Slaine sighed and made sure to add a pout in the mix just to show his growing annoyence to his 'favorite' visitor as he was, once again, before Slaine, wasting his time.

Slaine had long since admitted to himself that it wasn't the red eyed terran boy that he had hated, at least not anymore.

Inaho Kaizuka was, as stubborn, stoic and irritating as he was, a good person. He was an idiot for wasting his time on Slaine yes, but he was damn persistent. He seemed emotionless yes, but he was only slightly, socially awkward. He had been Slaine's worst enemy yes, but he had been the one who had held his hand and fallen with him.

And most importantly, he was Orange. So, choosing the easy and giving up was just...not the way he did things.

And as much as Slaine hated that particular trait of him the most, he was also thankful for it. And somehow, somewhere along the way, Slaine had come to accept that he wasn't just getting rid of Inaho Kaizuka.

That walking calculator with an eyepatch, that prodigy with an egg addiction, that pilot in the famous Orange Kat with an inward house wife spirit, was just NOT going away.

He would always be there, with Slaine, as he lived his remaining days in that isolated prison. He would be there whenever Slaine needed someone. Even if he went away some day, his presence would linger as if he was still there with Slaine. He would always be ready for him. To soothe him as the fears that had once controlled Slaine would, again, try to reach him. He would be there to save him from that misery. Wasn't that the promise he had made after all?

Ignoring the sigh and pout, Inaho sat down on a chair in Slaine's new cell. They were having the visits in there for more privacy. Also it was a better place for Slaine with windows that actually allowed sunlight in and a private bathroom and two joined rooms. One, for sleeping and the other, for sitting around or doing day activities.

They started a game of chess but quickly getting bored, they moved on to one of Inaho's text books from the universty he attended. He would bring it when he had an assignment on it or when he had an exam coming closer.

Studying with Slaine was a great help for Inaho and a great source of entertainment for Slaine. But it looked like they would do that often. Irish was Inaho's worst subject after all.

Truth to be told, Slaine had been VERY surprised when Inaho had come in one day, saying only HE could help in as much of an overly dramatic manner as he could manage with that robotic voice and blank expression of his.

Then he had showed Slaine his exam paper. And Slaine had never laughed that hard in years and never had he, in all those years he had known Inaho, seen him fail that badly at anything.

All his sentences had been missing either subjects or objects. He had even thanked for sparkling stars in the blue eyes and the pale blond hair with the sunshine in it under a question which wanted them to describe their first love. Pale blonde with blue eyes... Must be someone beautiful if she had managed to make Inaho try to be poetic, Slaine had thought.

"Inis dom fút féin le do thoil."

(Tell me about yourself please.)

"Tá mé...go m-maith. Go...raibh maith agat le haghaidh a tha...thabhairt dom iasc."

(I am good. Thanks for giving me fish.)

"Ligean isteach é. Tá tú cosúil le bheith ina oráiste."

(Admit it you like being an orange.)

"Ís...cosúil le...sú oráiste."

(Yes... I like orange juice.)

Then they had started to study together and Slaine noted with pride that Inaho's grades had been steadily getting better and when Inaho said that his proffessor had commented on his progress, he had found himself grinning.

Watching Inaho struggle to understand as Slaine said whatever he wanted to him had been enjoyable but surely, it would be more so to have a conversation with him in Irish. So Slaine was trying his best to teach Inaho.

Also it wasn't the only subject Slaine could help him with either. Slaine was very good at biology which Inaho had to take at least in his first year but hated. Slaine had even helped him prepare a project about birds as credit work to make his grades go higher.

Besides studying, they watched movies sometimes. One day, Inaho had brought Disney movies based on fairytales.

Cinderella, The Snow White, The Beauty and The Beast, The Sleeping Beauty, The Tangled, The Princess and The Frog...

Slaine had loved each as he recalled the tales his father would tell him on stormy nights in his childhood while watching them.

And Inaho had pointed out EVERY unlogical thing and critisized the characters' ways of thinking. In the end, Slaine had stuffed popcorn in his mouth to shut him up.

Somedays, they would try things like knitting, origami and drawing.

Slaine had even knitted Inaho a neon orange scarf with a cute little orange at the corner as a joke to embrass him. But Inaho had worn it proudly all winter.

They had tried to make cranes and stupid things like that out of paper but both had failed.

Then Slaine had been surprised enough to gape when Inaho made a perfect portrait of him without even looking at his face more than a second a few times. Then Inaho had added doodle bat wings on it and gave it to Slaine. Really, Slaine hadn't imagined Inaho as an artist type.

Then they had played every table game that could be played with only two people. Surprisingly, Inaho was bad at most of it. But he had taken his revenge when he had somehow managed to convince Slaine to play some kind of game similar to poker. It was impossible to make comments about his hand with that unchanging expression of his.

As he waited for Inaho to finish writing about the most unique thing he had ever felt for his Irish writing homework, Slaine thought about the days they had spent together.

He had come to like the other boy's company after all those years of Inaho constantly returning for him and trying his hardest to understand him.

