Chapter 2 : Scary Movies and Soft Shoulders
The alarm rang in my ear annoyingly and I smiled. It was time to wake up. Looking at it, I saw that it was 5:00am, a good time to get up. Being the heavy sleepers that they were, the Varia woke up at noon for brunch before beginning the day's activities. I always woke up early to clean and organize the house. More often than not, by the time I woke up, something would be out of place or destroyed, usually by Belphegor's mischievous games. Today, I might have the pleasure of not cleaning anything since the prince was on his mission.
Getting dressed in my usual uniform, consisting of a gray skirt, a white button up and navy blue sweater with the Varia insignia sewed on it, courtesy of Lussuria. It was comfortable aside from the fact that I had to wear knee socks and a short skirt. Belphegor was to thank for that, saying something along the lines of 'the peasant must look good for the prince'. I left my room to begin the housework. First, I went to the kitchen to make myself some food, but Squalo was at the counter, angry at the toaster. Facepalming, I hoped that he hadn't destroyed it. He, for what seemed like the millionth time in his lifetime, swung his sword in my direction, I, of course, ducked.
"Oh. Didn't hit you, right?" I gave him a thumbs up and a smile.
"Why are you awake, Squ-kun?" Grumbling, he scowled.
"I didn't sleep. I was training all night." My smile tilted downward into a worried frown. That seemed to be the only thing he did these days. Train, missions, train, get hit by a wine glass, train, repeat.
"Why so much training? You're already the strongest swordsman in the world."
"I know, but the boss wants us to fight the fucking Vongola kids. 'Says it'll be in some years. Don't know why, though." He shook his head and stared angrily at the toaster before turning back to me.
"Xanxus is always up to crazy stuff." A knowing smile came on my lips as I 'tsked'. Poor, Squalo. He seemed like such an asshole, and looked like one, too, but he was the most considerate member of all of them.
"Fucking bastard."
"What's wrong with the toaster, Squ-kun?" Remembering why he was here in the first place, he kicked the toaster across the room.
"PIECE OF SHIT TOASTER DOESN'T FUCKING TOAST!" Giggling, I watched as Squalo seethed. Walking over to the machine, there was a huge dent in it, rendering it useless regardless of what the problem was before.
"Uh-oh. Mammon is gonna be mad." The shark man shrugged and had a wry grin contort onto his face.
"I don't give a shit about that baby!" A wine glass hit him in the head and when he turned around, it was Xanxus walking into the kitchen, a vein throbbing in his forehead.
"It's too early for this fucking shit. Shut the fuck up, Shark Fucker." Squalo protested.
"VVVVOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIII!" Xanxus sauntered over to the wine holder and grabbed a bottle, opening it and drinking from the bottle straight.
"Xanxus? Would you like some breakfast?" Putting down the glass he gave me a look and I saluted, getting ready to prepare something for the boss.
"Actually, scum, I wanted some toast, but some dumbass broke the motherfucking toaster." Daggers were currently being stared in Squalo's direction and said man had nothing to retort with.
"VOI!" Another glass broke on his head, drenching his white hair in red. Squalo was royally pissed, not only from not getting sleep, also from the toaster, Xanxus's stupid plan kill the Tenth, and Xanxus himself. He had it and stomped off to wash his wine-stained hair, growling and complaining. I stared at Xanxus in interest.
"I thought you hated toast?"
"I do." And with that, he calmly went back to his office, drinking wine the whole way.
"Ah. Squ-kun, p-please!" This happened often, but luckily no one knew about it. If the members found out, they would never let Squalo live it down. Wetness dripped down his back and on his pants. I was becoming bothered, Squalo wouldn't stop moving.
"Come on! You expect me to stay still?!" My hands lathered his hair with the shampoo and I sighed while smiling.
(You thought dirty, didn't you?)
"Yes, I do. It will be over quicker if you just stop moving." After being pelted with two wine-filled glasses, Squalo had to wash his hair, but had no way to wash all of it without missing a couple of spots. Usually, I would wash his hair before he took his shower to make sure his hair was 'in pristine condition'. The Varia had no idea we did this, but Squalo was, after all, good at hiding things. Also, he would never mention it out loud, but it was relaxing. A complete contrast to the members, including himself, I was a nice presence to have around. So much that Xanxus was slightly less grumpy when I visited him. I clapped and washed my hands.
"Done! You can do your thing now." When I was about to leave the bathroom, I heard an almost inaudible 'thanks'.
I smiled.
