<!--ADULTSONLY--> title: cat author: Dusty_Grey keywords: MM, magic, furry I'd had a long, horrible day at work, and all I wanted was to go home, crack open some beers, put my feet up, and fall asleep watching pointless reruns. Didn't think it was too much to ask. There was only so much a man wanted to put up with in a day, and between getting yelled at for someone else's mistakes, and listening to the drones go on about downsizing, I was quite done. Then I remembered the last of the beers had been drunk over the weekend, and I was out of tv dinners. With a sigh, I put the car in gear and headed to the store. On the way through the doors, there was a lanky, scruffy dishwater-blond guy, with a darker tan than the cool spring called for, leaning against the wall. He eyed me up and down, anything but subtle, and grinned rakishly. "Buy a guy a burger?" His clothes were worn, a thin black tshirt, olive green jacket frayed around the edges, jeans unraveling at the bottom, and bare, dirty feet. Under the clothing, he looked thin, almost gaunt. But it was hard to keep my eyes off his grin, away from his thin, cheerful face. "I won't follow you home unless you want me to." He chuckled quietly. I hadn't budgeted for going out to eat more than the one night I had already planned. "Sorry, man. Nothing to spare." He held his hands up. "Hey, no, I understand. Not looking for a handout." "You just asked for a burger. How is that not a handout?" I had stopped halfway up the automatic door pad, and either had to move away from it to let the people behind me pass, or step on in and break off this conversation. Tired or no, I wanted to know the answer. I stepped closer. "I wasn't asking for a handout, I was asking for a date." He winked. I snorted, but smiled despite myself. "How many people have turned you down with that so far?" "You're the first I've asked, so... none yet. How about it?" "You're not going to be able to go into many places with no shoes." "That's not a no. Is there a maybe in there somewhere?" He didn't get any closer, just kept his tone friendly, bantering, a wide grin on his face. I couldn't be seriously considering this insane proposal. "Look, I just came to pick up a couple things and then head home and relax. It's a tight week, and it's been pretty stressful. You gonna be around in a couple of days? I'll be able to give you a few bucks then, no trouble." With a shrug, he shoved himself away from the wall, the cheerful grin fading. "Like I said, I wasn't looking for a handout." He'd angled himself to keep the distance between us, and shoved his hands as deep as possible in his jacket pockets. I couldn't bring myself to apologize. Instead, I shrugged, watched him walk away, and headed into the store. The purchase of one six-pack and two frozen pizzas later, I was headed out of the store. The guy wasn't there, but there was a ginger striped cat lurking right outside the store. He yowled plaintively, looking right at me. I knelt down, wondering if the guy would come back from around the corner. Was it his cat? I'd invite him over for pizzas and beers if he were interested. It wouldn't be out of my budget, I didn't need to eat two whole pizzas on my own anyway. But he had already left. The cat butted his head into my palm, and purred loudly. He was thin and dirty, but I couldn't see any sign of fleas on him. There was no matting around his neck where a collar would have been, either. Big green eyes stared up at me, and he meowed again. "You got a place to stay, buddy?" In answer, he rammed his head against my shin and rolled on my shoes. I could get away with a cat in my apartment for a couple of days. "Do you like pizza?" He just purred, and grabbed playfully at my shoestrings. "Come on, then." I stepped over him and headed to my car. He trotted beside me as if he'd been doing it forever. "Mi casa es su casa, for a while, anyway." I opened the door and let my furry house guest in. "Damn, I forgot you'd need a litter box." I wracked my brain, there had to be something to use instead of a casserole dish, I actually used that sometimes. "There's a potted plant that's basically dead on the porch, I haven't made any plans for the pot yet. You could use that, I guess." I left the beer and bag of pizzas on the table and walked through my small living room to the balcony door. "Just let me know if you need the door opened after this, okay?" I had no idea whether any of this made sense to the cat. But he sniffed at the breeze coming in through the open door, and went outside to the plant pot. I turned around and headed back towards the kitchen to get the pizzas started and give him some privacy. Maybe he'd do the same when I had to use the bathroom, too. Talking to a cat as if it were a person. I shook my head. It had been a long week. I threw one of the pizzas in the oven, and the other into the freezer for later, cracked open a beer, and settled on the couch. The cat hopped up next to me and curled up like a gentleman. "Hope you like mindless TV, kitty, that's the only kind I'm in the mood for right about now." The alarm on the stove blared and startled me awake, reminding my groggy brain that there was food cooking, possibly burning. The cat watched with amusement while I cursed my way into the kitchen to deal with the mess. Luckily, the pizza was just over perfect, and the smoke alarm didn't even go off. "You must be good luck, cat, that alarm goes off if you look at it funny." I ruffled him on the head. He reached over and pawed at my pizza, snagging choice meat morsels neatly off the cheese. "Don't get too used to that, buddy. I've still got some canned food left from when my friend's cat was visiting last month." Never mind that she hadn't eaten a bit of it, and I was basically waiting until it expired so I could throw it out. I'd break it out later. We had already settled into a companionable arrangement on the couch, this new cat and I. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, the cat curled comfortably over my right leg, purring loudly enough that it might have easily been what woke me up. I nudged him off my leg, and went to bed. I woke up to a paw batting at my face the next morning. It took me a minute to groggily remember why there would be a cat in my apartment. I waved him off with a mumble. "Hang on. Gonna need some coffee." He raced down the hallway ahead of me, turned back and ran back to make certain I was still following. