Chapter Text
Most of Tsuna’s bullies back off the moment word gets around that he is The Hibari Kyoya’s soulmate. Only the stupidest ones try anything. Kyoya retaliates, and soon even the most determined bully is unwilling to face his wrath just to bother Tsuna. They still mock and laugh and call him useless, but Tsuna, free of bruises for the first time all year, doesn’t care.
Tsuna finds that he always knows when Kyoya is nearby. He can tell, because he will suddenly be able to catch himself when he trips and avoid falls that normally would leave him with bloody knees. One day, he climbs a tree Kyoya is sitting in, and he doesn’t fall out of it, only slipping twice. Tsuna cries silently, wiping tears of relief away, and Kyoya politely pretends not to notice.
The words and numbers in his homework still swim dizzyingly on the page, making absolutely no sense, so instead of trying to muscle through it, Tsuna goes out after school. He goes to all the hot spots where his classmates like to play and visit, and often sits on the bench outside the nearest convenience store when he gets tired. Tsuna watches people walk by, trying to find the other pieces of his soul. So far, he has no luck. His usual crippling anxiety over his grades and the bullies and his own general uselessness shifts. Now he worries perpetually that he’ll never find his soulmates. That he’ll be crippled forever, never worthy of any of them. Will they even want him? He searches harder, when he can push past his internal panic.
(Hibari is looking too, mostly for the tempest. Tsuna finds out when he hears some beat-up teens complaining about their ripped off right sleeves.)
The spring passes with no progress on the soulmate front, and eventually summer vacation arrives. Nana meets Tsuna at the door the last day of classes, as usual. “Made it through another year,” she sighs, smiling.
“Survival matters more than grades,” Tsuna nods.
“Well, this deserves a celebration!”
Tsuna looks at her.
“You found a soulmate, and you survived! Let’s go out for dinner. You can invite Hibari-kun!”
“I think I just want to go with you,” Tsuna says. “And Kyoya-senpai is, ah, busy today.” Getting an early start on taking over Namimori Middle, now that he was no long in elementary school.
“Just us then!” Nana beams. “What do you want to eat?”
Tsuna shrugs.
“Well, how about we go to that place… the one we always say we should try. Over by the market.”
“TakeSushi?”
“That’s it!” Nana claps her hands together.
“Okay, mama,” Tsuna says. Nana hugs him tight, then runs to grab her purse and put on her shoes. Tsuna sets his bag just inside the door. He’ll put it away when they get back. He double-checks his pocket for his keys, then waits for Nana. She doesn’t take long to return and slip into her shoes, and then they head out the door.
Warm evening air slips over Tsuna’s face. He revels in it. If he wasn’t perpetually cold, he would take off his sweaters and sink into the summer sun and warmth. Then again, if he was warm inside, maybe he wouldn’t enjoy the heat outside so much. For now, he just enjoys the walk. Nana hums a bit walking with him.
When they arrive, a boy Tsuna’s age greets them. “Hello! I am Yamamoto Takeshi, and I will be your server tonight!” he chirps.
Tsuna thinks Takeshi seems nice. He serves them with a disarming smile, and recommends Tsuna’s favorite sushi of the night. After spotting the sushi chef working behind the bar, Tsuna realized Takeshi must be the man’s son. The whole room feels relaxed and peaceful, even when a group of delinquents come in and watch avidly as the man slices fish with precision.
“I like this restaurant,” Tsuna tells Nana when they leave.
“Me, too,” she says. “It’s such a nice atmosphere!”
They return four more times over the break. Takeshi is always just as friendly, even when Tsuna spills water, which happens almost every time they go to TakeSushi. Tsuna makes sure to apologize, even though Takeshi waves it away.
When the school year begins again, Tsuna thinks he is ready for it. He thinks he is prepared to face it, and deal with the bullies that are sure to be back, since Hibari is in middle school and Tsuna is still in elementary. Tsuna arrives early, before any of the other students. He isn’t prepared for Takeshi to be in his class.
Now Takeshi will hear all about dame-Tsuna. How useless he is, and how stupid, and how bad at sports, and how clumsy and dumb and useless. And then Takeshi will start ignoring him, like all the other nice kids do, while the mean kids ‘teach him his place.’ Tsuna isn’t really ready for that to happen. He’d started to hope maybe he could be friends with Takeshi. There they are though, Tsuna frozen in his desk in the back corner of the room as a Takeshi comes in the door. Tsuna shrinks in his seat, wishing he could turn invisible.
“Ah, Sawada-kun! Hey!”
“Hi, Yamamoto-kun.”
“We’re in the same class! Isn’t this great? I didn’t even realize you went to this elementary.”
