Hello~

Sorry for the loooong wait, we are still busy as hell :( But the stories aren't forgotten of course, and will be updated sooner or later^^ I hope you enjoy, don't be shy about leaving a little comment!^^

Love,

BMIK and Chephren

Chapter 8

"We can very well order that stuff online," Sephiroth muttered as he walked up to their car. He hated grocery shopping. He hated even more that Yazoo seemed so excited about it. Well, the boy didn't look excited per se, what with that expressionless face and the almost bored attitude he displayed as he got into the back seat, but Sephiroth wasn't fooled one bit. He knew his little brother. Vincent simply sighed and sat down beside his lover, who started the engine and grudgingly drove onto the street, the gate closing automatically behind him. He had every intention on making this an extremely short trip.

From behind a tree across the street, Tseng watched the gate close, noting the lack of cameras, thank Shiva. He briefly wondered about the need for such tight security for a civilian family in such a reportedly safe neighborhood but then he realized why, as he stood here with the intention of entering where he wasn't invited.

Making his way up to the security box, he tinkered with it quickly, causing the gate to open so he could just walk in leisurely. If there were any electronic logs, they would register it as a brief short circuit and would hopefully seem like a momentary glitch that the owner of the household might excuse. As he approached the front door at the end of a long, smooth driveway complete with a fountain, Tseng reached up to remove the clasp from his hair, letting it fall to frame his face. The ends of this clip were a rather innocent-looking lockpick that had gotten him into places he didn't belong and gotten him out of tight situations.

He peered inside as the door opened, cautious of any pets or other domesticated animal sentries. When it seemed the coast was clear, for the house didn't smell of any sort of wildlife at all, only cleanliness and clear air, the dark man saw some mail lying on the front hall table. Hm... no mail for anyone other than the two adult residents today. Certainly none for Herbert. He had a look into the pristine rooms of the main floor: an immaculate kitchen, dining room, study, half bath and living room, before cautiously, he made his way up the rather grand staircase, looking for Herbert's room. He knew he shouldn't be here but his curiosity was ruling him and he was an expert at being discreet.

He found upstairs three bedrooms, one a guest room, it seemed, a bathroom next and the master at the end of the hall, done in ivory and sensible elegance. Across from the guest room was a room that was clearly meant for a non-adult, decorated in deep blues.

This had to be Herbert's room...

A book lay out on a small desk there, which seemed to be Calculus and the accompanying notebook for homework. The boy must clearly be part of some advanced study program for his age group. Picking up the notebook in a gloved hand, Tseng observed that the writing inside was very neat with unique flourishes as if the writer had learned to take great care in even the crossing of a 't'. Sticking a thumb inside so as not to lose the page the boy was on, the Wutaian noted the name printed languidly in the front:

Yazoo.

Just at that moment, the front gate opened again and the sound of wheels turning on gravel echoed up to the room. Sephiroth parked the car in front of the house and got out to open the trunk and shove a bag with groceries into Yazoo's listless arms. Apparently the boy had expected more of that trip, but Sephiroth had made sure that they got everything very quickly. He was brilliant in managing their little trips.

"Get that inside and stop sulking," he ordered, turning to get a bag himself. His features were tight, as he didn't know how he was supposed to make his family happy without having to go outside. Vincent seemed a bit cranky too, lately.

As Yazoo headed inside, Tseng heard the door close and froze. Walking quickly to the youth's window overlooking the driveway, he peered down at two men, one silver like Her-...Yazoo... and one dark like him but with a wild, gorgeous untamed quality that Tseng most certainly didn't have.

Before Sephiroth could trail into the house, Vincent grabbed Sephiroth by his collar and roughly pushed him against the shiny, black vehicle.

"Seph, what is wrong? Why are you avoiding me?" The red-eyed man suspected that because of the birds and bees talk, which had gone over disastrously, Sephiroth might be feeling a bit spooked. However, Vincent wasn't used to not being touched by the man and when he was like this, it was hard to tell whether or not Vincent was the cause of his boyfriend's colder-than-usual attitude. Things just hadn't been the same though since then when it came to the silver haired man's mood.

"I am not avoiding you, I'm just trying to be careful," Sephiroth replied, narrowing his eyes and hating how cold his voice sounded. He didn't want to hurt Vincent but still he did. Since Yazoo had heard them, he was extra cautious, maybe even going a bit too far... but still. "The situation is difficult right now, you know that, and I just don't want to take unnecessary risks."

"What's unnecessary?" Vincent blinked at Sephiroth, lowering his chin even though his words were challenging. "Yazoo knows what we do together now. I will refrain from displays in front of him but I cannot... I will not deny what is our right to do, Seph." He leaned in to nuzzle the soft skin of Sephiroth's jaw. "He is putting the groceries away like you want him to, like a good boy, now will you kiss me?" he whispered against his lover's warmth.

