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Blue’s fairly certain he’s missing something.
Nothing world breaking or, in the long run, very important, but still… it’s a feeling he can’t shake nonetheless. Something is off and Blue just can’t put his finger on it.
Or rather, he knows exactly what’s wrong, just not why.
Kara’s been acting oddly in the past weeks. He’s been quiet and… observant. It feels like everytime they leave the house the man either has his hands or his eyes on him.
Blue’s not stupid. He knows there are worse things. He should be happy with the attention he’s getting, the obvious affection, but still something about it is… off. Wrong in a way that he isn’t sure what to do with. It feels like the man is planning something.
He’d probably answer if Blue asked, and that’s the only thing that keeps Blue from opening his mouth on the subject. It doesn’t feel dangerous, and it certainly isn’t that he’s in trouble. There’s still a warmth between them. They still smile and talk and read together… though that last one is a little more of a product of Blue pretending not to notice that he’s laying down across Kara’s lap and not allowing him to leave.
Really, there’s nothing to worry about, but still the thought pulls at the back of Blue’s mind. Especially when he’s alone.
The early mornings are the worst, because no matter what Blue does he absolutely can not wake up before Kara and the man never wakes him up unless they are running late. So when Blue comes to, it’s all he can do to burrow under the sheet hoping that they do the job of blocking out his thoughts.
Regrettably they don’t.
It might be better if there was some kind of other puzzle at hand. It had been so hard to be worried about little things when he was learning trade… elemental… anything really. So long as there was something else to focus his mind of he wouldn’t be getting caught up in all this.
At least there will be hot breakfast. Kara’s always a little more indulgent on the weekends and if Blue stays in bed long enough then the man just might bring it up to him. Blue wouldn’t do that… he hasn’t, not intentionally. But he has fallen asleep up here, relieved that it wasn’t a school day or that he wasn’t already late. It’s not a particularly good habit, but it’s not actively harmful. Especially not when it means he can have breakfast in bed whenever he wants.
He shouldn’t though. Kara had been fairly animate about going out just about every bit of free time they’d had together. Blue can’t help but feel a little spoiled by it all. Just the two of -
Blue sits bolt upright in bed, his ears twitching as a cold sweat comes over him. He holds his breath and his heartbeat is almost painful in his own ears as he strains his senses. But the sound comes again and Blue scrambles for the door with his heart in his throat.
Kara’s screaming.
Some hysterical corner of his brain remarks that he’s never really heard the sound before, but it’s undoubtedly Kara. Blue nearly faceplants as his socks slip against the tile, but he makes it to the source before the momentum has himself smacking into a wall.
Blue scans the kitchen for danger, for the thing that could be causing Kara, his Kara , to be screaming bloody murder.
Whatever it is he doesn’t see it. Everything looks much like it did the other day, with the exception of the tools for this morning’s breakfast laying out of the table and Kara standing on the kitchen counter looking like he’s going to start crying.
“Oh, Blue, thank the Stars!” Kara gasps, taking breaths so deep that his whole body is shuttering.
Something’s wrong here. But Blue doesn’t know what the hell it could be.
“What’s- what’s happening?” Blue stumbles as he looks again, but there’s nothing out of place that he can see. The kitchen looks just the same as it did yesterday, but that can’t be right.
With all that they’ve been through together Blue’s never seen Kara so scared.
“Blue, I-” Kara’s voice breaks and he tries to take a deep breath and calm himself, but he just throws his face into his hands. “Oh my Stars…”
He’s fucking shaking.
“Kara,” Blue starts cautiously, “are you ok?”
“Blue, do I look alright?” Kara snaps, and Kara never snaps, not unless he hasn’t slept in a week or he’s around someone who might expect it. Still, there’s no venom in the words, no heat and the trembling begins anew.
“I- that thing-” Kara cuts himself off, shaking his head like it will take away the memory, “I can’t- I can’t-”
“Wh-what thing?” Blue asks. He still doesn’t see anything, doesn’t know what Kara’s so afraid of. As far as he can tell, there’s nothing here.
