un regalo per EVERYONE
Listen to Your Older Brother
by ? // for EVERYONE
characters/pairings: Dino, Tsuna, Romario (the narrator)
rating: PG (comedy, drama)
warnings: Man tears, OOC Dino at times
wordcount: 2230
summary: Dino invites Tsuna to Italy for additional mafia training. Little did he know that Tsuna would end up teaching him something.
notes: I hope it's not too angsty or too OOC for you. Since it's the mafia, not everything is all rainbow and sunshine, and that's what I wanted Dino to convey to Tsuna. I had a hard time making them into a real pairing, so it's mostly gen with a questionable future. Hope you like it.
It had been awhile since I’ve seen Boss this tense about anything. He didn’t show it, but I could read it in his movements. Swiping a finger across random pieces of furniture to inspect for dust (of course there was none). Bouncing back and forth from his closet to the mirror to don clothes only to be discarded two minutes later for something else.
“Ivan’s going to the airport at 11:30 to pick him up,” said Boss who finally settled on a dark grey pinstripe suit, “Everything has to be perfect.”
“I know, Boss,” I said. That’s the third time this morning he has said that.
As we stood in the living room waiting for Ivan and the young Vongola boss and his family, I noticed Boss biting a thumbnail. To quell his nervousness, I patted him on the shoulder. “You’re doing a good thing, Boss. Showing the young Vongola the ropes and all.”
Like a teenager being asked out for the first time, he immediately brightened and turned pink. “Well, it’s the least I can do for my cute little brother, right?”
The doorbell rang and I immediately answered it. Sawada Tsunayoshi stood there, looking uneasy and clutching his backpack to his chest as if it were filled with gold. His eyes finally looked up.
“H-hi, Romari-“
Crash!
I looked behind me only to find Boss on the ground next to a twisted rug and a fallen plant. I could’ve sworn he was just standing there a moment ago. Standing. Not doing anything.
“Boss!”
I ran to Boss’s side and Ivan, who immediately dropped the bags he was carrying, did the same. We helped him to his feet. He insisted that he was fine. Apparently, he had planned to run up and give Sawada a big bear hug, but that didn’t work out too well.
“Welcome to the Cavallone family home!” Boss extended a hand to Sawada.
I closed the door behind Sawada and noticed he still looked uncomfortable.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, “How was your plane trip?”
“It was fine. But the airport was really scary! Two people were dressed in black and were chasing us,” he said.
Ivan then revealed how they were chased by someone in the newly-fragmented Stefano family and how they easily escaped after he fired a warning shot. A darkened look spread across Boss’s face.
“Why didn’t you call me for backup?” Dino asked angrily, “You could’ve endangered Tsuna’s life.”
Ivan looked at the ground. “I-I’m sorry…”
“Did they follow us here?”
“I’m pretty sure they didn’t.”
At the sudden curtness of Boss’s tone, Sawada shrunk back. “Uh…it’s okay. Really. Ivan-san did a good job helping us to escape.”
Boss let out a small sigh of relief and perked up at the warm, delicious smell from the dining room. “Food’s ready!”
++++++++++++++++++++++++
After lunch, Boss and I took Sawada down to one of the training rooms. This particular room was built to mimic a typical dark, rundown warehouse.
“Wow…this is huge!” said Sawada.
“Yeah, this was built by my grandfather, the eighth boss. You can do all sorts of training here. But for right now, we’ll work on sharpening your night vision and awareness. When you’re at an unfamiliar place, especially at night, you need to know how to gauge your surroundings.” Boss pointed to the light on the other side of the room. “See that light? Pretend it’s moonlight. And we’ll say that we’re on ground level and near a window.”
“So we just walk through here in the dark?”
“Ha ha…not exactly,” said Boss. He held out his hand to me. I handed him two water guns. “We’ll use these to fend off the enemies played by my men stationed around here.”
Boss and Sawada walked up ahead, and I followed closely behind. I didn’t think Boss realized that he needs this training as much as the young Vongola does.
