"Come on, hurry up, Tsuna-nii!"
Tsuna laughed as he was forced to bend over, the shorter boy pulling on his arm as they jogged in the hallway.
"Lambo, you know that Reborn will kill me if he finds out that I'm not in my office, right?" Tsuna asks jokingly, picking up his pace to catch up with his little brother. The younger male simply turned his head to him and stuck his tongue out with a teasing smile, knowing for sure that the worst Reborn would do nowadays were to shoot the ground near Tsuna's feet. The World's Greatest Hitman can't afford to be accused of killing the Vongola Decimo now, can he?
"In here!" Lambo pulled Tsuna into his room, literally throwing Tsuna in before closing the door and forcing Tsuna to sit on his bed. "You stay here and I'll go grab them!" he said before running off to his closet and rummaging through it before pulling out ten beautifully wrapped boxes and presenting them to Tsuna with a huge smile.
"Okay, Lambo…" Tsuna said confusedly as he took the wrapped boxes confusedly. "What are these for?"
"It's for all the birthdays that I never gave you a proper present for! I never spent my money since you buy everything I want so, so!" Lambo exclaimed. He made Tsuna put the pile on his bed and pulled the box on the bottom of the pile – an orange-wrapped box with a perfectly tied white ribbon. "This is for your 14th birthday!" he shoved it into Tsuna hand and kept pulling out the presents, announcing for which birthday it was and shoved it again into Tsuna's hand.
"Lambo," Tsuna called softly, but Lambo ignored him and continued to rant about how Tsuna didn't need to thank him and it was only natural as he was Tsuna's younger brother. "Lambo…" Tsuna had a feeling something was up. Lambo of all people not wanting him to thank the boy for all these presents? That wasn't his younger brother.
The usual Lambo would say something along the lines of, "Bow down and thank me a million times for taking my time to get all these presents for you!"
" – so, from now on I'll give you a present every single day! Tsuna-nii will wait for me at the front door to get them every day… right?"
Tsuna looked down to see Lambo looking up to him expectantly – almost desperately – green eyes wide and brimming with tears. He opened his mouth to answer before he slowly closed it and smiled.
"You know I'll greet when you get home," Tsuna said with a soft smile. "But I can't promise the every day part, Lambo. Being in this line of work means I already have one foot in a coffin, and I don't know when I'll fall into that coffin, Lambo,"
Lambo's green eyes widen even more, and tears started to fall. Sniffs and sobs filled the room before Lambo curled himself into a ball and cried into his knees. Tsuna widen his eyes and automatically pulled Lambo into his lap before embracing his younger brother and rubbing his back soothingly in circles. He waited until Lambo was calm enough before he sighed exasperatedly.
"Lambo… what's wrong?" Tsuna asked. "You're acting weird. Did something happen at school?"
"… Today, a classmate's brother died," Lambo sniffed out. "They were always arguing back and forth, always at each other's throats and they just can't agree with each other at all. A bit like Mukuro-nii and Hibari-nii," Here, Tsuna had to stifle a chuckle. "But… the classmate's brother died and he couldn't stop crying. Alonzo didn't stop crying at all. He kept crying out his brother's name on his way out and balled and wailed… even though he claimed to hate his brother,"
"And…?" Tsuna prompted.
"And I thought… What if it was Tsuna-nii? What if Tsuna-nii was the one to die and… and what if it was me walking out of school? Alonzo, who hated his brother so much, cried until his tears dried up so… what if it was me? What would happen to me after that? Who would take care of me? Who would spoil me rotten and who would make sure that no one hurts me? Who would protect me from Hayato-nii's wrath and who will make sure my dad doesn't come up here to take me back?" Lambo paused. "… Who would love me? I, who loves Tsuna-nii so much… what would happen to me…?"
Lambo started to sob again, burying his face into Tsuna's chest and gripping the front of Tsuna's orange shirt tightly. Tsuna kept quiet and buried his face into Lambo's black hair. A gentle smile made its way to his face as he hugged his beloved younger brother. One hand was gently rubbing circles on Lambo's back while the other was combing through Lambo's black locks. When Lambo once again stopped crying, Tsuna pulled away and wiped Lambo's tears away.
"Lambo…" Tsuna started. "Lambo, Lambo, Lambo…" Tsuna laughed softly. "You know what Lambo, I may have one foot in a coffin and I may not know when I'll fall into the coffin… but I'm not planning on dying that easily," Lambo looked up and Tsuna, his puffy eyes looking hopeful. Tsuna widen his smile and softly caressed Lambo's cheeks with his thumbs. "In fact, I'm not planning to die anytime soon at all. I still have a Famiglia to protect, and I still have people who depend on me. Plus, I have so much I have to do before I die that, if I have my way, I won't be dying for another few decades,"
"Really? You mean it?" Lambo asked, a smile blooming on his face. Tsuna nodded and pulled Lambo up.
"Now come up, let's wash your face up and we can unwrap all these presents together while you tell me stories of why you picked them, yeah?"
#10- Tsuna taught Lambo that while they are always in danger, that doesn't mean they can't fight for their lives.
A/N
It's been a very long while since I've updated anything at all, huh? I've been meaning to write something but you see, I lost my beloved grandmother on December and I just... It's just hard to lose someone so important. But lately, I've been feeling just a little bit better and I decided to write this. I changed my simplistic format into this but it's all the same...
Well, that's all. When I get better, I'll update more!