The cell was empty when Ruaan got there.

He stood in the doorway and exhaled with the relief of a man who had been granted a small, specific mercy. No Yoon. No Petre. No Luca. Just four beds, grey walls, and the beautiful silence of a room that currently contained zero people who had recently done anything with his clothes.

He sat on his bed, took the box out of the bag and opened it.

The smell hit him first and his eyes closed automatically. That specific combination of fried pastry and sweet ricotta and something faintly citrusy that he had been ordering from the same bakery in Palermo for three years and had missed every single day since the arrest.

He picked one up, sniffed it properly and made an embarrassing sound but he didn’t care.

There were four of them. Four perfect cannoli sitting in the box as they had personally come to rescue him from Blackmere, which in a way they had, which meant he owed them the dignity of being eaten slowly and with full attention.

He took a bite, shut his eyes and chewed.

"Hmmmm..."

He shook his head slowly like the taste had said something profound.

By the time he opened his eyes, a face with glasses was six inches from his nose.

"FUCK—"

He nearly threw the cannolo across the cell. His hand shot out and grabbed the shelf behind him and his heart was doing something medically concerning in his chest.

Seo blinked at him from behind the crooked glasses. "Hello."

"Seo!" Ruaan pressed his free hand against his own chest. "Why? What is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill me?"

"I didn’t see you at the cafeteria." Seo sat down on the bed beside him like he had been invited. "So I came to find you. I heard what happened yesterday by the way." He tilted his head. "Who would dare do such a thing?"

He was talking about Yoon and the cum situation. Or possibly something else entirely because Seo always knew more than he should.

"I wonder," Ruaan said, and took another bite.

Seo watched him chew and watched his expression. He watched the way his shoulders dropped slightly as the taste registered.

He yawned. "I’m glad you’re better. I’m starving though. I’ll head to the cafeteria."

"Didn’t you eat dinner last night?"

"No." Seo touched his own stomach as it made a small unhappy sound. "I was busy checking my toys and making sure everything was working properly."

Ruaan looked at him.

He picked up a second cannolo and held it out.

Seo took it and turned it over. He sniffed it and looked at Ruaan with genuine uncertainty. "What is this? Is it seafood?"

Ruaan stared at him.

"Did you just ask if it’s seafood?"

"The shape—"

"It’s a cannolo, Seo."

"Is that seafood?"

"It is a Sicilian pastry." Ruaan took a breath. "The shell is fried and crispy and the filling is sweetened ricotta mixed with either chocolate chips or candied fruit depending on the region and the one from Palermo specifically uses sheep’s milk ricotta which is why the texture is richer than most and there’s usually a light dusting of powdered sugar on the outside and sometimes pistachios and it originated in the Arab period of Sicilian history which is why there’s a slight—"

"Okay," Seo said.

"—honey note in the—"

"I know what it is now." Seo waved his hand. "You didn’t have to go that deep."

"You asked if it was seafood."

Seo bit into it and chewed.

He nodded slowly. "Oh. That’s actually really good. It’s rich but not too—"

"I told you," Ruaan said.

They ate in the comfortable silence of two people who had recently seen each other in a bathroom at 1am and had decided not to make that weird.

Then Seo pushed his glasses up. "How did you get this? You don’t have a prison account yet. You’re still grey."

"A visitor brought it."

Seo looked at him. "You must come from money."

Ruaan stopped chewing.

He looked at Seo and realised the simple, easy way he’d said it. Like it was an observation. Of course, he did come from money but he doesn’t trust Seo that much to tell his secret to.

"What about you?" Ruaan asked.

Seo looked at the half-eaten cannolo in his hand. "Average," he said simply. "Just an average family."

He said it the same way he said most things... Like he wasn’t bothered about it. Ruaan didn’t push further.

Seo took the last bite of his first cannolo instead.

"Okay," Ruaan said. "You’re done. Go eat breakfast. I’m not giving you another one."

Seo stood up, stretching. He leaned forward, his face almost pressing against Ruaan’s. "I also wanted to ask. Are we meeting tonight then? Or tomorrow? For the..." he glanced at the door "...training thing."

Ruaan cleared his throat as he rubbed his chin.

He thought about the last time they met in the bathroom with his LEGO box. He thought about Seo’s sex toys and how all of it had somehow ended with Harolin finding out and locking a storeroom door and fucking him.

His cheeks flushed red when he remembered what Harolin did to him. He let out a single cough as he snapped back to reality.

"There’s no need to meet anymore," Ruaan said. "Sorry for not saying sooner."

Seo stroked his chin as he slowly considered it. "No problem then. I guess I’ll just continue as usual in my own room."

"Good luck," Ruaan said and gave him a thumbs-up.

Seo walked to the door and stopped. "Aren’t you going to eat breakfast? You can’t survive on cannolo alone."

"I’ll be fine. I don’t want to leave and come back to find something on my bed again."

Seo laughed as he walked through the gate.

"Good luck then," He waved and disappeared into the corridor.

.

.

Ruaan finished all three cannoli.

He sat with the empty box for a moment and felt something close to peace.

Then he was thirsty and the water dispenser was down the hall and he had to choose between staying here safely and getting up like a functional person.

He got up and went to get the water since the cell was empty.

He was filling a cup at the dispenser when he heard footsteps and looked up.

Yoon.

He was coming down the corridor with a short wave and a smile that landed slightly too easily.

Ruaan lowered the cup.

"You weren’t at breakfast," Yoon said.

"Of course, I wasn’t. I couldn’t leave my bed." Ruaan kept his voice completely neutral. "Since someone left their disgusting property on it yesterday."

Yoon’s smile flickered for a second. Then he laughed and said, "The person must have been really horny and hungry for you, Ruaan."

"I agree. He’s really horny as a fucking dog," Ruaan said pleasantly. "I hope he falls on his face and cracks his cock."

"What?" Yoon blinked. "Isn’t that a bit much?"

Ruaan tilted his head. "A bit much? You’re my cellmate. Why are you defending them?" He paused and let it sit. "Or could it be that you were the—"

"No way!" Yoon’s hand shot up before Ruaan finished the sentence. His voice went up half an octave. "Absolutely not. I wasn’t the one who did anything. I hope they also fall flat on their face and crack their cock. Both sides. All of it. Completely destroyed. Including their balls."

Ruaan looked at him for one long second and smiled.

Then he tapped Yoon’s shoulder once. "Good work. Thank you for supporting me, Yoon."

They walked back to the cell together.

.

.

Petre came in ten minutes later moving with the specific energy of someone carrying information.

Yoon looked up. "Where have you been? Breakfast was over minutes ago,"

"Listening." Petre sat down and leaned forward, the way people did when they had something worth saying. "Rumours are going around about what Thursday’s game might be."

Ruaan’s head came up immediately. His ears perked up as he turned toward Petre. Whatever the information may be, whether it’s true or false, he wanted to hear it and prepare for it. Maybe he’ll be able to avoid being grey this week.

Petre opened his mouth to speak and Yoon’s arm suddenly went around his shoulder quickly.

He turned Petre away from Ruaan in one motion and said quietly, "You should speak softly."

Petre lowered his voice and started talking directly into Yoon’s ear.

Ruaan looked at the back of Yoon’s head.

Yoon didn’t turn around. But something in the line of his shoulders shifted and he glanced back at Ruaan’s face from the side.

Just for a second and smiled, seeing the confused look on his face.

’This is so satisfying,’ he thought. ’I have to make sure Ruaan doesn’t hear about this information. If he ends up being bottom ten and I end up ranking up, I might have my way with him and do whatever it is I want with him, including thrusting into that tight hole of his.’