[Fanfic][KHR!][2759] Έ Άφροδίτη, ω Ερός, ω ησυχία
Έ Άφροδίτη, ω Ερός, ω ησυχία (E Aphprodite, o Eros, O esukhia = Goddess of Love, O Love, O Tranquility/Quiet)
Series: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Characters/Pairings: Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera, 2759; mentions of Reborn, Timoteo, Iemitsu, Nana, the kids, Vongola
Rating: M / whatever that is equal to
Warnings: Almost-sortof-not-quite-there pr0n; more evidence of That Which Is Now Known as The Suit/Tie Fetish
Summary: It isn't the first time he's forgotten his own birthday, but it is the first time that a certain Arcobaleno's takes total precedence, even to his closest friends.
Tsuna had been used to not celebrating his birthday. When he was younger, it had just been he and his parents, and while they might have had a big dinner and Tsuna might have been given a small gift, there had been no celebration to speak of. After his father had disappeared, the dinner had continued but the gift had been forgotten.
When Reborn had come along, his birthday suddenly meant something again, but only in so much that Reborn's presence more-or-less demanded a party, and the Arcobaleno had decreed they might as well make it a joint party for Tsuna as well (so as not to waste resources).
So really, Tsuna forgetting his own birthday is nothing to be surprised at.
Everyone else, however, forgetting his birthday? That was something new.
But even that was to be expected, Reborn having been assigned a mini-training-slash-infiltration-slash-assassination job for an allied Family and therefore spending his birthday at said Family's estate and everyone (everyone) from Vongola going there to celebrate it.
"Really?" Tsuna asks, lips slightly puckered. "Everyone?"
"Really," Yamamoto confirms over the telephone. "It's really crowded here, Tsuna. I think I just saw even some of the Varia and CEDEF wander by. How are things back there?"
Since Tsuna's been cooped up in his office all day, forcing himself to do the various towers of paperwork scattered over his desk, he has no idea. "Well... there hasn't been any explosions today."
"Haha, must be nice and peaceful for you then!"
"Yeah," Tsuna agrees, an odd feeling of melancholy overtaking him. "Peaceful."
Truth is, Tsuna's gotten used to the general chaos that makes up Vongola's Main Compound. Though he doesn't appreciate (or even like) the damage done to both castle and Family during the internal spats, it's comforting. In a way, it lets him know that everyone is in high spirits and feels safe enough to attempt to kill each other, instead of saving strength and medical supplies and numbers for a potential attack.
"Well, I think Reborn's about to start the gift ranking competition," Yamamoto informs him cheerfully, "and our hosts don't look like they quite know what that is, so I should probably get going."
"Alright," Tsuna agrees, feeling a little morose. "Tell Reborn Happy Birthday for me, Yamamoto. And have fun."
"I will!" And with a laugh the line is cut, the background noise fades to silence, and Tsuna is left in perfect stillness.
-
Tsuna knows well that, Decimo or not, Timoteo still holds sway and position as the Nono. The grandfatherly figure still holds the public office, still makes the final decision about most things, and still is the one required at inter-Family events.
That leaves it to Tsuna to hold down the fort when the Ninth and his entourage (most of CEDEF, the Arcobaleno, and half the permanent population of the castle) are away.
While it's normally no bother (excepting Calcassa, there isn't any Family stupid enough to attempt to take on Vongola, even at half population and most of the powerbrokers away), it's those times when the castle feels empty and forgotten, a remnant of the past, and solitude closes in through solid stone walls and ancient defenses. It makes Tsuna wish for his home back in Japan, when the small two-story house was overflowing with people and it was impossible to find a room without someone already in it (including, to Tsuna's horror, the bathroom). No matter how cramped it might have seemed, it was warm and always filled with shrieks and laughter and voices and people.
The castle, in comparison, has far too many rooms that will never be filled, too few people to make it feel alive (even with the full compliment present, all seven thousand plus), too quiet, even with the various deathmatches in the hallways and gardens.
