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Reborn was someone who didn’t enjoy being woken up.
He needed his sleep so that when he couldn’t sleep for a long period of time, there wasn’t an issue. His missions required him to be alert and ready for anything. Not to mention that when Reborn was woken up before schedule, he happened to wake up grumpy.
A grumpy Reborn was never something that anyone wanted to deal with. Usually because it meant a rubber bullet to the abdomen at the least - and that was only for people he liked and decided that they woke him up for a good enough reason.
When his phone rang at three in the fucking morning, Reborn’s eyes opened to slits, and he glared at the lit screen of his cellphone. Everyone knew what a terror he was, so who the hell could be calling him? If it was Colonnello with some stupid question (as per usual), he was actually going to skin the blonde alive. Reborn was quite tempted to block the other’s number, but he knew that it would just serve to earn him that patented Look of Disappointment from Uni and Fon. He grumbled, hand reaching out to grab the annoying device, bringing it closer to his face.
He squinted at the screen, surprised to see that it was Tsuna who was calling him. That was...odd. Tsuna would be the last one to want to deal with Reborn was he was in a mood. The young man already had enough of him to deal with in his teen years. Despite his hellish tutoring (and he took great pride in that), his ex-student turned out to be a pretty decent friend. Reborn says decent in the same way that someone else might say incredible or amazing.
The brunette was kind and caring, and during the whole Curse fiasco, Tsuna had been determined to lay his life on the line for Reborn and his own group of misfits. Tsuna had been beaten and nearly killed by his own father. He would have been if Reborn hadn’t stepped in. His idiot student hadn’t realized who he was at the time, and while that was a tad annoying, he blamed it on the nerves of the day.
So, without much ceremony, Reborn sighed and answered the phone call. Tsuna wouldn’t be calling him unless it was important. At this point though, Reborn was so protective of his friend that important could very well mean that Tsuna had a nightmare and wanted to talk about it.
“Chaos,” he greeted sleepily, “why are you calling me, Tsunayoshi?”
“Ahaha,” the brunette’s nervous chitter floated through the phone’s speaker. “Sorry Reborn, I know it’s late...” The brunette continued.
Reborn cut him off. “Early. It’s early, Tsuna. Get to the point.”
“Uh, well, how would one go about using chloroform?”
For some reason, in Reborn’s sleep addled mind, he didn’t quite register the question before his mouth was already spitting out the answer. “Did you not listen in any of your lessons, Tsuna? Geez, you would have thought that something stuck with you...” He grumbled, rolling onto his side and letting the phone rest on his face so he wouldn’t have to hold it.
“Well, I’m asking now!” The male squawked.
“Yeah, yeah. Look, you put the chloroform on the rag - I know there’s a bottle under your bathroom sink all the way in the back -”
“There is?” Tsuna sounded surprised, but not displeased. “Hold on...” There was some shuffling on the other end of the phone. Reborn yawned. “Oh! Found it! The one bottle in the corner that’s unmarked, right?” He clarified.
The hitman nodded even though his student wouldn’t see it, letting out another small yawn. “Yeah, that one. I had your Storm put it there before you moved in. It’s a wonder you hadn’t found it before now, but whatever,” he sighed. “Chloroform on a rag -”
“Will a washcloth do?”
“Yeah, that’s fine, it’ll work. You pour some out, but just be careful not to inhale it. It’s tempting since it will sort of smell sweet, but you won’t be able to place the sweetness.” He paused, then decided he should probably stress his words to Tsuna. “Do not. Smell. The chloroform. You’ll end up being the one passed out on the sidewalk.”
Tsuna gave a small hum, but didn’t say anything for a few moments. “It evaporates pretty quickly, so unless you douse the rag, it might dry up before you get the chance to use it. Better safe than sorry,” the raven added offhandedly.
Tsuna acknowledged his tutor with a small noise. “Sweet. Got it. Thanks, Reborn! Sorry for disturbing you! See you later!” Reborn grumbled out his own response before the call ended with a soft click, the sign that the line had disconnected.
He threw his phone to the other side of the bed behind him, determined on not having any more interruptions for his very much needed precious hours of sleep. Reborn buried his face in the pillow, squeezing his eyes shut and groaning quietly to himself. It took a few minutes before he managed to get comfortable once more.
Just as he was about to slip into unconscious, something clicked in his mind.
Tsuna had called him at three in the morning. While not common, it wasn’t unusual if the boy felt off.
Though, Tsuna didn’t sound like he was upset. Just tired, and a tad excited, if Reborn had to guess.
His ex-student and now friend had just called him at three in the goddamned morning asking him how to use chloroform. If he wasn’t so concerned about what idiotic scheme Tsuna was plotting, he would be proud.
Was Tsuna finally planning on taking out the awful piece of garbage that worked at the coffee shop down the road? He burned the coffee beans constantly and Reborn had been complaining about it nonstop, but Tsuna had told him he wasn’t allowed to hurt the guy. Or maybe Tsuna was going to assassinate that one lousy competitor that thought that Vongola’s business, and all of Tsuna’s work, was mediocre and amateur at best?
Whatever it was, Reborn needed to know that Tsuna was being safe and taking at least one of his Guardians with him. It didn’t sound like anyone was around when they were on the phone.
Well, shit.
