Two bodies laid side by side on a bed. The room around them was dark, only illuminated by the city lights from outside. The window was cracked open, letting humid air leak into the room, and the blanket was thrown off both boys, crumpled at the bottom of the bed.

Ryuu shut his eyes, letting out a sigh and turned his his head to bury into his pillow. His pink hair was wild, bangs drooping in front of his face without his signature headband to hold them back. His face was slightly flushed, only because of the humidity he told himself. "... This is a really sucky time to tell me." He whispered, breaking the silence between him and Io that had lingered for several minutes.

"I was going to tell you in the morning," Io admitted with a shrug. He glanced over at Ryuu, who was faced away from him now. Ryuu wasn't taking this well already, Io could see it. No one knew Ryuu like Io did, he could see the tension building up in the pink haired boy's shoulders and the way he kept tugging at his earrings. Clear signs of stress.

The silence returned, tension filling the small space between their bodies. The next time Io broke it, his voice cracking through it. "I have to do this, you know? You understand, right?"

Ryuu didn't answer, instead tugging one last time on his earrings and closing his eyes. They didn't speak for the rest of the night, but they hardly slept either.


"Wh-what?" Atsushi asked in shock, eyes widening.

The Battle Lover's club room was uncharacteristically quiet. They all stared at Io, except for Ryuu who instead pointedly kept his eyes on his phone. Io glanced over at his pink haired friend, frowning when he saw that Ryuu was still ignoring him. "Yes," he turned his attention to the rest of the group. "I'm leaving to study abroad in America. I'll be leaving very soon."

"That's great, Io." En said, leaning back into his chair. Next to him Atsushi sat, still looking rather surprised.

He recovered quickly and smiled. "It is great! To be able to study abroad..."

"This is in no way great!" The pink wombat spoke up from his spot in Yumoto's arms. His voice was laced with anger as he glared at the green haired Battle Lover. "You- you can't just leave! What about the Battle Lovers?! There can't be four heirs to the Throne of Love, there's always been five!"

"We've heard the speech before." En yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Come up with something new."

"It's true!" Wombat pushed, pointing at En.

"That doesn't matter." Io interjected. He had left the club once before, so it was easy to do it again. At least, he thought it was. "Doing this will benefit my profits in too many ways to turn down the offer. Unless you can come up with a way for me to earn more profits here I'm going."

Ryuu huffed, his grip on his phone tightening slightly.

Wombat looked over at Ryuu, as if remembering that he was there. "Ryuu! Convince him to stay!"

"But why?" Yumoto asked, rubbing Wombat's belly. "Io loves his money, aren't we about love?" This caused Wombat to turn to Yumoto and take out his anger on the youngest Battle Lover. For each question Yumoto asked the angrier Wombat got. The pink creature was in the middle of a rant when Ryuu suddenly stood up.

Ryuu tucked his phone away into his pocket and looked over at Wombat. "Just forget about it. Io is going to do whatever he wants to." He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulders before hurrying from the room. Io didn't miss the way Ryuu put as much distance as possible between them as he walked past.

"Is everything alright between you two?" Atsushi asked after a moment, looking at Io in concern.

"Lovers spat?" En teased, causing Io to glare at him.

"Everything is fine. Just a small argument." Io reassured them, pulling out a chair to sit down. There was no point to go after Ryuu, not when he was mad like this.

"I was right. It is a lovers spat." En whispered in Atsushi's ear, just loud enough for Io to catch.


A week passed and Io wasn't going to admit how anxious he was. On the outside he looked as calm as ever, but he found it hard to feel that same calm on the inside. His time at home was running out and he knew he'd have to leave for America alone soon, the thought brought out two emotions in him; his happiness for the money he'd make and the anxiety of how alone he'd be.

The fact that Ryuu had been ignoring him for the week didn't help. In class, in the club room, after school. Ryuu had hardly spoken or looked at Io, and that hurt in a strange way Io hadn't known it could.

They had been friends since they were young, the pink haired boy always following him around. At first Io thought he was a strange boy, yet still a nice one. They had become best friends before he realized what was happening, always together. Io didn't really have any friends before Ryuu, sure he had people he knew and sometimes hung out with, but Ryuu was different. Ryuu had always been different than everyone else to Io.

School had ended for the day and home was much quieter than Io was used to. His parents were hardly ever home, usually he was either at Ryuu's house or Ryuu was over with him. Sleepovers were so common sometimes Ryuu's mother would joke that Io should just live with them.

The quiet was eating away at the green haired Battle Lover as he sat on his computer. Usually the ticking of fingers on the keyboard would bring at least some comfort, or a feeling of satisfaction, now it only seemed to highlight how alone he was. Ryuu's chatter in the background had become such a normal part of lift that Io had never before thought of what it would be like without it.