By far the worst, Tsuna thinks, is when not just the upper echelon have left to attend to business or fun, but when everyone has been invited to a party and given the day off to go. Not because they're at a party and Tsuna isn't, but because the emptiness and hollow soul of the castle suddenly seems to take on a life of it's own.
Tsuna doesn't believe in the supernal, but he is a firm believer in the supernatural (Mukuro and Bianchi's Romeo and simply Reborn finding the best way to teach him was to effectively kill him once a day made sure of that). The ghosts and spirits he's sure have taken up home in the castle but he can never see or hear keep him company, but even a host of the dead cannot compare to the presence of even one other living person.
Too bad said living people are all at a party on the other side of the country.
-
Tsuna can imagine what it must be like at Reborn's birthday party (he's been through enough of them, after all), and pities the allied Family for a moment. They're only a new Family, both to the mafia and to their circle of allies, and haven't yet had the time to come to grips with the general insanity that is the Vongola.
Stepping out of his office into the brightly lit corridor beyond and straining to see around the far bend to the only window for what must be miles, Tsuna immediately takes back such thoughts. They're the ones who agreed to hold Reborn's birthday, since they're hosting the Arcobaleno, anyways. They asked for it, so they can deal with it.
Instead, Tsuna tries to block out all thought and fear and worry with a cheerful tune, the off-beat occasionally off-key huming bouncing off stone walls and back into his ears, echoing down empty corridors and distorting itself until it is nothing but a cacophony of ancient whispers and screeching and howling.
The walk to his quarters isn't long, located as they are, nine floors directly beneath his office and five stories underground, but the path needed to get there is strictly through hidden stairwells and passages and traps, and nowhere near a window. (And it isn't for simply scenery that Tsuna wants to see out a window--he broke his watch earlier when having to wake himself up and slaming his hand into the bedside table, scattering papers and letters and rings and priceless antique table lamps, and has absolutely no idea what time it is.)
Like his office, there are more paintings hung on the walls: sceneries of the land around them, of far-away places, of imaginary places, all trying to reduce the claustrophobia and prevent the feelings of isolation. Timoteo admitted to Tsuna long ago that the paintings didn't alleviate any of the above, but they were always a reminder of the outside world and how their choices affected it.
Sliding through the sitting room door and into the miniature office beyond, he takes a moment to check his mail, voicemail, email and texts. No news is usually good news, but as with everything today, certain things that should be there aren't. Instead of giving in to his worry, Tsuna instead makes a mental note to take a day off and bring everyone to an amusement park. He knows the kids--teenagers, now, although Lambo still doesn't always act like one--would really appreciate it, and the rest of the Guardians and his immediately Family would at least enjoy a break.
It's only as he's loosening his tie and stepping into the bedroom that he thinks he maybe should have been reading more into the (apparent) sudden emptiness of the castle.
"G-Gokudera-kun! What are you doing?!"
"Ah, Tenth!" The Storm Guardian looks up from where he's crouched beside Tsuna's bed, fiddling with a tray of... objects that Tsuna can't make out but would probably much rather not know the names nor functions of. "How was your day?"
"Um... good...." It's been a while since Tsuna's felt this dame, but he tries to keep it from showing on his face. "Gokudera-kun?"
"I wanted to get everything prepared for you!" Gokudera chirps, smile a mile wide and still, apparently, stretching. "It's your birthday, and the Tenth only deserves the best!"
"Best... what, exactly?"
Gokudera fidgets, and Tsuna thinks maybe he shouldn't have asked. There's a kind of excitement and anticipation and worry somewhere in Gokudera's movements, but Tsuna doesn't want to read that much into it. He's slowly getting back his bearings and trying to add up as many facts as he can that might explain all this, but he's still somehow stuck on, "Gokudera's here. In my bedroom. When he should be at Reborn's birthday party. And not wearing very much while doing... whatever he's doing."
