Terza Finestra: Piccola Pioggia

"Daddy! Daddy!"

The man groaned groggily, trying to force his brain to start rolling. He squinted his eyes as the sunlight passed through the curtains and hit him square in the face, fighting back the instinct to hide his head under the covers.

"Daddy, wake up! You should be helping with breakfast!" the pint-sized girl squealed excitedly.

Yamamoto rubbed the sleep off his eyes and smiled at the little girl. "Alright, alright. Go on ahead, I'll be there in a minute." He slurred, his brain not entirely free of sleep's grasp.

After his daughter left the room, Yamamoto Takeshi hurried to the bathroom to wash his face, hoping the cold water would take all remnants of grogginess away. He had always considered himself a morning person, but he'd been up till very late last night and had had very few hours to sleep.

The Rain Guardian peeked at his image on the mirror and noticed the light stub growing inconspicuously under his nose and chin. He'd never been particularly hairy, but as the years went by, he realized he had to shave more often than not. He also realized he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and threw on a loose pair of shorts and a white cotton T-shirt, letting out one final yawn before starting for the kitchen.

The smell of warm food filled his nostrils as he walked down the stairs. No sooner had he stepped close to the dining table, when he heard a roar from the kitchen.

"Takeshi! I've been calling you to get up for forty-five minutes!" His angry spouse spat at him, waving the spoon with which he was probably mixing bolognesa, judging by the smell.

"Sorry, sorry!" It was hard to make up excuses when he was trying not to focus too much on how cute his beloved looked with his kitchen apron. Still, Yamamoto had the pressing idea that he was forgetting something important –and that it had something to do with the fact that bolognesa wasn't quite the traditional breakfast dish-, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Hayato Gokudera wrinkled his brow in annoyance and opened his mouth to retort, but stopped when his emerald eyes took a glance at Yamamoto's outfit.

"The fuck are you wearing? Make yourself presentable, for fuck's sake; Fuuko's friends are arriving in less than three hours!"

Yamamoto had a passing thought about how Gokudera's extremely colorful language hadn't changed a bit since they were teenagers, and even if he tried to hold back when Fuuko was around, he couldn't help going loose when his stress level was high.

And it was then that it hit him. The reason Hayato was so stressed. The reason they were having bolognesa for breakfast. The reason they'd both stayed up until really late last night planning a party. Today was Fuuko's fifth birthday.

His husband's eyes widened in dismay. "You forgot, you bastard! I can't believe you! Bring your stupid ass over here and do your part while I help Fuuko with her hair."

Yamamoto rushed to his daughter's side and hugged her to his chest, rubbing his cheek to hers. "Whaaat? I'd never forget my beautiful Fuu-chan's birthday since it's the day I became a daddy! How can you accuse me of such a horrible thing?!" he feigned dismay as he ruffled the little girl's hair. "Happy birthday, love." He kissed the top of her head and then fled to the kitchen –he was supposed to be cutting up some sushi for his princess's special day, after all.

Hayato huffed his disapproval and pecked their daughter's cheek. "C'mon honey, I'll help you with your hair while your idiot father finishes up with breakfast."

The girl chirped joyfully and followed Hayato out of the room. Yamamoto chuckled. His beloved was really, really mad at him.

Yamamoto had never understood why his daughter would always request to have the strange combined dish of sushi and bolognesa for her birthday, but he'd had to get used to many quirk things since becoming a father, so he never even asked. She'd first requested it when she was to turn three, so he and Hayato had complied thinking it had been a toddler's whim and nothing more. But she repeated the request next year, and this year too. At this point, Takeshi was wondering if his daughter expected to have hot Italian meat and sauce combined with cold raw Japanese rice and fish for her birthday till' Kingdom come.

"Breakfast is ready!" he called out as he set down the dishes for the three of them.

The hurried steps of the little girl could be heard down the hall as she approached the dining room.

"Daddy, look! Papa made my hair all pretty!" she squealed.

Since Fuuko was very little, Hayato had taken a natural liking to brushing her hair and fixing it in cute buns or ponytails. As the little one grew, her straight black hair did too –it reached her shoulder blades now- which allowed the Storm Guardian more leeway to get creative. Takeshi grinned when he saw his daughter, whose bangs were pulled back with a cute red hairpin, the left side of her hair tied in a braid and pulled up to form a small rose-like bun atop her ear, whilst the right side was loose and shiny.

"Oh my! Where did this beautiful lady come from? I thought Hayato was brushing my Fuu-chan's hair, but instead he comes with the prettiest princess of them all." He grinned, pinching the girl's nose, which made her giggle. He turned to his beloved. "You know, if Tsuna ever kicks us out of the job, you can always open a salon and become a stylist. We'd become rich in a second." He joked as the three of them sat at the table.

