Ichirou was not expecting his father to be so upset that he had stayed the night over at Masahiro’s place, but when he found out, he pouted all day. It seemed that the idea that Ichirou lost his virginity was too much for the middle aged man. Ichirou supposed that it was only natural for something like that to shake up his father, as he had always thought of Ichirou as a sweet, innocent princess. However, Ichirou personally rebuked that idea, because he could be a sweet and cute princess type without being a virgin. Not that he did anything with Masahiro, but still.

Ichirou noted that his four month anniversary with Masahiro was coming up, so he decided to get him something nice. He found a super nice kitchen knife, which Ichirou had not seen in Masahiro’s kitchen, and bought it for him. He was a little nervous, if he was being honest, because he didn’t know exactly how to tell what knives were good or bad, but the personal chef that worked at their home insisted that this one would be a great gift.

Ichirou’s week was pretty close to completely normal until Thursday, when something completely unexpected happened. He was not due to start his heat until Sunday, but it came out of nowhere and hit him several days early. This heat, he could tell, would also be different from the ones of his past as well, just simply by the intensity it began with. It was almost immediately at high intensity, whereas usually he would have some time to shower and grab snacks.

Ichirou, who had been hanging out with his family, watching television, stood up unsteadily to get some things before he really lost it. Ichirou grabbed a couple of water bottles and chips, and ran up to his room, already sweating buckets. He slammed the door shut behind him, locking it. He tossed the food and water onto his nightstand, and began desperately ripping off his clothing. As he tossed his underwear aside, he vaguely noted that it had a large wet spot from his slick. Normally he would take a shower, but he didn’t think he could manage to. He didn’t even have time to text Masahiro that he thought he wouldn’t be able to make it to their date. It was almost like every inch of his skin had been burned, and there was only one way to fix it.

Trembling, Ichirou got out his dildo, certain that he wouldn’t be satisfied with just his fingers. It was like his insides had caught fire, and the only way to satiate that fire was aggressively fucking himself. So, despite the fact that it was painful, he pushed the dildo into himself. He gasped, his back arching at the intense pleasure that this simple act brought to him. This was the moment that Ichirou totally lost control, much beyond what he had felt before. 

His brain became overloaded with sexual fantasies, fantasies specifically about Masahiro. To start with, he fantasized that Masahiro was holding his legs up, fucking him missionary style. He fantasized that the blue haired man was holding up his thighs with his powerful hands, that he was bent over Ichirou, a look of absolute lust on his face. He pictured Masahiro slowly pulling his cock out, then pushing it back in with sudden force. Ichirou gasped as the dildo hit the spot that filled his vision with a blinding white light. He began to increase the speed and force, his mind racing to picture Masahiro roughly fucking him in the ass, but then kissing him every so gently on the neck. Ichirou came in record time.

Almost instantaneously after, he was on his elbows and knees, putting the dildo back in with a whining moan. His thoughts brought him to Masahiro once more, Masahiro slowly inserting his huge cock into Ichirou’s weeping opening. This time, there was no slow build up, this time Masahiro just began to fuck him hard. Ichirou pictured Masahiro intertwining his fingers with Ichirou while the shorter man cried in pleasure into his pillow. It didn’t take long before Ichirou was cumming again.

Ichirou laid down sideways now, imagining Masahiro spooning him. He imagined Masahiro’s cock rubbing between his asscheeks, teasing him. He whimpered as he slowly pushed the dildo in, starting out excruciatingly slow. He loved the thought of Masahiro teasing him like this, and he let out a whimpering beg before imagining Masahiro suddenly started moving really fast, causing him to cry out in absolute pleasure. His cock began to drip from pleasure, and he trembled as he moved the dildo as quickly as he could. Fairly quickly, once again, from all the teasing and sudden movements, he came for a third time.

Ichirou moved from fantasy to fantasy, desperately craving Masahiro, Masahiro, and nothing but Masahiro. His mind seemed to have melted, and he couldn’t imagine doing anything other than being fucked by his “boyfriend.” Throughout the entirety of his heat, he couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else, not even with the faceless men that he had imagined in the past. It was as if there was no other man on planet earth in that moment for Ichirou.

