Part 2!


Stalking the man that you love isn't really stalking when you're just trying to keep him safe, right?

"Right." Yamamoto Takeshi said in quiet resolve as he sat at the overcrowded bar, on a lonely (for him) Friday night, watching the way Gokudera Hayato, the man he was sure was his soul mate, laughed and clung close to their shared boss, Sawada Tsunayoshi.

… ok, maybe keeping tabs on a man you've only had sex with once and calling it true love was a little extreme, but Takeshi wasn't known for half measures. To make matters worse, the man Gokudera was with was a long-time best friend of his, Tsuna. And Tsuna looked… so happy, sitting and laughing and talking with Gokudera. And it was so hard to watch because he had a feeling Gokudera was only in it for the sex, but the last and only person Tsuna had slept with had destroyed him inside and out in just 3 short months.

But he couldn't intervene. This wasn't something he could interrupt. This was solely between the two consenting adults across the bar, flirting with each other harder than Gokudera had with Takeshi the first night they met.

(And if he were totally honest, that was the part that bugged him most.)

He sat and glared down at his beer, his first and only of the night, an attempt to not have to wake up with a hangover the next morning. He really didn't want a repeat of the last time he was at this bar… Ok, maybe with Gokudera he did, but not the hangover part. That part sucked.

With a sigh, Yamamoto gulped down the rest of his drink and stood to leave, glancing over at his love and his best friend one more time –

And caught the tail end of a fight.


Everything was going rather well with Sawada – Tsuna, the man had said to call him Tsuna – when this dude walked up to them and started bad mouthing the smaller man.

"Hey, Dame-Tsuna, what the fuck are you doing here? I thought you had done the world a favour and killed yourself by now." An irritating sneer and a dominating stance told Hayato all he needed to know about this man. An asshole with a superiority complex. But instead of insulting the man back, or even defending himself, Tsuna just… shrunk in on himself, again, and mumbled a small reply of,

"Hi… Kensuke."

Which only served to irritate the man further, and Kensuke glared. "It's sempai to you. I know we fucked around or whatever for a while back in High school but I'm still your better. Remember that."

Tsuna huffed and that adorable pout was back, but there was an irritated edge to it Hayato hadn't seen before. Still adorable, but Hayato kinda liked it. "I run a company now, Kensuke, and you don't. I don't see how you're my 'better'." This made the man laugh, catching the attention of the people around them.

"You only got the position because your grandpa owns the company, not because you worked for it! Don't act like you actually earned it like everyone else!"

Tsuna slid off his stool and glared up at Kensuke. "I did too! I worked-"

"The fuck you did! You're too fucking stupid!" He grabbed at the front of Tsuna's blazer with the last word and drew back his fist. The moment he did, Hayato struck.

There was no warning (There never was when Hayato got scrappy). He grabbed the man's wrist attached to Tsuna and the moment the guy turned to him, Hayato slammed his fist into the guy's nose. Kensuke dropped to the ground as he let Tsuna go, and the slighter man fell against Hayato's back. The room went silent as Hayato stood over the man, and everyone heard the quiet words spoken.

"You ever talk bad about Tsuna again, you ever even think of hurting him again, and I'll break more than just your nose, you hear me?"

The man scowled up at them, and Hayato took a threatening step forward. "I asked you a question. Do you hear me?"

"Yes! I hear you! Fuck…" with that, the man stood and sulked his way out of the bar.

Hayato watched him leave and turned back to Tsuna, keeping close and all but trapping him in a hug as he leaned against the bar. "You ok?" he asked softly.

Tsuna numbly nodded into the man's chest, his blush so hot Hayato could feel it through his shirt. "Y-you didn't have to do that…"

"And what kind of date would I be if I didn't?" Hayato ran a comforting hand up and down Tsuna's back. Tsuna shrugged, his hands tightening on Hayato's sides.

"A perfectly reasonable one." Hayato laughed as he leaned back to look into Tsuna's eyes.

