ilovesmilingfools: Oh, thank you! Sorry for the delay. havensentskysky: Thank you! The Red Undertaker: Good luck with that plan! I hope it works well. eternalilith: I did try and make Dino seem more mature! He was fourteen-fifteen (I can't remember now) in the last chance, so I wanted a change for him. Iemitsu's a bad father no matter what, so what's wrong with a bit of discipline? I'm sure it would happen if he was, uh, real? Yay, it made you feel warm and fuzzy! I hope you enjoy this one too, Yuka-nee! yume'tokidoki: *pats your back* Don't cough to death! Haha, I haven't really thought about Ken and the other one. xD nightingale mistress: Did I ever tell you how much I love you in general? Lmao you can predict the story! You're now surpassing me with seeing the future! (Yep, Ryouhei stayed for a good few hours and then felt cheated.) Hmm, I always saw Dino and Mukuro being friends and Kyouya just... getting in the way? Mostly because I know a lot of people that ship Mukuro/Dino. (Yes, in that order.) Iemitsu's a bad father in the manga and anime, so he's a bad father here as well! I'll somehow stick Byakuran in there for you! SkylarkLove: Squalo's already there! :D Takoizumegane: But they're so young! Blur-Berry: Almost typed blue-berry. Thank you so much! And I actually helped arrange that contest with my friends and never well... submitted anything. I never do. xD Anonymous: Thank you so much! Well, I'll consider that thought you just planted. ;) You're okay with their age difference? df14-blacksnow: Welcome back! Thank you. :) simply anonymous: Haha thank you! Gokudera will be in this. (He's been mentioned as Bianchi's little brother, just no name.) Fran-anisca Grave: Squalo has been mentioned in a previous chapter, and he is there. :D eternalilith actually helped me with a whole back story of Alaude and Oregano's relationship, so, don't worry, they'll definitely appear. PureCieloFiamme: Thanks! LukaNezumi: First of all, thank you for the long review! In a few of my other stories (ones that have been deleted, probably) I kept the groups as they were, but since I don't really read Kateikyoushi and I haven't watched/read any official stuff since the anime finished, I decided to mix it up. I just go with whatever goes to mind, really. Tsuna and Kyouko might be together, but I don't really know yet. (Kyouko's still got to have her first awkward love.) satori02: Sorry! I just got delayed since it was awkward to write. Eyes17k: I love you! AwesomeGirlisAwesome: By any chance are you awesome? Squalo's already there! He's young! FiyoriTakeshi: Well, I've been lurking on the Internet. :'D

家庭教師ヒットマン REBORN! © 天野明

five: a planned snapdragon.
I wonder if there's even something like that.

"Come on!" Dino urged, letting the water hit his ankles. "It's the sea, Kyouya!"

They had somehow persuaded their parents to let them have a day off school so they could travel to the beach. It was a few hours away, but in the end, Dino decided that the sweltering heat inside of the car was certainly worth it. Although he had hoped that the lot of them that lived near each other would've been able to go, Lussuria had been adamant that his two children couldn't go. Ryouhei had been suspended enough had therefore had a adequate amount of days off.

So, in the end, it was only Kyouya that had joined them. Oregano had been called away on business early morning, and her colleagues were certainly going to laugh about her summer attire when she turned up.

"Too hot," the black-haired male replied, staying firmly seated underneath the umbrella on the sand. He, apparently, didn't enjoy the feeling of sand on his toes, nor the saltiness of the water. Oregano hadn't warned them about his mood or aversion to the sea.

"You'll be cooler in the water!" Dino replied, laughing softly as he looked to his right to see Tsuna trip over a pebble into the water. From the impact, some of the water splashed Dino in the face and only made him laugh more.

Kyouya, on the other hand, deliberately pushed himself back further on his purple towel.

"Why don't you join them, Kyouya?" Nana asked, settling down beside him. She was kind enough to take the straw hat off of her head and gently place it on his, stifling a chortle as it almost covered his eyes.

He shook his head.

Dino shrugged back at his mother before continuing to play with his brother instead. Tsuna had always liked the sea, even if he wasn't able to visit it often. The last time they had been there together was when their dad had decided that he wanted to take them both out—it was the last time Nana had joined them when they went out. Iemitsu hadn't returned to visit them after that, but he did send a card for Christmas. Just a small card that held no future promises within it at all.