And while black slacks and an opened white button-down dress shirt would be sufficient clothing for most people, Gokudera was renowned for wearing at least four layers, two of which were always bulletproof, and as many rings and earrings and jewelery as possible. That the only acoutrement to the shirt and slacks was the Storm Ring, slid onto the left hand, set off alarm bells in Tsuna's mind.
"Best birthday present!" Gokudera explains, dragging Tsuna out of his thoughts. "We were talking about what to get you for your birthday (and of course all the other suggestions were completely unworthy of you and shot down immediately), and Reborn suggested that you needed some experience, so--"
"Experience? Experience in what?" Tsuna has a guess, and is hoping he's wrong.
Gokudera's suddenly abashed, and Tsuna feels his heart sink. 'It is....'
"Well... I mean, I'm sure the Tenth doesn't need any guidance or practice or anything, but Reborn-san did say that practice makes perfect and there is that adage of 'use it or lose it' (though I think that's just a stupid saying, right, Tenth?), and I--we--thought that you'd really appreciate a night on the town and--"
And Tsuna tunes the rest of what Gokudera's saying out, because he really Doesn't Need To Know. It's obvious enough what Reborn's set up, considering that one of the first "skills" he showed Tsuna was his power of "mafia seduction".
"Gokudera-kun," Tsuna cuts him off, "thank you, but... my birthday isn't until tomorrow."
"Eh?" Gokudera blinks. "But your birthday is the fourteenth of October, right, boss?"
"Yes...." Although it doesn't seem like Tsuna would know that, considering how often he lets that day pass by without any thought at all besides hoping Reborn enjoyed his birthday gift enough that there won't be an assassination attempt today.
"Then... it's the fourteenth." Tsuna can see Gokudera fidgetting (the Storm Guardian hates correcting his boss), but ignores that.
"The fourteenth? Is it?" Tsuna tries to check his broken watch and frowns. "What time is it?"
"One-thirty in the morning," Gokudera answers promptly, checking his own wristwatch for confirmation.
"Oh."
"Boss?" Gokudera looks down at him. "Do you still want to go out? I can always call ahead and cancel our spots at Rosanthia's club and strip joint."
Tsuna can't keep the flush off his face. (Another one of the first lessons Reborn taught him--this time, 'first lessons about Italian culture'--is that 'club and strip joint' is just another way of saying "alcohol, drugs, and women for cheap".) "I, uh... no. No, I think I'm okay celebrating in tonight, Gokudera-kun."
"Alright, Tenth," Gokudera agrees, sounding both relieved at not having to go out but depressed that the Guardians' birthday present had been rejected. "Just give me a minute here, and then we can plan something else to do."
As Gokudera talks on the phone with Rosanthia, explaining in quiet, hard tones that no, they would not be requiring that private booth or that private room or those three bottles of vintage Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, Tsuna watches him.
He feels kind of silly, thinking that everyone had left him to spend time with Reborn. Really, he should have known that Gokudera of all people would still be here, waiting on him and planning some kind of birthday surprise of epic proportions. There's also a hint of guilt there, too, for making Gokudera cancel all the plans he had no doubt spend hours labouring over.
Speaking of labouring over, Tsuna sidles past the Storm Guardian and stoops beside his bed, checking out the pile there. Black, form-fitting slacks and dress shirt greet him, folded neatly on top of black loafers and socks. A thin silver chain and various rings and bracelets are hidden in one shoe, and Tsuna smiles faintly at the thought put into his almost-gift. It's when he checks what's hidden in the other shoe that he chokes, and suposes that he really should have expected Gokudera to be prepared for everything while turning the condom package and tube of lube over in his hands.
Really, all this preperation and Tsuna was about to let it go to waist because he was too embarrased. He looks back up at Gokudera who is just finishing his conversation on the phone, and opens his mouth to tell him 'nevermind', that he could get over his embarrasement and reservations with ease (like everything else he's ever had to do in life) and that really, it was a thoughtful, if slightly disturbing birthday gift....
His hand tightens around his tie, still hanging loosely about his neck.
Gokudera's Storm Ring is on his left hand, odd in and of itself since he prefers to wear his five Rings on his right hand for ease of use with the Sistema C.A.I., but it's not on the middle finger like normal.
