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Things had been quite busy in Honyalaland ever since Karurusu and Furanui came back. It was unavoidable, really. With their uncle trying to take over the throne, and then both of them deciding to reign together, of course there would be many things to settle.

Karurusu was thankful that Furanui had taken it upon himself to take care of the vast majority of the paperwork. Karurusu was never good with this type of thing. So he thought it was nice of Furanui to only give him the stuff Furanui really couldn't do without him. It gave him time to focus on the fun stuff he wanted to organise for his kingdom.

However, ever since they came back, Karurusu also noticed they seemed to not see each other as often as he wished. Even though they had decided to reign together, it always seemed that Furanui would find a way to leave the room as soon as Karurusu walked in. At first he thought it was just because Furanui was busy. But after seeing it happen over and over again, he started to worry…

Was Furanui still mad at him? Was he maybe still holding onto a bit of his grudge, even after everything that had happened? Karurusu knew that it maybe wouldn't make much sense, but it was the only explanation he could think of.

Every time he walked into a room Furanui was in, Furanui would look away from him. He would constantly avoid even looking at Karurusu's direction as much as possible. (And, sometimes, Karurusu could see his fox cheeks become redder. He couldn't tell why his face would do that…)

Furanui would only stay around until he had finished whatever business he had in that room. But as soon as his task or conversation ended, he would walk away. Not even giving Karurusu enough time to say a single word to him.

It made Karurusu feel sad. It wasn't a feeling he was very familiar with. But he had started to understand it ever since they had to save their father. And he could tell it was an unpleasant feeling. He didn't like feeling sad.

He didn't like being ignored by his own brother who he adored so much. Specially since he had looked forward to being close to him once again.

So he had made a decision. If Furanui was angry at him, it was probably because he still thought Karurusu was irresponsible, right? So maybe if he decided to take on some of Furanui's work to make it easier on him, he would be at least a bit pleased, right?

So that was what he had planned. The next time one of the servants brought over some stacks of paperwork, he sneakily took half a pile and brought it to his own office.

For the first few things, it was fairly easy. He'd look over everything carefully, considering what Furanui would think whenever he read each word in the paper.

However, by the time he had gone through only one fifth of the stack, it was starting to get tiring. The phrases seemed to be making less and less sense the more he read all those overly formal texts. And he had started to space out much more frequently.

He whined and scratched the back of his neck in frustration. Furanui was able to deal with this for many, many hours. But he couldn't handle it properly for even one hour?

He crossed his arms on top of the desk and leaned his head on them. Maybe Furanui was right to be mad at him?

There was a knock on the door. Then, came Furanui's voice. "I'm coming in."

Karurusu didn't have time to reply before Furanui entered the room. Seeing the stacks of paperwork on his desk, Furanui raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"I…" Karurusu started, then sighed. If he wasn't able to finish things by himself, there wasn't any point in trying to make it a surprise anymore. "I was trying to finish some paperwork by myself… But it's not working out too well…"

"You're doing that without me?"

"D-don't worry! I'm mostly trying to do the simpler stuff. I've been putting anything I think we should discuss together in another pile for later."

"Then why are you frowning like that?" Furanui got closer, standing right in front of Karurusu's desk now.

Karurusu whined. "This is too complicated! I've been at this for half an hour and things are already starting to make less and less sense to me!" Small tears began to form in his eyes, but not quite rolling down yet. "I wanted to help you out! I wanted to prove I can be responsible! But…"

Before he could continue talking, he was interrupted by Furanui suddenly changing into his human form and picking him up. Karurusu had expected to be scolded, but… Instead, Furanui had hugged him. And since he was in his human form, that made it so Karurusu felt very warm in his arms.

"Please don't cry, okay?"

Karurusu wiped the tears away from his eyes and nodded.

Furanui smiled at him. "You don't have to prove anything to me. You don't have to push yourself. I'm not upset with you."

"You aren't?"

Furanui shook his head.

Karurusu smiled widely. He switched to his human form as well. Being warm in Furanui's arms felt nice, but being able to hug him back felt even better.

Karurusu laughed in joy. And Furanui couldn't help but chuckle in response. "I don't mind it if you still wanna help out more. But you don't need to take on more than you can handle. I can help you if you want."

"You're amazing, brother!" Karurusu tightened his grip on him. "I love you!"

Furanui started coughing. Karurusu pulled back in order to look at him better, seeing Furanui's face was entirely red.

"Are you okay!?" Karurusu asked.

"I-I'm fine." Furanui whispered. He then  looked at the floor, brows furrowed with a hand on his head.

Karurusu knew that expression very well. It was what always did when he was thinking very hard about something. "What are you thinking about?"

Furanui opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again.

Karurusu realized he wasn't gonna speak anytime soon. So, he wanted to help his brother relax.

He smiled, and then gave Furanui a soft kiss on the cheek. He could feel Furanui freeze and tense up under his touch.

"W-what are you doing!?" Furanui asked, face even more red than before.

"I'm kissing your cheek, silly."

Furanui had his mouth open, but his voice didn't come through. As if attempting to talk but not knowing what to say.

Karurusu raised an eyebrow. Why was he acting so weird all of a sudden? All he did was say he loved him…

And that was when it hit him. Was that the reason why he was acting so weird? Such feelings weren't considered taboo in Honyalaland, but perhaps he was just embarrassed?

Karurusu smiled, and then grabbed both of Furanui's hands. "I love you. I really do." He intertwined their fingers. "I want to be by your side always. I want to help you if you need. I want to see you happy."

"So it's in that way…" He heard Furanui whisper. He then struggled to get his own words out. "I… I love you too."

"So you're not angry at me anymore?"

"Huh?"

"You've been acting weird and avoiding me ever since we came back!" Karurusu explained. "I thought you were angry at me…"

"That's not it at all!" Furanui paused to think, his blush deepening as he did so. He sighed before continuing. "I wasn't angry at you. I just… I was avoiding you because of… These feelings…"

Karurusu took a moment to understand what he meant. But when he did, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't laugh at me!"

"Sorry! I just thought it was cute!" Karurusu threw himself into his arms.

Furanui remained still for a moment. Then, he smiled and hugged him back. Having his ear on his chest, Karurusu could hear his heartbeat. It made him feel warm inside.

He was happy. And he was more than looking forward to his future with his brother.