"Did you just splash me?" he asked in disbelief, watching as Tsuna grinned ear to ear before retreating under water, practically scuttling away as he held his breath. He emerged a few metres away, still grinning.

"You can't get me back!"

The older of the two took that as a challenge. "Oh, I'm going to get you good."

Tsuna tried to swim away, but since he wasn't experienced the speed wasn't very fast at all. "You can try, giant!"

They continued to play in the shallow end after Tsuna freaked out about maybe standing on a crab, even after Dino assured him that there were none underneath his feet. It was nice for them to both me out together, even though their mother was metres away resting upon a towel. She'd claimed her skin wouldn't have been able to handle the sun that day, but Dino knew that it was so she wouldn't leave Kyouya alone, especially since his mother wasn't there that day.

"Hey!" Dino shrieked before flushing. He realised how high pitched his voice had been, and that didn't lessen his embarrassment from Tsuna splashing him with the water directly into his eyes. He rubbed at them, pouting childishly. "That was a cheap shot."

"I win, I win!" Tsuna sang, splashing within the water more.

"I'll hold you underneath the water again," he jokingly threatened, laughing aloud at the terrified expression upon his brother's face. There was no tension between them any more; or, rather, there was no negative tension. When it was over the last piece of food it was an entirely different matter. "I'm the man of the house, remember," Dino said, puffing his chest up proudly. "I can make you eat soup for a month straight."

"You wouldn't if you loved me." Tsuna stuck his tongue out, running out of the sea and proceeding to get sand all over his feet. The blonde followed after, still grinning, and settled down on the spare towel and grimaced at his feet. The grains were uncomfortable between his toes. "Kyou-chan," Tsuna started, leaning into his friend, "you should have swam with us."

Kyouya shook his head. "It's too hot."

"Well why did you agree to come here, then?" Dino asked, narrowing his eyes in mock suspicion. He trailed his index finger over his chin to complete the look. "I think we've got a new case, Tsunayoshi."

"A new case?" his brother repeated excitedly, shooting up from the floor and clapping his hands in excitement. "I'll solve it before you!"

"I said we, Tsuna, we." Dino laughed, running a hand through his wet hair to stop it pressing against his forehead. "We're partners, remember? That means we work together."

"You'll be the one eating soup if I win."

"Boys," Nana interrupted, taking Tsuna's hand and pulling him down, "he came for the ice cream, obviously." She continued as if she hadn't said anything, rubbing Tsuna's hair dry with a towel.

He perked up, gripping the towel himself and loudly asking, "Ice cream?"

Dino pretended to be offended instead. He placed a hand over his heart, exaggerating his facial expression as he questioned, "You had ice cream without us?"

"You're only getting some if you're good," Nana teased, passing the towel over to him, "isn't that right, Kyouya?"

The black-haired male nodded his head slowly, and whilst Dino's gaze shifted to him, his eyes inspected the oddly coloured pair of lips. They were only ever so slightly coloured, but it was obvious that there had been a ice pop there only moments ago, rather than ice cream. "You had cherry again, didn't you?" he asked, lips curling into a smirk. Kyouya nodded slowly again, furrowing his eyebrows and most likely wondering how he had been found out.

"But cherry's my favourite!" Tsuna whined, leaning onto his friend again as if he was trying to hurt him. "Kyou-chan, you always steal my stuff."

"I didn't see your name on it."

Tsuna continued to whine, although it was for fun more than anything. Amusement was shining within her dark irides as he proclaimed, "I'm going to write my name on everything you own!"

Nana laughed, covering her mouth with one hand whilst she reached behind her and produced another ice pop. The wrapping was still upon the treat, so she handed the wrapper over to her whining son whilst shaking, still. Kyouya did almost the exact same; instead of laughing, he was glancing anywhere but at Dino whilst passing over the sweet.

"Well, thanks." Dino blinked, wondering how he hadn't noticed that Kyouya's arm had been behind his back through almost all that time. "I'm going to hide sweets for you next time," he announced, already wondering which ones he should buy and try to hide away from the rest of them.

-x-

To most of their pleasure the temperature carried on rising for the rest of the mouth. Dino was gradually discarding his clothes before he continued to be told to get dressed by his mother, whilst Tsuna was following in his footsteps. Certainly haven't Ryouhei do the same thing wasn't helping neither. Kyouya was firm on keeping all of his clothes on, though.

