Chapter edited 23rd April 2016.

Bel was worried when Fran didn't come back home for dinner, but he was also annoyed towards the frog for making him cook dinner; he never cooked because he was lazy, always leaving it up to Fran to feed him. But even so, he couldn't help but stress that something had happened to his beautiful boyfriend.

"Do you think Froggy's okay?" Bel asked as he stirred the pot of ramen slowly.

"I'm sure he's fine." Rasiel sat at the dining table, carefully scrutinising his nails as he searched for the slightest imperfection. He didn't care whether or not Fran was okay, but he wasn't going to ruin things with his brother.

Bel wasn't so convinced; the boy hadn't returned any of his calls or texts, and Yamamoto had told him he had the same such luck; Fran wasn't one to ignore people who were concerned about him, but here the younger was, making no effort to even respond to a text.

The younger blond shook his head to try and rid himself of the worry so he could concentrate on what he was doing; he knew he was only going to stress himself if he didn't try and think about something else.

Rasiel, however, was finding it harder and harder to keep himself composed when the teal-haired teenager entered their conversations every five minutes; why couldn't Bel think of him?

It's like Bel's obsessed with him or something. Rasiel growled quietly to himself at the possibility. He should be obsessed with me. I'm his brother – not that useless little mongrel. I hope it's lying in a ditch somewhere dead. Then Bel can forget the ugly thing ever existed and move on with me. I don't know how someone as beautiful as my brother could love such a hideous creature.

Rasiel's thoughts were interrupted not long later by a bowl of ramen that had been placed down in front of him. He smiled gratefully at the second-born as he picked up the chopsticks that had been waiting with him and said, "This looks good, Bel. It smells good, too."

Bel returned the smile as he sat down beside the older twin. "I've never actually cooked before so I hope it's okay."

"You don't cook?"

"Nope~ Froggy does all my cooking for me when he stays with me. If he's not here, I go out to eat instead."

"Fit for a prince," Rasiel agreed.

The older twin started eating, appreciating his brother's effort to cook for them despite the fact he had eaten better ramen elsewhere. He noticed that Bel had laid out a third bowl beside him, and said twin was looking around with a frown on his face as if expecting someone to appear any second.

Rasiel put his chopsticks down and lifted his hand to his head as a sudden migraine assaulted him. He whimpered as snippets of conversation he couldn't remember ever having flew by in his mind, accompanied by images of him and Bel – looking no older than six – sitting at a table by themselves and looking around as if they were waiting for someone to join them.

"They're not here, Siel…" The young Bel whimpered with a look of devastation on his face.

"Siel?" The present twin asked in concern. He reached out to put his hands on his brother's shoulder, anxious to see the other like this; was Rasiel okay? "Are you okay?"

"Just eat, little brother," Rasiel soothed as he hugged the younger blond. "Your food will go cold if you wait for them to show up."

"Siel? What's wrong?"

"But… T-they never spend time with us…"

"Don't cry, Belphegor. Don't cry over them."

Rasiel panted as the migraine slowly eased, trying to understand what had just happened; he had remembered something from his childhood, but it had been so sudden, and… And, well, to be honest, it kind of depressed him – was it better he didn't remember anything from back then? Because from the look on his brother's face in the flashback, things like that must have happened a lot. "I… I remembered something…"

Bel didn't know how to feel; with how their childhood had went, he doubted it would be something happy. "What was it?"

"…I… We were sitting alone at the dinner table," Rasiel explained. "…You were sad because…"

"…Because our parents had ignored us once again…" Bel finished off. He clenched his hands as he felt darkness wash over him, but he was quick to break out of it; he couldn't let it overwhelm him here – not in front of his brother who still didn't know just how crazy his younger twin had gone after his 'death'. "Yeah; they never spent time with us. They were abusive, anyway; I'm glad I went to foster care because at least then Lussu and Squ ate dinner with me and didn't hit me for stupid shit."

"I'm kind of glad I don't remember them," Rasiel said softly. When Bel hummed in response, the older male slowly drifted into his own thoughts as he tried to think about how alone Bel must have been for all these years and if he were almost lucky to have gotten away from what his brother had hinted at.

Bel, too, started thinking, and he couldn't help but depress himself; he knew he had messed up – but how he had, he wasn't sure. I really wish Froggy would stop being mad at me and come home… I'm sorry, Froggy…

~~Tsuna's home~~

Tsuna's mother, Nana, had been happy to let Fran stay for dinner and, when they had all eaten and decided it was time for bed, the teenager found himself wondering if he should at least let Bel know he wouldn't be coming home tonight because he knew how the other would be sitting at the dinner table, fidgeting as he waited fretfully for Fran to come and join him.

But after what Bel had done earlier, Fran didn't care how lonely the blond would be without him; with Rasiel there, his boyfriend probably wouldn't even remember that Fran was supposed to be staying with him anyway.

"Fran?"

The addressed male looked up at Tsuna's voice. "Yeah?"

