Me: Time-skips are really fun. Whoa, and this chapter longer then I intended it to be. Well, hope you enjoy.

~One Year Later~

Grinning from ear to ear, Tsuna dashed his way from school, vaulting over a few fences while simultaneously looking out for any curious onlookers. Despite the rise in his abilities, Tsuna found that he didn't enjoy attention. True, he wanted friends and he wanted people to stop calling him Dame, but at the same time he didn't want to be bothered because of his parkour nor good grades.

So, he did the best thing Mamoru taught him. He hid in plain sight. By continuing to get bad grades and seemingly failing at everything, the most attention Tsuna got was being labeled as a 'no-good' person. Usually he would walk home the normal way, opting to hide his abilities as he would 'stumble' home.

Today, however, was a special day.

Racing up to the run-down apartment, Tsuna paused only to dig for his keys. Inserting them and twisting the lock, the brunette yelled out, "Happy Birthday!" almost tripping on his feet as he took off his shoes in the process.

Looking around the empty apartment, Tsuna furrowed his brow in confusion. It wasn't often that Mamoru was out, even less so for him to not leave a message on the door or text him beforehand. His nii-chan's voice was ringing in his ears, 'If a situation doesn't look right, then try to put the pieces together. Observe, don't just jump in. Observe from somewhere high up preferably.' Well, seeing as there wasn't anywhere to climb comfortable, Tsuna ruled that out. Instead, his eyes zoomed in on the discarded clothes on the livingroom floor. It was Mamoru's bartender uniform.

Coming in a bit closer, Tsuna saw dark red splatters across the white shirt. The black vest was missing a few buttons while the matching pants were untouched. Picking up the shirt and smelling the splatters, Tsuna reeled his head back at the rustic scent. Blood. Following the trail of clothes to the bathroom, Tsuna cautiously peeked in, just in case someone was in there.

To his immense relief, no one was inside, but the light was still on. Puzzled, Tsuna's eyes zeroed in on the first aid kit on the bathroom counter. It was open and had some bloody towels on the side of the sink. Tsuna didn't feel alarmed at the sight, only thoughtful. There were no obvious signs of struggle, so that must mean that his nii-chan either got into a fight before he came home or brought someone who was injured home.

Satisfied with his deduction skills, Tsuna made his way to the bedroom. Cracking open the door, the brunette was greeted with the sight of a Mamoru in black pajama pants and white t-shirt. His hoodie was discarded on the ground, forgotten among the other articles of clothing around his bed.

Grinning a bit, Tsuna made his way over to a discarded pillow, careful not to wake the older man up. With a cheshire cat's smile, the eleven-year-old boy smashed the pillow on top of Mamoru's head. Mamoru bolted straight up, grabbing the pillow as if it were a person and hold his left wrist up to it.

Tsuna couldn't see, as the room was too dark, but he heard a tell-tale ripping of fabric, indicating that Mamoru must of had a knife on him. Gulping slightly at his brother's paranoia, Tsuna thanked whatever Gods were up there that that pillow was not him.

"Dammit Malik! I thought I told you never to wake me up by-" Mamoru stopped his rant abruptly at the sight of Tsuna. Chocolate eyes narrowed, briefly flashing gold before returning to normal. Tsuna stood still, shaking a bit at the sight.

This wasn't the first time Tsuna had encountered one of Mamoru's 'moods'. Whenever they were training in free-running, Mamoru would assume a stoic expression and give very curt responses, but at the same time it was peaceful. Like he would never expect more from you then you could give. It was nice being with Mamoru when he was like that, almost like having a very strong pillar to lean on.

Whenever it was hiding, or masking yourself in a crowd, Mamoru would become playful. Dangerously so. He would often try to expose Tsuna to bullies whenever he was hiding during training. Of course the older man never let them reach the poor boy, but the fear was enough for Tsuna to learn quickly and Desmond would soon apologize afterwards.

Lastly, whenever Mamoru was teaching self-defense, he would get quiet and slightly irritated. His eyes would be a smoldering golden and he would push Tsuna to just beyond the boy's limits. This was, as Mamoru explained, a way to force him to fight even under the worst of conditions. Also, it was a way for Tsuna to know when to fight versus when to run away.

