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"...Yami?"
"What, Nacht?"
Nacht's eyebrows curve slightly up and down, words stuck at the edge of his throat.
He arches his head around to face the sitcom playing in front of him.
What... What, indeed.
Across the table from his side, Zora, Nero, and Gauche eat their breakfast in dead silence... until Zora, with his hair undone and his mask taken off, flips a stinkbug to his left. The stinkbug flies over Nero's head right toward Gauche's darkening eye. Gauche slaps the unpleasant bug with the back of his hand before it hits him and attempts to smack it back flying toward its owner, only for Zora to throw another one. The two smelly stinkbugs clash in the middle, falling right inside Nero's mug of coffee with a splash. Nacht observes, partly amused, as the two men gulp in sync, each offering his own mug awkwardly before scooting his chair two steps away from the birdwoman whose eyes blankly stare at her ruined morning coffee. If stares could kill, there'd be a gap in the table.
At the far end of the wide breakfast table, Vanessa growls and presses three fingers against her forehead. Grey massages her back while Finral squeezes her shoulder, both humming softly with reassuring smiles, Nacht doesn't think much of it… until he catches the witch's other arm sneakingly sliding downward to grab a bottle full of wine hidden under the table, only for Finral to slap it away with the heel of his barefoot and for Grey to force a glass of water to her face instead. Vanessa sighs and rolls her eyes, accepting defeat for a second, and crash face-first to the ground in another second to grasp the alcoholic drink, but Finral and Grey drag her to the chair by the edges of her stretchy bra and with their beaming expressions.
From the trio's left and right sides, Asta and Liebe, quiet for once, have started their morning with a staring contest that took an interesting turn by breakfast. Liebe smirks, takes a bite from his salmon sandwich, then parts his lips dramatically, but the sound that comes out is more akin to meowing. Asta gasps, somehow offended, and returns the offense with a furious barking before he chews on a mouthful of his spicy bacon. Soon the already ridiculous quarrel exacerbates into a fit of howling and yawling and all kinds of catlike and doglike noise, then Liebe screams screeching, and Asta screams back high-pitching, and Nacht blinks twice when he catches his devils, Plumede the Cat and Gimodelo the Dog, floating over to join in with their own inhuman sounds.
To Asta's left, Gordon taps gently at the wooden table with the butt of his spoon. Henry tabs back a couple of clicks with the edge of his fork. Charmy snaps her fingers, expression serious and determined, and rolls in the rhyme with a mouth stuffed with food and knives on each hand. Their movements switch swiftly from the table to the plates. Nacht finds himself wiggling his head to the beat before he knows it, and once again, he catches his devils, Walgner and Slotos this time, creeping toward the trio with Nacht's utensils between their small arms. That's fine, Nacht doesn't want to eat breakfast today, anyways.
To Liebe's right, Luck flashes his partner-in-crime a rude gesture, licking off the budding from his lips. Magna's jaw drops, but instead of a war cry, he jerks a thump across his throat while making dirty eye contact. Luck all but chuckles and wiggles his fingers teasingly, sparks flickering between them. Magna snorts, unclenches his fist, and lit up five small fireballs on each fingertip. Noelle, who made the big mistake of sitting between them, does her absolute best to stay as graceful and elegant as befitting of Her Royalty… while reaching to snatch two random forks and use them to forcefully stab the young boys' thighs, earning herself a satisfied grin when their gasps echo across the room.
Nacht blinks, his smile wavering oh-so-slightly.
He turns back to Yami. "...What is going on with them?"
"Communication." Yami deadpans, not even looking up from his newspaper, but Nacht can pick up a hint of a smile that spreads across the captain's face. "Squad bonding," he adds, "Black Bulls style."
"Oh I see..." says Nacht, then nods, then hums, then excuses himself.
He decides that he had enough squad bonding for the day, even though it was still five in the goddamn morning.