At eight years old, Tsuna and Hayato are attached at the hip.

Before their fateful meeting on Hayato's first day of school at Namimori Elementary, neither boy had had much luck with other kids their age.

Hayato, whose entire family consisted only of his struggling single mother, had worn his fierce glares like an armor around his sensitive soul, and used biting words as weapons to escape the taunting of his peers.

And Tsuna, with his too bright personality and his too big heart with enough room for seven people, had been too different, too good, and had been ostracized for it.

But the moment the two had met, it was like two puzzle pieces fitting snugly into place.

They walk to and from school together, sitting next to each other in classes they share, and meeting up in between classes they don't. They play their own games during recess, not caring (or even noticing) when their classmates steer clear of them.

And on every Friday, they have a sleepover, alternating between each other's home's each week.

On this particular week, it's Lavina's turn to play host.

She's at the school at 3 o'clock, on the dot, to pick them up and as soon as her eyes land on the two boys, her lips blossom into a wide smile.

Tsuna is the first to notice her, running up to her and yelling at the top of his lungs, "Obaa-saaaaan!"

Hayato is right behind him, and Lavina has to steel herself so she isn't knocked off her feet by the two young boys.

"It's good to see you both," she says, first planting a kiss on Hayato's forehead, then on Tsuna's.
"Did you have a good day?"

"We did!" Hayato answers enthusiastically, and he and Tsuna take turns telling her about what they had learned, and what games they had played together.

Lavina listens attentively as they spin their words into stories, greatly exaggerating everything and waving their arms this way and that as they try to illustrate what they're saying.

Tsuna is the louder of the two, always so cheerful and outgoing.

Hayato, on the other hand, is watchful and much more reserved with his affections. But he is so much happier than Lavina has ever seen him, and every time she thinks about it, a flood of relief sweeps through her. She'd always been so worried about her baby boy, who'd found it so difficult to make friends.

He's still not too great at socializing, but he has someone who understands him, and for now, that's enough.

Tsuna's still chattering now, talking about something that had happened on the playground during recess, but his eyebrows are drawn into a frown, and he looks a bit annoyed.

"-and you know, I was feeling sad because of my zeroed timer, and this kid from class 2 told me I was being selfish because I still have six others."

Lavina's brows furrow in worry when she hears this.

"Have other people asked you this before?" she asks him.

Tsuna nods.

"All the time," he replies. "They say that I already have six soulmates so I'm not allowed to be upset that I was born with one of them as a zero."

"That's a really stupid thing to say," replies Hayato, gnashing his teeth, his expression furious. "It's like going up to someone whose brother just died and telling them they're not allowed to be sad about it because they still have other brothers and sisters."

Lavina nods, patting her son on the head.

"I'm glad you understand," she says.

By now, they've arrived at her house, so she digs around in her purse to find her keys while the two boys continue updating her about their day.

"Haya-kun got reallly mad at that boy after he said that," Tsuna tells him, giggling behind his hands. "He almost punched him, but then the teacher came over and stopped him and I had to remind Haya-kun that if he hits people the principal will call you, Lavina-baa-chan, and then he stopped."

Opening the door and letting the two kids run inside, Lavina rolls her eyes and huffs in exasperation.

"It's a good thing you were there to stop him, Tsu-kun," she says. "You're such a responsible young man!"

Tsuna giggles again, then sits down in the foyer to take his shoes off and put on some indoor slippers.

Hayato has already slipped shoes off and is in the process of tugging off his Soul band.

On the very same day Tsuna and Hayato had met each other, they'd both dragged their mothers shopping to pick out their Soul bands together.

Tsuna had taken them to the shop he'd gone to with his uncle Reborn, and had headed straight for the little band with the colourful koi fish that had caught his attention on that first trip.

Hayato had fallen completely in love with it and chosen it for himself. After that, they had found a white band with bright red rockets and fire engines and other things that little kids liked for Tsuna to wear.

Both boys adore their Soul Bands, but prefer to take them off as soon as they get home.

Smiling exasperatedly at their impatience , Lavina takes all three of the armbands to put them away, so they don't get lost.

But as Tsuna holds out his arm so that she can take them, she feels her breath catch in her throat.

"Tsu-kun, honey, can I get a look at your arm?" she asks, her voice sounding faint even to her own ears.

Worried at his surrogate aunt's sudden shift in mood, Tsuna lifts his arm to see what's bothering her, and that's when all three of them see it.

There's a neat little line of zeroes, just on the inside of his wrist, that belong to Hayato, and all up his arm, the other countdowns are as they've ever been, ticking slowly closer to those fated encounters.

But one of them is different.

The countdown sitting in the crook of Tsuna's elbow, the one that has been static from the very moment he'd been born...

"It's started…" whispered Hayato, his voice quiet as a breath.

08:03:11:17:46:03