Warnings: Flashback of gore, whump, child being brutalized in general, underage alcoholics run rampant

CHAPTER SIX: Those Who Grasp

There's a hand around his throat, to strong to pry away. Tsuna dies staring into terrified eyes.

But he doesn't die. He doesn't die even though he feels his entire base crack, and his vision white out and his body broken off, and that frayed nothingness was crawling up his fractured spine.

And the man puts him down, and Tsuna's legs hold strong, and even though he can't feel his own body, he still sees his hand snake out, slam his palm against the pommel of the knife, and drive the blade across the man's throat. Tsuna collapses, then, but the man doesn't. The man gets on top of him, knife forgotten, one hand around his neck again, the other held to his slash wound. Something goes pop-pop-pop and Tsuna can feel his nerve endings, only for them to break away again along with the sound of his spine snapping a second time.

He realizes that he's going to die. Going to be broken and broken and broken and broken, snapped until there's nothing left of his body. Going to die. Going to be killed, going to be—

Another pop-pop-pop, and he can feel his body again. He can feel the man's strength is flagging, but it's replaced with a dizziness and an ache around his throat. He kicks weakly and his foot nudges something.

He's not even wearing any shoes.

Tsuna's toes wrap around the object — the knife — and tosses it back up and it skids by his hand and Tsuna picks it up and stabs the man and squirms but he can't get away and a giant hand presses against the side of his head and slams his skull into the floor and—

And he stabs a second time, because the blade is still there, and then it isn't. The blood had dribbled down to the hilt, the handle, and slicked Tsuna's hands. It slides right out of his palm.

The man dives backwards to catch it. Tsuna can finally raise his legs and kick him all the way back. He reaches over the man's body to grab the knife again, and the man digs a finger into his eye until all it can see is a raw starburst, and Tsuna is crying and wet and he has the knife, and he plunges it into the man's eye in return, and the man is still grabbing, but Tsuna is faster and he slams the knife in again, and there's still a hand at his hip, and he slams the knife in again, and he has the tempo now so he slams the knife in again, and again, he puts it in and takes it out and the man won't grab him, he puts it in and takes it out and the man won't grab him, he puts it in and takes it out and the man won't grab him, he puts it in and he

Wakes up hyperventilating.

Tsuna is gripping his blankets with white knuckles, and his teeth buzz from oxygen deprivation. The panic attack passes after a dizzying dip in awareness, and he doesn't let himself think about anything until the shadow of paralyzing dread passes him. He swallows and forces himself to breathe slower. He's in a bed. His hands aren't wet. He has a— his brain stutters as it attempts to sort which order yesterday's events happened in. He— He has a Hibari?

The bed he's in does not make an appearance in his memories. He turns to look at the walls around him with damp eyes. This room is also absent from his recent memories. Tsuna does not like this.

God, he feels like shit. Like something died at the back of his throat.

He raises a hand to press against the lump next to him. It's a person. He likes waking up next to someone, but the fact this person does not factor into his memories is possibly the most concerning of all. It's firm and hard and bigger than him and coated in bandages that feel a bit crunchy.

A fully bandaged man with dark hair. Tsuna's eyes skate over his bedmate uncomprehendingly, still not piecing together the facts. He absently mops at his face and crawls up to get a good look.

It's…Xanxus, he thinks. The guy in the ice. He has severe eyebrows that make him look angry even when he's asleep, and he looks…yeah, pretty young? Not much older than Hibari. He looks like he should be in high school. It makes Tsuna feel a little unsettled, to be honest.

Tsuna snorts up some of his hot, acid-like Nose Ooze and pulls his blankets away. He's only wearing his new tailored silk boxers and the dress shirt, but Tsuna has taken off his jeans and called that 'pajamas' often enough to know why. If the teenager in bed with him is Xanxus, Lussuria must have tossed them in together to start the soothing process early.

With shaking, uncertain hands, he slides down off the bed and gives the room a quick scan. It looks like his and Hibari's bedroom, but bigger, and with more utilities. Also, the bed has a huge canopy.

He wanders over to the utilities. Counter, some sort of…steel contraption, mini-fridge, sink. Basic hotel necessities.

…Speaking of hotels.

He checks the fridge. Basically empty, for all he cares. Cupboards, however, give him a special nightmare treat.

