Chapter 13

Yazoo sat in his room, pretending to do homework. The notes lay open in front of him and he kept twirling his pen in his fingers, but his eyes drifted outside the window and his mind wandered back to the tea house and to Tseng. He couldn't concentrate on petty texts about something as trivial as the French Revolution right now. Yazoo needed to analyze the strange things that were going on with him. Last night he had had a very vivid, very intense dream about Tseng and kissing and touching and when he woke up his sheets had been stiff and his body was pleasantly exhausted. He'd been in a good enough mood to not pick a fight with his brother even...

It was growing later in the day and dusk was quickly approaching. The early afternoon sun watched Tseng entering the gate, trespassing where he knew he shouldn't, but Tseng ignored the tiny, urgent voice inside him that he had learned to block out over many years of pushing it aside. He was a bad man and should never set foot here again. He certainly should not be caught here as his flower didn't know the dark assassin had followed him home… A large tree shaded the grass just outside Yazoo's window. The teen would be able to glance down and see their driveway but the window would shield him from imposing eyes. Tseng didn't dare climb up into the canopy should his flower be in his room but he did stand underneath, between the trunk and the house so that no one would see him from the road…

Yazoo… Tseng felt so shaken and yet, he didn't really know why he had come here… He could not tell his flower what he had seen… Yazoo needed to be protected from such things.

Yazoo's unseeing eyes drifted outside again and then went from introspect to surprised as he noticed a familiar shadow under a tree. What was Tseng doing here? His heart beat rapidly and he got up, grabbing a jacket and his half full trash bin to have an excuse to leave the house. When he came downstairs and passed the open living door room Sephiroth looked up only briefly but then went back to his own work.

With a sigh of relief, Yazoo slipped through the front door and walked over the snowy grass to the dead black tree. "What are you doing here?" he asked. It didn't sound like an accusation, but curious and a bit worried.

Silently, Tseng leaned toward the boy, planting a slow, chaste kiss that spoke volumes of distress and need, on a pale forehead that peeked out at him from under silver bangs. "You are so perfect and pure… nothing like me…" he said finally, afraid to tell Yazoo of anything that had happened, afraid he would frighten his flower away.

Yazoo was even more confused now, especially since he hadn't gotten an answer to his question. He took Tseng by the hand and lead him behind the house to the trash, where they wouldn't be disturbed and couldn't be seen. Since Sephiroth had seen him leave he didn't have too much time before his brother would wonder where he went and came looking for him.

"You are not looking too well," he finally assessed, putting a palm on Tseng's forehead because this was what Vincent always did. Tseng's skin was cool, a bit sweaty maybe. "Did something happen?"

Tseng looked at him for a moment, enjoying the feel of his hand being held by one so soft and smaller than his. His inner conscience was right on this. He should not tell Yazoo what he had done, not for his own image in the boy's eyes, but also because the boy was just that, a boy, a teenager no more than 16 years old, if that…

"I can't go into it but… I had a really hard day at work today," he finally offered. "And I followed my need to come and see you. Here…" Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a phone he had freshly acquired from one of his contacts on the way. "It's untraceable on the network, like a ghost phone on my plan. No one need know you have it if you don't want them to…"

Yazoo took it, looking at it blankly and then slipping it into his pocket. He couldn't concentrate on that. Usually he would have been overjoyed to get something Sephiroth had no idea of, he felt sneaky and gleeful then. But now Tseng's well-being was of more concern than his petty little teenage rebellions. Thus he stepped closer and wordlessly hugged the man.

Sighing, Tseng's arms enfolded the youth, burying his nose in Yazoo's soft hair. They remained together like that for a long moment. Before Tseng let go, he whispered softly, "Thank you, my flower. That helps quite a lot." When they faced each other again, he gazed down into inquiring green eyes, "How fortunate I am to see you twice in one day. Have you been well this afternoon?"

"Hm." Yazoo sighed and closed his eyes. Tseng smelled a bit different than before, a bit sharper. Yazoo knew the odor but couldn't put his finger on it. "I still have to do homework and I need to go back inside soon or my brother will get suspicious and come out."

