This chapter is being put up early for a few different reason:
1) one of my reviewers made me laugh quite a bit and I'd love to give a present for that
2) You guys are spoiling me with reviews and alerts~
and three, I live in the DFW area of Texas and if you've seen the news, we were attacked by several tornadoes today and they are still going in the north. The tornado was literally down the street on Sublett ... another near my friend and even another in the same apartment complex as another friend. This chapter is to celebrate that no one I know was seriously injured and to give awareness to families who were hurt or lost their homes in these storms, and hope that if any of my readers are in the area, you were not injured either.
Speaking of these tornadoes ... a math teacher from my old high school was one of the tornado chases on the news!
NekoRoma
Chapter Seven: Visitors Like Crazy
Lovino frowned, his ears flattening against his head, "Damn it …" he hissed, though not in the way he would have preferred.
Antonio bit his lip. How was he going to explain his cat becoming human to his boyfriend? Lovino walked over to the couch and crouched down, "There's no way I'm going to fucking fit … I hate being human!" he growled, wondering if he would fit under the couch at all.
The Spaniard shushed him, "Just go back to the kitchen, okay, Lovi?"
Lovino rolled his eyes and marched to the kitchen to sit down against the pantry. He heard Antonio open the door.
"Hello, Antonio I came for our lunch date … goodness! You're not even dressed in anything but your pajamas!" Roderich's voice carried through the apartment.
"Uh … yeah," cough, cough, "scratchy throat … not feeling so good," cough, "you should probably leave before you catch it, too!"
"You probably got it from that mangy animal you keep around here," Lovino felt his blood boil. He wasn't mangy! "Speaking of, where is the little devil? Did you get rid of him?"
Lovino felt his heart constrict when he was reminded of just why he'd been turned human in the first place.
"Um … about that …"
"Antonio …"
"Just give me a little bit of time, okay … he's my best friend-"
"He's just a cat. You can get a nicer one, or better yet, a fish. Those can't tear up curtains. I guess I'll let you go get some rest then, I'll see you."
Lovino heard the smacking of lips in a kiss and the door shut. Antonio peered around the corner, "Hey, you okay? You look a little … scrunched?"
"Scrunched?" Lovino stood up, hopping from one leg to the other, "I have to go to the litter box!" he pushed passed Antonio and opened the bathroom door.
Antonio caught him before he closed the door, "Um … okay, so um … you're human … ish … now … use the toilet … please?" Lovino looked at the porcelain bowl in confusion.
"J-just sit … um … but … take the boxers off and … oh, this is so awkward … um … just ask for help if you need it …" Antonio closed the door, leaving Lovino to stare at the toilet. After a few moments, he figured out what Antonio had wanted of him and relieved himself. He opened the door, but Antonio pointed to the sink, "Um … wash your hands now."
The former cat went to lick his hand, but Antonio grabbed it, "Humans wash their hands in the sink."
The sink. Lovino hated that thing. He'd slipped in it once, hitting the handle on the way down. He was soaked.
"Here, let me help you~!" Antonio turned the handles and held his hand under until he was satisfied, then he grabbed Lovino's wrists and pulled him closer to the sink, "I know you hate water, but you're not exactly a cat anymore … you can't just lick yourself clean …" the man blushed a deep crimson red, "J-just …" he shoved Lovino's hands under the water.
Lovino yelped, but it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. Antonio grabbed a small bottle and one of Lovino's hands and squirted the pink liquid into his palm, "Now rub your hands together until you've scrubbed them good, rinse until all the soap is gone and dry off with this towel."
The part cat nodded and did as he was told, amazed at the bubbles forming in his hands as he rubbed his hands together. He reluctantly stuck his hands beneath the faucet again and rinsed away the foam. Once he was sure it was all gone, the former cat pulled his hands away.
"Good~!" Antonio turned off the faucet and handed Lovino the hand towel, "You need to do this every time you use the bathroom."
Lovino glared, but nodded, drying his hands off.
"Um … I don't suppose you have any clothes?" Antonio looked him over, "Like … maybe poofed up to fit your new body?"
A shrug was his answer, "I woke up in this and didn't see anything else. Why? Not prissy enough for you, bastard?"
Antonio looked at him, "Prissy? No … it has nothing to do with that, it's just … humans don't usually run around in their underwear … here I'll let you borrow some of my clothes … thought they might not fit so well …"
They walked to Antonio's room and the human man pulled an old football (European, of course~) shirt from his drawer and a pair of pajama pants, since they had an elastic and drawstring. He helped Lovino dress in the fabric and Lovino frowned, "It's uncomfortable, bastard!"
