by SA Payne
"Huh, risky letting him play with anything sharp."
Ichi didn't want to debate that. "Do you think it's possible he was owned before?"
"Possible, sure, they wouldn't advertise that fact. Who wants used goods, you know? Does it
make a difference if he was?"
Ichi shook his head. "Not at all, it's just, I don't like the idea of anyone having hurt him. He's such a gentle sort."
Will glanced over to his friend and frowned. "You're falling in love with him."
"I am not!" Ichi sputtered back. "Don't be absurd!"
"I'm not, but you are." He shook his head. "It's okay you know, I loved my dog as a boy more than anything. It's just, Ichi, you need to remember he's a pet, not a partner. He can make you
feel better but there's no relationship there."
"You're being ridicules." At least, he hoped Will was being ridicules. He had grown more
comfortable around Rye than he'd ever been around anyone.
Will waved it off. "Doesn't matter. Hey, do Amanda a favor and invite us over for dinner? She's dying for your futomaki and keeps making these really awful rolls and than making me eat them
for dinner."
He shook his head. "Sure, next week though? I'm a little swamped with work and Rye. I'm
worried about the swarms eggs, they haven't hatched yet. No one's really sure how long it takes
for the eggs to actually develop or if they require certain conditions. I'd hate to loose this clutch."
"Next week, she'll be thrilled, so long as you don't put one of the swarm's eggs in the maki." He teased but laughed when Ichi looked horrified.
It took almost an hour for the group to finish what should have been a ten minute hair cut. They
debated about the length of Rye's bangs, about how layered to make the back and how short.
They brushed and snipped and turned the whole thing into a social event. In the end, Ichi
couldn't complain, except that Rye was now twice as attractive, if that was even possible. The
dark blood red hair had been layered in the back to lighten the weight of such thick hair but it had been left long enough to curl around the back of his neck. Yet somehow they'd managed to cut
the hair short enough that the slender curve of the pet's neck was exposed. The front was
trimmed in layers too, only longer ones so the hair continued to fall in slender tendrils about
Rye's face. It gave him something to still hide behind without being obscured by. It also gave him
a tussled, coy, Ì've just stumbled out of bed', look that made Ichi itch to run his fingers through.
He wasn't sure who was more grateful to return to the apartment, Rye or himself. Ichi didn't stop
there, he led Rye into the bathroom and the mirror he'd never actually seen the pet glance into.
"Here, look, do you like it?" He tapped on the reflective surface until grey eyes rose up.
Rye stood there, studying his own reflection for so long and with such a puzzled expression that
Ichi wasn't sure the pet understood that it was him and not another pair of them on the other
side. Grey eyes dropped and hands Rye's hands clenched into tight fists.
"Hey now, you okay?" Rye asked and reached out to brush the newly formed tendrils of hair
back. "I think it suits you."
Rye moved suddenly. His hands unclenched and reached up to capture the sides of Ichi's face.
Slender fingers slid along his jaw line, back to tickle around his ears. Ichi started to jerk
backwards and than lips pressed to his own. The kiss was quick, dry and over almost before
Ichi's brain could register that he was being kissed.
Before he could either get aroused or scold Rye, the pet broke the kiss and dropped to his knees.
Only this time he wrapped his arms around Ichi's knees and tucked his face against his lower
legs. Ichi could feel Rye trembling where he knelt, hugging his legs and for a moment didn't
know just what to do.
"I'll assume that means you like it." He reached down and ruffled the shorter hair, liking the way it feathered at his touch. "Stop that, now, come on, I've got to get back to work." But Rye didn't let go right away, he clutched on as Ichi kept petting the soft hair and a few more moments ticked
away.
As suddenly as Rye had kissed him, he released Ichi's legs and scurried from the bathroom. It
left Ichi standing alone in his bathroom, a touch confused and having to remind himself that even
dogs licked faces when happy. He shook his head and left to go back to the lab, surprised that
Rye was now hiding in his crate but respectful of the space the pet wanted.
The next morning went as it had been going except that combing out Rye's hair took no time at
all. Ichi went to leave and the pet followed him to the door and refused to stay. "I have to work, you should stay here."
Rye refused to step back and let the door close.
"You'll be bored." But then, what did the pet do all day anyway? Besides roll around in Ichi's dirty laundry, he didn't think the creature got bored easily. "Alright but no fussing, if you bother me I'm taking you home."
And so it was, quietly, Rye started to go with Ichi to work. Word spread around the station almost
before Rye arrived at the lab and the next day, when Ichi went into his lab, he found a cushion
along one wall. A blanket was folded on it and someone had hung a sign over it that read "Rye's Space". Ichi never found out who had put the bed together but seeing Rye instantly move to the softest spot in the lab and fold himself down on it and sat, wrapped up in the blanket, all day,
made him happy. After that, there was never the debate or question about whether or not Rye
would go with him, anywhere Ichi went, Rye followed.
