Thanks to everyone who favourited and followed! Of course, my biggest shout-out is to my constant reviewers: 11jaemin16, AiMila, MisanthropicGoddess, AngelDemonSakura, scarlet rose white, Madam Bakunawa, Natsu Yuuki, Zeilyinn, meigetsuhikari, akirachan7, i am mi-chan, xoxo-No Name-xoxo, Kestrealbird, Niknok19, ShizuBABE, Scheming Rabbit, Kristina M.P, Thalassa Bara, Arithra, NX-Loveless-XN, Hweianime and Antigone1Evenstar .

And also lots of love to my new reviewers: twilightserius, Serenite de la Luna, JelloBear, beulah2013, purloined wings, familymatters, Molly Grace 16 and CalmCat.

Seriously, I love you guys. Last chapter got the most reviews I've ever had! Thank you for all your support J

Anon Review Replies:

83: Thanks for the compliments and support! Your review really made me happy :) I'm glad you enjoyed the onomatopoeia since it was the only way I could draw out the moment. Plus, I kind of saw that whole moment as a manga panel and they're always so effective there!

lalaluv: Sorry about that xD I normally don't do bad cliffhangers in case I spontaneously combust and the story gets abandoned... Hope you liked the update! I hope the wait wasn't too long.

Toolazytologin Why, thank you :D I was aiming for fangirl feels! I'm so happy that it made you laugh! I worked hard on that last scene. "Reborn forgot that this is RL when he kissed tsuna, must be the otome games" xD That is an awesome thought! Verde and Skull will be taking the backburner, but it will be showing up in chapter 8 or so. Thanks so much for the support and compliments! I hope you enjoyed the update :D

Crucifix_HiMe: It's alright :) I just wasn't sure if you were put off or something ^^' Thanks! I think that suits Reborn perfectly: use truth barely and let your silver tongue take care of everything else. It would make things so much easier if they did know each other in RL, but that's the thing with internet friendships. I love writing Fon xD Thank you! I've been sick but otherwise it's all good! Hope you have a great week ahead :)

Omake contest:

Congratulations to CalmCat, Antigone1Evenstar, Hweianime (second time!), LazyCoffee (second time!) and love_michiyuki for winning the contest and to scarlet white rose for her creative answer that also won her a prize! The answer was the Queen song "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and the pun was that it could refer to love or to Tsuna, who is both small and crazy. I will be posting their omake/ficlets in a separate story called "The Many Sides of My Sempai's Creepiness" sometime soon, so please check it out when I do.

This week, it's a bit more complicated. Verde and Fon's description of Reborn's personality is reminiscent of a character from a show mentioned in a previous chapter. Identify the show, the character and who talked about the show and you win! Please do try :) It's not half as complicated as I made it sound.

7: Nice Guys Finish Last

He first registered warmth, gently drawing him in. Tsuna's lips were soft, almost too soft, and had parted slightly with surprise. Reborn didn't take the invitation. He was too preoccupied with soft and warm, soft and warm, thus thoughts of deepening the kiss didn't even register. His left arm had slipped around Tsuna's waist, bringing him closer to Reborn, while his right hand cupped Tsuna's nape.

Had hair even been this soft and fluffy? Puffy strands brushed against his knuckles.

Had a single kiss ever made him hunger this much for more? His teeth came into play, dragging against Tsuna's bottom lip. He tasted vanilla against the velvet skin, and found it fitting.

His left arm slowly slid downwards, wanting more from the encounter. Was there nothing on this body that was hard? It was getting difficult to not see Tsuna as a girl. It was even more difficult to not push Tsuna against the nearest horizontal surface and have his way with him as easily as he had had with his previous girlfriends.

A large gust of wind tore through the library. Reborn briefly registered Tsuna's scent as shower fresh before one of the heavy billowing curtains smacked into his face. Moment ruined, Reborn broke the kiss to glare at the offensive drape. It was only then that he noticed the palms shoving against his chest.

Tsuna's lips were red as he cried, "Let go of me!"

