[He picked up on chewing licorice root back when he’d been cursed to act like a dog upon hearing any kind of chime. Gokudera knows it isn’t healthy to be smoking all the time, and he’s always carrying dynamite. He can light up if there is a threat, but his guard is relatively lowered around Hijikata.]

As well as Zuko.

[Zuko is family whether he likes it or not. He knows more than either Tsuna or Yamamoto.]

Oh, I know that very very well.

[It’s how he had spent so long being homeless, trying to find a family to take him in. Gokudera got turned away time and time again until finally a family saw him as disposable. They hired him and planned to kill him if he failed.]

[But he didn’t want to kill anyone, so disabled a bomb instead of setting it off, got gunned down, and found himself being picked up by the Vongola.]

Actually… most everyone the Tenth makes friends of, I do as well. I’m referring to Zuko’s friends. And I know I shouldn’t say so much about them, but… Zuko and I are close, and he’s told me such amazing things about them.

[So it really really really fucking hurt to hear Zuko’s version of the Tenth call him a criminal, to hear Avatar Aang accuse the Tenth of being some huge criminal when they’d never met.]