Skull grumbles into Reborn's neck and flails an arm around until he can grab Reborn's knee. The man's legs are too damn long and this hammock is too damn small.
Skull huffs as he squirms, nudging Reborn's legs open so he can comfortably lie between them. He half turns on his side and hikes one of the hitman's legs up on his hip.
"Stop," Reborn slurs, eyes still closed but managing to land an accurate stab into Skull's ribs with his thumb.
Skull grunts from the hit. "S'fine, fine," he slurs back. "M'done. Good."
"No," Reborn whines. "I'm uncomfortable now."
Skull shushes Reborn gently.
Reborn brings an elbow down on the back of Skull's neck. By the time Skull regains consciousness Reborn is long gone and so is the hammock.
Verde strains as he lifts the large duffel bag out of the trunk. What the hell is in here? It's supposed to just be tools for the modified jeep they all use, but even a couple of car-jacks aren't this heavy. Did Lal just shove her extra ammunition in here again?
Verde gets three steps towards the garage but it's too heavy for him and he has to lower it to the ground.
The canvas bag makes a sound.
Verde stares.
He stares some more as the zipper opens from the inside and a heap of fabric emerges, trips out, and staggers towards the house.
"Good morning, Reborn." Verde deadpans.
The fabric that Verde now recognises as Reborn's hammock comes to a halt and then gets torn off and dropped carelessly onto the dirt driveway. Reborn squints at Verde, clearly not happy at the bright sun, and then drops as well to curl up on the bundle of fabric.
Well it's not Verde's problem.
Colonnello does a double take when he sees a huge patch of overgrown grass near the jeep. When he gets closer he realises that it's a mound of green leaves dotted with bright flowers.
He vaguely remembers Luce planting some seeds here yesterday, and because he has had no contact with anything even vaguely garden related, this all seems normal to him.
There are some nice roses mixed in (Colonnello can recognise that plant at least) so maybe he should grab some for Lal when she gets here later.
The blond perks up and trots over. There's a huge red one in arm's reach, but Lal's favourite colour is actually blue so Colonnello goes for the one at the back. He cautiously steps onto the mound of greenery and his foot sinks in a bit, but it seems to hold his weight.
He reaches out, and just as his hand brushes the thorns, the entire mound explodes.
Colonnello staggers back and immediately ducks reflectively because that lesson has been carved into him through trauma.
"Why?" the plant monster complains. Vines and leaves are ripped off and tossed away. "Stupid Sun. Who even wants Sun flames? A hitman with fucking healing powers, fuck me, I wanted Mist!"
Sun flames accelerates biological matter, whether that be healing a cut or growing plants. Reborn isn't allowed to sit on the ground for too long unless he wants a cocoon of daisies.
Reborn finally rips off the last few vines clinging to him and steps out from the decimated pile of greenery before smoothing out his rumpled button up and slacks. He's not even wearing shoes.
Colonnello purses his lips. "Why were you sleeping in the garden?"
"I was in the driveway," Reborn grumbles as he moves towards Colonnello. "Verde must have moved me into the shade."
"What…" Colonnello trails off. "Uh, what are you – okay? Okay, this is happening."
Reborn doesn't give a single fuck as he scales Colonnello's body and then drapes himself over the blond's shoulders like a scarf. He pats Colonnello's chest. "Go walk around for a bit and drop me off when I fall asleep."
Colonnello sighs. "I can't believe I was ever afraid of you."
Fon glances at Reborn who was sprawled over the couch back. It's three in the afternoon, what is he still doing asleep? Fon steps over and pats Reborn gently on the back.
Reborn reaches out, and after several attempts, he grabs Fon's tunic. He eventually gets the martial artist (who is clearly humouring him) lying on the couch.
Reborn then rolls off the backrest, flops onto Fon, and they're both asleep in minutes.
Lal opens the cupboard and just barely manages to catch the hitman that falls out from the top shelf. Reborn shifts around in Lal's arms to make himself more comfortable and that's all. Doesn't even open his eyes.
Lal glances over her shoulder into the connected living room. Verde is in the hammock while Skull and Colonnello are on the floor and Fon is sitting on the couch. They all look up but no one helps her.
"Thanks," she deadpans.
"You're welcome," Skull chirps.
Lal looks back up to the cupboard's top shelf but she's too to short reach normally, much less tuck away a man taller than herself.
Lal moves to the other side of the kitchen and hooks her socked toes into a handle before dragging out the large drawer that sits under the oven. She kicks out the large pot that lives there and dumps Reborn inside.
