Secret Messages
By: Dyaoka
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Notes: For (shinshinshinshin stop changing your username)’s challenge on the forums! Hopefully I followed the guidelines because after reading through the challenge post once, I never looked back again. Ohohoho…Sorry.
Warnings: Fluff. And if you don’t know what pairing I love writing, well then, I guess this will be a surprise for you. Also, slight spoilers for the TYL arc.
Summary: Each flower given and received had a special meaning. Gokudera and Yamamoto play detective to find out who Tsuna’s secret admirer is.

-x-

When he first set foot into his new bedroom in Italy, the splendor and size had Tsuna in awe for hours, unable to believe that the room he was in was his. When the novelty of it wore off, he realized that he missed his small, homely room in Japan, missed the rowdiness that Lambo and I-Pin would cause in the living room; he missed his mother.

“Tenth, this room fits you perfectly,” Gokudera said, looking around the room in approval. His silvery head bobbed up and down as he nodded in appreciation. “My apartment is across the street if you need me. Look, that’s my window right there!” Gokudera pointed out the window, directly across the street.

Tsuna smiled. “Yeah.”

Gokudera grinned and stepped away from the bedroom window, but he stopped at the dresser with a frown. “What’s this doing here?”

“What?”

Gokudera held up a single flower, white on a green stem; it was so tiny that Gokudera had to hold it between his thumb and index finger. “You have good taste in flowers, Tenth!” Gokudera was all teeth as he grinned again brightly. “Daisies are all the rage these days for the girls.”

Tsuna shook his head. “I didn’t pick it.”

“Oh. Well, in that case.” Gokudera dropped the flower to the floor and was about to ground it out with his heel like one of his cigarette butts when Tsuna stopped him. He didn’t stop his storm guardian simply because he didn’t want grass stains in his new bedroom, but more because of the fact its simplicity within the walls of decorated grandeur struck a cord in him.

“It’s alright,” Tsuna said, taking care to cradle the tiny daisy in his hand, wary about crushing or bruising it. “I’ll keep it.”

Gokudera shrugged and took out one of his cigarettes when Tsuna snatched it out of the taller man’s fingers. “No smoking,” he declared with a smile. “Let’s go visit Yamamoto and get some lunch.”

-x-

The first time Tsuna stepped into his office (he wasn’t aware that Mafia family heads had offices; it came as a complete surprise to him), he nearly crushed a flower on the floor. He wondered what it was doing on the floor, as it was the sole flora in the entire room. Whatever the flower was, it was yellow and in full bloom. Yamamoto grinned as he saw it. “It’s a zinnia,” he said, fiddling with the scabbard of his sword. “I think it means daily remembrance.”

“Really?” Tsuna stared at the flower he nearly crushed.

It was larger than the daisy he saved from Gokudera’s heel the day before, its petals spread in open tumbling layers. Tsuna spun the flower by the stem and smiled, taking a seat at his desk. Yamamoto was still smiling. Perhaps the uplifting spirit that Yamamoto carried was infectious.

“I’ll keep it,” Tsuna said.

Gokudera growled when he heard Tsuna speak. “Is someone stalking you, Tenth? Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you while I’m around.”

Yamamoto laughed and said in agreement, “Nothing will happen because you’ve got us, Tsuna!”

Tsuna smiled and nodded, fingers still twirling the flower about, eyes watching as the petals spun in a blurred hue of yellow, becoming a golden, round snowflake that he couldn’t tear himself away from.

-x-

The sky was dark, the evening mist having already settled in to cast everything into a monotone world. Tsuna hurried into his apartment, reaching and fumbling about to turn on the lights. He stepped into the living room and just as he was about to go past it and to his bedroom, he caught sight of an unconscious girl sleeping on his sofa, a long dangerous trident hanging from the tight grip she held it in.

“Chrome,” Tsuna whispered, realizing that it was his elusive mist guardian.

She didn’t stir and Tsuna tiptoed into his bedroom, bringing out a blanket. He wasn’t sure how she got in, but Tsuna could garner a guess. He got as far as draping the blanket over her shoulders when Chrome stirred, opening her single visible eye to stare up at Tsuna hazily.

