Name: Teaching You to Smile
Rating: K+ (But be careful of some pretty bad and ugly swearing because Gokudera. Thank you for understanding.)
Genre: drama, fluff, more-than-friendship-but-still-not-dating, AU
Pairing: 8059 (Yamamoto/Gokudera)
Summary: Gokudera Hayato hated his good grades in Japanese and the Japanese blood in him. He also hated the teacher who made him to babysit the guy he also hated, Yamamoto Takeshi. Now, he was supposed to teach that bird brain transfer student some Italian. It would have been easy if the guy would just stop smiling like that.
A/N: Couple of things you should probably know before reading!
1) Got an inspiration for this from tumblr (was it otpprompts) so all thanks to the idea goes to someone else. The prompt's the following, "Person A is a foreign exchange student and person B helps teach them the language that is spoken in the country they are in. Bonus if person B confesses to person A in their native language." So, I changed few things, like Yamamoto (Person A) is a transfer student instead of an exchange student and, well, Gokudera doesn't quite confess. You'll see if you read this till the end.
2) I wrote this by hand. Yes, by freaking hand and it hurt so much! So, I'm not good at writing good stuff without computer and keyboard so even though I tried to change few things and shit I still couldn't make this quite that good I wanted it to be. Yet, I'm still publishing this because it's my first 8059 story ever and I noticed I kind of like the ship. (Bonus, I have had a fever past few days so my mind's really messy and I just can't write anything fantastic.)
3) I'm sorry, I'm not Italian, I cannot speak Italian and I have never studied it. So every sentence and word you see is from google translate which is my bff nowadays. Can you see how wonderful our friendship is? Also, my Italian lessons might be bullshit but, hey, just ignore it. At least I tried and it gave me a chance to get where I wanted with this fic. (Sorry about the long note!)
Teaching You to Smile
It wasn't the first time Gokudera Hayato cursed his Japanese-Italian origins and it wouldn't be the last either. This time, though, he would have blown up his own father with the explosions he'd taken liking to just to make a difference. Too bad things never went that easily.
The first time he'd cursed his roots was when he'd learned by gossiping maids about who his actual mother was. He'd learned he wasn't actually full blooded Italian like his father and sister were but he had Japanese blood in him from his late mother. At first it'd been a great shock for a boy in a tender age but as years went by he grew to accept things how they were. He'd raged, ran away from home but then come back and realized it was better just to continue living how he used to.
The second time he'd cursed his Japanese blood was when he'd received Japanese lessons by a home tutor who had made his life a hell. Sure, he'd given him a hell too but that home tutor, Reborn, was the best in the world so no one just simply walked over him. He walked over them. With shoes made of cement. That weighed thousand kilos.
Gokudera had shined in Japanese after that and he'd been fast to learn. He was a genius after all, so he'd endured Reborn's tutoring with head held high and straight A's from every test. So the reason why he'd cursed those lessons was mostly because his father just had to remind him of the past, of his mother who he'd liked a lot but not learned to know well enough by pushing him to learn the language in the first place.
So, Gokudera Hayato really hated that tiny bit of Japanese blood in him.
But those things were nothing compared to what he was going through right now. It was all because of his blood and because he was a genius who was taught by another genius so he cursed the earlier too because they were the reason his fucking teacher chose him to mother fucking babysit some asshole who got no brains and absolutely no punctuality. If he ever got that bastard to his hand – the teacher one, he'd soon get the other bastard too – he'd show him what happened to those who tried to force Gokudera Hayato do something he hated.
He hated this. He hated that person. And that person was a complete baseball nuts called Yamamoto Takeshi, a Japanese transfer student who'd moved to Italy because his father's work or some shit. Gokudera didn't really care and he wouldn't ask. He didn't want to know what an idiot like that did in a foreign country when he wasn't even smart enough to learn the language. He wouldn't show the curiosity or it'd make the idiot think too highly of himself. Then Gokudera would have to listen to his blabbering about how great his daddy was and how damned much he loved that idiotic game, baseball.
No thank you.
Gokudera had already had to put up with the asshole for two study sessions and the third one was about to start. The silver haired boy stood in a hallway, in front of the classroom door they'd be using as their tutoring place, and scowled. He looked at the wrist watch and scowled harder. Yes, the third lessons was about to start if just that one certain tutored person would be so kind to attend to it! That Yamamoto Takeshi was already fifteen minutes late and Gokudera was at the end of his patience. Or actually he'd been since five minutes ago but now he was at the point to throw the other boy out of the open – no, closed, since it'd hurt more – window and tell that bossy teacher he was done. He'd fucking quit! If the guy wasn't interested in learning more about the language he was supposed to use from now on in daily basis then, by all means, he could just go and die in the hands of the Mafia or something because of a misunderstanding language barrier caused. The guy was an idiot anyway so it wouldn't be a great loss to the society.
