A/N: Hey, just thought that I should post something for Tsuna's birthday! Sorry for the long hiatus (not dead, as you can see) but my only excuse is that I felt unusually lazy. Sorry… I also went to Japan is anyone was curious. It was great. Anyways, I'll try posting some of my other stories when the time is right. /coughHeartbeatcough/ Now, on to the birthday fic. Happy B-Day, Tsuna!
Warning: Nothing much, I guess. Maybe a bit of crazy Vongola-ness? Also, this is TYL.
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. If I did, it wouldn't have as many punch-last-pages. (Did you people read chapter 403? Complete mind blow. And that's me minding my language.)
Summary: Tsuna was getting bored with all the mountains of paperwork. However, his Guardians suddenly decided to give him all sorts of tuna-related items and generally acting weird. Why? To remind him of his birthday, of course. No pairing.
A Tuna-themed Birthday
Tsuna slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the harsh sunlight. As soon as he felt ready, he decided to get up and face the day. Brush teeth, wash face, shave, try to tame hair… Everything was so routinely this past year.
Tsuna sighed into the mirror as he unconsciously tied his tie. Everyday was the same since Byakuran's somewhat defeat: wake up, paperwork, more paperwork, mountain of paperwork, grab a bite to eat, continue endless paperwork, hope for something or someone to cause some trouble to bring him out of his boredom (his prayers were usually answered by his Guardians), do paperwork, have supper, do paperwork until cannot take it anymore, sleep.
He felt bad for saying this but he is starting to crave the thrill of being of Mafioso. The chills of thinking that your life could be in danger at any moment were addicting. Of course, he tried to deny it at first but it was clear after a while that signing papers just wasn't going to cut it for him. He needed action.
He slowly made his way to his office after finishing his morning cleanup to face the never ending flow of paperwork. However, as he neared, he noticed Chrome walking towards him so Tsuna decided to walk a bit faster to meet up with her. When he came face to face with her, he realized that she was holding something in her small hands. He quirked an eyebrow at her, question clear in his eyes.
Chrome seemed kind of nervous but took a deep breath to calm herself.
"I just thought that I should give this beanie to boss," she said quietly, handing the snugly hat to Tsuna. To say that he was surprised by the unexpectedness was a great understatement.
"Uh… Thanks, Chrome. But just out of curiosity, why?" he asked, analyzing the hat. Clearly hand made and the fabric was very soft. It was dark blue with… Were those tuna fishes?
"The temperature is getting colder and colder so it'll keep you warm while offering a decent disguise from prying eyes when you decide to go outside. I'm sorry, it's my first time knitting so I'm not that good," Chrome answered shyly, eyes darting right and left, looking anywhere but in Tsuna's eyes.
"I see… Well, that's very considerate of you. Thank you very much," he repeated courteously, mind still trying to figure out why she chose tuna fish patterns out of all the other choices.
"Oh, and one last thing…"
As Chrome said this, she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek then turned around and walked away quickly, before Tsuna could wrap his mind around what she just did.
He stood in front of his office for a solid five minutes, eyes widened slightly at what had just happened. The last time Chrome did that was after finding out that he was still alive from the funeral stunt and that was more than a year ago.
He shook his head, deciding that she probably just decided to do something new for a change.
"But why tuna fishes…?"
Tsuna flopped on his desk, feeling hungry: it has been at least a good five hours since he'd last eaten anything. He desperately needed to eat something, anything, but he also couldn't leave the paperwork by itself because he learned from experience that the second he left them unsupervised, they would proceed to mate with other paperwork in order to create more paperwork.
However, his prayers (growling stomach) were answered under the form of Mukuro, who came waltzing into Tsuna's office without knocking. In his left hand, he was holding a silver plate with a silver dome covering it, keeping the content a mystery but the undeniably godly scent clearly indicated that it was food.
Under Tsuna's confused and slightly hungry expression, Mukuro chuckled internally but had a confident smirk on his face as he went to Tsuna's side and smoothly set the plate down on the suddenly empty table. The Vongola boss opened his mouth in protest at the disappeared documents (although he was secretly pleased) but Mukuro simply put a finger up, as if to say "Hush and you will see."
Tsuna closed his mouth docilely, looking at his illusionist expectantly. Content with his obedience, Mukuro lifted the silver cover up in one fluid motion. Under it was a beautiful… tuna fish sandwich.
