Tsuna let a tired sigh as he slumped besides the other figure in the dark.
Obsidian eyes traced his moves.
"I take that you didn't have much luck", the brunet muttered, not daring rising his voice even though it was most likely that they were alone. They checked every single corner, wall or space of their temporal paradise, as they did with each "safe hole" before, but some things just never changed.
The obsidian eyes just looked away.
Tsuna sighed again.
He opened his mouth, but thought better of it, and let it drop shut.
Some days were like this now. He knew that it didn't matter how many words he said, they weren't going to make a difference.
Instead, Tsuna pressed his head to the other one's shoulder and closed his eyes.
Sometimes... he wished he didn't have to open them again.
The obsidian eyes didn't blink.
-0000000000-
Inside of Tsuna's mind, a long time ago, some part of him was surprised to found out that he wasn't one of the first ones to die.
Their first group, in those earlier days when everything was fresh and they still had hope, consisted of two terrified kids, one teenager and three adults, whom two of them were parents of the younger ones.
Tsuna didn't even know how he got to end up with that dysfunctional family and the mysterious man with cold and ruthless eyes, but he couldn't blame himself, because those days were mostly a blur in his memory.
At the time, he was still "dame-Tsuna"; he didn't have enough courage to do pretty much anything, so he stood quietly in a corner until the other ones decided what path to take. And he just followed like a lost puppy.
The man with obsidian eyes hadn't liked him very much. Tsuna now knew that that was because of his little confidence and general worthlessness.
So, when the imminent fight of interest between the two main parts in their little and hopeless group started, the man with obsidian eyes didn't seem to think that Tsuna would choose him, instead of the warm and kind family of two parents and two siblings.
The man didn't ask for explanations, and Tsuna didn't mention that little tug at the back of his mind prompting him to do what he did.
(If he maybe happened to hear some screams that were more familiar that night, he didn't dare to think too much of it.)
-0000000000-
The man with obsidian eyes didn't use to talk to him too much before. In the early years, Tsuna didn't have the confidence to make something about it, so he could only observe.
Remembering cold nights, starving days and restless mornings, Tsuna thought that maybe that was enough.
The man didn't change his facial expression at all. But something in his mind, after months of company, told him that he was swimming in a complex mix of regret, hate and something else.
Tsuna never understood why the other one didn't ditch him when he could.
-0000000000-
"Hey, I was wondering", Tsuna started, looking at the floor illuminated by fragments of night light, "if this whole apocalypses hadn't happened, could we have become friends?"
A smirk arose at the corners of his lips and the man eyed Tsuna up and down. "With how you were when we first met, you couldn't have been anything more than a bug in the wall."
Tsuna frowned a little, trying to find something to object, but he couldn't deny the truth. The man just smirked some more for a moment, but then a thoughtful expression adorned his face.
"Being honest, it'd have been impossible. I used to live in Italy."
"Wah-! Really?"
"Yeah. Well, I used to have a job that made me travel around, and I was just going to quit it." Amusement arose in his obsidian eyes at the irony. "But then this whole shit happened, and I got stuck."
Tsuna was silent for a moment. He answered quietly.
"I'm glad you got stuck."
Obsidian eyes looked at his way.
"Yeah. Me too."
-0000000000-
He woke up to the sound of crying. It wasn't loud, barely a whisper, but in a world where listening to a pin fall could save your life, it was enough to tense him up.
It took him half a second to understand where that sound came from, but several of the next ones to process that it wasn't a dream.
Because the man with obsidian eyes didn't cry. He was a wall and sometimes a door, but he never was glass.
Tsuna didn't move. The man didn't either.
The brunet ignored the small and fragile "I'm sorry" and tried to sleep.
-0000000000-
[Some things are meant to happen, some things just shouldn't have had to ever come to pass, and some other ones are just so utterly ruined that maybe the sand of fate should take a step back.]
-0000000000-
They kissed. It happened when he was twenty five, and they were bloody, and sweaty, and so fucking exhausted.
Fear still pricked in their veins. A hysterical laugh and a desperate moan, and suddenly, clothes we're unnecessary.
He let the man touch him in ways he didn't ever had the opportunity to dream—besides the occasional hormonal fantasies. He moaned and touched back.
They didn't make it 'til the end. But that was okay.
They were dirty, sweaty and blushing as if they weren't in a fucked up world with screwed realities at every window. Tsuna panted and he looked at the man in the eyes. He smiled.
"I love you."
And the man closed his eyes. Pained, determined and remorseful.
He opened them once again, and kissed him for the last time.
"Yeah. Me too."
-0000000000-
["Just. Shut up. You win, Kawahira, okay? You win." The man said.
"It was never a competition, you know." The blond answered.
And for the first time in his life, he put himself down in his knees, and begged.
"Please. Just... save him. And I will do everything you want."
"Oh, sweetheart, you know it doesn't work like that." And the blond smiled. It was a really ugly thing. Cruel, and mean, and so utterly sad. "Maybe the other me will be less broken. Let's pray for that."]
-0000000000-
"I've never told you my name, didn't I?" Suddenly, the man said.
Tsuna stopped on his tracks and looked back.
"Just as I've never told you mine." He smiled, amusement coloring his face. "I always thought that that was our thing, you know? I've been calling you 'The man with obsidian eyes' in my head for years now."
The man smirked.
When Tsuna saw the "you-don't-want-to-know-how-I've-been-calling-you" look, he somehow knew he was being mocked and he felt affronted. The man smirked a little bit wider.
"So? What prompted this so suddenly?" Tsuna said curiously.
The man hugged him and got his face closer to his ear. Tsuna stopped breathing and his heart started beating furiously in his chest.
"With whom I have the pleasure to speak?" The other one whispered.
"I-I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi." He felt a little weird, something was off. Alarms were beeping in his head. Tsuna didn't know why fear started clinging to his senses, but something was wrong.
Everything was wrong.
"Nice to meet you, Tsunayoshi."
A shiver travelled through his spine, and he shuddered.
"I'm Sinclair Renato, but, please, call me Reborn."
And everything turned black.
-0000000000-
[Sad eyes looked at him.
"I'm selfish, and I know it. But, Tsunayoshi, please, find me and make yours once more.
Because I love you."]
-0000000000-
Tsunayoshi woke up the morning of October 14th, 2005. His mother sang a Happy Birthday song, and told him that he would be late to his class if he didn't hurry up.
He was nine years old and he had seven years until the first zombie made its appearance.
Tsuna cried.