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He stood waiting, leaning against the wall and looking through the window without paying attention to the outside. It seemed that he had spent too much time on the same thought, and it surely looked somewhat gloomy, but Riki, with all his leather clothes and rough appearance, kept to himself his nervousness.
He couldn't believe that a moment alone with Katze, within the walls of his luxurious office in Midas, was so complicated to achieve. He had to make a 'delicate' request to him. He was thinking about what the right words to say were and looking for a way not to draw too much attention to him.
Saying it delicately was the problem. He was unable to speak like that.
After the last of the messengers had left, he only moved his eyes to the figure who was now typing without pausing.
He couldn't help but get annoyed at feeling ignored. He'd been staring out the fucking window for about an hour of his free time and, of course, he had a curfew. But as it was, the redhead he occasionally worked for on the black market for over a decade must know him well enough by now to understand that he had to talk to him about something.
"Are you going to keep ignoring me?"
"Are you going to keep staying there?"
"Bastard!"
Riki regretted that he couldn’t kick his ass and that Katze was the only one he could turn to. Gritting his teeth, he waited for him to light his umpteenth cigarette of the last hour, deign to turn around in his comfortable leather chair, and finally look at him.
The red spark from the tip lit up his eyes, it was like liquid gold... but Riki looked at Katze, and it was like doing it for the first time.
Maybe it had always been like that, but he realized from the recent drift of his thoughts that Katze... his appearance hadn’t changed since the last ten years they had known each other.
It was so strange not to find the obvious evidence of the passage of time upon him.
"I don't have time, Riki. What do you want?"
"Ah! Yes, well..." he hesitated a little; unfortunately, living for so many years with Iason hadn’t made him more loquacious. "I have to ask you a favor."
A delineated eyebrow arched slightly, it was unusual for Katze to see Bison’s former leader and Iason’s current lover so quiet. He hadn't seen him like this since he was an unhappy pet so many years ago.
"It's actually a simple thing."
"If you came here it's because you don't want Iason to find out. I won't. Save your breath."
"I just want you to buy for me a simple hair dye, nothing more." Riki was exasperated and, apparently, he had to offer some explanations. "It’s for me. Black color and I'm not buying it myself because I don't want Iason to know. It will show up on my purchase record and, truth be told, I'm not spending my 'clandestine' money for this. I won't ask Cal for it because it would be the same as asking Iason... and it's just... what I want to avoid."
Katze let the cigarette burn itself out between his lips. Riki had his full attention now.
"Hair dye?" He repeated in disbelief. "I won't give you material to mess with."
"I don't intend to dye anyone's hair but my own."
"Yeah, of course," Katze replied without believing him. He wasn't going to forget some 'unfortunate episodes' between them, like the time when Riki switched his headache pills for laxatives just to get him away and ran off with his Bison friends; or the time he managed to trick Iason and made him drink unfiltered coffee: the ice Blondie didn't find out he was in meetings all day in Eos with black teeth. Riki could consider himself Amoi's luckiest and most free pet, but Iason was still a Blondie, Katze knew that well. "I won't give you hair dye, it's obviously not for you."
"It is!" When Katze looked away and lost interest in him, Riki knew he had to offer more. "Okay, listen...I don't want Iason to see them..." He took a big breath. "I have some white hairs."
He definitely got his attention back. He even felt the curious gaze travel immediately to his black hair.
"Iason most likely knows you're getting old," Katze chuckled. He continued to watch but didn't see any white hairs. "Why don't you pluck them out?"
"Everyone knows that when you pluck one, ten come back," Riki replied, starting to get nervous at the scrutiny his head was undergoing. Unconsciously, Katze moved closer in his chair to find the white hair, making it more visible to Riki. With all the drama of dealing with the traces of the passage of time and Iason's immortality, it was strange that Katze looked quite young considering his age. Blinking in confusion, he tried to calculate it... and concluded that, in fact, his skin looked smoother than years ago, as if the clock and the years had not advanced for him.
There was no line across his forehead or around his eyes. His mouth looked like smooth, very natural, red cotton. Cute, Riki found Katze cute. He was clearly his senior in age and had no more care than in the past. He knew he was still a workaholic and a smoker.
"Seeing is believing," Katze said, crushing his half-consumed cigarette and snapping Riki out of his thoughts. "I can't find any gray hairs."
Riki clenched his fists, he could keep thinking about the matter and maybe get away with it, or get nowhere, but he knew that soon Iason would make an appearance, and he would not be able to continue talking about it. Time was running out.
"Damn son of a bitch... Fine! It's not for my hair, it's for down here." He said quickly, illustrating his words by pointing to his crotch with his hand. He silently endured the grimace of surprise and then his chuckle. "Are you done laughing, you bastard?"
