Mia Tempesta
Summary: Reborn never liked being a (secondary) Sky, but he can't deny his nature forever, so one day he starts collecting his Elements. Except now there was a tiny Storm that packs quite a punch that he doesn't know what to do with. Denial leads to trouble, trouble leads to possessiveness, possessiveness leads to ... something else much more tender. Throw in Checkerface and the Arcobaleno Sky into the mix and things get quite complicated.
"You sure you want to go with us on this mission, Fon?" Lal asked with a frown as she stared down their newest and youngest, still unofficial member. It's been nearly two months since Fon had taken Reborn's offered hand and the 'strongest six' have since then become 'strongest seven', almost inseparable if they didn't have their own responsibilities to attend to. Lal and Colonello had COMSUBIN, Skull was a professional stuntman so he had a lot of shows to hold, Verde had experiments and inventions to work on, Viper had their own business and Reborn had his own clients to satisfy by killing their targets. Even Fon had his own clients who still hired him even though he had defected from the Triads. If anything, that seems to have boosted his business without affecting the price.
But this would be the first mission Fon would be taking with the rest of Reborn's Elements so of course everyone was a bit of a worrywart, in their own way.
Hell, Verde had offered to harden his clothes with Lightning Flames since Fon was a close range fighter, Colonello had tried to reassure him that he didn't have to go with them for them to keep liking him, Viper had tried to bribe him to not get hurt and Skull had insisted he might need a bodyguard in case someone tries to steal their ride during the mission. Reborn had called them a hundred different kinds of idiots, but that hadn't deterred them from fretting over a kid perfectly capable of dissolving a bazooka missile with his bare hands and dodging bullets like one would dodge balls and taking on who knows how many opponents at once all by himself.
Now even Lal was fretting by asking him for the third time in the last hour alone if he was sure about his decision.
Reborn would roll his eyes, but he feared the eye roll would be so hard his eyes might get stuck staring at his brain.
His Guardians were all a bunch of monkeys, and no, not like Lichi. Lichi is smart.
"Lal, leave him alone. He's been to worse missions by himself and came out just fine."
Which was true, as Reborn had been there during one of his missions as his opponent and his Storm had still walked away hale and whole and had even gotten his assassination done where Reborn can't interfere.
Besides, Fon had told him about that one time on a cruise ship where he was supposed to kidnap some Don's unwilling bride for her brother and make it look like she's dead. Only the wedding was supposed to happen during the cruise. On the third day of a six day voyage. And the ship had been full of bloodthirsty mafioso. Fon had been ten and it had been his first international assignment. He'd stayed in the engine room with an unconscious woman - because she started screaming the second she woke up - feeding her via an IV the entire trip and then the trip back. Then, he had to ship her to the nearest airport, where a bodyguard would be waiting to take her home. Fon had ended up having to fight two dozen men for various reasons over the entire mission - from stealing food to being suspicious to ship security to being suspicious to the Don and his men.
Fon had some very unpleasant memories from that mission and hated cruise ships with a passion.
"It's okay, Lal, I'll be fine," the teen in question gave her a reassuring smile and the woman finally gave in. It was time to go, anyway, so there was no use to continue fighting this battle, anyway.
"Everyone ready, kora?" Colonello asked from behind the wheel. It was to be a long trip and they were in one of Verde's custom made vehicles made to hold all of them comfortably while being hardened by Lightning Flames the scientist had charged a battery of sorts with so that the car would be impenetrable to bullets as long as the battery had Lightning Flames. Verde can do it when he's around, but he's not always out in the field with them, so this was a backup.
"Just get going already. Good grief," griped Viper and the blond rolled his eyes but complied anyway and off they go.
Like it was said earlier, the trip was a long one to their destination. Like, three days drive long. They were all to take turns driving except Fon, who didn't have a license, and Viper, who refused to drive since they'll be acting as the navigator from halfway through the trip to their final destination. Everyone was fine with that. They couldn't trust Viper to keep the car from floating upwards, anyway. The Esper sometimes did that, no matter what they were doing.
Colonello, Verde and Viper were up front, Verde because he was a giant who needed a lot of foot space and Viper because they were tiny in comparison to the other two and can comfortably squeeze into the third seat without feeling squashed, like any of the boys would and maybe even Lal, because Lal had impressive biceps for a woman, even if she was one of COMSUBIN's best soldiers. Also, she had a temper and Colonello had a talent of drawing it out when he tried flirting with her and she got embarrassed by it. So it was safest for the only woman to ride in the back with the rest.
She was currently sharing the reverse seat with Skull as the two stared at the Sun and Storm as they seemed to be debating something. "Why are you guys talking about the measurements of the seat?" The Cloud finally aske and the two stopped, turning to their audience. Verde was even peering at them from the front row while Viper kept grumping at Colonello not to get distracted.
