Tsuna was pretty sure he was completely doomed, but at least he would die happy.
Potter-san had the prettiest eyes.
Takeshi-kun had yet to stop laughing at him, he was silent but Tsuna could tell. It was in his eyes whenever he looked them all over, especially whenever Tsuna spoke to Potter-san who also had the prettiest smile too. Yes, Reborn could stick a fork in him, he was done. Completely. There would be no coming back from this, not like Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan. He could feel this in his flame, burning deep within his bones and blood, his Hyper Intuition as still and silent as a lake with the certainty of it all. As deeply and wholly as he had known when he stood in front of the prior Dons of the Vongola during the Ring Battles, when he burned Byakuran to ash in the future, when he took that second Dying Will bullet from Reborn when he faced Bermuda von Licktenstein in the Arcobaleno Tournament. He knew.
There would be no forgetting him.
Even if Potter-san left tomorrow and Tsuna didn't see him again for fifty or even eighty years, he would remember this boy, remember the curve of his nose, how it turned up a little at the tip, how his glasses slipped down them because they didn't fit right, the exact shade of red his cheeks turned when embarrassed, the green-green of his eyes, almond shaped, a little round, and upturned. That single dimple on his right cheek whenever he grinned. The thin lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that he tried so hard to hide behind his hair, little more than a thick mane of curls and spikes and waves. How he would smile at his friends, one arm around his cousin as she clung to him in overheated misery, talk to them with just a glance and a quirked eyebrow, dry sarcasm and laughter between them.
He was.... kind.
That was something Tsuna hadn't seen for a while. Not with the kind of company he kept. Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan were the closest he could claim to being kind, and they were. But it was the soft kind that came with naivety and ignorance, and not knowing how to be anything but kind. When he looked at Potter-san, it was hard for his eyes to miss the deliberate brand upon his forehead, the words carved into his hand, the thin slash that went from elbow to wrist, and the tail of something thick and ropey just peeking out from his t-shirt collar. He was hurt, had been harmed in ways that were cruel and deliberate. His hands were calloused as though he worked with a lot of tools, or weapons, his knuckles were scuffed as though used to fighting. His kindness was a choice. Much like Tsuna's was.
“Which would you rather first, phone or icecream?” he found himself asking as they stepped into the main high-street of Namimori.
Potter-san glanced down to his cousin and smiled a little, “Sunscreen and icecream first,” he decided, as she fanned herself miserably.
“The drug store will have sunscreen. We can pick a phone up on our way to get icecream?” Takeshi-kun suggested from the back, hands behind his head cheerfully. Tsuna beamed at his Rain who winked.
“That works,” Granger-san agreed with a short nod, “We should pick up some sunscreen for you as well, Ron. You burn just as badly,” she pointed out as she rummaged in her bag for something.
The red headed boy scowled in offence, “Luna goes to bloody Finland to get away from the sun. Mum puts us to work in the garden, I'm fine!” he objected.
“You peel. I don't want to go to sleep in a bed full of skin peelings,” she huffed in disgust, while Tsuna flushed brightly at the insinuation that their relationship was that far along.
“Me either,” Harry agreed with a grimace, making Tsuna's brain stall out. “Just wear the suncream Ron, you complain like a first year after Snape when you get burns.”
“Soo.... you three are?” Takeshi asked curiously, crossing his fingers together as the three looked at him in abject confusion. Granger-san got it first and started laughing, which made the boys peer at her in curiosity.
“No. Ron is my boyfriend yes, but he and Harry are practically brothers. We've been on the move a lot and sometimes there's just not enough beds, we've all gotten used to sharing,” she explained mirthfully while Harry and Ron exchanged long glances, and then theatrically fell into one another. Harry wrapped a leg around the red head's waist, the two of them speaking loud breathy dramatic English to one another that set the brunette girl into hysterical peels of laughter, and even had Reborn snorting a little from Takeshi's shoulder. Tsuna really wished he had paid more attention in English classes now. He had focused more attention on learning Italian because he was scared that Nono and his father may one day just yank him out of Japan to take over the Vongola – and without knowing the language, the two could make whatever decisions they pleased from behind the scenes and let Tsuna be the public face/puppet.
Harry shoved his hand into Ron's face, and practically threw his upper body backwards, hand on his forehead, exclaiming something melodramatically which was apparently the end of Ron's self-control as he burst out laughing, and made Harry crack up hard enough he lost his balance to the point where the two of them were having to use each other as support as they cackled.
Tsuna grinned at their antics, a little jealous that he couldn't really do the same with his own Guardians, though he knew Takeshi would probably be up for it – Gokudera-kun would pitch a fit and get upset though. He was getting better..... but still.....
“Every Sky need communication,” the blonde girl mused from beside him. Tsuna stiffened and looked down, she smiled distantly at him and directed her fan in his direction, “No one is a mind reader, and when you've been alone for so long, you forget how to talk those unspoken things. So you need to say them. Sometimes a Sky needs to be thunderous, even on a clear day.”
