Eran opened up the apartment door and pulled in his suitcase. "I'm ba—" He was cut off by Riley's arms suddenly wrapping around him tightly. "Did you miss me that much?" Eran asked half-jokingly.

Riley blurted with speed, "I didn't tell you because I wanted you to focus on the conference and not be distracted...—"

Eran pulled away and guessed in alarm, "Your dad's here."

"Yesterday he said he wanted to come here and meet you, so I told him we'd go down to the apartment and meet him there."

"Today?"

"Today."

Eran looked at the clock on his cell phone. It was just after noon. "Have you had lunch?" Riley shook his head. "Then let's have lunch first. And I want to unpack."

Riley nodded and took Eran's suitcase. "Tell me about the conference. Was everyone amazed by your genius?"

Eran tugged on Riley's sleeve, pulling him back. When Riley turned around, Eran surprised him with a kiss. Even though he'd only been gone a few days, the taste of Riley's lips made it feel like Eran had experienced withdrawal. When Riley kissed him back, Eran had trouble pulling away. I want more, he thought. But Riley turned away and continued on as if he personally had no carnal desires. Eran hid his disappointment and followed behind his lover, hoping he'd get the chance to get closer to Riley that night.

As Riley unlocked the front door to the apartment, they heard his name called from the parking lot. Eran recognized the voice as Riley's father's.

"Go ahead inside," Riley instructed Eran.

Eran complied, initially bothered but then relieved to see Riley following behind him. Looking around the apartment, he noticed that the big pieces of furniture were still there. "What's going to happen with this stuff?" he asked Riley.

"I was thinking of seeing if we could give the wooden pieces to Jay's parents for recycling," he answered as he looked through a box of foods in the kitchen. Eran moved to the kitchen table where Riley had picked out some tins of tea.

"You can take whatever you want. Furniture included." Riley's father's voice came from the doorway. "Though we don't have much."

The man that stepped into the room was just as tall as Riley. His skin was a lighter brown than his son's, chin dusted with stubble. Feature-wise, the man didn't look much like Riley—though at the same time, there were no striking differences. Eran determined that Riley must be a perfect blend of both mother and father.

"This is the person I'm living with," Riley introduced, gesturing, "Eran."

"Thanks for coming over," his dad said to Eran. "You can call me Noah. Let's sit down at this table," he suggested, pulling out a chair. "Do you two want it? But you probably already have one."

"We have," Eran replied at the same time Riley answered, "Yeah."

Noah placed an empty box on the table. "Here's an empty box. You can put whatever you want in here and take it with you."

Eran placed the box on his side while Riley continued to rummage through the kitchen items. He handed Eran some tins of tea.

"We already have plenty of tea," Eran refused.

"Then we just have to drink more." Riley tossed the tins into the box. Eran sighed and situated them neatly in the container.

"Sorry if Riley's caused you any trouble," Noah apologized. "I'm willing to pay half the rent and bills until Riley graduates college."

Before Eran could respond, Riley interrupted. "What? I... I'll be able to get a job that pays enough before I graduate."

Noah ignored Riley. "Are you paying for the place on your own?"

Eran blinked. "Yeah."

"Your parents don't support you?"

Eran then realized Noah probably wasn't told how old Eran was. It was true that his parents had helped him get the place after undergrad. But since he'd started grad school, he'd been handling things completely on his own. "I support myself. And Riley. I really have no qualms with him not paying rent. He's been putting the allowance you give him towards food and other housekeeping-related things, which is helpful." Eran began speaking in a carefully manipulative way, "But if you as a parent feel like you should support your child in some way, then by all means, just tell me what you want to do and if Riley concedes, I'll likely agree."

"I don't want you to support me."

The two men looked at Riley. "Who are you talking to?" Noah asked.

"Both of you."

"You're still in high school," Noah countered.

Simultaneously, Eran assured, "It's only temporary."

With sad, worried eyes, Riley looked at Eran. Within that one expression, Eran could understand Riley's feelings—even with no words said. Eran knew that Riley felt guilty for letting Eran support him, but also didn't want to accept money from Noah. "Weren't you listening to me?" Eran responded and then paused. "It's a parent's duty to support his child up until self-sufficiency. Right, Mr.―Noah?"

Noah looked slightly caught off guard but agreed without hesitancy, "Yes."

In return, Riley groaned. "Ughhh, fine. But I want to do something," he mumbled and pouted.

Eran smirked. "Just be a good househusband."

"Househusband?" Noah asked, raising his eyebrows.

Riley shrugged. "It's just a joke I made a long time ago that we've been running with." It wasn't a lie, Eran noted. Riley was smooth.

"Riley," Noah began. "How old did you say Eran was?"

Riley sat up. "I didn't."

Eran gave a cynical chuckle, "Why do I get the feeling you didn't say a lot of things."

