CW: Swearing
One second, Xanxus' freezing his balls off in that damn ice, and the next, he's being given a stern talking down to in some civilian teenage boy's room. For some fucking reason.
Neither things he signed up for when he showed his flames to the old fart all those years ago.
Then again, which single damn one of his promises the old fart kept when it comes to him?
"This is the last time we bring you over to this side," Reborn says.
They sit around Tsuna's low table, Reborn facing him while Tsuna sits in between them.
It's the same Reborn Xanxus knows too no matter how he looks at him. The same one who hid his unimpressed stare under the brim of his fedora, strolling inside Vongola's headquarters to take his job offer from the old fart himself like it was only a given he was.
The most promising hitman of his generation, the butthurt ones to the point of stupidity would still insist on saying, like he hadn't already proven himself as the hitman of his generation and all current ones alike.
He doesn't wear his fedora now, looking straight at him, sitting across the low table of some civilian teenage boy's room.
Again, for some fucking reason.
"The second you disappeared, this idiot over here passed out," he continues. "He stayed unconscious for almost two days straight, a high fever barely letting him breathe."
"It wasn't that bad—!" Tsuna hurries to say, glancing worryingly at him.
"So it's either you learn how to come over to this side on your own," Reborn ignores him, "or you wait until he manages to get you out of your prison properly."
"Reborn—"
Reborn smirks, anything but asking. "But as you can see, Tsuna will eat himself alive with his guilt thinking he just has to keep you here whenever he can and as long as he can, so tell him you understand and that everything's fine."
"Reborn!"
"Shut it, Tsuna." He snaps his eyes to him, his smirk falling from his face.
Tsuna recoils, wincing, but he doesn't avert his eyes from his. "You make it sound like I almost died or something," he mumbles, small and tentative.
"Would you like me to help you with that? There are faster and easier ways to die. I'd be happy to show you."
"It's not Xanxus-san's fault either way, is it?" Tsuna shoots back in earnest, straightening his posture.
"Isn't it?"
They hold each other's gaze for a tensed beat before Tsuna softens, his shoulders slumping. "I'm fine, Reborn. Now I know what to watch out for, I'll make sure to get the hang of it so it doesn't happen again."
"How long it's been?"
They both turn their attention to him, Reborn a beat too late. He smooths his expression in the split second after, but it looked like he had a lot left to say on the matter.
Well, Xanxus didn't speak up to spare Tsuna from it.
He spoke up because it's only now his voice deigned to answer to the command of his brain. Or his flames, however the hell this ghost thing works.
Xanxus should figure out how to appear on this side on his own? He doesn't fucking say. Like he's been doing anything else but trying to figure that out ever since he first appeared on top of that mountain.
Like there's anything else for him to do while he's frozen by the old fart's flames.
But does it look like he's having an easy time figuring it out? He can't even move as he likes even after they've already made him appear as a ghost, even when he's a ghost.
He should be free to move as he likes if nothing else. Reborn seemed to think so too anyway if the confusion on his face back on that mountain is anything to go by.
That he can't—yet, because this better be only temporary—must be a side effect of the zero point breakthrough. How typical.
The old fart just has to screw him over every fucking way he can.
"It's been about a week and half," Tsuna says. He gives him a small apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Apart from me falling sick afterward, Reborn had to leave for a bit and we've also been fighting about whether we should try this again."
"Don't just give out information for free, will you?"
Tsuna turns to Reborn, rolling his eyes. "Oh, stop it. Do you really want us to…" Reborn doesn't look back at him, staring at Xanxus. Xanxus stares back, unflinching. "Oh," Tsuna says, turning back to him. "Did you mean…" He worriedly glances at them back and forth as Reborn keeps silent a beat longer.
"It's been at most about eight years," he finally says. "I can't be sure exactly when they put you in this state after the stunt you tried to pull."
Tsuna's breath hitches. His jaw drops, his eyes widening.
Xanxus can't tell the exact expression on his face more than that, keeping his eyes on Reborn.
What kind of expression would Xanxus wear now if he was currently in a functional, physical body? What would his body language give away?
"Don't lie to me." His voice doesn't shake, at least.
He'd rather it sounds like it has always done too, but he can't remember anymore what his voice used to sound like.
"What would I benefit from that? I'm afraid you've also been entirely off the map these last eight years."
Ha. So the old fart's been keeping him in his literal basement as his dirty secret, has he?
But for eight years?
Xanxus thought he finally died to the old fart's flames when he first appeared as a ghost. That'd have been an improvement from his current state, but both Tsuna and Reborn were so obviously certain he wasn't dead in the way they acted towards him, he missed his chance to bring it up.
But it's not like he's been really alive all this time either. Xanxus can't tell if he's really been conscious and awake at times, or if he's only been dreaming those moments in an attempt to hold onto his sanity amidst the unending and unchanging silent darkness.
It means he also lost the ability to keep track of the time right away, but it can't have been eight years.
What's even the point of keeping him alive for all this time? It makes it look like the old fart plans to free him from his flames at some point, but what use could he have of him now that eight whole years have already passed?
Or is it he plans to keep him frozen forever, but he thinks it means something that at least he's still alive in there? That he's purposefully kept him alive in there in the name of—what?
Xanxus being his son?
What a fucking joke.
He should have just killed him properly like he said he was going to.
"What about Vongola?"
"Alive and kicking."
What about his brothers? Xanxus almost finds himself asking.
Whose brothers?
Don't make him laugh.
"Who's the boss now?"
"Vongola Nono."
Xanxus misses a beat that has nothing to do with his ghost abilities, or lack thereof.
The old fart's still the boss? He was already considered as becoming too old for that back before he attempted his coup.
Did something else happen these last eight years to discredit all of his three sons from the position too?
"What about his heirs?"
"Reborn," Tsuna whispers, reaching towards him with one of his fidgeting hands, but holding himself back at the last moment.
Something passes between them when Reborn catches his eye, Tsuna pursing his lips when Reborn looks back at Xanxus.
"They're dead. They were killed, in fact. What goes around comes around after all, as I'm sure you know."
Xanxus could swear the world holds still for a moment to better make a mockery out of him.
They're dead?
The fuck they are.
It's only a week ago they were shouting at each other because Xanxus couldn't stand their sight anymore and they just wouldn't fucking leave him alone anyway.
"Reborn."
"Softening the truth doesn't make it any less hard to hear, Tsuna."
They were killed?
What the fuck kind of supposedly strongest mafia family in the world fails to protect all of its three heirs? Or is Xanxus supposed to believe the aftermath of his coup was so messy, Vongola was left in such a vulnerable position long enough for that to happen?
"Who said anything about soft?" Tsuna says, his tone biting. He clenches his jaw, his fists clenched on his lap too. "You could have just been kind about it."
Reborn raises his eyebrow, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. He turns it into a smirk before he says, "You just keep having the most surprising expectations out of me. Have I ever told you that yet?"
Xanxus' still alive. Everyone must know it too if he's only been written off the map, however thorough the old fart might have been with that. Yet he still failed to show up at any of the old fart's sons' funerals.
Xanxus can just hear all those scums talking. The bastard son, left to fend for himself in the slums of all places, one step closer with each funeral to become Vongola Nono's only legacy made of flesh and blood. All the easier then to get his hands on the throne he's always so badly wanted.
He must be too busy gloating to bother even saving face by showing up to the funerals.
