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Chapter Text

The teasing began after one fateful movie night in the Varia mansion. The night had started out like any other of the previous ones they had – first, they argued about the set of movies they were going to watch and then about the snacks they would have. All six of them were seated in the living room, the first scenes of the movie flashing on the screen as they dug into their foods.

‘’Levi, you fucking bonehead!’’ Belphegor cursed out, ‘’You spilled sauce on the Prince’s pants!’’

‘’Not my fault that you’re spreading your legs like a hooker!’’

‘’The Prince is not a hooker, take that back!’’ Fran rolled his eyes as he reached for a handful of tissues from the table, wiping the BBQ flavored mess from Belphegor’s thigh as he threatened to gut Levi with his knives.

‘’Senpai, you can be such a baby sometimes.’’ He commented, tapping the fabric gently with the paper tissues.

The scene caught everyone’s attention – even Xanxus, who was usually disinterested in his subordinates’ antics was now staring at the mist guardian. The only people in the room who appeared to be nonchalant to the current situation were Belphegor and Fran themselves.

‘’How sweet of your boyfriend to take care of you.’’ Squalo teased, mouth full of food.

‘’Oh my,’’ Lussuria squealed, ‘’This is a sight for my sore eyes.’’

Fran felt his ears starting to heat up from embarrassment and for once he was thankful for the enormous frog hat covering most of his head. Belphegor had pulled three silver knives out from his sleeve, aiming them at Squalo with a wicked grin on his face.

‘’Stop making a scene, scums.’’ Xanxus said, not wanting his men to kill each other in the middle of a good movie.

Belphegor withdrew his knives, crossing his arms in protest. He would get his revenge later when the Boss wasn’t there to save Squalo’s ass. He wouldn’t let him get away with this.

To their misfortune, that was only the beginning of endless teasing concerning their feelings for one another. Over breakfast Fran and Belphegor had gotten into a disagreement – nothing out of the ordinary – which lead to Fran feeding him a strawberry to prove a point.

‘’What?’’ Belphegor snapped at Squalo and Levi who were snickering at them from the other side of the table. No matter how much of a prince he was, he had no tolerance for peasants making fun of a royalty.

‘’Just wondering when the wedding is, love birds.’’ Levi said, making Fran choke on his water. In any other situation Belphegor would have laughed at Fran’s coughing fit – but now he was more focused on the remark.

‘’Why would it concern you?’’ Belphegor asked. ‘’It’s an occasion for family and friends only.’’

Everything escalated since then. At first, it was harmless and subtle – Lussuria would make them heart shaped pancakes and smiled at the two whenever they started to banter and call each other names – but as weeks passed, it got worse.

They would constantly get sent on missions together and be paired up for chores that didn’t even need two people. All they had to do was to be in the same room and someone would comment what a cute couple they were. Frankly, it was getting on their nerves.

Fran flopped down on the grass, wearily leaning his back against a tree, closing his eyes. Belphegor sat right next to him, leaning his arms against his knees. Both needed a break from all the whispers and stares they were receiving – what would be a better way to do that than savoring the first warm rays of sunlight outside and witnessing the cherry trees blooming.

‘’You know,’’ Fran said, ‘’If I get referred as your boyfriend one more time, I’m going to lose it.’’ Belphegor let out his signature laugh and laid down on the ground, folding his arms behind his head.

‘’You should be honored, Toad.’’

Fran turned to glance at the man beside him. ‘’As if.’’

A gentle breeze ruffled with their hair as the two men sat in silence, looking up to the clear blue sky and cherry blossoms above them. For once they could just be and not worry about anyone around them making comments.

‘’You know what,’’ Belphegor hummed, ‘’The Prince has an idea.’’

‘’Hmm?’’

‘’Let’s pretend to be dating,’’ he started, ‘’And then, let’s break up. No one will bother us after that.’’

‘’That’s the dumbest idea you’ve gotten in a while.’’

‘’Do you have a better idea then?’’

Fran paused before sighing in defeat. ''Fine, we'll go with your plan.''

Chapter Text

Fran had his nose in a book when he heard familiar steps approaching his room, letting out a disappointed sigh for getting interrupted in the middle of a thrilling scene. He put the book down to his nightstand, waiting for Belphegor to enter his room without a permission like he always did.

‘’By all means, barge in uninvited, Senpai.’’ Fran commented in monotone when Belphegor did just that.

He dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand, closing the door behind him much to Fran’s surprise. Belphegor was never polite enough to close the door after barging in.

‘’Don’t be like that, we’re boyfriends now, remember?’’ Belphegor grinned, taking the book from the nightstand and skipping through the pages without glancing at the words. ‘’Your swamp is my swamp.’’

Fran ignored his reply and made his way towards him, grabbing the book out of Belphegor’s hands, putting it back where it belonged. The last thing he wanted was for Belphegor to lose his bookmark.

‘’For what do I own the honor, fallen prince?’’

With one swift move, one of Belphegor’s knives were sticking out of his frog shaped hat. This was the result every single time Fran implied Belphegor was a fake or fallen royalty, yet he couldn’t bite his tongue and hold back from riling him up.

‘’Drop the fallen, Toad.’’ Belphegor took a seat on Fran’s bed. ‘’The Prince wants to talk about our arrangement.’’

‘’’Aw, are you breaking up with me?’’ Fran asked, sounding almost hopeful. Belphegor laughed, shaking his head much to Fran’s disappointment.

‘’We need a strategy,’’ Belphegor stated, twirling one of his knives in his hands. ‘’The quicker we get people to think we’re dating, the sooner we can end this.’’

For once, Fran agreed with him. His thoughts were all over the place, not being able to come up with even one coherent thought.

They sat in silence, the only noises in the room were coming from the clock ticking on the wall and the wind outside slamming the branches against the window. Fran glanced at Belphegor who had made himself at home on his bed, surprised to see him be deep in thought.

As more minutes passed by, Fran started to get uneasy from the ongoing silence and decided to be the first one to break it.

‘’Senpai?’’ he said softly, waiting for a reaction.

Nothing.

He tried again, calling out Belphegor’s name a bit louder but he didn’t reply nor move. ‘That’s odd.’ Fran thought, walking towards the bed and poking Belphegor’s arm gently.

‘Did he fall asleep?’ he wondered, reaching to lift the golden bangs away from his eyes. His question was answered when he saw a pair of closed eyes underneath the heavy bangs.

Fran was surprised how peaceful and almost angelic Belphegor looked while sleeping – he had expected him to have his signature grin plastered on his lips even when he was asleep.

Fran studied his face carefully, until Belphegor’s eyelids fluttered slightly. For a moment he thought Belphegor was going to wake up, but his dreams and hopes got crushed when he turned around to face the wall instead, leaving Fran to weight out his options.

 He could wake him up and take the risk of getting killed – Belphegor wasn’t the brightest ray of sunshine when his sleep got interrupted – or he could set himself a spot on the floor and call it a day.

For safety reasons, Fran chose the latter option.

‘’You were pretty useless last night.’’ Belphegor commented, banging the cupboards as he collected ingredients to prepare breakfast for himself. ‘’We didn’t even come up with a plan.’’

Fran sat on the counter and followed his every move, trying to figure out what type of meal Belphegor was aiming for. Watching him work in the kitchen was entertaining to say the least.

‘’If my memory doesn’t fail me, it was you who was snoring so loud that the entire mansion was shaking.’’ Fran said, ducking the three knives Belphegor threw towards him. ‘’I actually thought there was an earthquake.’’

‘’The Prince doesn’t snore!’’ Belphegor insisted.

