A/N: So... sorry for this, real life, exams and stuff. Well, you know.)

WARNINGS: I changed it a little after Soul of the World beta-ed it, so there are mistakes. Well...more than usual anyway. ;D So blame only on me.

And yeah. OOC. Lots and lots (in my opinion).

BETA: Soul of the World

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Lussuria's fancy-pantsy. (don't even know what I'm talking 'bout xD)

Chapter 9:

(or where boxers are not fun and thoughts and conversations lead to things)

Xanxus was the person who didn't mind a good nap. A long uninterrupted nap after a good bottle of whiskey, or a good beat up of the trashes, or a good fight with some scum. Or even a nap during the said fight. After all there is never a bad time for a nap. Or for a fight. Or for a snack.

And talking about the food.

Xanxus grumbled in unison with his stomach as he groggily opened his eyes, looking around him. Red, red, red, red. His eyes only met the red color. It was kind of funny, because his eyes also were red. Red meet red. Huh.

He mentally frowned at this. Since when did he find this kind of things funny? And since when did he even have this kind of thoughts?

He blamed it on his hunger.

He pulled open the red curtains of his king-sized bed and squinted eyes at the harsh light of the morning that filled his room. The big bedroom was basking in the white-yellowish light, as the sun rays filtered through the curtained windows. Xanxus grumbled once more, clearly not happy with the fact that he woke up in ungodly hour (if 12 in the morning can be considered early). His mind still a little hazy, as he climbed out of the bed and moved to get the fresh set of clothes he spotted on the chair near the window.

After cleaning himself up, he exited his luxurious (well at least by standards of this time)bedroom. He smirked slightly while leisurely walking down the corridors by the familiar path he remembers from his early-early years… The days he spent exploring the maze of rooms in the Mansion where the old man brought him in and all the short cuts and hidden paths he discovered during his little adventures. He sure had fun annoying all those trashes that were assigned to watch him those days. It was amusing to watch them curse and run all around the mansion while he was eating cookies he usually stole from the kitchen while hiding in alcoves and other hiding spots and supposed-to-be closed doors. His lock-picking abilities (and other useful ones) he learned in early years of his life were very handy in that situation, but when the old-man heard about it, he forbade him to behave himself like that, saying that it was unbefitting for the son of the Boss…

Xanxus gritted his teeth and let out a frustrated growl from the back of his throat. From where did all of this come? He definitely was very hungry.

With a considerable spoiled mood, Xanxus turned into the narrow corridor hidden behind the old armors (he absent mindlessly noted that in future they still stood on the same place) and a few turns later he was already in front of the doors that led to the kitchen.

He scowled a little, thinking that it was a sneaky move from Secondo to let the most of the mansion's stuff a couple of days off. He said something about keeping their identities a secret (Well, mostly because of that), so the amount of people in mansion decreased considerably after their arrival. And because of that he couldn't call for a servant or a maid, who could have bring him breakfast. Though… he didn't really mind to go himself. After all it will be less complicated to do so, instead of trying to explain to the trashy servants what exactly he wanted. When he tried to snap at the maid that led him to his room, he didn't have that sense of satisfaction when she started to tremble in his presence. Because he knew it wasn't for the fact that she was afraid of him. It was the fact that he looked so much like Secondo that she was afraid of him.

Setting aside the problem with the stuff in the meantime, Xanxus noticed that besides some of the weakest lowest trashes (that tried to 'stop' him) on their arrival there were no reactions from the much stronger people. Where were the Secondo's Guardians? The other strong people of this time? Where were the Secondo's force? He didn't know and he was sure that Secondo won't tell him. He was sure that Ricardo was still suspicious of them…

Deep in his thoughts and still a little dazzled from his sleep, Xanxus took a hold of the doors' handle. He didn't pay attention to how his nerves tingled in a warning as he slowly turned the handle to open the door…

It was his big-big mistake.

For the highest Varia Officers, it was an unspoken rule to never ever come to the kitchen in the morning if you don't want to get another mental trauma in addition to your others ones (well their subordinates weren't that lucky). But as Xanxus never went to the kitchen in the morning himself, he never knew and never suspected about this kind of rule and the horrors Varia subordinates experience every day when they are sent to get the breakfast. He just blatantly ignored the fact that the subordinates returned with his breakfast with pale faces and shaking hands.

