By the time Kleo got upstairs, Alexei was already getting set up in the bathroom. Kleo grabbed some old shirts for them to change into and soon after, he was sat in the middle of his bathroom with an old towel wrapped around his shoulders.

“I thought you didn’t work today?” Alexei asked as he put on a pair of gloves.

“It was crazy busy when I walked in so I thought I’d help out,” he explained.

“Makes sense.”

The two of them chatted mindlessly as Alexei went through the process of parting and applying color to the top of Kleo’s head. Kleo closed his eyes as Alexei worked his magic. He didn’t know what it was, but the whole process of him coloring his hair was so relaxing. It had only been about a year since Kleo went on a ledge and bleached his hair to try something different. First, he tried red, then he tried blue, and then at some point he thought teal would be fun to try and he’s stuck with that for some time now.

The feeling of fingers in his hair nearly lulled him to sleep, but before he could fully drift off, Alexei was done and a part of him felt like it was over too soon. He opened his eyes and looked up to his friend, who then gave him a smirk.

“Yeah? Rest well, sleeping beauty?”

“I didn’t actually fall asleep, you know,” he retorted, the slightest bit embarrassed for being caught.

“Well, you could have fooled me,” Alexei said as he slipped the gloves off and placed them on the box. He toyed with his phone for a bit before placing it back down. Kleo assumed he was setting a timer. “So, how’s the birthday been so far? As boring as you’d like it?” He asked as he hopped up onto the bathroom counter.

“I wouldn’t say boring,” Kleo said. “But it’s fine, just a normal day mostly. Had a somewhat heart to heart with Sean.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, he gave me a picture of my mom and me from when I was younger,” he explained then followed up with a decent summary of the conversation. “He heard about me falling asleep in class.”

“Damn, that was fast.”

“Right? I’ll have to be more careful.”

“Hopefully you actually get some rest tonight.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“You know,” Alexei started, “maybe you just need to let loose a bit. De-stress or something.” Kleo raised an eyebrow.

“And how exactly do you think I do that? I thought I was already de-stressing at home.”

“Yeah, working on your day off doesn’t really count.”

“It was for like two hours and it was busy, what do you expect me to do? Just leave Flora on her own while I’m lounging about upstairs.”

“Look, I’m just giving you an example,” Alexei said and Kleo let a short breath out through his nose.

“Aren’t we de-stressing tonight? Movies and all that?”

“Well, yes,” Alexei nodded. “But also, I meant a different type of de-stressing.”

“As in?”

“I don’t know, a party or something? We are less than twenty minutes from campus and any type of college nightlife.” Kleo was not expecting that suggestion. He had never been the type to party, whatsoever. Even in high school, it just wasn’t his thing. Yeah, he would occasionally be invited to something but that was just because he was a tall, somewhat decent looking guy. Even then, he never really took anyone up on those offers. He was always working or focusing on school stuff. 

“You know that’s not really my thing,” he meekly said.

“Have you ever tried?” Alexei asked and he knew he already knew the answer. Alexei had invited him to various parties during his freshman year of college. Kleo always turned him down, somewhat guiltily, saying he thought it would be weird to go being that he was a high school senior. “We could go to a small one,” Alexei suggested, “and I’d stay by your side to make sure you’d feel comfortable.” Kleo sighed and close his eyes. He’d do it for Alexei.

“I guess that wouldn’t be too bad,” he said and opened his eyes to see a grin on his friend’s face.

“Awesome! I’ll let you know the minute I get word of one,” he hopped off of the counter just as his phone alarm started to go off. “Alright, let’s rinse!”

***

Kleo’s eyes opened to the boom of thunder cracking in the distance. Heavy rain pelted against the windows as he drowsily took in his surroundings. The living room was dark, save for the tv stuck on the “Are You Still Watching” screen. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, careful to not disturb Alexei who was splayed across the opposite end of the sofa with his feet against Kleo’s back. He wasn’t sure exactly when he fell asleep during the night but a quick look at his phone told him it was currently just past 4 am. Kleo sat there, debating whether to just lay back down there and go back to sleep or make the short trek up to his room. Lazily, he didn’t really want to walk up those stairs. He stifled another yawn when a strange sound caught his attention. He stopped and listened closely, trying to hear it through the rain. He wasn’t sure but it almost sounded like.. a meow? Kleo got up and tried to follow the sound, confused as to how he would even hear it from the second floor. Maybe his ears were just playing tricks on him? He looked out the wall-length window and tried to peer down at the ground below. He couldn’t really be certain, but it definitely looked like something was moving around in the bushes down there. He quietly cursed to himself, knowing he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he knew whether or not there was actually something down there. Determined to not wake Alexei, he quietly turned and tried to make it towards the front door without making a sound, only to trip over an abandoned throw pillow. He fell with a thud and a groan, his pride hurt more than anything.