“I do.”
“This year is going to be great!”
Tsuna smiles, unable to help it in the face of Takeshi’s happiness at seeing him. It doesn’t even seem faked like half of Takeshi’s smiles are (Tsuna can always tell). “I’m not very good at school,” Tsuna says, “But I’m glad we’re in the same class.”
Takeshi’s eyes seem to sharpen.
“Hello, Yamamoto-kun!” Kyoko says.
Takeshi turns to greet her. “Hello, Sasagawa-chan,” he says. “How was your break?”
Tsuna turns away from their conversation, settling into his desk and fidgeting with his pencil. He has all his books, a fresh notebook, and three pencils. His desk is a fresh one - it’s not covered in mean names and spilled ink yet. Several more students trickle in. Many know Takeshi, and greet him happily. The others are happy to meet the smiling new member of the class. Several ask him to sit with them.
“No, thank you,” Takeshi says. “I’m going to sit with Sawada-kun.”
A hush. Tsuna sighs inside. Here it comes.
“You’re going to sit,” one of his worst bullies says, “with useless-Tsuna?”
Takeshi smiles. “That’s not nice,” he says. “Who are you?”
“Adachi Kensuke.”
“Well, bully-Kensuke, yes I am.”
Their classmates all suck in a breath.
“But it’s bad luck,” someone whispered.
“He gets zeroes on all his tests,” another contributed.
“And he can’t even walk on a flat surface without falling over!”
As their classmates tell Takeshi about all the reasons Tsuna is useless, Tsuna curls around his desk like he can become a part of it. That might be nice, he thinks. Then he would just sit there all day, and have a defined purpose. Of course, he’d probably fail as a desk too. He’d be wobbly or something.
“Well, maybe,” he hears Takeshi say, “but Tsuna’s still nicer than all of you, and I only want nice friends, so I’m sitting here.”
It takes Tsuna several minutes of staring (along with most of his class) to comprehend that Takeshi had sat right next to him.
“It’s - it’s fine, Yamamoto-kun,” Tsuna says.
“No, it’s not,” Takeshi replies. “You’re the nicest person who ever comes to our restaurant, and you always try really hard at everything you do, and Hibari-senpai called you an omnivore when he came with you and Sawada-san that one time.”
The rest of the class takes a collective step back at that.
Tsuna flushes. “Oh. Okay,” he says. The teacher walks in then, and the rest of the class scramble to take their seats. Tsuna is surprised when Sasagawa-chan and Kurokawa-chan sit in front of he and Takeshi. Relief floods through him. The two girls would probably mostly ignore him, unlike when Mochida sat behind Tsuna the previous year.
Tsuna thinks Takeshi will eventually fall in with the rest of the class, either ignoring Tsuna or hating him. Two months pass, though, and Takeshi shows no sign of it. Instead, Takeshi always greets Tsuna in the morning. They often eat lunch together, even on the occasions when Kyoya-senpai comes to check on Tsuna and make sure the elementary school is still following his rules. And except when he has baseball club, Takeshi walks part of the way home with Tsuna before splitting off to head towards his own house.
Despite being generally useless, Tsuna is actually pretty observant. He notices how some of the other students start to avoid Takeshi. Some of the meaner ones start to call him crazy or stupid. Takeshi doesn’t have lunch with him one day, and Tsuna knows Takeshi is lying when he claims he forgot it. One day while they are walking home, Tsuna breaks.
“You should just stop hanging out with me,” Tsuna says dully. “They’d leave you alone then.”
“What?” Takeshi stops, startled.
“If - if you stop being friends with me, they won’t be mean to you,” Tsuna says, staring at the ground. “Wouldn’t that be better?”
“Do - do you not want to be friends with me?” Takeshi sounds heartbroken.
“NO! No, I do, it’s just - wouldn’t that be easier? I’m not worth all the bullies, or, or stolen lunches.”
“Tsuna-kun.”
Tsuna looks up. Takeshi has never called him that before.
“If they can’t see that you’re nice, and try so hard, then they are the ones who aren’t worth being friends with,” Takeshi says.
Tsuna stares at him. Takeshi digs through his pockets and pulls out a small package of tissues. Tsuna blinks at it, then touches his face. He’s crying. “Why?” he asks, even as he takes the tissues and swipes at his eyes, embarrassed. “Why are you so… so…”
“I know, my magnificence is hard to take sometimes,” Takeshi says, faux-sympathetically. “It’s okay.”
And Tsuna is laughing, laughing like he hasn’t laughed since he was four and someone stole away part of his soul. “Do you want to come have a sleepover on Saturday?” Tsuna asks when he can breathe again. “I’ve never had one before.”
