"You're shitting me."

"Nuh-uh, it went just as bad as I just told you. I mean come on, the seven of us in a lab full of ongoing experiments and one bored Reborn ? How else could it have gone ?"

Colonnello looks skeptic still but resumes his hand's movements in his hair. "Alright, yeah, you got me. But did you have to destroy the lab ?"

"I mean it's not like we intended to. But Reborn started throwing things at us and, well —" Skull shrugs, jostling the leg where he has his head laid on.

"And now you're stuck waiting for Verde to put his things aside whenever you need to go in his lab ?"

"Basically."

Colonnello glances at the locked door beside him, then back at him. "Typical of Reborn."

"You don't say," Skull laughs, but then tries to muffle it with his hand lest Reborn be summoned by it and round the corner intent to kill him.

The blond shakes his head, grinning down at him. "You're all just a bunch of crazy. I don't even know why I'm surprised because it looks just like the type of Set Lal would have."

"Yeah ? What does it say about you that you fit so well in it so far then ?"

Colonnello's smile falters and all traces of humor evaporates from within Skull. Something like guilt flashes in his eyes but it's gone before he can be sure. The hallway goes dead silent and Skull is such a goddamn idiot.

He raises his hand to his cheek to make him look at him again. "Want me to tell you what it says ?"

"What ?" It's barely a whisper.

"That Lal has really a distinct type."

Colonnello blinks at him, mouth agape, then he's laughing, throwing his head back against the wall. Skull lets his hand falls content with himself, until suddenly all he can see is Colonnello's face. He tries hard not to shift, extra aware of the thumb brushing his temple.

"You really don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you ?"

He raises his hand again to keep blond locks out of his view. "One of my many qualities."

"Yeah it is." Skull's heart makes something funny he doesn't want to dwell on. "Want to enlighten me on something else ?" The dramatic pause makes him roll his eyes. "If I am Lal's type and you are Lal's type too — what does that say ?"

Skull's heart skips a beat. He has no idea what Colonnello's actually implying because he can't really think right now, but his heart refuses to slow down.

His mouth is opened on words he hasn't decided on yet, but the door clicks open and he ends up not saying anything at all.

Skull feels both relieved and disappointed at that. (And maybe he feels a bit more disappointed than relieved.)

Skull doesn't know if it's a law of the universe that every lab in the world have to be white but Verde's own isn't the exception.

The lab is empty except for the multiple locked cupboards against the walls, for sure protected by a lightning shield. It smells its usual mixture of chemicals and disinfectant he still doesn't like, and Verde is yet to take him up on the offer to put some background music in there.

The man is busying himself in front of a little table nearby, while Colonnello and him are sat in one of these beds doctors have. Skull couldn't ever find them comfortable enough.

"Is it just me or the room is way too big compared to the space between the doors in the hallway ?" Colonnello whispers in his ear.

"This whole part of the house is dedicated to Verde's researches," he whispers back. "He made walls fall down where he could and how it arranged him the most."

Verde rolls the table towards them, diverting their attention on him, and Skull is relieved to see there's only a few things on it.

"Alright, listen —"

"Are you taking care of yourself Verde ?" He cuts him off without meaning to. "You look terrible."

Verde looks absolutely overworked, with dark bags under his eyes, his hair messed up and his skin worryingly pale. His clothes and coat are all ruffled, and he sounds just tired.

"I'm still standing am I not ?"

"Barely." Verde shifts his gaze to Colonnello at that, who stands his ground, and Skull quickly steps in.

"Just sit down at least ? Please ?"

So maybe Skull feels a bit guilty now for his bouts of impatience. He couldn't help but wonder if Verde spent any time at all not working on the Curse, making sure it isn't harming them more than necessary. He ought to apologizes to him at some point.

He doesn't know if the scientist catches on his inner struggle or not but he goes find a chair for himself anyway. He also takes the opportunity to move his computer from the table to his lap.

"Now listen," he starts again. "I'm going to put these capsules around your pacifiers to analyze how they work. Keep your flames as docile as possible until I'd need you to feed your pacifier willingly."

"Willingly ?" Skull repeats, ready to bolt out of there already.

"You heard me. It'll be for just a few minutes. I had some of the others do it already, it's with no consequences." It doesn't reassure him but he keeps his complaints to him anyway. Colonnello doesn't look much eager either, but Skull supposes they aren't about to tell Verde how to do his researches. "Great. Lose your jackets and lie down."

They lose their jackets and lie down. There's no lights blinding him above his head or horrifying looking tools ready to slice him open, and it helps him breath a little easier. Verde gets them ready, put the transparent capsules on, adds some captors of some sort on their bare skin, and injects them with something he doesn't feel the effect. (His flames might have come to life at the view of the needle but neither of them comment on it.)

He freezes when Colonnello takes his hand in his, then relaxes, and only notices then how much he was fidgeting on the first place. The scientist sits back down and Skull keeps his eyes on him, both as a distraction and because of how he legitimately worries.

"Are you taking care of yourself ?" He asks again.