Fran was about to argue back until he heard a pair of footsteps upstairs going towards the stairs. Suddenly, he had a great idea.

He turned to look at Belphegor who was now struggling to make his breakfast plate look perfect. ‘’Senpai, do you trust me?’’

‘’Not the least,’’ Belphegor said, looking at Fran, ‘’Why?’’

‘’I need you to trust me now.’’

Even beneath all the hair, Fran could tell Belphegor was frowning at his request and he couldn’t blame him. He had no time to explain his master plan as the footsteps were almost at the bottom of the stairs and soon in the kitchen.

‘’Kiss me.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’For fucks sake.’’ Fran mumbled when he saw the door open, clumsily pressing their lips together, managing to bump their noses in the process. The kiss lasted only a few seconds and lacked effort - Belphegor soon understood why.

‘’Oi, what the fuck?!’’ Squalo was visibly flustered after witnessing unexpected PDA between the two youngest of Varia. Lussuria on the other hand was looking like he was about to have a seizure any minute now.

‘’Whoops.’’ Fran said nonchalantly.

‘’I can’t believe this!’’ Lussuria was up their faces, holding their hands tightly. ‘’You were dating this whole time?’’

They glanced at each other, sharing a knowing look. They couldn’t back down from the plan now.  

‘’You caught us.’’ Belphegor replied, lips forming almost a bashful grin. He moved his hand from Lussuria’s grasp to rest on Fran’s thigh instead, not only to make the lie more believable, but to avoid having to touch the flamboyant man.

‘’I knew it!’’ Lussuria said, looking between the two excitedly. ‘’I have so many questions for you two!’’

If there ever was a moment when Fran desperately hoped he could teleport, this was it.

Chapter Text

 ‘’Bel, are you emptying the snack cabinet again?’’

Lussuria’s stern voice made Belphegor drop one of the cookie packages on his hand and curse under his breath for getting caught – Lussuria had made it clear as day what the consequences would be if he ate all the snacks which were meant for everyone again.

‘’The Prince has no idea what you’re talking about.’’

‘’You literally have your arms full of snacks.’’

Belphegor glanced down to his haul. There was no way he was giving up his treats easily.

‘’Oh these? These are for Froggy.’’ he lied, ‘’He has cravings.’’

Belphegor knew he had said something wrong when Lussuria looked at him like he had just told him he eats newborn babies for breakfast.

 ‘’You know Fran is allergic to half of the stuff you’re holding, right?’’  Lussuria raised an eyebrow. ‘’You should know, you’re his boyfriend after all.’’

Belphegor clenched his jaw, breaking eye contact from the older man as he stuffed the snacks back to the cabinet, his craving for sweets long gone.

How dare he act all high and mighty just because he knew a little fun fact about Fran that he happened to not know. To say he was insulted was an understatement.

‘’Obviously, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t know?’’ Belphegor stormed off, thoughts running wild inside his head.

He and Fran had been living under the same roof for years and they were partners at work, yet he had no idea he even had allergies. It was as if he didn’t know a thing about his partner – and for the first time in his life he felt foolish for thinking that he knew everything worth knowing about Fran.

 ‘I shouldn’t feel bad for not knowing insignificant trivia about a dumb frog, I’m a prince for fucks sake!’ He thought, stomping towards his room. ‘But what kind of prince am I if I know less than Lussuria of all people?’

As he entered his room and slammed the door shut and slumped down on the bed. He was determined to get to know the mist guardian better than anyone else in Varia – he was a prince after all.

Belphegor felt groggy after waking up from a nap he didn’t remember taking. He was fully clothed on his bed, head throbbing with an upcoming headache. The clock on the wall told him it was already evening – dinner should be ready soon.

He got up lazily, running his hand through his hair as he made his way towards the hallway until his stomach let out a hungry growl, guiding him towards the kitchen. Hungry Belphegor usually meant that people were going to die unless he got fed as soon as possible.

Down in the kitchen Lussuria was blasting trashy pop and singing along as he prepared dinner for the rest of the team.

‘’Don’t fill your stomach, Bel, dinner will be ready soon.’’ Lussuria chirped when he noticed the younger man enter the kitchen.

Without a word, Belphegor hopped on to sit on the counter and took a bite from an apple as he watched the man work his way in the kitchen. He let his eyes scan the room and noticed a silver tray with a matching cloche plate at the very end of the marble counter.

‘’Lus?’’ he hummed, ‘’What’s with the tray?’’

‘’It’s soup for Fran, he got sick.’’ Lussuria explained. ‘’I’m going to bring it to him before dinner. He had a high fever earlier, so I want to make sure it went down.’’

Belphegor’s expression turned into a scowl, realizing that Lussuria had yet again been one step ahead of him – and being unaware of Fran’s condition made him look like a shitty boyfriend. Belphegor couldn’t have anyone think he wasn’t capable of being the absolute dream boyfriend.

‘’The Prince should be the one taking care of him.’’ He announced, hopping down from the counter and picking up the tray. ‘’I will eat later.’’

‘’My, Bel!’’ Lussuria gasped. ‘’You’re such a great boyfriend, Fran is one a lucky guy.’’

‘’Of course, I’m a prince after all.’’

Getting up the stairs without spilling soup all over himself could’ve been a difficult task for a regular person, but not for Belphegor – even opening the door despite having his hands full with the food tray was an effortless task for the assassin prince.

‘’Froggy?’’ Belphegor hummed, ‘’Time to eat.’’

The surroundings were swallowed in complete darkness – the curtains were closed and not a single beam of light could be seen from the illusionist’s room until Belphegor turned on the lights.

‘’Fran?’’

‘’Go away, Senpai. I’m not hungry.’’ Fran croaked from under the covers. ‘’And turn off the lights when you leave.’’

‘’Wow, you sound terrible.’’ He replied, ‘’And I’m not leaving until you’ve eaten.’’

Belphegor approached the bed where Fran was lying face down under two thick blankets with an oversized and worn out hoodie on. It swallowed his thin frame completely. His usually silky teal hair was shaggy underneath the hood, sticking up to every possible direction.

‘’Do you still have a fever?’’

Fran had no power to swat the hand away from his forehead as Belphegor compared their temperatures, making a wry face as soon as he felt the feverish skin against his fingertips. Fran was still running an extremely high fever and barely had energy to even keep his eyes open. Belphegor knew illusionists were sensitive to physical pain and from the look of it, Fran was no exception.

‘’Sit up.’’ Belphegor commanded, pulling a chair for himself next to the bed.

Fran did as he was told, feeling slightly wobbly after getting up to sit cross legged on the bed. The fever had worn him out enough to make it hard for him to stay up and keep his eyes open.

‘’Don’t get used to this, Toad.’’ Belphegor took a spoonful of soup, bringing it on Fran’s lips. ‘’Open up.’’

Despite claiming that he wasn’t hungry, Fran couldn’t resist the mouthwatering scent of Lussuria’s homemade soup – he was an expert in making Fran gain his appetite no matter what the situation was.  Obediently, he opened his mouth as Belphegor fed him the soup.

‘’Gee, if this is how much you eat when you’re not hungry then I’d like to see how much you eat when you are hungry.’’ Belphegor said, placing the empty bowl back on the tray, giving Fran his medicine and a glass of water.

‘’Still less than you do.’’

Fran gulped down his medicine, curling back down on the bed and pulling the covers up to his ear. His fever was starting to go up once again, he realized as a shiver ran through his body.

‘’I should get going.’’

Belphegor dragged the chair back on its place and reached to turn off the lights when he felt a gentle tug on his sleeve.

