So it turns out that I will have quite a lot of free time the next two months which means I get to write to my heart's content, hooray~ Once again, there's a 3 year age gap between Lambo and Reborn but nothing happens while they're still underage.

Lambo, Age 17, June

Lambo glanced at the ticking clock to see that it was 10 minutes to 12. He had school tomorrow but instead of sleeping, he was seated at the dining table with his best friend, I-Pin. He felt bad for keeping her awake but he knew no one else to confide in. The guardian drummed his fingers on the table and jiggled his leg, thinking about a way to break the news to his family.

"Just bring Akira over for dinner and they'll see how disgustingly cute the two of you are," his sister suggested.

Disgustingly cute. Was that an insult or a compliment?

Besides, it was easy for her to say. She was the best daughter the Sawadas could ever ask for. Good grades and excellent conduct, with her future plans all set out. He seriously wondered how his sister managed to find time to accept missions from Fon, do her homework and study at the same time. Then there were weekly training sessions and her part time job at the ramen shop. I-Pin aside, Fuuta was also making a name for himself by studying to become a doctor in one of the best medical colleges in Namimori.

Meanwhile, Lambo was only achieving mediocre scores and on most days, couldn't be bothered with school or his homework wanting to have fun with his friends instead. Tsuna still hesitated to give him too much Vongola duties because he was afraid the lightning guardian wouldn't be able to cope. He was 17 years old and his older brother still treated him like a child sometimes.

Should he just take his secret to his grave? No matter how kind and accepting the Sawadas were, there were limits that shouldn't be crossed.

I-Pin clicked her tongue, she wasn't buying his negative thoughts, "If they put up with you for the past 12 years, I'm sure nothing fazes them by now."

Lambo frowned, yes they may have tolerated his nonsense and tantrums but this was a particularly touchy subject. There was no way for sure that the Sawadas would just let it slide like all the other times.

"Just do it, Lambo," she advised, "No point overthinking it."

He flashed her a grateful smile, "Yare, yare, what I will ever do without you?"

"Probably fall in a ditch and die," she deadpanned.

He gave her a dirty look as she chuckled and left the kitchen. Lambo sighed, all that was left to do was to ask Nana if he could bring over a friend for dinner. He knows that she wouldn't mind, the lady loved to feed his friends. The problem was how she and the rest of the family would react to this particular friend.

"Why aren't you eating, Lambo?"

The concerned voice of Nana snapped him out of his thoughts and he found her looking at him worriedly. They were having curry for dinner tonight, Lambo's absolute favourite but he had no appetite to eat his meal in the light of his internal crisis. Along with her, the rest of the people at the dining table had turned to regard him curiously and that unnerved him slightly. His eyes darted from left to right and finally landed on his best friend who smiled at him reassuringly.

Sorry, I-Pin, he thought, he was on the verge of chickening out.

The guardian gulped, "Er, I am Mama. I'm just savouring every mouthful cause it's been too long since you last made curry."

Nana was a bit confused, "Really? I thought I made it 2 weeks ago."

The guardian laughed awkwardly and proceeded to grab a heaping spoonful of curry and rice to shove it into his mouth, "Delicious!" he proclaimed while giving her a thumbs up.

Of course, I-Pin wasn't one to stand for his nonsense and promptly kicked him in the shin underneath the table. The guardian choked from the shock and pain, and through watery eyes, he could see her silently mouthing at him to tell them.

"Careful, Lambo! Don't talk with your mouth full," Nana chided.

Fuuta firmly patted his back and Kyoko handed him a glass of water to drink. The guardian thanked his blond older brother and composed himself. Tsuna peered at him curiously and Lambo knew that the brunet had already guessed that something was up. Pushing food around his dinner plate was probably categorized as odd behaviour. Normally, he would have gobbled up his meal and asked for seconds in just a few minutes.

Lambo organized his thoughts, assessing the scene before him. Everyone had mostly gone back to eating, except for his best friend who was still glowering at him. Yes, he was hesitating but he couldn't exactly butt in while Reborn and Bianchi were talking to each other. It was mainly small talk, with Bianchi asking the hitman about the mission he just came back from. The lucky bastard had gone to Morocco this time round and he bought interesting souvenirs for everybody else except for Lambo who had gotten a lame keychain instead.

He waited for them to finish their conversation before saying his piece.

"Mama," he started, "Can I bring a friend over for dinner tomorrow?" be calm and cool, he reminded himself.

"Is it Hinata-chan? Are guys doing a group project?," she distractedly asked, "She's allergic to prawns right? I'll make sure to not make ebi-fry like last time. Poor girl could only eat rice and miso soup."

He stalled for a moment, "Um, no, it isn't Hinata-chan. It's this friend named Akira," he paused and averted his eyes away, "Who's more than a friend actually," he mumbled.

