[KHR][59, 27] From the Heart
march 23, 2014: the petals look like little hearts (31_days)
Title: From the Heart
Series: KHR
Rating: SO GEN I don't know I forget what the gen ratings are. K+? PG-13? Teen? I don't know, it involves Gokudera, there's swearing up to here, let's say T.
Characters: Tsuna, Gokudera, OFC (briefly), mentions of everyone else
Pairings: Gen, though you could probably take it as extremely mild 5927. Since that's how my writing usually leans.
Warnings: Actually none! I lie, it involves Gokudera, there are always warnings. In this case, the usual foul language.
Notes: 31 Days made me write this. Also, fuck do I miss KHR. Also also, most of this piece revolves around a headcanon that's been making the rounds on tumblr recently. One that I accept so hard. Oh god. Marry me, headcanon creator.
Summary: 7:30 am means breakfast and the first set of documents, reports and files to be reviewed. It also means unexpected gifts.
Things were never quiet. That was one of the first lessons the Ninth taught him, and even now, with Vongola less mafia and more vigilante, that hadn't changed. There were always reports, always plots, always bills. Many, many bills. And while the endless stream of paper work and meetings and inspections never quite abated, his people--his Family--were, like the good Mafiosi they once were, mostly active during the night.
So Gokudera wandering into their joint office at 7:30 in the morning with an armful of paperwork and a maid trailing behind with a cart of breakfast and select flash drives was the decided norm.
The beautiful bouquet of flowers, not so much.
"Good morning, Hayato, Anna, what do we--um."
"Good morning, Tenth!" Gokudera chirruped, setting down the top of his stack on Tsuna's desk. "The Turchino issue has been dealt with--that's the top report--and there are a few things you need to look at before we start anything else today."
"Okay, but--"
"You have a meeting this afternoon with the Advisors--the old farts, not CEDEF, and why are these idiots still around anyways?--and we're expecting a report to come in from Hibari." Gokudera scowled. "Maybe."
"Maybe," Tsuna agreed, trying to remember the last time Hibari reported in at the agreed upon time. Never, probably. "Um--"
"Anna Maria, Tenth and I have things to discuss. Leave the tray here. We'll eat as we go, right, Tenth? If you're going to finish all of this before your meeting, we won't have time for breaks. Come back at noon with lunch." Gokudera had settled into his role as Right Hand quite well, keeping Tsuna organized and informed when Tsuna himself spent much of the day wondering why Reborn hadn't given him some carpal tunnel prevention exercises in his youth.
"Yes, Storm Guardian," Anna Maria bowed out of the room, leaving the serving cart parked by the chesterfield Tsuna was sprawled out on.
Gokudera gently moved Tsuna's feet onto the floor, taking his usual spot to the right. "We should start with reviewing the Turchino report, Tenth. Here, some tea."
"Thank you, Hayato." Green tea, not quite like his mother made it. Which also meant-- "Spanner's back at SRTA?"
"Left three hours ago." Gokudera picked a croissant off its platter, laying cheeses and cold meats beside it. Tsuna accepted the offering, nibbling on the prosciutto. "The Carcassa are getting restless, but Skull managed to sneak out some weapons designs. Irie and Spanner are probably already pouring over them.”
Tsuna leaned forward to put down his cup, and sat back just a little further away from Gokudera-who, rifling through some of the files, didn’t notice or comment.
“I think I have a copy of their new rocket launcher somewhere in here-”
“We do not need a rocket launcher,” Tsuna cut in, eyes wide. Horrified.
“...Tenth...?”
Lambo with a rocket launcher. Ryohei with a rocket launcher. Reborn with a rocket launcher. Screw the lack of decorum, they were in private and Tsuna had every reason to want to cry at the thought. “No one needs a rocket launcher.”
Gokudera was caught somewhere between worry and sheepishness. “Er... but... it has great potential as a defensive-”
“No.”
