Gwah! XD Why do I always take the pet related ones? Baaaaaaah. I love my job.

pt.2 pg. 29

Desmond was grateful for his feline friends—the four of them were his best friends. And, they protected him. For instance, he let them walk around the bar freely, and more than once, they had picked out a person with a weapon or stepped in the way of a glass meant for him.

He actually lost one cat like that. He had named it Kadar, after one of his relatives. Another cat, Altair—his best protector—had bitten one man after he grabbed Altair's tail. Altair was a (suspected Pedigree) Russian Blue, and he was absolutely beautiful, silent but deadly. He was skinny as a rail and was incredibly graceful. Kadar had taken a large shard of glass that the drunken man had thrown. Kadar was a (once again, suspected Pedigree) Egyptian Mau, as well as his brother. Malik lost a leg defending Desmond from the man, and Desmond forked out the money to get him a replacement—he was that good of a bartender. The ladies loved the cats.

There were two more that he had adopted. One was Ezio, and he rubbed and rolled against every female that walked through the doors. He was something the vet had labeled, Pedigree Turkish Angora, and he was fucking huge. He had the silkiest coat that Desmond brushed as frequently as possible; although, increasingly, the patrons were brushing him, and Ezio loved the attention. Ezio's best cat friend was the one named Leonardo. Forever busy, Leonardo often watched whatever Desmond did, that adorable look of curiosity in its eyes. He was a tiny thing, something called a Devon Rex, and was extremely affectionate.

It was funny to watch their interactions with the patrons and one another. Altair was slightly cold and aloof, preferring to watch over Desmond as he worked rather than play fancy with the patrons. Every little thing he did seemed to piss Malik off, but it had been that way ever since Kadar had died. Malik had loved Desmond until his brother was gone, and even though he showed it far less, he was still occasionally attention needy. One of his daily customers, Shaun Hastings, filled most of his attention needs. Ezio lorded over Leonardo and was in everyone's business—well, was everyone's business. He was an attention slut. Little Leo was his favorite—although he'd never tell the others that. He was small, white, didn't need grooming like Ezio, and loved Desmond and everything he did. He was freakishly intelligent, and he loved watching and participating in his and customers' activities. Sometimes, Leo would watch him, those blue eyes wide and curious, as he would peel a potato for dinner or mix a drink. He even hopped up on a customer's table and meowed until he could try their drink. Leo loved to talk to the patrons and loved attention more than Ezio. While Ezio loved attention, Leonardo loved affection. Desmond loved all four of them.

Desmond was busy mixing a drink, Scotch on the Rocks, or whatever it was called. His hands knew how to make it, so he didn't care, and Leonardo was perched on the bar in front of him, his paw in the air as he patted lightly at the bottle of scotch. The lady was laughing as he did, cooing over how cute he was as he meowed and caught some of the alcohol on his paw. He meowed again and licked it, snorting and shaking his head, meowing and caterwauling until the lady starting petting him, and he immediately settled down in her lap. Desmond smiled.

After a few minutes, Leonardo's head popped from her lap, and he hopped onto the counter, walking over to the corner where Shaun usually sat and Malik was already waiting. They were both watching the door closely, and finally, it opened, and Shaun walked in. When he sat down in his spot stiffly, he absentmindedly pet Malik and Leonardo. His lips were thin, and his expression, grave. Malik licked his hand once before settling off to the side, his head resting on Shaun's free arm—the other all ready had a drink in it.

Desmond was slightly worried: he hadn't received his customary insult or "Thanks, mate." Leonardo started talking to him, and Shaun watched him absently, pulling out a shoelace from his suit pocket.

"Just as promised, Leonardo."

That was what started his big crush on the British man. Even before he heard him speak, he had started bringing toys for the cats. Especially Leonardo, who used all manner of things to do all manners of stunts.

He looked at Shaun as Leonardo strutted off. He leaned on the bar counter as Shaun sipped lightly from the drink.

"What's eating you?"

Shaun looked at him. "It's nothing, mate."

He frowned but went to make a drink for another customer, wondering just what was wrong. He saw Ezio leap over the counter—from the ground, fucking monster of a cat—and join Leonardo at the door he usually kept shut to keep the cats out. It was just a storage room, but it did have toxic chemicals and sharp objects. He mixed the drink and walked back to Shaun.

"You're never like this. You haven't even insulted me yet. What's wrong? Or do I need to pump more alcohol into you first?"

"The latter is probably the way to go."

He nodded and started mixing up another drink. When he was done, he turned around to see Malik hiss and puff up when Altair jumped up on the other side of Shaun. Shaun leaned back, and Desmond knew what was coming. Malik leapt at Altair, and the two crashed from the counter onto the floor, rolling and hissing and spitting. The most of the male patrons were laughing, chanting for Malik to kick his ass, and some of the female patrons were gasping in alarm. He darted around the counter and grabbed one of the newer female patrons by the waist, pulling her back when she went to reach for them.

