The trouble with having a crush is that it is all-consuming. If you don't talk about it, the pressure will build until it is unbearable. The trouble with having a crush on your best friend is that you have no one to tell.

Early on, it had been Yuuri thinking Murata had a crush on him. There was the way he used to look at him in class. And then at that dolphin show he joked about holding hands. He told himself it was flattering, but that he could never be interested in something like that even if Murata was. Then he found out his friend was The Great Sage and that seemed to explain things. It was a professional interest. It should have been a relief.

It wasn't.

The more Yuuri thought about it, as his adventures progressed, the more it bothered him. One day he even found himself having a heated, hypothetical conversation with some of Greta's dolls over whether leading someone on should be a crime in Shin Makoku. He was, thankfully, appropriately embarrassed afterward. He had to blame Wolfram's influence both for making him see male relationships as viable and for encouraging him to be such a hot head.

It wasn't uncommon in Shin Makoku. That was a plus.

How many times had he turned the corner in the hall with the tapestries to see Murata looking up at the Shinou? It made him wonder how common it had been back then.

He couldn't make himself ask about it. Whenever it seemed like he was about to bring up something potentially embarrassing he would distract his friend with another topic. Baseball was his go-to subject.

After about the fifth conversation about the strike zone in a single day, he realized he was going to have to talk to someone. Maybe he'd tell Wolfram. After all, if he was dead he wouldn't have to worry about it getting back to Murata.