Always by your side

“Ah, it is fine, but please continue to use the front door,” Ren said, smiling at the way Clear patted his chest. His curiosity was definitely peaked when Clear mentioned a surprise, and he tilted his head slightly to the side. “You have a surprise for me?” he asked, wondering if he should be excited or worried. Maybe both… Who knew what Clear would have come up with?

Clear stiffened slightly when Ren brought up the surprise, as if he hadn’t realized he mentioned it himself. Actually… that really was what had happened.

“Eh! Who told you?” he asked suspiciously, looking around himself to see if he could spy any other Seragaki’s hiding around the room. Belatedly, he backtracked a few seconds and sussed out the truth of the situation. “…Oh, I did. Well then-”

The fact that he’d been so absentminded didn’t seem to embarrass Clear in the slightest. Now that the matter had been settled, he simply straightened up again and started digging into his pockets industriously to retrieve the item in question.

He smiled as Clear finally retrieved the present. It was impossible to tell what was in it from the wrapping alone, and Ren still didn’t have a clue when he took it in his hands. Well, just one way to find out then. 

“Hm, I do not think they will be back for a while.“ Clear’s suggestion gave him pause, though. He was curious about Clear’s place, but more than that–it was obvious that Clear was lonely and so he probably didn’t exactly go around extending these kind of invites to random people. 

“That would be nice,” he said, smiling. 

“Then that will give us plenty of time to get there and back!” Clear followed up. It was obvious he had already made up his mind on the matter, the second Ren agreed he was already springing to his feet excitedly. He made a beeline for the balcony, then paused midstep and spun around on his heel with comic stiffness.

Ren followed Koujaku into the kitchen. “Would you like something? I could make tea…” he offered, catching his bottom lip with one of his pointy canines and chewing nervously. He was still stalling, but this was not going to be easy to explain. Without waiting for a response from Koujaku, he set about making tea. If nothing else, he could use something to drink himself. 

“It is fine. The subject is... rather sensitive and I think it would be more difficult for Aoba to explain it than it is for me.” After all, Aoba had lost a brother and found out things about himself that he’d not known before. 

Ren took a deep breath before he started to tell the story. He explained to Koujaku how he’d once been a part of Aoba, until he’d transferred himself into the Allmate Aoba had named Ren, how he’d forgotten who he was until the bug he’d contracted in the Oval Tower had brought those memories back. He talked about Sei, how Aoba had had to use Scrap to set his brother free and how Sei had graciously given his body for Ren to inhabit. 

He didn’t, however, get into how he and Aoba were now in a romantic relationship with one another. That was a conversation he wanted Aoba to be present for. 

Oops. Clear drooped a little guiltily when he saw how badly he had startled Ren, the poor man was even clutching his chest. It reminded him of when he had first visited this house, how Aoba had scolded him and told him that it was bad for the heart to enter that way.

While Ren definitely hadn’t built up the kind of muscle that his online Rhyme form had had, he was far from as scrawny as he’d been when he’d first entered this body. Feeling Aoba’s hands on his chest made him oddly self-conscious. He felt at home in this body now, but some part of him worried that maybe Aoba wouldn’t like it as much as his online form. Those insecurities left him when he saw the expression on Aoba’s face, though, and left room only for excitement. 

He wanted more too, so badly. His tongue immediately entered Aoba’s mouth when his lips parted, and he gave a couple of deep licks into it. His hands then continued what he’d started and began to tug at Aoba’s shirt again, this time fully intending on getting it off of him. He wanted to feel Aoba’s bare skin against his own so much. He could practically feel the heat radiating from Aoba’s body already, and it made his pants tighten even more. 

       Ren’s lack of muscle didn’t bother him. Though Desire was built more strongly than Reason, he didn’t have much muscles either. The fact that Ren had some muscle was enough for him. He didn’t require that much compared to some others. Actually, he didn’t care who he had sex with. He didn’t have a preference. Now that he was with Ren he didn’t sleep around, but when he was sleeping around, he rarely cared who he had sex with. As long as it was interesting and enjoyable then he was fine with anything. He knew that sex with Ren would be enough. “Ren feels so nice,” He murmured, golden eyes already heavily lidded. 