“...alright. I’ll tell them just to work on a way to defend against it.” Tsuna peered between the fingers clapped over his eyes at the tone in his Right Hand’s voice. Of course Gokudera was an explosives expert, but he did lean towards the ballistics side of things....
No. Not even for Gokudera was he going to entertain the possibility of any of the Arcobaleno getting their hands on a new-and-improved rocket launcher. Not from Tsuna, at least.
“Anyways, the Turchino! They finally realized how very wrong they were about those construction contracts in Messina, and have capitulated to our request.” From ‘shiny new toy taken away’ to ‘damn straight we kick ass’ in 0.7 seconds. A new record. “They do have a few counter demands, but they’re mostly just for show. The only one of note is regarding your betrothal to their second daughter,” Tsuna choked, “-but that can easily be negotiated around. They do want to see you in person. In the meantime, they have sent a tribute to show their sincerity and devotion!”
Gokudera gestured vaguely somewhere in the direction of the serving cart; Tsuna eyed the bouquet with resignation. A gift from a Family couldn’t be just tossed out. Unfortunately.
“I must humbly apologize for the delay in getting their tribute to you, Tenth. We needed to thoroughly check to make sure it wasn’t poisoned nor had explosives hiding in it.” Gokudera sighed, stirring milk into his coffee as he reclined further into the backrest. “Unfortunately, due to the delay, some of the other Families have heard the Turchino have sent this tithe, and have decided to one-up each other by sending more things. The good news is, everything is clean and we don’t have to do Christmas shopping this year!”
Tsuna studiously concentrated on his breakfast, refusing to think about what was probably a massive pile of-of-well, who knew? Considering the senders, they probably thought an especially modded Kalashnikov made a great partner to a gold necklace.
He peaked at the flowers again. ...he could deal with custom-made rifles and jewelry.
In the meantime, Gokudera hadn’t slowed down at all. “So, Tenth, er... I-and the Guardians, and everyone else!-we couldn’t just sit back and let all these small-time capos be the only ones to give you something! We have a gift for you, too!”
As long as it’s not something exploding, Tsuna prayed silently, putting aside his meal and hoping that this, at least, wouldn’t end in tears and bloodshed.
Gokudera reached behind him to grab-the bouquet. Tsuna sucked in a breath.
“Here, Tenth! With l-love, from all of us!”
Tsuna paled, staring at the rainbow petals. “H-Ha...”
Gokudera’s smile dimmed, confusing marring his features. It took a minute of glancing between Tsuna’s shaking form and the flowers clutched in his hand before the confusion cleared, replaced by a soft smile that even Tsuna was rarely given.
“We know how you feel about... about flowers,” Gokudera explained. “Of course we do! But it’s always so dark in your rooms, we thought... we thought that you might like these, instead. To make it brighter!”
“These...?” But... they were flowers?
Gokudera gently pushed them into Tsuna’s hands. “Smell, Tenth.”
Smell? Really? Knowing that-
Tsuna paused. What? Bending his head into the bouquet, Tsuna closed his eyes to concentrate. Was that...?
“You know how Irie loves his weird Sun Flame modified plants, especially those stupid flytraps. We asked him to engineer some flowers that wouldn’t have the usual scent to them. And made them the colours of our Flames.”
Tsuna couldn’t stop the slow grin stretching his lips. “This... I can smell mom’s green tea....”
“Spanner Okayed that scent,” Gokudera grumbled.
“And grape... Lambo?”
“That stupid cow, can’t think of anything original.”
Tsuna laughed. “Sushi! And... baby powder?”
“Baseball freak and lawn head. It’s some kind of powder boxers use to keep their hands from chafing or something. Can’t understand him when every other word is extreme.”
Tsuna tentatively buried his nose in amongst the foliage. “I... is that... metal?”
Gokudera shrugged. “That idiot Hibari probably wanted you to remember what his tonfa smell like when they get close to your face.”