‘’Don’t go yet.’’ Fran rasped out before he could stop himself. ‘’Stay here until I fall asleep.’’

Belphegor was frozen on the spot, unsure of his next move. Fran had never directly requested anything from him, let alone ask him to be with him.

 ‘’I don’t like being alone when I’m sick.’’ He confessed. ‘’It makes me feel lonely.’’

‘’It’s not like I have anything better to do.’’ Belphegor mumbled, carefully placing himself right next to Fran on the bed, leaning his back against the wall.

Fran closed his eyes, but his monologue didn’t stop there. ‘’I didn’t expect you to care enough about me to actually check up on me, but I’m glad you did. It feels nice.’’

 ‘’Why’d you think that?’’

‘’I didn’t; I was afraid of it.’’ Fran admitted, ‘’I’d feel like an idiot if I thought you’d care and then you wouldn’t. Because I do care. About you, I mean.’’

‘’I care about you too.’’ Belphegor replied, observing the feverish and half-asleep man next to him.

It was clear as day that Fran was blabbering because of his high fever, unable to keep his mouth shut. Belphegor doubted he’d ever seen him this honest with him, allowing himself to let his walls down. In any other situation, he would’ve made a comment about his sudden confession, but not this time.

His grasp on Belphegor’s sleeve loosened and he seemed to have troubles staying up any longer.

‘’If you draw on my face while I sleep, I will wrap everything you own in bubble wrap.’’ Fran yawned, nuzzling his face against Belphegor’s shoulder, seeking for the warmth that his bed covers failed to deliver.

Belphegor snickered. ‘’It would be worth the risk, though.’’

He opened one eye to glare at the man beside him. ‘’You’re such an ass.’’

‘’Just go to sleep, Toad.’’ He said, ‘’I promise I’ll use a marker that’s not waterproof.’’

Belphegor kept his promise – he waited until Fran’s breathing became slow and steady. Without making much noise he tucked him in, turned off the light and left.

Chapter Text

Fran could feel a red mark forming on his cheek from the pressure of his palm after staying in the same position for over twenty minutes. Mission meetings had always been his least favorite.

This one in particular seemed to be never ending.

‘’We need one or two of you to go for a stake out this weekend and motion the target’s every single move.’’ Squalo said, looking up from the papers. ‘’Volunteers?’’

Steady silence filled the room, everyone waiting for the strategy captain to announce the unlucky pair.

‘’No? Bel and Fran, you’ll go.’’

Fran shook his head in protest. ‘’Captain, I can’t go.’’ He lied, ‘’I have a thing.’’

‘’What thing?’’

‘’Err…I have a date.’’ Said Fran, linking his arm with Belphegor’s. ‘’We have a date. Together.’’

‘’You’re bullshitting me.’’ Squalo crossed his arms.

‘’It’s an important date too, we have hotel reservations and everything.’’ Belphegor continued, flashing him a smile. ‘’We’ve been planning for weeks.’’

From the look of it, Squalo was buying into the lie even though he was squinting his eyes at the couple, as if that would’ve helped him to see through them.

‘’Wait, hotel reservations? Where?’’

‘’Regal legacy hotel.’’ Belphegor blurted out the first name he could think of.  

‘’Let the love birds go, Squ.’’ Lussuria urged from the other side of the meeting table. ‘’I can go to the stake out.’’

Since he had no reason to oppose after Lussuria volunteered for the job, Squalo gave up and told them to do as they pleased.

After the meeting, Lussuria approached them with a request to bring him the infamous macarons from the hotel - they were just heavenly, he had claimed. Belphegor, with that loose mouth of his, told Lussuria they would.

Instead of a relaxing weekend, they were having a romantic getaway.

Next morning, they got up earlier than the rest, which caused Belphegor to be in quite prickly mood. Their designated driver threw their bags in the trunk as the pair took their seats from the back. Belphegor fell back asleep instantly and slept soundly through the entire car ride – Fran was no different.

A few hours later they arrived in a spacious hotel building. Judging from the pompous decoration and regal furniture, the pair realized that the trip wasn’t going to be gentle on their wallets.

Fran was the one who had to talk with the overly enthusiastic receptionist for Belphegor only communicated with grunts when woken from his slumber. The receptionist informed them that they did have one room for two available.

They checked in without any problems but as they opened the door to their room, a problem occurred.

‘’There’s only one bed.’’ Belphegor stated, dropping his bag to the floor as he walked in, Fran not too far behind him.

‘’Thanks for stating the obvious, Senpai.’’

Belphegor slopped down on the queen-sized bed, spreading his limbs on the mattress with a wide smile. As the sunlight hit his frame with golden tones from the cracks of the curtains, Fran felt his heart take an additional beat.

‘’The Prince will sleep here; you can sleep on the floor.’’

‘’Fuck off.’’ said Fran, nudging the man’s ankle with his foot before slopping down on his stomach right next to him. ‘’I paid for the room.’’

‘’But I’m a royalty, so I get to sleep on the bed.’’ Belphegor insisted.

‘’That, you have no proof of.’’

Belphegor rolled onto his side with a sour look on his face. Fran braced himself to duck the incoming knives, but instead Belphegor flicked him on the forehead, catching him off guard. A cheeky grin spread to his lips when he saw his puzzled expression.

‘’Careful with your words, Toad.’’ Said Belphegor and got up from the bed. Only now was he taking a better look around the room and he wasn’t disappointed with what he saw.

The room was covered in monochrome tones along with dark red details on the bedsheet and artwork hanging from the walls. As Belphegor entered the bathroom, he noticed a jacuzzi with two white hotel robes neatly folded on the edge.

If there was anything the prince of sloth loved, it was soft robes he could wrap himself in and ditch his pants.

‘’Found this.’’ Belphegor said and threw the second robe to Fran’s face, already wrapped up in his own matching one. As Fran slipped the robe on, Belphegor was looking through mini fridge for beverages – he was going to try out everything the hotel had to offer to him.

‘’We need to call room service, there’s no alcohol in here.’’ He stated, gaze falling on Fran.

A mischievous grin tugged on the corners of Fran’s mouth as if he was reading his thoughts. He picked up his wallet and pulled out a golden credit card.

‘’Since we’re here we might as well treat ourselves.’’ Fran said and handed the card over to Belphegor.

Levi A Than, it read in gold engraved letters.

‘’How did you get this?’’ Belphegor asked, sounding almost impressed with his little stunt.

Fran shrugged nonchalantly as he stuffed his hands inside the robe pockets. ‘’You learn a thing or two when you’re an orphan.’’

Belphegor examined the card carefully as if he expected it to be an illusion and vanish away at any given minute. When it didn’t, he opened the beverage list in front of him and raised the hotel room phone up to his ear.

‘’I hope you like day drinking.’’ Belphegor grinned from ear to ear.

Whoever said money doesn’t bring happiness, hadn’t stolen their co-worker’s credit card and bought whatever they wanted with it.

Several wine and champagne bottles were scattered around the room accompanied with empty bags of peanuts and chips. The previously fancy hotel room had turned into something with closer resemblance to a dumpster.

Belphegor had blasted mainstream pop hits earlier and they had shouted along to them until someone made a complaint on them. Now, the playlist worked as a quiet background music to fill in the occasional silence between the two.

 ‘’I never thought I’d find myself in this situation.’’ Fran admitted, taking a long sip of wine straight from the bottle.

Belphegor rolled on his side, trying to focus his gaze on him with little to no success.

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’I mean, we’re in a fancy hotel room, close to being shitfaced because we made everyone believe we are dating.’’

The drunken haze in Fran’s eyes and flushed cheeks were a sight that shouldn’t have been as appealing to him as it was.

