Gokudera shouldered through the crowd to get off the dance floor, disgruntled by the loud music pulsing through the room and the sheer amount of people writhing against each other. Even when he finally pushed through and got some of that personal space that he was looking for, he wasn't feeling any better, however. In fact, he felt even more frustrated than before.
Normally, Gokudera wouldn't have come to a frat party like this. He was halfway through freshman year now, so he knew from experience that some of what happened at these parties was disgusting. Problem was it has been a while since he got laid, and tonight of all days, the tension that had been building within him had finally reached its peak. It came to a point where he couldn't even think properly because he was coiled so tensely. It annoyed him to be controlled by his body's needs, but knowing that this was a battle that he couldn't win, that he had been losing for a while, in fact, he reluctantly went to one of the parties on campus.
His plan was to find someone that was pleasing to the eyes, dance with them, maybe chat up with them a little, and then invite them back to his room so he could finally, finally rid his body of its pesky need. Pretty good plan, except he was so sexually frustrated that he was in a shitty mood the whole day and night, so much that he couldn't even bring himself to dance or chat with anyone amiably, and without those actions, how was he supposed to get laid?
Fucking catch-22, Gokudera thought, scrubbing a hand over his face, irritated. Screw this, I'm leaving. He was whirling towards the exit when he caught a scene in the corner of his eyes.
On the stairs of the frat house, a man was pulling a resisting woman up the stairs.
Gokudera was pushing past everyone and heading towards them, frown firmly in place, before he was even consciously aware of his action. Just when he was about to storm up from the bottom of the stairs, the woman finally managed to pull free from the despicable man. Both the man and Gokudera's eyes widened in horror, however, when she suddenly slipped on the step and began falling backwards. Gokudera quickly threw himself up the stairs to catch her, one hand around her waist and the other tightly clenched around the banister to brace her weight.
"Kyoko-chan!" the man shouted, hurrying towards them.
Gokudera's scowl deepened. He didn't know if it was worse that it was the woman's acquaintance or friend that tried to rape her, but he knew it certainly wasn't better. Whoever he was, the woman had terrible taste, to know such a scumbag.
"Take another step and I'll -" Gokudera started warningly, except even before he could get creative with his threats, the man said, "Oh, thank you, thank you for catching her." His tone was so sincere, so young, that it caught Gokudera off guard. Up close, Gokudera could tell that the man could barely be called that, when he still had his baby fat and was so short. Only with the help of his fluffy brown hair did he barely reach Gokudera's shoulders. Wow, rapists come in all shape and size nowadays, don't they?
"Kyoko-chan, are you alright?" the man asked to the woman in his arms. The woman let out a small groan, but otherwise didn't reply. From the look of her red cheeks, it seemed like a few drinks coupled with a fall from the stairs was enough to knock her out. The man sighed when she made no reply. "Come on, I'll bring you home."
The man made a move to take the woman away, only to pause in confusion when Gokudera didn't let her go.
Mochida's brows furrowed in confusion as Gokudera stood in his path on his ways up the stairs and into a bedroom with the unconscious lady in his arms. "What are you doing, man, move outta the way," he said. "I called dibs first, go find yourself another prey."
Prey, he said, like it was so normal, so common, to call any woman that. Like it was so normalized to carry an incapacitated person up into a bedroom and do as he liked with them when they could not say no, so normalized that it didn't even occur to him that something was wrong.
It was disgusting.
"You're not taking her anywhere, you asshole, not when she is in no condition to consent or refuse anything," Gokudera growled. The man's eyebrows furrowed at Gokudera's staunch refusal to let her go with him, only for understanding and horror to dawn when he realized what Gokudera had qualms about upon hearing the word 'consent.'
"No, no, no, no!" the man exclaimed, frantically waving his hands in front of him as though that could ward off his accusing warning. Was this the first time that he tried doing this and was caught? Well, he was probably this flustered because he didn't expect to be stopped. Any minute now, he would be giving him an excuse about how they were friends or in a relationship, so it was alright to leave her with him. "I'm" - a faint blush spread across his cheeks. Great, now it turned out that the man was tipsy. The probability of looser inhibition and of doing something wrong was higher than ever. - "Kyoko-chan's boyfriend. I just want to get her home safely. I swear, I'm not trying to do anything."
"Oh, so now you're trying to 'get her home,'" Gokudera sneered, glaring daggers as he caught the man in his lies. "Weren't you trying to get her to go upstairs with you just before. I saw you."
