"Lambo!" Tsuna yells, obvious disappointment showing on his face as he cradles an upset I-pin. "Apologize right now!" His voice is sharper than usual and his eyes hold an edge to them that he usually reserves for the worst of Mafioso. A cold fear wells up inside of the now 10-year-old. Usually this fear would force him to keep his mouth shut and do as he's been told, but the mounting frustration that he's been feeling for weeks bubbles up to the surface. He crosses his arms and glares at his unintended target. He really wants to glare at Tsuna, but his fear forces him to keep from maintaining eye contact.
"No! She's been cheating this whole time and she deserves to be yelled at!" Deep down he knows that none of this is the slightly younger girl's fault. That she doesn't know how to rig dice to always land in her favor, but he refuses to back down. He squares his shoulders and turns to glare at the Monopoly board spread out on between himself, Tsuna, I-pin, Gokudera, Ryohei, and Yamamoto. As his eyes travel the board he notices the other three guardian's pieces grouped together on GO while his sits all alone in Jail.
"Oi!" Gokudera says sharply to his left. "Show some respect! Don't look away from the tenth when he's talking to you." Lambo's vicious gaze moves from the board to the storm guardian. The frustration flares again.
"Shut up dumb Tsuna-worshipper! No one cares about what you have to say since you've been cheating just as much as the other ugly four-eyes" A flash of hurt in pale green eyes registers in Lambo's mind before it is masked by anger. Gokudera clenches his firsts.
"Now, now." Yamamoto says as he puts a hand on Lambo's shoulder. "It's just a game! Why don't we all calm down so we can get back to having fun?" Yamamoto's usual calming smile spreads across his face. Lambo smacks away the teen's hand to disrupt the light wave of calming rain flames that was emanating from the point of contact. It's an annoying new trick that the rain guardian has learned to help defuse situations. Normally the lightning guardian would be grateful for it, but all it does is fuel his frustration.
"Shut up idiota." he spits the foreign insult at Yamamoto as a way of reminding the teen of his more recent struggles with learning Italian. The other guardian purposefully places his hand in his own lap as his eyes clear and his lips turn into a thin line. Lambo's eyes cut to an unusually silent and calm Ryohei and his mouth opens before the Sun guardian can attempt to calm the raging storm that is overflowing inside of Lambo. "That means idiot, muscle-for-brains," he says condescendingly. "If you need me to explain it for you I-"
A gunshot slices through the air and forces his eyes to where Reborn is standing beside Tsuna. The Vongola boss nods almost imperceptibly before speaking in a deathly calm tone. "That's enough Lambo. You are finished playing. Go to your room."
"Fine. I never wanted to play this stupid game anyways!" His hand slams onto the table making all of the pieces jump as he jerks into a standing position. One final flare forces his hands to jerk the whole board off of the table, effectively forcing all of the pieces and papers to fly into Gokudera's and Ryohei's laps.
A flash of regret compels him to glance to see if either guardian is okay as he storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He starts to follow Tsuna's orders when Gokudera's muffled voice cuts through the door. He pauses before retracing his steps and placing his ear against the wood.
"See, tenth? I told you it was a good idea to not invite him to go to Italy for the preliminary meetings! He can't even handle losing at a game. There's no way he'd be able to deal with all of the people that we'd have to meet." A trickle of sadness pools in Lambo's chest as his heart begins to sink. A heavy sigh from Tsuna makes it fall further.
"I'm starting to think that you might be right. Over the past few weeks his attitude has been getting worse and worse."
"He even snapped at Mama today..." I-pin says quietly with a small sniff. A sharp stab of remorse makes tears fill his eyes.
Lambo hadn't meant to yell at Mama. She had been clearing the empty table while off-handedly commenting that the house would feel so empty with everyone taking a trip to Italy. The words had reminded Lambo of how everyone would be leaving he, I-pin, Futa, and Mama behind to have a fun adventure in his homeland. Before he knew what he was doing, hurtful words had spilled from his mouth.
"I hate to say it, but we may not have a choice. Reborn has said that the Ninth wants all of the guardians to be there, but, if Lambo is going to be disruptive, I don't see how that's going to be possible..."
"Che." Gokudera scoffs. "Good riddance. The brat would only get in the way."
The building tears fall down Lambo's face as he runs to his room. He always knew that a lot of people saw him as annoying, but shouldn't his family love him no matter what? He had thought that his family would love him no matter what…
It hurt to find out that he had been wrong all of this time.
