#tho all that said i totally get why fanon skull became a thing!

[hopeswriting]

[ID: A screenshot of Skull in his adult form, from the anime Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

He's shown from his shoulders up, facing us. He grins, holding his helmet in front of him, the blue sky behind him. /End ID]

oh i like it!! usually in bamf!skull fics like this, his canon self is erased entirely, but here i feel you found a nice middle ground between acknowledging the way he is in canon while still making him bamf. also a skull-tutored tsuna?? hell yes, someone should definitely write that!

now to answer your question, the way i see it that whole "bullied lackey" characterization skull's given is pretty much almost entirely fanon. and i know you refer to canon here, but even if we're talking canon, imo canonically it's less of a "bullied lackey" thing and more of a "prone to be underestimated and lacking the skills to make people respect his boundaries" thing. except even in-universe it translates to the other characters confining skull in that "bullied lackey" box, which of course doesn't help the fact it's also how the readers read him as.

but here's the thing tho: it's skull's personality that makes people look down on him at first glance and never his skills. and of course in turn it makes them doubt whatever skills he boasts to have, but once they see them for themselves, that's that. (see the way adel totally dismisses him and everything he says until she sees him protect enma from the varia and walk off their attack entirely unscathed. which, talking about that scene, makes the varia call him a monster, which he is. and they don't even necessarily have to see his skills for themselves too, because the people at mafia land were rightfully wary and intimidated by knowing he was the one leading the attack from just what they heard about him and the reputation he built for himself.) and for all reborn treats him like he's no big deal, it's always clear he means it only when compared to him and the other arco, and that as long as he is there, skull's no threat or danger to anyone he's willing to step up for. but otherwise he never even hints that everyone else but the arco shouldn't treat him as the threat he is as one of the arco.

also i do mean it's only reborn who treats him like he's no big deal and like an errand boy, because it is said in the manga he's the only one to do that, and by skull himself at that. tho the way skull reacts when learning colonnello's also at mafia land hints at the fact colonnello might treat him the same way reborn does to some extent, but that's it, reborn and colonnello and no one else. because skull is an arco through and through in his own right, which the other arco know best, and which everyone else with working eyes and brain acknowledge right away too. it's just that when it comes to the arco, skull's weaker than the rest of them in a way that's noticeable enough reborn (and colonnello) feel in their right to tease him about it, but even then they never put in question his place among them.

and that was all without taking the anime fillers into account seeing as they aren't canon, but even if we take them into account, what i said is still true. in the anime it seems all the arco do "take advantage" of him being the weakest of them to various degrees, or at least treat him as "lesser" than the rest of them to various extent, reborn and colonnello especially, and their teasing is more on the bullying side when in the manga it stays more on the simple teasing side, but it's still clear in the way they treat him that they still consider skull one of them in his own right and never question that fact.

oh yeah, the carcassa thing too! as far as i know, the way they're written to be weak and a joke of a mafia family is also entirely fanon. if anything, the way reborn says they aren't allowed at mafia land because they deal in drugs and presumably in the other most unsavory parts of the mafia... well, to be fair it wouldn't necessarily make them a strong or feared or even competent family lol, but they'd be treated with caution and would spell trouble in the sense of "oh no, what kind of ugly business should we expect this time?". i mean, right? wouldn't they?

and sure reborn and colonnello dealt easily with their attack on mafia land, but it's reborn and colonnello. for all we know and most likely, if it weren't for them skull and carcassa would have taken over the island.

so i think... well, funnily and ironically enough, skull's personality also works against him when it comes to the way the readers perceive him. he appears to be a simple and simplistic character at first glance on top of not appearing much in the manga in meaningful ways to begin with, so it's easy to take his scenes at face value and miss the little hints and crumbs we're given of a more complex bigger picture. and i suspect that's actually why (secretly) bamf!skull fics are so popular, because once you reduce him to just the "bullied lackey" character, there's just something off with that because like you said, isn't he supposed to be one of the strongest too? so surely there's something more going on with him?

and i find it funny because canonically there isn't, and yet skull is still a nuanced character, and so are the dynamics he has with other characters and the way they perceive him. and imo that those two facts co-exist is the whole point of skull's character. like i have no idea either why amano decided to go "okay i'm gonna make a group of the strongest in the world, but this one will be much weaker than the rest, which will make them treat him as a weakling altogether, which will make everyone else look down on him too because of the way they treat him, and also i'm gonna make him loud and boastful and cocky and arrogant and with no consistent backbone which'll only work against him further, and i'll imply he was a civilian before suddenly finding himself at the top of the mafia, but he'll be a civilian stuntman and the greatest in the world at that, and also pretty much immortal, and also he'll suck at making friends and making people respect his boundaries BUT. i'll still leave no doubt about the fact he's still one of the strongest through and through and has the skills to back that up BUT. at the same time outside battlefields, and maybe even then, he's still gonna be looked down upon because of his obnoxious personality", but i personally love it.

