Most curses aren't that big of a deal. Some are for bad luck so you trip over nothing and have a damp spot on your day. Others are given good luck spells that are more like curses as people hate on them for being one of the luckier people in the world. But there are some curses that are more heavy then that.
Tsuna, who lived in feudal Japan in the 1500s, wasn't sure what those curses people fabled about were. They were more like bad stories parents told children to get them to behave. It worked as Tsuna was one of the children to be terrified of it.
But with the Christian influence of all the tradesmen coming from Europe, they were said to be real. After the Emperor banned the practice of Christianity and the tradesmen coming to Japan, the rumours died down, the parents stopped telling the tales of witches cursing them in their sleep if they were bad; but Tsuna never really forgot about it.
Nobody was really able to leave Japan to explore the lands the tradesmen talked about so Tsuna made it his mission to find a way to get there. People tried to discourage him, making him unsure of if he could go, but he found a tradesman willing to take him to Europe with him. So he was off to a land called England where there were spices Tsuna hadn't heard of and the people there who talked a different tongue and looked different than the people he had seen all his life.
He was so excited, often voicing his plans to anybody that was willing to listen. And after a month of waiting, Tsuna left Japan to go to the strange land and live a new life while learning new things.
Man, was he not ready for the struggle he went through.
When he made it to England, he had to look for work and a place to live. Multiple times people turned him away when he was asking for a small piece of land to build a farm on, refused to sell him something, got turned away from jobs to sustain himself. It was a very different thing, to be told something and only know it was rude from the tone of the voice.
But finally, after months of searching, somebody said they would house him and help him get started on learning English if he worked on their farm. It was a sickly woman, her frail face and body a testament to how she needed all the help she could get on the farm. She used to do all the work, her husband having passed away years ago, but she had come down with something, making it next to impossible to do what she needed to on the farm. But she was kind and easily let Tsuna work with her and helping him learn the language so he could talk to the neighbours.
But soon she seemed to get worse and passed whatever sickness she had to Tsuna. It was The Plague she had, only finally figuring it out when soldiers passed through town collecting the sick to quarantine. Tsuna was spared since he was able to hide how sick he was but his landlady was taken, put in a wagon with multiple people from the town. An older woman on the wagon seemed to realize he had it and was trying to point it out to the soldiers but they simply ignored her, thinking she was delusional.
Tsuna was now alone in the house the woman had left to him. He had learned her name was Emma and she once had a daughter that had been killed by the Plague. But that was all he really knew about her since she didn't like talking about her past.
It was eerie how quiet the house seemed to be without Emma bustling around, trying to make something and keep herself busy. Tsuna knew how to cook just fine but he missed Emma's cooking since she was better at it then he was.
Soon enough, people started noticing that he ran the farm now, a lot of people abruptly coming over and striking up deals with his for some of his crop. Some tried to swindle him into giving more then he could, thinking he was stupid because his English was still shaky.
Then one day, an elderly woman came by asking about his crops. He didn't have much to give, telling her so with a sheepish smile.
"You would say no to an elderly woman? One who can't even pick her own vegetables?" The woman said, sounding like she was ready to hit him.
"I am sorry, ma'am. If I have more, I would give, but winter is almost here, and need to stock." Tsuna answered.
"You shall rue the day you defied me!" The elderly woman said. Tsuna didn't understand why she was so upset; he just couldn't spare the food she was asking. And he had no idea what rue meant so he just kind of smiled and laughed a little. "Are you laughing at me, you insolent child? Fine, may your life be short and whenever you fall in love, they shall be forced to watch you die in their arms, reborn anew three years later to meet them again and experience the cycle over again."
The lady muttered a small saying in Latin, pinching Tsuna's ear, before she harrumphed, and stomped off down the dirt road that led to the house. She disappeared into the thick trees surrounding the house, leaving Tsuna with no idea what he had just gotten into but he knew it wasn't going to be good.
And of course it wasn't good. He didn't know what she meant by him falling in love since most people didn't even talk to him. So he died alone in the house, from the plague, and expected to stay dead.
He didn't happen stay dead.
Suddenly, he was waking up on the banks of a shore, far away from the place he was used to living, and somebody kneeling next to him, moving his face and checking if he was okay. He coughed, suddenly registering the intense burning in his lungs and nose, rolling onto his side so he could cough up some of the algae-ridden water that came out of his body in buckets.
Somebody was talking to him now, and he understood every word of it even though he was pretty sure the language was Portuguese. "Oh man, I thought you weren't coming back! You stopped breathing and you were so pale and everything just happened so fast I wasn't sure I was fast enough." The guy was prattling off everything so fast yet he was still able to keep up. He was a little disoriented but when Tsuna looked at his face he recognized the person as Lucas, his vessel's best friend of many years.
"W-What happened?" Tsuna was able to stutter out. He could still remember what happened when he died so he was extremely confused as to why he was in a place he had no idea where it was placed on the globe. Lucas seemed a little concerned that Tsuna didn't know and expressed it.
"We were attacked, Lenny." It was short for Lenardo, Tsuna connected. "We were attacked by something in the sea. I don't know what it was but it was huge. You fell off the boat before it capsized and I was able to swim us to shore but you had been under for a few minutes. And I thought I lost you man, I admit I cried a little."
"B-But why am I here? Where is here even? I'm from Japan and was living in England and I just wake up after I think I died from the plague; not sure since it was pretty unclear since I just fell asleep. But still, why here?"
"I think you hit your head harder than I thought on the side of the boat. Dude, you're an orphan from here and we've been selling fish from the harbour for years. This is the first time this has happened since we started selling the fish we catch on our own."
Tsuna wasn't sure what to say to that because he was sure he grew up in Japan, then went to England, then died of the Plague. The witch was the only thing he could think of; maybe she had actually cursed him.
If that was the case, then he was going to be dying and being reborn again and again in different bodies until the end of time. Oh joy.
As the years passed, Tsuna grew used to being suddenly taken to another country. He realized that it was always to somebody who was young and was put into a dangerous situation. The original person died, letting Tsuna fit into the body in their place. It was a little bit of an annoyance to try and figure out where he was when he was already adjusted to the life he had led before getting stuck in the body. But Tsuna got good at looking into the person's memories and figuring out what was happening. A lot of the times the person he was fit into was a person that preferred the same sex, which got really awkward when he was in a more close community and had to learn to hide who he was with. But it made him good at lying and sneaking around.
Whenever he tried to tell somebody about his immortality, they laughed it off and said it was just a dream. Some took him a little seriously, but not enough to really believe him; so Tsuna stopped mentioning it and learned how to fake being in love with somebody. Sometimes it actually wasn't faking but other times the person he was with was somebody with a personality he just couldn't stand so he really had to work to be convincing.
He also learned that whenever he died, he wasn't put into a body immediately but rather he was just stuck in a state of unconsciousness he doesn't register for about three years before going to a body. He only found this out when he had started reading up about what certain curses did and if his was unique. ((It wasn't unique. Witches cast this curse on certain people a lot according to the books he was reading.))
But the only difference in his curse that he could realize was that he rarely ever looked the same.
Originally he had spiky brown hair, brown eyes, was a little short, and really scrawny. But he found himself being all kinds of ethnicities; all kinds of different body shapes. Never really staying in one certain style from how the person he was inhabiting was always different.
After him being carted around the globe for over 200 years, he came across somebody that was completely different from the other people he had dated. He had met and loved many, many people in his time. They were always people he could cherish but there was never a person he would truly love. So when he met a person that always showed up around him, even though he was clearly the same person, made Tsuna a little angry as he tried to figure out a little more of his past then the last time they met.
