"Ne, Hayato-kun? Can I come with you on your mission?" From his position on Gokudera's bed, Bel watched his boyfriend robe up from their earlier activities together. The boy was still naked, laying on his stomach as he kicked his legs back and forth in the air.

Gokudera looked over his shoulder at the younger, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he did the buttons on his jacket up. "You realise it's going to be dangerous for you? Your Varia Ring hasn't been upgraded, so you can't fight properly."

"Yeah, but I'm really bored." Sighing, Bel dropped his head down onto the mattress. "Please? I'll suck you again."

Gokudera sighed, knowing the boy wouldn't give up. Would it really hurt to let him tag along for a while? Bel was still a Varia member, after all; he could handle himself if he stayed with the Vongola Storm and didn't wander off. So what was the problem? "Alright. But only if you stay with me and let me handle things."

Bel giggled, nodding in response; he was just happy that he could spend more time with Gokudera. "I will get ready~!"

"I'd wanna hope you do; I'm not dragging your ass out in public in just your birthday suit."

Giggling again, Bel snatched up his favourite shirt from the ground. "Only Hayato-kun gets to see me in my birthday suit~ Does Hayato-kun like it~?"

"You know I do…" His voice a little softer, Gokudera let his eyes wander over the younger's body. Bel's flesh was so soft, so smooth despite the various scars all over the boy that would probably never disappear. He knew those wounds hadn't come from his Varia missions, and when he tried asking about them, Bel simply said he didn't want to talk about it.

Smiling to himself, Bel grabbed the rest of his clothing before heading into the personal bathroom, leaving Gokudera to his own thoughts.

Gokudera was a little concerned about bringing Bel along with him, but he knew he should trust in the boy's abilities; Bel was a Varia Officer for a reason.

~~XX~~

After hours of driving, Gokudera pulled his car over and parked it beneath the light of a street lamp. He and Bel exited it as quietly as they could, the silver-haired man locking it before leading his boyfriend over to the abandoned factory just down the road.

"Be as quiet as you can, Bel; don't let them know we're coming."

The boy nodded, his hand reaching up to slip into Gokudera's. "I know, Hayato-kun."

They were silent as they closed the distance between the factory, not a word so much as whispered as they soon stepped inside. Gokudera was unaware of the way he walked in front of his boyfriend in an attempt at hiding him, but Bel noticed, and it annoyed him.

Tugging at the older male's sleeve, Bel pouted as they both stopped walking. "Hayato-kun…! I don't like being treated as a child…!"

Gokudera frowned for a few seconds before he nodded, stepping to the side. Ruffling golden locks, he then continued forward with Bel behind him. He couldn't help but smile as he felt the younger pressing closer to him, loving how his Varia counterpart could never seem to get enough of being with him.

"Do you know where they're hiding?" Whispering as quietly as he could, Bel looked up into Gokudera's face.

"Tenth said it's a huge drug deal, so I doubt they'd be somewhere obvious. Probably further into the building. There's a lot of ground to cover."

Looking around at his surroundings, Bel wondered how long this building had been abandoned for; it was decrepit, with weeds growing through the cracks in the walls. Glass shards lay on the ground from where windows had been shattered, and there was graffiti through most of the building. Some of the machines that had once been used to produce whatever this factory was used for lay abandoned on the ground, the rest covered in rust and cobwebs as they stood haphazardly where they were left, looking as if they would fall with the slightest of breezes any day now.

With his boots carefully stepping through a patch of glass, Bel uttered, "I don't like this place, Hayato-kun." Having seen a lot in his sixteen years of life, Bel wasn't afraid of this place; he had simply watched many, many things unfold in these kinds of buildings.

"I know." Squeezing the hand still in his own firmly, Gokudera glanced down at his boyfriend. "It'll be fine, though."

Bel fell silent at this, continuing to walk with silent steps. He was so light on his feet, not a sound was heard from him, something he had long-since found very useful; without his own noises added into the mix, he could focus on sounds that weren't his, alerting him to when he was no longer alone.

Like now, as Bel easily picked up footsteps that sounded nothing like Gokudera's quiet pace.

Coming to a halt, Bel immediately jerked Gokudera closer to him. Looking over his shoulder at where the footsteps were coming from, he found that they still had time to hide; it seemed that whoever was coming closer still had yet to turn the corner.

Taking refuge behind fallen machinery, the two Storm guardians dropped to their knees, listening carefully; if they let their presence be known, it could mean the end of them both.