There he said it, well, not the full story but at least it was something.

He heard the clatter of cutlery against the china plate and looked up to see that Nana was positively beaming and on the verge of squealing. The rest of the table looked a bit shocked or in Reborn's case, not bothered at all.

"Of course it's more than alright!" Nana clapped her hands excitedly, "What does Akira-chan like? Is she allergic to anything?" she then went on to ask a bunch of different questions about Akira's dietary requirements and food preferences.

"Anything's fine, Mama, thanks," he smiled.

He had better make his escape because his family was bound to interrogate him six ways from sunday, especially Nana. He made up a random excuse about having to do his homework and quickly bolted up to his room.

The moment they heard the door to Lambo's room close, Fuuta was the first to speak up and he questioned I-Pin about Akira. All at once, four other heads turned to her expectantly and the teen silently cursed her best friend who left the family for her to deal with.

How should she explain it to them?

"Well," she began, "Akira's really funny and the two of them are very cute together."

It was the truth anyway.

Fuuta chuckled, "You know, his behaviour in the past few months is starting to make more sense. I should have known."

Confused, the table turned to the blond for an explanation.

The medical student stated his observations from the way Lambo was constantly texting or talking to someone on the phone to staying out late frequently. The teen would also randomly space out and smile to himself for no reason. The dreamy look was a top giveaway for someone who was lovesick.

"Ah, young love," Bianchi sighed, "You can't help the heart flutters when you think about your lover."

Fuuta chuckled, "If your heart flutters all the time it's a sign to see the doctor," The blond's smile turned a bit more mischievous, "Sorry to say this but he hasn't been annoying us as much. He hasn't set a booby trap for Reborn-san in ages!"

I-Pin giggled along with the rest of the table, except for Reborn who was sporting a tiny smirk instead. Lambo was too preoccupied with Akira to bother him or anybody else recently. It must have been because he was still in the 'honeymoon phase' of his relationship but she missed her best friend very much.

"Lambo's growing up, isn't he? He's already gotten his first girlfriend," Nana mused, "Very soon, it'll be I-Pin's turn," she smiled knowingly.

The teen could feel her face warming up a bit, "Not yet, Mama."

Even if there was someone, there was no way she could find time to go out on dates with the amount of work she has on a daily basis. How Lambo miraculously finds all the time for his parties and dates she would never know. Sometimes, she envied how carefree he was with all their impending exams and tests. He even managed to get decent grades without studying that much. If he would just put in the effort to sit down and revise his work, he would even surpass her.

"Mama, shall I help you with the cooking? I think Akira-chan will like my new specialties."

Tsuna looked a bit alarmed and he fervently protested against Bianchi volunteering her services but he was ignored as the woman continued to describe the dishes one by one.

"I wonder if Akira-chan will be as cute as Hinata-chan," Nana thought out loud, "Our Lambo is always popular with the girls even though he's so clumsy."

I-Pin couldn't agree with her more but she felt her own smile faltering, "It would mean a lot to Lambo if you welcome them as a couple."

If anybody noticed how oddly she phrased her sentence, they didn't call her out on it and for that she was grateful. Afterall, it wasn't her secret to tell.

The next evening, Tsuna was walking back home with Kyoko after his mother had sent them out on an errand run to the supermarket. Apparently, there wasn't enough food for all of them.

"Why do we need so much of food? Isn't it just the 8 of us?" he complained.

The grocery bags were barely holding everything together. Thankfully, they were about to reach the Sawada Household soon in just a few more minutes. The brunet stopped to get a proper grip of the bags before continuing on. Kyoko seemed to have no trouble at all and she was carrying much more than him.

"Well..." his girlfriend trailed off, "It might be a little bit more than that," she laughed a little awkwardly.

"Is Shamal joining us too?"

If Bianchi was cooking, the doctor was the only person brave enough to eat all of it. He could cure himself anyways so Tsuna didn't have to worry about anyone dying on his watch.

Kyoko nodded with a sheepish smile, "And Haru."

If Kyoko's best friend was coming, too much food would not be a problem. Haru was eating for two people as she was four months pregnant and Tsuna was always amazed by how much she was eating these days. They rounded the corner of the street and he could immediately hear familiar voices coming from the house and smell some meat cooking on the grill.

Oh, no.

Tsuna's jaw dropped, forget ten people, there were twice number of people in his front yard and they were having a mini barbeque party. In the 30 minutes he was gone, they had managed to set up a long table and turn his front yard into a party venue. Where did the streamers and balloons even come from? He quickly went up to his friends and questioned them about their presence.

"The more the merrier isn't it?" grinned Yamamoto.

"I am only here because I can't believe that Stupid Cow got himself a girlfriend," Gokudera groused.

