A/N: Hey peeps. Sushi*Bomb here with the REAL chapter 12 of Phases of Accidia.
So first things first, only a select few of you know, I recently injured my thumb, by which I mean I slammed the shit out of it in my car door a couple of weeks ago. I have been in so much pain, it's hard to believe. My thumb was swollen and…ugh it was just awful. As you can imagine, I haven't exactly been able to do much typing lol But thankfully, I can finally move it again, although the nail is still kinda sore (I slammed it right on the part where the nail grows D: )
Second… I'm amazed at how popular 'Will that be Paper or Plastic' was. Apparently I should write way more stories about the Varia doing regular, everyday things.
Whatever. Anyway, so yeah this chapter is based on a picture I saw on tumblr last night. It was an image captured in the Amityville house after the Lutz Family moved out. It was a picture of the stairwell. If you look in the left of the stairs, there is a kid looking over the railing directly at the camera. It was specifically noted that there weren't any kids in the house at the time the picture was taken. *Shudder* Creepiest picture ever. This story just kinda materialized (no ghost puns intended) after I saw that picture. If you wanna see it, just go look at my homepage. It's still pretty recent, so it shouldn't take you too long to scroll through and find it if you really wanna see it.
Also, the last two chapters have been totally angsterrific, so I wanted to write something cute, and as creepy as it is, this chapter is also disgustingly cute. At least to me it is. Just read it.
I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: Sushi*Bomb does not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I don't have a witty joke today. I don't have anything. Waaaahh…
XII. Boogeyman
Squalo sighed blissfully to himself as he turned the tap off in the shower. Of all the showers he'd ever taken, that had to have been the most satisfying and relaxing one he'd ever had. He slid one of the shower doors open, the steam obscuring his vision somewhat, leaving him to blindly grope around for the towel he had absently slung on the towel rack before getting in. After several failed swipes, he finally managed to grab the fluffly white cloth and wrapped it around his slim hips.
The Varia rain guardian stretched lightly, yawning loudly as he carefully stepped out onto the tiled bathroom floor, lest he slip and crack something important in his semi-dazed state. He had just returned from a particularly difficult mission, and he was really feeling the strain of the day's events on his young body. He was yawning every few minutes, and could barely keep his cobalt eyes open for more than a couple seconds at a time. Every muscle in his body was screaming for the plush, luxuriously indulging softness of his king sized bed and goose feather pillows.
In short, he was bloody tired.
After drying himself off and brushing his teeth, the silver-haired youth literally drug himself over to his dresser, where he absently plucked a pair of black boxers out of the bottom drawer and slipped them on. He took a good look at himself in the large dresser mirror and, despite his exhaustion, smirked arrogantly at his reflection. He was a good looking son of a bitch, with his slim, toned torso, and lithe arms, rippling with firm muscle developed from years of swinging a sword. Not to mention his hair had grown out quite a bit since he made that promise to Xanxus. It was currently a little past his shoulders, now that he really looked at it.
He smiled tiredly as he turned to his bed and, with an overwhelming sense of gratefulness, fell face-first onto the soft, cream colored duvet draped elegantly across his matress. He quickly replaced it atop his bare torso and curled it about himself before sighing in utter exhaustion into his favorite pillow.
He was out in a matter of minutes.
"Squalo…"
The swordsman didn't budge. Bel pouted slightly, clutching his stuffed bunny closer to his small chest.
"…Hey, Squalo…" he whispered again, tapping the older assassin's arm. Still nothing. Belphegor started smacking his back frantically.
"Squalo!" He nearly shouted. To his relief, the silver-haired teen began to stir. The small blonde smiled, poking the swordsman's arm sharply to wake him up before he drifted back off into dreamland.
He heard a very annoyed growl from under the covers. A moment later, a very irritated looking face poked out from under the thick duvet, steely eyes narrowed.
"You better have a DAMN good reason for waking me up at one in the morning, runt. Otherwise, you're fucking dead." The rain guardian hissed out through clenched teeth. Belphegor bit his lip, nodding his head fervently. Squalo came up to rest on his elbow.
"Well?"
"There's a monster in my closet."
Squalo's eyes opened fully.
"Excuse me?"
