#Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction

[drowning-in-daiya]

Twisted Ties: Chapter 1: A Threat to be Wary of

Vittoria Bellincioni is the heir apparent of the Bellincioni family, in the past a noble house in Italy, now a prominent family in the mafia world. 15 turning 16, she's set to debut in society and participate in the family's inheritance trials to prove her power and worth as the future leader. However, threats, unbeknownst to her, lie in the shadows and she is forced to Japan for her safety. There living amongst the twin she never had the chance to meet and a branch family of the Bellincioni, she encounters strange characters and circumstances that expand her world more than she could have ever predicted. Join this tale of growth, betrayals, grief, love, and affection between friends and family in a KHR retelling following a new cast of characters!

Notes: Characters are aged up and the story will parallel the arcs of KHR. Also, references to technology and current events take place around 2023 and not when the original story was set. Assume OCs are mixed/black. Warnings, relationship tags, and characters included will adjust as chapters are posted. There will be eventual violence and mentions of child abuse. Trigger warnings will precede the chapter including themes that may be uncomfortable for readers.

Posted on ao3 and here because I know personally sometimes I don't feel like following a link outta tumblr and just won't read something if it's linked like that 💀  Anyways enjoy!

“Donna, the princess’s life is in great danger.” Dark eyes flicked to the figure on her right, then scanned the five other faces seated at the table. All wore grave faces at the news. Her guardians took the heir’s safety seriously and looked ready to go to war. A small smile cut her face. 

“Is that so? Care to elaborate, Gia? That’s quite the bombshell you just dropped.” If the others were disconcerted by her carefree reaction, years of training and service schooled their features to not reveal such feelings. 

“Of course, Donna. I’ve received numerous reports that a small group has plans to assassinate Princess Vittoria. It seems they wish to cripple your line before she can ascend to the head of the Bellincioni. It’s well-known the line only passes to women, so your three sons are of no consideration. With Vincenza’s removal from the family and position and your preference for Vittoria to Aurelia obvious, they know you have no one else close to ready for the position. And we’re old now, Contessa.” Gia, her closest guardian and friend, rarely used her name in official meetings. 

         Contessa looked into the face she’s seen for over fifty years, now decorated with crows feet and fine lines. Once bright and energetic in their youth, her eyes were now clouded with a deep layer of weariness. She understood too well what was left unsaid. When Vittoria and Aurelia were born sixteen years ago, it was risky even with the best doctors practicing modern medicine and their witchcraft combined. Now at fifty-nine the time for trueborn heirs was well past for her. Besides, she herself didn’t think she’d have the luck to produce another one on par with Vittoria’s innate powers. She was her special creation. 

         She steepled her fingers at her mouth and considered. After a moment she spoke. 

         “You all are far too busy with responsibilities to the family to personally care for her. If someone is making moves and making no effort to hide their intention, it’s possible they have something in hand that makes them confident they can carry out an assassination even with her behind heavily guarded walls. It’s possible they even have an inside contact. We need to consider safety measures for the heir,” she said. The room darkened at the suggestion of a mole in the family.

         “Surely my spies would have found anyone cowardly enough to sell out their family before this,” Lauretta, her guardian who specialized in shadow magic and presided over the family’s espionage activities, said. Her affronted tone suggested offense at the leader’s implications. 

         “Are you saying I’m wrong? Can you with 100% confidence tell me you can guarantee every member of this family’s loyalty?” There was a dangerous edge to Contessa’s question. 

         Lauretta opened her mouth but hesitated to speak. The Bellincioni family was vast with many branch families under its purview. With the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, it had undertaken efforts to expand internationally and now held many businesses outside the main mafia family. She’d be a fool and a liar to say yes. 

         “I’m sorry, Donna. I would never suggest you were wrong. I merely meant a spy in our ranks would have trouble hiding for very long. But perhaps I am overconfident in my own abilities. I apologize profusely,” she said with a deep bow, forehead centimeters from the table. Contessa let out a light laugh.

         “Of course. I know you and the others are deeply loyal to me, and the family too. You above all demonstrate it every day you toil to protect us in your shadows,” she said. Lauretta looked up with a prideful smile. “Though, it is Gia bringing this news to us, and not you. So wouldn’t that suggest there is a flaw somewhere in your ranks?” 

         Lauretta’s deep colored skin paled to a sickly gray. Apologies spewed forth and a tremor shook her so hard her teeth clacked. Contessa looked on placidly. The other guardians kept their gazes fixed to the table in front of them. Some clenched their jaws and swallowed their words; others hid smiles at the plight of the youngest in their ranks. 

         “Oh well,” she sighed. “Perhaps this goes to show how formidable the enemy is. Calm now, Lauretta. I do not blame you for your oversight, nor any of you for not discovering this sooner. What is important now is deciding what’s to be done. Gia, is there any information to go on to find these villains?” Contessa asked. 

         “Unfortunately, there’s not. It’s all tentative right now-”

         “That’s not like you bringing half-assed intel to the table. If it’s tentative, then it’s not certain there’s a hit out for her in the first place. We shouldn’t panic or make big moves until there’s more definitive information,” a sharp voice interrupted. Eyes swiveled to Zelmira, the group’s fire user, who sat with hands linked behind her head. She raised a brow and curled her lip in a sarcastic smile. It wasn’t unusual for the fire user to oppose Gia. She took it in stride, however, and leveled a cool look on her. 

         “Any threat to the princess’s safety is of the utmost importance, no matter how tentative the information is,” she said. 

         “I’m not saying it isn’t. But Vittoria is to debut in a month. The mafia world is holding its breath in anticipation of the little Bellincioni princess who’s been hidden away all this time. Isn’t the timing of this supposed plot a little odd?” Zelmira asked. 

         “Quite the opposite. When better to strike than during such a big moment for the family? It would be a devastation to lose our last heir so close to her inheritance trials and they know this.” Another voice, Amara who usually ran interference for the two, piped up. 

         “There’s still Vincenza.” Silence enveloped the room. Despite the warning looks thrown at her, Fiorentina sat tall and kept eye contact with Contessa. 

         “She lost her status as heir years ago, though,” Amara said. She chanced a glance at their boss whose eyes pierced Fiorentina’s.

         “I know she made her mistakes in that messy affair with the Vongolas, but she was a child. I’m sure she’s grown since then and is regretful of her choices. And she’s powerful in her own rights. Unlike Aurelia, she has access to her earth flame. And she practices earth magic to boot. I’ve heard she demonstrates great mastery in her work with the Varia.” Her voice was impassive as she spoke, not revealing what she truly thought of her words and suggestion. 

         “Sixteen and out in society is hardly a child. She was set to hold her trials in less than a year, just like Vittoria. And are you keeping such close ties on one who betrayed their family?” Gia asked. 

         Zelmira scoffed. “I’d hardly say participating in a coup in another family warrants the title of betrayal. In fact, if it had succeeded, we’d be praising her instead.”

         “It didn’t, though. It was an illogical move that threatened our relationship with the Vongola. A woman who lets a man drag her down like that deserves no leadership position.” It was rare for Contessa to speak of Vicnenza who, though just her niece, had obviously held a special place in her heart. Even when Vittoria’s powers became evident and the potential for her growth immeasurable, Contessa held fast to Vincenza as heir flouting tradition. For a woman who holds fast to the customs of the family like her life depends on it, it was a shock to say the least.  Even more a shock when that affection shattered so easily eight years ago. Since then, she hadn’t uttered a word about the girl. 

         Fiorentina’s spirit magic could sense the volatility of Contessa in that moment even though the other kept a careful, blank face. She wanted to push back but knew it would be futile. Eight years was not enough time to cool her anger. 

         “What about Aurelia?” Sienna’s lazy voice floated through the tense air. 

         The guardians all looked uncomfortable and waited for someone else to name the elephant in the room. 

         “Well, if she had access to her earth flame and magic core, maybe…” Amara weakly said. 

         “Not to mention she hasn’t received any of the necessary education for leadership over the Bellincioni,” Gia added. 

         “And if she didn’t look like a carbon copy of her father, maybe she’d be considered,” Zelmira said with a laugh. She tilted her head when the others regarded her in silence.

         “What? I’m just saying the quiet part out loud. Aurelia was cursed to look like Emilio, God rest his soul, and lost at the outset. Her lack of power was just the icing on the cake. Thus, the poor thing was exiled to Japan with those weak-willed Palladinos.” 

         It was no secret the animosity between wife and husband in their surprisingly long union. But to speak of it and claim it as the reason she would never be heir was gutsy, even for Zelmira. The implication that Contessa would be so vindictive to a child for who she looked like was a dangerous one.

         Surprisingly, Contessa said nothing, though. In fact, she looked suddenly contemplative. 

         “Sienna,” she said. The woman languidly looked towards her boss. 

         “Yes?”

         “You said before you’d heard Reborn was heading to Japan? Do you know what for and where?”

         Brows furrowed in confusion, Sienna thought back to what she’d heard from a lover. “The Vongola head sent him there for his heir, I think. It was Nani- no maybe Namimori. Why?” Sienna couldn’t fathom why the boss cared for the hitman. Sure, he was talented and famous across the mafia world. But the Vongola had a claim on him. A burning curiosity began in her, especially when Contessa smiled at this.

         “Timoteo’s heir? It seems he’s scrambling after the deaths of his sons. But that’s good news and the greatest of all coincidences,” she said. The guardians looked at each other. 

         “Donna, I’m sorry but I think you’ve lost us,” Amara said. 

         “Aurelia and the Palladinos are stationed in Namimori. Correct, Donna?” Gia asked, though it was less a question and more a showoff that she knew where their boss was heading with this. 

         “Yes, they are. Vittoria will be sent there immediately. I’ll send a message to Reborn to ask if he’d look out for her. Fiorentina, prepare everything she will need for the flight and in Japan. Gia, go and inform her and Carina to be ready within the hour. Zelmira and Lauretta, prepare a security detail for the trip. I want Zelmira to stay and brief the Palladinos and set up safety measures in Japan, but after, come back. The Palladinos are adept enough to handle most issues and know the protocols for those outside their purview. Until the threat is neutralized, she will continue her education there. Perhaps it will be good for her in the end.” Contessa rapidly issued her instructions. 

         “Why send her away? Won’t that put her in a vulnerable position?” Zelmira asked though she was already tapping away at her phone issuing her own directions to her underlings. 

         “Vittoria has never been seen in public. If a decoy stays here while she’s sent secretly away, it’ll keep whoever is targeting her off her back, hopefully until we can discover and destroy them.” Gia said. 

         “But why Japan? Surely not just because that hitman will be there?” Sierra asked. 

