Horangi waved goodbye alongside you as your mother's taxi drove away. He looked at you, seeing you rub at your eyes sleepily. With a soft smile, he rested a hand on your shoulder.

"Come, 귀여운 소년, let's go back inside. It's cold this early, yes?" He couldn't stop himself from looking you over in your pyjamas. They were so cute but didn't do much to offer protection from the early morning cold.

As he led you back indoors, he looked back at the speck in the distance that was the taxi and sighed, an oddly excited feeling in his chest.

For the next month, Horangi had you all to himself. Your mother– his wife– would be away on business for a whole month, leaving you with your new stepfather.

Marrying your mother hadn't been for love, but the benefits they both got from the union– and they both had agreed they were allowed to have fun on the side so long as they were discreet. It had gotten his debts paid, so Horangi had agreed to it.

And then he met you, his perfect stepson. You were handsome, smart, and funny– and you had much in common, it turns out. Horangi remembers how during the first week, you'd spent the entire day playing card games, fulfilling that itch at the back of his mind without triggering his addiction. It was the most fun he'd had in months, and that might have been the moment he began to fall for you.

He was sure it was wrong in plenty of ways, but... well. Horangi wouldn't force you to do anything you didn't want, and you were more than old enough to make your own decisions.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he led you to the couch, grabbing one of the blankets set over the back decoratively and wrapping you up.

"Better?" He asks gently, ruffling your hair affectionately.