As usual, you can find this on AO3 (link in my profile). This story is meant to be a prequel to my previous multichapter fic, Noire Jument, Blanc Cheval. It takes place in the same universe.

It's not necessary to read that in order to enjoy this one, though. Enjoy!

Dear Leo…you know I've always loved you as a friend. But today I need to tell you that it's more than that…no, not good enough.

Takumi paced around the washroom, rubbing his temples. He exited the washroom and stared at the discord in his room. Boxes were piled high, overflowing with the various things Takumi brought with him to the dorm. Soon there would be even more boxes, once Leo arrived with his things for the year.

Outstretching his arms and falling face first onto his bed, Takumi sighed.

Guh…why can't I do this? All these years, and I still can't…!

A knock sounded.

Hmm…Leo said he wouldn't get here for another hour, so that probably isn't him. But… Takumi pushed himself off the bed and wandered over to the door. He opened it to find Zero, who grinned.

"Hello there, Takumi," said Zero. "Is Leo here yet?"

"No, not yet," said Takumi. "He should be around in an hour or two, though. What do you need?"

"That's unfortunate." Zero leaned against the doorframe. "I don't really need anything. All I wanted was to tell him that I won't be living in res this year."

"…Couldn't you have seen him sometime during the summer? Or called him?"

"Yes, but this was a last minute decision. And I'd prefer to say it in person," said Zero. "I'm still going to Tellius U. I just won't be returning to Gallia Residence, or any res for that matter. I've decided to move into an apartment with my boyfriend, you see."

Takumi nodded. A smile spread across his face.

"Well, I wish you luck then."

"Thanks." Zero smirked. "You don't need to look so happy. You were never in any danger of me taking Leo away from you."

Takumi's eyes widened.

"E-excuse me?!"

Zero gave a sardonic laugh.

"You are far too obvious, Takumi. Everyone knows. Even Leo might know. Then again, with how affectionate you've always been with each other, there might not be any reason to suspect-"

"T-there is no way everyone knows!" cried Takumi. "We don't act that affectionate in public!"

"Maybe, but the fact that you two are practically joined at the hip and living together in the most gay-friendly residence on campus isn't exactly what you'd call convincing."

"S-stop that!" said Takumi. He began to close the door. "A-anyway, I'll let Leo know you stopped by! Goodbye!"

"Just one more thing," said Zero, pushing open the door. "I heard Ike is the RA of Gallia this year. Don't let him know I was here."

"W-why?!"

"Because it's Ike, and I shouldn't be here," said Zero. "I don't have a key to get in, after all."

"N-no key? Then how-" Takumi hit a realisation and groaned. "You broke in again, didn't you?"

"That's right. Now if you excuse me, I must be going." Zero flicked Takumi's nose before leaving.

Takumi closed the door and rubbed his nose.

D-damn it! Still as thuggish as usual…how are he and Leo still friends…

A few minutes later, there was another knock.

Sighing, Takumi pushed the door open.

"What is it now?"

"…I'm your RA."

Takumi faced the visitor and gasped. Instead of Zero as he expected, a tall man with navy blue hair was looking down on him. He gulped.

"S-sorry about that. I thought you were someone else." Takumi forced a laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm Takumi. You must be Ike."

"Yes, I am," said Ike. "It's nice to meet you, Takumi. Anyhow, I wanted to let you know that if you need assistance in any way, my room is at the end of the hall. Also, there will be a house meeting tonight at 9pm."

"Oh, yeah…thanks," said Takumi.

Ike nodded and began to walk off, then stopped and reached into his bag.

"I-is there anything else?" asked Takumi.

"I almost forgot to give you these." Ike walked back to Takumi and held out a handful of condoms.

Takumi took the condoms and raised an eyebrow.

"C-condoms? But why…"

"Just in case. If anything happens in the future, you need to stay safe," said Ike. "If they aren't your size and you need some, I'll be providing them. Again, if you have any questions, ask me."

Takumi stared as Ike knocked on the neighbour's door. He looked at the condoms in his hands.

If I do end up using these, it'll be a miracle, thought Takumi. He closed the door and sat back on his bed.

