From Pauper to Prince

by DatHeetJoella

When Prince Nagisa hears that he is arranged to marry Prince Haruka of Iwatobi, he is more than a little upset. In order to take his mind off things, his tutor Rei decides to take him to the town near the palace, where they meet a poor boy with a heart of gold. Little did they know that this meeting would change their lives forever. -MakoHaru ReiGisa

5. Shackled and Bound

A/N: First of all, sorry it took me a little longer than usual for this chapter to come out. The reason for that is that this chapter is really long (more than 21k words so brace yourself) and therefore it took me a lot longer to proofread it. I kept getting distracted too and I think that's because I was a little hesitant about this chapter. Not only because of it's length, because it does feel really long, but also because it's very dialogue-heavy and I'm not entirely sure about the response that this chapter may get, but I'll say more about that later. Sorry about this in advance.

Second, if you've been reading from the start then I want to let you know that I changed the chapter count from 6 to 8. The reason for that is because, when I was writing chapter 6, I soon realised that it would be impossible for me to push all that I had planned into one chapter. So instead, I decided to give it not one, but two extra chapters so it wouldn't feel too cramped and give it a little more room to breathe. I hope you understand and that you'll stick around for the upcoming chapters as well.

But because I decided to give it two extra chapters, I'm not entirely sure if I can keep up with the previous update schedule. I still need to figure out how I'm going to do things and I can't guarantee that I'll be able to deliver the rest of this story in a consistent updating schedule. The reason for this is that I don't want to rush myself, so again, I hope you understand.

I've talked enough for now, so I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

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When the guards entered his room to apprehend him, Makoto didn't put up a fight.

What would have been the point when he knew from the start that he was committing a crime? He had known it and still done it, so now it was time to accept the consequences of that crime. Not that running away would have helped him anyway; he was in a palace that was surrounded by guards, in the middle of a kingdom he didn't know, far away from home. Protest would have been futile.

To keep the last sliver that remained of his dignity, he wiped the tears off his cheeks with his jacket's sleeve before he allowed the guards to shackle him. Without a word he followed them to what he presumed to be the dungeon.

He had never been to a dungeon before, but they were as cold and dark as he always imagined. The walls and ground were made of stone and the room was dimly lit by torches, revealing the bars of the cells and the crates that presumably served as chairs for the patrolling guards. There weren't that many cells and all of them were empty - though not for long.

Once he was inside one of the cells, the guard that led him here was kind enough to unshackle him before he locked the cell-door behind him and sat down on one of the crates. Ignoring the beds that hung from the walls, Makoto plopped down onto the floor, drew his legs to his chest and buried his face in his knees.

He never expected the day to come where he would actually be locked in a dungeon. Up until now he had always been a good person; he always did his best to be as kind and compassionate as he could and always tried to be helpful to those around him. Despite his family's poverty and not having dinner some nights, he never stole anything and earned every coin fairly and through hard work. Fraudulence was about the last thing he ever expected to be arrested for, but here he was, sitting beneath the ground because he had pretended to be a prince. A crime of the highest shelf. He didn't know if the laws and punishments were the same here in Iwatobi as they were in Sano, but he knew that the chance was high that he was going to pay for this with his life. He had known that from the beginning and he had accepted that.

It wasn't so much that he had wanted to die, but he would gladly give his life for his family and in a way, he was doing that now - that was, if Rei kept his promise, but he had faith in Rei and believed that he was an honest man who would fulfill his part of their deal and even if there was no way he could know this for sure, he couldn't bear to consider otherwise right now. He had been okay with it, because he got out of bed every morning to take care of his loved ones and this was the only way he thought he could do that. Even if he really hadn't wanted to die, he could accept his death as long as he had fulfilled his duty.

Those were the terms that he made his decision on, but that was before he met Haruka.

He thought that he knew all of the cards in his hand, but he had been wrong. Haruka was the missing factor in the equation, the one aspect he had failed to regard and include. Of course, he knew that the whole point of this agreement was that he would meet Haruka in Nagisa's stead, but he had never thought about what that entailed. Up until then, 'Prince Haruka' was just a concept, a faceless name and nothing more than that. He had never even considered the possibility that he would actually fall in love with him.

But then he met Haruka and his entire world was turned upside down, because he was the most wonderful and lovely person Makoto had ever met. In hindsight, he knew that this fate had been inevitable from the first moment their gazes met and with every fleeting touch, with every badly-suppressed smile, with every look into his breathtaking eyes Makoto fell harder for him. It had never been his intention, but he had done nothing to stop it either because for the first time in his life, he felt genuine happiness. Not that he would have been able to stop it even if he tried, for the force that drew him to Haruka was simply too strong.

Though the very last thing he expected was that Haruka would fall for him too. It was obvious that Makoto would fall in love with him at some point because he was just so perfect in every sense of the word that there was absolutely nothing that could ever keep Makoto from being charmed by him, but the fact that Haruka actually returned his feelings was just unbelievable. What was plain and simple Makoto next to the talented and gorgeous Prince Haruka? There were so many people who were so much better than him and Haruka could choose anyone he wanted and they would accept with no doubt, yet he had chosen him and while that made him indescribably happy, he wished that he hadn't. Because now he had gone and broken Haruka's heart while he deserved to be nothing but treasured and cherished for every minute of his life. And even if Makoto wanted to do just that, he knew from the beginning that they could never be together. But Haruka hadn't known that and he had given himself wholeheartedly to someone who did not deserve even a hint of his affection, because he thought they were going to spend the rest of their lives together and Makoto couldn't even begin to describe how guilty he felt.

Even if Haruka deserved the world and Makoto could never give him that, his selfish heart still wanted to have Haruka all to himself. Haruka had given him so much in such a short time and yet he still hadn't had enough; he could never get enough of him.

And suddenly, Makoto wasn't okay with his predetermined fate anymore. He had never wanted to die but he'd been able to accept it. But now, for the first time in his life, Makoto wanted to live.

Perhaps he would be lucky enough that Haruka cherished the time they spent together enough to grant him mercy, and maybe to let him see his family one last time so he could apologise and say goodbye to them. Haruka surely had the authority to spare him, but then again, he most likely also had the authority to order for his death without a trial. While he knew Haruka cared about him and wouldn't just let someone be killed off, Makoto didn't know how much he was hurting right now and in a wave of anger he might decide on something he normally wouldn't. Maybe he hurt him so much that Haruka was seeking vengeance and was arranging his execution right at this second.

These thoughts were actively coursing through his mind, but regardless of whether they were true or not, there was not a single feeling inside his heart for Haruka but love. And he knew that it would remain that way until the day he died, be it a hundred years from now, or today.

If there was one last wish he had, it would be to speak to Haruka one more time. Then he would apologise and tell him how guilty he felt, that it had never been his intention to hurt him. He would tell him that even if he had lied to him countless of times, even if he had not been the person he thought he was, his feelings for him were not fake. He would tell him how much he cared for him and that these past few days were the most beautiful ones of his entire life. He wouldn't ask for forgiveness, because Haruka had every right to be furious at him, but he hoped that the memories that he made with him could mean something to him, that he would remember the time they spent together not with a bitter taste, but with a fond smile.

Because Makoto recalled them with a fond smile as well, even as tears were spilling from his eyes again. Even as he was sitting here on the ground of a dungeon and had never been further away from home, he was so glad that he got the chance to meet Haruka, so thankful for the time he got to spend with him and for the memories they got to make. But most of all, he was grateful to Haruka for teaching him what true happiness felt like, for letting him experience how wonderful it was to be in love, even if there was no happy ending in sight for him.

Regardless of what happened to him, Makoto would never forget all that Haruka had given him and he would love him forevermore.

Then, the heavy door to the dungeon was opened and he heard a familiar voice, that forcefully pulled him from his sorrowful thoughts.

"Ow! Can't you be a little more gentle? Seriously what is your problem?"

Makoto looked up from his knees to see Kisumi struggling in the hold of two guards. When their eyes met, Kisumi's body went limp and his jaw dropped. It wasn't clear who was more surprised to see the other.

With Kisumi having stopped resisting, it was a lot easier for the guards to maneuver him and one of the guards let go of him so he could unlock the door to Makoto's cell and the other man threw Kisumi inside, causing him to fall on his hands and knees quite harshly.

While Kisumi was pouting and yelling some more accusations at the guards who had apparently apprehended him rather roughly, Makoto was genuinely wondering why they put him in the same cell as his; not that he was complaining, it just didn't seem like the smartest thing to do, especially since all the other cells were free too.

The guards walked away without even dignifying Kisumi with a reaction of some sort, leaving the two of them alone with one of the guards that had brought Makoto here. Kisumi huffed in exasperation before he turned to the man that stayed behind.

"Hey," he called to gather the guard's attention and when he got it, he sheepishly asked, "Could you, maybe, unshackle me now?" Apparently the guard eyed him sceptically because he quickly continued, "It's not like I can go anywhere or do anything, so please?"

The guard sighed in defeat at the puppy eyes and pout that Kisumi gave him before he got out the key. "Fine, but don't try anything."

"I promise!" Kisumi exclaimed as he held up his palms to prove his sincerity, but then he remembered that he needed to hold out his arms so the guard could actually unshackle him.

Once his wrists were free Kisumi thanked him with a beaming smile and then it became quiet again. Kisumi stayed close to the bars though, like he was keeping an eye on everything that happened outside of their cell, but Makoto didn't have the energy or care to ask him what he was doing.

It didn't take much longer until the silence was disrupted by the sound of snoring, and then, with a last glance at the entrance of the dungeon, Kisumi crawled over to him and sat down next to him. It was then that Makoto realised what he had been doing; he wanted to ensure that they were alone and there was no one eavesdropping on the conversation they would ultimately have, so he had waited until the guard fell asleep. Fortunately it was currently in the middle of the night and in the dimly lit room it wasn't hard to doze off when doing nothing but sitting there and waiting for nothing.

"Are you alright?" Kisumi asked, his voice laced with genuine concern as he put his hand on Makoto's shoulder.

For the first time in his life, Makoto answered that question truthfully. "No, I'm not alright."

The expression on Kisumi's face fell at that answer. Even if it was obvious that he wasn't alright considering they were currently locked in a dungeon, there was something that was incredibly grim at hearing him confirm it aloud. "What happened?" he asked, knowing just how much Makoto and Haruka liked each other and being unable to find what it was that caused them to be in this situation now.

"He called me his name," Makoto mumbled as he could feel the tears burning in his eyes again. When Kisumi frowned in confusion, he raised his voice a little. "He called me "Nagisa" and I… I ran away."

Although he had left out the details because he felt like they were too personal to share, Kisumi understood what he meant anyway. "Oh no," he sighed at the fact that that was what crushed his façade.

"It was just so easy to pretend," Makoto sobbed, being unable to keep his emotions in any longer. "He rarely called me "Nagisa" so it was easy to pretend."

"Shh," Kisumi shushed as he rubbed Makoto's back in a way that was supposed to soothe him, "It's okay, it's alright."

Being a big brother meant that he was used to being the one to comfort others when they were crying, but now his entire world had crumbled right before his eyes, Makoto allowed himself to be comforted by Kisumi instead. He cried into his knees while Kisumi kept whispering reassurances to him, gently stroking his hand over Makoto's back in a steady rhythm.

Makoto didn't know how much time passed before he stopped crying, feeling embarrassed about losing his composure since that was about the only thing he'd had left. He tried to gather himself and he wiped cheeks with his sleeves once more. "Sorry," he hiccupped, feeling guilty towards Kisumi for having to comfort him like he was a child while he was in the same boat as he was, and it was all his fault.

"It's alright," Kisumi repeated with an understanding smile that told him that there was no need for him to feel sorry. "I'm a big brother too, remember?"

Now that he mentioned it, Makoto did recall Kisumi telling him about his little brother when they were on the carriage that brought them here. The aura of comfort that hung around Kisumi like a cloak at this very moment was one that was unmistakably of an elder brother, and under any other circumstances, Makoto would have probably been the one to wear it himself. And while he was still embarrassed and felt guilty for dragging Kisumi into this, he was really grateful that he was here with him now.

