(A/N) Ah, finally, some 1859! I've been meaning to write these two for ages, and just never got around to it, haha. But after taking forever, I've finally gotten here! I already have the whole thing written out, so I'll be posting it in weekly installments (hopefully I don't forget). I can't see it being more than five chapters, as it ironically came out to 59 pages on my word document (lol Gokudera).
So anyway, I hope you enjoy! This was fun for me to write! C:
Oh also this starts off during the Mukuro arc. I doubt any of you reading this haven't gotten there yet, but just in case, spoilers.

The fight was not going well.

It had, at first. Gokudera had had a clear plan for the first time in years and he knew that the indoors setting would give him the advantage. The more obstacles, the better. Chikusa was unprepared for the tricks that the bomber had used, and, luckily for Gokudera, was still battered from their last fight.

That's all it could be called: a fight. It wasn't a battle, at least not anymore. They were both so determined, so pissed off (at least on the bomber's part) that it couldn't really be called a sophisticated battle. Gokudera was using every little dirty, optical trick he had; Chikusa in turn was swinging his yo-yos so fast that the strings were tripping the bomber up in a complicated web that was surely illegal in standard battles. When weapon hit weapon, the bomber could feel the strong desire to win emitting from both parties. Their reasons were completely different, but their hearts were united.

Though he always acted pissed off, Gokudera actually enjoyed these fights the best. He loved when both parties were passionate to win; it made it interesting. He'd grown up on the streets, had his fair number of battles, but none of those had ever been enjoyable. Those had been necessary only for survival.

Nothing got his blood pumping like a real fight.

That was before, however, Shamal's fucking Trident Mosquito's side effects started hitting the bomber again. Pain exploded in his chest and it was so prominent, so hard to breathe through, that he couldn't even throw his dynamite. They dropped to the floor in a useless clatter.

"Shit, not now," he muttered as he stumbled into a wall for support.

He was barely there before a different kind of pain stabbed his chest. Faintly he heard the sound of glass breaking as long claws struck deep into his chest, reopening wounds that he'd gotten from his first battle with Chikusa. He heard an animalistic laugh come from behind him and he grunted as he tried to ignore the pain of Ken's claws.

Everything hurt so bad he thought he was going to die. Slowly, he stumbled away from the window when Ken released him, dropping to one knee when he reached the middle of the corridor. He turned to face the window as he clutched his chest, panting. Blood oozed past his fingers at an alarming rate and his vision turned fuzzy as he glared at Ken's form in the window.

Dammit, he couldn't die now! The Tenth was relying on him to knock out these two bastards!

"You're alive," Chikusa said to Ken, as if he couldn't believe it. Gokudera cursed them both internally – he was in too much pain, otherwise he would've cursed them out loud.

"Yeah, though I thought I was going to die!" Ken laughed as he pulled himself fully through the window. He sent a glare the bomber's way, which Gokudera returned. He wished the animal bastard had died. Leave it to the baseball idiot to leave a job unfinished.

Panting heavily, Gokudera tried to stand. He had plenty more dynamite, and if he could just get himself moving again he might have a fighting chance…

However, life had a different plan for him as he stumbled back into what he thought was a curtain over a wall. Though it was a curtain, it was not, in fact, over a wall. Behind the curtain was nothing, and Gokudera didn't have the energy necessary to rebalance himself. With a grunt of pain, he fell into the curtain as it broke free of its loose hinges and sent Gokudera all the way down a slightly decaying staircase.

As the bomber lay there at the bottom of the stairs, practically immobilized, he could hear the animal freak taunting him from above. Even one of the birds that had belonged to that perverted old man landed on a ledge just behind him and chirped taunts. Really though – he couldn't have retaliated, no matter how much he wanted to. He felt like if he broke every bone in his body it wouldn't hurt as much as his chest and back did then. His clothes were slowly getting more and more soaked, and it didn't take him long to realize that blood was pooling around him from his serious chest wounds. His breaths were coming in short, wheezed gasps. He would pass out soon if he didn't do something.

But what could he do? There was no way he could fight back. The moment Ken and Chikusa came down the staircase, he was dead. The Tenth would be so disappointed in him, and he would forever be remembered as the useless bastard who never belonged. The thought of that made him want to die immediately.

