Story 3

The prince is bored. He can't exactly go off and play outside; it's too sunny and hot for him. Maybe he should just go back to his room and sleep on his cool bed. He frowned. He just woke up from sleeping on the couch and now his body is all sweaty. Sigh. The prince should go take a bath and cool off. He stood off from the couch tired and lazy as he did so. He yawned - not because he was tired but because he was bored - and stretched his stiff limbs around. He scratched the back of his neck as he started to walk out of the way-too-sunny living room. He walked down the hall without thinking and ventured down to the bathing section of the Varia mansion. He stretched his neck, tilting his head to the side just as he was turning into the bathroom. He walked in only to see something interesting. A wide smile crept across his face as he enjoyed the show before him.

"Ushishishi~ now what's this toad? Are you crying?" so amused he smiled even more revealing his pearly white teeth.

Fran flinched at the familiar tone. He crouched further into a fetal position on the tiled shower floor, keeping close to a small corner. He didn't speak but he knew that Belphegor would continue poking fun at him.

"Eh? Is the little Froggy scared of the prince? Or are you embarrassed that the almighty prince saw you being a worthless little peasant than usual?"

See? Fran was right, Belphegor did it and without waiting a beat. Fran covered his head in his arms refusing to look up. He was scared. Ever since he arrived here two weeks ago, he has been scared. It is scary here than it was with Master...no one here helped him like Master did. He is frightened of everything here and he tried to escape countless times but it was impossible. He flinched when he felt someone warm touch him.

"You're acting annoying uncute kouhai. No one is allowed to ignore the prince not even frogs like you." Belphegor placed a hand on Fran's bare shoulder and shook him a little bit. He was getting more annoyed when he was getting no reply. He tried once more but surprisingly he used a quiet voice to call the quiet huddled ball. "...Froggy?"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Belphegor let go immediately and stood up straight backing up a few steps before frowning.

"Wait one sec-" He tried to retort, to what he wasn't sure.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

"..." Belphegor stood uncompletely taken aback. He stood there for a matter of seconds unsure what had just assaulted his ears but more than that he had an unsettling feeling inside him. He opened his mouth and spoke slowly but stiffly. "Froggy isn't allowed to hate the prince but the prince can hate you." Somewhere in his chest pricked painfully, he felt nervous of this unjustified hate.

"WELL DON'T YOU? DON'T YOU HATE ME? SO I CAN HATE YOU TOO! BAKA PRINCE!" Fran didn't know what was wrong with him but he could not stop the words from screaming out of his throat. His entire body shook under the sheer pressure of his screaming and the nerves that he touched based made him rigid but beyond all that, it felt incredibly good to scream. He breathes in sharply as he bit his lip, Fran was going to get himself killed and he didn't want to die. Not yet. He flinched once more when he felt a hand tousle the strands of his hair. It wasn't a smack to the head or anything that hurt but it was soft, gentle, and ... warm? He couldn't stop the tears from pooling out of his eyes and rushing down his cheeks. He cried louder and wailed out in emotional pain.

How long has the frog cried? Well he's sobbing now which Belphegor was grateful to hear now. The prince had sat next to Fran the entire time not moving an inch and only caressed the top of Fran's head. Was the prince getting sick? He would usually bully Froggy more but today felt different. Maybe it was because he was bored and found this entertaining; wanting to see how long it played out for before he killed the toad? Maybe, but right now the prince only cared about consoling the frog.

"...Sorry..."

The prince froze, his hand frozen tangled with green strands. He didn't expect that and he also didn't expect to wrap his arms around the young boy and hug him. "...It's okay." Or did he expect his own voice to sound small and forgiving.