Hello and welcome to my latest self-indulgent project!

AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTES:

1. Title, summary and tags may suffer changes. They suck.

2. This work has been inspired by other people's headcanons, my own ideas and my love for familial bonding. If you recognise any similarities between this story and someone else's, I am not stealing their ideas and claiming them as my own for profit or popularity. I use other people's headcanons because I love them and want to see more. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, after all. So Kudos to all the writers in both the KHR and BNHA fandoms! You guys rock!

3. I use fanon, such as Element Bonding lore in KHR etc.

4. Romance is not the focus of this story. I don't have any ships planned at the moment, but if I add any later on, they will play only minor roles in the overall plot. (If it can even be called plot. This is just me spoiling myself.)

5. I don't tag everything that happens in the story. I think it kills the suspense. Please keep this in mind as you read.

6. This story is told in third-person, subjective, unreliable narration. (The main one is Tsuna, though there will be others.) That means that Tsuna's opinions of other characters and the reality around him is not a reflection of my own views. What Tsuna is certain of may also not be true. Tsuna is not perfect and not always right. The choices he makes are not necessarily right or fair.

WARNINGS: language, physical and verbal violence against and between minors and/or adults, bullying, death, PTSD, trauma, grief, codependency (sort of), self-recrimination, amorality, manipulation, excessive use of italics. More warnings to be added as story goes on. (Not all of them apply to this chapter. I will try to list any serious trigger warnings in the future if they apply.)

Without further ado, enjoy!


The first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is a blinding light.

If this were his fourteen-year-old self from so long ago, he would have said 'Five more minutes'.

If he remembered anything, he'd say 'Huh. Did not expect to get into Heaven'.

As it is, his small, fragile body and mind, yet unblemished by reality, are not prepared for the onslaught of learned instincts and convoluted feelings trying to slam into place like a misshapen puzzle piece, so the only thing he can do is scream his lungs out.

What is this coldness? This emptiness? There are all sorts of overwhelming sensations, strange things grasping at him, manhandling him. He wants the cosy, all-encompassing warmth back. He wants his family back.

He doesn't know what 'family' is. But he wants it back.

He struggles, kicking and punching as best he can at the unseen, shapeless enemy, crying out his sorrow and his discontent all the while, until he feels himself wrapped up and lain down. The grasping hands depart.

The newfound stability underneath is somewhat settling, but not nearly enough. As his volume lowers slightly, however, he becomes aware of another noise that rises above the multitude of other noises this strange, scary world contains. He reaches out.

Oh. This is familiar.

He has never felt this. (He has held someone's hand before. Tenth- don't-) He does not know yet that what he's holding are little fingers, as little as his.

But he knows this warmth. He has always known it.

The squeeze on his own hand in that moment is just as strong as the one he himself offers.

He falls quiet, content. He is not alone.

##

(Tsuna.

The subtle smell of paper. The rich aroma of coffee.

Here, Tenth.

Gunpowder. Sweat and adrenaline.

The cloying scent of blood.

It's done, Boss.

His fingers clench. Metal rattles.)

...

"Tsu-chan! Come on!"

Izuku is smiling at him, pulling him forward by the hand.

Without thinking, Tsuna smiles back. He doesn't need a reason to smile at Izuku. His brother's adorable constellation-like freckles and fluffy hair are enough to make his day ten times better.

Further ahead, Katsuki is pouting and snapping at the other boys, likely upset that Izuku's attention is focused on Tsuna again.

They catch up with the group, and Katsuki pulls Izuku's head under his arm. The boys' laughter fills the sky as they horse around.

Tsuna watches them fondly. He's a tad wistful. He knows he's not thinking and acting the way a kid his age should. He's too patient, too tolerant. Too knowing.

