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"Not fair!" Lussuria shrieked under the onslaught of knives.
"No! Not at all!" Belphegor agreed, delighted at the recognition. Levi would've begun to sweat, grimly readying his parabolas, guns, and whatever else was at hand. Squalo would bellow and swing his sword and cut the fun short. Mammon would probably turn out not to be where he ought to be, and would then become a doorknob saying something intolerably rude before vanishing. The boss - it wasn't worth thinking about.
Lussuria had enough sense to know that there were rules, and now he knew that Belphegor didn't have to follow them.
The newest recruit to the Varia elite burst into a cloud of feathers just like Belphegor's pillows did all the time, except with more colours. Belphegor gasped in delight.
"My boa!" Lussuria moaned, and scrambled around a corner before Belphegor's glee wore off. It was a prudent move, putting him a good thirty metres ahead before the prince regained interest in the chase.
Belphegor watched Lussuria pelting down at the other end of the passage, grinned, and ducked into a scuffed hall cupboard. Varia HQ was almost as good as a real castle with all the secret passages! He timed his run carefully and twenty seconds later he dropped out from behind a tapestry and onto Lussuria.
The boy staggered, grunted, and did not fall, using his momentum to twist his body and smash Belphegor into a wall. "Ooh, you are fun!" Belphegor gasped as he fell off Lussuria's back and sagged against the wall. Half his knives fell from numb fingers, and then he leapt and bit Lussuria on the nose. Lussuria fell over in shock, and Belphegor swarmed on top of him.
It was undignified, but sometimes Belphegor didn't mind that sort of thing too much. Besides, he had the other half of his knives to make Lussuria forget all about indignities.
"Belphegor," Lussuria said, "can't we play some other time?"
"Who says this is a game? It's a very real life. Isn't it." Belphegor had thought Lussuria knew better - but he couldn't really be disappointed as he drew a knife over Lussuria's adam's apple.
"Let me up! Is this any way to treat a new member of the team?" Lussuria whined, and thought that this was probably why there had been so many candidates who had filled the position as seventh Varia elite so briefly. It certainly fit with the things he'd heard about Prince the Ripper. He slowly drew up one leg to a position where he could jerk it up and smash his metal knee into the kid's tailbone hard enough to ruin his little spine for good, and thought that this was a terrible start to an auspicious career.
He pouted and looked over his sunglasses to show the sincerity in his eyes, hiking his leg up the last necessary inch. "Bee~eellll, come on!"
The knife at his throat stopped moving. "...That's so cute!" Belphegor said.
"Huh?"
"Will you call me that?" Belphegor flicked the knife over his shoulder and leaned down to put his grin in Lussuria's face. "Maybe then the others will too! It sounds beautiful. Fit for a prince!" Then he pitched himself back, slipping off of Lussuria and onto the floor with a bump, giggling and squirming happily. The rest of the knives disappeared from his hands before Lussuria could even try to see the trick of it.
Lussuria stood and put his hands on his hips as he regarded the child. "Little Prince Bel, you are quite something indeed."
"Prince Bel!" Belphegor repeated in pleasure, as a tiny practical part of himself admitted that hardly anyone acknowledged his nobility. He thrilled at Lussuria's curtsey and graciously accepted the offered hand to pull himself up, and then did not let it go.
Lussuria adjusted his sunglasses and looked at him. Then he said, "If you show me where the kitchen is in this place, I can make you lunch. Maybe a nice sandwich or something?" Belphegor cheered and dragged him onwards.
"You're a cute kid, really," Lussuria said, sounding only a little like he was trying to convince himself.
"Yes I am!" Belphegor grinned up at Lussuria. It was strange that so few people really understood how things worked, and it was satisfying to have found one who did.
"HEEY, BRAT! How the hell did that CLOWN get through the usual welcome?" Squalo later asked Belphegor, with Xanxus glaring the same question from where he lounged in the armchair by the window. They relied a lot on Belphegor to provide a final test of worthiness for Varia candidates.
"He even cut the crusts off!" Belphegor said, brushing crumbs from the sandwich off his shirt, and grinned smugly at their uncomprehending stares.