Takumi and Leo sat on the couch in the residence building's lobby.

"I swore I had it," said Leo. He put his hands in his pockets, removing them once it was clear they were empty.

"I believe you," said Takumi. "Maybe you just dropped it somewhere?"

"I was thinking the same thing," said Leo. "But where? It was in my pocket; it couldn't have fallen out that easily."

"Maybe it was in the same pocket you had your phone in? You could've pulled your phone out to check something and the key card might've fallen out."

"That's true." Leo shook his head and frowned. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" asked Takumi.

"Unless Zero snatched it away while we were chatting earlier," said Leo.

Takumi nodded.

"So you two did chat. Knowing him, that's probably what happened."

"Yeah…I'm going to try calling him," said Leo, pulling his phone out.

Takumi gazed around the room, waiting as Leo dialed Zero's number. His eyes returned to Leo as he paced around and held the phone to his ear. He noticed Leo clench his teeth, something he did rather often.

Leo never clenches while talking to me, thought Takumi.

Leo scowled as he hung up and called again. He put a hand on his hip, slowly tapping his fingers. Licking his lips, his eyes met Takumi's.

Heat began to rise in Takumi's face as he averted his gaze. Though he felt as frustrated as Leo did, he couldn't help but find his friend's glittering eyes beautiful.

Leo sighed.

"Figures he wouldn't pick up."

Takumi stood and put his hand on Leo's shoulder.

"He has to be doing this on purpose."

"Exactly," said Leo. His eyes met Takumi's again. "Let's look for him. When I talked to him earlier he said he was going to stick around campus for a bit, specifically around Crimea res. So he's probably still around."

Takumi felt a smile spread across his face.

"I was going to ask about that. It's worth a try."

Leo grinned back, causing Takumi's heart to flutter.

"Alright, I'll check Crimea."

"Sounds good, I'll look around Gallia," said Takumi.

By the time Takumi finished thoroughly checking in and around Gallia, night fell. He leaned against a tree and sighed.

Damn it...I guess I'll just lend him my key for the night until he can buy a new one.

The wind rustled the leaves as Takumi pulled out his phone to call Leo. He yawned.

A leaf fell into Takumi's mouth as the rustling of the leaves got louder.

Takumi quickly dropped his phone and looked up. Something on a lanyard fell and hooked onto a branch.

Picking his phone up and standing, Takumi noticed it was in the shape of a card.

Could that be...? He leapt at the object, unable to reach it. Damn...I need something to help me.

Takumi ran towards the residence. I won't tell Leo yet...it might not even be his.

Returning a few minutes later, Takumi extended his selfie stick.

And Ryoma said this would be useless to own, thought Takumi.

Sticking the selfie stick through the lanyard's loop, Takumi brought the object down. He held the card; it read Nohr, Leo on a sticker.

"Yes!" Takumi pumped his fist. He pulled his phone out to tell Leo the good news.

A crackling sound shot through the branches. Zero jumped from the tree and landed in front of Takumi.

Takumi yelped and fell backwards, dropping his phone and selfie stick.

"Oh, did I scare you?" Zero smirked as he helped Takumi up. He leaned over and picked up the selfie stick and a rock; he handed the stick to Takumi and pocketed the rock.

"W-what does it look like? Of course you did!" cried Takumi. "What are you doing here?"

"Why do you think? You're smart, you can put the pieces together I'm sure."

"You're here because you're a sadist who wants to see me squirm."

"Maybe so, but that's not entirely why I'm here right now," said Zero. "Seriously. I was in the tree and so was the key. I only revealed myself when you got here. Think about it."

"That much is obvious, considering that you stole it," said Takumi.

Zero laughed.

"I'll give you a hint. Think back to the conversation we had earlier today."

Takumi frowned.

"Our conversation? What about it...?" Takumi's stomach suddenly clenched as he remembered. "Hold up...you were waiting for me, weren't you? You dropped the card in the tree when I came over...You intended to make me find it and give it back to Leo! ...Are you trying to help me get with him?!"

"I may be, I may not be," said Zero. "I would just give the card to Leo and not mention my involvement."