Probably he should pay attention to this kind of things.

Then he would have spared himself an image that burned into his mind, leaving him speechless and in a state of deep shock that he had never experienced in his life before.

His eyes were wide and lips slightly parted as his mouth fell open and his red eyes were glued to the figure in front of the old styled oven.

It was the Gay-trash.

The Gay-trash who was dressed only in his neon red and green boxers and an old frilly white apron, cooking pancakes, while humming some tune and swinging his hips in rhythm, flashing his bare muscular legs and arms for everybody to see.

Not that anybody will want to see that.

"What are you doing?" this question involuntary slip past his lips. He was too stunned even to curse.

Lussuria gasped and whirled around, nearly losing his hold on the frying pan. Something fluttered in the flamboyant man's stomach when he understood that it was Boss who was standing in the doorway, and that it was the Boss who asked him.

"Bossu! You came for the breakfast? Sit down I will finish the pancakes and make you your favorite coffee and fry the bacons with eggs! Oh! Or do you want some steak? I can make you your favorite-"

"Shut up trash." Xanxus snarled at him, finally snapping out from his shock. "I didn't ask you to cook me something, I'm asking what the hell are you doing in kitchen, in this- this-" the red-eyed man grimaced and gestured with one hand at the flamboyant officer, who blinked at him in confusion.

"What?" Lussuria looked down at his apron. "I know that this apron is horrible, really, so unfashionable! Who even use such plain color as white on apron? It's so uncomfortable, especially when you put stains on it. If you ask my opinion - red and blue, or yellow would look far much better-"

"I didn't ask about your tastes either!" Xanxus growled out stomping towards the man. "What are you doing here naked- and-" he ignored the pile of people behind the table as he tried to emphasize with his flailing hands the whole… just everything. "And… just… what the hell?!"

'Oh, crud, I can't believe I made Boss speechless with only my bare legs and arms, if only he saw me completely nude!-' Lussuria who was too lost in his fantasies failed to notice how on Xanxus' hands lit up flames.

"B-boss? W-what? W-wait-KYAAAAAHHH!-"

The explosion smelt like pancakes and bacon.

Ricardo crossed his hands in front of him and his eyebrows twitched as he continued to glare at two men sitting on the sofas.

"The kitchen, three halls, two dining rooms, another meeting room, half of the west wing and half-dead kitchen stuff."

Lussuria groaned quietly as he nursed his burns and bruises, and Xanxus just glared with hatred at the older male.

The Secondo knocked him out. Again. And seize him to keep him calm. Again.

Oh, how he wanted to-

"Of course, I understand that- oh wait." The Secondo paused with a thoughtful expression. "No I don't understand!" he snapped then, making Lussuria flinch harder.

"You." Ricardo pointed his finger at Xanxus. "Wait me in the rose gardens. We need to talk."

Xanxus narrowed his eyes at him. Obviously disliking the commanding tone of voice of the man, but he held into himself and just grunted in confirmation.

"And you." Ricardo then pointed his finger at badly cooked Lussuria, before pausing. "Just…GO. Do something. Anything. And wear some clothes for Christ' sake!"

Not wanting the green-eyed male to snap at him, Lussuria hurriedly nodded and with quite difficulty stood up. He limped away from the destruction and upset Secondo to his temporary room, with a gloom thoughts about his ruined boxers and breakfast, but then his face lit up with mirth and he giggled girlishly.

His Boss was so cute with that lost expression on his face. He probably should try to catch Boss off guard more, if only to see this expression on his face. He winced slightly through his giggles. Or maybe not. After all he wasn't sure if he could survive another stunt like that.

But it didn't make the smile on his face disappear. Lussuria was relishing on another fact that made him almost giddy from the fuzzy feeling. His Boss talked to him.* Not just a few words of command or insults directed on him, but they actually had a conversation, though it didn't lead in the right way. Well they exchanged no more than few phrases, but it was a conversation nonetheless. When he joined the Varia, Lussuria noticed that Xanxus wasn't a very talkative person, so he rarely spoke to any of his Officers, with exception of Squalo-taicho and Levi-kun (the two closest to the Boss subordinates). The first real conversation they had, was when he joined them and before Xanxus beat him up. Before and after the Cradle incident Xanxus spoke even less, but after the Battle for the Rings and the Representatives War, Xanxus did speak (insulted/snarled/yelled/etc) to them. But it was the first time Xanxus spoke and addressed him directly. Even if it was just few accusing and angry phrases, Lussuria felt honored.

