A/N Do correct me if I'm wrong, but the manga implies that the Shimon Family Arc begins just a few days after the Future Arc, right? I don't think there was ever an amount of time between them clarified, so I've tweaked it and put a few months between them.

Several months after the Vongola's return from the future, Tsuna had yet to see Belphegor; though he had had meetings with the Varia, the blond Storm Guardian seemed to be avoiding him – not once had he shown up to any of those meetings, and when Tsuna asked the other Varia guardians where he was, they had no clue. The brunet wondered if maybe the Belphegor of this timeline felt the effects of what the adult Bel had misconstrued as a breakup, and that the teenage Bel perhaps felt betrayed in a sense as well – it would certainly explain why the blond seemed to be going out of his way to avoid the Vongola Sky.

Now, as Tsuna sat in class staring out of the window with his chin in his hand, he couldn't get his thoughts off the blond. He knew he had started to love the man, having been the one to personally teach him all about relationships and help him understand how to act in them – it had been a sort of solidifying of their feelings, as if what they had together was going to last for eternity.

Tsuna could only imagine how upset Belphegor truly had been on that day, and he wondered if the other still thought of him the way the brunet did the blond, if the Varia Storm still felt hurt or betrayed over what had happened. Had Belphegor come to understand that he hadn't done anything wrong and Tsuna simply had to return? Or did he still blame himself for whatever it is he thought he had done?

Shaking his head to try and clear his mind of such unhelpful thoughts, Tsuna tried taking notes down. He glanced back to find Yamamoto asleep and Gokudera focused on his work, and he wished that, in this moment, he could be so carefree; he felt like he was the bad guy for hurting his boyfriend so badly, despite knowing it wasn't his fault; Belphegor had just been too insecure to understand he was loved.

"And so the square root of twenty-seven is equal to…"

Tsuna sighed, really not interested in this lesson at all; he would rather go back home and watch TV than be here today.

"And thus, the reason why we get this answer is – oh… Who are you?"

Tsuna's attention was grabbed at this comment. He turned to look at the doorway, finding the teacher staring at it with a confused expression on his face. He blinked in surprise as he found a familiar blond standing there, thin hands tucked in the pockets of his Varia jacket as usual. Mammon sat atop his head, looking as stoic as ever.

"I want to talk to the Vongola." Sixteen-year-old Belphegor was standing there, a frown on his face as he looked at his surroundings.

"V-vongola? Who…?"

Bel ignored this, instead walking into the classroom in order to drag Tsuna out of his chair and from the room. He ignored the brunet's sputtering, not stopping until they were standing somewhere private. He released the younger male from his grasp, watching the Sky Guardian fall to the floor in an unceremonious heap.

"B-belphegor…?" Tsuna sat up, pulling his knees to his chest as he did so. He looked at the taller male, his head cocked to the side.

"Is the prince really gay?" Bel spoke in a flat tone, as if he didn't quite understand what he was asking himself. He reached up, pulling the Arcobaleno from his head in order to hug the baby tight to his chest. "He didn't… He's only ever been with girls before…"

Tsuna didn't know what to say; it was probably difficult for Bel to come to terms with due to the fact his orientation had been thrown in his face like this, but…

"In that timeline, you like both genders…" Tsuna rubbed the back of his head, delicate as he explained this to the unstable teenager. "You might not be in this one, however; you might just like girls."

Bel frowned. "…Mammy said the prince should talk to the Vongola, because he was the one the prince was with in the future… Mammy said the Vongola might be able to help… The prince… is very confused…"

"There's no use stressing about it, Belphegor; I'm sure you'll work it out one –"

Belphegor cut the younger male off by pressing his lips against Tsuna's. It wasn't a passionate kiss, or even a rough one; it was a soft, curious kiss that told the brunet Bel just wanted to know what he was feeling.

When they broke away for air, Bel mumbled something inaudible before he looked away. He then sighed, as if he were greatly disappointed about something.

"What's wrong…?" Tsuna was almost afraid to hear the answer, knowing that this Bel was much more volatile than his ten-years-later self.

"It didn't feel like it did in my memories." Sitting on the ground, Bel hugged the Arcobaleno tighter. "Why doesn't it feel right, Mammy? Shouldn't it feel good again?"

"You just don't have the connection with him you did in the future, Bel." The Varia Mist was patient as he explained things, knowing his friend was delicate-minded about things like this; albeit being a genius, he was naïve when it came to relationships of any kind. "There needs to be trust and love between you two before it will feel that way again."

"…" Bel mumbled something to himself again, his fingers twitching as he did so; Tsuna had come to know Belphegor well enough – or at least adult Belphegor, anyway – to know that this meant he was agitated and was fighting hard against his murderous instincts. "…If the Vongola becomes the prince's boyfriend, then he might understand, right, Mammy?"

"You can't jump into a relationship with someone you don't love, Bel; it's not fair on either of you."

"It's okay…" Tsuna reached out, approaching the two Varia guardians. He slowly placed his hand on the blond's shoulder, soothing him as he did so. "It can be an experiment for him if that's what he wants; it'll make him happy and help him with his confusion."

Bel nodded in agreement. "See, Mammy? The prince knows what he's doing. Can the prince join the Vongola in school?"

"Oh, umm…" Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Tsuna could only imagine how much the blond's presence would piss Hibari off if the blond was caught by said Prefect. "Maybe… Maybe that's not such a great idea, Belphegor; how about you go back to my home and we'll work something out when I finish?"

Bel cocked his head to the side at these words. "Where does the Vongola live?"

Tsuna couldn't help but admit to himself that it hurt for the other to refer to him as Vongola; he had come to enjoy his unique nickname, and truth be told, he had expected for the younger Bel to refer to him as 'Tuna-Fish' as well.

After having given the older male direction to his home, Tsuna quickly returned to class. He tried to brush off the inquisitive stares he received from everyone in his classroom, and soon enough, he found himself ignoring them; he was just happy that he finally had a chance to try and resolve what he had done to Bel – even if it wasn't the one he really wanted to fix things with.

~~XX~~

"Your bed is comfortable."

Tsuna blinked as he stepped into his bedroom, finding the blond curled up on his side, an empty plate of food beside him. Mammon was sitting on his hip, the baby flicking through something that looked suspiciously like a wad of cash.

"I like your mum, too." The blond tapped on the plate next to him as if to emphasise his point. "She made us food. I won't kill her if she feeds the prince like this all the time."

Tsuna laughed nervously as he kicked the door shut behind him. "…"

"Your Rain Guardian – the one with the sushi restaurant." Bel stretched like a cat before he continued on. "His dad makes the best sushi. I won't kill him, either, Vongola."

"That's good…" Dropping his bag to the floor, Tsuna stood awkwardly in the middle of his room, not sure what to do; this was so different to what it had been in the future.

"Anyway, the prince is really tired; it was a long flight from Italy." Pulling Mammon from his hip and to his chest, the boy tugged the blankets out from beneath him. "The prince hates jetlag, so he's going to take a nap~"

"Okay, then…" Tsuna watched as the older male treated the Arcobaleno as a human teddy bear, almost crushing the baby against him. Not wanting to disturb the two Varia guardians, the brunet instead left the room, going downstairs to watch TV for a while; he needed to be more cautious around this boy than he had the older one, and hopefully he would be able to help get the blond into a state where he was safe enough to socialise with.

Hopefully, being the keyword.