Meanwhile Yazoo stuffed the groceries in the fridge with some extra force and he deliberately put them in a wrong order so Sephiroth would get a semi-serious mental breakdown. One of Big Brother's quirks was that he organized the contents of their fridge; cheese was not to be put together with meat, fruits or any fluids, and so on.

He crumpled the bags into the trash bin and then grabbed an apple to waltz upstairs, biting a big chunk out of his fruit morosely. How he hated it here. This day had actually been kind of good, with him being able to see Tseng and all, but now... Yazoo entered his room, not noticing any changes and fell face first onto his bed. He reached out blindly to his night stand and grabbed a boring book Sephiroth made him read and that was about how to deal with stalkers. It really was a boring book.

Tseng stood frozen from his hiding place inside the closet. His flower was here, so close... His flower had lied to him. The conversation below stairs and outside had looked very interesting indeed but when the teen had started climbing the stairs, the dark assassin hadn't given watching from the window another thought. Now... how to get out of here without being seen... His urge to linger behind the flimsy folding closet door was just as strong as his urge to run.

Yazoo rolled onto his back with little enthusiasm, his shirt riding up a bit and revealing a slitted navel that he scratched absently as he held the damn book above his head, pretending to read it.

"YAZOO!"

Oh great, Sephiroth had found the 'mess' he had created in the fridge. The boy chose to ignore the outraged bark and took another unfazed bite from his apple. There was some hissing coming from downstairs and another diffuse voice that tried to calm the other down, but eventually there was another holler.

"Get down here NOW!"

Yazoo sighed, wishing he could be in that tea house with Tseng right now but got up anyways and padded downstairs for an earful of ranting.

...There it was.

The dark hitman had certainly wanted to give Herbert the benefit of the doubt but it was clear now that the youth's name was in fact, not Herbert at all. His dark eyes narrowed as he assessed what he knew. There was little evidence to suggest anything suspicious about this family, that there was anything unsavory going on that involved a plan to capture Tseng with Her-... Yazoo... as bait as Tseng might have feared. Yazoo... a lovely name indeed.

Quietly, Tseng exited the closet, closing the door behind him. Pausing by the youth's pillows, the dark man closed his eyes and sniffed the air above them, trying to remember that clean, delicate scent the boy carried with him, before he left the room to try and devise an unsuspected route out of the mansion.

"You had one simple task. It is beyond me how you can fail that!" Sephiroth pinched the bridge of his nose, trying his very best to not explode. It was just because of Vincent's presence that he didn't.

"Any words?" His eyes pierced his little brother's skull and made it smoke; at least in his imagination.

Yazoo remained stubbornly silent, he would sit this out like always. Sephiroth would calm down eventually, probably. Since Yazoo wanted to go out again, he shouldn't try Sephiroth's patience but he didn't care right now. He just had this irrational urge to irritate his brother and he followed it, because it was balm to his itching, repressed soul.

Tseng loomed in the entry hall, so close to escape but he had heard the reprimand and stood stock still once more. What was this task his flower had to complete and how did he fail in doing so? Having missed the little one's entry into the house when he had closely observed the other two for the first time and since Yazoo had been so quiet, Tseng had missed the grocery bags and was unsure of from where they had returned but they weren't gone long at all...

"Sephiroth, please be reasonable. It has been a trying day for all of us. If Yazoo starts again, would that mend things?" Vincent asked, more than a bit frustrated by this point that his attempts to seduce this afternoon had been so thoroughly thwarted by something so petty as food placement.

Again, it was just for Vincent's sake that Sephiroth swallowed his anger. Still he glared hard at his little brother as he ground out flatly, "Fine, you have one last chance, but if you do not get it right this time there will be Severe Consequences."

Yazoo could actually hear the capital letters, but Vincent's pleading look made him sigh as well and shrug in defeat. Without Vincent, Sephiroth would most likely have killed him already which was quite ironic because it was Sephiroth's overprotectiveness against all kinds of harmful things that got them into those kind of situations in the first place.

Tseng was intrigued. Just what were they speaking about? He would have to watch Yazoo closely for a while and find out. The thought occurred to him that perhaps it was what he had been worried about but as far as criminal activity, this Sephiroth wasn't even on the map... He shook it off as himself being paranoid as he quietly exited the front door.

Yazoo went to the fridge to pull it open and rearrange the food inside under Sephiroth's watchful stare, his brother not leaving his side, instead being imperious with his crossed arms until Yazoo had finished the task to his satisfaction. Half an hour later, the boy went upstairs again, falling into bed tiredly and not reading anything anymore but dreaming about a certain someone and a life without annoying brothers.

Meanwhile from the front walk, Tseng quietly made his way out the front gate as easily as he had entered. How could he tail the youth without rousing Rufus' suspicions? He wanted to stay here, neglecting his duties until he found his answer, but that was not possible. He would have to spend his off-time investigating this matter. As easily as a neighborhood pedestrian, he left this affluent subdivision and returned downtown to report back for duty. His stolen break was well over by now.

TBC

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