Verde hears nothing from Reborn after handing over the flame storage device. He doesn't know if it worked, if his Sky is fixed, if Reborn's condition worsened, if-

If Verde failed. He can't track down the hitman's house and that Cloud drives too fast for Italy's ancient speed cameras to keep up, everything just a blur of purple and black.

He finds the Monster but that creature begins to look directly at the cameras with increasing frequency and an ever growing smile, so Verde quickly decides it's best to stop.

Verde does get feedback through the initial bond they have. A sudden, all-consuming rage that splutters and dies almost immediately.

Replaced with a hazy sort of numbness.

That feeling, it drifts through Verde. Weighs him down, makes him sluggish and forces his thoughts down trails they shouldn't go.

Verde makes more storage cubes; tweaks the energy expenditure, switches materials for extra durability, moulds the outside to fit perfectly in the palm of Reborn's hand and optimises the consumption frequency according to the sample of Reborn's flames that Verde took on the first day they met.

Really, how disgusting that Verde would be influenced so much that he's losing himself. His other projects have been shoved into storage rooms, blueprints thrown into drawers and half forgotten.

Verde has a twenty-six million dollar deal to supply the Cerchi famiglia with new plastic matrix run-flats and electrochromic glass for their expanding human-trafficking ring and the trucks they use for transport. Verde has barely even glanced at the contract since he met Reborn.

So now Verde is just sitting in a room with seventy-eight hand-held machines for flame storage, all in different shades of orange because he can't quite match his Sky's beautiful honey-gold flames, trying to figure out how he can find Reborn and-

Happiness bubbles up. From somewhere in Verde's chest. It floods the bond, the pressure building and pushing against his ribs.

Verde smiles and hates himself for it.


"Hey, Fon," Reborn greets, sprawled out on his stomach over a picnic blanket and peering through his scope as he waits for the perfect moment to kill both targets with one shot. It's not needed, he just wants to show off.

Fon approaches the hitman cautiously before taking a seat at the edge of the roof, near Reborn but also far enough away that he can't be pushed off the building. "Good morning. How have you been?"

"Pretty good," Reborn tries to say casually but Skull's bond flares up with a burst of glee and Reborn smiles.

The idiot has probably just thrown himself off a cliff.

"You look happy," Fon muses. "I'm glad."

"My client is paying me an exorbitant amount to kill her cheating husband and his woman," Reborn says. "She wants them to die in the guy's office during sex. I love revenge kills."

Fon tilts his head. "Are you…watching them have sex right now?"

"It's more boring than I thought it'd be," Reborn admits in disappointment. "He kisses like a camel chewing. Do you want to see?" Reborn leans away.

Fon hesitates but takes a peek. "Huh. And why is she…?"

"It might be a kink," Reborn suggests.

Fon straightens up and lets Reborn take over again. "I never want to see that again."

Reborn chuckles and his amusement hits Skull, making the Cloud ping back with joy, and the cycle keeps going. Reborn has been practically been smiling non-stop for the last few days because neither of them can manage the bond very well.

"You smell like a Cloud."

Reborn's head snaps around, only just realising that Fon is far too close now. "Why are you sniffing me?"

"Metal and gasoline," Fon murmurs. "What a Guardian they must be. Are they stronger than I am?" Fon says it lightly, as if it's a funny joke that someone could be stronger.

Reborn shoots twice to take out the couple, his earlier plan for a two-in-one forgotten, and swiftly rises to his knees before immediately starting to pack his gun away into the suitcase.

"Don't run again," Fon sighs.

"Don't make weird comments," Reborn retorts.

He gets to feet and folds the picnic blanket into the suitcase as well before closing it. Fon stays sitting on the ground of the rooftop, looking sadly up at Reborn.

"When do you go back to China?" Reborn asks. He swings the case behind him and grabs the handle with both hands behind his back.

Fon perks up because Reborn has yet to run screaming from him. "I take short trips back. I don't want to leave you alone for too long."

Reborn glances to the window he just shot through. No one has noticed yet since he didn't shatter it. There are no cameras in the area either, Reborn made sure. Still not a good idea to stay up here for too long.

"Have you been stealing my kills?" Reborn asks, looking back to Fon.

"Oh," Fon murmurs. "Pardon me, I believed they were trying to assassinate you without your knowledge."

"Someone keeps sending them after me," Reborn explains. "It's some thief, I think, blaming me for their work and expecting that I'll clean up their enemies for them."

"Do have a lead?"

Reborn shakes his head. "The assassins say it's a different person that they got the information from each time."

"A Mist," Fon realises.

"Or a very good network," Reborn argues. "So, anyway, stop killing my things."

Fon smiles. "As an apology, can I buy you a drink?"

"Are you going to punch me in the stomach again?"

"That depends on you."


.

A/N: Verde is a nerdy shut-in who doesn't understand how human relationships work.

Fon understands, he just doesn't give a fuck.

Skull wins by default.

Alsooo fan art: deviantart / dragon-of-courage/ art/Renato-s-Heart-of-Sky- 833115353