It was now a regular occurrence for there to be phone calls for Tsuna.
Always it was Luce telling him about what was happening with Mukuro. Since he was the victim he deserved to know, according to her. But Tsuna didn't want to know. He'd rather be blissfully unaware of what Mukuro was being treated as because, truth be told, Mukuro was the lowest of the low to Tsuna and hearing about him regularly was not something he would appreciate, since you know, it kind of made him think of everything that happened.
But he still smiled and let Luce tell him because she was too persistent and he didn't know how to tell people to stop.
News of Mukuro suddenly popping up in the school spread extremely fast though so Tsuna had no way to avoid it. Soon Tsuna felt stares on him as he walked through the halls. Chills ran through him and heat pooled his face whenever he felt the stares. Yamamoto and Gokudera had taken to following Tsuna to his next class, even if they were on separate floors, just to make sure he got there comfortably. That didn't mean when he didn't have any friends in a class was easy. He was forced to dance around question after question as he tried to actually do work while people around him goofed off, most looking over in a mix of curiosity and awe. He didn't know why but Yamamoto had mentioned that people seemed to think he was something to pity; people feeling sorry for him making them actually talk to Tsuna.
"That's stupid." Tsuna couldn't help but mumble. "I'm not a conversation piece for gossip. If anything they should be talking about what I went through as something to change."
Gokudera nodded, understanding and having similar sentiments. Yamamoto was just confused but didn't question it as class was starting.
But this bothered Tsuna the rest of the day. Why would they be talking about it and not doing anything, even though it happens everywhere every second. It was infuriating to say the least to think people were only gossiping instead of thinking of ways to make it stop. He was still fuming by the time he walked into his dorm, being covered in baby powder the moment he closed the door.
"Renato you've used baby powder before, what gives?" Tsuna called. He heard Renato chuckle, looking at him from his stretched out position on the couch.
"The baby powder was almost expired and since nobody uses it, I decided to." Renato smirked, not even fazed by Tsuna's glare as he walked to the bathroom to get the powder out.
Renato's phone rang the moment Tsuna walked into the room, making him sigh in apprehension. He had already heard where Mukuro was or what he was having done to him. Currently he was in a processing facility where he was being held until he could be charged. He was being charged with destruction of property, rape, kidnapping, torture, but those were only going to put him away for a few years. That was the hardest part as, no matter how much Tsuna proved what happened, the law system always whisked away rape charges if a rape kit wasn't performed. And one wasn't. So there was only Tsuna's word against Mukuro's lies.
Renato answered the phone, his voice low and sharp. "Hello, if this is about Mukuro's current whereabouts, please refrain from telling him."
"No, Reborn, this is Colonnello. Mom's in the hospital. Either come down here with us or stay with Tsuna, I don't care. I'm just letting you know."
"Why's she in the hospital?"
"She went into labour. Most of the predicted siblings aren't going, it's only Fon, me, you, and Skull."
Reborn groaned. "I'm not dealing with that idiot today, I already have to put up with you."
"Hey! I'm not that bad. Anyways, she'll be in Namimori Hospital if you want to visit later on. Bring Tsuna, he might want to be here." And Colonnello cut the line, releasing Reborn from his infuriatingly pitched voice.
Reborn turned to where Tsuna was pretending to read, his eyes fixated on his book but they weren't moving. "Hey, Tsuna, Luce went into labour. Do you want to come to the hospital with me?"
"Whoa! She's really early, is everything okay?" Tsuna asked, more worried about how Luce would be after giving birth premature.
Reborn rolled his eyes, shrugging. "I don't know, Colonnello just called to tell me what was happening. Do you want to come with me to the hospital?"
"I-Is it okay?" Tsuna asked, fidgeting with the book.
"I asked, didn't I? They want you there as much as I do."
Tsuna seemed hesitant but agreed. His homework could wait as the birth of life was a way better learning experience. Not like he'd be learning anything, he was just trying to make himself feel less guilty on not doing his homework.
The entire experience of going to the hospital was weird. Tsuna had no conscious memory of just walking to the hospital without having something notoriously wrong. And seeing the doctors and nursing rushing around wasn't the best of signs.
They had just gotten to the room after having to convince the nurse at the front desk to believe Reborn was Luce's son, even if it wasn't by blood. Everybody was scattered around the private room. Luce was panting, her face covered with a sheen of sweat from how her contractions were getting more frequent. Fon and Colonnello greeted him, Colonnello and Reborn literally butting heads in a greeting while everybody else looked on. Luce's husband was there, his weather beaten skin seeming more lined as he stared down at his wife in worry, sitting in a chair clutching her hand and muttering soothing things to her. She seemed to be trying not to say things as she listened to her husband speak.
It was quiet and everybody seemed to just be waiting. There was no telling what was going to happen and the doctors had yet to come in and check on Luce, asking if she was okay, if she needed anything, etc. They all mainly just talked amongst themselves and waited for something to happen.
Well after an hour of waiting around the room, Colonnello leaving a couple times to walk around the hospital and Skull leaving half way through the hour after Reborn kept threatening him, Doctors rushed in. Luce's heart rate had been dropping, her blood pressure rising, and the doctors had been notified. Reborn, Fon, Luce's husband, and Tsuna were the only ones left in the room as her heart rate dropped suddenly. They called the nurses and doctors, everybody standing around in worry before they were whisked out. Everybody seemed nervous, not sure what to do as they were forced to wait even more. But this time there was no way to see for themselves what was happening.
Tsuna and Reborn sat together in the corner of the waiting room in chairs farthest from the entrance where every sick person imaginable seemed to be chilling. Tsuna had his feet propped up on Reborn's thighs as they talked, mostly Tsuna just telling random stories or asking questions.