In one moment, Reborn's actions caught up with him. He released Tsuna in a daze, barely noticing as his underclassman ran off. He definitely didn't see the girl who had dropped her books in surprise from the scene she had seen, nor did he hear the whispers that rose behind a bookshelf.

Just one thought dominated his mind. What the hell had he done?

"Fon-san, you can't-!"

"Kyoya, I need you!" Fon spoke over Kusakabe as he rushed into the Reception Room. His enthusiasm was put on hold as his older brother urges overwhelmed him. "Dino-san, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled, glaring at the blonde pinning Kyoya to the couch.

"This is not what it looks like!" Dino said immediately, having been a victim of Fon's ire before (the blonde never learnt to stay away from Kyoya like he should). "I was just trying to feed – I mean – we were just having lunch! Right, Kyoya?"

Kyoya swept the blonde from his lap to the floor, revealing that he indeed had a bento in his hand. "I can handle myself," he said to his brother, taking a slice of meat from the box.

"No, Kyoya, you need to eat this one!" Dino objected, grabbing Kyoya's hand and pushing a different bento into it.

"I think you need to leave," Fon said, grabbing the blonde none-too-gently.

"I'm here for a meeting!" Dino said. "A lunch meeting."

"Let the herbivore be," Kyoya said, setting aside his bento. "If I wanted him gone, he would be."

"I know it looks weird, but Kyoya was just messing around. He knows I told him I'd bring lunch to make up for Xanxus."

"Home-made?" Fon asked, eying the hamburger steak resting innocently in the container.

"Umm…yes?"

"Shall we talk?" Kyoya said, pulling his brother away from Dino and out the door. "Privately, of course." The door of a different room shut behind the siblings. "What do you want?"

"What was Dino doing to you?" Fon crossed his arms against his chest.

"We were having lunch. The bronco was doing nothing inappropriate."

"So he just happened to crawl into your lap, push you against the couch and lean over you like that while you pushed him away? You're strong, Kyoya, but so is he."

"The bronco never understands boundaries when he's enthusiastic."

"You're not exactly proving his worth here."

Kyoya sighed and leaned against the wall. "Tell me what you want or I will leave."

Fon's lips contorted in frustration and disgust but he took his brother's word, this time. Instead, he explained his need for the names of Viper's bullies and his plan to deal with them. Kyoya was surprisingly unimpressed.

"If bullying could so easily be eradicated, do you think I would not have done so? It disrupts the peace of Namimori, yet nothing I can do will end it."

"No offence," Fon said, "but I have a more positive influence among the students. I'm also a well-respected senior."

Obviously, Kyoya took offence. "You know nothing about these people. If you favour Viper, the herbivores will hate her more. Her belongings will be trashed. Herbivores will whisper behind her back, spreading lies and rumours, and anonymously sending her hate mail."

"I can help-!"

"You can only hinder and make things worse, Fon." Kyoya pulled out his vibrating phone, and noticed a new message from Ulupong.

Meeting now in the usual place. You busy?

He quickly typed out a reply and pressed send.

Be there in a moment.

"Viper doesn't want a protector," Kyoya continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, pushing off the wall and walking towards the door. "If she did, another would have had her a long time ago." He glanced back with a strange glint in his eyes. "Others have been interested in her too."

Kyoya walked out and instructed his deputy to send Dino off before heading down the stairs. He noticed a head of purple bouncing ahead of him and internally smiled.

The day was significantly brighter.

Haru desperately tried to get out of her situation, but to no avail. Tsuna had some dangerous news for her, something so rare that Haru was quite willing to ditch class, but the annoying frog won't leave her alone!

"Why are you bothering Haru?" she asked Fran exasperatedly.

The frog head tilted to the side. "I just wanted to talk to you, Ugly-Face Haru-sempai."

"We are the same age and in the same class. Haru is not your sempai!" Haru cried, throwing her hands in the air. "And Haru is not ugly!"

"I suppose you're not as ugly as you could be," Fran acceded, making Haru bristle.