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He sat in front of the balcony door and yowled. Had I closed that last night? "Damn, sorry, buddy." I opened it again, and watched him run out to the potted dirt he'd claimed as his own. Half a pot of coffee later, I started getting ready for work. I opened one of the spare cans of cat food, and put it out on a plate for him. He sniffed at it, glared, then sighed and started eating. "I can't afford to feed you pizza every night, you'll have to eat like a regular cat sometimes." I petted his head affectionately, and he purred loudly enough I could hear it from the hallway. I shooed him out when I left for work, or tried to. "Come back tonight. I can't take you to work with me, and I don't know if I want to leave you alone in my apartment all day." He looked at me with big, bright eyes, the iris pale jade inside a ring of brilliant green. He ran back to the balcony, and stood out there. If he wanted to stay outside all day, I guess that was better than making him go out into the street or something. I grabbed a box and emptied it out so he'd have a place to sleep that was sort of protected, and left a bowl of water and a plate of food out for him. "I'll be back tonight, okay?" He curled up in the box and flicked an ear at me. On the way home, I stopped at the store to get cat treats. I didn't see the guy who'd asked for a burger, though. He was probably at some other store, asking some other guy for change or a burger or a date. The thought depressed me more than it should have. There was no sign of my guest when I got home. He wasn't in the box on the balcony. I hoped he hadn't jumped off the balcony, it was only three stories up, but that was still three stories up. About an hour after I'd gotten home, and was still worrying about the cat's disappearance, there was a knock at my door. I opened it just enough to see the other side, without unlocking the chain. My landlady stood there, a furrow in her brow and a plastic carrier in her hand. I closed the door again, and undid the chain to open the door wider. "Is this yours?" She held the carrier up, and I could see the shape of a cat in there. "A temporary house guest, yeah. Just a couple of days." "I found him clinging to the side of the building this afternoon, climbing down from the balcony. You're lucky I spotted him on your balcony this morning, or I wouldn't have known where he came from. You know there's a deposit needed if he stays more than three days, right?" She raised an eyebrow a little, we both knew I knew that. "Yeah. Thanks a ton for getting him." My new companion's miserable yowl echoed in the hallway. "If he ends up staying longer than another day or so, I'll bring the deposit over for you." "All right, then." She handed the carrier over. "Bring the carrier back in a couple of days. I imagine you'll need it to take him to, well, wherever you'll take him to." "Sure, thanks!" She waved, and knelt down to smile at the cat in the carrier. "And you, sir, would be better off in the apartment than climbing down the side of the building." He gave her a subdued meow in response. I let him out of the carrier, and the first thing he did was run to the balcony door and pace back and forth, somewhat less than patiently waiting for me to let him out. "What am I going to do with you?" We sat on the couch together after he came back in. He'd cleaned himself up since I'd brought him over. If I decided to keep him, there were inevitable vet bills, food and other costs, a deposit every month with rent. If I didn't keep him, well, I'd need to take him to the pound or a shelter, and there were probably fees for that, too, and I didn't honestly know if there were no-kill shelters around here. Taking him to any other place didn't sit at all well with me. Even all this was assuming that he didn't already belong to someone. I'd have to put up found posters around the area. I sighed and reached over to him, rubbing a thumb on his ear. "I guess I'll keep you until someone claims you." He just rolled over onto his back, and demanded belly rubs. Over two weeks later, and no one had called about the cat yet. I'd taken to calling him Tom, but not after the cartoon cat. It didn't hurt that he answered to it, either. He'd been put on my lease "until further notice", and I got him a proper litter box and bowls, a bed that he ignored to sleep on mine, and toys that he eschewed in favor of the packaging they came in. We had settled into a comfortable pattern over the past few weeks. I'd come home from work, he'd twirl himself around my legs while I got our respective dinners ready, we'd sit on the couch and watch TV or movies for a couple of hours, and then fall asleep at some point. In the mornings, I'd exercise while he berated me for it from across the room. On Fridays, I'd get pizza and he'd steal meat pieces from it. Four weeks after I'd first brought him to my house, he disappeared. I definitely felt the void. But he wasn't really my cat to begin with, I reasoned. Maybe he'd gone back to his old house. Even still, the next couple of days were pretty bleak. I'd spent an entire month getting used to having him around. On Friday, I had to go to the store. I was out of beer and wasn't really in the mood for pizza. Avoiding the foot traffic, I kept my head down and made my way in. "Hey, you up for that burger yet?" The blonde guy grinned at me from beside the door. I hadn't even noticed him there. I stepped aside from the path to the door for a minute. After the last time, as soon as I had the chance, I'd stashed away enough money to take him out, just in case I saw him again. This was the first time I'd seen him since then. He looked cleaner, even his clothes. I grinned back at him, surprised and pleased that I could call his bluff. "Yeah, sure. Is now a good time for you?" He grinned widely. "Actually, it is." He shoved away from the wall to stand upright next to me. "Surprisingly, I have no pressing engagements other than a schedule full of leaning against that wall." He pulled a pair of battered loafers out of a pocket and slid them on his feet. We fell into step as we walked to my car. I snorted, still smiling. "Had much luck with getting spare change?" "Wasn't looking for change. Just a burger." He winked. I drove us to a little burger and steak place that I enjoyed occasionally, and we were seated in a cozy booth out of the main path. I got a burger with fries, and a beer. "Just a burger for me, thanks." He grinned up at the waitress. "Get fries or something with that, it's fine." I hoped he wasn't avoiding a full meal out of politeness. "Double burger, then." The waitress made a note, and whirled away. He looked me in the eye and said, "I don't really like fries." I had no response to that, and said as much. "Never cared for them. No reason." He leaned back in the booth, twirled the straw in his glass between two fingers. "So, now that we've established eating patterns, what's your name?" He looked up at me with brilliant green eyes and a wicked grin. "Call me Tom." The pang of my missing cat shot through me for a second. I stifled it, because I didn't want to bring it up with this guy I had literally just met. "Drew." "You look like a Drew." "That's a new one. I've never actually heard that before." "It suits you." He stretched slowly, arms going up, head back, chest thrusting up, hips shifting back, and I heard his spine crackle as he moved. His shirt rode up an inch and some as well, and I stole a glance at his abdomen while trying not to be obvious about it. His stomach was as evenly tan as his face and hands, with a distinct but not wild line of soft-looking hair down the center. The smirk on his face as he straightened himself out told me he'd caught me looking. Kindly, he didn't say anything. I cleared my throat, trying to seem nonchalant. "What do you do when you're not asking strangers out on dates?" "Not much." His face fell a little. "I really didn't ask just anyone. Only you." Even in the short while I'd known him, this was the most serious he'd ever been. "Why did you think I was the one to ask?" I wasn't exactly the most subtle, but I thought I could hide it from casual observers better than that. The grin spread back across his face. "Well, you said yes, didn't you?" The burgers were delicious. I watched Tom devour his with the oddest combination of delicate bites and ravenous speed. He licked the grease from his fingers after, his eyes closing and a smile curling the corners of his mouth. "Do you want another?" He licked his lips, and thought about it. I decided to go with my original plan, before he called my attempt at calling his bluff. "Tell you what. We'll order