My Storm, My Cloud, My Sun, My Sky
Summary: Reborn met Fon, they became Arcobaleno and went separate ways, not seeing each other for years. Kyoya was born, Fon had to leave to protect his family and they didn't see each other for years. Tsuna met Reborn, the adventure starts. Hibari met Reborn, craziness starts. Dino met Kyoya, Fon returns and secrets are revealed. Better than it sounds, I promise! D18, RF, LalCol possible others.
A week into their stay, things changed considerably in the ragtag group of the 'strongest seven'. Namely, some odd sort of companionship arose in their group. It mostly centered around bullying Skull or avoiding Verde or helping out Luche when she needed help, but yeah, they became some sort of 'friends'. Reborn still butted heads with Colonello. Colonello still tried to woo Lal Mirch each day. Lal Mirch still hit him for it. Viper still tried to con money out of them. Verde still looked as though he was contemplating what experiments he could run on them. Fon still smiled serenely and Luche still thought she might have taken a bite too big for her to chew.
(Skull was still a lackey but he took comfort in Fon and Luche being nice to him.)
Luche had definitely become closest to Reborn with Fon being a close second. Reborn loved her espresso and was willing to listen to her more mystic 'babblings' when she was struck by visions caused by her super Sky intuition. Fon, on the other hand, bonded with her because he was strangely well versed in how to care for a pregnant person, knowing how to arrange pillows for her so her back wouldn't hurt, stopping others from adding too much spice in the food when they decided they all want to cook from time to time - Verde wasn't allowed near the stove because he's a health hazard and Lal had no culinary skills whatsoever to speak of, so they each had a day with their name on it for cooking duty except Sunday, when they'd do it together as a 'bonding exercise' - so they don't upset her digestive system, giving her calming tea blends and bringing her flowers to lighten her mood no matter what the day had been like.
Colonello and Reborn developed a rivalry the likes of which deserved to go down in legend. If something can be even remotely turned into a competition, these two would do it and the clash would be the most entertaining thing the other could watch - or study and bet on, in Verde's and Viper's case respectively. The little competition Fon and Reborn had that first day with the huge apple tree? Child's play in comparison to those two.
Lal and Viper somehow bonded over being exasperated over the men they were surrounded by, often joined by Luche and sometimes even Fon. While Viper didn't identify themselves with either sex, rather liking it that they were a 'they', Fon was very much male but he had a vastly different temperament from the others, which was a bit weird since he was the Storm of their group.
Then again, Skull was a Cloud and he had latched onto Fon and Luche like an octopus since they were the only ones nice to him, but he strove to earn the others' regard, especially Reborn's, who most often ignored he even existed because he did not 'associate with those of a lower status'. Skull had been almost inconsolable the first time Reborn had brushed him off like that, but then he'd just become even more determined to prove him wrong and to prove himself in the hitman's eyes. This, unfortunately, ended up more often than not with Luche treating various injuries.
Verde kept to himself, but it was clear he disliked the rest of them and didn't see them as human beings. He'd tolerate Luche just because he couldn't understand her and he feared and hated Reborn with a burning passion that one would think that the hitman had done something personally to him. Nope, it was just that the man intimidated him with how strong he was while also having an incredible mind, what with a PhD to his name and all. Not a scientist, but he understood what Verde was saying when the green haired man went into a deep scientific jargon in an attempt to throw the other's off of his trail whenever they got suspicious about some theories he was planning on testing through some rather dangerous seeming experiments. The dislike between Verde and the others was mutual, more so with Reborn than the others, which was rather proportional and made sense. He did seem to have an interest in what Fon might say, though that was probably more so because Fon knew how to catch his attention the right way to make him listen. Also Verde had never forgotten the 'literally catching a bullet' trick the Storm had performed the first time they all met.
Lal's and Reborn's acquaintanceship did turn into a comradeship, if nothing else. You won't see them going out of their way to plan platonic dates or drinking nights, but whatever shallow bond had existed had definitely deepened. It showed in how Reborn didn't kill Lal Mirch every time the CEDEF agent would insinuate a teasing comment about Reborn's 'crush' on their resident martial artist and instead delivered his retribution in the form of teasing her right back about the lovey-dovey relationship she shared with Colonello. Sometimes these teasing matches ended in them both reaching for their firearms, but usually Fon, Colonello or Luche can talk them down from accidentally bringing the house down on all of their heads. Viper, of course, had stated a betting pool on who will actually snap first and kill someone.
Strangely enough, all bets pointed at Fon, though that might be because that one time they were all too loud when the Storm had a headache and they had all felt it when Fon's left eyebrow had twitched oh so minutely in the first sign of a temper befitting his Flame type.
