The chopper's blades were heavy in the air, the noise phenomenal, as it descended to the ground in the baseball diamond of Namimori High School.
Gokudera sat in the open door, legs dangling into nothing with Reborn sitting on his shoulder like an oversized cat. He had a cigarette in his hand – which was worthless, as the whirling blades constantly killed the flame – but he felt a smirk creep onto his face when he saw the bushy hair that signaled Tsuna on the ground beside a giant blond blob that was Dino.
He was home.
He didn't know when Japan became home, with his small-ass suite that he lived in with Tsuna, but he felt the rightness of here more acutely than any other feeling in his life.
The trip back to Italy only reminded him more acutely of that.
"Ready?" Reborn asked him and Gokudera nodded as they got closer to the ground.
Once the chopper was of a decent distance, he leapt out and free-fell to the ground, catching himself on his feet and feeling the jarring pain spread up his legs. A meter higher and he would have broken them.
The chopper took off instantly and he lit up his cigarette as he walked over to where Tsuna and Dino were, the movements chasing away the pain.
"Gokudera!" Tsuna called and flew towards him. He caught the other boy in his arms and held him close, bathing in the scent of his boyfriend and realizing how much he'd missed him all over again.
"I missed you," Gokudera stated and Tsuna smiled up at him, leaning up and capturing his lips roughly, even with Reborn there on Gokudera's shoulder, watching the kiss from mere inches away.
Gokudera's cigarette slipped from his fingers and was forgotten on the ground as he laced his hand into Tsuna's hair and tilted his head for better access.
Their tongues twisted and he poured all the love he had for the other boy into his lips, massaging Tsuna's mouth with his own and working to convince him all over again that he would never leave him.
"I love you," Tsuna whispered as they pulled back for a second and Gokudera kissed him again desperately.
"I love you too," he stated and Tsuna smiled at him.
"Break it up, lovebirds. You guys gotta get home," Dino motioned towards where his car was. "Reborn and I have to head back to Italy."
"But I'll be back in a month," Reborn declared from Gokudera's shoulders. "You've gone slack in my absence."
"Okay," Tsuna said, his smile undisturbed and Gokudera linked their hands together as they followed Dino back to his car.
The car ride was silent, but Gokudera was simply happy being there, holding Tsuna's hand without guilt. The guilt that he'd felt in the first few days had been enormous, but Reborn had beaten the fuck out of him repeatedly – he had more bruises now than after he'd fought Gamma for God's sake – until he could admit without lying that it wasn't his fault.
And it wasn't; that much was obvious… now. He squeezed Tsuna's hand lightly and the other boy squeezed back, a blush on his face and a particularly adorable smile on his lips.
When they got back to Gokudera's place their 'goodbyes' were swift as Dino and Reborn took off and Gokudera and Tsuna re-entered his flat for the first time in almost a week.
Tsuna gave him no time to think as he grabbed his jacket, stripped it off to his elbows and grinned.
"Wanna start where we left off?" he asked, pushing the jacket off and stripping Gokudera's red sweater off his own body to reveal his bared chest.
"One thing," Gokudera said a bit darkly.
"Uh uh… I know already," Tsuna said, pressing his fingers to Gokudera's lips softly. "I have a few things I need to tell you as well… I had just… hoped that we could… oh well…"
Gokudera felt like trash once more as he closed his eyes and sighed. There was never going to be another perfect moment, was there?
"Let me explain. Five days ago, you went to the story like a big, raging moron and left all your stuff here. While you were there, you met with Byakuran. He bought you a bunch of stuff – cigarettes, ice cream, lube and condoms – and you guys left the store. After that, the details get a bit fuzzy… but the bottom line is that you two had sex," Tsuna declared and Gokudera felt shock down to his pores.
How the fuck had Tsuna found out?
He tried to speak up, but Tsuna's fingers once more beat him and covered his mouth.
"Don't worry about it, I don't blame you. Just shut up and let me explain," Tsuna said gently, kissing him lightly and then taking a deep breath and continuing again. "He was rough, impatient and hurt you. When he realized that, he went to go get something to help you, but you ran away… probably because you felt guilty – which you don't need to! I understand… I probably understand better than you do…"
Gokudera frowned at that comment, suspicion rising in him like a tidal wave and the urge to punch Byakuran's face in growing.