“Kleo?”

He lifted his head to see Alexei peering at him from the couch.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Kleo sat up and rubbed his leg, “I think there’s a cat outside.” He got up and Alexei sat up.

“A cat?” He questioned but still followed Kleo to the front, slipping on his shoes and grabbing an umbrella from the holder. Kleo explained how he thought he heard the meowing and saw something in the bushes as they headed downstairs. “Going out in the middle of the night to investigate a strange noise is probably the whitest thing you’ve ever done,” Alexei grumbled, rubbing at his eyes as Kleo unlocked the Apothecary doors and they stepped out. Kleo chose to ignore his comment and instead, turned his phone flashlight on to try to look into the bushes. Even with the rain pouring around them, he could definitely hear the meowing now that they were outside. Carefully, the two approached the bush where Kleo thought he saw the cat and Alexei stopped him before he reached down. “Wait, don’t just reach in, what if you scare it?”

“Do you have a better idea?” Kleo whispered, not wanting to talk too loud in case they did scare the cat. Alexei looked over the bush a bit before gently pushing aside some of the branches. They both kneeled and looked inside to find a small, black cat. 

“What are you doing out here little guy?”Alexei asked and Kleo’s eyes met with the bright green of the cat’s. He didn’t know what or why but there was a strange feeling forming in his gut. He couldn’t really explain it, but he couldn’t move his eyes away from those emerald orbs. Kleo’s mind filled with the image of a shadowy creature, massively towering over him with eyes glowing brightly behind the veil of darkness. A large, sharp toothy grin opened and curled around its face as it moved around him. 

‘Let me in.’

Kleo blinked again and it was all over in an instant. He placed his hand on the ground to support himself, confused and disoriented. He rubbed his eyes and when he opened them, the cat was still there, staring up at him. It meowed once more before standing and walking to them.

“Whoa,” Alexei said as the cat purred and nuzzled against Kleo’s leg. “Since when are you a cat magnet?” He offered his hand to the cat, smiling softly as it nuzzled his palm. Kleo was just as confused as ever but decided to chalk it up to lack of sleep.

“Who knows…” he shook his head, still feeling dazed. Carefully, he picked up the cat and held him under the protection of the umbrella. “Let’s get back inside.”

***

Kleo rummaged through the fridge, holding the container of milk but looking for anything else he could possibly feed the cat.

“You know, you’re not supposed to feed cats milk unless it’s a kitten. It’ll upset his stomach,” Alexei explained as he placed a bowl of water down in front of said cat.

“Well, shit,” Kleo said as he placed the milk back and went to search the pantry instead. He was nowhere near ready to take care of a cat but he couldn’t just leave it out there. How could he have been prepared for something like this? A look through the pantry failed to give him any better solution. He groaned, closing the door. The tiredness was catching up to him, definitely.

“Google says tuna is fine,” Alexei offered. “Do you have any of that?”

Boy did he wish he did, but he’s pretty certain there was no tuna in the pantry when he just looked. He closed his eyes and took a breath before taking another look just to be safe. His eyes widened when he saw it there, sat on the shelf as plain as day: a can of tuna. 

What the fuck? 

He took the can, confused, and honestly considering the fact that he might be too tired for this.

“Guess I do,” he said as he grabbed a can opener and a saucer. He poured the tuna out onto the glass plate before setting it before the cat, next to the bowl of water. The cat stared up at him for a moment before taking a generous helping of the food

“Well, that was lucky,” Alexei said, trying to suppress a yawn. “I should probably go to bed soon. I have a class in a few hours,” he rubbed his eyes and Kleo felt a yawn of his own coming on.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” he said and they made their way upstairs. Alexei shot him a wave before going to what used to be the guest room, but Kleo supposed would be his now. Kleo went into his own room, not even bothering to turn on the lights as he walked inside. He slumped down onto the mattress and melted into his bed. He fell asleep almost instantly before he felt something creep onto the bed. He opened his eyes and found the cat there, lying at his feet. Kleo closed his eyes and held his pillow, deciding it was entirely too late for him to put any thought into anything that had happened in the past hour. That would be something for morning Kleo to deal with.