They end the day sitting on steps leading down to the river that runs through the city, the faint sound of traffic above them and a sunset glistening off the softly stirred waters as they eat ice cream.
"I don't mind this," Colonnello admits after a while of pleasant silence, chewing on the wooden paddle pop stick in his mouth as he sits between the two.
"Don't mind what?" Skull responds lazily, voice partly muffled since he's sucking on the end of the icy pole's now empty plastic wrapper.
"Waiting," Colonnello explains. He spits out the stick and it impressively lands in the bin a couple of steps down. "I get that Skies are paranoid about letting people in."
Reborn's grip spasms around the empty ice cream cup held in his lap, the tiny plastic spoon rattling against the edge. He turns away from where he's watching the water lap up against the lower concrete steps and his focus narrows in on Colonnello.
"We don't have a Sky," Skull corrects lightly, but the pause has already lasted too long.
Colonnello seems to be a great fit; he's as energetic as Skull and as competitive as Reborn. Plus the blond is really into feeding them, which is great. He'll buy them drinks when they pass by convenience stores or have snacks waiting when they meet up, always with a rougish grin and happily throwing his arms over the other two's shoulders.
The soldier is also very loyal, considering he once knocked out an assassin with no hesitation before Reborn even managed to pull out a gun. Colonnello did not actually know it was an assassin, he thought the woman had grabbed Reborn's ass and that's why Reborn flinched away so suddenly, but it still counts.
However, loyalty tends to get a bit skewed when Skies come into the picture. Because often times, a Sky isn't really person so much as a tool or trophy. COMSUBIN doesn't use Skies to attract recruits or to act as a symbol of prestige but that could change.
Truthfully, Reborn doesn't know how COMSUBIN operates past basics because while he has attempted to gather more information, this whole thing has gone by so fast, he's had so little time. He feels like he just met Colonnello yesterday, but also like the blond has been one of Reborn's friends since childhood.
Colonnello turns left and right, looking between them. "You are testing me as a Guardian, yeah?" He pauses, pulling back a bit. "I'm not just - I mean I'm happy to be your friend still, if that's all this is, but I thought that maybe…"
Colonnello sounds unsure, self-conscious and a little bit embarassed. Reborn could lie, and the blond would believe him with all the embarassment weighing the man down.
Yeah, he probably could lie.
Reborn takes one hand off his ice cream cup and drags his fedora down over his face in shame. "We lasted barely a month," he groans. He's better than this, honestly. He shoves the hat back up and glares at Skull from around Colonnello. "I blame you."
"What?" the Cloud splutters, the icy pole's plastic wrapper falling out of his mouth and flopping sadly over his leg. "Why?"
Reborn's glare sharpens. "Because do you even know what 'subtle' means? You seriously asked him about what he thought of being a Guardian, literally the first day I met him."
"Well how else were we going to find out?" Skull cries defensively.
"You slide into the topic and then make him start talking about it first so he thinks it's his idea," Reborn snaps. "This is basic interrogation."
"I'm a civilian!" Skull throws his hands up in frustration. "How am I supposed to know interrogation tactics?"
"It's common sense," Reborn shoots back.
Skull deflates. "I tried," he whines quietly.
Colonnello snickers in the background and quickly holds up his hands in surrender when the other two frown at him. "I can keep a secret if you want me to," he promises. "I won't tell anyone, you're clearly hiding. I was just letting you know that we can move on from the basic screening now."
Skull widens his eyes hopefully. "You want to be Reborn's Guardian?"
Colonnello stares. "Reborn's?"
"Ah," Skull realises. "You didn't know that." He coughs. "I mean, did you want to be Reborn's fellow Guardian? And my fellow Guardian. Because Reborn does not have Sky flames."
The hitman sighs and tosses his ice cream cup into the bin. "What's the point of even trying anymore?"
"No, no," Colonnello says quickly, leaning toward Reborn and waving a hand dismissively. "This is good – this is actually better. I thought you two were interviewing me and then we'd go back and I'd have to meet some strange Sky who would definitely have a God-complex."
