a/n: Fuk u loveless au right fukin now.

Mikado gasped into the nook of his elbow, looking above him at the tiled ceiling of the third floor restroom. It was hardly ever used so, Mikado wasn't surprised to see the mold growing there. Ugh why had they come somewhere so grimy—

"Mi-ka-dooo if you don't pay attention to me I'll stop~" Masaomi squeezed him through the fabric of Mikado's pants, grinning against his ear.

Mikado hiccupped in response, his tail twitching around Masaomi's leg and tightening its grip. Masaomi laughed quietly, briefly stopping to trace the black tail that was so tightly coiled around his thigh. Mikado shuddered at the touch, his tail tugging at the leg, trying to pull Masaomi closer. Masaomi chuckled again and moved a little closer, teasingly blowing on the matching black ear attached to the top of Mikado's head. He shuddered and then glared sullenly, nose and mouth still buried in his arm.

"Don't do that!" He hissed, bristling. He glanced again at the mold on the ceiling, "I'm not sure we should be here, Masaomi, it's covered in mold. I don't think anyone's been up here in years—"

Masaomi sighed dramatically, "Mikado that's the point! I guess we can stop here if you're worried—" Mikado's eyes widened, "—and we could just go back to class since there's nowhere else for us to continue our sexy alone time…" He trailed off, smirking at the frustrated look on Mikado's face.

"Hmm? No? Do you not want to stop, Mikado?" He brushed his fingers along the front of Mikado's pants, grinning.

Mikado's face warmed and Masaomi could see the red creeping up under his eyes, though Mikado tried to hide it as best he could under his arm. He mumbled 'shut up' quietly, his ears sliding down parallel to his head. Masaomi just hummed in response, gently grasping Mikado through his pants again.

"That's what I thought~" He tucked his other hand under Mikado's chin, turning his face back to him, though Mikado still stubbornly refused to meet his eyes. "Now why don't you move that arm so I can kiss you already, hm?"

Mikado's ears perked up again, glancing up Masaomi. He was wearing that stupid goofy smile that made his heart flutter. He lowered his arm.

"Okay but if I get asbestos—"

Masaomi didn't give him a chance to finish before slamming his mouth onto his. Kissing Masaomi was always like a whirlwind that Mikado couldn't possibly hope to catch up with. He could only cling to the other boy's shirt, all thoughts of mold and dirty bathrooms fleeing as his senses smothered his mind with the taste of Masaomi's tongue and the feel of his hand through his pants. The other boy wasn't giving Mikado any room to breathe and he desperately tried to suck in air when he could, his hands burning from how hard the clutched to the fabric of Masaomi's shirt.

He could feel the edge of his climax building, his breath stuttering into Masaomi's mouth. One of his hands released from the shirt, gliding down to the front of Masaomi's pants and he thought, for just a moment—

For a moment Mikado could feel the heat of Masaomi's cock in his hand, he was so hard—

Pain shot up from Mikado's lip and he yelped, his hand fleeing back to clutch his own tail in front of his chest, having uncoiled itself from Masaomi's leg. The other boy ran from the stall, the door slamming and ricocheting off the other side. Stunned, Mikado's remaining hand that had been clutching Masaomi's shirt dropped through the empty air to his side. After a moment he could taste the blood seeping into his mouth. He let go of his tail, it drifting behind him, as he reached up to check the damage to his lip. It wasn't too bad he thought, so long as he kept some pressure on it should stop soon.

Quietly he stepped out of the stall, looking over at the sinks. There, Masaomi was shivering over a sink, his hands gripping the counter. Guilt wracked through Mikado as he looked on at the back of the other boy; he'd really messed up. He felt his tail twitching behind him with nervous energy, his ears flat against his head. His hand tighten as he stared at the spot where Masaomi's own tail should have been. Even now he can still almost see it, thin and brown, swaying. But it was gone, just like his ears.

He wished he could say he had never seen Masaomi like this. Like he was on the verge of throwing up, like the world had suddenly bottomed out from under him. But he still remembers Masaomi's showing up at his apartment in the middle of the night. He remembered answering the door, expecting to yell at his friend for the hour, but instead his mouth had gone slack at the sight.

"Masaomi… your ears…?"

His friend laughed, but there had been no depth to it and it sung bitterly in Mikado's ears.

"Looks like I'm all grown up, Mikado!"

And even though he had been smiling his eyes looked so terrified. And Mikado knew. He knew in an instant who had done this, why Masaomi's eyes looked so frightened—like he was only a moment away from bolting. He was so angry and for a second, he was sure he was going to find Izaya and fucking ruin him, he would wrap his hands around that scum's throat and choke the worthless life out of him, light him on fucking fire—

"Mikado?"

The blood rushing through his ears had calmed and he had ushered his friend inside of his apartment. As it was now, he couldn't do anything about Izaya. But he could help his friend.

He set up his computer and they sat down together and watched stupid videos for hours into the night. At some point Masaomi had slipped his hand into his and squeezed and they leaned on each other. It wasn't much but he could feel Masaomi relax just the tiniest bit. It's all the comfort Mikado could manage to give him, and he hated himself for it.