All of a sudden, there was a short buzz followed by Sawada’s howl. We rushed to his aid.
“Ah, it was just a zapper,” said Boss helping him to his feet, “You’ll be fine. Shake it off.”
I cleared my throat. “Boss, you didn’t warn him about the traps.”
A look of guilt struck his face and he gave a weak laugh. “Uh…oops. Sorry.”
“No way!” whined Sawada. He suddenly stopped and felt around the back of his shirt. “Dino-san, are you squirting me?”
Boss raised an eyebrow. “No.” He looked at me. “Romario, is that you?”
I held up my hands in mock surrender. “I’m weaponless.”
“So that means…”
Quick footsteps sounded behind us.
“Ah, it’s the enemies!” yelled Sawada, shooting his water gun liberally in all directions.
Boss tried to calm him down. “Watch where you’re shooting. If it was a real gun, you could seriously hurt your allies.”
Suddenly, a dark shadow moved past my eyes and broke the moonlight source, rendering the room completely dark. Someone must have stepped on the button that releases a swinging sandbag from the wall.
“Is everyone all right?” Boss’s voice cut through the darkness.
“Yeah,” came the echo of everyone else.
“Okay, resume training!”
“I can’t see anything,” piped Tsuna.
“That’s good,” said Boss. “Use your sixth sense to feel the enemies. Tune everything else out and listen to that inner-OW!”
It sounded like he ran into something and fell to the floor.
“Boss!” I called.
“Boss!” said a few others running blindly in the dark. I also heard someone curse in pain.
“Dino-san!”
“I’m okay, you guys. Don’t worry. Ugh…I guess we do need some light around here.”
I took out my lighter and caught up to him and Sawada.
“Nice, Romario!” said Boss as he grabbed the lighter from me, “You’re the best! Now I can use this.”
As if! I snatched the lighter back. “Sorry, Boss. I think it will be better for all of us if I hold onto it.”
At the end of the hour filled with scream-filled running and lectures of the importance of using peripheral vision, the poor Vongola boss came out drenching wet.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Later that afternoon, Boss took Sawada to another training session. An outside shooting practice with human paper targets in the backyard.
“Real guns?!” said Sawada as he was handed a loaded .40 semi-automatic.
Boss flashed a reassuring smile. “Yep, you need to have proficiency in different types of weapons. You can never tell when your X-Gloves stop working or get stolen. So it’s a good idea to have a backup.”
He took out his own pistol and aimed at the heart of a target. I made sure to stand next to him. Where he could see me. Wide-eyed and scared, Sawada watched him with hands over his ears as Boss pulled the trigger.
“Ha ha!” beamed Boss. “Perfect shot! Now you try!”
After 20 minutes of showing him the anatomy and mechanism of a gun, Sawada was finally ready to make his first shot. He looked noticeably nervous as he pointed at the target while Boss stood behind him frowning. Then he bent down to Sawada’s ear and commanded him to hold still.
Sawada jumped and screamed and accidentally fired a stray shot into the air.
The vexed expression on Boss’s face remained unchanged. “Are you even serious about this?” he barked.
“I-I’m very sorry! Really, really sorry!”
“If you can’t look at your surroundings or take out your enemies, then you will be a failure. Come back when you’re ready to get serious.” Boss turned and walked back to the mansion as Sawada and I watched his shrinking back.
“I didn’t mean to upset Dino-san,” said Sawada in a small voice.
I patted his shoulder. “There was a recent incident that shook him up. It’s not your fault.”
We walked back in silence. I would have told him the details, but I felt it would be better if he heard it directly from Boss. As expected, I found Boss sprawled out on his back in the courtyard. As far as I remembered, he’s always done that when he’s disturbed.
“Uh, Dino-san…I’m really sor-“
“No need to apologize,” said Boss as he sat up. “I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I’m sorry.”
I cleared my throat and Boss winced.
“Tsuna, you need to sit down,” he patted the ground. “You need to hear this.”
