Kaeloo was still glowing with bliss as she placed her leftover slice of triple chocolate cake into the refrigerator that evening, the days' events enjoyed with her new husband settling into her memories, nestling in there in a way that most certainly would be permanent.
Her first choice for celebratory activities was playing mini golf at a cute themed course with an ocean motif. That had been so much fun—but then again, playing any kind of game was almost always fun for her. Mr. Cat won, of course, but she didn't really mind so much. They had gone to the movie theater next to catch a matinee flick, and Kaeloo let Mr. Cat choose the movie. This meant that rather than seeing the period romance she had hoped for, they instead sat through a ridiculous popcorn action thriller. Even then, though, Kaeloo found herself enjoying it—and enjoying her husband's company, for despite the film's subject matter, he'd still taken the opportunity to make out with her in the blackened theater. And that, Kaeloo thought to herself with a satisfied grin, was why she'd made sure that they sat in the back.
After that they went out to dinner, at a very fancy steakhouse—Kaeloo had balked at the extravagance, but Mr. Cat had insisted. Of course, once in there Kaeloo was a complete failure at being elegant as the venue required, excitedly announcing to the waiter that we just got married today and I'm SOOO happy! This announcement had worked out in their favor, though, as the restaurant had given them a free desert as a way of congratulations. After having a rather late lunch, along with popcorn at the movies, they were a bit too full to eat it there, so they had taken it home to eat later.
Closing the refrigerator door, Kaeloo sighed happily. After a day containing all of that, she felt rather tired, but in a good way. In a way that left her wanting nothing more than to just lie back and stare at the ceiling and drift off to sleep.
Well, almost nothing more. There was one other little thing.
And, just as she expected, Mr. Cat had the exact same thing on his mind. He moved towards her and embraced her, and Kaeloo wrapped her arms around his shoulders approvingly and longingly as well. "Hello, wife," he said in a low purr, tilting her head for a kiss.
"Hello, husband," Kaeloo responded with a slight blush.
Their lips met unhurriedly, languidly, tenderly.
"We have a marriage to consummate," Mr. Cat reminded her after a few moments.
"I know," smiled Kaeloo. "I was hoping that was on your mind."
"Oh, baby, it's been on my mind all day." He led her to the bed, lying her down on her back with a growl as he slid on top of her. "I've been wanting to bang you ever since we walked out of that courtroom."
"Only since then? Not sooner?" Kaeloo teased.
"Ah, you got me," Mr. Cat conceded. "You know me too well." Sliding one hand down her leg, he used the other to cup her chin. "Since we're no longer living in sin," he said, drawing her mouth to his and grazing her lips with his words, "we're going to have to make this extra dirty to make up for it."
"Oh, just make love to me," Kaeloo murmured. "I'm far too soporific to be able to keep up with your kinks tonight."
"Soporific." Mr. Cat snorted lightly at that. "Such a sexy word." He touched his lips to hers softly and gently… almost too gently from what Kaeloo had been expecting. Sheesh, just because she didn't want to indulge in all of their kinks tonight didn't mean that she wanted him to act like she was made of tissue paper. She opened her mouth a bit, coaxing his tongue inside, but even then he was two steps behind her, far more reactive than proactive. His hand on her leg wasn't even doing anything.
Concerned, Kaeloo backed her head away. "What's the matter? Did me saying that word really turn you off that much?"
"Oh god no, I'm—I'm not turned off at all—it's just—" Mr. Cat tried to give her an encouraging smile, but it emerged much too shaky to do much by the way of reassurance. He appeared to be almost on the edge of tears, a state from him that Kaeloo hadn't witnessed quite like this before now.
"Mr. Cat! What's wrong?" she cried out worriedly.
"I—I don't get this," Mr. Cat choked out, laughing roughly through his trembling lower lip. "Why am I getting so choked up? All that changed was that we just signed some legal papers. It's just marriage—it doesn't really mean anything." He laughed helplessly again, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "Shit. What's happening to me?"
