Title: Teenage Wasteland
Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn
Pairing: Gokudera/Tsuna, mild
Rock Song: #3 Baba O'Riley by The Who
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters depicted here, nor do I own the song which influenced this piece.
Gokudera straightened his overcoat while he and Tsuna walked along the rows of shops on their way home from school. The town was busy. The townspeople walked merrily amongst each other while getting through their day to day.
"I just really thought that test would be easier." Tsuna said in a daze. He had failed it, again.
Gokudera grunted and reached for a cigarette.
"It's okay Tenth. Who cares what the weight of promethium is anyway? None of that really matters." He pulled out a lighter and lit his cigarette gracefully. Gokudera, of course, had aced it.
It came from out of nowhere and in a matter of milliseconds it was speeding right at them.
"Look out!" Gokudera screamed, his newly lit cigarette falling from his lips. He reached for Tsuna subconsciously and pulled him back just as a delivery bike sped past them. Regardless, the bike still nearly ran over their feet.
Gokudera moved out from under Tsuna, who had fallen on him. He stood to shake a fist at the foolish and insensitive delivery boy.
"Watch where you're going asshole!" He screamed at the still speeding biker. He looked down and helped Tsuna stand. "Savages. I swear, this town is full of them. You okay tenth?" Gokudera asked while eyeing Tsuna.
He noticed Tsuna's flushed cheeks but assumed that it was due to his fall. It's moments like these when Gokudera truly realizes why he's so loyal to Tsuna. Gokudera liked to think that Tsuna needed him. He hoped that he needed him and that he wasn't just deluding himself.
After brushing themselves off they continued toward Tsuna's house.
Gokudera angrily lit another cigarette.
They got back relatively quickly and the state of the household was like it usually was. Bianchi was busy cooking some concoction in the kitchen. Her lips were slightly upturned in a graceful, yet mysterious smile while she fervently whisked the ingredients in her mixing bowl. They both avoided the area knowingly.
Tsuna's mother walked through the house with her laundry, happily humming a jingle from a television commercial she had just seen. I-pin and Lambo were running amok. I-pin was screaming something about broccoli while Lambo held a bloody wound on his forehead. He screamed and cried while knocking everything in his path over.
Gokudera casually side-stepped the pair and just barely missed getting clocked by a framed picture they hit off a shelf. He made a disgusted face and wanted nothing more than to get to Tsuna's room as quickly as he could.
Tsuna on the other hand took everything in stride. He'd grown oddly accustomed to the usual destruction laid upon his residence. Gokudera thought about how the state of Tsuna's house reminded him of the outside world.
A wasteland.
Tsuna pulled the door open to his room and Gokudera literally jumped inside. He closed the door behind him and breathed deeply, his forehead resting against the cold closed door.
He heard Tsuna sit on his bed, the creaking of the bed springs resonating throughout the room. Gokudera noted that he saw depression and the admittance of defeat creep over Tsuna's face.
"I still can't believe I failed." Tsuna said dishearteningly. Gokudera sighed and moved over to sit next to him. He let himself sink into the bed before bringing a strong finger down onto the top of his cigarette, letting the ashes dance and scatter to the floor.
"Just don't fight it, it happened. Besides, screw those shitty teachers and their tests." Gokudera said while taking one last drag, burning it down to the filter. He stood to put it out in his ashtray on the table.
Tsuna thought about that for a moment and realized that Gokudera was right. He doesn't need to prove himself. He still wasn't too keen about all this mafia business but chemistry just isn't his thing and he could accept that. Well, none of the other subjects seemed to be his thing either. His face fell again at that last thought. Gokudera turned at that moment and crossed his arms.
He wanted dearly to be there for Tsuna, on all levels. That didn't really seem to be working out though. Gokudera wanted to be more than just Tsuna's right hand man. He wanted more, but even he himself couldn't quite define exactly what that meant.
Tsuna stood as well and walked up to Gokudera. It almost looked like there were tears in those expansive and sometimes unforgiving eyes. Gokudera couldn't look into them, he turned his head.
None of it looked natural to Gokudera. Tsuna's sadness at this moment seemed to contrast sickeningly to all of the happiness that surrounded them. He wanted to reach out and pull him closer. He wanted to embrace Tsuna and as cliché as it was, he wanted to let him know that he'd always be there. That it didn't matter if he failed a course or if his father happened to never be around. He wanted to tell him it was okay to be confused about life. Hell, he could relate in that last category.
But no, he stayed still and attempted to continue looking at nothing in the distance.
Gokudera concluded that someday he would know what should be done. He would know what he wanted. Until that day, all he knew was that he was stuck in this infernal teenage wasteland.