10 Years Worth of Birthdays
By: Blade-kun
Disclaimer: I do not own Reborn.
"So, will you come?"
"…No."
Yamamoto sighed, his smile fading. "Ah, come on! He's your boyfriend. You have to come!"
Hibari gave him a mild glare for his trouble, flicking dust from his sleeve. "No."
"He'll be upset if you don't."
The prefect yawned. "He's used to it. He knows better."
"Well, it couldn't hurt to surprise him for once, right?"
Hibari actually looked like he was thinking about it.
"…No."
But to no avail.
Yamamoto leaned back, tilting his head. "You're a hard sell."
"And you're a bother. Now get lost before I bite you to death."
"Okay, okay," the swordsman said, standing up and brushing off his pants. He headed towards the door, but glanced over his shoulder, "I still think you should come."
And with that he was gone, leaving Hibari to his thoughts.
His birthday, huh?
Of course he knew when it was. Hayato might not have told him personally, but Kyouya made it his business to know everything about the students in his school. And Hayato was more than a student, he was his property. So of course he knew.
And it wasn't like he had expected Hayato to tell him either. If there was one thing that Kyouya had learned since they started dating, it was that, when he wasn't defending himself of course, Hayato tended to place very little value on his life and everything in it. Years of neglect and mistreatment, of being shunned and abandoned, had gotten Hayato into this annoying way of thinking that he was worth nothing, less than nothing. And Kyouya simply couldn't abide by that.
Hayato was his property now, and that meant he was worth everything.
Which of course was why Yamamoto had dragged him to the rooftop in the first place, in order to try and convince him to attend a secret birthday celebration that he and Tsuna were planning.
Now, what to do about it?
* * * * *
"What, done already?"
Hayato fidgeted as he watched Kyouya slide into his chair and straighten some paperwork.
"Were you expecting something else?"
He tucked his hair back, feeling…nervous? "No, it's just usually you don't let me leave for at least two hours."
Kyouya had this weird idea of 'us' time. Generally sometime during last period he would drag Hayato from class, and force him into the committee room, where they would then do a number of things, depending on Kyouya's mood. Sometimes they just laid together on the couch, other times they read, occasionally played games, whatever took Kyouya's fancy. Once he'd made them fold origami. For three hours.
Hayato was simply fortunate he spent the majority of his free time doing delicate work, or his hands would've been cramped badly.
He was a weird guy, for sure. Hayato couldn't remember why he was dating him.
"I have no reason to keep you longer today."
"Oh," Gokudera hoped he didn't sound disappointed. He wasn't. He would be able to walk the Tenth home today if he could leave now.
He wasn't. Really.
"Are you going then, or are you going to sit there on my couch gawking?"
Hayato scowled a little at the obvious dismissal, but bit his tongue to contain any arguments. Best to leave peacefully. He grabbed his bag and headed out the door.
What was Kyouya's problem? He'd been…moody, for lack of a better word, for the past three days now. And today he'd actually let him leave after barely an hour! What the hell?
Hayato sighed. Well, it wasn't like he claimed to understand the prefect, for all that he was dating him.
So lost was he in his thoughts, he didn't even notice when he came upon Tsuna and Yamamoto.
"Oh, Gokudera-kun! Are you walking home with us today?"
He started at the sound of his boss's voice, snapping his head up. His mouth worked for a second. "Uh, yeah…"
"Really?" Yamamoto prompted, "Strange. Hibari usually keeps you on a shorter leash than that."
He bristled. "Fuck you! I'm not his dog!"
"Haha, I'm just saying. Since you two started dating, you've been almost like newlyweds. You're never apart."
Hayato flushed brightly even as his scowl deepened. Damned Yamamoto! The idiot had taken up this obnoxious habit of teasing him after he and Kyouya had gotten together. Hell, the bastard had all but laughed his ass of when it was first announced.
He was just reaching for his dynamite when Tsuna chimed.
"Calm down, Gokudera-kun. But Yamamoto's kind of right. Hibari-san usually keeps you after school. Did you finish early today."
Hayato bit his tongue and shrugged vaguely. "Yeah. He's been weird lately." Suddenly he panicked, "Not to say that I don't want to come with you! In fact, I apologize that I haven't been able to escort you home!"
"Ur, it's okay. So things are…okay with you two? You didn't have a fight, did you?"
"No, Tenth. Nothing like that."
"…? Well, then, let's get going."
"Sure."
* * * * *
"Miiiiidorii tadabikuu…Namimori nooo~~..."
Hayato came awake abruptly at the shrill singing, trying to make sense of it, before letting his head fall back onto his pillow with a dull thump.
"Kyouya…" he growled, "You bastard, I'll kill you…"
The singing didn't seem about to end anytime soon, and fumbling around, he reached for where it sounded like his phone was, nearly knocking off the side table before managing to grab and flip it open, bringing it to his ear.
"Nnngh…hello?"
"Hayato."
He blinked, sleep firmly retreating at the voice. "Kyouya?" he spoke around a yawn, brow furrowing, "Why are you calling?"
"Meet me on the school roof."