Sitting on my shoulder as I viciously tried to remove a stain from one of the plates, Mammon ran numbers and papers through his mind as he considered buying a better dish soap. Me trying to remove a simple stain with this cheap, knock-off soap was taking too much time that I could be spending doing something more productive.
"...Would you clean better if I bought some of the Dawn soap?" I nearly dropped the plate when I heard him. Bought and Mammon don't exactly work in the same sentence. But I considered his offer, pouting at the small, black smudge.
"Yes." The baby disappeared and I smiled. He could have his moments. Reappearing just as quickly as he disappeared, he gave me said soap.
"Now I can fire Lucia and Alicia. They're Lussuria's servants anyway." Eyes bugging out, I gaped at his sudden decision. Somewhere in the house, Lussuria sneezed.
My waist was beginning to hurt, feeling the corset tighten even more. I was close to suffocating, or breaking a rib or worse: rupturing an internal organ. Lussuria was merciless, though, saying things like 'if you loved me, you would deal with it' 'you owe me for Lucia and Alicia being fired'. I suddenly felt like being with Squalo was much better. The only person enjoying this boring, mortifying form of torture was Lussuria.
"Mah! You look as cute as a button! Imagine if some boys saw you in this dress! They would be all over you!" He squealed and blew a kiss at me. Out of nowhere, Squalo came into the room and stopped his yelling short to see me.
"...LUSSUR- ...That's cruel punishment." Nodding, I motioned for him to help me when Lussuria put his hands on his hips sassily, denying his claim wholeheartedly.
"This isn't punishment! Cheyenne was being my model and doesn't she look precious?" Lussuria damn near sparkled as he wiggled like a worm. Giving a thumbs down, Squalo left the room, letting me endure the pain on my own. Evil.
"Che-chan! I had a great idea." I was near the brink of tears.
"When little Bel gets back, we'll show him just how much of a princess you are!" Paling, I shook my head vigorously and began crying.
"Please, no! He'll make fun of me for the rest of my life! This dress makes my stomach hurt a -and -" When I hiccupped, Lussuria felt pity.
"Okay. I won't do that. But can we please keep the dress on for now? You really look cute~" Giggling and forgetting all about the trouble I had, I smiled and gave Lussuria a twirl.
"CUTEEEEEE~!" He kissed me all over my cheeks.
Blink.
Blink.
Fidget.
Blink.
Double Blink.
Xanxus threw a wine glass at me and Levi yelled, "Stop doing that! It annoys the boss!" Well, it wasn't my fault; Xanxus asked me to come to his office and then commanded for me to stay. I was confused as to why, but I kind of expected us to be alone. Sometimes I forgot that Levi even existed. He was a mindless drone that followed Xanxus and repeated what he said all day. It didn't annoy me but I thought it was silly. Wasn't it more fun to have your own thoughts and feelings?
"Oi!" Oh, now he was copying Squalo, too? How unoriginal could you be? Smiling, I looked at him.
"What?"
"The boss is asking you for something!" I shrugged off Levi and instead tilted my head at Xanxus.
"Yes, Xanxus?" Levi clicked his teeth but said nothing else.
"Get me some wine." Picking myself off the ground, I sighed and left the room to get the boss what he wanted. At times like these, when I was really bored and had nothing to do, I missed the sadistic prince, as strange as that sounded. He always kept me entertained or vise verse.
When I opened the door I ducked on instinct but didn't feel the impact of the wine glass anywhere near me. Looking up, I noticed Xanxus was smirking and waiting patiently.
"No wine glass?"
"If you don't hurry up, there will be." Understanding, I sprinted over and handed him the wine. To my surprise, he poured it into a glass, only to hand it to me. For a few seconds, I stared at it, not knowing how to feel.
"Drink." He proceeded to drink straight from the bottle. Shaking my head, I pressed my hands together anxiously.
"I don't drink..." Looking down, I awaited his reaction, but to my surprise again, he just smirked.
"More for me." He drunk my serving like a shot and then threw the glass at the person passing through the door. Jumping slightly when I heard it shatter, I whipped around to see it was Levi. Although I didn't particularly like Levi, he got hit quite hard and now his forehead was bleeding. I ran over with a napkin I got off the table a dabbed his head.
"Are you okay, Leviathan-san?" The lightning guardian scoffed and lightly pushed me away, taking the napkin still.
