How odd was it for the emperor of the most advanced technological species to have his thoughts plagued by his best friend? Instead of focusing on managing his planet’s finances, he was interupted by the image of Gill’s eyes, his broad shoulders & that slim jawline. Needless to say he’d been avoiding the man for 3 months, spending only the required amount of time with him as his second in command, while trying to figure out why he was feeling this way.
Eventually he came to the realization of the cause of his newfound fascination with Gill being nothing other than a newly-formed crush on the sly bastard.
‘Despite isolating myself from him as much as possible for 3 whole months, my… desires... towards him haven’t weakened nearly as much as I’d prefer.’
Although his desires had decreased in intensity as of late, they were still ever present. In one of his bouts of curiosity as prince he had attempted to research the phenomena called love & found a theory by a gundalian neuroscientist claiming love is experienced as a building & descending series of waves. The scientist was trying to argue that love doesn't fade away over time, but that it slowly ascends to a certain point where it is unconsciously built up within the psyche then reaches the peak of infautation once the conscience fully acknowledges these feeling & afterwords it descends into the subconscience after focus starts to waver until the next wave arrives to begin the ascend again. According to this theory Barodius' conscience should be almost completely aware of his feelings.
Being as well-read as he is, it didn’t take him more than a few weeks of research & self-reflection to conclude what these feelings actually are. He was no child after all. He’d successfully courted several women in his teenage years mostly to spite his traditionalist father, who had remained steadfast in the belief of reserving oneself for the “right one” & even tried to pick a girl for him on more than one occassion. Just thinking about this made his blood boil.
In order to prevent himself from damaging his own chambers in a fit of blind rage, he diverted his attention to his conquest for Nethia's sacred orb. Soon. Very soon he'd make Dharak the most powerful Bakugan the cosmos has ever seen. After calming himself down for a minute or two with the thought of his inevitable succes, his overbaring anger was eventually reduced to a much smaller flame ever still threatening to consume anyone standing in his path. He sighed while recalling the events of the past 3 months again.
During the remainder of these last few months Barodius had tried to reason that he couldn’t love a man. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d been interested in any man overall making his feelings for Gill even more shocking to him. That is until he saw some naked pictures of good looking men on an erotic photography site.
Even then the revelation hadn’t been any easier to accept. As the only heir to a long line of aristocracy he was obligated to produce children. In spite of his budding adolescence, talk of wedlock persisted among the other noble houses.
The real question was could he even be in a romantic relationship with another person. His personal outlook had been to always put himself first regardless of if others called that evil or selfish. It would be for the best if his significant other had no plans of changing his philosephy.
Continuing his musing Barodius was once again swept away to his thoughts this time about what his ideal lover would be like. He could make do with any physical traits to be honest as long as they wore presentable clothing. He hoped they'd have an interest in jewelery as well. Jade jewlery was very popular in these times. Oddly enough Gill wore bronze jewels on the ends of his sleeves.
'Probably to match Krakix'
And just like that he found himself thinking of Gill yet again. Groaning, the emperor closed his eyes in another attempt to clear his mind.
Dharak had apperently decided an intervention was neccessary.
“Is something wrong, Barodius?“ he said after exiting the confinds of his owner's overcoat.
The emperor doubted his companion was very knowledgable on love affairs. Then again he didn't have many options for consolence now, did he?
Airzel is Gill’s protege, so the red head would notice without fail if Airzel slipped up for even half a second. Even though Airzel knew a great deal of confidental information regarding Gundalia, he might view his emperor’s personal secret to not be on the same level of importance or too strange for him to fully understand why such a trivial thing was to be kept secret in the first place.
Stoica would most likely concoct some kind of ludicrus plan, which would have him questioning his sanity at the end of it. Kazarina is a workoholic with nothing aside from contempt for all Gundalians excluding her Bakugan & himself, of course. The only one left was Nurzak. He did have a wife once making him the best choice out of the Twelve Orders. However, Nurzak would no doubt try to guide him as if he was still a prince & truth to be told Barodius hated such pretentiousness most of all.
And with that he was stuck with Dharak. He knew Dharak would have no trouble keeping his secret, but there was no guarante Dharak would understand anything he said concerning his feelings for Gill. The young emperor scrutinized his partner for a good moment.
Dharak felt he'd waited long enough for the other's response. The look the young man shot him really rubbed him the wrong way.
“And for what reason are you looking at me as if I’ve betrayed you?”
After finally finding a respectable master, he was now being doubted. He had half a mind to start calling Barodius boy like when they had first met.
“It’s nothing. It just occured to me that I have a crush on Gill.”
Barodius decided to be honest with his feelings. At least as honest as he felt was necessary. Some would classify this as him trying to push away those who cared about him, but to someone who knew him as well as Dharak, he had disclosed more than enough information.
“...You want to kill Gill?”
Of course, Dharak would associate the word crush with destruction.
“You misunderstood. What I was trying to say is that I-”
“You have a romantic interest in him.” was said in a manner that signified the guardian bakugan’s disbelief.
Barodius flinched at being cut off so abruptly.
“You have some nerve interupting me while I disclosed my personal problems to you, Dharak!”
“My deepest apolagise, master Barodius.” Dharak was able to come out of his shock to form a proper apology.
Shock. Disbelief. He was completely taken aback with the reveal. He looked over at Barodius & he was staring at him intensely as if he was expecting him to say something.
For the first time in several decades the strongest Gundalian bakugan that has served the noble house of the emperors for 4 generations did not know what to say.
‘I have to think this through. If I choose my words poorly, this could drive a wedge between us’
Bringing up the reality that this relationship would have an experation date due to the necessity for a successor & the general disdain their countrymen shared for homosexuality was out of the question. His master was no fool. Barodius already knows that.
