"I hate you so much, Nao!!," North screeched, his voice muffled as he dug his face deeper into the cool cotton of his pillowcase.

On the other end of the line, Nao replied with nonchalance. "What did I even do this time?

"You!" North erupted, rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling fan as it made its lazy circles. "You and your... your corrupted, deviant mind! That video!"

A long-suffering, dramatically drawn-out sigh traveled through the speaker. "You are still stuck on that educational piece of cinema?

"This isn't about education!" North wailed, flinging an arm over his eyes. "Johan found out about it!"

There was a beat of silence on the other end. Then, a single "Huh." Another beat. "How? Did you leave it playing on your shared Netflix profile? 'Recently Watched: Advanced Tactics for Beginners'?"

"I don't know!" North mumbled, the memory of Johan's terrifying stillness making him shiver anew. "It just... came up. I was flustered, and I was trying to say something, and it just... fell out of my mouth."

"You verbally vomited a reference to gay sex ed tapes onto the most intimidating man in the country," Nao summarized, his tone shifting from bored to profoundly amused.

"No! I mean... I panicked!??" North's mind raced with paranoid possibilities.

"And?" Nao pressed, the sound of him crunching on something audible in the background. "Did he do something?"

"No!" North cried, sitting up, his hair sticking up in frantic tufts. "He... he laughed at me."

The crunching stopped. "He laughed."

"Not a nice laugh!" North clarified hurriedly, hugging his knees to his chest. "It was this... this dark, rumbling laugh. Like I was a kitten who'd been caught trying to sneak a whole salmon out of the kitchen. He looked at me like I was the most ridiculous, adorable, maddening creature he'd ever seen. And then he just... went home. He just bid me goodbye and got in his stupid car and drove away, leaving me standing there feeling like my soul had evaporated from sheer humiliation."

"I am so embarrassed I want to reverse-age back into a single-cell organism," North groaned, falling back onto the bed with a thump.

"I want to be a cat. No thoughts. No worry. Just meow meow whole day ."

"Ahhhheshhsuawuwjbshs!" he let out a guttural, wordless scream into the pillow. "I'm gonna go jump in the river."

"You can't," Nao shot back instantly, his voice crisp. "You haven't paid me back for that free lunch you scarfed down last Tuesday. The truffle fries weren't cheap, my dude. My generosity has limits, and those limits are currency."

"Fuck you and your truffle fries!" North yelled, outraged. "Is money more important than your best friend's life? Than his eternal shame?"

"Yes!" Nao replied without a millisecond of hesitation.

"I can't believe you. I'm living a nightmare, and you're talking about money," North said in utter disbelief.

Nao chuckled. "So, let me get this straight. Johan found out you'd seen a sex tape his reaction was to laugh and peace out? No interrogation? No... re-demonstration of the concepts?"

"Umm..." North mumbled, the memory softening at the edges despite his embarrassment.

"Ohhhhh," Nao said, his voice dripping with malice.

"Don't!" North yelped, his face flaming again. "And oh, god, that's the other thing! I'm going to be with him for two whole days starting tomorrow. Two. Days. He's going to tease me to death."

The dramatic despair in North's voice was suddenly met with a different kind of silence on Nao's end.

"Two days, huh?" Nao said, his tone shifting from playful to something more pointed. "What's going on there? Spill."

North let out a long sigh that seemed to come from the soles of his feet.

He slumped against his headboard, pulling his comforter up to his chin.

"It's... it was a summit," North began, "Johan came over. To see my mom. Officially."

"He what?" Nao's voice lost all its teasing edge.

"It was... civil. Terrifyingly civil." North closed his eyes, replaying the scene. "He looked like he was there to negotiate a corporate merger. And then... he had one of his guards bring in a file."

"A file. Of course," Nao deadpanned.

"It was his will, Nao." North's whisper was sharp. "His last will and testament. All of it. Legally transferred to me. He gave it to my mother as proof. As... collateral."

The line went so quiet North thought the call had dropped.

Then he heard a low, sharp exhale.

"Holy shit," Nao breathed, all traces of humor gone.

"And your mom?" Nao asked, his voice uncharacteristically gentle. "How did she take a gesture that's basically a romantic grenade launcher?"

North gave a wet, shaky laugh. "She cried. I cried. Johan just sat there, looking like a king who'd just surrendered his crown but wasn't sorry about it. He apologized. For everything before. For scaring her. For... for being who he is." He paused, swallowing hard. "He asked for her permission. For me."

"Permission for what, exactly?"