Also Slaine no longer had that grudge against Inaho. He had stopped hating altogether a while ago. Also they knew each other better and therefore could understand each other's way of thinking back when the war happened.

After Slaine had finally stopped being silent and started to actually answer his questions, Inaho started to tell something about himself in return.

Slaine knew about his life in the orphanage, his reason of having to leave there, his friends, his sister, even his childhood dreams.

And Inaho knew about Slaine's own childhood with his father, their journey to Vers, how he ended up as a servant there and everything else.

Funny that their nearly identical stories from two different worlds collided in the end, bringing the two of them together.

One day, Inaho was telling him about a school trip he had gone with his friends.

Then his phone rang. It rang again and again with incoming messages. Growing frustrated, Inaho unlocked the screen and typed a quick reply.

"Orange... did you just tell your sister not to bother you while you are out with your GİRLFRİEND ?"

"If it bothers you that much, I can tell them that you are not female. I was planning to anyway. My sister keeps choosing wedding dresses for you."

"Tha-that's not the problem here! I am not your girlfriend!"

"Yes. You are male."

"No...Not like that...We DON'T have a romantic relationship!"

"I know..."

"Then why does your sister think that I am your girlfriend?"

"Because I kept disappearing without telling them anything and in the end my sister and friends came to the conclusion of me having a girlfriend and I didn't decline."

Then his phone rang again. And Inaho, once again, unlocked the screen.

"She is asking if you prefer a Shinto wedding or a modern one."

Slaine banged his head on the table groaning.

"It is okay to not know what a Shinto wedding is. You see, it is a traditional Japanese wedding made in a shrine-."

"I know what it is Orange!"

"Then give an answer."

"What!"

"She won't stop asking unless you answer her."

"Then say that I WON'T marry you."

"Why?"

"W-What do you mean WHY?" Slaine wildly gestured himself then Inaho. And Inaho followed his hand with his eye.

"In twenty first century same sex marriages aren't really frowned upon."

"That's NOT the-... Okay." Slaine took a calming breath.

"Orange you realise that we are discussing why I don't want to marry YOU right?"

"Yes."

"And you really don't see a problem about that?"

"No."

Slaine took another deep breath. "Okay, you didn't even ask." He crossed his arms over his chest with a smug grin.

"Will you marry me?"

"WHAT?"

"You wanted me to ask." Inaho reached a hand over the table to take one of Slaine's hands in his.

"Will you grant me the honor of marrying me Slaine?"

Slaine just stared for a second.

"Uhh,... sir..." They both jumped and turned to the direction of the third voice.

"T-time... b-but I... uhh w-wait out... outside until... y-you get your an-answer."

The young guard rushed out of the room with wide eyes and a pale face.

And once again, Slaine banged his head on the table.

~o~

"Oh my god! You serious? Did he say yes?"

The next day, Slaine was sitting under a tree with his sketchbook in the garden. The three guards were standing in front of the building, watching from a distance. Or rather, gossiping, thinking he couldn't hear.

"I-I don't know! I went out."

"Wow...I mean... really... I never thought that there was something like that going on!"

"Huh? What do you mean? It was obvious! Boss is clearly in love with him! For a long time too!"

"Well I didn't think all his attention was because of THAT."

"He is right. It was rather obvious about the boss... but I hope his feelings aren't unrequited or something... It would be heartbreaking."

"It must be mutual if they got to the point of proposal."

"Well they look cute together. I think I am already shipping."

Meanwhile, Slaine tried to block out them, not wanting to hear. He would certainly take his revenge.

~o~

The next day, Slaine told him what happened as they played a pointless board game for children.

"Maybe you should just tell them that it's none of their bussiness."

"Maybe you should tell them to stop disturbing your lover."

"So you finally accept dating me?"

Just at that moment, Inaho's phone rang with a new unread message.

Slaine grinned evilly as he grabbed the phone and unlocked the screen.

"It's forbidden for you to do that."

"But, can't you make an exception for your lover?" Slaine asked with a sweet voice drained of sincerity and dodged as Inaho reached out to take his phone back. Then he read aloud.

'Nao kun... (;-;) you should invite her over... :D tell her that I would like to meet her... Tell her.. Tell her... And don't take no for an answer. Come on~ doesn't your sister have a right to meet with the beauty who stole your heart? (*-*) She must be real beautiful.'

'Ask her about Ireland. She was Irish right? Did you tell her that you were learning Irish for her? Come on Naooo~

Give some details!!!'

Slaine laughed out loud and then he grinned evilly again. Inaho had to admit that he could look very intimidating when he wanted to.

'Miss Yuki, I would like to meet you too! :) But sadly, Inaho doesn't want us to meet. :'( I don't know why! I still love him so much of course but eventhough he proposed recently, I can't help but feel like a fling sometimes...Please talk to him... By the way, I am male. I hope it doesn't affect anything :D.'

He tossed the phone back to Inaho and watched, holding back a laugh as he paled at the many new messages.

~o~

"Nao! He said you proposed! You are only 19. That wedding dress thing was a joke you know! To laugh at you! Also how can you be that cruel to him! The poor boy thinks you don't love him enough!"

