to be worthy of you

by pheathers

In one universe, Tsuna's forged through fires thrust upon him without giving him a say on the matter. In this one, he's allowed to choose when he feels ready to step into those fires, and he doesn't shine any less bright or strong for it. [Cross-posted on ao3. Tags inside.]

TAGS: Pre-Canon, Canon Divergence, No Arcobaleno Curse, POV Third Person Limited

Bullying, Swearing

Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Worth Issues, Introspection (of tsuna from the arco's pov), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Bonding, Fluff, Slice of Life (kinda), Arcobaleno as Tsuna's Guardians

Adult Arcobaleno, Protective Arcobaleno, Nonbinary Mammon | Viper

WARNING: Not Beta Read

---

Reborn peers up at Tsuna over the paper in his hand, who's anxiously looking at it and him back and forth, and purses his lips. He holds back a sigh as he lowers Tsuna's homework to properly catch his eye.

"Why do you always carry yourself like that?"

Tsuna tenses, hunching over himself more and hanging his head low, defensive. It's warranted this time, but he'd have reacted that exact same way no matter what Reborn would have said, reacts that way before even registering the words said to him, and doesn't let himself fully relax even if the words turn out to be innocuous.

People do not speak kindly to him after all. And it's been years since people—anyone has spoken kindly to him, except for his mother, but even her hasn't always only kind words for him.

On what ground? What right?

Reborn smothers his anger in a well-practiced manner, which he's willing to do only because he's simply biding his time.

How displeasing, to put it mildly. There's no one in this town who even begins to compare to all Tsuna is, let alone to all he'll become, and yet they dare?

To his Sky?

"Like what?" Tsuna asks the low table, sitting on the floor while Reborn's on the couch.

Reborn smirks, making his voice playful, but just enough mocking to rile him up. "You know. Like someone who doesn't know how pathetic it makes him look like. Or someone who doesn't mind how pathetic it makes him look like." He tilts his head, raising his eyebrow. "Or is it you like and are proud of how pathetic it makes you look like?"

"Stop it." Tsuna's voice's choked up, but it's anger in it, not fear or hurt, and there's fire in his eyes as he looks straight at him.

It takes all of Reborn's will to not grin at him with all his teeth out, lest he misunderstands.

Good.

There's fire in him still, for how much he convinced himself it flickered out long ago. There's fire in him he still knows how to use and that still comes easy to him when he needs it.

He'll also come to learn, or perhaps remember, how he can turn that fire into the unstoppable pyre it's always meant to be just as easily, Reborn will see to it.

"Do I like it or am I proud of it? I—"

"It has been taught to you. I know." Tsuna flinches, but doesn't avert his eyes from him. "But you can unlearn all of it." Tsuna looks away this time, pursing his lips, hurt and resignation on his face. No matter. Either way, Reborn will get rid of all that filth they reshaped him with and taught him to recognize as himself. "Come," he says, standing up from the couch and putting his homework on the low table.

"Eh? Wait—" Reborn doesn't, and he scrambles to follow after him. "Reborn, wait! How did I—"

"You did horrendously, obviously."

Tsuna huffs, mock-offended. "Liar. Wouldn't that make you a horrendous tutor then?"

He walks right by his side, keeping up the pace with him, and warmth spreads inside Reborn at picking up no sign of unease from him.

"So you do know how incredibly lucky you are to have me as your tutor." Tsuna rolls his eyes. "That's right, you only did terribly this time. So don't worry, there's still hope for you."

Tsuna huffs again, but he can't hide the pleased tone of his voice. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."

By no means he can yet be called an average student, let alone something above that, but his grades have been steadily improving since they started their lessons.

Reborn walks inside his room, stopping in front of the full-length mirror. "Come here." Tsuna looks puzzled but comes closer anyway, and Reborn places him in front of the mirror with his hands on his shoulders, standing behind him. "Listen, Tsuna. The way people perceive you can go a long way to decide on how they'll treat you. That's why first impressions matter, though they can be misleading, so you should never trust them blindly. Stand up straight." Tsuna looks unsure and reluctant, glancing at their reflections back and forth. Reborn presses an encouraging hand against his back. "Go ahead. Make those inches count, God knows you can use them."

Tsuna, predictably, flushes. "Oh, shut up. I'm still growing."

"Of course." Tsuna glares at him, and he smirks. "Now, pull back your shoulders and relax them. Good. Raise your head."

Tsuna shifts uncomfortably, ducking his head lower, and Reborn tilts his chin up with his hand. He hums, taking Tsuna's reflection in, both his hands back on his shoulders.

It's not quite what he was going for, Tsuna looking too stiff for it to look natural and have the intended effect, but it's already much better than before.

Tsuna's features twist into something humorless and bitter, a mocking smile pulling at his lips. "Ha. So what, now? Am I suddenly not Dame-Tsuna anymore?"

"You can't expect people to treat you as anything but an easy target when that's the way you act in front of them before they can even do anything. People aren't that kind, as I'm sure you know."

Tsuna turns to look at him, shrugging one of his hand off and raising his voice. "I don't want to hear that from you of all people, Reborn. Someone like you—" He cuts himself off, clenching his jaw before turning back to the mirror, but he doesn't look at it. "What would you know?" he says, his voice calmer once more, but no less bitter. "Are they suddenly going to see my as anything but Dame-Tsuna now? This is just going to make them hurt me more."

Reborn sighs, stepping beside him. He cups the back of his neck, and soothingly rubs the spot behind his ear with his thumb. "I know. I'm not saying you shouldn't bow down to them when they'll make you to lessen the pain. I'm saying you don't have to do it a second sooner before that exact moment. You're at the very least just as deserving and allowed to take as much space in this world as them, Tsuna."

Much more so than them, in fact, but that's another conversation that can wait for now.

"Says who?"

"Why, says me, of course," he says, smirking, making Tsuna catch his eye through the mirror. It doesn't have to be said his words weren't just empty words, not coming from him, from him, and something in Tsuna's eyes wavers. "This is still within your reach to do, isn't it?" Tsuna looks away, curling his hands into tighter fists. He takes a deep breath, and hesitates once before meeting his eye in the mirror. He looks down again. "No, Tsuna."

"Why?" he shouts, turning to face him and stepping away from him. "Maybe I really can't do even that much anymore, okay? What does that even matter anyway? It's not like they're here to see me right now!"

"But you are," Reborn says, dead serious, but not unkindly.

Tsuna widens his eyes, his mouth hanging open, looking stunned. "Th—that's—" His face breaks as the words sink in, his features twisting into something pained, his eyes welling up with tears. "That's… true," he breathes out, almost too low for Reborn to hear. There's something guilty in the way he faces his reflection again then, something apologetic and scared, and something ashamed too that almost has Reborn baring his teeth in a vicious snarl. "Right, I—" He clears his throat and quickly rubs his eyes, then takes another slow and deep breath. He straightens himself again the way Reborn showed him, holding his head high and looking at himself straight in the eye. He doesn't look away. "I guess… I can try."

Reborn smiles. "Good."

Of course, much like Tsuna, he's aware it'll change little, but every big change starts with a lone pebble making the smallest and briefest of ripple in the water. Reborn will see to it he has as much time as he needs to throw those pebbles at his own pace to build his confidence before they move on to bigger stones.

Tsuna glances at him as discreetly as he can, looking him up and down as he shifts his stance for a more natural and casually confident look, and Reborn blinks, maybe preening a little on the inside. He reaches for him again, tangling his fingers in his hair and nuzzling his face in them to hide his widening smile, more so when Tsuna leans in his touch.

If Tsuna wants to use him as an example, then naturally, Reborn will be nothing short but perfect at it, but he has it all wrong.

If nothing else, Reborn is the one who has to make sure to keep up with how much more magnificent Tsuna is sure to become.

---

"You don't have to force yourself to eat it, you know," Fon says indulgently, an amused smile on his lips.

"I'm not!" Tsuna says. "I like spicy foods too, and I can handle it too! Just watch."

He takes a bite out of Fon's plate, and like every other time before, doesn't handle it, his eyes welling up with tears and his face flushing red. He hurries to empty his glass of milk, almost choking on it, and Fon laughs, handing him a piece of bread too for good measure.

"Yes, that was handled masterfully indeed."

Tsuna can't stop himself from giggling, but quickly stops himself to huff instead, mock-pouting. "I do really like spicy foods, though."

"I know." He smiles, teasing. "But just not the same spicy way I like them."

Tsuna narrows his eyes. "I know you always order the spiciest meal on the menu just to see me tear up over them."

"I would never," he says, without trying to convince him it's the truth. He's done it just the once or twice before.

"This is your 'I'm lying to you with a straight face right now' face. Don't think I don't recognize it by now."

Fon muffles his laugh behind his sleeve, his eyes softening at the big, victorious grin Tsuna gives him. He takes a last bite of his bread before digging in his meal again, Fon doing the same.

It always delights him to see Tsuna freely enjoys their time in this restaurant, and at the same time always angers him because of how rare a sight it is. It's a restaurant Fon introduced him to, and one of his favorites himself because of the satisfying variety in Chinese food they offer, and how accurate they are in making it taste like home.

The restaurant is in the less savory parts of town, enough so Tsuna knows not to come here alone, but the food is good, the people and staff warm and welcoming, the atmosphere jovial, and there's rarely any issue unless you look for them yourself.

Tsuna has only allowed himself to enjoy the place once he's learned for a fact none of his schoolmates knows of it too, which is abundantly clear from how brightly he smiles and laughs, how at ease and comfortable he feels, absentmindedly tapping his foot under the table at the rhythm of the background music. But he still tenses and snaps his eyes to the entrance whenever the bell jingles to announce a new customer, keeps an eye on the passerby through the windows, and makes sure to not ever be too loud lest he draws attention to himself.

And how angry it makes him indeed, to know it's only to be expected.

Tsuna never lets himself relax fully anywhere outside his home. He never lets himself relax fully with anyone either, not even with his mother who, for how much she undoubtedly loves him and cares for him, still carelessly inflict wounds on him and deepens ones that are already there, and has yet to care enough to realize it.

Fon would tell him he made sure none of his schoolmates will ever be allowed here, let alone when he himself is already here, but he fears to cross his boundaries and make him self-conscious of perceived shortcomings of his.

"Are you staying for a bit?" Tsuna asks.

"Unless something unexpectedly comes up, yes."

"Doesn't something often do unexpectedly come up, though?"

Fon sighs. "Tell me about it," he says, turning Tsuna's slight pout into a giggle. "But I'll be able to stay for at least a bit of time this time, don't worry."

"Are you visiting your family?"

"And visiting you too."

Tsuna peers up at him from behind his eyelashes, briefly catching his eye, only always briefly catching his eye before looking away again. He smiles, blushing. "Thanks." Fon tilts his chin up with a gentle finger, making them look into each other's eyes again. Tsuna looks back at him with questioning eyes, then confused ones before settling on embarrassed ones. "Um, Fon? What is it?"

