I'd Rather Be Me (With You)

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You felt fur brush against your arms, as one by one different cats climbed over you. You were a little skeptical about the idea of owning this many cats, that would be a lot of cleaning up on your part. But every time you visited Sandy's boat, you felt yourself edge closer and closer to yes. A small blue cat crawled into your lap, looking up at you with pleading eyes. You scratched behind Mo's ears, feeling the vibration of his purrs against your fingers. It was criminal to be this soft, and every single one of his cats was an offender.

"How does he even manage to handle this many cats?" You wondered, "You guys have to be a hassle."

As though he fully understood your words Mo shrugged, or as well as a cat could anyway. You liked cat-sitting these guys though, all things considered, they were always easy to work with. They practically took care of themselves. It was a wonderful switch from the constant threat of death this city brought you.

You felt Mo's tail graze along your hand, it was warm just like his hands. You thought back to that night a couple of months ago, the way that he spoke, the feeling of his hands on yours. You fumbled with the headphones around your neck. You still hadn't given it back to him, and you didn't want to. Every time you slid them over your ears it just reminded you of MK, his laugh, his smile, his...

The door to the room suddenly swung open, slamming the wall and destroying any sense of calmness you had before. The cats all jumped in different directions and Mo landed directly on your face. When you peeled the cat off of you, you saw
Sandy shuffle through all of his cabinets in a panic. It was the most scared you'd ever seen him.

"Uh, I thought you weren't going to be back for an hour?" You asked, standing up. "Something the matter?"

He looked up at you and sighed.

"I'm just trying to find some of my herbal tea." He explained, before going back to searching. "MK came down with a cold, and nothing else has worked so far."

You remembered the beef ball incident from a week prior. He'd entered himself into an eating competition and came down with hiccups so bad it shook the entire noodle shop. You really didn't want a repeat of last time.

"Did he eat something he shouldn't have again?"

"Well, Pigsy did say something about him grabbing a Cheese Tea from this new place that opened up." He grabbed a box of tea bags. "They did say some blue and orange guys were running it."

You'd only run into those demons once or twice, but you already understood what happened. You looked back at Mo, and the both of you shared the same face of disbelief. It was honestly a miracle that your friend was still alive.

"Alright, do you know where he is now?" You invoked, as Sandy shoved the box into his bag.

"He's been cooped up in his room ever since, he's a little paranoid about getting other people sick." You swore you could've seen a glint of sadness in his eyes. "I just wanted to bring these over to make him feel a little better."

"Should I bring anything? I mean I could fashion up some soup or something." You said. "I'm pretty sure Ginger Ale could help too."

The river demon tensed up a bit, and you could feel the aura of fear coming off of him. He grabbed the bag and quickly bolted towards the door.

"Nope, everything's fine, bye!"

The door was slammed shut, throwing the cats around you into another frenzy. You stood in the middle of it all, completely baffled. Mo shared your confusion and climbed onto your shoulder. You looked over at the blue and orange cat who stared right back at you.

"We're definitely going to check on him right?" You asked, and Mo meowed in agreement. "Alright, let's get cracking at some soup."

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