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Author's Note: Okay... ((pulls leaf out of shirt)) O.O
Anyway, this story has been on my laptop for like.. a couple months now. Horrible really, my inability to update.
My glasses broke... contacts are resulting in angiogenesis in my eyeball... Curses... I can't... SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
“Patty, it’s really my pleasure, no need to thank me,” Nolan replied. The woman’s aura shown brilliantly. She thought she had this one in the bag. She was beautiful, no doubt; smart, funny, charismatic, but, unfortunately, not his type. He didn’t like the ones everyone else liked. Social outcasts were more his thing. People who didn’t have to depend solely on him for survival weren’t any fun. They did what they pleased and could leave if they wanted; they weren’t dependant. And if they were, they were slightly psychotic in the process.
Patty, the fashionably early chatter box, was positively bubbling with compliments. They burst from her mouth like firecrackers, boring and repetitive and not much to get excited about. When she laughed, she would swing her head back, exposing her perfectly formed neck, long and pale, and grin with her painted lips as though suggesting Nolan taste them, screw up the cover on them just for fun. She would swing her black hair over her shoulder with the back of her hand and give him a sideways glance, smirking.
Her skirt fit her snugly around the hips, forming against her backside which stood out from her back. She would bend, her legs crossed at the knees, and lean over his bar, stirring her drink casually like there were no implications to her stance, yet Nolan knew better than that. He knew better than to think her ingenuous. She wasn’t extremely conservative in the least bit.
The other guests trickled on, Ben from the Stokes project, Amelia, Leonard, Neil, Kate, Helen… those other people from lower departments that he only invited to appear charitable… He didn’t know their names. It didn’t really matter. They weren’t going to talk to him… or at least they won’t expect him to talk back. They were those ‘here-for-the-food’ loungers. Annoying people.
“This wine is excellent, Nolan. Where did you get it?”
“A store,” Nolan replied shortly.
“Oh, Nolan. What a joker.”
The company was stifling, confining. It was absolutely boring, repetitive chatter about how work was going, about how those dopes down in the departments on the first floor were such idiots with handling problems. “Do they even know what executive decisions are?”
“Oh, hahaha.”
It was only eleven. Eleven o’clock and already Nolan was thinking about blasting his brains out with the pistol in his nightstand. It was tempting, oh yes, to get away from this company, to never ever have to deal with them again. To not have to go back to work and stare at a computer screen and pretend to be interested in business while he solved the companies problems with simple marketing decisions that they exclaimed were ‘brilliant’ and ‘genius’. They were all fools, the lot of them. Ass kissing fools with imitation designer clothing. It was tempting to just off himself, watch the business flounder and die from wherever it was he ended up. That would be downright hilarious. He could imagine laughing in hell as the corporate system crumbled from underneath it. The bastards wouldn’t know what to do without him if he wasn’t there to tell them which backgrounds they should put on what advertisements and which models were a good score and which weren’t.
But, he had his kitty to take care of for now. And, by god, he loved his kitty.
“Nolee?”
About thirty heads shot from their glasses to the hallway, staring in what Nolan would consider bewilderment for some and excitement for the others. Nolan stood up and smiled warmly, motioning for the strange interloper to come forward.
Patty watched in awe, not sure whether to be jealous or relieved. It was just a boy after all. Maybe eighteen or so… if she had to guess, though he was so small and baby faced. She’d been with enough of those to know their ages were at least five years more than what they looked. She could tell he was older by his deep voice. But he was adorable.
“Techi, what are you doing awake? Were we loud?” Nolan asked softly, planting his hand on top of the boys head just between his ears. They flattened, standing out to the sides. It was strange to see the man looking so affectionate. It didn’t seem possible to most. Nolan was always very distant and cold, coming across as intimate, yet remaining very much the opposite. He could smile all he wanted, but his brown eyes remained frowning and spiteful. “Come, sit with us for a while.”
Techi sat down on the couch next to Nolan, hands resting on his knees though the work shirt strayed far over his fingers and hung down his shins. His… rather bare shins. He stared solemnly, not seeming to be unnerved at all by the staring and gaping faces of Nolan’s guests. His triangular little ears stood tall on his head, green eyes scanning over them one by one, face straight. He glanced up at Nolan, his black ears flattening again, and then sighed.
