For the Boss:
a conversation over coffee and the not-quite-meeting of two hearts
The grandfather clock ticks loudly. Gokudera has been perusing her report for a while and Chrome can't help but fidget uneasily in front of his mahogany desk.
The décor of his office is something out of the Godfather—perhaps a tad ostentatious, but classy nonetheless. Chrome glances at his multiple custom rings and piercings and mulls over how she isn't too surprised at the interior design after all. Gokudera has a way of meshing gaudy and chic.
He finally closes the file and tucks it away in one of his endless drawers.
"Thank you," he says, leaning back into his leather chair, "Your report was the first legible one all month."
Chrome blushes and has nothing to say back. It's been an hour since she walked through his door and he hadn't so much as hummed as he read. After being away for a year, she needs a little time to get used to hearing his voice (undeniably huskier than way back when he still smoked only three cigarettes a day) again.
"Six months since the Ninth stepped down, and those idiots still can't write a proper—clean—report." He swears under his breath, "Bastards."
Gokudera runs his hand through his well-groomed hair. Chrome can see the bags under his eyes and worry lines etched between his eyebrows and feels a little sorry for him. Twenty is too young for worry lines. Still, twenty has been good to him so far, much better than fourteen had at least, despite the chain smoking.
"Six months… has it already been that long?" she says—if only to say something.
"Six months, two weeks and five days," he says nonchalantly.
Chrome spots the little, red x's that dot his desk calendar. He's still a little obsessive-compulsive when it comes to the boss.
Outside, I-Pin is berating Lambo again and Ryohei is provoking Hibari ("To the extreme!").
"You've done well with this place," she says, perhaps a little more sincerely than needed.
"There's a lot more work to do."
"You've done well."
He studies her curiously for a brief moment, then smiles and gives a soft snort.
The grandfather clock is ticking again and Chrome unconsciously smoothes out her skirt.
"Would you…" she hesitates a little, "Would you like to go for coffee?"
"Right now?"
"It's been a year since I've been in Italy. I'd like to see the city again."
Gokudera looks at the stack of paperwork next to him.
"Sure."
x
The sun is particularly hot and Chrome sips on an ice tea instead. Gokudera is reclined against his plastic chair. His sleeves are rolled up and his tie loosened. It's the first time she's seen him so relaxed since they'd all donned their black suits. His hand is poised just below his chest, holding a lightly steaming cup of coffee (freshly brewed, black) as if the summer humidity hasn't produced small beads of sweat on his forehead.
He once told her the more bitter the coffee, the stronger the heart, the stronger the person. Chrome has had a whiff of his cup before and thought her heart would go into shock with one taste.
He watches the scooters and cars whisk by and she watches him.
"Gokudera-san, if you hadn't joined the Famiglia, what would you have done?"
Gokudera looks away from the busy street and pauses for a moment in surprise.
"I would've gone to university, I guess. Mathematics or engineering." He plays with one of his rings. "I was always good at that stuff."
"Do you regret not going?"
"Never," he says confidently, "My place is with the Tenth. With me, it's always for the Tenth—not for anyone else… including me. You understand, don't you?"
Chrome nods.
"If I'd never met Mukuro-sama, I'd probably be dead," she says truthfully.
There's a beat of silence before Gokudera starts laughing.
"I don't know. For me, not meeting Mukuro might've meant one less visit to the hospital." Gokudera smirks. "A blessing, in one sense."
Loyalty—at least, she thinks it's loyalty—is a fickle thing. Sitting across this confident man in an Italian café, and with Mukuro always a close whisper in her head, Chrome can feel her heart tug in two directions. She squeezes it back in place and prays it won't leap out of her chest. She's not quite ready for coffee yet.