Part Six:
A week later, Ichi came home a little earlier than normal to start the rice. There would be no
short cuts, when he set out to make maki, he did it from scratch. He'd dip into his stores of
ingredients from home but everything would be cooked and prepared by hand. That was the
trick, to take the time and make it, carefully and with the proper attention to detail.
Rye sat on the floor of the kitchen and watched, out of the way but absorbing everything with his
alert eyes. Ichi didn't even notice it any more, he was so used to the pet that it had become
second nature. Only when he was rolling the first of the maki and Will and Amanda arrived, Rye
scurried away to hide in his crate.
"Hello hello, gods it smells so good in here!" Amanda called out and came into the kitchen. She leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to the side of Ichi's face, startling him. "I brought sake!"
Will moved to pull the small table from the wall, as he did every time they talked Ichi into
cooking and plopped himself down into a chair. "Where's Rye?"
"Hiding." Ichi slid the sheet aside and carefully transported the first roll to the wide cutting board before starting the next. "He'll come out later, he's still skittish around people." He started on the next roll and let Amanda and Will pull out cups and plates and the nice set of chopsticks he kept
on hand. While he finished rolling their dinner, his friends set the table and had everything ready to go by the time he had the maki sliced.
They ate dinner and drank the sake and Ichi found himself laughing at their comfortable ease
and the stories they told. Amanda sat up and stared at the crate from where she'd been sitting,
slouched down and rubbing her full stomach.
"He just reached out and grabbed a handful of food. Or have I had too much sake?"
Ichi shook his head. "He won't eat where he can be watched. I never see him use the bathroom
either or drink for that matter."
"Huh, that's
odd. They aren't supposed to be shy like that."
"I think it has something to do with his original owner, I don't think the man was very nice."
Will sat up. "So you're convinced he had another owner?"
"I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me." He toyed with his chopsticks, tearing the last bite on his plate apart into small sections. "Would you two think I was crazy if I asked if there was
anyway he might be more human than intended?"
"You're just projecting human emotions onto him." Will dismissed.
"So, there's no way."
"There's no way they could have made a mistake. They start out with base clones, if the clone
isn't dead on to the specs it's not modified into a pet." Amanda reminded him. "You're just bonding with him, something I think you could use."
"Sometimes, he seems so, I don't know, expressive. And he learned to dress himself, I don't
even have to order him to shower any more. He's far more adaptable than the specs made
mention of. I don't know, sometimes, it's almost like he's thinking." He stared at the crate and wondered if they were going to laugh at him.
The couple exchanged a look before Amanda spoke up. "If you're worried about it, schedule an
appointment for a medical exam. We'll go over him with a fine toothed comb and do all the in
depth scans and such."
He almost agreed but it was silly. "No, I won't take up that much of your time. You're right, I'm just projecting."
Will stretched and managed to reach into the food bowl sitting outside the crate. He retrieved a
single kibble chunk and eyed it suspiciously.
"What are you doing?" His wife asked.
"Well, his tastes should be human norm, right? I want to try one."
She started laughing. "Don't you dare!"
"Why? I've eaten plenty worse." He put the kibble in his mouth and crunched on it. It crumbed and his face twisted up as he forced himself to chew through the kibble. Eventually, to much
laughter from his wife and friend, he managed to swallow it.
"Well? What's the verdict except that I'm never kissing you again?"
Will pushed the taste about his mouth for a moment. "Not the worst thing I've ever eaten but it's pretty horrible. Augh, no wonder you're not supposed to feed him real food, there's no way he'd
eat this shit once he's tasted something properly." They were still laughing at him when he tried to wash the taste out with swallows of tea.
It was a pleasant evening, certainly it always was when they got together for dinner and
conversation. Only this time, something about seeing how easy and comfortable the pair was
stabbed Ichi with loneliness. He was happy they were happy and suspected there was enough
tragedy in their histories to long since have earned them the comfortable love they now shared,
but he was also envious of it. By the time the sake was done, the leftover maki wrapped up to go
home with Amanda and the couple was out the door, it was late into the evening and Ichi was
warmly drunk and feeling very, very alone.
He lowered the lights since he was pretty sure Rye was asleep and frankly wanted the dim
intimacy of being alone to wallow in his loneliness. The dishes had been cleared and cleaned
already and there was nothing left for him to do but drop onto the sofa and flip on the vid screen.
He flipped around but nothing caught his eye so he left it on one of the news channels simply
because the man reading the headlines was handsome. Ichi slouched on the sofa and watched
the way the man's mouth moved. The anchor's eyes were dark blue, not quite grey but fairly
close.
He decided what he missed most wasn't even sex, but just physical contact. He'd been happy
just kissing for hours, getting lost in the casual comfort of skin to skin contact. From somewhere
in his sake induced haze, Ichi decided that the news anchor would be a good kisser, he could tell
from how the man moved his mouth while reading the news. He just knew that he'd be the sort to
press a lover to the sofa and just neck for days.