‘’Oh yeah, that situation.’’ Belphegor laughed, tilting his head to the side. ‘’Could be worse, right?’’

‘’I suppose.’’ Fran faced him, expression deadpan. ‘’Could be better too, though.’’

Perhaps it was the position they were in that made Belphegor throw his arm over his waist, hand resting gently on Fran’s lower back or the wine started to kick in for good.

‘’You don’t seem to be having a terrible time?’’

As his breath brushed against his cheek, Fran inhaled sharply.

‘’Maybe not.’’

Belphegor broke the eye contact and let his eye fall to Fran’s lips, their faces inching closer until their lips lightly touched as he spoke.

‘’Thought as much.’’

Fran’s eyes fluttered shut and Belphegor wasted no time in pressing their lips together uncharacteristically gently as if he was expecting him to pull away – but Fran didn’t. Instead, he brought his hands up to rest on the back of Belphegor’s neck, tangling his fingers in the blonde curls as their lips moved against each other with ease.

The ones who described kisses tasting like strawberries and first love were wrong, because this kiss tasted like expensive white wine and bad ideas.

‘’To be honest, I didn’t expect you to be a good kisser, Senpai.’’ Admitted Fran as soon as they parted. He could still feel Belphegor’s breath against his skin, making shivers run through his body.

‘’At least I didn’t bump our noses together like you did when Luss and Squalo walked in on us.’’

Fran gave him a pointed look, shaking his head slightly in disbelief.

‘’You’re thinking about them? In this situation?’’

‘’What I’m trying to say is that I thought you were the bad kisser here.’’ Belphegor said, the tone of his voice getting higher pitched like it always did when he was trying to get his point through. His complaints fell on deaf ears as Fran was focused on the way his lips moved as he spoke.

‘’Guess I have to prove you wrong then.’’ Fran said, silencing him with a kiss so demanding and eager that it caught Belphegor off guard.

Fran was kissing him senseless and all he could do about it was to tighten his grip around his waist and respond just as passionately. He couldn’t allow for Fran to take the lead entirely, and with a swift move Belphegor brought him to sit on his lap without breaking the kiss.

As if something between had snapped, their lips were locked against each other, yearning for more and more and more until they ran out of breath and had to pull away. Both of them were breathless with lips swollen and red from kissing as they stared at each other, unsure of what would happen next.

‘’Maybe you’re not the worst kisser after all.’’ Belphegor grinned, leaning his forehead against his.

Chapter Text

The first time Fran woke up, the room was too dark for him to see anything at all. His head felt groggy and he had no idea whether he was awake or still dreaming. A pair of toned arms were wrapped around him, legs tangled together under the blanket.

He felt a faint brush of breath against the sensitive skin of his neck.

Bel.

He must be off in dreamland, then. Belphegor had always been fond of his personal space when sleeping - at least that’s what Fran assumed.

Fran let his body relax to the imaginary security of Belphegor’s embrace, savoring the warmth that seemed to radiate from his body.

‘I could get used to this.’ he humored himself, knowing the probability of him ending up in Belphegor’s arms was close to zero, even if they were fake dating.

Fran shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out and adjusted himself, feeling the arms around him tighten.

‘’Stop moving around.’’ Belphegor’s voice was raspy with sleep.

His heartbeat quickened as he realized that he hadn’t been dreaming, no, this was very much real. The annoyed huff behind him reminded that he would also be very much in trouble if he didn’t quit interrupting Belphegor’s sleep with his movement.

With few deep breaths, his entire body relaxed along with his racing mind. In the matter of minutes, he drifted back to sleep listening to Belphegor’s breathing, steady and slow.

The second time he woke up wasn’t because of the birds chirping outside or sunlight hitting his eyes, but because of the chilly air hitting his bare arms. He had tossed away the warm covers in his sleep, or Belphegor had hogged the blankets, which was just as likely.

He grunted sleepily, refusing to open his eyes as he tried to search for the blanket with his hand. As soon as he found it, Fran realized that Belphegor wasn’t next to him anymore.

His eyes snapped open and he launched himself to sit up, immediately regretting his decision.

A massive headache drummed on his front lobe and his head spun from the sudden movement. He was nursing the hangover of the century.

As soon as the spinning stopped, Fran scanned his surroundings. The room was dim, but not too dark for him to try and find Belphegor. He was about to call out for Belphegor until he heard the shower running in the bathroom.  

Relieved, Fran slopped back down to the mattress, burying his head in the soft pillow as the sound of water running accompanied with Belphegor’s humming filled in the silence. Knowing Belphegor, it’d take at least twenty minutes for him to finish up, so Fran decided to try and get some more rest.

His eyes fluttered shut as Belphegor’s soft voice echoed in the bathroom – he was singing in Italian, but Fran didn’t recognize the song.

Before he knew it, Belphegor’s melodic and soothing singing had lulled him back to sleep.

The way back home had been a new form of torture for Fran, who was nauseous, hungry and had a pounding head. Belphegor had been decent enough to let him curl up to a fetus position at the end of the seat and leave him be.

For once Fran had been the tiniest bit grateful to his partner.

‘’You look like death.’’ Belphegor snickered as soon as they stepped out of the car. Fran squinted his eyes at the sun, pulling the enormous frog hat to cover his eyes from the hellish sunlight.

‘’Yeah? Well I feel like death, too.’’ Fran grumbled.

Belphegor laughed at his misery – he had never seen him this hangover and the prince took great pleasure in not being the one suffering for once.

As they walked towards the Varia castle, Belphegor’s gaze gravitated towards Fran, wondering.

Wondering what the kiss meant for him – if it meant anything at all. Wondering whether something would change because of it. Wondering why he was overthinking the kiss in the first place.

Belphegor jumped slightly as he felt a cold hand grab his, interrupting his thought process.

‘’We need to look like a lovey-dovey couple.’’ Fran reminded him, intervening their fingers. Belphegor inhaled sharply as he felt Fran leaning his head against his arm.

‘’I can’t wait to sleep off this headache.’’ He heard Fran grumble under his breath.

Belphegor was about to argue that Fran had been sleeping the entirety of the car ride, but the prince was interrupted by Lussuria.

‘’Oh, there you are!’’ Lussuria rushed to their side as soon as the couple entered, ‘’How was the trip? Did you take any pictures? What about my souvenirs?’’

‘’Lovely. No pictures. Bel has them.’’ Fran deadpanned. He wasn’t in the mood for Lussuria’s nosey questions.

Belphegor let go of his hand and wrapped his arm around his shoulders – which, for the record, were a lot narrower than he had expected – and pulled Fran closer to himself.

‘’You’ll get details later; Froggy is cranky and needs sleep.’’ Belphegor explained with a grin, already leading Fran upstairs, towards the illusionist’s room.

Belphegor didn’t miss the knowing smile Lussuria gave the couple, obviously misunderstanding what kind of details he would get.

No one was around, yet Fran continued to lean against him and hadn’t swatted away his arm. If anything, he had leaned closer against him. Belphegor wondered whether Fran could feel his heartbeat or if he was just overthinking the loudness of it.

‘’They’ve brought our stuff already.’’ Fran pointed out as they reached the end of the hallway where their rooms were located.

Belphegor knew he was supposed to unwrap his arm around Fran’s shoulder and retreat to his own room, but a part of him was against the idea. That part of him didn’t want them to split yet despite having spent the last twenty-four hours together.

Fran was the one to move away to open the door to his room, throwing the half-empty travel bag inside the room. When he realized Belphegor was still standing behind him, he raised an eyebrow at the older man, questioning.

