Archive of Our Own

Pete pushes in the door and lets out a sigh. "Patrick?!" He calls out. No response. Hm. That's weird. "You still here??" He only stepped out for a second, and Patrick didn't say he had anywhere to go. He walks into the apartment, looking around for his friend. He doesn't find him. Hm. His coat is still hanging up by the door. His backpack is still here. He's not in the bathroom. What the hell?

He stops when he sees Patrick's bedroom door is closed. Ah. He ever so slowly creaks it open, peeking inside. And to his surprise, Patrick not there either. Instead, there's a big orange cat walking around. What the... Who the hell let a cat in here?

Pete cautiously walks over to it. "Hey there little guy..." He crouches down and holds his hand out. The cat comes over to him and sniffs it, and immediately starts rubbing itself against his hand. "Where'd you come from?" Pete stands up, and the cat rubs against his legs. "Wow, you're a sweet little guy, huh?" He backs away, and the cat goes to jump up on Patrick's bed. Alright, maybe he should call Patrick at this point, maybe he'll know where this cat came from, wherever he is.

After a few seconds of it ringing, he notices a buzzing coming from Patrick's bed. He walks over and feels around for it. He find it the pocket of an abandoned pair of pants. Weird, why doesn't he have his phone? He then notices the shirt, socks, hat, and glasses next to the pants. Huh. These are the clothes that he was wearing earlier.

He pauses.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?!?

He frantically dials Andy and Joes phone numbers, Andy's first.

"Yo, Andy, have you seen Patrick anywhere??"

"Um, no, what's going on?" He immediately clocks the panic in his voice.

"Well, I can't find him anywhere, and he doesn't have his phone, and his clothes are here too, and there's this weird cat that I don't know where it came from, and I'm freaking out!!!"

"Woah, okay, what? A cat? What are you talking about??"

"There's a cat here! I don't know where it came from, but it took Patrick!!"

"I don't think the cat took Patrick."

"Well I don't know where the hell else he could be!!"

Andy sighs. "Alright, I get out of work pretty soon. Did you call Joe?"

"No, but I'm going to."

"Okay good, call Joe, he's free today. Jesus christ..." He mutters.

"Alright, thanks Andy, see you soon."

"Bye Pete."

He calls Joe right after and tells him the situation.

"Woah, what? That's crazy. Kinda sounds like Patrick turned into a cat or something." He chuckles.

"Don't joke right now man, I'm really stressed."

"Okay, sorry. I'll drive over now."

"Okay... thanks."

"Did you call Andy yet?"

"Yeah I called him before you, he's coming home the second he gets off work."

"Alright, cool, just checking. Bye, Pete."

"See you soon."

click

His eyes shoot down to the cat, peacefully sleeping on Patrick's bed. "I'm gonna figure this out. Please come back, Pat..." He groans, falling over onto the bed. The cat wakes and curiously starts batting at his head. Then it walks onto and curls up on his back.

He hears the door open and immediately gets the cat off him and opens the door. Joe, who was looking around for him, rushes over quick. "Alright, what's going on." He walks past Pete into the room and stops to examine the scene. "Woah, you weren't kidding." He goes over to the bed. The cat comes up to him and starts sniffing him. "Hey there buddy." Joe lightly strokes the cat as he thinks. "Why'd he leave his clothes?"

"I don't know!!" Pete comes to stand next to him. He glares down at the cat. Then at the clothes. Then back at the cat. "Hm... y'know, maybe you were right, Joe."

"A-About what?" He turns to Pete.

"Maybe Patrick did turn into a cat."

Joe starts laughing. "Shut up man."

"No I'm serious! Look!" Joe stops and look back down at the bed. "It's like... Patrick straight up disappeared, and this cat appeared out of thin air. There's no way a cat could have gotten in through the window, were way too high up. And Patrick's clothes that he was just wearing are just laying here next to it. I mean... Either this cat is a wizard or something and came and disintegrated Patrick, orrr... a normal wizard came and turned him into a cat."

