This is technically the end of his arc, but there's one more chapter after this to wrap up a loose string. Everybody, please give your thoughts and prayers to the unfortunate Gokudera Hayato.

The Gokudera Arc Chapters are thus named:

3. Gokudera Hayato

4. I Can Do This.

5. I can't do this.

6. YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE

7. Gokudera Hayato Does Not Need a Maid

As expected, all of these title names (with the exception of the first) are from his perspective.

Edit 5/25/2019: Cleaned up grammar, typos, and clarified a few sentences (nothing's really changed, just the rhythm of the words). Put a little more description in Gokudera's reaction-when he ran back to his apartment and when he realized a little more of his true value in the eyes of others. He cried. I was practicing something.

Edit 6/8/19: Corrected some punctuation regarding chapter titles on the list above. Grouped some sentences together because I have a nasty habit of separating my lines the way I would my ideas. Added a bit and removed a bit. For the new parts, all you have to know is that Gokudera thinks his crying is stupid and has no idea why he's crying. Ieyasu has blue sneakers. That's the new information.


Chapter 7: Gokudera Hayato Does Not Need a Maid!

Hayato sat cross legged before the two kneeling miscreants in his apartment. His eyes were closed as he attempted to put together this bizarre situation. Earlier today…well, he didn't want to think about earlier today. What he needed to think about was why this was occurring.

"So let me get this straight. You're adopted." Sawada Ieyasu nodded. "And you're not." Sawada Tsunayoshi shook his head.

"I am. I'm from the Main Family. Ieyasu and I aren't related so, uh, rest assured. It's definitely not incest." As Tsuna hastily tried to explain his actions, his bride groaned in annoyance. "What you caught us doing earlier definitely wasn't isn't incest…"

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Ie said as he looked away from them both. His ears were bright red, bright enough to glow in the dark.

"Yes…I second that." Hayato said awkwardly as he too averted his eyes. Without speaking, they'd both agreed to look the other way and pretend this didn't happen.

"No!" Tsuna slammed his fist down on the table. "I'll be embarrassed!"

So basically…this is just for you, is that it?


It all started out fairly innocently. As Ieyasu now had to serve the winner of their battle, he gleefully changed into the cute little maid costume of his cosplaying dreams. Like any smart human being, he left before Tsuna could even wake up.

It was a sunny Sunday morning when Hayato opened the door to find two maids and their service cart standing outside of his door. One was the easily recognizable Ieyasu, but the other was entirely unfamiliar. He wrinkled his brow and glared down at the stranger.

"Who are you?" He growled. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Ie-kun's maid teacher. My name is Rebekko." The stranger said in a high-pitched voice. She was a beautiful, but stern looking maid with brunette hair neatly pulled into a bun. Her outfit was significantly less frilly than Ieyasu's, with a longer skirt to match its serious aura.

Hayato put her age down to be about mid twenties to early thirties. There was a certain nasal pitch to it that was familiar to these Japanese suburbs. A local, then. A Maid Instructor sounded ridiculous, but she really did look like the kind of maid you'd expect to be a maid instructor. He let them both in. They ooh'ed and ahh'ed over his tiny apartment, tsked at all the unpacked boxes he had shipped over, and loudly critiqued his taste in shoes.

"Are you done now?" He asked with an impatient tap of his feet.

"No!" The soon to be Vongola Decimo replied. Ieyasu put his hands on his hips with his slender legs spread out into an assertive stance. Hayato looked away. That skirt was way too short to be considered decent. It really did look like a cutsey custom maid cosplay tailored to fit. Noticing his gaze, Rebekko added proudly that their dresses were made out of "top-notch material as only the best will do". Even maids could be like this, apparently.

"And it never gets dirty!" The blond boy added brightly, "no matter how many faces you kick in or how many times you tackle somebody and roll around in the dusty, the dirt and blood just comes clean off in the wash! Ah, but we do have to send it in for dry cleaning though and the dry cleaning guy always looks at Mom weird whenever that happens."

Hayato didn't want to know. He wanted them to get out, but he was too afraid to say so. From the way the Decimo picked up his heaviest boxes and moved them around, that pretty boy could probably break him like a toothpick. It stung Hayato's pride to admit it, but if Decimo hadn't been on drugs during their fight, he probably would've won.

