Tsuna shook his head groggily as he shambled down the stairs; both to clear out the lingering cobwebs of sleep and to shake the soot of Reborn's over-zealous wake-up call from his hair. The sadistic home-tutor had been known to do that: wake Tsuna up violently despite having no real plans for him, yet woe betide the tenth-generation mob boss should he try to go back to sleep.

Yawning hugely, Tsuna leaned against the kitchen door frame, one foot scratching at the opposing calf, and an arm snaking up his pajama top to scratch at his scrawny stomach. "Whassat?" The preteen mumbled sleepily to his mother humming cheerfully at the counter. "Smells like Spanner's tea, let me have some." He ordered groggily.

"Good morning, Tsuna!" His mother chirped, bouncing over to give a much-protested kiss on the forehead. "It's a wonderful green tea that Kiyoshi-san recommended to me the other day, and I decided to spoil myself a little. After all, Papa works soooo hard for all of us." she sing-songed as she waltzed back to the counter as she pulled out another tea cup. "Who's Spanner?"

Uhhhg. Morning people. Tsuna silently lamented as he dropped into a chair at the unusually empty kitchen table. "Where is ev—" Then his mind caught up with the conversation. Shit. Spanner. Explain that, idiot-Tsuna.

"Oh." Said Nana, sounding a little hurt, "Well, Reborn-chan said he'd take the children out, and Bianca-chan thought she'd make it a bit of a date. Young love." She sighed with the sappy smile that she usually reserved when talking about her husband.

"Oh, Spanner!" Tsuna dropped a closed fist into an open palm as though he had just processed the question. "He was a character from my dream last night." Tsuna finished lamely, his cheeks shaded with a blush at the lame reply.

"And your dream offered you tea?" Nana questioned doubtfully as she set down Tsuna's cup in front of him, and sat down to sip at hers.

"Well, er, it… was a weird dream." Her son replied awkwardly as he accepted a scone from the plate Nana had brought with her from the counter. "I dreamed that it was ten years in the future, and Spanner was a mechanic or engineer or something, and he offered me really nice green tea and held a slip of paper with his name written on it in front of my face." He sipped at his too-hot tea, and made a face as he tried to swallow it.

"Why were you having tea with a mechanic?" Nana asked, her face drawn in confusion.

"I… had… achieved my childhood dream of becoming a giant robot and he was fixing me." Tsuna rushed out, happy he'd evaded the truth, but embarrassed at the quality of the lie. He sipped at his slightly cooler tea and took too-large bite out of his scone, just to fill his mouth and try to avoid more questions.

Nana laughed. "Oh, Tsuna. Well, at least you're enjoying your tea. We should do this more; talk and spoil ourselves a little. I have a nice Rooibus red that I like a lot!" She urged with a sunny smile.

Tsuna smiled a little in return and washed down the crumbs with another sip. "I'd like that, I think."

"Yes!" Nana bounced out of her seat and lifted an arm in the air as though she were in a cheesy anime. "TsuNana's Tea Club has officially opened! Tsunas and Nanas only!" She cheered.

Tsuna's groaned and face planted into his folded arms to hide his blush at the arranged mommy-son bonding time idea that he had agreed to, but couldn't really deny that the idea of a slow day devoted to nothing more than drinking good tea and talking with his mom was somewhat appealing. And it was really nice tea.

"Well, then, you should probably get dressed." Nana glanced at the clock set into the oven. "Reborn-chan wanted you to meet him at the train station in about 45 minutes." As Tsuna paled and bolted for the stairs, she smiled faintly but fondly. "But don't forget about our tea time!" She raised her voice so that her words would carry up the stairs. "I have dibs Wednesday after school!" She called as she picked up a scone and cracked it open to spread jam. "Who knows, I may try out the miniature pavlovas with raspberry mousse recipe I found, just for us." She told her scone conversationally.

"Thatsoundsgreatmom,Iwon'tforget, seeyoulaterloveyoubye!"

Nana daintily wiped her fingers on the napkin spread across her lap and sipped at her tea, still smiling fondly. She was glad Tsuna had more friends and was doing better in school, but some mother-son bonding time was long over-due. Yup, Wednesdays were TsuNana time, and TsuNana time only. She nodded decisively.

[]o[]O[]o[]

"Sawada-kun! We're going over to Deimon to watch practice, wanna come? Ryu-kun says you're an Eyeshield 21 fan."

Tsuna chewed on the inside of his lip and shifted from foot to foot as he stared at the small group at the back of the room. It wasn't often he was invited out with his classmates, and it was really nice to know that one of them remembered even such a trivial fact about himself like being an Eyeshield fan, but it was Wednesday…

With a quiet sigh, Tsuna continued packing his bag. "I can't, I promised my mom I'd help her with something tonight. Invite me again, though." He said earnestly, but slightly dipped in desperation.

