DISCLAIMER: Tsunayoshi Sawada, Xanxus, and anything else you may recognize does not belong to me!

Watching Over Venus and Pluto

Tsuna could feel the hall full of people watching at him as he walked towards Nono.

When he finally reached his grandfather, the mans face was free of his usual smile as his hands gripped a wooden box.

On November Fourteenth, a month after his twenty-first birthday, Tsunayoshi Sawada became Vongola Decimo.

"Grandpa!" Tsuna called out as he maneuvered through the patio floor. "Sorry I'm late. Hayato and I couldn't decide whether a mission should go to Takeshi or Chrome."

Timoteo gave a soft laugh, lifting from his wheelchair to greet Tsuna with a hug, "It's fine. The one thing I've learned about retirement is that I have plenty of time to wait. Who was the mission for?"

"Someone has to talk to the Tuono Family about somethings," Tsuna declared as he picked up one of the menus. His eyes scanned over the contents, looking for something warm that would warm him from the barely there December chill. "Takeshi would have been your choice I suppose since he's my rain guardian and they're typically used for alliance relationships."

"I don't think so." Tsuna looked up at the words. The older man smiled, "I know quite a bit about your guardians, Tsunayoshi. Whether because I've seen you interact with them or because they did apprentice under mine you know? While it is tradition for rain guardians to handle affairs like this since they have a calming nature, you have a valuable asset in Chrome. She's painfully honest in her own way, she'll win the hearts of their wives and show her true strength the second any man questions her. No mafioso worth their salt will trust Yamamoto, they'll see how much of himself he hides behind his smiles rather easily."

Tsuna looked shocked for a minute before letting out a soft laugh, "That's true."

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten that I'm also a mafioso?" Timoteo joked. "It's only been a month since my retirement Tsuna."

"Of course not." There was a pause as Tsuna looked back at his menu. He looked back up after a moment, questioning, "But Grandpa, didn't you want to spend your retirement in Japan? I remember sending you off."

Timoteo was quite for a minute before answering, "I did go for a little while but then I realized that despite being someone who was very powerful, I want what every retiree wants."

Tsuna folded his menu and propped his elbow on top of it, giving the man his full attention. "And what is that?"

"To spend whatever time I have left with the little family I still have." Timoteo gave a soft laugh however the sound was distant and far off compared to the ones from earlier in their conversation.

Tsuna watched as the man waved over a waitress before asking, "Is everything okay, grandpa?"

The elder gave a soft sigh, "Everything is fine, Tsunayoshi. I invited Xanxus to come as well, I thought he might come since you chose him for your Vongola Council...It's not surprising that he hasn't forgiven me, I suppose."

"Grandpa, that's not-"

"Sorry for the wait, sirs," declared a waitress as she stepped up to their table. "I'm Pia and I'll be your server today."

"It's no problem. I feel honored to be served by such a beautiful women regardless," Timeto complimented.

The women gave a soft laugh, "Thank you sir. What would you like to drink?"

Tsuna sighed, leaning against his chair as he resigned himself to spending the next five minutes listening to his grandfather flirt with their waitress.

There was no doubt in his mind that the man wouldn't allow him to steer the conversation back to Xanxus.

Tsuna ushered January of the next year in with his first official council meeting.

The Vongola Council were the governing body for all decisions on the Vongola Alliance and Tsuna had been careful to make sure he filled it with people he trusted, and that the families in the alliance would be comfortable with as well.

Choosing his allies had been simple enough.

Dino sitting on his council seemed natural to him and the rest of the Alliance hadn't said another about it either. His second choice had been Enma, the Shimon, naturally and the outcry at first had Tsuna spending months trying to convince Enma to say yes.

The hardest part had been choosing an external adviser. The Vongola had many branches but the CEDEF had been chosen by all of his predecessors for the job. But he didn't feel comfortable having his father with him, not when he was someone whose alliance was clearly more to Nono then Tsuna, and there was only other organization that Tsuna trusted.

The Varia.

It wasn't as thought Tsuna actually considered them friends or thought they were loyal to him in anyway, but Xanxus was someone Tsuna knew would be there for him if it was for the growth of the Vongola or get in his face if it would ruin them.

