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Renato stared up at the apartment building for a long while. There was a cafe across the street so he could spend hours watching, people filtering in and out as they went about their business. The coffee was shit, but he stayed. He had to.
When the sun began to sink below the horizon of skyscrapers he finally stood, dumping what had to be his tenth cup of the day into the trash. No one looked at the well-dressed man slipping into the building; with how many Triad skulked around these parts, it was risking their necks to. The interior of the building wasn’t musty but wasn’t quite clean either, the sort of dingy that came with time. He climbed the stairs in silence.
The door was unremarkable, slight stains edging the frame that could be mistaken for grease or ash or any number of things. He knocked on the door, patiently waiting.
There was the sound of a chain snicking, tumblers turning, and then fiery claws swung out at the spot he had been standing, searing and burning at his eyes with a neon orange. Leon transformed on instinct to a pistol but Renato didn’t fire, staring into orange orange eyes, bright in a way he hadn’t seen since he’d told a little boy he could succeed if he just lifted his head and walked forward.
The eyes didn’t dim as they focused on him. The claws didn’t soften. Renato raised the pistol and stiffened as green sprung up from the floor, cracking the wood and forming a cage around him.
“Ah.”
“Hayato is hysterical.”
Tsuna hummed from his place at the table. Renato was sitting across from him, hands and feet carefully bound together. Leon was in a cage feet away, unconscious after the duo sprayed something blue at him. The hitman had a feeling they’d used it on him too at some point between the hall and now. He was far too calm.
“Takeshi keeps going to ally headquarters and smiling until their guards cry. I’m fairly sure Xanxus already managed to destroy a wing of the Varia manion.”
Another hum, Tsuna tapping a finger against the table, Nana next to him with her hands in her lap. They both looked completely different, in more ways than one. Both with hair dark like Takeshi and Kyouya’s, skin that had paled away from the Mediterranean sun. Tsuna’s was styled like his father’s had been now, and Nana’s was done in a hanging tail. He’d never seen her with more than a bob cut. But more than that, more than anything else. Tsunayoshi’s eyes were a bright amber, something he’d not seen for years, used so much to the umber they’d become, and Nana was still for all she was tense, quiet as she watched.
They were settled. More than he’d ever seen them before.
“...You’ve both changed.”
“Have we?” Tsuna said mildly. He stared at the man, but it got him nothing more than a raised brow. “Why are you here, Reborn?”
Renato frowned. “Why else?”
“Well. We’re not going back. Giotto can run the Vongola well enough with some help, and you don’t need Nana for any heirs or guardian-”
“I’m here because people are worried. I was worried,” Renato enunciated slowly. He closed his eyes when Tsuna paused and stared at him blankly, gathering patience. And a touch less exhaustion, because oh, Tsunayoshi.
“Tsuna, Nana. Just how did you think your loved ones would react when you two suddenly disappeared without warning, with no hints as to where you’d gone and those who may know saying absolutely nothing?”
They exchanged looks, speaking without so much words. Finally Nana cleared her throat, rubbing her elbow.
“Uh, probably bad? But-”
“We were more concerned with ourselves than their feelings,” Tsuna finished, and it was such a mind-boggling sentence to hear from him . Renato had to take a pause and consider just how precarious a situation he was in. He hadn’t realised the pitfalls truly surrounding him until now.
“...If I promise not to attack or say anything,” He finally started, “Will you untie me?”
Another silent look, Tsuna pursing his lips and Nana rippling with lime static. Finally the younger man stood with a sigh, one hand bright orange as the other reached out.
“Move and this goes to your face.”
The tea was warm in his hands, for all that it was a brand he’d never touch normally. There was the sound of neighbours next door listening to television and people upstairs walking about, and the noise of cars and crowds on the street. Renato sat in his chair and looked at the two, contemplative. The burns on his wrists ached.
“Why?”
Tsuna snorted, a dark noise, something he was used to from Kyouya or Xanxus. Another sign of something off, too to the left, and Renato pursed his lips.
“You act like it’s insane I ask why you’re here, and you can’t even think as to why we’re here?” He rubbed a hand over his face, grimacing. “What happened to that number one intellect, Reborn? What have I been saying since you drop-kicked me at thirteen?”
“Why now?” He clarified, raising a brow at the flush that covered Tsuna’s face. “I’m not a fool, Dame-Tsuna. Only an idiot wouldn’t see how you’ve been Dimming since you were fifteen.”