"Boss, Belphegor just arrived from the mission." Xanxus scowled and made a motion to wave him over. Feeling hurt, I frowned at being ignored by Levi. Why was he mean? Sometimes I thought he might be gay for the boss, seeing as he was the only person that Levi cared about. Levi proudly stood beside Xanxus, pretending that I didn't exist. A small wetness rolled down my cheek from frustration.
Just as I was about to leave the room, I bumped into a hard chest. Hearing the familiar 'ushi shi shi shi', I didn't even bother looking up, knowing that if he saw me cry, he would probably make fun of me for it. The door slammed behind me as I left the room in a huff.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ What's wrong with the peasant?" Shrugging, Xanxus scowled.
"Don't know, don't fucking care."
"Shi shi shi~"
My eyes were still slightly red from crying, but after some cheering up from Mr. Hohome, I went back to cleaning. The banister was dusty and filthy, from god knows what, so I decided to clean it. A couple of screams and giggles could be heard from the next room as Belphegor passed by with an angry Squalo hot on his trail.
"VOI! YOU BRAT! GET BACK HERE WITH MY SWORD!" I chuckled and smiled to myself, happy that Squalo was back to yelling at people instead of inanimate objects. They appeared behind me and Belphegor ran by before stopping and turning to stand in front of me.
"Bel -sama? What ar-" He put his hand on my mouth, successfully making me quiet.
"VOI!" Squalo ran past us and I facepalmed. I heard him screaming and breaking things somewhere else in the house. I was about to continue working when I noticed Belphegor flipping a knife on his finger.
"I'm hungry. Make me some food, peasant. Ushi shi shi shi~" Sighing, I stopped cleaning, knowing that if I didn't do what he wanted, I wouldn't get any work finished. Trudging down the stairs, Belphegor's lips remained in his permanent wry grin. When we got in the kitchen, Lussuria was there with a dress in his hand. He noticed me and squealed.
"Ah! Che-chan I was looking for you! I need you to model this dress for me~ I promise you'll look like a princess~" My face erupted in red. The prince giggled behind me.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ I didn't know the peasant liked playing dress up." Mortification was permanently etched in my expression and Lussuria gasped.
"Bel -chan! I didn't know you were here!" Lussuria gave me an apologetic look.
"Of course, I was here. Ushi shi shi shi~ A Prince must always make his presence known." All eyes seemed to be on him. Tucking the dress behind his back, Lussuria licked lips in anticipation, eyes like saucers.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ I will play dress up, too. Only I can make a peasant look pretty." Gaping, I stared at him, baffled. He pulled a knife out of his sleeve and stabbed it through the shoulder of the bright pink garment. Scowling, he observed it in disdain.
"That's ugly. I demand something better."
"Mah! I made that with love! How dare you say it was ugly!" Offended, Lussuria wiggled his hips and grabbed my arm, dragging me upstairs. Belphegor threw another knife that cut off a piece of my skirt.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ The peasant will go nowhere without me." He stomped up the stairs and grabbed me forcefully, knocking me against his chest. The flamboyant sun guardian still had my other arm in an iron grip.
"Don't be jealous, Bel~"
My face seemed to be stuck permanently red. I wasn't bothered when I had to get naked in front of Lussuria, but Belphegor was another story. I begged him to turn around, but he claimed 'the peasant should be flattered that the prince is even looking at her'.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ This one pleases me." It was short and a bright red. Chuckling, Lussuria mentally celebrated. He somehow knew that Belphegor would like the red one since it reminded him of blood. Truly sadistic. I blinked. At least it was more comfortable than the others.
"Although the peasant still looks like a peasant, she looks less like a peasant than a peasant usually would." His crooked grin was large and full of mischief as always.
"Mah! You look so cute, Che-chan! You should always wear a dress~" I looked at the clock on the wall and gasped. It was nearly time for lunch and I haven't even prepared anything for the Varia to eat. Quickly removing the dress, I heard Lussuria protest.
"No! Keep it on!" My uniform was disheveled when I put it on, but I dealt with it. Running down the stairs, I bumped into Squalo's muscular back and fell to the ground.
"VOI! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" He almost stabbed the person when he saw it was me. "VOI. MAKE ME FOOD. I'M FUCKING STARVING." Nodding, I smiled when he picked me up.
"That's what I was just about to do. Would you like something in particular, Squ-kun?" Contemplating, his stomach grumbled.
"Give me some meat. Fucking figure it out." He stomped somewhere, presumably the training room, and I smiled softly. Raw fish seemed to be a favorite of his since he accidentally ate a fish filet without me knowing and enjoyed it. Quickly getting to work, I started making him what he wanted before realizing I didn't know what everyone else would eat.
