#xanxus di vongola

[analviel]

Xanxus' mother: Your father is someone very important, I will bring you to meet him, and this is totally not because I'm about to die and never to be seen in the story ever again, and here's a keepsake from my favourite thing, for you to hold on to and ponder over alcohol.

Xanxus:...

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Timoteo: Hello, child. I am absolutely your father. I am the boss of the undisputed most powerful mafia family of the world and starting now, you will be living with me, I will provide you with the best of everything, you will grow under the best tutors and a silent weight of expectations, you will never want for anything except my attention and acknowledgement as I hold you at arms length, and make you feel like you're always on the verge of failing a test you don't know the details of.

Enrico: Hi, I am your eldest brother that will actually be taking care of you and who will provide the majority of your emotional needs, I will see past your feral cat behaviour and be undaunted in reaching out to the scared but fiercely loyal person you truly are.

Massimo: I am the temperamental second brother who will always loose his cool with the slightest provocation but have and will continue to throw fists with those who question your place, especially the ones in all those stuffy parties and galas we are required to attend all the time.

Federico: I am the cool, perfectionist older brother that will hold you at arms length like our father but secretly want to approach and just do not know how to, and we also might have gotten on the wrong foot, but I eventually help you in your studies and adapting to our noble- er, high class mafia life since our eldest brother is too busy with preparing to inherit father's position and I wish to lighten his responsibilities.

Xanxus: Hi-

Enrico: I will die and upend the life you know so far, your Great tragedy but only a precursor to the secret that will crush your heart and trigger your downfall as you question your identity and purpose.

Massimo: I will also die.

Federico: So will I. If only you can regress to a time we are all alive and you can do it all over again. But it's not this plot.

Enrico:...... Maybe.

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Xanxus: So the Academy -that only accepts mafia-born or mafia-sponsored students- are having a tournament, and the parents and alumni are allowed to watch the spectacle.

Enrico: Look at that silver-haired sword-wielding boy taking down his opponents and quickly advancing through the brackets, he is strong and quick and decisive and seems like someone that will swear his life, specifically his arm, to someone that impress him by their ambition and steady belief in themselves.

Massimo: He's really good.

Xanxus:.... I suppose.

Federico: Let me introduce to you to Dino Cavallone, who is your peer and share many similarities with you, including the fact that he cannot look away from the rabid silver-haired swordsman. I encourage you to attend the tea parties he hosts though I know you will not actually do so.

Dino: I am from a doomed and disgraced family but I will raise it to yet unprecedented greatness, so you will take note of me but will otherwise ignore me.

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Mammon: I am a mysterious hidden ace character of unknown age but at least older than your father and appear in the form of an avatar of cuteness, I was only briefly mentioned in the original story but am actually more than meets the eye and since you amuse me I will stay around you and watch over you and drop random helpful tips while also needling you, for my amusement, all the while demanding tribute be paid to me by chocolate and money, and inevitably get attached to you. And don't worry, no one else can see me if I don't want them to, and I speak to you through telepathy so you can ask me secret favors. Also my powers are currently limited due to reasons, so I may choose to hold back at certain times to help you grow and save it for truly life-threatening moments. And sometimes impart to you emotional lessons that help you mature.

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Bel: I am the token little brother figure to be both cute and not so secretly scary.

Lussuria: I'm always all out to make you look the best in those stuffy parties you are required to attend.

Levi: I am the overly loyal butler henchman.

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Squalo: So you are actually adopted and have no claim to the inheritance of Vongola, and because of your previous actions have essentially been disowned by Don Vongola, and left with practically nothing, while the legitimate heir, the one considered over you who'd been raised to fit this position, is actually a no good civilian who knows nothing of this world and stutters and stumbles over his feet. This is unfair and I, as your loyal friend who has stayed with you and waited for you all this time, will help you reclaim your rightful place, use me as the sword of your will and I will do anything to get you where you want as long as you want it, even at the cost of my sanity and morals.

Xanxus: You don't have sanity or morals.

Squalo: Fine, then my other arm. Happy, fuckface?

