A:/N: Hello guys~! Welcome back!

This is another rewritten part! After so long, I know! I'm sorry that it takes me so long...

Main pairing: G27

Tsuna – 16 years old

Giotto – 21 years old

I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!.

Panicking became a big part of Sawada Tsunayoshi's life, so it wasn't that unordinary and terrifying when the said brunet found himself running in circles within the restrains of his own mind.

Dame-Tsuna was yet again, panicking. And a lot.

The reason for such turmoil couldn't be simplier, since it was the only thing that so far practically bombarded itself into his peaceful, everyday life; Wadasa Ieyasu, the sexiest teacher of school, had asked him for lunch out of blue. That really happened, Tsuna wasn't just imagining it like he thought.

That guy had went up to him, flashed a charming smile and directly asked him if he wouldn't like to go have lunch with him. Tsuna had been at loss of words, and up until now, his mouth still couldn't utter a word to that impossible question.

To top it all, after his English class, which was, unfortunately, happening right now, comes the lunchtime. On which Wadasa-san will be waiting for him in his personal room.

Kami-sama must hate him more than he thought.

I-It shouldn't be that big of a deal... other than that Tsuna can't speak longer than what, two minutes? What are they even supposed to converse about? What will he do if Wadasa-san asks him about his past, his home or Kami forbid his parents?

Oh, I'm really sorry Wadasa-san, but you see, my parents have been abusing me since I was a little child. Is there something else you would like to know?

Tsuna's lips twitched at the sarcasm vissible in his own thoughts. As if that sort of sentence could ever leave his dry mouth. Even if it did, he didn't want to know what could happen...

Not to mention... his... parents could torture him for that... Tsuna bit his bottom lip, his gaze set on a tiny picture of children playing on a playground in the workbook, while his teacher chatted about something in the background.

Even... se... se-sexually. Tsuna ducked his head down as his face flushed red.

Um...b-but that's a-a v-very p-pressing subject and he never thought of it much. Nana warned him of that happening if he won't listen... but they never tried anything like that - yet at least.

Tsuna's face reddened more at the implications, his face pressing into his crossed arms in vain hope to hide himself from the view. During their wonderful biology class that had occured last month, he had learned about reproductive organs and some very strange stuff about love life of either gender. He realised something important, supposedly – that he was a... virgin? For not being with a girl?

Tsuna's innocent mind couldn't understand it however, and he seemed to be the only one of his entire class that didn't get any of the words the female professor babbled about.

"Sawada!" The shout of his name quickly jolted Tsuna from his seat, followed by his famous shriek of "H-Hai!".

His classmates started to snicker.

"What were you doing there?" The young lady asked, the usually kind brown eyes narrowed into a small glare as she rested a hand on her hip.

"U-Um..." Tsuna lowered his head in shame, hidding his troubled eyes under the bangs. It wasn't his fault that he slipped into his toughts like that. "...n-nothing." He muttered at last.

He felt her stare on his head for a while, probably trying to decide if he was lying or not. When she told him to sit down, the rush of relief prickling at Tsuna's skin was more of comfort than anything else.

His body sunk deeper into the seat as he closed his eyes, sighing softly at his misfortune. Before long, the bell rung and all of the students stood up, leaving the room in a hurry for the cafeteria or a place where the groups could eat in peace.

Tsuna packed his stuff in silence, listening to the rapid beating of his heart all the while even after walking out of the language room, turning a swift left towards the teacher's lobby. Each step closer to Wadasa's office was heavier than the last one, and yet he soon found himself before the said place.

His orange sneakers stopped in front of the white door, the only barrier seperating him from his destination. Tsuna gulped thickly, not even noticing the laughter from the pacing students as they passed him. He had bigger problem at hand. With his shaking fist, he hesitantly knocked.

His ears picked on the barely audiable sound of footsteps that moved to the door before it was slid open. Tsuna was torn between agony and relief when his eyes met with the blank expression of Wadasa-san.

When the blonde realised who he was, his features split into a warm smile and quickly ushered him inside. "Ah, welcome Tsunayoshi-kun. Come on in."