another one, and you can take it out with you." He leaned over the table, bracing against his elbows, fingers interlacing as he settled his chin on top of them. "I have an alternative proposition for you. How about we each get another burger, since you're offering. While we wait for those, I'll buy us dessert, if you don't mind splitting it, and we take our burgers for a walk by the river and get to know each other better. How does that sound?" I could afford another round of burgers, and dessert sounded pretty good. I agreed to his plan. The brownie sundae was delicious. When we got to the river trail, we left the burgers in the car after all, still too full to bother eating more just yet. As soon as we got on the trail proper, Tom took his shoes off and they disappeared back into a pocket. "You sure you want to do that? There's probably broken glass and crap on the sidewalk." The grin hadn't left his face since we'd left the restaurant. "I'll be fine." "Suit yourself." The path was fairly well covered by trees, so the walk was quite shaded, with the occasional spot of sunlight. It was actually a perfect day for a walk here. "So what do-" I glanced over while I was talking, and stopped short. He was looking right at me with a gleam in his eyes. "What?" "How easily startled are you?" "Wha-" In a second, he'd grabbed my shoulders and shoved me backward. He pulled himself close at the same time and fell with me, pinning me, my back landing solidly against a wide tree. One of his hands stayed at my shoulder, and the other moved down to my hips, pulling me against him. His mouth was firmly against mine, and a million things were running through my head, including whether I could take him in the possible fight that was likely about to happen, and whether the immediate erection I'd grown was too obvious. Then he started kissing me and I let him, because it was the only response I really wanted to give just then. He tasted like burger and sundae. His tongue was a little rough and his teeth were just a little pointed and he kissed the same way he ate, with little licks and bites alternating with deep, long strokes of his tongue against mine and I might have moaned into his mouth. There was the strangest vibrating feeling against my chest, and I absently thought through the kiss that whoever was calling me had the worst possible timing ever. Then I realized simultaneously that his erection was digging into my hip with the same intensity mine was against his, that my phone was in the car, and that the vibrating was his chest pressed against mine. He was purring. With a gentle, graceful movement, he stopped kissing me, and sighed. He stepped back, his hands and hips and warmth all leaving me at the same time. His eyes were closed, and half his mouth was curled in a smile, the other side pensive. "I've wanted to do that since the first day I saw you." I stuttered, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He kept talking, very careful not to get close, and I realized that he was sizing me up, waiting for the possible fight any other man might have come back with. "And I thought you looked lonely and sad. And maybe you couldn't afford a burger, like you'd said." He took a deep breath and bit his lip, the first time I'd seen him nervous all day. "But I couldn't leave you by yourself. So." "What are you say-" "You'd be surprised how many people ignore strays." He was still keeping a cautious distance from me. "Not you, though." "Tom?" Was that really his name, or just a strange coincidence? "Have you figured it out?" He chuckled, but his face was more worried than happy. "I couldn't just let you be alone. I had to... well, anyway. I did that, and I don't regret any of it. I... I hope you don't, either." He wasn't just talking about the kiss. But that was impossible. There was no way. The look on my face must have been obvious. "You prefer to work out in the morning before work, then you shower, and have breakfast. On Fridays, we usually have pizza. Burgers were a nice change of pace, though. And it was the best first date I've ever had." A look of pain stayed in his eyes. "I saw the look on your face when I said my name, and I didn't want you to worry about... well, me." My stomach lurched and my head reeled. The cat that I'd kept in my house for a month and the guy who had pushed me against a tree and given me the most amazing kiss I'd ever had were the same- what, person? Cat? Were-something? "What are you?" My voice was more breathless than I'd wanted, and I mentally kicked myself for it. He shrugged. "Sometimes that, sometimes this." "Can... you. Can you change now?" It was still hard to believe. Maybe if I saw it, I'd ... I don't know. Understand. With a sad shake of his head, his mouth twisted in a small frown. "Not right now. I can't if anyone can see me." "But at the store, it was so busy, how did you, I mean, there were a lot of people outside." He shrugged. "There's an alley beside the store. No one goes back there, there's a stack of boxes, pretty simple to duck behind." "Were you ever... Did you ever um. Change? In my house?" That made him smile a little. "No, no, I wasn't invited in when I was like this." "So not even when I was gone?" "Not once." "Even to use the toilet?" "No." I still felt unbalanced from this conversation, this confession. He still made no moves towards me, and the look of potential fight had left his movements. I slid down the tree, sat with a jolt at the base. He knelt where he was, so we stayed on the same level. "Can I do anything to help you right now?" "I... I don't know." Either this was a very well played joke, or ... or. "If I closed my eyes, so I couldn't see you, could you... could Tom... the cat show up?" He shrugged a little with one shoulder. "I can try." His tongue darted out to lick his lip. "I can think of some other things we could do while I'm like this." The grin came back on one side, and he moved one hand closer, leaned against it. Suddenly, I had to find some sign of his other shape on him, like this. Needed it. I grabbed his hand, pulled it close to examine the nails, the palms, the pads of his fingers, the backs of his hands where thin veins ran along the tendons. His nails were very glossy, smoother than my own. The white hair along his wrists was fine, no different than a fair-skinned person, and looked a little out of place against his tan coloring. His jacket was still on, but judging from the wrists, the arms would look no different. Feet? I pushed at the center of his chest to knock him off his knees, grabbed the ankle from the back tendon, ran my fingers along the foot, feeling the thin layer of dry skin and dirt over the heavily calloused feet of someone who walked perpetually barefoot, the rough sides of the callouses. The toenails were as smooth and shiny as the fingernails, but not much longer than my own. He twitched a little, startling my train of thought. I gripped his ankle harder, and the twitching got worse. "It tickles." Not even a smile or a laugh. I let go of his ankle, wiped my hands hurriedly on my jeans, pushed him over on to the sidewalk, and straddled his chest to pin him. This was bordering on obsession. My hands fit neatly around his face, moving his head to the side to examine. Chin pointed in my palm, nose like any other, except there was a distinct line down the center of the septum. Hair fine, softer than any other hair I'd run my fingers through. Ears with an inner ridge or two more than usual, fine coating of hair along the outside edge. Lips and mouth opened to show teeth, the