"When are you coming to take him back?" Gokudera sounded calm as he spoke to the Varia's Sun over the phone, but on the inside, he felt like committing first degree murder that wasn't endorsed by his boss' hesitant orders.

Lussuria laughed on the other end of the line before saying, "Oh, dear, you've misunderstood me; we aren't coming to get him; you can keep him until he's back to normal. We don't want him."

"What?" Gokudera shot a scathing look over at the blond who had followed him into his hotel room without invitation and was now rummaging through his belongings. "I don't want him, either! He's yours!"

"Yes, but we already dealt with him once when he was sixteen; we aren't subjecting ourselves to that again, hon. Have fun~"

Gokudera cursed as the call was ended, wishing with all his being he could just throw a stick of dynamite at the nuisance and be done with it all. As if reading his thoughts, Bel turned around, a pair of the silver-haired man's boxers in hand.

"Hey, Hayato-kun, do you think these would fit me?" Stretching the elastic in a manner that Gokudera perceived as taunting, Bel's smile widened. "Maybe not; I don't think there will be enough room for my dick to breathe."

"What the – what's that supposed to mean?!"

"That I'm bigger than you." Throwing the boxes aside onto the pile he had made, Bel continued on with his task of seeing what Gokudera owned.

"Oi, you little shit!" Having long-since matured, the Vongola Storm was no longer one who would reach for his weapons every time he lost his cool; he instead stood up, moving over to the younger in order to tower over him. "You wanna get blown that badly?"

Gokudera's breathing hitched as he realised what he had said, knowing how easily his words could be misconstrued – and when it came to Bel, there was nothing the blond couldn't twist back in a sexual manner.

However, as if he were oblivious to the unintentional innuendo, Bel just continued pulling things out of the suitcase, humming as he scanned the items into his mind and stored them there for later consideration.

"Hey!" Gokudera reached out, snatching the bottle of lube from the boy's hand that had just been picked up. "Stay out of my shit!"

The older male had truly expected for the taunting, the endless barrage of sexual comments he knew the blond wouldn't hold back on, but to his shock, they never came; Bel just looked at him for a few seconds before shrugging, almost as if he hadn't even made the connection as to what lube could be used for. "Do you use that with your dynamite or something, bomb brat?"

While it was true Bel had a genuine curiosity about how his Vongola counterpart's bombs worked, there was no way that would be what the blond's ten-years later self would ask; there would be teasing, comments about Gokudera being unable to get laid – anything but that. "…"

"Well?" Turning to look back at the older male, Bel cocked his head to the side. "Why do you look so embarrassed?"

Shaking his head, Gokudera snapped himself out of his thoughts. "Why would you care what I use it for?"

"It was a question; you're obviously using it for something else if you're getting so defensive over me asking about it. What are you using it for, then?"

"None of your fucking business! Hey, do you mind? I have to use that, you know?!" Gokudera growled as the boy ran his thumb against the tip of his toothbrush. "Who knows what you've been doing since you last washed your hands?"

"I am a prince; I wash my hands every time before I eat or have used the toilet, and especially when I have touched something questionable. I take care of my hygiene, but do you, Hayato-kun?"

"How do I know you weren't jerking yourself off minutes before the Bazooka hit you?"

"Huh?" Blinking beneath long bangs, Bel cocked his head to the side. There was no deception, no hidden motive for doing so that Gokudera could sense; just simply a boy who didn't quite understand what he had been accused of.

"Are you stupid or something?" Gokudera stepped forward again, nudging the younger with his boot. "You know what I'm talking about; don't play dumb."

"I really am not sure as to what you're referring to." No trickery was picked up in the other's mannerisms, instead simple, plain confusion; Bel really didn't get it, did he? "I've never heard that terminology anywhere."

"What the fuck?" Gokudera shook his head. "Look at who you live with; there's no way you haven't heard it before."

