Lui was out of sorts lately.

Naoji knew he’d get a glacial sniff for putting it that way, but it was true nonetheless. Even tea, almost always guaranteed to make Lui sit down and relax, hadn’t called him away from contemplating the gray, drizzling view out the window.

Naoji sighed and set down the teapot with a click and went to stand at the long window beside Lui. They were both quiet for a while, watching the trees droop with wetness and the drops of water trickle erratically down the glass.

“I will go back,” Naoji said softly. “I don’t know exactly when; I only know that I will. But until then,” he turned to face Lui. “Until then, I will go with you.”

Lui turned at last, mouth quirking faintly. “You can’t make two choices at once.”

Trust Lui to put everything in the starkest black-or-white terms he could find. Naoji huffed a little, ruefully. Lui was as bad about that as Orphe, really. “Nor can you act on a decision until its time comes,” he returned. He lifted a hand and laid it gently against Lui’s chest. “Until I go, I will walk beside you and calm your heart.”

Lui wouldn’t show startlement if the stars fell from the sky, but Naoji felt a slight catch of breath under his hand. Lui’s fingers lifted, closed on his chin. “Will you?”

“Yes.” Naoji’s lips were already open for Lui as Lui swept him closer and kissed him slowly, possessive and thorough. It was enough to turn Naoji’s bones to water, but then… Lui always had been.

And then Lui let him go.

Naoji took a moment to recover his breath before he laughed softly. Lui had a talent for making his points; it would undoubtedly serve him well in diplomacy. “So. Now will you come drink your tea?”

Amusement lightened Lui’s eyes and he turned away from the window. “Of course.”

Naoji smiled.

End