"To have me," North corrected softly. "That's how he said it. And then I... I asked her if I could live with him."

Another stunned silence from Nao. "You asked? You, North Theerawong, looked your terrified mother in the eye and asked to move in with the devil?"

"I had to!" North insisted, his voice gaining strength. "He was doing this huge, terrifying thing for me. I had to meet him halfway. I had to be brave too."

"So what did she say?"

"She said two days," North explained. "Two days a week while I'm still in school. After graduation... it's my choice."

Nao let out a long, low whistle. "Wow."

"I know," North whispered, the reality of it swelling in his chest. "But now all I can think about is tomorrow, and him showing up at ten, and him looking at me with that look because of the stupid video, and I want to die all over again!"

Nao's chuckle returned. "First of all, stop saying you want to die. Your man literally just willed his empire to you, which means if you die, it probably goes to a penguin sanctuary or something, and I will never forgive you for depriving me of a future as your mooching best friend in your mansion."

North couldn't help a small, watery snort.

"Second," Nao continued, his tone turning practical, "he laughed. He didn't get angry. He didn't threaten anyone. He laughed. That, from a man like him, is a good sign. It means he finds your catastrophic awkwardness charming, not enraging."

"But what do I do?" North wailed, sliding back down under the covers.

"You get your cute butt out of bed at nine-thirty tomorrow, you pack a bag for your vacation," Nao said, his voice firm.

"Then you enjoy your two days in your fancy new house with your scary, ridiculous, completely devoted sugar daddy."

"Don't call him that," North grumbled, his face flushing.

"I'll call him what I want until he signs over a small, tasteful apartment building to me as a 'thank you for your friendship' gift," Nao retorted.

"Fuck you traitor! Goodbye," North said irritated.

"Two days!" Nao sang out before hanging up. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Which leaves you plenty of room!"

The dial tone buzzed in North's ear.

He let the phone fall to the mattress and hugged the pillow, the anticipation for tomorrow curdling his stomach with nerves.

~***~

The next day North stood in his mother's embrace. The way his mother's hug lingered a second too long, her eyes searching his for any last-minute doubt.

North kissed her cheek and let Johan guide him gently by the small of his back towards the waiting car.

He slid into the passenger seat, placing his bag carefully at his feet, as if it contained fragile contraband. He focused on buckling his seatbelt, the click absurdly loud in the silence.

Johan settled beside him, his presence effortlessly dominating the space. He started the engine, a low, powerful purr, but didn't immediately pull away.

He simply looked at North, his gaze a tangible weight.

North fidgeted, picking at a loose thread on the knee of his jeans, twisting his fingers together, then separating them only to knot them again in his lap.

A low, warm chuckle broke the quiet. "Why are you so shy today, my love?" Johan asked, his voice a soft rumble. He reached over to gently still North's restless hands with his own, enveloping them in warmth. "You're vibrating like a startled rabbit."

North kept his eyes on their joined hands, on the contrast of Johan's larger fingers covering his nervous ones. "I'm not," he mumbled, unconvincingly.

Johan released his hand to shift the car into gear, pulling smoothly away from the curb and than again held the hand, his thumb stroking slow circles on North's knuckles. "Is it because of our little... discussion yesterday? The video thing?"

The words hung in the air.

North felt a hot wave of humiliation crash over him anew.

He remained stubbornly silent, turning his head to stare out the window at the blurring suburban houses, wishing he could melt into the upholstery.

"You are really not going to talk to me, love?" Johan's tone was gently chiding, laced with amusement. "I drove all this way. The least you could do is keep me company."

"You're going to tease me," North accused, his voice small and sulky. "You're just waiting for it."

"Me?" Johan feigned innocence, but the smile was audible in his voice. "I would never. I am simply a man, curious about his lover's... educational pursuits. When did you watch it?"

North bit his lip hard. He could lie. But something about the steady stroking of Johan's thumb on his hand made deception feel impossible. "A few days ago," he whispered, the admission like pulling a tooth.

A small tug pulled at Johan's lips.

His eyes remained fixed on the road as he spoke, "Days. I see. And why, may I ask, was Nao your chosen professor for this particular subject?"

"It wasn't like that!" North's defensiveness made his voice jump.

He interlaced his fingers tightly between his own thighs, pulling his hand subtly from Johan's grasp. "We were just talking... about life. And relationships. And than he pulled out his laptop and played...."

"Life..," Johan repeated, the words dry as dust. "How charitable of him." He paused, navigating a turn.