Tsuna's not too sure why, but sometimes he just knows things - like 'wistful'. He knows 'wistful' is not the kind of word a kid his age should understand and empathise with. He hasn't always known things like that, and he actually still doesn't always. Often, he'll hear the news on his mum's TV and struggle to understand the more complicated words, while at other times he'll look at the text scrolling on the bottom of the screen and suddenly recognise kanji characters that he hasn't learned before. In such cases, he sometimes asks Izuku to confirm whether he knows those words and is always met with confusion.

Then there are the dreams: dreams of people he's never met, but who he knows better than he knows himself, and places he's never seen before, but whose streets and corners he travels with easy familiarity. Sometimes the people in his dreams aren't even speaking Japanese and although he doesn't know the name of the language he understands them and he replies to them in said language.

He dreams of sitting at a table with some of these people - who he guesses must be his friends (his family) - laughing and chatting, and wakes up with the sweet-sour taste of wine in his mouth, though he's never drunk alcohol.

He dreams of fighting, of the sound of bones cracking beneath his fists, and shoots up in his bed, sweating and shaking, and he's not sure whether he's terrified or exhilarated.

His mum has likely noticed how odd he is, but thankfully, she hasn't taken him to any special doctors yet or tried to talk to him about it. Tsuna isn't sure what he could tell her that won't make him look like a crazy person.

Tsuna hasn't established whether he's crazy or not, himself, and he finds part of him doesn't want to know the answer.

He doesn't know which one he's more afraid of.

"Kacchan, your quirk is so cool! You could save so many people with it!"

Katsuki grins roguishly, hands sparking. It's more adorable than dashing on his baby-cheeks four-year-old face. "You just watch! I'll become the number one hero, even stronger than All Might. And you can be my sidekick once you get your quirk."

"But what about Tsu-chan? Me and Tsu-chan will always be together, so Tsu-chan has to come with us too!"

Too cute! Tsuna coos internally and hugs Izuku, patting him on the head. "I can take care of the boring agency stuff for you, Izu."

"Heeee…? Who does that? Don't you want to be a hero, Tsuna?" Tsubasa asks as they stroll along on the beaten path through the little forest.

Tsuna scrunches his nose. Heroes seem nice and cool, in a comic book kind of way. But to Tsuna, the idea of heroes in the real world seems improbable. Even though he knows they're very much real, as well as villains.

But somehow, he thinks the world can't be so black and white.

(If it really is, then he's not sure which of the two he is.)

"Nah. I don't like fighting," Tsuna settles on instead of contradicting the majority of the world's population. As he says it, it doesn't ring false. It also doesn't feel completely true.

"You could be a rescue hero," Izuku suggests.

"I bet your quirk won't even be good for anything," Katsuki cuts in, grumbling. The other boys snicker.

Tsuna rolls his eyes. "K-Kacchan!" Izuku protests, stepping closer. "That's mean!"

"He's just jealous, Izu," says Tsuna.

Katsuki stops and turns. "What'd you say!"

"Kacchan, wait-" Izuku tries to intervene, Kacchan-alert probably already ringing in his ears.

"I said you're jealous, firework-boy," Tsuna eggs Katsuki on.

"Tsu-chan... !"

(Is he seriously squabbling with a temperamental four-year-old?

...

Wait, Tsuna is a four-year old.)

Sue him. The blond hogs Izuku all the time.

"You-," Katsuki sputters. He launches himself at Tsuna, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "I'll kill you!"

Izuku squeaks, now completely alarmed. "K-Kacchan, c-calm do-"

"Shut up!" Katsuki yells, pushing Izuku away with one hand.

"Hey," Tsuna says, irked. "Don't talk to him like tha-"

Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku tripped and is now falling with his back towards the rickety wooden fence-

Tsuna doesn't notice Katsuki's horrified look, doesn't even realise he took Katsuki's wrist and twisted it to make him let go, because the only thing he can hear is the snap of the wood and Izuku is

still

falling.

His heart is in his throat. He's not thinking.

He catches hold of Izuku's wrist.

He slips.

Who even makes such weak fences that a kid's weight can break them, and right on the edge of a hill too? is a thought that occurs absently to Tsuna in a far away corner of his brain.

