Disclaimer: I can totally understand why CLAMP doesn't want to part with them. Really.

A/N: A Very Long Lasting Crush was originally a French-written One Shot I had done a few years ago, based on a single endearing sentence many children have pronounced: "When I'll get older, I'll get married with Dad!" (or mom)… Thinking of it while reading a KuroFai fanfic gave me the basic idea of a One Shot, which I wrote quite quickly (I don't even think it's taken me more than half a day…).
At the time, this OS was titled Mon Petit Prince Charmant (My Little Prince Charming) and now that I look at it, I know that it was not that good (though I still like the idea)… however, since some of you seemed to be interested in reading it, I choose to translate it and put it at the end of this Fanfiction.
I tried very hard not to make it any better than it really was (which was not that good already .) so that you'll be able to see by yourselves that, yes, I really have improved my writing since I published that^^'

(Last) Quick word to the reviewer:

Kayla-chan1990: Aaaaaaw, thank you so much! You can't imagine how proud your review makes me feel! (I'll end up crying before I'm done answering to everyone here!) Thanks a lot for reading! 3

Kinibop: Aw, I'm glad you liked the ending^^ And don't worry, I certainly won't think you're crazy for reading Yaoi 3 (And I hope you did have sweet dreams^^)

MisuzuIta: I'm afraid it is I'll most likely write AVLLC-related OS or drabbles in the near future, so as to keep the magic running for a little more time :) I don't plan on being stuck to this fanfcition (or fandom) forever though, so watch out for new stories (maybe in different fandoms^^)

Jordanne: Oh, thank you very much then^^ I have another TRC fanfiction stored in my files, but I'll write it later, since I already need to write down two other stories before they managed to get away from me x)

Burningdarkfire: Ah, I'm really glad you left at least one review, it really means a lot to me :)
Ah, I was very satisfied with Mon Petit Prince Charmant when I finished it^^ It's just now, though I still look at eat with endeared eyes, I can't help but notice what progress I have made since I wrote it… and perhaps even since I began writing AVLLC x)
Ahah, I'm flattered you're in love with him, because I think he's the character I've put the most energy in^^ Fai, Kuro and the others pretty much wrote themselves for most of the time, but had to force Yuui out of his corpse state before I could really write about him x)
Big Thank you to you too, for reading this fanfic and liking it^^

TrueDespairOverlord: Ah, I knew right from the beginning that I wanted this sentence to be the last one of the story because it sort of… you know, closes the circle :) And so it logically brought out the DVD part^^
And here is the One-Shot that started it all x) Let's hope you'll like it a bit, too^^
Yes, I'll be writing about TRC again, of course^^ For now, I have two multi-chaptered stories planned in other fandoms (first Digimon, and then Saint Seiya) but when I'm done with these, I'll write another multi-chaptered fanfic about TRC^^ Meanwhile, I'll be publishing some AVLLC-related vignettes (I don't know how many yet^^') so you won't be left without KuroFai for too long^^
Anyway, thanks a lot for reading and reviewing this fanfiction, it really means a lot to me 3

Tuliharja: I'd say if that happened, then a certain blonde would have to run very fast if he wanted to survive his prank's consequences x)
Aw, I'm really glad that you think I've come to be a better writer, it really means a lot to me :)
Hehe, I'll be glad to hear from you then^^
Ah, I'd like to be able to see one of those musicals someday^^
Aw, thanks for the hug^^ I was just beginning to think that maybe I was one^^' And it's nothing compared to how much I cried when I had to write one of my OC's death ^///^'
Oh yeah, even Fai was bound to be surprised at the revelation that Kurogane had been in love with him for so long^^ And I liked the idea of the grand-grandchildren finding Tomoyo's DVDs, because it mean that she and the others were somehow still alive :)
Hehe well, I didn't write in English when I first conceived Mon Petit Prince Charmant, so yes, it's in French, but don't worry: here comes the translation^^
Many, many, many thanks for following me through AVLLC and for your regular reviews: they were most helpful to me :)
I hope I'll be seeing you again on the site 3