Like all things, the young brunette took to these methods slowly. It had been a year of training, but still the young boy could only climb over fences and crates really quickly. He often envied Mamoru, could climb a seemingly smooth wall with ease and jump across rooftops with incomparable grace. It was at these moments that Tsuna truly doubted his own ability, especially when he was knocked over every training session.

Shaking his head from his thoughts, Tsuna brought himself back to the present. It was rare when Desmond would change into one of his 'moods' outside of training. The more aggressive mood, the one that pronounced the scar on his lip and turned his eyes golden, rarely came out as it was. Something must have really been bothering his nii-chan to put him in this mood.

"M-Mamoru-nii-chan?" Snapping his head towards Tsuna, Mamoru sighed motioning for the kid to come and sit next to him. Said spiky-haired kid obliged, letting his legs swing side to side over the edge of the bed.

A sigh escaped the scarred man's lips, "Sorry about that bambino, I was . . .having a bad dream. Not to mention someone thought it would be a great idea to start a fight last night." Sarcasm laced his tone, causing Tsuna to giggle a bit. "Got in a few good punches before I was able to throw him out too, Bastardo."

Nodding in understanding, Tsuna shifted so that he was lying on his stomach next to Mamoru. "Neh, neh, nii-chan? Do you know what today is?" The foreign man furrowed his brows in confusion, trying to come up with something before shrugging in defeat. He was too tired to think straight anyhow. "It's your birthday!" The young boy exclaimed, a little put off that someone would forget their own birthday.

Mamoru blinked, reaching up to rub his chin and grimaced at the five o'clock shadow forming. He tried to remember the date, coming up with March 14th before shrugging once again, "I see . . . ." Yawning, the man rolled over, putting his feet onto the rough carpet below before addressing the other occupant in the room. "Hey, Bambino, out. I'm getting dressed."

Huffing in irritation, Tsuna marched out of the bedroom. He had prepared for this day! Ever since his nii-chan had baked him an Italian-cream cake (something he would be salivating over for days on end afterwards) for his birthday, he had saved up his money to be able to take Mamoru-nii-chan out for a nice dinner (he didn't want to bother with his atrocious cooking skills).

It irked him that Mamoru would forget his own birthday, not because of the planning that Tsuna put into today (although that was part of it), it was because it reminded Tsuna how his nii-chan didn't have anyone to remind him that it was his birthday. (Of course, there was Tsuna himself, but he hadn't mentioned it until today.)

Sighing sadly, it reminded him of his own birthday. He was excited because it was blatantly obvious that his mother was hiding something from him, thinking it had something to do with his birthday.

Unfortunately, it had everything and nothing to do with his special day. As it turned out, his so-called father had come home under the guise to visit his son for his birthday. This would have been fine had he not turned it into a reunion fest with his mother and swept her away for the weekend his birthday was supposed to take place.

He remembered that night like it was yesterday, it was when he received the best birthday present ever.

*Flashback*

Tsuna ran from the house as his parents went upstairs to start packing for their vacation without him. He ran with all his might, not even bothering to look behind him or close the front door. This was supposed to be his day! Why, why, why, why did his father have to come and ruin it?!

Tsuna finally stopped when he came to a door. Noticing the number on the front, the boy recognized it as his nii-chan's apartment. Although he knew that Mamoru would be at work, he still knocked on the door in the futile attempt that he would be there.

Breathing heavily, Tsuna knocked one more time before falling to his knees in exhaustion. Not used to the exercise, the poor boy could only wait as his shaking limbs calmed down. "Nii-chan . . . ." He called out pitifully, his throat clenching up and his eyes watering a bit in despair.

"Tsuna-kun?" Whipping his head around at the sound, Tsuna saw his Nii-chan in his usual bartender uniform, a plastic bag held in one hand and a set of keys in the other. Confused, Tsuna could only tilt his head to the side, wondering what his Nii-chan could be doing here. "Tsunayoshi? What are you doing here so late?"