"Yes, of course," Tseng replied in understanding. He pulled the youth in close, their lips hovering close together, rotating his head so that he could feel Yazoo's warm breath whispering over his face, tempting them both with the possibility of a farewell kiss but not certain if he ought to redden that skin and make those lips swell as much as he wanted to. "Will you call me when you feel like it? And I will certainly be calling you."

"I will call you." Yazoo looked into Tseng's hooded eyes, when he remembered something he had wanted to ask. "By the way, are you my boyfriend now?" he asked neutrally, wanting to be sure he got the terms they were on right.

Tseng barely processed the question before he answered carefully. "I would very much like to be… Would you like to be my boyfriend, Yazoo?" He stroked over the teen's hair in silent reassurance that, whatever Yazoo's answer, it would be alright with the dark man, that he was already happy to be offered this chance.

"Yes," Yazoo decided. He hadn't know that it was something one had to ask for to be it. But he had read about it and there was a script he could follow now. It reassured him."I will call you then and tell you when you can meet my brother, since I have no parents and he technically does count as my legal guardian."

Tseng smiled down at him. "I am honored, Yazoo. I would love to meet him, and Vincent as well, as soon as you would like." He shivered as he drew the youth close for a couple of soft kisses, restraining himself so as not to muss Yazoo. "My boyfriend… that's wonderful. I can honestly say I've never had a real boyfriend before. I'm very happy it's you."

Yazoo felt a bit odd too, it hadn't sounded like such a big deal at first, but judging from Tseng's reaction it was. To him it was something pretty abstract, but he felt good with it, very good and thus he was happy. "And then we can discuss when I meet your parents." Of course he would have that too.

"Yazoo?" The voice of his brother drifted around the corner and Yazoo stiffened. "I have to go," he said, pressing another kiss to Tseng's lips and then he slipped away to catch his brother before he could see his boyfriend prematurely.

Tseng turned and stealthily made his way back off of the property, his heart beating in his chest and a small smile curling his lips. Murder and manslaughter aside, this had been a wonderful day.

"What's up?" Yazoo asked when he walked up to his suspicious brother. Sephiroth tried to look past him but there was nothing. "Dinner is ready."

They went back into the house. "Did you do your homework yet?"

"I am almost done," Yazoo replied listlessly. It was smelling awfully good and they went to the dining room where Vincent had set the table already, waiting for them with a big pot of soup.

As they all sat down and began passing the food, Vincent smiled over at him. "How was your afternoon, Yazoo? Did you do anything fun?" He was secretly bubbling with excitement over what he had known of how the teen was reaching out to his peers.

"Great," the youth replied, giving his plate to Vincent so he could fill it with soup. "That smells good," he praised. Sephiroth wordlessly waited to get his share too. Vincent had told him about how Yazoo had associated with a bunch of younger kids, which had appeased his mind a bit, but he was still not happy about it. Right now he considered getting into contact with their parent to see what background they were dealing with.

"Thank you, it's called Mullagutawny, an old recipe," Vincent smiled, but he didn't miss the avoidance. "Did you do anything fun, my dear?" He asked moreso to appease his lover's tight face than for his own curiosity.

"Yeah, it was fun." Yazoo put his spoon into the soup and nipped at it. It was just as delicious as it smelled.

Sephiroth reached over the table to get some bread and broke a bit of it to put it in his mouth.

"By the way, when can I bring my boyfriend over for dinner?"

There was the sound of dry coughing as the bread stuck in Sephiroth's throat.

Vincent's sigh at having his question ignored for the second time, stopped with his arm extended out for the butter dish, his crimson eyes staring blankly at Yazoo. "Boyfriend?" A long pause settled over the table before he forced the asking of his next question. "You have a boyfriend, Yazoo?"

"Yes. How could I bring my boyfriend to dinner when I don't have one?" Yazoo tilted his head at the silly question.

Sephiroth kept on coughing, as the bread was still stuck, and his face turned red.

Vincent's face tightened in slight irritation but even more so because he felt like a heavy storm was about to hit. "Where did you meet this boyfriend? Is he the one you bumped into?"

Sephiroth kept coughing violently, grabbing the table and stared at Yazoo out of blood shot eyes. The teen wondered if it was a bright idea to offer help and only very hesitantly clapped onto his brother's back, watching him warily while answering Vincent's question.

"He bumped into me. But he is no rapist. He is nice and he saved me from a rapist."

