Byakuran was not stupid. Sure, there were several other things he certainly was, there was no doubt about that.

Seeing so many versions of the world would leave any being a little unhinged, he supposed. But it was like that for as long as he could remember, his reality never having been anything different. So if the looks the others had given him when he would muse about what another him had done, or who he had murdered within an alternative clam's family, were actually real looks of concern, then, well, there was nothing to be done. The flashes were unavoidable, and even if he did occasionally take a few pointed looks into the sideways timelines when no one was paying attention, it was mostly to satisfy an idle curiosity.

As a result, he was what the other skies had called an "Unpredictable Liability," with capital letters of course.

It was deserved, he chuckled.

Once, the little clam had even asked about what he saw when he "got that faraway look in his eyes." Or at least something to that effect, the poor boy had been stuttering quite intensely, and if that wasn't a signal that he'd probably been building the courage to ask about it for some time, Byakuran didn't know what was. And my, had that been a wholly entertaining conversation! Oh yes, it had taken him a few days to formulate the words to describe it, and he told the clam as much.

True to his word, he'd let himself into the mansion a week later to "deliver" response, taking only slight joy in the startled looks on the Family's faces when he popped out from under the expensive desk, bag of marshmallows in hand. Refusing to deign a response to the shenanigans (and that was a real mood killer for Byakuran), Tsunayoshi had rushed everyone out of the office, leaving them both alone and to listen to the faraway cries of the storm's "B-But he's dangerous, tenth!"

"Byakuran," Vongola sighed, pointedly not looking at the spots of sticky marshmallow now littering the desk, "I didn't mean my question as an open invitation! You know how riled up everyone gets when you're around!"

He smiled, tilting his head slightly in a manner he knew was unnerving, but it was so much fun, so… "This is true."

Reaching down for another marshmallow and finding it full of nothing but gross sugar dregs, he tossed the marshmallow bag into some corner of the room, aiming vaguely for where he estimated there was an 82% chance a trash can was located.

As the bag plopped onto the ground and not a trash can, (Oh well, Byakuran chuckled) Vongola let out a long-suffering sigh. "Is there no getting through to you about proper etiquette?" Or a way to get you to stop trying to scare me!?

Byakuran batted his eyelashes innocently, a contemplating finger to his lips. "Hmm, no, I suppose not. But alas," he said, plopping down into the guest chair and making sure to leave just enough room for Vongola to squeeze by to sit on the head chair. "Are we going to chat or not?"

The exasperated side eye as Vongola squeezed through the gap into the head chair was worth it, at least a little, but this was getting to be a little old now, so- "I acknowledge I'm a bit difficult, but you know it's because I love you and want you to succeed right?" The soft look on the clam's face was a good answer, and they relaxed, if marginally, together.

Tossing a few papers off the top of the desk and into the drawers for their own safety, Tsunayoshi smiled. "So? What's your big response?"

"Yes, I've thought long and hard about it," and he really had, in the end, "And I've come up with a good way to explain it. So, you know how your life is a line? Oh, well, I guess in your case it's a bit of a back and forth scribble across a straight line, but still! And dear Yuni's is a bit of a zig zag, but mine is different! Mine is a big, strong tree."

That left Vongola with a strange, confused look on his face. "A… Tree?"

"Yup!" He smiled, producing another, smaller pack of mini marshmallows from his jacket pockets. "It's a big strong vertical tree, but that vertical tree has tons of vertical roots and being the tree, or at least part of it, I know all about the roots and the trunk and the leaves, right!

But I don't think even a tree would consciously think about every part of itself at every moment, so it only knows what it needs to know at that point. Like me, on this branch, and I know all the branches around me and some of the leaves closest to me, but I don't think about the roots or the rest of the trunk, because that's quite a lot to think about, right?"

"Wait, are you the tree or the branch?" Tsunayoshi interrupted. "Or… both?"

"Both, both," Byakuran nodded, happy that he seemed to be getting the gist of it. "Anyway, sometimes I think about the rest of the tree when I'm bored, or I get a little intrusive thought about that branch I can kind of see on the horizon, and that's why I sometimes look so far away, because I am! But since I am the tree, I can know all of myself if I really wanted to. Of course, I wouldn't try that because of what usually happens if I try to take on too many timelines at once or in one body, and you remember how that ended last time-"

"Yes. You can skip that part," the kid interrupted again, sweating slightly. After a long, quiet, awkward moment, in which Byakuran refused to be the first one to speak, he continued, "So you know everything sideways, but not really."

"Succinct! Yes." Stuffing a few marshmallows into his mouth and putting a single one onto the desk for Tsunayoshi, he grinned crookedly. "Mutt mat's mhy myou-" A deep gulp, and the marshmallows certainly were delicious! "-why you two are so great! You get me, and no one else really does, I think, and it would be much too boring to stand without either of you around!"

The look that answered that was a deeply conflicted one, certainly not one warranted for this conversation, and he found himself pouting.

"That's what I worry about sometimes, Byakuran. You would be much worse without either of us… tempering… you." Vongola's voice was deep, and serious, a lilt he didn't often take.

Byakuran's mind wandered, thinking, Tempering, hah! If I wanted, I could- ah, but I promised I wouldn't. Not here, anyways.

Reading his thoughts, a trait certainly picked up from the baby, Vongola's look turned even more concerned than before, if such a thing were possible. A new, fresh sigh, and," …You know how you are."

"Ah, yes! I know how I can be, I've seen it enough," Byakuran acknowledged. "But I won't do anything, I've promised, and I always uphold my promises." Another awkward pause. "It would be boring, anyways…" he muttered.

"Right, well. You've gained some sympathy from me, if that were possible," Vongola chuckled. "You know how we both have it." Rising from the seat, looking at some old, fancy pocket watch in his coat for the time, and my had it gotten much later than it was supposed to, he smiled brightly at his former mortal enemy.

"We'll have to pick this up later," he chuckled, holding open the office door politely. "But I've got to meet with the reformed Estraneo in five minutes, so. You know how it is," he sighed, throwing up air quotes for the Family's new moniker.

Byakuran stood, walking over to the large, fancily dressed stained glass window adorning the office, admiring the way it glinted in the sunlight, all the while ignoring the clearly outstretched offer of going through the door like a normal person, but…

Tsunayoshi twirled around to glare at him, one hand on the door and the other flailing, sensing his intentions. "Don't you dare," he growled. "The paperwork-"

That was almost an offer, so how could he not, now? A large crash, shattering, and a bang for good measure, and Byakuran was out the window, crystalline wings flaming behind him as he rose into the stratosphere. Leaving the cries of "paperwork!" behind him and chuckling into the clouds, reminiscing about how he had it so much better than the other hims around, it seemed like a really nice day.

Aside from the very real murder attempt probably coming from the baby later for destroying such a pretty window, this was a pretty productive conversation!

And, well, life's not that bad when the three great skies have each other.

…

What a nice day it is, today!