The Bond

Ch 101

"Bold."/"Bold italic" : animatronic is talking/animatronic is talking in mind

"Normal."/"Normal italic." : human is talking/human is talking in mind

=o^o=

Michael opened the kitchen window widely, letting in the morning sun. He stretched after that, then walked back to the stove and turned it off since the kettle had made a sound. He carefully poured hot water into a cup containing coffee grounds and sugar, then into a second cup. Michael hummed a little, his eyes darting for a moment at the sound of someone's painful whimper from a distance. Ennard seemed to have accidentally knocked on the top of the door, again.

He was no longer surprised, Ennard's own fault for being too tall.

Shortly after, Michael carried both cups into the living room, placed them on the table and turned to the living room window to open them too. The sun's rays immediately lit up the room, Michael smiled faintly, before his attention shifted as he heard another sound.

A sound he knew well.

His smile widened, he jumped from the window excitedly and headed to the end of the yard quickly then he crouched down. "Enn!" he called from there, looking back to see if Ennard had decided to come after hearing his call or not. "Enn, come here!"

Michael shouted again, waiting a moment before he turned his head again to the source of the sound.

"It's still early, why are you so noisy?"

Ennard answered his call from afar, he took the fluffy thing and ran towards Ennard who was just watching from the window confusedly. The red-haired man's eyebrows shot up at the animal Michael was pointing at him; a kitten. Likely three months old. His forehead started to furrow and he pulled away a bit from Michael.

"Look! Cat!"

"I'm not blind, Afton."

Michael ignored his words and was still smiling himself looking at the kitten in his arms, his smile so broad and his purple eyes sparkling with pleasure. Ennard glanced at the gray furry thing for a moment. "It doesn't look like a stray cat, it looks clean," Michael said, now he was watching the cat closely. "What do you think?"

The bridge of Ennard's nose wrinkled briefly. "We're not keeping it, return it to where you found it now."

The corner of the eldest Afton's lips pulled down. "Why not?" he asked. "Look it's so cute!" Michael, once again pointed the kitten at him, at which point the cat meowed softly—seemingly scared of him as it immediately struggled in Michael's arms to crawl onto his shoulder and perch there. Michael raised his eyebrows while stroking the cat's back, trying to get the cat off his shoulders but his grip was too strong. "It seems it's afraid of you." He laughed.

The red eye of the man before him twitched in exasperation. "Put it back now," Ennard said irritatedly as he stepped away from the window to drink his coffee.

"But—Enn!" Michael jumped again through the window into the living room, making Ennard flinch at that. "We can just let it stay here a few days, it'll go by itself!" He was still trying to persuade Ennard, who was now indifferent. "Ennard, come on."

"No is a no." Ennard let out a tired breath, massaged his temple for a moment then looked up at Michael, who gave him a pleading look. "Afton, put it back."

"Just for two days only!" Michael pursed his lips. "Don't you feel sorry for this cute little guy?"

"No."

Michael puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "You heartless," he said before sticking out his tongue at Ennard, while Ennard rolled his eyes lazily. Michael's attention was diverted to the cat which he then lifted up high, his wide smile returned. "Okay, you will stay here for a while!"

"Afton!"

"I don't want to talk to a heartless person."

Ennard frowned and snorted. "Animatronics have no heart."

Michael ignored him after that, he was talking to himself to the cat in his hand in a cute aggression. Ennard at least felt afraid that the man would suddenly devour the cat because he was too excited. His bicolored eyes glanced at Michael, who stroked the top of the cat's head, before holding back his smile from widening and hugging the animal tightly. Ennard snorted secretly, he took another slow sip of his coffee. Looked like being a cat didn't sound so bad—

He choked on his coffee and coughed at the thought.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked then, looking at himself in confusion.

His face heated up, he stood up quickly. "Fuck you!" Those were his last words before leaving Michael there alone, still confused.

Michael's forehead furrowed. "What's wrong with him?"

The cat meowed.