Tsuna felt his leg bounce faster as he waited for any news of Yamamoto. There were a lot of questions that nobody answered. The nurses only seemed to want to talk to Reborn out of the group. Reborn blew them away easily by saying, "I'm 16", though. They cleared quite fast after he said that.

After a certain time, a nurse walked out and called Tsuna's name. Reborn had to actually stand him up and get him to walk over to the nurse.

"Y-Yes?" Tsuna said nervously.

The nurse smiled falsely at him as she said, "Please, come with me. Rokudo Mukuro is asking for you."

Tsuna blinked in surprise but followed. He passed Yamamoto's room on the way. He touched his face as he looked at the door leading to the room. There weren't any windows he could see in sadly. The nurse leading him seemed annoyed that he was slowing down so Tsuna tried to keep pace with her.

Chrome was in the ICU for the night, Tsuna figured that much out when the nurse opened the door. She beckoned Mukuro out and left the two alone.

"Hey", Tsuna greeted. He gave a small sheepish smile. Mukuro returned the smile with his cold smirk. Tsuna tried to ignore the uneasiness he felt and looked through the window at Chrome.

She had tubes snaking out of her arms with a mask covering her face. Blankets were pulled up to her neck but Tsuna could tell that they were just to hide the bandages and blood Chrome had on her. She was out of surgery at least.

Mukuro let out a small noise. It sounded like a grunt and a groan at the same time. Tsuna held out his hand hesitantly and Mukuro took it. Tsuna rubbed his thumb along Mukuro's knuckles gently as they looked through the window. Chrome was in too much pain to even register anybody around her so the two didn't bother watching long.

"Are you staying here?" Tsuna asked finally.

"...Possibly." Mukuro answered after a pause. "I'll have to take a rain check on out date."

Tsuna gave a bitter laugh. "Don't worry, we can have as many d-date nights as we want later."

Mukuro squeezed Tsuna's hand once before letting go. I should be in there when she wakes up. I shall see you tomorrow, Tsunayoshi. Go back to the school with Reborn."

"See you", Tsuna said softly. He didn't know what to do so he just let Mukuro walk back into ICU. Only one person was allowed in the room with the patient so there wasn't much Tsuna could do. He didn't know very much in the first place so he slinked back into the waiting room.

Reborn seemed to be sleeping in his chair. Fon shook his head when he gave a questioning look over.

"He can sleep anywhere." Fon told Tsuna. "It's a special habit of his."

"A special habit that doesn't stop me from hearing everything." Reborn said boredly. Tsuna couldn't help the flinch of surprise but Fon and Colonnello looked unimpressed as always.

"Any news about Chrome?" Reborn asked.

Tsuna shrugged. "S-She's hooked up to a lot of things. Mukuro didn't tell me much."

"Did you ask much?" Reborn said.

"Well, no. But I didn't want to. What about Yamamoto?"

"No news. Mr. Yamamoto hasn't come back out yet. The nurses won't answer anything from us either since we aren't family."

Tsuna made an unsatisfied sound. He sat back next to Reborn again. The hospital grew quieter as the day wore on. There were bursts of activity as people came in the front door with injured but Tsuna couldn't bear to look. There was an accident and he heard stuffed about burns. That was enough for him to want to leave.

Reborn tapped his head, trying to get Tsuna's attention. Tsuna looked over, his eyes wide, when it finally registered but he wasn't fully there. Reborn narrowed his eyes slightly before understanding dawned in his eyes.

"We're going back to school." Reborn announced.

Fon and Colonnello looked confused but Reborn was pulling Tsuna up and out onto the street before either could question them. It was obvious that Tsuna wasn't going to react well for being moved but Reborn wasn't going to let him stay like that in a hospital.

Currently, Tsuna was dissociating. He was going to come back a confused mess with confusion as to where the last hour went in his life. The first time he had just started dissociating so it wasn't as hard for Reborn to get his attention. This time wasn't the same though.

Tsuna was so out of it he could barely walked. Reborn had to guide him like a toddler on a leash back to their dorm. Nobody paid any attention to them though as they were gossiping about the car crash. Reborn somehow managed to get Tsuna on the couch in one piece.