Tsuna uncorks the bottle of Unspecified Alcohol and gives it an experimental sip. It burns a lot, and tastes so strong he can smell it with his eyes. He didn't take a big enough gulp to choke, so whatever, it's fine. The important part is that his core feels hot and satisfying, burning through the pit in his stomach and the raw ache in his thraot.

Xanxus shifts slightly and lets out a muffled moan.

Tsuna glances at him suspiciously. If he's anything like Hibari waking up, Tsuna is in for it, but Tsuna was plastered against his side. If he's anything like Hibari with a Tsuna attached, it should be…fine. Well, Tsuna won't die, which is something.

He takes another swig. Xanxus' nostrils flare.

Hmmm.

Tsuna retrieves a second bottle of Unidentified Alcohol and uncorks it. Xanxus' lips twitch slightly. Tsuna heads over and leans the bottle against Xanxus' mouth. Xanxus lifts a hand to swat, but when his fingers hit the bottle, they wrap around it and tip it all the way up to drink.

"More like my dad than Hibari-san," Tsuna mutters.

He returns to the countertops to nose around. The steel contraption is rectangular, with a thick base and a handle at the top. A grill, he's guessing?

He pulls the lid up a bit to check, and is hit with a delicious smell and a bloom of steam. There's a plate of mashed potatoes and vegetables, a little pitcher of hot gravy, a plate with two ears of corn, and another dish with three steaks stacked, still sizzling a little. The base is hot to the touch when he tests it. It's a heated food tray.

Tsuna, far too smart to assume any of this is for him, mutters "how much can you put away?"

The blankets shift. Tsuna whips his head around to see Xanxus, sitting upright, staring at him. He looks lucid, if perplexed.

"Hey," says Tsuna.

Xanxus' eyes flick down to Tsuna's silk boxers and then back up to his face, a silent question in his eyes. He opens his mouth to voice that question when Tsuna refuses to speak, but all that comes out is a weak rattling sound.

"You hungry?" Tsuna asks, taking a swig of his stolen Nightmare Treat. Xanxus narrows his eyes at the bottle, then at Tsuna's face again. Tsuna ignores the unspoken chastisement and brings the heated tray to Xanxus. The utensils are made of finely carved wood in a little plastic container, no doubt because holding a heated metal utensil would be…a challenge.

Xanxus glares at the tray, but gives up on trying to convince Tsuna that everything he is doing and ever will do is wrong with only his eyes, in favour of attempting to swallow a steak whole. Tsuna leaves him to it so he can go find his pants.

He locates them hanging off the chair by the door, and wobbles and hops around as his terrible balance wages war with the need to stand on one leg at a time.

He eventually leans against the wall, which ends up being the perfect place to get shards of glass embedded in his cheek as Xanxus throws his empty bottle at the wall next to him hard enough to make it explode.

Tsuna freezes with the pants still halfway up his knees. Xanxus glares and gestures at the cupboards with a nod of his head.

Tsuna yanks his pants up all the way, pulls his suspenders on, and fetches him another bottle. There's like, a billion of them, which is encouraging now that he has the suspicion that Xanxus may rival both Tsuna and his father when it comes to power-drinking.

Xanxus snatches the bottle out of Tsuna's hand as soon as he comes close and tosses it back without breaking eye contact. Tsuna raises his eyebrows and lightly sips his own, because he loves and respects his liver. He can't read Italian, so he doesn't know the alcohol content of whatever they're drinking, but he gets the impression based on the burn that he might need to call a doctor for Xanxus at some point.

Xanxus scrapes the veggies into his mouth like a dump truck taking on a load and attacks his second steak. He's still glaring at Tsuna. Tsuna reaches up to fuss with his stinging cheek nervously, and winces when his fingers touch glass.

"Oh, shit." He attempts to pluck the little glass splinters out of his face. There's no blood trickling down his cheek — his healing factor must have stemmed it a bit. When he scrapes the splinters out with a wince, he can feel his cheek pull and the little 'pop-pop-pop' of his skin snapping back into place.

Xanxus' perplexed expression deepens. He gestures Tsuna to come closer. Tsuna passes him his hand instead.

Looking irritable, Xanxus looks at Tsuna, then the hand, then brings it up to his mouth and bites hard enough to draw blood.

"OW, WHAT THE HELL," Tsuna shrieks, whipping his injured limb back. He only scraped it a bit, but the rest of his hand will bruise!

