Chapter Text
When Tsuna came back to himself, most of his memories of the recent past were foggy... Almost as if there was a haze throughout. When he realized that he was surrounded by warm bodies and in a place that he didn't recognize, he almost panicked until he saw who it was: his younger siblings.
But what were they doing here? Where were they?
Suddenly the memories began to rush in: collapsing, the ambulance, Bianchi, and then the kids... After that the fog was even stronger, he faintly remembered Shamal, and maybe even that hooded person that he was compatible with...? Or was that just another delusion from... Actually, what had happened to him?
"You were on the verge of your first heat when the presence of your younger siblings helped to delay it." A familiar voice cut into his thoughts.
Standing by the door, a clipboard in hand filled with paperwork he was looking through, was Dr. Shamal.
"It's a phenomenon that tends to happen to people whenever they have children. It's pretty common in parents, both those who choose to have biological children, and even those who decide to foster or adopt them. Now that you have pups to care for, you have to focus more on them than on trying to breed."
"Oh," Tsuna blinked at that. "I don't think I’ve heard about that before."
"It either could be that the class you took never covered it, or... Be honest with me kid, did you ever pay any attention to what was going on in those sex ed classes?"
"I mean..." Tsuna hesitated.
Shamal hummed, considering. "So it could be either one, really. We’ll deal with it later, after you're released from the hospital.
"Well, it's not like I'm going anywhere any time soon... So you might as well explain now, I guess."
"I would if I could." Shamal said. "Unfortunately, there's only so much time we have, considering I'm here on the Vongola's retainer. Just my being here is dangerously close to the line, since I'm supposed to be more of a neutral party, rather than getting involved in the fight for your hand in marriage."
"My hand in marriage? What are you talking about?"
"The party where you were debuted? You were given two options to choose from. Technically Massimo made three, but he had already planned to abdicate in favor of his younger brother. They were probably hoping that you would be put off by Xanxus' general demeanor."
"... So they set up one of their own to fail so that the other one could reap the benefits?"
"That's how the mob works, I'm afraid... But for better or worse, you denied their preferred candidate in favor of someone else..." Shamal trailed off.
Tsuna thumped his head back into the pillow, closing his eyes. That strange sensation that had been with him this whole time told him the truth: he was in this now... No matter how much he wished it was different... This was going to be his life now...
"But I mean," He opened his eyes to look at Shamal again. While Tsuna looked in the doctor’s general direction, the omega was really more focused on the children that were fast asleep around him. "Is that such a bad thing?"
Glancing around, Tsuna guessed that they had been moved to an area of the hospital with a bigger bed because all four of them fit on the mattress. Fuuta was curled up on his side, and was tucked in under Tsuna's left arm, one hand clutching at the sleeve of Tsuna's hospital gown. I-Pin was on his other side, while she was faced away, her back was pressed firmly against his side and her two hands gripped onto his right hand. Finally, Lambo was curled around his legs like an octopus... He wasn't sure how long they’d been in that position, considering that all of Tsuna's limbs felt like they had pins and needles running through them, but even then... This wasn't something he thought he would ever have.
The closeness with his younger siblings? Even though their time together was brief, he’d missed it... In reality, he wasn't ashamed to admit that he felt a little insecure once he left. What would the kids even think about him leaving like he did? Would they hate him? Would they understand? Or would they not give any more of a thought to him, just write him off and move on?
He glanced to the side, where Bianchi herself was asleep, sitting on a chair next to the bed, her upper half laid on the mattress and using her own arms as a pillow for her head. While a respectable distance away, Tsuna could still see how exhausted she looked. He felt a swell of pity for her. He was slowly starting to remember more bits and pieces of their conversation before he'd absolutely lost his mind. It must've been tough having to lie to his mother about what was going on, in order to get the kids here and to keep her from finding out what happened. Not to mention having to continue coordinating that once it became clear that he wasn't planning on letting his pups go any time soon-
Wait... His pups?
"Why do you look like you're about to have a breakdown?"
"Why does my brain register my younger siblings as my pups now?" Tsuna shot back.
"Because of what we were discussing earlier. Your brain decided to take on your younger siblings as pups. As the start of your pack... In a way, it's similar to what started the Vongola family of today."
Tsuna shouldn't want to learn about the fucked up history of a crime family, but... He couldn't help but ask. “What do you mean?"
Shamal shot him a knowing look before he continued. "It's been said before that the reason why Primo started the Vongola family was to act as a vigilante group. Not a lot of historians ever go into detail about the fact that the start of it was to protect the children that Primo saw as pack, that he saw as his own pups."
Tsuna wasn't sure what his face was doing in response to that information, but it made Shamal chuckle. "While your ancestor may have been an alpha, he still had some similarities to you, like his tendency towards bringing strays into his protection."
"I mean... I didn't-"
"You offered up your home to these kids, twice over."
"I- That first time, they all came because my father-"
"I wasn’t given all the details, but I was briefed about it before I came in. They all came because your father was notified about how you interacted with them and decided it would be a good idea to throw them at your mother so that they could distract her from his absence." Shamal said. "He hoped that if your mother wasn't so distraught about not having him around more, then maybe things would be more peaceful at home and he wouldn't have to put up with trying to juggle being a good husband and being a good mafia man. He made his choice long ago, and unfortunately, you were the ones who reaped the consequences."
"Wait, how I interacted with them? What do you mean—"
Shamal shook his head, then nodded his chin at the children. “Ask them about it. Later. It’s not my story to tell.”
“But—“
“We have more important things to worry about right now. Like for example, the only thing stopping you from going into a full blown heat is these kids right here. But if you wind up separated from them for too long, you’ll have to go through your first heat. What do you want to do?”
Tsuna paused for a moment.
Then he said. “Honestly… I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep in contact with the kids because I didn’t want to put up with my dumbass of a father. I was resigned to just trying to completely cut things off… But now…”
“Now?”
Taking in the pups around him, Tsuna looked up, a determined glint in his eye. “I don’t want to do that. I want to be in their lives, I— I’ll figure something out, like, maybe I can rent an apartment in Namimori for when I’m out of school—“
"But can you afford that?"
Tsuna paused and thought about it for a moment. Just as he was gearing up to say that he would figure it out, a vaguely familiar voice said, "We'll handle it."
A figure manifested in the middle of the room, and immediately Tsuna was hit with the scent he'd smelled at the party.
"You!"
Viper offered up a dry smile. "Me."