A/N: so, thanks for all the reviews, likes, favs and follows. Lemme just reinforce that Vongola is not the mafia. There is no mafia. Also, I'm gonna take creative license with the science stuff so if I screw it up or accidentally break whatever science laws I am so sorry. I basically made up anything science-y as long as it sounds remotely feasible and somewhat logical.


Tsuna has begun to notice a pattern.

He reaches school fifteen minutes before the bell rings; the usual class bullies are unusually aggressive. Five minutes before the bell rings, they just stop. Fast forward to lunchtime, they only bother him for lunch money if he leaves the classroom. They don't always bother him after school but when they do, they seem somewhat paranoid. It's puzzling and frustrating because his creators will have to be notified soon if this continues and Tsuna doesn't want to be recalled. This thought makes him pause but he resolutely ignores why.

(It's almost a relief not being bullied.)


Tsuna is mistaken.

Class bullies 5, 6 and 7 are surrounding him and they look unusually tense. In retrospect, perhaps Tsuna shouldn't have used the generally isolated staircase but a weird instinct had urged him there. With a start, he realises it's his programming that's the culprit. He wasn't being bullied enough in class and now, he's an easy target.

"Dame-Tsuna thinks he's all that, huh," bully 6 says and shoves his shoulder. Tsuna lets himself get pushed and notes it as the start of the physical bullying, "asking Yamamoto-san, of all people for protection."

Tsuna is mistaken. Clearly, the bully didn't just say Yamamoto was protecting him. He hasn't even had a proper conversation with him since the roof. His silence stretches on even as bully 6 shoves him again. Bully 5 and 7 have a strange pinched look on their faces but Tsuna is too confused to properly connect any links.

"Playing mute won't help you Dame-Tsuna." Bully 6 says and there is an awful lot of pent up anger in his words. There's an expression Tsuna doesn't recognise on his face— anger, resentment and something twisted in the curve of his scowl. Tsuna will figure it out late but now...Yamamoto and protection? He's missing a link. He's plain mistaken.

"You're wrong." Tsuna says and that is wrong thing to say (no, right thing because he was meant to be bullied.)

"You're wrong." Tsuna says again because the anger is sharpening, quick and ugly on bully 6's face and that is absolutely the right thing to say.

"Who do you think you are." Bully 6 hisses and his hand lifts up. Tsuna sees it, knows he can avoid it because the hand was moving so slowly. He widens his eyes instead and

his eyes are automatically tearing and there is fake blood dribbling from his split lip.

First time drawing blood, he notes even as the bullies look at the blood in…fear? They look afraid of him. No, they're looking down the hallway as if their creators have come to collecting them for being a malfunctioned product.

"Let's just go." Bully 5 says and before Tsuna can really act like an appealing victim, they're gone. He has twenty minutes of lunch left.


He wanders around school a bit, synthetic blood dripping into his mouth. The lip will 'heal' in time, it'd be a little easier if he had a plaster though.

And what a coincidence, the nurse's office.

Tsuna goes in with only a bit of hesitation. There is a man, scruffy and bored as he flips through some magazine. Without even looking, he waves a hand at Tsuna.

"I only treat girls so go away if you're a guy." He says and Namimori middle school definitely needed to improve their hiring standards.

"Can I just have a plaster?" Tsuna says, resisting the urge to scowl. The doctor sighs and grabs a plaster from the table.

"Here." He says, swivelling his chair around to scowl at Tsuna. He freezes; hand stopping mid action and Tsuna can see his muscles tensing. His eyes flick to the open door and back to Tsuna and he pulls back as if scalded.

"Close the door." He says. The strange intensity in his tone makes Tsuna obey without question.

"Lock it." Tsuna pauses but he is undeniably curious. He locks the door. When he turns back, the doctor is outwardly more relaxed. The shaking hand lighting his cigarette says otherwise.

"Are you Sawada Tsunayoshi?" He asks and Tsuna nods.

"I'm Shamal. Vongola sent me to help you." And monitor you he says. Tsuna nods and grabs the plaster Shamal hands him. Wiping away the blood, Tsuna awkwardly pastes the plaster.

