When Dino awoke the next morning, he found Kyouya already awake and eating his breakfast at the dining table. Sitting by the skylark, the blond offered a smile.

"How long have you been up for, Kyouya?" It was six-fifteen, and Dino hadn't been expecting for his charge to wake up so early; teenagers tended to sleep in, so why was the student different?

"I always wake up early. I haven't been able to sleep in since I came to live with Fon."

Understanding the hint, Dino nodded, leaving it at that; the Prefect still suffered from the loss of his parents, even if it wasn't easy to tell. He wondered if the teenager was lonely, if he stayed up at night and mourned for his parents. Did Kyouya push everyone away because he didn't want anyone to take the place of his parents? Was Kyouya simply a child acting out because he was hurt in a way he couldn't express? It made sense to the blond, and if that were the case, he wanted to help.

"You wouldn't mind coming to school early, would you?" Getting back up to move to the coffee machine, Dino noticed his guest had gotten himself a cup of tea; at least he was comfortable enough to help himself to what he needed. When Kyouya shrugged in response to the question, the blond smiled. "I was just thinking... Would you rather go out for a cup of tea before or after school?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow at this, not sure what to think; he often went out to tea houses with his uncle, but never before with someone else; could Dino be trusted in this moment? "Either..."

"Well, seeing as you already have a cup of tea now, would you like to go out for one after school?" Dino didn't understand the fluttering of his heart, just that he knew he would be overjoyed if Kyouya accepted his offer.

"I suppose..." Wary of the other, Kyouya tensed imperceptibly; he didn't trust people, and he didn't know why his teacher was the only one apart from his uncle attempting to treat him as an equal; people weren't supposed to like him because they were supposed to fear him for whatever reason everybody did.

"Great!" In his excitement, Dino forgot about Kyouya's unsociable nature, wanting to share his happiness with the younger; it was only natural for him to begin rambling, his joy in this moment immeasurable. "I know a really nice tea house not far from school. Squalo and I go there all the time; they make quality consumables. One time when we were there, we - oh... Sorry, Kyouya, I don't know what came over me; I won't bother you with my memories."

Kyouya blinked, not entirely sure why he felt a tad disappointed the other had stopped; part of him was annoyed that Dino would even attempt to reminisce around him, but the other half was curious about what could have gotten the teacher so happy; what could he possibly remember that could bring him this kind of spark in his eyes?

It was strange for the skylark to take an interest in someone other than his uncle, but he had to admit that he often found himself paying more attention to the blond than he would anyone else; after all, he wouldn't have listened to just anyone when they asked him to come to classes, even with the promise of a fight.

"Continue." Folding his hands on his lap, Kyouya gave the other an expectant look. "I am curious."

Unable to hold back the huge smile breaking out over his face, Dino started again. "We went there when we were teenagers ourselves. Squalo had just taken Bel in and at the time we thought he was really moody and difficult when it came to eating. We had tried to feed him nearly the entire menu but he wouldn't eat any of it, and Squalo got so frustrated he left the table. He left his plate of dango there as well, and by the time he came back, he found that Bel had eaten it all and had the sauce all over him. Squalo hadn't even so much as touched his own dango, and by then we had to leave, so he wasted so much money on trying to find something Bel would eat, and in the end he didn't even get his own meal. He spent the entire night at my home sulking and Bel wouldn't stop pestering him with dango sauce still on him. I swear Squalo was ready to kill him."

"You are close to those two herbivores." It was a statement, and Kyouya couldn't work out why it annoyed him to know this.

"Yeah, Squalo's been my best friend over ten years. He didn't have a pleasant childhood, and because I was the only one nice to him, he just kind of stuck to me like glue. We know each other like the backs of our hands."

Knowing of his teacher's sexual orientation, Kyouya found it quite reasonable to ask what was on his mind – however, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to hear the answer. "Have you ever been with him?"

"He was curious so he experimented with me at one point, but he found he just likes girls."

