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Thank you guys for reading, alerting, faving and reviewing~!
Action starts next chapter for sure, so look forward to it~!
NekoRoma
Chapter Four: New Curtains
Lovino sat on the counter in his usual spot, glaring at the door. His human's words still echoing in his head.
"So it turns out, Roderich and I didn't break up after all~ isn't that great? He's coming over for lunch~!"
The cat hated that prissy man with as much passion as a feline could muster. He was sure Roderich hated him, too.
A knock came from the door and Lovino growled, but Antonio rubbed his ears and walked from the food he was prepping to open it up. The Austrian man walked in and looked around in slight disdain, "Antonio, it smells in here. Does that thing even use the litterbox?"
Lovino hissed and turned away. Of course he used his box! He wasn't raised in a barn! It didn't smell at all in the apartment!
Antonio tilted his head, "Lovi uses his box all the time …" but instead of kicking the man out for heavily insulting the cat, they hugged and … kissed … Lovino hated the sight. He turned his head away and his attention went back to the meal Antonio had been preparing. He had his eyes on a juicy piece of tomato freshly cut. Lovino licked his lips and hoped Antonio would push it off the plate for him, since he was respectful enough of the man not to steal off the plate or cutting board directly.
The Spaniard made his way back into the kitchen, "Make yourself at home, Roderich, I'm going to throw lunch together now~" the man spotted his cat eying some of the tomato and he grinned, giving it to him. Lovino was delighted to win the bit of tomato and ate it up happily.
"Antonio! Why do you let him up on the counter? He's going to get cat hair and germs in the food you prepare! I'm surprised you're not sick already!" Roderich shooed at Lovino and the cat, whom would rather die that let him touch him, jumped to the floor, hissing. He climbed onto his pillow and glared at the man, whom was now cleaning the counter and checking Antonio's food.
"I don't see the problem, since it's an elevated counter that he sits on. He never touches the food …"
Roderich let out an exasperated sigh, "You're a mess when I'm not around," the man leaned against Antonio and pressed his lips to Antonio's. Lovino's ears flattened against his head and he looked away, deciding a bath would be better than getting sick and feeling that sharp pain in his heart.
His tongue ran over his paw and he felt happier at that familiar, calming feeling. Lovino licked his paw again and dragged it over his ear, cleaning it as well as his head.
"Aww~ Lovi is so cute when he gives himself a bath~!" Lovino was used to those ramblings and continued licking his entire paw and arm. He heard shutter noises and realized Antonio was taking pictures of him. Lovino looked up, glaring, secretly happy he'd stolen attention away from the prissy man.
Roderich looked displeased, but said nothing as Antonio assaulted his cat with the camera. Lovino growled lightly and turned away to lick his side.
"So cute~!" Antonio smiled, finally giving his cat privacy to take lunch out of the oven. The two of them ate, talking about Roderich's raise and Antonio talked about the brownie points he got with his boss by cat sitting.
The two began kissing again, which sickeningly (Lovino thought) escalated into touching and the two retreated to Antonio's bedroom, locking the door. They'd done this a few times in the past, though what exactly went on, Lovino was unsure.
He thought that the yelling meant they were fighting and he would never have to see Roderich again, but it didn't mean that. Antonio seemed to be happier after and Lovino would steer clear of that part of the house since the scent drove him insane and irritated his nose.
Lovino stretched out on the couch and looked up at the screen to watch the lioness attack the wildebeest and bring it down for her cubs and mate to eat. Now that cat had some major power. He wished he were that big, then he'd be able to just eat Roderich. Lovino would totally risk the indigestion he would surely get if it meant ridding himself of that man. Oh! And he would be able to tear up those friends of Antonio's. Though … he wouldn't dream of eating them, since they probably carried diseases or something far worse than indigestion.
He purred thinking about becoming a huge lion with a strong loud roar and painfully powerful paws. His happiness faded when the door opened to Antonio's bedroom and Roderich walked out with that odd smile. The cat watched Antonio follow, begging for more kisses.
The men went into the kitchen, talking about this and that. Roderich turned and sighed, "You still haven't replaced those torn up curtains?"
Antonio looked over, "No, didn't think about it actually~"
"I'll bring some of my spare curtains over tomorrow, okay?" Lovino growled at the scenes before him and decided his litter box was a far better place to be. He was quick about getting to the bathroom and opened the door to let himself in. Once inside, he laid down on the bathroom floor. Why did it hurt so bad to see Antonio so happy like that?
He couldn't possibly be jealous. Roderich was just a human. Lovino was Antonio's best friend. At least … he liked to think that way. Maybe it was because he thought of Antonio as his best (and only) friend, that he's become so protective of the man. Especially since Roderich was a jerk who kept making the other human cry.