He barely managed to bring himself to use the restroom and to drink water. He barely had a bag of chips in those three days. Every time he would bring his mind out of the sexual desires that he wanted so badly, he would find himself flung back in within five or ten minutes. Those times where he had his wits about him enough to drink, eat, and go to the restroom, even they had a fog about them where he struggled to think about anything other than having sex with Masahiro. He even got the idea during one of those times to text Masahiro and invite him over, but luckily his intense sexual desire made him forget about that and focus on his dildo.

Ichirou woke up officially on Sunday morning, completely exhausted. This was the most intense heat he had ever experienced, and now he was not only tired from the intense sexual activity, but he also was extremely hungry, weak, and thirsty. He laid there for a while, trying to force himself to get up, when, quite suddenly, it hit him. The entire time he had been on that heat, he had been thinking of Masahiro. His friend, Masahiro.

Ichirou slowly turned over on the bed, his face burrowed into his pillows, and he screamed obscenities. He felt intense waves of anger, embarrassment, shame, and horror flow over him, one after another. Why the hell did he have a heat where he couldn’t imagine anyone but Masahiro?! That didn’t make any sense! He heard that could happen with soul bonded pairs when one way away from the other, but he wasn’t soul bonded to Masahiro! They were just friends!! They hadn’t even kissed, how on earth would they be able to become a soul bonded pair?! It didn’t make any sense!

Ichirou slowly sat up and grabbed a bag of strawberry wafer sticks, his eyebrows knitted together in frustration. He angrily crunched on one as he grabbed his phone off the charger and went through his messages. He couldn’t bring himself to quite open Masahiro’s messages, guilt eating away at his heart. Yuuhei had sent him some great memes, at least. 

After giving him some positive reactions to those memes, his cell phone began to ring, with Yuuhei on the line. He coughed and cleared his throat, then answered.

“Hey, Yuuhei, I’m not really in the mood to ta-”

“Listen, I’ll be quick and I’ll do most of the talking. I know you just got done with your heat. It’s the only reason why you wouldn’t read my great memes after three days. I was wondering if you needed to come in to get your hair done within the next, um… day? Really, I think tomorrow would be a good option, please.”

Ichirou felt bewilderment creeping up on him. “Can’t I get another couple days, or-”

“Nope, unfortunately not. Oh, Takeru-san’s getting out of the shower. Listen, I’ll text you and get you into my schedule. Just, please, come.”

Before Ichirou could even respond, Yuuhei hung up on him. Ichirou glowered at his phone in displeasure. What could Yuuhei need to talk to him so desperately about? And so immediately after the most taxing heat of his life? If this was something about Takeru and Yuuhei’s sex life, Ichirou did not want to know.

Ichirou spent the day having his sheets cleaned, drinking plenty of water, and eating slowly. He had lost a kilo over the course of his heat, and now he needed some self care. Also, because of the reckless way he had inserted the dildo, he was walking a bit funny. It was really embarrassing. He couldn’t admit what happened to anyone, except maybe Yuuhei. Ichika would almost certainly claim that he had somehow soul bonded to Masahiro over the course of four months, and say that they just needed to start dating.

Ichirou managed to text Masahiro back, simply stating that he was alive. Masahiro responded that he was so glad, and that he had been worried about the other man when his heat came so suddenly. Ichirou couldn’t find it in himself to respond a lot more. How could he have such perverted fantasies about his friend?! He felt horrible.

The next day at five in the afternoon, wearing some comfy shorts and an oversized t-shirt with some flip flops and his hair down, Ichirou arrived at the hair and nail salon. It was true that his fringe was getting out of control, but he honestly hadn’t been thinking of it enough to get a trim. The receptionist nodded to him, gesturing back. At his usual spot, Yuuhei was pulling out his shears. He grinned, standing straight up and waving Ichirou on over.

“So good to see you, I was nervous you wouldn’t come,” Yuuhei said as Ichirou sat down.

“I thought about not coming, after how much hell I went through over the past few days,” Ichirou said grouchily as Yuuhei put the haircare cape on him.

“Well, that’s why we’re best friends, right? We’re there for each other,” Yuuhei said, helping Ichirou up and guiding him back to the salon sinks.

“I’m thinking of upping Masahiro-san to best friend status since he’s there for me a lot more than you have,” Ichirou said, huffing as he sat down on the chair.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to neglect you, my dear bestie,” Yuuhei said in a sing-song voice as he turned on the water and began to wet Ichirou’s hair.

“Well, ya did. What was so important to talk to me about?”