“Sawada Tsunayoshi.” The voice, one that brought ghostly chills and terrifying nightmares, whispered softly in the silence of the apartment. It most definitely did not belong to Chrome and the male half of the mist guardian appeared, looking haggard and thinner than Tsuna ever remembered him to be. He didn’t move from the position Chrome had originally been laying in and Tsuna found himself somewhat at a loss at what to do. “Good evening,” Mukuro spoke, a rumble of chocolate silk.

“It’s late,” Tsuna said, hearing his voice squeak as it hadn’t done so in so many years. “You should go back to sleep.”

Mukuro smiled, lips quirked upwards in a particular fashion that made the smile solely his. “You trust me to sleep in the same building you are in.”

Tsuna continued to pull the blanket over Mukuro’s shoulders. “I defeated you before, I can do it again. Go to sleep.”

“Sure, Boss.” It wasn’t Mukuro’s deeper voice that Tsuna heard, but rather Chrome’s softer, feminine voice. He found himself seeing Chrome, awake and smiling at him like a faerie from Neverland. “Good night.” She leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss at the edge of his lips, but the grin that she wore was not one of her own, rather it was Mukuro’s infamous cheshire grin. Tsuna blushed to the roots of his hair and mumbled a response before dashing out of the living room, turning the lights off as he disappeared from sight.

That night, Tsuna was certain he heard Mukuro and Chrome conversing in his living room, but it being so late, he thought it was just his imagination running wild. Mukuro had that effect on him, to make his hair stand on end and his paranoia to run laps into the sky.

In the morning when Tsuna woke up, moseying his way into the kitchen for his morning coffee, he noted that neither Chrome or Mukuro was nowhere in sight. He didn’t sense his mist guardians anywhere. Ambling over to the sofa, he saw that the blanket from last night was folded. A small, pink carnation rested on top of it, cushioned like a royal scepter, and when Tsuna picked it up, he couldn’t help but laugh.

-x-

“I think Tsuna has a secret admirer,” Yamamoto declared, sipping nonchalantly at his coffee, noting that it was just a tad too dark and perhaps more sugar would cure it of its bitter taste.

Gokudera spat out his mouthful of coffee, thankfully in a direction that no one was in. “What?!”

“I said that I think—”

“I heard that part, idiot! I meant what made you say that?” Gokudera glared venomously, but the numerous times that Yamamoto had been exposed to it lessened the intensity of it.

“Well,” Yamamoto dumped more sugar into his coffee and stirred before continuing, Gokudera looking more than impatient at the explanation. “Tsuna got a flower today.”

“Why wouldn’t he get flowers? The Tenth is a wonderful person! I know, I’ll go buy him some too!” Gokudera pumped his fist into the air, nearly spilling his drink all over the table and onto their laps. Yamamoto ducked out of the way of Gokudera’s fist, which had accidentally been thrown where his face had been positioned.

“He got a gardenia today,” Yamamoto said thoughtfully. “Before that he got a zinnia and a daisy. Those are all romantic flowers that girls obsess over.”

“What? What about a carnation? Don’t tell me that’s romantic too,” Gokudera said suddenly, alert.

“I think so too, yeah. Isn’t that weird? It means someone definitely has a crush on Tsuna!” Yamamoto laughed, but Gokudera remained silent, eyebrows furrowed as the silvery haired man thought.

“Yamamoto,” Gokudera said after a moment of silence. “I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but what you say might be right! I was over at the Tenth’s apartment yesterday morning and I found him holding a carnation. It looked like someone spent the night at his place!” Gokudera looked excited and did another enthusiastic fist pump. “Go, Tenth! Your right hand man will pray for your success!”

Yamamoto just laughed and completely forgot to mention that he thought one of the suspects for Tsuna’s love interest was amongst the inner circle of the Vongola family.

-x-

Tsuna was at the public library when he ran into someone he’d never thought he’d see amongst a pile of books.

Ryohei sat quietly (a feat Tsuna never thought was possible), bouncing his leg furiously as he read. When Tsuna stepped closer, he realized with much dismay that his sun guardian will probably always be the extreme boxing obsessed person he’s known since middle school. The book Ryohei held was upside down and he wasn’t even looking at the book. There was an earpiece in his ear, the faint murmur of a boxing match being reported over the radio.

