Chapter edited on 17th April, 2016.

As the months passed by and nothing Yamamoto did seemed to make things better between he and Gokudera, he had almost given up. He would have, if it weren't for Mukuro who kept pushing him to never give up, reminiscent of his relationship with Hibari – which had gone from the skylark wanting to murder his stalker, to wanting to murder his stalker in the most slow, painful method he could possibly think of. Yamamoto was too scared to point out that Mukuro's advice had only made it worse on the blue-haired teenager's end as he was sure it would only get a bad reaction from the older male.

At this current point in the dark-haired male's life, Yamamoto was spending time with Tsuna and Gokudera in town. They had just decided they would get lunch together and were ready to leave, but a familiar voice calling out to them made them stop.

Looking around, the three came face-to-face with Mukuro. Chrome was by his side with Fran in her arms, and the blond that Yamamoto remembered as Bel was trudging along by the younger male's side.

"Oh, hello, Mukuro." Tsuna greeted the older teenager, ignoring the way Gokudera grunted in dislike at the situation.

"Tsunayoshi." Mukuro nodded in acknowledgement before he tilted his head at the blond next to him. "Would you mind taking him off my hands for a while? He has been following us everywhere claiming he is bored every five minutes."

Tsuna blinked at the male his friend was referring to. He bit his lip and stepped back, surveying the blond warily. He wasn't sure what to make of the unsettling grin that seemed to stretch to both sides of his face, but before he could say anything, Gokudera spoke.

"We don't want that freak." The silver-haired teenager scrunched his nose up at the sight of the blond. "You can keep him."

"Ushishishi~" Bel giggled as he stepped closer to Gokudera, invading the younger's personal space. "Want to play with the prince~? I'm open to being on the bottom if you don't want to be; I wanna know what it feels like~"

"What the – hell no!" Gokudera shoved Bel back towards Mukuro. "Get him away from me!"

Yamamoto watched in amusement before he wrapped his arms around Tsuna and cheerfully volunteered to take Bel on-board. He knew the blond was interested in Gokudera as well, but he wasn't worried – after all, if the smaller male wasn't giving him a chance, there was no way Bel would get anywhere with the other.

Gokudera turned to face Yamamoto with narrowed eyes. His mouth was open as if he were about to shout at the taller teenager, but it quickly shut once the silver-haired male remembered he was supposed to treat Yamamoto as non-existent.

Bel wandered back over to the trio's side. His smile widened as he moved to Gokudera and prodded the other with a long, slender finger. Gokudera shouted in annoyance before he moved to hide behind Tsuna. "Make him stop, Tenth!"

Tsuna had turned to ask Mukuro for help, but the other was gone; he must have left the second he saw the opportunity in getting away with dumping the blond on them. He turned back to the taller two and gulped as he tried to stand up for his best friend. "A-ah… P-please don't poke Gokudera-kun like that… He doesn't like it…"

A large pout crossed the blond's face before he started poking the brunet instead. "The prince is bored. You should entertain him."

"A-ah, sure…"

"By the way, what are your names?" Bel tilted his head as he studied Gokudera and Tsuna. "My name is Belphegor – but you can call me Bel."

"Well, this is Yamamoto –" Tsuna quickly shut up when the blond threw his hands up in the air with a childish whine.

"No~! I already know who Yamamoto is! I want to know who you are~!"

"Let's just go, Tenth." Gokudera tugged on the brunet's yellow jacket, trying to get him moving. "We don't need to hang around with freaks like this."

"Ah, it's alright, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna was far too kind for his own good. "He can stay with us. Bel, this is Gokudera-kun and I'm Tsuna."

"Ushishishi~" Bel laughed again as his smile returned. "Let's go back to my house; I forgot my credit card~"

Yamamoto was the first one to follow the blond, and he was glad that Tsuna and Gokudera were, too; he would hate to have to choose between them and his new friend.

