Archive of Our Own

Sleeping Beauty

Richard Ranashinghe de Vulpian was the singular most beautiful person Seigi had ever had the pleasure of meeting. From the time of their first ever interaction till the present, that hasn’t changed. Some people may argue that he only felt that way because he harboured feelings towards the man. Seigi would reply that they were only saying that because they had never seen Richard. 

Though Seigi could not entirely deny the possibility of Richard’s beauty having a much more powerful effect on him than the average person. 

It was a beautifully pleasant day out. One of those days during the start of the winter season when the sun would be shining brightly to provide a comfortable warmth on an otherwise chilly day. The perfect weather to sit out and read. 

Which is what Seigi and Richard were doing. 

Seigi finished reading the last page of the book before closing it and placing it on the table next to him, a content smile on his lips. He had greatly enjoyed reading the book. Richard always took his preferences into consideration when making recommendations. 

He sat up on the recliner chair and stretched, not having realized how stiff his muscles had gotten. He had been far too engrossed in his novel. So engrossed, in fact, that he realized he hadn’t had a single sip of any liquid for… a few hours possibly. Not since he finished his cup of royal milk tea. 

“Hey, Richard, I’m going to go get something to drink. Do you want a refill of your tea?”, Seigi asked, still stretching and not really looking at Richard. The only answer he received was silence. He turned to where the blond man was relaxing. “Hey, Richard—“

He stopped once he got a look at the man who was lying on the chair next to his own. The man’s eyes were closed and his chest rose and fell at a steady pace together with his deep breaths. He was fast asleep. Seigi inched closer to him, his gaze not leaving Richard’s sleeping face. 

This wasn’t the first time Seigi had witnessed Richard sleeping. Far from it, in fact. While it was somewhat of a rare treat during their little trip to France, now Richard and he found themselves sleeping in the same room quite often. 

On nights that they couldn’t stop talking until they were too tired to walk to their own rooms, the two would often doze off where they are, be it on the bed in either Richard or Seigi’s rooms, or the couch if they were in the living room. By morning, they would end up as a jumble of limbs, courtesy of Richard who, Seigi had realized, enjoyed snuggling while asleep. However, given how Seigi would normally wake up before Richard, he was fairly certain the man himself was unaware about this unconscious behaviour of his. 

On such mornings, Seigi takes his time and watches over Richard in his most vulnerable state. Back when Seigi was still working part time at Étranger, Richard would try to maintain a cool image in front of him. Certainly, this cool facade of his always did have some cracks in it, what with him getting flustered and being easy to bribe. But there was a certain aura which seemed to have surrounded him back then. 

Back when he didn’t know Richard as well as he does now, a time when he was younger and more immature, he believed the man to be free of any flaws. 

But the longer they have known each other, the more sides of this beautiful being Seigi has discovered. Richard, too, has become more open with him than he used to be, including showing his vulnerability. And that also meant showing Seigi his unguarded sleeping face.

So yes, Richard’s sleeping face wasn’t anything new to Seigi. But that didn’t mean he didn’t love looking at it. Each time, he found some new detail on the beautiful face to be mesmerised by.

He watched Richard as his hair gently blew in the wind, the front bangs falling across his lovely face. His soft hair shone like gold as the sunlight touched them. His lips were parted just slightly, an occasional whisper leaving them in a soft breath, not quite reaching Seigi’s ears. Seigi leaned towards him, watching his eyelids flutter slightly as the bright sun rays fell on them, not allowing Richard a peaceful sleep. 

Seigi’s shadow fell across Richard’s face. The beautiful blond man relaxed, a smile gracing his lips as he slept. Seigi stayed like that for a while longer, watching. It was a quiet afternoon. The dogs were asleep. There were no cars on the road. The only sound was that of the wind rustling the leaves. Seigi was glad. The quietness would help Richard relax and sleep. 

The two had had a busy few days, constantly having to visit clients and dealing with some work Saul had asked of them. Whenever they would reach back home, Richard would promptly collapse in the bed and sleep like the dead until morning. But Seigi could still see the exhaustion behind his practiced facade. He’d been doing all he could to make things easier for his boss: arranging meetings in a way that would allow a short break, getting him sweets whenever possible, and giving him as much “large dog therapy” as he needed. But sleep is still the best way to get Richard back on his feet. 

Positioning one arm on either side of Richard’s head to balance himself, Seigi leaned down, eyes trained on Richard’s face the whole time. His long, golden eyelashes brushed against his cheek as the sunlight fell on his face again, no longer obstructed by Seigi’s figure. It was only for a moment as a cloud came and covered the sun. Richard went back into his peaceful slumber. 

Seigi released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He smiled at the sleeping Richard before bringing his lips close to the other’s ear. 

“I hope you have the sweetest of dreams, Richard. And when you wake up, I’ll have the sweetest pudding ready for you.”

Seigi had just started pulling away when he noticed a slight, almost imperceptible, movement of Richard’s lips. Curiosity got the better of him and he found himself leaning towards Richard again. Seigi could feel Richard’s soft breaths brushing against his face. He stayed like that for a while, waiting for the other man to mumble something else in his sleep. 

He waited for ten seconds, twenty, a little over half a minute, a full minute. Seigi’s arms had started to hurt. Slightly disappointed, he moved to straighten his body. But before he could do so, he heard something.

“Seigi…”

He sucked in a breath, his movement coming to a halt. His heart rate picked up. He felt his face heat up as he balled his fists tightly enough to make his knuckles go white.

“He’s dreaming of me…”

Seigi felt embarrassed, happy, excited. Numerous feelings all assaulted his heart and brain at once, overwhelming him. He felt as though an energy that wasn’t there before was suddenly coursing through his body. He felt restless. He wanted to sing and dance in happiness. But he also felt calm. A peaceful calmness which existed simply because of how peaceful Richard looked. Amongst his restless feelings, he also felt a want, a need , to stay right there and continue watching the man. 

Richard made a low sound and turned onto his side. The book he had been reading, which was previously resting atop his chest, began to slide off. Seigi grabbed it before it could fall and placed it on the table together with his own. 

Seigi noticed some of Richard’s hair falling over his face. He knelt down next to the lawn chair Richard was resting on and brought up a hand, moving the hair aside with his fingers, caressing Richard’s cheek in the process. Richard moved his head the slightest amount, as though asking for more of Seigi’s gentle caresses. Seigi complied, a smile blooming on his face when he noticed how happy Richard looked.

He made himself comfortable on the ground as he continued to gently stroke Richard’s soft cheek. Richard let out a small, child-like giggle, something he probably wouldn’t do when he was awake. Seigi wondered what he was dreaming of.

He really was beautiful. Anyone would say that if they saw his face. But for Seigi, his beauty wasn’t all that made him so endearing. His grace, his elegance, his immense amount of knowledge, his kindness, his desire to teach Seigi, his love of sweets, the happy face he made when he ate a delicious dessert, the way he would frown if Seigi would choose something else over spending time with him, his clinginess whenever they meet after being apart from a period of time, every aspect of his made the man called Richard all the more beautiful in Seigi’s eyes. He still continued to learn more about him. And every time he found some new side to him, the more beautiful Richard became. 

For the third time that afternoon, Seigi found himself leaning towards Richard again. “Richard, please don’t show this side of yours to anyone else but me”, he whispered, placing a kiss on the other man’s cheek. 

It was at that moment that Richard’s eyelids fluttered, as though he were a sleeping princess in a fairytale who had been awakened by a kiss. 

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the kind of situation Seigi wanted to be Richard’s “prince charming” in. 

He quickly jumped up to his feet and scrambled backwards just as Richard’s eyes opened completely. The beautiful man sat up and stretched, gathering his bearings. 

Which was probably why he hadn’t noticed Seigi’s foot getting caught around the leg of the lawn chair, causing him to trip backwards, taking the chair down with him. He jumped at the sound and Seigi heard him call out his name. 

Within a matter of seconds, Richard was next to him, pulling the chair up to free Seigi and helping his secretary up on his feet. He immediately sat him back down on the lawn chair and started checking him for injuries as Seigi laughed and dispelled his worries. Or at least, he tried to. 

“Seigi, your “I’m fine” is something I absolutely cannot believe in. I haven’t forgotten that time in London, you know”, Richard said, giving him a look which seemed to say “shut up and let me worry about you”. 

Seigi laughed in response. “But I really am fine! It’s just a scratch and it doesn’t even hurt! Ow, ow, ow! Okay I lied! I’m sorry! It hurts! Stop touching it!”

As Richard tended to his wound, Seigi mentally reminded himself to not lose control of his actions like that again. No matter how much he wanted to, kissing a sleeping person without their permission wasn’t right. 

He winced slightly as Richard applied antiseptic to the scrape on his arm. 

“This pain will be my punishment” , Seigi decided. 

Richard finished putting the bandage over the scrape before lifting Seigi’s arm up and placing a kiss on top of the bandage. Seigi’s heart thumped loudly as Richard smiled up at him in an almost coy manner. 

Face red and desperately trying to hold back the grin creeping up on his face, Seigi bit out through clenched teeth, “Ri-Richard, let this pain just be a punishment for me! Please!”

Shower Incident

“Ugh… it’s so hot!”, Seigi complained as he entered the house he shared with Richard. He pulled on the collar of his t-shirt which had gotten stuck to his skin with sweat. Quickly putting the eggs and milk he had braved the heat to go buy into the fridge, he made his way to the living room where he assumed the air conditioner was switched on on account of all the doors leading to it being closed. 