But now they played the waiting game until Tsuna snapped out of it. Reborn knew moving somebody that was dissociating was a terrible idea but if Tsuna was confused in a hospital he'd be more upset he was still in the hospital.

Soon enough, Tsuna almost fell off the couch and that jerked him out of it. Reborn stuck his foot out so Tsuna didn't face plant onto the floor. Reborn wasn't bothered as he continued reading his book, waiting for Tsuna to start asking dazed questions.

"Why am I back home?" Was the first thing out of Tsuna mouth, followed by, "How did I get back home?"

"I moved you. We were in the hospital but you start dissociating. So I moved you." Reborn explained calmly. He didn't move his eyes from his page but he knew Tsuna was staring at him in confusion.

"I did what?" Tsuna mumbled.

Reborn looked up and wasn't surprised when Tsuna was staring at the floor, his brow furrowed, and his mouth downturned.

"Dissociation. Its what happens with a lot of mental illnesses. It happens when somebody's too stressed. When they're suicidal or depressed. There are lots of reasons. You lose your sense of self when you dissociate and end up sitting in the same spot for hours on end, easily. Or you could suddenly have lost three hours because you weren't paying attention." Reborn shrugged, looking back down at his book.

"But...Wait, what was I just doing?" Tsuna blinked slowly, trying to register everything.

"I'll explain in a half hour." Reborn said. "You aren't going to be understanding anything for a bit. Give it time."

Unsurprisingly, Tsuna took an hour before he finally was able to gather his bearings. Reborn was indifferent the entire time. He seemed way too knowledgeable about this from just having read about it, as he said. Tsuna couldn't help but want to push the subject a little bit. But Reborn would probably do something to Tsuna's clothes if he tried to push Reborn.

"Are you sure I dissociated?" Tsuna asked for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

"Yes. I'm very sure that's what it is, Tsuna. Don't question me." Reborn answered back levelly. "Now what do you want to eat?"

Tsuna somehow convinced Reborn to let him go to the hospital instead of school the next morning. Tsuna knew that Reborn wasn't that easily swayed though by the fact that exams started soon for the rest of the school. Tsuna's class didn't have to do exams though so he wasn't missing much. Reborn probably just wanted an excuse to not sit through his own class.

The two made their way into the hospital and weren't surprised that it was moderately busy. There was the hum of activity on all floors that radiated through the entire building, making it feel like there was a buzz in the air.

At the front desk, the nurse eyed them. She was on the phone, talking rapid fire mandarin. Reborn narrowed his eyes slightly but didn't say anything as he herded Tsuna to the front. They waited until the nurse was off the phone. Reborn played with a pen that was on the desk, scribbling onto a blank piece of paper.

"Yes? How may I help you?" The nurse asked in annoyance.

"Is Yamamoto T-Takeshi still here?" Tsuna asked.

The nurse looked through files on the computer in front of her before finally shaking her head. "No, he checked out. His father is waiting in the waiting room upstairs. Do you want me to call the nurse to see where he is?"

"Oh, no, t-that's fine." Tsuna said, waving the offer off. "Thank you."

"There's no need to involve them." Reborn muttered in Madarin to the nurse. She seemed surprised and then infuriated. Tsuna looked between the two but Reborn placed a hand on his back and all but pushed Tsuna outside.

"Reborn, what was that about?" Tsuna asked, astonished.

"Nothing." Reborn said shortly. "I have something to take care of so I might not be home when you get back from classes. Can you email Yamamoto and ask where he is?"

"Yeah, I can." Tsuna muttered. "I don't want to bother him if he's sleeping though. He could be home with his dad since it is close to winter break."

"His dad is walking down the hall." Reborn announced. "You can put your phone away then."

"Oh, alright." Tsuna shoved it into his pocket and turned to face the two Yamamotos walking through the automatic doors.

Yamamoto lit up when he saw Tsuna and Reborn, his smile a tad brighter than usual. He looked terrible as he had a black eye a split lip, and bruising on on cheek bone. There was a bandage over a small cut in the middle of the bruise and that was the lightest injury as Yamamoto also had a broken arm. Tsuna felt his chest constrict tightly in was that concern? Fear? Tsuna couldn't place it and just let himself smile back at Yamamoto.

