Albert Кот
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the fanfic, which I do not make any money off of...but totally wish I did.
Summary: Much to Wesker's disdain, Sergei has taken a liking to a cat found wandering about the Umbrella facility. Sergei/Wesker
Chapter 6: Warm Slumber
'I'm going to kill those stooges...' Wesker grumbled mentally as Albert darted under his desk, chasing after a fuzzy pink ball.
He was not pleased to find that morning that Forest, Joseph, and Chris had ended up setting Albert's play corner in the back of the S.T.A.R.S. office where his desk was located. It wasn't so bad, though. Most of the time, one of the other S.T.A.R.S. members would play with the cat and keep him busy while Wesker busied himself with paperwork.
The ball rolled out from under Wesker's desk and Albert was quickly in tow, chasing it around the front of the captain's desk and through the office. He released a surprised meow as he was picked up by Forest, the ball in hand.
"Oh, Albie." The brunette chided teasingly. "You know your mommy doesn't like you running around the office like this."
A golden eyebrow cocked upwards at the word "mommy." "'Mommy?' Speyer, who are you talking about?"
"Well, you." Forest stated matter-of-factly.
"Elaborate."
"Well, animals are like kids to a lot of people and Albie is Sergei's cat and you're Sergei's boyfriend, so...uh..." He grimaced as he realized how bad it must've sounded and prepared himself for flight if the blond so much as stood up from his desk. Like a shield, he held Albert out in front of him in hopes that the captain wouldn't rise and draw near. "Don't hurt me! I have the cat!"
Astonishingly, Wesker did not rise. He did not scowl. He simply sat there in brief silence before getting right back to his paperwork, remarking, "How observant you are to realize I don't wear the pants in the relationship."
Had Forest had a mirror at his disposal, he was sure he would've looked pretty stupid at the moment. He held Albert as he ambled over to the desk, inquiring with uncertainty, "Um...Captain? Are you...feeling okay?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" Wesker replied, continuing his work.
"Because normally, you would've killed me twelve times over by now whether or not I was holding Albie."
"Just consider yourself lucky, Speyer. Now, go play somewhere else. I have work to do."
"Sure thing, sir."
Wesker gave a sigh as his subordinate left. Thankfully Forest hadn't glanced at the papers he was working on or else he would've noticed one rather peculiar one jutting out from under the others. It was a memo from Umbrella, specifically Birkin, going over the new developments of the virus and how they would require new species of animals to test on; something other than the usual canines and primates.
"Perhaps that cat..." Wesker mused quietly.
Wesker stole a glance at the white and orange cat strutting by his side as they headed for Sergei's house, a spare key spinning idly about Wesker's finger.
"I don't want you to be locked out again in the cold." The Russian had said when he'd given the researcher the key.
"You better not run away. I'd never hear the end of it." Wesker warned he cat, though he knew Albert had no intentions of straying. Albert even seemed to confirm this as he mewled up at the blond.
The key's spinning was ceased as the man and cat approached the familiar house, the driveway empty. Wesker unlocked the door, greeted by an undisturbed silence, and Albert happily trotted in, heading up the stairs to find his litter box.
Figuring he would stay a while, Wesker shut the door and plopped down on the couch, shivering a bit. Strange, it seemed oddly cold in the house and the researcher's suspicions were only proven correct when Albert came back down and sneezed.
"Bless you." Wesker said absentmindedly as he stood and headed over to the thermostat to turn up the heat. A little yellow post-it note sat on top of it, a message scrawled in Sergei's native tongue. Wesker couldn't read it, but assumed it had to do with the unusual chill in the house and guessed it was a self-reminder that the heat wasn't working and needed to be fixed. Considering how cold it was, he doubted the Russian would need a reminder of it.
Seeing as the heat wasn't working, Wesker sauntered over to the fireplace and began loading in some logs and old newspapers that were piled off to the side. Minutes later, the living room was filled with a delicious heat and the minute sounds of crackling wood. The man laid on the couch, entrapped by the orange flames dancing around the wood in a random, uncoordinated tango.
Albert sat by the fire, gaping at the flames licking the logs with wild, naive eyes. Apparently it was his first time observing fire and the way his sat there, dazed by the spectacle, vaguely reminded Wesker of himself when he was a mere child and at Christmas time, he would sit by the fire and watch the flames with an innocent wonder only a child could possess. Sometimes he roasted marshmallows - under his mother's supervision, of course - but usually he just watched.
Wesker chuckled softly as the fire suddenly made a loud pop and Albert jumped back, blatantly startled.
"It won't hurt you, cat." He informed Albert, though in vain for the feline, clearly unsettled, dashed to the couch and jumped on Wesker's stomach, curling himself up in a protective ball. "Oh, come now."
But Albert did not move, and Wesker didn't say anything more. He merely laid his hand on the cat's back and let the warm, slight pressure on his abdomen coax him into leisure.
Sergei pulled up in his driveway in the early evening, noting the black smoke billowing from the chimney. He arched a brow before heading inside, completely unaware of what awaited him.
Wesker lay slumbering on the couch, one arm hanging like deadweight over the front and resting with the knuckles against the floor, the other curled with his hand resting on Albert. Albert, too, was out like a light on Wesker's abdomen, his furred back rising and falling with each breath he took.
Sergei smiled at the sight before tending to the fire, adding another log to it gingerly so that he wouldn't wake up either of the sleeping forms on the couch. Once that was done, he went to get a blanket from the linen closet and draped it over the slumbering man and cat, setting the arm that rested on the floor over Wesker's abdomen right next to Albert.
Soundlessly, the Russian entered the kitchen to make some coffee that he was sure the sleeping blond would ask for once he woke up, leaving Albert and Wesker to continue snoozing against one another.
Ugh, I'm so annoyed. The stupid document manager is acting all buggy, so it took me twenty minutes to actually edit the chapter after uploading when it should've only taken about five. That's why the story title isn't centered, because when I tried that, either it wouldn't save or all of the chapter would be centered, too, so yeah. Incredibly frustrating.
Anyways, as I was writing this chapter, I got a review stating how having an animal is like having a kid and this was after I had written what Forest had said to Wesker about the whole mommy comment. I was like, "O.O DUDE!!!" Lol.