"No, ma'am, don't do that. You don't want to touch them once they've started."

"Do they usually—"

"Yes. Malik hates Altair. I lost his brother because of Altair."

Her hand covered her mouth as she gasped in shock. "The poor thing!"

Desmond let her go and cleaned off the tables as he waited for the fight to end. Altair went running in between his legs, Malik close behind. As Altair approached the counter, he went to leap, but Malik sprinted, and his leg short-circuited, and the two went barreling into the side of the bar. Altair sprinted off a ways when he got free, and Malik hopped back up on the counter, hissing.

After several seconds, Altair walked over toward Shaun again, on the ground, and Malik watched him as he came over. When he was perfectly aligned, Malik smacked the half-filled drink with his paw and sent it over the edge—right on top of Altair. Altair screeched, hissed, and pounced at Malik, who got him good in the face and sent him sprawling. The Russian Blue snarled, puffed up, and the entire bar was silent, waiting for the next move. Only the sound of Desmond gathering the glasses could be heard.

Then, it was over as quickly as it began. Malik charged, and Altair reared up to attack, but Malik kept moving forward and pushed his enemy over the edge into sink full of soapy water. Altair yowled as he sprang from the water and ran off, snarling and hissing. Malik puffed up with pride and watched his enemy disappear under an empty table. The Egyptian Mau scoffed and turned back to Shaun, who had a small smirk on his lips. Desmond cursed.

"Damn cat. Now I have to clean up all the water back here!" he shouted as he set the empty dishes down.

Malik seemed to smile as he settled his head back down on Shaun's free arm. He sighed, frustrated, and set a desperate glare on the cat.

"And who knows when Altair will come out again."

Malik huffed and flicked his tail as if to say, "Who cares?" Desmond sneered at the cat, ignoring the cheers and the hollers about Malik's victory as he washed the dishes. The time began to pass, and Desmond slowly pumped more alcohol into Shaun, who seemed to get more depressed with every drink. Eventually, close to closing time, his friend broke down.

"She left me, Desmond."

Desmond leaned on the counter. "Who, your girl?"

"Yes."

The bartender reached over and ran a hand through Shaun's hair. The poor man was resting his head in his arms, and Malik was in lap, purring. "I never liked her anyway."

Shaun looked at him. "You're fucking with me."

"Nope." He turned to grab a towel and wipe of a few of the cleaned glasses. "I always thought you should be with me—"

He spun around at the sound of a loud crash and cursed when he saw the supply room open, the shoestring dangling from the doorknob. He ran to the door and looked in to find a large mound of various tools and bottles in a pile, and Ezio yowling and meowing as he paced and leapt around in front of it. Damning his luck, he rushed over and began moving things out of the way, worried. Leonardo had to be stuck in there, and he prayed to God, Buddha, Mary, Madonna, that he was all right. Judging by the chemicals that were dripping, he could only hope.

Eventually, he came to a small box in the center of the pile. He lifted it up to see Leonardo peering up at him with one blue eye open wide, the other covered by his paw. He meowed cheerfully and lowered his paw. Desmond fell backwards when a blur of white fur crashed into the small cat, yowling and smothering the poor thing. He couldn't help but smile as Ezio lifted Leonardo by the skin on his neck and carried him out, curling up with him, purring, in the center of the floor. Leonardo was almost lost in all the white fluff Ezio had, and the only thing Desmond could see as he walked back out was two clear blue eyes peeking out of Ezio stomach fluff, looking content. He shut the door and decided to clean later.

He walked over to a wide-eyed Shaun and leaned on the counter. "Sorry, where were we?"

"Did you mean it, mate?"

"Huh?"

"You—You and I…?"

Desmond laughed. "Yeah. I've been crushing on you for a long time now. And the cats love you, too. Forget about Kate. You've got more here."

He leaned in and placed a kiss on Shaun's lips. He was ecstatic when Shaun reacted with a happy sounding noise in the back of his throat and smiled into the kiss.

That is, of course, until they felt a paw fwap at their kiss. Desmond pulled, back, laughing, as Malik fixed him with a glare. The Egyptian Mau then looked at Shaun disapprovingly. His ears twitched as if to say, "No."

Shaun laughed for the first time Desmond had heard. He grinned as he reached over and scratched Malik's head.

"I'm sorry for taking away his attention."

Malik glared at him, but then closed his eyes and purred as if to say, "Stupid. I guess I'll forgive you." Shaun stroked the Mau's back and chuckled.

"I suppose you're right, Desmond. I do have more here."