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Before he had decided to confine himself into the kitchen, Tsuna and his mother had chatted the whole way back to their apartment, and had continued doing so till one in the afternoon. Tsuna had tried to drag Renato into their conversation too, with enthusiasm that rivaled a five-year-old high on sugar, asking him questions, telling him stuff Renato had tried his best to ignore, asking him questions yet again and generally grating on his nerves. Renato had glared.

Over and over again.

Of course, that hadn't really stopped Tsuna in any manner or form.

No matter how much Renato had glared and snapped back rude remarks in form of answers, the man had simply… well, smiled and looked thoroughly amused and mind bogglingly delighted; Renato had wondered how boring the man's life had been since, apparently, he got kicks from tormenting and irritating twelve year olds.

"Sicilian chicken breast with zucchini," Tsuna said grandly, arriving from the kitchen with a flourish, placing the self-made food on the table.

Renato tried to ignore the wonderful smell. He also tried to ignore how his mouth began watering just at the sight of the food.

"Told you I won't feed you guys charcoal," Tsuna reminded, grinning, as he, feigning a gentleman Renato was sure he was not, started serving them.

"Well, dig in," Tsuna said as he took a seat beside Renato.

Renato shifted away from Tsuna. Tsuna shifted closer, seemingly casually, eyes crinkling with delight. Renato shifted further away, and Tsuna dutifully followed till Renato was at the corner of the table; any further, and he would be hanging precariously from the table.

Renato glared and Tsuna simply raised a brow, feigning innocence.

"Oh my, this is wonderful!" Fulvia exclaimed, swallowing.

Renato did not need to look at her twice to know that she had said that not due to some adult obligation to prevent herself from looking rude.

"Thank you. I might've undercooked it a little, though. I've not cooked for a pretty long time," Tsuna said modestly.

"Of course not! This is perfect. Did someone teach you how to cook?"

"Yep. Four people, actually, including my mother. The other three are friends of mine."

His mother's eyes caught his. She looked at him. Tsuna paused and looked at him, too. It took Renato a moment to realize that they were waiting for him to put the stuff on the plate into his mouth. He had to hide a grimace. But then his mother continued looking at him like that, expectant and eager, like she always did whenever something excited her, and Renato was sure that he would feel like an asshole if he did try to be an asshole.

Tentatively he scooped up a morsel and bit onto it.

It was the most wonderful thing he had ever had.

His expression must have been a dead giveaway, because when he chanced a glance at Tsuna, the man was evidently trying to suppress a snicker.

He swallowed slowly and said, "It's okay."

Fulvia frowned lightly at the lack of a better response, but was soon dragged into a conversation by Tsuna.

Again.

Tsuna refused to leave even after lunch. Renato hinted to the other that he might just kick Tsuna out, but either the man was too dense to take a hint or he was doing it purposefully. Renato had a feeling that it was the latter more than the former, bawling his fists.

Tsuna ended up making desserts for them after lunch. And then he ended up making dinner, too, with his mother, all the while talking and still inquiring about Renato's personal life.

"You go to school, right?"

"Well, duh, genius."

"Which school?"

"Won't tell you because I am sure that you will stalk me."

"What's your favourite colour?"

"How does it matter to you?"

"You read books?"

"I won't reply to that because, apparently, you're blind and can't see what I am doing right now."

"How was the dessert?"

"Sweet. Will you stop bothering me now?"

And so on and so forth.

Of course, Tsuna did not stop bothering him. Of course he didn't, which was why when Tsuna finally left, Renato was more than a bit tired.

"I'm a bit disappointed in you, Renato," his mother scolded him lightly, "Tsuna was being so nice to you."

"But, mum, he was bothering—"

"He was being polite, Renato," Fulvia corrected, "He is elder to you; you should be more polite to him."

Renato bristled, not because he was angry at her, but because of how Renato was suddenly the evil guy. It wasn't fair.

"He was smiling," Renato pointed out, not mentioning how much the smile freaked him out.

