Work Text:
The first time Tsuna met Xanxus was when he was completely alone. There was no explosions, no fanfare, nothing other than two people quite literally bumping into each other in the middle of town.
Of course Tsuna knew who Xanxus was. He'd known for almost a week now, ever since Reborn told him about the Cradle Affair. (Which Tsuna privately thought was a stupid name, but he wasn't going to say that out loud.) He'd really just thought they'd end up meeting under more...violent circumstances. Not that he's complaining! Gods, he'd much rather a peaceful conversation than a fight- and he'll willingly admit that his expectations are a little more than a bit skewed, but-
"That fuck are you, trash?"
Okay, that was a bit more like what he'd initially thought his first meeting with Xanxus would be language wise, not the question itself, that was a little surprising.
"Well?"
Stumbling back a few steps, Tsuna bowed his greeting. "S-Sawada Tsunayoshi," he said, "I'm so sorry for bumping into-" He cut himself off abruptly. The air was hot, like really hot and he could feel the glare Xanxus was shooting him.
Oh, and also? There was more people coming towards them. Who they were, he had no idea and he was starting to panic a little bit more.
"So you're the scum they tried to pass me up for."
Gulping, Tsuna straightened himself up and didn't say anything. At least he could see who was coming up to them now? Not that he knew names...or faces... That's a lie. For the second he saw them before Xanxus took his full attention again, Tsuna could immediately place exactly who it was.
He just really hopped the Varia killed him slowly.
"Um..."
"Boss!" Levi A Than, Xanxus's Lightning, was the first to reach them, "This brat bothering you?"
If they were going to insult him, could they were going to talk about him like he wasn't there, could they at least do it in a language he doesn't understand?
Lussuria was the next to reach them, though they walked right passed Xanxus to pinch Tsuna's cheeks. "He's so cute!!"
Unable to do anything, Tsuna let himself be manhandled while simultaneously falling into a slight panic attack. He's dead. He's so dead! They're gonna kill him! Who's gonna break the news to Mama?
"Sawada Tsunayoshi." Xanxus growled as soon as his Guardians had stepped beside him.
In a blink, he was dropped to the floor with six different weapons shoved in his face.
"Shishishi," Belphegor laughed darkly, "I say we kill him now and send his head to the Main House."
Tsuna gulped. He would really rather they don't do that, thanks.
Xanxus ignored the suggestion. "You don't have the Ring."
That made Tsuna pause. Ring? "I, um... I was supposed to get a ring?"
Xanxus sneered at him. "What, your dear old dad hasn't bothered to even give you your prize yet?"
Now, despite all his fear, it was Tsuna's turn to sneer. "My father," he hissed, "hasn't bothered to show his face since I was five." Ignoring the various weapons pointed at his head, he stood and brushed his pants off. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get home."
The assassins were stood in his way, so he couldn't really move forward without going around them, but his hatred for his father overwrote any fear of the Varia and he refused to show even a bit of weakness to them after Xanxus had the audacity to insult him by use of his father's name.
The Varia refused to move, too. This kid - their target - had spunk, but there was no way in hell they were going to move aside for him.
After a few minutes of staring each other down, Xanxus huffed. "You put up a good act," he said, "but not good enough." He shoved the gun in his left hand in Tsuna's face. A normal one, not his X-guns.
Later, Tsuna would be appalled that he was insulted that the Varia Sky deemed him a low enough threat to not even use his good weapons to threaten him.
"Act?" Tsuna scoffed, "You must be very gullible to think I'm acting."
"Careful there, kid," Lussuria said, "It'd be a shame to have to turn your head in with your face missing."
And that? Tsuna knew for a Fact that they'd stand good on that threat.
"A civilian like you will never be accepted by the Family," Levi A Than glared, "Coddled all your life. Even now, you're protected from the world you've been promised.
