"Ooh, Roger should like this holiday, it's the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe," Maurice said to Snowflake. Snowflake meowed in response. "Wasn't there an Edgar Allan Poe movie that just recently came out? We could watch that!"

Maurice shut his laptop and jumped to his feet. He was going to go buy that movie and leave Roger here… but what if he left? That wouldn't be good. He could leave Snowflake to guard him.

Maurice picked up the cat and looked straight into its eyes. "Alright, Snowflake, don't let Roger out of his room. He gets freaked out more by affection than he does pain. So be affectionate."

Snowflake meowed, and Maurice put him down. This should be a fun day.

It was ten-thirty when Roger woke up.

He glanced at his clock, then at a different clock in case that clock was wrong. Nope. It was definitely ten-thirty. Where was Maurice?

Well, it didn't matter where Maurice was, because he was starving. He was going to head downstairs and have a bowl of cereal, then make a gigantic breakfast with eggs and bacon and pancakes and waffles and everything he could think of. The bowl of cereal was just so that he wouldn't faint from hunger.

When he tried to walk out of his bedroom, however, he was stopped by a large, fluffy cat. That stupid Snowflake thing. Roger tried to push it aside with his foot. It didn't move; in fact, it pushed back on his foot. Roger debated picking it up, then decided that he didn't particularly want to be covered in cat hair.

He retreated back into his room, glancing around for something that he could use to pick it up… and his gaze landed on the window.

Maurice had managed to get up to his window loads of times, how hard must it be to go down? Especially if he didn't care if he fell a little bit. There was a large tree out there...

Roger opened his window and shivered. Alright. It was cold. But he just had to be outside for a little bit.

He inched out the window, reaching for the branch. He slipped and fell, grabbing onto the branch just in time. It creaked dangerously.

Okay.

This was bad.

He didn't particularly want to fall on the ground, so he inched along the branch, one hand over the other, until he was over the trampoline.

He still didn't want to fall.

He closed his eyes, ignoring the fact that his arms seemed to be turning to Jell-O. Okay. He could… he could stay here until someone came and… and rescued him? No. He could stay here until his arms gave out and he fell, because then he wouldn't have a choice in the matter.

He opened his eyes a fraction, wondering if maybe he could get over to the tree and climb down. Nope. No branches below the one he was currently hanging on to. This had been a really stupid idea. How had Maurice managed to get through his window? Had he dragged a ladder over or something?

Actually, now that Roger thought about it, that's probably what he had done.

God, he was an idiot.

The branch creaked again and Roger glanced up. Shit, it was breaking.

"Roger!"

There was Maurice. Roger switched his gaze to the quickly breaking branch to Maurice, who was carrying something that Roger didn't really care about. Maurice shoved whatever he was carrying into his coat pocket and ran for the trampoline, scrambling onto it and reaching his arms up. Roger felt Maurice's hands on his knees, then Maurice wrapped his arms around Roger's feet.

"It's okay Roger, you can let go now," Maurice said. Roger shook his head.

"Nope- oh shit-" and with that Roger fell, taking Maurice down with him. Luckily, Roger landed mostly on Maurice and Maurice was on the trampoline, so they ended up both totally fine.

"You're an idiot," Maurice said. "What were you even trying to do?"

"Go downstairs," Roger muttered. "Your stupid cat wouldn't get out of the way and I didn't want to get covered in cat hair."

It was silent, and then Maurice burst out laughing. Roger sat up and looked at him, insulted.

"I'm… I'm sorry but…" Maurice finally stopped laughing, which was good, because Roger was about ready to hit him. "Really?"

"Shut up," Roger said. He shivered. It really was cold out. Maurice noticed his problem and hugged him. He wasn't that covered in cat hair, so Roger let him. "I'm hungry. Let's go in so I can make breakfast."

"And then we can watch The Raven! It's Edgar Allan Poe's birthday!"

A little shorter than usual, but oh well. Better than last Saturday's nothing, right?