eyeteeth longer, more prominent than any others, top and bottom, and white; pure, gleaming white. Pale pink gums and tongue. I ran my tongue over his, felt the rough texture, the sharp points of his eyeteeth. "Is everything okay?" A jogger was passing by, and stopped a few feet away, taking in the scene warily. "We're fine," I sat up, and turned to look at her. "He just said..." I couldn't tell this stranger what he had claimed. And I suddenly realized what this looked like. Tom actually looked pained, uncomfortable. I realized I'd been kneeling heavily on his arms, the rest of my weight on his chest. I shifted and let his arms free, settled my knees on the hard concrete and raised up to let him breathe. He gasped when I moved, rubbed his arms in pain when he sat up. The jogger glared at me, and looked over at Tom. "Are you okay? I can call the police." Her phone was in her hand as she said it. "The police can't help an idiot like him. But thanks." He gave her a little grin. Then he glared at me. "If you're quite finished?" "I. Um. Yeah." I moved away from him, "I'm sorry." "Are you?" He stood and brushed himself off, then turned back to the jogger. "Really, I'm okay. My friend really is just an idiot. And a jerk. Thanks, though." "Anytime." She looked back at me. "And you, you better find some damn good way to apologize if you want to stay friends with him. I wouldn't speak to you again, if it were me." My chest was tight, and my voice a subdued mumble. "Yeah. You're right. I wouldn't, either." She looked faintly surprised, and turned back to Tom. "Well, maybe there's hope for him yet." He chuckled a little. "Maybe." She nodded, satisfied finally that he really did seem to be okay. With a final stern look at me, she jogged off. Tom set off down the path once again, without waiting for me or looking back. I caught up with him, and wasn't surprised when he didn't bother acknowledging me. Ten minutes passed, and I couldn't stand it any more. "I'm sorry." His mouth twitched a little, but his irritated expression didn't change. "Seriously, Tom. That was entirely disrespectful, and I honestly wouldn't blame you if you didn't come near me again." I couldn't meet his eyes, so I just stared at the ground. "Yeah?" He glanced over at me. "I don't care if you blame me or not." And with that, he stalked off. My voice died when I tried to call out to him, call him back. The walk back to my car was miserable. I was beyond angry at myself. What the hell had I been thinking? And I wasn't even prepared to think about the cat claim he had made. The smell of cooling burgers in the car when I opened the door made my throat tight. A week passed, and I tried to go back to my regular schedule. While I exercised in the morning, I remembered Tom yowling at me from across the room. I left the balcony door cracked open when I was gone at work. When Friday came around, I waited outside the store. When Tom never showed up, I picked up the usual pizza. When I cooked it at home, I picked off the nicest meaty pieces and set them aside, just in case he showed back up. When he didn't, I put them in the fridge, and threw them out two days later. The next week passed much the same. By the third week, I no longer imagined Tom berating me in the mornings. I no longer reached absently over at nights on the couch to offer belly rubs. I couldn't eat pizza any more, and going out sounded terrible. A full month later, on a Friday, one of the neighbors was having trouble with their keys in the hallway, kept missing the lock and scratching at the door. Except it was my door. Heart in my throat, I opened the door. Tom stood outside the door, and looked up at me, caution in his green eyes. I swallowed hard, tried to get my voice under control as I opened the door. "Hey." "Hey." He leaned against the door frame. His clothing hadn't changed, but he did look almost as dirty and frayed as he had when I'd first seen him. "Do you want to come in?" I offered hesitantly, didn't dare hope to think of what this might mean. He lifted his chin in a half nod, walked in when I stepped away from the door. He headed straight for the couch, and sat, leaning against the arm, arm propping his head up, legs folded to the side. "I- God, I'm so sorry." My arms hung at my sides, hands tensing uselessly. I had to resist the urge to touch him, make certain he was real. "What I did to you on the trail was unforgivable. It will never happen again." "Not without my permission, at least." A tiny smile threatened the corner of his lips. "But we need to talk about a few things first." "I'll do anything to make it up-" His finger on my lips quieted me. "I won't say I overreacted. But I'd never told anyone else. I was prepared for you to take a swing at me, or say you never wanted to see me again, or something. One direction or the other. But you did neither, and then you... what the hell were you doing, anyway?" "Can I sit? I'm not sure how much longer I can just stand here." My knees felt a little weak, it sounded like I had a chance to get him back in my life. At his hand wave, I sat on the couch, trying to keep my balance on the edge of the cushion. "I was... I was trying to find something that made it obvious you weren't human." "While I was like this." He waved a hand at his torso. "Yeah." "When I've been successfully passing like this for more years than you could possibly know, since that never actually came up in our conversations that day." "How could it? After I, after I messed up, you left." "I meant before that, when we were actually talking. You never asked me how old I was. You never asked where I stayed. You never asked a single personal detail." He didn't seem angry, just very matter-of-fact. I bit my lip, looked away. "No. I figured you were homeless, and didn't want to talk about it." I'd never seen him look honestly surprised, but he did now. "So I didn't want to be rude." The irony made me chuckle. He laughed a little, too. "Can we start over?" "With everything?" He smiled a little. "Hi. I'm Tom. I like burgers, and pizza on Fridays, and sometimes I look different." I took his hand and shook it. "Hi, Tom. I'm Drew, I like those things too, and sometimes I'm an idiot. And a jerk. But I'm trying not to be." He smiled. "Well, good. Now that we've got that out of the way," Suddenly he was kissing me again, our lips not quite colliding but together hard enough to hurt. Sharp teeth grazed my bottom lip, and his rough tongue followed. My lips parted, and our tongues met. We didn't fight when we kissed, but it was rough, greedy, and we clutched at each other, his arms going around my neck, my hands sliding under his shirt to feel his skin. He purred and moaned and thrust his chest against mine, shoving me backwards on the couch, still kissing me with delicate thrusts of his tongue and lunging movements of his jaw. My hands ran up his chest, feeling the soft hair, impossible on a human, and I broke our kiss to look at him quizzically when my knuckles ran down two trails of little nubs on either side of his chest. He rolled his eyes with a grin, and took off his jacket, leaving him looking oddly naked in the tshirt. He sat up enough to let me pull his shirt up and look at the twin lines of nipples running down his chest. "See, if you'd just waited a little longer, you probably would have seen these a lot sooner. And if you wanted more proof than that-" I grabbed his head and kissed him hard again. We fell backwards again, him still on top of me. He pulled my hands out from under his shirt, and put them over the cloth, and broke