Hayato just rolled his eyes but said nothing as the three of them called Itadakimasu before digging in.

"It's really yummy!" Fuuko said, biting down on a piece of meat.

"That's right. Hayato always does his best for Fuu-chan's birthday. I'm so jealous, I want to get Hayato's love cooking too." Yamamoto grinned.

Gokudera rolled his eyes at him again, but smiled nonetheless and turned to watch their daughter eat, paying little attention to his own food. Yamamoto too ignored his weird hybrid breakfast and took to watching his adored family. He was always so happy that he wondered if he wasn't stealing other people's worth of happiness all by himself.

The bell rang few minutes after they were done eating.

"Eeh? Isn't it a bit early? I thought you said we had three hours before the guests arrived." Yamamoto complained, as he rushed to change into something more presentable than his T-shirt and shorts.

"It's probably the Tenth. He said he'd be early to help, he's so considerate after all."

When he was younger, he'd oftimes feel jealous of Gokudera's worshipping of Tsuna. Even after they started dating, it would grate Yamamoto to hear his boyfriend talk of the Tenth's grandiosity, when the best he could hope for was being called "idiot". Sometimes he wondered if he was some sort of masochist. When they were in their last year of high school, Yamamoto had finally snapped and they'd had a really big fight as a result, but eventually worked it out. Gokudera made an effort to be more open about his feelings since then –even after the years they spent apart- which Yamamoto dearly appreciated, knowing how awkward and shy the silver-head man was when it came to showing his affection.

He could hear his daughter greeting the Vongola boss and his friend complimenting the little girl's hairstyle. He could've never asked for a better friend than Tsuna. After he returned to Vongola –now a father- his friend had been nothing but understanding, and gave him a lot of time to adjust back to the world of the mafia, plus a very flexible schedule to tend to his newborn daughter's need; he even helped baby-sitting her when both Yamamoto and Gokudera were busy. Although, in retrospect, Tsuna was a great friend and a caring boss to everyone he met, so he shouldn't have been surprised.

He too greeted his friend and helped him carry the big, colorfully wrapped box that presumably contained Fuu-chan's present to a corner, chuckling as Hayato praised Tsuna's good heart and generosity.

A few hours had gone by and now the house was swarming with children. Most of them were other Vongola children, including the ruthless boy Xanxus had picked up from the street one day and whose eyes were as fierce and intimidating as his surrogate father's and Ryohei's daughter Kana-chan, who took amazingly after her mom. There were also, of course, other people from Vongola, like Bianchi who doted on her niece like no one, Lambo and I-Pin who loved to play with the kids, and Mukuro, who'd promised to put on a "magic" show for the children if he was properly rewarded. But Takeshi was happy to see that at least a few of Fuuko's friends from kindergarten were here too.

When he was younger, he'd had the naïve idea that, as long as he had Gokudera, he didn't care what anyone else thought. But now that Fuuko came into the picture, he realized society didn't forgive people who broke its rules. Everyone in Vongola was supportive of their relationship true enough, but Fuuko's teachers, her friends, and the other kids' families did not look upon them kindly ever since they decided to be open about their family situation. Teachers would laugh nervously and avert their eyes when they went together to drop Fuuko at school, parents would whisper behind their backs when they came to the school events and tell their children to stay away from them, and some kids would call Fuuko "freak". Gokudera would often blame himself for it, and Yamamoto constantly feared his beloved would bolt out of their lives to "protect them" any given moment.

Luckily there were exceptions, and a couple of teachers would treat them as kindly as they would anyone else and praise the way they raised their little daughter, some kids would come close to her and be her friends in spite of everything, and some parents would even chat with them normally when they ran into each other in the neighbourhood. It was a small thing, but it meant the world to both of them.

Yamamoto knew he should be helping out somehow, but he couldn't tear his eyes off Gokudera. His beloved would never admit to it, but he had always been fond of children and had a natural charm with them. That someone as short-tempered as he was could play "hide-and-seek" or run around the house being "it" for hours on end was proof of this. Even when they were younger, Gokudera had always been the more apt at looking after Lambo, even if he always said he hated the task. Yamamoto was completely enraptured by the tired-yet-mirthful smile on his husband's face as he was found in the millionth "hide-and-seek" of the day.

The door rang for the umpteenth time that day and Yamamoto rushed to open it begrudgingly, wishing to stay in the courtyard to watch the games.

"Sorry we're late. Papa was slow." a squeaky voice explained.

Yamamoto looked down to find the Hibari twins Tsubasa and Mao, three years of age and terrifyingly identical to their father.

"You guys are so mean. I just wanted to wrap Fuuko-chan's gift in a cute box." Dino Cavallone protested with teary eyes. "Kyouya said he'd come later, he has to finish up an interrogation."

