Linder looked at the square item that had been pushed before him. It was wrapped up so he had no idea of telling what it was.

"Could you just open it?" Eden said while looking at him expectantly. "No matter how long you look at it, you won't know until you actually open it." He laughed.

Linder laughed too and decided to get on with it. I really like you, and I plan on proving it to you. He recalled Eden's words. Was this it? Was this what he was doing?

He opened the package to reveal a book. Linder's eyes widened in awe. "This is supposed to be sold out, how did you..."

"I have my ways, do you like it?" Asked Eden.

"Of course I love it! How did you know I wanted this?" The warmth Linder felt inside overwhelmed him.

"I had a little help," Eden showed him a smile he deemed as one of his favorites.

No doubt it was Lily.

"Thank you," said Linder. He got up and pressed his lips to Eden's cheek. The latter hummed and wished Linder would do it again.

A sudden sound made them both turn to the direction it was coming from.

Tadashi's eyes looked a little swollen as he went ahead to pick a glass to get some water.

"Give me that," said Linder, he was already by Tadashi's side pulling the glass away from him.

Linder was so tall that from where Eden was, they looked exactly the same height with Tadashi. "We told you not to move," he continued to scold him and give him the water as Eden smiled. "We're here for you."

"Thank you," said Tadashi. His voice was scratchy as he said it. He drained the cup of all the water before slowly trying to find his way back to his room.

As the two went with him, they watched as he slowly got back on the bed and blacked out again.

•••

By the second week at home, Tadashi was better. He laughed a little bit more and got away with doing things for himself.

         Like when he decided to cook Mikhail's favorite all of a sudden.

"Oh my God, can't you just stay put?" Eden asked and Tadashi laughed.

          "I've never hated my bed so much in my life," he chuckled.

          Eden shut him up by going ahead to stand on his tiptoes, and drop a quick kiss to his forehead as he let him make the meal.

          Eden set the table and got everyone to come and settle down when it was all ready.

          Tadashi couldn't get used to all the attention he was getting lately. Even now, just as they were about to eat, the children couldn't stop looking at him. Like he was some bomb ready to diffuse. Had he scared them that much?

          Eden blew him a kiss and smiled. Some of the tension left his shoulders.

"You can have all my food," said Mikhail suddenly. "Here," He extended a forkful of spaghetti to Tadashi's mouth.

He took the food in his mouth and chewed then swallowed. "Thank you, honey, but I'd feel better if you ate the rest of it."

"Okay," said Mikhail. Although he still kept sneaking secret glances at the man still going through recovery.

Tadashi suddenly gripped his fork tight as he lost focus of everything. You actually killed someone! His conscience wouldn't stop.

The air suddenly felt thinner. He was alive and breathing, you didn't have to kill him. He could be locked up somewhere, driven away, kept on a leash... but you coldly snuffed out the air from his lungs. Tadashi gasped. Murderer...

"TADASHI!" It was Lily's voice he heard. It brought him back and away from his thoughts.

Everyone looked worriedly at him. "Are you in pain?" Eden asked.

Tadashi set his fork down, not even an ounce of appetite left in him. "I just think... I really need to take a rest right now."

•••

Both Linder and Eden waited for Tadashi to get off his phone so that they could ask him why he was dressing up. They couldn't understand a word in Japanese, so they decided to wait for an explanation.

The two were fairly convinced that Tadashi was healed, but no one could ever be too sure.

"You're going out?" There was no mistaking the worry in Linder's voice.

"I'm okay now," Tadashi insisted yet again. The other two  just didn't want to believe him.

          "You don't have to do anything, just tell me and I'll do it for you, okay?" Eden tried to convince him.

          "I'm heal–"

          "No, no," Linder shook his head.

          Tadashi sighed. "That was my mother on the phone. She wants to meet... to talk. Now, what do I have to do, to convince you both that I'm as good as new?"

           He wrapped each of his arms around both of their waists and pulled the two men with him to the bed. It look less than five seconds before they were both beneath him, shoulder to shoulder, his hands on either side of them.

Eden stared straight at his chest while Linder made it obvious he was trying to look anywhere else but at him. Tadashi smiled boyishly at how quiet they had suddenly become.

"We need to talk, don't we?" Asked Tadashi.

          "I think so," replied Eden, barely audible.

"When I'm back, later," Tadashi said. "I feel like... there's a lot we're not saying, that we need to."

     Linder nodded.

"Okay," said Tadashi. "Right now, I have to meet my mother. I feel fine."