"I'm sorry, Lovi … but we'll go shopping some other time … get you something better to wear … I wonder why your ears and tail were left like they were …"
Lovino huffed and crossed his arms, "Does it even matter?"
Antonio nodded, "Kind of … I mean … most humans don't have them-"
"Human this, human that! I'm tired of hearing about what most humans do or wear! I'm Lovino! The cat turned human-cat hybrid thing! I'm not you! I'm not Roderich! I'm not Gilbert or Francis or Ludwig! I'm Lovino and I'm something else entirely!"
"I didn't mean anything by it …" Antonio frowned, kind of hoping this was all just a crazy nightmare and that he'd wake up next to his little fur ball. His completely feline fur ball.
This person his cat had become was touchy … well … maybe Lovino had always been like that. He thought about his cat's behavior for the long time he'd owned the cat. Lovino only was nice to him, however … he did become mean again whenever he said certain things … like the night before when he called the animal shelter. The cat refused to let him touch him.
Were cats always that smart, or was Lovino the exception? Would any cat have been able to make a wish to become human?
Lovino looked him over, but then looked away, "Whatever."
Antonio smiled and went to make dinner. He made a tomato salad, knowing it was one of Lovino's favorites to beg for. He kind of missed the cat sitting on the counter, eying the red fruit, waiting for Antonio to sit down and scoop some onto the counter for him.
"You know, I never met a cat who liked tomato." he said, slicing through the fruit. Lovino looked up from the couch he was curled up on.
"What of it?" he blushed. Antonio grinned. It was so easy to make this new Lovino blush~!
The Spaniard shrugged, "It's just, I love tomatoes, too, so I was happy to have a cat who liked them."
Lovino looked at him, then down at his human toes sticking out from underneath the large pajama pants. He curled them up and stretched them. At least those worked like his cat toes had, "D-do you prefer me as a cat?"
Antonio seemed a bit taken aback. He shifted his weight awkwardly and continued slicing the tomato for the salad, "Honestly, I miss having my furry little friend sitting here on the counter, or purring when he doesn't think he is …" Lovino glared and hugged his legs tightly, his tail twitching angrily beneath the pants, "But … I'm glad I can finally know what you're saying … your mind seems to be more human that cat … it's like … you always knew what was going on … what I was saying … you understood. And when you reacted to my words … I was confused because I didn't know why, but now," he smiled at Lovino, "you can tell me what's bothering you. Now I have someone to talk to when I'm at home~!"
The former cat blushed, "Shut up …" he muttered.
"You look just like a tomato~!" Antonio grinned, scooping the tomato into the bowl and mixing it up with the rest of the stuff, "Food's done~!"
Lovino reluctantly pushed himself off of the couch and walked into the kitchen to sit on the stool he'd sat earlier. Antonio placed a bowl of salad in front of Lovino and himself and sat down to eat.
He poked at his food, watching Antonio eat his. It was tomato, so he knew it was good, but none of this other stuff ever caught his attention before, nor did it look good. The former cat shrugged and began picking out all the tomato bits with his fingers.
"Lovi!" he winced and looked up, his ears flattening again.
Antonio took his own fork and stabbed through a bunch of the ingredients in the salad, "First, use the fork, it's less messy and you can stay away from the sink more often. Second, eat all of it! Eating just tomato is delicious, but bad for you to not eat more than that!" he held the fork in front of Lovino's mouth, "Now eat."
Lovino shook his head, but Antonio insisted he eat the bite. Lovino shook again and Antonio reached up to grab the back of Lovino's head to keep him still.
"Please eat it."
"No." he locked his lips.
"Just eat it~ it's good for you~!"
"No!"
"Lovino, you'd better eat this bite right now."
"N-" Antonio cut him off by sliding the fork into Lovino's mouth. Instead of chewing, like Antonio had hoped, Lovino spit all of the salad out. The mess went to four of four places: the counter, the floor, down Lovino's shirt and all over Antonio.
The Spaniard set down the fork in his bowl and used his fingers to peel away a piece of cheese stuck to his chin and he tossed it in the bowl.
"Lovi … that was so not cute!" he smiled, "Go watch TV, I'm going to get this cleaned up."
Lovino nodded and quickly made his way to the couch to sit down. He couldn't help but feel he was in a lot of trouble for not eating his stupid salad. He watched Antonio use the sponge thing to wipe up the counters and he mopped the floor, all while still covered in tomato, cheese and some sort of dressing.
It was also all over the shirt Antonio had given him, so he pulled it off and went back to wearing the thin sleeveless shirt he had been wearing.
Antonio finished cleaning and walked into the living room, "Come here." he was holding a wet cloth in his hands.
