I realized I’d had Panlong in the tub for two months, whoops.

This story comes after:
Separation Anxiety (LJ) Boom!/RP timeline/ Cynara
Parting Advice, and Mother Bears (LJ)
Mother-Son Bonding (LJ)
Kept du Jour (LJ)
“Are we killing this one?” (LJ)
Meeting the Family (LJ) (a chat log)
Roleplay Log (Cya/Cabal, posted by cluudle)
Cleaning Up (LJ), One month later and 2 Vignettes of Cya (LJ)

Panlong was, unsurprisingly, in the tub, the water almost to his chest. If it weren’t for the antlers, he’d look helpless; even with them, he looked lost.

“Scoot up.” She set the mugs on the wide edge of the tub. “The one with the blue marshmallows is for you.”

“Thanks?” He scooted forward in the tub, clearly confused, and then even more confused as Cya started pulling her clothes off. “Ma’am…”

“Have you been Kept before, Panlong?” She already knew the answer, of course. But it was as good a place to start as any.

“Yes, ma’am,” His eyes were very firmly fixed on her face. “By Tethys. And then by Selena.”

Tethys she already knew too much about. “Selena sh’…” Naked, she slid into the tub behind her

“Sh’Oralee, ma’am. Cy’Linden.” He was sitting stiffly, trying not to touch her at all. She wrapped her arms around his chest, feeling the tension there.

“That explains a lot. Lean back against me, carefully, Pan, mind those antlers.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Curiosity got the best of him, and he leaned. “Explains, ma’am?”

“I think this is one of this situations where you can lay off the ‘ma’am’ for a bit.” Gentle. She needed to be gentle with him. It wasn’t his fault. “Bad Keeping begets more bad Keeping begets bad behaviour. It wouldn’t have occurred to you that anything was wrong with Yoshi.”

“Oh.” He was board-like against her, as far from relaxed as was possible to get. “My Keeping wasn’t bad. I mean, Tethys…”

“You said you were never happy when you were with her. There’s no need to protect her now, Pan.”

“Are you going to kill her?” His voice was thready and, against her hands, his heart was pounding hard and fast. “Only… she’s my friend, you know? Now?”

“I’m not going to kill her.” Only in saying it did she realize it was true. “That’s Yoshi’s job, should he want it. And I’m not sure he will.”

“Oh.” He sagged her in arms. “Are you going to kill me?”

She planted a careful kiss on the back of his neck, just below the collar. She really needed to make him his own. “No. No, Pan, I’m not going to kill you.”

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