“EXTREME RIGHT HOOK TO THE MAX!” Ryohei suddenly yelled, jumping up from his seat, the book he held in his hand flying to smack Tsuna in the face.

Ryohei didn’t even notice Tsuna at all, so caught up in listening to the boxing match and roaring obscenities at the commentators that when the librarian came by to tell him to quiet down or get out, Tsuna had already disappeared.

He got the book he wanted anyway, and being associated with Ryohei at a public place like the library was asking for trouble.

-x-

The iris that was placed on his desk was in full bloom, its petals stretching outward and arcing in a most peculiar fashion. Reveling in its simple beauty and thinking of its hidden meaning, Tsuna made sure to hide it from prying eyes, a slight blush upon his cheeks.

Unfortunately, Gokudera rushed into the room before Tsuna could put it away safely.

-x-

“How many flowers did he get?”

Gokudera and Yamamoto were gathered at the coffee shop in their daily morning routine; Tsuna would sometimes join them, but for a while now, he’s been declining to meet up with them. Gokudera had been suspicious of something going on at first, but the revelation that Tsuna might be seeing someone made him change his mind about calling a doctor to inspect the mafia boss.

Yamamoto shrugged. “He only gets them one at a time.”

Gokudera frowned. “One at a time? Why not a bunch? Does this person think that the Tenth is not worthy of a bouquet? Damn it, I’ll kill her, whoever she is!”

Yamamoto laughed and reached into his bag, rummaging around for a thin book. “I asked Ryohei to get it,” Yamamoto said, placing the book onto the table. “I think he was told to return the book in a week and never show up at the library again.”

The storm guardian only snorted and snatched up the book, opening its pages to the table of contents. “Iris, iris, iris,” Gokudera chanted under his breath, index finger running down the pages as he looked, eyes scanning quickly over the words. “Here; the iris means warmth of affection and inspiration,” Gokudera read aloud, frown on his face.

“You should stop frowning so much,” Yamamoto commented, leaning over to poke Gokudera between the eyes. “You’re getting wrinkles.”

“I am not!”

Yamamoto laughed and drank his coffee. Gokudera ignored him and continued to look up the meaning of the flowers, flipping through the pages quickly, speaking out loud as he did so.

“The carnation means distinction, fascination with a person. Daisy is innocence. Gardenia is…secret love?” Gokudera looked over the book at Yamamoto, eyes narrowed. “Secret?”

Yamamoto shrugged again and suddenly clapped his hands together. “Oh! I remember now! I was going to tell you last time, but I completely forgot.”

The silvery haired man looked like he was about to throw his cup of coffee at Yamamoto, but barely restrained from doing so. “What?”

“I think Tsuna’s secret admirer is someone from the inner circles.”

Gokudera paused before he shrieked like a banshee. “You didn’t tell me this earlier, why?!”

Yamamoto took a drink of his coffee, setting his cup down with a soft clatter, an easy going grin upon his face. “I forgot.”

-x-

When questioned, Tsuna would stutter and turn pink, saying that he didn’t have any secret admirers and even if he did, they’d be secret and therefore, he wouldn’t know about it. Gokudera had nodded at the logical explanation presented and Yamamoto laughed, saying, “You’re such a bad liar, Tsuna!”

They didn’t have their work cut out for them after all, the search to discover who was Tsuna’s secret admirer. With a sigh, Gokudera left Tsuna’s office dejectedly, muttering about how the Tenth didn’t trust him.

Seeing his downhearted storm guardian, Tsuna invited both Gokudera and Yamamoto to lunch later with him.

Of course, even during said lunch, they couldn’t pry a single drop of information out of their boss.

-x-

Ryohei answered Gokudera and Yamamoto’s (mostly the former, less of the latter) scrutiny with: “FLOWERS ARE NOT EXTREME TO THE MAX.”

That was the end of that.

-x-

Lambo was in Japan, going to school as Tsuna had requested a normal childhood for his youngest guardian. Yamamoto called, in the dead of the night, but Lambo picked up anyway.

“Hello?” The sleepy greeting was accompanied with a loud yawn. “What is it, Yamamoto?”

“Hey! Are you sending Tsuna flowers?” Yamamoto was so blunt, Gokudera tried to karate chop the taller man, but failed. As a master swordsman, Yamamoto sidestepped the blow and Gokudera’s hand met air. Hand to hand combat wasn’t his strong suit anyway; his was the wider field where he had more range.

