Artemis awoke to the tight hug of bedsheets and blankets. Blearily, he blinked, raising his head from the pillow underneath and scanning around in search of his friend. Sitting up and ruffling his wings, he took note of the closed blinds. What time is it?

Rising from his slumber, he slouched his way along the covers towards the bedside table, eyeing the folded note on its surface. Wrapping it in a coat of magic, he levitated it over towards himself and unfolded it.

Hey Arty, you passed out on my shoulder, so I thought I’d do you a solid and bring you up to your room. Hope you rest well, and hey, I’m off at 4:00 PM tomorrow in case you want to hang out or something. I know you probably won’t have much time, what with being a prince and all, but I figured I’d put it out there. Anywho, it was a fun weekend, even though we lost the bet. Love you bro :)

P.S, we can hit the town for some discount cake next week, yeah? Heard Joe’s trying to branch out, what with Sol loving that carrot cake from the Cake Factory.

Artemis smiled softly, folding the note back up as a small shadowing of red cast itself over his cheeks. So casual, his friend was, but Artemis considered it one of Tony’s most endearing traits. While he spared the due courtesy one typically afforded royalty when in public (excluding a select few recent circumstances), when they were back in the safety of privacy, his mask came off and he was the fun, loving ‘bro’ he so adored.

Shaking his head, he flipped himself off the bed, landing with a quiet flutter of his wings. Brushing his mane out of his face with a hoof, he stretched and trotted over to the bathroom, pushing the door open to meet a squeaky-clean mirror and his less than adequate reflection.

His mane was a mess, each scraggly strand haphazardly twinned in the next, almost inextricably so. A red tinge covered his eyes, and his coat and wings were messy as they were blue. His visage was straight out of a mugshot sans the prisoner’s attire and a placard with his information. Stretching his cheeks out into a facsimile of a smile only made it worse.

It brought forth a real grin, and outforth erupted a series of giggles. What am I doing?

He was almost tempted to start making silly faces to himself, but duty called. Or did it? He still didn’t know what time it was. Quickly levitated a brush to himself, he began the arduous process of untangling his mane and tidying it up the way he liked it. It only took a few moments, so practiced was he, and once he was done, he moved onto the rest of his body.

Several minutes and a speed shower later, Artemis was trotting back out into his bedroom. Shifting the drapes to the side, he let the early morning light illuminate his room.

Morning.

Grunting, he shut the blinds once more. Whatever remnants of fatigue left within him were thoroughly quashed at the sight, along with any hopes he had harbored of having a regular sleep schedule to start the week.

On weekdays, he would be up at dusk to raise the moon, as his responsibilities as the moon prince demanded, and he would only return to his room in the late of the morning, to sleep and repeat the cycle once more. Only on the weekends did he flip his schedule to spend time with both Solaris and Tony (and other friends he promised his brother he was making) as possible.

Rinse and repeat. Only, that was now disrupted; he was supposed to sleep until late afternoon. He sighed. Oh well.

Turning around, he made his bed and donned his crown and torc with a flare of his horn. He glanced around to make sure everything was tidy before trotting out of the door, enroute to the kitchen to hopefully catch his brother for breakfast.

“So, Tony, huh?”

Artemis continued slicing the piece of toast on his plate, as though oblivious to the question asked. Internally however, he was a mess—or rather, in a whole load of shit, as perhaps Tony would have dubbed it. Tony, he thought. Yes, Tony, the one responsible for throwing his emotions into a tizzy, and the worst thing was, it wasn’t even his fault. All Tony had done was be an amazing friend to him, and apparently enough, that was grounds for Artemis to develop the strangest feelings towards him. He wasn’t in the slightest place to be piecing them together.

“Whatever do you mean, brother?”

The response he got from Sol was what he perceived as a knowing chuckle, through an ample bite of food and teeth. “You like him, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do.” Artemis gently scooped another bite of his egg omelette into his maw, lazily chewing it down. “He’s a good friend of mine—dare I say, my best friend. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“How did you mean it then?” Finishing his food, he pushed his plate forward to the middle of the table, and fixing his gaze on his brother, who was sipping down the last bits of a cup of tea. Once done, Sol let it find its place softly on the table, locking eyes with him.

“I believe you desire relations within him.”

If Artemis had had any food in his mouth, it would’ve been on the table. He stared at his brother with the utmost incredulousness in his eyes. “How could you possibly have come to that conclusion?”

Sol laughed. “The incident with the cake last night, the way I catch you looking at him when he’s not looking, and even—” he paused, his eyes lighting up with mirth as he folded his hooves on the table “—you falling asleep on his shoulder! C’mon brother, do not joke with yourself. You are head over hooves for him.”

“T-that is preposterous! These events do not in any way correlate with wanting relations with him! And I made it clear that that ‘incident’ was an accident!”

“Mhmm, whatever you say. It’s not as though that ‘incident’, as you mentioned, is the only evidence in this case. I hear you two professing your love for one another all the time; do not think me deaf, brother.”

