See end of chapter for notes.

Written with a firm hand upon a sheet of paper made fragile with folding and refolding, tucked into the inside pocket of a suit coat.

Reminders oft needed:

1. He hates to be corrected in all things. He need not know his tea is steeped for two minutes, when his preferred minute and a half is called too weak.

2. There is a reason the carriage driver is required to use a riding crop. Never let him use the whip. Never let him know why.

3. The laces are knotted twice-it is dangerous to run around London with one shoe untied.

4. While stitching him up, joke. He will never listen to the lectures, as contrary as a cat, but perhaps he will hear the worry in your teasing. Perhaps.

5. Do not tell him. There is too much between you, age and family and law and rank. That he relies on you is enough, must be enough.

6. Do not show weakness. He needs you strong, so strong you shall be.

7. Do not mention the nightmares in the morning.

8. Tea helps, it does not fix anything. Offer anyway.

9. You have promised, you have promised, and you are not a man to break your promises.

10. There is too much between you, and you are too worn and too broken and too reliant.

11. Bathwater must be scalding when first run. By the time he wakes entirely, it will be the perfect temperature.

12. Walk behind him-not from propriety, but to guard his back.

13. Your scars are self-inflicted. Only you are to blame. It is different with him, so different.

14. He is strong, but only as crystal is strong. A single touch might shatter him to pieces.

15. That you would die for him is obvious. There is no need to say why. There is too much between you.

Written elegantly, with night dark ink, upon a singed corner of paper and weighted by a beaker of acid.

Memoranda

1. You do not care for society or its expectations. He does. He would suffer the consequences.

2. Antidotes for aphrodisiacs have little effect upon naturally induced lust.

3. He means every word he says, and that is the most dangerous thing about him.

4. Lust is a perfectly natural combination of testosterone, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, and vasopressin. It is only the object of this lustlonginglove that is unnatural.

5. Sodomy is a sin. So is incest and murder, and sinfulness seems to be genetically inherited.

6. He would suffer were you caught-so, do not get caught.

7. It is dangerous, but he promised. He has never broken a promise before.

8. Repetition is valuable in all scientific testing, but he is the only person who is not an experiment. Do not test his loyalty too far. He has given the same results each time, and he may break before his loyalty does.

9. Hormones are the single most inconvenient group of chemicals in the body, and the ones most difficult to manipulate. Unfortunately.

10. Sometimes, in the nightmares, it is not your father wielding the whip. This is something he must never, ever learn.

11. There is blood between you, too much of it cursed, and too much of it your own.

12. Remember, he touches your scars gently, and believes they are not your fault. He is wrong, but it is a nice thought.

13. You are poison, cursed. If you are Icarus, he is your sun. If you are Mephistopheles, he is your Faust. It is only a matter of time before one of you accidentally destroys the other. But, perhaps, to burn at his hands would be a mercy.

14. He would die for you. Do not let him know this is a mutual feeling; it would only worry him.

15. You have left the cage door open before, to see what he would do. He closed it.

A/N: So there have been these little lists on tumblr lately of 'rules learned along the way' or whatever. The two I've seen most often are Dean and Castiel, of Supernatural, but then I saw one for (I'm guessing) Stiles, from Teen Wolf, and before I knew it, I'd Cain/Riff'd.

Oops?

(Note, I'm not in either Supernatural or Teen Wolf fandoms, I've only seen select episodes of the former and none of the latter.)

There miiiiight be another chapter of this in which (probably) Cain finds this list of Riff's, but I highly doubt it.

As always, thank you for reading, and please drop me a review, to tell me what you think!