         “Obviously not. It’s a plus he’ll be there, but it’s more to do with the Palladinos. They’re easy to forget, but when Sienna brought up Aurelia, it reminded her they have some usefulness. Right, Donna?” Lauretta looked expectantly to Contessa, hoping for praise for her understanding of the boss’s mind. 

         “Reborn and I have some history, so I’m sure he’ll care for her even during his mission,” she said, but she looked distracted. Lauretta’s shoulders slumped at being ignored.

         Fiorentina stared at the head, an inkling that something was missing here but unsure what. She caught Gia’s eyes, the right-hand seemingly appraising her like she was appraising the boss. She inclined her head and stood. 

         “I will have everything settled within the hour, Donna.” Without another look at either, she left the room. The others took their leave quickly after until it was just Gia and Contessa. 

         “Will you not see her off?” Gia asked, though she was sure of her answer already. 

         “No need. I have some things to take care of and I trust you’ll explain it well enough. Try not to frighten her. Matter of fact don’t tell her why she’s going at all. Wouldn’t want her to worry over nothing,” she said and swept from the room. 

         “Yes, boss,” Gia said to the empty space.

#katekyo home tutor #katekyo hitman reborn #katekyo hitman reborn fanfiction #reborn! #original character #sawada tsunayoshi #reborn

[luki-fanfic]

Xanxus finally puts two and two together…

...And DONE!

Off, I can't believe this one shot turned three parter turned into this behemoth! Thank you everyone who has stuck by me all this time. I hope the ending was satisfactory for all of you who've been here since chapter one.

A thousand thank you's to BeyondMyReach for really helping me make this last chapter as good as it could be.

#The Tempest Temptation #Katekyo Hitman Reborn #KHR #Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction #KHR Fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic

[eternal-bruh]

Stato di Natura Series KHR

Our Thing

Complete, M-rated, 500k+

Summary:

Blood, Family, Honor. To be part of the Sicilian Mafia – of the Honored Society – that has written itself as maybe history's most famous one is a goal that has many aspiring criminals putting everything on the line to achieve it.

For the man who stands at the top, it is just about like any other Thursday – juggling his responsibility, his enemies and his allies is a tough feat when you also have to watch over the most powerful organization standing in the world's shadows.

The future writes a solid anthology of the Mafia's greatest attributes that culminates into a veritable collection of subversive feats which will, ultimately, find their target in only one person and one family.

The Vongola Decimo works hard, but the malicious madmen of this world work harder. Usually against the Vongola, of course.

And Sawada Tsunayoshi hates them all so much for it.

Blood Feud

Complete, E-rated, 200k+

Summary:

Freshly returned to his own time, Sawada Tsunayoshi finds himself unable to put off the large-scale conflict against the Drago famiglia anymore. Consequently, the ones who will play crucial roles in the upcoming months must be summoned, informed, and released back into the wild. Operation Civil War must be put into motion, the enemy must be thoroughly investigated, the Vongola famiglia's allies must be gathered, and the Sisters must fall. With such a long list keeping them busy, it's no wonder that they have their hands full, and yet the beginning comes off unexpectedly easy. Why? Because first -

First, the Vongola must fall.

More TBD!

#katekyo hitman reborn #khr #khr fanfic #khr reborn #vongola #fanfiction #fanfic #myfics #Katekyo hitman reborn fanfiction

[sleepy-enigma]

Critical Condition was recently completed :)

Wholesome fic about Lambo and Hibari’s brotherly relationship! Feel free to check it out!

Read on ao3, link in notes!

#katekyo hitman reborn #katekyo hitman reborn fanfiction #lambo bovino #hibari kyouya #khr fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 #fanfic #archive of our own #khr

[dreaming-hibi]

I’ve decided to come out of hiding and declare that, yes, I too love Katekyo Hitman Reborn! I’ve been on this boat since 2011, watched, read and roleplayed this manga to hell and back. Now, 13 years later, I’m still as desperately into KHR as I was back then but, unlike the me from so many years ago, I’ve decided I don’t care if there are other people on this boat and that I will be writing the KHR that I love regardless of whether I get attention for it or not.

Have a good day everyone!

#shameless confession #khr #katekyo hitman reborn #fanfiction

[kurumi-igarashi]

If you know this anime--- Sheesh.

#drawing #khr #khr tsuna #sawada tsunayoshi #tsuna #vongola #katekyo hitman reborn #katekyou hitman reborn fanfiction #reborn #hitman reborn #khr fanart

[ishomoogoo]

i remember reading a KHR fanfic called White Chocolate (i may be wrong) where tsuna possums his way both out of a situation, and into another one (full on stops his heart and lungs purposefully). i want to read danny doing that.

it'd make me chuckle

#fanfiction #danny fenton #danny phantom #sawada tsunayoshi #katekyo hitman reborn #fanfic prompt #hell #make it #dc x dp #too #for funsies

[mylifeisalieandididntknow]

Crossover idea of the day

John wick x KHR

Skull De Mort is John Wick reincarnated. He wanted a life of peace, of getting to be human and free in a way that he never has been. He takes the chance and joins the circus.

Looking the other way when he happens to see something that hints at the criminal empire.

He is dragged kicking and screaming into the world's strongest. The Arcobaleno, I Prescelti Sette and makes it everyone's problem. He refuses to be the world's greatest hit man. He chooses to be the world's greatest stuntman instead as the biggest f u to checkerface.

Death retired him dammit.

Anytime someone tries to get him to kill, he throws the biggest tantrum. He acts so childish anyone that knows him would cringe and shoot him dead.

Then someone tries to kill Oodako.

Que John Wick Rampage

#not into the shadow realm tumblr #it was a friend all along queue #fanfiction #up for grabs #fic ideas #john wick #khr #katekyo hitman reborn #skull de mort #khr skull #reincarnation au #crossover idea of the day

[ladyhallen]

A Lovely Morning

Harry had never given any thought to art.

She’d once or twice thought about the museum tours she’d had as a preschooler in the muggle world, and then the occasional painting she would pass with the thought of, “Wow, that’s really pretty.” She hadn’t thought about making art, with words or with images, until she saw Fon under the light of dawn.

Usually, she slept until Fon woke her with sweet kisses and coaxed her to sit down. He’d comb her hair and that, along with the gentle circles he’d press on her lower back, was enough to wake her up. It was more effective than coffee and a hell lot more effective than tea.

By some sorcery, she’d woken up a scant few minutes after Fon that day. He’d gone out to do his usual calisthenics, naked save for the pair of silk trousers and slipping on his cloth slippers. Harry had wanted to roll back to bed when she’d seen the absolute lack of sunlight, but something urged her to get up.

And by Merlin, was she glad she’d gotten up.

She hadn’t ever really thought of human bodies as beautiful. She could objectively say one person had nice arms or a pretty interesting eye color. But in a magical world where anything interesting was usually because they had an inhuman ancestor, she didn’t place much value in looks. She’d seen incredibly beautiful people and knew that the stories they had were more interesting than their faces.

While Fon’s face had drawn her in, she fell in love with his calm rationality and the way he could lay out an argument without shouting.

And while she and Fon had lain with each other for upwards to two months and she’d seen him naked in the hot springs more times than she can count, seeing him exercise was different.

There was an economy to his movements. It was clean and confident, nothing wasted as he moved his limbs and his body in twists and turns. Then he did a slow upward stroke that flexed his back muscles, making her tummy clench and Harry bit back a gasp. When he folded over, hugging his knees for five seconds, Harry clutched the doorway at the way it made his ass flex.

“Good morning, Harry,” he greeted her, flipping over on a handstand with his braided hair coiled around his neck. “This is a nice surprise.”

Morgana bless him and his intense focus. He didn’t notice that she was about to faint from her face going so red. Harry was so glad.

“Good morning,” she said, not at all strangled and sounding like a normal person. She checked for drool. “I have no idea what woke me.”

He then did a move that she knew, a downward dog that was just one hundred percent showing off right now. He wasn’t even sweating!

Harry wished, very fervently, that she knew how to write poetry. Or to draw. Poems should be written about the way the faintest light of dawn brushed across Fon’s muscles. Art should be drawn about that beautiful face closed in concentration, at the play of light and dark over his cheekbones. Instead, she was stuck admiring him with no way to immortalize the moment. Harry cursed her past self for thinking of art as boring.

Unwittingly, she whispered, “Full many a glorious morning have I seen,” A quiet whisper that should not be heard, except Fon had excellent hearing.

He fell out of his pose with a blush. “Harry!” he exclaimed, flustered.

This man. Harry had heard him say the dirtiest things. She’d shared a naked bath with him. She had done a lot of unspeakable things to him and with him. Fon was unfazed and coy, the teasing man.

But recite poetry and he blushed!

Harry had to laugh. “You should see dawn’s light touch you, Fon. It almost makes me jealous, the way it caresses you,” she mused, raking her eyes over his bare torso.

Fon rushed to kiss her, shutting her up.

But Harry realized, as she clutched at his shoulders when he carried her in his arms that yes, she can write poetry. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just heartfelt. Fon clearly appreciated it.

This was how sonnets were made, she mused, exchanging sweet kisses with him. Then he lay her down and Harry forgot to think of anything at all.

#fanfiction #harry potter #fon #female harry potter #genderbend #crossover #hpxkhr #katekyo hitman reborn #zombie apocalypse au #isekai #humor #romance

[writing-with-sophia]

hello!! how are you? hope you're doing well!! if requests are open, may i request a hibari headcanon? specifically a poetic s/o bombarding him with poems and affection on valentines day <33 (im a sucker for fluff xd)

Hibari Kyoya x Poetic S/O

Note: Hello anon! Thanks for requesting <3 Since you didn't specify the gender of the reader, I'll default to GN!reader.

It's been a long time since I watched Hitman Reborn, so if there are any mistakes please let me know!

Genre: fluff.

Hibari Kyoya x Poetic S/O

His first impression of you was that you were a loud and bold herbivore. You seemed unafraid of him, always appearing wherever he rested and bothering him with silly poems.

Yes, silly poems. He thinks they are like that.

Hibari doesn't care about poetry or literature, and he does not even know that today is Valentine's Day (to be honest, I'm afraid he doesn't know what Valentine's Day is).

So when you come to meet him and constantly bombard him with sweet and cheesy love poems, Hibari thinks you are trying to provoke him. And he will see it as a challenge.

At least until Kusakabe explains what Valentine's Day is to him.

"Love? Huh, how boring."

"But... Not bad."

Hibari was born into a traditional Japanese family and was educated in the best, including a taste for literature. He's just not interested in them, not ignorant of them.

Then, he forgives you, lets you go, and warns you not to bother him again.

After that day, you realized that Hibari seemed to pay more attention to you. Although you couldn't tell if that attention was good or bad, perhaps it will be a good start to your pursuit of him.

Good luck.