It's sitting, and glinting quite happily in the dim lighting, on his left ring finger.
Tsuna looks down again, glances between the tie and the condom and the lube.
His suit jacket is thrown over the footboard, the condom and lube on the side table, and Tsuna has decided to take a chance and has his tie firmly over Gokudera's eyes just as the Guardian says, "Thanks. Goodnight," and hangs up on Rosanthia.
"Tenth...?"
"It would be mean of me to not accept my birthday present, Hayato," Tsuna murmurs, trying to sound as smooth and suave as Reborn even as his knees are shaking and he thinks he's about to collapse with nerves. "And you already have everything ready, don't you?"
Gokudera's gulp is audible in the silence, but there's a warmth and excitement in his quaking voice when he next speaks. "A-aa. If there's anything I can do for the Tenth--"
"There is," Tsuna agrees, feeling a bit of encouragement when Gokudera leans back into him and Tsuna starts wrapping the ends of the tie around Gokudera's wrists, pinning them to the side his head. "And I think we both know what that is."
-
When the castle is filled with people by the next afternoon and, somehow, everyone has still had the time and energy to put together a surprise birthday party for Tsuna and Tsuna alone, Tsuna revels in the sounds of shrieks and laughter and voices and people, even when those sounds degenerate into screaming matches or explosions or calls for first aid kits and bets about "who is going to win this fight?" or "who will get on so-and-so's nerves next" or "why Decimo looks so smug?"
Tsuna enjoys that evening to the fullest, speaking with everyone and spending time with his family (Iemitsu had actually flown Nana and the kids out, and Timoteo sits with them all as the grandfather Tsuna had never known) and Family. There's nothing he likes more than the sound of people, of presence, of the living surrounding him and not that calm quiet of Death's kin.
Except one thing.
Tsuna decides that he does enjoy the oppresive, haunting silence of the castle, when almost everyone is asleep and those few who aren't keep their own noises down to not disturb anyone else.
He enjoys it, as then the only thing he needs or can focus on in is the harsh, near-inaudible gasps and cries and moans of the man laying beside him.
Series: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Characters/Pairings: Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera, 2759; mentions of Reborn, Timoteo, Iemitsu, Nana, the kids, Vongola
Rating: M / whatever that is equal to
Warnings: Almost-sortof-not-quite-there pr0n; more evidence of That Which Is Now Known as The Suit/Tie Fetish
Summary: It isn't the first time he's forgotten his own birthday, but it is the first time that a certain Arcobaleno's takes total precedence, even to his closest friends.
Tsuna had been used to not celebrating his birthday. When he was younger, it had just been he and his parents, and while they might have had a big dinner and Tsuna might have been given a small gift, there had been no celebration to speak of. After his father had disappeared, the dinner had continued but the gift had been forgotten.
When Reborn had come along, his birthday suddenly meant something again, but only in so much that Reborn's presence more-or-less demanded a party, and the Arcobaleno had decreed they might as well make it a joint party for Tsuna as well (so as not to waste resources).
So really, Tsuna forgetting his own birthday is nothing to be surprised at.
Everyone else, however, forgetting his birthday? That was something new.
But even that was to be expected, Reborn having been assigned a mini-training-slash-infiltration-slash-assassination job for an allied Family and therefore spending his birthday at said Family's estate and everyone (everyone) from Vongola going there to celebrate it.
"Really?" Tsuna asks, lips slightly puckered. "Everyone?"
"Really," Yamamoto confirms over the telephone. "It's really crowded here, Tsuna. I think I just saw even some of the Varia and CEDEF wander by. How are things back there?"
Since Tsuna's been cooped up in his office all day, forcing himself to do the various towers of paperwork scattered over his desk, he has no idea. "Well... there hasn't been any explosions today."
"Haha, must be nice and peaceful for you then!"
"Yeah," Tsuna agrees, an odd feeling of melancholy overtaking him. "Peaceful."
