Sorcerer Hunters Fan Fiction ❯ Perpetual Thoughts ❯ Suspicion And Presumptions Run Rife ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: Tabi

The events of the night before obviously left some misguided sense of judgement in Carrot's spirit, for he wastes no time in confronting Gateau come the morning. This leads to the truth outing itself; Carrot's confusion only deepens as he realises that he really doesn't know his brother as well as he might have liked to think. In his confusion, Carrot seeks advice from Milphey.

Anime/Manga: Sorcerer Hunters Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.29.2005 | Pages: 36 | Words: 37.9K | Visits: 254 | Status: Completed

When morning came, for once, Carrot was awake before Marron.

He woke up to find himself not in his own bed, and on top of somebody. His mind took a few minutes to remember the situation, and he placated himself with an "... Oh." on the realization that he hadn't been sharing his bed with a hot woman or anything, but instead had been sharing his brother's bed. Whatever.

Trying to remember how he'd wound up in Marron's bed, Carrot remembered the events of the night before. Of being woken up in the middle of the night by Gateau... he'd wanted to see Marron, hadn't he? But Marron hadn't wanted to see him... and that had been because...

Carrot's unknowing misjudgement hit him between the eyes, and he suddenly felt much more awake than he'd done a moment previously. He leant up a little, looking down on his sleeping brother, realising what he'd found out about last night, or at least, what he assumed he'd found out about... so, obviously, the first task of the morning was to find Gateau, and beat the crap out of him. That'd probably be difficult, Carrot mused. Gateau was so much bigger and stronger. And also one of his best friends, but if he'd been so callous as to do something like that to the person he seemed to pursue so endlessly, then Carrot was willing to consider the friendship void. Nobody did anything like that to Marron and got away with it! Nobody!

Carrot immediately tried to pull away from Marron in order to find Gateau and issue some royal ass-kicking, but was prevented by Marron's arms still tightly wrapped around his back. Carrot paused, leaning up on his elbows.

He didn't really want to disturb his brother's sleep, peaceful though he seemed...

Marron really was peaceful, wasn't he? Peaceful, quiet, sleeping, undisturbed... his arms were still wrapped tightly around Carrot, though. To move, would be to disturb Marron...

Carrot sighed, leaning his head back down on Marron's chest. Maybe it was okay to stay like that for just a little longer, just for Marron's sake.

The room was dark, but the sun shone in through the closed curtains, a few long lines of sunlight falling over the bed, the floor, dust motes floating through the sunlight and retreating back to invisibility. Carrot watched those for a few moments, letting his eyeline drop... from that position, he could see Marron's arm, a bit. Marron's nightshirt. He could feel that against him... and beyond that, he could feel his brother's breathing, his brother's heartbeat...

The sleepy rush from last night over, Carrot took a few more moments to consider the situation. So, Gateau had done that sort of thing... he really had, had he? Marron hadn't said anything about that... though, if Gateau had, would Marron say anything? Carrot wasn't quite sure. Either he was shocked and stunned, or he was in denial...

Would someone who'd had that happen be sleeping so peacefully, though? Maybe Carrot had been a little forceful with his comfort the night before, but Marron hadn't been arguing. Marron wouldn't argue with Carrot, he supposed... would he argue with Gateau? If Gateau had tried that kind of comforting, how might Marron have reacted?

Thinking about it, really thinking about it, Carrot couldn't picture his brother really letting something like that happen to him... surely he would have kicked up enough fuss to wake up half of Eden if that had happened... but obviously something had happened, there were a few facts that Carrot had, jumbled up in his mind as they so were.

Those were basically that Gateau had wanted to see Marron seriously about something (if his manner had been anything to go by) and that Marron hadn't wanted to see Gateau about whatever it was that something was. Obviously something had happened between the two of them for there to be a something for Gateau to want to see Marron about, but it confused Carrot terribly that he had absolutely no idea what that something would be...

Carrot remembered a while ago, when Marron had more or less admitted his sexuality. Saying there was a guy he liked. He'd never said who that guy was, and for a long while Carrot had more or less accepted within himself that that person was Gateau, but since then Carrot'd been observant enough to wonder if that was really the case. Of course, just because Marron liked someone, that didn't mean that the other person felt the same way or anything, but with Gateau, that was almost a given... that said, Marron still seemed to act so distant whenever Gateau flirted with him, or at least, that was what Carrot saw. Maybe Marron was just shy about being flirted with in front of other people, but Carrot had a feeling that, whoever it was his brother loved, surely he'd be a little more, well, loving to that person...

Marron's eyes were closed and his lips were slightly parted as he slept. His breathing was soft, slow and regular, and he didn't snore... occasionally his eyelid would twitch, or he'd let out a little noise, but apart from that, he was still.

Leaning up on his arms, Carrot watched his brother sleep some more.

It was almost sickening, Carrot thought to himself. Marron really was perfect, wasn't he? His face didn't carry a single blemish, and he was so pretty... not quite feminine, Carrot didn't feel that that word described Marron so much, but... there was certainly a kind of androgynous beauty about his brother, and Carrot didn't know how that made him feel.

Awe was in there. Marron was so beautiful etc etc etc, and he was... he was Carrot's brother...? The same people who'd made the warm vision of beauty below him, had also made Carrot... it confused him. He and Marron were brothers, but different in almost every way... Carrot sadly compared himself to his brother in his mind, feeling even further away from Marron than he'd felt before.

Marron was beautiful, gorgeous, all of that. Carrot wasn't. Marron had all the ladies chasing him, more or less. Carrot didn't. Marron was gay. Carrot wasn't. Marron was quiet and kind and comforting and peaceful. Carrot was loud and brash and said the wrong thing all the time and was more a peace wrecker than a peace maker... Marron could probably make a baby smile, Carrot would probably make it cry. Carrot lived a life in pursuit of pleasure denied and was constantly punished for it, Marron... didn't.

And if Marron had a relationship with anyone at all, who said Carrot was even going to know about it? Marron knew Carrot's standpoint on the whole homosexual bit, but Carrot hoped Marron wasn't too scared about his brother's possible reaction to end up not telling him anything at all... Marron wasn't someone who would boast about anything, but when it came to times when there were problems, like the current moment, surely he'd talk about it all...?

He'd never really had much of a chance to see before, but, looking at Marron with enough sunlight to be able to make him out, Carrot had a brief moment of "Whoever it is Marron loves, they're damn lucky, 'cause Marron's such a wonderful person" followed by a moment of shaking his head to snap himself out of it. What had he been thinking just then?! That whoever Marron's special person was, they were lucky...?

... Well, that was true. Marron was just the type of kind person the people who were after Carrot weren't. Marron would never whip Carrot for his misdemeanours, or leave him in pain, or abandon him when he needed help...

Carrot smiled wryly to himself. Sitting there like that, on top of Marron, musing on how whoever had captured his heart in such a way was a lucky person, being jealous of that person... still, Carrot supposed. It was just a part of growing up, surely... Marron was his younger brother, and he supposed he'd always feel protective... and while he didn't know how much of Marron he really knew, Carrot couldn't help but be a little sad that someone might one day appear to take Marron away from him... if Gateau and Marron had something going on then it was likely Marron would move to Gateau's room, or something... the idea of an empty bed where Marron had always been occurred to Carrot... he didn't want that to happen!

He didn't doubt that Marron would always do the loving-protective bit to Carrot, but if someone took him away, it meant that Carrot would likely see him even less than usual, and even usual didn't seem all that much... Marron was the person Carrot felt responsible for. As a big brother, he had to be a kind of influence, didn't he? Even though he didn't seem to have had much influence at all over Marron's actions, so it seemed to Carrot's mind... he was the little brother Carrot always wanted to protect and just make sure was alright, and Marron was so lovely in so many ways, Carrot wanted to preserve that and make sure that Marron was always okay and always around to be lovely, and... and all of that...

A small laugh reverberated around the walls of the room.

The basic of it, Carrot supposed, was that he loved Marron. Not that saying something like that was something Carrot would easily admit saying to anybody except perhaps Marron himself, but he did. If Marron was having problems, he wanted to help his little brother. Just on the offchance there was something he could do to help... Marron protected him so wholly and absolutely, and in comparison Carrot seemed almost uncaring like that...

But what could he do, really? He didn't have the magic to protect, or to heal... he got distracted by things too easily, and he was just as likely to bunk off a mission as he was to try and solve it...

Carrot wondered what Tira and Chocolat's relationship was like. Neither Tira nor Chocolat were as intense as Marron was, so... Carrot supposed that'd be easier, somehow. None of the still-waters-run-deep stuff with those two, if either of them had anything to say then they'd just say it... and girls were always better with their feelings, after all. And they'd go shopping a lot, and they could probably pick out guys to ogle together while down the town...

Well, both of the Misu sisters were quite preoccupied with Carrot himself, but... Carrot could quite easily picture them at that cafe they liked to go to, looking down off the balcony, pointing out which of the guys they'd kiss, bed, or kick in the nuts... or whatever...

Even if Marron did like girls Carrot didn't know if he'd be able to do things like that with him. And besides, as that day out previous had proved, any girls they met would be far more likely to be attracted to Marron than to Carrot...

At that moment, Marron woke up. Quietly and slowly, but he was eventually awake, all the same.

The first thing he saw when he woke up, was Carrot. Carrot on top of him, Carrot with his arms leant gently against Marron's chest, Carrot staring directly into his eyes. Marron faltered slightly, "... Niisan?"

Hearing Marron's voice seemed to snap Carrot out of it, "Oh, uh, huh?"

"Niisan... you were looking at me so intently for a moment..."

Finally able to remove himself from Marron's previously tight hold, Carrot sat up on the bed then stepped off of it to open the curtains, laughing as he did so.

"Ahaha, I was just thinking about things a bit."

"Thinking about things?"

"Yeah."

Marron was keeping his tone light and conversational, "What kind of things?"

"Oh, uh... just wondering if we'd have any missions today or anything. Feels like we haven't had one for a while, gives me a nasty feeling Big Mama's saving something big for us or something like that. I like the time off, but it still makes me feel uneasy, you know?"

"That's true... she's always so ambiguous about her dealings. Though, the sun's quite bright now, niisan... I'm sure if she was going to call us for a mission, then she would have called for us earlier."

Realising the time, Marron frowned.

"Even I only just woke up...? Niisan, do you know the time?"

Carrot glanced out of the window he stood next to, "Couldn't say, sorry. Though as you said, the sun is pretty bright and everything, so... I don't know, lunchtime? Maybe someone woulda come called for us for lunch though. So it's probably before lunch, but that's just me makin' an educated guess."

"I see... I'm usually up well before now, niisan..."

Another little laugh, "I know you are! I was really surprised, seeing I'd woken up before you had! So I just sat there and waited for you to wake up. I thought about moving and such, but your arms were around me so tightly, it was hard to move, kinda. I didn't want to disturb you, anyway. Thought it'd be nicer to just let you wake up on your own."

"Aa... I see..."

A small silence that seemed to be waiting on both brothers to say something. Marron waited for Carrot to say something and Carrot wasn't sure what to say... but Marron was awake now. Marron was awake, and Carrot didn't have the excuse of being trapped by his brother's arms... he wandered over to the bedroom door, still wearing his nightshirt. Marron noticed this, "Niisan, you can't wander around so late in the day wearing only a nightshirt..."

"I can if I want to, can't I? Besides, I have business I want to tend to... I don't wanna be distracted any longer! You just wait there, otouto... I'll make sure we have our revenge."

With that, Carrot shot out of the door.

Marron sat on his bed, somewhat confused for a moment.

Revenge? What kind of revenge? What for?

Thinking of the night before... maybe... something to do with that...

Of course, remembering what had happened with Gateau came all too easily to Marron's mind, fresh from sleeping for so long. The way he'd suddenly snapped... that'd been hasty, Marron winced to himself. No matter what he'd felt, there really wasn't any need to snap at Gateau quite like that... and Gateau'd probably be so confused, because he couldn't know at all...

Still, now it was the morning, Marron's mind was feeling a little clearer than it had the night before. He supposed that both he and Gateau had ended up quite charged... and it still confused Marron slightly that Gateau should decide his love so quickly, but really... given the time they'd known each other, the way Gateau just was... given that, Marron supposed that he wouldn't really be able to understand Gateau's love at all.

Gateau's love was a very different kind of love to his own love. Leaning back against the bed, staring up at the ceiling, Marron thought about it, and realised... he was almost jealous... because... wouldn't it be nice to have such a nice, sure, uncomplicated love? Just to like someone, have those feelings returned, and have it just be... uncomplicated...

He'd never asked for those feelings, though. The feelings of and for his brother... he couldn't help them...

Thinking about that also, Marron wondered if that was really true... the feelings of arousal he'd pushed aside, the problems he'd created for himself... if loving his brother really was bad for him, then surely... surely it'd be a better solution to try to push those feelings to the side also, push them aside and focus on loving somebody who was available and willing to be loved...

There was the glory of the chase, which Carrot seemed to revel in. But there were also impossible chases... Carrot was heterosexual, firmly so. And even if he wasn't... a relationship with his brother... the reality of it was something Marron didn't like to think about. Carrot'd never consent to something like that. He'd never want something like that... and whatever Marron tried to make himself, or whatever he forced himself to be, the bottom line was that, before anything else, he was Carrot's brother, and a man... and such relationships were so forbidden, through gender and relation both...

Marron sat up on the bed again, sighing softly. Seemed that even thoughts of Gateau would lead back to thoughts of his brother. Such things were inescapable...