The person was always the same looking; whenever Tsuna died it was always the same person he met again. He knew this person's name was Reborn, he knew that he had black, spiky hair ((Tsuna really liked his hair since it was so unusual)), he had really slim black eyes that made him look like he was squinting but really wasn't, and he was usually taller than Tsuna but there were a few times he was shorter and it was a powerful feeling, even if it was by a mere centimetre.
But that was all Tsuna knew about this man since his past was the thing that was the hardest to find out. Reborn didn't like saying his real name, Tsuna knew nobody named their kid Reborn without even giving a last name, and would only say that his name was similar to what it was in Latin. Like Tsuna knew Latin. Tsuna also barely knew what Reborn did for a living, why he was in the country he was in, why he seemed the same no matter how long ago they were apart.
It was enigmatic and Tsuna really wanted to be the one to uncover who the real Reborn was under the walls.
The only thing that Tsuna really knew about Reborn was that he was immortal, like Tsuna was, but not in the sense that Tsuna was shoved into a body. In the sense that he could die but woke up looking the same no matter what happened.
It took a while for Tsuna to clue in that Reborn was the same person though. First he thought it was reincarnation because if he could die and be shoved into another person's body, he didn't find it hard to believe that half the magical stuff people talked about was real.. So he chalked it up to reincarnation.
Then Reborn started dropping subtle hints to past lives. The way he made coffee was the same way he made it for Tsuna one lifetime when they were in a slave camp together. It wasn't something he liked to remember but the fact that this guy held himself the same way, used no spoons or anything to measure the coffee powder and just eye-balled it when there were spoons right next to him, was what made Tsuna suspicious.
All of a sudden, little things Tsuna had noticed Reborn doing, like pulling his hair out of his face, making sure the collar on his shirt wasn't popped, wearing a certain pair of shoes. They were all things Reborn did in passed lives. It was really extensive and probably far off but Tsuna clung to it since it was all he had. Tsuna would rather Reborn be incarnated then having to live through Tsuna dying every single time they were in a happy place.
But this would make sense to what the witch had said, he would die in the arms of his true love and be reborn to relive it; and he had been dying similar deaths ever since he met Reborn.
There was a person in a black cloak, the hood covering the top half of their face and their figure seemed to loom over Tsuna, whenever they met. Tsuna didn't know who this person was, what they wanted, why they kept killing him. Nothing. The person just killed him either in a grotesque way or in a humane way, Tsuna never knew what was going to happen, and then the person disappeared.
This person popped up everytime he met Reborn, only after he met Reborn. It was probably the same person every time too since the person was wearing the same thing; a black cloak that covered the person's body, going to the person's knees and meeting the edge of a pair of brown leather riding boots with only a buckle on the back for decoration; and their skin being lightly tanned. That was all Tsuna could make out of the person. Not their weight, significant facial features, not even how big their hands were since they always had them hidden inside the cloak.
Tsuna was getting a little paranoid.
After meeting Reborn in WWII, Tsuna was more then ready to move on from the war. He was so happy when the war was over and nobody had to suffer thanks to them now. But as history went on, he was shown what he was fighting for and that wasn't something he ever wanted to see. He was glad that Hitler had died more then he would like to admit.
When the two moved in together, it was a slippery-slope. Tsuna was the more sensitive one and still woke up from nightmares of the war. Reborn got them occasionally and Tsuna only knew because of how clingy Reborn got the next morning. With both of them going through the after-effects of war and trying to work a relationship that was taboo in this society was hard. But they made it work.
Until Tsuna saw the guy with the cloak again.
He didn't even know what they wanted, yet everywhere he walked, there the person was! What had he done in his life that bothered somebody this much to follow him all over time Tsuna didn't know but he wanted this to stop. This wasb't fair, he wasn't going to make Reborn move from the small house he had, this was where his family lived hundreds of years ago, but Tsuna didn't want to die.
So he stayed with Reborn. He stayed as he saw the person in the black slowly inched closer and closer until one day, when Reborn was out working, the person in black knocked on the door.
Tsuna didn't register what was happening, he just thought maybe Reborn forgot his key or it was a lost hiker ((they had had many of those throughout the years)) so when he opened the door, he didn't expect to be put in a choke hold.
The days on the battle field came back to him and before he knew it, he had the person flipped and pinned to the ground. The hood had fallen away, revealing tanned skin, dark eyes, and hair that seemed to come alive when it was let out of the hood. From what Tsuna could see, it was woman but he never liked to assume.
"Who are you?" Tsuna asked. The person didn't answer; just stared back numbly. Tsuna sighed, not sure what to do now. "Can you at least tell me your name?"
"…You should know me by now, Tsunayoshi." The person said. There was a sly grin crossing their face and they bucked their body, throwing Tsuna to the side. They pounced on Tsuna, holding their forearm against Tsuna's windpipe so he wouldn't be able to struggle. "Why, I've been following you for centuries. I've just been following orders so don't hate me please."
"W-Whose orders?" Tsuna gasped out.
"Well, wouldn't you like to know! I'll give you a hint, they're the ones who see the real you." The person laughed, releasing Tsuna's throat long enough to let him breathe before yanking on his hair to keep him moving.
That was the first time he had seen the person under the cloak. He wasn't sure he wanted to see their face again because he was essentially tortured in a room Tsuna never walked in, Reborn warned him that he wasn't comfortable showing Tsuna that room yet and he respected his partner's wishes.
He was still alive when Reborn walked in too; he was bleeding out but still alive. His chest was cut to ribbons, his eyes feeling like they were opened permanently, and everything around him felt like it was hurting him in some way. Tsuna was in a position where he could see the door to the room and when Reborn walked in, collapsing like he did, Tsuna wanted nothing more then to go and hug him. But all he could do was gasp quietly, moving his arm a little in hopes it would get Reborn's attention.
It did but it might have made things worse because Tsuna noticed Reborn was actually crying; he never cries and that hurt, knowing Tsuna was the one to push him that far.
"D-Don't cry." Tsuna rasped out. Reborn moved forward and took hold of Tsuna's outstretched hand, running his thumb along Tsuna's knuckles. "I-I'm sorry, Reborn. I never mean for this to happen and-and…"
Reborn shook his head, gripping Tsuna's hand tighter. "I don't care. Just stop talking because you're going to feel worse."
"N-No, I won't. Promise. I need to tell you-you this anyways." Tsuna groaned a little as a wave of pain crashed over him. Reborn let Tsuna grip his hand as tight as needed, not saying a word and gently pushing hair out of Tsuna's face.
"It is fine, Tsuna. You can tell me later, when you're better." Reborn knew this was a lie but they didn't acknowledge it.
"Reborn, I'm cursed. A-A witch cursed me in the 1500s and I've-I've been alive, switching bodies every time I die. I-I'm not making this up, I know that you're immortal, cursed by somebody like me. P-Please be careful."
Tsuna's face was screwed up in pain from moving; he had shifted, clutching Reborn's shirt and pulling him close, panting from the exertion of it. Reborn nodded, feeling Tsuna lean heavily against his chest. He brought his arms around Tsuna, holing him there; and they sat like that.
Tsuna was fading in and out of consciousness, not really knowing if he was going to die soon or what. Reborn sat with him the entire time, feeling his clothes getting soaked with Tsuna's blood. He knew that was going to be hard for him, trying to wash his clothes, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was hold Tsuna until he couldn't anymore.
"R-Reborn", Tsuna called softly. He was almost gone, both of them knew it. He had been fighting it, fighting to keep his eyes open; shifting just enough that it hurt him; clenching his hands even tighter in Reborn's shirt. Anything he could do to spend at least another second with Reborn. "I-I want you to know that-"
"I know, Love." Reborn mumbled. Tsuna was about to say 'I love you' but Reborn didn't need to hear it. He knew without the verbal exclamation. Tsuna seemed relieved about that, smiling brightly at Reborn a final time before gasping a little and slumping against Reborn's chest.