"You've got a lot of things going on right now, Makoto, so it's only natural that you're upset. Things may seem really grim now, but everything's going to be alright."

"How do you know that?" Makoto yelled in despair and disbelief, not giving him time to respond before he continued, "How can you be so calm? Aren't you worried? You're an accomplice to a very serious crime! We could be in here for the rest of our lives! Or worse…"

"I am a little worried," Kisumi admitted calmly, not fazed by Makoto's sudden eruption of emotion, "I don't want to be here for the rest of my life, and I don't want to die either. But I just have the feeling that everything's going to be alright."

"Why did you even agree to this in the first place?" Makoto questioned in bewilderment, not knowing why he had never asked him this before. He had a motive to do this and so did Rei, but Kisumi had absolutely no reason nor did he benefit of getting himself involved in this mess.

"I'm not really sure. Maybe I was getting a little tired of the daily life inside the palace. Looking for some excitement, an adventure to shake things up," Kisumi said with a dreamy smile, but Makoto could easily tell that wasn't the truth. When he realised that Makoto saw right through his lies, his smile faltered and turned a little more melancholic. "Nagisa's a good kid. I watched him grow up inside the palace, so he's kind of like a little brother to me - or a cousin, you know what I mean - and I saw how he always hid his loneliness behind his bubbly demeanour. When Rei was appointed as his tutor, he was so happy; I still remember the wide smile on his face. And since then, his smile never faded and though he never outright said anything to me, I knew there was more going on between them.

"When he heard that he was arranged to marry Prince Haruka, he was absolutely devastated. So, in the hopes of giving him some comfort, I requested if I could be the one to accompany him to Iwatobi, and fortunately the king and queen complied. On the night we were supposed to depart, Rei came into my room looking more dishevelled and panicked that I'd ever seen him and he told me that Nagisa had run away. I wasn't surprised, honestly, but I knew he was going to get in a lot of trouble if he didn't show up. Rei told me about you and your plan and he asked me to go along with it. I knew from the start that this plan was doomed to fail, because how could it not, but I also knew that no one else would be crazy enough to agree to something like this and you would all be found out before your plan even started. Rei was so desperate, and even if I knew there was no positive outcome possible, I also knew that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I refused, if I didn't help him and Nagisa out." Kisumi paused for a second to let Makoto process this information before he continued, "I would rather regret something I did do than regret something I didn't do. That's why I agreed to go along with this."

He finished with a genuine smile and Makoto felt even more guilty, because in a way, Kisumi's reason seemed so much more sincere than his own; Kisumi was doing this to help his friends while he only did it for the reward he would get - that would ultimately lead to his family surviving, but at this point Makoto was only able to see the bad things in himself.

"Aren't you scared?" he couldn't help but ask, because surely he didn't want to lose his life over something like this.

"I'm not. Of course, I don't want to die, but we're not going to."

"But what if we will?"

"Then I can say for sure that I died without having any regrets," Kisumi stated with a grin, but Makoto felt the complete opposite: he didn't have enough hands to count all the regrets he had on, even if this plan wasn't one of them. "But we're not going to."

"How can you say that for sure?" Makoto questioned because contrary to before, the confidence was now evident in Kisumi's voice.

"Nagisa would never let that happen, and I'm quite sure Prince Haruka wouldn't either," Kisumi declared, before he thought about what he had just said and continued, "Actually, scrap that. You don't have anything to worry about, but he might have me killed."

Kisumi chuckled at his own remark but Makoto didn't get what was so funny. "Why would he spare me but kill you?" he asked in confusion. After all, he was the one who hurt Haruka, not Kisumi.

"Because he loves you, but he sees me as an obstacle. A nuisance," Kisumi teased like he was trying to lighten up the air between them.

"I'm sure that's not true," Makoto brushed off, really not in the mood for playful banter. "Even if we somehow don't get the death penalty, that means we'll be stuck here for the rest of our lives." And to be quite honest, Makoto wasn't entirely sure which fate was worse, for even if he really didn't want to die, at least his misery would be over soon instead of having to fade away in here for years to come, to die alone and forgotten.

"Actually, I don't think that will happen either."

At this point Makoto was getting a headache with how hard he was frowning, because every word that left Kisumi's mouth confused him more than the previous one. "How so?"

Kisumi smirked a little as he looked up at the stone ceiling. "Pretty much every story has a happy ending."

For a second Makoto thought he had misheard him, but when he realised that was exactly what he had uttered, Makoto began to question if this short period of time inside this dungeon was already eating away at Kisumi's sanity. "Yes, but this is not a story, this is real life." And unfortunately, there were many who didn't get a happy end in reality, certainly not criminals and their accomplices.

"See, that's where you're wrong," Kisumi stated as he turned back to Makoto, gesticulating while he spoke, "Your life is a story, and you're the protagonist. Yes, there are some things that you don't have influence over, like the setting and circumstances, but you do have control over the things you do and the choices you make. And that's why you have to take every opportunity you get to rewrite your own story in the direction you want it to go in. The choices you made are the reason you're here right now, and admittedly, you've brought yourself into a rather tight spot. There might not be a lot of things you can do from this point on, but if you do get a chance then you have to take it and do your best to make things right. Sitting here and sulking is not going to help you, it's only going to make you more miserable. It's not too late yet, and if you get the opportunity to speak with Prince Haruka again, then take it with both hands. Explain everything to him and tell him how you feel. You don't have any control over his response, but regardless of what he decides to do, you'll know for sure that you tried everything you could."

Makoto bit his lip and averted his eyes as he repeated Kisumi's words in his head. In a way, he was right. Up until now he had believed that he had irreversibly messed up, that everything had been shattered beyond repair, but it might not be too late just yet. If there was an opening somewhere, then he had to do his best to squeeze through and try to make things right. He couldn't give up just yet, because for the first time in his life, he felt like he had found something other than his family that he wanted to fight for; someone who was worth fighting for. Even if the whole world may be against it, there was someone for who he would defy the universe itself and he would be damned if he let an opportunity slip away because he was sulking and feeling sorry for himself. If there was a chance, a tiny, tiny chance that he might be able to be together with Haruka like they had both been longing for, then he was going to do everything he could to make that seemingly impossible dream into a reality. He was going to rewrite his own fate.

Suddenly, there was a stream of light inside of the dark tunnel, a ray of hope lighting up inside of him like he had finally found the end of the cave after wandering around in the darkness for an eternity, lost and afraid. The fear and sorrow were drowned out by hope and love, filling Makoto's senses like the endearing smile on Haruka's soft and handsome features always did. He was going to live to see that smile again or he was going to die trying.

"Thank you, Kisumi," Makoto said with a sincere smile, and when Kisumi saw the determination in Makoto's eyes, he smiled as well.

"Everyone is the protagonist of their own story," he continued in an almost whimsical tone, like he was reading him a fairytale, "However, that does not mean that all of our stories are separate. Every story is connected to each other; they intertwine to form the book of life. This means that others influence parts of our stories in a way that we don't have any control over ourselves." He paused for what Makoto assumed to be dramatic effect, but then his grin widened as he said softly, "So even when you don't have any control over a situation, and times have never seem more grim before, there will always be others to help you out. In the most dire of circumstances, you can count on your friends to lighten the burden and help you figure something out."

You're not alone, was what Kisumi had meant, we're all here for you so you don't have to worry about having to carry everything on your shoulders.

Rei had been right: Kisumi was a very reliable man and he had helped them in a way no one else would have even considered. Although Makoto hadn't known Kisumi for long yet, in this short time they spent together he had treated him like an old friend and did his best to support and comfort him, encouraged him to chase after his dreams and to follow his heart. Makoto couldn't describe how thankful he was that Kisumi was here for him, because he most likely wouldn't have been able to live through this trial without his moral support, especially in this current situation. Without Kisumi, they never would have gotten to this point and even if his assistance couldn't change the inevitable outcome, the road up until here would have been much less pleasant without his guidance.

"Thanks," Makoto repeated, because he truly did appreciate what Kisumi had done for him despite only having met him about four days ago.

In response, Kisumi gave him another pat on his back, his smile never wavering. He opened his mouth to say something but he was interrupted by a sudden loud snore coming from outside of their cell, startling them both before they giggled lightly.

"Well then, I suppose it's best if we go follow his example," Kisumi chuckled, "It's late and we have no idea what awaits us in the morning, so we better gather our strength and get some sleep."

"You're right," Makoto agreed, though he doubted if he would be able sleep right now; his mind was flooded with thoughts of things he could say to Haruka and the possible ways Haruka could react to them. But since Kisumi meant well and had already done enough to help him, he kept his mouth shut and got up, dusting off his borrowed clothing. After all, it would be unfair of him to ask even more of Kisumi and rob him of the sleep he probably needed dearly.

They both settled themselves on one of the "beds" that hung on either side of the wall and wished each other goodnight. Makoto purposely faced the wall, not wanting Kisumi to notice that he was still lost in thought.

Like he had expected, he really couldn't sleep because his mind was too full and adrenaline was rapidly coursing through his veins. If he had the opportunity to then he would bolt out of this cell this instant and run up to Haruka's bedroom to tell him the truth and get everything off his chest, but unfortunately he knew that wasn't possible. He had always regarded himself as someone who was very patient, but in this situation it felt like every minute passed even slower than the previous one and lying here and not being able to do anything was agonising. All kinds of scenarios were playing through his head and he was already trying to think of what he could say to Haruka if he got the chance to speak with him again. How would Haruka react to all of this? Would he be so furious that he never wanted to see him again, or would his feelings be strong enough that he could overlook all of this? Would he feel so betrayed that he could never trust him again, or would he be willing to give him a second chance?

Makoto honestly couldn't tell. Like Kisumi had said, he had no idea what awaited him in the morning so there was nothing that he could predict about Haruka's response. Though he hoped with all his heart that his time with Haruka was far from over, from a rational standpoint he could completely understand if Haruka didn't want to have anything to do with him again. Only time would tell.

Hours passed and Makoto drifted in and out of sleep without ever having felt like he had actually slept, for his thoughts were all over the place and he dearly wished that he could have turned them off. If he could go to sleep then he wouldn't have to worry anymore and he would wake up when he could actually do something, yet now he had to wait and be conscious of every second that ticked by.

This was surely the longest night of his life. It was odd for him to not be able to fall asleep because it had never been a problem before. During the day he often looked forward to finally plopping down on his bed again and he was usually so exhausted that he immediately nodded off when his head hit his pillow. Although the bed he shared with the twins for warmth wasn't exactly as soft as the one in his guest room here, compared to this piece of metal he was currently lying on, sleeping in his own bed felt like sleeping on a cloud. Next to that, it was rather cold without a blanket, yet he didn't want to wake the guard to ask for one either. In a way, this was a form of punishment for himself because he felt like he didn't deserve a blanket anyway. But he was glad that it was summer; he couldn't imagine the kind of cold that would seep into his bones if it was freezing and he had nothing but his own body's heat.

Since there was no source of natural light in this dungeon, it was hard to tell how much time had passed and it felt like there would be no end to this night. Perhaps it was well into the afternoon already and they hadn't even been served breakfast. There was no way Makoto could tell except for the fact that the guard was still fast asleep, but he might just be someone who likes to sleep in or just slept since there wasn't much else he could do.

It felt like a new decade had started by the time the heavy door swung open again and the sound of footsteps echoed through the hollow space. Immediately both Makoto and Kisumi sat up on their beds.

"Is it time for breakfast already?" Kisumi wondered as he hopped onto the ground and strolled over to the bars. "I'm starving!"

Ignoring Kisumi's question, one of the guards announced, "Prince Haruka has requested your presence."

Makoto's heart jumped at those words and nerves started to coil in his stomach again. This was it.

The guard opened the door of their cell and commanded them to hold out their arms so he could shackle them once more. In addition to the shackles around their wrists, this time the guards shackled their ankles as well, most likely to prevent them from running off if they saw the opportunity to since the men probably had no idea what Haruka intended to do with them.