"Here I am, liking the way our eyes are of a similar color, but I'm not quite sure if you've even noticed it yet, have you?"

Tsuna blinks, opening his mouth and closing it again without saying anything. "Oh."

Fon smiles, pulling his hand back. "But of course, you don't have to like the sight of my eyes just because I happen to like yours."

"No, it's not like that!" he says hurriedly, leaning on the table and towards him. "I just—" He deflates, slowly leaning back and looking down. "I just dislike eye contact, that's all."

That's not wrong. Fon knows he does, but it's that he avoids it before that. And before that too, he's wary of them, scared of them.

Tsuna's been made to dislike eye contact.

He can't help but still look at people in the eye as much as he can get away with it, needs to, to make sure he's still reading the room correctly, that he's not about to slip and get hurt for it as he walks on eggshells to safely make it out on the other side. To see it coming and being able to avoid it or run away from it, or to brace himself for it when it's too late to do either of those things. Yet at the same time, making eye contact is all it can take for things to go south for him, he's learned it the hard way.

Tsuna has only ever learned things the hard way all his life, has only ever been shown the harsh side of life. A scarred boy he is, his Sky. A boy who's been cut open and made to perpetually and relentlessly bleed out ever since, a boy who didn't even have the time to become anyone or do anything deserving of such treatment, and it makes Fon rage.

At times like this he doesn't care to remember that children should be treated mercifully.

He only cares to know how unfairly cruel even children can be, how gratuitously cruel they can be, and only the fact Tsuna has yet to say the word despite knowing it's all it'd take has kept him put so far.

"Look people in the eye, Tsuna."

Tsuna purses his lips, defensively playing with his food. "Why? It isn't going to make them stop."

"Maybe, but if nothing else it'll let you see them coming easier."

He scoffs. "Oh yeah? Well, it'll also make it come faster and harder."

"Does it matter when it is certain to come either way?" Tsuna winces, and though it pains Fon to see it and pained him to say it, both of them know it's the truth. "You're right, looking people in the eye can be a double-edged sword, but it still remains a sword in your hand you can wield as needed. Let them see exactly just what exactly they're doing to you."

"It isn't going to stop them," he stresses angrily, catching his eye. "What, do you think they care? Do you think they have some kind of guilty conscience over the way they treat me?"

"It isn't about them," Fon soothes him. "So they know what they're doing is wrong and don't care about it. But does it have to mean you have to indulge them in thinking it's only a given they get to treat you like that? You're not the one doing anything wrong or anything to be ashamed of, so why should you be the one looking down? Let all of them see that clearly in your eyes. Let yourself see that clearly in theirs."

"Easier said than done," he grinds out through gritted teeth, clenching his jaw.

Fon reaches out to gently smooths the frown between his brows with his thumb, as well as the hard lines of his mouth and jaw. "I know." But he also knows Tsuna is brave enough to do it anyway, for all he forgot that he is. It's just a matter of him remembering and learning how to be brave again, though unfortunately, it can only happen in a painful way. "But you should know too that if you keep avoiding everyone's eyes like that, you're bound to never recognize the people around you who you'd never have to fear anything from. The people you can rely on and who'd always be on your side. And I reckon it'd hurt those people quite a bit, wouldn't it?" He smiles, cupping his cheek. "What do you say?"

Fon keeps Tsuna's eyes in his until Tsuna's face softens, the hurt and bitterness melting away, until a small but warm and genuine smile blooms on his lips.

He huffs a laugh. "You're right," he says, brushing his cheek against the palm of his hand. He doesn't look away from him. "And I wouldn't want to hurt those people either."

---

Lal steps over the bodies, walking out of the back alley and sending a text for the cleaning crew to show up. Tsuna stops walking at the corner of her eye as she puts her phone back in her pocket, and he's beaming when she looks at him.

"Lal!" Lal steps towards him as he runs to her to make sure to block the alley from his sight. She didn't get any blood on her, did she? "Hi."

"Hey, brat," she says, ruffling his hair. "What are you doing here at this hour?"

"We were let go early today."

Sure they did.

"Let's go then."

Tsuna links their arms together as they fall in step with each other, Lal staying perfectly at his level to block his sight once more as they walk past the alley. Tsuna tries to take a peek at it anyway as discreetly as he can, and she flicks his forehead before he can.

"Ow!" He laughs, bringing a hand to his forehead. "What?"

"Mind your own business."

He huffs. "Whatever."

Truthfully, it is entirely his business, which he's bound to learn all about sooner or later, but all in due time.

Some balls they had though, to try to ambush him on his way back from school. Some balls they had to try to ambush him at all, knowing just who had his back and claimed him as theirs.

Lal should have been less swift with them, and more painstakingly ruthless.

"Uh-oh, your angry face is showing." Tsuna gives her a toothy grin at the corner of his lips, raising his eyebrows, and she playfully clicks her tongue.

That cheeky little brat.

She smiles as sweetly and sharp as she can, her face soft and relaxed, and her eyes dead serious as they bore into him. "Better?"

"Um, terrifying, yep, yep, yep."

"Do keep it in mind."

Tsuna holds back on a strangled laughter, smiling, but then turns worried, looking at her up and down. "You okay, though, aren't you?"

There it is. A burst of fondness courses through her, for all she huffs and reaches up to pinch his cheek.

She used to find it funny, him worrying about her, used to find it worth mocking, dismissing his concerns with a roll of her eyes. She even used to consider if maybe she should take offense at it.

Who did he take himself for, to worry about her? Who did he take her for, to worry about her?

Before long though, she found herself only feeling warm all over from the earnest worry in his eyes and voice. Never belittling, disrespectful or presumptuous in any way, but simply… worried. Caring.

Lal can't remember the last time someone was worried about her from a genuine fear she couldn't keep herself safe, but it isn't a bad feeling.

Tsuna leans his head back to continue his inspection, and she can't resist, a mischievous grin pulling at her lips. "Oh? I didn't know you so bold. Eyes upfront, young man."

"What?" Tsuna screeches, almost choking on his spit, whipping his head to look at her and tripping on his feet, almost falling if not for their linked arms. His face is beet red. "Lal! I was just making sure you weren't injured anywhere! I wasn't—I wouldn't—" She bursts out laughing, and Tsuna somehow manages to turn even redder than before. "Don't laugh!" She laughs harder, and Tsuna groans, hiding his face with his hand, then hiding his face against her arm too for good measure. "You're all the worst."

Lal lets her laughter run its natural course, then wipes the tears at the corner of her eyes once she calms down. "Thanks for the good laugh," she says purely to mess with him a bit more, running her hand through her hair.

Tsuna shoves her with his shoulder before leaning away, though doesn't let go of her arm. "I'm not talking to you anymore."

"Tough luck. So." He curiously glances at her. "Skipping again?"

He looks away and keeps his eyes down. "I already said we finished early today."

"Yeah, and you're a terrible liar."

"Yeah, well…" He says nothing else, letting go of her arm.

It's a gesture of rejection, him putting distance between them. It's not purposeful, she knows, and yet coming from her Sky, she can't help but feel it sting.

She has to bite down on the instinct to scramble and fix it like she just messed up when she merely brought to the table a conversation he'd rather not have.

"Well what?"

"Nothing. Just forget it."

She clicks her tongue again, this time stern and scolding. "Stop doing that."

Tsuna hunches his shoulders, holding onto the strap of his school bag tighter. "Doing what?"

"Shutting yourself up before you can even say anything."

"Why not? I'm just… saving us both time."

"And who are you to decide for me I don't want to listen to the things you have to say?" Hurt flickers across Tsuna's face, making him catch her eye again. He wasn't talking about her specifically, she knows, meant that no one ever cares about what he has to say even when he finds it in him to say it, that no one has ever cared about it, so why should he bother? But Lal isn't just anyone, is she? Let alone anything like his scumbags schoolmates who made him think like that. "Besides, if it really turns out you don't have anything to say worth listening to, I can dismiss you and all of it all by myself just fine. Who do you take me for?"

"Wha—?" He gaps, speechless, but then snorts, lightly and playfully jabbing his elbow in her side. "You're so mean."

She smirks. "Damn right I am. Used at the right time and in the right amount, it gets you farther in life than one might think. You know how to speak, Tsuna, so pick up that habit again."

"Well, obviously I—"

"No, Tsuna." She makes them stop walking, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You know how to speak. So speak up, loud and clear."

Tsuna seems to understand her correctly this time, his face taking on a serious and hardened look. "Why? Just so it can fall on deaf ears?"

"Why are you suddenly bringing that up?" she asks, crossing her arms on her chest. "You owe it to yourself to say the things you have to say, the things you need to say. They can choose to listen or to not listen to you, but when they'll shamelessly turn around later to ask you about the exact things you warned them you were going to do, you'll know for a fact you can just laugh in their faces and keep moving on with your life. Wouldn't that feel nice?"

A brief smile pulls at his lips, but it turns into a proper grin when she raises her eyebrow at him, a small laugh tumbling from his lips. He loosens his tight grip on the strap of his bag, and Lal waits for him in silence as he straightens his back, squares his shoulders and looks her straight in the eye. "You're right, I'm skipping school right now. But what about it? It's not like anyone there has ever cared to teach me anything anyway. Do I have to stay anyway just so they can have fun making me miserable?"

"You'll never have to stay anywhere that makes you miserable ever again," she says right away without missing a beat. "Or with anyone who makes you miserable."

Tsuna misses a beat before visibly swallowing. "That's a promise."

Lal raises her eyebrow again. "Obviously." It's also a threat, but that can be left unsaid for now. All in due time. "So that's what happened, huh?" She proudly ruffles his hair, grinning. "Good job."

"What? Doing what? Running away?"

"Drawing boundaries."

Tsuna's been skipping school long before they met, in fear of not making it back home in one piece should he follow the same schedule as everyone else, but this time it was clearly him leaving them in the dust, refusing to obediently wait for them to use him as their plaything.

As he should, and as it should be and should have always been.

This time there's an unmistakable gleam in Tsuna's eyes, and maybe he steps forwards for a hug to hide it from her sight. "I know this is just the nicer way to put it but… thank you."

She hums. "Forget it." She honestly wants to argue his point, but at least he didn't fully deny her words. That's progress. "Is Reborn here too?"

He snorts. "You're asking me? He only lets me know when he leaves. And sometimes he doesn't even do that."

"Well, whatever. Who cares about him? Should we stop somewhere first before we go home?"

Tsuna leans his head back excitedly, beaming up at her. "Yes!"

"Should we go to that cake shop you like then?"

"Right," he says, his grin turning mischievous. "The cake shop I like, sure."

She narrows her eyes at him, though a smile pulls at her lips. "Watch it."

She drags him along with her arm around his shoulders, making him stumble, but it only makes him giggle.

"By the way, you're not mean at all. You're the kindest, sweetest—"

Tsuna's surprised yelp catches in his throat when Lal pulls him forwards by a fistful of his shirt, tripping his foot and flipping him around, all in one swift motion. He doesn't harshly land on the floor on his back only because she keeps a firm hold on him, holding him up, and he looks up at her with wide and stunned eyes.