our kiss long enough to whisper roughly in my ear. "Just this for now, please?" I couldn't recall a single time he had said please. I fought my tendency to take over, and let him set the pace. I couldn't remember the last time I'd just made out with someone like we were teenagers, and it was never quite like this. Kissing, biting, licking, hands fisting in shirts, hips thrusting against each other, and all through this, his chest vibrated with purrs from his collarbones to the upper edge of his abdomen. I imagined for just a minute, that we were naked, sweat-slick skin sliding, rubbing, being gripped and clutched together With a sudden thrust of my hips, I came, groaning hoarsely, my breath hot against his neck, and this was enough to set him off as well. His teeth sank deeply into my trapezius as he shuddered against me with a deep growl erupting from his throat. I spoke first, and from his slightly startled twitch, he must have dozed off for a minute. Truth be told, I almost had fallen asleep as well, but now my head was angled sharply against the arm of the couch and my neck was starting to hurt. "How about a quick shower?" I needed one, surely he also would appreciate it. He shrugged against my chest and nestled deeper into my neck, as I ignored the growing bruise on my shoulder. "We can snuggle more comfortably on the bed afterward." I nuzzled his shoulder. The purr returned faintly as he stirred a little. "Come on, let's get up." "Not moving ever again." His head came up, and I saw a nictating membrane over the inner corners of his eyes. "I'll take a shower when you're done." Showering together was a pretty intimate act. I relented with a sigh and a kiss to the top of his head. "I'll leave you a towel in the bathroom. Come to bed when you're done." Half a breath later, I added, "If you want." We shared a brief, quiet kiss, and I got up to stretch and take a shower. He got up off the couch pretty quickly after I got out of the shower. I'd left a towel and washcloth for him in the bathroom, along with an extra pair of sweatpants, a tshirt, and a spare toothbrush I'd collected at one point. While he showered, I grabbed a couple of sheets and spare blankets, and a pillow, and left them folded neatly on the couch, in case he decided to stay out there for the night. I wanted him to be comfortable, but I also desperately wanted to snuggle with him. Now that I'd had a tiny taste of what we could have together, I wanted more and all of it at once. As I crawled into bed, just before the water stopped in the bathroom, I was suddenly quite glad I'd changed the sheets in the last two days. Just in case. I heard the floor creak with his footsteps as he exited the bathroom. There was a long pause, and I heard him walk out to the living room. Another night, perhaps. I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow. I woke the next morning to the smell of coffee. Maybe I'd set up the automatic yesterday morning without thinking. When I got up, the coffee was fresh, just finishing it's final percolating burble, and there was a note next to it. I'll be back tonight. Want to stay in and watch movies? See you soon! Tom The coffee was just about perfect. With a sigh, I had two cups before starting cleaning. Three hours later, I had restlessly cleaned the house until it was spotless. Tom had folded the sheets and blankets I had left out for him on the couch, leaving them neatly over the arm of the couch. I knew he'd used them, they were folded differently. In hope that his note was true, I left the sheets and blankets out, but moved them to my bedroom. I could always move them back out here if -when- he came back. I wanted him to feel absolutely comfortable doing whatever he wanted to. I had already messed up once, and there was no chance he'd come back if I messed up again. I was reminded by the growling in my middle that I needed to eat lunch. I threw together a quick sandwich, and started double-checking the house. I was contemplating taking the dishes out of the cupboards to wipe down the shelves when there was a scratch at the door. Then a knock. Tentatively, I opened it. Tom had a little grin on his face, and held a huge brown bag and a smaller plastic one. And had a full backpack, I was surprised to see when I let him in. "I brought dinner. And some movies." He leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. Stunned for a minute, I almost forgot to close the door. He was settling things on the couch when I regained my senses, and locked the door behind him. He'd worn a pair of my jeans out for the day, and a tshirt that looked better on him than it ever did on me. His worn leather loafers had been kicked off at the door, and I'd barely noticed. "I wasn't sure what you were in the mood for, so I grabbed a few I didn't think you'd seen yet. There's a couple of action movies, a couple horror... Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?" He wiped at his cheek with the back of a wrist. My throat was suddenly dry. I licked my lips a little. "You came back." I'd hoped all day, but I hadn't really let myself think about it. And thrown myself into the one day-long chore that I knew of to keep occupied. "Well, yeah, that's how the song goes, isn't it?" He grinned widely, turned, and started unpacking the brown sack on the coffee table, humming the chorus to 'The Cat Came Back'. "You like Indian food, don't you? I have been dying for tandoori chicken." "Yeah, it's fine. Great." I watched him move as he unpacked, remembering his slim, soft muscles under my hands last night. "It's great." "So get some plates, it's too hot to eat off each other." I groaned a little, knowing my erection was probably far too obvious. I gave myself a minute to readjust in the kitchen. "Grab wine glasses while you're in there," He called after me. "Probably a bottle opener, too. I didn't want to get the cheap stuff with the screw top. Got the cheap stuff with the rubber cork instead." I carefully arranged plates of varying sizes, a few of the nice cloth napkins I saved for special occasions, silverware and the bottle opener all stacked in one hand, and two wine glasses in the other, and walked back into the living room just as Tom was turning most of the lights off except the two dimmest. "No sense watching movies with dinner if we can't see the movies, right? But we need to be able to see dinner too. So, this. You got that stack okay?" "Yep, thanks." I managed to get everything on the table without breaking the glasses or spilling any of the silverware. "Ooh, you brought out the cloth napkins." He grinned. "Must be a special night. Got anything planned?" "Nah, figured I'd just watch some movies and have dinner with a gorgeous guy, see where the night takes us." Hoped I looked as nonchalant as I was trying to when I folded the napkins up and arranged the plates and silverware. He just watched me, a little smile and an intense look in his eyes. "What?" "You." He went back to spooning out rice and chicken and things onto his plate. "What?" "Nothing. You should eat, you haven't eaten all day." He playfully shoved a spoon of rice into my face. "I did so! Besides, how would you know?" "Barely. A sandwich doesn't make up for cleaning the entire house top to bottom." He sat back into the couch, wiggling his hips into the cushion to get more comfortable. I tore my eyes away from his hips. "How do you know?" With a little cough, he choked on the bite of rice he'd just taken, and talked around it, hand over his mouth. "Really? You're really asking me this, in all seriousness?" He finished