As they were talking, everybody else paced around the hospital, roaming the halls in an attempt to rid themselves of the nerves welling up in every fibre of their being. They weren't told Luce's condition at all, they were just shoved into the hall while they prepped Luce. The only person allowed in was Luce's husband and that was it. So everybody was forced to wait as they hoped Luce was okay.
It was hard to distract themselves but they managed. Tsuna was in the middle of a story, talking about how in class Gokudera had challenged the teacher about how there was life in space, when Reborn stiffened. He was looking just over Tsuna's head at somebody walking through the waiting room, his entire face neutral but his eyes flaring up. Tsuna looked behind him in confusion, not knowing what was so bad about it when Reborn starting using Sign Language instead of speaking.
"The person behind you was one of the people that captured me in Italy. He was the main reason it was so terrible." Reborn signed quickly, trying to shrink himself instinctively. He didn't want to look. It might have been another person but there were people that got off on false evidence or not enough to convict. The person walking through though was the same height and build; had the same long, greasy sandy hair; an easy-going grin that made you want to trust them; even the eyes were the same deep brown. It was unnerving because Reborn was sure they should have been in jail.
As if sensing they was being stared at they turned slightly around and locked eyes with Reborn, their eyes flashing and a small smile danced across their face. It looked like they just hit the jackpot. But he didn't do anything, oh no, that'd be too conspicuous in a public space. If they trusted Reborn wouldn't say anything, be as stubborn as always, then they could plan a way to get payback.
Reborn looked down quickly, signing out with shaking hands, "They know I'm here, don't act like anythings wrong. I'll tell you more about everything later."
Tsuna looked up at Reborn, feeling fear tug at his nerves as he saw how much this affected Reborn. He didn't say anything, didn't have anything different about his neutral expression. But the way his shoulders had locked, his eyes seemed to shine with unspoken rage, and the small lines near his mouth as he worked to keep his face from portraying everything was enough to make anybody scared.
"Okay, I trust you." Tsuna signed out.
Reborn closed his eyes briefly, collecting himself. He hated how much he had to step back. This had happened years ago. This shouldn't be a big thing to be scared of anymore. He shouldn't even be scared in the first place. All of the people there were cowards, trying to skimp off of somebody's fake words. Yet there he was, trying not to hyperventilate as he waited for even one of his siblings to walk into the waiting room so he could leave with a reason. He didn't want to be forced home but if this scum was going to be near him, even in the same building as him, there was no way that he was going to be able to feel safe.
Fon walked in with Colonnello, both still looking mildly uneasy then. Fon walked over to Reborn, sitting in one of the chairs positioned beside Reborn's. Colonnello looked around the room, surveying which seat would give him less of an illness before flopping into one beside Tsuna, making Tsuna flinch slightly.
"What's wrong, Reborn?" Fon asked. He looked at Reborn with eyes that just seemed to know how uneasy and on edge he was.
"Don't." He hissed, seething. The person perked up, looking at their little group from the corner of his eye. They were waiting for information on a patient, the nurse looking through files on the computer methodically, giving the person plenty of time to survey Reborn, smirking at him like they expected Reborn to jump at him any moment. Like this was a fun game.
"I need to go back to the school for a minute." Reborn said, unclenching his jaw and speaking as calmly as possible. "I'll be back later."
Fon looked questioningly at Tsuna, who shrugged. Reborn looked back and signed, "Are you coming? at Tsuna who nodded, following briskly and never looking behind them, even though he felt eyes on them as they went. Colonnello and Fon watched silently but exchanged looks with Reborn, who just pointed to the person leaning against the desk, now distracted as the nurse told them where to go.
Reborn walked, slowing a little for Tsuna so he wouldn't be running. They made it back to the school but Reborn took a detour, vaulting a fence of a neighbouring lot, Tsuna following, failing at climbing the fence as Reborn had directed, and being caught by Reborn easily.
"It's really annoying how perfect you are sometimes." Tsuna signed out begrudgingly, his entire face an annoying red colour. Reborn smirked, continuing on with Tsuna still in his arms. "And put me down!"
"No." Reborn spelled out, careful to keep Tsuna positioned so he wouldn't fall.
Reborn walked to the back corner of the school, setting Tsuna down, ((i.e dropping him on his ass)) and pulled away some of the shrubbery there. He motioned for Tsuna to go through before him. They were facing the back of the building the industrial size and feel of the outside being more prominent as the shadow cast on the grass grew every passing second. Tsuna tried to walk around but Reborn grabbed his wrist, pulling him to a door in the back of the building.
"There's a stairwell we can take through. I'd rather not go through the front door." Reborn uttered, directing Tsuna with him as they walked through the doors into the cool stairwell.
"What was that about at the hospital?" Tsuna asked, mimicking Reborn's soft tone. He stopped and turned to Reborn, looking up at him with determination. He wanted to know if Reborn was okay, even if he tried to bat it away, he wanted to know if there was at least something small to make him feel a little bit better.
He sighed, sitting on the bottom step and stretching his legs out before him. "When I was with the people that took me, they said a lot of nasty things. Most of them were just following blindly and thought they were doing the best thing. I wasn't the only one there, I was the only one reported on after the news broke but everybody else with me didn't have their identities revealed because of how the parents didn't want it. My name was leaked but they used the wrong photo of me, since the most recent school photo was when I was in grade seven and still had long hair, and they used the wrong name. Renato is the name I chose that the media started using after I mentioned not to use my dead name but now most people know my dead name.
"Anyways, the guy in the hospital was the one person not caught in that entire scandal no matter my testimony against him because there wasn't 'sufficient evidence' to convict him. Or the judge was paid off into letting him out since there were ties with the Mafia in his family. The fact he's here though. In the small town like this where nobody of importance comes."
Reborn sighed through his nose, running his hands through the hair at the base of his neck. "I'm just tired of this thing constantly being brought up. I'd much rather forget about it. My mom had to ban the teachers from talking about it since it'd be brought up so much."
