At 17, Gokudera's life was simple. Student by day and Mafioso by night. He had many friends, subordinates, classmates. He lived a dual nature peacefully. Well, sort of.
Mafia work was easy. Fighting and physical conflict put Gokudera in his element. Things were rarely calm and the Tenth's orders were always carried out perfectly when Gokudera was involved. Yelling at or threatening enemies into submission was sometimes fun and having a smoke in between battles was a pleasant refresher for him before more chaos. He truly was the Storm Guardian, a raging twister of a teenager that was wild, but tamed. For him, gunfire and shouting was easy to deal with. Even the loads of paperwork containing information on different records, loans, and deals were small tasks.
But school drama was something he was finding hard to handle.
Girls were fighting over him more often lately and even a few guys gained an interest in him. Homework was never done, but every test he showed up for, he aced. Clubs kept begging for him to join because his popularity could influence others to flock to the activity. Teachers were always scolding him and trying to change him while the Student Council scoffed at his behavior whether it was skipping classes or smoking on the school roof.
What was worse was that Tsuna wasn't in his class this year. It was the first time him, Tsuna, and Yamamoto had been divided into different homerooms. Tsuna in 2A, Yamamoto in 2B, and Gokudera in 2C. People complained that it was unfair to have Ryohei in 3B then because Team B would definitely win Sports Fest. Gokudera didn't care about any stupid festival; he just wanted to be in the same class as Tsuna.
Tsuna had grown to be even more fitting for title of the Tenth. He had gotten taller, reaching Gokudera's height. He had gotten stronger, nearly rivaling Yamamoto's muscle. His voice was deeper so that he sounded more commanding. He still didn't excel at sports, but he was at least decent at them. He was friendly with Kyoko now, the two of them well aware of each other and their friendship, though there were no signs that she saw him as boyfriend material.
This all made Gokudera feel prouder to be Tsuna's right-hand man and best friend. The two were inseparable and not because Gokudera wouldn't leave Tsuna's side. When Tsuna had a problem or was feeling down, he'd call Gokudera. If Gokudera needed help, Tsuna would be there in a flash. They hung out just about every weekend and one rarely studied without the other. Tsuna called Gokudera "Hayato" and, occasionally Gokudera would call Tsuna "Tsunayoshi" or "Tsuna," but plenty of those times would be accidents and he would immediately start saying "Tenth" afterwards. It'd take time for him to move on from that, Tsuna supposed. Sometimes, merely for the fun of it, Gokudera would stay over at Tsuna's place for days or weeks at a time. They knew almost everything about one another. There were secrets Tsuna would only tell Gokudera and many private things that Gokudera only shared with Tsuna. Yes, the two were the very definition of best friends and Gokudera had to deal with the fact they were split for this school year.
"It sucks, Tenth!" Gokudera complained as they walked side by side, heading to Tsuna's home. "It's only been three days and I'm already done with it!"
"Come on, Hayato, it can't be that bad," Tsuna laughed with his bag slung over his shoulder.
"It is though! Uhg, and that asshole Hibari won't get off my case either. I can't believe we have to deal with his shit even after Junior High." He crossed his arms. "But still he comes onto the roof and tells me to put out my cigarette or he'll stop me in the halls and tell me to fix my uniform, it's ridiculous!"
"That's Hibari for you."
"Speaking of people that annoy me, where's the baseball idiot and Lawn Head?" Gokudera asked.
"Might've stayed after to clean or for clubs."
"Are you going to join a club this year, Tenth?"
"I might if Kyoko-chan does."
"Even if it's the Cooking club? Or Ikebana?"
"Haha, maybe!"
"We're home!" Tsuna called out as he removed his shoes with Gokudera.
"Tsuna!" Lambo shouted, running up to Tsuna and hugging his leg.
"Hey, Lambo, how was your day?" Tsuna ruffled the child's messy hair.