That was the last time Tsuna saw Reborn for a long time. It's not that it took a long time for him to be pushed into another body; it took the same amount of time plus another few months or so. Tsuna just kept avoiding Reborn, if he realized that Reborn was in this town, he ran.
But it didn't help because wherever he went, so did Reborn, and so did the person in the cloak. He didn't get why he drew them. Reborn was his soul mate, or so he was told by a psychic that had stopped him in the street. But the person in the cloak, he wasn't sure. He didn't want to find out.
It was hard to hide though since he looked like he did in WWII. But this time he was a girl. It was frustrating how he was treated just because of how his biological sex and this was the reason why he became a mechanical engineer. He became good at his job and slammed whoever trash talked him just because he was in a woman's body. It was his favourite time and he never got tired of seeing the look of defeat on the person's face. A lot of people respected him for it and a lot of the guys stopped being so sexist to him.
Of course, then he had to make sure the person in the cloak didn't see who he was. So he grew his hair as long as he could, always having it up in a braid, always made sure there was some form of grease on his face so people didn't look very hard, he even dyed his hair a different colour so he wouldn't be noticed so easily.
But soon people started noticing he wasn't aging. So he had to leave, saying that "I'm getting close to 30 and there's a good man wanting to marry". It was a total lie but everybody congratulated her and sent her on her way, not asking many questions since they knew how uncomfortable he was about personal questions.
So Tsuna went from city to city, getting a job as an engineer as a different person every time. He was in America at the time, making it excruciating how much sexism he faced in the work force.
Slowly it got better, women's rights getting more and more light, as well as people that were LGBT+ from the Stonewall riots. A good thing to know was that the riots were about LGBT+ people gaining rights in 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn was the thing that sparked the riot.
The mafia owned the Inn and a lot of LGBT+ and homeless youth stayed there. The police raid was a surprise, only vague rumours that seemed wrong were the only warning the staff got. The police surrounded the Inn and when the police entered, everybody was supposed to line up orderly and anybody cross-dressing would be arrested, blah, blah, blah. Tsuna didn't really pay attention as he was a little tipsy but he did remember that some of the drag queens rightfully refused to have police frisk them. The police didn't like that so they decided to arrest everybody in the bar. Obviously everybody got tense and uncomfortable at the idea of being arrested It got even more awkward and tense when some of the officers started inappropriately touching the lesbians there, making them yell at the officers there. Tsuna was one of the people yelling and he accidentally hit the officer frisking him.
After a while, the cops let people go, a lot were arrested for cross-dressing because of how it was illegal but a lot of the other people in the bar were let go. Tsuna was let go and he joined the growing crowd of people outside of the bar. Some of the officers tried to push and hit the people away but that made the people walking by stop and watch what was happening, the crowd mixing into pedestrians and patrons. One woman was escorted extremely roughly, managing to escape multiple times before finally being shoved into a police car, but had been thrown to the ground and was being brutalized by the police making her look at the crowd, saying, "Why aren't you helping me". That was the thing that set everybody off and made people riot.
Tsuna may or may not have been a part of them but don't tell the police since there was still a minor warrant out for him. He had broken a window during the riots and it wasn't even intentional, he tripped and the baton that a cop was waving around was the thing that hit the motel window, breaking it.
After several days, the police finally managed to calm things down but it was a small spark that made people think about rights for LGBT+ people. Tsuna was then involved in a lot of protests for a whole group of things. Sometimes he didn't know what he was going against but pieced it together as he went.
It was a good way to distract him from thinking about Reborn and how much he wanted to see him. It was also good because the person in the cloak left him alone. So it wasn't all bad since he made a lot of friends, it was good that he knew English because it helped him more then Japanese and Italian would.
After a while though, he knew that he would need to go back to Japan. He hadn't been there since he left almost five hundred years ago and knew that so much was different. It was funny because he was only in the Japanese army in WWII because of how he said he was from Japan and they just rolled with it when they enlisted him.
So after almost five hundred years, Tsuna made the journey back to his home country. He just hoped that he didn't get killed on the way there.
And, of course, he got killed on the way there.
The person in the cloak was the pilot and had crashed the plane 'accidentally' into a mountain. A lot of people survived but Tsuna was one of the ones that didn't due the pilot came out and choked him, making sure he died.
It was such a fun plane ride.
But thankfully Tsuna ended up in a body that looked like his original form. But this time he was a transgender male.
He could make this work. He had been transgender before, he was technically Trans whenever he was put into a woman's body since he identifies as male inside where ever he's put. So it wasn't a big deal. He just hated how people never got that this person was Trans.
Fun fact: since he was openly transgender, certain people hated him.
This fact was also the reason he was currently locked inside a dumpster.
He didn't mean for this to happen, he just jumped into it when people were just teasing him to no end. They kept calling him annoying and offensive nicknames, pushing him around in a good old fashioned bully circle like this was 2005. He tried to run but they chased after him screaming profanity. The dumpster was the only option he saw so he jumped in. Sadly, they saw him jump in and locked the top, making him stuck.
For all the dumpsters he's passed, he was pretty sure this one was pretty clean compared to the others. He was glad because it was better then being tormented. The only thing was he needed to get out and go home. It was close to six at night and he was usually back around five from his evening classes.
It was excruciating trying to get a tiny bit of comfort on the bags too. So he sat there, contemplating life, and almost gave himself a concussion when he heard somebody walking down the alley. He made as much noise as he could and the top finally opened, showing the guy he least wanted to meet.
Reborn was the one to open the dumpster. Of course.
"…You ran into me this morning." He observed, moving back so Tsuna could get out.
"Yeah, well, I was kind of in a hurry." Tsuna said airily. He had been in a rush to get to his morning class since he woke up late. He lived with his mom but he didn't like depending on her to get up. He had bowled Reborn over and he was too frantic about getting to class to realize until later who he had run into.
"You dropped this." Reborn held out the ID, expecting Tsuna to take it.
"I don't like it. It has the wrong name."
Reborn looked at it in confusion for a second before he nodded. "You can change your birth certificate so they have to change your name."
"Too much work and stuff. And my dad would have to sign off and I haven't talked to him for a long time. I don't even think he knows my new name." That was a lie. His father knew; he just didn't call very much in first place for them to build a relationship.
"I could help you, you know. I work for the government."
"You look more like a lawyer."
"I was that also but my transfer was accepted this morning. Lucky for you I'm now a registry agent."
"You're lying. How do you transfer from a lawyer to a person that helps people change names? Was your profession not boring enough?"
"Well, I decided that if I wanted to feel fulfilled, I had to experience the dullest job I could. Well, here I am. Looking through information to give people licence plates."
Tsuna laughed, feeling his chest clench painfully. This was bad; this was really, really bad. He couldn't get close to Reborn again but it hurt not to contact him. Tsuna hated it so much.
This was why he ended up giving Reborn his email, telling him that he wanted to keep talking.
"Well, aren't you forward?" Reborn mocked. "I think we should at least know each other's names."
"Fine, Sawada Tsunayoshi. The ID is a liar and please call me Tsuna."
"Reborn, you don't need to know my last name." Reborn smiled, ruffling Tsuna's hair, and walked off to where he was going originally.
Tsuna was still smiling when he got home, calling out to his mom that he was back. She came out, looking worried, and started looking him over to make sure he was okay. When she saw his smile, she became suspicious.
"And where were you, young man?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"I was being chased by some people, they locked me in a dumpster, and I met a really nice guy who got me out. Pretty sure that I'm going to ask the guy out, too." Tsuna explained, removing his shoes as he talked. His mother, Nana, clicked her tongue.
"Do you know this guy's name? And is that why you have garbage in your hair?"
"Reborn; weird name but he was funny. He was really cute too. And yes, that is why there is garbage in my hair and I smell gross."
