Chapter 21 – A Steadfast Response
"So, you're here to…request a bigger dorm room?" Timoteo asked, good-natured, as he glanced between Tsuna, sitting prim and proper opposite him over his desk, and Reborn who was looming over the back of Tsuna's chair.
"Yes," Tsuna replied shortly, hands folded on his lap. "It's starting to feel cramped."
"If Reborn is a little…overbearing, you can ask him to leave. He doesn't have to be with you all hours of the day. Dual projects don't start until the final year, so realistically I can't give you a bigger dorm room without that partner."
Tsuna squirmed suddenly then, eyes nervously meeting Timoteo's and then staring at the whorls and whirls in the wooden desk. He mumbled something, shoulders hunched as if in shame.
"Sorry?" Timoteo asked.
"If…If it was just Reborn, it would be fine. But…it's not." Tsuna glanced up sharply then, and Reborn nodded curtly at him. It eased the tight line of Tsuna's shoulders.
"It isn't on your personal file that you have any other summons," Timoteo mentioned, starting to feel a little suspicious, a little dread. "Not to mention you need official permission to make a contract on school grounds."
Reborn leaned forward then, briefly pressed a hand to Tsuna's shoulder before remembering himself at the brunet's shiver and the rush of heat under his skin, and instead tightly grasped the top of the chair, white knuckled.
"You forget, Timoteo, that under your rules I am still an official presence. Any and all summonings Tsuna has conducted successfully out of class have been observed and have been given permission by me."
"Ah, you sly old dog." Timoteo laughed, his near delight startling Tsuna. "Of course, of course. How many have you then, Tsuna? Two? Three?"
Tsuna cleared his throat, and was a little ashamed when he had to count on his fingers very quickly, lips reverently sounding silently around names.
"Uh, including Reborn I have…six…no, seven, total. Sorry, there was a recent addition." Tsuna rubbed his wrist absentmindedly, the newly shaped contract still humming under his skin.
"Seven?" Timoteo could not quite keep the sharp surprise from his voice, Tsuna's mouth twisting into what tried to be a smile.
"Timoteo, sir, would you like to meet them?"
"I think at this point I have to," Timoteo replied, gobsmacked. He felt a slight stab of betrayal at knowing that Reborn had snuck this conundrum, this mess, under his nose.
"Then, sir, allow me to introduce you." Tsuna gestured out loosely to the side and allowed his Aether to flare in an open ended call. He felt more than saw Reborn shudder briefly at the wash of contained power, like a flicker of a flame in his chest.
"Good afternoon," Verde greeted, the first to step into the space next to Tsuna. The brunet was inwardly glad that it was one of his more polite summons to show first. "This is the acting power of the school?"
"He is," Tsuna confirmed, and was nearly jostled out of his chair as Colonello appeared next, so close behind him that he and Reborn had briefly collided. The way they gently snapped and snarled reminded Tsuna of two fighting Pomeranians. The casual display of power had Timoteo as pale as a sheet, skin tight across the knuckles of fisted hands.
Tsuna guessed not everyone was used to his volatile summons and their equally as volatile dominance displays, even if at this point it was playing and posturing.
"Timoteo, sir, this is Verde, and Colonello. They're acquaintances of Reborn. In fact, all of them are acquaintances of Reborn."
"Yo," Colonello greeted, shoving his hands into his pockets so he could resist the urge to continue play-fighting with Reborn.
"Colonello, try and be more polite," Fon was next, chiding between one step and the next as he peered around this new place. "Good afternoon, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Fon."
Fon was the first to reach out a hand to shake. Timoteo accepted it, very bewildered. He turned an accusatory glare at Reborn, who immediately turned his head away to ignore it, unashamed of how childish he was acting.
"Reborn, you made a contract with Tsuna to preventthis."
"I tried," Reborn said defensively, his stare still on the far wall. "I really did. Everything quickly veered out of my control. It could not be helped."
"Tsuna is simply…magnetic?" Verde offered, but Timoteo couldn't tell if he was trying to be funny or actually meant it. Timoteo still vaguely looked like he wanted to suffer a heart attack rather than process what on earth was happening right now.
Timoteo looked around his office, already feeling cramped. With the multitude of bodies on the other side, he felt hopelessly outnumbered already.
"There are three more?"
"Yeah," Tsuna sighed, almost despairingly. "Bermuda isn't going to show, however. He's still…recovering."
"They're all Arcobaleno?" Timoteo was a grown man, an old man, a wise man, some might say. His voice still broke on the question. Tsuna's mouth twisted into a wry smile.
"Got it in one."
"Sorry we're late," Skull boomed as he appeared, dragging Mammon at the elbow. It didn't look like Mammon was trying to escape, Skull's hand loose. "This one tried to make a run for it. Not on my watch!"