And considering what the man did to them all during hand to hand training sessions ...
Yeah, Fon was everyone's bet and they wondered if they're insane for anticipating the day he'd snap and lose that calm composure and careful self-control.
The second best bet was, of course, Reborn, but that's under the circumstances they run out of coffee beans or Skull spills his coffee again in the morning like the third day since they settled in. No one wanted a repeat of that.
The most fascinating development was how Fon and Reborn bonded. They were both the best in their fields - as was everyone else present - but they were also the best in the East and the West respectively, their names nightmares to be feared, their skills almost legendary. Whenever they spar, everyone else watches from a good distance away, because Reborn may be a gunman but he was damn strong in hand to hand too and Fon may be of slighter build, but he was all muscle and he needed no other weapon than his own body. Watching them spar was like watching the deadly dance of nature, the storm battling the sun for dominance in the sky. It was never clear who the winner will be when they eventually stop. Sometimes, someone would interrupt them and they'd stop, in perfect control of their bodies, an inch away from dealing the finishing blow. Other times, Reborn would prevail. Fon would then counter him in the next spar and so the cycle would go on, perfectly in balance. And if they were set to work together against all the others - save Luche, because she was pregnant and no one wanted hitting a pregnant woman on their consciousness, which was rich coming from a bunch of criminals and killers but even they had a limit, okay? - no one on the opposing team was left standing. Not between Reborn's long range attacks and Fon's close and personal approach that perfectly filled in any gaps that would usually make a fight more difficult. They mostly sat together at the dinner table, too, and could often be found in the garden, Reborn just leaning against the wall with his fedora shadowing his eyes while Fon either meditated or practiced his kata not far off.
There was a reason Lal and Colonello teased Reborn about crushing on the Storm. The hitman had quite a reputation, everything from being a secret sex god to a heartbreaker. He could usually have anyone he wants in his bed before the hour is up if he bothers trying, but he seemed to be dancing around Fon rather than seducing him. Lal could only congratulate him that he was taking his first genuine crush so well instead of falling into the 'kindergarten-pigtail-pulling' trap most men do when faced with real emotions. Reborn had been tempted to shoot a hole through her head right then and there, but something in what she had said resonated a bit uncomfortable within him as he thought it over.
He's had countless lovers since he first felt desire of the carnal kind, in his early teens. Since he'd been alone pretty much his entire life, he'd learned about sex the only way he could: porn and then curiosity to feel another body underneath him. By the time he'd made a name for himself that was feared and respected all around the world as a mafioso and the best damned hitman they'd ever seen, he'd learned all his likes and dislikes, his kinks and his type. He found he didn't care much for gender but he did have both an intelligence kink and a danger kink in equal measure. It's rare that he could find both in a single partner, but when he did, he'd usually need more than one night to get the person out of his system. Then he'd move on to the next one as though nothing special had happened. Some called it being a player, others being heartless but no one would dare say anything about him being cheap or a slut for sleeping with so many people. For anyone else, sure, but not Reborn.
And yet out of all the numerous partners he's ever had, from common whores on the streets to that one princess that he'd rather not talk about, from arrogant pimps to masochistic politician's sons, he'd never stalled in seducing them to his bed. So why wasn't he wooing Fon right now, having a good quick romp that would make the martial artist crazy about him and further spread rumor of his skill as a lover, instead almost courting the Storm in his own strange way?
He blamed it on the fact that Fon was obviously intelligent and definitely one of the most dangerous people Reborn had ever met. He still kept that damned bullet Fon had caught. He actually never left it out of his sight, which was just pathetic, especially for someone like him. But then Fon would poke his head into his room and smile as he called him down for dinner or some other crazy adventure Luche was inviting them to and his heart would act all strange all over again.
He figured distance would do him some good. Luche had agreed to give them a week off from whatever 'this experience' was, to settle any upcoming affairs before they started some 'serious training' to make the strongest seven even stronger. He could use that to hook up with some random person, let off some steam and maybe Fon won't be as intriguing anymore.
A week later, as they once again climbed up the mountain - Colonello still following Lal Mirch like a lovesick puppy - Reborn caught himself staring at the back of Fon's head, his gaze slowly traveling down the other's shoulders, lower still until he realized he had been staring at Fon's ass for the past five minutes, despite not even being able to see said ass due to the flowing material of Fon's red Chinese robes. He nearly brained himself with the butt of his own gun. Obviously his plan to get the other out of his system the safest way possible had not worked.
