DISCE, OHSHC.

⁺ ♡ to be completely empty

Honey was carrying a large tray of food with impressive grace, tilting his head so he could see you from around the food. Mori was right behind him, a pitcher of water in one hand and a glass in the other.

"Are you okay?" Honey asked again, his eyes wide. "Your housekeeper let us bring up dinner for you. We hope you don't mind."

Bless Ms. Shimada. You reached to take the tray from Honey, a few of the dishes still steaming. You set it on the coffee table, gesturing for Mori to put down the water.

"Thanks Honey. Mori. You didn't have to."

"You didn't answer my question," Honey said, plopping down next to you. Usa-chan made an appearance, and Honey rested his chin on top of the plush, looking at you expectantly.

You smiled slightly. "Are either of you hungry? Ms. Shimada always gives me too much food. You could feed half the party with this platter."

Mori sat in the armchair opposite you, crossing his long legs. "We didn't mean to upset you," he said.

"We shouldn't have barged in like that." Honey hung his head. "We're really sorry. Please don't be mad."

"It's fine. It wasn't your fault. I just came up here for some air."

Neither of the boys said anything else, so you took one of the bowls from the tray and slowly began eating.

Your friendship with Honey and Mori had begun when you were in junior high. You had just started getting into sports then, and before volleyball, you'd briefly considered martial arts. Your parents had taken you to one of the Haninozuka dojos, and left you to watch some of the sparring while they signed you up.

You remembered honing in on Honey immediately, even smaller than he was now, facing off with a boy twice his size. You'd expected him to get clobbered, already ready to feel sorry for him. He'd surprised you by matching the larger boy stride for stride, the two of them evenly matched. It was only later that you would learn the other boy was his cousin, Morinozuka Takashi, and that both he and Honey were martial arts masters in their own right.

Your martial arts career was short-lived, and you moved onto volleyball. But you managed to make the acquaintance of Honey and Mori and started tagging along with them after that. Maybe you weren't the closest of friends, but you occupied a nice medium between Honey's bubbliness and Mori's stoicism. The two of them provided surprisingly good advice when the situation called for it.

"What happened to your room?" Honey asked tentatively. "Was it something bad?"

You couldn't lie to Honey. Somehow, he was always able to tell.

"I threw everything out," you admitted. "I couldn't stand looking at it. I never bothered to redecorate." You only had what you did because Ms. Shimada had replaced it for you. If you'd had your way, you would be sleeping on the floor.

Honey squeezed Usa-chan. "Why would you do that?"

You swallowed your bite, wondering how to explain. "You know about that trip I took to Malta? It ... didn't turn out too great. It kind of turned terrible, actually."

"You got your heart broken," Mori said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. I guess I did."

Little by little, you told Honey and Mori everything. How you'd met him, how you'd hit it off, how you'd started catching feelings. He had been easy to talk to. Had a great sense of humour and an adorable sensitive side. Both of his parents were high-ranking executives. They often came to Malta on vacation. He wanted to do government and personal relations work. He was always working on his public speaking.