Kyouya's eyes narrowed, hating the idea of his teacher being with someone, especially someone he despised; it angered him, and it made him want to hurt the long-haired man for reasons he didn't truly understand. "You had sex with him."

Dino nodded. "He didn't like it, so we never did it again."

Feeling irritated by what he was learning, Kyouya's fingers twitched as he longed for his tonfa; how Dino deserved a good whack around the head with them...

"Does he hold your virginity?" The skylark couldn't help but growl this question.

Dino was growing uncomfortable with these questions, and it was obvious in the way he fumbled with his hands; it wasn't that he didn't want to talk about his adventures with Squalo, but for some reason, it made him uncomfortable to talk to Kyouya about. He had spoken to Belphegor plenty of times about it when the boy asked questions, but though he had been just fine talking to his fellow blond, it made him nervous divulging this information to his younger student. "We have each other's, yes..."

It was what Kyouya said next that really surprised Dino.

"I don't like that. I hate it." Pushing his plate away from him, Kyouya stood up.

"Why? You're my student, Kyouya; something like this shouldn't bother you. Why don't you like it?"

"I don't know. I just don't. I want to bite the long-haired herbivore to death for that."

"Anyone would think you're jealous, Kyouya." Dino had simply been teasing, but it seemed that Kyouya took it seriously; the other's eyes widened and an agitated frown crossed his face.

"I am not jealous," Kyouya hissed. "I will bite you to death for even thinking that. I don't want the long-haired herbivore; I don't care that you had him - I don't care who has him, because I don't want him."

Dino wasn't stupid: Kyouya thought he had been implying that the skylark was jealous someone had already had Squalo. Was it conscious or not that he hadn't taken it that way about his teacher?

"I didn't mean it like that, Kyouya; I'm sorry. I was just joking."

"Your idea of humour is terrible, Cavallone; it wasn't a funny joke at all." Standing up from the table, Kyouya moved out of the dining room, intending on getting himself ready for school. He didn't know why he was feeling so irate over the conversation, but he couldn't shake the anger he felt towards Squalo; why did he get to be the one to touch Dino like that?

Suddenly uneasy with his own train of thought, Kyouya shook his head and tried to think about something else; he wasn't sure he wanted to know where his mind was headed.

~~XX~~

"Have you had sex with Kyouya yet?"

Dropping his pen to the desk, Dino's mouth fell open as he turned to stare wide-eyed at his blond student, the younger innocently swinging his legs back and forth as he rested his chin on his arms folded against the desk. "Bel! Don't talk like that!"

Shrugging, Belphegor made no move to change his position. "I'm allowed to talk about sex as much as I want. Squa will hit you again if you keep bullying me because you're a prude. And you didn't answer my question; have you had sex with him yet?"

"Wha – no! He's my student! I'll lose my job!"

"But do you want to have sex with him?" Uncurling himself from his slouch, the boy nudged his abandoned schoolbag with the tip of his shoe. "Hayato-kun really wants to have sex with me, but everyone says I can't have it because it'll damage my body. I don't want to have sex anyway; I don't like sex, but Hayato-kun keeps trying to make me. Why does Hayato-kun want to have sex with me when I don't want to have it with anyone?"

"Bel, I don't want to talk about Kyouya like this; he's my student and it's inappropriate. As for you and Hayato, you know Squalo is the best person for you to talk to; he will help you more than I can. Please talk to him instead of me; as long as Hayato listens to you when you say no, you don't need to tell me anything, okay?"

"I said no last night, but he still put his hand down my pants." Taking no notice of the flash of horror that crossed Dino's face, Belphegor continued on, feeling a little angry; he didn't know how to express himself, but sometimes he really hated Gokudera. "I said I didn't want him to touch me there because it hurts when he does, but he touched me anyway. He always makes me take my clothes off, too; especially at night when we're going to bed."

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Getting up from his chair, Dino moved to Belphegor's side. Kneeling by the boy, his hazel eyes softened tremendously, wishing he could pull the student into a hug, but knowing it would only hurt the other if he were to touch him. "How many times has he done that?!"

