Being gay isn't the best thing in Japan. At least that's what vibes Tsuna got from his parents were giving off. 'He was young and energetic, just lost in his thoughts', 'he was going through a phase', 'you will get over this when you meet the right woman' were all things he had heard from them and he didn't really appreciate the salt he was getting.

He didn't really have people he could talk to since he was bullied, not badly really but people didn't talk to him because he wasn't great at school too. People did know him from his mother though since she was so nice and sociable and he looked a lot like her, the same big brown eyes, same light brown hair, they even had the same chubby cheeks that Tsuna swore up and down was just baby fat but he had had that baby fat for years now. He was 15 for crying out loud!

Anyways, people didn't like him but they tolerated him so he wasn't really left out. Until there was a nasty rumour spread around about him sleeping around with everybody for money and that he was gay. It wasn't the best way to start high school with a rumour following you so Tsuna was forced to stick to himself, just as he did in middle school.

The life Tsuna lead was a miserable one to say the least. His mother was more...traditional so when he told her he was gay she tried so hard to be accepting but the way she was raised got in the way of that. His father was Italian and came from a very Christian background, and even if he was overseas working, Tsuna felt like he could feel the ridicule from his father. They were trying but they weren't trying hard enough to be accepting of him.

It hurt but Tsuna was able to carry on because as long as he didn't mention anything of his sexuality to his mother, she would treat him the same as before she knew. She wasn't reserved or mean about it, she just didn't approve. And that was okay because she had yet to openly ridicule his lifestyle.

The rumour spread fast though and the entire town knew about the rumour and who Sawada Tsunayoshi within a week's time. In a small town like Namimori, Japan, stuff spread like wildfire.

There was another thing going around that lightened the rumours around Tsuna was new exchange students coming to the school to study the culture and language. Tsuna knew he would never be able to get near them to talk so he stopped paying attention to the details and stared out of the window, quietly humming nothing to himself.

It was another two weeks before the exchange students arrived in mid-April so they were there at the start of the school year. And the entire time people were buzzing with excitement over where they would come from, what they would look like, if they would be nice. What was nice to Tsuna was that people stopped bugging him about the stupid rumour. But he knew the minute the exchange students got there he would be the object of amusement to the school again so he resented the exchange students coming. Just a little bit.

Nobody else did though as the entire school was practically humming with the excitement. Only a few other people shared Tsuna's disinterest so they bounded a little over that. They hid behind the stands in the gym and showed each other funny pictures on their phones when everybody was fussing over seeing the exchange students.

When the exchange students finally came, there were about 5 in all. One was from Italy, he was the one with the most excitement brimming around him since he was so good looking to most of the population, another two were from the United States of America and they were cute but not handsome. One of the American's had bright pink hair and it might've scared some people off. The last one was Germany and he was another one of the heartbreakers because he had blond hair, blue eyes, and was really tall. For some reason people like that so they also enjoyed his appearance on the stage.

All of them sucked at Japanese though so they couldn't say anything to the student body without messing up which words were which. The two Americans were the worst as their accents were so thick. But they made up for that with enthusiasm.

The assembly held in the gymnasium to welcome the five students was over and done with, meaning everybody was dismissed early from school. The school thought it would be a good idea to introduce them at the end of the day while giving a tour of the school during the day. The logic in that confused Tsuna but he wasn't going to argue as he made his way home, managing not to trip over his own feet on the way home this time. He was hopelessly clumsy sometimes.

Some people stopped him to ask him what the homework was and ask if he was excited for a new school year. Tsuna laughed it off and kept going home, hoping he could get some of the homework given out. They didn't give out much the first few weeks though because of the exchange students coming in. They didn't want to overwhelm them as soon as they got there, so the class got off easy.

When Tsuna got home, his mother Nana was in the kitchen making something. He smelled cookies so he guessed either his father was home or somebody was visiting. When he walked into the kitchen, he saw one of the exchange students, the Italian one everybody was fawning over to be exact, sitting at the table talking to his mother like they were old friends. What confused Tsuna even more was the fact that he was speaking in fluent Japanese with barely a hint of an accent.

"Oh! Tsuna, meet our new housemate! His name is Reborn and he'll be staying with us for the year! Isn't it exciting?" Nana gushed as she continued mixing whatever she was making on the counter.

Tsuna shrugged, sitting in his usual spot, which happened to be beside Reborn, and said, "As long as you don't make me share my room."

"He says that he doesn't exactly like sleeping alone. Tsuna, don't be mean! You have to share or else you'll never go far in life." Nana chided, flicking some flour at her son.

"Sure, easy for you to say." Tsuna grumbled under his breath as he got up. "I'll be doing homework."

"Do you want some cookies when they're done?"

"Sure!"

Tsuna had hoped that he wasn't going to be followed by Reborn since he had left the room for a reason. Apparently not as Reborn also got up, saying he was going to bond with Tsuna, and followed him to his room. Exactly what Tsuna had hoped didn't happen. He sighed out of his nose in annoyance and sat down at the table he had in the middle of his medium sized room. Reborn sat on his bed like he owned it which annoyed Tsuna even more.

"Are you going to keep angrily sighing or are you going to say hi to me?" Reborn asked. Tsuna shrugged, pulling out his Japanese homework. This was the one he knew the best since he wanted to be good in at least one subject and Japanese was the easiest one to start on.

"I see. You're going to be Mr. Cranky-Pants." Reborn nodded seriously to himself before making himself comfortable on Tsuna's bed. "Do you even know what you're reading?"

"Yes, it's about the Japanese language."

"Ooh, snarky. I like it. Do you like Japanese?"

"It's okay. Better than math or science since I can actually understand Japanese better." Tsuna shrugged again and pushed his finished homework to the side while pulling out his math book. He grimaced to himself as he opened it to the page and started doing the first question he had to. Five minutes in, he already had a headache and gave up; flopping his head onto the book.