Takumi put a hand to his face.

"So you are. No offense, but I don't need your help."

"You may not realise it, but you do," said Zero.

"No, I don't!" Takumi crossed his arms. "I just need some time, and I'll confess to him myself!"

"Too bad, I'm going to involve myself anyway."

Takumi growled and marched past Zero towards Gallia.

"See, the two of you are too comfortable around each other," said Zero. "Meaning that if you were to go out and suddenly tell Leo you love him, he'd probably just brush it off as platonic love, huh? And let's not forget how obliviousness runs in his family."

Takumi balled his fists.

"S-shut up! You're wrong!" D-damn it...he's got a point...

"I'll do what I please, so there's nothing you can say to stop me. You should be thankful I'm not giving you the shaft instead."

Takumi's eyes went wide. He opened his mouth, then closed it.

"I'm going back to res. There's a house meeting. Goodbye." He walked back to the residence. Reaching into his pocket for his phone, it wasn't there.

What the...Takumi patted himself down before hitting a realisation.

It wasn't a rock that Zero pocketed.

A month later, Zero still hadn't given Takumi his phone back. He used his outdated flip phone in the meantime and recently ordered a new smartphone as a replacement.

He hadn't admitted his feelings for Leo yet, either. However, such feelings were the last thing on his mind in the moment.

"It's Bowser time!" said Takumi, selecting his character in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

"Well, I'm..." Leo hovered over Marth.

"...Not going to choose him this time?" Takumi patted Leo's back.

"...No, I'm not," said Leo, selecting Ike instead.

"I still can't believe Ike made it into Smash," said Takumi.

"Me too. You'd think they'd put a character from an actual game in," said Leo.

A knock sounded at the door.

"I'll get it," said Leo.

"No, let me," said Takumi.

"No, I insist," said Leo.

"I'm going." Takumi stood and ran for the door, then slipped on a blanket and fell to the ground. He noticed a phone slide next to him.

Leo opened the door and cursed.

"Nobody's there. Figures."

Takumi grabbed the phone in front of him and groaned.

"Leo. It was Zero. He slid my phone under the door." Takumi sighed. "Great. I buy a new phone, and I immediately get my old phone back."

"I was thinking the same thing," said Leo, entering the washroom and closing the door behind him. "You might want to check it to make sure he didn't tamper with your data."

"That was my first thought," said Takumi.

He checked his contacts and didn't notice anything different. No extra apps had been downloaded, no calls were made.

Opening the photo app, he noticed one new picture. Enlarging it, Takumi saw it was a picture of a note. It read "nice pics bro" in Comic Sans MS font.

Nice pics...? Wait, what did I have on here? Takumi browsed through the pictures. There was a picture of Sakura playing her koto, a selfie with Hinoka, Ryoma dressed in samurai gear, and...a naked selfie of Takumi.

"Argh!" cried Takumi. Maybe Ryoma was right about the selfie stick. I don't even need to look at my other pictures to know Zero meant this one...

"What'd he do?" said Leo, voice muffled from being in the washroom.

"N-nothing!" Takumi felt the blood rush to his face. Leo couldn't know Takumi had this picture, no matter what. I'd never hear the end of it...and what if he doesn't find me attractive in that position?

Leo opened the washroom door, cocking his head and raising an eyebrow.

"Your reaction says otherwise."

"Oh! Um..." Takumi glanced around the room and saw a copy of The Metamorphosis on the table. "I...I just saw a cockroach, that's all."

Leo walked over and picked the book up. His expression remained the same as he looked back at Takumi.

"You should know by now that I can tell when you're lying."

"Y-yeah. Of course," said Takumi. Looking at his feet, he sighed. "I'm sorry, Leo. I just don't want to talk about it right now."

Leo took a seat in front of Takumi.

"Are you sure? You know you can talk to me about everything. That's how it's always been."

"I understand that." Takumi looked into Leo's eyes. Their pupils were unusually dilated, making Takumi feel even worse.

Still, Leo couldn't know about the photo.

"Thanks, but...I really don't want to talk about it. Not with you, not with anybody," said Takumi.

Leo sighed.