"What did I just say?"

This time he's the one to burst out laughing in her face, and though her face's burning, she can't bring herself to feel mad about it.

---

Skull looks at the CDs one after another, glancing briefly at their covers and titles. He isn't looking for anything in particular, is just keeping himself busy, humming the store's music entirely off-tune because he doesn't know the song, but then he triumphantly picks up the CD that catches his eye.

"Tsuna, Tsuna! Come take a look at this!"

"Skull, your voice!" Tsuna hurriedly shushes him, ironically having to speak loud himself as he's further along the shelf.

"Actually, it's an honor for anyone to be graced by this Great Skull-sama's voice. But never mind that, look!" He lowers the CD so Tsuna can actually look at it, and can't help but snort. "You're so tiny."

Tsuna doesn't even spare him a glance, jabbing his elbow in his side. "I'm still growing. You know this band?"

"Who cares about the band, look at how they're dressed! Don't they look awesome?"

Skull doesn't have to know the band to know they dab in punk music, their all black outfits, makeup and accessories being ample evidence of it. They're none too subtle with it, and a lot more heavy-handed than Skull generally goes for, but no less appealing to his eyes.

"I don't know. They kind of just look scary to me."

"First of all, you clearly know nothing about fashion." Tsuna rolls his eyes. "Second of all, are you saying you find me scary?"

"What? No?" he says, amused. "Maybe because you use purple as your defining color?" He shrugs. "It suits you."

"First of all, at least you clearly know what matters the most when it comes to fashion." Tsuna laughs, and he grins at him. "Second of all, black would suit me too, just so you know. Everything suits me."

"Yes, yes, of course."

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Ah, no, not yet." He scratches his cheek, flicking his eyes over the CDs around them. "I think it might already be all sold out."

"Should we go ask someone to make sure then? And if it's really sold out, maybe you can ask them to put one aside for you for the next time?"

"Should we?" Skull gestures at him to lead the way with a grand gesture of his arm before falling in steps with him, making him huff a laugh. "Wait, you're going to buy it?" he asks, looking at the CD in his hand.

Skull waves it in front of him. "Sure, why not? For the inspiration, if nothing else."

"Eh? No way. You already look just fine like this, right?"

"Obviously," he says arrogantly, puffing his chest out, but glowing under the praise on the inside. "It doesn't mean I can't look even better though, mind you. But thank you." He plants a quick, but big fat kiss on his temple, and Tsuna cries out like he knew he would.

"Skull, your lipstick!" He wipes the lipstick mark that is, in fact, there with the hem of his sleeve, grumbling. "I'm always telling you…"

"And that's why I keep doing it on purpose."

Tsuna's glare only meets an unrepentant shit-eating grin, but it turns into poorly contained laughter when Skull exaggeratedly puckers his lips towards him.

"See? I told you it was him!" an unpleasant voice says, clearly up to no good.

Tsuna's face loses all colors, his eyes widening, and he backs away in pure instinctive fear before he even looks at the two boys coming their way.

It stirs something ugly inside him, something he knows won't be kind on even kids and won't care to be. It almost makes it snap right there and then too, really, and Skull makes sure to not look at the boys lest it really does snap.

Tsuna comes first.

Tsuna stumbles against him, and Skull puts his hand on his back to stop him from trying to back away further still, as if he doesn't realize he's blocking his way. "Oh no," he mutters under his breath, his breathing fastening more and more. "Oh no, no no no no no, not here, not now…" He hangs his head low, hiding with his hair the way he frantically flickers his eyes around, looking for an escape.

Skull wraps his arm around his waist and squeezes, hoping to ground him. "You're okay, Tsuna," he says softly in his ear, but with absolute confidence in his voice. "Right now, you standing right here is the safest place in the world for you."

Thankfully his words seem to reach him, tension visibly draining away from his body, though his breathing doesn't settle down. He tenses right back when the boys speak again, but less in the blinding fear and panic of before, and more to brace himself.

Skull moves his hand back to his back again, stepping away from him to give him space. If he can call it that anyway, as he stays close enough for Tsuna's shoulder to brush against him.

"Hey, Dame-Tsuna," the other boy says loudly like they're deaf, both of them stopping in front of them too close for comfort. "If it isn't our dear friend, Dame-Tsuna, right, Kyo?"

"I told you I recognized his voice. Aren't you happy I did, Dame-Tsuna?"

They grin at him from ear to ear, looking at him like he's fresh meat waiting for them to tear into it to their hearts' content.

They don't spare him a glance.

They should.

Skull has no doubts his face speaks volumes for himself right now, and though they might be too full of themselves and plain stupid to react appropriately to it, their instincts are sure to make them run away as fast as they can without looking back.

Tsuna lets out a strangled laugh that couldn't sound more forced if he tried, and they visibly relish in it. "H—hey, guys. What… what are you doing here?"

"What was that?" the first boy says, his face cold and wiped out of any trace of humor all of a sudden. "Since when is that any of your business?"

"Yeah, should we ask you for permission before going anywhere?" his buddy—no, his name is Kyo, Skull'll remember it—Kyo adds.

"N—no, of course!" Tsuna hurries to say, waving his hands in front of him. He looks at anywhere but them, keeping his head low, hunched over himself. "I was just—! I was just curious…"

Kyo's features twist in mocking disdain. "Who the hell would want someone like you to be curious about them, though?"

They burst out laughing, and Skull sees red when Tsuna forces himself to laugh alongside them.

Ah. Skull doesn't have the restraint to do this.

Skull can't possibly be expected to deal with this maturely, surely? To deal with them peacefully?

Who are they to treat his Sky like this?

Who are they to treat his Sky like this in front of him?

The boys could be in Tsuna's year, though they're taller and bigger, and they must look terrifying to Tsuna.

To Skull, they look like less than nothing. He could crush them under his foot and he wouldn't even notice, though he would enjoy it.

He wants to.

He will if they cross the line one more time, to hell with the tacit agreement he has with the others.

"Anyway—hey, come on, Akimitsu, shut up already. Who's that?" he asks, gesturing with his head at him.

"Just—just someone I know."

Tsuna turns his head away from him, guilt and shame obvious on his face.

Skull reassuringly presses his hand against his back. It's fine, he gets it. He was fourteen, and a middle schooler at the receiving end of bullying once too.

Tsuna's only trying to protect him, as if Skull isn't the adult here and he isn't the one who should be protected right now, and isn't that so very him?

"Is he someone who knows you, though?" Akimitsu asks, grinning viciously. "Should we tell him all about you?"

Kyo repeatedly taps his knuckles against Akimitsu's chest, looking Skull up and down once before dismissing him. "Nah, forget it." He crosses his arms on his chest, focusing on Tsuna again. "What the hell are you doing here, Dame-Tsuna? Don't tell me I share a hobby with you of all people?"

"Is that any of your business?"

It seems none of them expected him to speak up, as all three of them miss a beat.

Tsuna whips his head to him, gripping his jacket, wide-eyed. "W—wait, don't—!"

"The hell did you just say?"

"Isn't that what you told him when he asked you the same thing? What, you don't have to answer to him, but he has to answer to you? To people like you?"

They bristle, scowling in what he supposes is supposed to be an intimidating and threatening manner, and Tsuna holds onto his jacket in a vice-like grip.

"Wait, Skull—"

Skull lets his CD fall on the floor, gently taking his hand in his, not averting his eyes from Kyo and Akimitsu, continuing to stare them down.

"Wait, your name's Skull?" Akimitsu scoffs, a grin pulling at both their lips like they somehow just gained the upper hand again. Like they ever had it despite him standing right there from the beginning. "How old even are you, man? You think it makes you look cool or something?"

"Even middle schoolers don't choose lame nicknames for themselves like that anymore. So I guess you're still stuck in grade school, huh?"

They snicker, but falter when Skull doesn't give them any kind of reaction, growing wary.

Skull doesn't have any plan to indulge them whatsoever.

"You know," he starts in the tone of innate conversation, "you're making it plenty obvious just who you think you are, but who are you again? And what makes you so sure I can't do anything to you?"

A tensed beat of silence passes during which they exchange glances, and then, predictably, they redirect their attention on Tsuna again.

Skull almost barks out a biting and scathing laugh at their faces. Yeah, they're textbook fucking bullies all right. Targeting only the weak, and immediately losing their nerves in front of anyone breaking their delusions of being among the strong, instead of being the weakest of the bunch.

"I guess you're glad—"

"Did I say you could talk to him?" he cuts Kyo off. "Or that I was done talking to you?"

"Hey, man!" Akimitsu snaps, his face turning red. "Fucking butt out already, will you? Are you really picking a fight with kids right now?"

Kyo, apparently smarter than him and better at reading the room, jumps on the opportunity for a tactical retreat. "Guess losers can only stick together with other losers. Just take your babysitter with you and scram the hell out of here, Dame—"

"Stop ordering him around." They wince, cutting themselves off and stepping back, clearly despite themselves. "Don't you fucking look at him either." They've been doing that, boring their eyes into him, waiting for him to obediently get rid of him himself so they could freely torment him. But for all Tsuna holds his hand so hard his knuckles are white, his body so tensed it's like he turned into stone, he has yet to say anything. He won't say anything either, will keep standing by him. "And now if we're done here—"

"Ha!" Akimitsu barks out, flushed with anger.

"Wait, Aki—"

Akimitsu carelessly shrugs him off, stalking forwards. "You don't want us to touch your precious Dame-Tsuna, is that it?"

"Hey."

Skull feels chills run down Tsuna's body, hears his breath catch in his throat, but Akimitsu and Kyo flinch. They stumble back, wide-eyed, almost tripping on their feet and falling.

There, at long last. Fear.

Skull had forgotten how dull and slow civilians' instincts could be.

"Feel free to try to do anything to me, but take one more step towards him, and I'm going to break your legs. Touch even a hair out of him, and I'll make sure you can never use your hands ever again." Skull doesn't think they're remembering how to breathe, their faces white as a sheet and their bodies shaking, and he wishes he could do much more to them. "Now if you got that clearly, and I'll trust you did, we're done here."

They're irritatingly slow in catching up, but eventually Kyo startles himself out of his stupor, and grabs onto Akimitsu. "F—fuck, Aki, let's just go."

They all but run away without glancing back, and they couldn't have disappeared from his sight a second sooner.

Tsuna collapses the second they're out of sight, falling on his knees.

Skull kneels with him, and pulls him in his arms while still holding onto his hand. "Hey, hey, hey. It's okay, you're okay. It's over. You're safe, Tsuna, just breathe."

He does, but too fast and unevenly, clutching his chest, already well on his way to either hyperventilate or have a panic attack. "Oh no, oh no… Why did you do that? You shouldn't… you shouldn't—"

"Please, don't say that. Was I just supposed to stand there and let them treat you like that? They didn't want to share the same space as you, so I reminded them of where the door was so they could see themselves out. You were here first."