"I think you may be in need of help?" Reborn asked. He was lounging on Tsuna's bed and looking at all the little things Tsuna had in the bedside table drawer.

"I'm fine, but thank you." Tsuna picked his head up and sighed looking over the question again. He felt somebody sit down next to him and looked over to see Reborn looking over his shoulder at him, reading the question. "I said I'm fine, Reborn."

"I know, but you look annoying when you're distressed so I felt I should do a good deed today." Reborn reached over and plucked the book from Tsuna's hand, dropping it into his lap so he could see the picture of the graph better. "So, from what I gathered, you're doing algebra.

Tsuna nodded, balancing his head in the palm of his hand.

"What's hard about it then?"

"I don't understand how to get the value of 'x'."

"...It's 3. How you do that is..."

Reborn continued to explain how to do algebra to Tsuna, teaching it better than the actual teacher did. By the time Nana came up with the plate of cookies for the two, Tsuna was almost done his homework. She looked ridiculously proud that Tsuna didn't feel like telling her he had gotten a 12 on his science test. He just shoved it to the bottom of his bag so she wouldn't see it until he accidentally pulled it out looking for something.

On the way home from school the next day, Reborn followed Tsuna, looking at everything around him as they walked. Tsuna was a little annoyed at everybody else since people kept trying to make fun of him again for Reborn coming home with him. He didn't know why it bothered him so much but it did. Reborn was oblivious to this, or maybe he wasn't and was just ignoring it, and was taking everything in like a small child in a new environment.

"It's a wonder you can live with all of this around you and not even be the least bit interested in it." Reborn commented. They were passing a lonely park that had swing sets with chipping paint and a sandbox that had greying sand from weather.

Tsuna looked at him in confusion. "I grew up here. I walk past this every time I come home and go to school. It's nothing special to me since a park isn't exactly exciting anymore."

"Why aren't they exciting anymore?"

"Because I never really played with anybody at one very much, if I did it was because their parents made them or there was nobody else. Can't really blame them because I would have definitely tripped and knocked them down in my fall."

"Let's go play in one together then."

"What? No, I'm not doing that-No let go!"

Reborn had taken Tsuna's wrist and was pulling him at a jog towards the park they were just passing. The entire thing looked menacing to Tsuna even though it was completely empty of children. Tsuna was trying to struggle out, pulling and digging his heels into the ground so maybe he would fall and be left on the ground, but Reborn was stronger then him and easily dragged him over to a swing.

"Reborn, I'm not doing this." Tsuna said stubbornly.

"Okay, well you don't have to do anything because I'm going to push you on the swing. Since you want to be a baby about going." Reborn scoffed and pushed Tsuna so he was sitting in a swing.

"I am not being a baby about this. I just don't like swings because they give me a headache!" Tsuna didn't even get to finish his sentence before Reborn was pushing him, giving him an under-duct so he would go higher. "Why are you doing this to me! Please don't!"

"Close your eyes, it makes it better." Reborn called up, smirking to see Tsuna clinging to the metal rungs that held the swing to the metal bar.

"I don't really feel like I should listen to you because of this!" Tsuna didn't trust himself enough to close his eyes because who knows, maybe he'll let go and just fall to the ground. He was a disaster to those around him.

Reborn didn't seem to mind as he kept pushing him, making Tsuna go high enough that the swing set shuddered a little. He let out a small shriek in fear before slowly loosened up, feeling like a little kid with his mother again. She used to force him onto the swing too since he wanted to go on but was too scared to go on by himself.

He laughed a little before he felt Reborn stop pushing him, stepping back and watching Tsuna go on the swing set, laughing happily as he swung. He pushed his heels into the gravel when he started feeling dizzy, smiling giddily, but spraying small rocks everywhere.

"I'm going to throw up and it's going to be your fault, Reborn." Tsuna said, his hair settling messily around his face now that it wasn't blowing around him.

Reborn laughed. "You're the one who let me. It's still your fault."

"Because you didn't give me a choice." Tsuna whined. "It was kind of hard to stop you from dragging me here if you're stronger than me."

Reborn scoffed, walking over to the bench. Tsuna thought of something smiling mischievously. He ran up behind Reborn and tapped his shoulder and saying, "Tag, you're it."

Taking that as a personal challenge, Reborn chased after Tsuna, actually having a hard time as Tsuna darted and sprinted through the park away from Reborn. In the end, Reborn was still faster and fitter than Tsuna but he was just barely able to catch Tsuna. The only reason he was caught though was because Reborn American football tackled him to the ground.

He screeched like a small child when he went down but continued to laugh because of how he never got this as a child. He saw everybody play this but he never got to play himself since he wasn't that great at runner for one and he was never one to invite himself into a game when they were already playing.

"And you said you didn't like the park." Reborn muttered. He sat against the leg of the swing set, panting a little from the exertion but his black eyes dancing with excitement.

Tsuna shrugged, flopping onto the ground beside Reborn's feet. "I can enjoy things when I'm older, can't I?"

"From how you were going on about it, it sounded like you didn't believe you could." Tsuna shrugged again and closed his eyes so the sun wasn't straight in them. The two were quiet as they tried to breathe normally again, both happy that they were able to do that. What broke that happiness was when they heard the most horrendous screeching sound that could almost be sobbing but not quite.

Tsuna and Reborn sat up straight, listening. Tsuna was the first one up and moving towards the back part of the park where there was a bunch of woods. There was a small child that looked no younger than four or five sitting there sobbing his eyes out, his hands clutched around tufts of grass as he wailed towards the sky. Reborn grimaced at how loud he was but Tsuna just moved forward, calling out softly to the child so he wasn't spooked when he noticed the two in front of him.

"Hey there", Tsuna tried to speak as softly as he could but the child was too scared and upset to listen to anything so Tsuna reached forward and gently put a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Hey there, I'm not going to hurt you, I just saw you were sad. Why are you sad?"

