"Mikoto... please stop..."

Mikoto buzzed around Kouno arranging pillows, presenting a tissue box in a knit floral cozy, filling an electronic tea kettle with water, fishing in the freezer for ice cream...

"Mikoto I don't want any ice cream..."

Mikoto finally climbed up onto his bed and offered Kouno a spoon. "You have to."

"Mikoto..."

"We are men. And men don't have to worry about stupid things like being on diets and pretending they don't like ice cream." He held out the plastic spoon forcefully.

Kouno sighed and took the spoon. This was one battle not worth fighting. Mikoto pointedly looked at the mint chip pint in his hands, and Kouno spooned some out. The ice cream... actually felt quite nice. Mint chip wasn't his favorite. He preferred Cherry Garcia. Yuujiro always said that putting fruit in ice cream was an abomination-if you're going to eat like a fatty you'd better go all out.

Kouno almost smiled, but tears stung his eyes instead. He took another spoonful.

"Good," Mikoto gave him a small smile.

When Kouno had first appeared at his doorstep, Mikoto had started ranting about how his two fellow princesses couldn't even let him rest in piece on their day off. And Kouno had fully taken in Mikoto's self righteous whining fury, patiently waiting for him to notice that Kouno was in fact alone, and that such a thing was too bizarre even for a trick.

All the remnants of Mikoto's ever-present furious blush had now drained away, and Kouno found that Mikoto looked quite a bit more mature this way. It was now Kouno who was behaving like a childish mess.

Pathetic... I'm washing away a broken heart with ice cream of all things.

He took another spoonful.

"So..." Mikoto began, nurturing a large scoop himself.

"Thanks for letting me in, Mikoto," Kouno said sincerely.

Mikoto nodded quickly. "Yeah... I mean we're friends and stuff... right?"

Kouno truly couldn't keep himself from rolling his eyes. "Yes Mikoto. You're actually my only friend in this school at the moment."

"You mean Shihoudani..."

Kouno nodded and grit his teeth, waiting for the cogs in Mikoto's slow little brain to finally click into place.

"Oh." Mikoto's face lit up. "I thought this was about Cat..."

Kouno shrugged. "Well now you know."

"...but it was really all Shihoudani's fault. He betrayed you because he was really in love with Cat the whole time, and he went behind your back and kissed her and he thought you weren't there but you saw! And now you don't know if that was the first time or how much they've done it and whether Cat loved you at all!"

"A-actually Mikoto-"

"Just remember," Mikoto place a hand on Kouno's shoulder. "that Cat is still your girlfriend, and if Shihoudani thinks he can just-"

"Mikoto!" Despite himself, Kouno was actually finding it very difficult not to laugh. He almost wished Yuujiro could see this. "I don't have a girlfriend."

Mikoto's hand dropped, and he stared at Kouno dumbstruck. "But you said-"

"I lied." Kouno shook his head, allowing himself to smile a little at the memory. "I... we... were hiding our... our... what was really going on between us. Between Yuujiro and I." Kouno chanced a glance at Mikoto, but the smaller princess' face was still utterly blank. Kouno sighed. "I-I'm upset because Yuujiro rejected me. I-I kind of... did stuff... with Yuujiro. But just as friends. And now I... and now I..." Kouno swallowed hard. He did not want to cry again. "I really like him for real but for him it was all just a stupid joke." He dug his nails into the palms of his hands. Hard. "He hates me now."

Mikoto put the ice cream down on the table and pulled Kouno into a hug. Kouno squeezed his eyes against the tears, but a few made it through the barrier, sliding down his face and onto Mikoto's shirt.

When the two pulled away, Kouno felt infinitesimally calmer. "Thanks," he muttered.

"You know... Shihoudani says he hates me all the time... and it always feels like he really does, but he doesn't."

"This is different, Mikoto..."

"No. It's not."

"Mikoto..."

"Listen." Mikoto grabbed Kouno by the shoulders, and Kouno was shocked by the depth of sincerity in his friend's eyes. "I've known Shihoudani longer than you, and this is what he does. He pretends he doesn't like you because he doesn't want anyone getting too close. Even before we were selected as princesses, he didn't even try to make any friends. He may seem scary at times, but it's because he's really afraid. I don't know anything about... love, but I do know that he doesn't hate you. You're the only person he lets into his... bubble. You're his best friend." Mikoto dropped his hands from Kouno's shoulders. "...or something."

"Wow, Mikoto." Kouno shook his head. "You know you're smarter than you look."

Mikoto pouted. "I am smart."

"That's... that's" Kouno sighed. "That's what I just said."

"You said I looked stupid!"

"Mikoto just..." Kouno ran his hand through his hair. "You don't look stupid, ok?"

"Thank you."

"You're a strong, smart, independent woman."

"Hey!"

"Sorry!" Kouno laughed. He nudged Mikoto, and Mikoto's childish pout turned up into a grin.

Kouno reached for the ice cream and offered it to Mikoto. "Truce?"

"It's my ice cream," he said as he fished for the spoon. Mikoto shoved a spoonful into his mouth and the sour expression dissipated.

Note to self, keep ice cream handy to appease Mikoto.

Now where's the fun in that? he could almost hear Yuujiro retorting, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Kouno grabbed the other spoon.