"Oh, I can't handle it any more," Dino proclaimed as he was walking with his friend. He stopped to a halt in the middle of the pathway—but only after making sure there was no one behind him—and threw his bag down onto the floor. He slipped off his blazer and tie, pushing the sleeves of his shirt up and barely resisting the urge to take that off, too. Ryouhei had been mocking him the whole way home by flaunting off the fact that he was in a tank top, thanks to him skipping the last lesson to go to one of his clubs. "That's so much better."

"Trying to seduce the ladies?" Ryouhei waggled his eyebrows, his lips curling into a suspicious smile as he eyed his friend. Dino narrowed his eyes in return, jabbing him lightly in the ribs. "You can hit my face, not my body!"

"It's normally the other way round," the blonde pointed out, amused by the odd reaction, "people usually care for their face more."

"I don't play sports with my face!" Ryouhei raised his hand to clutch his cheek. "This," he said, tapping the flesh once, "won't let me win a match."

"It might if your opponents were gay," he joked, laughing aloud at Ryouhei's scared expression.

"I still can't believe I thought that guy was a girl before!" Ryouhei exclaimed, still shocked as he didn't appreciate Dino laughing at his misery. As soon as they'd started their new school, Ryouhei had caused trouble and still couldn't forget about it, especially since there were always reminders in his class. "Do you know what Squalo bloody did today?" he asked, the question rhetorical. "He purposely emptied my bag onto the floor and claimed that he slipped. I'm going to punch him soon, I swear."

Dino didn't have any sympathy. He patted his friend mockingly on the back, pulling him close to whisper in his ear, "You deserve everything you get, man."

As soon as Ryouhei tried to shove him, he ran as fast as he could forward. His feet were practically echoing off of the pavement as he ran, trying to get away whilst knowing that it was a losing battle. Ryouhei was in almost all the sports teams at their school, considered to be a blessing from the gods just for excelling in anything physical rather than educational. Whenever they had gym together and Ryouhei somehow ended up as the captain, Dino always told him afterwards that he wouldn't have been offended if Ryouhei didn't pick him, and yet he always picked him first.

"You know what? I'm going to get you back," the grey-haired male proclaimed as they finally slowed down, approaching their apartment building. "And I know exactly how."

"Yes, yes," Dino tried to sing before realising he was almost out of breath, "I'd like to see you try."

"You're going to regret that," Ryouhei threatened, "extremely."

"Bring it on, old man," he mocked, started to run off a second later. Ryouhei chased after him immediately, catching up in no time and knocking the blonde down to the ground. Grabbing onto his wrists, he held Dino down to the ground with a look of determination in his eyes. "Oh?"

"I'm young, you hear me? Young!"

They were both surprised when another body collided with them. "No, you're old!" Tsuna proclaimed, his head appearing from over Ryouhei's shoulder. He was trying to balance on top of him, but fell off a moment after and pouted. "You knocked me off on purpose!"

Ryouhei finally let go of Dino's wrists and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "This old man has a bad back!" he proclaimed, "I can't keep up with you young whipper-snappers."

"Whipper what?" another voice asked. Kyouko was standing behind them, furrowing her eyebrows curiously. "Is it bad that we're young?"

"You're the spawn of the devil, Kyouko," Dino teased, still with his back against the floor. He laughed aloud as she stomped her foot on the ground—she was becoming increasingly dramatic, all because her brother's reactions were amusing whenever she would do something that wasn't considered normal. It was already obvious that he was going to be an overbearing older brother, and she seemed to accept that with open arms. "Keep away, devil child!"

"You're the devil, not me!" she accused, pointing her index finger towards them. Tsuna joined in, though he nodded in agreement instead of voicing it aloud. "You steal all of my things."

Dino barely stifled a snort. "Technically they're my things, Kyouko..."

"But I won them in a battle!"

He gasped, pushing himself up so he could clearly see her. "You cheat!" he accused, copying her movements and pointing his index finger. "You get your brother to do your dirty work for you!"

"I chose to tackle you to the floor myself," Ryouhei defended, not noticing how Kyouko clapped her hands together in happiness from his proclamation, "things were getting too rough."

"You wouldn't even allow me to have a sword!" he responded, childishly jutting his lower lip out.

"Swords are dangerous when guys have them."