The kid looked terrified, whimpering a little but quieting down. "M-My m-momm-mmy l-left m-me." He managed to stutter out, still crying.

"Oh that's not good. Where did she leave you?" Tsuna sat beside the kid, holding up his hands when the kid inched away so he knew that Tsuna wouldn't hurt him.

"I-In t-the p-park. W-We w-were p-playing H-Hide and S-Seek and-and I hid in the woods but-but she left me here." The kid looked like he was going to start screaming again so Reborn jumped in, sitting on the other side of the kid.

"How long did you hide?" Reborn asked, mimicking the slightly higher pitched voice Tsuna used so the kid would trust him more.

"I-I don't k-know!"

"Okay, that's okay. Do you know where you live? Where your house is?" Reborn said, holding up his hands in a placating way.

"U-Um, m-my house is r-red with pink and y-yellow flowers in front of the house."

"What colour is the fence?" Tsuna asked.

"W-White with green in it."

"I think I know where you live! We can take you home!" Tsuna said, smiling excitedly, making the kid hiccup a little bit and smile. "Do you want to go home?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Then let's get you home!" Tsuna stood up, offering his hand to the kid who took it in a heartbeat, practically latching onto Tsuna's arm as they started to walk. Reborn followed on the other side of the kid and felt his hand being taken as they walked on.

"So, I never got your name there, little one." Tsuna said as they made their way down the quiet road.

"Haruto Suzuki!" He answered happily, his face that was once blotchy and red from crying clearing up and turning back to his natural shade of lightly tanned.

"What a nice name! My name is Tsunayoshi Sawada. This is Reborn. Do you think you can remember those names?"

"Tsun-Tsuna-yo-yosh-i?"

"Call me Tsuna, please. It's easier to say, isn't it?"

Haruto nodded, smiling a little.

Tsuna led them through the streets, Haruto chatting extremely happily now and talking a lot. Tsuna and Reborn just nodded and added in small comments here and there and Haruto just talked the entire time. By the time they reached the house Tsuna thought was Haruto's, Haruto had told about five different stories.

"Hey, is this your house?" Tsuna asked. He bent down and had a hand on Haruto's back, speaking softly into Haruto's ear as they stopped at the gate. The gate had white paint but the paint was chipping considerably so you could see green paint that used to be the old colour.

Haruto nodded excitedly, pushing the gate open hurriedly and knocking on the door, hopping up and down on the balls of his feet. When the door opened, a women not even the age of thirty opened it, her dark hair tied into a high pony tail and her eyes red from what Tsuna assumed was crying from the tear streaks on her face. She looked down when she felt a small bundle of arms wrap around her thighs, almost collapsing in relief as she had thought she lost her son. She looked up and saw Tsuna and Reborn about to turn to go and called out to them.

"Please, wait a minute! How can I ever repay you?" She called, Tsuna and Reborn looking at each other.

"Take good care of Haruto then?" Tsuna said, shrugging. "You don't need to thank us since we were just doing what was right, Ms. Suzuki."

"Thank you so much. What are your names?"

"I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada. This is Reborn. He doesn't like talking because he's shy." Reborn hit Tsuna upside the head, making him cry out in surprise and pain. "Hey, that's the only explanation since you barely talk to anybody!"

Ms. Suzuki laughed, waving as she sat with her son in her doorway. Tsuna and Reborn waved back before walking off. Haruto hurriedly ran down the steps and through the gate clumsily to Tsuna and Reborn.

"Thank you very much!" Haruto said, bowing to them before hugging Tsuna and Reborn quickly.

"Well, that was eventful." Tsuna said quietly to Reborn as they walked away.

"That is a very big understatement, Tsuna" Reborn muttered back. He turned around and started walking back to the park so he could collect his backpack. He had dropped it on the ground when they were playing tag and he didn't exactly want to leave it there. Tsuna snorted, following Reborn.

When they got back, they were obviously very dirty as the gravel held in dirt like a sponge. When they walked into the house, Nana peeked around the corner and shook her head.

"I want both of you in the bath and clean before dinner is ready." She called before disappearing again, continuing to cook whatever she was making for supper. If Tsuna had to guess it was probably something like soup.

"Who's gonna go first?" Tsuna asked as they climbed the stairs. Reborn shrugged, not really caring if Tsuna got in first or he did. He took about five minutes anyways so he guessed he should go.

"I will since I don't take long. Don't use any water while I'm in there." Reborn walked out with his change of clothes to the bathroom.

Tsuna sat on his floor and got a start on his homework, finishing his Japanese homework in 15 minutes before moving onto his English. His mother had wondered in, in the middle of him doing his work and sat on his bed, casually talking to him as he did his work.

"So where did you two go before you came home, Tsuna?" Nana asked thoughtfully.

Tsuna put down his pencil and looked up at his mother, smiling a little as he started to explain his recent escapade with Reborn. When he mentioned Haruto and how he was lost, Nana made a small sound of worry.

"I know that boy and his mother. She was quite young when she had him, her then boyfriend walked out when she told him that she was having a baby. He wasn't up for being a father so young. She used to babysit you, you know?" Nana shook her head like she was ashamed that she even had to speak of Haruto's dad.

"She did?" Tsuna asked. He vaguely remembered somebody babysitting when Nana was out with friends, but it was only maybe once or twice that he needed babysitting. Nana didn't really like leaving him home because of how Nana didn't want to miss anything or be a distant parent relying on a babysitter to raise him.

"Yep, she was extremely happy to do it too. I think she wanted practice mothering her own child. I was more than happy to help her when she brought home little Haruto too. You and him played together sometimes when I would give her parenting tips and sweets."

