The first time Tsuna asked to share his bed, they were both so painfully awkward about it that he promptly backpedaled so hard, it was a minor miracle he didn't land on his ass from the shock. Hayato remembers having to close his mouth; that wasn't a face he wanted to show the man he'd decided to dedicate his life to, after all, and immediately having to reassure the other boy that it wasn't weird; it was fine, and of course he could.
They were the most familiar things in a cruel, alien, world that took no prisoners, and asked a ~lot out of a bunch of teenagers. It made sense, really, to cling to what they knew with all their might. Underneath the whole Mafia thing, they were still just kids.
For a long, awkward, moment, Hayato wondered if he was going to have to pick the other boy up and ~deposit him in the bed, not that he would have done something so forward, but, it was getting late, and they both needed sleep if they were to survive the next day. Eventually, though, Tsuna's shoulders inched down from where they'd been reaching towards his ears, and he shuffled into the bottom bunk bed alongside his friend. It was equally awkward as they tried to get comfortable in a space that was really too small for two, growing boys, and there was a great deal of shuffling, and many apologies for accidental elbow jabs, and things like that as they managed to squash together and settle down.
Eventually, they stopped being so goddamned embarrassed about it, and some of the tension eased out of their necks and backs, and sleep finally came.
Maybe it was just the presence of another living, breathing, body within reach that did it, a sense of security that served to remind them of just what it was that they were fighting for. Whatever it was, it -helped-, and so, the habit stuck.
Mornings were always a special brand of awkward, navigating around each other, and untangling limbs that managed to get tangled together in the first place, amid many apologies, and a significant amount of blushing, to boot. Until even that became as natural and commonplace as falling asleep.
Reborn had been unusually quiet the first time he'd gone to wake them up, and found them in the same bed, although that time, Tsuna had flailed about ~so hard that he did wind up on the ground, babbling a slew of excuses and apologies that fell on deaf ears.
"I'm not going to scold you for connecting with your Family, Dame-Tsuna. That's what they're for. That won't excuse you from being late for breakfast or training, though, so you should get moving. Unless you want me to reprimand you," he'd smirked in that all-knowing way of his, gun already poised to make good on the threat.
That definitely lit the fire under their asses that he'd been vying for, and so he left them to it. It was good that Tsuna was possibly, finally, coming to rely on the people around him. The sky was pretty lonely without anything to go in it, after all.
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The first time they cuddle is after a particularly bad nightmare.
Hugs aren't second-nature to any of them, especially not to Hayato, but he knows it's what's needed right then, when Tsuna's sniffling and trying to be quiet about it. It wasn't something he could easily ignore before, but especially not now.
"Tenth?" he asks quietly, hesitantly, hand hovering tentatively over Tsuna's shoulder, or at least he thinks it's his shoulder, he doesn't have night vision, after all. "Are... are you okay?" It's a stupid question, and he knows it, but it's all he can think of. Granted, it's also unfortunate o'clock in the morning, so he imagines it's probably forgivable.
His heart squeezes painfully around the hiccup that's his reply, and tries to think of something.
"Is... there anything I can do?" he asks, feeling helpless, floundering in the dark, because the boss is miserable, and it feels like his hands are tied. What good are they, if they can't even do this much when the Tenth is hurting?
"You're here, Gokudera-kun... that's enough," Tsuna says softly, hurriedly drying his tears, and glad that his 'right hand man' is the only one who sees them. He does, however, wind up tucked under Hayato's chin, and it occurs to him that they're cuddling. Embarrassing, for sure, but also... strangely nice. And it's the sound of his friend's steady heartbeat that eventually coaxes him back to sleep.
It takes a while for Hayato to do the same, because he... feels too much. He doesn't dare let go. Because this looks a lot like his deepest fantasies, with wild brown hair tickling his face, and a thin frame wrapped around him. His heart is confused and excited, the stupid thing, and he's afraid that it's going to come tumbling right out of his mouth. Fortunately, by the time it does, Tsuna's already asleep, and none the wiser come morning, so Hayato can stay by his side a little longer.
And really... impossible crushes aside, that's the most important part, the part that can't change if he wants to stay sane on the other end of this. He hadn't expected it to hurt this much, though, this silence.
Maybe if they ~make it to the other side of this Millefiore business, maybe then he'll say something. It's highly unlikely, of course, as for all that Hayato is infallibly brave in most situations, when it comes to the Tenth, well, he just becomes entirely irrational and somewhat unstable if he really stops to examine it. Some people are just that important, and Tsuna is one of those people. Hell, he's the -only- person that can turn Hayato upside down and inside out merely by existing.
He'd do anything for Tsuna.