Tsuna gave a tiny nod as he walked in, since he didn't want to be rude to the new teacher by being only silent. When he lifted his head up though, he couldn't help it but blink his eyes a few times. He had to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Tsuna never thought that teacher offices could be so... white from the stacked papers the man had there. If Wadasa-san had work, then why did he ask him out for lunch...? It didn't make sense to Tsuna as he looked around the room, barely listening to the blonde who headed to his desk.

"Ignore this mess I have here, please. I received those papers only few minutes ago and as you can see, I didn't have enough time to sort them out like I wanted to." The teacher explained, scratching his cheek sheepishly while moving some of the matterial away, trying to tidy up a little bit.

Tsuna faced him with troubled expression and furrowed eyebrows while his fingers played with the string of his bag. "U-Um... W-Wadasa-san, if... if you had w-work, y-you didn't...-!" The older man cut him off by raising his hand.

Giotto flashed him a smile. "You don't have to worry about it, Tsunayoshi-kun. Work can wait, I want to talk with you at the moment." He told him, and Tsuna's expression eased up almost promptly. The kid must have such a kind heart – he got worried for a stranger. Giotto cherished people like that.

Giotto's eyes shifted to the clock on the wall above the forest green sofa he had there and jolted lightly after noticing the time. He bend down and shuffled through his desk, pulling the multiple drawers of it as he searched for his meal.

"Let's eat before the lunchtime ends. You must be hungry, I'm sorry for holding you up like that." The blonde muttered, reaching for his leather bag after finding nothing in the desk. Tsuna bit his bottom lip to the statement as he fought with his own mind.

O-Oh.. about that...

He can't eat his lunch.

Noticing the brunet's suspicious silence, Giotto turned his head to face him and arched an eyebrow at other's quirked lips. The gesture is usually interpreted as one out of nervousness and is common to see in a lot of troublesome situations, for it also being a bad habit.

"Is something wrong, Tsunayoshi?" Giotto inquired, watching as the brunet fiddled with his thumbs, chewing on the lips while averting his eyes. "Uh... I-I don't h... have lunch... w-with me." He replied in a mere whisper, hoping his lie will pass.

Fortunately, it did, somehow despite his terrible luck. Giotto's face fell a little after he told him that. "You forgot to bring your bento? But you will be hungry the whole day and that's not good." He stated, pulling and placing his quickly made lunch on the desk.

"We could share mine if you'd like." Tsuna's cheeks bloomed with pink when Giotto added a soft smile to the words as well. There was something about that smile that made his chest flutter and heart skip a beat. Perhaps because no one showed him such gesture in a long time and it made him all emotional all of sudden.

Although Tsuna was moved to tears by the kind offer, one that he wanted to accept so badly, he had to shake his head softly. No, he told himself.

I-... I-I can't disobey my parents.

"N-No, t-thank you W-Wadasa-san... I-I'm not hungry." Tsuna closed his eyes, refusing to look into those amber eyes that were observing him so intently. He would break down if he did, after all. Tsuna couldn't tell perfect lies and get away with them.

"I'm not you, but you should eat something, Tsunayoshi. Food is very important for you and your growth mainly." Giotto said, his tone coming out more as stern one than caring to Tsuna's ears and his body reacted to it promptly, small trembles quickly spreading through his muscles like poison.

Golden eyebrows furrowing at the vissible shaking, Giotto said the next words out softly. "It's not something that you can live without after all." He tried to be nice, but his mind was occupied by his thoughts. He wondered why the teen started shaking for no apparent reason – at least Giotto didn't notice anything threating or stressful.

He hadn't said anything wrong, possibly rude either.

Tsuna's head hung low, gaze on the green carpet that hugged the floor while his hands were cluthed behind his back, foot drawing small circles into the ground. Even Giotto had to admit he looked cute whilst doing so, but that behaviour was wrong. He looked like a small child getting scolded for stealing candy or other kid's toy.

Not to mention the state the brunet was in. His skin was sickly pale compared to other naturally pale people, and he looked tired and too much thin for boys his age. Tsunayoshi's height wasn't up to the standarts either and that was worrying Giotto. He has never seen anyone that looked like Tsunayoshi before and he meant in the bad way.