Blinking, Belphegor didn't understand why the teacher was so worked up; it was normal what happened between him and Hayato, right? Just because he didn't like it didn't mean much; he saw it all the time on the adult movies he watched on the internet, so why was Dino acting like this? Everything Gokudera and he did were normal, no matter how much he sometimes wanted to hurt his boyfriend because of it. "He always did it, even before he said we were boyfriends now and were going to do lots of things together."

"He didn't even ask you out first?" Dino could barely believe what he was hearing, and it agitated him to no end; how dare someone take advantage of innocent little Belphegor like this?! "He just said you were boyfriends now?!"

"Was he supposed to ask first?" Feeling daunted by this information, Belphegor shifted uncomfortably. "He just said we were; I didn't know he had to ask first."

"Squalo didn't tell you that?"

"Was he meant to?"

"What's going on?"

The two blonds looked over to the office door, finding Kyouya stepping in with an agitated look on his face.

"Why's the blond herbivore in here? He should be in class." Glaring at the boy who had now tensed with his lips twisted, the Prefect was about ready to hit the other for breaking class rules; he hated how Belphegor always got special treatment, because the other certainly wasn't deserving of it; he was just a little shit who lived to piss everyone else off.

"Ah, Kyouya..." Putting his hands in the air to grab the youngest' attention, Dino shook his head. "Bel is allowed out of class when it's storming as long as he's with me or Squalo; that's why you have a substitute teacher right now."

"You're both skipping class for such petty reasons; you're a teacher, now get out there and teach, and take him with you."

Dino frowned, understanding exactly where his student was coming from, but it wasn't that simple; he would have liked to explain things to Kyouya, but he doubted the skylark would understand or care to try – the teenager seemed to have as little empathy skills as Belphegor; non-existent, in other words.

"Kyouya, I-"

"-The Bucking Horse wants to have sex with you." Belphegor cocked his head to the side, a grin crossing his face. He took no notice of the twin looks of horror the others donned, instead continuing on. "He likes you like how I like Hayato-kun; do you like him like that, too?"

"B-bel…" Dino could almost imagine the way the younger was going to react, none of it good; he would be lucky if both he and Bel got out of this unscathed. "Kyouya, he doesn't mean that; sometimes he says things like that just for the sake of saying it; it's not true."

Kyouya's eyes slowly moved from Belphegor over to Dino, for once feeling as if he had hit a blank; how was he supposed to respond to something like this? Was it true, or another lie the blond boy had made up for attention? He knew full-well that the older male constantly sought out whatever interactions he could get from others, but…

To be entirely honest, the idea of Dino liking him was slightly more tolerable than if it were someone else.

"Settle down, Bel, I've already told you not to say things like that."

Kyouya couldn't help but observe how gentle his teacher was with Belphegor, and for some reason, it made him relax; there was a sincerity about the young man Kyouya had only ever felt with his uncle, and he slowly found himself trusting the other a tad more; Dino was a lot like Fon, and in that case…

Kyouya could handle it. The skylark wouldn't go as far as to say he liked the older blond, but… Dino was someone he could trust, he knew that much.

"Do you really like me or is he after attention again?"

"I wouldn't say he's looking for attention…" Putting his hand on the giggling boy's shoulder, Dino really didn't know how to answer that; how was he supposed to answer a question he wasn't entirely sure of the answer to in the first place? "More that he… is trying to convey an observation…"

"So you do like me." Clenching his hands, Kyouya narrowed his eyes; unexpectedly, he wasn't completely agitated; just a little annoyed for reasons he didn't quite understand, mixed with something that felt so foreign, he was certain he had never felt it before.

"No, no!" Throwing his hands in the air again, Dino shook his head, but a nagging feeling in the back of his mind made him wonder; was the true answer yes…? "I…!"

