Summary:

Reborn, young aspiring hitman that he is, finds himself falling for the lone cafe owner of a tiny place down the marketplace in his suburb.

Tsuna is a little odd, and definitely more than a handful, but sometimes he gets a look in his eye that seems like he's lives far beyond even Reborn's reach.

(At only 19 years of age, Tsunayoshi Sawada, Neo Vongola Primo or Vongola Decimo, dies young.

Still at 19 years of age, he wakes to find himself long before he's even born and no way back.

With nothing else he can do, he makes the most of it.

He just wasn't expecting to fall in love with the young version of his former? future? tutor.)

A/N: What happens when you don't want to write your thesis and have an overactive muse.

And because writing time travel is so very fun.

First chapter is in Reborn's POV. I just dived straight into writing with no clear goal in mind so this is a little rushed and messy. sorry.

Un-beta-d (I normally edit my own work, but I haven't as much on this one due to time constraints.). I would greatly appreciate it if you could point out any mistakes, even just minor spelling ones.

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR.

Love is, like stumbling unarmed through one of Colonnello's courses, blindfolded, and with both hands tied behind his back -perhaps not the best comparison given that Reborn has done just that, successfully.

Tsuna was, is, Reborn's favourite barista. He still owns that tiny 2 by 4 metre space that somehow fits a full-sized industrial esspresso machine, and all the accessories that come with creating artisan coffee, an oven and the ingredients for those small divine treats Reborn is still puzzling over -they are just that good. At least he's not using what little floor space there is for his bedroll, given that he's moved into Reborn's apartment.

If Reborn had considered, before meeting Tsuna, that he would be sharing space with someone for an extended period of time and willing to do it, he would have kicked that metaphorical thought out the window and into the river that ran past his apartment.

He's a hitman, drenched in the blood of his targets and too far gone in the world of the Cosa Nostra to even consider pulling out.

And then he meets Tsuna, a little clumsy, Japanese with a hint of something that gives him brunet instead of black hair and his eyes a bright orange sheen when the light hits them just right. Reborn's first impression is based on the tantalising scent of freshly ground beans -his, admittedly, only weakness- Leon laying, belly full of apricot strudel, inside the collar of the barista with the charming smile who manages to coax the hitman into testing all his food and proceeds to ruin all other baked goods for Reborn and his companion for life.

Reborn is proud to know that he's Tsuna's first customer, in fact he'd really just been tempted by the scent of freshly brewing coffee that bought him to the little niche just off the main market, surrounded by vegetation hanging off baskets and a tall lemon tree that leans from the neighbours yard and provides midday shade to Tsuna's little corner. Tsuna wasn't even open at the time, busy as he was testing recipes. Reborn invited himself inside regardless.

Reborn is not ashamed to admit he uses Tsuna's creations as bribes. He has three custom firearms on the way from Verde, four favours from Fon, Skull's silence for a week, information from Lal, a year's free pass to the luxury resort on the newly built Mafia Land, and an I.O.U. from Viper of all people. (It is generally accepted that it will take a miracle and the world ending for Viper to part with their money, it is therefore completely reasonable for Reborn to consider his boyfriend's cooking magic.)

And despite his civilian status, Reborn has seen countless incidents involving prominent mafioso or people of his ilk at Tsuna's little cafe having heart to hearts with the young man.

Once, it was an assassin Reborn had worked with once, Leo -a sturdy man, good work ethic, if an even worse womaniser than Reborn- he got smacked in the face with an oven mitt for a few misplaced words, he came back every couple of days and soon enough he was telling tales of his assassinations to a patiently listening brunet while being stuffed with food.

The second was the boy who taken one bite of Tsuna's muffins and basically fell under the brunet's spell, this would have been standard if Reborn hadn't been sure the boy was the current heir to the rather erroneous Estraneo famiglia. Whether Tsuna knew of that famiglia's reputation or not was questionable, but several of the chats Reborn listened in on told him that perhaps the future Estraneo wouldn't be as bad, Tsuna was incredibly gifted at turning people away from such tempting paths.

The most memorable was perhaps Timoteo of the Vongola, the most influential organisation in the world. Tsuna didn't have much in the way of seating despite the number of people that enjoyed a chat or two with the barista. There were only two fold up tables, and six chairs (two often kept inside and only used when needed) that sat just outside facing the pathway. The man just came in one day, ordered a cappucino and took a seat, watching people pass until Tsuna was free for a moment where he struck up a quiet conversation. Reborn caught none of what was exchanged given he came just as the other was leaving -he was so very tempted to shake Tsuna, did the brunet just not notice how much trouble he could get into?

