Chapter 5 - Routine

Later that night Fran is lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. His hand is curled on his stomach, the other arm curled lazily around the top of the head while he reflects on his evening.

After Bel had carried Fran to his room, he'd locked the door and dropped the latter on the bed, crawling over his body.

"What are you doing, Senpai?" Fran asked in a bored tone, trying to disguise the anticipation he could feel rising in his stomach.

"I'm going to kiss you," Bel replied, placing a hand on Fran's chest and pushing him back onto the pillows. "And this time, no one is going to interrupt me."

With that he'd pressed his lips against Fran's with surprising tenderness. Fran gave up pretending then and melted into the kiss as Bel snaked his hand beneath Fran's head to tangle fingers in his teal hair. The kiss was followed by another, fiercer kiss which soon evolved into a heated make out session. Any remainder of Fran's pretence was lost beneath Bel's hot mouth.

After what seemed like both the longest time and barely any time at all, Bel pulled back and curled around Fran, pulling the smaller boy against him.

"The prince is sleepy now."

"I need to go," Fran said, noticing the time. Bel frowned.

"No, you have to stay, ushishi~," he wrapped an arm around Fran's waist, holding him in place.

"Let me go, fake prince."

Stab. Knife in the shoulder. Fran sighed.

"Bakka Senpai, if you continue to stab me I won't agree to be your boyfriend."

Stab. The upper arm this time.

"Ushishi~. The froggy has already agreed."

"I'll break up with you then."

This time the knife was against his throat, pressing ever so lightly beneath his Adam's apple. Bel shifted so he was supported on one elbow and looking down on Fran. Fran stared blankly back at him.

"That wouldn't be a very smart move, little frog."

"Please release me, Bel-Senpai, I need to go home."

"No," Bel dug the knife in ever so softly. A thin line of blood rose to the surface and he leant forward to lap it up. Fran waited patiently for him to finish, but he didn't stop. He moved along the latter's neck, licking and biting his way up to his ear. He ran his tongue along the shell. Fran bit back a gasp.

"Sen-paii."

"Fine," Bel sighed, rolling off of Fran and standing up. Fran got off the bed, keeping his eyes on Bel, ready for any sudden attacks. None came, though. Instead Bel circled the bed and pulled Fran close to him, hands resting lightly on his kouhai's hips.

"The prince will accompany you, ushishshi~"

"I'm perfectly capable of walking home by myself, fake prince."

Another knife in the arm. Fran ignored it, as usual.

"Not fake," Bel hissed. "Either you let me walk you home or I don't let you leave."

So that settled it. Fran pulled the knives free from his body and they left, Bel insisting on clutching his hand. Fran thought this was all rather pointless. He wasn't a child. He didn't need to be walked home and he didn't need his hand held, despite what the butterflies in his stomach said.

Lussuria made a fuss of bidding them farewell. He ruffled Fran's hair and encouraged him to visit again, gushing and making such a fuss that Squalo stuck his head out of the living room and told him to shut the fuck up. Lussuria ignored him, moving forward to hug Fran only to be stopped by Bel's knives.

Bel was all for jumping through the trees again, but Fran argued that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground and eventually the prince had given in (after pinning Fran to a tree and kissing him viciously, his idea of a fair trade for the extra distance he'd have to walk).

They walked through the shadows of the forest, every so often catching glimpses of the dusty lilac of the evening sky. Bel kept giving Fran's hand soft squeezes that made his heart spasm, but he ignored these little surges of feeling, keeping his eyes focused ahead. He could feel Bel's gaze resting on him every so often, but he ignored that too.

Bel was getting a little annoyed by the fact his froggy wouldn't pay attention to him, but the annoyance wasn't enough to dampen the glow of satisfaction bubbling inside him. He had done it, he had made Fran his just like he knew he would. Now all he had to do was make sure Seil didn't come back. And if he did, Bel would kill him once and for all. He imagined cutting Seil open, tearing his guts out and he grinned to himself.

Fran on the other hand was trying to fight down the mixture of emotions that was spewing up inside him. He didn't want to feel these strange things. He didn't want to feel the affection he was sure was amongst the other feelings, didn't like the way he felt light and floaty when Bel looked at him. These were the sort of things Mukuro had warned him about. These were the feelings that would end up getting him hurt.

"I'm alright from here," he said, trying to tug his hand from Bel's. Bel didn't let go.

"Are you afraid of me finding out where you live?" Bel asked, tilted his head towards Fran, wide grin covering his face.

"No."

"You're a bad liar," Bel poked Fran lightly in the ribs with one of his knives.

"I'm not. I just don't think my..father," Fran hesitated. It was always strange to refer to Mukuro as his father, even though he'd been instructed to do so. "Would appreciate me bringing a strange blonde maniac home with me."

"He should be honoured that the prince is willing to be in the presence of such peasants."

"Right. Well, I'll be going then," Fran turned to walk away. Bel tailed after him. "Stop falling me, Senpai."

"But froggy, you haven't given the prince a goodnight kiss yet," His arms snaked around Fran's waist, hands turning the teal haired boy to face him. Fran waited for the kiss but Bel didn't move. "I want you to kiss me this time."

Fran stared at him for a moment. Then, repressing a sigh, he leant onto his tiptoes and pressed his lips lightly against Bel's.

"Goodnight, Bel-Senpai."

Bel chased his lips as Fran moved away and kissed him again, deeper this time, before pulling back and smiling.

"Goodnight Froggy."