Even if it sounded boring, when presented to a hunger crazed man, it could become a magnificent feast. However, although he might not exactly be in his right state of mind, Tsuna had enough reason left in his head to doubt Mukuro's intentions. Even if he was completely normal, accepting anything from his Mist Guardian could be like signing your death contract. Upon seeing the distrust in his boss' eyes, the illusionist just had to laugh out loud.
"Vongola, I didn't poison the sandwich so it's perfectly safe to dig in. Go on, I promise that no harm will come to you," Mukuro urged.
Tsuna looked uncertain but picked up the sandwich nonetheless.
"I'll trust you on this one, Mukuro. I'm sincerely hoping for you that this innocent tuna sandwich isn't another one of your weird sexual implications that I do not want to know about," he added as a precaution before taking a huge bite out of his delicious lunch. Was that a hint of pineapple?
Mukuro blinked a few times, staring at his boss' happy face while eating the sandwich before letting a few chuckles escape. He shook his head, a smile playing on his lips. The Vongola Decimo would never cease to amaze him even after all this time.
The Mist Guardian was about to leave and let Tsuna enjoy his lunch in peace when he suddenly remembered his other task.
Mukuro walked to where his boss was, leaned in and gave Tsuna a small kiss on his cheek before leisurely walking away, leaving behind him a slightly shocked Tsuna. Well, kisses from Mukuro were frequent enough so he shouldn't be that shocked but the fact that it took him by surprise was what was shocking.
However, Tsuna didn't dwell much on that and opted rather to wolf down the rest of his sandwich.
"Hmm, pineapple and tuna work surprisingly well together. I should ask the head chef to occasionally include this combination in his recipes."
Reality was a bitch.
Tsuna was feeling so tired that it was a miracle that he could do anything but sleep. His back was stiff and his muscles ached.
"What I wouldn't do for a cup of coffee right now. I know that Reborn refuses to let me drink it but—"
His thoughts were suddenly cut off by Ryohei, who came crashing into his office with a plastic bottle filled with… pills?
"Hey! It's been an extremely long time since we last saw each other! Having fun?" At Tsuna's slight wince, Ryohei let out a chuckle. "You really should come over sometimes. I've got this great wine that I got from the trip to America. I'll save you a glass!"
Ryohei was probably the only Guardian that would use the terms "training" and "trip" instead of "mission". It was only when he saw that level of enthusiasm and optimism again that Tsuna realized just how much he had missed Ryohei. It left a slight pang in his heart.
"It's great to see you too, onii-san. I trust that everything went well?" he greeted warmly, eyes twinkling.
"Of course everything went well! Everything went extremely according to plan. And what's with that kind of cold greeting?" At that, Ryohei slung his right arm around Tsuna's shoulder while the latter let out a small, undignified yelp.
Suddenly, Ryohei presented to Tsuna the bottle that he was holding, right in his face. The Decimo went cross-eyed, trying to read what was written on the label.
"These, Tsuna, are tuna fish oil supplements. They are useful for…" Ryohei suddenly stopped and he had a blank expression on his face. He passed the bottle to his right hand that was on Tsuna's shoulder and used his left hand to rummage through his pockets.
"Wait, I'll get out that piece of paper on which I wrote down everything," he said, sounding proud at the fact that he remembered to write down everything.
He let out a small shout of victory as he found the crumpled piece of paper.
"Here it is… Let's see: tuna fish oil supplements contains lots of omega-3 fatty acid, prevents heart diseases, lowers triglyceride levels and has shown to decrease inflammatory problems. Cool, eh?"
Tsuna was pretty sure that Ryohei didn't understand half of what he had just said but nodded nonetheless. He didn't have the heart to tell him that fish oil was usually for people that were in their forty/fifties and not twenties.
He accepted the gift and was about to place it on his desk when Ryohei suddenly gave him a big smooch on the cheek.
"See you later and be sure to eat those supplements!" Ryohei made sure to say before leaving. The door was slammed close, leaving Tsuna extremely puzzled as to why all of his Guardians that he had met so far were kissing him on the cheek. He looked at the bottle in his hand.
"Maybe I should give these to mama. Interesting though, how tuna oil could have so many benefits…"
His stomach grumbled yet again, the umpteenth time in less than five minutes. He looked at the time: it was only five o'clock. Way too early for supper but late enough for a small snack. He perked up at the idea of leaving his office for a few minutes but decided against it after seeing the mountains of papers left to read and sign.
