Micah woke up before Noah.

Even though Noah had called him a pervert the night before, the blonde was still clinging to him in his sleep, his face half-buried against Micah's chest.

Micah watched Noah's sleeping expression for a while and poked his cheek.

He carefully laid Noah back down on the pillow, then grabbed another pillow and tucked it beside him. Noah immediately took hold of it and started cuddling it.

Micah grinned stupidly at the sight.

He quietly padded toward the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

He twisted the shower knob in the wrong direction. He'd forgotten what Noah had told him, and ice-cold water blasted down on him.

Micah nearly screamed but bit it back and stumbled out, wrapping a towel tightly around himself.

He spent a few minutes in the towel trying to warm up before walking over to the closet. He opened his side of it and picked out a new outfit, a pair of dark blue jeans and a black T-shirt.

Then he headed to the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for something to eat, but nothing interested him.

Next, he opened the pantry, and his eyes landed on an unopened box of pancake mix.

An idea came to mind immediately.

—

Noah, on the other hand, woke up with a yawn, feeling more rested than he had in over three years.

The first thing he noticed was that Micah was gone and he was hugging a pillow.

The second was the shriek of the smoke alarm.

He leaped out of bed and rushed to the kitchen to find Micah standing on a chair, one hand fumbling with what was supposed to be a pancake.

"Oh my God, Micah, what are you doing?" Noah shouted so Micah could hear him over the loud noise.

Micah was visibly flustered and was waving a towel at the smoke alarm.

"I was... venting it."

"This is not how it works!"

Noah quickly turned off the stove and switched on the kitchen hood.

Ten traumatizing minutes later, the house still smelled like smoke despite the fact that Noah had turned on every fan he could find.

Micah sat in a chair, ears drooping, while Noah scolded him the way a mother would a misbehaving child.

"Am I going to get punished?" Micah asked softly, not meeting Noah's gaze.

"No! Why would you say that? I'm just... frustrated."

Micah looked very sad now and murmured,

"I'm sorry."

"I'm okay. Don't worry about it. It was just an accident."

Micah's apologizing...?

Why?

Noah's eyes lingered on Micah's lowered face.

"Hey, Micah?"

Micah peeked up at him.

"What were you trying to do?"

"I was trying to make you breakfast."

"You... were?"

Noah's heart fluttered like a hummingbird's wings.

"Well... you make me breakfast too, and you buy me clothes and everything. I wanted to do something nice too."

"Oh..."

He wanted to do something nice for me...

That's really sweet.

But suspicious...

What's the catch?

Worse...

What if there isn't a catch?

"That's really nice of you. Thanks. But I do have to go to work soon, so we'll just have some cereal this morning."

Noah ruffled his hair before walking toward the kitchen.

He reached up to grab a cereal box, dumped some into a bowl, poured in the milk, and hurriedly ate. Micah watched him quietly from his chair.

Noah disappeared into his room to change his clothes. About ten minutes later, he came back out dressed for work.

"Micah, I'm leaving!"

Micah moved so swiftly Noah didn't even see him. This time, Micah didn't even let him reach the hallway.

"Stay... please?"

Micah pouted, trying to look cute. His ears drooped, and his tail stilled, wrapping around one of his legs.

Aww, come on.

Now he's just weaponizing cuteness against me.

"No... I have to go."

Noah's voice already wavered, and his argument was weak.

"Come on..."

"Micah, please. You know I can't stay."

Micah frowned, and deciding he'd had enough of this, scooped Noah up effortlessly and carried him bridal style to the couch.

"M-Micah! Put me down!" Noah yelped, his ears burning bright red.

"No. You have to stay with me."

Micah placed him across the couch and climbed over him before resting his chin on Noah's chest.

"Hah... you're heavy..." Noah muttered, red all the way down to his collarbone.

Micah didn't move and stayed exactly where he was.

In that moment, Noah realized something.

Beneath that commanding tone of his...

He's just a clingy, affectionate, and innocent person.

It's really adorable...

No!

I will not get distracted!

I have to go to work!

"Micah... you have to let me go, please!"

Micah simply wrapped an arm around Noah's waist and held him tighter.

Noah tried listing a bunch of things that might convince him to let go.

"If I don't go to work, I won't have money to buy you fish!"

Micah shifted to look at the blonde man.

"We already have lots of fish."

Well...

That went wonderfully.

"Okay, okay, what about this? If I don't go to work, I might get fired..."

"And you'll stay with me."

"Daniel's gonna be upset though!"

The moment Noah spoke those words, Micah's gaze darkened dangerously, and he spoke in a low voice. "Who's Daniel?"