He sighed and closed his eyes, pleased as the cool air hit his skin immediately upon opening the door. Because he was sweating so much, the air soon felt just a tad bit too cold. Rubbing his arms he said, “Richard, could you increase the temperature slightly? Just for a bit.”

There was no response. Seigi looked around the room, confused. No Richard. The dogs, however, were there. Jiro and Saburo lay sleeping at a location where they could receive the blast of cold air directly. 

Seigi headed back out into the hallway and called, “Richard? Are you home? Richard!” 

For a moment he contemplated checking the bedrooms but the rest of the house was sweltering in the mid summer heat and the last thing Seigi wanted to do was walk away from the now comfortably cool room. And if Richard were around, what reason would there be to not sit in the room which had the air conditioner on. Even if he were in the bathroom or something, he should’ve been out by now. 

So, Seigi made his way back inside the living room and sat down on the sofa, pulling out his phone. Jiro, who had woken up by that time, made his way over to Seigi and placed his head on his master’s lap, looking up at him with a pleading look in his eyes. Seigi laughed and scratched a spot behind the dog’s ear. Jiro closed his eyes and let out a happy sounding bark. 

Opening the messaging app, Seigi quickly located Richard’s name. The chat showed that he had sent a series of messages when Seigi wasn’t checking his phone.

“Due to a sudden change in plans, Kimura-sama has to fly back a day early. He has asked to shift our meeting to today. I am going to the shop to meet with him but I shall return within an hour or two.”

“I have left the air conditioner on for the dogs. Don’t worry, the temperature isn’t so low as to make them uncomfortable.”

“It is quite hot today. I am worried since you went out on foot. Take a taxi on the way back.”

“Make sure to keep yourself hydrated in any case.”

“I made some Royal Milk Tea earlier. Drink it with ice when you return.”

“Would the pudding have finished setting by the time I return?”

A fond smile appeared on Seigi’s face while reading the messages. 

“I’ve made it home without any problems” , he typed out, “It really is hot though. You be careful too. And the pudding has finished setting.” He had checked on the pudding when he was putting in the milk and eggs. “I’ll have it ready for you to eat when you get back.”

“And send.”

Richard might still be with Kimura-sama in which case he wouldn’t see the message until later. Seigi lifted his arms and stretched. A grimace came over his face.

“Ugh, I stink of sweat! Jiro, sorry but you have to move. I need to take a shower.”

Jiro made an unhappy sound but complied. 

Giving the dog a final pat, Seigi first went to his room to pick up a change of clothes. Looking through his closet, however, he could not find the shirt he was looking for. Since it was light and made of a soft fabric, it would have been comfortable to wear in this heat.

Having decided that it most definitely wasn’t in his closet, Seigi, on a hunch, decided to check among Richard’s belongings instead.

He found it in Richard’s closet, neatly folded on top of a stack of shirts.

“He really does like this shirt, doesn’t he? Maybe I should buy him the same one”, Seigi mumbled to himself as he picked up the shirt and closed the closet door before exiting the room.

“Though… Now that I think about it, despite how frequently I find this shirt in Richard’s closet, I’ve never actually seen him wear it. But I do find it among the laundry often. Does he wear it when I’m not around? That’s a bit of a shame… I’d like to see Richard wearing my clothes…”

Seigi felt his face heat up at the thought. His heart thumped wildly in his chest at the mere imagination. His body felt warm. 

“Aah! I better keep the temperature of the water low! I need to cool my head!” , he thought to himself as he rushed into the bathroom, trying to get all thoughts of Richard wearing his clothes, which would undoubtedly be just slightly loose around his shoulders, out of his head. He stood under the cold blast of water rushing down his body, desperately trying not to think about how his t-shirts would droop just a bit off of his beautiful boss’ shoulders, showing the barest amount of skin in an almost teasing manner. He tried to banish all thoughts of how some of his deep-necked tank tops would allow a bit of Richard’s clavicle to peek through. Of how some of his shorter tops, which would end right at the waist for him, would probably allow a good view of Richard’s stomach, especially when the slightly taller man would raise his arms. Every image his mind conjured had Richard showing just the slightest bit of skin showing, teasing him and never letting him see the full extent of his partner’s flawless skin. 

With a groan, Seigi shook his head. “No. No, no, absolutely not. I shouldn’t be thinking of such things.”

He turned the shower knob to cold and let the freezing water run down his skin. Allowing the water to cool him down, he exited the bathroom in somewhat of a daze after a few minutes and stepped into the adjacent changing room where he had left his clothes. 

“S-Seigi?!”

Seigi stopped the moment he heard the panicked yelp. Turning his eyes towards the source, he found a very embarrassed, very shirtless Richard desperately trying to pull up his pants without tripping in the process. 

With a quick apology, Seigi quickly whipped his head to the side as he felt his cheeks burn. He and Richard had known each other for years now and had been living together for a while but this was the first time he’d ever seen the man shirtless. 

“What is with this timing?! Is this some kind of romcom?! I don’t think I can process this right now!”

Despite the voice in his head screaming at him to allow Richard his privacy, he couldn’t help but take a quick peek at the other man. 

He thought back on when Jeffrey had told him that Richard was well built. He already had had some idea of what he meant, it’s not like he’d never seen Richard in short sleeves after all, but perhaps… perhaps he hadn’t quite grasped what it was Jeffrey had wanted to say. Until now that is.

Richard was muscular. The smooth, fair skin and perfectly shaped abs, no doubt the result of a proper workout schedule, were all clearly visible to Seigi. So was Richard’s red face which he pointedly kept turned away from Seigi’s direction.

Seigi looked away. Richard was embarrassed, of course he was. By staring at him, Seigi would just make him more uncomfortable.

“Sorr—”

“Ah… Ah, I— Sorry, I didn’t realize—” Richard interrupted Seigi’s apology with his own. He fumbled over his words. The cool, confident Richard who always had the most beautiful and eloquent manner of speech, whose words had been opening new doors and expanding the horizons for Seigi ever since they first met all those years ago, was stuttering and fumbling and generally having a hard time forming an actual sentence. 

Why—?

“Oh.”

Seigi, who had just taken a shower, was naked. Absolutely naked with nothing but a towel covering his private parts.

“Ah, no, I was the one who forgot to lock the door”, Seigi said, slowly backing away into the bathroom. 

Unfortunately, he had missed the empty laundry basket kept close to the door. His leg hit it and, in his surprise, Seigi lost his balance.

“Seigi!”, he heard Richard exclaim just as he shut his eyes tightly and waited for the inevitable pain as his head would come in contact with the floor quite painfully in due time.

The pain never came. Instead, he felt short puffs of air hitting his face. He gingerly opened his eyes.

Richard was looming over him, a hand under Seigi’s head, keeping it from touching the floor. 

“Did you get hurt?”, he asked.

Seigi wordlessly shook his head. He probably couldn’t say anything even if he tried. Richard was right there , in front of him, close enough for him to smell the scent of Richard’s cologne, a particular one Seigi remembers complimenting. If either of them moved even slightly, they would end up kissing. 

Once the thought had entered his mind, Seigi felt his face burn. He looked away, trying to find something, anything to focus on. Something that wasn’t a pair of concerned blue eyes belonging to the most beautiful man Seigi had ever seen. 

“Seigi? Are you alright?”, Richard asked, pressing closer to Seigi. “You’re not saying anything. Please tell me if something is wrong.”

What was wrong was that Seigi was surrounded. Richard’s muscular arms were on either side of his face, pinning him down. If he looked downwards, he would be greeted by a clear view of Richard’s shirtless torso hovering mere inches above his own. But the most dangerous situation of all was, undoubtedly, looking straight ahead. Seigi had known Richard for over five years now but seeing his face so close still made his heart race. 

“Seigi?”, Richard said again. His voice was so gentle and soothing and so close to his ear. 

“Ah— Ah, Richard, I…”

His throat felt uncomfortably dry. His voice was hoarse. 

This was strange. Even if he found his heart pounding at the sheer proximity he had with Richard, he shouldn’t feel that nervous. 

Though, perhaps it wasn’t the nerves at all. 

He noticed how his surroundings didn’t seem to want to stay still and a black fog had started to creep into his vision. 

“Gonna pass out.”

~*~*~

When he opened his eyes, he was on his bed, clothed and head still feeling unusually heavy. 

“Are you awake?”

He turned his head in the direction of the voice. Richard sat by his bed and looked at him worriedly. He felt a sense of déjà vu as he remembered something similar happening back during his first trip to London, when Richard had disappeared and he felt like there was a hole in his heart. 

He opened his mouth to reassure Richard. What came out was a hoarse whisper. Richard moved, far too quickly for Seigi’s tired eyes to follow. He closed his eyes and groaned. Something was pressed against his lips. 

“Drink”, Richard’s voice, both gentle and commanding at the same time, instructed him. Seigi did as told and opened his lips, gulping greedily as the water flowed in. Every sip somehow made him feel infinitely better. 

“Not too fast. Slow down. Take your time.”

When the glass was pulled away, Seigi opened his eyes. “What happened?”, he asked, noting with satisfaction that his ability of speech seemed to be returning. 

“You are dehydrated.” Richard shot him a scolding look. “I told you to drink enough water, didn’t I? It’s unusually hot today and you were walking around in the heat! You are always looking out for me but please do learn to take better care of your own health!”

“Yeah, sorry…”, Seigi murmured, feeling impossibly guilty for making Richard worry. 

