Lord's Son by anonymous

Be lord of manor
Dedicated to helping out people down on their luck
Single with no time for romance
Be on a stroll through the local city
Walk by an alley and notice a small tigerboy leaning against a wall, bleeding from his stomach, being approached by a lanky wolfman
You go into action and suckerpunch the wolf, knocking him out
You notice the tiger's fallen unconscious and decide to help him without hesitation
Kids like him in this country are common, homeless, parentless and sometimes even sold into slavery, he must have attempted to escape.
Taking him to your manor, you command your few servants to give him a room and patch him up and to not let him die.
He wakes up the next day and regards you with distrust immediately
You treat him with your usual kindness and avoid asking him anything that might bring up bad memories
He slightly lowers his guard and gives you his name and tells you he's 9 years old
You offer to let him stay at your manor for as long as he wants to and he there's no catch to it.
He doesn't believe it, but decides to stay regardless, because he doesn't want to go back.
In a few months, his hostile mask slowly chips off until he's just a grumpy-looking little tiger boy.
Even though you tell him it's not necessary, he tells you he wants to work at the manor and earn his due.
You don't have the heart to deny him and so he starts working as a servant.
Years pass as he wants to do the physically demanding work around the manor, him gradually getting bigger as he gets older.
He's now a surprisingly well-built young tiger, over 20 years your junior. You consider him as the son you've never had.
He's usually stony-faced and grump-looking, but you've learned his tells over the years, like how his tail starts wiggling, when he's happy or how much he enjoys it, when you rub his head or give him hugs.
Recently though, you've noticed him giving you odd looks you couldn't quite put your finger on.
Sometimes he'd even started blushing and pushing you away, when you hug him for too long.
Must just be that age.
It's his 18-th birthday and you decide to celebrate with by letting him drink alcohol for the first time.
You usually celebrate his birthday with just the two of you, because that's how he prefers it.
You both eat and drink wine accross from each other and he scrunches his face anytime he takes a sip.
Turns out he's a complete lightweight and he's already quite shitfaced just from his second glass.
His usual stony face crumbles as he stands up and slowly wobbles over next to you, kneels, grabs your hand and places it on his own head.
You notice he has tears in his eyes as he begs you to pet him.
You're not sure, what's wrong, but you stand up with him and sit down on the nearby sofa, with him clinging to you the whole way.
Petting him just makes him cling harder to your arm and you think you can hear him purr as he enjoys your pets.
You smile and start talking about the future, wondering if he wants to go to a school, where he could meet some friends and build a life for himself.
He immediately denies wanting anything like that and only clings harder to you.
You feel like your arm might tear off at this rate.
You fall silent and only keep petting him.
Suddenly he gets up and stands in front of you, with the most serious expression he could manage, while the fur on his face is red and matted with tears.
He tells you he loves him.
You give him a gentle smile and tell him you love him too, that you would do anything for him, because he's your precious son.
His eyes widen as he shakes his head furiously and for some reason, starts unbuttoning the plain white shirt he has on, slowly exposing his surprisingly well-built pecs and abs.
The fur seems to be slightly damp from him sweating through your petting.
He drunkenly takes a few steps and straddles you as best he can, your face nearly coming into contact with his chest.
You give him a confused expression and he looks down at you through half-lidded eyes, panting, as he tells you that he loves you romantically, as another man would and that his only wish is to be your bride.
...Shit