Fulvia breathed out, "Just be nice to him, okay, Renato?" she asked gently, sounding a bit desperate, "For my sake, please?"

For my sake.

Renato looked into his mother's eyes and thought. He understood why she was being so desperate. She just wanted to have a friend, someone she could talk to, someone she could share her thoughts with, someone who was an adult. Even though Tsuna was perhaps fifteen years younger than her, he seemed so accepting; it was ridiculous. But still.

He had known Tsuna for only two days, and the man's persistence was downright frustrating.

But Renato had always been horrible at lying, so he shook his head, as a manner of a reply.


The second meeting hadn't been the end, apparently.

He appeared the next day, claiming that he had 'accidentally' taken a spoon belonging to them while leaving, and that he wanted to return it back. He returned it back to them, with a sheepish apology, and then proceeded to leave, only to be stopped by Fulvia:

"Since you are already here, why don't you stay for a while?"

Tsuna protested, eyes genuine, insisting that he did not want to keep them or bother them.

"No, no!" Fulvia seemed almost aghast at Tsuna's thought, "You are definitely not a bother to us! You can stay for a while. I insist."

'A while' became an hour. Then two. And then thirteen.

By the end, Renato wanted to hit his head repeatedly against the wall.

After that, Tsuna's presence in their apartment became nothing out of the ordinary. He talked a lot, told them tales which almost sounded like something out of a book; if it weren't for how he allowed Fulvia to speak most of the time, Renato would have started suspecting that the man's narcissism knew no bounds, and that he simply enjoyed listening to his own voice.

He started cooking for them, too, creating lavish dishes with ease and expertise. He also took it into himself to teach Fulvia how to cook up more dishes with the simplest of ingredients, and by the end of week two, his mother and Tsuna had started cooking side by side, the former's eyes brighter than Renato had ever seen them to be, and the latter's smile ever present, a—Renato felt—misleadingly polite expression.

He annoyed Renato still, though; the way he had just appeared out if nowhere and captured his mother's attention as if it was no big deal irritated him. The way he still tended to question Renato about his life, smirking lightly whenever Renato never took it upon himself to resist the need to snarl.

He was so goddamn persistent.

"He's so talented!" Fulvia exclaimed on the ninth day since Tsuna had wormed his way into their lives, "And he knows so many languages, too!"

Renato had a mild feeling that she was bragging the way a mother tends to brag about her child, and a part of Renato was ashamed to admit that jealousy was what he was feeling currently. Granted, the man was ten years elder to him, but still

Renato had never seen his mother smiling so brightly before.

Renato breathed out lightly.

Really, at this point, he wasn't sure whether to be grateful or ungrateful.


Renato eyed the four surrounding him, his expression blank. It was a mask, a façade he was exceptionally good at creating. He took light pride in that fact, and it relieved him a great deal—masks prevented others from understanding what he felt.

Still, façade aside, he couldn't help but sneer at the bullies. It wasn't one of the most intelligent actions he had done, testified by the fact how one of them immediately kneed his stomach. Renato gasped, but managed to not scream in pain. There was no blood beading from his skin—something he was thankful for since his mother's questioning and worried gazes bothered Renato—and the strength behind the attrition was nowhere near to what he had to go through sometimes.

It still didn't prevent him from falling on his knees, though.

"Heh, will you look at that?" one of the bullies sneered, "All it takes is that to shut you up."

Renato did not reply. He remained curled up into a ball, even though pride was dictating him to lash out, to tell them fuck off, but he had learned that responses only instigated bullies.

"Che, he's so pathetic. Leave him be."

There was one last kick to his gut—Renato had to bite his tongue—before they left. Finally. Renato uncurled and breathed out, standing up shakily. The clothes he had worn to school were dirty, he noticed, grimacing, and planning to chuck it away wasn't a wise thing to do.

"Guess I have to tell mum I tripped over something. Or something," he sighed, picking up his bag, "This sucks."

He stayed hidden in the alley for a while, making sure that the group of seniors were nowhere nearby. Finally, he walked out of the alley, hissing when every movement brought a wave of pain along with it. He turned around a corner, tripped onto something, and fell face first on the ground.