Kaeloo beamed warmly. "Oh, honey," she said, bringing her hands to the side of his face, "it's because I'm your wife now!"
Mr. Cat choked out a more realized sob, still smiling, and cupped her cheek again. "Yes, yes you are."
Their kiss this time was much more tender and emotive.
As they kissed, Mr. Cat ran his hand down between her legs, and Kaeloo didn't have to look to tell that she had both sets of sexual organs again. She smiled in satisfaction. It would have been hard to fathom even just a few months ago, but if this was her normal, she was now perfectly content with it.
Upon feeling her smile against his lips, Mr. Cat pulled away, smirking at her, only the slightest trace of tears left on his face. "Alright, love, I know what you want," he said, sliding down her torso and taking her penis in his mouth, the hand that had been enticing between her legs now dipping into her vulva.
Kaeloo moaned softly, sinking back into the mattress. The feeling of him sucking up and down her length was strong enough that she had to focus all of her concentration on not rocking her hips upwards to match him, the part of her just wanting to enjoy the sensation only barely stronger than the part that wanted to just shoot her load in his mouth.
So much for soporific.
After a minute or two that felt wondrously felt at least twice as long, he pulled back and climbed back on top of her. "I can't hold back any longer," he admitted lustfully, repositioning her hips before entering her, Kaeloo simply giving another low, approving moan in response.
After a few thrusts into her, getting no response other than the subdued, guttural moans, Mr. Cat paused for a second with a disapproving smack of his lips. "Come on, baby," he pleaded, "make some noise for your husband."
Kaeloo groaned softly again. "Isn't this enough?" she asked him.
"I want more," he said to her, nearly begging.
"You'll get what you get," Kaeloo responded simply. Turning her face into her pillow. "You make me feel so good that I just want to lie here and let it consume me completely."
He barked out a laugh at that, rocking his hips against her once more. "You're always the one in charge," he conceded.
Kaeloo turned her head back towards him. "If—if you want me to do more, I will—"
"No, don't say—"
"I'll do anything for you," Kaeloo continued, ignoring his demand.
Mr. Cat sighed helplessly, thrusting into her once more. "If you just want to lie here, you can. I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything more." With another grin, he added deviously, "I can't complain either way."
"Then don't," Kaeloo said with a smirk.
"I'm not." He leaned down and kissed her, restarting a steady, gentle rhythm. Kaeloo didn't mind the slowdown; in fact, she let out a sigh of approval that was louder than before, partly to give him the vocalizations he wanted, but also just because it felt so damn good. She closed her eyes and smiled, letting him love her in such a tantalizing way.
Mr. Cat kissed her lips once more, almost hesitatingly. "Kaeloo," he murmured, "I've been thinking…"
"Mmm?" She didn't even open her eyes.
"You've inspired me to become more accountable. I'm going to try to find a job, too."
"Okay," Kaeloo responded simply, wondering why he thought mid-coitus was a good time to bring this up.
"I know I'm probably not very employable—I never finished school, I don't have experience in anything worthwhile, but I'm still going to try. I don't want the burden of finances to be solely on your shoulders."
"Okaaaay…" Kaeloo finally opened her eyes. "Why are you telling me this now?"
Mr. Cat didn't get the hint. "I'll wait tables, I'll bag groceries—hell, I'll even work at McDaube if I have to—"
"Mr. Cat!" Kaeloo shouted. "Why are you ruining the moment with this kind of talk?!"
Mr. Cat's rhythm stopped for just a moment for him to blink at her in confusion, before suddenly smirking that devious grin of his. "Or maybe a janitor. I'm willing to mop up everyone's piss and shit for a little extra cash."
Kaeloo could feel herself tremble with red-hot irritation. Dear god, he was doing this on purpose. Of course he was doing this on purpose. He always did. He wouldn't let their first night of intimacy as a married couple be any different. The only surprise here was that Kaeloo was surprised by this.
She took a deep breath, remembering what Dr. Clark had told her.
Redirect your anger.
That was the key, after all. Don't ignore it. Don't push it aside. Just redirect the feelings into something positive.