“Be a bit more tactful!” Gokudera hissed.

“No. Should I be?” Lambo asked, confused.

“Nope! Just wondering,” Yamamoto answered cheerfully. “Sorry to bother you so late.”

“Right. Good night.”

Gokudera sighed and crossed Lambo off of his mental list of people to go through.

-x-

Tsuna noticed that Gokudera and Yamamoto had been getting closer lately; he thought that his silver haired guardian hated the swordsman, but it seems that he was wrong. Tsuna was happy for them, that the two closest people he was with were finally getting along.

Closing his eyes as he leaned back into his overstuffed office chair, Tsuna breathed, shutting his eyes. Things had been difficult lately, though he doubted it would be as hard as it was for the other him, the one that died in the Millefiore timeline. Time had passed, nearly six years, since he’s been blasted into the future as a teenager. In his present time, there was no Millefiore to speak of. Irie Shouichi was a friend and ally and Byakuran was not the danger he used to be.

The door to his office creaked open and Tsuna opened his eyes a smidgeon to see who it was.

“Sleeping is done in a bed, lying down.”

Tsuna straightened himself quickly, clearing his throat lightly. “Knock before you enter next time. And I wasn’t sleeping; I was thinking.”

Mukuro only chuckled, shrugging as he closed the door behind him. He looked drawn and exhausted, despite the peace of the present Italian mafia; there were no wars between the factions, no disputes or anything. It was a silent, auspicious peace. Even with an air of fatigue around him, Mukuro still wore a grin, the one that Tsuna had always known.

“Mukuro, how are you?” Tsuna asked, half out of a need for some sort of pleasant conversation and half because he had to know.

“Wonderful. I think I feel up to trying to take that body of yours,” Mukuro said with a leer. Tsuna waved him off dismissively, seeing too much of how the man looked so gaunt and the dark bags under his eyes.

“I think you should go get some rest. Whatever you need to say, you can tell me later. I’ll sit and listen.”

Mukuro’s grin lessened in intensity and became a small, gentle smile, one that Tsuna could not possibly imagine upon the mist guardian’s face. “I’ll hold you to it then.” With his words, Mukuro was gone and in his place was Chrome, seemingly unsteady on her two feet. She blinked, once, twice, and looked over at Tsuna.

“Boss,” she greeted.

“Hello, Chrome.” Tsuna got up from behind the desk and walked over to her, steadying the smaller female with a hand upon her elbow. “I think you should go get some rest.”

“If the Boss says so,” she agreed quietly.

Tsuna smiled and guided her out the door to his office and down the hall of the large Vongola headquarters. He took her into a slightly less decorated room where a single twin sized bed rested against the far wall, an oval shaped window hanging low near the floor. “You can use this room to rest. I usually come here for naps so you don’t have to worry about being interrupted.” Tsuna offered another smile and gestured at the bed. “Have a good rest.”

Chrome nodded her thanks, removing her boots in a childish fashion—kicking them off and strewing them about randomly—and collapsed face first into the bed, already exhausted and out cold. Tsuna sighed, pulled the blankets out from under her, and tucked her in, something that he remembered doing not so very long ago. It was nearly déjà vu, except this time, Mukuro did not show up to tease him; both halves of the mist guardian were strained and tired. Tsuna made a mental note to check on them later, leaving the room and closing the door.

-x-

Gokudera had his jaw dropped to the floor when he saw Tsuna leading Chrome by the arm into what was dubbed as The Tenth’s Resting Room That Which No One Shall Disturb On Pain of Castration And Death.

“I-It can’t be her!” he said, paling.

“Why not?” Yamamoto asked, looking at his shorter companion.

“Because, you idiot, that bastard controls her,” Gokudera snarled. There was no questioning as to who the bastard in question was; neither Yamamoto nor Gokudera were quite fond of Mukuro even after so many years.

They stared for a bit longer at the closed door, and then Yamamoto broke the quiet. “I don’t think Hibari would send flowers to anyone,” he commented.

“I didn’t say it was Hibari.”

“There’s only two choices left: Hibari or Chrome.”

