Akayuki (Red Snow)--Michael's Past Part 7

Warning: The following contains: suggestive dialogue. Reader discretion is advised.

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction. It is intended for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to actual persons living or deceased is purely coincidental.

~o~

On the walk home that evening, Lonnie didn’t chatter the entire time and Michael knew why.

“How much did Loomis-sensei tell you about me?”

Lonnie sighed in exasperation.

“You are one selfish jerk.”

“Excuse me?” Michael asked.

“You think everyone talks about you.”

“They don’t?”

“Nope,” Lonnie said. “In fact, my mom didn’t even know who you were when I told her about you. She thought the tea house was permanently shuttered.”

“Obviously, she’s wrong.”

“I told her you and Annie reopened it. Then she asked if Annie was working while she was pregnant.” 

“She would be if the doctor would let her,” Michael said.

“Then Mom asked what Annie was going to do after the baby arrived, as far as running the tea house is concerned.”

“She’s going to run the tea house. I’m only filling in for her until the baby arrives.”

“You’re going to quit?” Lonnie asked.

Michael nodded.

Lonnie stopped in the middle of the road and watched as Michael walked ahead of him. 

“You jerk!” Lonnie shouted, running to catch up with him. “You aren’t planning on running away from Annie, are you? You know, be a deadbeat dad.”

“Of course not.”

“Because that would make you the Jerk King,” Lonnie informed him. “And that’s my dad, so you would have to be the Jerk Boogeyman.”

“Stop calling me the Boogeyman, Village Idiot.” Michael scowled. Since meeting Lonnie, all he did was scowl. 

“Stop calling me an idiot, Boogeyjerk!”

Michael stifled a laugh as they reached his home.

“Go home, Lonnie,” he said, gently this time. “I want to be alone with my wife.”

“You still poke her when she’s going to have a baby?” Lonnie asked, without shame or embarrassment of any kind.

This kid.

Michael flicked the boy’s forehead.

“Learn some tact and I might make you my assistant.”

“Really?” Lonnie stood in the road rubbing his forehead and watching Michael walk up to his house. “Wait!” he called. “What does ‘tact’ mean?”

“Go to school tomorrow and ask your teacher to explain it to you,” Michael called before disappearing inside his house.