When Bel woke up the next morning, he found Fran still curled against him, a tiny hand clutching at his striped shirt. The blond gently pried the hand from his body, sitting up and stretching. He left the room quietly, trying not to wake the boy, and walked back to the office he had been in last night, wondering if he would find Mukuro there.

"Belphegor has arisen."

Bel rolled his obscured eyes as he found Mukuro sitting on the couch that had been overturned previously, a familiar blond sitting next to him. He didn't think anything of it, assuming the other person to maybe be one of the friends Mukuro had taken with him after escaping from the Estraneo Family when he was still a boy.

"B-bel-san?"

Bel giggled when he realised that he had been wrong, and it was in fact the Vongola Decimo he was looking at. "Is the pineapple and the tuna having a secret affair? Should the prince tell everyone? Your stupid puppy would be upset to hear he's being cheated on with a pineapple."

Mukuro scowled before the kanji in his right eye changed from six to one. Within seconds, he was smiling playfully again as he watched Bel scream and swat at the swarm of illusionary butterflies attacking his face.

"B-bel-san!" Tsuna looked horrified, knowing that this was going to turn into a bad situation if Mukuro didn't dispell his illusion - Bel was going to flip. "Mukuro, stop!"

Mukuro glared at his boss before he did as ordered, laughing at the way Bel collapsed to his knees while his chest heaved as if he had been utterly terrified. "Kufufu~ What's the matter, Belphegor? Afraid of a few illusions?"

"Stupid pineapple bastard!" Bel got back to his feet, grabbing knives from his pocket. "How did you know the prince is scared of butterflies?!"

Mukuro laughed even louder at this, noticing that Fran was peeking into the room warily from around the corner. He gestured for the boy to come in before he replied to his guest, smirking all the while. Fran shot a worried glance at Bel as he passed the blond, having been woken by the older male's screaming.

"Actually, I didn't - I just had a feeling you didn't like them when I noticed you'd stop and wait for them to fly past you when we were on that mission together."

"The pineapple will be a cactus if he does that again!" Bel threw a knife at the two as if to emphasise his point.

"Stop fighting..." Tsuna whimpered, not wanting to get in the middle of their argument, but also not wanting them to start trying to kill each other - it was hard enough stopping Hibari and Mukuro from doing that every time they saw each other.

Mukuro huffed as he sat back down, moving over to make room for Fran who was climbing up onto the couch. "Yes, Belphewhore, Tsunayoshi has something important to tell us."

"Don't care!" Bel pouted, stomping his foot on the ground childishly. "The prince is going to check if Mammy is okay after last night! Keep your stupid butterflies to yoursefl!"

"Wait, Bel-san!" Tsuna jumped up from the couch, raising his hands defensively as a knife was suddenly pointed at him. He gulped, knowing Bel would use it if he wasn't careful. "...I... I spoke to the Varia this morning... They're fine - they all are. When you go back to them, they'll tell you that we're working together now - to beat the Vindice."

"The prince refuses to work with peasants." Bel turned back around to leave, stopping only when tiny feet started running towards him. He turned around as Fran stopped by his side, the boy looking up with wide teal eyes. "What does the frog want?"

"Can I come with you?" Fran raised his arms into the air, asking to be picked up.

Bel shook his head, knowing he couldn't bring a seven-year-old back to the Varia when they were all - himself included - going to be in bad moods - they were the Varia, and they were never happy to be working alongside Tsuna, still bitter over the way the Ring Battles had gone.

"The prince is going home for a while." Bel shrugged. "He might come back later."

"Okay." Fran dropped his arms back to his sides before he moved back to Mukuro's side, pouting. He had wanted to go with Bel, mostly because he was worried of those things he could only describe as mummies coming back again - he felt safe with Bel, the things Mukuro told him were memories telling the boy that if they were indeed true, the blond had protected him during their times together, even to the point of severe injuries.

"Master?" Fran looked up at the blue-haired male. "Master, do you think Bel-senpai will come back?"

"Something tells me he will." Mukuro patted teal hair softly before he turned his attention back to Tsuna.

Fran nodded, smiling to himself as he waited impatiently for Bel to come back.