When Lussuria reached his room, he sat on his bed and extended his hand to fumble with the drawers before bringing out a little glittery black and yellow box with familiar letters 'VARIA' on it. With a little groan he carefully slipped his ring he kept near the box on his swollen finger. Wanting nothing more than to start healing, the man hurriedly lit his yellow flame and inserted the ring into the box.

Lussuria blinked, when no familiar light and a 'Kuuu~' sound greeted him. He took his ring out and frowned at the box of Pavone del Sereno.

"Kuu-chan? What's wrong?"

There was no answer. The flamboyant man looked from box to ring, before carefully lit his ring up once more.

His frown only deepened when he saw that his yellow flame was small and unstable, and flickering on and off as if an invisible air was blowing at it.

He distinguished his flame and took of his ring, putting it on his palm next to the box. Lussuria stared thoughtfully at them, as his cracked glasses reflected them on the light. Something was wrong with his flames and he didn't like it at all. He briefly recalled that when he was protecting himself from Boss' attacks while fueling flames through his body, his received far more damage than usual. Were his flames failing him? Or did something happen while they time-traveled? He didn't know, but he didn't like this fact. He felt lonely without Kuu-chan's colorful and soothing presence. He wasn't really worried about fighting without flames. He had done it for most of life without them anyway.

But then he groaned, when he understood that his injuries need to tend in usual way now.

Xanxus was sitting in his usual position, with his feet propped up high, at the summer table in the rose gardens, where Ricardo wanted to meet him.

He inhaled the sweet aroma of roses and surveyed the flourishing flora around him with indifference as he pondered about something that kept bugging him since he met the Secondo.

It was true that he knew almost everything what was known about the Secondo (probably even more than Nono). From what kind of fighting style Ricardo use (which he found quite similar to his, except for the guns part), to the favorite type of wines he drinks (which are similar to his tastes too. He was quite pleased about this).

But when he knew about how the Secondo fought, how he negotiates and what kind of clothes he preferred, he didn't know the man himself.

Some of the information was in a top secret files, that were only to be used by the Boss and he never was able to get his hands on them. He even asked Nono (when he was young and not aware of things) about the personal life of the Secondo and what kind of person he was. Nono told him almost the same thing he already knew, but what he said him in the end grasped his attention.

"Remember Xanxus: The Boss, especially Vongola, is not what he or she seems like from the first look. Because no matter who he is, he is still the Vongola Boss."

It was not one of the most confusing and cryptic things Nono ever said to him, but it was the one he actually bothered to remember. Everything else the old man told him was forgotten in a whim of anger and bitter feeling of betrayal-

Anyway, Xanxus sighed with annoyance, he can't deny that being here, in this time, was an opportunity to actually get to know the Secondo –Ricardo- better, like he always wanted to.

And no matter how out of character it will be of him, he needs to tune down his attitude and actually be –growl- nice. Well at least a little nicer than his usual self. Or at least nice enough so not to initiate fights every five minutes. And probably he should stop destroying things.

The click of shoes against the stone brought his attention to the path that led to the glass doors into the greenhouse. He saw Secondo talking with some trash in servant's clothes –probably giving orders about destroyed kitchen- and when he finished the nervous servant bowed slightly and took off. Ricardo turned his green eyes at the young male and closed the doors of the greenhouse behind him. The man was silent as he moved to the table and sat on the other wicker chair opposite Xanxus' and just sat there staring at him with an emotionless expression.

Xanxus bit down at his snarl –'What are you staring at old man? I'm not a fucking fancy piece in museum to look at!'- and indifferently looked back at the man with the ponytail.

He didn't know why he hadn't said anything. He just had a feeling that the Secondo was testing him somehow, with that stare of his. It was not intense, it wasn't curious, nor accusing and disappointed. The green-eyed man just stared at him.