"Hey, Tsuna! Reborn!" Yamamoto said happily. "I thought you'd be in school!"

"Reborn said we could skip." Tsuna answered. He leaned over to Yamamoto and muttered, "I think he just wanted to leave himself."
Yamamoto laughed but winced. At Tsuna's concerned and scared look, he said, "I bruised a couple ribs. The school said I could just go home with Dad when I was released. So wanna come to my house?"

"He has to go back to school at lunch." Reborn said, cutting between the two. "It's a half day, starting at one. Don't be late."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Reborn! I'll make sure Tsuna's back to the school by twelve." Tsuyoshi laughed easily, clapping Reborn on the shoulder.

"Make sure of it." Reborn started walking back to the school, the opposite way the other three were going.

Somehow they kept their promise and Tsuna was back by twelve. He ran by the dorm where Reborn was waiting for him to get his stuff before class. He had to hold back his scream when Reborn was in the living room. Tsuna didn't expect it at all but it was good because Reborn had Tsuna's stuff.

"Good to know they kept their word." Reborn said. "Also you have an exam in twenty minutes. A surprise exam from the country."

"What!" Tsuna yelled. "Why didn't they tell us!"

"I did tell you. Last week, as well as numerous other times throughout the month." Reborn shrugged. "You never studied though. Why do you think I was using my math book so much."

"Because you're weird and love reading textbooks!" Tsuna sighed heavily. "If I have an asthma attack, will I get a fifty?"

"Depends on what you wrote before your attack."

Tsuna sighed even heavier. "Why do I have to do this?"

"I said so. Did you eat anything over at Yamamoto's?"

"Well, no. I left before they made anything-"

"Go get something. Then leave. Don't want to be late to your class that's down the hall."

Somehow, Tsuna managed to scrape by in exams with an overall score of 51 for most of his subjects. He got the results and could've kissed the paper. That was the best mark he could ask for. He passed and he didn't give too many people expectations.

Of course, people didn't stop making fun of him for it. When the teacher handed it back, she said, "Try harder next time," before moving on. There were bursts of laughter from the people that got high 60s and could afford to laugh This class wasn't a smart class so there wasn't much gap. Tsuna couldn't see what the problem was but he was more or less lying to himself as he stuffed the paper into his bag. He ignored the laughter and rubbed at his ears.

Nagi was still in the hospital still and it was a constant pressure on Tsuna because Mukuro had refused to take her off life support. So he was forced to watch her deteriorate slowly. Tsuna asked him about why he wouldn't take her off but Mukuro wouldn't answer.

Mukuro had become a little distant from everybody besides Tsuna after the accident. Tsuna was worried but wasn't willing to say anything since it was still a touchy subject for Mukuro. Especially since it was one of the reason Mukuro had become more toxic in their relationship.

Nobody talked about it or even noticed Tsuna's deteriorating mental health except Reborn. But there was nothing he could do without tipping Mukuro off and causing things to backlash. The only thing Tsuna could do to distract himself was work on a lantern. There was going to be a festival to float lanterns down the river to commemorate the loved ones lost in July and since it was already January, he thought he might as well get a headstart. It was the only thing he could do at this point. Mukuro was constantly around and making sure he wasn't with anybody else or his friends.

Yamamoto and Gokudera had both had enough. Reborn wouldn't tell them what was going on with Tsuna, even if they asked constantly.

"None of your business." Was what Reborn said every time. It was infuriating.

Finally, they managed to get a day for the three to just hang out. All of them sat around in Yamamoto and Gokudera's dorm. They forced Tsuna to turn his phone off so he wasn't looking at it every ten seconds. He actually smiled and talked freely with the group.

The three had been becoming better friends as their time progressed. Gokudera had been body slammed into the pavement to avoid getting hit from a frisbee in the park and somehow that was grounds for him to be loyal for Tsuna. It was ridiculous and Tsuna didn't understand why but Gokudera shared the same sentiments.

"Tsuna, you're great; why wouldn't we support you?" Yamamoto had consoled.

"Don't suck up so much to him", Gokudera growled. Yamamoto laughed easily, slinging an arm over the two.

"Why wouldn't I? We're all friends."

Tsuna couldn't help but smile at that. He seemed to have some support in his friends. It was weird to think he did though. It's not like he was that important or interesting.

