A/n: Sorry for the wait, guys! This chapter was hell to write. Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes…

Enjoy!

Bel was staring moodily in the mirror when he heard the door down the hall open and shut. He lifted his head from his arms, listening attentively as the sound of faint footsteps walked past his door and down the stairwell. There had been no one up here but him, since Lussuria had taken the frog to his gig, and the boss was downstairs with Levi and Squalo. Bel frowned and ignored the twinge of guilt he felt about his attack on Squalo. Glancing at the clock that sat on his bedside table, he realized it was actually quite late.

Lussu and the stupid frog should be back by now…I wonder…

The sound of the footsteps had long since stopped, but Bel held still for a few seconds just to be sure. After determining that no one was in the hall, the prince snuck out of his room, closing the door behind him with a faint click. He had been right – the hall was empty of all but him. Glancing behind him, Bel frowned at the door at the end of the hall. Levi had been quite lazy when finding a room to stash him in the other night, and had walked all of three feet to the adjacent room and locked him there. Bel snickered and made a mental note to tease Levi about it later.

All the doors that lined the hallway were open, save his own and one other at the other end of the hall. Wondering briefly why he was even doing this, Bel walked quickly over to the door and pressed his ear against the wood. The blonde could only hear the sound of slow, steady breathing, so he held his breath and tried the doorknob.

It twisted easily beneath his hands, allowing him into the room without so much as a squeak. He quietly entered, leaving the door open behind him in case he needed to make a quick getaway. His efforts were pointless, however, since the room's only occupant was fast asleep, and quite unaware of his presence.

The first thing he noticed was the green. It was rather hard to miss, actually, since the whole room swam with it. He almost didn't notice the boy sound asleep in the bed, he blended in so well with the surrounding color. But when he did notice him, Bel froze. The sounds he had heard earlier all snapped into place; Lussuria must have carried the boy up the stairs to his room.

The stupid frog fell asleep on the way home? Tch. How pathetic.

Staring at the sleeping teen, Bel could feel the past days' insanity creeping back into focus. His fault. It was all his fault. The stupid frog was the reason all of this had happened. Bel felt his mouth twist into a grin he was all too familiar with, and the insanity fell across his vision like a red veil. Before he knew it, he was standing right next to the boy's sleeping form, knife in hand. He laughed quietly.

Shi shi shi…it's all his fault. He made me this way. His fault, his fault, HIS FAULT.

If I get rid of him, Mammon will come back. He's Mammon's replacement, so if I get rid of him…

Bel raised his hand, poised to stab the boy in the chest, but the green haired teen shifted in his sleep, exposing his face to the blonde. Bel froze for the second time, stuck in his killing stroke, unable to do anything but stare at the person in front of him. The insanity disappeared as easily as it had come.

Shi shi…he's…kinda cute…isn't he?

Fran's face was peaceful in sleep, not guarded or tense as it had been in the short time the prince had seen him. His hair was spread out across the pillow, circling his head like a silky green halo. Bel fought down the urge to reach out and see if it was as soft as it looked. He still had the remains of makeup from the shoot smudged across his cheeks, and his eyes fluttered beneath his lids in rapid little movements. Bel wondered idly what he was dreaming about.

He found out an instant later. Fran screamed suddenly, grasping his injured arm and writhing under the covers, tangling the sheets around himself in panic. Bel threw himself backwards, stumbling on the edge of a carpet and crashing to the floor. He righted himself quickly as Fran screamed again, choked and raw, with tears threatening at the corners of his eyes. The hand gripping his arm tightened, and the teen whimpered quietly, a name slipping through he closed lips.

"B-Bel."

The prince froze in shock, again unable to move as the boy continued to speak his name.

"Bel. Bel, stop, please stop. Please, please stop. It hurts…" He shuddered and gasped, gripping his arm impossibly harder. Bel thought he could see a dark stain spreading across the bandage, but he couldn't be sure. He blinked and stared at the teen's pained expression, listening as he mumbled more desperate pleas. He shivered as realization hit him.

Me. He's dreaming of me. This is what he was thinking when…

"I hate you."

The blonde stiffened, and returned his gaze to the teen. His hand was slowly relaxing as he slipped into another dream, one that was hopefully more enjoyable than the first. His face smoothed back into a peaceful non-expression, and he sighed softly.