That's not what he's actively thinking right now, because he caught Izuku and is holding him in his arms so tightly he's sure it must be painful but now they're both falling, and the ground is pretty far away and there's rocks and he can't- Izuku is-

(Family. Izuku is family-)

I won't let Izuku die, Tsuna thinks with all his being, blood rushing in his ears.

The world lights up with fire.

The next thing he knows, he's sitting haphazardly on the ground at the base of the hill, Izuku is sprawled on top of him and bawling his eyes out, "T-Tsu-chan, Tsu-ch-chaaaan.",the trees over their heads are scorched, and there's a crown of flame flickering on Tsuna's forehead.

He's never been this calm.

(He has.)

##

In the following weeks, Tsuna finds that his usually-scrambled thoughts have become orderly, and it's likely because of the fact that he is now more aware than ever of who he is and who he was. Something, somewhere in his brain clicked, and he feels… whole. It's as if there was a missing puzzle piece and now that it's been restored to its rightful place the picture makes sense.

And it's just as well, because after that… incident in the forest, it's pandemonium. Their parents didn't find out – and subsequently freak out – until much later when the kids got back to the park, courtesy of Izuku's continued crying episode. To hear the kids who witnessed the incident speaking, it's more like Tsuna accomplished something awesome rather than he and Izuku having a near-death experience – although Katsuki is uncharacteristically non-verbal. Miraculously, there are no ambulances called that day, though it's a close call.

However, after the initial shock passes, Inko's fussing decreases to such an amount that the conversations about his quirk begin in full. Of course, the whole neighbourhood already knows that Tsuna has gotten his 'quirk', and many kids and parents – and even their kindergarten teacher – have been praising Tsuna, talking about how strong and how amazing it is, and asking questions. Tsubasa and the others are bragging to everyone about Tsuna's quirk and spinning tall tales, describing vivid imagery and with accompanying sound effects.

Izuku is beside himself with excitement. At first, he was devastated about their fall, but once he calmed down he started analysing and scheming and fanboying, "You've got fire like dad, Tsu-chan, that's so cool. I hope my quirk is like yours! It burned everything around us but it didn't burn me, does that mean you can control how hot it is and where it's hot and where it's not wow…!"

Tsuna himself usually settles for shrugging and handing out non-committal answers, the go-to reply being 'I don't know yet', though he knows his abilities inside out - some of it is memory, some is instinct.

And therein lies the issue. Tsuna knows that his quirk is not a quirk, and that people are bound to notice too. After all, you can only have one quirk.

By this world's rules, Tsuna has fire, fire-based flight, ice, energy absorption, energy-enhanced strength and speed and a creepily accurate near-psychic intuition.

Ignoring the others, there's no way Tsuna can hide his Hyper Intuition now that it's been reawakened. Already, he's slipped and predicted the weather several times, successfully avoided all contact with Katsuki, saved Izuku's drawing at kindergarten from another kid's spilled juice before it could be spilled and once he even guessed what Inko would make for dinner based on how much time it took her to come home from grocery shopping.

He's only gotten a few weird looks so far; people haven't started suspecting anything yet. But they would. Especially Izuku, who's in such close proximity with Tsuna and who is obsessed with quirks.

Granted, Tsuna suspects that his Intuition will tone down after a while, because it wasn't usually this bad before. It's likely only temporary. But still.

Their teacher has been talking about quirk registration, so Tsuna will have to figure out how to name and describe his 'quirk' in such a way that it'll encompass any abilities he might need to use in the future, before they take him to quirk counselling and the counsellor person erroneously decides his quirk themselves, which could have unfortunate ramifications later on in his life.

At the moment, however, Izuku has been whining his ear off so Tsuna relents on showing him his 'quirk' again. Inwardly, he's glad that they've decided to do this outside, and not in their apartment, because he doesn't want to set fire to Inko's carpet by mistake or something.

