Chapter Twenty-Two

By the time he got home, it felt like a weight had been lifted off Yuu's shoulders, even if it was only for a few hours. He threw his satchel on his desk, knowing if he got started on his homework quickly, he could have some free time before the coronation began.

Thankfully, he didn't have much to do that evening, except for some chemistry problems on balancing equations and a Latin translation that he'd forgot to finish in class. He got to work on the translation, scribbling down the answers in the margins with his charcoal pencil. As he worked, however, the feeling of what Mitsuba said to him about his test resurfaced, pissing him off.

"Who does she think she is, anyway?" Yuu vented to himself, pressing the charcoal so forcefully into the paper he threatened to rip it. "Telling me I'm shitty at Latin. God, what a bitch."

"Who's a bitch?" A foreign voice questioned, and Yuu swore he jumped three feet in the air. The soft charcoal in his hand snapped in two when he instinctively clenched his fists. Yuu turned around, prepared to face the trespasser, surprised to find it was Mika of all people. He was by the french-style doors, watching Yuu cautiously as he effortlessly leaned against the adjacent wall.

"Mika?" Yuu gasped, immediately running his hand through his hair to fix the knotted mess. Mika curled his fingers in a wave. "How long have you been standing there? And how did you get past the guards?"

"Pretty much the entire time you've been here. I just told them I'm your friend from school, and that we were working on a science project together. Really, you'd think for the royal guard, they'd have more strict policy for who they let in the castle. I was expecting at least a thorough background check and pat-down," He added on with a laugh.

Yuu was still too shocked to say anything, so Mika strided over to his desk and leaned over his shoulder. "What are you working on?"

Yuu could barely manage saying "Latin translation," because he was too busy taking deep and steady breaths as to not spontaneously combust considering the proximity between them was making it extremely difficult to stay sane. Mika took the paper out of his hands, his eyes lighting up when he recognized it.

"Oh, this is easy!" He smiled. "Here, allow me!" He picked up the bigger piece of the charcoal, smirking bemusedly when he saw it had snapped. "What happened here?"

"You freaked me out, okay?" Yuu defended himself, looking at his lap. Mika laughed, but not in the sense that he was laughing at Yuu for carelessly breaking the writing utensil, but in the sense he thought Yuu was funny.

Mika hastily filled out the translation, not once stopping to hesitate or pause. After a minute, he set the charcoal down and announced he'd finished. Yuu stared at the paper, scanning it for errors, surprised to find none. His jaw falling slack, Yuu blinked in surprise. "Any other homework?"

"Just some chemistry problems," Yuu answered. "But you don't have to help me if you don't want to, I'd say I'm pretty good at chemistry-"

"Oh?" Mika batted his eyelashes. "Because personally, I think I need a tutor in chemistry, would'ja mind teaching me what you know?"

Yuu caught on to the innuendo immediately, and his face flushed red as a surprised gasp flew out of his mouth. Before he could say anything, he was cut off by Mika taking his hands, pulling him into a standing position. He twirled Yuu waltz-style, and the dreary scenery of his bedroom was wiped away, replaced by a sparkling ballroom. Yuu's hand found it's way to Mika's shoulder, the other clutching to his hand. They were chest to chest, their eyes never tearing away from each other. They trapised throughout the room, laughing like idiots to the point where they couldn't take another step.

They toppled over on Yuu's bed, still giggling like mad. Mika was on top of Yuu now, propping himself up with his elbows. Their hands still intertwined, they watched each other intensely.

"I didn't know you had freckles," Yuu's eyes flickered down to the bridge of Mika's nose, where the lightest of freckles dusted across his cheeks.

"Eh. I don't like them," Mika admitted.

"Why not? They're cute," Yuu insisted softly, reaching out his hand to stroke Mika's cheek with the soft pad of his thumb. "Just like you."

A shy look crossed over Mika's face. That was all it took for Mika to lean in and connect their lips suddenly. It took Yuu off guard, and after he inhaled sharply, immediately reacting with crazed lust to the contact. The kiss obliterated every thought running around in Yuu's head, evaporating the worries of the day.

The warmth from Mika's mouth spread to his, and then throughout the rest of his body. He felt like he was on fire, every spot Mika touching sending shivers down his spine. His senses were ablaze; burning into nothing but ash. Mika was on top of him now, his hands moving down from Yuu's face to his sides, whereas Yuu's fingers remained threaded in Mika's golden hair.

They were moving so fast, but Yuu wasn't complaining. He'd never kissed anyone like this before, and he wasn't so sure he ever wanted to. Mika was the only one who'd ever made him feel so real and vulnerable.

It was then that he heard the aggressively-loud clicking of high heels that he realized what he was doing. He pushed Mika off him immediately, hissing "Quick, you have to hide. Get in the closet!"

"Haha, how ironic-"

"Shhh!" Yuu's heart was beating rapidly now, and not in the way that he liked, the way his heart fluttered around Mika. No, now he was in panic mode, knowing full-well if they were caught neither one of them would see the light of day again. Mika ducked into the closet, diving behind a rack of clothes. "Don't move," He directed quietly, shutting the closet door just as Shinoa herself threw open the door, storming in through the doorway,

"Yuichiro!" She shouted, looking around. Yuu had managed to sit on his bed before she looked his way, studying him quizzically. "Who were you talking to just now?"

In an attempt to cover up how he'd been talking to Mika previously, he looked around him and pointed to himself in faux confusion. "Myself?" He asked just as confusedly. He looked at her; she was dressed in an elegant white bodycon dress, holding the same bouquet of ivory roses from last week's practice. "I was just thinking of something stupid out loud."