It was a fun day though. Yamamoto and Gokudera argued but were still happy and easygoing when Tsuna tried to break them up. They didn't do much unless you counted playing the game of Monopoly that ended with Gokudera angrily clearing the board when he was the first one out. He had done all the calculations! He should've been first. But Yamamoto beat him by a landslide.

Tsuna couldn't stop smiling all day.

"I'm glad you guys are my friends." He had said. Gokudera and Yamamoto looked at each other in confusion before grinning ear to ear at Tsuna.

""We're even luckier to have you, Tsuna!" Gokudera insisted.

"Yeah, what Gokudera said!" Yamamoto added.

"Get your own point, dumbass." Gokudera barked. Yamamoto laughed, waving his hands placatingly.

"Tsuna knows what I meant though! I'm good at baseball, not Japanese!"

Tsuna left their dorm with his smile intact. He turned his phone on and let it power up as he walked down the hall. He had a thing where he liked to read random wikipedia articles so he might do that. He hadn't in awhile. He never really had time to himself. He did it all the time when he had been bedridden for a while. It was the only thing he could do to pass the time.

He looked down at his phone to check if he got any emails and felt his heart jump into his throat. Mukuro had called, texted, emailed, done anything he could do to get to Tsuna over the last two hours. His phone had been off and he was kind of relieved it was. He hadn't been with his friends for weeks. Reborn was the only people he really saw but even that was a stretch.

Tsuna closed his eyes, trying to gather his courage as he started to email Mukuro back. He knew he should probably ignore Mukuro altogether and act like nothing happened but he couldn't. He was scared he'd end up getting hurt.

Reborn was sitting on the couch when Tsuna walked in. Immediately, Reborn said, "Mukuro's getting too clingy for it to be healthy."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Tsuna mumbled. If he acted dumb Reborn would most likely drop it. It's not like playing dumb was hard either.

"You know what I mean, Tsuna. How many times did he call you today? Emailed you? Texted you? Just trying to know where you were and who you were with."

Tsuna flinched, feeling his entire body empty with defeat."He might not be the best-"

"The best?" Reborn scoffed. "He's controlling you like you're some dog. It isn't healthy. If this keeps going on, I'm going to have to get the school involved."

"No!" Tsuna said loudly. Reborn raised an eyebrow in question. Tsuna usually wasn't so bold. He regretted it instantly as he backtracked. "No, sorry, I don't mean to-to boss you around. But if the school gets involved things will...Happen. Legally. And I don't want that. Mukuro's going through something! Everybody isn't their best when the things Mukuro has been through happen to you!"

"Things like what? Like how he isolated you from your friends? How he said he'd rather die than leave you? Snaps whenever he has to talk about what he smells like?" Reborn got up, starting to walk passed. He stopped and turned to look at Tsuna. "He's the reason you're so upset lately. If you can't see it now, there's nothing more I can tell you."

Reborn left to his room, the door shutting softly. Tsuna blew out forcefully, pulling his hair sharply out of his face. Everything that had been happening were rushing to him and he knew how unsafe he felt around Mukuro wasn't just him. He could be overreacting though. That was completely possible.

Tsuna's phone went off again. It was Mukuro calling him again. Tsuna really fought with himself but finally answered it before it could go back to voicemail.

"H-Hey," Tsuna said into the phone. Mukuro let out a sigh and said back, "Hey, you. Where were you all day?"

"O-Oh, I was with Gokudera and Yamamoto. T-They said we had to turn our phones off so we could watch a movie. They both get a bunch of emails from girls around that school." Tsuna let out a nervous laugh. "They said it's only fair I turn mine off."

Gokudera was the one to come up with that excuse. Everybody lusted over the two so it wasn't that farfetched to say that they had to turn their phones off. Whether Mukuro bought it ot not was still out to jury.

"Well, can I see you? I missed you."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah of course. Do you want to come over right now?"

"I was hoping we could stay in my dorm. Considering Reborn would be there and all there wouldn't be much...Privacy."

"Oh, he's out with Ms. Bianchi. They're on a date. We'll be alone for a little bit at least. I also don't think I should walk very much. I might have an asthma attack."