"Tsuna!" Enma called as Tsuna stepped into the conference room.

"Enma!" Tsuna returned. He darted forward, wrapping his best friend in a hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"

The redhead laughed as he wrapped Tsuna in his arms, "Same. I haven't had time since becoming Decimo and neither have you, right?"

"It's all been very hectic." Tsuna glanced around as he pulled away, spotting Xanxus sitting in a chair at the other end of the table. "Is Dino not here yet?"

"He darted out to get some food since we weren't sure when you'd be here. I've been trying to convince Xanxus to have a conversation with me but he keeps calling me trash so I don't think I'm really getting anywhere."

Tsuna glanced over at the man in question, "I'll go talk to him. Besides, you need to call Adel right? I know how she gets when you forget."

Enma groaned, "You're right. I thought that since she's married to Julie and their trying to have kids, she might mellow out but pregnancy has only made her even more protective."

Tsuna laughed, patting Enma on the back as he walked towards Xanxus. He didn't say anything until he heard the doors shut as Enma stepped out. Then he called out, "Xanxus, you should have come to lunch with grandpa and I last month. It was fun."

"Nothing with that old man is fun," Xanxus answered. "Are we getting started or what, trash?"

"Soon." Tsuna tapped his fingers against the table. "He really wants to see you again. He just wants to make things better before he dies you realize."

"If that old man was going to die he would have done it ages ago."

Tsuna growled, "He's not immortal you-"

Before he could continue, the door swung open and Dino and Enma walked in together. The blonde held up a bag, "I've got burgers for everyone."

"Toss it, Cavallone."

Dino fake swooned, "Of course Xanxus. I'll do whatever you say because it's not like you have two legs or anything."

"Dino please don't start a fight over Squalo right now," Tsuna sighed.

"I am not fighting over Squalo," Dino objected. "I'm fighting because he can't get up and grab a burger himself."

Xanxus chuckled, "It's not as though there's even a fight when the shark trash always picks me."

"Why you-"

Tsuna stood up, grabbing one of the burgers as he took the chair at the head of the table, "Take a seat Dino. Let's get this meeting started."

Tsuna was rummaging around in his desk when he heard his office door creek open.

He peeked up, finding Timoteo rolling his wheel chair into the room. He gave a small smile before slamming the drawer shut and opening another, "Sorry about this, Grandpa. It'll only be a moment, I misplaced a-"

"Voooooi! Brat!" There was the slamming of the doors hitting the wall as it was kicked open. "Boss sent me to pick up the twerps fucking mission!"

"I know, I know! Just give me a moment!" Tsuna answered.

He rummaged for a minute before letting out a soft, "Ah-ha!" and straightening up. He looked through the folder quickly before looking up saying, "Here Squal-"

Tsuna stopped, finding Squalo gaping at Timoteo.

"You-" Squalo began. He turned to Tsuna, growling, "The boss was supposed to come pick up this mission. If he saw-"

"Don't get mad at Tsunayoshi," Timoteo interrupted. Squalo turned his angry gaze towards him. "I was supposed to meet him at the restaurant but I wanted to visit with my other grandchildren so I arrived early to spend time with Ipin and Lambo. He wasn't aware."

Squalo was silent for a minute before clicking his tongue, "Give me the mission, trash."

Timoteo chuckled as Tsuna handed over the file. "You've been taking lessons from my son, haven't you Squalo?"

He said nothing as he flipped open the envelope and checked it himself. He looked up at Tsuna as he snapped it open, "I'll give it to Fran and Bel when I get back to our mansion tomorrow."

"Thank you." Tsuna waited until Squalo had left to grab his jacket from the back of his chair, "Should we go then, Grandpa?"

Timoteo nodded. Tsuna pushed his wheel chair as the older man declared, "It's been a cold February. How do you feel about something indoors this time?"

"That sounds nice," Tsuna agreed. "Let's go to a Japanese grill then."

In March it rains so hard that the driveway floods.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Xanxus exclaimed.

Tsuna stood next to him, the duo stood on the steps staring out at driveway where the elders car sat. He hummed before drawling, "I don't think you can drive in this."

