the strange scary looking foreigner who's always spying on their children at aaaalllllll. XD