To say that Bel wasn't a good boyfriend would be a lie. Sure, he was inexperienced and naïve, and he did things that made everyone around him roll their eyes and tell him off for, but he was truly such a sweet, affectionate boyfriend who was only trying to do the right thing by Fran.

Like now, as he kept Fran glued to him by means of hugging him tightly from behind on the blond's bed.

"Senpai, I don't like your friends." Looking at the younger trio his boyfriend had allowed inside the house, Fran almost frowned; he didn't like others hanging around Bel, especially when the blond was acting so casually with them. "Make them leave."

Bel kissed the younger's cheek before shaking his head with a placid smile on his face. He looked back to the newcomers, watching with careful eyes as they sorted through his collection of games; this was the first time he was allowing someone to borrow what was his, but he knew the younger ones would return the games; they were trustworthy like that.

"Belphegor-san, have you finished this yet?" The little brunet held up the newest item of Bel's collection, a PlayStation game that had just come out two days ago.

Bel couldn't help but huff at this question; what did they take him for? "Of course I have, peasant!"

The brunet squeaked as his face flushed from embarrassment; he should have known that would be the answer. He hesitated before continuing on, his timid nature shining through. "…May we borrow this one – o-only if you're already done with it! If y-you're still doing stuff on it, t-then –"

Bel tensed, biting his lip at this; this wasn't an easy situation for him, having to force himself to trust people he still wasn't very familiar with; he naturally distrusted people outside of his little family, so allowing people near his belongings, let alone taking them home, was taking a lot out of him. "…"

Fran could sense Bel's stress. He tilted his head back so that he could look up at the other's face. Raising his hand, he pressed his fingers against Bel's pale cheek. "Senpai?"

Bel relaxed at the touch. Letting out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding, he dropped his head so that he could kiss his boyfriend's lips. Once he was satisfied with the way Fran's lips moved slightly against his, he lifted his head once more to answer the brunet. "…Yeah… Just give them all back when you're done with them…"

The one Bel was closest to out of the trio, Takeshi, smiled as he took a seat at Bel's desk. "You know we won't keep them, Bel."

Bel hummed at this, distracting himself with threading his fingers through Fran's hair. He could feel his neck starting to hurt, only adding to his already-present headache and throbbing back. He dropped his chin on top of his boyfriend's head and sighed before he mumbled, "Takeshi, throw me those meds on top of the printer…"

Takeshi did as told and grabbed the packaging he could see. He looked to his friends and spoke in a gentle tone; he could see that Bel wasn't feeling the greatest. "Tsuna, can you get him some water?"

The brunet – Tsunayoshi, as Bel most referred to him as – nodded before leaving the room, with his silver-haired friend named Hayato following close behind him. They didn't take long at all to come back, and once the blond had the water and tablets in hand, everyone remained quiet as Bel took the painkillers and then laid down on the bed. He was tired, but he didn't feel like sleeping; as much as he would never admit it out loud, he kind of liked having visitors; they were such a rarity, they calmed the part of him that felt he didn't belong.

Seeing someone else taking care of Bel, let alone soothing him like this really irked Fran; he didn't like his boyfriend acting around others the same way the older male acted towards him; what if Bel one day decided to leave him for one or all of the trio? "Senpai, why do you like them so much? You aren't going to cheat on me, are you?"

"Shishi~" Bel shook his head and reached out to dance his fingers across Fran's thigh. "Of course not, Froggy. Although… Hayato-kun is pretty sexy; I wouldn't mind fucking him."

The silver-haired male paled at this, and disgust was thick in his voice when he responded. "Fuck off, you creep!"

"That's no way to speak to your host, Hayato-kun." With a playful tone in his voice now, Bel allowed a devious smile to cross his face; oh, how he loved getting reactions out of the younger. "Peasants should always bow down to royalty. If it helps any, I could jerk you off or someth – Ow! Froggy, don't hit me!"

"Senpai~!" In his usual monotonous tone, Fran somehow managed to convey his annoyance. "You're cheating on me~!"