Xanxus was silent for a minute before clicking his tongue, "I'll use one of the guest rooms then."

"That's fine. Everyone's home right now so dinner will be at-" He was cut off by two blurs rushing towards him. He chided as he reached for them, snagging the two by the back of their shirts, "I told you to stop running inside!"

As Lambo laughed, Ipin apologized, "Sorry big brother. We were just excited."

"Excited huh?" Tsuna raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two ten year old's. "Excited about what exactly?"

"Dumbdera said he read something in a book once that there were seven great mysteries in the Vongola mansion!" Lambo exclaimed. "The Great Detective Lambo and his assistant-"

"His fantastic assistant," Ipin interjected, jamming her elbow into his ribs.

Lambo rolled his eyes but amended, "The Great Detective Lambo and his fantastic assistant Ipin will find them all and expose their secrets."

Tsuna sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Lambo, there are no mysteries. Hayato just said that to get you out of his-"

"No mysteries?" the two children murmured together.

Their voices sounded so broken that Tsuna rushed to fix his mistake, "No um- I mean-"

"Your brothers an idiot," Xanxus interrupted with a huff. Tsuna went to protest but was cut off by Xanxus squatting down in front of the kids. "He didn't grow up here like I did."

Ipin looked up at him. "Do you know what the mysteries are?"

"No one knows what they are, mini trash. That's why it's a fucking mystery." He paused before adding, "Enrico-"

"Whose Enrico?" questioned Lambo.

"Lambo," Tsuna murmured. "It's impolite to interrupt people."

Xanxus was silent for a minute before saying, "Enrico was my...big brother."

"Like Tsuna is to us?" Ipin put forward.

"Yeah." There was a pause as he swallowed hard. "Yeah, like that. Anyway, Enrico used to say that he heard noises in his closet every night. He might have just been trying to scare me but it might be a start."

Lambo and Ipin exchanged glances before the girl grabbed Xanxus', "Show us where Enrico's room is."

Shock fluttered across Xanxus' face as he looked down at the hand, as if surprised by the touch. He didn't pull away as she dragged him up the stairs.

"Xanxus!" Tsuna shouted up the stairs after a moment. "I'm supposed to be meeting Grandpa for our monthly lunch tomorrow. You should come rather then tearing out of here."

"Don't get your hopes up, trash!"

"I was thinking we should invite your father next month."

Tsuna choked on his drink. He coughed several times before he managed to get out, "Why would we do that?"

Timoteo rested his chin on his hands, "Well I am quite close to him, you know. He wanted to do lunch with me and I thought it would be nice for the three of us to get together."

"I um... I don't really want to have lunch with him. I'm sorry, Grandpa."

"I'll go out with him some other time then. But is there a particular reason you don't want to?"

Tsuna searched for a way to phrase it before coming out with, "It's complicated." Timoteo raised an eyebrow, clearly not satisfied with the answer. Tsuna sighed and ran a hand through his hair before saying, "Xanxus isn't yours right? But you loved him when he was younger and even now you still try, and my father just doesn't do that. He never has as far as I can remember. It was gone for ten years and then he just shoves a mafia on me, not that I don't love being apart of this family, and visited twice for business before disappearing again. I've only seen my dad a handful of times since the Arcobaleno trials and I'm almost positive my mother hasn't seen him at all even though she's supposed to be the love of his life."

Timoteo was silent for a minute before nodding, "Alright then. I'll schedule my lunch with Iemitsu on a different day then ours."

"Thank you." Tsuna spun his finger around the edge of the cup before looking up at him with a smile, "I wasn't sure if I should bring this up but Ipin and Lambo have taken a liking to Xanxus recently."

"Oh? I thought Lambo was terrified of him?"

Tsuna let out a soft laugh. "He was but last month Xanxus got stuck at the mansion what with all that rain and they dragged him all over the house looking for the seven mysteries of the mansion. Now they can't stop asking when he'll be back. They even asked to sit in on one of our council meetings so that they could sit next to him."

