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“Fuck– right, I gotta…” Battat spoke to herself and trailed off, looking down at her watch to see how much time she had until her shift was over. Until she got home, and started calling people, she shivered at the thought.
“Gotta what?” Jongler asked, and when she looked up, Pluey’s head was tilted with the same question.
“It’s just–“ She inhaled, already overthinking the conversations she’ll have to have, with strangers, “My apartment building’s getting fumigated– I told you guys about that termite problem, I think? But it’s this weekend and they're tenting the whole thing, and they decided not to tell us until, like, last night, so I gotta deal with that ‘nd find somewhere to stay on short notice.”
Pluey perked up, its hands flying to sign stay and us a few times. Stay with us!
Jongler nodded as Battat shook her head, opening their mouth before she could, “Oh, yeah! That’s a good idea, Plues.”
“No, I can’t just–“ Her resolve quickly faltered at the way both of their expressions dropped, Jongler’s into seemingly genuine confusion and Pluey’s into sadness. She sighed as she shrugged, “It’s really not that big of a deal, I just… don’t want you guys to feel, like– obligated into letting me stay over, y’know? I can handle it on my own, ‘nd stuff.”
“…But we’s inviting you.” Jongler answered slowly, “We’s been meanin’ to bring y’over anyways, it’s just..”
A longer visit! Pluey finished excitedly, rocking back and forth on its feet. An extended sleepover!
…They really weren’t gonna give it up, were they?
(God, it was more like she was just giving up, the second she saw the looks on their faces. She was getting soft.)
“You sure?” She asked one last time, for good measure, “‘Cause– ‘cause if you’re not, you gotta tell me so I can call some motels, or– or hotels–“
It was like some switch flipped in both of their heads the second she said the word motel. Their expressions hardened into a mix of concern, indignation and steely determination she’s never seen before– at least, she’s seen something like it on Jongler, but that was when they were on the clock, during their actual job as security. Pluey made a vehement X with its arms as Jongler interrupted her.
“Nope. Nevermind, you’se ain’t got a choice” They shook their head as they patted her on the shoulder, their hand heavy but weirdly reassuring, “Youse stayin’ with us. No way youse goin’ to a motel.”
“…If you’re sure,” was all she responded with, begrudgingly planning what to pack– if she even could, she’ll have to ask around about that later.
“We’s sure.”
Which was how Battat landed on their doorstep the evening after their Friday shifts.
She got off work earlier than they did, which left her time to double-check her packing– which she could do, and was highly recommended to, as it turned out. She still packed as few outfits as she could, mostly due to irrational paranoia about the idea that termites could be in her closet, crawling in her clothes where she can’t see. She figured she could just wash them all when she’s allowed back in, along with her bedding.
Another thing to double-check was her food– all triple-bagged securely, she made sure, so nothing could go bad with all the fumes in the air. Even if they did go bad, god forbid, both her across-the-hall neighbor and Jongler and Pluey said they would help buy new groceries for her, and– even if her stomach turned at the idea of them wasting money on her, it felt… nice, having a backup plan.
Standing in front of their door, Battat sighed as she looked down at her duffle bag. She tried to psyche herself up enough to know on the damn door but ended up pacing in front of it instead.
She packed enough. She bagged everything she needed to, she locked up everything that needed to be locked, and she totally packed enough nice clothes for the few days she’d be spending in their home. She…
She packed her only good clothes, she realized entirely too late as she combed through her brain, cataloging what she actually had in her bag. There were a select few pieces of clothing that she wore when she actually tried to look good– cute if she could call it that– and they were all in her duffle bag, she recalled as her face flushed.
“Fuck,” she muttered to herself, trying to rationalize it.
It– it wasn’t bad, she thought, to want to look nice for her friends. They were letting her into their home, for at least Tuesday evening, and it was– natural, surely, to want to present herself as put together as she could. She couldn’t have them thinking she was a slob, or that she didn’t respect them enough to look nice in their home!
“...It’s fine.” She sighed exasperatedly. “It’s fine! They won’t care.”