Besides, he thought, looking at the woman in his arms, who was admittedly very beautiful, and then at the wimpy, weak looking man in front of him. He highly doubted their relationship was as the man said.
"That…" the man said, looking so frustrated like he was about to pull all his hair out. "I was trying to make sure that she wouldn't fall off the stairs! She wanted to go back down, but I was afraid I was going to lose her in the crowd and then something bad might happen."
"Well, didn't you do a great job of that," Gokudera said sarcastically. The man's cover story full of holes, but he was still trying so hard with it that Gokudera couldn't resist poking at all the holes. "She fell off the stairs already, for one, although you wouldn't lose her in the crowd now if you want to drag her out, since she is unconscious. I can't help but wonder how are you going to get her out here and back to her home though?" Gokudera eyed the man up and down; he certainly didn't look like he had the muscles for it.
At those words, the man casted a shy, sheepish look at Gokudera. What? "Well," the man started, looking embarrassed, "I was hoping that maybe since you are so nice, you could help me bring her back?" He paused for a beat, before hurriedly adding, "I mean, you don't have to if it's too much trouble, but I'll be very grateful if you could at least bring her downstairs so I can call a taxi to pick us up."
Us, he said. It was like he was deaf or mentally impaired. After all that Gokudera said and warned, the man still had the gall to count the woman as a part of his night?! Gokudera wanted to punch the man, but his arms were full. He tried to calm down instead.
"You're going to bring her to her home?" Gokudera demanded. He didn't trust the man, but it seemed like the man did at least know the woman. If he knew where her home was, Gokudera could at least drop the woman off so he wasn't stuck babysitting her for the whole night.
The man bobbed his head. "Of course!" he exclaimed. On a softer note, he tentatively said, "Does this mean you're willing to help me bring her back?"
"Yes," Gokudera grouched, sick of the man, the woman and the whole situation now. He still didn't get laid and he was sick of all the troubles that came from being a busybody. Yet Gokudera knew that even if he had a second chance to choose not to interfere, he wouldn't have taken it. Interfering will cost him his night, but not interfering could cost that woman her life. Gokudera wasn't any goody-two shoe, but he couldn't stand watching someone in trouble and not help either. "Are you just going to stand there and look useless, or are you going to help?"
That jolted the man out of whatever he was thinking. Probably nothing good after Gokudera agreed to help bring the woman home. Too bad for him, Gokudera never promised to leave him and the woman alone. He spent half his night on this already, he was going to protect her until the end.
Gokudera ended up carrying the woman while the man created a path through the crowd for him to follow by gratingly repeating, "Excuse me, sorry, sorry," all the way to the exit. Gokudera thought about just ditching him to save himself the trouble of kicking his ass later, but the man was smarter than he looked. He kept on glancing back every once in a while to make sure Gokudera was following, and even went after him the one time he slipped away. Oh well, at least Gokudera wouldn't have to find a decent hotel to leave the woman at until she recovered from her intoxication.
The ride in the taxi on the way to the woman's home was quiet. The man tried striking up a conversation by introducing himself as Tsuna, but Gokudera had no intention of making nice with an attempt rapist. Gokudera gave a brusque reply of, "Gokudera," to the man to shut him up, but otherwise didn't say anything else to him. The man gave up after another two weak attempts.
The walk to the fifth floor was uneventful, if not tiring, especially with another person on his back. Gokudera cursed himself for being a principled idiot, before letting out a sigh of relief when they finally reached the fifth floor.
"Are you alright?" the man asked, sounding worried, but Gokudera brushed him aside just like how he brushed aside his suggestion to carry the woman for a flight of stairs to lessen his load.
"Just show me where's her apartment," Gokudera grunted, too tired to reply. Good thing he didn't have class the next day. He was crashing as soon as he got home.
The man led the way to the apartment and before Gokudera could think of an appropriate way to look for the woman's keys, the man procured one out of his own pocket and opened the door. Gokudera wanted to bang his head against the wall. Now the woman wouldn't be safe even in her own home. Gokudera was beginning to wonder if the apartment was even the woman's, as the man claimed, or did the man simply used Gokudera to bring the woman to his apartment.
Luckily for the man, once the door opened, the interior did prove that the apartment was more likely the woman's than not. The decorations inside weren't overly feminine with pink curtains or anything, but it did give off a feeling that a woman lived there and not a man.
The man led the way in without an ounce of hesitation, showing that he was familiar with the apartment, and brought them straight into the woman's bedroom. The woman was really an idiot for trusting an attempt rapist with her keys and everything.
