Gokudera's a bit different in this than he is in the canon? I guessed that this is what might have happened if he didn't have the ideal of the perfect tenth to look up to before learning more about the kind of person Tsuna really is.
Disclaimer: I do not own KHR or its characters.
Gokudera, Tsuna soon realized, would not be as accommodating as Yamamoto had been. If anything, his enthusiasm about the band was on par with Tsuna's. Possibly even less. If they held a competition to see whose enthusiasm for the band was the greatest, Gokudera would probably be a no-show.
Not that the silver-haired boy was particularly hostile. That first day, after school, when Tsuna was attempting to orchestrate his disappearing act by blending into the large crowd of students going home, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
Oh dear, he thought. People seeking him out was never a good thing. With only a slight pause in his actions, he ignored the tap and kept walking, trying to squeeze himself in between two other students, to no avail. A strong hand closed around his upper arm and pulled him back.
And so, he found himself alone in the classroom with the transfer student, who was looking him over like he wanted to stuff him into a trash can. Tsuna shrank under his glare, hoping this exchange wouldn't last long.
"Tch, to think you almost became the tenth," Gokudera mumbled under his breath.
The Tenth? Tsuna scratched his chin, trying to remember why the title sounded so familiar. Oh, right. That mafia business Reborn had been going on about in the beginning. Although it had not been too long ago, Tsuna had half-forgotten it, not that he had ever believed it in the first place.
Used to hearing jabs and insults aimed at him, Tsuna chose to ignore Gokudera's words as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and asked, "S-so, Gokudera, what did you want to talk about?" His gaze slowly slid off of the transfer student's glowering face in a way he hoped was casual enough not to be noticed.
"This band that you want to start," Gokudera started, his voice strangely raspy for a middle schooler's. "What kind of instruments do you have already?"
"It's not me who wants to start it-eek!" Tsuna piped up, but the look on Gokudera's face made his words stall. For some reason, he felt like the other boy wouldn't give a damn if he explained the circumstances that he was under. That this band that he supposedly wanted to start was the result of multiple threats from Reborn that he would be shot otherwise-threats that Reborn had shown himself perfectly capable of following through with.
Tsuna took a deep breath, and let out a long sigh.
Counting off on two puny fingers, he said, "Well, I'm on vocals...I guess. And Yamamoto's...on the drums?"
Saying it out loud really drove in just how pathetic their "band" currently was. Never mind the fact that they only had two people; Tsuna couldn't even play an instrument.
Well, technically he was also tone-deaf.
Gokudera seemed to share the same opinion about the band. He tilted his head back, his forehead wrinkled as he growled, "Pathetic." Looking up at the other boy, Tsuna couldn't believe they were even in the same grade. He had to have failed a few grades.
Or maybe...
Was he staring into the glorious face of puberty itself?
Tsuna blew a breath out of the corner of his mouth, scoffing internally at his own ridiculous thoughts.
"Do you find something funny, Sawada?" Gokudera muttered in a dangerous tone.
Tsuna straightened immediately, shaking his head frantically. "N-no! Definitely no-ack!"
He found himself lurching forward as he was lifted up by the collar of his uniform, the tip of his shoes barely reaching the floor. Hands grabbing uselessly at his collar, he flailed against the other boy's grip as he found his vision filled with Gokudera's face. Coupled with the gagging feeling in the back of his throat from the pressure on his neck, the furious narrowing of Gokudera's eyes was almost as scary as the blank void of Reborn's eyes just before loading a gun and aiming it at Tsuna.
"Because you're busy fucking around with this stupid fancy of yours," and here Gokudera shook him violently just because he could, "The family asked me to come here, all the way from fucking Italy!"
"Th-then why not go back!" Tsuna squeaked, long having ceased to struggle for his freedom. It was only making him nauseous anyway.
He only caught a glimpse of the stricken look on the other boy's face before Gokudera threw him. Thankfully not against the chairs, but being thrown against the wooden floor was enough to knock what little breath Tsuna had left out of him. He coughed, the jarring shock making him close his eyes and set his teeth.
"O-ow..."
"Don't you know anything about the Vongola, you idiot! When the family asks you to do something, you do it. There's no such thing as going back." His voice, so forceful all this time, seemed to deflate as he spoke the last sentence. When Tsuna managed to open his eyes once more, he found himself confused by what he saw.
There was Gokudera, standing hunched over with a conflicted twist to his mouth. The desire to beat Tsuna into submission (not that he needed to) seemed to have gone all out of him as his clenched fists relaxed.
"Pick yourself up, weakling," Gokudera spat at him, his words still carrying their bitter venom. As Tsuna waited for the aching pain in his back to slowly fade away, the transfer student added, "And be thankful. It's only out of respect for the ninth that I held back."
That was holding back? Tsuna would have exclaimed his thoughts out loud, but he was experienced in the ways of being bullied. It hurt less if he did his best imitation of a tuna on sale at the grocery store.
And so, even after Gokudera picked up his bag and left, Tsuna stayed in his prone position on the floor and stared forlornly at the wrinkled state of his collar.
