Tsuna continues to be ridiculously cute, Yamaguchi continues to suffer and Xanxus finally manages to repay his debt. It only took him the better part of a month to do it.

Long chapter again. The next few chapters are going to be longer than normal so I can get the next varia member in before chapter 20.

Chapter 13: The Neighbor Repays His Debt

More penetrating silence filled with room and Yamaguchi suspected that this was going to be a usual thing throughout the entire conversation…or lack of.

Xanxus leaned forward and Tsunayoshi mirrored his actions, unnervingly still as he waited in anticipation.

"Alright brat. What do you want?"

Apparently this was a question that no one was expecting.

Tsuna blinked at the same time as Yamaguchi.

"What do I want?" He pointed to himself, tilting his head in the manner of puzzled puppies posted all across the internet.

"Yeah. Jewelry. Wine. Clothes. Name it."

Boss…most kids don't care about those things. Even money is debatable at his age.

"Um…nothing really. I don't want any of that."

See?

Xanxus narrowed his crimson eyes and Tsuna just continued to look adorably confused.

"There has to be something. Everyone wants one thing or another. I need to pay you back for the candy."

"Did you like it?"

For several heavy seconds, Xanxus remained silent before he finally gave a gruff "Yeah." It came out as more of a grunt than an actual word but apparently it was good enough for the boy.

"Then you don't need to get me anything." Tsuna shook his head, fluffy locks waving about. "A king moved in next door and I got to meet him and he liked the candy I got him. I got everything I wanted already." He smiled as if he had achieved something great in life. Which, to be honest, he actually had, but not for the reasons he thought he did. It was almost like a fan being able to personally hand over a gift to their favorite celebrity who also genuinely liked it.

Yamaguchi was in awe.

What…what a pure and selfless child.

This wasn't good enough for his boss though. He was determined to pay him back in some tangible way and he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Please don't make him cry. Please don't make him cry. Please don't…

The mantra repeated itself over and over in Yamaguchi's head.

At this point in time, Squalo would usually step in to cover for his lack of skills in the social department, but…Squalo wasn't here. Xanxus ruthlessly squashed the pang of (irritation? longing? loneliness?) whatever it was that usually came with the thought of his absent right-hand (and best friend) and furiously tried to think of something that would appeal to a five year old brat.

He thought back to his own less than pleasant childhood…and quickly shunted those memories away as well. No doubt, this soft civilian child who had had a completely different upbringing would have completely different wants. As was evident by the way he was completely satisfied with just talking to Xanxus. If it was him, Xanxus would be milking this situation for all that it was worth.

Sharp eyes darted to the only other figure in the room who could be of use.

Luckily, Yamaguchi did not need words to understand exactly what Xanxus needed right now.

He cleared his throat to ensure that the child's attention would fall on him.

"Little boy."

"My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, Butler-san." The boy chirped. "But Mama calls me Tsu-kun. Or you can call me Tsuna. That's what everybody at school calls me."

"I-ah. Yes. Tsunayoshi-san then?"

When there was no protest, Yamaguchi took that to mean that it was okay.

"Do you like ice cream?"

From the way young Tsunayoshi's face lit up, it was clear that he did.

Yamaguchi gave praise to the genius that had designed this place. There was an elevator disguised as part of the ornate paneling not far from the boss's door and with the push of a button hidden in the engravings, the walls would open to reveal it.

It led straight from the hallway to the kitchens downstairs and was how the servants (usually Yamaguchi himself since he had the next highest rank) brought meals to Xanxus in a more than timely manner.

Whether the boss knew of its existence or not was anyone's guess, but he never asked and no one ever said, but no one ever wanted to risk death by blunt force trauma (also known as wine bottles) to the head.

"No way. Boss did what?"

"I can't believe it. I just can't believe it."

"He blew all our expectations clean out of the water."

"That's the boss for you!"

"Maybe his love won't be unrequited after all."

Conversation stopped as everyone turned to stare at the last speaker.

"…you're right. It was a stupid idea, but a man can dream can't he?"

There were nods all around as the others gave murmurs of various stages of agreement.

It was then that Yamaguchi stepped into the kitchen.

"What are you all doing? Are the preparations done?"

"Oh! Yamaguchi!"

"Sir!"

He looked at all the faces –eager with anticipation- surrounding him and sighed.

"Alright. I'll bite. But make it quick or the boss will have all of our heads."

Not that he couldn't guess. It had been the hottest topic for weeks now and he doubted that it was going to die anytime soon.

"Is it true? Is the boss really trying to make nice with that Sawada woman's kid?"

He was sort of hesitant to answer given that he had no idea as to where this conversation was going, just that it was bound to be completely wrong. And appallingly stupid.

"Yes."

"Damn. I just lost ten thousand yen."

"What are you bitching about? I just lost my autograph from Cesare Bovo."

"Why did you even bet that? You only brag about it every other hour every single day."

"Because Damien was going to bet his…"

Conversation derailed as everyone began to voice complaints over their lost bets. No one had ever thought that the boss would try to win over his first love's heart by winning over her son first. It was an ingenious plan because when Xanxus did anything, he did it with high expectations of success. Surely he was already thinking about how to raise the boy as his own once he managed to make the woman his wife. Sadly, no one really expected him to succeed at this endeavor but it was fun to bet about anyways.

Yamaguchi face-palmed.

"Just…just make sure everything is ready and for heaven's sakes, don't gawk like imbeciles. I need to hurry back and make sure the boss doesn't accidently scar the boy for life."