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Reborn, for some reason holding a handbag in the crook of his arm: Stay away from, Viper. You don't know them, you don't know what's best for them.

Fon: *standing silently behind Reborn and handing him an envelope.*

Reborn, sliding the envelope on the table between them: You don't need me to explain. We've tolerated you long enough but now that we're free, Viper no longer needs to be held back by you so they can meet a proper Sky.

Xanxus: No. That's not for you to decide. Not for us. Mammon can be whatever they want to be, and follow whoever they want to.

Reborn: *cocks his -water?- gun*.

Mammon: *stops Reborn with a tendril wrapped around his wrist* Muu, what is the meaning of this.

Fon: We only want to do what's best for you, Viper.

Reborn: He's not good enough.

Mammon: No one is good enough for you.

Reborn: Well, obviously. We've preciously and carefully raised you and you'll just settle with this?

Mammon: You don't know him. You don't know what he's done for me, you have no idea what we've been through.

Reborn: But-

Mammon: It's true he's not what you envisioned, but I don't care, he's fine just the way he is.

Mammon: Also, it's Mammon. Let's go. Boss. *grabs Xanxus by the hand and storms out of the Mafialand Cafe they tracked them down to*

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Xanxus: Oppa- I mean, fuck! Squalo come here dammit!

Squalo: What? Did you lose your favourite branded set of clothes again?

Xanxus: No.

Squalo: Do you want the chefs to prepare a meal with your favourite wine?

Xanxus: No- Oi, listen. Don't you think something's weird with my life.

Squalo: Yeah. After all if you were anyone else, you'd probably be dead at this point.

Xanxus: No I don't mean the mafia part. Hmmmmmmm.....

Squalo: Well, I mean it is strange that after a life altering incident you've eventually settled in this quiet and peaceful-

*Bang! Goddamit get back here Bel! Mammon stop him!*

Squalo: -out of the way place and not concern yourself with the heart of the chaotic events, doing what you excel at. Which is killing.

Xanxus: You're right, nothing's weird.

Extra:

Xanxus to Tsuna: Ah, so you're the main character- I mean the true heir of the Vongola, and I also see you have your own Avatar of cuteness.

Tsuna: Please don't call him that.

Reborn: He says it how he sees it.

Kind of got carried away but you see it, right? Can't stop thinking about that post saying Xanxus is the villainess in manhwas.

[lapseinrecs]

[this could’ve been] a villain’s origin story

By petroltogo

On Archive of Our Own (account required)

Status: Complete; 88,447 words; 1st part of flip a coin [head for villain, tail for hero] series

Summary: There is a moment when Sawada Iemitsu looks down at his five year old son, his cute, shy, perfect little Tsuna, and the voice in his head — that irritating, always spot-on instinct his family is renown and feared for, the intuition that has never once led him wrong — tells him this boy will burn everything you hold dear to the ground. In which Tsuna’s understanding of what it means to be a superhero differs from the norm, not that anyone cares. [They probably should have.]

My thoughts: Good fic for Tsuna fans, but the only Guardians that are ever mentioned are Mukuro and Hibari. If you like Byakuran and the Varia, though...

[saphirepantsonfire]

also my last post got me thinking about the whole Xanxus di Vongola vs. Xanxus di Varia thing, cause @analviel had both those title in the tags

and i had an internal dilemma over it because,

Xanxus di Vongola was him before the cradle affair; before he found out he was adopted. and i can totally see him going by Xanxus di Varia, out of spite, and a tiny bit of betrayal (i dont see him admiting that out loud ever tho)

on the other hand tho,

pride and gratitude for "having the honour" to bear the Vongola name, even tho he was a "bastard" was instilled into him. there's probably some conflicting feelings of betrayal and gratitude,

Vongola took him off the streets, they taught him how to fight, and they also took all of that away from him so very quickly.

[khr-guilded-cage]

Xanxus:

[gelataisa]

Remembering that time a Twitter post prompted me to think about an au where Xanxus is an undertaker (like, the job) and Squalo a florist working near a cemetery. Xanxus would flirt in the most inappropriate ways.

Fun stuff

[the-flower-named-fire]

I am the only who see parallels between the Uchiha, the Varia and the Noldo?

