Disclaimer: I want to mention two things before you begin reading this rather….interesting work.
When I wrote this, I had taken a German class for the first time, and I thought it was really cool, so I wanted to use it. In this chapter, I use some German. I'll put the translations at the end of the chapter with the corresponding number.
When I wrote this, homosexuality was still not as accepted as it is today, so it was more reasonable to assume Gokudera could act like he is embarrassed of hand-holding and such because of the stigma around it.
"I told you already: I don't want anything! Get me out of this damn limo!" Gokudera shouts, slamming Yamamoto against the seat of the car.
They had just boarded a plane to Vienna, to a destination previously prepared by Yamamoto. Yamamoto had wanted this trip to be a surprise, but Gokudera is quite the worrier.
Gokudera viciously rolls down the car window. "Stopp das Auto!" [1]
"Das tut mir leid, aber Ich kann nicht,"[2] the terror-stricken driver stutters. "Ich habe Anweisungen zu das Auto nie stopp." [3]
"Was?!" [4]
They both furiously look at Yamamoto. Yamamoto quickly looks up and sees the driver holding out his hand. Yamamoto slips him some Euros. The driver grumbles "Danke,"[5] and speeds up the car.
"I didn't know you speak German," Yamamoto says.
Gokudera looks at him in his infamous pouty outrage. "Of course I speak German! I have been married to you 10 fucking years, and you still don't know that?! I speak Italian too, after all!"
"Awww don't pout." Yamamoto pinches Gokudera cheeks, getting Gokudera even more worked up. Yamamoto is probably having way too much fun teasing Gokudera, even after all these years.
Gokudera puts Yamamoto's arms into an arm lock. "This is not funny. I was on a mission for Tenth when you're stupid ass came and took me away!"
"Tsuna gave me permission for me to be with you on this special day months ago."
"That's not even the worst part!" Gokudera grits through his teeth, pushing the arm lock even tighter. It's already starting to leave a bruise, and any harder and Yamamoto's bones would break. At this moment, Gokudera sure as hell doesn't care, though.
"You take me away from the mission because I thought you were fucking injured," Gokudera screams, covering up the faint crack in his voice with anger. "Then you buy me these fancy new clothes even though I said I don't want anything, in fact, I said I would get angry if you bought me anything…"
"But I bought it for myself really," Yamamoto smiled. "I want to see my cute little husband in nice clothes. And boy do you look ravishing."
Gokudera's face goes bright red at the compliment. "That's not true, you Baseball Brain! That's not even the issue at hand. Anyway you board me on a plane-"
"Hayato..."
"Don't you dare 'Hayato' me!" Gokudera slams his foot into Yamamoto's knee. "Then you board me on a plane, and fucking drug me so I would sit still-"
Yamamoto shrugs, eyes gleaming with amusement. "Necessary precautions."
"Necessary precautions my ass! You even timed it so that I would start to come off the drugs at this exact moment and you won't even tell me where we are going!"
"I might tell you if you let me go."
Gokudera roughly shoves Yamamoto to the ground and fold his arms across his chest, creating a barrier between them. Yamamoto fights the urge to rub his rough wrists off all the pain.
"We are going to the Vienna Opera House to see a famous pianist play."
Gokudera stares blankly at Yamamoto, trying to comprehend the words that came out of his mouth. "We are going to the Wiener Staatsope?!"
"Oh that what it's called! The Veener Statsopeh…" Yamamoto says, butchering the German pronunciation.
Gokudera quickly turns his face away, but Yamamoto can still see the way his eyes light up and his mouth twitches into a smile. He suppresses it by covering his face with his hands and groaning. "How did you even manage to get tickets for it, on day of our anniversary for crying out loud?"
"Well I have been planning this for the past few months," Yamamoto admits. "I wanted to make sure that you didn't kick the pianist off stage like last time."
"It was supposed to be crescendo-ing and the incompetent little shit was just playing it fortissimo, without any feeling at all!" Gokudera yelled, old hatreds coming back.
"Then you actually run downstage and kick the guy off-stage and start playing it yourself!" Yamamoto smirks, shaking his head a little bit.
"I knew it well enough by ear," Gokudera scoffs, puffing out his chest egotistically.
"Then people actually start clapping for you when you finish!" Yamamoto sits back and truly laughs, his whole body shaking in enjoyment.
Gokudera whole face lights up with this praise turn away toward to window.
"And then…..and then…" Now Yamamoto is dying; holding his sides in pain and tears pouring down his face like cats and dogs. "Then people came up to you, asking for you to play for them in their concert halls! That's how fucking brilliant you are!"
If Gokudera wasn't red before, now he's fire truck red, extending down to the tips of his fingers. "Oh please."
Yamamoto swings his arms around Gokudera in a big hug and buries his head into Gokudera's neck. "I've always wanted to date a musician."