Xanxus can just as easily see the old fart standing there, with that damn look on his face and those damn eyes of his, letting those scums talk. It's only par of the course for Xanxus anyway, isn't it? Nothing his reputation can't handle, and nothing he'd have had any qualms using to his advantage either.
Had the old fart even told his sons the truth about the state he put him in?
What kind of face is Xanxus making right now?
He still can't tell even when Tsuna keeps looking at him, because he doesn't get what business he has having that expression on his face.
Do they fucking know each other?
When a bright, blinding orange light first cut through the darkness, Xanxus thought he was hallucinating it, finally losing his mind for good. He's been doing nothing but try to use his flames again ever since the old fart's flames fully froze him and them with him, failing at calling on even a single sparkle, but those flames felt nothing like his anyway.
The light kept appearing, brighter each time somehow, more determined each time too to cut through the ice and reach the other side of it. When it started to reach far enough, deep enough to warm up the core of Xanxus' flames again, to the point it's his flames that made him tangible back then on the mountain, even if Tsuna had to first trigger them into action with his, he knew he wasn't hallucinating that.
He's become all but too familiar with the constant, seeping and biting cold, and the hollow space where his flames used to be to not be certain of even the slightest difference in how they feel.
"Xanxus-san." Tsuna slowly slides his hand next to his on the table, which is clenched into a tight, shaking fist, now he notices. Tsuna hovers his hand over it like he means to hold onto it, but not bothering to because of how useless it'd be. "I'm sorry this happened to you," he says, his voice soft. No, not soft. Kind. It's pained too, even. "That it's still happening to you."
He looks like he'd cry if he were to learn one more thing about his shitty life right now.
He looks like he'd mean his tears too, for some reason beyond him.
Xanxus doesn't lash out at him only because he sees no pity in his eyes. He's never felt pity through his flames either ever since that first ray of orange light, not even after his pathetic temper tantrum that one time.
The look in his eyes is still too damn similar to the old fart's to be bearable, yet they couldn't be more different at the same time.
The old fart seemed fucking convinced pity was the highest proof of his so-called love he could show Xanxus. It was always there in his eyes when he looked at him, more obvious whenever he thought Xanxus wasn't looking back hard enough to notice it.
It just had to be that same fucking look he saw last too, and to the very end, it didn't fail to make him want to rip his own skin apart or gouge the old fart's eyes out of its sockets, one of the two.
When Xanxus looks at his hand again, it stopped shaking, his fist a little less tight than before.
He looks back at Tsuna. "Do I know you?"
Reborn huffs a laugh, irking him. Tsuna, on the other hand, fails to hear what he's actually asking about.
He frowns, pulling his hand back. "I'm Tsuna. Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"Iemitsu Sawada's son, by any shit chance?"
"Right. And you're obviously Vongola too." He hesitates, fidgeting with his hands again. "Is that going to be a problem?"
He fucking tells him.
The old fart's sons are all dead, and here's Iemitsu Sawada's son, sitting next to the old fart's most trusted hitman. The same one he entrusted the Cavallone's heir with to make a proper boss out of him.
Is it going to be a problem?
"Don't think I don't remember who you are too," Xanxus says to Reborn.
"Of course. It's been a while since the last time I expected people to forget who I am."
"You better not take me for a fool either." Xanxus means to be threatening, but the amusement on Reborn's face only keeps growing more obvious.
It's throwing him off even if he isn't about to show it. Especially because there is obviously something he's missing there.
Tsuna's been chosen as the next Vongola boss, but he's intent on freeing Xanxus from the ice? Either with the old fart's agreement or without his knowledge.
How does any of that even make sense?
"Let me first say that nothing has actually been made official yet, though it will be without a doubt soon enough." It hasn't? "But either way, Tsuna doesn't want the job."
"Obviously," Xanxus hears himself say right away, half surprising himself. Why is he so willing to blindly trust that as the truth? Your average civilian wouldn't jump at the opportunity of becoming the boss of a mafia family, as far as he could possibly know about your average civilian anyway, but having power given to you on a silver platter is as strong a temptation as it goes. "And you're here to make him take on it anyway."
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Reborn says, sounding like he's considering the idea all over again, and not for the first time. "But Vongola isn't even the reason why we met."
What was that?
How else can the current best hitman of their time find himself in this civilian's room? Looking like he actually belongs there too, somehow.
"It's true," Tsuna says. "I'm not sure what the… issue is here, but Reborn's on my side, Xanxus-san. Which means he'll be on yours too."
"He's a hitman who's already worked for Vongola multiple times before." Tsuna's face doesn't change whatsoever, and it forces Xanxus to consider for the first time if he really isn't the insane one there. "What, you already knew that and you still trust him?"
"He's on my side," he only says again.
"That's not what you said last time." Reborn's voice's lighthearted, but he speaks up a beat too late for Xanxus to buy it.
Tsuna seems surprised he spoke up at all, turning to him with big, taken aback eyes. "I do trust you, Reborn. You know that. But I can't trust you all the time for everything, right? You'd have said something too if I acted like I could just now."
"Why can't you?"
Tsuna tilts his head, looking so nonplussed, Xanxus could believe the rising tension in the air is only his imagination. "Obviously, it's because I know you. I mean—" He huffs an incredulous laugh, taking him in. "Do you really have to make me say it? I'd never ask you to become someone else just for my sake, Reborn. I'm already grateful enough you're willing to help me with this."
Reborn bores his eyes into Tsuna, his smirk easing up on his lips until it doesn't look like something that'd tear apart anything that'd come into contact. "Obviously," he echoes, giving pointed weight to the word but sounding obviously pleased about it.
"Let's say I believe you," Xanxus says now it's not as hard to speak anymore. He doesn't have to let on the fact he can't not believe them now, not after the exchange he just witnessed. He's not fucking stupid. "What do you gain from this?"
The accusation doesn't faze him, Reborn merely tapping a finger against the low table. "The way things are going right now? A first class seat to witness the fall of an empire in real time, for one."
"Um—!"
"And what makes you think I'd stand for that?"
Reborn rolls his eyes, ignoring him when he bares his teeth in response. "See, that's the problem with young people." Xanxus would have scoffed if he could. How old does he even fucking think he is? "You think that just because a never before seen height has already been reached, the most you can do is try to go just as far. Where's the fun in that?"
"As if that alone is easy to do."
"Where would be the fun if it was?"
"Get to the point."
Reborn straightens, pulling his hand back on his lap. "Empires don't come into existence already being empires. So what if Vongola falls? If you still care about it so much, just build it again afterward."
This time, Xanxus manages to scoff. "And what if it's this Vongola I want?"
"What about it? This Vongola too has been built from the ground up, hasn't it?"
Xanxus hates that he can't find anything to say to that. His speechlessness leaves a bitter taste in his mouth he wishes he could simply spit out in his face to get rid of it.
Here's Xanxus' existence, given purpose in such simple ways, like it might just have been that easy all along to secure it on his own.
What a load of bullshit.
"Do you still want it?" Reborn asks like it's an afterthought and not something he's been meaning to hear the answer of all along. "Even now?"
Xanxus doesn't deign that of an answer.
Would he have ended up in this state to begin with if that's how little he really wanted Vongola?
"Umm—!" Both Reborn and him turn their attention to Tsuna, but he seems more focused on Reborn than him. "Is everything fine between you two now? I'm glad if it's the case," he says quickly without waiting for an answer, "but what was that about the fall of an empire?" He leans towards Reborn, his hands on the table, a weird mix of panic and denial on his face that's fucking funny to look at. "Since when was that the plan?"
