The week continued to pass. Tsuna was let out of bed after one day, not that they could force him to stay in it any longer than that. As Yamamoto predicted, Violet tried to take her jealousy out on Haru. Haru ignored the attempts. She could deal with the feet that would trip her. She could deal with the stolen notes and textbooks. She could even deal with the snide remarks and gossip the woman tried to spread. She could deal with it all because a little ring told her how much Tsuna cared for her. It gave her the courage to keep moving forward regardless of what Violet threw at her or how the woman kept trying to curry forgiveness and favor from Tsuna
Toward the end of the week, bento seemed to become the new fad, leaving the lunchroom cooks watching in amusement. They had managed to have the courtyard to themselves for two days before word got around that Tsuna was eating lunch alone with Haru. For some reason, no one thought to comment on the other people with them. The day after that spread, the courtyard filled up when people brought their own lunches as a legitimate excuse to find out what Tsuna was doing during his lunch break.
They all had to laugh at the numerous shocked glances they'd gotten that day. Since Tsuna had become properly engaged with Haru, he was now free to kiss her and love on her to his heart's content. Having a girl playfully feed Hellfire a chocolate-covered strawberry wasn't a sight anyone expected. He ignored them all though, happy to have people around him that knew who he really was and wasn't afraid of him.
Sangia found herself comfortably centered in the group. Haru had told Tsuna during pillow talk about Sangia's situation, so he was adamant about her staying with them for lunch. She'd tried to beg off when Tsuna had returned to school the day after he was let out of bed, but he'd stopped her gently. He wasn't about to let her stay out in the cold any longer when there were warm friends all around. She had been wary at first, not trusting their kindness.
By the end of the week when Cheri finally gave in and joined them, she was laughing and teasing with the best of them. Tsuna even thought he caught a gleam of interest in Gokudera's eyes. He almost teased the boy about it, but decided to let it flourish or wither on it's own. Otherwise, Gokudera might jump one way or another automatically based on how he took Tsuna's teasing.
Tsuna had been a bit relieved when after their first night in Italy, Haru didn't show up in their room until dinner-time. He'd tried to hide the blood on his shirt that first night, but he didn't know if she'd seen it or not. Regardless, after that night, he'd always come back to an empty room. While he was disappointed a bit that she wasn't there right away, he understood. He didn't want her to see him come home night after night with blood on him anymore than she probably did.
Then Friday came around and Tsuna remembered his other work at the club. He didn't know why the Ninth still had him continue working there. It had served it's purpose, Tsuna thought. Especially now that Tsuna had a fiance, he didn't see the need to go. Reborn had broken into the middle of that thought and had told him the other reasons.
Since Pink's had private booths, a lot of people used it as a cover to trade information. Knowing who came and went for that reason was a good way to know about secret alliances and other privy information. Such as which Families had ties even though they didn't have an alliance. Such as which Families were merely pretending to be rivals to become spies. Such as who specifically were spies. Tsuna knew a lot of the regulars after a year of working there, but he hadn't ever paid attention to the one or two-time visitors. He'd have to watch more carefully in the future.
Tsuna walked into Pink's in a rush with Gokudera at his side. He grimaced, knowing Pink would get on to him for being late. He couldn't help it though. Some guy had stupidly tried to steal a woman's luggage at the check-in desk of the hotel entrance. He'd automatically went after it for her and had to stick around to turn the guy in to the cops. Then, of course, the cops had wanted his statement. They'd kept him there for an hour while they got all the facts straight. Tsuna reminded himself to let Gokudera take the credit next time so he could go ahead like Yamamoto had.
Before she could catch sight of him and complain, he and Gokudera ducked back into the changing rooms. Like the waitresses, the security staff had uniforms too. Theirs was simple black t-shirts with their job written on the front and back. He switched his out for his school dress shirt, noting the appreciative glances the new waitresses gave regardless of his scars. He didn't spar four times a week for nothing. The waitresses in question seemed to be new. He ignored them, knowing that he'd be introduced later. First he had to go beg forgiveness from his weekend slave driver.
He walked up to the bar with a sheepish grin, hoping that she wouldn't give him a hard time. She gave him a knowing look, plunking him a drink down on the counter for him.
"Your buddy stopped by and warned us," Pink said in reference to Yamamoto. "You and your hero complex. If I had a quarter for every time you were late because you were out helping someone, I'd be dead from alcohol poisoning ten times over." Tsuna smiled, seeing that she was teasing him and wasn't truly mad.