"I hate you, Bel."

The prince shut the door as quietly as he could on his way out, making sure the boy was sleeping soundly once again before running full speed down the hall and locking himself in his room.

He hates me. He despises me.

He felt a tear he didn't remember shedding slide down his cheek. The stupid, emotionless frog, Mammon's replacement, hated him.

Bel couldn't explain for the life of him why he even cared.

(line break)

Fran woke with a groan. His arm felt like it was being torn in two, and he had a headache to match it. Hissing in pain, the teen struggled into a sitting position, resting his head against the back of the bed and tried to calm the fire in his arm. As he gazed around the room, trying to concentrate on anything but his arm, he couldn't stop a sarcastic smirk from twisting his features.

Will I ever wake up in the same place I fell asleep? Is that too much to ask?

The sound of his door opening provided Fran with the distraction he needed, and he focused his attention on the man entering his room. He wasn't surprised to see Lussuria's colorful mohawk bob into the room, but Fran could barely hide the shock when he saw his attacker enter the room, following quietly behind the healer. Other than the crown that had somehow magically reappeared on his head, Fran couldn't find anything familiar in the blonde. Gone was the psychotic killer who had injured Fran's arm and destroyed Squalo's hand. Gone was the frantic man who had run into the kitchen at full speed, desperate to find a way to escape. Fran thought he had understood the blonde, to an extent; evil, sadistic, and heartless. The man standing next to his bed showed none of these qualities.

He seems…broken.

For the first time, Fran thought he could understand the pain Bel was feeling over Mammon's betrayal. When he was running around mauling people, he was hard to sympathize with, but in this state…he seemed so heartbroken that Fran had to force back the sting of tears from his eyes. He blinked and tore his gaze from the blonde, realizing he had been staring, and turned his attention to Lussuria. The man was, of course, exaggerating over his arm.

"Oh, Fran-chan! How horrible! You must have really disturbed it in your sleep to make it bleed like this. A nightmare, maybe?" Fran thought he saw Bel wince, but he ignored it. Lussuria was still moaning. "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have let you do that photo shoot yesterday! Oh, Fran-chan, I'm sorry!" The rainbow man pouted, quivering his lower lip as he readied the supplies to change Fran's bandage. The teen rolled his eyes dramatically, the action somehow escaping the notice of the flamboyant man. Bel, however, snickered quietly under his breath. Fran raised one eyebrow and cast him a glance, but the blonde's expression gave nothing away.

Stupid fake prince, you can't take my talent, that's not fair…

Fran made an effort to ignore the blonde for the rest of the time it took for Lussuria to change his bandage. Just as he was finishing up, Fran's stomach growled loudly, causing everyone to freeze. The room was dead silent for a couple of beats, but a peal of borderline insane laughter shattered it completely.

"Shi shi shi~! The stupid frog is hungry! Maybe Lussu should go find him some flies to eat~" He giggled again, a grin spreading across his face as he spoke. Fran didn't know why, but he felt a weight lift of his chest as the blonde laughed. He seemed like he was back to normal now.

Was I…worried about him? …No, no way. And shit, I guess this means he's back to his murderous personality.

Lussuria chuckled and practically skipped out of the room, singing something about 'eggs and toast for the cutie~'. Fran shuddered at the awful tune and reached out a hand to grab his sling, which was hanging in its usual place on his bedpost. Before he could reach it, however, another hand shot out and snatched it away from him. Fran returned to his original position and glared at the blonde not-prince, who was dangling the sling just out of reach.

"Shi shi shi…c'mon, frog, jump for it. All dumb frogs can jump, right~? Shi shi~" Gritting his teeth against the numerous curses he wanted to fling at Bel, Fran reached toward his sling, letting a few choice curses slip through when the blonde swung it further away from him.

"You bastard fake prince. Give me my goddamn sling."

The blonde laughed again, swinging the sling back and forth tauntingly. "You heard me, frog. Jump."

So Fran jumped.

He ended up overshooting it, colliding with Bel and sending them both to the floor. His good hand wrapped itself tightly around his sling, brushing briefly over the blonde's fingers in the process. The teen curled in on himself, not even bothering to break his fall, instead concentrating on protecting his arm. Even with his efforts, when the duo hit the ground, the pain that lanced up Fran's arm caused him to grind his teeth together against a scream. He heard something hiss from underneath him, and the boy realized he had landed quite forcefully on the blonde not-prince. He held perfectly still, hoping the blonde wouldn't attack him for his closeness. He would get off, but his good arm was pinned under him, and even a small movement caused his bad arm to flare with pain.