Gokudera looked like he was going to burst into tears at the thought. “I’d rather that Hibari send them as a joke.”

When the door opened and Tsuna stepped out, the small, secretive smile he wore reserved only for those who knew him well dancing upon his lips, Gokudera threw his head at the wall. He was lucky that Yamamoto got in the way and the only injury that came out of that was a sore arm and a headache.

-x-

Half a day had gone by and Chrome continued to sleep, unaware of the scrutiny and the whispers behind the walls that was the Vongola Headquarters. Tsuna had returned to his office and Gokudera and Yamamoto had stood by, watching.

It was half past eight when Tsuna walked by his two guardians, both of them having taken a seat on the ground outside of the room Chrome rested in, a chessboard between them. Gokudera was winning.

“I thought you two left already,” Tsuna commented as he stepped around them, about to open the door but paused, seemingly against it all of a sudden. “What are you doing here?”

“Playing chess,” Yamamoto answered with an easy smile.

“Erm, yes, I know that. I meant, why are you playing chess here when there’s a perfectly good lounge down the hall?”

“Tenth!” Gokudera yelled, jumping to his feet. “Chrome is your secret admirer!”

The world screeched to a halt, Yamamoto also standing to watch the exchange between the boss and the storm guardian. Whatever the exchange entailed, it was over with quickly because Tsuna started to laugh, shaking his head all the while.

“Chrome isn’t my secret admirer,” Tsuna said finally.

“You know who it is?” Both Yamamoto and Gokudera stared at the shorter man, eyes wide in disbelief. Rather, they both felt that they should have expected it; Tsuna’s intuition was sharper than most people’s and had a knack for figuring the complexities of a person out.

Tsuna shook his head, replying to nothing but perhaps an internal joke, and opened the door, stepping into the darkened room to turn on the light.

Chrome was still in bed, unmoving except for the little breaths she was taking as she slept. She looked so peaceful in her sleep that Tsuna didn’t want to wake her, but he knew he had to. She couldn’t stay at the Headquarters overnight when there were too little people around and the fact that she was a girl (not quite defenseless, but still it was the idea of it) being left all alone in a large building didn’t sit too well with Tsuna.

He prodded her on the arm lightly, waiting for her to stir. She mumbled something, but otherwise didn’t wake.

“Chrome,” Tsuna called out.

The girl’s visible eye fluttered open, a deep blue hue that put to shame the depths of the oceans, and Tsuna suddenly felt the prickling of skin and his hair standing on end. Tsuna stared at his mist guardian in surprise, Mukuro staring back in a silence that seemed so different from his usual self.

Gokudera coughed, clearing his throat. It snapped Tsuna back to his senses and he blushed, just slightly.

Mukuro, in Chrome’s body, moved out of bed, throwing the blankets aside in a manner that was sloppy and elegant at the same time. He stood and put on the abandoned boots, smoothing out the clothes Chrome had worn to sleep.

“Sawada Tsunayoshi,” Mukuro said, but it was the sound of Chrome’s voice that echoed lightly throughout the room. “We’re both still very tired.”

“I know.” Tsuna held out a hand and watched as Mukuro stared at it, eyes dark and wondering. The mist guardian took it, looking up at Tsuna through Chrome’s one eye. “I’ll let you stay at my place.”

Mukuro smiled, though Tsuna had no idea what the meaning of it was. Gokudera coughed again, this time a hacking kind of cough like when someone chokes. Yamamoto grinned like a light bulb.

-x-

“Not Chrome, he says,” Gokudera muttered, feeling more than a little betrayed that his boss had lied to him. Whatever happened in the Boss’s Nap Room, it was without a shred of doubt that there was something between Tsuna and the mist guardian. Who else could it be? All the guardians had been accounted for (minus Hibari, but that man never showed up when you wanted him to) and the only person that made any sense was Chrome.

“I guess he got us there,” Yamamoto said cheerily as he waited for Gokudera to open the apartment door.

“Why the hell did you follow me here? You don’t think I’m actually going to let you in?” Gokudera glared up at the taller man. Yamamoto blinked cluelessly.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t you?”

Gokudera rolled his eyes and opened the door, trudging into his apartment with Yamamoto on his heels. Instead of turning on the lights, he made a beeline for the window and crouched down, eyes narrowed into slits as he stared outside into the dark.

