"My. It's such a nice day out." Green eyes slowly lifted from the plate that held his breakfast in alarm the moment that he heard the words that left his mother's mouth as the boy slowly turned to share a look of horror with his father only to fall silent as he watched his father rise from his seat slowly. Remaining completely silent, the boy watched transfixed as the taller man quickly moved to immediately scoop him up, realizing that his father was going to try his hand at making a quick escape with him before his mother could finish her musings and give them both an order that they did not want to obey, only to pause as he felt that piercing gaze on his back. It was a moment later that his father slowly turned around to meet the piercing gaze of his mother, wincing at the sadistic smirk that slowly formed across her lips as she effectively spelled out their doom with her next sentence.

"Perhaps you should take Ren to the park so he can try making some friends again, Anata?"

Well, Damn.

About a half-hour later the two male members of the Honda family found themselves standing in the heat of the warm summer morning as they both stared at the playground that was currently filled with the delighted shrieks of the children. The unamused child stared at his fellow children for all of a moment before his gaze slowly lifted to fall upon his father, green eyes filling with tears immediately as Ren forced his lips into the cutest pout he could muster, determined to save himself from his fate and using his cuteness to his advantage in a way that he knew would have his father eating out of his palm in a matter of moments.

His father thought he was adorable and he was not above using that in his favor if it saved him from being forced to play nice with the other children in this awful heat.

For a moment, he thought he had managed to sway his father into going along with what he wanted yet again only for his hopes to crash and burn a moment later as the man turned around, his brown gaze avoiding Ren's entirely as he spoke. "Oh no. You might be my adorable little boy but I am not letting you have your way again. Your mother got so angry with me the last time after she found out that I took you for ice cream instead of making you stay here and play. I am sorry Ren, but you're going to have to play with the kids today. Maybe you'll finally make some friends?"

The silence that greeted his father's hopeful response was enough to make the man falter for a moment before his expression brightened as he began shuffling through the oversized bag he had brought with him, digging through it for a moment before producing a large bag filled with various candies and as he handed it to the very unamused Ren he smiled sheepishly before ruffling his child's black hair.

"Think about it this way Ren, if you make friends this time then maybe your mother won't make us come back here. Try making friends to the best of your ability and if all else fails then bribe them with candy. Kids love candy don't they?"

His only response was silence as Ren stared at the bag of sweets as though it had done something to personally offend him before he slowly made his way over to the playground with a soft sigh, inwardly mourning the loss of his perfect afternoon. All he had wanted to do was enjoy his day the way he wanted, practicing with his toy bow and arrow until he got as good with the toy as the heroes in his favorite cartoons and movies were with the real thing.

Maybe he would even become as strong as they were one day.

That was the reason why he had no time to waste playing with other children who only wanted to play stupid games like kick-the-can or hide and seek and yet, it did not seem as though he was going to get out of playing with them anytime soon and so, at least for the time being, it seemed as though he was going to have to make the most out of his situation. He wandered around the expanse of the playground as he searched for a group of kids that were the least likely to bother him to play with, to no avail.

Most of the children seemed to be interested in eating sand or picking their noses much to Ren's great displeasure.

For a moment he looked down at the bag of candies that his father had given to him, considering what would happen if he simply chose to throw them away and return home on his own without his father. He greatly considered the drawbacks to any potential punishment as he tried to determine whether or not the punishment would be worth not having to spend another moment in this awful place before the sound of crying managed to capture his attention and immediately his green eyes turned to see two slightly older boys terrorizing a boy around his age with spiky brown hair and brown eyes, something that made his eyes narrow slightly.

He hated bullies.

Ren's eyes narrowed thoughtfully for a moment before his mind came up with a plan as he slowly approached the three boys, immediately drawing attention to himself as he spoke softly.

