[Kylo]

Sedimus smiled and placed his hand over Johnathan's. "Well we always have time later." He laughed softly and pulled Johnathn up against himself. He nuzzled his face gently into Johnathan's chest. Sighing contently he wrapped his arms gently around him. "Good night John." He leaned up and kissed him softly.

The next morning he woke up feeling warm and safe. Smiling he nuzzled closer to Johnathan and breathed in his scent. He knew he'd have to leave sooner or later, but for now he just wanted to enjoy himself.

[HappyHappyHierophant]

Had they left the window open? The bright morning light left Johnathan squinting and the white winter light, sending an angled beam of sunlight into the room and letting a few small drifts of snow falling from the eaves of the roof and droplet fall from the icicles beneath them. The sunlight warmed the bed nicely. Jonathan smiled at the feel of Sedimus's nose against his ribs, feeling the soft warm exhalation of air upon his chest. He inhaled sharply and yawned, but placed his elbow around Sedimus's shoulder. "Good morning, Sed." He grinned, and blinked groggily out the window. He felt uniquely tranquil positioned here on the bed with Sed, and wasn't sure if he wanted to leave it. "Sed, how long are you staying here?"

[Kylo]

Sedimus did not want to hear those words. Not now. He sighed and kissed John's chest softly. "I don't know. I want to stay." He really did want to stay, he just could stay stoo long. He knew if he did he'd get attached. He couldn't, he just couldn't go through that again. He was too afraid of getting hut, too afraid of losing a part of himself again. Besides he'd only end up hurting Johnathan in the long run if he stayed to long.

[HappyHappyHierophant]

Johnathan reminded himself that this was the truth. That he shouldn't hope for more. But regardless, he couldn't help but to feel a little disappointed. He hugged Sed hard with the crook of his elbow, and wondered where he had fallen so deeply in love with this man.

***

Sitting upon the mattress, Johnathan meditated his predicament to the gentle consistent whir emanating from the glossy white blades of the radiator, switches pulsating orange with anticipation. He was guessing Sed had gone to get breakfast; he had been too lost in his thoughts to listen fully to him after he had slipped out - he could be anywhere. And perhaps that was what Johnathan regretted most. Loving in a direction that could go anywhere.... Underneath him the iron springs creaked as he shifted his weight and stood. He hated to do this. But, this was too much.

He packed his suitcase carefully as always, folding shirts and pants into identical little rectangles and placing them gingerly along the silk lining of the suitcase. As he placed hoards paired socks, he pondered being once again alone. He then wound the last item, the striped scarf he had worn into the cafe for good luck, and zipped and buckled the suitcase shut.

He wondered if it was now his fault for leaving him. Was this a control thing again? Him wanting to leave Sed before Sed left him? He took a pen, and concisely on the paper wrote to Sed his farewell, the last tail of the cursive smudged a little with a loose tear.

"Good bye, Sed. I love you, and hope to see you soon. xxx" He didn't leave a number or and address.

Then next to it, he left a wallet-sized portrait of the other man that he had found in Sed's drawer. Rod.

[Kylo]

Sedimus came into the room and stared at the empty spot on the bed where Johnathan had been. He had been expecting Johnatahn to wait for him with breakfast. "Johnathan?" he went over to the bed and noticed the note on the night stand...and the picture. "Fuck my life......I thought I hid that." Sedimus sighed and picked up the note, reading it carefully. By the end of it he was scowling and feeling very much like the scum of the world. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. No, not this way. Sedimsu crumbled up the note and threw it on the ground with a growl. "Fuck!" He sank onto the bed and cradled his head in hands. Normally he'd be glad to have a mixed up relationship end so quickly, but not this time. It felt...wrong.


Time passed and instead of feeling better about it he only felt worse. Each day that passed only made Sedimus feel even more unhappy. He had to find Johnathan. He just had to. He'd go crazy if he didn't.

[HappyHappyHierophant]

"Fuck Sed." The lady across from his street turned in surprise, but Johnathan merely squinted at the sun setting in the distance as the charted bus pulled onward down the narrow strip of highway, pretending to be asleep. Although the interior of the bus was basked in every angle with bright pinkish-gold light, he felt like he was riding off into some dark, hellish abyss that he would never escape. It was becoming very warm underneath the layers of clothing he had swaddled himself to hide in, cradling something akin to a broken heart. On the back of his head, the sweat trickling down was beginning to stick the striped scarf around his neck to the smooth plastic coating on the seat. He might have liked to go straight back to Medicai, just to go back to work and pretend nothing happened. But he knew if he came back from vacation this early, Elizabeth would realize something was wrong. Elizabeth always did; she was good at that, and that was why he had hired her. So, maybe just to spite her, and especially Sed, Johnathan was taking the charter to another city northward, following along the river, which he could see, a consistent blue ribbon on his left, and the occasional wave of mist fell upon his face when the wind skimmed over it, making him relax a little more underneath the heavy gray pea coat. For a moment, he forgot his worries, drifting off to sleep, dreaming of mild weather and the clash of the dark teal waves onto the beach...