"I didn't ask for your help!" he shouts, and when he turns his head to look at him, his eyes are welled-up with tears. "I didn't ask you to do anything!"

"You were going to leave the store," Skull says, on the defensive despite himself. "You'd have left before they'd have even reached you if you could, and would also have left when they told you to. Why should you have?" He clenches his jaw, feeling his anger rise again. "This is your town too. You don't have to live your life by accommodating everyone else's lives at the expense of your own, Tsuna. You shouldn't."

"Stop saying that!" He wrenches himself free from him, and grabs him by his jacket. He's lashing out, but at least the need to talk forces him to get his breathing back under control. "You and the others, you always say these things so easily, as if you know anything. If you mind me being Dame-Tsuna so much, then just leave me alone!"

Skull widens his eyes, unexpectedly feeling struck, feeling hurt. Of all the things he could have said, he didn't expect that. "That's… unfair. You know we've never taken an issue with that. That we don't believe you're—"

"I'm being unfair?" He scoffs, but it sounds more like a sob, tears spilling out from his eyes. "You're the ones making it sound all so easy, even when you don't know anything. Acting like that as if—as if you can always be with me. At school—"

"Hey, no, Tsuna," he cuts him off firmly but gently, wrapping his hands around his wrists. "I'd never let you take the fall for this for me, not at school, and not anywhere else either. I won't let them do anything to you at school either, I swear."

"—at school, they'll—and not just them either. They'll all—"

"Tsuna." Skull cups his face between his hands, making sure he's not just looking at him but is also seeing him. "You know we can keep you safe even when we're not with you, right? Nothing will happen to you at school. Not because of what just happened, not from those two, or from anyone else you can tell me about right now if you want. I swear." Tsuna's hands shake from where he's still holding onto his jacket, his body tensed, but the fight still slowly drains out of him. He leans his head against his chest, sagging against him, choked back sobs slipping past his lips. Skull hugs him back tightly, burying his face in his hair and running a soothing hand up and down his back. "It's okay. I'm sorry I did things you didn't want me to do, I'm sorry it scared and upset you, but you're going to be okay. You're safe, and you'll stay safe, I swear. I'm never going to let anyone hurt you."

Skull doesn't keep track of the time, but as he keeps whispering soothing words to him, Tsuna eventually calms down and stops crying.

He doesn't know if it's simply the gesture or him putting faith in his words that soothes him, but either way, Skull has every intention to keep his promise.

---

Colonnello gives Falco his cue as soon as Tsuna opens the door wide enough for him, whistling, and Tsuna doesn't fail to give them his best screech as Falco flies straight to him.

Of course Falco doesn't try to hurt him, is only teasing him, crying out loudly and flapping his wings in his face, rapidly flying around him and pulling at his clothes.

Tsuna flails around, screaming too, turning on himself to try to keep up with Falco and catch him. He trips on his feet, predictably and inevitably, but Colonnello wraps his arm around his waist and picks him off his feet before he can kiss the floor hello.

He laughs. "You're hopeless. Can't even win against a bird?"

"It's your bird! And of course I'm hopeless. What, you haven't heard yet?"

Colonnello frowns, his smile slipping off his face. "You do know we never mean it like that, right?"

Tsuna looks away. "Ah, no—I know. Forget it, that was just… force of habit."

"Shit habit. Get rid of it."

He huffs a laugh. "Right. Seems like that's you guys' big plan, getting rid of my many 'shit' habits."

"What, you haven't heard yet?" he says, leaning close to his face, a wide grin pulling at his lips. "It is, in fact, exactly our big plan."

"Good luck with that."

"No need for it."

He rolls his eyes, but he's smiling. "Whatever. Just put me down already, will you?"

"You mean I'm still carrying you? For real? I didn't notice."

"I'm still growing!" Tsuna whines indignantly, and he snickers.

He puts him down, Falco perching himself on his head as soon as his feet touches the ground again, and Tsuna reaches up to caress him. Colonnello pats his back. "Tries to grow vertically too then, why don't you?"

"I'm not talking to you anymore," he says, walking down the hallway as Colonnello takes off his boots to put on slippers instead.

"Don't mind me letting myself in, by the way."

"No, I do mind."

"Tough luck." Tsuna distinctly snorts, though he tries to hide it. Colonnello follows him to the living room, but stops at the doorway. "Your mom?"

"She's out with friends."

Tsuna likely has already eaten but…

"Care for a little snack? I can cook us a little something."

Tsuna eagerly whirls on his feet, a big grin on his face. "Yes!"

"Or should we go out too to do some exercise? The weather's particularly nice today."

Tsuna whirls back on his feet even faster than before. "Never mind."

Colonnello laughs, pulling him back by the collar of his shirt, and Tsuna's surprised yelp turns into laughter too. "You little shit."

Tsuna easily lets him drag him to the kitchen, Falco angrily following after them for having been dislodged from the comfortable nest that is Tsuna's hair. Colonnello lets go of him at the doorway, drapes his jacket over the back of a chair, while Falco perches himself on top of the fridge this time, from where he can keep an eye on the whole kitchen.

Ever so reliable, his partner.

"Do you want some help?"

"Please, don't. Just sit down and learn by watching first."

Tsuna huffs. "That's what you always say."

He walks away, and Colonnello takes his time inspecting what he has to work with. As expected, the fridge and all the cupboards are full and filled with a wide variety of choice. Tsuna's mom knows how to keep the people under her roof fed, no one can hardly take that away from her.

Tsuna comes back with a manga in his hands, still pretending to sulk, and sits at the table without sparing him a glance.

"If you don't need my help, then I guess I don't need to brew the coffee either."

"Oh, come on!" His coffee's good. "Should I prepare your least favorite meal then?" Tsuna pointedly blocks him from sight with his manga, and Colonnello raises an eyebrow, an amused smile pulling at his lips. When the hell did he become so cheeky? "Guess I'll just spit in your food."

Tsuna bursts out laughing, clearly despite himself as he quickly slaps his hand against his mouth. "Gross."

Truthfully, Colonnello's not that good with Japanese food, but if it's just cooking a "little something", he should manage. Should he go for some soba noodles?

"How've you been?"

"Just the usual. What about you?"

Colonnello misses a small beat, but chooses to let it go. Tsuna's usual doesn't exactly entail anything good, but it's been better ever since they met, and he seems to be in a good mood today. "Still alive and kicking."

They settle in a comfortable silence as Colonnello prepares the food, broken here and there with small chat or Tsuna's unconscious commentary as he reads his manga. Soon he puts two bowls of soba noodles with vegetables on the table, and fetches two glasses of water before sitting across from him.

Tsuna grins. "Thank you for the food!" he says eagerly.

"Knock yourself out."

He doesn't wait to be told twice, though pretends to suspiciously pause before the first bite, narrowing his eyes at him.

Colonnello smirks, leaning his head against his hand, his elbow resting on the table.

Tsuna rolls his eyes.

"Are you really okay, though?" he asks. "You look tired."

As if on cue, Colonnello can't help but yawn. "Tell me about it. I've been having a couple of rough weeks lately, and was only able to catch on some decent sleep last night."

Actually, now he thinks about it, it's good Tsuna didn't prepare any coffee. He's only been running on coffee lately, so some water can only do him good.

"Wait, you're here since yesterday?" Colonnello hums. "Oh. I mean, don't you guys… usually text me or…"

Oh? "I arrived late at night, and trust me when I say I passed out as soon as I hit the bed. And I knew you've been doing okay anyway."

Tsuna frowns. "You did?"

"Sure. We keep tabs on you among us. Ask whoever saw you last about you."

Tsuna gaps, breathing out an incredulous laugh. "Is that something you should say so bluntly?"

Colonnello grins, unapologetic. "What? Like you didn't know about it? Like you mind?"

"I do mind when you put it like that, yeah! Jeez, what do you mean keeping 'tabs' on me?"

"Never mind that—"

"Don't just ignore me!"

Colonnello straightens in his chair, waving his chopsticks at him as he speaks, "So. You eagerly wait for and expect our texts, do you now?" He exaggeratedly wiggles his eyebrows at him.

Tsuna turns bright red in a blink. "No!" he shouts, flailing his hands all over the place. "I mean—I didn't mean you have to or that—that you owe it to me or anything!" He averts his eyes from him, his features twisting, his embarrassment giving way to fear and worry instead. "Of—of course if you can't or don't want to text me, you don't have to. Just because I—I mean, of course you don't have to care—"

"Tsuna." Tsuna snaps his mouth shut, tensing and hiding his hands on his lap. Colonnello clenches his jaw. He didn't mean to sound so harsh, but he hates to see him like that. "I know what you mean," he says with a softer voice, soothing and reassuring.

Tension visibly drains out of him, though he still doesn't meet his eyes. He nods. "Okay."

"Good. So, what did you mean?"

Tsuna blinks, apparently surprised enough to look at him. "Eh? What…"

Colonnello smirks. "What? I do know what you mean, but all you did was rambling without actually saying anything."

Tsuna gaps before huffing. "You just want to hear me say it."

"That's right, so hurry up and say it."

Tsuna rolls his eyes, but there's a small smile pulling at his lips. He's still a little unsure then, but he keeps his eyes in his and his voice steady, a slight blush rising to his cheeks as he speaks, "I know you can't always text me for whatever reason, and—it's fine of course, I don't mind, but… it feels nice when you do and I like it." A beat of silence passes before Colonnello raises his eyebrow at him. "Ugh, you're so—" He cuts himself off, the cutest embarrassed scowl on his face. "Fine. I eagerly wait for and expect your texts. Happy now?"

Colonnello gives him his best shit-eating grin. "Very." He lets it turn more earnest then, lest Tsuna thinks he's still making fun of him. "There. Wasn't so difficult, was it? No need for all that self-flagellation."

"I don't… Maybe rambling is just a thing I do."

"I know that. But how come it's never happy or excited rambling? It's always you apologizing for—I don't know, existing or something."

"Maybe you just never ask me about things that make me happy or excited," he says, defensive.

Colonnello actually misses a beat before huffing an incredulous laugh. "That's rich. Don't we ask you about your mangas or music or video games? But then you shut the conversation down as quickly as possible before changing the subject."

"That's—" He pauses, his mouth open on whatever else he wanted to say. He frowns, looking down and leaning back against his chair. "I… didn't realize I do that."

Colonnello's lips twitch with the urge to purse them. Yeah, he bets he didn't. "Listen, all I'm saying is that you don't have to justify your existence like that all the time. Or ever."

Tsuna keeps his eyes down, his face blank more than unreadable. This time, Colonnello purses his lips, because course his words ring hollow to him.

That way he has to preemptively apologize for being himself or for anything having to do with him, to deem himself a waste of everyone else's time looks so deeply ingrained in him, maybe he doesn't even remember a time when he wasn't made to feel that way about himself anymore. Only when he comes up with a satisfactory enough justification for his existence he's allowed to own up to it a little, but even then it's only so they can take advantage of it for their own entertainment.