"Well...okay. Let's just play our game, then."

Takumi nodded and picked up his controller.

He's acting less persistent than usual...should I be concerned?

That night, Takumi dreamt. He was in an airplane, staring down at a vast, grassy field. Many large red and white targets were painted in the fields.

"You have to strike all of them from here."

Takumi jumped in his spot, realising he wore a quiver and held his bow in his hands. He turned to the source of the voice.

Nobody was there.

"Um...what?" Takumi glanced back outside. He looked down and understood how high up he was. He scrambled to find a parachute, but found nothing.

"A long way down, isn't it? But you must do this without a parachute. Besides, it wouldn't be useful to wear it and a quiver, right? Nor would it be practical for wearing while shooting arrows...what if it snagged?"

Looking around again, Takumi saw nobody.

"Okay, seriously, who said that?"

"Can't you tell your own voice when you hear it? God you're pathetic."

"H-huh?!" The voice was right; it was Takumi's voice. "A-are you my subconscious...or something?"

"Kind of, I suppose. I am materialization of all the misery and fear you've had throughout your life."

"Well...leave me alone! I'll do this without you!" said Takumi, Taking a bow out of the quiver and lining it up with a target.

"But if I'm part of you, and nobody else is here...who's flying the plane?"

Suddenly Takumi's head began to ache. He pressed his hands against his temples, the pain becoming more and more excruciating by the second.

A shadow of himself protruded from his forehead. Shadow Takumi grinned, his mouth full of sharp fangs.

Takumi tried to ignore it, instead looking outside. The sky was blood red and appeared to be melting. All the alarms in the plane were going off as it rapidly descended.

"I've got to get out of here!" Takumi teetered towards the edge of the plane's door and fell out. Looking at the ground, he noticed there were no more fields; only a sea of black remained.

After falling for what felt like an hour, Takumi landed bottom first on the darkness. He screamed when he realised he was slowly sinking. Attempting to push himself out, his hands got stuck.

"This...it's tar!" Takumi felt the hot tears rolling down his face.

Suddenly, the sky began to lighten. Red began to fade away, replaced by marigold, then azure. The tar began to dematerialize, though Takumi was still stuck.

Leo appeared on the horizon, riding his ebony horse towards Takumi.

"L-Leo!" shouted Takumi. "H-help me out of here!"

Continuing to ride toward Takumi, Leo grinned. He reached his hand out.

Takumi thought his heart would burst out of sheer bliss. As Leo reached him, he felt a shaking sensation. As his body shook, he felt like he was sinking deeper, deeper-

"Wake up, Takumi!"

Takumi quickly sat as he woke up, smashing his forehead into Leo's.

Leo groaned as he rubbed his forehead.

"D-damn it..."

"S-sorry," said Takumi, rubbing his own forehead.

"Don't worry about it," said Leo. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I tried to wake you and I scared you."

"But I hurt you," said Takumi.

Leo shook his head.

"We're not going to get anywhere if we argue this. I know you had a nightmare, so hurry and get into my bed."

Takumi felt his heart stop. Though he'd slept next to Leo after having a nightmare many times in the past, not once in the past year had Takumi had a nightmare around Leo.

"I-I'm not a child anymore," said Takumi, lying back down. "I don't need to sleep with you."

Leo put a hand to his face.

"You say this every time. Now, come to my bed."

"No."

"Then you leave me no other choice," said Leo. He climbed into Takumi's bed and lay next to him.

Takumi groaned as he turned away from Leo.

"I'm moving to your bed."

"If you move, you know I'll move too," said Leo. "I'm too tired to argue right now. So stay."

Takumi sighed as he lay back in bed. Is he doing this because he feels like he has to, or...?

"Goodnight, Takumi."

"Ah...goodnight, Leo." He rolled onto his side and looked at his friend. "Say...Why do you still let me sleep next to you? We're nineteen now, and in a few years we'll probably be living our own lives, you know?"

"You're right about that, but...don't worry about it. We're friends, after all," said Leo. He turned away and went back to sleep.

Takumi felt his heart sink.

Maybe Zero was right...

As he drifted to sleep, he thought he heard a sniffle.