The meat made a sharp sizzle as it touched the red-hot grill, twisting the Egyptian's usually iron stomach into one big knot of queasiness. He swallowed hard, staring down at his hands, which held each other tightly for comfort. A trickle of sweat raced down his brow; he dared not wipe it, because that would involve moving. And he was far too busy focusing on trying to calm his racing pulse.

Touru didn't seem to notice, although that could very well be because he too was avoiding looking at the other man. He concentrated on the burgers, in an attempt to distract himself.

His son, his beloved Ryou. He… He was…!

The blue-haired man shook his head quickly. No! He had to stop dwelling on that. If Ryou was one of them, they must not be so bad. Right?

"… Hey."

The deep voice startled Touru from his thoughts. He flinched a little at the hand now on his shoulder, realizing that the man now towered over him. As far as statures go, Ryou's boyfriend was a strong contrast to his beloved son. Where Ryou was frail, the Egyptian had muscle. And unlike the slouching boy, this man stood tall and proud, chest out and back straight. He towered over both Brits, which was not a very easy task; neither of them were very short, despite their timid natures.

He found his voice a squeak as he stammered, "Y-Yes? Wh-What can I do for y-you?"

A frown tugged at Melvin's lips. "The meat."

"Wh-What about it?"

"…Burning."

Touru glanced down and was alarmed to see that he was right. He yelped at the sight of the flames, dropping the spatula and running for a fire extinguisher.

Melvin, on the other hand, stopped closer to the flaming grill. There was a faint hint of curiosity in his violet eyes, as he watched the flames climb higher and higher, stretching up towards the brilliant blue sky. After a moment, he finally managed to tear his gaze away. He glanced down at his feet instead, found the fallen spatula.

He knelt to pick it up, then examined it all over. Though he had seen Touru drop it, he hadn't really been paying attention to what the Brit had been doing with it before. The Yami's frown deepened. He gave the spatula a few experimental thrusts, but it didn't appear to be any sort of weapon. Annoyed, he tossed it to the side and straightened once more.

By the time Touru returned with a bucket of tap water – a literal fire extinguisher having been nowhere to be found – a shocking sight greeted him. Melvin had thrust both hands into the flames.

"Melvin!" Ryou screamed, stumbling out of the house and dashing over to the now bewildered Egyptian. "Get the bloody hell out of the grill! Now!"

He responded instantly to the raised voice, stepping back quickly and dropping burnt hands to his sides. His expression dropped straight from confusion to almost guilty.

Ryou came to a stop. He reached out for one of Melvin's fists, grabbing him by the arm and shaking him violently. "Drop them!" he ordered. As the much taller man obeyed, the Brit quickly examined the damage. And sighed with relief.

Touru hesitated, but eventually approached the duo. "I-Is he okay?"

Ryou didn't even look up. He began to rhythmically massage the charcoaled hands. "He'll be fine. He heals fast."

"But those burns look really bad! Second degree at the very lea-!"

"I said," Ryou snapped, finally looking up, "he'll be fine."

Touru had never had to deal with an angry Ryou before, and he wasn't really sure he wanted to. He backed off quickly. "A-Alright then. Whatever you say."

Ryou sighed, turning back to his wide-eyed boyfriend. "You should never grab anything on fire with your bare hands," he soothed, as though calming a spooked deer. "Or anything very, very hot."

"I didn't-" Melvin began weakly, but Ryou quickly cut him off. "Silly Melvin," he laughed, attempting to lighten the mood. "Of course you didn't know. How could you? Just…" He grew serious. "… Just be sure not to do it again. Ever. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah."

The smile returned. "Glad to hear it!" He then turned to his father and motioned to the still flaming grill. "… You might want to put that out, before it spreads."

"O-Oh… right."

_

Ryou had disappeared, this time under the pretense of finding some tea for the three of them to share. Was this some sort of attempt to get the other two to bond? If so, it really wasn't fair.

Touru finished transferring meat to bun, relieved by the successful burger. 'Better late than never,' he reminded himself, and the thought cheered him quite a bit.

He glanced backwards at the table. Melvin was hunched over, staring intently down at his burnt hands. Touru was surprised to notice that his son had been right; already the black had been reduced to a bright red, and over the course of only a few minutes to boot! He was amazed.

Still, the Egyptian seemed more than a little upset. He looked almost as though he wanted to disappear, judging by how he continued attempting to make himself look smaller than he actually was. His violet eyes – usually so full of life – were slightly foggy as he watched the healing process.

Pity tugged at the older man's heartstrings. He really had been a bit hard on him… Melvin didn't seem like such a bad guy, even if he had turned his son gay.

Touru approached him, letting his own hand rest of the Egyptian's broad shoulder this time. "Um, excuse me…"

Melvin glanced up at him. Said nothing, but a question flickered through those dull eyes.

He motioned awkwardly to the plate, which he balanced on his free hand. "You can… um… have the first one. I-I mean, if you want to."

His eyes widened. "M-Me? But I-"

"I-I think we started off on the wrong foot," the Brit quickly hurried on. "So I'd… um… like to make it up to you."

Melvin hesitated for a bit longer, his gaze darting to the house and then back. He swallowed. Forced a grin. "A-Alright then. If you insist."

Pleased, Touru sat the burger down and waited eagerly. Melvin was very slow about picking up the food, and once he had he stared at it for a very long time before finally taking the first – hesitant – bite.

_

The Egyptian's silence made Touru exceedingly nervous, and he felt weak with relief when Ryou finally arrived, dragging the box of tea. "Sorry it took so long!" he panted. "We were out so I had to get some from Mar-"

He broke off, slowing to a halt as he noticed something odd. There were three plates out. One held an uneaten burger that was probably very cold by now. Another was held by Touru, who had eaten about half of it. And the third…

… the last plate was completely empty, save for a handful of breadcrumbs.