Sinclair: Aw yeah, ten months is quite long for a story, but I think it's a good thing it took so long to be completed : it underlines the long time-span of the story and makes it more 'felt' by readers, if i may say so^^'
Ah, well, Kurogane wouldn't like looking at a sunset anyway: it would hurt his eye and make him all grumpy x) (Moreover, if Fai was to become blind, watching a sunset wouldn't be a really good idea^^')
Ah, well, as you mentioned, Souma is a sort of female Kurogane (though I daresay she swears a lot less that he does^^') so it was very unlikely that she would let paparazzi bother her lover :)
Aw, reading this collection of Kurogane quotes made me feel all nostalgic… And I can't cry since I'm sitting in a classroom while writing this ///
But yes, as you said, Kurogane's ways to say "I love you" are a bit… uh… unusual x) However, since Fai's reactions are a bit unusual as well, it is somehow logical that they ended up together (or is it just me being an obsessed KuroFai shipper?)
Hehe, don't worry, my next TRC fanfiction is already planned out x) However, I don't feel like writing it just yet, because I'm still too much into AVLLC^^' So I'll write two other stories that have been nagging at my brain for some time now, and then I'll come back to Kuro and Fai. (I'll probably write a few AVLLC-related snippets in the meanwhile, though)
And yeah, go for cherry-flavored drinks 3
Thanks a (huuuuuuuuuge) lot for following me through AVLLC, for your support and your wonderful reviews^^

Thanks a lot to all of you, anonymous readers and people who added this story on their favorite and/or alert list, even without leaving a review! I hope I'll be seeing you again on the site :)

And now, you are free to laugh your heads off at how bad my writing was a few years ago x)

BONUS

My Little Prince Charming

"Fai! Hi

-Hey! Hello Kuro-Chan!

-Aaaaaaaaaaan!!! That's Kurogane!!! Ku-ro-ga-ne!"

Tomoyo smiled while watching her little brother bickering with their shared best friend. Fai often came to her place to do his school work, for it was difficult to do so at his home… just try and learn your lessons in a big house full of training warriors!(1)

When she had know that she would have a little brother-or-sister-we-want-it-to-be-a-surprise, the blond had been the first one to know. When Kurogane was born, Fai had been at least as happy as she. And he had taken care of Kurogane ever since.

Actually, Fai was pretty much the only person who did not belong to the Suwa family who had realized the exploit of totally taming the small brunet. Kurogane had a total admiration and affection for him. So total that…

"Yes it's true!" Shouted the boy's voice somewhere on the side.

Tomoyo saw that Kurogane had joined Touya and Yukito, his game mates, as well as Sakura, Touya's little sister and Chii, Fai's little sister, and was talking with them heatedly.

Tomoyo walked closer of the little group, followed by Fai, and addressed the child closest to her:

"What's going on, Yukito-kun?"

"Kurogane-kun's saying silly things." The silver-haired boy told her with an amused smile.

"That's not silly!" Kurogane exploded. "When I'll be older, I'll get married with Fai!"

"But, Kurogane-sempai", Sakura protested in that sweet voice of her, "You need to be a man and a woman to get married!"

"Nonsense!" Kurogane replied with all the strength of his seven years old lungs.

"Sakura-chan's right." Fai contradicted him gently. "Besides, you still have time before thinking of getting married, don't you think so? You'll see, one of these days, you'll probably find a lovely young girl and you'll be happy together."

"Beuah, no! Girls are no fun! They're silly and they speak all the time! I'd rather get married with you!"

"Ah, but I don't want to get married with you, Kuro-Chan. You're too young for me. Besides, I want to get married with a strong man."

"Not with a lady?" Kurogane asked hopefully.

Fai shook his head sideways and Tomoyo smiled. She had known Fai was gay for long by this time. Explaining it to the blonde's parents, and then to the children had not been an easy task but, eventually, everything went fine. Fai's true friends hadn't been shocked, the others hadn't been regretted.

"No," Fai answered, "not with a lady."

"So, if I become strong, will you get married with me?"

Fai pretended to think it over for a while, then smiled:

"I don't know. We'll talk about it again when you'll be a bit older, okay?"

