"No way man, you know my mom would kill me if she finds out. Besides, I can't take any more chances, I'm already on thin ice as it is," Lee explained.

"C'moooon Lee," said Biffy. "Mrs. Rumplekittykat is already comfortable with you, and I don't have anyone else to ask."

"Why don't you ask Cam or Holger?"

"Would you really trust them with something precious to you, let alone a cat?" Biffy asked unamused.

"I guess that's true," said Lee, knowing Cam and Holger too well. "But still, I'm grounded in case you forgot. And I don't have any place to hide her."

"If you do this for me…" Biffy contemplated. "I'll give you my sloppy joe every Thursday…for a month."

"Deal," Lee said immediately, ever since Barrage and his year long detention, he could barely walk into the cafeteria before being escorted away.

The bell rang, cutting their negotiation short, "I'll meet you by the west exit after school," Biffy said as he hurried to class.

Back in his own class, Lee pondered on how he could hide Biffy's cat, Mrs. Rumplekittykat. Her original owner's home was being fumigated and he didn't want her getting anywhere near the chemicals. He didn't mind her as she was a very friendly cat, he enjoyed how she would snuggle on him during detention and over the past weeks she had gotten very friendly with him.

But that was in detention. Bringing her home was a completely different thing, and just thinking about his mom finding out scared him. "I guess you and I will just have to spend the day in my room," he thought to himself.

His room was usually pretty safe, and his parents rarely entered. Lee would often due to his schoolwork in the living room, his room was usually reserved for sleeping and sometimes using his computer to chat with his friends, but since he was grounded there wasn't much of the latter.

As the teacher droned on, Lee became less anxious and more confident in his plan, soon enough the final bell for the day rang and everyone headed to their lockers. "Yo! Ese you coming?" asked Cam, who was waiting to catch the bus with Holger next to him.

"You guys go ahead I…left one of my books back in detention," lied Lee, he didn't exactly want to come clean about the 'cat situation' since he figured the less people who knew about it, the better.

"Holger and Cam can wait for you Leeee!" said Holger.

"Well…it'll take me a while to get the key from Barrage and I don't want you to miss the bus because of me, you guys go on ahead, I'll catch the next one," both Cam and Holger bought his excuse and were off to go home. While Lee went to go meet Biffy.

"Took you a while dude," said an impatient Biffy who was waiting with his cat laying on his shoulder.

"Yeah yeah, here give her to me and I'll put her in my backpack."

Biffy shot Lee a horrified look that was met with Lee rolling his eyes. "Calm down, it's breathable and I've taken my stuff out so she'll have room, I'll make sure not to zip it up with her inside."

"Phew, you scared me for a second there," said Biffy with a sigh of relief. "Thanks for doing this."

"No worries, just don't forget, a month."

ON THE BUS HOME

Lee made sure to keep the backpack steady in his lap, so far it was easy as she had decided to sleep quickly, making the bus ride smooth. However things became more complicated as he stepped out in front of his house.

It was a warm day with no wind, he enjoyed the rays of sunlight on his body and he felt that if he were a cat, he too would be sleepy on days like this. He had folded the cover of his backpack over, allowing for the cat to not be seen and also to breathe as he didn't zip it up. With a deep breath, he unlocked his front door and went in.

His father was still at work and his mother was sitting at the dinner table typing on her laptop. "Welcome back son, you eat yet?"

"O-oh hey mom, yeah I just ate. Sooo, I'm just gonna head to my room."

His mother gave him a confused look "What about your homework?"

"Already done," he quickly replied as he bolted up the stairs, feeling his backpack and realizing the cat was no longer sleeping. "Made it. Now let's get you out of there."

Pretty soon Lee had cleared his bed and now an energetic cat lay atop it. Having just woken up from her sleep, she was ready to play. "What did Biffy usually play with you…Oh that's right!" he whipped out his phone and put the volume to its lowest. Placing the phone in front of Mrs. Rumplekittykat with the piano app open, he remembered that Biffy mentioned that he had taught her how to play the piano on his phone. He was enjoying listening to the tune the cat was playing until he heard a knock on his door.

Scooping her up he placed her under his bed and muted his phone, hoping that the cat enjoyed it regardless of the lack of music. He was greeted by his dad when he opened the door. "Hey kiddo, mind if we talk?"

"Sure dad. What's up?"

Leaning against Lee's desk, he pushed the seat in front of him, motioning for Lee to sit down. Due to the lack of dad jokes, Lee knew this was serious. "Now son, I'm your father and what that entails is that I must ensure that you abide by rules."

Lee's heart started speeding up. What was his dad referring to? Did he know about the cat? No, this was bigger than that, could it be he found out about his sneaking out of detention. Or how he snuck out of his room last week. Or how-

"It's becoming too common now, Lee. I'm afraid this is going to be the last time I tell you. Now try not to hold it against me, I know those flavors tempt even the strong ones." Lee suddenly stopped his thoughts. Flavours? What on earth was his dad talking about, nothing really came to mind.

"Um dad, sorry but could you clarify what you're talking about?"

"Hmm…Oh my double dough-birthday-cake ice cream of course! I know you're not only to blame, your mother has a bit of a sweet tooth as well but-,"

"Wait, so this is about me eating your ice cream?" he let out a chuckle, realizing he was getting worried over nothing.

"Yes Lee, my ice cream, the key word being 'my'. I love both you and your mother very much but both of you always eat it before I even get a chance, and I'm asking you to leave some for your good old dad."

Lee smiled and relaxed, understanding that both him and the cat were safe, after promising his dad to control his ice cream cravings he was alone in his room again. Not including the cat that is.

"Well that was close. Wasn't it, Mrs. Rumplekittykat?" asked Lee as he lay flat on his back in bed holding the cat up with his arms. Though a happy meow was the best answer he was going to get from her. He continued playing with her and scratching her behind the ears, having too much fun they didn't pay attention to the time and eventually drifted off to sleep.

The morning was smooth sailing, Lee got up early and prepared himself breakfast while giving her the spare cat food Biffy had lent him. Eventually both had eaten and Lee had exited his house with the cat in his backpack again, after the bus ride he stepped into the entrance of A. Nigma High.

"Hey dude," greeted Biffy. "Seriously appreciate the help. Hope she wasn't too hard to handle. My house is all cleared now."

"Here you go Biff," said Lee as he gave him back his cat. "No she was great, definitely worth it for a month's worth of sloppy joes," both laughed as they walked to their lockers.

Lee eyed the cat as she stared back at him from Biffy's shoulder as they walked. "Listen…let me know if you need another cat sitter in the future."

"Oooh, it seems Mrs. Rumplekittykat has worked her charm on you," he joked while wrapping his muscular arms around Lee's neck.

"Shut up dude," joked Lee, but thinking about the fun he had he knew it wasn't entirely a lie.