Or…not, he muses as it starts sucking inward. Tsuna grabs a pillar of the bed to brace himself, and it snaps back into place with a visible plume of Ash and a shock that makes Tsuna's eyes water. Whuff, there it is!

Xanxus glares at Tsuna's undamaged hand, and gestures at Tsuna to give it back. Tsuna is against this, but at the same time, Xanxus already tested the Ash, and if he wanted to try extreme injury, he's better off stabbing him. Tsuna gives it.

Xanxus pushes his thumb against the healed skin, looking up at Tsuna as he does so. When Tsuna doesn't react, he digs his fingernail in. It hurts, and makes Tsuna flinch, but he stops when Tsuna's skin starts turning a foul dark grey shade. When he releases his nail, the shadow slowly fades back to its original pale, expired milk colour. Tsuna hadn't considered what constant damage like that would do, and no one else had tried it. Hmm.

Testing done, Xanxus releases him to tear into his third steak while drinking from his bottle. Tsuna retreats back to the chair so he can continue getting dressed. The capelet was folded neatly on the seat, and he smooths it carefully after clipping it into place.

When he turns around, Xanxus is staring at him again. His expression clears a little when his eyes rest on the Vongola Varia patch on the capelet, but it's replaced with a vague, frustrated look.

Tsuna considers helping him out, but then he remembers Xanxus just gave him a shrapnel wound and bit him unprompted. He continues to drink, intentionally oblivious to whatever Xanxus' needs are.

Xanxus clears his throat roughly and tries speaking again. This time, he gets a waspish hiss, which seems good enough for him, because the next time he opens his mouth it's to hoarsely whisper "who the fuck are you?"

Tsuna keeps his face blank and doesn't answer. He's not even sure he could without awkwardly stumbling through an explanation of the bizarre hiring process, and he doesn't want to show weakness to the scary murder boss who could definitely snap Tsuna in half if Tsuna didn't have healing powers, especially without a Hibari here to assert dominance on his behalf. Someone else can explain it. Tsuna is Aloof now. That's his new character trait. He's Hibari now. Xanxus can fucking suck it. Tsuna doesn't have feelings.

He holds eye contact and drinks. Xanxus lifts his own bottle as if to throw it, but realizing there's still some liquid left, takes a swig instead. They stare menacingly at each other in mutual stubbornness and generic dislike. Actually, Tsuna thinks there must have been stuff to mix it with in the fridge, and he'd really rather have his drink diluted, but he's too stubborn to go make his alcohol taste good now that Xanxus has apparently interpreted it as some sort of power move.

Tsuna breaks the standoff to sit on the chair by the door, cross his legs, fold his arms, and attempt to project the feeling of Hibari looming over him from across his hospital room. He wishes he had a book, or some terrifying monosyllablic threats to throw out.

Xanxus wrinkles his nose. "Where the fuck am I?" He tried using his voice that time, and it crackles a little, with a small bubble of nearly-silent air clicking through it.

Tsuna gestures to his Varia patch. Wow, his face feels kinda hot. Foggy. That was fast; it took him two bottles of sake to get smashed last time. He inspects the bottle suspiciously.

"Where's…Squalo?" Xanxus doesn't bother saying Squalo's name with a Japanese slant for the sake of Tsuna's pitiful, untrained ears, but it's still clear who he means.

Tsuna shrugs.

Xanxus throws his plate at him.

Tsuna dodges it, only because he doesn't want mashed potatoes all over the pretty velvet fabric. It hits the chair hard enough to knock it loudly against the wall, and a crack splinters across the plate, but it doesn't shatter. It does, however, land potato-side down, rendering the chair unsittable, possibly forever.

Tsuna's instinct to come off as cool and in-control falls away to genuine antagonism. He gives Xanxus a withering look.

Xanxus responds by throwing his steak plate too.

Tsuna dodges it, finishes his bottle, and chucks that at Xanxus, who catches it and hurls it at Tsuna's skull. He shifts out of the way and it shatters against the wall, tearing the wallpaper, and Xanxus follows it up with the gravy pitcher. Tsuna dives, wary of getting splashed as it passes. These are really nice clothes!