"I see; is he nice?"
"Yeah, he's the one that found my ID card for the university too. He gave it to me and when I told him not to call me by the name on the ID, he understood. So hopefully he continues to be like that."
Nana smiled, clapping her hands together. "I'm going to go bake some cookies for you to give him then. You always get to a man through his stomach."
"Mom, you don't have to bake anything. I just gave him my email. It's not like he's going to show up in a horse drawn carriage or anything." Nana wasn't listening though as she bustled off into the kitchen.
Tsuna sighed, giving up and walking to his room. He threw his bag onto his desk chair and dug out his book, doing the reading he needed to and all of the example questions he could. Since it was a Thursday he wanted to do a lot of the work assigned that night, get the reading and questions fit in as he went along, and make sure the bulk of his work was done over the weekend. Friday he only had a short class about choosing the right camera lens at eight so he would be able to finish what he didn't do tonight, tomorrow.
It was kind of dull, answering so many questions but he tried to make it interesting by putting background music on. It helped him concentrate at least.
A few hours into his work session, somebody walked into the house. He wasn't sure who since Nana hadn't said there would be visitors so he walked over to his door and poked his head out. He almost screamed.
Reborn was there, talking to Nana like they were old friends. Why did he keep appearing? This was out of nowhere. Tsuna had never seen Reborn for over 60 years, he knew that for a fact, and since Reborn had never been here before, he was curious as to how he knew Nana.
Tsuna sat by the stairs, eavesdropping on the conversation, wanting to know why Reborn was here.
"…As you can tell, the paper work has gone through and you should be able to book a court date." Reborn was saying, he was dead serious, his voice not having the joking lilts he had when he was talking to Tsuna. "He can call the court house or come to Japan to make this final but if he doesn't come that's an automatic point in your favour. This is what you both need to sign, call him and see if you both still want to go through with this before you sign it."
"Alright, thank you so much, Mr. Reborn. I know this is far more than you're supposed to do." Nana said, gushing a little.
"It's not a problem. You're my last case before I switch over to doing something else so I wanted to make sure the correct paper work was completed since I'm not going to be there to over see the rest."
"Alright then, I won't keep you any longer. Since you refuse to come in to talk over coffee at least take some of these cookies for the road." Nana pushed a plastic bag into Reborn's hand and wouldn't accept them back no matter how much Reborn protested.
Sighing, Reborn put the cookies in his coat pocket and smirked a little. He looked up the stairs and called, "Nice seeing you Tsuna!", before he walked out the door again, waving to Nana before she closed it behind him.
Nana turned and seemed a little flustered that Tsuna was watching, trying to hide the folder behind her back. Tsuna wasn't buying it and he walked down the steps, sitting on the last one, and holding his hand out for the folder.
"Sweetie, you don't need to see this. It's just some papers your father and I have to sign." Nana explained, trying to divert attention from it.
"Are they divorce papers?" Tsuna asked simply.
"…Yes. Your father hasn't been home very much, always overseas on that drilling job. I barely get a call, maybe I get a postcard, and whenever he's home he doesn't do much but sleep and drink. I just lost the spark and he agrees it's for the best that we split up. It's a completely mutual thing so hopefully it's not too much of a shock."
It wasn't. Tsuna knew that this was a long time coming from how there was only one picture of the man in the entrance, it was a family photo, but that was it. Wasn't the greatest sign when Tsuna first walked into the house but the pieces came together within the first few weeks.
"Whatever makes you guys happy, I guess? Why don't you talk about it first though? Maybe you'll have a break through or whatever." Tsuna suggested. He knew not all things couldn't be talked through but it was worth a shot at least.
"I'm hoping he comes to Japan for at least a little bit but my hopes aren't very high." Nana sighed, moving into the kitchen, Tsuna following.
"If he shows you know he's committed to something. If he doesn't, you know why." Tsuna sat in one of the chairs, watching his mother flit around the kitchen, pulling pots out from the cupboard and different vegetables from the fridge.
"Enough about that. Now, come help make supper. It'll be a nice break from your school work."
That night, Tsuna's phone went off, telling him he got an email, when he was walking back into his room. It was Reborn obviously and Tsuna couldn't help the excited feeling he got when he saw who was writing him. Within two minutes, Tsuna had responded, a giddy smile on his face.
Tsuna regretted sending that email only because of how he was up half the night talking to Reborn when he had a class at eight the next morning. It was worth it though as one; it had been over 60 years. Even with the years gap, it was like they were never separated from each other. They were talking as easily as Tsuna remembered. And two: Reborn asked him out on a date for the next day. Tsuna fell asleep soon after they set the date and time they would meet and was almost late again because of it.
When his class was done at ten Tsuna felt like he would collapse. He was glad it was only the one class for the day and crashed the minute he got home. He was woken up a couple hours later by somebody banging around downstairs, a booming voice going through the house. He wasn't awake enough to know who it was and honestly wouldn't have been awake if he had a choice. So he shoved his face back into his pillow and tried to fall back asleep.
He might've gone to sleep too if somebody hadn't slammed the door open and made him fall on the floor in his surprise.
"W-What?" Tsuna said, dazed.
"Oh come on, you honestly can't say you don't remember me?" The person said. Tsuna had gone face first to the floor so he only thought that the person talking to him was a guy. He flopped onto his back and looked at the person standing next to him and groaned. His dad was home.
"Welcome back, Dad." Tsuna mumbled as he heaved himself up. He blew some hair out of his face before pulling himself from the floor. His shirt was wrinkled against him and he tried to fix it but gave up since it was hopeless.
"What are you doing sleeping half the day? Don't you have classes?" His dad, Iemitsu, asked. Tsuna shrugged, walking past his dad out of the door.
"I couldn't sleep last night so I was tired when I woke up for my early class." Also because his mother forced him to bed when she saw how tired he looked.
"Why couldn't you sleep?"
Tsuna wasn't sure if screaming would help get his dad to leave him alone. "I just couldn't, okay? So I took a nap when I got home."
"Why are you still living with your mother anyways? I thought you would've been over-eager to live on your own, you in university and all."
"I'm looking into it." He wasn't really; he just wanted to stop being questioned by Iemitsu. There wasn't a reason to move out if his mother was going to be living alone.
"I'll help you look then, how does that sound, Tsurara?" Iemitsu clapped a hand onto his shoulder
Tsuna looked at him sharply, pushing the hand off of his shoulder. He didn't say anything as he walked into the kitchen, Nana picking up on the tense atmosphere from Tsuna's face. She seemed to huff unhappily and passively put a little bit more salt into the dish she was almost done. Iemitsu hated salty things, a contrast to Nana and Tsuna.
"Mom, I don't think I'll eat since I have to get ready soon." Tsuna said. Nana cooed, pinching Tsuna's cheek lightly.
"It's nice to see that you finally have a date." Nana said in a sing-song voice.
"Who do you have date with?" Iemitsu asked, looking at Tsuna from across the table. He was trying to connect with Tsuna but he was failing miserably at it.
"A guy." Tsuna answered shortly. He pushed away from the table and walked back to his room to get ready and already heard Iemitsu grumbling about how he was being treated so poorly. It was a little bit his fault but Tsuna knew that he had to cut out being so harsh to Iemitsu sometime. He was trying to make a relationship so it was better then nothing.
Tsuna got to his room, opened his closet, and froze. He had no idea what to wear. He had a lot of dresses in the closet and very little dress shirts. He had one that looked like it was from his graduation or something but that seemed about it. He needed to improvise then.
So he dug around his room until he found his old school uniform, pulling the dress shirt down and throwing it onto his bed so he knew where it was. He tried to find something like a tie but that wasn't working so he gave up, going for something that looked better than jeans. Nothing. He had to use dark, straight legged jeans because it was the closest thing that looked at least okay on him. He threw the pants on the bed too and left with a pair of underwear so he could shower first before anything.