Maybe because they are grey rebels groups, full of ambitions and anger (towards the Ninth Gen and their lies about their Boss's heritage and his unjust imprisonment in ice, towards the Leaf and their exclusion of the Uchiha, towards the Valar for wanting the Silmarils and doing nothing to fight Morgoth)

Or because they are labeled as 'evil' because of that (for just having ambition to fight back, to demand and earn for things, be it freedom or revenge)

Maybe its because their main leader who really likes setting stuff on fire (but their love is just as fierce)

Maybe its because of the tragedy each story brings, of families torn apart and betrayal between all (of a old man that took him from the slums, of a weary shinobi that claimed he wanted peace and of gods that promised the paradise)

[khr-guilded-cage]

#what having both does

daddy issues make u a people pleaser but mommy issues make u like. a sociopath

[stormsthatrage]

The Hair Thing

At some point, the hair stops being about what was stolen from Xanxus and starts being about what was stolen from Tsunayoshi.

Of course, in the beginning, it's like this: Squalo knows the Vongola Ring should have been Xanxus's.

It’s simple. Xanxus was first in line for the throne after his older brothers died — and damn whatever Timoteo says, those three were his brothers. Even considering the fact that Xanxus wasn't a blood son after all, the fact remains that for the majority of his life, Xanxus was a Vongola heir. He was claimed as one, he was raised as one, he was loved as one. (And again, fuck what Timoteo says. If Enrico had still been alive, Timoteo would have been dead for the mere suggestion that Xanxus wasn't family as well as Family). And as such, he should have been on the throne far before any other candidate could ever have been brought in.

Also? Xanxus had the skills to be just about a damn perfect Don Vongola. He knew how Vongola worked. After all the time spent learning at his brothers' knees, he knew everything that the Capo dei capi could possibly need to know, and had a bunch of practice at it to boot. He was familiar with the duties of the head and the duties of the underbosses and the duties of the lowest ranks on the street. He knew how to keep his people safe. He knew how to enter a hostile negotiation and come out on top. He was great at strategy, both on and off the battlefield, and, oh yeah — speaking of the battlefield, Xanxus was really, really fucking strong. And so on. Squalo could have spent a week listing all the reasons Xanxus would have made a perfect Tenth.

So yeah. Squalo was fucking pissed when Timoteo revealed his lies, revealed his betrayal, and revealed that Xanxus had never actually been in line for the throne at all.

And Squalo's anger damn near turned him insane when Timoteo put his fucking Sky in ice.

So yeah. The hair thing. It begins because of what was stolen from Xanxus. As permanent as the fury embedded in his bones (as permanent as the rage still twisting in the back of his mind, a quiet, infernal madness that doesn't heal even when they finally break his Sky out of a fucking ice-seal) is his determination to never cut it, not until what was stolen is restored.

His determination grows even stronger when he meets Timoteo's choice heir for the first time. Tsunayoshi is weak. Tsunayoshi is a coward. Tsunayoshi is slow, and inexperienced, and absolutely not qualified for the throne.

The only thing Tsunayoshi has going for him as a candidate is his blood, his freakish primo-like genes, but ancestry has no impact on capability, and Squalo has been by Xanxus's side for too long to be okay with the thought of Tsunayoshi leading the Vongola into the ground from incompetence and cowardice.

Squalo's initial impression of Tsunayoshi, of course, does not withstand prolonged contact with him. It turns out that underneath the weakling appearance is, in fact, a perfect Capo dei Capi — different from the type Xanxus would have been, but no less ideal for it. Tsunayoshi is strong, fierce, determined, protective, smart, skilled, and — as it turns out, most importantly — kind.

Tsunayoshi is unbelievably kind. Impossibly kind. So kind Squalo finds himself searching for proof that it's a mask, because it has to be, because no one could be that genuinely good — but no matter how hard he searches, he only finds more evidence that somehow it's not a mask, it's real. And Squalo can only watch in awe and terror as Tsunayoshi's compassion spreads out like a fucking fungus, infecting others and the world and the fabric of the underworld itself, until Squalo has no choice but to believe that Tsunayoshi is going to save everyone, both Vongola and outsiders alike, from all the blood and suffering they were once destined to stain themselves with.

