The first thing Mitsukuni felt when he woke up in the middle of the night was confusion and anger, whatever woke him up would be getting hell from him... but that was when he sat up and rubbed his eyes when he heard the small whimpers behind the thin wall that separated Zakari from himself. He frowned in concern before he grabbed his little bunny Usa-chan from his bed and quickly walked out of his room and turned to the door and opened it quickly to see Zakari turning in his sleep, the small whimpers were increasing in volume and erratically.

"Please..." He whispered as he clutched the blankets and Mitsukuni quickly got closer to him and had to get on the bed, "No... Stop... Please stop." Zakari was muttering making him slowly grab his shoulders only for him to flinch and tried to shove him off but he was shaking him, "Zakari! wake up!" He said quickly, when he snapped his eyes open, the tears finally cascaded out of his eyelids, "Hey, you okay Zakari?" He whispered concerned making him finally choke and sob. "M-Mitsukuni..." 

The cry made the blond boy's heart hurt at the look he was giving him, pure and utter terror. He opened his arms and engulfed the boy in a hug which made him flinch but slowly sank in the grasp, his tears still flowing out, "Do you want to talk about it?" He whispers cutting through the silence. "You would hate me too..." He whispered making him frown and slowly pull away to give him an odd look, "That will be hard Zakari..." He smiled at him making him look down at his hands that were laying on the blankets and sniffed.

"I t-told you why m-my f-family didn't want m-me to be the heir... b-b-but the reason why t-they completely disowned me... I... T-They..." He started to shake again even more erratically than before. "They found out I'm... G-Gay." He bit his lip as soon as he said it, seemingly wanting to shut up anymore talk from him, but it seems his mind made up its mind and ignored his wishes. "Y-You've done so much for me then anyone has my entire life... P-Please... I-I s-should leave..." He slowly tried to get up only for Mitsukuni to grab him and brought him into an embrace once more.

"Your family is stupid." He muttered making Zakari's eyes widened, his tears falling on the other boys' shoulder freely. "Come on... Be polite." Mitsukuni whispered making him choke out a laugh and hug the boy back, him burying himself in the embrace, "T-Thank Y-You." He was muttering it so much, Mitsukuni smiled and slowly rubbed his back slowly, "You okay?" He whispered making him nod slowly as he slowly pulled away, and gave him a look. 

"You don't look okay, is something else on your mind?" Mitsukuni asked, his brown orbs looking at his heterochromia ones. "I... J-Just...  you d-don't care?" He smiled slightly, "It wouldn't change my outlook on you, besides Haruhi once told me that it doesn't matter what gender you are, it just matters what's on the inside, right?" He asked curiously towards the boy who sniffed and nodded his head, "Haruhi is smart.." He muttered silently making him laugh slightly, "Well she IS an honor student." Zakari giggled slightly at that as he looked off distantly in the darkness... seemingly seeing those shadow-like figures in his dreams...

Mitsukuni saw his pained facial expression and rubbed his arm slightly. "Do you want me to stay?" Zakari looked up at him quickly and his lipped trembled slightly, "W-Will you?" He whispered hopefully making Mitsukuni smile at the boy and nodded. "Here, I even brought Usa-chan!" He said smiling and gave it to the boy making him smile at the pink bunny. "It's so cute." He whispered making the blond grin and nodded his head. Mitsukuni slowly grabbed the blanket that seemed to be tossed around and pulled it over both him and Zakari.

"Come on, let's go to sleep." Zakari sniffed one more time and nodded his head and brought the bunny to his chest while Mitsukuni was across from him and gave him a quick smile once more while Zakari's eyes drooped sleepily he slowly leaned forward and kissed the blond on the cheek, "Good night, Mitsu..." He whispered making said Mitsu has a small blush make his way to his face and he leaned his head against his. "Good night Zak..." Mitsukuni whispered back as he and the other got closer before he had his arms around the platinum blond in his sleep.

...

When Zakari started to stir he knew something was different when he felt completely rested and warm... he opened his eyes to see Mitsukuni's sleeping peacefully... his face not even inches away... His heartbeat seemed to increase as he gave a look at the boy carefully before he felt a pull, his blush intensified much more as he just realized where his hands were. His right hand is around his waist and the other going up from his torso to his shoulder, as if he was hugging a giant teddy bear, or in this case... bunny.

He felt the warm breath brushing against his neck before his embarrassment took hold of him and he slowly moved his right hand up from Usa-chan to his shoulder and slowly shook him. "M-Mitsukuni?" He whispered, he gave a small groan and seemingly ignoring him. Zakari's blush worsened once again, he was comfortable too, but it should be almost time for him to go to school. "Mitsukuni." He said louder and shook once again making him slowly open his eyes, the look that he gave made Zakari regret his decision.

