Chapter 3: fate is pulling you miles away
Yamamoto is… reasonably upset when Tsuna tells him. He's never seen or smelled such raw anger from Yamamoto before, and it takes nearly ten minutes of meticulous scenting and Tsuna's purring to get him to calm down.
"That's – Tsuna." Yamamoto's distress still sours the air on the rooftop, but at least he's coherent enough to have a discussion. "You're joking, right? This has to be a joke."
"It's not," Tsuna says, calm only because he has to be, because Nana and Reborn said it would be alright, and he has to believe them or he'll go insane. "I know it's hard to believe."
"The Italian mafia, Tsuna." Yamamoto goes slightly pale as he says the words aloud, and Tsuna is quick to take his hand and entwine their fingers. "Your dad's been apart of it this whole time? And he was just going to mate you off to one of them without even asking you?"
The whole thing sounds like a fantasy, or a sick joke. Tsuna never would've imagined his absent father to be some kind of mafia Don, but that's exactly what he is. Or what he could have been, if Reborn is to be believed.
Tsuna doesn't really want to think about most of the things Reborn told him. He's appreciated the man's honesty all his life, but Tsuna can't recall anything worse than looking into his uncle's eyes and listening to him talk about things like breeding potential and lines of succession. The fact that Tsuna's own father had been okay with making a deal like that had awakened something dark and primal in Tsuna, something he'd never felt before in all his life.
It was tempered somewhat by the dark promise he saw in Reborn's eyes, along with the quiet, righteous fury of Nana, but Tsuna doubted he would ever truly get over it.
The rest of the details didn't really stick in Tsuna's mind. It was way too much to absorb at once, but the one thing that Reborn and Nana made sure Tsuna paid attention to was his sudden role in all of this.
"Iemitsu went back to Italy to call the whole thing off," Tsuna says, "but Reborn said things probably won't go as smoothly as that. Apparently, my bloodline is… pretty valuable. Someone will come to take me to Italy if I don't go myself."
Yamamoto growls, eyes narrowing into slits. "That's kidnapping. They can't force you to go to Italy and mate with someone against your will!"
This is the mafia we're talking about, Tsuna screams mentally. I think they can force anyone to do anything.
He reminds himself to take a deep breath, recalling what Nana and Reborn had told him, over and over again. "They're going to protect me. Uncle Reborn is… he isn't really part of the mafia himself, I guess, but he said I'm staying right here. I have to believe him, Takeshi."
"So, what do we do? Just sit around and wait for someone to show up?"
"He said he's sending for a bodyguard." Tsuna shrugs helplessly at Yamamoto's incredulous stare. "Someone who will come to school with me, or other places Reborn can't go."
"What, like someone our age? Who else would be able to just come to school with us?"
Tsuna shakes his head. Reborn hadn't offered much information on the bodyguard front, and Tsuna hadn't really thought to ask amidst everything else he'd wanted to know.
"What if they don't give up?" Yamamoto asks, body suddenly stiff with nervous tension again. "How long are you gonna have to look over your shoulder, Tsuna?"
"I don't know," Tsuna says, offering his boyfriend a small smile that he hopes is reassuring. "I don't really think I'm prime mate material for the next mafia boss. Maybe they'll give up once they figure that out. But it's just something I'll have to deal with for now."
Yamamoto looks like he's about to go into another rant about Tsuna's self-worth, and Tsuna's prepared for it. But when the beta opens his mouth, what comes out is a simple, "We."
"Huh?"
"It's something we have to deal with," Yamamoto insists, and there's something in his eyes that Tsuna doesn't like. At all. "I don't care what I have to do, they're not taking you away from me."
"Takeshi – "
"I'm serious, Tsuna," Yamamoto says, and that's the worst part about all of this. "I can't just – I won't let something like that happen to you. I didn't do anything for – for years, and you were suffering, I know now that you were, I couldn't live with myself if I did that again – "
"We're up against the mafia, don't you get that?" cries Tsuna. "It's not like when I was being bullied, you can't protect me just by smiling and asking them to stop."
Yamamoto flinches like Tsuna's physically wounded him, but Tsuna can't bring himself to feel regret. The thought of Yamamoto getting hurt makes Tsuna want to throw up. If someone comes for Tsuna, then let them come, but Yamamoto Takeshi can't get caught up in whatever is about to happen.