Once Aoba’s shirt was out of the way Ren wasted no time. While he had grown fairly accustomed to his human body at this point, things like sexual desires still overwhelmed him, and Aoba was utterly irresistible. All of that skin being bared before his eyes seemed to set his insides aflame and he immediately leaned in to kiss and nip at Aoba’s collarbones. 

04/22

Ren had to admit that he was impressed. Not only had Clear remembered the name of the recipe, but the entire recipe itself. That Clear could be making it up was a thought that didn’t even enter Ren’s mind. He couldn’t imagine Clear doing something like that, as he seemed far too honest of a person. Besides, Ren would be able to check for himself when Clear loaned him the book. 

“Ah, that is quite impressive,” Ren said, smiling, “Perhaps then… we could make something for dessert to surprise Aoba and Tae-san?” 

“A surprise-!?” Clear immediately sprang to attention, spine ramrod straight and hands flat against the table. He loved surprises- as long as they weren’t scary ones. “Can we really? Won’t Aoba-san and Tae-san see us making it?”

If anyone wandered into the kitchen, their advantage would be ruined! He sat back on his heels and crossed his arms in thought.

Koujaku’s reaction was unsurprising. After all, who wouldn’t be a little shocked to find out that their best friend’s Allmate had somehow taken on a human form? 

“It is… ah… it’s a long story. Perhaps we should sit down for it,” Ren said, stalling just a bit. He had to organize his thoughts and prepare himself to try and explain all of this. He wished Aoba was here, but he didn’t feel it’d be fair to Koujaku to make him wait what would probably be several hours to get an explanation, so he would have to try and manage on his own. 

            “I-I see. If that’s what you’re comfortable with…” Did he really want to know? From how Ren was behaving, it seemed to be a personal thing. Personal as in, between him and Aoba. To be frank, he’d much rather hear the story from his friend. As he wanted to know why he’d decided to keep it a secret. He didn’t want for there to be words planted into Aoba’s mouth. But, then again, Ren had offered an explanation. It would be rude for him to not accept it, as Ren was clearly putting forth the effort of preparing himself.

Ren certainly hoped that Desire loved him too, or at least cared about him. In his own opinion, you didn’t have sex with someone you didn’t care about, but he also knew that Desire’s ideas about such things weren’t necessarily the same as his own. Honestly, the mere idea that he might not be loved by both sides of Aoba was heartbreaking and not something he wanted to think about. No, it was easier to simply follow Desire’s lead and let himself get lost in Aoba. 

Ren barely had a chance to close the door to Aoba’s room before his partner had started to tug at his clothing. He could feel his own heart hammering in his chest as he let himself be swept up by Aoba’s impatience. If anything, at least Desire clearly wanted him. 

He helped by lifting his arms so his shirt could be pulled up and over his head, and then he pulled Aoba closer with the intention of taking off his shirt in return. Instead he got distracted by how close their faces were to one another, and he found it impossible to resist leaning in to kiss Aoba’s tempting lips, arms wound tightly around his waist as if he was afraid that Aoba would slip away from him. 

         In his own way, he did love Ren. It was not as profound as it was with Reason, but he did care for him and love him. And he’d beat the shit out of anyone that actually injured, or spoke bad about, his companion. He was not going to allow that kind of thing in his presence. It was entirely possible that his love stemmed from how Reason felt about him, but he didn’t feel like that was the case. At the moment, Reason had completely relinquished his control. Or had he? It almost felt like Reason was guiding how he was touching Ren. It was an amusing thought, as he doubted that he actually knew what Ren liked.

        But sex definitely seemed to be a way for him to express how he felt. Speaking was not his strong point. When he did, he almost always said something violent ( or he said something that related solely to intercourse ). Which he knew wouldn’t help prove how to felt about Ren.

Ren wasn’t fully reassured, but Aoba’s apologies and soothing touches did calm him down enough to stop crying. He didn’t let go of Aoba, though, couldn’t bring himself to part from his boyfriend’s arms. 

Once he could breathe somewhat easier he peeked up at Aoba’s face. “I love you, Aoba,” he said, voice still brimming with emotion, “I love you so much.” It was all he could say, all that felt right to say now. 

    Pulling back from the others embrace he leaned up, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead as soft fingers began to pet him tenderly; a habit he’d kept from the others days as his allmate. “I love you too Ren…” he muttered softly into the skin of his forehead. Really he shouldn’t think about such depressing things around the other, or really at all.