Both models lay on the ground for an ever increasing amount of time, each steadying their breathing and accounting for any injuries. After what seemed like forever, Bel spoke.

"Oi. Dumb frog. Get off."

Fran tried again to move, but immediately stopped due to the pain.

"…I can't. It hurts too much."

Bel tch-ed and began to wriggle underneath the boy. Fran tried to force away the blush that was forming on his cheeks and failed miserably. Bel's movements made the amount of body contact the two of them shared all too evident, and Fran ducked his head, cursing the man silently between clenched teeth. Damn fake prince. Don't notice, don't notice.

Bel finally escaped from under the green haired teen, and leapt to his feet instantly. He was at the door before Fran could take a breath to stop him, and he turned to face the fallen boy.

"If you beg me, I'll help you get up."

Fran hissed and lifted his head to glare at the smirking man. "Shut the hell up. I can do it myself. Beg, my ass." The blonde chuckled quietly, leaning against the doorframe lazily.

"Shi shi shi…I'd love to…but princes don't beg." Fran froze at the obvious innuendo in the blonde's voice, gritting his teeth and ignoring the insane laughter that followed. If he wasn't careful, the annoying laughter would drive him as insane as the blonde. Fran took a deep breath and struggled to right himself without doing something that caused him to scream in pain. It proved to be quite difficult, and by the time the teen had freed his good arm from under his body, he was already worn out. When he tried to push himself up using just the one arm, he only fell immediately back to the ground in an ungraceful heap. Cursing eloquently by this point, he used the remaining strength in his arm to roll himself onto his back.

Okay. Now what.

He tried flexing his shoulders to throw himself into a sitting position, but the movement further pained his injury, so he decided against it. It took a good five minutes for him to admit he needed assistance, and when he finally did, he wasn't pleased. He glanced over to the side, both relieved and annoyed to see that the blonde was still leaning against the doorjamb, observing him with interest. Sighing in defeat, Fran blinked twice before staring dejectedly up at the ceiling.

"Bel, please help me."

He refused to look at the blonde, but he could hear his footsteps as he approached. Fran closed his eyes to wait for his reply. After a few seconds passed without an answer, the teen opened his eyes and jerked in surprise. Bel had fallen to his hands and knees over him, one hand on each side of the teen's head, and one knee on either side of his waist. His blonde locks were brushing against the skin of Fran's forehead, a giant grin dominating the lower half of his face. As he shifted slightly, Fran caught a brief flash of color underneath the blonde mass of hair, but it was too quick a glimpse to actually see Bel's eyes. Fran couldn't even say what color he had seen, but the blonde's strange laugh brought him back to the problem at hand.

"Shi shi shi…whatcha thinkin' about, dumb frog?" Bel lowered his face impossibly closer, so that Fran could practically feel the smirk on his lips. The teen blushed and turned his head away, forcing his voice to stay steady.

"Nothing, stupid fake prince. I thought you were going to help me up, not push me into the floor. Idiot." The blonde laughed.

"I am going to help you up, stupid frog. Shi shi~ A prince doesn't break his promises. But, you didn't beg." Fran whipped his head back to glare at the blonde, forgetting how close their faces were. The teen froze as the tips of their noses brushed against each other, and had to again fight down a blush.

"I did beg, fake prince. I said 'help me please'. You won't get any more than that for your sick fetish." The only response he got was a peal of laughter. Fran gritted his teeth as the blonde continued to laugh, bringing his good hand up to Bel's mouth and pushing against it, trying to silence him. It worked, to his surprise; the blonde stopped laughing immediately and seemed to glare at the teen on the floor, although since his eyes were hidden, it was hard to tell. The silence only lasted an instant, however, and was broken by Fran's surprised cry. Something warm and wet flicked across the palm of his hand, causing the teen to jerk it away in reflex. Before he could do anything else, Bel had the hand pinned to the floor once more, trapping Fran totally and efficiently.

