Yuu opened his eyes and was laying down in the barn the next day with a hangover. He saw Shinoa to the right sitting by his legs, Kimizuki right next to him, Yoichi in between them, Mitsuba behind Shinoa, and Narumi standing behind Kimizuki.
"How are you feeling?" Shinoa asked.
"I'm fine," he answered.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said looking around the room.
"If you're looking for Mikaela he's outside," she said in a clearly bitter tone.
"I'll go get him," Kimizuki said, about to stand up.
"No, you don't have to," Yuu said.
"Really? I thought he'd be the first one you'd want to see," Kimizuki answered, surprised.
"What? Of course not," Yuu said smiling nervously at Shinoa.
"So is he the last one you want to see?" Kimizuki pushed.
"What? No, ok, I just, I don't care when I see him," Yuu answered annoyed, closing his eyes again and covering them with his arm.
"Ouch," he heard a familiar voice say. A voice he would recognize anywhere, a voice he had memorized, his favorite voice. He immediately uncovered his eyes and looked toward that beautiful voice. He saw Mika leaning against the barn door with his arms crossed, and a smirk on his face.
"You know that's not what I meant," Yuu grinned.
"I know," Mika responded still smirking. He walked over to kneel beside Yuu on his left, opposite Shinoa. "So how are you feeling?"
"Terrible," he sat up. The others noticed how he had told Shinoa he was fine only a few seconds ago and kind of brushed her off. "My head feels... full."
Mika softly knocked on Yuu's head, "Full? You sure about that?" The others smiled along with Mika.
"Oh fuck you," Yuu pouted. Mika laughed, noticing how cute Yuu looked when he did that. "It's not funny. My brain hurts."
"How's that even possible?" Mika smiled.
"I don't know but it does."
"Well that's what you get for getting drunk! The hell were you thinking?!" Mika asked angry now.
"That guy was being a jerk so I wanted to beat him!" Yuu explained.
"Yeah and how'd that work out?"
Yuu sighed, "Sorry."
Mika sighed in response, "Well whatever, you'll be fine eventually."
"Ugh, I feel sick."
"You look sick too." Yuu pouted again at what Mika had said, making his smile return.
"Do you want some water?" Shinoa offered.
"Nah, I don't think I can keep anything down right now."
"Ok," Shinoa put her hand on Yuu's cheek and gave him a peck on the lips. Mika looked away.
"Hey so did I do anything crazy while I was drunk?"
"Umm," they all said as if rehearsed.
"Nope, nothing," Shinoa lied.
"Yeah no, you could barely walk," Mika followed her lead.
"Actually," Kimizuki spoke. "You called Mika 'Mi-chan,' told him you love him multiple times, kissed him even more, and took his shirt off. Oh, also, after one of the kisses, I think it was the second or third or whatever, you said 'I know you felt that too,' whatever that means."
Yuu looked shocked, his mouth hanging open, trying to process what he'd just heard, and his cheeks almost as red as Mika's eyes. He looked at Shinoa and then at Mika.
"Well there's that," Mika gave an innocent smile.
"I don't remember that..."
"Well why would you? You were pretty buzzed," Mika said.
"Oh," Narumi started. "You also said that he's hot and that you want to kiss him every time you look at him."
"Don't forget about how he said he liked it when Mika got rough and said he wanted to have sex with him," added Kimizuki as nonchalant as Narumi.
"Oh yeah that too," Narumi confirmed.
"WHAT!?" Yuu yelled.
"Guys!" Shinoa yelled at Kimizuki and Narumi.
Yuu looked at her and then at Mika. "Did we...? Oh my God, was I top or bottom? I was top right!?"
"Relax Yuu," Mika laughed. "We didn't do anything! And if we did, I think we both know I'd be topsies."
"What!? Would not!"
"Yuu," Shinoa said, calmly.
"Oh. Right. Sorry. Not the point," he turns to face her again. "Shinoa, I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was saying."
Mika's expression fell. He looked away. He felt like his heart had shattered into a million pieces with just that one sentence. I knew it, he thought. Exactly. You knew it, so this shouldn't come as a shock. I know but it still hurts to hear him say it out loud.
"It's alright," she smiled. "You didn't mean it."
"Exactly," Yuu confirmed.
Ouch, Mika thought. He felt his eyes begin to water, but he was able to stop the tears from coming.
"So, what did happen yesterday? You know, if it's true that I tried to... with Mika," he asked looking down, clearly embarrassed.
"Mikaela pushed you away," said Shinoa before Mika had the chance to speak.
"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'!?" Mika yelled annoyed.
"N-nothing," Yuu smiled nervously. He remembered the others didn't know about how Mika felt about him.
"Anyway, I'm hungry. Anyone else?" asked Kimizuki, as if nothing had happened. The others agreed.
"You guys go, I feel too sick to eat anything right now."
"I'll stay with you," Shinoa offered.
"No, you need to eat. I'll be fine. Mika can stay with me, right?"
"Oh, uh, yeah, sure," Mika said, caught off guard.
Shinoa sighed. "Ok," she reluctantly agreed. She gave Yuu a kiss on the lips before walking away.
Mika looked away again, every time she did that, it felt like he was being stabbed right through the heart. It hurt more than actually being stabbed.
"Sorry," Yuu said, once everyone was out the door.
"Don't apologize." Mika tried to smile.
"So did I really do all that stuff?"
"Yeah," Mika chuckled. "I'm flattered," he smirked.
Yuu blushed. "Shut up. Anyway, um, now that the others are gone, why didn't you, you know, with me?"
"Because you were drunk and I thought you knew me better than to ask that," Mika said angrily.
"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I was just worried that you didn't feel that way anymore."
"Worried?"
"Huh?"
"You said 'worried'."
"I did?"
"Yeah."
"Oh," Yuu looked away blushing like he had just said something really embarrassing. Mika decided not to push.
"Anyway, um," Mika wasn't sure how to ask Yuu about the memory. "So, uh, there's something else that Kimizuki and the other one with the giant fork-"
"Narumi," Yuu laughed.
"Yeah that one," Mika smiled. "So, there's something else that they didn't mention."
"What is it?"
"Well... there was a night 4 years ago that I'd forgotten about, for certain reasons, and you reminded me of it yesterday, in front of everyone."
"What night?" Yuu asked confused.
"Do you remember anything about the night two nights before we tried to escape?"
"Um not really, why? Should I?"
"Think hard Yuu." Mika thought about doing what Yuu had done to make him remember but then decided against it. Yuu was still with Shinoa and it'd be wrong, plus he was afraid of Yuu's reaction now that he was sober.
"I don't remember, sorry."
"You talked to me about it just yesterday." Yuu looked frustrated. "It was late and we were inside alone, reading," Mika tried.
"Oh! Yeah we were reading The Little Mermaid."
"Exactly. Now do you remember what happened after we finished the book?"
"Um, no I don-" Yuu stopped midsentence. "Oh," he blushed and looked up at Mika.