Pierce had learned that, though Boris was very much a cat, some things about him, completely contradicted that fact. He'd found that Boris wasn't nocturnal, much to his dismay, and quite liked his sleep. Cat toys did not amuse him, especially when they were thrown directly at his head from another room in hopes of distracting him. He didn't particularly seem to mind water, but wasn't pleased when a bucket of said liquid was spilled on his head. One of the many traits he did share with felines was a territorial streak. If something, or someone, belonged to Boris others shouldn't touch them. Eventually Pierce realized that he was one of these things. Really, it shouldn't have been all that hard for him to figure out, given the clinginess shown only around other people, the constant displays of affection when around almost anyone, and several other habits of his. Even though all of this was clearly displayed for and acknowledged by Pierce, he still couldn't comprehend why Boris got mad whenever he tackled one of his own friends.

Boris and Pierce often spent their days just walking to nowhere in particular and talking while somehow managing to say practically nothing. Now, when one spends long periods of time walking down streets, one tends to find many people on said roads. That was true for the two of them, and though more often than not they were people the two didn't know, sometimes they would find a friend in the clusters of people. One day, they'd stumbled upon Elliot March; the rabbit that'd always held a soft spot in Pierce's heart. Now, anyone who held a special spot in Pierce was automatically considered a threat by Boris (Except for Alice, who could do no wrong.), and generally caused Boris to fall into overprotective mode. That was true in this case, as well as many others.

The clinginess began when Pierce shot off from his spot at Boris' side, mid-sentence. Boris knew that he was VERY easily distracted, but usually he gave some sort of warning before vanishing like that, but this time he was just gone. That meant one or two things. Either he'd just found the fluffiest puppy ever, or someone was passing out free ANYTHING. For some reason or another, it seemed that Pierce would take anything that had a free sticker stuck to it. Boris sighed, and really hoped that it was the second option. He really couldn't deal with any more pouting, which he was sure would come when he pointed out that he couldn't live in a house with a dog. He followed the zigzag path that he'd watched Pierce follow, and found that it wasn't a puppy that'd distracted him, but it was close enough. Pierce was excitedly bopping up and down in front of a bench that was home to a not-so-happy Elliot. Boris watched Pierce happily plop down on the bench and grin at Elliot, who was busy making a face that looked rather…growly. Boris took a moment, doubted the existence of the word growly, and decided that it was about time for him to join the little meet up.

Boris crept over to the two on the bench, and watched warily as Pierce obliviously rambled to Elliot, and invaded his personal space every time he said something he found particularly interesting or exciting. Elliot's response was always to scoot away and throw an uncomfortable glance over to Boris, who was sure that his face was saying something like "Hey. HEY YOU. Don't touch. Mine."

Boris could see that Elliot was painfully aware of his glaring, and he watched as Boris crept closer to them, until he was looming over Pierce's turned back. At that point, Elliot had given up on telling Pierce, and instead grabbed his cheek and turned his head around himself.

Pierce's face lit up when he finally realized what Elly had been trying to tell him all that time and he jumped up and stood next to the cat.

Elliot sighed, happy to finally have his personal bubble back, and looked up at the couple standing by him.

"So, what brings you two here?"

Before he responded, Boris worked an arm over Pierce's shoulder, to which he didn't really react.

"Oh, nothing much."

It was obvious that Boris wanted to leave. He was repeatedly glancing at the path they'd just appeared from, and Elliot tried to hint that maybe they should go on their way, but Boris wasn't a participant in the conversation, and Pierce didn't seem to get it. Elliot sighed for the second time, this time at how dense Pierce could be. Sometimes there was just no working with the boy! He wondered how Boris could ever deal with him, before finally realizing that there was no suggesting anything to Pierce, and deciding it would be best to just do it himself.

"Look, I've gotta go. Blood said he needed me for something this afternoon, so I should head out."

He stood and tried to get away before he could be innocently molested for the second time that day, but sadly he failed miserably. The small arms wrapped around him again, and he quickly freed himself before huffing down a nearby path that would eventually take him to the Hatter's Mansion.

Pierce pranced back over to Boris, and took his spot next to him. Boris once again slipped his arm around Pierce and refused to let him go. Pierce didn't mind all that much, and pulled for them to start walking again, which Boris nonverbally agreed to.

They continued their walk, just like they would any day. Pierce did notice the troubled silence, but thought that maybe it would vanish if he let it be. When it didn't, he started asking simple, silly questions that could only ever make sense in his head.

"Hey Boris?"

"Yeah?"

"Why does your tail do that?"

"Do What?"

For his answer, Pierce put his arm straight in the air and wiggled it spastically, attempting to mimic the twitching motion of an aggravated cat's tail.

"That."

Boris just looked at him for a second.

"…and when does my tail do that?"

"Um…Well…After I pull on it, that time I dropped that bottle of water on your head, sometimes after you jump out of trees and scare me, and right now."

Boris looked behind him, and noticed that his tail was, in fact, poofed out beyond all belief and flicking back and forth rather violently.

"Um, I dunno. 'Cause that's what it does sometimes?"

"But why?"

Boris looked down at him again. Pierce looked very persistent, and he knew that the question wouldn't be dropped until he gave a real answer.

"Well, I guess it's just one of those things I do."
"You're not answering my question! WHY does your tail do that?"

Boris sighed and admitted defeat. There was no way around Pierce when he found something to focus on.

"Ah, I guess it's something I do when I'm a bit…I dunno, bothered by something? It's hard to explain. It's just one of those cat things."

Pierce stopped, and turned to look at him.

"Why are you bothered?"

"I'm not, alright? It's nothing. See? It's not even doing it anymore."
He looked back, and his tail had deflated, and was just doing its thing, being a tail with no sign of annoyance.

Pierce looked at him, his tail, and then back at him, scrutinizing each. After that, gave a little nod.

"Fine. But, but, but! If you don't tell me important stuff, I'll be sad! That's not fun for either of us!"

Pierce's look of pure determination was sweeter than a strawberry, and Boris couldn't help but smile the littlest bit.

"Alright, I promise I'll keep you up to date on Boris News. Will that keep you happy?"
Pierce nodded excitedly, and agreed with a small noise. He knew that Boris had meant it, and that did make him happy. Why wouldn't he be, when his love had agreed to talk to him even more?


Author's Notes:

I'm actually not all that happy with this chapter. I can feel my self getting a bit worn out with writing these two. Now, before you go "But Ali! You're the only active writer in this fandom!" I'll tell you this. I plan on taking a break form this fandom once I wrap up with this. If I can feel my writing stiffening and getting boring, then I will take breaks. That doesn't mean I don't love you or the pairing any less, it means I want to write good things for that fandom, and so want to cool off a bit. By the way, If you're interested, my next project will be a giant -Man crack fic that won't be what it seems until the very end. It will be interesting to write, and I can't wait to start that.

This chapter itself...I liked how subtle Boris was. He wasn't outright "Grrrr." He showed it with his actions, instead of his words, which I liked.

But yeah. I love you all tons, and hope you'll stick with me through the end of this, even if it is a bit stiff.

~Ali.

(Oh, and fwip isn't a real word.. It's like exuberantly flipping something back and forth. I'm not sure if spastically is a real word either, but I say it all the time, so yeah. )