They finally crawled into his futon just before the sun would rise, hoping to catch an hour or two before they had to get ready for school. Mikado never asked what happened, never would unless Masaomi wanted to tell him. He had clung so tightly to Mikado, right up until the alarm went off a mere few hours later. Mikado wanted Masaomi to stay home of course, but Kida insisted he had to go, he couldn't skip anymore—

The moment they had walked into school he regretted not forcing Masaomi to stay home. Everyone had been whispering and giving the other boy odd looks did he really lose his ears? The blood started to rush in Mikado's ears again, but he took a deep breath before leaning close to Masaomi as they walked down the hall, and whispered.

"Follow my lead."

Masaomi had looked so pale, like he was about to barf, and it twisted Mikado's stomach to see it. But he nodded reassuringly to his friend as Masaomi looked at him in confusion. With another deep breath Mikado leaned away and started speaking loud enough to smother all the whispers.

"Jeeze Masaomi, stop telling me about it already! I don't care how big her breasts were, NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR ESCAPADES."

The hallway went silent and Mikado felt his face burning. But after a minute the whole hallway erupted into laughter, including Masaomi. The other boy quickly wrapped an arm around Mikado's neck, tugging him down to noogie him affectionately.

"What are you talking about, Mikado! Of course everyone wants to know! Especially my most bestest friend," he released Mikado to start gesturing at his chest, "I don't think you understand, my dear friend! Her breasts were so voluptuous and amazing they surely must have been lovingly hand-crafted by the gods themselves!"

The laughing had died down and everyone went about their own business again. Masaomi smiled and quietly thanked him before slipping into his classroom. After that the whispers and rumors died out within hours. Losing your ears in high school wasn't really that big of a deal, but as freshman Masaomi had stood out. After the outburst in the hallway, people seemed to accept that somehow goof-ball, enthusiastic flirter Masaomi had somehow convinced someone to sleep with him at last, and that was that. Masaomi was quick to fall back in to routine and Mikado was so relieved.

At some point over the next few months they started to fool around like now. Sneaking away to swap saliva and maybe a little groping, but it was always very one-sided. Masaomi was very insistent that Mikado didn't touch anywhere below the belt. Of course he always respected that, of course, but it was always so frustrating. It felt like he was getting so much more out of this Masaomi… he just wanted—

Looking at Masaomi now, sill hunched over the sink, Mikado had never felt so guilty. There was still a subtle taste of blood lingering in his mouth, though his lip was already starting to clot up. He bit his lip a little, relishing in the sting; he deserved every bit of hurt he got for breaking the trust between them.

"Masaomi?"

The other boy wiped at his mouth before straightening up to look into the dusty mirror. From his position near the stall Mikado could see Masaomi's reflection, he still looked shaken up.

"Masaomi, I'm so sorry—"

"Don't. It's fine."

Mikado's tail lowered sadly between his legs. Masaomi traced in the dust; two little triangles hovering over his reflection. He sighed and turned around.

"I use to have the cutest ears."

He walked up to Mikado and gently took his hand in his.

"Second only to my adorable little Mikado's."

He smiled softly while Mikado stared hard at the ground. He didn't deserve Masaomi's kindness, but his friend was always too forgiving of him. He took a moment to glance up to other boy's face.

"I think you still look very handsome without them." Which was true, out of context Masaomi's lack of ears made him seem a lot more mature looking. Even in the last few months the baby fat around his face was thinning out and, to be honest, he looked more and more handsome by the day. But knowing that they had been taken from him too soon…

Masaomi smiled lightly at the comment, "Thanks." He reached up to touch Mikado's bleeding lip and frowned when he pulled them back to see blood.

"I'm sorry I bite you."

"N-No I'm the one who—"

Masaomi pulled Mikado into a tight hug that he hurriedly returned. Masaomi was shivering again and Mikado pulled him closer.

"I'm sorry I'm so fucked up, Mikado."

He tightened his grip like he was afraid the other boy would suddenly disappear.

"Don't say that…"

"I just need a little more time okay, Mikado? I promise I'll—"

Mikado hushed him and pet the back of his head.

"There's no rush and I'm so sorry I tried to—You—t-take as long as you need okay? I'll always be here."

He fumbled around his words a little but he felt Masaomi relax against him, chuckling. He leaned back enough so he could rest his forehead against Mikado's.

"I love you, Mikado."

He said it so effortlessly, without a hint of embarrassment. Mikado's face felt hot again as he stared into his happy smiling face. No one should be able to say something so embarrassing so easily!

"I uh… I—"

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang and Masaomi laughed loudly.

"You don't have to say it back yet."

Mikado flushed in shame, it's not like—well… it was just so embarrassing. Masaomi laughed a little more at his expense before letting go of the other boy. He turned towards the door.

"We should go back to class, Mikado. We'll continue this discussion after school, Hm?" He winked at the other boy, "Your house?"

He laughed hardily at the sour look on the other boy's red face.

"See you later, sweet cheeks!" With that he left the bathroom.

Mikado sighed and tried straightening out his uniform and calming down before he too left the restroom to head toward his own class.

He'd really messed up back there but it seemed that Masaomi was going to be okay for now.

Mikado would make it up to him.

He would make up for everything.