(taking place years later)

The Zombie Marathon

Xanxus heard strange gurgling noises coming from the room and decided to enter out of curiosity. He found Gioia comfortably nested in the couch, watching the TV with a strange mixture of disgust and amusement on her face.

"What's up?" asked Gioia, her eyes not even leaving the screen.

"What are you watching, brat?"

"The Walking Dead" she mumbled. "It's some American show with zombies."

Surprised by how intently she was watching the screen, Xanxus approached the couch and took a look. Now he understood her mixed expression. A zombie was currently munching the face of an unfortunate man. The same expression of revulsion and amusement slowly appeared on Xanxus' face. The gore images mixed with the revolting noises made quite an effect.

"This shit looks interesting" Xanxus sat in his usual armchair. "Fill me in, mini scum. What's happening?"

Gioia took the remote and paused the video. She turned to Xanxus with sparkling eyes and summed up the plot of the Walking Dead with great enthusiasm.

"Okay" he grunted after listening carefully to her. "I got the picture. Resume the video, brat."

Gioia nodded with an eager smile.

Squalo scowled as his stomach rumbled. He had just finished filling some annoying official papers and couldn't wait to have dinner. He left his office and headed for the kitchen. The mansion was particularly silent and Squalo realized how he had been left alone all day. Neither his shitty boss nor his bratty sister has bothered him. And that was quite an achievement. Musing on what those two could have been doing all day, Squalo didn't see a figure running toward him and collided with Gioia at full speed.

"Voiiiii! Watch where you're fucking going!" roared Squalo.

"Sorry, Nii-chan!" Gioia hastily said, out of breath.

The Varia captain looked down at her and raised an eyebrow in admiration. Gioia was carrying a plate of scorching steaks, a bottle of wine and a bowl filled with French fries. Despite the brutal collision, she had managed to hold to them all without breaking or spilling anything.

"Nice reflexes" commented Squalo.

"It's food" Gioia stared at him with wide eyes. "It'd be a sin to waste food!"

"Yeah, right… if only you could use those reflexes to get better at fighting" he sighed.

"Yeah, right" she mimicked, slightly annoyed. "Anyway, I left food for all of you in the kitchen. Just help yourselves, okay?"

Without adding another word, she turned and sprinted away.

"What's the hurry?!" yelled Squalo.

"Xanxus is hungry!" she shouted back without stopping.

Squalo shrugged and headed for the kitchen. He was too damn hungry to care about those idiots.

"Here you go!" Gioia handed out the plate of steaks along with the wine to Xanxus.

He took them and left his armchair to sit next to Gioia. The girl peered curiously at him.

"What?" he glared down at her, pouring himself some wine.

"I'm surprised you left your beloved armchair, that's all" she explained, still staring at him.

"Well, you get surprised for nothing" he scowled.

"Are you scared?" she grinned and immediately ducked to avoid Xanxus' blow.

"Shut up and play the damn episode!"

Gioia complied, the shadow of a mocking smile lingering on her lips. A couple of minutes later, they were both eating their dinner while a zombie was taking a human snack on TV. From the corner of his eye, Xanxus noticed the slight discomfort on Gioia's face and offered his plate of steaks to her with a smirk.

"Want some?"

"I'm fine with my French fries" she shot a disgusted look at the meat.

"Weak" Xanxus scoffed, chewing his steak with delight.

Gioia ignored him and reported her attention back on the screen.

Now that Squalo had eaten and showered, he felt truly bored so he set out to find Gioia. It took him half an hour to finally arrive in front of a room where faint shouts could be heard from. Squalo entered and found both Xanxus and Gioia sitting on the couch, watching TV. Gioia was wrapped in a fine blanket, sipping a cup of tea. Squalo couldn't help wondering why his boss was sitting next to her. He usually relished his comfortable armchair.

"What are you guys doing?"

Minutes later, after Gioia's summary of the show, Squalo decided to stay with them and squeezed himself next to his sister, earning a fierce glare from Xanxus.

"Why did you sit there, trash? Your sister is almost on my lap now!"

"I could ask you the same!" retorted Squalo. "You usually sit in that damn armchair!"

Both of them glared at each other, on the verge of lashing out.

"If you two don't shut up" Gioia threatened "I'll just watch this by myself in my room."

The two men grunted and settled as comfortably as they could on the couch.

One episode later, they were all tensed as an especially stressful scene was taking place in the show. One of the kids had just disappeared and the main characters were trying hard to find her in the woods. Of course, zombies were wandering around, making the process highly dangerous and the chances to find the girl unharmed scarce.

"That girl is dumb" growled Squalo. "She should have stayed like Rick said. Now she's lost and they're all worried to death!"

"She panicked" muttered Gioia. "And she's only a kid."

"Still…"

Despite her concentration on the show, Gioia noticed Xanxus kept glancing down at her.

"What is it?"

"Nothing…" he grunted.

"Tell me" insisted Gioia. "I can see you looking at me."

"Mini scum" he said in a grave tone. "If we ever get attacked in a wood infested with zombies, STAY with us. Don't wander and get lost."

"I'm nineteen" retorted Gioia, indignant. "I'm not a kid. I can take care of myself!"

"No, no" Squalo shook his head. "Xanxus is right. You should stick with us."

"And you're not a kid. You're a freaking baby" added the Varia boss. "You'll always be."

"If you'd get lost, we'd freak out" nodded Squalo. "Just like they freak out. Try putting yourself in our shoes!"

"You're both being stupid. I can perfectly survive by myself."

"No, you can't" Xanxus blankly stated as he put one arm around her in a headlock. "You stay with us."

"That hurts!" whined Gioia, trying to escape from him. "There are no zombies anyway so this conversation is pointless."

"But if it happens one day" Squalo glared down at her "you better remember that."

"We never know, mini scum" Xanxus nodded. "Things happen."

Gioia rolled her eyes and dropped the subject. With tremendous efforts, she managed to make herself comfortable with Xanxus' arm still around her neck.

"I'm not a baby" she mumbled in a barely audible voice.

Without a glance at her, Squalo patted her head.

The next morning, Lussuria happily strolled in the dining room. He was usually the first to get up so he was startled to see three persons were already sitting at the table.

"Good morning, you beautiful people!" he sang.

Xanxus, Squalo and Gioia looked up at him at the same time, making Lussuria recoil.

"Oh… I didn't know today's theme was zombies…"

Pale faced, dark shadows under their eyes and hunched over the table, the trio merely grunted as an answer.

Note:

So here it is, the first one! And it's a totally random one ^^ I was watching the Walking Dead and felt like it'd be the kind of show the Varia could watch x)

I'll probably post another one later today or tomorrow, this time about Gioia's childhood! As some of you suggested, this is a good chance for me to make Gioia's bond with the Varia clearer :) I hope I won't disappoint you!

Lastly, if you ever have suggestions, feel free to share them here! If you'd like me to write about a certain situation, you know? Things like that. Just tell me and I'll see if I can come up with something :D

ALSO, any suggestion for the title? :D As you can see, I randomly chose one...

Thanks again for your support, it means a lot to me!

Take care, guys! :)