"I see you got new girls while I was gone," he replied, turning his back on the bar to survey the main hall. The main floor was full of the normal crowd. Nothing special there. He glimpsed a few new colored outfits going from table to table, but couldn't quite make out any faces in the dim lighting. His eyes were still adjusting from the light outside.
"Yup," Pink said, going back to filling drink orders. "Onstage we got the twins, Silver and Platinum, and then there's Gold. Upstairs we got Black and Crimson. For down here, the new additions are Peach, Periwinkle, Turquoise, and Cocoa."
"Is Cocoa even a color?" Tsuna asked in amusement. Picking a color couldn't be that hard.
"Well, it sounded better than Brown and since no one ever chooses that color, I wasn't going to argue. Although, with her perkiness, I don't know why she wanted such a drab color." Pink pointed to a waitress in the back of the room and Tsuna's jaw dropped. His eyes could finally see that far back in the room and the sight it beheld was one he didn't know how to react to.
His sweet, energetic Haru was in a brown waitress uniform, it's texture and color making her look like she'd been dipped in chocolate. Instead of her normal sporty pony-tail, she had let her hair down. It fell in waves down onto her shoulders, accentuating her bare neckline. Even as he watched, she started to walk forward to the bar, her brown lace skirt bouncing like a confectioner's heavenly dream. He wanted to moan badly and he resisted the urge to pull her up into one of the booths and...
He blushed, realizing how obvious his thoughts were on his face. He knew it was obvious since Pink was openly amused at his expense. He, who had rejected every one of Pink's girls on more than one occasion, wanted this one...badly. Haru faltered in her bouncing stride, finally seeing Tsuna and Gokudera at the bar. Some part of him knew he should be angry with her getting a job at a strip club, but seeing her in a brown leather corset and brown fluffy lace skirt, he couldn't.
He turned red as her face scrunched up and she stomped to the bar. He only had that warning that her mood had shifted before she stopped in front of him. He almost cringed, knowing that when she was like that, he tended to get slapped. More than likely she thought he was here as a customer. The slap never came though.
"Why are you here?" She demanded, her hand on one hip and the other holding a tray with empty glasses. Once again, seeing her like this made him suppress a moan. He blushed, realizing he didn't quite manage to hold it back this time. Gokudera and Pink both tried and failed to hide amused snickers at his reaction.
"W-Why are you here?" He managed to repeat, throwing her question back at her.
"I work here, ba-ka," she said, drawing out the word playfully. She gave a little bouncing twirl, pointing out the obviousness of her costume while somehow managing not to drop her tray. He watched, speechless, until she finished her circuit. Then she reached past him, putting the tray down on the bar and handed Pink her orders.
"So do I, ba-ka," he threw back at her once his mouth started working again. He chucked a thumb at the word 'Security' written in wide letters on his shirt. "How long have you been working here? How did you even find this place?" He was proud of how he finally started to overcome his surprise and desire to actually say something other than merely repeating after her.
"Oh, this is my fourth day. I started on our second day in Italy, since, well, I didn't want to be at home alone while you had to...work. Reborn showed me this place when I asked for suggestions." Tsuna nodded sadly, realizing this had been where she disappeared to before dinner so he didn't have to be hesitant in coming home and getting cleaned up. She smiled at him, sensing his uneasy thoughts.
"It's okay Ts--" He automatically put his hand over her mouth and put up a finger in warning, silencing her.
"Orange. I'm Orange here." She smiled wider as he put his hand down.
"It's okay, Orange, I'm only a waitress. It's not like I ever go up into the booths, plus I like it here. Not only are the dancers teaching me a few things on their breaks, but I get to wear this cute costume." She gave a little bounce again, fluffing her lace skirt while Gokudera continued filling her orders. Pink laughed, seeing the look of desire pass over Tsuna's face and his mouth stop working again.
"So Orange is a man, after all," she teased. "The girls thought maybe you were an eunuch considering how well you could control yourself around them." She grinned widely and continued mercilessly, "Especially after that night the guys got you drunk after-hours and they all decided to give you la--"
Tsuna stopped her mid-sentence with a panicked hand over her mouth. Haru didn't need to know about that. Pink's eyes sparkled in merriment and she fell silent, giving Tsuna the okay to release her. He tried to control his red face, but he didn't think he managed to succeed. He was flustered and he knew it. Between Haru looking like something he really wanted for dessert, Pink's teasing, and his overall surprise, he wasn't sure what to do.
A sudden thought came to him and he turned pale.
"Y-You h-haven't seen a Bouncer's Judgment, have you?" His eyes widened when she nodded sadly.