"Well then. It's a good thing that I've not been known to be perfectly reasonable when it comes to dates." He said with a wink. He learned then that his winks seemed to weaken the other man, as Tsuna's blush deepened and the man swooned into his chest. With a smile, Hayato took this chance to take his wallet from his back pocket and wave down the blond barkeep.

"Oh, no." The man said as he came close. "For protecting Tsu-chan here, tonight's on the house."

"Tsu-chan?"

"Spanner!" Tsuna cried, turning around as much as he could in Hayato's arms. "Why would you call me that now of all times!"

The blond barkeep, Spanner, just laughed. "Because you do that every time! It's so cute!" and he turned back to the rest of his customers.

Hayato was holding in his laughter, right up until Tsuna turned that adorable pout his way again and he broke, letting out a long laugh. Tsuna started mumbling about 'everyone being mean' and Hayato lost it, holding Tsuna closer and smiling as the man squeaked.

"He's right about one thing though." Hayato said as he pulled away from Tsuna.

"Who and about what?"

"Spanner, and about your reactions being cute."

With a smile, Hayato decided to kiss the responding pout away, his lips grazing softly over Tsuna's for a moment before he pulled back. They stared into each other's eyes for a small while before Tsuna broke the contact, closing his eyes and leaning up and in for another, deeper kiss. Hayato responded in kind, meeting the smaller man half way. His arms wrapped around Tsuna's waist and one arm pushed against the bar-top so it wasn't digging into Tsuna's back, the other hand lay against the back of his neck, just below his hair. Tsuna's arms came up and around Hayato's neck and held on like his life depended on it.

Kissing Tsuna felt somehow familiar, like coming home for the first time in years, but Hayato couldn't stop the thought that Yamamoto kissed better. With Tsuna, it was all languid passion, rather than a battle of tongues – and Hayato has always liked it a little rough. He pulled back when they were sufficiently out of breath and looked Tsuna in the eye as he smiled.

"Come on, I'll walk you home."


Takeshi's hands shook as he held his shi-ai, his father, though aged, still looked at him as if he were a child. And Takeshi knew it was probably because he was acting like one – slightly panicked and angered just because the guy he liked was making out with his best friend. They were probably having sex by now… Gokudera's words floated passed his ears 'Come on, I'll walk you home' and Takeshi tripped himself up, flailing a moment before his father's shi-ai smacked lightly across his back and sent the younger Yamamoto to the floor.

"What has gotten into you? I know it's not the beer, you're not a light weight." Yamamoto Tsuyoshi looked down at his son and tilted his head, trying to figure the young man out.

"I'm just fine, dad… again?" He asked as he got up, rolling his shoulder before he leveled his stance again. Tsuyoshi shook his head.

"Not until you tell me what happened, son. Your mind isn't in the right place – you could hurt us both like that. I'm not as spry as I used to be."

Takeshi sighed and shook his body out of the stance. "It's nothing – I'm just being childish."

"All the more reason to talk about it, I suppose." Tsuyoshi nodded and turned to the door. "Come on, I'll make you some hot cocoa."

"Ugh, I'm not a little kid. Not everything is solved with hot cocoa, dad!"

Tsuyoshi turned to his son with a raised eyebrow, "So, you don't want any hot cocoa?"

Takeshi weighed the pros and cons and the pros won out. "…yes, I want hot cocoa." He mumbled. With a laugh, his dad continued down the hallway, pausing only to put the shi-ai back up on the wall. Takeshi followed his dad, pausing to do the same before they walked in silence to the kitchen.

"So? What boy has got your head all tangled in with your heart?"

"How do you-?"

"I'm your father, I know when my son is having boy problems."

"… I've never told you I'm gay."

"Yes, but I've known you were gay since you were 5 years old. You went to preschool and kissed every boy in your class, but not the girls because they were 'icky'. You were 7 when you came home crying because you kissed another boy that you liked, and he punched you instead."

