Summary: After being kidnapped for the nth time for his rankings, young Fuuta de la Stella decides that in order to protect the secrets of his Tsuna-nii's Family, he must take a vow of silence. What he doesn't realize is just how much he's hurting those around him. Fluff. No pairings. Birthday fic for Bleach-ed-Na-tsu.
SkyGem: Hello loves! Not much to say, just that this is my birthday present to the lovely and talented Bleach-ed-Na-tsu! Sorry it's so late! Hope you enjoy, yeah?
When twelve-year-old Fuuta de la Stella decided to stop speaking, no one really expected it to last very long.
A few days at the most, and then he would be back to his lively, talkative self.
In fact, this was very close to being true.
The first time Tsuna made his weekly phone call after the incident, it took everything Fuuta had to remain silent. Tsuna and his guardians had moved away to Italy after graduating from high school, and since the children had not been allowed to go with them, Tsuna's phone calls were moments to be treasured.
The phone was on speaker, and Fuuta was so very close to losing all his motivation to keep quiet when Tsuna's voice came through, sounding hurt.
"Fuuta?" asked the teen in a bewildered voice, "Is there something wrong? Don't you want to talk to me?"
And of course, the child wanted nothing more than to shout that of course he wanted to talk to his Tsuna-nii – there was nothing he wanted more.
But instead, he stood up, tears stinging in his eyes, and ran up to his bedroom.
He stayed there for the rest of the night, trying to quell the guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach.
He was partly successful, but when he and Lambo and I-Pin arrived home to next day to see Tsuna waiting for them in the living room, the guilt rose again like bile in his throat.
The other two approached him without reservation, piling on top of him and throwing their little arms around his neck, kissing him on the cheek in greeting, and babbling on and on despite having already talked to him the night before.
Fuuta slowly approached his older brother figure, his head down and unable to meet his gaze, and came to a stop in front of the sofa, fidgeting with the hem of his school uniform's shirt.
The other two, seeming to have noticed the mood, immediately vacated their older brother's lap, heading reluctantly to their rooms after getting promises from Tsuna that he would not leave before talking to them once more.
Once they were gone and all was quiet, Tsuna looked over at his surrogate brother, feeling a pang in his heart at the expression on the young prince's face.
Slowly, he reached out to take Fuuta's smaller hand in his own, gently pulling him so that he was sitting in his lap.
Gently tilting Fuuta's face up so that the young prince had no choice but to meet his gaze, Tsuna tenderly pushed his soft brown locks aside and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"I'm glad you're safe," he said, "I was so worried."
Fuuta gulped down the words of reassurance and apology that had leapt to his tongue right then, and nodded shortly, burying his head in the crook of Tsuna's neck and trying not to cry. Because of this, he missed Tsuna's sad expression – his mother had explained to him the night before that Fuuta had stopped talking after the last kidnapping incident (Tsuna himself had been unable to come, but he had sent Gokudera to deal with the situation)
The two stayed that way for a while, painting an intimate portrait that most would be hesitant to interrupt.
The moment came to an end when Tsuna shifted a bit, causing Fuuta to immediately pull away.
Reaching into the pocket of his suit jacket, Tsuna pulled out a brand new phone before pulling Fuuta close again, so that his head was resting on Tsuna's shoulder again.
Fuuta turned is face so that he was looking down at the phone, unable to quell his curiosity.
It was a smartphone, shiny and new, and was already wearing a case with the Roman numeral 10 on it in a fancy font.
Taking one of Fuuta's hand, Tsuna pressed the phone into it, saying, "I was planning on waiting until your fifteenth birthday to give you this, but I suppose you'll be needing it now."
Fuuta pulled away from Tsuna, looking up at his brother with wide, shocked eyes.
Tsuna smiled in childish glee at Fuuta's reaction, pulling the child back so that he was once again resting as he had been before, comfortably curled up in his brother's lap.
"We can't exactly talk on the phone any more, can we?" asked Tsuna, his voice matter-of-fact, and before Fuuta could feel guilty again, he continued. "So we will text instead. Now mind you, I won't always be able to reply to you right away, but if you ever need someone to talk to, or if you ever need advice, just send me a text, okay?"
Fuuta was still for a moment, not knowing how to reply.
His heart constricted painfully in his chest as he wondered just how he had come to have such an amazing older brother, and he nodded in answer to Tsuna's question, squeezing his eyes shut to fight off the tears that were threatening to escape.
Five years passed in silence for Fuuta after that conversation, and his big brother was never anything less than supportive.
Whereas everyone in his life tried to convince him to talk (Fuuta held no ill will towards them, as he knew they were only doing so out of love for him), Tsuna only ever tried his best to make things easier for Fuuta.
When the school principal wanted to talk to Fuuta's legal guardian about about his disrespect for his teachers in not responding to their questions, Tsuna had had Dr. Shamal write him a doctor's note stating that Fuuta was unable to speak due to medical conditions.
