Lulu: yo~ My name is Lulu :3 I recently finished this series...and then read all the sickfics...there weren't enough...so then I made this one. There might be more to this one, there might not be. Depends on how long I can keep my attention on this before it shifts to something else-SQUIRREL! *goes to dive after squirrel* (but seriously, if there's more to this, it'll come soon)

NOTICE: IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THIS FANFICTION, PLEASE DON'T REPORT ME; JUST TELL ME YOUR ISSUES WITH THE PARTICULAR FANFICTION, AND I WILL DO MY BEST TO FIX THEM. I REALLY DON'T LIKE HAVING TO LOSE FANFICTIONS AND REUPLOAD THEM ALL OVER AGAIN. THANK YOU

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN, THAT PRIVILEGE BELONGS TO AKIRA AMANO. ENJOY

WARNING: THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION AND THEIR PERSONALITIES MAY NOT BE TRULY CORRECT; THIS IS BECAUSE THE AUTHOR (aka Me) MAY EITHER INTERPRET THEM DIFFERENTLY THAN THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE INTERPRETED, THEY MAY BE CHANGED IN ORDER TO FIT THE SPECIFIC AU, OR IN WORST CASE SCENARIO, THE AUTHOR (again, Me) MAY HAVE HAD THEIR PERCEPTION OF THESE SPECFIC CHARACTERS CHANGED DUE TO READING TOO MANY OTHER FANFICTIONS CENTERING AROUND THESE SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. PLEASE READ THIS FANFICTION WITH THESE THOUGHTS IN MIND.

Shipper Warning: mentions of 1029 (or 2910 or 3610 or 1036, whatever fandom shorthand you prefer for Xanxus x Squalo)

A group of people stood at the door of a familiar looking house, their postures a bit more awkward than they usually would have been. The Varia were known for being tough guys that didn't take shit from anyone and slaughtered anything in their way, but...well, things that week hadn't been going real great. They were sent by the Ninth to eliminate an enemy famiglia in Japan, which hadn't taken very long, the family in question were a weakling bunch that'd just caused one mess too many. Unfortunately, before they could return to Italy to give their report...it happened. No, "it" is not some kind of end of the world/apocalypse thing, but the way people reacted certainly made it seem like that was the case.

No, no, a new flu virus had exploded throughout Japan, leaving people in varied conditions. Some people died, but mortality rates in virus outbreaks are surprisingly common. The majority of people were dealing with symptoms ranging from the common cold to full on stomach flu. In this Japan, lots of people took off work in order to recover quicker...this included tons of people in the airports, causing the Varia to be kind of trapped. Don't get them wrong, they had a private jet...with a sick pilot, co-pilot, and extra pilot…and with no one willing to leave the safety of Italy, the Varia were given orders to tough things out until the whole thing blew over.

And that was when Varia members started getting sick. It began surprisingly with Lussuria, who ironically was the most health conscious among them. Next fell Belphegor, who denied being sick up until he was literally chained to his bed, then Levi, who thankfully went to rest without complaints on Xanxus' order. Even Xanxus couldn't escape the wave of sickness going around, landing in his bed with a roaming fever and a splitting headache that bordered on migraine-level pain at times. This left Squalo, poor poor Squalo, to deal with not only getting his team up to snuff, but also getting information to the Ninth, filling out the paperwork being sent their way (seriously, they couldn't send people, but they could send legal documents?!), the list continued from there.

Xanxus was sitting on the couch of their hotel room, watching his right-hand scramble to keep everything from collapsing. The dark circles around the commander's eyes grew darker and more prominent; his hair became a bit more rustled as he had a habit of gripping it at times when he could feel the pressure of the world pressing down. His waist looked a little thinner, which was certainly the most concerning given the long-haired man's tendency to skip his own needs for the sake of the pact, as much as he tended to deny it.

"Voi! Of course the papers have been sent back! I finished and emailed them to you last night!" And then of course, there were the annoying bitches back in Italy who couldn't do their jobs for shit. They only seemed to add to Squalo's stress. "Well check again, asshole! I do not have all day! And another th-"

Oops, did Xanxus do that? His arm must have pulled Squalo onto his lap without him realizing it. Oh well, that type of shit wasn't in Xanxus' control. Squalo scowled at his boss for a moment, keeping the other man's gaze as he continued to speak into the phone. "I'll call you back."

The phone clicked, and before Squalo could do anything else with it, it was sent flying all the way across the room. There goes that dumb arm of his again, Xanxus just can't seem to gain proper control of it. Despite the obvious irritation on his face, Squalo attempted to control his fury for the sake of the feverous man and spoke in a calm and low tone. "What the hell was that?"

"You were being annoying, trash." Xanxus replied, as if the answer justified anything he could've done.