Richard laid a hand on Seigi’s cheek and gently stroked it with his thumb. “Really… you scared me. This is the second time you’ve fainted on me. You need to stop doing that! Take care of yourself, please.”

“Mm… I will.” Seigi leaned into Richard’s touch. “Promise.”

“Good.” Richard smiled down at him. “I will go feed the dogs. Stay here and rest.”

“Ah, don’t worry, I’m fine now.”

As Seigi went to sit up, he felt the room tilt. Richard’s arms were around his body almost at once, easing him back into bed. 

“Quit being stubborn and rest, Seigi.”

His tone clearly told Seigi that Richard wasn’t allowing any room for discussion. He sighed and nodded. 

“Okay. Now stay . I am not letting you out of bed until I can be confident that you won’t pass out the moment you try standing.”

“Ehh? Richard, I’m alright already! Just slightly dizzy! I won’t pass out!”

“Still not letting you out of bed.”

“Oh, come on! What if I need to use the toilet?”

“I will simply carry you to the washroom. You need not worry, I won’t follow you inside. But I will try to limit you walking around on your own until I am completely sure you are fine.”

Seigi covered his face with his hands. “God, I feel like I’m a child again! Hiromi used to carry me to the bathroom when I was sick! Back in elementary school !”

“If you can’t properly hydrate yourself like a proper adult, then I certainly would treat you like a child. Honestly now, passing out because you forgot to drink water when you were roaming around outside in the boiling heat. You really can be hopeless sometimes.”

“You’re right… I’m sorry.” 

Seigi looked away guiltily. 

He heard Richard sigh. A shadow fell over his body. He turned to look at Richard just as he  leaned in and kissed Seigi’s cheek. His lips lingered for a while and Seigi closed his eyes, focusing on how Richard’s lips felt on his skin. He added this to his other precious memories of the various kisses Richard had given him over the years. 

Richard pulled back slightly, still leaning over him, and smiled brightly down at Seigi. “You are always looking after me. Just let me take care of you for a change.”

Richard’s voice was low. It seemed to reverberate in every corner of Seigi’s being. He felt his face heating up again. 

When Richard finally left the room, Seigi found himself staring longingly at the doorway, waiting for the beautiful man to re-enter. The events that had taken place, everything from what happened in the bathroom to the kiss, kept replaying in Seigi’s head in a loop. 

“The dehydration was definitely not the only reason I passed out.”

First Dance

The soft ballroom music, perfect for a waltz, echoed through the halls of the house. The dogs were asleep, having been put to slumber by the gentle sounds. Seigi and Richard sat on the couch. Or rather, Seigi sat with Richard half leaning on him, watching some regency era movie which was airing. 

“Actual ballroom dances are really elegant”, Seigi said.

Richard shifted his head slightly on Seigi’s shoulder to look up at him with a playful smirk. “I remember walking into you doing a solo waltz once.”

Seigi blushed. “Forget that ever happened! Please!”

Richard laughed, snuggling closer to Seigi. Their hands were right next to each other, their pinkies touching. “Instead of dancing a two person dance on your own, you should dance together with someone.”

Seigi laughed. “And risk stepping on their toes and hurting them? I’ll pass. Besides who would I even dance with.”

Richard gave him a look. Seigi was well trained in Richardology and could tell what he wanted to say at a glance. 

Why do you think I am suggesting this in the first place?

Seigi started playing with Richard’s fingers. “I don’t know how to dance. Not properly.”

Richard hummed. “I’ll teach you.”

Seigi raised an eyebrow. “You’ll willingly let me step on your toes?”

Richard chuckled. “I will. Until you are able to dance without doing so.”

“I’ll go buy some ointment for you to use afterwards.”

A  laugh. “Sure, if you want to.” Richard sat up and switched off the TV. “But why don’t we get started now?”

Seigi blinked at the beautiful man. “Now as in… right now ?”

Richard shrugged,making even such a simple gesture look unbelievably elegant. “Why not? Don’t leave until tomorrow what you can do today, right? And it’s rare that we both have an entire day off at the same time. We don’t even have much else to do today.”

Seigi wondered if he should protest. Suddenly being asked to dance together with Richard, he hadn’t had the chance to prepare his heart. 

Before he could make up his mind, Richard stood up. He messed around with his phone until a tune resounded through the room. The same tune the characters in the movie were dancing to. 

Richard placed it down on a table with a satisfied expression and walked over to Seigi. He leaned down on one knee and raised a hand towards his partner. 

“May I have this dance?”

Seigi felt himself blush. Richard looked up at him, amused, clearly waiting for Seigi to take his hand. Face still dusted red, Seigi placed his hand in Richard’s outstretched one.

“Are you sure about this?”

“I am.”

Richard pulled Seigi up to his feet. “Put your hands here”, Richard said as he guided Seigi’s hands. “Good. Now, just follow my lead.”

Richard placed one arm on Seigi’s back and used the other to clasp his hand. He pulled Seigi close and started moving in time to the music.

Seigi kept his eyes trained on Richard’s feet, trying hard to follow his movements. Richard moved like a trained expert. He probably really was trained in things like dancing , Seigi found himself thinking as the music, which had been a slow melody at first, picked up pace. It wasn’t terribly fast but the steps had become quick enough for him to have to focus. He put all other thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on not trampling all over Richard’s feet.

“Seigi, it’s impolite to not look at your partner while dancing.”

“Uh, yeah, sorry.” Seigi raised his gaze and met Richard’s eyes, feeling his heart rate pick up at the sight of those beautiful eyes so close to him. 

Richard smiled at him. “Good. Now don’t worry. Follow my lead and you’ll be fine.”

“Right. Got it.”

“You are too stiff. Relax a bit.”

Seigi nodded, forcing the tension out of his shoulders. It was easy. Looking at Richard made it easy. Richard’s practiced, confident movements guided him along. Before long, Seigi was able to follow Richard’s movements without fumbling around. 

Richard's face glowed with pride. “Good! You are doing great, Seigi!” 

Seigi beamed at him. “It’s all thanks to you! I’m actually able to dance properly! You’re amazing!”

They both laughed as they spun and twirled around their living room. 

The music was soon accompanied by excited barks as Jiro and Saburo ran up to their masters, wanting to join in the fun. 

“Ah, whoa! Jiro, Saburo! Don’t run around here! I’ll trip over you guys! We’ll play in a bit!”, Seigi scolded lightly and the dogs barked in response. Staying clear of their masters’ legs, the two started playing among themselves, jumping around, barking happily.

Richard chuckled at their antics before turning his attention back on Seigi. “How about we speed things up?”, he asked with a hint of mischief to his voice. 

Seigi was aware that his dancing abilities were not his own, but thanks to Richard. Even so, the idea of a small challenge did appeal to him.

So he grinned. “Why not?”

Richard changed the song before taking up his position as Seigi’s partner once again. The music was slow to start off with but quickly picked up speed. Their movements also got faster. It took concentration to be able to follow Richard’s movements. Seigi found himself tuning out his surroundings, the music, everything. All that existed in his world at that moment was Richard. 

If he had been paying attention to the music, he might’ve been able to notice the gradual shift towards a more gentle melody. Softer and calling for slower movements. 

When Richard slowed down, Seigi was caught off guard. 

He heard a gasp. Richard was suddenly getting further away from him. 

“Seigi!”

He felt fingers clasping around his wrist and an arm around his waist before he found himself being propelled towards Richard. He fell against Richard’s chest and the momentum sent them both sprawling over the couch behind them. He felt Richard’s hand caress his back. 

“Are you okay?”

Seigi nodded, not moving away from Richard. Pressed against Richard, Seigi could hear the thumping of the beautiful man’s heart. It was a little fast. Looking up at Richard’s face, he noted it was slightly flushed. 

Was the reason his heart was beating so wildly the same as Seigi’s? Was he, too, affected by the proximity between them? 

Richard’s warmth surrounded Seigi, his scent enveloped him. Seigi almost felt light headed.

“Seigi?”

Richard’s voice sounded… strange . Slightly tense and breathless.

“Yeah, um, sorry. I think speeding up that much with my skills wasn’t that good an idea.”

Seigi laughed, trying to calm his heart that still beat wildly. He began to pull away from Richard.

He felt a small tug on his sleeve, halting his retreat. He tried to look at Richard. Richard turned away. 

“Not yet…”, he heard Richard whisper. 

Seigi, still pressed against Richard’s body, couldn’t find enough space to move to see the beautiful face. He wondered what kind of expression Richard had on that ethereal face.

“You did well, Seigi. A little more practice and you’d be able to keep up.”

“Will you keep teaching me?”

Richard chuckled. Seigi could feel the sound reverberating in Richard’s chest. “Do you even have to ask?”

Seigi raised his head and beamed at him. Richard, turning back to him, grinned back. It was not one of his usual elegant smiles. It was excited and almost… child-like.

Seigi sucked in a breath. It was when Richard made these kinds of expressions that Seigi felt truly blessed to be the one who was privy to this side of Richard. 

“You really are beautiful.”

Richard laughed, with his cheeks red and breath fast, looking unbelievably jubilant and beautiful. “Today too, I am truly grateful for your praises.”

Seigi pushed himself off of Richard. His cheeks felt warm and his body light. “I’ll go get us some iced tea. We worked up quite a sweat.”

The beautiful man nodded, his golden locks swaying slightly with the motion. “Thank you.”

Seigi wandered towards the kitchen in a daze, the memory of Richard’s joyful laughter playing repeatedly in his head.

“Seigi? Watch out—!”

