Oh yay! More Varia goodness! This time, our victim is Mammon!

BelxMammon if you look close enough.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Akira Amano.

Friendship Costs

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Mornings for the Varia were often long and lazy, usually breakfast, or rather, brunch was at ten thirty, the entire group was usually in a bad mood, save for their sunshine Lussuria. This particular morning wasn't any different than the ones prior to it.

Mammon didn't usually care for this crowd. Levi's unwavering devotion to the boss was something the Arcobaleno couldn't understand with there being no extra money involved for his services. Lussuria's cheer worked his nerves more than any of the others. Squalo was far too loud for his liking. Xanxus…well, he thought it'd be best not to bother the boss. Belphegor? He turned his head to the prince; Bel seemed to be occupying himself with eating a pathetic remainder of the steak. Mammon's expression remained unchanged by the prince's poor show of table manners, despite the fact that the mist guardian was thoroughly disgusted, the steak was in his mouth, uncut. The "genius" of the Varia seemed to be eating it like a hungry animal as he tore the meat apart with his teeth.

"Oh Bel~!" Cried a particularly loud voice as Lussuria practically skipped over to the boy. "You'll choke if you eat like that~!" Bel growled in response to his meal being interrupted.

"Ushishishi…" Bel laughed lowly as he glanced up briefly at the flamboyant man from his meal.

"Voi! Bel! Eat like a normal person!" Snapped the loud voice of Squalo.

Mammon looked down at his own remainders of the meal from earlier. His place was much cleaner than the prince's and he couldn't help but smirk when he looked at the other's: it was as though an animal had ravaged through it.

"All right trash…" Came the nearly god-like voice of Xanxus. Everyone knew to look at him immediately, lest they wished to invoke the boss' wrath. "All of you go…" Wordlessly the rest of the group rose from their seats and left. Mammon waited to be snatched off his stack of books by Bel.

"Mu?" The mist guardian watched as the storm guardian left him behind. He leapt down from his seat. This was rare, perhaps Bel was unwell? He doubted it, since everyone in the room had managed to leave breakfast unscathed and Bel had a nasty way of taking his sickness out on the other Varia, at least when he was a child.

"I'll charge him…" Mammon muttered, frustrated with having to walk, as he exited the dining room and headed into the long hall to the prince's room. It was quite a trip too, especially for one as small as the mist guardian was. At last he stood by the rather decorative door where Belphegor's room was located behind. "I'm coming in…" Mammon announced as he hopped up to turn the door knob. It wasn't locked, so there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the room's occupant.

"Bel?" He called out as he invited himself in. He looked around the room; it was the same as always, difficult to tell if a boy or a girl lived in it. On the floor was an assortment of stuffed toys (much to his surprise free of knives) and food wrappers. It was different that the rooms of the other Varia, Mammon had to admit that. The bed was unmade, with deep violet sheets on it, made of silk more than likely. A canopy hung above it made of gauzy material. Somehow it just seemed more…welcoming, although he doubted the prince would be too affectionate towards visitors in his private kingdom.

He could see no sign of him being in the room and with an irritated sigh turned to leave.

That is, until he heard a soft splash from the bath room.

"Bel?" He walked towards the sound, guard still up. He doubted that Bel would be too happy about being bothered; he had almost expected to have a knife thrown at his head when he poked his head into the bathroom. A slight tint of blush rose to his cheeks as he did.

Bel was in the room in a bathtub filled with hot water, at least Mammon judged it to be hot from the steam that filled the room. Bubble bath had been added as well, as suds were practically falling out onto the tile floor. And then there was the prince himself, who sat amongst his bath, grinning toothily down at the Arcobaleno, bangs weighed down more than ever with water, still preventing anyone from seeing his eyes. One long, slender leg was draped out of the bath tub, almost beckoning Mammon towards him.

"Shishishi…" Bel laughed as he pulled his leg back into the hot, soapy water. "Nosey, nosey Mammon…"

"You left me at the breakfast table," He accused as he kept a safe distance from him, there was no telling what Bel would do to him given the amount of water that there was.

"The prince was feeling dirty and needed a bath…" He replied snobbishly.

"Don't think you're not getting charged for that…" Money was on his mind as always.

