#catte.text

[caelyne]

BZZZZT! about time! niles thought. the serval scrambled about through the kitchen with increased ferocity, setting all the treats he had planned for everyone down in an orderly fashion. BZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT! niles rolled his eyes, good LORD. once he had things organized, he nonchalantly made his way to the front door, secretly hoping his sloooow and casual gait would incur another- BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT! he grinned.

he peered through the peephole of his door and found the distorted, fish-eyed images of his friends waiting for him to answer, each dressed in a heavy layer of warm clothing. he waited too. watching and waiting for the impatient catgirl to move her paw to the buzzer once more before…

'weeeelllll helllloo, everynyan~!' niles proclaimed, as he pulled the door open. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT. niles tried not to smirk. 'c'mon now, was that really necessary?' he said with a fake wince, fiddling with one of his big ears.

'that's what you get for taking foorrrreevverrrrrr!!' the blue-furred catgirl bemoaned as she pushed past him. 'now get outta the way, do you have any idea how freezing it is out there?' niles peered past the other two who had not yet decided to invade his humble abode.

'how bad can it be, sin? its not like its snowing out there or nothin'.' niles shivered as the brisk chill of the night air began to hit him. he turned to the other two, 'c'mon. back me up here, rye.' he pleaded.

'its pretty damn cold, niles. let us in.' the indigo-furred cat replied, staring back with eyes that could intimidate even the most gallant of cats… provided they didn't know this kitty was a total pushover. the smaller-statured cat next to him stifled a snicker.

'fine fine, come on in.~' niles graciously stood aside before closing the door behind them and gently slapped the indigo cat on the back as he passed him. with school being out for a couple weeks at this point, it was difficult to get everyone together in one place. especially during this time of year, when the overbearing presence of the holidays was keeping everybody busy with their respective families. now that things were beginning to calm down however…

'i think its finally time to get this movie night on a roll~!' he proclaimed as he led them to the living room. sparse amounts of festive decorations still remained from the passing holidays, tenderly illuminated by crackling fireplace he had lit some time before the others arrived. niles wasn't overtly attached to the season, though it did make for a nice excuse to see the people he loved. if anything, he hoped that someday he'd be able use this time of year to host his own get-togethers in his own space. 'pardon the tackiness of the decorations.. i haven't had enough time to get everything taken down.'

rye plopped onto one of the armchairs near the fireplace and began to take off some of the more heavier elements of his attire. 'i mean, its not like most people don't just leave theirs up for months after the fact.' niles crossed over to retrieve rye's coat and gloves, doing similar for sin as she hopped into rye's lap.

'look at you niles!~' she said teasingly, 'you really do make for a nice butler.. doesn't he jayde?' jayde, distracted by the various pictures of niles and his family that hanged from the walls, didn't answer at first. it wasn't until sinclaire barked their name again that jayde's attention returned to the present company. they shrugged, a look of absent bewilderment on their face.

niles chuckled and gently tapped the quiet cat on their shoulder. 'need me to take anything off your paws, jayde?' they shook their head.

'it's okay, i already hung my coat up on the rack over there.' they pointed toward the front door. as he placed the other two's coats on the hanger, niles noted that jayde's shoes were also neatly tucked into one of the cubbies of the shoe rack. when he returned to the living room, everyone had already practically made themselves comfortable; sinclaire in rye's lap and yammering wildly about her family's recent get together, while jayde waved at niles with a smile.

'kay guys, listen up! i need to head to the kitchen for a moment. pick something out that looks cool and we can get things started when i come back.' sinclaire wasn't listening, but rye managed to give a mock salute of acknowledgement. with that, niles hurried to the kitchen to get everything ready: popcorn (with a succulent caramel glaze~!), soda (orange if you're cool, lime if not), and some chocolate chip cookies (store bought, don't judge.) were all ready to go. all that was left was…

minutes passed, as niles gazed into the oven's interior. i really should've started this a bit sooner.. he crossed his arms and frowned. a few more minutes wouldn't be the end of the world, but argh!! he really wanted this to be seamless. he bumped his forehead to the oven door. bump..bump..bump.. '..what are you doing?', said the voice that came from behind him.

without missing a beat, 'oh, y'know, just lamenting the passage of time.' he smiled at jayde, grateful for the intrusion to this agonizing wait.

as they peered into the oven, jayde's face lit up with excitement. 'pizza..'

'mmhmm.. sorry for the wait. let the others know that we can start as soon as its ready.'

jayde's attention turned to the rest of the snacks sitting on the counter. 'do you need any help with anything here?' they asked, indicating toward all the bowls and plastic cups.

