Author's notes: Back to the original Tsuna who is stuck in a world where he and Yamamoto are in a relationship. THIS FOR YOU MELVIN! (And you too, my famiglia)

Previously…

"I like you." Amber eyes looked at him in confusion.

"I know, I like you too-" He started to walk forward but Tsuna raised a hand, stopping him.

"No." The brunet said firmly and his lips were pursed in a straight line, his shoulders tense. "No, I like you…"

Yamamoto nodded slowly trying to understand where this was going. But then his eyes widened when Tsuna told him the last thing he'd ever expected.

"But I'm not your Tsuna."

Chapter 21

Yamamoto stared at him with wide eyes. "Okay?" He said and then laughed, though if you listen closely, there's tension in his voice. "Is it April Fool's day? Haha, Gokudera got me good last time."

"No, no. It's not April Fool's day." The brunet said, trying not to cower at the growing tension. "I'm not your Tsuna."

Amber eyes narrowed and barely a blink later, there was a sound of a ring being pushed into a box weapon. Before Tsuna knew it, a sword dipped with rain flames was held up to his throat. The young Vongola gulped but allowed his throat to be tipped back or risked getting scratched.

"Then who are you?" Yamamoto threatened and Tsuna winced when the sharp sword finally nicked him. "Where's Tsuna? My Tsuna?"

The brunet opened his mouth to answer but then something (someone) small suddenly jumped down from a nearby tree and smoke erupted in between them.

Yamamoto reacted quickly and his Vongola box opened, Jiro and Kojiro, sensing their master's distress were already in attacking position. Four swords were poised at the sudden intruder instead of Tsuna.

"Ciaossu." Reborn greeted with a smirk wearing a ninja's outfit and a shuriken Leon attached to his belt.

"Reborn!" Tsuna startled, "Why are you wearing your ridiculous costumes again?"

Yamamoto faltered at the words and his amber eyes grew confused. Beside him, Jiro barked happily, dropping his held sword when he realized that it was just Tsuna and Reborn. He trotted up to Tsuna and wagged his tail, Kojiro circled the brunet's head and chirped in greeting.

Yamamoto lowered his swords and turned to Reborn, "Kid, I don't understand, who is this? And why are Jiro and Kojiro-" He gestured, "So friendly with him if his not Tsuna?"

Tsuna pursed his lips at the distrustful look sent to him and looked away.

"What are you talking about Yamamoto, he's Tsuna. Who else could he be?" Reborn said, raising an eyebrow at the rain guardian.

Yamamoto frowned and Tsuna scolded his tutor, "Reborn!"

"Have patience Tsuna, you haven't let me finished." The sun arcobaleno said, "He's Tsuna, but he's from a different parallel world."

Yamamoto blinked, his defences completely lowered now, "What?"

"You know that there are possibly many worlds in this world. Branches of realities that do not intersect but run parallel from each other, branched from a person's different choices." Reborn explained and Tsuna was already getting lost by the explanation but Yamamoto seemed determined to understand, and nodded. "This Tsuna comes from one of those worlds."

"So…" Yamamoto said, "He's Tsuna?"

"Yes, but not your Tsuna."

"Not my- oh." Yamamoto turned to the brunet, finally. "That's what you meant."

Tsuna nodded his head, mouth shut. Now that Yamamoto knew, he was bound to start treating him differently.

"But- how long has our Tsuna been gone? Is he alright?" Yamamoto asked Reborn.

"Knowing our dame Tsuna, he'll be fine." The arcobaleno assured, "And he's been gone for approximately a month or more, give or take."

Despite Reborn's assurances, Yamamoto still looked worried. His features looked hurt when he realized that Reborn and Tsuna had been keeping this a secret for so long. "A month? Why did you only tell me now?"

"I told Tsuna not to tell you." Reborn said, taking the blame. "The family didn't need you unnecessarily worried. Your main focus is to protect Tsuna as always. If you knew, you'd be distracted, worrying for the other Tsuna."

Yamamoto looked ready to argue but decided against it. "So, what made you change your mind?"

"I didn't." Reborn said with exasperation, "Tsuna did." He smirked, "You know how he is, he easily gets guilty."