It's so absurd Colonnello would find it funny, but he only feels angry because the only thing all this tells him is that it's all gratuitous. That they've never even gave him the chance to earn to be treated as their equals, not that he should ever be made to prove himself to bastards like them.

Colonnello would know, they all would. They couldn't have possibly ever given him the time of day in earnest, and not realize just how warmth a person he is, just how bright he shines.

Just how warm and bright he still is even now, bruised and beaten as he is.

He knows, because he liked Tsuna first before realizing he was his Sky.

Colonnello's stomach twists when he thinks about how they could have found him too late to keep his warmth and light alive, to help him heal, but now they're here, they'll never let him be brought to such lows ever again.

"Hey, listen," he says again with a quiet and soft voice. "You know that at the very least you don't have to be like that with us, right? With me?"

Tsuna nods right away. "I know."

"Good. And I know you don't do it on purpose, but you should know too it feels unpleasant when you act like that. It's like you're telling us you don't believe we genuinely enjoy your company and want to hear anything you might have to say."

"That's not true!" he blurts out, snapping his head up and looking at him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't think that—I've never thought that even once. It's—it's not about you."

That's not pleasant to hear either, but Colonnello doesn't let the smile on his lips be anything but genuine and soothing. "I know. But I'd like it better if I could tell you know that too. So let's try to make it happen, yeah?"

"Yeah," he says right away, nodding, because of course he does. "Yeah, I… I'll try." He nods again, determination on his face and in his eyes.

Of course if it's for them, then it only makes sense he'll do it. Then he'll do it easily.

If it's for the people he cares about, there's nothing he can't do.

He's too soft for his own good, especially for the world that'll inevitably catch up to him. The world that has already caught up to him in a way, with them having become part of his life.

He would be too soft for his own good anyway, but Colonnello will see to it he remains as soft as he wants without it ever bringing him harm.

He grins at him. "All right then, we have a deal. Now hurry up and eat before it turns too cold."

Tsuna smiles back, finally putting his hands back on the table. "Yeah, okay. I mean, it's not that good—"

Colonnello kicks him under the table. "Shut the fuck up."

"Ow!"

He leans forward, reaching down under the table with his arm, a laugh tumbling out of his lips, and it's a much better look on him.

---

Another batch of students walks past Verde, the flow of student leaving the school much thinner now compared to when he first arrived. He can't help looking at his watch again, even if it's already been made clearly apparent for some time now Tsuna's late, which is the reason he came to pick him up at his school to begin with.

It's worrying that he's late, knowing what his school life is like.

Verde wishes he'd have been proven wrong in his worries when he finally catches sight of him.

He limps, walking slowly and cradling his torso, hunched over himself. As he walks closer, looking down, perhaps focusing on his steps so to not fall over at a moment notice, Verde makes out his state more clearly. He looks haggard, his uniform dirty and rumpled, clear footsteps imprints on it, as well as blood near the collar. There's blood in his hair too at the side of his head, nasty bruises already blooming on his skin, his lip busted and a black eye over his left eye.

Verde should have made an example out of every single student who walked past him.

He didn't pay attention to them, but he can figure out the culprits from memory and from their timing, the ones with satisfied and nasty grins on their faces, with blood on their hands, on the hem of their pants and on their shoes, and he should have at least made an example out of them right then and there.

Verde should have made an example out of every single teachers and adults who walked past him too.

Isn't this a school where they ought to make sure the students are safe for as long as they're there? Isn't it their jobs to look after their well-being?

If not one single adult here cares to be competent at their job, then surely they won't care about losing said job either as he removes them from Tsuna's vicinity permanently.

Tsuna stops in front of him while keeping some distance between them, and Verde makes sure to not let on any of his anger.

Tsuna looks up but doesn't meet his eye, his eyes empty and his face blank despite the pain he must be in. "Why are you here? I told you I don't want you to come pick me up at school."

"I know. But we had an appointment together as you were supposed to finish early today. You were late and didn't warn me about it, so I worried, but I won't make this a habit, don't worry."

He flicks his eyes to the side like he meant to look at him, but then looks down again without meeting his eye. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Can I look more closely at your injuries?"

Tsuna tenses, hunching over himself and holding onto himself tighter. There's an aborted movement of his leg as he almost steps back, but then he remains put. He gives him a stiff nod.

Verde has to catch himself to not hurry towards him, slowly closing the distance between them. He makes his hands as gentle as he can as he moves them up and down his body, applying pressure as light as possible to his wounds, but he still feels Tsuna tense under his touch, still catches him wincing and clenching his jaw to not make any noise.

Verde takes a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before standing again and taking a step back from him.

"It's not good, but you shouldn't be in any danger. You don't have anything broken, though you have multiple fractures. The wound on your head might have side effects or lead to complications later, so it's best we go to the hospital to be safe."

"No."

"I'll make sure they won't let your mother know about it, you know I can," he reassures him. "But you need to be looked at by a professional."

Tsuna's face pinches in reluctance, and though it's better than that blank look of before, it's still not pleasant to see.

They could let Reborn do it instead, even if he doesn't have any more of a medical degree than he has either. That's the option Verde would have usually chosen too, but Reborn's bound to react badly to seeing Tsuna in this state, to say the least, enough to let it slip past his control.

Usually it wouldn't have mattered either, but with Tsuna's emotional state being the way it appears to be, the last thing he needs is anger, even one on his behalf.

"Shall we?" he prompts him when he has yet to say anything, trying to sound gentle and patient, and to not come off as pressuring him.

Tsuna stays silent another beat before his face slowly turns blank again, his eyes empty once more. He gives him another stiff nod.

Thankfully Verde came to pick him up with his car. The ride's silent, Tsuna staying silent too when they arrive at the hospital, not seeming to care one way or another about anything happening, or even taking notice of any of it as Verde makes sure he'll be looked at by a trustworthy doctor who'll do as he'll tell him to.

Verde leaves them alone in the room, figuring Tsuna would be more at ease like that. He leans against the wall across the door, crossing his arms on his chest. Then he purses his lips now out of Tsuna's sight, tapping a self-admonishing finger against his bicep.

Tsuna's eyes were more than empty, they were hollow.

They may have made a mistake.

They'd only need a couple of days to make sure no one in this town dares to so much as look at Tsuna the wrong way ever again. Could do it in a single day if the situation was that dire, and would make it happen in even a couple of hours if they needed to.

It would successfully make and keep Tsuna safe from any more torment, but it wouldn't free him from their hold on him, from the fear he feels towards them. It wouldn't silence their voices in his head and all the lies they taught him about himself either, nor would it make them disappear from his mind forever.

Tsuna doesn't necessarily have to do that by himself and alone, but he has to be the one to make them do it on his behalf. Which is why they've been waiting for him to ask them for their help should he not feel able to do it alone, and though he must know by now the slightest word from him is all it would take, he has still to say it.

Except the situation might already be that dire, and they should act regardless. Tsuna has always been careful to hide from them who they force him to be when interacting with them, and it seems that because of that, they might have underestimated just how deep their claws have already reached him.

Tsuna looked like he was giving up, standing on the brink and about to let himself fall over it.

And it'd be all meaningless they're trying to help him see his own worth again, to let him realize he has it in him to free himself from his tormentors and to make sure nothing of the sort will ever happen to him again, if all it does is letting him break in the middle of that process, wouldn't it?

Verde smooths his face in a neutral mask as the doctor walk out of the room, leaning away from the wall. He listens to her diagnosis of Tsuna and her recommendations for his recovery before walking inside the room.

Tsuna sits at the edge of the bed, holding an ice pack against the side of his head. Thankfully his wounds are just as Verde assessed them to be, with no complications to be expected and a full recovery from them in due time.

Not that Tsuna seems to care about it, his face blank and his eyes empty. Hollow.

"The doctor said she gave you some painkillers. Shall we wait until they take effect before going home?" He says nothing, doesn't move a muscle. Verde moves a chair close to the bed and sits in front of him. "I'll explain the situation to your mother without letting her know of anything you don't want her to know, so don't worry about it. I'll also inform your school you need to stay home for now for medical reasons."

"I won today, I think."

His voice's devoid of any emotion too, but at least he's speaking again.

"You did?"

"Yeah. They beat me up and I couldn't do anything about it, but I didn't back down this time. I didn't just take their… words about me without saying anything."

Verde smiles proudly even if Tsuna can't see it, not looking at him as he does. "Yes, I'd call that a victory too. That was very brave of you, Tsuna."

"I might need to start on that more advanced training you guys want me to do, though. It looks like me knowing how to throw a mean punch might just become a matter of life and death for me."

"Not on our watch," Verde says, his smile wiped out from his face. "But if it'll make you feel safer, and it will make you safer, then yes, you should."

Tsuna lowers the ice pack, seemingly absentmindedly, putting it down next to him. "It's funny. When I didn't back down like I usually do, when I stood my ground against them… they were so angry about it. For a moment, I really thought they were trying to beat me to death."

"Do you find it funny?"

He doesn't look like he does, and Verde certainly doesn't find it funny either.

"It made me so angry." He curls his hands into fists on his lap, a hard look taking over his face. "Like they know anything about anger. Do I have to obediently be their plaything forever?"

"No, of course not."

He tightens his fists until his knuckles turn white, the features of his face both made of stone and about to crumble. "It made me so angry, I couldn't bear to even look at them. It was… it was burning in my chest and—and choking me and… I didn't know what to do with it. Couldn't do anything with it."

"You could let it out."

He shakes his head, and his voice's quiet when he speaks, "I don't know how to do that anymore. I can't—"

"You can. Just as you can learn how to let it out again. We'll help you learn it again if you let us."

"That's all you guys ever say to me," he says, but Verde likes to think it's not just his imagination his words eased up some of the pain on his face.

He lets himself smile again. "Because we mean it, and are able to follow through on our words. Because you're able to let us follow through on our words." He leans forwards, taking his fists in his hands and rubbing the back of his hands with his thumb back and forth, hoping to make him relax before he cuts his palm with his nails. "You stood your ground against them, but it still must have hurt you hearing their words about you. Do you have to let them hurt so deeply?"

Tsuna scoffs, a disbelieving and accusing look on his face as he catches his eye. He tries to free his hands from his hold, but Verde holds on strong. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"I know it can only hurt hearing their words for as long and as often as you have, but words only have as much power over you as you allow them to have. Do you really care about what people like them think about you? You're not the one treating people the way they treat you."

Tsuna sucks in a sharp breath, hurt by his words, but it is the one truth they can't take away from him and that speaks volumes about their respective characters. "What else am I supposed to do?" he asks again, but this time with a pained and strangled voice, a resigned and tired one. "Is it such a crime I want approval from someone? Anyone? They're… my peers. At least them should give it to me, right? I don't have anyone else to ask it from."