The spell was broken when he heard soft footsteps nearing them. Into the garden returned the previous servant-trash, with a tray of food and a bottle of wine.

Ricardo noticed the slight confusion that flickered through Xanxus' eyes and elaborated calmly.

"You hadn't eaten your breakfast."

Oh right. Xanxus looked down at the plate the servant put before him and deeply inhaled the smell of food, before digging in. Ricardo didn't look at him as he took a sip from his glass of wine, looking as servant hurriedly filled Xanxus' glass and with a hasty bow retreated to the Mansion.

"You know you could have found a more… compromising method to punish your subordinate." Casually remarked Ricardo.

Xanxus wanted to roll his eyes on him or ignore the statement, but he reminded himself –politeness, politeness damn it! – and glanced back at Ricardo.

"The trash deserved it."

Wow, he didn't even curse.

But it looks like Ricardo wasn't impressed. The man raised an eyebrow at him as he put his glass on the table.

"You think so? Well, I can't argue that his actions were… " Ricardo scrunched his nose a little, trying to find the right word for Lussuria, but finding none he just waved his hand in air. "Well, you know. But your punishment went too far." Ricardo paused thoughtfully, not noticing the scowl on Xanxus' face. Suddenly a smirk appeared on his lips, before he chuckled a little. "Though, I would have done the same on your place. But without the destruction of kitchen."

Xanxus stared at him a little before smirking himself.

"Trashes like him need to be kept in line." He remarked and downed his glass of wine. "Secondo, where are your Guardians?"

Ricardo frowned at the sudden question, but relaxed again before looking at Xanxus. "You do know, that I'm the Boss, right? I don't need Guardians 24/7 by my side." He snorted slightly, picking up his glass again.

It was an answer that Xanxus would have answered himself, when he needed to hide something. The Secondo obviously was doing the same and he clearly has no intentions to tell anything to his young counterpart. Xanxus narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything anymore. Instead he continued to gobble down his food, while finishing the bottle of wine in one gulp.

Secondo blinked at his actions, before frowning down at him. "Watch your manners boy, I may be not your father -and thank god I'm not- but your attitude is an offence to your heritage and therefore me."

Xanxus froze at his words, before slowly lifting his eyes to glare heatedly at the man.

"That's right you are not my father, old man, so shut the fuck up, before I will do it for you." He snarled, completely forgetting about the 'be polite' thing and the fact that he was still talking to the Secondo. "I don't need some freaking fancy advice from some trash who is already dead to me."

(Somewhere in the corners of more sane part of Xanxus' mind, on the plushy red chair sat an inner-Xanxus, who rolled his little red-eyes at his bigger counterpart's actions. "Way to go, Xanxus. Sure it is an awesome plan to insult Ricardo to gain his trust. Duh.")

An astonished silence followed, as Xanxus ignored the Secondo (and his little inner-fucker-self) all together and continued to devour his food, leaving the older male to stare at him with wide green eyes.

"Why you…" he heard Ricardo mutter breathlessly.

Xanxus got ready to defend himself from verbal or physical attack, because no matter how much respect he held for the Secondo, he won't allow this old man to-

"Ahahahahaha!"

-laugh at him?

Xanxus twitched at the sudden volume of Secondo's laughter that boomed across the rose garden like a thunder. Despite their similarities, they laughed different. When Xanxus' laugh resembles a mocking barking laugh, the Secondo laugh was thunderous and warm, that trembled the air around the person. The large grin on Ricardo's face caught Xanxus completely off guard (like his innerXanxus, who even fell off from the chair at the unexpected reaction) as he stared at the man who continued to crack up, as if he heard some funny joke.

"Kid (Xanxus scowled at the name) you are quite full of yourself, aren't you?" Ricardo ignored the glare directed at him. "I see, I see…" the man snickered once more.

"So." Ricardo cleared his throat, when he finally calmed down. "Decimo, how about we talk about Vongola?" his face was filled with mirth, and Xanxus could detect a trace of curiosity and seriousness in the man's voice.

Xanxus smirked, temporary forgetting about his irritation. He has what to tell his ancestor about the future.

