The Summoning Pact

Chapter 21 - A Steadfast Response

Chapter 21 – A Steadfast Response

"So, you're here to…request a bigger dorm room?" Timoteo asked, good-natured, as he glanced between Tsuna, sitting prim and proper opposite him over his desk, and Reborn who was looming over the back of Tsuna's chair.

"Yes," Tsuna replied shortly, hands folded on his lap. "It's starting to feel cramped."

"If Reborn is a little…overbearing, you can ask him to leave. He doesn't have to be with you all hours of the day. Dual projects don't start until the final year, so realistically I can't give you a bigger dorm room without that partner."

Tsuna squirmed suddenly then, eyes nervously meeting Timoteo's and then staring at the whorls and whirls in the wooden desk. He mumbled something, shoulders hunched as if in shame.

"Sorry?" Timoteo asked.

"If…If it was just Reborn, it would be fine. But…it's not." Tsuna glanced up sharply then, and Reborn nodded curtly at him. It eased the tight line of Tsuna's shoulders.

"It isn't on your personal file that you have any other summons," Timoteo mentioned, starting to feel a little suspicious, a little dread. "Not to mention you need official permission to make a contract on school grounds."

Reborn leaned forward then, briefly pressed a hand to Tsuna's shoulder before remembering himself at the brunet's shiver and the rush of heat under his skin, and instead tightly grasped the top of the chair, white knuckled.

"You forget, Timoteo, that under your rules I am still an official presence. Any and all summonings Tsuna has conducted successfully out of class have been observed and have been given permission by me."

"Ah, you sly old dog." Timoteo laughed, his near delight startling Tsuna. "Of course, of course. How many have you then, Tsuna? Two? Three?"

Tsuna cleared his throat, and was a little ashamed when he had to count on his fingers very quickly, lips reverently sounding silently around names.

"Uh, including Reborn I have…six…no, seven, total. Sorry, there was a recent addition." Tsuna rubbed his wrist absentmindedly, the newly shaped contract still humming under his skin.

"Seven?" Timoteo could not quite keep the sharp surprise from his voice, Tsuna's mouth twisting into what tried to be a smile.

"Timoteo, sir, would you like to meet them?"

"I think at this point I have to," Timoteo replied, gobsmacked. He felt a slight stab of betrayal at knowing that Reborn had snuck this conundrum, this mess, under his nose.

"Then, sir, allow me to introduce you." Tsuna gestured out loosely to the side and allowed his Aether to flare in an open ended call. He felt more than saw Reborn shudder briefly at the wash of contained power, like a flicker of a flame in his chest.

"Good afternoon," Verde greeted, the first to step into the space next to Tsuna. The brunet was inwardly glad that it was one of his more polite summons to show first. "This is the acting power of the school?"

"He is," Tsuna confirmed, and was nearly jostled out of his chair as Colonello appeared next, so close behind him that he and Reborn had briefly collided. The way they gently snapped and snarled reminded Tsuna of two fighting Pomeranians. The casual display of power had Timoteo as pale as a sheet, skin tight across the knuckles of fisted hands.

Tsuna guessed not everyone was used to his volatile summons and their equally as volatile dominance displays, even if at this point it was playing and posturing.

"Timoteo, sir, this is Verde, and Colonello. They're acquaintances of Reborn. In fact, all of them are acquaintances of Reborn."

"Yo," Colonello greeted, shoving his hands into his pockets so he could resist the urge to continue play-fighting with Reborn.