Yamato woke up to someone nuzzling his neck tenderly. "Ren." He said with a sleepy smile.
Ren stopped moving and looked up at him. "Yamato. I—" His voice cracked and he found himself unable to continue.
He took a deep breath and tried again. "You know, when I saw you cry last week, it broke my heart. At that time, I didn't think that there would be anything worse than that, but I was wrong. When I saw the fear in your eyes yesterday – at me – I wanted to die, Yamato. I've never felt like such a monster in my entire life. I'm so so—"
"Don't say it." Yamato interrupted. "No, YOU listen to me, you silly tiger. I wasn't afraid of you, I was afraid for you! I was afraid that you were going to do something you would regret later. While I admit that I had thought that you were going to hurt me – I know that isn't true now – but even then I wasn't afraid of the pain. I was afraid of what would happen when you realized what you have done. It's all moot now though, since you weren't going to hurt me in the first place. I'm the one who feel sorry, for thinking so badly of you. And yes, I know that you disagree with me, so I won't apologize for that; as long as you don't apologize for what you did as well."
Ren brooded for a while. "Fine. Then I won't apologize. But I insist that we come up with a safe word from now onwards. Something that will stop me in my tracks immediately if I ever make you feel uncomfortable or frightened ever again."
"We don't need that, Ren." Yamato caressed his cheek lovingly. "I know that you will never hurt me."
"Please, Yamato." Ren pleaded. "At least give me the peace of mind. Or else I'm going to be second-guessing myself every time we're together."
Yamato sighed. "Oh, alright then. So what will it be? Red, yellow and green, like the BDSM system?"
Ren considered it for a moment. "No. I want something that will work outside the bedroom as well. And if it's going to be something that puts a full halt on me, it has to be something that we will never mention in normal conversations."
Yamato arched an eyebrow. There were plenty of things that they would never talk about, like the latest collection of Coco Chanel or the political structure of Madagascar. However, he didn't think that he would ever remember that. The last thing he needed in an emergency was go through a list of ridiculous fashion trends or obscure countries. How could you remember something that you never talked about?
Finally an idea struck him. "What about full-cream milk? We both know I'm lactose intolerant, so we don't buy, keep or drink milk. It is unlikely that we'll ever have a conversation about specific types of milk. And it carries some meaning too, because it is actually harmful to me."
Ren chuckled in amusement, but agreed with the suggestion. "Weird, but I like it. It's easy to remember, and innocuous enough. You can even warn me in public without drawing any unwanted attention. Full-cream milk it is." He leaned over for a gentle kiss, before climbing out of bed and getting dressed.
"Where are you going?" Yamato asked with a small frown.
"You do remember that there was another person here last night right? And that he didn't come here just for a threesome, however mind-blowing it was?" Ren teased.
Yamato blushed slightly as the memory resurfaced. "Oh, Hayato is still here? Where did he sleep? On the couch?"
Ren nodded. "Go back to sleep, Yamato. I'll see you in a bit."
Ren was relieved to see that Hayato was already dressed and seated at the kitchen table, intently studying one of the files he brought.
"Morning." He greeted simply.
Hayato looked up. "Morning." There was no mention whatsoever of last night's activities.
Ren sat down. "So, brief me on what's happening."
Yamato finally got out of bed two hours later. He walked to the kitchen for some juice and saw that the two men were deep in discussion.
"Do you think we can get a deduction for the interest of the loan?"
"Yes, as long as you can establish that the interest is a revenue outgoing, even though the loan itself is a capital expense…"
Yamato shook his head. It was like they were speaking in a foreign language.
Ren sensed his boyfriend walking into the kitchen and looked up from his work. "Good morning, Yamato."
Hayato muttered an inaudible greeting, not bothering to tear his eyes away from the complicated calculation he was currently engaged in.
"Good morning, Ren, Hayato. Everything going well?" Yamato asked concernedly.
Hayato mumbled something else under his breath that sounded either like fluent French or a choice expletive. Ren ignored him. "Everything is fine." He said kindly. "Are you hungry?"
Yamato hesitated. He was absolutely starving, but Ren looked busy. And he didn't want to intrude on his work.
Ren smiled. "It's okay Yamato. We can resume our work later. I'm hungry myself, and I'm sure Hayato is too."
Hayato finished his calculation and drew two lines under the final figure he obtained. "Who wouldn't be hungry," He declared grumpily. "After all that physical exertion last night, followed by an even more intense mental exertion in the morning? I swear Ren, you don't pay me enough." He threw his pen down in frustration.
Yamato blushed bright red at the reminder while Ren chuckled. Yamato always blushed so prettily. Ren had lost the ability to blush a long time ago, courtesy of Kuroda Shin's training.
Hayato, too, was secretly pleased to see the pink spots on Yamato's cheeks. He looked adorable.
"Stop ogling my boyfriend." Ren snapped half-jokingly and half-warningly. That, however, just made Yamato blush even harder.
Yamato was annoyed that his cheeks betrayed him so easily. Especially when compared to mister-I-don't-blush-at-anything Ren. "Do you think I can ask Shin to teach me how to stop blushing?" He asked hopefully.
Ren gave him a pained look. "Trust me, Yamato, you don't want that." He changed the topic abruptly. "Is Italian okay?"