If Tsuna were a better person, he'd end things with Yamamoto here and now. But he isn't strong enough to look Yamamoto in the eye and break up with him, not after everything. And Tsuna wants to believe that things will be fine, that Reborn has things under control, and Tsuna doesn't need to distance himself from the only person outside of his family who's ever loved him.
"Don't cry, Tsuna," Yamamoto says wretchedly, drawing Tsuna's attention to the warm wetness slipping down his cheeks. "I hate it when you cry."
"I'm sorry," Tsuna whimpers, but it's just too much. All of it. The idea of leaving his home, of being separated from Nana and Yamamoto, of being forced to mate with some stranger and eventually bear their children…
Yamamoto pulls him into his arms, and Tsuna doesn't leave them for a long time.
Tsuna's bodyguard is named Gokudera Hayato. He's an omega like Tsuna, with platinum blond hair, dark brown eyes, and the fiercest scowl Tsuna's ever seen.
Yamamoto seems to like him, even though Gokudera almost dislocated his shoulder the first time they met. "This just means he can protect you well," he'd laughed even as he rubbed his arm – thank goodness it hadn't been his pitching one – and beamed at the two of them. "I can sleep easy now."
Gokudera is also twitchy like Tsuna, although he's a lot better at hiding it. Nothing ever escapes his notice, even when it seems like he's not paying attention. Tsuna's math teacher learns this on the very first day when he calls Gokudera out to answer a complicated question just because he's a jerk like that.
The Italian transfer student doesn't hesitate before walking to the board and solving the equation faster than Tsuna thinks any of them could, and he practically throws the chalk at the teacher before stalking back to his desk. "Cazzo," Gokudera says, and Tsuna spazzes in fear even though he's likely the only one who understands what that means.
Nobody aside from Yamamoto has managed to surprise Tsuna as thoroughly as Gokudera. Barely a week into his stay, Hibari Kyouya himself comes to their classroom, scent unnervingly blank as usual. Tsuna's long taught himself to remain calm around Hibari – the older alpha is strict and maybe a little scary, but he isn't a bully – but he's still startled when the prefect says, "Gokudera Hayato. Come with me."
No one says a word as Gokudera gets up from his desk because they know better. Not even their teacher raises a voice in complaint, even though Hibari had unapologetically interrupted his lecture. Gokudera seems unconcerned as he follows Hibari out of the room, and maybe that's because he just doesn't know any better, but Tsuna suspects it's something else.
Gokudera doesn't return until later, sidling up next to Tsuna and Yamamoto as they stand at the shoe lockers after school. Tsuna's used to always being on his guard, but Gokudera moves like a ghost, and Tsuna can't help the startled yelp he emits when the Italian omega just appears at his side.
"Where have you been?" Tsuna asks once he's collected himself, trying to ignore how he'd practically leapt into Yamamoto's arms in his fright. "You weren't in trouble with Hibari-san, were you?"
"Of course not," Gokudera scoffs, like the idea itself is laughable. "He wanted to talk about my security practices."
Tsuna blinks in surprise. "He knows about all this?" Yamamoto asks.
Gokudera nods. "We couldn't just start causing trouble in Namimori without talking to him first," he replies, which just adds a whole other layer of mystery to the boy that is Hibari Kyouya. "He's very knowledgable about these things. He even gave me a blueprint of the school."
"That's… surprisingly helpful," Tsuna says carefully. "I didn't know he cared so much."
Gokudera looks at Tsuna oddly. "This is his territory," he says, as if that explains everything. "He cares about everything in it."
"That's reassuring," Yamamoto laughs, hands on his hips. "I always knew Hibari-san had to be a cool guy."
Predictably, Gokudera shoots Yamamoto a look of contempt. He seems to hate when Yamamoto laughs, or when he's just being loud in general. Tsuna can't necessarily blame him – Yamamoto's energy took him a while to get used to, too – but he wishes he could do something to smooth their relationship over. "Don't you have practice, baseball idiot?" Gokudera demands.
Yamamoto shakes his head, eyes glinting with mischief and… something else. "Nope. I'm skipping today."
"You?" Tsuna gapes at his boyfriend. "What for?"
