It had been a few weeks since that silly water bottle incident, and a few short days since the newest addition was introduced to the boys. A panther boy named Cole came into Alice Rose's vision during a murder scene and the two began their investigation. After Cole was introduced to the large household, everyone immediately knew who he was. They had all gone to Alice about their encounters with him. Since then, Alice keeps a closer eye on the panther boy to make sure he's not up to any mischief.

Right now Alice was just waking up, Cole being next to her as per usual. He insists on staying with her sometimes, and by sometimes, he means all the time. Alice insists he can be on his own, but he only goes unless she says so.

"Y'know, you could sleep on your own." Alice said in a sleepy tone. Cole looked at her. "I could, but then I'd be away from you…" He said in her ear. Alice shivered. "You're always around me though…" Cole growled and put an arm around Alice's waist out of possessiveness. Alice just sighed and allowed Cole's affections.

"Y'know I have to make breakfast for everyone…" She said as Cole nuzzled her.

"They can wait.." He said as he purred into her neck. Alice sat up, earning a growl from the panther.

"Don't be mean." She said in a playful tone and walked out of the room, greeting everyone that was in the living room.

"It's about damn time, I'm starrvvinngg." Anon said teasingly.

Alice rolled her eyes playfully. "You could've had some cereal or something y'know." She pointed out.

Anon quirked a brow with a smile. "Aye, I could've. But then I wouldn't be able to have any of yer' delicious cookin'." He pointed out, making Alice blush slightly.

As Alice whipped up some quick pancakes, she felt cold hands wrap around her waist.

"You smell delicious…"

Alice snorted. "Behave, Stirling." She scolded.

Stirling nuzzled her neck and smirked. "I'm on my best behavior darling. Don't fret."

Alice rolled her eyes at his tone. As she finished up breakfast, everyone gathered and ate their fill. It was good that Alice had a lot of money, because of how much everyone ate and what their specific diets were since they were half animals, getting food for them cost her a lot. But with how many jobs and how much money she accumulated, housing them with her and buying their specific needs and wants were no problem now. As she loaded the dishwasher, she noted the lack of Cole. She got up and looked around and found the panther sleeping peacefully on her bed. This made her smile slightly. He looked so peaceful when he slept.. Alice sat next to him and rubbed his head, making him purr.

"I made breakfast. I made sure to save you some bacon, I know you don't like it when Ichiban and Volks take all of it." She told him. Cole's tail swished happily in response as he woke up with a yawn and a stretch.

"I apologize for falling back asleep, it seems that enhanced sleeping comes with this affliction." He states, still slightly sleepy.

Alice smiles brightly. "You're fine! I don't mind." She said, making him happy.

Alice and Cole left the room and Cole got to dig into his plate of bacon and pancakes. Alice sat in between Ichiban and Anon, the two were in a heated gaming session, some sort of competitive game that Alice was a complete noob at, as Anon says.

"So who's winning?" She asks.

No response, from the looks of it, it was a real heated game, the two were on one life and high damage, seemingly dodging and deflecting each other's moves, Alice couldn't keep up and just guessed at who might've been winning.

As the two yelled profanities at each other, one of the little characters ended up being launched off-screen, ultimately losing the battle, Anon cursed out Ichiban as he did a victory roar.

Ichiban grabbed Alice out of nowhere and hugged her tightly. "Ngh! G-Glad..you..nggh..won!"

After Ichiban practically dropped Alice, Volks popped out to see what the commotion was all about. "Damn you guys are loud. Can't you keep quiet for once?" he grumbled.

Anon rolled his eyes as Ichiban celebrated. Volks couldn't help but smirk at the scene unfolding between the two. "Alright you two, knock it off, Volks is angry now." Alice teased.

Volks looked away. "I'm not..Nevermind." That was all he could say. Alice giggled at him.

Soon Eli popped his head out of the corner. "I'm trying to have a much-needed bubble bath you heathens!"

Ichiban smiled dorkily. "Oops." He said with a dorky laugh.

Eli did all but flip his fluffy hair as he returned to his bubble bath.

Anon got up and sat beside Alice. "I don' know about you guys, but I call Alice for the day."

"Fat chance!" Ichiban said.

"You were with her yesterday squirrely." Volks pointed out.

"It's Lemur ya prat!"

"Whatever, the point is, you're not pulling this crap again."

Alice looked towards the kitchen where Cole was finishing up his bacon. "I think… I'm gonna spend the day with Cole today."

"Boooo!"

"Be nice Anon, he hasn't done anything."

Soon, Cole made his way to the living room and took his place by Alice. Everyone began to leave due to the awkward tension growing in the room.

"I got stuff to do. I'll see ya." Volks said as he left.

"Yeahh I got a live stream coming up in a few min, see ya in a bit babe." Ichiban said as he ran.

"Well, I've got hacker things to do, see ya." Anon said as he left.

Soon it was just Alice and Cole alone, Alice silently sighed. It seemed that everyone wasn't too keen on Cole and excused themselves when he came around. Except for Poe and Cashew it seemed. Poe was more intrigued in his presence than tense, and Cashew was intrigued by the kinds of books that Cole seemed interested in so he always tried to talk to him about them, so there's that.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Cole asked as Alice seemed to be completely zoned out.

"Uhm..yeah, just got caught up in thinking.." Alice admitted.

