#yamabel

‘’There’s a place down the street. The girls told the prince about it a while ago,’’ Bel adds. He tugs on the fabric of his striped t-shirt in an attempt to cool himself, but the air is hot and unmoving. ‘’I want to go there.’’

‘’Well, sure, we can go,’’ Yamamoto says, ‘’it might be pretty crowded on a day like this, though. You okay with that?’’

Bel’s mouth twists in a way that Yamamoto recognizes as displeasure, but the teen claims to be willing to deal with other people for the price of ice cream. Yamamoto has his doubts but keeps quiet about them. 

It doesn’t take longer than five minutes for them to reach the light pink ice cream parlor. Even from outside, Yamamoto can tell the place is crowded and he sends a worried glance to Bel’s way who seems determined to get his ice cream from this specific place.

Yamamoto opens the door for them and hopes they will be able to visit the place again.

The temperature change makes Yamamoto shiver slightly, but he welcomes the chilly air with open arms. Even Bel seems to perk up after getting out of the scorching summer air and walking into the embrace of air conditioning. 

They are fifth on the line but instead of complaining about this, Bel’s eyes are focused on the menu above them, unable to choose what he will have. 

‘’What will you have?’’ Bel asks.

‘’Probably the vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce,’’ Yamamoto says, ‘’What about you?’’

Bel sighs and crosses his arms. ‘’The prince wants the strawberry ice cream with cream and strawberries but the double chocolate looks good too.’’

‘’Why not get both?’’

Bel ponders the suggestion for a while, rubbing his chin as if he was making a decision more important than which ice cream he wants. ‘’Maybe I will,’’ he finally says with a nod.

The line moves forward and as they were about to follow, a man in a suit skips the line and takes the second spot as if he had always been there. 

Bel’s face hardens momentarily before he looks at Yamamoto. He nudges his head towards the man with a sinister grin on his lips. ‘’Do you want me to kill that guy for you? The prince is more than willing to do so.’’

Yamamoto wraps his arm around Bel’s shoulders, not to show affection but to hold back the assassin if he decided to gut the man in the middle of the ice cream parlor. ‘’It’s okay, Bel. He only cut the line, not a big deal.’’

Bel scoffs in disagreement but drops the topic much to Yamamoto’s surprise. The spoiled prince wasn’t exactly known for his ability to not let his pettiness get the best of him. 

‘’You’re surprisingly cool about this,’’ Yamamoto can’t help but comment, rubbing circles against Bel’s shoulder with his thumb. 

The assassin merely shrugs.  ‘’A peasant like him is not worth ruining our date for.’’

A smile sneaks up on Yamamoto’s lips and he feels like kissing Bel right there, in front of the entire ice cream parlor. Sometimes his boyfriend could be thoughtful and charming, in his own way.

Liar, Yamamoto thinks and slides over to Bel’s side of the bed, sitting down next to him. He knew what the man was doing and Yamamoto wasn’t going to let him distance himself from Yamamoto and avoid a conversation. 

‘’Not a chance,’’ Yamamoto says gently, nudging the prince with his shoulder, ‘’Now tell me what’s bothering you.’’

Bel stays quiet for a while, staring at the floor as if he would find answers from the ground. Yamamoto waits patiently, giving  Bel all the time and space he needs. He knows better than to pressure the prince to talk. Though Bel had gotten better at opening up about his feelings and struggles, they still had a long way to go. Lucky for him, Yamamoto was insistent and didn’t give up on the process. 

‘’The prince has a hard time sleeping in foreign places,’’ Bel admits just as Yamamoto thought he wouldn’t talk. 

Now, this was not what he had expected.

‘’Oh,’’ Yamamoto says dumbly, mentally slapping himself for such a dry answer. ‘’Why is that?’’ 

Yamamoto doesn’t miss the way Bel chews down on his lower lip, weighing on his options. If Bel didn’t want to answer, Yamamoto wouldn’t press him. But something tells him Bel would speak up if he was patient enough. 

‘’I thought I was going to be murdered my entire childhood,’’ Bel finally says, his face painted in discomfort. He tries to seem nonchalant but Yamamoto can tell that it pains him to say that. ‘’So when I’m in an unfamiliar place, I stay alert. Just in case.’’

‘’That’s horrible,’’ Yamamoto replies. What else could he say? His childhood, despite lacking a mother, was safe and loving nevertheless. He couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like for fear to have such a heavy presence in a child’s life. 

‘’It has always been like that in royal families,’’ Bel explains with a bitter smile, ‘’while other kids would learn how to ride a bike, we would be taught self-defense.‘’

Unsure what to say, Yamamoto reaches to squeeze Bel’s hand softly, to tell him that he is there for him. He doesn’t know how to comfort him but he listens. Bel looks at their hands and laces their fingers. 

‘’I suppose not only bad things came out of it’’ Bel says after a few seconds. Yamamoto wonders if his cheeks are tinted pink - he can’t tell in the darkness. ‘’I did end up joining Varia because of it and without joining Varia…’’

Bel’s lips brush against Yamamoto’s before pressing a chaste kiss on his lips.  

‘’Without Varia, I wouldn’t have met you.’’ Bel’s breath tickles against his lips. Yamamoto can practically feel his lips tease against his own as he speaks - that’s how close he is. 

Yamamoto manages to find his voice. 

‘’That would’ve been a pity.’’