It was as if Belphegor’s legs were glued to the floor.

‘’You fine?’’ Fran asked, peering at Belphegor, who was stalling at the doorway.

Belphegor didn’t listen to him, no, his sole focus was on Fran’s lips. They were still slightly puffy from last night. And Belphegor wanted to kiss him so bad and—

Oh.

Oh.

This was not good.

‘’Senpai?’’ Fran slightly squinted his eyes at the prince who had been suspiciously quiet the whole time. ‘’Ew, you’re not feeling sick right? Your face is all white.’’

Belphegor snapped his head up, trying to keep his expression normal. A nonchalant smile, as if he hadn’t just realized he was starting to develop feelings for Fran.

Fran cocked his head to the side. ‘’Are you having a seizure or what’s up with your face?’’

‘’The prince has…somewhere else to be.’’ He blurted before bolting towards his room, leaving Fran to stand in the doorway, dumbfounded.

In the comforting solitude of his own room, Belphegor decided to try sleeping off his feelings towards Fran.

Chapter Text

The very next morning Belphegor learned that getting rid of his feelings wasn’t that easy – he had thought it was, until he went downstairs for breakfast and his gaze fell on Fran. The feelings were still there, present as ever, demanding to be acknowledged.

But Belphegor had decided to not acknowledge his feelings.

The entire night as he was tossing and turning, unable to sleep, Varia’s genius prince had been trying to solve the puzzle called human emotions. And he had succeeded.

All he had to do was treat Fran he always had, push him away, like he had done until their deal.

Belphegor started his mission right away, not sparing another glance towards the male nor greeting him. This didn’t stop Fran from blabbing about a sci-fi movie he had watched last night.

Soon enough Belphegor found himself staring at Fran. He could see his mouth moving and hear his monotone voice as a muffled background noise, but he didn’t register anything he was saying. His heart clenched tightly when his lack of response made Fran turn from his phone to Belphegor.

He needed to get away from him, desperately.

‘’Senpai? Are you listening?’’

‘’What? Yeah. Yeah, I am.’’ Belphegor gathered a box of cereal in his arms hurriedly, tearing his gaze away from Fran. ‘’I agree, Star Wars is better than Star Trek.’’

‘’That’s not what I---‘’

‘’I need to go. Right now.’’ Belphegor blurted and with that he was gone .

Fran didn’t see much of him afterwards. To put it gently, Belphegor was avoiding him like he was the plague. And when Belphegor really wanted to avoid someone, it was almost impossible to get a hold of him, Fran found out.

The prince kept his distance, ran off whenever Fran tried to approach him and didn’t bother holding a conversation. Belphegor’s weird behavior didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of Varia either.

‘’Is everything alright with you two?’’ Lussuria whispered to Fran when Belphegor hurried out of the room after a meeting without as much as glancing his way.

‘’Yeah,’’ Fran said, unsure of his answer, ‘’he is just in a mood.’’

The next day Fran saw Belphegor even less. He hadn’t come down for breakfast nor was he lounging around in the castle, avoiding paperwork like he usually was.

Fran decided to busy himself with training, but it was near impossible to focus when his mind would wander back to Belphegor. The distraction had affected his training as well and Squalo had thrown him out of the sparring room after he lost to the swordsman three times in a row due to lack of focus.

‘’Come back when you’re serious about training.’’ Squalo barked after him as Fran went to wash up.

He took a long, ice cold shower to refresh himself and clear his mind. The cold felt pleasant against his skin, nipping him awake as minutes passed. He had no idea how long he had stood under the shower nor did he care. He could stand there the whole night, just clearing his head.

Fran heard the door open to the shower area, footsteps coming closer to him.

‘’Rough training?’’ Lussuria hummed next to him. 

Fran had seen the sun guardian go train long before him – Fran never quite understood people who liked to train. He certainly didn’t.

‘’Squalo kicked me out. Long story.’’

Noticing the unusual edge on his voice, Lussuria knew better than to ask more questions and let a comfortable silence fall between them.

Fran hadn’t said a word until they were in the dressing room. Only then did he decide to push his pride aside and break the silence.

‘’Do you know where Bel is?’’ His voice was almost breathy as if he had been holding in the question this whole time - maybe he had. ‘’I haven’t seen him today.’’

After a long stare, Fran got his reply – a mission in the North.

According to Lussuria, Belphegor had asked to be given the mission, claiming that he wanted to be alone for a few days. Why, no one knew.

‘’I can’t believe he didn’t tell you about it.’’ Lussuria said.

Fran couldn’t believe it either.

The blue light from the TV screen was the only source of light in the room. Fran was sitting alone in his room, trying to kill time with a video game - one that he was now losing in. It  had been the most boring day in a while and Fran had spent most of it just wandering around, trying to find something, anything to do with little to no success.

The words ‘game over’ flashed in bright colors to the screen and Fran sighed in defeat. He didn’t feel like losing another battle, so he settled for reality shows. They were showing a rerun of a show that he and Belphegor had recently finished binging together. 

Fran’s lips curled up slightly when he remembered how the prince would curse at the TV whenever he would guess the outcome of an episode wrong. He was so used to Belphegor’s company that he had forgotten how boring it was to sit alone and watch a dumb TV show.

After blankly staring at the TV screen for several minutes, Fran reached for his phone and went to his contacts. His thumb hovered over Belphegor’s name, but he didn’t dare to press ‘call’. 

He was itching to call him - for some unknown reason Fran wanted to hear his voice and reassure himself that Belphegor wasn’t avoiding him. That all of his recent behavior was caused by one of his mood swings. He had thought about it over and over again, trying to find a reason for Belphegor’s changed attitude, but he couldn’t figure it out. 

Fran glanced at the time in the upper corner. It was only eleven, so Belphegor shouldn’t be sleeping yet. Before he would change his mind, Fran pressed ‘call’ and brought the phone against his ear. 

It rang once.

Twice.

And then the call ended.

Fran’s eyebrows knitted together and he stared at the screen in disbelief. His gut twisted as the realization hit him.

Belphegor had just declined his call. 

Avoiding Fran didn’t make Belphegor feel any better or help him escape his feelings towards the younger man. It did the exact opposite - when Belphegor came back from his mission, he was visibly irritated because of his failed plan. 

Out of sight, out of mind hadn’t worked for him. Maybe it would’ve if Fran hadn’t called him the other night. Belphegor had had to gather every last bit of his willpower to not pick up the phone. 

Belphegor stormed towards his room, not wanting to speak with anyone. He just wanted to be alone, to isolate himself and brood in peace. 

‘’Senpai?’’ Fran called from the stairs, not too far away from him. Belphegor pretended to not hear him.

‘’Bel?’’ His tone was more irritated now, but Belphegor only sped up his steps. Fran must’ve jogged after him because the younger man easily caught up with him, grabbing Belphegor’s arm to stop him.

‘’Are you hard of hearing?’’ Fran demanded, but his expression didn’t falter. It was the surly tone in his voice that gave him away. 

Belphegor jerked his arm out of his grasp, adjusting his Varia uniform slightly. ‘’I didn’t hear you.’’ He lied and stuffed his hands in his pockets, fidgeting with the knives hidden in them. ‘’What do you want?’’

‘’First of all, a hello would be nice.’’ Fran said, ‘’And I want to talk. About us. In private.’’ 

Belphegor scoffed but motioned Fran to follow him to his room. He didn't bother looking whether Fran was following him. The prince hoped he wasn’t. 

Belphegor let himself graciously fall on his bed, crossing his arms behind his head as Fran stood in the middle of the room, unsure where to sit. He didn’t want to sit on the bed next to Belphegor - in that moment it felt too intimate. 