He looked around the room. Maybe there were things he could be doing... studying magic... getting dressed... having a shower... whatever...

Falling back against the bed, Marron felt strangely tired. He couldn't quite be bothered to face the day just yet. Getting up, going outside... surely he'd see Gateau at some point during the day, and while it'd been unsure and embarrassing after that whole initial scenario, this was absolutely different... this time, he'd really been quite angry... and surely Gateau would have something to say about that...

There was a knock at the door. In the middle of rubbing at his temples, Marron glanced up. Who might be knocking on his door like that at such a time of day? Maybe Big Mama did want something after all... feeling a little dazed, Marron nodded (even though the other person couldn't see him), "Yes, come in..."

The door opened, it was Milphey. He smiled at Marron, but there seemed to be something to that smile, something wrong... Marron wondered if Milphey really could communicate such a thing with just a smile and attempted the same himself, "Ah, Milphey... good morning, if it's still the morning..."

"Sleepy Marron-chan, staying in bed so long... how are you?"

"I'm alright..."

Just something about Milphey's manner... he seemed distracted, almost. He glanced out of the door once or twice, cementing Marron's thoughts that there was something on Milphey's mind... he decided it was pointless to dance around the subject if Milphey really did have something to say.

"... was there something you wanted to say?"

"Ah, in a way... Marron-chan, did something... happen?"

Lots of things happened, Marron thought. But what kinds of things would happen in order for Milphey to know about them? Best to find out just what Milphey was referring to beforehand.

"In what way?"

A slight pause, Milphey seemed to be considering his words. He glanced down at the foot of Marron's bed, then up at Marron himself.

"Carrot-chan and Gateau-chan seem to be having some kind of... argument..."

Marron was shocked, "An argument? What kind?"

"Perhaps Marron-chan should come along himself. They seemed to be getting quite heated the last time I saw them, well, heard them... I just happened to walk past, I could hear Carrot-chan yelling like anything, he sounded quite angry... I didn't hear Gateau-chan, but it was his room, so who else might be in there?"

Marron climbed out of his bed, "What kind of thing would my brother and Gateau argue about..."

"I heard Carrot-chan calling your name, Marron-chan. I can only assume it was perhaps about you... though, that would just be assumption on my part. I couldn't really say, I just thought you should know."

Hurriedly getting dressed, Marron nodded his thanks up at Milphey as clothes were helpfully handed to him.

"Thank you, Milphey. My brother... he did mention some kind of revenge... though I'm not entirely sure... well, we should go and find out quickly, don't you suppose?"

"Indeed..."

Once he was wearing more than just his nightshirt, Marron followed Milphey out of the room and along the corridor to where Milphey had last heard the argument.

Standing outside the closed door, there indeed seemed to be some kind of argument going on on the inside. The words couldn't be understood from the outside, but Carrot's voice was there... a little quieter, less often, Gateau's voice also... Milphey and Marron exchanged glances, Milphey's eyebrow raised in a 'I told you so' kind of way. Marron glanced from Milphey to the door... his hand lingered against the handle, wondering if he should disturb whatever was inside... he felt a hand on his shoulder, Milphey's hand. He looked up, Milphey smiled almost tenderly down at him, "I'm right behind you."

Marron nodded, and opened the door.

It seemed that, at that moment, Gateau was lying on his bed, still in his nightshirt. Seemed he hadn't got a lot of sleep either. Carrot was crouched only slightly further down than Gateau, and if Marron hadn't known that the two had been arguing, he might have suspected something else...

Milphey, still behind Marron, voiced exactly what was on Marron's mind.

"Oh my...! Gateau-chan and Carrot-chan are getting a little more than friendly, hmm? Oh, I'm disappointed. Carrot-chan, you always resisted my advances! I thought you didn't like men!"

Both Gateau and Carrot seemed confused by this. Carrot's facial expression wavered between shock and confusion, then went to anger, "WHAT!? It's NOTHING like that!! This BASTARD raped my little brother!! I'm NOT going to let him get away with it!"

Gateau quickly interjected, "Marron, tell this IDIOT brother of yours that I didn't do anything like that!! He won't listen to me at all!"

Milphey folded his arms, "Gosh, seems like quite a situation, here... Marron-chan, maybe they'll both listen to you?"

Marron stood forward, still trying to comprehend the situation. So Carrot really really thought that, did he? Both Gateau and Carrot both seemed quite bruised, seemed that Carrot had landed at least one aim right at Gateau's eye... both Carrot and Gateau were waiting for Marron to say something. Carrot wanting justification for his actions, Gateau wanting reprieve from his punishment...

"Niisan... Gateau didn't rape me."

Carrot shook his head quickly, "But... but last night, Gateau came in and you didn't even want to speak to him! So he woulda had to have done something to piss you off! And what kind of thing is it he woulda done, anyway? Surely it woulda had to have been something bad!"

Milphey giggled softly, "Carrot-chan's logic is amazing. Perhaps there was just an argument?"

Gateau brushed Carrot's hand away from where it gripped against the collar of his nightshirt, "I wouldn't wanna say anything without Marron's permission, and I don't know how much he's said, but... Carrot, how many times do I have to tell you?! I didn't, even Marron says I didn't, won't you even listen to him?"

"He- he's in denial! Or shock! Or something!"

Gateau dislodged Carrot's grip on his arm also, "Carrot, geez... you really think I'm like that? You really think I'd do something like that?!"

"I... I don't know!" The situation wasn't going Carrot's way at all, and it was bemusing him. "But... but... if it wasn't that, then... then what did happen?!"

Having so many people in the room at once, Marron wasn't quite sure of how he could rectify the situation... but there was only the truth to fall back on. He looked over his shoulder at Milphey, who was idly playing with a ringlet of hair, seeming quite enchanted by Gateau and Carrot's position on the bed still. He looked back at Carrot and Gateau, who were still waiting on his reaction... there really wasn't anything more to say, was there? He sighed, then fixed Carrot to silence by looking him straight in the eye.

"Niisan... last night, Gateau told me he loved me."

He shifted his line of sight to Gateau.

"... I over-reacted, and said some angry things."

He held that stare for a moment, then decided that was explanation enough, and left the room.

There was a heavy silence for a few moments while everything sunk in. Milphey blinked at where Marron had been, the door Marron had walked out of... this really was an interesting situation, wasn't it?

Gateau was a little shaken that Marron had come out with it so calmly... he didn't know how much Carrot knew, but given how unsure Marron seemed to be even with Gateau himself, he presumed Carrot didn't know anything of the situation at all... and Carrot himself had it all to suddenly deal with.

So he had been wrong, after all. Gateau had... said he loved Marron? Love? That was absolutely the opposite to what Carrot had supposed, but... wasn't Gateau the person Marron wanted too? Angry things he'd said... what kind of things might he have said? And Carrot had just spent the last twenty minutes or so beating the crap out of Gateau for something he really hadn't done... Carrot felt guilty, Marron really had been saying about how Gateau hadn't done that, but Carrot hadn't believed him anyway, and what did that say to his mind if he'd really wanted to beat up on Gateau so much? Sometimes Gateau pissed him off, but sometimes he pissed Gateau off, and he really hadn't deserved that... even though Gateau was so much stronger and Carrot's punches were the kind Gateau could brush off without flinching... that wasn't the point...

... Had he been so hellbent on wanting to protect Marron from the imaginary evil that he'd ignored the truth totally? Shamefully, Carrot realised that was so. He fell away from Gateau on the bed, and shifted away, kneeling closer to the edge of the bed. His voice was quiet.

"S-shit... Gateau..."

"Hn?"

"... I... I'm really sorry...! I... I just... I thought you'd done something bad to Marron, I... I just wanted to... if something bad had happened, I'd just wanted... just wanted to... to protect him, I guess... but... I didn't... it didn't matter if something had really happened or not, 'cause... oh, god..."

Gateau sat back up from his position at the end of the bed, rubbing slightly at his cheek. He glanced at Carrot, not quite smiling, but not angry. Not like Carrot had been.

"You just wanted to protect Marron, huh?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Even though I hadn't done anything at all... I guess it all really does make you uneasy, doesn't it..."

"Huh?"

"Marron, uh..."

Gateau glanced up at Milphey, who was still in the room. Milphey caught the glance, smiled happily at Gateau, then took that as his cue to leave the room. He did so, shutting the door behind him. Gateau turned back to face Carrot, continuing on.

"... Marron's sexuality."

Carrot blinked, unable to hold Gateau's stare.

"... Uh... no, I'm perfectly fine with it. If he wants to fancy guys, ya know... then... that's his business, ya know?"

"But then you attack me so much because you think I've been doing things with him..."

"Because I thought you'd done things to him without him wanting you to... I... I mean... it was a weird situation, you have to admit that... what with it being all late at night and all, and you wanting to talk to Marron seriously, and Marron not wanting to talk to you... what was I supposed to think had happened? I... I just don't want anyone hurting him... I thought you'd... done something..."

Gateau shook his head, "Not like that... we... we came close, but... but he..."

They fell into an uneasy silence, Gateau not sure how to express to Carrot the words he felt inside. How much would Marron want him to say? He didn't know... but Marron had more or less said what happened that night, in not so many words... Gateau sighed.

"... I wouldn't want to say anything without Marron's permission... he's kinda a closed person, so..."

"Is there something between you and him?"

Just curiosity in Carrot's voice. Gateau pulled his knees to his chest, shrugging slightly.

"Something? I guess you could call it that. Something."

"Marron just said that you said to him that... you loved him... was that what he freaked out so much about?"

Gateau remained silent for a few moments. That he'd told Marron he loved him... yes, he supposed. That'd been what Marron had freaked out about, hadn't it? Marron wanting to know so much exactly what Gateau meant... and he'd only really meant what the words themselves meant - that he loved Marron. Was there really any other meaning for it? But Marron had got so wound up about it...

"... Do you ever tell Marron you love him?"

Carrot hadn't received an answer to his question, just another question in reply... he blinked his surprise at Gateau, "Huh? Oh, uh... a bit... why?"

"How does he react when you tell him that?" A vague picture was starting to work itself into Gateau's mind. The time Marron had cried out Carrot's name while being tickled. The incredible tenderness with which he'd held Carrot that time when they'd been out in Facade. He who they'd talked about prior to Marron's outburst. Gateau wasn't quite sure what the picture was that was building, but one was... and he wasn't even sure he wanted to know...

Carrot was in thought for a few moments, "Well... usually he's the one saying he loves me first, so it's like, 'I love you, niisan!' and that's kinda rare and it's a bit weird but I usually just say 'I love you' back... I always figured he was someone easier to say that than me, y'know?"

"I see..."

"Why d'ya wanna know?"

"Well, it's just... the other day, it's like... I really realised... I really realised that Marron's someone I love... 'cause... well, he's great, you know? Well, obviously you know, you're his brother and everything... but... I'm not, and... it's like... well, I just love him, so I decided that the next time I'd see him, I'd tell him I loved him... so I told him that when I saw him... it was when you and him were underneath the tree that time, but I wanted to tell him anyway... so I did... but then Salad came along..."

"Ah, Salad-san's so wonderful..."

"Nevermind, forget I mentioned her. Thing is... that night... Marron just got so... so... he was like... he really wanted to know just what I'd meant by saying I loved him, and in the end he just ended up freaking out so much, and I don't get why! I mean... all I said was I loved him... 'cause I do... I mean... how could people not...? I... I couldn't... I realise that now, I couldn't not love him... but saying things like that to him, he didn't wanna accept it at all... I guess I made him scared..."

Again, the both of them sat there quietly, Carrot thinking over what Gateau had hurriedly said.

"So... you just said you loved him, and he got creeped out? Like, just randomly?"

"Well, before that, we'd..."

Gateau trailed off, realising he didn't quite know how to phrase what he and Marron had done to Marron's brother... Carrot probably didn't want to know. Gateau corrected himself, "... yeah, it was pretty random."

Carrot caught the pause, but didn't make anything of it.

"... But there was someone he said he loved, how would you talking like that to him scare him?!"

This attracted Gateau's curiosity, "... Someone he said he loved?"

Carrot realised, moments too late, that he might have said just a little too much. If Marron had indeed acted in such a way... the person he said he loved... that wasn't Gateau?

It had to be, though! Who else would there be that Marron loved? Milphey? Maybe, but... Marron probably wouldn't be with anyone if he didn't feel for them, and if Marron was with Gateau enough for Gateau to be comfortable enough to say he loved him... then what kind of relationship did the two of them have?

It seemed that even Gateau wasn't sure of that... and if Gateau wasn't sure, then how could even Carrot work it out?

"Y-yeah... a long time ago, he said there was a guy he loved, but no matter how much I asked him about it he'd never tell me who that person was... so... I dunno, I just always assumed it was you, but... if the person I loved told me they loved me then I wouldn't freak out! How do you mean that Marron freaked out, though? I... can't really imagine it..."

"Well, he just sort of... lost it, really. Keeping asking how it was I loved him, then in the end he said that I couldn't love him and he couldn't love me, that it was all impossible, and that was when he ran back to your bedroom, and I tried to go after him, and ended up waking you up... and obviously when you made all those assumptions..."

Carrot nodded, "I'm... I'm really sorry about that, Gateau. I'm sorry. I mean... I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have... I mean... damn, you're my friend! And you obviously think a lot of Marron, so it's like... you wouldn't do anything like that to him... I realise that... I guess I just assumed that... something was wrong between you and him, and... well, it's as I said. I just don't want him getting hurt..."

"Mmmm... I wonder..."

"Hm?"