Tsuna focuses on calling out his flames in his fist, and it's just as easy as he remembers it being.

"Whoa! Your eyes changed colour! And your forehead's on fire!" Izuku exclaims.

He lights up both of his hands, and practices adjusting the intensity of his flames and shooting them. His precision is nearly as good as it used to be, with some margin of error owed to his lack of muscle mass.

He's sorely out of practice, but instinct covers the gaps for the most part.

Tsuna remembers the fall, and a thought occurs to him. He places his hands at his sides, and focuses.

Here goes nothing...

The flames grow stronger, and he is lifted up into the air.

Izuku's jaw drops.

Tsuna tries to keep the flames constant and at minimum intensity so he is only a metre or so up in the air, but carefully, he starts testing his balance and manoeuvring.

The feeling of weightlessness, his feet unchained from the ground, sets his blood aflame and unburdens his heart all at once. Short, thrilled bursts of laughter bubble up in his chest and slip unbidden past his lips. He tilts his head back and gazes at the blue, blue sky stretching out above them.

What he'd give to streak across that wide expanse once more, as free as a bird and as fast as a bullet…

But he reins in his longing and lowers back down until he can stand on the ground. There will be time for that later. For now, he doesn't want to attract any curious onlooker's attention to himself.

He walks up to his brother. Izuku is visibly torn between gaping in awe with stars shining in his eyes and ranting with the speed of five words per second, resulting in a state where he's nearly vibrating out of his skin. Tsuna lets out a gentle huff of amusement.

He lifts his hands, cups them together, and focuses. A bright but pleasant orange flame sparks to life in them.

"Go on," says Tsuna, stretching out his hands toward Izuku.

Izuku's mouth snaps shut, but his face is betraying his inner 'oh my god' feelings. His small, still-chubby, fragile fingers reach out tentatively. He is cautious, but he is not afraid.

Tsuna would never hurt him, and he knows it.

The moment his hand passes through the small flame, his lips unfurl in an uncontrollable smile.

"It's… warm. And safe," Izuku looks up. "It feels like Tsu-chan."

It's for you, Tsuna thinks but doesn't say.

(For my family, says his inner and they are in sync.)

##

Tsuna's tranquil and content times come to an end with the word 'Quirkless'.

A word he never encountered before. A word that he has heard a few times in this life, but which he didn't think twice about. Why would it matter to him? By this world's rules, all of humanity was Quirkless before. To Tsuna, it's all the same, quirk or no quirk. If humanity were to lose all its quirks tomorrow, he wouldn't shed a tear.

That's why, when that word is spoken and the doctor and nurse immediately put on pitying faces, Tsuna can only think why are you looking at my brother like that? I'll- and he unthinkingly says, "Okay… so what?"

Izuku doesn't burst into tears, but his eyes are empty. He can't process anything. Or maybe he's refusing to process it. Inko snaps "Tsunayoshi!", but her voice cracks halfway and she hugs Izuku to her side.

Tsuna is hopelessly bewildered, and a feeling of dejection is spreading through his bones as he watches Izuku. Normally, Tsuna would have latched on to his side by now, hugging him comfortingly while Izuku cries into his shoulder. But he's never seen Izuku like this and he doesn't understand, so he doesn't dare approach.

Izuku shuts himself in their room and Tsuna resigns himself to the couch, absently watching Inko try and fail to distract herself by puttering around the small kitchen. She's making all of Izuku's favourites for dinner while sniffling and wiping her eyes from time to time.

Comfort food.

Tsuna's biting his lips so hard he draws blood, but he doesn't feel it.

Why?

"Why?" Tsuna parrots out loud. He doesn't know if he's asking Inko, himself, or the void, and he doesn't particularly care where the answer comes from so long as it does.

Inko startles. "Tsukkun...?"

"Why…" he's not sure what he's not sure of. Why is the air in the house as heavy as if someone died? Why are everyone's reactions so dramatic? Why can't I console Izuku? "Why is it bad? That Izu doesn't have a quirk?"