Homeless people that had been living on streets for years looked better than the kid standing in front of him, shaking and avoiding eye-contact, and that was saying something already.

As for his voice, sadly, Giotto didn't notice anything either. It was raspy, meek and harsh, as if the boy hadn't drunk enough water for weeks, but Giotto found it cute; how the brunet stuttered over his words on accident while trying to be polite – and Giotto was a sucker for cute things.

Yet, it still made him uneasy and jittery. Tsunayshi used a very strange form of formal speech, he always looked to the ground few minutes after their eyes met and stuttered a bit too much for a normally shy person.

As Giotto's irises traced other's body for any more disturbing sightings, he didn't get too far since his gaze settled immediately on the bandage wrapped around Tsuna's neck barely hidden by the collar of the uniform shirt, only in that moment noticing it.

His eyebrows furrowed as Giotto questioned the brunet absentmindedly. "Why do you have bandage on your neck? Did something happen to you, Tsunayoshi...?" His smooth voice slowly trailed off as he realised what effect it had on the brunet and Giotto started to wish he never opened his mouth.

Tsuna's complexion had gone from almost purely white to soft blue of disgust as his eyes widened to saucers. Those very same eyes got shut quickly and tiny tears found its way out from the corners of other's eyelids.

Something told Giotto that wasn't good.

When the boy's body started to shake violently and his breathing fastened greatly, to the point Giotto could hear him clearly trying to grasp on the air in the room, he was impossibly certain that wasn't good at all.

He immediately sprouted into action, jolting from the chair and to the hyperventilating brunet. Although he grabbed his shoulders gently, Tsuna still shrieked out and started to babble apologies and other nonsense like "I-I'm sorry!", "Please, don't hurt me!", "I will be nice! I promise!".

"I-I... I-I'm so s-sorry!" The brunet repeated himself again for like the fifth time in one minute, trashing in Giotto's hold and shaking his head side to side. Frustrated by that, Giotto placed one hand on the boy's back while the other went over the teen's shoulders. That only worsened Tsuna's panicking and his voice raised about five octaves higher than what Giotto was expecting.

"N-No!" Tsuna started to yell. "I-I'm s-sorry! Please, d-don't! I won't d-do it a-again!"

Giotto had no idea what to do, he tried tightening his hold but that forced Tsuna to trash harder in his arms, trying to break free as he screamed his throat raw. "No! P-Please! L-Let me go!"

His voice had cracked as he cried out in pain when the blonde had to use more force to keep him in place, Giotto's teeth tightly gritted at that point. "Calm down, Tsunayoshi! I won't hurt you!"

The tears fell from Tsuna's squeezed eyes, fisting the chest before him hopelessly to force his way out from the hold. To Giotto however, those hits were nothing. He didn't feel them at all, as if they were mere feathers hitting him, so in other words, the brunet must have given up.

Sighing softly, Giotto hugged the shaking teen, rubbing small circles into the tense back that would hopefully ease the whimpering brunet as he hushed. "Everything will be fine... just take deep breaths."

Tsunayoshi's trashing stopped completely, and he tensed at first, before minute by minute relaxing in the older male's embrace. Tsuna's eyes slipped closed once again and soft sobs broke from his mouth once in a while. His body was still shaking a bit, but his breathing became normal, which was good news.

Giotto released a breath he didn't realise he was holding in. He must've scared the teen with touching him out of nowhere.

They stayed like that for a long while, with Tsuna crying into the blonde's precious dress-shirt and Giotto still rubbing circles into the other's back until his sobs quieted down to soft hiccups. Only then Giotto stopped and stayed still.

After thinking about it numerous times, Giotto decided to kiss Tsuna's head once he quieted down completely: he had read that's a more effective way to calm someone having a panic attack than anything else. The brunet didn't seem to mind it, staying quiet as Giotto smiled with his eyes closed. "Are you alright now?" He asked worriedly and felt Tsuna nod into his chest to confirm it.

