Yamamoto was happy to be Tsuna's friend; the smaller boy was sweet, accepted him for who he was, and didn't mind when the black-haired teen wanted to talk about baseball. A part of him wondered if this was what it was like to be able to call someone his best friend.

Gokudera Hayato on the other hand… It was obvious the silver-haired male didn't like Yamamoto – especially where Tsuna was involved. The teenager was aggressive and shoved the taller male around, always spouting hurtful words and names towards him.

Yamamoto tolerated it to an extent; while keeping a smile on his face, he calmly tried to diffuse the situation while hiding the fact that, inside, his heart was hurting again; having finally made a friend to call his own, Yamamoto didn't want to lose Tsuna to an overprotective teen who may as well have been born a dog.

As hard as the baseballer tried, Gokudera refused to accept his friendship and only pushed him away. Yamamoto could understand; Tsuna had told him how the silver-haired male had been in a very bad place before the brunet helped him come back out of his angry shell and taught him how to trust again – even if it were only Tsuna he had been able to connect emotionally with.

Currently, Tsuna and Yamamoto were sitting in Sawada's bedroom with homework spread out before them as they tried to work together on the questions; both of them were failing their classes and were supposed to be getting help from Gokudera, but the other was absent today for some reason.

"I wonder why Gokudera-kun didn't come over?" Tsuna wondered aloud as he chewed on the end of his pencil.

Probably because I'm here… Yamamoto thought sadly. Trying to hide his dismay, he smiled brightly and said, "He might just have other business to attend to, Tsuna."

"Ah, that's true." Tsuna turned back to his homework and hummed softly as looked at the maths question on his sheet. He had wanted to bring something up to Yamamoto for a while now but he hadn't had an opportunity with Gokudera always hanging around them. "Hey, Yamamoto? The way Gokudera-kun treats you is really uncalled for… I-if… you want me to say anything to him…"

Yamamoto felt his heart clench painfully at these words; so Tsuna had noticed and wanted to help…? Not that he wasn't grateful or anything – he was over the moon! – but he didn't want any backlash to fall on the brunet.

"No, it's okay, Tsuna." Takeshi smiled, hiding how unhappy he was. "I can handle it. Maybe Gokudera just needs to get used to me first."

"Yeah, I hope it's something like that." Tsuna shook his head. He could sense that Yamamoto didn't want to talk about it, so he instead slid his sheet of math questions over to the taller male and pointed at one with his pencil. "How do we do this?"

Yamamoto, relieved with the change of topic, took the paper. He frowned, having no idea on how to do it. "Sorry, Tsuna."

Tsuna smiled. "That's okay. Let's skip it for now."

Yamamoto hummed in agreement as he became a little happier; spending time with a friend sure was fun, even if there was homework involved.

~~Lunchtime~~

Yamamoto had returned to his home for lunch as Tsuna and his family – if it could even be called that with the amount of leeches staying there – had gone out for lunch. Tsuyoshi, the teen's father, had already prepared a whole meal of sushi and was waiting patiently at the table, but he frowned when his son sat down with a sigh.

"What's bothering you, son?" Tsuyoshi asked. "That boy still giving you trouble?"

Yamamoto nodded sadly. "Yeah… I just don't get why he doesn't like me. I'm trying so hard to be nice and put up with what he's doing, but… It hurts…"

"I see." Tsuyoshi nodded his head in understanding. "Sounds like he's someone you really want in your life. Are you sure he's good for you?"

"…" Yamamoto chewed his lip as he thought about that question. "…Well… I think we could be good friends if he'd give me the chance…"

Tsuyoshi leant over and put his hand on Yamamoto's shoulder. "Takeshi, do you have more feelings than just friendly for him?"

Yamamoto was someone who had long ago come to terms with the fact that he was gay, and his father was fully supportive of it. He was glad Tsuyoshi hadn't hesitated in accepting him; he needed the help when it came to his romantic interests.

"…I'm not sure, dad." Yamamoto whispered. "…I never thought about it that way."

"If you can put up with his rude behaviour and so desperately want to be his friend, maybe you should think about it," Tsuyoshi advised. "You don't have to make your mind up right away and it may even be nothing more than friendliness. But there is something there that you can't deny. It sounds like he's special to you, even if he doesn't realise that."

"Hmm…" Yamamoto picked up his chopsticks and poked at his sushi as he thought about his father's words. "…Maybe I should try harder to be nice to him? I don't think he trusts me."

"You should do whatever you feel you should do," Tsuyoshi said softly, "and if that's how you feel, then you should at least give it a try and see how it works out."

Yamamoto smiled before taking a bite out of his food. "Thanks, dad. If I see him at school tomorrow I'll try harder."

"No problem, Takeshi. Now eat up; I'll ask you to help me clean the sushi restaurant after we've eaten."

"Ah. Sure thing."

If there was one thing Yamamoto had ever been thankful for in his life, it was his loving dad. He didn't know where he'd be without the man there to help him out and keep him on the right path.