Hi there, here I am again. Some more B26, or actually 26B. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this one too! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or any of it's associated... thingame... thingies, that would make me sueable if I said they were mine. So boo.
Enjoy!
I Don't Intend To Be An Insomniac
…so I'd better do something about this then.
A luxuriously furnished room was covered in shadows, dimly illuminated by the meagre amount of moonlight that seeped in over the top of the tall curtains. Those drapes were a dark red, but no-one could see that during the night, as it was at this moment. The entire room was coloured in reds and white and dark, varnished wooden furniture. The white marble floor was partially covered by a lavishly thick, crimson rug that was just as comfortably as any mattress could be. Two beds stood at either side of the middle of one of the walls, several feet away from each other as though the people in it wanted to be able to pretend the other wasn't there. Neither of the occupants was asleep.
Jade eyes stared at the shapeless silhouette on the bed covered with bloodred sheets. Those eyes were drooping, half-mast and tired. But Fran couldn't sleep. He knew if he did he would only wake up again a couple hours later and have nothing to do but to stare at the ignorant (and in this one case, also innocent) cause of his semi-insomnia. He let his tired eyes trace the tangled mess of hair he knew to be blonde, the outlined curve of a shoulder, one of a broad pair he knew so well. From a distance.
It was late, very late. If it wasn't already well past midnight then it was a miracle, it probably already was. But Fran couldn't bring himself to sleep. Night-time was the only time when he could stare at his sempai without the threat of being discovered and interrogated and subsequently stabbed. It was too bad there was so little light. The dark red curtains kept the light outside very well and he could never get his sempai to leave them open when they prepared for bed.
Staring at his sempai was pretty much all he could do with the feelings he held in his heart. He let his jade gaze stroke the sheets of his partner, wishing he was allowed to crawl under them. But his sempai would never let him get that close. Still he wished. Wished that that fake prince would lift the covers and smirk at him, invite him in. He wished that he could sleep in that bed with him, that he could snuggle into the man's back and hold on to him. But he couldn't. So he watched instead, unable to fall asleep until the early hours of the morning when his fatigued body finally dragged his mind into unconsciousness.
Bel shifted slowly in discomfort. He could feel the eyes tracing his back. He let out a silent sigh onto the blood red sheets. This was the 23d night he'd woken because of his kouhai's staring. He wasn't sure what to make of it.
A quiet rustling sound came from the other bed. Bel could sense his kouhai moving around and then sitting up, moving to the edge of his bed on the blonde's side. He tensed when he felt more than he heard Fran lower his feet onto the cold stone floor and get up off his bed.
So this was possibly the worst plan he'd ever come up with, but he couldn't go on like he had. He was losing more sleep over this than he could afford; he had already had a few missions on which he'd noticed himself making sloppy mistakes. He'd managed to cover those up and make them pass unnoticed so far, but he knew there was a line he was not far from crossing.
Fran stood stock-still on the cold marble floor, that was a shadowy silver in the little bit of moonlight.
However true that was, he still couldn't bring himself to cross the few feet to his sempai's bed and breach the walls between them and around himself, the ones he'd so carefully constructed. The latter were the ones that made him seem disinterested in relationships of any kind with his Varia colleagues, uncaring and indifferent to them in every meaning of the words. And the former were the ones between him and his sempai that were for a large part, if not entirely, the consequence of that façade. He wanted them to crumble and fall though. He wanted them to not exist.
Too bad he'd already built them.
If the frog was intending to strike up some sort of conversation with him, he'd better start doing that soon. Bel wanted to sleep, darn it. He needed more sleep than he'd been getting the past few weeks. He could lose some sleep, a few nights, but not three weeks of it.
He hesitantly stepped closer to his sempai's bed. There was no way he would get a positive response out of Bel when (if) he confessed to the older man. So why was he still going to do it?
Because maybe, he could then finally let it rest and fall asleep at normal hours of the night. His partial insomnia was going to break? him up? if he didn't do something to stop it soon.
