A flower called heartsease.
This fic takes place sometime in the future. The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for October 20, 2007.
The piano was the first thing he heard the moment he went inside the mansion: the tone was soft, sweet and low, new and pleasantly unfamiliar. Sawada Tsuyanoshi followed the sound, feeling the exhaustion of his day out being the Tenth Boss of the Vongola Family melt a little with every step he made, as each one brought him closer to his new destination – a better, nicer place than all of the other ones he had been wandering through since breakfast.
On his first official day as the Tenth, Tsuna's head butler had asked him about the renovations and additions that he might have wished to make to the mansion. It was apparently the family's tradition to allow the newly inducted boss to change the mansion as he wished, provided that he kept a few key areas and rooms intact. Oddly, the only thing Tsuna had asked about was a particular room in a particular wing that had not been used since the time of the Fifth. He had wanted the whole area refurbished, and the finest piano in the country moved into the room in question.
Gokudera was in that room at the moment, playing through the song that Tsuna had heard back at the front door of the mansion: the silver-haired mafioso was totally absorbed in his music and Tsuna was content with playing the role of secret observer from the corridor, of having the privilege of seeing Gokudera not as the Storm Guardian and Right Hand of the Tenth, but simply as himself for just a few precious minutes, a young man with a piano and his favorite song of the day.
Gokudera dropped the last note almost too quickly for Tsuna's tastes. The young man did not call attention upon himself immediately, choosing, instead, to commit the image of his Storm Guardian – his lover and dearest friend – to memory: the relaxed curve of his back, the broad shoulders, the glint of each of the rings on his fingers, the sunlight in his hair, his peacefully closed eyes, the slight, upward and content curve of his lips. Tsuna very suddenly wanted to take that face between his hands and kiss that mouth, slowly, sweetly.
"What song was that?"
"Ah! Tenth!" Gokudera scrambled up, all flushed cheeks and total embarrassment. "H-how long have you been standing there?"
"It doesn't matter." Tsuna chuckled, dismissing the whole situation with a careless wave of his hand. He looked up then, smiling a little shyly at the other man. It always took a bit of effort for him to ask the next question, even though they had practically grown up joined to the hip, knowing every inch of each other's skin like they knew the backs of their own hands. "Do you… do you think you can teach that piece to me?"
"Of course."
And there it was, the complete and total lack of hesitation and pure warmth that he had once thought of himself unworthy of receiving. It was Tsuna's door to blush as he smiled again, lowered his eyes, and stepped through the door.
