Chapter edited 6th May 2016.

A few months had passed by since Rasiel's death, and during that time, both Fran and Bel had slowly made their recoveries. While the blond was faster to get back on his feet, the boy was doing much better than he had been, and had only just starting going back to school – even if he only attended for the last half of his classes, something his teacher was understanding about and supported. His friends walked him home every day after school to help him feel safe, like now, as they sat at a nearby park together while they waited for Bel to come and get him. He sat on the picnic table with his knees drawn to his chest and a frog teddy that Mukuro had bought for him in his arms.

"I still say you guys should join the boxing club," Ryohei, one of the older boys in the group, said enthusiastically to the younger teens. "At least extremely consider it."

Gokudera, who had already been in a foul mood, stood up as he shouted at Ryohei, taking his frustrations out on the grey haired teenager. "Can't you give it a rest about the boxing club?! It should be obvious none of us will – T-tenth?"

Tsuna had tugged on his friend's sleeve, drawing the silver-haired teenager's attention as he gestured to Fran. The boy had ducked his head, and his body was tense as he hugged the life out of his teddy.

"You're scaring him…" Tsuna whispered as he rubbed Fran's back in a comforting manner.

Gokudera mumbled an apology to his friend as he sat back down, unable to admit how bad he felt for frightening the damaged boy; he hated showing it, but he really did care for his friend.

Yamamoto was the next one to speak to Fran. His voice was as cheerful as always with just a hint of tenderness in it. "Yo, Fran; relax, okay? You know we're not going to hurt you."

Fran knew Yamamoto was right – but it wasn't like he wanted to be so uncomfortable around them; he was finding it hard to remember much about them due to the trauma, having only remembered who they were when Mukuro took him over to Tsuna's home for a day out of his room.

Fran nodded slowly as he whispered, "Okay…"

"Oh, Fran…" Tsuna smiled as he drew the older teenager's attention onto him by kneading his fingers through teal locks, "…we're going to go see a movie on the weekend. Do you want to come with us?"

Fran's lips quivered for a few seconds before he poked his tongue out and licked his lips. The nervousness the boy was feeling was evident from the shaky voice he spoke in. "W-what… What m-movie…?"

"We aren't sure yet. Is there anything in particular you want to see?" The brunet smiled when his friend nodded. "What movie?"

Just after Fran finished whispering the title of the movie he wanted to see, he jumped in surprise as a hand grabbed his shoulder. He pushed against Tsuna in an attempt to escape whoever had hold of him, but when he turned around to see who it was, he stopped struggling at the sight of Bel; he trusted the blond, and he knew he was safe.

Bel sniggered as he leant down to steal a kiss from Fran as he caressed the soft skin of the boy's cheek. The younger was only too happy to return the kiss and, when they pulled away, he dropped his face into the man's chest and sighed contently at the familiar smell of strawberries.

"Does Froggy want to have a drive?" Bel wrapped his arms around the boy and smiled at his lover's friends, grateful for their presence in Fran's life; he knew they were important in helping Fran heal.

Fran shook his head and remained silent. Bel continued coaxing the younger boy into what he wanted, knowing it would be good for Fran to do something other than keeping quiet and locked away in his mind; it would only make the boy feel worse if he didn't stop thinking about what had happened, after all.

"Aww, but the prince took the liberty of booking Froggy in for his driving test. Froggy can take the test on his eighteenth birthday – and that's not far away now. We have to make sure you pass it, don't we?" Fran frowned as he pulled away and looked down at his teddy. Truth be told, he was a little nervous to let it out of his arms. Bel, who seemed to sense this, rested his hand on the dark green material as he smiled. "The prince will take care of him for you, Froggy. He'll make sure nothing happens. Okay?"

Fran was reluctant to hand his teddy over to Bel, but he did so anyway; he trusted the man to look after it. He got to his feet slowly before he grabbed his boyfriend's hand and came close to the older male's side. "…"

"The prince says thank you to you all for looking after his Froggy." With that said, Bel lead Fran back to his car so they could go home.

Fran was nervous to be guided into the driver's seat, but he didn't complain; he knew he worried Bel enough as it was, and he only wanted for the other to feel okay. He hesitated to start the car, wanting his teddy back already; he felt naked, exposed without its comfort, but when Bel leant across the car and kissed him passionately, he relaxed just a little bit more; the blond loved him, and that was what Fran needed to know.

"Don't run over someone's garden this time, Froggy." Bel chuckled at the memory of the boy accidentally taking out someone's garden during one of their first drives together; it was something he held dear to him and hoped he would never forget.

Those words drew a slight smile from Fran before the boy laughed quietly. Bel felt his heart flutter at the sound, unable to remember the last time he had heard Fran laugh – or even seen him smile.

"Froggy, I wanna play video games with you when we get home." Bel pouted as if he were afraid Fran would say no. "Can we?"

Fran nodded. "Okay…"

"Shishishi~ After, can we have sex?"

Fran didn't like the idea of having sex with such a fragile entrance – Bel was far too rough and was sure to reopen the injury. But… at the same time, it had been so long since they had been intimate with each other, and they were both becoming frustrated because of it.

"…" Fran pursed his lips before he whispered, "…Only if you're gentle, senpai… It… I-it hurts down there…"

"I know," Bel reassured. "I want to make love to you, Froggy. I only did that for your first time, didn't I? I want to make love to you again. I'll be very careful."

Fran smiled at these words as he finally gathered the confidence to go without his teddy for the duration of the drive; after all, he had Bel there to look after him, right? He hit the indicator to signal that he was pulling out, Fran was stopped by Bel's tutting.

"Head check, Froggy," the blond instructed. "What happens if there's a truck beside you and you don't look before merging?"

"O-okay, senpai." Doing as instructed, Fran checked for incoming traffic before pulling out, relaxed by his beloved's presence.

Bel danced the teddy in his lap a few times, careful not to damage it in any way, as he supervised Fran's driving. It felt good to have the boy feeling well enough to let the material object out of his arms for once, knowing that – no matter how slow it was – he was making progress.

The blond couldn't wait until Fran fully recovered, knowing that such a timid disposition didn't suit him at all – no; he was only Froggy when he driving everyone up the wall with his emotionless, sarcastic bites.

Insert random trivia here: Fran isn't the only one who drives over random gardens. Last year when I was driving with my instructor, I went over a random garden. Don't ask how, but my driving instructor thought it was hilarious and told me to get out of there before they came after us. That was about a minute before he started throwing rubbish out of his window while distracting me so I wouldn't notice. Ah, fun times.