A/N: Last chapter was a bit uneventful. This chapter seems to be more on the dramatic side. Reviews appreciated!
The gentle patter of water on her body was relaxing. A nice, warm shower was routine after a training session. Gokudera had again run her down today, but she was thankful for that. It kept her practiced and alert.
As Satsuki towelled her hair dry there was a light beeping sound from her phone. She continued drying her hair and peered over her phone screen, it was a message from Tsuna.
Keeping one hand on her towel-wrapped hair and the other reaching out to enlarge the message, she couldn't help but feel a slight disappointment: "Satsuki, I'm afraid I have something to do, let's skip tea time for today :)"
Of course, she wouldn't throw a tantrum over such a trivial thing, "No problem. :)" and continued drying her hair.
In essence, Satsuki did understand that being Vongola boss came with a lot of responsibility and work. Meetings were not uncommon and sometimes visits to the Italian base were warranted. Although, after 4 weeks of consistent tea time with Tsuna, this did break a routine that she was partly used to already.
She contemplated on whether or not to look for him at all today, but when night fell and she didn't hear anything else from Tsuna, she ended up staying in her room, catching up on reading.
The next morning, there was a message on her phone from Tsuna, it was a simple "Good morning :)" and she replied likewise, expecting to see him at breakfast. But, there were two people missing at the dining hall that morning. One was Tsuna, the other was Kyoko. She didn't think much of it, perhaps they were both busy. She did send him a text asking if he was okay, and decided that she would stop by his office later on today.
So when she received the same type of text in the afternoon, "Satsuki, something urgent came up, I can't have a tea break today. I'm alright though, just busy," she definitely felt the force of disappointment smack her through the phone screen.
What was he doing? She hadn't heard of any new businesses or managerial tasks that Tsuna had to do these days.
This time, rather than cooping up in her room, she resolved to look for Tsuna and at least say a quick hi to him. She was clothed in her usual combat attire as she roamed the hallways of the base. Tsuna's office was approaching her sight, and her steps slowed to a stop, hand about ready to knock.
"It does taste good, right?"
Satsuki's hand froze mid-air, inches away from the door. The voice was slightly muffled, but there was no mistaking it, not with Satstuki's ears. That voice was definitely Kyoko's.
"Yes! How do you this?" There was a sort of exasperated sigh from none other than Tsuna. "You definitely need to stay longer today."
Satsuki wasn't very sure what to think. Her mind was blank, but she stepped away from the door, and walked back to her room in silence.
Don't jump to conclusions. She thought, deleting the whole memory of earlier altogether. There's nothing wrong with having tea with other friends. But the longer she thought about it, the heavier her heart felt.
Was he having tea with Kyoko yesterday too? What happened? Did she do something wrong?
Question by question flitted in and out of her mind, attacking her paranoia. When she finally got to her room, she did nothing but plopped face down on it, refusing to feel anything. She stayed like that for what seemed like hours, until there was a knock on her door.
"Satsuki, are you in there?"
She froze in her bed, muffling a gasp and staying still. It was Tsuna, but truth be told, she didn't feel like seeing him right now. So she lay in bed, and pretended not to be in. The boss knocked a second time, calling out her name, to which she also ignored, slightly feeling worse about it this time.
A few seconds later, there was a buzz on her bed. Her phone was vibrating and she thanked the Gods that she never put ringtones on her phone. She grabbed one of her pillows and put it on top of the phone, muffling the sounds that the vibrations were making.
A few more seconds later, the vibrations stopped. Tsuna hadn't knocked again and for a few more seconds, she stayed still, until she heard footsteps moving away from her room. She let out a very quiet sigh of relief, but instantly felt guilty.
She couldn't help it. She wanted to be alone and process her thoughts first. Her constant thinking made it easy to drift in and out of sleep, until her eyelids became heavy and she hadn't noticed that she slept all through the next morning till 8 a.m.
The first thing she checked was her phone, there were two messages from Tsuna. One asking where she was, the other "I guess you've fallen asleep. I'll come pick you up for breakfast tomorrow." She glanced at her clock, 8:02 a.m. she had an hour approximate to get ready, but as soon as she sat up, her energy was depleted by the thought of what she happened upon yesterday.
Tsuna had cancelled two tea times on her because he had Kyoko as company. No matter what angle she looked at it… It was bad. Don't jump to conclusions. Communicate. Ask him about it. She took in a long breath and let out an equally long one.