"…Anyway, then I found you and stuff happened, and Dino took me out. I was raging at him for awhile, but he kinda beat me into a pulpy mess," Tsuna blushed a bit. "I wasn't really focused, so he just kept getting good shots off. His last one ended up breaking three of my ribs and doing a boatload of other damage, and in the aftermath, I felt this weird pain – I thought it was that."
Tsuna didn't need to define it, he knew what that was. His heart started beating rapidly in fear and his instinctive reaction was to call Byakuran and get the man to run some more tests, despite what had happened barely days ago.
"It wasn't… apparently it was just my broken ribs doing some internal damage. Still, in my panic I crawled away and called Byakuran. He came and got me – hiding me for the past five days while I recovered – and I realized what happened between you and him while I was there," Tsuna explained and Gokudera felt his stomach bottom out.
He hadn't really expected Tsuna to find out. Yes, he'd intended to tell him what happened, but he hadn't wanted to mention Byakuran, he figured that Tsuna wouldn't have been able to handle it.
"Okay… now that you know that, I want you to sit down and breathe, okay?" Tsuna said, guiding him to the couch and sitting him down carefully. Tsuna then proceeded to sit in his lap, chest to chest and nose to nose. "What I'm going to tell you is purely up to you. I haven't made any deals or… or done anything, okay?"
Gokudera nodded in confusion, wondering what the hell Tsuna was getting at.
"The reason that Byakuran offered to save me, or even looked us up here, was because sometime in the future, all three of us became lovers," Tsuna said quietly and Gokudera felt his stomach clench in denial. "I don't know when, or why or how or whatever… but I guess that's what happened in his future. He has this empty picture frame above his mantle… and… I feel like I'm supposed to be there with you, and him and we were happy. I don't really get it, but that's not the point.
"The point is that he loves us. I… I kinda want him… and you've… well, I guess you can't really tell me that you don't want him either. I want you more, and I love you. I don't love him… he's just… intoxicating and frustrating and… oh God…" Tsuna groaned, hiding his face and Gokudera strangely understood exactly what Tsuna was getting at, as much as he wanted to ignore it. "I… I want you to be my first and my last and my in between. I want what you want, but… but if you wanted to, I want him too."
Gokudera's hands rested on Tsuna's hips as he attempted to work out his thoughts. He'd just spent the last five days rousing up enough anger for Byakuran to douse the flames of guilt within himself, and Tsuna had just poured a giant heap of sand over the entire mess – extinguishing everything.
He rubbed absent circles into Tsuna's sides and tilted his head back so he was looking at the ceiling instead of at the boy in question.
"I… I don't really know what to…" Gokudera admitted and Tsuna chuckled.
"I know what you mean," Tsuna stated, hiding his face in Gokudera's shoulder. "I feel like the future is dictating the present… isn't that messed up?"
"Yeah…" Gokudera agreed and placed his chin on the top of Tsuna's head.
"You don't have to answer me right away, I just wanted to let you know what I thought about everything," Tsuna stated, kissing his neck softly and sending a rush straight down to his groin.
"I'd have to see him again. I don't know whether I'm angry or… whether I'm sad or guilty or… anything. I'm just…" Gokudera stated, closing his eyes against the tides of his own emotions.
"It's okay…" Tsuna said, kissing him softly and cradling his face in his hands. "I didn't expect an answer right away. Come on, let's go to bed and we can think about it more in the morning, okay?"
Gokudera nodded and Tsuna climbed off of him, the two of them meandering to their room hand in hand.
"But Tsuna… tomorrow… tomorrow I want to," Gokudera trailed off, his ears still going red despite the fact that he knew what was going to happen and how to do it this time. It was Tsuna… it's because it was fucking Tsuna. No one else would ever be able to make him feel like this.
"Okay," Tsuna was beaming now and Gokudera felt his heart in his throat. He was just so fucking beautiful. "Kiss me?"
Gokudera nodded and kissed him breathless, leaning him up against the door frame to their room. There was no overwhelming passion this time, just love and warmth. Tsuna relaxed in his arms and Gokudera once more felt like he was coming home.
He realized again that home wasn't this flat in Japan or his giant castle in Italy, or whatever piece of shit hideout they were staying in…
Home was where Tsuna was.