Like… adrenaline.
Like passion. Like the desire to please her husband the way he pleased her.
She exhaled, and let go of her need for control, and for the first time she could remember, when she transformed, it felt empowering. By relinquishing control, she gained control. An oxymoron if there ever was one.
Mr. Cat, now looking almost laughably small between her legs, drew in an awed, shaky breath. "Oh hell yes," he whispered.
"Is this what you want?" Bad Kaeloo growled, trying not to shout like she normally did. Not that Mr. Cat cared what she sounded like, she knew.
"Oh, you know it, baby!" Mr. Cat picked up his rhythm to double time, and despite her different size and shape, Bad Kaeloo found it just as stimulating as before, and her moans of ecstasy were nowhere near as silent as they had been.
"Just… ASK NEXT TIME!" she managed to cry out.
"No way, pissing you off is too much fun." He continued to pound her relentlessly, and she ferociously and greedily dug her fingers into his back, which only made him yelp out with even more pleasure than before. This only stimulated Bad Kaeloo further, and while she was unable to bring her mouth towards him to bite him like she wanted to, she still brought a hand to his ass and squeezed it roughly as she cried out again and again with delight.
"Oh fuck," Mr. Cat gasped out, "I'm—I'm gonna—"
And with one final, forceful thrust, he shook and twitched inside of her, and the sudden shock with realization of what just happened caused Bad Kaeloo to shrink back down to her normal form, Mr. Cat awkwardly falling on top of her with the change.
"Ah… god that was… you okay?" Mr. Cat panted, stroking a concerned paw across her face.
"Yes…" Kaeloo smiled shakily, glad to have pleased him as much as she did, but her eyes flickered down to her still very erect penis with a twinge of disappointment. "It's just that I didn't come."
"You… you still can." Taking a few more deep breaths, Mr. Cat rolled off of her and onto his back, spreading his legs and lifting his buttocks up a little bit. "Go ahead. Come inside of me."
Kaeloo didn't move, only turning her head to look him in the eye. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't."
Kaeloo regarded him for only a moment longer before rising upright and moving over on her knees to position herself between his legs. She dipped a few fingers into her vagina and coated them, then rubbed them on her erection.
"Aw, come on, babe, I don't want lubrication," Mr. Cat protested. "I want it raw and rough."
"I don't want to hurt you," Kaeloo protested. In response to Mr. Cat's sardonic raised eyebrow at her statement, she amended, "I don't want to harm you." With care and precision she entered him, biting her lip to keep from crying out from the ecstasy of feeling him around her so tightly.
"Aw, fuck, you feel amazing," Mr. Cat gasped out.
"Watch your language," Kaeloo chided, giving him a sardonic smirk.
"Oh, like you give a shit about my language anymore." Mr. Cat matched her smirk. "In fact I think you like hearing it when we're fucking… it lets you know just how amazing you make me feel."
Kaeloo blushed, not able to rebuff that observation. "You could still stand to make better word choices." She pushed into him, pulled back, and pushed again, trying to imitate the slow pace he had done into her earlier.
"I'll get you to cuss one of these days," Mr. Cat said with a low groan, leaning back into the mattress.
Continuing her pace, Kaeloo simply exhaled roughly, not wanting to let him know that inwardly she was swearing up a storm. Goddamn he felt so good. She could tell she wasn't going to last very long; she had been rather close to coming before he ultimately did, after all, so she tried her absolute hardest to keep her pace slow enough to make it last at least a little longer.
Mr. Cat was also breathing heavily through her thrusts, looking towards his side, but after a moment he abruptly turned his face back to her, the same openness and vulnerability from before glimmering in his eyes. "I love you," he choked out.
Kaeloo's eyes welled with sudden, surprised tears. She didn't expect that. She never expected that. She realized that their affection for each other would largely remain unspoken, especially on his end, and that didn't bother her—she didn't need him to say how he felt, after all; she could tell by his actions how much he cared for her. But to hear it now, in the depths of their newlywed vulnerability, was something unlike she'd ever experienced before. "I love you too," she whispered, unable to rein in her pace, and after a few frenzied thrusts she found her release in him, crying out sharply with the climax.