A silent knock woke him out of his daydreaming and he sat straighter while saying a quiet "Come in".
None other than his beloved Rain Guardian came in and, to Tsuna's utter delight, he seemed to be balancing a tray of sushi with a stack of paperwork. Hell and Heaven in each hand.
"Yo! Reborn wanted me to pass these over," Yamamoto explained apologetically to Tsuna as he handed him yet another stack of boring reports. Tsuna accepted them with a small grimace. Oh, how he hated his tutor right now.
Instead of dwelling on the negative sentiment, he decided to look at his Rain Guardian instead. It has also been a while since he'd last seen him because Yamamoto went to visit his father in Japan.
"Thanks, Yamamoto. How was your trip? Is Tsuyoshi-san as energetic as usual?"
"Your welcome! My trip was fine, everything went by pretty peacefully and my old man made sure that I ate my fill of home cooking before coming back to Italy. Look, he even made me bring some back. Thank god for Spanner and his storage gola moska or the sushi would have gone bad by now," he said, handing over the tray of mouth-watering Japanese delicacies.
"Thank you so much! They are exactly what I need to fill up my empty stomach!" Tsuna said as he accepted the gift. He noticed that they were all tuna toppings but he was so hungry that he couldn't care less. Before Yamamoto could blink, one sushi was already gone and Tsuna was seen chewing happily. Yamamoto smiled at his friend.
"Don't thank me, thank my old man. Oh, and by the way, you should call him one of these days or he'll blame me for keeping you busy with paperwork," he said jokingly. Tsuna laughed.
God, it felt so good to see Yamamoto and his easygoing personality. The Mafia could be so boring and bland sometimes so it was refreshing to have someone lighten up the mood.
Tsuna kept on eating, unaware of Yamamoto's stare. As his eyes were closed in bliss, he didn't notice Yamamoto moving until he was right next to him. He suddenly felt lips on his cheek, touching it briefly before pulling away.
His neck snapped to look at Yamamoto, eyes full of questions that he could not ask because his mouth was stuffed with sushi. Yamamoto just smiled at him, stood up and left without another word. Tsuna was getting increasingly curious about his Guardians' actions.
"But God, these sushi are so delicious, they must be God-sent."
Supper time came but Tsuna couldn't go eat because he still had a few piles of paperwork left undone. He looked at his door regretfully. It seemed like he would have to skip supper again.
The Decimo was dutifully signing his papers when he suddenly heard a knock and the door opening. He looked up to see his right hand man coming in with a steaming plate of food. He drooled.
"I know that you're busy but you should at least eat you know? If you don't, your body will deteriorate and you won't have enough energy for paperwork," Gokudera admonished.
"If you want me to have the time to eat, then you should tell Reborn to stop sending me all these reports! My hands are full enough as it is without him adding more!" Tsuna said. It was so unfair sometimes.
"Yes I know, so that's why I brought you some pasta. I made it myself!" Gokudera announced proudly.
Tsuna blanched. Sadly, he was often present when, in the past, Gokudera would experiment on his cooking skills. The results were explosive, most of the time.
He didn't, however, feel like raining on his Storm Guardian's parade so he decided to humour him. "At the expense of my stomach, that is."
The Vongola boss looked doubtfully at the spaghetti bolognaise topped with weird coloured meatballs that was placed in front of him and gulped..
"Um… And what exactly are these meatballs made out of?" Tsuna asked, poking them with his fork.
"Oh, those? I thought that I'd experiment a bit so I decided to use fresh tuna meat. They should taste good because I calculated the percentage of moisture that should be left with x quantity of salt and the result was—"
"Oh, so it's tuna? You're right, it does seem pretty original!" Tsuna hurriedly cut Gokudera off and Gokudera beamed at the praise. God doesn't even know how to stop him when he starts babbling about his chemical nonsense.
Tsuna took a small bite, eyes screwed shut, fully prepared to suppress the urge to hurl but it never came. The food was surprisingly good and what surprised him most was that the tunaballs were indeed quite delicious. He mumbled a "Good job" at Gokudera with his full mouth and continued eating. His right hand man secretly thanked all deities and gods up there for deciding to take those culinary classes.
Out of the blue, Gokudera leaned across the table and gave the surprised Tsuna a very Italian kiss on the cheek. He then bowed like a good right hand man and proceeded to leave Tsuna to his own wondering mind.
