What it Means to Have You

Waking Up To You

Kine

Such a dork.

I let my fingers sift through his soft fur, tugging loose small knots.

"So... I'll start work the day after tomorrow."

He bristled, baring his teeth up at me for a second, making me smirk at his obvious disapproval.

"You know I'll heal fast. I'm getting good food and not living in the forest anymore. My bones should be mended enough to at least begin observing and learning."

His ears flattened and he huffed out a frustrated breath.

At least the day after that.

Rolling my eyes, I licked my pointer finger and promptly shoved it in his ear. Nagol yowled, bounding out of my lap, shaking his head to try to dispel the wet sensation I left there.

What was that for? he asked. I smirked and got up, using my crutches to go into the kitchen. Nagol was hot on my heels, pouting into my mind that I shouldn't be moving. When I got into the kitchen he was already in his human form again, and judging from the fact that I was now sitting up on the counter and he was fuming about the room getting food ready, I figured he wanted me to stay where I was.

"You know I can walk with the crutches? That's what they're for."

Nagol ignored me until he had a chicken sandwich carved from the leftovers of what I'd made last night. When he did finally acknowledge me, it was by raising different condiments, silently asking me what I wanted on it. I sighed and nodded to the ketchup and mustard. He added them, then put everything away before handing me the plate. I would have preferred to just eat on the sofa or at the table but bit my tongue and nibbled at the food, watching him watch me in his birthday suit.

"Um. Thanks for the sandwich, but can you cover your cold cuts?"

His brows went up, then he glanced down, a faint tint of red forming on his cheeks.

"Oh, yeah. Sure. Be right back."

He literally darted toward the exit to the room, but skidded to a halt near the door and whirled around right as I thought he'd disappear. Instead, he pointed at me and narrowed his eyes seriously.

"Stay."

My wolf bristled at the obvious order, but again, I swallowed what little pride I had left and just continued eating my sandwich after taking two pain pills between bites. I was surprisingly hungry, so by the time Nagol was back, I was nearly finished. He smiled, noticing my lack of leftovers, and immediately went to make another sandwich. I didn't object and took it once it was ready, shoving the last piece of my former one into my mouth to clear the way. After I finished the second one, a small bowl of ice cream was waiting, and after the ice cream, a big bar of chocolate. I nibbled at the chocolate after setting the empty bowl aside, but then put it down as well.

"I think I've had more than enough food. I feel fat."

Nagol had been watching me intently, though he tried his best to make it seem like he wasn't. Since he had plenty of time to just watch me, I figured he could do something else with his time.

"Hey, Nagol?"

His head whipped around in a blur to look at me. If he were a dog, he'd be panting at how badly he wanted my attention. I could tell.

"Go get your catnip and let's get rid of that now, hm?"

His face fell, but he slowly nodded, eyes downcast as he grabbed some garbage bags from under the counter and trudged out of the room. A moment later I heard him head upstairs. It was almost fifteen minutes later, according to the clock on the microwave, when he finally came back downstairs with two garbage bags in his hands, which were visibly weighed down a decent amount.