"You're asking me? Have I done little more than give you information so far?"
"But I don't want to make an empire fall! How would I even—I just want to escape from it!"
"How else do you escape from an empire without making it fall?"
"I don't want people to die!" he says, growing more frantic by the second. "They would, right? If we go about it this way?"
"How can an empire possibly fall without collateral damage?"
That makes him come to a halt, biting his lip. He slowly sits back on his knees. "Does it have to fall?" Reborn rolls his eyes. "Reborn!" Tsuna all but whines, but a light smile still pulls at the corner of his lips.
"What is your plan here, Tsuna?"
"I don't know! I figured—like, they need me, right? So… wouldn't they hear me out? Can't we just talk about it?"
Silence falls in the room, Tsuna flushing redder the longer it lasts.
"You want to talk... your way out of an empire getting its hands on you?" Tsuna makes himself smaller, but makes a point to keep eye contact. Reborn's face twists in a weird mix of mockery and awe. "Of course, you do. I guess it's true you do hear something new every day as long as you keep yourself alive. How amazing."
Tsuna turns so red, he might pass out any second now. "Reborn! Come on, I just—"
Reborn laughs.
Xanxus bursts out laughing too.
Tsuna startles at it, whipping his head towards him, but he can't stop. If anything, he only laughs harder at the look on his face, and to even his own ears, there's something actually genuine in his laugh, however small and raw and sharp.
Tsuna will free him from the ice. He promised he will. Then he'll sit at a table with the old fart and politely decline the position of Vongola Decimo.
And then, without even making Xanxus ask him for it, let alone fight for it, Xanxus just knows he'll happily endorse him as the next boss instead and hands him the position on a silver platter.
Well, count him in for that fucking ride. And to think he might even enjoy this one?
There's much worse rock bottoms he could have ended up in, with worse odds to succeed in crawling out of them.
He would know.
Today too, Mom follows him to the door to send him off to school.
"You didn't forget anything, did you?" she asks.
"I don't think so."
"Call me if anything happens."
"I will."
"Let me know too if you need me to come pick you up. At any time, all right?"
"Yeah, Mom. I will," he says again.
Mom smiles, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs where she holds his face between her hands. "Okay." She pulls him into a hug, Tsuna bashfully hugging her back. "Be careful and stay safe."
"Will do. See you later, Mom."
Mom doesn't follow him to the gate too like she used to at first, but Tsuna feels her eyes on him until he disappears out of her sight.
He releases a small, guilty breath once that happens.
"Is she fucking sending you off to war or something?" Xanxus asks.
He appeared near the end of his breakfast and has been floating near him ever since.
Tsuna plugs his earphones in, puts one in his ear, and keeps his phone in evidence in his hand instead of putting it in his pocket just for extra measure. He already has enough going on without people thinking he's gone crazy too, talking to himself as if someone else was there with him.
"I did almost die from a car accident," he reminds him, keeping his eyes ahead.
"So what? She doesn't plan to ever get over it? What's so special about your kid almost dying anyway?"
"It is," he blurts out, snorting in morbid disbelief. "To civilian parents."
"You lived," he says like that should be the end of it.
He says it gruffly too, like the way he says everything, but Tsuna thinks he might just have meant it to be comforting. He smiles, glancing at him.
Xanxus looks more at ease in his ghost form every time he sees him. There's still all around an unnatural stiffness to him, some delayed reactions at times too, but he's getting the hand of it fast, whatever that entails.
Tsuna's glad for that.
"Are you… doing okay in there?" he hears himself asking.
"Of course not," comes the immediate reply. When they catch each other's eye, Xanxus' looking at him like he's some lower, less intelligent evolved form of the human species. An expression Tsuna didn't even know he could describe at first glance. "Are you fucking stupid?"
Tsuna stops in his tracks to properly take offense. "I'm not!" he shouts, feeling his face flush. "I know you're not, I was just—"
"Testing my patience?"
If Tsuna lets himself roll his eyes now, they just might never roll back down again.
Instead, he puts all that energy in the stare he levels at Xanxus. "Sorry I dared to be worried about you. Remind me to never bother to do it again."
He turns on his heels, walking faster than before, not even caring about the couple of passerby he attracted the attention of.
These guys, Xanxus and Reborn both, he swears. It's like being nice even for only a second will kill them on the spot.
Tsuna hears Xanxus' faint snickers in his back. "Cry me a river."
This time, Tsuna lets himself roll his eyes, but he can't help the small warmth spreading in his chest.
It's nice to hear him laugh. It's a relief he can too.
Tsuna doesn't know the context of Reborn's revelations that day, but they couldn't have been easy to hear. He saw it on Xanxus' face then, but even though he hasn't let anything else slip since then, he can't be having an easy time processing it either, let alone accepting it.
So it's also a relief Tsuna can at least get him outside the ice, even if only as a ghost. They haven't tried to make him tangible again—Xanxus hasn't asked for it yet, so Tsuna doesn't have to get his head bitten off by Reborn yet either once he'd have woken up from passing out after they tried—, but this much alone must already help a lot.
It's a welcome, much needed distraction, no doubt.
Tsuna's stomach churns at the memory of what it felt like to be in Xanxus' shoes, to feel what it was like to be stuck within the ice.
He just can't imagine being forced to spend eight whole years in it.
Every time he thinks about it, it makes him more grateful he had Reborn to keep him company during his coma, even if he has yet to remember just how they managed to make that happen.
Tsuna almost comes to a complete halt again, slowing down in his steps, blinking at the floor as the gears turn in his brain.
Huh.
How… could they have possibly made that happen?
"Do you believe in ghosts, Xanxus-san?" is what Tsuna hears himself ask this time when Xanxus catches up with him again. He looks up at him, the gears in his brain almost making a connection.
Xanxus' pure look of disdain stares back at him.
It makes quick work of snapping him out of his thoughts, his words replaying in his mind.
"Wait, no. I mean—"
"You think you're fucking funny, do you?"
"No, listen—" His mouth hangs open wordlessly, Xanxus' face twisting in more disdain, and Tsuna's helpless to stop the laugh that tumbles from his lips. "I swear I wasn't trying to—" He laughs harder the longer Xanxus just floats there, giving him the dirtiest, nastiest of look, and still keeps laughing for another while even after Xanxus keeps moving again, leaving him behind. "Wait, I'm sorry!"
Tsuna doesn't want to think about how much faster he just brought his crazy reputation to life, but he knows he only makes it to school in one piece because Xanxus isn't in any state to make it otherwise.
School goes on as usual, which is a pathetic kind of silver lining he's still grateful for every time. He doesn't spend a good time going through the motions, but it's the average kind of him not having a good time he's all but too used to by now.
There's still a fleeting twist of his stomach whenever he thinks of Xanxus hanging at the back of the class, but it's nowhere near as bad as the first day he came to school with him. His reaction to seeing Dame-Tsuna in all his glory of how truly useless he is at everything wasn't anywhere near as bad as Tsuna thought it might be either.
Xanxus didn't comment on it at all, which he was grateful for.
Maybe that's worse than if he did say something about it, but if Tsuna's learned something about him in the short time he's been able to put a face on him, it's that he doesn't bother putting on pretenses.
If Xanxus thought lesser of him after seeing what he's like in his day-to-day life, he'd have made no efforts to hide it from him.
Then again, he did say something about it once.
After another humiliating episode of him failing to answer one of his teacher's questions, to his classmates' mockery, Xanxus floated near him to say, "You do realize you can just ask me for the answers, don't you? Or you're really just as dumb as they think you are?"
