"We are not talking about it," Gokudera growled. He had his back to his lover, sitting on the small, scarred coffee table in his living room with his Sony VAIO in lap.

Yamamoto was on the couch, bruised and scratched and maybe concussed. He had a grin on his mouth, bottom lip split, and one eye was sealed partially shut. "Mah mah, Gokudera, I was just trying to protect your virtue – "

"We are not t-… what virtue? You bastard, you stole my virtue!" The silverette rolled his eyes and grinded his teeth.

They had lost Tsuna earlier in the thick of the fight; how that had been accomplished was beyond him, the person they had been fighting (for the most part, considering that Gokudera was doubling up and being the shit out of Yamamoto too for being such a protective, mushy bastard) with had been the one to kidnap Tsuna and escape. By the time they had made it to the back entrance of the high school to hunt him down, Hibari had been there to meet them and make sure they didn't skip on any more classes.

Even though they had both fought to the greatest of their abilities, Hibari had had them in the nurse's office till the last bell. Which, really, had defeated the whole purpose of having them stay for classes.

Mukuro had been lost, Tsuna with him.

So now Gokudera was on the internet, trying to figure out where he lived. He knew exactly where the construction was happening, the success of his business, where he had begun and that he planned to live in Namimori… but there wasn't even a mention of his name, much less his address. He was merely the owner of T.S. Happily Ever After.

"Yeah…" Yamamoto looked far too pleased to be stuck in past memories. "That was the best night of my life."

Gokudera's cheek colored red as he cut a glare towards the baseball player. "The best night of your life?"

His eyes softened, copper eyes loving on spring green. "Okay, one of the best nights of my life."

"Thought so." Hayato turned back to his screen and scrolled through a few more links, agitation quick to build.

Takeshi merely sighed and made himself comfortable, wincing as his sore body protested. Two beatings in one day, once by his lover and another by the prefect, was trying on him. "Hey, didn't he say he was building a home close to the construction sight?"

Gokudera's fingers froze on the keypad. "…"

Before he could take his own stupidity out on the idiot, there was knocking at his door.

"Hhmm… Maybe it's Tsuna," Yamamoto tried to sit up and answer it, but Gokudera merely shoved him back down as he stood to his feet and placed his Sony on the table.

"Idiot! The Tenth wouldn't knock; he has his own key." And then a frightening thought came to him; what if the plant freak had taken it from him? "I'm coming!"

When he slammed the door open, what he saw was not what he expected. There was a huge blonde man in the hallway, pale blue eyes looking down at him.

"Are you Hayato Gokudera?"

He scowled, disappointed. "Who wants to know?"

"I was hoping to find Takeshi Yamamoto. His father redirected me to this address…?"

That's just what he needed… people looking for the idiot coming to his place! "OI! Baseball-idiot, there's someone here looking for you!"

Takeshi was at the door seconds later, looking innocently curious.

He caught sight of their guest and his eyes lost their edge of friendliness, lips pressed thinly together as he smiled. "Iemetsu… Long time no see!" Gokudera raised a brow at Yamamoto's lackluster greeting. Yamamoto came to his side. "Iemetsu, this is Gokudera… Gokudera, this is Iemetsu, Tsuna's dad."

A few different thoughts popped into his mind at the same time. All of them rotated around blood red rage and how any one who could be so unfair to someone as beautiful and kind as the Tenth had only the right to die.

"You bastard! How dare you come to my house!"

Iemetsu sighed tiredly, as if he had thought this would happen but had hoped against it. "So I guess you've heard of me as the neglectful bastard of a father?" He crossed his heavy arms over his bulky chest and continued to stand there, taking his stand, though humbly so.

"Heard of you being a neglectful bastard of a father? I know first hand you're a neglectful bastard of a father! I've been here the whole time you've been gone."

"… You're one of Tsuna's friends?" Now Iemetsu looked intrigued, head tilted somewhat to one side as he scratched his whiskery chin. Slowly, a smile formed on his chiseled lips. "I like you; I can tell that you're loyal and strong. I bet you don't take shit from anyone."

"And I'm not going to be taking any shit from you either," he snarled, teeth bared and glare burning.

"I'll accept that; that just means you have to know that I'm not gonna take any shit from you in turn." He gestured to the doorjamb. "Can I come in?"

Gokudera was about to say no, about to rip out a dynamite stick from who the hell knows where and shove it down the man's throat, was about to do so many painful things to the man…

"Come on in!" Yamamoto swept Gokudera under his arm and gestured for the father to enter, lips smiling but eyes not.

