Chapter 31

"What am I doing?" he whispers to himself, looking down at the purple pen between his fingers. He stares at it for a long while, barely blinking. It's not until he hears a loud thud coming from downstairs that he decides to stand up. With the way his thoughts are going, he probably needs to move around, get some fresh air.

A look at his phone lets him know it's late. Really late. And he hasn't even eaten dinner.

He should go to his apartment, with its familiar walls and familiar bed, a bit too cold at the moment but still his.

With sudden energy that even surprises him, he closes the notebook and organizes the books he's been working with. Soon enough he's going downstairs, admiring the clean white walls and their simple decoration as he tries to come up with the words he's going to use when he tells Verde he needs to leave. A lengthy explanation with questions about his new work and when he has to come back is what he should do, but the short 'It's late. See you tomorrow' is tempting.

His tiredness takes the decision from him so questions will have to wait for tomorrow afternoon. He has his day job to think, too.

He reaches the room all the noise is coming from quicker than he wishes. Verde is still working in the same spot he left him, pressing buttons on something reassembling an old computer with his right hand while he writes on a notebook with his left at the same time. He barely glances up at him but that action is enough to let Tsuna know he now has part of his attention. It's not a memorable action but it's still one that reminds him the one in front of him will be an Arcobaleno, one of the strongest Seven.

And one of the people he, No-Good Tsuna, has to doom. Or safe.

Why do you give me your back? Can't you see I am not someone to trust? Can you see how I've got your destiny in my hands?

His grip tightens once. The conversation he planned on his way here is gone. He wants to stay and help him more. Do more for the guilt to ease into nothing.

"Have you eaten something?" The annoyed look he gets tells him what he thinks about wasting time in that way with stupid questions. "Then I'll make something for the both of us. We can eat and maybe get some sleep and—Eh, what with that face? You do sleep, right?"

Verde sighs and stops writing on the notebook. "I do. I can last another sixteen hours without it, however."

"What? How long do you stay awake then?"

"Thirty-six hours straight without side-effects," he says with pride.

"That's—That's not healthy, at all!"

"I know my limits, assistant." He throws him a dubious look. "I'm not unreasonable, though. You can use the guest room upstairs and sleep. I'll require you to assist me with the cleaning of the leftovers of my current experiment. Then you'll continue your current job."

"Okay, I'll do it, but…" He swallows but doesn't back off. "But I've got a job on the mornings until noon. It's on a Hotel, cleaning."

Verde taps his fingers impatiently. "Which Hotel?"

"Um. Il David?"

He really doesn't like the way Verde perks up. It fills him with dread.

"You know it?" he says, though it's not a question.

"The one on Garibaldi?"

"… Yes."

"Perfect!" Tsuna almost jumps when he claps his hands, but he holds it. "I'll need a list with the name of all the—"

"Yeah, I don't think I can do that." A look shuts him up, reminding him of all Verde's capable of. "On the other hand, I never tried, so."

"Good." He points to a box near his feet full of weird implements and a thin pile of papers, all with handwritten notes done in a scratchy scrawl that makes it difficult to read. "But first take this to the office upstairs and bring a black plastic bag from the kitchen. It's inside the red cupboard to your right. I'm done with the body."

Tsuna nods, leaning down to grab the box before he even finishes speaking. He's already up and turning when what he says catches with him. He stops and gives the body he's been pointedly ignoring a nervous look.

"You're done with the body? Will I be the one to, um, deal with it?"

"You only need to take it to the front door. The police will be coming in the morning to take it."

It doesn't make him feel any better to know the police is somehow involved with… whatever this is and approves, apparently. He glances down at the notes inside the box, trying to understand their meaning.

"I know I didn't ask before but… what is exactly what you needed the body for?"

"It's not as if you would understand." Glad his lack of intelligence is something they have early agreed on. "Though taking into consideration your circumstances… Do Dying Will flames mean something to you?"

He doesn't visibly start, though he may as well do it with the way Verde smiles at him. Creepy intense eyes look at him with glee.

"You do? Is it a common thing in the—No, wait. It can't be. The mafia has known about it for long enough. And for them to simply reveal it... unless something drastic has happened in the future or you are from a further time than I thought."

"Future? I'm not—I mean, I don't know what you're talking about." Verde raises an unimpressed eyebrow. He would have freaked out more if it hadn't been him the one with the great idea of showing a clearly advanced phone to a genius. He sighs. "It's not common. I'm… Well, I learned about it because this hitman—"

"You're mafia then."

"I'm not! I just can't seem to escape from it and my life keeps getting involved with—" Verde ignores his weak protests to grab the sides of his head and tilt it until he can see him better in the light. He tilts it again before letting him go to grab a weird-looking machine from the table next to him.

Tsuna understandably takes a step back, his eyes flickering to the dead body. "What are you doing?"

"I want to check your temperature."

"That doesn't look like a thermometer. At all."

"Of course it doesn't," he says, not giving more explanation as he takes a step forward. "This tip will go to your ear and—"

"Wasn't that inside a dead body? Is it safe?" Verde lowers the thing, a thoughtful expression on his face. Tsuna grabs that small sign of hesitation with both hands, like a starved man, and quickly starts talking. "I—I could explain to you all I know about them. The mafia has kept his secrets well-guarded so I'm sure you need me alive. I can help you. Just… take your weird devices away from me."

Verde is clearly getting irritated, but at least he hasn't moved closer and is clearly considering his words. "I wouldn't kill you."

Tsuna doesn't really believe him. He won't antagonize him further though. "Um. If you don't mind me asking, how do you even know about it? Are—Are you part of the mafia?"

He doesn't think because of the supposed involvement of the police, but… Is he?

"Who knows? Now tell me, what flame do you possess?"

It's with great uncertainty that Tsuna lifts up a hand and makes a tiny orange flame appear. It flicks constantly as if there was the wind blowing near, but he's not surprised by the syrup-like quality his flames seem to have obtained. He's taken the Arcobaleno cursed form for a while, after all.

"I've never encountered this color," Verde mutters, eyes once again alight with something unholy. "I've theorized one stabilizing flame was needed as it would also explain the way most famiglie are formed with certain individuals at their epicenter." He leaves the weird thermometer on the table to move both hands up, lighting them up with green flames as they approach his own. He blinks in surprise but doesn't move away as he studies the reaction between flames. It feels oddly intimate, but thankfully not in the way Harmonization feels. It's a little more as if they were merely standing naked, inches apart.

Awkward but bearable.

It still makes him unable to look at him without blushing.

He almost sags in relief when Verde steps away, a large grin on his face. It would have made him look younger, if not for the deep bags under his eyes and the scruffy beard across his cheeks.

"I think you'll be awake a little longer today."

Tsuna doesn't sigh. He's not that surprised.

"Can we eat something first?" he asks, his eyes moving to the clock hanging on the wall, happily informing him that his shift starts in six hours.

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