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'Can I talk to you for a second?'
Mika turned around upon hearing his best friend's voice.
'What's up, Yuu-chan?'
For some reason, he seemed to be awfully nervous. Fidgeting with his hands, he moved closer to Mika.
'Please pretend to be my boyfriend?'
After hearing these words Mika was shocked, to say the least. What was going on?
'What the hell, Yuu-chan. First of all, explain to me what's going on.'
Yuu looked defeated.
'I know it's a stupid idea and so on, but my relatives kinda think that you're my boyfriend. Sorry for that.'
Mika gulped, suddenly feeling nervous as well.
'Why would they assume I'm your boyfriend?'
While avoiding his gaze Yuu started to braid his scarf's bands.
'They kept asking about my love life and I was done with my step sister's endless mocking.'
He lifted his head. 'So I told them I had a boyfriend.'
A sigh escaped his lips.
'They jumped to conclusions and now they are pretty damn sure it's you.'
Mika was confused. Why would the relatives think of him when they were trying to find out about Yuu's boyfriend? Did Yuu say something to make them believe they were in love?
Agreeing would only end up in heartbreak on Mika's side, he knew that he shouldn't help Yuu with this particular problem. Still, they were best friends. Still, he wanted to know what it felt like to be loved by Yuu. Even if the feelings weren't real and the relationship would be a fake one.
'I'll do it.'
Yuu stared at him.
'Are you sure? Is this really okay for you?'
Mika grinned.
'We're best friends. We've done far worse.' His heart hurt as he said so, yet he had no other chance than lie. Lie for Yuu's sake. He didn't want to destroy their friendship just because of this stupid crush. Not remembering when he had started to love Yuu, Mika was used to getting hurt by his own stupidity.
They both grinned at each other.
'Should we practice?' Yuu laughed nervously.
'What?' Mika blinked in confusion. 'What exactly should we practice?'
'Holding hands and stuff. It should look convincing, am I right?'
'Uhm,yes. I guess so,' he stuttered and looked at Yuu, who was now moving closer to him.
'Let's start with something simple.' He reached out and interlaced their fingers. While doing so, both of them avoided looking into the other's eyes.
Mika could feel the slight tremble in Yuu's hand.
So they stood next to each other, fingers interlaced, enjoying the foreign feeling of closeness between each other.
'It's not that bad, isn't it?' Mika mumbled, scratching the back of his head with his free hand.
Yuu hummed in agreement, his eyes were closed.
'Should we go any further?'
Mika took a deep breath and his heart started to beat faster.
'Sure. We need to be convincing.'
He knew what was going to come next. A kiss. The one thing he's wished for for years. Eventually he moved closer and placed both his hands on the sides of Yuu's cheeks. This was real. This was actually going to happen. Usually they would play video games or watch movies at the moment. Instead, they were pretending to be in love just to spite Yuu's step sister.
Yet he did nothing to stop the next step from being reached.
Finally, Mika closed the last bit of distance separating them. Their lips touched. He could feel his cheeks growing redder.
The kiss was soft, their lips were locked for a few seconds before they departed. Mika felt Yuu looking at him.
'Was that... acceptable?' Yuu grinned.
'I guess so?' The whole situation was weird. This weirdness was also the thing that made Mika start laughing loudly.'Just look at us, we're so weird,' he gasped for air and clutched his stomach. There was no holding back. Yuu joined him and they ended up lying on the ground next to each other, trying to regulate their breathing.
Mika linked their hands.
'What are you doing?'
He smiled. 'I'm just practising.' Their hands kept on being linked until they stood up again. Yuu smiled silently while Mika tried to forget that nothing they did today was true to their feelings. He knew his love was one sided. Nevertheless, Yuu wasn't supposed to know about his feelings for him at all.
Before they went to bed another kiss was shared. It was chaste and sweet, yet neither of them seemed to be able to relax.
Deep down, Mika was hurting and there was no way to stop or suppress this feeling. He already knew that this was going to be a very long weekend.
The days had passed quickly and Mika had grown more anxious from day to day. This could work out. This simply had to work out. Concealing his own feelings had become sorts of a speciality of his.
An hour later,their bags were in the trunk of Mika's car and they were ready to go.