Yuuhei’s face changed to one of discomfort. “Well… you’re gonna yell at me.”

“Then you’d better get it out so it can be over faster.”

Yuuhei pumped some shampoo onto his hands. “Um, I think I have a crush on Takeru-san.”

“What?!” Ichirou cried, almost jumping up out of his seat.

“I know. I’m insane. I know I’m insane. To him, I’m no more than a guy who he has sex with. Hell, sometimes we don’t even have sex, sometimes he just tortures me until I cum. It’s really weird and freaky. But…” Yuuhei washed Ichirou’s hair, massaging his scalp carefully.

“But what?” Ichirou asked, glaring up at his friend.

“Every time we’re done with our… various activities, he’s so goddamn good to me, Ichirou. He not only honors my safe word, but he’ll do everything in his power to make sure I’m okay. He’ll kiss my wounds, he’ll make me a cup of tea, he’ll wash me by hand… I’ve never felt so sexually satisfied and loved in my life, Ichirou,” Yuuhei said, his voice becoming slowly smaller as he continued to speak.

“That’s bad,” Ichirou said simply.

“I know! It’s so bad,” Yuuhei cried, rinsing out Ichirou’s hair. “I thought he was a complete and utter tool when we first met, but when we’re alone, it’s like he’s a completely different person. He’s so sexy and domineering and kind.”

“What are you gonna do? He’s not gonna love you back, Yuuhei,” Ichirou said bluntly.

Yuuhei pumped some conditioner into his hand and was quiet for a moment while he kneaded it into Ichirou’s hair. “I know. I don’t know where I get the audacity to even fall for him. He’s insanely beyond my level. He’s at least a nine, and I’m a four, at best. He’s rich, a dominant alpha, and, like, he’s a dick, but he’s so sweet at the same time. And I’m this short little beta guy who looks like a frog and can barely pay his bills.”

Ichirou sighed softly. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant entirely based on his outlook on this relationship. He just wants sex with you.”

“Well, that’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Yuuhei said, rinsing out Ichirou’s hair once more. “I slept over at his place over the whole weekend, and we honestly didn’t have an incredible amount of sex. I mean, we had a lot, but we didn’t have a ton. Anyway, not related, he was talking to me as we were falling asleep in bed, and he told me he wanted to take me out to dinner.”

“Is that a weird sex thing?” Ichirou asked with an eyebrow raised.

Yuuhei began toweling Ichirou’s hair as he spoke. “No, like, I checked with him. I asked him if he wanted to do some sort of public sex or something because I wasn’t into that, and he told me that he didn’t want to have sex, he just wanted to be with me. What’s with that?! It doesn’t make any sense.”

Ichirou quietly nodded, taking Yuuhei’s hand to help him stand up. Ichirou asked Yuuhei to give him a moment as he sat back down on the chair. Yuuhei quietly combed through Ichirou’s hair, waiting for his answer. Why on earth would someone like Takeru want to take Yuuhei to dinner…?

“Well, as far as I can see, there’s only two options,” Ichirou said. “He’s either doing this to break up your guys’ relationship, or he actually does want to date you.”

Yuuhei groaned, bending over a little. “He’s gonna break up with me… I knew it. There’s no way a loser like me could catch a guy like him. I’m gonna throw up. I should have known that good things like this never last.”

“Hey, hey, you don’t know that,” Ichirou said defensively. “He could legitimately like you.”

“Hell no, he won’t. I’m an ugly beta guy with no prospects. He could have anyone he wanted in the world, why would he pick me?” Yuuhei asked, separating Ichirou’s fringe from his normal hair.

“Because you’re sweet, hardworking, and cute!” Ichirou said, smacking his friend. “Besides, he’s said from the beginning that he thought you were cute! I know you’re really concerned about your looks since you’ve only had a couple of relationships since a lot of people didn’t want to date you, but they’re all douches! You deserve love just as much as any of the rest of us.”

Yuuhei trembled slightly as he held the scissors, pausing for a moment to calm himself. “I’ve never been this scared to like someone before, Ichirou. I think I really, really like him.”

Ichirou sighed, remembering what Masahiro said what felt like an eternity ago: someone was going to fall for the other, and one of them was going to be a lot more hurt. If he was being honest, he was scared for his friend as well. Takeru was such a wild card, it could just be that he really was about to drop Yuuhei, but he also wanted to believe that Takeru wouldn’t do something like that to his friend. Takeru was an asshole, but not that much, right?