Giotto would've sighed deeply from the wash of relief, but didn't, in case Tsuna took that as Giotto thinking the brunet was nothing but pain in the ass. "I'm sorry that I scared you like that, Tsunayoshi. I didn't mean to do that." He whispered honestly to Tsuna, hand moving from the back to the back of other's head, petting him gently.

The strange touch left Tsuna scared, not sure what it meant, would he get hit by it? He was so sure of it happening, body and mind so braced for the pain to come that when it never came, Tsuna was left confused. The more he focused on the strangely soothing rubbing, the more Tsuna started to relax and actually, slowly began enjoying it.

From their close proximity, with each deep breath Tsuna inhaled the foreign cologne Wadasa-san had. His cheeks pinked unknowingly when more of the strong scent passed his nostrils, smelling flowers and salty ocean. It was quite strange, but his eyes slipped closed on its own, allowing himself to be pulled into the warmth of Wadasa's arms around him. His heartbeat sped up as something fluttered in his chest. The gentle petting was calming. Only in that moment Tsuna realised how much he missed contact with people.

He became scared of the touching, yes, the abuse forced him to hate it, but he never forgot how his mother treated when he was a child.

For those past eleven years with no love, and contact with humans, he never wanted to be touched or acknowledged by the society again, afraid that his parents would lock him up in the house that used to be his secure home. But now Tsuna remembered how good it feels. His body wanted, yearned for some touch if only it was a mere little brush of fingers. It would be enough.

So Tsuna didn't care anymore when he completely slumped in Giotto's arms, resting against the firm body and surprising the blonde with that action. The teen pressed his cheek against the strong chest as Giotto smiled brightly at the unexpected response. For a second he glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

Lunchtime would end in a matter of few minutes. Giotto almost pouted at that fact. He wanted to stay like this a while longer, but his work was waiting for him and Tsunayoshi needed to attend his classes.

Giotto's gaze shifted back to the boy in the circle of his arms. "I hate to be the one that ruins this moment, but lunchbreak is almost over. I'm sure you're in a hurry, or are you not, Tsunayoshi-kun?"

Only after receiving a meek nod did Giotto remove his hands and step back to give the teen some personal space. Tsuna looked up at him with slightly puffy eyes and reddened cheeks, but that would go away after a while. Giotto knew that, and yet he couldn't stop the chuckle that forced its way out.

The boy was just too cute for words and Giotto only noticed it now. Actually, he wasn't very observant of people. He tried to look like he did, though.

(And the Italian tried hard to stay in denial about the few moments he recalled where he had called Tsunayoshi cute. Maybe even more than few...)

The blonde was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the tiny voice muttering to him, "I... I-I t-think... I-I will g-go now... G-Goodbye, W-Wadasa-san." Giotto only nodded to Tsuna, who headed to the door and shyly waved at him.

Giotto gave him a handsome smile as he waved back. That action resulted in Tsuna's face reddening as he pulled the door open before leaving the room in a hurry.

Giotto grinned amusedly. Really, he knew of his effect on ladies and such, but it was fun when he got to tease the brunet with such simple gesture. Sadly, neither of them got to eat lunch and Giotto didn't get more info about the brunet, but they hugged. That was something.

And it made Giotto suspiciously happy for some strange reason.

However... Giotto's eyes narrowed as his mind trailed back to what he witnessed. What could've made the brunet so scared of being touched? Bullying, bad relationship... trauma? Giotto rubbed his chin in thought.

He had to find out. Amber eyes looked outside the windows placed behind his desk, settled on the bandage on the brunet's neck as the teen ran across the pavement to the gym.

And he has to find out fast.

It had been already a whole week since the encounter in the office and Giotto had been stalking the brunet everywhere he went, well, whenever the blonde could and observed him from afar. Only in school however. Giotto de Vongola wasn't that much of a perverted stalker after all.

No, no. That sounded like some weird supernatural shit he would've found on the internet. Crazy people in hoods stalking you at night and an impossibly tall guy without a face kidnapping kids? Giotto had no idea what to think of that and decided to not cross that sort of stuff ever again.

Back to the topic – from what he has found so far, which were admittedly very little pieces from here and there, but they were just neough for Giotto to come to a painful conclusion.