After some small talk between the two, they got up and began their date day, the first location they'd be going to was a nearby mall. She figured they could visit stores and poke fun at what they looked at and people watch, one of Alice and Cole's favorite activities. Cole introduced her to people watching on their first date together when they were sitting on the park bench, they had nothing to talk about and Alice felt intimidated by Cole and his obsessive/possessive nature and was unsure how to talk to him until Cole asked her if she had ever people watched before and since then, they watched and Alice always made up scenarios with each person which amused the panther male. It quickly became their favorite thing to do as it gave them plenty of laughs and giggles.

Soon the two arrived at the mall and they began to walk around, talking about what they could do next.

"..Well, we're halfway through this transformation nonsense, what else could we do?" Alice asked.

Cole thought for a moment, the only reason why he was standing here now was that Alice kissed him, could there be something else like that they could try to get rid of the rest of the panther DNA? What else could there be? Could there be some sort of medicine or something?

"Perhaps we need to change our strategy, our pace seems to have weakened since the transformation." He said.

Alice nodded as she agreed. "Well then, what should we do? Going out and just doing whatever isn't working? Should we um.. Be more.. Involved?" She asked, becoming shy at the end of her statement.

Cole could tell Alice wasn't comfortable with the idea of going at a faster pace with the romantic aspect of things, he didn't mind though, in the end, Alice was still here and still his..

"Hey." He started as he held her hand. "Fast or slow, I don't mind. We may go at whatever pace pleases you. It's not like this is too bothersome." He said coolly.

Alice blushed as she felt his gentle hands. "T-Thanks.." She muttered.

The two then walked around the mall for a while longer, buying things that they wanted, such as books, clothes, and trinkets. After a bit of time, the two sat outside on a nearby bench enjoying the spring breeze.

"Y'know.. I wasn't so sure at first, but… I really like you.." She said shyly.

Cole and Alice were both red in the face, Cole was having a hard time keeping his overdriving feelings at bay. He could feel his heart racing, the sound of his heart beating in his ears, a rush of adrenaline. A blurring feeling that was getting harder and harder to ignore. His desire for Alice was strong, his rational thoughts were hard to hear over his obsessive ones. He smiled a bit at Alice.

"I enjoy you. Far more than I thought I would." He complimented back., making Alice smile shyly.

Alice then slid closer to Cole slowly, Cole noticed and closed the gap between them. The two looked at each other, Alice's shining blue eyes stared into Cole's dull grey ones. They could feel each other getting closer and closer, their hearts were beating fast, their thoughts were nothing more than thoughts of each other, as they inched closer, the sudden honks of two cars brought them out of their hypnotic state. Cole growled as he watched the two drivers argue.

"U-Um…We should h-head home.."

"Yes, we probably should."

The drive home was heavy. The looming thought of them about to have their first legitimate kiss was looming over Alice, luckily Cole was driving or she would've caused them to crash with how distracted she was. As the two arrived home, Alice was fumbling with the keys, Cole noticed and decided to play with her a little. He went behind her and held her waist with a purr, making her blush.

"Are we okay over here?" He purred into her ear.

Alice shivered. "Y-Yeah…I was just.."

Cole put a hand on hers. "Allow me…"

Cole cooly guided her hand into her pocket and helped her grab her keys, not letting go, he gently puppeteered her hand over to the lock and slowly unlocked it.

"There.." He purred. "Was that so hard?"

Alice was all but a puddle of goo from his teasing. Cole entered the house acting all innocent, while Alice walked in, trying not to trip over her feet from how weak at the knees she was.

"I…gotta take a shower.." She said as she ran up to her shower.

=With Cashew=

Cashew watched Cole walk in with interested eyes. When he moved in, he got a different kind of welcome than everyone else from him. One that he would never forget… He still had the scar to prove that it happened. Every time he remembered, he would shiver in delight. But it seemed that Cole was keen on keeping it as a one-time thing, as afterward, he treated him like everyone else. Someone who wasn't worth Alice's attention.

Cashew walked up to Cole shyly. "Uhh hey there! I uh saw that you liked reading horror stories and I figured.. Why nut heh.. Ask you for some uh.. Recommendations, y'know.. Since I thought you might be an expert on the topic and I'm rambling aren't I?" He asked in the end.

Cole stared at the young squirrel boy with blank eyes. It seemed that Cashew was a permanent thorn on his side. But looking into his green eyes, Cole knew he wouldn't leave him alone.

Cole rolled his eyes as he sighed. "Fine. Let's go."

Cole took the squirrel boy up to his newly established room, as Cashew looked through his books, Cole closed and locked his door.

"How long are you going to keep playing around, squirrely?" Cole asked in a menacing tone.

Cashew squeaked as he looked at Cole and his menacing form. "You're thinking about it, aren't you?" He asks.

Cashew swallows hard as he puts a hand on his chest. "N-No?" He said hesitantly.

Cole walked over and put a finger under Cashew's chin and made him look up at him. "Don't…lie..to…me.." He said as he played with Cashew's cheeks.

Cashew shook him off. "A-Alright maybe I am! But-"

"But that won't happen again. It was one time, a mistake, nothing more, nothing less."

Cashew's lip quivered at his menacing voice. "I just.." He cut off, Cole saw Cashew as nothing more than a quick thing and that was it. Cashew had to get over it, no matter how Cole was that night, a night like that would never happen again. Right?

Cole smirked slightly at the young reader. "You just what? Hoping I would do it again? No chance, squirrely. A Night like that is for Alice, and Alice only. You just got lucky."

Cole went and unlocked his door and walked over to Cashew after grabbing a few horror novels. "Here. Have fun." He said as he gave him his novels.

Cashew watched Cole walk out of his room with wide eyes. He adjusted his glasses as he took a much-needed breath. He took his novels and went to his room to try and read, but his thoughts were occupied by…him…