There was a long stretch of silence as Takeshi processed this information, and Tsuyoshi got to work making his son's favorite drink when he was upset. Tsuyoshi set a mug of steaming cocoa in front of Takeshi's nose and asked quietly.

"So, what's his name?"

"Hayato. Gokudera Hayato."

Getting the whole story out after just saying his name was ridiculously easy – or maybe it was because it was his dad he was talking to – either way, it was almost like the words just spilled from his mouth. And Takeshi felt all the more relieved because of it.


"So, who were you kissing when you kissed me?"

Hayato jolted back, snapping his head up as he looked back at Tsuna. They were most of the way to Tsuna's place, or so he said, when Tsuna posed the quiet question.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

Tsuna's small smile faded completely and he turned to face Hayato, pausing in the middle of the street. "You were physically kissing me, but I wasn't the one you were thinking about."

"I don't-"

"Please don't lie. This already hurts."

They stood for a while, and Hayato sighed, slumping his shoulders as he pulled his pack of smokes from his pocket.

"I do like you, Tsuna." He responded, just as quiet as Tsuna's question. "Believe me, if I had any control on my heart right now, I would give it to you."

"Who has it instead?" Hayato couldn't face his boss just then, hearing the pain was too much – he couldn't see it too.

"Yamamoto."

Another moment of silence hit them hard, and Tsuna leaned against the wall just off to their side. Hayato joined him, smoke in hand. He offered a stick, Tsuna rejected, and the silence continued.

"W-why did you say yes to a date with me if you wanted someone else?" Tsuna's voice sounded shaky. Hayato couldn't answer right away, so he just shrugged his shoulders and continued smoking. "Is it because I'm your boss? You thought you couldn't say no?" Tsuna's voice almost broke and Hayato pushed off the wall to stand in front of Tsuna.

"No. Look, things are complicated for me right now. I… I got out of a bad relationship just before I got here, and I didn't want to start anything if I knew it would hurt me again… but I can't stop thinking about him. Everything about him…"

Hayato's voice shook with tears he hadn't even shed for Mukuro. "I'm so sorry, Tsuna."

"Come on. My house isn't far from here – it would be nice to continue this conversation indoors with this temperature." Tsuna's eyes were sad, but his smile was back, and Hayato nodded, resolving to be deserving of that smile in the months to come.


"So, would you like something to drink? I have different kinds of tea." Tsuna breathed next to Hayato's shoulder.

"Sure… I'll take a glass of water." He answered back, just as quietly. He stood awkwardly, just inside the door despite being told he could grab a seat on the couch in the living room just off to the side of the front door. He lingered there another moment while Tsuna milled around in the kitchen. With a sigh, he turned back to the door, intending on leaving – because what was there to even talk about? – when Tsuna walked back into the hallway.

"You're leaving?" his voice was soft, the question sad. Hayato nodded.

"I mean, like I said, I like you. I really do. I think you're adorable, but… I can't do this with you." He paused and turned to face Tsuna for the first time since he admitted he liked Yamamoto, met the other's eyes for the first time since the bar. "I only slept with him once, but this feels like I'm cheating on him, or something-"

"Wait, you slept with him? Like, you actually had sex with him?" Tsuna's eyes were blown wide, his voice laden with shock. Hayato cocked an eye brow.

"Uhm… yes?"

"Oh my god. Oh my – you don't get it… Yamamoto is gay, yes, but he is, or was, a virgin!" Tsuna said, as if the news was astronomical. And with the way it was blowing Hayato's mind, it kinda was.

"Virgin?! What! No, no way! He was so good in bed though! There is no way he was a virgin!"

"Oh my god, I have to sit down." Tsuna said, all but ignoring Hayato at this point.

"And how do you even know that, anyway?" Hayato asked skeptically as he followed Tsuna into his living room. Tsuna looked up like he just remembered Hayato was there.

"Um, Yamamoto and I have been friends since I think… middle school? It's been a while."

