Chapter Text
“Mary! It’s here!” I call happily
“What’s here?” She replies sleepily, and I chuckle. She always was a late riser.
“The cat tower, silly!”
“It’s here?!” She shouts, sounding excited. Then there’s the sound of running, and she comes bursting from around the corner. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s put it together!!” I chuckle
“Of course! But you have to help me carry it to the living room; it’s heavy.”
“Ok” She grabs one side, and I get the other.
“Alright, lift-” I say, as we lift it semi-easily, making our way to the living room. We plop it on the floor, and Panda comes running.
“Hey, Panda. This is for you!” Mary says, kneeling to pet the soft cat, who purrs and leans into her hand. “But for now, you’re not allowed in the living room! We don’t want you to get hurt, ok?”
“Mew!!” Panda squeaked in surprise as I picked her up, carrying her out into the hall and plopping her down. I have to shut the door quickly so she doesn’t get in.
“Meow!” Panda yowls, annoyed, but I ignore her.
“Now, let’s get started!”
“Finally!” Mary cries, tearing into the box like it insulted her. Inside is a base, a long cylinder, and what looks like a cat cave.
“Alright, apparently the tube-thing screws into the middle of the base.”
“Got it!” I say, grabbing the screw and getting to work, listening to Panda scream at us to let her in.
“Then, you put the cat cave on the base, and we’re done!” Mary crows happily
“Huh, I expected this to be more difficult,” I murmured
“Yeah, so did I, but be grateful it isn’t.”
“Oh, believe me, I am.” I finish screwing the top on and back up. “It’s a cat tower!”
“Let’s pick up the spare screws and let Panda in!” She says, and I rush to comply. Soon, the room is clean.
“I’ll open the door,” Mary says, rushing to do so. As soon as the door opens, even a crack, Panda comes racing in. She runs to the tower and sniffs at it.
“Oh, you are going to love….” I say, trailing off as she runs away from the tower and over to the box, which we left open in the middle of the living room. “You wouldn’t dare….” I murmur as she sniffs at the box. She mews happily as if to say, “But I will!” and tries to hop into the box. She fails, and the box tips over onto her, trapping her. There’s silence for a second before she starts letting out distressed-sounding mews and moving the box. That’s all it takes to snap me and mary out of our surprise and start laughing. Well, more cackling, but who cares.
“How did you fail so badly?!” Mary manages in between laughs.
“Stop being mean to her!” I say, in between my giggles, “She’s stuck!”
“You hypocrite!” She scolds, but there’s no bite behind her words. She walks over and lifts the box off Panda, setting it upright again. Panda stands up from where she was crouched, meows at her, and tries to jump in the box again. She almost fails, but I catch her, lifting her into the box properly. She mews in happiness before getting comfortable and curling up, purring softly. We sigh and look at the fully built cat tower.
“She’ll find it eventually,” I murmur, putting my arm around Mary
“I hope.” She murmurs back, leaning into me before we both lean in for a kiss. Hopefully, building it was worth it.