"Yes," is the reluctant answer. It earns him a little smile. Apart from Fon, Verde is the only one to recognize that Skull can't be swayed on if he doesn't feel like it. "Reborn and Fon come from time to time to knock me out cold."

Colonnello splutters at that, and Skull thinks he ought to be surprised too but dismisses the thought in the same breath.

"What about food ?"

"They do threaten me to feed me themselves if I don't do it on my own, yes."

"Good." He gives the scientist an approving smile which colors Verde's face in something else than tiredness, no matter how faint it is. "Now if only we had a functioning Rain available to make it more painless."

Skull swears Verde and him exchanged a smile at Colonnello's sharp intake of breath. He raises on his elbow. "Say what now ?" He's quick to squish his cheeks with his hand. "You've got some nerves. What, you don't think I tried ? Take that back."

"Oh ?" He says innocently and get pushed against the bed for that. He struggles under Colonnello's weight but goddamn the guy is heavy, and he's too busy laughing and crying for help to Verde and not suffocating anyway.

The scientist's help come in the form of lightning sparks along their skin which bring them back to order. "Rain flames slow down my mind so I avoid them like the plague. Now stop acting like children and hold still."

Colonnello shoves him one last time before complying. He pinches him until Skull abdicates and apologies.

The group exercise isn't going well. He doesn't know why Verde made them sit in front of each other because it isn't helping. Verde's own stare on him is distracting. He glances to the scientist who takes it as his cue to judge him again.

"Are you even trying ?"

"If you ask me that one more time Verde, I swear —" His glare lets the man unfazed so he shifts his focus back to Colonnello, sat cross-legged on the bed like him too. If he feels impatient he doesn't show it, bless his soul.

Skull is trying. It isn't his fault if he has no idea how to use the Bond. Isn't it supposed to be something all instinctual, as natural as breathing or whatever the stories says in the first place ?

"I'm going to speak through our bond again," Colonnello says. "Focus on it and try to speak back to me."

Skull takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Their Bond manages to be a jumble mess somehow, despite the distinct distance they keep between their respective flames. They meddle together anyway, to better pushed each other away and sink their claws deeper on each other all at once, flames raw and lashing out.

His mood lifts suddenly, as if someone just patted his back or squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, and Skull traces the feeling back to Colonnello's bond. The Rain feels like waves crashing against the foot of a cliff, which find their strength in their relentlessness. He focuses his flames on it and tries to send back some gratitude.

And tries again.

And keep trying.

It takes around fifteen minutes for Colonnello to react.

"I felt that," he exclaims.

"Felt what ?"

"Err, something ?"

"Something." Verde's repeats, and his tone makes Skull gears up for the rest. "It's vague. I'll need you to be more precises than 'something' Skull."

"What about my urge to strangle you right now ?"

"Irrelevant. You must do it consciously."

Skull throws his head back and groans.

The group exercise takes a turn for the better. It takes him thirty more minutes for him to have any say on what his bond does, no matter how little it is. They go from Something, to a Good Something or Bad Something, to actually some nuances between the two extremes, and finally to whole feelings like joy or sadness or tiredness or anger. Sometime his pacifier glows in its transparent capsule, only his, but Verde doesn't say anything about it so he ignores it.

Skull couldn't say at what point he decides to just make Colonnello cracks up instead of having a non-verbal conversation with him. He sends him only what would be an infectious laugh, or the punchline of a particularly good joke, or tickles of all things. He has no fucking idea how he does that, no matter how consciously he does it, but he's good at it.

He watches how Colonnello bites his lip to keep his composure, his teeth sinking into rosy flesh, how his smile spreads little by little and crinkles his eyes, how he breaks in laughter, head threw back and his upper body shaking with it. He watches, and makes sure the blond keeps laughing, tracks the red rising his cheeks, and the sky blue eyes shining with tears, and —

Skull tries to not have his breath stole away. Skull tries his best to keep thought of pretty, gorgeous, hot damn far away from their bond. (He thinks it weird Verde doesn't tell him off for it, until a quick look at his bond tells him that he is just too busy watching too.)

The bed is a tight fit for the three of them. (It's not clear how they all end up on it.)

Skull is playing with the new metal bracelet around his wrist, a flame reading device, and tries not to rip it off from there. He glances down to Verde's computer, with moving lines and numbers and diagrams he can't bother to try to understand on the screen, then to the man's similar bracelet at his wrist.

They are supposed to keep it only for a day but Skull is sure the scientist'd been wearing it longer. It's a jarring realization, because as much as the slight pull on his flames could reasonably be ignored altogether, Skull doesn't think he'd ever feel any intrusion on his flames in any other way than a violation. He couldn't keep the bracelet on for more than a day even if he wanted to, and he isn't even sure he'll last that long for starting.

Verde jabs him in the ribs when he doesn't look away. "Whatever useless thoughts are going on in your head, I'd rather you use your energy to have my devices ready to work."

"I'm doing just that."