"...do you need help cleaning?" He finally asked.

Decimo refused as "I'm a professional maid now with certification and everything" and a screenshot to prove it. Hayato gave up and let him and Rebekko get to it while he turned around and made lunch. When he finished, the room had become sparkling clean. Cleaner than when he'd first rented it, even.

"Wow your room's pretty cool. I like all the alien and witchcraft stuff. I've been learning some witchy stuff on the side too. Want to see my tarot cards?"

Rebekko ignored the occult talk around her as she enjoyed Hayato's homemade lunch. "Ieyasu-kun should learn from Gokudera-kun," she said in a prim voice.

Even with these cheap ingredients, it was clear that out of all his family, all of the cooking ability had gone to him. With luck, Ieyasu might pick something up and make some decent Italian for a change. Reborn was sick of Japanese food. The woes of moving to a different country with different cuisine; no matter how used you were to jet setting around the world, you still missed the food of your home country.

Hayato bowed his head humbly. See? He was learning to adjust to this new foreign land after all. As Reborn thought, this kid was good at being flexible. The Sawada Boys' weirdness wouldn't bother him too much, not when he was used to Shamal and Bianchi.

"Yeah," Ieyasu said with an eager nod of the head. "I need to learn how to be a decent bride for Tsuna."

Hayato choked on his juice. Was this the stereotypical anime style 'I love big brother so much I want to be his bride?' in action? Uncertain of what to say, he switched the topic.

'Big Brother' joined them later and together, the three boys unpacked most of Hayato's things. Rebekko opted out, saying that "the master must watch the students now ohoho". As expected, that was when everything went downhill.

Hayato didn't care about that, though. What he cared about was that despite Ieyasu being so helpful this morning, the minute Tsuna came, it was like his brains dribbled out of his ears. Hayato ended up being the one to do the rest of the cleaning instead.

That wasn't what got those two caught, of course.

What got those two caught was this:

"You're so cute in this costume Ie…" Tsuna murmured huskily in Ieyasu's ear as his hot hands fiddled with the garter on that slim yet powerful leg. It'd taken him some effort to pull his sweet fiance away from his work and towards the bathroom. Claiming he wasn't sure how to get out this mildew stain was as effective as he'd planned.

"Let go-" Ieyasu hissed "-you can't do this in other people's bathrooms. It's-" he let out a whimper as the older boy's hand dragged up and down his inner thigh "-we're too young! No!" He slapped Tsuna's hand away. Tsuna pouted as he cradled his reddened hand. That hurt.

"You can't do this kind of stuff in other people's bathrooms! It's. not. decent." The blond maid spat as he increased the space between them. Tsuna wanted to play sexually harassing mafia boss and slutty maid and he was ok with that, but not when he was in somebody else's apartment and most certainly not while he was working. He had standards.

"And I'm working! I have to be professional! Reborn says-"

"Reborn doesn't know everything-" Tsuna breathed as he pressed his mouth against his. Tsuna's breath was warm, smelling a little too strongly of peppermint. Ieyasu rolled his eyes and shoved him away. The other reared back, hurt. Or at least, pretending to. It'd been a long time since the blond had believed that. The fucking pervert. You give him even a little and he'll take the whole damn blanket.

"Why are you showing moral fiber now, Ie? Can't you wait until it's something else, like I dunno, bullying other people?"

"They were bullying you," Ieyasu snapped as he readjusted his uniform. A pout appeared on his face when he realized just how ruined it'd become in their struggle for…dominance. "It's different! In my family, it's tradition to bully the bullies bullying your family. Your hand-" he slapped Tsuna's hand away from his skirt. It was like there was some sort of covalent bond between his skirt and that mischievous hand. Annoying! "-get your pervy hand away-" slap "-stoooppp we're gonna get caught. This is against-" kicking out with his leg "-MY MORALS!"

"HIIIIEEEEE!"

There was a dull thud as Tsuna fell back. A crack from when he tumbled into the tub and hit his head against the tiles. A splash from when Ieyasu over corrected himself and accidentally stepped into the toilet water. With a snort, the latter pulled his foot out and tauntingly splashed the dirty water over the still dazzled Tsuna.