"I know you're in there, Vongola rat." The voice floating through the air was a malicious one, cruel amusement unconcealed within it. "We were watching you and your little blond on the cameras. You can't hide from us."

While Gokudera muttered curse words, Bel remained silent. He dipped his hand into his pockets, resurfacing with some knives. "Can I take him out, Hayato-kun?"

Shaking his head, Gokudera put his hand on the younger's shoulders. "Don't; they won't play around, Bel. I recognise that voice; he's from a very strong family."

"If they're that strong, why did the Vongola only send you to deal with them?" Twirling one of his blades in impatience, Bel felt himself growing excited; it had been too long since he had had the chance to rip, and how he longed for this moment.

"Because Tenth didn't know who was involved, and he wouldn't have expected them; we didn't realise they were trafficking drugs…" Pulling his phone from his pocket, Gokudera hit speed dial before sending an emergency text requesting backup; even he wasn't stupid enough to think that the two of them could handle this – a few of them, yes. But not a whole horde of them as Tsuna had predicted there to be.

"…" Chewing at his lip, Bel's body started quivering, wanting desperately to be given the okay to do what he did best. "Hayato-kun…"

"…" Glancing at Bel, and then over the machinery they were hiding behind, Gokudera knew they had no choice but to try and retreat before more of them came; he wouldn't dare try and handle this on his own – not when he knew he would never make it back to Tsuna if he so much as tried. "Bel, can you use your wires to stop him from getting closer to us? We need to run."

Bel nodded, licking his lips. "Can I rip, too?"

"Do your best. Do it now, while there's only a small space for you to block." Watching as Bel immediately jumped to his feet and threw his knives with precision, Gokudera waited until the other had ducked once more. "Done?"

"Yeah. He moved out of the way, but I got his stomach." Getting back to his feet when Gokudera grabbed his hand, Bel followed the older male back the way they had come. They both ducked as bullets started chasing them, the roaring bang of bullets upon rusted metal giving the blond a headache.

"Don't stop, Bel; we're almost there." Glancing back at his partner, Gokudera was relieved to see the boy unscathed; if they were to stop due to injury, it would most certainly be the end of them.

Bel didn't reply; he was too busy scanning his surroundings, knowing that this was just too good to be true; if the enemy had been watching them previously, then there was no way they would send just one of them against a Vongola Guardian, no matter how strong Gokudera said they were. There had to be a catch to this; something they had both missed…

Slam!

Skidding to a stop, Bel tried to pull Gokudera back with him, but it was too late; the silver-haired male ran straight into the door that had been slammed shut out of nowhere, a loud crack resounding through the corridor they had been running through. Bel barely had time to process what had just happened before a blur came from their sides, a body much larger and far stronger than he and Gokudera combined taking the Vongola Storm by the throat and body slamming him into the wall, making sure to smash the back of the young man's head against the wall hard enough to leave blood in their wake.

Before Bel could even react, a second body came from behind him, knocking him to the ground and holding him there. A third person knelt beside them, running their hands all over his body as they searched for every last knife he had hidden on him.

"Get off!" Bel kicked out like a wild horse, snarling as he writhed; how dare peasants touch royalty like this?! "Get the fuck off me!"

Bel gasped as someone gripped the back of his head and none-too-gently pushed his face into the rotten floorboards, breaking his nose in the process.

"Look at the Vongola squirm."

Turning his head to the side so that he could see Gokudera, Bel watched his boyfriend lay on the floor. The silver-haired male was barely moving, slowly rolling onto his side as he dragged his arm lazily across his chest, clearly in a daze from the assault.

"…" Trying to look up at the man who was holding him to the ground, Bel growled again.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think this was one of the Varia's own guardians, but he's a complete shrimp." Bel winced at the voices behind him, hating the laughter that filled his air. "He looks just like that slutty Storm Guardian from the Varia, doesn't he? But he's much too young."

"Fuck you…" His eyes widening beneath his long bangs as he felt his shoulder blade surely being broken, Bel let out a strangled cry.

"A little boy like yourself shouldn't be playing around in places like this. Little boys like yourself… will get hurt."

Bel shuddered as he felt a tongue lick at the shell of his ear. He could feel hands roaming down his body, and it only fuelled his anger; how dare they make a mockery of him?! "Get the fuck off me if you want to live…"

"Big words coming from such a little boy." More laughter. Hands travelled to places that only Gokudera and himself had ever touched Bel in, and the boy started bucking more violently than ever in an attempt to shake them off him. "Even your cock agrees with us; you are a little boy. We might have trouble trafficking you off, but we can still break you in here and now – no one wants an unmanageable slut with a dick barely big enough to give them pleasure."