Verde pushes his glasses back up his nose. "No you're not. Should I remind you the instructions ?" He opens his mouth to say no but of course it was a rhetoric question. "Conceal, Rise, Expand, Focus. These are basic flames exercises. Surely you have that much discipline on yours ?" He gives him a pointed look. "Colonnello is done already."

"Good for him."

Colonnello raises his head from the other side of Verde to give him an amused look before lying back down. Skull focuses back on doing what he's told to do. He'd be done too if it wasn't for the scientist's absurd high standards.

The silence falls back in the room, more comfortable than he would have thought. He's almost lulled by the computer's noises and occasional clicks of the keyboard when Colonnello speaks again.

"Verde ?"

"We're not talking about that."

"Okay." He turns to his side, lowers the computer screen so Verde can't see it anymore, and waits for an acknowledgment that only comes in a sigh. "Let's talk about your unshaven beard of multiple days now then."

"What about it ? It's only part of my —" His eyes flicker to Skull — "aesthetic."

Skull bolts upright. "Fucking say that again I dare you, you little —"

Colonnello yanks him back down by the arm. "Your aesthetic is just fine Skull. You're reacting just the way he wants you to."

The amused look in Verde's eyes more than the words makes him shut up — barely —, but he doesn't fail to punch him in the shoulder for it. He becomes intentionally bad at controlling his flames after that, and gets even worse when Verde's bond flares in irritation. He can't believe he considered for even a second to be nice to him.

When Verde slides the computer to him Skull thinks he's about to be told off, but he turns to face Colonnello instead.

"I see." The familiar interest in his voice is back, for the first time since they entered the lab. "So that's what you do."

"What ?"

"Your hand." Colonnello immediately retracts it from where he was drawing circles on the junction between Verde's neck and shoulder. "I didn't tell you to take it off." He lowers it back where it was and tentatively starts drawing his circles again. "That's what all the fuss is about then. I suppose I can see why the others would like it."

"But not you ?"

"I'm merely collecting data."

Colonnello chuckles. "You're cute." Verde's bond stills in bewilderment and surprise, and Skull savors the rarity of it. "It's called human warmth mister the scientist." He draws closer to bump their foreheads together, and the reddening of his ears is undeniable. "I'm rather fond of this, yes."

Verde turns his back to him, only to scowl faced to Skull's grin, which grows even bigger when he takes note of the computer he was quick to put aside on the chair, out of his reach. He's almost pushed to the floor for that, and when he repositions himself snickering, Verde is glaring at the ceilling arms crossed on his chest.

Colonnello takes off his glasses and gives them to him to put aside too. Verde narrowed stare isn't much intimidating when Skull is sure it's partly due to bad eyesight. He finds it kind of cute.

He stays still when the hand who was playing with the strands of his hair at the base of his neck goes up to massage his temple. But of course it's simply for the sake of his precious data and nothing else.

The jab in his ribs is unexpected but it really shouldn't have been at this point. The red colored skin is worth it, but Skull jabs back anyway this time. He still thinks this Bond thing should come with a firewall or something.

"Stop it, both of you. And Verde, just relax. I promise you won't find us dying when you'll wake up alright ?"

"Pity," he says, making both of them snort.

Verde falls fast asleep after that. Skull exchanges a knowing glance with Colonnello before focusing back on him. It's new to him to see him like that, body relaxed and face peaceful. He's rarely the one send to remind the scientist of his body limits and doesn't ever linger afterwards.

Verde's breath is slow and steady, his bond a pleasant tingle and he surprises himself on how content he feels. Maybe he finds it a bit cute too when Verde starts snoring.

Skull smiles to himself, and stands up to go search for a blanket.

This chapter did NOT want to be written, but here it is anyway.

- skull tries his new-found skill on the others just to fuck with them

- they're ok with it and actually enable him only when they're not the target of it

- viper's laugh is the favorite and they're NOT happy when the others league against them so they can hear it more

- (the pictures he takes that day are skull's favorites so far)

So. There's arguably a bit too much Colonnello/Skull for a Verde chapter (and maybe it's a bit too dialogue-y ?). For my defense as much as Colonnello (and Skull) is very much the touchy-feely type, it doesn't mean all the arcobaleno are too. And as it turns out i headcanon Verde as the type of person who isn't much up for physical contact (which is not to say he is necessarily against it). I tried to include him and give him some love whenever i could and wherever it felt natural to me, but i'm sorry to all the Verde lovers if you feel a bit disappointed.

Next chapter is Lal. I have two ideas define enough for me to write but apart from that, so far i draw a blank. If I were to summarize her chapter it'd be something like "Lal steps in to remind everyone who is the official girlfriend in the house. She delights in the Arcobaleno's misery while she's at it because she's stealing all of Colonnello's attention" (she's ruthless skdmdksj). So if you have some ideas or scenes you'd like to see on this concept don't hesitate to share it, i'll take note of them !

Finally i wanted to say thank you so much to all of you for your favorites and follows ! I see you and i appreciate you.

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

(hey do you know these type of beds doctors have ? Or in the dentist ? What ARE those called ?)

- w.h