Chapter 25

In the end, they don't get to greet Chiara even though they do see her walking to her apartment. Zaid's lucky Tsuna is there to stop him from calling her because he knows by the disheveled form of her dress and hair that she won't be happy to see them. It's obvious who the culprit behind her state is after all. Zaid may have the attention span of a five years old, but he could always concentrate enough to win any game and pull a prank.

Their morning is still free so Zaid helps him do the shopping he wanted to do the day before for the new apartment. It's faster as Zaid knows the place better than him, but he doesn't think that's enough excuse for him to suffer through Zaid's knowing eyes when he only looks for the biggest beds, clearly intended for more than one person. It costs most of his savings but the bed is comfy and the delivery is free, though only working from Monday to Fridays. Besides, with the warm clothes Renato left before going off he doesn't need to buy any extra for now.

They still get enough time to go to his new apartment-to-be and inform Ornella-san about the delivery before they need to go running to the bar for their shift. A thing he feels glad to have done as what she tells him is better to know before than later.

"… So he can't move anything until the twenty-two? That's like two weeks away!"

Ornella-san frowns slightly at Zaid's raise of tone but his friend doesn't seem to care. "That's the earliest we could get it. The previous owner had already paid half six months in advance and there was a problem with the papers as the family was quite… distraught."

Zaid gives him a look that reminds Tsuna he forgot to mention the situation of his apartment and how he ended with it. "It's not a problem, Ornella-san. I understand."

"Nat, wait. You'll need to renew the contract of your current apartment then, remember?" Now is Tsuna's time to give a confused look to his friend who rolls his eyes and throws his hands in the air. "You pay every fourteen? The dude holding the rent is a dick? He will throw you out and your things before giving you an extra week just because of this?"

Oh.

Crap. Right. He thought he could move out on the twelve so he had two days to move his stuff to the new apartment. Zaid's right, too. He pays as little as he does for his rent thanks to the cheating skills Zaid taught him and the fact that the man likes to bet. If he sniffs the opportunity to throw him out, he'll grab it.

How did he confuse twenty-two with twelve?

"I'm fucked," he murmurs in Japanese.

Zaid doesn't understand what he just said but he still nods. "You can sleep in my apartment until then if you need, man."

… Yeah, no. Tsuna barely got the chance to nod off a couple of times all thanks to the concentration needed to maintain his flames in place—He really doesn't want to ruin Zaid's harmonization by a tendril of flame that escapes him because he's not been careful enough.

"I don't think that'll be possible," he says softly with a heavy stare that will hopefully get the message across. If the stare doesn't work maybe the dark bags under his eyes will.

They do, but that still means he needs to find a place to stay or at least to move his stuff before he tells the landlord he won't pay anymore.

"Uncle Giorgio has a garage with some space. He'll lend it to you if you explain it to him."

Tsuna nods. "Maybe. Just don't tell him you plan to leave until I can get to move my stuff."

"Deal," Zaid says with a smirk while throwing an apologetic look at Ornella-san who is offering a cup of tea. "Sorry, ma'am but we've to run now if we want to make it up to our shift."

"Oh. You work together then?"

"Yup. I'm the barista while our little Nat here is the one charged to make everything squeaky clean." He winks at her, giving a quick pat to his back. "You'll never regret renting him. He's the most OCD guy I know thanks to all the trash trauma he has."

"I don't have a trash trauma," Tsuna grumbles.

"I remember you taking eons in the shower and always coming out red-skinned for two months. I was the one who helped you clean your other apartment, too.."

With a faint blush, Tsuna grabs the sleeve of Zaid's coat and pulls him towards the exit. "Thanks for letting me know, Ornella-san!"

"Come later this week, maybe I can speed things out!"

With the last wave, they go off. Tsuna is still thinking about where he's going to live next week. He should call Mona to see if he has already won some money. The mist is in a middle of a job in Romania so it'll probably take a while until he receives a callback, but Tsuna will have to wait as he's only got a couple of bills left after buying the bed. Maybe… maybe he can pull a Zaid and play some card games to gain some money, with his Intuition the only difficult thing would be to search for a place that is not bothered by his age.

Zaid can help him with that though.

Trying to stay positive is hard but it's the only thing he can do now. At least, nothing can go wrong after this. It'd be overkill.

He only realizes after thinking this that he may have jinxed himself, as Life going overkill on him is practically how things usually go for him. He leans his forehead against the closest solid surface and sighs the greatest and deepest sigh he's ever sighed. Zaid, who's been following silently, probably waiting for him to sort out his thoughts, stops to stand beside him, already used to these bouts of resigned moments.

"You just thought 'nothing can get worse', right?"

"Yeah," he breaths, feeling his soul seeping out of his body.

"You do know that's the best way to get things—"

"Zaid, shut up."