Ichirou was full of mixed feelings as he received the message that Masahiro wouldn’t be able to message him for at least three days. On one hand, he definitely found himself missing being able to talk to one of his closest friends, but on the other hand… his mind would not stop wandering to perverse places. It definitely wasn’t because Masahiro was in his rut, but he couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like to be with an faceless alpha on his rut.

There was an entirely different problem with that. Ichirou did not masturbate often, but he found himself unable to climax to that idea. He desperately wanted to, but it wasn’t happening for some reason. No, he knew the reason, he just absolutely refused to accept it. He needed to put a face on the faceless alpha he was imagining, and it was specifically Masahiro’s face that he needed to imagine. However, the absolute shame and disgust he was filled with at that idea completely revolted him.

Still, he laid down on his bed and continuously stroked his cock and thrusted his two fingers, in and out. He had been horny for several days now, and he was determined to cum. He panted as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to not imagine Masahiro’s large, warm fingers inside of him, trying desperately not to imagine Masahiro’s cock lined up against his soaking wet asshole, trying desperately not to imagine Masahiro thrusting into him and filling him up and–

Ichirou came, gasping and whining. His body trembled as white cum splashed its way onto the inside of his hand. The release from three days of horniness made the pleasure all the more intense. He looked up at the ceiling, somewhat dizzy and body hot. With this, he couldn’t deny it anymore; he was sexually attracted to Masahiro.

Well, it made perfect sense. Masahiro’s well defined muscles were exactly what Ichirou was into. He had a well defined jawline, long eyelashes, dark, somewhat thick eyebrows, hair that was carefully maintained, black plugs in his ears that were a centimeter and a half or so wide… god damn it, Masahiro was hot as hell. And Ichirou simply couldn’t deny what he felt below his waistband any longer.

However, could he deny his romantic feelings further? Yes, he certainly could, and he was going to. Being sexually attracted to someone and having romantic feelings were entirely different things, and he was determined to keep that concept separate. He would not want Masahiro as a boyfriend. As a sexual fantasy that he kept to himself? Maybe. But as an actual romantic partner? Hell no.

Thus, when Masahiro finally texted him, late in the evening the next day, saying that he had survived, Ichirou felt a sense of shame and discontentment. He had used Masahiro as masturbation material, how could he do that to his dear friend? True, he was super fine, but that didn’t make it okay! Masahiro would be totally grossed out by him and would never want to speak to him again if he ever found out.

Ichirou also spent a long time attempting to decide how he wanted to post the picture of him and Masahiro wearing matching ears. He agonized over which filters to use, what caption to put, and what hashtags he should add to it. In the end, he chose a slightly pink filter, captioned it, “Coming here together was wonderful!” and simply hashtagged it “Dasneyland.” He held his breath as he waited for the comments to roll in, which they did fairly quickly. 

“Does this mean Ichirou-chan really is taken? T_T” “Ahh, what a cute couple! :D” “Glad you two had fun!” “You look cute as always!” “You’re not really dating… you’re actually mine after all! Mua ha ha ha!” “This guy doesn’t deserve our little Ichirou-chan! :C” “You look really happy, I’m so jealous!” “Who is this guy??” “When is the wedding?”

Ichirou let out a soft sigh as he found that most of the comments were fairly positive. He didn’t want anyone disparaging Masahiro. After all, they were good friends. Besides, it felt strangely good to have people recognize his “relationship” with Masahiro. It was like they were checking off a long list of things that people were supposed to do in relationships, despite the fact that their relationship wasn’t a real one.

The next week, on Sunday, Ichirou went over to Masahiro’s house to watch more anime and dramas with him. It was incredibly nerve wracking for Ichirou suddenly, because they would be alone. He just had to keep it cool and nothing would happen. That’s right, it was for the best if nothing happened.

Ichirou sat on the couch in his pajamas, a button down, short sleeve shirt with short shorts. A popcorn bowl sat between him and Masahiro, who was opening up the streaming service that both the anime and the drama were on. Masahiro had a popsicle in his mouth, and he was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Ichirou was trying desperately not to think of the popsicle as something else entirely, and was also trying his best not to stare at those damn, bulging muscles. Now that Ichirou had admitted to himself that he found Masahiro hot, it was like the thoughts were bubbling up more and more frequently.

“Let’s watch the drama first, we’ve only watched two episodes of that together and it should be finishing up pretty soon,” Masahiro said, opening up the drama.