"How does that work? The bleeding thing." Shamal asks and there is a complicated twist to his expression. It looks like disgust, a bit, but Tsuna's not sure why.

"Network of small tubes that act like blood vessels. My skin self-repairs after a while but it complicates the clotting mechanism, the plaster acts as a stopper. I assume they give you some synthetic blood for refill?"

Shamal nods slowly at Tsuna's words. He looks unsure, lost but also far too speculative for Tsuna's comfort. Perhaps Tsuna is not beaten up enough? He wants to know how much Shamal will report to his creators—whether Tsuna's reports are accurate, whether he is actively baiting the bullies, whether he is a failure.

(he must fail, he must)

"If you need any robot help, find me." Shamal says and turns back to his desk. Tsuna is very well versed in dismissals and so he leaves.


Class has ended and Sasagawa Kyoko is standing in front of him.

"Are you okay, Tsuna-kun?" She asks and Tsuna is very tempted to ask why she would care. It is too easy to be angry though so Tsuna just nods and smiles.

"If you need plasters, you can look for me." She says and her smile is hesitant, guilty.

"Thank you, Sasagawa-san." He says and she lets herself be called away by Kurokawa. Immediately, she is replaced by Yamamoto. It feels like a strong repeat of day one barring Kurokawa.

"Tsuna. Are you okay?" Yamamoto's hand is warm. The concern is very different from day one however and it truly baffles Tsuna.

"Who did this to you?" Yamamoto's eyes flick down to the corner of Tsuna's mouth and suddenly, he remembers Yamamoto's thoughtful gaze on the roof. Tsuna is keenly aware that Yamamoto is not an idiot but he doesn't know how it, all of this, links up.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees bully 5 lingering by his seat. Involuntarily, his eyes flick towards him.

"I see." Yamamoto says. There is a grim finality in his words. He spares one more smile at Tsuna before he leaves. Tsuna half expects him to go after bully 5 but Yamamoto just calmly picks up his bag and walks out of the classroom.

Tsuna considers requesting an update on his human interaction manuals because he has never been so confused in his short life.


There are moving trucks outside his apartment block. When Tsuna gets to his apartment, there are also boxes stacked up outside the previously empty apartment next door. Tsuna contemplates going over to introduce himself for all of a second. Instead, he just enters his apartment. He knows his apartment is strangely minimalistic with only a small dining table set and a sofa in his living room, and a useless bed in his room. Technically, Tsuna can 'sleep', in that he closes his eyes and hours pass until he opens them again. It doesn't serve anything to him though so he rarely 'sleeps'.

Tsuna finishes his homework badly and there is nothing else to do.

He sits on the sofa and counts the minutes go by. Before the roof incident, this time had passed by quickly and he never had to count anything. Before, there was nothing wrong with the way he chose to pass time. Lately though, it's begun to feel a little empty.

He continues to count.


When Tsuna gets to class fifteen minutes early as usual, there are no bullies. More accurately, bullies 5, 6 and 7 are there but they are resolutely ignoring his existence. Tsuna is rather frustrated with them because they are acting wrong and if this goes on his creators will blame Tsuna. All in all, Tsuna is in a bad mood. That is, until the transfer student arrives.

The teacher introduces him as Gokudera Hayato and he looks such a stereotypical delinquent that Tsuna marvels at it. From his unnaturally silver-white hair to his uniform, which broke every single uniform rule possible. He was scowling too and there was an aura of anger and dissatisfaction with the world in general. He was perfect as the new bully.

Their eyes meet and Tsuna widens his, pretending to shiver a little. Amazingly, Gokudera snarls as he swaggers towards Tsuna. There is genuine dislike in his eyes and it feels personal. Tsuna can't help but hunch his shoulders and grip the table. Perhaps, he was too perfect as the new bully. It hits him then that Gokudera was from Italy. Italy where Vongola headquarters were based. Shit. Tsuna feels panic rise in him because if this was a test, Tsuna couldn't afford to fail it. Tsuna is shaking, just a little and the squeak of fear that escapes him when Gokudera kicks his table is more real than he'd like it to be.