"Haha." Tsuna grumbled as he reached up rubbed at the spot under his neck where Yamamoto's sword nicked him. It came away with blood. He looked up at Yamamoto who seemed to have paled, his swords clattering to the ground as rushed up to the brunet.

"I hurt you." The rain guardian said, his expression heart broken. "Tsuna, I'm sorry."

Before Tsuna could tell him it wasn't his fault, Reborn interrupted and went ahead to say "It's not your fault Yamamoto. It was dame Tsuna's for starting his explanation like that."

"I thought you weren't going to call me dame Tsuna anymore." The brunet grumbled. He trembled lightly when his rain guardian traced his cut with a frown.

Reborn ignored the brunet and jumped on Yamamoto's shoulder. He patted the other's face, "Here's a band-aid for your clumsiness."

"Thanks." Yamamoto accepted it with serious gratitude. The arcobaleno nodded and jumped down with a quit thump.

"Now, I have to go and do some final preparations for the fixed bazooka." Reborn said and Tsuna's eyes immediately snapped to him.

"Final preparations?"

"We finally arrived at a breakthrough last night." Reborn explained, "I estimate a few more days."

Brown eyes widened and Tsuna clutched at the front of his hoodie, his emotions warring between relief and disappointment. "Oh."

Reborn shot him a thoughtful look before turning to leave. Tsuna watched him for a few blank moments before he was brought back with a gentle tug on his arm. The brunet looked at Yamamoto, just remembering he was there. Jiro and Kojiro had already been called back to their box.

"Hey, let's sit down over there." His rain guardian said, tugging him towards a bench. Tsuna followed and sat down, staring as Yamamoto sat down next to him. His guardian held up the band-aid.

"I'm sorry." His gentle guardian said, fingers soft on his skin as he placed the band-aid on the spot he'd accidentally nicked. The band-aid had orange and blue hearts, trust Reborn to embarrass him even in this. "When you said you weren't Tsuna-"

"No, I'm sorry for not saying anything sooner."

"Well," Yamamoto laughed, placing a fond hand on Tsuna's cheek, "When the kid asks you to do something, you do it, no questions ask."

Tsuna fought the urge to lean against the warm touch and frowned, "Still, I shouldn't have lied, I know how important the er- other Sawada Tsunayoshi is to you."

Yamamoto smiled, "You're Tsuna too, and you're just as important."

The brunet blinked, "But I'm not him-" He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, "We're not the same people."

Yamamoto dropped his hand to hold Tsuna's, "You're the same person, you have the same soul." He said firmly, "Even I know that, you're just as important to me."

Tsuna's breath hitched, "But I'm not-" Yamamoto's hold on his hands tightened and he tried to pull away, "Please don't act this way with me."

The athlete blinked in surprise, "Act this- why not?"

Tsuna blinked rapidly and looked away, lips pursed.

"Does this have something to do with what you told me earlier?" Yamamoto asked softly, "When you told me you like me? Because I like you too, Tsuna. Even after finding out you're from a different universe. You're still you."

"No, I-" Tsuna let out a breath, "I just- I don't want to get used to this. To you acting like this because in my world-" He let out a harsh breath, "In my world, we're just friends."

Yamamoto blinked, surprised. "Oh."

To Tsuna's mortification his breath hitched as he said, "I wish- I wish I never realized this. I wish I didn't know I could feel like this when I'm with you, because when I go back- when I go back-"

His rain guardian tugged him forward into a hug and the brunet let him, burying his face into Yamamoto's neck. "So please, stop looking at me like that because I don't think I'll be able to- to face my Yamamoto when I go back."

The brunet closed his eyes when he felt Yamamoto kiss him on the side of his head, his fingers running through his hair in a soothing motion.

"I'm sorry." Yamamoto said again, "I'm sorry, but you know I can't do that."

Tsuna whined into his neck, grabbing the back of his shirt firmly.

"You could just tell him." Yamamoto whispered against Tsuna's hair, "It's still me. In whatever world, if there's something we have in common, it's that we care for you, Tsuna."

"But what if I ruin everything?" Tsuna whispered, "I'd rather us be friends than not."

