I'm A What?!

Problems At Work

     Gat suddenly found himself in a tight hug, almost to the point he couldn't breathe.

     "I haven't seen you in so long!" She held onto him like he would just disappear again. "After what happened with your mom, I was so worried about you! When we lost contact, I thought I never hear from you again!"

     "Aunt Jo..." He struggled to say as his face was smooched into her chest. "Can't breathe... Let... go..."

     His aunt let go of him and blushed slightly. Gat took a few deep breaths and tried to get his head working again. He looked at his aunt and smiled. Jolene was his aunt by marriage, she was his dad's brother's Pet.

     His dad and uncle weren't that close. Ross was about fifteen years older than his brother. Gat's dad didn't talk much about his family.... It turned out that his dad was the only Sub in the family. Gat had only met his uncle at his mother's funeral.

     His aunt he'd met a few times before then when she would babysit him before he was old enough to go to school. The last time he had seen her was actually just after he woke up from... he didn't want to think about that. She was here now and that's all that mattered. He had family that still remembered him. Somehow he always thought that they would all just forget he existed.

     "If you're here..." Gat said to his aunt who now sat down on the couch next to him. "Does that mean Uncle Ross is here?"

     "Ross works here." Jo put a protective arm around Gat and gave him a side hug. She slightly nuzzled into him. "I guess your dad didn't tell you that... wait... why are you here in the Sub room? Did you get your classification already? Did you get a Dom? OOOOOOO are they here?! Who are they? Are you a Pet too? Wait..." She looked at the tiger and gave it back slowly. "Are you a Little?"

     Gat took the tiger and shoved it back in the bag. He avoided eye contact and sighed. "I'm not a Little." He said slightly annoyed. "They got it wrong!" He clenched his teeth and turned away.

     Jo sighed as she pulled him into a tighter hug. "How did your dad take it?" She asked calmly.

     This caused Gat to push away from Jo. He grabbed his bag and ran to the bathroom.

     He didn't want to cry. Crying just made him look like a Little. But he missed his dad. And what was worse, was that his own family wasn't close enough to know that his dad had been taken away. Would his uncle even care? He knew that his aunt would pity him, but he didn't want her pity. He suddenly wished that he was there alone. Having family around somehow seemed worse than having no one.

     Once he'd calmed down, Gat felt bad. He shouldn't have ran out like that. He remembered that Jo was sensitive and that she might be taking this badly. He went to the door and slightly pushed. It didn't budge. 'Uh, oh...' Gat thought. He pushed a little harder and it opened just a crack. There was a loud shriek and the door slammed back shut. 'She's leaning on the door. Oh no... Ross is gonna be so mad at me for upsetting her. Will Tim be mad at me too? I hope this doesn't affect his job!'

     "Exhaust manifold." Tim said.

     The man standing next to him was giving him a quick quiz. He would point to a part of the engine and Tim had to name it and its purpose.

     "It collects the exhaust fumes and directs them to the catalytic converter."

     "And where is the converter?" The man asked.

     Tim thought for a moment before he remembered. "Oh! Under the car between the exhaust manifold and the muffler." Tim was loving this. He loved to work on cars. He'd only been at the company for a few months, and they had only allowed him to clean up the workshop, occasionally they would let him help in the decal area. But now that he was sixteen, they could let him work in other parts of the shop.