Joe stares down, processing. "I mean... Are you sure he's not anywhere here?"

"Yes! I looked everywhere."

"Under the bed? He could just be totally pranking us. Closets?"

Pete freezes. Then, at the same time, they move to check said places, Joe under all the beds and Pete in the closets. When they come back, Pete shrugs. "Nope."

"Damn. I dunno, your theory is starting to sound more and more plausible."

"Also, it would be awesome."

"True."

Both of their eyes glide over to the cat. "Well, if this is Patrick..." Pete inches over to the bed, Joe following suit. They both sit down and start petting the cat. "It couldn't hurt to give him some love, right?"

The cat (Patrick?) takes to their pets well, laying down to expose its stomach. They scratch its stomach, the cat now purring loudly. "What a sweet little guy." Joe says, giggling. Pete grins.

"So friggin cute."

They hear the door open again, and Andy call out. "Pete!?"

"We're in here!" Joe calls back.

"Oh, Joe?" He creaks open the door and stops. His face of concern turns into a soft smile. "Awww. So this is the cat?" He slips his bag off his shoulder and walks over to them. He scratches the top of its head.

"Yeah, we think that this is Patrick now." Pete causally states, eyes still locked on the cat.

"Wait, what?" Andy takes his hand back and raises an eyebrow at Pete.

"Yeah, I mean, it's the only plausible answer. Or this is a really good prank."

"Um, I'm willing to bet it's a prank." He continues to pet the cat. "Wow, he's a real sweetie, huh?" His smile comes back.

"I know right." Joe responds, bearing a similar expression.

"So we don't know where this guy came from?" He asks. The other two shake their heads. "Huh. It's not really like Patrick to do something like this." He sits down on the bed between Joe and Pete.

"Yeah..." Joe drifts off, thinking. "I feel like Pete's the kinda guy to get a cat just for a prank."

Pete anxiously taps his foot on the floor. "I really hope this is a prank. I don't know what else this could be..."

Andy wordlessly reaches over and picks up the pair of glasses laying on the bed with the rest of Patricks clothes. "Damn, he even left his glasses??" Joe says, taking them from Andy's hands. He examines them. "Definitely his."

"This is too freaky." Andy shifts away from the cat, toward Pete.

"Yeah, this is really freaking me out." Joe agrees, though he continues to pet the cat. It scratches at him. "Hey!" He holds his hand away, frowing.

"Oh shit, did it scratch you??"

Joe takes his hand away to reveal scratch marks on the back on his left hand. "Fuck... I'm gonna go wash this." He quickly stands up and leaves the room.

"Be nice!" Andy points an acusatory finger at the cat, which responds by turning the other direction and curling up on Patricks crumpled blue shirt.

"Man, what are we gonna do?" Pete sighs, looking at the ground.

"I don't know." Andy stares at the cat for a while. "Well, if this is Patrick, we better take care of him." Andy looks back over to Pete, who's staring back with an unreadable expression.

"I mean... I guess you're right."

Andy puts a hand on his back. "Hey, we'll figure this out, alright?"

Pete picks his head back up, and this time bears a small smile. "Okay."

Andy nods, before standing up. "I'll go check on Joe."

Pete nods back, and doesn't look as Andy leaves. He lays back and rests his head next to the cat. He melts into Patrick's bed, taking in his smell. It's almost like he's here... He shuts his eyes, trying to take deep breaths. His peace is disturbed when Andy calls out to him from the kitchen. "Um, Pete?? You might want to come over here!"

Sighing, Pete pushes himself up and walks towards the door, giving one final glance back to the cat, which stares back with soft, wide blue eyes. When he walks to the kitchen, he's met with a frozen wide eyed Andy. A face he never sees from Andy. "What's wrong?" He points to behind the counter, and Pete follows. His heart drops. There's a slim grey cat curiously staring back up at him. He reels his head back to Andy, mimicking his expression. "Dude. Is that..." Andy nods. He turns back to the cat, back to Andy. "Are you sure?" Andy nods again, sadness in his eyes. He shrugs, non-verbally saying 'there's nothing else it could be'. "Fuuuucckk...." Pete runs his hands through his hair. "This can't be a coincidence anymore.