When he was done and dressed, he paced tensely around his room, not sure if this was a good idea. What if the person in the black cloak showed up again? What if he got hit by a bus because he was talking to Reborn again after so long?
There were so many variables as to how this night could go and he honestly wasn't sure if he was up for thinking of other reasons. So, sighing heavily, he opened his door and walked down the stairs to wait for the time they set to meet up came.
He was supposed to go to a park not far from where both of them lived, deciding what they wanted to do after that. Nana was practically bouncing from excitement as she flitted through the house, her baby finally going on a date for the first time, and Iemitsu was trying to cope with the fact that Tsuna was getting a boyfriend. He was moaning about how fast Tsuna had grown up and how he was still his 'baby girl'. Nana finally dragged him away by the ear and berated him to no end, finally explaining to stop calling Tsuna a girl.
Tsuna blew out a tense breath and got up, shoving his knock off converse on his feet. He tapped the toe nervously off the ground and opened the door.
"I'm off!" He called. Nana came down the hall and pulled him into a hug. She ruffled his hair again, smiling proudly, before pushing him out of the door.
He walked to the park, still second-guessing himself. He was there on time and he sat on a wooden bench, bringing his knees up so he could rest his chin on them as he tapped his fingers off of his shoes nervously. There were still a couple kids running around, one of them kept running up to the swing and screeching at his mother to push him again while the second one played in the sand box. Both of the children's mothers called for them that it was time to leave since it was going to get dark soon.
The park emptied out, leaving Tsuna alone and anxious. He wasn't sure if he was going to look creepy sitting in a children's park so he really hoped that Reborn hurried up so he could leave. But another 15 minutes passed and Reborn was now officially late. It was alright though since it might've been the traffic or something keeping him. At least, that's what he wanted to think was keeping Reborn.
Almost 20 minutes into Tsuna's waiting, he finally heard feet crunching the gravel covering the ground. He looked up, seeing Reborn walking through the gate and looking windswept, his already spiky hair looking even messier; his black slacks were also wet around the ends, his leather shoes being looking unaffected surprisingly, so Tsuna guessed he was walking through wet grass or a puddle.
"What kept you?" Tsuna called out, making Reborn look up.
Reborn smirked cockily, coming over and sitting on the bench next to Tsuna. "I didn't mean to take that long. I was trying to find this place since I've never been here before."
"Sorry, it was the first place I thought of." Tsuna wasn't' very familiar with this place since he hadn't been in his home town for a very long time. The layout was the same but that was it. He had a vague feeling a park was close so that's what he suggested where they should meet.
"It's fine. At least we know you know where you're going." Reborn said, stretching his legs out in front of him as he slouched down.
Tsuna laughed a little, tracing his fingers along the grains in the wood. There was a slightly awkward silence that Tsuna was floundering to think of something to start a conversation when Reborn said, "So, from how squished together you are, I'm guessing you're nervous?"
"…Yeah, a little bit; I'm not used to going out on dates." Which was true because they hadn't had one for over half a decade.
"Well, I have an idea of what we could do; if you're up for me picking what we do."
"Go for it. I couldn't give a better suggestion."
"Well, there's a duck pond near here so we could go there with something to throw at the ducks for them to eat. We can talk to each other while we do it and get to know each other better."
Tsuna snorted, knowing that this was a last minute thing. He had never done this on a date before and was curious to see how it would turn out. "Alright, let's go get some birdseed to feed the ducks then."
"It's funny that you know ducks can't eat bread." Reborn commented as he got up from the bench.
Tsuna made a face at him. "It should be common knowledge. Stuff like sweets and breads will mess with their digestive system so if you feed it to them don't give them a whole piece of bread, just a few chunks before moving on."
"I feel like you go around and just look for facts about duck feeding."
"No! I only saw it on an article when I was researching ducks. It was a school project and so I had to do some amount of research. How did you know about it if you're so up to date about duck health?"
"I have a friend that is a zoologist that told me. They were just talking about different things in their school book when we were in the library and they just brought it up. Most boring hour of my life right there."
"I thought you would've paid better attention if you're so into saving environment."
Reborn scoffed. "There's a difference between being for something and having somebody bore you to death with their monotone voice. I only remember what they told me because of how boring it was."
"Maybe that was why they spoke like that, to get you to remember."
Reborn rolled his eyes, shaking his head a little. The two of them continued to move down to a corner store, talking about the times they had been bored to sleep. Tsuna won that by talking about how one of his teachers started talking about global warming and didn't even pronounce words to keep him interested, just kept the same monotone, levelled lilt the entire time; ultimately making the entire class doze off until the bell rang to get them to change classes.
They had bought the bird seed, still exchanging stories, when they made it to the duck pound. The sun was just started to sink so the deep oranges, pinks, purples, and reds made the entire pound.
Reborn walked right up to the pound, sitting on the edge with his legs crossed under him and feet almost touching the water. He started sprinkling seeds next to him, the ducks hurriedly swimming over to get some when they saw it. Tsuna sat with him, pulling his feet up to his chest again. Reborn offered him the bag, Tsuna taking a hand full. He didn't throw it and screeched when the ducks swarmed around him; some of the ducklings even walking out of the pond and sitting on Tsuna's foot.
"I think they like you." Reborn commented. Tsuna looked at him desperately.
"Please help me. I don't want to be the chosen one." Tsuna felt a duckling land in his hair and he groaned.
"Tsuna, this is the opposite of a problem." Reborn said disdainfully. Tsuna whined, annoyed that Reborn would say that instead of taking the duck off of his head and numerous body parts.
Soon enough they started talking about different things. What they liked in a movie for it to be good, if a human could survive without certain organs, if a duck would be a good companion for life, you know happy stuff. Reborn and Tsuna had abandoned their bird seed and were soon reclined in the grass a few feet away from the pond, pointing out constellations they knew and telling fun facts about each one or telling the story about behind them.
"Okay, what about the Ursa Major? What do you know about that one?" Tsuna asked, pointing it out to Reborn.
"Well, the myth to it is that a nymph named Callisto had sworn an oath to Artemis, the huntress and god of chastity, but had broken her oath when Zeus fell in love with her. They boned, had a son, and Artemis cast out Callisto because of breaking her oath. But Zeus' wife, Hera, wasn't finished and turned Callisto into a bear as punishment for sleeping with her husband. So Callisto is being a bear and stuff for about fifteen years when she comes to face with her son in the woods. Of course her son was about to kill her because, bear, but Zeus saw the scene from heaven and intervened. He sent down some wind and stuff and bought them up to the heavens, making them constellations. Callisto is the Ursa Major and her son is the Ursa Minor, but some say her son is Boötes, the Herdsman."
"That was a good story. How do you know that off the top of your head?"
"Because I'm smart."
"Oho, well aren't you cocky."
Reborn looked at Tsuna and smirked, Tsuna scoffing and pushing Reborn's head a little.
"The Libra constellation is over there." Reborn pointed it out, feeling Tsuna sit closer so he could see where Reborn was pointing. "The Greeks thought it was part of the Scorpio constellation from how it looks like the claw of the crab; they even called it Chelae ((pronounced kill-ee)) because of it."
"You're a nerd." Tsuna mumbled.
"Just because I have a masters in Math doesn't mean I'm nerd."
"You're a nerd." Tsuna reiterated.
"I'm a hot nerd?"
"…Yes, very."
"Ooh, you're blushing. How cute, you're embarrassed."
"Shut up…"
When Tsuna walked in at nine that night, he almost fell over from how fast Nana ran over to him. She looked so excited, grabbing his wrist to pull him into the kitchen the second his shoes were off and insisting that he needed to tell her about his date, how he enjoyed it, if he was going to go on another date and potentially marry him.
