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Anders was on his laptop and he was looking at shelter cats. He hadn't said he was doing this, and Fenris hadn't asked, but he could always tell when he was because the man's face would melt into a puddle of cute smiles.
No. Wait. Not cute. Just... normal smiles. Yes. Normal.
Fenris stopped looking over his book at him and went back to looking at his book. Just looking at the pages, not actually reading, because now he was too distracted to read. He would read a paragraph and then realize that he hadn't actually read it and then he'd have to re-read it. And then Anders would smile again and he'd look up at him again and damnit damnit damnit and he'd grumble inwardly and go back to his book.
"We should get a cat," said Anders suddenly.
"You already have a cat," said Fenris without missing a beat.
"We should get another cat. We can have two cats here. Don't you want another cat?"
They had this conversation at least once a month. "I'm fairly certain that you're the one who wants another cat, not I," said Fenris. He pretended to bury himself in his book again.
"You know," said Anders, "Before I had Pounce, I had another cat. His name was..."
"Mister Wiggums, I know," said Fenris. This was another story he heard at least once a month.
"Mister Wiggums was a paragon of felinekind," said Anders. "A true cat of character. He knew no fear. Chased a stray dog out of the backyard once. I aspire to be like him."
"You aspire to be a cat?"
"I bet it's nice to be a cat. Eat and sleep all day."
"Sounds like you're there already," said Fenris. He was still staring very intently at the pages of his book.
"Ha ha, very funny." Anders looked over at him. Fenris could see this out of the corner of his eye but he didn't want to look up at him. "Have you ever had a pet?" Anders asked him.
"No." Fenris tried to read the same paragraph again for the sixth time.
"Well, that's just depressing. We should get you one. Look, this cat here at the shelter has been here for... oh no... oh no, she's been there for almost a year!" Anders put a hand up to his mouth and looked like he was more distraught than he had ever been in his entire life.
"Oh, stop that," said Fenris suddenly, looking up at him. "You look like the sad puppy on the humane society commercial. You know, the one you can't watch all the way through without crying."
"Well don't bring that up, you'll just make it worse!" Anders exclaimed. He rubbed an eye with a finger. "Now look. You're making me cry just thinking about it."
"Am I," Fenris deadpanned.
"Yes. And you should be ashamed of yourself." Anders waited for a response, and when he didn't get one-- because Fenris was too busy pretending he was ignoring him-- he went back to browsing on his laptop. Rather listlessly, this time, his expression now one of neutral boredom. He must not have been looking at cats anymore.
And Fenris went back to actually reading again, but every so often he looked back up at Anders and was disappointed to see that he was not smiling. And oh, how he hated the fact that he felt this disappointment. It was bad enough to have to live with the guy. And now he was attracted to him too? It was just... it was so... it was so...!
Fenris reached for his phone. A few moments later, Anders' phone buzzed. He picked it up. A Facebook notification. He tapped it, and moments later a big grin spread across his face and he looked over at Fenris. "Aww. Kitten pictures! For me? What's the occasion?"
"You were mopey and depressing me," said Fenris.
"Well," said Anders, "Good thing you know just how to make me smile."
And although Fenris hated himself for feeling satisfied upon hearing this statement... he felt satisfied.
And he smiled.