The hitman organises himself neatly and Lal shoves the drawer back in. She drops off the pot under the sink instead and then heads back to the couch after grabbing a protein bar from the cupboard.
Luce pulls open the drawer under the oven and stares.
"Are you looking for the pot?" Fon asks. The knife thunks rhythmically against the counter top.
"Fon!" Luce cries. "Use a wooden board! These are marble counters!"
Fon pauses and smiles in a ditzy, innocent manner as he drags over a cutting board. "I think Lal put the pot under the sink," Fon says to try and distract her.
Luce huffs and closes the drawer automatically as she hunts for the pot. "Do you cut on your counters at home?"
"Yes," Fon admits. "My home in China is almost completely metal. I used to have a problem controlling my strength when I was younger."
Skull laughs from where he's setting the dinner table. "The humble brag in action."
Fon slants a wide smile at him. "I used to shatter people's bones when I shook their hand."
"Well," Skull scoffs. "I'm sure if people actually wanted to shake my hand then… you know, they'd feel my strength too."
"Give up," Colonnello suggests. "You've already lost."
"Rude," Skull mumbles.
"Reborn isn't here so I have to pick up the slack," Colonnello laughs.
Luce gasps. "Oh my God, Reborn is in the drawer!" She whips around and quickly hurries over.
Mist coalesces into a cloaked form and Viper peers out from under their hood.
Reborn is tucked into the mostly unused bedroom upstairs. Lal and Verde each stole another bedroom as their firearms storage and study respectively.
Viper floats over and pulls off the quilt. The illusion drops and a thick leather belt on Reborn's thigh appears. Viper unbuckles it and checks the large, flat black metal box attached. They flip the lid off and a gush of Sun flames escapes the storage pack inside.
Viper snaps it shut quickly. No need to check, it's definitely full.
They drag the quilt up and tuck Reborn in again.
"Holy shit, you're alive," Colonnello says as the first person to notice the hitman.
Reborn is decked out in his usual pristine three-piece suit instead of his rumpled clothes from yesterday. "What year is it," he jokes back as he takes a seat at the dining table. "And what are you playing?"
Skull passes over a character card and a little figurine. "Start in the square with Verde and Lal, you'll learn the rules as we go."
Reborn blinks at the mess of cards and tokens scattered everywhere. "I'll sit out this game."
"It's a ten hour game," Luce says.
"Don't be ridiculous," Skull says. "Six hours at most."
"You know what?" Reborn stands up again. "I need to go kill some people, so you have fun here and I'll just…" he backs away.
"I'll come with you," Fon cuts in. He knocks over his figurine. "Pretend I'm dead. Reborn killed me."
"It's not that bad," Skull tries. "We've only just started."
"It's been three hours," Lal says flatly. "What do you mean 'we've only just started'?"
Verde drops his cards. "Let's go murder things."
"None of you appreciate art," Skull whines.
Reborn scoffs. "I have an original Rembrandt painting-" Reborn catches Fon's intense stare. "Uh, sculpture. This mess is not what anyone would call art."
"Oi," Viper calls out. "Before we go." They reach under the table and pull out a large briefcase. "This is your cut. Three-four-six-seven."
Reborn scrolls the lock to match Viper's password and opens the case. "This is… nice. Quick question; what did I do to earn this much money?"
"It was your winning personality," Viper says earnestly.
Reborn frowns at them, a sudden realisation hitting. "I was losing flames far too quickly yesterday for having just slept in the garden for a few hours."
"Don't be a baby," Viper mocks. "I pulled barely three billion fiamma volts from you." Viper waves away the fact that normal flame users can only give around ten thousand - and then they die.
Verde leans forward, immediately interested. "You can power Italy for over two years on three billion."
"Or a small island for a decade," Viper adds.
"Mafia Land?" Lal guesses.
Skull's eyes are so wide they're about to pop out of his head. "Mafia Land? Like a theme park for mafia?"
"It's pretty nice," Colonnello admits. "Do you want to go later? Lal and I have a break next week."
"Hold on," Reborn interrupts loudly. "Can we go back to what Viper did to me?"
"You wandered around sleepily and bounced back in a day," Fon summarises. "It wasn't that bad."
"Yes, but it hurt my feelings," Reborn announces dramatically.
"Next Wednesday?" Luce plans. "We could do a picnic thing on the beach there."
.
A/N: I hope you're all ready for the obligatory beach episode.