Fran was too surprised to register the position he was in. "You…you licked my hand!" He forgot to mask his emotion, so his surprise was evident in his expression and his words. Bel cocked his head to the side, seemingly interested in the show of emotion, and didn't say a word. Fran realized his mistake instantly, and with a quick curse he masked his emotions once more.

Bel frowned. "Why do you do that?"

Fran shrugged and looked away, mumbling under his breath. "Why would I tell you, you stupid, psychotic, rapist fake prince. Now get off." Fran refused to look at him, so the blonde sighed and shifted slightly, getting ready to stand up.

"I told you, frog. Beg me. Use the right name." Fran raised his eyebrow, still not looking at Bel. The blonde laughed, explaining.

"You said I was in charge of you, so that means I'm your senpai. Use the right name, dumb frog, and I'll get off and help you up." Fran scowled inwardly. All this for one action? What was wrong with this man? But instead of voicing his thoughts, he rolled his eyes and complied.

"Bel-senpai, please help me up now. And get off while you're at it." Bel laughed and stood up, offering the teen a hand up, which Fran took gratefully. Once he was standing on his own, Bel turned on a heel and ran out of the room, just as Lussuria yelled from downstairs, "Breakfast is ready~!" Bel paused in the hallway, casting a comment over his shoulder at the boy still in the room.

"If I beat you to breakfast, I'm eating your toast, un-cute kohai. Shi shi shi~!"

Fran exited his room with a low curse, wondering silently if he didn't like the evil, psychotic Bel better than this strange edition.

(Line break)

Bel raced down the stairs, taking three at a time and stumbling over the last one, nearly falling on his face. Pausing for an instant to turn back to the staircase and kick the bottom stair in retribution, he walked calmly into the kitchen, where Lussuria was making the finishing touches to their breakfast; toast and eggs. Bel snickered as he grabbed the two pieces of toast off of the plate across him and plopped them on his own, which now held four pieces. Giggling quietly, he pushed his chair away from the table and propped his bare feet on the table, tipping his chair back onto its two back legs and balancing precariously.

That was the position Fran found him in when he trudged into the room, saddened, but not surprised to see, that his toast was currently residing on Bel's plate. Choosing not to pick a fight, he nodded to Lussuria in thanks and sat down to start eating. He was just about to lift a forkful of scrambled eggs to his mouth when he realized Bel was staring at him. How he could tell behind those blonde bangs, Fran didn't know, but he closed his mouth and placed his fork on his plate.

"What, fake prince."

A knife embedded itself in the wood right next to his good hand, and Fran forced himself not to flinch. He continued to stare back at the blonde with disinterest, taking silent delight in the scowl on the man's face.

"The prince is not fake, stupid frog."

Fran snorted loudly, picking up his fork of eggs again. "If you're not fake, then I'm not a frog. How d'you like them apples, senpai?" Another knife quickly joined the first, quivering ominously next to his plate. Fran stared at the piece of metal for a while before setting his eggs down yet again and yanking the knives out of the wood. He studied it closely, admitting silently that it was quite a beautiful knife.

Then he bent them both in half and threw them across the table at the stunned blonde.

"Don't throw things, senpai. Someone could get hurt." Fran finally was able to eat a mouthful of eggs during the span of stunned silence exuding from the blonde. He looked up at the sound of three more knives sticking into the table, each one closer to his hand than the last. Without missing a beat, Fran tore them from the wood and bent them as well, tossing them to join the now decent sized pile in front of the blonde.

The next knife found its way into the flesh of his hand.

Fran hissed under his breath, yanking the knife out and inspecting his wound. Surprisingly, it wasn't bleeding much; the knife hadn't stabbed him too deeply, and the result was just a shallow cut.

Nothing a band-aid won't handle. Fran thought as he covered the wound with his napkin to keep blood from dripping onto his breakfast. He paused in his ministrations for a second to break the knife that had hurt him and tossed it in the pile with the rest.

"Really, Bel-senpai, have you learned yet? Don't throw things at me, or I'll break them. It's really quite simple, actually. If you're as smart as they say you are, you should be able to figure it out."

A grin slowly spread across Bel's face, but there was no mirth in it. He giggled insanely, leaning across the table to get in the teen's face. "Oi…frog. You wanna die?" Fran blinked, leaning away slightly. The blonde's breath wafted over his face, smelling faintly of chocolate, and Fran did everything he could not to blush at the man's closeness. Trying to remember what Bel had asked him, Fran's mind scrambled for an answer; anything to make the blonde back off.

