Since he was very little, Shunta has noticed that he’s particularly attracted to Tamaki, but what he thinks is just the feeling of sharing a special friendship soon turns into something completely different. As he grows older, Shunta realizes that strange things happen to his body whenever he’s near Tamaki, like that time he refused sharing a bath with him because his “thing” got bigger. Eight-year-old Shunta is too young to understand that means he’s in love—well, kind of… but we love how romantic it sounds to associate an erection with love—so he stays friends with Tamaki while having unrequited feelings for him.

Soon after entering middle school, Shunta has had enough: he can’t be near Tamaki without wanting to hold him. Every day is like torture for him and his poor heart, but he stays by Tamaki’s side. When Tamaki starts dating a girl, Shunta decides to stay away from him, finally having enough. There’s a limit as to how much a heart can take before breaking into pieces. Tamaki sees that Shunta is keeping his distance, but he doesn’t try to get closer to his old childhood friend. Sometimes men are really dumb!

Although Shunta decides to leave Tamaki alone, once he breaks up with her girlfriend, there’s hope for him again. And after Tamaki tells him that the reason they broke up is that he’s not good with girls, Shunta takes the chance to ask him if Tamaki has ever considered dating a guy. Of course, Tamaki doesn’t understand where that question is coming from, but he still gives Shunta an answer: no.

Far from being disheartened, Shunta confesses his love and asks his friend out, knowing that the answer won’t be the one he has in mind. When Tamaki rejects him, Shunta doesn’t give up and suggests they should make a bet. If Shunta wins the relay race at school, Tamaki will agree to date him for a while. And what a surprise! Shunta wins by a huge gap and officially starts going out with his childhood friend.

He still can’t believe he’ll get to hold Tamaki’s hand as his lover for the next year, and he’s hoping to make his friend fall in love with him by the time the bet is over. What Shunta doesn’t know yet is that getting to be a little bit intimate with Tamaki will be hard, especially since his new boyfriend has some traumas that won’t be easy for him to overcome.

Tamaki seems to be calm and collected from the outside, but the truth is he’s been hiding some shady details about life with his mother. Since he was young, Tamaki has seen a neverending parade of men come and go, having sex with his mother right in front of his eyes. All of his mother’s relationships ended in failure and Tamaki finds what all those relationships had in common: sex. Naturally, he starts seeing sex and intimacy as something negative, building a wall around his own feelings and trying to avoid those things at all costs.

Of course, Shunta doesn’t know about all this and keeps pushing Tamaki for kisses and hugs. Forcing your loved one like that is not cool! At first, Tamaki reluctantly lets Shunta kiss him, but when things get a little bit more steamy, he steps away. After some time avoiding physical contact, Tamaki decides to rely on Shunta and ends up telling him about his traumas. Shunta promises to help him, starting with getting his boyfriend out of that awful environment. However, Shunta soon forgets about this and makes a move on Tamaki again, going as far as giving him a handjob. How will Tamaki react?!