"Wow… so, why would this be such a big thing? He's smoking hot, like, drop dead gorgeous. Why wouldn't he want to have some fun with other hot people?" Hayato asked as he sat next to Tsuna. He took the glass from the other man's shaky grasp and took a sip. He grimaced when the cold hit his teeth, but mentally shrugged it off. The water could warm up, this conversation was far too important.

"Uh… this gets a little personal, on my end, but… the first person I ever slept with… it wasn't really, shall we say, consensual? I um… I couldn't get him off of me." Tsuna's eyes seemed to zone out for a moment, and Hayato scooted a little closer, settling a hand on the other's knee, and startling the man out of his reprieve. There was an apology on Hayato's lips, one of empathy, when Tsuna's bright smile interrupted him.

"But, that's all in the past now. He can't hurt me now. But back to the main point – Yamamoto swore that he wouldn't have sex unless he knew it was with 'the one' after he found out what happened to me. He also swore that if he ever found out who hurt me, he would kill them." Tsuna giggled, like he wasn't talking about rape, and then pre-meditated murder, and Hayato cocked an eye brow, because that may or may not have disturbed him just a little.

Just a little.

"So, Yamamoto having sex with me… it meant that he thought that I was…" Hayato trailed off, his blush so hot he thought his face was melting. Tsuna nodded encouragingly, despite Hayato not even looking his way anymore.

"You have his heart, as much as he has yours." Tsuna's breath was soft against his ear, and Hayato looked back at the slighter man.

"I… I still can't do anything. With him." He muttered, and maybe it was the alcohol that was still floating in his system from the drinks with dinner, but when Tsuna asked a soft, "Why?" Hayato couldn't hold anything back.

He spoke of Mukuro, of their years dating, of his betrayal, of the heartache caused by it, and the way he had moved, despite hating moving, just to get out of being in the same city as him. By the end of his rant, he was crying lightly, tears pooling in his eyes and sliding gently down his cheeks. Tsuna was leaning against his arm, a silent but comforting statue.

"I had no idea…" Tsuna breathed, his voice shaky and pained. Hayato couldn't turn to face him, still couldn't bear to face the other's tears.

"Well, I didn't know about your past, so…" Hayato said, his voice just as shaky as Tsuna's, and the slighter man huffed a laugh into his shoulder. Hayato pulled Tsuna into his chest as a question he wasn't going to ask jumped passed his lips.

"So, Tsuna, why did you ask me out?" Tsuna squeaked as his flush heated Hayato's chest. There was a long pause before Tsuna mumbled,

"I'm going to sound like such a stalker."

Hayato laughed, but said nothing, waiting on the other man to continue. It took Tsuna a moment, but he gathered up enough courage to get out the words.

"Do you remember going to that really big conference in Tokyo about 4 months ago?" Hayato hummed as he thought back.

"Uh… 4 months ago… Yeah, there was that one thing in Tokyo. I had to leave early, because Mukuro was being a diva and wanted my attention."

"Oh, that was why you left…" Tsuna mumbled. Hayato nodded.

"Wait, you were there?" Hayato asked as he looked down. Tsuna blushed harder, if that was even possible.

"Yeah, I mean, I saw you from across the venue, and later that day I asked Grandpa about you. He said he would introduce us the next day, but then you left… then Grandpa said he was going to transfer you into my branch, and I told him not to if you didn't want to, but then you were here and…" Tsuna shifted into Hayato's side further and mumbled into his shirt. "See? Stalker alert." Hayato laughed and tightened his grip on the slighter man.

"If it's not serendipitous, then it is by design." Hayato said quietly in his mother tongue, Italian, and Tsuna looked up at him.

"What was that?" Hayato looked down again, watching Tsuna's brown eyes fil with wonder, and smiled as he tilted his head back again, staring up at the ceiling. After a moment, he repeated the words in Japanese.