"Mom, this is the first date I've been on with him, I'm not marrying him yet." Tsuna said, putting both of his hands on her shoulders to calm her down.
She sighed, covering one of his hands with her own. "I know; I just got a little excited. I'm just so happy you finally found somebody!"
Tsuna smiled, nodding. He sat at the table, talking to his mother as she bustled around, starting to make some tea. "Well, he was late for one so that was a little hard to deal with. I thought I was going to get stood up. But he showed and suggested we go to a duck pond to feed ducks while we get to know each other."
Nana looked over her shoulder, dubious. "You went to a duck pond on your first date?"
"Yeah, it was actually fun because a bunch of the ducklings swarmed me and they were really cute. Reborn also pointed out a bunch of the constellations to me and told me the myths behind some of them. It was really interesting."
"Did you have anything to eat?"
"Yeah, we got some sushi. I had to show Reborn how to properly hold chopsticks though."
"He's not from here?"
"No, he grew up in Italy but he's been all over the world, he says."
Nana shook her head, placing the tea on the table. "At least you had fun."
"Yeah…" Tsuna said, smiling a little as he started drinking his tea, regretting it as it was still boiling. He grimaced, spitting the tea back into his cup hurriedly, much to Nana's disgust. He wiped his chin and asked his mother, "How was your night with Dad?"
Nana seemed to think, choosing her words carefully. "We've decided that we should hold off on the divorce for a little bit. He has gone to get a year off so he can spend time with me again. We'll see how it works out, I guess. I just hope I don't have to sign those papers."
"Is he staying here the entire time?"
"Not for the first couple weeks, no. He's in a motel right now. He said he didn't want to push it and would take me on a date next Saturday night. Try to get the spark back."
"That's grossly sappy." Tsuna said bluntly, taking a hesitant sip of his tea.
"Well I'd rather sappy then nothing at all. But I'm excited that I'll get to hear a bunch of stories from when he was on the oil rig! It must have been so exciting, going all those places."
Tsuna shrugged, not really seeing the joy in working around that kind of stuff. He had worked on an oil rig before and it was hard work. There wasn't much chit-chat as they worked. He decided being an engineer was better since he got to use his hands more.
"Tsuna, are you going to be okay home alone?" Nana asked, making Tsuna look over in surprise.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"I don't know; I just worry about you. This is the first time you've been on a date and really socialized and I just want to make sure you're going to be okay if I'm gone when you get home from classes."
Tsuna smiled, nodding. "I'll be fine mom, have fun on your date with Dad and don't even think of me. Okay?"
"Okay, that's going to be a little hard since you're always on my mind though." Nana reached over and took hold of Tsuna's hand, squeezing it once before downing the last of her tea and putting the mug in the sink. "Make sure you get to bed soon. Try to ignore the emails as well, okay?"
Tsuna flushed in embarrassment and nodded. He had thought she had been asleep; he guessed how she knew though since Reborn had made him laugh more then he would like to admit.
"I'll try not to be too loud in my late night emails."
Nana rolled her eyes, not very hopeful, and kissed Tsuna's cheek. "Make sure you're able to get up for your class at least, sweetie. I'm going to bed so make sure to turn everything off when you go to bed, alright?"
"Alright. Good night."
Nana walked up the stairs, her footsteps non-existent from how quiet they were. Tsuna continued to stay at the table, sipping his tea slowly as he tried to figure out what to do. He could stay here, finish university, and make a life here as a professional photographer; but that also runs the risk of being cornered by the person in the cloak. Yet if he left, Reborn wouldn't be where he was. He would be in Namimori, Tsuna's hometown, and not even know where Tsuna went if he left.
Tsuna let his head fall onto the table with a soft 'thump'. He honestly wasn't sure what to do.
A week later, the weekend rolled around again and his mother was hurrying through the house with nervous excitement. She was putting the final touches on her make-up, fixing her blouse nervously, taking off her skirt in exchange for slacks, and then putting her skirt on again. Tsuna just watched her, finally sighing and saying she looked better in the skirt and to stick with it. She sighed, smoothing out the creases in it nervously.
"Alright, I trust you on this, Tsuna. I'll go with the skirt. How does everything else look?" Nana said, her hands shaking a little as she gently smudged a little bit of her eyeliner to make it look less heavy.
"It is also fine. Mom you've been married to dad for over 20 years, I think he'll appreciate you in whatever you wear, okay?"
Nana blew out a breath again, nodding as she realized how stupidly nervous she was being. "Okay, okay, I'll calm down. It's just been a very long time since I've been on a date with anybody."
"At least you know that he's nice. Go feed ducks like I did." Tsuna suggested. Nana laughed a little and shook her head. She plopped down next to her son on the couch and played a little with her hair. "Ugh, Mom, you'll be fine! He'll be here in a few minutes so use that time to calm down. If you act nervous, he'll be nervous and it'll be awkward for everybody."
"Why are you such a good teacher?"
"I've had my fair share of anxiety. Don't worry, you'll be fine. If he's terrible, walk away, and make him pay, make sure he only has water to drink if you're going out to dinner, make sure that you are completely aware of where you are, and you know exactly what you want."
"Okay, got it, I got it. Whew, okay let's do this!"
"That's the spirit. Now go get them, Tiger."
Tsuna's pep talk ended at the perfect time as there was a knock at the door, Nana jumping up to answer it. Tsuna pushed in front though, saying he would be the one to get it, and went to the door, opening it to see Iemitsu leaning casually against the door frame. Tsuna stared at Iemitsu before shaking his head, beckoning him to come in as he walked back into the living room.
Nana bustled out, smoothing down the back of her skirt and making sure her fly-away hairs were down and stepped into the door way, smiling brightly at her husband. Tsuna made a gagging motion silently to himself as he saw the love-dovey scene. He made sure to stay away from that as he slouched on the stairs, waiting for his parents to leave.
"Okay, Tsuna, make sure you keep the door locked, if you have anybody over, you make good choices, there's food in the fridge if you get hungry, there's-oh you know where everything is. Alright, be safe, sweetie, and I'll be back around ten or ten-thrity." Nana waved over her shoulder, blowing Tsuna a kiss before shutting the door.
"Finally", Tsuna muttered. He walked down the hall and pulled the door open to the closet, saying to Reborn, "You can come out now."
"They just closed the door Tsuna; maybe they're eavesdropping to make sure you're not doing anything they wouldn't approve of." Reborn said as he hoped down from his spot on top of the washer. Tsuna shrugged, leading him back out into the living room. "I don't know why you insisted on hiding me just because your mother was home."
"You followed me back when we bumped into each other on the street and I didn't think my mom would be home so I panicked, okay?" Tsuna said, flopping onto the couch.
"You have quite the panic mode then, shoving me into the closet then insisting you would do the laundry. Wait were you alluding to something?"
Tsuna turned ten different shades of red as he vehemently shook his head. "No! No, I wouldn't-no Reborn!"
"Wow, touchy." Reborn said. He sat next to Tsuna, adjusting so he was able to sit as close as Tsuna as he could without it getting weird. Tsuna seemed to shift his body so he could face Reborn, which was a good sign, and they started talking, not even really thinking of turning on something to watch.
"Why would anybody trust a pureblood though?" Tsuna asked. Currently they were debating whether it was better or worse to be a pure blood in Harry Potter.
"Because Weasly family were pure bloods, they didn't turn out too bad. Sirus' entire family is pure blooded, and not all of them are bad. His brother, Regulus, was the one to steal the horcrux from Voldemort. It depends on the person, not the blood status." Reborn answered easily. He pushed hair out of Tsuna's face, making Tsuna's face tint pink in embarrassment.
Reborn smirked a little, letting his hand stay on Tsuna's face a second longer then was probably needed before pulling back. Tsuna seemed to frown at how Reborn pulled back but didn't bring it up.