"I wonder who that person is, though..."

"That person? Oh, the person he said he loved? I dunno. Maybe it was just a passing thing. I mean, it was... oooh... gotta be like, at least a year ago he said that, if not longer ago... maybe they were feelings he had back then that he doesn't have now. I don't know. He doesn't really... talk much, you know how he is... I mean, sometimes we talk, but... it's never... he's always mysterious. I wish I could figure him out more."

"Heh, you can't even figure him out, and he's your brother... what hope do I have..."

"Hey, cheer up! So you and him... you're in a... relationship, now?"

"Only for... well, this would be the morning of day three."

"Oh, really not for a long time, then?"

"No... I guess... I guess maybe we should take things slowly, though... I mean, it was just like... I said I liked him, and he said he wouldn't mind if we were together... but small things seem to freak him out, so I don't know... I guess I just need time - we both need time... but I need it to be able to understand him... he's still a mystery to me."

"Have you had sex?"

Random as it was, Carrot couldn't stop the question, it came out loudly and quickly. Gateau just blinked at Carrot, as shocked as Carrot was.

"Uh, I mean... um..."

"I guess you'd be curious, but... no. No, we haven't."

"Oh, uh, I see..."

Gateau figured there was no way that Carrot would be able to understand, even Gateau himself didn't understand, but... well. It was the basic information Carrot had wanted to know, so... it was best to leave it there.

The conversation trailing off again, Gateau diverted the subject entirely.

"So, I wonder where Marron went?"

"Oh, I dunno... maybe back to the bedroom... was there anything you wanted to tell him? Did you want me to find him or anything? We can both go find him if you want..."

Gateau just shook his head, "Nah, I'm okay. I think I'll just stay in bed for the day or something, I'm feeling a bit restless... maybe I'll go out to the town later. See if Marron wants to come along, if he's speaking to me by that point... I don't know why he got so upset about last night, but... well. I guess he'll say when he's ready..."

"You sure you're not just gonna end up moping all day? I still feel bad that I tried to beat up on you, and everything..."

"You've got worse bruises from me holding you back than I have bruises from you hitting me, Carrot. This body is on it's way to being trained to perfection!... You think your puny little punches can harm it?"

"Hey, who're you calling puny?"

"There's a reason you use a sword to fight, Carrot. It's got sharp bits on it you can hack and slash with. Hell, if you physically fought anything evil it'd probably bite your hand off before you could say anything. Leave the fighting to me, okay? You just go find Marron."

Carrot was still slightly unsure, not quite trusting Gateau to not just stay in his room and beat himself up over things Marron did or didn't say... but Marron also had to be found, Carrot didn't know what thoughts might be running through his brother's mind... he was curious, and wanted to find out.

Even if Gateau was going to sit around and angst, Carrot supposed he wouldn't be told about that... he'd just have to check up on Gateau through the day.

"Well... if you're sure."

"I'm sure, just go already! Find that temperamental brother of yours..."

Carrot was at the door, "Okay, but I'm gonna come back and check on you during the day. Still can't believe I got so mad... jeez, I feel all guilty..."

As the door closed to Gateau's room, Gateau himself fell back onto the bed, free to let his mind roam over any topic of Marron it so cared to. Nice as it was to have somebody to bounce ideas off from, the silence of his room was calming also. In a way.

Carrot, meanwhile, walked back along to the corridor to his and Marron's bedroom, realising he was still wearing his nightshirt. What Gateau had said had been true, Carrot was really starting to feel the pain from Gateau's hands holding against him so tightly... Gateau really hadn't wanted to fight. Carrot wondered what on earth had possessed his mind that made him want to fight Gateau anyway...

Approaching his bedroom, he knew.

Marron.

Marron had made him like that.

Carrot went to open the door, but realised it was already open, just a fraction. He pushed it open a tad, on hearing voices from the inside... someone was talking in there? Marron's voice... Marron was talking with someone? Carrot listened on.

"... why I reacted like I did. I really don't."

"Ah, but surely it was an entirely different situation for Marron-chan? Maybe you just got a little scared..."

Milphey's voice. Carrot shifted around the doorframe, trying to catch sight of his brother, or of Milphey. After a little moving around, it seemed that... it seemed that Marron was leaning against the windowsill in the bedroom, looking out of the window. And... Milphey was behind him... hugging him? Carrot frowned. Marron wouldn't let somebody hug him like that, would he? And if what Gateau had said was true, surely if anybody other than Carrot had hugging rights to Marron, it was Gateau...

The thought of the person Marron loved ticked over Carrot's mind again. Maybe that person was Milphey? But then, why would Marron have consented to getting with Gateau? It made Carrot's brain hurt, so he stopped thinking about it, concentrating just on the little scene in front of him.

Marron was silent for a few moments, "Perhaps that would be feasible if that'd been the only time we'd come close to something sexual, but... it's not..."

Carrot's curiosity was roused; hadn't Gateau just said that he and Marron hadn't had sex?

"Oho, so things have happened in the past?"

As if the words were difficult to locate in his mind, Marron's reply was again after a few moments of careful thought.

"Indeed... the relationship itself begin with a seduction..."

"Gateau-chan finally became attractive to you...?"

"I was the one to seduce him, Milphey."

Carrot stepped back from the door for a moment. Had he heard that right? That... that his brother and Gateau... a seduction... that Marron had initiated? The situation seemed to get weirder and weirder with each passing moment. There really was a lot Marron wasn't talking about, wasn't there?

And to that point, why was he talking about such things with Milphey of all people?! Surely Milphey wasn't a trustworthy person...! Always flirting and joking about... but then again, there he was in there, holding Marron softly... and Marron was talking so easily to him, too... easier than, Carrot felt, Marron would talk to him... maybe that was the reason. Milphey was so much more distant from the situation, so maybe it'd be easier to tell him things like that...

Or maybe he was the person Marron loved. Carrot wasn't sure.

"... You seduced him...? Gosh, I... I can't quite picture that somehow... give me a few moments, I'll have a go. ... ... ... Hmm, that is a nice mental image..."

"Milphey, please... it's difficult enough to talk about these things without you throwing such a frivolous light on them. You told me you'd listen quietly..."

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Carry on."

"That night, I just needed... so badly, I needed my own release...! He just happened to catch me at the time, and all I could see was that he could perhaps help me with my problems... though it seems he's just compounded them. Several times, we've come close..."

"To having sex, you mean?"

"Y-yes... we've not gone through with it fully, but I... I-... I have brought him to orgasm before..."

Carrot felt the need to strain his hearing to pick up on Marron's words, his voice suddenly dropped, suddenly so quiet... and hearing that, Carrot stepped back once more. He didn't go forth again, he let himself walk back until he felt his back hit the wall he'd been opposite previously.

That kind of sexual experience... so Marron had experienced something like that? And Gateau too... Marron and Gateau with each other, even...

It felt strange.

There was a moment of possessive jealousy; Marron was a pure and delicate person, surely he didn't do things like that! And if he did, they'd surely be in the quick-and-clean textbook sort of fashion... just for procreation, then letting it go... and not with a man...

... but the way he'd said it, after being so careful with his words... Gateau said they hadn't had sex. Marron said he'd brought him - him, Gateau him - to orgasm... and not with sex sex, so by definition that meant that Marron was just a little kinkier than Carrot would otherwise have suspected...

The door in front of Carrot opened, he looked up as he heard the noise. Milphey's face smiled back at him, "Somehow I knew Carrot-chan was out here. If you were waiting, sorry, I didn't mean to keep you out of your own bedroom... you should have knocked, or something!"

"Oh, uh, uh, uh... no, I was just waiting patiently..."

Milphey stepped aside, "If you wanted to talk to Marron-chan, he's free now."

"Uh, right..."

He heard Milphey's footsteps retreat down the hallway, and realised he was alone in the corridor. He on one side of the door, Marron on the other... why did that feel like it was metaphorical as well as physical?

Feeling somewhat heavy-hearted, Carrot gently placed his hand against the wood of the door and pushed at it, hearing it's usual little creak as it opened. He saw Marron kneeling on his bed now, Marron also looked up on hearing the noise the door made. His stare remained blank for just a fraction of a second, waiting for whoever was going to walk in, to walk in... his look became so much warmer for realising it was Carrot.

"Ah, niisan...!"

Despite Marron's easygoing air, Carrot found it impossible to smile back, or even look at his brother in the same way...

Marron had... Marron had done sexual things...! With another person! It wasn't just that that was more than Carrot had ever managed to achieve, though that was part of it... Marron's warm, friendly smile there... he wasn't... he didn't... he hadn't... surely...?

Nevermind looking at Marron in the same way, Carrot couldn't even look him in the eye at that moment.

Ignoring Marron's implied greeting, Carrot slinked over to his bed and slumped on top of it, spreading out his arms and legs as he hit the mattress. It made a pleasant 'WUMPH' kind of sound, and his duvet felt light and fluffy against him... Carrot just sighed, though.

Marron had caught the halfglare from Carrot right before he'd landed on his bed. He'd noticed his brother hadn't even greeted him as he walked into the room. Just something about Carrot seemed angry all of a sudden, and it made Marron uneasy... he ventured towards conversation.

"... Niisan? Are you feeling alright?"

Carrot's voice was muffled, and somewhat sulky.

"You've had sex."

"Ni-... niisan! I... I haven't, I assure you... despite what you might have heard, Gateau and I... that's not a stage we've reached yet... he and I..."

"Yeah, but you've done stuff to him, haven't you?"

Images flashed around Carrot's mind, the kinds of things Marron might have done to Gateau... and of course, Carrot had a personal memory of what Gateau looked like when he was erect... so it was all too easy for his mind to transport a dream of Marron there also... using his hands, maybe his mouth... or both at once...

He shook the images from his head.

"I... I can't deny that, niisan..."

"You're not SUPPOSED to do stuff like that, you're my little brother!"

"Niisan, I don't see how my relationship with you relates to my sexual drive... just as you are driven almost wholly by your hormones, I too feel their effects on occasion... I can't help feeling exactly the things that you feel, niisan. Don't you have such feelings also?"

"Y-yeah, but... but... you're not SUPPOSED to! You're not the kind of person who does kinky things, you're my little brother! I still remember when you were all cute and innocent and stuff... when did that change? Like that, it means you're less innocent than I am... you're supposed to be all pure and stuff and stay with me forever!"

The silence after that phrase made Carrot wonder if he'd said the wrong thing again. Was that quite what he meant? It'd made sense in his mind beforehand, but had sounded just a little weird said to another person like that... a lot weird... especially said to Marron... ah, damn.

On Marron's side, that sentence itself was overwhelming, to his confused emotions. Carrot had just said... basically... that Marron couldn't do things like that because he always had to stay with Carrot?

"Oh, niisan... if only you knew," Marron thought.

"... if you wished me to... I would do such things to you..."

"Niisan... what do you mean...?"

"I-... I mean... I... I don't know... but... you and Gateau, you and him, you might get all close, then you might like, move into his bedroom or something like that, and that'd be really weird 'cause it's like, always been you and me, and it's got to always stay like that, you know? I don't even know you and you're my treasured little brother, and I don't want anything to come between us!"

Carrot's emotion seemed caught up in his inability to phrase things like that coherently. It didn't seem to make sense, not to Marron... he got up from his bed, walked over to Carrot, and stroked Carrot's shoulder gently.

"Niisan... niisan, whatever might happen... I'd never leave you...! I'd never want to leave you. Despite anything that might happen with Gateau... even if I did have sex with him... that would never mean that I wasn't your brother, would it? I always want to know that you're safe... I want to protect you forever...!"

Carrot quickly rolled over and leaned up with his arms, looping them over Marron's shoulders and pulling him down suddenly. Marron lost his balance and ended up sprawled over Carrot, not entirely sure what to make of the situation at all...

"Ni-... niisan!"

"I guess it's cause you're my little brother... I can't see you doing sexual things at all, but... they are things you've done, with Gateau... that's just weird too, I guess. You're younger than me and you've already done more things than me! That's not fair!"

"It's not a race, niisan. You just... you just need to find the right person."

"Y-yeah... but... it's not like you have, is it?"

Marron was distracted slightly by Carrot's protective hug. Why was Carrot talking with him about things like that so suddenly... expressing his emotions to Milphey had been draining enough on him, he wasn't someone who usually talked about things like that, but... just until Carrot returned, while Milphey stayed around... Milphey had been quietly curious about the situation, and despite his occasional - well, frequent flirting, there did seem to be something quite trustworthy about him... Marron hadn't really meant to talk to Milphey like that, it'd just ended up happening. And it had felt nice to have Milphey hug him while the two of them talked...

... but what did Carrot mean? Marron couldn't deny it... it wasn't as if he hadn't found who he assumed was that right person, but Carrot's phrase was essentially 'Gateau isn't your right person, is he?' disguised, and... Marron wasn't quite sure how to react to that. He pulled away from Carrot's embrace, not feeling quite worthy of his brother's arms at that moment.

"Nii... san?"

"Gateau, he's not the person you love... 'cause... if he was, that means you shoulda been only too happy for him to be saying he loved you, but you just freaked out at him because of it... unless you were freaking out 'cause you felt the same way but didn't know how to handle it... I dunno... just... why, Marron?"

"Why... why what, niisan?"

"Why get with him if you don't like him like that? If there really is someone you love, then why don't you just tell that person you love them, and get on with it? You're the kind of person no-one'd refuse, I wouldn't be scared of rejection... just get that person in a quiet place and tell them you like them. Okay? Niisan's orders."