“I thought you lived alone, Nolan.”
“I do. This is my pet, Techi.”
“Oh, your pet. I didn’t know you had one. I should have known by the ears, my goodness. I’m so slow today. It must be the port.”
They cheered to that and, slowly, Techi sank into the background, eyes drooping in apathy, body slumping in exhaustion. He curled his toes under his feet, hid his goosebumps under the sleeves of his shirt, rubbing his knees together slightly. A soft purring noise began in his throat when one of Nolan’s strong hands slipped behind his ear and began to scratch him gently. He drifted off to sleep with the drone of the uninteresting company.
“So, do tell me. Techi, your pet, when did you buy him?”
“I didn’t. Techi is a stray. I took him in about three months ago. He’s very tame around strangers, but he gets aggressive if you try to touch him. Loyal to his owner, he is. Always has been,” Nolan stated proudly, pushing the sleeping pet into his side as Amelia reached out to graze his shirt.
“I didn’t think you would be one to own a pet.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Oh no, no! I was just stating it, you don’t have to apologize.”
“He’s very… interesting looking. Not like any pet I’ve ever seen. He has black hair…”
“One of a kind I think.”
“Only the best for Nolan.”
Nolan watched them chatter about Techi, frowning slightly. They talked about how cute he was, how small, how clean he was considering he was a stray. They talked about him and talked about him. Nolan calmly listened, though it annoyed him that they prated away about his pet like they did. It was his pet after all, what did they know about him?
Nolan sighed, rubbing the fabric of Techi’s shirt between his thumb and fingers. Techi didn’t normally wear his clothes. Techi normally wore his own clothes. And he didn’t normally drift out of the bedroom when Nolan had company. Then again, the kitty had been acting strangely lately, not eating or talking much. Not that he ever had been too gregarious, but it seemed as though maybe Techi had a tick or something. Maybe his pet had finally lost interest. Nolan frowned again and tossed back the rest of his drink.
After three more rounds and another two hours, the guests finally staggered to the door with slurred goodbyes and loose waves. Nolan waited patiently while Patty strapped on her heels. “Nolan, dear, I was wondering if you were free next Saturday. They’re having a show down at the Ritz club and I-”
“I’m sorry. I am, in fact, busy that day. Perhaps Neil would accompany you in my place?” Nolan smiled, walking briskly to the door and holding it open. Patty, undeterred, slinked up to him and placed her hand soothingly on his shoulder.
“What about that night?” she suggested, her pale blue eyes sparkling with fantasies. Nolan smiled frigidly and stretched his arm towards the doorway.
“I’m so busy, Patty. My apologies for your inconvenience, but really, Neil is a much better suited man for a relationship. I’m just not terribly interested.” He watched her face fall from seductive to crushed and stood up straight as she made her way to the parking lot, grinning in satisfaction. He ran his hand back through his bronze hair and closed the door. “What a nuisance.”
“Nolee, why’d they have to come?”
“Social obligation, Techi. I told you. It’s part of my job to be friendly with coworkers even if it’s a burden to be so. It’s bound to happen once and a while. Not often, but on occasion. If you want, you can attend them, though I suggest more appropriate attire in the future.” Nolan chuckled, looking at the boy’s choice of night clothes. It was just one of his large white business shirts with a pair of spandex boxers, barely noticeable underneath. His black hair was tousled from rolling around in the bed, eyes red from straining to stay up against his fatigue. Nolan smiled, looking at the pitiful sight. “So they think you’re adorable and cute. What sappy little names for a pet like you. Adorable and cute.” Nolan scoffed, pressing the heel of his hand into his temple. Techi’s ears perked up from his head a little, his green eyes flashing.
“Do you have a headache? Should I get you some aspirin?” Techi pivoted sideways, waiting for Nolan to reply. The older man stepped away from the door slightly, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. He could feel the sweat collecting by his hairline, his neck, his knees. Techi eased forward, a curled hand drifting close to Nolan’s shoulder. “Are you having another attack? Should I get your medication? Is that what you need?”