It was a bit harder to walk with his ankles chained to each other, since he usually took much larger steps than the shackles allowed and the way the guard was pulling his wrists to get him to move faster didn't help much either. The shackles chafed uncomfortably over his skin but Makoto didn't complain about it; the guard that was leading him didn't seem to be in the best of moods and it wouldn't be wise to enrage him further, for channeling the wrath of a guard who currently had control over him wasn't exactly the smartest thing he could do.

Kisumi, on the other hand, tried a different method; he was talking to the guard that was pulling him forward in the hopes of lifting his spirit a little and therefore get him to handle him with a bit more care. The mood of that guard didn't seem to be as sour as the one that was leading Makoto, and Kisumi's friendly and flamboyant demeanour did seem to charm the man, but then Makoto's guard called him to attention and he abruptly shut his mouth. If Makoto's feeling was correct, then the guard that was leading him was most likely the captain and the guard that was in charge of Kisumi his younger subordinate.

The guards soon vanished from Makoto's mind when they were lead into the throne room and he could make out two figures who were already sitting on the floor. It wasn't until they got closer that he realised the figures were of Rei and Nagisa.

Immediately Makoto's jaw dropped and he wanted to call out to them, but then he saw Haruka standing in front of them. There were bags under his beautiful eyes and they were red as well, like he had spent the entire night crying instead of sleeping, he looked more dishevelled than ever and his face was twisted in an expression Makoto had never seen on his face before: anger.

All of the things Makoto had fabricated in his mind during the night dissipated when he was confronted with Haruka's rage and all he felt was a rock of guilt inside of his stomach, weighing down on him and making him feel sick. But he was surprised when he noticed that Haruka's anger was not targeted at him, but at the guard that took him here.

When they were in front of Haruka, the guard roughly pulled Makoto so he fell on his knees, and soon thereafter Kisumi followed him down to the floor. Haruka took a step closer to them and without batting an eye at them, he turned to the guard.

"Give me the keys to their shackles."

Haruka's voice had been cold and harsh, laced with something Makoto had never heard from him before, but he was even more bewildered at the words he had spoken. Apparently the guard was startled by this too and he stuttered, "B-But, Your Highness-"

"Give me," Haruka repeated sternly, "the keys."

Knowing that he could not go against the prince's authority, the guard reluctantly handed over the keys and Haruka snatched them out of his hands.

"Don't act on your own accord again," he warned and though the 'or else' was unspoken, no more words were needed to understand what he meant. "You're dismissed." When the guard hesitated and didn't move, Haruka yelled, "Go! Leave, all of you!"

The venom in Haruka's voice was enough to startle every person in the room and Makoto couldn't do anything but stare up at him with his mouth hanging open in surprise. It was obvious that he had never seen this kind of display of raw emotion from him before, but the rest of the guards and staff were also shocked by him raising his voice and barking out orders like that. He had assumingly never lost his cool like that before.

Once all of the staff members were gone, the angered expression melted from his features as he crouched in front of Makoto, concern written across his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked with genuine worry as he began to unlock his shackles, "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Makoto was simply unable to answer, gaping up at Haruka as his brain was trying to process all of this new information. Haruka was worried about him, about the guards hurting him, and he had told the guard that he shouldn't act on his own accord again. Did that mean that Haruka had nothing to do with them being apprehended and thrown in the dungeon? Did Haruka not know yet?

In the meanwhile Haruka had freed him of both of the shackles and he threw them aside, like he was sure they wouldn't be needed anymore. Then he turned his attention back to Makoto's wrists, caressing the red marks on his skin.

"Haru…"

His name left Makoto without his awareness, a soft whisper that was somehow filled with every conflicting emotion that burned inside his heart. Despite the redness and exhaustion that was clear in them, Haruka's expressive eyes were still so beautiful and Makoto could read all of his feelings in them; beside his worry there was affection and a hint of guilt, but there was mainly confusion. All of this confirmed that his speculations were true: Haruka didn't know yet.

"Um…?" Kisumi's voice broke them out of their trance and Haruka stood up abruptly. "Could you unshackle me too?"

Carelessly he tossed the keys towards Kisumi, who struggled to catch them with his wrists still chained together, before Haruka turned around. Makoto helped Kisumi unshackle his wrists so he could unlock the ones around his ankles himself.

Then it was quiet for a moment and Makoto dared to sneak a glance over at Rei and Nagisa, who looked to be as exhausted and confused as he felt. Everyone held their breath and waited for Haruka to say or do something, afraid to break the silence themselves. Haruka ran his eyes over all of them and apparently concluded that despite all of them being confused, he was the only one who was in the dark.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before he sighed. "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Haru, I-"

"It's all my fault!" Nagisa interrupted, raising his hand and leaning up on his knees to draw more attention to himself.

"Who are you?" Haruka questioned, making it sound like he had been wondering that for a while now; like he and Rei were presented to him with no explanation whatsoever.

"I'm Nagisa," Nagisa stated slowly and almost shamefully. When Haruka frowned, Nagisa raised his voice, "Prince Nagisa Hazuki of Sano."

Immediately Haruka looked over to Makoto with his mouth hanging open and in addition to his confusion, Makoto could see panic beginning to bubble up inside of him. The look in his eyes was desperate, like he was begging Makoto to deny it, to claim that Nagisa was lying and he was actually the prince of Sano, but Makoto didn't. He averted his eyes in dejection, staring at his lap because he couldn't bear to witness the pain that flashed through Haruka.

A gasp left Haruka's body and he looked at Nagisa, then back at Makoto again. "B-But," he stuttered, and his voice had never sounded so small before, "if you're Nagisa then… then who are you?"

Makoto made the mistake of raising his head and when he saw the despair painted across Haruka's face, the pleading in his eyes, his heart broke. "I…" Makoto started, and despite his determination from before, he couldn't get the words that he rehearsed to come out. He scoffed, "I'm nobody."

Then, it was like everything shattered for Haruka too. Like he saw his world, the perfect future he had envisioned up until last night, crumble right before his eyes. He slapped his hand over his mouth in shock as his eyes filled with tears.

And then he ran.

Just like Makoto had yesterday, Haruka ran away from the scene while tears cascaded down his cheeks, because the dream they had been living in had officially fallen apart for him as well.

"Haru, wait!" Makoto called as he stumbled to get up, because contrary to yesterday, he knew he couldn't let Haruka run away from him, not without explaining himself. He had to make things right, so he ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

Luckily for him, he was faster than Haruka and despite his headstart, he caught up to him in no time. Haruka had run outside to the platform that led down into the garden, where he had come to a halt. He was tightly gripping the edge of the stone railing, his knuckles turning white with how hard he was squeezing.

Makoto stopped about a meter behind him, his hands on his knees and panting lightly before he quickly straightened his back again. "Haru, wait! I can explain!"

"What is there to explain?" Haruka yelled through his tears and he turned back to face Makoto, "I fell in love with a lie!"

At those words, Makoto immediately shut his mouth, not knowing what he could say to that. Haruka was right, he was furious and he had every reason to be, but Makoto knew he had to at least try to get through to him.

"I should have known it was too good to be true," Haruka mumbled as he stared at his feet, warm tears dripping onto the marble floor.

"Haru," Makoto sighed, desperate to explain himself, "It's true, I lied to you but please try to understand. Nagisa had run away and- and Rei was in distress and he came to me in the middle of the night and he asked me to do this and I refused at first but then he promised me a high reward and I-"

"A high reward?" Haruka questioned, looking like he couldn't believe his ears. "Oh, so you're the type of person that needs money in order to help his friends?"

"What? No! But I…" Makoto tried to gather his thoughts, not knowing how to bring this nicely but needing Haruka to know the truth. "I'm poor, Haru. I'm really, really poor. I need the money to take care of my family."

"Your family," Haruka spat, raising his eyebrows in disbelief and his voice filled with disdain as he spoke.

"My parents and siblings," Makoto confirmed with a nod.

"Oh." Haruka appeared to be a little dumbfounded by that answer and when it truly got through to him, he seemed relieved for some reason. Had he thought that Makoto was talking about a spouse and children? But soon he regained his obstinate demeanour and continued, "So all of this was just a job to you?"

"No!" Makoto repeated, frantically running his hand through his hair as he tried his best to find the words that could mend this, knowing that Haruka was purposely being stubborn, "Haru, you know that's not true. Well, it was at first but, I… I thought I was doing the right thing; I was helping my family and Nagisa and Rei and-"

"Did you ever consider my feelings in this?" Haruka interrupted, biting his lip in an attempt to suppress his tears.

"No, I didn't," Makoto admitted, for even if it wasn't kind of him to say, it was the truth and he would never lie to Haruka again, "But I never expected you to actually fall in love with me!"

"Oh, so this is my fault?!" Haruka yelled, full of incredulity and venom at the accusal that he was the one to blame.

"No, it's my fault," Makoto declared in all honestly, having a hard time to hold in his own tears as well, "Because I never expected to actually fall in love with you either."

Those words made Haruka close his mouth, his eyes widening and his jaw dropped again when he realised what Makoto had told him, not knowing what to say. All kinds of different emotions rushed through him, washing down on him and making him unable to decide on what he should feel. Makoto saw this as his chance to actually say everything he wanted without Haruka interrupting him in his anger.

"Haru, I'm not the person you thought I was and I lied to you, I lied to you a lot," Makoto began, trying to make sense out of the jumble of words inside his head so he could actually tell Haruka everything he wanted to say in one cohesive explanation, "I didn't consider your feelings when I chose to do this, your reaction never even crossed my mind because you were just a name to me, not a person, and I was doing this to help my family. I knew it was risky and dangerous but I felt like I had no other choice, because there was no other way I could earn a proper living. But from the moment I first saw you I knew that this wasn't just a job, nor was it only for my family or for Rei and Nagisa. It was for myself. Because I actually started to fall for you, I knew I was, but I did nothing to stop it. Even if I knew from the beginning that it could never work out, being with you just made me so happy and I got the impression that maybe you were feeling the same way and I could pretend that I really was a prince, that we were really going to get married." Makoto paused rambling for a second because he knew he was straying from what he was actually trying to say. He took another deep breath before he continued, "I'm so sorry, Haru. I'm so incredibly sorry for hurting your feelings. It was never my intention to hurt you and I can't tell you how guilty I feel for lying to you. But I don't regret it."

Unconsciously, Makoto's hands came up to hold Haruka's face, just like he had yesterday. But it was not to kiss him this time, but to ensure that Haruka wouldn't look away from him and that he would properly take in every word that he was about to tell him. Haruka seemed surprised by this gesture, but did nothing to stop him, looking up and blue met green once again.

Knowing that he had Haruka's full attention, Makoto confessed, "I don't regret it because you are the kindest and most amazing person I have ever met and I would rather rot in jail for the rest of my life than to be free and live my life without ever having met you. Because it's meaningless without you."

Makoto hoped that he hadn't crossed a boundary by saying what he had, but it was the truth that burned so brightly inside of his heart and he wanted, no, needed Haruka to know.

When Haruka processed those words, his bottom lip trembled as tears welled up in his beautiful eyes again. In one swift movement he wrapped his arms around Makoto's back and buried his face in his shoulder as he broke down once more, softly crying into Makoto's body. To say that Makoto was a bit startled by this would have been an understatement, but he returned his embrace all the same, holding him tightly against himself.

"I'm so sorry, Haru," he mumbled against his hair as he gently stroked Haruka's back, trying to soothe him for as much as he could. He could very well understand that Haruka was incredibly upset and therefore crying, but that didn't mean that it didn't break his heart to see him in tears, especially since he had been the one who did this to him. He made him cry like this when he never wanted him to do anything but smile for every second of his life. That knowledge made a single tear roll down Makoto's cheek as well.

In response to Makoto's remorse Haruka only hid his face further into him, hiccupping slightly. Makoto was not quite sure what to make of this reaction, but despite his tears, the fact that he sought out his touch for comfort had to mean something, right?