It surprised him. He didn't think he'd offer, but mostly, he honestly hadn't even thought about that being an option to begin with.
Thank you, but that'd be cheating, he wrote on the paper he took the habit to slip under his textbooks and notebooks.
"Who the fuck cares?"
Reborn. Me too, he added after a beat.
"How would he know?"
Tsuna stifled a laugh, resigned and exasperated and fond all at once. He would.
A smile tugs at his lips at the memory. He holds it back, lightly shaking his head to focus again on what the teacher's saying.
By the time the lunch bell rings, Tsuna hasn't learned a single new thing in all of his morning classes, but what else is new? The classroom comes alive with renewed energy, enthusiastic chatter and noises filling the air as his classmates bustle along to have lunch.
Tsuna stretches his arms above his head, stretching his back too while he's at it, stifling a yawn. One of his arm almost goes through Xanxus as he brings them down, back at his side again now the chairs around him emptied out.
"Do you actually plan on living like this forever?" he asks, an edge to his voice Tsuna doesn't fail to notice.
Tsuna picks up his pen again to answer him, but doesn't write anything for a moment.
They just have to have this conversation after all, have they?
Tsuna releases his inner cheek from his teeth before trying his luck deflecting. Were you good at school?
He'd bet he was. He must be even more bored staying in class with him considering he's already sixteen, though technically twenty-four.
Tsuna frowns. Or is it he's twenty-four but technically still only sixteen?
Well, he looks sixteen either way. Which might—
"I'm not talking about your fucking grades." Tsuna doesn't flinch but his whole body tenses, and he doesn't think it's only his imagination Xanxus chooses to say his next words more calmly. "Just punch one of those fuckers in the face already."
The self-depreciating laugh rising up his throat is a force of habit, but it doesn't even make it halfway before Tsuna stays his hand from writing 'How would I even do that?' or something else along those lines.
He does know how to throw a punch by now, doesn't he? Reborn saw to that during their training sessions to activate his flames.
It might actually even hurt them too should he do it.
Imagine that. Dame-Tsuna, standing up to his bullies by punching them in the face, and them actually going down from the hit.
Tsuna bites the inside of his cheek again, but this time to stifle his mirth. That's actually kind of fun to think about.
I don't think it'd be nearly enough to make them scared of me or anything though.
He waits for an answer from Xanxus, and discreetly looks up at him when he doesn't say anything.
He's giving him that look again. Tsuna should have probably seen it coming by now, because Reborn gives him the same one too every now and then.
Sometimes, they look at him like he's not aware of this big, blatant, so obvious fact about himself, and they wonder how he can possibly not be aware of it.
That's fun too whenever it happens. He can't remember the last time anyone was willing to believe he had that kind of depth to himself too.
He does think he knows what it's about this time around though.
I'm not going to set any of my classmates on fire, Xanxus-san.
"Why the fuck not?"
People don't deserve to be set on fire just because they're mean.
"Says who?"
Besides, he keeps writing, not acknowledging him, what about the ghosts that'll come out of hell to hunt me down if I do?
Xanxus misses a beat. "What the fuck—" Another small pause. "Do you mean the Vindice?" Another longer pause. "What the fuck do they care as long as there's no witnesses?"
Great. Of all the things Reborn exaggerates the truth of just to get a reaction out of him, the ghosts from hell just have to be an actual thing.
Because of course they are.
We're not setting anyone on fire.
"We'll see."
There are still some of his classmates in the room, eating in class or otherwise keeping busy, but Tsuna still has to whirl in his chair to look Xanxus dead in the eye. He glares at him, pointedly tapping his last sentence with his pen.
They will not be setting anyone on fire.
Xanxus smirks. Tsuna holds himself back from throwing his pen at him, turning back to his hidden paper instead.
Shouldn't you go back and rest by now?
Tsuna—or more like Tsuna's flames aren't single-handedly making it possible for him to be in his ghost form anymore. Reborn wouldn't let him do it if that was the case even if he doesn't also make Xanxus tangible while he's at it.
Xanxus' been figuring this one out fast too, but he can only draw on his own flames to add to Tsuna's to a limited extent for obvious reasons. It means he runs out empty of them faster than Tsuna, and needs longer to recover from the toll it takes before he can try again.
Tsuna doesn't think they'll manage to use their flames equally or that Xanxus will be able to do it with only his flames as long as he's still frozen in the ice, but he doesn't mind doing the heavy lifting until then.
He doesn't mind either Xanxus has yet to try and see how far he can get away from him, even if it'd make it easier and faster to try and figure out who, around him, might have flames too.
And then, of course, once they'll get him out of the ice, they won't need to do this anymore at all, which can't happen soon enough.
"Don't tell me what to do."
Oh, fine.
Jeez.
Any luck today?
Xanxus scoffs. "You tell me. I'm a fucking ghost, there's little I can do here."
But you're the one who's known about flames ever since you were little. Can't you really tell if someone else has them too?
"I've known bout my flames," Xanxus corrects. "Which was the only type there was as far as I knew. You're the ones who said there's more."
There is, Tsuna feels the need to defend himself, as if Xanxus doesn't already know that too by now.
There's also Reborn's flames type too out there anyway, at the very least.
"And you're the one who said we'll need all seven of them to get me out of the old fart's flames. It's your plan, so fucking own up to it and figure it out."
Tsuna winces. He wouldn't exactly call it a plan. It's little more than a guess, even if he does feel very strongly about it. And thinks he can and should trust it.
Ugh.
He sighs. Let's just go to lunch for now.
He takes his bento out of his bag, packs up his stuff, then stands with his bento in hand and his bag on his shoulder.
He almost bumps into Yamamoto as he makes to leave the class, jumping out of his skin, just barely biting on his surprised shriek.
"Ya—Yamamoto-san!"
Yamamoto laughs, looking sheepish as he rubs the back of his head. "Sorry about that. You still seemed busy so I didn't want to bother you."
"Oh—yeah, that—um... I'm done now."
"That's good! Can we talk for a minute, Tsuna?" He raises his own bento between them. "Maybe while we have lunch together?"
Tsuna stares at his bento like he's never seen one before. What the hell's going on? Shouldn't Yamamoto already be having lunch with his friends by now?
But he waited for him… so they could eat lunch together instead?
"Sure…?"
Yamamoto leads the way, Tsuna following a step behind. They walk silently, Tsuna keeping his eyes down and keeping himself small, hoping to not be noticed by the various people who greet and call out to Yamamoto as they make their way through the halls.
Yamamoto leads them to a secluded part of the courtyard, still in view of everyone else but given some privacy by the school buildings around.
"Are you okay eating here?" he asks, sitting down on the patch of grass underneath the tree. "I'm not sure why they planted just this one tree here? But it's always made me sad, so I like to eat here every now and then to keep it company." He laughs as Tsuna sits next to him, mindful to leave a polite distance between them.
"It's okay."
"You're nervous, huh?" Tsuna pauses before he chances a glance at him, only to find him looking straight at him. "Nothing bad will happen to you. I promise this isn't a set-up or anything."
Oh.
Tsuna blinks, unable to hold back a small snort.
Yamamoto blinks back, looking pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah, I know. I really don't think anyone would think you the type, Yamamoto-san."
Yamamoto laughs. "Is that right? I'm glad if it's the case. My old man definitely didn't raise me to be the type. But I know he'd still be disappointed I'm only reaching out to you now." Tsuna averts his eyes, looking down again. He focuses on opening his bento, Yamamoto following his lead at the corner of his eye. "You know, I've been meaning to tell you, but it's really good to see you back at school, Tsuna." He hears his usual smile in his voice, but there's also nothing but sincerity in it.