It would seem driving was impossible these days.
Reborn blamed it on his Guardians all being idiots.
"We're discussing sleeping arrangements," Fon answered, calm as ever.
"That doesn't explain why you've been mentioning flexibility of the human thigh muscles," pointed out Verde as he turned around to look at them from the front seat. "Or the angle at which a spine would become stiff."
"We're trying to figure out how we'll twist for the optimal sleeping position," replied the Storm yet again, a serene smile in place that seemed to confuse the others even more. Reborn bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smirking.
"It didn't sound as innocent as that, kora," Colonello supplied with a teasing grin flashed at them through the rear-view mirror.
He was ignored. "Why don't you just sleep like everyone else?" Skull asked, sounding almost innocent. The hitman wondered if he should say anything at all, but it was more fun this way, even if it can't last for long. He has to go to sleep soon, because it will be his turn to drive in a few hours. Verde was up first after the blond and then it was Reborn, then Lal and then Colonello again and so on until they reached their destination. "You know, sitting upright, maybe leaning against the window. We brought pillows and blankets."
Reborn couldn't help but grimace at that. "No can do."
"What do you mean, 'no can do'?" Asked an incredulous Lal Mirch.
"I need a specific pillow or else I won't be able to sleep at all and might end up crashing us from coffee deprivation."
"We brought a kettle for tea and coffee, Babyborn."
"And I brought your damned pillow from the HQ," argued the COMSUBIN instructor. Reborn nodded along.
"That you did." Then he went straight back to discussing their sleeping arrangements with Fon, uncaring that everyone else seemed to be staring at them extra hard now, even Colonello, whom Viper continued to swat at for not keeping his eyes on the road.
"You can always lower the back seats for more room," Verde said after a long pause, making everyone else turn to look at him. The scientist shrugged. "It's an option. It turns the whole back into a huge bed of sorts, because the backseat gets pushed down and forwards until it touches the middle seats, so you can all go to sleep now. We'll keep watch."
They immediately set about doing just that and soon Lal and Skull were trying to figure out how the four of them should squeeze in for optimum comfort.
"Well, goodnight," Reborn said before they could even turn to him and Fon for the discussion, plopping himself down boldly into his Storm's lap, as was his usual sleeping spot and position since the second week since Fon had moved into his condo, and the teen then followed suit by making himself comfortable on Reborn's stomach, also as usual, the two of them all the way in the back, Fon's back resting against the wall of the trunk. Fon was almost arranged as though he was posing for a cheap underwear commercial while both of Reborn's long legs were bent at the knee so he'd have space in the small width of the car.
They'd discovered that, more often than not, they didn't even need blankets when sleeping like this, unless it was a cooler temperature, because their shared body heat kept them plenty warm. Still, Lichi and Leon perched on Reborn's knees and watchfully observed their masters for signs of a chill, just waiting for the moment when either of them looked cold so they could cover them with blankets. And yes, it had to be two separate blankets or else one of them would suffocate if they shared only one.
"What?" Reborn asked faux innocently when he felt all the stares drilling into his skull. Fon didn't move, already far too comfortable and looking to be half asleep - apparently, he comes from a family of sleep-lovers and could be found taking naps at random points in the day if he can hunt down Reborn to sit somewhere long enough; he didn't need him to curl up with him like they do at night, just his presence was enough along with some peace and quiet for Fon to doze off. Fon was usually the first one to fall asleep at home, so Reborn wasn't surprised he was practically at it now already - and Reborn was already adjusting his fedora so that he can block out the headlights of other passing cars and the streetlights.
"Good grief, what the hell are you two doing?" Viper asked, almost completely turned around so they could see their Sun/Sky and Storm better. "Eyes on the rod, soldier." Colonello immediately looked forward again, but Reborn could see him taking sneak peaks every now and then.
"Going to sleep, what's it look like?"
"Well, from here, it looks an awful lot like position 69- Ow!" The blond let go of the wheel with one hand to rub at the abused spot where he'd been hit rather harshly. "What was that for, Lal!?"
"There's a minor here!"
"Yeah, a minor all cuddled up with Reborn," their resident Lightning pointed out, adjusting his glasses. "He's probably had far worse."
A gun immediately clicked its safety off as Reborn shifted his head enough to glare death at all of his perverted Guardians, a special bullet currently resting in the magazine of his distinctly green gun. "We're just going to sleep, you morons. After that mission with that poison bitch I told you about, I had a killer headache and all of my pillows and comforters were irritating it even more. This is something Fon and his sister do when one of them doesn't feel okay, so he tried it out and we ended up sleeping the day away and it was some of the best sleep either of us had. Then we discovered we can't go to sleep unless it's like this."
