Cat and Mouse

Brian was surprised when he entered the loft. It was still afternoon. The fireplace was lit which meant that the kid must be home. He had not expected that. But why was the fireplace already lit in mid-afternoon? Then he took a second look toward the fireplace and got another surprise - perhaps a less welcome one. "Justin," he called out. "Justin Taylor, hiding will not do you any good. Come out from wherever the hell you're hiding. I want to see you - now - right away."

Justin came in from the kitchen with a broad smile on his face. "I'm not hiding, Honey, just working on dinner," he declared. "What's the matter? Oh, I guess you've met Cicero."

"I don't know if I've met Cicero or not," Brian stated, reasonably calmly he thought, "But I have noticed a cat lying in front of our fireplace."

"Yeah," Justin told him. "Cicero seemed to like the fireplace so I lit it for him, and he does like it, Bri. So you have met Cicero. And Cicero is not really a cat, Bri. He's just a kitten."

"Well, whatever he is, I'm glad he likes the fireplace," Brian decided. "I can sit in front of it with Cicero then since I can't imagine that I'd want to sit in front of it with you - at this point anyhow. Maybe you should tell me some of the background leading up to Cicero liking our fireplace. I presume you're the one who brought him here.'

"Yeah," Justin admitted. "Me and Malcolm picked him up at the animal shelter this afternoon. Isn't he cute? He has all his shots and the other stuff too."

"I think maybe I'll reserve judgment on whether he's cute or not for a while," Brian replied. "So you're telling me this is Malcolm's cat then. That explains the name. The Shellcoffs are all classicists. You'd have given him some dumb name like Blackie. How come the cat is here though?"

"Well I don't think I'd have named him Blackie, Brian," Justin protested. "But that would have been a dumb name all right since he's all gray. And actually Malcolm is out at the pet store picking up some supplies. You need to have stuff if you're going to keep a cat. Malcolm knows about cats."

"I'm sorry, Baby," Brian relented. "I just thought, oh never mind, I should have known you wouldn't get us a cat without consulting me. C'mere. Let's sit down in front of the fireplace with Cicero. I guess I owe you a hug." And so they sat themselves down and the three of them enjoyed silently the flickering flames for a while.

Their reverie was interrupted a bit later by the arrival of an unexpected guest. Mikey slid the loft door open and entered. "Hey, Justin," he called. "I met Malcolm downstairs and he gave me all the cat junk. I told him I was coming over to see Cicero and he said I should just bring the stuff up because he was behind schedule."

"Glad you're here," Justin told Mikey. "Wanna stay for dinner? It will be out of the oven in an hour and a half and there's plenty if you want to stay."

"Nah," Michael declined. "Ben will be a little bit late getting home tonight but he'll be hungry when he does."

"And how did you know that Cicero was here, Mike?" Brian asked with Brianesque diffidence.

"Hunter told me," Mikey revealed. "He said Cicero was here and volunteered to handle the store so I could come over and see him. You know how much I like cats. And Linz mentioned something about it to me this morning too."

"The word is definitely out then, I guess," Brian observed.

"Well it wasn't exactly a secret," Mikey responded.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Justin reinvited Michael.

"Sorry I can't," Michael allowed. "But I'll be getting out pretty soon and give you and Brian a chance to get to know the cat." So after fifteen minutes of playing with Cicero, Michael did leave. The other three were still watching the fire. Nothing was said. At least not for a while.

Finally Brian broke the silence. "I'm not speaking to you, Twink," he began. "But I'm going to ask you some questions anyhow and I expect straight answers."

"You always get straight answers when you ask me questions," Justin pouted a bit, "And you know it too."

"That cat is not Malcolm's is it?" Brian began.

"No," Justin responded.

"Baby, if you wanted a cat, you know you could have a cat," Brian complained. "You know you always get what you want around here. It wasn't necessary for you to go out and get him and then surprise me. You know me better than that, or at least you should."

"Honey, that's not a question," Justin reminded him with a Justinesque smile. "You have to put your statements in the form of a question."

Brian almost smiled too but he didn't. "OK, Wise Guy," he rephrased. "Why did you go to the animal shelter and get yourself a cat without telling me? That's a question."

"I didn't," Justin replied, "And that's an answer."

"Well then, how the hell did the cat get here?" Brian asked two questions, "And who the hell does he belong to?"

"I already told you Malcolm and me brought him here," Justin replied, "And I guess technically, he belongs to you right now."

"You got me a cat?" Brian's voice displayed unbelief. "You got me a cat and didn't say anything about it in advance?"

"I thought I did tell you, Bri," Justin protested. "This morning just after we woke up."

"Is that what you were saying?" Brian finally did smile. "I was just looking at you, thinking how beautiful you are when you just wake up. I guess I can't listen and look at the same time. I'm sorry."

" Brian, Sweetheart," Justin told him. "Listen to me this time, please. Linz and Mel have been talking for a while about getting a cat for Gus. I guess you don't listen to them either. Yesterday, they talked about it again, you weren't there, and I told them that I thought you would like to give Gus the cat as a gift. They thought it was a good idea. Gus decided on the name because he had a book with a cat named Cicero in it. So now you have a cat that you will be taking over to give to Gus tomorrow - together with all the stuff they need. I'm sorry there was this misunderstanding."

Brian pulled Justin closer. "You know I love you, don't you, Twink," he said.

"Yeah," Justin assured him, "Because I always listen to you." That was enough to bring on another quiet period.

After a while, Brian had some more to say though. "You know, Baby," Brian told him, "It seems to me like maybe you were enjoying our little misunderstanding earlier. Am I wrong about that? I hope I'm wrong about that."

"Gee whiz, Bri, you know me so well I can't get away with anything," Justin confessed. "Actually I always love you but you're most attractive to me when you're just a little bit confused. Like today. I'm sorry."

Brian mussed up the kid's hair. "You are something else, Justin Taylor," Brian told him, "But I don't know how you can tell when I'm confused. Seems to me I'm always a little confused around you."

"That's OK, Bri," Justin returned the hair mussing. "I don't have any complaints."

Brian couldn't think of any complaints either.

Cicero might have complained. He couldn't figure out what was going on.

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