"Still haven't made a move on your crush, Babyborn?" Colonello teased when they finally made it back to Luche's place and she welcomed them all back with a big smile and bright eyes.
"Still don't know what you're talking about," replied the hitman without even glancing at the blond. The soldier snorted and dared throw an arm around his shoulders as though they were buddies or something. Reborn turned a harsh glare at the blue eyed man, but Colonello wasn't deterred at all. Instead, he took it as permission to start prattling.
"Let me give you some advice on love, Babyborn, since you're such a virgin in this particular area-"
"Colonello, I will count to three and if you don't remove yourself from my person in that amount of time, I will be doing Lal a favor."
"The first thing you must know about love is that you can't choose who you will love, kora. It kind of just sneaks up on you like an enemy platoon that slipped through the intelligence and scouting units, kora. And once it's behind your defenses, there's no getting it out, ever, kora. Not even if you were to find someone else, if it's true, deep, genuine love, it will stay with you forever, kora. The next thing you need to know about love-"
"One."
"-is that you can't fight it, either, kora. Sure, you can go into denial and refuse to accept it - you can even go your whole life not accepting it as reality - but it is what it is and it will always affect you in some ways, kora."
"Two."
"Another thing that you must absolutely know about love is that it's bittersweet, kora. It will make you feel like the king of the world in one second but can just as easily bring you to your knees and it doesn't matter whether you're a saint or sinner, rich or poor, civilian or mafioso or military or whatever, kora. Also, while 'love conquers all' can very well be true, love is also oh so fragile and needs constant tending and care-"
"Three." Bang!
The others immediately whirled around to see what had caused Reborn to shoot, only to find themselves staring incredulously down at Colonello who had at the last moment thrown himself to the side to avoid the bullet on instinct alone, only he had forgotten that they were on the same narrow mountain road and there was nowhere for him to land or tuck and roll to safety. Instead, it was only due to his own quick reflexes that he had caught a branch and was now hanging on for dear life. Literally.
"I warned him," Reborn shrugged when the others all turned to give him exasperated stares. Fon arched an eyebrow at him and the hitman just knew he'd be subjected to some yoga or meditation as soon as they reached the house. "He was asking for it."
"Yare, yare, you really are an idiot," Viper commented as they watched Lal, with great exasperation, reach down to help her student climb back to relative safety.
"I'm surrounded by idiots," Verde added and they all turned to glare at him, even Fon. The scientist just shrugged and continued on his way as though nothing of note had happened. Not even Viper was like that, as they kept with the rest of the group, all of them leaving Verde to be the first victim of whatever bullshit that could befall them on the mountain road like last time. (Un)fortunately, this time around, the climb was a lot more peaceful and there were no further incidents along the way. Probably because Lal kept Colonello in check and Fon was doing the same for Reborn.
Given the two soldiers' relationship, clumsily sweet as it was, Reborn wasn't sure if he liked the comparison all that much.
Luche welcomed them back with a great big feast that none of them bothered trying to find poison in since the woman had had more than enough chances to kill them all and had never taken them, instead just enjoying the meal and actually engaging in conversation during and after dinner, sharing what they had been up to in the week they had had free. It was strange how quickly they had gotten so used to each other that they had all found it slightly weird to be apart for just seven days. No one did all that much in that time, really. Reborn took a few short jobs in the area, when he wasn't trying to make himself not think about a certain someone and reported to Timoteo so the man wouldn't panic or do something stupid. Fon had flown out to Japan for some reason, saying there were people there who needed to be informed of his long-term absence. Lal had gone to Italy to arrange for a longer leave. Colonello had done the same for COMSUBIN. Viper had been doing only Viper-knows-what and no one really wanted to know what Verde had been up to because they actually wanted to enjoy their meal. Luche didn't have much to say as she had stayed at the house and Skull had too much to say and no one really wanted to listen.
It was strangely domestic, especially when they all opened up a bottle of wine when they relocated to the living room and started playing charades of all things to pass the time. Them, the greatest killers and strongest fighters in the world, playing a childish game to pass the time because they had been apart for a week. It was as ridiculous as it was fun to see everyone act out of character as they tried to convey the message so the others can guess.
The interesting part was that they knew rather well how to get the message across so they would all understand, despite them only knowing each other for a handful of days. How strange.
When they finally decided to call it quits for the night, it was already way past midnight and it had been a rather long day altogether. Reborn would have gone straight to bed but Fon had caught his eye and gestured subtly with the tiniest tilt of his head for the hitman to follow him, the two ending up in the garden both of their windows looked out to. Reborn watched as the Chinese assassin gracefully sat down in a meditation pose and he sighed, moving to follow only because he knew there was next to no point in arguing with Fon.