Tsuna made a small sound in surprise as he picked up his pencil again. He explained the rest of the story to her and talked about how Haruto seemed to like the two. Reborn had been done his shower for a while, just sitting outside the door listening to the two talk so he could hear how Tsuna grew up. He decided to walk in now so Tsuna could have his shower already and he himself could finish his own homework before dinner.

Nana smiled when Reborn appeared in the door way. She said that dinner would be ready soon before disappearing out the door. Reborn nodded as he sat at the same table Tsuna had vacated to have his own shower.

Reborn was done all of his homework within the half hour that Tsuna took in the shower. He decided to look over Tsuna's work and see if there was anything wrong he could spot. In the English worksheet Tsuna was given it was about figurative language, a.k.a. Hyperbole, Similie, Metaphor, etc. Tsuna kept mixing up Similie and Metaphor but that was about all that was wrong. So when Tsuna walked back in, Reborn mentioned it, pointing out where he was wrong and explaining why he was wrong.

"I really don't understand English. It's so confusing." Tsuna grumbled.

"You don't need to tell me. I can speak English fluently and I still don't understand how some of the grammar rules work. Why do you even need a colon or semi-colon. It's so stupid." Reborn scoffed, leaning against the edge of Tsuna's bed.

"And the stuff they use in poetry just makes it confusing. But I like some of the Haikus they do since they're clever."

"Says the actual Japanese kid that could do them in Japanese."

Tsuna laughed, throwing his eraser lightly at Reborn. "Shut up. I'm not good at poetry at all. But we study how Haikus and other Japanese poems are used in English. My teacher wants the class to make one too so I think I might get a zero on that assignment."

"Tsuna! Reborn! Dinner!" Nana called from the stairs, walking back to the kitchen. The clink of silverware on the counter was heard as Nana set everything up.

"I could help you with your poem, if you want." Reborn said as they walked down the stairs. "But you also have to help me with my Japanese homework since I've been helping you so much."

"Of course. A fair trade?" Tsuna said, holding his hand out.

Reborn rolled his eyes since Tsuna was acting like this was a drug deal. Reborn took his hand anyways and said, "A fair trade."

Since Nana had made the food, Tsuna and Reborn promised they would do the dishes. They practically had to push Nana into the living room so they could do it too since she was so adamant on helping them in the slightest. Reborn and Tsuna still refused though so she read the newspaper on the couch while Tsuna and Reborn worked.

"Do you have any friends here, Tsuna?" Reborn asked as he dried a plate.

Tsuna shook his head. "Not really. People don't like me."

"Is it because of that rumour people kept telling me about?" Reborn picked up another plate but he was staring straight at Tsuna, seeing how he reacted to this.

Tsuna flinched a little when he heard Reborn knew about the rumour. He looked up quickly but looked back down when he saw Reborn was looking and focused on getting a small speck of dirt off of a spoon. "Yes, it's because of that. People think I'm weird because of it."

"They don't think you're weird. They think you're gay. There is a very big difference."

"Okay, well, anyways people aren't exactly accepting in this town so everybody kind of avoids me. There are some people that are nice to me though, so it's not that bad."

"But a majority of the school dislikes you because of how they don't like gay people?"

"Basically." Tsuna refused to look at Reborn because he knew what was coming next. He knew that Reborn was going to move out and say he wasn't comfortable rooming with him because he would be hit on, stared at, and be asked out by Tsuna.

"Well that's stupid. They should judge you based on how you treat other people, animals, maybe even yourself or your personality. Not if you enjoy a guy's body over a girl's."

"Wait, what? You're not going to ridicule me because of-"

Reborn gave Tsuna a look of disgust. "What do you think I am, Russian? I have an uncle that's gay so I grew up knowing it exists and that's it's okay to like something other than the opposite sex. So don't your underwear in a bunch over it. At least you're not lusting over that Kyoko girl like every other guy I have talked to. It's kind of sad how desperate they are."

Tsuna laughed, leaning his head against his hands as he tried not to start crying. It was hard though since somebody finally told him it was okay to be who he was. It was okay to be different. He felt his shoulders shake as he thought about it a small sob racking through him.

"Don't get sappy on me here. I only told you I don't care." Reborn said.

"That's the thing, you're the first person to tell me you don't care. Almost everybody in this town is so mean about it when the rumour spread and everybody in town heard about me. Some of the people look at me like I'm Satan incarnated or something. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to be told I can't buy something or get a person in my face saying I can't come into the store because of it. Other people look at me with sympathy, like they pity me. It's better then being looked at with anger but not by much. It's also terrifying to think that one day I could be hurt because of it if some people hate me that much."

"Again, that's stupid, and no matter how hard it is, you have to ignore it. People can only hurt you if you give them the consent."

"You know, I sometimes don't believe you're a teenager. Like who knows quotes like this?"

"The people that say them. Writers. People that actually read books."

"Okay, laugh at me reading online."

"I'm not laughing I'm just saying that you should really think about taking out a library book and reading it for pleasure. It won't burn your retinas off when you read at night."

Reborn and Tsuna had decided to go to bed early that night since both of them were tired from running around. At least Tsuna was. Reborn just didn't want to stay up late since he wasn't that close with Nana yet and it would be awkward. The two slept in the same room but Reborn had a small mat pushed into the corner he used since he actually didn't like sleeping alone. His mother usually slept in the same bed as him from how she used to have nightmares a lot so he got used to sleeping next to her to calm her down. But now he felt uncomfortable sleeping in a room of his own so he moved into Tsuna's room after explaining it to Nana. Tsuna didn't need to know of it though since he kind of accepted that Reborn would be sleeping in his room after the first night.

Of course, there was the problem that Tsuna was a restless sleeper and flopped around a lot. Reborn slept lightly and with his eyes open since he had to wake up and calm his mother down quickly. Hearing the bed squeak and shift every time Tsuna moved woke him up since he always attributed that to nightmares so it was quite annoying to wake up in the middle of the night to nothing. He had no idea how to even approach Tsuna to tell him to tone it down since it was really hard to control how much you move when you sleep.