Not that he was really expecting that to happen. In the short while Yamaguchi had known him, he had come to find that Sawada Tsunayoshi was an amazingly (almost inhumanely so) resilient being. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Tsuna kicked his feet which were dangling nearly a foot off the ground. He just realized that he was still wearing his shoes and panic shot through him. He had forgotten to Take. Off. His. Shoes. What would the King think?

But wait! Butler-san and the King were still wearing theirs so maybe it was okay. Maybe this was how things went inside castles. Tsuna furiously thought back to his book of fairy tales and realized that yes, the people in the pictures almost always wore shoes inside.

*THUNK*

The King had just planted his booted feet on top of the coffee table, looking as relaxed as he ever did.

Castle life really was different.

The butler soon returned with a gold and platinum pushcart covered by an impossibly white sheet. On top of it were two gold domes covering gold serving trays. And a large ice bucket holding three bottles of wine. Tsuna noticed the fancy engravings on the ends of both the cart and tray handles. They were the same pictures that he had seen on those moving vans all those months ago. Maybe this was the King's symbol?

Then three more men followed him in pushing slightly less ornate silver carts with them. They were larger and much more bulky. Tsuna eyes widened when the cloths were pulled off to reveal freezer carts with a glass panel on either side that displayed several tubs of ice cream. The last was entire filled with fruits, nuts and sauces, toppings for the ice cream.

"Tsunayoshi-san." Yamaguchi lifted off one of the domes by its crystal handle to reveal several crystal goblets laid out on a napkin embroidered in gold. "I'm sorry, but these are currently the only seventy-seven flavors we have. If there is anything not to your liking, we can go out and find something that will suit your palate."

Tsuna's wide caramel eyes might have been the cutest thing the servants had ever seen. While he was distracted Yamaguchi served Xanxus his wine with one of the goblets (and prayed that Xanxus wouldn't need the others because he decided to throw his at someone.)

Xanxus didn't flinch when Tsuna turned those eyes to him next; didn't say a word either, but somehow a conversation of some sort had passed and Tsuna was smiling as he scrambled off the couch to orbit the ice cream carts.

"Which one would you like?" asked the first man who did his best not to coo over the child.

"I don't know what you have. I can't read the flavors."

Yamaguchi exchanged glances with the other cart pushers, hyper aware of the way Boss was watching them, before he began to read each one aloud.

"I still don't know…they all sound good."

"…then why don't you try one of each." Suggested Yamaguchi.

Ice Cream Man One and Ice Cream Man Two both lifted up their ice cream scoops with a helpful smiles.

"But-but I can't eat that much!" Tsuna protested in an adorably aghast way. "Mama said it's bad to waste food."

"…"

The scoops were hesitantly lowered and Tsuna wibbled out an apology.

"I'm sorry…"

Xanxus narrowed his eyes and Yamaguchi scrambled to fix the problem before it turned into a completely different one.

"It's alright Tsunayoshi-san. Look. Look! We have scoops in smaller sizes."

Ice Cream Man One and Two held up another scoop, about half the size of the first one.

Tsuna didn't know how much seventy-seven scoops was (he couldn't even count that high) but he could still tell that it would be too much with how long the list was.

"It's still too big." Tsuna wilted even more. "Sorry."

Ice Cream Man One and Two exchanged their scoops once more for the smallest one yet and Tsuna gasped. It was the smallest ice cream scoop he had ever seen! It was perfect!

Yamaguchi made a mental note to give the head chef a raise for having the foresight to stuff the melon ballers into their carts. He made another mental note to put the rest of the staff through cuteness resistance training. The men looked like they might melt into puddles of goo before they finished carrying out their duties.

When the bowl, packed with several tiny scoops of ice cream and topped off with a little of everything in the condiment cart, was finally filled, another problem cropped up.

There was no way for Tsuna to reach the bowl from the couch. It would be inconvenient to just hold it and the boss still had his feet on the coffee table…and it seemed like he wasn't going to be moving them anytime soon.

Tsuna settled that issue by himself by setting the bowl on the coffee table. Yamaguchi seized a pillow off the couch and offered it to the boy just before he sat down and was blasted with an aura of good will and gratitude.

"Thank you very much everybody!"

There was the sound of a squeal being strangled and Yamaguchi upped the urgency of getting that new training schedule set up. Finally, there were only the three of them left and Yamaguchi sighed as quietly as he could.

"Mmmm~!"

After the first bite (a ball of Cookies and Cream), the boy squeezed his eyes shut as he squished his fists against his cheeks in delight.

"It's so tasty~!"

"I'm so glad." Yamaguchi smiled, not even having to fake it.

Xanxus continued to silently sip at his glass having since started on his second bottle of wine.

"Ah! I'm sorry your majesty."

Tsuna scooped three different balls (Strawberry, Birthday Cake, and Chocolate Fudge Brownie), a dollop of whipped crème, some butterscotch sauce and a sprinkle of crushed pistachios-

"Did you want some too? Here!"

-and held it up with the clear intent for Xanxus to take it.

Yamaguchi's heart nearly stopped. For the seventh time.

Cesare Bovo- a famous Italian footballer (or soccer player depending on where you're from). He was just chosen at random for this chapter.

Most of the Varia knows that Xanxus is super smart when it comes to just about everything that involves a mission. Normal social interactions with other people, not so much. There's not much to do in the castle besides keeping it clean because Xanxus spends most of his time brooding by himself so the servants took to gossiping like bored housewives and betting on their boss's nonexistent love life.

Google this to see what the ice cream bowl Tsuna is using looks like.

"Monique Lhuillier Waterford House of Waterford Statement Collection 12" Centerpiece Bowl"

Just imagine it's about half that size, but still costs over $1000.