"No." Andy simply responds.

"This can't be happening." He walks over to Andy, immedietely wrapping his arms around his shoulders.

"I don't..." He just shrugs again. "I don't know."

Pete sharply pushes Andy back, gripping onto his shoulders. "We gotta stick together." Andy nods once in agreement. Pete turns his head back to glace at the cat, aka Joe. He lets go of Andy and goes over to him, motioning for Andy to follow him, which he does. They both crouch down in front of him. He goes over to Andy and rubs his face on his knee. Andy leans down closer.

"Oh shit, look at his paw."

Pete squints, and sees that his left paw is a little scratched up. "Okay, I think it's now safe to say that this is absolutely Joe."

"Absolutely." Andy agrees. Andy scratches the top of his head, and he starts purring. "I'll admit, this is a litle weird, knowing this cat is Joe."

"Yeah..." Pete goes to try and pet him, but he swats him away. Pete and Andy lock eyes, Pete frowning and Andy laughing. "How come only you can pet him??"

"I guess he just likes me more." Andy shrugs, grinning, and goes back to petting Joe.

"Dick." Pete mumbles, crossing his arms.

Andy suddenly stands up. "You think Joe and Patrick will like each other?"

Pete stands up next, curious. "Um, I mean, they liked each other as people, so probably?"

"Well, it's just I hear that cats can be territorial. And since Patrick's in his room and all, he might not like it if we bring Joe in." They both look at each other for a second, contemplating.

"Nah let's do it."

"Yeah, let's do it." Andy leans back down and scoops up Joe in his arms, to which he gets no fighting back. They go back to Patrick's room and slowly walk towards him. Andy carefully puts Joe down on the bed, and the two cats consider each other warily. Joe approaches him first, and Patrick doesn't move an inch. No hissing, that's good. Joe starts to sniff Patrick, who's as still as a statue. Joe backs away a little, and they start to walk around each other. Patrick suddenly stops and sits back down. Joe follows suit. "Huh. I guess they're fine then."

"Sweet." Pete goes over and sits on the bed with them, softly petting Patrick. He doesn't seem to into it, but he doesn't scratch him, which is good. Andy sits down too, and Joe quickly gets up to be in his lap. He reels his head up and rubs against Andy's beard. "He likes you way too much."

"I dunno, I think it's cute."

"Whatever."

"You're just jealous."

Pete sits forward and glares at Andy, who doesn't return the look, a smug smirk plastered on his face. "Am not! Whatever, at least Patrick likes me. Right 'Trick?" He turns back to be met with Patrick licking his paw, not even looking in his direction. "Fuck you Patrick." He grumbles, quietly glaring over at Joe. "Whatever."

Andy giggles, watching Joe just be all over him. He lays down, comfortably resting his chin on Andy's tattooed arm. "Man, I wish he could be this sweet as a person too."

"Yeah, Patrick's exactly the same. He hates me."

"Aw, come on, Patrick loves you." Andy rolls his eyes.

"Sure. Not as much as I love him though." Andy slyly raises an eyebrow at that. Pete notices and blushes. "I-I mean, like, as a friend, jeez! Whatever, shut the hell up."

"I didn't even say anything."

"You didn't need to, I can read your fuckin mind."

Andy smirks, but doesn't say anything else about it. He puts his attention back on Joe, who's peacefully drifting off in his lap. "Look at him, man." Pete turns his head over.

"What." Pete looks up at Andy, waiting for a response, then back down to Joe when he doesn't get one. "Damn. You're pretty lucky, y'know that?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"When cats like you, it's a good sign. Cats don't really like people, y'know. They're like, lone wolves."

