Title: And maybe my heart will one day beat
Summary: The story of one robot. The evolution of circuits into something more…human. Robot!Tsuna, Non-mafia AU. All27 friendship
It was meant to fail.
The very first step is a stumble and although it can, it doesn't catch itself. The fall doesn't actually hurt and from above, it hears its creators cheering. When it stand on shaky legs, fake tears leaking out of its eyes, they begin to give him a series of tests. It is as easy as breathing is for a human for it to fail—natural, unquestionable. They put it in a trail period for a week and after a week of tripping, flailing, loud protests, and failing, they declare it a success.
Its name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, the first robot designed exclusively to fail.
Standing in front of the class of vaguely interested students, it pretends to be nervous and ducks its head. By its estimations, the bullying would probably take three days to start. Its creators have made it highly aware of the importance of self-introductions. Mainly, in determining its place in the class 'hierarchy' so to speak.
Wringing its hands, it begins.
It screws up Sawada Tsunayoshi's self-introduction so badly there is only silence after it is done. It stutters, stammers, and the teacher asks it to speak louder a grand total of five times. Throughout, it hunches into itself, shaking slightly, and to top it all, it trips on the way to its seat—arms pin wheeling and a 'HIE' escaping it, it lands pitifully on the floor. A pause, the whole class bursts into mocking laughter.
Scene set. Enter, Sawada Tsunayoshi.
After its purposefully embarrassing display, it's left mostly alone on the first day. The exceptions are— Sasagawa Kyoko who seems genuinely nice, Kurokawa Hana who is mainly there for Kyoko, and Yamamoto Takeshi who while friendly, seems altogether disinterested. It doesn't care. Friends were for actual humans. Its sole purpose is to fail and to be bullied. Nothing more, nothing less.
The second day is where it begins to get a little more interesting because of physical education class. It pretends to have practically non-existent stamina and its creators have obviously taken the question of sweating into account as water drips down its face and back. It can see the opinion of the class shifting as it comes in last when running, solidifying as it stumbles through questions and by the end of the day; it knows its path is set.
A classmate approaches it at the end of the day and forces it to take over his classroom duty. It protests at first, just enough to be normal but weak enough to be overpowered. The pieces begin falling into place after that and by the end of the week, the whole school knows of it as 'Dame-Tsuna'.
This is the way life works. The weak are devoured and more so, the weak designed to be devoured.
It categorizes people into three groups—inactive, active and ally.
Inactive are the people who are indifferent to the bullying, active are people who bully him and ally are the people who defend him. It carefully notes in its monthly report to its creators that the vast student and teacher population as a whole fall under inactive although some teachers are active. A few groups generally tend towards active and it carefully notes the characteristics of these groups—popular 'leader' and lackeys. Its creators will probably find a way to make it a more appealing victim to these groups.
There is no one who is an 'ally'.
Yamamoto is an 'inactive'. This hardly makes him blameless but the lack of active participation despite his popularity is a small point of interest with it. What it notices is this. Yamamoto Takeshi is obsessed with baseball. Yamamoto Takeshi has friends but none who seem especially close. Yamamoto Takeshi is disinterested in its victimization. For all the girls in the class swoon about how nice Yamamoto Takeshi is, it is of the opinion that he was not very nice at all.
If he were genuinely nice, he would actually be an 'ally'.
All the popular 'nice' people were really just self-absorbed hypocrites in the end. This mutinous thought arose in the midst of its fall as irrelevant classmate number 5 tripped it. Yamamoto Takeshi's face was very deliberately turned away. Ducking its head under the onslaught of irritatingly malicious laughter, it scowls.
These are the people it loathes, Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasagawa Kyoko. Sasagawa Kyoko's obliviousness is either real or a very good act. She acts concerned sometimes, when it's forced to stay back late but in class, her eyes are always fixed on the board. A classmate trips it. Her gaze never wavers. She never calls out. Bitterly, it regrets ever thinking of her as 'genuinely nice'.
