Both princes were well on their way to falling into a deep sleep, when suddenly the gravity of the situation finally pulverized Misaki's subconsciousness. Before tonight, the thought of two men doing what they just did never even crossed his mind, and he'd never think it possible. Yet somehow, it happened. He jolted up and out of Usagi's grip with a look on his face that said an indignant rant was coming. Unfortunately, he didn't think about what he was going to say, and it came out a jumbled mess, "you! You just- how could you? What, how, we're both men!" His breath was just as erratic as it was moments ago as he tried to articulate his thoughts. It made him even more confused that his body seemed to like it, what exactly could have caused that?
Usagi lazily opened his eyes to gaze upon his now very indignant and confused wife to be. "Was my performance unsatisfactory?" He said lamely, leaving it ambiguous if he was being sarcastic or not.
The smaller bit his lip as his eyes flared with a ferocity only kept in check by his confusion. "We're both men!" He huffed and exhaled and tried to formulate an argument, but it was proving harder than expected.
"You keep saying that. It's not impossible." Usagi said lamely.
"But!"
"Listen, I'm now very interested in you, and it's because you're a man." He exhaled in exasperation. It pained him to have to be so obvious and spell everything out so bluntly, but his wife appeared so dense that he probably wouldn't catch on otherwise.
"Huh?"
"Don't you understand? I'm attracted to men, and men only. If I had known you were a man earlier I wouldn't have been so confused about my feelings."
"But- how?"
He moved in close and pulled Misaki back into a hug. "Look, I don't need to explain myself further. I like you. Actually, I like you a lot. I was about to concede that I liked you when I thought you were a woman." It made more sense in his mind now. The signs were there, it must have been the reason why he was able to form such a connection with Misaki in the first place.
Misaki was still slightly confused, but a little more relaxed now. He was actually starting to feel relieved, at least his country wasn't on the brink of ruin. "So, wait, you're totally okay with this?"
Usagi rolled his eyes, feeling like he'd been repeating himself ad nauseam. "Not only am I okay with it, I'm rather pleased." He said. Though, now that the initial shock and ensuing lust were taken care of, he really was curious as to why the enemy country had offered up a man for him to marry. It wasn't like he was disappointed, far from it, but there was no way for the foreign royals to know of his preferences. "But I have to ask, why did your family offer you to me if you're incapable of producing an heir?" That could be a problem, but only because of obligation. In all honesty, Usagi didn't care one bit who succeeded him, he was barely on board with the idea of running a country in the first place. Producing an heir was something mandated by the country, if it wasn't he'd never worry about having kids.
The smaller swallowed hard, and wondered if he should explain or not. Well, he was found out anyway, so he might as well let his husband in on it. "Well, you see, my parents got word from an oracle that I would be a perfect match for you, and uh, they just assumed I'd be a girl before I was born…" He stated, trying to interpret his husband's reaction.
"Well, she wasn't wrong." Usagi said snidely.
The princess scoffed, but continued, "Well, you can imagine what a shock it was when I was born a boy, so they made me privy to plot that's going on right now." He cleared his throat nervously. "I was going to pose as a woman like I was doing, and on our wedding day there was going to be a fake assassination…"
Usagi raised an eyebrow. "How did you plan on doing that?"
"Well, my family had trained an archer specifically for the job you see. We practiced the angles and techniques he'd use so that he could shoot me, but not kill me. We also have a poison, in small doses it gives the appearance of death for a whole day. It would look like I was killed, but we'd all know I was still alive. After that I'd be taken back to my homeland where I'd hide out in the castle for the rest of my life." Saying it out loud like that made him a little depressed. Sure it wasn't an ideal life, but it had to be done for the good of the country. "I was told that under no circumstances was I to let anyone from your house to find out, especially you, or else the plan would be ruined and we'd end up going to war…"
The older prince clicked his tongue. "Well, I found out, and I'm not about to tell on you." He pulled his princess in and tightened his grip. "Does your train know?"
"They all know, but they're all sworn to secrecy too."
"I see."
He paused briefly, "No one said anything, did they?"
"I haven't heard anything about this from your train." He said dreamily. If anyone was going to say something, he figured it would be Kamijou, who knew full well about his preferences. Either way, the surprise was pleasant and he wasn't going to complain now.
"Well anyway, now that you know, I expect you understand that we can't actually be married, so uh, yeah." His face burned thinking about what they just did. Were they technically married now that they went that far? He couldn't be sure, since he was still a little unsure about Usagi's culture. Either way, the indignation started creeping back. "But that aside, what we just did, we're not even married!" He was only trying to get wound up. In truth he was kind of tired and could potentially fall asleep at any moment.