"Hm. Kinda like you." Andy looks over to Pete, sweetly smiling.

Pete's eyes widen. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you always say you like people, but you thrive perfectly fine by yourself. You don't really need people around you to do things. Well, maybe you need Patrick. I don't know, it's not a great metaphor, but you get what I mean, right?"

Pete sits straight up. "I get what you mean." He starts to smile. "Although, wolves do like to be in packs, right? So I don't think that was too bad of a metaphor."

"Yeah, I guess so. And we're your pack."

Pete chuckles. "Yeah, you are." He looks back at Patrick. "Man, I hope they turn back to normal. It would suck if they never do."

"Yeah. It would. We would never be able to play again."

Pete starts to laugh. "That would be amazing though. Can you imagine?" He says, chuckling.

"That is a very amusing image. We'd have to get them tiny guitars and mics. And all the lyrics would be 'meow meow meow meow.'" They laugh together, image clear in their heads.

"Aw man, that would be weird for sure."

"It would probably bring us a lot more money. Everyone would want to come to our shows."

"Right... aw man, that's funny." Their laughter dies down, and Pete leans back, arms propping him up on the bed behind him. His head naturally turns back to Patrick. "It would really suck if this was Patrick forever though."

"Yeah, that would suck."

They both sit in silence for a while.

"Hey, if they do turn back, would they be naked?" Pete asks.

The image comes up in Andy's head, and he shivers. "Ew, yeah probably." He looks back at Pete, frowning. "Actually, then I kinda hope they don't turn back."

Pete smiles. "Yeah... eugh.." He shakes his head, putting the thought away. He tries not to think about how much he might like to see a naked Patrick. Gross.

Andy does the same, changing the subject. "How do you think this even happened. A wizard? Witch?"

"Maybe. I dunno, I would believe magic is real."

"Harry Potter??"

"Yeah, well, I don't think it was Harry Potter, cuz he would've had to come all the way from Britain."

"Right, well, he could have teleported or something."

"There's also the fact that he's from a book series."

"Well maybe he was like, based on a real guy, and that guy came. If wizards are real then there's a pretty good chance Harry Potter is real too."

Pete shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so." He glances over at Patrick's bedside alarm clock. "Damn, it's getting pretty late." The sun has stopped shining through the bedroom window. "Should we sleep in here tonight? I don't think we should leave each other, whatever the hell is going on."

"I agree."

"Can I sleep in Pat's bed?"

"Yeah sure." Andy lightly shakes Joe up. "I need to get up buddy." He whispers to Joe. The grey cat sleepily stands up and walks off of Andy, and he stands up. "Let's eat dinner first though."

"Oh, good call." Andy leaves to go to the kitchen, and Pete follows suit. And a little farther behind, Joe walks out and goes to the kitchen with them. As Andy makes them dinner, Joe rubs against his legs, trying to get his attention. He almost trips over him a few times. "C'mon Joe, are you trying to kill me?" Pete waits patiently at the dining table, watching him cook. That was something that came as a suprise to all of them, that Andy was actually quite talented and making meals. And none of the three of them can cook for shit, especially Pete, so he's like their personal chef. It's beyond awesome. Seriously, helpful doesn't even begin to describe it. It's changed all of their eating habits (for the better).

Pete knows what he's making before he's done. Andy likes to keep it a secret until he puts the plates down in front of them, but the smell is so distinct he immediately knows, especially because it's one of his favorite foods. Andy puts down some napkins and utensils first, in front of Pete and where he'll sit. He likes to make it all fancy, like he's cooking for a resturant. Pete likes it too, so he feeds into it. (Literally lmao) Andy dramatically puts Pete plate down in front of him. "Here is your spaghetti with tomato sauce with just a touch of oregano and a parsley stem, good sir. Please, bon appetit." He bows his head, and sits down with his own plate.