Although he had meant to hold himself back, Makoto couldn't stop himself from pressing a tiny kiss against his hair, nuzzling his locks as he whispered apologies to him. But instead of pulling away, Haruka only tightened his grip and to some degree, that was a reassuring relief to Makoto.

Gradually Haruka's hiccups passed as he calmed down a little, pulling back from where his head had been buried in Makoto's shoulder and straightening his spine. Makoto offered him a small smile as he unconsciously raised his hand to wipe the tears from Haruka's cheeks. Haruka didn't reject or shy away from his touch, allowing Makoto to remove the droplets that had left red tracks on his porcelain skin. He sniffed deeply and took a quivering breath as he tried to regain his composure.

"What is your name?"

That question astonished Makoto, because it was not a question one usually would have asked after already knowing someone so well. It was then that Makoto realised how ridiculous all of this had actually been; Haruka had fallen in love with him without as much as knowing his real name. And the fact that he cared enough to ask him now lifted a weight off his chest.

"Makoto," he said, and he couldn't describe how good it felt to finally tell him this. "Makoto Tachibana."

"Makoto," Haruka echoed softly, and his name had never sounded this lovely before. He repeated his name multiple times, like he was testing out how it felt on his tongue and trying to get it into his system. "Alright, Makoto," he stated after a while, his beautiful, red-rimmed eyes shining with resolve, "Tell me the truth. Every single lie you've told me, tell me the truth. Right now."

At those abrupt words Makoto's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, uh… well my name is Makoto. I'm eighteen years old, not seventeen, and my birthday isn't August first but November seventeenth. I'm the oldest child of three, not the youngest of four. I'm not a prince, I'm a blacksmith, but I guess nowadays I'm more of an errand boy and street musician…" Makoto tried his best to recall everything that he told Haruka that was false, but it was more difficult than it seemed. After all, he had told him so many lies that he had no idea where to start after the basics. "I've never been allergic to fish, I just never had it before because fish is very expensive and my family can't afford it. I don't like to read because I'm illiterate; I've never been to school because I've been working since I was a child in order to make the ends meet. I can't dance because I was never taught how to, I never needed to be able to dance, and I was never taught how to swim because… well I just wasn't," he trailed off, realising that he had not lied about that. "And Ran and Ren are not my cats, they're my siblings! And-"

Despite the countless of lies he had told, it really was difficult to remember them all on the spot. When he stopped for a moment and focused his attention solely on Haruka again, he saw that he was a little overwhelmed, which wasn't odd considering how rapidly Makoto had been rambling. So even if Haruka had told him to come clean about everything, he knew it wasn't quite that simple so he decided to be honest with him.

"And I don't remember exactly every single lie I've told you, but you can ask my anything and I promise I'll answer truthfully," Makoto assured, running his hand through his hair again because he couldn't think of a better solution, "And if you're willing to give me a second chance, then I promise I'll do everything I can to make things up to you, and I will never lie to you ever again."

Haruka gasped at those words, his eyes widening in astonishment, but then he nodded in understanding, staring at his feet as he thought about what he should say to that.

"What… what you said yesterday," he started, like he was hesitant to ask him this, almost afraid to know the truth, "did you mean it?"

Although he hadn't elaborated on what he was referring to, Makoto didn't need him to say any more to understand him. "I meant every last word. And I still do."

Relief visibly engulfed Haruka, bits of his tension leaving him in the form of a small, unintentional sigh. But that wasn't all he wanted to know. "And the kiss… was it your first?"

The fact that this was something that Haruka worried about was incredibly endearing and brought a fond smile to Makoto's face. His voice had been somewhat shy yet he still wanted to ask it, but Makoto understood that, because his heart also desired to be the only one who ever got to experience the wonderful sensation of kissing him. "Yes. It was yours too, right?" he asked just to be sure.

"Yes," Haruka affirmed and for the first time since last night, he smiled too. It was easy to tell that he was very satisfied with that answer. But then his expression turned more serious as he questioned, "Why did you run away?"

There was pain evident in his tone and even though he had tried to conceal it, Makoto still caught it. "Because you called me "Nagisa", and until then I had done everything I could to push reality away and pretend that I wasn't posing as someone else. At that moment there was nothing that was on my mind except you but when you said his name, I could no longer pretend. It burst the bubble that we had been living in, and I realised how much I had been lying to you and that regardless of how much I wanted to, we could never be together. Everything just overwhelmed me and I couldn't take it any longer; I couldn't face your smile knowing that my actions were going to make it disappear very soon. That's why I ran away."

"Are you sure that's all?" Haruka asked out of lingering concern.

"Of course," Makoto confirmed, frowning at Haruka's insecure inquiry. "What else could there be?"

Haruka shrugged in an attempt to come off as nonchalant, but then he said, "Maybe I did something wrong, or you regretted what happened."

"Of course not!" Makoto blurted, "Haru, I could never regret that."

"Me neither," Haruka murmured softly, averting his eyes as he smiled to himself. When he looked up again, their gazes met and held each other and Makoto felt like Haruka was reading him like an open book. He allowed it all, needing Haruka to know that every word he had uttered was genuine and true, that the feelings that had blossomed inside his chest were all his own and not just a part of the perfect illusion they had lived in. After a moment of silence in which their thoughts and emotions were conveyed through the connection of green and blue, Haruka took a deep breath. "Promise you'll never lie to me again?"

That question was asked like it was the last reassurance he needed, and Makoto's heart jumped in elation. But he reminded himself that he wasn't there yet, not until Haruka said so. He put his hand over his heart to try to look as sincere as he possibly could. "I promise," he said solemnly, and he knew that there was no way he could ever break this promise.

"Okay," Haruka replied in acceptance. "Here's your second chance. Don't waste it."

Although his words implied that there would surely be no third chance, an impossibly wide smile lit up Makoto's face. Things were not mended just yet, but Haruka would give him the chance to do his best to make everything right. And he sure as hell wouldn't waste that chance; he would grasp it with both hands and never let it go. "I won't. Thank you, Haru."

In response Haruka smiled as well before he wrapped his arms around Makoto's neck and Makoto hugged him back immediately, snaking his arms around Haruka's body and holding him tight, never wanting to let him go either.

"Thank you, Haru," Makoto repeated, "Thank you so much." In a rush of emotion and gratitude, Makoto pressed a kiss against his temple.

Haruka simply sighed, moving his head and his nose brushed against Makoto's neck. The way he held him told Makoto that despite his stubbornness from before, he was going to do his best to fix things too.

Eventually Haruka pulled back again, stroking his hands down over Makoto's arms and gently grabbing ahold of his hands. He didn't say a word as he ran his eyes over Makoto's figure, then he snorted lightly.

"I can't believe I didn't notice."

That comment made Makoto chuckle a little. "It's pretty obvious, huh?"

Haruka nodded at that before he elaborated, "You're thin, too thin, your skin is tan, your hands are scarred and calloused - and obviously not just from guitar strings." He turned Makoto's hands around in his, caressing his large palms, and then he snorted again as he looked up at Makoto. "You can't dance."

"You had no reason to be suspicious, but now that you know it's hard not to see it, right?"

"I had no idea, but now I know it is pretty obvious," Haruka agreed with a small chuckle of his own, "I mean, these garments don't even fit you properly," he continued as he tugged at one of his sleeves for emphasis.

"They're borrowed," Makoto provided, still giggling softly, "You have no idea how constricting they are, especially around my shoulders."

The look in Haruka's eyes told him that he had noticed that, but he resumed speaking without verbally acknowledging Makoto's words, reaching up to cup his cheek in his hand. "You're kind and warm and humble, in ways that no one else is. Your eyes are filled with maturity and wisdom, even though you're still young. You're sweet and caring and determined. That's what gives it away the most."

Makoto leaned into his touch, smiling fondly down at Haruka at the knowledge that despite everything that had happened, he still saw him that way. Then Haruka's hand strayed from his cheek to his chin, grasping it and tilting it downwards. He leaned up on his tippy toes and his other hand came up to brush his fringe away as he placed a chaste kiss upon Makoto's forehead, just between his eyebrows since that was the furthest he could reach. It surprised Makoto, but that didn't stop his smile from softening in adoration.

When Haruka pulled back, the twinkle that was present in his eyes told Makoto that it had been his response to the small kisses Makoto had pressed against his head earlier. He really was too cute.

"Are you alright?" Makoto asked after a second of silence. It was true that Haruka was smiling and making joking remarks and loving gestures again, but he had been really upset before, which was only natural. It couldn't hurt to make sure he was really okay.

"It's… odd," Haruka admitted as he turned his head away, trying to figure out the best way to phrase his thoughts. "It's a lot to take in, and it does hurt. A lot. But… it hasn't changed my feelings. When I look at you, I feel the same way I did yesterday; I feel the same way you do. And I realised that despite you lying to me, I still want to be beside you because I feel comfortable around you, like I can really be myself with you - as ironic as that sounds. So I want to give you a chance to make things right; to show me who you are without any lies or façades, the real you," he said earnestly with a soft smile, "You might not deserve that chance, and I might get my feelings hurt all over again, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. It's a risk worth taking."

For the umpteenth time that morning, Makoto uttered, "Thank you, Haru," as he wrapped him up into another hug, which made Haruka chuckle, but he still accepted it and buried his face into Makoto's chest. "I'll do my best to never hurt you again. I promise I will."

After all the fear and uncertainty he had felt that night, the feeling of Haruka's lithe body inside his arms was so relieving and reassuring, like everything was finally right in the world again even though that was far from true. Even if it would be absolutely reasonable if Haruka hadn't wanted to give him a second chance, he was so glad that he did and even a thousand kisses wouldn't be enough to express how grateful he was for Haruka's forgiveness. But if he tried to turn their situations around, then he would definitely forgive Haruka as well because he was so dear to him that he could do about anything and Makoto still wouldn't blame him for it; he would still love him regardless of it. So to know that Haruka shared that sentiment made him unbelievably happy.

There was not a fiber in Makoto's being that wanted to let Haruka go, because there was nothing that felt more right than holding him close, feeling him pressed against him in a way that conveyed so much affection. But there had to be some point that they had to let go, and though that was a shame, the thought of all the embraces they could share in the future was a small comfort.

When Makoto pulled back, he ran his hands through Haruka's hair to put it back into place after it had been tousled by his clothing. Then he grabbed Haruka's hand once more.

"Shall we go back to the others? We'll tell you the full story of what happened; I don't even know the full story, so I'm kind of curious," he proposed with a gentle smile.

"Alright," Haruka agreed, "I'm curious as well."

With an exchange of smiles and squeezes in each other's hand, they made their way back inside, back to the throne room where Nagisa, Rei and Kisumi were waiting. They were still seated on the floor when Haruka and Makoto came back, and all conversation stopped immediately as they looked up.

Like a true prince, Haruka cleared his throat before he spoke, "Excuse me for leaving like that."

Nagisa and Kisumi were puzzled by Haruka's sudden calmness after all of the calamity he just experienced, but Rei simply responded with, "It's alright, Your Highness."

Haruka just nodded in acknowledgement before he sat down on the floor as well, naturally making Makoto plop down next to him. "Prince Nagisa," he addressed with a nod of his head, "It's an honour to finally meet you."

"I…" Nagisa stumbled, baffled by Haruka's sudden formality, "No, it's an honour to meet you, Prince Haruka."

Those words made Haruka sigh deeply, and Makoto could see that he was not actually in the mood for formalities, because it was tiring to keep up that act and he had no energy to spare as it was. There was no one around to correct his behaviour anyway and sitting on the floor in the middle of the throne room was not exactly a formal occasion either. "Just Haru is fine," he mumbled before he turned to Rei, "I'm assuming you're Rei?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Rei uttered stiffly with a slight bow and a nod of his head, "Please forgive my rudeness, Your Highness. My name is Rei Ryugazaki, I am Prince Nagisa's tutor. It is an honour to meet you."

"It's fine," Haruka brushed off, but then he looked over at Kisumi. "If you're Nagisa's tutor, then who are you?"

"Me?" Kisumi questioned and he chuckled, "I believe I already introduced myself. I'm Kisumi Shigino, the ambassador and Nagisa's servant."