"But what if you don't?" Yamamoto pulled back and looked into teary brown eyes, "That's the thing… you'll never know, unless you ask." He said softly.

The brunet looked away and refused to meet his eyes. "I don't want to risk anything."

His rain guardian smiled sadly, and he brushed the tips of his fingers against Tsuna's cheeks, "Sometimes there are thing that are worth the risk."

Tsuna blinked back the sudden wetness in his eye and allowed Yamamoto to gather him into another hug.

The two of them sat there silently for a long time.

Tsuna went to bed that night feeling more tired than he thought.

If he was honest with himself, he'd admit that he missed his boyfri- no, that he missed Yamamoto. The Yamamoto of this world who looked at him like he was amazing. Granted, his Yamamoto looked at him in the same way, but the Yamamoto from here had a more gentle and fond look in his eyes. He didn't know what he'd do when he got back and see his Yamamoto looking at him differently.

Just as he had resigned himself to the possibility of a sleepless night, the phone on his bedside table vibrated. The brunet flailed, nearly falling to the floor. Thankfully, he managed to grab the phone and haul himself to safety.

"H-Hello?" Tsuna exhaled loudly over the phone in relief.

"Did you nearly fall off your bed again?" Yamamoto said chuckling lightly.

The young boss flushed, straightening his bed sheets, "M-Maybe." Then he added, "You know how clumsy I am."

"I do." Yamamoto said fondly, "It's cute."

The brunet's face burned even more, so he cleared his throat and tried to divert the conversation, "Why did you call, Yamamoto?"

"Hm? Don't I call every night?"

Tsuna blinked and mumbled, "Yeah, but I thought since you know that I'm not- you know-"

There was a sigh on the other end of the line, "And I thought that you know that no matter what world, you're still Tsuna."

The brunet buried his face into his pillow.

"And I still like you." And then Yamamoto paused before saying with certainty, "I love you."

Tsuna drops his phone to the floor and curls up to his side, covering his ears with his pillow.

Not me. He thinks, And my Yamamoto doesn't feel the same.

He wished Yamamoto would stop making it so hard to leave.

Yamamoto closed his eyes when he heard the hone dropped to the ground and the long beep signifying the end of the phone call. Maybe it had been a bit mean, to push his feelings towards Tsuna and exploit Tsuna's own when he didn't know how the Yamamoto of his world felt.

But to Yamamoto (and it might be a naïve type of thinking) it was hard to imagine a world where what he feels for Tsuna could only be friendship. He's not saying that he's incapable of only feeling friendship for the brunet, it's just it's hard to imagine there would be a version of himself who would not love Tsuna back when aforementioned brunet falls in love with him.

The rain guardian placed his phone on his bedside, shuffling to get comfortable in bed. His eyes were half-lidded, the light in them serious.

He knew that if Tsuna only took a risk in his world, he could have what Yamamoto and the Tsuna of this world have.

Please… Yamamoto thought as he turned to his side and looked at the dark night sky, the moon's light going through his window. Please let him be happy too.

The moon didn't answer back.

Meanwhile, in another parallel universe…

Previously…

The brunet gave him one last sleepy smile of contentment as he said in a soft tone that echoed throughout the room, "I love you."

Yamamoto accidentally clicked the light switch off from the shock.

Now…

Tsuna knows it's immature, he's sure that if the Reborn from his world was here, he'd be giving him a good old kick in the head for avoiding Yamamoto after his boyfri- rain guardian went through all that trouble just to take care of him when he was sick. It's an ungrateful thing to be doing and Tsuna feels like a jerk whenever he sensed Yamamoto coming by and he veers off the other direction.

Still, he can't help but feel relief to whenever he'd successfully avoided the athlete. He knew he was only prolonging the inevitable though but he needed time to think.

I love you.

The brunet buried his red face in his hands as he made pathetic whining noises. He was currently situated on the Namimori rooftop. Hibari was away for a few days, settling some sort of school war with a nearby all-boys school. The rooftop was a temporary safe zone and none of his other guardians noticed Hibari was gone and kept away from his territory as always.

"Why did I have to go and say that?" Tsuna looked up and asked the sky, "Why did I have to get sick and say that?"

