Colonnello passes by, glances upwards idly for a reason he can't discern, and then sees the biggest motherfucking moth on this goddammed planet.
Colonnello flinches back, arms coming up defensively. The moth sits there, on the corner edging between the ceiling and the wall. Colonnello backs way the fuck up and looks around for someone to help him. No one is home.
Colonnello decides to do the mature thing and leave the house until someone comes home to deal with the moth. Because yes, it is also mature to know where your limits are and what you are not able to do.
Except the front door is past the moth.
He could jump the back fence? But that might be going too far.
That really is such a big moth though, it's like half the size of Colonnello's palm, and he has really big hands too. It's super big.
Colonnello pulls himself together and slowly, trying not to startle it, starts walking past the moth to the front door. He looks away from it when he passes underneath because what if it attacks his eyes and then crawls into his brain?
Colonnello passes by, breathes out a sigh of relief and then turns to look at the -
It's gone, oh fucking Christ it's gone, it's on him, it's on Colonnello, oh god climbing up his back-
No, it's on the window across the room.
Colonnello shivers in horror but still pats himself on the back to try and get rid of the feeling that something is on him. Okay he's done now, he's leaving. Colonnello turns away only to find Verde standing in the open front door, looking very judgemental.
"It's big," Colonnello says, as a two-metre-tall, very muscular man with shoulders like a battering ram.
"Alright," Verde muses.
"Can you…?" Colonnello gestures back to the moth, still keeping it in sight in case it pulls another disappearing stunt.
"I'll deal with it," Verde assures him. "Get in the car, I need you with me if I want Reborn to let down his guard."
That sounds super suspicious but Colonnello cares more about the moth than Reborn right now.
Verde leads Reborn and Colonnello into one of the rooms, the place looking like Verde pulled it straight out of a home improvement magazine with colour co-ordinated couches and pillows while useless fake plants and boring books lay artfully arranged on barely full shelves and an unnecessary amount of side tables.
"Wait here. The speedvac isn't done yet," Verde grumbles and shuts the door on the way out.
Reborn walks in and spreads himself over the nearest couch, one leg hitched over the armrest, lounging like a king.
"You comfortable there?" Colonnello laughs.
"Oh, I could do with an espresso," Reborn muses, bouncing his dangling foot.
"I am kinda hungry," Colonnello says, moving back towards the door. "Do you think Verde has food or just those weird 'nutrient shakes'?"
Colonnello grabs the door handle and pauses, an odd expression slowly taking over his face.
Reborn peeks his head up over the high backrest of the couch. "What?"
"Ah," Colonnello says. "The door is locked."
Verde comes back down the hall a while later, rolling his eyes at the banging and screaming he hears. He opens the door and the other two practically trip over themselves to get out.
"What?" Verde complains. "I was gone for like five minutes."
"Why did you lock me in too?" Colonnello blurts out. "I don't want to get caught up in Reborn's shit."
"You fucking traitor!" Reborn cries, slumped against a wall. Maybe directed towards Colonnello, perhaps also including Verde.
"I'm just saying," Colonnello tries.
Verde huffs and looks away. "I wasn't going to keep you in here, I just wanted to...see how it felt. I would have opened the door later, you wouldn't have even known you were locked in if you had just been more patient."
"Eat a dick, Verde," Reborn deadpans.
"Eat a whole bag of dicks," Colonnello says solemnly.
Verde purses his lips and pauses for only a moment. "It felt good, having you in there. If either of you wanted to know."
"So many dicks."
"I'm having second thoughts," Reborn admits, standing with Verde in an isolated room while several large and noisy machines whir away, scanning them in preparation for the full bonding.
Verde grunts, tapping away at a touch screen on one of the biggest machines. Colonnello was sent out, and Verde has even ditched his lab coat to avoid creating noise in the readings.
Verde frowns when he hears the door open and turns to tell Colonnello to stop being so impatient, they haven't even started-
"Reborn?" Verde asks.
Reborn is standing at the door, shoulders tense. "I want you, I really do. But maybe we should wait. That room was…I need more time to really settle the other bonds."
Verde pulls away from the machine, straightening up to his full height. "Is this because I locked you in?" he demands. "It was harmless."
"No," Reborn states. "No, actually, it's not harmless. And it's because you do that kind of thing that sometimes I think you're more trouble than you're worth."
Verde scoffs. "Is now really the time for jokes-?"
Reborn shuts the door behind him on his way out.
Verde is frozen for a moment before he stumbles to a seat and sits down. It takes another short pause before he stands up and goes after Reborn. He clumsily grabs at the handle and wrenches open the door.
Reborn is waiting outside with a smirk. "Yeah, it doesn't feel nice to be rejected, huh? Now we're even for the 'commitment issues' bullshit you pulled before. I'm a fucking gift and don't you forget it."
It takes a brief second for Verde's brain to restart and then Reborn is scrambling away before the scientist can electrocute him.
"I knew you were faking," Verde spits out.
"That cute little sad face you were making said otherwise," Reborn tsks. "I was hoping you'd cry."
Back at his house, but still slightly buzzing from the new bond, Reborn splashes water over his face at the bathroom sink. He's flushed from laughing too hard because Lal, Viper and Verde have only just encountered Skull and his stupid giggle fits, and they have no defences against it.
Viper held on a lot better, being a Mist, but Colonnello didn't even try to help considering he was the one who set Skull off in the first place with a re-telling of how Verde locked them in a room.
Reborn sighs and turns off the tap. He straightens up and runs wet hands through his hair, not minding the water that trails down his neck and soaks the collar of his button-up.
Fuck, he's still smiling.
Reborn opens the door to the upstairs bathroom he's in but Fon shoves him back inside, slamming the door shut after, then stares at Reborn with a carefully blank face despite the stranglehold he has on the lapels of Reborn's suit jacket.
Fon is now the last Guardian to bond despite being the first to spark.
"I'm messing with you at this point," Reborn admits.
Fon glows red, bright magma moving slow and thick under his skin.
"Can we not do this in a bathroom?" Reborn complains.
Fon bullies him into a corner.
"Damn it, Fon."