his bite and swallowed. "The entire house smells like fresh hot vacuum belt, furniture polish, and window cleaner." Oh. I guess it did, after all. "Should I, um. Open the windows?" "You should eat some dinner before I'm forced to sit on your chest and shove it into your mouth." My gut clenched in a warm kind of way at that. But I wasn't about to be outdone. "Promise?" "Yes. And if you don't get in on this amazing chicken now, I will devour it all, and you'll be forced to suck tandoori sauce off my fingers for nourishment." This was said with an entirely straight face. "Now pick a movie, and if you pick a good one, you can suck on them later anyway." That was with a grin as he tossed the smaller plastic bag in my lap. Action, action, horror, horror, comedy- "Animal Man?" A little shrug. "What? I like it." "Beauty and the Beast? Coppola's Dracula?" He gave me a slightly wounded look. "You don't think Dracula is crazy hot in that gray suit?" He said it 'drakoolya', and the name dripped off his tongue. "It's got a huge freaking wolf in it, I just didn't think that would be your kind of thing." He turned back to his food with a smirk. "I like lots of things I shouldn't." He nipped at a chicken bone with delicate bites. "Now pick something, I hate staring at a blank tv screen." "Fine, this one." I put the bag down on the side of the couch, where he couldn't see which movie I had picked, and got up to load it into the player. "Which one?" "You'll see." I got the TV turned to the right channel, the surround sound adjusted to the optimum volume, and sat back down on the couch to start eating dinner. I wasn't positive, but it seemed to me that he'd been checking me out, and grinned a little to myself. He laughed when the opening started. "Excellent." The Birdcage. We each finished dinner, and most of the wine, and piled the plates on the table. By the end of the movie, we were laying on the couch practically spooning, his head on my chest, and my fingers running slowly through his hair. "Want to watch something else?" "Mm." He'd started to purr a little, and his movements were slow, maybe a little sleepy. "No, then you'd have to get up." "Hardly." I removed one hand from his scalp, reached behind me for the remote from the table just behind the couch, and changed the TV to cable. "There's got to be something else on we're in the mood for." One of his hands moved up to my shoulder, and followed my arm up until he reached the remote. A few seconds later, the channel changed to a dark screen and some quiet music. He put the remote back on the table and grabbed my hand, moving it to his side. "Or this," I nuzzled at his hair. "This is also fine." His hips shifted, practically wiggled, and he pressed against me. "That, however, is dangerous." He flipped around, licked at my lips with the tip of his tongue and a wicked grin. "Still dangerous?" "Should be illegal." I grabbed at his shirt and pulled him a little closer, still trying so desperately to not force him into anything. But I was pretty sure my balls would feel bruised by morning if we had another round like we did last night. So I kissed him as deeply and softly as I could. After I'd pulled away, I pressed my forehead against his, and stared into his eyes. His look back was intense, and I couldn't look into his gaze for long. I closed my eyes and gathered all my willpower. "Tonight was a lot of fun. And last night was a lot of fun. But I don't want to force you into anything. And I don't trust myself right now to stop if you need me to." I kept my next kiss chaste and soft as possible. "So I think it's best if we call it a night. You're welcome to sleep in the bed if you want, I'll take the couch tonight." He kissed me deeply, and grabbed at my sides lightly. I moaned, and stopped myself from grabbing at him by clenching my fists. "You're serious, aren't you." He kept his eyelids lowered as he spoke. "Afraid so." I bit my lip, hard, and moved his chin up to look him in the eyes. Green light refracted back at me, and startled me briefly. "I've only just got you willing to come back now. I'm not going to let myself mess this- mess us- up again." He gave me a smile with half of his mouth. "Go to bed, Drew." I sighed. Then kissed him again, softly and gently on the corner of his mouth. "Good night, Tom." The walk through the hallway was long and cold and lonely. After I'd stripped down and slid into bed, I heard Tom moving around in the living room. The fridge door opened a few times, plates clanked in the sink. He walked halfway down the hall to the bathroom. Then I remembered I hadn't left the sheets and blankets out on the couch. I got up, and left them on the couch. He had cleared everything up from the table, but whether he had done it before or after turning the last of the lights off, I wasn't sure. I managed to get back into bed before he was done in the bathroom, thankfully. Didn't want to embarrass him or make him uncomfortable, and the raging erection I had was going to have to wait until I didn't hear him moving around so much. I wasn't going to force him, but that didn't mean I couldn't relieve my own tension. It seemed like forever before I heard the bathroom door open again. His footsteps crept down the hall, into the living room. I listened carefully, waiting to hear the sound of Tom laying on the couch. Had he changed into pajamas? Did he sleep nude? My cock reminded me just how close we'd been to him earlier, and the soft feel of the skin at his hips, the trail of fine fur under his navel, because no human hair grew that way, and his rasping, rough tongue thrusting at mine... I wrapped my hand around myself and hissed at how fucking hard I had gotten. "Starting all the fun without me?" Tom leaned naked against the door frame. It was too dark to make out more than just his outline. "I'll just stand here and watch, then." I didn't even care. I pulled the sheet off me, and licked my lips at him before pumping my fist up and down a few times. "Tease." He sauntered slowly into the room, his own erection pointing straight up. "Close your eyes." I did, and tried to follow him in the room by the sound of his purr, but it seemed to come from everywhere at once. The rough, wet rasp of a tongue against the head of my cock surprised me, and I gasped and thrust upward into it before I could get myself back under control. "Sorry," The tongue was replaced by slender fingers dragging wet friction across the underside. "The tongue might have been a bit too much to start." "N- no, god, no. I nearly came right then." And even thinking about it, and feeling his hot breath across my wet skin was almost enough to bring me over. Then I felt weight at my sides, and felt his thighs pressing into my ribs, and one hand over my eyes. "Keep your eyes closed. Do you want a blindfold?" I could feel his cock jutting into my stomach, and thick trails of wetness from both of us. "If you want it on me." He chuckled and purred into my ear. "I trust you'll do as I say." Didn't trust my voice, but I managed a harsh "Yes, god, anything you say," anyway before my throat gave out entirely. I felt him settle on me, the tip of my cock brushing his amazing soft skin and then some pressure on the tip from him, and he was still leaned over me a little, his breath hot and heavy in my ear, the heat from his body enough to make me sweat. "Keep your hands where I put them." His tongue rasped against my ear. "And fuck me like we only have tonight." He sank down onto me, and it wasn't effortless, and I could feel the slick-slide tell of lube he'd prepped