A/N: Inspired by Pink's "Don't Let Me Get Me".
Sometimes it was hard to remember that their first spar had happened back in middle school. Over the years, both had changed so much. The flow of footwork, punch, counter, dodge, block, guard and move again to attack had become almost ingrained habit to them by the time they reached their twenties. When one of them did think back and remember that first match in the worn out boxing ring as Ryohei tried to convince Tsuna to join his club, they would both end up laughing until they wheezed, holding their sides and leaning against each other for support.
It had taken a couple of years after that first bout for Ryohei to convince Tsuna to pair up with him for training regularly. In the end, Tsuna simply couldn't resist his friend's enthusiasm, no matter how against the idea he was. All of his friends knew how resistant Tsuna was to the idea of fighting unless it was necessary, and most were reluctant to push him too hard. Ryohei, however, was an irresistible force driven by a few short sentences Reborn said to him in passing.
"If Tsuna falls, we all fall," Reborn told him. "Tsuna is the glue that binds all of us together. If he can't keep himself safe, and we can't protect him, then all of this pain and effort will have been for nothing."
The truth was that in his early years, Tsuna was a hazard to himself and everyone around him, no matter how desperately he wanted to protect everyone. Ryohei could see the potential in the boy as clearly as Yamamoto or Gokudera did, but his trained eyes also caught the insecurity, the pain, the fear that Tsuna struggled with every day. In so many ways, Tsuna was his own worst enemy. So the older boy decided that without fail, he would do whatever he could to help strengthen his friend.
For Ryohei it was instinctive, finding ways to encourage and build up confidence. He'd done it for the members of his boxing club, after all, and himself as well. There was no clever plan or methodology to it, he simply did as he'd always done, forged on with enthusiasm and excitement. Not even Tsuna could resist the energy and sheer joy that poured out of Ryohei on a daily basis.
Ryohei was relentless over the years. He would force DVDs of famous fights on Tsuna and then sit and watch them with him, pointing out the positives and negatives of each boxer. He would send books over with Kyoko for Tsuna to page through, covering fighting, tactics, training and more, and then he would force Tsuna to review them with him. Those conversations and that time together made up for the fact that it would take time for Tsuna to gain enough fine control over his own power to be able to spar with Ryohei again in a way that would be productive and enjoyable.
Through it all, every time Tsuna slumped in frustration at what he perceived to be his own weakness, Ryohei was there to remind him that there was no such thing as a natural when it came to fighting. It required time, training, learning, to become good, much less exceptional. He would emphasize this by dragging Tsuna to watch the others train, over and over again. Tsuna would watch his closest friends work themselves until they could barely stand, all to improve their skills enough to protect what they had all built together with their own hands.
It became, in many ways, the foundation of their friendship. Ryohei's enthusiasm drove Tsuna relentlessly and cheerfully, constantly strengthening their family along the way. It was their form of communication and it worked just fine for the both of them.