"Thank you, good sir." Pete grins at Andy across the table. He smiles back, then starts eating. It's delicious, of course. Andy's cooking always is. But also, it's kinda hard to get spagetti wrong. Either way, he would rather eat something Andy made than something from a resturant any day. It makes him feel special.

Joe comes over and hops up on the table, going for Andy's plate. "Hey, no!" Andy lightly pushes him away, but he pushes back. "Dude, stop trying to eat my food!"

"I don't blame him, it's really good." Pete says, mouth half full.

Andy smiles. "Thanks. But that doesn't mean he can have any." Joe eventually gives up, and opts for lounging on the table between them. "Maybe if you feel like turning back to a person you can have some." He comments offhandedly.

"But, Andy, I'm serious this is fucking delicious."

Andy blushes, looking down at his plate. "Thanks. It's no problem, I like to cook for you guys."

"Yeah, and I'm glad. It's awesome man." Pete smirks. He knows how much that means to Andy.

Andy just shrugs. "No need to thank me."

Pete doesn't press any further. He just keeps eating Andy's amazing food, savoring every bite.

When they're both done, Pete takes both of their plates and washes them in the sink, Andy thanking him with that adorable smile of his. When he's done with that, they both go back to Pat's room, gretting him with pets. He seems to have relaxed a little bit, and is back to being sweet. Joe is as loving as ever, curled up in Andy's lap as he reclines in the bean bag in Pat's room, socked feet crossed over each other, resting on the carpeted floor. Pete's lying on the bed, holding Patrick's glasses to his chest. Patrick is curled up on the edge of the bed, by Pete's feet.

Pete tries to get Patrick to come and lay on him. "Pspspspsps. Paaaatty! C'mere!" He pats his chest, signaling he wants Patrick to sit there, but he doesn't move from his spot on the edge of the bed. Grumbling, he looks over to Andy and Joe. "You're so lucky."

Andy shrugs. "Patrick's gonna do what he wants." Andy absentmidedly strokes the top of Joe's small furry head, as Joe purrs quietly in his lap.

"Well how come Joe loves you so much? It's not fair."

"I dunno, maybe because I'm just awesome."

"And I'm not!?"

"Hey." He looks up through his square glasses. "I didn't say that, you did." He smirks.

Pete grumbles, and turns over to lay on his stomach, face buried in the pillow. This is when Patrick finally comes over, and he lays down on his back. Pete can barely breathe, and he rolls over, pushing Patrick off of him. This just makes him jump off the bed and leave the room. Now Pete's just even more sad.

"Hey, I got a better idea. Why don't we sleep in me and Joe's room, so I don't have to sleep on a bean bag?"

Pete picks his head up. "Yeah, I guess." He sighs.

"What, do you not want to?"

"I dunno." He shrugs. "I guess I just wanted to sleep in Patrick's bed. I miss him."

Andy frowns. "Yeah... Alright. Well, at least we'll all be able to talk to each other if we turn into cats." Andy moves Joe off him and stands up.

"Wait, what??" Pete pushes himself up.

"Listen man, if I sleep like that my back is gonna be killing me. I'd rather be a cat than have a broken back." A beat. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Pete says, laying back down. "Good night."

"Are you already going to bed?"

Pete pauses. "Are you?"

"No."

"Alright. Then neither am I." Pete suddenly sits up. He pats the space next to him. Andy stays where he is for a second, glancing at the door, then comes and sits next to him.

"Thanks for eating my food."

"Yeah man." Pete sighs.

"You okay?" Joe curiously jumps up to the bed while they talk.

"Yeah, I guess this whole thing has just put a lot of stress on me."

Andy nods. "Yeah, I get what you mean."

"Maybe you were right." Andy listens. "Maybe I do need Patrick."

Andy thinks for a minute. Considering what he should say. "Yeah. I think it's beautiful. You two work really well together, it's pretty crazy. I've never seen two guys get along like you do."

Pete nods. "That's what I'm always telling him. But he never wants to believe he's anything special. It kinda sucks. I want him to know how much he means to me." He lets out a deep sigh.