"Xanxus has always been good with children," Timoteo revealed. "The young Prince, Belphegor, was only ten or twelve when he came to us. The Vongola were supposed to protect him until he was old enough to rule but he got attached to Xanxus rather quickly. Here we are with a twenty-five year old Prince whose regent is still ruling his Kingdom."

With the April sun shining down on them, Timoteo told stories about the Varia members and Tsuna felt like he was going to die from laughing so hard.

Distantly, he remembered thinking that he hoped Reborn would have this many stories to tell about him and the guardians when he was older and hoping that Reborn would sound as proud as Timoteo did.

The first assassination attempt happens in May.

Tsuna flinched as his office door slammed open, crashing against the newly repaired walls, and gave a silent prayer that it hadn't left a hole.

"Five months is a lot longer then I thought you'd last before someone tried to kill you," Xanxus declared as he lowered foot he'd used to kick the door open back to the ground.

Tsuna questioned, "Couldn't you have just used the doorknob?"

"No." He strolled over and slammed a folder down on Tsuna's desk. "Here."

"What is it?"

"Schedule for your security detail. You'll have two people with you at all times."

Tsuna gaped for a minute before insisting, "I don't need bodyguards, Xanxus. I'm more then capable of protecting myself."

"Now listen here trash," Xanxus hissed, and despite the fact that Tsuna was far past his fear of the man he found himself scooting his chair as Xanxus's hands slammed against the desk, "if you die I have to take over and I've moved on to bigger and better things then be in this shithole signing papers so you're going to have the fucking bodyguards until we're sure you're skinny ass isn't gonna be killed. Understood?"

Tsuna swallowed hard and nodded. "Fine. But they're gone if nothing happens before June."

Xanxus ground his teeth together before giving an agreeing grunt. He pulled another folder from the inside of his jacket and placed it in front of Tsuna as well. "Give that to the old man."

He picked it up, scanning it and figuring out what it was. "Squalo and Lussuria are guarding Grandpa?"

"Yeah well the old man can't even fucking stand up. If I don't give him the strongest ones and they come after him it'll be a fucking bloodbath." Xanxus clicked his tongue. "The Vongola isn't that pathetic."

Tsuna let out a soft, "Uh huh. That's why."

"Are you trying to imply something, trash?" A smile full of menacing teeth flashed.

Unaffected Tsuna shook his head. "Not at all but you know, my lunch with Grandpa is on the twenty first if you want to switch guard duty with Belphegor and-"

"Fuck off." He reached forward, slamming the palm of his hand against Tsuna's forehead and knocking the brunette out of his chair before storming away.

"You're going to have to come at some point!" Tsuna called after him, rubbing his forehead with one hand and his back with the other.

"No I don't! Next time I'll finish you off my fucking self!"

By June, Tsuna is so glad to be able to get away from Yamamoto and Belphegor or Mukuro and Fran (the two teams assigned to guard him all through May), that when Nono's limo pulled up to the restaurant they were planning on eating at the first thing out of his mouth was, "What if we go for dessert instead today?"

Timoteo stopped, in the middle of getting ready to roll out, and answered. "I'm fine with that, it'll be a nice change."

"Great."

Tsuna reached for the handle of the wheelchair only to be stopped by Timoteo, "What are you doing, Tsunayoshi?"

"I thought we could just walk," Tsuna answered. "There's this great cake place about a block or two over that Byakuran showed me the last time Yuni and he were in town. And we could both use the fresh air after last month."

There was a short pause before Timoteo gave a soft laugh, "Alright then. Stanley, if you'll just follow us in the car."

The driver nodded. "Alright sir."

Tsuna took a deep breathe as he started walking, pushing Timoteo in front of him.

He was enjoying the peace that came with the wind running through his hair and the laughter of the children in the park across the street when Timoteo said, "It's certainly been a bit of a strange few months, hasn't it?"

"It has," Tsuna agreed. "I'm glad it's all over. I can only take so much time with Mukuro."

"I did hear from Bouche that he was quite a handful."

"I don't think he's giving Mukuro enough credit," Tsuna answered. "He's more like a dump truck but even though he's a pain most of the time I don't think I'd know what to do if suddenly stopped acting the way he does. Mukuro's a drama queen, arrogant, and sadistic but that's just who he is and he's my family." He laughed softly. "I don't know what I'd do if any of my guardians stopped being so annoying."