Shaking her head, she loudly knocked on their door before her thoughts could catch up with her. It seemed as though at least one of them was already home, she sighed in relief, evident from the rustling and shouted, “Coming!” from behind the door. Then, the knob twisted, and–
“Hey, Batts!” Jongler greeted, quickly moving aside and opening the door wider to let her in. She stepped in, looking around the small living room and connected kitchen as she heard the click of the Zapper closing the door.
The apartment looked– really cozy, was her first thought. Warm lights, warm colors, and blankets strewn about on the large couch. There were a few pictures on the walls, mainly of Jongler and Pluey’s families, mixed with a few hanging cats, and the rug she was standing on was a large paw print.
“Come on,” Jongler tore her from her concentration, their hand on her shoulder making her jump, though they only kept it there until she relaxed. “Get comfy! Lemme–“
They took her bag from her hands easily, fingers brushing against hers before leaving to the room just to the right of them.
“Uh,” She finally spoke, “Thank you. And– I like your home. It’s very… inviting.” And immediately kicked herself. Inviting?
But Jongler seemed to ignore how weird she sounded as they reemerged from the side room she was presumably staying in, waving her off. “Aw, thanks pal. Plues did most’a da decoratin’– speakin’ of,” They muttered the last bit, then raised their voice, “Plues! She’s ’ere!”
The only warning she got was the loud string of notes that followed Jongler’s call. Then, it was like it erupted from the other room– presumably their bedroom– bursting out almost immediately and rushing towards her with a big grin on his face. She couldn’t even step back before its arms were wrapped around her, picking her up momentarily to spin around before setting her back down, all before she could yell at it. The desire still took over, anyways, nausea threatening her.
“Could’ya stop doing that?! You’re gonna shake me and make me throw up one of these days!” She glared at it as it shrugged faux-innocently.
“Aw, c’mon boss, no harm done. Jus’ let Plues say hi how she’s wants.” Jongler patted her on the shoulder. “Now c’mon, we’s can order dinner now that you’se here.”
They had tried to get her to choose where they ordered from, which she turned down quickly. She told them as long as it wasn’t TVSlop, she didn’t really care what it was– which was a lie, considering she was the pickiest eater she knew, but they didn’t need to know that. She could stomach the highly praised Chinese food they ordered, even if she didn’t– love would be the nicest word, wouldn’t it– even if she didn’t love teriyaki chicken, or fried rice. The fact that she was sandwiched between the two of them on the couch probably made her stomach turn more than the food ever would.
“I’m surprised you guys don’t have a cat.” She observed after the long thread of silence between the three of them, adding after she noticed Pluey’s head tilt, “‘Cause– ‘cause of all the cat stuff. And the Mike suit. Just– figured you’d want a cat or two.”
“Oh, yeah, we was gonna get one,” Jongler sighed as Pluey deflated dramatically, picking at its food like the chicken was causing its despair, “But, eh, building doesn’t allow pets.”
“Really? Not even like, with a rent increase or somethin’? ‘Cause that’s what my neighbor does.” She shrugged, “His rent’s a couple hundred more than mine ‘cause’a his two cats. I think a few other neighbors also have cats, and maybe some dogs, ‘cause I hear barking every once in a while.”
You live next to cats? Pluey jumped, eyes bright.
“Yeah, across from ‘em. My neighbor’s a retired old guy, and most’a his family lives an hour or so away and he insists that he should be the one that drives to them whenever they meet up, so he asks me to cat-sit every once in a while. Well–” She interrupted herself, “Less cat-sitting and more… using his spare key to feed ‘em and make sure they’re okay before going back to my apartment. It’s usually the days we’re working, so those days my breaks are just, uh… me rushing back home and then coming back immediately, rather than actually taking any kinda real break.”
…Battat shook her head as she changed the subject back to the actual cats she was supposed to be talking about. She was probably just boring them with her talks of her and her neighbor’s schedule.
“Uh, but– the cats are nice. He’s got really old names for them, Gloria and Elizabeth.” She continued talking as Pluey cooed, “Gloria’s, uh…” As she combed through her brain to try and remember the breed of cats, she drew a blank. “I forgot what she is– I know she’s part tasque, but she’s way smaller, ‘nd she’s got some black spots on her. Elizabeth’s just a calico-persian mix, though.”