"No, I'm –" Before Bel could finish his sentence, the occupants of the room all looked towards the door as it opened, revealing Squalo stepping into the room after coming home from work early. He held a troubled expression on his face, but Bel overlooked it; his guardian often came home from work bothered from being second in charge of such a stressful company. "Hey, Squ~"

Squalo had opened his mouth to say something, but he shut it when he noticed the other kids in the room. A flicker of happiness crossed his eyes for a few seconds, relieved that Bel was slowly making his first friends; the boy had always kept to himself, having begged to change schools and start fresh not long after coming home with Squalo. Having allowed his charge to change schools after clearing it with the agency in charge of the boy, Bel hadn't let anyone close to him, distancing himself from everyone around him in an attempt to protect himself from suffering more losses; he hadn't coped well with his family's deaths, and it was something he never wanted to go through again.

"Hey, kids." Addressing the younger group, Squalo was glad that these three were Bel's first friends, even if the blond wouldn't refer to them as such; they were a good group with sensible heads on their shoulders, and though Hayato could be as moody as Bel, at least Takeshi and Tsuna respected the blond's condition and treated him very well. "Staying for dinner?"

"If Belphegor-san doesn't mind us staying that long, we would like that." Tsuna was as shy as ever around Squalo; though the man had never directly done anything to make their visitors uncomfortable, the brunet found Squalo's loud nature intimidating. He instinctively moved closer to Hayato now that the man's attention was off him; he was such a timid little thing, but that was what Bel liked about him; Bel knew it meant there was little to no chance of the brunet harming him on purpose, and had instead only ever sensed compassion from the younger.

Bel remained placid. Truth be told, he would enjoy for the younger three to have dinner with them, but he wasn't sure how to express his hopes; he had never been in this situation before, and he found socialising to be rather daunting. Trying to remain nonchalant, he said, "The prince doesn't care for what the peasants do."

Squalo nodded. He looked back to Bel as he said, "Come into my room, brat; I need to talk to you about something."

Bel's lips turned to a frown at this; what would Squalo want to talk to him about that he wouldn't do it in front of the others? "…"

"Brat, come on. It's important."

Bel forced his smile back onto his face and raised his arms into the air; he was suddenly uncomfortable, sensing that they were going to have a talk he wouldn't like, but he didn't want to show his uneasiness; he hated when people could read him. "But I'm comfortable here. If Squ wants me to leave the bed, he'll have to carry me from it~"

"You've got legs; you can walk."

Bel pulled the blankets up to his chin at this as his smile widened playfully. "Nu-uh; I have no legs. My body was surgically removed and now I am just a floating head. You have to carry me everywhere, Squ~"

"You lazy little fuck." Squalo stomped into the room, giving in to his charge's wishes; it was too much of a hassle to make the boy walk when he would rather laze about. "You're going to get so fucking fat at this rate and then I won't be able to carry you anywhere."

"Nu-uh; princes don't get fat, Squ~"

Fran watched as Bel was scooped up with a playful giggle, the blond throwing his arms into the air with an excited 'Whee~!' like a kid on a ride at the amusement park as he was carried from the room. He couldn't help but feel embarrassed for the other's childish behaviour, but he had more important things to attend to; looking back at the younger three, he then said, "Don't hurt my senpai."

Takeshi was the one to reply to this, with his voice as soothing as ever. "We aren't going to hurt him, Fran; he's our friend."

Fran didn't reply to this; he instead waited for Bel to come back while the trio conversed amongst themselves. The seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes to almost an hour before Bel walked back into his room, looking more dazed than Fran had ever seen him before.

"Senpai?" Fran got off the bed to go to Bel's side and grab the larger hand in his, concerned by the way it shook in his hold; what had Squalo said to him to make Bel like this? "Senpai, what happened? Are you okay?"

Bel's mouth opened and closed for a few seconds before he finally spoke in a trembling voice. "Squ said… that… someone… wants to adopt me…"

With that, the tears Bel had been fighting back finally broke free with more force than he was able to restrain. Dropping to his knees, he cried his heart out, but even he didn't know if they were tears of joy or tears of despair. Could they be a mixture? Part of him had always wanted to be adopted to show him that he was wanted and people were willing to look past his special needs, but at the same time, he didn't want to leave his home; this was his family, and he knew he would never be able to feel as happy and content as he did here somewhere else.

"It's okay. It's okay."

Moving towards the soothing voices and touches he was receiving, Bel felt someone wrap their arms around him and hold him tight. Why was someone being so selfish and wanting to take him away from this…?