Suddenly, however, he heard something else. The damn bird stopped taunting him, and instead began to sing. As the high-pitched, out of tune noise reached his ears, Gokudera recognized it as Namimori's goddamn school anthem.

He groaned. That was not what he wanted to hear as he died.

However, it soon occurred to him: how the hell had that stupid bird learned Namimori Middle's anthem? There was no way it could've heard it, unless…. Gokudera suddenly remembered when they had found a phone earlier, destroyed. He remembered exactly who the phone had belonged to, and exactly what their ringtone was. As the bomber focused on the area of the wall that the bird was sitting on, he noticed a bruised tonfa lying on the ground.

Gokudera actually laughed. He had to be the unluckiest man in the world, while simultaneously being the luckiest.

With his last remaining strength, Gokudera swiped a stick of dynamite across the cigarette that was somehow still lit in his mouth. As the fuse burned, the bomber threw the weapon straight behind him at the wall where the yellow bird was perched.

As an explosion racked his ear drums, and he felt the heat drain over him, he somehow heard Ken, who was still laughing at him. "Where are you aiming?!"

Gokudera, however, just had a satisfied smirk on his face. Though he knew the person he'd just freed would never help him voluntarily, he also knew they would be just itching for a fight with the bastards up the stairs. After all…

"Only you could like that damn song so much."

The smoke cleared. The silence that followed was almost more deafening than the explosion itself. Gokudera heard the two Kokuyo bastards inhale; they had finally noticed what they had overlooked. Without even having to look back, the bomber could feel a murderous aura diffuse through the air. He smirked confidently.

"Kyouya Hibari," Chikusa stated, an almost mistakable note of fear edging his otherwise monotone voice.

"You look well," Gokudera grunted as he looked back at Hibari. Sarcasm was an understatement: the bomber had never seen the skylark look worse. His Namimori jacket had been abandoned somewhere, leaving Hibari in just his black pants and white over shirt. A huge blood stain painted the lower corner of his shirt and the whole uniform was covered in dust and skid marks. When Hibari raised his head, he had bruises and dried cuts all over his usually clean face. The bruise under his eye was so dark that it looked like a chunk of his cheek was missing.

If this was his outward appearance, Gokudera had no idea how his innards were. He probably had millions of broken bones and a ruptured spleen. But hell, the bomber knew that Hibari would be able to get up and fight even if he'd taken a bullet to the brain. To the immobilized teen on the ground, a mobile Hibari was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"No way! This zombie is your reinforcement?" Ken laughed, obviously not taking the hint. Gokudera noticed that Chikusa smartly kept his mouth shut.

"I would have gotten out myself, but…" Hibari stated darkly as he stumbled to his feet. Gokudera didn't think he'd ever seen the skylark stumble before. That'd be a nice piece of blackmail once all of this was over. Hibari stared at him with his hard gaze; the bomber worried for a moment that he could read minds before he finished his sentence, "This works too."

… Was Gokudera supposed to take that as a thank you? He probably should, since it was the closest the damn prefect would ever get to saying it.

"Leave those two to me," Hibari growled with a scary smile on his face, accented by the blood dripping from his lip as a cut reopened.

"I was planning on it," Gokudera muttered sarcastically. Hibari ignored him.

As the prefect took a threatening step towards the animal and yo-yo freaks, the yellow bird landed on his shoulder. The bomber briefly heard the Kokuyo bastards muttering disbelievingly about how Hibari had trained the little bird. Gokudera really wasn't that surprised, but at the moment he couldn't care less. Now he could just close his eyes for a moment and let his escapee take care of the rest…

For the next few moments, Gokudera's rest was accompanied with grunts of pain and sarcastic comments from Hibari. Though the battle was happening right above his head, the bomber felt like it was all far away – it had nothing to do with him anymore. He'd unleashed the beast. Though Hibari's fighting styles had once shocked and disgusted him, he thought in that moment that the sound of tonfa hitting skin and bone had never been sweeter.

The moment passed all too soon.

"Wake up." That was Hibari, his voice accompanied with a kick to Gokudera's ribs.

The bomber groaned, peeling his eyes open to look up at the skylark. He was panting more than he probably wanted to admit, but other than that Hibari looked perfectly fine. Cheeky bastard. Gokudera glared at him as he struggled to prop himself up with his elbows. "I'm working on it, you bastard. Your damn kicking isn't helping anything."