Squalo gets a front-row seat to Tsunayoshi's... Tsunayoshi-ness, as shit goes down in the wildest year of his life. There's the undoing of a ten-year-apocalypse, the undoing of an ancient curse, the making of what feels like a thousand different treaties, hell, fucking earth flames. At some point, Squalo stops keeping track, because so many absurd things have happened. And after it all, Tsunayoshi turns 15, and the kid and his guardians finally come to Italy.

For some reason, as soon as they step foot on home soil at the airport, they're ditching their Iron-Fort appointed chaperones to infest the Varia Castle. The kid and his equally impossible guardians make themselves comfortable, and as another year passes, every single one of the brats manages to endear themselves to the Varia Commanders — not that any of them would say it, of course.

(Years later, Squalo will remember his initial amusement at their sudden appearance at the Castle, and will realize that instead, he should have been furious. Why, why, after everything, didn't he think to wonder why they didn't want to stay at the Iron Fort? Sure, Tsunayoshi was Timoteo's chosen heir, but that didn't guarantee safety in the bastard's presence. After all, Xanxus had once been Timoteo's chosen son.)

The year ends, and the time comes. Tsunayoshi takes the throne.

Squalo doesn't cut his hair. He doesn't cut his hair, and for a moment, for a brief period of wonderful relief, the abstinence is not performed out of fury. The rage, the hurt, the insanity clawing at the back of his mind — it's dimmed, as dormant as it could ever be, after everything. Xanxus is happy, and frankly, after the ice, more comfortable heading the Varia than the main family anyway. Tsunayoshi is a better Vongola X than anyone could have dreamed. Vongola is stronger than it has ever been, his Sky is happy, and Tsunayoshi is leading the underworld into an impossibly bright future.

So Squalo does not cut his hair, because he took an oath not to and he is a man of his word. But he can imagine a world in which he did not take the oath, a world in which the hair was not a vow, and was instead a mere visual expression of his fury and resolve. It is a world where, after the ceremony in which the kid donned the title of Vongola X and Xanxus called the kid "little brother" in front of half of Italy, Squalo went home and pulled out a knife and finally got rid of the damned ponytail.

That period of blissful relief lasts right up until seven months later, when Squalo finds himself exhausted and a little bit tipsy and no longer up for celebrating the destruction of the human-trafficking ring the Alliance had just broken open.

He stumbles up a secluded staircase in the Iron Fort, and down a quiet hallway, intent on locating a room in which he can fucking take a nap. He spies a door that looks promisingly abandoned, tricks the lock open, and enters the room to find Tsunayoshi curled up against the far corner, spine pressed tightly against the wall, head tucked between his knees.

Even from the doorway, Squalo can hear how rapidly the kid is gasping for breath, can tell how painful it is.

For a moment, Squalo thinks someone has had the audacity, the stupidity, to dare and poison his Sky's little brother.

And then he hears the strangled sob, and puzzle pieces that he didn't even know he had come slamming together with the force of a fucking asteroid impact.

He's across the room in a heartbeat, pulling on his rain flames to calm the kid down. As he tries to take Tsunayoshi's hands, the kid flinches back. Holds his hands away from Squalo, like there's something coating them and he doesn't want to get Squalo dirty.

All of a sudden, Squalo thinks of his initial impression of Tsunayoshi. Not suited for the underworld, and especially not suited for leading the Vongola. Best left as a civilian, far away from Italy.

He bites back a hysterical laugh as he realizes that he had been right all along.

Tsunayoshi. Sweet, compassionate Tsunayoshi. Too stupidly soft to not get maimed by all the suffering he sees, by all the people he can't save, by all the people he has to fight because they are too far gone to save. Too ridiculously loving to not loathe himself every time he sends family onto the battlefield.

Too strong to let any of that stop him. Too kind to turn his back on those who are defenseless, who need his help.

