It was thirty six past one in the morning. Or at least that's what I could see from my alarm clock without my glasses. Everything looked fuzzy, not helped by the dark, but I could make out blurred, glowing red numbers if I squinted hard enough.
I hated waking up in the middle of the night. Being a distracted insomniac, it kept getting harder and harder to get back to sleep afterwards. And that meant I had less energy once I properly woke up in the daylight, which led to mid-day naps that threw off my days, and often meant I couldn't fall asleep at night, thus creating a rather vicious cycle. The only consolation was that there was no dream to interrupt.
I threw back my covers and yawned, my entire body stretching out. Not everyone can get a full isometric workout just through yawning, but being part-cat gave me some nifty feline attributes, not least the exercise every time I felt drowsy.
Rubbing my eyes, I made my way to the kitchen, searching for a drink to aid my late-night/early-morning sleeplessness, as well as my dry throat. I could never quite understand why the top of my tongue would turn white after sleeping. Perhaps I shouldn't have dropped biology for business classes.
I had to pass through the living room going to and from the kitchen. The reason I mention that is because it's usually my favorite spot in the house. There's a trio of couches facing a television, complete with a sound system and lots and lots of soft carpeting to cover the large space. Often enough, I'd just pull off a pillow from the couch and curl up on the carpet for a nap, or watch a live race and cheer on my friend and occasional housemate Steffi, a professional racer in her own right, or just sit my butt on the ground and play the bass for a little while. For that, I blame Cheri for making me learn the instrument, and Steffi for buying me my Silvertone LB11, which sat quietly against one of the speakers.
Yes, normally I'd ignore the couches altogether. They came with the house, but I didn't see point of getting rid of them. And they did serve their purpose, like on that night when I was walking back to bed, and saw a Serperior dozing off on it, her long legs dangling over one of the armrests.
I should explain the legs. Like me, that Serperior was indeed of an anthropomorphic build. Unlike me (somewhat), the body was one of a female's, and a towering one at that, her length from head to toe somewhere around seven feet. Also unlike me, she slept bare, with her black jeans and white shirt crumpled at the foot of the couch, her body mercifully concealed under a thick quilt. The problem was, it was my winter quilt, a cherished essential during the cold weather.
I'm not sure what gave my presence away. Maybe I had gasped in surprise, like anyone would have when they realized there was an uninvited guest, or maybe she was just a light sleeper, because she woke up almost as soon as I saw her, her long Serperior ears perking up, before her eye opened and locked its slit pupil on me. I say her eye, because she had only one. The other side of her face was covered by a white patch, which I knew concealed an empty eye socket.
Yes, I was all too familiar with this Serperior. I wouldn't call her a friend, or even an acquaintance, but this particular snake was one I knew. Her name? Solana.
She sat up and turned to face me, her long, evergreen hair tumbling past her shoulders, her body most remaining covered by the quilt, parts of the quilt tucked in her armpits. It didn't cover her entirely, as I could still spot her two tone body color, alternating between green and white, and decorated with tribal-like tattoos all over the right side of her body.
For the likes of me, I couldn't read her expression. Was it annoyance? Guilt? Relief? I didn't know until she opened her mouth.
"Couldn't let me sleep, could you?" She said, her voice sounding annoyed, albeit not sincerely.
Being as fatigued as I was, I couldn't identify her tone accurately, and bent my knees together, my hands in front of my chest, much like a flustered anime girl. I may be a male, but I carry a lot of girly traits.
"Y-you're not one to talk!" I shot back, stuttering as I usually do whenever I have to retaliate or argue. "This is my own house, and I didn't invite you in!"
"Not an excuse." She muttered, her tail poking out from under the quilt and grabbing ahold of her shirt. She never wore undergarments, and I never questioned as to why, since I knew she could, and probably would, pound me straight through the wall. She was devastatingly powerful, especially when her emotions got the best of her.
I sighed, clenching my fists. There wasn't a point in arguing. Not with Solana, or in my case, not with anyone. Even when I was in the right, I would lose every argument. Besides, all I wanted at that point was sleep.
"Whatever." I grumbled, turning my back on her and heading back to my room. "I'm heading back to sleep. You're welcome to stay the night. I can't kick you out anyway."
The thing was, I didn't go back to sleep. The surprise of seeing Solana in my house had woken me right up, and I knew for a disheartening fact that I wouldn't be getting some sleep anytime soon. So instead, I turned on my bedroom light and picked a book off the ground.