"Ah…no, actually, dying isn't very high on my priority list. I'm liking life quite a lot; it seems like I get stabbed every single day and I'm working with a bunch of whackos…nope, don't wanna die, I assure you." Bel was silent for a good minute after Fran's outburst, shifting his head slightly to the side to size up the teen in front of him. The boy was staring at his plate of food, no evident expression on his face excep the faint dustings of a blush covering his cheeks. Bel's grin widened a bit into an expression of actual mirth.

Shi shi shi…well well, the frog's affected by the prince. Shi shi~ how fun.

Instead of backing off as Fran had thought he would, Bel leaned forward more, enjoying the teen's obvious discomfort. He was about to say something when Lussuria cleared his throat loudly, making both boys jump a mile in their seats. Bel sat back in his chair forcefully, a pout adorning his face. Fran took a deep breath, shooting Lussuria a thankful glance before eating quietly. The room was awkwardly silent as Bel continued to observe Fran from a more conventional distance. He smirked at the teen's disorganized apparel and voiced his opinion.

"Shi shi…did the stupid frog forget to take his makeup off this morning? Your face is a mess~" Fran's hands instantly flew to his face, smudging the dried makeup even more than it already had. With a flash of chagrin, Fran realized he was still wearing the outfit he had modeled in the day before, the clothes rumpled and creased, and in some places stained with blood and makeup. Fran sighed quietly, pushing back from the table to go get changed, but he stopped at the door. He whirled around and spoke only to Lussuria, ignoring the snickering blonde.

"Ah, Lussuria? Could I borrow some clothes? I only have the set I arrived here in and this one, and they're both stained with blood. And as resourceful as I am, I am not wearing bloodstained clothes. I'll leave that to the fake prince to do." Still ignoring the now scowling blonde, Fran listened intently to Lussuria as he dramatically slapped his forehead and spoke.

"Fran-chan~! But of course! Of course, you're so slim that I doubt you'd fit into any of our clothes…OH!" He seemed to have an epiphany, for the man stood up and skipped over to the wary teen. Holding Fran by the shoulders, Lussuria continued to speak as if he were across the room still, causing Fran to wince at the volume.

"You can wear Mammon's clothes! He left quite a few, and you're about his size. Sure, you're a few inches taller, but those clothes were big on Mammon anyway. Here, let me show you to his room and you can pick –"

Lussuria was interrupted by a knife whizzing by his head, embedding itself in the wall next to Fran's ear, taking a few stands of dark green hair with it. Fran glared at the blonde, who was standing and shaking, his eyes downcast and his fists clenched.

"No one goes in Mammon's room but me, you filthy peasants. The dumb frog doesn't deserve to wear his clothes anyway." Lussuria seemed shocked, but he quickly regained his composure. "But Bel-chan, Fran needs something to wear, and all of our clothes are too big~! Mammon's clothes are the only ones that will fit!" Bel was silent, still staring into the wood of the table as if it were the most interesting thing he had ever seen. After what seemed like eternity, he looked up once more.

"Fine. But I take the stupid frog down to Mammon's room. Not you, peasant. And if he touches anything, he dies." Without another room, Bel strode out of the room, fists still clenched at his sides.

After a few beats of silence, Fran shrugged out Lussuria's grip. "You sure he's not on his period? He has some awful mood swings." Lussuria's laughter followed him out into the hallway as the teen tried to keep up with the angry mass of blonde hair in front of him. Bel was practically running through the halls, having obviously made this trek multiple times before, but for Fran, who only knew where three rooms in the mansion were located, it was a crazy maze of twists and turns. Finally, after going down three separate staircases and making countless turns, Bel stopped in front of a dark cherry door, silently turning the knob and entering the pitch black room. Fran paused at the open doorway, wondering if he should enter or not, but Bel's voice made the decision for him.

"Come in." His voice was dejected, distant, and Fran felt a deep sadness roll over his heart at the sound of it. He shook he head roughly from side to side and the feeling broke. He walked quickly into the room just as Bel switched on the lights. Fran stood silently as he slowly took in the room around him.