"… Someone tried to rape you, Yazoo?" Vincent asked incredulously, eyes nervously shifting toward Sephiroth. This was very, very…bad.

"Well... Nothing happened! Tseng protected me!"

Finally the bread that had been stuck in Sephiroth's throat slipped out and he frantically gasped for air, still unable to speak.

Yazoo's eyes shifted to Vincent. "So when can I bring him for dinner?"

"Well… that sounds promising," Vincent said, still watching Sephiroth closely. "Protective, nice… I am certainly very interested to meet him, and I bet Seph is too… aren't you, love?" He reached out and touched his lover's curled fist, hoping that physical contact might unconsciously sway him.

Sephiroth was outraged. He was so outraged that he was utterly petrified, unable to move or shout or otherwise express is severe anger. He simply stared at his brother, shaken by an occasional cough. How dare this little runt sit there so calmly as if nothing had happened?! Oh, Sephiroth would meet that wanna-be boyfriend that had dared to spoil his sweet little brother and teach him a lesson he wouldn't forget! Sephiroth would scare the shit out of him, so he would never want anything to do with Yazoo! "Fine," he finally choked. "Saturday evening, 7."

Vincent blinked. He knew that face... "Saturday evening sounds good to me too," he added. "You said his name was Tseng? Want to tell us about him?" Friends was one thing but he was pretty positive that a few days out couldn't have brought a new boyfriend into Yazoo's life already... but teenagers often had many fleeting girlfriends and boyfriends. Perhaps it was just puppy love...

"He has black hair and a dot on his forehead and I think he is Asian or something," Yazoo said inbetween two spoons of soup. He was pleased that Sephiroth and Vincent had agreed to meet him and he was unaware of his brother's cruel look.

"Oh, that's very good, Yazoo," Vincent affirmed, pleased that the youth was multi-culturally accepting. "Well, where did you meet each other?"

"We met when I was almost run over by a truck. He saved me," Yazoo replied, unfazed. Sephiroth almost choked again.

"Excuse me?!"

"It's all right, noting happened and I am being more careful now."

Sephiroth put his spoon aside. He wasn't hungry anymore. On the contrary he felt sick at those revelations that hit him one by one.

"Okay... so... aside from being hit by a truck and almost raped... you have been safe out there, right?" Vincent asked, knowing that he would be blamed for this and steeling himself to give as good as he got.

Yazoo thought about that for a moment and then nodded. The cynicism eluded him. Sephiroth groaned, then he declared, "Dinner is over. Take your plate to your room. I need to talk with Vincent." He barely constrained himself from throwing a choleric fit.

Yazoo looked at him strangely but then he wordlessly did as he was told, taking some bread, his spoon and the plate and left. As soon as they were alone Sephiroth turned sharply to his lover. "He's just playing with a bunch of harmless kids outside?! What the hell Vincent, and you convinced me to let him go!"

"Yes! Other children, who are equally as normal, yourself included, have been dealing with avoiding moving vehicles and strangers for years. Yazoo is at a MAJOR disadvantage for being ill-prepared! You must let him out more. I really think he needs to attend public school with his peers. Perhaps a boyfriend might be good for him. We just need to make sure this is someone who will respect his body and take care of him while we aren't watching. What happens when he is twenty-one, Seph, and he has no idea how to deal with people? Did you intend for him to stay trapped inside his whole life?"

Sephiroth was a bit taken aback by the fierce outburst. "And what would be so bad about that? He is safe here, he can stay with us. He doesn't need anyone from the outside. It will only hurt him and he has everything here that he needs! He has you and me. He doesn't need some shady boyfriend! And how often could they have met anyways?! Boyfriend, how ridiculous!" He threw his hands in the air in agitation.

Vincent just stared at Sephiroth for a moment. "… Do you intend to have sex with him when he comes of age then? Many would consider him of the age already. This boyfriend… it all may be nothing. However, Yazoo deserves to have what we have found together one day, don't you agree? Or would you rather he live out the rest of his days celibate? He would grow to hate us. You know how tense you get without sex, baby… and we are only talking a couple of nights here at most. Imagine a lifetime."

