"We shouldn't... We are minors," Reinhard tried to object, quite faintly though, which was very unlike him.

"Tomorrow is the day we graduate," Kircheis stated the obvious. "And from the military school," he emphasized. "It's almost like we were becoming the adults," he concluded with a merry smile.

"I didn't expect you, of all people, to say something like that, Kircheis," Reinhard frowned in a fake reproval.

"It's just that I know how much you wanted to taste the dark ale," Kircheis replied with that serene smile of him. "Don't you think we might as well size an opportunity...? Reinhard-sama?" he kept persuading.

"Well, I think..." there was some hesitation to Reinhard's voice, albeit weak, "that we might have some. Besides, you're right," he added more authoritatively. "If we're old enough to participate in the war, then we should be permitted to drink alcohol, too," he decided. "After all - though, of course, it's not going to happen, I'm just speaking hypothetically - we may die in our first battle," he was as quick at reasoning as his friend.

"You're dramatising, Reinhard-sama," Kircheis responded; only he was allowed such a tone when speaking with Reinhard. "Still, I'm of the same opinion that it would be quite shameful to die never having tasted the beer."

"Then..." Reinhard opened a bottle and raised it. "Prosit!"

"Prosit!" With a courage of someone who was determined to finally become a man, Kircheis swallowed down the beverage.

(the same evening, later)

"You have such beautiful eyes, Reinhard-sama."

"Kircheis, you're drunk...!"

"But you really have beautiful eyes..."

"Of course I have. I am my sister's brother, after all!"

"..."

"..."

"You're drunk as well, Reinhard-sama."

"I'm not... I just... Kircheis, why are you looking at me like that? Not so close! Or I'll squint... and won't appear that good any more."

"You are beautiful even squint-eyed. And that hair of yours... Do you know I've always wanted to comb it, just once...? Ah, it's as soft as I've always imagined. And your skin..."

"Kircheis, tell the truth: you'd rather have my sister here, wouldn't you?"

"I..."

"Come on, admit it, Kircheis."

"Yes. No. I can't say it."

"You've already had. Now, which one is it?"

"I... I can't. But, Reinhard-sama, are you, by any chance, sulking?"

"No I'm not."

"You are, Reinhard-sama. No-one can sulk like you. And you're very impressive at that."

"I'm not sulking."

"And spectacular."

"It's not true. I'm not sulking! I'm not sulking!"

"Are you jealous?"

"What?"

"Are you jealous of Annerose-sama?"

"Why ever should I be jealous of my sister, Kircheis? Now, tell me which one of us do you prefer! Tell me!"

"I can't say it."

"Then don't. It's all the same to me. You're mine, Kircheis. Only mine."

"Reinhard...sama."

"Kircheis, no... We can't..."

"We can't what? Besides... it's you who's embracing me, Reinhard-sama."

"Stop it..."

"I'm afraid I can't, Reinhard-sama, unless you let go of me."

"You'd really rather have my sister here, don't you? Damn it, why do we speak about my sister all the time, Kircheis?"

"You are speaking, Reinhard-sama."

"..."

"Reinhard-sama?"

"..."

"All right, I wouldn't. I really wouldn't. Don't be sulky with me."

"Well, I'll believe you. It's quite hard to not believe someone who's hugging you like you do. And I'm not sulky. Not with you."

"It's very kind of you."

"And I definitely don't have any sister-complex."

"It would never cross my mind..."

"You're laughing at me, Kircheis. Go away!"

"It's impossible since you still won't release me.

"..."

"..."

"Achoo!"

"You caught cold, Reinhard-sama?"

"Your hair is tickling my nose. Move a bit... No, don't unbutton my shirt now…!"

"It was unbuttoned already. Ah, God, you have so fair skin. And those clavicles..."

"Siegfried..."

"What did you say?"

"Kircheis."

"You called me by my given name."

"I certainly didn't."

"You called me Siegfried."

"No. Yes, so what? I did. If you're angry, you can call me by my given name, too."

"Reinhard."

"Mmm... Say it again."

"Reinhard... sama."

"No, not like that."

"Reinhard...?"

"Mmm..."

"I'm afraid I can no longer stop myself."

"What...?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Kircheis, have you just kissed me?"

"I should apologize... but I don't regret it. I'll do it again. And again. Ah, my dear Reinhard-sama, I wouldn't trade you even for thousand Annerose-sama.

"... Be sure I'll remember that, Kircheisss..."

(morning)

"I'm never going to drink that stuff again," Reinhard decided adamantly, although the impression of his statement was somewhat lessened by a moan that followed. "No, I'm never going to drink again," he specified. "Well, at least not before I'm eighteen," he added in a compromise. "You will watch me, won't you, Kircheis?"

"Yes, Reinhard-sama," Sieg replied, thinking distractedly that Reinhard looked striking even with a hangover.

"My head is splitting... and I'm aching all over," Reinhard complained theatrically, suppressing another moan. Yet, Sieg suspected, it was more a play than anything else: Reinhard knew perfectly well when moaning had the best effect... On the general moon, of course, not on Sieg himself.

"What were we doing, Kircheis?" he asked, fixating his gaze on him. "I don't remember a thing," he said with a fake helplessness and covered his face with his arm. "And why is it that you're standing while I can barely move my body? No, no more beer," he repeated with a disgust. The reason behind that aversion was all well clear for Sieg: for a person who was a master of himself before anyone else, such unawareness of what had happened to him, must have been a proof of his own weakness, and an experience not easily to be repeated.

Sieg smiled gently. He didn't remember much of the last night himself - fleeting images, detached statements... and the feeling of fulfilment - so he could only imagine. What he could recollect perfectly clearly, however, was Reinhard's words whispered just before they'd fallen asleep, words devoid of any affectation or command, only deep and painfully straight request, "Never leave me, Kircheis," and his own answer, "I won't, Reinhard-sama."

Regarding his friend, currently stretched on his sickbed, friend who let him be by his side for better and for worse, Sieg once again was amazed by the fact he'd been given much more he'd ever asked. So, even if Reinhard-sama intended to never drink again, and the last night were to stay one of a kind, it was still perfectly all right.

Having that closeness they shared every single day, he didn't really need anything else.

Or anyone.