Squalo gives up on cradling Tsunayoshi's hands. He sits down next to the kid, legs splayed out in front of him, and then hauls the kid (still just a kid, god, they are all so young) into his lap, back to chest. He wraps his arms around Tsunayoshi’s ribcage, as tight as he can without causing pain, tucking his chin over the kid’s head, and pours rain flames into his shaking frame.

The hyperventilating stops. The agony and self-hatred, so strong that Tsunayoshi's flames are radiating it into the air, do not.

His Sky's kid brother sobs into his neck, shakes apart in his arms, and all Squalo can feel is, in the back of his head, that fucking rage flaring back to life from dormancy.

_____________

In the end, it's like this. Squalo knows the Vongola Ring should have been Xanxus's.

Tsunayoshi gets it anyway.

And so Squalo never cuts his hair.

______________________________________________________

Edited 7/14/2023. Crossposted to AO3.

(AN from 7/13/2023): Authorial Disclaimer: Normally I don't post fic hot off the press but in my defense I didn't know this was going to be a fic. I just wanted to post an idea! It was going to be like. 1 paragraph! Max! I swear! ...So I'm posting my definitely-short-idea, because I planned on posting today, and I'll edit and revise and add it to ao3 later. Because that is a thing I am going to need to do now. Apparently. Later, after bedtime. Dang, but these plot bunnies are out of control...

[rebo-chan]

OKAY SO, its been a week so the results are completely through for the polls I sent off into the universe. Put under a cut because it's a little lengthy. The results are as follows:

Vongola: 1st place: Tsuna with 22.6% 2nd place: Hibari with 22.1% 3rd place: Yamamoto with 16.9%

Followed by Gokudera, Chrome, Mukuro, Lambo, then Ryohei in that order.

Varia: 1st place: Squalo with 32.4% 2nd place: Xanxus with 19.7% 3rd place: Belphegor with 18.3%

Followed by Fran, Mammon, Lussuria, Levi/Gola Mosca

Arcobanelo: 1st place: Reborn with 21% 2nd place:Fon with 18.3% 3rd place: Skull with 17.7% Followed by Mammon, Lal Mirch, Colonello, Verde, Uni, Luce, Aria

Throughout it, I watched Tsuna climb from hardly any votes on the first day to winning first place through the skin of his teeth and isn't that just like him lol. Also, Varia fans.. y'all really know who you love. I respect it, but also my joke option of Gola Mosca got the same amount of votes as Levi..which was 0.9% of them. THE POOR MAN. As for the Arcos, I'm honestly genuinely surprised Fon was as high as he was! Maybe I just don't frequent the arco side that often, but yall really love him!! Skull and Reborn aren't really surprises on that end. BUT FOUL ON THE ARIA LAST PLACE. Luce beat her with no real "canon" scenes to her name...amen fly high aria you died so your daughter wouldn't be last place. BUT YEAH, what are yalls thoughts? Surprised or not surprised? :)<3

[rayshippouuchiha]

Hey Miss Ray, for KHR fic recs I got a few.

Mere Anarchy Loosed upon the World by Dissenter. Tsuna is dead. Hayato decides that is Not Acceptable. And proceeds to break space time to fix it. He regrets nothing. Or the one where Hayato is incredibly Extra about everything, and no-one but Dino notices. Roadtrip-style

Vongola Style by Ourliazo It's a collection of crack-ish one shots. The latest one, Reborn made a joke that Fon died, and now he's gotten too deep to back out, so he needs to fake a resurrection. Some of the tags include "Warning: Reborn's Cosplay" "I'll Fluff You To Death" "The World's Greatest Hitman Speed Run" "Warning: Mist Users" and "How to Handfeed Your Hitman"

The Menagerie by Zegaz The one where most of the cast are animals and Tsuna is their long suffering owner/caretaker.

The Decimo's Husband by TheGreatTribbleEmpire Tsuna Does Not Want to be Decimo. Xanxus does. Obviously, the solution here is to get married.

Ramblings of a Tired High School Sky by AliceKumori Fem!Tsuna is a blogger and vlogger who uses the internet to vent about her life. The world at large chooses to believe her a fantasy/fiction writer using modern mediums to tell a story.