I disappeared around the corner to allow them for some privacy. But I was also interested to hear what Boss had to say, so I remained within earshot of the conversation.
“Tsuna, when we first met, I told you that there were no good guys in the mafia. I thought that I would be able to change that. But you’ll see that everyone has to be a bad guy at some point. When you’re a mafia boss you’ll be faced with tough decisions. Decisions that mean life or death to you, your Family, your enemies, and even civilians.
Several weeks ago, I caught the Stefano family robbing a bank. I’ve known the boss since we were young, and he was a decent guy. He said his Family was having financial problems and he pleaded for his life, swearing that he’d never do such a thing again. I was naïve and I believed he would change so I let him go. In reality, I guess I was making excuses for not taking someone else’s life. I always believed that killing was a last resort. I always tried to immobilize the enemies, but never to kill them.
And a few days later, they robbed a store and took an employee hostage. My men and the Stefano men engaged in a small skirmish. Eventually I - and one of my men Marco was with me - found our way to the Stefano boss and confronted him. He was holding a gun to the hostage’s head. The hostage was an ex-girlfriend of mine. We broke up over a year ago.
So Marco and I were forced to drop our guns. I offered money in return for her safe release. But he wouldn’t take it. He found out about our connection and targeted her on purpose. So right in front of me, he shot her. And without hesitation, I pulled out my spare pistol and shot him.
I thought it was over, but it wasn’t. We failed to assess the environment thoroughly and didn’t see his right-hand man hiding behind a door. And that guy shot Marco. I ran up to him, yanked the gun from his hands and told him he didn’t deserve to live before I put a bullet to his head.”
I heard a small gasp from Sawada. It must be difficult seeing a different side to the cheerful Boss.
“Yeah…so I was in that room with four dead people. Two of whom were my first kills ever. I instantly regretted not killing the Stefano boss earlier. And because of my foolishness, two people close to me paid the price for it. And I took it out on you today so I’m sorry for that.”
“You don’t have to be, Dino-san,” said Sawada. “I understand. I mean, you were in a difficult situation, and you had to witness all that.”
I wiped my tears on my sleeve. I’m glad Boss wasn’t here to see me like this. He wouldn’t have let me live it down. I peered around the corner.
Boss gave a smile. “Well,” he said, “let that be a lesson for you from your older brother. Learn to shoot and do it if you need to. Look over at your surroundings carefully. Have backup with you. Protect your subordinates and protect your woman.”
Sawada touched Boss’s arm sympathetically. “You’re a great boss.”
“Huh?”
“Ivan-san told me on the way here. How much you care for your people and what you do for this town. Like how you donated money to a dying woman’s daughter so she could go to college. And how you make big celebrations of everyone’s birthday.”
Boss’s eyes, I think, were getting saturated with tears. He looked away. The Vongola’s hyper intuition is indeed a powerful thing.
“You don’t have to doubt yourself anymore,” said Sawada, “Your Family looks up to you.”
Then Ivan, Bono, Raul, and several others came out from nearby bushes, sniffling and wearing moist faces.
“Y-you guys!” said Boss, turning a deep pink.
“It’s true!” said Bono, throwing himself around Boss’s waist, “We do love you. We’ll stay with you forever!”
Boss chuckled and tried to loosen himself from Bono’s grip. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++
I accompanied Boss and Sawada to the airplane a few days later. Right before the Vongola boss-to-be boarded the plane, he said, “Thank you for everything, Dino-san. Somehow, I think I can do this now. Be a boss.”
Boss patted him on the shoulder. “That’s good to hear. Feel free to come back anytime. And bring Reborn next time too.”
We exchanged goodbyes and watched the plane take off. I looked at Boss gazing into the empty sky, eyes a little more carefree and a smile a little more genuine. It was supposed to have been a one-way tutelage from the senior mafioso to the junior, but it appeared that some reciprocation had transpired.
“You know,” said Boss, “In due time, Tsuna’s going to become a very attractive man, don’t you think?”