Hibari just narrowed his eyes before he lifted his foot back to kick Gokudera again. Before he could, however, he lost his balance and had to lean against the nearby wall to prevent himself from falling over. Blood was seeping from a wound on his stomach. Gokudera almost laughed, before he realized that was a death wish; even so, he was glad to see that Hibari was in a similar condition as he was. The man wasn't completely invincible.

"So you can be wounded," Gokudera sneered as he attempted to stand. He managed to do it, though pain was making his vision swarm, and he didn't stay up for long. He walked a few steps before the pain in his chest forced him to stop. He started to fall forwards, right towards Hibari.

"Shit!"

To his utter surprise, the skylark caught him. Sort of. If he had been in any great condition himself, Hibari probably would've been able to prevent either of them from hitting the ground. As it was, they ended up falling together; Gokudera with his hands and knees on the floor and Hibari down on one knee with his arm resting on the bomber's back. Neither were comfortable with their position, but neither had the energy to do anything about it.

"Herbivore," Hibari panted, though he didn't move, "I'm going to bite you to death."

"Can you maybe wait until later?" Gokudera snarled, turning his head a little to glare the skylark's way. "Otherwise we'll never get back to wipe the smug smirk off that damn Mukuro's face."

Hibari grit his teeth but, for once, they seemed to agree on something. Leaning against the wall nearest to him, the skylark used it to help him stand. With his one arm across Gokudera's back, he wrapped the other one over the bomber's chest to carry him up with him. Gokudera put one foot under him and lifted a hand to grip Hibari's bicep to give him leverage so he could stand.

Somehow, they made it to their feet.

"Oh by the way," Gokudera panted as he suddenly remembered and reached into his pocket to pull out a small white bag. He was glad to see it hadn't been dislodged during his fight with Chikusa and Ken. He forced it into Hibari's hand. "I heard you're afraid of cherry blossoms."

Hibari glared down at the small bag. "If this is a cherry blossom stem, you'll die right here."

"It's not! I wouldn't fucking immobilize you while that damn Mukuro still needs beating up! It's medicine!" Gokudera exploded, his short temper already defusing. Why did Hibari have to make everything so fucking difficult?! "Shamal gave it to me. It'll heal your disease, bastard."

The skylark shifted his glare to the bomber momentarily before he started to tear open the bag. Since one of his arms was wrapped around the bomber, Gokudera had to help him. After a moment of struggle, they managed to get the medicine out. Gokudera then had to pretty much force the damn stuff down Hibari's throat as the prefect stubbornly proclaimed he didn't have any water.

Fucktard.

After that whole ordeal, it was a moment before either had the energy to move from their position. Gokudera dreaded it already; if it took that much effort and teamwork just to make it to their feet, it was going to be a long walk.

"I'm only doing this because I owe you a debt," Hibari growled. Gokudera didn't even have to look to know he was glaring at him. "Don't think I want to associate with you, herbivore."

For some reason, that made Gokudera angry. Normally he shouldn't care if Hibari gave a rat's ass about him. Perhaps it was the way he had to point it out that pissed the bomber off; the feeling was mutual, so what was the point in bringing it up? Gokudera had to physically bite his tongue to prevent himself from lashing out at the bastard prefect; they'd never get anywhere if they dissolved into fighting before they even took one step. "You're wasting time and energy talking. Let's go."

"Don't order me around, herbivore," Hibari growled, but he helped Gokudera lace his arm around his shoulders as they took their first step forward.

Progress was slow. Painfully slow. They were both relying so heavily on the other that it was hard to move without someone stumbling, and every time that happened they had to stop to take a breather. Gokudera began growling and muttering curses under his breath at everything and anything, while Hibari just tried to conceal his pained wheezing.

At this rate, the battle would be over before they even made it to the end of the hall.

It seemed like an eternity before they reached the room where Gokudera had started his fight with Chikusa. He sighed in relief, but that soon turned into a painful hacking. The bomber was finding it harder and harder to breathe as they went along, with blood seeping out of his chest and his heart clenching painfully. Shamal's side effects seemed to have died down for the most part, but sometimes they would act up briefly; when that happened, Hibari was forced to drag Gokudera along as the bomber was momentarily immobilized.