It was almost entirely a decision based on health matters. Hey sempai, I'm confessing to you, doctor's orders. That should go down well.
The frog was really pushing it. He was finally moving and Bel suspected it was to do something about the staring that was keeping them both up, but he was doing so at an excruciating? pace. He was beginning to lose his patience.
So how should he begin? First he needed to make sure his sempai was awake and he dreaded the idea of shaking his shoulder (bare and tempting though it was). Who was to know how violently his sempai would react? He would have to try to wake him up with something verbal, but again he would also have to make sure he didn't do anything that pissed his sempai off in one fluent go.
So yelling 'hey fake prince-sempai' was probably a no-no.
He took another hesitant step closer. There was still plenty of room between him and the other's bed. He wondered if he was going to do this tonight.
Fran's heart suddenly stopped beating entirely, electrocuted to death with sudden shock. The paralyzing fright of unexpectedly being caught red-handed by your parents with your hand in the forbidden cookie jar, only a hundred times worse than that, sizzled welcomingly through his body.
Bel-sempai's vague figure shifted on his bed, the sheets rustling. The move he made was far too deliberate and well-coordinated for him to be asleep. Fran could hear him sigh while he tried to resuscitate his shocked heart.
'It's been more than three weeks, frog.'
He breathed shallowly at the smooth tired voice that lacked any trace of sleep and tried not to hyperventilate.
He'd been awake?
He tried to say something into the shadowy darkness of the room, but his voice felt like it was being strangled and would come out as no more than a frightened squeak. This hadn't been supposed to happen. He was not prepared for his sempai to already be awake-
It's been more than three weeks, frog
He'd known?
Bel sighed again tiredly at the nervous shallow breaths he heard his kouhai take. Really, what was he thinking? For one, that an experienced assassin like the prince would not notice someone's avid staring that felt practically the same as being stalked, and for another that stalling now would actually provide him with some sort of benefit at this point? It wouldn't. Neither of those were true in reality.
Poor froggy. He sounded like he'd gotten a heart-attack from his sudden response. There was no need for that. Bel didn't feel like giving him a hard time, so long as the frog would get whatever this was done so that he could sleep again. This wasn't the sort of thing he'd choose to prank someone with and he knew the frog himself had been paying the price for these sleepless nights.
He shifted some more, stretched a little under the covers and worked himself up on his elbows, turning from his side onto his back so he could discern Fran's shape in the dim light.
Fran felt his heart beat in his throat when his sempai sat up to face him. How was he supposed to proceed now, when he hadn't had the time to think up a tactic? He wasn't ready yet, because he didn't have any non-worrisome idea on how to break this news to his sempai.
'Come on, frog.'
Bel's tired voice sounded unusually… gentle. In an understanding kind of way that sounded so kind that it was unthreatening. Why would his sempai use that tone of voice on him and why now? Had he used that on him before…?
Fran cleared his throat hesitantly. He resisted the urge to shift nervously, kept his body still.
How the heck was he going to broach this?
Bel stared at his kouhai and watched his unusual behaviour closely. He'd never seen his kouhai nervous before. Ah, no wait, he'd seen that a few times, but they were so long ago that he'd forgotten about them. In the first few weeks of Fran's enlistment, there had been a few instances involving the other officers. Apparently, it had taken the frog some time and getting used to, to perfect that infallible mask of his.
Too bad he'd managed. He wouldn't have minded if his little froggy showed some more emotions.
Bel sat up a little straighter, listening to his kouhai's attempts to start a conversation. He was hesitating after every syllable, starting over and cutting himself off again. The blonde wondered what it would have been like if Fran hadn't built up that mask, that impenetrable wall around himself. And why he had built it up to begin with. Did he feel that intimidated by them, the other Varia officers? That threatened, that he felt the need to close himself off? Or was it something else.
Fran's stutters were cute. Bel'd never heard him do that before. His body language was more telling than he'd ever seen it before as well, so he took the opportunity to take in everything he possibly could, trying to interpret and understand this little bit of his kouhai that the younger was showing. It wasn't much. But it was something.