What would he do in America?

He had considered video chatting, but that would hardly be the same. And the timezones were different, so that would just complicate things...

Relief washed over Io when the doorbell rang. It probably wasn't anyone important, but he wasn't going to risk that. He grabbed his phone, a suitable substitute for his computer to keep an eye on his changing stocks, and hurried to the front door. Bright pink was the first thing he saw when he opened the door.

Ryuu turned around to face Io and grinned, a grin Io hadn't seen since before Ryuu about the trip. "Hey!" He said cheerfully, as if he hadn't spent the last week ignoring Io. "Are you busy tonight?"

"I- um... No. I'm not." Io shook his head, raising an eyebrow. He took a step back, letting Ryuu walk past him into the house. Io knew Ryuu was a sensitive person, but to see him switch from two different emotions without anything that Io could see resolve it was strange. Had something changed that he didn't know about? "What are you doing here?"

Ryuu laughed slightly. "Isn't it obvious, Io? Don't we always stay the night at each others houses, or have I been imagining that?"

"We do, I just thought..." He trailed off with a shrug, closing the door.

Ryuu's cheerful expression dropped slightly, his lips pressing together in a tight line. "Do me a favor, okay? Forget about this last week. I just needed some time to think about things, you know?"

Io wasn't sure that was a good idea, but he supposed as long things went back to the way they were he could do that. He'd done it before to keep their friendship where it was. Forgetting the toothbrush incident with their friends, forgetting several nights when he had woken up holding Ryuu in a way he was sure friends weren't supposed to, and forgetting the way his heart would sometimes flutter around Ryuu. All for their friendship, and so far it had worked.

"Alright." Io nodded, a small smile on his lips.

At this Ryuu's grin returned full force. "Great! Now come on, I need some help with my homework!" He said cheerfully, turning around and walking through the house to Io's bedroom.

Io ignored the flutter in his heart as he followed close behind.


Time flew by.

Io thought everything went by fast when Ryuu was ignoring him, but after their fight ended and things went back to normal his life sped up even more. He wanted to spend as much time with his friend as possible before he had to leave, but he had other things to do too. Tests, packing, finance managing. It all passed by in a blur and next thing he knew he stood in his room, several bags in front of him and a car waiting outside to take him to the airport.

Goodbyes had been said yesterday. Yumoto had looked uncharacteristically sad as he tried to hug onto Io for as long as possible. Atsushi and En had said their goodbyes together, Atsushi offering him a book to help with harder English and En offering him a good luck.

He had said goodbye to Ryuu last. The two boys stood outside Io's house, a silence had been slowly squeezing between them. It was hard for Ryuu to reach Io's gaze and when he did his cheeks were dusted a light pink.

"I... I guess this is it?" The pink haired boy offered, smiling sadly.

"Yeah." Io sighed. "I'll be heading to the airport tomorrow morning first thing."

"I'm really going to miss you." Ryuu chuckled slightly, as if not believing he had to say these words. "It won't be the same without you... Come back to visit soon, alright?"

"We'll video chat, Ryuu. You'll hardly notice I'm gone." Io reassured the other, but even he knew those words were lies. If the week alone was any indication of how America was going to be, he wasn't looking forward to that bit.

"Hope you can survive without me and my wonderful presence around." Ryuu teased. "... Text me when you get there, okay?"

"I will, don't worry." Io still smiled at the others concern.

"I'm not worried!" Ryuu huffed, cheeks pink. Before Io could offer his last goodbye Ryuu leaned forward and pulled Io into a hug. Io's eyes widened as he was pressed up against his friend, Ryuu's arms wrapped tight around him. Ryuu usually didn't hug him this directly. "... I'll see you later, Io." He whispered before pulling away.

"Y-yeah." Io nodded, his own cheeks a light shade of red. He watched as Ryuu smiled before hurrying off towards his own home.

On the ride to the airport Io couldn't stop thinking about it. The hug was a nice gesture and Io found himself wishing for another. Was Ryuu actually worried about him? Io was sure he'd be fine. He was sure.

The airport was rather boring, but at least it had internet access so he could keep his phone and stocks on hand. Unfortunately he had arrived a bit late, so he'd have to hurry if he was going to make his flight. He was just heading to security when he felt someone from behind grab his arm and yank on it just enough to get him to notice. Io turned to see exactly who had done that, sure someone had mistaken him for someone else, when he saw Ryuu there. What the hell was he doing here?

He looked like he had gotten up last minute and hurried to the airport. His hair was sloppily pulled back and his clothes rumpled and a mess. Was his shirt inside out? His chest rose and fell quickly as he gasped for breath, but his expression was full of relief. "Th-thank god I caught you in time..."

