Chapter 67

Tsuna watches their expressions as they look at the picture, their faces mostly showing confusion. He caresses Mamoru with a finger and looks away, his gaze settling in the pile of pacifiers on the table. He holds his hand up and is unsurprised to see the orange pacifier roll towards him. He grabs it, ignoring the way it takes some of his flames. He sighs just as Lal says, "That's…"

He doesn't look up, not wanting to see the horrifying realization in their faces. "The pacifiers," he finishes for her. "You were cursed the moment you touched them. Just like that."

Deciding to demonstrate, he makes a small link of flames connect to the pacifier, lighting it up for a moment.

That may have been a mistake as it's not a moment later that Lal Mitch grabs him from the collar of his shirt, pulling him close. She's screaming about something but he doesn't hear her as he's concentrating on trying to keep the link as thin as possible.

"Are you even listening to me?!" she yells, shaking him hard and making the pacifier fall to the table.

"Crap," he's able to mutter before pain wrecks his body. He arches his body when an unexpected sharp sensation hits him, a silent scream leaving past his lips. A long second passes until the pain and every other feeling recedes, leaving him numb, faint tremors assaulting his body from time to time. He's on the verge of losing consciousness and it's by pure force of will he stays awake. His pants fell off when he lost height, leaving only the shirt he was wearing to cover his modesty. Not that he cares about that at the moment.

It takes him a couple more seconds for him to recover enough to look at his tiny arm covered in cloth.

"… Tsuna?"

He flinches slightly before looking up from where he's sitting on the table. There's a hand hovering above him, large and intimidating, connected to the worried face of Skull.

"Yes?" he says as if he hasn't just turned into a toddler, ignoring how childish and sweet his voice sounds.

The stuntman seems to be at a loss of words now that it's been confirmed it is him. He tries to approach again but Daemon grabs him first, making sure to be careful in holding his sensitive skin.

"One would have thought that one incident would have been enough, Tsunayoshi-kun," he says, being careful in taking the shirt off of him. Tsuna struggles, cheeks reddening. However, even if in this form he has more strength than a normal toddler, it's nothing compared to the strength Daemon boasts. Soon, the shirt is no longer there, but instead, he's wearing a tiny suit, not unlike the one he wore yesterday at the Ball.

He looks down at his new attire before looking up at the Mist. He receives a small fancy wave in response from the ghost. He coughs but before he's able to say something or even turn around to see what the others think of this sudden change he's interrupted by a face leaning close.

"How is this possible?" Verde murmurs as his hands hover around his form. He seems elated and worried at the same time as he examines him, their harmonized flames seeking to reassure the other. He takes out a weird expandible ruler from who knows where and starts quickly taking measures of various parts of his body. While this is going on Tsuna can't resist anymore and turns to watch the others.

They're literally frozen in place. Though when his eyes land on the form of his friends, the spell breaks. Soon, they walk forward until they're close. Not enough to count as crowding but definitely at a distance Hibari would have growled at.

"Is this…?" Fong doesn't finish but he doesn't need to. Tsuna nods, his eyes going from Fong to Reborn.

"Unlike you, I accepted part of the curse. After all, it was the only way for me to remain in this time without dying. I-I wanted to stop this from happening to you but I was an idiot for not explaining sooner, for not realizing who you were."

He can feel tears gathering in the corner of his eyes and while he knows it's this child's body the one making him more emotional, he can't help but add this reaction as another of his failures. He chuckles wetly, shaking his head. His eyes are tired and his whole body aches something fierce. He wants to take a nap but he knows he can't do that. Not now.

Renato runs a hand through his messy hair, to soothe Tsuna or himself, he doesn't know, but it's a distraction he's willing to take. He feels a small trail of Sun flames going through his frame, not invasive, just inspecting. For wounds and possibly to know if there are no Mist flames in him besides the clothes he's wearing. To know this is not a perfectly crafted illusion made to trick them.

The lack of trust, the assumption that a friend of his doesn't trust him enough to not believe in his words, hurts. He knows it's illogical to accept something like the arcobaleno curse without confirming. He knows that it's smart for him to confirm.

It still hurts.

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