"Gyahaha!" Lambo laughed and placed his hand on his hips. "Lambo gained more subordinates at school!"
"You mean friends, Lambo-chan," Nana corrected and she walked into the room. "Friends."
"No, they're Lambo's minions, Mama!" Lambo giggled before dashing off to eat candy and play with weapons.
"That boy is so impressionable," Nana sighed. "All he does is watch gangster movies and play with toy guns. I'm worried about him."
Gokudera and Tsuna laughed nervously, feeling a bit guilty for Lambo's behavior.
"S-So, where's I-Pin?" Tsuna asked as his mother went to start on dinner and Gokudera headed up the stairs to Tsuna's room.
"She's staying with Bianchi-chan for now,"
"More training, huh?" Tsuna muttered to himself before following Gokudera to his room. There they studied half-heartedly while listening to music and making jokes about other mafia bosses and teachers.
After a long time of laughing and concentrating (somewhat), Tsuna checked the time.
"Whoa, it's late, you stayin' over?" he asked.
"Might as well," Gokudera mumbled, laying down on Tsuna's floor. "My landlady might scold me if I come back this late. Call me a hooligan and whatnot."
Tsuna snickered at that before stepping out the room.
"I'm gonna go take a bath, 'kay?" he said after calling out for Lambo. As Tsuna disappeared out the room, Gokudera could hear protest from the seven year-old boy.
"Lambo doesn't want to take a bath!" The sounds of running.
"You're filthy!" Tsuna easily dodges a hand grenade.
"You can't make me!" Lambo blows a raspberry.
"Yes, I can!" Tsuna swipes the kid up.
"Ack! Let go! You're hurting Lambo! Mama!" Lambo cries.
Gokdera snorts at the noises that he knows occur on a daily basis.
Tsuna stretched as they started on their walk to school. Gokudera yawned, tired from arguing with Lambo last night. Whenever he stayed over, the two always ended up finding some reason to scream at each other ("Just listen to the Tenth, you dumb cow!" "Don't tell me what to do, Stupidera!").
"Hello, boys!"
Tsuna and Gokudera both turned around to see Haru waving at them.
"Hey, Haru!" Tsuna said.
Gokudera scoffed.
"Can you walk part of the way with us this year too?" Tsuna asked.
"Yep!" The girl said, skipping to their side. "This is the first time this school year Haru has woken up late enough to walk with you two."
Gokudera snarled, "Somehow, that sounded like an insult."
Haru glanced at Gokudera, blushed, then wrapped her arm around Tsuna's.
"You're just grumpy, Hayato-kun," Haru said, trying not to look at him.
Tsuna peeked down at her and blinked then looked at Gokudera who was paying the girl no mind.
Gokudera waved to Tsuna as the tenth boss left for his classroom.
He sighed, "So lame!"
"What is?" Yamamoto asked from directly behind Gokudera who spun around with a strained shout.
"D-Don't creep up on people!"
"Hehe, sorry!"
Gokudera huffed and started off for his homeroom. Yamamoto walked along side him.
"So, what were you saying 'lame' about?" He asked.
"None of your business!"
Yamamoto laughed at the boy's irritable reaction.
"Being so loud," Hibari drawled as he approached the two. "Disturbs the peace of the school."
"Whatever!" Gokudera said, rolling his eyes.
Nearby, other students murmured things to one another. Things like, "Oh god, here it goes again" and "Can't one of them just back down for once?"
"And still you continue to make noise," Hibari growled.
"I wasn't the loud one in the first place! It was all the baseball idiot!"
"You're the one shouting now aren't you?"
"Now, now, you guys!" Yamamoto said only to be glared at by the two arguers. He gulped and shut his mouth.
"You're always blaming me no matter what it is!" Gokudera hollered, slamming his foot on the ground.
"You're always causing trouble," Hibari said, hand reaching for his tonfa slowly as though in thought.
Other students began backing away or making mad dashes for their classrooms while Yamamoto stood nearby, scratching the back of his neck. Should he intervene and if so, when? These were the questions he always found himself faced with.