Squalo groaned in complaint. "That was an important phone call…"

"More important than my desire for peace, trash?"

"Of course not." Squalo sighed, choosing not to react to the way that Xanxus was not-so-subtly wrapping his arms around the commander's slim frame. It was no secret that the two had been going out for ages now, there was no reason for them to feel tense at the thought of anyone walking in on them. Hell, even when they started as sex-friends in their teens Xanxus never worried about people coming in. His lack of shame frightened Squalo at times.

"You've been more annoying lately…" Translation: You've been neglecting yourself again, and it's been getting on my nerves.

"Things have been busy this week." So quit bugging me about it and fuck off. I'll deal with myself later.

"No excuse." With some reluctance, Xanxus released his annoying lover. "Get me something to eat, trash."

Squalo huffed as he got up, strolling to the door and grabbing the key. "Give me a half hour."

True to his word, the commander returned exactly twenty-nine minutes later with take-out from one of the restaurants that'd thankfully recovered from the virus. At the smell of food, the rest of the Varia rushed into the living area of the hotel. Everyone immediately began chowing down, except for Squalo, who was sitting with his eyes shut.

"Aren't you going to eat, Squalo?" Lussuria looked concerned for his teammate. "The food's really good."

"Voi, I'll eat late-" Squalo near choked when he felt something being shoved into his mouth. He opened his eyes to find Xanxus staring at him, just asking him to make a fuss. Slowly, Squalo swallowed the food that his boss had given him, and continued to do so when Xanxus would occasionally force-feed him. Levi's eyes burned with intense jealousy, and that made everyone else in the room just a little bit happier.

Sometime later, when not even crumbs were left, The Varia slept in different parts of the living area now that they were too lazy to return to their beds. Xanxus felt himself being pulled out of unconsciousness, and that'd seriously pissed him off. It was, like, 3am, what on earth was keeping him away from his Squalo sex dreams?!

…Maybe the fact that Squalo wasn't in the room. Xanxus looked around, counting four people including himself. Technically two were missing, but Mammon/Viper wasn't with them at the moment; he/she had refused the invitation of attending their mission in favor of going with the other Arcobaleno on their annual fun trip to Mafia Land. Yes, that still existed. But where could Squalo have gone?

Xanxus got up slowly, making sure not to disturb Bel. Not because he cared if the brat was awake, but waking one was like waking all of them, and that'd just turn into a pain in the ass. He briefly surveyed the area, eventually finding a clue to his lover's location; light was coming from the gap under the bathroom door. Figures he'd get up for something minor, Xanxus was about to go back to the couch. That was, until, he heard a muffled groan. The second groan made the boss think he should investigate a little more. He entered the room without a single fuck given, mildly surprised at the fact that it wasn't even locked. The smell of their dinner mixed with stomach acids made Xanxus almost turn back. Almost, because he was still standing there, shutting the door behind him before crouching down to his pitiful lover.

Sweaty pale skin that was almost translucent, long-ass hair tied into a loose ponytail to keep it out of harm's way, eyes glassy and barely open...dear god, Squalo was a mess. A hot mess, mind you, but right now Xanxus had other things on his mind.

"Xanxus…?" Squalo's voice was dry and cracked, painful to both of their ears. "What are you doing up?"

"You're sick." Xanxus leaned back against the bathroom wall, pulling his trembling sickly love back into his arms. Squalo only gave a brief whine of complaint before settling into the embrace, his temperature very alarming to the Wrath-flame wielder.

"Yeah, feel like hell."

"Are you going to be sick again?"

"No, I think I'm done…" Despite his small vote of confidence, the swordsman made no move to get up from his space. Not that Xanxus minded, he very much enjoyed holding his lover close. Especially with the chills that seemed to be keeping Squalo absolutely miserable.

The logical part of the boss's brain said that this was very bad; now that the commander had been knocked on his ass like the rest of them, there was no one to take care of them all. Xanxus scrolled mentally through all of the groups in Japan that he knew and could rely on in this situation...and the only one that consistently made him want to hurl along with Squalo. Then again...he looked down to his shivering love. He really should be in a hospital, given his condition, but there were too many risks in going somewhere they had no connections to. They had no choice.

And that was how they ended up at the Sawada residence, finally greeted when a tired and irritated looking Tsunayoshi casually opened the door. The Varia had expected a somewhat fearful or at least more emotional response to their presence, but apparently Tsuna had no fucks to give. They weren't the first ones to come to his place that week.

"In." The short command was followed by an explosion off the lawn side of the house. The Vongola boss eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and without even a second thought to the people he'd just let in Tsuna turned back inside to yell into the house. "Lambo! What did I tell you about using grenades?!"