Verde squeezes his hands, making sure they're looking in each other's eyes. "You didn't. But you do now, though certainly" —he smiles— "I wouldn't call us your peers." Tsuna purses his lips, but it doesn't stop them from trembling, tears slowly welling up in his eyes. "I hope it will still be to your satisfaction anyway."

He laughs, like Verde hoped he would, but then it's a sob that comes out of his mouth, and then he's full on crying. The tears pour down his cheeks too fast for him to wipe them away, not that he tries to, keeping his hands in his, his sobs coming out of his mouth almost too fast for him to keep breathing through them.

It's apparent then that he already broke before many times, could have only already broken many times considering how long he's been enduring this alone, and it's a relieving realization.

His Sky, a child, but so very strong, he finds it in himself to put himself back together time and time again, found it in himself to keep standing so they could find him and become each other's.

Verde holds the ice pack against the side of his head again, securely keeping holding onto his hand with his other one. "Please, mind your injuries if at all possible."

Tsuna laughs again through his tears, reaching up to tightly hold onto his arm.

They didn't make a mistake.

No, it's more accurate to say they won't let it become a mistake.

It's true Tsuna might break again before they manage to help him build his confidence and self-worth again, and he could have broken for good if he was still alone like he's always been.

He isn't anymore, will never be again, and should it come to that, they simply have to help him put himself back together for the last time in a way no one will ever be able to break him again.

---

Viper rings the doorbell, and Tsuna doesn't take long to open the door.

He beams at their sight. "Viper! Hi. Come on in."

"Hi," they say, ruffling his hair as they walk past him. "What happened to you?" they ask, gesturing with their head at the bruises fading on his face.

"Oh, um, I just fell." Viper pauses, turning to look at him. Tsuna drops his fake smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to lie. Force of habit. But I'm fine now, and I don't really want to talk about it."

Viper hums, resuming walking. "As long as you're fine. All I'd need is their names, though."

Tsuna huffs a laugh. "But you don't even know what happened."

"So?"

"So what if I was the one in the wrong?"

"What about it?"

Tsuna looks like he wants to argue to that, though a smile's still playing at his lips, maybe thinking they're just joking.

Viper smirks, entirely serious. Their Sky could go on a killing spree for no real discernible reason, and all they'd do is make sure he won't get in trouble for it, and help him with it should he ask him to.

They flop down on the couch, using a cushion to support their head against the armrest, and resting their feet on the other one.

"Tired?"

"Lazy."

Tsuna chuckles, sitting at the low table, facing them.

Viper reaches under their cape, pretending the files they take out from it were there all along, and holds them out to him. He makes quick work of scattering them in front of him and taking out the various documents inside them in a well-practiced manner.

"How have you been?"

"Fine. Better." He frowns, glances at them before looking back down at the documents, and briefly brushes his fingers against his bruises. "Well, I guess I don't look too convincing right now, but I've really been doing better."

"Yeah, I can see that." He looks… somehow lighter since the last time they've seen him, his smiles coming easier on his lips and making his eyes shine faster. "But you shouldn't have stayed long enough for them to be able to hit you."

Tsuna purses his lips. "I said I didn't want to talk about it."

"I'm just giving you a bit of advice."

He rolls his eyes. "Well, I can't just run away from them."

"You can."

He huffs. "They won't just let me. And then they'll get angry and hit me harder."

"That's right. Which is why I'm saying to not let them get you in a place where you can't run away from them to begin with."

This time he scoffs, and it makes them smile. It's nice to see him not shying away from expressing himself, even if it's only with them. He's already came a long way, even if it's only with them. "That's not something that's under my control."

"And it won't ever be again if you don't fight for it. Don't waste your time on people unworthy of it, Tsuna. And don't indulge their delusions about how they're entitled to it."

"We'll see," he says, but at least this time he sat on their words a little. He pouts. "But that was definitely you making me talk about it, you liar."

"So maybe I don't like seeing you beaten up, and want to help you so it won't happen anymore. I dare hope you'll find it in you to forgive me for that."

"Oh my God," he blurts out, amused disbelief all over his face, a grin pulling at his lips. "You're all such manipulators."

Viper grins back. "That's what I do best."

Tsuna snorts, rolling his eyes again before focusing on his task again. He takes a look at all the documents first, skimming them to have a general idea of what they're all about and how they might be related.

Of course, Viper already modified them so they don't scream "mafia" too obviously anymore. But they didn't touch them otherwise, letting the garbage information with the worthwhile ones, as well as the ones meant to lead them on the wrong trail so to keep them from accurately figuring out the big picture and its fine details, the ones meant to deceive them so they'd call the wrong shots, or the ones subtler and smarter in their deceit, information which aren't wrong per se, but given to them in a way that'd make them act the way they want them to and that won't necessarily benefit them too.

Tsuna winces. "Do you choose these specifically to scare me with them?"

"To prepare you with them," they correct.

Even if they were to adopt a harsh training regimen to give him adequate fighting skills in the shortest time possible, time would still be needed, and they can't always be with him every second of every day. Which is worrying, because as it is, even some random low level mafioso could easily kill Tsuna before he even realizes what's happening to him.

But knowledge is power, and knowledge is deadly. Knowledge is a bargaining chip too, and with the right ones at your disposition, can even be used to bargain your own life.

As long as Tsuna knows how to use it, how to recognize it and make sense of it, how to figure out when it's trustworthy or at least believable enough to be used as a decoy and buy himself time, he'll be able to keep himself alive with his own abilities until he'll be able to do that using his fighting skills alone.

It's a vital skill to have either way, and… that Viper's information tend to be on the gruesome side more often than not is just proof of what kind of people are more likely to make it on top of the food chain. Of what kind of playing field the ones at the top partake in, one he'll have to partake in too, being who he is.

Neither the others nor themself made it to the top by being kind or merciful. Not always. And likely not nearly often enough in the eyes of a civilian.

Would Tsuna see them differently once he realizes that?

Would he find them… scary too?

Tsuna glances at them again, a thoughtful look on his face as he keeps his eyes on them for a beat, but he doesn't ask. Has yet to, even if anyone else in his place would have already done it long ago.

"What's your ideal life?" they ask.

"What?" Tsuna pauses sorting through the documents, looking at them. He looks amused. "Why all of a sudden…?"

"Just humor me."

He shrugs. "I don't know. A nice, quiet and peaceful life, I guess. A nice house somewhere, and a nice job I won't hate and that'd let me live comfortably."

"And a nice dog that'd welcome you back after a hard day at work, is that it?"

He grimaces, but it's playful, a grin pulling at his lips. "I don't know about a dog. I'd rather not, actually. But…" he shrugs again "… friends, I guess. Friends I could hang out with and could invite over. Friends who'd invite me over too and I could rely on."

"What about love? Children?"

"W—what?" he shrieks, turning bright red in a second. "No! I—I mean—" He flails his hands in front of him, not keeping his eyes on them, and they can't help but laugh at him. Does he still have a crush on that Kyoko girl? Or is he just embarrassed by the mere idea of it? "—I wouldn't be against it… if… if it should happen… Ugh." He squeezes his eyes shut, pressing his hands against his red face, and they chuckle again. "A-anyway," he says after a beat, lowering his hands from his face but keeping his eyes on the table. "I just want to be happy and not… alone. So I guess a nice, quiet, peaceful and happy life with friends would be my ideal life."

It's at times like this Viper's grateful for their hood, especially knowing how sharp and perceptive Tsuna can be at times.

His ideal life isn't something he can ever have, not anymore. Not in any capacity of normal, quiet and peaceful anyway.

He could have had it before when Vongola still had their shit together if he was lucky, but now they went and lost three heirs, with the last one out of sight for years now after he attempted a coup, it's only a matter of time before the blood running through his veins catches up to him.

But it'd be lying to say that them coming in his life isn't accelerating this process. As a matter of fact, they're all struggling more and more to keep nosy people from looking too deeply into why they've became so interested in a random, Japanese town like Namimori.

"What if you can't have it? And what if you could lay the blame for it at someone's feet? Would you hate them for it?"

Tsuna frowns slightly, looking up at them. He opens his mouth, but thinks better of it, taking them in. A soft smile pulls at his lips, his eyes warm. "I could never hate you, Viper. Not for anything."

A smile twitches Viper's lips, but it never comes to life.

He says that now, but the mafia isn't kind. They could try their hardest, and they will, but Tsuna will inevitably end with blood on his hands too, to say the least.

Won't he blame them for it then? Wishing they had never showed up in his life?

"Are you going to leave?" Viper frowns, tilting their head. "When—I mean, if my life one day stops being normal… are you going to leave?" He doesn't meet their eye, trying not to wring his fingers too noticeably.

Viper raises their eyebrows. Where does that even come from? Does he think… does he think they're just here to make his life the kind of not-normal they've been around him before disappearing from it?

That's kind of funny, but then again, Reborn did become part of his life as his tutor, and they're only able to drop by there and then lest the mafia becomes aware of his existence before he's ready for that. They suppose it doesn't exactly scream "here to stay forever".

"We're not going anywhere," they say, sitting up. "We'll never go anywhere, and maybe not even if you were to ask us to."

It's more "likely'" than "maybe", is even a certainty, really, but that can be another conversation for later.

"That's a bit concerning to hear."

"Really? Because you don't really look concerned right now."

Tsuna grins wider, just about beaming at them. "I'd never ask you to leave anyway." Oh? Viper smiles. It seems there'll be no need for another conversation on the matter later after all. "And I don't care about normal and peaceful, you know? I would like that too, of course, if possible, but if it comes down to that and being happy and not lonely anymore… I'd rather be happy and not lonely a thousand times over."

Viper suppresses their loathing at the reminder of just why he thinks so, but it's reassuring to hear all the same. If he's so sure about it, then maybe he'll even find them worth the blood that'll end up on his hands.

Viper certainly will strive to make it so, and won't allow themself anything less.

They sit down at the low table too, and reaches out to ruffle his hair. "You can have everything in life you want, no need to choose." Whether they can keep that promise or not is not exactly under their control, but they're not lying either, as they will do everything to make it happen. "We'll give it to you."

Tsuna laughs, leaning in their touch, soft and warm again like before, if not more so than before. "I know."

---

The hallways are packed as they always are during lunchtime, but of course, it's on purpose that a foot trips him. He falls on his face, his bento slipping from his hand and sliding on the floor.

More than one person laugh, students keeping walking past him without a care, and he can't make out which laugh belongs to the one who made him fall.

Tsuna slowly rises on his hands and knees, biting his lip so to not make any pained noise. His bento is a bit of a distance away, and the other students walk around it without a care too, some shoving it out of their way with their feet.

Tsuna was just on his way to have lunch in a quiet and empty place.

Why is it he doesn't get to have lunch peacefully too?

When was it he resigned himself to not be allowed of having lunch peacefully if they didn't want him to?

"What are you doing, Dame-Tsuna?" a voice says from behind him. "Don't tell me you got hurt so badly right now you can't even stand again? Or you just like being on the floor that much?"