He didn't know how he hadn't been bitten to death yet. Maybe because Hibari was in no great condition, either.

Throughout the death march, all Gokudera had been able to hear was his head pounding and Hibari's ragged breaths in his ear. When he managed to glance over at the skylark, he saw him with his gaze fixed straight ahead, teeth clenched. The bomber could tell that he was in pain (to hell if he was too proud to admit it), and that the trip was just as hard for him as it was for Gokudera, and that thought made him feel a bit better.

More blackmail material.

"Finally! We're almost there!" Gokudera panted as the two Namimori students dragged themselves into the corridor that led to the second floor. However, his relief immediately drained from his tired body as he stared in disbelief down the hall.

All they faced was a creaky old ladder.

"… Well fuck."

He'd forgotten about that.

Hibari nodded, his mouth tight, and Gokudera was concerned to note that they now had twice agreed on something. The skylark scrutinized the ladder when they dragged themselves closer, as if it'd done him some personal wrong. "I'll have to carry you up, herbivore."

"What?!" Gokudera was convinced he hadn't heard right. Hibari had not just offered to….

The prefect suddenly kneeled forward, letting go of the bomber as he showed his back to him. Gokudera almost stumbled forward onto him with his sudden lack of support, but managed to regain his balance. He looked at the skylark in disbelief. His hands were linked behind his back, his meaning now all too clear. Hibari glared back at the bomber, as if daring him to say something about his demeaning position. "Get on."

"I'm not getting on your back!" Gokudera screeched, his face flushing against his will. It would be beyond embarrassing to return to the Tenth piggybacking on Hibari. Gods, just the mental image….

"Then stay behind," Hibari snapped. Gokudera thought he saw a flash of impatience in his eyes.

The bomber hesitated before he relented. While it would be unbelievably embarrassing, Gokudera knew he wouldn't be able to climb up the ladder on his own. Though seriously, could Hibari even do it? He'd barely been able to walk down the corridor himself…

Steeling himself, Gokudera pushed aside his doubts and climbed onto the prefect's back. Though he was beyond embarrassed, and his hands were itching to blow something up, he found he was strangely comfortable. Despite being such a hard person personality wise, Hibari's back was soft and supportive, perfect for piggybacking. An image of Hibari piggybacking small children around a playground with a monotone expression on his face popped into the bomber's head and he had to hold back laughter.

If he let on he found the whole situation amusing, Hibari might just drop him and leave him behind after all.

Hibari stood abruptly, jostling Gokudera uncomfortably as they adjusted into a more stable position. The skylark then tried to take a step forward, though he stumbled and they fell towards the wall; Gokudera barely grabbed a rung of the ladder to support them before they both slammed their faces into hard cement.

"Shit!" Gokudera muttered as he felt blood drip down his nose. He unconsciously wrapped his arm around the prefect's neck to stabilize himself as Hibari pulled back from the wall. "Are you sure you can do this, Hibari?"

Hibari just panted as he stared straight ahead and grabbed a different rung of the ladder. "We're even after this, herbivore."

"Just as long as you never mention this to anyone," Gokudera replied drily before he focused on the task at hand. Keeping his hand on the ladder rung, he stabilized the pair as Hibari lifted his foot off the ground and began climbing the ladder. As the skylark progressed a few steps, Gokudera would reach out with his other hand to grab a higher rung while his previously gripping hand snapped down around Hibari's neck so he wouldn't fall.

Through this method, they slowly climbed up the ladder. Gokudera was suddenly glad for two things in that moment: one that no one else was around to see the embarrassing endeavor, and two that he was worryingly underweight. If he'd been a more normal weight, the bomber didn't think they ever would've made it past the first few rungs.

As it was, somehow, they made it to the top of the ladder. Gokudera scrambled off of Hibari as soon as they touched solid ground and nearly collapsed; his muscles had fallen asleep riding on the skylark and were now screaming in pain at having to work again. He looked around for the prefect, hoping he could take advantage of his presence and lean on him again.

Hibari, however, had keeled over. He was on his hands and knees on the ground, panting heavily. His stomach wound was bleeding again and occasionally he coughed up blood. It was not a good sight to see.

Gokudera was surprised to realize that he was worried about the prefect.

