59. Gum (1/2)

i guess this is sorta set before the last chapter? also all your reviews make me scream you're the cuties omfg

this chapter goes waaaaaay off the prompt whoops

-gum-

gokudera's the first one to know they're dating.

(officially of course, unofficially it's obviously reborn as he knows everything. tsuna doesn't even bother announcing it to the arcobaleno, assuming correctly that he has all details about the embarrassing confession to use as future blackmail).

kahiro doesn't mind that it's this way, nor does she mind that he leaves her at her doorstep after walking her back from school following their decision to date as so to go to the boy. she knows how important gokudera is to him and how important he is to gokudera and she knows she'll never come in between that. they're stuck together with their deep friendship being the gum that makes it so they'll never fall apart. it's a crude way of putting it, she muses, but tsuna's family isn't exactly of the classy sort. they're a huge mess that has fallen into place somehow with the

unet at the epicentre, covered in awful, sticking gum but smiling in exasperation and fondness all the same.

she's a part of this family, she supposes, but kahiro is also fully aware that she's slipped into this group quite slyly and her actions could make her look as though she's stealing tsuna away. and she's not, she's honestly never anticipated that it would turn out this way. so she's more careful than ever to let everyone know this and show that she'd never take tsuna away or limit the time he spends with his precious family, sending her new boyfriend off with a laugh and smile.

tsuna slowly comes down from his high as he approaches gokudera, still buzzing a little though from the rush of emotions that had accompanied his new relationship status (a girlfriend, he's got a girlfriend and she goes by the name of imada kahiro). he'd initially thought to announce that he's dating kahiro to both yamamoto and gokudera but that'd just seemed...wrong.

not that yamamoto isn't as close a friend as gokudera is, they're both of equal importance to him and slightly above the rest of his friends, however, the silver haired boy is his right hand man. yes, he doesn't like referring to him as that, he doesn't like how impersonal it sounds to call him by a mafia related title and not one of his dearest friends, but it's a title that means something to gokudera himself. the boy prides himself in being his right hand man because it's the acknowledgement he's wanted for years and, even if tsuna thinks that he doesn't need to cling to such a title to warrant acknowledgement, he'll let him have that if it's all he needs to be happy.

so, tsuna needs to let gokudera hear it from him first because he is someone so dear and he is someone who is so important in return to the boy. yamamoto will understand being second to hear but gokudera will feel hurt and tsuna can't stand the idea of his friends hurting because of him.

the talk is somewhat

ief. a few greeting lines (gokudera's over the moon that his boss has called him out to chat about something and tsuna

iefly wonders why people are always so in awe of him when he's nothing to write home about) and then the

unet blurts it out with hardly any tact at all. it's slightly less embarrassing than his confession to kahiro but he still wants to crawl into a hole and his face flushes as his friend stands there in silence. then-

"i hope she realizes how lucky she is, that idiot laughing woman."

tsuna lets out a

eath that he hadn't known he was holding, seeing how gokudera's lips were tugging up slightly. because gokudera doesn't hate her, doesn't completely abhorre the idea of him and kahiro dating, and he'd needed that approval. and it's true that gokudera doesn't hate her-kahiro, in all her teasing of the boy, is so irritatingly difficult to really dislike. she makes an effort to personally talk to him about subjects he likes and, when she looks at tsuna as though he's something so beyond her reach, too incredible to possibly be looking back, he knows she gets his boss. and that's all gokudera really needs to begrudgingly let her skim the surface of a friendship with him and entrust a little piece of his boss to her.

yamamoto of course allows for no tense atmosphere to arise when tsuna later talks to him. his grins gets so wide it must be painful and he slings an arm around his friend's shoulders, giving him a big squeeze. it's less because he likes kahiro (they'd hit off easily of course as they were social creatures at heart and had their passions they could talk about for hours), more because he can see tsuna is practically giddy with happiness. he'd approve of anyone dating tsuna as long as they made him look so overjoyed, whether he really got on with them as a friend or not, so the fact that kahiro is someone who he can see himself hanging out with and just enjoying her company is a plus in his opinion

kahiro can hear the relief in his voice when he later calls her, although she's humbled by yamamoto and gokudera's opinions of her-she'd thought they'd tolerated her, maybe got on with to an extent, but not that they genuinely liked her as a person. she's aware she's likeable, however, those two were different in her mind to everyone else, most likely because they saw what she saw in tsuna and possibly so much more, and she'd thought that meant her usual techniques to find friendship in others wouldn't work.

her boyfriend doesn't understand this though because kahiro's so in love with everything that it's easy to find her charming and she's absolutely fascinating (he decides to ignore his bias towards her).

the next person to know officially is lambo.

(bianchi somehow knows the minute he walks in the door that he's dating kahiro, attributing it to her sensitivity to love somehow, and fuuta sidles up to him with his ranking book clutched in his arms, whispering that he's got a list of the best places to take people out on dates.)

it's by accident that tsuna tells him, the toddler asking over and over again that if it were kahiro he was talking on the phone to earlier, and eventually the

unet snaps and says yes, he was talking to his girlfriend, what of it? only afterwards does he realize what he has done and wants to scream into a pillow, face burning so red he was certain he needed a cold shower. lambo is of course highly amused and tsuna swears that he hears reborn poorly disguise snorts of laughter when lambo-sama offers to kindly give him some advice in the love department.

ryohei gets the news the next day after running into tsuna early in the morning (it's the first time tsuna buys kahiro a drink for after morning club practice and he feels almost ashamed in his soppiness). the slap he gets on the back and the loud 'good one, sawada' causes him actual physical pain, which kahiro can't help but laugh at when he whines about it to her.

then comes the hard ones.

he realizes he's been avoiding them when he sees them, justifying it by the idea that the closeness in their friendship wasn't enough so that he was obligated to tell them as soon as possible. a feeble excuse but, nonetheless, one he clings to in his guilt as he gets the urge to hold kahiro's hand in reassurance for himself.

the whole gang has come out to hang out, yamamoto and gokudera on his left and right respectively and kahiro close behind with ryohei and the kids. reborn is being carried by bianchi although a slight distance away from them all, as if to allow the friendship group to interact without the imposing weight of the mafia on their shoulders. it's all just a gathering of friends and it's fun and then they arrive.

dread pools in tsuna's stomach and he can't think why he hasn't anticipated them attending this meet up too-they're family after all. kahiro's right by him, almost walks into him when he suddenly stops, and the idea of allowing her to spirit away this problem with a laugh is so tempting right now. but he doesn't because that wouldn't be fair, instead silently asking yamamoto and gokudera to subtly withdraw from his side.

"tsuna-kun, good afternoon!"

"tsuna-san! haru hasn't seen you in ages!"

both girls smile

ightly at him, haru

iefly letting it slip to squawk at gokudera when he mutters 'stupid woman' under his

eath. kyoko is as pretty as always and he can't exactly deny it despite the shift in his feelings towards her; she'll always be pretty in his eyes and kind and selfless. and haru is as energetic as usual and somewhat charming in her looks and personality; she'll always be charming in his eyes because she honestly thought him an incredible human being.

bianchi throws a greeting as she passes them, ryohei a wide grin, the kids' excited waves and reborn a knowing look in tsuna's direction.

he wants to cringe.

"kyoko!" kahiro, who he can tell is aware of his awkwardness and is wanting to say something before a pause of silence emerges, beams as she steps towards the girl and she receives an equally friendly one in response. "i see you've been to that cake shop again. and without me, how could you?!" she mocks horror and the school idol laughs, cheeks tinging pink in slight embarrassment. it's the sound of tinkering bells, so different to kahiro's loud, uncontrolled laughter.