Yamamoto flipped on the light.

“Idiot! Turn it off! What part of stakeout do you not understand?”

The rain guardian laughed before turning the light off and joined Gokudera at the window. “I didn’t know we were doing a stakeout. What for?”

Gokudera pointed to an apartment across the street whose lights just turned on. “Don’t be an idiot; it’s for the Boss!”

Thus, they crouched there, staring like peeping toms across the street to watch long silhouettes cast upon windows and walls. Tsuna walked by the window with Chrome in tow, but the girl stopped, looking quite lost as she stared at something out the window in the streets. Gokudera peered in the direction she was looking at, but found that he couldn’t see anything in the streets below.

“Get down!” Yamamoto’s hand forced his head to the floor with a loud thump.

“What the hell?!” Gokudera screamed, forcing the taller man off of him. “The hell’d you do that for? You want to fight?”

Yamamoto just pointed out the window, ducking lower than before until he was completely under the windowsill. Frowning, the silver haired man peeked outside and realized that Chrome was no longer staring at something in the streets, but looking at their window, her face pinched as she squinted with her one eye into the darkness.

“I-It should be okay,” Gokudera said with an audible gulp. “I don’t think she can see us.”

Yamamoto gave a nervous chuckle, but he didn’t raise his head.

Tsuna had just walked by the window again, speaking to Chrome, his mouth moving rapidly in speech and the girl turned away to give her undivided attention to the boss.

“She’s talking to the Boss now,” Gokudera announced in a whisper, eyes not straying from the figure of the mist guardian. “Goddamn, I wish I could hear what they’re saying.”

“Are you sure you’re not a stalker?” Yamamoto joked, grinning from ear to ear as he peeked over the edge again and after determining it was safe, he rested his arms on top of the windowsill. “You act awfully much like one.”

“I am the Boss’s right hand man!” Gokudera shrieked indignantly. “I must ensure his safety at all times!”

“Right.”

There was no more conversation as the figures by Tsuna’s window changed. Chrome didn’t stand there any longer, her body changing in a gut reeling way that was all too familiar into someone taller and obviously male. Long dark hair cascaded down the male half of the mist guardian’s back and Gokudera felt his stomach drop to hell.

“Shit. That bastard.”

-x-

Tsuna opened the door to his apartment, Chrome (it was Mukuro really, but Yamamoto and Gokudera didn’t realize that) following behind passively. He flipped on the nearest light, watching as the dark was chased away in an instant. Mukuro kicked the door closed behind him.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll get some tea,” Tsuna said, walking into the kitchen.

“No need.”

Tsuna gave Mukuro a not too subtle glance and spoke in a loud voice as he rummaged about his cupboards; “You haven’t eaten all day and now you refuse tea. You’re going to die of dehydration or starvation.”

“I won’t die that easily. It’d be rather unfitting of me if I did die of something as ridiculous as starvation, no?”

It was an almost laughable thought. Mukuro known for being a master escape artist; one moment he’d be cornered, but the next, he’s freer than anyone could ever imagine. Of course, in Gokudera’s excellent words: worse than a cockroach to kill. Tsuna chuckled at the reply and fished out two cups. He set a kettle of water upon the stove to let it boil.

Tsuna took a short pause in his actions and looked over at where Mukuro stood next to the window, but the mist guardian was staring outside quite intently at something. “You seem to have a pair of peeping toms,” the man finally said.

“What?”

“In the apartment across the street.”

Tsuna opened his mouth to speak and then closed it, realizing who it was that lived in the apartment parallel to him. “Um. Maybe we should close the blinds.” He walked over and Mukuro turned towards him, grin spread wide upon his face.

“And why would you want to do that?” Mukuro took a step forward, backing Tsuna away from the window. There was barely a pause before the small, female body changed into the taller form of the male half of the mist guardian. “Is there a reason to close them?”

Tsuna stood his ground and Mukuro pressed even closer, his voice changing into a low predatory purr.

“Are we going to do something,” the taller man paused and let his spidery digits ghost its way up Tsuna’s arm to rest at the crook of the brunet’s neck, “something that doesn’t require onlookers?”