Tsuna sat down beside Reborn, hesitantly leaning against Reborn's shoulder. "Well, no matter what you do it's a pretty sick and messed up thing that happened. So of course people want to talk about it. The same things are happening to me as people want to ask me a bunch of questions about what happened and even though Ms. Luce tried to make people stop by talking to the teachers about it, the teachers like to gossip as well. So you can't really escape it."
"That's the worst part about it. I already think about it everyday. I'd rather not talk about it either because if news broke that I am the person everybody wants to meet, I'd never be safe again because there are still people that believe in the cult and everything as they aren't based just in Italy but everywhere." Reborn dropped his head onto Tsuna's, hugging Tsuna closer to his side. "I just want to go home."
"Where's home?" Tsuna asked tentatively.
"With you."
"For a teenager, you are surprisingly smooth." Tsuna simpered, wrapping his arms around Reborn's neck. He felt Reborn laugh, hugging him back, and burying his face into his neck. Tsuna ran his hands through Reborn's hair, trying to think of something else to say. No matter what he thought of it all sounded like he was making it about himself or he was being unsympathetic. So he decided to stay quiet, feeling Reborn relax into him as they continued to sit together, breathing in each other's scent, feeling the other's body pressed against theirs in a way that was sexual but still incredibly intimate.
The quiet didn't last long sadly as Reborn tensed again, hearing people talking outside of the door. He shot up, grabbing Tsuna's hand, and sprinting up the stairs as quietly and as quickly as humanly possible. It was the dude from the hospital, with more people. He knew they were speaking in a Nordic language but Reborn wasn't very good at translating those ones so he hadn't gotten a good idea of what they were saying. When they switched to Italian though, he knew who they were and that they were trying to find him or Tsuna.
He had no idea how they knew about Tsuna but he didn't want to stick around to find out. He wanted to stash Tsuna somewhere but he knew it'd be best if they didn't split up as Tsuna wasn't the best with confrontation. And hiding. Tsuna sucked at hide and seek. So he pulled Tsuna along as he went through all the nooks and crannies he knew throughout the building, finally settling in an empty classroom, stuffing Tsuna before himself into a cupboard. It was lockable from the inside and so it was the best spot Reborn could think of.
Tsuna just went along, he was pretty sure he was going to have a really bad asthma attack later on but he just really hoped it was after everything was settled because he didn't want to have this shit body of his to be the reason they're found.
Reborn had Tsuna pressed against the bottom of the cupboard, his body curved and bending around Tsuna's enough that they both had at least a little space. Tsuna didn't mind though as it was Reborn and he trusted him to no end. He actually wrapped his arms around Reborn's neck, pressing his forehead against the base of Reborn's throat as he tried to calm his breathing. He wasn't sure if it could work but maybe if he calmed down enough he could make sure he didn't have an attack just yet.
Reborn relaxed slightly, bringing one hand to cradle Tsuna's head against his body. It was dead quiet as they waited, the only sound their laboured breathing, the silence pressing against their ears as they waited for something. They heard the occasional footstep but that was it.
It was pitch black in the cupboard so Tsuna had to resort to tracing kanji into Reborn's hand to be able to talk to him.
"Can't we tell the police?" Tsuna tried to reason.
Reborn removed his hand from Tsuna's head and traced into Tsuna's palm, "They wouldn't help as they were let off for a reason."
Tsuna made a small, almost inaudible noise of annoyance before he said, "What about Fon? Could we tell him where we are?"
Reborn thought of it before answering, "Probably. Do you have your phone with you?"
Tsuna hastily pulled it out of his back pocket, hoping he wouldn't make a noise loud enough for people to hear. He thankfully didn't drop it and he handed it to Reborn, starting to sign him the password when Reborn had guessed it.
"I know what it is, Tsuna. You aren't hard to figure out." Reborn signed, kissing Tsuna's nose.
He went into the messages app and sent a coded text, Fon had suggested it for when Reborn was in trouble or didn't want people to know what he was talking about if they read his messages. What he sent was the one to let Fon know he needed help, no matter how much he denied it was because he needed help, and locked the phone. All they had to do was wait to be found. Thankfully, Tsuna was smart enough to have all the sounds from the keyboard and the lock turned off so it didn't give them a hard time if people were walking by.
Unfortunately, people were sprinting through the hall, stopping momentarily, stepping through the rooms, before running to the next one. It sounded like there were three in total, all having heavy footfalls as they ran. They all talked in Italian so Reborn could pick up everything said, mainly they were just saying they didn't find anything, all the locked cabinets wouldn't budge, nobody was in this wing as classes were out for the day, etc.
As they went down the hall, there was always one person yelling profanities and slurs at Reborn. When he had been held with them, there was one person that was always nice to them. They had said they were agender, or don't identify with any gender in the binary, and acted like their friend. He was the person to talk to when one of them had started their periods and needed a little higher quality food or comfort because being on their period was the last thing they wanted, being transgender and all. He was the one person everybody thought was the friend. Yet when it was time for the ritual they had been 'prepared for', this guy had no problem throwing half of them onto the alter and sacrificing them. Reborn had gotten away before that and was only told by the people he had befriended in captivity later on about what had happened with them.
So hearing them call out the slurs and be an otherwise shit human being, it made his blood boil. He couldn't believe that somebody could be so cruel. Purposefully toying with somebody's emotions to get close to them or information. Reborn didn't know nor did he care why they did it. All he wanted to do was snap all of their necks, especially for the people he knew were still affected by what went down in that 'camp'.
Reborn rubbed his eyes with a hand, trying to calm himself down. Tsuna had been watching him the entire time Reborn had been sorting through his emotions, waiting for something to happen. He gently reached up and took Reborn's hand, holding it, partly as an anchor for himself, but mainly to let Reborn know that he was here if he was needed.