So when Reborn told Tsuna about it, Tsuna came up with the great idea that they sleep in the same bed so his flopping was controlled by Reborn taking up half the bed. It worked but it still wasn't exactly the best since Reborn was clingy. It led to very awkward conversations in the morning when one had to get out but was stuck by the wall since the bed was pushed into a corner.

What was great about the two sleeping in the same bed though was that they were able to talk about a lot since sleeping with somebody for a long time makes you trust them. Tsuna felt that happening to him as a few months flew by and he ended up getting a crush on the Italian exchange student.

He didn't even know where it came from, all of a sudden whenever Reborn walked into a room, Tsuna noticed him. The way he smirked when he was amused, how he messed with his hair whenever he talked a lot, how Reborn had a small birth mark under his eye that he would rub when he was tired, or how whenever he was mad, Reborn would stand up straighter, lock his jaw and his shoulders so he looked taller than he already was. Tsuna started noticing these things and one little voice in the back of his head saying, 'he's the person I want to spend time with.' Tsuna knew he was in too deep but he was in so deep he didn't even care anymore. It probably wasn't going to last, the crush, since the two had only known each other for a short time but Tsuna didn't really care right now.

He was the one that got to wake up and see the person he loved sleeping next to him. Maybe it wasn't love, maybe it was. All he knew was that it was something special he didn't want to mess up by confessing. So he kept it to himself as long as he could.

It worked. For like another month.

On Monday before school, Reborn and Tsuna had to go in early to help a teacher with something, honestly Reborn didn't know what he was doing but he heard from Tsuna that he needed to help him help a teacher so he was rolling with it. He got up at his usual time but had to wake Tsuna up at this time too so he was at least moving by the time Reborn was done getting himself ready.

They somehow made it to the school on time, the school's self-titled leader Hibari Kyoya sitting outside the gate already. He was also nicknamed a demon from how he fought constantly and ruthlessly against anybody that hurt his precious school. Hibari smirked at them as they walked by, making Tsuna shift so Reborn was the one passing Hibari instead of him.

The teacher they were supposed to be helping hadn't arrived at his classroom when the two arrived so they were forced to sit in the hall until he came by.

"I feel like I was sent out by the teacher right now." Tsuna mumbled. His voice was muffled from how he sat with his cheek against his knee. Reborn looked down at him from where he was standing next to Tsuna in confusion, asking incredulously, "They actually send people out in the hall for disobeying?"

"Yeah, at least in this school they do. Do they in the schools you went to in Italy?"

"No. But that's mostly because everybody was too afraid to disrespect our teachers. The principal was still all about giving us the strap if we spoke out of turn when he was around. And the principal was always around. The teachers didn't like him so they actually let us paint and sing and all that since the principal didn't believe that helped anybody learn." Reborn shrugged. "That was only primary school though. In secondary school, I went to one for math surprisingly enough, and we knew not to speak when the teacher was and all that. So not very many people got in trouble."

"What do you mean you went to a school for math?"

"In Italy you chose what you want to do in your next level of school after Primary school. I chose math since I was good at it but it's kind of ironic since I also know three languages so far."

Tsuna looked at Reborn in a little bit wonder and a lot of annoyance since he wasn't used to talking to somebody so smart without being talked down too. He sighed as he leaned his head back against the wall.

"Here it's hard enough to start class. I think that's because the teacher doesn't want to be here as much as the students do sometimes but I don't think that's the point." Tsuna muttered. "Some people are smart but not as smart as you apparently."

"I've noticed that, how people will talk while the teachers trying to do their job and teach us something new. I barely get it since I learned a lot of my schooling in Italian but I'd still like to hear what's being said." Reborn made a face of pure annoyance and disgust that made Tsuna laugh and nod.

"I understand. My class is terrible for that. The one time I tell them to stop I got detention for talking during class. I swear half the teachers hate me." Tsuna held up his hands in a 'what can you do' kind of way that had Reborn rolling his eyes.

The two waited in front of the class for another fifteen minutes before Reborn sighed and asked, "Are you absolutely sure we had to come today?"

"Yeah, he said seven AM. At least I think he did." Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows as he thought back before nodding. "Yeah he said seven AM."

"What do you mean you think?" Reborn asked.

"W-Well, um he could have said PM since they sound similar but I don't know."

"Who asked you to come here?"

"Um, that would be Hibari since he said he was passing this along from-oh, wait." Tsuna covered his face with his hands and groaned in annoyance. "We didn't have to school to help a teacher in first place. We had to babysit."

"How do you get 'babysitting' out of 'we need to help a teacher'. We can go ask Hibari when we need to anyways since he's here already."

"No if I ask he's never going to let me live it down. He might also beat me and you have not been on the receiving end of those things he carries around."

"Oh, I'm shaking. I'm asking him because you made me get up early for nothing."

Turns out Tsuna and Reborn were supposed to babysit Haruto and his little sibling because their mother had a night course in college that she was taking to get a certain job and didn't have a babysitter. They had to be there by six thirty that night, not that morning, and stay till midnight at least. It worked out since this was also on the weekend, which made Reborn even more angry at Tsuna since he also got ready for nothing.

Nana was still laughing at them when she was told where they disappeared to so early in the morning. But she laughed while she made them food so it wasn't as bad.

By the time they needed to go over there, Nana had it drilled into their heads that if there was a baby crying you don't ignore it unless they need to calm down in their room and are crying because of it. She also sent them over with snacks since they were going to be there for so long.

Reborn and Tsuna made it there just in time, knocking on the door and hearing small feet running down the hall to the door. Somebody was talking but they couldn't make out what they said since the door was closed. When it opened, Ms. Suzuki was putting an ear ring in and hold Haruto back from running out. She smiled up at them and stepped back so they could come in.

