I hope you liked the special Valentine's day update :) If you missed it, go read Chapter 5 first!

And for those who have read it, let the mystery be revealed lD

Yuu brushed off his friends' teasing as he left Shinoa's dorm. He wasn't in the mood for dealing with them so he left their study session earlier.

Once he got home, he was alone with the silence as both his parents were still working.

He went straight to his room instead of grabbing a snack or two first since he already ate pizza with his friends. Dropping his bag on the floor as he entered, he fell face first into the comforts of his bed. Turning to lay on the side of his face, he saw the neatly wrapped present from Mika sitting on the shelf at the head of his bed, along with the picture frames of him and his friends and family.

Yuu had yet to open the small gift given to him by his blond best friend. Shinoa was his other self-proclaimed best friend. Yuu didn't really care either way.

He picked up the wooden picture frame and looked at the picture. It was taken on the day of Yuu's 8th birthday. It was the only picture Yuu had of just the two of them. They met when they were 5 since Shinya moved out of the Hiragi's household. But after his mother's death, Guren and Yuu moved in with Shinya.

While Guren drowned himself in work, Yuu had avoided all social contact with others. But Mika ignored his new cold demeanor and tried anything to get Yuu to laugh or even crack a smile.

He knew that both Shinya and Mika were trying to help him through his mother's death. But what he needed was time to cope, not Mika showing up at his house everyday trying to show him a new TV show, movie, or toy. Granted, he did slowly started accepting Mika's attempts to get the blond to stop trying so hard, but it only made the blond try even harder to bring Yuu out of his shell. That's why on his 8th birthday, it was a small gathering of with Mika and Shinya along with his father and him. It wasn't anything too special. They had played video games, had cake, and opened presents. The picture was Mika's idea too. That was because the blond smothered whipped cream on his face after the first picture was taken.

Yuu laughed at the memory of the two of them covered in whipped cream. Then Yuu decided that Guren should suffer as well so the two children went to hug the unsuspecting man. Shinya managed to catch the whole progress on video. To this day, it was one of Yuu's best accomplishments in life. If he did anything remotely messy now, Guren would kill him without a second thought.

Looking back at the small gift, Yuu let out another sigh and picked up the small gift in his left hand. He had been staring at the gift for four days now. It's been haunting him that he doesn't even have the guts to open a gift from Mika.

If he found it on the porch with a tag that said 'from Mika', he should be suspicious of the content but it was handed to him by Mika himself. It wasn't abnormal that they exchanged gifts on Valentine's Day. But seven years after not seeing each other, Yuu almost forgot the tradition they had between the two of them. Yuu used to make cookies with Shinya while Mika made little crafts for him. This time, there was a definite weight to the gift, but it wasn't extremely heavy. It confused Yuu even further to what the gift could be.

Even stranger was that Mika hadn't contacted him in the four days. The last time he heard from the blond was Valentine's Day when he handed Yuu the gift. He would have guessed that Mika would have asked him about the gift by the second day.

~ The Cross-dressing Model and The Artist ~

The fifth day was Yuu's limit. Yuu had been curious since receiving the gift but he wanted to wait for the perfect opportunity. But there was no perfect moment and the mystery inside the small box was eating him alive.

But he was in the middle of class when he made up his mind. He had a terrible time concentrating as his mind would always drift back to the gift and Mika, but it wasn't like he missed anything too important. With his mind made up, he was ready to get out of class and open the thing so it can stop haunting him.

On his way home, Shinoa texted him asking if he was going to hang out with them at the mall, but he declined because he wasn't going to let anything get in his way this time.

Shinya was home early but Yuu made a beeline for his room, greeting Shinya briefly as he walked by the living room. He was determined and excited to open the gift. But there was still a small part of him that was scared. He was hoping it wasn't a joke gift or a glitter bomb like Shinoa gave him three years back. However, this was Mika he was talking about. The blond would never do that to him.

Yuu made sure his door was closed and locked before he made his way to his bed. He held the gift in hand and took a deep breathe before pulling the red ribbon off. He mentally counted to three before lifting the lid. He pulled away the pink tissue paper to see a cute little heart keychain.

It was such a Mika thing to do. The blond had a love for small and cute things. It was something he learned after Mika returned.

But when Yuu went to pick it up, he realized it was actually two key chains, each with half a heart that fits together: one with the word 'sweet' and the other with the word 'heart'. Yuu furrowed his brows at the thought. He was slightly worried that Mika had given him the wrong gift, intending to give it to someone else. He looked at the lid to find some kind of tag or name for the recipient but found nothing. He even turned over the box to see if he had hidden the name there.

But when he turned it over again, the tissue paper fell out and he stared at the words on the box for a good five minutes. 'Will you be my boyfriend?' was written in very neat print, much like the writer.

After what seemed like forever, Yuu grabbed his phone from his bag and tried to call Mika. His heart was pounding so loud in his chest that it was drowning out the ringing tone of his phone. But even after four phone calls, the blond won't pick up, all going to his voicemail. Yuu decided to give up after the sixth call, not bothering to leave a message.

He looked back at the box and noticed a little red arrow under the message. Yuu started picking at it and pulling away the flap, inside was another message.

Hey Yuu-chan!

I'm going to be leaving Japan the day after today. Mama Krul asked me to be a part of a fashion event in New York so we'll both be staying there for three weeks. I'm also not going to bring my phone with me since it'll be practically useless anyways. If you need anything, just leave a voicemail! I'll answer it when I get back!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Mika

"That's not fair," Yuu whispered at the box, "Leaving after confessing like this, that's totally not fair, Mika."

The knock on his door startled Yuu out of his thoughts. "Yuu, dinner's ready."

"Thanks papa Shinya!" Yuu called out and listened to the creaking of the wood as Shinya left. He put the tissue paper and ribbon back into the box and stored the keychain inside as well for safe keeping. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips just before he put the lid on the gift.

Yuu was happy that his feelings were mutual.