Somewhere while trying not to be bitter about he idea that Will and Amanda were most likely
happily tumbling each other into bed, and close to the odd fantasy about how the anchorman's
mouth looked, Ichi's palm had slid into his lap. It felt good to press the flat of his hand into his half aroused length. He was a grown man after all, in his own apartment, horny and lonely and
allowed to touch himself if felt like it.
Not that his justifications really mattered. He was lonely and masturbating was a very small
pleasure. He dropped his head back against he sofa and deftly opened the front of his pants. In his mind the anchorman's steady voice was paired with slightly sad grey eyes and he slid his
hand across his now exposed length. Maybe Will was right, maybe he should let his friend take
him to Avalon and introduce him around. Goodness knew Avalon folk weren't what he'd call
stuffy about sex. It would be okay, no strings or commitments, just two men, enjoying each
other's company, as friends, very friendly friends, he could allow himself that.
The hands that slid up his thighs were so perfectly entwined with his internal fantasies that it took a heartbeat for Ichi to register that they were real hands, really touching him. He startled and his eyes popped open to lock onto an unblinking pair of grey. He'd forgotten about Rye. Somewhere
in the weeks he'd grown so used to the pet being in the room that he'd simply forgotten to not do
this act anywhere that Rye might see.
He shivered to see the face between his legs, framed in wisps of dark red, eyes open and
watching. It was a temptation, everything about the pet was a temptation, and it was physically
painful for Ichi to tried to close his pants.
Weakly, his head shook against the back of the sofa. "No, Rye, no, shoo, go to your crate."
Rye didn't budge. He just stayed there, kneeling between Ichi's spread legs, his hands resting
high on Ichi's thighs. Grey eyes locked with Ichi's brown and there was no fear in them, not even
a tiny amount of uncertainty. A pink tongue slipped out to wet slightly parted lips and the sight
made Ichi groan.
"Come on, Rye, shoo." He forced himself to say and tried to stand up.
Strong hands gripped his hips and Ichi only managed to rise a few inches before being tugged
back down, only now his ass was on the edge of the sofa far closer to that tempting mouth. One
hand slid from Ichi's hips to wrap around his wrist and pull his hand away, exposing his naked
groin for inspection.
"No, Rye, no, bad, go to your crate." He tried to scold but the sternness in his voice was weak because a hand not his own was lightly touching him. "Oh God."
Ichi's spine arched and he fell limply back against the sofa. He tried to remember all the reasons
why this was wrong, tried to gather his will around himself to firmly refuse but that hand, that
slender, graceful hand, was touching him. It had been so long since anyone other than himself
had touched him.
The hands grew more bold and pulled at Ichi's open pants, tugging them down with sure
confidence and skill that a pet wasn't supposed to have when faced with clothing. "No." Ichi protested again and tried to push Rye's hands away. Only, the pet easily turned his efforts to
stop aside, like an adult slapping away the fussing hands of a child.
Ichi lifted his head, trying to figure out if he could stand. His knees felt wobbly, his head felt light.
Worse, he was splayed out on the sofa at an odd angle, his legs too widely spread to get a good
bra
ce to force himself to stand and now with his pants open that made things more difficult. He
glanced at his own body and shivered at the sight of Rye tucked so neatly between his legs.
Rye glanced up and Ichi's breath stopped. Not only was there no fear, or even worry, in the pet's
eyes, but he had the softest of gentle smiles just teasing at the corner of his lips. Ichi's heart
stopped, a small strangled sound caught in his throat.
"Bad, Rye, Bad." He scolded without breath or conviction. "Stop, no." He watched the head bow forward and his protests died into a twisted moan as a hot, wet tongue lapped against his over
sensitive flesh.
It didn't matter now if he fell on his face while trying to stand. Ichi needed to get away, right now, or he'd forget the reasons why this was wrong. He braced his arms and tried to push himself up,
tried to push the slight draping weight of Rye from his legs. Again, strong hands caught his hips
and forcefully pushed him back down, only this time there was no hesitation.
Before Ichi could even get his muddled brain to process the fact that Rye not only was directly
disobeying a command but was physically holding him to the sofa, a pleasure he'd forgotten
poured into his body. Somehow, across the years of awkwardness and celibacy, Ichi had
convinced himself that sex wasn't that great. Good, yes, fun and pleasurable but not something
necessary, not something as consuming as people made it out to be.
All illusions that sex hadn't been that worthwhile, that he wasn't missing that much, exploded
when Rye simply took his tormented length into his mouth. Ichi's entire body trembled, his mind
simply shut down and Rye's head bopped, swallowing him whole. A forgotten fact drifted into his
mind, on Rye's checklist of modifications was listed a removal of the gag reflex, it had been
marked as unconfirmed. There was no doubt that modification was a roaring success.
"Rye, No, No, Oh God, Bad Rye, this is so bad." He moaned and reached to try to pry the too delicious mouth from his erection. Except when he touched the top of that head, his fingers
betrayed him and ruffled through the soft, thick hair. Rye moaned at the touch, deep and from
the back of his throat, a sound of liquid pleasure. "Bad," Ichi sighed and petted his hand through the beautiful hair again. "So, bad."