A quiet place? The bedroom was quiet, and it was just the two of them... but of course, Marron couldn't bring himself to say anything...

"Gateau's a very trustworthy person, niisan... I'd trust him with my life, trust him to protect... and I feel he does love me... and I value him, as a friend, as a comrade..."

"But you don't love him like that."

Carrot's truth stabbed at Marron. That was true. When it came to the emphasised that, then... Marron felt that Carrot was the person he wanted, and that nothing would sway those thoughts. Not even the futility of those thoughts in the first place.

"... No. Not like that. It's childish though, niisan..."

Marron couldn't help but fall back on Gateau's simile.

"... the kind of relationship I share with Gateau... it's the kind of relationship that is... I shouldn't let thoughts of another person hold me back! That person is... that person is somebody who's unattainable to me, who I might never hope to be with... but Gateau is with me. All the things I wish to do with that person, I could do with Gateau. Sexual things and nonsexual things..."

Marron was suddenly caught by the look in Carrot's eyes.

He'd moved up on the bed now, so he was sitting up, his hands balled into fists on the piece of bed in front of him, just slightly pressing down against the springs... his legs circled around his fists, one leg hanging over the edge of the bed. It swung every few moments, but Marron noticed that less than just the sudden doleful look in Carrot's eyes... sad, but... pleading also...

"Marron, please. Don't have sex with somebody you don't love, that's... that's just not right."

The philosophy of such a statement caught Marron unawares, he was speechless for a few moments. What was there to say to that? He just smiled slightly, not really feeling it.

"Niisan... can I listen to something like that coming from you? If any of the women you met gave you the chance then you'd bed them, and you can't tell me you'd form such a longstanding love just from an initial reaction..."

Carrot fell back on the bed, "Hey, don't you believe in love at first sight?"

Marron's vaguely reproving glare said it all. Love at first sight was one thing, Carrot's little obsession was another entirely. Leaving that to the side, Carrot's eyes flickered to Marron's once more, then he looked away again.

"I just want to do things with girls, I guess. Other than Tira and Chocolat, 'cause they scare me and if I did things with either one of them the other one would kill me and I wouldn't wanna die just for having sex. Though they'd probably both kill me if... well, nevermind. I'd still want the first time with the person I loved to be special... and you're really really special, so I just want you to be happy, okay? You're my little brother, is it wrong to want to make sure you've got the best lined out for you?"

Carrot's vague tenderness didn't fail to make contact with Marron.

"Niisan... niisan. It's... it's a situation you can't understand, but... the person I love... I honestly can't tell them anything. Nothing that they can realise... I don't know if I'll be able to have sex with Gateau, things between us have been... somewhat tense in that respect, but... I have needs also, niisan. I thought Gateau would be able to help me with those needs... I still hope he can."

Carrot sighed, then moved over on his bed, patting the pillow next to him, "Come sit down."

Marron did so.

"It's kinda complicated, isn't it? I mean... why can't it just be simple? In a perfect world, I guess, people would just be able to love who they liked, tell people that easily, and just like, get on with it. But things always get in the way and there's never any way to make everyone happy... people are always getting hurt and stuff... Gateau thought I was getting pissy at him 'cause I didn't like you being gay... but I don't mind that, I was just worried Gateau was doing stuff to you you wouldn't want him to..."

"I was always worried about telling you of my... likes, just in case... I... I was worried..."

"Hey, c'mon. You think I'd abandon you over something like that? There's more to you than just the type of people you wanna bonk, right? Just as long as you're not entirely rubbing my nose in it, I don't mind. You wouldn't, anyway. Gateau might, but... yeah. Look, um... about that person you love and all... do you still love them?"

Carrot's arm was over Marron's shoulders. Marron paused for a moment, glanced at the foot of the bed, then at Carrot. Safe enough, he wouldn't lie.

"Yes. Yes, I do."

"That person isn't Gateau, is it?"

It seemed that Carrot was trying to guess once more... Marron couldn't help but let his facial expression soften in amusement, just a little; Carrot would never find out, not while Marron had anything to do with it... nobody would find out about Marron's obsession, that was something he was certain of. He wouldn't let anybody know.

"No... it's not him. He's somebody I value a lot, but..."

"But just not like that, I know, I know. So, uh... um... it's, uh... it's Milphey, isn't it?"

"Milphey, niisan?"

"Yeah, he was just in here, you were talking to him all close. He's the person you love, isn't he? Though, I gotta say, that's a pretty weird match, if you ask me... we barely know him! Well, maybe you know him better or something, but... is he not saying anything to you 'cause he's too hung up on me? I'll talk to him if that's what it is, 'cause he did say he had an 'interest' in you, didn't he? So he should at least be willing, probably just hasn't realised your deep feelings yet. It's probably not something you coulda controlled anyway, hm? Whoever you fall in love with, I guess as long as it's love, it's okay. Hm?"

Marron glanced a sidewards glance at his brother... Carrot looked quietly pleased with himself. Was he really sure that was the answer? Was the answer really so obvious, in his mind? He seemed to be missing the most obvious at all, but that was something Marron was too worried to suggest.

And such words, spoken from the lips of his brother... Marron wondered, would Carrot consider his advice so apt if he knew the truth? Would it be alright to be in love with anybody, if the anybody happened to be a blood relative? Marron felt at a loss. Carrot couldn't know, and Carrot didn't suspect, and both of those, Marron felt ambivalent about.

"It's... not Milphey, niisan."

Carrot's brow was crossed by a frown, "Eh? But you were talking with him just now all friendly, and he was hugging you and everything..."

"That doesn't mean that I want him, niisan."

Falling onto his back, Carrot looked up at the back of his brother's head; Marron turned around to face Carrot, looking over his shoulder.

Carrot really did look quite irresistible like that. He'd fallen back onto the bed quite normally, his hair messed around him as it usually was, one arm lazily stretched over where his head lay... his line of sight was met, he looked away slightly.

For the short duration of that silence, Marron fancied that, perhaps, the quietness signified Carrot's thoughts; he was thinking, really thinking. He was thinking, and then he'd realize what was so obvious, and he'd look on his brother with a new light... realise his desire was met just as keenly...

Of course, he didn't do anything like that, but it was nice to imagine.

"I don't get it..."

"Don't get what, niisan?"

"It's someone in Eden, right? It's a guy?"

Marron found it hard to look Carrot in the eye; he moved to look back in front of him, making a slight show of rubbing at his neck, hoping Carrot might think he'd looked away because his neck was hurting, not because of his own discomfort with the situation.

"My feelings haven't changed, niisan."

Carrot sat up again, his hand on Marron's shoulder.

"You went quiet..."

"I'd... I'd rather we talked about something else."

Carrot delicately withdrew his hand, nodding his understanding. It was difficult, though... he really was curious as to how Marron felt... though, it was obviously something he didn't want to talk about, didn't like to talk about... so... the best thing would be to respect his wishes...

"It's something you can't even tell your brother, eh?"

"Niisan... please..."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I don't mean anything bad, I just wanna be able to help, that's all! I mean... if I knew who it was you were after, I could drop hints, y'know? Maybe set something up between the two of you. I don't want you to be sad because you don't feel you can say anything! Hmmm... does the person's name... have... an 'a' in it?"

"... Y-yes, niisan..."

"How many letters in the name?"

A quick mental calculation told Marron that, not only did Carrot's name have six letters in it, but so did Gateau's. And his own, and Kahlua... name length wouldn't give anything away.

"... six..."

"Does their name... uh... start with... a vowel or a constant?"

"Consonant, niisan. The word is consonant, and the name begins with one... but, out of those who live here, who's name might you say begins with a vowel?"

"Eclair-chan!"

"Would my preferences fall towards her?"

"You have a point. I... uh... I guess you're not gonna tell me, are you?"

Carrot's curiosity was genuine, but Marron couldn't find it within himself to reply to it; more than anything, he couldn't admit his darkest secret, not to his brother... especially not to his brother... he shook his head, "No, niisan. I'm sorry."

"I guess if it's such a big secret, then that's your decision... but if you want to tell me who it is, you can... I wouldn't tell anybody else!"

'You'd try not to tell anybody else' flittered through Marron's mind. It wasn't that his brother was untrustworthy, it was just... well, he had a tendency to speak before he thought, and by that point, it'd be too late. If there was anybody to tell. But there wasn't, because it was Carrot...

"I know, niisan. It... it's alright though, I can live with the secret. For now, I... I should like to study some of my magic..."

The room's atmosphere was starting to feel oppressive to Marron, the thought of being outside with the fresh breeze and distant birdsong seemed infinitely more desirable at that moment in time. And also, the conversation with Carrot had unearthed a few thoughts in his mind... if Gateau was around and available to be found, Marron felt he wanted to express just a few of his thoughts. It'd be easier for the both of them.

Marron located his robes, and changed from his nightclothes into those as the silence continued to press against him. The atmosphere was so heavy it almost felt physical... then Carrot spoke, and Marron's desire to escape the room multiplied.

"Oh, uh... okay. I'll probably head down to the town or something."

The connotations of that phrase were too much that Marron didn't want to consider - either Carrot meant he'd go to the town with Chocolat and Tira, or he'd go on his own and end up chasing girls. Either way, Carrot didn't elaborate, and Marron, not wanting to know what Carrot meant by that, just left the room with a vague noise of acknowledgement.

Marron didn't have to look far to find Gateau, in the end; just as Marron had been walking one way along the corridor, Gateau had been walking the other. Gateau seemed a little startled to see the younger mage, "O-oh-... Marron!"

"Gateau." Marron spoke with an air of greeting.

The two of them stood in front of each other for a few silent moments. Marron just calmly stared at Gateau, Gateau seemed a little more ill-at-ease... after what had happened last night, what was there he could easily say to Marron? All the things he'd said... saying that he and Gateau couldn't love each other, for whatever reason...

However, he seemed calm... for now.

Sensing that Gateau wouldn't be saying anything anytime soon, Marron motioned to a nearby window.

"It's a nice day outside... I was going to perhaps study some of my magic... would you like to come along with me, Gateau?"

Marron was already starting to walk further down the corridor; Gateau wasn't sure how to react to that. He really seemed to be a totally different person...

Stopping to see Gateau's reaction, Marron smiled, a warm smile. Gateau blushed. After that anger, what had Gateau done to deserve that warm smile?

He really was very beautiful. The layout of the corridor meant that parts of the floor always lay in shade, and some always lay in sunlight, depending on the time of the day and the position of the sun. Marron had stopped mid-step for a moment, one foot half-lifted from the floor... on seeing Gateau's non-reaction, he let it silently fall to the floor.

He still smiled. It fell just a little, but the warmth was still there... and the sun shone around him, and the rest of the corridor was silent, and dust motes occasionally caught the light, and were gone... and seeing Marron like that, seeing him seem so happy, hearing him request Gateau's company, in a roundabout sort of way... it was almost painful. How was it that this gentle creature could turn so?

What kind of things were those to incur his anger?

Still Marron waited.

"... Marron..."

His ears pricked slightly at hearing his name said; Gateau walked forward quickly, closing the distance between the two of them in a few long strides before Marron had a chance to escape from him; he made a grab for Marron's wrist to prevent him from doing the same.

Marron frowned momentarily in confusion. He'd been about to walk off, but Gateau held his wrist tightly, and didn't seem to want to go anywhere... he looked up to Gateau's eyes, made to speak, but was distracted by the strange look he couldn't quite place... was that sadness? Or something else?

Gateau's hand loosened a fraction, slipping down to take Marron's hand in his own. He pressed his fingers between Marron's fingers, holding them firmly... Marron didn't seem to know how to react to that, he didn't curl his fingers... he just looked up at Gateau still.

"Gateau...?"

"Marron... don't be angry..."

A little more confused now. With that hand held and his other hand pressing against Marron's shoulder, Gateau ended up with Marron pressed against the nearest wall, frowning and confused.

Such a position left little to the imagination, less so when Gateau moved his hand from Marron's shoulder to his cheek. He tipped it up slightly... the temptation was too great, so badly he suddenly wanted to kiss Marron... surely he had a kind of right to? Surely Marron wouldn't mind?

He was in shadow now, in Gateau's shadow.

"Gateau, what are you-"

Marron was silenced by Gateau's lips; his eyes opened wide for a moment as he was caught unawares, then narrowed to a close as he surrendered, for that moment. So Gateau was in the mood to be a little spontaneous. Okay.

Marron didn't seem to be fighting back, but Gateau was almost too scared to open his eyes, in case he saw a pair of deep stormy eyes opposite, angry and reprimanding... though, if it was something that had made him angry, Marron would surely have pushed Gateau away already... he wasn't quite complying to the kiss, but his lips were warm, and soft, and Gateau wanted to feel more...

He couldn't help but feel slightly hurt, hurt and confused. Marron had been the one to consent to a relationship, hadn't he? But things seemed so much more confusing... Marron no longer pushed Gateau away, but he never tempted him further, either... he didn't get angry over the small things, but the larger things made him react so strangely... and there wasn't any explanation he seemed willing to give...

Passion spurred passion, and while it was happening, Marron supposed he might as well give himself up, just for the moment. When Gateau chose to pull back, Marron felt hot breath mingle with his own... he kissed back with equal fervour when Gateau did so. Finally allowed access, Gateau's tongue met against Marron's, and Marron entertained the thought, just for a moment, that the muscle might feel nice elsewhere on his body... all of Gateau's muscles were trained to perfection, were they not?... All of his muscles...