He falls back to the ground, arms spread wide, eyes squinting. "It's not fair to him or the Tsuna from here. Just because I love Takeshi and my Takeshi loves me back, that doesn't mean that they do in this world."

He covers his eyes with one arm, "I can't just force my feelings on someone like that."

A strong presence made Tsuna look to the side and he was surprised to see a familiar looking girl wearing an eye patch, sitting beside him. The brunet yelped and sat up, crawling away.

"Chrome!" Tsuna said, placing hand to his chest in surprise, "How long have you been there?"

"Just now, boss." She inclined her head respectfully. "But I heard what you said, about forcing your feelings."

The brunet gulped and looked sideways, looking for an escape route.

Chrome sat patiently on her spot, giving the young Vongola a calm look, "I know you've noticed that we're all worried about you." Tsuna flinched at her words.

"There's nothing to worry about." He deflected with a wary smile. "I'm fine."

Chrome titled her head, "You don't act like you are. You've been avoiding us, the rain guardian man more than others."

At the mention of Yamamoto, Tsuna flushed and cringed, "Yeah, I eh- may have done something sort of stupid when I was sick and I uh- I think it's better if he doesn't seen me right now. I don't want- I don't want it to be awkward between us." He looked at the ground, lips trembling lightly.

Tsuna's head snapped up when he felt a hand gently touch his arm. Chrome was looking at him curiously and with slight concern.

"You're hiding something from us and whatever it is, you're carrying it alone." Chrome said, "But we're a family, you have allies. You have people you can count on, not everyone has that, and not everyone can always have that."

Tsuna gave his guardian a hesitant look. Chrome simply looked back patiently and said, "Tell me."

And so with great reluctance, Tsuna did.

Yamamoto was sitting by the baseball dugout, looking up at the sky distractedly. He jumped when someone hit him on the head. He looked up surprised and met the equally surprised look of his teammate.

"I caught you off guard." His teammate blinked, "That's rare, usually you dodge or get lucky and I end up hitting myself."

Yamamoto blinked.

Not getting the usual laugh as a response, his teammate's eyebrow arched, "Off day?" He asked, "The coach won't be so glad to hear that."

Yamamoto shook his head, trying to clear it rather than deny.

"Girl troubles?"

Yamamoto blushed. It was sort of like that, but Tsuna was anything but a girl. He let out a tired sigh. "It's not that," He said, "It's just- one of my friends- best friend actually, Tsuna, got sick lately and ever since he got better he- uhh, he's been avoiding me." He shrugged, but hurt was clearly on his face.

His teammate gave him a contemplative look. "Tsuna again, huh? The infamous no good Tsuna?"

"He's not no good." Yamamoto said firmly, "He's amazing. If you guys only took a chance to get to know him-"

The other guy raised both his hands defensively and Yamamoto closed his mouth sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just confirming that we were talking about the same 'Tsuna' here." He said, "You've been hanging with us less and less lately and more with him then, I guess."

"He's my best friend."

"And he's avoiding you?"

Yamamoto let out a sigh, "Yeah."

"Do you have any idea why?"

The athlete flashbacked to the kiss and the uncharacteristic 'I love you'. He flushed and nodded hesitantly. His teammate gave him a weird look.

"And? What do you want to do about it?"

Yamamoto frowned at him, "I want Tsuna to stop avoiding me." He said in confusion, because obviously that's what he'd been saying all along.

"No, I meant what do you want to do about it? You know why he's avoiding you. You can't just wait around for him to fix everything or whatever." The other guy sighed, "Look, friendship, best friendship isn't a one-sided thing. It's sort of like dating, except it's like between friends- anyway! You got to pull your own weight for this to work out, man. You can't just wait for him to make a move, sure you're going through something tough right now but hey, it'll make your relationship- er, I mean friendship- stronger!"

Yamamoto blinked up at the other athlete.

He huffed, "Anyway, you get what I'm saying." He said, "You should stop moping around already and do something about it."

Yamamoto nodded slowly, "Thank you." He said and then smiled sheepishly, "It must be difficult to give an advice when you barely know Tsuna, haha."

The other guy snorted, "Please, with how much you talk about him, it feels like I know him personally."