"You promise you'll be okay?" Asked Eden.

"If I feel even the smallest pain, I'll call either one of you," said Tadashi.

          "Promise," said Linder.

          "I promise," said Tadashi. He leaned down and kissed each of their cheeks.

          Linder and Eden both turned and looked at each other before turning back to opposite directions quickly, completely flushed.

          Tadashi got up before he could give in to the temptation to do it again.

•••

The first thing Tadashi noticed about his mother was that she had aged. Not that much, but when he'd last seen her, her hair was completely black, not greying everywhere.

          She still retained her beauty, it has always been something that came naturally to her; that cruel beauty.

She didn't set her bag down, she gave it to her bodyguard who stood stock still beside her. Then she took her gloves off—those she set on the table—and finally looked at her son.

          "Tadashi-kun, watashi no musuko," his mother said and he couldn't read the expression on her face. He never could.

          "Okaa-sama," replied Tadashi. It had always been that gigantic barrier between them. Between him and everyone else in his family.

"If there's one thing we should start with," she started. "I'd prefer you drop such extreme honorifics." She always managed to make anything sound like an order.

"It doesn't work like that," said Tadashi. To casually refer to her more casually would mean that they were at least close. They were further apart than the North and South Pole.

        "Then with time," she said.

          Tadashi didn't reply to that. There was just so much history between them both and he wondered why she made it seem like it could just be dismissed.

          One thing was for sure, he wouldn't let her brush anything off so easily.

           "You almost died," his mother pointed out.

          "I know," he replied.

          She moved her hand as if to touch him and he noticed her favorite color on her nails. It was the same color on her lips.

          He'd never forget those crimson nails digging into his wrist till they drew blood, because he'd spoken out of line in front of several guests.

          His family had always been that way. Pride over everything else. He learned it the hard way.

          Until he came up with two options. Either stay and pretend to be someone he wasn't for probably the rest of his life, or leave and see where that got him. He had never regretted his choice.

          Tadashi took his hands off the table before his mother could touch him. "Just stop, mother. In my whole life, you've never shown me any affection. You've never even held my hand, so this, you trying right now, feels weird. You don't have to."

          "I need to," she said.

          "You what?"

          "I am your mother. Tadashi. No mother wouldn't be shaken after hearing that her son is lying unconscious in some foreign country, fighting for his life."

           "You were worried about me? You?"

          "I'm sorry," she said.

          Tadashi stopped, frozen. Hearing his mother apologize sent chills down his spine.

          "Mother, are you feeling alright?" It was the first time he'd witnessed his mother swallow her pride.

"Let's just put everything behind us and start over," she said.

"Again, that's not how it works. You can't just undo so many years of neglect with a snap of your finger. I've always been invisible to you and now, I matter? Me? The un-washable stain on the walls of the Ishii household?"

"You've always mattered," she said.

"Right, thanks for always showing me that."

"Tadashi!" She said in her signature condescending tone that he knew all too well. But he wasn't the little boy he was anymore.

"Mother?" He shot back.

She raised an eyebrow. "You're different. You've always had a spine but you would never dare to talk back at me."

"I'm not talking back at you," said Tadashi. "I'm just trying to have a conversation with you. Something that actually happens in many families out of this one."

"I'm trying. I want you to believe me," she sighed, her expression still hard. "I just want to get to know my son. I know it could take a while and there's a lot of work I have to put in but I'll do what it takes."

"Are you sure?" Tadashi asked. "Don't you think it's disgraceful to have a douseiaisha as a son?"

He used the term for 'homosexual'. It was his way of coming out to her, and giving her a chance to get up and leave if it was too much for her to handle.

She waved him off dismissively. "I don't really care about that. You can have all the men you want when you come b–"

"I'm not going back," he said firmly. Not even to visit. Not when their relationship was broken almost to a point of no return.

Turns out, she didn't have a problem with him being gay. But he knew that there was a high chance she'd sneer when she found out he was in love with anyone foreign.

The day she ever disrespected Eden or Linder, he wouldn't be so forgiving.

"Fine, we'll leave that topic for the next time we meet," his mother said.

"Next time?" Tadashi asked.

"I was thinking we could start with... having coffee together once a month," she said, sounding a little hopeful to Tadashi's surprise.

She would fly all the way from Japan, at least once every month, just to have coffee with him? That was insane.

"Did Alexander threaten you?" Tadashi narrowed his eyes.