The small blonde clutched his stuffed animal so tightly to him Squalo was sure it's eyes (which were sewn back in rather sloppily after the prince sadistically tore them out once) were going to pop off.
"It's the boogeyman! He's waiting 'til I go to sleep so he can eat me!" The prince whined worriedly, his tiny, eight-year old body shivering in fear. Squalo couldn't help but chuckle, despite himself.
"The boogeyman, huh?"
The ripper prince nodded so hard Squalo was certain his head was going to snap right off. The boy grabbed Squalo's arm, trying desperately to pull him out of bed.
"Come on!" The little boy shouted, tugging frantically. Squalo growled, smacking the annoying little hands away. He was not in the mood to deal with little kids and their irrational fears.
"The boogeyman isn't real you little shit. Now go back to your room and go the fuck to sleep. You're a goddamn hitman for fuck's sake. Grow up." He snapped before rolling over and snuggling appreciatively into his pillow. He felt a weight on his bed suddenly.
"But Squ, I can hear him in there." The prince whispered frightfully into his ear. Squalo felt his eye twitch involuntarily. He was really not in the mood for this.
"Go to Mammon then."
"Mammon's not home."
Squalo twitched. The mist illusionist was never around when he needed to be.
"Why don't you go tell Lussuria then? He'll be more than happy to kill your 'boogeyman' for you. Leave me the hell alone!" The rain guardian snarled. Belphegor made a pained noise as he latched onto Squalo's arm, ramming his little face into the taut shoulder.
"Lussuria's not here either, he's out on a mission. Please Squalo! I'm so scared! Please come kill it so I can go to sleep!" The prince shouted loudly in near hysterics.
Squalo's jaw tightened. This fucking kid…
"Vooooiiii! Look brat, you have three seconds to get off my bed and get the fuck outta my room. If you're still here when I get to one, your head's gonna be on a spike in the morning."
"But Squa-"
"THREE."
"He's in there! I can-"
"TWO."
"Squalo!"
"ONE! Uh- wha?" The silver-haired swordsman felt his irritation leave him momentarily when he felt an unfamiliar wetness on his bare shoulder where Bel had his face pressed into, desperately begging. He heard sniffles. The older hitman's eyes widen slightly in disbelief. Was he?
"Bel… are you…crying?" The small assassin looked up at him through a curtain of blonde hair. Squalo could see two thin rivulets of tears running down the boy's pale cheeks. Squalo couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Belphegor may have been a bratty, spoiled prince, but he certainly knew better than to bother anyone when they were sleeping, especially him. Whatever he heard in his room had scared him enough to risk potential injury and come seek him out.
The swordsman noticed the boy's trembling hands and silent hiccups. In the moonlight, Bel's face was even paler than normal, and he was breathing erratically. Squalo's eyes widened. He wasn't just scared, was he? He was completely terrified.
Belphegor whimpered quietly, still tugging pathetically at his arm. Squalo, for all of his justifiable exhaustion and irritation, just couldn't find it in himself to be angry at the small blonde prince. Even though the little boy was a demon child ninety-nine percent of the time, seeing him like this, whimpering and sniffling quietly with tears running down his face, clutching his teddy like it was his lifeline in his pajamas that were at least three sizes too big, made Squalo completely deflate. He supposed that even psychotic, mutant children like Prince the Ripper were scared of silly things like monsters in their closet.
The swordsman ran a tired hand down his face. The sooner he dealt with this, the sooner the annoying prince would leave him alone, and then he could go back to sleep. He sighed in resignation.
"If I go look, will you promise to leave me alone?"
The petite royal looked up from the duvet, rubbing his nose with his sleeve.
"Yeah…" He sniffled dejectedly, nodding slightly. That little 'yeah' made the rain guardian's heart sink. This was a side of Bel he was certain not even the boy's own parents had even seen. Squalo honestly couldn't remember anything from when he was eight-years old, but he was pretty sure he had probably annoyed his parents at night with fears of boogeymen under his bed or in his closet. He sighed again, grimacing to himself.
"Fine. Come on." He snapped tiredly as he clambered off of the bed and hastily made for the door, Belphegor in tow. The two wandered the dark halls of the Varia mansion, the moonlight illuminating their path toward the spiral staircase at the end of the hall that led to the second floor of the east wing, where the prince's room was located. Squalo looked down to his right. The small boy was running slightly to keep up with his long strides, still clinging tightly to his dilapidated stuffed rabbit.
