Chapter Text
"Hey, Boss," a lanky, cow-themed teenager greets him casually from where he's squatting in a tree outside his bedroom window. "I'm your new family member, Lambo."
Takeshi smiles at him in delight, more than happy to be distracted from his homework by whatever the heck this is. "Hi! Did Reborn send for you, too?" He asks, intrigued, as he gets up and walks over.
His tutor certainly works in mysterious ways. First, he had Takeshi recruit Tsuna himself. Then, he'd sent Gokudera to fight him for his position. Now here's this guy, already acting familiar with Takeshi and calling him Boss. Had Reborn gotten impatient with his slow progress and decided to start delivering new members right to Takeshi's door? Or- window, rather?
If so, that's no fun. He had a great time fighting and then bonding with Gokudera right after! It helped them better understand each other, even if the one time he said as much, Tsuna looked like he was in physical pain. They get on like a house on fire nowadays!
Lambo makes a funny face at the idea, one of obvious disgust. "As if I would ever listen to that egotistical mania- Ahh!" He cuts himself off with an impressive scream as he's kicked by said egotistical maniac out of the tree and lands right on his face. "Ow…" He groans before jumping to his feet and pointing at Reborn, who had stolen his perch on the branch and now smirks down at him, in furious indignation. "Oi! I didn't even do anything this time!" He yells, nose red and on the verge of tears.
"Your existence was getting on my nerves," Reborn replies smugly.
"That is it! I don't care what the future tells me! I'm gonna take you out here and now, idiot Rebor- AHH!!!" He screams again in fright, hopping away from the bullets suddenly raining down on him and creating some kind of crazy dance in the process.
At some point, he misjudges his footing and trips and falls on his face again. He lays there for a moment face down and seemingly content to stay there, and then Takeshi realizes he's shaking all over. Lambo's fluffy hair begins to tremble as he quietly sobs.
Beneath the muffled crying, Takeshi can just barely make out something that sounds like, "Hold. It. In!"
Takeshi wonders whether he should go down there and comfort him - Lambo is his new subordinate after all; he'd said so himself, and Reborn hadn't denied it - but before he can, Lambo abruptly moves to a sitting position, revealing his tear-stained face. Still sobbing, he stuffs his hands inside his hair far deeper than they should theoretically be able to go and pulls out what looks to be a pink bazooka - something that absolutely should not have been able to fit inside there, and yet!
"Wow," Takeshi says, tempted to clap his appreciation. That was as crazy as Reborn's shape shifting chameleon! How the heck had he stored that thing in there?? Is he a robot?? Or an alien?? Some kind of wizard??? Is there a pocket dimension nesting within those wild curls??? Is there other stuff inside there?? Could Takeshi reach in and grab something, or is that right exclusive to the owner of the space???
Lambo's not done wowing him, though. With quick, decisive movements, heedless of the snot and tears, he positions the mouth of the bazooka over his head and resolutely fires it. Pink smoke instantly shoots out, engulfing him entirely, and the weapon falls to the ground next to him, eaten by the dense cloud.
As Takeshi waits breathlessly for something to happen, the smoke eventually disperses, exposing the man hidden within. And it is a man, someone much older than the teenager who had just cried pathetically in his place.
"Good grief," the mysterious man sighs. He glances around with his open eye, taking in the situation he had been summoned(?) into without any notice. Suddenly he looks up and makes eye contact with Takeshi, something dark and complicated flashing across his otherwise bored expression alongside easy recognition. "I thought I'd have more time." Despite his words, his tone is only a little plaintive.
"That's funny, coming from you," Reborn says with unknown meaning. Catching Takeshi's confusion, he explains, "That's Lambo from ten years in the future. He just used something called the Ten Year Bazooka, which causes you to switch places with yourself from ten years in the future for five minutes."
Oh! "That's amazing," Takeshi admits, completely underselling his bursting curiosity. "Can I-?"
"No," both Reborn and Older Lambo reject him immediately, apparently having guessed what he was going to say.
Aww. He pouts for two seconds and then shrugs it off. It would be boring to get spoilers anyway. He wants to find out for himself.
Older Lambo takes a few running steps and jumps up, gloved fingers gripping the window sill and heaving the rest of his body up and into the room. Takeshi steps aside and marvels up close at the differences between this version and the wimpy teenager he'd met.
He's got longer hair braided at the ends, and he's wearing a black suit with a green undershirt. There's no cow print or otherwise animal themed fabric in sight. While that's kind of boring, at the very least this older Lambo successfully pulls off the effortlessly cool look his younger counterpart was going for.
"There's no point trying to get information that way," Reborn continues the topic, joining them back inside. "If it was actually useful in gathering intel, do you think they'd let that fool run around with it?" He gestures at Older Lambo with such immense disdain that Takeshi can't help but laugh.
Accosted by an insult that would have caused a tear-filled outburst when he was younger, Older Lambo merely snorts. "I'm from an alternate timeline," he elaborates rather than addressing it.
"Huh. So you're not from my future but a potential future."
The future's always changing. Any information gleaned from such an uncertain source would be ultimately useless unless you could guarantee things would occur in exactly the right way, and five minutes isn't much time at all. And if you travel to a different timeline every time you use the bazooka, Takeshi could see why Reborn would be so dismissive of it, even if Takeshi personally thinks it's super interesting.
"Bingo." Older Lambo rests a large hand on Takeshi's head and ruffles his hair affectionately. "You're pretty smart when you want to be, Baby Boss."
He laughs. "That's mean, Senpai," he says, without any genuine offense. Lambo treating him so familiarly despite technically being a stranger makes something warm and soft thrum sweetly inside him. He feels close already, like some part of him knows and trusts Lambo against all common sense. He doesn't really get it, but- he likes it.
The placid boredom on Lambo's face finally cracks, shifting into a very similar expression to one his younger self had made earlier. "Eww. Don't call me that. I don't want to be compared to any version of Ryohei-senpai."
Ah? "Ryohei?" Takeshi parrots. "As in Sasagawa Ryohei, school idol Kyoko's big brother? Does he join to-"
Before he can get the question out, pink smoke explodes into being, obscuring Takeshi's sight and unfortunately rushing into his open mouth and down his throat. Stunned, he coughs and covers his eyes.
When he feels like he can breathe again, he looks up to find the younger Lambo standing in his future self's place. The five minutes had apparently run out.
"Oi, oi, are you okay? You're not about to croak, are you?" Lambo asks, hands hovering near Takeshi in concern. "I don't have any medical training. The only thing I can do is shock you." He warns, frazzled.
Takeshi waves him off, his mind still stuck on what the Older Lambo had let slip. He just got a new family member, and now he's eager to nab another one.
Sasagawa Ryohei, he thinks with buzzing excitement, you're next.