Disclaimer ~ I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Prompt: Skull hates being cold

Skull made the decision that he was never doing a solo mission again. Especially not one to Antarctica of all places.

It all started because of Luche. She's the one who gave him the mission after all. Skull needed to go to Antarctica and catch some guy before he could set off a bomb at an important research facility there. Not their usual type of mission, until Skull learned that that the facility was under the Giglio Nero's protection. Skull didn't ask why but he figured it had something to do with the mafia. It always had to do with the mafia. But the problem came from it being in Antarctica of all places. If the mission took place literally anywhere else, Skull wouldn't have had a problem. Instead, he not only had to catch this guy before he blew things up, he had to chase him through a blizzard.

Skull did it, by some miracle. Of course, he wasn't a very lucky person. Instead of the guy surrendering or even pulling a gun on him like the other bad guys would have, this guy decided his only course of action was to blow himself up. Skull normally wouldn't have cared, he would have even preferred that since he wouldn't have to deal with dragging a prisoner back to Italy. Except the explosion made the ice surrounding him crack ominously. Before Skull even knew what was happening, he found himself plunged into icy water.

The cold was a shock to his system, but it would have been a lot worse if Skull wasn't already feeling numb due to the cold. He was stunned for a few seconds but recovered quickly and immediately swam for the surface. He hauled himself onto the ice without hesitation, grateful that the area he picked was thicker so he didn't have to worry about falling in again. With how his day was going, Skull was liable to be attacked by a leopard seal if he had stayed in the water for a few seconds longer. Though it was also possible one was about to launch itself out of the water and attack him that way since Skull was still sprawled out by the edge.

That thought alone was enough to motivate Skull into standing up and starting the hike to the base he just saved. Three miles while he was soaked and a blizzard raged around him. Skull hated his luck.

It was little surprise that twenty-four hours later, Skull was still frozen. He was checked out by a medical team when he stumbled into the base, and then again by both Reborn and Verde after getting back to the manor. Officially? There was nothing wrong with him. His flames kept his body healthy and staved off the worst of the effects of hypothermia. His skin felt chilled but ultimately his temperature was only a degree lower than normal for him.

Skull didn't feel like that was right. It felt like his blood had turned to ice and his bones were frozen solid. That his body forgot what it felt like to feel warm so it made his body produce the cold feeling instead.

Neither Reborn or Verde had any useful advice for him that Skull hadn't already heard on the plane ride, so the cloud decided to take matters into his own hands. He stole every blanket in the manor, holed himself up in his bedroom, and buried himself underneath the pile of blankets.

Normally, one's body heat would be trapped in the blankets after a few minutes. Less if there was more weight in the blankets, which would reduce the space that your body would need to heat up. But Skull had close to thirty blankets piled on top of him and still didn't feel like he was warming up. Logically he knew he was, because about an hour ago he started shivering. He just didn't feel any different.

Skull had been in his blanket cocoon for nearly three hours when he heard a soft knocking on the door.

"W-who is i-it?" Skull called out, mentally cursing his chattering teeth. With how skilled everybody in the manor was, it didn't matter who was at the door. They would be able to pick up the stutter and know something was wrong.

"It's Fon. May I come in?" Fon sounded concerned when he answered.

Honestly, Skull would rather he didn't, but unfortunately if Skull sent Fon away then everybody else would show up one by one until Skull let them in, or they got fed up and barged in without warning. The people Skull lived with were very nosy.

"S-sure," Skull stuttered out, resigned to his fate. His door opened slightly and Fon's head poked in. Skull hated that he could see the concern in the storm's expression because it meant Skull must have looked terrible.

"Are you alright Skull?" Fon asked gently, coming over to stand by Skull's bed.

"O-other t-than f-freezing to d-death, I'm p-peachy," Skull said. He meant it as a joke, but based on how Fon's eyes narrowed slightly, it didn't work. Fon was silent for a minute, obviously thinking over what his next move would be.

"Scoot over," Fon told him, grabbing the bottom of the blanket pile and lifting it slightly. Skull obeyed, shuffling over just enough that Fon could sit comfortably on the bed. The second Fon got himself situated Skull was latched onto him. Fon was warm. The first real warmth Skull had felt since he arrived in Antarctica. Fon probably regretted letting Skull's icy body wrap around him like an octopus but Skull wasn't about to let him go now that he had him.

"T-thank you," Skull sighed happily, closing his eyes and basking in Fon's warmth. Skull didn't know how much time had passed, too focused on trying to steal Fon's body heat and get his own shivers under control, when he heard another voice speak up.

"Well don't you two look cozy," Colonello said. Skull opened his eyes to look at him and saw not only Colonello, but the rest of the seven there as well. All except Luche, who had to return to her famiglia for some business yesterday while Skull was on the plane back.

"W-what are y-you d-doing here?" Skull asked.

"Fon messaged us," Lal answered as if that explained everything.

"W-why?" Skull asked, because it really didn't.

"He mentioned there was a lackey who was cold and needed a cuddle pile to feel better," Reborn said, sounding just as indifferent as ever. But Skull watched him removed his suit jacket and tie as he spoke, so he knew better.

"You're going to need to reduce the amount of blankets. One or two is fine but this many along with all of us would undoubtedly give you a heatstroke," Verde said. Skull thought about it for a second before agreeing. He may still be cold but between the useless blankets or five more sources of body heat? It was no question he'd pick the one that worked better. That, and Fon had only been under the blankets for a short amount of time and he was already beginning to sweat.

It took quite a bit of wiggling and rearranging, but somehow all seven of them managed to fit on the bed. Skull was firmly tucked in the middle between Fon and Reborn. The others were scattered around him but all were touching him in some way.

It only took three minutes for Skull to begin to feel his core heat up again. Another seven minutes and his teeth stopped chattering constantly. It was a further thirteen minutes before his shivers gradually disappeared. He was asleep less than a minute later.

Whew. Finally done. I've been working on this chapter for the past two days, but I kept getting interrupted. I wanted to finish it last night but I couldn't stop yawning so I gave up for the night. But its finished now so I'm happy. No idea what I'm going to work on next but I'll find out soon enough. I'm going to try to write while I'm at work. Both the babysitting job, and during the slow moments at the movie theatre. It's either I write, or I doodle. I need some way to pass the time so I might as well be productive.

I hope everyone liked this chapter! Please Review, Follow, and Favorite! If I don't update tomorrow then I'll try to update on Saturday.