Chapter Text
Tsuna would always think that a normal life would be better than the life he was suddenly thrown into. There were times where he would think about a life that Reborn wouldn’t have force himself as his tutor. He wouldn’t have to go through all these trials to become a boss of a famiglia he didn’t even want. Instead he would still be stumbling through his school life and barely graduating out of high school. He most likely will end up in a community college, but it wasn’t like he would complain about it.
Maybe he would be lonely, but it would be normal. It would be something Tsuna had accomplish on his own. And it wasn’t something that he had to constantly be on his toes about.
But then Tsuna wouldn’t have any of the friends he has now. Instead he would be by himself and probably wouldn’t have friends even if he was in a normal life.
Usually his friends would appear out of nowhere and Tsuna would forget about the whole thoughts of being normal. Because he had his friends and that, that was just enough for him.
(It doesn’t mean Tsuna doesn’t think about the whole thought of having a normal life. Especially when he signs as many paperwork as he does now, along with the whole take care of your family – there was so much blood on his hands- it just stresses him out just a bit. The thought just appears when he can’t handle his friends’ eccentric antics).
It had caught Tsuna out of surprise. Anyone would have been surprise if they were in his position.
He remembers going to bed after a very stressful meeting conference with another famiglia. And then his guardians were arguing with one another after the meeting was over. (There was now a broken room in the mansion, again). Tsuna was just so done that he didn’t even bother to look at his guardians. Not even yell at them, or scold them.
The amount of stress piling up was irritating him and seeing his guardians arguing almost set him off an angry tangent.
He left the room and went straight to bed.
(He also drank a lot of alcohol, but no one needs to know about that).
Then he wakes up with a horrible headache and regrets drinking before going to sleep; only to see a different ceiling than he was used too and a rigid bed, instead of his fluffy one.
Tsuna admits, he panics and flails something he hasn’t done since he was in middle school. He quickly calms himself down and begins to investigate.
He’s in a dorm, not his room. He didn’t feel someone touching him to move him around, but he doesn’t remembering moving around in the middle of the night either.
Tsuna finds a calendar next to a mirror and it’s on the month of December. Two weeks were crossed out with bold words saying ‘FINALS.’
He was in a college dorm, and it wasn’t the college he had attended. He went to a college in Italy, but it seems like this college was in Japan. He had also de-aged.
His headache still wasn’t going away, and it didn’t take him long to understand that it was his intuition. The feeling of dread rose in his stomach, along with a sense of freedom.
Tsuna thought about contacting Byakuran. He could give Tsuna the answers he is looking for, but Tsuna pushes that thought away. Byakuran was too far away, probably somewhere in Italy, and Tsuna in this world wasn’t rich. Barely able to pay his college fee’s and was working a part time job at a café near the school.
I’ll wait for someone to notice, is the thought Tsuna tells himself. He prides himself for his bonds with his friends, they’ll obviously notice if he was gone.
(Instead they don’t come for him, and Tsuna is forced to adjust to a life that isn’t filled with people trying to kill you. No one was there to snipe him if he lets his guard down. Tsuna feels uneasy and maybe a little afraid).
The transition isn’t easy. College is easy; he already went through all this. But it’s the feeling of loneliness gathering in his stomach each passing day. He feels the anxiety gnarling in the back of his head. That he’ll be here for a long time alone.
Maybe it’s the thought of being alone that makes him fear this world. He once thought that a normal life would have been stress free and calm. But it wasn’t.
He didn’t have his friends around him. Tsuna checked if any of his friends were around in this school, or anywhere in Japan. But it seems like Kyoya wasn’t in Nanimori, instead he was in Italy.
Tsuna then figures out that someone else had become the Vongola Decimo and his friends – his guardians; his family- wasn’t going to ever be his friends. Instead they were close to someone else that wasn’t Tsuna and it made Tsuna feel bitter.
Don’t think about the past, Dame-Tsuna; instead adjust to the present, Reborn’s voice echoes in Tsunas’ head. So he just adjust, even if he was stumbling along the way, it’s the only way for him to stay as positive as he can.
When Tsuna was in the University in Italy, he took a major that would help him in the mafia life. But he wasn’t in the mafia in this life, so in this life he took a Business major. It was a pretty boring major for Tsuna to take, but it was something for him to apply in this life. Maybe he’ll open a café somewhere, he was pretty good cook.
Working part time in a café was pretty good practice if he wanted to open a café himself.
(But then he’ll start thinking about how his friends would have worked with him in that café. Probably causing a ruckus and being rude to the customers and it suddenly makes him lonelier than he already is).
Just like Tsuna was in Middle school, he wasn’t all that popular here in this college. It was difficult making friends and most people didn’t want to talk to Tsuna because they all remember him from high school. So Tsuna was pretty isolated, but the customers in the café he works at were friendly, enough to make him laugh and wake up every morning.
2 months flashes by and Tsuna had adjusted pretty well. Every day was quiet; there wasn’t anything to disturb his routine.
Wake up in the morning and go to work until the afternoon. Then he would go to his classes and finish any of the homework that his professor would assign. He remembers Reborn telling him that having a routine was dangerous. It makes his vulnerable to any assassins that are aiming at him.
Maybe it was paranoia, but Tsuna took those words to heart. There were days where he would randomly do something different just to throw anyone off.
But everything has been so peaceful Tsuna almost forgot about the dangerous life he once was in.
Then suddenly Tsuna saw Reborn in this world and everything was thrown off.
It was a regular day at the café, a little slow since it was a Sunday. Everyone was too busy doing last minute stuff to stop by the café. So Tsuna took that opportunity to just relax and let his mind wander off.
He was alerted by the chiming of the café entrance. He turns his head only to feel everything just freeze. A tall man with curly sideburns and a fedora hat enters the café. And Tsuna felt that feeling of hope rise in him.
Maybe it’s Reborn, the Reborn I know. Maybe he’s here to take me back, Tsuna thought, only to feel that hope shatter, because this Reborn is looking around the café and doesn’t look at Tsuna with familiarity.
“Welcome,” Tsuna says politely. Reborn looks up and nods, before walking towards a table in the far corner.
He’s glad that he wasn’t the only one working, and Ayami went to take Reborns’ order.
If Tsuna was the one who went to Reborn, he doesn’t know if he could act professional. That he might not break down because the following months weren’t hard, but it was lonely. And seeing a familiar face, it makes him feel the need to cry. (It hurts even more when that person doesn’t even know who you are).
Reborn doesn’t stay for a long time, he comes and goes, and Tsuna hopes that he doesn’t come back.
It hurts too much to see someone familiar, Tsuna thinks.
When he goes back to his dorm, he waves to his dorm mate before heading straight to his bed.
(If the water falling out of his eyes were tears, no one had to know that).
But Reborn keeps on coming back, and Tsuna knows his days are counting down, because he can’t avoid serving Reborn forever, since he was a waiter.