When Gokudera came to, the first thing he saw was golden bangs taking up his entire field of vision. With a startled yelp, he scooted backwards, almost falling off the infirmary bed in the process. "B-bel! Don't do that!"
Bel laughed, running a hand through his tousled locks. "Shishi~ Hayato-kun looks so peaceful in his sleep~"
Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Gokudera ignored the dull throbbing in his back; whatever painkillers he had been given were working like a charm. "Why the fuck are you still here, anyway? Just fuck off back to Italy already! I don't want you here!"
"That's not the impression I'm getting if I am still in Japan after all this time – and with Hayato-kun, no less." Rolling onto his back, Bel stretched in a lazy manner. "If you really wanted the prince gone, I would have found myself anywhere but with you, Hayato-kun. Besides, the younger Hayato-kun quite enjoyed my princely presence~"
Gokudera looked horrified at this, his eyes widening as he dropped his jaw. "…You… You sick bastard! What did you do to me?!"
"Well, it took a bit of coaxing at first, but I taught you the pleasures only a prince can give~ Shishi~ In the end, you were practically begging for my cock every day and night~"
"You… You rapist!" Barely aware of what he was even accusing the older male of anymore, Gokudera flailed like a fish out of water.
Bel's smile dropped at this, a genuine frown crossing his face. His fingers twitched before he rested a knife against Gokudera's throat, several droplets of blood dripping down onto the white sheets. In a deadly serious voice that contradicted his seemingly-emotionless expression, he hissed, "I am a lot of things, but I'm not rapist, Hayato-kun. Forceful and pushy, yes. But I do understand the meaning of no. You don't know… how hard it was for me… to back off so many times until he… you… finally wanted me… I wanted to slam you against the wall and fuck you until you passed out… But I didn't. I waited, Hayato-kun. I knew to wait."
"…"
Bel brought his face a little closer to Gokudera's now, his body quivering as lust filled his voice. "I watched you for so long. I could barely contain my needs. I wanted – no… I needed to fuck you… so badly… My self-control has never slipped as much as it did then… I would do a lot of things to you, Hayato-kun, but I would never rape you, so don't you ever accuse me of doing so again."
"…"
"What am I to you." It wasn't a question, and when no answer came, Bel growled as he pressed the knife harder against pale flesh. "Answer. Me."
"…" Closing his eyes, Gokudera thought back to his time with the younger Bel, both from this timeline and the other one. He had to be honest; what he had felt for the Bel in another world, he wasn't sure he could tell the blond holding a knife to his neck – would the other even understand? Bel didn't love; he fucked and lusted but if he even knew what that word meant…
"Hayato-kun!" Fingers digging tightly into Gokudera's shoulder now, the silver-haired man had never heard the faint hint of distress in the other's voice until now – so Bel did care what the answer was… "Give me a fucking answer, Hayato-kun!"
"…" Pushing calmly at the older male, Gokudera opened his eyes again. He was surprised that the other obeyed and sat on his haunches with no protest, and he couldn't help but feel a soft pang in his heart; oh, how much he missed the other Bel already… "You want to know what you are to me…?"
"Yes."
"…You are… someone who has never stopped confusing me."
"…"
"I've hated you for so long. When I first met you, I couldn't stand you. And then, ten years later, I still hate you. But… For the past couple of months, I… I fell in love with your younger self."
"In love…?" Cocking his head to the side, Bel hummed as he danced his knife across the bed sheets.
Gokudera nodded. "I honestly did love your younger self. But that doesn't matter anymore; he's gone, and I don't think I feel the same way about you, here and now, as I did then."
"…" With no expression on his face, Bel remained silent as he calculated everything he had been told, unsure of how he was feeling.
With a sigh, Gokudera shrugged. "But as I said, it doesn't matter anymore. We'll just go back to hating each other like we have for the past ten years. My feelings towards your younger self won't change you."
Without hesitation, Bel said, "Your younger self said he loved me, too. I have no comprehension of this 'love'. I don't understand it, or what it means to love someone. I love ripping, and I love blood. I love killing, but I cannot love a person. I don't know how."
"…"
"But… You're the only person I've ever slept with more than once. The only person I feel… content to be around without killing. I don't know… my emotions towards you. But ten years ago, I knew you were mine, and only mine. Mine to toy with; mine to hurt. Mine to annoy and make angry. And now, I finally got what I wanted ten years ago; I made you mine, so I refuse to let you go now, Hayato-kun."
"What are you – fucking bastard!" Gokudera cried out as sharp teeth sunk into his shoulder, blood spilling down his flesh. "What the fuck is that for?!"
"I marked my Hayato-kun when I finally got him; I'm leaving my marks on you, too. I'm letting everyone know that you're mine. I don't like people touching what is mine, Hayato-kun; you're mine and only mine."
"…Bel…" With a sigh, Gokudera resigned himself to his fate; Bel was a possessive bastard who always got what he wanted in the end, so there was no use in trying to deny him. Besides, maybe he could finally tame the older male and calm him down a bit, the same way he had been able to find an obedient, sweet-natured boy who just loved to cuddle in what was known as Prince the Ripper.
Maybe things would never be the way they had been with Bel's younger self, but Gokudera would take it as it came; maybe even someone as bloodthirsty and twisted as Belphegor would be able to learn love.
After all, it was never too late to save someone and help them turn their lives around into something better.