"So do you want to watch anything? I can't be entertaining much longer since I might fall asleep." Tsuna looked at Reborn, waiting for him to answer.
"You pick, I don't really watch movies." Reborn said, playing with his sideburns. They looped out into ridiculous curls and for some reason Reborn was proud of them.
"Obviously you read so is there any movie based on books you want to watch?"
"Lord of The Rings?"
"Oh, no, not a chance. The first movie is three and a half hours long. Just the first one. I could never sit through it. And plus I don't think we have it on DVD."
"Well what do you have?"
Tsuna shrugged, sitting in front of the TV stand and pulling out the small bin that held the cases. He started flicking through them, feeling Reborn come and sit beside him and look at the movies Tsuna had. A few times he picked one up but always put it back with a shake of his head. Soon they delved into just trying to guess the titles by the picture on the case. It was a good way to figure out what they would want to watch.
Finally they decided on watching a horror movie, wanting to see how bad it was.
It was mistake since Tsuna realized within the first ten minutes he didn't like being scared by imaginary things. He had experienced far worse then what these people were going through but he still got scared by a door closing on a music cue.
Instead of watching it he opted for cowering into Reborn's chest. He smelled nice so it wasn't a problem and he felt safe at least since Reborn had his arms wrapped loosely around him.
"Why did we think this was a good idea?" Tsuna mumbled into Reborn's chest. He felt Reborn laugh a little.
"You're the one that picked it. So it's your fault really." Reborn said.
"I'm going to see if I can fall asleep so please wake me up when it's over." Tsuna shifted, lying more heavily against Reborn. He felt Reborn's arm tense a little before relaxing, letting Tsuna settled between his legs, but Tsuna moved up a little so he could be level with Reborn's face instead of Reborn's collar.
Twenty minutes later Tsuna managed to fall asleep, but Reborn did too so when the movie ended there was just a blue glow around the entire room, as Tsuna and Reborn slept snuggled together on the couch. The only problem was Tsuna was having a very…Uncomfortable dream.
In his dream, it started off him just looking at the stars, the different constellations jumping out, until Reborn was suddenly there, pointing out the constellations and saying their names; just like on their date. But it took a weird turn from how their date went when Tsuna rolled onto Reborn, Tsuna easily fitting himself against him like it was the most natural thing in the world. Then they were kissing, Reborn gently cupping Tsuna's face and Tsuna humming in satisfaction as they pressed closer, breathing in each other, running their hands wherever they could, Tsuna being pressed flushed into the grass as Reborn playfully kissed his neck, making Tsuna laugh from how it tickled. All of it happened, and Tsuna woke up blushing and not sure what to say to Reborn when he asked Tsuna what was wrong.
Tsuna decided now was the time to mention there was food.
As the months went by, Tsuna and Reborn made a good couple. Nana was always excited to have Reborn over, thinking of him as part of the family. Iemitsu was coming and going, making sure he was giving Nana all of the attention she deserved this time, now that their relationship was back and better then ever. But whenever Reborn was over, he got along with him like the two were old pals.
Soon, the question was raised by Iemitsu: when was Tsuna planning to move out.
It was honestly a ridiculous question if his mother wanted him around. But he was slowly considering it since his mother did too much for him and he was almost 25 so he should at least be looking. So he did, he started looking in news papers and internet ads. He honestly wasn't sure what he was doing so Nana helped him and gave him tips on what to do when he was being interviewed about his financial history and such.
Reborn had heard and offered to help Tsuna find a job to help pay his rent. Soon Tsuna was a cashier at a convenience store and was going to look at an apartment the following day.
Ultimately, he didn't get the apartment from how people were allowed to smoke in the building and that's all you could smell when you walked in. He was telling Reborn about how he didn't want the apartment when they were laying in Tsuna's bed having post make-out cuddles.
"You know, I have a spare room in my apartment. I could talk it over with the land lord, get you on the lease and now you have an apartment." Reborn told Tsuna.
"I don't want to have you do so much for me though." Tsuna mumbled. He felt like Reborn was doing too much for him and he wasn't doing as much back in return.
"I don't mind. It's better then you having to flounder to try and find an apartment because your dad doesn't want you home. We both know why he doesn't want you home though."
"Ew, Reborn, that's gross. I don't want to think about that…But do you really think it won't be that big of a problem?"
"Not at all. I'll call them tonight and ask about it. If you can sign onto the lease then you can move in over the weekend." Reborn moved his face to the crook in Reborn's neck, hugging Tsuna closer.
And so, Tsuna moved in that weekend after signing onto the lease.
When all the clothes Tsuna had brought was put in a place, Tsuna had a couple boxes shoved into the corner but a majority of his stuff was put into a spare dresser Reborn had, Tsuna and Reborn were collapsed on the couch together, Reborn lying on top of Tsuna like a cat, stretched out lazily. They weren't really talking or doing much, they were just laying together as it slowly got darker and darker.
After a while, Tsuna felt Reborn shift and get off, quietly talking to himself. No, singing to himself Tsuna concluded.
"What are you singing?" Tsuna asked curiously. Reborn seemed surprised that Tsuna was still awake and looked a tad embarrassed.
"I'm singing The Way You Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra." Reborn admitted.
"Sing it for me." Tsuna requested. He leaned his chin against the arm rest so he could see Reborn better.
"I don't sing for people. The most you get from me is humming."
"Then hum it to me."
Reborn shrugged apathetically, walking over to the couch and taking Tsuna's hand in his. He pulled Tsuna off of the couch, guiding him to a spot in the apartment where it was cleared of things. Tsuna, confused, followed, letting Reborn guide him to the middle of their apartment, wanting to know where this would go.
"I'll hum it if we dance together." Reborn stated as he gently put his hand on Tsuna's hip.
"Um, I don't dance. I'm too clumsy, Reborn." Tsuna said. He felt embarrassed beyond belief in doing this since he had never done this before.
"It's fine. We're only doing a simple box step. Just start with your left foot forward, yes just like that, now bring your right forward while stepping to the side. There you go, now step back…" Reborn continued to guide Tsuna through the process, not even flinching when Tsuna continuously stepped on his feet, just continuing to guide him. When Tsuna finally got it down, Reborn started humming again, guiding Tsuna through the dance, slowly, making sure it was easy for Tsuna to keep up.
They continued to dance, Tsuna leaning his head against Reborn's shoulder and Reborn holding Tsuna closer then was probably necessary for their dance. But it didn't matter. They had each other and they were both extremely happy together, both of them liking where they were at in life as Reborn continued to hum Frank Sinatra songs and they stayed like that, just taking each other in.
Another year passed and Tsuna graduated university. He was finally ready to start a career as a photographer, hoping he would be able to be employed for a reasonable price, but he was still worried about the person in the black cloak. Tsuna hadn't seen them for a very long time and he was with Reborn again.
The person showed up whenever Tsuna was happy with Reborn, in a good spot with their relationship. But the person was nowhere to be found this time.
Reborn had gone to a new job this month as well, switching to something that involved math. He said it was because he wanted to use his master's degree for something so he might as well use it for a job. Tsuna didn't get the appeal of numbers to Reborn but he was supportive if he wanted to do something that made him happy.
One morning, after Reborn had left for work, Tsuna was researching a job for photography before he had to go to his actual job as a cashier. He was just going around and seeing what kind of jobs he could get when he heard a knock at the door. He got up to answer it since who else would and didn't like who he saw on the other side.
The person in the cloak was standing there. They had a smile dancing on their face, making Tsuna even more scared as to what would happen. Noticing his face, the person said, "Oh relax! I'm just here to talk, now let me in, let me in."
They pushed past, walking straight into the living room and plopping on to the couch putting their feet on to the coffee table. Tsuna numbly closed the door, nervously standing near the couch, just waiting to hear what this person wanted.