The idle thought of Carrot back in the bedroom not too far away jarred Marron from his contented little musings, and he pushed Gateau away quickly. Gateau stepped back with a noise of confusion, his breathing heavy, his hands still against Marron's shoulders... the two of them were silent again, and Marron cursed his body for being so easily stirred, his breath also came heavily... his heart raced... if he were so inclined, he might not have made Gateau stop, and indeed, other things might have happened, but as it was, he wasn't, so...

He couldn't quite look at Gateau, but he knew Gateau was looking at him.

"Ma... Marron...?"

Gateau's voice was quiet and, Marron was sure, a little scared.

"Gateau, not here... not here. My brother said he was going to go to town soon, I... I wouldn't want him to walk past us like this. We should relocate to somewhere different... and I had things I wished to talk to you about, so... please, let's go to the grounds..."

There was something Marron wanted to talk about? Gateau could only follow.

Eden itself seemed quiet and peaceful as Marron walked through it, and Gateau followed at a respectable distance. The air between the two of them was so tense... Gateau wasn't even sure if he could say anything, what kind of things could he say to Marron? What kind of things might make him angry?

Fortunately, the two of them reached the garden with no interruption. Marron silently wondered where they should go... there was the tree he always practiced his magic beneath, but that seemed so far off, and he was starting to feel a little tense himself... walking instead to an area where the ground began to dip down into a hill, Marron sat himself next to a flowering bush. He looked up to Gateau, who'd stopped in his walk but was still behind... he patted the space next to him once, "Sit with me."

Gateau didn't want to disobey Marron, he did so quickly, "Ye-yes..."

Above them, the sky was blue; a few white whisps of cloud were hurried on by the breeze... the breeze made the tops of the trees in the garden sway back and forth, and it played against Marron's hair, also... Gateau watched Marron through the corner of his eye; Marron's eyes were currently closed, but he seemed to be enjoying the breeze... there wasn't any use in putting things off, though.

"Marron, uh... about last night."

"That was what I wished to talk to you about."

"A-ah... well, um... what did you want to say?"

Gateau wondered if an explanation would be too much to ask for.

"Gateau... I just wanted to say... I'm sorry I got so upset last night. I... my frame of mind was that that I... I... I can't explain it. You caught me in a bad moment, I suppose you might say..."

"Yeah, and what if that happens again? I... I don't know what I can say or do with you, Marron! I'm always worried you're gonna get randomly angry... I mean... do you even really want a relationship with me at all? Cause if you don't, then you should just say so, instead of carrying it on and just getting more and more pissed off all the time..."

Marron blinked at Gateau. He hadn't quite been expecting that little outburst... he looked back to the grounds in front of him.

"Gateau... I do want to have a relationship with you. Last night, you mentioned my brother... there are things you can offer me that he... that he can't..."

Marron managed to stop himself before he said 'that he won't'.

"... and those are things I should like to experience... but, I'll admit, some of the things... some things, I'm not sure I'm ready to do. My... my brother told me not to have sexual relations with somebody I didn't love. Gateau, I know you love me, I appreciate that love... and I am very fond of you, as a friend, and as more than that... but as for love... I'm not sure what kind of love I can feel."

Gateau frowned. That was a strange way to phrase 'I don't love you'... Marron didn't know what kind of love he could feel? What was that supposed to mean?

"Marron?"

"Hm?"

"You're not sure what kind of love you can feel...? Well, obviously you feel some kinda love for that idiot brother of yours, so you can at least feel that... maybe that's confused you, I dunno. But, um... Carrot also mentioned that, uh... at least, in the past... there had been someone you, uh... said you loved..."

Marron felt his chest tighten; not this again...

"Gateau, I don't want to talk about it."

"I guess that person isn't me."

"... No. It's not."

"I, I see. So, uh... do you want to break things off? I don't want you to feel you have to do anything just 'cause I love you. Carrot's right, you shouldn't have sex with someone you don't love... and I guess that's how come you got so angry last night, huh? You should just wait for the person you do love."

Marron laughed, a bittersweet little laugh.

"I could wait forever for that person, but they could never be mine. Gateau... without intending to sound callous, I... that person... that person isn't somebody I can have, but you are. I want to develop my feelings into perhaps feeling something for you, in order to allow me to do such things... I wish to stay in a relationship with you, but you have to understand... there are things about me I can't tell you about, and things about me you might not understand. There are some things I must sort out in my mind of my own accord, and you might have to wait for me to do so... would you be willing to wait for me?"

Gateau nodded quickly, "Of course! I'd wait for as long as you wanted me to! But, uh... what do you mean, you can't have the person you love?"

Dangerous territory.

"You can't understand."

"I can't understand how anyone wouldn't want you. I don't even get why Tira and Chocolat chase so much after Carrot, I mean, out of him and you, what do they see in him? Not that I'm arguing, I'd be jealous if Chocolat was all over you like she's always all over Carrot, but... I can understand being nervous, but you don't have anything to worry about...!"

Gateau realised the irony of the situation; Marron had just said he was willing to stay with Gateau as long as Gateau was willing to wait for him, and then he couldn't help but start a rant about how whoever it was Marron loved would be mad to turn him down. Surely, Gateau said to himself, he should just be pleased that Marron wanted, for the moment, to stay with him?

There was always the thought, though... what if, whoever it was that Marron loved, did suddenly return his feelings? Then surely Gateau wouldn't be needed anymore... and really, any relationship they had would only be a kind of bridge between he and Marron, and Marron and the person he loved...

"Am I really prepared to be used like that? Like that... that's the only thing Marron can be doing, even if he doesn't really realise it like that..."

Marron looked quietly sad as he thought about what Gateau had said. Just looking at him settled the thoughts in Gateau's mind.

"If that's what he wants, then I can't turn him down...! Even if it IS getting used, if it's by him, it's... it's alright. To even be able to have him to myself a little bit is great, right? I never even hoped I'd get THAT, half the time... and it'd be better to be able to love him for a little while then give him up than never love him at all, surely... then at least I'd have the memories of our time together..."

"Gateau... with anybody else, perhaps not, perhaps it would just be my own worries clouding my judgement. But I'm certain that... that person... I'm sure that my feelings cannot be returned. They're too deep for that."

So Marron had such deep feelings for someone, did he...? Gateau couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy. Who might it be that Marron felt so strongly for? Apart from Carrot, of course.

... Apart... from Carrot...

With the force of a thousand enemy punches, an idea suddenly hit Gateau.

Apart from Carrot? Who else was there Marron loved more than Carrot? It was no secret that pretty much everything Marron said or did was for Carrot's benefit in some way or another. Marron's life seemed so centred around Carrot, sometimes! In the past, Gateau had often wondered if Marron would ever have time for anybody else other than his brother... and the idea of Marron being in love with somebody else on top of that didn't fit alongside that idea at all. Marron, so eternally concerned about his brother... would he ever have time for a love beside that?

No, but it was a stupid idea. Gateau was mentally berating himself just as soon as he caught himself considering it - Marron was a quiet person, it wasn't totally inconceivable for him to be in love with somebody else, all it would take from him would be not to mention it to anybody, and then nobody would know...

Marron wouldn't be in love with his brother, of all people!

What a stupid thought. A stupid, impossible thought.

The more he told himself what a stupid thought it was, the more uneasily Gateau felt that it wasn't - little things from the past seemed to click against each other with a scary certainty... it seemed weird that anybody at all wouldn't be able to resist Marron, and also that Marron would be so sure of their rejection... but with Carrot... no, but Carrot was his brother! They were brothers, they were blood relatives!

Marron wouldn't have feelings like that, surely?

Surely not!

Besides, Carrot was an idiot. An idiot, a moron, a pervert, a girlchaser... he was ugly, he was stupid, he caused people so much trouble...

... but despite that, despite all of that, Marron loved him without question. A brother's unconditional love. Things that Gateau couldn't understand... and Marron's sure belief that his feelings wouldn't be returned...

Gateau had fallen silent, staring off into the distance, disturbed by his thoughts but unable to stop thinking them. Marron was aware that he'd lost Gateau's attention, and wondered what it might be that Gateau was thinking about... he gazed curiously at his friend, "Gateau? Gateau...?"

"Marron, it's not Carrot you love, is it?"

Gateau's idea hit Marron with equal force, and he spoke, he felt, just a moment too quickly.

"NO!"

Too aware that Marron had shouted - was he angry? - Gateau drew back a little.

"S-sorry, it... it was a stupid thought, I, I, forget I said anything..."

Marron's mind was racing. How could Gateau have guessed so perfectly?! His deepest secret, his forbidden feelings, those he felt he could never voice to anybody... and Gateau... Gateau had guessed it in just one sentence? Oh, and Marron was so painfully aware of how he found it impossible to lie... he knew his brother could effortlessly tell when he attempted to lie, but maybe Gateau wouldn't notice as much...?

Laughing nervously, Marron tried to play the situation down.

"Ahahaha... Gateau... what a foolish thought... what a disgusting thought...! My brother...! What kind of... why... why would you think that I might feel like that for my brother?"

"I'm sorry, okay? I dunno even why I said that, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn'ta suggested something like that... you're right, it's stupid. I just thought that... no, I dunno why I thought it. I spoke without thinking I guess. I, I'm sorry. I just shouldn't ask, right?"

"... That would be best."

"I guess I just have to act sweeter with you, right?"

"Gateau?"

"You said you weren't sure if you loved me... well, would you like it if I tried to help you out with that? Like... take you out places, buy you things, stuff like that. We don't have to have sex until you're absolutely ready, we can have a relationship without that, right? I'll wait until you think you're ready, even if you're sad over whoever that person is. Maybe one day you'll be comfortable enough to tell me that person's name, hm?"

"... Perhaps, Gateau. We'll see how far we go."

Sitting there quietly on the grounds, Gateau and Marron were quite unaware they were being watched; having decided not to go to town (he couldn't find Tira and Chocolat anywhere; this presumably meant that they were already in town, and he didn't feel like risking himself like that. Carrot going to the town on his own meant only one thing to the Misu sisters - girlchasing. Even if Carrot was innocent, he didn't feel like risking a misunderstanding), Carrot was watching the two of them talk.

He couldn't hear what they were saying, of course. He wished there were some way he could advance closer, maybe turn into a buzzing bee and fly to one of the flowers next to where Marron was sat, close enough to hear the conversation but small enough to be undetected...

Presumably, they were patching things up after what had happened last night. The whole Gateau suddenly loving Marron thing. Carrot sighed... so Gateau really did love Marron? For more than just his looks? It seemed so, but... Carrot didn't want to risk Marron being hurt. He trusted Marron enough to be sensible, but he didn't understand why Marron might want to stay with Gateau if he didn't love him! If they were having fantastic rampant sex, then perhaps, but even that wasn't happening...

Unhappily, Carrot concluded that this was another one of those times where he didn't really know his brother at all, and likely couldn't hope to. Maybe he'd have a word about it when Marron came to bed. Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe Marron would say something... maybe not.

Still, all the times Carrot had chided Gateau for flirting with Marron... Marron had always got so flustered about it all, Carrot presumed that Marron really hated the attention... but he couldn't have been hating it that much, not if he was now willing to be that muscleheaded idiot's boyfriend...

Carrot shook his head to himself. This wasn't the time to be thinking up such insults, especially not after the morning's misunderstanding. Damn... he'd thought such things about Gateau... Gateau could be brash and blunt at times, but basically he was one of Carrot's most trusted friends, and the thought that he'd assumed even for a short while that he would have hurt Marron in such a way made Carrot feel terribly, terribly guilty. What if the situation was reversed, and Gateau came at him all punching and shouting, accusing him of such things? Carrot was just glad that Gateau didn't seem too angry with Carrot after that, but even so...

Maybe it was time to let go. Besides, it wasn't as if Carrot had really taken up the position of the worthy older brother too much, was it? Marron acted more like an older brother than Carrot. If anything, Carrot wondered if the situation shouldn't be reversed - Carrot finding someone and Marron waving him off sadly, watching him mature...

It didn't seem fair, in a way. Carrot caught his mind following the route of 'What does Marron have that I don't?!'

A thousand answers could have replied that question. Beauty, honesty, modesty, airs, graces, manners, the hair, the poise, the walk, the power, the knowledge, the eyes, the voice, the depth, the soul... anything, really.

He had everything, it seemed. He had everything, and he chose to have Gateau alongside that.

Looking from his brother to Gateau, still sitting there... Carrot still couldn't bring himself to understand it. Why would Marron suddenly choose Gateau... especially without loving him, how could he do such a thing...

Turning away, heading back to his empty bedroom, Carrot sighed, realising the hypocrisy of his thoughts. Really, whatever Marron chose to do was his own business, and if he wanted to experiment with his sexuality, there were probably worse people he could choose to go about such things with. Marron and Gateau... once Marron decided to give in, those two probably really could have fun, couldn't they?

The bedroom was indeed empty when Carrot came back to it... of course, who else would there be to be in it? Only he or Marron would have any reason to be there, and Marron was with Gateau, so...

Not bothering to kick his shoes off, Carrot jumped onto Marron's bed, not really knowing why. He realised once he'd settled on it that it'd been actually quite perfectly made before he'd disturbed it... with a noise of frustration, Carrot jumped to the side and attempted to pull the sheets back to how they'd been before. He got as close as he figured he was going to get to the original state, then sat on the edge of his own bed.

He fell onto his back.

Once Marron decided to give in...

It was quiet, and those thoughts were preying at Carrot's mind again. The things Marron had said to Milphey. The things that Marron hadn't said directly to his own ears, but the things he'd heard anyway... seemed that Marron was a lot more sexual than Carrot had reckoned. There had been times in the past when Carrot had caught Marron doing his own thing, given the closeness of their sibling relationship that was near-unavoidable, but Carrot had always thought that... that...