Tsuna's heart squeezes despite the warmth spreading in his chest. How strange. He's the second person now to tell him that. The third, actually, technically.
Kyoko was the first one to tell him how happy she was to see him at school again, on the very first day he came back. And Kurokawa, at her side like she usually is, took the opportunity to scold him for being careless enough to get into that accident to begin with.
That some of his classmates might have been worried about him after learning of his accident, that they might have been wishing he'd be able to come back to school, that they'd be glad for it once he does… He didn't once consider it something he could expect.
"Thank you," he says, hoping Yamamoto can hear the sincerity in his voice too.
It makes him think back to that time in the forest when Reborn thought he thought himself inherently lesser than everyone else.
He doesn't, not really. Not… necessarily.
But maybe he did give up on ever being really seen by the people around him, the same way, he realizes now, he started to assume one day that no one will ever think him worthy of their time.
"Your injuries are healed now, right?"
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"Right? You looked like it at first, but then you started to act like you got injured again for a bit."
Tsuna frowns briefly before catching on. Does he mean when Reborn shot him? "Oh, that was…" Huh. He can't just say the actual truth, can he? "It did become a bit hard again, yeah, but I'm all fine now. Thanks… for worrying," he adds after a beat with a small voice, ducking his head lower.
Yamamoto playfully bumps their shoulders together. "It's nothing. I mean, this is pretty shameless of me actually, right? I shouldn't have waited for you to almost die before talking to you like this."
"You didn't, though?" Tsuna holds his gaze, both of them chewing slower, looking thoughtful. "You stand up for me so I can join your team in P.E.. You also always make sure I'm one of your first choices too when you're the team captain. For group projects too. Don't you always volunteer your group to take me in?"
"But is that enough?"
"Maybe not, I guess," Tsuna says, wanting to be honest. "But it makes a difference, I think. It always makes me happy whenever it happens. Thank you for that, Yamamoto-san."
Yamamoto stops eating, looking so deeply in thoughts as he keeps looking at him. He looks a little… moved too, it looks like to him. Like Tsuna just said something new to him.
That surprises him a little. Yamamoto's a nice guy, everyone knows that. Everyone's able to tell to even if they aren't close to him.
Yamamoto's kind. Tsuna knows that too.
"You're really so cool, Tsuna," he says, turning back to his bento, a small smile pulling at his lips again.
Tsuna almost chokes on his food. "What, me?"
"Yeah. I don't think you cared to notice, but everyone was really surprised when you came back to school and just acted like usual."
Tsuna flushes at the way he says it, feeling a little embarrassed somehow. Were they? "I mean… yeah? How else should I have acted?"
"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about!" He sounds and looks bright again, enough to enthusiastically start eating again. "You've always been like this. You just skip school when you don't want to bother with it anymore. And whenever the teachers or our classmates try to get at you, you just let it wash over you."
Is that… an insult? He sounds like he meant to compliment him, but isn't that just the nice way to call him a coward and a pushover?
"Does it look like that?" His bento stares back at him, his hand holding onto it a little too tight.
He guesses Yamamoto isn't really wrong—
"It does look like that. But I know it can't be that it doesn't actually get to you." Tsuna's hand twitches, holding onto his bento tighter before he slowly relaxes his hand. "I meant, like—you know how when water washes over a rock long enough, it starts to erode? But in your case, Tsuna, your shape just doesn't change at all. Which is really so cool of you, you know?" Tsuna expects him to laugh then, cheerful and lighthearted, but he stays silent.
When Tsuna looks up at him, he finds him looking ahead, but he doesn't look like he's actually seeing anything. He finds him smiling too, even if he didn't laugh.
Tsuna… doesn't think he's ever seen Yamamoto not smiling at the very least, has he?
"Are you… going through a hard time right now, Yamamoto-san?"
Yamamoto snaps his eyes to him, smiling wider and brighter as if trying to be convincing. Like a reflex, even more so than just a force of habit.
He's about to say something when he thinks better of it, and Tsuna watches as his smile slowly slips off of his face.
He inhales deeply, as if bracing himself. "Actually… I'm not doing too well at baseball lately even if it's all I know. My average keeps dropping and my field is screwing up no matter how much I practice. At this rate, it'll be the first time I don't start since I began playing baseball. What should I do, Tsuna?"
The honesty pouring out of him takes him aback. Tsuna's never seen Yamamoto like this before, and it only makes him feel more guilty he isn't sure if he'll be able to help.
He wants to, but Tsuna isn't exactly the best person to give advice to anyone about anything, especially if it's about sports. Especially to their freshman baseball ace.
He averts his eyes to Xanxus as discreetly as he can, leaned against the school building. He's been silent so far, but Tsuna could use any help right now.
Xanxus' face doesn't change whatsoever, still looking like he couldn't care less about them right now just as much as before. Tsuna stops himself from huffing and rolling his eyes, looking back at Yamamoto.
What would Reborn say? Probably something like… try harder, then. You can't expect the results you want to just fall on your lap, can you?
Yamamoto's probably figured that much out though. It's a piece of advice that'd work for Tsuna, who has a habit to give up before he really has to push past his limits, but what advice would help Yamamoto?
"Then… how about taking it easy for a while?"
Yamamoto frowns. "I can't do that when I'm already struggling. Everyone is counting on me."
Tsuna frowns back. "But you're a team, aren't you? Won't they… have your back until you feel better?"
That's how teamwork is supposed to work, right? Of course, Yamamoto is their baseball team freshman ace, but they can't be only relying on him to win their games every time.
Yamamoto purses his lips, looking like he wants to say something but not knowing what to say. The hard look that had taken over his face falters, something torn swimming in his eyes.
"You're already trying your best too, right?" Tsuna continues gently. "You always do. Everyone knows how much you love baseball and how much hard work you put in it." Yamamoto keeps looking uncertain, and Tsuna starkly remembers he's nobody to be giving this type of advice. "Um—! So, like—" he blurts out in a rush, flailing his hands between them. "I mean that… like, even if you're struggling right now, I just don't think it changes the fact you're still doing your best. So… wouldn't it be okay for you to take a break and see if that'll help?"
Yamamoto lets out a small laugh, scratching his cheek. "I definitely haven't been slacking off or anything, you know?"
"Yeah. I'm sure you haven't."
"But is that enough?" he asks in an even smaller voice than his laugh was, almost breathing the words out.
Tsuna tilts his head. "Yeah. Of course. Actually, it's so impressive of you, Yamamoto-san! That you always try your best like this, that you keep pushing even if things are hard and aren't working out… If anything, aren't you the cool one between us?" It comes out awkwardly, his cheeks flushing even as he's still saying it, but in the next second, he finds himself pressed against Yamamoto's side. "Ya—Yamamoto-san!"
Yamamoto bursts out laughing, loud and bright. Tsuna's heard him laugh just like that many times before, but there's a… lightness to it this time around as Yamamoto keeps swaying them back and forth with his arm around his shoulders. "You're even cooler than I thought you were, Tsuna!"
"Th—thank you?"
"No, Tsuna." He pulls away but keeps his hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eye. His smile softens, but it stays just as bright as his laugh was. "Thank you."
Tsuna's face flushes even more. Did he manage to be helpful? He's glad if it's the case. "It's nothing."
