Derek
"Oh so now you want to make peace?" I questioned Herold as he forcefully nudged his way into my lap.
I was sitting on the floor of John's living room, leaning against his bookshelf as I read more from his insane comic collection. I didn't even know the time anymore, yet I promised myself that after I was done with this next Black Panther issue, I would head home. Joan and I were supposed to grab drinks tonight, but she called me shortly after we got off work tonight, to say something urgent came up. Sure I was bummed, but Joan rarely ever cancelled, and the tone in her voice honestly scared me a little.
She couldn't talk long, so I decided not to dig deeper. We still had tomorrow and Friday in the office together, where I was sure she'd tell me more then. This was when I'd usually guilt trip Alex into going out, but in addition to him cutting out alcohol, he was also on his honeymoon with Christian.
It felt like everyone had somewhere to be tonight except me.
So by default, John's living room floor was the next best thing.
Herold and I didn't start out on the best of terms this morning. The look he gave me when I poured his dry food into his food dish, had told me to make myself useful and go jump off a goddamn bridge. Now it was the evening, and based off his reaction this morning, he didn't take well to the second serving of dry food.
At first he tried to ignore the food dish entirely, and to my surprise, he held out for a decent amount of time. About thirty minutes to be exact, with me justifying staying by making sure he ate.
Well now it was well past the time he caved and ate, so with a full belly, Herold must've decided he wasn't mad at me anymore.
"You miss him, huh?" I asked this this furball as he nuzzled even deeper into my lap, curling his body up so his back feet were close to his head. He fit perfect in the pocket I created by sitting crisscross applesauce. Of course I got no answer from Herold, but I could feel his need for attention whenever he squirmed as I pulled my hand away. "If John let's me," I continued, massaging the tender spot under Herold's chin, "I can come visit again while he's away."
I know this sounded batshit crazy, but when Herold's head tilted up away from his curled body towards me, I swore he understood what I just said. The look he gave me almost converted me over from a dog person to a cat person... well, almost. The battle wounds from Herold were still a little too fresh for me to be completely convinced.
And yet I found myself sitting there, feeling Herold's quick breathes as he drifted to sleep. If it wasn't for his white fur, I would've thought this was the cat from Hocus Pocus with how his relaxation soon pooled into me. Such witchcraft.
I couldn't remember when, or how, but moments later, sleep seduced me also.
-
John
There was no way to describe how the last 20 or so hours went. Work was about as brutal as predicted, putting me in yet another predicament where I questioned whether or not I could actually make this flight tonight. Safe to say I did... even though I had to go straight from the office to the airport to catch it.
Luckily Don had booked the best of the best, priority check in, boarding, and first class with travel notes- god bless him. Any time I could, I prefered to fly economy, but after my flight in Monday morning, I decided this could be one of the few times I treated myself to something better.
The only issue was, regardless of what class I was flying with, I had this thing where I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep on the plane. This meant I spent the entire two hour flight just staring into the abyss that was the pitch black sky through my window seat. The darkness brought on a state of delirium, where for a moment I could've sworn I dozed off with my eyes still open.
And I dreamt about Derek and Herold.
Maybe putting those two together wasn't the best idea, I thought to myself... but it had to have gone better than the last few times I had Brad check in on Herold. Those two were damn near diabolical, with Brad not afraid to discipline using a spray water bottle, and Herold too bold to accept defeat by said water bottle. I once came home and it looked like two people had had a water gun fight indoors. Brad swore up and down that all he used was the spray bottle, but my furniture was giving super soaker three thousand. Herold was drenched, and yet he still had the stamina to come at Brad with the heat of a thousand suns.
It was from that day on, I realized those two were never meant to mix.
And that was when I started having Brad house sit while Herold traveled with me.
By the time the plane landed, I got my luggage, and was in a ride home, I couldn't process what I did for the last three or four hours. It was like my body had been on auto pilot for all of it.
Usually I'd take public transportation home since I lived close, but Don insisted that this would be the very last thing I'd want to deal with upon touch down... and he was so right. I was in such a state of delirium, I almost kissed the Ivanov company driver that insisted it was no hassle to get me back to my humble abode this late at night... So you could imagine my initial shock when I stepped through my home, set my suitcase aside, and walked down the corridor only to be greeted by not one but two individuals.
I couldn't decide what I was more taken back by- Herold fast asleep in someone else's lap, or that someone else being Derek, who was fully surrounded by open comic books on the floor of my living room. I froze for more than a few seconds, unsure of what to do or say.
Derek was still wearing his work clothes which consisted of a light blue button down shirt, dress pants, and a chrome grey tie that was loosened around his neck for what I assumed was comfort. His hair was scattered everywhere, and yet it still had this unmatched sex appeal. The type of style that made you want to run your fingers-
Herold must've smelt me before he heard me, because I saw his nose point in the air before his eyes flew open. Every attempt was made for him to remain calm, but the ways in which he leapt from Derek's lap woke Derek up immediately after.
Fuck.
"Shit" was the first thing I heard him say, ignoring the very prevalent cat scratches Herold left as I watched this adorable man rub the sleep from his eyes. The position he was in couldn't have been comfortable, I was sure of it, yet Derek woke up like he was on cloud nine. I saw him completely stretch out his limbs, before his drowsy eyes found mine.
And when they did, panic immediately took over.
"Oh-oh- oh shit, fuck." He was scrambling now, working overtime to get the many comic books in order. "I-I'm so sorry- I didn't"
I didn't even process what Derek was saying. By default, I found myself helping him pick up the comics, but my eyes quickly widened when I noticed how he was filing them back on my shelf.
"Did you-" I started, not sure how to even word this correctly, "did you- uh, did you memorize how they were shelved or?"
Derek was still wiping sleep from his eyes as he shook his head no in panic mode. "They're arranged by release date, right?"
That was when my body stopped moving entirely.
And all I did was stare as Derek placed the remaining comics back on the shelf. He didn't even check the release year... because he obviously didn't need to.
"Yeah," I tried to play it cool with my tone of voice, but I was failing miserably, "how did you.."
Derek shrugged, still rubbing his eyes aggressively. "I noticed once I started your x-men collection. Weird enough, this is how I have my own collection at home. Makes you feel like you're in the past huh?" He massaged his face some, getting rid of the sleep lines, "It's like a sacred timeline you get to travel back to."
I almost dropped my whole fucking cat at Derek's words. I hadn't been expecting them, nor him, but as I watched him gently place each comic in their rightful place, I couldn't help but smile.
What an unexpected surprise, I thought to myself as I gently placed Herold back down.
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