"Yesterday afternoon there was a riot and Aqua got hurt pretty badly. Yellow took care of the guy that hurt her though." Tsuna looked at her in shock, unable to comprehend how she was so calm about it. She looked down sadly for a moment before looking back up and smiling reassuringly at him. "It's not like they killed him. They just made it so that he can't hurt anyone again."
Before he could get over his shock, she picked up her newly-filled tray of drinks and returned to the work he'd interrupted. He found himself watching every energetic bounce of her lace skirt, his surprise at her answer quickly disappearing into the back of his mind. He turned to Pink, giving her a pitiful look.
"Help," he squeaked.
"Go trade places with Grey," she laughed, handing him a shot. "You can watch the booths and he can take the floor." She gave him a knowing look before saying, "I'll let you and Cocoa have your break at the same time, but be sure and be back on time." He let out another moan at the thought of what he could do in that amount of time.
"Thank you," he said, nearly running for his refuge after tossing back the shot. At least in the back hall where Grey was currently patrolling between booths, he wouldn't have Haru so deliciously in his sights.
Grey gave him a questioning look when he asked to switch places, but went willingly once he told the man that Pink had already given her okay. This turned out to not be as good of a trade as he had hoped. Pink had always left him to guard the main floor before, since he was powerful enough to take care of riots single-handedly. Plus, his small stature didn't automatically scare new patrons. He was good at being the ace hidden in plain view.
So, since she had always had him down on the main floor, he had never before had to patrol the booths. He knew in theory what went on in them, but the reality was another thing. One by one he had to lift up the small window inset into the doors and check to make sure the attendants and the customers were alright. Most of them were full of drinking groups, watching the stage-show from the window opposite the door or talking and enjoying themselves. The others, however, had the curtains closed on their windows and had ordered the 'deluxe' attendant services.
Seeing that sort of thing only made his mind turn back to Haru time and time again. Had he patrolled the booths before he left for Japan and subsequently lost his virginity, he would have been able to be dispassionate about it. He would have even been able to manage to ignore it all if only he hadn't seen Haru downstairs. Now, however, he was painstakingly aware of what everything he saw entailed.
When he realized how it wasn't helping him in the least to patrol the booths instead of being on the floor by Haru, Tsuna growled low in the back of his throat. Pink had known this would happen and had sent him to trade with Grey anyway. Not wanting to give into her plans, whatever they had been, Tsuna brought out every ounce of self-control he had in determination. He would not, no matter what, give in to whatever Pink had intended.
He figured out what Pink had intended when Yellow relieved him for a lunch break. Tsuna went back down to the main floor, intending to get a drink to show her that he wasn't affected by her dirty plan to make him flustered. However, it seemed like every other step he took across the main floor, one of the waitresses would oh-so-accidentally brush up against him.
When he noticed that it wasn't just the waitresses, but off-duty dancers, Tsuna started to get angry. He came to a stop with his nose flaring, watching the waitress walking toward him carefully. She didn't even notice his reaction, too intent on where she planned to brush up against him. When she didn't notice that she'd been caught and started to reach toward him on her way past, Tsuna grabbed her wrist.
"The next person that touches me will get their fingers broke," he growled icily. She gasped and looked up at him. Flame-filled eyes looked back until she was quivering.
"That's enough, Orange," Pink ordered, walking up to him. She had seen him getting angry from the bar and had immediately come to mediate. Tsuna let go of the waitress' wrist and she scuttled away. "I didn't think you'd get mad," Pink muttered as they walked back to the bar together.
"How did you think I would react with people treating me like a piece of meat?" Tsuna growled.
"I don't know," Pink replied with a merry twinkle in her eye. "When you first came in, it seemed like you were wanting to have a good time. You even set your eyes on one of my girls." Tsuna stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow until he leaned close to whisper to her.
"She's not one of your girls," he said softly yet firmly. "We're engaged." Pink jerked back, her eyes wide in surprise. Tsuna set his jaw in effort to not to let her see how upset he was.
"I'm sorry, Orange," she said finally. "I didn't know. A bunch of the girls saw that you were blushing and decided to test it. The ones that were here during the incident a year ago noticed that you were suddenly seemed a lot more open and wanted to get you to touch others again. The newer ones heard about what they were wanting to do and decided to make you run a gauntlet of girls to see how worked up they could get you just for fun. If I had known about you and Cocoa, I would have told them not to."
"Well, now you do, so you can tell them to back off," he growled while they started walking to the bar again. "Who I touch and when I touch is my choice, not theirs. They shouldn't have tried to force it in the first place."
