Chapter Text
2:31 AM and Honey was still awake.
He knew it wasn't good for him to be up this late; at this rate he would only get 5 hours of sleep before Kiji called them to breakfast. But he couldn't close his eyes.
The questions and feelings and works spilling around in his mind were deafening, disquieted thoughts disrupting any possible relaxation.
Why had he reacted the way he did to Uno that morning?
"Fine! What do I care?" Uno near screamed, "Your shitty opinion is worth less than trash!"
And in a single instant, Honey's whole soul crashed.
His opinion? Less than trash? Uno?
It left him less fuming, more tears eyed.
Why had the insult shaken him up so much, and why was he still thinking about it?
It wasn't the first time Uno had said he didn't care what Honey thought, not even close. They fought near every time they saw each other after all.
But for some reason it felt different this time. And normally he'd talk to Trois about it, but what kind of friend wakes someone up in the middle of the night over that?
Little did he know, Trois wasn't asleep either.
He was thinking about the same moment in time, actually. Something had changed in him too, that morning.
Of course, he never liked seeing his friends fight (for he did consider Uno a friend, he was charming and funny and generally made good company when he wasn't wallowing in his lack of self esteem.) but today there was another feeling along with it.
It was like anger. But not. It burned in a consuming, slow way, ruining him to the point where he couldn't sleep, and didn't want to. No, he wasn't even thinking about the sleep he was losing.
He was thinking about how Honey had been awake for hours and had made no move to speak to him.
It shouldn't bother him, Honey probably hadn't even noticed that he was awake, and didn't want to wake him.
But he was really considering drowning his rational self in tears.
Was this- was this jealousy? Was he bothered by how Honey was preoccupied with Uno?
He needed to talk to someone about this. Someone sincere, who wouldn't judge or tease him. Someone Honey would never go to, never speak to, insuring his privacy.
Ah... what was the name of that strange guy they'd ran into? Hitoshi, yeah, Hajime's brother.
Honey's pride was too strong to go back there.
--
Luckily the next day was a group event (which was just an excuse to have one or two guards watch everyone while the rest helped with wedding junk.) and Hitoshi usually went to those to see the 13's.
The trouble was going to be getting away to talk to him without anyone of importance noticing. Luckily Honey was still moping and tired, so it really just took the 13's to start some antics for Trois to slide in to the booth where Hitoshi sat and smile.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"
Hitoshi seemed a bit put off by his serious tone.
"Sure thing! What's up?"
Trois paused, gathering his thoughts, "well, I'm feeling a little odd these days, and I figured you'd be the person to go to. Because you seem like someone who's not quick to judge or anything."
Another pause,
"Yesterday, Honey and Uno got into a fight and Honey was distracted the rest of the day. And it made me... mad? For lack of a better word. It bothered me like some kind of needy child. And it's strange that I was blaming Uno, because he's my friend, and that made me feel worse because why would I even be mad at him! And... yeah."
Hitoshi hummed a long note. "Well, that certainly is something. Well, regardless of why this is happening, just realize this is going to take some time. Most personal revelations do. So don't worry if you go out of this conversation still confused. In fact, if you weren't, I'd be worried!"
Honey nodded, "I'll keep that in mind."
"Well then, how about we start by you describing you and Honey, as you see yourself and him. I really don't know you guys that well, only what Jyugo and the rest have told me."
"Well, when we met, Honey was working illegally as a bartender in this seedy place that never ID'd anybody. I remember how impressed I was by him. I wasn't always the Trois you see today! I used to be quite timid actually. But I wasn't satisfied with the life I was living. So I basically began to follow Honey around, and well we got into some pretty nasty trouble. From there we've been jumping prisons until we landed here. And... I'm not sure why we never made a run. There's just something about this place."
Hitoshi nodded, "so Honey represented the kind of person you wanted to be, huh? He must be really important to you, it makes sense that this would bother you. Now what about Uno? I know one side of him, but you've clearly been exposed to another."
"Uno... I like Uno. I think he's funny, super talented, really fun to hang out with. But I wish he and Honey wouldn't fight so much. I feel obligated to side with Honey, but I don't mean even half of what I say. Honey's my best friend and I'm not just going to tell him to fuck off over it, but I think Uno's cool too."
Hitoshi hummed, sipping his tea, a far away look in his eye.
"Trois, I'm going to be quite honest with you. I do have an idea for what might be going on, but I'm not sure you're ready to hear it. For now, you need to let Honey know that fighting Uno doesn't sit right with you. If he really is your best friend, he'll understand."
Trois stood, "thank you. I'll keep that in mind. I should probably get back before one of the 13's notices me over here and starts a war."
Hitoshi giggled, "probably! They gave Samon the grilling of a lifetime apparently."
--
Trois' absence hadn't gone unnoticed at the table he'd been occupying. Jyugo and Honey gave him funny looks as he sat back down.
"What were you over with Hitoshi for?" Jyugo asked, an air of defensiveness about him.
"Ah, I needed his advice about something of his expertise, nothing shady I assure you. I'm not low enough to go after someone who's engaged, who do you take me for?"
"His best friend." Jyugo pointed to Honey.
Honey was nearly steaming, sputtering things Trois assumed were supposed to be curses.
Trois just laughed, patting his friend on the shoulder to calm him down.
The conversation quickly turned to wedding news, and Trois was all too happy to talk about that. Apparently the colors were going to be gold and lavender, and surprisingly the idea was proposed by Hajime.
Eventually everyone parted ways, and the boys found themselves alone again.
Trois moved to ask Honey a question, but discovered he wasn't in the room.
Where was he going off to at this hour?