But Kara fixes that. The man reaches out a shaking hand to point at the cabinet under the sink.
“There’s-” Kara gasps, “there’s a rat!”
Blue’s mind buzzes in confusion as he tries to understand why exactly Kara, fearless person who went camping in the forest of nightmares that the mages have artificially stocked with magical nightmare creatures, is nearly in tears while he stutters about how it might have actually been a mouse.
“Stars I’ve never seen one that big, Blue you have to do something.” Kara wheezes as he fights for breath.
And suddenly it’s Blue’s turn to tremble.
“Me?” BLue asks incredulously, sure that he’s heard something wrong in the moment.
Because if Kara couldn’t even deal with it then how the hell was he supposed to be able to do any-
“Blue, please, oh Stars. I can’t.” Kara yelps, scooting as far away from the cabinet as he can while staying up high on the island.
“What… what is-” Blue scrambles, trying to put a plan together, “what do you want me to d-do?”
Because honestly, what could he do. Kara is the most frighteningly competent person he’s ever known. How the hell is he supposed to come up with a plan to get them both out of danger? It’s not like it could be a normal mouse. Kara had taken on the horrors of the forest for him. He hadn’t batted an eye.
“Please, Blue, you have to get it out of there. Stars, I didn’t know they could grow that big.” Kara says that last little bit to himself, but Blue doesn’t miss it.
A rodent of unusual size? What the hell was he supposed to do with that? Chase it out? Catch it?
“Blue.” Kara’s voice pulls Blue out of his own thoughts.
Stars, when did he get behind me?
Or rather, what is it that can make a man like that cower behind me?
For a single hysterical moment there’s only one answer that comes to mind. Was it really because he was a cat? Did Kara think he could do something about this? Some instinctual impulse that could get the two of them out of this situation?
Cats weren’t really used as hunting companions, were they? Blue had certainly never been considered one. He’d heard of foxes or dogs out on the hunting field, but… they’d sure as hell never told him anything like this.
He could barely squish bugs!
He’d be worse than useless at this. Hell, if Kara was this scared about the thing in there then they might as well just pack up and move to where it would never find them.
“K-kara, I don’t-” whatever excuse Blue was trying to get out of his mouth gets cut off.
“Oh Stars, I can’t watch!” Kara whines, throwing his hands over his eyes, “Just- just get it, get it and- get it out of there!”
Blue about to protest again, but Kara looks so shaken that it makes him close his mouth. Kara was distresses and he called for me, he trusted me to get him out of his scary situation. It’s not like it’s really that bad. If it is just a mouse then… well, then there’s really no problem.
It will be fine , Blue reassures himself, not quite sure why he’s going to such great lengths to lie to himself..
He has to at least try.
It’s a physical effort to peel himself away from kara and take himself over to the sink. The little cabinet door has never looked so foreboding.
He stops there at arm's length and holds his breath. Even Blue’s not exactly sure what he’s waiting for. He’d half expected ‘mouse’ to be some kind of magic jargon for primal fire rodent that would understand he was enclosing on its territory and blowing up, but no inferno yet.
Blue bites his lip and turns back, but Kara’s exactly where Blue left him, though he is looking this way now, his hands slipping down to cover his mouth.
He’d fix me, right? He knows enough about spells and he’s done it enough times…
The line of thought is absolutely worthless, but it doesn’t stop Blue from spiraling.
Even if he’s scared of the big rodent… he’d still…
Now’s not the time to think about that.
Blue pulls himself close to the cabinet, kneeling down on the floor and resting his hand lightly on the door.
He can’t hear anything inside. There’s no rustling or chittering squeaks. There’s no sounds of the bottles of cleaning supplies getting knocked over…
I’ve got no clue what’s in there.
Blue bites at his lip. It’s not that bad really. It could still be fine. It’s still just an animal that wandered into someone’s house. It’s probably just as confused and scared as… well, Kara’s kinda hogging all the fear, so probably not ‘as scared as we are’.