40 minutes later and she was ready for breakfast, looking at herself in the mirror and wondering how to face Tsuna. Maybe he's just picking me up today to be nice… He might ditch me again in the afternoon. Her forehead crumpled at the thought as she plopped back down on her bed. But Tsuna… is not that kind of person… Her face softened. She grabbed her phone and put it in her pocket, just in time for a knock on the door, followed by "Satsuki? Are you awake?" There was an undertone of worry in his voice.
Satsuki stood and didn't hesitate to open the door and step out of her room. She figured that she should just trust him, but deep in the back of her mind, there was a sense of insecurity that she just buried down for now. "I'm ready," she said with a small smile, Tsuna smiles back and goes for her hand, gently entwining them and walking forward with her.
He was a lot bolder these days with his actions, less embarrassed and shy, but still sometimes clumsy and flustered. In that aspect, they were both the same. There were still a lot of unexplored aspects in their relationship.
"…Have you been busy these days?" She started, looking up at him with question. He didn't seem fazed at all. "Mm… You could say that," In fact, his smile seemed to be brighter. Her throat constricted at that moment, but she didn't let it get to her. She subconsciously squeezed his hand, to which he responded to by holding her hand a tad bit firmer.
"…Huh…" She thought out loud when she realized that they were not taking the usual route to the dining hall. Tsuna seemed to have caught on, "I requested for breakfast to be taken to my office today."
When they arrived at his office, the balcony doors were open. The curtains were swaying with the light wind and there was a table set out for two at the centre. The table was a simple mahogany one, a light blue table cloth adorned it. The balcony overlooked the forest that surrounded the area. It was not really an impressive sight, but the fresh air was magnificent and so was the light breeze and birds chirping.
He closed the door behind them and led her to the table, pulling out her chair for her while she was looking over the food. Her plate was already loaded with the usual English breakfast items. Scrambled eggs, toast, sausages, tomatoes. Her cup was filled with what seemed to be coffee rather than tea and in the middle of the table was something that made her head tilt oh so slightly.
"Is that… strawberry shortcake?" She asked, still staring at it. There was something a bit… off about it. Tsuna had already sat down across her, seemingly waiting for some type of reaction. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "Ah… yeah." He didn't say anymore, until it hit Satsuki.
The strawberry shortcake was not bakery perfect. In fact, the two layers of the cake were uneven, she could tell by the slight imbalance of it. The icing was smooth, but the swirls on top were uneven, as if someone had run out of icing: big but gradually became tinier.
"Did you make this by yourself?" She asked in surprise, looking up at him. His face broke into a sheepish grin and he merely nodded. She was very confused. She started off the day in a sullen mood, thinking that Tsuna had lost interest in her and then, this…
"How? And why?" She asked, brows furrowing a little. Tsuna started his story, "Well…"
Tsuna looked at his calendar in passing, he had some deadlines to meet with the paperwork today. There was a circle on one of the dates. For a few seconds he wondered what that circle was for and after scanning his brain for any events he might know of, he found that the date would be his and Satsuki's one month of dating. That was… two days away.
He panicked. He had nothing prepared. He at least wanted it to be memorable. The past few weeks he just thought that he hadn't really been an adequate gentleman to her. They'd only seen each other during tea times, and for the brief moments of breakfast in the morning. Not really much of dating going on, he realized.
He'd planned to make strawberry shortcake for her a while back, but didn't have the time to do it. He was swamped with managerial duties. He decided on making her a cake, simply because he thought buying a gift was largely impersonal. Anyone could buy her the same gift, but if he made something, he thought that it would be more special.
"Satsuki, I'm afraid I have something to do, let's skip tea time for today :)"
He wondered if she would be worried or even mad but when she replied with a simple "No problem. :)" he realized just how patient and understanding she was. He sighed a bit, feeling guilty but none the less called Kyoko over to help him.
Kyoko went over the recipe with him, telling him what ingredients he needed. Later that day they both visited the kitchen for the first try, it ending up in a total failure. He forgot to add the eggs into the recipe. He tried a second time, and it came out better, but for some reason, it ended up tasting salty. He probably should have checked whether he had put in salt or sugar. It was night time by the time they ended the second trial and Tsuna was disappointed in himself.
He went back to his room and did his night time routines and knocked out cold till the next day, realizing that he hadn't sent a message to Satsuki at all, he quickly sent her a good morning text, waiting for her reply.