Truth is, Tsuna's gotten used to the general chaos that makes up Vongola's Main Compound. Though he doesn't appreciate (or even like) the damage done to both castle and Family during the internal spats, it's comforting. In a way, it lets him know that everyone is in high spirits and feels safe enough to attempt to kill each other, instead of saving strength and medical supplies and numbers for a potential attack.
"Well, I think Reborn's about to start the gift ranking competition," Yamamoto informs him cheerfully, "and our hosts don't look like they quite know what that is, so I should probably get going."
"Alright," Tsuna agrees, feeling a little morose. "Tell Reborn Happy Birthday for me, Yamamoto. And have fun."
"I will!" And with a laugh the line is cut, the background noise fades to silence, and Tsuna is left in perfect stillness.
-
Tsuna knows well that, Decimo or not, Timoteo still holds sway and position as the Nono. The grandfatherly figure still holds the public office, still makes the final decision about most things, and still is the one required at inter-Family events.
That leaves it to Tsuna to hold down the fort when the Ninth and his entourage (most of CEDEF, the Arcobaleno, and half the permanent population of the castle) are away.
While it's normally no bother (excepting Calcassa, there isn't any Family stupid enough to attempt to take on Vongola, even at half population and most of the powerbrokers away), it's those times when the castle feels empty and forgotten, a remnant of the past, and solitude closes in through solid stone walls and ancient defenses. It makes Tsuna wish for his home back in Japan, when the small two-story house was overflowing with people and it was impossible to find a room without someone already in it (including, to Tsuna's horror, the bathroom). No matter how cramped it might have seemed, it was warm and always filled with shrieks and laughter and voices and people.
The castle, in comparison, has far too many rooms that will never be filled, too few people to make it feel alive (even with the full compliment present, all seven thousand plus), too quiet, even with the various deathmatches in the hallways and gardens.
By far the worst, Tsuna thinks, is when not just the upper echelon have left to attend to business or fun, but when everyone has been invited to a party and given the day off to go. Not because they're at a party and Tsuna isn't, but because the emptiness and hollow soul of the castle suddenly seems to take on a life of it's own.
Tsuna doesn't believe in the supernal, but he is a firm believer in the supernatural (Mukuro and Bianchi's Romeo and simply Reborn finding the best way to teach him was to effectively kill him once a day made sure of that). The ghosts and spirits he's sure have taken up home in the castle but he can never see or hear keep him company, but even a host of the dead cannot compare to the presence of even one other living person.
Too bad said living people are all at a party on the other side of the country.
-
Tsuna can imagine what it must be like at Reborn's birthday party (he's been through enough of them, after all), and pities the allied Family for a moment. They're only a new Family, both to the mafia and to their circle of allies, and haven't yet had the time to come to grips with the general insanity that is the Vongola.
Stepping out of his office into the brightly lit corridor beyond and straining to see around the far bend to the only window for what must be miles, Tsuna immediately takes back such thoughts. They're the ones who agreed to hold Reborn's birthday, since they're hosting the Arcobaleno, anyways. They asked for it, so they can deal with it.
Instead, Tsuna tries to block out all thought and fear and worry with a cheerful tune, the off-beat occasionally off-key huming bouncing off stone walls and back into his ears, echoing down empty corridors and distorting itself until it is nothing but a cacophony of ancient whispers and screeching and howling.
The walk to his quarters isn't long, located as they are, nine floors directly beneath his office and five stories underground, but the path needed to get there is strictly through hidden stairwells and passages and traps, and nowhere near a window. (And it isn't for simply scenery that Tsuna wants to see out a window--he broke his watch earlier when having to wake himself up and slaming his hand into the bedside table, scattering papers and letters and rings and priceless antique table lamps, and has absolutely no idea what time it is.)
Like his office, there are more paintings hung on the walls: sceneries of the land around them, of far-away places, of imaginary places, all trying to reduce the claustrophobia and prevent the feelings of isolation. Timoteo admitted to Tsuna long ago that the paintings didn't alleviate any of the above, but they were always a reminder of the outside world and how their choices affected it.