My room wasn't normally messy, save for the occasional misplaced item. If anything, it was very orderly, my bed in one corner, my desk in other, stacked with papers and my laptop, standing right next to a bookshelf filled with everything from textbooks to drawing pads to novels, anything a distracted Delcatty like me could ever need.
Well, not everything. The rest of my necessities were hidden inside my walk-in closet, which I locked now that I knew my house was now occupied by someone other than me. I didn't care what I looked like in public, but the idea of someone snooping inside my closet and looking through my array of garments, accessories and outfits sounded downright embarrassing. I quietly rued my sense of fashion for being so effeminate, and occasionally suggestive. I'm not going to list what the closet was holding for that reason.
I sighed and flopped down on my bed face-first, my feline ears as well as my entire body going slack. I wasn't dressed in much, with just a simple shirt and shorts to go with my ubiquitous, long and striped socks that matched my armwarmers. On a night as warm as that, it was all I needed.
"What are you doing?" I heard Solana ask, making my ears perk, cheeks flushing in realization that I had left the bedroom door open. I lifted my head and turned around, walking over my bed on all fours, my tail idly swaying behind me. Seeing Solana leaning in the doorway, thankfully dressed in her usual getup, brought up my annoyance at her being in my house unannounced.
"Nothing." I explained, which was mostly true. "I just sleep with the lights on." The last part was a lie, and I said it sarcastically. I wasn't in a mood to fight with her, but I just wanted to be alone.
Solana didn't take that as a hint to go away. Instead, she approached me, sitting down on the bed next to me. In the light and in the closer proximity, I could make out some more of her features, from the scarlet color of her eye to the locations of her tattoos, which were inked onto her ear, neck and arm, at least the ones that were visible. I never liked tattoos much in general, but Solana managed to pull it off, perhaps because they were all in simple patterns; just plain curves.
"What do you want?" I whined, keeping up the tired act, throwing in a yawn for good measure. "I just want to sleep, alright?"
Solana reached out and put her hand on my head, ruffling my hair and easily subduing me, myself being a sucker for pats and other signs of affection.
"Drop the script, Zack." She ordered, running her hand through my hair with surprising gentleness. It seemed so out of place for someone I saw as having a cold and aggressive, yet admirable character.
She didn't smile at me, but her tone lightened. "You're quite convincing as an actor, though."
I lowered my head, trying to look angry yet blushing hard, embarrassed at the vibrations in my throat. I was purring to her rubbing, and it didn't feel quite right, no matter how enjoyable it was.
"Sh-shut up." I stuttered, flattening my ears, which she proceeded to rub as well. I felt conflicted. Solana was someone I admired, for her strength, self-assurance and her determination to do what was right, even though she normally did it in questionable ways. Yet she was really difficult to like in person, being as sharp-tongued and unfriendly as she traditionally was, which made her treatment of me feel so strange. Sure, I may have thanked her once for getting me out of a tight spot, and respected her good qualities, but we weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination.
"What's bugging you?" She asked me suddenly, lifting her hand off my head and nudging me with her elbow. I'm sure she wasn't trying to be harsh at all, but even her lightest nudge was noticeably rough, such was her physical strength.
Seeing no point in continuing to act, I simply sighed, not looking up at her. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, questions starting to pour out of my mouth. "Why do you sneak into my house in the dead of the night to sleep here? Why do you often come to ask me for favors or questions? Why do you act so...like yourself around me, then turn around and do something like this? Why me and not anyone else?"
I shut my eyes and braced myself, fairly sure her knuckles were about to imprint themselves in my face. I wasn't enough of a girl to use foundation to make myself look more appealing, but I felt certain I was going to have to get some to cover up the marks she was about to leave on me.
Ten seconds passed. Then twenty. Then thirty. Then I wondered why I was even keeping count, and opened my eyes cautiously. To my surprise, Solana was only looking back at me, as if waiting for me to open my eyes.
It was her turn to sigh, then she put a hand on my shoulder.
"Look, don't say this to anyone, or I'll have to hurt you, but I do like you." She admitted.
I couldn't have been more surprised. Solana actually liked someone? Why me? Why not anyone else? My mind was boggled.
"You're a lot more welcoming of me." She continued before I could say anything. "How can I put it, you don't seem to get angry from what I do or say, or at least don't show it." She lifted up my gaze by sliding her fingers under my chin, making me look into her eye. "You respect me, and that's rare."
I guarantee my face was painted in blush, because it certainly felt that way. My eyes darted downwards, totally embarrassed by Solana's words and actions.