“Aw, they’s sound cute.” Jongler nodded as they cleared their plate, a stark contrast to her still nearly full one. She… had a habit of ignoring her food when she was distracted with something, especially if it wasn’t something she particularly liked. Maybe actually holding the fork in her hand and poking the food would motivate her to eat more.
Pluey hummed out a note, then signed when she looked up at it, What are they like?
“Oh, uh– stupid, is what they are.” She smiled as the other two laughed at her joke, “But, they’re fine. They do normal cat things, like, uh… not recognizing their reflection in a mirror and trying to fight it, and knocking over glass and making me clean it up while they try to step on it, or making me trip because they need to be in between my feet when I’m walking.” She shrugged as she finally scooped some chicken into her mouth. “Jus’ stupid cat things.”
Battat could see Pluey and Jongler nod in her periphery, and it wasn’t until she swallowed that she felt the need to fill the silence again.
“Gloria’s definitely the nicer one outta the two. She tries to climb onto me whenever she can, or– or just try to touch me whenever. She’s real clingy. Every other cat I’ve seen hates being picked up after a while, but she can sit there forever.” The other two’s hums spurred her on, and she rested her cheek in her palm as she continued, “Elizabeth’s weird. And yappy. She’s loud, too. I can hear her from across the hall, sometimes, ‘nd whenever my neighbor’s home I can hear him meowing back at her like they’re having a conversation.”
She chose to omit the fact that she also picked up that habit, along with straight up talking to the cats as if they were people that could understand the English language. The other two seemed to find her neighbor’s habit endearing enough, anyways, so the internal mortification didn’t completely take over.
“I’ve only had them in my apartment a few times. My neighbor doesn’t love it when they’re out of his place for long, but there’s been a few cases where he’s fine with them being with me.” For some reason, she thought to herself. She still didn’t know why he trusted her like that. “But, uh, Whenever they have been at my place, they’ve always done that– that,” She sighed, “Okay, kinda tangent, but I thought the thing of cats getting the zoomies at, like, three in the morning was a myth? Or like, something that only a few cats did, but people talk about it like it’s normal. But those two do it! It’s always been just when I try to lay down and sleep, too! The second I get in my bed, they start running and jumping around! It’s infuriating!”
“Aw, m’sorry boss.” Jongler sighed as Pluey laughed at her misfortune, “Did your neighbor friend say anything ‘bout it?”
“Yeah… I told him about it, but he just laughed and said he’s gotten so used to it that he doesn’t even wake up to it anymore.” She shrugged as she stuck her fork in her mouth, mumbling out a, “so,” before she started chewing.
She finally focused on eating the rest of her food, leaving Pluey and Jongler to pick up the conversation around her. She couldn’t quite catch everything Pluey was signing as she looked down at her food– as if glaring at it would make it go down easier– but she did catch glimpses of it describing the kind of cats it wanted in their apartment, and even a name or two.
It was late. Both after the three of them had eaten dinner, and just late in general. The last time she checked, it was around one in the morning, but enough time had passed that the thought of looking at the time made her nervous. Either way, she knew that it was late, and she felt a little guilty about working in their house during the odd hours while they were sleeping just a room over, but not guilty enough to actually stop.
She was pretty far along with her ideas, farther than she expected and certainly farther than Tenna expected, but he would be pleasantly surprised when she presented this to him earlier than he thought Mike would.
Papers were strewn about on the floor of their living room, and she knew that if either of them walked in on her she’d look like a madman, working in almost darkness in the middle of their home. But! She was on a roll, and if she stayed on that roll, she’d be done with it a week before schedule!
She’d present it to Tenna, and he’d be so pleased with Mike, before– probably giving the three of them more work to do, if she was being realistic– but! Tenna being happy, and not snippy! Maybe even happy enough to give them a real, paid, not call-in-sick day off for all her hard work. The idea felt like an impossible fantasy the second she thought of it, but she deluded herself into indulging in it for more than a second before shaking her head. Tenna hardly gave Mike days off, much less the lesser employees the three of them actually were. That’d never happen, even if–
She jumped when she heard light footsteps, then a door opening. She only had time to turn around to see Pluey emerge from their bedroom door that opened behind her, rubbing its eyes as it stopped to stare at her insane-looking display.
