Lal glances over again and Colonnello is still looking a bit shaken. "What was that phone call?"

Colonnello grimaces. "My...my friend got attacked. He says he's fine but I'm just worried."

Lal raises an eyebrow. "Alright then." She sighs and rechecks her shotgun. "Guess we're finishing early."

Colonnello perks up. "Yes, Ma'am!"


Colonnello blitzes through his mission and races to Reborn's home late that night to find Reborn sitting at the dining table sipping coffee while a burnt Skull is curled up on the couch napping, the kitchen blacked with scorch marks, and a whole lot of blood.

"You're back early," Reborn muses tiredly, turning to Colonnello. His fedora is resting on the table, right next to a handgun and three extra ammo clips like he's expecting a fight. "Did Skull tattle on me while I was distracted moving the body?"

"Skull said some Storm guy tried to kill you," Colonnello says, taking a seat beside Reborn. "And then you healed the guy anyway?"

"It's fine," Reborn sighs. "Monster is just like that, you know. It's what he does."

Reborn waves a hand vaguely and Colonnello catches it, pulling him over so they can cuddle (damn you, Skull, it's infectious).

"I'm tired," Reborn mumbles into Colonnello's shoulder.

Colonnello strokes the hitman's soft black hair, messing it up a bit because this is probably the only chance he will ever get since Reborn is obsessive over his looks.

"I don't think I finished healing Skull," Reborn complains. "My head still hurts. It's going to take so long to fix the kitchen, I need to clean up the blood, I put the corpse in the backyard."

"Skull can suffer since I'm sure he caused most of this mess," Colonnello soothes. "Let's go upstairs because if you rest, you'll be less tired, and your headache will go away. I'll take care of the blood and the body, then we'll decide what to do with the damage together."

Reborn blinks. "You know, he looked devastated when he thought I replaced him. Sure, he attacks me but I like fighting him, it's fun. This time was...I lost my footing and. It. Everything snowballed."

Colonnello frowns. "Where are you hurt?"

"It's all healed," Reborn dismisses.

The blond tsks but lets Reborn get away with it. "The Storm - is it just for how strong he is? Because I've been training to ... anyway, I feel like Skull won the fight."

Reborn laughs. "Fon wasn't trying particularly hard but I guess Skull could have done better too. Besides, I don't need his strength, I'm going to be the world's greatest some day." Reborn pets his gun. "I want him, for all his violence and persistence, and I want it to be mine. I don't care that he's a monster, I just care that he's my Monster. I want loyalty and he would raze famiglias to the ground for me."

"That's not a good thing," Colonnello points out very logically.

"Oh, sweet Rain," Reborn croons, nuzzling into the blond's shoulder. "This is why we didn't spark. Because you're a good person on the inside and I don't deserve you."

Colonnello rolls his eyes. "Just take the guy in for a trial run."

Reborn winces, pulling away and sitting up. "He hurt Skull. Neither of you like him anyway, it would upset you."

Colonnello just leans over instead, flopping all over Reborn with long arms. "I do want to make it clear that I don't like him, and he's a shithead, but I'll give him one more chance. Because it seems like you really want to make it happen, otherwise I would be hunting him down right now. Skull would agree as well, I think, to a test run."

"I don't know," Reborn mumbles. "Maybe he'll die of blood loss and the decision is out of my hands."

However, that is...kind of what he's doing with Verde? He's trialling the scientist. But Fon has done more, is more of a threat to the others if Reborn lets him get too close.

Reborn looks up at the soldier. "Could you work with him, trust him, if I did want to try?"

"No," Colonnello deadpans immediately. "Hell no to trusting him, after pulling this bullshit-" He cuts himself off and grimaces. "Look, I haven't even met him before. I won't trust him but I will play nice for you. I think…" He pauses. "…that I don't know the situation, and this might not be the best advice. But if you like this guy, how about you try communicating for once? Without violence. Because honestly, I'm going to need to see how he responds before I can give you an actual answer."

"Communicating. Sounds boring," Reborn hums.

Colonnello lightly headbutts the hitman. "You know exactly what you're willing to put up with and what you're not, make that clear."

Reborn reaches up and pets Colonnello on the cheek because it's time for a distraction since he hasn't decided what he should do yet. He smirks. "Skull set himself on fire like a weird defensive instinct."

Colonnello takes a deep breath. "Let's get you into bed." The soldier disentangles himself from the hitman and pulls them both up.

Reborn takes his gun and ammo before slinking up the stairs, lingering long enough to see Colonnello slap Skull awake with a pillow, before continuing to bed while Skull hysterically tries to explain his rather unique fighting style.


"Babe!" Skull calls down from the top of the stairs, half-dressed and hair still dripping from the shower.

Reborn and Colonnello both look up.

Skull trots down a few steps and sits so he can see them better. "Ah, bigger babe," he clarifies.

Reborn goes back to reading the newspaper and sipping espresso. Colonnello, who is about half a head taller than Reborn, rolls off the couch and lopes up to the bottom of the stairs.

Skull makes grabby hands at the blond, chipped purple nail polish on his fingers. "Have you seen my gloves?"

"Yeah, you burned them," Colonnello deadpans. "I threw them out along with the rest of your ruined suit."

"No, but I had a second set of my protective leathers here," Skull insists. "It's purple with a black lining?"

Reborn chuckles. "You just described all of your clothes."

Skull scoffs. "Because you're so much better, Mr. Suit-and-Fedora. Let's not forget camouflage over there."

Colonnello frowns. "This is my uniform!"

"You're not working, this is your lounge-wear!"


.

A/N: Switched up the chapter a bit because people started getting upset. Fon is a shithead, Verde is a shithead, so is Reborn, and Skull's definitely got something wrong with him.

That's the joke; they're all destined for each other because no one else could come out the other side still standing. (I always saw it as Mafia roughhousing, they don't mean it maliciously and most of them are fighters anyway - it would be like sparring.)