"Does it have to do about how you've been keeping secrets from me?" Throwing the bouquet on the bedside table, Shinoa turned her attention to the confused boy, pressing her manicured fingers into Yuu's chest.

Yuu's first response was to play dumb. "What do you mean?" His voice was hoarse, and in his brain he was screaming How the fuck did she find out? Did Yoichi say something? That bastard, I'm gonna kill him!

"Mitsuba told me she overheard-"

Fuck. Of course.

"-said you were a homosexual!" Shinoa yelled. Yuu was admittedly scared; he'd never seen Shinoa look this angry in his life. One of her knees was propped up on his mattress, the other between his legs, trapping him on the bed. "What happened, Yuichiro? Have I not been good to you?"

"Shinoa-"

"Am I not pretty enough for you?" She continued on, a desperate edge in her voice.

"Shinoa, that's not true," Yuu started, but he couldn't give an excuse, because Shinoa was leaning closer and it felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs.

"Is it because we've been waiting until marriage? If you're not satisfied with me, please tell me, I'll do good to you, baby, I'll make you feel so good-" She was slowly pushing him down now, holding his wrists down, her lilac hair hanging in ringlets that covered part of her face. There was a hidden darkness in her eyes, filled with desperation and hopelessness.

Yuu was frozen with anticipated fear, unable to comprehend what was happening. He was much more physically strong than her, of course, yet he was so afraid he couldn't find the ability to tell her to stop, let alone move.

Shinoa was just about to connect their lips together when she returned to her senses, pausing mid-movement. Her eyes began to water, and Yuu took this as the opportunity to push her off him and scramble to his feet.

"Get out," He hissed, pointing to the door. She nodded, silently backing up before whirling around, making a run for the door. The door slammed shut behind her, and Yuu waited for a few seconds until he got up and moved towards his closet.

"Hey," He whispered into the dark. "It's all clear now."

Mika emerged from the shadows, a concerned expression evident on his face. "Are you okay?" He wondered. "What just happened out there?"

Shaking his head, Yuu muttered something along the lines of "I don't want to talk about it," and before he could stop himself, he had pinned Mika against the wall. All thoughts of reason out the window, the only thing on his mind was kissing Mika again to drown out everything else.

Mika responded to the kiss, one hand resting on Yuu's cheek. The kiss was desperate and messy, all tongue and little feeling. "H-hey, wait a sec," He said through kisses. "Shouldn't you be more careful? She could come back at any moment-"

"Don't care," Yuu answered shortly, meshing their lips together again. Mika laughed at his bluntness, the vibration buzzing throughout his body and sending a shiver down his spine. A low groan escaped his mouth as he pushed the limits as to how close their bodies could be pressed together.

What happened next was too quickly for Yuu to process, let alone react.

"Sorry, I forgot my bouquet-" The door slammed open, with Shinoa bursting into the room yet again. "Oh my God!" She screeched. "You are a homosexual!"

Yuu jumped off Mika like he was a hot stove and Yuu had just been burnt. He felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest or burst, whichever came first.

"Shinoa-" Yuu began. "It's not what it looks like!"

"I do not want to hear your excuses!" She sobbed hysterically, shoving past him and snatching up the bouquet off his nightstand. Tears were pooling out of her already red-rimmed eyes, and she hastily wiped them away with the back of her hand.

"Wait-"

She was about to storm out the door when Yuu ran after her and grabbed her wrist tightly, causing her to whirl around and try to yank herself away from her grasp. "Don't touch me, you sick bastard!"

Before she yanked the door shut, she grabbed the doorknob and looked at Yuu with so much malice in her bloodshot eyes, Yuu felt like she was going to burn a hole in him. "Don't think you will get away with this, Yuichiro. For the sake of the country's benefit, you will not choose the homosexual lifestyle."

And before Yuu could say anything, the door had shut so loudly it made him jump back into reality. He slowly turned around, eyeing Mika, who was deathly pale, save for his still-bruised, reddened lips, which were parted in surprise.

"What just happened...?" Yuu whispered, still in shock. How am I going to explain this to my parents when I go downstairs for the practice? He thought worriedly, the dread already leeching into his veins.

"I-" Mika's voice shook nervously, "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"Mika, I think..." Yuu sighed, rubbing his temples to ease the headache. "I think it would be best if you left."

"Yuu-chan, I can still fix this. I'm sorry, I was careless to come here-"

"Please!" Yuu's voice raised in exasperation. When he saw Mika's upset expression, he sighed once again and turned away. "Just, go." Staring at his shoes, he willed himself to push away the forming tears and focused on the escape plan, knowing everything would resolve itself by the end of the week. "I'll see you on Friday night, yeah?"

He looked up when he received no answer, expecting to see Mika still standing there against the wall, but he had already silently disappeared, leaving only an open window, a goosebump-forming gust of wind, and the lingering absence of a broken heart in his place.

A/N: Tbh even I wasn't expecting that angsty bit at the end there, lol. Hope you enjoyed this! Things are going to be picking up really fast within the next couple chapters and I'm really excited. We are approaching the dramatic climax scene! Woohoo!

(The feels when you have no idea how said scene is going to go down and you're low-key panicking)

** IMPORTANT: I will be uploading a NEW STORY for NaNoWriMo very soon! The prologue will be up on November 1st (I hope), so look out for that! **