The city began to give way to the quieter, tree-lined roads leading to their neighborhood. "And what, precisely, was the video? The basics? Or was it... more advanced?"

North whined, a high, helpless sound in the back of his throat.

He turned his body fully towards the window, pressing his burning forehead against the cool glass. "Can we please not talk about it? Please....."

Johan hummed. The car slowed for a stop sign. "Alright. I'll stop. But one last question, and then I'll drop it." His voice softened and became one of genuine, dark curiosity. "You said it was scary. What was so frightening about it, Love? The deed? The... intensity?"

North squeezed his eyes shut.

Images from the video-impersonal, graphic, strangely joyless-flashed behind his eyelids violently with the emotional memory of his night with Johan.

They were not the same.

They were galaxies apart.

"It was... it was all so... clinical. And rough. And there was no... no feeling in it. It just looked like... a transaction. It was new, and it looked painful, and it was scary." The words tumbled out in a jumbled, ashamed rush, his heart pounding against his ribs.

"Mmm." Johan's response was a deep, vibrating hum.

He turned the car onto their private road, the large, modern structure of their house coming into view at the end of the drive.

He downshifted, the engine's growl softening. "You know," he said, his voice dropping to that low, intimate monotone that always seemed to speak directly to North's spine, "you could have just come to me. If you were curious. If you wanted to learn."

He pulled into the garage, the sudden dimness feeling like the closing of a trap.

The engine cut, leaving a ringing silence. "I'm... disappointed you had to resort to a cheap recording. That my love had to be introduced to the concept through something so soulless."

It wasn't anger. It was something worse: a possessive, profound dissatisfaction that he hadn't been North's first and only source of knowledge.

A shiver, equal parts fear and a strange, dark thrill, ran through North.

"You said that was the last question," North whimpered, finally hiding his face completely in his hands.

The leather seat creaked as he curled in on himself. "You promised."

He heard Johan's door open and shut, then his own opening.

Cool garage air washed over him.

Gentle but firm hands pried his own away from his face. North had no choice but to look up.

Johan was crouched beside the open car door, his frame filling the space.

In the shadowy garage light, his expression was unreadable for a moment.

Then, he took in North's furious blush stained cheeks and neck, the pink, trembling lips caught in a pout, the eyes glassy with unshed tears of embarrassment.

Something in Johan's gaze shifted, the dark dissatisfaction melting into something unbearably fond and fiercely possessive.

A slow, genuine smile touched his lips. "Oh, my darling," he murmured, his voice thick with a warmth that was entirely new. He cupped North's face, his thumbs stroking the heated skin.

He leaned in, closing the distance with infinite slowness.

He gently sucked North's pouted lower lip between his, a tender pull that seemed to siphon away some of the anxiety, before pulling back just a breath away.

"You don't have to be shy with me," Johan whispered, his thumb brushing over North's damp lower lip. "We have two days. Just us. This is your time. Your home. You lead. Tell me what you want to do, and we'll do it." He stood, offering his hand. "Now, come on. Let's go inside."

North, his head still spinning from the emotional whiplash, placed his hand in Johan's and let himself be pulled from the car.

Johan shouldered North's duffel bag and kept his other hand firmly on the small of North's back as they walked through the side entrance into the main house.

The grand, empty space echoed with their footsteps.

Sunlight streamed through the massive windows, illuminating floating dust motes and pristine, pale floors.

North stopped in the middle of the vast living area, turning in a slow circle.

Johan set the bag down and came to stand behind him, wrapping his arms around North's waist, resting his chin on his shoulder. "Tell me," he murmured into his ear. "What's the first thing you want to do?"

North leaned into the embrace, letting the solidity of Johan calm his still-jangling nerves.

He stared at the empty room, "It needs... life," he said finally, his voice gaining a thread of conviction.

"It's too perfect. Too quiet. Maybe... some plants? Big, leafy, messy ones that need water and sunlight. Something we have to take care of together." He paused, thinking.

"And... I want to make the kitchen smell like something. Like garlic and herbs. I want to cook dinner here tonight. A real meal, with music playing, not just... silence."

He felt Johan's smile, a press of teeth against his shoulder through his shirt.

"Plants and groceries," Johan summarized, his tone rich with approval. "okay." He nuzzled North's neck.

"Is that the full agenda for today, Mr. Architect? Or do you have more renovations in mind for our empty palace?"

North shook his head, a small smile touching his own lips. "No... I think that's enough for today. It's... it's a lot. Just being here, planning this with you. It feels big."