She collapsed on him, and he took her in his arms, and they both panted heavily, trying to catch their breath.
Finally, Kaeloo was able to roll over to her side, pulling out of him as she did so. "That was amazing…" she breathed.
"Very much so," Mr. Cat agreed, pressing his forehead against hers.
For a few precious moments they remained like this, their breathing slowing and matching in time with each other's, wanting nothing else than to remain in each other's arms.
The reverent silence was broken by Mr. Cat. "Kaeloo?" he said softly.
"Hmm?"
Mr. Cat brought his hand to her chin, bidding her to look his way. "Now that we're married… I ought to tell you my name."
Kaeloo blinked slowly and stupidly at this, the weight of the statement taking a moment to set in. Well… duh. Obviously his name wasn't actually something as formal and detached like "Mister Cat". In fact it was almost past the point of ridiculousness that Kaeloo had gone this long without questioning it. "Okay," she answered him, grasping his other hand in hers.
He hesitated, his eyes darkening with an obvious internal struggle. Kaeloo squeezed his hand reassuringly, readying herself for the name to come out. Obviously it was something that upset him. Probably it was something embarrassing, like "Gaylord" or "Horace" or something along those lines. Or maybe it was one of those once perfectly acceptable names for men that had been taken over by girls, like "Ashley" or "Evelyn". Even if it was the most humiliating name in the world, however, Kaeloo knew that she couldn't laugh. He was choosing to trust her with this uncomfortable knowledge and she had to be worthy of that trust.
She waited for a few more long moments, before Mr. Cat finally sighed in defeat.
"It's Henry."
Kaeloo had to blink a few times in utter confusion, not expecting such a perfectly ordinary name after that buildup. It was the most anticlimactic reveal she had ever experienced. "Henry," she repeated, more for clarification than astonishment. Mr. Cat winced a bit at the name, but nodded. "That's a nice name," Kaeloo admitted truthfully. What else was there to say?
Mr. Cat chuckled harshly at that. "I'll leave you to your opinion."
"Do you want me to call you that?"
"I'd really rather you didn't."
"Alright." Kaeloo smiled fondly at him. "Mr. Cat it is." In all honestly, at this point it would have been strange to refer to him as anything else. "Unless you want me to call you something else."
"Oh, 'Glorious and Amazingly Sexy Husband Who Can Do No Wrong' should do just fine."
Kaeloo snorted, smiling sarcastically. "In your dreams, Mr. Cat." She brought a hand to his chest and touched it lightly, her smile fading a bit. "Why don't you like your name?" she asked. She didn't want to dwell on something that upset him, of course, but at the same time she was still confused more than anything else and needed at least some explanation.
Mr. Cat sighed, his eyes darting downward. "Just… bad memories, I suppose. I can't remember hearing it spoken in a way that wasn't accusatory, or spiteful, or… hateful."
"Oh, honey," Kaeloo sighed piteously, pressing her forehead against his once more. "You know I wouldn't ever say it like that. –Well, except maybe accusatory, but only when it's warranted."
"What?" Mr. Cat exclaimed in a rather over-the-top manner. "You don't believe that I will only be on my absolute best behavior now that we're married?!"
Kaeloo smirked, closing her eyes. "I'm not that stupid."
Goodness. What a day. She felt like she was ready to sleep for a month straight. It was practically unfathomable that they'd packed everything into a single day. Half a day, really, since Kaeloo hadn't even arrived back at the apartment with the seemingly bad news until after noon. Even twenty years from now when remembering this day, she knew she'd still be amazed at how short of a timeframe these memories spanned…
Kaeloo jerked back, her eyes flying open. "Mr. Cat!" she cried out. "What's today's date?"
Mr. Cat, who had apparently been drifting off to sleep a bit as well, tensed and flinched at her gesture and volume. "Random…" he implicitly accused her, raising an eyebrow.