Just when the silver haired boy was about to slam the door shut and go home he heard running steps from his right. He turned to glare, feeling the anger in his head, making the scenery flashy red. His storming eyes landed on a brightly smiling, tall Japanese boy. Oh, how he wanted to wipe that damn smug smile off of his face. And he'd enjoy every moment of it. He totally would.
"Where the hell were you?!" he demanded right away when the black haired boy stopped in front of him. "Your lesson started fifteen minutes ago!"
Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. At least he seemed to understand being late wasn't what you did with the shorter teen. "Haha, sorry Gokudera. I lost the track of the time."
"And what would have been more important than learning the fucking language that you're supposed to speak from now on, huh? You have a bird brain from the beginning so you need to study twice – no, three times – harder than a normal person. That's why that asshole chose me to do the job!" And Gokudera would make that bastard regret it for the rest of their life. Why did he always have to go through shit like this?
He glared at the boy (who was too tall, weren't the Japanese supposed to be short, anyway?) who still smiled to him like a bird brain he was. Didn't the guy understand he'd just mocked him, called him names? Gokudera seriously didn't get this guy. He was as big a mystery as an UMA but UMAs were cool and Yamamoto wasn't.
"Well, I was talking with the local baseball team (Gokudera rolled his eyes) and asked them if they were short of players." Yamamoto looked excited and Gokudera just face-palmed, suddenly feeling more tired than angry. "And guess what! They were! They welcomed me into the team but I can play in tournaments only after I've proved myself."
"Well, congrats, baseball freak," Gokudera said dryly. There the guy was, doing useless stuff and not concentrating on stuff like… Wait a minute. "Did you find a guy who could speak Japanese or do you actually have wide enough vocabulary in English to speak it?"
At that Yamamoto looked pleased. Something changed in him since his entire presence felt suddenly even more confident, intense and… manly. Gokudera blushed and refused to meet the brown eyes. Brown and damn intense eyes that tried to prove and show Gokudera something.
"I spoke Italian," Yamamoto said, with an even brighter smile. Gokudera turned to him in shock, eyes wider and less angry than he wanted to. "I used the words you taught me last time. I wanted to show you that I'm not as useless as you think."
Gokudera's mouth hang open. 'He wasn't as useless'… What the hell was that guy going on about?! "W-Well, you might have managed to use those words now but they were still basics," he said, trying to sound angry. His cheeks were heating up under Yamamoto's stare and amused laugh. "I'm going to make you repeat new words till you see nightmares of them!"
"Ok!" Yamamoto put his thumb up and then added as an afterthought, "Hayato."
Gokudera was now beyond furious because of such a cocky act. Or so he told himself. "Shut it and get to work! And don't use my first name!"
"Si, si." Yamamoto looked like he didn't care. Maybe he didn't and that's what annoyed the short tempered teen. Annoyed and… well, it wasn't really that bad. He hadn't had shown this many emotions since when and no matter what he said, he knew Yamamoto brought them all to the surface with his damn carefree attitude. And no matter how mad he was at the other boy for being late, he couldn't help but be a little impressed, Even though he said Yamamoto was stupid, he was also hardworking and had proved himself with having an actual conversation in Italian. No matter if it was with a baseball team of all things.
Gokudera let his eyes linger on an athletic boy. The dark head was now leaning over a book, repeating the words. Gokudera bit his lip. What he was about to do went against all his usual actions and he still definitely didn't like that Yamamoto guy but it was scientifically proved that praises encouraged the students to learn more and faster, so…
"Erm… well… well done, today… with the team, I guess…" he muttered, not looking at the boy. He didn't want to see how his eyes lit up and how that smile would light up the entire, gloomy room. No, he didn't so he kept his eyes stubbornly on the floor and imagined it instead.
Damn his traitorous mind for doing that.
"Thank you." No, he definitely didn't hear a smile in his voice. Or that his tone was a little bit softer than usual or how his eyes, so honest eyes, showed he'd impress his tutor again anytime.
Gokudera cursed the day he'd first met Yamamoto Takeshi because he knew at the end of their tutoring sessions nothing would be the same.