"No worries," his classmate laughed, "Moms are like that. Next Thursday is a practice game, though, if you're free then."

"Yes!" Tsuna threw over his shoulder as he headed to the door. "Thanks so mumph-."

The Tenth's thanks were cut off by a solid wall of chest muscles.

"Ahahaha, Tsuna, you're such an airhead." Yamamoto teased but reached out an arm to steady Tsuna as the smaller boy stumbled back.

"No, you're just an asshole who lingers in doorways." Gokudera sniped as he shoved the taller brunet out of his way to examine his boss' nose.

"You're going to get called back into the student councilor's office if you just keep bickering." Tsuna said with as much wounded dignity as he could muster as he tried to bat Gokudera's firm hands away from his face. 'Tried' being the operative word.

"Whoa," Yamamoto laughed, but moved out of the doorway when Tsuna tried to brush by smoothly like Gokudera had, but couldn't quite pull it off. "Someone's grumpy. And where are we going in such a hurry?"

"I don't know where you two are going, but I'm going home." Tsuna let out a huge sigh that seemed to deflate his wounded dignity and stopped trying to knock away Gokudera's hand that had finally managed to reach the bridge of his nose to check for breaks, despite the fact the trio was walking briskly. "Listen, I promised my mom I'd spend more time with her, so Wednesdays are going to be the days that we drink tea together."

"Maman is having a tea party?" Gokudera perked up. "Excellent! This will be awesome training for body guarding while you're visiting a head of state, or if you're visiting in a casual setting in which we believe you're safe, but a terrorist or government sets off a bomb, and we have to…"

Tsuna tuned out.

"Ooooh, your mom's a really good baker, Tsuna, invite us too!" Yamamoto invited himself shamelessly.

"Nope," Tsuna shook his head. "Mom says just us."

"C'mon, you can't still be mad that we got called to the office in the middle of our group presentation, can you?" Yamamoto smiled his sparkliest smile.

"And then they call in an airstrike and we have to…"

Nope, Gokudera was still off on his tangent and no help.

"Whatever." Tsuna sighed, defeated once more. "But don't blame me when mom kicks you out."

"No way!" Yamamoto chuckled, your mom would never do that! She's too nice!"

[]o[]O[]o[]

"We're home!" Tsuna called out from the entryway, hopping around on one foot while trying to get the opposing shoe off.

"We're?" Nana questioned and stuck her head out of the kitchen to see for herself. "Oh. Takashi-kun and Hayato-kun. It's good to see you again." She didn't sound happy to see them again.

Tsuna froze in place in his struggles. "Yeah, they followed me home; can I keep them?" He tried lamely.

"I thought we were having tea today." She reminded him with a pointed look.

"Ahaha, we kinda invited ourselves, aunty." Yamamoto grinned charmingly.

"Speak for yourself, assho—jerk." Gokudera cut himself off and glanced up shyly at Nana, "I only came to make sure the tenth will be safe in the future!"

Nana looked confused. "Like your dream this morning, Tsukun?"

"I, uh…" Tsuna stammered. "Uh, I'm going to go change. Is Reborn home, or is he still out hunting mushrooms with Bianchi?"

"Yeah." Nana sighed. "After you left this morning, he even took the kids with him, just so we can have our tea time together this afternoon." She gave the interlopers reproachful looks, but finally sighed in resignation. "Well, you boys might as well come into the kitchen as Tsukun changes and I get set up."

"Thanks mom, be right back." Tsuna called after her as he passed the kitchen.

A little hesitant at the less than cheery greeting, both Gokudera and Yamamoto opted to loiter in the doorway rather than have a seat at the large, carefully set-for-two table.

"Er… So, Tsuna said that you were baking today." Yamamoto groped around for a conversational topic.

"Yes…" Nana paused and turned to stare at the wall-mounted phone set next to Gokudera's head with such intensity that the silver-bomber flinched back a bit. Nana's intensity dissolved into a tight smile. "Sorry, yes," she turned back to the counter where she'd been fussing with something. "Miniature pavlovas—little meringue cups—filled with raspberry mousse."

"Maman, may I ask what that was about?" Gokudera asked, still slightly shaken from the intensity of her stare.

"Hmm?" Nana hummed, "What what was about?"

"You just really seemed intent on the phone for a minute there." Gokudera answered awkwardly running a hand though his hair.

"Oh. Well…" She trailed off and looked off into space, lips set into a minute frown. "Well, I guess it's nothing to worry about, Hayato-kun." She smiled at him weakly.

"Maman!" Gokudera seemed to have been set on fire, for how quickly the flames of his enthusiasm had been lit. "You must tell me right away if something is worrying you! Are you being harassed, maman? Should I go have words with someone?" He demanded.

