Josh stretched his arms above his head and yawned, showing off little kitten canines in his human mouth. The partial transformation was still a work in progress. He had one cat ear, two cat teeth, a patch of fur at his knee, and something about his jaw wasn’t quite right. Still, Kit was off doing future-duke things and this was human enough for bits of mana to gather. He settled Kit’s robes more comfortably around his shoulders and twitched his nose at the window.

Closed today. It was safe to explore a bit rather than hide.

Three days cooped up in Kit’s room should seem like a vacation. Instead every other moment was a panic attack waiting for the door to open or someone to peek in through the curtains. Josh practiced really hard until he could manage something of a partial transformation even though it wasn’t perfect yet.

The tail was the easiest. Whenever he was nervous it just popped out.

The ears were harder. Sometimes it worked and sometimes - like this time - something else stayed instead.

It was important so he tried his best. Even one cat ear helped him to hear approaching footsteps, and the sight of a tail was expected in a room with a cat. And if Kit did return and Josh didn’t change back in time -

- it was better to look like a spy than a pervert. Snooping around Kit’s rooms in Kit’s bedclothes was closer to creepy, though.

Josh needed to gather mana. The more mana he had the better his control could be. This form was closer to human and gathered mana faster. The past few days showed a pattern in Kit’s behavior that minimized the risk. He should be able to explore a bit, go cross-eyed reading a few papers, then settle in for a nap on the bed. This early he would have plenty of time to wake up and hide the evidence before Kit returned with Josh’s dinner.

He really needed glasses, though. Josh picked up one of Kit’s papers and tried to read it by holding the page a few inches from his face (where the text was clearest). A headache formed quickly. He wasn’t sure if it was trying to read or the fancy print that made his eyes spin. Either way he was certain he was reading it wrong. The content was backwards; Kit was never on the side of beastkin.

Josh sighed and set the page down, poking at the papers on the desk. “Still bored,” he complained. “Still can’t see. I really was a bad choice for this.” Could he maybe leave a note or something for Polaris? Let him know that something had gone wrong? But he had no way to get advice back. Communication with the future was one-way.

Too easily distracted from his goal, Josh meandered away from the desk and onto the bed, curling up around a pillow and almost purring as he drifted. There was nothing he could find about dragons, royal ambitions, or the war against beastkin. Not in here at least. And that made sense too: you don’t keep illegal documents in your bedroom. Not unless they’re very heavily warded.

Hah! Kit was The Tyrant Drakon, the Bloody Emperor! He was a man without fear. He had the highest kill count ever recorded. It wasn’t possible for a man like that to start his career by discouraging war and recommending contracts and laws that would save lives. Josh wouldn’t - couldn’t - believe that. Sigh. Maybe he really was in some alternate universe. That would make more sense than a kind Kit Morrison! Polaris was really smart but there was always a chance Josh made a mistake during the casting.

Josh idled for a bit, then took a nap for a few hours. The sunlight felt good and warm, and he almost purred into a ghost sensation of fingers stroking his cat ears. He woke when the sun hit the far wall and gave a luxurious stretch. Josh set the nightrobes on the dirty clothes pile and then changed back into a cat.

That was when he realized an urgent need for the litter. Sneering, Josh unhappily took care of business.

It wasn’t until Kit was opening the door that Josh realized: “I’m a pet!”

He awkwardly stood there in shock as Kit entered the room with a plate of food balanced on one hand and a book in the other. “You haven’t eaten another shoe, have you?” Kit asked with a quick glance around.

Josh was also darting his gaze from one end of the room to the other for a very different reason. “Litter!” he whined. “Water!” he yelped at the half-empty bowl. “Wards! Bed! I’ve turned into a pet!” He’d been happy to get a bowl of water left out for him, and used the litterbox without a tantrum!

Kit had noticed his kitten exploring and thought it only animal curiosity. Rather than reprimand his pet the other man simply warded Josh out of those areas.

“Tristan thinks you might be bored. Brandon had a similar thought, but it was actually David who suggested one of these.” Kit threw something across the floor and Josh went flying.