"I met him the same day you met him," Makoto informed with a smile and for some reason, Haruka seemed to be rather pleased by that.

"Alright," he shrugged, smirking a little to himself, before he turned back to Nagisa, "So, what happened?"

Nagisa let out a puff of air. "Where do I start?"

"I suggest at the beginning," Rei helpfully provided and Nagisa sighed again.

"Of course, it was a rhetorical question," he pouted, but then he cleared his throat and said, "About two weeks ago I heard that I was arranged to marry you, and needless to say I was pretty upset, because I didn't want to marry you - or anyone for that matter. So to distract me a little and take my mind off things, Rei took me to visit the town near the palace. As we were strolling around, I heard something, and when we followed the noise, we got to this square where a boy was singing and playing guitar. That boy was Makoto."

Haruka looked over at Makoto as if to ask if that it was true and Makoto nodded in confirmation, smiling tenderly at him.

"Long story short, we approached him and talked for a while and we became friends. I visited him a couple of more times after that, and he gave me advice about a lot of things, but mainly about our marriage. It was comforting, and even if I still hated the idea of being arranged to marry you, it seemed a little more bearable - it's nothing personal though! Anyway, the night before we were supposed to leave, I felt panicked and constricted, like something was slowly squeezing my throat shut. I knew that the last thing I wanted was to get on the carriage that was supposed to bring me here. So on an impulse, I grabbed a few things, took one of the horses and left," Nagisa concluded, looking over at Rei so he could tell his part.

"That night, I had a strange feeling," Rei continued, adjusting his spectacles on his nose, "I knew how much Prince Nagisa detested the idea of this arrangement and how impulsive he can be, so I decided to check on him. When I got to his chamber he was gone, with nothing but a small note that confirmed that he had run away from his responsibilities. I was honestly not surprised, but I knew that he had just created a huge problem so I had to find him before anyone else noticed he was gone. I searched all around the palace and he was nowhere to be found, so I thought that he might have gone to Makoto since he was really the only person outside the palace who Nagisa knew. But when I got to his house, Nagisa wasn't there either so I did the unthinkable: I asked Makoto to do this, to come here in Nagisa's stead and pretend he was the prince of Sano. Of course, he refused at first but after pressing for some time, he reluctantly agreed."

Makoto noticed that Rei had purposefully let out the reason for his agreement to this plan, most likely since he didn't want to embarrass him in front of the others. Although it really didn't matter since everyone here already knew about his financial situation, he appreciated Rei's thoughtfulness nonetheless.

"So we left a note for his family and we went back to the palace, where I woke Sir Kisumi and asked if he would be willing to go along with this as well, and after that we did our best to prepare Makoto for this plan. Unfortunately we didn't have much time on our hands, but considering he didn't immediately stand out as an imposter, I suppose we did a pretty good job."

"That wasn't what you said back then," Kisumi objected, sounding like he was still a little offended by the comment Rei made about his suit.

"I didn't say we didn't do a good job," Rei argued, "I just said that the suit was not exactly one that a prince would wear. Which it isn't."

"Well excuse me, I can't help it either that I don't wear garments befitting of a prince. I am but a humble servant, after all," Kisumi mocked, but the look in his eyes and the hints of a smirk made it obvious that he was purposely challenging Rei. "It's not like your suits would have been any better."

"My suits are perfectly fitting for the job I have and the role I portray," Rei defended, Kisumi's playfulness completely going over his head, "Unfortunately, Makoto is too tall to wear one of Prince Nagisa's suits or one of mine; even your suits didn't really fit him and we couldn't have possibly sent him here in his own clothes!"

Haruka rolled his eyes as Rei and Kisumi bickered, making Makoto chuckle lightly. "And then?" Haruka interrupted, his sharp voice cutting through their conversation.

That made Rei clear his throat, adjusting his spectacles once more in a nervous habit. "Then I told him some basic etiquette and sent him and Sir Kisumi off." Rei looked over at Kisumi as if to tell him that it was his turn to relay his part of the story now, but Kisumi merely shrugged.

"Then we got here," he said, but he couldn't help but tease Haruka a little, "You two met, fell in love, you found out he wasn't actually Nagisa, and now we're sitting here."

Those words made Haruka blush fiercely and he averted his eyes, and even Makoto could feel his cheeks growing slightly warmer at Kisumi's blunt statement of their affection for each other; it was true, but it still felt weird to hear him openly declare their love for each other when they hadn't even done that yet.

"Why did you even agree to this?" Haruka retorted in an attempt to divert the attention away from himself.

"I didn't want to at first," Kisumi lied, "But when a guy as handsome as Makoto asks you a favour, it's really hard to say no. Especially when those pretty eyes plead to you so desperately. It was an unfair persuasion," he finished with a sigh.

"Don't tease him like that!" Makoto scolded, frowning at Kisumi's joking remarks. In the short time they spent together, Makoto had learned that Haruka was rather jealous - which was incredibly adorable - so he could very well imagine that he didn't appreciate those type of flirtatious comments. When he looked over at Haruka, his suspicions were confirmed: his beautiful face was contorted in annoyance and he was glaring like he was mentally shooting daggers at Kisumi. If Haruka hadn't thought that Kisumi was a nuisance before, then he was slowly getting himself there with every word that left his mouth. Haruka might really prosecute him if he kept at it with these jokes. "Haru, he's lying so don't mind what he says."

"It was just a joke!"

"I think Prince Haruka has been through enough today. He doesn't need your jokes on top of that," Rei stated in a disapproving manner.

Kisumi held up his hands. "Hey, I was just trying to lighten up the mood. The real reason is that I was already appointed to escort Nagisa here, and when Rei asked me to do this, I agreed. It wasn't like anyone else would be crazy enough to agree to this."

"Does that mean you are crazy?" Nagisa giggled and Makoto could even see the corners of Haruka's mouth curl up in a tiny smirk.

"I suppose it does," Kisumi shrugged with a grin.

"More importantly, Rei," Makoto said in order to get back to the main topic instead of the nonsense they had been talking about just now, "How did you find Nagisa?"

"Honestly, it wasn't hard at all," Rei sighed, sounding like he was relieved he had found Nagisa yet still annoyed by him leaving in the first place, "It seems like there aren't many blond boys in expensive clothing wandering around the streets with a horse and who have no concept of the value of things."

Nagisa laughed sheepishly at that description of himself, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Unfortunately, it still took a while before I could actually go look for him. The next morning I planned to go look for him immediately, but I suddenly got loaded with a bunch of other tasks that I needed to take care of. Since everyone thought that Prince Nagisa was here in Iwatobi, there was nothing else that I had to be doing, so first I had to finish all that needed to be taken care of as quickly as I could. When everything was done I went out and since I know that Prince Nagisa is a rather… uncommon appearance in the general street view, I knew he would stand out so I thought the best course of action was to ask around if anyone had seen him. No one could remember him by the description I gave of him, but oddly enough some money was able to clear up their memory," Rei scoffed in clear irritation, "Usually I don't engage myself with folk like that but considering the haste I was in, I felt like I had no other choice."

"You probably asked the wrong people," Makoto added, because he knew many folk from his errands and they were always kind and tried their best to be helpful. On the other hand, some might have seen Rei as a rich person and thought they could easily earn some by answering his questions. Although it was not something he would have done himself, Makoto honestly couldn't blame them for it when it seemed like Rei had more than enough money to spare while they had to be mindful of every coin they had.

"Either way," Rei continued with another sigh, most likely still a bit irked, "After receiving some useful information and directions I found Prince Nagisa at an inn a couple of towns away. Besides being swindled by some merchants, he was alright, but he refused to come with me at first. It wasn't until I explained that you, Makoto, were sent in his place that he agreed to come. So we got onto the carriage and came here as fast as possible.

"We arrived just before midnight, but it took a lot of convincing for the gatekeepers to let us in. In their eyes, we were the imposters since they thought Makoto was Prince Nagisa and he was already here. It wasn't until Nagisa showed them the ring with his family's crest - which he was thankfully still wearing when he left - that they let us in, and then we had to give the whole explanation again to the captain of the guard. It took quite some time, and when he finally believed us, he ordered for his subordinates to apprehend you and Sir Kisumi since you were criminals. We tried to stop them and explain that we knew you but he wouldn't listen."

"It's alright," Makoto uttered, knowing it wasn't Rei nor Nagisa's fault that they were apprehended.

"What did they do to you?" Haruka asked with the same concern that he had before lacing his voice, "They weren't rough, were they?"

"They weren't," Makoto affirmed, "I was in my room when they apprehended me, and after all that had happened last night, I thought you had found out that I wasn't Nagisa and that you therefore ordered for them to throw me in the dungeon."

"I would never do that!" Haruka hastily exclaimed, but then he lowered his voice again, "Not without speaking to you first."

"I know that now, but I thought you were mad at me."

"I wasn't mad," Haruka denied with a shake of his head, "I was… hurt."

"Haru," Makoto sighed, putting his hand over Haruka's and squeezing softly, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for assuming things, but I'm even more sorry for hurting you."

"It's okay," Haruka muttered as he stroked his thumb over the back of Makoto's hand, "I know you didn't mean it that way. I'm just glad that everything is sorted out now."

Makoto smiled softly. "So am I."

"And then?"

Rei's voice snapped him out of his trance. Not that Makoto could help it; it was just so easy to get lost in Haruka, even when there were others around.

"Sorry," he mumbled awkwardly before he continued, "They shackled my wrists together and since I didn't resist, they weren't unnecessarily rough. They led me to the dungeon, put me in one of the cells, unshackled me and closed the door. That was it. It wasn't until some time later that they brought in Kisumi."

"Well, they did handle me roughly," Kisumi stated.

"You probably deserved it," Haruka sneered in return to the remarks Kisumi had made to him earlier.

"Haru!" Makoto chided and Haruka averted his eyes with a pout.

"Anyway," Kisumi resumed as if nothing had happened, "I was on my way to my room after having some drinks with some of the other staff, and when I got there, four guards were waiting for me. Four. I asked them what was wrong but they didn't answer and just grabbed me. So obviously, since I had no idea what was going on, I resisted and tried to break their hold on me so we could have a civilised conversation, but they wouldn't listen. Took me to the dungeon and when I saw Makoto already there, I also assumed that Prince Haruka had found out and ordered for us to be apprehended."

"See, you did deserve it," Haruka commented.

"Haru!" Makoto repeated with a frown, but Rei merely shook his head at him.

"Actually, he's right. Why did you even resist when you knew this would happen at one point or another?"

"Are you also turning on me now?" Kisumi gasped in feigned offense.

"And standing up against four guards all by yourself is a pretty dumb thing to do," Nagisa added.

"Running away from home is also a pretty dumb thing to do," Kisumi retorted, but before Nagisa could respond to that, Makoto interrupted.

"That's enough!"

"I guess it was a pretty dumb thing to do," Kisumi admitted after a short pause, "but they just startled me, okay?"

"It's not like it matters now," Rei concluded, "It's not like they inflicted any physical damage nor scarred you for life. The guards were merely doing as they were told."

"Well, I guess you're right, but that doesn't mean that it didn't hurt!"

"Anyway," Makoto sighed, not wanting to linger on this any longer, "Haru, how did you find out about us being in the dungeon?"

"Well, this morning one of the maids served me my breakfast, but I sent her away because I didn't have an appetite," Haruka began, "She left, but she returned a little while later. I tried to send her away again, but she was panicked and told me that you weren't in your room. Honestly, that really scared me and I left my room to go look for you. When I got here, I saw the captain of the guard with Nagisa and Rei, but since I was too preoccupied with where you were, I didn't ask about them. When he told me he locked you in the dungeon, I immediately ordered for him to bring you here without even asking why he locked you up in the first place. It wasn't until you were all sitting in front of me that I realised there must be a connection somehow."

"I see, I'm sorry for worrying you," Makoto apologised, giving Haruka's delicate hand another small squeeze. He could only begin to imagine how Haruka must have felt when he thought he had left, especially after what happened yesterday evening, so a new wave of guilt washed over him.