"Uh-uh!" Lovino glared, "I don't think so!"
"Yes, you're covered in dressing!" Antonio sat on the couch and leaned forward to wipe Lovino's face.
Lovino fought him back, "NO! Get that away from me!"
"Lovi, quit being so difficult! Just let me wash your face!" he pinned the smaller form to the couch and managed to finally clean his face, "There!" he said looking down at Lovino, "Wasn't so bad, was it?"
His answer was a hiss, a very human hiss, and Antonio laughed. A knock came at the door and Antonio frowned. Who was it this time?
"Yo! Toni, open up! I brought beer!"
"Shut up, Gilbert, you have to be smooth, and loving, Antonio, mon amour, open up~! Please, don't make us stand out here in the cold. Let us come in so that we may warm ourselves in your loving embrace~!"
A pause, "Franny, that was totally gay."
"Says the man actually dating another man."
"Toni, just let us in!"
Antonio bit his lip. He'd forgotten it was Saturday! He ran to the coat closet and pulled out his snow hat, "Lovi, wear this!" he tossed it to him.
"Why?"
"Just do it, okay? Don't take it off." he also pulled out a hoodie from high school and tossed it to him, "Just wear them, please. Now's not the time to be difficult."
He walked to the door and swung it open, just as Lovino shoved on the sweater and hat. Francis walked in along with Gilbert and Lovino glared. The French bastard had that rat thing with him, "I brought a playmate for Lovi~!"
The blonde set the wannabe dog on the floor. It began shaking violently, searching for the other animal the scent in the house belonged to.
"Won't find me down there, shaky bastard!" Lovino inwardly laughed.
"Oh? And who is this tasty morsel~?" Francis grinned, sliding on the couch beside Lovino. Lovino stiffened and looked at the Frenchman.
Antonio opened the fridge and froze. He couldn't tell them his real name. A package in on one of the shelves caught his attention as he put the beer in the fridge. "Um … his name's Romano."
Lovino looked up and glared, "He's a friend in need of a place to stay for a while, so I offered to let him stay here, right Romano?"
'Romano' continued glaring, "Yeah … right."
Gilbert raised his brow, "Seems familiar. Did you go to World W Academy? University?"
Lovino was going to say no, but Antonio cut him off, "He was a transfer student from Italy for a year or two, don't you remember?"
Francis raised his brow, "I think so …" he muttered, leaning closer to Lovino, "But I'd like to get to know you better, mon ami~"
Lovino pressed himself against the arm of the couch and looked to Antonio for help. Antonio walked over and sat down in between them, smiling brightly.
"So~"
"You're not … cheating on Roderich with this cutie, are you?" Francis raised his brow, grinning suggestively.
"Cheating?" Lovino looked at Antonio questioningly.
Antonio blushed, "No! Lo-Romano is just a friend!" Francis rolled his eyes and gave a look to Gilbert. Gilbert jut shrugged and sipped on one of the beers he'd brought.
"So what happened to you? Looks like one of your meals exploded on your face." the albino asked, pointing to the dressing stains and bits of tomato still covering Antonio's face.
Antonio looked down and smiled sheepishly, "Ahahaha~ funny story … Romano doesn't like salad and he isn't afraid to spit it out. I'm going to take a quick shower. Be right back~!" he leaned closer to Lovino, "Play nice."
Lovino stuck his tongue out, as he'd seen a child do on TV once and crossed his arms, "Stupid tomato bastard! I'm not a fucking kit-child anymore!"
"Romano, is it?" Francis scooted closer again.
The former cat nodded, going along with Antonio's lie. He didn't know why Antonio was ashamed of him … or didn't want them to know who he was.
His eyes shifted around the room, trying to escape Francis' gaze. They landed on the dog thing. It was shaking in the corner of the room, still looking for the feline he usually attempted to molest. Lovino smirked.
"Ah~ mon petit chien, come here to papa~ is that mean old cat not around …" Lovino's tail twitched beneath the clothing as Francis picked up the chihuahua and turned to Lovino, "Where is that cat anyway? He's usually following Antonio around, sitting on the counter or under the couch, but he doesn't seem to be here~"
Lovino lightly blushed. He didn't follow Antonio around! "I don't know …"
Francis frowned, but dropped it, at least for a moment. There was something off about this Romano. He was familiar, yes, but he'd known every cute face, transfer for a week or several years, or a fully enrolled student. Gilbert seemed oblivious to this, so he wouldn't say anything. It seemed like mentioning it wasn't worth the looks he'd probably earn from Antonio and Gilbert. Maybe he'd get it out of their new little friend later.
~Lady Pyrien