Ichirou nodded, swallowing hard. “S- sure thing.” Desperately clawing at something to keep his mind off his horny thoughts, he remembered a trending thing he had seen online about the main two actors of this drama. “Um, have you heard the rumors?”

Masahiro, having successfully brought up the show, blinked a couple of times and looked at his friend. “No, what rumors?”

“Um, people think that the two main actors actually started dating. A photographer caught them holding hands on the way to the alpha’s car.”

Masahiro looked like he was suspicious of the claims. “We hold hands sometimes, does that mean we’re dating?”

Ichirou opened his mouth, then closed it. “Oh. I guess I didn’t think about that.”

Masahiro laughed, getting comfy and turning back to the television. “Yeah, well, there’s always more than what meets the eye. Besides, even if they are, who are we to be prying in on it? Being a celebrity and secretly dating must be hard.”

Ichirou nodded slowly, eyes dragging away from Masahiro and looking at the television. “Pretend dating is also hard.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I feel like I’m constantly worried about whether people think our relationship is real or not.”

“Understandable. I guess it’s easier for me since I don’t see my uncle as often as you see your parents.”

“Yeah, that might help. Does your uncle ever ask about me?”

“Um… yeah, he does. But he and I are both introverts, so a lot of the time when we hang out, we don’t end up talking a lot. So, he’s only asked about you a couple of times. My aunt on the other hand…”

Ichirou glanced over to Masahiro. “She asks about me a lot?”

Masahiro nodded, biting off a piece of his popsicle. “Every time I have to be around her, she asks about you. She’s sort of like your parents, who think that the only purpose to date is to get married, so she keeps asking me if I’m planning on proposing soon. I obviously have no intentions to do so, so I keep trying to keep her away. God, she and her whole family sucks.”

“Her whole family? What do you mean?”

“I have two younger cousins, and she’s got a husband. The husband doesn’t say much, to be honest, but the two younger cousins… they’re the ones that really suck,” Masahiro grumbled. “They’re just mean. I don’t know how else to describe them. They think they’re better than me because their mom has instilled that in them. Plus, they shove the fact that I don’t have parents in my face a lot.”

Ichirou’s eyebrows raised. “What the fuck? That’s not okay, at all.”

“Yeah, and don’t I know it. I can’t do anything about it, though, because she’ll say I’m lying about her precious little angels. It’s a bunch of bullshit. I just hope that whenever I end up in charge of the company, I can just completely cut her out of my life. She still thinks one of her sons will be the ones to become the CEO, but my uncle has promised me that he’s going to make me heir, like my parents wanted.” Masahiro’s fists were trembling, whether with anger or sadness, Ichirou wasn’t sure.

“Well, if they try anything, let me know, and I’ll use the power of the Kimura family to beat their butts,” Ichirou said, hugging his knees to his chest. 

This caught Masahiro off guard, but he laughed after a moment. “Good to hear that my strong and powerful boyfriend will save me.”

Ichirou felt his face flush at the mention of him being Masahiro’s boyfriend. Even if it was just a joke, nobody had really referred to Ichirou as that before. He burrowed his face into his knees in an attempt to get rid of the embarrassment that plagued him.

“Anyway…” Masahiro continued. “I’m grateful, but I don’t think it will ever come to that. My uncle is the CEO right now, and he really hates how entitled her kids are. The board is pretty much on board with the idea that I become CEO in ten or so years as well. I don’t think I’ll need the strength of the Kimura Conglomerate, but perhaps just the strength of one of the Kimura family members.”

Ichirou had been looking at Masahiro, but now he had buried his head back into his knees in embarrassment. The way Masahiro was talking was almost like they really were boyfriends. Which Ichirou definitely didn’t want to be! But still… it was enough to make his heart pound and his ears flush.

Ichirou eventually came out of his embarrassment zone, and continued watching the television. The show was surprisingly funny, catching both Ichirou and Masahiro off guard. Ichirou felt the embarrassed tension leave his body, as he remembered that Masahiro was his friend first and foremost. So what if he was (insanely) sexually attracted to Masahiro? They were friends, and that was what was most important.

“Ah, jeez, this alpha is fumbling every play so hard,” Masahiro said with a chuckle as the alpha in the show tripped right in front of the omega. “Dude has got it bad.”