“Either way, I’m here for you,” Ichirou said quietly.

Yuuhei took in and let out a deep breath, trimming the bottom of Ichirou’s hair. “Yeah, you’re right. I'll see him on Wednesday evening, and I’ll either be crying from sadness or happiness. We’ll see.”

“You have this. And even if you don’t, then you can stay at my house for a little, if you need to,” Ichirou offered.

Yuuhei let out a little sniff, a single tear running down his face. “I’d rather die than rely on a rich person.”

“I’m trying to be nice!” Ichirou complained, glaring at him.

Yuuhei let out a little laugh at that, shaking off some of the discomfort that had been weighing on him. “I know, sorry, it’s just a reflex at this point. Thank you, for real. Now… you had a rough heat, tell me about it.”

Ichirou felt his face flame up just at the thought. “Oh, god, um, where do we begin…”

“Huh, what the heck happened?” Yuuhei asked, his eyebrows raising.

Ichirou wrung his hands under the cape. “Well, it came on really suddenly, and then… um… how do I put this… I couldn’t stop fantasizing.”

“I mean, when you’re in heat, that’s not that weird, is it?” Yuuhei asked.

“No, it’s not weird… but, um. The subject was weird.”

“The subject? Wait, you’re not into BDSM, too, are you?!”

“No, damn it! Shut up and let me talk!”

“Shutting up.”

Ichirou took a deep breath before speaking. “So I might have been fantasizing about Masahiro-san the whole time.”

Yuuhei paused his cutting and looked to Ichirou’s face in the mirror with a dumbstruck look on his own. “You… you what?”

“I- I don’t understand what happened, I was fine, and then all of the sudden I wasn’t fine anymore! All I could think about was… him…” Ichirou’s voice became barely above a whisper at that last word.

“Ichirou, are you in love with Masahiro-san?” Yuuhei asked, eyes bulging a bit.

“N- no, no way! There’s no way! I can’t be in love with Masahiro, I simply can’t!” Ichirou denied with all of his heart.

“But, and correct me if I’m wrong… isn’t that a thing that happens with bo-”

“Yeah, it’s a thing that happens with soul bonded pairs. But that doesn’t make any sense! He and I haven’t even really hugged before, let alone do all the things soul bonded pairs do,” Ichirou blubbered, his face bright red. “Besides that, I do not like Masahiro-san that way!”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Yuuhei said with a grin.

“Nooo, don’t make this weird,” Ichirou said, glowering at his friend. “He’s just a friend. Besides, have you ever heard of a soul bonded pair occurring over the course of four months?! That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, what if you met before and you just don’t remember it?” Yuuhei offered.

“That doesn’t make any sense either. I would remember it, and so would he. Like, the only way is if we were little kids when we last met,” Ichirou said.

If he had chased that thought, he might have been able to come to a conclusion that made logical sense, but he didn’t. It had been too long for Ichirou to remember off the top of his head that there might be a boy who could fit the bill. And even if he did remember that boy, he still wouldn’t be able to believe that it was Masahiro, or that he liked Masahiro. He simply was not ready for that knowledge.

“Okay, so if you’re not soul bonded with Masahiro-san, then… then what the heck. Why would you exclusively fantasize about him if you don’t like him like that? Are you sexually attracted to him?” Yuuhei asked.

Despite being obviously sexually attracted to Masahiro, Ichirou let out a loud, “No! I’m not!” 

Ichirou had only been in love one time, when he was a child. At that point, he wasn’t sexually mature enough to understand sexual attraction. And now that he was older and should know better, he refused to know better. It was out of absolute stubbornness that he refused to acknowledge any form of sexual or romantic attraction he was feeling towards Masahiro, and it would be several months for him to begin to come to grips with these emotions that he refused to understand.

“I honestly don’t know what’s up with that. Part of me thinks that you just don’t want to admit that you like him,” Yuuhei said, moving on to trim Ichirou’s fringe. “And before you say no again, I expect you to be denying it to yourself, too, so don’t worry about me thinking that. The only thing I can suggest is for you to look into your feelings and try to explore them to be absolutely certain that you haven’t fallen for Masahiro. There’s really no other explanation I can come up with, so that’s why I’m harping on this. After all, you’re so fucking stubborn, there’s no way that I could push you into accepting it if you’re not ready to accept it.”