"Look," she said, switching tactics, "if you leave Haru alone today, Haru will make you a better frog head."

"What's wrong with this one?"

Haru didn't even know how to respond to that.

"Well," Fran continued, "if it's from Haru Ugly-Face's hand, it is sure to be better than what I have. I accept." He walked away abruptly.

Haru blinked and on her way to meet Tsuna at his house, she wondered whether she had been complimented by the strange transfer student and why.

"Tsuna!" Haru waved as she entered the yard. "What's up?"

Standing up, Tsuna grabbed her hand and dragged her to his room. She noticed that the Skype screen was on, and a sleepy Hayato was rubbing his eyes in it. "Do you ever sleep?" she asked him incredulously.

Hayato made an inarticulate noise as he slumped over a pillow. Tsuna apologised for waking him, but that only elicited a dismissive groan. Taking a sandwich from a plate Tsuna offered her, Haru sat on the bed and demanding to know what had happened.

"I've had the strangest day," Tsuna said despondently, curling up beside her. Hayato exchanged a look with Haru, who then hugged Tsuna close. "Kyoko-chan apologised for rejecting me and asked to be my friend."

"That's good, right?" Hayato mumbled, silently promising to fill Haru in later.

"I don't know. She gave me a rose."

"How romantic!" Haru injected.

"It was from Reborn."

Hayato sat up but it was Haru who spoke. "Reborn as in Reborn Kawahira, the hottest senior in your school?" Upon Tsuna's agreement, she grabbed him by the shoulders. "When did that happen? How did that happen? Why did it happen?"

"I got into a couple of arguments with him, but he was nearly always at fault! Today he apologised and said wanted to be my friend."

"That's great!" chorused both his friends. Haru wondered how much she had missed out on in just a few days.

"But then…" Tsuna continued.

"But then?" Haru prompted.

"But then…" Tsuna touched his lips. "Then he kissed me."

"You kissed him?" Verde asked him incredulously.

"Yes."

"Did you plan on kissing him?" Fon said.

"No."

"Did he like you kissing him?" Verde stared at Reborn in fascination.

"No."

"Do you know that the whole school is talking about your kiss?" Fon held up his phone, showing a picture of Reborn kissing Tsuna in the library. Well, Reborn could be seen. Tsuna was just some fluffed up hair Reborn was holding.

"I don't care."

"Did you like kissing him?" Verde looked vaguely awkward.

"…Yes." Reborn sank lower in his seat. "More than I ever have before."

His friends exchanged looks as Bermuda put some snacks down on the table. The trio had decided to work on their project at Reborn's house but with both Fon and Reborn being distracted, the work had come to a standstill. Verde had been hoping for a continuation after lunch, but knowing Reborn and his melodrama, he doubted anything productive would happen that day.

Fon put aside his worries about Kyoya, Viper and the upcoming auditions for the school play. Reborn needed help, and that was always amusing. Not that he would ever consider using one of his best friends as a distraction from his own problems, of course not! "So, when did you become gay? Seriously this time."

"I'm not!" Reborn insisted.

"Bi, then?" Verde bit into a cookie.

"You know, it didn't feel like I was kissing a guy when I kissed him. It was just…" Reborn waved his hand vaguely.

"So maybe you're bi-curious." Verde made a note on a piece of paper.

"More like confused."

"You've always been bad at recognising what you want from a situation," Fon observed. "Especially if the situation has held your interest for a while."

"No matter how many times you insist upon it, I did not challenge you to a fight every day because I wanted to be your friend. I just really wanted to kick your ass." Reborn stared deadpan at Fon, who rolled his eyes.

"I suppose you just really wanted to beat Verde and not befriend him either when you issued that challenge to him."

"Of course."

"Reborn, you were six and could barely pronounce 'challenge'." Verde rubbed his temple. "You attacked me with a pillow even though it was apparent that I was not a physical child."

"Better than me," Fon recalled. "The first time he came to the shop, he told me he could drink more tea than me and burned his mouth on the first cup."

"You guys are not helping," Reborn growled.

