To: Ppurificated (ppurificated)
ARC 1 - Crismalsnowburst (Hana)
Arc 1. @Ppurificated I was your secret santa! I hope this is close to what you wanted haha. I had a tough time trying to come up with something humorous and this was the final result in the end. Happy holidays <3
ARC 2 - Raineynight713 (Rainey)
Hello, this is my Arc 2 gift for ppurificated! I hope you enjoy it!
Everything was fine. This wasn’t the second worst news he’d heard all week, beat only by ‘Papa’s coming home!’ from his mother. He tried to keep the grimace off his face, but didn’t succeed judging from his friends expressions.
“Haha, it’s just for a few days Tsuna,” Takeshi laughed awkwardly, trying to be comforting.
“I am so sorry Juudaime! I had no idea the baseball idiot would be out of town at the same time as the science convention! I can cancel,” Hayato managed to get out all in one breath from his dogeza position.
“No, don’t cancel, you’ve been looking forward to it. It’s fine guys, I understand,” Tsuna lied, pasting a bright smile on his face. His friends looked like they didn’t completely believe him, but decided to let it go.
After they left, he slumped onto his bed, letting out a pitiful moan. He was being a little melodramatic, but the situation really was dire. Takeshi was out of town for a baseball tournament, Hayato was out of town for a science convention, even Reborn was out of town for, presumably, shady reasons. And they all just had to choose the week that Iemitsu had decided to actually 100% for reals this time visit. Ugh.
All he needed was an excuse to be out of the house, but if he wasn’t with one of his friends or Reborn, Iemitsu would probably try to tag along for some ‘father-son bonding’. Ugh. He’d spent over a decade cultivating his daddy issues, they weren’t gonna magically be fixed with some ‘quality time’.
He started going down the list of people he could inflict his presence upon, desperate to find someone he hadn’t thought of yet. Kyouya was doing something with his family, so no. Chrome was spending time with Kyoko, Hana, and Haru, nope. Ryohei was with the boxing club, preparing for the championships, Shouichi was with Spanner in England, Enma and his guardians were in Italy, Mukuro was-
Hmm. There was a thought. Mukuro lived in town, and would presumably not be too opposed to Tsuna hanging out with him, considering the whole ‘freed you from prison where you were chained up in a horrific nightmare tank’ thing.
Yeah, spending time with Mukuro sounded better than staying in the same house as his parents while they were reuniting.
After being released from Vendicare, Mukuro had procured an apartment in town. Tsuna said procured because he didn’t think Mukuro actually rented it, or paid anything for it. More like, used his illusions to make the landlord overlook the fact that one of the tenants lived there for free. Actually, three, since Chikusa and Ken shared the apartment next door.
He had to admit, the place was a real step up from Kokuyo Land, and not just because it wasn’t condemned. The apartments were in a nice neighborhood and you could never hear any loud parties or screaming children. They weren’t high-end, but they were clean and surprisingly spacious.
After hiking up to Mukuro’s apartment on the fifth floor, Tsuna prepared to knock only to have the door open just before he could.
“Hello there, Tsunayoshi. What a pleasant surprise,” he purred while leaning on the door.
“Okay, how’d you know I was coming?” Tsuna asked in exasperation.
Mukuro smiled, the expression strangely soft. “I can always feel you coming. Your flames are so warm and bright, it couldn’t be anyone else.”
Tsuna could feel himself blushing bright red for some reason. Probably because he wasn’t used to Mukuro being anything other than flirty and sarcastic.
“Well, you’d better come in since you’re here. I presume nothing’s wrong, since you don’t seem distressed?” He pushed off the door and pulled it open wider, allowing Tsuna to step inside.
“Er, well, kinda. I mean, Iemitsu’s in town, and everyone else is busy, and I don’t wanna bug you so I can just leave if you want, I-” Tsuna’s rambling was brought to a halt by the slim finger on his lips. He drew a breath in surprise and the tip grazed his tongue. He looked up and met Mukuro’s amused gaze, feeling unable to look away. If his face was red before, it was hot enough to fry an egg on now.
“You’re always welcome, Tsunayoshi. Not only is it the least I can do, but I truly don’t mind your company either,” Mukuro said with a chuckle. He seemed to expect some kind of response, so Tsuna nodded dumbly.
It was going better than he’d expected, Tsuna had to admit a few hours later. Mukuro was a surprisingly not terrible host, telling Tsuna to sit and then getting tea for them both. As they played Mario Party, Tsuna realized that not only was he having fun, but Mukuro was too.
He’d rarely seen the Mist so unguarded before. In fact, the only time that was coming to mind was when Mukuro had been released from the water tank and he’d wrapped his feeble arms around Tsuna as tight as he could as he shook. Tsuna had been struck then with an overwhelming protectiveness, and had been the one to carry a blanket-wrapped Mukuro out of the prison with the rest of his guardians trailing behind them. Mukuro had fallen asleep on the plane ride home and used Tsuna as a pillow.
That had been the first time Tsuna felt like he truly understood what it meant to be a Sky. For all that the others were called his guardians, he was the one meant to protect them, shelter them, bring them together and set them free.
That was three years ago, right after the Arcobaleno curse was lifted. Mukuro had regained his health and filled out well in the meantime. He’d decided to leave his hair long. It wasn’t as long as it had been in the future, but it fell all the way down his back. He wore it in a ponytail most of the time, and braided it when he slept.
Tsuna slanted a glance to his left, only to see Mukuro looking at him as well. It was really unfair how the Mist could look away from the screen and still win.
“That’s a serious face. Penny for your thoughts?” Mukuro asked lightly, still maneuvering the controller because he was a show-off.
Tsuna winced as he lost the minigame again. “Nothing really. It’s just… I’m glad you’re one of my guardians, Mukuro.” Oh great, the blush was back with a vengeance.
On the screen, Mukuro’s character stopped abruptly. Tsuna turned to look at him in concern.
He was staring at him again, but differently. Softer? When he started to lean forward, Tsuna was at first confused and then shocked as Mukuro kept leaning in until their lips touched.
It wasn’t fierce like he might have expected from the Mist; instead, it was gentle and warm and soft. Tsuna was the one to deepen it, cupping the back of Mukuro’s head and drawing him closer.
The controllers fell to the floor, sounds of one of the characters (probably Tsuna’s) losing came from the TV, and the glasses of water might have tipped over. That was fine. They weren’t paying attention to anything but each other.
When they eventually had to part for air, they were both flushed and gasping, and Mukuro was sitting in Tsuna’s lap, chest to chest with him. He leaned back in hovered right in front of Tsuna’s lips, not yet closing the distance.
“For the record, despite my initial misgivings, I’m glad to be one of your guardians as well, Tsunayoshi,” Mukuro said before kissing him again. Tsuna was only too happy to let him.
Merry Christmas, Ppurificated!