"From what I hear, you're single-handling employing all of Italy's contractors because of them."

"There is frequently something needing fixed," Tsuna admitted. "What were your guardians like when they were our age?"

Timoteo said, "Rambunctious, although not quite as much as yours perhaps. Ganauche especially had a bit of a wild streak, although that was largely because he was always around people so much older then him. I'm almost positive he doesn't remember any of his sixteenth year because he spent so much of it blacked out."

"No offense, Grandpa," Tsuna drawled, "but I hope Lambo skips that."

"I hope so too," Timoteo answered, reaching back to place a hand over Tsuna's. "It was a tough time for all of us, not just him and I would never wish that on any of you and especially not on my youngest grandson."

There was a strange air about them before Tsuna said, "What about Mr. Nougat? I'd love to hear some stories about him. He seems so serious all the time."

Timoteo threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, I could tell you some fantastic stories about Coyote."

"Anyone here?" Tsuna shouted, glancing around the giant foyer.

He'd been in the Varia Mansion a few times before but the grandeur of it never failed to amaze him. The arc ways were all decorated with intricately carved gold and white patterns that made the mahogany coloring of the Vongola mansion look almost cheap.

"Shouting isn't a very good way to get attention here, trash." Tsuna looking up to find Xanxus standing on the second floor, leaning against the gold railing with his hand on his cheek. "If I hadn't been passing by no one would have heard you and you probably would have gotten lost again."

"That only happened once and it was my first time here," Tsuna responded. He shifted on his feet, "Where is everyone? It's a lot quieter now then it was the last time I was here."

"How should I know?" Xanxus spat. "Unlike you're guardians, they aren't five year olds. They don't need looked after all the time." Tsuna tilted his head. Xanxus clicked his tongue. "The twerps had a date and the shark trash went to see the horse. I don't know where the other idiots are."

Tsuna couldn't help but smiled as he held a folder up, "Can you give this to Squalo for me then? It's the mission he requested. It took me a while to convince Kyoya to give it up but-"

"I don't fucking care," Xanxus cut off as he descended the stairs. "Give me the fucking thing."

Tsuna handed it over with a question, "If everyone is gone, do you want to come out to lunch with me? Ken asked me to bring him some sushi, he was trying not to eat it since it's something Chrome's had to give up while pregnant, so I was going to stop by that place in town that you like."

Xanxus glared at him for a minute before grunting, "Fine as long as you're buying the sake."

"I don't know why I was under the impression we would be eating a meal without sake," Tsuna mused.

"Whatever. I'm going to put this on the shark trash's desk and leave him a note. I've gotta grab a spare key too."

Tsuna tilted his head. "Why?"

"Because the trash is an insufferable nag and if he gets back and I'm not here the Cavallone bastard isn't getting laid."

"It's nice to know you aren't out to ruin every date Dino has with Squalo," Tsuna commented. "But that's not what I meant. Why do you need a spare key? Don't you carry one?"

"Obviously you fucking dumbass but the fucking Prince never remembers his key so if I don't put one under the mat, the twerps are gonna be able to get in."

"Huh." Tsuna watched as Xanxus climbed back up the stairs, settling on one of the chairs in the foyer to wait. "That's strangely domestic of you."

In July, a heat wave hits and everyone was stuck in the house under fear of heat stroke.

He knew it was driving some of them crazy: Kyoya needed freedom that he wasn't getting, Lambo needed to run and play, and Mukuro was getting antsy from being in the base for so long.

He ended up skyping his grandfather to escape from the abnormally high tensions, Mukuro and Kyoya had already destroyed tow of the six training areas and Gokudera had blown holes in three walls trying to catch Lambo after a particularly scything prank.

"Good morning," he greeted when his grandfather appeared on the screen of his laptop. He tried not to flinch when he heard a bang and then shouting.

Timoteo raised an amused eyebrow, "Is everything okay over there, Tsunayoshi?"