"Ryuu? What are you doing here?!" Io asked, glancing around. None of their other friends were around and Io wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse.

"I couldn't let you leave. Not when you don't know everything." Ryuu said, reaching up and grabbing Io's shoulders to root him in place. "You need to hear this."

"But my flight-"

"Please. Please, just listen. If you listen to tall of it I'll let you go to your flight, but you need to hear this." Ryuu begged. He took Io's silence as a pass to continue. "Before I told you to forget the week that I ignored you, remember? But that week- that week I spent trying to figure something out. You leaving really upset me, more than it should have. I was angry at you, and that made me angry at myself. I decided to just push down all those feelings, but last night... I realized I couldn't do that. I couldn't ignore them while you left me for America."

"I'm not leaving you for-"

"I like you, Io!" Ryuu interrupted him, his cheeks bright red. Io's eyes widened and he was suddenly hyper-aware of the people staring at them. "M-more than a friend!" Ryuu's grip tightened. "I have for a long time and I can't let you leave me without you knowing."

For the first time in forever everything around Io seemed to slow down. It felt like they were the only two people in the world and nothing else matter but them. Io's face felt hot and he was sure it was as red as Ryuu's, his mind was racing to try to make sense of what Ryuu was saying. Maybe if his heart would stop pounding so fast and loud he could think clearly. Io stood there, silent. Fear started to creep into Ryuu's expression and Io could see he was starting to regret the confession. Ryuu's fingers began to loosen up their hold and Ryuu opened his mouth- most likely to apologize. He didn't get the chance.

Next thing both of them knew, Io had leaned forward and pressed his lips against Ryuu's. He closed his eyes and grinned slightly at the squeak Ryuu let out when their lips touched. It didn't take long for Ryuu to start kissing back, moving his hands from Io's shoulders to his neck, eyes fluttering closed. Io wrapped one arm around Ryuu and used the other to lace into Ryuu's pink hair. His bags laid next to them, completely forgotten.

How long they stood there kissing Io wasn't sure. It was probably just a moment, but it felt like forever. Io was the one who started the kiss and ended it, he pulled back still blushing and eyes lidded. Ryuu opened his eyes and looked down under Io's gaze.

"O-oh..." Ryuu muttered. "Does this- I mean are you...?"

"I'm not going to America. Not now." Io shook his head, smiling at Ryuu who looked up hopefully.

"You're not?" Happiness and relief flooded Ryuu's expression.

"I can't leave you here, now can I?" He said softly, moving his hand from Ryuu's hair to cup his cheek. Ryuu leaned into the touch, but he still looked slightly embarrassed.

"What about the profit you'd make?"

"I mike make money there." Io admitted, glancing away. "But... you're priceless."

Ryuu's eyes widened in surprise, as if out of everything that had happened that was the most surprising. He smiled slightly and Io realized that he'd never seen Ryuu this shy. It was oddly cute. He glanced around, noticing all the stares the couple were getting. "Well if you're not leaving for America we should probably leave..." Ryuu muttered, nodding towards the exit.

"Good idea." Io agreed. He let go of Ryuu to collect his bags and with his free hand he took Ryuu's as they walked out.


Both boys apparently had been repressing their feelings for far too long because when they got back to Io's house they wasted no time. Thankfully Io's parents weren't home, he'd have to call them to tell them that the trip to America was cancelled, because it would've been extremely awkward for his mother or father to walk in on them.

Ryuu was laid back on Io's bed, as he had been so many times before, and Io straddled on top of him. Io was thankful Ryuu had thrown on a tank top before he came to the airport because it made kissing his neck so much easier. His fingers kept wandering under Ryuu's shirt to softly dance over the skin as Ryuu had one hand clenching Io's shirt and the other in Io's hair. Io remembered how he had compared love to his money once, earning profits, but now he knew that wasn't the case. Love had to be the feeling that filled him as he held Ryuu.

Why hadn't they admitted their feelings earlier? Why had Io been so convinced that hiding it would be better for both of them? As he gently nipped at Ryuu's skin, causing the pink haired male to gasp, Io decided that he'd never felt happier. How could he have thought that he could leave Ryuu for whatever amount of money? Now he was sure it was impossible. No amount of money was worth more than Ryuu.

Io peppered kissed up Ryuu's neck to his hear, he nipped gently right under Ryuu's earrings causing Ryuu to let out a breathy moan. Io had always wondered how sensitive Ryuu's ears were. "No fair." Ryuu pouted. "You're having all the fun," he turned his head to whisper in Io's ear before flipping them over. Ryuu easily adjusted to the new position, a mischievous grin playing on his lips. "My turn," Ryuu hummed as he leaned down to capture Io's lips in a kiss.

Io grinned slightly as he silently promised to never leave Ryuu or let him go.