---
The tea had long gone lukewarm. The plate held nothing but a few scattered biscuit crumbs. The soft glow of the lanterns flickered against the walls, casting their shadows gently over the room.
Ren lay back on the cushioned couch, his head tilted slightly as he stared at the ceiling. His fingers absentmindedly toyed with the sleeve of Shinomi's robe, which was thrown carelessly over the chair beside him. Across the room, Shinomi was reading a book he probably didn't care about, slouched upside down on Ren's bed like an overgrown child.
"You're going to hurt your neck if you keep reading like that," Ren said softly, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I'm strengthening my blood flow to the brain," Shinomi replied, flipping the page with a dramatic flourish. "Or maybe I just want you to come over here and fix me."
Ren rolled his eyes and didn't move.
Instead, he sighed.
And Shinomi heard it.
He closed the book slowly and sat up properly this time, watching Ren with a quiet intensity. "What's wrong?"
Ren hesitated. His fingers stilled on the fabric. "I… I don't know what we're doing."
"What do you mean?"
"This," Ren gestured vaguely around them. "Sneaking around. Hiding. I feel happy, and then I remember—at any moment, someone could come and rip this away."
Shinomi stood and walked to him without a word. He sat beside Ren, not too close, but close enough for their knees to touch.
"You're scared."
Ren nodded.
"I am too."
That surprised him.
Shinomi leaned back, gazing up at the ceiling with him. "I've always been good at fighting, charging ahead. But this… you… you make me hesitate. Not because I doubt. But because I want to protect this."
Ren turned toward him, searching his face.
"I know I joke a lot, and I tease," Shinomi continued. "But none of this is a game to me. You're not some thrill. You're… the first thing I want to hold, not conquer."
Ren looked down, heart tightening in his chest.
"Do you remember the first time you called me by my name?" Shinomi asked suddenly.
Ren blinked. "At the gambling counter."
Shinomi chuckled softly. "I hated it. You said it like I was dirt."
"You kind of were."
"Fair," Shinomi laughed, then added, more quietly, "But now when you say my name, it feels like… home."
Ren swallowed hard, his fingers inching across the cushion, brushing Shinomi's.
"Do you want to stop this?" Shinomi asked seriously.
Ren shook his head.
"Then I'll keep sneaking in through your window. I'll keep pretending I'm a pillow just to lie on your bed. I'll lie to the entire kingdom if I have to."
Ren smiled despite himself, cheeks tinted pink.
"I'll wait," Shinomi whispered. "Even if I have to wait for the world to change."
Ren finally looked at him, eyes glimmering.
He leaned in, gently resting his forehead against Shinomi's. "Then let's make our own little world. Just for now."
Shinomi reached up and touched his cheek, thumb tracing the soft skin beneath his eye. "Yours."
"Mine," Ren echoed, his lips brushing Shinomi's.
They kissed—soft, slow, not urgent or needy, but full of meaning.
Full of the promise that whatever came next, they'd face it together.
And for once, the silence between them wasn't about fear or secrecy.
It was about love—unspoken, but understood.
---