Xanxus tries to get up, but his arms buckle and he flops over. Tsuna makes for the door. Xanxus recovers and flings the entire heated tray, corn and all, at him. It collides with the door just as Tsuna gets it open, slamming it shut again. Tsuna freezes, looking over his shoulder at Xanxus, who is glaring daggers at him.

"I'm going to go get him," Tsuna snips. When Xanxus doesn't react, he clarifies with "Squalo."

Xanxus stays still for a few more seconds, before finally relaxing and flopping back on his bed.

"Hurry your ass up, then, brat," he growls. The effect is tarnished by the painful-sounding wheeze to his voice. He sounds like he collapsed a lung.

Tsuna sniffs and whips the door open. There's no one in the hall, and he's not sure where he is, but he thinks he has a decent grasp on the first floor, so off he goes!

There's almost no one around when Tsuna starts descending; the people who were up last night have gone to bed, apparently. Tsuna hadn't bothered pulling away the curtains, so he has no idea what time it is until he hits the first floor and peeks out the window just to the right of the stairs. Mid-morning-ish? He wasn't out long, at least.

Tsuna wanders along, past Lussuria's gym, until he finds the massive dining hall. There's four entrances and a huge window that takes up the entire back wall that illuminates the huge rectangular table. It's fit for a castle.

And also fit for breakfast. Squalo, Lussuria, Mammon, the blonde woman, and Hibari are all seated, eating a delicious-looking meal. Hibari has his back to Tsuna, but the rest have Tsuna in their line of sight or peripheral vision.

Lussuria raises his eyebrows. "Oh, Hachiko-chan, you're all dressed up for breakfast!"

Tsuna nods, face pulled into a grimace, and then attempts to gesture behind him with his head.

Lussuria smiles and nods, gratefully, clearly not getting Tsuna's gist.

Tsuna nods more ferociously and widens his eyes. Lussuria frowns, confused, before he realizes what Tsuna means. He stands up abruptly, knocking his chair over. Everyone turns to look at him.

"I…" Lussuria starts.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Tsuna says loudly and suspiciously. All eyes turn towards him instead.

"You haven't done anything wrong…if I get there in time. Be right back!" Lussuria hops over his chair and sprints full tilt down the hallway behind him, leaving Tsuna alone with the rest of the table.

Squalo is sitting there, frozen, staring at him. He seems the type to be constantly overwhelmed by apoplectic rage, so Tsuna ignores him.

Mammon has lost interest and gone back to eating. Hibari had never stopped.

The blonde woman is staring too, eyes wide and head tilted like she's trying to get Tsuna's attention. Her leather-clad fingers fiddle with her hair. She looks meaningfully from her grip on the strands of her loose bun to Tsuna again, gaze insistent.

Tsuna frowns for a moment.

Then he remembers the last thing that happened before he blacked out, and his hand whips to his hair. His black, unpinned, unslicked hair.

…And chances are, he's not wearing makeup anymore either.

Tsuna takes a slow, nervous step back, and gives Squalo a helpless look. Squalo is slowly sitting up, looking absolutely murderous.

"What did I fucking tell you," he grinds.

"Technically," Tsuna says slowly, "the Varia isn't the mafia?"

Squalo responds by stabbing his prosthetic into the prong sticking from the sheath at his side and pulling out a sword.

Tsuna's confidence in his own immunity falters. He stares at the back of Hibari's head. Hibari (and Mammon, for that matter) ignores him, totally occupied with breakfast.

The woman stands up, though. "Squalo, he's not completely-"

"Give Federico a year and a half, and he WILL be 'completely'," Squalo says, much louder now. He takes a step forward, and Tsuna takes a cautious step back.

"C…Completely what…?" Tsuna asks.

"He doesn't know!" She adds quickly, pointing at Tsuna. "He doesn't know, it's easier to just keep him here-"

"Six feet under," Squalo suggests icely.

"Under watch! Under watch, I was going to say." She rounds the table too, removing one of her gloves. "Squalo, if you kill him, I will have to report Tsunayoshi is dead, even if I don't say who did it, which might be a problem for you when it's time to negotiate for Xanxus' release."

"You have to unfreeze him," Mammon throws out.

Cold sweat beads on Tsuna's neck.

"Tsunayoshi won't be dying," Hibari finally interjects. After, Tsuna notes bitterly, he has finished off his plate.

"And who are you to say that, bird trash?" Squalo barks, taking a meaningful step.

