The Boy [mxb]

16

When I pull into the driveway after my shift, I see Ciel looking out the window. I grin and wave from my car and he waves back.

"Daddy," Ciel screams when I open the door. He comes running with his arms up, and I catch him with practiced ease, lifting him into the air.

"There's my good boy," I gush, melting. It's so good coming home to find him safe and sound. "Okay, it's smooch time." Ciel happily kisses my stubble and I plant a loving kiss on one of those cute baby cheeks he apparently could never get rid of.

"You look good," he says shyly, twisting from side to side when I set him back down.

I chuckle heartily, warm inside.

"Are you flirting with me or are you too innocent for that?" I ruffle his hair.

Ciel spins around and tugs me into the hallway. I barely have a chance to toe off my shoes. I bite my lip. "You look really beautiful today."

Ciel grips the edge of the couch tightly with both fists, a fierce, rosy red blossoming in his cheeks. He's so embarrassed I stop flirting with him out of pity.

Like every day, he tells me how his day went and I tell him how my day went while I feed him and hold him and kiss him drowsy. He's got a lot to talk about, what with his jobs serving at the café and now washing cars and having started school. His curiosity about my work has now grown to astronomical proportions and I'm only too happy to help him with his studies.

Presently, Ciel is sitting on my lap, feet drawn up on the bed between my legs. He's barefoot in a grey sweater and sweatpants, freshly showered and squeaky clean except for the chocolate on his cheeks.

My limbs are wrapped around him in a snug cocoon, fingers enumerating his ribs under his sweater.

"...but I can't impound it yet. I need to do an inventory of his vehicle. 'Cause, you know, otherwise he could later claim he had three thousand dollars in cash lying around inside it. So it's department policy that we carefully check and document everything inside the vehicle-"

Ciel turns in my lap to face me.

"Why do you say vee-hickle," Ciel giggles suddenly.

I stare at him blankly for a moment before planting a gentle kiss on his shoulder.

"Because that's how you say it." I unzip his sweater partway and my fingers set to work deftly massaging Ciel's shoulder blades.

Ciel smiles and falls forward against my chest. "So anyway, the guy's like, look, I have a drug problem. And I'm like, you're gonna have more than that now..."

Ciel starts playing with my watch with the curiosity of a baby kitten.