Which only made sense when viewed with Gokudera-logic. And Hibari-logic, apparently.
Tsuna could identify a few more scents (he laughed at what had to be Chrome’s choice of pineapple), nothing coming even remotely close to a “traditional” flower scent. The strangest was probably-“Gunpowder?” Tsuna turned expectant eyes on Gokudera-who rolled his own.
“Reborn... and Colonnello, and Lal Mirch. Crazy bastards. Didn’t want to share with anyone else, so they fought it out.”
“And they... tied?”
“No. Reborn won, but the crazy woman and Colonnello threatened Irie into making gunpowder their scent as well.”
Why... could Tsuna see that happening? “But then... which scent is yours, Hayato?”
“W-well... I couldn’t really think of one that might be really comforting for you! So I....” Gokudera turned his head away, refusing to meet Tsuna’s eyes no matter how he craned his neck. “I... chose one that was comforting for me, and maybe... you’d... like it, too?”
Comforting for Gokudera...? “Which one is it?”
“The piano....”
“Your... flower smells like the piano?”
“No!” Gokudera abruptly straightened, waving his hands around as if to fan that idea away. Tsuna quirked a grin at his antics. “No, Tenth... when I was younger, I always thought that pianos had a certain smell. But... Bianchi told me that it wasn’t the piano I smelled, it was the perfume my mother wore.”
“So your scent....”
Gokudera gestured to some startlingly red flowers, petals dashed with thin black lines. “The alstromeria... they actually don’t have a scent, so I was going to just get you a bouquet of those, maybe... but... mom’s perfume was made mostly from a flower called heliotrope. It has a calming scent! Or, that’s what the perfumeries say.” Gokudera did not put stock in anything that could not be logically proven or explained, even if it was... strange logic.
Tsuna studied the red flowers, taking a tentative sniff. They definitely had a flowery smell, but it wasn’t overpowering. Just a small tentative acknowledgement of scent, enough to prove that they were living flowers. The complete opposite of the man who had chosen it. But....
“You picked a flower that had no scent at all-which would have been fine, really!-and then you gave it a smell like another flower... but a smell that isn’t really a flower smell.”
Gokudera slid a mask into place. It hurt, a bit, to see that even now he still expected to be hurt so often and so easily as to still be able to put on that show of being above emotional trauma. Tsuna had promised he wouldn’t be the cause of such pain. He promised, and a promise made was a promise kept. Always.
“...how are you always so considerate,” Tsuna laughed, putting the flowers aside to lean forward and press his forehead to Gokudera’s. “How do you always think of these things?”
“Tenth...?”
“Thank you,” Tsuna annunciated clearly, opening his eyes to study Gokudera’s face from his up-close-and-personal vantage. Reached up to tangle one hand in fine strands, keeping his Right Hand from pulling away. “Thank you so... so much.”
“It’s no problem, Tenth!” Gokudera wrenched himself back anyways, hair pulling be damned. “Of course we would do this much for you!”
“Of course,” Tsuna agreed.
“We should... should put them somewhere!”
Tsuna looked at where he had set the bouquet. “I think... they look alright on the coffee table, don’t they? Like you said, they make the room brighter. So they deserve to be front and center for anyone who walks in here.”
Gokudera met Tsuna’s smile with his own, one that Tsuna long identified as his ‘everything in the world is going right for once I don’t believe it and I don’t deserve it but it’s happening anyways’ grin.
And then he panicked.
“Water! We need water and a vase for them!”
“H-Hayato-”
“I’ll be right back, Tenth!”
Tsuna took the moment of quiet to trace the petal of an alstromeria thoughtfully. He pulled out his cell phone.
“Ah... good morning, Shouichi-kun! Yes, I... no, thank you very much! The flowers are beautiful! Ah, I was wondering... could I order ten bouquets of Hayato’s red... yes, those ones. To the piano room, yes. And... maybe a couple more of all the flowers for the rest of the mansion, too.”