Was it that he thought that Marron shouldn't do things like that? No, it wasn't that... to Carrot, masturbation was as needed and natural as breathing, so if Marron needed to do that too, who was Carrot to argue? Even Marron got horny sometimes.

But with another person...

Carrot stared at the ceiling. If he was really so desperate, there were at least three people under Eden's roof who'd happily oblige him with that. Two of them Carrot all too easily associated with gratuitous amounts of pain and torture, and then there'd be the rivalry and the commitment and the angst and the damn but that'd be more trouble than it was really worth. Let them work it out between themselves first... and the other, the other was male. He'd likely help Carrot with his libido if ever he needed help, and Carrot doubted that Milphey would especially want to drag him into some kind of obsessive dependant relationship, like Tira or Chocolat might...

That wasn't the point, though. The situation could never be easy with the Misu sisters, and Carrot couldn't shake off just the weirdness of what it'd be like to go to another man for sexual favours. That was just too weird.

Good enough for Marron, though.

Carrot shook his head; Marron was Marron, he was a totally different person to Carrot. His mind worked in a totally different way, his morals and ethics were the kind Carrot didn't even know, let alone understand...

Sitting up again, Carrot decided he could do with a walk. Anything seemed better than staying in his bedroom all day contemplating unhelpful things. Fresh air would clear his mind, anyway. And maybe he'd find somebody to accompany him down to the town...

He made his way across the room, letting the door fall to a shut behind him. He walked to the side of the corridor with the windows that displayed Eden's grounds... Carrot's curiosity was roused, maybe Gateau and Marron were outside still? Maybe if they weren't busy, then they'd take Carrot to the town... suddenly desiring company of some kind, Carrot leant against one of the windowsills and scanned the nearby gardens to see if his brother or Gateau were anywhere to be seen.

A few seconds of glancing, Carrot caught the white of Marron's robe against the green of the grass. Ah, there he was. And he was... what was he doing? Carrot squinted out of the window to try to look closer.

Seemed that Gateau had Marron sat and pressed against that tree Marron was always under, usually to study magic, and they were... were they kissing? Or was Gateau... seemed like Gateau was doing something to Marron's neck. Carrot couldn't quite see, but he could see Gateau's movement, and he could see his brother's arm wrapped over the expanse of Gateau's back...

They still had their clothes on, that came as some relief. Carrot just stepped away from the windowsill... no, they were busy. Even worse, his own mind seemed to be spiralling... it was a lovely day outside, and they felt so free to just sit there and kiss where anybody could see them? Even walking through the grounds would mean having to risk seeing them... Carrot didn't want to risk that... Carrot didn't want to have to see someone doing things like that to his innocent, pure little brother...

Even if that innocent and pure little brother of his had more experience with those sorts of things than Carrot thought he himself could ever even hope to have...

Even worse... Marron obviously enjoyed such things... and why did he get to have all the fun?

Hell, even if Tira or Chocolat wanted to get any on the side from anyone, their sexiness with all their femaleness and curvy bits could probably attract all the attention they needed... not that they'd do that, but, Carrot thought, if they wanted to, there was no reason for them not to do so...

Irrational thoughts bounced around the confines of Carrot's mind, before an equally irrational solution was reached. Maybe it was a bit weird, but... Carrot didn't care anymore, not at that moment. As long as he could swear Milphey to some kind of secrecy, then perhaps...

Well, either way, he'd be willing. That was the most important thing.

****

The atmosphere of the room was calm and relaxed. The edges of the room seemed quite dark, where they were shaded by curtains at the window, but where the sunlight reached, the walls, floors and other objects became bright and wonderful. The door to the outside balcony was open, and a breeze from outside ruffled at the curtains, made the light in the room dance...

The room seemed in some state of suspended animation. Milphey stood on the balcony, seemingly quiet and serious, for once. One elbow leant against the balcony rail, his other arm dangled lazily off the edge... the wind disturbed his hair every now and then, that hand would reach up to rectify it's effects. Though serious, he didn't seem uneasy... he felt content enough just to watch the gardens, even though nothing was happening outside... occasionally some birds would fly by, or an insect would settle nearby... such little things were enough to occupy Milphey, just for the time being.

Inside the room, Cinnamon Tea lay chest-down on a rug, her head propped up by her hands, her legs swaying back and forth in the air behind her. She glanced around the room, as if searching for something... after a few uneventful moments, something did catch her eye.

"Ohhh... ummm... juuugg...?"

Milphey, having been lost in thoughts of his own while waiting for Cinnamon to respond, hadn't been expecting her answer. He looked up and over his shoulder, "Sorry, I was in a world of my own. What was that?"

"Iiisss iittt a juuggg?"

Milphey blinked, then walked back into the room, his own shadow filling the room as he passed through the doorframe. He walked over to the soft chair in the corner of the room, and sat down on it with a deep sigh that made it sound like it'd taken a lot more effort to perform the action than it actually had done.

"Jug? Where's there a jug in here?"

Cinnamon raised one of her hands to point to the mantelpiece. Milphey followed her pointing finger, then closed his eyes with a small laugh.

"Cinnamon, that's a vase."

"Weelll, I doonn't knnoow, thennn! I giivve upp."

Milphey clapped his hands together, "You give up? HAH! I win. It was, jigsaw puzzle! See, over there!"

Milphey pointed to a table opposite him, which indeed held a half-finished jigsaw puzzle of some flowers on it. Around it, unplaced pieces had been placed in colour-co-ordinated piles, some blue, some green, some lilac and pink... obviously whoever had started the jigsaw puzzle had left it to be finished at a later date.

Amused by his victory, Milphey eagerly rubbed his hands together while looking around the room for another target.

"I do believe I'm beating you by ten points, Miss Tea! Let's see, now... I spy, with my little eye, something beginning wiiiiiith..."

At that point, the door to the room burst open. Milphey looked up.

"... Carrot-chan?"

"Sommeethiinngg beginniiingg wiiitth Caarrottt-chaaann...? Whaatt's thha-... ohhh, hellllo therree!"

Carrot, strangely, barely even seemed to notice that Cinnamon was in the room, let alone acknowledge her greeting. He just held the door open with one splayed hand, panting as if he'd run the distance from his bedroom to the small lounge Milphey and Cinnamon currently occupied.

Which was, after all, the truth.

Her words settling in Carrot's mind, he looked down to see Cinnamon's smiling face. He looked from her to Milphey, as if distracted.

"... You're busy. I'll, uh, I'm sorry, I'll go."

Milphey waved his hand to signal to Carrot that he could stay, "Carrot-chan, wait a moment. Did you want something? If you wanted to join us then you're perfectly welcome to, Cinnamon and I were just filling our afternoon up with some idle parlour games. We were in the middle of I Spy at the moment, and I'm winning. Feel like joining us? I warn you, I'm a deadly eye at this game."

Actually faced with Milphey, some of Carrot's drive and courage spontaneously left his body, and he wondered if what he'd considered had really been such a good idea after all. Surely he was being hasty? And besides... Milphey was always such a flirt, but if Carrot really wanted him to, would he really...?

Either way, with Cinnamon around, Carrot had no desire to raise any kind of point like that. Without saying anything else, Carrot left the room, slamming the door slightly as he went.

The sharp sound of the door left the room in an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds. Cinnamon blinked up at where the noise had come from, "Thaaat waaas a biiit straange..."

"You're right there..."

Milphey was already heading towards the door.

"... Will you be okay for a bit here on your own, Cinnamon? I'll be back as soon as I can, but I want to see what's wrong with Carrot-chan first. Strange enough that he'd come looking for me if he had some kind of problem, usually I'm the last person he wants to see on any occasion... I'll see if I can catch him up."

"Ohhh, okaaaay. I'lll waaaiit heeerree."

Milphey nodded silent gratitude at Cinnamon, then left the room.

Cinnamon watched where Milphey had been, then laboriously lifted herself from the floor, not seeing the point in rushing anything on such a lazy sunny day. She walked over to the table Milphey had indicated at before, and pulled up a chair. Surely no-one would mind if she filled in some of the puzzle also, whiling away the time before Milphey returned.

Outside the room, Milphey spotted Carrot running back off down the corridor. Concerned, Milphey put on a burst of speed, determined to catch up with Carrot and find out what had been wrong... partly out of concern, anyway. A fair bit of his motives were made up of curiosity also, and the two together were forming quite strong urge within Milphey's body.

Turning a corner, Carrot seemed to slow down fractionally... Milphey saw this as his chance, he called out.

"Carrot-chan, wait up!!"

Like Milphey thought he would, Carrot stopped for a moment to look behind him, even though Milphey was the only one there to call for him... that was all he needed, Milphey dashed forward and grabbed Carrot's lower arm.

"Here you are."

"You didn't have to come after me, Milphey..."

Carrot's voice had dropped, he sounded quite sulky. He tried to pull his arm away from Milphey, but his grip was deceptively strong, and Carrot found he couldn't shake him... Milphey just shook his head, "Na-ah, Carrot-chan. Not until you tell me what that was about. And of course I had to come after you, you behaving all strangely all of a sudden... is it wrong for someone in love with you to be concerned, hmmm?"

Pulling again, Carrot was aware that he actually snarled for a moment.

"DON'T say things like that!"

"Ohh, Carrot-chan, I'm sorry... did I make you uncomfortable?"

"Don't say things like that unless you mean them... please..."

Milphey couldn't help but detect the sorrowful... need, was that? Something in that sentence... he was reminded that the situation, whatever it was, was likely quite serious. He loosened his grip on Carrot's arm a fraction, but still didn't quite trust him enough to let go.

"Carrot... -chan?"

"If you can't be serious for a moment then maybe I shouldn'ta looked for you at all... nevermind, I, I, it's nothing..."

"I'll be serious if you want me to be. Carrot-chan, just... what is it?"

"You'll be serious?"

Carrot looked up at the taller man, searching his eyes for the truth... Milphey indeed looked serious, and his eyes didn't seem to contend with that... he nodded.

"Yes. I'll be serious. If it's a problem, and a problem you looked for me specifically for, then I can't turn that away, can I?"

"Then... if you promise you'll be absolutely serious, then can we at least go somewhere a bit quieter than a corridor... I don't want anyone else finding me for the moment..."

"Of course. Many of the rooms around here are empty..."

Milphey led Carrot down the corridor, looking to find a room that was suitable. He picked a random one they came across and went to open it, still holding on to Carrot's wrist.

"... would this one be suitable?"

Carrot glanced inside the half-open door. The room behind the door seemed to be a bedroom... the curtains were drawn, and it was quite dark in there. It was as good as any other room they might hope to find, Carrot nodded.

"Yes, yes, it'll be fine."

Once Carrot walked into the room, Milphey let go of Carrot's hand. They stood near the door for a few silent moments, before Carrot went over to the door again; he pulled the lock closed, "I don't want us to be disturbed."

Wondering quite what Carrot was implying, Milphey folded his arms, "Right... so, what was it you wanted to see me about? It has to be something strange if you can't even go to Marron-chan or Gateau-chan, or even Tira-chan or Chocolat-chan..."

"Milphey, I wanna do things with you."

Caught in the middle of a sentence, Milphey stopped abruptly.

"... Carrot-chan?"

Carrot's eyes and tone of voice were deathly serious, "You're always flirting with me, and stuff... making out like you love me... if you mean any of that at all, then... can't you at least help me?"

"Help you, Carrot-chan? I'll do anything I can..."

Carrot threw his tanktop to the floor, "Help me, then. I wanna do sexual things. Even Marron's out there getting groped madly by Gateau, he's my younger brother and even he's getting more action than me! So... I wanna do things too..."

Milphey laughed softly, not teasingly at all.

"I see, I see. So you're jealous of Marron-chan, huh? Well... what about Tira-chan, or Chocolat-chan? Surely either of them would be willing to satisfy you, if you gave them the chance... don't you think?"

"Oh, I know, I know. But if I did things with either one of them, the other would kill me! They're... I dunno. It's not that I don't love them, they're like sisters to me... they are sisters to me, in a way... I wouldn't wanna hurt either of them like that, and I guess I just don't see them like that... they both scare me! I mean, I guess they're sexy and all, but anything that happened would likely go wrong... so with them, I, I don't think I can. Not like this. But you wouldn't kill me, right? We could secretly do things and I wouldn't be punished for them, right? So, uh..."

"You shouldn't rush into things, Carrot-chan... just because Marron-chan's got a boyfriend and chooses to do things like that doesn't mean you have to too. Besides, haven't I been after you for as long as either of us can remember? And all the time, you fought against me, saying you weren't like that, always insisting about how absolutely straight you were..."

Milphey approached Carrot (who blushed despite himself) with a frustrating slowness.

"... That's a funny way for someone who's as straight as you to behave. I may wear women's clothes and hit on men, Carrot... but I'm not a women. I have as much penis as any other man should have, surely it's all the softness and curvaciousness that you're attracted to..."

Carrot's frustration was evident, "For fuck's sake, Milphey! You've been after me for ages, haven't you? And now I'm halfnaked and sitting on a bed and saying you can just have me already... what are you waiting for?"

The sharp tone hung in the still, silent air. Milphey's eyes flickered away from Carrot, then focused back on him... Carrot was getting quite angry, wasn't he? If not angry, then... at least frustrated... above all, before urges and hormones and the possibility of future regret, somebody had to be the voice of reason.