Gokudera knows Yamamoto is trying to butter him up but at the moment he doesn't care; Yamamoto's kindness is flowing through him like a warm summer rain, heating the chill of his insecurities. He can't help but smile at that last statement and Yamamoto's eyes are melting right through his soul like chocolate. Gokudera almost feels as peace.
Hell if he'd ever admit though, because if he ever did, Yamamoto would never live that down. He needs to get back at this asshole for making him….what's the word? Happy? No….that can't be right…
Wait. Wait a fucking minute. Something's off. Rewind. "How long did you did say you planned this for?"
"A few months now," Yamamoto answers drowsily.
"And you have absolutely no spare time," Gokudera questions. "When the fuck have you been doing this?"
Yamamoto looks up briefly. "Remember when I went to Cambodia that one time on a mission?"
Gokudera stares at Yamamoto in horror. "Is that why you were two weeks late?!"
"Well I wanted it to be perfect…" Yamamoto says guiltily.
"I thought you were fucking dead." Gokudera pushes Yamamoto away angrily, his breath catching as he remembered the incident.
With that, Yamamoto bows his head, "I'm so sorry, Hayato."
The tears are stinging his eyes but at this point, he doesn't care. It's nothing compared to the guilt in his heart. Yamamoto never realized how much Gokudera needed him until that incident. When Yamamoto came home, Gokudera was screaming at him, angry that Yamamoto didn't call Gokudera to tell him he was okay. Yamamoto knew that calling himself ditzy was an understatement, but he didn't think that being that thoughtless could result in something like that. Gokudera literally didn't talk to him for a month straight and when his anger finally faded enough to talk, it was "I'll fucking kill you if you do that ever again."
"Will you stop apologizing already, my god?!" Gokudera screams. "I can't believe you left me therealone to do something as stupid as this."
"That's why I'm apologizing to you now."
Gokudera runs his fingers through his hair, frustrated. "This is why no one should ever do anything for me. This was a mistake."
Yamamoto puts his head by Gokudera's shoulder. He knows better than to touch Gokudera when he's mad; it's a good way to get some broken bones. "You deserve to have a break. You work harder than anyone else I know and expect nothing from it. You are very noble, you know."
Gokudera blushes at this compliment, a sure sign that his tactics are working. "I'm far from noble."
"No, you're not." Yamamoto takes Gokudera's hands and laces them in his, feeling the scars from the countless battles. "Next time, I promise to call you on missions when I'm late. Now I want you to enjoy yourself. This is your special night."
Yamamoto gives Gokudera the best puppy dog eyes he can manage. He feels Gokudera shoulders going limp. Yamamoto hates using underhanded tactics, but he really wants Gokudera to enjoy himself.
Gokudera sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Fine, you idiot, but you owe me. And it's something big too."
Yamamoto stares at him. After all these years, Gokudera always manages to amaze him. "Of course, I'll do anything. And I mean anything." Yamamoto wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.
At this Yamamoto can really see smoke coming out of ears. "Shut up!" Gokudera playfully pushes Yamamoto away though he is still blushing at the thought.
"Are you sure about that? I can give you a few…suggestions," Yamamoto laughs. Gokudera is so easy to embarrass.
"You wanna fight?" At that, they are on the floor like cats; biting each other's throats and scratching each other.
"Wir sind hier!"[6] The driver calls out to them.
Yamamoto races out of the car like an excited school girl. "Hurry Gokudera hurry!"
"Hold your horses, baseball brat," Gokudera smirks as he gets out of the car, his hair and new suit all messed up. He actually looks endearing that way.
The car speeds off into the night. Gokudera looks at Yamamoto and then stares at the stars above. "Beautiful isn't it?" he whispers, as the wind ruffles his hair and the lights of the concert hall dance on his glasses. Gokudera's eyesight has gotten much worse recently.
"Yeah," Yamamoto mutters, but he'd much rather look at Gokudera in front of him than above. Yamamoto was lost in his own thoughts, thinking about how lucky he was, when the irony ball decided to drop on his wedding ring and caused it to tumble to the ground. He quickly searches for it, hoping Gokudera won't notice.
"Shit, you really are a dumbass," Gokudera snickers, as he hold out the ring to Yamamoto. "Here."
Gokudera grabs his fingers and slipped the ring on. It's gotten worn over all these years, but still shines brilliantly, even with all the dust. Yamamoto stared at him in wonder as Gokudera stood up and brushed the dirt off his new pants.
"You better not lose that thing again. I won't help your stupid ass out. Now let's go," Gokudera scoffed and strutted into the building.
Yamamoto got up and stared at Gokudera in wonder. It was like he was falling in love all over again.
[1] Stop the car!
[2] I'm sorry, but I can't.
[3] I've been instructed to never stop the car.
[4] What?!
[5] Thanks.
[6] We are here.