“You’ve never felt nervous in front of the one you like?” Ichirou asked, watching the main character run off, trying to play it cool and failing horribly.

“I didn’t say that I don’t get nervous, I’m just saying he’s terrible at dating. I guess high school love can be like that, huh,” he mused, seeming to be entertained. 

Ichirou looked over to Masahiro with curiosity. “Were you like that at all in high school?”

Masahiro leaned back with a huff. “Yeah, in a different way. I was super obsessive and weird. My girlfriend could never tell what I was thinking.”

Ichirou blinked a couple of times. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I, uh… I wasn’t the best boyfriend to her,” he admitted. “I realized near the end of our relationship that I was using her as a replacement for someone else that I actually liked. Still, I was so determined to make it work with her that I ended up just really irritating her.”

Ichirou nodded. “So, you actually liked someone else, but you dated her instead? Why didn’t you just ask out the person who you did like?”

Masahiro smiled almost bitterly at that. “No, that wasn’t a possibility. That person would have never felt the same way as I did. They were too good for me. Plus, I don’t think they knew I existed at the time.”

Ichirou tilted his head in confusion. “Really? How can you be so sure?”

Masahiro leaned back against the couch, looking up towards the ceiling. He clasped his hands together before speaking. “It’s really hard to explain. That person, my first love, has just always been sweet, cute, and wonderful. When they enter a room, everything begins to shine and sparkle. Their smiles filled me with incredible joy, and it was all I could do to not hug them. But… I watched them from the sidelines. I was too scared to talk to them, too scared to reach out. So they slipped through my fingers. I don’t know, does that make sense?”

Ichirou’s stomach was doing flip-flops. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt incredibly envious of whoever was Masahiro’s first love. Masahiro had obviously cherished them a ton, but that person never got to learn how he felt. Perhaps that person had been looking back at Masahiro the same way, but they both had been too shy to say anything. Ichirou silently wished that somebody would feel that way about him someday.

“Um, Masahiro-san… have you ever thought about trying to reach out and contact them? It seems to me like maybe you still like them,” Ichirou said carefully.

“Mm, I have. At the same time, though, I just want them to be happy more than anything. I don’t mind if they marry someone else, start a family, whatever it may be. As long as they’re happy, I don’t think I’d even mind spending the rest of my life suffering,” Masahiro said with a smile.

Ichirou was taken aback by this. He had heard of this kind of thing before–in Greek, this sort of love could be called Agápe. A truly selfless, unconditional acceptance and faithfulness. He didn’t know that it could be romantic in nature, but it seemed that it could be. Masahiro was obviously still in love with them, and Ichirou was surprised that this was the first he was hearing of Masahiro’s romantic inclinations. 

“What sort of person are they? You’ve made me really curious,” Ichirou said, ignoring the weird gnawing at his stomach at the idea that Masahiro was in love with someone.

“Ah, well… I don’t want to give out too many details since it’s a bit embarrassing, but they’re really sweet. They always think of others, they’re always giving whenever they can, they’re really, really cute, their embarrassed face is so sweet… I could honestly go on for hours, but I think this much is even a bit…” Masahiro trailed off, looking away in a flustered manner.

“I had no idea you felt like this about someone,” Ichirou said, leaning towards his “boyfriend” a bit.

“It’s not something I like to talk about with most people. In fact, I don’t think I’ve talked about it with anyone other than Takeru and my uncle,” Masahiro admitted.

Ichirou felt the slightest bit of warmth in his chest at that. “Oh… I guess that means you really trust me, huh?”

Masahiro finally looked away from the ceiling towards Ichirou, a smile on his face. “Yeah, I do trust you, Ichirou-san. You’re one of my best friends.”

Ichirou felt butterflies explode in his stomach and chest and his cheeks gained color. He mumbled out some form of gratitude, looking back to the television. Something about Masahiro saying that was simultaneously the best thing he’d ever heard, and also didn’t quite scratch an itch. He was happy to be Masahiro’s best friend, but there was something else…

Masahiro stared at Ichirou for a moment longer as Ichirou watched the drama. He forced himself to drag his eyes away from the cutest person in the world, at the very least to him. He hadn’t wanted to talk about his crush on Ichirou with Ichirou, as it was dangerously toeing the line, but he hadn’t been able to think of a way out of that conversation once he let it slip that he was using his ex as a replacement for Ichirou. They really had looked quite a bit alike; she had silky pink hair and large pink eyes as well, but their personalities were completely different.