"I hate human conversations. They're mundane," Mammom muttered.
"If you didn't insist on breathing down my neck every second of the day, we might not have this problem," Tsuna replied, nose wrinkled indignantly. "I like being able to, you know, breathe without colliding with someone."
"It knows my face. I'm not returning to my plane, or any other plane aside from this one. I don't fancy trying a hand at looking like mincemeat, even though I could probably pull it off better than Bermuda." Mammon tilted his chin petulantly. The faint tremor to his hands gave him away, despite his harsh words. Skull's hand tightened on his elbow, not in warning, but in comfort.
"Mincemeat…" Timoteo replied softly. "The mess in the classroom…that was this 'Bermuda'?"
"Correct," Reborn answered curtly. "He is neither a danger nor a liability, despite his dynamic entrance. I can assure you of this. His presence is a help, not a hindrance."
"I'm more concerned over whether or not he is alive. If there is something around that can damage an Arcobaleno so extensively, I suppose I should be glad there are a number of you here. It certainly makes the school feel like a safer place." Timoteo scrubbed a hand over his face wearily. "It can't be kept a secret any longer, however. I'm sorry, Tsuna, but your summons, all of them, will need to be put on file so the instructors and teachers are aware of extenuating circumstances."
"Of course," Tsuna replied primly, straightening in his chair. "It would be a little hard to explain the debacle in class with Reborn and Skull if the proof wasn't on my record. Skull may have threatened the teacher."
"It was the only way," Skull promptly shot back. "He tried to keep me from taking you to where you needed to be. I would have turned him to mush if he touched you."
Timoteo's face twitched. Tsuna couldn't tell if it was from amusement or something else, something basal and frightened.
"It's nice to see such vigour focused on your wellbeing, Tsunayoshi. Perhaps where Reborn couldn't keep you safe by himself, this eclectic collection of yours will see you no longer hurt on school grounds."
"Couldn't–" Reborn began, scandalised and bordering on angry. Indignant, his hand gripped onto Tsuna's shoulder as he forgot himself. This time, Tsuna was mortified as he couldn't help the small noise that left him, his cheeks burning bright as he pressed his thighs tight together, eyes dropping to his lap in embarrassment.
Before Tsuna had even finished sorting out his unfortunate reaction, Reborn had removed himself, standing closer to the door, his arms folded tightly across his chest and his nostrils flared. Verde moved to take the protective stance over Tsuna, almost reverent and smug as he curled his own fingers over the brunet's shoulder with no repercussions.
Timoteo's summon, huddled under the desk, had whipped up at the display, curling over the old man's shoulders, eyes wide and almost judgemental as it whispered hurried words Tsuna couldn't hear into the older human's ears. There was a strange mix of horror, wonder and mirth that crossed Timoteo's face then, the expression of someone told an especially sordid secret. Tsuna felt as if everything about him had been laid bare.
"Oh, what a snitch, kora," Colonello complained loudly, arms crossed as he stared down at the creature splayed across Timoteo. "There was no need."
No need indeed. Tsuna had far too much blood in his body for it all to be rushing into his head and face.
"Well," Timoteo began, clearing his throat several times. "Tsuna is an adult, a consenting adult I should presume from what Deidre has told me. I have no say in what goes on behind closed doors, or, apparently, in my office."
Tsuna sunk into his chair, covering his burning face with his hands.
"But I think this old man has had enough excitement for one day, and I don't want to take up your entire morning. I'll call a briefing this evening in order to update your tutors as to your new circumstances. We won't have the room ready until the end of this week, unfortunately, so I can hope you can deal with them 'breathing down your neck' until then."
"Yeah, sure," Tsuna whispered in a croaky, embarrassed voice.
"Wait," Skull said, delighted. "I've noticed other students walk around the school with their summons following, because they're contracted, right? Which means we can follow Tsuna to his lessons now, correct?"
Timoteo seemed a little off-kilter at being addressed directly, especially by something that could kill him with its pinkie, but currently had an expression like a young child being presented with a brand new puppy.
"That is correct, yes, but–"
"Yes," Skull fist-pumped enthusiastically. "I've always wanted to go to a lesson and see what goes on in those rooms!"
"Nothing fun, I can tell you that now," Reborn said bitterly. "So many humans crammed into one place, all wanting to leave as soon as they've come in because that's the nature of children."
"Maybe to you, you jaded piece of shit," Skull retorted without any venom. "Having taught here for years while we all lazed away. This is first for me and I'm going to enjoy it."
"I am incredibly sorry for my kin's childishness," Fon sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But if you have no questions for now, and we are truly free to leave, I believe all of us will take you up on that offer."