"Of course I am not intending to have sex with him," Sephiroth denied brusquely. Vincent had pointed out a severe flaw in his equation though. Yazoo was not a sexual being to him, he was his little brother, asexual and without such needs. He had no immediate solution to that problem so he tried to distract Vincent from his lack of answer. "Why would you think that?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I don't, but I wanted to point out to you the seriousness of life for him without other people in it. At least if he went to school, he could practice getting to know people and we could watch his playmates carefully and get to know their habits, whether or not they are safe for him to hang out with. In fact, you could keep a closer eye on him if you wanted to with the help of other adults. If he remains here, we do have him all to ourselves but sex has already come up and believe me, it will again. How could it not? I intend to keep making love to you and he is already curious." His crimson eyes were sultry as he gazed at Sephiroth now.

"Public school? Never." Sephiroth crossed his arms over his chest, his jaw clenching. "I agreed to see that 'boyfriend' of his but that is as far as it will go. Assume he turns out acceptable that will be enough. Me and you are happy like this, we don't need other social contacts and Yazoo doesn't either. Public school is out of the question."

"Fine," Vincent replied stiffly. "As long as Yazoo is free to leave the house on a very regularly scheduled basis, say three or four times a week, free to join a youth activity of his choice, and allowed to have a boyfriend, this Tseng, if he is a nice young man with manners, then you will never hear of public school again from me. Are we agreed?"

"Two times," Sephiroth challenged. He was not happy with Vincent's demands, and even less happy with the vehemence his lover proposed his ideas. But Sephiroth knew that he couldn't avoid making a compromise. Unless he wanted this relationship to end, and he didn't want that.

Vincent smiled, actually rather impressed that Sephiroth was working with him on this, knowing how this all bothered him. Then again, his love was a man in a million. "Three. Plus, we can still ask him to fill us in on where he is going and when to expect him back for his own safety and require that he take his phone." He raised an eyebrow at the silver haired man, patiently hopeful.

Sephiroth tilted his head a bit stubbornly, his green eyes piercing his lover's unrelenting gaze. Three days? That sounded like a lot. On the other hand… on the other hand it would also provide Vincent and him with a lot of privacy. There were a few things Sephiroth had always wanted to do to Vincent, but Yazoo sleeping in the room next to them had kept him from doing it. A small, mysterious smile played around his lips. "Fine. Three days then."

"Wonderful," the dark man replied, noticing the rather unusual look his lover gave him. One never knew what Sephiroth was thinking when he looked like that… but the results were always very pleasurable. Excusing himself for a moment, Vincent walked into the study, pulling out a piece of blank paper. Bringing it back into the kitchen, he drew up the details in a sort of contract. "Here. I have drawn it up in writing for us to post around the house, plus we shall have one and Yazoo will have his own copy." He looked at the ceiling thoughtfully before he called out, "Yazoo? Could you come back in here, please, darling?"

"A contract?" Now Sephiroth was even more dumbfounded. "What do we need a contract for?"

Yazoo came down the stairs, wondering if they had changed their mind after all. Reluctantly he entered the room, but Vincent was smiling at him and his brother frowned. "What is it?"

"Well, Yazoo is no longer a child now and this way, he can demonstrate to us that he can be trusted with more mature responsibilities. Likewise, though, through a contract, we are showing him that we do trust him. There should be consequences on both sides if either we or he falls through on their end of this bargain we will make…

"Yazoo, will you take a look at this and decide if this is a compromise you can live with. We would award you these opportunities to be out of the house and then we should make a schedule so that, with this as in everything, we can fall into a normal routine. After that, Sephiroth and I will discuss terms with you, that is, the consequences of a breach of contract on either side. Have a seat here." He pulled the chair next to him out to invite the boy to sit beside him.

Yazoo still wasn't sure if he understood what was going on but he sat down anyway. He took the paper Vincent held towards him and read it carefully. So he would be allowed to go out three times a day for 5 hours?

Sephiroth didn't look too happy, but he didn't say anything.

"So, what happens when either of us... breaches contract?" He looked at Vincent questioningly. 3 times a week meant that he could spent 15 hours with Tseng.

"Well, that is something we will have to agree on. We have to mutually agree on some consequences. Yazoo, if you breach this contract on any of the terms we set down, then what sort of recompense do you believe is fair to your brother and I?" He sat back patiently, refraining the use of the word punishment for the word 'consequence' and 'recompense' but hoped that this was approaching the situation with the right hopeful mindset.