“Uh,” She started, clearing her throat before lowering her voice, “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. Um– I‘ll just–“
Turning and swiping at the papers strewn about the floor, she started clearing up her work before she heard a low note behind her, and hands stopping hers. She held the pile of papers as Pluey sat down next to her, pulling its hands away to sign,
You’re good. What is this?
“It’s just, um–“ she continued clearing the floor up, “Work– uh, Mike work. You know Tenna wants to try out one of those blind dating show things, and–“ She sighs, feeling how exhausted she was now that she was stopping, “He doesn’t even want it for another week, but, uh… couldn’t sleep, so,”
When she was done picking up every piece of paper, she set the pile down to wring at her hands. She glanced up just in time to see Pluey’s pout, just as quickly bringing her gaze back down to watch its hands.
Why didn’t you say? We could’ve helped.
“What, barge into your room like I’m your kid telling you I threw up?” she scoffed, “It’s not… I dunno, it’s your guys’ place. I’m just bumming here for a few days. S’not like you two knuckleheads can magically fix my sleep schedule.” She shook her head, chuckling as she hoped her next words carried the sarcastic tone she meant for them to, “What would you do, anyways? Lay down with me and sing me a lullaby?”
Silence filled the room as she picked the pile back up, and it was only when she dragged her duffle bag closer in order to stuff the papers in did she look back up at Pluey.
Its arms were slightly outstretched, as if it was offering a hug, and before she could get any question out, it shrugged with a smile on his face.
It could help!
Its arms stretched even further after its words, leaving her arm halfway in her duffle bag and her jaw slack as she tried to parse out the best way to tell it hell no.
“That’s– No, I was fuckin’ kidding!” She scowled, her face flushing as she pushed her bag away from her. “No– no, I’m not gonna have you sing to me as if that’s gonna help me sleep, Pluey–“
Just try! If you try and don’t like it, I’ll back off.
“I’m–“ She sighed exasperatedly, running a hand down her flushed face, “Fine. Fine! If you wanna embarrass the both of us, go right ahead–“
Her face heated further when she realized the honest-to-god yelp that escaped her when Pluey suddenly surged forward and wrapped its arms around her, easily picking her up and bringing her down onto the couch with it. She tried to wriggle against its attempts at moving her–
“I can make myself comfortable!” She whisper-yelled through gritted teeth, slightly relaxing when its hands finally relented.
It took her less time than she would’ve liked to situate herself in a way that wasn’t… entirely uncomfortable. Her plan was to move as much as possible, be as annoying as she believably could, make it so that Pluey would get impatient and stop this mortifying display, but–
She stopped once. Settled once, and couldn’t find it in herself to continue her purposefully annoying wiggling anymore. Her exhausted body betrayed her, chasing comfort and sleep over logic. Her face scrunched when Pluey’s hands rested on her back after a moment, seemingly under the impression that she’d gotten comfortable on her own free will.
When she opened her mouth to complain, to protest, to do anything that would drive its hands and it away, it started rubbing her back. Gently, but enough pressure to be there, and her mouth shut as she practically melted against its chest.
God, she was never gonna live this down, was she? Pluey was nice enough to wait until morning to start making fun of her, sure, but that morning was rapidly approaching with how heavy her eyelids felt.
She tried to growl, show through her voice that she didn’t like this if her body couldn’t agree, but it sounded more like a weird hum when her cheek was pressed against its chest. All she got in response was a cooing note, before it pressed its chin into the top of her head.
That note turned into a longer one, and then– god, Pluey was singing. She couldn’t recognize the song, if it even was some song it didn’t just make up on the spot. God, she especially couldn't recognize it with exhaustion trying to pull her down, but she knew it was singing something, and it was enough to get her to finally listen to her body.
Waking was a slower process than it usually was. Most of her mornings consisted of a number of loud alarms, only five minutes apart, until she begrudgingly got up from her hard bed and forced herself to start her day before the sun rose, not–
Not waking on a couch– a couch that was, admittedly, more comfortable than her own bed– with more sunlight filling the room than she’d ever seen when waking up.
She finally forced herself up onto her forearms after a few failed attempts, blearily blinking to look around the bright living room that wasn’t hers, now half-covered in blankets that weren’t hers–
“Wha–?” She mumbled out before she remembered where she was, and why she was there– both in the apartment and on the couch. She practically flopped back down onto the cushions, closing her eyes and considering just falling back asleep due to how exhausted she still felt. She gave that up quickly when she heard Jongler hopping in from the kitchen, behind the couch.