His gaze coasted around the small office, alighting on each and every one of them, flustered Tsuna included. With a barely audible grumble, Skull and Mammon simply disappeared.
"Thank you for your time, Timoteo-sama," Reborn said, respectfully bowing his head as he opened the door. "Until the next time we speak." He sucked in a breath through his teeth as Tsuna hurriedly rushed his goodbyes and brushed by him upon his scurried exit, but was able to let it out through his nose with barely a fanfare.
As they left, one by one, Verde was the only one to remain, slowly lowering himself into the seat Tsuna had so hastily vacated not seconds before, crossing one leg over the other, hands held neatly in his lap.
"So," Verde said, pushing his glasses up his nose. Timoteo was abruptly reminded of a shark. Deirdre curled protectively around his throat.
Verde smiled, tight and sharp, "About the barriers constructed around this school…"
When Tsuna stepped into his first class of the day the next morning, the jeering whispers and words began. When Skull stepped in behind, barely a hairsbreadth between them, they stopped just as abruptly, the room quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Then, noise again, words thrown around, phrases like 'new student' bantered about between excited students. Other students were quiet, unmoving, a remembrance of not two days before when an amalgamation of horror had dropped into their midst and Skull had promised murder before taking Tsuna.
"Sawada," the teacher was the only one to greet him, curt and tight, and once more silence reigned. In the years that Tsuna had attended this school, the teachers had never greeted him as he entered the room. This was true for any other student.
"G-Good morning," Tsuna replied numbly, hand curling around the strap of his bag tightly.
"Does your–" the teacher's voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "Does your summon have a name?"
Tsuna glanced up and back over his shoulder. Skull was grinning down at him, a veritable kid in a candy store.
"Oh. Yes. This is Skull. He, um, would like to sit in the lesson for today, to see what it's like."
The teacher swallowed nervously and admitted, eyes briefly coasting across the crowded, "I don't think we have a seat available for him."
"Don't worry about that," Skull turned his grin onto the teacher, who entertained a white knuckled grip on his desk, offering a poor mimicry of a smile in return. "I can find a place all on my own."
"Of…Of course."
Tsuna trailed to his seat, Skull like a ghost behind him. The brunet settled into his chair, setting his bag on one side. And then, he was choking on his own tongue because, before he could tuck in his chair, Skull was clambering to straddle Tsuna's lap as if he didn't have several pounds and nearly a foot of height on him.
"Skull, I can't– you can't," Tsuna began, even as the air was gently squashed out of him. One of the students had dropped a pen, the noise obnoxiously loud in the silence. "You're not even facing the front."
Tsuna's hands fluttered nervously, no match to the flutter of nerves in his stomach. Skull simply winked down at him and the weight suddenly vanished, dissipated into something gentle but warm on his knee.
It was a hedgehog. There was a hedgehog on his knee. It was decidedly purple. But it was a hedgehog.
"You're a hedgehog," Tsuna said numbly. At an insistent nudge, he scooped Skull up from underneath and then plonked him on the desk. Skull took a corner for himself, and it was suddenly like the room was breathing again.
Skull stayed like that, through the first two morning lessons. At the third one, the one that would bleed into lunch, he was suddenly human again, boots thumping heavily onto the floor as he dropped from the desk, the wood creaking in protest. The teacher turned, ready to snap at the disruption, and instead closed her mouth, lips pursed and fingers tight around the whiteboard pen. Her summon fluttered nervously, from the podium, to the teacher, and back to the podium.
"Skull?" Tsuna asked quietly, barely looking up from his papers, hand reaching out to touch Skull's wrist.
"Bermuda's up," Skull replied. Tsuna's fingers twitched so they closed around Skull's wrist as he looked up at the clock, gauging how long he had left of the lesson before he could leave and make his way back to the bedroom.
"I can't," Tsuna began in a hushed voice, well aware that it carried into the silence of the room around him.
"Is this one of those strange human hang-ups?" Skull didn't filter his voice, let it carry. "Just get up and leave."
"Sawada," the teacher began, having approached the desk. Tsuna's hand tightened reflexively around Skull's wrist, his demon turning an arched brow to the teacher. Skull didn't snap and snarl like some, Tsuna knew this. He still wasn't used to the fact that his summons could flaunt and act as they liked in the public eye now that they had nothing left to hide, now that Tsuna didn't have to keep them a secret.
She cleared her throat, and said, tersely, "I hold remedial classes, from two onwards on Saturdays. Of course you've never needed them with your theory grades, but they're there if you need them."
"I-I'm aware, it was in this semesters contents booklet," Tsuna tilted his head, a little confused at the random turn in conversation.