#creative writing #writing #writeblr #writerscommunity #writer things #anime headcanons #writers #writersociety #authors #hitman fanfiction #hitman reborn #khr x reader #hibari kyoya #khr hibari #khr fanfic #katekyo hitman reborn #one shot #poetic

[drowning-in-daiya]

Twisted Ties Chapter 2.5: Home Tutor Vittoria

Author's notes: Mentioned self-harm and child abuse.

After school the next day, Vittoria and Carina stared at the phone held between them, a sweatdrop on their foreheads. 

“This is…” Disbelief laced Carina’s words.

“Mm,” Vittoria agreed. 

The directions Aurelia had forwarded from Reborn didn’t include street names. Indeed, it hardly had any words on it being a map drawn with crayons. A large X marked their spot at the front gates of the school, the words ‘Start Here’ labeling it. Vittoria wondered if Reborn was playing with them, but quickly discarded the idea. As a respected hitman, surely, he wouldn’t resort to silly pranks. 

He is a child though…perhaps a colorful map is more in line with his inclinations… she thought, still finding it hard to wrap her head around a baby being a famed hitman. 

“Well, let’s head out. We shouldn’t be late,” she said. 

“Yes, princess!” Carina loudly said. “But, I wonder why didn’t go home with him? Why follow map?” 

The two took a right turn and Vittoria thought on this. It was a good question, something she hadn’t stopped to ponder herself. 

“I’m not sure…” she admitted after another few minutes of walking. No matter which way she thought about it, she could see no reason to not offer meeting at school and walking together. It would have made things much simpler. 

She looked down at the phone and realized she hadn’t kept tabs on when and where they’d been turning. Her heart thudded as she looked around at the unfamiliar environment. The lack of labeled streets on Reborn’s map made it impossible to figure out where they were and which direction they should head in next. She came to a stop at a crossroad. There were a few drawn on the map, but she couldn’t tell if this was one they turned at or continued straight. An uncomfortable, fluttery sensation settled behind her ribs. 

“Princess?” Carina turned and looked from where she’d continued forward when she realized Vittoria was no longer by her side. She looked up from the phone hoping she wasn’t displaying the panic she felt. 

“I was just checking the map. I believe we should turn left here,” she said. Carina looked doubtful for a second, brow creased as she glanced back at the direction she’d been heading. When she turned back, though, an agreeing smile was in place. 

“As you say, princess!” 

And so, the two continued like that for a time, taking the turns Vittoria suggested. She thought she saw a house they’d passed fifteen minutes ago and felt her panic ratchet up. 

“Princess, much further?” Carina asked after they’d walked another ten minutes. Vittoria looked at the phone again. She was taken aback to see her hands trembling. 

“Princess??” Carina had seen them too and reached out as if to take them into her own. She caught herself and her hand stopped short, dropping after a moment. “What matter?” she said instead. 

“I– it’s nothing. I just needed to double check the map again but we’re still good–” she looked up into her friend’s pale green eyes. The concern she saw on Carina’s face drew her words to a halt. Where she’d expected doubt, maybe even judgment, for she knew Carina had to be aware they’d been walking in circles at this point, there was nothing but worry for her there. Shame coursed through her. But alongside that came some determination to admit her folly.

After all, what kind of leader would she be if she couldn’t admit she was wrong? In the last few days, she’d encountered numerous situations where she realized she had misguided ideas about how the world worked. This was no different, she reasoned. 

You can’t grow if you don’t allow for mistakes.

Not something her mother had told her, but the words of her sister from last night when she’d confided her worries to her floated through her mind. The warm embrace that accompanied her statement was reassuring and something Vittoria had rarely experienced so far in life, and never from her mother. 

“We’re lost,” she said simply. Carina cocked her head and then looked around. 

“Ah why say that?” she asked, confusion written plainly on her face.

“Because I lost track of where we were going a while ago. I didn’t want to worry you by saying so, but that’s just made a bigger mess of it.”

“I wouldn’t have been worried. If princess is by me, nothing to worry about! Unless it’s about princess,” Carina said with a confident smile and her closed fist slightly raised.  

“We’re lost in a foreign country, Carina. We’ve never walked these streets and don’t know where we are. That street name over there means nothing to us,” she said a little frustrated by the other’s optimism.

“We could call Aurelia or Vivianna or Mr. Palladino and tell them street we’re on. They know how find us!” Carina countered, notably leaving out Alessia in her list of reliable people. Vittoria paused. She hadn’t considered doing that. She was embarrassed by this oversight.

 “But even so, we’re late now and we’d still have to wait for them to fetch us and then take us to his house. I don’t even have Reborn’s number to tell him what happened.” 

“That’s okay. I can get us back,” Carina said proudly.

…….

“What??” Vittoria exclaimed.

“I know how get back to right place. And I know map, so I can get us there,” she elaborated.

“Why didn’t you say anything?!” Frustration burst across her face.

“I-I trusting princess to know! I’m sorry,” Carina said meekly, shoulders scrunching in.

“Why would you just trust me to know?” Vittoria was baffled by the complete trust Carina had in her. She knew her friend was loyal, but considering they were both new to this land, wouldn’t one voice some concern at some point?

“Because princess is heir of Bellincioni, and is so smart and is good leader, so I trust you!”

“You shouldn’t! I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m not ready to be a leader at all. I’m no good, Carina. I still have so much to learn and just keep uncovering more and more every day. It feels impossible that I’ll ever be ready to lead the Bellincioni at this rate. Since coming to Japan, I’ve realized how much I lack, and I hate this feeling!” By the end of her outburst, Vittoria felt close to tears. She dug her nails into her palms. The pressure wasn’t the same as the riding crop mother used to correct her emotional control, but the pain was enough to pull her back to normal. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let my anger take hold of me like that. It was irresponsible and–“ 

“Did princess have such feelings while I didn’t know?” Tears ran freely down Carina’s face. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your friend and guardian. I don’t want you to suffer in silence,” she said. 

“A leader shouldn’t burden those she leads with unnecessary emotional baggage.” This was in the top ten rules her mother had engraved in Vittoria’s mind from the moment she could understand language. 

“That’s stupid,” Carina mumbled, glaring at the ground between their feet.

“What?” Shock pulsed through Vittoria. Carina had never said something contradictory like that. 

“I’m sorry princess, but that’s such a stupid way of thinking. I don’t care if your mother said it or not. A leader can’t take on every burden or eventually they’ll be crushed under its weight. Even more, a friend shouldn’t keep what they’re feeling from the people that care about them. We’re supposed to share each other’s worries and support one another, not keep it all bottled up. Unless,” she clenched and unclenched her jaw like she was chewing on her next words, “princess doesn’t consider me a friend? If that’s it, I understand. I won’t beg you to come to me every time you feel bad. But as a future guardian of the Bellincioni, please rely on me more for your concerns about family business.”

It pained Vittoria to see Carina doubting their friendship. “You are my friend. You were my first and closest confidant. I was excited when you came to us. Even in the beginning when you held yourself away from me I–”stark realization hit her as she remembered that time Carina had just arrived.

She didn’t know her circumstances, but it was obvious she had gone through something to close her off to everyone. She was emotionless and silent, like a doll with an empty, faraway gaze. It took a long time and insistence from Vittoria and Zelmira to open her up. Vittoria saw now she had been holding herself back like Carina had all those years ago.

 “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. Carina’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry I made you feel like I don’t consider you a friend. I have not been a very good one to you, lately. But I still cannot lean on you for every emotional disturbance I go through. A leader must rely on themselves first and foremost.”

“No princess that’s not–ouch!” rubbing the back of her head, Carina looked down and saw a Yen coin at their feet. 

“Speak Japanese.” Reborn’s head popped from a bush, and when he walked towards them it moved with him. 

What is he wearing?!? They both thought.

“Carina’s right, Vittoria. Leadership doesn’t mean facing everything alone. That’s why mafia leaders have their right-hands and their guardians. Without them, a family would crumble under the rule of one person without trusted confidants and advisors.” 

“But mother–”

“Still has her guardians and uses them. Despite whatever she told you, Contessa is not so arrogant to think she can rule alone. Even if it’s not all of them, there is at least one person she turns to,” he said. Suspicion gnawed at the back of her mind at his words.

“What is my mother’s relationship to you for you to make claims like you know her intimately? If you cannot answer me this, I can’t trust you to know what you’re speaking of,” she said.

He paused and considered her for a moment. “We share a history, but there isn’t anything you need to know deeply about it other than, if you asked her about it, she wouldn’t deny it,” he finally answered.

His assuredness and confidence stumped her, and she knew deep down he was telling the truth despite his black eyes showing no sign of feelings any which way about what he said. She sighed and decided she wouldn’t push for right now.  

 “Fine, I’ll take your word. I will consider what we’ve discussed later,” she capitulated to them sensing she was outnumbered. “But Carina,” she turned to her, “You also shouldn’t have just gone along with whatever I said. As we’ve seen, I can be wrong. I need someone who can tell me when I am,” she said.

“Exactly. Leaders who only have yes men surrounding them are doomed to meet their downfall one day without someone willing to lead them from the edge,” Reborn said, an air of solemnity surrounding him. 

“R-right! From now on, princess wrong, I will say so.”

“Good. You can give your opinions freely to me. I won’t think you less for them.” Vittoria smiled softly. Carina stared wide-eyed, a light pink dusting her high cheekbones.

It’s like a flower just bloomed!! She thought. 

“Now, would you like me to take you to Tsuna’s house?” Reborn asked. The two girls nodded vigorously. 

A short five-minute walk led them to a two-story house. Vittoria stared at it, intrigued by the simplistic design like the others she’d seen in the neighborhoods here.

It’s so small, not even as big as the garden back home, she thought. Even the Palladino’s home, much smaller in scale compared to the Bellincioni house, still covered a large expanse of land and did not have neighbors just on the other side of a fence. It was…different. 

Reborn led them inside and up the stairs after they removed their shoes at the doorway. When he cracked the door of a room open, a young teen boy’s voice trailed out, a whine apparent in it. 

“Where’d you go Reborn? I’ve tried answering the questions you left but I couldn’t understand half of what I read–” he cut off when he caught sight of the two girls in his doorway. A beat of silence and then two faces flushed cherry red. Vittoria backed away into the wall, hand covering the bottom part of her face while Tsuna turned to reborn and yelled at him about bringing strangers, especially girls, up to his room. 

“Are you okay, princess?” Carina asked. She’d never seen such a strong reaction and was completely thrown. “You know him?” she asked. Vittoria shook her head sharply. 