"What?" Xanxus snapped at Lussuria, when the flamboyant man approached him later in the evening, while he was napping in one of the private living rooms. He still was annoyed with the Gay-trash and he really didn't want him to spoil his mood that was more or less good after his lunch with Secondo.

Lussuria barely flinched at his Boss' voice and glare as he continued to worriedly bit at his cute pink napkin. His body was covered with bandages and his brows were furrowed in a worried frown. Xanxus raised an eyebrow at the state of the Gay-trash, but waited for the trash to say something.

"B-bossu…" Lussuria murmured worriedly fumbling with his napkin, unfolding it so the words 'Big Mama Lus' were seen and folding it back. "Did you notice… something off… about your flames?"

Xanxus froze at the question, before relaxing into his chair again and closing his eyes.

Lussuria who didn't notice or didn't acknowledge his Boss' reaction, continued to play with napkin. "It seems like our flames were thrown off balance because of time-jump. I couldn't create enough flames to lit up the ring to open the box (Xanxus briefly opened his eyes and glanced down at his hip, where was Bester's box) , and my body healing speed decreased to 13%." The man with Mohawk sighed then. "Mooooouuu- I don't like being so messed up. I really do hope that Irie-chan will find out something soon-"

Xanxus considered throwing a heavy vase at the Gay-trash's head, but in his head popped out an image of glaring and yelling Ricardo. The red-eyed man scowled a little. Damn this old man.

"Trash." He snarled, stopping Lussuria in the middle of his rant. "You are annoying."

"Oh- Sorry, Bossu." Lussuria whispered, while silently grinning to himself. He got Boss to say something to him not only once, but twice! And this time he didn't need to be naked. Though he was disappointed. "I will go now, rest Boss!"

When the door finally closed, Xanxus let a little sigh of relief slip past his lips.

And why did he even bother himself with the trash that called themselves Varia's best officers?

Next morning, after breakfast (that was brought by a pale and a shaken maid), Xanxus went to the backyard. After their lunch in the garden, Ricardo asked if Xanxus didn't mind to take a walk with him. Seeing an opportunity to get to know the man better, Xanxus agreed (even if at first he played indifference. He has reputation after all), and Ricardo asked him to meet at the backyard of the mansion, from where they will head to the forest.

When he arrived into the yard, the Secondo was already there, speaking in silent but serious voice with some little man in black suit. When the little man noticed Xanxus approaching, his eyes widened in fear, before he started whispering furiously something to the Secondo, who briefly glanced at Xanxus too and just waved off the little man's worried expression. Xanxus narrowed his eyes but said nothing. He just looked as Ricardo said something and the little man, with a little salute, practically ran back to the mansion. When he passed Xanxus he nervously bowed to him, muttering 'Scusi, Il mio Giovane Padrone'* and hurried away from the Varia's Boss' blazing stare.

"Why so serious?" raised an eyebrow Ricardo with a slight smirk on his face, when Xanxus neared him.

The red-eyed man just snorted at him, earning another smirk at his direction.

Their walk was silent as they strolled through the rare trees and bushes. Xanxus was looking around, easily spotting all of the places he used as hiding places for corpses in his childhood and the numbers of other things that made him remember all those memories, he sure didn't want to remember. Ah, nostalgia.

And it looked like Ricardo noticed how Xanxus' eyes was dimmed with a mist of memories. The Secondo hummed thoughtfully, before looking back ahead of them.

"So, Xanxus, I never asked about your family." Ricardo ignored the twitch of the body next to him. "So, your father, Nono, was the one who trained you to become Decimo, it's understandable. And what about your mother?"

Xanxus gritted his teeth hard, mentally chanting –politenesspolitenesskeepcalm politenessdon'tsnap- regained his posture and replied with indifferent voice. "She died."

Ricardo didn't even blink, he just nodded briefly at his answer. "And what about siblings? Do you have brothers or sisters?"

Xanxus wondered if that trashy shrimp is related to the Primo, and he to Secondo, does that mean they were distant-siblings?

HELL NO.

"No, I don't have one."

Here Ricardo noticed the strained voice and clear annoyance. But before he could say something, Xanxus took a hold of conversation.

"And what about you Secondo?"