Xanxus, of course, would probably want steak and some wine, so not much difficulty there. Lussuria liked having a fruit salad for lunch, being the fit person he was. Mammon didn't eat much and Levi would eat whatever everyone else would eat. Here came the problem: Belphegor. That prince was a wildcard when it came to what he wanted. He'd always make me solve some kind of riddle to figure it out, but more often than not, I would get it wrong, resulting in an upset and grumpy prince. As if on cue, he came in and sat on the counter in front of me.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ I'm still hungry. Today..." He paused, thinking of some kind of math problem or riddle he could get me to solve.
"What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?" Scratching my head, I became frustrated, not even knowing what a sir-cum-reference was.
Blink blink.
"Bel-sama?"
"Yes, peasant?"
"What's a die-meter?"
"...You're an idiot."
Mammon came into the kitchen to grab some milk. He poured it into the cup and warmed it up in the microwave. On the table, there were plates of food and he could practically hear the gears turning in my head. He heard me click my teeth as I rummage through drawers and cabinets while looking at a pumpkin occasionally.
"No...ugh that's not it..."
"Cheyenne, what are you doing?" I jumped and hit my head on the door of an open cabinet. Groaning in pain, I answer him with a meek 'ouch'.
"Bel-sama gave me another riddle and I can't figure it out..." I looked dejected and Mammon frowned. The prince's stupid jokes were wasting his time.
"What was the riddle? I'll solve it." I shook my head.
"He said not to cheat." Mammon facepalmed and cursed Belphegor.
"Tell me what it was or else I'll fire you." Although Mammon would never fire me, he wanted to scare me into telling him.
"A ah! Okay...umm. It was about a sir-cum-reference and a die-meter. How do you measure a death? Ah, there was also a pie being divided. I'm so confused..." Recognizing the riddle easily, Mammon told me what to do.
"Make him a pumpkin pie." The baby left the room, warm milk in hand and I blinked. A pie? For lunch? I smiled gently to myself.
"Bel-sama is such a sweet tooth."
Squalo came into the kitchen shortly before I finished garnishing his dish. He peaked over my shoulder. I seemed to know exactly what he wanted.
"Squ- kun, is this good enough?" He grunted. I grinned and clapped my hands together.
"Yay! I'm so good at this game..." I pranced around jovially as Squalo poured himself a glass of wine and sat at the table. He ate slowly and that looked strange knowing how he usually was. Lussuria skipped lunch because he had to go out to buy groceries. That was usually my job, but he wanted to do it as an apology. Belphegor cut my shoulder and legs by throwing knives when he didn't like the dresses. Although that was purely Lussuria's fault, I didn't want to be a burden.
The only people in the kitchen were me and Squalo. The only noise I could hear was the clank of silverware on plates. I sigh, remembering that I had to vacuum the training room because Levi singed one of the target dummies with his lighting. But being the guilty person I was, I didn't want to leave Squalo alone to eat.
Plopping in one of the chairs, I scooted up to the table and laid my head on it. Squalo stopped eating to watch me yawn.
"VOI. Don't you have work to do?" Waving him off, I observed the way he ate.
"Yeah, but I can do it later." He grumbled and dipped his food in the sauce. Frowning, I suddenly remembered something Belphegor told me.
"It's not my business to judge the way you eat, but drowning the meat in the sauce is bad in some places."
"Lemme guess. The 'prince' told you that shit?" He made quotation marks with his fingers as he said prince and I giggled.
"Yeah. How did you know?" The rain guardian shook his head while a vain throbbed in his neck.
"It sounded like some of his royal bullshit language." I covered my mouth to muffle my laughs. Speaking of the prince, he came at a bad time.
"What about my language? Is the shark jealous that I'm more cultural and educated than him? Ushi shi shi shi~" Twirling a knife in his hand, he leaned on the door frame with his signature grin.
"VOI!" Just when Squalo was going to get up and chase Belphegor, I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Come back and finish your food when you're done." Not taking even a moment to think about it, Squalo ran off and gave chase to Belphegor, yelling insults.
"VOI! YOU BRATTY PRINCE!" Exhaling, I picked up Squalo's plates and put the remainder of the sushi in a container along with placing the sauce in the microwave for him to eat with later. Sometimes, I felt even more like a mother than Lussuria.
Wiping my forehead, I stood proudly after seeing the training room clean and with no ash. Taking the opportunity, I reorganized the weights and moved the dummies to the center of the room instead of the side. My cheeks puff as I take out a pen, writing down things that had to be purchased later.