"So this must suck, huh?"

"Yeah." He bounces his knee on the floor.

"I'm sorry man."

Pete leans over and rests his head on Andy's shoulder. Andy wraps an arm around him, softly rubbing his back. "This must suck for you too though, right?"

"Hm?"

"Well, I know you and Joe get along pretty well too."

"Well yeah. It's not like me and Patrick don't too."

"I know. I'm just saying. This is kinda lame for both of us."

"Must be pretty weird for them too. I mean, do cats even have consciousness?"

"I have no idea man." He dryly chuckles.

"That's kinda weird to think about." Pete lets his eyes close, listening to the sound of Andy's smooth voice. "I mean, existence without awareness. That's something I think about sometimes. What would that even be like, man?"

"I dunno."

Andy smiles down at him. "Y'know, now I kinda wanna be a cat, just to find out."

"Mm."

"I wonder how they feel." Andy turns his head back when he feels something poke at his back. "Oh, speak of the devil. You wanna join the conversation, Joe?" He laughs a bit at himself.

"I wish he could."

"Mmm, yeah." Andy lures Joe over with his free hand and pets him. Joe comes to sit under his arm, leaning against his side.

Pete opens his eyes to see Joe. "See, this is what I mean, he fuckin loves you dude!"

"Yeah, I know..." Andy has a thought. "Hey, what if their personalities are the same as they are now, even as cats."

"Well, that would mean Joe hates me."

"Hmmm, I guess. Well, Joe is sometimes a little aggressive towards people."

"But not you." He says, rolling his eyes. It's all in good fun though.

"But not me." Andy smirks. "Yeah, he's usually pretty nice to me, even when he's grumpy and tired. He's never mad at me specifically. Y'know?" He turns back to Pete.

"Yeah, you're right. He loves you, man."

Andy blushes. "Yeah..." He scratches the back of his neck with the hand not around Pete.

"I mean, like, as a friend, obviously."

"Right, like you love Patrick?" Andy says, obviously sarcastic.

"Yes, exactly like that! See, you-" He sits up and sees Andy's smug face. "Oh you're kidding. Okay, I see, fuck you." He puts his head back down on Andy's shoulder.

"What? It's just a joke, I know you don't actually love Patrick.... Right?"

Pete smirks. "Well, maybe a little bit."

"What?!"

"I'm kidding! Oh my god!" Pete starts laughing maniacally, leaning further into Andy, putting a hand on his other shoulder.

"Jesus man, don't switch up like that!"

"Oh come on, I make gay jokes with Pat all the time."

"I thought he didn't like that nickname. Also, true."

"Well, he's not here, so who cares."

"Yeah, I guess."

Pete sighs, content. "You're pretty cool man, you know that?"

"Sure. Thanks."

"Seriously, you're just chill all the time. I'm like, constantly 100%. And you're just so calm. It's kinda funny that you and Joe get along so well, I feel like he usually likes to talk to really energetic people."

Andy slightly shrugs, weighed down by Pete's head. "Yeah, I don't know. He's just kinda... taken a liking to me. And I'm fine with that."

"Hm. And everyone's always saying me and Patrick are together..."

Andy lets out a restrained chuckle. "Yeah. He really hates that though."

"And I love it."

"Yeah..." Andy takes his hand off of Pete's back and rests it behind him on the bed.

"We never really talk like this too much anymore, huh? With all the stuff that's been goin on."

"No, not really. It's nice. You're nice to talk to, Pete."

"Right back at ya." Pete smiles, blushing. He lets his eyes close again.

"It's pretty late. I'm getting kinda tired. I think I'm gonna go to bed."

"Alright." Pete sighs. "One more minute." Pete rests his cheek down on Andy's shoulder, and he softly sighs.

"One more mintue." Andy closes his eyes as well, leaning back into Pete, resting his head on top of his. After what's probably five more minutes of complete silence, other than the sound of each other's breathing, Andy opens his eyes and sits up. "Okay, I'm gonna fall asleep right here if I don't move." Pete opens his eyes as well, and picks his head up from Andy's shoulder, frowning.