"So you're not..." Kouno glanced up at Mikoto. Ice cream shined in both corners of his mouth. "You're not grossed out or anything by me?" Mikoto flipped the spoon in his mouth and tilted his head. "By me liking guys? It's like, first I wear dresses and now I like boys-"

"But you're still a man," Mikoto shrugged. "And some men fall in love with other men."

Kouno felt relief flood his chest. He'd never given much thought to the reactions of other people. Falling for his best friend-his male best friend-was a private shame. The idea that it could be anything other than shameful had never occurred to him.

"I... I don't think he feels that way. He's revolted by me. And he should be... I violated him."

Mikoto's brows furrowed. "No... no that can't be right."

"You don't know, Mikoto. You weren't there."

"Shihoudani wouldn't let anyone take advantage of him."

Kouno only gave him a small shrug in response. He wasn't really in the mood to argue about the extent of his perversion. He already knew how utterly despicable he was-and Yuujiro did too.

"Well... tell me how it happened then?"

Kouno opened up his mouth to say no, but the word caught in his throat. It would be so nice to get it all off of his chest, something like confessing his sins. And if Mikoto really wasn't going to judge him, well... "Remember that assignment in English class where we had to write about a romantic first?"

By the end of the tale, used tissues covered and surrounded the bed, and the ice cream container was scraped clean-all courtesy of Mikoto.

"How could he?!" Mikoto wailed. "What you shared... it was so beautiful. What does it matter if you were kissing Princess Shihoudani or Shihoudani Shihoudani?! He wasn't even wearing a dress." Mikoto stuck his hand out for another tissue and Kouno obliged.

"Well, it was really more about him just helping me out as a friend. I crossed the line, and that's why it got weird..."

"Don't you..." Mikoto blew his nose loudly. "Don't you see." He tossed the tissue to the side and grasped both of Kouno's shoulders. "You didn't do anything other than fall in love, and that's never wrong because love is the most beautiful thing on this planet."

"Maybe, but-"

"And Shihoudani must love you too!"

Kouno bit down on his lip. "But he doesn't. He's with that stupid girl from the coffee shop right now."

"Normal friends don't do," Mikoto glanced around as if someone might be listening "lover things with each other. He only wanted an excuse to be close to you."

"He's just..." Kouno took a shuddering breath. He wanted to believe Mikoto so badly... "He's just a really good friend. And I took advantage of that. I was... I was lying about my feelings the whole time."

"And now he's lying about his feelings."

"Damn it, Mikoto!" He violently pulled away from his friend's grasp. "What do you know about love anyway? Your girlfriend left you the minute she found out you were a Princess!"

He regretted the words even as they were tumbling from his lips. Mikoto looked as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He opened his mouth, then closed it, biting hard on his lower lip. He shrunk into himself, curling against the small headboard.

"M-mikoto, I-"

"I know." Mikoto's lip quivered. "You're right. You guys shouldn't waste your time trying to get her back for me... it's over. She dumped me."

"No... Mikoto. Megumi just jumped to conclusions. What we do is pretty... weird. To a normal person it would really look like you're cheating on her."

"I was cheating," Mikoto whined miserably. "You guys said so yourself. I was lying to her and-"

"Mikoto, it's more complicated than that."

Mikoto grabbed his pillow and pulled it to his chest. "Kind of like with you and Shihoudani?"

"Oh I think we understand each other very clearly," Kouno said bitterly.

"No!" Mikoto scrambled out of his stupor and sat up straight next to Kouno. "It's not too late for you two! Just... have patience with Shihoudani. Let him know you'll still be his friend even when he pushes you away. And I'll help!"

"No!" Kouno jumped off the bed. "I mean, thank you, but he can't know I came to you. That would be-"

"Oh I can be very subtle" Mikoto gave Kouno an overly dramatic wink.

Kouno sighed. "Sure, Mikoto... just... no matter what don't tell him I was sitting here crying and eating ice cream."

Mikoto nodded solemnly. "Of course not. You have my honor as a man." He held out his pinky.

"What?"

"Pinky promise!" Mikoto forcibly hooked their pinkies together, and squinted his eyes. "My honor as a man," he repeated, his voice at least an octave lower than usual.

"Thanks, Mikoto." Kouno laughed and shook his head. "You're actually really good to talk to about... stuff."

"Any time!" Mikoto's face broke out into a wide grin, and he flopped back on the bed.

"See you tomorrow. The swim team has a meet at 10am, and we're called to wardrobe at 8."

"Ugh," Mikoto grabbed his pillow and rolled to the wall. "Can't we sleep in one weekend?"

Kouno only smiled. "See you at eight."

Kouno paused at the door to their room. He had managed to kill another few hours by grabbing dinner and working on homework, but now it was time to face Yuujiro. And he still had no idea what to say.

Just... have patience with Shihoudani. Let him know you'll still be his friend even when he pushes you away.

How would a normal friend even act in this situation? He took a deep breath, resolved to wing it, and unlocked the door.

The room was dark.

He crept in and found Yuujiro already curled up in bed. His breathing was rather quick and irregular, so he was probably faking it, but Kouno wasn't going to press the matter. The encounter would have to wait until morning then.

A/N: So raise your hand if you're shocked I kept my word.

But I did! Hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you think! And before you ask, I have no idea how this is all going to resolve, but my guess is that we have around 2 chapters to go.

Thanks for reading! 3