"Voi... that is beyond cute," said Squalo in an uncharacteristic show of tact. He was also holding a camera, as he had been quick to grab Mammon from their room along with a few things to get blackmail with. The Mist had shut up rather effectively when they saw what he wanted to show them, and was quietly snapping multiple photos from all angles of the sight, silently cackling at the amount of money to be made off of Daniela.
Belphegor had, at some point during the night, rolled off the couch and onto Erebus. He was sprawled on top of the massive tiger, snoring without any idea what he was sleeping on. It was ridiculously cute, since Xanxus hadn't even bothered to roll over or anything and just looked amused. He was also very much awake.
Seeing the little princeling yawn, then squawk when his 'bed' moved from under him was hilarious.
Belphegor stared up at the massive tiger who merely stretched, before wandering out the hall and out of sight.
Xanxus came in three minutes later looking thoroughly amused.
"Alright brat, first we feed you then we're leaving you in Luss' tender mercies for the day while we arrange to get the room cleaned."
Squalo and Mammon snorted at that... leaving Belphegor with the resident fashionista was as much a punishment as anything, since Luss would likely spend all day putting the boy through what could only be described as legal torture and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Mammon, do you want to help babysit the brat, or do you want to help with arranging the room?"
"Mu... someone has to keep that Sun of yours from going overboard on the budget. Keep it simple and sane," said the Mist after a moment.
"...I'll give you spending money to buy those caramel-drizzled frogs you like so much."
"Suddenly the room budget has gotten a bit more reasonable," said Mammon after hearing that.
They were not ashamed that Xanxus was aware of their weakness to the caramel-drizzled chocolate frogs that were nearly impossible to get. Mostly because they sold out the second they were in stock.
If Belphegor knew the doom that was in store for him, he made no sign of it. Then again, he had never gone shopping with Luss.
Squalo wasn't the only one cackling at the shell-shocked look on the little brat's face when he came back. Even if he now had some clothes that fit. On the plus side, Belphegor's new room would be ready by tomorrow.
Belphegor POV
The prince was...confused. Yes, that was the word for it.
The fake King had taken him in easily enough, even if he had to experience some minor hazing from his court. There were only three of them for now, as the Lightning and the Cloud were entirely untrustworthy.
Belphegor liked Mammon. They had the proper respect towards noble lines and was quick to verify his crown was the genuine article...even if his title as Prince was now up for debate.
So the Prince was very surprised learning the fake King might not be fake at all.
Xanxus, or rather "Alexander Vongola-Black", was the heir to two ancient and noble lines in England, and was distantly connected to several of the Vongola Primo's generation, including the man himself!
The second Belphegor learned the annoying man who had dared to lay a hand on his person ranked him, he had sulked for a good hour. It meant he couldn't do half the things he normally did when he was back home on him to make him pay.
Mammon hadn't stopped there... they had gone on to explain exactly what he had done when he had killed that peasant and why no one had actually bothered to stop him. Xanxus hadn't been joking when he called himself "King" of the castle. As Varia Sky, he was effectively the lord and master of the group, and the others were his loyal minions or had the sense to listen to orders and seethe in silence.
It was very much a place where the law of the jungle was in effect. Which meant that as the new Varia Storm (Mammon confirmed he had the right Flame type for the position) there were now only three people he had to take orders from.
They were in order Lussuria (the strange woman who acted far too manly to be a natural female), Squalo (who despite many, many protests did most of the administrative work) and Xanxus (who despite evidence to the contrary, did in fact do actual work).
What he couldn't understand was why the "Boss", as many called Xanxus, was being so tolerant of his bratty behavior. Even he knew that he was being a spoiled prick worse than his ass of a twin, and yet the man merely rolled his eyes at the antics.
Belphegor suddenly squawked indignantly when one of the older, taller Storms he was now in charge of grabbed him by the belt and sneered at him.
Belphegor drew his knives and snarled back, like an irate cat. He could muddle through most languages... he was a genius after all...but this one was unfamiliar to him.
The Storm sneered and then did something unforgivable.