He felt Reborn leaned down, gently kissing underneath his jaw, and rubbing a thumb across the back of Tsuna's hand.
The two of them stayed as quiet and still as possible. Even if their legs and backs had started to hurt, staying in the same position for so long, they didn't move. There were footsteps steadily growing closer to where they hid and if they moved that would be the time they stopped in front of this classroom.
When they got to the room where Reborn and Tsuna were, the tension as both of them sat as still as possible was unbearable. At any moment there could be somebody pulling the two out and doing somethingto them.
But they didn't check underneath or in anything. They just did a quick sweep throughout the room and left.
They were never a smart group to begin with but that was pathetic.
Reborn let out a sigh through his nose, waiting until they heard all three sets of footsteps stomping to another floor in the stairwell before moving. When they heard what they needed to, Reborn slowly unlocked the door, hating the small, very audible click, and slowly made his way out of the cupboard. Tsuna wasn't as graceful as Reborn as he just fell flat on his face when he tried to untangle himself but Reborn couldn't help the small smile that flittered across his face watching Tsuna turn bright red in embarrassment and stammer out a low apology.
"Come on", Reborn signed, helping Tsuna up. "We need to get out of here as fast as possible."
Tsuna nodded, letting Reborn pull him along in the opposite way again, this time going towards the dormitory.
Maneuvering through this building was the easiest thing Reborn could do. He had scoped out all of his hiding spots, built small shelters when he needed to just be by himself; made small shortcuts to make sure he always got to class on time; he could even use them to spy on random parts in hallways, pick up who was getting laid with who, who was cheating on their partner, and was able to just generally add a lot to the pool of gossip surrounding this school. Yet for the life of him he couldn't remember how to get to any of these. He wasn't sure which route to take so he could get the both of them to the staff room, if he needed to take a left then a right, or vice versa.
Tsuna picked up on his distress and stopped, pulling on Reborn's hand to make him slow down.
"I know where we can go." Tsuna signed out, this time running while pulling Reborn along.
He didn't like it, but Tsuna still had a key to Mukuro's dorm. Sometimes he needed to get in before Mukuro to get some clothes he'd left behind when he had slept over the night before or needed to be there because Mukuro told him to greet him when he got home. So he started directing Reborn to Mukuro's dorm, knowing it was the only place nobody ever went anymore. Especially him.
"Tsuna, we can go somewhere else." Reborn said as an undertone. He was waiting for Tsuna to unlock the door, his hands shaking so much that it was getting hard to hold the key still enough to just insert it.
But Tsuna just shook his head. He had made up his mind, this was where they were hiding and it was too late to go anywhere else.
He finally got the door unlocked, it swinging open without a sound. It felt weird to see the doom and gloom that Mukuro had put into this dorm flood back out. The windows all had black curtains on them, leading to almost no light filtering in, there were stains galore on the rugs, suede couch, along the walls. There was no telling what the stains were but Tsuna knew. He had witnessed almost all the the stains being made. When Mukuro had been going through Manic phases he was the one to get the brunt of the anger he was channeling. Mania has nothing to do with emotions as it just makes you feel like you're going fast. So Mukuro always just did things on impulse whenever this happened. Most of the time his impulse was to throw something. So it wasn't the best time to be around him.
Reborn stepped into the dorm behind Tsuna, taking his elbow, and guiding him to the farthest room possible, luckily this was a room that Mukuro never used.
"We can hide in here and wait for everything to cool down if we need to." Reborn said, sitting against the bed. Tsuna didn't seem to hear him as he started pacing, mumbling to himself. Reborn tried to get his attention but he was completely lost, saying things to himself in an effort to calm himself down.
It was all something Reborn didn't want to see. He couldn't bear the thought that Tsuna put himself through reliving everything he went through just because he wanted to help him. It wasn't something that he felt was worth sacrificing your own mental health for. But Tsuna was stubborn. He wouldn't give up and he was going to tough this out the best he could.
"Tsuna?" Reborn called. It made Tsuna jerk, hearing his name, but he wasn't going to stop. Stopping meant he was left with his thoughts. "Tsuna, please look at me."
He looked over briefly but kept pacing, now chewing on his thumb nail as he went. Reborn sighed, getting up and following Tsuna's movements.
"What are you feeling?" Reborn asked, grasping at straws.
"Scared."
"Can you explain why?"
"Obviously because I don't want to be here. This is the one place I promised myself I'd never go back to."
"Then why did you offer this place?"
"Because I wanted to be useful. I know I won't have a chance if there's actual confrontation because I'm very weak, you are very not, and if they had found us anywhere else I'd just run and that's just terrible. I can't run when you could probably taken again and I wouldn't handle that very well because I'd cry a lot more then usual because I don't want you gone yet that could be a very big possibility if-if you are hurt or anything thanks to these assholes and-"
Reborn stopped, grabbing Tsuna's shoulders so he would to. He seemed to shrink away from Reborn's touch so he lifted his hands, showing them palm out. "Tsuna, you might not have realized but I am very capable of handling myself. Even if you run off that doesn't mean I'll get taken away. Nobody knows what could happen if they were to find us but what definitely won't happen is me getting taken by them a second time. One time was a time too many for me." Reborn smiled, like a full on soft eyed, curved mouth, dimpled smile that made Tsuna actually stop, his breath catching, his eyes twinkling, his entire being yearning to remember this moment.
"I-I'm sorry." Tsuna muttered. His entire body trembled like a leaf and he wasn't sure what to do. He didn't feel as panicky, he wasn't sure if it was because he was panicking for another reason or what, but he let Reborn guide him back to where he was sitting before.
"There's nothing to be sorry about." Reborn said, letting Tsuna collapse onto him.
"Sorry."