“I’ll ask dad,” Takeshi says, and he slings an arm over Tsuna’s shoulders like it belongs there.
Tsuna can barely contain himself during school on Saturday. Next to him, Takeshi is just as distracted. They keep exchanging glances and giggling. Tsuna knows Takeshi has a bag packed downstairs with a change of clothes and snacks, and he knows that Nana is so excited that the quantity of desserts available is likely to have quadrupled over the course of the day.
When the end of the day arrives, Tsuna and Takeshi are the first ones out the door. Tsuna falls down the stairs for the first time since he met Kyoya.
Takeshi is there in an instant. “Are you okay, Tsunayoshi-kun?”
Tsuna waves it away. “I’ve had way worse! This is no problem!”
Takeshi winces. “You’re bleeding!”
“Just skinned my knees,” Tsuna says, examining the small tears in his pants. “Let’s go!”
Though he still looks worried, Takeshi nods and follows Tsuna to their lockers. Tsuna freezes in front of them. Someone has scrawled “Useless freak” across Tsuna’s locker. Worse, someone used a Sharpie to write “Crazy” across Takeshi’s. Takeshi acts like he doesn’t notice the writing, opening his locker quickly, but Tsuna can tell that Takeshi’s smile is fake again.
“Sorry, Takeshi-kun,” he mumbles.
“Why? This is going to be great!”
Tsuna lets it go, gathering his things and shutting the locker door. When he and Takeshi turn to go, he is surprised to see Hibari standing in the doorway. In front of him, lugging buckets, are two terrified-looking girls from their class.
“Oh! Hi, Kyoya-senpai!” Tsuna greets happily.
“Hello, Hibari-senpai,” Takeshi says.
“Hello, omnivore, sheep,” Kyoya says.
“We’re having a sleepover tonight. Do you want to come?” Tsuna asks.
“Maybe,” Kyoya says. “I have to discipline these herbivores for vandalizing school property first.”
Takeshi smiles. It’s not a nice smile, Tsuna decides. He can tell Kyoya sees it, too. As they leave, Kyoya reaches out and smacks Takeshi lightly on the back of the head. “Stop acting like a sheep, little wolf,” Kyoya says. Takeshi’s eyes go wide, and Tsuna can’t help but giggle at his expression.
“Tsunayoshi-kun, Hibari-senpai thinks I’m a wolf,” Takeshi breathes. His wide eyes and the slight flush on his face shine.
“That’s so cool,” Tsuna agrees.
When they reach Tsuna’s street, Tsuna starts drooling. He can smell Nana’s homemade chocolate chip cookies. Glancing to the side, he sees that Takeshi is in a similar state. “Come on,” Tsuna says, and races to his house, Takeshi at his side. Sure enough, Nana has cookies cooling. As Tsuna and Takeshi turn pleading eyes her way, she laughs.
“You may each have one,” Nana says. “And then another after dinner.”
The cookies are delicious and they tell her so. Nana thanks them and tells them to go play while she works on getting dinner ready.
“Shouldn’t we help?” Takeshi asks on the way up the stairs.
Tsuna shakes his head. “I’m so clumsy, it just causes more trouble,” he says. Then he forces a smile back on his face. “Besides, this way I can show you my video games!”
Takeshi reflects his smile. “Sounds like fun.”
Takeshi sets his things in Tsuna’s room, by the bed, and they set up a futon for later. Then, they settle in to play games. They laugh and joke while they do, and open a bag of chips Takeshi brought to share. They hear a knock downstairs and bounce down the stairs to see who it is.
“Hello, Hibari-kun,” Nana says. “You’re just in time for dinner.”
“Pardon the intrusion,” Kyoya says.
“Kyoya-senpai!” Tsuna greets. “I’m glad you could come.”
“Omnivore. Fake herbivore.”
“Hello, Hibari-senpai,” Takeshi says.
Dinner is a hearty potato and meat casserole, something Nana had been wanting to try for a while. Kyoya takes seconds, and Tsuna amuses himself with a mental image of the older boy as a panther with fangs digging into the meaty dish.
“How did you meet Hibari-senpai, Tsunayoshi-kun?” Takeshi asks.
Hibari nodded in Tsuna’s direction. Tsuna smiles. “Kyoya-kun is one of my soulmates,” he says. “He saved me from a bunch of bullies.”
“Wow,” Takeshi says. “I haven’t found either of my soulmates yet.”
“Whoever it is must be amazing,” Tsuna says, trying not to be jealous of whoever could claim the other boy as a soulmate. “You’re amazing, after all.”