"Alright. Good night, then." Andy stands up from the bed. Before he leaves, he gives Pete a gentle hug.

"Good night Pete." As he leaves, Joe gets up and slips out with him. Pete sighs and lays back on the bed. After a while, he hears scratching on the other side of the closed bedroom door. He drags himself over to it and opens it to be met with a large orange cat.

"Hey Patrick." He steps to the side to let him in, then closes the door and lays back down. He picks up Patrick's glasses and puts them on his bedside table. He throws his pants and his hat on the ground, but hangs onto his shirt. He gets up to turn off the overhead light, leaving just the lamp next to his bed. He gets himself comfy under the thick covers. For a while, he just looks around the room, imagining the kind of stuff Patrick does in here. Dick off on his computer. Maybe he watches porn or something. He probably watches gay porn. Lol. His closet is full of basic t-shirts and jeans. A few black jeans. And of course, hats. So many hats. There's band posters on the walls, a lot of them they've gotten to meet.

His attention is focused away from the room when he feels something walk towards him. He turns on his side as Patrick comes and curls up next to his chest. He reaches behind him and turns off the lamp. He lays one hand on Patrick, the other holding Patrick's shirt to his body, He quickly starts to drift off, Patrick's warmth and scent comforting him.

In the other room, Andy lays with Joe sleeping on his chest, small, adorable face right in front of Andy's. He prolonges turning off the light for a while to stare at him. He's always loved animals, even if he's not really a big fan of cats, he can't help but love them. Especially knowing this one is Joe. He kinda wishes Joe could be this affectionate with him as person. Not that's he's mean or anything, just... Andy would really like it.

Listen, he knows he has a little bit of a crush on Joe. Pete's probably figured it out by now, especially after tonight. And he's definitely figured out Pete's crush on Patrick, no doubt. There's no point in denying any of it. So Joe in cat form, being all over Andy, it's given him a little hope. If this is Joe, and if his personality has transferred over to his cat form, then there's a good chance that he's been hiding some intense feelings about Andy that he can't contain when he's like this.

Or he's looking too much into this. But... he can't help but think that. I mean, Joe's been practically glued to him ever since this started. And... maybe all the times he's shown a little too special attention to Andy hasn't been a coincidence. And the reason he's never mean to Andy isn't just because he likes him as a friend. But whatever, he shouldn't be getting his hopes up too much.

But god damn, he's just as cute as a cat as he always is. Eventually, his tiredness outweighs his heart, and he turns off the light. It's strangely comforting, having a weight on his chest. It makes him feel grounded, and it helps him get to sleep quickly.

 

Patrick's heavy eyelids slowly open, he sees something in front of him, blocking the light coming in from the window. Seems like he's in his bed. He rubs his eyes to get a better look at what, or maybe who, is in front of him. When he does, and his eyes finally ajust, he's met with Pete's sleeping face. His entire body freezes. What the fuck. Ummm... He franically searches through his memory for why this is happening, but strangely, the last thing he remembers is the middle of the day yesterday, when Pete left for a bit to go to the store. He reaches a hand up to Pete's shoulder and lightly shakes him. When he doesn't react, he shakes him harder, trying to wake him up. Pete's eyes slowly start to open, and when they do, they immediately widen.

"Patrick!" He exclaims, still sleepy. He throws an arm around Patrick and pulls himself closer.  "Aw man, I'm so happy to see you." He dumbly stares into Patrick's wide, blue eyes, which are staring back with fear. "Oh my god, dude, do you remember what happened??"

"Um... what? What happened?" He asks, scared.

"You turned into a freaking cat dude! Wait." He suddenly sits up and looks around the room. Then he lays back down. "Yeah, you-"

"WHAT??" He backs away from Pete, slamming his back flat against the wall.

