Colonnello pushes his small plate with the giant cookie across the cafe table, more toward Reborn. "I didn't get it, but apparently Verde already fixed it so whatever. If the tap keeps leaking, take it up with him."
"Verde is a plumber as well?" Reborn muses, hand curled around his coffee mug. "Damn, that man can do anything."
Reborn hooks his foot around the leg of Lal's empty chair and drags it in a bit to let a hoard of teenagers past. When he looks back at Colonnello, the blond is giving him a deadpan stare.
"It's a leaky tap, any competent adult can fix it."
Reborn waves a dismissive hand. "And I thought every adult knew how to sew up a hole in their clothes but apparently you insist on claiming it's a fashion statement, so what do I know, right?"
"Okay, let's not throw stones in our little glass houses."
Reborn rolls his eyes. "Oh, did you hear? Skull fell off the roof doing cartwheels up there. I'm pretty sure self-preservation is a basic human thing, so he'll be finishing that race last."
"Fell?" Colonnello echoes with a huff of laughter. "I think he jumped, and you have to admit that backflip on the way down was impressive."
Reborn sighs. "He's going to die and it's going to kill me."
Colonnello very quickly becomes serious. "Skull knows exactly what he can handle. He's dumb, and he makes dumb jokes, but he's not going to risk us."
Reborn breaks off some of the cookie. "Yeah, I know."
Someone sits down in Lal's empty chair and opens the conversation by putting an arm over the back of Reborn's seat and chuckling fondly. "How have you been, Reborn? It's been ages, hasn't it."
Colonnello thinks Reborn is going to shoot the man, which would be upsetting because they're having a good time here and it would be annoying to move.
Reborn is also thinking the same thing and so keeps everything civilian-friendly. "I don't know you," Reborn says flatly and then turns his attention back to Colonnello.
"We've met," the man laughs. "In Sweden, that crazy festival? You killed a rapper, and I was doing project management for the drug runners? What, am I that forgetful?"
Reborn decides to stare at this man straight on because some people genuinely can't read social cues and he doesn't want to be misunderstood. "I don't want to talk to you, go somewhere else."
"Listen, I know you're not into all those 'pharmaceutical' products but I do hear you're shopping around for a Mist-"
"Mate," Colonnello interrupts. "Fuck off. What are you not understanding here, the 'fuck' or the 'off'?"
Lal chooses this moment to come back from the bathroom. She sees the man in her chair and definitely clocks the arm too close to Reborn. Judging by Colonnello words, no formal challenge has been made, so there are no rules in place restricting her movements.
Lal walks up the man and glares. "Let's go outside."
The man laughs at her. "A Rain? What are you going to do, talk it out to defuse the situation?"
Lal goes for a right hook and it's a solid connect. The man is thrown to the floor because Lal is really quite frighteningly strong for someone so small. Lal then walks around the now vacated chair as the man tries to recover and she proceeds to slap him back to the floor.
Reborn is quickly drinking his coffee and Colonnello stuffs the rest of the cookie into his mouth because the other patrons are getting worried, and someone is probably going to call the police soon, so they have to go right now.
On their way out, Reborn links arms with Lal and drags her away, off to the parking lot a few stores down. "So does the military teach any self-discipline at all?"
Lal scoffs as she opens the backdoor of the jeep for Reborn to slide in. "I didn't get to where I am now by sitting pretty and waiting for things to come to me. If I want something done, I do it."
Reborn kind of agrees but also he's Mafia for a reason. "You missed your calling. You could have been a dictator in a past life."
Colonnello makes a noise like a strangled laugh as he buckles himself into the driver's seat.
Lal is the highest possible rank for someone who can still do field work because she would rather go rogue than get stuck behind a desk. It's not technically in her purview but for about six years now, Lal has trained every single COMSUBIN soldier that passed basic training.
She's the one who slots them into teams, who gets them specialised training, who takes out the elite on the most difficult missions. It's never come up, hopefully it never has to, but most soldiers answer to Lal more than they answer to COMSUBIN.
When Colonnello later tells Reborn this, the hitman only gets more confused about how Lal ended up in the military instead of being sucked into the Mafia.
Lal is warm where she sits on the couch, half asleep and wrapped in a worn down, half discoloured blanket that Viper brought over one day. Her feet are propped up on the coffee table, each blink getting longer as she drifts off.
Reborn is slumped sideways, head on top of Lal's, because when he started falling asleep she pulled him off Verde and onto her. Verde is staring off into the distance, fingers no longer tapping away on whatever that device with the multiple screens are.