Iemetsu came in and went immediately to the couch, sitting down with knees apart and elbows on thighs, leaning forward.

"What the hell do you think you're doing inviting that asshole into my apartment?" Spring green and copper shared a moment of high-voltage tension.

And then Yamamoto kissed him, simultaneously pulling the door shut, and, in the moment of startled shock that followed, whispered against his lips, "Think about it this way, Hayato; now anything can happen and no one else in the complex need be concerned if they come down the hallway…" He smiled, angelically. To Gokudera, he had devil horns that glowed red. "Isn't that great?"

… Yeah, actually, it was. He actually liked that.

He hit Yamamoto over the head anyway for four different reasons, nonetheless. One, inviting someone he hated into his home (no matter how wonderful the reason); two, kissing him where said hated person could see; three, calling him Hayato outside the bedroom; and, four, thinking of the idea first!

The baseball player nursed his wounds as Gokudera turned on his heel and cornered the man with a heartless glower. "What are you doing here?" He questioned icily, as if Iemetsu was in an interrogation of third-world origin, i.e., anything goes.

The father, for his part, kept his cool and sat back. "I was looking for Yamamoto, hoping he'd be able to tell me where Tsuna was. I want to the Sushi shop and Tsuyoshi gave me your address."

"Oh, so now you're looking for him?" He planted his hands akimbo. Yamamoto limped back into the room and leaned against the wall. "A little late, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," he agreed blatlantly. He followed it up with a content smile, eyes warm. "But I'm not ashamed of that anymore." He sighed. "I guess Tsuna forgot to mention that he already saw me." He went on, ignoring both teenager's surprised expressions. "That's alright, he forgot to mention that he got a new mother," he chuckled, "one that he direly needed…" Sorrow. It radiated from him.

"When did Tsuna see you?"

"Lambo's anniversary. I thought it was time to see my sons… Back in Italy, they were telling me that my wife had lost her mind, but I hadn't actually believed them until I got here." Gravely, he looked from one to the other of them. "If it's alright with him, I want to take him back to Italy with me…"

It was like an ice cold shower just spraying down on him, chilling his skin and shattering his bones. He stared at Iemetsu, not at all sure what to do or say or even think. The man wanted to… take the Tenth away? Away from him? But… then who would he follow? Who would he protect? He needed that helpless brunette to function correctly! The innocence in that fractured soul kept him going, gave him a reason in life…

But Iemetsu wanted to take that away.

A hand, warm and callused, settled on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. "Then I can tell you right now that he'll say no!" Yamamoto chirped, all confidence and suave.

"So sure, Yamamoto?"

"Yep!"

"How so?"

"Because we love him too much to let him go. So even if he would say yes, we would kidnap him back and never let him leave."

Iemetsu raised a brow. "Even if it was for the best and I were to say that I could put him in a position to run one of the biggest multimillionaire companies in the world in the nearby future?"

"Yep!"

"Doesn't that seem a little selfish?"

"Of course it does." Yamamoto's voice softened and his arm came to wrap around Gokudera's shoulders; the silverette was painfully still, stuck on the 'I want to take him back to Italy with me' part. "But that's how much we love him and how much he loves us. We're not complete unless we're altogether. You can't have him and then make him leave us all behind, he would be miserable and we would be too." He squeezed Gokudera to his side. "Isn't that right, Gokudera?"

Hayato looked from Yamamoto to Iemetsu to the bed he could see from where he stood that had been formerly occupied by his beloved Tenth and then to the floor in a moment's consideration as his mind sped to catch up with the conversation.

Steely determination in his eyes, he shoved his elbow into Yamamoto's gut and raised his glare to the chuckling blonde that was watching Takeshi bend over at the waist in pain. "That's right! The Tenth stays with us, no matter what!"

"… Alright." Just like that… they won, just like that. Gokudera could hardly believe it. "But if it's okay with you, I'd still like to talk to him. There are things I want to know and say before I leave him in your hands."

Commence an awkward silence where both Yamamoto and Gokudera stared at the floor with flaming cheeks.

Iemetsu's eyes gradually bugged and then narrowed. "You have no clue where he is, do you?"

"Hah hah… nope…"

"But we have an idea where! And when we find him, we're gonna kick that plant's ass back to wherever the hell it came from…" The last part was a growl.

"… Plant? 'Scuse me, but what does a plant have to do with anything?"

"Hah hah… this is going to sound weird, but… it has everything to do with it."

Author's Note: I thought it would be strange to have Iemetsu just drop into the story once and then disappear… so he's still there, still looking out for his son and trying to take care of him… if anyone's wondering where he's been the whole day, he was staying at a hotel.