"I... think this might actually be edible," King mumbled at he stuck his fork into the concoction that he'd made.
Lifting it closer, he blew on it gently, then finally slid the warm pasta and shrimp between his lips.
Oh.
"Holy crap, I'm a chef!"
Overjoyed at his incredible accomplishment of hot edible food, King quickly scooped a big portion of it into a bowl, then hurried toward the hallway.
"Hey P, lunch is ready and it's freaking awesome!" he yelled, intending to wake him up.
Right as he got to the entrance to the hallway, however, he slid to a halt, skidding on the carpet a bit as an overwhelming wave of dread radiated through his mind.
Holy shit!
Suddenly shaking, he quickly backed up until he was over by the couch, holding his chest with one hand as he took in deep, calming breaths.
He didn't dare analyze anything until the unfamiliar sensation had subsided and he was able to straighten up again. He had a light sheen of sweat on his brow now and was more than a bit nervous. His mind quickly connected the dots once he was comfortable again, though.
Baron...
Deciding to stay where he was, King thought for a long moment, trying to figure out how to handle such a situation. He knew that suicidal people could be dangerous, and it was clear that Baron was still under an immense amount of stress, if the wave of anxiety he'd just felt had been from him. Which was more than likely.
Not sure how that happened, though.
They definitely didn't have a bond, and he hadn't felt anything with anyone besides his mom, ever.
He's probably just so overwhelmed that the stress bled into my mind. Maybe I startled him when I yelled.
Now feeling a little guilty, King slowly took a few steps forward. The moment he felt a hint of pressure in his mind he stopped, putting him a couple steps away from the hall.
"Hey there, my raccoon Prince. Are you up for some lunch? I tried to cook for the first time tonight and it actually tastes really good," he said, keeping his voice much calmer than before.
Unfortunately, the wave of anxiety immediately grew stronger, but when he didn't move or come closer to his room, it slowly began to ebb away again.
It's okay, sweetheart.
Instead of continuing to try and get him to calm down, King decided to take the bowl back to the kitchen and get the dishes going first. As he worked, he felt little bits of pressure every so often, but there was no more strong bouts of anxiety.
It will be alright. I won't bother you until you're feeling better.
He understood anxiety. He'd had it quite badly after his father had died.
Humming, King took care of all the pots, pans, and other assorted items he'd used over the past few days then, when he noticed that Prince still wasn't interested in coming out yet, he got the food put away, then turned his attention to his next task.
Mom sure did keep every little thing of yours, Rexy.
Walking over to the boxes, he knelt down, then slowly began unpacking things.
Oh wow, I thought this really was gone, he thought as he lifted up one of his otter's favorite old chew toys. He used to bring it to kindergarten, first grade, and even second to play with during recess.
He quickly set it aside, then continued rummaging. Pretty soon he had a nice pile of things he wanted to keep, and his otter, which had swam to the surface of his mind as he'd been working, couldn't have agreed more with his decisions.
By the time he was through the first box he was in quite a good mood and eagerly went to start the second. Inside was a large, almost brand-new dog bed. His mom had gotten it for his otter after the accident. It had been the best one on the market.
Setting it by the wall, he pulled out a few little pictures that he quickly deciphered to be the paw print paintings he and his parents had done the week before the accident at a small family art class in town.
I'll hang those up. That will definitely make mom happy.
He continued working for nearly an hour before he noticed something just-barely moving at the edge of his vision.
Of course, he knew better than to turn and face him, but King couldn't help the smile that found its way onto his lips as he focused on his current task.
He could easily tell that the little bit of movement was from Prince as his buddy poked his head in and out of the room. King could feel his anxiety rising and falling, but it had calmed down a great deal, allowing him to relax, too.
"Oh? These are just like P's," he said quietly as he held up a few larger cat toys.
His mom had bought them for his ninth birthday, trying to lure his otter out with one of its favorite types of toy, besides the bath animals. Unfortunately, much like everything else, they hadn't worked.
He calmly began removing them from their package, then rolling them over toward the couch one at a time without really looking where they were going.
Once that was done, he set the second box aside and got to work on the third.
He was nearly halfway through sorting it when he heard a tiny little tinkling sound to his left, making him glance sideways without moving his head. He'd looked just in time to see a little brown and black striped tail disappear back into the hallway, the little tinkling sound accompanying the action.
I see...
The sound grew quieter and quieter the farther it moved away until, finally, it disappeared completely.
Two minutes later he heard the faint sound of something moving nearby again.
This time Prince went a little farther into the room to get a toy that had stopped rolling by the couch. The moment he had it in his paw, however, he was a blur of gray fur and black paws as he quickly darted back into the hallway.
He could hear those paws on the carpet as they headed back towards his room, likely intending to stash the new treasure with the other.
