Reborn sits at the table, waiting for his breakfast with chin in hand, blinking sleepily. Colonnello drops off an espresso and swings back around the kitchen island to take the pan off the stove and plate up.

"Hey," Colonnello muses, coming back with three plates balanced on one arm just to show off. "What's our famiglia name?"

"Lord Reborn and Lackeys One Through Six."

"Bitch," Colonnello says fondly, dropping a plate off in front of Reborn and then one either side before sitting down himself.

"What's your idea then?" Reborn sits upright and sips the espresso to wake himself up.

"Lal's Harem," Colonnello announces proudly and gets kicked under the table. He winces, pulling a leg up to rub his stinging shin.

"We don't need a name, I prefer being individuals anyway," Reborn admits honestly. "I don't want responsibility for you people."

"What are we doing now?" Skull asks, trotting down the stairs.

"What haven't you done?" Reborn mutters and sips his coffee again.

Skull passes by the table and kisses Reborn on the cheek.

Reborn chokes on coffee and splutters. Colonnello hands over a tissue and Reborn wipes his mouth and the spilled coffee on his hand. He puts down the tissue and mug, then stares at Skull.

"What was that?" Reborn demands.

Skull grabs the fridge handle but swings around and faces Reborn instead of opening it. "What was what?"

"You kissed me," Reborn points out.

Skull pauses. "Oh. Too fast?"

Colonnello purses his lips. "Wow, Reborn, your family was kind of neglectful, huh?"

"No, it was normal," Reborn corrects. "Your family is made of incestuous freaks who kiss each other."

"You're getting kind of defensive," Colonnello points out.

"My family was fine," Reborn snaps. "I don't have to justify my understanding of physical affection to you."

"Okay, let's calm down," Skull says, moving away from the fridge and back to the table. He flops down on top of it, reaching across to hold Reborn's hands. "I thought you were ready, and I was wrong. We'll try again later, okay?"

"No!" Reborn snatches his hands back. "No kissing, I kiss too many people and now all I can think of is if you want to fuck."

"I wouldn't mind," Colonnello says with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Reborn stands and starts to leave.

"It was a joke," Colonnello protests, turning to watch Reborn go. "Come on, sweetheart, I was joking. I'll be serious now."

Reborn stops and crosses his arms, frowning at them. "No kissing."

Skull pushes up, still leaning over the table but now braced on his hands. "I will...wait until you are ready for it."

"Why do you need this so much?" Reborn complains.

"Because you like it," Skull points out. "Because if you hated it instead of just being startled then I would stop, but this is going to be just like hugs and holding hands and you're going to like it."

Colonnello gives the Cloud a sideways glance. "Oh, so I suppose you don't get anything out of it?"

"I never said that," Skull snickers. "Of course I love it, I've been working so hard to ease everyone into it. Once, I grabbed Lal's hand, and she punched me in the throat."

Reborn scowls.

"She apologized after," Skull assures the hitman. "I think I scared her. Fon almost chucked me through a wall when I hugged him from behind."

"That's a lot of effort just for some skin contact," Colonnello points out.

"No, it's a suitable amount of effort to make sure no one ends up touched starved," Skull corrects. "It's also proven to help with mental health and brings us closer together and it feels good."

"Kisses are way more than that," Reborn points out. "Kisses are unnecessary."

Skull pauses for a long moment and then just shrugs, dropping the nice guy act. "Okay, so I genuinely think affection is a good thing, and I would stop if you were serious about telling me no. But also...well. I just really like kissing. You're going to like it too, one way or another."

"Did you…just threaten me?"

"That depends on you," Skull admits.

Reborn finds it really hard to see Skull as anything except his cute pet freak so Reborn dismisses the matter rather quickly. "Whatever. Skull, there are five other people for you to kiss, don't bother me."

"That's okay, you'll crack eventually. Verde's probably going to be the hardest."


Later that afternoon, Viper startles so badly the entire living room glitches out of existence for a brief moment. "What the fucking fuck."

"Kisses," Skull reveals.

Viper lets out a shaky breath, arms still up defensively, a forcefield held up around them. "I thought you were going to bite out my eyeball."

Lal looks very confused. "Who are you spending time with, that cannibalism is a genuine concern?"

"You!" Viper cries. "You, motherfucker."

Reborn laughs so hard he almost spills his coffee. "Viper's got you there, Lal."

"Wait," Lal tries. "I wasn't going to actually do it, I was just pissed off and saying things."

"Also," Verde chimes in, still rather upset from when Skull scaled the couch to reach the scientist's forehead. "Mouths in general are incredibly unhygienic."

Skull throws up his hands. "Why do you all whine so much!?"

"You could just give up," Fon mutters wryly into one of his large sleeves.

Skull storms off to where Colonnello is and they exaggeratedly snuggle with a big hug, even cutely rubbing their noses together to mock eveyone. Reborn joins in on the cuddle because it upsets the others, not because he enjoys it.


.

A/N: Skull is somewhat insidious.

He's a complete delinquent and adrenaline junkie, which people forget about because he acts cute to get hugs and attention.