“Yes, Boss,” I agreed reflexively. Wait…what?
by ? // for EVERYONE
characters/pairings: Dino, Tsuna, Romario (the narrator)
rating: PG (comedy, drama)
warnings: Man tears, OOC Dino at times
wordcount: 2230
summary: Dino invites Tsuna to Italy for additional mafia training. Little did he know that Tsuna would end up teaching him something.
notes: I hope it's not too angsty or too OOC for you. Since it's the mafia, not everything is all rainbow and sunshine, and that's what I wanted Dino to convey to Tsuna. I had a hard time making them into a real pairing, so it's mostly gen with a questionable future. Hope you like it.
It had been awhile since I’ve seen Boss this tense about anything. He didn’t show it, but I could read it in his movements. Swiping a finger across random pieces of furniture to inspect for dust (of course there was none). Bouncing back and forth from his closet to the mirror to don clothes only to be discarded two minutes later for something else.
“Ivan’s going to the airport at 11:30 to pick him up,” said Boss who finally settled on a dark grey pinstripe suit, “Everything has to be perfect.”
“I know, Boss,” I said. That’s the third time this morning he has said that.
As we stood in the living room waiting for Ivan and the young Vongola boss and his family, I noticed Boss biting a thumbnail. To quell his nervousness, I patted him on the shoulder. “You’re doing a good thing, Boss. Showing the young Vongola the ropes and all.”
Like a teenager being asked out for the first time, he immediately brightened and turned pink. “Well, it’s the least I can do for my cute little brother, right?”
The doorbell rang and I immediately answered it. Sawada Tsunayoshi stood there, looking uneasy and clutching his backpack to his chest as if it were filled with gold. His eyes finally looked up.
“H-hi, Romari-“
Crash!
I looked behind me only to find Boss on the ground next to a twisted rug and a fallen plant. I could’ve sworn he was just standing there a moment ago. Standing. Not doing anything.
“Boss!”
I ran to Boss’s side and Ivan, who immediately dropped the bags he was carrying, did the same. We helped him to his feet. He insisted that he was fine. Apparently, he had planned to run up and give Sawada a big bear hug, but that didn’t work out too well.
“Welcome to the Cavallone family home!” Boss extended a hand to Sawada.
I closed the door behind Sawada and noticed he still looked uncomfortable.
“Are you okay?” I asked him, “How was your plane trip?”
“It was fine. But the airport was really scary! Two people were dressed in black and were chasing us,” he said.
Ivan then revealed how they were chased by someone in the newly-fragmented Stefano family and how they easily escaped after he fired a warning shot. A darkened look spread across Boss’s face.
“Why didn’t you call me for backup?” Dino asked angrily, “You could’ve endangered Tsuna’s life.”
Ivan looked at the ground. “I-I’m sorry…”
“Did they follow us here?”
“I’m pretty sure they didn’t.”
At the sudden curtness of Boss’s tone, Sawada shrunk back. “Uh…it’s okay. Really. Ivan-san did a good job helping us to escape.”
Boss let out a small sigh of relief and perked up at the warm, delicious smell from the dining room. “Food’s ready!”
++++++++++++++++++++++++
After lunch, Boss and I took Sawada down to one of the training rooms. This particular room was built to mimic a typical dark, rundown warehouse.
“Wow…this is huge!” said Sawada.
“Yeah, this was built by my grandfather, the eighth boss. You can do all sorts of training here. But for right now, we’ll work on sharpening your night vision and awareness. When you’re at an unfamiliar place, especially at night, you need to know how to gauge your surroundings.” Boss pointed to the light on the other side of the room. “See that light? Pretend it’s moonlight. And we’ll say that we’re on ground level and near a window.”
“So we just walk through here in the dark?”
“Ha ha…not exactly,” said Boss. He held out his hand to me. I handed him two water guns. “We’ll use these to fend off the enemies played by my men stationed around here.”
Boss and Sawada walked up ahead, and I followed closely behind. I didn’t think Boss realized that he needs this training as much as the young Vongola does.