When Fuuta discovered that he had lost his ranking abilities due to his refusal to talk, Lambo informed him that all he needed to do was speak again, but Tsuna held him in his arms as he cried, and never once uttered a word of blame at Fuuta. He had merely told Fuuta to remember why he had stopped talking in the first place and had asked him whether that had been worth him losing his ranking ability. Fuuta had of course deemed that it had been worth it.
When Fuuta decided to learn sign language in order to communicate with others, Tsuna didn't hesitate a second in starting his lessons as well.
As the years went by, less and less people tried to kidnap the young Prince, and once rumours spread that he had lost his ability to rank, the attempts halted completely.
By his fifth year, Fuuta's refusal to speak had shifted to being scared to speak – after all these years, the young man was afraid that he had forgotten how to express himself vocally. And because he was more comfortable staying silent, he kept on with his habit.
And in the end, it was Tsuna that helped him with that as well.
Nana and the three children were in Italy to celebrate Tsuna's twenty-third birthday, and on one quiet day, while Tsuna was filling out paperwork and the other children were locked in their rooms, working on their own presents, Fuuta was sitting in his brother's office, trying not to be a nuisance and trying to decide what he would give his big brother in two weeks.
When Tsuna sighed for the fifth time in the hour that Fuuta had been there, the little child looked up, noticing the tired expression on his brother's face.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket (rather than just getting up and walking to his brother's desk), Fuuta texted, "Are you alright, Tsuna-nii?"
Tsuna, hearing the ping of an incoming text from the phone on his desk, checked it, and when he saw who the text was from, an amused smile graced his features.
"I'm fine, Fuuta-kun, just a bit tired. Honestly, when I first became Vongola Decimo, I never thought that most of my duties would consist of paperwork!" was his reply after a few moments of tapping he screen.
Fuuta couldn't but chuckle soundlessly at the surprisingly childish reply, and replied with, "Why don't you take a break, Tsuna-nii?"
Tsuna seemed to contemplate the offer for a moment, looking towards the door fearfully as if he expect his tutor to burst through any second now before looking back at Fuuta, who was staring at him hopefully.
Finally, he conceded and walked over to plop down next to his younger brother figure.
As a gangly seventeen-year-old, Fuuta was already more than a head taller than his brother, but he didn't often feel like it.
Tsuna had really grown into his position in the past few years, and he now exuded an aura that made him seem to tower over just about anyone, despite being a relatively short young man.
Fuuta nestled close to the young Don, resting his head on his shoulder and fiddling with his phone.
"Hey, Tsuna-nii? If you could have absolutely anything for your birthday, what would it be?" he texted, trying to start a conversation.
Tsuna stared at his phone wordlessly for a moment, as if thinking, and then replied back with, "...am I allowed to be a bit selfish?"
"Of course!" Fuuta was quick to reply, his fingers flying quickly over his screen.
Tsuna seemed to hesitate for a moment more, biting his lip unsurely, before finally replying, "The thing I want most in the world is to hear you wish me a happy birthday."
When he read the reply, Fuuta stared at it for a few moments, uncomprehending.
"That's it?" he texted back, dumbstruck.
"I'm not asking you to start talking again. I know you have your own reasons for not talking, Fuuta-kun, and I support you completely. But you asked me what I wanted most for my birthday, and that is it. I don't think you've realized how closed off you have become, every since you stopped talking, but everyone else has, and it hurts us. We just want to see you happy again."
Fuuta read the text over twice when he received it, not knowing how to reply.
Eventually, Tsuna put his own phone away and stood up.
Placing a kiss on the top of Fuuta's head, he smiled sadly at him and walked back to his desk.
His break was over.
When finally the day of Tsuna's birthday arrived, it was a joyous event.
Tsuna marvelled over the presents Lambo and I-Pin had gotten him, and when it was finally Fuuta's turn, he looked at the young prince with a smile on his face.
It was evident he had forgotten their conversation from two weeks ago – or if he had not forgotten, he had not really expected Fuuta to pay it any heed.
So when Fuuta approached him with empty hands, there was a confused expression on his face.
With heart thudding and hands sweating nervously, Fuuta walked right up to his brother and put his lips close to his brother's ear.
There was a moment of complete and utter silence in the party room as everyone waited with bated breath to see if what they thought was going to happen would happen.
Swallowing down his last bit of fear, Fuuta whispered into his brother's ear, "Happy birthday, Tsuna-nii."
He pulled back immediately after the words were out of his mouth, his heart in his throat as he waited for Tsuna's reaction.
And when the young Don's lips stretched into a gleeful smile, Fuuta felt the fear drain out of his body.
And when Tsuna buried his face in his hands to stem the flow of joyful tears, Fuuta laughed and gathered the older male into his arms.
"Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday," he repeated, unable to quiet himself now that he could finally talk after so many long years of silence.
For so long he had kept everything bottled up, not really noticing how much it hurt the ones around him.
But he would never do that again.
Not now that he had found his voice again.