Reborn took to eyeing the man suspiciously the next couple of times he came by. Timoteo often asked Tsuna hypothetical questions such as, "what would you do, if you suspect your business partner has been embellising reports and participating in shady deals but you've also been together for many many years?" and Tsuna would often bustle about his oven, thinking it over before answering carefully, "find evidence, if it's true and what they're doing is illegal, make sure you know who exactly is involved because a business is normally a conglomerate of people and sometimes it's really just a minority that's pulling the strings, and sometimes you can't trust the authorities to be as thorough and not convict the wrong people." When the next day, news of the Pesco famiglia, who also had an alliance with the Vongola for the last two generations, arrest of the boss' right and left hands by the Vindice, Reborn became convinced that the Vongola don was taking cues from a civilian barista. That sort of influence, often sought after and cultivated in the mafia, is down right ridiculous in the hands of a civilian in Reborn's opinion, but it just continued to happen. ( The don now takes to bringing his kids with him, and they're all particularly partial to the brunet. Reborn suspects ten year old Enrico has a crush on his partner, if the blushing and handmade clay gifts are anything to go by.)

Reborn is a sceptic, through and through, and although he's stumbled across the whole Flames thing a number of times during his involvement with the mafia, he's never took much stock of it. (He can augment his bullets with yellow flames that pierce reinforced walls like a hot knife through butter, he can regenerate torn tissue far faster than the average person- but beyond making his job easier Reborn sees the ability as nothing more than another tool.) Or at least it was until he was until halfway through the fifth date with the brunet and he realises there's a reason they've somehow stumbled into a shootout between two feuding famiglia again (the first time was during their disastrous first official date) along with the waitress who'd chased after them with Tsuna's forgotten wallet. Somehow or another the whole thing is resolved with a lot less bullets and blood running down the streets and a lot more embarrassment on the two boss' part as Tsuna scolds them for fighting over a woman, who just happens to be the waitress.

Tsuna is an all encompassing, ridiculously powerful Sky apparently. (It is a very good thing that Flame knowledge isn't that common, otherwise Reborn would have kidnapped his charming partner and disappeared completely, reputation be damned.)

Tsuna is also just a tad odd.

Appearance is all well and good but what catches Reborn's attention in the first place is the flash of nostalgia and pain in those vibrant eyes before they're hidden behind soft bangs and a smile. Sometimes Tsuna seems like he's not looking at anything and his gaze seems so very far until Reborn presses a kiss against his nose, and then his lips, and it dissolves into giggles and chuckles, and almost innocent pashing.

Then he meets Luce, a shaman apparently, and she gets those looks too when she's gazing into the future.

Reborn wonders.

They're all but married, and been together for three years when Reborn takes on his first long term job. (As in, far longer than a month of reconnaissance.) It's offered by a highly suspicious individual who broke into their apartment when Tsuna had long since gone to bed and Reborn's just returning from a mission. A few words are exchanged and Reborn does not like the way that silver mask is turned to brunet in their bed the entire time, nor the way he seems to hesitate just before leaving as if contemplating something. It's not jealousy, they're too far along their relationship and trust each other implicitly for Reborn to feel anything beyond mild irritation and sometimes amusement when Tsuna pushes suitors away. No, the man is dangerous in a way that makes his hackles rise and his hair to stand on end. Nor does he like the way Tsuna, who has apparently been feigning sleep the entire time, turns to him, face uncharacteristically blank as a slate and asks him if he's taking the job.

Reborn ponders it for a few days, but the day of the meeting brings his feet to the door and he meets six other rather prominent individuals. (Colonnello comes a few weeks later, barging into one of their missions and offering assistance no one wanted and just, never really left despite Lal's best efforts to keep him out.)

The seven of them make a name for themselves, and each of them get their own titles, amusingly enough. Number one sniper, number one stuntman, number one martial artist, esper, shaman/Gigleo Nero boss, the second coming of Da Vinci, and number one hitman (if there was a title for espionage then Lal would probably be smacked with it, except there isn't, given that it's all about subtlety and redirection).

They become friends. (Or their definition of it anyway, Reborn calls them acquaintances, coworkers, but four years of working together in sometimes life-threatening situations makes it a little hard to keep such a distance, not that it matters, the only one Reborn talks to about his personal life is Tsuna, and Tsuna understands.)

The first time Reborn brings in batch of various fruit tartlets is partly because their last mission had almost been a bust and some gratitude is required when a man such as Skull doesn't run away screaming at the sight of guts spilling out of Reborn's abdomen and stays there holding him together while Reborn works his Flames to overdrive and Verde is disinfecting the wound, and Reborn breaks Fon's hand due to the subsequent pain induced spasm. It's also mostly because Tsuna had shoved the stack of boxes into his arms with that determined gleam in his eye that is particularly appealing and if Reborn were any more perverted he would have- ahem, anyway, the demand that he give food if not thanks is made and you do not refuse a sincere request from someone like Tsuna without suffering dire consequences. (Reborn willingly admits coffee withdrawal turns him into a particularly pathetic cranky shit, but Tsuna was forced to lift the ban two days early and that's all Reborn cared about at that point.)