There was a brief moment of silence as the unfortunate brunet tried to process what just happened. Upon realizing he was now covered with dirty toilet water, the other began to scream.

"Stop being such a baby. It's not like you haven't been in worse."

"THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW! THIS IS DISGUSTING! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?"

"DON'T BE A DAMN PERVERT NEXT TIME YOU ASSHOLE!"

From the other side of the door, Hayato averted his eyes and pretended he hadn't heard the entire thing through his apartment's paper-thin walls. The sanctity of his bathroom had been despoiled as easily as Ieyasu in his cute maid outfit. As usual, Sawada Tsunayoshi was hard to deal with.

"I'm never using that place again. There's a nearby bathhouse and as for the toilet…the neighbors can deal."

Rebekko smacked him with her feather duster, the slave driver. "Get back to work, Mister! I'm not the best Maid Tutor in the World for nothing!" She scolded in her high pitched voice.

"Yes, yes, Maid-sama."

Why was he the one cleaning now? That was the biggest issue Hayato had with this entire situation, not whatever the hell those two were getting up to. Yet Tsuna, upon realizing what had happened- that everybody else overheard him, his wailing, and his cute sweetheart's sexy moans -felt so self conscious he had to inflict even more mortification upon everybody else. Look, at this point, both Italians were ready to pretend this thing never happened. It wasn't as if Hayato didn't expect it. He knew a pervert when he saw one.


"Anyways," that pervert Sawada Tsunayoshi said as he pulled back with a cough, "we're not related so it's definitely not incestuous or anything, no matter what certain parties say. They're willfully misunderstanding and I won't-"

"Can we move on now?" Ieyasu said with a cross of his arms. There was a dirty look on his face, as if he'd been forced to look at a bloated corpse that he now had to get rid of. Hayato would know. It'd happen to him many times before.

"No! I have to explain it clearly since everybody keeps misunderstanding! They keep insisting that we're related and that our love cannot exist, but it's a trick! It's so they can keep my adorable-" Ieyasu smashed his head into the table.

"You can go now, Hayato." He said loudly as Tsuna began to flail.

Hayato knocked his head against the ground. "Many thanks for your mercy, Decimo!" It was all genuine. Everything he said to this guy was genuine. Despite his crazy, the Vongola Heir was a merciful person after all.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm awesome. Now go before we both suffer."

"Yes! Yes! Thank you!" Another low bow.

"Ugh. Just go already."

Hayato gladly and gratefully fled. Then he realized after about half an hour later that that was his apartment. He'd left them in his apartment. Once the realization hit, blood drained out of his face. He'd just left two horny teenagers in his apartment. Not only that, but he'd left a pervert with his potential boss. His potential boss who was dressed in a maid outfit.

He sprinted back to his apartment. With his heart pounding and his mind running with anxious 'what if's' and 'what the hell am I gonna do's', he slammed open the door. Ieyasu looked up. He'd already changed out of his maid costume into a pair of jeans and was vacuuming the floor as his head bopped up and down to the music blaring from his phone.

As for that pervert, he was tied up, gagged, and then thrown to the corner to rot.

"You didn't…you didn't…oh thank God." Hayato collapsed on the ground in gratitude.

Decimo shrugged. "He wasn't helping. Since I'm your subordinate right now, I have to do a good job."

Tsuna sat up at alert, mumbling something through his gag. The blond cold-heartedly kicked him to the side. "If you're not going to make yourself useful, then don't bother, Useless Tsuna." He made a rude hand gesture when the other made protesting noises.

"Where…where are you from? That's something Europeans do."

"Huh? I'm from Italy, but I've traveled through other countries in the EU and stayed in a few for a while."

Hayato felt lied to. He felt betrayed. Decimo wasn't even Japanese? Then what was HE here for? Any of those random Italian guys could've bonded with the new boss over a shared culture!

"Why am I even here if you're not even Japanese? I'm-" he faltered at the sudden attention heaped upon his shoulders "-my quarter Japanese blood. My mom was half, although she was adopted and-"

Reborn cut him off with a drop-kick. "Don't be stupid, Gokudera Hayato. Obviously I chose you because you were qualified."