You're so darn cute.
The scurrying of paws stopped abruptly, making him tilt his head and glance toward the hallway.
Of course, Prince wasn't there.
He waited patiently for a few moments, then gave a quiet chuckle when he heard the little tinkling of the big cat toy again. It was good that the guy was still acting a bit like P, so perhaps he didn't have full control yet. Or, possibly, his emotions were beginning to return and were overwhelming Prince a little.
Either way, he was just glad that Baron was still there.
Oh, hang on a minute. I forgot to eat.
He'd gotten so distracted that he'd simply put the food away and began going through his mom's old boxes.
Standing up, he gave a good stretch, then wandered back into the kitchen to make himself a bowl of food.
I need to stream soon. I wonder how he'll handle me being in there...
He also didn't want to just let Prince be alone by himself in the living room area, though. If Baron really was close to being in control, his current anxiety levels could push him to try and kill himself again.
Hmm...
Wolfing down his food, he set the bowl in the sink, then opened the fridge. It smelled quite fishy, which would probably gross most people out, but he, and his otter, were more than happy with the yummy aroma.
I think I've got a pretty good idea.
Turning back around, he wandered over to the boxes he'd been sorting and grabbed a puzzle feeder toy his otter used to love. It immediately perked up in his mind again, making him shake his head as he brought it back to the sink and thoroughly cleaned it with soap and water.
You can play with it later.
His otter didn't seem interested in the later part, but no matter how much it chattered and whined, it still didn't come out.
You're just being a drama queen now, he told it, making Rexy throw a tantrum that could easily surpass one of Prince's.
Deciding to ignore the brat, he walked back to the fridge and took out a handful of small fresh herring, then carefully shoved them into the little toy before washing his hands again.
"Alright, I think we're all set. Hopefully P likes this and Baron doesn't mind," he said as he turned his attention back to the hallway.
He could hear the little cat toys still, but he hadn't seen or heard Baron come out to the living room again.
Hopefully I don't scare him too much...
Trying to walk as audibly as possible without literally stamping his feet, King slowly made his way into the hall. The tinkling of bells quickly stopped the moment he moved into the space, but there was nothing he could do besides keep going.
Unsurprisingly, when he finally got to his room and nudged the door closed, he couldn't see Prince anywhere.
Under the bed, then.
He could also feel his anxiety spiking, but it was thankfully manageable at the moment.
"I'm just going to play a little video game for a bit, but I brought you another toy to play with while I'm working," he said as he slowly walked over and set the stuffed rubber toy down, then turned and got himself seated in his chair.
It's actually a little cold in here...
Getting up, he went to his closet and grabbed his big hoodie. Once that was on he settled back in and got his game going. He was about to turn his stream on when he noticed an important email notification at the bottom of his screen and reached forward to click it open.
Oh.
The email was no surprise.
His sponsors had sent it the previous night asking if he could have the raccoon appear in more of his streams. They added, of course, that they had heard that he was giving it the option to do as it wished and wouldn't force it to walk into the frame of the camera, but they also mentioned that each stream it appeared in, they'd send him a bonus of three hundred dollars.
Tch, trying to buy my Prince. Not going to happen.
The guy was already stressed enough. He wasn't going to force him to walk in front of a camera for his own gain.
Glancing over his shoulder, King checked to see if Prince had come out at all. Unsurprisingly, he hadn't, but that was fine. The anxiety he felt from him was still reasonable, so he turned his attention back to his screen and reached forward to turn the stream on.
He expected there to be a few hundred watchers for his normal practice matches, but when he pulled up his profile chat, the number at the bottom of the screen made him nearly fall out of his chair!
F-four thousand?!
That number alone was mind blowing, but when he looked up at the top right of the screen at the current donation amount for the day, he nearly fainted!
E-eight hundred dollars...
His practices normally only got him two hundred, at the absolute most.
What is going on today?
He awkwardly snapped himself out of his shock and grinned at the camera as comments came across the chat almost faster than he could read them.
HubbaBubba: Our King is here!
BlessedIsKing: He's so handsome!
ReverseOreo: I first saw him play the other day, so handsome!
Glazed4Days: I hope Prince appears for his King's loyal followers!
King's smile widened a little before he turned his attention to the game. He was paired with a random person that thankfully didn't spam him with adoring messages. There was just a quick hello, nice to play with one of the greats! before they got down to business.
To his surprise, the player was actually really good, too, even though he didn't have an official rank. That meant that his standing in the game was less than the top one-hundred. That was totally fine with him, though. A lot of people didn't have the time to play so much, or didn't want to bother with ranked matches, and so on.
Either way, the guy was good and he appreciated it.