"Let's welcome Lambo's girlfriend to the extreme!"

It was a little bit extreme, the brunet thought to himself. He glanced around and noticed Reborn and a few former Arcobalenos seated at the end of the table along with Shamal. He decided to text his younger brother about the turn out and immediately his phone kept vibrating in short intervals. He opened up the chat to find Lambo's panicked texts informing him that he would not be bringing Akira along at all. Before he could even formulate a reply, his younger brother had already spammed him with over a dozen messages so the brunet gave up and pressed the call icon.

"Tsuna-nii, I don't think we can come," Lambo whined, "It'll be too much!"

Tsuna heard a bit of background noise before the guardian spoke, "No, really. We can go somewhere else for dinner."

"It's okay, Lambo. I know our family can be a little bit intimidating and if Akira is uncomfortable, we'll just reschedule," the brunet reassured the guardian.

There more muffled noises, Lambo seemed to be having a mini discussion with his girlfriend.

"Nah, it's all good," said his younger brother, "We're actually walking down the street right now. See you in a minute, I guess?"

The mafia boss ended the call with a weary sigh. He surveyed the crowd and spotted I-Pin looking as uneasy as he felt, perhaps even more so. Outsiders were always wary of their family and he didn't want Lambo's very first girlfriend to be scared off just because of his associations. The former Arcobalenos could be easily passed off as cosplaying teenagers and his other guardians were relatively normal looking. Thank goodness Hibari and Mukuro weren't present or there would have been a war on the roof of their house with tonfas and a trident clashing every few seconds.

The gates slid open and two teenaged boys walked in, one of them being his younger brother who was taken aback by the amount of people in their front yard and the other peering at the crowd curiously. The two of them shared a worried look and the other boy reached out to grab Lambo's hand in his, giving his younger brother a small smile.

Oh.

Tsuna instantly caught on but as for his mother, she had gone up to them to ask if Lambo was bringing more friends to the party.

Lambo glanced around nervously, "This is the friend I was telling you about," he nudged the teen next to him.

"Hi, Sawada-san, I'm Akira," the boy grinned, "It's so nice to finally meet you! The bentos you make for Lambo are super tasty!"

At this point, some jaws were left hanging and Tsuna could hear a bit of confusion from the people around him.

Nana's eyes went wide like saucers, "You didn't tell me Akira's a boy! Oh, dear!"

"Now, Mom, I don't think it's a big deal," his eyes followed her as she brisked back to the house, "Mom?" he called out to her but was ignored.

The Vongola boss turned to look back at his younger brother apologetically. The poor kid looked like he was about to cry. Akira whispered something into his ear but the teen didn't look any less upset. Nobody else dared to say a word and the atmosphere was a bit tense while they processed what just happened.

Tsuna made an attempt to console his younger brother, "It's going to be alright, Lambo. I think Mom is just a little bit shocked, that's all."

There were a couple of nods and agreements from the table but the two teenage boys were apprehensive about the whole situation. It couldn't have been easy for his younger brother to come out to a large crowd and he recalled how Akira was the one to convince him to bring him along to the party. Even he didn't anticipate a meet the family dinner to turn into a barbeque party with at 20 people. Props to the teen for finding the courage when Lambo couldn't gather enough on his own.

When Nana reappeared, there was a bright pink gift bag in her hands and a smile on her face, a good sign.

"I hope it's to your liking. If Lambo had told me you were a boy..." she trailed off, handing Akira the gift bag.

The teen accepted the bag and fished out a fuschia pink knitted scarf which was glaringly pink in Tsuna's eyes.

"I made it pink because it's such a cute colour but if I had known you were a boy then maybe blue or green would have been a better choice."

"No, no, Sawada-san! I love it! Besides, guys look hotter in pink." he winked and gave Nana a big hug while thanking her.

Lambo was visibly relieved and Tsuna wondered why his mother gifted a scarf in the middle of summer. Nana ushered the young couple to the table where I-Pin, Haru, Kyoko and Chrome were seated. Akira greeted them all with a charming smile and the women were immediately smitten. After a brief introduction, they found out that he's a senior at Namimori High School which both Lambo and I-Pin attended.

"Akira's really smart. He tutors me in Math and thanks to him it's a lot easier."

Really?

Lambo and I-Pin usually had tutoring sessions with Reborn for Math and the hitman had really helped to improve their grades, especially Lambo's. Or was it because of all the extra help the guardian was getting from Akira?

"Nah, you're just a good tutee, babe," Akira winked at his boyfriend.

A few chairs down, where Tsuna and the rest were, they heard coos from Haru and Kyoko. I-Pin had a cheek splitting smile as she watched the couple, Tsuna could tell she was really happy for Lambo.

Yamamoto whistled, "Lambo's boyfriend seems like a nice guy."