More than one voice snicker again as Tsuna stands and faces them.

The three boys in front of him are third years, all familiar faces among the many people who like to bully him. Hachiro, Yuudai and Shin, and no doubt Yuudai's the one who tripped him. He's the little leader of their group after all.

They shouldn't have any business being on the second floor, not even during lunchtime. It's only polite and respectful for juniors to be the ones going out of their ways to look for seniors they have any business with.

Do they like bullying him so much? Don't they need to have lunch too, if nothing else?

Tsuna doesn't know what he ever did that was so wrong to deserve this.

He wishes he'd have at least done something wrong to deserve this.

Yuudai steps closer to him, a lot taller than him. Tsuna cranes his neck up to keep looking him in the eye.

"I've heard words about… some of our common friends lately. About how some of them haven't been seen at school in a while, or would rather not be your friends anymore. About how you've been acting with them like you don't want to be their friends anymore." He slaps him loudly, a hush falling in the hallway. "I don't know who you've been tattling to, Dame-Tsuna, but don't think for a second it's enough for you to forget your place."

The surprise lets place to hushed laughter, mocking laughter, and something inside him distinctly gives in.

Gives in, but doesn't break.

Tsuna's always thought he'd break the day he'd reach his last straw one time too many, but he feels steady on his feet as he looks back at Yuudai. Whatever gave in inside him spreads to the rest of him, filling in the cracks they've left on him his entire life.

They don't seem too pleased by it, Hachiro and Shin stepping closer too.

"Looks like he might have hit his head too hard and doesn't understand us anymore," Hachiro says.

"Then maybe another accidental fall would do the trick," Shin says. "What do you say, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna's scared. His every instinct screams at him to submit, to apologize. To let this play out the way they want it to, the way it has always done before.

It may look like it's him against the three of them only, but it has always been him against the entire school.

The other students don't outwardly stop walking to watch, except the ones feeling safe enough to do it from inside the nearby classrooms, and at a safe distance from behind his bullies, out of their sights. The others walk slowly past them, keeping their eyes on them all the while to witness as much of the show as possible.

None of them will step in to help him, or will go look for help for him.

Tsuna gets it. Being at the bottom of the school hierarchy, having always been at the bottom of it, he gets it more than anyone else. As long as he's the one being treated this way, they won't find themselves in a similar situation as him. And them helping him would be risking catching their attentions and ending up being treated like him too, without it even necessarily meaning they'll leave him alone in exchange.

Tsuna's no saint himself, has walked past people being bullied before without doing anything to help them either. He knows more than anyone else too just how terrifying these guys look like and are.

Not all of them find the sight of his bullying pleasant either, not all of them laugh at the sight of his pain. Sometimes, they even offer him a helping hand after, or some comforting and encouraging words.

Tsuna gets it, but today, he doesn't want to be understanding, wants to cut himself some slack. Today, he doesn't want to be grateful for the crumbs of pity they sometimes spare him so they can feel better about never doing anything more.

Today, he doesn't want to be forgiving.

It's always been him against the entire school, and he hates them all for it. He hates the ones looking away or watching and laughing, hates those thinking themselves better than the guys in front of him just because they only ever send cutting words and laughter his way, treating him like he's beneath them but never putting their hands on him, and he hates all the bullies actively going out of their ways every day to make his life miserable most of all.

He hates every single one of them, and he's tired of this.

He looks at all three of them in turn, standing his ground, his back straight, his shoulders squared but relaxed, holding his head high.

He's scared, but they should be terrified.

Didn't Yuudai say they noticed some of his bullies disappearing from school, or not daring to even look him in the eye anymore?

A word from him, and the others would do worse than just making sure they never bother him again.

Tsuna may be physically facing them alone right now, but by no means he's standing alone against them.

A cold scowl twists Yuudai's features, and Tsuna's stomach twists. "Let's go in a quieter place."

"No."

He blinks, a stunned look on his face. "What did you say?"

Stunned. What a joke.

Does Tsuna have to obediently make it easier for them to beat him up? Make it easier for them to beat him up without clearly revealing themselves as the monsters they are to everyone else's eyes?

Let them drag him to a quiet place themselves if they want it so badly, and let Tsuna struggle with all his might all the way there.

He won't win, and it's going to be humiliating, but let everyone here see clearly just what kind of people they are, let them know without a doubt just what they're planning to do to him while they stand there and do nothing to stop them.

Let them feel bad for once for turning a blind eye, allowing and encouraging what they've been doing to him all his life.

Tsuna doesn't repeat himself. They heard him clearly.

He slowly steps back from them, testing the water, watching out for their reactions. They don't follow after him, though their eyes are intent on him and full of warning, and Tsuna tenses when he turns his back on them, making a quick work of picking up his bento from the floor so he can face them again and keep them within his sight.

"Give it to me," Yuudai orders before he even turns back to them.

"No."

It's lunchtime, and Tsuna gets to have lunch too. He's just as much of a student at this school as they are.

He's just as much of a human being as they are.

"You son of a—!" Shin says, but Tsuna has only eyes for Yuudai, just as he keeps his eyes on him. "The fuck's wrong with you, Dame-Tsuna?"

"Want us to teach you some manners?"

They make to come closer again, but Yuudai's faster than them, closing the distance between them again with wide, hurried steps like he's about to hit him. Tsuna's heartbeat fastens, but he stands his ground, holding tightly onto his bento and hiding it behind his back out of his reach.

Yuudai stops closer to him than before, almost chest to chest.

"Give it to me, Dame-Tsuna. Right now."

"That's not my name. My name's Sawada Tsunayoshi, and from now on it's the only name I'll answer to."

Tsuna bites the inside of his cheek to not flinch back when he barks out a laugh at his face. It's a harsh and cutting one, and he laughs loudly and for a long and tensed moment.

"Did everyone here fucking hear that?" he shouts, spreading his arms wide but keeping his eyes on him, and on cue, of course, Hachiro, Shin and some other students laugh. "Dame-Tsuna thinks he's worth shit now. You?" he asks in a low voice, all humor wiped out from his face. "The guy who's never been able to do anything right? The guy no one gives a shit about? The guy no one has ever gave a shit about?"

Tsuna smiles despite the anger rising inside him. Why does he have to hear that from someone like him of all people? "Right. I guess you'd know all about being a failure of a person."

At the very least, Tsuna has never reached the kind of lows they're made of.

"You son of a bitch!"

Yuudai grabs him by the collar of his shirt, his cold, composed anger gone for the blinding rage deforming his features.

Tsuna's heart leaps in his throat, his blood rushing through his veins, and he can't help but squeeze his eyes tightly shut.

He'll be fine, he'll be fine, he'll be fine. He can hit him, can beat him withing an inch of his life, and it'll hurt but it'll be okay. He'll be okay.

Tsuna isn't standing alone against them, and he wouldn't even be surprised if the others knew somehow to appear out of thin air right now to help him.

But Tsuna wouldn't ask for their help even if they did.

Would they listen, would they trust him to do this on his own? To be able to do this on his own?

Tsuna wants to try to, at the very least. He wants to have as much faith in them as they have in him, has as much faith in them as they have in him, and so he wants to try to become closer to the person they believe can achieve anything they want. To the person able to stand up to their bullies, if nothing else.

They're all such amazing people, and that they think the exact same of him, that they assure him again and again they think the exact same of him, that they want to stay by his side anyway…

Tsuna wants to prove them right and be worthy of them and their trust more than anything else in the world.

He wants to proudly stand by their sides too, with the confidence it won't ever bring them any shame.

"What is going on here?" a voice shouts before Yuudai can hit him. He lowers his fist, but doesn't let go of his shirt. "Sawada!" Kaori says as she walks within his line of sight. "What is the meaning of this?"

Ha. She's asking him? What a joke.

What a joke of a whole school, really.

It's always been him against the entire school, the teachers and everyone else working here included. Not all of them, though they've only bothered too little to ever matter, but Kaori is among the teachers who like to feel superior at his expense just like Nezu.

"I was just about to get hit, as I'm sure you saw, and everyone here was going to let it happen."

"Wha…?" She flushes, flicking her eyes to the other students. "W—well, that's… of course I was going to—"

He scoffs, and she draws back in surprise, speechless.

From the corner of his eye, Yuudai draws back a little too. "Did you just…"

"Don't worry, Kaori-sensei," he says. "I'm well-aware of the open secret that no one here has to treat me as a fellow student. So please, don't ever try to play teacher with me again, because it makes me feel sick." She flinches, stepping back, but he ignores her, grabbing Yuudai's wrist. "Let go of me." He wrenches his hand away from him, actually making him wince, both of them surprised he had the strength to do that. "And don't you ever put your hands on me again. I'm done being you guys' plaything, starting right now."

Tsuna didn't really mean the unspoken threat that follows his words, but he lets it hang heavy in the air, looking at everyone he can catch the eye of right in the eye. He looks at Hachiro and Shin too, then settles his gaze on Yuudai last, and he steps back from him as the eerie silence around them stretches tenser between them, almost stumbling, wariness on his face.

Is he finally listening to him now? Is everyone?

Good.

Because Tsuna's tired of this, and he won't take any of it a second longer.

He's the one closing the distance between them this time, stopping chest to chest with him, never averting his eyes from him.

"Move."

---

Tsuna feels like everyone watches him as he walks down the hallways, but that can only be his imagination. Word about what just happened can't have spread so far and fast, though it will spread far and fast.

Good.

It'll save him the trouble of having to repeat himself.

He meets their eye anyway, and they systematically look away after making an expression he can't quite name. What kind of face is he making right now?

He left his bag behind, but he learned long ago to not have anything important in it. His phone… He pats the pockets of his pants, thankful to feel the shape of his phone in them.

The others' numbers are in it. He's already memorized them, but he didn't memorize the many texts they've been exchanging.

Tsuna can't remember what he did with his bento. He was hungry, still feels distantly hungry, but that was never the point.

He steps outside the gates of his school, the air feeling different as he deeply breathes it in. He starts the way back home, his body feeling different too—he, himself, feeling different.

He feels hot, warm. It's not just a feeling either, he'd swear it. There's something tangible and warm inside him, coursing through his body. It grows too, not only warmer but also… stronger. Building inside him and filling him up with energy.

It feels strange, but not unpleasant, and he lets it be.

Before long Tsuna finds himself running at full speed in the streets, like he's flying. A smile pulls at his lips, turns into a grin, then turns into a laugh that tumbles from his lips, and keeps tumbling, tumbling, tumbling from them. He can't stop it, doesn't want to stop it, relishes in it, and before long he's laughing loudly, happily and freely too.

He can be happy, right? Can feel free, can't he?

There's no way they'll take the hint with just that, and they're sure to keep bullying him with a vengeance as soon as they catch sight of him again, whether at school or not. They'll try to anyway.

All that matters now is that Tsuna already stood up against them once. That he now knows for a fact he can stand up against them and have it his way. He'll just have to keep doing it until they take the hint.