Tsunayoshi was being bullied and that sort of treatment must had been going for a long time, even before Giotto travelled to Japan. His classmates treat him the worst, they laugh at him, trip him, steal his belonging and use horrible nicknames in his presence.

Giotto expected that since he is familiar with the ways of bullying, but he never would have thought that the teachers would almsot do the same thing as them. They didn't hurt him physically, but mentally the poor boy was tormented by them every single day with the bad names and sarcastic remarks from them. He wasn't sure about the weekends, but it was more than possible that they did that as well if they meet him somewhere.

But the way Tsunayoshi acted around them was the most heartbreaking thing he had ever seen. The teen allowed the world to bully him like that, he completely surrendered to the treatment that he didn't even care when he was pushed to the ground, or when they stole his lunch and clothes after gym class.

The entire school was bullying him, and Giotto wouldn't let that pass so easily. During the lunchbreak right on Monday, he stormed into Tsuna's classroom and requested to meet up in his office. Tsuna was really surprised to see him there, but promised he would be there after his classes end.

So hours later, Giotto was walking from side to side in his office as he thought of a plan how to help Tsunayoshi. Giotto knew he had to make Tsuna trust him because he knew what bullied children do to escape that sort of pain...

Suicide – they kill themselved one way or another, sooner or later.

Giotto sure as hell won't let Tsunayoshi do the same, but before doing anything else, he must create a string of trust between them and that proved to be a great problem. How should he confront Tsunayoshi without scaring him? Tsuna avoiding him was the last thing he wanted after all.

He can't force him to talk about that subject, the victims always dodge the questions and often get frustrated by them. The brunet must do it on his own free will, but Giotto knew he won't try that.

Stopping in the middle of the room abrutly, Giotto sighed, already feeling a slight headache creeping on him. He shifted his head towards his desk, eyeing the paperwork on which he should be working on.

After musing over it, Giotto continued aimlessly walking in circles out of frustration and desperation. He checked his watch, noting that it was ten to twelve o'clock. Good, so the fourth period would soon end.

The bell rang on cue and Giotto inhaled sharply, cursing under his nose as he rounded the desk.

Tsunayoshi should show up at any minute now, so he better come up with some idea before he would arrive. Giotto sat down in his leather chair, shuffling through the papers and organising them back to the folder they were in before Giotto had started reading through them.

Only after putting them in the last drawer of the desk did he interwine his hands under his chin, amber irises staring at the door as he waited.

Soft footsteps were slowly making they way down the hall, nearing his office until stopping completely. Brief silence followed, as if the person was hesitating.

Then, Click.

Brown spiky hair peeked inside, and not a minute later the teen moved his whole head in, looking up at Giotto sheepishly. Giotto smiled at him, thinking to himself that it was incredibly cute. His hand montioned for the teen to come in and the boy complied, opening the door wider before stepping inside.

Shutting it behind him, Tsuna's feet carried him to the seat placed in front of Giotto's desk and sat down shyly, aware of amber eyes watching his every move. Only after gathering enough courage did caramel eyes look up to meet Giotto's firm gaze, which promptly broke into a warm smile once he did.

"How was your day, Tsunayoshi-kun?" Giotto asked bluntly, trying to make Tsuna comfortable before he would question him. Tsuna blinked when he was asked that, surprised since teachers normally didn't ask that. He answered anyway though, nervously fisting his school pants. "Um... i-it... was g-good."

Giotto nodded, another thing that seemed strange to Tsuna now that he started observing him. Next question awoke true suspicion in Tsuna and his eyebrows arched a bit. "I have one question for you Tsunayoshi, but could you please answer it thrutfully?"

"Okay..." Tsuna nodded once and watched as Giotto stood up from his seat and walked in front of the desk to the sitting teen. He got on his knees and placed his hands on Tsuna's fisted ones, his eyes boring into the boy's who pinked quickly at the contact. His hands twitched at the unexpected contact.

"Tsunayoshi," Giotto started gently and Tsuna waited patiently, wondering what the teacher had in mind.

"...Are you being bullied?" The bomb was dropped before Giotto could stop himself. He realised a bit too late that it was a stupid idea to ask the boy that out of nowhere. Tsunayoshi's eyes widened and he paled a little too fast for Giotto's liking.