"Shit, Hibari, are you okay?" Gokudera started towards him and fell flat on his face. Dammit, nothing wanted to work for him! He laid there for a while, panting almost as hard as Hibari as the Trident Mosquito side effects worked up again. His wounds were making his vision fuzzy and he couldn't get the taste of blood out of his mouth. Hibari was coughing so hard he couldn't respond.

This was it. This was how the two of them were going to die. Pathetically and stupidly.

Suddenly he felt arms grab him under his armpits and heave him upwards; though it scared the crap out of him, he didn't have the energy to do anything about it. He somehow found his feet as his vision swam back into focus.

It was Hibari, supporting him again. There was blood dripping down his mouth, and he looked pissed, but Gokudera didn't care. Hope actually rose in him; if Hibari could still move, then maybe they had a fighting chance after all. He wasn't sure why the skylark was still helping him, maybe he still needed the support, but that didn't matter in that moment. All that mattered was making it back to Mukuro and the Tenth.

"Are you okay?" The question unexpectedly came out of Hibari's mouth as he wrapped his arm around Gokudera's waist to support him better. He then forced Gokudera's arm around his shoulder until they were back in their original position.

"Just… give me a second." Gokudera focused on breathing through the pain in his chest. When he felt the pain start to clear with a refreshing clarity, he sent a teasing smirk towards the skylark. "But I'm surprised you're still helping me – didn't you say we were even after that whole ladder expedition?"

Hibari didn't answer and instead opted to start moving forward. Though the bomber was surprised by Hibari's tolerance of the teasing, he decided not to comment as he stumbled through the first couple of steps. Eventually he found a rhythm and the two Namimori students slowly made their way down the hall.

Gokudera wondered if they would make it. Neither of them were moving as well as they had before, and the bomber was having a really hard time focusing on his surroundings. All that existed in the world was Hibari. And that was bringing along with it delusional thoughts. Hibari was warm, though Gokudera couldn't tell if it was because of his body heat or because of the blood pouring off of him; whatever the reason, it was making it hard for the bomber to keep his eyes open. Hibari's warmth was comforting, and he couldn't stop thinking that he fit really well into the space between Hibari's arm and body. Not only that, but he smelled nice: underneath the blood was the really good smell of the forest. Wondering what deodorant Hibari used and where he could get some, Gokudera couldn't even find it in him to be disturbed by his thoughts.

Like he said. Delusional.

As his vision became blurry again, and darkness started touching the edges, Hibari's voice in his ear broke his delusions. "Herbivore, stay with me."

"Ugnh." Gokudera had no idea what noise came out of him in that moment. He wasn't even sure if it was supposed to be a reply or just a grunt of effort.

Hibari clicked his tongue before he went back to ignoring Gokudera. Apparently he'd deemed the bomber a lost cause and was finding it a waste of effort to deal with him. That was good – Gokudera didn't think he could respond or make any more of an effort than he already was. Every step felt like someone had lined his shoes with lead and was forcing him to walk through a river. He was so far gone that he didn't even feel pain anymore, just a numbness that coated his entire body.

He was sure that, if it wasn't for Hibari, he would be dead.

Before he knew it, however, he could hear voices up ahead. The Tenth was screeching in fear while some other asshole was laughing a really annoying laugh. That brought Gokudera back to reality; he suddenly felt a clarity in his head as the world came back into focus.

However, that unfortunately brought the pain back as well.

"Fuck, this sucks," Gokudera growled to no one in particular. He felt Hibari glance at him. "But at least we're almost there!"

"Huh. Welcome back, herbivore." Hibari stared at him for a little bit before he turned his attention back to the corridor ahead. "Time to bite that pineapple bastard to death. You ready?"

Gokudera scoffed. "I'm always ready!"

"That's a lie."

The bomber ignored that comment and focused on his surroundings again. His body was still exhausted, so he knew he had to prepare his energy in advance if he was going to survive Mukuro. He had to use every ounce of energy left in his body to make sure he wasn't sluggish. Though he really didn't know what he was going to do when Hibari left him to beat up Mukuro. Could he even stand without the skylark's support?

He'd have to. The Tenth was relying on him.

They reached the doorway. It was a relief to stop walking, even if the sight inside got his adrenaline pumping.