Verde's smirk was patronising as he said, "We're only trying to point out to you that you're stupid at social interactions."

"It's probably because of your family that you're so emotionally, socially and psychologically constipated." Fon patted Reborn's shoulder with a grin.

"Your lack of social skills and ignorance about society's norms coupled with your intelligence might almost make you borderline sociopathic!"

"Bermuda," Reborn called for his butler, "can you see these two associates of mine to the door?"

"Don't be like that!" Fon threw his arm around Reborn in a show of comradery. "You're know we're only doing this because we care."

"Fon may be, but I'm just in it for the laughs," Verde said.

"I'm so glad that my identity crisis is a source of amusement for you two." Despite his annoyed tone, he waved away Bermuda when he entered the dining room.

The friends turned serious.

"Reborn, there's nothing wrong with liking this boy," Verde reiterated.

Fon added, "Maybe all along you've wanted to date him and just didn't realise it."

Reborn sighed and took a sip from his glass of juice. When he put down the orange drink again, he asked, "Do you remember that time Verde dared me to hook up with a college girl?"

"You mean when we are at the beach and you charmed the pants right off of her?" Verde said sourly. "It took you less than an hour to get lucky in the bathroom with her."

"Luck had nothing to do with it." Reborn tapped his finger against the glass table. "I knew exactly what to say to get her to like me and then to sleep with me. It's pretty easy, actually. That's what I thought this interest I had in Tsuna was about. It was just a challenge, because he didn't like me straight off the bat. Playing those games, getting rid of his bullies, making that girl apologise and even speaking to him, it was all just to manipulate him into liking me."

"And it worked, until you blew it with the kiss," Verde said neutrally.

"That's just it. It worked. All I had to do was say the right things and it was easy. I expected to lose interest after that, but instead I…" He sighed. "I kissed him. Why would I, when it turned out to be so easy to play my cards right with him?"

"There must be something else you like about him then." Fon smiled. "Do you think Viper was the sort of person I imagined myself with the first time I met her? I didn't even realise I was draw to her initially. I just thought she was nice. It was only later that I realised how much I liked her, and that maybe I had liked her from the beginning but just didn't realise it."

"Tsuna isn't like that. My first impression was that he was a timid, naïve fool. He is below average intelligence-wise, his lack of fitness is appalling and he has no presence whatsoever."

"I wouldn't say that…" Seeing Reborn and Fon's questioning looks, Verde elaborated. "I ran into him earlier when he was looking for Reborn. He can be quite forceful when he wants to be."

Reborn considered that. "That's true. He shows his spine at the strangest of moments."

"Maybe that's what you like!" Fon seized on the knowledge. "He's contradictory and unpredictable, even if he is easy to fool."

"So he's something like the ultimate challenge for me?" Reborn asked. "Or just a challenge that I'm not used to."

"Or maybe," Verde interrupted, "you just find that contradiction and unpredictability to be hot, especially coupled with Tsuna's somewhat androgynous features."

"So I want to sleep with him?"

"I don't know. Do you?" Verde stole another cookie from the plate.

Reborn entertained the thought for a moment. It was unsurprisingly easy to imagine, since he had briefly wanted to do it in the library anyway. And yet the moment he realised that Tsuna was a boy and (probably) had all the physical features that came with the male gender… "I don't think I'm ready for that," he said, making a face and washing the thought down with more juice. He would have preferred something stronger, but Bermuda was 'monitoring his caffeine intake' or some other bullshit excuse like that.

"Then date him," Fon said simply.

"I don't date."

"You don't do a lot of things around Tsuna that you normally do anyway," Verde pointed out.

"You should probably stop manipulating him too." Fon ignored Reborn's rolling eyes. "If you want to find out what you really want from him, then you should be your real self." He indicated himself and Verde as he said, "That's how we became friends, after all."

"For the last time, that's not how it went!"

It was nearing midnight when something struck Tsuna's window. Bleary eyes blinked, turning away from the nonsensical homework they were meant to be focusing on. Tsuna wandered over to the window, hearing another small crack as he opened it.