“Of course not,” she said vehemently. “I-I just didn’t expect us to meet in his room. It’s improper even with others around. I cannot step foot in there,” she said. She could feel the heat suffusing her face as she looked at the small space, discarded clothes and books strewn about on the floor, bed a haphazard mess of sheet and comforter, snacks littering the small table the boy’s work laid on. Her gaze landed on him again, and she studied his appearance. He was a small thing, hardly any muscle on him. Though he was sitting, he looked to be shorter than her. Most noticeable about him was his  wild mass of hair and large eyes, both a light brown. He was looking at her just as shocked. A fresh wave of heat flooded her head and she felt lightheaded for a moment. 

If mother knew I’d come close to being in the room of a boy, I’d be in for a world of pain.

“Is there anywhere else we can go?” she finally asked after somewhat pulling herself together. She schooled her features into a carefully blank look and addressed Reborn who’d changed into a pajama set at some point. 

“You two figure it out. I’m taking a nap,” he said from the bed. Immediately after a large snot bubble blew from his nose. The three teens stared in disbelief, then turned and looked at one another again. Strangely, every time their gazes met, she felt a fluttery feeling in her chest, different from earlier yet also similar in a way. She didn’t know what it was, but she wanted it to stop. 

She looked away and cleared her throat. “Well?” 

“Yes?!” he exclaimed. “Ah, right a place to study?” he said in a questioning tone. It seemed Reborn had not informed his charge the purpose of her visit. Vaguely she wondered if his omission and their needing to come separately to his house had been on purpose to shock the two of them…

“Reborn has asked me to be your speaking partner for Italian,” she said in answer to his unasked question. 

“O-oh, really? He didn’t tell me.” He threw a glare over his shoulder at the napping toddler. Then he gave a nervous smile when he turned back. “In that case, we can go downstairs and practice in the living room,” he said and stood. She took in his casual clothes and the way she could tell he was indeed shorter than her, the knowledge of which did something to her stomach, and turned away quickly. It was one thing to see the boys at school in their uniforms. It was a public place, and they were all wearing the same thing. But to see one in such an intimate space wearing unique apparel…it made her shudder. 

They followed him downstairs. When he sat at one end of the couch, she sat on the complete opposite, side pressed into the arm of the sofa like she wanted to sink into it. Carina looked between the two of them considering whether to sit in the middle or not. In the end she decided to plop on the floor. 

“What are you doing Carina? Sit on the couch,” Vittoria said panicked.

“I’m good here! You two conversation partners, I shouldn’t sit between,” she said with a wide grin. Vittoria thought maybe there was a hint of slyness in it…no of course not. 

“You can sit between us. It’s okay,” she insisted. 

“I’m good,” she repeated.

Vittoria regretted their earlier conversation and the newfound freedom Carina had in opposing her right that second. It couldn’t have come a few hours later?? 

Tsuna watched the two of them talk, head moving back and forth like at a tennis match. 

“Are you two foreigners?” he asked as the two stared each other down.

“Yes! Just came from Italy,” Carina said excitedly. 

“Italy? Where Reborn’s from?” 

“Yes, we are from the Bellincioni family. I am Vittoria Bellincioni, daughter of Contessa Bellincioni and heir apparent. This is my guardian Carina,” Vittoria said.

“Nice to meet ya,” Carina added.

“The Bellincioni? Reborn hasn’t told me about other families,” he said with a look of wonder. 

“Bellincioni one of top families! Us and Vongola allies, so we’ll help you out from now on,” Carina said.

He seemed to relax the longer they talked, smiling more naturally. Vittoria couldn’t though and wanted to get on with it so they could leave sooner. 

“Anyways, we should begin talking in Italian. I’ll come by every day and speak with you for an hour. How long have you been learning so I know what level I should adjust to?” she asked. 

He fidgeted in his seat. “Um, about a week?” 

“A week??” she said. What does Reborn want me to do with someone who’s only just begun learning? What could we even talk about?!

“Well Reborn just came here. Here’s my workbook,” he said and handed her a beginning level Italian workbook. Only the first few lessons were complete, written in a scrawling hand. It wasn’t a lot, but she relaxed some and thought they could manage something with this. 

“Hello. My name is Vittoria Bellincioni.” She decided introductions were a good place to start and ease into a conversation.

“I’m Tsunayoshi Sawada,” he replied. 

“How are you today?”

“I’m okay, and you?” 

“I’m fine. What did you do today?”

Here, he lost some steam and stuttered through a jilted account of his morning and time at school. She nodded along and kept eye contact to encourage him and show her patience while she listened, however she thought he seemed to become more nervous. She looked back at his workbook and saw his most recent lesson was on hobbies. She found she was interested in how he would answer.

“What do you like to do for fun?” She asked slower than she’d been speaking. Since it was from the latest lesson, she wanted to make sure he could understand what she asked. 

He perked up at this. Ah, seems the question was also interesting for him, she thought. It appeared he’d also practiced this answer quite often as his pronunciation was the best yet.

“I love playing video games!” he said enthusiastically. Vittoria’s brows creased.

“Video games? What is that?” He looked at her confused too wondering if he’d said it wrong. He repeated it back slowly but was sure he said it right. When he’d asked Reborn the words for one of his favorite hobbies, he’d paid close attention to the pronunciation. 

“A video game is something you play on the tv princess,” Carina said switching to Italian to explain smoothly. She quickly looked around for Reborn prepared for a flying projectile to hit her. When the baby was nowhere to be seen, she relaxed again.

“You know what a video game is?” Vittoria asked.

“Yeah! I’ve heard people talk about them before,” she said.

“I do not think I’ve ever heard of such a thing. Odd.” Vittoria mumbled.Tsuna watched their rapid exchange with an amazed look reminiscent of the kids from school when Carina slipped into Italian. 

“Do you have a video game here?” she asked him.

“Eh? Oh, yeah, I do. Do you want to see?” he asked.

“Yes, I’d like to know what I’ve been missing out on,” she said.

“Princess and I just got phones when got here, never seen video game before,” Carina added. It had been a shock to see the devices with so much information and content on them. Vittoria was still unsure how to do most things on it besides sending a message and taking calls. She had to admit she was upset when she found her mother kept an interesting device like it and the computers the others had from her.

“Really? What did you do for fun?” Tsuna asked.

“Most of the day was spent with the tutors, but when we had breaks, we’d go out into the garden to drink tea or search for unique bugs and snakes, maybe take a walk around…” Carina and Tsuna shuddered at the mention of bugs and snakes. Then his brows creased.

“That’s it? You didn’t even go out?” He couldn’t imagine living a life without video games or TV.

“Yes, there wasn’t much to do in the castle but assignments, training, or spending time in the garden. And we never left the castle.” He looked stricken and hopped up. 

“Come on! I’ll show you my favorite games. Since you’re helping me with Italian, I’ll teach you how to play,” he said.

He led them over to the stairs, but she stopped as he continued up.

“Is the video game in your room?” she asked haltingly.

“Yeah, it is,” he said. She stared at the bottom step, considering. She really wanted to know about it, but she couldn’t fathom entering his room. Tsuna looked back at her, and then slapped a hand to his forehead. 

“Oh yeah! Wait there, I’ll bring it out and set it up down here,” he said and rushed off.

“Is it not something large?” She asked Carina. She couldn’t imagine such a small boy carrying something so heavy downstairs, and the image of him tumbling down from a misstep made her heart constrict. She considered going up and sacrificing her honor to step in his room so she could help him. A few seconds wouldn’t hurt anything, she thought.

“Don’t know,” Carina said, interrupting her thoughts.

Before she decided to go up, he came back holding a small box with wires sticking out and controllers dangling from it. They watched him plug in the cords and then turn the television on. A start screen with characters facing off against each other appeared. He handed a remote to Vittoria who had to sit closer to him to reach lest she pull it out of the machine. She sat ramrod straight, muscles tensed. She swore she could feel his body heat across the cushion that separated them.

“Move that button and the cursor will move. Yeah, like that! You can press the x to select a character. If you want to look at their stats, press this one here,” he rambled off instructions quickly. Between their proximity and how he sometimes leaned even closer to point at the buttons to show her what he was talking about, Vittoria could hardly understand his rapid-fire explanations. In the end she chose whichever character looked strongest, a large man with bulging muscles and a fierce scowl set on his face. He even carried a large mace that looked impressive even in its pixelated form. 

Tsuna laughed to himself a bit and she turned to him, brows raised.

“What?” she questioned.

“Nothing, nothing. Let’s play!” And with that he pressed ‘start match’.

In the beginning he told her the basics for punching, kicking, blocking, and a few special moves that required only a few buttons pressed in a specific order. But as the game really got going, she found herself spamming any button she could touch. Moves flew out one after the other, some landing while others were blocked by Tsuna’s expert handling of his own character. The characters on screen let out grunts and triumphant calls and Vittoria found herself making small noises as well. Her eyes were wide, scared to miss a single second of the match. Eventually her health bar depleted completely, and the game was over. She found herself flushed again, a buzzing energy coursing through her. 

“What was that??” she asked turning to him.

“That was a near perfect victory,” he said laughing. She thought such an expression suited him more than the nervous one he’d worn when they first met and fought her own that threatened to mirror his.

That wasn’t what she meant by her question, but she found herself caring more about what he’d said.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“It means I won with almost no damage. If you hadn’t landed a single hit, it would’ve been a perfect victory. It feels so good to get one of those,” he said sighing wistfully. 

“Why were you so strong? Your character looks much weaker than mine.”

“Well, it’s all about how you use them. Every character has their strengths and weaknesses and special combos that deliver higher damage compared to regular kicking and punching. Not to say you can’t take someone down with just that! There’re all sorts of strategies you can use which is what makes it so much fun. No game is the same.”

“I see,” she said staring at the screen in amazement. Her mother had never told her such a fun thing existed. I wonder what else she hasn’t told me. The thought flit past and guilt immediately filled her. No, there must be a reason she didn’t tell her. Perhaps it would’ve been counterintuitive to her studies and that’s why. Yes, she could see that since reborn said Tsuna was terrible school. It must be because of the game. Still…she couldn’t deny the appeal of it.

“Also, the character you picked isn’t really beginner friendly. He’s big, so he moves a lot slower than other characters, and it’s hard to get in hits and move away quickly when your opponent counters,” he continued.

Forgetting her thoughts from before, she perked up with curiosity. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean it’s sorta like real life. If you’re big and muscly like that you’re probably not as fast as someone else, or something like that, I think. I-I’m not sure, actually. I could be completely wrong–“he began to doubt himself, hand coming up to ruffle through his hair.

“No, you’re right! That does make sense given physics. A larger object in motion is harder to stop or change its trajectory. It takes greater force to do so, thus making movements slower. A smaller object, or in this case person, can make faster adjustments,” she said. Red creeped across his cheeks, and he smiled self-consciously.

“Really?” he asked, a little shocked he’d said something right like that. Vittoria hardly paid attention to him, too busy studying each of the characters and their stats.