Masahiro had dated her to try to replace his memories of Ichirou with someone else, and he had desperately tried to be the best boyfriend he could be in order to make her happy. However, she could feel how dishonest his attempts were, and it just made them have a huge wedge be driven between the two of them. In the end, he actually broke up with her because he realized he couldn’t just replace Ichirou. However, she was the one who actually threatened breaking up, first, he just took her up on the offer. She had been really shocked when he agreed to break up, but he had honestly just been looking for a way out.

Masahiro, had actually ended up telling her the whole story, and she had looked at him like he was crazy. He didn’t blame her for feeling that way, it was crazy. Falling in love with someone at the age of eight was silly enough, but still being in love with them nearly ten years later? Ridiculous. But that was the weight of his loyalty. He couldn’t imagine being in love with anyone else.

Ichirou and Masahiro enjoyed four episodes total, throwing in a funny comment here and there, before Ichirou began to get sleepy. And so, Masahiro turned off the television and Ichirou took to the bathroom to do his skincare routine. They chatted for a moment more as Ichirou washed his face and put on various creams. After that, they said goodnight, and Ichirou went to bed in the spare room.

However, that was when the problem for Ichirou really began. Suddenly, he was alone with Masahiro’s scent surrounding him. It wasn’t like the sexual, cinnamon-like scent that he had smelled earlier, but something about it being Masahiro’s scent in Masahiro’s apartment made it similarly sexy to Ichirou. He had managed to keep it cool while he was hanging out with Masahiro, why couldn’t he keep it cool now?!

Ichirou’s erection slowly grew, and he did everything in his power to will it back down. He could not masturbate in Masahiro’s spare room. Not only was that a wildly inappropriate thing to do in someone else’s house, but Masahiro would absolutely know what Ichirou had done. He would be able to smell it when Ichirou left the apartment and he had to clean up the sheets. Not only that, but the sheets! He could get them wet, he couldn’t do that!

Ichirou trembled, trying to get thoughts of a shirtless Masahiro out of his head. His mind conjured up images of Masahiro looking down at him through those thick lashes, an amazingly smoldering look on his face. He bit down on his bottom lip and refused to touch himself, even as he felt himself getting wet. These damn pheromones everywhere were wrecking his self control.

It took a long time and a lot of effort, but he ended up falling asleep without jerking off. However, his dreams continued to assault him with images of Masahiro. Specifically of Ichirou looking over his shoulder at Masahiro, whose cock was ramming into his ass. Ichirou let out gasping whines and moans, and Masahiro had him pinned down against the mattress. Ichirou couldn’t move from where he laid on the bed, he could only accept the pleasure that Masahiro was giving to him. His mind was going blank from the pleasure, toes curling and whining noises coming from his mouth. And then…

Ichirou woke up. With intense embarrassment, he jumped up and out of bed, feeling both his asshole and the front of his sleep pants. Both were wet, to his horror. He quickly threw the sheets aside to look at the bed, and let out a relieved sigh as he saw that there was no stain. He may have came in his pants during the night, but at least he didn’t get it anywhere. He wandered over to the window, praying that the window opened up. It didn’t. Damn it, hopefully he didn’t let out too many pheromones during the night.

Ichirou got into his outfit, a large pink sweater with the words “Pretty Boy” emblazoned on it, and some pale blue jeans. He then rushed over to the bathroom, and quickly cleaned himself up. He looked at himself in the mirror, noting how flushed and frazzled he looked. It couldn’t be helped; he had done something incredibly shameful.

If Masahiro ever noticed that the room smelled funny, he didn’t comment on it. They had breakfast like usual, and they watched a couple episodes of the drama together before Ichirou got picked up by his chauffeur. Ichirou sincerely hoped that Masahiro never noticed what horrifically shameful thing he had done. He knew he couldn’t control what his body did in its sleep, but that didn’t change the fact that it was horrible that it happened while Ichirou was over at his house.

Ichirou spent the rest of his week up until their five month anniversary struggling to find some sort of good gift for Masahiro. He wanted it to be perfect, because he and Masahiro had such great gifts last time. In the end, he decided on a shiny, silver watch with a blue face that would match the necklace that Ichirou gave him several months ago. He couldn’t help but think that it would look handsome with Masahiro.

