Watching TV with Kyouya was a peaceful activity, Dino found; the teenager was so quiet, and he didn't complain if he lost interest; he simply pulled a book out of his school bag and read until the movie grabbed his attention again.

Dino couldn't help but smile, noticing that Kyouya seemed to get a little closer to him each night; whatever the reason for this was, he wasn't sure, but he didn't care; all that mattered was that the teenager was clearly starting to trust him.

"What do you want to do tomorrow, Kyouya?" Looking down at the skylark, Dino felt his stomach fill with butterflies; Kyouya was so close, their arms were almost brushing against each other.

"..." Thinking this question over, Kyouya wasn't sure; he usually came home from school, did his homework, and then relaxed; did people still do things after school? "...I am not sure, Cavallone."

"I think some lunch would be nice, and then maybe we -" Dino's attention was grabbed by a small hand grabbing his sleeve, pulling him close. Frowning, he stared Kyouya in the eyes, almost intimidated by the hungry look he was receiving from the other; what was Kyouya thinking?

"Kyouya...?" Leaving the skylark's hand on his arm, Dino instead became wary; he trusted the other to not attack him in this moment, so... what was going through the student's head? "Kyouya, do you feel okay?"

"I am curious." His eyes never leaving hazel ones, Kyouya spoke in a tone that screamed things should be obvious to the teacher.

"What about?"

"About what it is I'm feeling." Gesturing to himself, Kyouya then shrugged. "I have never felt like this before, so I don't quite understand what I'm feeling. I'm confused, Cavallone."

"Confused about what?"

"...About why I have been thinking about kissing you all night." Finally breaking eye contact, Kyouya looked away. "...I have never wanted to kiss someone before, but you are more tolerable than all the other herbivores. I want to kiss you, though I don't understand why."

"…" Gulping, Dino was barely conscious of moving his hand forward, caressing the other's cheek. He couldn't deny that he was quickly growing excited in this moment, but could he really do it? Could he really take advantage of his student like this? He wanted to - oh, fuck, did he want to - but he was trusted to take care of Kyouya - not make sexual advances on him.

So why was the teacher slowly leaning forward, one hand still holding Kyouya's cheek, as he prepared himself to kiss the teenager's lips? Why was their hot breath mingling with one another's as they each gathered up the nerve to do it?

Swallowing thickly, Dino hesitated nervously before their lips made contact, but just before he could close the distance between them, he and Kyouya were startled apart by someone banging at the front door; from the desperate way they begged for entrance, the blond felt anxious; who would be doing this at nine-thirty at night? "...Stay here, Kyouya."

Kyouya himself was tense as he watched his teacher approach the door warily. The banging had stopped already, and he couldn't hear any other signs of life; what was going on?

Dino hesitated as he grabbed the door handle, prepared for anything - what he wasn't prepared for was to open the door and have a body fall into his arms. He could hardly believe his eyes, and when he finally realised that what he was seeing was real, he felt as if he could cry; anything but this... "Kyouya! Get me one of Bel's blankets! Quick!"

Looking down at the body in his arms, Dino let the first few tears slide down his cheeks; who had done this to Belphegor...? The boy was limp in his arms, harsh pants and whimpers escaping his lips. His golden locks were dyed red with blood, his striped shirt torn and stained with more than just the red fluid. One of his arms hung loosely towards the ground, his other arm holding his stomach where blood was gushing out. His pants were unzipped and his belt unclipped, blood covering them both, and Dino could only wonder where this had happened for Belphegor to escape here; it couldn't have been at his parents' home as he would never have made it that far in this condition.

And then he remembered; Squalo lived just around the corner.

Taking the blanket Kyouya was handing him, Dino quickly wrapped the boy up in it. "Get my phone and my car keys and send the police to Squalo's home; we're going to the hospital."

Kyouya didn't hesitate, knowing it was urgent; he didn't like Belphegor, but he wasn't going to allow himself to be the cause of the other's death and put Dino through another loss.

Kyouya was a lot of things, but he wasn't that heartless.

~~XX~~

Sitting at the hospital, Dino was faced with a dilemma; Belphegor still was being stabilised after all these hours, and he had been informed that Squalo also had been hospitalised, having been attacked viciously to the point the nurses weren't sure when he would wake up again; was he supposed to be with his best friend, or sit with Belphegor and help him through it?

Kyouya was sitting calmly by Dino's side, sensing the other's stress; while it was true he didn't know Squalo personally, he still knew the other well enough to know that he would want someone to be with Bel so that the boy wouldn't fret as much; he knew this from watching the two interact all the time at school. "That long-haired herbivore would want you to be with the blond herbivore. You should know this; he's your best friend."

Looking down at his charge, Dino nodded, knowing Kyouya was right; Squalo could take care of himself, but Bel couldn't, and the silver haired man would want someone to make sure he's safe. "Thanks, Kyouya."