‘’Well?’’ Belphegor broke the silence, looking at Fran expectantly. 

Fran dumped a pile of clothes to the floor from a nearby chair and sat down. Belphegor tried to read his expression, but it was as deadpan as can be. Somehow that was even more nerve wracking than visible anger or irritation would’ve been. Or any sign of emotion for that matter.

‘’You’ve been avoiding me.’’ Not a question, but a frank statement. 

Belphegor shrugged, unsure how else to reply.

‘’Why?’’ 

Fran’s question was met with a deafening silence. Why, indeed. Belphegor knew the answer, but he had no intention of telling Fran the truth. Couldn’t tell it to him, even if he wanted to.

Fran let out a sigh. ‘’Is this about the kiss? We can pretend like it didn’t happen if it bothers you.’’ 

‘’No, it’s not about that.’’ Belphegor grumbled. He sat up on the bed and cracked his knuckles, eyes fixated on his lap. He wasn’t in the mood to be interrogated.

But Fran wasn’t going to give up.

‘’What’s wrong, then? I’m not a mind reader, I can’t know what’s your problem if you just avoid me.’’

Belphegor’s irritation had reached a brand new level and he rose up from the bed, throwing his hand up. ‘’Everything! This whole thing…’’ He hesitated for a moment, before finishing what he was about to say. ‘’This whole thing sucks.’’

Fran didn’t say a word. 

Belphegor swallowed nervously, though it felt like he might choke any minute now. He had to keep his cool, no matter what or how he felt. It was his fault for catching feelings, after all. 

‘’This whole pretend thing,’’ he continued, voice wavering slightly, ‘’I don’t want to do it anymore, it’s not fun.’’

I don’t want to do it because I’m afraid of getting hurt, his thoughts echoed.

Something flickered across Fran’s expression for a fleeting moment – confusion, maybe even hurt – but he tried to save it with another blank stare. Belphegor felt a pang in his chest.

‘’So, instead of being honest with me, you decided to ignore me? How mature.’’ Fran’s voice was full of venom. Belphegor had never heard him so... bitter . His hands were starting to sweat from the nerves and the prince wiped them on his thighs.

‘’I needed time to think and I couldn’t do that when you were here with me all the time.’’ 

‘’Alright, great.’’ Fran croaked out, already heading towards the door. ‘’I’ll stop bothering you then.’’

‘’Fantastic.’’ Belphegor spat between his teeth.

Fran slammed the door behind him when he left. Belphegor gave it a firm kick as if it was going to help the situation at all. He sat back down on the edge of his bed, burying his face in his hands. 

His own plan had backfired worse than he could’ve imagined.

Chapter Text

‘’I just don’t get it,’’ Fran pointed at the television screen, ‘’They both clearly have feelings for each other, so how come they won’t get together?’’

Lussuria let out a sigh and side-eyed the illusionist.

He of all people had no say in over-complicated relationships.

‘’If only it was that simple, dear.’’ 

After hearing the news about their break up, Lussuria had begun to spend more time with Fran, knowing that he wasn’t one to depend on anyone else even if he was hurting. Lussuria had kept a close eye on him and yet the youngest of Varia seemed unfazed about the current events.

That was if you ignored the petty arguments that seemed to erupt between Fran and Belphegor whenever they were in the same room. Every. Single. Day.

To say that things were tense in the Varia at the moment would be an understatement - the situation was awkward and strained to everyone whether they were invested in the relationship or not. Maids and servants were the main targets of Belphegor’s mood swings which lead to many of the recently hired ones to quit their job in tears which gave Squalo more grey hairs because now he had to find new people to hire. Finding new employees proved to be rather difficult since anyone who was in their right mind wouldn’t work at a place like Varia, that was a cold hard fact.

Not only was Belphegor in a prickly mood almost constantly, but Fran had stopped holding back with his insulting remarks which had caused several arguments during dinners. The only one who didn’t get his share of Fran’s snarky comments was Xanxus, who sat back and observed the chaos around him without saying a word.

Every day was a Russian roulette of who would piss off who and how many people would quit today. The tension needed to be cleared out desperately, but no one knew how.

‘’What are you watching?’’

Belphegor asked as he slumped down to the couch, acting as if he didn’t see Fran who was sitting right next to Lussuria.

The sun guardian’s eyes flickered between the two nervously. He didn’t sense any tension between them. 

At least not yet.

‘’Oh, we are just watching a drama that I have been wanting to see for the longest time.’’ 

‘’Yuck.’’

‘’You don’t have to watch it if you dislike it so much, Senpai.’’ Fran shoved popcorn in his mouth without taking his eyes off the television screen. ‘’Not like anyone invited you here in the first place.’’

Belphegor kicked his legs on top of the coffee table, crossing his arms behind his neck.

‘’Sorry, the prince doesn’t remember asking your opinion?’’

‘’You’re apologizing?’’ Fran turned to look at Belphegor, his eyes cold as steel, ‘’That’s a first, I didn’t know you could do that.’’

‘’Stop being so petty, Froggy.’’ Belphegor said, his signature laugh escaping between his lips, ‘’You’re being pathetic.’’

‘’And you’re pissing me off.’’

‘’Stop it, you two!’’ 

The air prickled with tension as the two youngest of Varia glared at each other from opposite sides of the couch, Lussuria separating them in the middle. With his hand on Fran’s shoulder, Lussuria could feel him take in a few deep breaths before turning his back to Belphegor and storming out of the room.

Lussuria turned to look at Belphegor and from the way his eyebrows were knitted together, the prince could tell he was about to get a scolding.

‘’Bel!’’ Lussuria hissed, crossing his arms, ‘’You didn’t have to be so rude. You need to be a gentleman.’’

Belphegor scoffed, looking away from his judgmental gaze. 

‘’He was rude to the prince first.’’

An exasperated sigh escaped between the sun guardian’s lips as he glanced at the spot where Fran sat not many seconds before.

How long would it take for the two to patch things up?

‘’I think it’s about time you learn how to tie your own bow tie, Fran dear,’’ Lussuria said as Fran sat down on a chair while Lussuria worked on his magic to make a neat bow-tie around Fran’s neck. The sun guardian straightened his collar for a good measure, too, and gave Fran a once over to ensure he looked presentable.

‘’Lose the hat, we need to look our best.’’ Lussuria yanked the frog-shaped fashion disaster off and circled around him, complaining about his tangled hair. 

‘’You know Senpai will start bitching as soon as he sees me without the hat, right?’’

Lussuria hummed out a reply, not seeming too bothered about the fact that he might be upsetting Varia’s feared storm guardian. He seemed more bothered about the fact that he couldn’t find his hairbrush among the million bottles of hair sprays on his desk.

‘’Why do I have to go in the first place, I mean, surely you can manage without me?’’ Fran let out a hiss when Lussuria accidentally tugged his hair while trying to brush through it. Fran was never one to bother doing much hair care, combing through it with his fingers after a shower had worked for him so far.

Lussuria seemed to disagree with this as he sprayed something vanilla-scented in his hair before continuing to brush the teal locks to place.

‘’It’s what the Boss ordered,’’ Lussuria gathered his hair to the back, putting it on a small ponytail and tugged some strands to frame his face. ‘’Besides, it’d be a shame not to show up when you look this handsome.’’ 

Fran turned to study himself from the mirror and Lussuria was right - he didn’t look half bad when he bothered to make an effort to his appearance which wasn’t all that often. 