"What are you two doing over here? Don't you know that there's someone giving out big bags of candy over there at the playground? I just got this big bag of candies from a nice man!" He held up the bag of candy as proof of his claim, not missing the way the eyes of the two boys darkened in greed as they looked at his bag of candy.

"He was giving out a big bag of candy like this to all of the kids! You better hurry before he runs out! He only had a few left!" It was a moment later that both of the boys ran off towards the playground, shoving and pushing each other out of the way with the promise of candy on their mind and for a moment Ren simply watched the two boys before sighing and shaking his head as he finally turned to meet the victim, blinking quietly when he saw the boy look up at him with those tear-filled browns and before he could stop himself, he found a frown forming upon his lips.

Poor thing.

"Hey, it's okay. They're gone now and they're probably going to spend the rest of the day trying to find the candy man I made up so they'll leave you alone." Ren gave the sniffling boy a small smile before turning to walk away only to pause as he felt a small hand grab onto the back of his shirt. A surprised green gaze turned to meet those pitiful browns and as the boy continued to look at him with those wide browns, his own gaze softened as he tried to think about what he could do to make him feel better, gaze falling down to the bag of candy a moment later.

Well, it was worth a shot.

"Here. My dad gave this to me to give to people I like. You seem nice enough so you can have them. I hope they make you feel better." He handed the surprised brunette the bag of candy who simply looked at the bag of candies in absolute shock before giving Ren a small, shy sort of smile, those tears slowly drying up much to the black-haired boy's relief.

Now if he would just let go of his shirt so he could be on his way, that would be absolutely wonderful.

It was at that moment that his father chose to wander on over with a long-haired woman who looked remarkably similar to the boy who had a death grip on his shirt and as their attention turned to the two children and both adult's eyes widened, Ren immediately knew that there had been some kind of misunderstanding. A sinking feeling welled up in his chest as those greens narrowed, mind racing to try and come up with an explanation only to be silenced as his father spoke before he could properly explain himself.

"Y-You actually made a friend?! Just wait until your mother hears about this! She's going to be so thrilled!"

Green eyes widened at the mention of the woman that had forced this whole situation on him to begin with before watching with a dumbfounded look as his father turned to the long-haired woman who had come with him.

"Thank you Nana-san. You were right! Your son truly is a miracle worker if he was able to make someone as distant as my Ren want to be friends with him! I don't know how to properly thank you!" The woman, who Ren now knew as Nana simply smiled warmly at the two boys before her brown eyes turned to focus on her own son.

"Did you manage to make a friend Tsu-kun? My, he's such a cute little thing too! What pretty eyes he has!" Ren's gaze shot up to meet the kind brown gaze of the woman who smiled sweetly down at him, protests immediately dying on his tongue as he noticed just how happy the woman looked. As his father began talking eagerly with the pretty woman, making arrangements for a future play date he knew that there was no way he was getting out of this. Yet as his gaze fell upon the shy brunette who still had not released his shirt from his grasp, he thought maybe, it might not be a bad idea to have him as a friend after all. At the very least he would get practice hitting moving targets with his bow and arrows.

He had a feeling this boy was the type to attract bullies.

"It looks like we're going to be friends, you and I. Nice to meet you. My name is Ren Honda." The green-eyed boy looked at the other in something akin to amusement as the brunette's eyes widened in shock once again.

"And what is your name? Unless it really is Tsu-kun?" He mused softly, watching the boy carefully as he shrank back for a moment before he finally spoke.

"M-My name is T-Tsunayoshi. But you can call me Tsu-kun. I-If you want."

Oh, he was cute.

It was a few moments later that he was picked up, carried securely in his father's arms as the man finalized a playdate for Ren and Tsuna that would take place at their home the following afternoon and as Ren gifted the other boy a lazy farewell, hand waving carelessly at the shy boy as he was carried away he could not stop the smile that spread across his lips as he was carried home.

Perhaps having a friend wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Little did he know, just how much trouble said friend was going to cause him in the not-so-distant future.