I know this is super late and I'm sorry! I'm a senior this school year coming up and I've had so many things to do. My mom is already planning my graduation party... I'm doomed. Well wish me luck in my crazy life! ;)


It wasn't until that following Wednesday at that Akihito heard anything from Asami. It had been one of his rare days off and he had not been home long from dropping Ryu off at school when there was a knock on the door. Answering the door, Akihito was surprised to see Asami standing there before he glowered at the taller man.

"You do realize it's been nearly a week since we saw each other, right?"

"I am well aware of that."

"…" Akihito could feel his eye twitch.

"What?"

"You didn't think to call in the last five days?! We finally have a civilized conversation after eight years and then you blow me off for nearly a week. That's fucked up," Akihito bit out. Who does that?!

"First of all, I don't recall exchanging contact information and second, I wasn't aware of your schedule," Asami calmly responded. "I didn't want to disrupt anything you had planned with Ryu or your work. Kirishma called your work this morning, as he has been for the past few days, and found that you had the day off. Being the middle of the week Ryu would be at school and you would more than like be home. I felt that now would be the perfect time to talk. Unless you had something else in mind?" Akihito continued to glower at the older man before he left out a huff and stepped a side to allow the older man in.

Asami walked in with a strong presence and confidence only he could have. And just as before it only served to irritate Akihito to all hell. Sighing to himself, Akihito closed the door behind Asami and followed him into the living room that had been next to the entrance.

The house was a simple one story three bedroom, two bath house with a connected living room, kitchen and dining area. All the floors were hard wood and the bedrooms and closets were carpeted. The living room, dining area and kitchen was to the left when you walk in and a hallway ran down to the end.

A break in the wall lead to the hallway from the kitchen. At the very end of the hall was the guest bathroom that was also connected to the guest room. About where the living room stopped there was a hallway with Ryu's bedroom on the left and Akihito's on the right. At the end was another bathroom that was connected to Akihito's room that he and Ryu shared. Another short hallway to the left lead back to the guest room. Each bedroom had its own closet as well.

The house was on the smallish side but it definitely gave off a comfortable feeling. If Asami had to be honest, the house reminded him of what the penthouse felt like when he had Akihito to come home to. It was nostalgic and sent a pang through his chest.

The set up was simple. The living room had a couch, a recliner chair, a coffee table and a T.V. set with a cable box and a DVD player on top of a small cabinet that looked to be jammed with half a million movie cases. A square table with four chairs sat a few feet behind the recliner and then there was the kitchen.

First was the fridge, that was no doubt filled to the brim knowing Akihito, and some counter space, then the stove and more counter space to the end of the wall. In the corner there were, what Asami assumed were dirty breakfast dishes. Next to the dishes was a double sink that had a bucket in one with soapy water. On the other side of the sink was an empty white drying rack and a dish towel in front of it. It seemed that Akihito was about to do the dishes when Asami showed up.

More counter extended farther down until it came to what looked like the pantry. There was also a small island. The counters all had drawers and cabinets but there were no cabinets on the walls above the counters. There were windows above the stove and counter space on either side and over the sink and counter space that lead to the pantry. There was another one between the fridge and T.V. and the last one was opposite the recliner. It let in a lot of sunlight and made the place look all the more welcoming.

"Have a seat. Would like something to drink?"

"Yes, please," Asami said as he made his way over to the table and took the seat behind the recliner. Akihito walked over to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher. From what Asami could see, he was correct. The fridge was stuffed. Akihito put the pitcher on the island and went to the cabinets to the left of the stove. Crouching down he pulled out two tall glasses and headed back to the island pouring the drinks and returning the pitcher to the fridge and walking over to hand Asami his drink.

"I know it's cold out, but cold brew is all I have. I need to pick up some tea and hot chocolate later."

"It's fine." Asami took his glass and took a drink before putting it on the table as Akihito sat across from him. The tea tasted like regular tea… it was just cold. It wasn't very appealing, but Asami was about to complain. The two of them sat in silence just sipping their drinks not really knowing how to start a conversation. Eight years was a large gap, there had to be a million things to talk about, but it also made things very awkward. Asami decided to toe at the invisible line first.

"How's Ryu?" Might as well start with a some what common interest. Akihito looked up from his drink before looking away and fiddling with the rim of his glass.

"He's doing alright."

"Have you told him anything yet?" Akihito was silent as he shook his head. Asami couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. No one would know it unless they knew what to look for, but Asami was agitated. He was in the home that his son has been living in for the past three and a half years, sitting at the table with the one man that had given him his son and there wasn't anything that he could do without the possibility over stepping his bounds. He has seen his son a total of two times and both times he could not reveal himself; talk to him, hold him like he was dying to.

It was frustrating to all hell.

"To be honest," Akihito started gaining Asami's full attention, "I don't really know how to talk to him about it. Yeah he's asked about you, but to tell him that you're here and want to see him…" Akihito looked back up at Asami, "I don't know how he will respond to that."

"What do you mean?" If Asami didn't have such incredible self control, he'd be leaning over the table on the edge of his seat. But of course he held himself back.

"Well, even though you two have never met, there are times he reminds me so much of you I seriously would wonder if you two somehow had. He can be very serious, you would believe his possessiveness of his books. It's unbelievable at times. He can also be a little unpredictable about certain things."

"Unpredictable? What do you mean?" Akihito sighed and looked back into his drink, biting his lip.

"I mean, he may seem to take something well, but it isn't until later that I find out how he really felt. We had this cat about two years ago. A little stray thing I had found in a box on the way home. Well, it was sick and Ryu was determined to take care of it. Even at the age of five he was very responsible. We tried to nurse it back to health. I even took it to a vet, but there wasn't much they could other than give us some vitamins and drops for any parasites it might have had." Akihito paused and took a quick drink.

"We kept this up for nearly a week, but it died while Ryu had been at school. When I told him he seemed to have accepted it, but later that night I had woken up to get a drink and I heard him crying. He felt like it was his fault for not taking better care of it. It broke my heart seeing him like that. Ever since then he'd been afraid to get a pet. I've offered to get him a rescued dog or cat from the local shelter, but he just says no every time." Asami took this in. There was no doubt about it. Ryu was his son through and through.

It reminded him of when Akihito had gone missing. He had acted irritated and almost nonchalant, but in reality he was a mess. He was worried out of his mind that something had happened to him and he hadn't been able to protect him because of a stupid fight they'd had. Until about two weeks ago he would often wonder what had become of his kitten, but he'd never show.

The only ones who knew were Kirishma and Suoh, and that's because he'd never had a relationship that lasted more than a few days. Not even a week and they were far between. And he never brought others to the penthouse. It was always a love hotel. He never felt for anyone as he had for Akihito. As he still did, if not stronger. He also wanted to feel something similar with his son and just as strong… Speaking of which.

"Akihito… you do know that I want to meet Ryu." It was a statement, but Akihito could hear the unspoken question underneath. 'Will you let me meet Ryu?'