"Well." Ricardo frowned a little. "You probably know that I'm related to Primo, because there is no other way then to inherence the Famiglia, other than through blood relation." There was some emotion hidden in Secondo's expression, that caught Xanxus' attention. "We are second degree cousins.His father and mine are cousins. Thought we never knew about each other existence, before I seek him out when he only started Vongola."

Well this fact Xanxus didn't know. He knew that they were cousins, but he never knew it was Ricardo who found his cousin first. And what was the reason?

"But he is not my only sibling." Xanxus paused. That is unexpected. "I have a little sister and another cousin from my father's side. This cousin is a son of my father's another brother from another woman."

Ugh, Xanxus hated family relationships. That's why he preferred to forget about his treacherous mother and that old man-

"I try not to talk much about them. Sure my brother is in Vongola too, but my sister…." Ricardo's voice was well-controlled, but it wasn't so hard to guess that he was worried about his other younger sibling. "I prefer to keep her as far away from mafia business as possible, but sometimes it's very hard…" The man then stopped talking. "But why am I telling you about this? You probably know more about everything than me." He joked, trying to hide the awkwardness of his previous words.

Xanxus raised an eyebrow at this. It looks like that Secondo was an over-protective big brother.

Ricardo glanced at his watch and sighed almost with relief.

"It's noon already. We need to go back, I have some things to take care of. And I really want you to talk with your subordinate, my butler cried into my cup today…"

They returned to the mansion and went through the arc that connected courtyard and the backyard, and Secondo stopped to ask Xanxus if he and Lussuria will dine with him this evening, when suddenly there was a feeling that something was wrong.

Both males tensed when wind picked up and howled around them, making their skin crawl from the freezing feeling. In a sudden silence a rippling sound was heard and it echoed through the all courtyard.

They didn't have time to react when air in the middle of courtyard rippled on shreds and a few feet over the earth appeared a black swirling hole and through her fell three figures.

"Ugh- We are finally home!" the figure at the very bottom groaned out and Xanxus noticed a familiar mope of brown hair.

"Trash?" he asked in disbelief.

Great, now his wish was granted. He is going to be stuck with the Gay-trash and the trashy shrimp. And two others in addition.

"Who… are they?" Ricardo asked slowly, but not really looking away from the place where the hole once was.

Xanxus didn't answer, as he watched how the trashy shrimp blinked up at them from under the bodies, rubbed his eyes and then blinked once more.

"HIIIEEEEE! Why there are two of them?!" the trashy shrimp shrieked and fainted.

Just… great.

His Boss talked to him.* - I read somewhere in Rebowiki, that Xanxus never had a real conversation with his Officers except for Squalo and Levi.

Scusi, Il mio Giovane Padrone'* - (ita) Sorry, my young master.

Omake: Or where Lussuria is cooking

Nobody really knows when and how exactly Lussuria decided to make kitchen in the morning into his own paradise. But it was quite obvious that the Big Mama Lus of the Varia enjoyed this moments when the kitchen was only in his disposal and he can cook what he want, how he want and in what he want.

And here was the problem.

He preferred to do it naked.

"Bloody chipsticks! Third time in week! Third time!" screeched Belphegor as he run away from the kitchen.

Levi fell into coma on the very place he stood. In the kitchen's doorway. From where everybody could clearly see naked Lussuria dancing, in only bloody red and royal yellow apron, flashing his…backside for everybody to see.

Mammon just looked emotionlessly at frozen A Than and sighed tiredly, before floating away, murmuring something about compensation for mental trauma.

Squalo who run to the noise like a dog for the fresh bone, appeared in a hall, furious and swinging his sword wildly.

"Why the hell Bel is screaming again?!"

Nobody answered, and Squalo kicked Levi to stand on his place, but when he noticed what was going on kitchen, his face immediately was drained from all color.

"L-l-l-l-l-l-"

"Oh, Squalo-taicho!" Lussuria turned around and flashed a smile at the frozen man. "Wanna have some bacon?"

"YOU DAMN SHITTY OKAMA!"

It required many yelling, fights and death threats to finally convince Lussuria to wear at least boxers under that apron of his. But even for this Lussuria agreed after one particular threat from Squalo to cut something of, if he doesn't wear those stupid freaking boxers.