"I'm sorry, Orange," Pink repeated. "I'll pass it around that the old rules still apply to you."
"I'd appreciate it," Tsuna replied. Pink ducked back behind the bar and pulled out a bottle of V Special in apology. Normally Tsuna wasn't allowed it, since it was the only thing that could get him drunk. Today was an exception. Still seething over his treatment, he brushed away the shot-glass she started to use and grabbed an actual glass for her to pour into.
"I'm burning it off faster than I used to," he said in response to her raised eyebrow. Not questioning him for once, she poured him a healthy amount. It was easily equal to four of five shots, but Tsuna drank it like it was water. "Damn," he muttered to himself.
"Did I give you too much?" Pink asked worriedly, not having ever seen anyone drink that much V Special at once before.
"Not even buzzed," Tsuna grumbled. Pink offered him more in surprise, but he turned it down. Even though it didn't seem to affect him, he couldn't tell how much more would. He could easily go from sober to completely drunk with the quantity that his glass could hold. Rather than chance a mistake, he had her pour him some pineapple juice that she used for mixed drinks.
He was still quietly trying to regain his normal calm when a hand caressed his shoulder. Not thinking it could be anything other than one of the over-zealous waitresses, he reached up and grabbed it. Haru's gasp made him let go and he turned around in shock. Even knowing he hadn't done anything other that put a little bit of pressure to the hand in warning, he started to panic. Repeatedly muttering apologies, he gently inspected her hand to make sure he hadn't hurt her. Tears were in his eyes at the though that he might have.
"It's okay, Tsu-, Orange," she corrected herself. "I was just startled. See, not even a bruise."
"I'm so sorry," he apologized again. "I was jumpy because a bunch of the girls thought I was on the market and were getting frisky. I didn't realize it was you."
"I saw," Haru said softly.
"You did?" He asked with a small cringe. Was she mad at him for letting so many get past before he caught on to what they were doing? Was she jealous? Upset?
"I thought it would be fun," Haru pouted playfully, "but I didn't get my turn." Tsuna's jaw dropped. Unable to suppress the urge, he turned and banged his head down on the bar, bringing curious looks from Pink and the other waitresses.
"I should have known," Tsuna said to himself. He raised his head after a moment and looked at Haru with a red mark on his forehead. "You're the one that suggested they all do that?" At her nod, he switched to Japanese to ask, "Why?"
"They were all talking about how they'd been trying to get their hands on you for a long time and how you suddenly didn't seem so untouchable," she explained with a still pouting lip. She, too, had switched to Japanese in order to keep their conversation semi-private. "Then some of the girls started talking and saying that you didn't like to be touched but I told them that it wasn't true. Then they all said if it wasn't true, they all wanted to try to make you happy by touching you. Haru agreed to help make you happy since Haru wants to always make you happy. Then they all told Haru to make you happy last since you might be very happy then."
Tsuna sighed, seeing where the mix up had occurred. Haru was just too innocent where some things were concerned. She'd never before encountered the dirty innuendo that was so commonplace around Pink's. When the girls had all said 'happy' Haru had thought they simply meant emotional happiness from their touches. She hadn't been around the place long enough to pick up the dirty lingo.
"Haru," he said carefully. "When they said happy, they meant the kind of happy that happens at night when we're alone."
Haru's mouth made an 'O' in surprise.
"But why did they--" She stopped, knowing the answer to her own question.
"You have to be more careful, Haru," he admonished softly. "I know you're trying, but people think differently around here. You can't assume what you think people are talking about is what they're actually talking about."
"Like puppies?" She asked playfully, making him flush.
"Hey, you two," Pink said, walking down to where they were sitting at the end of the bar together. "If you're going to stay here to chit-chat, at least do it in a language I can eavesdrop on." Tsuna smiled, seeing the playful look in her eyes. She could actually care less what language they used, but her curiosity was eating her alive.
"But then it wouldn't be a private conversation," he replied, switching back into the common language.
"Don't worry, I've been taking notes," a girl in a pale green outfit chuckled. From her oriental complexion, Tsuna had a sinking feeling. "Cocoa was just telling him about what we were talking about in the back earlier and he told her he only wanted to be happy with her when they're alone at night."
Tsuna turned red at her loud explanation and a cheer went up from all the waitresses. Glancing around, he realized that the room was empty except for the staff. The lull in patrons around dinner had hit, leaving Tsuna and Gokudera as the only men in the room.
