Tsuna wasn't quite sure what had happened; one minute, he had been listening to Shoichi explain that there was a problem with returning to their own time and they would have to remain here until the issue was fixed. Then, an unidentifiable blur had rushed into the room and kidnapped him from his friends, carrying him from the base. At first, Tsuna had no idea what to expect, but once he heard that familiar, ushishishi~ he knew immediately what was going on; Belphegor was probably going to torture him to death for absolutely no reason.
"Hiee!" Tsuna squeaked as he tried to pull himself from Bel's arms, prepared to fall face-first onto the hard pavement if that was what it would take to save his life. "B-belphegor! Don't kill me!"
Bel laughed again as he stopped in the middle of the busy street. He dropped the Vongola unceremoniously onto the bench they were standing next to, grinning down at the younger. "The prince isn't here to kill the tuna-fish~"
Tsuna frowned at these words, wondering what the ulterior motive could be if it weren't murder. Dare he ask? "…"
"The prince is just bored, and he wants someone to play with~" Bel sat down next to the brunet, adjusting his tiara carefully. "Shishi~ The froggy didn't want to play target practise and the boss was grumpy. Will the tuna-fish play~?"
"J-jeez, Belphegor…" Tsuna wanted to decline, to run back to his friends before he undoubtedly died, whether Bel had meant to kill him or not – he wouldn't put it past the other to stab him purely out of habit and then laugh as he bled to death. "I-I would, but… I-I'm kind of busy…"
"Great~!" Bel stood up again, smiling brightly as he pulled a knife from his pocket, swinging it around his finger. "Let's go play~"
"Hiee!" Tsuna hadn't agreed to being picked up once again, but what could he do? It wasn't exactly the smartest idea to piss off someone like Belphegor, after all. Should he just play along and hope the other wasn't in the mood for bloodshed? Or at least hope he would be rescued soon enough?
"Shishi~ Let's get some ice cream~" Bel ignored every look sent his way as he carried a protesting teenager through the streets, his grin as large as ever; he was just glad that he wasn't going to be bored.
~~XX~~
To say that Tsuna was surprised the blond had paid for both of their ice creams was an understatement; he didn't know what he had expected more, for Bel to slaughter the workers on the spot and take the ice cream for himself, or for the blond to expect him to pay for his own sweet.
Instead, here he was, being handed an ice cream cone with a chocolate scoop inside it.
"T-thanks…" Tsuna ducked his head as he accepted the treat, uncomfortable about being alone with a Varia member; he could remember clear as day the way the Storm Guardian had almost gotten Gokudera killed along with himself, and he wasn't sure he'd ever get over it.
Bel licked happily at his own ice cream as he sat down at the table next to his prisoner, twirling a knife in his hands absentmindedly. He licked his lips as he looked down to the student, his obscured eyes sparkling with contentment. "Chocolate ice cream is my favourite~"
Tsuna offered a shy smile to his abductor, deciding that if he just went along with this, his chance of survival would probably be higher. "Yeah… Chocolate ice cream is good."
"I brought Froggy here when we first came to Japan, but the stupid frog wasn't fun at all." A childish pout crossed the man's face, resembling very much a little kid that hadn't gotten its way. "All he did was insult the prince and mooch off of his money. Mammon was a much better partner than him."
"But at least now you have Mammon back, right?" Tsuna could see that the blond was frustrated about being stuck with a teammate he didn't seem to like much, if at all.
In a split second, Bel's mood had gone back to happy; his smile stretched across his face as he nodded. "Shishishi~ That's true~ Mammy was off playing somewhere else, so the prince couldn't play with him~"
Tsuna wondered why the older male seemed obsessed with 'playing'; was he really that childish at heart? Or was he so used to being alone, he would play with whoever he could? Even if said 'playing' was not the most humane. The brunet licked again at his treat as he thought about these words, not sure how to reply to them; Belphegor was dangerous, no matter what kind of mood he was in.
"Does the tuna-fish want to go play videogames next?" Bel had already devoured his ice cream, nothing left of it. "I saw an arcade not far from here."
"Ah, I haven't got any money, Belphegor…" The Sky Guardian frowned. "Sorry…"
"The prince will pay~" Bel licked his fingers to make sure he had eaten every drop of his food, a mischievous smirk on his face. Without waiting for a reply, he instead stood up and pulled the brunet back into his arms. "Thank you~ We'll have lots of fun~"
"Wait! I didn't agree to anything!" Tsuna gripped the hood of the Varia uniform, trying to steady himself; he had been so unprepared for it, he felt as if he were about to slip off the shoulder he had just been strewn across.
"Of course you did~ No one ever says no to the prince~"
Tsuna sighed, wondering just how he had gotten himself into this situation in the first place. He resigned himself to his fate, hoping that there would be minimal stabbing and the blond would stay as pleasant as he had been – Bel could almost be considered a gentleman when he wasn't out for blood, and that was something Tsuna thought no one would ever view the blond as.