A/N: It snowed where I live and, although it's lovely to look at, I wish it would melt away. I can't wait for spring to come; I'm so tired of being half froze. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Thank you all for your constant support; it's nice to know that y'all like what I'm doing. R&R. Enjoy!

As I Breathe You In

Cody sighed as he sat at his desk, trying to create the power point slide show for the presentation next Monday. It was Friday and two weeks had passed since his 'confrontation' with Mike, as Ted liked to call it. Rolling his eyes, Cody typed in a few key points that would start off the presentation as he thought about how ridiculous his best friend could be sometimes. Although he needed to get this slide show done before the day was up, or take it home and work on it over the weekend, Cody's thoughts were focused on Evan.

His relationship with Evan had been going strong and stable. It seemed as though the neko was finally relaxed and at home with Cody and their apartment. Their apartment. As he thought about it, a goofy smile spread across his face. There were times when Cody realized that he was behaving like a teenage girl in love. But he quickly pushed that thought away. Aside from it making him sound like a girl, Cody knew that his feelings for Evan were just that of friendship. Right? Just because he acknowledged mentally that the smaller man was attractive and hot and…at times, sexy, didn't mean that he liked liked Evan. Right?

Sighing, Cody rested his hands on his lap and he stared down at them, ignoring his project. Who was he fooling? To him, it was quite obvious that he had feelings stronger than friendship for Evan; he just hoped that Evan hadn't noticed them yet. After all, it had barely been over a month or two since he had first dragged Evan out of that pet shop; it was far too soon, too early, for him to develop such strong feelings for another person. Even so, Cody had to admit that he had never felt so intently for another person before. Never before had he felt the need to protect someone or to make them happy, and never before had he actually wanted to protect and make someone happy. Having these feelings concerned him. What if Evan found out and was frightened or repulsed by them? What would happen if he demanded to leave? Cody knew that he wouldn't force Evan to stay; hell, he wouldn't force Evan to do anything. But how could he live with himself if Evan was disgusted by him? Just because his previous masters forced him to have sex didn't necessarily mean that Evan was into guys or anything.

Cody was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Ted was standing there until he felt a hand grip his shoulder. Jumping about ten feet in the air, Cody whipped around and glared daggers at his best friend before he poked him in his side. Automatically, Ted started to laugh and, with an evil smile on his face, Cody started poking him repeatedly.

"S-s-s-stop it, C-C-Cody!" Cody stopped and watched as Ted panted, trying to catch his breath.

"That's what you get for making a jackass out of yourself. Why'd you sneak up on me?" Ted calmed down some and looked down at him, a smile on his face.

"I came to see how you were doing. So, how's the power point coming along?" Cody looked down, slightly embarrassed by his lack of progress.

"I…uh, I just got it started. I got caught up on something else. But I've got the main points of it down. It would be long before the rest falls into place." Ted nodded in understand.

"Okay. As long as you get it finished before you go home." Cody's brow furrowed and he looked up at Ted.

"I can always take it home and work on it if I don't get it done, Ted. You know that just as much as I do. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time." Ted shook his head and grinned down at him.

"I know that. But how are you going to get it finished tomorrow when you've got company?" Confusion took over and Cody stared at his friend as though he had grown a second head.

"Ted, what the hell are you talking about?" Ted's grin widened.

"I'm talking about this: Randy and I are coming over tomorrow night to hang out and meet your neko. It was Randy's idea and I thought it was brilliant considering it's been forever since we last hung out. Besides, I want to meet the object of your affections." Cody blushed and he gaped up at his best friend, who was looking quite pleased with himself.

"Buh-buh-but I never… How did you…? Teddy….!" Ted laughed and ruffled Cody's hair, making the younger man growl.

"You never had to say anything, Cody. It's as plain as the nose on your face that you've got a thing for the neko. I see it whenever you talk about it. And I want to meet him so that I can sleep at night. I can't just let my best friend be with someone I don't know and approve of." Cody scoffed.

"Thank you, mother hen. You can stop caring now." Ted laughed again but then turned serious.

"Seriously though, Cody. I want to make sure that you'll be okay and that you won't get hurt." Cody rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to get hurt. I'm not going to tell him about my feelings, whatever they may be. And besides, when did you just decide that you could invite yourself over without my permission, huh? Maybe Evan and I have somewhere to be or something." This time, Ted rolled his eyes and he leaned on Cody's chair, watching him as he started typing information into the next slide.

"Please, Cody. If you had a date with Evan, you would've been gushing about it. And like I said, Randy's the one who decided."

"More on the lines that you forced him to agree with it." Ted grinned a wicked grin and stood up straight.

"He knows how I roll. If I'm not happy, no one's happy, especially if I'm not happy enough to suck his-"

"Oh my, God, I so don't need to hear this. Ted, get out. Don't you have something productive to do aside from annoying me?" Ted laughed and Cody just glared harder at his best friend.