A burst of red surrounded Gokudera in the same manner that a rage of purple engulfed Hibari. Now was definitely the time to intercede.
With haste, Yamamoto picked up Gokudera just as the shorter boy was about to pull out dynamite.
"Hey, put me down!" Gokudera barked though it was hard to be demanding in his position. Yamamoto had him flung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Yamamoto chuckled. "But we've got to get to class!"
"I can walk by myself! Let go!"
"I won't."
"You—!"
Hibari sent an evil look to the two as they disappeared around the corner, trying to burn holes through Yamamoto's back.
Tsuna breathed in the thin air with a smile.
"It's pleasant to be here this time of year," he said, leaning against the roof railing.
"Really?" Yamamoto asked with his lunch beside him on the bench. "I think it's still too cold."
Gokudera groaned loudly. He was laying down on the floor a cigarette hanging loosely in his mouth. "We had this same conversation last year and the one before that and the one before—"
"Fine," Yamamoto said. "Then what do you want to talk about?"
Gokudera sat up. "Something that won't make us sound like old men!"
Tsuna turned to him with a grin. "Would you like to talk about Haru?"
Gokudera raised an eyebrow. "Why mention that crazy girl?"
"You can't still call her a 'girl,' can you?" Tsuna suggested making Gokudera laugh.
"Why?" The right-hand man asked. "She finally get a sex change or something?"
"No," Tsuna replied. "She's grown into being a nice young woman, hasn't she?"
"Oh, please, Tenth!" Gokudera laid back down on the roof floor. "The day we can call that girl a woman is the day this baseball idiot—" He jabs a finger in Yamamoto's direction. "—can be considered a genius!"
"Hey," Yamamoto grumbled with a mouth full of rice.
"Come on," Tsuna said, moving to take a seat beside his eating friend. "You've never once thought of Haru as attractive?"
"I've never been into the annoying type, if I were, then you would see me all over her," he laughed a bit to himself. "Or all over Hibari."
This time Yamamoto and Tsuna groaned.
"What?" Gokudera snapped.
"We've had this same Hibari conversation yesterday," Tsuna replied.
"And the day before that," Yamamoto added.
"And the one before that,"
"And the one before that,"
"And the one before—"
"Alright! I get it!" Gokudera snorted, turning away from the two and crossing his arms as they high-fived one another.
Yamamoto shoved more rice in his mouth. "I mean we get that he bothers you an' all…"
"But you've got to get over it or do something about it," Tsuna said. "If I were you, I would just ignore him."
"Yeah, if you don't react, he'll stop picking on you," Yamamoto said.
"Pfft! Like that'll work!" Gokudera griped though in his head he was secretly making plans of compliance in order to get Hibari away from him. He took a long drag of his cigarette.
"You can walk home with us?" Gokudera asked Yamamoto quickly as the two waited outside the school building for Tsuna. He tried to sound careless and not too hopeful.
Yamamoto grinned at him and said, "Sure can."
Gokudera swallowed hard as he attempted to disregard his pounding heart.
"What are you two doing?" Hibari growled, approaching them.
"Don't react," Yamamoto whispered hurriedly into Gokudera's ear. The silver-haired boy nodded.
"Waiting on Tsuna," Yamamoto said to the prefect.
Hibari grabbed Gokudera by the collar.
"What are you-?" Gokudera started to yell, but he caught himself and remained silently angry as Hibari sniffed him.
"You've been smoking during school again," Hibari said, pushing Gokudera away. "That's forbidden."
"Sorry," Gokudera seethed. "It won't happen again." He looked to Yamamoto who leaned forward a bit insinuating that Gokudera should politely bow.
Gokudera ground his teeth together as he bowed forward slightly and said, "Please forgive me."
A tonfa smoothly came down upon Gokudera's head making the Storm Guardian fall forward onto the ground.