"Never," Katze sneered. "But I don't need to see that."
"Too bad, I could rub it in your face."
"You still need me to do you a favor, right? Anyway, why don't you just cut it all off?"
"I don't want Iason to think I'm provoking him or enhancing the view," Riki simplified, without wanting to be explicit, but one of the few things that didn't change between them over so many years together was their sexual chemistry. Something as simple as removing all his pubic hair could cause three hours of good sex to turn into five hours of atonement.
"I can't even begin to imagine how you found them."
Katze continued laughing seeing that. In fact, Riki was starting to show some visible frown lines on his forehead, and looked, in general, more mature than he wanted to admit. He tried to leave the funny side of the subject and be practical. "Do you think Iason will find them? Maybe you're worrying for no reason."
"Iason would find the gray hairs down there before the ones on my head," he replied with annoyance.
Katze, with a new light of thought on Riki's problems and focusing on his own similar dilemmas, could not restrain himself from asking.
"You know Iason loves you. Why hide something obvious from him?"
Riki looked at him indecipherably, intense black eyes resting on his.
Just when it looked like he might get a good answer about his heart's feelings and Riki's reasoning, he opened his mouth.
"We know I'm not like him and I will change, but down here..." he pointed to his crotch. "This should be kept young. I don't want Iason to have to fuck an old man's penis, and that is exactly what will be if it's suddenly all white. I'll lose all my erections if I have to see it." Riki shrugged and carelessly argued. "You wouldn't understand, you don't have it."
"You mean I don't have a penis, body hair, or sex?"
Although he was happy about the total falsehood in that line, Katze sounded very upset.
"It’s fine, I didn't mean that. But I'm stressed. I have to dye it today. Will you help me?"
Katze looked at the clock, Iason was two or three minutes from arriving. He took his communicator and typed a few times. He would probably later regret his decision, but he heard enough from Riki.
"I contacted a Midas store. They will deliver the dye at Eos in a sealed package. They will do it along with some hair products so it won't be suspicious if Cal asks you. I will write to him, telling him that I ordered the purchase."
Riki picked up his cigarette and was able to smoke with pleasure for the first time since that very morning he discovered the problem between his legs.
Katze, who didn’t hear a thank you and was beginning to prepare the report he had to give to Iason suddenly, felt uncomfortably watched.
"What the hell are you into? Or is it better to say, what are you getting yourself into?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're my eldest but you look younger than me, you haven't changed a shit in all these years, it's obvious you are doing something to look like that, and I assume Iason doesn't know. If he did, I'd look young and gleaming like you too."
Riki did not smile triumphantly, he kept the grimace to himself as Katze paled a shade and tried to keep his face just as nonchalant.
"How did I not notice it before? Your face is as smooth and polished as a baby's bottom!"
Notification that Iason had arrived and was entering the corridors came over the communicator. Katze, surprised by the unexpected insight, nothing short of damaging, bit his lip. He had twenty seconds or less to act.
"You're overreacting," he said, trying to enlist the day's reports, but he just wanted to distract Riki from how right he was. "I'm not hiding anything, maybe it's just genetics."
"Genetics my balls," Riki scoffed, sensing the disguised calm, but his eyes, which could be prescriptive when they wanted, saw he had Katze caught up in something shady. "If you're not hiding anything, how about I mention to Iason how young you look?"
"If you happen to mention it in the slightest, I'll tell him what you bought hair dye for."
"In theory, I didn't buy anything," they both spoke quickly. "What is it? To hell my gray hair, if you don't tell me...".
"I won't! You wouldn't tell Iason!"
"Test me! I want you to give me..."
"Fuck you, Riki, you're not going to blackmail me!"
At that precise moment, the icy Blondie walked through the entrance. Imposing and majestic as always, with his long and wonderful platinum blond hair framing a beautifully shaped face, Iason was dressed in his elegant suit that widened his back even more.
Katze's knees shook as she stood up and bowed in greeting. He gave Riki a glance that didn't flinch as they both remained silent.
To the surprise of the mongrel, Raoul Am - the Second-in-Command and a renowned biogenetic scientist, among other titles - also entered behind Iason.
For a few brief seconds, Iason's turned his back on them as he shed his red coat. Katze rounded the desk to receive the garment, but when he approached Riki, he leaned in close enough to whisper quickly in his ear.
"Shut up and we'll talk about the price later."
He did it in front of Raoul, who saw the strange attitude and didn’t react like the sour scholar Riki knew, the one that protested and criticized all the time. Quite the contrary, the green gaze - which was usually an annoyance - showed attention on Katze. Riki saw it, that complicit eye contact between them.