'nah nahh, everything's just about ready really.. just waiting on this slowpoke here.' niles grumpily gestured to the oven with his thumb. 'you don't gotta wait for me, i should be out in a few more minutes i think.'

'i don't mind! besides.. you know how sinclaire and rye can get when you leave them alone in a room.' jayde said as they rolled their eyes. niles snickered, the kitty was so right; those two really couldn't keep their paws off each other. they sat there in silence, each listening to the soft hum of the oven doing its work. even though the two weren't particularly close, niles definitely felt more at ease with jayde there. he wondered what it would take to crack this meek kitten's shell.. after all he's only ever really been around jayde when they were tagging alongside sinclaire's side; it was actually a little surprising to see them off on their own here! jayde finally broke the silence, 'hey.. niles?'

niles flicked his ear and locked eyes with jayde. 'mhmmm~?' after a pause, jayde shyly broke eye contact and pointed toward the oven with a giggle. finally, he thought. as niles pulled their dinner from the oven, a delicious aroma emanated throughout the kitchen. he looked over it all: the crust was a pleasant golden-brown, the pepperoni and sausages were glimmering with a slight crisp toward the edges. 'purrrfect. about time.~' he whispered, with relief in his voice.

the two cats sauntered their way back into the living room, with all those delicious snacks in tow. 'soooooo sorry for the wait, my esteemed guests~! my assistant and i have finally brought everything we will need for this screening~' as they entered the room, the two blue cats were Very innocently scrolling through a list of scifi movies, each with a very apparent blush across their face. niles smirked and grabbed a slice of pizza, 'goooshh.. you two STILL haven't decided on a movie yet~? what gives~?'

'yeah sinclaire..~ you had one job!' jayde chimed, earning a death glare from the catgirl. niles laughed, he didn't know jayde had it in them to poke fun at the fearsome sinclaire! even more surprising was when they took a seat next to niles and grinned up at him with a devious snicker, clearly proud of their little jab. even in the dim lighting, niles could make out that same little blush he spotted back in the kitchen.

'tch! shut up, jayde.. it's not my fault this guy is so indecisive!' sinclaire retorted, giving a playful punch at rye's shoulder. the mood in the room relaxed as everyone loaded up on their snacks and a movie was finally selected. despite it being one of the worst things he had ever seen, niles couldn't have been happier to have everyone together for this.

[caelyne]

jayde bit their lip. a shudder creeped along their fluffy body as a paw gently slipped under their loose shirt and began to trail along their tummy. jayde's eyes nervously darted around.. but fortunately, the room was dark and the others had already fallen asleep. images flashed on the screen across the room, images that jayde had long since stopped paying any attention to. something about some guy doing some thing, against some other guy who wanted to do another thing. whatever.

they scrunched their shoulders and nestled in close to the larger cat they sat next to. jayde was almost afraid to look in his direction. something about this just didn't feel real. their heart pounded. their mind raced. how far could this go? was this okay? what would the others think if they found out?

another moment passed, and they felt themself being pulled in closer as his fingers continued to dance along their tummy. up and down.. liiittle circles. just very gentle. he was so.. big. so warm. jayde suddenly realized they were holding their breath.

they swallowed, and bravely leaned into the bigger serval, letting a paw rest on his chest. he's purring.. they thought. they shut their eyes and tried to mimic the motions his paw was making. being able to feel his poofy fluff underneath his shirt made this all the more… exciting. jayde was forgetting to breathe again. they wanted to be brave like him. wanted to let their paw invade the confines of his shirt and explore his body. so. so. so bad. but they couldn't. what would everyone think if they saw this? after all.. jayde's always been such an innocent, wholesome little kitten.

a sigh. they gave up trying to fight against the voice in their head, and opted to let their paw simply rest on his chest. feeling the rise and fall of the boy's chest as he breathed. along with the low rumbling. jayde felt an affirmative squeeze on their shoulder. no words needed to be exchanged here, it seemed.

jayde returned their attention to the screen. credits scrolled across the picture, with the muffled acoustic of a peaceful piano echoing across the room. maybe the dam would break someday.