"Reborn does have a Go-"
Skull chokes when Reborn lunges across Colonnello's lap and picks up the icy pole packet to shove it into the stuntman's mouth.
Reborn sits back up and turns to Colonnello now that Skull is occupied with spitting out plastic. "There's no one else to meet."
"No one?" Colonnello echoes. "No other Guardians? Regular subordinates? Alliances?"
"I'm freelance," Reborn mutters in annoyance. "What do you want from me?"
Colonnello shrugs. "I just thought that someone must have picked you up. Do you not want a family?"
"I don't need one," Reborn says honestly. "They'd drag me down. They'd be slow and weak and stupid and I'd be the one who has to deal with their messes. I don't want to be collared – there's not a single reason to deliberately mutilate myself by letting parasites latch on to me."
The blond cracks a smile. "I see you've run into some assholes before."
Reborn huffs.
"Families aren't like that," Colonnello continues, slumping back to plant an elbow on the steps behind him. "I mean, I don't think they are." He runs a hand through his short blond hair. "I'd be willing to test that."
"Yeah?" Skull asks hopefully.
Colonnello is watching Reborn.
Reborn thinks that maybe they're rushing things a bit, but he also know that he really does want Colonnello with him. He nods. "Okay."
Skull squeaks in delight and rams Colonnello from the side so they both fall over onto Reborn, who barely catches himself on the edge of the steps that drops down into the river.
"Do it!" Skull cheers, bouncing where he's half lying on Colonnello's back. "Do it, do it!"
"Now?" Colonnello blurts out, holding himself off Reborn with his hands braced on the steps either side of the hitman. "Here? Like isn't it a whole ceremony?"
"Sounds boring." Skull sticks a tongue out. "We do it differently."
"What's your way then?"
Reborn smirks. "Make an attempt and hope for the best." He wraps his arms around Colonnello and takes a quick peek to check no one can see them with the overhang above and the darkness settling on Italy with the lowering sun.
Colonnello flares a brilliant, stunning light blue and his grin is even brighter.
He fits in nicely with the other weird bonds Reborn has accumulated and the abrupt sensation of shock and pride and overwhelming happiness is quite the ego boost for Reborn.
Then Colonnello's arms give out from the shock to his system, and since Skull is still pushing, they all go over the edge and plop into the river below.
Could have been worse.
Colonnello's Guardian bond is also humming inside Reborn now, sparking up shyly and waiting for Reborn to tap on it in reply before the soldier settles down contently. Colonnello seems to be worried that Reborn will disappear.
Reborn is terrified that Colonnello is a figment of his imagination, a perfectly nice and normal man who doesn't have a predilection for kidnapping or stalking. Maybe Reborn has gone insane, stuck in Skull's basement, and has created himself an imaginary friend.
Does that mean Fon and Verde are also a part of his imagination? Oh God.
Colonnello bumps him and Reborn taps and they both smile, three hours away from each other but perfectly in sync.
"What's making you so happy?" Alicia asks.
A cute blond and a purple freak.
Well also, Reborn is so close to finally digging out that bastard Mist messing around with him. He's weeded out the dead ends by shifting through Alicia's contacts, picking up a few loose strings the Mist has left, so arrogant as to not even bother clean up after themselves.
He's pulling, unravelling the web. That gambler, leading to the manager of the horse stables, linking to a farm with body disposal, matching to a crude famiglia, meeting with those meth labs, stretching several dozen other bridges and that's just what Reborn has found in a month.
It's almost impressive, how the Mist controls so many pieces, all to just get the most amount of the money the fastest. Honestly, Reborn will enjoy ripping the network to shreds by leaving hints to competitors or disposing of a few key players. Might even get Interpol involved if Skull wants an adventure.
He won't play much though. He hasn't killed anyone fun in too long, and he's getting withdrawal.
Reborn turns to Alicia and softens his expression into something approximating love-struck. "I'm with a beautiful woman, why would I be anything else but ecstatic?"
Alicia's beautiful laugh rings with a toss of her hair and she leans into Reborn's shoulder.