"Nuh-huh," Yamamoto says but doesn't elaborate further, and the both of them start eating again. "What about you, Tsuna? You look happier than before ever since you came back to school. Did something good happen?"
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Has it been that obvious? How embarrassing. "Well… I've made a friend while I was recovering."
"Really?"
Tsuna's eyes find Xanxus' again. "Actually… I've made friends."
Xanxus' features twist into something disdainfully judging. "You disgust me."
"That's great!" Yamamoto says as Tsuna turns his head away from him, holding back a laugh as best as he can. These guys, he swears. They should be thankful Tsuna's willing to be the one to say these things out loud. He didn't hear Xanxus deny it either, did he? "It makes me jealous though. I want to become your friend too, Tsuna."
This time, Tsuna actually chokes on both his food and his held back laugh, whipping his head back to Yamamoto. "What—what are you saying?" he says in between coughs. "Jealous?" Maybe Tsuna will pass out if he keeps blushing like this. "That's—"
"But I mean it?"
Tsuna halfheartedly elbows him in the side. "Stop it."
Yamamoto just laughs. "All right, all right. But, Tsuna. Is he one of the friends you were talking about?" He turns his head towards where Xanxus is, unmistakably catching his eye.
Deadly serious focus takes over every inch of Xanxus' features. He leans away from the building, standing straight, boring his eyes into Yamamoto's. "You talking to me, trash?"
"He's kind of scary too, isn't he?" He grins, playful, but at the frozen sight of Tsuna, his jaw hanging open, his eyes take on a sharp glint. "Oh. I'm not supposed to be able to see him too." His shoulders relax as he leans against the tree, the look in his eyes disappearing. "That's good. I was worried thinking you didn't already know he was a ghost."
Xanxus' features slowly twist into a wide grin reaching from ear to ear. But then, he looks at him before he lets out a short bark of laughter. "Ha!"
Like Tsuna is the cause of Yamamoto being, as it turns out, less normal than he thought he was.
How was he supposed to know his normal life turning less and less normal ever since Reborn appeared in it is apparently contagious?
"We're ready, Boss," Coyote says. He stands sideways from him next to the desk, ever his faithful protector. "Any more delay, and people will grow bold all over again."
"Bolder than they'd have been before," Visconti corrects, sitting across the desk.
They're all spread in his office, all of his Guardians and Iemitsu alike, Timoteo sitting at his desk.
"Has everything been taken care of?" he asks.
"You know it has." Coyote sounds as polite and respectful as ever, yet there's still an unmistakable side of pointing his finger at him in his tone.
This, however, cannot be held against him.
"That's good."
More importantly, that was necessary.
No matter what people have been whispering about Vongola these past two years, no matter how much true those whispers may have in them, them being the one to introduce Tsunayoshi to the mafia will be enough in and of itself to keep him safe. Vongola may currently be in a precarious position, but it's different from them having grown weak. They can still look after one of their own, let alone their last legitimate heir.
At least, that'd have been the case if they had been the ones to introduce Tsunayoshi to the mafia. As it is, Tsunayoshi introduced himself in a blast of strong and pure Sky flames, leaving behind them a group of hitmen burned alive in a back alley. As it is, his first branding as a mafioso was from the Vindice investigating the situation.
Things could still have been salvageable if Vongola were the first ones to the scene after them, if they were the ones to then take control of the investigation, but who could have guessed they'd find the greatest hitman of their time there instead?
Reborn, a close ally of theirs, certainly, but he has yet to sign an exclusive contract with them. Reborn, who does sign exclusive contracts for a more or less generous amount of time depending on how much he likes you, but who likes his freedom too much to renew any of them.
They can still officially introduce Tsunayoshi to the mafia, claiming him as one of their own, as their heir, but it's clear now to everyone there's no prior relationship between them. No closeness, not even some familiarity. Which means they won't have enough ground to retaliate as severely as they would have otherwise should harm come to him.
It was necessary to remind everyone that won't stop them. They're Vongola. To this day still, no matter what they've been whispering about his reign these past eight years.
They will be thorough in their retaliation should any of them wish to try their luck.
"We ought to let him know about this first."
"Ought to?" Nie echoes from the couch, his voice as nonplussed as ever, but the pointed weight to his words hanging heavy in the air. "We?"
"We should at least ask him about it first."
"Ask?" There's almost doubt flickering in Nie's eyes before they all exchange glances with each other. Even Ganauche, the very embodiment of optimism and reshaping reality for the better through sheer willpower alone turns serious too where he sits next to him. "Boss. He's the last legitimate heir who can succeed you."
A smile pulls at his lips. "I'm well aware."
Another exchange of glances, worry reflected in each other's eyes. Timoteo smiles wider.
His body may have been failing him for quite some time now, but he's still perfectly sane of mind, they may rest assured.
"Boss." Coyote steps forwards, shoulders squared and his spine straight.
The others bore their eyes into him too, obviously backing him.
Once more, Timoteo can't help but smile even more. This must be a precarious situation indeed, for them all to league against him like this.
Yet it never fails to remind him of the times when they couldn't agree on a single thing, no matter the stakes. Only when it came to him they would see eye to eye, even more so when it involved standing united against him.
"Has Vongola fallen so far we can't even put on merciful pretenses?"
The silence grows heavier, and they let it stretch until his smile slips off of his face.
"Maybe it has," Coyote says.
"Besides," Croquant adds, standing by the door, "there's a fine line between mercy and cruelty."
Timoteo closes his eyes, holding back a sigh. He wasn't expecting any other answer, but perhaps he's truly becoming too old for this that he feels more stifled in his skin in response.
This meeting alone is proof enough of how little choices he's left with. And this, too, reminds him of another time exactly like this, almost two years ago now.
Has it been almost two years? Timoteo never aged more than he did at the moment he learned of his last son's death.
Vongola, the most powerful mafia family in the world, with three perfectly healthy, strong and capable heirs.
Four.
But here they are, facing and trying to avoid a succession crisis all the same. With all three heirs not just gone, but killed. And the last one having been dealt with by his own hands.
How laughable. What a downfall indeed from its most glorious days.
What would Mother say about it?
Timoteo breathes out deeply, opening his eyes again. "What about Reborn?"
Coyote and Croquant sharply catch each other's eyes. Iemitsu shifts from where he leans against the wall, stands straighter against it, his arms crossed on his chest.
"Was he to be taken care of too?" Coyote asks. "You didn't say."
"I can only hope it won't come to that."
"Yet you're allowing him to stay by his side," Croquant says, both a statement and an inquiry.
"Sorry," Ganauche says, looking at Iemitsu and him back and forth, "but I'm not following anymore. What about Reborn? He's one of ours." Viscounti scoffs. Ganauche rolls his eyes. "Fine. He's on our side. Yes?"
"For now," is the most truthful Timoteo can be, but even that might already not be the truth anymore.
"Why is that?" he presses even more. "Last I knew, we were about to offer him an exclusive contract with us."
"We haven't yet."
"Let's send it to him right now. He will sign it as long as he isn't the biggest fool on this planet."
"That might have been true once."
"Yet you're allowing him to stay by his side," Croquant says again, this time, both disbelief and accusation.
"I know just as much as you do," Timoteo soothes, taking them in one by one. "You simply haven't seen it for yourself too like we have."
Timoteo still doesn't know how Reborn and Tsunayoshi first came to know each other. Reborn, of all people, was somehow there when Tsunayoshi used his flames. By which point the two of them had already a significant relationship enough, Tsunayoshi, if his intuition is right, became active for his sake.