Johan turned him gently in his arms, his hands coming up to cradle North's face.

His eyes were soft, the earlier intensity transformed into a deep, settled joy. "It is big," he agreed solemnly. "It's the beginning of everything."

He kissed North's forehead.

"Alright then. The garden center awaits. I cannot wait to see what kind of chaotic, leafy life you choose to invite into our pristine world."

Taking North's hand, he led him back towards the garage.
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The garden center was a sensory explosion after the minimalist silence of the house. North, who had spent the car ride coiled in embarrassment, slowly began to unfurl like the ferns surrounding them.

Johan followed a half-step behind. He watched, fascinated, as North's entire demeanor changed. The shyness evaporated, replaced by a focused, critical eye.

He would stop before a row of fiddle-leaf figs, gently touching a broad, glossy leaf, his head tilted in contemplation.

"This one," North murmured, more to himself than to Johan. "But see this brown spot here? It's been overwatered. Maybe the one next to it..."

Johan observed. He reached out and mimicked North's gesture, his large fingers looking impossibly clumsy and out of place against a delicate maidenhair fern. "To me, they are all just... green."

"They have personalities," North corrected softly, moving to a cluster of snake plants. "This one is practically indestructible. Good for a dark corner. This monstera... it's dramatic. It'll grow everywhere and demand attention." He glanced at Johan, a flicker of his old self-consciousness returning. "Is that silly?"

"No," Johan said, his voice firm. He came to stand beside him, looking at the plants as if seeing them for the first time through North's eyes. "It's perfect. Pick the ones that speak to you."

Empowered, North became a man on a mission.

Johan merely nodded, signaling to a store attendant who materialized to handle the logistics of purchase and delivery.

The grocery store was a different kind of theater.

Johan pushed the cart with the same quiet authority.

"What do we need for this kitchen-smelling meal?" Johan asked, peering into the cart as North carefully selected plump garlic bulbs and a bundle of fresh rosemary.

"Pasta," North decided. "Something simple. Aglio e olio. It's just garlic, oil, chili flakes, and parsley. You can't mess it up."

"A recipe for beginners," Johan teased gently, leaning on the cart.

North flushed but didn't shrink away.

He tossed a lemon into the cart with a little more force than necessary. "And a salad. With a lemon vinaigrette. To prove we can eat something that didn't come from a takeout container."

"Lovely," Johan said, his eyes were sparkling.

Back at the house, the delivered plants waited on the porch like eager guests.

The next few hours were a blur of quiet, shared labor.

Johan, in a simple black t-shirt and sweatpants, moved heavy ceramic pots under North's direction, his muscles straining in a way that was distractingly domestic and deeply attractive.

North, on his knees, carefully patted soil around roots, his brows knitted in concentration, tongue caught between his teeth.

They didn't talk much.

They didn't need to.

"A little to the left... yes, there. The light is better."
"This one is heavier than it looks."
"Just...just let me do it, you're getting soil everywhere."

As the sun began its descent, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple, the house transformed.

Lush greenery now broke the sharp lines of the architecture. Life, in its quiet, photosynthetic way, had been invited in.

The kitchen came alive next.

North, tying one of Johan's aprons around his waist took command. Johan was assigned to washing lettuce and, under strict supervision, chopping garlic.

His knife skills were efficient but ruthless, more suited to dispatching enemies than mincing cloves.

"Smaller," North insisted, peering over his shoulder. "You're making garlic chunks, not garlic boulders."

"Forgive me, chef," Johan rumbled, but he obediently refined his technique.

The sizzle of garlic and chili flakes in olive oil filled the air, the pungent, warming aroma weaving itself into the fabric of the new house.

North moved with a focused grace, squeezing lemon, tossing pasta, sprinkling parsley.

Johan leaned against the counter, arms crossed, watching him.

They ate at the bare island counter, on simple plates, their knees touching.

"It's the best meal I've ever had," Johan stated, finishing every last bite.

"Liar," North said, but he was glowing.

"It's the truth," Johan replied, his gaze unwavering. "It's the first meal in our home. That makes it a relic. A sacred artifact."

The final bites of pasta were finished in a comfortable silence.

Johan stood first, gathering the dishes. North moved to help, but a gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"I'll get these later," Johan murmured. "Come."

He took North's hand.

The journey to the master suite felt different tonight.

Johan stopped in the center of the room, turning to face North.

He reached out, his fingers brushing a stray smudge of soil from North's cheekbone. His touch was infinitely tender.

