I watch as my son makes the tea. When I had arrived at his apartment, Ryou had told me that he had something important to tell me. However he wouldn't go straight into the subject and instead began to busy himself. As I watch him though I notice his demeanour and the way he holds himself. I haven't seen him act this way since before the accident. Ryou is happy. The tea finishes and he brings me a cup, sitting opposite of me with a smile on his face. He is good at fake smiles. Despite my absence, I know that but this one is genuine and I can't help but to wonder what brought about this change.
"I got you something." I say to him and bring out a deck of old cards and hand it to him. "I know you already have multiple decks of these but it was the only thing that I thought you might have found interest in."
"Thank you." Ryou keeps his smile on his face while flipping through the tarot cards. "These are actually quite valuable. I'm surprised the museum let you take these."
Ryou begins to shuffle them carefully and then place a card in the centre with four cards on each side while I watch silently. I never really approved with his fascination in such things but I would never vocalize this. Before, he was afraid of the dark and everything associated with it. It was only after the death of his sister and mother that he had started taking notice of such things. I was worried but I had talked to a counsellor for my own grief and they had told me it was his way of mourning and I shouldn't disturb it. I never expected it to go on for years though.
"This isn't a particularly good hand." Ryou tells me but the smile is still there. It seems so out of place on him after years of its absence. "Failure, obstacles, interruption, lack of ambition and mourning or loneliness."
"This doesn't upset you?"
"Of course not." Ryou puts the cards back into the deck. "The future can always be changed. Plus the cards require me to put spirituality into them. This was just me flipping them with no purpose. It doesn't mean anything."
I feel a slight ache at his gentle tone of voice and the way his eyes are slightly lit up while he continues playing with the deck and I realize something. At this very moment he resembles his mother. Now the physical similarities have always been there but this was always masked by his slightly upset and lonely demeanour but the new one, the happiness that has replaced Ryou is almost like his mother's soul inhabiting another body.
I look away from him feeling guilty. Many have accused me of leaving my son behind because of feelings like these but that is far from the truth. I was away from home before the accident as well. It is a part of my job and I hate being away from him and before, my wife and daughter. I maintain the job because it provides for him. I believe Ryou understands this.
"Ryou," I say after I've pushed away the pain. "You had something you wanted to tell me."
"Yeah," Ryou looks away with a slight blush creeping upon his face. "I don't know really how to say this but…"
He trails off and I don't push him to continue quite yet. I've seen that type of blush before and I try to hide my own smile. It is about time that he showed some romantic interest. Ryou is 19 now and it is to be expected.
However, it is unexpected when a man who looks eerily like my son, minus a few minute details, enters the apartment and starts aggressively kissing Ryou apparently not seeing myself sitting on the other end of the table. The intruder pulls my son out of his seat and begins dragging him towards what I know to be Ryou's bedroom but stopping halfway there and instead kisses Ryou again who pushes him away although the man keeps a grip on my son.
The blush and smile on Ryou's face sends a clear message. He is gay and in a relationship with his doppelganger.
"Bakura…" Ryou smiles up at the man.
My son is gay and in a relationship with someone who shares his name.
"…Meet my father."
Bakura turns his body towards me and dark eyes stare at me. While this man may look at my son, he gives off a different aura. He is powerful, dark, and holds himself with an air of superiority. He contrasts my son and I can't help but wonder how healthy their relationship actually is.
"I was going tell you." Ryou walks back to the table with Bakura following closely behind. "I didn't expect him home for another few hours and didn't really want you to find out this way."
"How long?" are the only words I manage trying to gather my thoughts.
"Orientation? Probably around 13 but Bakura? Well…"
"I've known the boy for around a decade, he has been aware of me for around two to three years and we've been a couple for a year." The man smirks at me and I try to comprehend this. How could Bakura know Ryou longer than Ryou knew him?
"So?" Ryou looks at me with the eyes that reflect his mother's and I feel the slight pain again and want to look away but instead I notice him squeezing the hand of the strange man and I look into his eyes recognizing that look. The same one his mother wore when I asked her family for their blessing.
"If you hurt my son…"
"I'd never." Bakura cuts me off. "I do everything in my power to make sure no harm ever comes to him."
"It's true." Ryou nods in agreement. "His methods are different but it is true."
"Then I have no choice but to welcome you to our family Bakura." I extend my hand to the man who shakes it. The same hard look is in his eyes but it has softened slightly. I turn and look to my son who lets out a sigh of relief and leans into his boyfriend.
"Thank you father." Ryou smiles at me and I nod my head still slightly confused.
Ryou, my only son, is gay and in a relationship with a doppelganger that looks like he could kill anyone over anything but Ryou is happy and I would never push away the thing that brings a genuine smile to my son's face.
A/N: I don't know how I feel about this story honestly. I wrote it because there are an abundance of yaoi fics but no coming out fics. I'm kind of surprised. It's told from Ryou's father's POV because I wanted to do it from the parent thing. Not the awkward teenage thing. Unless you guys want me too. Then I could add on to this fic.
I feel kind of bad for the people that are subscribing to me. They are going get a lot of alerts over the next little while.
So let me know what you thought. Reviews keep me warm at night. Which is vital since it is around -30 C.