#side note: if this tsuna was sent to canon!future arc

[ethereal-kloud]

what if: tsuna meets literally all the arcobaleno other than reborn before canon?

let’s say, skull got slightly tired of doing Carcassa family missions, and went to japan. maybe to watch a godzilla movie, or maybe just to drift (because no matter what, he’s still a cloud) and comes across a tiny tsuna. perhaps in namimori, but maybe nana won a trip somewhere else in japan and they met there.

in the end, they meet somewhere and hey, skull might be the weakest arcobaleno, but he’s not useless. he’s loud and seeks attention, but he’s also abnormally resistant to dying— he didn’t get that immortal title from nowhere, after all.

and, well, maybe tsuna reminds him a little of himself, especially with his last name (seriously? vongola cant even give them a fake last name? or take the girl’s?) and obvious cluelessness about all things mafia.

and if being in the mafia and around the arcobaleno have taught him anything, you can’t just leave if your involved, and bloodline and flame type is everything. this tiny boy, clumsy and still struggling to be kind, will almost definitely be dragged into the blood that is mafia, and skull can’t— isn’t enough to hide them away if he could convince them in the first place

but skull knows, that if he had a clue of the mafia before he was cursed, it would’ve made things a hell of a lot simpler and easier to adjust if someone had told him what was going on before or even just during the beginning.

but he also knows that the kid is ten at most, probably only actually around seven, and that’s not really a thing you tell a child.

but they stay in contact, because nana is oblivious like that, and tsuna's young enough (~6/7) that being friends with an oddly mature (if hyper at times) baby is okay in his mind. he's young enough that he's just grateful for a friend who doesn't call him "dame"

and so, sporadically, skull will pop by to namimori, japan and visit tsuna, not quite telling him about the mafia, but showing that something is off.

and then fon's next, maybe visiting kyōya from afar (because like 9 years old or not, that's a cloud and he's 'trespassing'), when his pacifier lights up and he's curious enough to go see which arcobaleno is visiting the quiet namimori town, and is surprised to find skull, calmer than he's ever shown the rest of them with a small boy

and fon's nicer to skull than the rest of the arcobaleno ever were, probably even admonishing the rest for bullying him every once in a while, and so they quietly talk when tsuna's gone to bed after telling the story he was reluctant to tell, of an absent father,

skull and fon talk about telling him the mafia later, because he's only 8.

not yet.

and everything is fine, for a while, now two arcobaleno dropping by to visit a kid who was so happy for just one normal interaction

but the viper shows up, because viper is nosy (comes with being an information gatherer) and something that's interesting enough to have two arcobaleno regularly meeting up (even if it was just skull and fon, when none of them ever did after the curse?) now that's something they need to know.

and they take a flight to japan, easily finding the two of them talking with a young, normal-looking boy, but. someone who can keep the attention of two of the mafia world's greatest has to be someone special, someone important, right?

(kind of, sort of, not really, all at once. eventually, they figure out that it's not really the point, but for now...)

they poke around, snarky and infinitely curious, and find out about tsuna's blood, and how ignorant he is, and well the varia might be paying them, but they're not paying for this information, and it'll be great blackmail

(they never do use it as blackmail)

they do get the story, in bits and pieces, from fon and skull and even some from tsuna himself

and well, later, when they've visiting again, the mafia gets out. because viper is good at information and keeping it, but they've also grown up around mafia and not civilians, and while skull is better at keeping a normal amount of energy, he does get hyper and can't stop things from being blurted out at times, and fon's simply not there, out on a mission or something

and so viper comments on something mafia, and tsuna's in hearing range, and now damage control has to be done, he's only 10, but that's better than 6 or 8 or 9, and they can't take it back.

they do convince tsuna to wait until fon's back to explain everything (giving him the basics [yes they're mafia, no they're not going to hurt him, yeah there's more they're not telling him but they will])

fon's back, explanations (oh dad's still alive???) and tsuna's wary for a bit because mafia, but they're also the first people to treat him normally and he softens just as quickly.

now that the mafia conversation's out of the way, they take him to mafia land on a trip, a 'just in case' type trip where he can still have fun in the civilian sections

and sure, viper has those nets that hide the glowing, but they haven't quite perfected the mist technique that hides the fact that they're an arcobaleno just yet, and colonnello is good at his job, and pops by to see what brought 3 arcobaleno to mafia land together

and then he meets tsuna, who's civilian enough, but has enough traits from the three of them that he fits in well enough with mafia, and they get along pretty well, once tsuna gets over the guns and his normal reaction to them

and, well, collonnello still loves lal, and would like to keep nothing from her, and calls and casually talks about this cool kid he met that skull, fon, and viper were all fond of, and while lal shouts at him for interrupting her job, she is kind of curious, and eventually takes a leave from CEDEF to see, and hey wait a minute

that's iemitsu's son, except tsuna acts nothing like his father that lal can forget that fact for the most part, and she can see why those four idiots spend time with him, even if he's just 11. and lal thinks about telling her boss, which is definitely what she's supposed to do, right? but thinks of fon telling her that tsuna thought his dad was dead and the fact that he's kept his family uninformed, and decides that he's still civilian, for all that like half of the arcobaleno are around him

and she's not required to report about random civilians she meets, especially not while she's on break

aria, still the sky arcobaleno at this point, not yet pregnant with yuni, saw all of this beforehand, and decides that hey, this boy sky has met almost all of them, why not complete the set before nono condemns this child to a life of blood if he can't change it in the end?

and so, aria, using the giglio nero resources and her foresight, she drops by verde's lab, and tells him there's something interesting he might want to check out, and even if he protests she drags him out anyway and books a flight to japan, when she saw that all the rest would've been there

and now tsuna's verde's-- not quite experiment (something fonder, in the days he spends there) where he is informed of the seal (not tsuna) and thinks of a way to break it without breaking tsuna in the process

tsuna's just so happy to have be surrounded by people who don't blame him, when at 6 he never could think very far.

and verde doesn't quite get there in the two years that he knew tsuna, but he does get close and maybe gets to use it on some other unfortunate sealed person

and then reborn arrives, last, and is maybe thrown a bit when tsuna doesn't comment on the mafia, only screams a little at being threatened to be shot, and asks actual good questions about what his responsibilities are now as a presumed heir of a central mafia famiglia

tsuna's seal breaks from being shot, verde gets notified by some (willingly put there) health checking machine thing, he informs the rest, and then they crash the party, in which reborn finally realizes that tsuna has been aware for a while, and maybe plans to hand vongola to xanxus (who's still alive, apparently) for a few years or forever, depending