"Do you have pyjamas?" the brunet asked. He smiled when his friend shook his head. "I have some you can borrow."

"Thanks…" Fran mumbled, still rather upset about the whole Rasiel situation.

Tsuna dug through his wardrobe to find an extra pair of pyjamas for his friend. When he resurfaced with them, he passed them to the older male and then made his way over to his bed so he could wait for the older male to get dressed. He could see his friend's reflection in the mirror that was sitting across the room but, before he could turn away in embarrassment, he caught sight of all the bruises that adorned the older male's body.

"Why have you got all those bruises?" Tsuna pushed himself into a sitting position so he could take a better look at the scrawny body before him. Fran had purple bruises around his hips and grip marks on his arms, and his body was adorned with tiny little bruises that looked similar to the ones Fran always seemed to have on his neck.

"Huh?" Fran looked down at his body with a blank expression. "They're from Bel. Why?"

"Is Belphegor hurting you?" Tsuna was horrified by the idea of his good friend being abused, but his worry soon vanished when a faint smile slipped onto Fran's face, a sure sign he was amused.

"They're from when we have sex," Fran explained bluntly. "He's rough."

"…But… W-what about the smaller ones?" Tsuna frowned as he tilted his head, not sure what to think.

"They're hickies, Tsuna," Fran deadpanned. He lifted his leg high enough to show the inside of his thigh and pointed out all of the marks that rested there as well. "Bel likes biting."

"Does Mukuro know about the marks?"

Fran shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. He doesn't ask about the hickies on my neck, though, so I don't know if he knows how aggressive Bel is when we do it."

Tsuna blushed slightly, curious about what it was like to have sex. He inched closer to the edge of his bed and whispered, "Does it hurt to… t-to do that with Belphegor…?"

Fran shook his head. "Sort of. Only for a few minutes. Bel knows how to make it good for me, so he does that as soon as he can."

"What about your first time?"

"That time hurt, but Bel was careful with me. He made sure he was gentle so I didn't tear."

"How old were you?"

"I had just turned fifteen. We dated for a few days before Bel kind of rushed me into it."

"Rushed you?" Tsuna frowned.

"We hadn't kissed or anything, and Bel was getting impatient. I had told him I wasn't ready for sex, but he didn't seem to understand."

Tsuna was nervous to hear this kind of information from Fran – had his first time been rape if he hadn't been ready for sex…? "…D-did he…?"

Fran knew what the younger was thinking, and he shook his head. "Bel wanted some sort of sexual contact with me, but I didn't really know what to do. So I told him we could masturbate together. Bel put on one of his porn DVDs and we sat on his bed touching ourselves to it. Apparently, I had chosen the wrong alternative to sex because it only made him hornier and he talked me into having sex. It's not his fault he was being so pushy; he used to have sex all the time but his partner died so it had been over ten years since he had last had it. He was desperate."

"Was it enjoyable?"

Fran nodded. "It was. It was better than when I would masturbate."

Tsuna's face became red at the information his friend had given him; he knew Fran was blunt, straight to the point, and wasn't easily embarrassed, but knowing such details about the older male's personal life was strange considering Fran was a very quiet, personal boy who didn't open up to many people.

But, with all the information he had been given, Tsuna could tell just how much Fran loved Bel if he could give himself to the older man, despite not being ready. So why were they fighting? Why was Fran standing – still half-naked – in the middle of his room, telling him about his intimacy with Bel?

"So what… happened between you two…?" Tsuna asked, not sure if he would get an answer or not. "I mean… you're here, instead of being with Belphegor…"

"Bel's being an idiot-senpai," Fran muttered. He dropped his gaze to the ground. "His brother is back in his life, and now it feels as if I don't matter anymore to him…"

"Why do you feel like that?" Tsuna asked softly, ready to try and help his friend if that was what Fran needed.

"…He's spending time with Rasiel and not me… But it's confusing because it's like he wants me to be part of the conversation between them, but he's ready to dump me off at a friend's house so he can go out to lunch with Rasiel…"

"Maybe Belphegor is just happy to be with his brother," Tsuna pointed out. "Perhaps he doesn't know how to include you in what they do together, so all he can do to make sure you're not left out is invite you into their conversations. Maybe he doesn't mean to make you feel like that – he's just so excited, he can't see how he's making you feel. I think you need to talk to him."

Fran sighed. "…I… I don't like his brother…"

"That might be what you two need to talk about," Tsuna soothed. "Maybe Belphegor doesn't see this and is trying to share his happiness with you, though he doesn't realise it's only hurting you."

Fran closed his eyes as he breathed softly. He knew Tsuna was right, but… "…Okay… I'll talk to him tomorrow…"

Tsuna smiled shyly as he watched Fran curl up on the futon by the bed. He quickly stood up and moved to the light switch, bathing the room in darkness. As he made his way back over to his bed, he whispered, "Goodnight, Fran."

"Night…" Fran mumbled, already half asleep.