"Yeah, I do have something to do. Our boss. See ya tomorrow night, Cody. Don't forget, we're playing Mario Party on your Wii." Cody watched as his friend walked away, leaving him alone to finish the power point. Shaking his head, hardly believing that he was friends with such a creature, he returned back to his computer screen and started working.

"I cannot believe I am friends with that!"

Concern ebbed up inside of him, but he didn't have the time to deal with it. When he got home, he would talk to Evan about Randy and Ted coming over Saturday night and, hopefully, the neko would be okay with that. If not, then he didn't know what he'd do.

…

Evan's ears perked up when he heard Cody coming down the hallway. A smile crept onto his face as he heard the keys being inserted into the door. He always looked forward to this time of day. When Cody was away at work, he felt…lonely, which was weird because he had never felt lonely before. Not in regards to his previous owners, at least. But he liked how he felt whenever he was around Cody; it was as though he could finally be himself and no one was going to hurt him for it.

However, the feelings he had been trying to suppress before were becoming more apparent, more out there. Evan found that he was more talkative than he had ever been. And whenever Cody scratched his ears, he always leaned into his touch and purred. Not just that, but his feelings were growing. Sometimes, he'd catch himself standing outside Cody's bedroom late at night, wanting to enter the room and cuddle up against the taller man. He didn't just want to cuddle though; he also wanted to kiss Cody and to do…well, other things. A soft blush crept on his face as he thought about it, but he couldn't help himself. The feelings he had were becoming too strong, way too strong, and it'd be sooner rather than later that they would emerge, make themselves known, and cause his control to crumble to smithereens.

The door opened and Cody walked in. As soon as he saw Evan, he smiled, bright and warm, and Evan felt himself returning the smile automatically. Standing up, he made his way over to Cody, who took off his shoes and returned his keys to their usual spot.

"Hey, Evy. How was your day?" Evan's tail swished back and forth, even more evidence that he was happy to see the taller man come home.

"It was good. How was your day?" Cody shrugged and walked into the kitchen. Like a young kitten, Evan followed him, wanting to be near him to satisfy his hunger. But…what hunger was it? What was he hungry for?

"Mine was pretty good. I had to rush to finish a power point presentation that I have to give Monday. But it's done and I don't have to work over the weekend."

"That's good." Cody nodded and opened the freezer. He examined the contents before he turned to look at Evan.

"We need to go grocery shopping, Evan. There's nothing in here." Cody chuckled and Evan couldn't help but laugh. Cody yawned and scratched the back of his neck before closing the freezer door and facing Evan.

"I need to tell you something and I'm not sure how you'll react." Evan stared at him, not sure what to think. Surely, if something was incredibly wrong, Cody would have told him right off the bat, right? So maybe it wasn't anything too serious.

"My friends from work, Ted and Randy, they're coming over tomorrow night to hang out. We haven't hung out for a while and they wanted to meet you. Will you be okay with that? I mean, they're not bad people; they're both really nice when you get to know them. Randy's scary when you first meet him, but he scares everyone. And he's a big softie on the inside; trust me on that one."

Evan started at Cody, but was lost in his own thoughts. New people. New people were coming over tomorrow, people he had never met before in his entire life. He was comfortable with Cody, more than comfortable actually, this was different. Although Cody talked about Ted and Randy, Evan still didn't know them and the thought of meeting new people made him edgy. But they were Cody's friends, so they couldn't be all that bad, right? It was his past that was making him feel and think that way; he was sure of it, but he had good reason to think and feel that way, right? Looking into Cody's eyes, Evan knew that, if he raised enough fuss, Cody would call the whole thing off. It was obvious in those eyes that he had started to know so well, but he knew that it'd be selfish of him to ask Cody to call it off.

"I…I don't know them, but I…I want to meet them. You talk about them so much that I want to meet them, to see what they look like and how they are." Cody relaxed and Evan could help but calm down a little bit. Without realizing it, he was pulled into a warm embrace and Evan felt himself relaxing into it, enjoying it.

"They're not mean or anything, Evan, so you're not going to get hurt. I promise. You'll have a good time. Just wait and see." Evan nodded and he smiled softly when he felt Cody press a kiss to his hair. His tail wrapped around his leg and he purred softly. Being like this was a whole new experience for him, and he liked it. He liked it a lot.

"Okay. I trust you, Cody. If you say I'll have a good time, then I will." All too soon, their embrace ended and Cody gave Evan a smile that took his breath away.

"I'm so glad to hear that you trust me, Evan. I really am." He smoothed Evan's hair before he laughed softly.

"Now come on. Let's go grocery shopping. With Ted and Randy coming over tomorrow, we're going to need all of the food we can get."

Laughing, Evan followed Cody out of the apartment and down to the car. While he was still nervous, he was able to squash his nerves as he and Cody got in the car and drove off. Evan had meant what he said: he did trust Cody. He knew, deep down, that Cody wouldn't hurt him or allow him to be hurt by others. So he was able to relax and they shopped for groceries and returned home to put the stuff away.