himself with but it felt amazing, he felt amazing, like no one else I had ever been with, so tight and hot, sunk all the way down. He put my hands on his sides, at the base of his ribs, I could feel them under the skin, and my thumbs could almost reach four of his nipples if I angled my hands right. I circled them gently, wishing I could pinch at them, absently wondering if he liked that. He yowled and shuddered as we moved with and barely against each other. We kissed deeply during not-quite-synched orgasms, both of us still twitching and heaving, but not separating. We kissed again, panting through our noses, trying to catch our breath. When we had calmed, I was still on my back, my hands still at his ribs, still not allowed to move. Maybe he was too sensitive after sex, the idea wasn't that strange. And I was too exhausted, too at peace with us to give it a second thought. Here was all I had wanted, laying across my chest. "That... you're amazing." I felt his head relax onto me, and kissed at his hair, still keeping my eyes closed. A yawn escaped me, so wide I felt my jaw crack. "Love you." I nodded off before I heard his sleepy answer. I woke up later, judged by the dim light in the room that only a couple of hours had passed. I stretched, reaching for Tom to pull him close, before remembering what he'd said. My hands went back to my sides. How long was the ban on touching him supposed to last? God, I hoped that would end soon, my fingers practically ached to run through his hair, over his body. When I opened my eyes, I realized he wasn't in bed anymore. A long, low groan came from the bathroom, made me sit up immediately. I couldn't see a light under the door. "Tom?" The sound came again, leaving the hairs at the back of my neck standing on end. I got out of bed, walked to the bathroom door. Either the light was out or he'd shoved a towel in the crack of the door. "Are you okay?" I heard a shift, something against the floor, ragged breathing, but no answer. After a long minute, I started to worry. Had I been too rough? My heart sank, I thought I'd been careful, thought he'd wanted it as much as I had. Had I misread the signs? "Are you hurt? Please, can I help?" The low moan echoed through the bathroom again, and it took a moment before my brain registered it as a word. "Nooo," Panting again. "Just... just leave." He threw himself against the door, and I heard him slide, pressing as much of his body against the door as possible. "You can't help now." Each word was between gasping breaths, as if in pain. "Isn't there something I can do? I could get you a glass of water, or-" A cry ripped through his throat, and the sound of falling shook the floor. I opened the door enough to squeeze through, trying to be careful of him leaning heavily in the corner. The light was off. "I'm here, let me take a look, I'm going to turn the light on." His breathing was harsh, "No. Don't." He shifted, I felt his arm go up over his face. "Don't look." I had already reached over to turn the light on. When the light flooded the room, he buried his face in the crook of his elbow and curled up into a ball, moaning. "Shh, it's okay, just let me look. Are you hurt anywhere?" "Everywhere. Go away." He jerked away ineffectively, still stuck in the corner. A line of blonde fur had grown down his back, along his spine. Something moved behind him, and it took me a minute to realize that it was a striped tail, lashing. Fine, long fur had grown in along his arms from the elbows down, legs from the knees down, in light blonde and orange stripes. "Come on, sit up." He struggled against me, even while I wrapped my arms around his torso to pull him to his feet. "Just leave. Safer for you. I can't stop it." "I can't leave you like this, don't be insane. Come on, up you go." I couldn't pick him up, he kept going limp at just the wrong moment, so I grabbed his arm and hoisted him half over my shoulders. He twisted just then, threw his chest into mine, shoving me back against the wall of the bathroom. The only noise that came from his throat was a long, low growl, and his eyes flashed as he looked at me. "Couldn't just leave me alone. Well, now you've seen." The words were a breathy growl. His hand tensed, dug claws into my shoulder. The look on his face was pained, angry, and his mouth moved a little, lips drawing back to show very pointed teeth. "Is it what you expected? Is this what you were trying to find that day?" I distinctly felt all five nails, sharper now than they had been, stabbing like knives into my shoulder. He leaned close. "Now you've found it." He sniffed at me a little, lips still pulled back to show his teeth. "Are you going to call for help?" He was still growling, and I felt his cock poking into my hip, nearly touching my own. The soft fur on his chest rubbed against me, his tail lashed back and forth. "No." The hand that wasn't at my shoulder shot to my throat, and pinpricks dug into my skin. "You should." His hand stayed tensed, but his arm relaxed. I leaned into him, and kissed him softly on the lips, wrapped my hands around his waist, felt fur on his body where it had been smooth before. There was a moment of surprise before he started kissing me back, but when he did, it was all-consuming. Unable to stop myself, I moaned into our kiss. My head swam. He smelled different; musky, a little spicy, incredibly sexy. When he broke our kiss off to look at me calculatingly, I shivered. "You should leave." His bright green eyes were narrow-slitted, and his teeth were still showing, fanged and gleaming. "Leave and forget all of this." "I've got a better idea." I slid out from between him and the wall, walking slowly backwards, moving so that there was room to open the bathroom door and let us both out. "You should come to bed." He scoffed. "And do what?" I bit my lip as I looked him up and down. The fur had grown in like a pelt, thick on his pecs and chest, thinning out in a line down his torso. I hadn't noticed his ears before, but they'd moved up and changed into large, orange-furred cat ears. With the fur on the rest of his body, they looked more perfectly suited to him than his human ears had. They stuck flat out to the sides. His tail lashed continuously, vicious and sensuous. "Come back to bed." "Why, so you can fuck me again?" Too guarded, too vicious. There was more cat in him now than I had expected, and his cat side didn't like submitting. Even before, all the attention I'd given him had been on his terms. "You know that's not true." I closed my eyes, waited for him to decide. "I meant it, earlier." I couldn't say it again, now was not the right time. "Will you after?" Perhaps he stepped closer. His voice was softer, but thrummed through my chest. "Always." He pounced. I didn't see it, I almost wished I would have, as I was launched several feet to the bed, with him grabbing my chest, teeth buried in my throat, just barely breaking the skin. We landed on the bed hard enough to thump it against the wall, and bounced up enough to move another few inches back. But I was too busy grasping at his shoulders, his waist, pulling him closer, close enough to feel his fur stick to the sweat on my chest, his too-hot skin against my own. I kept my head back, letting him hold my throat until he was satisfied I was subdued. The constant purring growl set me off, and I was harder than I had ever been in my life. I reached down to hold our cocks together, trying to make sure he was ready, interested. He stopped moving, held perfectly still over me, growling faintly as my hand wrapped around his