"Ow!" He shouted as he stumbled to his feet. "What the hell, asshole?"
Yamamoto stepped in front of Gokudera.
"Think saying and doing something like that," Hibari said. "is going to help you escape punishment? It's a little too late to be begging for forgiveness."
Gokudera shook with fury at these words. He tried to tell himself to stay calm, but just hearing Hibari's voice pissed him off beyond belief.
"Hey, can't you just leave him alone?" Yamamoto asked, still blocking Hiabri off from Gokudera.
The silver-haired teen felt his heart flare a bit more. He found it a bit embarrassing to be protected, but it was better than facing off with the cruel Disciplinary Committee leader once more.
"And since when were you involved in this, Yamamoto Takeshi?" Hibari hissed.
"Since the moment you started bothering him." Yamamoto said firmly, glaring down at Hibari.
"I don't recall you being his bodyguard," Hibari sneered.
"What? I—" At that moment, Yamamoto's cell phone rang. He answered it to hear a flustered Tsuna.
"I-It's just…" The tenth Vongola boss mumbled. "K-Kyoko-chan wants me to walk her home a-and ahehehe…" The mutterings went on somewhat like that, changing in tone from enthusiasm to worried and back. Yamamoto handed the phone to Gokudera who eventually got Tsuna to hang up.
Gokudera sighed. "It seems like we're off then," Without really thinking about it, he grabbed Yamamoto's hand and started off to exit the school's campus. "Let's go!"
If Gokudera had looked back, he would've seen a blushing Yamamoto and a very, very pissed off Hibari.
"Don't go," Yamamoto stated simply as though they weren't discussing a semi-dangerous matter.
Hibari had ordered that Gokudera come to his office after school. By himself. Alone. Without Tsuna, Yamamoto, or Ryohei. The possibilities of what could occur were both endless and frightening. They were chewing on the matter atop the school roof during lunch.
"Of course I'm not going to!" Gokudera scowled.
"You have to," Tsuna said. His two guardians looked at him with shocked faces. "Maybe after this, he'll leave you alone, but it's more like if you don't go, you'll be provoking him."
"But I'd hate to end up in the hospital right before the first weekend the school year," Gokudera complained.
"You won't if you don't fight him," Tsuna said. He exhaled and leaned against the door to the roof. "Fighting among us is a problem anyways."
"Speaking of which," Yamamoto said, handing the rest of his lunch for Gokudera, who at one time had refused to eat the leftovers, but he had now gotten used to the offerings and happily munched on what was left of the lunch. "How's the construction of the new base coming along?"
"Dunno," Tsuna answered. "Haven't checked it out in about two weeks though Giannini, Shouichi, and Spanner have been giving me updates on it."
"How are they getting along?" Gokudera asked, setting down the bento.
"Giannini and Spanner still see each other as rivals and Shouichi is pretty passive so he doesn't do as much work as he gets ordered around," Tsuna said before exhaling deeply once again. "I should probably head there some time and restore order to any chaos that has surely ensued."
"It's the tenth Vongola Family so something's definitely gone wrong there!" Yamamoto joked.
Tsuna held Gokudera's hand tightly.
"Remember," he said. "Don't provoke him."
They stood by the exit to the school building. Tsuna, Ryohei, and Yamamoto were about to walk home and leave Gokudera behind in the clutches of Hibari.
Hibari did his usual move and seemed to appear out of nowhere before slapping Tsuna's hand away from Gokudera's.
"You should know better than to display affection publicly," he said. "Especially on campus," He stood so that Yamamoto and Tsuna were blocked off from Gokudera. "But because I have more important things to deal with, I won't bite you to death, Sawada Tsunayoshi." He began to walk in the direction of the Reception Room.
"Don't be late," he advised, though it sounded more like a threat. Then, he was gone.
"Dickhead!" Gokudera screamed after he was sure Hibari was out of earshot.