His morning was eventful, he had more papers to do. The ones he skipped from last night were piling up, so he had to work double time. By noon, he had sent another text to Satsuki, not realizing until then that she had also sent him a message, asking if he was okay. She must have been worried when she didn't see him at breakfast "Satsuki, something urgent came up, I can't have a tea break today. I'm alright though, just busy,"
When Kyoko came over to help him for the third time, she brought with her a strawberry shortcake that she made herself. Tsuna couldn't tell the difference between a store-bought one and the one Kyoko made. She had sliced a portion for him and asked him to taste it.
"It does taste good, right?" Kyoko asked, smiling at her friend.
"Yes! How do you this?" Tsuna sighed, disappointed in himself for not being able to make a decent one. He wasn't even asking for a perfect one. Just something edible. "You definitely need to stay longer today," he said, knowing that today would be his last chance to make a decent strawberry shortcake for Satsuki.
"You keep skipping over things in the recipe! I think you're too hasty. Let's go and try again, but slow down this time." Kyoko had advised and he nodded eagerly at her instructions. It was nearly dinner time when they finished. It had finally been a success, albeit the way he cut the two layered cake was lopsided and the icing was not perfect.
"…" He let out a big sigh, "It looks…"
"Good!" Kyoko said, nodding at his first successful creation. "She'll like it, trust me!"
Back in present day Tsuna had finished telling his story and was now laughing nervously, "…Sorry it's not… I mean it doesn't look presentable at all."
Satsuki had been silent. Tsuna was starting to get nervous with the fact that she wasn't saying anything. "I-If you don't want to eat it, I understand, it's—"
"Stupid," she simply said, still staring at the cake.
"Eh?" Tsuna asked.
"You're so stupid, of course I'll eat it!" Satsuki could feel the elephant in her throat. All this time she was thinking bad of Tsuna while he was only thinking about her. She breathed in a shaky breath, she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She thought that he had somehow lost interest in her. She thought that she had been replaced when in fact it was the complete opposite.
She was ashamed of herself for thinking that way about Tsuna, but the situation was really hard to read. How was she supposed to know? She felt so touched yet so betrayed at the same time and it wasn't all Tsuna's fault.
She blinked rapidly in an attempt to dry away the tears that were threatening to fall, tilting her head up a little to keep them from falling.
"A-Are you crying?" Tsuna suddenly stood up, gaping at her, wondering what he had done wrong. What should he do now? Did she need tissues? A glass of water maybe? A hug?
She wiped the few droplets that managed to escape but she had already calmed down by then, she sniffled a little, "I'm fine…. I'm just… happy." A small smile broke her lips and Tsuna sighed with relief. He dragged his chair over to her side, settling next to her, grabbing a tissue from the tissue box while he was at it.
He turned towards her, her cheek was the slightest wet from the few stray tears that managed to fall. He doesn't hesitate to cup her cheek, the other hand with the tissue wiping at the wet patches on her cheek. She sniffed again but smiled this time at the gentle gesture, whispering a small "Thanks,"
She attempted to move away from him so they could start eating but his hold on her cheek tightened. He was staring at her, mouth slightly agape, "…I know we haven't even been on a proper date but…" he couldn't help but keep talking. Something about the tears of happiness in her eyes urged him to do so. The memory of the past few years seemed to suddenly fly by his mind.
Her always staying by his side, despite the fact that she could have left any time. The fact that he had been close to losing her, remembering the sacrifice she gave for his familia. The knowledge that she was just as selfless as he was, perhaps a bad combination together but, they could try.
"but, you…" Suddenly it was him who was having trouble finding the right words, his heart was running a mile a second. "I mean, do you think…" He moved back a little, his hands falling down to her shoulders. Satsuki watched him with amusement, wondering what got him in such a mess. He was still staring dead at her.
"Do you think…You would wanna be…" and that's when his neck literally became red, (Satsuki thought it was like watching a glass fill up with watermelon juice) all the way up to his forehead. "You-You wanna be…" He squinted his eyes shut, "my girlfriend!?"
Both his hands were still tight on her shoulders, he refused to look at her but at the same time it was like he deflated with relief, now just waiting for a response. She smiled softly at the sight in front of her. He was… something else. In battle no one could best him. In the mafia world, he was feared. In front of her, he was… just Tsuna, and that was more than enough for her.
"Wellll~" She started, his eyes popped open, was she going to say no? "Only if you make me another cake on my birthday." She pointed at the strawberry cake on the table. He gasped a bit, internalizing and processing what she had just said, until his face broke into a genuine smile.
"Deal."