"Probably." He paused, listening for something else. Then added, "No one's screaming for Ryohei so they're obviously not too hurt. It just means after this I'll have to go check on the downstairs wall. I'm pretty sure the whole mansion is going to come down at this rate."

"Ah I remember when the mansion was that lively," Timoteo laughed. "When he was young, Enrico used to run around the mansion dragging his brothers into all sorts of trouble. Since he was the oldest, they tended to just go with whatever he wished. Eventually Massimo grew out of it, but Federico and Xanxus went along with it all the way until..."

The sentence stopped abruptly and Tsuna realized exactly what he would have finished with. Right up until the cradle incident.

There was silence for a moment before Tsuna said, "Lambo is like that. Even though Futa is four years older then him and Ipin is the same age, the both of them just go with whatever he tells them too. Since Kyoya and I aren't ever going to have kids of our own, we talked about making Futa unidecimo but his pension for following and the fact that I would never actually force that on any of my siblings makes it a little bit hard."

"Following isn't necessarily a horrible thing," Timoteo declared. "Although I don't think Futa would be well suited to the mafia field either. Has he decided what to study yet? He's in his first year of university, yes?"

Tsuna gave a soft laugh before nodding, "Yup. He's still doing his general studies but putting him in private school had him ahead of a lot of his class. We've talked about it a lot and he's interested in medicine. I offered to ask Shamal to let him shadow him but he said he's rather try and earn it."

"That's admirable of him." Timoteo seemed to focus on something off screen before speaking, his voice sounding like his mind was somewhere else. "Massimo had similar feelings. He never anticipated being my successor, as Enrico was the oldest and I suppose I did favor Federico quite a bit, and he was rather interested in the technological side of the Vongola. Many of our scientists and engineers had offered to do paperwork to give him an official internship, he spent most of his time with them anyway, but he refused. Said he wanted to be sure whatever internship he got was because of his skill and not his family name. I wondered once, right after it happened, whether it was Enricos' death he was mourning or the loss of the possibility to stay in that field when he was now expected to be my successor."

Tsuna was silent for a minute before requesting softly, "Will you tell me about them?"

"Mhm?" Timoteo's attention finally returned to him. "Tell you about who?"

"Your sons. Enrico, Massimo, Federico. Xanxus when he was younger." Shock settled on the older mans face so Tsuna quickly added, "I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about them! It's just that since Xanxus and I are so...brotherly, maybe? I sometimes wonder, even though I know if they're deaths hadn't occurred I likely wouldn't be close to you all or maybe I wouldn't know you at all, if I would have shared a similar relationship with them."

"Thank you Tsuna," Timoteo said, his expression softening for a moment. He clapped his hands together then, a wide grin coming over his face. "Should I tell you about the time Xanxus ran naked through the house because Federico threw a plastic snake in his bath?"

Tsuna laid on the floor of his office, his eyes closed and one hand behind his head as the curled around Nat-su who was fast asleep on his chest. With the new month, the heat had finally died down enough that he could relax like this with the window open and the breeze flowing through.

He could feel himself drifting off when suddenly a heavy weight fell on his legs.

When he felt Nat-su get up and patter down to the source of it, he peeked one eye open. He found Bester sitting on his shins while Nat-su nuzzled against him.

"Aah..." He reached one hand out, smiling when Bester leaned forward to rub his head against his palm. "Morning Xanxus."

There was a grunt of response from him. Tsuna swung himself up into a sitting position, giving a soft laugh when Bester just shifted in his lap and Nat-su scampered up to the liger's head and made himself comfortable in much the same way he did with Tsuna's hair, so that he could see the man standing at his doorway.

Tsuna felt himself yawn as he questioned, "What's going on?"

"I need the keys to the rooms in the second floors east wing," Xanxus answered, folding his arms and shifting his weight to his left foot.

"Ah..." Tsuna raked his brain before saying, "Nothing's down there anymore, though. Reborn said that's were the kids of the family usually have rooms but Lambo, Reborn, and Futa didn't want to be too far from me when we first moved in and Chrome is the only one with a kid, but Arianna is only a few weeks old."

"I left the house on bad terms. I didn't really have time to pack everything," Xanxus deadpanned. "There are some things there that I need now due to the circumstances."