Ichirou, during that Monday through Friday, tried desperately to ignore his newfound sexual urges. It really wasn’t like him to be so… so horny. However, something about the realization that he was sexually attracted to Masahiro had made his libido shoot through the roof. He couldn’t stop thinking about Masahiro’s chiseled body dominating his smaller one… it was like some sort of weird addiction. He did his best to ignore it, but he did indulge in his sexual thoughts on the day before he was supposed to meet up with Masahiro in hopes that it would cause him to be less excitable when they met up.

Ichirou’s outfit for the date on that Friday was a t-shirt with a cute ice cream print all over it, some lavender capris, and some pink espadrilles. Add on a cute sling backpack that was shaped in a pink mascot character’s face, and he looked adorable. Some part of him wanted to wear the apron skirt that Masahiro had given him last month, but he knew that he would die of shyness if he went out in that.

Masahiro, meanwhile, was dressed in black slacks, wingtip navy shoes, and a navy and white pinstripe button up shirt. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and, once again, his shirt was unbuttoned a little further than would be acceptable in any job. However, Ichirou’s horny side was grateful to see just the slightest bit of pectorals. 

Ichirou and Masahiro had decided to go to lunch together at an Indian place about a week ago. It wasn’t the most fancy of places, but Ichirou didn’t mind. It was well reviewed, and that was what was most important.

They sat down together in the small restaurant, and looked over the menu. Ichirou ordered several samosas for them to share, butter chicken, some naan, and a sparkling wine. Masahiro, meanwhile, ordered some tandoori chicken, mutton kashmiri, rice, and a draft beer. It had been a while since Ichirou had Indian food, if he was being honest, so he was a little bit nervous about it. However, this place was fairly close to Masahiro’s, and he insisted that it was good, so Ichirou trusted him.

“So, Ichirou-san, this Sunday is the day. Are you half as nervous as I am?” Masahiro asked, trying to sound casual but ultimately sounding anxious.

“I’m pretty nervous,” Ichirou admitted, crunching on a samosa. He was surprised at the nice flavor, and felt a bit more calm. “Are you gonna be okay?”

“Well, you know…” he said lamely. “Probably. I guess it all depends upon how much your parents grill me.”

“Yeah, I think they’re probably gonna be pretty worried about a lot of things. Like, maybe they’ll ask you about business things? They’ll probably be the most worried about whether you’re a good, strong alpha who can take care of their little princess,” Ichirou said, grumbling near the end.

“Well, I’m pretty sure I can, but I don’t think he’d like that very much,” Masahiro said with a laugh.

Ichirou flushed a bit at that. “Y- yeah, I doubt you’d like it very much either.”

Masahiro hummed a sound that could be taken as agreement. “Do you think you could figure out some ideas of what questions they’re going to ask me? I really don’t want to go in blind.”

Ichirou tapped his chin, thinking for a moment. “Well, they’re probably going to want to make sure you’re not just in it for the money, especially given that your family’s company’s growth has become… stagnant, I guess.”

“Got it. Understandable. I’ll just… talk about all of your good points,” he said decidedly. 

“Will you really be able to come up with that many?” Ichirou cocked one eyebrow.

“Oh, you’re great, come on! It shouldn’t be an issue at all,” Masahiro said with a somewhat joking grin on his face.

Ichirou rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Anyway, how about any other questions? What do you think they’ll want from me?” Masahiro asked, taking a sip of his beer.

Before Ichirou could respond, their main courses were put in front of them. He tore a piece of the naan off, then used it to scoop up some of his curry and chicken. He ate it, humming softly as he enjoyed the notes of butter and tomatoes, as well as the delicious garlic flavor of the naan. He had been worried for nothing; it was delicious.

“So?” Masahiro asked, bringing Ichirou out of his reverie.

“Oh, sorry. Um, yeah, I don’t think they’ll ask you when you’re planning on proposing, that’s probably too far for even then. So don’t worry about that.”

“Oh, well, I wasn’t before, but I am now.”

“Well, stop. I think they’re much more likely to ask about your family. I’ll let them know beforehand not to ask about your parents,” Ichirou said, making an “X” shape with his two forefingers.

“Thank you, I appreciate that,” Masahiro smiled. “Anything in particular about my family, or…?”

“They’re gonna be into pedigree shit, I’m sure. Your grandpa started the hotel chain, is that right?” Ichirou asked.