All of a sudden, there was a short buzz followed by Sawada’s howl. We rushed to his aid.
“Ah, it was just a zapper,” said Boss helping him to his feet, “You’ll be fine. Shake it off.”
I cleared my throat. “Boss, you didn’t warn him about the traps.”
A look of guilt struck his face and he gave a weak laugh. “Uh…oops. Sorry.”
“No way!” whined Sawada. He suddenly stopped and felt around the back of his shirt. “Dino-san, are you squirting me?”
Boss raised an eyebrow. “No.” He looked at me. “Romario, is that you?”
I held up my hands in mock surrender. “I’m weaponless.”
“So that means…”
Quick footsteps sounded behind us.
“Ah, it’s the enemies!” yelled Sawada, shooting his water gun liberally in all directions.
Boss tried to calm him down. “Watch where you’re shooting. If it was a real gun, you could seriously hurt your allies.”
Suddenly, a dark shadow moved past my eyes and broke the moonlight source, rendering the room completely dark. Someone must have stepped on the button that releases a swinging sandbag from the wall.
“Is everyone all right?” Boss’s voice cut through the darkness.
“Yeah,” came the echo of everyone else.
“Okay, resume training!”
“I can’t see anything,” piped Tsuna.
“That’s good,” said Boss. “Use your sixth sense to feel the enemies. Tune everything else out and listen to that inner-OW!”
It sounded like he ran into something and fell to the floor.
“Boss!” I called.
“Boss!” said a few others running blindly in the dark. I also heard someone curse in pain.
“Dino-san!”
“I’m okay, you guys. Don’t worry. Ugh…I guess we do need some light around here.”
I took out my lighter and caught up to him and Sawada.
“Nice, Romario!” said Boss as he grabbed the lighter from me, “You’re the best! Now I can use this.”
As if! I snatched the lighter back. “Sorry, Boss. I think it will be better for all of us if I hold onto it.”
At the end of the hour filled with scream-filled running and lectures of the importance of using peripheral vision, the poor Vongola boss came out drenching wet.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Later that afternoon, Boss took Sawada to another training session. An outside shooting practice with human paper targets in the backyard.
“Real guns?!” said Sawada as he was handed a loaded .40 semi-automatic.
Boss flashed a reassuring smile. “Yep, you need to have proficiency in different types of weapons. You can never tell when your X-Gloves stop working or get stolen. So it’s a good idea to have a backup.”
He took out his own pistol and aimed at the heart of a target. I made sure to stand next to him. Where he could see me. Wide-eyed and scared, Sawada watched him with hands over his ears as Boss pulled the trigger.
“Ha ha!” beamed Boss. “Perfect shot! Now you try!”
After 20 minutes of showing him the anatomy and mechanism of a gun, Sawada was finally ready to make his first shot. He looked noticeably nervous as he pointed at the target while Boss stood behind him frowning. Then he bent down to Sawada’s ear and commanded him to hold still.
Sawada jumped and screamed and accidentally fired a stray shot into the air.
The vexed expression on Boss’s face remained unchanged. “Are you even serious about this?” he barked.
“I-I’m very sorry! Really, really sorry!”
“If you can’t look at your surroundings or take out your enemies, then you will be a failure. Come back when you’re ready to get serious.” Boss turned and walked back to the mansion as Sawada and I watched his shrinking back.
“I didn’t mean to upset Dino-san,” said Sawada in a small voice.
I patted his shoulder. “There was a recent incident that shook him up. It’s not your fault.”
We walked back in silence. I would have told him the details, but I felt it would be better if he heard it directly from Boss. As expected, I found Boss sprawled out on his back in the courtyard. As far as I remembered, he’s always done that when he’s disturbed.
“Uh, Dino-san…I’m really sor-“
“No need to apologize,” said Boss as he sat up. “I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I’m sorry.”
I cleared my throat and Boss winced.
“Tsuna, you need to sit down,” he patted the ground. “You need to hear this.”
