The Pet Shop (bxbxb)

19. Begin

(When you edit at midnight... and I ran out of dog pictures on my laptop so, say hi to a bird.) 

Work was stressful, even though being with Cerat didn't exactly help him relax, it wasn't as tough as Drake being around him right then. Stop thinking about Drake and focus. You have to do your job or shit hits the fan and the whole office is going to smell terrible. Of course, he knew that wasn't literally going to happen, but the idea brought a slight grin to his lips as he typed out and sent the rest of an email he'd been picking at for the last thirty minutes. 

"Alright, fifth one down. Too many to go." He said as the door to his makeshift office opened. 

Cerat slipped in, a cautious smile on his face as he approached. Good to see you are still a little hesitant. Warden couldn't explain it, but he could still see the vampire in Cerat's eyes, almost as if it were watching.

We'll figure you out eventually. Warden thought as he took a calming breath and nodded to Cerat, signalling that he could come forward if he wanted. Cerat did so, taking the seat next to Warden before bringing his legs up to hug them against his chest. 

"What's wrong?" Warden asked. He knew what was generally wrong. The whole situation he was stuck in, but there was nothing he could do about that, and Cerat knew it. So then why is he upset and not trying to instigate me? 

At first, he wasn't sure Cerat would answer, as the young man was quiet for a long time. When he did finally speak, though, it wasn't what Warden expected to hear, especially after just having to deal with aggressive mood swings for so many days. 

"One of the mice died..." 

Cerat's voice was so quiet that Warden had to repeat the words in his head to make sense of them. He wouldn't have felt bad about a mouse dying, as he knew that they didn't live very long, but just seeing Cerat so depressed about the animal's passing made Warden set his laptop carefully aside on the floor and pull the vampire into his lap. He half expected him to still try something, but when Cerat just wrapped his arms around his neck in a hug, Warden returned the gesture and pressed a kiss to his hair. 

"I'm sorry that happened. You take very good care of everything here, and I'm sure that it was just the little guy's time to go." 

Did he know that for sure? Absolutely not, but Warden did know that Cerat made sure that every single animal in the store, even ones not assigned to him for the day, were impeccably cared for. 

When Cerat didn't respond, Warden gave him a gentle squeeze, then leaned back in his seat and looked up at one of the surprisingly clean ceiling tiles. 

"Hey Cer?" 

He felt the young man fidget a little in his arms, and figured that he wasn't going to get much more of a response. He understood, as Cerat was still sniffling quietly. 

"Drake asked me out on a date tonight." 

Warden wasn't sure why he decided to tell him. He could have brought Cerat with the guy being none the wiser. You want input, and with how he was acting before, springing it on him might not be the best idea. He told himself with a roll of his eyes before looking down. He hadn't noticed, but Cerat had shifted more and was looking right up at him then. His eyes gleamed, but Warden couldn't read his emotions any longer. 

"I didn't know that you liked him that way." Cerat said after several long moments of silence. 

Warden had nearly given up on getting a reply, so when it finally came, he had to take a few seconds to put together a response. "I... we grew up together."