"What's with him today? Well anyways, these tunaballs sure are good! Wait, maybe I should call them fishballs? But tunaballs sound so much better…"
Tsuna came back from a quick bathroom break to find a small tuna plushie placed on his mahogany chair. He looked around but found nobody so he picked it up.
Attached to its tail was a small note:
"Dear Vongola,
If I am not there to greet you, then it probably means that my idiotic younger self decided to blast himself (yet again) with the ten year bazooka. It doesn't prevent me, however, from giving you this small gift. I had to take classes from I-Pin to make it so you'd better accept it.
Yours truly,
Lambo XXX"
Tsuna smiled a soft smile and took a closer look at the small fish. Some parts were badly sewn together and some stitches were visible but in the end, it was the thought that counted. He decided to place it somewhere on his desk where it wouldn't be under the danger of getting buried under a stack of papers and made a mental note to thank Lambo later when he got the chance.
"I should also ask him about those triple x. He doesn't usually put any on his notes so why now?" he mused.
Tsuna decided that it was probably just a minor detail so he went back to complete his work.
"Who knew that tuna fishes could be so cute in plushie form?"
Tsuna yawned. It was almost half till midnight and most of his Guardians were probably already asleep.
He was finally done with his daily dosage of paperwork so he can finally go back to his room, soak in a hot bath to relax his tense muscles and get a good night sleep.
As the Decimo was walking down the corridor, he suddenly noticed the dark silhouette of his Cloud Guardian. They both stopped when they came face to face.
"Hello, Kyouya. Long time no see," Tsuna greeted. "I trust that the mission went well?"
"Hn. The reports are ready and Kusakabe will be sending them over tomorrow, first thing in the morning." Hibari replied, all business-like.
It took Tsuna shorter than expected to learn Hibari's odd way of conversing. It was mostly thanks to his hyper intuition that allowed him to see what his enigmatic Cloud Guardian really meant when he said something. So it was also probably due to that that he was able to understand from Hibari's cold response that, yes, the mission went like a breeze, that he was fine so Tsuna didn't have to worry and that he was glad to be back. All that was said in the most unexpected, Hibari-like way.
Of course, Hibari knew that Tsuna knew what he meant and he didn't bother trying to hide or deny anything. It was all true after all.
"I see, thank you very much for your hard work. I'll send you a message to inform you of your next job. Until then, why not take a vacation? Go visit Namimori or something," Tsuna added the last part as an afterthought. Hibari scoffed.
Tsuna sighed. "Anyways, it's good to know that you are safe. So until tomorrow." He started to walk past his Cloud Guardian when he was suddenly brought to a halt by a quiet "Wait".
Tsuna turned expectantly towards Hibari, not prepared for the close proximity between them.
He was about to say something when he was silenced by the feeling of lips on his cheek. He stood as still as a statue, not believing what was happening to him. Hibari kissed him on the cheek. Hibari. Hibari. The Hibari who's policy is zero contact. That same Hibari had just gone and kissed him.
He was jolted out of his shock as Hibari started walking away. Tsuna's mouth opened and closed without any sound escaping and all he could do was look at his Cloud Guardian's retreating figure.
Out of the blue, Hibari halted. He tossed something at Tsuna and the latter caught it reflexively. The Decimo looked at the item and discovered that it was a beautiful orange wind chime with intricate purple drawings. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that they were actually tuna fishes.
Hibari turned his head slightly to the right
"It's just a small payback for back then (A/N: Please refer to "Just a Little Something")," he said and left.
Suddenly, Tsuna understood. The reason why his Guardians were acting so weird, why they all gave him a tuna-themed gift and why they all kissed him on the cheek without telling him the reason. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten.
It was his birthday. October 14th was his birthday.
He couldn't prevent the smile that bloomed on his face as he slowly made his way to his room and closed the door, leaving the hallway empty once again.
"Thanks, guys."
In the shadows, a man smirked, his fedora casting shadows over his eyes.
"Dame-Tsuna, what am I going to do with you?"
A/N: Finally doooooooooone! So happy! I hope you guys enjoyed it too and if yes, please leave a kind-hearted review for the poor author that spent a few hours slaving away in front of a computer. Oh and sorry for the mountain of (probably) typos: didn't have enough time to proof-read but don't worry though: I'll do it as soon as I have time.