Nolan slid down the wall, stretching himself out as best as he could, trying to shake the aches in his body. Techi bounced back and skidded into the bedroom, emerging a short time later with a small orange prescription bottle. He stopped just short of stepping on Nolan’s thigh, holding out the plastic container to the man with both hands.
Nolan took the container and swallowed the pill dry, reaching out to Techi so the boy could help him up. It was rather difficult considering his hands were small and his feet were more formed into paws than toes. It didn’t matter, Nolan guessed, if the kid looked like a cat more than a person. Needs were needs.
“Nolee, it’s late. I’m tired.” The kitty yawned, exposing his pointed canines, green eyes squeezing shut. Nolan smiled.
“Off to bed then for you,” Nolan stated, breezing past the yawning pet and grabbing the empty glasses from the table. Half were still filled with brandy or wine, colored amber and crimson, lipstick lining the glasses the girls drank from and fingerprints on the ones the men held. He wondered why the females never left noticeable finger marks when the men seemed to leave streaks all over the sides.
“Aren’t you going to come too, Nolee?”
Nolan stood up straight and regarded the small cat seriously, pointing back to the hallway he had first emerged from silently and marching out to the kitchen. Techi disappeared quickly into the room, darting under the covers and crawling around for a minute before arising from the sheets and tucking his head away on the pillow. He resisted the urge to scratch at the mattress, knowing Nolan would be upset if he ruined another one of his furniture pieces. It had been the chair last time, the legs of it mutilated to a toothpick that had broken when Techi had pounced on it. He had been stuck under the chair until Nolan came back, hissing and mewing.
Nolan closed the door quietly behind him, kicking off his shoes and pulling his shirt over his head. He dressed silently, approaching the bed slowly, his silhouette stout and sturdy, broad. Techi sat up and held out his hands for it, latching onto it and drawing himself closer as Nolan sat on the bed. If the lights had been on, it would have revealed the cuts on his back from the cat’s claws, a normal happening on the nights the kitty received his treats.
“You were a good pet today, Techi.”
“I didn’t like them being there. I don’t like the things they said. They were boring.”
“I know. And you were very good with keeping your opinion to yourself. I know you wanted to tell them.”
Techi looked at Nolan and nodded, smiling brightly. Nolan chuckled quietly. “They don’t have to come back, right?”
“Right. It’s just going to be you and me for a while. Don’t worry.”
“I wish you didn’t have social… onglibations…”
“Obligations, Techi.”
Techi grinned again, his small teeth poking over his lips, arms weaving into a tighter hold around Nolan’s shoulder, the small pointed ears crushing against his chest as the cat brought his head in close and rested it against him. Nolan took the opportunity to lie down, keeping Techi against his chest, exhaling slowly. Techi looked up and kissed him, at first softly, and then quickly inserting his tongue into the older man’s mouth and kneading his stomach with his curled hands. He heard Nolan moan softly and pulled back, bringing his face to his neck and licking softly with the tip of his tongue.
Nolan went still. It wasn’t a usual thing for his kitty to be so affectionate. Kissing him was one thing; that was the human way to show affection and, to him, it really meant nothing. But for him to lick him, that was the pet way of showing affection to its owner and it was only done when the sentiments were genuine. Pets weren’t full of duplicity like humans were. Techi had never licked him before, not like this, not straight and repeatedly. Most times he would peck Nolan’s cheek with his tongue.
“Techi, I feel compelled to ask if something is wrong,” Nolan stated quietly, savoring the feel of the soft tongue against his skin. Unfortunately, the sensation stopped abruptly and Techi lifted his small head to Nolan’s.
“Why?”
“Because your behavior has been rather odd lately. You haven’t spoken much or eaten much and now you just licked me. As I said, you’ve been acting strangely.”
Techi blushed a little and sank back down into the mattress, going silent and curling his fingers into Nolan’s palm and closing his eyes. Nolan let the problem loom and allowed the quiet pet to fall back towards sleep, bringing the covers back up around it and holding it close.
“My sweet little kitten,” Nolan muttered softly, giving Techi one more scratch behind the ears before closing his eyes.