The dogs jumped as a loud sound rang out, soon followed by a groan of pain.

“Seigi!”, Richard exclaimed, running to his aid.

‘I really do need to pay closer attention to my surroundings…’ , Seigi thought to himself as he nursed the bump on his forehead, a result of walking headfirst into the door, and trying to calm the panicking Richard down.

Evening Drinks

Seigi and Richard stood at the doorway, seeing off their last customer for the week. The elderly gentleman smiled widely, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the process. “I do hope you enjoy the wine”, he said.

“I am quite certain we will. I have no doubts that the tastes of a connoisseur such as you would be impeccable”, Richard replied with his trained businessman-like smile. Seigi knew he meant his words. 

The man laughed. “Nothing would please me more than that.” 

He waved goodbye as Richard and Seigi bowed. Only once they could hear the footsteps going down the stairs did they stand back up. 

“It’s really nice of him to gift us that wine! It looks expensive too!”, Seigi exclaimed as he picked up the used cups and plates. 

Richard picked up the box containing the gemstones and smiled at him. “Yes, I would say so, going by the brand. And it seems to have been fermented for quite a while. We should savour the taste while drinking it.”

“Now that I think about it, the only times I’ve had a drink with you is when Jeffrey’s with us. When it’s just the two of us, we always have tea.” Seigi rolled up his sleeves as he got ready to wash the cups. He saw Richard entering the kitchen out of the corner of his eye. 

The beautiful man leaned on the kitchen counter next to Seigi and looked at him, a twinkle in his eyes. “In that case, how about we have a drink together tonight? Just us two. If I’m not wrong, we don’t have any appointments to worry about tomorrow.”

Seigi couldn’t help his heart speeding up. When a man as gorgeous as Richard were to say those words, which from a normal person would sound as nothing more than an attempt at flirting, it was like getting an invite from the gods themselves. A rare event that most people would think to have a one in a million chance of happening to them! A miracle!

But for Seigi, it was an invite to spend time together by his friend, partner, housemate. But Richard was also the person he held feelings for. So he couldn’t help but feel happy, as he always did, just by the thought of being together with him. He also couldn’t help but feel nervous at the sight of Richard looking at him with such a… seductive expression. 

Hoping his face wasn’t betraying his feelings, Seigi smiled. “I’ll check once to make sure but as far as I remember, we don’t.”

Richard grinned at him. “Good! I am looking forward to it.”

His heart still beating just the slightest bit faster than usual, Seigi grinned back.

~*~*~

When Seigi was done loading up the dishwasher, he walked out to the living room to find Jiro and Saburo jumping around Richard’s legs as Richard himself tried to keep the wine bottle and glasses out of harm’s way. Seigi laughed and knelt down, calling the dogs over to him. They ran up to their master. Saburo jumped up, balancing on his hind legs, as his front paws rested on Seigi’s shoulders to hold him up and barked at him. Jiro lay down with his head on Seigi’s lap and looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Seigi laughed, absentmindedly scratching Jiro behind his ear. “What is it that you little rascals want now?”

Both dogs’ ears perked up and they ran towards the door leading outside, barking and circling around in front of it. Seigi gave them an apologetic smile. “Do you guys want to play outside? I’m sorry but it’s late.” Seigi felt his heart clench when they looked up at him with sad eyes and unhappy whines. He quickly thought of how to appease the two. “How about this, tomorrow morning we will go out early and have an extra long walk?”

Their tails wagged vigorously and they barked in glee. Seigi giggled. “Then you guys better go and sleep now. Then you can play a lot tomorrow.”

They barked in response and ran off. Seigi heard more barking from the direction they went off in and smiled. “Still gonna play, huh? Honestly, they have too much energy!”

Richard, who had been watching them from a distance, approached Seigi with an amused smile. “It was like watching a parent trying to get their hyperactive kids to go to bed.”

Seigi grinned at him. “Well, they are our kids after all, aren’t they Richard-papa?”

Richard’s smile widened. “I certainly do agree, Seigi-papa.”

Seigi faltered and his cheeks coloured red. “Hearing myself being called “Seigi-papa” like that is…”, he looked away from Richard, “it feels kinda nice.”

He remembered how afraid he’d always been of ending up like his biological father. Somewhere in his heart, he probably thought it would be better for him to not have a family. Not if he could end up hurting them. But this family that he had with Richard, Jiro and Saburo… he would never let go of it. 

“You make for a good father, Seigi.”

Richard’s heartfelt words momentarily stunned Seigi. He felt his throat clog up and his eyes burn. He noticed Richard’s worried gaze on him. Seigi quickly turned away and hid his face with his arms. 

“Ah… No… This is…”

Richard raised his hands towards Seigi’s face, moving his arms out of the way, and cupping his cheeks. Richard tilted Seigi’s head downwards and placed a kiss on his forehead. Seigi closed his eyes, relishing the feeling of Richard’s lips against his skin. 

Richard pulled away and Seigi opened his eyes. The beautiful man smiled at him. Richard didn’t say anything and took his hand, leading him towards the dining table, the bottle of wine, along with a few more bottles of liquor Seigi had found in the kitchen cupboards, and glasses neatly arranged on top. Richard pulled out a chair and gestured for Seigi to have a seat before pouring out two glasses of the wine and sitting down himself. 

He slid one of the glasses over to Seigi. “What should we toast too?”

“Eh? We’re doing a toast?”, Seigi asked as he reached out towards the glass. Picking it up he stared at it with his eyebrows furrowed. After pondering for a while, his face lit up. Raising his glass, he said, “To Jiro, Saburo, our families and our friends! Oh, and also to all our regular customers! Ah, I don’t mean to say I don’t appreciate our other customers too! Well, to everyone who helps keep Jewelry Étranger afloat and—”

At that moment, Richard, whose shoulders had been shaking slightly up to that point, let out a snigger. “That’s far too long a toast!”

“Oh…”

Seigi thought for a moment. Then, raising his glass again with a grin, he said, “To everyone’s health and happiness!”

Richard smiled at him. He raised his own glass and touched it lightly against Seigi’s. “And to you, who’s kindness has helped me and everyone else who you mentioned.”

Seigi’s cheeks coloured red as Richard took a sip of his drink, looking particularly pleased with himself. 

His heart pounding, Seigi whispered, “And to you, the reason my life is blessed as it is”, and took a sip of his own drink. 

~*~*~

“You’re telling me you broke into a place you weren’t meant to go? You ?!”

Richard laughed heartily. Even though he had a fairly strong tolerance towards alcohol, Seigi could tell Richard was starting to get slightly tipsy. “Jeff really wanted the lead singer’s autograph. The original plan was that he would go alone but I was afraid that things would go, well, horribly wrong if he was left to his own devices. So I got him to bring me along.”

“And how did that go?”

“How do you think it went? We were caught outside the dressing rooms. The security personnel were quite amused with our antics, we actually were trying, very poorly I might add, to sneak around and we were still kids back then, but Harry really gave it to us.”

“Yeah, he really can be scary when mad…” Seigi thought back to when Henry had started cursing at Laurent back in Sri Lanka and shuddered. He definitely did not want to be on the receiving end of Henry’s anger. 

Richard leaned his head on his hand and met Seigi’s eyes. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you have any stories about mischief you had gotten up to as a child?”

Seigi folded his arms and thought for a while. “There are quite a few, actually. But there is one in particular that I remember quite well.”

“Oh?”

“Back in sixth grade, I came across an injured cat one day on my way back from school. The apartment complex I lived in back then didn’t allow pets, so I decided to sneak the cat in. Only until it had healed. Hiromi was quite busy those days, and generally wouldn’t be home until late in the night and would leave early in the morning, so I thought I’d be able to hide it from her. Unfortunately, it turned out that the cat was a bit more capable of moving around than I had imagined. I treated its wound and then left to get something for it to eat. When I returned, it was gone. I had left a window open.”

“I’m assuming it didn’t just leave?”

“Nope. It went around to the other apartments and started stealing food! And it had stepped into a puddle of mud at some point so it even left its mark at the crime scenes!”

Richard sniggered at that. “And? Did you get found out?”

“Yup”, Seigi said, taking a sip of the wine, “Or rather, I told the adults what had happened. I thought they’d be furious but Hiromi only scolded me a bit and then our landlady found someone to take the cat in.”

“So it all worked out.”

“Yeah! Though the entire day was an absolute mess! I was afraid of coming clean at first and tried to search for the cat instead. It was really hard coming up with excuses when I was asked what I was searching for!”

“I can imagine”, Richard said with a smile. Strangely enough, that smile wasn’t just a look of amusement at the story of a child and a cat causing mischief, it was a look of pride. 

“Richard?”, Seigi enquired. He didn’t need to say anything else, Richard had evidently understood. 

He gracefully shook his head and beamed at Seigi. “I was simply thinking about how you have always been so kind.”

Seigi felt a little bashful at the sudden complement. “Anyone would’ve done the same in my place.”

Richard raised the glass to his lips. “Seigi, you may think that what you did wasn’t anything special but it really was. Not everyone is kind enough to get involved with situations they find troublesome.”

“I remember that when I first started my part time job at Étranger, I caused you, and our customers, a fair amount of trouble because of how nosy I am”, Seigi grumbled, fidgeting a bit. He was happy, incredibly happy. He felt happy whenever Richard praised him. But the memories of the times he’d been an annoyance for others kept him from feeling too happy about it. 