He took the Prince's crown.
Belphegor saw red...Storm red, to be exact.
The man yelped as Belphegor went on the offensive to retrieve his precious crown. This peasant didn't deserve it, and he refused to let the man taint it.
He only got to enjoy the brief death rattle before he was hauled up a second time by an unamused Xanxus. The taller male had his crown and was looking rather irritable with the idiot Storms.
"You fuckers were too stupid to let the brat get settled in before you tried to pick him off. If you were too weak to challenge the idiot before some random kid who wandered in was able to kill him off, then there's no way I'm letting you be Storm Officer by attacking someone who's still learning the ramifications of his stunt," said Xanxus flatly, spitting to the side in disgust. He made sure to glare at everyone in the room making sure they understood him loud and clear. "There is a no-challenge policy on the brat until he's been here for at least a year. If he can't become Quality in that time he's fair game, but until then deal with the fact he's staying. I catch any of you trying to murder him because you were too scared or weak to kill the previous fucker properly, then you'll deal with me personally."
"We're not following some spoiled kid!" snapped one of the Storms.
Xanxus' glare shut him up.
"The fucker didn't even know where he wandered into and still managed to kill a trained Officer in cold blood. I'm only giving him a grace period because of his age...if he can't become Quality enough to take any of you assholes on then it's not my problem," said Xanxus flatly. "Or do you expect a spoiled little noble with stolen knives to reasonably take on multiple challengers when he's not even trained yet?"
Dead silence. Belphegor fought the urge to stare at the boss.
Some might see it as favoritism, but he understood the real meaning behind the grace period before he allowed the usual rules to apply.
He was giving the Prince a chance to prove he could swim, rather than sink in this den of vicious predators. To earn their respect as one of them on his own terms, once he wasn't floundering from the sudden change.
Xanxus carried him to his office, before setting him down on the couch.
"Why are you being so nice to the Prince?" asked Belphegor curious. Most nobles wouldn't have hesitated to let him flounder, or had ulterior motives. He didn't sense any of that from the Boss.
"I'm not. I'm going to train your scrawny ass off until you can take those fuckers on and win. You're not my first choice for a Storm Officer, but you killed him fair and square without knowing anything of the consequences. Besides, I know all too well what it's like to be thrown into a new environment without anyone on my side to explain things or give me help. I'm not going to molly coddle you or sugarcoat anything... you are going to earn the position of Storm Officer properly through blood and tears...but I'm not going to let those fuckers kill you because you're still not ready to teach them not to mess with you," said Xanxus flatly.
Belphegor's eyes were firmly on his crown. Xanxus looked at it for a moment, before he gently put it on the prince's head.
He felt himself relax again... he didn't know how he would react if anything happened to his crown. He might not be a prince anymore!
"So the crown is like a security blanket to you, is it?" said Xanxus. He gently ruffled Belphegor's hair, careful not to dislodge it.
He did not cry. This was the nicest anyone had been to him, bar none, in far too long. Xanxus didn't act like he was a helpless child...he treated him like he had a brain and knew how to actually use it. However he also knew that there were some things he couldn't do just yet and made a point to adjust accordingly.
"VOI! What happened in the training room earlier?"
"Some idiots thought they could take the position of Storm Officer by attacking the brat while he was still adjusting, rather than do it properly. I'm not about to tolerate lazy fuckers too scared to earn their place the right way," said Xanxus.
Belphegor was looking for the Boss. Ever since the warning that the Wrath wouldn't tolerate anyone trying to off the bratty prince until he had a chance to get to Quality standards since he had wandered in without knowing anything and still managed to kill an officer, he had quickly come to realize that he was effectively under the man's protection.
Not that it saved him during training, but the Boss at least set limits he could reasonably handle and made it clear that if he gave him an almost impossible task, it was because he honestly believed the Prince could handle it.
And when he managed to accomplish that in the time frame given, the boss would praise him. He didn't do it often, just a quite "well done" or "good job". But coming from a man who didn't hand out praise easily and expected people to earn what they got the old fashioned way without taking short cuts or the easy way, the praise was worth more than gold to him.