Yuu tried to convince Mika that he was capable of driving, but Mika wouldn't give in. he had no death wish, after all. From time to time he still wondered about how Yuu had obtained his driver's license. Perhaps the instructor had taken pity on him.
3 hours full of car karaoke later they finally arrived at their destination: Yuu's home, the place where he had grown up.
As they rang the bell, both were determined to make this whole thing work. They could easily do this. Standing in front of the door with linked hands, they waited for someone to let them in.
Shouting was heard, followed by a purple-haired, short girl opening the front door.
'Oh,it's Yuu!'
Then she turned to Mika. 'And you must be his boyfriend! Yuu simply couldn't shut up about how great you are.' She winked. Yuu stared at the ground grumpily while Mika smiled. Then he took a deep breath.
'Let's go in and join the others, babe.' Mika coughed.
'Lead the way, honey.'
Shinoa grinned at them.'They can't wait to finally meet you,Mikaela-san.'
The both of them gulped. This was going to be a lot of fun.
Following Shinoa, they ended up in the living room. The whole family was there.
Yuu's adoptive parents, Guren and Shinya, were sitting on the couch. Shinoa's older sister and guardian , Mahiru, was sitting on the carpet and sipping on an almost empty cup of coffee. Yuu's grandparents were asleep in one of the neighbouring rooms.
Mika and Yuu entered. Guren stood up, walked over to them and eyed Mika suspiciously.
'So that's the one you've been bragging about, huh?'
Mika tightened his hold on Yuu's hand, who smiled at him nervously. They were going to survive this.
'Yes,Sir. My name is Mikaela Shindou.' Mika was flustered and his brain was running wild, he didn't know what to say. The first thing coming to his mind was also coincidentally the first thing he blurted out.
''Your son is a piece of art,Sir!'
There was silence. Then everyone started to make sounds of approval. Yuu blushed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
'Just shut up, you sap.' Mika hid his face in embarrassment. Just great. The family seemed convinced though. They had returned to their former conversations. Mika let out a breath. So far, so good. They sat down and started to small talk. Mika felt wrong for misleading Yuu's family, especially since they seemed like perfectly fine people.
'So how did you two meet?' Shinoa asked.
They exchanged quick glances. Mika smiled warmly while Yuu grinned cheekily.
'In college. We shared a few classes and ended up spending much time together. Now we're also room mates.'
Shinoa watched them warily. Mika cupped Yuu's cheek and pressed a firm kiss onto his lips. Yuu let out a surprised gasp. Then he gave in to the kiss. Shinoa coughed.
'Get a room, you two.' They separated and both looked at the ground, trying not to be embarrassed.
'Sorry.'
She laughed.
'You two are so in love, it's almost gross.' With that said, she left them to themselves on the couch.
Then dinner came and went. The evening was fun to all of them. After drinking a glass of champagne each it was time to go to bed.
Shinya approached them before they were able to prepare for bed.
'The two of you will stay in your old room,Yuu. Hopefully that's alright with the both of you.'
Mika stiffened. Yuu first froze, then smiled.
'Why should there be any problems? We're fine.' He once again grabbed Mika's hand just to place a kiss on top of it.
'Am I right, babe?'
Mika chuckled nervously.'There's no problem.'
Shinya smiled to himself. 'Oh, how I adore young love!' Then, he left.
After entering the room, they closed the door and took a deep breath. They leaned against the now closed door and just stood there for a few moments. Looking at each other, they started to crack up. Once they had started, there was no holding them back. They gasped for air and finally calmed down.
As Mika looked around, he realized there was only one king sized bed. Glancing at Yuu, he tried to think of what to do.
'Yuu-chan?' he pointed at the bed, his eyebrow raised. Yuu stopped laughing and threw a look at the bed.
'Oh.'
'Yeah.Oh.'
Mika sighed.
'I don't mind sleeping on the floor,Yuu-chan.'
As he turned around to go and get his bag, Yuu held him back by his wrists.
'I made you come with me. You sure as hell won't sleep on the floor. I will.'
Mika looked annoyed. ' No way in hell. Are you stupid,Yuu-chan?'
'I'm surprisingly smart, thank you very much.'
He fiddled with his fingers.
'Guess we have to share then.'
Turning around to him, Mika was surprised to hear this proposal coming out of Yuu's mouth.
'You really want to?'