Richard stood up, taking the bottle of wine, and leaned over the table to refill Seigi’s now empty glass. “You were young back then. Young and immature. You wanted to believe that good things would happen so you went along with your instincts. And while I won’t say that your way of doing things was ideal, I cannot deny that things did turn out for the better.” He sat back down and smiled. “And not to mention, were you not the type of person who would rush to those in need, I might have missed the chance to meet the person who has become so precious to me.”

Richard grinned at him, his cheeks lightly flushed from the drinks, looking so, so beautiful. Seigi felt his heart pounding, faster and louder. Was it because of Richard’s beauty or his words? Maybe it was both. Seigi wasn’t sure. His brain had slowed down from the drinks. He picked up his glass and stared down at his reflection in the wine, hoping to take a few seconds to compose himself and calm down. It didn’t seem to work so he did the next best thing which came to his alcohol addled brain and downed the previously full glass in one go. 

“Seigi?!”

“No, sorry, I just…” Seigi groaned and laid his head down on the table. Really, Richard’s beauty is something that still moves him to this day. But it’s not just his beauty, his kindness, his love for sweets and gemstones, the way his eyes lit up looking at something he loved, the way he looked at Seigi, everything about this beautiful man was something Seigi found himself drawn to. 

He looked up at Richard, his cheeks burning. “You are really precious to me too.”

Richard’s cheeks turned even redder. In the silence of the room, Seigi picked up the bottle for another refill.

“I think we should stop now”, Richard said. He was probably right. They had already had a few glasses of wine and liquor, one of the liquor bottles was empty by this point, and Seigi could tell both he and Richard were probably feeling the effects of the alcohol. Him a little more than Richard, seeing as he had had more to drink and had less tolerance in comparison to the beautiful man. But there was only enough liquid for two more glasses left in the wine bottle. 

“Let’s just have one more glass each and finish this bottle?”

Richard opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to protest for a moment, but then he closed it again and nodded. He pushed his glass towards Seigi who poured the wine. When both glasses were filled, Richard lifted his drink up and gestured to Seigi who did the same. The glasses touched again with a clinking sound. The two men smiled before drinking. 

~*~*~

Seigi was aware of the throbbing headache and the churning in his stomach even before he had opened his eyes. He groaned, rolling over and burying his face into the pillow, trying his best not to throw up. He felt fingers, gentle fingers, in his hair, massaging his scalp. He sighed, enjoying the feeling. 

“You are awake, right?”, Richard’s voice said softly, “Can you sit up for a bit? I’ve brought you some medicine.”

Seigi groaned but did as asked. He kept his eyes firmly shut, afraid of what the light would do to his poor head, and accepted the medicine and glass of water Richard placed in his hands. Once Seigi had downed the pills, he fell back into bed, his head hitting the pillow with force, and curled up. 

“What time is it?”, he asked. 

“Nearly eleven”, Richard replied. 

Ignoring his headache, Seigi shot up. “Elev—?! I’m so sorry, Richard! You must be hungry, right? I’ll make breakfast right away!” As he made to get out of bed, a wave of nausea washed over him. He brought a hand up to his lips and groaned. 

“You don’t need to worry. I made some toast for myself. I, myself, am a little hungover and nauseous so I didn’t feel like eating too much in the first place”, Richard said as he rubbed Seigi’s back and eased him back under the covers. It was only then that Seigi noticed the pallor of Richard’s face and the way he flinched occasionally, likely due to a headache of his own. 

“Ah, I’m sorry! I didn’t even notice! Did you take any medicine?”

“Don’t worry about me! Aren’t you feeling worse than I am? You did have more to drink and you even slept in. That’s not like you at all.”

“But—”

“No “buts”, Seigi!”, Richard said sternly before his eyes softened and he smiled, a little weary. “I’m also feeling quite pathetic so how about we enjoy a lie-in today?” He suddenly grimaced and brought a hand up to his temple, rubbing it lightly. “Or a lie-in we would have enjoyed if I didn’t feel like my head is about to split.”

Seigi laughed and made some space next to him, patting the now empty part of the bed. “Wanna just lie here. Would be less of a pain than going back to your room.”

Richard gave him a thankful smile. “I would appreciate that.” 

As soon as the blonde head hit the pillow, Richard curled up against Seigi’s body. This was the usual when they slept on the same bed. Seigi had once commented that Richard was like a cat looking for warmth. 

“Well, perhaps I am. I’ve found that I feel quite comfortable when I can feel your warmth next to me while I am asleep” , he had replied. 

Ever since then, Seigi often found himself looking for excuses to share a bed with the man. 

He placed his hands on Richard’s back and pulled him closer.

Richard smiled and draped an arm over Seigi’s body. “I think I will sleep for a bit. Hopefully the medicine will take effect by the time I wake up and I’d feel a little less horrid. You should do the same.”

“Mm… I already feel a lot better looking at your beautiful face though”, Seigi said grinning.

Richard huffed, blushing a bit. “Sleep”, he ordered, burying his face into Seigi’s chest. Seigi laughed, nuzzling Richard’s hair and closed his eyes. 

Clothes Shopping

“Seigi, you are always doing so much for me. I am only now realising the full extent of just how much I rely on you.”

“Haa… but—”

“Aside from your duties as my secretary, you also take care of household chores. It’s really amazing. I’m really lucky to have a partner such as you.”

“Oh, uh, thanks! But, Richard—”

“I do not mean for this to be a method of buttering you up nor do I intend for this to be an excuse. What happened was my mistake alone. I have been relying on you far too much that I myself have become quite a useless person. It is quite embarrassing, in fact.”

“That’s not—”

“I was careless even while doing such a simple task. And it is because of my carelessness that I have inconvenienced you. I am ashamed of myself.”

Finally having heard enough, Seigi grabbed Richard’s shoulders. His sudden action surprised Richard enough for his rant to finally end. Don’t get him wrong, Seigi loved hearing Richard talk. He could listen to him all day long. His words are always so gentle and his voice is a sweet melody. But this… this self depreciation, Seigi couldn’t continue listening to it any longer.

“It’s okay, Richard”, he said, “You didn’t do it on purpose! It was an honest mistake!”

“I shrunk half of your winter clothes, Seigi! Even though I know I need to be careful while washing sweaters!”

“It’s fine, Richard! It’s not like I had a whole lot of sweaters to start off with—”

“Isn’t that a problem? We can’t have you catching a cold because I shrunk your sweaters!”

“But we can just buy a few more!”

Richard didn’t respond, just looked away guiltily. 

“Richard…”

“Let me buy them…”, Richard mumbled. 

“Huh?”

“Let me buy them! I am the one who ruined your clothes so let me buy the new ones!”

“No, there’s really no need!”

“Please? I would feel a lot better if you let me do this.”

Richard looked at Seigi with pleading eyes. That expression was one Seigi simply couldn’t bring himself to say no to. He sighed and nodded. “Alright.”

When he saw Richard’s happy face, Seigi felt a little glad he agreed. 

~*~*~

“How does this look? I think the colour is quite nice!” Seigi showed the sweater in his arms to Richard. 

Richard leaned down to look at the price tag. One glance at it and he looked up at Seigi, raising an eyebrow at him. “You are purposely picking out clothes which aren’t too expensive.”

“Eh? No, no, that’s not the case! I just like it, really!” 

Richard narrowed his eyes at Seigi. 

“Ah, how about this: you can pick out one piece of clothing for me”, Seigi suggested.

“And I can pay for it too?”

Seigi nodded. “But there’s one condition”, he said, holding up a finger.

Richard looked at him curiously. “And that is?”

Seigi grinned at him. “In exchange you also have to let me buy you one article of clothing which I’ve chosen for you! And before you say anything, if you don’t agree to this, you’ll just have to agree to let me choose whatever I like, cheap or not.”

Richard’s shoulders slumped and he sighed. “Alright, I agree to your condition. But you are not allowed to complain no matter what my choice may be. Deal?”

“Deal. And you can’t complain either.”

~*~*~

Seigi didn’t know where Richard had wandered off to. The two had separated after declaring that they would each look for something that would suit the other. Seigi had already picked up some clothes he wanted Richard to try so all that was left was to meet with the other man. He took out his phone. There was no attempt to call him and Richard hadn’t seen his messages. Seigi bit his lip in worry. 

“Seigi!”, the voice he wanted to hear the most called out. Seigi whirled around to locate the source. 

“Richard! Over here!”, he called out and ran up to meet Richard halfway. “Why weren’t you answering your phone? I was really worried!”

Richard blinked at him then pulled his phone out of his pocket. He frowned when he looked at the screen. “… I couldn’t hear it…”, he said, “I’m sorry, Seigi. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Seigi stepped towards his and wrapped his arms around the man’s shoulders, pressing his face into the side of Richard’s neck. “No, you don’t have to apologize. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

He couldn’t see Richard’s face but he heard the beautiful man’s heartbeat pick up speed. “Seigi… we-we are outside. And there are so many people around. We shouldn’t do something like this here. It’s impolite.”

“Ah, you’re right, sorry”, Seigi said, letting go of Richard and stepping back. 

Richard immediately made an unhappy face and reached out for Seigi, grabbing his sleeve. “Later, at home, could we cuddle?”

Richard wasn’t looking at him. With his ears red and biting his lip, he had apparently found a very interesting spot on the floor to concentrate on. 

Seigi giggled. “Of course, Richard! As much as you want!”

Richard’s face lit up for a moment before he schooled his expression. The smile never really left his face. “Come, I want you to try these out. I will make my final selection after seeing how you look in these.” Richard grabbed Seigi’s wrist and pulled him towards the changing room. Seigi noticed the slight bounce in the beautiful man’s steps. 