Tsuna blinked before looking down at his wrist-watch. The time read 10:14 P.M. Embarrassed, Tsuna started stuttering, "I-I didn't. I-I'm s-sorry. I was r-running a-and d-didn't notice w-where I was g-going." Mamoru didn't seem all that bothered by Tsuna's stuttering or crying, instead the older man pulled out a handkerchief and kneeled down to Tsuna's eye level and start cleaning up his face.

When he was finished, Tsuna had finally stopped crying and instead watched as Mamoru folded up the piece of cloth and put it away, "Let's go inside, neh? It's a bit late for you to be out anyway. You can tell me what happened after we bake the cake okay?"

Silently, the young brunette let Mamoru unlock his apartment and lead him inside. Having been inside before, Tsuna took off his shoes and plopped himself down on the couch. As the living room was connected to the kitchen, Tsuna was able to observe his nii-chan's actions in the kitchen. Curiously, the boy watched as the man took out a lot of expensive looking ingredients, mixing up flour, sugar and . . .was that cream cheese? He took the batter and poured it into a lightly buttered pan before placing it inside of the pre-heated oven.

Sighing in a mixture of exhaustion and relief, Mamoru made his way over to the couch and placed himself next to Tsuna. Nervously, Tsuna broke the silence with his broken question, "W-What's the c-cake f-for?"

Raising an eyebrow at the boy, Mamoru only chuckled before ruffling his hair in fondness. "Who else's birthday is tomorrow? It was supposed to be a surprise for when you came home from school, but I guess that it's okay. Your birthday is in like . . .five minutes anyway." His heart soaring at the prospect of his birthday being remembered was like a dream. Tsuna nodded his head enthusiastically, tears erupting from the corners of his eyes. "Now . . .will you tell me what's wrong?"

The gentle voice brought him out of his musings. Despite his obvious exhaustion, Mamoru- no - Desmond was listening intently. He wasn't yawning or looking away occasionally, like what his father or mother did, instead opting to stare at Tsuna with sincere, pleading eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna re-told his tale of his so-called father coming home and his insistence of the vacation he was taking Nana on. He even went into his father's history in never being home and working in construction for some Italian company. Halfway through, the brunette found that he couldn't keep in his tears and futilely tried to wipe them away as he continued talking in broken words and sentences.

Desmond didn't say anything, only pulling the boy in for a hug and stroking his hair in a calming manner. The now eleven-year-old boy held onto the older man like it was a lifeline, shaking as he abruptly ended his tale with his running to Desmond's apartment and collapsing outside. Kissing the brow of the boy's hair, the foreign man only rocked Tsuna back and forth, much like a mother would do for her child, until the tears and hiccups stopped.

"Feeling better, Bambino?" Looking up at Desmond with slightly desolate eyes, the boy nodded, reluctantly pulling away. There was a resonating 'beep' as timer went off for the cake. "Well, let's see if it's done." Getting up from the couch, Desmond made his way over to the over. Testing the cake with a toothpick before taking it out with a set of oven mitts. "Alright, now to decorate it. You want to help, Tsuna-kun?"

Nodding slightly, Tsuna made his way over to the man and the cake sitting innocently on the counter. "First," Desmond's voice caught his attention, "We have to make the icing." On the side, Tsuna could see the cream cheese from earlier, lying next to some butter, sugar, vanilla and cream.

Taking out a bowl, Desmond placed it in front of Tsuna before handing him the ingredients, "First, the cream cheese. Eight ounces." Complying to the unspoken demand, Tsuna measured out the cream cheese and placed it into the bowl. "Next, the butter. Unsalted and half a cup." Seeing as how there were two different types of butters in front of him, the brunette read the labels and measured out the half cup before putting that too in the bowl.

"Okay, now put in a teaspoon of vanilla." Raising an eyebrow at the older man, Tsuna briefly wondered why he was doing this before taking the vanilla and twisting the cap. It didn't budge. Frustrated, Tsuna tried twisting it harder, but it wouldn't move a centimeter. Huffing, the boy turned to Desmond only to have the man shake his head, "Figure it out, Tsuna-kun. I can't help you with everything." Frowning slightly, Tsuna stared intently at the bottle of vanilla, trying to remember something, anything that would help him with opening it.

