Kyy yelped as the shower he’d been in for all of five seconds turned from a relaxing, warm one to icy torrents of water cascading down his body and through his fur, chilling him to the bone. He leapt out of the way of the cold water, shivering as he reached past the spray to knock the shower off. Grabbing the large bath sheet hanging on the warming rail, the spotted cat towelled off, glad that he’d not started lathering himself up with shower gel and fur shampoo.
He was home from university for the summer, taking a break from studies…. well, trying to at least. When your father was the CEO of his own tech innovation firm, you found yourself dragged in for days here and there to look and learn from projects in progress. Kyy had to admit it was impressive seeing his dad at work, helping his teams solve both software and hardware problems with their products before passing them further down the QA chain. He was certainly going to go back after summer with a much better understanding of some of his course modules, that was for sure.
What wasn’t certain though was if he was going to get a hot shower anytime soon - at least the boiler at his student apartment was regularly maintained, Kyy made sure of that one, far too used to having the place warm enough to not wear much, not an easy task on the northwest coast without good insulation and an efficient, working boiler. He wrapped the large towel around his waist and padded out of the en-suite of his old bedroom, heading downstairs to the utility room just off the kitchen. The scent of hot coffee mingled with freshly baked bread, wafting up the stairs as the cheetah walked down them so he knew his dad must be up already.
“Oh, morning son… Boiler’s on the blink so you may want to hold off on your shower….” Kayno said nonchalantly, sat at the breakfast bar scoffing a piece of toast as he read the morning paper. Kyy scowled, he knew his dad’s hearing was plenty good enough, so why hadn’t he shouted up as soon as he heard the water go on?
“Yes. I know that now….” the younger cheetah said through gritted teeth “though it might have been nice to have been told beforehand”. Kayno merely smiled and lifted a small coffee cup to his muzzle “Coffee’s fresh, do you want a cup? It’s your favourite roast… Hot Lava Java”.
Kyy’s ears perked as he stopped in the doorway to the utility room “...Hot La...you mean the stuff mom used to….”
“That’s the stuff. I found a supplier back in the UK who still exports over here”
“I… I’ll have a cup. Lemme get this boiler going first, I’m pretty sure I can….”
“Leave it for now, son, I’ve already got a man on the way over to fix it, been putting it off for weeks but now you’re home…. I know you like your showers.” Kayno stood, walking to the coffee machine to get a cup from the warming plate on top. The older cheetah was wearing even less than his son was, stark naked as was often the case of the two cats. He poured Kyy a cup of the freshly brewed beverage, added the right amount of milk and sugar, handing it towards his offspring “besides, I put the immersion heater on when I heard the shower go on…. Give it another ten, fifteen minutes and there’ll be enough hot water for a shower.”
Kyy took the offered cup, closing his eyes and sighing as he took a sniff of the rich scent before taking a drink. “It’s….. it’s like she’s still here every time you make this…. how did you find it?” he asked, taking another sip “We’ve not been able to find it anywhere in years”.
Kayno grinned as he leaned back against the counter “I saw that the original producer had sold off some of their lines, and a small company picked up their coffee range. So, knowing how much you like that roast, I had a sample sent over. They said it wasn’t one of the better selling ones and were thinking about dropping it if it didn’t do better in sales. So I did what any good dad would do…” Kayno left the rest unsaid, his grin widening.
Kyy put the cup down, sensing something was amiss “Dad….what did you do?” he asked, almost worried.
“I couldn’t have you running out of that roast… her favourite roast. So I bought the company”
If it weren’t attached to his head, Kyy’s jaw might have hit the floor “You did WHAT?” he tried to say, but the tears that sprang to his eyes and the tightness in his throat choked the question. Instead, he just launched himself at his father, not caring that his towel came loose and fell to the floor, and hugged him tightly, fighting back a sob. Kayno hugged his son back just as tightly, running his hand through his headfur. “I miss her too, and I couldn’t bear the thought of you not having something that reminds you of her, so I made it so that you’ll always be able to have her favourite coffee whenever you want.” He held onto his son as the smaller adult fought back sobs, astounded by his dad’s generosity with a touch of mild eccentricity. Eventually, Kyy calmed himself enough to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, and look up into his father’s face, offering a quiet “thankyou, dad. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, son, and I would move the world for you”. Kayno leaned his head down towards Kyy kissing him tenderly, the younger cat returning the affection just as lovingly. Kayno broke the kiss off after several seconds with a soft chuckle, the fact that both cats were nude and pressed up against each other made their more amorous feelings rather difficult to hide.
“Soooo….about that shower…. Enough hot water for us to share?”
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Kyy and Kayno bond over a touching moment & a lack of hot water.
Words, Kyy and Kayno are mine, art is by
\n\t\t\t\t\tSylvaneDaDeer