Everything that wasn't wood was a deep purple or black; it seemed that most rooms in this mansion were color-coded. The bed in the middle was completely round and surprisingly large for someone who was allegedly so tiny. All of the furniture was the same dark cherry color as the door, and the handles were a shimmery gold. Tons of items lined the walls, varying from large coin collections to photos of different groups of people. On one wall, there was a large picture of Bel and someone who Fran figured was Mammon himself; it seemed like they were posing for a photo shoot, and even though Fran was new to the business, the purple haired boy's beauty was evident even to him. Joining the photo on the wall was another picture, this time of Mammon and six other people, all smiling and laughing in front of what looked like a high school. One of the boys in the picture, a blonde kid dressed in military uniform, had one arm around Mammon's shoulders, making a peace sign to the camera with his other hand. He had a pair of piercing blue eyes that seemed alight with laughter. Mammon was smiling too, his own lavender eyes shining with happiness and something else, something more subtle. Fran thought he had almost figured it out when Bel cleared his throat impatiently, causing Fran's concentration to break as he turned to face the blonde. He was sitting on the edge of the circular bed, staring sullenly at the carpeted floor. He gestured to a walk in closet behind him, not even bothering to look where he was pointing. "Get some clothes out of there, then get out."

Normally, Fran would have had some witty quip to announce to the blonde as a parting jab, but something in the way Bel was staring at the floor, almost as if he weren't even seeing it, made Fran hold his sharp tongue. He walked silently to the closet and threw open the doors. Mammon had either done a ton of modeling or had loads of cash on him, because the closet was stuffed to bursting will clothes of every fashion. Thankfully, everything was sorted by clothing type, so it was simple for Fran to pick out a certain number of pairs of pants and shirts. After ten minutes of browsing, Fran emerged from the closet carrying two pairs of skinny jeans, one pair of blue jeans, and three shirts; one black with light green stripes, one a simple navy blue, and the last a deep red that hung off one shoulder. He had changed clothes while in the closet - which was made difficult because of his sling, but he had managed - and was wearing a pair of jeans that closely resembled those in the photo of Mammon and Bel, a white tee with black starbursts on it, and a black cap that he wore tilted to the side, something he noticed was also in the picture of the two models. He had also picked up a couple pairs of underwear, but hid them underneath the pile of clothes he was carrying. No need for Bel to see everything he had chosen.

The blonde had moved from his position before; he was now standing in front of the picture of Mammon and the blonde boy, a scowl adorning his features. He was passing a knife between his fingers, seemingly contemplating sticking it in between the blonde boy's eyes. Fran silently placed his pile of clothes on the bed and padded over to Bel, standing beside him stoically, staring at the photo with him.

"He looks like he's having fun, doesn't he."

Bel made a resigned noise in the back of his throat and nodded. "Yeah…Mammon always had fun with Colonello. They were best friends in high school. Actually they all were." He gestured to the rest of the smiling bunch. "The Arcobaleno. It's little wonder that Mammon…that he…" Bel trailed off, letting his hand fall back to his side and stared silently at the photo again. Fran felt a familiar pull at his heart, not even trying to push it away this time, and he unthinkingly placed a hand on Bel's shoulder. The blonde turned to him in surprise, taking in his appearance for the first time.

"Shi shi…you look so much like him. It's scary." Bel looked Fran up and down, taking in his outfit with appraising eyes. Apparently liking what he saw, he smirked and flipped the hat off of the green haired teen's head. It landed somewhere behind him, but Fran was to shocked at the subtle display of affection to care.

"What's with you?"

Bel blinked in confusion. "Shi shi…what?"

Fran forged on ahead. "Not three days ago, you tried to kill me. Then the next day you tried to kill Squalo. Then you were stabbing me at breakfast, but not trying to hurt me. And now, you're standing here talking to me as if I'm an old friend. What's with you? Can't you pick one personality and stick with it? Is that too much to ask? If you want to kill me, then kill me. If you want to be kind, then be kind. But don't switch in between the two! It's confusion as all hell, and I don't know what to do around you!" Fran was panting at the end of his outburst, his face wearing a indignant expression. Bel lifted on hand and gently poked the confused furrow in the teen's brow, smoothing it out before speaking.

"Shi shi…you talk to me about a personality disorder, but you don't show your emotion to anyone? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? You're as much of a liar as I am about what I feel. Don't lecture me." His face was serious, but his finger still trailed along his forehead, lazily, as if the man was deep in thought and not even realizing what he was doing. Fran took a shaky breath.