But how was Tsunayoshi there too when it had been months already since he was in a coma?
Soon after, Reborn managed to track him down to his home, which should have been the first time they met. Yet clearly, he already knew enough about him to be able to track him down to his home.
It's even stranger that it's only then he seemingly learned of his identity. Because only then, knowing of Iemitsu's identity too, he deemed them useful enough to cooperate with them. Not without first digging all the information he could on his own, of course.
It was such a typical bold and nosy move from him, Timoteo couldn't help but laugh when he learned he got his hands on the Vongola Bosses' family tree.
"What was there to see?" Coyote asks.
Iemitsu and him share a glance. That Reborn let on as much as he did while they were there is telling in and of itself.
Timoteo does have an inkling about how they could have firs met before they should have been able to, but it doesn't matter now it's too late to do anything about it. All that matters now is what it has lead to.
To Reborn, acting like they were trespassing in a place that was his to guard. To Tsuna, and who he thought had no business acting like they were at home in his own.
"He's grown quite fond of Tsunayoshi," he says. To put it mildly.
"Tsuna's grown quite fond of him too," Iemitsu adds. All the more… delicate.
"So?" Ganauche says. "Forget Reborn. Tsunayoshi's still Vongola."
Half of a beat passes where they all feel his words fail a little short of sounding right.
"He's our trusted CEDEF leader's son, that much is true."
They don't receive his words well, truthful as they may be. Mouths open and shoulders square, but one gesture from Coyote and they all reign themselves in.
Coyote lowers his hand. "Then he's bound by the same restrictions as us. And if one of us should still go ahead and bring a civilian into mafia matters, we have much more ground than him to do so."
"Unless," Croquant says, quick as ever, his eyes narrowed, "Tsunayoshi doesn't mind being led to such matters by Reborn's hand the way he might if it was ours instead. Am I correct?"
"That can't be right," Nie speaks before he can. "Is it?" he asks, looking at Iemitsu.
Iemitsu raises an amused eyebrow. "What would I know that anyone here doesn't already know too?"
"You sent men to keep an eye on Tsunayoshi, haven't you? What do they think about it?"
"Unfortunately, Reborn killed them before they could think anything we don't already know."
The stupor is unanimous, jaws hanging, and it could have made Timoteo smile.
It's not often he gets to see them being speechless.
Croquant turns his body fully towards Iemitsu. "You must be joking."
"Is this a joke?" Ganauche asks at the same time, standing from the couch. "And what did we do about it?"
"What were we to do about it?" Iemitsu asks.
"He killed our men."
"Who had no business being there to begin with. Reborn isn't Vongola, and Tsuna's neither Vongola nor even mafia. On what ground were we to retaliate?"
Ganauche scoffs, stepping forwards. "He's your son."
"Ganauche," Coyote warns.
"And Reborn's been doing nothing but taking good care of him."
"You—!"
"Ganauche." Nie, his voice ever so poised, his voice ever so heavy on your shoulders whenever it needs to be.
Ganauche snaps his mouth shut and clenches his jaw. He tightens his fists for a moment before he uncurls his hands in the next, exhaling a sharp breath.
It is loud when he heavily lets himself fall down on the couch.
It's only then Barbanter chooses to speak for the first time. "Can you blame him?" he says to the room at large, but he's looking straight at him from the other seat across his desk. "I thought we were all on the same page."
Without fail, guilt pricks at Timoteo's heart. He's never known Barbanter to be unskilled at pulling at his heartstrings.
"You were busy elsewhere with more important matters."
"I agree," Visconti says, to his surprise. "Reborn is Reborn, we all know that. No one in this room is enough of a fool to make light of it either. But we're Vongola. Let him bring things to that if he truly feels so confident."
Timoteo brings a hand to his ring and absentmindedly spins it round and round on his finger. Coyote doesn't fail to notice it, and he's grateful when he looks right away without a word.
Reborn is only Reborn for now.
Soon, the highest, most respected and oldest circle of the mafia has been saying. Soon, is the only thing they say nowadays, people who had already seen it all and made it alive through it all back when he was only a fledgling of an adult.
It is time for the power balance in the mafia as they know it to shift and change, for a new power to emerge once more. One that shall stand at the top as the strongest, one bestowed upon the ones who've reached the kind of heights that can only be reached every couple of generations.
Soon.
Timoteo can't imagine Reborn being overlooked for such an honor.
Coyote takes another step closer. "Shall we move on with the announcement, Boss? Unless there's something else we should know or that should be discussed."
"Tsunayoshi won't agree to this."
"We already discussed the matter," he says, polite and respectful, and this time, with gentleness in his tone.
Timoteo's ring spins round and round on his finger. What an honor, the day he received it from Mother. What pride, to have been entrusted with it by the family as a whole for all these years.
How heavier it keeps growing with each passing year.
"I will not force his hands."
"It's all right. We will see to it you have to anyway." Timoteo's hand comes to a stop. He looks at Coyote, expecting nothing less but the unwavering gaze that stares back at him. "That's why we're here. We—"
"You're the whip to my gentle hand," he finishes for him.
How bitter the words taste in this mouth. They've tasted bitter before too, but unlike now, they've always felt grateful in his mouth too.
"You're the Vongola boss."
"And how much more must I give in to that title?"
What does he even have left to give in to it even if he was still willing to?
Coyote's gaze still doesn't waver. "Of course, as much as it'll be needed for as long as you will still be the Vongola boss."
It doesn't waver, and so Timoteo's will isn't allowed to waver either.
He laughs. "Always so ruthless. I want you to know I hate you the most the most often."
Smiles and laughs lighten up the mood and their serious faces, and Timoteo takes a moment to bask in it.
His old age must be getting to him for him to still ask such obvious questions. Of course, he ought to see his path to the end, if for no other reason that he's already come this far in its name.
He ought to be lucky to still have this much left even when he's already made it so far down the line.
"Won't you share your thoughts with me too, Barbanter?" he asks once they settle down.
Barbanter hums, leaning back against his chair. "They're the same as they've ever been. Whichever path you choose is the one I'll carve the way forwards for you. You command and we follow, Boss."
"And I'm grateful as ever for that." They share a smile before his gaze turns to Iemitsu. "What about you? Won't you say anything to the very end?"
"Who am I to take on a leading role when discussing such matters?"
"The opposite weight on the balance, at the very least."
Iemitsu lets out a boisterous laugh. "You got me there. But do you really want to hear out loud things you already know?"
Timoteo's voice softens, the playfulness of before letting place to something more earnest. "You know it pains me things came to this, don't you?"
"You speak as if it's uncommon even among mafia-born mafiosi," he says. Whether it's reassurance or deflection, it's hard to say. The best Timoteo can hope for it's for it to be both. "Even those who didn't like it at first came to term with it in the end. Something along the way made it worth it."
"What if there will never be such a thing along Tsunayoshi's way?"
"Then you ought to give it to him. It's the least we can do, isn't it?" He doesn't shy away from his gaze, but it's still hard for Timoteo to say if it's the family man who's speaking or the family man. "It's true Tsuna won't like hearing any of this. He won't agree to it either. But it's my belief too he'll do a fine job as the next Vongola boss." He leans away from the wall, standing resolute. "You command and I follow, Boss."
Such heavy words they throw so easily his way.
Such a weak one, his heart of his, to forbid him to ever be unworthy of them.
"So be it." At once, the atmosphere turns solemn, determined faces staring back at him. Timoteo stands, leaning on his scepter to support his weight. "Gather the council."