"Do you want to bath?" Johan asked.

North, still floating in the hazy, pleasant exhaustion of the day, simply nodded.

A slow, predatory smile touched Johan's lips, but his eyes remained soft. "Good," he said.

And then, in one fluid, startlingly powerful motion, he bent and slid his arms under North and lifted him.

"Ah! Johan!" North yelped, his arms instinctively flying up to loop around Johan's neck for stability.

"Then let's bath together," Johan stated walking towards the bathroom.

The water in the grand, sunken tub was perfect.

North let himself sink back against Johan's solid chest.

The world was reduced to this cocoon of warmth and the secure circle of Johan's arms around his waist.

For a while, there was only the sound of their breathing and the gentle lap of water.

Johan's hands were idle, tracing abstract patterns on North's stomach beneath the surface.

Then, one hand rose, squeezing a dollop of liquid soap, and began to massage it into North's shoulder, kneading the tension with a firm, practiced touch.

It was so peaceful, so unexpectedly tender, that North let out a soft, contented sigh, his head lolling back against Johan's shoulder.

"Love," Johan's voice was a low rumble against his ear. "Can you tell me more about that video you watched?"

The peace shattered.

North's body went rigid.

He twisted in the water, turning completely to face Johan, sloshing water over the rim.

His face, already flushed from the heat, was now a portrait of fresh, wounded betrayal.

His eyes, wide and gleaming in the low bathroom light, welled with instant, hot tears of shame.

"I told you not to tease me!" North's voice was a strangled mix of a cry and a whisper, cracking with emotion.

"Why do you keep doing it?! You said you'd drop it! You promised!" His lower lip trembled, a frown etching deep lines into his forehead.

Johan looked fascinated.

A slow, gentle smile spread across his face as he reached up, cupping North's wet cheeks with both hands, his thumbs catching the tears that spilled over.

"I am not teasing you," he murmured, his voice a soft, velvety lie.

His eyes danced with dark amusement. "I am simply...conducting a survey. Gathering data. I want to understand your frame of reference." A sly, undeniable smirk played at the corners of his mouth, betraying him completely.

Before North could muster another protest, Johan pulled him forward and sealed his mouth with a kiss.

His tongue swept in immediately, a hot, insistent invasion that stole North's breath and his outrage.

North moaned, a helpless, surrendering sound that was swallowed by Johan's mouth.

The sound of the tub water moving under their moving bodies along with the wet sound of their kissing filled the bathroom.

Johan pulled back slowly, his own breath slightly ragged.

His eyes were darkness, holding North's captive gaze.

The playful smirk was gone.

North felt his own anger dissolve as he gulped.

"Did the video," Johan asked, his voice dropping to a husky, intimate whisper, each word deliberate, "teach you how to swallow?"

Swallow?

For a dazed second, North's mind fogged confusion.

Then he saw the subtle, devastating curve of Johan's lips.

Saw the slight raise of one dark eyebrow.

Johan's gaze didn't waver from North's, but the attention downward, beneath the soapy water.

North's own eyes followed the unspoken command, glancing down through the clouded water before snapping back up to Johan's face.

The realization hit him like a physical blow.

A choked sound escaped him, and a flush so violent it felt like a fever exploded across every inch of his skin.

"I... wha... no, it..." North babbled, completely incoherent.

Johan watched the storm of understanding and terror cross North's face.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact, he reached beneath the water.

His hands found North's, which were clenched into trembling fists at his sides.

Gently, he pried them open and guided them right hand down, through the warm water, past his own waist, guiding his fingers to wrap around a thickness that was already hard, hot, and pulsing with a life of its own against North's palm.

North gasped, a sharp intake of breath that echoed in the steamy room.

His fingers instinctively tried to curl away, but Johan held them firm, his own hand enclosing North's.

"It didn't, did it?" Johan murmured, his voice thick now, all pretense of casual inquiry gone.

His forehead rested against North's, their noses brushing. "It showed vou mechanics, It didn't show you this" He tightened his grip over North's hand, applying a slow, suggestive pressure.

"It didn't teach you what I like. How I like to be touched. How I want to feel your mouth on my dick."

He released North's hand, but only to bring his own up to cradle the back of North's head, his fingers tangling in the wet hair.

His other hand traced a path from North's jaw, down the column of his throat, a slow, possessive caress.

"The video is irrelevant, my love," Johan whispered, his lips brushing North's as he spoke. "Forget it. There is only my voice. My touch. My instruction. And tonight, I am going to teach you something it never could."