At least he is highly entertained by the flabbergasted incredulous expressions right after moans of absolute bliss and oh my god this is fucking delicious that is induced when Reborn casually inserts that his partner made them. (Lover sounds too casual for what they are, they're not legally spouses yet, and they've crossed boyfriend years ago, so, partner.) Except Luce since Luce knows everything before anything occurs.

"Y-you have a partner?!" Colonnello exclaims around mouthfuls of blueberry tart.

"You should introduce them to us," says Fon after swallowing his pineapple treat.

"I want to see this," Viper demands and Reborn's certain there used to be an entire box of strawberry tarts but they've somehow miraculously disappeared.

Reborn hums for a minute, just to build up the tension, and take amusement at the manic gleams that appear as several of the others eye the remaining kiwi-strawberry-raspberry-apricot tartlet, before shrugging. "Maybe." He says cryptically and grabs the last treat before anyone else can and watches as they deflate or groan in disappointment.

Tsuna is a civillian, but a few years spent in close proximity to the brunet has Reborn drawing the conclusion that Tsuna is only a civillian due to sheer dumb luck and the fact that most of the mafioso that he inevitably tangles with are either the nicer ones or become the nicer ones due to frequent exposure to his food (or Tsuna himself). An example would be Estraneo's bratty heir who is now an even brattier teenager but he's certainly looking to turn out far more sane and morally grounded than his father or the rest of that insane (immoral) family. As such another week, many subtle hints pertaining to scrumptious treats, his partner, food, recipes, what I would not give for another of those tarts and another mission later and Reborn charges them through the roof in exchange for inviting Tsuna and subsequently, more treats, along to a meeting.

They last an admirable week and apparently Colonnello's having withdrawal symptoms even though he's only had Tsuna's treats once, and Skull has taken to mumbling raspberry tarrrts during his naps and even Luce has been making doe eyes in his direction, that the rest of them cave and Reborn smugly takes all the IOUs and takes Tsuna along with him the next day.

Tsuna comes prepared, but even he's a little suprised as the tower of boxes vanishes as he steps over the threshold.

Reborn is less amused when Colonnello clasps his partner's hands, the remining crumbs of a key lime pie scattered across his cheeks as he exclaims, "marry me~!"

Reborn quickly recovers however, when Tsuna's response is to tilt his head, and say, "if you don't mind being married to Reborn also." Colonnello freezes, and Tsuna continues, expression set to serious. "I am an equal opportunist. Sharing will be paramount if you wish to be in a polyamorou-"

Colonnello actually shrieks as he backs away, blue eyes shunting between Reborn who is smirking, and Tsuna whose lips are twitching. "Oh my Lal, there are two of you?!"

And Tsuna laughs.

Despite first impressions, Tsuna is not like Reborn. He is far nicer than the hitman (Reborn is nice too! He just shows it in a different manner. Says Tsuna to a very sceptic Skull) and that is evident in the way he's drifted around and gotten to get everyone to share a little bit about themselves. (It isn't until at least a month before any of them shared even their real names with each other, initially.) Reborn's vouch for him helps, of course, and they're all curious about the man that's apparently had the hitman's attention and for four years and survived it.

Tsuna bears the probing, not so probing, and down right blunt queries admirably and has some sort of mental showdown with Luce where the two stared at each other for a full minute before beaming in that way that Reborn's starting to consider a Sky trait or something.

Reborn brings Tsuna along with him more often (usually the evening meetings where Tsuna's closed shop for the day), and like with Colonnello everyone becomes used to the brunet's constant presence among them. Tsuna paves the way to turning tentative friendship into a full course interpersonal best-friends. It starts with an invite to dinner to their apartment -and by this time the rest of them have had semi-frequent exposure to Tsuna's cooking and they can never go back. Then he wheedles his way into Verde's lab somehow (that even Reborn hasn't stepped foot in and not for lack of trying), and coaxes Viper to manage the group's collective money instead of exclusively their own, and trades physical fitness tips with Lal.

Their group worked together admirably during missions, and Luce, as the designated Sky, leads them well, but she has other obligations to her own famiglia and, outside of missions, they don't really see eye to eye.

So what does Tsuna do when the brunet sees this? (And right away, Reborn might add, that intuition of the brunet's really is incredible).