"Someone's after you, Tsuna," Yamamoto says, expression darkening with every word he speaks. Tsuna feels off-kilter at the sight, strangely pleased and worried in equal measure. "I can't just forget about that. I wouldn't be any use in practice anyway."
"Like you're any use to us?" Gokudera gripes, but Yamamoto just laughs and pats his shoulder good-naturedly.
For many weeks, Gokudera follows Tsuna everywhere: to school, the bathroom, even his dates with Yamamoto. They become a trio of sorts, to the point that Tsuna begins to wonder how things will change once the threat of being kidnapped goes away. Surely Gokudera won't stay in Japan long, and the thought saddens Tsuna.
The Italian omega fits in well with the dynamic he and Yamamoto have going. He's generally no nonsense, but Tsuna notices how his lips sometimes twitch when Yamamoto makes a dumb joke, or how his eyes sparkle when Nana fixes his coffee exactly the way he likes it.
At his core, Gokudera's actually more tempered and methodical than he appears, and in that way, he's almost easier to deal with than Yamamoto, who acts on impulse and thinks more with his heart. And they're both a lot more socially confident than Tsuna, though they have a certain aggressiveness to them that only Tsuna is capable of reigning in.
They fit well together, Tsuna thinks. If anything good has come out of this whole mafia mess, it's definitely Gokudera Hayato's introduction into their lives.
It's almost terrifying, however, how easy it is to forget exactly why Gokudera's with them. They don't see hide or hair of Xanxus' cronies, as Gokudera and Reborn lovingly call them, and Tsuna's tried and true ability to compartmentalize anything that upsets him leaves him all the more vulnerable.
Almost a month to the day that Gokudera arrives, they somehow stumble into an ambush. Nothing about that day was normal, so Tsuna doesn't know how an ambush was even possible. Tsuna usually gets home around four or so, but the baseball team had a practice match against another school, and he'd convinced Yamamoto to play despite his boyfriend's protests.
Tsuna and Gokudera stay to watch the game, and afterward, Yamamoto joins them on their walk home. Gokudera insists that they take a different route home everyday so that no one can become familiar with their patterns, so they end up walking through the park.
Tsuna and Yamamoto hold hands while Gokudera walks a few paces behind them as he usually does. Tsuna still gets a certain thrill when he holds Yamamoto's hand in public, and most of his energy is spent trying to keep from combusting. It takes him an embarrassingly long time to notice the park's emptiness, how quiet it is when Tsuna knows this is the perfect playground for elementary school kids.
That's what Tsuna notices first: the quiet. Not a child, not a bird, nothing. Tsuna barely has time to feel uneasy.
It all happens quickly after that. Yamamoto's warmth is ripped from Tsuna's hand, and the startled omega yelps as he's slammed into from behind. He and the weight against his back fall to the sidewalk in a heap, Tsuna barely managing to avoid landing flat on his face and busting his nose.
A loud, rumbling growl sounds from behind him, and Tsuna begins to struggle as he recognizes it as Yamamoto's growl. But no matter how hard he fights, Tsuna can't get free. "Stay down," Gokudera's voice hisses from above him.
Tsuna manages to crane his neck around slightly, but the only thing he manages to catch a glimpse of is Yamamoto's discarded baseball bag on the grass. Panic, abrupt and chilling, courses through Tsuna, and he whines in raw, omegan fear, scrabbling at the concrete in a renewed effort to free himself. "Takeshi!" he cries, and the growling only persists as the sounds of a scuffle reach Tsuna's pounding ears.
There's a swishing sound, sharp in the quiet of the early evening, followed by a dull impact. Something hard hits the ground, and a dark object skids across the concrete beside Tsuna, whose eyes widen when it stops and he realizes it's a gun. Gokudera reacts immediately, arm shooting out to grab the discarded weapon while still keeping Tsuna pinned. Once he has a hold on it, Gokudera whips around, and Tsuna hears a small pop, followed by a howl of pain.
Heavy boots sound against the concrete, the sounds fading as if someone is running away, and soon all Tsuna can hear are the sounds of Yamamoto's and Gokudera's panting. Slowly, Gokudera eases up, and Tsuna pushes himself up before turning to inspect the damage with fear clogging his throat.