Tsunayoshi looked down at the table, tapping at it with calloused fingers. Nana stirred again, tugging at her hair and jiggling her leg.
“It- there wasn’t uh, much time left? He would have been expected to lead Giotto and force me to be a guardian and, uhm.”
“I didn’t want to do that to either of them,” Tsuna finished in a whisper. “I wanted to give them a choice.”
Renato sighed and sipped at his tea. Then he took a flask from his pocket and dumped it all in, taking another sip. Goddamn Sawadas. There was a stretch of silence, the three of them tending to their own thoughts. Finally Renato stood, grimacing at the aches in his joints. He straightened his lapels, crooked thanks to all the rough handling.
“Why don’t we go out for something to eat? I doubt you have anything more complex than dumplings in the fridge.” He looked pointedly at what he was pretty sure was a ten pound bag of rice. Tsuna avoided his eyes and mumbled something about it being like home, because of course. God forbid his boy have any concept of nutrition.
They left, Nana staying home and muttering something about homework. Renato generously didn’t point out the worry in her eyes, or the way they followed Tsunayoshi’s pocket, gloves sticking out of it.
Everyone smiled at Tsunayoshi. It wasn't quite a strange thing considering he had been Napoli's darling but here, in a city he' only hid in for a year, it was startling. Renato would have expected a distant familiarity with few close friends, possibly some knowing the Sawadas by name.
He didn't expect people offering food in the same breath they berated him for not visiting, making conversation and walking along some with them, tsking at some little thing Tsuna hadn't been taking care of, glares and whispers at him thanks to his suit and looks. Someone hissed Triad at him as they passed through the markets. He gave them a cold smile and watched them scurry back under their awning.
"You just endear yourselves to anyone, don't you?"
Tsuna snorted, side-eyeing him.
"We're nice to people Reborn. You should try it sometimes." He dodged the kick aimed at him, ducking under a store banner. "In here."
The restaurant was dimly-lit with patrons murmuring to themselves, the smells of cooking bird wafting from the kitchen. Tsuna nodded at the line cook, getting a smile back, and they sat with no further ado.
"We come here sometimes. The cook slips Rain and Sun into the food." Tsuna smiled crookedly. "They didn't actually realise why their stove would go rainbow until I told them."
"..." The hitman flipped his lighter. No smoking here, not worth the complaints. Leon shifted in his coat pocket. "...Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I did," Tsuna shot back, "Every week for three decades. Why didn't you listen?"
He had, was the issue. He'd heard, seen the decline, and did nothing. Because the Vongola had needed a leader and none else were suitable. Because Nono had a debt held to his throat, and Iemitsu was poisoning his family and the boy deserved more than what a Seal and Dame could offer him.
Renato looked away when the server set down two dishes, some specialised thing he'd not seen before. Tsuna thanked him, smiling and using his name. His regular meal, then.
"You seem happy."
"I am. The place is foreign but the culture is familiar, the people are close to home, everything's quiet ." The brunet popped a piece of chicken in his mouth. "It's like home, almost."
He wondered what the Vongola would think, hearing that from their adored boss. To have lived in Italy for most his life and still not consider it a home- Renato couldn't say he was surprised. Not really. He picked up his chopsticks. They ate quietly, the chicken tangy on his tongue.
"Some of the others know," Tsunayoshi murmured quietly as he passed a handful of huan off to the server. "Lambo disrupted the security system and Mukuro and Nagi created a distraction. Kyouya's men drove us to the airport." As they stepped back out into the street, neon lighting the sky, he closed his eyes. "Uni bought the tickets."
The black sheep, anarchists, and seer. What a clusterfuck bunch. Renato finally tugged out a cigarette, puffing out rings. His doctor said he should stop before he got emphysema. His doctor could fuck off.
"Where are you staying?"
"That hotel by Polytechnic-" Tsuna made a noise of disgust and shook his head, spinning on his heel.
"They overcharge foreigners at that soapland of an inn. Cancel your room, you're staying with us."
Renato stared up at the ceiling two hours later and wondered with a touch of amusement if this was Tsuna's way of making sure he could keep an eye on the hitman. If it was, he couldn't besmirch his method. Nana the senior had had the exact same look of affronted compassion when she told Nagi the girl would stay with them for high school.
Nana held perfectly still as Renato carefully wove her hair into braids. He could see a green sheen to it this close, dye not able to completely mask the original colour.
"Nonno?"
"Yes?"
"...Is everyone okay?"
He considered her question seriously, because she deserved that much.