"It basically means that sometimes, even if things seem like fate, there's actually someone pulling strings and making things happen." He looked down at Tsuna again and watched his eyes fall to the floor with a look of quiet guilt in them. He nudged the man into looking back up at him. "It's not always a bad thing though. Sometimes it's for the best if someone makes something unexpected happen for you."

"Like me asking about you lead to my grandpa sending you to meet Yamamoto?"

Hayato nodded.

"I was actually thinking about how you asked me out, and how I wish I could fall for you. You deserve someone who can. I just don't think it's me."

They sat and stewed in contemplative silence for a good minute as Tsuna steeled his resolve for something he wanted but wasn't always sure he would ever get. (If anything went wrong, he could always blame the alcohol.)

"Ha- Hayato…-san. I want to be selfish for a moment and ask you to do something for me." He looked up into Hayato's questioning eyes and back peddled. "O-only if you want to though. I would never, ever force anyone to do anything they don't want to, after what I went through. I've just never been with anyone else…" He looked down turned contemplative again for a second. "Well, there was that nice guy a couple months ago, but there was nothing sexual about us. He just bought me coffee once in a while." Tsuna shook his head and moved away from Hayato's chest, just enough to sit up, but not enough to fully separate them.

"I'm rambling, sorry."

Hayato laughed and turned a little toward Tsuna. He already had a feeling he knew what it was, but it wouldn't be the first time tonight Tsuna through him for a loop in his adorable way. "No, don't worry. It's cute. What would you like to ask me to do?"

Tsuna looked down with another blush and settled his hands on Hayato's chest. "I want you… to pretend, of you can."

"Pretend?" See? A loop. Was it a kink thing, maybe? Call Tsuna Daddy?

Tsuna nodded. "For just… just tonight. Can you pretend that you like me enough… to have sex with me?" Tsuna looked up from under his eyelashes and Hayato read all the desperation in his eyes, the fear of never being loved and loneliness from his years without the touch of another person deep in his heart. For a moment that confused him because weren't they basically the same age?

I've just never been with anyone else…

Well, there was that nice guy but there was nothing sexual about us.

Oh.

Oh…

"Tsuna…"

As gently as he could, Hayato pulled the smaller man into his lap, settling him in close and folding his arms around a thin waist. He lay his lips across Tsuna's and the brunette opened his lips easily, letting Hayato take control of the kiss. Hayato kept the kiss soft, a dance rather than a battle for dominance, and pulled apart to look Tsuna in the eyes again, a small smile on his lips. Tsuna was smiling a dopey little grin like the thought that Hayato was kissing him was the greatest thing ever.

"I want you to understand something first. For me." Hayato whispered the words across Tsuna's face and leaned back a little more to give the other man room to breathe. The words seemed to sober Tsuna from his stupor, and the man leaned back a little too, his eyes downcast again.

"I know. It's just tonight, and never again, right?" Hayato brought up a hand to Tsuna's chin and pulled his eyes up and shook his head when their eyes meet.

"No, Tsuna. I want you to understand that for you, I don't have to pretend to like you enough. I already do." Tsuna's eyes widened and watered at the same time, before the man launched himself at Hayato across his lap, wrapped his arms around Hayato's neck and kissed the man like he would die if he didn't. Desperation slammed into him as they kissed the way Hayato liked and they made quick work of their shirts. Tsuna pulled Hayato into his bedroom, Hayato only pausing to chuck his shoes off at the front door.

Hayato lay Tsuna out on his bed, and made the other man realize that the 'sex' he was forced to have those years ago was nothing compared to having a real lover. Someone who actually cared if Tsuna enjoyed everything, made sure Tsuna knew he could be loved and truly wanted.

He had lied though. Hayato hadn't meant to, when he said he didn't have to pretend for Tsuna, but the moment they were naked, laying there in the heat of it, Hayato realized he wanted Yamamoto. That he still wanted only Yamamoto. The man's touch and smell and taste and the sounds he made… he nearly spoke Yamamoto's name into the quiet of Tsuna's bedroom, and he made sure to say Tsuna's every time he thought of Yamamoto rather than the exquisite young man beneath him.