Sharing a bed with you didn't sound like a good idea at all. He really wanted to, but giving in might end fatal. They'd surely cross a line with them sleeping in the same bed. Especially after the current turn of events. Still, Mika couldn't say no. At least not to Yuu-chan.
'Sure.'
Yuu grinned,pointing at the bed.
'This'll be fun, I promise.'
Mika sighed. He couldn't help but feel hurt. Yuu knew nothing about his feelings, yet he kept asking himself what would happen if he did. While they changed, he caught a glimpse of Yuu's naked torso. As he blushed, he turned away in shame. Being in love with your best friend was already difficult enough, but pretending to be in a relationship with said best friend was downright suicidal.
Mika got under the sheets and tried to stay as far away from the middle of the bed as possible. After a while, Yuu joined him and so they both stayed in their respective corners of the king sized bed.
Half an hour later, Yuu was fast asleep which allowed Mika to relax and inch a bit closer.
Slowly turning around, he watched Yuu sleep. He was drooling a bit, but that didn't stop him from looking pretty to Mika. Smiling gently, he shifted and leaned onto his arm.
After slowly lifting his other arm he let his fingers glide over Yuu's cheek. Then Yuu moved unexpectedly and a second later Mika found himself in an almost suffocating embrace.
He could feel him breathe, was able to hear his steady heartbeat. This was bad.
Mika knew he was supposed to push him away to continue pretending being just friends. On the other hand, he was weak, so he gave in and put his arms around Yuu.
A soft sigh escaped his lips and his eyes started to sting.
They slept like that, huddled together in a cosy embrace, Mika shedding tears for this unrequited love of his. Eventually he also fell asleep, his blonde locks tickling Yuu's nose.
He woke up with a numb feeling in his arms due to Yuu sleeping on them for quite some time.
Since he had to wake him up he opened his eyes and mentally prepared himself to drag Yuu's lazy ass out of bed. Instead he found himself staring into astonishingly green eyes. Yuu was so close their foreheads touched in an intimate manner.
Startled by the sudden closeness,Mika accidentally bumped his forehead with force against Yuu's.
'Ouch!What are you doing,Mika?!' Yuu hissed, rubbing his forehead.
Mika winced in pain.
'I could ask you the exact same thing. Are you stupid,Yuu-chan?'
'I was just looking at you sleep,' he whispered.
'What did you just say?' Mika questioned,. He had heard these quiet words, yet he wanted to make sure that he hadn't just dreamt the response. Still rubbing his forehead, he got out of bed and started to dress himself.
'Move your ass,Yuu-chan. Your family's probably awaiting us. Yuu pulled a grimace and groaned.
'That's going to be fun for sure.'
Mika nodded in agreement.
'Let's just hope we can leave early.' He couldn't do this for much longer. He started to get his hopes up again. Dreams of marrying Yuu, raising kids together. Reality was so much harsher.
They walked down the stairs and joined the others in the kitchen.
Shinoa grinned as she saw them enter the kitchen, like she always did. She had the kind of smile that always left you wondering whether she was plotting something or not.
'I heard some screams. Are you guys alright?'
There was a mischievous glint in her eyes.
'Yes,we're alright. We simply bumped our heads a bit too hard.'Mika said, his voice still sounding a bit groggy from sleep.
Yuu feared what was coming next .He knew exactly was coming next. This was Shinoa, there was no way she wouldn't do it.
Shinoa smiled innocently.
'Do you guys need any condoms?'
Everyone went silent. Guren choked on his coffee while Shinya tried desperately to help Guren breathe again.
Mahiru groaned while Shinoa pulled a rainbow of condoms out of her jacket's pocket. Mika joined Guren in choking on his coffee. Yuu's grandparents hid their faces in an attempt of covering their smiles.
'Shinoa, I swear to god. Not again!' Yuu ran after Shinoa who was trying to escape him. So Mika was left alone with the rest of the family.
Shinya smiled at him.
'Welcome to our family, Mikaela.'
Two hours of mockery and laughter later,Mika and Yuu were finally able to return home. After throwing his bags lazily onto his bed Mika returned to the living room, filled with anxiety. What was going to happen next? Their fake relationship was officially over. It had ended as fast as it had started. They could simply go back to being best friends. At least that's what Mika kept telling himself.