Golden eyebrows furrowed at the reaction and the blonde rubbed Tsuna's hands comfortingly, hoping anyway for an answer despite the fact he asked that so bluntly. At least the brunet didn't start shaking, that was a good sign.

Giotto was still rubbing Tsuna's hands, the silence not that worrying to him. Bulling is a touching subject after all and Giotto's eyes never left the brunet's pale face, showing he wanted to know. Showing him that he cared.

It took good five minutes for Tsuna to snap out of his shock and he looked off to the side, teeth bitting his lips and eyebrows furrowing. His hands clenched the fabric of his pants tigther as he fought with himself. The gaze of Wadasa's face strong on his mind.

W-What was he supposed to say? Lying was bad, but the truth... Tsuna felt sour taste in his mouth as he remembered the painful moments.

Tsuna's train of thoughts got cut off when he heard a gentle voice mutter to him, "I'm not forcing you to answer it. But I would like an honest answer if you do." The teen felt a warm hand placing on his cheek. It traced down from there to his chin and the boy shivered. Feather like fingers gently grabbed his chin, turning him to face Giotto.

Chocolate orbs mixed with honest amber as the blonde continued. "You have to understand I want to help you, Tsunayoshi. I really want to." Heat rushed to Tsuna's face when the blonde teacher smiled at him gently, the words echoing in his head.

"Please, Tsunayoshi?" Giotto tried again, leaning closer to the frozen teen, who's face resembled a red tomato already. The hand that was holding the teen's chin tilted his head upward and Giotto pressed his lips against the brunet's forehead. Tsuna had closed his eyes at that point, his red cheeks growing a shade darker when the tender kiss was placed there.

When the warm feeling disappeared, Tsuna opened his eyes and saw Giotto rubbing his fisted hands with a serene smile on his handsome features. His homeroom teacher was waiting for his answer. S-Should he tell him...? Tsuna wasn't sure.

However, when Giotto's warm hands easily unfisted his cold ones and the much larger hands then interwined with his small ones, Tsuna decided what was right to do.

He could entrust this man with his dark secrets.

Taking a deep breath to gather enough courage to voice his everyday pain out, Tsuna managed to reply to the blonde with a strained voice, a very soft, "Y-Yes...", slipping out.

Immediately, regret crawled into his heart, but when he saw the proud smile Giotto showed him for such a simple word, it melted away and changed into joy. Giotto's much larger hands squeezed his reassuringly, promising that it will stay only between the two of them as the amber irises stared into his earnestly.

"Is it okay with you if we conversed about this?" Giotto asked him with a gentle tone. Such treatment never existed in Tsuna's life, or he thought so at least. This man was showing him the exact opposite however, that not everything is black in life.

Tsuna was at loss of words at the strong tenderness being lavished upon him by the blond-haired man, and in such an easy way as well.

No one was ever kind to him. He had been looked down upon his whole life and suddenly, when this Italian man, living on the opposite side of world, arrived in Japan, to become a teacher at his school and turned out to be his homeroom teacher...

He smiled at him, helped him and even wiped his tears away after years of being ignored. That became a great shock for the brunet, his breath getting stuck in his throat when a heavenly thought entered his mind.

I want to stay with this man...

However, as much as Tsuna could wish for that to happen, at the same time he knew that this kind of dream could never be fulfilled and so, depression dawned on the boy, his eyes slipping closed as his eyebrows furrowed in despair. Giotto frowned at the sight, squeezing the smaller hands again to soothe him. I'm here for you... the gesture told the teen.

Tsuna didn't notice it, his head lowering down.

I can't get what I want.

Something dripped on Giotto's hand and from further examination, he realised it was a tear. Frowning again, Giotto hunched down to catch the smaller teen's gaze, only to find crystal-clear tears slidding down other's flushed cheeks once more.

Giotto's eyebrows furrowed in worry, thinking he upsetted the brunet by asking personal questions and released a hand to wipe the tears away. His palm settled gently on the pale cheek, his thumb continuing to clear the water out of other's eyes.