After two weeks of regular meetings, constant (one sided) bickering and stormy feelings, Gokudera sat once again opposite to Yamamoto and thought. It was weird, really, how he seemed to find himself forgetting the time with the baseball player or how he sometimes couldn't caught himself in time before laughing out loud at something they'd shared or how he actually fucking enjoyed Yamamoto Takeshi's stupid company.
Not that he'd ever admit it, though. Never!
Yamamoto raised his head just when Gokudera had forgotten himself to look at the dark, messy hair and then ended up having an eye contact for three full seconds. Yamamoto smiled at him and Gokudera looked angrily away. Not that he really was angry… or he was and not, maybe more like annoyed since that asshole messed up his head so badly sometimes and… whatever.
"Hmm? Did you have something to say, Hayato?" Yamamoto asked, blinking owlishly.
Gokudera grimaced. "No, you fool! And what did I say about calling me Hayato?"
"Haha, to not to?"
"Exactly!"
Yamamoto laughed a little more and then fell silent but didn't continue reading. Gokudera eyed him critically, trying to forget the earlier conversation. "Did you memorize the sentences already?"
"Yup!" The Japanese gave him a peace sign. Gokudera fought back the urge to hit him with a book.
"Then you can translate them easily when I ask!" He snatched the book to read it instead of hitting with it and started from the beginning of the page. He wouldn't let the idiot go easily until he knew them all by heart.
"Mio marito è in America."
"Umm, this one was easy. Ah! My husband is in America!"
"Correct. Next one is, Mia figlia non piace la pasta."
"Oh, err, this was, hmm… My something, was it daughter, doesn't like pasta?"
"You are not sure?" Gokudera snapped the book shut with one hand. "You said you memorized them already!" He was getting frustrated with the guy, once again. It's a miracle he'd been able to teach him anything at all! And all he did was laugh.
This time, though, Yamamoto looked sheepish for some reason and – was he blushing? The silver haired teen narrowed his eyes. In his lessons no one lagged like that!
"I was… distracted by, err, something." He didn't seem to want to look into his tutor's eyes. Oh, soon he would. Gokudera would make sure of it.
"You do not just get distracted by something," Gokudera drawled the last word. "If you're serious about this, baseball freak, you put that tiny brain of yours into work and work only!"
"Yeah, yeah." Yamamoto waved his hands in surrender. "I promise to do that."
"You better or I'll…" the threat hang heavily in the air. He made sure he put a lot of killing intent to every word but for some reason the other boy wasn't affected. He simply smiled, something tender lingering in his eyes when he met once again Gokudera's green ones. The delinquent didn't know what to think of the guy. Every cell in him told him to give the hell to the boy but his every cell seemed to like it unnaturally much too. Gokudera enjoyed yelling at the boy, hitting the back of his head when he was being extra stupid and even punching the muscular arm in a friendly way.
He liked it too much.
"I will," Yamamoto laughed but then put his bottom lip out childishly. "But, you know, this study material's so boring! It's not like anyone will need these sentences in real life. Why would I tell anyone my husband's out of country?" Gokudera had to cough into his fist to hide an upcoming laugh when he saw the pouting face Yamamoto made. Then there was this, he thought. The baseball player suddenly changed his mood, doing random things and putting the silver haired boy out of balance. He was turning his mind into a stormy battlefield of wills more than anyone ever had. At one moment he wanted to give a hell to the other boy but the second he felt bubbling good feeling inside his abdomen. It was kinda… intriguing how he brought so many different reactions out of Gokudera and he didn't like it. And not only that but he also had to agree with the baseball idiot. Those sentences were total shit! Who the hell had even written that book? He wouldn't admit it to Yamamoto, though, because it'd be just so uncool and give him more reasons to feel smug and an annoying prat.
So instead he said, "Oh, shut up. They're pretty much real situations" and tried to sound convincing. He failed pretty badly because he had to force the laughter out of his voice while trying not to imagine Yamamoto telling people about his daughter's hatred for pasta. Seriously, who the hell came up with those examples? It's not like a seventeen-year-old high school boy needed them in daily life.
"Hey, I know!" Yamamoto straightened himself, all previous funny expressions long gone. Instead he looked damn excited and it didn't know any good for Gokudera. "How about you come up with your own sentences? Then it'd be like a real conversation and much more believable."
Gokudera raised a sceptical brow. "Like?"
"Like you say something you really mean."
"What I really mean?"
"Yeah, like, for example, about me." He took a deep breath. "What do you think about me?"