Yuu exited his room and joined him on the couch. Mika wasn't able to see his face since he suddenly seemed to be really interested in the pattern of their carpet.
He cleared his throat.
'So that's it.' Yuu said.
Mika nodded in agreement. There wasn't anything else he could do right now. He felt paralysed.
Telling Yuu the truth wasn't an option. Destroying their relationship because of a crush wasn't an option either. He'd rather spend the rest of his life pining after him than telling now and destroying their well-built friendship in the progress.
'Please stay away from me for a while,Yuu.' with that, he stood up and locked himself shut in his room, leaving Yuu all by himself.
Saying he hadn't seen the hurt expression on Yuu's face would've been a blatant lie. For this expression, there was no one else to blame. This was his own fault. He had hurt Yuu-chan.
The thought itself made him sick to his bones.
Still, he continued to avoid him for the next two weeks. He didn't eat well and didn't sleep well. He didn't go to Yuu to apologize though.
For Yuu, he had to pretend having disliked their fake relationship and the closeness that came with it. He did all of this for Yuu, even if it was destroying Mika himself.
The door shut and there was the sound of a key turning in its lock.
Yuu couldn't deny it anymore. He was hurt. He has had it coming though.
Pushing Mika into pretending to be his boyfriend had been highly selfish, Yuu knew that.
He had promised himself that he would stop loving Mika after this last weekend spent together like a couple.
It didn't work out the way he had planned it to, to say the least.
His family loved Mikaela Shindou and so did Yuu.
He had woken up in the middle of the night in the bed they shared, entangled in a tight embrace with Mika. His hair had tickled his nose.
From this moment on, he knew how useless this plan had been.
Fake-dating the love of his life didn't solve anything at all. It just made everything worse and created more obstacles.
Surprisingly, the weekend went by without any serious issues, but now Mika was avoiding Yuu like the pest.
Mika must have found out the real reason for Yuu's strange proposal and now he was angry. This had to be it. Still, he didn't want to accept any of it without having it heard coming out of Mika's own mouth.
Two weeks had passed already.
Damn, he would drag him out of his room by himself if he had to.
While thinking of what to say, Yuu knocked on the door to Mika's room. His heart was beating fast and he was feeling nervous. He had no idea what to tell him.
'What is it?' Mikaela's voice.
Yuu cleared his throat before straightening his stance a bit.
'Mika,could I talk to you for a second?'
Everything was silent. Then, Mika's voice was heard once again.
'I'm sorry but I can't.'
Disheartened, Yuu went back into his room and lied down onto his bed. He didn't feel like doing anything at all. Just lying there seemed very alluring though.
Thought of Mika flooded his mind and he couldn't stop himself from crying anymore. The tears made his pillow wet and left him feeling drained and broken.
He couldn't do this by himself.
Slowly pushing himself into a sitting position he grabbed his phone and started to dial a number, his fingers shaking slightly.
'Shinoa? I need your help,it's important.' His voice quivered a bit.
It was already midnight when she finally got to their flat.
'What happened?' She took a quick look at his face.
'Okay,you've been crying like a fountain so I figured this is about Mikaela-kun.'
Yuu looked at the ground.
'He isn't my boyfriend. He's my best friend.'
Shinoa's eyes widened in surprise.'No way, you've been faking it all the time?! I swear I heard you two going at it!' He glared at her.
'I'm in love with him and he's been avoiding me for two weeks now. I don't know what to do. Just once, I want to talk to once more before all this ends. He clearly doesn't-!' Shinoa slapped her hand onto Yuu's mouth who stared at her in surprise and let out a muffled 'What was that for?'.
Removing her hand from his face, she pointed at him.
'Don't even go there. Are you out of your mind? No one can fake such love-ridden glances. You can't tell me he doesn't want to carry you bridal style over some random porch and spend the rest of his life with you because he clearly does, believe me.'
Yuu stared at her in disbelief.
She flashed a smile.'Time to drag Mikaela-kun's ass out of his bat cave!'
He had heard the doorbell ringing, wondering who might visit them this late at night. Apparently Yuu had opened the door since Mikaela ended up catching a familiar voice. Shinoa Hiiragi, Yuu's step sister.
Twenty minutes later, there was a soft knock on his door. Mika furrowed his brows in confusion.
'Who's there?'