Standing up in order to stretch, Bel made his way over to the single bed in the room. He dropped himself down on it and curled up into a ball, lifting his head to look at Gokudera. "Yeah, but I stay in my room all the time. I only come out to play with Mammon's puffy cheeks and to eat; I don't really talk to the others."

"Can you get off my bed?" Gokudera scowled down at the boy, his fingers twitching as he held back the impulse to push the young prince off the mattress just to see how he reacted. "In fact, get out of my room; you have your own further down the hall. Go bother your perverted Lightning Guardian or something."

"No, I don't want to." Bel pouted childishly, dragging his knees to his chest as he made himself more comfortable. "This is my room, now. I expect the peasant to bring my belongings in to me and relocate elsewhere."

"Oi, this is my room!"

"Nu-uh; I claimed it, so it's mine now. I am a prince; I can do whatever I want."

"Jeez, no wonder the Varia dumped you on me and don't want you back." Gokudera rolled his eyes, his irritation growing further. "But, hey; I don't want you, either; I want to abandon you somewhere just to get you out of my hair."

Bel shrugged, his smile never faltering. "I am used to no one wanting me, so I made sure to never need anyone to want me. I can survive on my own quite easily; I don't want to be wanted. And as for abandonment, I experienced that very early on; it does not hurt me anymore. Wasn't it the same for you, bomb brat?"

"I…" Gokudera took a moment to collect himself, understanding exactly what it was like to belong nowhere, to have to fight for survival and not understand what it was like to be wanted by someone. But how could Bel even consider putting them on the same level? The blond was an unstable, violent little shit who murdered for fun – everything Gokudera was not. Feeling his irritation build up, he spat out, "I don't care what you think, you little shit; don't act like you know me because I am far from being like you. Get out of my room, knife bastard."

Bel shrugged again, making no attempt at moving off the bed. "You're more like me than you care to realise, Hayato-kun. Anyway, I'm going to sleep. My things had better be here by the time I wake up, peasant."

If this were ten years ago, Gokudera would have thrown a fit over the blond taking his room like this, but instead he simply sighed and moved to sit on the couch, knowing that Bel wasn't going to budge any time soon.

Turning the TV on, Gokudera allowed his thoughts to run rampart, trying to ignore the soft snores that soon came from behind him.

At least Bel wasn't too annoying when he was sleeping; hopefully he would spend most of his time that way.

~~XX~~

When dinner rolled around and Bel still hadn't woken, Gokudera could admit he was the tiniest fraction concerned; it had been close to nine hours since he had 'claimed' his Vongola counterpart's room for himself and gone to sleep, and the blond hadn't woken in the slightest since then; was this normal behaviour for the younger? Gokudera knew that Bel was lazy and slept a lot, but this amount of sleep…? If this were the usual for him, it was no wonder the Varia Storm was grouchy a lot of the time.

Getting up from his couch, Gokudera moved to the boy's side. He looked down at the sleeping form, surprised to see that the devious smile Bel tended to don was absent tonight, replaced instead by a firm frown. Thin fingers gripped tight the bed sheets beneath the younger, an aura of distress wafting from Bel.

"Oi, knife bastard." Gokudera knew better than to touch the other; even as an adult, Bel hadn't liked touch, and the lifestyle he lived ensured that if someone were to touch him in his sleep or otherwise allow him to feel threatened, he would wake with nothing but killing on his mind. "Get up."

When the smaller male didn't even stir, Gokudera sighed; he was going to have to take drastic measures, because there was no way he was letting the volatile boy become sleepless tonight; that would only result in him losing sleep by having to deal with the younger.

Moving away from the bed, Gokudera searched the hotel room for the most harmless object he could find. After deciding that the room wouldn't readily supply him with something that didn't automatically look threatening to someone just waking up, he went to his own suitcase and sifted through things.

Grabbing the bottle of lube Bel had been playing with earlier, Gokudera stood up and carried it over to the far side of the room, knowing that if any knives were to come flying at him, he could quickly slip inside the bathroom and lock the door until Bel calmed down.