The Cavallone boss handed Yamamoto a big pink box with tons of streams and ribbons attached to it.

"Wow thanks, you shouldn't have. It's big enough to be a pony, haha." Yamamoto joked as he put the box with all the other presents, to be opened after the cake was served.

"Kyouya said a pony was a stupid gift." Dino brooded, surprising Yamamoto. "I'll never be able to get one for the boys; they're too much like Kyouya. Tsu has even started calling me 'herbivore' from time to time. They're so mean."

Yamamoto sort of ignored Dino's wails about his family life and showed him to the living room, where most of the adults were. "Come kids, Fuu-chan's playing with everyone outside. She'll be really happy to see you."

After the twins left for the backyard, Yamamoto went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and found Hayato smoking surreptitiously while leaning on the sink.

"You know they're gonna find you in no time just by following the smell of the smoke, right?" Takeshi teased.

"Idiot, I'm not hiding. Mukuro is doing his 'magic' show or whatever so I took the chance to grab a smoke while I can. We should take the cake out once he's done with that."

When Fuuko was still a toddler, Gokudera had been extremely self-conscious about smoking close to her. He never smoked inside the house and had had to live off nicotine patches for most of the day, smoking only when they were at work or in missions. He'd slowly decreased the amount of smokes and general nicotine he consumed, and was now smoking less than a third of what he used to when they were in high school.

"I'll take care of that, don't worry. You've been running around all day, you deserve a breather." He grabbed Hayato's wrist to keep the cigarette away long enough to peck his darling's lips.

"Idiot."

Fuuko blew the candles out while the guests clapped and cheered. She then gave room to her father to cut the cake and distribute the slices among the numerous guests.

"It's super yummy!" she squealed after taking a bite

"Oh, really? That's great, Papa and I put all of our love into making it." Takeshi grinned pinching her cheek affectionately. It turned out making so many awful hand-made Valentine presents for Hayato in his youth had become a useful experience, and though the Storm Guardian would always be all kinds of superior when it came to cooking, he was glad to at least be able to make himself useful.

"Oi, you have cake on your face. Are you a kid?"

He chuckled. "Maybe. If it gets Hayato to clean it for me, then definitely yes."

The green-eyed man rolled his eyes, grabbed a napkin and rubbed his cheek with it, wiping the cream away. Yamamoto took the moment of vulnerability to pull him by the wrist and steal a kiss from him, for which he got a scowl and a beet red blush.

"Daddy is so weird." Fuuko giggled.

"Oh really? 'Cos I got one for you too." And he leaned in to peck the tip of her nose.

"Come on, honey, go share the cake with your friends or you might get infected by your father's folly." Hayato urged, ruffling her already messy hair (it had taken less than an hour for Fuuko's beautiful hairdo to get undone by all her running and playing around). "And you, make yourself useful, go take some more pictures when you finish eating that. Fuuko will want pictures with her friends and presents."

Yamamoto made a flourished reverence, the grin never leaving his face. "Your wish is my command."

"Oi." He heard Hayato calling him as he turned to grab the camera and leave. "I love you."

Takeshi blushed and his heart skipped a beat. He had a sudden urge to go back to his husband and hold him, but before he could take a step, Hayato's eyebrows twitched in the subtlest of scowls. "Go. Now."

The Rain Guardian smiled again and left, his belly swarming with the feeling of fluttering butterflies.

"Thanks for coming Tsu-kun and Mao-kun. And Uncle Dino too." Fuuko chirped at the door, as the family said their goodbyes.

"It's always a joy to come and see you Fuuko-chan. You're growing so fast, you'll be a lady before anyone notices." Dino said, with a gentle smile.

"Don't say that! My Fuu-chan's never going to grow up! She'll be Daddy's little girl forever." Yamamoto pouted, crushing the girl against his chest.

Dino chuckled. "I wish the kids would stay small forever too. Sorry that Kyouya couldn't make it, the interrogation seems to be taking more than he expected."

Fuuko shook her head. "No problem. I know Uncle Kyouya doesn't like crowds anyway." She smiled.

"You're too much of an adult for your age. Maybe you should swap with Takeshi, see if he grows up someday, and you stay a kid forever." Gokudera butted in, picking the girl up from behind and sitting her on his shoulders.

Dino laughed and waved goodbye as the twins bowed, and the three of them left. Yamamoto shut the door when they lost sight of them while Gokudera collapsed on the couch, still carrying their daughter on his shoulders.

"I could just die right now." He sighed exhausted.

Fuuko winced and hugged his head frantically. "No, Papa! You can't die!" she wailed as her eyes started watering.

Yamamoto helped put her down and sit on the couch, wiping away a small tear off the corner of her eye. "No one's going to die, don't be scared. As if Papa or I could ever leave the most beautiful princess on Earth alone. Protecting you is our most important job." He said, stroking her hair soothingly. One of Fuuko's friends from school had recently lost their parents in an accident, and she had taken it really badly, having nightmares all the time, or telling them not to go to work because it was dangerous.

