Warning: BL, mild swearing
Cinematic Moments
He looked at the tickets in his hands, his face red with pleasure. Yamamoto had often considered his easy-going life lucky, and this time was no exception. One, two, three tickets - and had he gone any later, they would have all been sold out.
Summer was about to end, and the bright blue sky was waxing a little pale as the days wore on. The days were cooling down and the breezes were becoming full. Yamamoto lifted his face to face the sky, soaking in the sunshine he was sure he'd miss when the end of the year approached. Life was good, and it'll get better in a few minutes when he gets Gokudera to watch a movie with him. Oh, and Tsuna too, Yamamoto grinned sheepishly to himself.
It wasn't that Yamamoto had wanted to leave Tsuna out of his thoughts. He cherished his two friends deeply - Tsuna for one, for saving his life and being such a nice guy. Gokudera, however, was a more complicated sort of 'like'. The Italian boy was often surly, sarcastic, annoyed and cold, but there were times of extreme gentleness and a quiet intensity that Yamamoto couldn't help but feel attracted to.
He couldn't put a finger in it, but the feeling was certainly there. Gokudera was quite like a storm in many ways. He was unpredictable and violent at times, but when you got to really observe him and saw the 'eye' of the storm, there was a calm and levelheaded logic in the some things he did, and he was very sincere. He rushed in and protected with everything he had, the people and things he believed in.
And that was what a highly principled baseballer like Yamamoto himself found very endearing. It often caused Yamamoto to act stupider and goofier than usual in front of Gokudera, which annoyed the fair-haired boy like bloody hell. If anyone could set a world record for the number of "fuck"s Gokudera could say in a minute, it'd be Yamamoto - Air Gear's Agito put to shame. Moreover, the baseballer liked every "fuck" that had been uttered so far. Somehow it felt very intimate.
Yamamoto gave a start as he walked right smack into someone, almost knocking the figure over.
"Tenth!" Gokudera steadied his boss, then snarled at Yamamoto. "Watch where you're going, you stupid baseball freak!"
"Oh man, sorry! I was looking for the two of you, you know!" Yamamoto laughed, rubbing his head apologetically. Tsuna offered him a weak grin.
"It's okay. Yamamotokun, why were you looking for us?"
"Umm, well, I got three tickets to that new robot movie, and I wanted to ask the two of you to watch it with me," he pulled the somewhat crumpled tickets out of his pocket. "What do you say?"
"R-Really? You're asking us to watch a movie with you?" Tsuna's eyes went wide; for a bit he looked very bewildered but happy.
"Yeah! It'll be great! Come on, in fact, if we start off now, we can even have a bite together before the movie starts!"
"Yes," Tsuna nodded, then he paused, eyeing Gokudera timidly. "U-Um... what about you, Gokuderakun? Won't you come?"
"...I don't think so," Gokudera frowned while biting his lip hesitantly, stuffing his hands into his pockets, the hem of his shirt sticking out messily. He seemed very embarrassed and surprised at being asked at all, to the point where he wasn't reacting violently to object Tsuna going off to watch a movie with Yamamoto.
"Oh... I thought it'd be fun, the three of us friends... going together and doing something normal..." the mafia boss' gaze dropped. Gokudera opened his mouth to say something, but before the words came, two sturdy arms wrapped themselves round his shoulders from behind.
"Come oooooooooooon, Gokudera!" Yamamoto almost swung the two of them off-balance as he wound himself to the front to face the Italian boy, arms still locked around the shoulders. "Just say yes! I mean, it'll be fun! Come on! You'll like it!"
"Arrrgh, fine, fine, now cut it out," Gokudera struggled, his gaze snapping upwards to suddenly meet with Yamamoto's. For a minute, time stood still. The two heard a quiet cough beside them; Tsuna was gazing intently at the two, a worried and confused look on his face. Flushing red, Gokudera batted Yamamoto's arms away and stomped hard on the baseballer's foot before stalking off.
"Hooooaahh," Yamamoto hunched over, grabbing his injured foot in a dramatic fashion.
"Are you alright?" Tsuna asked, worried.
"I'm fine. Go on ahead, Tsuna," he grinned through his tears and hobbled forward after Gokudera and Tsuna, in general direction of the movie theater, the brunet casting concerned glances behind him at the baseballer. After a few minutes, however, Yamamoto was walking fine again, chattering gaily without a care in the world.