They easily won their first set of matches. Wiping the floor with their opponents in the first two rounds.
As they waited for their next set to begin, having chosen to keep each other as partners since they worked well together, King glanced over at his personal chat.
Gay4King: Does anyone else think that he looks like he just rolled out of bed?
Giggles&Shiggles: I want to be the blanket he used! Or that hoodie! I bet I could fit in it with him!
The chat began flying by too fast for him to focus, but that was okay. The next match was starting and he was actually looking forward to another easy win.
Their next match actually took a bit more work, but they still managed to easily clear both of the first two rounds, making the third an automatic win for them.
"Hey man, thanks for the great games," he said, not afraid to praise a good player.
The other person wasn't on voice chat, which was also pretty common during practice matches, but he replied in chat a few moments later.
ConsequentialSyrup: Thank you, King! I'm not a competitive person but it's been really fun playing with you.
While they waited to be matched up with their third and final round, King heard something behind him and glanced over his right shoulder.
Prince had grabbed the rubber toy stuffed with fish. King expected him to quickly retreat under the bed again now that he had the item, but to his surprise, he looked up at him.
King averted his eyes but gave a closed-lipped smile before turning back to look at the screen.
LeashMe: It's Prince! It's Prince!
WTRMLN: I want to see him! Come here, baby!
You would think that they've never seen a raccoon before...
They weren't exactly rare animals and quite a few people had them as shifts, he was sure.
Of course, he also knew that his Prince was the cutest raccoon of all.
He heard a quiet purr since his headphones weren't on this time, making him grin again before the sound of rustling met his ears. Except, that rustling didn't sounds quiet like what he thought it might. Instead, he heard Prince walking around behind him as their final match began.
Unable to shirk his job, he quickly buckled down and focused as their characters darted into the forest. This time their opponents were actually decently skilled and required him to focus, leaving him to ignore Prince even as the raccoon wandered around his chair to settle by his left foot.
The chattering soon began, drawing King's eyes downward every so often, whether he meant to look or not.
Prince ended up lifting the toy up, clearly trying to get his attention.
He doesn't seem nearly as stressed right now, maybe Prince has full control at the moment.
He returned his attention to the game when his radar pinged an enemy up ahead, but Prince seemed intent on keeping his attention, because there was soon a fishy toy ball in his lap and a raccoon climbing his pant leg!
King forced himself not to pay attention, but there was no way he could stop Prince without freaking him out, either. Thus, he had to let the brat do as he wished for the second time while he was trying to play.
To say that his chat began to beep with warnings of being overloaded was an understatement. It even froze a few times as his fans spammed and spammed, losing their minds over his Prince.
He felt an odd twitch in his belly right before he burned his entire bar of magic points to nuke their opponents healer with an Inferno Tornado spell.
Needless to say, the poor guy died a terrible death.
The healer's partner managed to take advantage of his distraction, however, and actually killed him in return.
While the respawn timer counted down, he quickly stared at the raccoon now sitting on his knee, holding the ball of fish out to him again. He did not look happy about being ignored for so long.
Taking the toy with his left hand, King noticed that all of the fish were still stuck inside.
"You're supposed to try and get them out, bud," he told Prince, earning a disgruntled sneeze in response before the raccoon reached forward and tapped the ball with its paw.
"Really?" King said with a monotone voice as he set the ball in his lap and tugged out a small fish with his fingers, then offered it to his brat.
Said brat gladly accepted the fish and munched away, mouth wide and loud, clearly enjoying the treat.
King glanced past him to the chat, then felt his expression deadpan.
YaoiFinder: OMGHE'SSOCUTE!
JustLickLife: Oh my gosh he actually showed up! He's so cute! Hi Prince!!
I'mACup: They are the cutest pair! Give him another fish, your highness!
Is that 'your highness' for me or him? King thought as his eyes narrowed, then returned to Prince as the brat finished his fish and started chattering again.
Rolling his eyes, King did as he was told and tugged out another fish from the toy that was supposed to be occupying Prince's attention.
Well... it was, but he was supposed to be getting the fish out!
"Here, take it, you fuzzy brat," he said as he handed over the second fish.
Prince gladly took the treat and began demolishing it.
TheoryK: He's not a brat! He's an adorable baby and you should spoil him forever!
These people are crazy...
Returning his attention to the game, he reached around Prince in order to grab the controller with both hands, then realized his mistake.
I'm gonna need to clean this later.
He loved the smell of fish, but not on his gaming devices.
Prince eventually leaned against him as he continued to munch, leaving King to score a kill. Thankfully, his hoodie was much bigger than necessary, so even with Prince in his lap, it didn't pull on the fabric. It was probably closer to a blanket on him than an actual piece of clothing he could wear outside.
