Supplementary | Skull/Arcobaleno

Prologue

How Skull completes the Arcobaleno in more ways than one.

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They don't really know when Skull became more than just that lackey they ordered around. 

It slips from their minds when his previously annoying tears of frustration became endearing, begging to be wiped away by gentle fingers.

The first time someone does it is Reborn. It catches everyone by surprise but then again, it really doesn't. 

He was in the middle of teasing Skull — about what he can't even remember, probably about anything and everything. It was part of their daily routine, a semblance of normalcy they attempted to attain after the curse was finally broken. They were left afloat, unsure of their futures in the aftermath of everything that had happened.

It was Skull's suggestion they live together. Murmurs of going back to their original famiglias were laced with repressed uncertainty.

"Why don't we just live together then?" 

His then childish voice broke through the terse discussion and was met with a rainbow of gazes. Reborn called him an idiot (the affection in his tone would be strongly denied) and had hit him with Leon as a hammer. Colonello had laughed out loud burying his chuckles into Lal's shoulder, her face turned away and flushed a faint pastel pink hue. Everyone else had simply rolled their eyes as Skull rubbed his freshly bruised head in a sheepish grin - the relief that washed over all of them was something they all decided not to say aloud. They didn't need to. 

So they moved in together. 

No one said anything either when the mansion they chose is somehow paid for overnight. Viper lowers his hood further as Skull showers him with overly joyous 'thank you's'. The others simply raised their eyebrows, giving a passing pat on the back or on the head. Viper definitely does not bury himself deeper into his cloak in an attempt to hide his burning cheeks.

Luce visits on the days she's free. She smiles that serene smile when she sees them all together, like she sees something they're all missing. 

Most days she drinks tea and sits out in the back gardens, the one Verde and Lal have nurtured together with a fierce attentiveness that makes the larkspurs and asters bloom like there's no tomorrow.

Fon brings new flowers and seeds whenever he comes back from a mission. His placid smile becomes a self-satisfied grin whenever he hands Lal a bouquet and she sputters calling him names before rushing off to re-plant them. It's no different when Verde becomes wide-eyed at whatever new genus of flora he brings and Fon wants to pinch his reddening cheeks. (Sometimes he does and Verde lets him but one will deny it and the other will just smile if you ask.)

Bermuda comes once every month. Or whenever Skull calls for him. He's always had a soft spot for the younger man. 

If he leaves during a Vindince meeting because Skull calls for him to go to the park together, no one says anything. 

Reborn is probably the most content with their new living conditions. It was awkward being in a home with a bunch of intellectual toddlers and gangly teenagers the first couple of years but now they've grown into their past selves (or future selves but it doesn't really matter anymore). He would never say it out loud though. Keeping the perimeter clear from prying eyes and mercilessly teasing everyone else is all he needs to do for everyone else to shake their heads and smile in fondness.