“Ah, yes.”

“I see. Well, we’re a well known alpha family. Well, maybe not super well known, but well known enough to be invited to your house in an open call for alphas,” Masahiro said.

“Speaking of that night, I’m just curious, did Oda-san also get the invite?” Ichirou asked, leaning forward a bit.

“Oh, yeah, he totally did. He turned it down, though. He said he wasn’t interested in dating,” Masahiro said. “I mean, he was, but he was certain that a high society, pretty in pink omega probably wouldn’t fulfill his… desires.”

Ichirou looked grossed out at that. “Yeah, I’m sure he and I never could date.”

“Same. I mean, I’m sure that you two couldn’t date, that is,” Masahiro said awkwardly.

“Umm, other questions, other questions… I mean, they might ask you about your previous relationship,” Ichirou offered up.

“Easy enough. I just need to not be weird about it, which isn’t too hard. I’ll just kinda give them the vague details like I did with you when we first talked about it,” Masahiro said.

“Please do. I would probably just straight up die if they asked any sexual questions, so let’s hope they don’t,” Ichirou said, taking a sip of his sparkling wine.

“I mean, I can always make something up if they do ask. Pretend that you and I are really ravenous,” Masahiro said with a wink.

Ichirou’s face turned bright red and he looked down. His damn, useless cock started to twitch at those words, and he had to do several deep breaths in order to calm himself down. Masahiro was not inviting him to enjoy a sexual rendevous with him. He was making a joke, that’s all it was. There was no need to get all hot and bothered.

“S- so, um, any- anyway,” Ichirou stuttered out, desperately trying to change the subject. “I- I don’t know what else they would ask, so, um… well, I guess, I also wanted to talk to you about something.”

Masahiro blinked and scooted forward a bit, eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Oh?”

“It’s not anything weird, I just… I was thinking, if we really did want to go to Hawaii, maybe we should start planning. It’s only, like, three and a half months away.”

“Ohh, yeah, we should definitely consider planning that out,” Masahiro said, squirming a bit. 

It wasn’t that Masahiro didn’t want to go to Hawaii, no, it was quite the opposite. However, he was a little nervous about setting anything up before Ichirou knew the truth about their relationship, which he was certain was going to come out once he met Ichirou’s parents. He was honestly a little scared that Ichirou would end up hating him or something. He didn’t want to believe that Ichirou would hate him over that, but he was also certain that Ichirou would not be happy that Masahiro had been keeping that from him.

“Let’s just start with the dates. What dates are you gonna be free?” Ichirou asked.

“Oh, lemme pull this up… uh, from December 29th to January 3rd. Looking at my class schedule… ah, I think I’ll be able to leave on the evening of the 28th, though,” Masahiro said, looking at his school’s calendar. 

“Okay, then what about hotels? Does your family have any hotels there, or…?”

“Nope, we’re exclusively in Asia right now,” Masahiro responded.

“Okay, then… what’s our budget per night?” Ichirou asked, looking up at Masahiro with questioning eyes.

“For a hotel? Whatever you want,” Masahiro said with a shrug.

“If we’re doing whatever I want, then I’m paying,” Ichirou said, leaning back in his seat and pulling up luxury hotels in Maui on his phone.

“Oh, come o-” Masahiro protested.

“You pay for everything! Let me pay for something, too,” Ichirou complained, glowering at his “boyfriend.”

“But I like paying for you,” Masahiro said with a pout.

“It’s not like we’re really dating, there’s no need for you to do that. Besides, the place I’m looking at is gonna be at least three hundred thousand yen a night. So let me pay with my rich ass family for once,” Ichirou grumbled.

Masahiro pouted a little, but nodded slowly. “Fine, but just… let me keep paying for stuff. I feel like it’s the best way I can show that I’m not just here to leech off your family’s wealth.”

“Oh, is that why you won’t ever let me pay? I thought it was because it would hurt your alpha pride or something,” Ichirou said.

“Who do you take me for?” Masahiro asked, sounding miffed.

“I couldn’t figure it out! And I never thought to ask,” Ichirou cried.

“Well, next time, think to ask,” Masahiro said with a huff.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll be fine. So, this resort has six restaurants, four bars, a huge spa, and multiple pools! God, I want to go so bad,” Ichirou groaned.

“Then, yeah, let’s pick out that one.”