Inko seems nearly as flabbergasted as he feels. "Why?" she intones as if it's a word she's never heard before. "Well… most people have a quirk nowadays, Tsukkun."

Tsuna raises his eyebrows. "O… kay, but most is not all." He's heard something about this before. "Twenty percent of the people of the world are Quirkless. That's still a lot of people."

"Yes, but," Inko replies carefully, picking her words. "Izuku wants to be a hero," she settles on, the most fitting explanation for their context.

He blinks, not particularly enlightened.

"There's never been a hero without a quirk," Inko says softly, and her eyes dart to the closed door to her sons' bedroom, as if wary of being overheard.

And there never will be one, is what she doesn't say but which Tsuna hears anyway.

For half a moment, he can feel the outrage, the betrayal lighting up like wildfire in him. How dare you, he wants to shout. How dare you resign yourself. He's your kid. You're not supposed to give up so easily.

I thought you were better than her, he thinks but will never acknowledge.

But it passes quickly. Tsuna and his Intuition both know it's not her fault. It's what she knows. It's how this world works.

That doesn't mean he has to follow her example.

...

As he watches Izuku stare at the monitor – it's playing that old video of All Might which he loves on repeat – and then slowly break down, as he sees those usually-bright and optimistic eyes – those eyes always looking towards the future – fill with despair, shot down from the skies before he could ever experience flight, Tsuna thinks he hates this world.

##

Tsuna and Izuku are five the first time Katsuki hurts Izuku.

Ever since Izuku got X-rayed for his toe joint, they've been hanging out with their usual group of kids less and less. Other kids laugh and jeer at Izuku, but they don't outright interact with him any more. If Tsuna himself had any say in it, they wouldn't hang out with Katsuki and his posse at all, but for some reason Izuku considers them friends so he finds himself forced to go along, because he and Izuku are inseparable.

Still, the boys make jokes about Izuku sometimes, and they don't include him in their games, so much so that Izuku and Tsuna often have to play by themselves in the end.

Tsuna's always had a soft spot for kids, but he's also always known all too well how cruel they can be to each other, more cruel than adults in their innocence.

"Hey, look, even his name can be read 'Deku', like the useless doll he is," Katsuki says one time, holding up Izuku's sand bucket and pointing at the kanji character in his first name.

The other boys marvel at Katsuki's ability to read kanji so early. Izuku is laughing along weakly, but his fists are so clenched that the skin on his knuckles is white.

Tsuna's ears are ringing.

Deku. Deku. Deku.

Dame-Tsuna.

Tsuna marches forward on autopilot, rips the bucket out of Katsuki's hands, grabs Izuku's hand in his, and storms off, towing his brother along. Izuku protests, but Tsuna won't hear it. Can't hear it.

"Katsuki is not your friend, Izu," he tells his brother firmly.

"B-but Tsu-chan," Izuku tries.

"No. Friends don't call each other hurtful names like that."

"Kacchan was just joking."

Izuku's trying to plead with him, to brush it off, but there's resignation in his voice. Izuku knows Katsuki was serious. He just doesn't want to admit it and lose his best friend.

Tsuna feels for him, but downplaying verbal abuse is unacceptable. Izuku will understand when he's older.

"If Katsuki doesn't say sorry, then you're not hanging out with him any more. And I'm telling mum," Tsuna decides. He's most definitely not above being a tattle-tale. Despite this, he knows parents can't supervise their kids 24/7, so he's aware that the chances of Katsuki actually repenting are small to non-existent.

"Tsu-chan, please! Please don't tell mum!"

Izuku's wails that day, his sorrow and frustration because of Tsuna, because of Katsuki, because of the world, ring in Tsuna's ears the whole way home and will haunt his dreams for a long time to come.

At home, Inko sits them down and explains to Izuku that it's not okay to let someone else insult him, even if it's 'Kacchan'. She calls Mitsuki, who is appropriately outraged and contrite and promptly apologises to her, and promises to talk to Katsuki and have him apologise as well.