"Thank you both so much for doing this. I'm sorry it's such short notice and how I got Hibari to tell you. I hope you didn't have any trouble finding the house again." She said, finishing putting her ear ring in and straightening her skirt so she looked a little bit presentable.

"No, we found it no problem. And it's fine, we're happy to babysit Haruto and Karin." Tsuna said, smiling reassuringly.

"That's great then. There's food in the fridge if you two get hungry. The little ones already ate so all they need to do is get changed into their pyjamas and go to bed at 7. I'd get them ready around there and get them to brush their teeth and wash their face before getting them to bed. Karin might wake up a couple times and cry since she's scared of the dark and the night light doesn't help much so one of you just go in and rock her back to sleep. She should be fine for a bit after that. She normally only wakes up a few times during the night but it's been getting less so you two shouldn't have too much trouble." Ms. Suzuki turned to where Haruto was behind her and said to him, "Now I want you to be good for them, okay? No fooling around about brushing your teeth and getting to bed. Is that clear?"

Haruto nodded seriously and Ms. Suzuki hugged him tightly before going up the stairs and speaking to her one year old Karin, saying almost the same thing she did to Haruto to Karin.

"Alright then, I guess I'm off." Ms. Suzuki said, waving at the two before shutting the door behind her.

Tsuna and Reborn looked at each other before sighing and walking further into the house. Haruto had run up to his sisters room and was playing with her there with the finger painting they had set up. Tsuna knew that wasn't going to be a good idea but he and Reborn followed them to the room they were at.

"Tsuna! Come paint with me!" Haruto asked immediately when they walked through the door. He ran over to Tsuna and pulled him over to the floor where there were newspapers set up to protect the floor and two pieces of paper filled with hand prints of all colours. Karin just black hand prints every where she could fit them on the page but Haruto's had all kinds of colours instead.

"Don't you two have to go to bed soon though?" Tsuna asked when he sat down with them.

"Yeah...But can't we paint for a little bit longer?" Haruto looked up at Tsuna with big eyes and Tsuna found it hard to say no in case Haruto started crying so he agreed saying about 15 more minutes.

"Now when I tell you it's time to put this away, are you going to listen?" Reborn asked, crouching down beside Karin.

"Yes! I promise." Haruto said, putting a big purple hand print in the middle of his page as he talked.

"I'm going to make you keep that promise, alright?" Haruto nodded, not listening now that he was allowed to paint again.

Tsuna snorted, Reborn throwing him a dirty look before he felt Karin tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. He looked down and she pointed to the paper. "Paint!" She said, pointing to him and giggling.

"You want me to paint with you?" Reborn asked to which she nodded quickly. She pushed the paper plate filled with paint, the paint running together in the middle and making a dark grey, and pointed to the purple paint.

"Hand paint!" She said, putting another hand print on her page. Reborn shrugged a shoulder at Tsuna as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and stuck his hand in the paint, pointing to Karin's page and asking if he could help her paint. She squealed happily and nodded, Reborn putting hand prints on the page where Karin told him to.

Tsuna sat next to Haruto and watched him paint, timing how long they had on the clock set on a bedside table. He assumed this was Haruto's room from how there was a box of dinkis and that mat with the town sewed into it you used the small cars on. There also wasn't a crib so he was guessing it was Haruto's room.

Tsuna suddenly felt a small hand push against his cheek, making him screech and jerk back in surprise. Karin giggled mischievously as she sat back on the floor, clapping her hands full of green paint together and Reborn laughing behind her. Tsuna felt his cheek and saw paint on some of his fingers. He laughed a little and reached for the paint himself. He dipped his finger in yellow and put a small dollop onto Karin's nose, making her squeal and giggle.

Haruto laughed at his sister, not even noticing that Tsuna was coming for him next, putting a small amount of paint onto his cheek, making him squeal as well. He laughed even more as he put a hand print on the other side of Tsuna's face.

"Hey, we should go against Reborn." Tsuna whispered to Haruto. Haruto nodded and got some more paint, Karin looking up curiously. Tsuna told her what she told Haruto and she grinned giddily, crawling over to the paint and slapped both of her hands onto the plate. Some of the paint splashed onto her pale yellow dress but she didn't care as she stood up and ran over to Reborn, putting a small handprint on his forehead while Haruto got the rest of his face that he could manage.

Reborn laughed and tried to get to the paint for payback but he couldn't as Tsuna spoke up, saying, "Oh, guys we have to get you guys ready for bed!" The two kids groaned, begging for a few more minutes but Tsuna remained stern. "No, we gave you 15 more minutes, now it's time to put it away. You can play with it more tomorrow."

The kids reluctantly gave in and started picking the newspapers up with Tsuna while Reborn took the pictures and set them on the dresser tucked into one corner of the room, taking out a pair of pyjamas for Haruto while he was over there. Tsuna stuffed the newspapers into a small bag and put the bottles of paint in the bag since he was told they reuse the paper if it wasn't that messy. He stuffed the bag next to the box of toy cars next to the bed and pulled back the sheets on the bed so Haruto could just get right in.

Karin was getting fussy but Tsuna led her to the bathroom and started getting the paint off, using a face cloth and telling her stuff that made her laugh. When Karin was done, Tsuna led her over to her own room and got her into her pyjamas while Reborn cleaned Haruto up and got him ready.

Karin was the first to go out, sleeping soundly in her bed before Tsuna even had time to put her clothes in the hamper and turn off the light. He smiled, knowing that she at least had fun before closing the door softly and walking down the hall to see how Reborn was doing.

Haruto was more fussy about going to sleep, asking for water, a bed time story, the window to be open, anything to get them to stay up with him. Tsuna laughed a little as he watched Reborn do the first few things Haruto asked before sternly telling him to go to bed. Haruto glumly agreed but wanted Tsuna to give him a hug since he would be asleep when Tsuna left.

"They're a handful." Reborn commented as they walked down the stairs.