‘Emperor Barodius is not interested in my thoughts on homosexuality. What he is seeking is personal advice on how to proceed with his complicated emotions towards Gill. Wait!... Does Gill even like men?’
For the next 6 minutes Dharak would try his hardest to piece together his words. Going over all the different ways their conversation could play out. The old guardian had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the young man had returned to his work by the time he had settled on his words.
No matter. He knew what he planned to say.
“Barodius, if you’d allow me, I’d give you my insight on your predicament.”
The white haired man closed his eyes & said “Very well then.”
“Before that I’d like to ask one question for the sake of fully comprehending the subject at hand.”
“Do you know if Gill is interested in men the same way you are?”
A smug grin formed on the Darkus battler’s features.
“You didn’t notice the way Gill would awkwardly flirt back when women latched themselves onto him during a gala? Or the fact that he had a crush on our martial arts teacher that I used to tease him about? Or how about the reality of Gill never having a girlfriend for as long as I’ve known him? Does this answer your question, Dharak?”
‘He’s really one insufferable man when he gets passive-aggressive with me’
Nothing showed Dharak’s age more than how he would forget small bits & pieces of the past like Barodius teasing Gill over something insignificant, but now wasn’t the time for reminiscing about days gone. He had something to say.
“Barodius, I believe the best course of action is to confess to Gill.”
“That is all I assume?” the emperor inquired as he fixed his gaze on his companion.
‘Did Dharak really spend all of that time thinking to himself just to tell me to confess?’
“Hmph. I refuse to entertain your idea.”
‘He really doesn’t understand anything about romance. Heh, why am I surprised?’
In spite of Dharak being far from it, the young man couldn’t help finding him to be endearing in his attempts to help him.
“I ask Gill for permission to court him.” was said with a renewed confidence as his signature smirk formed on his lips “We need to make arrangements at once.”
“We?” Why couldn’t the emperor excuse him?
“Yes, you’ll be helping me.”
Barodius clearly found his inexperience to be amusing & felt like teasing him. Dharak just wanted to live a simple carefree life where he didn’t have to be berated for not understanding mushy romantic nonsense & devote his precious time to crushing pathetic insects, who dare have the audacity to challenge him.
“Do it yourself! You already rejected my idea & figured everything out on your own already. You don’t need me to advise you.” Dharak said in a very firm tone, refusing to be used as a toy for his master’s childish whims.
After the first year or so of their partnership, their disputes had lessened significantly. It turned out the two of them were a lot more similar than they had liked to admit at the time. Dharak hadn’t been so vocal about his objections in 4 years when Barodius “jokingly” tried to use Dharak as a royal seal.
A displeased look crossed the young ruler’s face.
“Stop throwing one of your fits already.” the Darkus battler immaturely deflected “I need someone to bounce ideas off of.”
“I refuse!” said Dharak even more convinced than the first time
The evil man sighed. He didn’t want to argue with Dharak when the solution he was looking for was a hair away from him.
“...It appears my issue with Gill will remain stationary for now.”
As much as he loved to rile Dharak up, he never meant to be rude to him. In Barodius’ twisted mind mocking was seperate from disrespect whenever he did it to his guardian bakugan.
The Darkus bakugan was still somewhat put-off. He didn’t expect Barodius to admit defeat & back off without taking another jab at him.
“Regardless of your feeling on the matter do not speak of this conversation to anyone.”
Barodius attempted to return to his previous work. Nonetheless he was still just as unfocused as he was 20 minutes earlier.
“What are you loafing around for, Dharak?” the tyrant snapped
“Hm, take your anger out on someone else.” was said as the old bakugan resumed his nap in the emperor’s overcoat
Barodius considered this. He had nothing to gain from forcing himself to do paperwork when his mind was preoccupied with something completely different. He also didn’t have the energy to find some incompetent fool to torture.
Then it hit him. The gymnasium.
Martial arts was a hobby he thoroughly enjoyed, whose aggressive nature coincided perfectly with his irritable temper.
Telepathically flicking his screen to the gym’s camera what he found surprised him. It was Gill & he was sparring with Airzel.
Airzel was doing a good job of dodging Gill relentless blows. The Ventus battler tried to grab onto one of Gill’s arms to stop his attacks. He succeeded, but Gill simply used that to his advantage by taking ahold of Airzel’s arm & pulling himself towards him to deliver a fierce punch to the side of his protege’s head.
A cruel smile formed on the red head’s face as Airzel landed on his side. However, when the smaller man started to get back up, he quickly concealed it behind his usual stoic mask.
“That’s enough for today. You’re excused.”
The Pyrus battler started walking towards a set of weights.
“I’ll keep training for another hour.” Gill said before Airzel had time to inquire
The pupil nodded & curtly left.
‘How convenient’ Barodius thought to himself.
Once he packed all he needed he ordered his servants to carry his equipment to the gymnasium as he slowly made his way closer towards Gill’s location. The emperor was trying to contain himself from smiling least someone see him & think he lost his mind. A single thought was to blame for his childlike excitement that restlessly continued to echo in his head.
‘I can’t wait to break that bastard’s skull!’
Author’s note: I finally made it & it only took me 7 months 😅 Well, they say the first one is the most difficult, right? I also plan to post this on my ao3 soon.
Anyways, I’d like to thank you guys for expressing your genuine interest in this pairing & my writing. I’d like to thank @laggingbehindreality for reading a very early draft of this fic & giving me some feedback. I’m gonna tag some of my friends who were interested in checking out this pairing.
@just-halbeerd-things @hailey12panther
Constructive criticism is always welcome