~*~*~

Richard grinned when Seigi stepped out of the changing room. On Richard’s signal, Seigi turned this way and that, allowing Richard to check the fitting. 

“Is it comfortable”, Richard asked, “And don’t even think of lying. Don’t think about the cost and just tell me if it’s comfortable.”

Seigi visibly deflated. He was hoping that he could get Richard to buy something relatively cheaper by lying about the comfort. “Yes, it’s really quite comfortable”, he replied. 

“Good!”, Richard exclaimed, lifting Seigi’s arm to inspect the sleeve. “The fitting seems to be good too! Let’s go with this!”

Seigi sighed, defeated. He didn’t want Richard to spend so much on him. Not anymore, not when his own earnings were comparable to Richard’s. But when Richard was this pleased, there was no way Seigi could say something to bring him down, could he? He decided to accept his beautiful boss’ kindness. And the sweater itself wasn’t bad! A simple looking red coloured turtleneck, warm and surprisingly comfortable, despite being skin hugging. 

“I will be sure to treasure this”, Seigi said, smiling. 

Richard gave him an amused look. “I hope you intend to do that by wearing it.”

“Of course! That is but natural! I’ll wear it! I’ll wear it even when it’s old and tattered!”

“Throw it away at that time!”, Richard exclaimed, laughing. Seigi grinned on hearing the laughter he had grown to love so much. 

“I’ll change back and then it’s your turn to try out clothes.”

“Yes, I am looking forward to seeing what you have selected for me.”

~*~*~

Seigi’s selection of clothes for Richard were simple, yet elegant, the colours all meant to complement Richard’s appearance and bring out his beauty even more. Every article of clothing Seigi chose was of a cost comparable to what he was certain Richard would choose for him. All except one. One that Richard came out of the changing room wearing, an expression somewhere between amusement and confusion. 

“This was quite different from everything else in your selection”, Richard said. He wore a plain blue hooded sweatshirt. There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about it. Unlike the other clothes Seigi chose, it wasn’t from any particularly fancy brand and didn’t boast a price tag too expensive for most people to impulse buy. The quality, while not being bad by any means, was a far cry from the other clothes Richard had been handed. 

Seigi nodded, grinning ear to ear. “I’ve never seen you wear clothes like this before! I just really wanted to see you wearing a hoodie for once!”

Richard laughed and shook his head. “Is that why you proposed that condition? You could have simply asked me to try this on. You know I wouldn’t have refused.”

Seigi pouted. “I know you wouldn’t. This wasn’t the only reason anyway. I wanted to buy you something. Something nice. Not this.”

“Hmm? I’d say this is quite nice though.”

Seigi shook his head. “No, I’ve already decided what I want to buy for you.” He picked out a soft, grey cardigan from the pile he had handed Richard. While not the most expensive, out of all the options, that was the one Richard seemed to like the most, closely followed by the hoodie he was now inspecting in the mirror. 

He pulled the hood over his head and turned to Seigi with a childish pout. “You never really did tell me how I look in this.”

“Of course you look amazing, Richard! You look beautiful no matter what you wear! Though…” Seigi stopped and took a good look at Richard. “I would say this look is more cute than beautiful!”

After a moment of surprise, Richard laughed. “I suppose I wasn’t expecting that!”

Richard continued to laugh, looking innocent and childlike. Cute. Seigi could watch Richard for ages. Richard’s eyes met his, and the beautiful man leaned towards him. 

“While I do certainly enjoy you calling me beautiful, I cannot deny that my heart also races when you call me “cute”.”

Suddenly the cute image of Richard shattered and the beautiful and charming gentleman was back in Seigi’s mind. No, Richard is cute and beautiful and charming all at once! Seigi’s mind went blank and the next thing he knew, a sudden force hit his back and stumbled forward in surprise. Richard’s arms were around his body immediately, helping him stay on his feet.

“Seigi, are you alright?!”

“Oh, um, I’m fine”, Seigi mumbled.

“The least they could have done is apologised for pushing you!”, Richard said, glaring in the direction Seigi assumed the person who “pushed” him walked off to.

“No, I wasn’t pushed. They just bumped into me. I was spacing out, it was my fault.”

Richard frowned. “Spacing out? What happened? Is everything alright?”

“The deadly combination of your cool and cute beauty overwhelmed me”, Seigi told him, noting in amusement how Richard’s cheeks flushed at his words.

Richard looked away and coughed pointedly, red up to his ears. “Come, we should pay for these”, he said before walking off to the cashier. With a grin on his face, Seigi followed. 

~*~*~

“Here!”, Seigi said, holding the paper bag with the shop’s name on it out to Richard. With a smile and a “thank you”, Richard accepted the bag. 

“Hold on for a bit”, he said before digging around in another similar bag. Seigi noted with curiosity that he took out a light blue garment and put it into the bag Seigi had just given him. Richard then passed the other bag to Seigi with a smile. 

“Thanks. That thing you took out, was that—?”

“The hoodie, yes. It was quite comfortable and…”, Richard blushed and looked away, clearing his throat, “you also seemed to like how I looked in it. I… I wouldn’t quite mind being called “cute” by you more often.”

Seigi’s heart pounded and his face flushed. “R-Richard… you saying something like that is seriously not good for my heart!”

Richard chuckled, still blushing. “Will you be unable to stand upright again if I continue saying such things?”

“My knees already feel weak!”

Richard chuckle gave way to proper laughter. “Well, we can’t have you collapsing! Here”, he said, holding out a hand, “I’ll hold onto you.”

With his face burning, Seigi slipped his hand in Richard’s and grinned at the beautiful man. “Richard, you really are too cool! But I love your cute side too!”

Richard grinned back at him and the two walked off, heading home, hand in hand. 

One Time He Did it On Purpose

Seigi stood in front of the glass display, looking at the sweets inside. There were some new flavors. He took out his phone and quickly shot a message to Richard. 

“Um, excuse me!”

Seigi turned his eyes upward towards the voice. A young woman around his age stood behind the counter, blushing and fidgeting. “Uh, um, this”, she pointed at a pastry behind the glass which Seigi hadn’t seen in the shop previously, “this is our new item! Would you like to give it a try? It’s been quite well received!”

Seigi looked at the pastry then looked back at her with a polite smile. “Yes, please. Could you pack four pieces?”

“Of- Of course!”

Seigi looked back at the selection of sweets as the woman started packing the pastries. 

“You must really love sweets”, she said, “I see you here every Saturday and you always buy a lot. N-Naturally, there isn’t anything wrong about liking sweets! It’s good, in fact! F-For business!” As soon as the words left her mouth, a look of horror came over her face. 

“Business?”, Seigi repeated, tilting his head to the side. “Ah, you mean if people like sweets, they’ll come here to buy them, right? Yeah, I get it.” Seigi nodded. 

“N-No, um, that wasn’t what I…” The girl took a deep breath, looking like she was preparing herself. Seigi had a feeling he knew what was happening. He had noticed it some time ago. He prepared himself as well. “If- If you are free sometime, would you like to—”

She suddenly stopped when Seigi felt an arm circling around his. He turned to the side to see a brilliant blonde head peering at the sweets. The golden hair swayed slightly as the head turned and beautiful blue eyes looked up at him. 

“This is a new flavour”, Richard stated, pointing at the pastry Seigi had asked the woman to pack. 

“Already got four pieces.”

“Good. Then… how about this one. We haven’t tried this before.” 

“Excuse me, could you please pack four pieces of this as well?”

Richard leaned some of his weight against Seigi, their arms still interlinked, eyes still scanning the display. Seigi watched the woman out of the corner of his eyes. Like any other person, she, too, was awestruck by Richard’s beauty. But her face also held a look of disappointment. When he silently apologized to her, too softly for her to hear, he noticed Richard’s gaze on him. 

~*~*~

“You don’t need to feel guilty about not reciprocating someone’s feelings”, Richard told him in the car, shortly after they left the sweets shop, “You do not owe it to anyone to feel the same way as they do. And it is not like she ended up asking you out so you need not apologise for turning her down either.”

“I know that. But I still can’t help but feel bad… though the reason I apologized wasn’t because I didn’t feel the same but because I couldn’t tell her that myself. She seemed the type who would try to hide her disappointment. The last time I came across a girl like that, when I told her I already had someone I liked, she made a really painful face. I just… I don’t want to be the reason someone makes that face again. It’s self preservation, I know that. And even with your help, it’s not like she wouldn’t feel any disappointment.”

“She didn’t get the chance to tell you her feelings. Perhaps knowing the outcome before she told you is better for her. Even if she tries again later, she would be prepared to be turned down. But… not even letting her have the chance to tell you, that was cruel of me.”

“You only did that to help me. If anything, I’m the one at fault.”

Richard parked the car near the building which housed Jewelry Étranger and placed his forehead against the steering wheel. “It’s true that I didn’t like seeing you put on the spot like that. But that isn’t the only reason I intervened.” He turned his head slightly towards Seigi and reached a hand out. Seigi took his hand, slipping his fingers between Richard’s.

“What is it?”, he asked.

“I am aware that it isn’t a good quality to have, but I… I always feel so irrationally possessive towards you. So when I saw her about to ask you out, even though I knew you would have turned her down, I felt the need to intervene. Jealousy truly is an ugly thing.”

Seigi clenched Richard’s hand and leaned towards him, giving him a short kiss on his lips. “I’m sorry but I’m happy, Richard. To have the person I love actually love me enough to feel jealous, I really am happy.”