'•Another pair of 1lb weights.
•More training swords
•New Lightning rod
•Target Dummy'
"Perfect!" I checked my watch to see it was 4:00pm. Paling, I realized that I hadn't made Belphegor's pie yet. My ass was toast. Thank god there was no toaster anymore. Sprinting and jumping over couches, I slid into the kitchen and celebrated when there was no one there. Throwing open cabinets and doors, I gathered all the ingredients and began preparing it as fast as possible.
The oven seemed to notice my distress and it opened itself, while I threw the pan with the completed pie in it. I froze. Ovens don't open themselves. Standing to my left was a very amused Belphegor.
"Are you rushing? Ushi shi shi shi~" My eyes found the floor more comforting than his mop of hair. He twirled my hair on his finger before bringing it down to tilt my chin up.
"Peasants should always serve their Prince before anyone else." A knife appeared in his hand. Instead of doing what I expected, he stabbed a spider that was crawling near my hand. Eyes widening, I looked up at him, surprised.
"It wanted to eat the pie that my peasant was making me. How selfish." The prince went and sat at the dinner table, putting his legs on top. Blinking, I wondered what just happened. His grin widened when he saw my confused look.
"Hurry up. I lack patience. Ushi shi shi shi~" Smiling widely, I nodded and cleaned the dishes that I used to make the pie. Skipping up to him, I sat down in the chair beside him.
"How was the mission?" He smirked and put his knife down.
"Easy, of course. I'm not Prince the Ripper for nothing. Ushi shi~" I chuckled and played with the hem of my apron while I listened to him boast and talk about himself. "I'd say I'm the best assassin here. Shark face yells too much and Peacock is a homosexual with squealing tendencies. Ushi~" He laughed at his own joke and I redden. Belphegor didn't seem to care that he was insulting his own colleagues.
"That's mean, Bel-sama! That's your family!" Shaking his head, Belphegor laughed.
"I consider them plagues in the air that I breathe." I sweat dropped when I saw his deadpan expression.
"Am I a plague, too, Bel-sama?" He grinned wryly again. Just as he was about to answer, the oven rang, signifying the food was done. Pulling it out of the oven, I cut a piece and served it on a plate. Digging into it, he licked his lips after taking a piece.
"Do you like it?" His expression was slightly sour.
"4/10." I became disappointed. Frowning, I put the back pie in the oven before leaving the kitchen and Belphegor by himself. I put so much love into that damn pie!
Fucking asshole.
Lussuria came back from the grocery store only to be sent on a mission. He kissed his favorite maid, me, goodbye and I cursed myself. Mammon had been gone for nearly the whole day and Squalo went to train after he ate the leftover sushi. Who was I stuck with now? The prince.
Currently, we were in the dark living room watching some very rare and very hipster, mafia horror movies. It was his choice of activity and I honestly would have preferred getting suffocated by a corset than this. They were gory, there were jump scares, and more importantly, the main character was the murderer. I've seen what the Varia can do but don't take any of it to heart. They weren't out for my blood; I'm not so sure about the other people of the world, though.
For most of the movie, I spent it hiding behind Belphegor's shoulder while he grinned like a madman. Anytime there was a jump scare, I'd squeal and grip his arm for safety, forgetting that the people were on the screen and not in real life.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ A hatchet trap? Amateur." His comments were beginning to perturb me. What the hell does he do when he wasn't following me all day? A blood-curdling scream echoed out and I sank deeper into the couch and Belphegor's back.
"Is the peasant scared? Ushi shi shi shi~ How sad." I lightly tugged his hair and he laughed again.
The movie became decreasingly scary as I became desensitized to the blood and screaming. Yawning, I wrapped the blanket tighter around me. When I looked up to see what Belphegor was doing, I noticed he was still giggling and commenting on certain moments, as if I was still listening. Using him as a bed, I went to dreamland.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ This movie was so boring. Are you still sc- " Belphegor stopped talking and frowned, noticing the sleeping girl on his shoulder. He should have known; she was never so quiet for such a long time. He flicked her forehead and confirmed that she was asleep.
"It's rude for a peasant to sleep on a prince." Her breath was slow and peaceful and watching her made him sleepy, too.
"Ushi shi shi shi~ I'll punish you later."
"Goodnight, peasant."
If there are any errors, PM me and I will rectify them as soon as I can! If you have any character/episode/plot you want me to write about, tell me and I might include it! Please leave a review! I love reading them!