Fon is somewhere in the backyard with Skull and Colonnello, all three with boundless energy. Viper is probably somewhere, maybe in the room.
Lal should probably wrangle someone over to do the dishes but the dinner was filling and she doesn't want to move.
Reborn feels nice. Lal wants to pet his hair, if only it didn't take so much effort to move. Reborn has such nice hair. Hm. Nice Sky.
Lal can feel Reborn's flames diffuse out into the room, Sun flames radiating like they're meant to. The Sky flames are sitting inside Reborn, nice and calm, leaning over a bit, and so Lal grabs on-
Lal's bond with Reborn is essentially just cramming extra Rain flames inside, where there is genuinely no room, and hoping he doesn't explode.
Reborn wheezes, having lurched off the couch at the sharp pain and is now sitting on the floor of the living room, clutching at his stomach.
Lal is kneeling in front of him, hands out to potentially steady him but keeping her distance. Colonnello is also close and everyone else is scattered around, looking a bit like they're watching a car crash.
"You're fine," Lal says.
"Fuck you," Reborn chokes out. He curls up, arms around his stomach. "There's something wrong."
Viper scoffs. "Everything about this is wrong, even ignoring the whole two Rains issue. Really, he was sleeping peacefully and you shoved a bond into him, Lal."
Lal winces a bit. "I didn't do it on purpose. I was falling asleep too and his flames were everywhere and it slipped in, it just happened. We sparked anyway so of course the bond should feel natural."
"This pain isn't natural," Reborn complains. "Fuck me, this Mafia-style arranged marriage is bullshit."
Verde steps closer.
"No!" Reborn's head snaps up and he glares.
Verde steps back.
Fon tilts his head. "Perhaps Verde should monitor you. In case you…explode."
Skull makes a quiet noise, half hidden behind the couch because Reborn screamed when Skull touched him the first time.
Reborn closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He opens his eyes and sits up as much as he can. "Come here, Skull."
Skull shakes his head. "I hurt you."
"Wasn't you," Reborn reassures. "It's all Lal. She really…dug her hooks in, just bad timing. Everything will be blamed on Lal."
Skull moves over slowly and sits beside Reborn, gently leaning on him. Reborn just grabs him and drags Skull closer, squeezing the stuntman tightly.
Colonnello hesitates. "If…if it's really bad we could knock you out for a while?" Because pain medication doesn't work on injuries caused by flames.
"It's better," Reborn reassures. "More uncomfortable than anything right now. Some weird things are happening inside me."
The new bond shifts and Reborn groans. The only reason Lal can even shift is because she's out of place, doesn't fit anywhere, so she can slip around.
"It's okay," Lal says quickly. "Sorry, just trying to move to a better position."
Reborn's breath stutters. "There is no better position because you are not supposed to be inside me."
Lal waits for a long moment but can't shut up. "Technically, with only three bonds, there should be a lot of room."
Verde tilts his head. "The number features in how bonds react to each other and the Sky but is not the deciding factor for 'room'."
Lal gestures towards Reborn's stomach. "I can feel the overlap with Colonnello, so if I move over-"
"No moving," Reborn states. "There will be no moving. You will all sit in the places you are given and be thankful."
Fon nods. "I feel that we should let Reborn's Sky flames decide what should be done, as it should know best."
Lal yanks her bond to the side.
Reborn screams a curse and grips Skull so tight Skull's ribcage almost fractures and the stuntman wheezes. Reborn immediately lets go and slumps back against the front of the couch, hand coming up to cover his face as he pants, trying to control the pain.
After the initial shockwave, the pain ebbs and Reborn's breathing slows back down to normal. Reborn's hands fall back into his lap. He blinks rapidly, dazed. "Skull, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Skull says soothingly. "Hug me again?"
Reborn pulls Skull over. "Lal, you fucking bitch."
"Did it work?" Lal points out, already confident because she can see Reborn's more relaxed posture.
Reborn gives her a deadpan stare. "Yeah, and where did you move to? Is Verde going to have to squeeze in? Maybe Fon just can't bond with me anymore."
Verde and Fon start giving Lal sideways glances. Viper almost starts creeping closer because maybe if they get the bond in first, they won't get left out...
Lal shrugs. "You don't have a Sun. I'll move myself around until I fill that empty gap."
"I swear to God," Reborn begins. "Every time you move, I will murder some COMSUBIN motherfucker."