"It's always about you." Mukuro sighed before saying, "I guess I could come over there. I'll meet you in a few minutes."

Tsuna got off the phone and immediately started knocking on Reborn's door. He answered it and looked irritably down at Tsuna.

"You want me to leave, don't you?" He asked immediately.

"What..? How did you know-?"

"I can read minds. How long am I going to be out then?"

"Just maybe t-twenty minutes. Not long just long enough for Mukuro to not be suspicious." Tsuna stepped back so Reborn could walk out. "Please?"

"I never said no, Tsuna. He should be here any minute so it's not like I have time." Reborn got his shoes on and set a paper lantern on the table covered in scraps. He signed, "Act like you were working on this, before saying out loud,. "I'll be back later then."

Mukuro was at the door as Reborn opened it. Both Reborn and Mukuro stared at each other.

"I thought you said Reborn here was on a date?" Mukuro asked whimsically.

"I had to get something from my room. I'll be back in a bit." Reborn turned to Tsuna and signed out, "You owe me; big time."

Tsuna smiled nervously as he closed the door behind Mukuro. Mukuro didn't exactly like him frowning. Tsuna motioned for Mukuro to come in further as he started to gather the paper scraps all over the table into a pile.

"What's this?" Mukuro asked curiously. He walked easily into the dorm. He sat down, waiting for Tsuna to be done cleaning.

"I'm making a lantern for July." Tsuna said. He concentrated on putting the materials he used put the entire thing together away in the right spots. Reborn was such a stickler to having things neat and tidy

"Are you sure it's fine?" Mukuro asked skeptically. .

"I-I thought it looked nice…" Tsuna picked up the lantern and hung it on his bedroom door.

"Well, you certainly have a tacky and unique one." Mukuro said. He smirked as Tsuna walked closer. He snagged Tsuna's wrist and pulled him onto his lap. He leaned back so they were laying together, Mukuro running a hand along the side of Tsuna's hip.

Tsuna was too tense to say anything. He could smell something weird coming off of Mukuro but he couldn't place it. He didn't want to ask. It was hopeless to ask anything now since Mukuro would either turn it around or get angry and dance around the question. Tsuna was tired.

Mukuro hummed a little as he placed a kiss against Tsuna's jaw. Tsuna shifted a little so he was more comfortable, wrapping his arms around Mukuro's neck as Mukuro kissed the corner of his mouth, slowly making his way towards Tsuna's mouth. Tsuna forced himself to laugh, trying to psych himself up for this. This was something they did all the time. It was fine, it was completely fine.

He shouldn't have felt so relieved when the door opened minutes later. Reborn wasn't paying them attention. He was talking to somebody in a rushed voice. He wasn't talking Italian so Tsuna had no idea what he was saying but he winked over at Tsuna as he turned into the hall.

A flash of guilt riddled him as he saw Reborn. Then he realized he felt guilty for being caught with his boyfriend. He was a mess if he was guilty being caught.

As the two tried to settle back against each other, Tsuna felt a little happy but seeing Mukuro smirking, Tsuna couldn't help the rush of negative emotions that swept him up. He barely knew anything about Mukuro. It had been almost two months yet he had no idea what Mukuro's parents names were.

"Hey, Mukuro", Tsuna said, catching Mukuro's attention. "Do you think we should...Stop this?"

Mukuro looked away from Tsuna, staring at the soft pinks setting fire to the sky. He sighed and when he looked over at Tsuna, Tsuna immediately regretted asking that.

"What do you mean 'stop this', Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro asked evenly.

Tsuna pulled hair behind his ears as he stammered out, "W-Well, I don't think...no; no nevermind. I'm not-I'm not thinking right. Forget I said anything."

Mukuro narrowed his eyes. He hated people stopping what they were going to say in the middle of their sentence. Tsuna shrunk in on himself and tried to make himself as small as possible. He had made a mistake, he didn't want this. Mukuro was going to be angry because Tsuna couldn't keep his mouth shut to keep Mukuro happy.

"Tsuna," Mukuro said, strained. Tsuna felt his breath stop and stutter. He only used his shortened name when he was infuriated. "What do you want to tell me, Tsuna?"