"'Coddled?!'" He shouldn't have yelled, and he knows, in the back of his mind, that he'll most probably regret it later, but the idea that he's being coddled was laughable. Reborn had made him very aware what his life would've been like without his father's 'protection', but 'coddled'? He laughed shortly and harshly. "Sure, let's call it coddled." He looked right into Xanxus's eyes, feeling none of the fear he distantly thinks he should be feeling, and jabs a finger into his chest with every word he speaks, "Coddled is only knowing my father from photos. Coddled is meeting my father and 'grandfather' for the first time in my life when I was five. Coddled is being scared out of my mind to activate my Flames when I was five. Coddled is having my Flames Sealed by the very men who swore they'd never hurt me!" Breathing hard, he pushed through the group, shoulder checking the older Sky on his way, "Maybe my life was cushy compared yours. I wouldn't know. I don't know your life. Don't pretend you know mine."
He got no more than ten steps behind the Varia, his fear now setting in as the adrenaline started to leave his system, before Xanxus shot at him. The bullet hit just next to his left foot, making him jump away. "Dinner."
Tsuna took a moment to process what was said. "...what?"
Squalo nodded. "I'm with the brat on this. What?"
"Trash has guts."
A beat. Then, still feeling a little bit of snark in him, he said, "As Levi A Than so kindly reminded us all, I'm a civilian and I still have homework to finish." He turned his back again - probably a bad move - and continued walking away.
"Do your homework later," Xanxus ordered, "We need to have a conversation."
Tsuna rolled his eyes. "A conversation where you insult me the whole time? No thanks."
There was a smirk in Xanxus' voice as he said, "I was thinking more of a conversation where we insult out fathers, but if you'd prefer getting insulted-"
Tsuna turned around knowing he was giving Xanxus the win on this. With the last little bits of adrenaline, he looked the Wrath Sky up and down before saying, "Fine. But just so you know, all of the adrenaline in my system is being flushed out with panic."
Xanxus laughed loudly, holstering his guns. The others took the cue, however confused, and also put their various weapons away. "I like you, kid," he stepped forward and slung his arm around Tsuna before directing him towards a restaurant, "Dinner's on me."
Xanxus's Guardians don't follow them into the restaurant. Instead, they station themselves around the perimeter of the place.
"So," Xanxus started, "What's your story, brat?"
Tsuna, now completely drained of all the previous adrenaline, stutters out, "My-my story?"
"You can't just drop a line about having your Flames sealed and not expect me to be curious." He leans back in his seat, completely relaxed. "So?"
Tsuna took a drink from the glass of water placed in front of him, mostly to ground himself, before beginning, "Well, um, I-I didn't know what had hap-happened until recently, actually. Reborn mentioned, um, something about what Dying Will Bullets before and I kinda put things together from there? It-it's all speculation on my p-part, but-"
"It seems the most likely?"
"Yeah..."
"What was it like?"
"Huh?"
"I can confirm for you now if you tell me what it was like."
"Oh, um," he looked down at his hands in his lap, playing with his fingers anxiously. "Cold? Like, really cold."
Xanxus shifted. "Cold?"
"Like I'd never be warm again. I-I knew when I was warm or hot or cold- I could feel temperature differences, but I was always so cold." After a minute, he continued, "I, um... I couldn't really think straight, and later a doctor told me, in-in so many words, that my, uh, nondeclarative memory was basically shot to hell, so, so learning and doing really anything was a lot harder than it ever should've been." He brought a hand up and wiped his eyes before picking the glass up again. "I asked Shamal about it it once, and he doesn't think I'll ever really recover." A beat. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"What's your story?"
Xanxus scoffed, though the air around him was subdued, almost melancholy, when Tsuna looked up at him. "What, you don't know it already?" There was an accusation there.
"I-I know what I've been told." Tsuna shrugged, "Who knows if-if that's the truth."
Tsuna could practically feel Xanxus sizing him up again, even after he'd looked back down at the table. It was very unnerving, but he was glad for the tentative...peace wasn't the right words, but it was the closest he could think of. An understanding? Not quite. Whatever was happening, Tsuna was mostly just glad he was still alive.
It wasn't until after they received their food that Xanxus said anything. "I'm supposed to be twenty-six," his wine glass clinked on the table loudly between them, "You know about the Cradle Affair?" Tsuna nodded. "Nono froze me. Don't know what the technique is called or how he did it, but I've been awake for ten years."
That was... There wasn't any words he could think of to properly express what he felt anymore. Ten years? And he was awake the whole time?!
