I forgot to add in before the previous chapter an author's note. Regarding the OC, this is NOT an OC pairing, and you'll probably get an idea of why the last chapter was written that way with this one.

To say that Bel had been disappointed when Ayane missed a day of school was an understatement; he had been spending the past week with her, and he had grown so used to her touches that he could feel himself craving more of them.

It was also the day Tsuna had missed school, too, leaving Bel sitting up on the rooftop with Gokudera and Yamamoto for lunch. It wasn't that he didn't like being there with them, but the two were fighting more than usual, and it made him extremely uncomfortable.

Like now, as Gokudera ranted on about something Yamamoto had – or hadn't, Bel wasn't sure – done last night.

"I told you to leave it well alone and yet what did you do? You went and did it anyway!" The silver-haired male waved his chopsticks at the taller male as his green eyes narrowed in annoyance. Yamamoto was frowning, and his eyes conveyed a drained expression which told Bel that he was tired of fighting with the other all the time. "I told you why but you didn't listen! You never listen!"

"Gokudera, you're upsetting Bel." Yamamoto looked at his friend. It broke his heart to see Bel curling in on himself as he sniffed back tears; the boy was someone he wanted to protect, and he hated seeing him like this. "We can talk about this later."

Gokudera threw his hands into the air in frustration, but all it had accomplished was making Bel yelp and raise his arms over his face, as if to try and block a punch only he had seen coming. The boy shuddered as he started crying harder, remembering back to how often he had seen Xanxus raise his hand to Squalo.

"Bel, it's okay." Yamamoto closed the distance between them as he forgot all about the silver-haired male he was dating and instead focused on trying to calm Bel down. "It's alright. You know we won't hurt you. It's alright."

Gokudera didn't say anything at this; he simply folded his arms against his chest and glared off into the distance. He hadn't meant to upset Bel, but sometimes it was easy to forget the boy was there when he just wouldn't speak.

"Bel? I'll go and get you a chocolate milk. It's okay. I'll be back in a few minutes." Yamamoto got to his feet and hurried away, intending on getting his friend his favourite drink in hopes it would help the older male calm down; sometimes the boy just needed something to distract himself with, and sucking on the straws in his milk cartons sometimes helped.

Leaving Bel and Gokudera alone, it was the silver-haired male who spoke, in a voice that wasn't quite rough, but not exactly kind, either; it was a mix of curiosity and disapproval, and perhaps even jealousy. "What do you see in her anyway?"

Bel wiped at his eyes and hiccupped at this question. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he pulled his phone from his pocket so that he could type out his response and show it to the younger. 'She's really nice to me'.

Gokudera shook his head. He felt felt frustration towards the blond for being so easily duped; he had seen her kind multiple times before, and he didn't trust her; Bel was too inexperienced to know any better, but anyone who would attempt to kiss and seduce someone through touches after just meeting them was not someone with pure intentions. "She's only going to use you."

Bel cocked his head to the side as he frowned; what did Gokudera mean by this? What would she use him for? He didn't feel used…

Gokudera narrowed his eyes; why the fuck did this kid have to be so… so fucking innocent? It pissed him off! "She's only going to try and fuck you, Bel. Why do you think she feels you up all the time? She's trying to get you used to her touching you so she can put her hand down your pants."

Bel sucked in a breath at this, very uncomfortable with where the one-sided conversation was going; it frightened him to talk about subjects such as this. He didn't believe Ayane would do that to him – but then again… He still had to tell her that he never wanted to have sex… "…"

Gokudera didn't know what came over him – well, he did, but he tried to ignore it. He stood up and stalked over to Bel before he leant down over the older male. He followed the blond as Bel leant back to try and put distance between them, but it was useless; Gokudera still had the other trapped beneath his body. "You don't need someone like that, Bel. Not someone who only wants to fuck you."

Bel flinched when a hand came out of nowhere and rested against his cheek. His tears came harder as he realised the hand belonged to Gokudera, and he tried so hard to shake it off; he knew he couldn't trust the touch of males because they only intended on hurting others. "…"

"Bel. Look at me." Gokudera forced Bel to look back at him. He stared into where the other's eyes should be as he said in a soft tone, "Do you really think you'll be happy with someone who will soon enough force you into what you don't want? I mean, I know you don't like sex. So does Yamamoto and the Tenth. We know you don't like it; do we ever do things to you that you don't like?"

