[chapter 30]
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sapnap was awoken by the door opening and slamming. murkily, he remembered giving niki a spare key and her saying she'd be there in the morning with cat supplies. paws was curled up next to him, but his head was lifted and his ears were twitching in anticipation.
when paws jumped off the bed, the blankets were ruffled and promptly ripped off of sapnap.
"what are you, my father getting me out of bed?" sapnap muttered, sitting up to retrieve the lost duvet. he heard niki fawning over paws in the living room and, after some very difficult decisioning, swung his legs over the side of the bed and shuffled out of his bedroom.
"hi, sleepyhead," niki said without looking up, too busy cooing at paws. "i thought i said not to get up early."
"paws woke me up," sapnap muttered, sitting on the floor next to the cat. paws just meowed at the sound of his name.
niki reached behind her and pulled over a bag of cat food and a small silver bowl. she opened the cat food and poured a bit into the bowl.
"i did a little bit of research last night. you're supposed to feed her twice a day, or small meals whenever you eat."
the raven laughed. "niki, he's not even your cat."
"so? i want to help. besides, i'll probably be over ninety percent of the time because of paws now." niki smiled smugly.
"bring minx while you're at it." sapnap rolled his eyes. he moved to dig through the rest of the bags to find a litter box, some cat toys, and even a small cat bed.
"jesus christ, did you buy the whole cat section?" sapnap marveled.
"no, i didn't. also, this bowl is just a 'starter bowl.' you can get a customized one later. but i thought since you named him while high..." niki shrugged. she was gently petting paws's ears while he ate.
a knock at the door caught both of their attention.
"did you invite anyone?" niki asked, glancing at sapnap.
"oh, yeah. punz asked if he could come over for breakfast. he's just coming for the cat, though," sapnap sighed dramatically, feigning offence. he stood to open the door, smiling at punz standing in the hallway.
"where's the cat?" punz asked. sapnap moved out of the way so punz could see the cat watching him curiously.
while punz played with paws, sapnap started searching through the kitchen. "i literally have no food. i guess i gotta go to the store?"
"do i need to move in, sapnap? you can't even take care of yourself," niki joked, dodging one of sapnap's punches. "i'll call minx to bring us some stuff. any requests?"