Intentionally Courting Your Oblivious Herbivore by LadyHallen Tsuna goes about life with the power of Denial

A Brief Foray by Ourliazo It's a collection of crossovers and AUs, absolutely hilarious, and the end notes are a treat. You got Ice Skater AU, Coffeshop AU, That One Time That Banned Reborn From Making Big Decisions on his Own, etc.

For Science! by Melfice13 You know that in all Byakurans in the multiverse chose World Domination. What if one of them didn't?

Smile by Dandelion_San In which Tsuna stops giving a shit after one too many fights

When You're Fast Asleep by SugaSugar Tsuna's greatest wish is to have a friend. So Giotto decides to set him on fire. aka: the one where the 1st gen are all ghosts haunting their descendants.

I would also recommend just searching through what the authors DearCat, Seito, and Tsume_Yuki have posted, because I have way too many of theirs bookmarked to rec them all, and it would be easier for you to search for what you like.

!!!!!

[khr-guilded-cage]

And the fact that Timoteo honestly to fucking God - would expect Harry to obey him, to be 'family', to don't be upset with the fact Vongola ruined his life

He never though Harry would be agaisnt him or want revenge

Just a quiet and obedient puppet heir

A mere civilian easy to charm as the 'kindly grandfather act' and make his puppet heir

It should be easy to maniputate Harry Potter

Motherfucker

Reborn's introduction to Tsuna is always ridiculous

Reading fics made me realize that better

One fics with Harry Potter 'Royal Mafia' or something, just had Reborn randomly shooting (good now) Dursley without even explaining, than leaving because he is a Cloud

With Lilly and Petunia begin Vongola blood

Then going on a manhunt after Harry Potter

Like...what he expected? They both adults

Reborn would clearly would want to stay at Harry's house, be feed and be given a room, and keep abusing Harry? Do he genuine think that shit would work on a normal person? An adult?

The home tutor shit won't work, they are ADULTS

Have more independence, older, with thoughts and opinions, they wont be as easy to manipulate

And Timoteo

Harry Potter would be pissed, not just 'a little upset' and would pass and would become Timoteo's little pawn

Hijack his life like that, invade his life, his house and put his friend in danger

Really? Making an enemy out of you heir isn't smart

No, really. Lets send my hitman to shoot and beat and invade my heir house. I am sure the heir will be my new family

Gurl

What

As I have said many times by this point

No one with brains ever accused Vongola of being smart

Because they are not

But Vongola better believe they will be getting an angry Harry on their ass for daring to touch HIS people

[analviel]

I just had a headcanon too fucking painful for me.

What if Xanxus' relationship with his brothers was very similar to Damian's relationship to his brothers. Very similar as in a dash of fanon over canon because there's no murder attempts.

In that Enrico semi-adopted him after he arrived, he had a similar temperament to Massimo, and grew a rivalry to Federico.

Respected all of them and strived to support Enrico (the heir) in his future as the Vongola Decimo. Massimo (young 2) is slated to inherit CEDEF, removed from direct influence of Vongola but still a branch and backs them up, Federico (the favoured) is an R&D type of guy very invested in furthering reasearch in Flames and bit of a fingers in all pie but not the face of Vongola, and Xanxus decided he was going to be the assassin.

Then his big brother died and then he discovered their father was lying all this time about him being his son (after being made to build his entire worth and personality and relationships on that) and he has a fucking meltdown, a mistake that causes him almost a decade. Frozen and detained by his distant apparently not-Father supposedly well-fucking-intentioned. And when he wakes up, his two other brothers are also dead. The conflict of thinking he was never their brother in the first place and didn't deserve to grieve them and the fact that he never had the chance to was his own fault, and maybe if he hadn't then he could've been there to do something, and then seeing someone just taking the mantle - and that someone was some no good brat that spit on the memories of everything being Vongola Decimo meant to another person that never got the chance.

He hated his not-Father, hated his brothers for leaving him and if they died painfully then even fucking better because they deserved it but not, he deserved a piece of the past and he hated the brat's existence that would wash away all of that and relegate the story of four brothers to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

[lapseinrecs]

Lie To Me

By Grace_Logan @gracelogan

On Archive of Our Own

Status: Complete; Oneshot; 3,543 words

Summary: Tsuna is left to finally pick a side when the Varia are met at his door with aggression and blatantly, laughably false accusations of betrayal.