"M-Mitsu?" He whispered slightly afraid of what he might have done... Said teen looked down and his eyes softened slightly before he realized what was really happening and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "uhh I... uh... I-I'm s-sorry, I just... am a cuddler." He stuttered making Zakari smile slightly and he looks down. "It's o-okay just... can you let go?" Mitsukuni looked down again and his face felt hot. He moved his hands away from him before he slowly got up and slowly bowed his head. "It's okay Mitsu..." He whispered making him look back up curiously making Zakari turn his head, he seemed confused.

"That's the third time you called me that." He said making Zakari blush bright red. "I... Uh... I'm sorry... just, I'm sorry Mitsukuni." His blush was dying down but Mitsukuni smiled never the less, the flush still evident on his face. "It's okay... I actually like it a lot." He muttered briefly making him flush before he turned his head away from the blond, trying to hide it. Mitsukuni still saw it, however. "Oh, that's right... I'm sorry for waking you but... don't you have school?" 

Mitsukuni kinda paled briefly before he ran out of the room and he heard a small crash and curse behind the wall and he couldn't help but giggle at that. After a few moments Mitsukuni came back into the room with Zakari just getting fully dressed into casual clothing which was quicker then Mitsukuni's school uniform. "I'll be back! if you need directions, ask Takada-san, he won't mind! Goodbye Zak!" He shouted as he waved and then started to run in the direction where they came from...

Zakari walked out the door and saw Mitsukuni quickly jogging towards the entrance while he smiled slightly at that... "Zak..."  He whispered silently before touching his chest to feel that he wasn't going nuts, his heart was just beating that fast. "Not again..." He murmured before he walked down the halls from where Mitsukuni went and stopped at the kitchen door. He opened it and started to hear sizzling and a smell reached his nostrils.

"Takada-san?" He asked as behind a wall he turned to see Takada and a few others seemingly cooking breakfast. "Ahh Zakari-san, good morning." He said with a kind smile before he folded a egg in a pan that was sizzling making Zakari smile back. "Good morning." He gave a small bow before Takada waved him forward. "Let me show you around the kitchen." He turned the stove off as he put the egg omelet from the pan to a plate. 

He gave the egg a look before he followed after the man who seemed to be beelining to a side of the kitchen. "This area was reserved for baking, not a lot come back here when cooking so it wouldn't make this are hotter then it needs to be." Zakari nodded his head in understanding. In a kitchen it tends to get fairly hot with open flames and the ovens, however bakers try to limit it as much as possible when assembling the cake, the icing wouldn't melt and the cake would slide off from its position.

"A few do use this area since we didn't have a baker before, but now we do have someone who actually knows what they are doing." He grinned slightly making Zakari smile at him and shake h his head, "I don't believe that Takada-san, you seem very wise." The older male gave him a look, "it's cause I'm old isn't it?" Zakari laughed at that and shook his head. "No, but now that you mention it you remind me a lot of my grandpa, he was very funny." Takada got the past tense and frowned slightly but ruffled the little teen's head with a kind smile.

"I'll try to take that as a compliment for calling me old." Zakari giggled at that and nodded his head before he waved the blond over. "This is our pantry for the baking, lots of ingredients." Zakari looked around the place and nodded his head, there certainly was... He eyed a bag and hummed to himself before grabbing it, "Takada-san, would you like to help me make a sweet for Mitsu...kuni?" He paused slightly before finishing the name making Takada raise an eyebrow briefly but smiled nevertheless.

"Besides, I do want to exchange recipes." He smiled at the chef who seemed to nod and waved the boy to roll up his sleeves and washed his hands at the nearby sink. "Alright! Let's get baking!" He giggled happily, seemingly feeling right at home. hours on hours he was baking, Takada-san and the other chefs that were there never seen such a young baker work so fast! He even told the others that he wanted to beat the egg whites by himself and not with an automatic hand mixer. 

"You should always be able to beat egg whites to peaks without the need of a hand mixer." Was his reply to all the others making them smile at the boy's drive to be the perfect baker. Zakari didn't realize how long he was baking until he opened the walk-in fridge that kept everything he made to see that one side of it was completely full! Takada whistled slightly at that as he looked at it all, "Mitsukuni just arrived home if you want to give him... any of these?" He knew the boy would eat a lot, but the amount Zakari made was actually nuts. 

Zakari smiled happily and grabbed a plate of cookies that he first made with Takada, which were a tray of Macarons. The French delicacy seemed to be fairly hard to make but when Takada was watching him and even helping him by beating some egg whites of his own, the boy seemed sure of what he was doing. He smiled at Takada who seemed to still be in a small amount of shock at the number of sweets he made in ten hours straight.