Hayato pulled the phone back to stare at it, then at the clock, then the phone, before bringing it back.
"…Now?"
"Now."
Hayato glanced at the clock again. It was 11:27 at night! "But…"
"If you're late, I'll bite you to death." Click.
…He hung up on him. That son of a bitch hung up on him.
"Geh! What the hell?"
He snapped the phone shut irritably, now wide awake. Stumbling out of bed, he searched for clothes, grumbling to himself. Why in the hell did Kyouya want to meet him at school? This late? Didn't he know people were trying to sleep? He was sure if he pulled the same stunt with the prefect, Kyouya would've come just to beat the shit out of him for waking him up.
Stuffing his phone in his pocket and grabbing his keys, he shuffled out of his apartment. The chill woke him up a little more, even as it bit at his face. He fumbled for a cigarette.
"He'd better have a damn good reason for this…"
* * * * *
Hayato was on his third cigarette by the time the door finally opened to reveal Kyouya. Hayato glanced down at his watch. 11:58. He'd been waiting a whole half hour! He bristled.
"There you are! You bastard, you woke me up and called me out in the middle of the night, and you weren't even here when I got here!"
Kyouya simply checked his watch.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
"Mm…ok."
"Huh? 'Ok'? What're you—mmph!"
Hayato growled somewhere in the back of his mind as he tried not to choke on the tongue suddenly shoved in his mouth. Kyouya didn't even let him finish his sentence! Though it started to matter a lot less as the seconds dragged by. Hayato hated how good of a kisser Kyouya was, as he thoughts became jumbled and eventually disappeared altogether.
When they finally came up for air he found he could no longer stand and sank to the ground. Kyouya nudged him back against the railing before taking a seat beside him.
"Here."
Hayato waited for his head to clear a little before seeing a hot drink dangling inches from his face, another in Kyouya's other hand. Quirking an eyebrow, he accepted it and popped it open.
"What's this for?" he asked, taking a sip.
"For your birthday."
And abruptly choked.
Kyouya paid him no mind, taking a drink himself.
"Wh-what?!"
"Your birthday."
Hayato thought for a second. Was it his birthday? He opened his phone.
"Oh, it really is."
"You forgot? Typical. And to think I could've ignored the whole affair."
"You mean to say you dragged me out here in the middle of the night for that!? You--" he cut himself off, face blanking, 'Wait, how do you know when my birthday is anyway?"
Kyouya simply gave him a look that not so subtly implied how stupid the question was.
Hayato blushed practically to his roots. "You damned stalker!! You looked through my file!?"
"Does it matter? Knowing the students' personal data is my job, if I'm to discipline them properly."
"Is that an excuse!?"
He received another look and got the idea it was probably a good idea to shut up and drink before Kyouya lost his temper.
Looking down, he thought about it. Kyouya was celebrating his birthday. Kyouya was celebrating his birthday. It was almost mind-boggling. Of course it wasn't like Kyouya wasn't affectionate, so to speak, but his affection was often very demanding and without regard to Hayato's schedule or consent or sense of propriety.
It was kind of…nice. If embarrassing as all hell.
Glancing at Kyouya, he caught the other's eye and blushed, ducking his head.
Fucking—quite acting like an idiot, you…you girl!
He saw the other smirk out of the corner of his eyes at his behavior and scowled. He downed his drink.
The silence crawled by, and eventually Hayato, feeling sleepy from the warm drink and cool temperature, leaned his head against Kyouya's shoulder.
"…Thanks."
"Hm. You're easy to please at least."
"Hey, you, I'm trying to be nice here…!"
Kyouya just nodded like one pacifying a child and cupped his head, pulling him closer. Hayato settled down.
"...We should…do this again. It's not bad…it's quiet anyway."
Kyouya simply chuckled, and Hayato flushed a little again. Hell, he was going to fall asleep.
"Next year, then."
Hayato couldn't help but smile.
It sounded like a promise.
* * * * *
"Baseball freak, I swear to god, if this is another one of your fucking pranks, I'll--"
"Haha, relax! It's not a prank, promise."
Hayato bit back a growl, barely resisting the urge to rip Yamamoto's hands from off his face. "Then what the hell are you doing!?"
"Hang on, you'll see in a second."
Hayato ground his teeth, but complied, allowing Yamamoto to guide him along, albeit reluctantly. He nearly lost it when he bumped into a wall, and Yamamoto uttered a hasty apology.
"Ok, you can look now." The hands fell away.
"Finally, what--"
"SURPRISE!!!"
Hayato nearly died of a heart attack right there as suddenly a dozen party poppers went off right in his face, and he jerked back away from the sparks.
"What in the hell?"
"SURPRISE!!" Lambo shrieked, jumping in front of him and pulling his popper.
"Hey!! You fucking cow, you nearly burned my eyes!!"
He went to smack him, but Yamamoto grabbed his arm before he could swing it.
"Now now," the other said, pushing his limb back down to his side. "Happy birthday, Gokudera."
…His thought process ground to a halt.
"…Huh?"
Tsuna came up then, smiling brightly. "Happy birthday!"
