Brother's Best Friend

Kiss Her, Don't Tell

"Do you trust me?"

Harry had asked YN the question before, the first time they hooked up out on the balcony. But it felt like it meant so much more now. The first time, it was spontaneous, exciting, they were breaking the mold of who they were. He teased her because that's what he knew how to do and she liked it more than she expected. The question came up in the short term, do you trust me right now or do you trust me to do this?

This time the question was longer term, maybe do you trust me in general to treat you the way you deserve to be treated while we play this wild game that you've never played before?

And honestly, she did trust him. Maybe their relationship or whatever this is was new, but their knowing each other was not. She'd known him since she was a little kid, and had always trusted him to some degree. Sure, he joined in the teasing with her older brother when he was harmlessly bullying her, but Harry also reminded him when to back off, included her in games they played, and helped her find her way around at school when she was lost. He had a bit of a rough exterior with her at times, like when he refused to let her win a board game even though the rest of the family had agreed it was her turn, or when YN's brother found out about a real crush she had on a boy at school and Harry joined in the teasing. But he was always soft on the inside - like when she went through her first real breakup and her brother was complaining about the crying and nonsense but when she finally left her room for dinner Harry gave her a nice big hug.

She trusted him in the ocean at the beach earlier that afternoon. YN followed him out into the deep water, deeper than she would ever typically go. She trusted that even though he was touching her in public, he was going to hold on to her and protect her from prying eyes. And when she got pulled under by a wave, he pulled her out and brought her safely back to shore. He said he would always take care of her, and YN believed him.

So when her brother woke up from his beach afternoon nap and called out towards the two of them (still in the water but not touching as they had been earlier), she trusted Harry when he asked her to meet him in his room after a shower. She trusted him when he told her that her brother wouldn't find out, because Harry had told him he needed to call someone back home. And she trusted him when he sat her down and started talking about the game they were playing and how they needed some rules.

"Yes, Harry. Of course I trust you."

Harry leaned forward, closing the small distance between them as they sat on the edge of his hotel bed and left a quick, soft kiss to YN's lips. It was clearly a reaction to her answer, but he continued speaking before she had the chance to really process what had happened.

"Good, because trust is the most important thing in all of this, you know? Well that and consent. You should always be not just willing, but excited to be doing whatever we're doing. And if you're not, you just have to tell me."

"That makes sense."

"You've probably heard of safe words. I like to use a color system to gauge how we both feel. And it goes both ways, if I want to stop I get to say so too. We both do."

YN nodded her head. She had a vague concept of what most of this meant, but had never realized this area would be something that would interest her, so she had never put much thought into it.

"So green means yes, I like it, keep going, feels great."

"Right."

"And red means stop, no, I don't like it, this feels bad, this needs to end."

"Sure."

"And I like using the colors because sometimes someone feels yellow. Like... slow down, don't stop completely but it's not as good as it was, I need a break, I'm a little bit scared. Do you understand?"