Author's Note: Okay, so you can blame WaiiKitsune for this one... even though the fic I was reading was CRACK and not ANGST... and I'm pretty sure there was no one-sided anything involved...
It is so strange how my mind translates the inspiration I got from Ding-Dong-Chu to... this. I guess there is one similarity though.
"I wish we had met under different circumstances."
Twenty-three year old Tsunayoshi lowered his paperwork and looked up at a wistful looking Giotto who was sitting in the window, staring out over the vast expanse that was the Vongola Gardens. "Why do you say that?" Tsuna asked as he pondered how much lenience he should give the Varia for this next term. Xanxus wasn't tamed by any means but he wasn't as irate as he had been ten years ago—or, hell, even three years ago.
"Because I could have fallen for you as easily as your Guardians have."
Tsuna spluttered, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Giotto smiled but it seemed sad. "Just as I said. I could have fallen for you. You could have made me stronger. You may have even stopped Daemon from betraying me." His voice broke and Tsuna felt his heart going out to the man that had become more like a father to him than his own father.
"How would it have played out though?" Tsuna mused. Giotto blinked and Tsuna offered him a wry smile. "You aren't the only one who has thought about something like that, Giotto. We are two sides of the same coin—two forms of the same Sky. The same could be said for our Elements as well… but that begs the question. If we had met in a different form, what would I be giving up? What will I have never known?"
"—IF YOU DO NOT PUT THAT DAMN BAZOOKA AWAY, I'M GOING TO SHOVE IT UP YOUR—OW! HIBARI! WHAT THE FUCK, YOU ASSHOLE?!"
"You herbivores are too noisy. Be quiet or I'll bite you to death."
Tsuna smiled. That answered that question.
"When two skies come together, no matter how impossible the circumstances may seem, they become one." Giotto murmured. "My elements would have been yours just as much as they were mine."
That was true… but…
"…Reborn…"
The former-Arcobaleno meant so much to him.
Giotto sighed. "I see."
Tsuna loved Reborn in a way more deeply, more intense than a Sky should. "But…" Tsuna interrupted, knowing his ancestor was about to fade away. "I would have been born in your time, right? Reborn wouldn't have even been born yet."
Giotto looked up.
"If he hasn't been born, I would never know him and then I wouldn't have known what it was I lost—what I never had." Tsuna suddenly looked thoughtful. "I might have even fallen for you." As he said this, a light dust of pink spread over his nose.
Giotto felt himself smile, feeling lighter than he had in years. "Tsunayoshi…"
Tsuna turned towards him but soon had his breath stolen from him when a pair of lips, warm but not entirely there, pressed against his. His eyes widened and his mind became foggy.
The kiss was by no means as intense as the ones he shared with Reborn—nor was it as deep. It was just a chaste little thing that lasted probably all of four seconds before Giotto pulled away and dematerialized from the room.
"If only you were born in my time. If only I had met you sooner. I could have loved you unconditionally, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
The words—and the kiss—lingered for hours after Giotto had left and for the first time, Tsuna found himself wishing that he hadn't met Reborn, that he hadn't fallen in love for his teacher, his confidant, his council. He found himself wishing that he had met Giotto first, that he could have known what kind of life they would have led.
Would they have lived together?
Would they have died together?
Would Daemon Spade still have betrayed him?
Would the Vongola be as it was then throughout the timeline instead of becoming as corrupt as it was when the Mantel landed on Tsuna's shoulders?
Would they have been happy together?
That night, Tsuna lay awake in Reborn's arms with a thousand questions running through his mind. 'What would have happened if we had met under different circumstances?' He thought one last time.
He didn't know… but that one thought would continue to plague him.
But what he didn't know was that his words had created a chain… a chain of fate that would create a new world, one in which they had met under very different circumstances—because words, once they have left someone's lips, they cannot be uncalled. They could not be nullified or taken back. They become living things that have the potential to tie down someone's life…
…or break down the walls that should have prevented two people from meeting altogether.
"Hello, little one. My name's Giotto. And you are?"
"…Tsunayoshi… m-my name is Tsunayoshi."
Owari.
I think I just gave myself a plot bunny...
Thanks for reading~!