[ fic ] just wing it (natsu/tsuna)
Title: Just Wing It.
Author/Artist: seireeii
Rating: T for Teen.
Warnings: Subtle, minor, only if you squint, 1827.
Prompt: I-5; Natsu: Park; "Lion cubs and swings don't mix. AT ALL."
Word count: 1,889.
Summary: Never again would he ever complain about Reborn's special brand of persuasion.
Note: Because of the fact that there is no Natsu tag, this is tagged underneath Hibari/Tsuna, because of the slight 1827-ness of it.
just wing it
or i’ll x-burner your ass to death.
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.
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There’ve been at least six times that Sawada Tsunayoshi has been terrified for his life - some when he’d been protected by Hyper Dying Will Mode, and others when he hadn’t - but nothing has terrified him more than the thought of taking Natsu, his Sky Lion Box Weapon turned pet, to the park.
Just the idea in itself is enough to put him in a state of panic.
But there isn’t anything he can do about it - once the words, natsu, park, holy crap, and fine, we’ll go, left his mouth, it was all over. The lion cub had pawed his ankles (which reminded him, how the heck did Natsu get out of his box without my flames?) and purred as softly, and pleadingly as he could in an attempt to sway Tsuna into taking him out of the house. Of course, after Reborn’s persuasion - “Don’t be a wuss, and take your pet out to play.” - he’d had no choice but to comply.
And thus, that’s why Tsuna is currently walking down the street with Natsu purring against his right cheek. He doesn’t understand why the animal wants to go to the park so badly, considering that it’s nothing more than a pile of plastic and sand. And besides, it’s in Disciplinary Committee territory (who is he kidding; all of Namimori is Disciplinary Committee territory).
Tsuna shivers at the thought of bumping into a member, and coming out of that conversation with a black eye and face full of bruises.
This is a very bad idea.
A very, very bad idea.
An idea so bad, that it twists Tsuna’s stomach into knots, over and over again, no matter how hard he tries to ignore it. And it’s almost as if the yellow-orange lion cub knows it too - he’s nuzzling into Tsuna’s jaw now, rubbing his nose up the boy’s neck and tickling his Sky flame-mane into the human’s brown hair - and despite how terrified his master is of the thought, he doesn’t care.
Tsuna doesn’t know how that’s possible.
He must be a freak of nature.
That, or he’d never heard of Hibari Kyouya.
.
.
So, after Natsu (take note of the fact that it’s Natsu coercing Tsuna, not the other way around) manages to coax his reluctant master into the sand pit he so desperately wants to play in, Tsuna figures out Natsu’s true purpose in hiring Reborn to bully him into taking him to the park.
The swings.
What.
What the hell.
Before Tsuna can stop him, the lion cub is already sprinting for them, destroying abandoned sand castles as he blurs through the sand box, spraying woodchips with his small, tiny paws as he continues on his set course. Watching him reminds Tsuna of Lambo (though not fondly), and brings a forced, twitching smile to his lips. Sighing, and noticing that the lion cub has reached his destination and is glancing back at him, silently asking for help, Tsuna pockets his hands and crosses the playground, his footsteps measured.
With his tail waving high in the air, Natsu watches Tsuna walk toward him with eager ruddy scarlet eyes, purring excitedly. Stopping just in front of him, Tsuna glances at the swing, then to Natsu, and back, before sighing once more - “Hey, stupid-Tsuna. Did you know that every time you sigh, you lose some brain cells?” Kneeling down in front of the lion cub, Tsuna holds out a hand, and smiles at the animal, nodding once.
“You can’t get up on it from down there, Natsu,” he says, the lion cub cocking his head. Running his other hand across Natsu’s head soothingly, he holds his other out further. “Here, I’ll help you.”
Tsuna stifles a laugh as the lion cub’s paws tickle his palm, and lifts his other hand to cradle Natsu in both hands. The animal shifts in his grasp, uncomfortable and vulnerable in a place other than on the ground, his box, or Tsuna’s shoulder, and whimpers softly, but Tsuna smiles soothingly and lifts him up to the swing.
“It’s going to be okay,” he soothes, moving one knee closer to the swing and setting Natsu down on it carefully. The lion cub tenses when the surface shifts underneath him to bear his weight, and when Tsuna’s hands leave his sides, he whimpers again. “What’s wrong, Natsu?”
The swing moves slightly under Natsu, and the lion cub bristles, beginning to growl and brighten his flames. Tsuna notices the animal’s hackles rising, and watches Natsu leap for him. He moves so suddenly that the black surface pulls his hind legs out from under him, sending him tumbling to the woodchips before Tsuna can reach out his hands to catch him.
“Natsu!” Tsuna exclaims, leaning over and running a hand across the lion cub’s back gently. “Are you alright?”
The animal jumps for the brown-haired male, and tackles him to the ground as if terrified by the experience.
Tsuna doesn’t blame him - he had been scared when his father had forced him to do the Superman off of one of these swings when he was only five. He only lets the lion cub nuzzle his face, tremble against his cheek, and whimper under the soothing hold of Tsuna’s palms.
“Natsu, it’s okay,” Tsuna says, raising his head from the ground to smile at the box animal. “You just didn’t balance yourself right.”
With that said, he lifts himself to his feet, raising Natsu up with him. The lion cub hops onto his shoulder, and Tsuna turns toward him, offering him a reassuring grin.
“Do you want to swing with me?”