“Ugh, it’ll be so nice to go on vacation with someone other than my family. I’ve offered it up to Yuuhei before, but he’s so adamant on not being dependent on rich people that he’s never gone with me,” Ichirou said with a sigh.

“To be honest, I’ve never thought of going on vacation with a friend. I’d probably kill Takeru if I did,” Masahiro said, sipping on his slowly warming beer.

“How is Oda-san? Whenever I ask Yuuhei about them, he just blushes and laughs,” Ichirou asked.

“Oh, Takeru’s really happy. All he does is tell me about the supposedly cute things that Yuuhei-san has done. I asked Takeru if he told his family, and of course he did, and of course they freaked out, but Takeru’s going to do whatever makes him happy,” Masahiro said with a shrug.

“God, I wish I could just do what I wanted like that. So jealous,” Ichirou groaned, sinking into his seat.

“If you could have a non serious relationship right now, would you do it?” Masahiro asked curiously.

“Yeah, totally. Hell, I’d probably even get into a serious relationship if I wasn’t being forced. It’s the expectations that are killing me more than anything,” Ichirou complained.

“The expectations of getting married soon?” Masahiro asked.

“Yeah… I’m sure my parents want me married by the time I’m twenty-four, which is insane, but yeah, okay, whatever. It’s not happening. Although, what if we ended up married because neither of us could figure out a good way to break up? That would be kind of funny, to be honest,” Ichirou said, amused.

Ichirou wasn’t sure if he was seeing things or not, but he swore he saw Masahiro blush. “Oh, uh, yeah, that would be crazy.”

The server came over with the final piece of their order; some mango flavored kulfi to share. Masahiro planned on only eating a bit of the sweet, wanting the majority of the dessert to be Ichirou’s. Ichirou wished he didn’t like sweet things as much, because he was starting to get worried about him gaining weight. Hopefully his future boyfriend preferred larger than average butts, or at the least, he was able to fix his diet to where he could lose a little weight again.

“By the way…” Masahiro cleared his throat and pulled a little box out of his pockets. “Happy Anniversary, Ichirou-san.”

He passed on the small blue box over to Ichirou. Ichirou, hands shaking a little, took it. He slowly opened it up and softly gasped. A pink, heart shaped sapphire was surrounded by tiny diamonds, with the pendant itself on a thin, gold chain. Ichirou looked at the sparkling gems with baited breath, before taking it out. Without a word, he put it on, carefully adjusting the beautiful pendant so that it was correctly on, smiling widely.

“This is so beautiful, Masahiro-san. Thank you,” Ichirou said, beaming at his fake boyfriend.

Masahiro looked a bit relieved. “It’s not too much?”

“Of course not. It’s gorgeous,” Ichirou snorted. “I’m a princess, so it’s perfect.”

Masahiro laughed, leaning forward. “That’s true. I just know that we’re not really dating, so this sort of thing could be…” He vaguely gestured, attempting to say that he didn’t want Ichirou to be uncomfortable.

“We’re trying to convince everyone we’re dating, please don’t hold back. We’ve got to do whatever we can to make sure nobody figures us out. Plus, I get cute clothes, and I will never say no to cute clothing and jewelry,” Ichirou said, smiling.

“Good to know. I’ll keep it up then,” Masahiro said with a wink.

Ichirou felt heat rising to his cheeks, but in order to ignore it, he grabbed the box from his purse. He passed it over to Masahiro, then quickly scooped up some kulfi, enjoying the ice cream like sweet. Masahiro opened it and grinned, letting out an exclamation of gratitude as he pulled the shiny, silver watch from its box. He quickly pulled it on his right wrist, his arm flexing a bit as he did so.

Something about the look of Masahiro, adjusting his watch with his sleeves rolled up and the sunset light hitting him through the window made Ichirou’s heart pound. Masahiro was so hot, it just wasn’t fair. He felt himself suddenly feel self conscious about being in a t-shirt and capris with this handsome, well dressed alpha. Even as a fake relationship, did Ichirou deserve to stand by this caring, gentle, earnest man?

Masahiro looked up and met Ichirou’s eyes. His lips curled into a warm smile, eyes crinkling slightly. Ichirou clenched his fists under the table, his breath catching in his throat. He wasn’t in love with Masahiro. He couldn’t possibly be in love with Masahiro. 

The two men parted soon after, but Ichirou’s heart wouldn’t stop pounding for a long time.