Tsuna seemed to be confused by the touch, his hazel eyes opening to meet the sunset ones. Giotto smiled at him gently once he did, and more tears fell from his eyes.

"Tsunayoshi... did I say something that had upsetted you?" The teacher asked. He really hoped he wasn't the reason of the boy's tears. He sighed in relief when Tsuna shook his head once, sobbing out a soft "No,".

"Then, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing..." Tsuna whimpered out, rubbing the tears away as well. "Let's... l-let's talk a-about it..."

Giotto smiled and ruffled other's hair softly. "Alright, but Tsunayoshi?" He called for his attention first, then asked next. "Do your parents know about the bullying?"

Giotto's stomach flipped when Tsuna's face blued, caramel pupils widening in fear before they darted to the side. Away from him.

Last time that happened he...

Giotto would never forget the panic attack the brunet had when he'd asked him about the bandage on his neck. That memory haunted him – how terrified the brunet looked when that question was put, how hysterically he had cried.

To prevent that from happening again, Giotto grabbed both of other's shoulders and squeezed lightly. "Tsunayoshi, didn't you tell your parents...? Just shake your head if you didn't." He asked of him, but the brunet didn't make any sort of movement.

Giotto's eyes narrowed. He couldn't stop now, despite not wanting to hurt the boy, but he was so close to knowing the truth!

And so he continued with new born determination. "Tsunayoshi, is something between you and your parents? Or do your parents have problems?" Silence was his answer, but the teen at least lowered his head down to his chest. A reaction.

Giotto could tell Tsuna didn't want to talk, but he wanted to help him. So badly, he didn't give a second thought of stopping until Tsuna would tell him.

He must know the reason behind all of the teen's everyday injuries and with split decision in mind, Giotto pulled the idle brunet to his chest. The boy tensed at first, then started to shake. Before long, Giotto could feel his shirt getting wet as well.

It was hard for Tsuna to stop crying, it seemed. Giotto pitied the boy, his hand rubbing small circles into the back to calm him down. The teen was shaking uncontrollably as he cried, clinging to the older man as if his life depended on it.

Giotto closed his eyes as he tightened his embrace, only hearing the loud sobs and whimpers in the room. Tsunayoshi must had held all of his sadness in for a long time. It was better to let it all out there than later.

During some time they hugged, Giotto had buried his nose into the soft fluffy locks and smiled as the sweet scent of vanilla and oranges hit his nostrils. A strange choose of shampoo for a boy, but Giotto couldn't find a reason why would he hate it.

He got so lost in it, he didn't even notice when Tsuna's crying muted down. The brunet felt so sad when the teacher questioned him and he couldn't understand why.

Why did he break down so easily in front of the blonde? Tsuna did bottle up all of the pain his parents and bullies caused him, but never broke down before anyone.

When Giotto hugged him though, held him tightly against his larger frame, he wanted to do nothing else but cry his whole heart out to the entire world, so he would be noticed, so his voice would be finally heard.

Wadasa-san gave him exactly that. Attention.

The brunet burried his face further into the man's chest as he desperately clung to him like a leech. He wanted to laugh how ridiculous he was. He believed he was afraid of being touched, but when Giotto got to hold him, he finally felt at ease. He didn't flinch anymore in his presence.

Like he was being protected from everything bad in this sick world. Touch became an addiction to him now that he had gotten to feel it again. Tsuna hiccuped, feeling a hand rubbing the back of his head. It felt so nice.

Half an hour later, Tsuna completely quieted down, eyes closed with his cheek pressed against the blond's shoulder as he was rocked lightly. Giotto exhaled in relief, then smiled at the brunet nestled against him.

He opened his mouth to ask a question he wanted an answer for so badly, knowing this time Tsuna won't refuse to talk, but got beaten to it.

"T-They..." The boy started shakily, as if it was a banned word from the country, which when said could get you killed, "...h-hate... me..." He gulped out.

Giotto's eyes widened promptly, only one conclusion coming to his mind from hearing that.

"Tsunayoshi..." Giotto started seriously, pulling brunet back to look straight into his puffy red eyes.

"Are your parents... abusing you?"