Closing his eyes, a flashback of his mother holding a similar bottle under steaming water came to the forefront of his mind. Inspired, Tsuna went to the faucet, holding the tip of the bottle under hot water for a few minutes before trying to twist it open again. It worked. Flashing a grin at Desmond, Tsuna went forward to measure out a teaspoon before placing that too in the bowl.

"Excellent! Now, three and a half cups of sugar." Nodding, Tsuna reached for the clear bag in front of him before he stopped. There were two clear bags. Suspicious, Tsuna opened one and reached inside for a pinch before tasting it. It was sweet. Still suspicious, the boy reached into the other bag and tasted a pinch of what was inside. It was still sweet. Looking over at Desmond with accusing eyes the man held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, hey, don't give me that look. Take this as a lesson that it's better to double check then to assume."

Pouting, Tsuna did as he was told and measured out three and a half cups of sugar, placing it into the bowl as well. "Alright, mixing this will be a bit difficult for you, so I'll do that. While I'm beating the ingredients together, I want you to add that cream periodically, alright?" Doing as he was told, Tsuna added in the cream whenever Desmond gave an indication for some. The man didn't stop beating the ingredients, instead concentrating on the mixture in front of him.

"That's enough." He said abruptly, stopping his movement to reach for the coconut shavings. "Now, we add this in." Tsuna couldn't help but lick his lips at the sight of the icing. It was pure white and looked insanely good. He absentmindedly wondered what it would look like on the cake.

Giving Tsuna a lopsided grin, Desmond took out two butter knives and gave one to the boy. "Let's decorate!" Nodding, Tsuna eagerly dipped his knife into the concoction and splattered it onto the cake.

As they continued to paint their masterpiece, Tsuna spoke up, "Why did you have me make the icing?" Desmond knew of Tsuna's bad cooking, had even tasted it on occasion, but had rarely commented or tried to correct it.

Humming in his throat, the tanned man tilted his wrist to give the cake a smooth finish on his side, "It wasn't about cooking, if that's what you're asking." Putting down his butter knife, Desmond took out some food coloring and put in two drops of both yellow and red in the extra icing to make Tsuna's favorite color, orange. "It was about problem solving."

Tsuna watched as Desmond scooped up the orange icing into a ziplock bag, closing it and cutting off a corner. "You mean like . . .figuring out how to open the vanilla?"

Nodding, Desmond went over to the white-clad cake and started writing 'Happy Birthday!' in many different languages. The first being Japanese. "That and it was about figuring out what you can do, versus what you should do. For example: It was impractical for you to check both bags of sugar, as they would most likely both hold sugar, but you did anyway." عيد ميلاد سعيد was written on the cake next, but Tsuna was unsure of what language it was.

Desmond continued, "It's a . . .cautionary thing I guess. Kind of like looking both ways before you cross the road." 'Buon Compleanno', 'Joyeux Anniversaire' and 'Happy Birthday' in English was added to the cake before there was only room for one more word. Finally 'ツナ' was put onto the cake, making Tsuna smile slightly at his written name. Desmond set the icing down and looked over at the boy, "It's about learning what you can do in the situation you're in. Obviously, you can't read your parents minds, but you have a choice. You can hate them forever, ignore them indifferently, love them unconditionally, lay down some ground rules or even run away if it came to that."

Confused, Tsuna tilted his head to the side, silently asking him to continue. Desmond sighed ruffling his clean hand in Tsuna's spiky hair, "What I'm saying is 'Nothing is True' and 'Everything is Permitted'. You're binding yourself by other people's rules, when you should be making your own and obliging to those."

Still confused, Tsuna spoke up, "But . . .but rules are put in place for a reason!"

Nodding in confirmation, Desmond reached into a drawer and looked for something, "I agree, but some rules only apply to certain people and other rules are made for the benefit of the person in charge, not the ones following said rule. It's your job to figure out which rules are the best for yourself and the people you care most about. Don't let others control you just because what they say is the only option."