Gokudera dropped the woman off onto the bed after waiting the few seconds requested by the man to put the blanket off to the side. He watched without speaking a word when the man pulled the blanket over her, but stepped in when the man moved to remove her shoes.
"Enough!" Gokudera growled. The man startled at that, and Gokudera was furious. Was he so into satisfying his lust that he had forgotten that Gokudera was there? "We're leaving, now."
"But," the man started, but Gokudera really had enough. He grabbed the man by his shirt collar and lifted him up, ignoring the man's panicked, "Hiie!"
"Look, I don't know what kind of shitty personality you have, but when someone resists against your advances, you don't pursue it any further. When they are incapacitated, you bring them to a safe place and that's it. You don't do anything without their consent and once they say 'no', it means 'no', do you understand, you piece of shit?!"
"I'm not," the man started, but Gokudera didn't want to hear any more excuses. He shook the man in the air like a ragged doll, before dropping him onto the ground. The man winced as he crashed against the ground.
"I repeat," Gokudera said, slowly, dangerously. "We're leaving. Now."
The man slowly clambered onto his feet, his expression pained. "I can't," he said, and had the gall to sound wretched, like it pained him to not take advantage of a woman who can't say no. "Kyoko-chan is drunk. I don't want anything to happen to her. What if she wakes up later and falls when she tries to get a drink of water? I'm not trying to take advantage of her, I swear. I only want to take care of her until she wakes up."
The man just had to have so many excuses, don't he? Gokudera would have been impressed if he wasn't so annoyed.
"Shut up!" Gokudera hissed. "I don't need your excuses."
"It's not," the man started, before cutting himself off with the shake of his head. Seemed like it finally sunk into his head that Gokudera wouldn't believe in anything he said, no matter what. "Okay, how about this? I'll just stay outside the apartment, so if Kyoko needs help or call me, I'll be right there."
Clever. Clever, but. "You really think I'm an idiot, don't you? You have the key to the apartment. You can come back in anytime."
A sheepish look overcame the man's face. "You remembered?" he said, then sighed. "I just want to make sure she's alright. I…" He swallowed. "How about if you wait with me? Then I can check up on Kyoko-chan if anything happens and you can check on me."
Hell no, was Gokudera's first thought. He wanted to go back home and sleep, not sleep outside of some stranger's apartment with her creep of a friend that had bad intentions towards her.
Except it didn't seem like the man would leave no matter what and he would hate to leave now and come back to a report of rape the next day, especially when he could have prevented it.
"Alright," Gokudera growled. "Let's go."
And so that was how they ended up sitting next to each other with their back against the door of the woman's apartment, sitting outside in the lobby in plain view of anyone on that floor that walked by, leaving those pass-byers to wonder what business they had there. Gokudera didn't think anyone would believe him if he told them.
Despite his best intentions, Gokudera really was exhausted and he ended up closing his eyes. He woke up with a jolt and realized that what felt like a second of him closing his eyes ended up being a whole night's sleep. It was morning now.
Gokudera jerked his head to the side, heart pounding as he tried to affirm whether or not the man was still there. If he snuck in while Gokudera was sleeping -!
He was still there, legs pulled up to his chest, arms crossed over his knees and his head pillowed by his arms. He looked like a kid, innocent and decent, and Gokudera wondered for the first time if the man's excuses were actually excuses or were they actually the truth.
The door behind them opened, and the man, who was leaning on it in his sleep, immediately fell back with a yelp. His arms and legs thrashed about and as far as morning wake up calls, this definitely wasn't high on the list.
You couldn't tell what a rude wake up he just had, from the way the man's face brightened so intensely when he saw who opened the door.
"Kyoko-chan!" he exclaimed, scrambling to a stand. "You're awake? How are you feeling?"
"Tsuna-kun!" the woman said, surprised. "I thought you would still be around. Why are you out here? Why didn't you stay inside?" Her gaze slid towards Gokudera, and before turning back to the man to give him a questioning look.
Gokudera shook his head and began to walk away. He had no interest in listening to what the man - Tsuna - had to say about him. It seemed like he wasted a night all for nothing, and ow, his back hurted from sleeping against such a hard surface.
Gokudera was just about to round the corner when the man called out, "Wait, Gokudera-san!"
"Rape? Rape?!" the lady screeched. "He's my friend, why would he harm me?"
"I told him so, but he wouldn't believe it," Mochida scoffed. "I dare say this busybody fancies himself as some kind of hero."