“Seigi”, Richard breathed out with a smile gracing his lips, “You really are too good to me, you know that?”

Seigi laughed. Richard’s gaze took on an air of longing and he reached out towards Seigi, pulling him into another, longer kiss. 

“Haah… we should go upstairs soon”, Seigi said breathlessly as they pulled apart for a short moment, “We’ve got to put the sweets into the fridge.”

“Mmn, yes, you are right”, Richard said, moving away from Seigi with a disappointed expression. 

“Don’t make that face, Richard!” , Seigi thought to himself. 

“… Maybe we can spare just a few more minutes.”

~*~*~

“This tastes quite good”, Richard said when Seigi was clearing up the used cups and plates after bidding farewell to a customer. 

Seigi glanced at Richard who was eating the pastry they had bought earlier this morning. “Is it?”

A spoonful of cake suddenly showed up near his lips. “Have a bite”, Richard told him while leaning on the counter next to him. 

Seigi did as he was asked. Taking a moment to savor it, he made a pleased sound. “It really is great! We should get more of it next time!”

Richard grimaced at his words. “Would you be going to the usual shop?”

Seigi was just a bit taken aback by Richard’s reaction. He shook his head. “If it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t.”

“I like the sweets there though.” Richard smiled sadly and shook his head. “You are an attractive and charming young man. This isn’t the first time someone has tried to gain your affections and it won’t be the last. I just need to get used to this.”

Seigi dried the last plate and put it aside. “Richard, my mind is pretty much occupied only by you! I chose my profession based on what would let me remain by your side!”

Richard put his plate aside and moved towards Seigi, resting his head on the younger man’s shoulder. “I know, Seigi. But I can’t help but feel jealous whenever I see someone else at the forefront of your mind. I know I’m just being ridiculous!”

Seigi placed his arms around Richard’s body, embracing him. “No, Richard. I know how you feel. Don’t you remember the time I started crying when I thought about you getting back together with Deborah?”

Richard snorted. “But then you later said that you would learn how to babysit if I got married to someone else and had kids.”

“Back then I was satisfied just staying by your side. But I’ve grown more greedy since then.”

“Have you? If so, I can’t say I mind.” Seigi could hear the smile in Richard’s voice. He raised his head and knocked his forehead lightly against Seigi’s. Smirking, he met Seigi’s eyes. “You can be even greedier if you want.”

Seigi chuckled. “I feel like I’ll receive divine punishment if I’m any greedier than this.”

“If that is what the gods decide to punish you over, they really must be quite stingy!”

In each other’s arms, they laughed together. 

“Yeah” , Seigi thought to himself, “This is good enough. I don’t need anything more. Being together with Richard like this, that’s all I want.”

~*~*~

Seigi felt irritated. Those two women just weren’t leaving Richard alone! He stood a short distance away. The small group hadn’t noticed him but he was close enough to hear the conversation. 

“Are you a tourist?”, one of the women had asked him in English. 

“It’s hard if you don’t know the language, right? We can show you around if you like!”, the other woman had said, also in English. 

Richard had smiled at them. It was dazzling and had almost had them swooning. “Thank you for your kind offer but I think I can manage”, he had told them in Japanese. 

The women had looked at him with stars in their eyes. 

“Oh, your Japanese is so good!”

“You aren’t a tourist, are you? Here for work?”

“Yes, I run a small jewellery shop in Ginza.”

“A jewellery store? Can I get a card?”

“Oh, me too please! And could we ask about your collection of gemstones?”

The conversation continued from then on. As Seigi listened on, it became clear to him that the two women were gemstone enthusiasts. Richard, too, was more than happy to talk to fellow gemstone fans. As was the usual, he went on to talk about the place various gemstones held in history and culture. At first, Seigi had thought to just stay and listen, enjoying the sound of Richard’s voice. But then he gradually noticed the women touching Richard’s arm and being just a slight bit over enthusiastic in their praises. 

“There’s a really good restaurant nearby. We can continue our conversation there, if you would like?”, one of the women suddenly said. 

“Oh, no, I’m sorry but…”

“Oh but we insist! The food there is really good! Please do come!”

This was when Seigi stepped in. He knew it would likely get even more troublesome but he decided to figure out how to deal with that later. “Richard!”, he called out, approaching the small gathering, “Sorry, there was a line to use the toilets!”

“Seigi!”

“Oh! Is he your friend?”, the more aggressive of the two women asked, her eyes gleaming. “Would you like to join us? We were just about to go to this really nice restaurant nearby!”

“Thank you for the offer but we must decline”, Seigi said with his trained businessman smile, something he developed during his time as an apprentice jeweler in Sri Lanka. “We already have prior engagements.”

“Oh… Well then, would you mind sharing numbers with us? Maybe we could meet up sometime! And, this may be a bit too forward of me to ask, but do either of you have a girlfriend?”

Seigi knew he was fighting a losing battle. The women weren’t ready to let up. He wanted to help Richard but somehow only managed to make their advances even more aggressive than they previously were. Just as he was contemplating on the best way to deal with the situation, an arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer to Richard. He turned to his beautiful boss as Richard smiled charmingly at the women. 

“I am afraid neither of us are romantically available”, he said, his voice smooth. “And we must be on our way now.” He looked at Seigi. His smile, which was charming yet diplomatic when directed towards the women, softened. “We have plans to spend the day together in each other’s company after all.” Richard gave Seigi a wink following his words. Seigi thought he heard the women squeal. He wasn’t quite sure of what was happening. He was feeling giddy and light headed and his knees felt weak. He assumed that the women had probably left at some point because when he slumped downwards, Richard’s worried face, as beautiful as ever, was the only one in his vision. Or maybe the women were there and he simply didn’t register their presence. 

The next thing he knew, he was seated on a bench away from the crowd with Richard, beyond himself with worry and asking if he was alright and if he needed water or anything else, standing in front of him. Seigi’s head felt much clearer. He covered his face with his hands. 

“That was unfair, Richard.”

“What was?”

“That wink! And that was after everything else leading up to it! It was too overwhelming for me! My heart can’t take it! The power of your beauty was even stronger than ever!”

Richard sighed and sat down next to him. “You aren’t feeling unwell?”, he asked. 

Seigi shook his head. “No, just overwhelmed. My heart is beating too fast! I guess too much blood rushed to my head or something?” He laughed. 

Richard sighed, a soft smile playing on his lips. “I’m sorry. Doing that was wrong of me.”

“Eh? You didn’t do it on purpose! You only wanted to deal with the situation, right?”

Richard shook his head, frowning. “It was on purpose. I had hoped to get your heart racing. I was talking to Jeff about what happened on Saturday and… he suggested I do something to, well, seduce you. His words, not mine.” Richard absentmindedly started playing with Seigi’s fingers. “I guess I just wanted to make sure I am the only one on your mind.”

“I already told you that you are all I think of as is, even without you doing anything.”

“Mm, I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I didn’t hate it. If anything, even though it was a tad bit too stimulating, I… I liked it. Really.” He looked up at the sky as he let out a small laugh. “I really will get struck down by the gods at this rate.”

“Why? Are you getting greedier?”

“Mm-hm. I understand how you felt back then, at that sweets shop. Somehow… seeing you pay that much attention to someone other than me, I didn’t like it at all. I really have become selfish, wanting to keep you to myself like this.” He groaned, covering his face with his hands in embarrassment. “I’m so lame!”

Richard laughed lightly. “We can both be lame together in that case.”

“Eh? But you’re too beautiful to be lame!”

“I don’t think it works that way.”

They both laughed. Richard leaned his head on Seigi’s shoulder. “I think we are fine as we are. Maybe we won’t be as lame as we are now in a few years, or maybe we’ll still be the same. But whatever the case may be, we can take our time getting there.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Seigi turned to him with a grin. “Hey, Richard?”

“Hmm?”

When Richard had turned to him, Seigi quickly leaned over and kissed him, a furious blush on his face as he pulled away. “If I’m allowed to be lame for a while longer, I want to tell you this: I want to monopolise you. Your time, your attention, everything. Of course, you should pay attention to our customers and you should definitely meet up with friends like Deborah or even make new friends like those two women but… I want to make it such that your mind is as occupied with me as mine is with you. Even if it’s greedy, and even if the gods punish me for it, I want this.”

With red cheeks and a gentle smile on his face, Richard raised his hands, cupping Seigi’s cheeks, and kissed his forehead, the tip of his nose, his cheek and finally his lips. Richard’s arms then wrapped around Seigi’s upper body, pulling him into a tight hug. He pressed his face into Seigi’s shoulder. 

“Thank you, Seigi”, Richard mumbled, “You can be as greedy as you want. But what you want right now, it’s already true.” He moved away to look Seigi in the eye. A coy smile played on his lips. “My mind and my heart are far more occupied with you than you might realise.”

Seigi blushed at Richard’s words. “This really is getting far too much for my heart.”

Richard laughed and drew closer. “I’m sorry but since I am unable to hold myself back, I’m afraid you would have to get used to it.”

With that, their lips met in another kiss.

Bonus: One Time Seigi was So Gorgeous He’s a Danger to Richard’s Wellbeing

Richard opened his groggy eyes and stared blankly up at the ceiling. Their only appointment for the day was scheduled for the evening so he took the opportunity to sleep in. 

He forced himself to sit up and looked around the room blearily. Seigi was probably already up, as was the usual. Pulling the blanket closer around his body, he got out of bed, stopped by the bathroom to brush his teeth, and then padded down the hallway, checking the rooms he passed by for Seigi’s presence. 