"Oh, no." She protested, and looked away in embarrassment. "It's just that… well, I've been getting some strange calls." She looked up quickly and brought her hands up just as swiftly to ward off any strange ideas Gokudera might be getting. "No, well, I mean… it's not a big deal… but a boy keeps calling here." Her eyebrows drew together in a frown and her hands slowly dropped down into her apron and subconsciously started wringing the material and smoothing it, over and over. "It's just that the boy always says such mean things about my poor Tsukun. And it's odd, he says that he goes to school with Tsukun, and I can hear other kids in the background, so he must be in school when he's calling—during a break, maybe?—and I was just thinking that either he hasn't called in a while.

"Not that I'm not glad that he isn't calling and saying such mean things!" She brought her hands back up again, but hesitated, and instead crossed them over her chest uncomfortably. "I think… I kind of think that such a shiftless, harassing boy wouldn't be in a proper club afterschool. Perhaps he's waiting at his home, or for tomorrow to call, but I know boys;" she gave a slight smile at her audience, "and I don't think he'll call again if his little friends aren't around to encourage him. I wonder if he's just lingering around the school, waiting to call again, and I can't help but wondering if he's waiting and hoping that Tsukun will pick up the phone next time." She finished and hugged herself tighter.

If Gokudera had been fired up earlier, he'd gone thermo-nuclear now.

"DON'T WORRY, MAMAN!" He roared, and turned to bolt to the door. "I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS BASTARD! HOW DARE HE HARASS THE TENTH'S MOTHER AND BAD-MOUTH THE BOSS! I'LL MAKE him wish he'd never…" His roar slowly trailed off as he barely managed to step into his shoes before tearing down the street back to the school.

Yamamoto's head swung between the door and a gently smiling Nana incredulously.

"Takashi-kun, be a dear and shut the door, won't you?"

Eyes wide and jaw slightly agape, Yamamoto complied.

"Now then, Takashi-kun, how is your father doing? I haven't heard from him in quite some time." She asked in an almost satisfied tone as she pulled a carton of raspberries from the refrigerator and set them on the counter.

"He, uh." Yamamoto paused to clear his throat, "He's doing good—well. I mean, he's both emotionally good and physically healthy."

"It's probably not any of my business, but is the store doing well?" Her eyebrows knit together as she trimmed a few leaves of mint off of the plant growing in her sunny window sill and ferried them to the sink to be rinsed.

"It's fine… why—may I ask if there's a reason behind your question?" Yamamoto corrected carefully.

"Oh, it's just such a big shop, and I know he does quite well—he has to do well! His cooking is fantastic!" Nana gushed and beamed at Yamamoto as she patted the leaves dry and started rinsing the raspberries.

"Thanks! I'll tell him you think so!" With his balance restored, so too came Yamamoto's trademark refreshing grin.

"But it really is such a big shop, and so busy. Hasn't he hired a helper?" She turned to the high schooler still lingering in the doorway as she dried her hands on her apron.

"Nope! Just us."

"Ohhh… How scary."

Yamamoto's stomach sunk. "How so, aunty?"

"He works so hard. What if he were to collapse from overwork?" She asked with a gleam in her eye. "Or what he were reaching for a box and overbalanced, throwing out his back or knocking shelves or boxed down on him? It just doesn't sound safe, him being alone in that big restaurant."

"Aunty, are you—" Yamamoto cut himself off. "Well, aunty, you have a point. Now that you mention it, I am a little worried he hasn't been resting properly. I think I'll head home today and help him instead. Sorry I couldn't stay for the tea party." He apologized a little desperately, edging away to the main hall and entryway.

"Oh, not at all, Takashi-kun. Give your father my best." Her smile was a little bit sharp as Yamamoto carefully pulled on his shoes and let himself out, taking care to pull the door shut behind him.

"Moooom! Have you seen my—hey, where did the guys go?" Tsuna bounded down the stairs to the kitchen where his mom was humming to herself and carefully garnishing the pavlovas with mint and a raspberry each.

"Your what, Tsukun?"

"Oh, my old baseball cards. I was going to show Yamamoto, but I think Lambo's been in my closet again."

"I haven't but I'll keep an eye out for them."

"And the guys?" Tsuna asked curiously, though his eyes were trained on the tea quietly seeping on the table.

"Oh, Hayato-kun forgot something at school and Takashi-kun had to help out his daddy." She smiled as she untied her apron and swept around to the table with a flourish of her skirt, holding the sweet treats on a tray. "It's a shame, but never mind: it's TsuNana's tea time."

A/N: The alternate name for this story was Nature and Nurture. I'd love to see if you know why~