“I take offense to that,” Ichirou said, blowing some hair out of his face.

“Yeah, I know you would. But we’re best friends, we tell it like it is, right?”

“Sure, we can go with that.”

“So damn rude.”

Ichirou and Yuuhei’s conversation became more focused on catching up on some other things they had missed while Yuuhei had been busy having sex with Takeru. After a deep conditioner and some gentle work, Ichirou’s hair looked really nice. The pink hair that went halfway down his chest was shining, with no split ends left in sight. After some bickering about the payment, Ichirou managed to get only a ten percent discount this time.

That evening, Ichirou got a surprise text from Masahiro, asking him if he wanted to meet up for coffee the next day to celebrate their four month anniversary. Ichirou felt butterflies in his stomach for reasons he couldn’t quite place, and so he responded with a big yes, stating that he would bring along the gift he got for Masahiro. Masahiro said that he would bring along his gift as well, and that he wanted to talk to Ichirou about something.

The next day, Ichirou wore some short pink overalls with a heart sewn into the chest. Under it, he wore a pale pink off the shoulder shirt. He wore his hair down, somewhat nervously, and put a heart pin in his hair. He also wore the bracelet that Masahiro had given him what seemed like forever ago. A simple pink satchel was slung over his shoulder, which he kept the knife in. Because it was so hot outside, Ichirou decided to skip most shoes altogether, and he put on some pink slides.

At ten in the morning, he headed downstairs, a little nervous. This was the first time they were meeting outside of a Saturday, and for whatever reason, just that alone was enough to make him anxious. Before, they had only met on Saturdays because of Masahiro’s schooling, but it was summer vacation now. There was no reason for them to exclusively meet up on Saturdays.

Ichirou left his home after getting the affirmative text. Masahiro was waiting for him, wearing a sleeveless hoodie and some joggers. Ichirou swore in his head. It was a lot harder for him to be not sexually attracted to Masahiro when he had those arms. However, he was determined to just be friends with this man, so he chose to ignore them.

“Good morning, Masahiro-san,” he said, giving the man a little bow.

“Good morning, Ichirou-san,” Masahiro said back, giving his “boyfriend” a little grin.

“Are you in the mood to walk today?” Ichirou asked.

“Absolutely. It’s not too hot out yet, let’s do it.”

The two walked side by side down the road, making sure to duck in the shadows whenever they could. Compared to the other houses in the area, the outside of Ichirou’s home looked more like an apartment building than a single family home. Most of the buildings didn’t have more than two floors, but they had one of the rare homes that had three. It was fairly inconspicuous from the outside, as most buildings in this area were on the outside, but the inside of most of these homes were filled with luxury items. Because Ichirou’s grandfather had bought up four separate houses and bulldozed them to create his own dream house, it was only natural that people would look at the Kimura family with a certain awe at their extreme wealth.

“It’s so quiet here, it doesn’t even feel like Tokyo,” Masahiro commented.

“Yeah, it’s really nice. Someday, whenever I do get married and want to settle down, this is probably where I’ll live as well,” Ichirou said, looking at the familiar buildings he often passed by to go get his drinks.

“Only problem is that there’s no gym or spa. Heaven forbid my muscles start to weaken,” Masahiro said teasingly, flexing his arm dramatically.

It took everything in Ichirou not to stare too hard at that. “Uh, yeah, there’s not, so I guess that would be a problem for you, if you ever moved here.”

“If you moved to my neighborhood, you’d probably have a lot of fun. There’s all sorts of museums, restaurants, nightlife, and shopping. I think you’d enjoy it, if you ever decide to move out of your folks’ place,” Masahiro said.

“I’ll move out! And I fully intend on living in a fancy apartment before I have kids. Maybe I’ll even still live in an apartment while my first is little,” Ichirou huffed.

“If you decide to move in somewhere close to me, we can hang out a lot more, too,” Masahiro said with a grin.

“Yeah! That would be fun. We could party–wait, do you even party?” Ichirou asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Not really, but I’ll try for you,” Masahiro laughed.

Their chat continued as they headed into town, and then into the shopping mall where the coffee shop was located. They both ordered their drinks: an iced latte for Masahiro, and a strawberry creme frappuccino. There were no seats by the window today, so they sat in a booth instead. Ichirou took a sip of his sweet, frozen treat, wiggling a little bit at the joy of the sweet coffee.