'Sempai… I, uhm.'
Uhm? Bel thought, amused. I've never heard him say that before.
Ohgodohgodohgodohgod. What was he doing? Had he lost his mind completely? Confessing to a knife-wielding maniac this early in the morning was suicide.
But he wanted to get this over with.
His slim fingers wrung when he knitted them together in front of his stomach. He could sense his sempai's focus on him and it was making him feel uncomfortably open.
'Well, I…'
Oh, what the heck.
'Sempai, for some unfathomably stupendous reason that is no doubt based on a bout of insanity the likes of which only you have ever experienced,' he took a deep breath, 'I seem to… to have… hum, I seem to have feelings for you…'
'…I seem to have feelings for you…'
What?
No, wait, what?
'Are you shitting me?' Bel asked suspiciously, tilting his head and squinting to try and catch the expression on Fran's face. He could hear him swallow thickly and saw him shake his head, curt and jerky.
…what?
…Wait a second… The cogs in Bel's head started turning rapidly, flashing back to the first few months of Fran's enlistment. He'd been jumpier then, more shy. He'd seen it happen around the other officers, so he hadn't thought it meant much that the frog did it around him too. They were partners; naturally they spent more time together than with their other colleagues. So it was logical that it would seem like Fran was jumpy more often around him.
…He'd never done anything that implied he had…a specific sort of feelings for Bel though.
'…How long?'
Fran looked up nervously. The man was asking questions? He wasn't even being stabbed right off the bat? …Did that mean something hopeful for Fran?
He bit his bottom lip and stared at the floor next to his sempai's luxurious bed (not that his own wasn't. The Varia weren't exactly cheapskates). How long had it been? He knew how long it had been bothering him so much that it kept him up at night, but he wasn't sure when exactly it had started. The prince, fake or not, had been attractive to him from the start, but that was a purely physical thing. Alright, it also had to do with his attitude, but that was all it had been then. …Yeah, it hadn't been sooner than a couple months ago. Fran realized he'd been watching Bel more than necessary around that time, and he recalled that he had wondered what it could be that made his eyes linger.
Perhaps, that had been…?
'I'm not sure.' He whispered, eyes still stuck to the floor. 'I think a couple months.'
A surprised noise came from his sempai, but he didn't ask anything else.
Months? Months?
So not nearly since the beginning then. Little froggy had been with them for two years already. But then… After the stabbing? After the insults? Their continuous fights, their bickering, their rocky yet strangely smooth teamwork. All of that had already…
Fran liked him? Even with the way they interacted? Or did he actually like that too?
Bel's head started to hurt a little bit from all the hard thinking. His genius lay in combat, thank you very much. It was way too fucking early to be thinking this hard, anyway. He yawned.
'Okay.'
Fran looked up, thinking he'd heard wrong. 'Uhh, what?'
Bel shifted to stare at him, his blonde mane, silvery in the sparse moonlight, shifting in front of his face like a curtain. 'Jup. The prince can't think right now, it's too early.' The man stretched languidly, briefly unaware of the longing stare he instantly attracted. 'You can have an audience with my royal self at noon, at the earliest, ushishishi.'
The prince curled up under his covers, shimmying down until he was covered onto his chin and sighing blissfully. Fran remained standing, staring down at him. He'd curled up with his face towards Fran this time, and the younger wondered if that had been a conscious move.
'Aren't you gonna sleep, froggy? 'S not like you can't? use it either.'
Fran jumped a bit at the sudden call, not having expected his sempai to say anything more for the rest of the night.
He didn't want to go to sleep. He still didn't feel like he could, even though his sempai had obviously accepted his confession, whether he returned his feelings or not. If anything, Fran felt even more restless. Anticipation, he realized, was now going to accompany him until noon. And keep him up.
Fran sighed.