His boss was sitting on the ground with Reborn at his side, facing a blue pineapple-haired man who the bomber assumed to be Mukuro. One of his eyes had a strange red glow coming from it and he held a trident in his hand. His mouth was moving, but Gokudera couldn't hear what he was saying. He did, however, see the knot of snakes that just fell out of the sky towards his boss. Gokudera blinked. Man, he was more injured than he thought. However, the snakes seemed to be real as they circled the Tenth, hissing.

"Tenth, look out!" Gokudera screamed as he, thinking fast, whipped some dynamite out of his person, lit them, and threw them at the pit of snakes advancing on his boss. The force of throwing them off-balanced his body a little, and the bomber surprisingly felt Hibari's grip tighten around his waist to steady him as he threw his tonfa at Mukuro.

They really were becoming quite the team. That worried Gokudera. A lot.

Hibari's tonfa distracted Mukuro, even though it didn't actually hit him, which was all that Gokudera needed to deal with the snakes. The bombs detonated; dark smoke coated the air as charred snake bodies flew across the room. The bomber felt a small blossom of pride even as more pain stabbed his chest. Coughing, he sagged a little; the only thing that kept him upright was Hibari's tight grip around his waist.

"Sorry we're late," Gokudera croaked at his boss when the smoke cleared. He heard Hibari scoff in his ear, but he decided to ignore that, too.

"Gokudera! Hibari!" The Tenth cried out in shock as he sat on his butt, mouth wide open. Gokudera sympathized – he knew it was a weird sight to see him and Hibari supporting each other. If he hadn't just used the skylark to get here, he never would've thought that the proud prefect would help him. It was a good thing the Tenth hadn't seen the bomber piggybacking on Hibari.

Suddenly, Hibari let go of Gokudera and stepped away from him. As the bomber began to fall, he heard the skylark say, "My debt's repaid, herbivore."

What an asshole.

Gokudera fell to the ground with a hiss of pain and blacked out.

Gokudera woke up to the blinding white of a hospital room. For a moment, he could remember nothing. How the hell had he ended up here?

Then everything came flooding back at a speed that hurt his head. The more pieces he remembered, the more the bomber marveled on how he'd survived. After Hibari had dropped him, he'd become completely dead to the world. How had no one killed him while he'd been unconscious? Did the Tenth protect him?

He'd have to ask him someday.

It then occurred to him that he had no idea what the outcome of the battle had been. What if they hadn't beaten Mukuro? What if he'd only been spared because they'd thought he was dead already?! What if everyone, the Tenth, the baseball idiot, Lancia, Hibari…. What if everyone was dead?! Gokudera didn't think he could handle that: he couldn't lose everyone important to him again.

He had to find out what had happened.

However, as he tried to sit up, pain flooded through his whole body. Unwillingly, Gokudera cried out. Fuck, everything hurt! He felt like the pain was even worse than when he'd suffered through sustaining the damn injuries in the first place! Was it because all of his adrenaline was gone, and there was nothing blocking his pain sensors? Shit, how had he survived?

"I wouldn't try to move," a voice spoke up on the other side of the room. Gokudera didn't even have to look to identify it. "You're in bad shape, herbivore."

"Shut the hell up – you can't be much better," Gokudera spat icily. He was glad to know that at least his voice still worked. Though it was just his luck to have the same hospital room as fucking Hibari.

Even so, he was glad he didn't have to share a hospital room with his sister. Maybe people were finally starting to fucking realize that his sister's presence did more damage to his health than any of the wounds he'd suffered in the Mukuro battle. He was also glad he didn't have to room with the baseball idiot – he'd never get any peace if that happened. Hell, he would probably blow the idiot sky high before either of them had fully healed. Hibari was fine, though. He could tolerate Hibari.

… Wait. Since when the hell could he tolerate Hibari?!

"Your herbivore pack came to visit you when you were unconscious."

Gokudera snapped out of his thoughts at the prefect's words, and he glanced at Hibari sharply. 'Your herbivore pack'… That could be no one but the Tenth and the baseball idiot! Already forgetting the skylark's advice from before, the bomber struggled to sit up. "So they're alive?! We won?!"

"Of course we won." Hibari sounded indignant, and Gokudera couldn't help but wonder if the other had lasted through the whole battle. He snickered snidely.