"Get up, freak." Throwing the bottle as hard as he could, Gokudera couldn't help but feel a little satisfied at the loud thump that sounded when it landed hard on the blond's head. He was alert as the boy immediately sat up, a handful of knives in his hands as he looked around for any immediate threat. To the silver-haired male's relief, Bel disregarded him as a danger and instead turned his attention to see what had hit him.

"Hayato-kun…" Bel sighed as he picked up the bottle of lube, tossing it onto the ground in an annoyed manner. "Hayato-kun, why would you do that?"

"Because you wouldn't wake up when I told you to." Shrugging, the Italian-Japanese male slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat as he closed the distance between them. "Do you always sleep for so long?"

Stifling a yawn, Bel then asked, "What time is it?"

"Eight. I figured I should get you up for dinner so you wouldn't wake up some time through the night and wake me up to bitch that you're hungry."

Ignoring this accusation, Bel cocked his head to the side. Chewing at his lips, he then said in a slow, soft voice that Gokudera read as one of uncertainty, "…No… I don't usually sleep that long…"

"So why did you?"

Shrugging, Bel turned away. "I don't need to talk about my problems to you of all people, Hayato-kun."

Gokudera wasn't stupid; he knew what it was like to be unexpectedly stuck in a timeline that wasn't his; when he and his friends had had the fight with Byakuran, he hadn't been the only one scared and confused by everything, feeling trapped with no way out; surely Bel could be feeling just as disconcerted as they had back then, if not more so.

Despite having worked on and off with the Varia for ten years, none of the Vongola really knew all that much about the other members; they were distant, closed off, and didn't seem to want the slightest thing to be known about them. Maybe they were all a paranoid bunch, but Gokudera had worked with Bel enough to work out that the blond was probably the most paranoid of them all, and in this situation, all he had was his princely pride to get him through.

"You're confronted by this timeline you really have no knowledge of, aren't you?" Gokudera didn't miss the way Bel's lips twitched, his fingers curling instinctively around air as if to grasp the handles of his knives. "It's really in your face, right? I guess even a genius such as yourself has to be a little apprehensive; I often hear that it's the people who think they have everything down pat that are frightened the most when faced with the unexpected."

Bel growled, hating that Gokudera had been sincere at the start, but then had taunted him; yes, he was feeling a little anxious about this new development, everything he knew about the world perhaps irrelevant right now – but he wasn't going to let anyone know that even he could be a little nervous of things at times. "Shut up, peasant. Forget this petty conversation; I want food."

Gokudera sneered, reaching out to pinch pale cheeks. In a tone thick with sarcasm, he said, "You think you're so precious, but you really have no choice but to rely on me in this situation. You should rethink being your usual bratty, spoilt self, because I could always leave you alone in this unfamiliar world and see if you can make it on your own."

"Of course I can!" Bel swiped a knife at the other, agitated further by such an arrogant touch. "I don't need you!"

"Oh, trust me; you will. You have no idea how to fight in this timeline; you'll get stomped."

"I'm a prince!" Bel waved his arms in the air, his frustration obvious. "And I'm a Varia member! I won't lose to anybody!"

Gokudera chuckled. "Actually, I remember you losing a couple of times. You shouldn't be such a snobby, arrogant brat, because if it weren't for the Tenth wanting me to keep you alive, I would be only too happy to let you go out and get your head torn off your neck."

"That won't happen!"

"We'll see." A knowing smirk crossed Gokudera's face, reaching out to pat a blond head in mock soothing. "We'll see, Bel-chan – oi, stop fucking biting me, you little shit!"

Bel just sunk his teeth in harder before finally letting go and making his way towards the door. If Gokudera was only going to sit here and taunt him instead of taking him to food, he would just have to find it himself.

Wait until Gokudera sees just how well he can handle himself, even in an unfamiliar timeline. He'd soon learn to trust in his abilities, Bel would make sure of that.