Shamal had a furrow between his brows, "Am I the only one that's really confused?"

Tsuna sighed, "Shamal-san, it's the 21st century, you know. It's about time we become more accepting of-"

The doctor immediately protested, "No, I didn't mean it like that! The kid's very popular with the ladies so suddenly bringing home a boyfriend is a little surprising."

"Tch, whatever, I knew that Stupid Cow would never get a girlfriend," Gokudera remarked.

Tsuna's lips quirked up into a smile at his comment. The lightning guardian might be handsome and have a friendly personality, but the brunet often wondered how Lambo was so popular with the girls even when he was such a crybaby. Now he had to think about giving 'The Talk' to his younger brother but he had no idea about what to say because Akira turned out to be a boy. Perhaps he should ask Gokudera or Yamamoto to handle it.

Nana announced that the food was ready and Bianchi presented a plate of ominous looking food to an intrigued Akira who almost accepted much to everyone's horror.

Thankfully, Shamal intervened, "Oh, Bianchi, mia signora, I would be so honoured to try your new specialty," he took the plate away before the teen could even touch it.

Yamamoto made use of the distraction to call Akira over to their side of the table.

"Don't interrogate him too much you guys!" Haru called out and the ladies laughed.

Akira greeted them politely and sat down, "You're Yamamoto-san and you're Sasagawa-san right? So nice to finally meet you! You guys are like legends at Namimori Middle."

The Sun guardian perked up when Akira mentioned he was the captain of the high school's football team and his position was the striker. Yamamoto and Ryohei invited him to play baseball with them sometime to which the 18 year old accepted, adding on that he was not very good at baseball.

Lambo grinned at his boyfriend, "It's okay, babe, I'll teach you," he winked.

Akira smirked, "Oh, and what position do you play?"

That was definitely flirting and Tsuna was not so sure he could stomach that thought. He cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject, inquiring about the senior's future plans. Akira informed him that he was going to apply for Namimori University to major in Business and Finance as his father wanted him to take over the company one day. Tsuna's jaw almost dropped when he learnt that the teen's father owned a popular chain of ramen restaurants in their town. Coincidentally, I-Pin did her part time job at one of the nearby branches. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Reborn approached the table, asking him to take a look at something. Akira took notice of the young teen and turned to greet him.

"Hello, little boy! Lambo, you didn't tell me you had a younger brother. He's kinda cute all dressed up," he scanned the hitman from head to toe, "Is that a chameleon on your shoulder?"

Reborn glared at the unsuspecting brunet smiling at him, clearly the older teen's comments were not welcomed. There was an awkward pause and Tsuna could tell Akira was starting to feel a bit nervous being under the hitman's scrutiny. Fortunately for the senior, Lambo diverted his boyfriend's attention and dragged him to the barbeque pit to get more food. As the lovebirds walked away, he could hear Akira asking the lightning guardian if his little brother did not like him.

"Pretty Boy's boyfriend kinda looks familiar," Skull thought out loud.

Tsuna turned to the former Cloud Arcobaleno, wondering if he heard correctly. He was a bit confused, did Skull just call his brother a 'Pretty Boy'?

Lal Mirch leaned forward, "Is he part of the mafia?"

Oh, damn, he didn't think of that. Tsuna made mental note to do a bit of background check on Akira just to confirm the teen's story. He didn't want any unwanted trouble for his family and his younger brother. Lambo appeared to be very happy with his boyfriend and he didn't want anything to mess their relationship up.

Scratching his chin thoughtfully, the purple haired teen finally replied with a negative answer. As an afterthought, he asked Reborn and Tsuna to keep an eye on the lightning guardian.

The hitman narrowed his eyes at him, "Whatever that brat does is none of my business. Let's go, Dame-Tsuna," he ordered.

"Oi, don't walk away while I'm talkin'!" Skull looked at his other two seniors, "Geez, what's his problem?"

Colonello smirked, "He got called a 'cute little boy', kora!"

Tsuna suppressed a smile while the three of them burst out laughing. They were soon silenced when a bullet was shot through Colonello's cup, the soda spilling everywhere. In hushed tones, they commented how weird it was that the hitman was affected by a silly comment. Tsuna could not help but wonder too but brushed the thought off when he caught his tutor looking back him with a murderous glare.

Oops.

He quickly stood up and walked over to where the hitman was standing. They headed to a quiet corner to discuss the latest email the hitman had received from an allied family. So much for relaxing over the weekend, Tsuna thought.

A/N: And that's the end of Chapter 1. I picked the name Akira because it means light, like he sheds light on Lambo's sexuality. My boy Akira didn't seem like a Hikaru or a Kira in my head. (PS. I'm also very grateful to Amano Akira for this amazing series teehee)