Reborn just sighed but didn't say anything else. Tsuna started to fall asleep, his grip on Reborn's shirt loosening the only indicator, so Reborn was left on his own. He was mainly still fuming about the entire thing. He had been promised he wouldn't be found yet here he was, found in plain sight and now being hunted or whatever they were trying to do. If they found him he wouldn't hesitate to fight them off but Tsuna would also be there and he'd rather be captured before Tsuna.
He tried to calm himself down, running his hands lightly down Tsuna's arms and through his hair was the only thing he could do to distract himself. It was all he could do but he wasn't against it.
Tsuna stirred, not enough to actually wake up but he moved and Reborn was personally offended that he looked as cute as he did. Sleep was supposed to be a time where there are no qualms on how you look, it's just you and nature. But Tsuna had a soft snore that was constant, stopping and sputtering as he breathed in. His bangs fell into his face, catching on his nose that was running just a little, and his mouth hung open, drool sliding out at the corner. Reborn couldn't believe that he was able to look so cute and adorable when he was sleeping.
Tsuna opened his eyes, the sleep addled, bleary eyed look Reborn yearned to see in the morning sometimes, and he blushed, not sure why Reborn was staring at him so intently. When he was going to ask why he was being stared at, there was a sudden rush of footsteps, and a shout of three voices making their way down the hall.
The closest thing for them to hide in was the closet and he hated this but Reborn pushed Tsuna in after him, closing the door and hoping against hope that they weren't able to find them.
Of course, he had set up a few precautions should the people run into this wing.
Tsuna wasn't so excited or confident about this though as he didn't know what Reborn was planning, for one, and two was trapped in a small dark space while being hunted. He wasn't doing the greatest thanks to that because it reminded him too much about how Mukuro had taken him, stored him in his closet, taken him underneath the pool, never let him see light until Reborn had appeared out of nowhere and given him hope. That was the main reason Tsuna was able to muster up what little courage he had left and actually run off after hitting Mukuro. He had paid the price later on as he had an asthma attack while he was being hospitalized, making him stay an extra night, and being given more medication to take. He couldn't really care about that as Reborn was there the entire time, helping him through everything.
He tapped Reborn's shoulder multiple times in rapid succession, making Reborn look at him in confusion. He couldn't see much of Reborn as it was pitch black in the closet, the door only having a small slit near the top of the door for light to enter, but he did know that Reborn didn't like this either.
"I need you to help me not have a panic attack." Tsuna signed out, feeling a wave of guilt flow through his arms as he signed everything. Reborn didn't seem to mind though as he gave the same small smile that seemed to make Tsuna just want to stop and stare in wonder.
"That's fine, Tsuna. What are you scared of?" Reborn signed out, letting Tsuna fall against his chest again.
"The closet here was where Mukuro made me stay before he took me underneath the pool."
He saw the flare of anger flash through Reborn's eyes but he clamped down on it, his eyes going blank again. "Do you want to leave?"
"Yes but we're not going to. Those guys are outside and I'm not letting you risk getting caught because I can't stand being somewhere that makes me uncomfortable."
Reborn stared at Tsuna, not saying anything, not signing anything back, he just stared. Tsuna felt heat rise up his neck and he started to sign something to explain what he had said when Reborn caught his hands, shaking his head.
"If it makes you uncomfortable to the point of no being able to breath, that's a problem. If you almost have a nervous breakdown, it's making you more than uncomfortable. Don't demean what you're feeling just because it doesn't seem that big to you compared to what's happening." Reborn stared at Tsuna, his eyes smouldering as he dared Tsuna to say anything self-deprecating. He wasn't going to have it because he knew what to say to anything Tsuna might respond with.
But there wasn't anything Tsuna could say. He didn't know how to answer because he knew Reborn was right, but he still felt it was wrong. So he stuck to being quiet, dropping his hands onto his stomach, and letting Reborn card his fingers through his hair, gently scraping his scalp as he went.
It was surprisingly peaceful, the two just sitting inside the closet in their own little world. They could still hear all the crashing and banging around going on but it wasn't something that mattered. The only thing that mattered to them was that they were safe, unharmed, and together.
There was a knock on the door some time later. There was no telling how long as the little light that came through the slit was faint already from the dark curtains. But they did hear Fon calling to them, "You guys can come out. If you're in there of course."
Tsuna reached up and opened the door, the two tumbling out before Fon's feet. They had been cramped together for so long that everything had fallen asleep, resulting in the two just falling on top of each other.
"Fancy meeting you here." Reborn said, looking up at Fon.
"Indeed. Would you mind filling me in to what this is all about?" Fon said, leaning down and helping both of them up.
Reborn accepted the helping hand but flinched, something the other two didn't miss. He wasn't going to address it though as he turned to Fon and started explaining everything.
"Those three people were involved in a cult that took me in Italy. Somehow they ended up here in Namimori and the one with the long hair recognized me in the waiting room. That's why I left; I couldn't be in the same room as them. And they so gracefully followed us back to the school. Probably for revenge because I'm the reason they aren't very secretive anymore. Like I care. If they couldn't get me they would definitely go after Tsuna too."
Reborn heaved a disgruntled sigh before he turned to leave. He didn't stop when Fon called out to him, didn't even turn around until he heard Tsuna ask him, "Um, Reborn, what should we do with them?".
"Drag them to the police for all I care. They won't help." Reborn said, walking off and back through the school. Tsuna looked at Fon questionably who sighed. He walked after Reborn and Tsuna followed, not knowing what else to do. Fon walked out to the connecting hallway between the dorms and the classrooms, seeing three people covered from head to toe in random debris.
Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei were all standing around, trying to get miscellaneous things out of their hair and peeling off of their skin. There seemed to be bright blue wax on Gokudera's cheek, Yamamoto having a considerable amount of blue dirtying his hair, and Ryohei had his entire head covered in it. It almost seemed to dye the white hair. They three seemed to be talking, Gokudera seeming to be more and more annoyed the more Ryohei screamed, but they all stopped when they saw Tsuna.
