Skull is overflowing with his flames. How ironic, considering the pacifier which swallows his flames all day long. The damn thing is really good for nothing at all.

He is sat crossed legs on the carpet, eyes closed and the window wide open above his head. The sun rays on his skin and the occasional breeze are welcome but far from being enough. Skull clenches his fists and forces himself to stay still.

Cloud flames are heavy in the air and more are to come. Slowly but surely, as to not turn them harmful or lose control, Skull releases them straight from their core. It was a tedious task since the Curse. A third of them are claimed by the pacifier, the instinct to hold on them exacerbated because of it, and Skull sure as hell wasn't ever good at fighting his own instincts.

Needless to say, it isn't how he usually got rid of his excess of flames. The whole thing is as frustrating as the days before. The two-hour alarm had still to ring.

Skull relaxes his jaw and puts his hands flat on his thighs. His eyes open to land on the blue wall in front of him. It could be worse he supposes. He had been stucked — locked — in four walls much less comfy before. Much less big, less welcoming, less safe, less everything.

His flames were kept from him before too. The itching, the urge to claw at his skin, to rip it off to let his flames free — Skull is familiar with it all already. It brings back memories, memories of —

The air in the room ignites in purple. For a second Skull considers doing nothing. To let his flames visible, to feed them more power, to let them expand. Skull had been locked in four walls much worse before and he burnt them to the ground —

He bolts upright and roots his feet to the spot. There is nowhere else to go anyway, not in the state he is in, not when his bedroom is the room he tolerates the most of all the rooms in the mansion. He turns around to leans on the window's edge in a vice-like grip.

Skull is losing his goddamn mind. From the corner of his eyes he could see the purple of his flames fading and deepening and fading again. Maybe he should just go in the training room see how it goes. The two-hour alarm had still to ring.

Cloud flames flares again, the pacifier takes his due of them and Skull chokes on the scream he holds back. His hands fly to his hair and he tugs, tugs, tugs, tu —

Someone hugs him from behind. A dangerous tremor goes through his flames but the person doesn't let go.

"Take a deep breath with me." Skull only wants to scream but complies anyway. He focuses on the soft voice in his ear. "Good, just like that. In… and out. In… and out."

Colonnello rocks him gently from left to right and manages to free his hair from his vicious grip. Skull lets his eyes closed and breathes in Colonnello's scent. It's only when his flames stop thrashing that the Rain uses his own to coax them back in a superficial calm, to numb them down, to make him relax. It could have taken minutes or hours for all the Cloud knows.

"I need to get out of here."

"Soon. Verde says he's almost done."

"It can't be soon enough," Skull spits out, feeling inexplicably relieved. It takes him a second to realize it doesn't come from him.

Oh. Were the others —

Colonnello hugs him tighter, snuggles his neck. "Try to bear with it just a bit longer."

It sounds like an unrealistic request but it's not like Skull has any choice. He takes another deep breath, exhale, lets the last of the tension in his body go.

"Colonnello ?"

"Yeah ?"

"I'm pretty sure my door was closed and locked you know."

There's a beat of silence. Then another. Then Skull whips his body around to look Colonnello in the face.

"Really ? Did you break my door ? Is my door broken again ? For god's sake don't you people know how to knock ?"

The badly hidden smile on Colonnello's face makes Skull takes a last one, very much needed deep breath.

Fon gives him a weird look, hair loose and damp and sticking to his skin. He smiles back, not sure it's what he's supposed to do but it seems to work. They're led to the bathroom and pause at the doorway.

"I noticed you were the one who comes assess the damage when Fon… slips." Colonnello answers his silent question. "So, here you are."

"Yes I do that. Because I know a couple of tricks when it comes to mechanics. Not how to clean up a war zone."

"Don't exaggerate," Fon denies and get two disbelieving looks for it.

Skull turns back to the war zone and takes it in once more. The bathtub is in pieces, only one of the glass doors around the shower remains, the pieces of glass on the wet floor and the various furniture in the room broken in some way, if not all. Burnt marks are pretty much everywhere, especially around the suspiciously looking-like-fists imprints on the wall. Nothing in the small toolbox Skull's holding will do much good.

"You can fix the faucet," Fon proposes. "It's leaking."

It isn't right now but it does somehow looks intact, incredibly enough considering the destruction all around it.

"What, did you let it time to beg for its life ? Did you have an affair with it or something ?"

Colonnello snorts and tries to hide it by coughing. Skull glances at Fon, then glances away real quick and hurry towards the faucet to start his work.

Colonnello nor him ask what happened. It's not the first time, but even more than that they all have to work through gaining back control on their flames since the Curse. The Storm's… slips just so happen to be more collateral damage inducing than the rest of them.

"Done," Skulls informs and makes a show to turn the faucet on and off to demonstrate it.

"Thank you. My apologies for the inconvenience."

He turns around just in time to see Colonnello all but throws himself on Fon, taking away his hands from his hair. He looks positively offended.

"Were you going to braid them ?"

Skull do not miss the glance Fon throws his way. "Yes ?"

"But they're not even dry yet. And you didn't brush them."

"It's fine." Fon glances at him again. His smile is strained. "I'm… not in the mood for a hair routine anymore," he adds when Colonnello doesn't free his hands.