"Lying? How are you lying?"

Bel froze and removed his finger, turning around and sprawling out on the bed. He pushed Fran's pile of clothes to the floor with a snicker and faced the teen.

"Not telling~ By the way, nice show of emotion back there. The prince appreciated it. Shi shi shi~" Fran turned to glare at the wall, settling his emotionless mask back into place, his thoughts a frantic swirl of confusion.

What is it about this man that makes me…feel so much? I hate him…and yet…

His mask back in place, Fran stooped to pick up the hat on the floor, but Bel's voice stopped him.

"Not yet, frog. I'll give it to you soon. I have to fix it first."

Fran cast the blonde a glance, and straightened up. The hat looked perfectly fine to him, but he figured he wouldn't push Bel's good mood too far today. He shrugged, gathering up the clothes Bel had so unceremoniously dumped on the floor and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. Bel made sure the sound of footsteps had long faded before he held his head in his hands and laughed softly.

"Shi shi…what are you doing, huh? He's nothing like Mammon. What are you doing, Bel? You're a prince, not a frog or a peasant. Shi shi…shi…"

Mammon had left his room untouched when he left, all the more indicator that he wanted to forget all about the Varia and his time with them. Bel had known from the beginning that Mammon was just using him as a stepping stone to get to where he wanted to go; the Arcobaleno, and the raised pay they offered, and yet he couldn't stop himself from befriending the kid. And now he was gone, and Bel was so listless he was more violent than he had ever been. Bel glared sullenly at the photo of Mammon and Colonello one last time before hurling five knives at it, destroying the paper beyond recognition, making sure most of the knives landed on Colonello's face.

If there was one thing he and Mammon had in common, it was the knowledge of the pain of unrequited love.

(line break)

Fran had finished lunch early, so he trudged back to his room and flopped down on the bed with a sigh. Bel hadn't shown up to lunch, and when Fran had been sent to go check on him, he had been told off so harshly he wondered if he had imagined the whole morning. He rolled over, staring moodily at the wall, trying his damnedest to figure out the blonde's dangerous mood swings when he caught sight of the hat he had picked out this morning. There was a note attached to it, which fell onto the teen's lap when he picked it up. Fran read it quickly, fingering design on the hat with his thumb.

Dumb frog;

I fixed the hat. It's perfect for a stupid frog like you now. Shi shi shi~! Don't take it off, or I'll be offended, and will have to kill you~

P.S.: Don't ever break my knives again or I'll kill you.

Bel

Fran tossed the not to the floor and inspected the hat. He immediately saw what the blonde had done to it and hissed under his breath.

He had removed the skull design from the hat and replaced it with one of a frog. It was a cutesy anime-esque frog, with big black eyes and light green in color. Fran threw the hat behind him and flopped down on the bed, vowing never to wear the hat again.

However, after a minute or so of staring at the ceiling, Fran realized that Bel had actually taken time out of his day to make it for him. Granted, it was supposed to be a stupid prank, not a gesture of kindness, but the fact remained that the blonde had taken Mammon's hat and changed it for him to wear.

When Fran exited the room a few minutes later, he was wearing the black cap tilted to the side, as he had seen Mammon do in photo, and started to make his way downstairs. He figured now that he had some free time, he would explore the rest of the mansion. His plans were destroyed, however, when Lussuria came barreling up the stairs with a huge grin on his face. Fran raised one eyebrow, waiting for the other man to start conversation. Lussuria was practically skipping with joy.

"Squ-chan's awake! He finally woke up~! I should tell Bel, he doesn't have to worry about the boss killing him anymore~!" With that, he ran up the rest of the stairs and pounded on the blonde's door. Fran decided to lean against the bannister and wait for the others before heading over to see the second victim of Bel's rampage, wondering absently how the man had reacted to the news that he no longer had his left hand. Fran shuddered at the thought and waited patiently at the foot of the stairs, both looking forward to and dreading seeing Squalo's face.

A/n: Well, there it is. Chapter 4 is finished. *faints* Dunno why that one was so hard to write…maybe Bel's mood swings are getting to me…

Anyway, I think I've just created a crack pairing…Mammon x Colonello? Where do I come up with this stuff…anyway, I hope you liked this chappie, I'll work on being more regular with my updates.

Bye bii~!