"Because I didn't," Riley openly admitted.

Eran sighed at Riley's answer to the rhetorical question. "Mr. Hath—ah, Noah, if you have any questions, you can ask me. I'll answer them honestly," Eran assured. "I'm twenty-four."

"Twenty—! Riley said you were still in school."

"I am."

"For what?"

"A doctorate in microbiology."

Noah looked completely flabbergasted. "Riley, you're living with a doctor?!"

I figured I should be honest, but he looks really shocked. "In microbiology," Eran clarified as he slightly raised an eyebrow, "and I just started my program."

"He's going to the school you want to go to, eh?" Noah checked. Riley nodded. "Do you want to go there because he's there?"

Just as casually, Riley nodded again.

"And if you don't get in?"

"I'll just go to someplace else close by."

Noah's surprise didn't dissipate, but Eran could see he was probably starting to realize Riley's strange level of attachment to Eran. "When and how did you two get to know each other?" Noah asked, verifying Eran's suspicions. "Does Riley have any other friends? Is he being a bother to you?"

"Huh?" Noah's last conclusions confused Eran. "No. I mean... He's not bothering me. And he has a really good friend... from school." Eran paused, unsure of what else could be said, but Noah's expectant gaze pressured Eran to continue with something. "Riley probably doesn't want you to know this but... he was starting along the path of becoming some sort of a delinquent when I met him. Somehow I ended up encouraging him to reform, and we grew close over that time." Eran paused again. "That's pretty much it. Oh, that was three to four months ago," he added.

"That explains why he admires you so much."

Does it? Eran gave an internal sigh of relief. Well, if that's how you want to explain it, that definitely works for me. "Riley has really matured in the past few months. I'm the one that admires him."

"No, no. It's great that Riley has a good role model. I'd be concerned if he was really living a girlfriend. Heheh." Riley and Eran stiffened uncomfortably but Noah seemed not to notice. "It's way too easy to get a girl pregnant when you live together. Hahah," Noah laughed in relief.

Eran gave a half sincere smile. "No chance of pregnancy here." He added a fake laugh for good measure.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"I do not," Eran answered still smiling.

"Does Riley?"

"He does not."

Riley muttered, "I already told you I didn't."

"Don't bring girls over when Eran's not there."

Eran's smile didn't break. "Oh, don't worry. If I ever find out he's brought home any girls, I'll rip mmnff—"

Riley covered Eran's mouth before he could continue.

Either unfazed or oblivious, Noah stood up. "I have another box here of various things you can go through." He brought it to the table. Eran took charge of scavenging through the box—half of what Riley had handed Eran from the other box was handed right back to him; the young man seemed to have no sense of necessity.

"Dad, did you love my mom?"

"Of course. You wouldn't be here if I hadn't."

"Were you surprised when she left?"

Eran wondered why Riley was suddenly asking such private, important questions.

"I wasn't surprised that she left, but I was surprised by when she chose to do it. You were old enough to be angry and hurt by it, but young enough to feel guilty and confused. The worst part is, she acted motherly until the very end..." Noah, who had been looking down looked up at Riley now. "Why do you ask? I think this is the first time..."

"Because Eran's here."

Eran's heart palpitated.

"Hm?" his dad questioned, confused.

"I can manage anything when Eran's with me."

Eran clenched his fists and tried hard not to make any strange expressions, look at Riley, or blush.

"I'm glad, but," Noah frowned, "Eran won't always be beside you, you know that, right?"

Speaking at the same time, the couple countered. "I will be," said Eran. "He will," said Riley.

"W-what?" Noah looked at the two blankly.

Eran explained without reservation. "I'll always be beside him. He doesn't need to do anything alone. Never again."

Noah's blank expression remained for a few quiet seconds. "I see... I see." He finally closed his eyes and gave a resigned sigh. "I hope you two can manage that."

As they picked a few more items, Eran asked Noah how long he planned on staying in town. He said he would be there until the apartment was empty—selling what he could and donating what he couldn't—at least a week, no more than a month. He agreed to drop by the Stacks' shop to see if they could recycle any of the furniture for their store.

Having met Eran, he didn't mention going to visit their place. They said nothing of meeting again but didn't say goodbye as if it were forever. Noah walked them to the door where Riley placed the apartment key in his father's hand. Eran felt happiness seeing Riley relinquish it with no hesitancy and seemingly with no lingering attachment.

"You're completely mine now," Eran remarked as Riley drove them back home.

The car over-accelerated momentarily as Riley stuttered, "D-don't seduce me."

Eran gave Riley a questioning glance. "What's wrong?"

"We can't," Riley said with a sincere tone and expression. "If we start..." his volume declined, "I really don't think I could hold back..."

The surprising seriousness with which Riley made that statement presented Eran with a lot to chew on.

A/N: Do you think they hid their relationship from Riley's dad well enough?