"... I just want to make sure it's what you absolutely want, that's all. I don't want you to do anything you'll regret."

"I'll be the judge of that one, Milphey. I just... I... I can't... I need to do something!"

"And I'm the person you want to do it with? Really?"

Carrot wasn't entirely sure of that, but he felt he had little say in the matter. At that moment in time, was there really anybody else he had to pick from? And besides, every time he saw a cute girl, he went after them with the eventual hope of bedding them... all of them... any of them, he could have lost his virginity to... so doing things like that with Milphey, that didn't matter, did it? Besides, it wasn't as if he was planning to make a habit of sleeping with men. His first time with a woman would still wait for him, safely in the future. This wasn't a question of that, this was a question of Carrot's libido. And it, quite aside from all of that, needed satiating.

He looked up at Milphey, really looked.

It wasn't as if Milphey was unattractive, though Carrot wasn't sure if he should feel alright for thinking that since Milphey looked so much like a woman in his mind, or be disturbed that he should see a man and think that... though, all the times Milphey had made him blush in the past, had been due to a similar problem. Was it enough to pretend that the attention was from a woman, or should he push it away because it was from a man? Usually Carrot went with the latter, but even he had to admit to himself that he'd occasionally thought about what it might be like with Milphey, just through curiosity. Of course, if Milphey was a woman then there'd be no question, but... Milphey was certainly pretty enough for one...

Just as there were worse people Marron could choose to experiment with than Gateau, for the moment, Carrot figured that there were worse people he could pick than Milphey... after all, it wasn't as if anybody would really find out, was it? In his serious moments, Carrot trusted Milphey enough to stay quiet, not to mention their potential activities to anybody else... surely Milphey would realise as keenly as Carrot did the trouble that that would bring...

As Carrot watched him, Milphey closed the distance between him and the bed, pulling himself onto the soft surface, kneeling against it. Milphey smirked, looking quite devious... the kind of look that always made Carrot blush, and this time, he'd backed himself into a corner with no escape; Milphey knew this. His voice was quiet, and somewhat husky... Carrot supposed that was on purpose.

"You can't run away this time, Carrot-chan..."

"You're not being serious..."

Milphey had Carrot pinned against the headboard now, that devious look not disturbed at all... and his voice was so quiet now... he had Carrot's chin held by his thumb and forefinger...

"... No?"

Carrot didn't have a chance to reply; Milphey kissed him.

Thinking back on it, Carrot supposed that, really, that was his first real sort of kiss. There had been other kisses in the past, of course. Various accidents with various people (Tira stood out in his mind most for that), times when he'd been required to kiss people, times when he'd tried to kiss people but they'd ended up slapping him for it... still, in retrospect, those kisses had been, really, quite innocent.

Not like this kiss.

Feeling flushed, Carrot wondered if Marron felt at all like he did at that moment whenever Gateau kissed him; if not, Carrot felt Marron was seriously missing out. The word 'zing' came to Carrot's mind, though he didn't say anything... then the thought that this was Milphey who was a guy happened across his mind, and the thought of pushing Milphey away and bolting from the room occurred, but then Milphey would move slightly, and that thought was banished.

As long as it stayed between the two of them and as long as nothing that happened in that room left the room, Carrot supposed it was okay. It wasn't like Milphey wished to harm him, or anything... if he always said he loved Carrot so much, then surely he at least had Carrot's happiness in mind, in some twisted kind of way...

Carrot's thoughts went back to when he'd seen Marron and Gateau outside in the gardens. They'd been kissing so passionately at that moment... and surely this kiss with Milphey was something like what the kiss between those two would be like... a kiss was a kiss, but then there was Milphey's own passion to contend with, and Carrot didn't want to fight that.

Carrot sat back and let Milphey carry on, Milphey seemed happy enough to do that. His hands had been against Carrot's shoulders, they ran down his arms, pressed for a moment over his hands... Carrot's hands were clenched into fists. Milphey wrapped his fingers over Carrot's hands, stroking with them, trying to relax him... Carrot's stomach felt like it was doing backflips, but he couldn't help but shudder, and moving back against the bed meant he had to move his hands; feeling them uncurl, Milphey stroked them, then moved on.

His hands went from Carrot's arms to Carrot's back; his hold was tight and Carrot fell, no longer being supported by the hard wood headboard of the bed; still Milphey kissed him, and Carrot, feeling helpless in Milphey's arms, dared to kiss back.

Milphey seemed to relax somewhat when he felt Carrot's movements; he still wasn't entirely sure if this was in Carrot's best interests, and he didn't know how far he could go before Carrot would feel regret (after all, how far might his frenzied mind have thought it all through?), but for the time being, this was alright. And Carrot didn't seem to be fighting it.

Just to make sure, Milphey pulled back a little, his forehead and nose still pressing against Carrot.

"So... that wasn't serious, was it...?"

"Mi- Milphey..."

"Speechless, are we?"

Milphey's flirtatious tone was starting to annoy Carrot, just slightly. He wanted to feel that passion again, he didn't want Milphey to stop... Milphey seemed to be purposely shifting his lower body against Carrot again and again, and Carrot realised he was speechless. His body seemed to pulse with the need of his libido, and he was painfully aware that, like it or not, he had an erection... Milphey being so close like that, no way could he hide it... Milphey just laughed quietly.

"Hmmmn, seems like I have an effect on Carrot-chan after all... did you enjoy that kiss?"

Carrot nodded, his body seeming to tremble of it's own accord; he couldn't find it in himself to ask Milphey to do that again, but he was able to throw his arms around Milphey's neck and pull him down again, and that time he was the one to start the kiss.

"Seems like Carrot-chan's not in the mood for talking..."

Moving slowly in order to tease, Milphey pulled away from the kiss, and moved to nibble against Carrot's jawbone. From there down to Carrot's neck, and Carrot was again reminded of his brother and Gateau... yes... that was what they'd been doing, hadn't it?

Carrot held his hands together over Milphey's back. Maybe Milphey didn't have such broad shoulders as Gateau did, but Marron probably couldn't reach all the way around... probably... maybe? Carrot wasn't sure, and his thoughts were dissipating as his mind swam.

He couldn't help but gasp as Milphey kissed him there. Seemed he'd bite and suck sometimes too, and... and that felt good...

... No, but wouldn't somebody be able to see that afterwards?

... It didn't matter. He'd cover it up with... with something. A shirt with a high collar, or steal some of Chocolat's make-up, or... or something. The consequences of his and Milphey's actions weren't at the forefront of Carrot's mind at that moment in time.

"Mmmn... nnnah.... ahh... Mi... Milphey..."

Another small laugh, "Does that feel good, Carrot-chan?"

Carrot felt embarrassed to admit that yes, it felt wonderful, but he felt his body was likely expressing all of that without the need for words at all. He nodded rapidly against the side of Milphey's head anyway.

Milphey's hand played it's way down Carrot's chest, his fingernails tracing their way down Carrot's skin. They tickled, and Carrot squirmed. Moving like that... Milphey could only be reaching for... for...

His hand swiftly cupped against Carrot's groin, squeezing gently with his fingers. Yep, Carrot thought. He'd been right, that was what Milphey had been after.

On feeling that, Carrot made an odd little squeak, and held his fingers tightly against the folds and ruffles of Milphey's clothes... his own body felt like it was burning up, and he could feel Milphey's warmth pressed against him... and Milphey spoke so frivolously...

"Gosh, Carrot-chan. You're quite hard, now...! And all that time you didn't want that attention from me. It's a good thing I'm a forgiving kind of person, isn't it? Now, what should I do with this, hmmn?"

Another squeeze, Carrot's mind raced for an answer.

"Uh, uh... um... I... uh... w-well, they... they haven't actually had sex, so, um, d-don't have to do that..."

"Come now, Carrot-chan. Are you still comparing everything to what that brother of yours and his boyfriend get up to? It really must make you curious if you're observing them so closely. What exactly is it that you're jealous of, Carrot-chan?"

"H-huh?"

"Are you jealous because they get to do things like that? Or maybe you're jealous of Marron, having someone so big and strong to protect him and hold him and such things... maybe when you close your eyes you're imagining that you're Marron and Gateau's doing things to you?"

Carrot couldn't quite admit it to himself, but in a way, that was the truth... at least in a curious way, that had been how he was thinking...

Milphey carried on.

"Or maybe, maybe you're jealous of Gateau-chan...?"

Enough of a pause for Carrot to make a confused kind of sound.

"Maybe you're jealous of Gateau-chan for taking your little brother away from you... maybe you're jealous because Gateau might get to have your little brother all for himself! Maybe you're not imagining that you're Marron and I'm Gateau... perhaps you're imagining that you want to do things like that to Marron-chan? Keep him as yours, your little brother, your... more than that... maybe keep him as your lover? Kinky Carrot-chan, did I guess right?"

That time, Carrot did push Milphey away. His arousal still made his heart pound, but he shook his head vehemently.

"No no no no no no NO! Don't even TALK like that, that's... that's just... that's just WRONG! Marron, me, I... I... NOT LIKE THAT!"

Milphey just gazed up at Carrot, looking all too self-assured for Carrot's liking. He gazed lazily up at Carrot, playing with a ringlet of hair, twisting it around his finger and letting it bounce back into place.

"So why are you jealous of those two, then?"

His voice cut Carrot with it's directness. He faltered... obviously he was, somehow... but... but why... that was a good question.

"They... they're... they're doing things! Marron's even my little brother and he's doing things, and that's... I'm older than him, I should be doing stuff like that!"

Milphey rolled onto his back, "What about Dota and Sirius? Dota's younger than you are, Carrot. I don't doubt that her and Sirius have quite the thriving relationship... what about that? Doesn't that make you jealous? Of course, Dota's a girl, and therefore a potential target for you... so doesn't that make you jealous? Surely you want to be the sort of person doing things like that to Dota-chan..."

"Well, of course! Of course I want to do things like that with her, it makes me very very jealous!"

Glancing back at Carrot, Milphey continued.

"It never made you so jealous you ran off to another man to seek sexual comfort, though."

Carrot's thoughts stalled. This was true.

"So what makes this so different, Carrot-chan? Maybe because it's involving two of the people closest to you... suddenly their relationship changes in front of your eyes, and you don't understand it... you think you'd understand it better if you did the same sorts of things?"

Carrot looked up at Milphey. That made sense. Painfully so, it made sense. He stared into Milphey's eyes, still blushing.

"No-one close to you has come out and announced a heterosexual relationship... but if they did, say... if Gateau and Tira somehow chose each other, would that not make you curious?"

"Gateau and Tira? Huh, maybe it'd at least stop her from beating me up so much if she was in love with someone like him."

"And if you saw them kissing so passionately, wouldn't you want to do the same thing?"

Carrot took a moment to picture that. If he'd been standing in the corridor, looking out towards the gardens, and had seen Gateau and Tira out there rather than Gateau and his brother. He wasn't sure how he'd feel... maybe a bit weirded out, and maybe a bit bummed that after all Tira had chosen Gateau of all people over him, but then at least it wouldn't be his problem anymore. Maybe that would mean that he'd automatically have to go with Chocolat, but then that would be alright, because then Tira wouldn't kill him, so...

Milphey waved a hand in front of Carrot's eyes, "Carrot-chan? You went quiet all of a sudden."

"Oh, oh, uh... um... I dunno, if I saw them, I'd probably just be like... glad that they'd managed to sort something out between themselves... I mean, as long as they're happy, right?"

"I don't mean about their relationship; just the physical act of them kissing and you seeing it. Would that make you want to jump off to the nearest person you could find and kiss them?"

"Um... I dunno... not... not really... hey, are you saying that just because I saw Gateau and Marron kissing, that means I want to kiss other guys too? That's entirely not the point!"

"Ha-haan, so you did see them kissing... in that case, what is the point, Carrot-chan?"

"I, I don't know!"

"Look on it this way. If you hadn't seen Gateau-chan and Marron-chan like that, would you be here with me right now? Are you saying you absolutely would have come to do this anyway even if Gateau and Marron weren't in a relationship at all?"

Carrot fell into silence again. Milphey seemed to be able to work things out much too quickly, quicker even than his own mind.

"Now... how might Carrot-chan have reacted if, say, it'd been Gateau-chan and I you saw, instead?"

"If it was you and Gateau?"

That image came quite easily to Carrot's mind. It seemed to fit, somehow. Milphey was outgoing and frivolous... beautiful, too... Gateau was outgoing and he liked beautiful things, so... yes... but if Carrot had seen them kissing?

"I dunno, I'd probably just leave you two to it. Don't think I'd really be bothered, really."

A moment's pause.

"I see. It's because of Marron-chan, then."

Carrot looked up sharply, "What?!"

"And if you saw Marron-chan and I kissing? What then?"

As requested, Carrot mused on that also. Surely that'd be more or less the same as seeing Marron and Gateau like that... seeing his brother and another man... it wasn't that he had a problem with his brother's sexuality... or maybe he did, but not quite in the way someone would presume. He didn't mind that his brother liked men, he just minded, he supposed, that his brother liked anyone at all... even if he saw Marron kissing a girl, Carrot thought he'd probably be jealous... not just because Marron was kissing a girl, but just because Marron was kissing anybody at all to begin with...

"Carrot-chan went quiet again..."

"I don't like the idea of my brother getting with anybody."

Milphey nodded to himself. Carrot had reached an answer of his own... that was good.

"... I see. So even if Carrot-chan saw Marron-chan with a girl, he'd be jealous? Would you run out and find a girl to kiss in that circumstance?"