Tsuna knits them together, finds ways for Skull to interact with Verde over transport machinery, gets Fon and Viper to spar more often so they can see that they have different values during a fight and coaxes them to accept those differences, he teaches Colonnello a few recipes when the blond man asks, and helps the blond plan a surprise date for Lal, he falls asleep against Reborn and wakes to find the hitman and Luce have banded together to braid and tie little ribbon bows into his unruly hair.

Reborn knows that Tsuna's intuition is so far beyond a normal person's it's like he has eyes everywhere at once, but sometimes he entertains the thought that Tsuna must have met some of them before, mayhap in a parallel world, to know them so well.

But it is just a thought, it isn't like parallel worlds existed, right?

They spend another three years as a group before they get the oddest mission. Tsuna doesn't really join them on missions like Colonnello does, even though half of them forget that he's a civillian, and the other half find the point moot when Tsuna can get himself tangled with an assassin, a mafia heir, and Bovino's newly concocted and therefore completely unreliable time machine just by doing the groceries.

(Tsuna got shrunk into a midget for the day. Reborn lost a battle of wills to said midget when chibi Tsuna demanded to ride on his head for some inexplicable reason. Reborn had to do the groceries with his miniturised partner on his head stroking Leon and periodically cackling like an evil mastermind while the Bovino assassin trailed them dejectedly (of course the weapon was confiscated) and Cavallone's teenage heir walked backwards in front of them, quizzing Tsuna's extensive equestrian knowledge (why in the world did Tsuna know so many ways to ride a horse?) and Verde somehow avoided the crowd without looking up from his examination of the weapon and Fon eyed the entire lot of them with tolerant amusement.)

But this time Tsuna volunteered to join. "A hidden treasure in the Ural Mountains sounds fun, I'll make plenty of nonperishable foods."

It isn't the first 'treasure hunt' type of request they've done, so they think nothing of it as they set out.

It's when they reach the cavern in one of the peaks that things go inexplicably to shit.

They enter the mouth after finding nothing wrong and suddenly they're frozen. Reborn can't move a muscle and it feels like his very life force is being drained. Fon's eyes are wide and its obvious they're the only thing he can move, just as Skull's eyes appear frantic but the constant bustling stuntman can't budge an inch.

Even worse are the pitch dark portals and air so cold that even this high up in the mountain it condenses and streams across the stone floor like an ominous blanket. Reborn has never seen the Vindice this up close, only from afar when they're making an arrest, and there is a valid reason the entirety of the mafia fear them.

Except Tsuna. Goddamit.

(Reborn always thought, as a hitman, he was going to die with a bullet in his head and a shower of blood. Now he seriously thinks that his death will be due to the love of his life's lack of basic common sense.)

"Hi," Tsuna, who can somehow still move though it may have something to do with the flame flickering on his head and his now molten eyes, greets the tiny Vindice sitting on another Vindice's shoulder. The next words are fuzzy as Reborn starts losing focus and feeling inordinately like a funnel, as strength leaves him completely.

"…started…need…Flames…source…" the Vindice's deep grating voice bounces inside Reborn's head and a tiny part of him is screaming that something is not right.

"I can… please…" Tsuna's voice raises Reborn's hackles despite his exhaustion and he wants to yell, to scream at his selfless partner to not do anything stupid.

A silver mask flashes in his periphery, making for Tsuna in a blur of movement on par with Fon's fastest style. Reborn, despite exhaustion, despite the drain that's already collapsed Lal and even the frantic Colonnello who wasn't even supposed to be here the imbecile, Reborn forces himself to move.

The hitman takes one step, an arm outreached for Tsuna even though he knows he won't make it, not when that masked creep is a thousand times faster but he has to try. Reborn very life is being drained as red dyes his vision and his partner crashes into his limp arms, a jeweled sceptre sticking out of his abdomen like a particularly grotesque form of Excalibur Sword.

Someone, probably him, is screaming, and he vaguely realises he can move, but there's nothing left inside him to move.

Bright orange flares across Reborn's vision, and he falls.

A/N: Convoluted as it is, the timeframe goes like this;
Reborn is 20 when he meets Tsuna, they spend 3 years together before Checkerface appears and offers Reborn the job. Another year passes before Reborn introduces Tsuna to the group (not Arcobaleno yet) and then another three years pass before the Fated Day occurs and that's where we end.

There should be one more chapter which I'll post whenever I get it written.

Thank you for reading. Now I will go back to work and hopefully stop writing fanfiction as a form of procrastination.

Ja ne.

EDIT: Sorry to my followers if you got a message about a second chapter. I clicked the wrong button when I was updating this chapter while half asleep. There isn't a second chapter, not yet at least.