"Shishishi…Fine, fine…" The storm guardian rose from the tub. Water and bubbles spilled onto the floor as he made the movement. He didn't even bother to wrap a towel around his waist.

The smaller one got an eyeful of the prince's jewels he wanted to turn away desperately but found that he was unable to move his head. Bel continued to walk wordlessly over to Mammon and grabbed him by the back of his cloak. "What are you doing?"

"The prince can't find his rubber ducky…"

He can't what…? He couldn't believe that he was about to kill him over something so feeble. Oh wait, it was Bel he was dealing with, of course he would. "Buy a new one…" He suggested, although the idea of spending money on such a thing sickened him.

"The prince found something better…" He smirked as he continued to drag the baby to the bathtub, only to throw him in as though he was some sort of bath toy.

The water was hot, much hotter than most people could stand. He was struggling to keep above the water until Bel at last climbed back in with him and held him to his chest. Athough he disliked the idea of him clinging to him in such a…suggestive position he thought it was much better than drowning, unfortunately his clothes were now thoroughly soaked. "I'm still…" He paused to think of what this psychopath would do to him if he was naked. "…Mu…" I'll charge him later… He figured that he may as well make a little profit from this new ordeal.

As he was trying to figure out an appropriate price to charge him his thoughts were quickly interrupted by water once again filling his nose and mouth. As quickly as he was plunged under he found himself once again above it. He spun his head around, startled by the abrupt attempt at drowning him. Bel was, once again, grinning down at him.

"What…?" Mammon could feel his head start to grow foggy from all the water. The heat wasn't doing much to improve his condition either, only adding to the wooziness he was feeling.

"The prince is bored…"He announced, as though expecting the other to care.

"And?"

"He wants to play more…" A toothy grin followed.

"Pay me."

"Shishi…Greedy baby…" He rose once again from the bathtub; this time he had the courtesy to tie a towel around his small waist. He left Mammon to scramble out of the tub by himself. At least he drained the water before he left.

He leapt up onto the edge and then onto the sweet, sweet tiled floor of the bathroom. He was wet, annoyed, and dazed. Even so, the only thing he could think of at that moment was coming up with an appropriate fee for Bel. He grabbed a somewhat dry towel from the floor and draped it on himself.

He walked out of the bathroom and back into the somewhat childish room of the prince. Said prince was on his bed, only in one of his many baggy, long-sleeved striped shirts, the rather feminine tiara was once again placed atop his still damp blond hair. He was laying on the bed with his slender legs crossed lazily at the knees, showing the world what was up the shirt. They're pink… Mammon noted as he got a glimpse of his taste in undergarments. He had something in his mouth, chocolate more than likely judging by the rectangular shape of the object. He grinned at the baby when he walked in, candy still in mouth.

"Shishishi…" He laughed as he patted the spot on the bed next to him as if to beckon the small one to him. "The prince wants some company…"

Reluctantly he climbed up to the purple covered bed and sat at the spot Bel had indicated. The sheets were soft and smooth against his hands, as he had expected earlier they were made of silk.

With little warning Bel once again grabbed him and started to clutch him to his chest as though he was one of the many stuffed toys in his room. At least he wasn't drowning him this time, although getting smothered to death wasn't much better, to make things worse, Bel wasn't exactly soft, he was fairly bony. It would be different if he had been hugged by a woman; he had imagined them to be somewhat softer around the chest area. With Bel's chest there was nothing soft to press against, only hard ribs could be felt under the thin fabric of his shirt.

Despite how hard it felt against his head it was still kind of nice. He was almost temped to settle down in the others arms had he been rocking them instead of using them to mash him against his chest.

"Bel…Let me go…Or I'll charge you…" He warned, although the prince didn't seem to hear him as he continued to practically squeeze the life from him. "Mu…"

By the time Belphegor at last let the mist guardian from his little cuddle session he had racked up enough of a tab for even Mammon to pity him. The Arcobaleno decided to keep quiet about it until he was a safe enough distance from the prince's knives.

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This was hard to write…Fun, but hard.

Sorry if anyone was OOC, especially Mammon.

Along with the really shitty ending…Yeah, I finished it when I was in a really bad mood.

Needs more "VOI!"…