"Okay!"

Bouncing with joy, Kurogane followed his older sister while Touya, Yukito, Chii and Sakura walked toward their shared house.

Still, Fai though, Kurogane really had nerves. To propose to a seventeen years old teenager… unless it was only a thoughtless proposition from a naïve child. In any case, it could only provoke a smile.

"That brat." Fai thought tenderly. "He's just too cute with his Prince Charming's looks..."

oOo

"What are you doing?"

Fai sighed and sat straight up in order to wipe his glasses, before going back into his anatomy volume. Finally, after a long silence and since Kurogane was obviously going to stay, he deigned to answer his question:

"I'm studying." He sighed. "I've got an exam tomorrow morning."

"What's an exam?" Kurogane asked.

"A very important test. Can you let me study, now, please?"

"Didn't you plan to go in the parc?"

"The wind took my scarf away. I've got a singing show in two days, I can't afford to catch a cold. So I'm staying home. Let me study now, please."

Kurogane smiled widely and jumped on the bed, just in front of Fai's head.

"Kuro-Chan, what the hell are you doing!?"

"I've got it! I've taken your scarf back from the nut-tree!"

"Are you crazy or what?!" Fai exclaimed while grabbing his white and blue scarf. "Do you realize you could have gotten something broken?"

"But you would have been here!" Kurogane replied while dismissing Fai's anger with a careless hand move. "You're studying to become a Doctor, aren't you?"

"A surg… yeah, you could say that. But still! If you ever go that high again in the tree, I'll slap you, is that clear? I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't do it again!" Kurogane promised. "So, do you come to the parc with me, now that you've got your scarf? I've got my ball, we can play football! Touya and Yukito are coming, too."

"What about Chii and Sakura?" Fai sighed.

"They're coming too." Kurogane huffed. "Say," he went on after a second's thought, "what I did was strong, wasn't it?"

"Yep, but I'll have your head if you ever do it again, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah." The brunet acquiesced. "Say… now that I'm strong, will you marry me?"

Fai paused, flabbergasted. To receive this kind of proposal from a ten-years-old when you're twenty is never simple. Wordlessly, but with a soft smile on his lips, the blonde ruffled his young friend's hair.

oOo

"By the way, did you know Sakura had a boyfriend?"

"Yeah." Kurogane answered without looking up from his English homework. "Name's Shaolan."

"And how old is he?" Tomoyo asked.

"Don't know. Seventeen, I think."

"Four years older than she is, then."

"Yeah."

"And two years older than you."

"Yeah."

"God, I can't realize that you're already fifteen!"

"Tomo-Chan, you're getting annoying."

Tomoyo giggled and studied her little brother more closely. A tall, muscled and handsome brunet, with blood-red eyes which attracted the attention: Kurogane could have had a girl per week if he had wanted to. But no. He had chosen to remain single. And all that for a child's promise.

"You know," Tomoyo said softly, "You don't have to hold this promise. You're not obliged to…."

"I don't go out with anyone because I don't want anyone else." Kurogane cut in. "End of story."

And their dialogue ended there.

oOo

"Eighteen, still a virgin, you're not lucky buddyyyyyyy!

Eighteen and still single but, you seeeeeee,

Speaking of girls, there's plentyyyyyyyy!

Handsome and smart, you'll get them for freeeeeeeeeeeeee!

But it's getting suspicious so HURRY!" (2)

Kurogane let out a sigh of relief when his friends finally ceased to sing.

"Is Dying Cat's concerto over yet?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. "can I go back to a normal activity?"

"Oh Kuro you meanie! We wrote it specially for you!"

"I can do without such gifts." The red-eyed brunet retorted. "And that's Kurogane."

His murderous gaze would have accepted no protestation.

When his friends finally left his apartment, Kurogane decided to take a walk. Grabbing his jacket, he went out of the flat, ready to confront the cold month of December, the lyrics from the song still floating in a corner of his head.

Eighteen, still a virgin.

Well, yeah, so what? Why did these morons care? They weren't concerned! He had his reasons. Even though he would never have given them.

