43. Pest (1/1)

-pest-

"am...am i a pest to you, tsunayoshi?"

the question comes at him out of left field, tsuna freezing in surprise and accidentally pouring the sugar in his spoon onto the table instead of his mug. "pardon?" he stares at her with wide eyes, certain he's heard her wrong.

kahiro sits on an armchair opposite him in the cafe, gokudera and yamamoto having left earlier. her arms are curled around her body slightly, giving the impression she's hugging herself. "i...i was talking to some classmates and they were chatting about how sometimes stuff just gets them down so i started talking about what can get me down and…" she hesitates and sighs before shooting him a smile. "no, it doesn't matter, forget i said anything."

tsuna frowns. "kahiro, what happened?"

"i was just going on too much about myself, honestly, it's stupid now i think about it." she laughs but it's a trembling sound, like she's embarrassed by herself.

ah. tsuna can imagine what happened now. an image came to his mind of kahiro showing a weaker part of herself to one of her friends and people not liking how it juxtaposed with their view of her. she is the happy one, the smiling popular girl who is meant to make you feel great when spending time with her, not try and lean on you back.

and now she's doubting herself, doubting the times she shares her insecurities with tsuna and whether he really did care to listen to her worries or was just pretending.

"you aren't a pest." he speaks slowly and with confidence in his words. "not to me. never to me."

for once he doesn't flush at the words that have escaped his mouth, not even when kahiro looks him dead in the eyes and tells him he's honestly an amazing person, because he believes in every word he's spoken.