If Bel could speak, he would point out that right now, he hated being leant over like this because he felt trapped, but he couldn't; he could only tremble beneath the stronger male and hope that Gokudera would get off him soon.

The younger male shook his head before he brought their faces close enough so that they could rest their foreheads against each other. He shrugged and looked to the side as he said, "If you were my boyfriend, I'd take care of you and I wouldn't expect anything from you…"

Bel could feel himself on the verge of hyperventilating at this words; did Gokudera want him to be his boyfriend? But Gokudera was with Yamamoto! And Bel liked someone else! Hell, Bel wasn't even sure of whether or not he liked other boys! He was so scared of them, he found it hard enough for him to be friends! "…"

Gokudera stared at Bel for a few seconds more before he uttered a small, "C'mere…" and pulled Bel flush against his body. He licked at the boy's lips to ask for entrance, but it was never granted; the slightly taller male kept his lips locked tightly together as he tried to push the silver-haired male away.

"I think Yamamoto wants to break up…" Gokudera dropped his chin on Bel's shoulder and sighed. "It's okay if he wants to; we don't make the best couple anyway… But think about what I said; she's just a slut who only cares about getting a fuck or two out of you. But I'm not like that, Bel. Think about it. If Yamamoto and I do break up, I'd be able to treat you a lot better than she ever will."

The younger male finally released Bel and moved back to where he had been sitting previously. Bel watched him warily for a few seconds before he stood up and ran from the roof, too frightened to remain alone with the other; what if Gokudera tried to hurt him like Xanxus had? Bel had certainly felt threatened by the younger's actions.

Gokudera watched the boy leave with emotionless eyes. He had met Bel long after he and Yamamoto had been together, and he knew he had felt a weird attraction to the older male after a while, but he had never acted upon it and instead tried to deny it; he was with someone else, and he wasn't a cheater. But the more he and Yamamoto started to fight, and the more he became sure they would soon break up, the more he had allowed his repressions to come back out, and having seen the way that slut had been seducing Bel in the school library had been the last straw; if anyone was going to be touching Bel like that, it was him.

"Where'd Bel go?"

Gokudera looked up at Yamamoto as the taller male walked back towards him with a carton of chocolate milk in his hand. He shrugged. "Probably went to the bathroom or some shit."

Yamamoto nodded. He sat back next to Gokudera and wrapped his arms around the smaller male. "We need to stop fighting, Gokudera…"

Gokudera shrugged. He knew that Yamamoto was trying to hold on to a hopeless cause, and that it would be easier if they were to just break up instead – but who was he to make those kinds of decisions when it was Yamamoto himself who felt the real impact of their unstable relationship? That call should be left up to the baseballer.

But fucking hell, couldn't Yamamoto just tell him they were through already? It was what they both wanted, after all.

~~XX~~

"Bel?" Dino had been very worried about Bel since the boy had let himself into the staff lounge while in tears, and even now, after having been at home for a few hours already, he was just getting more worried; his charge had kept crying in his room, but he wasn't communicating and kept pulling away if the man came close to him. It wasn't unusual for Bel to get nervous around him, but like this… This was not normal. "Bel, you're scaring me. What happened?"

Bel had pressed himself into the corner of the wall by now, having backpedalled far enough on his bed to have trapped himself between the wall and his guardian. He didn't know why he was suddenly feeling afraid of even Dino, but he wondered if it were because of the way he had felt trapped beneath Gokudera earlier; his anxiety had been the highest it had been in a while, and it had only seemed to grow with each passing hour.

"Bel, please. Please tell me what's happened…" Feeling as if he were at his wits' end, Dino knelt down to make himself look smaller. "Did someone do something to you? You were with Takeshi and Hayato, weren't you?"

When Bel wouldn't even nod or shake his head, Dino couldn't stop himself; getting back to his feet, he moved to sit on the bed and reach out towards his charge. He was rewarded with an ear-splitting scream, and then, without warning, the boy had collapsed, his terror having grown to such unimaginable heights, he had passed out.

Dino felt as if he could cry himself as he pulled Bel onto his lap and held the boy tight, hoping the younger was going to be okay; it scared him to think that someone could have done something to Bel when he hadn't been watching – he had been so sure it was okay to leave the smaller blond alone with his friends, but now he was starting to doubt even that.

If someone had done something to Bel… Well, even Dino could get angry at times.