Try and explain to such brainless guys that the reason why you never asked anyone out at eighteen is because you've had a crush on the same man since you were seven? No, really, telling them wasn't a good idea.

They'd have laughed. They'd have made fun of him. Of the tall, big and strong Kurogane who hid someone so romantic it became almost stupid.

Yes, Kurogane remained faithful to a childhood's promise. Not because of overgrown pride, simply because of love. Of course, one could think that, being only eighteen, he knew nothing of love. Maybe. Nevertheless, he certainly wasn't about to force himself to date a girl for whom he would have felt nothing.

Kurogane bumped into someone a growled for an instant, before he recognized the woman standing before him.

"Oh. Hi Chii."

"Ohayo Kuro-Sama! Wie geht's? "

"I don't speak German, Chii!"

The young woman laughed heartily and took off her hat and red and black mittens. Her long blonde hair fell behind her back on her Lakers' jacket, and she shook off snow from her baggy trousers' knees.

"I wanted to know how you felt."

"I'm fine. My ears aren't."

"Nooooooooo," Chii exclaimed incredulously, "Tell me they haven't sung their crappy song!"

"Well yes, they did."

Chii burst into laughter and anchored herself to his neck in order to plant a kiss on his right cheek.

"Poor Kuro-Sweet. To inflict this to you on your birthday!"

"What can I say? Either you're doomed, or you're not."

"Well, happy birthday anyway! Chii sympathized with a smile. Here, your gift."

Kurogane smiled at the silver-blue earring and hurried to put it on. He had had his left ear pierced when he had entered high school, and from that moment Chii had taken to gift him an earring for each of his birthdays, keeping the other half of the pair for her own right ear.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Chii kissed her friend's cheek again. "From Nii-San. He wishes you a happy birthday. He phoned yesterday."

Kurogane barely managed not to bounce out of joy.

oOo

Fai let out a satisfied growl. He was finally done with unpacking his boxes. It really was a laborious task!

And yet, he was glad to be back in Japan. He had missed it. Chii, Sakura, Touya, Yukito, Tomoyo… and of course, Kurogane. He wondered what the young boy had become. Would he be very different from the boy Fai had left behind four years before?

Of course, Chii gave him news of him in her emails, but as the proverb said, "one hundred testimonies do not equal a look".

Fai sighed, checked the hour of the day, and decided to go out and have fun. His friends weren't aware of his coming back and he hadn't planned on seeing them this night… so he decided to drag himself toward the nearest night club.

oOo

Once again, Chii had managed to drag him in a nightclub. And once again, after a good quarter of an hour spent protesting, he found himself dancing by his short, blonde battery of a best friend. In the end, Chii and him would come back totally wiped out, their head totally full of techno music.

Or at least that had been the plan until Kurogane realized his partner had disappeared. It wasn't long, however, before he spotted her, chattering at the bar with an unknown young woman. The brunet shrugged his shoulders and set his mind back on the music. He was too stressed, and he needed to dance himself into exhaustion so as to get reed of it. He danced alone for a while, until he spotted a blonde silhouette farther down on the dance floor and decided to try and address him.

Of course, when he realized that the blonde stranger was none other than his childhood love, he couldn't help being shocked.

"Fai?!"

"Kuro-Chan?"

"I thought you were in Sydney!" The brunet exclaimed.

"And I thought you were in bed?"

"I'm of age! And I've got my own appartment!"

"Okaaaay… Don't you want to go and chat somewhere else? Somewhere we can talk without shouting!"

"No problem, but I have to bring Chii back at your parent's first!"

"Okay!"

Fai walked to his sister who welcomed him with joyful cries. Then, after they had left Chii at her parent's house, Fai and Kurogane drove to Fai's place.

"So," Fai asked as they removed their jackets, "how are you doing? What about you studies?"

"Fine." The brunet answered.

"You know Kuro, if you want to hold a conversation, you'll need more than two words of vocabulary." Fai's leather shirt fell to the floor, leaving only a red mark on his pale skin.

"I signed up for a designer school." Kurogane replied after a pause. "I hope it'll work well. What about you?"

