A/N: Happy New Year everyone! This is an older work that I wrote but never shared. It came to mind recently, so I decided to share it rather than just let it sit there on my hard drive. I hope you enjoy!
Tsuna had had a feeling long before he was ever actually told. It must've been his hyper intuition at work, but he liked to think it was just because he enjoyed looking after he dear mafia family.
It hadn't been an obvious thing like when a baby Lambo had just finished consuming candy (his hands and face were always sticky afterward). Tsuna couldn't explain it, but it had to do with the change in atmosphere, so to speak, when the two of them were together. It was like when he had differentiated Chrome from Mukuro back at the Mist guardian battle.
When Yamamoto was around, things around Hibari seemed to get just a little less tense. The two of them didn't even need to be talking; Yamamoto only had to be closely. Tsuna had originally thought it was because Yamamoto was so easy-going that even Hibari relaxed around him, but that seemed uncharacteristic of the cloud guardian. Then one day, when he had brought it up while walking with his Rain guardian casually on the streets of Italy, Yamamoto had given his trademark laugh and told him it probably wasn't like that. And then Yamamoto had rubbed at the scar on his chin and fessed up to his boss.
---
Gokudera knew and, thinking back, found it had been irritatingly obvious. Yamamoto had always liked to play a game with Gokudera that involved making him waste cigarettes. He guessed that Yamamoto didn't really approve the habit and tried his own stupid methods to thwart the activity. The two of them would be wandering along, probably on their way to Juudaime's house, and out of the blue Yamamoto would ask the dumbest, strangest questions...all of which seemed to center around Hibari.
"Do you think Hibari would like flowers or sushi better?"
The cigarette would spit out of his mouth, followed by coughing and shouting that he was an idiot and how the hell would he know while Yamamoto stood there and just grinned. Thinking back, Gokudera wondered if there a bit of honesty to his queries.
But the bastard still needed to pay him back for all those cigarettes.
---
Yamamoto Tsuyoshi had been shocked when his son told him about his new boyfriend of all things. He was lucky that his boy was considerate enough not to tell him while he was near any of his prized cutlery or else he might have injured himself on accident. It wasn't that he was opposed to such things, it was just that his boy was into idols and seemed to like girls just as much as any other teenage male.
Trying to be the cool parent, Tsuyoshi suggested that his son bring his new boyfriend over. Takeshi had blinked then agreed to ask him over.
The moment Hibari Kyouya parted the noren curtains and stepped inside Takesushi, Tsuyoshi sensed that he was a strong and proud fighter. And thus, there was instant, mutual respect, and not to mention free sushi.
---
Reborn just knew. Because he was awesome like that.
...or maybe it was because Yamamoto hadn't minded confiding in his "shoulder buddy" way back when. Heck, he had even asked for advice from time to time. Seeing Yamamoto fumble clumsily through his new relationship often made Reborn tip his hat forward so that he could hide his grin of amusement from the boy. Basic things had somehow been very complex for Yamamoto because on top of it being his first relationship, it was with another boy, and a rather difficult one to please at that.
Reborn had never had a reason to tell anyone else; he didn't think it was important to the overall cohesion of the guardians and their role towards Tsuna. If anything, the relationship helped keep Hibari around.
---
Kusakabe knew. It was quite hard not to know when you were Hibari's closest subordinate. Kusakabe used to inform him of all the school sports games occuring that day, but Hibari rarely went to watch. But when Hibari did go, he realized that the only ones Hibari would actually postpone his naptimes for were the baseball games.
Then again, those were the only games they were pretty much guaranteed to win due to the star player. Hibari did not like going to losing matches, and his death threats to failing teams made this very apparent.
But when Hibari's red disciplinary committee band was mysteriously gone from his jacket one day, Kusakabe had only been met with silence when he had asked if the other had left it at home. Highly peculiar, because Hibari took great pride in his position.
The next day, it had reappeared in the hands of the star baseball player.
"Could you give this to Hibari? I patched up the tear."
---
Hibird knew. Or at least comprehended the concept as much as a bird possibly could. Hibird didn't really mind either. The two humans often napped together while Hibird chirped the one song it was taught and flew against the wind. The other boy usually brought a treat for Hibird when he came around too, so all was well.
As long as this guy knew who had perching dibs on the master's shoulders.
---
How on earth had Lambo found out? Well technically, he hadn't, but if had had the wit to put the pieces together, he would've. But a hyper child like Lambo wouldn't understand the meaning of a slightly ripped red band that read "discipline" sitting in the weirdo laughing guy's baseball bag. No, he was much more focused on seeing if said bag had candy at the bottom.
"Hey, don't throw that around," the laughing guy had told him gently with a smile, plucking the fabric out of Lambo's hands. "I promised to fix it for him." And then he had pulled out a perfectly round gem of sweetness from his pocket, and Lambo had completely forgotten about whatever that thing had been.
---
Yamamoto had gotten into the habit of wiping his forehead a lot during practice. Often times it wasn't really because he was feeling hot; it was because it gave him a chance to take off his cap and look up at the roof of the nearby school building. And he'd always see a silhouette there, the unused sleeves of the jacket on its shoulders following the breeze.
And he smiled because he knew.