Lovino licked his paw, thinking about Antonio. He had to come to terms that he indeed liked the human. Antonio was the only person to continue smiling when he hissed, continued trying to get close, despite the claws, and never got angry for torn curtains and hairballs left on the carpet. He was a great human and even treated the cat like he was also human, rarely referring to him as 'his cat', always Lovi. He may have had a few flaws sometime ago when it came to Feli, but he hadn't gotten rid of Lovino, after all, so it meant something good, right?
The cat purred softly and hoped he never had to leave the comforts he was assured with his tomato loving bastard human.
Later that night, after Roderich had finally gone home, Antonio and Lovino were laying in Antonio's room, watching Lovino's favorite channel. The cat purred, watching the show of the world's deadliest animals. His human gently scratched his back. It was a perfect evening.
Lovino looked over during commercials and saw Antonio was smiling dreamily at the photo on his nightstand. The cat felt the sharp stab of pain and crawled into Antonio's lap, wishing the man would stop thinking about Roderich for once. Antonio's attention snapped to the cat in his lap. Lovino stared up into his human's bright green eyes and leaned his head down to lick Antonio's hand.
Antonio smiled and petted Lovino. The cat crawled further up Antonio's chest and decided to show the human how much he meant by bestowing him an honor he reserved for his brother: bath. He let his tongue flick out and rub against Antonio's cheek. The man laughed softly, muttering about how rough the tongue was. Lovino ignored it and continue cleaning his human's face.
When he was satisfied with his work, he sat back and licked his paw. The Spaniard laughed and scratched Lovino's ears, "So cute~! I'm so glad you like me now …" the man smiled. Lovino purred lightly and jumped off Antonio's stomach to lay down on the bed to sleep.
The human flipped off the television set and curled up on the bed, "Good night, Lovi~"
Lovino meowed in response.
The next day, Antonio spent most of it with Roderich, putting up new curtains and cleaning the apartment of the apparent smell the man talked about, which was heavily insulting to the cat. He glared at them both, wishing Antonio would send the man home and pick up the cat nip mouse and play.
Maybe if he acted cute, he'd stop paying attention to Roderich. He could already feel his dignity slipping away, but anything he could do to make the prissy man angry, including making him ignored, was worth it.
He hopped to the floor and meowed softly. Antonio turned to see what Lovino wanted and Lovino rolled onto his back, paws in the air and twisted his back so he could look at Antonio with huge eyes.
"Aww~ look at how cute Lovi is!" Roderich growled and Antonio muttered sorry and helped him put the curtain up.
Lovino flopped back onto his belly and glared. 'You win this time, asshole!' he meowed. The cat made his way to his favorite spot in the kitchen and watched them stand back to admire their handiwork.
Antonio said something about making lunch and Roderich nodded and turned to see Lovino on the counter.
"Lovino … get off the counter." the man reached forward to pick up the cat. Lovino hissed and took a swipe at the man, feeling proud when he ripped into Roderich's palm.
"Lovino!" Antonio shouted.
The cat's ears flattened against his head and he laid down on the counter in submission to his human. The man never once yelled at Lovino until now, nor did he ever say his name like that.
Antonio led Roderich to the sink and cleaned to scratch and bandaged it. Roderich spoke softly with Antonio and Lovino watched as his face became twisted with hurt at whatever the man was telling him. Roderich said something else and Antonio took a half step back, "He'll behave … I promise …"
The prissy man sighed and kissed Antonio goodbye, "I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"
The Spaniard nodded and bid him goodbye, before turning to Lovino, "Lovi … I don't mind you scratching me, but please … don't scratch our guests …" Lovino felt his heart racing and the sharp pain in his heart came back. Antonio had never been disappointed like that before. He never snapped at Roderich for shooing him away or insulting him. He never got angry with Gilbert for chasing him, or Francis for letting that thing he called a dog … attempt to do vile things to him … on a side note, he really hated that rat thing. He couldn't hide under the couch from it, and when he was on the floor … it liked to try and … Lovino shuddered at the thoughts of when he first met that thing and it tried to mount him. He remembered fondly when he'd ripped the dog a new one. However, it didn't stop Jacques for trying when Francis brought him over.
He shook his head and went back to being angry at Antonio. He hissed loudly and jumped to the floor, to curl up on his little pillow bed. The cat was sure that if her were human, he'd be crying. What had he been thinking? Lovino would always be second to something or someone else, even in Antonio's eyes.
I hate making Austria the bad guy of my stories, but it always ends up that way, especially in the beginning of my other chapter story, Kismet (please read Q.Q)
Hope you enjoyed the chapter~
~Lady Pyrien