Humming in response, Kyouya fell back into silence; he had never thought he would be in this situation, and he couldn't help but remember painful memories; he remembered sitting by his parents' bodies on the sidewalk, their blood all over him as he screamed and begged for them to wake up, shaking their bodies desperately. He recalled sitting by their hospital beds on Fon's lap, tears running down his cheeks as the man tried to snap him out of his hysterics. Most of all, he remembered the desperation, the terror of losing his parents, and the agony that had consumed him for months after their deaths.

Closing his eyes as if to block out the memories, Kyouya sighed; hospitals made him relive that pain he wished he had never felt.

Minutes later, a nurse approached the two, clipboards in her hands. She smiled apologetically as she stopped before Dino, a look in her eyes that told the two males she had delivered bad news far too many times.

"Cavallone-san, who's condition would you like to hear about first? I'm afraid there's no good news in either of them." The nurse spoke in a soft tone, her brown locks falling into her face. Brushing them from her eyes, she waited patiently for a reply.

It was a hard decision to make, but in the end, Dino chose his best friend. "Squalo's condition, please."

Looking over her notes, the woman nodded to herself. "While his condition is stable, he's suffered quite severe trauma to his head; it looks as if he has been hit with a blunt object several times, and there's no telling what kind of damage may have been dealt just yet. We could get lucky and there could be no damage, but with blows to the head, we have to be mindful that things can take a turn for the worse. There is physical bruising all over his body, and I am truly sorry to tell you this, but he has lost his hand in the incident."

Dino felt as if he could throw up at this, trying to imagine his best friend without his hand; Squalo would find such a disability near impossible to live with, and he could only imagine the mental damage it would do to him; Squalo's mental health was already fragile at best, and to have this happen, so soon after losing Belphegor...

"...Is there anything else I should know?" Trying to keep control of his emotions, Dino clenched his hands; anything to keep himself from breaking down.

"No; Superbia-san has been covered. Belphegor-kun, however..." Glancing over to Kyouya, the nurse frowned. "May I speak to you in private?"

"Whaever you have to say, Kyouya can hear it; he can handle it." Dino was confident in the teenager, knowing Kyouya truly could handle whatever there was to hear; he wouldn't treat the other as a child, because Kyouya was far from it.

"…" Looking back down at her notes, the nurse wondered where to start; there was so much to tell about Belphegor's condition, and none of it was pleasant. "...Belphegor-kun also has suffered physical trauma, but it's not confined to just his head; it is all over his body. He has been stabbed multiple times as I'm sure you would have worked out from his stomach, and his left arm is broken in four different places. His leg and ribs have been fractured, and one of his lungs has been pierced from the injury. However... I wish I didn't have to tell you this, but... We have run a rape kit on him, and... Yes, he has been raped. Several times, from the looks of things. There is quite a lot of damage; he has been torn badly, and there's a very real chance for him to catch an STI. We've taken blood samples and will test for anything he may have picked up, but we won't know for certain straight away. I am very concerned about his mental health, and I can't recommend therapy and counselling more."

"I understand." Wiping at his eyes, Dino wished he had tried harder; he had been so concerned about looking out for Squalo, he hadn't even thought of how he could get Belphegor away. If he had just taken a few minutes and asked someone to report the abuse for him... "Can I see him?"

"Tonight is not a good night at all for him or Superbia-san; tomorrow morning might be better for them. I am truly sorry. Please do come back tomorrow; the police will be here to make some statements, and they will want to talk to you."

"…" Shaking his head, Dino reached down. Grabbing Kyouya's hand, he tugged the teenager up from the seat, not knowing how to reply; how was he supposed to reply to something like this?

~~XX~~

Dino couldn't sleep at all that night; he could only lay in bed and stare at the wall, remembering everything he had been told; how he wished he could go back to the hospital and stay with the younger two, but he knew he couldn't do that; they both needed their rest.

"Cavallone."

Looking over as his door opened, Dino reached out towards Kyouya; would it be sick of him to ask the younger to stay the night with him? He didn't want sex or anything like that; he just wanted someone to hold and comfort him. "What's wrong, Kyouya?"

"It is depressing sleeping in the blond herbivore's room." Moving closer to the bed, Kyouya climbed onto the mattress without invitation. "I want to sleep with you."

Dino nodded, moving over to make room. He watched as Kyouya slipped beneath the blankets, and when the teenager was lying next to him, he couldn't hold back; pulling the younger against his chest, Dino held on tight.

"Cavallone." Kyouya tilted his head to the side, capturing soft lips with his own. Their kiss was short, inexperienced, but neither of them cared; it was enough to ease ample stress in order for them to finally fall into a fitful sleep.

What tomorrow would bring, neither of them wanted to know.