Reborn Kawahira was standing in his yard.

After blinking several times to make sure his sleep-deprived brain wasn't hallucinating, Tsuna softly called out, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk," Reborn said, just loud enough to be heard by Tsuna. "Do you mind coming down?"

Tsuna considered ignoring the insane boy, but he really didn't want to risk Reborn deciding to break into his room as he had done before. Reluctantly, he closed the window and made his way downstairs, tying his robe tightly around him as he did so. He almost wanted to open the lounge window rather than the front door, but figured he could scream loud enough to get the neighbourhood's attention if need be. He opened the door and tried to look as imposing as possible as he said, "Well?"

Reborn did not seem too impressed, judging by his relaxed posture as he sat on the front porch. "I wanted to apologise for what will hopefully be the last time."

Tsuna sighed. "Why did you kiss me?"

"I'm not apologising for the kiss," Reborn said bluntly. "To do so would imply that I regret it, which I don't."

Tsuna balled his fists.

"Look," Reborn pulled his hand out of his bulky jacket pocket, "I didn't plan on kissing you but it happened and I enjoyed it. Didn't you?"

"You said you wanted to be my friend!"

"That was probably the only thing I didn't lie about and it turned out to be false anyway…" Reborn muttered.

Eyes narrowed, Tsuna demanded to know what else Reborn had lied to him about.

"My friends think I want to date you because you're unpredictable and a little weird," Reborn said blithely. "I'm not even sure how much I like you, to be honest, but here I am anyway."

"Are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not a nice person, you know. All of that with the roses, and the gifts and the politeness isn't really me. Hell, I don't even apologise to people normally."

"Answer the damn question!"

"You know how you got mad at me when we first met because of the way I spoke to you? That's me. I insult people when I talk to them. I'm caustic and mean. I like myself and that's who I am."

"I don't care!"

"But you interested me and I pretended to be what you wanted for the challenge, but I'm done with that. I want to try dating you honestly instead."

Tsuna was shocked into silence. His lips numbly formed, "What?" but the word would not be voiced.

Reborn propped his chin up as he said, "I know me being myself isn't ideal but dating me will have its benefits." He smirked. "I was the one who sent your tormentors to hospital. They deserved it, since I got the bulk of your frustrations that really should have been aimed at them. Oh, and I did threaten the Sasagawa girl. She really isn't smart, nor is she particularly nice. I have no idea why you like her."

He stood up and Tsuna automatically took a step back.

"I'm being brutally honest with you this time. It's not much fun, is it?" Reborn came closer. "If you don't want to date me right now, that's fine." Tsuna's back hit the doorframe. "I just wanted to declare my intentions tonight. I'll court you properly from now on and when you're ready, we can try." He captured Tsuna's chin in his hand, tilting it up until they were looking into each other's eyes. "Was that your first kiss, by the way? You were quite innocent."

"Let go of me," Tsuna managed to say.

Reborn blinked and let go. "Of course, Tsuna -"

A pan smacked against his head and he fell to the floor unconscious. Tsuna stared into the empty space where his sempai had previously been, before slowly turning his head. His mother stood in the open doorway, a large skillet in hand and a bright smile on her face.

"Tsu-kun, what have I told you about talking to strangers?" She looked at him seriously. "Or letting them into the house?"

"Not to do it?" he offered and got a pat on the head for his efforts.

"Exactly! Now let's call the police and get this pervert taken away."

Verde and Fon slinked further into the dark bush they were hiding behind upon hearing that announcement.

"No more impromptus for Reborn," Fon murmured quietly.

"What gave it away?" Verde hissed back. "The fact that he tanked it or the fact that he used the word 'courting'?"

"We should not have let him drink all that coffee."

"Oh well." Verde cracked his neck. "Time to save the day." He glanced at Fon. "You can go first. It's not like you need the brain cells."

Fon made a face as he rose to his feet. The things he did for friendship…

No more Mr Nice Reborn was basically the summary of this chapter.