Sliding through the sitting room door and into the miniature office beyond, he takes a moment to check his mail, voicemail, email and texts. No news is usually good news, but as with everything today, certain things that should be there aren't. Instead of giving in to his worry, Tsuna instead makes a mental note to take a day off and bring everyone to an amusement park. He knows the kids--teenagers, now, although Lambo still doesn't always act like one--would really appreciate it, and the rest of the Guardians and his immediately Family would at least enjoy a break.
It's only as he's loosening his tie and stepping into the bedroom that he thinks he maybe should have been reading more into the (apparent) sudden emptiness of the castle.
"G-Gokudera-kun! What are you doing?!"
"Ah, Tenth!" The Storm Guardian looks up from where he's crouched beside Tsuna's bed, fiddling with a tray of... objects that Tsuna can't make out but would probably much rather not know the names nor functions of. "How was your day?"
"Um... good...." It's been a while since Tsuna's felt this dame, but he tries to keep it from showing on his face. "Gokudera-kun?"
"I wanted to get everything prepared for you!" Gokudera chirps, smile a mile wide and still, apparently, stretching. "It's your birthday, and the Tenth only deserves the best!"
"Best... what, exactly?"
Gokudera fidgets, and Tsuna thinks maybe he shouldn't have asked. There's a kind of excitement and anticipation and worry somewhere in Gokudera's movements, but Tsuna doesn't want to read that much into it. He's slowly getting back his bearings and trying to add up as many facts as he can that might explain all this, but he's still somehow stuck on, "Gokudera's here. In my bedroom. When he should be at Reborn's birthday party. And not wearing very much while doing... whatever he's doing."
And while black slacks and an opened white button-down dress shirt would be sufficient clothing for most people, Gokudera was renowned for wearing at least four layers, two of which were always bulletproof, and as many rings and earrings and jewelery as possible. That the only acoutrement to the shirt and slacks was the Storm Ring, slid onto the left hand, set off alarm bells in Tsuna's mind.
"Best birthday present!" Gokudera explains, dragging Tsuna out of his thoughts. "We were talking about what to get you for your birthday (and of course all the other suggestions were completely unworthy of you and shot down immediately), and Reborn suggested that you needed some experience, so--"
"Experience? Experience in what?" Tsuna has a guess, and is hoping he's wrong.
Gokudera's suddenly abashed, and Tsuna feels his heart sink. 'It is....'
"Well... I mean, I'm sure the Tenth doesn't need any guidance or practice or anything, but Reborn-san did say that practice makes perfect and there is that adage of 'use it or lose it' (though I think that's just a stupid saying, right, Tenth?), and I--we--thought that you'd really appreciate a night on the town and--"
And Tsuna tunes the rest of what Gokudera's saying out, because he really Doesn't Need To Know. It's obvious enough what Reborn's set up, considering that one of the first "skills" he showed Tsuna was his power of "mafia seduction".
"Gokudera-kun," Tsuna cuts him off, "thank you, but... my birthday isn't until tomorrow."
"Eh?" Gokudera blinks. "But your birthday is the fourteenth of October, right, boss?"
"Yes...." Although it doesn't seem like Tsuna would know that, considering how often he lets that day pass by without any thought at all besides hoping Reborn enjoyed his birthday gift enough that there won't be an assassination attempt today.
"Then... it's the fourteenth." Tsuna can see Gokudera fidgetting (the Storm Guardian hates correcting his boss), but ignores that.
"The fourteenth? Is it?" Tsuna tries to check his broken watch and frowns. "What time is it?"
"One-thirty in the morning," Gokudera answers promptly, checking his own wristwatch for confirmation.
"Oh."
"Boss?" Gokudera looks down at him. "Do you still want to go out? I can always call ahead and cancel our spots at Rosanthia's club and strip joint."
