It was not, perhaps, the simplest of solutions to beating someone down into submission, but this wasn't about that. For once in Noah's life, it was about give and take. It was always about give and take with Diego, something he hadn't realized until they had already established the holding pattern and Noah had enough space to think it over. Give and take wasn't so bad when the other didn't betray you at the ideal opportunity. That had taught him a thing or two about holding back, trust, whatever those softhearted idiotic foreigners wanted to call it. At the very least, it helped Noah feel safe. He couldn't express it properly, but at least when Noah and Diego came together like this, he could show it off in return. Whoever said actions spoke louder than words was full of shit, but good shit for once.

When Diego tensed, Noah's eyes darted to the knife. It was cutting things close (ha!), but he wanted this to work just right. As long as he was properly perceptive, this would turn out good rather than dismal. He just needed to make sure Diego didn't injure himself, especially once he let go of things. In the midst of it all, he was grinning and unable to stop the pleased humming sound he made for the admittance. "Do you? I'm not sure. Maybe this is enough... Or maybe—" Fast enough that it would hardly be seen as a pause in his speech, Noah grabbed the knife and slipped it out at an angle to scrape bone before he brought it down and worked it along the soft spot between some of Diego's ribs, drawing blood the whole way. Moving from Diego's lower half up to his back once more, he leaned down far enough to bite down hard on Diego's shoulder; his free hand dug into the soft flesh above his hip. All of that at once would definitely give Diego something to think about. Or, quite the opposite, really.