"Fuck, I'm going to make him pay for this," I cursed as I adjusted Noir on my back, not only did I have to go down and up the stairs at the train station but now I have to do it again in order to get inside my building.

I wasn't lying when I texted Maverick that I don't like exercising, my thighs are burning, and my knees are buckling.

I had walked with him on my back all the way from the train station, human hybrids made way for us to move as soon as they saw us approaching, we sure make a great duo.

A black cat, and an owl hybrid.

I manage to get him inside the elevator and up to my floor, I walk to my apartment and put Noir down on the ground making him lean on the wall while I am fetching my keys to open the apartment, once done I grab Noir's legs and drag him inside.

"Fucking cat, I'm gonna kill him,".

I don't really care if the floor in the hallway was dirty or not, I can't pick him up anymore, my energy has been drained.

He lays down sprawled in my foyer, I close the door behind us and lock it, taking a moment to catch my breath.

"Hoo, I'm really out of shape,"

I put away my things first, then I drag Noir to the living room, I lift up his upper body and throw it on the sofa, then I lift up his legs and do the same, since he's taller than the sofa, his body is laying down in a weird position.

I straighten his legs making them hang over the sofa's arm, I tug on his shoes to remove them, then I throw a blanket on him and call it a night.

I wasn't comfortable sleeping with someone else in my apartment, so I barely got any sleep before I decided to get up, shower, and make some breakfast for two people.

By the time I'm done, Noir wakes up groggily, "Ugh, I don't feel so good," he groans.

"The bathroom is there if you want to throw up," I said as I pointed behind.

My apartment is a studio apartment, everything is open, and the only doors are for the bathroom and the closets.

He walks past the kitchen and into the bathroom, I can hear him retching and I try to ignore it, or I'll want to throw up myself.

He comes out shortly after washing his face and rinsing his mouth.

"Can I borrow your shower after breakfast?" He asks as he sat down to eat his breakfast.

"Yeah, sure," I say as I pour him a glass of water.

"Thanks," he says around a mouthful.

"Don't think a mere thanks is gonna cut you some slack for yesterday," I reprimand him.

"Okay," he agrees dejectedly.

We finish our breakfast in silence, then Noir heads to the shower, I exchange his clothes with a fresh and clean towel for him to use, taking his clothes and throwing them into the laundry, turning the laundry on, suddenly I hear Noir shriek.

I hurry to the bathroom, knocking on the door I ask, "what? What's going on?!".

"The water is fucking freezing," he says through the bathroom door.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, the water heater doesn't work," I waved off, not like he can see me.

"Since when?!" He argued.

"Three years ago?" I said as I looked away from the door.

"Three years?! Why didn't you warn me?" He asked.

"I forgot, I kind off got used to it," I shrugged, "but don't worry about it, I've got the solution," I said as I scurried to the kitchen, disconnecting the electric kettle I use, and grabbing it with its base, then I also grab a big bowl and a small bowl, calling Noir through the door, I ask him to open up.

"Here use this, hook up the kettle next to the sink, and used the big bowl to mix the hot and cold water to your liking, the small bowl so you can proportion it while the kettle boils more water, don't just dump it on your head all at once," I explained before leaving him to figure it out himself.

Meanwhile, I look through my closet for clothes he can wear, while I finish cleaning his work clothes.

He's not that different from me physique-wise, taller sure, but not overly muscular.

Maybe I have something loose that he can use in the meantime.

I grab a sweatshirt, and sweatpants, "Noir, I'll leave some clothes by the door," I call out to him and he replies with okay.

I look around me, other than the kitchen light the house is covered in darkness, should I open the curtains?

I decided to open them since it might make Noir uncomfortable to be in the dark.

By the time he finished his shower and got dressed, I had begun ironing his work clothes, since he had to wait for the kettle to boil the water every time he refilled it, he ends up spending a long time showering.

"It's so bright," he says as he sits on the sofa and wraps himself with the blanket he used earlier, "it's so cold," he says as he shivers. "Do you have painkillers? I feel an incoming headache," he asks.

"Yeah, it's in the bedside table, top drawer," I answered as I flipped his shirt to the other side.