"I can't believe you would be so rude as to make such an assumption about someone you never met," the lady continued. She crossed her arms. "I think you owe my friend an apology."
Gokudera inhaled deeply to calm himself, before turning around. "Yeah?" he said, an eyebrow raised in challenge. If they think he would apologize for trying to ensure someone's safety, they will find out that some other stupid people had already tried to get it from him and failed.
"Uhm," Tsuna said, suddenly speechless. He glanced back at the woman, and at her encouraging smile, he took in a deep breath and said, "Would you like to eat breakfast with Kyoko and me, Gokudera-san?"
Gokudera stared at them. What did he just say?
When Gokudera didn't immediately reply, the woman - Kyoko - spoke up. "Tsuna-kun told me how you were looking out for my safety and helped bring me back home. Why don't you let us treat you to breakfast as a thank you, Gokudera-san?" Gokudera could hardly believe his ears as she finished with a bright smile, "Let's be friends, alright?"
Gokudera looked from Tsuna to Kyoko, both who were patiently waiting for his answer. Moreover, they sounded sincere about their invitation. Unbelievable. Gokudera looked away. They really do deserve each other.
Gokudera ignored the warmth blooming in his heart.
"I know a place," Gokudera said gruffly a beat later. Even without him looking back, he knew those two were beaming back at him.
I was reading a series of articles about rape, the definition of consent and how bystanders can do something about it (Safety & Prevention section of the first link that pops up if you search Rainn online), and of course, that made me think of writing a fanfic. I think it'll be cool to write a fanfic that informs/imparts factual information without making it too dry. Tell me if I accomplished that? I really, really want to do this right, especially among fandoms where we let our favorite pairing and imagination run wild without any bound. I love that aspect about fandoms, but at the same time, by the end of the day, I think it's important to for us to remember that what's acceptable in fandoms might not and sometimes cannot be acceptable in real life.
Consent (in a sexual relationship): Permission to do a certain sexual act, conveyed verbally or through action. A person who is not in their right mind (on drugs, drunk, unconscious) or is coerced cannot give consent.
Bystanders (in terms of sexual assault): Someone who is not directly involved, but could have done something to prevent the sexual assault by 1) telling someone of its happening 2) staying close by so the attacker don't dare do anything with a witness 3) directly step in and interfere.
• All in honesty, this story came about because I can sympathize how hard it is to not be a bystander though. You are willingly spending your own time involving yourself in a stranger's business, can be considered as a busybody rather than someone trying to help, and it can be mortifying if the 'rapist' was actually a friend of the 'victim' that was trying to help. That's what ended up happening for Gokudera here. Despite the fact, something good did come out of it, however. Gokudera became friends with Tsuna, because who else is better to befriend with than someone who's so kind to watch for even a stranger's safety despite at the expense of himself? After all, in the end, Gokudera didn't even get laid XD
And as a thanks for reading everything up until here, here's some thoughts of what happened after the ending:
• Gokudera stopped being isolated in the university after becoming friends with Tsuna and later, the rest of the Guardians. Whenever he thought back to his first meeting with Tsuna, Gokudera would be equally mortified and amused because now knowing Tsuna's personality, his initial misconception that Tsuna would commit sexual assault, would commit any assault, was the most comical idea ever.
• Their university has a supremely talented bunch of seniors nicknamed Arcobaleno. When they graduated, Tsuna ended up inheriting their frat house, because Reborn, the former head of Arcobaleno who excelled at pretty much everything, took an interest in Tsuna and find it amusing to watch Tsuna squirm and struggle with what to do.
• Tsuna decided he might as well make use of the frat house and invited all his friends to move in with him. They took up his offer and since pretty much all of his friends besides Hibari are social people, they ended up hosting parties at the frat house after receiving permission from Hibari. Hibari, in turn, although never wanted to host parties, sometimes use the house for his Disciplinary Committee meetings.
• Tsuna's gang is called the Guardians because of the rules they have for their parties. They have a list of rules that people who want to party at their frat house - Vongola - must abide by if they don't want to be banned from there. The rules consist of stuff like no sex or drug in the house. Try not to go crazy and get drunk, but if you do, make sure someone you trust can bring you home. The list of rules ends with "If you have any questions or comments, please visit the Disciplinary Committee to contact Hibari." At the very bottom of the paper, written and signed by Hibari is: "If you break the rules, prepare to be bitten to death."
• Needless to say, Vongola was the most popular and safe frat house to party at.