"This is favouritism at its worst," Dino accused, standing up and brushing the dirt off of his clothing. Tsuna copied his actions and grinned when they made eye contact—maybe it was because Dino hadn't tripped over in front of him lately, and therefore was slowly working up to a good big brother status. He knew it wouldn't last for long, though. He cursed his luck by thinking so, and as soon as he took a step forward he tripped over a pebble. "That hurt," he mumbled against the floor.

As he heard the three behind him burst out in loud laughter, his face grew hot.

"Fine!" he said, sniffing dramatically. "I don't need friends like you guys anyway. I have Kyouya; he's all I need."

"Kyou-chan's with his dad!" Kyouko pointed out smugly, grinning at him. "You're all alone!"

"I'll cry until he's back, then."

Tsuna replied that time, pouting. "He's not back until Monday..."

Of course he'd been told before that Kyouya was going to be absent for that day of school and also for the weekend—meaning he hadn't had to walk to the elementary school to walk him home for that one day—but it had slipped his mind for a moment. He was just too used to the younger male being beside him, even appearing within his room at the most random of times. Thankfully, though, Kyouya hadn't appeared when it was an awkward time yet. "I'm crying already!"

"Because you're so alone?" Ryouhei asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement. He stood up and jabbed his friend in the shoulder, having his revenge. "We could just ignore you all weekend unless you want to apologise."

"Kyouko has to apologise first." He sniffed.

It was only a few seconds later that Kyouko collided with his body, wrapping her arms around his waist and grinning up at him. "I'm sorry, Dino," she apologised, not sounding sincere at all, "but it's not our fault you're all alone. Kyou-chan's the evil one leaving you all by yourself."

"Hey," Dino scolded, hugging her back for a moment, "don't speak bad about my best friend."

Ryouhei looked taken aback. "What about me?" he asked, grinning when Kyouko was by his side once more. Tsuna had even joined them so it was a line of three and then Dino just in front with his arms crossed over his chest. "I thought we were friends forever."

"Ryou, I don't want to break you and Squalo apart."

Just the mention of the grey-haired male's classmate set him off into a little fit of anger. They all watched, bemused, before patting him sympathetically somewhere—there was always going to be someone that he didn't get along with because of his personality, that was for sure. He was just too full on and didn't know what an indoor voice was.

"I'm definitely getting revenge on you," Ryouhei proclaimed, bumping his shoulder against Dino's. "I could set you up on a date with one of those girls from your class."

"You mean the ones that like to laugh at me?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure that'll go well."

"Oh, no," Ryouhei replied, raising an eyebrow smugly, "I mean the ones that stare at you like you're a piece of meat, not laugh at you. They laugh with you."

"You're delusional, you know." Dino laughed, waving off the comment with a flick of his wrist. He didn't mind, really, that his class found humour in his clumsiness. He wasn't the class clown on purpose, thankfully. They were a lot nicer than back when he lived with his dad, too. He'd been mocked before since his dad was never there to pick him up, or present for the days were parents could sit in on their lessons. He had to be mature, whilst the rest of the class played around and got others to clean up their mess. "And would you mind what you're saying? Kyouko looks like she's been hit with a shovel."

"But you are a piece of meat, Dino," she said, furrowing her eyebrows, "I could eat you easily."

"Cannibalism is frowned upon in our country." He barely stifled a laugh, causing her expression to turn even more confused. Tsuna was furrowing his eyebrows beside her, too, even bothering to place his hand on his chin in thought. "And in every other country, too. You best not try it."

She stuck her tongue out at being told what to do. "I might cook you first instead."

"Knowing you, you'd burn me."

"No fire!" Ryouehi interrupted before they could get into another debate. Whenever the two siblings happened to come over to their apartment and intrude on breakfast, Kyouko was always there claiming she could cook better than how Dino could, and had even attempted to swat him out of the way before. Sometimes, though, she got the better of him and caused the food to burn. Always, he placed the blame on her and served the ruined food to her brother as punishment.

"I'm never making breakfast for you two ever again," Dino proclaimed, looking off so he didn't have to see their expressions. "Not until Kyouya comes back, at least."

"Don't punish us because you're lonely!" Kyouko whined, kicking him lightly in the shin.

"But you'll still cook for me, right?" Tsuna asked, lightly tugging on his brother's wrist. "I don't want to eat more of Mom's failed food. You make the best pancakes, Dino."

"Flattery won't work this time, Tsuna."

"Will you not make us anything at all?" he asked, trying to make his eyes purposely bigger to receive sympathy. "I really, really, really don't think I can handle eating Mom's food until Kyou-chan's back."