“Okay, so, while we’re sitting here, your gift is being delivered to your house,” Masahiro said, pulling away from his own drink.

“What?” Ichirou asked with a blink.

“I said your gift is being delivered to your house. I wanted it to be a surprise, so I decided to get you out of the house so you have all the anticipation,” Masahiro said with a mischievous grin.

Ichirou glared at him. “That’s rude! I’ve got your present right here, and you want me to wait?”

“Yes, I do. It’s also a big show for your family, too, though, so bear with me a bit,” he said with a wink.

Ichirou pouted. “You’re not even gonna tell me what it is?”

“Nope! It’s too embarrassing, there’s no way I’ll tell you.”

Ichirou grumbled under his breath, wondering what it could possibly be. However, he decided to just accept it. He pulled his gift out of his satchel, which he had enlisted his mother to wrap. As such, it looked nice. He knew that if he did it himself, it would end up looking really bad. He pushed it over to Masahiro, his cheeks beginning to heat up.

“D- don’t think I worked too hard on this gift or anything, okay? It just seemed like a good idea,” Ichirou grumbled, his cheeks burning. Why was giving gifts so embarrassing??

Masahiro didn’t didn’t even recognise his tsundere side coming out, instead focusing on unwrapping the knife. He let out a soft gasp as he revealed the box, obviously immediately recognizing the brand. He seemed to recognize better than to open it in the store, and he looked up to Ichirou, beaming.

“Thank you, Ichirou-san. This is a wonderful gift. I’ve been meaning to upgrade to this brand for a long time. This is such a thoughtful gift…”

Ichirou’s mouth dropped open. “Ma- Masahiro-san, you’re…!”

“Eh? I’m…?”

Masahiro only then seemed to notice that a tear had begun to fall down his face. He touched it, looking at the wetness. His face turned bright red and he quickly began wiping the other couple of tears away on his arms. Ichirou ran over and grabbed a couple of napkins, hurrying back and offering them to his friend.

“I’m sorry, such a dumb thing to cry about,” Masahiro said, laughing while tears continued to fall. “It’s just… my uncle is terrible about deciding what gifts to get me, so it always ends up being bad, and Takeru and I don’t give each other gifts for our birthdays, preferring experiences together… and then, of course, my aunt doesn’t give me anything… I’m sorry, it’s just been such a long time since I got such a thoughtful gift.”

“What? Didn’t your girlfriend give you gifts?” Ichirou asked, wondering if it would be inappropriate to stroke Masahiro’s arm for comfort.

“Yeah, but I never felt like she really knew me. Even though you came into my life so quickly, I feel like you already know me. I’m so grateful,” Masahiro said, finally wiping away the last of the tears.

Ichirou was quiet, feeling a bit nervous at that for some reason. It didn’t seem like Masahiro hid himself, but Ichirou really couldn’t be sure. Was it just that he let Ichirou in for some odd reason? But then, what was that reason? Why would Masahiro feel so connected to him? It couldn’t be… love, could it? No, that was absurd. Just as absurd as Ichirou falling in love with Masahiro over the course of four months.

Ichirou decided, in the end, to simply shake it off. “Masahiro-san, I don’t really know what happened to you… but I’m here for you. I’m your friend.” Ichirou gave him an encouraging smile.

“I appreciate that, a lot,” Masahiro said, grinning from ear to ear. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you about something.”

Ichirou felt a bit grateful for the change of subject and he nodded. “What’s up?”

“I was thinking, since it’s my summer vacation and all, that maybe we could hang out a bit more. I mean, this is obviously a transactional relationship first and foremost, so we don’t have to meet up on more than Saturdays, but I was just thinking–”

“Totally, let’s do it.”

Ichirou’s mouth answered before his brain did. He was left catching up. Wait, so they were going to meet more than once a week now? His extroverted heart soared at the thought, but he was certain his parents would be extremely lonely without him. No, that didn’t matter. It was summer vacation, and he had a “boyfriend.” Wouldn’t it be more strange if he didn’t constantly hang out with him?

“Oh, are you sure?” Masahiro looked surprised.

“Yeah, I am. What sort of young adult would I be if I didn’t hang out with my boyfriend while he was on summer vacation?” Ichirou asked, sipping on his sweet coffee. “It makes total sense that I would hang out with you more. Besides, it’ll be fun. We can go swimming, have a barbeque, go drinking… it’ll be great!”