That got Yamamoto's attention, "How much I-"

"It's all you ever talk about lately, apart from baseball." The other guy said in a nonchalant tone, "I mean, it's definitely clear how much he means to you. I'm definitely incapable of giving you a half-assed advice when it concerns someone so important to you."

He patted Yamamoto on the back as he ran back towards the middle of the baseball field, leaving the other to contemplate his words.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Chrome asked quietly, she carefully sat a few feet away from her- no, not her nor their- boss.

Tsuna looked hurt at the distrust, but he understood, "This is one of the reasons why." He gestured between them, at Chrome's confused expression he said, "I didn't want you guys treating me differently just because I'm from a different parallel world."

Chrome tried not to be affected by that and said, "But you're not our boss."

Tsuna smiled a bit tightly, "But I am. We may differ a bit in the way we act and our attitudes but that was all because of the environments we were in, but in the end, inside, in my heart and soul, I'm still Tsuna."

Chrome didn't say anything.

"I'm already alone in this world." The brunet said sadly, looking down, "I didn't want the people closest to me to start acting like I'm a stranger too."

Chrome's eye widened and she pursed her lips and said, "You're right, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to trust me immediately just because you feel guilty." He said, "Ah, if you feel like I'm a threat you can tell Reborn, I guess." He sighed. "And that's another reason why I didn't say anything."

Chrome tilted her head, "Because of the arcobaleno?"

Tsuna nodded, "Do you know how different are worlds are, Chrome?"

Chrome shook her head.

"Not by much, honestly." Tsuna said, "But it's significantly different. The person I lo- like… are not the same. My parents are out on their second honeymoon, Fuuta is studying abroad…" He explained, "Reborn would want to know all this and- well, whatever he might share with my guardians might change the way they look at this world's Tsuna. Or knowing the Reborn from my world, he'd come up with some hare-brained scheme that would force the Tsuna from here in an uncomfortable situation. All for the fun of it and to see how it would affect the family's bonds."

"I see." Chrome nodded, accepting them to be very good reasons. But then she caught glimpse of the sad look on the brunet's face and asked, "Is there… another reason?"

Tsuna seemed stunned that she noticed.

"You promised to tell me." Chrome reminded, "I'm- I'll be your ally… in this world. You're not alone."

The young boss looked at her for a moment and then nodded slowly. "I've already said that the person I like in this world and from my world are different."

"You don't like Kyoko-san?" Chrome asked, surprised.

Tsuna shook his head, "No, not her. I- I'm actually in love with one of my other friends. And we're just- in this world. We're just friends. I don't- I wouldn't want things to be strange between that friend and the other Tsuna just because I can't control what I feel." He said, "And maybe, for a selfish reason, I don't want that person to look at me like I'm stranger just because I'm not this world's Tsuna."

Chrome looked at him, not saying anything. Not even giving hint about whether she'd figured it out or not. So she said nothing about that and asked instead, "But by telling no one, how are you going to get back? Are you looking for a way back on your own?"

Tsuna scratched his head, "Ah well, all my plans revolve around stealing Lambo's bazooka and altering it myself or forcing Giannini, but I'm afraid I might end up in the wrong world again." He said, sighing, "Mostly, I'm just waiting. Knowing the Reborn of my world, just like the one from this, he's very observant. Also, since in that other world, I actually am in a relationship, I'd probably freak out at being suddenly in a relationship with someone and Reborn would catch on quickly."

"I… see." Chrome said, "Then, since you have no one to help you… I can pull some strings within the Kokuyo and try to see what I can do."

Tsuna blinked in surprise, "Really? You'd do that for me, Chrome?"

Chrome nodded, "You were right." She admitted, "Even though you're from another world, you're still our boss. You're him in heart and soul and that's what's important, that's why I'll help you. And the fact that we didn't recognize that you're from another world is because you and our boss aren't really much different at all. You're family."

Tsuna swallowed, throat tightening. "Thank you, Chrome." He smiled.

His mist guardian smiled back.

Author's notes: Also yeah, a month in both parallel worlds, there was a lot of time skip, okay? Hahaha.

I wanted Tsuna to have an ally in that world QAQ