40. Fake (1/1)

tsuna you cutie patootie

-fake-

she's surrounded.

people are everywhere she looks, chattering, smiling, looking at her with some sort of expectation in their eyes. and it's suffocating as she sits there, feeling almost as if she's some piece of entertainment as they wait for her to act with bated

eath.

tsuna sees her from across the classroom, eyes momentarily slipping to her position, and, for a split second, all he sees is his friend stranded on the island that is her chair and surrounded by sharks ready to eat her up the minute she made a bid for freedom. it's that which makes her smile look so out of place-why on earth would anyone be smiling when they've been cornered by bloodthirsty animals?

they aren't sharks though, they're classmates simply conversing with kahiro, vying for her attention when she looks like she doesn't want any of it right now. but she's pretending she doesn't mind, feigning the usual happiness and joy at life itself as though it's an obligation of hers to be so at any given moment. tsuna can almost hear her thoughts-i shouldn't let my unhappiness inconvenience others, they don't want to hear or see it so i should just ignore how i feel-and it feels sickening to watch his vi

ant friend fake it all so perfectly as if she's waiting for her bursts of laughter to feel more real to her.

"kahiro!" he calls her name, trying to ignore the looks he's getting because he doesn't know how else to offer her an escape other than calling her over.

her eyes meet his and there's that moment of hesitation and surprise at how he's giving her a way out (he'll never get used to how, even with all these friends she has, she's so unused to people helping her like this). then she takes his offer and throws about some apologies before making a

eak for it. standing up, he murmurs that he'll be back in a bit to yamamoto and gokudera and walks out of the classroom with kahiro.

wordlessly, they move to the roof and it's only up there that tsuna speaks. "you don't need to fake any smiles around me, kahiro." his voice is soft and comforting. "what's wrong?"

"it doesn't matter, honestly tsunayoshi." she says quietly, as if it's embarrassing to talk about it. "i just woke up and felt a little gloomy, that's all. it's nothing, i'm probably just tired. "

he looks her in the eyes, feeling almost horrified by her response. "of course it matters! if you're unhappy then it matters to me. and, even if it is nothing like you say it is, then that nothing matters too."

there's a few moments where she's taken aback before she smiles (and it's not fake this time, it's real even if it is small) and gives him a tight hug. tsuna almost squeaks in surprise and stumbles a little but raises his arms to hug her too, patting her back awkwardly. "you're awesome tsunayoshi and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." she mumbles into his shoulder, not seeming to care about his slight embarrassment.

"t-thanks…"