"You could say that yeah, I can only imagine what it's like with only her doing it. Haruto must be so cranky sometimes." Tsuna shook his head a little, smiling happily.

"Yeah, if we babysit them again you're helping Haruto get into bed because, man, does he not want to go to sleep."

Tsuna laughed and sat heavily on the chair beside the picture window. Reborn looked at him weird as he walked off and got a face cloth.

"Are you going to get the paint off your face or are you going to keep it like that?" Reborn asked Tsuna when he came back out, crossing his arms as he waited for an answer.

"I guess. Do you want me to help you take yours off?"

"That'd be nice. They got it every where they could." Reborn started walking down the hall, searching for the bathroom he knew was downstairs. Tsuna followed him down the hall, their footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor.

"I told them to go and I am so proud of how well they did." Tsuna faked wiping away a tear from his eye. "They grow up so fast."

Reborn rolled his eyes as he flicked on the light to the small room, only containing a sink and toilet. The walls were painted brown with a strip of white going through the middle of it. The light fixture above the small mirror reflected off the stark white tile making the two blink in surprise. Tsuna took the face cloth from Reborn and ran it under some water and point to the toilet, indicating that Reborn should sit down so Tsuna could clean the paint off of his face.

"Why? Can't you reach?" Reborn asked as he sat. Tsuna flicked some of the remaining water from his hands at Reborn.

"No, I can't. As you can tell I am very short compared to you." Tsuna said a little bitterly. He squeezed some of the remaining water off of the cloth before using it to wipe at Reborn's face.

"That's cold as hell, Tsuna." Reborn grumbled, feeling water drip down his face.

"What? I could give you warmer water if you want?"

"It's fine. Your face is going to be crusty by the time you're done wiping my face off though."

"You have more paint on your face then I do mine, Reborn. They even got some on your neck." Tsuna snorted as he brushed some of the looser paint out of Reborn's hair. Despite his hair being spiky, you'd think you'd feel gel but there was zero product in his hair. Except for the paint imported from China.

"I don't know why they chose painting. Why not colouring with markers? Markers are fun." Tsuna grumbled as he continued to wipe paint from Reborn's face. He had to hold Reborn's face and man was it hard not to blush. Tsuna had to concentrate on the spot he was wiping to stop himself but he wasn't sure how good of a job he did.

Reborn smirked a little, knowing how hard Tsuna was concentrating on the one spot but not why he was. He was about to ask if Tsuna was okay when he heard crying coming from Karin's room.

Tsuna turned and rushed off, coming back five minutes later with some spit on his shirt but looking accomplished as he started cleaning Reborn's face again.

"You could've done this yourself you know?" Tsuna said, pouring more water onto the cloth.

"I didn't feel like doing it." Reborn said nonchalantly as he angled his chin up so Tsuna could get to the paint caked on his neck. "I like watching you struggle anyways."

Tsuna made a small sound and felt his face heat. He tried his hardest not to say anything because Reborn got more confident the more you say stuff in defence of yourself. Reborn was quite ridiculous like that.

"There, now you're done." Tsuna announced. He sighed since that was way too much work then it should have been.

Reborn got up from sitting on the toilet and stretched a little. Tsuna had moved to try and look in the mirror, standing on his tiptoes to even get himself in the mirror but he only got his head, making him grumble a little bit.

"Do you want me to help you, Tsuna?" Reborn asked, moving to lean against the door way.

"I think I can manage. But this mirror is made for tall people. You'd think they'd take into consideration that most people in Japan aren't the tallest people."

"Tell me about it. I feel like a giant around most of the school."

"You're only 5'8" ((about 177 cm)) Reborn. That's not that tall if you think about it."

"Yet you're still six inches ((about 15 cm)) shorter than me."

Tsuna scoffed and didn't say anything else as he hopped onto the small counter space by the wall and sink. He held out the face cloth for Reborn and he took it, rinsing it again to get some of the paint out of it, and straining it before using it on Tsuna's face.

"I see what you mean when you said it was cold." Tsuna said with a grimace. Reborn nodded a little as he pushed Tsuna's head gently to the side so he could see where the paint was he needed to get off. Tsuna felt himself become nervous, his stomach knotting together and his throat closing up as he felt Reborn work away, touching his face absently as he cleaned it.

It was really hard not to say or do anything. But Tsuna was sure that if he did anything, Reborn would hate him because most likely Tsuna would kiss him. Yeah, it might be a clichéd idea that a person would be hated for kissing somebody they liked, but Tsuna wasn't risking it since this friendship they had was special to him.

Funny thing is, is that Reborn thought the same thing.

He was never good at expressing his feelings and emotions so when Tsuna and him started becoming friends, he had no idea what was happening. He knew that Tsuna made him smile and not that half-assed smirk he used, an actual smile. He had no idea how to deal with his emotions like that. How do you even talk about them if he was only close to two people in his life as well?

So Reborn was just a mess inside whenever Tsuna was with him. Whenever he was upset, Tsuna picked up on it and tried his hardest to make Reborn laugh so he wasn't sad. When Tsuna laughed, he laughed with his entire body. Tsuna was only kind to people. He was never mean or rude, even to people that were mean and rude to him in the past. Tsuna would willingly sacrifice his own happiness to make sure other people were happy before him. It were the small things like that Reborn noticed and it was what made Reborn fall in love with Tsuna. He loved Tsuna more than his own family.

Yet Tsuna had no idea since he wasn't exactly the most observant person when it came to himself.

Sitting so close to each other, the romantic tension was extremely obvious and annoying.

Tsuna's face was clean by now but Reborn was moving and angling Tsuna's head just in case he missed any paint.

It was also an excuse to hold Tsuna's face but he didn't need to know that.

"There you go. Clean again." Reborn said dramatically. He stepped back and threw the face cloth into the laundry hamper that was sitting in the hall way.