Katsuki is brought around and made to bow his head. He is visibly unapologetic.

Despite what Tsuna said and Izuku tries to remind him of, he doesn't let Izuku play with Katsuki after that. Izuku is somewhat petulant, but mostly crestfallen. Tsuna almost wishes he'd be a normal, selfish kid and resent him for keeping Izuku from his friend, instead of being gloomy about it.

Tsuna, however, should have known his Katsuki problems wouldn't end there, because one day he leaves Izuku alone for all of five minutes to go to the public toilet, only to come back to his brother in the middle of a full-out showdown.

Izuku is defending a battered kid lying on the ground, standing in between him and Katsuki and his posse.

Tsuna is too far away to hear what they're saying, but he sees Katsuki point his hand at Izuku and let loose an explosion, knocking Izuku off his feet.

"Izu!" Tsuna screams, running to his brother's side.

Izuku's clothes and hair are charred, and he has small burns and cuts all over his face, but he's already trying to stand back up.

"Did you think you could play hero, Deku? A Quirkless idiot like you will never be a hero!" Katsuki laughs mockingly.

Izuku opens his mouth to reply, but Tsuna steps in between them.

His blood is boiling.

He's calm.

"Outta my way, cannon fodder," barks Katsuki.

Tsuna raises his head and he can feel his eyes burning.

"Does whaling on Izuku make you feel strong?" Tsuna asks flatly.

"You gonna fight me with your two-bit Quirk? You're just an extra!"

"I'd fight you, but it'd be too easy."

Katsuki's eyes widen and he cries out furiously. He launches himself at Tsuna, hands sparking. Tsuna dodges to the side and trips the blond. Katsuki hits the ground, but gets back to his feet even angrier. He punches at Tsuna and Tsuna dodges all of his hits. As Katsuki's about to launch an explosion in his face, however, Tsuna grabs his hand with his own flame-coated one and lets his will pulse through his limbs.

The explosion backfires and Katsuki is thrown onto the ground.

The kids all gape.

Tsuna walks up to the struggling Katsuki. The blond is nearly a mirror of Izuku now, though slightly less battered. His hand is smoking, a thin layer of skin peppered with painful-looking burn wounds.

"Your Explosion Quirk doesn't make you immune to fire, only resistant," says Tsuna. He raises his hand in Katsuki's direction and coats it in his flames. "Stay down."

Katsuki stops struggling, but he glares resentfully up at him.

"I'm sorry, but if you hurt one more hair on Izu's head, I'll burn your skin off so you can't use your Quirk any more."

Katsuki freezes.

Tsuna's flames flicker ominously.

He lets his hand drop back to his side and walks away.

The first time Katsuki physically hurts Izuku is also the last.

##

Going through school for a second time was not anywhere near Tsuna's 'What would I do if I had a second chance at life?' list. Not that he ever had time to think about things like this before.

Tsuna yawns.

He was never a model student. In fact, before a certain mini hitman ever came into the picture, Sawada Tsunayoshi was the complete opposite of a model student. He was air-headed, couldn't focus, couldn't remember things for the life of him, most often forgot about tests and/or homework and did extremely badly on both, and the list goes on.

Of course, many of these things were actually an indirect side-effect of the sealing of his flames, but the point stands.

That took a gradual positive turn After Reborn - and yes, Tsuna used to classify chronological events in his life in two main categories: Before Reborn, and After Reborn. Through literal and metaphorical blood, sweat and tears, Tsuna eventually improved his grades and thus his own knowledge as well. He never became a top student, but he never had time to completely focus on school once his introduction to the Mafia world was made, and academic excellence for its own sake was never the point anyway. Still, he was far from ignorant, and even managed to graduate from high school somewhere in between all the paperwork, Guardian shenanigans, globe-trotting, petty territorial disputes, inter-family pissing contests, world-ending crises and Reborn.