[Kylo]

Sedimus was supposed to be at work that day. Where was he? In Medicai search feverently for the place where Johnathan worked. He simply could not stand it any longer. The guilt was eating him up inside and if he didn't talk to Johnathan soon he was going to crazy over it. To make matters worse Rod had insisted upon coming with him. ' Just in case he get's violent. ' Sedimus had rolled his eyes at that but allowed him to come. Maybe with Rod there to help explain Johnathan would eb more willing to listen. After all Rod had already forgiven Sed. Hell he had expected Sed to go sleep around still. He knew Sedimus long enough to know that he could not just sleep with one person. It'd drive him crazy to.

Sedimsu finally came to halt in front of the building and sighed. This was going to be hard, especially since he wasn't used to apologizing. Mustering up the courage he went inside and smiled at the receptionist. "Hello. May I please speak to Mr. Johnathan? It's urgent." He smiled politely and waited for her to notice her.

[HappyHappyHierophant]

Almost instantaneously, a slim, petite woman's silhouette hit the frosted glass of the main office doors. There was a buzz from a behind the grating of a metal box that locked the door clearly shut. After a crackle, a woman's voice came from the device.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Welcome to the Factory. This is the twenty-seventh floor, the main CEO's office. I'm Elizabeth Desmond. How may I be of your assistance?"

---

The bus tire under Johnathan jolted with a start, causing Jonathan to flinch awake. "Sorry about that," laughed the driver through the mirror, "It's a country road."

Johnathan hadn't been sure how long he had been asleep, but by the time he awoke, startled by his reflection in the window against the dark blue sky, the horizon had been beaded with thousands of tiny stars, and the woman with the novel that he had startled was long gone, most likely to one of the several ports along the river. He realized that except for the driver and himself, the bus was empty.

Bleary eyed, the initial shock of awaking was fading away, and he let his head squeak to a rest once again on the headrest. But before he could fall asleep again, the intercom went off within the bus.

"Sir, is this your stop? I can drop you off closer to a hotel, if you like."

"No- thank you, this is good." He tipped the driver generously, and unboarded.

Inhaling the salty smell of the sea, he was suddenly reminded fondly of his mother. And then her death, which rose up from his mind like a dead fish on the shore. Like-wise he brushed it away. The town still felt strangely familiar, small stucco villas, all with aqua door and shutters. His feet guided him. This town had rarely come to his thoughts while working in Medicai. Yet, being here - it seemed as if the mask of the hard-nosed executive could finally be stowed away.

It was late and dark, and not a single window was lit was in each of the villas. The streetlamps had long been snuffed out, even the tallowy smell drifted off over the sea. But he knew the address by heart. He had lived there half of his life, after all. And so, the white iron gate, the paint chipping off in places from neglect, creaked open, and he came home for the first time.

[Kylo]

Sedimus nearly growled in frustration but held it back and continued to smile politely. He absolutely hated to talk to people through intercom. He much perfered face to face interaction. Rod shifted beside him, his irritation showing through restlessness. Sedimus cleared his throat and spoke clearly and calmly. "We were hoping to speak to Mr. Johnathan. May we please come in?"

The intercom buzzed again before the women. "I am sorry but he is out at the moment. I can set you up with an appointment for a later date."

Sedimus sighed silently and his lip twitched slightly. "I'd much rather talk to him as soon as possible. Could you be a dear and give me a number by which I may speak to him?" Sedimus did not have the patience to play games of waiting. He needed to speak to Johnathan now.

"I'm afraid not sir. He does not wish to contacted at this time."

"Great, just great. Let's just go Sed. He clearly doesn' wanna be bothered." Rod snapped and turned to leave. He didn't know why Sedimus was so adamnent about talking to this Johnthan. The guy clearly just wanted to move on. He knew Sedimus was hurting and feeling guilty, but if the guy didn't want anything to do with him then it clearly would not be beneficial to contact him again. Not to mention Rod also felt a bit of jealousy. He knew Sedimus would still sleep around, afterall it wasn't like they were lifemates, or whatever the hell they called people who were married in the fucked up world. Rod himself still went out with women, he was afterall straight. He liked women, Sedimus was the only man he ever felt attracted to period. Sedimus though liked to sleep with anything that was of decent intelligence and was good looking. Gender didn't matter much to him.