~~Bel's house~~

By the time they were two houses down from Bel's, they could hear shouting. Bel kept smiling and continued to walk to his home as if this was normal, while the other three shared uneasy looks; the fighting was coming from Bel's house, and if they stepped in there…

"U-uh, Belphegor-san…?" Tsuna asked nervously. "Who is yelling?"

"Squalo. He's always on his man-period." Bel shrugged before he ran to his house and through the front door in a hyperactive manner.

"Uhh… should we follow him…?" Tsuna asked. Gokudera shrugged, wanting to leave now that the blond was distracted and they could easily lose him.

"I suppose so." Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I mean – if we get yelled at, we can always run away, right…?"

The trio walked cautiously up to the house before they entered; the shouting seemed to have stopped, but…

"Voi! Who the fuck are you three?"

The kids froze at the sight of a long-haired male glaring at them rather intensely as he carried a tray laden with empty cups and plates. His hair was silver, and his grey eyes were narrowed. Tsuna squeaked as he hid behind Gokudera, and the taller teenager pulled Yamamoto in front of them as if he were a shield for when the loud male attacked.

"Squal-chan, you're so noisy." The trio turned to look at the stairs where Bel was descending with a handful of credit cards in his hand. The blond slipped the cards into his pocket before he waved his hand at the younger kids. "They're with the prince."

Tsuna noted that the man's eyes softened for a brief second before annoyance crossed his features. "Voi, brat! Why didn't you tell me you were bringing friends home?"

"Oh, what's this?" Another strange male stepped into the room. Black glasses hid his eyes, and he had a part of green hair that hung to the side. The coat he was wearing had orange fur around the hood, and he was wriggling his hips in a way that made the three boys uncomfortable. "Oh, so cute~! Are you Bel's friends?"

"U-uh… well…" Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, not sure what to say. "…W-we kind of… took him off Mukuro's hands earlier…"

"Oh, I see~! Bel-chan finds it really hard to make friends, so it's good to see him meeting new people~ I think you three are the only other friends he's been able to make along with Mukuro and Fran since we've been here~ Oh, wait until I tell Mammon~!"

The trio watched as the male ran back the way he had come from wordlessly. Bel didn't seem fazed in the least, as if it were something he had long since grown used to.

"Damn Lussuria," the silver-haired male grunted as he turned around and followed the other male. Calling over his shoulder, he addressed Bel before he disappeared, in a far softer tone the trio had heard him use so far. "Have fun, brat."

"Well… That was… interesting…" Tsuna laughed nervously as Bel closed the distance between them.

"That was Squalo and Lussuria." Bel jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction the two men had left in. "Xanxus and Mammon were in the living room. Squalo and Xanxus adopted me when we still lived in Italy, and Lussuria and Mammon came with us when we had to move away. Lussu is like a big sister to me and Mammon is my best friend."

"They look like they love you lots, Bel." Yamamoto smiled. He was focused on the fact that Gokudera still had a tight grip on his arm, the first sign of acknowledgement he had gotten out of the older male in months, but he was too afraid to draw attention to it lest the smaller male pull away and go back to ignoring him again.

"Eh… Xanxus is just grumpy all the time, but Squalo looks after me real well, even though he's always so loud."

The small group had just been about to walk out the front door before they flinched as Squalo's loud voice shouted from the other side of the house before being silenced by the sound of glass breaking and an even louder, "Shut the fuck up, trash!" The boys shared uneasy looks, and they didn't miss the way Bel seemed oblivious to whatever was going on in his own home – was he used to it, or did he just not care?

Gokudera, who hadn't noticed he was still holding Yamamoto's arm, couldn't help but think there was a reason this random blond kid who had just been dumped on them was a freak; if he lived in a home like this, it was no wonder the other seemed like he was fucked up.

And Yamamoto, who had become lost in his thoughts, couldn't help but feel relieved he had invited Bel along with them – if they hadn't followed the blond back to his home, he may never have been acknowledged like this.