"Works quite well." Fai smiled while putting on an oversized, night blue T-shirt. "I'll soon have my own cabinet. What about your love life? Any girlfriend?"

"Nope."

"Boyfriend?"

"Nope."

"Someone you like then?"

"Yeah."

"You see me relieved!" Fai laughed. "Coffee?"

"Please."

"And this someone? Boy or girl?"

"Man."

"Old man?"

"No, young."

"I hope he's handsome, at least!"

"Very much so."

"Kuro-Chan, if you ever tell me he's intelligent, gay and single, I'll tell everyone you found a miracle"

"He is a miracle." Kurogane answered. "But you can't ask him out."

"And why not, if you please?"

"Because I've spent years training for this."

"Really?" Fai asked between two sips of coffee. "So long?"

"Yeah. I had to become strong."

"Uh… why that?"

"Because you said you wanted to marry a strong man."

Fai choked on his coffee, and his cheeks became as red as Kurogane's eyes. Said Kurogane was quite embarrassed as well, judging by the crimson blush spreading across his face.

"Is this… a joke?"

"Nope."

Fai sighed and decided to sit down on the floor, not knowing what to say. No one had ever prepared him to such a situation. It was nearly surreal.

Okay, he was totally fond of Kurogane. Yes, the brunet was terribly sexy, all the more when he blushed. But he had proposed to Fai at age seven, damnit! Fai couldn't believe such a promise had lasted for eleven years!

As the silence became more and more embarrassed, Fai tried to find something to lift up the atmosphere.

"So for eleven years you…"

Wrong move. Kurogane's color went from blood red to carmine.

"No one ever forced me." Kurogane mumbled. "Nothing happened with the other because I… well, I didn't love them."

"Well… I knew you really were a romantic, but I must admit this goes beyond all my expectations."

Oh yeah, well beyond. Just as Kurogane's looks were better than anything Fai had imagined during their four years long separation, but it was an entirely different topic. It could play a role, though.

Fai got up and ran a nervous hand through his hair.

"Well…" he sighed, "well, well, well…"

Meanwhile, Kurogane had reduced the distance separating them without Fai noticing… thus, when Fai lifted his eyes, he found himself instantly lost in a blood-red sea.

"Oh for fuck's sake… That's totally surrealist." Fai whispered before allowingKurogane to kiss him."

oOo

Fai sat up in his bed, trying to fight off the headache that was pounding against his skull. For a split second, he wondered whether he had dreamed the previous evening or not. Proved wrong by a very naked Kurogane who was peacefully snoring under the covers, Fai let himself fall back on the pillow, torn between happiness, shame and fear.

"Oh Lord… please help me."

"Hmm… what's happening?" Kurogane mumbled sleepily.

"Kurogane… how do you feel?"

"Wonderfully good." The younger man answered. "Though it would be better if you could lay down. It cold outside the covers."

"Do you realize what we've done?" Fai asked, still sitting up.

"Yes, thank you. And I know what you're thinking, because I've thought the same things as well. And let me tell you that I don't give a shit of people's opinion. And Tomoyo's not going to kill you, she was so upset with my being single that she can only pleased. And I'll take care of mom and dad."

"They're gonna hate me."

"Oh, no!" Kurogane reassured him. "They'll still like you. And besides, they don't have a choice. I've waited for you for eleven years, I'm not letting you go. Now get back here."

Fai obeyed him, knowing he would need time before he stopped doubting… but also knowing that Kurogane would be there for him, no matter what.

The blonde smiled as a comparison he had made a long time before came back to his mind.

"My prince." He whispered while falling back to sleep. "My little prince Charming."

End of My Little Prince Charming.

(1)Really, 'warriors' is too strong a word for what I had in mind at the time… It's just a Dojô, nothing more ^^'

(2)This song was a real PAIN to translate… It's meant to be one of those ridiculous, homemade song written only to be funny… but it's not^^' (funny, I mean). It's just plain silly. Oh, well, I wasn't planning on writing songs anyway x)

From now on, I'll be privately answering your reviews, so please feel free to review this story again and again if you want to :)
Lots of love,
Fania

*Moves on to another section of *