(no subject)
Title: untitled
Author/Artist: rainxlikexstars
Rating: PG/General
Warnings: 27/86 = Not Minchan's pairing
Prompt: 1-59. 2786 - crying shoulder; "being jolly doesn't mean you're happy" Fic
Word count: 567
Summary: It was this caring for the world that she fell in love with.
When she breaks down, she is horrified. She wants to scream at herself to stop, but the tears fall harder and she knows it wouldn’t work. It would just break the stunned silence in the room, rip it open to reveal something horrible and hard to look at. Gokudera coughs, and if she was looking at his face (she can picture it) she’s certain he’d be looking uncomfortable and stern, but she can’t stop. Yamamoto is the first to speak.
“We’ll give you two a minute, alright, Tsuna?”
It’s a not-so-subtle hint that Tsuna needs to take care of this, as he stands and leads Gokudera out by the arm. The other guardians file out one by one, trusting Yamamoto’s judgement and Tsuna’s care. Haru is still crying, even though it took at least five minutes for the room to empty; sniffling and hiding her eyes and willing herself to stop.
“H-Haru, . . . ah. . .”
He doesn’t know what to say, and she shakes her head. I’ll be fine, she wants to say, just a moment. But her throat feels like it’s closed up and her fingers are digging into her forehead. Time clicks by. She can hear the clock over her tears. Click. Click. Click.
“I’m sorry,” she manages to chock out instead, and Tsuna starts stammering words out. Her shoulders are shaking and they won’t stop and she says it again, “I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for, really!” His hands rest on her shoulders, “It’s. . . It’s okay. D-Do you want to talk about it?”
She doesn’t know. It’s not really the sort of thing you say out loud, the worrying and the fear (and Gokudera’s hair silent and white over his forehead and into his dead staring eyes) because saying them out loud makes it seem more real.
“I think I want a hug,” she says instead, “And some cake and hot-”
Her voice breaks when she tries to say chocolate, because seh’s suddenly remembering how much Tsuna’s eyes look like chocolate, even in horrible dreams where he’s dead.
He gives her the hug, and her body stiffens a little in surprise when his arms wrap around her, holding her to him. It takes her a moment to relax, and then she buries her head in his shoulder, and she keeps crying for a while after that, as he speaks into her hair, whispering, like speaking too loudly would kill her.
The tears stop falling, and they break apart. It has been fifteen minutes since she started crying. Tsuna gives her a nervously reassuring smile, “Haru, if you ever. . .need to cry again, or if you want to talk about it. . .”
He’s holding her hand, and she squeezes his hand back, her heart suddenly feeling tight. She makes her lips smile again, “I-It’s okay. Tsuna and Gokudera and Yamamoto and everyone are all so strong. Haru can be strong too!”
Tsuna hesitates when he nods, looking down at their fingers, “If you need anything though . . .”
“Haru will let you know,” she’s smiling more normally now, and when Tsuna’s eyes flicker back up to his face, he seems to relax. She lets go of his hand, walking to the door, “I’ll let you get back to the meeting now, but. . .”
Be careful.”
She looks back over her shoulder, “Haru doesn’t want to lose you. Any of you.”
Tsuna nods, his face suddenly more serious.
“You won’t.”