The only reason he could really play with it on was because it had cuffed wrists that kept the arms from sliding off.
As soon as he'd managed to retreat back to his partner Prince's little grabby-paws were tugging on his left arm.
Scowling, King quickly grabbed out another fish and pushed it into those little hands, then hurried to return his hand to his controller just in time to dodge a blast that could have easily crippled his character!
MadamLicksALot: Look at those skills! Feeding the baby while still easily destroying his opponents!
Gay4King: Marry me! I'll take care of Prince, too!
MimiIsPervy: If he can handle himself that well in a video game while feeding a raccoon, I wonder how well he can handle other things without being distracted...
Inwardly groaning, King quickly tugged out the remaining fish and pushed them into Prince's arms, making the raccoon's eyes immediately light up like the morning sunrise.
He then got busy finishing the match. Him and his partner got two more kills in just three minutes, leaving them one kill away from winning.
King leaned back a little as he gave his tense body a break for a moment while the other team waited out their respawn timers.
I'm about ready for another nap.
Of course, he would just wait until it was actually time for bed, but it still sounded nice.
Prince, however, seemed to agree with his thoughts, because he soon wiggled his way beneath his excessively-large hoodie.
Oh right. I am wearing the hoodie you like to snuggle in.
He hadn't meant to, but he also hadn't thought that Baron would allow Prince enough control to do such a thing, too.
Well, pretty soon he had a little raccoon face settled against his chest, its head sticking out of the generous opening at the top of the large hoodie.
That'sNotPudding: I think I just died and went to heaven...
MooseAreBirds: Screenshot! Screenshot! Screenshot!
ChickenNuggies: It's official. Just marry him!
King blinked at the chat, a bit stunned as the image of Baron's adorable nose flicked through his mind.
IYKYK: Blushing! Our gorgeous King is blushing!!!
He quickly returned his attention to the game just in time to block an incoming magical attack, then retaliate with excessive force... again.
Thankfully, his attack managed to land, and his partner was right there to finish off the opponent's healer before their combat class could help them, thus ending the game.
As soon as the victorious chime began to play King leaned back the rest of the way in his chair with a long, drawn-out sigh of relief.
Prince nuzzled against his chest a little bit in response, but he didn't need to look down to know that the brat was out cold. He always fell asleep quickly when he snuggled with him in his hoodie.
Hot...
Reaching up, he unzipped the clothing a bit, giving himself more room before he looked toward the chat, settling one hand against Prince's back without thinking much about the action. As he glanced over the comments, he set his controller aside since his partner had already signed out, not feeling a need to stay around.
PleasantlyDisturbed: I wish I had recorded this session.
ObtuseOctopus: I got you, bro! Only the last half, though. Check your DM's!
KitchenUtensil: Oh, I want it too!
ParkaParkaParka: Me too!
DiviIsAlsoPervy: Amatures. I've recorded every single one of his matches since the beginning.
He was just shaking his head, ready to turn the camera off, when his face suddenly brushed against something soft but firm, halting him mid-action.
His eyes widened as he unconsciously continued to read the screen and began to notice that the weight pressed against his chest had greatly increased.
Gay4King: My... heart... I surrender.
InexplicableEggplants: Tilt the camera a tiny bit downward! For science...
King couldn't read another line as they blurred before his vision. His heart was beating so fast that it hurt, but he couldn't move a muscle.
Well, not until his mind caught up with what was happening, thanks to the beeping of the overload warning from his chat being spammed.
Without a word, he pressed his hand more firmly to the warm back it was settled against, then carefully but quickly leaned forward and shut off his streaming camera, then leaned back again extremely slowly.
He then took a full five minutes to get ahold of his whirling emotions before, ever so slowly, tilting his head to the side to stare slightly down at the man curled up against him in his giant hoodie, his slim figure filling the majority of the extra space nearly perfectly. One of his arms was visible since the hoodie had previously been partially unzipped, and along with that arm, he could also see a delicate but masculine shoulder and a tiny expanse of smooth back.
Swallowing, he tried to figure out what he could do without waking the man, thus likely causing an anxiety attack, but nothing really came to mind.
Well, one thing did come to mind, but it definitely wasn't appropriate.
He... couldn't help it, though.
After so many nights waking up with the man snuggled against him, he was now uncomfortably stressed.
Yes, he wasn't happy that Baron had shifted in front of the camera without being able to consent, but something else was weighing on his mind... and heart.
I... haven't been able to see him clearly because he'd only shift at night, but just now...
He couldn't help himself.
Reaching up with his free hand, he carefully settled it against Baron's soft dark hair as he breathed out a long, quiet sigh.
Why did they get to see you in the light first?
Thankfully nothing bad had been visible, but still...
He was completely, uncharacteristically, jealous.