They came around the couch before stopping in front of her, and even when they crouched down, closer to her face than she liked, she couldn’t pry her eyes open. It was only when their larger hand landed on her shoulder that she blinked up at them, clearly having thrown them off as their hand froze.
“Oh– you’se awake,” They whispered, even though it felt pointless to her, “Plues ‘nd I made eggs, whenever y’wanna get up ‘nd get it.”
That was where the Shadowguy went. She was wondering why the couch was emptier than it should’ve been.
A weird, guttural groan left her in lieu of any words she could give, her jaw too heavy to move. Jongler seemed to get her message as she slowly rose to sit up, their hand not pulling away. Instead, it roved up and down her upper arm as she balanced herself.
“Or I can get it for you’se, if y’wanna eat here. We’s could watch somethin’?”
Battat hummed, opening her mouth to speak before a yawn could take her voice away, “Tha’, um. That sounds good. If you’re okay with that.”
Jongler stood before she could say any more, waving their hand, “Course it is. It’ll be fun.”
And then they left her with herself, and her heavy body and mind, her hands rubbing down her face in some attempt to clear her head of the need to sleep. She blinked once, twice, and suddenly she stared down at the plate that sat on the coffee table in front of her, full of eggs.
Scrambled okay?
Pluey’s hands flooded her vision, signing in front of her face, and she could hear it trying to hold back laughter as she pushed its hands away to grab the plate. The two of them were sitting next to her, sandwiching her in between them again.
“Shut up.” She shoved the fork into her mouth, chewed, then scooped up some more. “Yes, I like scrambled eggs.”
“M’glad, boss. We was worried we forgot.” Jongler’s voice held none of the teasing that Pluey’s expression had, and she ignored it all to mindlessly stare at the show that one of them had chosen. Or maybe it was a movie. She didn’t know.
“M’not picky,” A big fat lie, but she could pretend for a few days to be polite to her hosts, “You don’t have to worry ‘bout that.”
She could feel their stares on her, like they also knew she just lied to them, but she just kept on staring forward and shoveled food into her mouth– the eggs were good, sue her.
“…Anyways,” Jongler continued after the moment of strange, tense silence, “You’se can go back to sleep when you’se done, if y’want.”
“…But you guys said you wanted to do shit today.” Was her non-question, and she left it at that.
They, Pluey in particular, had been excited to hang out with her, in their words. Went so far as to convince her to take the weekend off with them, even though all of them had to use their rare sick days for it. All because they wanted to hang out. Go to a few shops that were out of her way, eat at a restaurant the two of them had been recommending to her for forever, and just do stuff around the city the three of them hadn’t done together. They’d both talked about it ever since she brought up the whole sleepover thing, and she figured they would want to do as much as possible before the weekend was over.
But here they were now, sitting next to her on the couch, eating breakfast at 11:48, acting like they didn’t care about that at all. Jongler shrugged, and Pluey just shook its head and smiled.
Can have fun here. Too tired.
She squinted at the Shadowguy as it slumped into the couch, searching for any sign that it was lying, pulling back because of some stupid pity. When she couldn’t– it was probably just good at hiding it– she hesitantly gave up and shrugged,
“…If you’re tired, I guess we can stay in.”
Can sleep. Can sleep here together. It signed with a wicked grin on its face, cackling in its sing-song way when she nearly dropped her now empty plate, her face flushed.
“No way! M’not doing that again!”
Jon can join!
She tried to set her plate down as gently as she could, without smashing it against the coffee table like she wanted to, “We can’t all fit on the couch, rubberbrain! And we’re not sleeping, anyways! It’s almost noon!”
“We’s can all fit on the bed.” Jongler added unhelpfully, innocently shrugging their shoulders when she whipped her head around to glare at them.
Bed time! Bed time! Pluey cheered as it stood, pulling Jongler up as it danced in place.
“No bed! No bed time!” She waved her hands, yelping when hands slotted under her armpits and pulled her up, Pluey carrying her off to their bedroom as she groaned loudly.