Reborn immediately reached for his phone, mumbling curses as the sheets tangled and it took a few moments for him to wrap his long fingers around the device. He immediately pressed on Tsuna’s contact, waiting, not so patiently, for the brunette to pick up. “Come on, Tsunayoshi,” he growled when the phone rang all the way to the end, and then sent him to voicemail. Did the guy not take his phone with him? Or is he purposely ignoring Reborn?
He called again. Then two more times before realizing that if he wanted answers as to why Tsuna called to inquire about how to use chloroform, then he was going to have to go straight to the source: Tsuna himself. He rolled out of bed with less grace than he would admit, and stumbled through the dark, muffling a curse that slipped out of him when his toe connected with the corner of his desk.
He pulled on whatever clothes he found first, not really bothering to figure out what it was in the dark since he assumed he was on a time constraint. If Tsuna hadn’t left his apartment yet, then he could at least tag along to oversee whatever hair-brained operation Tsuna had thought up on the fly. That’s the only reason why Reborn was so concerned. Not...panicked. He was never panicked. Just a little worried. Like a smidge.
The hitman slipped out of his apartment with ease. His very few and sparse civilian neighbors were sleeping ( what he should be doing , a voice grumbled in his head) and those that weren’t civilians were allies of Vongola or his fellow un-Cursed, so he knew he didn’t have to worry about being seen. He made his way down to the garage, slipped into the first car of his that he saw, and may or may not have peeled out and sped all the way to Tsuna’s apartment.
Once he was outside the building, he tried to call the brunette a final time. If Tsuna answered, then it wouldn’t be an issue. He could offer his help, or even just go back home to sleep. When the result of the phone call was the same as the other times, he sighed, running a hand over his face. “What trouble did you get into now, Tsuna...?” He asked the night air as he exited the car.
Instead of taking the stairs or elevator like a normal person would, Reborn figured that he needed to be stealthy about his entry. While it was unlikely that anyone saw him leave (practically impossible at this hour), he didn’t need to be placed at Tsuna’s apartment before or during a crime. So, Reborn did what any responsible hitman would do:
He took the fire escape.
Tsuna owed him an espresso in the morning.
He had to jump to reach the ladder.
Make that two espressos.
“This better be good,” he muttered quietly as he continued to climb the fire escape without issue. “He better be making that hit on that one barista for all the shit he’s putting me through, the little prick...”
Soon enough, Reborn stopped in front of Tsuna’s window. He was on one of the higher floors, and while Reborn should be out of breath, he was the World’s Greatest Hitman and there were certain qualifications that came with that title. One of which meant that he was in peak physical performance. It did not mean that he had to like it.
He tapped on the window a few times, squashing the urge to stamp his feet like a child when no one appeared. The apartment was dark. He supposed he might as well go inside and make himself comfortable. He would wait for Tsuna’s return just to make sure that everything had gone according to plan. He sighed, sliding open the emergency escape window and crawling in. He managed to hit his head on the window, and he let out another stream of cusses. It wasn’t imperative that he remain silent right now, after all.
The hitman straightened once he was inside, shutting the window and then locking it like he always told Tsuna to do. It seems the brunette wasn’t listening, or, he had left through the fire escape. On second thought, Reborn left the window unlocked. He wasn’t sure how long that his ex-student’s impromptu mission would take, so he figured that he’d make himself comfortable on Tsuna’s oversized bed. He knew that the brunette wouldn’t mind - when Reborn was Cursed, they shared a bed plenty of times. Their friendship was solid enough that it wouldn’t be an issue.
So, when Reborn shuffled into the bedroom, he was more than a bit startled to see a lump in the center of the mattress. “What...?” He began, the word coming out as quiet as his breath. Did Tsuna have a bed partner? Perhaps he finally manned up enough to confess to the Rain Guardian? Although, the form was much smaller than Takeshi’s, and Reborn knew how protective the other raven was of their precious Sky: he would never let Tsuna leave on a mission alone.
Reborn’s hand reached for his gun, keeping it holstered, but he flicked off the safety, creeping around the side of the bed in order to discover who was sleeping in the brunette’s bed. Cautiously, the hitman approached, sniffing at the air to figure out if there were any poison lingering, or any gunpowder. He got nothing but a slightly sweet scent. He blinked.
Tsuna wouldn’t...Tsuna wouldn’t knock someone out with chloroform, and then put them in his bed. Reborn knew Tsuna well enough to say that.
Knowing Tsuna well enough, though, was a double edged sword. He knew exactly what the brunette did.
“Honestly, Tsuna,” he sighed as he peeled away the covers to reveal a sleeping brunette. “They make melatonin for sleep troubles. Maybe give that a try before resorting to chloroform,” he complained, even though he knew very well that Tsuna wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. Not with the way the washcloth he pulled away was still soaked and that it was placed really, really close to Tsuna’s sleeping face. He threw the cloth off to the side, shaking his head. “Seriously, kid, you’re a piece of work...” he grumbled, shoving Tsuna to the other side of the bed and putting a pillow between them. Tsuna was a cuddler and Reborn had no interest of being the victim of an octo-Tsuna. Before sliding into the bed, the hitman grabbed the spare blanket from the closet and wrapped it around himself. He didn’t want to play tug-o-war with the other, either, knowing that the brunette would win somehow without doubt.
“Once a No Good-Tsuna, always a No Good-Tsuna.” He muttered as he tried to get back to bed.
That chloroform covered washcloth was beginning to look a little too tempting.