'Hmm… Don't think I can.' He mumbled, half-turning to give his own bed a critical look. Luxurious, yes. Comfortable, oh yes. Going to be slept in? No.
'Why's 'at?' Bel slurred, already half asleep.
Pale lips quirked up at a corner, gently amused. The illusionist shrugged. 'Dunno.' He didn't feel like telling and he was already almost gone anyway. Half of his explanation would probably be wasted on the older man.
'Shishi. The prince knows.'
There was a rustle of sheets and then a pale limb slid out from between the silk covers, stretching out towards Fran.
'…Sempai?'
The little froggy's voice was high with disbelief and hope and it was the most endearing thing to listen to. Bel lips twitched up into a grin and he wiggled his fingers, motioning for the younger to come closer. He hesitantly did so, shuffling nearer until Bel's fingers brushed his elbow.
'What is it, sempai?' Had Fran ever sounded so meek before?
His voice was barely hiding anything anymore. Bel wrapped his fingers around the man's arm and tugged, snickering when the illusionist stumbled, possibly out of sheer shock. Fran was stuttering something but he ignored it. For what he planned to be the last time that night, Bel laboriously worked himself into a sitting position. With another well-aimed tug, his partner landed on his lap, sprawled out in an undignified way because of an attempt at avoiding the prince's body (futile).
Bel grinned broadly, mind pleasantly drifting in that sleepily lazy, I-know-it's-half-a-day-until-I-need-to-wake-up state, and made a haphazard grab for Fran's face. At a dull 'ow' he dragged his illusionist upright and stared at where he suspected jade eyes to be hidden in the shadows.
'Uhh… sempai? What, uhm, are you… doing?'
It would be a waste of time that could be spent sleeping to explain, so he just leant forward and aimed hopefully for his younger partner's mouth.
Bing-go~
Little froggy went completely still against him, but that was fine. Bel carefully kissed him, chaste and dry, allowing him time to decide whether he wanted to respond. He did, and a few moments later they parted.
Fran was panting softly, staring at him as had become the norm.
'Shishi~' Bel lightly brushed teal hair, black in the night, behind his ears, finding he enjoyed the small jump this caused. 'Think you can sleep now, froggy?' He teased.
Just to see whether he could feel the frog's cheeks heat up, he let his fingers linger. He was curious! Could he even make the frog blush? He hoped so.
'U-Uhmm, uhh…'
Fran tried to catch up to recent events but found he couldn't, too stumped to acknowledge that that had really just happened. His fingers were curled around the smooth covers tightly and he realized he was leaning forward, after his sempai. His mind was mush.
Would he be able to sleep? He honestly didn't know.
His skin felt ticklish where the blonde was resting his fingers. Little electrical shocks zigzagged through and around each other in his gut in response to the kiss.
A kiss! A kiss!
Oh wow, a kiss…
Fran felt himself start to blush and when he realized what his face was doing it became even worse.
Get yourself together! Come on, man!
It was just a kiss after all. Albeit his first, but still…
'U-Uh, okay sempai, I-I'll just… uhm…' He stammered, cautiously lifting himself off of the older man. Amused chuckles floated after him and he did his best to ignore them, along with his burning cheeks. The marble floor was cold against his feet when he quickly stepped across it to his own bed. He hoped he could hide himself in there.
It was silent when he'd finally finished cocooning himself in his My Little Pony covers (Don't. Ask. Or he'll kill you. …sempai pranked him, honestly. Honestly!). Fran thought that would be the last of that, at least until noon, but he was wrong.
'Should've just told the prince you needed a goodnight kiss~'
With loud giggling in his ears Fran wrenched his pillow out from under his head and stuffed his face into the mattress, trying to stuff his ears with his pillow and drown out the embarrassing noise.
Stupid, fake-prince sempai.
*heart*
I hope the lines weren't confusing :) I didn't think they were, but I don't think that says anything, haha.
Hurr. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this! I think it's nice. :P So there. Please leave a review to tell me what you think! :D
~Cheers!
Dirkje