Tsuna tilted his head, fingers scratching under Bester's chin, "The circumstances?" Xanxus murmured something Tsuna couldn't hear. "Huh?"

"I need my old shorts," Xanxus snapped after a moment. Tsuna reeled at the sudden shout as Xanxus followed with, "Lussuria is making us all get rid of the tight pants and leather coats because the fucking idiot prince passed out last week."

Tsuna was quiet for a minute before he burst into laughter. It shocked the two wild cats so much that Bester bounded to the door. The liger walked around it's master in circles, the small rider on his back bouncing with each step.

"You're ridiculous!" Tsuna exclaimed. "You're the best assassins in the world but you can't take the sun."

Xanxus glared at him before biting, "The keys idiot."

"T-Top drawer. Y-You're great weakness is nature! Oh my god!"

Grabbing the keys from the top drawer in Tsuna's desk, Xanxus stalked out with the animals close on his heels.

His mother ends up being able to come visit in September so the mansion is filled with people coming in and out, always invading their dining room to taste her kitchen.

It was exhausting to constantly be a host and left little time for him to actually spend time with his mom even though he had missed her tremendously during his time in Italy.

It chipped away at his sleep pattern until he found himself searching through the three in the morning.

"Well I currently didn't expect to find you down here so late." Tsuna let out a shrill scream, his fingers fumbling the milk he was holding.

When he tuned, heart still pumping, to find Timoteo sitting at the island with a plate of apple pie in front of him and an amused smile on his face, he took a few deep breaths before saying, "I haven't been sleeping well."

"Stressed?" Timoteo questioned. He slid the plate towards Tsuna. "Do you want a bite? You're mother made it. I haven't had dessert this good in quite sometime. When you reach my age, people stop letting you have the good stuff."

"No thank you. I've had so many sweets lately, what with Byakuran in town too, that I'm much more inclined to just eating her meals." He poured a glass of milk, sipping at it as he leaned against the counter and watched his grandfather. After a moment he said, "I don't know if stress is the right emotion? I suppose it's just that...I want to be a good host because all the people visiting are my friends but I'd like to just spend sometime with my mother and my family. I mean- All of these family are my family but-"

"But you want it to just be your mother and your siblings?"

Tsuna nodded after a moment, "Yeah. I know she's coming back in November for the wedding but I expect I'm going to be a mess then, even with Kyoko and Haru handling all of it so that Kyoya and I can focus on work, and she wont be here when Kyoya and I get back from our honeymoon."

Timoteo hummed around his fork. "Have you tried telling the others this Tsuna?"

"Of course not. It'd be rude to just tell everyone to get out."

"Perhaps not phrase is quite like that," the former boss said with a laugh. "But all of them see you as family as well and if you asked for them to go have a day on the town so that you could spend sometime as a group of kids with their mother, they would do so gladly."

"Tsunayoshi?" The duo looked over to find Kyoya standing at the stairs, looking at them with a strange expression. "What are you doing down here?"

"Just talking to Grandpa. What are you doing?"

Kyoya yawned as he crossed the room, grabbing a bottle from the cabinet. "Chrome and Ken haven't had a good nights sleep in two months. I offered to take care of Arianna for tonight. Hopefully, the little herbivore will start sleeping through it soon."

"A difficult time in any parents life," Timoteo stated. He rolled himself away from the table, placing the plate and fork in the sink. "If you'll excuse me boys, I wish to sleep a few more hours. Think about what I said, Tsuna."

"I will." When Tsuna looked away from the doorway that the man had just disappeared through, he found Kyoya staring at him. "Huh?"

"What was that about?" Kyoya questioned.

"Ah...nothing really." Tsuna gave a small smile. "Do you want help? I haven't gotten to see Arianna at all this week since I've been so busy making sure everything was okay with all the people around."

"This child is spoiled rotten. Chrome and Ken are gonna have a hard time with her when she's old enough to realize she has a whole houseful of Uncle's to get her everything they wont," Kyoya murmured, but didn't protest when Tsuna took the plastic from his hand and started filling it.