Tsuna lost count of how many times his name was said, whispered, called, or pleaded.


The following morning was an awkward affair.

Hayato woke up alone, to begin with. He also woke up to merry singing coming from the kitchen. He sat up with guilt heavy in his heart and got dressed slowly before he made his way to the kitchen, where the happy singing was replaced with humming, and the smell of pancakes and bacon filled the air. Hayato knew he had been caught though, not his coming into the kitchen, he had made sure to make that as obvious as possible to avoid startling Tsuna, but he knew Tsuna knew Hayato was thinking of someone else last night.

Tsuna's back tensed when Hayato made himself known, and the smaller man offered a small, forced smile.

"Good morning, Hayato." Tsuna said tightly as he set a coffee down in front of the man.

"Good morning. This is… quite the spread of food here." And there was a lot of food, a lot more that Hayato thought the two of them could eat in the morning. Pancakes and bacon were there, but there was also cereal (hot and cold), and waffles, as well as all the toppings that could possibly go on pancakes and waffles – from fresh fruit to liquid chocolate. Tsuna sat across from him with his own cup of coffee and Hayato reached for the cream.

"It's a habit I picked up from my mom." Tsuna said lightly as Hayato filled his plate. It all looked so good, he wanted a little of everything. Hayato looked up from the strawberries he was placing artfully onto his waffles.

"You always make this much for breakfast? How are you not fat?" That managed to pull a smile from Tsuna, and the younger man looked down and away.

"What I meant was that when I'm stressed to my breaking point, I cook. And cook, and cook, and cook." He glanced over to the stove as Hayato froze, his hand hovering over the bowl of banana slices. "But anyway." Tsuna turned somber here as he looked back at the man across his table.

Suddenly, Hayato remembered that this was his boss he had just been using as a secondary heart-ache band-aid.

"I think you and I should stop all… fraternizing. It's obvious that, although I like you, you don't feel the same for me. But you do love someone else. And that isn't healthy for either of us." Tsuna's voice… no. Sawada's voice was somber, his expression even more so. And all Hayato could do was nod in response as he stuffed his face.

The food didn't just look good. It tasted divine.

"Besides." Hayato said as soon as he swallowed his food. "We would never work." He tried very hard to ignore the hurt on Sawada's face as he continued. "You make the best god-damn food I've ever eaten, and you made so much." He looked up with a pout he hoped mirrored Sawada's at least a little as he set his fork down. "I stress eat! I wouldn't make it to 40 before my first heart attack!"

For a moment, Sawada looked stunned, then confused with an eyebrow raised, before he broke into a merry laughter so filled with admiration and love, Hayato couldn't help but join in.


Hayato left Sawada's house sometime around 10 in the morning, just after he helped the other man clean up from breakfast. It was weird, walking into his apartment, knowing all the shit he had caused with Sawada, and probably Yamamoto too, now, but instead of worrying about it, he went for a shower. It was Saturday, no work, but his Armani suit should be almost done. He didn't know why she was closed last weekend (something about a friends' wedding?) but she was usually open on Saturdays, so he changed into casual clothes.

Dark denim skinny jeans, short sleeve white shirt and a dark grey cardigan. He matched it all with multiple chains hanging from his neck and wrist, and a quote (from Bianchi) 'Shit ton' of rings. Some fingers doubled on them. Hayato really didn't care, and he merely grabbed his phone, wallet and keys as he shoved his feet into shoes.

Getting to Haru's Fix-It a second time was a lot easier than the first, and Hayato walked in to the glitter-covered monstrosity… and stumbled into a scene he would likely never forget.

"Hibari Fucking Kyoya?!"


And that's part 2.

This threw me for a loop! Kyoya wasn't supposed to be here, but poof! Hibari is as Hibari does, I guess? Lol