'Your worst nightmare!Open the door!'
Mika didn't see why he shouldn't open the door as long as it didn't include meeting Yuu. So he unlocked the door. Then everything happened very fast. Shinoa grabbed him by his arm, dragged him into Yuu's room and locked the door from the outside.
That girl had the strength of ten bears. Mika was honestly impressed.
Gasping for air, he let his gaze wander through the room. Yuu had to be somewhere in here as well.
Rattling on the door's handle,he confirmed his suspicions. The room was locked.
'Mika.'
There he was. The voice he had longed to hear for so long. The sound of his happiness, his doom and his love as well. Yuu-chan.
Mika turned around to look at him. He had missed him so much. Yet, he didn't look like he was doing well. Why did he look so bad? Shouldn't he be happier without Mika's constant pining after him? Mika didn't get it. Why was Yuu feeling so miserable? Was this his fault as well?
Yuu came to him.
'Are you alright, Mika? You look horrible.' Mika turned around to look into the mirror, tried to avoid Yuu's intelligent eyes. He had to admit, he was right. His eyes were rendered red and he looked as if he hadn't slept in a week. This was certainly not one of his better days.
Then he saw Yuu looking at him.
'Why did you run away?' he asked.
Mika gulped. This was the moment of truth. He simply had to tell him the truth. He didn't want to lie anymore. His heart ached with every thought of Yuu, it was unbearable.
Mika kept staring at Yuu's shoulder, an attempt of avoiding to look into his eyes. He needed to stay focused.
'Please don't hate me, Yuu-chan. I tried to stop it, I really did.' His eyes were stinging, yet he still didn't allow himself to make eye contact.
'To me, nothing of this was pretending to be in love with you.' He took a deep breath, grabbed Yuu's hand and gazed into his eyes.
'I am in love with you. I'm so sorry, Yuu-chan. I am a disgrace, I can't even stop myself from loving the most important person in my life.'
Hot tears flowed down his face and he let go of Yuu's hand, leaving him speechless.
Mika was crying because of him, was even apologizing for being in love. With him.
Then Yuu saw him turn around.
'I take this as your answer.'
Before he was even able to knock on the door, Yuu grabbed him by his arm, turned him around and tackled him to the ground.
'Don't leave just like that,Mika. I didn't even get a chance to explain myself!' he shouted.
Sitting on top of his hips,he was able to study his face.
Mika seemed to be surprised, but there was also something by all means sad in his expression.
Yuu was angry.
'You're worth so much more,Mika! Do you know why I asked you to be my pretend-boyfriend?Yuu cupped Mika's cheek with a gentle hand.
'I wanted to know what it feels like to be loved by someone as angelic as you are. Even if only for a few moments.'
Leaning further down,he touched Mika's forehead with his own and took a deep breath.
'I really wanted you to be my boyfriend. I wanted you to belong to my family, just once.'
His anger dissolved into thin air.
' I loved you since the day we started to talk with each other.'
Mika was still silent. Determined to show his dedication, Yuu closed the last bit of distance between them.
Finally, their lips met and Yuu could feel Mika opening his mouth, taken by surprise. His eyes were closed and a single tear escaped the corner of his eye. His hands moved , now one of them rested on Yuu's thigh while the other one glided up to his hip bone. Mika raised his chin and they deepened the kiss. Both their faces felt quite hot, but they weren't bothered by this fact.
Mika could feel the softness of Yuu's lips, he breathed in his scent which made him feel like he was finally at home.
Then he felt something wet drip onto his cheek. He looked up and saw that Yuu was crying.
After carefully breaking the kiss, Mika propped himself up and pulled Yuu onto his lap.
His eyes lowered, he tried to hide his tears with the palms of his hands.
Mika took Yuu's hands in a gentle manner and placed a kiss on each of his wrists. While doing so, his eyes kept on being locked with Yuu's. He didn't want to look away anymore. He didn't have to look away anymore.
Yuu was still silent, so Mika put his arms around him,pulling him into a comforting embrace.
They stayed in this position for what felt like an eternity until Yuu's voice resonated through the room.
'Please be a part my family, Mikaela Shindou.' He hugged him tighter, his head resting on his shoulder.
'With pleasure, Yuu-chan,' he whispered.
In the distance, there was the sound of a key turning in its key hole.