Unsure of what his master intends, Natsu blinks, prompting Tsuna to take both of the chains in his hands, turn around, and sit down on the black curve. Once Tsuna gets himself situated, he pats his lap, coaxing Natsu into sitting on his thighs. The lion cub presses himself to Tsuna’s neck, still hesitant and scared, but the soft rubs of Tsuna’s hand against Natsu’s side eases his fear, and the animal springs into Tsuna’s lap, plopping his backside down and promptly raising a paw to his mouth to clean it.
“Oh, Natsu,” Tsuna sighs, beginning to push off with his feet ever so slightly. The cub presses himself back into Tsuna’s stomach, clinging to him out of fear, but instead of growing annoyed, Tsuna merely laughs, and says, “This is as fast and as high as I’m going to go. Relax, Natsu.”
Whether it’s because of Tsuna’s soft, soothing tone of voice, or because Natsu can’t figure out how to properly time his escape, he isn’t sure, but the lion cub swallows and lies down on Tsuna’s pant legs, and closes his eyes. All is silent for a few moments as Tsuna gradually swings the two of them higher, and higher, sighing to himself as he closes his eyes. And even though Natsu notices that they’re going higher each time they swing forward, he doesn’t move.
In Tsuna’s lap, he feels safe, secure, and content.
.
.
Until:
“For how much longer do you intend to crowd this area, herbivore?”
Tsuna flinches and screeches, promptly slipping from the swing and tumbling to the ground flat on his backside. Natsu screeches as well, and leaps for Tsuna’s face as they fall, clinging to his master with his paws and claws, earning another screech from the brown-haired male. Once Tsuna recovers from the fall only to register the b-bmp, b-bmp, b-bmp, b-bmp of his heartbeat, he looks up to see a narrow-eyed Hibari Kyouya standing over him, tonfas raised.
“Hi-Hibari-san!” Tsuna exclaims, crawling backwards as quickly as he can in an effort to put distance between himself, Natsu, and the ferocious prefect in front of him. Hibari’s cold, dark eyes follow him as he moves, curiously calm, and the prefect stifles a smirk at the herbivore’s movements. “I was just, uh; I was taking Natsu out to the park to play.”
“Hn,” Hibari snorts, giving the yellow-orange lion cub a glower. The animal, though terrified, puffs out his chest and brightens his flames, baring his teeth. Hibari eyes rove across the animal’s fangs, and Tsuna’s frightened eyes, before releasing the pent-up smirk he’d been holding back. “I see. But don’t-“
Tsuna glances downward, following the raven-haired skylark’s gaze, and gasps.
Natsu must have a death wish, being as close to Roll as he is. The lion cub is practically on top of him - nosing his spikes, licking the small, purple head, orange eyes bright and eager with excitement. At first, Tsuna isn’t sure why Hibari is just standing there, watching their two box animals play Tag in the woodchips in front of them, but once Tsuna catches sight of Hibird joining the game, he has a thought.
“Hibari-san,” Tsuna starts cautiously, keeping his head respectfully dipped, hesitantly meeting the prefect’s eyes, “do you… um… do you want to swing with me while Natsu, Roll, and Hibird play for a little while?”
For a moment, Hibari doesn’t move.
He just stands there.
Tsuna wonders if Hibari’s about to unleash his wrath and explode at the thought of such an herbivorous suggestion, but he’s greeted by a soft, slight, pull of a smile, and the lowering of tonfas. A few moments pass between the two, a few seconds filled with the b-bmp, b-bmp, b-bmp of Tsuna’s pounding heart, before Hibari closes his eyes and shifts toward him.
“I suppose. However, if you so much as twitch a finger in my direction, I’ll bite you to death.”
Tsuna’s face shifts into crooked frown. He’d known the death threat was coming.
And when Hibari sits on the swing beside him, arms and legs crossed, eyes closed, lips curved upward, Tsuna realizes that he isn’t as scary and cold-hearted as he wants everyone to think. Tsuna smiles, and gets back up, dusting the woodchips from his backside and stepping toward his own swing. Hibari’s eyes flash open to watch him, but Tsuna raises his palms.
“I’m only-“
“By all means.”
Tsuna does a double take.
Maybe a triple take.
“What?”
Hibari glances back at Tsuna, and smirks. “Shall I take your response to my consent as a threat?”
“N-No, it’s fine, I was just” - Tsuna sighs, sitting down on his swing, and leaning the side of his head against the chain links - “never mind.”
“Just as well,” Hibari responds, closing his eyes once more, “your chattering is irritating.”
The tentative silence is broken by Hibird’s chirping: “Hibari, Hibari.”
Both Tsuna and Hibari snap out of their stupors, and look to Hibird, who’s perched upon Natsu’s head. Tsuna blinks as Hibari turns toward him, then back to his bird, before sighing: “I suppose I’ve tolerated your company long enough, herbivore.”
“Eh?” Tsuna asks. Hibari rises from his swing, and begins to walk from the park, Roll and Hibird scampering or flying after him. Natsu, upset and crestfallen at the disappearance of his new playmates, hangs his head and drops his tail, whimpering.
“Herbivore.”
Tsuna lifts his head.
“Be sure not to speak of this to anyone,” Hibari warns, before reaching into his black jacket and pulling out his tonfas, “or I’ll bite you to death.”
And with that, Tsuna concludes that Hibari-san is still Hibari-san after all.
.
end.