Yamamoto is odd. His obsession with baseball is clear but after a week, it begins to notice the brief unhappiness that sometimes surfaces on his face when baseball is mentioned. It notices a bit more when Yamamoto approaches it one day for advice of all things. It thinks seriously about this for some reason; take a rest, stop being so fixated.
"Practice more." It says instead because well, it is not meant to give such sensible advice (a small part of the advice might be revenge for his indifference). Yamamoto lights up anyway and its spite is momentarily abated.
It definitely notices when Yamamoto enters the classroom, arm in a sling. (It, however, is steadfastly ignoring any notion of guilt). Yamamoto is… smiling but it has learnt not to trust facial expressions so easily. Yamamoto laughs and jokes as usual. Yamamoto avoids eye contact with it.
Yamamoto is an idiot. Yamamoto deserved it for following stupid advice. It was designed to fail not help.
Excuses.
Yamamoto slips out of the classroom when he thinks no one is looking.
After a moment, it follows.
The roof is windy and Yamamoto is contemplating death because of a broken arm. Standing in the doorway, the urge to leave, to just let the natural life cycle of a human take place overwhelms it. But there is nothing natural in forcing death. But there is nothing natural in a failure saving someone.
Yamamoto turns and their eyes meet. There is a dramatic conversation full of baseball and baseball gods and it being an utter failure. It stammers and it can't stop being a failure long enough to save a life.
Yamamoto looks disappointed and turns back, one foot raising slightly.
And what right did he have to look disappointed at Tsuna?
"DON'T BE AN IDIOT!" He screams and jumps. The floor cracks slightly beneath his foot and there is nothing but Yamamoto's foot lifting up. The top of the metal fence crushes beneath his grip. His other hand is grasping Yamamoto's uninjured hand hard enough to bruise but that's what an idiot like him deserved. Grunting, Tsuna pulls Yamamoto over the fence, releasing his hand as soon as the idiot is steady.
Tsuna feels his processors going haywire and for a moment, the air superheats until his coolers kick in. Thankfully, the whir of his machinery is disguised by the loud wind. Even though, he doesn't feel physical exertion, Tsuna can't help but pant.
Yamamoto's eyes are wide. He's looking at the metal fence, the cracked floor. Finally, he looks at Tsuna. For all of his light-hearted nature, his eyes are remarkably thoughtful.
It has been less than two months and Tsuna has absolutely blown his cover. He dented the floor. He crushed a part of the metal fence. Tsuna can't even fail at failing.
"You're right," Yamamoto says and Tsuna didn't think that was meant to be possible.
"I was being an idiot. I didn't even think of my father…"Yamamoto grimaces at this and Tsuna files that information away if he ever needs to talk someone out of jumping again. At the very least, Yamamoto seems less willing to jump off the roof so Tsuna doesn't have to worry anymore. Yamamoto smiles softly at him.
"Thanks Tsuna." He says, reaching out his uninjured hand to lightly press against Tsuna's hand. Tsuna nods in reply because he's never been thanked before. It's a little overwhelming. They stand like that a while, in what Tsuna assumes is awkward silence. The bell rings and after a pause, they return to class.
Yamamoto never once stops smiling at him.
It doesn't change much. Not really, a week passes and Yamamoto is still distantly friendly. Their eyes meet more often though and Yamamoto's smile is much warmer than before. Tsuna stops scowling every time he thinks of Yamamoto and he feels a little empty without the spite.
Later, Tsuna types his monthly report to his creators. He has failed all his tests; his schoolmates bully him, although his classmates have lessened the bullying the past week for reasons unknown. It is currently indeterminable on whether he has had an effect on the overall bullying rate. Under malfunctions, he types 'I saved Yamamoto Takeshi's life.' Tsuna pauses because Yamamoto's smile has been stuck in his head for the past week. Tsuna deletes the sentence.
'No malfunctions.'
He sends the report.