The older blond didn't get a chance to reply; his office door opened once again and Squalo stepped in, two other adults visible behind him. Dino felt his chest clench painfully, noticing just how similar the two looked to Belphegor; so it was finally time…

"Brat…" Squalo was unusually quiet, coming no further than the doorway. He looked to be full of turmoil, and Kyouya was quick to notice that his teacher was now donning the same expression; what was going on? "Come here."

Belphegor visibly tensed, sucking in a harsh gasp. He dropped his head, shaking it, taking a few steps back to put distance between them. "…"

"Brat. I've already got your bag; you have to go…" Squalo's voice was choked now, as if he were fighting back a tidal wave of emotion. "I'm sorry; you've got to go, Bel…"

Tears started slipping down Belphegor's face now, his head shaking harder. He rocked slightly, his hands fumbling with each other. "N-no… I don't want to go… I want to stay with you…"

"I know you do…" Stepping further into the office, Squalo unintentionally backed his charge into a corner, the other refusing to let him near. "I don't want you to go either, but you have to… I tried my best…"

When Squalo's gloved hands made contact with Belphegor's shoulders, Kyouya and Dino were unprepared for the loud scream the other made, knowing that the boy could handle touch as long as it were given by the long-haired man; the skylark knew that whatever was going on was far more stressful for Belphegor than anything else had been.

Squalo didn't hesitate to pull the boy into a tight hug, holding him close until the other stopped screaming. He held Belphegor still so that Dino could say goodbye, soon picking the student up and carrying him out of the office without another word. The door was closed behind them, but even so, the blond's screams started up again, audible even in the office; Kyouya wasn't sure he wanted to know what was happening outside.

"What is that about?" Kyouya turned to look at his teacher, raising his eyebrow.

Dropping his head, Dino wished he didn't feel as torn up about this as he did; he could only imagine how Squalo was feeling, and it made him feel as if he didn't have any right to be upset; it hadn't been him who had loved, cared for and treated Belphegor as his own for the past eight years, after all. "…Squalo lost custody of him; he has to go back to his parents…"

Kyouya was surprised by these words, knowing just how close Squalo and Belphegor were; why had this come about in the first place? Even he didn't doubt that the vice principal was a great guardian, having seen for himself how protective and understanding he was of his charge; how could someone who was willing to go to great lengths for an autistic brat who wasn't even his lose custody like this?

However, before he could question it, Dino spoke again, trying to distract himself; he didn't want to shed his tears at school, wanting instead to do so in the privacy of his own home; he knew he would never see Belphegor again, and that stung like a bitch. "Why did you come to find me, Kyouya? Do you need something?"

"I don't want to come to class if you aren't teaching it; I only came for you."

Dino didn't know why, but these words were what broke through his emotions, sending a few tears down his cheeks. Pulling Kyouya into a hug, he was too distraught to even realise that the teenager, while tense, was allowing him so close.

Why this was, Dino didn't think he would ever know.

~~XX~~

Hours later, Dino stepped into his living room, finding Kyouya sitting on the couch with a novel on his lap. Grabbing the teenager's attention, he said, "I have to go and make sure Squalo's okay; would you like to come with me or stay here?"

"I'm staying here, herbivore." With that said, Kyouya turned back to his book.

Dino nodded, mumbling a goodbye; he was truly concerned for his best friend, the emotional text message he had just received on his phone from the other worrisome; knowing Squalo, the long-haired man would be drinking himself into a state worse than he already was in.

Grabbing his coat and keys from the rack by the front door, Dino let a few tears escape before he opened the door to his car. He couldn't help but think back on his last conversation with the blond boy, and the more he thought about it, the more he wondered; what if Belphegor had been right all along? He was certainly smart enough despite his condition to pick up all the cues, reading them in other peoples' interactions but not his own.

And then, thinking back to how he had found so much comfort in the teenager after Squalo had removed Belphegor from his office, he understood; Belphegor had been right; he just hadn't realised it until Kyouya actually let him in for once.

Dino did like his student, but having only just understood his own feelings, he wasn't sure how much exactly; was he in love with the skylark, or did he just have a bit of a crush?

Only time would tell.