"Hey, Tsuna!" Yamamoto called casually. Tsuna gave a weak smile, his face seeming to hurt from the effort. Nobody mentioned though as they all walked over to them. One of the guys started to shift, groaning at the effort, but Gokudera glared, stomping on his temple to knock the guy back out.
"How are you, Tsuna?" Gokudera asked. He was the first to stop but immediately tried to punch Yamamoto as he leaned against Gokudera's shoulder.
"I'm fine. Can you tell me what happened here?" Tsuna prompted, gesturing to the three people laying on the ground.
"Oh, well, Mr. Reborn wanted us to keep these guys at bay so Fon told us where all the shortcuts we could use were. We picked up what we could use to torment them. When they ran by me, I dropped a bunch of wax pellets on the. Some of them were melted some weren't, but they weren't going near your dorm after that." Gokudera explained.
Yamamoto jumped in with what he did. "Well, since I knew that they were going to be going through the corridors I wanted to hit them with a bam! So I got Ryohei and told him to punch whoever came down the hall. We almost hit a teacher so we're going to need some help getting out of that. But when they kept going after a while, Gokudera found us and we ended up tumbling together and getting a bunch of wax all over us."
Tsuna let out a small snort. They would end up fumbling. Ryohei seemed to be vibrating in his attempt to tell him something.
"Kyoko and Haru were extremely awesome!" Ryohei burst out, a couple people walking to their dorm scurried in before he started throwing punches. "They found toilet paper and were extremely good at throwing it on them. They then put some water on them so they're all sticky and trip over with a whomp and a crash!"
"W-Where are Kyoko and Haru now?" Tsuna asked nervously.
"They're talking to teachers, explaining what happened. Can you tell us why it was so important?" Gokudaera asked,turning to Fon.
"Nope!" Tsuna butt in. "Nope, sorry. Reborn and I just had to come back to school since I needed my inhaler and he insisted on coming back with me instead of the hospital." Tsuna smiled, trying to feign sheepishness. Gokudera didn't buy it and Fon was looking at him in shock but Ryohei and Yamamoto nodded. Tsuna needed his inhaler at random times all the time during class. That was a lie as Tsuna knew it was the only way he would be allowed to use the bathroom during class. It was a little rude to use it as an excuse but he needed to pee and that wasn't 'an acceptable answer' according to half of his teachers.
But they didn't bring up how Tsuna was lying. He hoped Renato would be able to tell them a little more if he was comfortable. Tsuna doubted it but he wasn't going to tell Renato to do anything with this information. He just hoped Gokudera wouldn't push it.
"Well, we should take these men to the police station at least." Fon said, breaking the slightly tense atmosphere.
"SHouldn't we just call them?" Tsuna asked, looking up at Fon.
"Oh, we have. They should be here in a few minutes!" Kyoko said brightly from behind Tsuna. Tsuna couldn't help the flinch but he turned around with a smile on his face, meeting Kyoko's concerned look.
"That's great then!" Tsuna said. He tried to ignore the concerned looks as he turned to Fon. "Should we drag them down the stairs then so the police can get them easier?"
"I suppose...There's no harm in letting the police do their job easier." Fon said, leaning down and taking the leg of two of them. Tsuna took the leg last guy's and followed Fon as they retraced their steps down the back stairwell. Gokudera seemed like he was about to jump in and take Tsuna's away from him but he started walking, not even struggling. The dude he was dragging was the lightest of them all. Probably because he had bones visibly pressed against his skin.
It was slow and tedious work but they managed to get to the bottom floor. They were on the third of five floors and so going down the steps, letting the heads bang against each step they walked down, was a good feeling. The police seemed to be waiting for them as the minute the started walking across the foyer, the police cars pulled up. Fon took over, explaining what happened quickly before they woke up and tried to do anything. They were quickly handcuffed and put in different cars. Fon and Tsuna left back to their dorms, leaving information in case they were needed at a later date.
They weren't sure what to do as the hospital still weren't telling them what condition Luce was in and if they could see her at least soon, so Fon decided to pack some clothes for everybody, Colonnello forgetting to bring some and Skull saying he didn't need them as he was too important to change his clothes every day. They all knew Skull would return so Tsuna just returned to his dorm, wondering if Reborn was there as well.
Surprisingly, he wasn't there. Tsuna looked through the whole apartment and there was no sight that Reborn had even entered. Then he got an email from Reborn saying he was on the roof if they were looking for him and if anybody besides Tsuna found him he'd kill them.
It was such a lovely email to receive after today. So Tsuna made the trek up to the roof, letting the door creak and groan as it opened to announce his arrival.
Reborn didn't move from his spot, looking out over the town. It was a nice view as there was a lot of forest in Namimori and being on the outskirts of town made the view phenomenal. The distant sound of cars and wildlife clashed, making an amusing chorus, the fresh smell of pine and industries mixing and mingling inside your head. Reborn was slouched over his knees, looking at nothing but the ground beyond the fence that surrounded the entire facility. It was a little useless as it was rusted from rain and snow so it was a hazard to have. Nobody was allowed on the roof thanks to this yet people went up anyways.
"Renato?" Tsuna called, not sure if using his real name would be god in this situation.
"I'm fine, Tsuna. Why are you here?" Renato asked, turning his head slightly so Tsuna knew he would be paying attention, even if he didn't answer.
"Obviously I'm worried. How could I not be as the one thing you were scared of was here in the safest town in Japan." Tsuna strode forward and sat next to Renato, turning to face him. "I'm not going to ask what's wrong, I'm here to ask how you're feeling."
Renato sighed, shifting, and wincing again. "Shitty is how I feel. I don't...Have a binder so I have to wear ace bandages around my breasts and you can't exactly be comfortable with this. I forgot to take the bandages off last night and after running I think I broke a couple ribs."