And Raoul continued to look worriedly at Katze for as long as he could before the three of them were seated around the desk and their meeting began.
Riki only turned away as much as necessary. With smoke between his lips, he continued to disintegrate the strange evidence and attitudes. That look of complicity, fearlessness, full of understanding and connection between Raoul and Katze, however brief it was... it was clearer than if someone wrote it on a giant neon sign.
"This isn’t the right report," Iason protested, suddenly returning a screen on the desk. "What's wrong? You're slow and you're wasting my time."
"I’m sorry, Master. This is the right one." Katze handed the screen back to Iason who concentrated on reading again.
Over the years, Riki was able to rely on Katze for conversation and finding some entertaining work; he was a connection to Ceres and his old self. But without a trace of evil in him, without imagining how frightened Katze felt or what a big a secret he was keeping, Riki thought it would be great fun to see him wriggle out of this situation.
Also, it didn’t go unnoticed to him that Katze would type something, pause, and Raoul would read his own communicator and return the message. It only happened twice, but Riki noticed.
Katze, who was mentally struggling to breathe normally, couldn't believe that Riki would choose such a bad time to get intuitive.
The truth was that for years before the Dana Bahn event, Katze had been welcoming Raoul Am into his life and his bed, regaining what was lost between his legs and exploring sex in all its playful ways. They had been hiding their relationship from Iason and the world for about a decade, that was great.
They loved each other, it was forbidden and they could go on like that for a long time.
It was five years ago that Raoul Am, motivated by his own fears, found a solution to keep Katze by his side indefinitely. Not wanting to experiment on Katze or change his way of being, such as drinking coffee and smoking, he came to experiment on himself.
Finding the perfect solution.
Like a fountain of life, issued from Raoul's powerful member, Katze received deep, deep inside him, a precious white liquid partially modified to fill him with good health and longevity.
They did it as often as they wanted, but it was not medically necessary. Katze had the chemicals necessary for a hundred-year life circulating in his veins.
It was undeniable that at some point, Raoul, being the right one to talk to Iason, had to broach the subject and confess their relationship as well as show him the benefits of his experiment. Of course, he and Katze feared he would react negatively to their affair.
The more time passed, the more obvious and complicated everything became.
Raoul could invent some other experiment to justify Katze's youth, but Iason being Iason, a web of lies would be his grave in the short or long term.
Meanwhile, Katze had to think about how to buy Riki's silence. Was he going to let himself be extorted? Maybe that was better than letting Iason know about his affair with Raoul, or not?
To Katze's relief, it seemed that the meeting would proceed without further mishap.
"Come to think of it, has been a long time since we ordered a pizza from Flavors. How can it be so many years?" Riki walked over and leaned on Katze's chair, slowly pronouncing the words 'time' and 'years' with clear intentions.
Iason didn’t stop reading, Raoul glared at him in annoyance and Katze tensed.
"But what's ten years for you, right, Iason?"
The Blondie looked up from his report.
Before Riki could open his mouth again, Katze interrupted.
"I have a trip to the Gaaran Galaxy on the agenda in two days, it's to transport important merchandise. I need a trusted pilot, I was thinking of Riki."
"How many days?"
"He should be back in five, bringing back more merchandise," he replied, searching his computer for the information he was talking about. He had just made up the 'trusted pilot' thing, but he hoped it would be enough to start shutting Riki up... Great! He was lying anyway.
"Of course, I want to go!" Riki stepped forward, placing his hand on Katze's tense shoulder and giving him a light squeeze. It was like sealing the deal. For now, he would be quiet, but he wanted to know how much he could fuck with Raoul, who was so pensive since he arrived. In other circumstances, he would have already criticized him or mentioned his annoying existence. "Maybe, on my way back I could bring you some clothes, Raoul, so you wouldn't have to wear that dead bird on your shoulders."
Riki gave him a toothy grin when Raoul just glared at him furiously, without saying a word. His feather-textured shoulder pads were not defended as on other occasions. It was clear that he was hiding something with Katze.
About an hour later, Iason called the meeting to a close and took with him his happy pet who would have a trip as a pilot in a few days.
Riki was beginning to enjoy having Katze and Raoul cornered and he would take advantage of it in many more ways.
"Are you going to stay?" Iason said to Raoul, before leaving.
"Yes, lab pet issues," he simplified.
"Yeah, sure, pets." Riki enjoyed how Katze and Raoul disguised their annoyance.
"You're acting strange, Riki" Iason said, as they walked away down the hallway.
As soon as the sound of their footsteps and voices subsided, Raoul let out a tired sigh and Katze dipped his head, holding it in his hands.