“So interesting to implement real world circumstances in something fake,” she muttered to herself. Tsuna felt something like pride well up in him at the fact he’d shared something he enjoyed with a girl and he she was so interested in it. In his living room. While they’re alone. A raging blush painted his face, now, and he whipped his head away from where he’d been staring at the side of her face. He met eyes with the other girl who’d also been studying Vittoria. She smiled and turned back to watching her friend.

Right. They’re not alone. The fact made him relax a little, but not by much.

The two continued talking about the world of video gaming, and Tsuna pulled more games out to show Vittoria. Carina tried them out too, but found she preferred watching the two interact (also fighting in game paled to fighting in real life, so she lost interest quickly). She’d never seen her so animated. Apart from her tearful meeting with her sister, Vittoria had been careful to maintain her emotional balance. But now, though not too different from before, there was a clear difference and an obvious interest shining in her eyes as she and Tsuna played against each other. 

“They look good together, don’t you think?” Reborn said at her elbow. She was surprised to hear his smooth Italian, especially after his insistence she speak Japanese. She figured if he was speaking it, it should be ok for her as well.

“Ah? Together?” she questioned. 

“Never mind it. It seems they can learn a lot from each other,” he said.

“Yes, she’s never shown so much interest in something before. Granted she never got the chance to be,” she said bitterly.

Reborn looked up at the girl and took in her lowered brows and curled mouth.

“Contessa wasn’t good to you?”  he asked in a low voice. She startled and shook her hands and head back and forth.

 “I didn’t say that! She…She gave me a house, a bed, warm food, good clothes, tutors to teach me when I didn’t know anything. It’s only because of her I can stand by Vittoria’s side as a near equal. It’s just…I didn’t grow up with access to much of anything, but she’s had even less it feels like sometimes. How does it make sense an heir to a powerful family doesn’t even know what video games are? Or who the world’s most famous hitman is? It’s just a little…” she trailed off and bit her lip, afraid she’d said too much.

Reborn hadn’t expected this girl, who seemed to blindly follow the Bellincioni like a loyal lapdog, to express such contrary feelings. It was obvious they hadn’t just appeared with today’s happenings either. Reborn felt there was something odd running through this family, but he’d dropped his ties with them long ago. It wasn’t his place to interfere. The best he could do is repay his favor by looking after the children of the woman he…

He forced those thoughts away and looked back to the two teens now huddled together on the couch. Their eyes were focused on the tv, fingers flying over buttons and toggling joysticks. Though he’d asked her over to be a language partner because she seemed laced tighter than how a tight lacer laced their corset in the 19th century, she’d somehow ended up playing video games…He considered interrupting them, but the picture in front of him was heartwarming in a way the hitman hadn't felt in a long time, and he couldn’t bring himself to.  

Just for today won’t hurt anyone, he thought. 

Chapter endnotes: 

Later that night

“And so you guys were just walking around Namimori without a clue where you were??” Aurelia said, mouth hung open in disbelief. Alessia threw her head back in laughter, clutching her stomach. 

“Hahahah not only does your Japanese suck, so does your sense of direction! Hahahaha!” 

“Not mine, princess’s! I knew where we at whole time!” Vittoria’s face darkened. 

“Hey…don’t you think you’re being a little too honest today?” she said. 

“Sorry princess!”

“Ahahaha oof-” an elbow found its way into Alessia’s stomach. 

“Why didn’t you use the maps on your phone?” Vivianna asked, brows scrunched in confusion. 

“…”

“…”

“You do know there’s a maps app? Right??”

“……”

“......”

“Ahahahaha!!!”

#katekyo hitman reborn #katekyo hitman reborn fanfiction #reborn #sawada tsunayoshi #khr #katekyo home tutor

[luki-fanfic]

Everything comes to a head…

---

Pokes her head out of the ether to shove an offering to the fandom gods and quickly vanishes again.

#The Tempest Temptation #Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction #KHR fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #Katekyo Hitman Reborn #KHR

[leftnotright]

A TEXTBOOK EDUCATION

"This will be a skill-building experience. You've had it too easy. You've had your Family name to back you, and your Right Hand at your every call. It's time you learn to carry yourself, to build from the ground up." Dino Cavallone, the Cavallone Don, fresh out of high school.

Reborn, the deadliest hitman of the modern era, has a special kind of torture up his sleeve for his dear struggling student. Dino will have to see how well he handles alienation, isolation, and worst of all, class participation. “Now, go on, my useless student Dino. Let’s continue your education.” (Or: Reborn sends Dino to Australia. It goes better than he could have ever hoped.)

Parings: N/A Characters: Dino (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Vic Hunt (OC - Original Character), Reborn (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Romario (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Cavallone Famiglia, Enzo (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Original Characters Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, University, Pre-Canon, Financial Issues, Fluff And Angst

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

CHAPTER 6: I'VE ALREADY HID THE BODY

Dino patted his face dry gingerly, looking every bit the drowned rat he felt like. 

Hot water had all but reignited the powder the man had thrown at him, and as soon as Dino had stepped into what he had hoped to be a relaxing, warm shower, he had immediately regretted it. So, Dino had subjected himself to a speedrun of a freezing shower to get as much of the powder, old water and soil off of him.

The soil had been the hardest. It had been in every one of his sweaty nooks and crannies. 

Dino had only dug a grave himself once before. He hoped he remembered all the steps.

Dino continued to pat his red, blotchy face as he slumped into some clothes and, finally, looked at the state of his dorm. 

Powdery handprints, footsteps and drag marks covered the place. There was water on his papers and soaking both his textbooks and carpet, and so many things had been knocked over and pulled down in the fight. It was going to take forever to clean.

Dino sighed and looked at the clock, already 11PM. At least he didn’t have class tomorrow. 

He moved to the coffee table and gently pulled at his papers. Thankfully, none of the Mafia-related ones were damp, but Dino was going to have to reprint that spreadsheet handed out at his last tutorial. He packed away the sensitive documents in their hidden cubbyhole.  

Enzo plodded out from Dino’s bedroom, finally deciding to leave his sunlamp and sand bath. 

“Some help you were,” Dino pouted.

Enzo peered up at him with beady eyes, then made a b-line for the water spill. 

“Hey! Hey! No!” Dino shouted and scooped up the turtle who continued to wiggle his legs in his insatiable water-lust.

Then Dino froze and listened.

The crunch of boots against pavement and leaves. The rustle of fabric against skin. The jangle of metal. Laboured breaths and a sigh through clenched teeth. The knock of knuckles against a door.

Dino blinked. Knocking?

Carefully, Dino peered through the slits of his blinds and spotted the figure at his door. Their head snapped around.

“Dino! Show me the baby damn it!”

Dino sputtered. What was Vic doing here at 11PM!?

“Let me see the little babyman!” Vic whined again.

Dino didn’t know if it was his anxiety-induced people pleasing, or the fact that Dino all but had a death grip on the knowledge that Vic was his friend who liked Dino and his company, but before he could think, Dino’s mouth had happily said: “Of course!”

Then Dino choked and shouted, “No!”  

But Vic had already marched through his door. 

Dino looked at Vic, then at the state of his dorm, then back at the frightening still girl. 

Slowly, Dino extended Enzo towards Vic and said in a small voice, “Do you want to hold the baby?”

Vic turned her head to look at Dino, and Dino saw the moment her temper snapped.

“What the fuck happened!?”

Dino’s face must have been worse than he thought, because the moment Vic laid eyes on him, she lost her head. Vic crossed the room in long, heavy strides and grabbed him by the head so she could see the chapped, red skin. His eyes were bloodshot and swollen, his nose was crusty and peeling, and Dino was still damp.

Vic looked upon Dino and the state of his dorm, and it all pieced together. Vic could hear that familiar rumble in her ears, and the pressure in her throat — but as she moved Dino’s head to see if there was any more damage to him, she saw a tear track down his cheek and Vic did everything she could to stomp down that anger. 

The pressure eased, but that rumble remained, a constant background noise that made it hard for her to hear, to think. Vic gritted her teeth and bore it.

Her baby boy Dino had just been robbed, and possibly attacked! He had been alone and crying, for who knew how long — and of course this had to happen on a night when there were two house parties going on, so no one was aware of the world, or too piss drunk to care.

“Are you okay?” She asked, and let go of Dino’s head, circling around Dino and nudging at his body.

Dino flinched with a sharp hiss when Vic prodded his shoulder and he quickly spun around, “I’m fine! Promise! No lies!”

“Yes lies,” Vic snapped and poked him in the shoulder again, “How the fuck did you get hurt? Did they jump you? Where are they, I’m gonna beat their ass—”

“No, no, no,” Dino rambled and grabbed Vic by her arm to redirect her deeper into the dorm, kicking his door shut behind them. “Far away, they are far away now. They will not come back, I am sure.”

They paused as something crunched under Vic’s foot, and they both looked down to see shattered glass underneath her boots. Vic looked at Dino over her shoulder with eyes sharp enough to cut, and Dino continued to push her over to the dining table.

He thinned his lips when he saw the state of the back porch door, the way the hitman had entered. 

“Your fucking deck door is smashed—”

“It can be replaced—”

“Dino!” Vic shouted, sounding appalled and she spun around to grab Dino back. “Why are you so calm about this!?”

“It is over,” Dino said slowly, and let her grip him by the forearms, her nails digging in and grip so tight she was shaking. “It is over.”

Vic was not calm at the moment, but Dino could see she was trying. Trying so hard to keep it together, but she was slipping constantly. Everything she saw was something to set off the tripwire in her brain — Dino knew that feeling well.

Then Vic stared at him, her nails still biting his skin, and she uttered, “You’re used to this.”

 Dino winced but nodded and gave what he hoped was a comforting smile, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m used to this. It is not the first time.”

Vic swallowed hard and squeezed Dino’s arms again. She wasn’t satisfied. But her anger had gone quiet, a rolling boil just under her skin that she could keep a careful lid on.

“Okay, fine,” she said, taking slow, deep breaths through her teeth. Her voice was low, like she was trying not to wake what was left. “Fine. We’ll— for a few hours— we’ll act like this is fine.”

“For a few hours,” Dino agreed but didn’t pull away.

Vic puffed out a sigh, “But are you okay? Like, actually. Other than your shoulder, I mean.”

“Yes, I am well,” he assured, and she gave him a short look. “I promise.”

“...Okay. Okay, that’s good,” she relented, and then looked at the state of Dino’s dormhouse. “Fuck, they made a mess.”

“Yeah, it will take a while to clean up.”

Vic let go of Dino’s arms and rubbed her face, before she clapped her hands loudly. 

“Let’s get cracking, then,” she said, and set into the mess.