"Listen, Fon, I know you think this helps everyone relax the way it does you, but I'm not worried about anything nor do I need some deep introspection, so I'm not really the type for meditation-"
"Actually," the martial artist interrupts quietly, voice gentle and eyes strangely intent as he turned to look at the Italian now sitting at his side on one of the pillows he keeps out there just for occasions like this when Reborn gives into one of his invitations to join him in meditation. "I was thinking stargazing might help more. There are no clouds tonight and it is a young moon, so the stars are very visible." Shocked, Reborn looked upwards and saw that Fon had a point. There was not a cloud in the sky, only millions of tiny specks of light that were trillions of miles away but shone so brightly that they can be seen here on Earth. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
He cast a glance at his companion and found his heart doing its usual strange trick when he caught a sight of the relaxed, gentle, genuine smile playing on Fon's lips. "Yeah. Beautiful."
"Cloud or stargazing usually calms me down when something is stressing me out that I feel I can't deal with on my own," Fon revealed, never even looking away from the sight. He was leaning back on his hands to see better, supporting himself as he seemingly counted each star visible in the blackness of night. "Meditation has helped a great deal in my life to find the calm of my Storm and that calm is invaluable to me. I don't know what may be troubling you, if anything, but when we met up again and during the climb, you seemed unusually tense and a little agitated after you shot at Colonello. I won't ask you to tell me or blindly or presumptuously offer advice. However, I do offer you my silent presence and this experience. If nothing else, I found that it can help bring one's perspective into the right place." Those chocolate eyes finally locked on him and Reborn found his breath being knocked right out of his lungs, stolen by the fond look there and the gentle curl of lips. "You may be the best hitman in the world and can take care of yourself just fine on your own, but I was never one to believe that just because one is strong they should be left alone all the time. You don't have to say anything. I don't have to say anything. But I'll be your silence if you need it and the stars will be your listeners. I hope that's enough to be of some help to at least help you relax, Reborn."
Reborn stared, stunned, at the red dressed man. The cause of his inner turmoil over the fact that he found himself desiring this man, more than he had ever wanted someone else in ways he had never wanted someone else, all serene and calm, letting wind play with black tresses, the only sounds around them crickets and rustling leaves. Fon was offering him silence. Has anyone ever offered him silence? Actually, was it normal to offer a person silence or was it a uniquely Fon thing? Because this wouldn't be the first time Reborn was openly 'melancholy'. He'd grown out of truly showing it years ago, when he'd made a name for himself, but he knew how to pretend when he needs it to get closer to a hit. People always wanted to talk, to make noise, be it getting him to talk or making him listen. Was it the type of people he'd met in such a setting or was he right and everyone was like that and it was truly a uniquely Fon thing?
Unbidden, a snort escaped his lips. Fon looked to him and the snort was followed by a chuckle, prompting a confused look to settle over the Asian's face. That finally made him outright laugh, open and free, and he was aware that Fon must be staring at him because while they didn't know each other all that well, considering the short amount of time they'd spent together, Reborn has yet to show this much emotion in front of his new 'friends', let alone laughter like this!
But for some reason, he couldn't stop, not for a whole minute before he gathered himself enough to at least subdue it to chuckles, whatever it is that he was feeling to cause such a reaction. There were definitely a few emotions dancing around in there, emotions he'd never thought someone like himself could feel them. Elation and incredulity were some of the strongest, maybe surprise and maybe even some fondness. Looking at Fon, who was smiling so fondly at him, didn't help. It made a smile stick to his lips no matter how much he tried to hide it.
"Thank you. I might have just needed that." He brought a hand up to touch his breast pocket, where a certain used bullet still resided, and finally had to admit to himself that Lal Mirch and Colonello might just be right. 'I like Fon. I certainly wasn't expecting that.'
Now, all that was left to do was woo him, preferably better than Colonello was doing so with Lal, because while those two were obviously in love, they were also obviously not going anywhere with it.
And Reborn had no plans to pine over his first 'crush' for years.
He had some planning to do.
Fon, unaware of the thoughts whirling around in the hitman's head, just smiled even more fondly at his companion and even laid his hand over Reborn's for a second. "You're welcome," was all he said before going back to gazing up at the stars. Reborn studied him for a moment longer before joining him, feeling all that tension that had been there since he realized Fon was making him react weird finally leaving his body in one heartfelt sigh.
(Unbeknownst to them, watching from her own window, Luche smiled, fond and hopeful and sad, hand on her slowly growing belly, wondering ... )