Ryou's eyes narrowed slightly, as though from deep concentration. "… You already ate?" he asked slowly, approaching the table. Though he addressed his father, his eyes were on the silent Egyptian before him.

Touru – missing all of this – smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry. We waited as long as we could, but we didn't want them to get cold. Besides, we weren't really sure how long you were going to be."

"It's fine." Ryou sat across from them and pulled his plate close. He slowly began to eat, staring intently at his boyfriend.

They all sat like that for a long time, eating in silence, before Touru attempted to break it. "So… the burgers are pretty good, aren't they? I decided to try out this new brand."

"Yes."

Touru waited to see if Ryou would add anything else, before sighing and turning to Melvin instead. "What about you? Did you like your burger?"

Melvin opened his mouth just the slightest bit, but closed it again without saying anything. He stared down at the table, frozen.

Ryou, however, was anything but. He bolted from his chair. "What?" he demanded, brown eyes wild.

His father flinched, unsure of what the big deal was. "Y-Yeah, he finished his shortly before you got back. Ate it pretty quickly too. Why?"

The younger Brit just stared incredulously at his stiff boyfriend. "Melvin, you know you're not supposed to eat-!" he began, but was cut off when the Egyptian rose suddenly and bolted towards the house, slamming open the door and letting it bang shut behind him. "Melvin!"

_

Another spasm shot through him . As his throat burned and his eyes watered, Melvin gagged, struggling to find words as he looked sideways at the worried Brit beside him. "It hurts…!" he groaned.

Ryou sighed, massaging his boyfriend's back comfortingly. "I'm sorry, but you know this always happens! Your body just isn't strong enough to handle meat."

Melvin chuckled hoarsely. "That rich, coming from-" he started, but broke off suddenly as another spasm hit him. He leaned over the toilet again and heaved. Though nothing came out that time, he still had to gasp for air. "I friggin hate this…!"

"Nobody likes to throw up, honey," he reminded him. "Here, let me hold your hair back for you."

"What's going on?" Touru asked, bewildered by the whole affair. "Were the burgers bad? But I feel fine…"

Ryou shook his head. "No no, it's not that. It's… Well you see, Melvin here is a vegan."

"… Vegan?"

"Yes. He can't eat any animal products at all-" he paused, waiting a second for Melvin to finish puking again "-let alone something like a hamburger."

"He is? But… But he-"

"I'm s-sorry," Melvin choked, as another spasm shuddered through him. He coughed up a weak stream of brownish liquid, spotted with red. Though the effort clearly took a lot out of him, he struggled onwards anyways. "I just… I didn't want you to think… I really wanted this to…!"

Touru looked horrified. "You thought I wouldn't like you because of your eating habits?" he gasped. "That's ridiculous!"

"He doesn't know any better," Ryou sighed. "I should've realised…"

He had mentioned that earlier as well. "What do you mean?"

"Melvin grew up isolated from society, so there's a lot that he doesn't understand. Like the grill, or… well… this."

"I'm sorry," Melvin repeated, his voice wavering slightly.

Since the spasms seemed to have died down at last, Ryou finally released the Egyptian's hair. As the spike swung back into place, he leaned close and gave his boyfriend a light peck on the cheek. "It's not your fault, love."

"You think so?"

"Of course." He grinned suddenly. "Besides, I like you even more when you're weird."

"You do?"

"Uh-huh. The quirks make you much more… interesting."

A faint rose hue blossomed across Melvin's tan features, but he seemed pleased by the statement. "Thanks creampuff. That helps a lot."

He smiled kindly at him. "Anything for you."

Touru watched the scene unfold, just like something out of a romance novel. He was surprised to realize that he didn't really mind as much as he usually would've. Strange…

_

"Thank you so much for stopping by!" Ryou hugged his father tightly, breathing in his comforting scent. After a moment, he mumbled into his shirt, "I'm really going to miss you…"

Touru laughed a little, ruffling the fluffy white mane before him. "Well you seem happy enough without me."

"I-I suppose…"

The elder Brit stepped into his car, carefully shutting the door as he brought one hand up to his keys, which still rested in the ignition. He didn't turn them though; instead, sat there in silence for a long time before turning to the door and opening it again. "Hey," he called, leaning a little ways out of the vehicle, "Ryou!"

The boy paused from where he had been heading back up to the house. He blinked, turned back towards his father. "… Yes?"

"You guys… you're… I think… it's really…" Touru struggled to find the right words, his ears heating up as he finally managed to stammer, "I-I'm happy for you."

Brown eyes widened with shock. "Wh-What?"

Touru looked decidedly flustered now, but he forged onwards. "Y-You know I'm still trying to get used to the… the… you know, the… the g… g…"

"… Gay thing?" his son suggested quietly, looking away.

He winced. "Y-Yes, that. But even I can see that he makes you happy. And you… you really care about him. So e-even though I don't really understand how you can be attracted to someone of the same gender, I… I'm happy for you," he finished lamely, smiling weakly.

Surprisingly, Ryou returned the smile. His expression was one of pure delight, the likes of which Touru hadn't seen since that fateful crash. "Thank you… that really means a lot to me!"

Relieved that he had gotten his point across, Touru finally started up the car. He pulled out of the driveway easily.

"Goodbye!" Ryou called after him, waving. "Come back soon! We look forwards to seeing you again! Bye!"

He managed to wait until the car was out of sight before bringing his fist to his lips. He bit lightly, attempting to stop the trembling of his shoulders. But it didn't work, and the tears ran down his pale face, salty and bittersweet.