Dino blinked at Vic, then put Enzo down and rushed to join her. He brought over a dustpan from under the sink and swept up the spilt pot soil as Vic picked up the shattered plastic terracotta bits with her gloves.

Dino looked over at Vic and took in what she was wearing: beige, steel-capped boots, jeans and a red polo shirt. She had a bulky carabiner clipped to her belt, cluttered with an arrangement of keys, glove clips and some kind of yellow tool with small blades. 

“Where were you?” Dino asked, looking her over and Vic paused dropping those shards in the dustpan.

“Work,” she answered, “I do the closing shift on Friday.”

Dino blinked slowly, “Oh. That is all work items?”

Vic looked down at her carabiner and bounced in her squat to make it give a little jangle, “Yeah. Locker key, mover key, bat knife, mini measuring tape. Other ring is car and the dorm key though.”

“You came from work then?” Dino asked as he pulled over his kitchen bin to dump everything.

Vic stared at the limp, blackened succulent on the floor and tossed it in the trash as well. She rose from the floor with a groan and punched at her lower back as she moved over to the next mess.

“Yeah. Wanted to see Enzo. And you too, I guess, you’re here.”

“Thanks,” Dino said flatly, and heard Vic snicker as she inspected the handprints on the walls and floor. “But it is so late, why did you come now?”

Vic glanced at Dino before she shifted on the spot, and carefully touched the powder with her gloved finger, trying to see if it would wipe off easily.

“Had a bit of a shit shift, is all,” she said.

Vic moved to the dustpan and beat off any remaining soil, before she moved to the walls.

“I, uh, I will do that,” Dino insisted and dashed over to take the brush from her hands. He had felt what that powder was like, and he didn’t want Vic getting any of that in her eyes or lungs. “I do not know what the powder is.”

Vic’s frown returned with a vengeance and the grinding of teeth. She turned on her heel and opened the front door and every available window, channelling her temper into fighting with the stubborn bathroom windows.

Dino smiled at Vic as she started scooping up the back porch door’s glass while muttering under her breath. He pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth before he started brushing that capcaissum-like dust off the walls. 

By the time they were done, it was well past midnight, and Dino had a lot of laundry to do come the morning after stripping his bed and couch of their covers. Vic had managed to use trash bags and a mini stapler to wrap Dino’s porch - deck - door and keep out the bugs.

Dino came inside from putting out the bins and locked the flyscreen door to the front, still airing out that powder. He stopped when he saw Vic standing in his, thankfully untouched, kitchen. 

“They stole your food too!?” 

She opened one cabinet after another, nary a scrap or packet in sight. All that was there were plates and haphazardly stacked pots. Dino blinked slowly, the clock blurry in the corner of his vision.

“I suppose?” He said, “I did not have much food. Cooking is not strong.”

Vic looked at him, “How much is not much.”

Dino thinned his lips. Vic continued to stare at him. 

“...I did not have any stored there.”

“Dino,” she said shortly, then she pinched her brow and looked around, “Then where do you store your stuff?”

Dino moved to the fridge and opened it. Kebabs and various pastas from the student Ubar took up the top shelf, a jug of water and a half-drunk Pepsi in the door. There was nothing else. 

Vic looked at him.

“I am one man,” he reasoned in response to that flat stare.

Vic thought about it for a moment, before nodding in her head in defeat, “Okay, fair.” 

Then Vic went about looking at those cabinets again, all hauntingly empty. She seemed to count them, then count the five shelves in the fridge, with only one in use. Ample storage, far too much for ‘one man’ with little to no guests. Dino watched as she sized up the space, wondering what was going on.

“Have you had dinner yet?” Vic asked, looking over her shoulder. 

“No,” Dino admitted slowly, “I have not had time.”

He had been too nervous to eat before the meeting, save that cookie Vic had given him, and too busy afterwards. His usual shop in the Ubar for a hot meal would be long closed by now — besides, Dino rarely had an appetite after handling a corpse. 

Dino suddenly wondered if his lightheadedness was from that powder, or over 12 hours without a proper meal. He needed to eat soon.

“Proposal!” Vic announced and Dino snapped to attention just as a cup of cool water was shoved into his hands. “You lemme store my foodstuffs in your capacious cupboards, and I’ll help you learn to cook! Life skills, My Little Pony, life skills!”

“But, you have a kitchen in your dormhouse? Do you not use it?”

Vic’s smile twitched and became the baring of teeth. 

“I would, but roommates,” she said, voice strained. “They kept using my stuff without asking, and they didn’t even replace it!” Vic took a large breath and crossed her arms, “I just keep everything in eskies now.”

Dino blinked. He remembered those three coolers stacked up on top of each other in the corner of Vic’s bedroom. Vic was hoarding her food in her room to protect it.

Dino sipped at his water and glanced at his storage. More than one man, one university student, could fill. Again, Dino’s anxious need to please reared its head. The idea of Vic, his friend, having to all but resource guard in her own dormhouse only fanned those flames. Dino fought it as best he could.

“Yeah!”

Which wasn’t much. At all. But he tried!

Then Dino remembered what was shoved into his underwear drawer, and what was coiled up in his back pocket. What was stored away in a cubby hole, what was cooling deep in the dirt outside. Mafia shit. 

“But, uh, please be careful of my items,” he pressed, imagining the chaos of Vic finding any of his files.

“Of course,” Vic nodded, not an inch of humour or sarcasm in her tone. “Your dorm, your stuff. I won’t touch anything unless I have the go from you.”

Dino relaxed a bit. 

“Anyway, gimme a sec and I’ll grab us some dinner. Be right back!” And Vic was out the door with the vicious jangle of her keys.

Dino resisted the urge to rub his face lest he irritate his still-red skin, and instead went about fitting the sheets back onto his bed so he had somewhere to sleep all of this off. 

Dino sat on the floor of his living room, not willing to use the bare couch, especially with that suspicious stain that they had exposed. He gave a glance to the washing baskets full of laundry for tomorrow and tried not to think about how his lazy day was no longer looking any sort of lazy.

Enzo took that moment to appear, rounding the side of the couch and chomped Dino’s socked toes.

“Ouch!” Dino hissed and yanked his foot away. “Damn it Enzo!”

“Is that the baby I hear!?” Dino heard from outside and looked over to see Vic hauling two eskies down Dino’s path, dressed down into her usual garb.

Dino stood and let her in, the girl hoisting the eskies up over the step and into his living room. 

“I’ve got butter chicken leftovers that need to be eaten soon and naan bread for a quick and dirty dinner,” she offered, taking off her shoe next to the door where Dino’s were.

“Okay,” Dino agreed and went about getting out the few plates he had, running them under the tap just in case. 

“Is there anywhere in particular you’d want me to stay out of?” Vic asked, crouched in front of Dino’s fridge.

Dino shrugged as he briefly tried to read the instructions of microwaved rice. He didn’t really use more than the top shelf by himself. Divvying up a fridge had never been a pressing matter. 

Dino shrugged and put the rice in the microwave, punching in the numbers he saw on the packaging. 

Vic hummed unsurely up at Dino, before she slipped a bottle of almond milk into the second bottom shelf. Dino stared at the bottle and remembered suddenly: Vic is lactose intolerant. 

“Top two can be yours, and we can discuss the door shelves when you’re not ready to pass out.”

“How are you so alive?” Dino asked, still fighting the need to rub his eyes. 

Or, well, as ‘alive’ as someone as lethargic as Vic could be. It hadn’t been quick, like coming down a steep slope, but Vic had returned to her lazy state as she stocked up Dino’s fridge.

“Night shift, baby,” Vic sang flat, and put her esky aside as she closed the fridge. “And I didn’t get broken into.”

Dino huffed and Vic gave a short laugh that had to all but crawl from her throat. Then she stopped, sniffed and snapped her head around, “How long did you put that in for?”

Dino looked over his shoulder and smelt melting plastic. Dino yelped and scrambled for the cancel button, the microwave door popped open and steam and white smoke came pouring out. Vic hacked and couched, and Dino slammed the door shut again.

Dino glanced at Vic. Vic looked at Dino.

Vic put the container of butter chicken into the fridge, middle shelf.

“Let’s just eat cereal tonight.”

A bowl of almost-chocolate milk sat in Dino’s lap as he and Vic watched videos of silly cats on her laptop, the girl herself munching through her share of Milo cereal. Enzo peaked up and over Vic’s thigh, happily cradled in the nest of her crossed legs.

“How’s your shoulder?” Vic asked out of the blue, and Dino glanced at her.

She looked drowsy, all but slumped against the baseboard of his couch. Her bowl tipped dangerously. Each breath she took was long and paced. 

“It’s okay,” Dino said, moving his murky cereal soup around. “They did not hurt me. I did not even see them.”

Vic breathed out, long and slow. A cat fell into a bathtub. Another got scared by a piano. Vic ate a heaped spoonful.

“Do you want me to stay over tonight?” 

Dino blinked, “Pardon?”

Vic watched a cat run headlong into a glass door. 

“You had someone break in. People usually don’t wanna be alone after that, ya know?” she huffed, “I don’t particularly want to leave you alone, either. They might get cocky and come back.”

Dino looked at the dots of black dirt under his nails, the last remnants he couldn’t scrub out. He doubted they would be coming back. 

Dino glanced at Vic. A civilian would be shaken by a break-in. Right. Already, this breach had put Vic on edge. Hypervigilance. She would be watching Dino, and everything around him. Dino had to act civilian. 

“I would like that, yes,” Dino nodded gently, and Vic nodded back. 

Then she tipped back the last of her almond milk and got to her feet, Enzo wheezing at the abandonment. 

“I’ll go grab my nighties and shit then. Be right back.”

Dino watched Vic go, before he reached for his phone and texted Romario.

Dino Cav Vic is staying the night in my dormhouse.

Romario did not respond for at least ten minutes. Then Dino’s phone started to shake on the countertop as ‘Romario’ became ‘Romario (15)’ and ‘Zio Croix (7)’. 

Dino paused rinsing the bowls and looked at his phone, wondering about the frenzy — and how Zio Croix was caught up in it. He put the bowls on the drying rack Vic had found deep in his cupboards, but before he could reach to address those texts, Vic was once again knocking on his screen door.

Dino let her in and was immediately faced with felt teeth. 

Vic’s head peered from around the large, nearly life-sized, toy shark. She grinned with teeth, nearly the spitting image.

“Meet Nip,” she introduced, shaking that shark at Dino. “My cuddle shark.”

“...Hello Nip,” Dino uttered and made way as the girl shuffled into the dorm. “Why?”

“I need to hug something to fall asleep,” she said as she put down a tote bag against the side of Dino’s couch. “Hence: cuddle shark, Nip.” Vic looked around and said, “So uh, where do you want me to sleep?”