cock. His eyes narrowed, watching me carefully. The first thing I noticed was that he was uncut, the foreskin starting at the base of his cock, and covered in fur short and soft as velvet. The skin moved easily in my hand. Gently, I pulled it down to expose the head, and his entire body was tense, unmoving. Oh, god. Barbs. All around the edge of the head were tiny, hard nubs, and he growled deep in his throat when my hand brushed against their natural direction. They would go in easily enough. Coming out, though... I shuddered. "Can't back out now," he hissed in my ear, nipped at my earlobe. His hands, rough at the palms, gripped my arms tightly and pinned me to the bed. "Won't," I corrected with a grin. This was madness, and from the intake of breath and the look he gave me, he knew it. "Don't move." He nipped at my jaw once. I nodded, wondering about the sudden almost-sane gleam I'd seen in his eye. He got up, and I had just enough time to appreciate how cool it was in the room until he was kneeling between my legs, something in his hands. "Here. I want to watch you." He put a tube in my hands, and settled between my knees as if he were about to pounce any minute. Lube. This was a test; which way would I prepare myself? And he wasn't getting ready to pounce, I saw. He was getting ready to leave. "Just watch for a minute," I whispered. Wanted to put on a little show for him. I squeezed lube out into my left hand, and starting masturbating slowly with my right. I kept my eyes locked on his while I did it, and a moan, then two, escaped me, and I couldn't keep my head up anymore, I let my neck relax, and my eyes close. With my other hand, I reached down, started to get ready for him, wished he would help. Those claws, though, might be uncomfortable. I was his hands for this. I opened my eyes just enough to see him, still kneeling between my legs, watching carefully. I reached for him. But he was impatient, and I was greedy, and it was only a few slick strokes before we were lined up, pressing together. His hips thrust just so, and I felt him sink in, just a bit. He stopped moving, then, took his hands off my arms, ran fingers gently up the inside of my thighs. He sighed, and when he spoke, his voice was soft. "Are you sure?" The sudden tenderness was unexpected, especially so when I was already prepared to be fucked hard and without remorse. I swung my legs over his, pinning him. "Are you?" I sounded angrier than I felt. I sat up, angling my hips so my own weight would shove him into me. We groaned at the same time, and too late, I remembered his almost-sheath, just as I sank down onto him and it was very difficult to care whether he wanted this, there was no way we were separating now, his barbs were in me. I had the presence of mind to reach around and feel him, the soft fur on his balls and long foreskin, pushed down around the base of his cock. "Fuck," My voice was a guttural moan. When he moved the slightest bit, I felt it all through me. "Are you-" "Are you-" We spoke at the same time "Okay?" He grinned. "More than." We kissed, fierce and clutching at each other. We rolled over so I was on my back again, legs wrapped around his waist. Every muscle he moved, I felt, and every sound I made, he devoured. If he so much as tensed, I felt it, and I didn't take long to reach my limit. He came right after, growling into my ear and grasping at me like a drowning man. We laid together for a long few minutes catching our breath, cautious of this new closeness. Finally, I felt him soften, the barbs retracting, and we both shared an unexpected sigh of relief. He chuckled, rolled onto his side, and we cuddled close, face to face. "Are you okay? Fingers ran gently over my jaw. "Really." The look in his eyes had softened again. His claws had retracted. "I'll probably live." I chuckled, and ran my fingers along the soft velvet of his ears, as carefully as I could. "You?" "Pleasantly surprised." He licked the tip of my nose. "And very confused." "Agh," I wiped at my nose with a sheet. "About?" He chuckled. "Pleasantly surprised, because the sex was much better than I'd imagined. Very confused because the fur was unexpected." He buried his face in my chest, and mumbled something. "You know, the house rule is that if I can't understand you, I get to decide what you said." A distinct "Oh?" came from my sternum. "It's true. And it seems you just told me that tonight was so amazing that you will never leave." I wrapped an arm around him, and stroked the fur along his back. "To which I reply, that is absolutely fine, though we may need to get a bigger apartment." He snorted. "I said all that?" "Sure did. I heard you." "And what was your reply again?" As I answered, he put a hand over my mouth, completely muffling my words. "Really?" He grinned. "Well, that explains everything." He took his hand away from my mouth. "Well, good. I'm glad everything is clear now." "Not everything. I've still got this fur." I nibble at his ears with my lips. "That is true." "You seem remarkably calm about this." He leaned into me and purred softly. "I'll probably have to vacuum more." I laughed when he head butted me. "What did you say, earlier, anyway?" A scarlet blush actually spread across his face. "Nothing." After I looked at him expectantly for a long moment, he relented. "That you were my first." Oh god, his first, and I'd been so rough with him "No, that I'd never topped before. As a human." That made sense, if he grew fur and claws and barbs when he had sex. The contemplative look I must have gotten prompted him to keep talking. "I've bottomed before, but never spent the night with anyone." "Why did you change your mind with me?" I snuggled closer, burying my face in his neck. "Not that I'm complaining." "You take in strays." "Well, this one, anyway." He put a finger on my lips. "Hush for a minute. You took in a cat, fed it, decided to keep it when no one else would. It could have been any one of the dozens of strays in town. None of them are like me." "Then-" I stopped myself. No sense talking about the walk now, it might ruin this comfortable closeness we'd fallen into. "Then, rather than outright deny, or decide I'm insane, you looked for proof." Rather than say anything, I ran my fingers down the soft pelt still on his chest. "So if you think you can put up with the proof," He grinned again, as one ear flicked to the side with a world of meaning. I chuckled and squeezed my arms around him. "Absolutely. Can you do the same?" He only kissed me deeply in response, and I woke to him curled up on my chest. <line-------> "So that's it? You're going to end it on a sappy note like that?" Leaning over the edge of the desk, eyes gleaming, he twitches an ear towards the monitor, and his tail tickles my ear. "Not going to tell all of it?" "Nope." <line-------> Is this thing...? Oh, good. Right password. Let's see, what did he decide to leave off... He sees the ears and tail constantly now, and it's always funny to go out with him now, because he still hasn't gotten used to them a year later. He still has panic moments where he insists 'someone might see them'. Hey, if he didn't see them that day on the trail, I point out, and he always blushes adorably and mumbles an apology. I've already long since forgiven him, but he still feels bad. I'm going to tease him about it until he realizes I just do it to make him blush. What else did he leave out... Oh yeah. The fur. Only comes out when we mate. It's much easier now. Hm. Sounds like someone's waking up. Good, I was getting cold in just this skin anyway.