What.... what did that mean? Did she know about the Mafia? About Sky Flames?
Tsuna felt a chill, how ominous!
000
It was strange, Tsuna decided, the way that the red headed Ron-san and the blonde haired Luna-chan behaved in the convini. Hermione-san was carefully counting out how much change she had, squinting at the neat notes and coins in her hands with a suspicious glare on her face, Harry-kun meanwhile had immediately moved to the back of the store towards the hygiene section. Takeshi-kun moved to the drink fridges, muttering about melon cream-soda and ramune, leaving Tsuna at a little bit of a loose end until he awkwardly followed after Harry-kun, feeling a horrible mixture of lost and guilty – was he being creepy by following him? He didn't know. His only dating experiences were Kyoko and Haru, and they both became lesbians shortly after. Was he really that bad at dating that they would swear off all men?
“Is this... sunscreen? Or handcream?” Harry-kun asked slowly, crouched in front of several face-wash tubes.
Tsuna huffed a small chuckle at the cute frown on the foreign boy's face as he eyed the selection dubiously, “Face wash, actually,” he corrected.
“Ah. Right.” He scratched at his head with a frown, “I'll be honest, none of us actually know how to read Japanese,” he admitted wryly before turning those devastatingly green eyes up on him, “Help?” he pleaded.
Tsuna was pretty sure his brain broke a little.
“Y-yEaH! S-suRE!” he agreed, his voice cracking to his utter mortification.
He could taste the disappointment and scorn from Reborn, even here, on the otherside of the convini.
“Th-this one is pretty good. Factor thirty-five, and it's fairly cheap too,” he explained, his face practically burning as he leaned down and collected a tube a row to the left of where Harry was crouched.
“I think Loulou might need something a little stronger,” the foreigner admitted quietly, sounding a little concerned as he stood up and looked over to where the blonde girl was holding a bottle of chilled ramune to her cheek while Takeshi laughed at something Ron said as he peered into the fridges curiously – as if he had never seen one before.
Tsuna swallowed his embarrassment, and shook himself.
“Then.... here, Factor fifty? It's mostly for kids, but if she has delicate skin it should protect it,” he suggested, putting the first tube back and collecting another one, orange in colour with colourful rainbow hued bubble hiragana on it.
Harry-kun accepted it a little dubiously, “So little,” he muttered, weighing it in his hand.
“I think it's mostly for children when they go to the beach. But it isn't that expensive so you should be able to afford more than one, right?” Tsuna asked with a small frown, people on holiday usually brought a fair bit of money, right?
Harry-kun grimaced, “Our finances are a little tight,” he admitted before glancing over to Ron-san and Luna-chan. Instead of collecting a second factor fifty, he picked up two of the first factor thirty-five that was about twice the size of the children's tube. “As long as we use the fifty on really sunny days, it should be alright, shouldn't it? Does Namimori get very hot?” he asked curiously.
Tsuna shrugged a shoulder, “Eh, not too much. But it can get fairly bright. Definitely t-shirt and shorts weather, but we don't get many melty-days.”
“Melty-days?” the green eyed boy asked curiously, the look on his face suggesting that he didn't understand the words. Tsuna forgot that slang often wasn't taught when foreigners learned Japanese, unless they were picking it up from anime at the same time.
“Uh, days where it gets so hot that you feel like you're melting, those kind,” the Sky explained as they made their way over to the counter.
“Ooh, I understand,” Harry said with a nod and a grin before Hermione-san caught his attention with some rapid fire English. Tsuna stood back a little, watching curiously as Harry showed her the two tubes and likely explained his reasoning. Hermione-san's face spasmed a little before she looked down at the money in her hands and then said something almost gently to him. Harry grimaced awkwardly, and Tsuna really wished he knew what they were saying.
“Potter-kun is being cheap, and Hermione-san is telling him that they have enough money and he shouldn't worry so much,” Reborn announced, hopping onto his shoulder.
“It isn't being cheap!” the brown haired girl defended hotly as Harry-kun flushed and looked away awkwardly.
Tsuna caught the glance the green eyes boy flickered to his red head friend. Ron-san got burnt and peeled in hot weather too.... He was here with his younger sister and his twin brothers. That meant all four of them were likely to get sunburnt just as easily as they were all fair skinned red heads. That explained the two large tubes that Harry picked up, but that didn't..... It was definitely something about the price and – Tsuna took a closer look at the red head from the corner of his eye, and spotted the awkward stitching here and there of clothing repaired time, and time, and time, and time again. Clothing that had been taken in, and let out, that had been hemmed up, and then unpicked, that had been washed, and patched, and darned to the point of falling apart, but was still serviceable and – of course.
Second hand clothing. Four children. Not wanting to spend too much money.
“It's not embarrassing a friend,” he concluded, looking away from the red head to Harry who twitched a little and looked up at him with wide eyes. “You don't want to embarrass him.”