Lambo flings the door open and immediately goes to his closet to retrieve his back pack. He dumps the contents onto the floor. Books, papers, pens, pencils, and other school supplies scatter around the room as he goes to his closet. Shirts and pants are jerked off of their hangers before being stuffed haphazardly into the main compartment.
If his family truly didn't want him, then Lambo would leave. It would certainly be easier than waiting for them to decide when they no longer wanted him... And he could go on any adventure that he wanted to go on!
"That looks like an extreme plan that you've got there." Ryohei's rough voice startles Lambo into dropping a bag of candy that he was trying to fit into the overstuffed bag. Lambo eyes the white-haired teen who is leaning in the open doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. He waits a moment to see if the other will say more, but, when he doesn't continue, Lambo feels compelled to fill the silence.
"W-what do you w-want..." Lambo asks wearily. He agitatedly wipes the tears from his eyes. "A-are you going t-t-to yell at me, t-too?" Ryohei's frown makes Lambo brace himself for another lecture.
"No." The boxer says as he sits down in the doorway. "You were extremely upset in there so I came to ask why." He picks up one of the many discarded pencils and inspects it before putting it down again. Lambo glances over at the guardian before picking the bag up again.
"What do you care," Lambo huffs as he jams the bag roughly into his back pack effectively breaking a few pieces in the process. He refuses to look up as he continues. "It's not like anyone listens to Lambo anyways. All anyone does now," he pulls hard on the zipper and forces the bag closed, "is talk about the big trip that everyone, but Lambo, is going on. So, Lambo decided to take his own trip!" Lambo hoists the straps of the heavy bag on his shoulders and attempts to climb over Ryohei.
"You have school." Ryohei attempts to reason as he stretches out an arm and easily prevents Lambo from leaving. His other hand lands gently on his shoulder and pulls him away from the door. Even though the younger boy knows that he could never get past the boxer he still tries to push past.
"I don't care about school! School is dumb and boring! Besides, Tsuna's skipped lots of school!"
"And, Reborn's tutored Tsuna every day that he's had to skip. Besides, don't you want to extremely protect Tsuna's mama? You have to be strong and smart to do that." Lambo looks torn as he continues to fight to leave his room.
"B-but Lambo doesn't want to be left behind anymore!" The lightening guardian wails as he stops fighting and collapses on the ground dissolving into tears yet again. His arms come up in an attempt to hide his signature tears.
"We aren't leaving you behind, little guy." Ryohei gently squeezes his shoulder before patting Lambo's curly hair.
"Yes you are," the boy sobs. "You guys always leave me behind! And now-and now you're all going to leave and never come back!" Lambo springs back up tries to push past Ryohei, but he finds himself unable to gain even an inch past the doorjamb.
"No. We are extremely not going to leave you." The boxer sighs heavily before gently jerking the struggling boy back to the floor in an attempt to keep him from trying to run. He considers the upset boy before continuing. "Sawada wanted to surprise everyone, but it'd be extremely better if you knew: after school ends in a month he wants to fly everyone out to Italy. We're just going ahead to make sure that it's safe for you guys to come out there. " Lambo pauses mid-sob to look at Ryohei with watery eyes and runny nose.
"He did?"
"Yes, but he's worried that he won't be able to with your extremely bad attitude." Lambo's lip quivers as he looks to the ground and mumbles:
"Lambo thought that he was losing his family again."
Ryohei strains to hear the boy but, as soon as the words register in his mind, they stab harshly through his heart. Everyone had assumed that Lambo had only been upset over the trip and that was the reason why he had been upset lately. It had never occurred to any of them that he would be afraid of them leaving him forever. Which, considering what Gokudera had explained to him one night after an especially nasty standoff with the Bovino family, it should have occurred to at least one of them that he might still be insecure. What kind of older brothers were they if they couldn't figure that out?
As each of these realizations sets in, Ryohei's eyes soften more and more. Lambo is still staring at the ground when the teen forcibly pulls the younger boy into a hug eliciting a surprised yelp.
"Sorry, Lambo, but you're extremely stuck with us forever! Even if you try to run away, you'll never escape your family!" He starts aggressively ruffling the boy's curly hair.
"Tuuurf-top," Lambo whines while pushing the other guardian's hands away from his already unruly hair. Ryohei laughs good-naturedly as he retrieves his hand from the younger boy's head. The boy pauses to consider the teen before him. He bites his lip before speaking. "Even if I go to the moon?"