Mukuro’s eyes flickered briefly to Tsuna’s lips and with his free hand, pulled the brunet against him. Tsuna opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, only a slight gasping sound as he tried to remember to breathe. Mukuro smiled cattily, lowering himself next to the shell of Tsuna’s ear and traced the skin ever so lightly with the tip of his tongue.

Against his will, Tsuna shivered and felt all the blood rush to his face. He did his best to will away the flush in his cheeks, but it just wasn’t disappearing and got stronger instead. There was fire in his blood stream and it screamed at him to do something besides standing around like an idiot. Of course, the moment he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out were words not of an invitation into the bedroom, but something else entirely.

“I got your flowers.”

Mukuro hummed a response and pressed a light kiss against his temple, eyes half lidded as he grinned down at the smaller man. “I know you did,” the mist guardian murmured, voice sultry and low. A finger toyed absently at the hair at the back of Tsuna’s neck and oh, how it made tingles run up and down his spine.

Tsuna leaned in, letting himself be pulled against the taller man, wanting to feel the heat of Mukuro’s body against his; they were there in the moment, alone and touching and—

“BOSS!”

The entrance to Tsuna’s apartment exploded.

“Boss, I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone with that bastard and—” Gokudera stepped from the rubble that used to be a door and some concrete, rings and boxes and dynamite all in hand, then stopped upon seeing both Mukuro and Tsuna. Yamamoto, following behind Gokudera at a slightly less abrupt pace, blinked and laughed sheepishly at having intruded upon a private moment.

“HOW DARE YOU SEDUCE THE BOSS!” Gokudera roared, fire in his eyes. Neighbors in the apartment complex had started to filter out to point and stare.

“No, no, Gokudera, please stop!” Tsuna shrieked when Gokudera pulled Uri from one of his boxes. “Y-You see, weren’t you wondering who my secret admirer was? It was Mukuro.”

“It’s…who?” The storm guardian blinked in confusion, brows furrowed together as his brain worked into overdrive to put sense into what Tsuna just said.

“I see!” Yamamoto grinned, snapping his fingers. “So that’s why it’s not Chrome; it’s Mukuro.”

“Don’t say it like it’s so simple!” Gokudera snarled, turning on the taller man and throwing a discontented Uri at Yamamoto. Glancing back at Mukuro, who had yet to let go of the smaller mafia boss, he bit down on his lips to restrain the waterfall of profanity that was threatening to spill over.

Tsuna sighed and tried to dislodge himself from Mukuro’s grasp, but the dark haired man wasn’t relenting an inch. He gave a happy leer and Tsuna blushed.

“Gokudera, I’ll tell you about everything later,” Tsuna said. “So if you don’t mind, would you leave?”

“Yes, please leave,” Mukuro interjected with a purr, changing positions so he was behind the brunet, resting his chin on Tsuna’s shoulder and arms going around the smaller man’s waist in an intimate embrace.

Gokudera’s shoulders shook with anger, but it was Tsuna’s pleading that made the silver haired man swallow his fury and stomp away, out of Tsuna’s apartment. “Come on, idiot. Let’s go,” he muttered to Yamamoto.

“See you, Tsuna,” Yamamoto said as he waved, the other hand holding Uri by the back of the neck. “Sorry about all this. Again.”

Tsuna waved in return and the number in Mukuro’s cursed eye changed, spinning like a roulette wheel until it stopped abruptly. The destroyed doorway to the apartment was fixed (only an illusion, Tsuna knew, but it was a very convincing illusion) and yelps of surprise by the neighbors were heard outside.

“Again, he says?”

Tsuna groaned at the memories that was dredged up with the question. “Gokudera usually destroys my place every other week. I know he means well, but I don’t have enough money to pay for the property damage he causes.”

Mukuro chuckled, spinning Tsuna around so they were facing each other. “Now, where were we?”

Tsuna smiled, a twinkle in his eyes as he leaned forward, glad that all interruptions was gone. He let his fingers dance upon Mukuro’s elbow, tilting his head up just at the right angle for—

The ear shattering shriek of the kettle going off made Tsuna want to scream.

Mukuro only laughed and leaned forward anyway for a quick peck on the lips.

-The End

What a silly little one-shot. This was the fic that wouldn't let itself be written once it was past the 5,000 word point. I finished though! I finally did!