He gets up and opens the drawer taking out the painkillers from it, he pops out two and sits on the bed, "who's Paloma?" He asks startling me.

"What?" I asked, how did he know her name?

"Paloma, she just texted you, who's she?" Oh.

"Do you tend to snoop around on other people's phones?" I asked wishing he would drop it.

"No, but she happened to text you while I was grabbing the pills," he explains.

"..." I don't say anything, thinking we can end this conversation at this point, but this idiot can't take a hint.

"So?".

"Noir," I started, "do you know how to mind your business?" I asked not too kindly.

"No," he shakes his head unashamed.

"Yeah?" I asked, to which he nodded, "then you better start learning,".

Seeing how he won't be getting any answers from me he drops it.

I quickly finish ironing his clothes, then both of us started getting dressed, I get dressed in the bathroom while he gets dressed in the bedroom.

Once all of us are done we leave the apartment, I was pretty tired because I didn't get much sleep, while grumpy Noir is hungover.

I still have the flight later tonight, and I still haven't packed my suitcase.

We were inside the elevator and the door was about to close, but suddenly a hand holds it open, I notice how Noir steps away from the door as his mate Maverick walks in.

"Good morning, Puma," he greets.

"Good morning, Rick," I greeted back.

"Wow, you look like shit today as well," he pointed.

"Yeah, thanks to someone," I said glaring at Noir, who avoided any eye contact with his mate.

"Hi, I'm Maverick," Maverick introduces himself, and extends his hand to Noir for a handshake.

 Instead of greeting his mate back, he sneezes and uses both his hands to block it, causing Maverick to drop his hand and slip it into his pocket instead.

"Bless you," both Maverick and I said.

"Thanks," he says before he sneezes again, then shivers.

"Maybe, you're coming down with a cold," Maverick says.

"Maybe," he mumbles.

I glance between the two, Maverick was staring at Noir, while Noir only glanced at him once then avoided his gaze, focusing on the floor screen instead.

We reach the ground floor shortly, Noir exiting first, then Maverick, then lastly I did.

I keep an eye on both of them, Noir walks ahead, exiting the building he goes down the steps and waits for me to come to his side.

He probably doesn't know where to go next.

"See you around, Maverick," I said patting his arm.

He glances at me and goes back to ogling Noir, who was busy tapping on his phone, "yeah, see you around, Puma,".

From Noir's behavior, I guess he meant what he said while he was drinking last night, about him getting over his mate.

I place my hand on Noir's back turning him in the correct direction, we walk away from Maverick, who I can sense was still staring at the back of Noir's head.

I absolutely hate being put in an uncomfortable position.

I feel the vibration in my pocket, then I take out my phone, I have three unread messages, one from Maverick and two from Paloma.

Maverick:
- "I never got your buddy's name."

Paloma:
- "I miss you, Puma."
- "Can we please meet?"

I Delete Paloma's message and reply to Maverick's.

- "Noir, his name is Noir."

His reply comes right after.

- "he's way cuter in person."

To which I replied with the same reply I used the day before.

- "You're an idiot."

I lock my phone and continue my trip with Noir to work, who is still preoccupied with his phone, I have to steer him from harm's way.

Once inside the train he locks his phone and sighs, "never been to the Abyss before, it's such a rad place," he says sarcastically as he leaned back in his seat.

"It's decent enough," it is, decent enough to cater to society's rejects, "by the way, you owe me for last night," I tell him since I took care of his bill.

"Okay, I'll treat you to a meal whenever," he says.

That's good enough for now, I'll use this promise when the right time comes.

Once the train stops at our designated station we get off together, and walk up the stairs exiting the underground train station, we still have a couple of blocks to walk before we arrive at the office.

On our way, I notice a gift shop, "Fuck!" I cursed.

"What?" Noir asked.

"I forgot to buy the gift for Ms. Bernard," I was supposed to do it yesterday after work but because of someone, I completely forgot.

"Just buy it during lunch," he says nonchalantly.

"Tell that to Mr. Bernard, 'how hard is it to pick a gift for someone?' That's what he'd probably say," I said with my best impression of Mr. Raynard.

"Pfft," he starts laughing at the impression, "Do it again! Do it again!" He begs.