The swordsman rolled his eyes as he stopped in his tracks and stared down at his younger comrade. Belphegor looked up at him in confusion as Squalo came closer and, without any warning, scooped the boy of the ground and settled the petite child on his hip.
"Better?" He asked quietly. Belphegor just nodded silently, grateful that he didn't have to run after the older assassin just to keep up anymore. His little legs were aching quite painfully already. With the prince balanced on his hip, the older hitman made the rest of the journey to Belphegor's bedroom a lot quicker.
After a few minutes, the pair were outside the large, ornate wooden doors of the ripper's bedroom. Squalo turned the knob slowly, trying to stifle a snort when he felt Bel tense, his skinny little arms tightening around his neck fearfully.
"Relax runt, I'm here." Squalo said as he confidently strode into the dark room and turned on the light before taking a look around as he set the younger assassin back down on the ground. The blonde immediately hid behind his leg, a set of his trademark knives clutched in between his fingers defensively. Squalo shook his head exasperatedly at the younger boy's antics as he squinted his eyes and glanced around the spacious room, searching for the closet.
As usual, the plush, off -white carpet was littered with clothes, toys and gadgets, as well as several of the prince's odd-looking daggers, which Squalo made certain to step over, lest he impale one of his socked feet on one.
His cobalt gaze finally settled on the door of the walk-in closet across from the prince's bed. Squalo's eyes widened exponentially. The door, which was slightly ajar, was completely riddled with Bel's knives.
Hundreds of them.
But what freaked Squalo out the most was that, amidst the strange daggers, he could just make out an outline of a body. And it didn't really look too human.
Whoa. That is some seriously creepy shit. He thought to himself as he glanced down at the blonde boy, who was hiding behind his leg anxiously and clutching at the material of his boxers in a tiny, trembling fist, knives at the ready in the other hand. He was staring in the direction of the door.
Nonetheless, Squalo had made the trek all the way over here to prove a point, and damn it, he was not gonna look like a coward in front of his eight- year old comrade.
"You stay right here. I'll go look." He said authoritatively. The boy nodded silently, still gripping 'Frankenbunny' incomrehensibly tight against his scrawny little torso. Squalo steeled himself and marched toward the door, which was still swinging slightly. The swordsman suppressed as shudder.
No wonder Bel was so scared. His room was creepy as all hell on its own, nevermind him seeing things. Squalo honestly couldn't blame the ripper prince. He was having a hard time keeping his nerves in check as it was. He couldn't imagine sleeping in here.
He placed his hand on the knob of the door and, with a gulp, swiftly pulled it open.
As expected, it was empty of any paranormal entities. Squalo sighed in relief as he turned to the blonde with a smirk.
"See? Empty."
Belphegor frowned.
Squalo closed the door and walked back to the prince and crouched down to eye-level with the blonde.
"The boogeyman isn't real, alright? Now go to sleep. I'm tired as fuck." To reiterate his point, the silverette yawned widely as he stood up and made to leave back to his room. He was clear out the door and in the hallway when he heard a small sniffle.
The Varia commander's shoulders sagged slightly. The part of him that cared, the teeny, tiny fraction of his being that kinda gave a damn went out to the petite royal. Belphegor wasn't normally afraid of anything, so for him to be reacting like this…
Squalo sighed as he backtracked to the doorway and poked his head in.
Belphegor was standing exactly where he had left him. He was still staring hard in the direction of the closet door, clutching both his knives and Frankenbunny tightly.
"Voi, brat." He started as he walked back into the room. The blonde turned slowly away from the door to look up at him. Squalo could see fresh streams of tears rolling down the boy's ashen cheeks from underneath his veil of gold.
The swordsman really wanted to smack himself. He could not believe the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
"Do you wanna sleep in my bed tonight?" The slasher prince started slightly.
"…Really?" The small blonde asked almost timidly, looking up at him with his head cocked to the side in confusion. Superbia Squalo never went out of his way to do something nice for anybody.
The swordsman nodded slowly, looking a little shocked himself.
"Yeah really. Your room is creepy as fuck. I can't really blame you for being a little chicken shit." He said with a snort. Belphegor pouted.