The newly appointed baker walked out of the kitchen towards the dining room and placed it on a fairly sized table. He sighed slightly, feeling a slight wave of exhaustion. He made quite a lot of cakes and it was the first time ever using an oven that massive, so it defiantly was surprising how many he could make, especially since how much he had to lift. He rubbed his shoulders slightly as he sat down on the chair next to the table and closed his eyes briefly before feeling a hand on his shoulder making him tense slightly before looking up to see Mitsukuni giving him a look he couldn't decipher.

"You look tired." he pointed out. making Zakari smile sheepishly. "Yeah, I made quite a lot of stuff while you were gone." He pointed out the cookies on the table making him smile slightly and grab one and bite into it making him give a small moan of delight, "You really are amazing." He said happily making Zakari smile at that sheepishly. "Not really..." He murmured making the boy look down and frowned and he slowly leaned down to his eye level making him flinch at his stare.

"You really don't give yourself any credit." The platinum blond gave a small roll of his eyes at that and look at his. "What can I say, I was disowned by my family and they acted like I don't exist anymore, then I look like this which makes my situation worse..." Zakari sighed sadly and looked up at him again. "I don't think I deserve anything after all that they told me." Mitsukuni's frowned deepened and he waved his hand to scoot the boy over slightly, seeing as they were both small they both fit on the chair and he put his arm over the other. "They don't have the right to label you when they have no idea who you are." He whispered making Zakari scoff slightly at that making Mitsukuni give him an odd look.

"You don't know me very well." He muttered making him smile at that and he gave a firm squeeze with his arm. "I think I know you better than your family." He smiled and he put his head against his making his lip tremble. "Besides, I do want to know you since you already seem amazing to me." Zakari smiled slightly, he sounded so genuine and gentle... something he never felt before...  he leaned his head against his shoulder. "June fifth." Mitsukuni looked down at him in confusion. "That was when I was born... June fifth." He whispered making him smile slightly at that.

"I was born on February twenty-ninth." He looked up at him curiously. "Leap year?" He asked curiously making him smile and nod. "Yeah, though we usually just celebrate my birthday on the twenty-eighth." He smiled at that and nodded his head against his shoulder. "You said you've been by yourself for three years? So you've schooled yourself?" Mitsukuni asked making Zakari confirm with a small nod. "How about you come to Ouran with me?" 

Zakari raised his head from his shoulder and look at him in confusion. "The school let a few of our younger employees come because they had ties with our family so it wouldn't cost us anything if that is what you are worried about." Zakari frowned, they would still need to get a uniform so it would cost him... "I know you said you think you don't deserve anything... but no one should be alone for that long as a teen... I want to give you your life back." He smiled slightly at him, his brown eyes closing. "Cause we are friends of course!" 

The platinum blond studied the other for a moment and frowned, "Not again... Of course, friends." He smiled back but it seemed forced, he placed his head back down on his shoulder and felt his heart race even more... "I can't think like that... I'll go to Ouran... but I'll probably be a little behind." the blond nodded, understanding. "The school helped me when I was behind! Besides, I'll also be there to help! I promise." Zakari nodded his head in understanding before he let his eyes close briefly, sitting there in comfortable silence for about ten minutes before Mitsukuni looked down to see the boy was asleep, silently snoozing against him. He smiled at the boy and hauled the boy up in his arms making him grunt slightly.

"Mitsu...?" He whispered as he tried to be slower but Zakari seemingly opened his eyes as he was trying to figure out a way to open the door with the boy in his arms. "Mitsukuni?" he whispered again making him look down to see him looking up at him with tired eyes. "P-please stay..." he whispered as he finally was able to open the door. Mitsukuni looked down as he was seemingly shaking some more making him frown sadly. "Hey it's okay, you don't want the nightmares again, right? I'll stay." He whispered lightly as he sat him down against his bed before he slowly climbed after him, Usa-chan was still laying down on the bed next to him and he grabbed it and gave it to him.

"I'm sorry... I'm being selfish." He whispered groggily making him brush the hair out of his eyes and he shook his head. "No, you are not being selfish." The older teen whispered and pulled him close, as he was seemingly shaking as if he was cold but he seemed fine to him... "It's okay... I'll stay with you until you want me to leave." He whispered making Zakari look up with sad but confused eyes. "Why would I want you to leave?" He murmured into his blanket making him smile at that. "Then I guess I'll have to stay with you forever." 

Zakari buried himself into the other, still fairly sleepy, "I'm okay with that." He muttered against his shoulder while Mitsukuni smiled warmly. "Good night Mitsu." He heard before he placed his head on top of the others. "Good night Zak." He looked up at the clock which read seven o'clock and he couldn't help but smile, "At least I'll get enough sleep." and he closed his eyes to do just that...

...

TBC

Word count  #2 - 3000