Title: From the Heart
Series: KHR
Rating: SO GEN I don't know I forget what the gen ratings are. K+? PG-13? Teen? I don't know, it involves Gokudera, there's swearing up to here, let's say T.
Characters: Tsuna, Gokudera, OFC (briefly), mentions of everyone else
Pairings: Gen, though you could probably take it as extremely mild 5927. Since that's how my writing usually leans.
Warnings: Actually none! I lie, it involves Gokudera, there are always warnings. In this case, the usual foul language.
Notes: 31 Days made me write this. Also, fuck do I miss KHR. Also also, most of this piece revolves around a headcanon that's been making the rounds on tumblr recently. One that I accept so hard. Oh god. Marry me, headcanon creator.
Summary: 7:30 am means breakfast and the first set of documents, reports and files to be reviewed. It also means unexpected gifts.
Things were never quiet. That was one of the first lessons the Ninth taught him, and even now, with Vongola less mafia and more vigilante, that hadn't changed. There were always reports, always plots, always bills. Many, many bills. And while the endless stream of paper work and meetings and inspections never quite abated, his people--his Family--were, like the good Mafiosi they once were, mostly active during the night.
So Gokudera wandering into their joint office at 7:30 in the morning with an armful of paperwork and a maid trailing behind with a cart of breakfast and select flash drives was the decided norm.
The beautiful bouquet of flowers, not so much.
"Good morning, Hayato, Anna, what do we--um."
"Good morning, Tenth!" Gokudera chirruped, setting down the top of his stack on Tsuna's desk. "The Turchino issue has been dealt with--that's the top report--and there are a few things you need to look at before we start anything else today."
"Okay, but--"
"You have a meeting this afternoon with the Advisors--the old farts, not CEDEF, and why are these idiots still around anyways?--and we're expecting a report to come in from Hibari." Gokudera scowled. "Maybe."
"Maybe," Tsuna agreed, trying to remember the last time Hibari reported in at the agreed upon time. Never, probably. "Um--"
"Anna Maria, Tenth and I have things to discuss. Leave the tray here. We'll eat as we go, right, Tenth? If you're going to finish all of this before your meeting, we won't have time for breaks. Come back at noon with lunch." Gokudera had settled into his role as Right Hand quite well, keeping Tsuna organized and informed when Tsuna himself spent much of the day wondering why Reborn hadn't given him some carpal tunnel prevention exercises in his youth.
"Yes, Storm Guardian," Anna Maria bowed out of the room, leaving the serving cart parked by the chesterfield Tsuna was sprawled out on.
Gokudera gently moved Tsuna's feet onto the floor, taking his usual spot to the right. "We should start with reviewing the Turchino report, Tenth. Here, some tea."
"Thank you, Hayato." Green tea, not quite like his mother made it. Which also meant-- "Spanner's back at SRTA?"
"Left three hours ago." Gokudera picked a croissant off its platter, laying cheeses and cold meats beside it. Tsuna accepted the offering, nibbling on the prosciutto. "The Carcassa are getting restless, but Skull managed to sneak out some weapons designs. Irie and Spanner are probably already pouring over them.”
Tsuna leaned forward to put down his cup, and sat back just a little further away from Gokudera-who, rifling through some of the files, didn’t notice or comment.
“I think I have a copy of their new rocket launcher somewhere in here-”
“We do not need a rocket launcher,” Tsuna cut in, eyes wide. Horrified.
“...Tenth...?”
Lambo with a rocket launcher. Ryohei with a rocket launcher. Reborn with a rocket launcher. Screw the lack of decorum, they were in private and Tsuna had every reason to want to cry at the thought. “No one needs a rocket launcher.”
Gokudera was caught somewhere between worry and sheepishness. “Er... but... it has great potential as a defensive-”
“No.”
