A few days later at dinnertime his mother finally utters those dreaded words Tsuna never wanted to hear.

"Tsu-kun, Reborn is coming back from his trip to Italy this weekend. Aren't you excited to see him again?"

"I'm not," Tsuna says, sighing at the end.

"Now, now, don't say that. It's a shame he had to go on a business trip on such short notice," she breaks the steamed fish in front of her in pieces with her chopsticks. Tsuna tries to imagine Reborn's head being crushed to pieces by those chopsticks, before adamantly wiping away the vivid image when the chopsticks near her mouth.

"Yeah," he eventually forces the words out of his own mouth without any feeling behind them. "Truly a shame."

"We should have a feast when he gets back. Wouldn't you like that, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna stops the immediate no that almost burst out of his mouth. His mother would be disappointed if he disagreed, and then make the feast anyway because she's always complaining that only cooking for two is no fun. Before resigning himself to the fate of a feast with only his mother and Reborn, he remembers Gokudera and Yamamoto.

"Can I invite some friends? Uh, it's not much of a feast if we only have three people, right?"

Nana's eyes light up brighter than the brightest supernova, "Of course! Who are you inviting? Oh! One of them has to be Gokudera, right? Did you make more friends at school? Is that the reason you snuck out of the house a few nights ago?"

Ah, she found out. Why did Tsuna even think he could keep that a secret from his mother, he was much too naive. Scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly, he mutters, "Yeah, sorry for sneaking out a night, Mom. I didn't want to wake you up."

She laughs lightly, "Next time just go out the front door, alright? It's alright if you want to go out on a walk."

Tsuna nods.

"Oh, but you have to tell me about your new friend! What are they like? Have I ever met them?"

He tried to jump off the roof— "He's the ace on the baseball team. And he's really nice. I think you'll like him. You might have seen him around Namimori, but I'm not sure."

"Hm… well, I'll just have to wait until our feast! Are you inviting anyone else?"

"No, that's it."

"Alright! Then I'll plan the dinner for six. Hm… Tsu-kun? Do you have any requests?"

Tsuna shakes his head, and then remembers when Gokudera had Nana's lunch box, "Oh, I think Gokudera really liked the croquettes you packed last time. And when I went to the convenience store with Yamamoto, he seemed to like the fried chicken the most. So… croquettes and fried chicken?"

His mother smiles the way she only smiles when she's planning overkill for a dinner, "I'll see what I can do! In the mean time, why don't you see if there's anyone else you can invite? Cooking for more is always more fun."

Tsuna frowns. There's no one else he ever talks to, but maybe for his mother, it's time he gives it his all, "I'll try my best."

"That's all I ask for, Tsu-kun."

—

"Dinner this weekend? Sure, I'm free. How's your mom doing?" Gokudera asks.

"She's good. She also asked me to tell you she's making lots of croquettes, if you needed any extra incentive on coming."

Gokudera's cheeks redden slightly, "Ah, she noticed?"

"I told her," Tsuna clarifies. "And you're also coming right, Yamamoto?"

Yamamoto puts one hand behind his head, "Yup! Your mom's cooking is too good to miss out!"

Tsuna frowns, "Stop stealing my lunch."

"It's hard to resist, you know?"

"I can ask her to make a lunch box for you too. She already makes them for Gokudera, one more won't hurt."

"But the fun comes from taking food that's not meant for you!"

"You're terrible."

"You really are terrible," Gokudera finally chimes in, after watching the rally between the two. "Your dad makes you lunch already."

"We could trade?" Yamamoto asks hopefully.

"I'm good…" Tsuna says tiredly.

"I'm good as well," Gokudera follows. "You'll get to have some this weekend. Grow some patience."

"Patience is hard when you only have one arm to work with," Yamamoto complains, swinging his casted arm in a sling back and forth. "Can't do much of anything."

"Then find a way to waste time. You can go slam your head on that glass window right there, for starters. Land yourself in the hospital and bam, it'll be the weekend before you know it," Gokudera suggests thoughtfully.

"Gokudera," Tsuna deadpans. "No one is going to the hospital. But I probably should anyway; talking to you guys is giving me a headache."

The three of them look at each other with blank looks before erupting in a fit of laughter. The classmates around them shoot them looks of confusion and annoyance before returning to their own conversations. Tsuna doesn't care.

This is the stupidest conversation he's had in years, but it's also the most fun he's had in years. He's long forgotten the feeling of having friends around him, but if his friends are like this, it might not turn out so bad.

You don't deserve this—

Fuck off, he says to his own brain. Fuck off and keep my heart beating or something. I don't need this bullshit.

When the three finally settle down, the teacher walks into the classroom as if on cue. Yamamoto and Gokudera wave before heading back to their seats at the front. By the time the teacher begins droning about solving for x's and y's, Tsuna's already staring out the window at the sky.

—

They've grabbed their lunches and are walking up to the rooftop where they've been eating lunch together the last few days when Tsuna voices his problem.

"Mom wants me to invite more people for the dinner. The problem is, I don't really know anyone else. Is there anyone you guys want to invite?"

"No," Gokudera says.

"Hm," Yamamoto puts a hand to his chin. "I could invite the people from the baseball team… but they're…"

After Yamamoto's broken arm, and consequently, attempted suicide, Yamamoto's been put on a temporary break from the baseball team. Tsuna's heard from unintentionally eavesdropping on other students that the baseball team members are now reluctant to even meet Yamamoto's eyes, let alone talk. There's also rumours going around that Yamamoto might not be accepted back into the team, but Tsuna suspects that's just a rumour.

He's seen them play without Yamamoto. It would be idiotic not to accept him back into the team.

"Don't worry about it, I'll see if there's anyone else I can talk— ah—" he's thrown back when he thinks he walked into a literal wall. Instead, he looks up and finds the face of the death reaper.

"For disturbing my peace, I'll be biting you to death," Hibari Kyouya says quietly, his hands reaching for the tonfas hanging from his belt. Without seeing the swing of metal straight towards his temple, Tsuna ducks and jumps back.

"You weren't looking either," he shoots back. "What's not to say that you weren't the one that disturbed my peace?"

"Hoh? For a herbivore, you sure like to talk," Hibari moves to strike again but steps aside when a dynamite explodes where he stood only seconds ago.

"Gokudera? Did you just—?" Tsuna yells.

"That looks fun, Gokudera. Can I try?" Yamamoto begins in his ever happy-go-lucky voice before his voice drops an octave. "The next one's going to hit, Hibari, no one attacks my friend like that."

"I think I like you better than I thought," Gokudera says.

"Wait! Stop! No more dynamites!"

"Weapons are forbidden in school. I will now cut you down."

"You're wielding weapons too! This doesn't even make any sense!"

"I'll cut you down first."

"Not if you get blown to bits first!"

"Yeah!"

Where's the un-friend button? I just found out that I made a terrible mistake, Tsuna thinks before joining the fray of flying dynamites and tonfas.

—

Tsuna supposes it's the benefits of having a mafia member and a baseball ace teamed up alongside himself, a loser, against Hibari that even gave the three of them a fighting chance. As the four of them lay on beds separated only by fluttering white curtains, Tsuna lets out a long sigh.

"Hibari? My mom's trying to get me to invite people over for dinner on Saturday. If you're free, you should come join. I'll text you my address."

"Whoa Tsuna, is that okay? What if he makes a scene?" Yamamoto's concerned voice floats from Tsuna's left.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't be inviting bastards like him in the first place," Gokudera grunts from even further to the left.

"I— Well, it should be fine. My mom is strong. And Hibari, just consider it, okay?"

"Hn," Hibari hums quietly.

"What an asshole."