Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Kadokawa Shouten and Nakamura Shungiku. *sob*

Author's note: Something light-hearted this time.

Honestly, I'm not sure if this is good since I didn't have an editor this time, but at least no drama.

As usual, reviews, follows and favorites are very welcome.

This chapter takes place around the time when Hiyori is 12, so loooong after ch.8 "Dignity"

Property

It had been a trap.

That was what Kirishima Zen was thinking bitterly, as he was sitting at a table at the food court of the local shopping mall and watched Yokozawa some meters away, merrily chatting away with this woman. Hiyori had gone to the toilet, and here he was, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening.

Some seconds after their girl had left them to look for the restrooms, Yokozawa had spotted the woman. She wore a knee-length skirt, a white sweater and a red scarf. Her hair was long and fell softly across her back, but Kirishima couldn't really say if she was upper average or just kind of cute. At least she was no one to draw your attention immediately. So he had asked if Yokozawa knew her, and he had confirmed it, explaining that she was someone from his literature club back in high school.

"Then you should go and say Hello", he had offered.

His younger lover had nodded, and while he had been standing up, he had added an "Oh, and we dated a few times", before he made his way across the area.

So now, here he was, watching them engage in a friendly chitchat, probably about their high school days and their current jobs. She was laughing from time to time, covering her mouth with her delicate hand and squinting her eyes in amusement. But what worried him even more was that Yokozawa was laughing, too.

Kirishima knitted his eyebrows and popped a fried potato into his mouth. They were having an awful lot of fun, it seemed. Great. Good for Yokozawa. Good for that minx. He was fine with it, really.

He couldn't stop his eyes from darting back into their direction, and without noticing it, the next fried potato between his fingers underwent the transformation into a mushed potato.

That woman was touching Yokozawa's arm, fingers slightly scratching across the fabric of his suit.

Kirishima liked that particular suit. He and Hiyori had picked Yokozawa up after a fair at one of the bookstores next to the mall, and so he wore his usual 'event outfit'. A black suit over a white shirt, completed by a navy necktie. The jacket of the suit was a little tighter than the others that Yokozawa owned, accentuating the line of this lower back and waist. Another feature was that it was also a few centimeters shorter, just enough to leave the lower part of his butt uncovered. And the well-fitting pants gave a good hint to what was underneath. When he wore this suit, Kirishima made good use of every opportunity to walk behind him, especially at stairs and escalators. Sometimes the editor felt like back in school times, when he had tried to peek under the girls' skirts together with his friends, but with Yokozawa being the object of interest it was probably even better.

The salesman obviously didn't know about this, and if he had he would have called him immature. But Kirishima knew that he was not the only one with certain likings. At the beginning of their relationship, he had always wondered why sometimes his lover wouldn't look at his eyes but a little lower, gaze a few centimeters tilted to the left or right. Why he fervently refused to massage his partner's shoulders and back a little after an exhausting day, and why they almost always ended up together under the shower or in the bedroom when Kirishima managed to persuade him to a back-rub.

However, Yokozawa's fixation on his shoulders was not important now.

Because this woman - who, by the way, was wearing too much make-up - was touching this suit. His favorite suit. With his favorite man inside of that suit. And his man let her do it.

The editor felt a familiar tickle in the back of his neck and a low pressure in his chest. Grinding his teeth, he reached across the table and picked up a takoyaki from the box placed across from him. He didn't really have the appetite and takoyaki wasn't one of his favorite dishes, but this box belonged to Yokozawa and he wanted to have at least a glimpse of revenge, no matter how childish it was. He was jealous and not ashamed to admit as much. After all, he had the right to be jealous, didn't he?

The fingers of his left hand were restlessly thrumming against the surface of the table as he kept on watching the two persons. Again they were laughing, and he wished he could read lips. Was this really only a shallow chat? What were they saying?

Attempting to entertain himself to lift his mood at least a little, he started making up their dialogue, murmuring it to himself.

Yokozawa lifted a hand to scratch the spot behind his right ear, when she pointed curiously at that hand. 'Oh, Takafumi-kun, are you married?'

Blushing lightly, he shook his head, still smiling. 'No, this is a friendship-ring. The daughter of a friend gave it to me.'

The woman laughed, cupping one of her cheeks with her own right hand. 'How adorable! So, you're not taken yet?'

Casually, he waved her off. 'No, I'm still on the market. How about you? I don't see any ring on your hand as well.'

She gazed at her fingers, sighing a little. 'That's right, I'm also still available. After all, I could never forget that one special person from my high school days.'

Then he reached for this hand, the scene unfolding in front of Kirishima's eyes in slow-motion, and he wanted to jump to his feet, run over to them and shove her away. He was already pushing himself up, when Hiyori entered the stage, tugging on Yokozawa's sleeve questioningly.

With a genuine smile, he touched her shoulders while he looked at his former club comrade and introduced them to each other. Kirishima froze in his motions, only to flop back onto his chair after a few seconds, not shifting his eyes away from them.

The woman bowed down to his daughter, greeting her happily, and Hiyori beamed up at her just as cheerful. For a minute or less they seemingly picked up their conversation again, until that bitch suddenly started looking around curiously.