My thoughts: I appreciate the relationship between Tsuna and the Varia and the 10th gen Guardians in the background squabbling while Tsuna has a conversation with Xanxus is good too.

[threadboundgold]

rip Xanxus di Vongola you would have abused the boop feature on tumblr’s April fools joke

[khr-guilded-cage]

Tsuna: I can't believe you assassinated the Ninth!

Xanxus: Well, 'assassinated' implies it was politically motivated. I killed him because he was a dick, so technically I murdered him

Tsuna: That's not better!

[squalodinoappreciationsquad]

hello! This is my first time requesting a drabble from a prompt hopefully I'm doing this right-

Coming from the Flower Prompts post, may I ask for Arbutus for Squalo and Dino? I really like your writings for those two qwq 🩵

Thank you in advance!!

Hi hello this is actually perfect! Don't worry, feel free to send more! And thank you so much for the compliments, I absolutely adore your drawings 💕

Now, you gave me a DELICIOUS prompt, I hope you are going to enjoy this snippet!

Arbutus - a realization that you are my one and only  

Squalo and Dino meet each other again after the battle for the Vongola rings has ended, after all dust has settled and this time it is awkward. Some would say even painful to watch and indeed it does not go unnoticed by everyone around them.

Both the men had entartained the thought of them being together for the longest of time, they had yearned and pined even, in their teen years.

And then the huge presence of Xanxus had been the sort of bitter ending they both had, or so they had thought.

There had to be a battle.

There had to be blood.

There had to be opposite sides.

And then they finally understood.

When Dino finally realized, it was at the end of the Rain battle - he had expected to save Yamamoto from the inevitable death by being mauled by a shark and instead he had seen Squalo.

And in front of what had been his friend - and probably something more - unconscious and bloody, Dino could not help himself.

He felt dizzy, he felt all blood suddenly go away nd most of all he did not register how he had immediately crouched next to Squalo's body, trying to call him, to keep him awake.

And that was exactly when he realized it.

Oh no, he thought, oh no.

He absolutely knew it as he was dragged away by Romario, as Iemitsu was making his way.

And he found himself doing something he'd never thought he'd do. He begged for Squalo's life, no, the Varia's lives to be spared, inventing on the spot any possible excuse as to why the Vongola should not execute the Varia.

Sure, he is now indebted to the Vongola, but it was worth it, he thinks.

When Squalo opened his eyes again, in that hospital bed, the first one he saw was Dino.

None of the Varia were there, especially not Xanxus was there and yet.

The one walking next to him had never been Xanxus so far and Squalo had been so wrong the entire time, because there was someone waiting for him to wake up and it was Dino.

Somehow.

The uncomfortable feelings he had been struggling with finally agreed. Squalo looked intently at those sad brown eyes, memorized his faint smile as Dino told him that he had finally woken up.

And there and then Squalo realized that it had never been Xanxus the one he was looking for, the one he would lay his life for. and there and then he thought, oh fuck, oh no.

When Squalo managed to speak, his voice trembled lightly "Why... Why did you save me?"

And Dino's voice trembled too, hesitated even. "Because that would have been inconvenient if you died."

And they both knew that this was just a pathetic excuse, and they knew they were and always had been each other's person.

And now that the dust has settled, and they are both still alive, it is awkward and embarrassing and everyone is eyeing them trying to be polite but also curious to know what exactly has changed.

And neither one tries to make a step because - oh well, thwy should be past being two awkward teens vaguely in love.

They dance around each other and sit in the same room politely six feet apart like two Victorian lovers pulled out of a Jane Austen book and Tsuna and his guardians are too young to understand fully, and the Varia don't really have the emotional ability to just give the right nudge.

Luckily or not, however, Reborn has a plan.

Dino is after all a student of his and by proxy he has known Squalo for long enough.

It is going to be a fun time for everyone, especially for Squalo and Dino, Reborn thinks.