Tsuna hopped down from the counter and wiped his hand along his chin to get the small drips of water off. He smiled a little up at Reborn and said, "Thank you for doing that. I could have done it myself so you didn't have to go through the trouble."

Tsuna laughed a little before walking off down the hall. 'I've said too much' Tsuna thought nervously as he flopped onto the love seat in the living room. He looked around the room, smiling a little as he saw the small amount of drawings and handprints on the walls, making the light brown colouring look slightly dingy from the dirt. The dark wood floor boards weren't in better shape but it made things feel homey and warm. Even if there wasn't much room to sit from the toys cluttered around the room.

Reborn just stared at Tsuna questioningly, seeing him lay on the love seat, taking up the entire thing, and close his eyes like he was going to sleep there. He suddenly got an idea and smiled wickedly.

As Tsuna laid there, Reborn flopped onto his legs, cuddling up to Tsuna in the most obscene way eh could, tangling his legs with Tsuna's and using his chest as a pillow. Tsuna's eyes snapped open and he looked like he was about to screech in surprise. It was worth it.

"What are you doing?" Tsuna asked. His voice came out more panicky then he intended and Tsuna cleared his throat.

"Lying down." Reborn said simply.

"That's the, um, the thing. Why are you lying on me?"

Reborn shrugged and moved his head so it rested in the crook of Tsuna's neck. He evened out his breathing and seemed to fall asleep almost in a second, making Tsuna slightly nervous. People didn't usually cuddle up to him like this and he found himself saying random things to help him become less nervous.

"Once I played a game of Truth or Dare at a birthday party last year." Tsuna started off, laughing a little as he remembered this story. "I picked Dare when it was my turn and they told me to kiss the prettiest person in the room. Well, since they said person I picked a boy that I thought was really cute and kissed him. That is also where the rumour that I was gay started funnily enough. People just added in the prostitution part because they would rather ruin my life then help me.

"My mother also told me that she doesn't care I'm gay. It felt nice to hear it from her because she's one of the most important people in my life. She even asked me to explain what I was going through at school and around town and told me she would try to be more understanding. She's even helped me work through some of the bullying so that helps me so much. She even tried to get me to tell her who I had a crush on.

"I lied and said you. Wait, no, I didn't lie really but I said you had the potential to be the person I might like. That's completely wrong though since I like you a lot, Reborn. I'm pretty sure I can't say 'I love you' yet because I don't know if I do. But I think it is close because that's what I think whenever I see you.

"I will never say this to your face when you're awake though because I'm such a wimp. I don't want to be rejected and hurt by you because things would get weird between us and you're really my only friend so I don't want to lose that because I felt the need to make a relationship."

"You really are an idiot, Tsuna." Reborn mumbled. He lifted his head and kissed Tsuna lightly. It wasn't fast or slow. It just happened and it was nice because Tsuna really didn't expect to be kissed. Nobody expects to be kissed though. So when Reborn pulled back and settled down into his original position again like nothing happened, Tsuna was torn between crying happily and crawling under the couch to hide his embarrassment.

Reborn always did enjoy watching Tsuna struggle to find an answer though, so watching Tsuna try and form a coherent sentence was funny. Tsuna's face was ten different shades of red and he was trying to explain what he had just said because he wasn't sure what just happened and if Reborn was actually serious about liking him or if he just did that to get a reaction.

"That's not fair Reborn." Tsuna whined. "You can't just do t-that!"

Reborn just smiled innocently. "Do what?"

"You know! Anyways, how much did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you're completely smitten with me."

"Like I meant for you to hear it." Tsuna grumbled. He tried to hide his face but Reborn just laughed and kissed Tsuna's neck.

"I like you too, idiot."

When the two got back home at one in the morning, Nana was still up somehow waiting for them. She asked how it was and smiled when she heard that they had a paint fight.

"You and your father used to do that together. You loved painting, especially with your hands, so whenever your father was home you two would paint together. It almost always ended up with the two of you covered in paint." Nana said, recounting the memories fondly.

"I remember that. But I remember Dad let me win a bunch of the time." Tsuna said with a smug smile.

"Yeah, he couldn't bear to hurt you." Nana smiled brightly before shooing the two up to bed. She seemed to pause and then called Tsuna back down for a minute. Tsuna looked at Reborn and shrugged before walking back downstairs and into the living room.

"What's wrong?" Tsuna asked as he sat on the couch next to his mother.

"Nothing! I just wanted to know what happened to Reborn and you. You two were standing awfully close to each other." Nana said, waving her hand to make sure Tsuna knew she wasn't worried about anything.

"Oh…Um, well…"

"Don't be shy! I'm not going to be disappointed in you. I just want my baby to be happy."

"Well…I think we're dating now." Tsuna mumbled.

Nana squealed happily and pulled her son into a hug, surprising him as he didn't expect it. He really didn't expect her to be so supporting so soon. It was a fantastic feeling knowing that she was finally accepting of him.

"Now go to bed already." Nana said sternly when she pulled away from their hug. Tsuna nodded and took the stairs two at a time to his room.

Reborn was already lying in bed, almost asleep by the time Tsuna came in. Tsuna tried to be quiet while getting ready for bed but Reborn was awake by the time he finally slipped into the bed, hugging him as Tsuna settled down.

Lying there with Reborn cuddled up next to him like it was the most natural thing in the world, all Tsuna could think was that maybe it wasn't so bad to be gay in Japan.

Well, this was a bitch to write in three days but I did it. Not sure how well it turned out but oH WELL. I wrote this for the JustWriteIt challenge on Wattpad and thought I would post it where I might actually get people reading it. So hopefully people enjoy this because I worked hard on this and would like you guys to enjoy this.

If you see anything weird or something you wanted to comment on, leave me a review because I get lonely and I like reading if I did something wrong or if I did something really well.

Thanks for reading if you got this far too!

-Gate