"It's okay," Haruka assured, "It's not your fault."

For the first time in a while, it was quiet for a good minute as they all tried to gather their thoughts and figure out where to go from here. But then Rei nudged Nagisa with his elbow.

"Isn't there something you should say?"

"I know!" Nagisa grumbled, but then he looked up and started softly, "Makoto, I'm so sorry that you had to do all of this. That really wasn't my intention when I left."

"It's alright," Makoto said with a smile, "I really don't regret agreeing to this. On the contrary, I'm actually quite glad that you ran away, otherwise I never would have met Haru."

"Makoto…" Haruka sighed, but Makoto's smile only softened as he looked at him.

"So, thank you, Nagisa."

"Still…" Nagisa mumbled, his voice full of guilt, but then the determination returned to him and he continued, "But, even if I'm sorry, I don't regret running away either. It wasn't my intention for you to go here, but I still stand by my choice. Because I don't want to marry you, Haru. It's nothing personal, really, but… you see, the truth is that I… I'm in love with Rei."

"Your Highness!" Rei gasped in perplexity, "What are you saying?!"

"I love you, Rei, you know I do," Nagisa confessed, "And you love me too, right?"

Rei bit his lip and turned his face away from Nagisa. "What I feel does not matter. Some things are simply impossible and us being together is one of those things."

"It doesn't have to be!" he insisted, trying to convince him with every ounce of his strength, "We could run away together and-"

"Your Highness, you mustn't say things like that," Rei interrupted sternly, though the pain was easily bleeding through his voice. "You have had your try at running away and you see how that ended. It's time for you to grow up and realise that some things are simply not meant to be."

"But Rei…" Nagisa whimpered as his eyes began to fill with tears.

"You are arranged to marry Prince Haruka. You have to accept that."

"Your parents only care about the benefits that come with the arrangement, right?" Haruka suddenly asked, startling both Nagisa and Rei who had been so caught up in each other that they forgot the others.

"Well," Nagisa sniffed, "They also quite like the idea of me marrying a king-to-be, but when it comes down to it, the benefits of the bond between our kingdoms is their main priority."

"What if I can arrange for those benefits to pass even without the marriage? Would that appease your parents?"

"I-I think," Nagisa mumbled, "Would you be able to do that?"

"Like you said, I am the king-to-be. I'm sure I can pull some strings," Haruka confirmed.

"Would you do that for me?" Nagisa questioned in disbelief.

"It's not for you," Haruka stated, but Makoto could tell that that wasn't the full truth, "I don't want to marry you either. If that's how I can get your parents to cancel the arrangement, then I'll gladly do it."

A bright smile lit up Nagisa's face. "Thank you, Haru!" he gushed, but soon his smile faltered. "But, then they'll just marry me off to someone else. I don't want that either."

"Maybe you can marry each other just for the public eye," Kisumi suggested, "Get married and just have your own relationships in secret."

"No," Haruka immediately shut down. "I don't want to live like that. I don't want to hide myself or my partner from the people."

Although Haruka's words were vague and they still had a long way to go from here, Makoto knew he was referring to him and their relationship and it made his heart melt with fondness and joy.

Kisumi held his hands up in defense. "It was just a suggestion."

"What are we going to do?" Nagisa sighed, his voice filled with despair.

It was silent for another moment as they all thought. Just like he had at the start of this plan, Makoto felt so bad for Nagisa and Rei, even more so than back then because now, he really understood how they felt because he had found someone who he loved just like they loved each other. He knew for sure that if he were in Nagisa's shoes, he'd do the same thing because he would do anything he could to be with the person he loved. Although their situations were similar now, it was still different: Haruka and he were the crown prince and a commoner, but Nagisa and Rei were the prince and a servant, and although neither of those combinations were commonly accepted, it was just not the same. Besides, Makoto knew that he and Haruka were both willing to do everything they could to be together, but it was different for Rei.

It wasn't that his love for Nagisa wasn't true, but he had a different mindset than Makoto. He was raised with rules and protocol and rather than doing what he and Nagisa both wanted, he would do what he thought was best for Nagisa. Even if it made him miserable, he would stay on the sidelines where he thought he belonged and send off the person he loved most to fulfill the duty he was put on earth for. He would maintain the appropriate distance between himself and Nagisa because that was proper, while Nagisa had done everything he could to tear down the wall that separated them.

Rei was raised to think; Makoto was raised to feel. And while Nagisa and Haruka were also raised to think, they chose to listen to their hearts and wanted to choose for their own happiness, while Rei chose to be the voice of reason and lock away his own feelings for what he assumed to be the greater good. In that aspect Rei was being selfless, but Makoto thought that there was nothing wrong with being a little selfish sometimes, especially not when things mattered as much as they did now.

Both Makoto and Nagisa had fantasized about them switching places for real, and honestly, that would make everything so much easier. It would make all of their problems disappear. Then the arrangement would just go through as planned, and Rei and Nagisa could be together without anything standing in their way. Unfortunately, that could never happen and things would never be that easy.

But there had to be some way. Some way all of this could be resolved and they would all be happy. Now they just had to find that way, and if they couldn't find it, then they had to make a way.

Those were the determined thoughts that coursed through Makoto's head, but he had absolutely no idea what to do or where to start. He had never had to deal with situations like this before so it wasn't like he had experience with delivering happily ever afters, but he supposed that the others could relate to that as well.

No matter how hard he pondered, Makoto could not come up with the solution to their problems. He was getting pretty desperate, because Nagisa was on the verge of tears and the longer the silence lingered, the closer they got to spilling over. After already having made Haruka cry today, the last thing he wanted was for Nagisa to cry as well.

Then suddenly, the silence was disrupted when Haruka spoke, "What if I can make you being allowed to marry Rei a term of the agreement?"

"You can do that?" Nagisa asked hopefully, his eyes widening as he looked back from Rei to Haruka.

"I can't promise anything, but I can try," Haruka offered.

An enormous smile stretched Nagisa's face and he exclaimed, "Thank you!" and he was about to jump Haruka in enthusiasm and gratitude, but then he realised that he forgot something important, and the smile soon vanished as he turned back to Rei. "If Haru can arrange that, would you accept it, Rei?"

"W-Well," Rei stumbled, the question overwhelming him and he didn't really know how to respond, "I suppose… if Prince Haruka can arrange that and the king and queen agree… then I have no objections."

When Nagisa processed those words, the wide smile resurfaced and he yelled, "Rei!" as he tackled him, making them both fall flat onto the floor.

"Your Highness!" Rei yelped in surprise, "There are others around!" But Nagisa didn't listen to him as he tightened his arms around his neck and roughly pressed his lips against Rei's.

It was not the perfect and beautiful first kiss that Rei always dreamed of. It wasn't the soft and slow and sweet pressure of lips meeting each other like the sea and the shore; it was rather harsh, their teeth knocked together with impact, they were lying in the middle of a throne room, surrounded by others, and it probably would have been unpleasant if it were anyone else pressed against him. But since it was Nagisa, it was even better than he ever could have imagined. So, for the first time in his life, Rei allowed himself to let go of all control and he forgot everything as he wrapped his arms around Nagisa's body and kissed him back.

The scene made Makoto smile and when he looked over at Haruka, he saw a tiny smile on his handsome face as well. That proved even more that Haruka's offers had not been selfish ones that just so happened to benefit Nagisa and Rei as well; after all, he would have no added gain of Nagisa being allowed to marry Rei, but he would still go out of his way to try to make it possible for them. Even though he barely even knew them. That showed just how kind Haruka really was, and it made Makoto's heart sigh with fondness.

"Thank you, Haru," he whispered so he wouldn't disturb Nagisa and Rei's moment, and in response, Haruka squeezed his hand and his smile softened as their eyes met.

Kisumi, on the other hand, couldn't hold back his laughter; after watching them pining after each other for such a long time, to finally see them getting somewhere was incredibly pleasing to him and he was really happy for them. It wasn't his intention to break their spell, but he couldn't help it.

Nagisa pulled back with a wide smile while Rei was blushing brightly, adjusting his spectacles once more after Nagisa had knocked them askew on his face, obviously very flustered. He cleared his throat as he tried to regain his composure, but it wasn't quite working.

"Haru, thank you," Nagisa expressed as he wrapped his arms around Haruka's neck as well.

This gesture startled Haruka and he was visibly uncomfortable, not knowing what he should do, so he settled with patting Nagisa's back lightly. "Again, I can't promise anything," he stressed, "I'll try my best but I can't guarantee that they'll agree."

"I know, but thank you anyway," Nagisa beamed and he let Haruka go again, "I'll do my best to persuade them as well."

Although Nagisa was overjoyed, Rei wasn't fully convinced yet. "Is it really okay?" he questioned cautiously, which wasn't odd considering it went against everything he had been taught and living by up until just now. Even if he had been aware of their mutual feelings for a long time, he had never intended to do something about them because he thought it could never work out anyway. He had always rejected Nagisa's subtle and not-so-subtle advances, not because he wanted to reject them, but because he saw no other option. He knew that one day, Nagisa would be married off and therefore he kept his distance, because the thought of inevitably losing him after finally having him was absolutely unbearable. In order to spare them both of the immense pain that their separation would cause, Rei never allowed himself to be persuaded by his traitorous heart.

Though that never stopped Nagisa from trying again and again, because he knew that his feelings were reciprocated. Even if the future was never really on his mind and the thoughts of marriage seemed so far away for so long, he thought that having Rei for only a little while was better than never having him at all.

For years they had played this game and now it had come to an unexpected end; a twist that had never been a part of Rei's careful calculations. So he was hesitant, for it just seemed too easy; after years of seeing his happiness running away from him, forever out of his grasp, it was now not only within reach, but seemingly served to him on a silver platter. There had to be something wrong, because things were never this easy.

"Of course!" Kisumi immediately chimed in, and Haruka nodded in agreement.

"Rei, regardless of all the circumstances," Makoto said, wanting to find a way to make Rei's heart speak for him for once rather than his brain, "If there was no status, no classes, no titles, would you want to be together with Nagisa?"

It took a second before Rei spoke, though it wasn't because he didn't know the answer to that question, but rather because he was debating with himself whether or not to admit the truth, even to himself. He took a deep breath before he clearly stated, "Yes."

The pause had made Nagisa nervous, but when he heard his reply, the smile returned, although it was a lot smaller and more contained now.

"Then why do you let those things hold you back now?" Makoto inquired, seeking to explain himself in a way that would get through to Rei. "For all of your life, you have followed every rule and protocol. You always did what was expected of you, you made every decision with your head rather than your heart and while that made you content with yourself, it didn't make you happy, did it?" When Rei shook his head as he stared at his lap, Makoto continued, "You are allowed to be happy, Rei. Even if it's not "proper", even if it's not what everyone expects of you, you're allowed to let your heart decide for you every once in a while, especially when it's important. That doesn't make you selfish or a bad person, it makes you human. It's alright to put your own feelings first sometimes rather than ignoring them because you think it's the right thing to do. You're allowed to value your own happiness above everything else."

"And your happiness lies with Nagisa, right?" Kisumi asked, already knowing the answer to that question.

"Yes, it does," Rei admitted, and Kisumi smiled in response.

"I think we all know that Nagisa feels the same way. This is something both of your hearts desire, but in your situation simply desiring is not enough. You both have to fight to make things work and you have to do everything you can to defy fate and do the impossible," he declared, once more gesticulating while he talked, "And if you don't think it's worth to fight for your own happiness, then fight for Nagisa's because that ultimately leads to the same outcome."

Kisumi's words seemingly struck something in Rei as well, and he looked up to meet all of their gazes. "Thank you," he muttered, his purple eyes shining with resolve and a hint of oncoming tears, "I'll do my best."

At the confirmation that Rei was actively choosing for a future with him, Nagisa sighed as he grabbed Rei's hand, which made Rei smile shyly at him.