"So when did you pass out?"

Hibari glared heatedly at him before pulling out his tonfa. "I'm going to bite you to death."

"I'd like to see you try!" Wondering where all of his sudden confidence was coming from, Gokudera stuck his tongue out at Hibari. "Don't reopen your stomach wound!"

Growling, the skylark made to jump out of bed. However, he obviously hadn't healed all the way and an almost mistakable grunt of pain escaped him. He then seemed to give up and leaned back on his hospital bed with a grimace.

Gokudera laughed as he picked up his phone and snapped a photo of the pained skylark. "Just wait until this is on Instagram. I'll photoshop some cherry blossoms in the background."

"I'm going to kill you."

Chuckling, Gokudera sat back in his hospital bed as he surfed the web for a good picture of cherry blossoms he could use. He didn't plan on actually posting the photo on Instagram, for he knew that would really get him killed, but that didn't mean he couldn't have it for his own personal amusement. If, by the time they got out of the hospital, Hibari returned back to his old habits, Gokudera wanted at least one thing to remind him of the fact that he and the skylark had actually gotten along at one point.

Who would've thought.

"Boss," a sudden voice called out as the door to their hospital room slid open. Gokudera glanced over his phone screen to see Kusakabe, Hibari's second in command, standing in the doorway. "Can I come in, sir?"

"Fine." Hibari sounded annoyed, and Gokudera snorted. What a stubborn ass.

"Come on in, Kusakabe," the bomber stated confidently as the Elvis impersonator hesitated in the doorway. "Hibari has a hard time appreciating the things he has."

Gokudera could feel the skylark's glare on him, but at that point he had already returned to his phone. He knew he was being a cocky bastard, and sticking his nose into things that were none of his business, but for some reason he felt like he could do that with Hibari. At some point during the course of their struggle, the bomber had felt a connection between him and the prefect that he couldn't really put into words.

They had both lowered their borders around each other, even if just for a little while, and Gokudera knew from experience that neither of them could go back from that. Gokudera suddenly knew Hibari better than anyone, and the skylark him.

The thought frightened him.

"What is it, Kusakabe? Don't stay longer than you have to," Hibari snapped, his biting tone reaching Gokudera despite his efforts to ignore the conversation.

"Yes, boss." Kusakabe, unphased by the prefect's scathing tone, moved to a stool near his bed. "I just wanted to report to you that the students that were beaten up by the Kokuyo gang are returning to school – none of their injuries were too serious. And also to request permission to take temporary command of the disciplinary committee while you're recovering."

"There's no need." Gokudera thought he sensed a shift in the mood, causing him to glance up at Hibari. The skylark was grimacing as he struggled to sit up in his hospital bed. "I can return to school immediately."

"Boss, I don't think that's a good idea…" Kusakabe stated gently. "The committee needs you to be at full strength."

Gokudera admired the way Kusakabe dealt with his troublesome boss – he had a knack for making Hibari's recovery seem like a necessity for the survival of the committee instead of a weakness on the skylark's part. That was, really, quite a clever way of dealing with Hibari.

And, to his impressed amazement, it worked. Hibari sat back in his bed with a sigh, his eyes closed in cold resignation. "Fine. I grant you permission."

"Thanks, boss." Kusakabe looked relieved. "I'll make sure everything is in top condition for your return."

"You better."

Kusakabe rose, bowed, and turned to exit the room. Glancing over at Hibari, and seeing that he still had his eyes closed, Gokudera silently beckoned the disciplinary committee member to his side. Kusakabe gave him a strange look, but came over as he was asked. When he was close, the bomber tilted his phone screen to show him the picture he'd taken of Hibari, complete with cherry blossoms in the background. Though he covered his mouth with a hand, Kusakabe was unable to hold back his snort of laughter.

"Herbivore." Hibari's voice caused Gokudera to hurriedly put his phone away as Kusakabe snapped to attention. They both looked innocently over at the prefect, whose eyes were narrowed in suspicion.

"The hell do you want?" Gokudera replied indignantly as Kusakabe quickly excused himself and fled the room.

Hibari watched him go before he just huffed and returned to his resting position. Once his eyes were closed, Gokudera quietly pulled out his phone again and looked at the picture. Barely concealing his amused snickers, the bomber set the picture as his background.