"No. Giotto is a wreck looking for you two and Tsunayoshi's guardians are hysterical for the most part." He snapped a tie around the end of the braid, eyeing his work. "But they'll heal, in a few years or ten."
She didn't respond to that beyond a hunching of her shoulders and the floor creaking with pressure. Renato tapped his chin, thinking.
"Let's go and find you decent supplies. God knows Tsunayoshi can't balance quality and price."
They spent the day looking for cheap haircare and a good bludgeon. Her shoulders slowly uncurled as she told him about civilian universities and idiot men.
Renato plucked the hair carefully, holding it to the light. Black with chestnut undertones. He was good, but Tsunayoshi still wasn’t up to his level after all these years. He glanced down at his suitcase. It didn’t take long to methodically go through everything, and he found his answer as to what had been taken fairly quickly. They were near useless with how little missions he took nowadays, but he still kept them for emergencies, well-worn to paranoia.
The two Dying Will bullets he’d packed were missing.
There was a noise in the bedroom, one that made Renato tense and reach for a gun before he realised what it was. Crying.
Renato soundlessly sighed and turned over, facing the other body on the futon. Tsunayoshi’s shoulders were heaving and he was in the fetal position, clutching at his head. Who knew what was running through his mind, which mission gone wrong or societal catastrophe they had raced to stop. Gently, Renato reached out and ran a hand through his hair, loosening the fingers buried in it. The man shuddered and curled in tighter before relaxing some.
Renato kept at it until he was breathing evenly again, quiet. Then he rolled back over and closed his eyes, dead to the world.
“Don’t you have missions to take?”
“I don’t do more than favours nowadays Tsuna.”
The brunet paused, blinking at him. The car beside them honked and he hurried to the other side of the crosswalk, muttering. “You always take Vongola missions though?”
Renato smiled and kept walking. He had yet to see the university Nana was going to, and he wanted to make sure it was up to snuff.
“What are you planning to do with them?”
Tsuna tensed and didn’t turn from where was slowly lighting incense.
“I hid them. I don’t want you using them while you’re here.”
And who said I would? Reborn didn’t say, but it was obvious in his demeanor, and Tsuna’s shoulders curled. Neither spoke until Nana came home, complaining about her macroeconomics teacher.
"Show me where you work."
Tsuna paused in fixing his tie, frowning at Renato. “Do you want a tour of our whole life or something? Why are you staying, Reborn?”
The hitman bat his hand away and finished the knot, huffing at the clumsiness. “You’re forty and still don’t know how to properly knot a tie? Just what does your superior think?”
“He’s an old bat who’s just in awe I can balance the books,” Tsuna muttered, before shaking his head with a sigh. “If you come, you’re playing the successful businessman who did his work and didn’t let anyone try to stop him.”
This command confused the absolute
shit
out of the hitman until they stepped off the train and right a few blocks, coming to a hole-in-the-wall building that had a cheery banner proclaiming it a primary school. Renato followed Tsuna in and down the hall to a room decorated with stickers.
The classroom was cheerily decorated, children's drawings and lesson sheets pinned to the walls. The chalkboard had "Mister Tsuna" carefully written in the corner, and a small cat underneath that seemed to have been redrawn multiple times. Renato stepped through the desks, running his hand along the wood, peering into cubbies and at nametags.
"Japanese?"
"English. There's more demand." Tsuna smiled helplessly, standing by his desk. "Most of the kids are great. There's one who tries to make me laugh every morning by telling me stories about her younger sister. I'm gonna miss them."
Renato looked up sharply at amber spotlights in the morning dusk. "You're leaving soon?" A bitter laugh, the lights focusing on him. "You think you need to because of me," He realised.
"Why- what else would I do , Reborn? You're going to go back to Italy and tell everyone where I've gone and we'll need to uproot ourselves- of course, I should have expected , this always-"
Tsuna cut himself off with a wordless gasp, flinching. Renato kept wrapping his arms around him, holding tight as he could.
"Dame-Tsuna, you foolish boy. I'm here because I worried and wanted to make sure you were happy. I wanted to make sure you had made the right choice, that you didn’t need help. " He closed his eyes as orange flickered out and he felt a trembling. "Your job is done, Tsunayoshi. I wouldn't begrudge you a new life."
A sob. Then arms shakily curling around him, clutching at the back of his suit jacket. Reborn let him wrinkle it, stain it. He could give his boy a moment, just as he’d given Dino at his first baptism, and Tsuna at the birth of the twins.
It was little effort to give him some breathing room, after everything.