"Even if you go to the moon." Ryohei smiles. "Besides, I'm sure Octopus-head would love to look for aliens up there, if he was given the chance. Lambo laughs shakily as Ryohei leans over to retrieve a small package of tissues and hands it to his companion. He allows for the boy to use the tissues and compose himself before speaking again.
"Now, Lambo," said boy look up from the tissues wearily to listen. "I know that you didn't mean to say all of those mean things that you said, but you're going to have to apologize to everyone okay?" He waits for a silent nod before standing. "Why don't you unpack that bag first and then go apologize. Okay?"
"Okay," Lambo stands as well and begins to do as was suggested. Ryohei is about to leave the room when he pauses and turns back to the busy boy.
"I have to go home to take care of some things so I'll see you tomorrow."
"Ok, bye, Turf-top!"
The next day, when Ryohei comes over to Tsuna's house, he finds Lambo diligently working on his homework across from a bespectacled I-pin. Before, the boy could never seem to stay on task long enough to effectively finish his assignments, but a sense of determination could be seen on the boy's face.
"Hey, Lambo!" The boy in question looks up from the paper to smile at Ryohei. An excited gleam can be seen in his eyes as he lets his pencil drop to the table.
"Turf-top! Tsuna says that he'll let me come to Italy if I do well in my classes! So, Lambo's going to work hard to make sure that happens." I-Pin huffs in annoyance as she pins a glare at her long-time friend.
"You wouldn't have to work this hard if you'd put in at least some effort this year. Besides, I don't know why I have to help you get good grades when I don't get any sort of reward." The curly-haired boy looks back sheepishly at the girl in front of him.
"I said I'd buy you some souvenirs while I'm gone! All you have to do is tell me what you want me to buy for you."
"You'd better buy me something more than a postcard." I-Pin mutters before rolling her eyes and going back to the book in front of her. Lambo's wink at Ryohei is on her, but clearly tells the fellow guardian that the mass vacation surprise hasn't been completely spoiled.
"That's extremely great to hear. Speaking of which, can I talk to you Lambo?" The boy nervously glances at the homework in front of him as if he will get in trouble if he stops working. His study partner sighs before sitting back from her own homework and nodding at the waiting teen.
"Just go. We'll have to stop for supper soon anyways." Lambo smiles widely as he slams his books shut and stands up to walk to where Ryohei is waiting. They then walk out to the empty backyard and sit on the porch. Before the older boy can say anything, Lambo immediately begins talking.
"I apologized to everyone yesterday. And, I cleaned up all of Tsuna's room including the game. And, I promised Tsuna that I would be good in Italy," he says in a rush. "You left before I could say sorry, so I hope that you'll forgive me, too." Lambo looks up with hope in his eyes which is quickly replaced with relief when Ryohei laughs warmly and nods.
"Of course! I didn't come here for an apology, though. I came to give you something." The boxer digs into his jacket pocket and retrieves what looks to be a white rope-like bracelet. The braiding is quite intricate with a small metal charm. "This used to be one of the laces from my lucky pair of boxing gloves in middle school. I've been hanging onto then since that time we all went to the future. I never really knew what to do with it, but Kyoko had the idea to make it into a bracelet. You forgot yesterday that you're one of us and that no one in this family would ever leave you. So, we thought that maybe this could help remind you that we're all extremely here for you no matter what." He places the bracelet in the younger guardian's hands. Upon closer examination, the charm looks to be a bead with a crescent moon etched into its surface.
Lambo is able to hold his tears in valiantly for a whole minute before he starts crying and hugging the older guardian who pats him on the back. After a few minutes, Lambo pulls back and sniffs in an attempt to control himself. Wordlessly he extends his wrist to Ryohei who ties the bracelet on. It takes a few minutes for the boy to gain his composure, but, when he does, he speaks clearly with a wide grin.
"Thank you, Oni-san. I promise never to forget."
A/N: I know that Lambo is really close to Gokudera, but, while re-watching a few episodes I realized that Ryohei ends up being paired with Lambo a lot. So, therefore, I believe that the two guardians would end up bonding quite a bit going forward.
Also, even though Lambo will end up spending more time with his new family in the coming years than he ever did with the Bovino family, I believe that Lambo would be affected by this loss. As dark as it is to think about, he was essentially abandoned by the people that were supposed to love him forever. He may eventually get over this, but he certainly won't be able to for quite some time.
I hope you enjoyed this! If you did, please R&R! If you didn't, still R&R so I can know what to do better next time!