Tsuna has a panic attack in October, as the month is starting to fade out and the wedding it growing closer, and it hit hims in the middle of an allies meeting.

One moment he was listening to Don Farfalla drone on and on about how they were losing their grip on their old traditions and playing with the ring on his finger, and then suddenly the metal was cold to his touch, his throat was constricting, and he couldn't get the words out to say what was happening.

He must have blacked out because the next thing he knew, the room had been cleared of all but Xanxus. The older sky user, who served as a frequent bodyguard and back-up speaker for the Vongola, had his hands on Tsuna's face, two fingers flicking against his cheek like he thought it would help wake him up sooner.

Tsuna thought maybe he saw a hint of worry there but he pushed it away. Instead he croaked, "Where is everyone?"

"Byakuran pulled a fire alarm when we realized what was happening."

"That's good," Tsuna murmured. "I don't think I'd ever hear the end of it if the other bosses realized I got these."

Xanxus hummed before questioning, "What were you thinking about?"

Tsuna blew a strand of hair hanging in his eyes away. "I don't know. A lot of things I suppose. It started out by wondering if I could convince Byakuran not to eat half of the cake and then-"

"And then you started worrying about it?" Tsuna nodded. Xanxus clicked his tongue. "You're trash fiancee is supposed to be taking care of this you know. Not me."

Tsuna gave a weak laugh. "If I told Kyoya how much I was actually worried about the wedding he would call me a herbivore. I don't think he realizes how out of my league he really is."

"Shouldn't you have been over that like...twelve years ago?"

"Probably. We've been together so long you'd think it would have been addressed at some point but it just never came up in conversation so I just let it sit there."

They were silent for a moment before Tsuna felt something thump against his chest. He was surprised to find it was Xanxus' hand, clenched in a fist against his heart. Xanxus cleared his throat before saying, "Well, you're a Vongola by blood and no one is too good for us because we're the best. Alright?"

"Alright," Tsuna said after a moment, eyes still fixated on the hand. He mused after a moment, "Is that what you're brothers told you the first time you got dumped?"

He wasn't really surprised when the fist thumped against his chest again, this time a full blown punch that sent him spiraling towards the floor despite the grin on his face.

The next November brings his wedding.

"Kyo-nii!" Ipin called, reaching out for the cloud guardian. The puffy skirt of the red dress she wore caved in as she leaned against the table, "Come dance with me. Nozaru says his feet hurt."

Tsuna laughed, nudging him with his elbow. "Well go on. You're the one who taught her how to dance in the first place."

"Hn. What a troublesome family I married into," Kyoya responded. There was a small smile on his face as he got up, allowing the girl to drag him across the room.

Tsuna watched them, smiling, for a second before allowing himself to scan the room.

He paused when he reached the Varia table.

He had expected Xanxus to be the only one there – having seen Fran cooing at the new baby as Chrome and Mukuro spoke to him, Belphegor with Lussuria on the dance floor, Levi at the bar, and Romario standing by the bathroom with a deep blush on his face – and while Xanxus was there, he had unexpected company.

Timoteo sat with his son, a smile on his face as he spoke. Xanxus seemed to be ignoring him for the most part, knocking back shots stolen from the passing waiters, but he hadn't escaped out the backdoor and started yelling yet.

Tsuna supposed that was all he could ask for.

"Tsu-kun?" Tsuna looked over to find his mother looking at him. "Is everything alright?"

"Mhm, it's fine," Tsuna declared. He felt his lips turn up. "Everything's perfect. Maman, do you want to dance with me?"

She chuckled, "Are you sure you can keep up with me?"

"I'll give it my best shot." He stood up, reaching a hand out for her. "I just want to spend as much time as possible with you before you're gone."

E/n: Aaaah I'm really relieved to finally have this done. I've really poured a lot into it the past few weeks and I'm so proud of it.

I hope you all find it as enjoyable as I did.

I hope my characterization wasn't off either...Xanxus isn't someone I have a lot of experience writing which was part of the reason I wrote this.

Also I know some things seem a bit random: the wedding suddenly about to happen, Chrome and Ken's baby, but as they aren't the ofcus of the story I didn't mention them until they were relevant to the plot.