A/N: Slightly shorter chapter this time...I felt the end was a good enough cut off point. I figured I would toss in some more Luce/Reborn fluffsies, and some fun angsty action to this chapter!
To JohnnyB, since I can't reply directly to your review...I probably should have asked one of my MALE friends for what to write for the un-sexy manly part, lmao. Being of the female variety I've never really had any experience in that area.
Nooow you all enjoy this next chapter~
Chapter 8 may take a little longer to update since I only have about 500 more words already written past this chapter. I'll have another update in a week's time, at the very latest.
Enjoy, and remember, I love reviews :)
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Reborn had finished dancing with Luce several songs ago, and now was enjoying himself just sitting with her leaned up against him and an arm secured around her shoulder.
"Oh, look, Colonnello managed to scrape up the courage to dance with Lal again…" He drawled, letting his head tilt down against the top of Luce's while he dragged his gaze around the mass of dancing people. He spotted Viper in a corner of the room and narrowed his eyes, confused but figuring the idiot was trying to make some money off condoms or something back there. What he didn't notice was the green-haired kid in the white suit Viper was speaking with.
The song changed and Reborn expected Lal and Colonnello to break apart, but when the music of the next fast-paced grinder picked up and Colonnello seemed to think he was done, Lal's hands curled around to the back of the tall blonde's thighs and held him in place. Reborn chuckled.
"Well there's a surprise. Things are going well." Luce looked up when Reborn said that, glancing at Colonnello and Lal and then smiling and shaking her head.
"You know, you're not much different than Colonnello, when it comes to scraping up courage." Reborn twitched when Luce said that, lifting his head and turning it to look at her with wide, shocked eyes.
"I…what?" For once the usually infuriatingly witty and calm mafioso was speechless. Luce laughed, patting his leg and standing up.
"Leave those two alone, Reborn." She said, leaning down and tilting the white-suited man's head up. Reborn stared at her with a look in his eyes that he tried desperately to hide. It was anticipation and excitement simply because he assumed the best possible scenario with Luce's face being so close to his. But he was left disappointed when Luce smiled cheerily at him and then walked off, most likely to find her sister and Skull.
Reborn leaned back in his chair, muttering curses and rubbing his eyes. This was Lal's fault. Stupid Lal. Making him dance with Luce and then let his guard down. All her stupid midget fault.
Reborn was determined to build his usual exterior out quickly. Before he knew it, at least another half an hour had passed – and that was when all hell broke loose.
Colonnello and Lal had finally stopped dancing, and the two holding onto one another as they made their way to get something to drink. Colonnello had a triumphant grin on his face while he had one arm around her with his hand resting on her hip, while Lal simply had a pleased smile that turned her lips up. She had one arm tightly clutching his waist mostly because she felt more than a little wobbly-legged at the moment. As they left the dance hall to get their water, Viper slid up next to Colonnello with a creepy as hell smile on his face.
"Guess what, army brat!" He said, his grin only growing as the two slowed to a halt and Lal kept one arm tightly around Colonnello's waist.
"What do you want, creep." Colonnello sighed, not expecting anything important. But what the creepy kid said next nearly made him fall over.
"You won the bet. I didn't think you'd get through fifty girls in a night, but you did." He glanced at Lal with that grin, and watched as her expression turned from the pleased one she started with, to confused, to understanding and then finally to that expression they all knew and loved. That scowl that made her look scarier than Reborn in a bad mood. And that was the end for poor, poor Colonnello. He cried out in pain as Lal stomped as hard as she could on his foot, and then punched him much harder than necessary in the jaw, making him stumble back and stare at her with wide eyes.
"L-lal—"
"You're an asshole, you fucking whore," She interjected, jabbing him in the chest with a finger, "You said it wasn't a bet." She paused and took a breath, cracking the knuckles of her right hand and then turning to Viper. The purple-haired illusionist's grin slipped away and he realized that he was going to face the brunt of Lal's anger as well.
'Oh well,' Viper thought glumly as Lal's fist headed toward his face, 'At least I made some money.' And then he was knocked to the ground.
Reborn was back to holding Luce close with an arm around her shoulders, talking to her about various trivial topics while the dance continued on around them. His head shot up when he heard a few shouts and yells and he looked over to their souce in time to see Lal punching Viper's lights out. He glanced around the area the two were in and noticed Colonnello edging away from her obviously angry form very slowly and carefully. He groaned in exasperation.
"And he was so close, too." He grumbled. But there wasn't much that could be done now, and Colonnello would have to be the one to solve the problem. This wasn't anything Reborn was interested in fixing, even if he could. He glanced up when the two underclassmen came back from wherever it was they had been, Fon trailing along behind them. Rebron quickly turned his gaze back over to Colonnello as the idiot was staring down at Viper and then looking at Lal as she stormed across the room to the exit the school. The blonde idiot just stood there, dumbfounded and clearly incapable of sentient thought.
With a hefty sigh, Reborn stood up.
"Luce, I'm going to go pick up the pieces. Can you make sure that Viper's okay? And make sure blondie doesn't do anything stupid." Luce looked exasperated, but nodded and pushed Skull in the direction of Viper while she told Yuni to go find her friends and enjoy herself. Fon told Skull to stay put and took his place in bringing Viper over to their table instead. Luce followed after Fon to go clean up the mess, looking back at Reborn as he walked after Lal.
Reborn was right. Colonnello was doing so well and Lal had looked so happy – what could have possibly set her off?