"Oh." Colonnello pauses, then takes on a really... Rain-y demeanor. "Do you want to talk about it ?" He asks in the soft voice he used before with him.

The sharp taste of Storm flames in the air disappears as quick as it appears. The Storm himself stills looks ready to strike however, or bolts far from there. He doesn't do either, which just may be because of the thumbs stroking his wrists, but what does Skull know.

Fon wipes his smile off his face and sighs. His voice is quiet when he speaks. "Storm flames rather tend to lack... delicacy. I spent years making my own flames the exception. What's happening now is simply frustrating."

Colonnello gives Fon's hands a squeeze. "Yeah, I can imagine." He intertwines their fingers together, and Storm flames flares again for an entirely different reason. "Do you mind others touching your hair ?" Is the next out of nowhere question.

Fon glances at him once more, the confusion on his face kind of hilarious but Skull bravely hold back. "Not really ?"

"Good," the Rain perks up. "Let's move on to the bed then."

They move on to the bed. Fon is between Colonnello's legs and lets him dry his hair with a towel. Skull sits in front of the Storm, working his fingers through his bangs. They're soft, silk-like between his fingers. His skin is smooth too and warm to the touch.

They're close Fon and him, closer than Skull remember them ever being missions apart. It made him jumped when he asked for permission beforehand through their Bond. Apparently the others had still to realize the new closeness of their flames.

Fon is staring at him but he pretends to not notice. Fon is very much staring at him though, and he deems it more safe to look back. He's quick to lose the confrontation and holds back a sigh.

"So," Skull breaks the silence, a bit curious himself, "what do you even know about hair again ?"

Colonnello doesn't look up. "Lal lets me do hers when she can't bother to. Why ?"

Skull pointedly looks at Fon at that. Fon looks right back at him. Fon is burning holes in his skin with his eyes when Colonnello puts the towel aside for the brush, and Skull can make the smart decisions from time to time.

"I was just curious. What do you know about braiding hair ?"

He makes a face at the Storm's deadpan expression. So what if he didn't beat around the bush ? Honestly, how ungrateful.

Colonnello only hums for a response, and this time the eye contact between him and Fon is mutual. He looks away, only to find blue eyes already on him, blue eyes which are staring him down.

Skull closes his mouth real quick. He stands his ground when the Storm pulls at their bond, and rolls his eyes when he starts pouting. The audacity. Fon certainly looks relaxed enough under Colonnello's ministrations. The guy obviously knew how to use his fingers, as they were all figuring out one by one.

The guy did not know how to make a braid.

It's loose, hair of strands sticking out everywhere, and Colonnello visibly didn't stick to the same movement pattern until the end. It's —

"Cute," Fon settles on, ever the nice one.

"Yeah, in how lame it is," Skull corrects and gets shoved for it. "I thought Lal let you do her hair ?"

"She does."

"What you do for love, am I right ?"

Fon seems to startle himself with his chuckle. He raises his hand to cover his mouth with his sleeve but his eyes stays full of mirth.

Colonnello huffs. "Well aren't you guys fucking mean." He gets on his knees, towering above them, his arms on Fon's shoulders. He tilts the Storm's head up. The atmosphere in the room changes drastically. "I did my best you know." He rubs his knuckles alongside his jaw, and it's easy to see the blush rising up along Fon's neck, bared as it is.

What a sneaky little bastard.

"Cute," Fon stammers. "I said — the braid — braid is cute, I said."

"Just cute ?" Colonnello nuzzles their noses together. He slides his hand down Fon's neck, right over the adam's apple which visibly pops up and down. The Storm's bond goes hysteric. "I worked really hard on it."

The little son of a —, Skull doesn't even have his phone with him !

They wait a long time for Fon's response. And another really long time. Skull takes pity when he still looks like a deer caught in head lights, his face as red as his clothes. (Colonnello is a second away of laughing and it doesn't help Skull keep his composure.)

He doesn't mean for his touch to startle the martial artist. He doesn't expect him to startle so bad he actually headbutt Colonnello. The way he falls back groaning in pain but Fon doesn't even acknowledge it makes him loose it.

He bursts out laughing, and Fon takes the opportunity to flee his own bedroom.

- have some Skull's... backstory ? I put a question mark because, you know, i did promise you fluff WITHOUT plot, but yeah, have... this

- the bathroom issue is completly ignored until the next day

- Skull and Colonnello coax Fon back and spend the afternoon playing with his hair.

- it's a Skull POV so it may not be shown but as stated, they all are working through fixing whatever the Curse fucked up in their flames. Also if anybody wonder, they are all avoiding each other (mainly because now that Luce betrayed them they're kind of questionning their Bond), and that's why these "one on one" encounter can happen.

(- i couldn't squeeze in a more serious conversation between Colonnello and Fon, but oh well, maybe in another chapter)

I'm not quite satisfied with this chapter. I'm sorry to all of you Fon's lovers but hopefully it was at least okay.

Are my dialogues okay ? I confess it's one of my biggest fear when it comes to my writing. (also using too much their names dfskflkds) (also it doesn't become repetitve does it ? I try not to make it so but do tell me if i fail to do so lol)

I hope you liked it. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading !

— w.h