"Oh, don't be like that. Come on and sit down already. I have a lot to talk about." Tsuna meekly obeyed, sitting as far away from them as he could possibly imagine. "Whatever, I'm here because my boss wants me to introduce myself. You probably don't even know who I am but my name is Ren. You don't need to know my last name because it's not important, I'm not related to you in the future nor am I related to your boy toy. I'm just somebody that works for a living."
"Killing me whenever I'm happy." Tsuna mumbled. Ren shrugged, making a small sound in vague agreement.
"Maybe, I don't know. But my boss said that I can stop doing that now. Obviously there was a reason to why I was killing you and stuff and here it is: You were cursed by a witch, we follow the people with curses, and try to whittle them down until they're begging for death. You haven't yet so we give up."
"You…Give up?" Tsuna asked, still trying to wrap his head around what just happened.
"Yep, we give up. Now, I'm here for another reason too. I'm here to grant you one wish. It can be anything but money, necromancy, getting people to love you or each other, whatever, whatever. It can be whatever you wish if it complies with rules and stuff."
"So…You're just going to give me one wish?" Tsuna asked, doubtful. Ren scoffed; offended their authority would be questioned.
"As long as it is within my power to grant it, I will."
"What's the catch?"
Ren groaned, throwing their head back like it was just pure agony to talk to him. "There isn't one! I'm going to give you one wish, you can get whatever you want, and then you can bone your boyfriend for all eternity or whatever."
"So you can't take off my immortality?"
"No, that's one of the conditions to the wish. Once the spell was cast, there was no going back. The old hag had no idea what she was messing with."
"So you know who cursed me?"
"Yes, of course, all demons know the witches on Earth."
"So you're a demon? And you're here why?"
"Because our overlord commanded me to be here so here I am. Now are we done with the twenty questions? Can you just figure out your wish already so just hurry up!" Ren made a circular motion with her hands, showing her impatience.
Tsuna looked at the couch cushion separating the two, thinking. What could he wish for that would make him happy? What could he wish for? He could ask if he could use it for something about Reborn's immortality but he felt like it wasn't on the table, this wish was for him and him only. So, what would make him happy?
"I got it." Tsuna proclaimed after ten minutes had passed.
"Whoa, I thought you shut down from how hard you were thinking. Alright what's the wish?" Ren sat forward, closing her eyes, and held their hands up so their palms faced Tsuna.
"Um…Could you make it so that when I get hurt too badly that instead of me getting shoved into another person's body, could I have my own body back? Like the one I had when I was first cursed, a body like that that gets reborn in the nearest water source? Does that make sense?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. And I'm not going to manipulate the wish and give you your actual decayed body so you'll be in the body that is a replica of your original form for the end of time. Sound about right?" Ren peeked an eye open, seeing Tsuna's nod of consent.
"So I'll be in a guy's body, looking like how I did in the 1500s, but in an actual flesh and blood body that will be reborn in the river whenever I get hurt too badly to recover."
"Whatever, I get it. What you wish, I command. Just touch your hands to mine so we can get this over-with."
Tsuna held his hands out, hesitantly letting Ren take his hands in theirs. They muttered a line in Latin and a soft orange glow filled the room for a few, tense seconds before it faded and Ren threw Tsuna's hands out of theirs.
"There, you have a penis and no breasts. Now I'll answer three questions I want to answer before I disappear. Go."
He froze up, scrambling for a question that he desperately wanted answered. "Um…who's your boss?"
"Guy named Nozac. He's annoying but I have to deal with him. I was ordered to kill you so many times to wear your soul out enough that I could take it to Hell. Next."
"Um…Are there other people like me?"
"Yep, you'll never know it though so don't try to look for them. Next."
"Is…Is there any way to know who cursed Reborn?"
"He was also one of the people the same witch cursed that went on our radar; but she said a word differently when she hexed him so your immortalities are different. You were cursed because the witch was petty over you not giving her food and Reborn's family owed money to her so she cursed him when she wanted to collect it and he was the only one hime. Your immortalities are the same now since I corrected it, Reborn's body also goes to the closest water source so don't worry about him being transported across the globe away from you. Now it was nice killing you but I am honestly very busy so bye~"
And just like that, they were gone.
Tsuna couldn't believe he got answers that easily. Shouldn't it be harder? Shouldn't he have to go on this big adventure to figure out why he was cursed and to get it fixed? Apparently not though as when eh changed to get ready for work, he was in a guy's body. He looked like he did in the 1500s, spiky brown hair, a little short, scrawny, too big eyes he got from his mom. All of it was there. He went to work, not really sure how to even process what had just happened. The first thing he knew he needed to do though was tell Reborn about what had just happened the minute they were both back at the apartment.
The day passed in a daze and he was home before he knew it. Reborn was fixing dinner in the kitchen, he could smell tomato sauce so he knew it was going to be some kind of pasta. Reborn called out a welcome home and Tsuna wasn't even sure what made him but he ran into the kitchen and pulled Reborn into a kiss, wrapping Reborn's tie loosely around his hand as leverage.
"What's with this, Tsuna?" Reborn asked against Tsuna's lips.
"I…I have something I need to tell you. It's really important." Tsuna pulled back, letting Reborn take his tie off, moving back a little.
"Just tell me then. It can't be that bad." Reborn said, turning back to the stove to continue stirring everything in the pots.
"Well…I kind of know you're immortal for one. And two, I am the same person that died in your arms in Italy."
Reborn's back tensed, his grip on the spoon too tight to be normal. "I thought you were just delusional. I didn't think you were serious."
"Wait, you believe me?" Tsuna asked incredulously. "Just like that? You don't ask for anything like for me to prove how I'm the same person?"
"I've had a feeling for a while. I just didn't want to bring it up from how you always looked different but acted the same in every body. The people around you might not have noticed, but I did. Then you disappeared after that time in the cottage and I stopped meeting people to fall in love with, so I was suspicious already. But if you want, prove how you are the same person.'
"Well, I died in your arms from multiple lacerations on my body in your picture room while you held me, and you got soaked with my blood, I remember that. And before that, we fought with Nazi Germany, I never want to repeat that mistake again, I gotta say that was a really bad decision."
"Tell me about it. I'm glad Mussolini and Hitler got what was coming to them though."
"How morbid. I like it. Anywyas, do you need anything more?"
Reborn turned, leaning against the counter by the stove. "No, I don't. But there's something more you want to tell me so spill."
"Well, um, a demon visited the apartment this morning and…I'm not sure what happened but I think when I die, I'll be reborn in the nearest water source. The demon said something like that's what you have so I don't know but it's there, and they said that I wouldn't be sent across the world anymore when I am born again. I also have a male body now so that's a plus since I don't enjoy a female's body."
Reborn nodded, looking thoughtful. "I guess we're stuck with each other for all of eternity."
Tsuna smiled brightly and nodded. He walked over and hugged Reborn, feeling Reborn hug him back and bury his face into Tsuna's hair.
"The spaghetti sauce is burning, Reborn."
"Shhhh, you're ruining the moment, Love."
[muffled screaming] I'M DONE THIS. FINALLY.
So, hello again. Obviously this is a sequel to "Oh, What A Beautiful World We Live In" and this has been in the works for a long time. I tohught about the plot for this two weeks after releasing the first story but hadn't gotten around to writing at least a little bit until a few months ago. The last couple days I was really pushing myself to write it though since I go back to school September 3rd and want to do more writing to at least satisfy myself.
So, I dunno how well people are going to like this since it's so long, I honestly wouldn't blame you if you didn't read it because I had a hard time correcting it. But I'm really satisfied how it came out and I would so love to hear how you guys enjoyed this story too so leave a review to tell me what you think!
-Gate