Gokudera pauses and gives him a derisive look. Vaguely, he can hear the girls swooning over Gokudera's bad boy act. It's not an act, Tsuna wants to tell them but he can't find it in him to speak.

"That wasn't nice." Yamamoto says and when did move to stand next to Tsuna? His hand is warm and reassuring on Tsuna's shoulder and when Tsuna looks up, he still has that easygoing grin on his face. The class has gone utterly silent and it is unnerving how friendly Yamamoto looks.

"None of your business." Gokudera says and he is still derisive. Still unaware, Tsuna thinks and he's not too sure if this will end well.

"It is my business. Because Tsuna is my friend." Yamamoto says and that was news to Tsuna. Gokudera snorts and tries to walk forward but Yamamoto takes another step forward in retaliation.

"I don't like it when people hurt my friends." There is the same grim finality as yesterday and now, now, Gokudera looks wary. Yamamoto's hand squeezes Tsuna's shoulder reassuringly once before letting go. Just like yesterday, Yamamoto spares Tsuna a warm smile before returning to his seat without another word. After a moment, Gokudera walks to his seat.

Tsuna is an idiot.

It makes a startling amount of sense. It also makes very little sense. Yamamoto always comes to class after morning practice, five minutes before the bell rings. He stays in class for lunch and sometimes lingers in class until Tsuna leaves. It matches up perfectly. Somehow, for some reason, Yamamoto was protecting Tsuna. His chest hurts just thinking about why, how and do I want him to stop

No wait, how do I get him to stop

Lunch break comes and Tsuna pulls Yamamoto along before a murderous looking Gokudera can interrupt. His instincts tell him which is the most isolated stairwell and they end up there. Tsuna really doesn't know how to start this conversation but someone has to.

"Why are you protecting me?" Tsuna asks and from the way Yamamoto almost flinches, it's not the right question but Tsuna wasn't made to do anything right so it's not his fault.

"Because you're my friend." Yamamoto says and he looks, like Tsuna baiting a bully, vulnerable.

"Since when?" another half flinch.

"The roof? I guess." It's so strange. Yamamoto who seems confident in everything refuses to meet his eyes.

"But you don't even talk to me." It's not an accusation but Yamamoto outright flinches.

"I…felt like a hypocrite. I was so self-absorbed I didn't bother with you at the beginning. I didn't want you to think that I felt obligated to help you or anything." Yamamoto says slowly as if he wants to pull the words back in.

"I thought you were amazing when you saved me and you were right. I was being an idiot. I wanted to be friends with a person like that and the more I thought about it, the more I realised it wasn't right to let bullies carry on. Not just you but other people as well. It's hard though because the teachers don't really care and I don't know who else to help. I was afraid that you disliked me for my earlier treatment and if I were suddenly nice, you'd dislike me more. I just wanted to help."

The words are coming out in a rush by the end and Yamamoto looks so brittle around the edges that Tsuna can't breathe. His chest feels strange but in a good way, like his core processors were reaching optimum efficiency. Tsuna felt warm.

"I…" Tsuna says and he shouldn't be doing this, he really shouldn't but just this once, he promises himself. Just this once.

"I'd like to continue being friends." He says and when Yamamoto lights up as if Tsuna's words taped him back together Tsuna can't help but be glad he didn't fail this. It's a traitorous thought but just this once.

Just this once.


Later, even as he's going home, Tsuna cannot stop his lips from twitching into a smile. The warmth emanating from his chest feels so foreign but at the same time, Tsuna never wants it to stop. Stepping out of the lift, he can hear the scrape of a metal against metal. The stacked up boxes are still there and they block his view of the neighbour but Tsuna can see their shadow.

"Hi! I'm your new neighbour Sawada Tsunayoshi." He calls out and the warmth in his chest is spurring him on to be more. The clang of metal against the floor, the sound of shoes scuffing as his neighbour stepped out from behind the boxes and then

Gokudera Hayato's shocked green eyes meeting his.


A/N: This was truly a fast update by my standards and I have exams upcoming so forgive me if my next update is not so prompt. Yamamoto and Tsuna will tbh be a lot closer in this au and this will be pretty evident in the Mukuro arc. Much later on. I am very excited for that arc.