“All good?” he murmured as Harrison took a few deep breaths to calm down. The other man nodded and Jeremy gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You know you’re adorable when you laugh,” he said with a grin.
“Oh, shut up.” Harrison snorted, smiling at him. “I love you.”
“I love you back.”
The room fell silent the moment they stopped talking and that was when Jeremy remembered they weren’t alone. Drawing his lips between his teeth he sneaked a glance at the other side of the table. Jeff and Celeste were frozen in shock. Jeff’s spoon had stopped halfway to his mouth and Celeste’s eyes were the size of dinner plates.
Clearing his throat, Jeremy turned back in his chair to face the table. “Sorry about that.”
Celeste pressed her palms together, her fingers held against her mouth. “Don’t be sorry,” she whispered. “We’ve just…” she seemed a little overwhelmed herself for a moment, “we’ve never heard Harrison laugh like that before.” She sniffed and Jeff put an arm around her shoulders. “It’s a beautiful sound.”
Beside her, Jeff nodded in agreement, his chest swelling with pride. He cleared his throat after a moment and waved a finger in the air. “Emerald green,” he said, “and puce. What’s going on there?”
“I told Jeremy about our colour code and he went a little nuts,” Harrison said with a wide grin. “Within a week he was using all the colours of the rainbow.”
“I have a lot of moods,” Jeremy added by way of explanation.
“We now have pale green for a chilled mood, lime green for tired but still good.” Harrison counted each of the greens off on his fingers. “Emerald green is busy, right?” He turned to Jeremy for clarification.
“Run off my feet busy, but in a good way,” he said with a nod. “Yellow is for happy,” he added. “Purple is for h—”Horny.“Hopeful,” he finished. Harrison snickered beside him.
“What a great idea,” Jeff said with enthusiasm. “Why didn’t we ever think of that?”
Harrison shook his head, smiling at his uncle. “I don’t think I could have handled more than three colours when we started using them, or for a long time afterwards.” Harrison’s fingers gave his a squeeze as he added, “This guy brought the rest of the colours with him when he came into my life.”
Jeremy’s heart melted and there was no avoiding the ‘aww’ sound that escaped him as he leaned forward to give Harrison a hug.
“There is one colour though,” Jeff began when they parted. His tone had taken on a serious quality. It demanded Jeremy’s attention and he gave it, locking eyes with the older man. “One colour needs to be left alone to avoid confusion.”
Harrison stiffened, sitting up straighter. “Uncle Jeff—”
Holding up a hand to cut him off, Jeff continued, “I think it’s wonderful you’re playing with the code, I do. But—”
“Red is sacred.” Jeremy had interrupted this time. He kept his voice low but firm. It was important to him these people, who had kept Harrison alive long enough to find him, knew the man they’d raised was safe with him. He turned to look at Harrison. “Red is me dropping everything and running to get to you,” he told him. “I agree with Jeff. We don’t touch red.”
Harrison nodded. “Okay.”
Relaxing back into his chair, Jeff gave Jeremy a satisfied nod. “Good man.”