Bel flushed with embarrassment, unused to people picking on his penis size; even Squalo had never teased him about that before, and nothing was taboo to the Varia Rain. "Remove your hand, peasant!"

Just as hands started unclipping the boy's belt, Bel startled at the small explosion just across from him; it seemed that Gokudera had come to as he recognised that attack; that explosion was a miniature dynamite the Vongola Storm only ever used in extremely close combat.

Bel ducked as more dynamite came his way, effectively scattering his attackers. He scooped up his fallen knives before scurrying over to his boyfriend, seeing that the older male wasn't in the best of shape; his head must have suffered a significant blow as Gokudera seemed sluggish and uncoordinated.

"Hayato-kun?" Putting his hand on a larger one, Bel looked up into green eyes. "Can you fight?"

Gokudera nodded, offering a small smile to the younger that didn't fool Bel in the slightest; his Vongola counterpart was fatigued, and probably struggling to keep conscious as it was. "Are you okay, Bel?"

"Yeah. I told you I could handle things, Hayato-kun."

There was a lot Gokudera could have replied with, but that would have to wait; now wasn't the time to get smart with the blond.

"Fight back all you want; even if you manage to take us down, you'll exhaust yourselves to your deaths; more of us will stream from this building and take our places."

Bel didn't wait for his lover to give him the okay; he simply threw his knives before almost collapsing to his knees from his broken shoulder. Hissing in a breath, Bel raised his hand to hold it.

"Stay back, Bel." Stepping in front of the other, Gokudera pulled sticks of dynamite from his pockets. Lighting them from the cigarette Bel hadn't seen him start to smoke, the silver-haired man soon tossed them to the enemy before shoving Bel backwards, away from the blast.

The force of the explosions had rocked the already-unstable building, and when it became clear that it was starting to crumble, Gokudera knew they had to get out through whatever means necessary; picking Bel up from the ground, he tossed more dynamite behind them as he started to run.

However, in his weakened state, Gokudera hadn't been able to move with as much agile, and it had been only too easy for him to fall to a gunshot wound to the middle of his back. Bel fell from his boyfriend's arms, spread out on the ground as he watched the enemy close in on them both.

Tossing his knives wildly, Bel hissed as he realised their situation; they were either going to be shot to death here and now, or they were going to be crushed to death by a collapsing factory – and neither of them were very high of his to-do list.

"Bel…"

Looking back at Gokudera, Bel felt emotion he had never felt before well up inside of him; seeing the hopeless look the older male gave him through half-cracked eyelids, the boy felt himself being consumed by the desire to protect Gokudera, no matter what it took.

"Get out of here, Bel… Run…"

Shaking his head, Bel stood his ground. He knew that it was useless, but he wasn't going to abandon Gokudera – not now, not when he had finally found someone he loved. "No."

Unafraid of the gun that was soon pressing against his forehead, Bel quivered in excitement; if he could just…

Gokudera winced at the sight before him, knowing that there would be no hesitation in pulling the trigger and sending Bel's brains splattering – however, what soon startled him the most was not the deafening bang that was almost louder than the collapsing building itself, but the pink smoke that soon engulfed where Bel had been seconds previously.

And then, standing there in the boy's place, was the Varia's genius himself; twenty-six-year-old Belphegor who didn't seem disconcerted by the situation at all.

"Bel…"

The blond Guardian didn't even look at Gokudera; he just sneered at their attackers as he calmly raised his hand, wires glinting in the rays of the moon that shone through what had already collapsed. He said nothing as he slashed the enemies in front of him, blood spilling all over his hands and clothing, but he simply laughed.

"What have you gotten yourself into now, Hayato-kun?" Knowing not to mess around when they were in danger of being crushed to death, Bel spun on the spot before he leant down and scooped the younger up into his arms. "Always in need of the prince coming to save you. You can thank the prince later by giving him head; I'm sure you've improved greatly from ten years ago."

Completely unaware of the hidden meaning behind those words, Gokudera passed out in Bel's arms. He missed the way the entire building finally gave in after Bel had calmly exited it, and he wouldn't see the fire that soon engulfed the ruins in their wake. None of that mattered, though; so far, they had both lived to see another day.