Kirishima was wondering whom she was looking for. If he was lucky, it was her boyfriend. He really hoped it was her boyfriend.

"Father!"

At the sound of his daughter's voice, he sat up straight, watching her wave at him. It took him a moment before he understood that she was not only waving, but gesturing him to join them.

"Oh fine, just great", he grumbled as he stood up and trudged over to them.

At first he didn't notice, maybe because he refused to look at the woman directly, but then he realized that she was gaping at him. He knew the longing looks most ladies threw at him, tracing the features of his face with their eyes and biting their lower lip.

And this was anything but that. It was sheer, undisguised surprise.

"My name is Kirishima. Nice to meet you", he introduced himself, still wondering about the quick change of atmosphere.

So short that it was barely noticeable but still there, her lips formed a small 'O', before she nodded into his direction, introducing herself as Kaneko Ayumi.

"You should've said that someone was waiting for you", she complained to Yokozawa. "And here I was, talking your ears off for at least ten minutes!"

"Really, you weren't", he assured her with another smile - Kirishima suppressed the urge to slap it out of his face - and bowed. "I'm just afraid that our food is getting cold. It was nice to see you again."

"It was. It's good to see that you're doing well, and it was nice to meet Hiyori-chan and Kirishima-san as well."

They bid each other goodbye and only him, Yokozawa and Hiyori returned to the table to resume their meal.

As soon as he sat down, Yokozawa spotted the gap in his box. "Did you eat from my takoyaki?"

"This is how it feels when somebody touches your property without permission."

He shot him a glare, but didn't reply, and helped Hiyori to open her own box instead.

Slowly and as silent as possible, Yokozawa closed the door to Hiyori's room behind his back and sighed. Today she had asked him to read her the story of the Little Mermaid, and every time she heard it she was so upset about the fate of the poor mermaid that it took him some more minutes to tug her in. Now that she was sound asleep, the evening could have been a relaxing one. Maybe some loafing around in front of the TV, a can of chilled beer, a bath and the soft futon in the guest room, waiting for him.

But today, this likely wouldn't be granted to him that easily.

He walked back into the living room, looking with a frown at the brown hair peeking over the back of the sofa.

"You're gonna sulk all evening?"

"I'm not sulking."

"So your foul mood is only my imagination."

"It is."

"Fine then. Because I have no freaking idea what could be wrong."

Yokozawa made the last steps towards the sofa and settled down next to his lover, who still refused to look at him, gaze trained at the television. He cracked open the beer on the table in front of him, lifted it to his lips and took a sip. After studying Kirishima's indifferent face for some seconds, he also focused his attention on the screen.

They were sitting next to each other, watching a game show for about fifteen minutes in absolute silence.

Kirishima caved in first.

"What did you say to her?"

"What did I say to whom?", he responded, unperturbed.

Kirishima sat up and put down his own can onto the wooden surface of the low table. "To that Kaneko-san. She looked at me as if she saw a ghost."

"Ah, that."

"Don't 'Ah, that' me, as if it was so obvious!", he snapped and turned to his left to look at his lover.

With a deep sigh Yokozawa leaned back into the soft back of the sofa and closed his eyes. "You're jealous, of course."

"You were checking each other for wedding rings. How the hell am I supposed not to get jealous at this?", he blurted out.

Yokozawa's face turned from annoyed to confused, and he cracked an eyelid open to watch him. "And where did you get the ridiculous idea that we were doing that?"

"You looked at each other's hands!"

"... You're an idiot."

"At least I'm not checking if my high school crush is married."

"You're jumping to conclusions, as usual."

"Then enlighten me", he gritted.

Rolling his eyes in resignation, Yokozawa twisted his upper body a little to the right and rested his arm on the back of the sofa to frown at him. "First of all, she was not my "high school crush". I said that we dated two or three times, and that's all. We didn't even hold hands. Second, we were not checking out each other. The only reason we were comparing our hands was that we are both sensitive to the dry and cold weather. You know that my skin cracks if I don't use hand cream, because you are the one who is pestering me with it all the time. She just happened to mention that her wedding ring is worsening it, so she has to wear it on a necklace. Satisfied?"

The editor crossed his arms over his chest and pursed his lips into a pout. "Almost."

"What else?", he sighed.

"She touched you."

"She was just complimenting me on my suit."

"How dare her to compliment on you!"

"So the lewd looks that you threw at me the whole day were no sign of me looking good in that suit?"

"That's different! You're my boyfriend."

" 'Boyfriend'", Yokozawa echoed amusedly. "You're really talking like a schoolgirl. Anyway..." He stood up and set down his empty can. "Now, that we solved the matter, I will allow myself to take a bath. You can use it when I'm finished."

"One moment!", Kirishima demanded and took firm hold of his wrist. "You're avoiding the main point here."

"I'm not avoiding anything."

"Then you can answer my question." He tugged at his arm, but not strong enough to pull the younger man back onto the sofa.