"I, I don't know... but it's just... I know it sounds stupid, but... Marron's just... he's never been into that sort of thing! He never said anything about girls or guys he liked, and if we ever saw anyone kissing or anything in the street, he'd just turn away... when we were younger we'd talk about what our perfect girlfriend would be like - at least, I'd try to get him to talk about that, but... he'd never respond much at all... besides, he's supposed to share his feelings with me, I'm his brother! But he's secretly been almost having a sex life, and that... that's just weird! He's not supposed to get het up with thoughts about people and love and stuff, he's the kind of person who stays away from that sort of thing and just watches, he always focuses on his work and magic and stuff, he doesn't sit around and moon over chicks or guys! He's changed, Milphey! I don't get it!"

Milphey remained respectfully quiet while Carrot ranted. He felt it'd be best to just let Carrot get everything he wanted to off his chest, and give an opinion when Carrot was done.

Carrot looked to Milphey again; he seemed to be requesting feedback. Figuring that their potential tryst was more or less forgotten about, Milphey shifted on the bed to sit next to Carrot, and leant his arm over Carrot's shoulders.

"Don't you think you're being somewhat hypocritical, Carrot-chan?"

"Huh?"

"Saying, basically, that Marron-chan shouldn't do things like that. But you'd do them without thinking if you got the chance, right? Every mission you can, you're chasing after the pretty women... but if you're saying that Marron-chan shouldn't do things like that, surely that's one rule for yourself and another for him?"

"... I... I guess... it's just... if he'd always been into that sort of thing, even about guys, back in the past... it'd seem okay, I guess? If he'd been all 'one day I want a big blonde muscley guy to kiss me', then I woulda just gone 'okay' and now he does I'd be like 'oh, he's got that now'... and then if I kissed a chick with green hair and big breasts and Marron saw, he'd be able to go 'oh, he's got that now' too. But... he's always been so quiet about that sort of thing, he... it's... it's like Tira, she's always so demure and quiet, but then... then she turns into a dominatrix, and it's like, crap, is this even the same person?... I don't think I've ever really got used to that, I just can't see them as the same... even with Chocolat it's like that, I guess. But if they're like that, and my brother's like that too, where he acts in a way I can't see him as being him, then... I... I don't know, but... no, I don't know..."

"So it's because he's changed, it seems to you, so suddenly?"

"Well, yeah! He's never been into love and stuff before, and he's not even in love with Gateau, so what's the deal with that?"

Milphey pulled his arm away from Carrot's shoulders, leaning back against the headboard and folding his arms.

"I can't really speak on the situation apart from what I've observed time after time, but if you want to know what I think...?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Carrot... who's the person Marron loves the most?"

"What, you mean like... romantically, or-"

"No, just in general."

Carrot didn't even pause, "Well, uh, me I guess. What's that got to do with it, though? That's just 'cause he's my brother, and he's... uh... well, 'cause he's really protective..."

"Yes, but... he's protective because he loves you. You say he's never been into love before, and you don't understand why he's with Gateau when he doesn't even love him... well, perhaps he feels that he doesn't have to love anybody else, because all the love he has, is directed... towards you, Carrot-chan."

"W-wh-whaat?! N-no, that's-!"

"Listen to me. I'm not saying that Marron's in love with you, not at all. But look at it this way; out of everybody on this planet, Marron unquestionably loves you the most, does he not?"

"Well, I guess..."

"But still he carries on doing the sorts of things that lovers do with Gateau, despite not actually loving him... perhaps he feels that his love for you is alright as it is; he loves you, and you love him, as brothers do. So he doesn't have to feel that for or with anybody else, because you, as his most important person, loves him... ah, I don't know if I can say this and make it make sense..."

Milphey fell quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"Marron-chan gives his love wholeheartedly to you, and if you've ever said you've loved him also, or hugged him, or anything like that, then you've responded to his feelings. However, there are things that he can't get from you; the physical kinds of love, romance, sex... he wouldn't look towards you for those things, because he can't. But on the other hand, he can't look towards anybody else for love, because all his love is directed towards you... do you see what I'm saying?"

Carrot went over this in his mind.

"So you're saying that Marron's gone off to have sex with Gateau 'cause I wouldn't have sex with him? And he's not in love with Gateau 'cause he's in love with me?"

Neither Milphey nor Carrot realised how absolutely correct Carrot was at that time.

"Well, in so many words... though I'm not sure Marron-chan's in love with you; he just loves you completely."

"But there are different sorts of love! The kind of love you have for your friends, for your family - like your brother -, for people you love love, the kinds of people you'd have sex with..."

"If Marron-chan's really never shown any interest in those sorts of things, then who's to say that he's aware of that difference? Maybe, for Marron-chan, there is no difference. Maybe to him, love is love. And love is just something he feels for you, something he's always felt for you... well, I don't know. In a perfect world we'd get him in here and just ask him, but maybe even he himself wouldn't know..."

Carrot rubbed at the side of his head, "Man, how did I get from seeing Gateau and Marron snogging in the garden earlier to talking so deeply with you of all people on how my brother might be in love with me?! Gah, my head hurts..."

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything in the first place. Otherwise, we could have been having sex by now..."

The frivolous sound was back in Milphey's voice; the mood was broken somewhat, and Carrot just laughed craftily, "Yeah, I woulda thought you woulda jumped at the chance rather than talking and talking and figuring everything out and stuff. I guess it's like you said, though. I don't understand the things they're doing, and it's not things I'd ever normally do anyway, so... I'd kinda like to try, but I dunno if I want to anymore... though I don't know what I'm gonna do about Marron..."

"I suppose you just acted hastily, Carrot-chan. You saw Gateau-chan and Marron-chan in perilous danger of having sex, thought 'I want to do that too!' and headed off to the closest person who'd oblige you without consequence. You're lucky I'm so forgiving, else I might have otherwise got angry with you for planning to use me like that!"

"D-don't say it like that, that sounds really mean when you put it like that!"

"But isn't that what you were planning to do?"

"W-well... I... I guess..."

Milphey poked Carrot's nose, "See? I can tell these things. It's good that I'd have sex with you no matter what the consequence because otherwise I might have been upset. But, as for Marron-chan... maybe you should just keep this conversation between the two of us, Carrot-chan. Don't go accusing him of being in love with you, or anything... even if the things we talked about are true, then perhaps Marron-chan doesn't even realise them himself - perhaps they're only true on a subconscious level. Just act with him like you always would. If Marron-chan has anything he wants to tell you, he'd likely tell you himself."

Carrot just nodded. He still seemed quite preoccupied... Milphey hugged him briefly, "So, do you wanna have sex?"

"Um, it's okay. I'm glad we talked, that sorted things out... I think I'm okay for now, thanks Milphey. S-sorry if I led you on, or anything."

"No, I don't mind. As I said, I wouldn't want anything to have happened that you would have regretted. Oh, I suppose Cinnamon is still waiting for me... maybe I should go back to see if she's around..."

"Y-yeah, and it's getting close to dinner, too. If it's not past that, anyway... I might go down to the town and eat out there, I meant to go out all afternoon but sort of didn't..."

Milphey nodded and unlocked the door, and made to go out of it. Carrot was a little way away, "Um, Milphey... wait..."

"Hm?"

Carrot walked past Milphey. As he did so, he blushed furiously and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "You're a good kisser". Milphey paused as Carrot retreated off down the corridor in the direction of his own bedroom... he watched, smiled, then headed back off to the room where he'd left Cinnamon waiting what seemed like an ice age before.

Carrot really could be cute sometimes, he decided.

Walking back along the corridor, Carrot couldn't help but chance a slight glance out of the windows that patterned the side wall. The windows that overlooked the gardens, the windows he'd looked out of that morning... not that Marron and Gateau would still be out there, but his curiosity pricked at him anyway. He couldn't help just a little look, just in case.

Standing next to the windowsill, Carrot realised the light was dying softly outside; the sky was streaked eversoslightly with pinks and oranges... seemed that the sun was setting.

He reached up to unhook the window's catch, letting it swing open. In doing so, Carrot felt cold air against his face... he leant his elbows against the windowsill, and leant his head out of the window. It wasn't as if there was anything in particular to see out there, but even so, he looked. No, Marron wasn't out there. Gateau wasn't either. And if it was sunset already, that meant that dinner was probably long over... Carrot wondered where the others were. Maybe they'd gone down to the main hall to eat... maybe they'd all gone down to the town... Carrot wasn't sure.

"Nii-san!"

Marron's call from along the corridor settled Carrot's thoughts as to where his brother was, at least. He looked up, and saw Marron hurrying along towards him. He looked quite worried.

"Oh, Marron, hi."

Marron slowed to a halt as he approached his brother.

"Niisan, where were you? We were all looking for you, we couldn't find you anywhere..."

He held up a carefully-wrapped parcel, "The others voted to eat without you, so I saved you some of my sandwiches."

"Marron, you didn't need to do that... I'm not hungry, really. I ended up talking with Milphey for the afternoon... uh... well, um... yeah, talking and... playing I Spy and stuff... just whiling away the hours, really..."

The two of them headed towards their bedroom... Marron glanced at the parcel he'd made, "Niisan, please... you have to keep your strength up. Have you even eaten anything at all today?"

"Well, uh... no... it's alright though, I'll be fine."

"Big Mama could send us on a mission tomorrow... and then who would be the first person to complain of their hunger?"

"Okay, okay, I know, I know. I'll have some, then."

Marron happily handed Carrot the package, and the two of them headed into their bedroom. Marron didn't seem to notice that his bed had been disturbed at all, and Carrot didn't mention it; Carrot sat on his bed, and opened up the sandwiches; there were six inside.

"Marron, did you even eat any at all?"

"I had two, niisan..."

"Let's share them, then. You gotta keep your strength up too, ya know. Let's see... three each?"

"Ah, but then I would have had more than you, niisan... here, let's share them like this..."

Marron walked over, and sat on the edge of Carrot's bed. He picked the sandwiches into three pairs. He moved one of them closer to him, "One..."

He placed the second one next to Carrot, and then the third one also.

"Two... three."

Carrot blinked, "Hm? Oh, I see. Very punny."

Marron smiled warmly, "Thank you, niisan. In any case, with what I ate earlier, that means we've got an equal share... are you sure you don't want these two also, niisan?"

"If I could work out a pun to do with us having four each then I would. No, I'm sure, I don't want them. S'fine. Still, if you guys were all looking for me, I'm surprised you didn't... I mean, I was only in one of the other rooms..."

"You'd mentioned going to town though, niisan... we thought you might have got caught up in something there, Tira and Chocolat went to find you... Gateau and I voted to stay here, in case you came back here without us realising... maybe Tira and Chocolat will wish to punish you later, niisan."

"Ack... well, it's not my fault if they couldn't find me! I ended up not going into town after all, though. Couldn't be bothered, so I didn't. Then, uh, I met Milphey, and we just ended up hanging out, ya know how it is..."

The idea of Carrot casually hanging around with Milphey was a strange one to Marron, but he didn't question his brother.

The two of them quietly ate their sandwiches, Carrot silently musing on the things that he and Milphey had talked about. A lot of it had made some kind of sense, scarily so... after all, anybody could tell Marron loved Carrot, even so much as more than his own life... and what if he didn't know the difference between the different kinds of love? Or if he did, but chose to disregard that?

Having finished his sandwiches (and realising that he was actually quite hungry after all), Carrot lay back down on his bed. Marron went back to his own bed, and slipped his shoes off.

"Are you going to sleep now, niisan?"

Carrot nodded, "Yeah, I'll try. No reason to stay awake is there, really?"

Marron didn't respond to that, just silently agreed with him. He got undressed and got himself into his nightclothes as much as Carrot did, and the sunset outside was beginning to fail as they retreated back to their respective beds.

They were silent. Marron supposed that his brother just longed for peace and quiet and the opportunity to sleep... Carrot himself couldn't find it within him to sleep. Issues were bugging him too much for him to want to sleep... was there any way he could express his thoughts to Marron, any way at all? Coming out with something like 'Are you in love with me?' was much too blunt, but was there any way to ask that basic question without it seeming so at all?

Carrot risked glancing over in his brother's direction. Marron lay facing away from Carrot, breathing softly... it seemed weird, really. What Milphey had said had made sense, after all... but looking at Marron like that... was there any reason that he might give up any hope of love just because of Carrot? That couldn't be it, surely... sometimes Marron could act a bit weird about things occasionally, but basically he was a normal sort of person... wasn't he?

There was a line that separated love and incest in Marron's mind, wasn't there?

... He hoped so.

Well, of course!

Thinking that Marron would seriously be after him like that, that was a stupid thought, surely? Nobody really lusted after their family members, did they? Sure, Chocolat and Tira certainly liked him, and they'd been raised like sisters, but they were weird anyway.

Still, Carrot wanted at least some kind if input from Marron... a yes or no answer to his feelings... a confirmation that yes, the things that Milphey had suggested were plausible but false, and things were just happening without a reason. Or something.

Carrot sighed loudly, Marron heard this.

"Niisan, is there something wrong?"

"Marron, uh... uh..."

A silence that seemed to go on for just a little too long... then another sigh, a quieter one.

"... no, there's nothing wrong."

Finally faced with his brother... there didn't seem to be anything Carrot could bring himself to say. It was all very well to speculate on things like that, but... Marron... he wasn't really like that, was he? No, of course not! And to think Carrot had even been thinking such things... he felt so guilty, all of a sudden.

Weird as Marron seemed sometimes... he wouldn't be that weird.

But how weird did it make Carrot to even be considering such things?