Pouting a bit, Tsuna looked down at his feet, unsure if he could ever think so freely. Sighing a bit in exasperation, Desmond pulled out a handful of candles before sticking them into the cake. There were ten surrounding the circular shape while an eleventh one was in the very middle. Taking out a box of matches and lighting the candles us, Desmond grinned at Tsuna before heading over to dim the lights in his apartment.

"Don't worry too much about it Tsuna. Just know that when things seem tough and you have no other option that there is a way out of it. Sometimes, it's just harder to find or takes an incredible amount of patience. If it gets really bad, there are always compromises to consider, so don't worry about your parents. From what I can tell, you're a good enough kid, with or without them. Happy birthday, kiddo."

Smiling slightly Tsuna looked at the candles in front of him. It wasn't the words that he wanted to hear. Heck, he wasn't even sure if they were the right kind of words for this situation, but Tsuna understood. Desmond forced him to see the truth and thus forced him to understand. It wasn't perfect, but it was necessary. It was much better than the lies his father spewed. And it was all he really needed.

With that thought, the brunette blew out his candles, wishing for everything to be truly permitted.

*End Flashback*

Tsuna was interrupted from his thoughts as Mamoru stepped out of the bedroom. A fresh pair of jeans and t-shirt in place, the scarred man yawned widely, scratching his stomach from underneath his shirt. A new sweatshirt was adorned, instead of white, this one was a light gray with aqua trimmings. With his sleeves rolled up and his fingerless gloves missing, Tsuna could clearly see his intricate tattoo on his left arm and the bandage on his right.

"So, what's with all the excitement today?" Mamoru held an expression between tired and amused as he watched his little brother pout at the teasing tone. He really was a cute kid.

The small brunette shuffled in his spot, a little unsure of what to say. "Um, well, I want to take you out to dinner." Blinking, Mamoru thought through his hazy mind at what Tsuna just said before bursting out in laughter. Startled, Tsuna frantically looked at his nii-chan, wondering what prompted this sudden reaction. "D-did I say something wrong?"

Shaking his head in exasperation, the older man reached out and ruffled the kid's hair in fondness, all the while with his head to the side, trying to hold in his chuckles. "Sorry, sorry, but . . .the way you said it . . .it was like you were a-asking m-me out on a d-date." Not able to stand it anymore, Mamoru moved his hands to clutch at his stomach as the laughs just started rolling out.

Meanwhile, Tsuna was going over what he told his nii-chan before redness started creeping up his neck and onto the bridge of his nose. Puffing out his cheeks, Tsuna let out an embarrassed "Mou~" before grabbing his older brother's arm and correcting himself, "I want to buy your birthday dinner, if that's okay."

Mamoru's giggling eventually stopped, allowing the man to think over what Tsuna was offering. On one hand, it was a free meal. On the other, as an older brother he really shouldn't let Tsuna pay for something like that. Looking into the boy's eyes really intently, Mamoru stood there with an unbreaking gaze.

Tsuna stood still, not wanting to disturb the man's thinking process but stared back with what he hoped was equal intensity. Neither moved until Mamoru seemed to find something and pull back in what seemed to be disbelief. Blinking, the man grabbed Tsuna's head, holding in place before looking down at the wide, startled eyes.

For what felt like an eternity, the older man finally let him go with a slightly disturbed expression. Tsuna asked the question about dinner once more prompting Mamoru to absently nodding, and letting the boy lead him out of the apartment.

That gaze bothered Tsuna, but the boy let it go. Mamoru had his strange moments that he was quickly getting used to and although there were times when they frightened Tsuna, he knew that his big brother would never hurt him. And so, the little brunette led the larger brunette out onto the streets and towards Takasushi.

Me: I have a tendency to remember everyone's birthdays but mine, so I really couldn't help it. If you couldn't tell, Tsuna will refer to Desmond as Mamoru more and more, only calling him Desmond when he's teaching him something or when the situation calls for it.