"Alexander?" She asked. "Ah, the man who called me? Oh, is he..."

"No," said Tadashi before she got any ideas.

"You really have changed if you think I'd let anyone threaten me, much less a man," she inspected her nails.

It was the one line no one ever crossed. Only hell awaited anyone who dared to threaten Ishii Ayako. Especially if it was a man—she deemed men as inferior beings.

Every single one of them apart from her husband, Ishii Takahiro. He was the only man worthy of her; stronger, crueler, much more ruthless and so much more in love with her than she was. The perfect match made in hell.

"I work for him," Tadashi said about Alexander.

"If you stayed back home, you wouldn't have to work for anyone," said his mother.

"You watched me leave, you said it was for the best. Then you pulled me aside and told me I'd come back crawling and begging you."

Tadashi's answer had only been a smirk.

"You didn't do any of those things and I'm proud of you for that," she said.

"I didn't think you'd be so full of surprises mother. And now you want to see me every month?"

"If you want to... I don't really remember the last time I genuinely wanted something... so if–"

"I'd really like that," he answered.

The way she curled her fingers back on the table was the only indication that she was surprised.

What if she was worried he'd say no? No way. That would be wishful thinking.

She got up to leave and adjusted her fur coat while she checked her watch. She wore her gloves and got up. "I'll see you in exactly thirty days," she said.

She made no move towards him. No handshake, no hug, not even a pat on the shoulder. Tadashi watched her go.

She was so cold. But he preferred it that way. He wouldn't know how else to treat her.

It was going to take a lot of effort on both sides, with her trying to defy her nature and him trying to convince himself that it was okay to trust her. It would be hard, but deep down, he was really looking forward to it.

•••

"Hey," Eden said as soon as he saw Tadashi approach him.

Tadashi was in a good mood all of a sudden as he sat by the kitchen island. "Hey."

"Uh..." Eden started. "You look good..." he blinked. "I mean, I mean you look alright, like you're not in pain."

"You look good too," replied Tadashi. The only indication that he was shy was the way he didn't know what to do with his hands.

Eden chuckled nervously. "I made some juice, if you'd like some."

"Oh, yeah," said Tadashi. He accepted the glass of juice from Eden. "Thank you."

Eden pretended not to watch him drink. He didn't look away until the glass was clear. Embarrassed for almost getting caught, he looked down as Tadashi asked for a refill.

"Where's Linder?" Tadashi asked as Eden refilled his glass.

          "He said he's working on something, he's been at it for a while now," said Eden.

          "What?" Tadashi asked to know what it was.

          "He won't say," Eden shrugged. "How did it go? With your mother."

          "It actually went well," said Tadashi. "Better than I thought it would. I'm still going to kill that idiot Alexander."

          "That's great to hear," replied Eden.

          "The part about my mother, or the demise of Alexander?" Tadashi asked.

          Eden chuckled. "You both just love each other so much, don't you?"

          Tadashi laughed a little and shrugged before his gaze just locked onto Eden. They did nothing but stare at each other for so long.

           Eden looking into his eyes. Tadashi lowered his second glass of juice onto the counter and got up.

He walked around to Eden's side and stood a little distance away from him, nervously rubbing his hands together. The tension got thicker with every second that passed as they stared at each other.

           Nobody knew who took the first step forward, and then there was the smallest pause before they were both in each other's arms.

           Eden gripped either sides of Tadashi's waist as the man cupped both his cheeks and bent to claim his mouth. Their lips were locked in what was the hottest kiss in Eden's life.

Both men walked without breaking the kiss until Eden was against the wall. Tadashi groaned and broke the kiss. "Why the fuck haven't we done this before?" He ground out.

Eden answered by pulling Tadashi back to his lips. His heart pounded so fast as all his blood flowed southwards.

He felt Tadashi's hand move to his back and he got impatient when he stopped. "Lower..." Eden urged into the kiss.

He moaned when Tadashi squeezed his ass and pulled him closer. He needed more, right then and right there.

But they both stopped when they heard Lily. "Oh," she had her hands crossed as she got both their attention.

"Please, continue," she said as she reached out for the juice. "I just came to get this for Mikky... said none of you could hear him when he came to ask for some. Now I see why."

She turned to leave. Eden looked too embarrassed to speak.

"Lily..." said Tadashi.

"No, no, don't mind me," she answered. "I'm just going to go bleach my eyes," Lily stopped. "And if you three don't talk soon, I'll sit you all down myself."

It was no empty threat.