Takeshi cheers as Tsuna finally slips close enough to Bovino's friend to get a hold on him and pin him down, one knee on his shoulder, his arm stretched straight and twisted slightly in a manner that looks painful.

Bovino's friend twists slightly before wincing and immediately stilling. Green eyes blink at the group, something between relief and wariness flashing in them before he throws on a fake look of fear.

"Oh no," the foreigner says after a moment's passed and she hasn't acted any further, overly dramatic in all the ways the scream of this being a show put on for some audience. "Whatever-" His voice catches, and he coughs. And then he doesn't stop coughing, and he can't seem to get a breath as he's breathing in, and-

"Shit," Bovino says, and he's rushing towards Tsuna and Gokudera even as Tsuna rolls Gokudera over, both of them patting him down, "damn it, you idiot where's your damn inhaler-"

Gokudera is wheezing and trying to curl up as his hands come up to his throat, and suddenly a woman pushes pash Takeshi, her black hair flying behind her, she drops to her knees and presses an inhaler into Gokudera's hands. He brings it to his mouth as Tsuna helps him sit up straight.

Takeshi doesn't see what happens next, his view blocked by Ryohei running past. By the time he's shaken off his brief paralysis, he can see Gokudera breathing through a gap between the people surrounding him, and he has to look away.

His eyes catch on Hibari-san's, and for a moment, all he can remember is what Tsuna said on his first day back to school.

"He looks so young."

Hibari-san looks young. He's two years younger than Tsuna and Takeshi, and he looks it with his round face. He looks too young to see someone almost die.

Then Hibari-san's eyes flicker between Gokudera and the people who'd had their cameras out to record the fight, and his expression twists, and Takeshi is reminded of why no one messes with him. Hibari-san turns on the crowd and forces them back, away from the fight, away from the medical accident.

"Are you just going to sit here?" a voice asks from somewhere in the vicinity of Takeshi's waist, and he glances down to see the kid, one hand on the rim of his fedora.

"No," Takeshi says, and he starts forwards.

Bovino's not-quite-yelling at him about his inhaler, his hands trembling against Gokudera's wrist, fingers digging in like he's trying to take his pulse.

Tsuna's sitting silently behind Gokudera to keep him upright, his legs on either side of the other's and an arm wrapped around his waist to keep him leaning back into the support.

Ryohei's hovering, not quite certain what to do as the woman who'd come running with the inhaler asks careful questions in a low voice.

"-right here," Gokudera mutters, sounding almost . . . bemused? Snappish? Some odd combination where he wanted to snap the answer out, but was more confused as to why she was asking than annoyed by the question? - as he pulls a different inhaler out of his pocket. Takeshi notes that his hands are trembling too. His gaze swings around to Bovino, who had fallen silent at the sight of the second inhaler. "I would have gotten it out it these people hadn't been grabbing at me."

"I thought you'd done- something-" Bovino's voice drops as he hisses out the rest of his sentence, "I thought that you didn't want to force a civilian to make the choice like you did."

Takeshi bites his lip, his slow footsteps stalling before be turns slightly and walks up behind Tsuna, letting his shins bump into the other's back. Tsuna's head falls back as he looks up, and the lack of hair casting a shadow over his eyes makes them look lighter than they usually do as he stares up at Takeshi for a moment before letting his weight sag back into the support. A couple of people slide into the periphery of the group, Kurokawa with much the same expression as Hibari-san, and Kyoko-chan with a look of concern that reminds Takeshi of the way Ryohei sometimes looks at Tsuna.

"I'm not going to kill you," Tsuna says into the silence. "Hayato, I wasn't- I'm not going to kill you." Hayato, Takeshi notes. "You don't have to-"

"I wasn't planning to die," Gokudera interrupts with the same puzzled-annoyed tone. "I told you, I just couldn't get out my inhaler because Lambo was so frantic." He pauses and tries to twist around to to look at Tsuna. Takeshi can feel Tsuna brace himself against his legs as he wraps his other arm around Gokudera, and he stands strong.

When Gokudera realizes that he's not going to be able to turn around, he tilts his head back so he can kind of see Tsuna that way. His hands are still trembling in his lap, and Bovino's fingers are white on his wrist for a moment. "What do you want with me Sawada? If you're not going to kill me, what are you going to do?"

Tsuna is silent for a moment. "If this was an anime," he starts slowly, and Takeshi shifts slightly because he can see where this is going, "you would become my friend now. Well, probably. There would be some custom of losers serving winners, or maybe you would get sent on another job here, or Reborn would hire you as a body guard. Do you want to go back to Italy?"

Ryohei shifts, and Takeshi can't see Tsuna's face, but he knows exactly the expression that's on it. He'd seen it when Tsuna met him during his first time joining the pair of their morning jog, and again later, when they'd come to pick him up after Track practice and Bovino was there.

Tsuna wants. He sees something he likes in a person, and he wants. Tsuna wants, but more than that he wants the people to come to him willingly.

"How is that relevant?" Gokudera asks, and the snappishness from earlier is out in full force, finally winning out over his confusion now that he's trapped.

"He's asking if you want to stay," Bovino says, shaking Gokudera's wrist a little. "He's asking if you want his protection, if you want to stay, if you want to go. He's asking if you need a Saturday."

Gokudera looks to Reborn.

"Timoteo wants me to build Tsuna a family," the kid says, staring straight back at Gokudera with those day eyes of his. "A Varia assassin will do."

"But . . . I lost. To a civilian."

"I don't think Tsuna qualifies as a civilian." Reborn pull the brim of his hat down as he turns away.

There's a moment where everyone waits for Gokudera's response, then he pushes at Tsuna's arms again, gently this time. "Let me go."

He climbs to his feet as Takeshi grabs Tsuna's arm to help him up, and the pair face each other as Takeshi steps back, falling into the spot a bit to Tsuna's left.

"What do you want from me?" Gokudera repeats flatly. "And don't tell me, 'whatever you want'."

"I would like it if you stay here," Tsuna says simply. "After . . . well, let is suffice to say that I don't have many friends."

"And I would be your friend?"

"Have you had fun storming the castle?"

Gokudera looks at him for a moment, then turns on his heel and walks away. The woman who'd brought the inhaler follows him, throwing a look over her shoulder at Tsuna.

"Well, that was emotional," Kurokawa declared bluntly. "Kyoko and I'll be leaving now."

That leaves Tsuna, still staring at the spot where Gokudera turned a corner, Bovino and Ryohei standing on either side of each other, and Reborn watching Tsuna.

"Well, that went over like a lead balloon," Takeshi says. "Who was that woman anyways?"

Tsuna shifts to look at Takeshi. "That was Hibari-sensei. We were supposed to have a meeting after school, but I think it might have been moved."

Ryohei shakes himself. "Wait, that was your extreme therapist? She doesn't look that much like Hibari-san."

"Yeah, that was her," Tsuna says.