The woman attempts to intercept him, Tsuna flattens against the wall, and Hibari swiftly picks up his butterknife and flings it at Squalo. It makes a deafening CLANG noise as it collides with Squalo's blade and goes flying across the table. The woman quickly jumps in front of Tsuna and holds up her palm in a strange stance.

"Hey, uh, mind filling me in?" Tsuna asks, an octave too high.

"You're…uhm. A valuable defense against a coup. Unfortunately. Please stand back." She nudges Tsuna back with her foot.

Mammon is still eating.

Hibari stands and whips out his tonfas, the image of casual confidence, apparently not threatened by the big scary murder man with his big scary sword hand. He takes a step forward.

"Tsunayoshi belongs to me. If you try to infringe upon my property, I'll bite you to death."

Tsuna snarls at him, but he's behind a much taller woman and Hibari has his back to him, so it goes unnoticed.

"That's a riot, considering he outranks you," Squalo laughs, loudly. "Give him time, and you'll be taking orders from him."

"If I ever left his care I'd probably just ignore him," Tsuna comments weakly, attempting to piece together how high up his dad has to be to outrank Hibari's Mystery Authority. It can't be the yakuza, there's twelve people between him and a reasonable position of power. Zeni made fun of Morita for even suggesting it.

"It doesn't matter, because he won't be leaving my care until I say so. Stand back."

Squalo takes another step forward.

Hibari flies at him, tonfas flaring out like wings, and he slams into Squalo at full force. Squalo attempts to slide him off, but the anti-vehicle spikes slide out of the tonfa bars, preventing the sword from skating. Hibari swings low with his other hand, and Squalo stops it with his heel and tries kneeing Hibari in the face. Hibari pulls back, freeing their weapons from their deadlock, and then he pivots away from a sword slash and lights his tonfas up in Cloud Flames with a menacing twist of the mouth.

"Che due coglioni," the woman mutters.

Mammon finishes eating and delicately taps their mouth with a napkin.

Squalo strikes at Hibari's tonfas oddly, and there's a deafening ringing sound as they vibrate. Hibari ignores it and swiftly flares his tonfas again, leaving the vibrating afterimage of his arms behind, and stabs at Squalo with crossed arms. When Squalo tilts back, the tonfas go up to chase after his head, making Hibari overbalance when it misses. Squalo moves to slash him, but Tsuna realizes Hibari had left a purple afterimage behind at his feet, which springs up, pushing Hibari back just in time to avoid the strike and nailing Squalo in the chin.

"Porco cane, how dense are his Flames?" The woman hisses.

"He, uh, doesn't need a conduit, as far as I can tell?" Tsuna says nervously.

She turns to look at him with wide, horrified eyes.

Just as she turns back, Mammon raises their hand, and thorny green ropes whip out from the ground, hoisting Squalo and Hibari in the air. Sort of. When Tsuna squints, he can see that there's a small bloom of fire holding up by their coat collars, like a parent hoisting up scolded children.

"That's quite enough of that," Mammon says loudly. "You won't be killing Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"As long as Xanxus is frozen, I'm the leader, and as the leader, I say we kill him!" Squalo snarls.

"Unfortunately, Oregano is correct. The longer Tsunayoshi's abomination of a health condition is here to keep Xanxus under control, the faster we can negotiate for his re-introduction to the underworld. If we miss this upcoming ball, it could be months before he'd be allowed out of house arrest. Timoteo will arrive tomorrow. Control yourself."

Squalo spits blood - apparently he bit his tongue when Hibari hit him - and glares. Hibari retracts his tonfas, folds his arms and gives Squalo a look of contempt, daring him to argue.

"…Fuck! Fine! FUCKING FINE!" Squalo lets out a wash of blue aura that floods the illusion of rose stems off him, leaving only the small tack of white-indigo Tsuna saw underneath. Mammon releases the both of them, and the blonde woman — Oregano — slowly lowers her stance.

There's a crash upstairs, coming from the way Tsuna came in.

"Oh fuck," Tsuna mutters.

"What was that? What did you do?" Squalo snarls.

"Uhhhh, technically, Lussuria did it?" Tsuna hedges.

Another crash, and the muffled sound of Lussuria speaking rapidly and nervously.

Tsuna smiles thinly.

And attempts to sprint away.