"We got married today! And this is going to be our anniversary! And I don't know what day it is—I've lost track of the days, I've been so stressed about my classes…"
"Too stressed to notice the date plate on the clerk's desk at the marriage office? You really did need a break. It's July second."
"July?!" Kaeloo cried out in disbelief. "I thought it was still June! How is it July already?"
"Time flies when you're having fun, I suppose."
"Wait!" Kaeloo yelped, once again overtaken by another urgent question.
"Are you going to keep this up all night?" Mr. Cat asked dryly.
Kaeloo ignored him. "When's your birthday? I remember you said it was in August—and if it's July now, I really should be planning for it, especially if it's in the beginning of August—I might not have enough time to—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!" Mr. Cat beseeched, grasping her hands. "Not everything needs a giant plan and celebration, you know. You're being awfully demanding today. First I tell you my name, then you ask for the date, and then you want to know my birthday?! This is getting a little too personal for me, froggy." His words were accompanied by a sarcastic grin, however, which made Kaeloo laugh a little bit, relieving some of the tension in her body.
"Mr. Cat," she said with a teasing grin of her own, "if you don't tell me your birthday, I'll throw a party for you every single day in August just so I'm sure that I won't miss it."
"There's no need to go nuts like that. You have until the ninth to come up with something. Don't get too carried away with your party plans." He smirked lightly. "All I need to have a good time is beer and you."
"And cake," Kaeloo reminded, smiling more fully with satisfaction. August ninth. August ninth and July second, the two new dates she had to commit to memory. That wouldn't be a problem; she could already feel them firmly etching themselves in her mind.
"And now," Mr. Cat said, leering at her slightly, "after all these outrageously invasive questions, I think it's only fair I get to ask you one now."
Kaeloo blanched a bit, but kept her gaze on him fully. He was right; it was only fair. "Okay. What is it?"
"When is your birthday?"
"Oh! Of course!" Kaeloo laughed lightly. "It's… uh…" And then she faltered, biting her lip.
"Seriously?" Mr. Cat was far more surprised than annoyed, although his eyebrow still curved upward critically. "You can't remember?"
"No, I—it's in April, I know that—" Kaeloo squinted, running through all of the important dates in her mind, even this one, one that she had tried hard to forget these past two years. Muddying the waters a bit was that her father's birthday was also in April, and she had done such a good job of repressing any thoughts of her birthday from her mind that she was unsure of which date was which. "It's… the eighteenth. The eighteenth of April. I'm pretty sure that's when it is."
"Works for me," Mr. Cat said, squeezing her hands softly. "Although if you're still unsure we can ask your parents to confirm it."
Kaeloo sighed with slight exasperation and embarrassment, closing her eyes and placing her forehead against Mr. Cat's again. "I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to drop the news to them that we went and got married without telling them."
"Whatever," Mr. Cat said lightly, his voice drifting back into drowsiness, just like hers. "We made the right decision. Don't be so worried, babe. Everything will work out fine. It's already starting to."
Kaeloo didn't open her eyes, already and finally slipping into sleep, but she did snuggle into her husband's arms and smile softly. True, they had gotten married much earlier than she'd planned. True, the job she'd (probably, not certainly) attained was only seasonal. She certainly couldn't breathe completely easily just yet. And yet, right now, she strangely wasn't worried at all. She felt that she was exactly where she needed to be.
"I know it is, honey. Thank you. Thank you for marrying me." One soft giggle escaped her lips. "You're stuck with me now."
"Oh no. Whatever shall I do." Even now he wasn't too tired for sarcasm. Nuzzling his face into her shoulder, Mr. Cat murmured, very softly, "I told you that I'd never desert you, and I meant it."
"I'll never leave you either," Kaeloo said with the last of her wakefulness. "Never, never, never, not in a million years."
There might have been more the newlyweds wanted—or needed—to say to each other, but the sweet temptations of sleep after an eventful day had grown too strong for either to fight anymore, so they surrendered to dreamland and to their beloved's embrace.
After all, there was no rush. They had their whole lives ahead of them to confide in each other.