His teacher shoots him a scathing glare as he leans back in his chair and scratches his jaw.

There's lots of things Tsuna didn't and still doesn't know, such as curriculum he never learned or forgot because he didn't need it, and then there are things he knows so well he could recite them in his sleep. Maths was never his strong point, but for the sake of all the accounting he had to do - curse you, property damage - until he managed to suppress his crippling guilt about involving her and started delegating to Haru, he was forced to become fairly competent in it.

Thus.

School nowadays is at best somewhat monotone, and at worst soul-crushingly, mind-numbingly tedious.

The only classes Tsuna ever bothers to pay attention regularly in are History, because this is either the future, a parallel world, or both, so there's definitely stuff he hasn't heard of before, and P.E., because at least he gets to stretch his legs after hours of sitting in a desk and not even exercising much brainpower.

Still, there's not much to be done about his situation. He can't skip grades or graduate early because he's not actually a genius and he doesn't know all of the curriculum. He could, arguably, power through whatever he doesn't know, but he also doesn't want to leave Izuku alone if he succeeds in skipping grades.

So he spends his days just getting by, strolling through school years with average grades or even the occasional perfect score to throw people off. He tries to ward off his boredom by sketching some of the people he knew before, but his drawing skills are still very much a work in progress so his sketches don't turn out all that great. Other times, he zones out, trying to recall memories that are still a bit blurry and uncertain.

Most often, his mind turns to the future and to this new world. He analyses various scenarios and tries his best to find as many solutions as possible. Nearly every time, he cuts himself off and falls into brooding until the bell rings. This world frustrates him, and trying to untangle all the ways it's gone wrong and right is nearly as much of a pain as being a Mafia boss was.

The bell rings, saving him from boarding endless headache-inducing trains of thought. He leans back in his chair, stretching, then starts gathering his stuff back into his school bag.

Once done, Tsuna waits for Izuku to pack up and they start heading home.

As they pass through the school campus, people ignore them for the most part. There's some whispering every once in a while, but it's all very tame compared to how it was when they first started school. Izuku got some flak for being Quirkless at first, once the kids who know them had gotten the rumour mill going.

Tsuna saw to it that they kept their opinions to themselves.

He sees a few boys staring too long at his brother, and looks at them pointedly until they notice him and turn away hurriedly.

Ahead of them, he sees Katsuki and his new group of followers. The blond shoots him a blistering glare, but doesn't engage them, so Tsuna considers it a win.

Katsuki has been, fortunately for both Izuku's and his own well-being, keeping his distance. He'll shout at Izuku sometimes, calling him names, while Izuku himself hasn't even tried to pretend to avoid Katsuki, but he hasn't touched Izuku since that incident all those years ago, as far as Tsuna knows. Mostly, though, he tries to provoke Tsuna into a fight. He's not sure if Katsuki feels the need to exhibit himself as the alpha male and he therefore needs a dick-measuring contest rival, or he just wants to settle some imaginary unfinished fight, but whatever it is, Tsuna's not interested.

Katsuki hasn't gotten the hint yet. Tsuna only half-heartedly hopes that he will.

"You don't have to spend all of your time with me, you know?" Izuku says all of a sudden, long after they've left the school behind.

Tsuna frowns. "What do you mean?"

His brother is fidgeting. "J-just... nobody wants to talk to me, but that doesn't mean you can't make friends. People like you."

And he's right. There's probably some natural Sky attraction somewhere in there, but now that he isn't so completely 'Dame', Tsuna has no trouble interacting with other people, not least because they keep coming to him. Or, they used to.

Truth is, Tsuna isn't really interested in making friends. Sure, it's not hard to make them like him, but he can't relate to kids their age. Once he started recalling his old life more clearly, any hopes he could have had of a normal childhood were completely dashed.

And socialising with adults would look weird when he's physically nine years old.

"It's fine, I like hanging out with Izu," Tsuna waves off, smiling gently.

