Forcing You – D27

4.

Late Saturday morning arrived a little too fast for Tsuna's liking. He woke up at about eleven. He completed his morning routine groggily and walked downstairs to meet his mother, who was cleaning up some plates. Tsuna noticed that Reborn and Dino were missing. Lambo was sitting lazily on the couch, watching some show for kids.

"Good morning, Tsu-kun," Nana greeted. "Do you want to eat something?"

As he wasn't hungry, he shook his head. He wanted to ask where Dino had gone. Tsuna sat down on the couch next to Lambo, who was picking his nose.

"Can I ask you to watch the house with Lambo and I-Pin?" Nana asked as soon as he was seated. "I'd like to go out for a few hours. The kids will feel safer with you around. Dino-kun will be back soon as well. As for Reborn, I don't know."

"Sure, but where are you going?"

"Don't tell Papa, but there's a big sale until midnight tonight. I'm leaving town for a while just to get the biggest bargains of my life!" she put her index finger to her mouth, indicating that he had to keep a secret.

"I thought you went out to buy groceries yesterday already…" Tsuna wasn't particularly interested in talking to her. He was still feeling sleepy.

"But Dino-kun is staying over for longer so I have to stock up!" She took her apron off. "I'll be leaving in about half an hour. I'm counting on you!" The comment woke him up.

She waltzed off happily, leaving Tsuna and Lambo in front of the television. "Don't tell Papa?" Yeah, he laughed inside, I'll definitely tell dad. He hadn't seen his father for a long time. He had been raised by his mother. She said that he was a wonderful man who was in a faraway country to earn money for his family. "What a romantic notion," she swooned. There wasn't much of a father in Tsuna's life. He couldn't respect his own father. What kind of father didn't spend time with his wife and son? He had been gone under another pretext, of course. But the boy didn't know.

He had tried to fill the gap with Reborn, but he was far from a fatherly figure. Reborn was definitely overpowering and took the part of the sadistic tutor well. He established his superiority and never spent any time with Tsuna outside of training. The two were reasonably close, but he couldn't close the void. He just wasn't paternal enough, and probably would never be, seeing as he was a hitman and all. And then there was Dino.

Was Tsuna trying to replace his father, whom he had almost never met, with Dino? Reborn was off the list of candidates. The blonde man was older, but childish. Tsuna just couldn't see him as his father. He was more of a brother. A brother who wasn't related by blood. A brother who he had grown to love more than anything. Had he missed a step? Tsuna rewound back to his confession, and tried to go further back. He had no idea when he had grown so fond of the man. He just knew that he was special to him, and that he desired him greatly. Maybe he was trying to seal the emptiness he felt with an impossible love.

Tsuna was staring emptily at the television screen when Lambo handed him the remote suddenly.

"Where are you going?" The absent-minded boy asked, surprised.

"To the toilet?"

"Oh," Tsuna zapped through the channels. "Want the T.V. back afterwards?"

"Lambo-san is going to play with I-Pin upstairs."

"I thought she hated you."

"Well I'll make her like me!"

"Don't blow anything up, and don't use the ten-year bazooka!" Tsuna turned around and shouted after the child in the cow outfit.

Where was I-Pin anyway? He hadn't seen her the entire day. No matter. A show caught his eye. He raised the volume and watched it for a good couple of minutes. His back was slouched, he was bored. Commercials came on and interrupted the program. Would it be a good idea to invite his friends, Yamamoto and Gokudera, over? He wondered.

"Tsu-kun, I'm leaving!"

"'Kay. Have you seen I-Pin?" He heard an explosion.

"I thought that she was playing with Lambo. Will you go check?" Nana seemed worried.

Tsuna walked up casually to the second floor and saw Lambo, sprawled on his stomach, playing with some building blocks alone. There seemed to be no other sign of life, much less of I-Pin. There was a singed spot on the carpet behind Lambo.

"Where's I-Pin?"

"She tried to attack me with her time bomb and then she went boom!" Lambo kept his eyes on the blocks.

"W-where did she go?"

"Through the window. Maybe to the park." The child rolled onto his back. "I'm so bored."

Tsuna didn't hear the rest of what he said because he had already run outside.

The brunette had sped past his mother and headed straight to the park. He looked around for the braided girl. Where could she have gone? Tsuna walked around for a while around the block. Seated on a bench under a tree, he spotted the fifteen-year-old I-Pin. He went over to her and sat next to her. She looked pretty confused.

"Are you okay? The bazooka's effect will wear off soon." I-Pin recognized the speaker right away.

"Where am I? You look younger."

"Lambo hit you with the ten-year bazooka again. You should be back to normal in a couple of minutes."

"Oh. Okay." She seemed pretty calm about it and stayed seated next to Tsuna quietly.

"Did you get hurt anywhere? We should go home or my mom will worry."

"Oh no, I didn't. Let's go then."

I-Pin was a nice girl. Very studious but strong. That was all Tsuna knew about her future self anyway, and at least, she spoke Japanese. She obediently walked beside him and they were silent throughout the whole way back.

Dino was finished with his business. It was with none other than Reborn. They had continued discussing the topic from the previous evening. Dino had dragged Reborn out of the house and had talked with him in a café nearby so they wouldn't disturb Nana, the kids, and more importantly, Tsuna. He didn't mention the incident with Tsuna, and Reborn knew that he had something to hide.

Once Reborn was slightly convinced, they parted ways. Dino knew that Reborn wasn't satisfied with the half-assed explanation that sounded like a sad excuse. If he found out about it, there would have to be a pretty damned good reason to spare Dino's life. He could not tell what would happen to him if he found out that the tenth Vongola boss was probably gay. He had to continue the family line. Reborn had practically just looked after him so that he succeeded the Ninth. Okay, maybe not, Dino thought, but still. There was no other reason for Reborn to enter Tsuna's life otherwise. And Dino would never have met the boy if it wasn't for Reborn.

Dino finished his coffee. It was cold already and tasted rather bland. The situation had not made it any better. He paid for it and walked back home. He was told to watch the house and the children. He complied, being good-natured, and he owed Nana for freeloading.

Dino watched as his precious little brother sat facing an unknown girl. He could not see her face, but Tsuna's was concerned. He observed as they conversed briefly and walked together in direction of Tsuna's house. His heart was pounding. He couldn't tell whether he was happy or upset. Tsuna was getting along with a girl his age. Wasn't that what he wanted? Dino wasn't exactly jumping for joy. He frowned, waited a while, and decided to walk home.

He was pacing up and down in front of the entrance of the house, wondering whether it would be appropriate to enter. Would he be interrupting something? He rang the doorbell.

"Oh, Dino-san, you're back." Tsuna said.

"Yeah, I'm back." He smiled awkwardly. Tsuna looked indifferent.

Hm, didn't know whether to use the lines to split the parts up or not. Enjoy today's update~