"It's not funny, Squalo. I saw it." He murmured from behind Frankenbunny's precariously stitched head. Nonetheless, the elite hitman tucked his knives away and walked over to Squalo. The two made the journey back to Squalo's room in comfortable silence, Squalo making sure to walk a bit slower so the tired prince could keep up with him. He was not going to carry him all the way to his room. Bel may have been small for his age, but an eight year old boy is an eight year old boy. Squalo was strong, but he didn't feel like carrying a fifty-something pound child across the mansion. No way.
A few minutes later, the two were back at the rain guardian's bedroom. Squalo was settling himself back into his spot on the left side of the bed against the wall. Bel hesitantly crawled up on the bed next to him, but made no attempt to lay down. He was watching Squalo intently.
"What?" The swordsman asked tiredly. It was already nearly two o'clock, and he desperately wanted to sleep. Belphegor bit his lip anxiously as he scooted further onto the bed, still clutching his stuffed animal as if it would keep him safe.
"I don't wanna sleep by the edge." He whispered so quietly Squalo had to strain to hear him.
"What?"
Belphegor looked fearfully over his tiny shoulder.
"The boogeyman can come and snatch me up if I sleep on the edge. He won't hurt you though." He said, rubbing his face in his sleeve tiredly.
Squalo rolled his eyes before shifting over to the outside part of the bed and laid back down. Belphegor stood up on the bed and stepped over him, before laying down between his older comrade and the wall. The kid could sleep where ever the hell he wanted, as long as Squalo could rest in peace.
"Whatever. Just go the fuck to sleep already." He snapped exhaustedly as he fluffed up his favorite pillow and buried his face in it, before suddenly lifting his head again to glare at the small blonde.
"And not a peep." He said as an afterthought before promptly re-mashing his face into the cool surface of the pillow.
"'Kay." The ripper whispered silently as he settled under the cool duvet and immediately snuggled against Squalo's back, curling himself into a ball.
"Voooiii, brat. I ain't your fuckin' mama." The swordsman growled lowly as he rolled over to face the younger assassin and push him off. But as he turned, he realized that the prince was just as tired as he was. The boy was fast asleep already.
For the second time that night, Squalo drug his hand down his face in annoyance. This time however, it was more at himself than at the blonde prince sleeping so peacefully against his torso. Squalo just couldn't find it in himself to shove the kid away. Bel had had a rough night too; maybe even more so than he, depending on how you look at it. Squalo sighed in resignation as he settled back down into a comfortable position, doing his best not to disturb his 'guest,' who pressed himself further into the warmth of Squalo's body. Despite himself, the swordsman allowed a tiny smile to emerge on his exhausted face.
It was at times like this, when Belphegor wasn't being a psychotic little demon that had lost one too many marbles, when he wasn't being obnoxious, irritating, or annoying, when he wasn't leaving dead animals in his room to gross him out, when he wasn't being an insufferably spoiled brat who felt he was entitled to whatever he wanted, when he wasn't throwing tantrums because he didn't get his way,when he wasn't being a snarky little know -it -all who always had to have the last word, when he wasn't pretending to be a grown up, when he wasn't the twisted, calculating killer they all knew he was…
He was actually…kind of pleasant.
And, Squalo thought as he watched the boy curl into himself, as if to protect his core from the monster he was certain was hiding in his closet, just this once; he would let Bel be a normal kid. Normal kids are afraid of monsters in their closets and stuff like that, right?
Underneath the demented persona of Prince the Ripper, there was just Bel. And he was still a kid. And he was still human.
Besides. By the near perfect outline on the prince's closet door, it was clear this wasn't a trick of the kid's rather overactive imagination. Squalo groaned as he suppressed another involuntary shiver.
He'd look up a priest in the morning.
I hope you guys thought that was cute too. I don't wanna be the only loser who was like D'AWWW Squalo is so nice lol
Before anyone says so, I know this chapter is kinda OOC, but really. It's freaking eight-year-old Bel. I'm sorry. Children are meant to be cute. Even the crazy, borderline demonic psychopaths like Prince the Ripper.
So what did you all think? Please please please leave me a review! Or the boogeyman is gonna omnomnom on your soul.
Sushi*Bomb xoxoxo