"W-Well, I don't think…" Tsuna pushed away from Mukuro and got up abruptly. He couldn't do this sitting down. He had to do something to relieve the stress. Finally, Tsuna burst out with a rushed, "I don't think this is working out between us. I'm always s-scared to disagree or say anything. You never say anything about yourself so I feel like I don't even know you and-and I don't feel like I can do anything around you!"

Tsuna sucked in a breath, trying to steady himself. Mukuro was calculating and cool as he looked at Tsuna. He seemed reserved, like he had expected something like this to happen. Tsuna couldn't look at him.

"Are you sure this is what you want? Did you ever think what I'm going through right now, Tsuna?" Mukuro bit out. "If you're looking out for yourself so much, please by all means. Don't hold back. Tell me, would you rather see me dead then?"

"What?" Tsuna asked, startled. "Where did you get...Any of this, Mukuro?"

"You don't have to say it, don't worry. I know my way out. Please, don't beat around the bush so much. I know I'm not good enough. Please, don't spare me."

Mukuro got up and left. He didn't look back. He didn't say good bye or where eh was going. He just left, shutting the door harder than he probably should.

Reborn was quick to walk out, looking like he'd just woken up as he looked over at Tsuna.

"Date night not go as planned?" Reborn asked. Tsuna didn't have time for sarcasm as he buried his face in his hands. "Not going to talk?"

Tsuna shook his head, feeling overwhelmed. His chest hurt too much and his head seemed to be pressing too hard on his brain. This was all too much. He couldn't believe he actually did that. Mukuro could be anywhere, maybe suicidal now after almost losing Chrome and now being single.

God he was horrible, wasn't he?

Reborn clucked his tongue as he walked into the kitchen. He seemed to be brewing coffee of all things. Tsuna didn't care. It's not like he deserved anything. He was causing so much pain.

"Here, drink this." Reborn said. He set a cup down in front of Tsuna on the foot table. "It's tea, Tsuna. Don't look at it so suspiciously. It'll help you calm down."

Tsuna knew Reborn was just trying to help so he didn't put up much of a fight. There was no use. The two sat and drank their respective drinks. Reborn told various stories about the day he had when Tsuna was gone. Skull had challenged him to a fight and Reborn immediately dropped Skull; Fon had visited after helping Skull to the infirmary and said Luce was fuming the two were fighting; and Colonnello paid Reborn for the two bets he lost.

Tsuna didn't really listen to most of the rest and he curled up against the side of the couch. He sighed and asked into the silence, "What would you like Reborn?"

Reborn shrugged as he rested a foot against the table. "I came to bother you."

"Go bother Bianchi then." Tsuna said irritably.

Reborn wasn't bothered by that as he sat closer to Tsuna. "Bianchi and Gokudera are spending the night together so they can talk. Bound closer as siblings as Bianchi likes to say."

"What about Fon or Colonnello? Don't they always hang around you?." Tsuna didn't want to talk to anybody and Reborn knew that. That didn't mean he'd be left alone though.

"They're boring.. Lal Mirch and Colonnello are on a date. I could go bother them. We both know they're just watching horror movies together. Fon is training a new student so if I interrupt I'll be forced to spar. I don't want to." Reborn shrugged again. "If you want we could go prank the student body. Skull is currently trying to beat my record with a couple other dorm mates. He's mad I beat him up so easily."

"I'm fine, Reborn."

"Well, laying here insisting you're fine when you're actually close to having an asthma attack doesn't exactly tell me you're actually fine."

"Fine, I'm not. I don't want to talk about it."
"Nobody's forcing you to. Except me. I'm tired though so I'm sleeping here."

"Why not go back to your own room?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

Reborn laid down and fell asleep almost instantly. Tsuna couldn't move as Reborn had laid on top of him and was now dead weight against Tsuna's arm. There was no moving for at least an hour thanks to that.

Tsuna sighed, accepting his fate. If he wanted he could try to make blackmail material but he was pretty sure Reborn wasn't completely asleep. He also knew Reborn was here because he knew Tsuna wouldn't fair well alone. Especially after what happened tonight.

He felt Reborn shift, burying his face into Tsuna's shoulder. It made Tsuna's heart swell with affection he didn't know was in him and smile.

At least he had Reborn.

Reviews are appreciated!

-Gate