Kara had just said that he needed to get it out. That solves a lot of it actually. Blue doesn’t have to pretend he has any skills that he doesn’t. If he just needs to get it out then maybe he can scare it and make it run out of the hidey hole. Then they can probably herd it outside.
All in all, it’s the best plan Blue’s got.
His heartbeat is high in his throat as tries to calm his breathing before he throws open the door, but instead of some kind of rabid creature jumping out and giving me a heart attack, my mind grinds to a halt.
.
There’s an enormous rat in there alright, but it’s not exactly threatening…
Thought that just might be me… or it might be the button eyes…
It’s a little scrunched up, forced into the little bit of empty space above the cleaning supplies. I have to be careful extracting it from the tight space and not let anything else fall out, but it still doesn’t change anything.
It may be big, but I’m still looking at a stuffed animal.
It’s made into a simplified shape, but it’s still recognizable as a mouse. It’s got the cute little rounded ears and a braided little tail, though there are some patches of patterned fabric that clearly mark it as a toy with some outlandish splashes of color.
It’s just a stuffed animal…
Blue turns around with the thing in his arms. He’s sure he’s never seen it in the house before, but when he turns to ask Kara what it could be the man’s just beaming.
“Oh my hero!” Kara chuckles through the words.
“K-Kara…” Blue stutters, trying to find the right words, but Kara cuts him off.
“You saved me!” Kara continues, the jubilant expression on his face not at all dampened by the fact that Blue has apparently saved him from… a stuffed animal.
Was this… was he just messing around?
“What… what is this?” Blue can’t stop himself from asking the question.
It’s a little ill mannered, but Kara doesn’t comment. He just smiles down at blue and the stuffed mouse in his arms.
“It’s a really big mouse.” Kara says like that answers anything.
“Ok, why is it here?” Blue asks and that radiant smile falters.
“What, you don’t like it?” Kara hums looking surprisingly morose. “I thought it would be fun to do something for Mischief Auro.”
The name has Blue reeling. Was it… was it really? Blue glances over at the calendar like it will tell him something, but the day isn’t usually marked on calendars anyway. He just… can’t believe that he’d forgotten that it was already the season for it. Blue hadn’t thought about the holiday… he’d certainly never done anything for it. It was supposed to be a day of good natured fun. Little pranks and tricks for those closest to you.
He almost never thought about it, about the landmarks for the times of year. They hadn’t really mattered before. It just meant more work or less people in the house, but...Kara likes celebrating even the little holidays with him.
“I-” Blue falters as he tries to find the words.
It means something. It means something in a way that he can’t explain.
“They said it was a good one.” Kara offers when the silence drags on for a beat too long. It takes a second for Blue to realize that he’s talking about the stuffed animal. “It’s comfortable to cuddle around and it’s stuffed with something fun…”
And Blue couldn’t stop the curiosity from making him bend his head to take a sniff if he’d wanted to.
Kara is right though. The fabric is soft and the stuffing is just firm enough for it to retain the shape it’s been cut to. It’s probably high quality if Blue has any room to judge. It’s cozy and Blue can tell just by looking at the contour that it’s going to be nice to curl around. And the scent.
Blue almost drops the thing as his mind finishes translating exactly what it is.
He’s never had this much catnip in one place before.
“Do you like it?” Kara asks again, the curled smile fixed on his face once more at the wide eyed expression Blue made at the scent.
“I like it.” Blue answers even though it feels like it’s not enough.
It sounds wrong and shallow, but it’s true. The stuffie is nice. It’s pretty and new, and the catnip is a fun treat that he’s never really had the time or place to indulge in before, but this is so much more than that.
It means something to be a part of this. To be a part of this and feel like he truly belongs.
“Ok, good,” Kara chuckles, seemingly happy with the positive response “because I can’t promise it’s all mice, but I am certain that there is an infestation in this house.”