Sedimus turned and glared at Rod for a moment before turning back to the intercom. "Please just send Mr. Johnathan a message that Sedimus Shinra would like to speak to him as soon as possible. Thank you." With that said Sedimus turned to leave rather angrily. He had already explained the situation to Rod and as such did not want to put up with his only steady partner giving him attitude. Least of all out in public. Sedimus had his pride after all, and did not like people to damage it in the slightest.
((Sorry it took so long~ To make up for it I wrote a lot. ;3; ))

[HappyHappyHierophant]

(OOC: No problem. Love it~)

Scattered over the white ceramic countertops were blue glass vases filled with flowers long wilted by age and time. Johnathan took care to pluck each one carefully by their withered yellow stems, and placing them into a little black trash bag. Along the insides of the vases, varying in shades from aqua to cerulean to indigo, condensation and plant waste he planned to wash out was set alight by the streams of moonlight entering through the bay window above the kitchen sink.  And thus, the villa's stucco walls were covered in circles of blue along with the waving refraction from the ripples of the churning tide against the shore. Johnathan turned the gas on for the stove, whose little blue flames shuddered a little bit before igniting completely. After all, the villa was old fashioned; but neatly and expertly crafted, coming from a time when houses were built in such a way.

A familiar sound arose from his jacket, but at first he had no recognition of what it was or where it was coming from. It was his pager, though he never recalled turning it on. He handled it cautiously, and was admittedly relieved to find it was from Elizabeth. "A SEDIMUS SHINRA IS LOOKING FOR YOU??"

He shut off the pager and let it clatter the tile of the kitchen, and returned to the stove, boiling some water without really knowing what he was going to do with it, and deciding to rest his eyes, easing himself on one of the wicker cabana chairs. Five minutes passed, then ten. After fifteen minutes, the stove went off, and about 30 seconds into that, he received a message from Elizabeth again: "WHAT DO YOU PROPOSED I DO WITH MR. SHINRA?"

He closed his eyes and sighed, rocking his head back and forth. Upon the mention of Sed, a certain spark he had been holding down came to life, and he suddenly felt deeply aroused. He grit his teeth, trying to repress it, but the thoughts of Sedimus making love seeped through, and he felt a cool yet unwanted relief in his stomach. He suddenly desperately wanted to return to Idalani. But one of Johnathan's greatest virtues what his sense, and that eventually overcame any regrets he had then.

"I DON'T KNOW A MR. SHINRA, ELIZABETH." he paged through. He placed the pager back on the table, shutting it off so it wouldn't disturb him again, and turned to the hallway to go to bed.

[Kylo]

Sedimus walked briskly back to his apartment in complete silence. He did not even look back to see if Rod was following him. He was royally pissed off and he wanted his partner to know it. Johnathan was important to him and Rod should know better than to act like that.

Rod sighed quietly and followed Sedimsu at a safe distance. He could tell that he had said exactly the wrong thing back at the Factory. He loved Sedimus, he really did, and as such he felt guilty now for letting his jealousy get to him. He just wanted to make Sedimus happy and if getting this Johnathan guy to at least to him again...well he'd do his best to make it happen. He went up to Sedimus when they finally got inside and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
"Hey Sed....I'm sorry man. I didn't mean it. I just....I got jealous is all. I love you so much and to see ya so miserable like this makes me wanna make everythin' better. I'm sorry Sedimus. I'm sory."

Sedimus turned to look at Rod and considered his words carefully. He knew Rod meant it when eh said he was sorrry but it still hurt. He really cared for Johnathan. He even admitted to himself that he may very well be falling in love with him. He didn't want to be told to move on or that Johnathan didn't want to see him again. He wanted to hold on to the hope that he could somehow get him back. That he could go and make everything alright. He turned around and wrapped his arms tightly around Rod.

"I'm sorry for being selfish Rod. You have every right to be upset. I don't. This is all my fault, all of it. I love you Rod." He meant it to. He did love Rod.

Rod hugged Sedimus back and stroked his hair gently. He kissed his cheek and leaned back to smile gently at him. "Don' be too hard on yerself Sed. We all make mistakes an' we have regrets. We jus' gotta find him an' fix things." He kissed him and smiled wider when Sedimus smiled. "Now let's get somethin' ta eat. I'm starved."

Sedimus laughed and punched Rod lightly in the arm. The man was always hungry. "Alright, but I'm cooking. Your cooking is enough to kill someone."

"Hey! It ain't that bad!" Rod laughed and tickled Sedimus lightly, chasing him into the kitchen.