"Tenth…"
"Surprised, right? Tsuna and I planned it. We were talking to Bianchi a while back and she mentioned your birthday was coming up, so we decided to celebrate it."
Hayato merely stared at them. They exchanged glances before turning back to him.
"Um, Gokudera-kun? It's okay right? Did we do something wrong? Or…did you not want to do anything? If so, then I'm sorry, I didn't realize, we just thought it'd make you…happy…"
He trailed off as Gokudera's shoulders began to shake, his head hanging dangerously low. His birthday. First Kyouya, and now the Tenth….Hayato had honestly more or less forgotten his birthday even existed. It had been years since he'd even bothered to remember the day, much less celebrate it. And now…
Tsuna ducked his head a little, trying to get a look at the bomber's face, and gasped when he did. Gokudera…he was actually crying!
Tsuna smiled then and hugged him around the shoulders. "Happy birthday," he repeated.
Hayato sniffed silently and cleared his throat, trying to use Tsuna's shirt to wipe his tears. 'Yeah," he said after a moment, a little hoarsely, "Thanks."
Tsuna then released him and he quickly and discreetly wiped his face, glaring at Yamamoto and just daring him to say something. The other, though grinning, wisely decided to stay silent.
Of course, as the party started he realized, to his dismay, that they'd invited just about everyone they knew to the party, including his sister, that idiot girl, lawnhead, Shamal, Kyoko, Yamamoto's father (who with Nana seemed to be providing the food)…everyone.
Hayato honestly could have done without most of the company.
About halfway through they sat him down to cut the cake, followed by unwrapping presents. Lambo kept trying to unwrap them first (and take them for his own), and Hayato had to try really, really hard not to kill him.
By the time it had died down, Hayato was exhausted. A mostly good kind of exhausted, but exhausted nonetheless.
That's when Tsuna took it upon himself to ask, "Eh? Where's Hibari-san?"
They all turned their heads to glance about, but the prefect was nowhere to be found.
Yamamoto looked slightly stricken and turned back. "I'm sorry, Gokudera. I asked him to come."
Hayato grinned a little, recalling the night before. "It's okay, he was already here."
"Eh? Where? I didn't see him."
Hayato shook his head, and Yamamoto raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah!" Ryohei suddenly called out to them, heading over, "I almost forgot. Hibari said to give this to you, or he'd beat me to the extreme!"
He shoved a large envelope in to Hayato's hands before heading back to the food trays. Tsuna and Yamamoto leaned in, eager to see.
"What is it?" Tsuna asked.
"Hurry, open it."
"Shut up, baseball idiot. Don't rush me."
Hesistantly, he peeled back the metal clips and opened the flap, eaching in and withdrawing a thin stack of paper. A note was stuck to the front.
'We'll practice these later.'
He glanced over the pages.
Music sheets.
Quite a few of them. And a lot of them really nice pieces.
Hayato scowled at the one on top though, recognizing it instantly as that annoying school theme Kyouya loved so much.
"I thought you didn't play anymore," Tsuna questioned, a little confused.
"I don't," Hayato confirmed.
"Haha! Obviously Hibari has other ideas."
Hayato glared at him, then at the sheets. Suddenly it occurred to him. If he'd given these to Ryohei to hand him, then…
That bastard! He knew about the party!
Hayato growled. Dammit, when this was over, he was gonna call him and give him a piece of his mind!
"Gokudera-kun?"
He blinked and focused on Tsuna's concerned face. He quickly smiled.
"Everything's fine, Tenth. Come on, let's go grab some food while there's still any left."
* * * * *
Ring. Ring. Ring-
"Hello?"
"You bastard. You knew about this didn't you?"
Not missing a beat, Hibari replied, "I did."
"You dragged me out last night so you wouldn't have to come today."
"Is that a problem?"
"You cheapskate."
" I sent my gift ahead of time, so I can't fathom why you're complaining."
"I'm not complaining."
"Then why are you calling?"
Hayato snorted. "You don't understand anything, do you?"
"I'm afraid not. I'm hanging up now."
"Hey, wait!"
"What?"
He paused. Why did he speak up?
"Well?"
"Uh, nothing."
There was a moment of silence.
"Hey, Kyouya?"
"What now?"
Hayato swallowed.
"Iloveyou."
He spit it out as fast as he could and then promptly hung up, flinging the phone away. Shit! How fucking embarrassing! He buried his face in his pillow, then peeked out at where the phone had landed, waiting to see if Kyouya would actually call back.
Nothing happened, and he sagged in relief. He'd probably get it later for hanging up on him, but for now, he wasn't going to worry about it.
Reaching out, he gingerly touched the music sheets by his bedside. Kyouya was probably implying something by sending them, but he didn't care. He supposed…he could humor him a little.
Maybe.
Okay, so sorry if this seemed a bit rushed. I was really busy the last few days while trying to write it, because I wanted it to be up today. There's actually nine more 'chapters' to go, which will hopefully be put up soon, but like I said, since I was rushed just to finish this chapter, it'll take me a while to finish writing/editing/posting the rest. It's not called '10 Years Worth of Birthdays' for nothing!
Wish me luck to finish the rest soon.