Reborn hangs up, and on to the next call he goes, his phone ringing again the very next instant.
"I'm listening," he says. His phone is on the low table, put on speaker.
"Hello, sir," one of his informants greet him. It's the last one who's been in a hurry to let him know of the latest development in the mafia. "I'm sure you've already heard by now, but…"
Reborn only listens with one ear in case he has something noteworthy to say he hasn't already heard by now.
It has been done. Vongola Nono has officially chosen the heir who'll take on his mantle after him.
Without even asking for his permission first?
The nerve.
Reborn leans back against his couch, sipping his coffee.
Naturally, the word spread like wildfire in every corner of the mafia. And to say it's the new hot gossip in whichever bar you walk in is putting it mildly, to say the least.
Who might the heir be? One could think it'd be the most sought after answer.
To Reborn's amusement, people seem more interested in how he can be the heir.
It's been almost two years since Vongola lost the last of its heirs. The last legitimate one, with the fourth having lost his right to the position for undisclosed reasons. That's what the people knew.
But now, almost two years later, there's suddenly another convenient heir to take their places?
Well, maybe it's not another heir, some say. It's been almost eight years, hasn't it? Whatever he might have done, surely he's been punished for it long enough. Besides, what other choice do they even have anyway?
Why wouldn't they have other choices? others say. The Vongola Bosses' lineage is long standing and has been generous over the decades. There must be branch families legitimate enough for the next heir to come from.
So, why wait two years to choose them among them if it's the case? No, more likely… well, Vongola Nono has at least one bastard to his name. Who's to say if…
Is the heir even legitimate? Desperate times call for desperate measures. And if anyone can pull that kind of thing off, it'd be Vongola, wouldn't it?
The last one amuses Reborn the most. To be either so stupid or so brave must be commended. A pity none of them stayed alive much longer after making a display of it.
"… That's all I have for now."
"Let me know of any new information, however small or insignificant," Reborn says, letting him hang up.
He takes one last sip of his coffee before he rests the empty cup on his crossed legs.
So it's been done. Tsunayoshi Sawada is to become Vongola Decimo. A fourteen years old civilian who'll have to be taught everything about the mafia, then about Vongola, and finally, about what it means to be the boss of a mafia family such as it.
Yet Reborn hasn't heard a word from them on the matter.
Reborn taps a finger against his cup, an absent smile pulling at his lips. That's good. He's been waiting for them to be the first one to cut ties with him.
Well, technically, Reborn cut ties with them first in no uncertain terms, but what kind of most powerful mafia family in the world can justify themselves with technicalities and not lose face from it? They'd gain nothing at falling back on such pettiness, especially during such a delicate time for them as this one.
So Reborn's free to act as he pleases from now on. A good new, yet one that also make things more difficult at the same time. Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer, as the saying goes.
Reborn chuckles, his finger stilling. Oh, well. He's never failed to outlive his enemies no matter the circumstances, and he has no intention to start now.
He has even less intention to lose Tsuna to them.
Reborn puts his cup on the low table and takes the piece of paper next to it before he leans back against the couch. It's small, with a crudely drawn map on it and an X drawn on the meeting place he was invited to.
It's the most sought after meeting in the mafia anyone with a decent amount of ambition worth talking about aims to be invited to.
Reborn smirks.
And then there's this.
A/N: - Xanxus was... tricky to get right at times. Which I'm grateful for because he could have been straight up difficult instead lol. But yeah, if he sounds off at times, know that I tried my best. Also it was weird to have him call people by their actual names lmao. Does he even do that for anyone in the manga? ? I do want him to come up with a nickname for both Tsuna and Reborn though. The one I like to go with in cases like this is "shrimp" for Tsuna, but I feel like for this verse, I need one that would be a little more obviously affectionate. But "brat" is the only other one I can think of, and it sounds too detached to fit lol.
- I love that I went, "Hmm. Should Tsuna's guardians be the Arco or the 10th gen?" and almost every single one of you went, "THE ARCO PLEASE" ezsqfdsf. Well, FINE. ( Just joking, you know I'm the biggest Arco fan around too.) But I'm still getting my baby 10th gen in this, I don't care. If for no other reason than, like. Tsuna freeing Xanxus from the ice with the Arco? Well, Tsuna's still only a 14yo civilian boy, but it's the Arco. The strongest people of their time. So Vongola can be cut some slack. But if it's Tsuna and the 10th gen who free Xanxus from the ice? It's an entirely different story. You see the vision, right? ? I mean, we're talking about six middle schoolers and one five years old, among whom only three of them are mafia, including the five years old, one is missing her organs, and another one landed himself in Vindice before escaping from it and also has for a goal to destroy the mafia. Oh yeah, also. They're all lead by Vongola Decimo himself. Who's also a 14yo civilian middle schooler. Like, how would Vongola ever recover from that? ? They'd be forced to put on clown makeup for the rest of time as far as their credibility and reputation go, which I think is the funniest option here. Also I realize that technically Ryohei should be the first one to realize ghost Xanxus is a thing, you know, the guy who's constantly in Dying Will mode, but also Yams is the one in the same year as Tsuna and also in the same class as him, so yeah lol. (Also I'm weak for him, sorry not sorry. :heart emoji:)
- It was surprisingly fun to write the 9th gen! I've already said it's very unlikely I'll ever become a fan of Nono (or Iemitsu), but he still has his depth to him. His complexities and his layers. His nuance too. (Likewise for Iemitsu). So it's still interesting whenever I have to figure out what his POV can look like. As for his guardians, I DID decide on what their personalities and dynamics could be like on the spot, so cut me some slack lmao, but they were fun to write too and I'm happy with the result.
- I realized writing this chapter I'll need somebody else to be the tutor Vongola will send to Tsuna. Like, obviously Reborn can't be his tutor here, even if, of course, he already is and will remain so. But also I can't think of anyone else who'd fit the part? ? I think it'd be fun to name drop someone else to replace him, but seeing as they're unlikely to play any kind or relevant role, should I just come up with a fodder OC instead?
Whelp, guys. Have another update to a completed story that was only supposed to be a one-shot lmao. I hope you enjoyed it even if only half the amount you enjoyed the previous one. Which was crazy by the way. Like, you've welcomed this story warmly from the very beginning, but I had no idea you liked it that much. I didn't know what to do with myself with all the love you sent my way with your comments. 😭💖 And because it feels like it's been a while since I've said it, I want you guys to know how grateful I always am for your support!
On another note, it was also super funny how so many of you were like, "I can't wait for the next chapter!". Listen. You know that SpongeBob meme with the looming shadow over him, right? Well, that's how I felt. I was like, "Wait, no, guys. Hahaha, what are you saying? You noticed how this chapter is titled a bonus chapter, right? I'm sure you all remember this is already a completed story, haha. Right, guys? Remember how this was only meant to be a one-shot? Guys...?" ZQESGDFXG.
More seriously though. I DID update this again, but I didn't KNOW I was going to, all right. I'm making this stuff up as I go and as inspiration strikes me, and for all I know that was the last of it for this story. So yeah. Once more, no promises and let's all keep our hopes low.
THAT SAID. This chapter was more serious than the previous ones, but I'm hoping the next one will bring the sillies back with it along with the Arco. (IF. I ever manage to write it.)
One last thing that I kept forgetting to say, but happy new year to all of you! ! ! I hope it's only been good to you so far. 💖
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Any and all reviews are appreciated.
Thank you for reading!
- Hope