It wasn't like Makoto didn't understand the power of Kisumi's words - although he had said his fair share of motivational things to Rei as well, he was mainly crediting Kisumi - because they had impacted him in the same way just hours earlier. What it was about the things Kisumi said that was able to give strength and hope, Makoto didn't know, but he made it seem like everything else was trivial in comparison to your heart's desire. And Rei had probably realised that that was indeed the case; everything else was trivial compared to what Nagisa meant to him, and with the encouragement of everyone present, he made the decision to fight for his own happiness rather than accept the current of life without resistance.

Even if it wasn't sure if Haruka could arrange for this to be possible, Makoto dearly hoped that it would be because he wanted Nagisa and Rei to be happy together. They deserved it.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Rei said sincerely as he bowed to Haruka once more.

Startled by this, Haruka looked away and mumbled, "Just Haru is fine."

"Then, Prince Haruka," Rei stated, not feeling comfortable with completely removing Haruka's title and settling for this as a compromise.

Another moment of silence fell between them, and without realising what he was doing, Makoto's eyes naturally drifted back to Haruka, to his beautiful eyes and his content smile, to their hands that still held onto each other because neither of them had wanted to pull away first, and the butterflies were back, buzzing with more affection and adoration than they ever had before. He was so lucky; so lucky that this all-around wonderful person was interested in him too and that he wanted to give him a second chance after everything he had done to him. And for that, Makoto would be eternally grateful.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a light laugh. Pulled from his wandering thoughts, Makoto looked over at Kisumi, who was chuckling merrily like someone had just told him a great joke.

"What?" Haruka questioned, sounding mildly annoyed because he was assumingly pulled from his thoughts as well.

"It's just," Kisumi giggled, "When you think about it, it's funny. Nagisa ran away because he didn't want to marry Prince Haruka, then Rei, the guy Nagisa actually wants to marry, hired Makoto to pretend he was Nagisa, and he did actually fall in love with Prince Haruka and vice versa. What are the odds of that?"

"Well, I suppose it's a bit strange when you put it like that," Rei thought, "But it's not like I asked Makoto to do this with the intention of him falling in love with Prince Haruka, and I'm pretty sure he didn't expect this either."

"I didn't," Makoto confirmed, "The thought honestly never crossed my mind. Not until I saw Haru, at least."

"I didn't expect it either. All this time I was preparing myself to hate Princess Nagisa, so I was really surprised when-"

"Wait," Nagisa interrupted with a frown, "Princess Nagisa?"

"Hm," Haruka hummed, "My parents made the arrangement thinking you were a girl. They probably confused you with one of your sisters. So you can imagine how surprised I was the first time I saw Makoto- or "Prince Nagisa"," he snorted, making quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke, "And I was even more surprised when I saw how kind he was; he was literally the opposite of everything I expected "Nagisa" to be. So I guess it all went downhill from there."

That remark made Makoto giggle as well. "I'm glad it did. I wouldn't want you to hate me, though I guess it's not applicable because I'm not actually Nagisa after all."

"Well, the last thing I expected when I talked to you about the arrangement and Prince Haruka was for you to go in my place," Nagisa said, thinking back at the times they spent sitting side by side at the town's square, discussing the future, "Let alone for you to actually fall in love with him."

"Same for me," Makoto chuckled, "I wanted to do everything I could to help you but this was not exactly the way I had in mind. But I really don't dislike this turn of events, on the contrary, I really wouldn't have wanted to miss this." With a smile he faced Haruka, who mirrored his expression and gently squeezed his hand once more.

"But," Rei uttered, sounding hesitant to speak his mind, "What are you going to do?"

Makoto didn't need any more words to know he was referring to their relationship and possible future together, and he had honestly not thought about it before Rei brought it up. It was dumb of him, but after being so relieved that Haruka was willing to give him a second chance, he really hadn't thought about what would come next. Suddenly, his heart sank in his chest, pulled down by the weight of uncertainty.

However, Haruka seemed to have thought about it and he shrugged. "We'll figure something out when the time comes. For now, we just want to take it slow and get to know each other better."

Although they hadn't discussed it with that many words, Makoto wholeheartedly agreed. After all, he still had to do his best to gain back Haruka's trust and that took time, and he really wanted to give his all and make sure this was what they both wanted and that they were fully on the same page before they rushed into anything. So for now, they would just see what happened next and go with the flow of life. Haruka's words bid him comfort, even if only for now.

When he really thought about it, it was still odd; he, an ordinary boy, a commoner like countless of others, had somehow managed to not only get himself close to a crown prince and fall in love with him, but made that very same prince return his affections. Perhaps his life was really like a story, just like Kisumi said, because this whole situation was so weird, with coincidence after coincidence bringing him where he was now. It was a strangely amusing plan, and although Haruka had unintentionally become the victim of it all, it had brought along so many wonderful things that Makoto wouldn't trade for the world.

If he had been running an errand on that one specific day, none of this would have even happened. If there was a stranger with a job to do at that particular moment, then he never would have been playing guitar at the town's square when Nagisa and Rei happened to pass by. In that sense, someone who was completely uninvolved and unbeknown could have changed everything in not only his life, but in all of theirs. Hell, if there was no economic crisis in Sano, then he would have been working in his father's shop right now, just like he did before and wouldn't have had to resort to running errands and making music in the first place. One tiny alteration could make the difference between him meeting the most amazing person in his life, and him living his life without ever bidding the crown prince of Iwatobi a second thought.

But even if he wanted to find a stable source of income for every day so he could support his family, he was so glad that he wasn't able to find anything to do that specific afternoon or he would have missed out on the greatest experience of his life; not finding a job had been life-changing in every sense of the word.

That train of thought was abruptly halted when it reminded him of something. His family.

"Rei," Makoto suddenly yelped, a thousand and one worries shooting through his head, "Did you go to my family?" Images of his parents and Ran and Ren, worried and hungry without his part of the household income, not knowing what to do or what happened to him, all of it played through his mind and took his breath away, but not in a good way; it knocked the wind out of him like a punch in his gut.

"I did," Rei affirmed calmly, trying to soothe his concerns, "Going to your family was the first thing I did that morning to deliver what I promised."

A sigh of relief escaped through Makoto's lips. At least they hadn't run into any financial issues with him being gone. But that was only part of his concern. "Were they worried?"

Rei hesitated before he answered, "A little, yes."

That was enough for Makoto to know the truth. Knowing his family, they were sick with worry but Rei didn't want to say that to prevent him from getting worried about them as well. Despite the reward that he got for them, immense guilt washed over him again at the knowledge that he did this to them, that he had left them without a proper explanation.

When Haruka read the emotions that were written across his face, he spoke up. "We have to go immediately."

"To Sano?" Nagisa questioned in disbelief. When Haruka nodded and pushed himself of the floor, naturally pulling Makoto up with him, Nagisa frowned. "But we just got here!"

Haruka clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Do you want me to talk to your parents or not?" he snapped.

"Yes! Yes, of course!" Nagisa quickly blurted, afraid that he had said something wrong and that Haruka would come back on his words from before if he offended him in one way or another.

"Well I'm going to have to go to Sano for that, don't I?"

"Oh," he mumbled unintelligently, relieved that his previous concerns were unnecessary and that Haruka's question wasn't a threat, "Of course. Sorry."

"Besides, Makoto has to go to his family," Haruka added a little softer, and his tone betrayed that that was the real reason he wanted to go to Sano. "You can stay here if you want but we're going."

"I'll go too!" Nagisa exclaimed as he got up as well, "I was just hoping that maybe, we could get breakfast first?"

"Lunch," Rei corrected as he checked his pocket watch.

"You haven't had breakfast yet?" Haruka asked in disbelief, and when Nagisa and Rei both shook their heads, he turned to Makoto. "Were you served breakfast?"

Makoto shook his head as well, and Kisumi responded, "No. I thought we were getting breakfast earlier but they only came to take us here since you told them to."

Again Haruka clicked his tongue before he sighed deeply. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience and rudeness of the guards. That's not the way we normally do things around here, so I'll be sure to reprimand them later," Haruka muttered, "I suppose we'll have brunch first, then. Is that alright?"

"Of course," Makoto assured with a gentle smile. He really appreciated Haruka's thoughtfulness and considerateness and though he dearly wanted to go back to see his family, he could definitely wait until they all had a meal first. After all, he knew how it felt to be hungry while none of the others had most likely ever experienced it before, and he wanted to save them that experience since it was not a particularly pleasant one to have.

Haruka led them to the dining room, where he told everyone to take a seat. He called over one of the servants, and a rather old man approached them.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"Please ask the cooks to make us some brunch and make sure a coach is prepared."

"Certainly, Your Highness," the servant said, "Are you planning to go somewhere?"

"To Sano," Haruka confirmed, thinking about what else he needed, "Please ask some maids to fill up a suitcase with necessities."

"When are you going?" the man asked in bewilderment.

"Today."

"Today? How long do you plan to stay?"

Haruka shrugged, "I'm not sure yet."

"But Your Highness!" the servant exclaimed in distress, "What kind of impromptu business do you have in Sano?"

"Personal business," Haruka dismissed, making it clear that he didn't want to go further into detail.

"What about your parents, do they know you're going?"

"No," Haruka simply stated, "They'll see when they return."

"But-"

"I am an adult, I can take care of myself," Haruka interrupted sternly, "It's not like they ever inform me of their impromptu trips, so I don't see why I would have to announce it or ask for permission."

"Well-" the old man stumbled, not wanting to go against the prince's authority but needing to voice his concerns all the same, "Who are you taking with you?"

"Them." Haruka gestured to the rest of them seated at the table.

"You're not taking someone from the staff?"

"I don't know why I would need to take anyone," Haruka brushed off.

"Well, what if something happens to you? At least take a guard along with you!" the man pressed.

For the third time in a short while, Haruka clicked his tongue in irritation. "Fine," he gave in, knowing that protest would be futile since it was customary for members of royal families to take guards when they went somewhere, but he was sure there were guards at the palace of Sano and outside of that, he wanted to be incognito. He highly doubted that anyone in Sano would even know that he was the prince of Iwatobi and taking an entourage of guards with him would only draw more attention to himself. It wasn't like anything would happen, but he complied if only to get his staff off his back. "Tell Yamazaki to get ready for a trip abroad. Anything else?"

"Oh uh, no, Your Highness," the servant stuttered, surprised by Haruka's sudden agreement, "Of course, I'll make sure everything will be taken care of and brunch will be served swiftly."

"Thank you," Haruka uttered, but it was certainly not the most sincere thing he had ever said, clearly still irked by the man's insistent concern.

Once the man was gone, Haruka sighed again and Makoto wanted to do his best to light up the mood after the semi-argument Haruka had with the butler.

"Is Yamazaki your friend?" he asked, genuinely curious and interested in getting to know everything about Haruka.

At that question, Haruka actually snorted loudly. "No," he said, his voice full of amusement, "I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"Oh," Makoto said in confusion, furrowing his eyebrows, "Then why did you ask for him to come?"

"Because he hates me," Haruka provided, and that only confused him more. He didn't understand why Haruka would purposely bring someone he didn't have a good bond with when he was free to choose whomever he pleased. As always, Haruka didn't need him to voice his questions to understand them. "Yamazaki doesn't care about me at all. He doesn't care about what I do, so he won't interfere with whatever I want to do or wherever I want to go as long as he will still be able to do his job, which is keeping me safe. And since there are no active threats nor is anything going to happen anyway, that means that he isn't going to stop me from doing anything, as opposed to someone who actually cares about me and my well-being, or my status and things that are inappropriate for me to do. That's why bringing him is the best option."

Makoto nodded in understanding, seeing why that made sense. He hadn't really thought about what the presence of a guard would entail, but now that Haruka explained his reasoning, his selfish heart decided that he preferred it this way as well.

"Aren't you afraid that he's going to be mean or purposely ruin your time with Makoto?" Nagisa asked, not as convinced by Haruka's explanation as Makoto was.

"No, he won't do that," Haruka assured with confidence, "He's not the type to do that; he's more of the quiet, brooding type. It's not like he hates me with a fiery passion either, I suppose saying that he rather dislikes me is more accurate. Though that is entirely mutual."

"Is Sir Yamazaki a guard?" Rei wondered.

