Father

from the Ronin series
by scribblemoose

Yohji nuzzled his head into Ran's lap, his eyes fluttering closed with pleasure as Ran's fingers threaded through his hair. It was still warm, but the thunderstorm had cleared the air and a cool breeze wafted pleasantly through his bedroom window.

He pressed a kiss to Ran's naked thigh, and sighed happily. He felt relaxed and his balls ached pleasantly with afterglow. These quiet, post-coital times with Ran were a rich pleasure. Almost as rich as the coital ones.

For a moment he thought he was actually purring, but then he recognised a furry presence by his knees, and realised it was Ronin. He reached down and scritched the little cat behind the ears.

"This was really nice of Aya-chan," he murmured. "To take your shift and everything."

"Yes," said Ran, trailing loose knuckles across Yohji's hair and over his shoulders, then back to the crown of his head, a gentle pattern. There was a pause, and then he said: "It feels strange, though." And there was a tightness to his voice that Yohji recognised well enough to worry him.

"Why?"

"Because it's Father's Day, and... Father's gone. We're not her father."

Yohji kissed Ran's thigh again. "You do your best, Ran. That's what she appreciates."

"We," said Ran, and Yohji's belly flipped.

"Okay, we do our best." His heart felt too full for him to say more than that.

"What was your father like?"

"I never knew him much," said Yohji. "He wasn't with my mother long. There was some kind of scandal, though I never found out what. But I remember him coming to visit on birthdays. He always brought the coolest presents. And then one birthday he missed, and gradually he stopped coming at all. He was kind, but... whenever he came it made my mother sad. That made me hate him, in the end, more than when he didn't come at all."

Ran's fingers stilled in his hair.

"It's okay," said Yohji. "It was a long time ago."

"Sometimes," said Ran, his voice a little husky, "I forget how lucky I was."

Yohji looked up in surprise, and Ran's hand cupped the base of his skull and held him there while he kissed him. His lips were soft, his tongue was wet and gentle, his breath was warm against Yohji's cheek.

Ronin observed them briefly through sleep-slitted eyes, turned around once in the junction of Ran's thigh and Yohji's knee, and purred himself back to sleep.

read reviews