"I'm saying," the teacher began slowly, eyes turning to Skull nervously. "That if you need to leave, you can. You would only have trouble focusing otherwise."
"Done," Skull declared before Tsuna could even formulate a response, hurriedly gathering up handfuls of paper and stuffing them haphazardly into the bag. With the bag then slung over his shoulder, Skull picked the brunet up like he was a baby, tucked securely to his side and nearly knocked over Tsuna's chair in his enthusiasm.
"Thank you!" Skull grinned at the teacher, ignoring the anxious whispers as he swept out of the room, still holding Tsuna like he weighed no more than a bag of flour.
"You need to stop toting me around like I'm a piece of errant luggage," Tsuna told Skull's neck. "My classmates are getting the wrong idea. You're also scaring them."
"Good," Skull huffed, sounding proud. "They need to be scared. That way, they'll be scared of you too."
"Why would I want them to be scared of me?" Tsuna retorted. "I have to live with them day in and day out for the foreseeable future."
Skull dropped Tsuna to his feet, a steadying hand on his shoulder so he stayed upright as they continued walking.
"At least this way, they won't be bullying you, or whatever it is they've been doing to you. I heard them this morning, when you entered the classroom."
"Name calling, Skull. It doesn't hurt, and it just proves they're childish. I can live with that."
Skull snorted then, aggravated and annoyed. "Youcould. I can't. I wanted to punch every single one of them this morning. I don't know if you didn't hear what they were saying, or just chose to ignore it, but…but…you're not useless. Ugh, humans piss me off."
"I'm not physically hurt. All they say are words, and I can deal with that. I've never been physically pushed, or hit. They just called me useless because up until the Colonello Incident, I hadn't figured out my Aether, just that it was there."
"Colonello Incident?" Skull asked, head tilted curiously. He moved to walk in front of Tsuna, taking careful steps as he made his way backwards down the hallway.
"I normally pass on physical summons, the ones set up in class in order to judge ability," Tsuna began, watching Skull almost anxiously, in case he tripped or fell. "This particular lesson had a criteria of using an active circle in order to summon. Whether or not we actually achieved anything didn't matter, we just had to show we knew the basics. That was why I was stoodin the circle when Colonello dropped onto me like a damn rock. As you can imagine, it didn't go over well, with the class or with Reborn. And here we are."
"So it was all because of Colonello that this started. Impulsive bastard."
"Mm," Tsuna agreed hesitantly, and then added, "But he only aided in all you guys crowding up my bedroom. I think Byakuran would have been a constant in my life regardless, because of how he dealt with my parents."
"Byakuran is at least the reason I'm here, so you'd still have me if Colonello hadn't shown his face," Skull offered at Tsuna's morose tone of voice. "And Colonello is tenacious enough that if he'd learn Reborn had contracted someone powerful, he'd want to have a look at that too. You wouldn't have been alone."
"Reborn contracted with me because of Colonello," Tsuna rebutted.
And then Skull was laughing uproariously.
"Tsuna, if you think that, I feel very sorry for you."
Bermuda was upright on the edge of the bed when Tsuna and Skull entered the room. After Tsuna's reassurances, two days before, he had passed out, leaving the rest of the fretful and worried. Tsuna's other summons, bar Verde, were already there, hovering and adding to the nervous, cramped energy of the room.
"Ah," Bermuda said quietly. "You didn't have to come, if you were busy."
"Don't be silly," Tsuna said airily, trying to cover how concerned he had been, even as he dropped onto the bed next to the Arcobaleno. Bermuda instantly leaned into Tsuna's space, as if unable to help gravitating towards him. His hand lifted to curl around Tsuna's wrist, palm pressed firmly to the pulse point.
"See," Tsuna's voice was softer. "I don't want you to be by yourself when you feel like this."
"Like what?" Bermuda asked bitterly. "How do I feel, Tsuna?"
"Harried. Cornered. Hunted," Tsuna listed them off blithely. "Useless. Hurt. Lonely. All manner of things, because if anything, you Arcobaleno are proud, and something bested and injured you. Now you need help. I want to be here to help."
Bermuda's shoulders hunched, further and further with each of Tsuna's words, as if he was being jabbed by them. Tsuna shook himself free of the lax grip on his wrist, and grabbed at Bermuda's hand instead.
"So now, you get to rest. You get to build up your strength, and your confidence, and your health, and before you know it, you'll be back to your old self. Maybe not entirely, but you'll feel better. I'm here for you. The others might be here for you too. They have grudges, but I don't."
"And then what? What happens when I'm back to my old self, and the thing that put me in this pit is still out there? What then?"
Tsuna smiled, his lips pulled tight, his face taut and angry.
"We find Byakuran. We find out what he knows. And then we find a way to put the bastard that did this into the ground."