Chapter 2

Home sweet home. After flicking on the lights and tossing my keys on the kitchen counter I cast a glance over my shoulder. "Aarryn, you don’t have to stand out in the hallway."

He didn’t look at me, keeping his eyes set on the cage next to the sofa. "The hell do you have a cat in a cage for?"

I chuckled and shifted my weight onto one foot. "You’ll understand once I let her out."

He chewed the inside of his cheek and entered then, giving the apartment a lazy once over before making a beeline for the cat. "What’s it’s name?"

I closed the door and locked it. "Nepthys. You can let her out if you want. I only lock her up when I have to."

"It’s a CAT. You don’t lock up cats." His long fingers slid inbetween the bars, allowing Nepthys to rub against them, sniff him, and continue meyowing for release.

"I lock up THIS cat." He immediately moved off once I crouched infront of the cage. Can’t blame him, I suppose, I was sort of invading his personal space. I pulled the release and opened the door. Nepthys took a few tentative steps out and then streaked out into the kitchen with a kitten-like "nyow".

"She’s always like that. I’d hoped she’d mellow out once she reached adulthood, but…" I shook my head and smiled sardonically.

Nepthy’s jumped up on the kitchen counter, sniffed at the water faucet, then took a flying leap back onto the floor and down the short hallway.

"She’d tear the whole house up if I didn’t keep her caged while I was at work. First few times I left her uncaged, I came home to broken glass, her bleeding from somehow losing a tooth, and a small fire." I looked back at Aarryn. He was staring down the hallway, seemingly oblivious to my presence.

I cleared my throat and he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. "Well, this is a pull out couch, pretty damn comfy according to my friends. I hope you’re comfortable sleepin’ out in the living room."

He shrugged. Talk about expressive.

"So where’s the bathroom."

"Oh, yeah, that’s right down here." I walked down the hall and opened the second door to my left. "The door before it is the storage closet. And right across the hall," I pointed, noting that Aarryn seemed to have no intention of leaving his place on the couch, "is the bedroom."

Aarryn jumped as Nepthys ran across his lap, pouncing on one of the pillows and wrestling it onto the ground.

"So, Aarryn, ya hungry at all?" I unlaced my boots and tossed them into my bedroom.

"Dunno. Whatcha got?"

"Hmm…good question." I rolled up my sleeves and made my way towards the fridge. "Probably some soup left over from Wednesday…lessee…" I popped open the door and bent over, giving the contents a quick once over. "Yep, you like soup?"

I turned my head, expecting to encounter an indifferent look from the couch…but no. The kid was right next to me, I’m talkin’ just a few inches separated us. How the hell he managed to be so goddamned stealthy, I’ll never know, but he could always do that to me. Too bad we were livin’ in the present, and not ancient Japan or somethin’. He woulda made a damn good ninja.

"That the soup?"

"Uh…" I blinked a few times. He was just too damn gorgeous and too damned close for me to keep my mind on the task at hand. "…yeah, yeah, that’s it. You, um, you wanna have soup?"

He shrugged and reached in around me, pulling out what was left of my orange-pineapple-banana juice. "You sure do eat healthy."

"Gotta make up for my lack of exercise somehow." I retrieved the soup and ladled out two large bowls full of it.

"The hell’s all that lumpy shit? And why the fuck is it green?"

"Huh? Oh, well this is broccoli leek soup. The lumps are broccoli and a little potato." He wrinkled his nose. Damn did that look cute. Made me remember his real age too though, which was probably a good thing. "Tastes better than it looks." I popped the bowls in the microwave and grabbed us some glasses.

"This whole milk?"

"Yep. Only drink whole. Can’t stand the other stuff tastes way too damn-"

"Watered down."

I blinked. That was certainly odd….but hey, at least I’d found somethin’ we had in common. I gave him a teasing wink and poured his milk. "I think we’ve bonded, Aarryn, I think we’ve bonded."

He snorted, one side of his mouth quirking slightly. Later on I realized that’s about as close as he could to come to laughing back then. At that time I thought he was trying to say I was a fuckin’ moron. Suppose either translation’s possible though. In any event, Nepthys only ran across the table about 3 or 4 times during the meal, so I guess she was behaving herself pretty damn well up to that point. Though the last time she did, she knocked over Aarryn’s glass, spilling milk all over his lap. He grunted and grit those gorgeous teeth together, standing up and inadvertantly giving me a perfect view of his soaked crotch.

I pushed my chair back from the table and grabbed some paper towels. "I guess you’ll wanna just go ahead and take a shower now." I tossed a few towels on the table, and a few more on the puddle on the floor. That gorgeous blonde narrowed his eyes a moment, then grabbed one of his suitcases (this kid sure had a shitload of clothes, probably more than I did!) and loudly shut the bathroom door behind himself.

Nepthys sniffed the wet paper towels on the floor before grabbing one in her mouth and dragging it back and forth down the hallway. I didn’t pay too much attention until I heard nothing but the shower and noticed I hadn’t seen her running anywhere lately. I tentatively peeked my head around the corner and spotted that damn cat laying by my door and perfectly shredded pieces of the milk soaked paper towel all up and down the hallway.

"Goddamnit Nepthys…" She nyowed and dashed back into the living room, leaving me to the mess. After a big sigh and me asking myself for the millionth time what in the hell had possessed me to have this place carpeted, I got out the sweeper and cleaned up the mess. No sooner had I finished than I saw Aarryn poke his gorgeous, dripping head out of the bathroom door. He glanced at the sweeper, then walked out to the living room, wearing a pair of blue boxer shorts that hung dangerously low on his slim hips.

And then he just stood there, his back to me, and his head cocked slightly off to the side. I just couldn’t stop staring, I swear, it was like I was just frozen. Well, I was till he moved again that is. He finished walking to the couch and flopped down, giving the softest hint of a smile when Nepthys hopped into his lap and batted at his fingers.

"You might wanna get a broom or somethin’."

"Huh?" Yeah, real goddamned eloquent of me.

He glanced up at me then tilted his head towards the dining area.

I knitted my brows and looked around the corner. "God….Nepthys…."

Paper towel shreddings were EVERYWHERE. And don’t even think she stopped there. She had destroyed the whole area. Both bowls of soup were off the table, one on the wall seats, the other on the floor. Bread had been partially eaten and thrown about, leaving butter streaks on the walls and floor. I turned back to the cat who was staring at me innocently.

"You," I said, " are a very bad cat."

She looked to Aarryn, back at me, then laid down and began to purr.

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