"That's right, you don't have to worry. I'm sorry I scared you, love. We're all really tired, aren't we? How about a bath and a story before we go to sleep?"

The girl's mood brightened and she threw her tiny arms around Hayato's neck. "That sounds great!" she squealed before dashing to the bathroom. "Papa, will you wash my hair?" she asked, peeking around the corner.

"Of course, love. Call me when you're ready." He smiled gently at her, and she squealed delighted once again and ran off out of their sight.

Yamamoto scooted closer to his beloved and circled his waist with his arms. "Why are you her favorite, that's not fair? Are you going to cheat on me with our daughter?" he teased, nuzzling his neck.

Gokudera huffed in annoyance. "Don't be stupid. If I'm her favorite, she'll never want to run off with some other man, that's all. As if I'd let my daughter ever grow up."

Takeshi giggled. Gokudera had become quite a doting father in no time, and he found it really cute when he said Fuuko was "his daughter". At first, he'd had those weird ideas he seemed to get all the time, and said he couldn't hope to be Fuuko's father when he was at fault for the failure of Yamamoto's marriage, but the little girl had taken an immediate liking to him and that helped change his mind really fast. Though it was true that he was mildly concerned about how close those too were; sometimes he even felt left out. But the way Hayato smiled and how Fuuko's face lit up when they were having fun together made Yamamoto's heart warm up. He had no doubt he was the happiest man on Earth.

"Hey, are you really going to die?" he asked, nibbling on Gokudera's collarbone.

The green-eyed man grunted. "Come on, how old are you? Stop getting-"

"No, I mean… I'm wondering if Hayato is most definitely not up for… uh… "adult" fun." His ideas were getting muddy with a weird mixture of exhaustion and lust, and he wondered if he was even up for it.

There was a brief silence in which Hayato said nothing and Takeshi continued to kiss and nip at his neck and collar. For a moment, he wondered if his husband had fallen asleep under his ministrations, but as he was about to verify, Hayato answered.

"I'll get in the tub with you after Fuuko is asleep. And you'll massage my feet. That's my only offer."

Yamamoto grinned. "Those terms sound fair to me. As usual, your negotiation skills are outstanding, Gokudera-sama. I'll be looking forward to it."

"Papa! I'm already in, you can come now!" Fuuko's voice came from the bathroom.

Gokudera stood from the couch and took off his tie and jacket.

"Ne, Hayato? Will you wash my hair too?" Yamamoto asked playfully, stretching on the newly deserted couch.

The silver-headed man rolled his eyes. He grabbed Yamamoto's collar and pulled him in for a fierce kiss.

"What am I ever going to do with you?"

And he walked away, leaving a dazzled Yamamoto grinning like an idiot.

-Finito-

This was a lot longer than I initially planned, and I lost inspiration many times while writing it –so much that I finished a fourth chapter in the middle of writing this one-. The idea was simply to portray their family life and how both Yama and Dera have grown into doting fathers in different ways; it sort of got out of hand. Actually, this is probably the most proper "sequel" for Il nostro, so I tried to churn in a lot of little details about how their lives have changed in five years.

Sorry for putting in my D18 fantasies without warning. I just wish men could get pregnant, because I'm sure Hibari's kids would be adorable to death. Every time I imagine them I want to squish them. So I did the next best thing, making the adopted babies coincidentally alike their daddy :D. I think I'll add an extra to this collection about the Hibari twins. The other kids I mentioned belong to other headcannons of mine (XS or RyoheixHana) but I didn't think it was necessary to put more detail to it.

The title means literally "Tiny Rain" to reference Fuuko –which I know is physically impossible, but whatever. Sorry grammar of the world for making travesties of you.

In this chapter –and I'm not sure if the previous one- I mention Yama and Dera are husbands, so I have a wedding chapter planned, though I'm not sure of how to pull it off, since gay marriage is still not legal in Japan or Italy. Maybe I'll have them marry in France or Brazil –though I speak naught of French or Portuguese- or Spain, and take advantage of my mother language, who knows. I'll think about it.

People may note that Japanese people are not all that touchy-feely (hugging, kissing, etc.) not even with their own spouses or children -especially in public-, but I don't care. I'll peg it on Gokudera's Italian ancestry and because these sort of physical displays of affection between parents and children turn me into a pile of goo

I noticed Yama grins a lot and Dera rolls his eyes a lot. Dunno, feel like it suits them.

Hope you guys like it anyway, please R&R.

PS. I just noticed I'm posting this for Dera's birthday. Way to go me! I hope Dera spends his b-day fucking like rabbits with Yama :D