‘’Lussuria, the prince needs-’’ Belphegor barged into the room with a red tie in his hand, first three buttons of his dress shirt undone. All at once his gaze had fallen upon Fran and he couldn't tell whether the redness of his cheeks came from annoyance or the temperature of the room. 

‘’Where’s your hat?’’ 

‘’On the floor,’’ Fran said. ‘’Maybe you should move that mop you call hair aside once in a while so you could see something.’’

Belphegor muttered a quick ‘’shut up, frog face’’ without any bite before he turned to Lussuria, demanding him to tie his tie like Fran had done not too long ago. 

Fran observed the scene in mild disinterest before realizing how different Belphegor looked when he wasn’t wearing the Varia uniform. The fine black three-piece suit brought out his lean frame, bringing a pleasant contrast against the prince's pale complexion. He almost resembled a real royalty for a moment.

Almost.

"Shi shi shi~ The prince knows he looks good but no need to stare, Froggy." 

If only he learned to keep his mouth shut.

Fran let out an exasperated sigh and stared him with a blank expression, "You misunderstood me. I'm mentally preparing myself to be seen in public with you." 

‘’Keep up that talk and you won’t get a chance to come,’’ Belphegor warned him with a wicked grin, pulling out several knives as a threat.

‘’What a shame that would be.’’

‘’Boys!’’ Lussuria interrupted them, scowling at them behind his sunglasses, ‘’We don’t have time for your lovers spat, we have to get going.’’

"If one of you fuckmunches misbehave or embarrass us, you get to walk back home." Xanxus gave Belphegor and Fran a stern look when their car parked in front of a luxurious looking venue. His eyes met with Fran's as the illusionist took a long sip from a bottle of vodka he had hoarded for himself as soon as they got in the car. "And that's a promise."

‘’Aw, Boss, it’s almost as if you have no faith in us.’’

‘’I don’t. Now let’s get going.’’

The venue was packed with mafioso families, some of them they were familiar with and some were smaller families which elites like Varia considered insignificant. For the first fifteen minutes Varia was huddled together as a group, but eventually the guardians scattered around the room to say hello to acquaintances or talk business, which left Belphegor and Fran alone in a crowded room.

It was awkward enough for them to be the only ones on the sidelines, but the deafening silence between them made the situation worse. Even Xanxus, who was known for loathing these types of events (or events in general) was chatting with Squalo and Dino amongst the crowd. 

Thanks to the heavy bangs covering half of his face, Belphegor managed to steal glances at Fran who was chugging his second glass of champagne - and judging by the subtle flush on his cheeks, he shouldn’t have more.

Awkward tension accompanied with uncomfortable silence was a combination Belphegor wasn’t fond of, so he grabbed a glass of water from a waitress near them, holding it out to Fran as a peace offering - God knows he could use a glass of water for a change.

‘’This event blows, huh?’’ Belphegor tried to light up a conversation, anything to lift off the tension between them. Fights between them never lasted long enough to cause tension. Their fights were like explosions, one minute they would be at each other's throats and the next everything was as if nothing had happened. Never lingering, never something they needed to address later on.

This was different and Belphegor didn’t like it.

When Fran pointedly ignored him, Belphegor tapped his foot against the floor. He knew if he lost his temper now, there’d be no chance to mend what had been destroyed between them. 

‘’So you’re just gonna give me silent treatment the whole night?’’ 

For several beats Fran stood there in silence without bearing him a glance. ‘’I’m not that childish.’’ He finally replied and accepted the water only place it on the nearest surface he saw. Belphegor would’ve quirked his eyebrow and asked ‘’are you sure about that?’’ if he wasn’t walking on thin ice already.  

‘’We both may have said things we didn’t necessarily mean - you more than me - but the prince is willing to let that go.’’

‘’How generous."

‘’ Fine , if you’re gonna be like this then the prince shall look for a better company,’’ Belphegor said, the tone of his voice filled with more irritation than he intended. Fran simply hummed in response and raised yet another glass of champagne towards him in a mocking cheer. 

‘’And you heard Boss - don’t get hammered.’’

Belphegor left him to his own devices, instead deciding to go terrorize the Vongola guardians. It was always a delight to see Gokudera’s expression turn sour at the sight of him and annoy him until the storm guardian lost his temper with him. Even though the years had done miracles to Gokudera’s short temper and he didn’t lash out nearly as quick, Belphegor knew exactly what to say to have him fuming. It truly was one of his favorite games to play.

In the midst of his entertainment, Squalo finds him and ushers him to go search for Fran. Apparently he had wandered off somewhere on his own and since Belphegor was the baby officer (despite having worked with Varia his entire life) he was also in charge to babysit Fran. Fucking fantastic.

Belphegor scanned the main room of the event quickly, trying to spot Fran’s teal head in the crowd. When he failed to find what he was looking for, Belphegor decided to head towards the hallway and toilets. 

Right there, in the middle of the hallway sat Fran on the carpeted floor with his head resting against his knees which he had brought up to his chest. Belphegor clicked his tongue in disapproval and strode over, nudging his partner's shoulder with his foot. 

‘’What?’’ Fran snapped at him. 

Not sleeping in the hall - that was good news.

‘’Squalo told me to find you.’’ Belphegor shoved his hands in his pockets, studying him carefully, ‘’What are you even doing out here?’’

Fran stared at Belphegor long enough to make him uncomfortable, forcing him to break the eye contact. Fran wobbled slightly as he got up from the floor, dusting his dress pants clean from possible dust and dirt.

‘’I don’t understand you, Senpai.’’ He said, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully, ‘’One moment you piss me off on purpose and the next you’re trying to make up. It’s confusing.’’

‘’You’re one to talk.’’ Belphegor mumbled loud enough for Fran to hear him, ‘’I have no idea what’s going through your head or how you feel about me.’’

Fran's movements were smoother than expected from his slightly drunken state as he tugged Belphegor towards him by the front of his dress shirt, pressing their lips together clumsily. 

Belphegor let out a hiss when their teeth collided, but didn't stop him. No, he stared at Fran in confusion and surprise. Whatever he expected Fran to do, certainly wasn’t this.

The kiss wasn't long nor one of the best ones they have had, but it managed to leave Belphegor with a racing heart even after Fran pulled away.

"That's how I feel." 

Belphegor wasn't sure what kind of expression he had, but judging by the scowl on Fran's face, it wasn't a good one. Before he could properly collect his thoughts and react, Fran’s back was already turned to him, ready to retreat.

‘’I figured this would be the outcome.’’ Fran said with a shrug as he headed towards the exit, ‘’Don’t follow me.’’

Belphegor’s head felt fuzzy as if it was working in slow motion. He didn’t react to Fran leaving before it was too late for him to run after him - still, he tried to catch up but as expected Fran had already managed to find one of the drivers and driven off. 

Belphegor cursed under his breath and ran his hand through his hair, ruffling the blonde locks in frustration. 

Fran had been able to display his feelings out in the open for him. He did something Belphegor knew was unlike him and yet he couldn't do the same for him. Belphegor rarely was frustrated with himself but at that moment it was the single emotion consuming him.

Chapter Text

The morning welcomed Fran with a headache like no other. A raspy groan escaped between his lips as soon as he woke up, the light peeking through the curtains too bright for his sensitive and swollen eyes. Fran brought an arm to rest over his eyes, shielding him from the brightness which suggested he should have been up hours ago. At least there were no missions for him to attend - Levi never stopped giving him shit for that one time he had rolled into a mission still slightly hungover. Fran wouldn’t give him the pleasure of doing so a second time.

Strands of hair laid sticky against his forehead, the sweat making his skin seem dirty and disgusting. He was in desperate need of a shower but the pounding of his head stopped Fran from moving. 