The relief hit Hayato more surely than the ocean's waves. Ashamed at the tears, yet having no way to dam them back up again, he knelt on the ground and watched as the tears fell and fell and fell. A hot wave of shame hit him at crying so openly, but there was nothing he could do save hide his tears and hope nobody spoke of it. It was stupid. There was no reason to, yet why was he crying with such heavy tears?

When Hayato began to cry, Ieyasu handed him a handkerchief and returned to his vacuum. He did not laugh at him nor did he ever bring it up again. If there was a certain softness in his eyes later, then it was one that was unremarked upon.

It was another small kindness Hayato experienced; the handkerchief and tactfulness that followed. Even years later, he would remember it as the moment his heart began to change. He would keep the handkerchief amongst his most prized possessions and there it would remain, even long after his death.


"By the way...where's Rebekko-sama?" Hayato finally asked after an hour of peaceful cleaning had passed. Rebekko-sama was Rebekko-sama because she was scarier than anybody he'd ever met in his entire life.

"Oh," Reborn said airily, "she had somewhere she had to be so I took her place."

"What happened…?" Did you murder her?

"Only I can tutor Psycho Ie. Besides that...I still haven't disciplined you properly for calling me that disrespectful name, Gokudera Hayato. Signore Shithead, was it?" There was a flicker of amusement in Reborn's black eyes as he watched the other immediately move into a dogeza.

"...please have mercy on me, Reborn-sama."

There was the sound of a dying vacuum engine as a dark shadow fell over the bowing figure. Sawada Ieyasu's blue sneakers came into view.

"You've got a lot of guts, Hayato Gokudera." Hayato looked up. There was a mischievous grin on the other boy's face. "Signore Shithead indeed. I like that in a person."

He stretched out his hand. Hayato took it.


EXTRA SCENE:

This was a question Hayato finally managed to ask during lunch break. He and Decimo were sitting across from one another, sharing Decimo's desk and ignoring the huddled group of admirers watching from outside the classroom. This was usually when they started speaking in Italian instead of Japanese, in hopes that nobody would understand. Tsunayoshi had disappeared up towards the roof as he always did around lunchtime. That person's one virtue was that he wasn't a stalker, just a pervert.

"So the Sawada Main House, Boss, what's it like?"

Ieyasu frowned; there was a dark look on his face. Hayato sputtered out his apologies. It seemed he touched a sore topic. His boss swatted him lightly on the head.

"Stop that. You're my subordinate so you need to carry yourself like my subordinate. Your actions reflect on me, my actions reflect on you. Don't apologize for things that aren't your fault."

"Sorry, Boss."

"If you keep doing that, I'm going to say sorry back." He threatened. "Anyways, the Sawada Main House is…what do you think they'd be like?"

There was a moment of silence before Hayato realized he could speak. It was different, being the official subordinate of Decimo. There were different expectations and rights, all of which was clearly outlined to him. It was a hundred times better under him than his previous commander.

He ventured a guess. "Is the Sawada Main House...like in Anime? Those rich old traditional houses?"

"That's…yes. Kind of? They're the family of Primo's bride, after all."

Hayato nearly choked on his own bottled water. "That legendary monst-I mean, woman!?" His boss smirked knowingly.

"You were just going to say monster or monstrous, weren't you?"

"..."

"It's ok, I won't tell Tsuna. He gets defensive about her sometimes. He's been reminding Reborn that Primo married into their family, not the other way around ever since he started teaching me about the First's Generation. They're-" a well done imitation of Tsuna's voice "-only a branch, ok? We are the root. There's a difference." He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Family's family no matter how high up or low it is. A family's fortune can rise in the span of a generation and fall in one too."

Decimo folded his arms behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "It's fun and important and all- bloodlines -and there's power in knowing where you come from, but I dunno. I've always thought that sooner or later, we'll all die the same so it's not like matters too much or anything."

"Yup." Hayato said as he drained the last of his water. He put it aside so that he could throw everything away when he and the Boss were both done. "It's all the same in the end so it's useless to fuss about it."

"Money and lineage can't make up for being a dumbass." Ieyasu agreed.

See, this was a man Hayato could get behind.