But the thing is… there is no damage. Not really. There's a blood trail leading down the path, but Yamamoto and Gokudera don't seem concerned anymore. Yamamoto looks disheveled, but he's smiling as he stares down at Tsuna, looking entirely too pleased with himself considering that –
"That's not a baseball bat!" Tsuna shrieks.
"So, you're not entirely useless," Gokudera says, dipping his head slightly in approval as he inspects the gun in his hands. "Eh, at least he was kind enough to equip a silencer," he adds, almost under his breath.
Yamamoto grins, tapping the blunt end of his very real sword against his shoulder. "Tsuna's precious to me. Of course I'm gonna do what I can to protect him."
Yamamoto and Gokudera are crazy, the worst, and they're going to kill Tsuna one day. And Tsuna's so angry that they were put in danger, but his relief that they're okay tempers that somewhat.
Tsuna loves them so much, and while he may kind of despise them in this moment for their stupid bravery, he'll save his righteous fury for the person who most deserves it.
Thankfully, that's the only run-in they have with mafia personnel. Four days go by before Reborn tells him they're in the clear. "Xanxus is easy to manipulate," the older alpha explains. "Present him with something he thinks he wants more, and he'll move on at the drop of a hat."
"Should I be concerned?" asks Tsuna. He doesn't really know how to feel about it. He'd honestly expected more, maybe a whole platoon of men in dark suits and sunglasses brandishing guns and tranquilizer darts.
"Don't worry about it, his new flame is more than willing to receive his Bite." Reborn rolls his eyes. "Trust me. He'll never even think about you again."
Yamamoto overreacts to the news, Tsuna thinks. He swoops Tsuna up in his arms and spins him around until they're both dizzy. But Yamamoto is happy, he's laughing, and Tsuna gets caught up in that, smiling so hard his cheeks hurt.
"You two are… disgusting," Gokudera says, but he doesn't sound all that upset as he watches Yamamoto plant kisses all over Tsuna's face. "I'm glad everything worked out."
"It's thanks to you," Tsuna says as he shoves Yamamoto's face away. "I probably would've died of stress without you around, and then where would we be?"
"Depressed," Yamamoto says just as Gokudera replies, "Prison, most likely."
Tsuna shakes his head, exasperated. He can't even begin to guess what's going through their heads and doesn't want to try.
"So, what now?" Yamamoto asks, reigning in his affection but still keeping hold of Tsuna's hand. They're in the Sawada's living room, waiting for Nana and Reborn to finish with dinner in the kitchen. The two of them sit down on the couch next to Gokudera now that Yamamoto's celebration has ended, and Tsuna feels like he can truly relax for the first time in almost two months. "Are you gonna stick around, Gokudera?"
"I don't see why I should," Gokudera replies evenly, eyes fixed on the television. His right leg bounces in muted thuds against the carpet. "Xanxus' attention is elsewhere, and now everyone else knows that Tsuna's off limits. My services are no longer needed."
"Is this just what you do?" Yamamoto asks, giving voice to the thoughts in Tsuna's own head. "You hop around from client to client until they're safe?"
"Not really," Gokudera says. "This was a… special case."
Tsuna and Yamamoto share a long look. "Well," Tsuna begins, because he's gotten a feel for Gokudera over what's probably been the longest two months of his life, and direct communication seems the safest route to the other omega's emotions, "we're gonna miss you, Gokudera-kun. You can always come visit. We can go to the movies again."
Gokudera finally glances over at that, eyes dark and unreadable. He's silent for a long moment, and all is quiet except for the quiet noise of the television and Nana and Reborn moving around in the kitchen. "I've killed people, you know," he says, voice flat and toneless. He watches them carefully, and Tsuna sees a quiet fear there, fear of their reactions, their rejection. "This may be a one-off for you two, but it's my life. I can't just waste my time at the movies."
It's sad, Tsuna thinks, that Gokudera seems to think that'll be enough to scare them off. As if Yamamoto hadn't taken to carrying around an actual sword to protect Tsuna with, as if Tsuna hadn't become resigned to that fact way too easily.
"I mean, can't you do both?" asks Yamamoto before Tsuna can think of something comforting to say. "All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy, or whatever?"
"It's Jack, you fucking imbecile," Gokudera says, outraged, while Tsuna bursts into laughter.
This is just his normal, now. Tsuna's pretty okay with it.