[caelyne]

it began with a soft melody that filled the room. then the light. oh god the LIGHT. luckily there was another pillow nearby, an adequate tool to defeat that blinding radiance. maybe it would be okay to just lay here. forever. with the coolness of the pillow against his face. the soft warmth of the blankets. that.. singing coming from the other room. he let the moment wash over him, hoping it was still early enough that he wouldn't have to leave for a while. mornings usually started off like this when he stayed here.

he always had a lot of trouble sleeping.. someday, he figured, he'd eventually work on fixing that. waking up far too early after having gotten not enough sleep was something that really got old after a while. it felt less bad here though. even though things began bright and early, waking up to the sounds of the morning shuffle was something of a comfort to him. felt like home. a few minutes drifted by.. the singing didn't stop, but everything else seemed to go fuzzy.. and then.

a voice whispered in his ear. 'rye.' he stirred, and instantly realized his worst fears had finally arrived: it was time to get up. he slowly lifted the pillow that remained clung to his cheek, expecting the light that filtered in through the curtains to blind him. but it didn't. instead he was face to face with someone who shouldn't be here right now.

'..why are you still here? don't you have work?' rye slowly got up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. the serval smiled, and handed him a steaming mug of coffee as he sat down next to him.

'nope. disappointed?~' niles tilted his face up as he spoke, flashing that familiarly, unfounded, smug-ass grin. rye took the mug and let the warmth that touched his paws spread to the rest of his body.

'confused, more like. day off?' he wanted to take a sip so bad.

'sooomething like that. also figured you needed a little help getting up.. unless you were hoping i'd be coming back..?' always the same face with this guy.

'well. i'm up now. and thanks for the coffee..' he began to lift the mug to his lips.

'ah-ah-ah! you might wanna wait a few more minutes before that. remember last time?' he did. eating for the next few days after that was the Worst. as the morning fuzziness had finally began to dissipate from his eyes, he glanced around the serval's room. which, wasn't anything to really speak of, to be honest. niles really only seemed to keep what was absolutely necessary, save for a few photos on his dresser. a plushy here and there. a fake plant too… which wasn't here last time. when did he get that? why? why does he have that.

'ahehe, i see you like what i've done with the place.' niles chuckled as he got up and crossed the room to open up the curtains. rye stiffened, craning the back of his neck for a stretch and began to get up too. until he realized he didn't have any pants on. right. he hurriedly threw the blanket back over to cover himself while shifting to the left and right to locate something he could wear. niles glanced back and rolled his eyes. 'its nothing i haven't seen before, kitten.'

'd-dont call me that. did you hide my pants?' rye huffed and grumpily scrunched his shoulders.

'nahh. sounds like a good idea for next time though~' niles looked back at him with an expression rye could only describe as Pure Evil. he sighed and decided to bite the bullet as he got up over to where niles stood at the window. it was then he realized that niles had really let him sleep in today. the street below was teeming with activity that could only be explained by the sun's lofty position in the sky. niles really did have it lucky here, being able to live right above where he worked. 'you're dumb, y'know that?'

'h-huh!?'

niles grabbed him by his fluffy waist and pulled him close. 'you heard me. how many times do i have to get you purring like a kitten before you let your guard down around me?~' rye couldn't tell if niles was teasing him or not.

's-sorry, alright? this is still.. new for me. i'm not used to being with. with guys. let alone You.' rye began to move his free paw to remove niles'.. but as niles rubbed a paw along his fur, rye had to fight down the urge to start purring. ugh. he really didn't know why he was like this. as he opened his mouth to continue, all incoming thoughts terminated as he felt niles lean his head against his. 'a-ahh..', he managed to blurt out.

'sooo.. would it help if i acted more like a girl~? would that ease the suffering of this big, straight, kitty-cat~?' niles fluttered his eyes as their cheeks pressed oh-so-squishily together. rye simply glared.

'so you are teasing me.'

'aren't i always?'

rye looked down at the mug niles brought him earlier and allowed a smile. aren't you always, he thought. its been a busy few years for rye, and he still didn't understand how this had happened really. the two had known each other since high school, but it felt like pure chance that they had crossed paths again. he wondered if the others were in the city too.

he took a little sip from his coffee and frowned. it was a little too cold this time, he had waited too long. still wasn't bad though, and besides.. niles had made it for him. another sip. 'you have somewhere to be today, nya?'

'ahh.. yeah. i guess i probably need to head out soon. i uh. i hope i haven't been a bother or anything.' rye probed, hoping his weirdness wasn't off-putting. niles smiled with a warmth that almost seem to cure his lukewarm coffee.

'you're welcome anytime, buddy.' niles said, bringing their hips together again. rye blushed, still painfully aware of his pantsless situation down there.

[caelyne]

it took a moment, but jayde was able to bring themself to their knees after lying on the floor for a bit. they shook their head.