“Y- yeah! I was thinking the same thing,” Masahiro said, sitting up a bit with a grin. “We can maybe head to a museum, or go to that theme park that we were planning on going to forever ago. Plus we can invite Yuuhei-san and Takeru as well. It will be lots of fun!”

Ichirou nodded firmly. “I want to do fireworks, too, if we can. Maybe go down to the beach?”

“Whatever you want, I’m totally fine with whatever,” Masahiro said.

“I haven’t been to a beach all summer,” Ichirou said with a sigh.

“You went to one in May, though, right? That’s sooner than I have,” Masahiro said, grinning.

“Which is why we gotta go soon! Let’s try to get Takeru and Yuuhei to come, too, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll reach out to Takeru and see when his available days are, okay?”

“And I’ll check with Yuuhei. We should really make a group chat one of these days.”

“Probably.”

“Oh, and not related, but my parents have been pressuring me to set up a day for you to come meet them. So we should probably figure that out, too,” Ichirou said, sighing as he examined his nails.

“Yeah, we probably should… um, why don’t we do it a month from now? On the Sunday closest… hang on, let me see… September eighteenth? I’m honestly trying to put it off,” Masahiro said with an uncomfortable laugh.

Ichirou nodded, his own brows pulling together. “I totally get it. I’m really nervous, too. Let’s have a meeting on the sixteenth, then, and disguise it as another anniversary thing. Just so we can go over everything and make sure we’re not caught off guard by any questions, or whatever they attempt to throw at us.”

Masahiro nodded, but if he was being honest, he was much more nervous than Ichirou for an entirely different reason. He had hung around Ichirou’s parents for five years while they were kids, and it’s not like he looked a ton different or had a different spelling of his name. It would just take them asking, “What were your parents’ names?” and they would realize it was him. As such, he couldn’t help but want to put it off.

Masahiro was not hiding his past from Ichirou for any malicious reasons. The only reason he was doing so was because Ichirou did not remember him. If Ichirou had remembered him, then he would have come clean about it immediately. However, because Ichirou never said anything until that night that he got drunk, Masahiro had thought that Ichirou had no memory of him. And while he was grateful that he had left some form of impression on Ichirou, some part of him was still a little sad that Ichirou didn’t realize it was him.

Masahiro and Ichirou chatted until close to noon, before Masahiro decided they ought to leave the coffee shop. He walked Ichirou back home, and now it was a lot more hot. Masahiro wished him a good day outside of Ichirou’s house, and got into the car. However, just as usual, he didn’t drive away, instead waiting patiently for Ichirou to go into his home safe and sound.

Ichirou walked in, anxious about what on earth could be waiting for him. His mom had been waiting for him in the entryway. She told him that his gift had been delivered to his room. Ichirou nodded and quickly walked upstairs to see what it was. His mother followed him, seeming to want to see his reaction.

Ichirou walked into his room and didn’t see the gift at first. However, when he turned to look at his vanity, he saw it. Ichirou gasped, walking over and lightly rubbing the petals between his thumb and forefinger. They were real, and gorgeous. 

It was a huge display of probably close to thirty pale pink roses, with some baby’s breath, white carnations, and white lilies spread in between the roses. Ichirou leaned in to gently smell the soft scents that they gave off. He couldn’t help but grin widely; this was the first time he had received flowers from anyone he actually really cared about, and they were his favorite flower, too. How had Masahiro known?

“Look, that’s not all,” his mom said, directing his attention to a box that sat beside his flowers.

Ichirou looked down and noticed that there was, indeed, a wrapped box. It was impossible to tell what was inside by looking on the outside, so he quickly tore into it and opened it up. He gasped once again, dropping the box back on the vanity. With trembling hands, he pulled out the apron-style skirt. It was a sweet lolita skirt, and one from Pretty Angel at that. The skirt was pink, with a red polkadot ribbon bow both on the chest and around the waist. Giant strawberries and pink bunnies adorned the cute print. Some pale pink lace ran around the hem of the skirt, leaving the whole thing feeling very sugary and sweet.

Iwa covered her mouth in surprise, looking at her son. “Oh my god, that’s perfect for you.”

Ichirou felt tears welling up in his eyes and he nodded. As much as he had felt nervous about Masahiro feeling so seen by him, now he realized exactly what Masahiro meant by that. Masahiro saw him, and it felt incredible.