Yamamoto's question was innocent, asked by a simple and definitely innocent curiosity. But it woke many thoughts in Gokudera. Yamamoto Takeshi was many things and most of them were things Gokudera wouldn't say out loud even over his dead body. "That's idiotic." Gokudera's nonchalant tone didn't come out quite as he wished.
"C'mon, it's gonna be fun! And it'd be better practice for me too than those earlier sentences."
It was true and for once the genius was out of arguments. He made sure he didn't meet the enthusiastic boy's eyes or he'd be even more embarrassed. Damn those coincidences that brought this idiot into his life. "O-okay… uhm." It was unintelligently said and made Gokudera frown. Just say it. Quickly. Now. Something you really don't mean. He peeked at Yamamoto who looked at him expectantly. Anything!
"Mi piace molto il tuo sorriso."
Anything but that!
Gokudera slapped a hand on his mouth in haste, feeling every shade of red bloom on his face. Why of all things did he say that? He could have said anything else. He could have told lies and the boy would have never suspected anything. And of all things he told the truth!? He regretted agreeing to anything that walking disaster came up with and now he had been his own disaster and ruined his own future. Oh, fuck, his life was so screwed if the guy actually understood it!
"I-I didn't mean…!"
"Eh? What did that mean?" Yamamoto tilted his head, tapping his chin in wonder. "Hmm, I'm pretty sure you said something about liking, right? It was in that one example sentence too…"
"No, it wasn't!" Gokudera jumped up and slapped Yamamoto upside the head. It didn't stop him from thinking, though, and the silver haired teen panicked. How to make someone stop thinking, dammit! "J-Just forget it. Like I'd say anything about liking, anyway. I said, I don't like you. Yes, that's what I said!" It sounded like a lie even in his own ears. How could it be even the smartest person became so useless in a desperate situations like this? Gokudera sat back down, hiding his face into his palms.
"Are you sure? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I didn't hear a negative there."
"Just… stop thinking, okay! You heard wrong anyway."
"But…"
"Stop thinking, idiota! I'm the tutor here so I know the best. So now be a good boy and shut up. You can go home."
Yamamoto still was like he didn't hear Gokudera's pleading and rushed words. He simply sat there, looking at the embarrassed boy way too intently, trying to find something from his eyes. "You said, 'Mi piace molto il tuo sorriso', right?"
"Oi!" Gokudera snapped his head up from his hands. Only thing he received was a gentle smile. It shut his mouth for good, stopped his stuttering too and made him stay right there where he was.
"I'm going to translate it soon, Hayato," Yamamoto said, looking serious and confident. Gokudera couldn't take his eyes off of him. "I promise." He rose from his seat, took Gokudera's face into his hands and let his thumb stroke his warm cheek. The shorter teen shuddered. Yamamoto let his fingers linger a little longer and then they were gone.
With that he walked out the door, leaving breathless Gokudera behind. The room rang silent in his ears for a while, a picture of brown and firm eyes burned in front of him. After a while of calming down he noticed how his heart still, after a minute, beat fast, painfully fast. Half afraid, half hopeful. Mostly afraid, though. He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. It was like he was breathing for the first time in a long time. It felt good. Quickly he let the tips of his fingers fleet over the place he'd felt Yamamoto touch earlier, not knowing if he should hit himself for still feeling the touch.
Damn, he was a goner. There was no doubt that guy would translate his sentence. Gokudera had known Yamamoto only for a short time but he knew he could be determined and stubborn when he wanted. He had a powerful will and when he wanted something, he also got it. Now, Gokudera knew Yamamoto wanted to translate what he'd said and it was the fact no matter how much the Italian boy tried to deny it. He tried to imagine what his student's reaction would be when he knew.
"I really like your smile."
For Gokudera it was a big confession. He never, never told anyone something as embarrassing as that. He had never even wanted to because who cared about smiles? They were just expressions.
Apparently he did.
He was so screwed if that Yamamoto Takeshi decided to give him that damned beautiful smile of his which made Gokudera forget why he was so angry in the first place. His very existence, the reason he still continued his life every day like this. If he gave him that smile, full of acceptance and hope, Gokudera wouldn't even be able to try act like he hadn't meant what he'd said earlier. It'd change his entire life and he wasn't sure if he was ready.
That smile was disarming and it was also what would make Gokudera Hayato drop all his defences and finally smile too.
He hadn't smiled since his mother's death.
And for some reason, if he thought about it harder, it didn't sound so bad.