Like a lazy cat, Fran rolled onto his stomach, attempting to fall back asleep. ‘This is fine. I can deal with a hangover, at least I didn’t do anything stu-’ his eyes shot open as soon as memories from last night flooded his mind- ‘oh no.’

Fran buried his face against the plush pillows, holding back the urge to scream out his frustrations. Not only had he confessed to Belphegor but he had done it drunk and ran away afterward, as one does. Not exactly his proudest moment.

After mulling over the confession for a good ten minutes, Fran decided to let bygones be bygones and ignore whatever emotions tried to take over - whatever was going to happen with Belphegor next was future Fran's problem, not his.

Fran was about to fall back asleep just as the door slammed open and Belphegor strutted to his room, yanking off the warm covers Fran was buried under. Fran rolled onto his back, grunting at the lack of warmth and squinted his eyes.

‘’What's your damage?’’

"It's about time you get up," Belphegor demanded and Fran pulled the covers over himself in protest. For someone who always slept until noon if given the chance, Belphegor sure was worried about his sleeping habits. What a hypocrite.

"I didn't come empty-handed." The ruffling of a takeaway bag caught Fran's attention and he rose up, propped up by his arms. Belphegor tossed the bag on his lap, still warm at the bottom.

Junk food was a rare delicacy (if you could call it that) in the Varia household because Lussuria frowned upon it. Fran knew this and Belphegor did too.

Fran quirked an eyebrow and Belphegor shrugged, "Lussuria's on a mission."

The bag rustled as Fran opened it, peeking inside. The greasy, yet in his hungover state absolutely mouthwatering smell traveled up to his nostrils, making his stomach grumble loudly in response. 

When Fran finally tore open the package, his eyes shot up to look at Belphegor in surprise.

"It's what you always get, isn't it?"

Fran bit down to his meal, silent as his mind wandered - they hadn't gotten junk food together in months and somehow Belphegor had his usual order down. Such a simple gesture, yet a giddy warmth spread through his chest even though Fran knew getting his hopes up was dumb at this point - he had been rejected after all. 

A sweet gesture with a bittersweet aftertaste.

If Fran had been an expressive person, Belphegor would've noticed the shift in his mood right away. With his appetite suddenly gone, Fran wiped his mouth and placed the half-eaten burger back to the package and onto his table. 

"Why are you doing this?"

Belphegor rested his chin against his palm, studying Fran. "Why do you think?"

Was Belphegor mocking him? Fran couldn't tell - the prince's face was as passive as his was most of the time. No hint of sneer, but no hint of anything else either.

Fran sighed, now understanding why Belphegor used to get fed up with his emotionless mask. It was impossible to read another person when their face didn't give them away.

"If you're playing one of your little games then I'm not in the mood to humor you today."

"Big words coming from you, Froggy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

‘’You know exactly what I-’’

‘’VOOOI!’’ Fran covered his ears with his hands. ‘’Get your ass over here, Bel! We have a mission to do.’’

Fran’s ears were still ringing when Belphegor clicked his tongue and got up, glancing at Fran one last time before heading out. 

‘’This conversation isn’t over yet.’’

While the rest were out on a mission, Fran was nursing away his headache by sleeping until late evening. Once he woke up, he finished the leftovers of the takeaway meal Belphegor had gotten him and took a long shower, rinsing away all the remaining regret and embarrassment from last night. With the help of greasy food, sleep, and drinking soda enough to get cavities for the rest of his life, Fran was reborn.

At 3 AM Fran heard the front door creak open just as he was watching reruns of his favorite murder mystery show. Belphegor peeked his head in the room, but didn’t step in - his shoes and Varia jacket were dripping with blood, undoubtedly not his own. Not far behind him followed Squalo who wore a scowl on his face.

‘’Voi, you’re dripping blood all over the fucking carpet.’’ 

Belphegor shuffled the jacket off and dropped it on the floor, grinning. ‘’Better?’’

Fran expected Squalo to lash out and draw out his sword, swinging it close enough for people to think he was attacking but far enough for Belphegor to know he wasn’t even trying to land a hit. Instead, he got a deep exhale from Squalo before the second in command headed upstairs, telling Belphegor to clean after himself before Lussuria sees the mess he made. 

Without picking up his jacket, Belphegor strutted to sit next to Fran, close enough for their knees to bump against each other. Fran’s eyes dart to glance at their touching knees before he whipped his head back up.

‘’I see you went all out on that mission?’’

"Yeah,’’ Belphegor grinned, crossing his arms behind his neck as he leaned back on the sofa, ‘’You should’ve heard the scumbag beg for his life.’’

‘’You’re so twisted, Senpai.’’

Fran unpaused the show and they fell into a comfortable silence, the only noise coming from the television in low volume. 

Fran, however, was unable to focus on the show because he could feel Belphegor's eyes glancing over to him every once in a while, following his movements. His gaze held a certain intensity that made Fran’s neck flush whenever he caught Belphegor staring from the corner of his eye.

‘’Senpai, if you’re not gonna watch the show then go do your staring somewhere else,’’ Fran said, ‘’You’re distracting me.’’

Belphegor stole the remote from his hands and paused the show for the second time that night.

‘’We need to talk.’’

Here it was, the moment Fran had dreaded since Belphegor left his room that morning - the consequences of last night’s actions. With shaky hands, he propped a decorative pillow on his lap and locked eyes with Belphegor. 

‘’Why did you kiss me?’’

Fran shifted in his seat uncomfortably - he felt too hot yet cold at the same time as if his body temperature was doing flips. ‘’I already told you. Maybe I was drunk when I did but I meant all of it.’’

Belphegor lifted his chin up with his index finger, his gaze intense as he tried to read the answers from Fran’s face. Despite the chaos going through his head, Fran’s expression didn’t falter. Not even when Belphegor was close enough for him to catch a glimpse of ice-blue eyes under the golden bangs when the prince tilted his head to the side. 

‘’Then why did you run away?’’ 

‘’I freaked out, I guess. You didn’t kiss me back.’’

Fran held his breath and waited for Belphegor to do or say something, but he kept Fran on his tiptoes with the ongoing silence.

Finally, Belphegor spoke, barely louder than a whisper that brushed against Fran's lips.

‘’You didn’t give me the chance to reply.’’

Without a warning, Belphegor leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. Their lips fit together like puzzle pieces, as cheesy as it was. At that moment Fran was glad for Belphegor's hands steadying him both sides of his face because his head was spinning - whether it was the kiss or something else, Fran couldn't tell.

"So, wait," Fran pulled away, leaning his forehead against Belphegor's. "What exactly does this mean?"

"Has anyone ever told you you're dense?" Belphegor asked. He leaned in for another kiss but quickly stopped on his tracks when Fran yanked a section of hair gently. Belphegor yelped in surprise, bringing his hand to rub on the aching spot. 

"Tell me," Fran demanded.

"You're lucky my knives are all in my jacket," Belphegor muttered between his teeth, then added with a clear voice, "It means I want to be with you too, moron."

‘’Are you sure? I might mess it up, you know.’’ Fran warned, ‘’If you haven’t noticed, relationships aren’t my strongest forte.’’

"Neither of us has a clue when it comes to love," Belphegor grabbed Fran's hand, grinning from ear to ear as he planted a soft kiss on the back of his hand, "but why don't we pretend?"

Fran bit the inside of his cheeks, unable to hide the smile tugging on the corners of his lips. "Wow, Senpai. You're such a sap."

"Don't ruin the moment," Belphegor said and pressed his lips against Fran's once again, silencing him from further comments.