"Ah, Renato!"

Renato stiffened.

'You've got to be kidding me! Why now?!'

Renato extracted himself from the ground slowly, and glanced at Tsuna impassively.

He nodded, "Hey."

And then he noticed the snake and created a distance of six feet in between them, backing away in thin-veiled horror. Tsuna, from his position on the freaking ground, stood up slowly, raising an eyebrow. The yellow snake was still being cradled by the man.

"What's wrong?" Tsuna asked, bewildered.

"A snake," Renato sputtered, "You have a snake clinging to you!"

Tsuna tilted his head to one side, "Yeah, I do. So?"

"I don't like snakes!"

"Why? They're harmless."

"They're poisonous!"

"Of course this one is not," he paused, "I think. Anyway, this is Snakey. I picked him up today."

"You picked him up? And 'Snakey'? That's so lame."

"Unoriginal, I agree," Tsuna laughed, "But he just started clinging to me."

"…"

"Renato?"

"Don't come near me!" Renato hissed. His rib throbbed, and he reflexively clutched it, "OW!"

It was then, it seemed, that Tsuna noticed his battered state. There was this short moment where Tsuna became unnervingly silent, staring, and Renato tried his best not to squirm. His eyes weren't natural.

"You're bullied," Tsuna stated slowly.

"I am not!" Renato defended.

"Why don't you tell someone?" Tsuna asked calmly.

"I am not bullied!" Renato yelled, vaguely glad that there was no one in their vicinity. Tsuna's eyes were still on him, and there was this look in his eyes, as if he knew something about him, something that Renato, himself, was unaware of and it pissed the twelve year old even more. He clenched his fingers and stared right back.

"Renato," Tsuna whispered, his voice oddly soothing.

Renato squirmed in discomfort, staring at his feet. He did not know why though—maybe it was because of how the setting sun made the man's eyes appear to be so… vulnerable. In pain.

And that didn't make any sense.

"Don't you dare tell mum," Renato said through gritted teeth, feeling his eyes prickling and burning oddly, "Don't ever tell her."

"Why?" Tsuna asked softly.

"Because…" Renato swallowed, "Because she has enough to worry about, okay? I don't want to bother her anymore and… just, don't, okay? Please?"

Renato did not look up to see the man's face, and so when Tsuna said, "Fair enough," Renato couldn't tell whether he meant it.


Renato yawned, blearily opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling above, stretching himself and yawning yet again. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up languidly, planting his feet tiredly on the floor unsteadily. He shuffled to the bathroom, running a weary hand through his hair.

Two days, Renato registered, brushing his teeth and getting ready to take a much needed shower.

Two days since the measly incident between him and Tsuna, and Renato did not need to be particularly intelligent to know that the lack of the man's presence in their lives was bothering Fulvia. Even Renato felt a bit bothered—only because his mother had become a bit withdrawn—by the man's disappearance; that in itself was a testament as to how quickly the man had started affecting them.

Given that his mother had not started asking him awkward questions, Renato concluded that Tsuna had stuck to his words and not told her anything about him being bullied.

'But,' Renato mused, turning the shower on, 'that sort of 'bullying' is nothing.'

He emerged, fresh, from the bathroom twenty minutes later, only to hear voices. Two voices, in fact, and both of them he recognized.

Dashing to living room, Renato cursed under his breath once his eyes fell on a familiar brunette chatting with Fuvia happily.

"Ah, Renato. Good morning!" Fulvia said, smiling brightly, "I've been talking to Tsuna, and he has agreed to be your tutor!"

Renato stared at her. Then at Tsuna. Who was smirking.

"He's going to be my what?!"


Uh, not very proud of this chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed!

I figured that I should probably mention this from before hand- the whole bullying thing is NOT the reason why Renato's the way he is. There is something more, which will be revealed in the later chapters.

Please leave a review on your way out because reviews= motivation= faster updates!

Thank you!