He'd watched as the teal haired boy walked away, waiting until he turned a corner before stealthily following him. He crept along behind bushes and walls until Fran turned up a path and entered a small house.

"Ushishishi~ I know where froggy lives now~," Bel sung to himself, before turning and stalking off into the approaching dusk. He was so busy basking in his achievement that he didn't notice the shadowy figure watching from the other side of the street.

Fran had paused in the hall to slip the bandage from his back pocket and replace it over his injured hand. He had no sooner covered Bel's mark before Mukuro cornered him, lashing out with his trident. Fran ducked, avoiding the blow, and reached up a hand to grasp the trident's handle.

Mukuro twisted, flinging the trident around and sending Fran sprawling onto the stairs. Fran pushed himself up a few stairs with his feet, before rising and springing towards Mukuro. The blue haired man swung with his trident again, but Fran kicked out. His feet landed on the handle, causing Mukuro to stumble back. Fran bounced back, dropping to the ground in a crouching position. As he rose, Mukuro speared him through the stomach,.

"Kufufu, too slow, little one," he chuckled, watching the blood darken the front of Fran's sweater. "That could have been easily avoided, too."

He made a 'tsk' sound, disappointed. Suddenly Fran turned grey. Hid body became ash and fell to the floor before vanishing.

"I was not too slow, master," he drawled from the stairs where he was seated.

"Very good," Mukuro smiled. "Your illusions are getting better."

"My illusions were always good."

"Where were you?"

"Out."

"I know that."

"I don't question where you go when you leave."

"Attitude, little one," Mukuro's voice was light, but there was a darkness in his eyes.

"I just went for a walk. I didn't think you'd be back, anyway."

Mukuro softened a little at that. He often leaves Fran alone for long stretches of time without consideration for the younger boy. He is too focused on his search to spare much time, and the time he does spare is usually spent on training sessions.

"I had some papers to go over," he admitted. "Although I was surprised to find you missing."

Fran shrugged, standing up and stretching.

"I'm going to go have a shower and then head for bed."

"Are you not going to eat?"

"I ate when I was out," Fran didn't expand, but began walking up the stairs. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, little one. Sweet dreams," Mukuro didn't watch him leave, but retreated into his study. On the desk there's a mess of maps and blueprints sprawled about, some areas circled or highlighted with a red marker. Taking a seat behind the desk, Mukuro lifted the marker and set back to work.

Upstairs, Fran had turned on the water and stripped out of his clothes. He stepped under the scalding flow of water, letting it burn into his skin momentarily before turning the heat down to a bearable heat. Then he lifted the soap and began to wash all the wounds Bel's knives had left on him.

"Stupid Bel," Fran grumbled to himself, feeling the cuts sting. His hand was the worst. It hadn't healed much and still stung violently beneath the flow of water, even more so when Fran washed his hair and the shampoo bubbles spread over the cut.

Afterwards, Fran wrapped himself in a towel, threw another around his shoulders and headed to his room. He dried off, slipped into a pair of boxers and an old t-shirt that had once belong to Mukuro. Now here he was, lying on the bed and thinking about the prince. Fran wasn't sure how he felt about said prince. No matter how much he tried to restrain any feelings for the psycho blonde, he couldn't stop the tingles that rang along his nerves when he thought of him.

Sighing, Fran rolled over, buried his face into the pillow and tried (and failed) not to think of Bel as he drifted asleep.

The week continued much the same. Fran refused to skip any more classes, and so it was after school that Bel would drag Fran home with him. Lussuria was ecstatic about this turn of events, forever gushing about how Bel had finally managed to make friends and he knew it was only a matter of time. The others were indifferent to Fran's presence, and he soon learned not to get mixed up in their arguments, which were frequent and often quite violent.

There would be kissing and dinner and then Bel would walk him to the same spot, a few streets away from his house. Some evenings Bel would drag him onto the sofa and curl around him so they could watch TV, other times they played the X-Box or lay lazily on the bed listening to music. Then every evening when they parted, Bel would demand Fran kiss him goodnight.

The evenings Mukuro was home he no longer asked where Fran had been. He knew he'd only get the same answer from his student.

It was Saturday morning when Bel showed up at the door. Fran had stumbled lazily from bed, intending to spend his day doing absolutely nothing and enjoy every moment of it. Perhaps read if he was not too busy laying around mindlessly. He had showered, slid into a pair of jeans and a vest with an open shirt over it and was happily munching away at his bowl of cereal when the knock came.

Bel had arrived early and waited patiently on the roof for who he assumed to be Fran's father to leave. He was a bit confused as to how the blue haired man could have fathered Fran, remembering his teal hair. The gears of his mind whirred for a bit before assuming that Fran must have inherited his hair colour from his mother.

Once the man, whose hair looked remarkably like a pineapple, had disappeared from view, Bel prowled towards Fran's door. He was wearing his favourite red and black stripy sweater over black skinny jeans. He had two too many belts on and his knee high white boots, hooker boots Squalo called them. His tiara sat freshly shined on top of his shaggy hair. Raising a hand, he knocked the door.

Fran drops his spoon into his cereal, every nerve ending in his body spiking with increased awareness. He lowers himself down so as not to be spotted through the windows and creeps towards the door. Standing to the side, he swings the door open and gets ready to attack whoever is on the other side if they bear a threat.

"Froggy?" Bel pokes his head in and Fran is so shocked he forgets to punch him in the face, which is probably for the better anyway.

"What're you doing here, fake prince?" Fran asks, rising to a standing position. Bel ignores the insult and grins.

"The prince has come to take his froggy on a date, ushishishi~."