"We have to get you checked out, then!" Tsuna said. mortified. He moved to pull Renato to his feet but Renato snapped,"No!" at him, his voice sharp.
His entire face softened, cupping Tsuna's face with his hand. "No, Love. I can't go back to that hospital at the moment. Just wait a day."
"Renato, your ribs are broken, you can't put that off." Tsuna tried to reason. Renato wasn't having it as he shook his head.
"I'm not going back to that hospital, Tsuna. Please just drop it."
Tsuna did, settling unhappily, his entire body trembling. Renato pulled him closer, running his hands through his hair gently in an effort to calm him down.
"Thank you for worrying, but I'm not willing to go back to the hospital yet." Renato leaned his forehead against Tsuna's closing his eyes. Tsuna seemed to deflate, submitting as he knew Renato wasn't going to change his mind.
"Can you at least take the bandages off?" Tsuna asked, hating how his voice had the slightest tremble.
Renato seemed to chew his words as he spoke, spitting out, "I suppose I could. They aren't much use to me if they break all of my ribs."
"Why don't you have a binder, Renato?"
"Mom doesn't see the point in them. She said that she wouldn't get me one until I was sure I wanted to be a guy. Like I wasn't fucking sure before we even met."
Tsuna pressed his lips together, seeming to think of didn't say anything else though as he shifted topics again and asked, "Why are you up here, Renato?"
"...Everything seemed to be closing in on me today. I forgot to take my medication, don't say anything to anyone, and so I was thinking about jumping, making my breasts disappear. All the fun things about my mental illness and what it wants me to do." Renato moved, pulling Tsuna to lay down beside him on the ground. "It's nothing because I know how to ignore what's being said. I just need to make sure I don't try to do anything. It's easier if somebody's with me so that's why when I have a lot of people hanging around me it gets easier to think."
"I didn't know this." Tsuna mumbled. "Have you...ever tried anything?"
"A couple times when I was still recovering from surgeries after I moved here. I was forced fed a lot of drugs that were making my organs shut down and basically destroyed my chemistry. Surgery was what they needed to do to fix certain things. I can't remember half of what they did from how much medication I was on. This was also before I was diagnosed so they didn't know that some medication could make me feel worse when I came out of the hypomania stages. So I found myself with a lot more stitches after waking up sometimes."
Tsuna scrunched up his nose, burying his face further into Renato's neck. "I'm sorry."
"There's nothing for you to be sorry about, Love." Renato said with a humourless laugh. "It's why I got so scared when I saw the person in the hospital. It reminded me of times I'd rather not remember."
"Are you going back to the hospital after Ms. Luce gives birth?"
"I can't avoid it. Not tonight though. She'll be in labour for a while or a short time. They'll tell us when we can visit her at least."
"Do you know what they'll name the baby?"
"Aria. Or Aaron if it's not female. I was the person to pick the names in the end because they couldn't decide on two and they asked everybody else, who gave terrible answers apparently. Those were names of my cousins though, on my mom's side. They were the only nice people on my mom's side so might as well honour them some way or another."
"Was your mom nice?" Tsuna asked, playing with Renato's sideburns.
"For the most part. She's the reason I got into the whole cult mess though. She didn't accept the fact I'm transgender and thought where I was going was a conversion camp.'
"Can I ask what that is?"
"It's where terrible parents send their kids questioning their gender in an effort to make them like the gender they were assigned at birth. It is highly ineffective, scarring, and is illegal in parts of the world for a reason. My mom was one of those terrible parents as all she wanted was a daughter and sent me there. They masqueraded as a conversion camp but they were a cult filled with feudalistic ideologies."
"Half of what you said was too big for my tiny brain to comprehend so I'm just going to take your word for it being terrible. My mom was mainly okay because before she died she asked me if I was straight and when I said I didn't think so she smiled and said it was alirght."
"And there's the difference between a good parent and a desperate one. My mom never wanted me to be anything but herself and when I tried to tell her I was a different person, she sent me off to a place that almost got me killed, multiple times."
"Yeah, she doesn't sound like she was the best. She must've had some good points though?" Tsuna asked, craning his neck to look at Renato.
"Some; she never bothered me with keeping every little thing neat as she understood that kids needed to be kids. She also wasn't into the whole "women need to be pristine and proper all the time" type of living and let me play and just be a kid. When I had went into secondary school and was getting good grades she really started making me work as she wanted me to have a better life then she and my dad. Up until she sent me away she wasn't that bad but if I were to see her again I might feel the urge to punch her."
"You can't punch your parents, Renato."
"Watch me."
Luce gave birth the next day, Renato and Tsuna being called down from class to go to the hospital with the rest of Renato's siblings. Tsuna didn't feel like he should be there but Renato dragged him along, muttering that he was the only reason he could stand going.
Everybody seemed to coo and smother the baby with affection, even Renato showing it some form of emotion when he was given it to hold. They named her Aria, like promised, and she seemed to take a liking to Renato of all people.
Tsuna had ended up having an asthma attack later on the night before but it was surprisingly a minor attack that ended within ten minutes. Tsuna was going to have to go to the infirmary for a check up at some point today, he knew he had to, but he couldn't bring himself to care after he saw that Luce was fine and was able to have a little girl.
When they were all forced to the school, Tsuna had no homework Renato needed to help him with and they ended up just laying in bed. Tsuna was still trying to get him to go to the school nurse at least to check on his ribs but Renato wouldn't budge. He ended up flipping Tsuna onto his back, looming over him, before starting to tickle his sides.
"Mercy!" Tsuna pleaded between giggles. "Mercy!"
"You're lucky you're adorable, laddie." Renato said, pulling out a stereotypical pirate voice that made Tsuna giggle.
"Are you sure you're fine without a doctor?" Tsuna asked a final time.