"Unable to move, unable to communicate, unable to feel my Guardian Bonds." He breathed in deep. "Yeah, kid. Your Flames were Sealed, probably with a similar technique."
They finished their dinner in silence.
"Are you..." Tsuna spoke up just after their plates were cleared and their dessert - Xanxus insisted - was ordered, "Are you still cold?"
"A bit," he said, "You?"
"Probably less than you."
"Hm." Another few minutes passed. Then, "Activate your Flames for me, yeah?"
"Huh?" He blinked, "We're, um, surrounded by people?"
Xanxus snorted. "No one ever told you what Dying Will Flames are, have they."
It wasn't a question, but Tsuna shook his head anyway.
"Dying Will Flames," Xanxus started, "are the manifestation of one's will to live. Once activated, they can be utilized for any number of things, though not in excess because they take a lot of energy, especially without a proper conduit. But, the only part that matters right now is that Dying Will Flames can't be seen by anyone who isn't Flame Active. And if there was any Flame Actives in this place, they would've long called in your babysitter."
"Right.." A beat. "He's not my babysitter!"
Xanxus laughed again, loud and from his belly. After a few minutes, he wiped tears from his eyes and said, "I like you, kid. Now, activate your Flames for me. I wanna see something."
Tsuna hesitated for a minute. "Is this a good time to tell you I've not actually activated my Flames on my own?"
Xanxus raised an eyebrow. "You mean no one's taught you how to defend yourself?"
"Not with Flames, no..."
"Kid, the only way to defend yourself, now that you're Flame Active, is with Flames. You not being able to activate them on your own is a death sentence in the making."
"Oh.." That...didn't really surprise him, if he was being entirely honest. "I-I guess that makes sense?"
Xanxus blinked. "That's concerning."
"What? What is?"
"That it makes sense. It shouldn't- Wait. Do you even know what's going on?"
"Um..." What kind of question was that? "I know that Reborn said I was the last person eligible to inherit," he flinched a bit, but continued, "An-and I know that the Dying Will bullets were supposed coax my Flames out, um, and that my father's been lying to my mom since they met." He didn't even bother to stop the anger at that last bit.
Xanxus whistled. "You're missing a lot of information, kid." He sat forward, leaning his elbows on the table and ignoring the dessert that had been brought out. "Give me your dominant hand." Tsuna did. Xanxus cupped it over his own. "'Dying Will' is a bit of a misnomer. The name implies activation only moments before death because that's when most people go Active. Limited research has found that Flames Activate best under high-stress situations. The Dying Will Bullets are specifically designed to bring up your final regret before death so that your Flames can use that as fuel. Make sense?"
"N-no..?"
A beat. "Close your eyes."
This is where he dies.
Tsuna closed his eyes.
"Good. Now, what do you see?"
"Um..." Was he supposed to be seeing something? "Nothing?"
Xanxus hummed. "It's completely blank?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Can you imagine a string?"
Tsuna tried, he really did. He shook his head.
Xanxus hummed again and let go of his hands. Tsuna took the cue to open his eyes.
He really was No-Good...
"What happened when you first activated your Flames?"
Huh? "I was five," he deadpanned.
"So, what, three years ago?" Xanxus waved off, "Just tell me what happened."
"How old do you think I am?!" Tsuna couldn't help but raise his voice. Huffing, he picked up his fork and started to eat his cake. "I told you already, I don't really remember what happened. I know my father was there, and so was this guy he called his boss. I got scared of..something? And I think I fell out of a tree?" He paused with the fork in his mouth. "Yeah, I fell and then was suddenly really warm? And then my father and his boss where there, and then everything just..stopped being warm."
Xanxus, having finished his own cake while Tsuna was talking, staked his plate and pulled out cash to pay. "High stress situation, then." Tsuna didn't like the sound of that. "Come on," he stood, "The other's will want to help with this."
Tsuna squeaked and hurried to follow him. "W-what?"
Xanxus had an evil smirk on his face that made Tsuna pale. "Flame Activation. My Guardians are gonna want in on this."
Tsuna really didn't like the sound of that.