Oregano catches him by his suspenders, and he chokes as he loses his balance. Hibari glares at him. No one can look at Tsuna nicely today, can they?

There's a series of hammering thumps, and then the sounds reach the first floor. Tsuna can only hear Lussuria's voice, but Xanxus can only whisper, so…

He winces as the doors are flung open, nearly smacking Oregano in the face, and Xanxus stands there, breathing heavily, coated in bloody bandages.

He looks straight at Squalo, and his expression of murderous rage falls away to naked shock.

Squalo stares, arms dangling loosely at his sides.

"I should handcuff you to me," Hibari says, eying Tsuna suspiciously.

"I said it was Lussuria's fault!" Tsuna snaps.

Xanxus' hand slowly eases up to touch his hair. Squalo strokes his own long, silvery locks, and tilts his chin up, almost defiantly.

"The plan's still in motion," he says, but his voice isn't as confident as it was when he was threatening to gut Tsuna.

A ghost of a smile twitches at Xanxus' mouth, and he shakes his head, as if charmed. His hand drops to run over his mouth.

"How long?" He whispers, still in Japanese. His voice is still a wiry, broken rasp. He sounds demonic.

"Eight years," Squalo says grimly.

"Eight..." Xanxus' fond expression buckles into a frown. "Enrico should have—"

"Enrico's dead," Squalo interrupts.

Xanxus nods, as if this was to be expected. "Massimo is—"

"Dead."

That gets a reaction. A bad one. His face shutters off, and one of his bandaged hands clenches. His jaw works and he continues nodding.

"…Fed…Federico is…"

"Quite frankly, too stupid to live." There's a moment of tension, and Squalo adds, "he won't take the seat until his brat's old enough to fend for himself."

Xanxus relaxes, and his nods grow more confident. He unclenches his fist, clenches, unclenches, then whips around and shoves a bloody finger in Tsuna's direction, making him shriek and duck behind Oregano and Lussuria.

"So who the fuck is that?"

Everyone makes meaningful eye contact.

"Hachiko," says Tsuna.

"Hachiko," Oregano agrees.

"Their name's Hachiko," Lussuria backs up.

"Abomination in defiance of natural law," Mammon adds.

"Mine," Hibari says. Tsuna throws a brass knuckle at him. Hibari catches it without looking.

They all look at Squalo.

Squalo sheathes his blade and glares at the rest of them. "…Mammon's rental assistant. They'll keep you calm enough to convince the old fucker that you've 'turned over a new leaf'. He froze you right after you found…"

Xanxus' fist clenches again.

"…So it should be easy to convince him," Squalo shakes his head. "Just stand next to them for the next few weeks, you won't even have to try."

"I am not letting that," Xanxus points a furious finger at Tsuna, "hang off me."

"He threw a gravy pitcher at me," Tsuna whines.

Xanxus looks at the table, sees another pitcher, and goes for it. Tsuna, who is closer, dives for the table first and throws the nearest object, a fork. Xanxus catches it like he caught the bottle and hurls both the fork and the pitcher he was aiming for. Tsuna ducks out of the way and flings a chair.

Hibari gives Squalo a smug look.

"It'll kick in eventually," Mammon hums.

"If Hachiko-chan has been chucking things at Xanxus all morning and lived to tell the tale, this is probably as good as it's going to get," Lussuria says as Tsuna attempts to bean Xanxus with a candelabra for almost ruining his capelet with a butter dish.

"Stop THROWING SHIT AT ME," Tsuna screams, ducking out of the way of a steak knife.

"New question," Squalo marches up and slams Lussuria against the doorframe, "why the fuck is Xanxus already out of the ice?"

Lussuria tilts his head as Tsuna screams bloody murder when Xanxus gives up on landing a hit and flips the entire table.

"…Funny story…?"

Cultural notes

Oregano's Italian - She's cussing like a sailor.

AN: I wanted to leave the whump back in the last part and focus on the emotional aftershocks, but I realized I had never actually specified why Tsuna was severely traumatized despite coming out fine from situations like Zeni. I mainly never specified because that's Too Much Whump in too brief a time period, but now that Tsuna's mentally collapsing, time to uh. Specify. Welcome to my [checks notes of 'irredeemably terrible protagonist AU tropes'] ajin AU

This took forever because it was going to have a Namimori section but I have to break down and admit that nothing was getting done until I posted it. Here it is I guess