"You mean you do this all the time?" Skull all but shrieked, astounded.
"I want to sleep," groaned Fon, but didn't open his eyes. Lichi glared at them for his master instead.
"Good call. Now shut the fuck up or I will shoot every last one of you." With that said, Reborn tipped his fedora over his eyes and got right to it.
"Good grief," Viper could be heard, but soon the car descended into silence as Lal and Skull followed the other two's lead and went to sleep.
00000
They made a stop the next morning in the middle of nowhere to stretch their legs, attend to any biological needs, eat and drink something. Reborn's Guardians couldn't stop staring at the strangely refreshed looking Fon and Reborn as the former went about brewing Reborn an espresso - double, of course, because Reborn wasn't a heathen to drink that miniature they served at fucking cafe's all over the world - and the hitman ... unbraided and braided Fon's hair?
"Okay, what the actual fuck, kora?"
"Shh," scolded the Storm with a mild glare sent at the Rain. "It keeps him calm and considerably less homicidal before he gets his morning coffee."
"You two are way too domesticated for a couple of blokes who'd lived together for the short amount of time you two have," Skull said with a frown.
Fon snorted. "The landlord already thinks we're married," he shared, sighing because he can't shake his head while Reborn's working. And just when the coffee was ready and started smelling divine, Reborn finished the braid and accepted the cup his Storm handed to him. "Do you guys want some? I made enough to last Reborn half the day and then some, so go ahead and help yourself."
"I'm honestly surprised he hasn't actually married you yet," Verde said after taking a deep sip of the warm drink once everyone's taken Fon's offer. Reborn glared at them all for drinking his coffee, but he was already on his second cup and could feel the homicidal urge to fight them to the death for every last drop slowly dissipating. "I'm not nearly the caffeine addict that Reborn is and I would."
"Men," sneered Lal in disgust. Viper nodded and everyone turned to stare at them. "Does this mean you're a woman?"
"Mu, I don't need to be the opposite gender just because I can acknowledge that some men are insufferable pricks and filthy pigs." The men in question, even Fon, actually cried out in protest of that. "Good grief, let's just get going. We still have a long way to travel yet."
00000
"An airplane."
"Where do you see a plane, kora?"
"Yeah, lackey. The clouds are too thick and dark for a plane to be visible."
"It's obviously a truck," Fon argued, pointing at one of the many standardized trucks, this one with a white trailer to match the color for this round of I Spy, the color being white, the subject being an item and the one who gave the task was Verde.
"No, it's the lab coat," argued back Lal from behind the wheel.
"I still think it's that bleached bastard we'd passed some miles back. You know, the one who tried to flirt with Lal and Colonello threatened to shoot him with his anti-tank rifle?"
"He's not an object, Reborn," Verde reminded, rubbing at his forehead like he had a headache and just wanted to smash his head against the panel in front of him to end his own misery. The hitman grinned at his Lightning, because he had refused to play this game and had expected Verde to back him up, but the traitor had gone and joined in, so it was all of his Guardians against him, therefore he had to play along, too.
"He could be, if we go back and I put a few bullets in him."
"No murdering anyone outside of the mission, Reborn," scolded the current driver, making the hitman roll his eyes but he didn't fight her on the matter. For now, anyway.
"It's the white lines, you fucking morons, honestly," Viper snapped, apparently getting sick of all the bullshit guesses Reborn's been throwing out just to state his displeasure at having to play the game, too.
"Really?" Skull asked, turning to Verde, who was smashing his head against the panel in front of him, much to the Sun's delight.
Now, Reborn knew that the item Verde had Spied was actually the special scroll Viper used for their readings, almost completely hidden beneath their cloak, but chaos was so much better than this silly game, so he continued throwing out more insane guesses until Verde screamed into the panel.
It was a good game.
00000
"Do you really need to sneeze on it for the readings to work?" Fon asked curiously as they all made their second to last stop as their Mist prepared to take over directions. Their last stop was meant for them all to camp out the night so everyone could get some sleep and all of them would be fresh for the mission in the wee hours of morning. They still had several hours more to journey, but the last leg of the trip was slowly coming to an end.
"It's Thoughtography," Viper replied, getting ready to sneeze. "I need a conductor directly connected to me and if I used blood for the readings, I'd be dead after a day because of how much I use this technique."
"Fascinating."
"I still think it's disgusting, kora," argued Colonello and got a face-full of mucus just for that.
Reborn shook his head as his younger Rain screamed like a dying banshee.
His Guardians really were all idiots, save maybe Lal and Fon.
'What, exactly, have I gotten myself into this time?'
Somehow, seeing them all together, still felt like home.
00000
"Am I the only one still weirded out by how they sleep?"
"Shut up, Colonello."