Izuku only shrinks more into himself, head bowed and shoulders raised. "Tsu-chan... you don't- you don't have to be an outcast just because I am one. You'll- you always have to protect me, because I'm- I'm weak and useless, and- and Tsu-chan never gets to have fun because of me, I'm-"

Izuku has stopped in the middle of the road, and he's trembling. His voice cracked in the middle of his monologue, and he's full-on crying now.

"Y-y-you could be po-popular, you've got an awesome q-quirk and you're-you're nice and funny and sma-smart... You- you don't have to-"

He suddenly cuts off when Tsuna flicks his forehead. Izuku immediately covers the spot with his hands and stares up at his brother, startled. His face is covered in tears and snot, and his freckled cheeks are flushed.

"You're ten times better than most of them could even hope to be, and if they can't see that, well, I don't need friends like those," Tsuna tells him as he takes out a handkerchief and gives Izuku's face a good scrub. With two crybabies in the family, he has plenty of spares ready for occasions such as this. He finishes, and smiles. "Stop worrying about me, you spaz. Now, you wanna go scout for patrolling heroes before we head home?"

Izuku blinks at him a few times, before his face twists and tears start welling up once again. "Tsu-chaaaan-!"

"Wha-?! H-hey, come on- I just cleaned you up-!"

##

On the first day of middle school, Tsuna suddenly asks his brother "Do you still want to be a hero?"

Izuku stops in his tracks. He looks back at Tsuna, confused, but whatever he sees on Tsuna's face must convince him that Tsuna is being serious, because he looks away, frowning in distress. "I know I don't have a chance-"

Katsuki was talking in class today about going to UA, one of the top schools for heroes in training and All Might's Alma mater. Tsuna had seen the longing on his brother's face.

"Never mind what other people think," Tsuna cuts him off. "Do you want, with all of your heart, to be a hero? Are you willing to throw all of yourself into accomplishing your dream?"

Izuku blinks at him for a second, then he straightens, and firmly says "Yes. It's what I want most."

Tsuna studies him for a few seconds, then sighs, a bit resigned.

Tsuna has opinions about the pro hero industry and the quirk-oriented society they live in. He is too weary, too cynical, too mafia - no matter how much he'd tried to fight it as a kid before - to not be critical and unimpressed.

From Tsuna's point of view, the hero industry in particular is, for the most part, split in two: naive idealists who don't even know what they're fighting for and money-and-fame-hungry hypocrites. Anyone actually interested in making the world a better place is too bogged down in red tape, commercialisation and public-pandering to truly accomplish anything.

Despite all of his misgivings, though, he thinks of Izuku: of his pure goodness, his strong sense of justice, his innate kindness, his endless capacity to forgive, his empathy and thoughtfulness.

"Why?" Tsuna asks, though he already knows what the answer is likely going to be.

Maybe he's a masochist. That'd explain his Famiglia. It'd explain Reborn and how efficient he actually was in Tsuna's training.

"I want to save people with a smile, to make them think 'It's alright now, I am safe'," Izuku tells him.

If anyone is ever going to make the world a better place, he's got the best chance.

"Then, I guess we need to get you into UA first, don't we?" is what Tsuna says after he makes up his mind to help Izuku save this world.


I would like it to be stated that I do not agree with the way Tsuna handled the Bakugou situation. Between the two of them, Tsuna was the adult (mentally and spiritually) and should have found a better solution than resorting to violence and threats against a five-year-old, even if said five-year-old is a violent ball of rage. Kids are impressionable.

Moreover, as stated before, this is text is narrated subjectively. That means that even if Tsuna has unfavourable opinions about Bakugou, it doesn't mean that we should all start throwing hate at him. I don't like bashing. Characters have complex motivations, have qualities and flaws, and one circumstance is not the end-all be-all argument of whether one is good or bad. Bakugou is not evil and shouldn't be treated as such.

With all that out of the way, please leave kudos if you liked this, and leave a comment below to tell me whatever's on your mind :)

See you next time!

Love, Noxi