Tsuna stood at the edge of the playground, looking at his two friends sitting on the swings, waiting for him.
They were transfixed on a young mother and her son. The mother dusted the sand off her child, scolding him but smiled warmly when he apologized. The child smiled when he saw that his mother was no longer mad at him and took her inviting hand before heading out of the park.
The scene wasn't all that interesting to Tsuna. His mother had scolded him many times when he was a child. He knew where this was going to lead.
'Though I would have been bawling by now' Tsuna thought, scratching the back of his head and grinning ashamedly to himself. Then he turned his attention back to his friends' staring faces.
Gokudera had the same frown that he usually wore, eyes fixed and body language tense. Yamamoto wore his expected permanent smile, his eyes half-lidded and accepting. There seemed to be nothing odd about the sight of his two friends, but Tsuna couldn't help feeling that there was something wrong about it, something sad.
The feeling made him uncomfortable, but seemed to embrace his two friends like a lost childhood toy, and even though their expressions were night and day, something between them seemed so identical and private and sad. Tsuna almost walked away, but his legs wouldn't move and his eyes refused to stop watching.
After the mother and child were out of sight Yamamoto turned to Gokudera and smiled brightly at him.
"Well that was cute, wasn't it?"
Gokudera didn't respond. If he hadn't gripped the chains of the swing that he was sitting on tighter then Tsuna would have believed that he had not heard him at all.
Yamamoto's attention changed when he noticed Tsuna standing there.
"Yo Tsuna."
"Tenth, you're here! This idiot just showed up and won't leave."
"Haha. I was just passing by and saw Gokudera here. He said that he was waiting for you, so I decided to wait too. So where are we going?"
"Idiot! You can't just invite yourself. Want me to get rid of him for you Tenth?"
Tsuna smiled nervously at him. Things seemed to be normal. Maybe it was just his imagination.
--
A/N: This is cross posted in the Livejournal community Hitman Reborn! In case there was some confusion on if I wrote this or not. I just decided to post this on ff dot net in honor of Mother's Day because my muses aren't allowing me to write a new mothery fanfic. And with that I must wish you all a happy Mother's Day!