Tsuna can't keep the flush off his face. (Another one of the first lessons Reborn taught him--this time, 'first lessons about Italian culture'--is that 'club and strip joint' is just another way of saying "alcohol, drugs, and women for cheap".) "I, uh... no. No, I think I'm okay celebrating in tonight, Gokudera-kun."
"Alright, Tenth," Gokudera agrees, sounding both relieved at not having to go out but depressed that the Guardians' birthday present had been rejected. "Just give me a minute here, and then we can plan something else to do."
As Gokudera talks on the phone with Rosanthia, explaining in quiet, hard tones that no, they would not be requiring that private booth or that private room or those three bottles of vintage Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, Tsuna watches him.
He feels kind of silly, thinking that everyone had left him to spend time with Reborn. Really, he should have known that Gokudera of all people would still be here, waiting on him and planning some kind of birthday surprise of epic proportions. There's also a hint of guilt there, too, for making Gokudera cancel all the plans he had no doubt spend hours labouring over.
Speaking of labouring over, Tsuna sidles past the Storm Guardian and stoops beside his bed, checking out the pile there. Black, form-fitting slacks and dress shirt greet him, folded neatly on top of black loafers and socks. A thin silver chain and various rings and bracelets are hidden in one shoe, and Tsuna smiles faintly at the thought put into his almost-gift. It's when he checks what's hidden in the other shoe that he chokes, and suposes that he really should have expected Gokudera to be prepared for everything while turning the condom package and tube of lube over in his hands.
Really, all this preperation and Tsuna was about to let it go to waist because he was too embarrased. He looks back up at Gokudera who is just finishing his conversation on the phone, and opens his mouth to tell him 'nevermind', that he could get over his embarrasement and reservations with ease (like everything else he's ever had to do in life) and that really, it was a thoughtful, if slightly disturbing birthday gift....
His hand tightens around his tie, still hanging loosely about his neck.
Gokudera's Storm Ring is on his left hand, odd in and of itself since he prefers to wear his five Rings on his right hand for ease of use with the Sistema C.A.I., but it's not on the middle finger like normal.
It's sitting, and glinting quite happily in the dim lighting, on his left ring finger.
Tsuna looks down again, glances between the tie and the condom and the lube.
His suit jacket is thrown over the footboard, the condom and lube on the side table, and Tsuna has decided to take a chance and has his tie firmly over Gokudera's eyes just as the Guardian says, "Thanks. Goodnight," and hangs up on Rosanthia.
"Tenth...?"
"It would be mean of me to not accept my birthday present, Hayato," Tsuna murmurs, trying to sound as smooth and suave as Reborn even as his knees are shaking and he thinks he's about to collapse with nerves. "And you already have everything ready, don't you?"
Gokudera's gulp is audible in the silence, but there's a warmth and excitement in his quaking voice when he next speaks. "A-aa. If there's anything I can do for the Tenth--"
"There is," Tsuna agrees, feeling a bit of encouragement when Gokudera leans back into him and Tsuna starts wrapping the ends of the tie around Gokudera's wrists, pinning them to the side his head. "And I think we both know what that is."
-
When the castle is filled with people by the next afternoon and, somehow, everyone has still had the time and energy to put together a surprise birthday party for Tsuna and Tsuna alone, Tsuna revels in the sounds of shrieks and laughter and voices and people, even when those sounds degenerate into screaming matches or explosions or calls for first aid kits and bets about "who is going to win this fight?" or "who will get on so-and-so's nerves next" or "why Decimo looks so smug?"
Tsuna enjoys that evening to the fullest, speaking with everyone and spending time with his family (Iemitsu had actually flown Nana and the kids out, and Timoteo sits with them all as the grandfather Tsuna had never known) and Family. There's nothing he likes more than the sound of people, of presence, of the living surrounding him and not that calm quiet of Death's kin.
Except one thing.
Tsuna decides that he does enjoy the oppresive, haunting silence of the castle, when almost everyone is asleep and those few who aren't keep their own noises down to not disturb anyone else.
He enjoys it, as then the only thing he needs or can focus on in is the harsh, near-inaudible gasps and cries and moans of the man laying beside him.