"Well...I do admire you." I confessed, my ears wagging up and down like they usually do when I'm piqued or shy. "You probably know why as well."
Solana paused, looking up at the ceiling briefly.
"I'm thinking of a few reasons." She said, her expression still unchanged. It was dawning on me that Solana was not the smiley kind, even when she was in a good mood.
Acting purely on my desire for affection, I leaned against her, laying my head on her arm. To my welcome surprise, she felt smooth and cool, combining her expected cold-bloodedness with a skin texture much like a human, only even better to the touch.
"But why are you being like this?" I asked, carefully pressing forward, both physically and verbally. "I mean, you could have just said you appreciated me, but isn't the head patting a bit much?"
Her forked tongue flickered, her eye blinking slowly. "You saying you don't like being pat on the head?" She responded, knowing the opposite was true. "I feel I owe you, in a way. You do realize what it is I do most of the time."
I nodded, shivering from the thought of it. Solana, for whatever reason, devoted most of her life towards fighting off street thugs and criminals, virtually on her own with little more than her knives and her guts. This was, like a lot of her personality and decisions, something I didn't question.
"Knowing someone normal like you, who unabashedly respects me..." She trailed off, deciding on the appropriate words. "..let's say it keeps me grounded. Keeps my brain thinking clearly, reminds me of why I do what I do. Trying to help keep others safe by clearing out society's scum."
Her words made sense. Anyone else who'd do what she does, in her conditions, for such a long period of time would collapse or surrender. In a way, it showed off even more of her character. Parts of it weren't always clear, but perseverance was clearly an attribute of hers.
"I...I understand." I stuttered in response. "At least, I think I do." I brushed my hands through my hair, then spoke without much thought on it. "If you ever need a place to stay for a while, I can make room for you here."
Solana paused, her eye narrowing. I swallowed, thinking I had struck a nerve. But I meant what I had said, and I was firmly behind it without a second thought.
"I'll take you up on that, then." She said after some debating with herself. I sighed in relief, strangely happy with her answer. I hadn't pressed it onto her, but she had accepted. I was finally able to have some way to help her out.
"Thanks." I said with a smile.
"None of that." She told me firmly, lifting her legs up onto the bed. "If anyone should be thanking, it should be me. Now I'm further indebted to you."
I raised my hands and waved them at her, my cheeks turning pink once more in embarrassment. "Hey, you don't have to thank me." I said. "I'm just trying to do something nice, is all."
Solana huffed, clearly not willing to accept my terms. "No, I'm still going to repay you every now and again." Quietly and slowly, she started to move behind me. "And I know a good way how."
Before I could even question her, she did pretty much the last thing I could have expected her to do. With her intention aided by our height difference, she leaned forward, pressing her stomach against my back, before firmly gripping me by my sides and propping me upwards, and pushed the top of my head against her breasts.
"Wha-wha-WHA..?!" I yelped, caught completely by surprise. If my face wasn't red before, it certainly was then. My mind was overloaded, conflicted over enjoying the feeling of her glands, much larger and softer than they appeared when she was clothed, and why she was even doing what she was doing.
"Something wrong?" She asked, pressing more of her chest's weight onto me, her glands starting to squish themselves around my head, making my ears bat wildly against them in reaction. "You're enjoying this, right?"
The way she pronounced it made the question rhetorical, but there was no point in denying it, because it was true and we both knew it. The warm squishiness was so soft and delightful that I had to resist the urge to bury my face in them.
"N-no!" I stammered a bit too quickly. "Nothing's wrong, I was just caught out by surprise, is all!"
"How strange." Stated Solana, loosely wrapping her arms around my chest, continuing to weigh me down with her body. "After looking through your laptop's folders, I thought for sure you would have been gung-ho for this."
If my face could have melted, it would have done so right then and there. "You-you've seen my stash?!" I screamed in horror. "When?! How?!" My ears were starting to flap like crazy, and if Solana's chest wasn't as firm as it was, my ears would've been beating it like a drum.
"How and when isn't important." She answered, her tone still as flat as when she started, though I could vaguely sense that she was enjoying what she was doing. "Just relax and enjoy."
Seeing no escape or use in resisting, I swallowed and whimpered, letting her top my head with her rack, allowing myself to blush and purr freely, no longer asking why she was giving me a hat made out of her breasts. The shock passing, it became more and more enjoyable, and I knew that this was going to happen with some frequency in the future.
'It's not that bad.' I thought to myself, and I could tell that it was really what I was thinking.
And that's how sharing space with Solana came to be.