"Orange, that's not how you pick up a girl," Red admonished with a chuckle. He began to turn even bright red when several other girls started trying to give tips to him. Beside him, Haru was turning a deep shade of pink, too.
"So, how are you going to get her to go home with you now?" Red asked once they ran out of advice.
"Oh, I don't know..." He said playfully, deciding to give them the show they wanted so badly. "How about this?" He jumped up and pulled Haru into a deep and long embrace, ignoring the catcalls that started ringing out. By the time he let her go, she was breathless and had a slightly unfocused look in her eyes.
"You should at least try and woo her first, Orange!" Blue called out from the back of the mob. In response, he pulled Haru in front of him and held out her ringed hand.
"I already did that. Or didn't she tell you we were engaged?" He made sure to say it loudly enough that no woman in the room could claim they misheard him.
"No way!" Red gasped, rushing forward to look at the ring. Haru soon found herself surrounded by co-workers, all clamoring to see the trinket.
"How did you get a flame in there without any tinder?" One of them asked. In answer, he ignited his flame for them all to see.
"It's mine," he answered softly. They gasped, seeing him clearly with his flame burning on his head for the first time. It was only on rare occasions, such as when he had to do a Judgment, that he left it on long enough for others to see. Normally, he only let others see a spark as he passed. This was the first time that they weren't distracted by other things and could see him with his flame.
"So I wasn't seeing things..." Haru muttered to herself in wonder. Tsuna let his flame go and blushed, knowing exactly what she was thinking about. Even though she'd seen him with the Dying Will Flame multiple times while he was still training under Reborn, this was the first time he'd let her see his Hyper Will... If one excluded the glimpses she might have gotten at the end of their nightly exertions.
"Um, eh..." Tsuna mumbled, trying to think of what to say in response. When he couldn't come up with anything, he turned his back on all of them and reached for his drink in effort to cover his flustered face. Unfortunately, he was assaulted with a knowing look from that direction via Gokudera. "Not a word, Scarlet," he growled at the silver-haired man who grinned widely at the order.
"I'm glad to see you're finally healed, Orange," a voice said from behind him. Tsuna stiffened, having not heard that voice in a very, very long time. White only talked to her clients and after his treatment, he'd not felt like talking to the person that had so intimately dug around his mind.
"What are you talking about, White?" He said without looking at her. For some reason, he couldn't seem to summon the courage to meet her eyes. "I've been fixed for a long time now." A sudden thump to the back of his head made him grab the spot that had been hit and turn around.
"Don't lie to yourself, Orange," she said with a look of understanding in her eyes. "I don't know what happened during the weeks you were away, but you definitely still had lingering effects when you left here. I'm assuming Cocoa's the one that finished fixing you."
"I wasn't--" he started to say in denial, but the looks of all the people around him brought his sentence to an abrupt halt. While the newer staff members were just looking around without understanding what was going on, the older members were all looking at Tsuna with the same expressions on their faces. Sympathy. Caring. Understanding. They had known how deeply he had been scarred inside and realized what it meant when he'd opened up to Haru. He sighed, having no pride left to bluster with.
"You're right," he finally admitted to White's open satisfaction. "But I can consider myself to be in one piece now, can't I?"
"You sure can," White encouraged.
"And it's all thanks to you and my little Cocoa-bean," he said with a warm smile at the two. Haru, not really understanding the conversation, merely smiled happily at his expression and the pet name.
"Here's to Orange's recovery!" Pink toasted. Turning back around to the bar, Tsuna saw that her and Gokudera had set up shots for everyone. Within seconds, the complete staff, including Grey and Yellow who had snuck downstairs, had glasses in their hands.
"To Orange's recovery," they yelled in return, making Tsuna blush.
"This deserves a party," Pink announced. "Shut the place down, boys," she called to Grey and Yellow. "Tonight, this place is reserved for the staff!" Tsuna's eyebrows flew up into his head, understanding the enormity of her gesture. Not only was she closing down ridiculously early in order to celebrate, she was doing it on a weekend which was their normal peak time of operation.
"Pink, you don't..." He started to say, but she waved away his objections. Behind him, Grey and Yellow were already escorting people outside from the booths and several girls had went down the Row to get food.
"We're Family, Orange," she said firmly. "Maybe not outside these walls, but inside you're one of my rainbow. You've been with us for over a year now and never once failed to protect everyone here like they were Family. I'll be damned if we're not going to celebrate your full recovery."
"Pink..." Tsuna breathed softly, touched by her words. Unable to say anything else, he said the only thing he could:
"Thank you."