"Hmm, well, you just said that we can't actually get married, so we might as well enjoy our time together while we can."
Misaki scoffed, but for some reason he couldn't hate the idea. "I can't believe you." He said finally, defeated. "Wait, then, the person in your stories, is-"
"A man." Usagi said plainly.
"Wha, really?!"
"Most people don't appreciate that kind of relationship, so I kept the identity of who I loved a secret. That way I could indulge my fantasies."
The princess took a deep breath, connecting the dots in his head. Now that he thought about it, the mystery person did remind him of someone. "But wait then, now that I think about it, the person in your stories…"
"It was your brother." He said flatly.
"WHAT?!"
"Honestly, are you surprised?"
"My- my brother… Why you!" He wanted to be much more indignant than he could muster right now, but he was too tired to keep it up.
Usagi just continued cuddling him as they fell asleep together.
In the morning, Misaki woke first with only a hint of soreness. He didn't even have time to wonder if what happened last night was a dream or not, as moving around even a little caused a minor shock of pain, and the tight grip Usagi had on him meant he wasn't getting up anytime soon. He sighed, but didn't exactly feel terrible. His heart was conflicted, but for some reason being like this didn't feel wrong.
He ended up staying locked in place for a long time, not wanting to wake his husband. The older prince was always so grumpy if he was disturbed from his sleep, so it seemed like a good idea to not provoke him. Eventually he felt Usagi stir, and his heart started to race. Seconds later, their eyes locked, and Misaki found himself unable to move or say anything.
"Morning, my love." Usagi said, his voice velvety smooth and saturated with adoration.
"We're both men." Misaki said lamely, though his voice was devoid of protest.
Usagi ignored that statement completely and kissed his wife's forehead, moving down and taking his lips. Misaki squirmed at first, but gradually eased into it. Their lips parted and the older cuddled into him.
"Are we just going to stay here all day? Don't you have princely duties to attend?" The princess said lamely. As comfortable and warm as he was, he didn't want to end up trapped there.
"If it were up to me, we'd be here all day." He tightened his grip and nibbled on Misaki's ear, causing the smaller to throw him off. He stood and started getting dressed.
Just then the door flew open and Aikawa came bursting in. "Wake up you asshole! Stop shirking your work! Set a wedding date already-" She stopped dead when she caught sight of Misaki, half way through the process of getting dressed. Misaki reacted the same way he did last night, covering his chest like a woman might do, but yet again he was caught.
"Um, wait, the princess is-"
"He's a man." Usagi said casually from the bed.
"Wait, um." Misaki felt his blood run cold again. How could everyone here be so casual about something like this?!
"No way! KYAAaaa!" At that she ran up and took Misaki by the hand. "That's adorable! Oh my goodness, I'll bet our prince was happy about that."
"Uh, I mean-"
She continued ranting, but eventually turned her attention back to Usagi. "Well now, I was going to force you to set a wedding date, but hmm, this is quite the scenario…"
"Misaki's got it covered." Usagi said as he got out of bed. "Misaki, why don't you explain the plan to her?"
"Wha, HUH?" This was just too weird, he'd been found out in rapid fire succession, and yet, they seemed totally okay with it. He didn't know if this was a good sign, or if they were just holding off an execution.
"Go on Misaki, with the help of my tactician, you can go over your plan and make sure it's perfect."
"Oh, you had a plan?" She gave Misaki a sly look. The excitement was welling up inside her.
Misaki cleared his throat. He couldn't dig himself any deeper, so he might as well share his plan. So he told Aikawa everything he'd told Usagi last night. She seemed pretty intrigued with the logistics, and was even more impressed that Misaki was willing to go through with such a plan. She gave her full support and swore that she wouldn't tell anyone on the council about it.
"Anyway, you still need to set a date for the wedding, so get on that!" Her expression changed to a more playful one then, "And I expect you'll have a new book for me read by the end of the month." With that, she took her leave.
"What a pain." The older prince said, running a hand through his hair. Misaki has since finished dressing but was still feeling a little rattled.
"A pain? I'm just glad she was so understanding about the whole thing." If he'd learned anything, it was that he'd have to be on his toes from now on. It was bad enough that two people already knew, the last thing he needed was for more people knowing.
"Yeah yeah, anyway, let's go. We've got a wedding to plan." Though, after last night, Usagi was in no hurry to get married, that would only end their relationship. No, he wanted this to last.