“It’s not like that!—”

Sol interrupted him. “Then what is it like, brother? Please, explain to me where the disconnect is.”

“It is a platonic gesture. Tony was the one who eased me into it…”

Artemis slowly edged forward on the coach, as to lay directly over the pillow as he let his head lower down onto it, his human companion falling into a chair directly across from him. Taking a moment to get settled, he asked a question that had been tumbling around in his head for quite some time.

“Dearest friend, why art thou so whole-hearted in thine affections toward us? It is most strange.”

He heard a little chuckle, and a small clearing of the throat. “It’s the love one friend has for another; nothing wrong with that, is there? Also, because you asked me to remind you—” and Artemis could practically hear the wink within that statement “—, it’s ‘why are you so whole-hearted in your affections towards me?’ to which my response is: why not?”

Gulping and repositioning his wings into a more comfortable position, Artemis replied. “Of course, there is nothing wrong with it, but it is most different from what we—I am used to. Such exclamations were only used when professing one’s love for a mare; when professing one’s love for a mate.”

More chuckling. “Yeah, I understand. It’s a bit like that where I come from as well. Earth, I mean. Home.” And then there was a pause and shuffling, causing Artemis to pop an eye open. He spied the human standing up, with a whilom smile creasing his face, before he plodded over towards him. “Do you mind if I lay here with you?”

Artemis continued to stare at him in slight confusion before he slid over slightly, gesturing towards the sliver of space between himself and the edge. “I am not opposed to it, but there is little room.”

Tony gently lay himself down next to him, surprisingly not crushing him against the backboard, but leaving them snuggly pressed against each other. It made Artemis feel strange, but not in a bad way.

There they lay, for a moment, and then two, and then three, until enough moments had passed that Artemis didn’t bother to continue counting them. The only sound was the twinned push of their breathing. It was soothing to him, but it didn’t sate his questions, so after a moment more, he broke the silence.

“...Would you mind continuing?” he tentatively pressed.

“Hum…? Oh, yeah! Home.” Tony lifted an arm, letting it rest gently on the backboard, and Artemis could feel the minuscule sliver of cotton lining on his sleeve brushing up against his mane. “Well, like I was saying, most people back on Earth are the same; they only say, ‘I love you’, to certain people, like their husbands or wives, or only during special occasions, like family reunions and gatherings.”

“Are those not the appropriate people and times to give life to such feelings?”

“Of course! But, what I’m getting at, is that most people don’t say it enough, nor do they say it to those who might need it the most. You see, your husband or wife; they know, hopefully, that you love them, and while that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t say that you love them, they might not need it as much as a friend, or even that uncle you haven’t seen in a blue moon.”

“...What is a blue moon?”

He felt Tony chuckle next to him. “That’s what you focus on? It means a long time.”

Artemis nodded slowly. “I suppose I see what you are saying. The type of love is much different, however.”

“Of course there is! Love doesn’t always have to be romance.”

With that, Tony fell silent. Artemis almost felt as though he had been lectured on the subject, like a foal, but somehow, it didn’t bother him in the slightest. “So, your proposed ideology is…?”

“Saying, ‘I love you’, to the people that you love.” Tony finished. He heard shifting and he felt the man’s gaze on him. “I love you, bro.”

The strangest feeling overtook him, and he gulped before responding. “I love you too, Tony.”

Tony’s arm came to rest around his neck, and Artemis shakily closed his eyes as the moment passed on to the next.

This one, however, harbored the next question on his mind. “How did you come to this?”

A sigh. “I had a brother.”

“Had?”

“Had.”

Artemis gulped. “I am sorry.” And he left it at that, for what more was there to be said?

“It was a long time ago, you don’t need to apologize,” Tony assured him, rubbing his shoulder with a hand. The man paused for a few moments, wherein Artemis could’ve sworn he heard a sniffle, before continuing. “He told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with being open and forthcoming in one’s love; in fact, he deemed it absolutely necessary, because one day, the person or persons you are voicing them to will be gone, whether, family, friends, or a lover, and you never want to live in regret that you didn’t say it enough.”

He heard his brother hum once more, before continuing.

“If that were true, why are you so frantically against the idea?”

“Because it is not true,” Artemis retorted, before pausing. “Besides, how could it be?” He finished, his tone low.

Now it was his brother’s turn to ask; “What do you mean?”

“Stallions do not love each other that way.”

Silence, and then Solaris began to laugh. It was gentle, yet loud at the same time. While not terribly edifying, it did leave him with the hope that context would be provided.

Solaris folded his hooves on the table, staring him straight in the eye, mirth still dancing in his eyes. “Artemis, times have changed. Such things are simply not true anymore.”

“You mean…?” He started softly.

“You can love whomever you want, brother.” Solaris finished for him.

Curiously, his brain was quick to digest this information. He was all questions as they excused themselves from the table, both on their way to start the day.

If this is true... Nay, I shan't get ahead of myself.

Author's Note

Because Enonnnyous said please. If you see a mistake, let me know.