"It didn't have to happen like this! We're screwed!" The redhead lamented.
Raoul walked over to the chair, turned it slightly, and knelt in front of Katze, taking his hands.
"This may be good for us. We will be extremely cautious about Iason and Jupiter, but we can get it out there. I'll talk to Iason."
The pretty green gaze was confident and calm, determined to keep his word. Quite the opposite of Katze, who felt panic in every bone in his body.
"I will show him the benefits of the experiment and he can use it on Riki as well. He will accept it, otherwise, I am ready to fight for you."
"It's about ten years, but we can tell him it started recently and I'm not leaving the Black Market."
Raoul caressed his face and left a kiss on his lips. It was so soft.
After a brief silence, Katze looked at the time. He still had time to call Cal and prevent Riki from receiving the hair dye, but he decided that Riki deserved it after all. Raoul and he would not be blackmailed or manipulated at his whim.
"I'm sure Riki will tell him tomorrow or tonight," Katze said.
"How do you know? He doesn't want to miss his trip."
"I just know. Get your speech ready for tomorrow, Blondie." Katze accepted the embrace, then allowed Raoul to advance and seek his lips in a deeper kiss to soothe him.
"Everything will be all right, love. Iason will see the benefits of the experiment and you haven't failed once in your work. I'll tell him it was for research purposes."
Whatever it was, the veil that covered their relationship was about to be uncovered. They could continue their work each on their own, or share the night, counting the hours within those walls that knew their decadence and passion.
Most of all, they missed each other. It had been really complicated to be together the last few weeks.
First on the desk, with Raoul sitting on the surface with his legs spread and Katze in the middle; then on the low table between the sofas, with Katze kneeling on the carpet and Raoul just behind. They reached the back room, on the bed, and both finished consuming by hugging each other, legs, arms, and something else, in a tight embrace.
Would it be the last time?
When the movement in the bed subsided, Raoul gathered Katze against his body, demonstrating his affection rather than his desire.
"It'll sound stupid to you," the Blondie began, kissing him on the top of his red-head. "I have a feeling it's going to be all right. Maybe, Iason already knows and doesn't care at all."
"Do you believe that?" For Katze, it was unimaginable something like that. Iason's shadow over their relationship was a threat that could only bring misfortune "Why?"
"We've been together for about ten years, and it's Iason. Are we sure we're fooling him, or is he playing with us?"
Suddenly, the anguish in Katze's chest was gone.
"Actually," he said, "it wouldn't be the first time."
Far away, in a room with decorated tiles and a huge mirror, Riki was silently cursing and wishing for the death of a redhead. He was naked and had just finished the process of dyeing his pubic hair... he definitely didn't get the desired result.
Damn Katze!
Resignedly, he picked up his electric razor and turned it on, running the blades across the sensitive skin. White bristly hairs fell in clumps on the rug.
When Iason returned hours after his meeting, he found him in bed. He was asleep but the Blondie's libido was not, and it turned on to the max when he found the uncluttered landscape.
Riki's prediction came true, it was torture where he atoned for his pleasure. Before finishing again, contorted in a new position, he found his voice.
"Wait! I want to tell you something about Katze..." he said, putting an outstretched hand between them. Iason, who was approaching as if stalking, looked at him raising his eyebrow. Riki took advantage of the pause to loosen his tongue. "Have you noticed how Katze looks? Besides that, something strange happens with him and Raoul...".
Riki was hoping that Iason would dig into that matter and forget his ass. But the light blue gaze, like dry ice, was covered by his eyelids as he smiled complacently.
"I don't know why you bring it up now, but it took you years to figure it out, Riki," he said. Without warning, he grabbed his mongrel by the ankles and placed them on his shoulders.
"Did you know that!"
"Please, when will you learn that nothing escapes me."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"It's entertaining to watch Katze nearly die every time he thinks he committed an indiscretion. Besides, in the last few years, the Black Market has outgrown and so have my profits. He must be fucking Raoul right now but tomorrow morning he'll show up with a big deal and the best coffee. Raoul pretending to be a mongrel intolerant amuses me. They both know their time is running out and I'll soon see what they offer for thinking they can fool me."
Riki saw in the deadly gleam of his eyes the perverse awareness of playing with them and enjoying it.
"Now you must tell me why, after so long, you have suddenly waxed."
"I won't tell you!".
In the end, Riki was not so smart.
"So, you are hiding something from me."
As he clawed at the blankets and lost his voice, Riki had a fleeting thought away from the torture Iason was procuring with his teeth on a nipple... by talking too much, he had lost the only way to get away from the bed for the next few days.
Goodbye to his journey as a pilot and his only way to blackmail Raoul and Katze.
"I hate you all!"