"Let's see then..." Yazoo tilted his head in thought and Sephiroth lifted a brow, leaning back in his chair. He thought this was all pretty ridiculous, but Vincent was set on it...

"If you breach contact I will go for a week with no chores and I get a good night's rest uninterrupted for a week."

Vincent swallowed audibly but then he composed himself. No night sex for a week? "...That sounds a fair compromise to make amends to you for impeding your right to go out, love... Seph," he looked at his beloved, "do you think you could agree to Yazoo's needs if we breach contract? It is a fair enough incentive not to go back on our word, yes?"

"Whatever." Sephiroth gritted his teeth, glaring at Vincent for making things difficult for them. Everything had been going so well... "If he breaches contract he's not going out for a week and has to polish my weaponry. Every last single piece."

"Agreed. Where do I have to sign?" Yazoo looked back at Vincent expectantly.

"Ah, I forgot, part of the terms are that, included in your three days out, we are allowing you to take up an activity where you can meet more people in the community. It must be an adult-chaperoned activity appropriate to your age group with no nefarious characters." He wrote this in at the bottom. "We, Sephiroth and Vincent, allow and encourage our Yazoo to join a community-sponsored activity, sport or instrumental lesson and accompanying ensemble, where the schedule of events falls within his authorized days out but does not have to fill the entire time. This activity will be of Yazoo's choosing and in the interest of his meeting more of his peers. Sephiroth and Vincent will be able to investigate the appropriateness prior to start... there. What about it, Yaz? Is there any sport or lesson... music lesson you might like to look into?"

"I like eating at the tea house," Yazoo offered blankly. Taking a community activity had never been an option so he had never thought about it. Besides, he wanted to spend his free time with Tseng and not with dumb kids, he didn't know what to do with...

"Well... this can be worked out. We will leave this section blank then," he allowed, drawing a line there for Yazoo's chosen activity. "If at all in your three free days, you come across a structured event that you like, approach us about it and we can add it. Otherwise..." Vincent silently drew three swift lines at the bottom and passed the sheet first to their little one, for the most part ignoring his lover because this was fair and if they didn't go back on their word and let Yazoo go out . "Here, Yazoo, I think you should get top line, then you, Seph, then me."

Yazoo took the pencil and scribbled his name onto the first line. He still couldn't believe it. He would be allowed to go out three times a week, without having to fight for it, just like that? As he handed the pencil over to Sephiroth he was certain for a moment that his brother would refuse. Eventually Sephiroth sighed though and reluctantly put his name under their contract.

Vincent whipped his name out and then dated it. Rising, he smiled at the both of them, taking his new document with him back into the study to make four copies. When he returned, he handed them out and took the extra one over to the unused cork board over the countertop. "Here is a community copy where we can look at it for memory's sake of the rules and the other three are so we each have our own." Sitting back down beside them, he pulled Yazoo into a tight hug, kissing him on the forehead. "Is there anything else you would like to talk about, love?"

"Not really." Yazoo got up, taking his copy. He would call Tseng now, telling him about Saturday evening and that he had fixed times now when the y could meet. "Thanks." He waved with his contract and went back to his room. In the kitchen Sepiroth still sat with his arms crossed, stone-faced and petulant. He had a bad feeling about this and he was angry at Vincent who forced him to go against his believes, handing Yazoo to the criminals and unpredictable, cruel world outside on a silver platter.

"Darling," Vincent murmured, rising from his chair and walking over to the silver haired man. "I know this is hard but we have to give him some room to breathe now that he is getting older, especially if he will not rely on anyone outside of us. Plus, we can meet Tseng and see what he goes to do, know exactly when he will come and go and we will be able to reach him at all times." He sat in Yazoo's empty chair, looking his beloved over. "Would punishing me make you feel better?" he asked, a small sparkle in his eye.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you," Sephiroth growled. He was still not happy with the situation, and he blamed most of it on Vincent. The rational part of his mind told him that it was silly, but the irrational, protective part was worried.

"I would, indeed," he replied, smiling his secret smile. He couldn't help it, but when Sephiroth was pouting, he could be awfully cute sometimes when he wasn't being awfully infuriating.

tbc?