Finally Squalo clued the princeling in to where Xanxus was. Seeing the Boss recline against the couch with a book in hand and his glasses on rather than his usual contacts, Belphegor blinked.
Though by this point he had come to terms with the fact that Xanxus' natural eye color was actually a very "eye-catching" shade of green, while his preferred color was actually a bloody red that Belphegor absolutely adored.
Xanxus made no sign he noticed the prince. Outside of training Belphegor rarely spent any one on one time with the Boss, who paid Mammon to get Belphegor up to speed on the less physical aspects of the job... like the seven-language requirement. Lussuria (who he learned from Squalo wasn't a natural woman, but one who had undergone a procedure before puberty properly hit to become one), focused on the conditioning aspect and increasing his endurance and health.
Xanxus, on the other hand? He was the one in charge of getting him to use his natural genius to be able to take down bigger, stronger opponents by being a tricky little bastard rather than face them head on. He might not be able to attack them directly, but using trickery and his brain to take them down? That he not only could do with the proper guidance, but he excelled and enjoyed it.
By this point he was sadly used to being picked up like an errant kitten, so he didn't squawk. Much.
Sitting on the boss' lap, he tried to figure out what the man was reading...only for Xanxus' deep, rumbling voice to speak up. It took him a few seconds to realize the man was reading for him.
It was strangely soothing, and he didn't even notice when he was reclining against the older male and just relaxing. Or when Xanxus wrapped his arm securely around him in a sort of half-hug, only moving his hand to turn the page and continue.
No one had ever read to him before. He had never seen the appeal of reading outside of finishing his assignments early to do more interesting things. It was unbecoming of a prince to be uneducated after all. He might as well be a peasant if he didn't know things, like how to do real math or read!
And yet here he was, happily leaning against Xanxus as the older teen read to him from a book of Greek myths. It took him a few seconds before he realized something his mind had dismissed.
More than a few times he had gone looking for that blasted oversized cat Erebus. If only to dump paint in it's fur or something as payback for all the tiger baths.
Hearing the story of the old, old Greek myths of the children of Chaos (Erebus, Gaia, Tartarus and Nyx), he turned to look at Xanxus.
"You. You're that overgrown furball who insists on drenching me in tiger spit all the time."
A deep rumbling chuckle filled the air as he looked down at the kid amused.
"It took you this long to figure it out?"
Belphegor pouted. He had known Xanxus had magic... the man wasn't even trying to hide his core which was loose, yet well defined. The man was a master at wandless magic and only used his focus when he felt like it. For him magic was a tool to be used, nothing more.
So the idea of him being an animagus was well within the realms of reason.
That, and it explained why all his pranks backfired so spectacularly.
Belphegor instead decided to snuggle closer to the furnace that was Xanxus. The man practically radiated a very nice amount of heat without it becoming unpleasant, and it was rare that he had a chance to enjoy it.
Squalo came in right as Xanxus was reading the chapter explaining how Aphrodite was caught with Ares by a vindictive Hephaestus (which Belphegor privately thought fit the Boss better than Erebus) when Squalo came in with a less than amused expression.
"The Ninth is about to make a visit. We got lucky and a mook caught his car heading this way," said the Rain.
Xanxus put a bookmark in the spot and an unhappy Belphegor got up with great reluctance. The Wrath rolled his eyes and merely scooped the boy up with one arm. With his other hand he easily swapped out his glasses for his red contacts out of long practice. A few blinks and he looked every inch the Varia Leader.
As Squalo predicted, Vongola Nono was making an unscheduled visit. The only reason they had any warning at all was Xanxus forcing the Storm mooks to do patrols so they didn't get any ideas of targeting Belphegor before the grace period was over.
Belphegor took one look at Vongola Nono...and was immediately struck by an image of an old, broke-toothed lion with battle scars that wasn't too bright in the head facing off against a tiger in his element who clearly disliked the lion but had to put up with his presence anyway.
This was going to be interesting.