“...alright. I’ll tell them just to work on a way to defend against it.” Tsuna peered between the fingers clapped over his eyes at the tone in his Right Hand’s voice. Of course Gokudera was an explosives expert, but he did lean towards the ballistics side of things....
No. Not even for Gokudera was he going to entertain the possibility of any of the Arcobaleno getting their hands on a new-and-improved rocket launcher. Not from Tsuna, at least.
“Anyways, the Turchino! They finally realized how very wrong they were about those construction contracts in Messina, and have capitulated to our request.” From ‘shiny new toy taken away’ to ‘damn straight we kick ass’ in 0.7 seconds. A new record. “They do have a few counter demands, but they’re mostly just for show. The only one of note is regarding your betrothal to their second daughter,” Tsuna choked, “-but that can easily be negotiated around. They do want to see you in person. In the meantime, they have sent a tribute to show their sincerity and devotion!”
Gokudera gestured vaguely somewhere in the direction of the serving cart; Tsuna eyed the bouquet with resignation. A gift from a Family couldn’t be just tossed out. Unfortunately.
“I must humbly apologize for the delay in getting their tribute to you, Tenth. We needed to thoroughly check to make sure it wasn’t poisoned nor had explosives hiding in it.” Gokudera sighed, stirring milk into his coffee as he reclined further into the backrest. “Unfortunately, due to the delay, some of the other Families have heard the Turchino have sent this tithe, and have decided to one-up each other by sending more things. The good news is, everything is clean and we don’t have to do Christmas shopping this year!”
Tsuna studiously concentrated on his breakfast, refusing to think about what was probably a massive pile of-of-well, who knew? Considering the senders, they probably thought an especially modded Kalashnikov made a great partner to a gold necklace.
He peaked at the flowers again. ...he could deal with custom-made rifles and jewelry.
In the meantime, Gokudera hadn’t slowed down at all. “So, Tenth, er... I-and the Guardians, and everyone else!-we couldn’t just sit back and let all these small-time capos be the only ones to give you something! We have a gift for you, too!”
As long as it’s not something exploding, Tsuna prayed silently, putting aside his meal and hoping that this, at least, wouldn’t end in tears and bloodshed.
Gokudera reached behind him to grab-the bouquet. Tsuna sucked in a breath.
“Here, Tenth! With l-love, from all of us!”
Tsuna paled, staring at the rainbow petals. “H-Ha...”
Gokudera’s smile dimmed, confusing marring his features. It took a minute of glancing between Tsuna’s shaking form and the flowers clutched in his hand before the confusion cleared, replaced by a soft smile that even Tsuna was rarely given.
“We know how you feel about... about flowers,” Gokudera explained. “Of course we do! But it’s always so dark in your rooms, we thought... we thought that you might like these, instead. To make it brighter!”
“These...?” But... they were flowers?
Gokudera gently pushed them into Tsuna’s hands. “Smell, Tenth.”
Smell? Really? Knowing that-
Tsuna paused. What? Bending his head into the bouquet, Tsuna closed his eyes to concentrate. Was that...?
“You know how Irie loves his weird Sun Flame modified plants, especially those stupid flytraps. We asked him to engineer some flowers that wouldn’t have the usual scent to them. And made them the colours of our Flames.”
Tsuna couldn’t stop the slow grin stretching his lips. “This... I can smell mom’s green tea....”
“Spanner Okayed that scent,” Gokudera grumbled.
“And grape... Lambo?”
“That stupid cow, can’t think of anything original.”
Tsuna laughed. “Sushi! And... baby powder?”
“Baseball freak and lawn head. It’s some kind of powder boxers use to keep their hands from chafing or something. Can’t understand him when every other word is extreme.”
Tsuna tentatively buried his nose in amongst the foliage. “I... is that... metal?”
Gokudera shrugged. “That idiot Hibari probably wanted you to remember what his tonfa smell like when they get close to your face.”