000
Takeshi had gotten them all drinks, none of which they would be allowed to take into the phoneshop, so the group sat down on one of the benches not too far away to finish their drinks and relax. Right now they were discussing what animal they would turn themselves into if they could, and what animal would suit them best.
Thus far, everyone was having a laugh. Takeshi had declared himself and Ron-san as dog-buddies, the two of them having concluded that they would turn themselves into dogs if they could, and had agreed that they had personalities suited to the animals as well. Hermione-san had concluded that while she would like to change into an otter, she couldn't think of something better suited to her, and despite suggestions, she adamantly refused being an owl, mainly because despite their symbology, owls were not actually all that intelligent. And she pointed out to neither being quiet, nor fond of heights.
“You could be a Burrowing Owl,” Harry suggested playfully, and ducked away from the slap she aimed at the side of his head.
Takeshi tried to declare Tsuna was a lion, the Sky refused frantically because Box animals were not symbolic of their personalities despite sharing them. Natsu was far more awesome than he was. But he couldn't say that around Harry-kun and his friends without awkward questions. It didn't help that Reborn was declaring that as lions were the King of the Jungle, Tsuna had better be one.
“Wh-what about Harry-kun? What do you think?” the brunet deflected desperately. He did want to hear about what Harry thought of himself, and what his friends thought of him too. Tsuna may like him, and everything about him made his Sky flame practically purr (which was so many levels of weird that he had yet to stop screaming internally and was kind of trying to ignore it for the moment until he could properly panic later), but he wanted to learn more and what one's friends said about him could paint a much clearer picture than anything he himself said.
Both Ron and Hermione fell quiet and went thoughtful.
“Horse,” Luna declared almost immediately, sipping at her drink slowly.
“Horse?” Harry choked with a laugh.
She nodded, “Ginny's patronus is a horse,” she explained, “She might have grown out of such beliefs, but somewhere deep inside, she knows you'll still protect her. They're loyal, symbols of freedom, intelligent, and have quirky personalities.”
Hermione nodded slowly, “It does fit,” she murmured.
Ron wrinkled his nose, “But he's totally lion material too. C'mon, he wielded the sword of Gryffindor for crying out loud,” he complained pointedly.
“That doesn't mean he's Godric Gryffindor reincarnated, Ronald,” Hermione objected with a scoff, “I think the man would spin in his grave fast enough to drill through to the other side of the planet if he knew what we got up to.”
“Clearly you've never spoken to the Grey Lady or the Bloody Baron for long,” Harry stated blandly.
“Gryffindor would have gotten along rather well with Grandfather, I think,” Luna said mistily.
“See? Lion material,” Ron stated.
“Harry isn't lazy enough to be a lion,” Hermione refuted.
Tsuna spluttered, a little offended, but also unable to deny it because – yeah, he was a little lazy. Especially when it came to studying, and cleaning up after himself, and doing his own laundry.... and home work.... and chores....
“Lions are lazy?” Takeshi asked.
Hermione nodded, “Male lions spend more time sleeping than anything else. Lionesses are the ones who hunt, bring the kills home, rear the cubs, and patrol their home territory,” she explained factually, waving a finger at them which had Ron wrinkling his nose.
“Okay, that.... that doesn't sound like him at all,” he complained.
“See?” the girl declared smugly.
“I think I'd like to be a bird,” Harry announced, breaking the argument up, “It'd be nice to fly.”
Tsuna had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from offering to give him a lift. Piggy-back rides via the X-burner did not a romantic evening make. And now his brain was filled with memories of flying Spanner through those tunnels on his parachutes, and, oh god, why – why brain?
“I could see you being a peregrine falcon,” Hermione admitted thoughtfully. “They're fairly small and fast.”
Harry gave her a wounded look, “Are you calling me short?”
000
They got Harry his phone, though, he hadn't the faintest idea of how to use it. And it was only when he explained that his Aunt and Uncle never allowed him to get a phone that Tsuna quickly realised he was practically dealing with a technophobe – or at least someone on that level. Which was alarming especially when considering that Harry apparently knew how to fix just about every kitchen appliance known to man, and how to rewire light fixtures amongst other things. Evidentially his Uncle didn't trust electricians, so Harry learned how to do the household maintenance himself.
Tsuna taught him how to add contacts into his phone, and tried not to squee too much when his name became the first in his address book. Quickly followed by Takeshi, Hermione's home-phone, and another number titled 'Emergency'.
When asked, Harry just shrugged and said it was one his grandfather told him to ring if he ever got in over his head, a distant family member would come and bail him out. But it was only for emergency-emergencies.
Somewhat despairingly, Tsuna wondered how long Harry-kun would last in Namimori before he needed to dial that number.
0000
And chapter finished. Slightly shorter, but mainly because I am literally falling asleep into my keyboard. Enjoy your new chapters y'bastards. That's two in one day! This and Rabbit's Foot!