"I'm sure. If it gets worse feel free to drag me to the infirmary." Renato said, kissing Tsuna gently.
When they pulled back, Tsuna's entire face was red, but he was smiling. And that's all that really mattered to Renato as he laid across Tsuna, mindlessly playing with the tail ends of Tsuna's hair.
"Hey, wanna hear a joke?" Tsuna asked, shifting so he could see Renato's face.
"Do I have a choice in the matter?" Renato asked. Tsuna shook his head, his hair bouncing with the movement. "Fine, go ahead."
"What do you call an asexual that fixes everything?" Tsuna asked, looking excited and trying not to laugh at his own joke. Renato shrugged, feeling like he knew where this was going. "The Ace Bandage."
Renato and Tsuna both snorted, dissolving into soft laughter. Renato dipped his head as he laughed.
"That was a terrible joke, Tsuna." Renato said, pushing hair away from Tsuna's face and cupping his cheek.
"Yet you still laughed." Tsuna reasoned.
"True. Now I have one.' Renato said. Tsuna grinned eagerly. Renato almost felt bad for telling this one. "What does the peacock say after it dies...Nothing, it's dead."
Tsuna, as predicted started snorting again, giggling like a small child over the joke.
"That wasn't even funny." Tsuna choked out.
"Yet you're laughing."
Tsuna snorted again, nodding. He pressed himself a little closer, feeling Renato run a hand up and down his back, his breathing evening out. He probably fell asleep. Tsuna was glad for that because he didn't get much the night before. After Tsuna's asthma attack, he seemed on edge, hugging Tsuna harder than he had in a while and stayed that way the entire night. Only shifting and loosening his arms around Tsuan so he could move as he slept. Tsuna didn't sleep much either only off and on for a few hours at a time, So feeling Renato fall asleep so easily around Tsuna was a little uplifting.
He tried his hardest not to move too much, lightly stroking the side of Renato's head as he slept being the only movement he made. When Renato tried to move around he kept making small sounds of pain, concerning Tsuna as he was forced to hear them.
Renato never made those sounds and hearing them was terrifying. They were so out of character for Renato. He always presented himself as stronger than everybody and smarter. Yet to hear him break down and look weak was something he was too proud to do.
It was so infuriating. Tsuna knew he needed to help but Renato wouldn't let him. He wanted to help as much as he could yet Renato only let him in through words, telling him about his past yet never letting him help with the present. He knew he wasn't very good at that in the first place but he wanted to be at least given a chance.
Renato shifted again, bolting upright. He seemed scared, wild eyed and almost panting. He seemed to regain himself a little and sighed, his shoulders relaxing and his face becoming less tense.
"What happened?" Tsuna asked. He had spoken softly but Renato still jerked like he had screamed in his ear.
"What ever could you mean?" Renato demanded sarcastically. It kind of hurt, Tsuna felt his face fall, but he didn't let it bother him.
"I'm talking about why you just sat up like you had a nightmare." Tsuna explained, sitting up so he could face Renato. "Is there anything I can help with?"
He sighed, shaking his head. "Not really. I'm just being reminded of some things that happened. The usual nightmares. They're made a little worse by how I'm, uh…" Renato trailed off, seeming like he lost his train of thought.
"How you?" Tsuna prompted. Renato tried to speak again, opening his mouth, but he closed it a second later.
"I can't remember." He said through clenched teeth.
"That's fine." Tsuna said, making Renato look at him in surprise. "It happens. If you remember just tell me later."
The edges of Renato's mouth twitched up, his gratitude evident.
"Most people just get annoyed when I do this." Renato started, scoffing in annoyance. "Bianchi hated it and tried to get me to explain myself when I just couldn't remember what I was going to say in the first place."
"I did that a lot when I was younger. Whenever my dad was around he got annoyed because 'I should remember what I was going to say two seconds ago' when I can't help it."
"Isn't dealing with assholes fun?" Renato said, his voice dripping with annoyance.
"Oh yeah, especially when you have to deal with somebody you would rather not be nice to."
"How I interact with most of my siblings."
"Don't you just ignore them?"
"Yes but most of the time they find me and I'm forced to interact with them. Family dinners too. Mom wants to catch up with us and forces everyone to have dinner with her. It never ends well if it's all of us together so mainly she just asks us one on one in her office and we just talk to her there."
"That seems nice at least you'll get to talk to her alone."
"Yeah...Mainly she justs asks how my medication is affecting me and if we're dating yet. She still doesn't know and has been trying to get me to say we are."
"Why haven't you told her yet?"
"Because she's so adamant on me being happy that when the rumours started she was on me in a second. Now I just want her to find out on her own. She won't accept it from anybody else but us that we're dating and she hasn't thought to go to you yet."
Tsuna snorted, falling back against the bed. Renato watched him, smirking.
"What?" Tsuna asked with a small laugh.
"You mean so much to me." Renato blurted out. He seemed a surprised at his sudden declaration but not against it. He would never be against showing Tsuna affection.
Tsuna wasn't sure how he was so suave and smooth though. This was so embarrassing to hear these things from Renato because he didn't believe it himself . He couldn't help blurting out himself, "Why do you think so highly of me?"
"Because that's how I see you." Renato said simply. "You're not this huge hero or anything. You came to me a small, beaten down kid with nothing to live for. And I've seen you grow so much I'm actually...proud of how you grew. Not like you're that tall in the first place though."
"You ruined a really nice speech with that, Renato." Tsuna said scathingly. "Way to go."
"All of what I said is true though." Renato said, leaning down and kissing Tsuna's forehead. "You also haven't eaten all day and we have to go get you checked out at the infirmary too so we need to get going."
Hello again. I have no idea why this is so long but here it is.
As always, please review and tell me what you think, maybe tell me what you thought, how you liked a certain thing I did, what you didn't like, if there are any errors. Lay it on me. I'm ready
-Gate