I disappeared around the corner to allow them for some privacy. But I was also interested to hear what Boss had to say, so I remained within earshot of the conversation.
“Tsuna, when we first met, I told you that there were no good guys in the mafia. I thought that I would be able to change that. But you’ll see that everyone has to be a bad guy at some point. When you’re a mafia boss you’ll be faced with tough decisions. Decisions that mean life or death to you, your Family, your enemies, and even civilians.
Several weeks ago, I caught the Stefano family robbing a bank. I’ve known the boss since we were young, and he was a decent guy. He said his Family was having financial problems and he pleaded for his life, swearing that he’d never do such a thing again. I was naïve and I believed he would change so I let him go. In reality, I guess I was making excuses for not taking someone else’s life. I always believed that killing was a last resort. I always tried to immobilize the enemies, but never to kill them.
And a few days later, they robbed a store and took an employee hostage. My men and the Stefano men engaged in a small skirmish. Eventually I - and one of my men Marco was with me - found our way to the Stefano boss and confronted him. He was holding a gun to the hostage’s head. The hostage was an ex-girlfriend of mine. We broke up over a year ago.
So Marco and I were forced to drop our guns. I offered money in return for her safe release. But he wouldn’t take it. He found out about our connection and targeted her on purpose. So right in front of me, he shot her. And without hesitation, I pulled out my spare pistol and shot him.
I thought it was over, but it wasn’t. We failed to assess the environment thoroughly and didn’t see his right-hand man hiding behind a door. And that guy shot Marco. I ran up to him, yanked the gun from his hands and told him he didn’t deserve to live before I put a bullet to his head.”
I heard a small gasp from Sawada. It must be difficult seeing a different side to the cheerful Boss.
“Yeah…so I was in that room with four dead people. Two of whom were my first kills ever. I instantly regretted not killing the Stefano boss earlier. And because of my foolishness, two people close to me paid the price for it. And I took it out on you today so I’m sorry for that.”
“You don’t have to be, Dino-san,” said Sawada. “I understand. I mean, you were in a difficult situation, and you had to witness all that.”
I wiped my tears on my sleeve. I’m glad Boss wasn’t here to see me like this. He wouldn’t have let me live it down. I peered around the corner.
Boss gave a smile. “Well,” he said, “let that be a lesson for you from your older brother. Learn to shoot and do it if you need to. Look over at your surroundings carefully. Have backup with you. Protect your subordinates and protect your woman.”
Sawada touched Boss’s arm sympathetically. “You’re a great boss.”
“Huh?”
“Ivan-san told me on the way here. How much you care for your people and what you do for this town. Like how you donated money to a dying woman’s daughter so she could go to college. And how you make big celebrations of everyone’s birthday.”
Boss’s eyes, I think, were getting saturated with tears. He looked away. The Vongola’s hyper intuition is indeed a powerful thing.
“You don’t have to doubt yourself anymore,” said Sawada, “Your Family looks up to you.”
Then Ivan, Bono, Raul, and several others came out from nearby bushes, sniffling and wearing moist faces.
“Y-you guys!” said Boss, turning a deep pink.
“It’s true!” said Bono, throwing himself around Boss’s waist, “We do love you. We’ll stay with you forever!”
Boss chuckled and tried to loosen himself from Bono’s grip. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++
I accompanied Boss and Sawada to the airplane a few days later. Right before the Vongola boss-to-be boarded the plane, he said, “Thank you for everything, Dino-san. Somehow, I think I can do this now. Be a boss.”
Boss patted him on the shoulder. “That’s good to hear. Feel free to come back anytime. And bring Reborn next time too.”
We exchanged goodbyes and watched the plane take off. I looked at Boss gazing into the empty sky, eyes a little more carefree and a smile a little more genuine. It was supposed to have been a one-way tutelage from the senior mafioso to the junior, but it appeared that some reciprocation had transpired.
“You know,” said Boss, “In due time, Tsuna’s going to become a very attractive man, don’t you think?”
“Yes, Boss,” I agreed reflexively. Wait…what?