Which only made sense when viewed with Gokudera-logic. And Hibari-logic, apparently.
Tsuna could identify a few more scents (he laughed at what had to be Chrome’s choice of pineapple), nothing coming even remotely close to a “traditional” flower scent. The strangest was probably-“Gunpowder?” Tsuna turned expectant eyes on Gokudera-who rolled his own.
“Reborn... and Colonnello, and Lal Mirch. Crazy bastards. Didn’t want to share with anyone else, so they fought it out.”
“And they... tied?”
“No. Reborn won, but the crazy woman and Colonnello threatened Irie into making gunpowder their scent as well.”
Why... could Tsuna see that happening? “But then... which scent is yours, Hayato?”
“W-well... I couldn’t really think of one that might be really comforting for you! So I....” Gokudera turned his head away, refusing to meet Tsuna’s eyes no matter how he craned his neck. “I... chose one that was comforting for me, and maybe... you’d... like it, too?”
Comforting for Gokudera...? “Which one is it?”
“The piano....”
“Your... flower smells like the piano?”
“No!” Gokudera abruptly straightened, waving his hands around as if to fan that idea away. Tsuna quirked a grin at his antics. “No, Tenth... when I was younger, I always thought that pianos had a certain smell. But... Bianchi told me that it wasn’t the piano I smelled, it was the perfume my mother wore.”
“So your scent....”
Gokudera gestured to some startlingly red flowers, petals dashed with thin black lines. “The alstromeria... they actually don’t have a scent, so I was going to just get you a bouquet of those, maybe... but... mom’s perfume was made mostly from a flower called heliotrope. It has a calming scent! Or, that’s what the perfumeries say.” Gokudera did not put stock in anything that could not be logically proven or explained, even if it was... strange logic.
Tsuna studied the red flowers, taking a tentative sniff. They definitely had a flowery smell, but it wasn’t overpowering. Just a small tentative acknowledgement of scent, enough to prove that they were living flowers. The complete opposite of the man who had chosen it. But....
“You picked a flower that had no scent at all-which would have been fine, really!-and then you gave it a smell like another flower... but a smell that isn’t really a flower smell.”
Gokudera slid a mask into place. It hurt, a bit, to see that even now he still expected to be hurt so often and so easily as to still be able to put on that show of being above emotional trauma. Tsuna had promised he wouldn’t be the cause of such pain. He promised, and a promise made was a promise kept. Always.
“...how are you always so considerate,” Tsuna laughed, putting the flowers aside to lean forward and press his forehead to Gokudera’s. “How do you always think of these things?”
“Tenth...?”
“Thank you,” Tsuna annunciated clearly, opening his eyes to study Gokudera’s face from his up-close-and-personal vantage. Reached up to tangle one hand in fine strands, keeping his Right Hand from pulling away. “Thank you so... so much.”
“It’s no problem, Tenth!” Gokudera wrenched himself back anyways, hair pulling be damned. “Of course we would do this much for you!”
“Of course,” Tsuna agreed.
“We should... should put them somewhere!”
Tsuna looked at where he had set the bouquet. “I think... they look alright on the coffee table, don’t they? Like you said, they make the room brighter. So they deserve to be front and center for anyone who walks in here.”
Gokudera met Tsuna’s smile with his own, one that Tsuna long identified as his ‘everything in the world is going right for once I don’t believe it and I don’t deserve it but it’s happening anyways’ grin.
And then he panicked.
“Water! We need water and a vase for them!”
“H-Hayato-”
“I’ll be right back, Tenth!”
Tsuna took the moment of quiet to trace the petal of an alstromeria thoughtfully. He pulled out his cell phone.
“Ah... good morning, Shouichi-kun! Yes, I... no, thank you very much! The flowers are beautiful! Ah, I was wondering... could I order ten bouquets of Hayato’s red... yes, those ones. To the piano room, yes. And... maybe a couple more of all the flowers for the rest of the mansion, too.”