'That fucking douchebag. What the hell. I can't believe I fell for that.' Lal's thought pattern remained about the same as she walked, determined, to the exit. She needed cool air and then she was going to tell Reborn that she was leaving and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop her.
Not a single thing would stop her getting what she wanted—
"Lal."
Reborn's voice made her falter in her determined rampage, and when she felt his hand on her shoulder she stopped, turning around to glare up at him. She held his stare for a good few seconds before she glared off to the side and tried to shake his hand off.
"Lal, stop." Reborn sighed, tightening his grip on the shorter girl's shoulder and opening his mouth to speak again. But Lal spoke first, determined to have her way.
"I'm leaving, Reborn. That asshole played me." She paused for a laugh, "And I didn't even suspect it."
"You're not leaving. Feel free to mope in any corner of the room you'd like, but I'm not going to let you go. Remember, I'm the one who brought you and you might offend me if you leave early." Reborn smirked as Lal's scowl deepened, glad that it was so easy to send her on a guilt trip.
"Fine. Fine. Whatever. But if he comes near me I swear to god I will castrate him. Twice."
Reborn didn't doubt it.
"Were going to the after party, by the way. Yuni brought you some stuff that you can change into." Lal's expression changes honestly amused Reborn, and he couldn't help but smile as a horrified expression replaced her previously furious one.
"You just like to make me suffer don't you." She muttered. Reborn smiled.
"That's my job. You won't run off and make me feel bad, will you?" Reborn had to clarify. Lal usually kept her word. Usually.
"Fine. I'll stay. But you owe me. Big time." Lal muttered, anything but pleased. But that was good enough for Reborn.
"Now if you'll excuse me I have to go gamble." Reborn patted her on the top of her head before he walked off with his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face.
Lal just watched him go, sitting down on the nearest chair and putting her head in her hands.
The dance was winding down and Luce was still taking care of Viper, while Colonnello was still sitting in the same chair he had been in nearly two hours ago, his expression mopey and downcast. Yuni had come back because her friends had left and was sitting with Skull, talking about something or other concerning drama within their grade. Fon had been dragged off by his date, so Luce was virtually left alone to care for these two fools.
Luce sighed. Viper always had to do stupid things like this, and she was usually the one left to clean it up. It, quite honestly, sucked. But she had to do it, considering she was basically the mother of their entire strange group of friends.
"Luuuceeee my face huuurts..." Viper's whiny voice pierced through Luce's thoughts and she was forced to turn to him.
"She didn't punch you that hard, so stop complaining." Luce scolded Viper. The purple-haired kid pouted, while Luce kept her stern expression firmly in place.
"Why did you do that, anyway?" she had been trying to get his motive for causing the conflict out of him since the altercation nearly two hours ago. Finally, Viper gave in to her pleading.
"Fine. I'll tell you." He grumbled, not too happy he was telling this information to Luce. "Verde paid me." Luce didn't feel surprised at all and simply closed her eyes with a sigh. She was wondering when the green-haired psychopath would make an appearance. And it seemed his only 'research' for the night was going to be fucking with Colonnello and his first attempt at a real relationship.
"You're not very good at keeping secrets, Viper." Luce turned to see Verde leaning against the table the four of them sat at.
Luce was surprised to see him wearing proper attire for the event. Viper just stayed silent like a sullen child while Verde stared him down.
"Leave him alone, Verde. You're not doing anything useful by being here." Luce looked at him, holding back a glare while patting Viper on the head and then crossing her arms.
"I want those two to get together as much as you dolts do," Verde said, pulling shocked looks from all four who heard him, "But I needed to carry out a few experiments for my research before I let you guys set them up." he looked at Viper and his characteristic crazy scientist grin pulled up at the corners of his mouth.
"So you pissed Lal off?" Skull squeaked, not getting why that would have helped. He sunk back into his chair when Verde turned his crazy grin in the freshman's direction.
"Had to see how much she valued blondie's word." He looked at the sullen Colonnello and nodded, "Apparently not very much." Colonnello seemed to ignore the quip, and Verde continued on.
"The sexual tension between the two is frankly disgusting, and I want to see it put out a bit at the very least. However, I am not going to pass up some research opportunities while you all force these two together." He paused, "You're a little hopeless, Colonnello. Not a very interesting test subject." He was disappointed in Colonnello's current listless stare.
Colonnello seemed to snap at that point, however, jumping from his seat and easily lifting Verde by the collar of his suit jacket as he brought the slightly shorter man to eye level.
"You quit your fucking experiments, and I'll quit thinking about separating your head from your shoulders with your tie." Something in Colonnello's voice made Verde's face pale and his grin wither and fall off his face. He nodded once, taking in a deep gulp of air once he had been set down He looked on with slightly shocked eyes as Colonnello resumed his depressed stare at the floor, slumped dejectedly once more in his chair.
Verde cleared his throat.
"I'll be going to the after party with you all. For now, I take my leave." Verde readjusted his tie and acted as if nothing had happened, turning abruptly and walking off.
Luce and the others had simply been shocked into silence.
Suddenly, Viper glanced at the time and his eyes widened.
"Gotta go, thanks Luce, I'll be back in time to go to the after party!" he jumped up and nearly vaulted over a few chairs to leave the room, leaving Luce shaking her head while she took his chair, finding herself wondering why in the world she hung out with these ridiculous people.
Another hour and a half passed and Reborn returned from the casino in time to see Viper and Fon walking into the dance room with two filled bags each in their hands. He grinned. Now it was time to party.