He was in the kitchen, his back to Richard. Jiro and Saburo lay right outside, lounging around lazily. Richard bent down, pet their heads, and brought a finger up to his lips. The dogs looked on curiously as Richard slowly stood up and stalked over to where Seigi stood, humming to himself. Snaking his arms around Seigi’s waist, he brought his lips close to Seigi’s ear. 

“Good morning, Seigi”, he whispered, pressing his lips to the side of Seigi’s neck. 

“Good morning, Richard”, Seigi said, turning around with an amused smile. “It’s after 12 PM though.”

“It is?”, Richard asked, tilting his head. He glanced at the wall clock. It read half past twelve, not long to lunch. “Oh. Good afternoon then.”

Seigi laughed, the sound filling Richard with a feeling of elation. “Go wash up. Lunch will be ready soon.”

“Mm, I will. In a bit.”

Richard let go of Seigi and stepped back. He moved to the dining table from where he had a good view of the kitchen. Laying his head down on the table, he said, “I want to watch you cooking for a bit.”

Seigi chuckled. “But you can watch me cooking whenever you want, can’t you? Why does it have to right now?”

“That’s right, I can watch whenever I want to. And I want to watch now ”, Richard told him with a smirk. 

Seigi shook his head, smiling. “Oh, alright”, he said and Richard could hear the laughter in his voice. “Try not to fall asleep again.”

“I will try but I shall refrain from making any promises.”

He was treated to a hearty laugh from Seigi. Richard watched on as Seigi’s attention returned to the food. It was a quiet afternoon, the only sound he could hear was the sizzling of the oil, and the sunlight fell across the table at a perfect angle. The temperature was also perfect, not too hot and not too cold. Without his permission, his heavy eyelids shut, and he found himself drifting off to dreamworld. 

~*~*~

“Richard, wake up.”

The gentle voice and someone shaking his shoulder roused him from his slumber. With a lazy groan, he opened his eyes and stared groggily at Seigi for a moment. 

“Good morning. Wait, we’ve already gone through this haven’t we? I fell asleep again.”

“Yup. Well, no harm in taking it easy and relaxing once in a while. Lunch is ready, by the way.”

Richard yawned and extracted an arm from under the blanket to rub his eyes.

“… Are you wearing any clothes underneath?”

“Hm? No, only my boxers. It was quite hot last night so I decided not to wear anything to bed.”

Seigi’s cheeks turned bright red. Averting Richard’s gaze, he simply said, “Go put some clothes on.”

“I will. After I take a shower.”

“And when will that be?”

“After lunch. The food would get cold if I go shower now.”

“You can be a real slob at times, huh?” He laughed and reached a hand towards Richard. Richard felt Seigi’s fingers combing through his hair. “Look, you haven’t even fixed your bedhead!”

Richard pouted. “You are the one who said there is no harm is relaxing.”

Seigi smiled brightly at him. “There isn’t. And that wasn’t meant to be a complaint either. I quite like how I’m one of the few people who know about this side of you. And I love it even more to think that you find it comfortable to be yourself around me. Not to mention, this side of you with your guard down is really quite adorable!”

Richard sat still, finding himself awestruck at Seigi’s brilliant smile and heartfelt words, almost overwhelmed with the love he felt for the younger man at that moment. Seigi brushed some hair out of Richard’s eyes. “Ah, it’s gotten a bit longer, huh? You should go for a haircut soon.”

“Ah, yes, I should. I’ll try to make some time for it later this week.” His heart still pounded and his mouth felt a little dry. He cleared his throat. “Seigi, I’d like to have some tea, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course”, Seigi said. He had apparently already prepared the tea and simply brought it over, pouring it out for Richard. “Come on, sleepy head, at least get up and drink this”, he said with a laugh. 

“Hmm…”, Richard made a sound but didn’t move. 

Seigi’s fingers were in his hair again. Richard’s eyes fell shut, only focusing on Seigi’s touch. A bit of hair fell over Richard’s eyes. He felt Seigi tucking it behind his ear. 

Seigi’s touch was gone. Richard whined unhappily, opening his eyes, and was caught by surprise. 

Seigi’s face was only a few inches away from Richard’s and drawing ever closer. Before long, Seigi’s lips were on Richard’s. Richard raised his hand and pulled Seigi closer. His lips parted with a breathless sigh and Seigi used that opportunity to deepen the kiss. 

Richard doesn’t know how long that kiss lasted. It felt like they had stayed like that for an eternity yet it was over in the blink of an eye. 

When they separated, they were both breathing heavily. Richard wondered if his own face was as red as Seigi’s. 

“That was… unexpected”, Richard found himself saying. 

Seigi’s face fell. “Did you not like it?”

Richard shook his head. “I never said unexpected things are bad.”

A look of relief appeared on Seigi’s face. “Do you like it when I do unexpected things?”

“Depends. You unexpectedly deciding to go to jail for my sake isn’t something I appreciate.”

Seigi winced, no doubt recalling the incident Richard was referring to. 

Richard sat up and smiled at him. “Of course, if the “unexpected things” are along the lines of the kiss from just now, I cannot say I would mind. I am not against being pleasantly surprised, after all.”

“Good.” Seigi placed a hand on the table and leaned down to Richard’s eye level. His face hovering a few inches away from Richard’s, he smiled almost… seductively . Richard wondered if Seigi could hear his heartbeat. He was quite certain it was loud enough for that. 

Seigi leaned in even closer. “Then I will be sure to do my best to surprise you. Be prepared”, he whispered in Richard’s ear. 

Richard abruptly stood up, startling Seigi in the process. His heart raced as Seigi’s whispered words repeated themselves in his head. The instinct to run away and punch a pillow or perhaps even scream took over him. He had known Seigi for years by this point, and they had been in a romantic relationship for a few months. Yet words like this never failed to make his heart pound as the feelings of affection he felt for the man threatened to overflow. No, he should let it overflow. He wanted to tell Seigi how much he meant to him. His lips parted. 

“Richard!”, Seigi exclaimed, startling Richard. The younger man’s hand grasped his own. It was only then that Richard became aware of the painful sensation. His hand hurt . Seigi pulled him over to the kitchen sink. He turned on the tap and let the cool water flow over the now reddened skin of Richard’s hand. 

Richard glanced over at the table in an attempt to piece together what had happened. The tea cup was on it’s side, its contents spilled over the table. He assumed that had happened when he had abruptly stood up. He had been far too lost in his thoughts to be sure but he could vaguely recall his leg hitting the table. He likely knocked the cup over at that time. 

Seigi turned off the tap and observed Richard’s hand. After a few seconds, he let out a relieved sigh. 

“You didn’t burn yourself”, he breathed out with a smile. Richard could see the tension leaving Seigi as his shoulders relaxed. His face suddenly took on a stern expression. “You should really be more careful, Richard! If you got injured… I don’t know what I would do!”

“Don’t worry. Even if I did get burnt, it would not have been too serious.”

“I’m not just talking about this time”, Seigi said. He let go of Richard’s hand and let his arms drop back to his sides. Biting his lip, his fingers curled into a fist. He looked away from Richard. “If anything were to happen to you, especially in my presence, I would never be able to forgive myself for allowing you to get hurt. And if you’re not in my presence, I would constantly hate myself for not being there to protect you.”

It was then that Richard noticed the slightly watery look of Seigi’s eyes. Looping one arm around his shoulders and the other around his lower back, Richard pulled him into a hug. Seigi’s hands were clutching the back of the blanket, which had somehow managed to not fall off despite all that had happened. Richard brought a hand up to Seigi’s head, caressing it gently. 

“I’m sorry, I did not intend to make you feel like that. I promise to try my best to avoid getting hurt. But in exchange, you, too, must promise to always take your own wellbeing into consideration. I also worry about you, you know.”

“Mm, I promise”, Seigi mumbled into Richard’s shoulder. 

“Good.”

The two stayed in each other’s arms a few moments longer. 

“The food will get cold”, Seigi said after a while. 

“Ah, yes, of course. We should eat.”

They stepped away from each other. Richard could tell Seigi was as reluctant to end the hug as he was. 

Richard wiped up the spilt tea as Seigi brought over the food. They both sat down once the table had been laid.

“It truly is delicious, Seigi”, Richard said once they had started eating. Every bite he brought up to his lips was a bite he relished. “I truly am lucky to have the privilege of eating your home cooked meals every day like this.”

“I think you might be exaggerating a bit but I’m still happy.”

Seigi grinned brightly at Richard. With his cheeks flushed and face radiating joy, the younger man shone brilliantly in Richard’s eyes. 

A smile like that could lighten up anyone’s day. Richard felt blessed to be the one who could see it so often, to be the one it was directed towards. 

“I love you, Seigi.”

The moment the thought had entered his head, the words were flying out of his lips. Seigi was clearly taken by surprise. Blushing deeply, he groaned and turned his eyes away from Richard. He ruffled his hair while breathing out a sigh before slowly allowing his gaze to meet Richard’s. 

“That’s really unfair, Richard. I wasn’t prepared for that”, he said with a pout.

Richard couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling up inside of him. He covered his lips with his fingers and turned away as Seigi added a childish glare to his pout. Once he had managed to compose himself, he turned to Seigi. As he leaned towards the younger man, an amused smirk played on his lips. 

“Well then, Seigi, I suggest you prepare yourself for the unexpected as well”, he whispered, his smirk widening as Seigi’s blush deepened.