As glad as he was that the confrontation had ended there, the brunette was still a bit sore about being roughed up, and wasn't sure if he could feel any gratitude towards this ninth that Gokudera had mentioned. After all, it was the family that had gotten him into this in the first place.
Well, he was used to getting picked on.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway, getting louder and louder until they stopped just at the doorway.
"Tsuna?" Yamamoto's normally cheery voice was quiet when he spoke. Tsuna craned his neck back, the back of his head rubbing against the floor as he looked up to meet the baseball player's confused expression. No, that wasn't right. Did he still play baseball?
"Hey, Tsuna, I was looking for you everywhere," and as if it was the most normal thing in the world for his friend to be lying on the classroom floor, Yamamoto strolled in and knelt beside him, tilting his head sideways to look at Tsuna. A goofy grin spread across his face as he held out a hand. "Need a hand?"
"Th-thanks," Tsuna murmured, letting Yamamoto pull him back to his feet.
"No problem! Bandmates have to look after each other after all!" Yamamoto exclaimed, and Tsuna thought back uncomfortably to what had just happened with Gokudera. "Come on, we should get out of the school before Hibari finds us."
Tsuna immediately straightened at the thought of someone who could hit him harder than Gokudera. "R-right! Let's go!"
As they walked, with Yamamoto happily walking beside him, Tsuna couldn't help but notice the baseball player glancing at his clothes. Tsuna wasn't exactly known for his neatness, but he tried his best to keep the uniform in the crisp condition it had been when he had first got it, for Kyoko's sake. With a small movement, Tsuna tried to subtly turn the front of his body out of the other's view.
"Strange," Yamamoto muttered under his breath. Where he would have usually picked up on that and asked what was so strange, the brunette stayed silent, hoping the subject would be dropped.
Of course, Yamamoto, with his lack of ability to read the atmosphere, continued on, "I thought I saw you leave first, Tsuna. But I came back to the classroom, and you were still there."
"M-must have been someone else!" Tsuna said, his words rushing to get out of his mouth. From his experience, people who blabbed too much usually had it worse than the ones who kept quiet. Besides...
The impression he had of Gokudera was similar to the bullies he had known throughout his life, but it didn't overlap completely. There were some parts of his personality out of place, and for some reason, Tsuna had a feeling that the transfer student, despite his looks, wasn't the kind of person who picked on the weak.
No, the Gokudera who had dragged him back into the classroom hadn't meant to hurt him at all.
"Tsuna?" Yamamoto's voice cut through the conclusion Tsuna was trying to reach. He shook his head, and raised an eyebrow at the baseball player.
With his easy smile that could win over even the grumpiest old man and the casually cool way he carried his bag over his shoulder, Yamamoto must have looked out of place next to Tsuna. It seemed incongruous compared to the reality that Tsuna was already used to. His forehead wrinkled, and he wondered just how this had happened to him.
Yamamoto laughed and reached out a hand, trying to smooth out the wrinkles on Tsuna's forehead. The brunette made half-hearted noises of protests, but Yamamoto wouldn't let go until Tsuna stopped making a worried face. "Don't keep everything to yourself, Tsuna. If anything's bothering you, feel free to tell me!"
How had this happened to him, exactly? Since when had he gained someone, who wasn't his mother, who actually worried over his feelings?
Reborn's smug grin flashed in his mind for a second, but Tsuna forced the image down. There was no way he would admit that the infant was actually making changes that he liked.
They arrived at his house with no incidents. He waved goodbye to Yamamoto before turning back to walk up to the door of his house. And somehow, there Reborn was, sitting on the front steps and carving a small wooden figure in his strangely nimble fingers. Tsuna could have sworn there had been nothing there earlier.
"Wha-?"
Reborn only smirked and adjusted the brim of his hat, his eyes glued to the figure in his hands that was starting to look like a very angular Leon.
"Surprised your tutor has hobbies?" Reborn asked in that tone that always sounded like a bear trap waiting for him to step in it.
"N-no? That's not what I'm surprised about."
"Then why are you staring at me with such a dumb look on your face?"
Tsuna ran his hand over his face, which he was sure didn't look that dumb. Did it? "Nobody carves wood anymore?"
"Do you think before you speak?" And the figurine's head was taking on Leon's vacant expression. Leon, sitting on Reborn's shoulder, leaned in, appraising the work, his tongue flicking out in approval.
"I-I do!" Tsuna exclaimed indignantly, hand on his chest.
"I carve wood. Therefore your statement is wrong."
"I didn't mean it like that. I meant it's not very common anymore."
"Then choose your words more carefully," retorted Reborn.
Tsuna let out a sigh, stepping around the baby to open the door. He wasn't exactly sure what that conversation had been about; it was all too easy to attribute it to Reborn being his usual tormenting self. He turned his key in the lock, and opened the door.
Before he could shut the door behind him, however, he heard Reborn speaking in that strange manner of his that couldn't not be taken seriously, where his squeaky voice went low and grave and his black eyes, though they remained bright and childishly wide, took on age beyond his physical years.
He said, quite simply, "Especially with that new member of yours."
Tsuna's hand stilled on the doorknob, before he shut it completely.