For a moment Yokozawa considered playing dumb on him, until he noticed the soft thumb of the other man, rubbing against his palm affectionately. He was being begged silently.

Afraid of blushing any moment, he turned his head into another direction and sighed again. "When Hiyori came to us, I introduced her as my daughter. And when Ayumi-san looked around to look for my wife, Hiyo called you over with "Father". Anybody would be surprised at that. And now let me go and fill the tub."

Another, this time more insistent, tug at his arm made him lose his balance and stumble backwards, landing with a muffled 'Oomph!' on the soft furniture. Two slender but strong arms wrapped around him, pressing his back into Kirishima's chest.

"But you didn't look embarrassed when she noticed."

"It wasn't my intention to hide it in the first place. And now let go!", he muttered and tried to free himself - without success.

"Fuck, as if I could."

Hot lips were pressing against the back of Yokozawa's neck, making him shudder. "What...!"

The movements stopped and he was just being held closely to the body of Kirishima, long fingers covering his hands and entangling with his own.

"I don't know what I love more about you: that you're thinking of Hiyori as your daughter, or that you didn't hate to tell somebody that you belong to me, for once."

"I'm not your property, cocky bastard", Yokozawa replied, leaning back against him just a little.

"Finders keepers."

At times like this, when Yokozawa's actions were contradicting his words, Kirishima usually was faced with two options. The first one was to tease him, gain a lot of fun by doing so, but being pushed away in the end. The second was to keep his mouth shut and just enjoy every second that he was able to hold him, both of them pretending not to notice the loving gesture.

Kirishima closed his eyes and leaned against the cushion, gently pulling his lover with him until they were both lying, his partner on top of him.

The silent sound of their breaths, the pulse of another person beating against his chest, warm fingers encircling his hands, and so many other small things that made him relax and excited him at the same time.

"I'm sorry", Kirishima finally whispered.

There was silence, followed by a dry sigh. "You see, if I stopped talking to people because I think that you might get jealous, then there's no end to it."

"I know, I know", he admitted. "Sometimes, I think that even my daughter is a better grown-up than I am."

"You noticed just now?"

"Though, I'm kinda baffled that she wasn't surprised at you calling her your daughter."

"..."

He felt Yokozawa squirming slightly, and suddenly he was alarmed. "Wait..."

"I-I really should prepare the bath now!"

Yokozawa struggled to get up, but he tightened his embrace, not willing to let him escape that easily.

"I won't let you sneak out of this! This wasn't the first time you did it, am I right? I can't believe it! You walk around, telling everybody that she is your star shine, and I'm not even allowed to have that photo of our BL posing on my desk. That's unfair!"*

"Are you jealous at your own daughter? What are you, an idiot?"

"Why do you prefer showing her around instead of me?"

The answer was prefaced by a low growl. "She's cute, she has good manners, she's smart, and she's not calling me her property."

"I'm handsome, skilled at work, smart, and quite popular", Kirishima argued and lifted his right hand to pinch Yokozawa's cheek. "Everybody else would show off with a boyfriend like me, so I'm not getting where's the difference between bragging with Hiyori and introducing me from time to time as your partner."

"You really don't get it, do you?", he hissed and pushed the editor's arms away, sitting up.

Surprised, Kirishima stared at his back and watched him run fingers through his black hair - a nervous habit.

"Although it makes you a smug bastard when you talk about yourself like this, you're right. And I know that the more people know about us, the more..." His voice trailed off.

"The more what?", Kirishima probed.

"... the more people will ask you why you're even interested in a gloomy grouch like me."

The older man blinked and lifted his body into a sitting position. "And...?"

Eyes wide in disbelief at the unfazed response, Yokozawa whipped his head around to glare at him. " "And" what?"

"I mean, what's the big deal?", he replied calmly and cupped his lover's cheeks with both hands to place a kiss at the corner of his mouth. "Really now, who's the one jumping to conclusions here? I'm not going to love you any less, just because you're a grumpy, gloomy, sometimes bitchy, pessimistic -"

" - okay, I got your point already!"

" ...bear. Quite the contrary, I love you so much because Hiyo and I are the only ones allowed to see the caring Takafumi, who buys cute ribbons for her hair, looks up recipes for dinner in housewife rags, is insecure about his own worth, and lets himself be kissed like that." Quickly, he closed the distance between their faces and caught his lips in another kiss, this time with a little more force. As his tongue was greeted with more enthusiasm than he had expected, he felt a pleasant shudder run down his back.

Kirishima knew that he was a very good kisser, and he made use of it as often as possible, mainly to win arguments or simply get what he wanted. And, although Yokozawa was the clumsier one of them when it came to intimacy, the way he pressed his nose against Kirishima's cheek, closed his eyes and dug his fingertips into the flesh below his lover's shoulder blades was adorable and, more importantly, it felt incredibly nice.

As they released the kiss, Kirishima mumbled against his lips "Let's share the tub".

"No way..."

"The faster the bathing, the faster we get to bed."

"Fuck you."

"Only if you insist, darling"

*) Look at chapter 1 "Office Affairs"

Next time: a 10,000 word rock about what happened about two weeks after ch.8