I glare at him, "forget it, talking to you will only get on my nerves," I said as I walked past him, continuing my path to the company.

"Come on pretty please," you'd think he'd ask once, but no, the bastard is relentless, he continues to laugh and joke about it all the way to my desk table, "how hard is it to pick a gift for someone?" He says doing his own poor impression of Mr. Raynard, then he bursts laughing again.

"Is that supposed to be me?" Mr. Raynard asked as he came from the office break room.

"Yes," Noir said as he continued to chuckle.

"So?" He looks at me, "where is the gift?" He asked me before taking a sip of his coffee.

"I haven't bought one yet," I tell him the truth.

"Since you already know what I'd say, you better have something to show up with, during the meeting," he warns.

"Yes, sir," I said, I didn't expect him to be here this early, he took me by surprise.

Noir follows behind Mr. Raynard into his brother's office, I sigh, this bastard probably knew he was already here, nonetheless, It doesn't matter, I have work to do.

And work is what I did, when lunchtime came, visiting the gift shop was the first thing on my list.

The place was covered in different kinds of souvenirs, antiques, etc.

I scan the shelves with my eyes from top to bottom, I was almost going to give up on this shop but my eyes landed on what I thought would be the perfect gift, a snow globe with two polar bears inside, the mother and its child between its legs.

I lift it up from the shelf and shook it, the snow falling on them looked so real, "it has music too," the shop attendant said getting my attention.

"It does?" I asked surprised by the bonus quality.

She nods her head, "would you like me to wrap it for you?" She offered.

"Yes, please," I said as I carefully handed the snow globe to her, "can you also remove any price tags?" Removing price tags is a must, I don't want to make the gift receiver feel over or underwhelmed by my gift.

"Of course, is this all, or are you shopping for more?" She asked as she moved to the wrapping station.

"No, this is all," I shook my head, watching her as she gift-wrapped the present meticulously.

After that, I pay for the gift and thank her before leaving and going back to the office.

Once at my desk I put away the gift, so it doesn't fall and get shattered.

Now the only thing left to do is pack my suitcase for the trip later this evening, so to avoid any overtime work, I get back to finishing my tasks for the day.

By the time work ended, I was one of the first people to leave, of course after I made sure to give Mr. Raynard all the printed documents he would need for the flight.

Once at home I quickly pack my suitcase, shower, and get dressed, then I pack the carry-on bag with my travel stuff, documents, and the gift I bought for Ms. Bernard.

Once done I lock my apartment, then head to the airport.

It took a while for me to get to the airport, but I still have plenty of time to get my luggage checked in.

I stand in line for the first class check-in, I've probably stood there for five minutes before I felt someone else coming to stand beside me.

I look to my right, and when meeting face to shoulder, I look up to see who it is.

"Good evening Mr.Raynard," I greeted the tall man.

He grunts, he's clearly not in the mood for conversation so I go back to looking ahead.

A while goes by, then it was our turn.

Raynard hands over his documents then he takes mine as well and hands them to the desk employee.

The lady types our information into the system.

I can see the signs when things are about to go downhill.

Her face goes pale, her pupils dilate, and cold sweat forms on her forehead, then she shakes her head and tries again.

"I'm sorry sirs, it seems that the first-class seats are full already," the woman says.

If looks could kill, I'd be dead already, I ignore Raynard's glare and decided to look for solutions.

"That's not our problem, clearly two first-class tickets were paid for, so we better get two first-class seats," I said.

"The website must have double booked or something, which website did you book the tickets from?" She asked, digging for something to shift the blame to.

"The airline's website," but too bad for her, I don't use these websites when it's job-related.

She looked dejected, "we can issue you a refund," she offers.

At this Mr. Raynard sighs, "can you get your manager, at this point, it doesn't seem like you'll get anything resolved," he says and the woman flushes red from embarrassment.

She excuses herself and leaves her desk, a few minutes later another woman shows up, she offered us two economy seats, and a refund for the balance remaining.

Mr. Raynard wasn't satisfied, but he wants this meeting to be on schedule, so he agrees.

Once everything is done, and we have our tickets in our hands, we head to the waiting area, the place was full and chaotic, and there were adults and kids of different ages.

This is gonna be one hell of a plane ride.