Dino paused and looked at the couch, stripped bare and with newly exposed, suspicious stains. He looked at the laundry basket, the only spare sheets in the dorm, and in danger of holding that powder residue.

“Did not think about it,” Dino said slowly.

He had towels, but he couldn’t ask Vic, his guest, to sleep on towels. All of the Cavallone would have his head! 

“I will sleep in this room,” Dino offered, thinking of laying towels on the couch. “And you may have my bed.”

Vic tilted her head, “But you’re the one who needs the better sleep. I can sleep on the couch.”

“Please, my Family would kill me,” Dino nearly pleaded.

Vic let out a short bark of a laugh and hiked up her shark onto her shoulder. She looked down the hall into Dino’s bedroom and hummed before she turned to Dino and said, “Mate, you’ve got a queen size. We can share if you’re comfy?”

Dino stared at Vic, “You would like to share?”

Vic shrugged, “Up to you, I’m good for it though.” 

Dino looked at his bed, then at the couch, then at Vic and her life-sized shark. Immediately, Dino was rushed with a nervous excitement. He felt his face split into a shaky smile and rocked on his heels, full of elated jitters.

“I am okay!” He agreed, “We can share, yes!”

Dino had taken a while to get used to the bed at the dormhouse. It wasn’t especially soft or hard, but it was different. He sorely missed his own pillow; this one made his neck hurt for the first few weeks. 

So Dino understood as he watched Vic pull the slip off his spare pillow and replaced it with her own. She folded the slip up and laid it on the chair in the corner. Then she stood in front of Enzo’s suitcase, full of topsoil and sticks.

“They stole his fucking enclosure,” she whispered staring down at it and the way Enzo slowly rubbed himself into his sandpit.

Dino decided it was an investment in his personal safety to let her believe that. 

She squatted down and gently petted Enzo’s shell with the soft utterance of ‘red-eared slider, my ass’ before she clambered up into the bed, Nip in arms. Dino fisted his sheets in his hands, sat on ‘his side’ of the bed, a clear divide down the middle. 

Vic sat on her side, lamp the only light in the room. 

Dino smiled at Vic, “I have never had a sleepover before.”

Dino could barely contain himself. Sure, it was under less-than-ideal circumstances, but Dino was having his first sleepover with his friend! He couldn’t wait to tell Romario.  

Vic blinked, “Me neither.”

All the movies Dino had seen showed people at sleepover playing games and consuming an array of foods — none of which he had on hand. Especially with his microwave out of commission until it stopped smelling of something toxic. He remembered his classmates back in Italy discussing sleepovers, well ‘rendezvous’ or ‘meetings’, as they called it at the time. Dino didn’t think Vic would much like it if their sleepover activity was an impromptu helicopter ride like the Tomaso Family did. 

Dino tugged at his blankets a bit, “What do we want to do?”

Vic flopped back into the bed and bodily wrapped herself around her shark, pulling the duvet all the way up to her chin. 

“Sleep,” she decided, and God that sounded utterly sublime.

Dino didn’t hesitate to curl up like a little comfort crustacean. His head hit the pillow and all those dopamine jitters were sapped straight from his bones for melatonin mugginess.

 “Good idea,” Dino grumbled and Vic turned out the lights.

☁ ☁ ☁

“Hey Romario?” Dino asked as he held the phone to his ear, watching on as Vic stubbornly piled the straps of several hefty shopping bags onto her hands and waddled into his dorm. “Would you be able to send me some, uh, cooking stuff?”

“Cooking stuff,” Romario echoed slowly.

“Yeah,” he said, as Vic organised their food in the cupboards and fridge, following some sort of system Dino had no clue about. “Stuff that I’d need for cooking. Cooking stuff.”

“Very well, Boss. I’ll ask the chef to organise a basic package.”

“Perfect! Thanks a lot, Romario,” Dino said, before wheezing as Vic shoved a bag of flatbread in his chest.

“Come on, ponyboy, we’re making wraps for lunch,” Vic announced, waving the bag of roasted chicken. “No way we can mess this up.”

Later, Dino choked on a bone. Vic now knew the correct spelling for ‘heimlich’.

 ☁ ☁ ☁

Sunday morning, Vic sat on the couch, still smelling fresh from the laundry, and bodily wrapped around Nip as she watched Dino haul a box into the living room. He wheezed and heaved, dragging the box as it clanged and banged with whatever was inside.

“Doing good there buddy?” Vic asked, but made no move to help. 

“Good,” Dino said, before his socked feet slipped out from under him and he fell on his ass. “Still good!”

Vic snorted and leant over the edge of the couch to rummage through her bag. She pulled out a box knife from her balled-up work apron and tossed it at Dino who was haplessly picking at the taped-up box.

Dino fumbled with the knife for a bit, before he managed to open the box. Vic peered over his shoulder.

“The hell is this?” She asked as Dino pulled out one smaller box after another, carefully packaged and wrapped in scrunched-up newspaper. She snagged a page and squinted; Italian. “This from home?”

“Yeah! I asked Romario to send some tools!” 

“Ah, Romario,” Vic uttered. Her rival for custody of Dino.

Dino grinned at Vic, happy she knew so many of his Family by name. He really should have thought it dangerous, negligent even, that he was letting a civilian know so many of the pieces that made the Cavallone’s top level — but really, Dino reasoned, when would it come up again? Vic was going to be a teacher in Australia, after all. 

Dino huffed as Vic batted at him with Nip to get him to hurry up and show her what he had been sent. 

A pasta machine, made of black cast iron and polished wood, came out first. It was heavy and Dino wheezed as he tried to raise it up to show Vic. On the bottom, Dino could read VillaWare Manufacturing Co. 1908. The head chef had always found it a bit annoying that the first pasta maker had been built in Cleveland, USA of all places.

Dino gave it a testing crank. It was old, but it turned without so much a creak. 

The next item Dino pulled wasn't exactly heavy but had a heft to it that made his fingers hurt as he clutched the edge. A circular slab of stone, flat as a tack and thick with little handles on either side; a pizza stone. Accompanied by a pizza paddle that Vic used as a rather dangerous choice of fan.

The last large piece was a large pan, at least a finger in depth. Dino had seen the chefs use this kind of pan to make sauces before.

Aside from that, the box was full of miscellaneous bits and bobs, some coming in multiples in a way that made Dino think they were important — did he really need that many wooden spoons? Why were they different shapes? 

At the bottom, sat a few small folded paper packages. Dino reached in and read that familiar handwriting on the backs: basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano. Seeds, sent from home.

“You got a letter,” Vic hummed from over Dino’s shoulder and he jumped to attention and saw an envelope wedged beneath the folds of the box. “What’s it say?” 

Dino leant back into the couch as he read Romario’s clean and precise handwriting, always a stickler for clarity and precision, down to the penmanship. 

“Instructions to look after the pasta machine,” he said, before getting to the bottom of the letter. “They are going to send more later. A, uh, ‘care package’?”

“More!?” Vic asked, looking at what was already spread across the coffee table, stacked on top of each other and nearly toppling off the edge. 

“Yeah, my Family tends to over-give sometimes,” Dino chuckled, still trying to figure out why there was a random, gritty block packaged with the knives. “A lot of us live in one household under the head, so we use quite a bit.”

Vic blinked, “You all live in one big house?”

“Yes! After induction, you are to live in the house until deemed ready!” 

Dino's smile froze. Vic stared at him with a particular look on her face that somehow told Dino that something he had said was not a social norm. 

“What?” Vic uttered, and squinted even as her eyebrows shot up. 

Dino wheezed and started waving his hands frantically, “I, uh, mean — the new members of the Family come to live in the house! It is safe there and tradition and uh— Please do not focus on it—!”

Vic lurched to sit up on the couch, Nip the shark all but flung across the living room as she gaped at Dino’s spluttering self. 

He fucked up!

“Wait, are you in a cult?”

Oh, he fucked up!

“Dino? Are you? In a cult?” she pressed, both fascinated and concerned. “Like, you can tell me, I won’t judge. My uncle believes that a secret race of people called the ‘True Earthlings’ run the world.”

“No, I’m not in a cul— your uncle believes what?” Dino squinted. “How? Why does he think that?”

“Beats me,” Vic shrugged as she crossed her legs, feet pressed flat against one another. “But he talks about it at pretty much every family gathering. We usually change the topic.” Then she rocked forward on the couch and loomed over Dino. “But you. Cult?”

“No,” Dino stressed, “We are not a cult. We are a Family.”

“Sounds like a cult, not gonna lie,” Vic muttered, scratching at the piercing hole in her ear.

“Not a cult!” 

“Okay, okay,” Vic laughed and backed off. “But fuck mate, that must be a big house you’ve got.”

Dino smiled, remembering those long halls and polished floors, perfecting the sliding on socks and being dragged on blankets. “Yes, enough room for everyone.”

Vic huffed and groaned as she got to her feet. 

“Okay, let’s get that machine cranking! Pasta time!” She paused and looked down at Dino. “You know how to make pasta noodles right? You’re Italian.”

“Did you remember to park your koala?” Dino shot back. “And I’m Sicilian.”

Vic stuck her tongue out at Dino and flipped him off, “The stereotype is ‘kangaroo’, you Sicilian piece of shit. Now get up, we’re gonna Youtube it.”

Vic was glad they had started preparing their dinner early, as the next half an hour resulted in a rather frantic back and forth of more egg yolk, more flour, more egg, more flour, more egg, more flour, more—

“I don’t think we can eat all of this,” Dino murmured as the two looked down at the ball of rested dough the size of a small toddler.

“Speak for yourself, coward,” Vic huffed and grabbed handfuls.

True to her words, Vic ate her whole serving of five large bowls. Dino had to rub her belly as she laid on the couch in pasta-ey regret. 

At least, now Dino had plenty of pasta in the fridge. He would be eating it for a while.

☁ ☁ ☁

Dino laid on his couch, a sheet of paper draped across his face. Enzo gently gnawed on his shin through his pyjama pants. 

He was bored. And lonely. 

Semester break had set in. Dino had meant to go home over the mid-year break, spend the semester's end on Sicilian soil. Instead, when Winter crawled into the southern hemisphere and Dino had reached for the plane tickets home— 

“I’m sorry Boss, Reborn’s instructions were clear. You can’t come back this time, not yet.”

Dino had damn near broken into tears. 

Instead, after much bed-rotting, Dino had thrown himself into the familiar stress of number crunching, creating pages of cramped value tables and highlighted budget summaries. On the floor sat a bin full of tear-soggy tissues. 

Vic had gone upstate to New Castle for the mid-year break, but Dino hadn’t had the time to miss her company as she made sure to text her ‘poor, lonesome boy’ at least once a day. Dino’s phone was full of photos of ‘blobfish babies’ and some kind of mixed mutt that looked like it could win a bullfight called Pepper. Or, as Vic liked to call her: ‘Pepe my sweet little girl, so beautiful!’