The trio soon reached their destination - Gokudera's brisk walk kept them all in good pace. Yamamoto glanced at the crowd. "I don't know about you, but every movie needs some popcorn. Hang on, I'll get them. Go on without me if it starts." And off he went; before they could reply, Yamamoto had nudged his way into the crowd. He waved wildly from the popcorn line, stupid grin in sight.
Nervous fingers fiddled on the hem of Tsuna's shirt. He glanced at Gokudera, turned his gaze away, then straightened himself. Somehow, the awkward words came slipping out. "U-Umm, Gokuderakun...?"
"Yes?"
"I was just wondering..." Tsuna took a deep breath to calm himself. "Do you hate Yamamotokun?"
Curious, Gokudera stared hard at his boss. He was met with honest, shy but understanding eyes, seemingly worried, uneasy but at the same time trusting. At last he shoved his hands into his pockets and shook his head. "...No, I don't. I was jealous at first, but I don't really hate Yamamoto." Gokudera was usually cold, aloof, snappy and evasive, but he never made it a habit to lie. He was always somehow honest with his feelings, pissy as he was. And Tsuna appreciated that. The mafia head nodded, smiling thankfully.
Yamamoto had come just in time to hear the last few words exchanged between them. Not liking to eavesdrop, he went away, but his head was still full of what had just been said. It was only right before the show started that he approached them again, waving the popcorn in his hand, in the process spilling some. "Watch it, dumbass!" Gokudera snapped. "What took you so long?"
"We were getting worried, Yamamotokun."
"Ahhh, I was just caught up with getting the popcorn," Yamamoto laughed easily, still waving the spilling popcorn around. "Anyway, the movie's starting, so let's go already!" Ushered forward by Yamamoto's enthusiastic arm-waving, the boys made their way to look for their seats. There was a bit of a commotion there as well, but it got resolved soon enough. Gokudera had refused to let Yamamoto sit next to Tsuna, so he and Yamamoto ended up seated next to each other.
Yamamoto didn't mind one bit! He felt himself grinning throughout the movie, even when the huge robots were waxing poetry while beating each other up and shooting laser beams into each others' cores. In the midst of mindless destruction, Yamamoto could feel Gokudera tense up with excitement. Robotic parts filled the screen as they were blasted to smithereens, each bit of metal lighting up Gokudera's fair features with a sliver of light from the screen. Yamamoto smiled warmly, even as the heroine cried and picked the gunned-down hero up into her arms.
The movie felt too short, somehow.
The credits started rolling and they exited, the spectators chatting gaily. It had been an exciting movie, after all. As they strolled down, Yamamoto and Tsuna chattered about it. "I liked that part when they ripped Phantronhive's heart out," Yamamoto illustrated his statement with a ripping-out-heart arm action.
"It's a core, Yamamotokun," Tsuna laughed. "I didn't think Sebastus Prime had it in him to do that much. They seemed like really good friends."
"Yeah. Pity the Undertrucker had to die too, though."
"Yeah."
They fell into a comfortable silence. Not liking to leave Gokudera out, Yamamoto turned to him, grinning his trademark superstar grin. "So, how'd you find the movie?"
The Italian boy went quiet for a bit, looking up at the pale near-autumn sky. For a while the other two were silent too, and Tsuna began to walk on again, contemplating that perhaps Gokudera wasn't going to answer at all and that they had to move onward.
Yamamoto glanced sideways at the fair-haired boy for a moment, opening his mouth, but stopping short. For, as he did, he'd caught a faint smile on the other boy's lips. Gokudera looked him straight in the eyes, those green irises lighting up with an unknown, intense feeling quite like nothing in the world.
"It was pretty good."
If Yamamoto's life was ever to be made into a film, it'd probably be one still frame of Gokudera, intense and vivid features against the pale blue sky. Not a sound to be heard, not a word to be spoken. Just that still frame, and nothing else.
Because words could never describe that feeling. It was everything like your first home run, the click of a bat on a summer's day, and no homework after school. It was all of that, only better.
"Told you you'd like it." Flushing red a little, Yamamoto broke the silence with those words accompanied by a bright grin, a scratch on the back of his head, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Gokudera's sharp eyes caught the slightly flustered look, in turn looking away and going red himself. The three walked on, leaving the building behind them, one or two fallen leaves of the season flapping up with the breeze.
Summer had just ended, with one cinematic moment never caught on film.
END