Takeshi blushes. “Oh, thanks,” he says. He takes a big bite of his food.
Kyoya leaves right after dinner. Nana sends a tupperware of cookies with him to share with Kusakabe. Tsuna and Takeshi return to Tsuna’s room to change into pajamas. They take turns in the restroom. Tsuna pulls on the thick, warm pajamas he wears year round, even as warm as this summer has been. He is surprised to find that Takeshi wears pajamas just as thick. Neither of them says anything about it. Instead, they just return to their games and snacks, chatting about school and how hard English class is lately and where the next class trip should be. Tsuna wants to go to the aquarium, while Takeshi is arguing for a professional sports event. Eventually they get sleepy. Tsuna turns off his lamp and settles into his bed as Takeshi sprawls across the futon next to it.
Tsuna can see Takeshi tossing and turning a bit. “Takeshi-kun?” he whispers.
“Hm?”
“Are you okay?”
Takeshi shifts a little, silent. “I don’t really like the dark,” he admits. “It’s silly, but -”
“It’s not silly,” Tsuna says. He thinks. He doesn’t have a night light. But he does have something just as good. Shifting around, Tsuna tugs the glove off of his right hand. The soulmark there glows softly, providing a dim glow. It’s not enough to light the room, just enough to soften the darkness.
“Thanks,” Takeshi says.
“Mm,” Tsuna says. “It’s from my big brother. I haven’t met him yet, though.”
“Wait - is that a soulmark?”
“Yeah,” Tsuna rolls over to face Takeshi, who blinks sleepily at him. “Just a little… piece of… the sun…” he yawns, eyes heavy and mostly closed.
“The - the sun?” Takeshi asks. There’s something like wonder in his voice. “Does that make Hibari-senpai the cloud?”
Tsuna yawns, nodding a little.
“Oh,” Takeshi says. His voice is soft, almost reverent. “Oh.”
“Takeshi-kun?”
“Tsunayoshi-kun? Can I - can I ask a personal question?”
“Hm?”
“Is - are you the badger?”
Tsuna blinks his eyes open again, startled. He isn’t sure what question he expected, but it wasn’t that. “Takeshi-kun?”
Takeshi sits up on the futon, and tugs his shirt up, revealing -
Tsuna moves off the bed and onto the futon with Takeshi, staring at his perfect orange badger in chains on Takeshi’s chest. “Mine,” he almost growls, and hugs Takeshi. It’s warm, warm in the same was as Kyoya, warm like Tsuna used to be, before his father and the old man stole Tsuna’s soul away.
Takeshi laughs, and it sounds like a sob. “Tadaima, Sky-sama.”
“Okaeri,” Tsuna mumbles, and yawns again. He feels safe, calm, content. His usual anxiety just a whisper in the back of his head. “Rain-kun.”
He feels Takeshi move them so they are lying down, and falls asleep soon after.
Tsuna wakes up with his left sleeve pushed all the way up. He stares in confusion at the elbow linked with his for a moment. The other elbow has a river of water wrapping upwards, too. Tsuna follows the arm up to Takeshi’s face, and Tsuna remembers.
He hears a giggle and a click from the door. Looks up to see Nana smiling at them. “So cute, Tsu-kun,” she coos.
Tsuna yawns and pokes Takeshi. “Keshi,” he says. “Keeessshhhiiiii.” He pokes him again.
Takeshi yawns, blinking his eyes quickly as he wakes. “Tsunayoshi-kun?” He yawns again, and his eyes drift down to their arms. “So- oh. Oh!”
Tsuna watches as Takeshi’s face lights up, so brightly that for a moment Tsuna thinks he outshines the sun. Tsuna grabs the bottom of Takeshi’s shirt and tugs it upward to stare at his badger on the other boy’s chest. He can see cracks in the chain. “Mine,” Tsuna grumbles, smooshing his face there.
“Well, welcome to the family, Takeshi-kun,” Nana says cheerfully. “Tsu-kun, he’s going to explode if you keep doing that.”
Confused, Tsuna pulls away and glances at Takeshi’s face. Takeshi is turning bright red. Almost as red as Tsuna’s tempest mark. “Sorry, Keshi,” Tsuna says.
Takeshi shakes his head. “It’s fine,” he says.
Tsuna sits up and stretches. He sees Nana leave the doorway. He turns to Takeshi. Takeshi sits up too. “Do you have any others?” Tsuna asks.
Takeshi nods. He rolls up his right sleeve, revealing a familiar explosion of red.
“I have that one too,” Tsuna tells him.
“It smells like fireworks, right?” Takeshi asks.
“It does!”
Then they get dressed, and go to breakfast.