~~Gokudera~~

When Gokudera returned back to his home after having lunch with Tsuna and the two unwelcome nuisances, he greeted his sister who was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Welcome back, Hayato," Bianchi acknowledged. "There's food for you on the bench if you're hungry."

Gokudera's stomach twisted in pain at the thought of his sister's horrid cooking – so inedible it may as well be poison. He shuddered as he said, "Nah, it's alright, sis. I'm going to my room."

The silver-haired male closed his bedroom door behind him and moved to fall onto his bed. He was thinking back onto when he had finally noticed he had hold of the taller male's arm, and how the other had looked heartbroken as he was shoved away as if he carried the plague.

Why doesn't he seem to give up on me? Gokudera thought to himself. He looked up at his desk when his cat, Uri, jumped up onto it and knocked homework onto the floor. It's like he's so desperate for my attention, he's willing to let me hurt him if that's what it takes.

I just don't understand why someone like him would want to be my friend. He's so… He's so much better than I am… So much more capable of being the Tenth's best friend – better than I could ever be…

Is it because I'm scared the Tenth will like him better than me? The Tenth is my best friend – I don't want to lose him. That baseball-idiot's a threat to our relationship. …So why can I never get him out of my mind?

I don't… I don't want to lose my only friend… Not to someone I don't stand a chance against…

With a sigh, Gokudera picked up his phone and scrolled through his messages, finding the one and only text he had from Yamamoto buried amongst ones from his sister and Tsuna. He opened the message he hadn't even bothered to check when he received it and read the simple question. 'Do you want to have lunch at my place one day so we can try and get along better?'

I didn't even read this… Gokudera didn't know why he felt so bad; maybe it had to do with the mental image of Yamamoto waiting by his phone for hours, waiting for that text he knew wasn't going to be returned with a look of sadness on his usually chipper face.

Typing a one-worded reply, the teenager felt slightly better about himself and the way he treated Yamamoto. 'Okay.'

After he threw his phone onto the bedside table next to him, Gokudera got to his feet and moved to pick up what Uri had knocked to the ground. He shivered as the feeling of being watched run down his spine now that he had moved in front of the window. He put the papers onto the desk haphazardly and moved to his window to check that it was locked tight before he pulled the blind down and blocked all outsiders' views into his room.

That's better, Gokudera thought to himself as he ran his hand along his usually-nasty cat's back. I wonder if there actually was anyone out there or not.

~~Nightfall~~

By the time Bel trudged back into his home for dinner, he could hear his adoptive parents and their friends' discussion drawing to a close. He knew he wasn't allowed to listen in on these things, and as much as he would have loved to do so, there was no point as the others had just finished their conversation.

Instead he climbed the stairs with the intent to go to bed and went straight to his room. He slammed his door closed loud enough to announce his return before he sat down on his bed and started untying his boots so he could kick them away somewhere in the mess that was his room.

It took only a few minutes for a knock to sound on the teenager's door before Squalo's loud voice announced that he was coming in. Bel was curled up in his bed by the time Squalo sat on the edge of it as a troubled expression crossed his face.

"I'm giving these back to you, brat," the silver-haired man announced as he passed a handful of strangely-shaped knives back to the boy. The sixteen-year-old was glad his confiscated knives were being returned, but he couldn't help but wonder why – unless… "If you're going out of the house, stay close with your friends - and only use those knives if you need to. I don't want to be the one cleaning up the mess."

Bel's obscured eyes blinked. He tilted his head as his usual smile morphed into a frown. "Is it… them?"

Squalo nodded. "Don't stress on it. We'll look after you, Bel. Get some sleep."

Bel knew something was wrong when Squalo was uncharacteristically quiet. He was placid as a large hand ruffled his blond hair before the man left the room; he loved receiving affection and truly wished he could be given more of it.

Rolling onto his side, Bel ran his fingers across the blades of the knives he had made himself, thinking. I kind of like those kids. I hope I didn't get them involved in this because I was bored; they're fun to play with.

Bel sighed to himself as he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.