especially the way she then went "okay now you do with that what you will because this is a you problem now" both in-universe when it comes to the other characters and the way they act towards and with skull, but also when it comes to the readers because she does leave all of that at a surface level, and we're left to put the more layered and nuanced and complex picture together all on our own. and actually even when it comes to skull himself too now i think about it? because it puts him in this super unique and fun position in khr where he has to constantly prove himself and it never quite working, but meanwhile he's already and literally one of the strongest in the world. he's already at the top of the world so how the hell is he supposed to prove himself worthy and deserving of it when he also, literally, can't do more than everything he's already done?? which is why he's at the top of the world to begin with?? but apparently it's still not enough and no one's willing to let it be enough no matter how hard he tries to make them??? skull doesn't know the answer either but he sure as hell isn't about to stop keeping trying anyway, and i COULD go on lol, but i think this is already long enough as it is zertgfd.

but yeah, this is basically what i personally make of "bullied lackey" skull. i.e. it's the most accessible and easy reading of skull, especially when it's not wrong to say it is the way he's treated (and written) in canon (tho absolutely not as widespread or hurtful and abusive as fanon makes it out to be), but if you look closer skull has his place among the arco and it does make sense he's one of them*, and the times and ways he's treated otherwise is never actually about how anyone disagrees with that, but about how they don't vibe with skull's personality lol.

*(i mean look, he's the world's greatest stuntman and strongest cloud independently of whether or not he knew how to use them by the time he becomes an arco and as immortal as one can be if not straight-up immortal. and yes presumably a former civilian too--tho as far as i know canon never confirms it, and i don't see why skull couldn't have been mafia and the world's greatest stuntman when we have no problem making fon part of the triads--which is also never confirmed in canon afaik--as well as the world's greatest martial artist--, and sure mafia-wise it doesn't necessarily give him the skills to be up to it, but even if we say he knew nothing about the mafia when he showed up at the chosen seven meeting, how does him being the world's greatest stuntman and strongest cloud and immortal alone not qualify him to be chosen as an arco and be one of the most feared and threatening mafiosi in the world?)

A little thing I wrote a while back when I was revisiting KHR... basically my very self-indulgent thoughts on a BAMF!Skull who decides the best strategy to survive the underworld is by letting everyone else underestimate him.

I've never really been fond of the way he's treated by others in canon, and it completely baffles me why they'd choose to characterise him like this if he's supposed to be one of the strongest seven.

There are ways of making supposedly OP characters weaker - inner fears, disagreements, conflicting loyalties, a person who is their achilles heel, a lack of motivation - you DON'T need to make someone into a bullied lackey.

----

As far as navigating the wild seas of the mafia goes, Skull believes that being underestimated is the best strategy.

Skull is a method actor.

And that means embodying clumsiness and hysteria.

He makes mistakes. He plays up his confusion. Joins the weakest family that he could find (With some sense of ethics that he could stomach, obviously. He'd be speeding down the highway in the opposite direction if he so much as caught a whiff of the Estraneo. Ugh, hurting children.)  He botches his jobs. He falls and screams and cries and shrieks. He lets himself get hit and made fun of.

He picks himself up and dusts himself off at the end of every day.

It's a fine balance, this game of being just competent enough to affirm his status as the Cloud Arcobaleno, and yet leaving others completely baffled at his continued survival.

It's a risky game to play, stringing some of the world's most powerful along and playing them for fools.

He is Skull, the world's greatest stuntman. Taking big risks is just another day to him.

You see, those who are born and raised in the mafia have a complacency to them. They look at civilians and think weak.

They look at Skull and see nothing but civilian. Weak. Coward.

These mafia men forget that stuntmen like Skull actively run into death with their eyes wide open. 

They forget that being born a civilian means that they have actively chosen this life of danger. They have seen it all and decided to stay.

So Skull lets the other Arcobaleno have their fun at his expense. He takes on the role of useless lackey and screams into all their ears at the first sign of danger. Makes them forget that he's the first one to spot any danger at all. Lets them gloss over the fact that appearances aside, he was also chosen to stand beside them as one of the strongest, in spite of his civilian background.

It feels like a huge prank he's playing on them, one that may never see an end and it tickles Skull deep inside that these mafioso who pride themselves in their strength and intelligence and spy networks have never quite figured out that Skull is simply performing a role in front of them.

He's content to let life continue on this way. He has no qualms allowing their arrogance to one day cause their demise. After all, the fall of many great men has been caused by their very own hubris.

That is, until, he catches wind of something very interesting.

Reborn has been assigned to tutor the up and coming candidate for Vongola 10th.

A civilian candidate.

And Skull has never quite been interested in involving himself in mafia affairs, but just perhaps…

He could impart some teachings to help a kindred soul navigate this world.

And really honestly, it seems like it'd be fun to fuck around with Reborn. Just a little.

-fin-

Like I REALLY don't get canon. He's a STUNTMAN. Danger is pretty much his job??? He actively chooses to jump through rings of fire and taunt death and the mafia decides he's weak?????