"...Maybe only you," he mumbled. A few seconds later Tsuna collided with him and hugged him tightly, and they realised just how hot the temperature was. All of the talking had distracted them for awhile, but as soon as a droplet of sweat trailed down Dino's temple, he sucked in a deep breath. "Okay, it's too hot for this. Really, it is."

"It really is hot," Kyouko agreed and reached down to clutch onto the end of her school shirt. She was able to get the clothing just past her belly button before the rest of them realised.

"Kyouko!" Dino exclaimed, surprised.

"Kyouko, no. I told you before, no!" Ryouhei scolded lightly, his hands falling on top of his sister's and pulling her shirt down to its proper position. "Girls can't just take their tops off! You're too young for this, my heart can't take it!"

Dino groaned, covering Tsuna's eyes as she tried to pull the shirt off multiple times more. "She's going to be an exhibitionist."

-x-

Somehow the blonde ended up listening to Ryouhei's comment and considered that some of the class weren't laughing at him, rather with him. He began to talk to individuals that he never thought he would, and when there was a seating change, he purposely sat away from Mukuro so he could talk to others more openly. Within a few months he was close with almost all of the class and when a friend asked to come see his home, he didn't see any reason to refuse.

"Just give me one moment," Dino apologised, taking his phone out of his pocket to call someone quickly. His friend nodded in understanding, allowing him some space for the call. "Hey, Ryou?" he called when the call finally connected.

"What is it? I'm waiting outside for you right now, you know."

"I've got a friend coming over today." He made sure not to mention a name. He knew that Ryouhei would have thrown a fit, especially since Dino had complained about the person who was beside him many a time. "Would you mind walking without me? I hope Kyouya won't mind just for one day."

"If he hits me, I'm going to hit you in the exact same place," Ryouhei replied. "And you better show that girl a good time, you devil." He promptly hung up after that, leaving him dumbfounded.

"Sorry about that," Dino apologised with a small smile, willing the heat from his cheeks to cool down. "My friend's taking my brother home for me today."

"Isn't that a bit awkward for your brother?" M.M. asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. She was originally one of the group that he tended to stay away from. Her along with Hana, a painfully blunt brunette that liked to hurt anyone's ego, were the duo that he had originally despised the most. He ended up sitting next to her in a few lessons, and eventually found a common interest. Although it was just their sense of humours that were the same, it allowed them to talk normally until someone shot them a weird look or they were scolded by the teacher.

"Not really." He shrugged. "He's my next door neighbour."

"Oh, really?" she asked, though there wasn't much interest in her tone. With a pale hand she pushed the light scarlet bangs out of her face, letting them fall with the rest of her chin-length hair. "You never really talk about your family or friends."

"I could say the same back to you," he pointed out, sticking his hands in his pockets as they started to walk together. "I don't know anything about you, really. All we talk about is... well, random things, actually."

"Hey, it's your fault for not manning up and changing the topic," she teased, lightly pressing her shoulder against his. Dino raised an eyebrow against the close contact, but didn't mention it. They never really got that close often, the most they'd done was bump fists when they won a competition of sorts in one class. "It really is misleading when you just go along with some of our talks, though."

He blinked. "Misleading how?"

"I thought you were gay for two years."

The breath he was inhaling got stuck for a moment and he promptly started to choke. Heat rushed to Dino's face as he patted his chest to stop himself from being even more embarrassing, but it didn't work. After a few minutes when he'd settled down again he asked, "What?"

"You didn't look at any of us." M.M. shrugged her shoulders, as if her line of thinking was the correct one. "And when we finally started talking you didn't try and look down my shirt at all."

Dino was looking at her as though she'd grown two heads. Heat had rushed to his cheeks again, but that time only partly in embarrassment. Of course he'd taken a few peeks, and he was thankful that he hadn't been caught at all. It was the small detail that most of the class had suspected that he was homosexual that had caught him off guard—were they all really that petty to spread around rumours?

"I was trying to be polite." He cleared his throat, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "It would've been rude to stare blatantly."

She raised an eyebrow, starting to walk slower than before. "Are you trying to say you have looked down my shirt?"

A sheepish smile crossed his lips as he replied, "Maybe?"

"You're terrible, Dino."