'are you alright?' a quiet, but friendly voice muttered as he approached the exhausted cat's side.

'.. i guess i'm just not really feeling it today.' jayde replied, a twinge of guilt in their voice. they winced, not out of the dull aching pain as they shifted their weight, but they just didn't like making excuses. jayde dared a glance up toward irri, half expecting the somber, dark furred feline to be gazing down in disappointment.

irri looked back, thoughtfully. after a brief moment, he pulled out a small pocketwatch and flipped it open. it was an old device, something you'd expect an older gentleman to keep in their breast pocket. irri gave a small sigh.

'something tells me shiloh isn't gonna make it today. wanna just. call it for now?'

'can we? i'm sorry..'

'tch, don't worry about it.' irri gave a small smile. 'we got plenty of time, there's no sense in pushing things.' jayde shrugged and hung their head low.

'..say. lets get something to eat. my treat.' irri asked, flashing his eyebrows at that last part.

…

irri stared in stunned silence, watching the kid tear into their meal. 'i. i don't think i've ever seen anyone eat so.. ravenously!' jayde paused, mouth still full. and then Gulp!

'pwahh.. sorry.. i guess i was really hungry!' jayde said, giving a nervous little smirk.

'..alright, homework for you.' irri said, raising his finger in a way that was clearly reminiscent of a certain professor. 'no more skipping meals. okay?'

jayde rolled their eyes. 'ffiiiiineee.. its not like i did it on purpose! just kinda.. forgot.' a silly little kitty-blep came with the excuse.

irri shifted his attention back toward the horizon. from where they sat, clusters of trees blanketed the surface beneath them, with buildings occasionally rising through the canopy. this side of town near the university seemed to have a lot of green-thumbs running the place, irri mused to himself. still, being above it all made for quite the view as he focused on the city core that rose in the distance.

'forgot eh?' irri relaxed in his posture a bit. 'look.. i know you have a good head on your shoulders. but you gotta take care of everything beneath it too. especially, with what we're doing.' irri idly began to twirl his fingers along the rim of his watch. 'if you're gonna learn control, you need to keep up your strength at all times.'

'alright alright i get ittt.. no more skipping breakfast!' jayde met irri's gaze. 'promise.' they said, affirmatively. irri rolled his eyes, his lips almost curling into a small little smile.

the sun began to set, and stars slowly began to blink to life in the night sky. still the pair sat there, as the chill of the early evening began to take hold. 'so.. is sinclaire all you have?'

jayde cocked their head. 'nuh, i've got my parents back home. oh! and my older sister. she goes to the university too, actually.. her name is nyla.' the cat kicked their legs a bit as they sat along the edge of the roof.

'..nyla. there's a nyla in my class. tall? long brown hair? glasses? ..purple eyes?' jayde clapped their paws and pointed toward irri excitedly in affirmation. 'hheh. small world, eh?'

jayde giggled. 'soo.. what about you?' irri looked back, questioningly. 'who do you have?'

irri paused a moment. well.. surely its fine, he thought. 'just got my mom. we live nearby.'

'no dad..?'

'nah. mom doesn't like talking about it.' irri smiled and looked up toward the sky, his eyes landing on the supernova. 'i'd like to be able to help her out, but she insisted that i go to school first.'

'is she okay?'

'just works a lot. i think she got a lot more than she bargained for with me around.' he said with some humor in his voice, while focusing a small dark orb in his palm. jayde watched curiously for a moment, before irri snuffed out that formation of pure energy with his a clasp of his paw. jayde frowned.

'i don't think she thinks you're a burden, irri.' their voice was uncharacteristically stern. 'there's a reason she must be doing everything she can for you.. for both of you.' irri raised his eyebrows and sat there. he knew jayde wasn't wrong. he knew. and yet. every fiber of his being wanted to shrug off the notion. even if she didn't talk about it, he knew she sacrificed a lot for him. all for him. he might be her kitten but. but- 'irri?'

'..mmh. thanks. jayde.' irri sighed, and a shiver ran up his spine. 'mmkay.. i think its getting a bit too cold. wanna go?' the two shuffled down the steps of the fire escape, the feeling of nervous paranoia returning knowing that they prrrrrrrobably shouldn't be up where they were. jayde insisted though. and hey. it was nice, irri thought. they walked along the road in silence until they needed to go in separate directions. jayde gave a wave and a grin and thanked irri for the meal. 'next meeting!! i won't disappoint you!'

irri stood there and watched until jayde disappeared into the night. he sighed and rustled his messy hair a bit before heading on toward his own home. it was nice.