"Yeah, it was crazy. Well, all that matters is that you're back to normal! Relax, it's fine now!" He grabs Patrick's shoudler and pulls him closer again. Pat gives up and lets him.

"So, I-I turned into a-a-a cat??"

"Yeah. It was weird." Pete drools out.

"Dude... Are you serious??"

"Dead serious."

"No no, you're pranking me."

"I promise I'm not! Here, let's go ask Andy, he can vouch for me!" Pete throws the covers off him and gets up. Patrick winces from the cold, but follows Pete to Joe and Andy's room. "Dude, Andy will back me up, you totally turned into a... cat..." He trails off when he opens the door and sees Joe, as a person again, lying on top of Andy, both of them fast asleep.

"Woah."

"Um, well... guess we better leave them alone, huh?" Pete closes the door and turns to go to the kitchen. Patrick follows.

"So, I turned into a cat?"

"Yeah, you and Joe." He makes himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

"Huh..."

 

When Andy starts to wake up, he feels a weight over his entire body. Nothing like it was before, much heavier. He snaps his eyes open. All his senses start to come to him. Joe's changed back. His head rests next to his own, hair covering Andy's face. He brushes it away. He then realizes that Joe is laying fully on top of him. His heart starts to pound in his chest, and his face heats up by at least ten degrees. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckkkkk. He's so warm. Oh my god, how is this happening. Andy reaches a hand up to touch Joe's back. He should have kept his shirt on before he went to sleep. And his pants. Thank god he's still in his boxers, holy shit thank god. The feeling of Joe's hairy legs intertwined with his own makes his entire body tense up. Makes his skin crawl. In a good way.

Still, this is a lot for just waking up. But he'd rather be here than out of bed in the cold- Oh my god he can feel his fucking heart beat. It's slow in comparison to his, which is racing at a concerning speed. His scent is overwhelming. It surrounds him. Every single inch of his body feels electric. He's died and gone to heaven.

His heart drops when he feels Joe shift on top of him, and he starts to wake up. He sees Joe's eyes open and land on him from the corner of his vision. Joe suddenly pushes up and stares down at Andy, who's completely frozen. He can't deny, from this angle, hair falling in his face, Joe looks fucking hot. And it's making it really hard to focus.

Joe has an expression of pure shock. Speechless. Joe's eyes glide down to Andy's bare chest, then quickly snap back up.

Strangely enough, Andy talks first. "Do you remember anything about yesterday?" He asks, testing the waters.

Joe raises an eybrow. "No... What happened yesterday?"

Andy lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good." Joe's eyes widen again. "I-I mean not good, nothing bad happened or anything. Sorry, didn't mean to say that." Okay, now this has turned to the best thing ever to the worst thing ever, Joe just awkwardly hovering over Andy, both of them red faced like crazy. After what feels like an hour but is probably only a few seconds, Joe rolls off of Andy, still eyeing him.

"So... what happened exactly?" His voice progressively goes up in pitch as he says that sentence.

"Well... what's the last thing you remember from yesterday?"

"Um..." He tries to think clearly, which is very very difficult right now. "I remember Pete called me... something wrong with Patrick... I dunno."

"Okay, well..." He sucks in through his teeth. "You're not gonna believe me when I say this."

"What?"

"You and Patrick... were turned into cats."

Joe squints at Andy for... far too long, wracking his memory. "Oh! Right, yeah... Oh shit, it happened to me too?" Andy nods. "Damn..." He looks away from Andy, and scratches his chin. "Aw, yeah..." He looks back to Andy, and even though he hates it, Andy feels his body tense up when he does. "So... why..." He gestures vaguely in Andy's direction.

"Oh, well... I guess, while you were still a cat, I fell asleep with you curled up on my chest, so when you turned back..."

"Oooh, okay, I see." He nods, trying to act as normal as possible. "So, if I've turned back to normal, that means Patrick probably has too, right?" They stare at each other for a second, then scramble to get up and leave the room.