"Actually, I think you're supposed to compliment me for being sly," he commented cockily, barely missing her fist as she punched him lightly in the arm. He managed to look for a moment before pushing her lightly back, running forward when M.M. was ready to slam her bag down onto him. "Gosh, I never knew you were so violent."

"The classroom restricts my powers, that's all." She shrugged. "This is perfectly normal."

"Please keep a certain distance away from me," he warned, jokingly narrowing his eyes. "I don't want any injuries that aren't self-inflicted."

She snorted before covering her nose and mouth with her hand, embarrassed by the sudden noise. Dino smirked knowingly, about to mock her for the slip up, before he managed to stumble forward and almost land flat on his face. Heat immediately coated his cheeks as he tried to cover up the fall, but M.M. Had already caught on. She was laughing like there was no tomorrow behind him, happily cracking up over him possibly almost breaking his nose.

"That's what you get for trying to seem cool," she joked, still laughing.

"Oh, be quiet," he mumbled, embarrassed.

The atmosphere was lighter when they'd finally gotten past the awkward conversations. They continued to joke around, not mentioning family or friends and happily walked into Dino's bedroom and settled down on the bed. Rather than sitting beside her, though, Dino fidgeted and sat down on the floor instead, leaning against the curtain hiding the door to the garden.

"I wasn't expecting your room to look like this, to be honest."

"Why is that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Is it too tidy?"

"It's not that." She laughed, pushing the hair out of her face. "I was expecting posters of partially naked women, actually. That's what most guys have."

"Well, you should already know I'm not like most guys." He rolled his eyes, not offended by her expectations. Only the most random of males within his class had posters like that in their rooms, apparently. The discussions during their breaks between lessons sometimes shifted to the strangest of topics, frequently centred around the opposite gender. "do you have pictures of topless men in your room? I doubt it."

"Of course not," M.M. answered, pushing her hair out of her face again. It was a nervous habit, apparently. "I wouldn't let anyone else see the pictures I have."

The corner of his lip twitched in amusement. "Are you hiding them in a diary or something? Or a journal, if you want to call it that." She must have been aware that they were still alone at that point; Tsuna wasn't there to make any noises, and Nana wasn't intruding with the excuse of drinks.

"You'll never know."

"I guess not." He shrugged, not particularly bothered. The atmosphere was becoming awkward again, mostly because of the distance he'd put between them. As much as Dino tried to think of an excuse to sit on the bed beside her, he knew it would have been obvious. So, he gave up and simply settled down beside her on the mattress. "The door was uncomfortable."

"Door?" M.M. blinked. "Dino, you were sat against your wall."

"No, I wasn't," he pointed out, "just pull the curtain back and you'll see into my garden. Well, the garden I share with everyone here."

"You all share a garden?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "I thought most apartment complexes don't have any gardens at all."

He shrugged, not knowing how to answer that. He hadn't lived in any other, or even asked anyone regarding their garden situations. It was a pointless conversation; he didn't mind whether they had gardens or not.

"Do you all have doors or something?"

"Yes." Wasn't it obvious?

"So if you happened to have a relationship with a neighbour, you could sneak into their room?"

He had yet to do that at all—none of the little group he was in had travelled into each rooms yet, at least not the back way. They'd always announced their entrance through the front door, greeting everyone on the way. "If I was a pedophile, yes." He snorted. "Unless I started dating Ryouhei, then there's only children."

"Ryouhei?" M.M. asked, furrowing her brow as she attempted to think of who that was. "You mean that sports freak? He smells damn awful when I pass him in the corridor."

Dino shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how to answer that. He didn't want the two of them to hate each other—though, it was almost impossible for Ryouhei to hate anyone—especially if he wanted the girl beside to visit him more often. "Yeah," he started. "That's who I mean. He's the friend that took my brother home today."

"Well, I don't see your brother home. Do they usually take this long?" She'd finally caught on, or had just announced it.

Without a doubt Ryouhei probably had Tsuna, along with Kyouya, round his apartment and was trying to entertain them. He caught on pretty quickly for the most random of things, but Dino knew he'd do the same if he was in his position. "They're probably at a park or something. Ryou's got his sister to take home, too."

"There's so many children around here? I wouldn't be able to stand the noise."

"You don't like children?" he asked, surprised.

"Nope." M.M. smirked. "I guess I won't be having babies, then."

"That's not what I was thinking about!" Dino spluttered, feeling the heat go to his face immediately. As much as he tried not to think of the images that went along with that sentence, a few popped into his mind. Rather than thinking of an excuse, he blurted out the real reason he was asking about children. "It's just that you're probably never going to come round here again."