Dino did have to admit, her baby cousin, Ant, did look a bit like a blobfish. A cute one. A cute blobfish.

He still wished she was here, though. Dino had never liked the quiet, it never brought good things. For Dino, a quiet house was a house in mourning.

Dino tried to play some old Italian music to help the homesickness. He found he couldn’t stand it without the sound of Romario snoring in his armchair, or Brutus heckling at the football. 

Dino crossed his arms over his eyes, the sheet wrinkled under the weight.

“I wanna go home, Enzo,” he murmured, muffled.

Enzo made another bite at his shin.

“I wanna see Vic.”

☁ ☁ ☁

It had been months since Dino had struck a deal with the rest of the Cavallone: Bet everything on one last race. Bet everything on the Cavallone horses.

And yet, he had made minimal progress. 

The search for jockeys had been difficult, he hadn’t even known where to start. But as he paged through the list of names and backgrounds Romario had sent, Dino could see his options wearing thin. 

There were jockeys, young upstarts and disgraced retirees. But Dino needed a specific brand of person. 

He didn’t have the money to pay them lavishly, nor buy their silence, so he needed someone low budget, low maintenance. Young, maybe. Inexperienced and unaware of their worth. Skilled enough to handle a horse of Cavallone’s breeding. Loyalty easily fostered. They couldn’t ask questions. And they couldn’t be Mafia.

One jockey per horse.

The Stable Master had given him seven horses to work with, Madam Celeste, Buttercup Pop, Today Junior, Red Riding, Bottle Top, the best of the Cavallone’s renowned Snortle line and, of course, Glory herself. 

One jockey per horse. Dino needed to find at least seven jockeys. And then he had to pray that the horses accepted their riders.

Dino grimaced at the concept of trying to introduce a jockey to Glory. He made a note to have a medic on scene.

Dino sighed and dropped his head onto the dining table, articles and handwritten notes of half thoughts stacked high enough to cushion his dismay. Dino was tired.

Enzo bit his little toe through his sock. Dino screeched. He shot up with a gasp — he saw Vic pressed against the window. 

“Show me the boy.”

Dino screeched. He fell off his chair into the sweet embrace of his cold, tile floor. 

“Careful! You could have hurt Enzo!” Vic scolded as she banged on the window. 

Dino gaped at her from the floor, offended. 

“What!? No sympathy for Dino!?”

“Shut up and let me in! I’m freezing my tits off!”

Dino resisted rolling his eyes as he heaved himself up off the ground. It was only 17 degrees, barely coat weather, but Vic was whining like she was up on Etna. Dino opened his door and Vic came barreling past, honed on his couch.

Dino laughed when he saw the mass of blankets on the couch, each one brought by Vic every time she couldn’t resist the knick-knackery of Kmart. Two grumpy eyes peered out, and the tell-tale sound of Enzo’s disgruntled wheeze.

“You’re back?” Dino smiled as he came and sat by Vic’s head, those eyes glaring up at him. 

“Nah, I’m astral projecting — yes I’m back!” Vic huffed and Dino grinned.

He leant over and threw his arms around the mass that was Vic bundled within her blankets, squeezing tight even when the girl gave a wheeze. One of Vic’s hands wriggled its way out of the hold and gently patted Dino’s shoulder with an obligatory “there, there.”

“You were away for so long,” Dino grumbled.

Vic huffed, “I was gone for three weeks.”

“Three weeks much too long!” He whined and Vic let out a laugh that jostled both of them.

Dino let out an indignant sound as he slumped into Vic and felt the twang in his back and the ache in his eyes. He had been looking at documents for so long, done so much close-up work, that he could barely make out the clock face on the wall. 

“You look like shit,” Vic grumbled from within her blanket mount.

Dino smiled weakly and rubbed his nape. He felt like shit too. A bit sweaty. Cooped up. 

But he had work to do. So many relied on this one last gamble. 

Dino tried not to let the stress show. That stone in his stomach and pressure in his chest.

Vic stared at him.

“Dino?” She asked and sat up, Enzo slid down a blanket and tottered off into the distance. “Dino?”

‘What’s wrong?’ she wanted to ask, but as Vic looked at Dino, she couldn’t quite get the words out. Because she could see that whatever was festering under his skin, was far too large to unpack. It had too many layers. One lone issue didn’t make someone’s face that dark and pale.

“Do you…Do you want to call home? I can give you some space?” Vic offered gently. “Call your dad or something?”

Dino flinched. Hard.

Vic snapped her mouth shut. 

Then her mind swarmed with memory, scanning every instance she had with Dino, every mention of his family, every giggle of his past. Not once had Dino mentioned his father. Or his mother.

Fuck. Vic had fucked up.

“Or—” she scrambled, nearly biting her tongue in the rush.

“He is, uh…passed,” Dino said, barely above a whisper. 

Vic paused. She pulled the blankets around her tighter. 

“Oh,” she uttered.

“Last February,” he continued, his hands plucked at the edge of the blanket, pulling the loose tassels. “He got hurt. He didn’t get better.”

“Oh,” Vic whispered. That was recent. “You’re…mum?”

She looked at him carefully. Dino’s nose had started to blush, his fingers worked to untangle stylised knots in the blanket. His voice croaked.

“I was seven,” Dino whispered, and that was all Vic needed to know. 

“Dino,” Vic murmured, and Dino shrugged. 

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”

“Dino, your dad was last year,” Vic said, not at all convinced. Maybe Dino had come to peace with his mother’s passing, but his fathers? She didn’t think he was ‘okay’ as he said he was.

“I am busy. There’s much to do. The Family needs me now that I am in charge.”

Vic held her breath for a moment until she was sure she could let it out without a sound. Her Dino was in charge? Of a whole family? Her Dino, who choked on rice, who cut his lip on his toothbrush, who tripped on shoelaces. Had been put in charge of a whole family — an extensive one if ‘induction’ meant anything (not a cult, totally not a cult unless it is). 

“When did you take over?” Vic asked and closed her eyes, bracing for the worst.

“...Last February,” Dino uttered.

He had taken the reigns out of cold hands. No time to mourn.

Vic felt her heart lurch in her chest, and a rumble in her ears. Anger and indignity yanked at her naval as she looked at the papers on the dining table, laptop open, fan spinning fast to cool down after days of almost non-stop use. Her Dino was doing all this. Practically alone, so far from home. And he hadn’t even had the time to properly mourn.

Vic turned her gaze onto Dino. 

“Last February,” she echoed out to him. “Fifteen months.”

Dino smiled at Vic, full of teeth and wrinkled eyes. Eyes that started to swim as she stared at him. Brown eyes going blurry until one, then two, fat tears rolled down his cheeks. Dino sniffed, loud and full of snot. 

Vic pulled her feet up onto the couch, leant back against the armrest and opened her arms to Dino. Dino’s face pinched, his breath shook, and slowly, Dino crawled until he laid himself on her chest. 

Vic lifted her chin to breathe around his hair and felt her shirt go soggy as Dino hiccuped and rattled.

Vic liked to think she knew Dino well. At times like this, though, Vic was reminded that she knew very little. 

Dino’s dad had died last year. His mother, long before that. And now he was here, alone, the rest of his family in another hemisphere. And there was that whole issue of finances that she knew she wouldn’t ever fully understand the gravity of. 

Arms wriggled under her back and Vic felt Dino clutch at her like a lifeline, his watch dug into her ribs and she felt snot, spit and tears smear along her collar. 

“I miss him,” Dino wheezed. “I don’t want to be the Boss yet. There’s so much I could do wrong.”

Vic gritted her teeth and pulled the blankets over Dino, the weight pressing down on his back. She looked at the list sitting on Dino’s dining table. A criterion for employment. A jockey selection. 

Dino needed jockeys. At least seven.

Vic scanned the criteria, doing her damnedest to burn every detail and refinement into her memory. Cheap, talented, foolish. She felt her stomach roll with heat and discomfort. 

Someone to be taken advantage of. 

Dino coughed between quiet sobs. His nails dug into her shirt, just short of her skin. Vic pushed her cheek into his hair and squeezed him back, just as tight. 

Dino needed jockeys. 

“It’ll be okay, Dino,” Vic murmured. 

Dino needed jockeys. Dino needed help. 

She couldn’t do much, had no idea where to even start. But she could at least look. For her ponyboy Dino.

#fanfiction #khr #leftnotright #ao3 #dino cavallone #katekyo hitman reborn #canon divergence

[toomanyplotbunnies-sendhelp]

More memes made by my brain for my plot bunnies (this time, it's about the KHR and Cardfight!! Vanguard crossover idea):

(This last one basically means "Homemade Italian food just hits different"... get your head out of the gutter. You too, @yokomisaki)

#khr #katekyo hitman reborn #khr memes #memes #fanfiction memes #fic memes #cardfight!! vanguard #cfv #tsunayoshi sawada #reborn #kyoya hibari #give the shounen protagonists a hobby 2k24 #funny memes

[trashcan3001]

Mochida Centric new fic Idea

Okay, so I have my class trip AU that I have been slowly creating, but as I have been doing it I got a bunch of other Mochida centric ideas for fics!

You know when you are doing something and then get a new idea and that new idea won't leave you alone? Here is mine!

Mochida can see ghosts.

They are only their when they can't move on due to needing something to get done. Mochida as a child has no idea that all those people he somehow never bumps into on the streets are ghosts following the retired mafioso. Only when he grows and realises that non of them change does he realise something is wrong. And when he learns this, the ghosts learn he can see them and hear them.

Cue the tale of Mochida having ghosts following him and being all "you know, I don't understand why you insult that Tsuna kid so much" and "Hey kid! Can you find my missing limbs? They seem to be the only thing keeping tied here!"

He learns that this is a mafia retirement town, that all the people around him are hiding skeletons in their closet, sometimes literally. And that the near crowd of ghosts that follow Tsuna might not be his fault, but the fault of his bloodline. As he learns to accept his ability, he starts to send the messages of the dead. and it starts with Yamamoto and the pretty woman that watches him with loving eyes only mother's can hold.

I should be getting it out sometime soon with the next chapter of my class trip fic!

What do you think?

#mochida kensuke #fanfiction #katekyo hitman reborn #khr #sawada tsunayoshi #ao3 fanfic #yamamoto takeshi #Mochida seeing ghosts #and then they become his therapists lol

[lixenn]

Fanfic update

*holds up chapter like it's the Holy Grail* BEHOLD! AN UPDATE!

Have some more Bel content (he kinda has overtaken my brain at the moment, I blame @childe-of-saulot)

#katekyo hitman reborn #khr #writing #fanfiction #my writing #fanfic update #belphegor