Tsuna ended up following the Varia back to the hotel they were staying at. It was a really nice place in the middle of town that he'd never step foot in again because the carpets cost more than his entire house, so he was very aware of where he was stepping and how he was moving because there was no way in hell he'd ever be able to dig himself out of debt if he so much as scratched the wooden floors.
The group regrouped in the Presidential Suite that Xanxus had bought. Tsuna was on one couch, Xanxus surrounded by his Guardians on the one opposite him.
"You want us to what now?" Squalo asked. He, and everyone else, seemed just as perplexed as Tsuna at the turn of events.
"Don't make me repeat myself, trash."
Lussuria had a small smile on their face. "Help the Baby Sky activate his Flames because the adults in his life seem to want him to remain useless?"
Tsuna flinched, but didn't really have anywhere to stand to correct the Sun. He was pretty useless.
"Count me out," Mammon said, "I'm not getting paid to do someone else's job."
Reborn. Mammon was talking about Reborn. But, that didn't make sense? Reborn was teaching Tsuna, no matter how reluctant he was to learn.
He's so confused.
"Shishishi," Belphegor was tossing a knife in the air and catching it, "Why should we help the Baby Sky? It'd be easier to just kill him now and be done with him."
"Because he's Quality." Xanxus said. His Guardian's stopped so much as breathing.
Tsuna, to reiterate, was still very confused.
Lussuria shrugged. "Guess there's no helping it, then." They moved to sit on the coffee table in front of Tsuna and took off the glove on their left hand, revealing a yellow and silver ring in the shape of a shield that they also took off and offered to Tsuna. "You're a Sky, so it probably won't work it's best, but using a conduit is the best way to channel your Flames."
Gulping, Tsuna shakily put the ring on and...just stared at it for a moment. "Was, um, something supposed to happen..?"
Squalo scoffed and came forward next, hitting Tsuna in the head. "You're supposed to activate your Flames, dumbass."
"But..I don't know how to do that?"
Mammon sighed and snapped the book they were reading closed. They threw it at Xanxus, "You better pay me extra for this," then turned their attention to Tsuna. "Close your eyes and imagine an orange fire."
Again, Tsuna gulped. "X-Xanxus already tried that... I, um, can't see pictures in-in my head."
He's pretty sure Mammon blinked behind their hood. "Congenital or Acquired."
"Huh?"
"Your aphantasia. Where you born with it, or was this something that developed later on in life?"
"O-oh, um, I don't know? Acquired, I think? It-it could be a symptom of the Seal?"
"Fascinating." Tsuna didn't think that was a good word to hear from them. It had the same tone the Reborn has when he's interested in something, and that usually never ends well for Tsuna. "Congratulations, you have a good defense against Mist Flames."
"Thanks..?" Was that a compliment? He didn't know.
"There should be a pull of power," Levi A Than said, "Find it and focus on it."
With nothing else much to do, Tsuna closed his eyes and starting searching for whatever 'power' felt like. After a few minutes, he inhaled sharply and smiled smally. "It's warm."
"Good," there was a smile in Lussuria's voice, "Pull on it and bring it to the surface. It should light a spark on the ring."
He focused on the warmth and pulled at it. There was something holding it back, resisting against him, but it gave away after a few minutes.
Belphegor laughed. "Would you look at that."
Tsuna opened his eyes and was immediately mesmerized. Lussuria's Ring was covered in a Flame no bigger than the palm of his hand, equal parts orange and purple.
"A Cloudy Sky," Xanxus said.
"Glutton Flames*." Mammon was smirking. They pulled out their phone. "Verde's going to want to hear about this."
Tsuna still had no idea quite what was going on, but he was too lost in the colours of the Flame to notice much else going on until Lussuria gently placed their hands over his, effectively snapping him out of his trance.
"You'll have to get a different conduit," they slid their Ring off his finger, "But you now have a proper basis to activate your Flames again."
Tsuna nodded dumbly, still enthralled by the warm feeling.
"Trash," Xanxus snapped, "Get out before your babysitter comes looking for you."
With the sudden thought of what Reborn would do to him if he ever found he was making friends with the enemy, Tsuna was quick to jump up and rush to the door. Before he could leave, though, he turned back to the assassins and bowed. "Thanks for your help and for not killing me!" Then, he was gone.