"Well, that depends on how well you impress me, Dino." M.M. continued to smirk, apparently happy with how flustered Dino had become.

Instead of replying to her properly, he burst out into a hearty spout of laughter. "I'm supposed to impress you? We both know that's not going to happen."

"...Yes." She was looking around the door, even bothering to focus on a space on the wall, and inspecting the hallway, too, instead of looking directly at him. Dino shifted uncomfortably by noticing, unsure of whether he's said the right thing.

"Welcome to my home for the first and last time, M.M.." Dino grinned, trying to lift the atmosphere and waved his hand around the room. "Spectacular, isn't it?"

"Will you just shut up and kiss me, Dino?"

"I'm sorry, what?" he spluttered, unsure of whether he had heard her correctly. The coy smile across her lips didn't help him, either, it was just making him even more embarrassed. "I don't think I heard you correctly. Could you repeat yourself, please?"

"You're polite even when you're flustered."

He had to assume that he had, indeed, heard her right. Dino gulped whilst glancing down, noticing that she'd somehow managed to shift closer to him on the bed. Their shoulders were only just lightly touching, whilst their knees were close, too.

"Is that why it's been awkward between us?" he asked, quietly. If that was why she thought he allowed her into his home, then she probably thought more of their relationship than he did. They were only just friends, he had thought. They joked, stayed away from personal topics, and yet there M.M. sat on his bed wanting him to push that. When she nodded her head, Dino leaned forward uncertainly, feeling his cheeks flush as he knew that he was going to embarrass himself.

He felt even more awkward as he tried not to look her in the eyes, sighing to himself in relief as she gently closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable to happen. He pressed his lips tentatively against hers, feeling a rush of confidence as she responded almost immediately. There was only a slight pressure on their lips as they moved; it was slow, but clumsy.

When M.M. placed her hand upon his, Dino stiffened for a moment before continuing. He'd finally worked up the courage—after mentally shouting at himself—to push the kiss further. As he tentatively trailed his appendage over her bottom lip, he abruptly pulled back when there was a loud noise from the wall next to them.

As more noises were produced, sounding as though something heavy was crashing, Dino was already up from the bed and opening up the sliding door into the garden.

"What the hell?" M.M. asked, scowling. "You said your brother was with that sports freak! So why are you leaving?"

Dino grimaced from her attitude. If she really was going to keep referring to his friends that way, their relationship wasn't going to be very good at all. "I care about the kid next door, he's close enough to be family, and if you can't deal with that, well... I'll see you at school."

He didn't wait for an answer. He knocked against Kyouya's door and then tried the handle, reminding himself to scold the younger male later as it was already open. Dino quickly entered the door and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that a shelf had fallen down, bringing the rest of them and the contents down as well. He didn't waste time in standing still and staring, and quickly checked whether Kyouya was okay.

Rather than asking why he was there, Kyouya questioned, "Why is your face red?"

He wasn't about to say that not even a minute ago he was kissing a girl on his bed. "It's red from worry. I thought you were seriously hurt."

"I'm fine." Dino blinked, relieved that he'd accepted it so easily. "I thought you were busy today."

"So you thought I wouldn't come in here, worried?" Dino questioned, laughing lightly and flicking the younger male's forehead. Kyouya scowled as he rubbed the spot where he had been flicked, staring at the ground. "I'm never too busy for you."

-x-

AN: I think this is my first time referencing something in a chapter? "You're terrible, Muriel" was going through my head all the way through the last scene. I know that M.M.'s not a popular character at all but I'd like to point out, it wasn't me that chose her! I asked someone (I can't remember who now) to name a random female character, so they did. They don't really work well together, but that's the last of M.M. in this story. Many have requested that Squalo, particularly, should be in this story when he already was. In one of the previous chapters Ryouhei talks about some student he thinks is female in his class—that's Squalo.

Just a reminder to anyone who's confused that with each chapter the ages are going up by one year until Kyouya's sixteen. In this chapter he's nine. Just a few more, okay? And then it'll slow down and focus on their more, well, adult relationship and the people around them. It's not just going to be cute things and growing up all the way through.

Thank you to anyone who's reading this. Also has no one noticed the chapter names yet?

"Do you know what high school means, boys? Shorter skirts."
"I kind of made her cry."