"Yes. He's aspiring to become a knight though, so even if he was the type to go out of his way to ruin other people's lives, he wouldn't be dumb enough to waste his chances at ever being knighted by presenting himself that immaturely in front of me."

Then the servants came with their food and conversation was halted as plates were put in front of their noses. Only when they were left to themselves again did conversation resume.

"Do you think he'll ever be knighted?" Nagisa muttered with his mouth full, not having waited a second before he dug in.

"Your Highness!" Rei shrieked out of habit, "Mind your manners!"

"Sorry."

"It's fine," Haruka brushed off, "I'm sure he will. I may not like him, but he's been working hard for it and I do acknowledge that. But I'm not that well-acquainted with him, so if you have any other questions then you're going to have to wait to ask him yourself instead. We're going to have a long way to go to Sano, so you can ask him when we're on the coach."

"Actually, Prince Haruka, we won't be on the carriage with him, nor with you," Rei informed.

"No?"

"No. Nagisa and I came here with my carriage and I'm going to have to take that back with us."

"Ah, of course," Haruka mumbled, but then he turned to Makoto, "You will be going with me, right?"

"Of course," Makoto echoed, smiling softly at him. The road back to Sano was a long one and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to talk with him some more.

"On that note," Rei said, "Are you sure we'll be able to leave today? It takes about seventeen hours to get from here to the palace of Sano; we had been preparing for the trip for days."

"You're right, but this time we're not exactly going for an arranged official meeting; the servants don't know why we're going, so I think we'll be able to leave soon," Haruka stated.

Rei nodded in confirmation. "I think we're all tired but I suggest not going to sleep while we wait until we can leave, considering that the majority of the trip will take place during the night. We don't want to disturb our natural rhythm."

"Not even you?" Haruka countered, "You're going to be the coachman for the night, are you sure you're going to manage?"

"I'll be the coachman," Kisumi volunteered, holding up his hand, "I think I'm the only one who got a little bit of sleep last night so I'll just take a nap after this and I should be good to go all night. It's not like I've got anything important to do when we get to Sano anyway."

"Alright, thank you," Rei uttered, nodding again but this time in gratitude.

"Will we be taking a coachman?" Makoto asked, and Haruka shook his head in response.

"Yamazaki can play for coachman too," Haruka thought, "If he wants to be a knight then he needs to get used to the fact that he will have to be up and alert at night, build up some endurance and sleep-deprivation can be a part of that. It's good training."

Although Haruka definitely had a point, Makoto still thought it would be a little cruel to make him stay awake for that long, especially since he couldn't sleep when they got to Sano either because he had to do his job. He had no idea what kind of hardships knights had to go through during their training, but not sleeping for extensive periods of time couldn't be very beneficial to the body.

When Haruka read the concern that was written across his face, he quickly continued, "But since I'm not very eager for him to get us killed on the way there, I'll tell someone to tell him to get some rest before we leave."

Makoto smiled again, amused by Haruka's unsuccessful attempt at being subtle. "Thanks, Haru."

---

After brunch Kisumi excused himself to go back to his guest room so he could take a nap, and Makoto went to his room as well. Considering the fact that he hadn't been able to take a shower yesterday evening nor this morning and was still wearing the clothes from the day before, he would do that now before they left to go back to Sano. He didn't know when the next time he got access to a bathroom like this one would be - if there would even be another time - so he wanted to make most of it while he still could.

Haruka assigned Nagisa and Rei guest rooms too so they could freshen themselves up if they wished to do so and they thanked him for his hospitality. Since they were in the rooms right next to Makoto's, they agreed to meet up in Makoto's room when they were done so they could start packing his - Kisumi's - stuff. With that, they all went their separate ways.

The hot bath that Makoto had longed for was incredibly relaxing and just what he had needed. Although he still desired to be by Haruka's side as much as he could, taking a step back to have some time for themselves was what they had probably both needed. They had gone through a lot these past few hours, Haruka especially, so having a minute to breathe and process everything in silence and solitude was generally appreciated. But even if unwinding and not having to think or do anything for a while was very enjoyable and pleasing, Makoto still looked forward to being reunited with Haruka again when they were both done.

It seemed like his bath may have been a little too relaxing, for he had slowly started to nod off. It wasn't until he could hear voices in his adjoint room that he realised he had fallen asleep and that the water had long since turned cold. So he quickly got out and dried and dressed himself - he was glad that he had put another set of clothing in the bathroom, otherwise he would have been in for some embarrassment.

When he was all freshened up and dressed, he was about to leave the bathroom when he saw Nagisa's crown still perched atop of a pillow on the marble counter. He picked it up, thinking it was about time it was returned to its rightful owner.

Outside of the room Haruka, Nagisa, and Rei were already waiting for him.

"I think this belongs to you," Makoto commented as he walked over to the bed and held out the crown to Nagisa, who accepted it with a smile. But instead of putting it on his head like Makoto expected him to, Nagisa got up on his toes and reached up to put it on his head instead. To make it easier for him, Makoto bent through his knees while he chuckled.

"I think it suits you more, Prince Makoto," Nagisa said, making Makoto laugh even harder because they both knew that wasn't true.

"Does it?" he asked sceptically, realising that Nagisa had never seen him wearing his crown before.

"It does," Haruka concurred, smiling softly at him.

"It feels a little odd," Makoto giggled, reasoning that it wasn't weird that Haruka thought that, "It's far from my usual attire though, but you've never seen me in that before." Although the rest of his sentence died out on his tongue, his unvoiced words resonated through the room like he had actually spoken them aloud.

"I have," Nagisa chimed in, "You look just as good in those as you do in these."

A soft, appreciative smile graced Makoto's face and Nagisa's attempt at reassuring him. He had probably caught onto his fear of disappointing Haruka. And he seemingly wasn't the only one.

"I'm guessing the only difference is that your garments actually fit you?" Haruka jokingly questioned, and Makoto was reminded of what Kisumi had told him about Haruka not caring about the garbs of others - especially not when the person inside the garb was as handsome as Makoto.

"Most of them," Makoto awkwardly chuckled, for he knew he definitely had a some trousers and shirts of which the sleeves and pant legs were a tiny bit too short or too long. "They're not tight around my shoulders, that's for sure."

"Well, even if these ones don't really fit, they do look good on you, just like the crown does," Nagisa thought and Makoto could see that Haruka agreed with him on this too.

Makoto laughed again, "I can't say that I agree, but they do make me feel a little royal."

"You are a little royal, Prince Makoto," Haruka teasingly said, and although Makoto didn't completely catch what he implied with that, hearing him call him that made him feel strangely happy.

"I did come here as a prince, though it was not as Prince Makoto."

"Either way," Rei interrupted their nonsensical discussion as he was cleaning his spectacles with a handkerchief, "I think it's about time to start packing."

"You're right." Makoto removed the crown from his head and planted it on top of Nagisa's blond locks where it belonged.

"I'll help," Haruka offered as he pushed himself from the fauteuil that was in the corner of the room.

"Me too!" Nagisa exclaimed but Makoto and Rei both shook their heads.

"It's alright, we've got it," Makoto said with a smile, and he could immediately read all the protests that flashed across Haruka's face. They all came down to the fact that he didn't want Makoto to treat him differently from how he had before simply because their status differences and the social power imbalance between them were out now, because none of that had to mean anything if they didn't add value to it. "Really Haru, it's okay," he insisted, needing Haruka to know that he wasn't saying or doing this because of their different places in the societal hierarchy, but because this was just how he was; if Haruka had been a commoner like himself, he would have said this too.

"It is rather impractical to pack one suitcase with four people," Rei declared as he put his spectacles back on his nose, "So Makoto and I will manage by ourselves."

Realising that that made sense, Haruka complied and sat back down in the armchair. "Just tell me if you need me to do anything."

"I will," Makoto assured and he and Rei got to work.

While they were packing, Nagisa told them about his running away adventure a little more in depth. Although the choice of evading the future of the arranged marriage was still one that he supported, he did admit that he could have chosen another way to do it. After just a few hours he had already begun to worry, because it was not exactly something that he had thought through, but he was too stubborn to go back, deciding that he would figure things out along the way.

Even if it was a little amusing to hear about Nagisa's antics, Makoto did feel sorry for him since it wasn't exactly his fault that he hadn't known what to do for he had never been taught how to survive outside of the palace walls. But the knowledge that he made it back to familiar people and would ultimately find his way back home without any serious problems was comforting, and it was safe to conclude that Nagisa had learned his lesson.

This conversation sparked more questions from Haruka about their meetings, wanting them to go further into detail especially since he had been a popular topic of discussion himself. They shared a good laugh in reminiscence of the times when they had both been so worried, and even if they still were right now, the reason for their worry had been changed entirely in a mere fortnight.

The afternoon continued with pleasant conversation filling up the air, ranging from serious and important to trivial and amusing.

Just before dinner Haruka left to make sure that the maids had packed everything that was essential; even if it wasn't an officially organised trip, he would still go to meet the king and queen of Sano and he wouldn't be able to negotiate if he couldn't prove himself to be Haruka Nanase and would look improper or ignorant. After all, he did want to do his very best to make Nagisa and Rei's dream come true and good preparations were vital in that.

---

After they had dinner they went to make their leave. Outside at the carriage stood a tall and seemingly bored man who introduced himself to them as Sousuke Yamazaki. Although he looked like a good man in general, Makoto could understand from his general aura that his and Haruka's personalities were not the most compatible. But perhaps that spending this time outside of the formal settings would be enough for them to see that the other wasn't as bad as they always assumed. At least, Makoto hoped so; even if they didn't need to become best friends, he hoped that they would stop disliking each other for even if they weren't vocal about their displeasure at the other's presence, he was afraid that their silent clash would unintentionally destroy the friendly atmosphere that he wanted to maintain. It was a selfish thought once again, for besides the visit to the royal family, he truly wanted to use this trip to prove himself to Haruka without him getting distracted by unnecessary tension created by irritation because of his guard. But since Haruka assured that that wouldn't be the case either way, he wanted to believe that.

Nagisa, Rei, and Kisumi bid them their goodbyes for now, for even if they would be travelling at the same time, they didn't plan to make frequent stops so they would get to Sano sooner, so quite some hours would pass before they got to speak to each other again. Since Kisumi was more familiar with the road to Sano than Sousuke was, they decided that he would lead the way.

All-packed up and ready to go, they left the palace of Iwatobi behind to begin their hours-long journey to Sano. And although the way here definitely hadn't been unpleasant, Makoto knew that this trip would be even better because not only was the company even greater than it had been before, he was finally going back home; back to his family with Haruka beside him.

---

A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

So, I know that this chapter may have been a little disappointing to some people. I know that a lot of people would have liked to actually see the antics of Nagisa and Rei, but that was never a part of the way I envisioned this story. Regardless of what I'm writing, the focus always seems to shift to MakoHaru without my awareness so sorry to those who were hoping to see more of Rei and Nagisa in general (not that they don't make an appearance anymore, but you know what I mean). I could have written it just because people want to read it, but then I would not only ruin my planning and the cohesiveness of my plot, but I would also feel like I'm not staying true to myself because I would be writing something just because people want to read it and not because I want to write it. And I don't think it would have been a satisfying thing to read if I had to shoehorn it in or if I had to force myself. I hope that you understand and therefore I would like to kindly ask you that if you have any negative feedback about this, then please keep it to yourself. I was already arguing whether or not I should even mention something about it here because I don't want to seem super defensive about it either, but I'm really not waiting for comments filled with negativity. I'm sorry if this seems weird, but this was really making me anxious and even hesitant to post this chapter, and I really don't want to feel that way when I post my writing. After all, writing is supposed to be fun and I'm kind of ruining it for myself already, so I hope you understand. I'm sorry again.

I hope that despite the possible disappointment, you still enjoyed this chapter and that you'll stick around for the rest of this story.

You can find me on Tumblr and Twitter at DatHeetJoella if you want to talk about MakoHaru or if you want to say something to me regarding my fics over there.

Once again, thank you for reading and I hope you'll have a wonderful day!