"Yuki nee-"

"Don't cut me Nao. Also you NEVER even told us he was a male! Can you imagine, how insulting it is? Both for him and us! You are lucky he didn't dump you yet!"

"Yuki nee-"

"I am not finished! Does his family know about that proposal thing yet? Do they approve? Where will you live? Did you make any plans? Nao, I didn't mean 'go find a guy to propose out of nowhere and without a ring just to keep it secret from me' when I said 'go live your youth and be crazy like every other teenager' we will have a LONG talk!"

~o~

Slaine laughed at Inaho's 'sleep deprived' face as he openly glared and moved a white piece slowly without looking at the board.

Slaine made a move of his own with a grin. And that day was spent with doing their usual activities. They were sitting opposite of each other on the floor, drawing each other.

Inaho had made another perfect Slaine, this time with a pet bat standing on his arm. And Slaine had only drawn an orange with a pan of eggs in its... hand?

They both laughed and moved on to a shoujo manga with Inaho reading the female lead's parts aloud and Slaine reading the male's parts.

"Ohh Shima Senpai~ This time you will accept my lunchbox. Not hers."

"Pffft...Ahahahahahha... Or-orange... ahahahaha...I... I can't... stop... pfahahaha..."

Inaho soon started to chuckle with Slaine. He was aware of his monotone voice. In fact, he was doing it only to make Slaine laugh.

And the rest of their day was spent with studying biology and getting Inaho ready for his exams coming around.

When he didn't hear anything from Inaho by the end of the day, Slaine was sure that he wasn't going to do anything.

In the end, the guard came to tell that their time was up and Inaho got up, nodding to the guard who was holding the door for him as always. But then...

...he kissed Slaine.

It was only a peck on the cheek but Slaine's eyes widened and he jumped looking up at Inaho from his seat.

It was the first time he saw that devilish glow in that red eye. And accompanied by the smirk on his pale face framed with black hair, it sent a shiver down his spine.

"Goodbye my love."

Then Inaho was back to his usual expression and out of the door with the tense guard following after him.

Slaine touched his burning cheek after he left. Then he shook his head.

~o~

They got out to the garden together to read. Slaine was reading Pride and Prejudice while Inaho was looking at house wife magazines for recipes and taking notes near him. They were sitting under Slaine's favorite tree and the guards were in front of the building again.

Later Inaho pulled out his Irish notebook and they started to practise speaking.

After a few minutes of that, Inaho pulled out a paper from his bag and handed it to Slaine.

It was the homework he had written the other day. His proffesor had left a note after correcting the mistakes with a red pen. It said, 'I am impressed. Congragulate your tutor for me. :)" Slaine smiled to himself amd began to read it.

The most unique thing Inaho felt was... Love?

He had written about, how happy that person made him. Then how good their looks were with their pale blonde hair amd blue eyes. He was even leafning Irish just to spend some time with them while learning it. Then he had finished with how he would, one day, marry that person.

Slaine felt a tightness in his chest while reading it. He didn't really know why. But he didn't like those sentences at all.

Also he couldn't imagine Inaho that in love with someone. Who was it? Slaine wondered it all through the paper.

Then he read the last sentence.

"Bhuail muid nuair a bhí mé ag piocadh oráistí agus bhí sí amach lena bat torthaí peataí."

(We met while I was picking oranges and she was out with her pet fruit bat.)

And Slaine closed his eyes to take a few deep breaths.

Then to his surpse, Inaho started to chuckle.

"Do you like the way I portrayed you?"

Slaine set aside the paper to keep it out of harm's way. Then he picked up the book he was reading and threw it at Inaho. He tried to dodge but couldn't. Then he dropped back on his back dramatically.

A few minutes later, Slaine laid down near Inaho and they started to watch the clouds.

"That one looks like a-"

"Bat."

"No. It looks like a bird! Not a bat."

"I was calling YOU Bat. To obtain your attention."

"Ahh...Yes?"

"Would you consider a house arrest?"

"What? I don't even have a house to go even if it was possible."

"Actually it is. You have showed good behaviour for over two years. That gains you a house arrest with no direct murders or other serious crimes like rape or kidnapping... and... I have a spare room."

"Oh..."

"What do you say?"

"Don't we... need to have some kind of relation for that though? Would they release me with a stranger?"

"We can say that we are lovers...The guards can be witnesses if necessary."

"Lovers? What is your problem with dating me?"

"It is a practical excuse."

Slaine sighed.

"What would your sister say about that? I KNOW that I am not her favorite person."

"I live in my own house."

Slaine turned away from him on his side.

"Think about it... That's an option."

Later, Inaho pulled out his pen and paperwork while Slaine just relaxed.

"Sir. Time is up."

They both stood up. Inaho packed his bag and the guards came closer to escort Slaine inside.

A house arrest... How would it be? To live with Inaho... Slaine sighed...

They had only taken a few steps with the guards. Slaine suddenly turned around.

"Inaho!"

Inaho was watching him leave and he tilted his head to the side when Slaine called out to him.

"Yes."

Inaho gave a smile and nodded.

And Slaine's heart leaped.

It was probably from excitement, he told himself.

'Though, Inaho should smile more often...'