All they can do now is beating him up anyway, and eventually they won't even be able to do that either as Tsuna keeps up with his training with the others.

Tsuna doesn't question why they're all waiting outside his house like that. They stand to attention once they catch sight of him, and he throws himself in Reborn's arms the second he's close enough to do it.

Reborn chuckles, and he grins against his stomach, holding him tight and breathing in his scent.

"Why, hello there. You missed me so badly?" he asks, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and running his fingers through his hair.

"Why is it Reborn is always the first one to get the hugs?" Skull asks. "It hurts when you play favorites so obviously, Tsuna, you know."

Tsuna frowns. Oh. Does he do that?

"Isn't it because Reborn always stands in front of us like this?" Fon says.

"Right, like he's the boss of us or something," Viper says. "I don't like it."

Tsuna tries to pull away, but Reborn keeps him within his embrace.

"Don't listen to ugly and unbecoming jealousy like that. Of course I should be the first one to get the hugs, who else?" More than one of them scoff, and Tsuna laughs. He pulls away, this time Reborn letting him. "Skipping again, are you?" he asks.

He smiles. "Yeah."

Reborn huffs a laugh along with some of the others. He holds his face between his hands, and brushes his thumb under his eye.

Tsuna frowns lightly. Did he cry without realizing? Does he look he wants to cry?

He doesn't feel like that at all, though.

"Did you run here all the way from school?"

"Yeah, why—oh!"

Tsuna widens his eyes, then moves his hands over his chest and touches his face in wonder. He doesn't feel hot or out of breath at all, let alone tired. He's not sweating either.

He didn't even fall once!

Tsuna looks up at them, beaming, grinning from ear to ear.

Colonnello laughs, grinning just as wide as him. He leans his arm on Reborn's shoulder, leaning his weight against him. "Training always pays off, don't we always tell you?"

"Don't lean on me."

"Suck it up."

Reborn elbows him without looking, but Colonnello expertly blocks it with the ease of habit without looking either.

"I guess you'll start complaining less about training now, right?" Lal asks, playful. "Maybe you'll even agree to let us take it up another notch or two."

Skull scoffs, then comes closer to cover his ears with his hands. "Don't listen to them, Tsuna, they're literally the devils talking. Just hit the gym, dude, trust me. Learn from people who actually have a normal definition of the word training."

Lal, Reborn and Colonnello give him the look they give him when they can tell him all the reasons why he should shut up before he ever speaks.

Fon gives him a similar look too, but seems to at least have the self-awareness of God knows what kind of hellish training he went through to become as strong as he is. Or at least, to realize it'd look and feel hellish in Tsuna's eyes.

Verde, and Viper too, he's sure, roll their eyes, though a smile pulls at their lips all the same.

"Did something happen?" Verde asks.

"Right," Tsuna says, lowering Skull's hands from his ears, and Skull steps back to face him again. "Yeah, something happened. Something good." Almost as one, they flick their eyes to the cheek Yuudai slapped. Tsuna rests his hand against it, his smile not faltering an inch. "No, really, I'm fine. It was something good, this is nothing. But I don't think they'll just leave it at that," he hears himself say, not knowing where he's going with it until he hears himself say it. "Would you… help me with that?"

"At long last," Skull says dramatically. "The long desired and awaited words. Someone catches me, I think I'm swooning."

They all laugh, Colonnello the loudest of them, and he roughly pulls Skull back by his jacket. He loses his balance, laughing too, but Verde steadies him in time before he can fall.

"We're in the street," he reminds them. "Let's keep a minimum of decorum."

"We thought you'd never ask," Viper says.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Reborn, Fon and Lal say at the same time.

Tsuna's been grinning so wide, his cheeks are starting to hurt.

It's silly he even thought he'd have to keep dealing with them on his own, that he even considered the possibility of having to do it on his own. He's not alone anymore, hasn't only himself he can rely on and trust.

Hasn't been ever since they showed up in his life.

They'd even help him change school if he asked, maybe even change town too, but Tsuna can be petty too, can be unforgiving, can be hateful, resentful and vengeful.

Let them be the one wary and scared by his mere existence for once, by the mere sight of him.

"I think you'd have been proud of me."

A noticeable confused feeling washes over them.

"When haven't we ever been proud of you?" Reborn says.

"Thank you," he says softly, feeling himself blush. "But I meant—you wouldn't have been ashamed of me."

A longer beat of silence passes as they frown.

"Well, that makes even less sense," Verde says.

Reborn crosses his arms on his chest, leveling him with a stare. "When have we ever been ashamed of you?"

"That's right," Colonnello says. "That's Skull's job, don't you know?"

"Hey!" Skull shouts as the others snicker.

"Hey," Tsuna says too, softer and more subdued, but still disapproving. He knows it's just the way they are sometimes with Skull and that Skull doesn't mind it, but he has yet to get used to it.

"Fuck you," Skull says over him, flipping him off, and Colonnello flips him off right back.

"Guys," Tsuna calls for their attention again before any play-fight can start. "You're not listening to me. I'm saying that—that I want to be able to stand right by your side. That I want to become strong enough you can rely on me too. Strong enough I can help you and protect you too. Because you're all very important people to me."

The tangible warm inside him sharply spikes and bursts almost at the same time, some kind of wind coming out of him washing over them as Tsuna catches glimpses of orange at the corner of his eyes.

"Shit—!" Viper curses in a low voice, and something else washes over them.

Tsuna looks down, and dumbly blinks at his hands.

They're on fire.

He slowly holds them in front of him, watching the flames enveloping them. They're a bright and clear orange, flickering to a steady but soothing rhythm.

Tsuna turns his hands this side and that side, like maybe they're just a trick of the light or something. He can't see it, but he feels the flames on his forehead too.

He's on fire.

He's on fire?

A laugh bubbles in his throat, of all things.

Why isn't he afraid? Panicking? Why isn't he burning?

Why do these flames feel so… right, and why does he know down to his very core that they're safe for him?

"I… I don't know what's happening…" he says, looking up at the others.

His words seem to break the spell on them as they finally break their silence.

Colonnello whistles loudly, smiles of various sizes pulling at everyone's lips.

Skull laughs. "Damn, Tsuna."

"Way beyond my expectations," Verde says.

Fon takes a step closer, and looks like he has to force himself to not close the distance between them. "They look beautiful, Tsuna."

"Still," Viper says, sounding a little grumpy, but no less impressed or pleased than the others. "Warn a guy next time before you do that where everyone can see."

"What everyone else said," Lal says absentmindedly, looking entranced by the sight of his flames, like Reborn.

It's reassuring they seem to know what's happening and aren't worried about it, because it means Tsuna really didn't just spontaneously set himself on fire and won't start burning alive anytime soon.

Instead of worry, there's nothing short but wonder on their faces, pride radiating from them.

Tsuna can't help but laugh then, his heart so full of happiness, it feels about to burst. "I take it I'll be okay then?"

Reborn catches his eye, and the laugh he lets out is impossibly proud and warm and fond. "Oh, il mio Cielo." He takes one of his hand, Tsuna's heart missing a beat, but though the flames disappear in the next instant, they don't seem to have hurt him either anyway. Reborn reverently kisses his knuckles. "You're going to shine much brighter still, Tsuna."

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A/N: Missi, you wanted to see my take on the Arco as Tsuna's guardians, so here it is. Also let's hear it for the first time I wrote Tsuna & the Arco!

Which turned out to be interesting in unexpected ways. For one, I couldn't figure out for the life of me their first meetings, and what would have made them click with Tsuna, and made them want to stay by his side (and realized he was their Sky). And okay, tbh I didn't spend too long thinking about it and pretty much gave up right away when nothing came off the top of my head lol, which is why the story started in media res so to speak with the Arco having already a familiar place in Tsuna's life, but I really think the why Tsuna & the Arco would click as Sky & Guardians doesn't come as naturally as it does with Tsuna & the 10th gen. Because if you look at their first meetings in the manga, it's really obvious just what it is that makes the 10th gen go "oh yeah, this is the guy I'm gonna die for if need be" lol.

And I think it has to do with the fact the Arco are the characters the most removed from Tsuna in literally every way (and from everyone else too because of them being Arco, except from the Vindice and Kawahira, but you get what I mean). And here there's no Curse so they're just 20-to-30 something normal adults, but it's still a world of difference compared to 14 years old Tsuna. Like, they're all accomplished adults secure in who they are and knowing what they want out of life, and I'm not saying it means they can't learn anything from Tsuna who had yet to even start on that journey before the manga started, because clearly Reborn does in canon if no one else, but you do have to dig deeper and look closely to figure out what it is Tsuna brings to the table in their dynamics.

Which brings me to the other point I realized, which is that getting their dynamics right doesn't come as naturally as I had expected it to either. It did come easily, thankfully, but like. They are accomplished adults compared to 14 years old middle schooler Tsuna. So there was the need of some... finesse as I walked that fine line of portraying that power imbalance between them, without making their dynamics one-sided with the Arco just ending up imposing their wills on Tsuna without meaning to. Did that just make sense lol? And I don't know if I actually managed to strike that balance accurately, but I tried.

On another note, I originally wanted the story to finish with Tsuna being notified by Vongola that he was to become Vongola Decimo, and him having none of that with the Arco having his back on the matter, but I ended up just a little short of being able to do that haha. I also thought it'd be fun to have cameos of the 10th gen, but I literally did not have any room to do that whatsoever zedrfcgcf. I do think it's a little unnatural that Fon didn't bring up Hibari at the very least, considering what this story is about, but this just ended up being such a close pov on Tsuna & the Arco, not even Nana got to make an actual physical appearance even when they were in her house lol.

And last thing, though I doubt it needs to be said, but just in case... well, you know, I do think the advice given by the Arco here are valuable, but this is first and foremost a fictional story. Standing up to your bullies in real life is much more likely to mean that they'll only bully you more and harder than before, so like. What I'm saying is to please keep yourself safe, and prioritize your safety above anything else as much as possible.

I hope you enjoyed the story. Any and all reviews are appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

- Hope

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Answers to guests' comments:

Mori: thank you so much! characterization is what i like to do and explore the most, so to know it's distinct enough to be refreshing really makes me happy.

"I love how despite the fact that none of these ppl are by nature caretakers have begun to learn how to care for their sky" oh that's a very good point! and tho i personally would call some of them caring at their core to some extent, at the very least it's not something they'd still be used to allow themselves to be when this story happens. but like you said tsuna is their sky and a child, so of course they do their best to try anyway. and either way and if nothing else, they still care and know how to care.

"Tsunayoshi insisting he can and does like spice while fighting for his life is a mood." LMAO. glad it was relatable xD

"Lal comes second because yeah I love this tough commander being the one who immediately kills off the assassins and is actually joking around with her meow meow of a sky? Yeah." HER MEOW MEOW OF A SKY STOPPPPP ZERDTFGDF. you're not wrong tho :crying emoji: :crying laughing emoji:

you're welcome, and i hope you have a wonderful day too! thank you for your comment!