"Hey, hey," Yamamoto laughed, holding onto Gokudera's wrist. "Don't go in there pissed off."
Gokudera looked at the spot where Yamamoto's hand wrapped onto him and felt it become heated along with his face. He yanked his arm out of Yamamoto's touch, yelling something at the brunette that made the tall boy laugh. Neither of the two noticed Tsuna's eyes go a bit wide and the understanding clicking in his irises.
Then Gokudera glanced at Tsuna for more support; his boss returned this look with an encouraging nod. Reassured, Gokudera trotted off in the same direction Hibari had.
"Good luck to the extreme!" Ryohei bellowed.
"I can't believe we're going to let him go just like that." Yamamoto said, sticking his restless hands in his pockets. He hadn't expected himself to be so worried.
"Don't worry," Tsuna insisted while motioning for them to start walking home. "He may be Hibari, but regardless he's still a part of the Family and he knows it wouldn't be beneficial for him to harm anyone within the Family."
Without saying another word, Yamamoto sulked over the matter.
The blood in his ears pulsed like drumbeats he couldn't ignore. His heart pumped like crazy, about to jump out of his chest and run off in fear. He didn't know why, but that instant of having his fingers wrapped around the doorknob to Hibari's office felt like an extremely important moment. A door to destiny. A clash of fate and choice. A rush of decision and doom. Just a few seconds. Just a click. Just a normal action amplified by beats of blood, beats of silence.
And then…
After that things happened in flashes. The warmth around his wrist that pulled him into the room. The slamming of the door being shoved shut behind him. The warmth pressing onto his lips gentler than what he believed Hibari could ever attempt. Then the brush of air as the older boy drew away to take in Gokudera's completely flushed face. Was it from anger? Embarrassment? The fleeting seconds of silence was filled with Hibari's anticipation to find out.
"You…!" Gokudera cried out, hands flying to his mouth. "Ass… Asshole! What the hell?" He shouted, stamping his feet and whipping out a few sticks of dynamite. He stumbled in circles, mind to blurry to focus on blowing up Hibari until he was tiny chunks of disgusting, vile, unwanted flesh.
"Gokudera Hayato, get yourself together," Hibari demanded.
Gokudera dropped the unlit dynamite to the floor.
"What?" He snapped. "You kiss me and then… and then… tell me to get myself together! What kind of—"
Hibari put his index and middle fingers to Gokudera's mouth in order to quiet the outraged boy.
"I like you," Hibari admitted blatantly. "Go out with me."
"Hell no!" Gokudera hollered, head finally clear and fully aware of the situation.
"It wasn't a question," Hibari said with his tonfa by his side.
"Idiot!" Gokudera pointed an accusing finger at Hibari. "This is exactly the type of thing that you ask someone!"
Hibari scoffed, "What difference does it make?"
Gokudera's whole body shook with anger. He wasn't sure why his was angry, but that confusion enraged him further.
"Ergh! You friggin' retard," Gokudera shouted. "What do you mean you like me anyway? We fight every day and you're a total prick! What makes you think that I would ever like you?"
Suddenly, Gokudera was pinned to the wall. Eyes open wide and swimming with fear as Hibari sent him a fierce and direct glare.
Fury barely contained, Hibari hissed, "Listen, I would have expected a reaction like this if I had given you a choice, but I told you, 'go out with me.' Understand?"
"You bas—"
"If you don't, I'll give the Vongola hell."
"What?" Gokudera gasped, voice ripe with shock. "Y-You wouldn't!"
"Now do you understand your position?" Hibari stepped back and sported a smirk that looked like it had been painted on by the devil himself. "Your next few words will determine whether or not this blooming redesigned Family is put in jeopardy during its final stages of settling…"
Gokudera scoffed and looked to the floor, face redder than ever. "At least…" He murmured as Hibari's returned to its usual form as a thin line. "At least ask me properly!"
"Gokudera Hayato, will you go out with me?"
"F-Fine! Yes!"