The Magic Box, Monday

[existencemisspent]

There were boxes in the Magic Box. Lots of boxes. Varying from shoebox size to 'probably came with a refrigerator' size. Several were labeled "fragile" with bright arrows pointing in non-upwards directions and dire looking iconography. And every single one was very helpfully labeled some variation of "miscellaneous".

"Ah, yes, 'extra miscellaneous'. What a helpful description. What the fuck am I supposed to do with a box labeled 'extra miscellaneous'?"

Work around it. With 'work' in this case being a term meaning 'sprawl behind a handy wall of boxes where customers couldn't see him playing on his phone'.

He was such a good employee.

[open!]

Comments

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

The way to get back to feeling better was...well, repression had always worked for Jon. For various values of "worked", admittedly.

Getting back to normal, doing things might help. So here was Jon with coffee.

And a fluffy black cat draped over one shoulder, because he wasn't ready to let go of all of his class's guests just yet.

[existencemisspent]

He could try thorough repression, which was what Eliot was going for. (There was no way that Eliot and Margo would be separated for that long. None.)

Eliot heard the door open and close, but didn't sit up. "Is that you Jon?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Me and coffees. And a cat, if that's all right." Jon wandered toward Eliot's voice and looked behind the boxes to find him.

[existencemisspent]

". . . The cat isn't meant to be a human, is it?" Eliot asked, sitting up now and peering around his wall of boxes. "Or, wait. Would it be better if it was normally a human?" Margo hadn't accused him of being any less or more intelligent when he was a cat, but he had no real memories of that time, himself.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"I don't know," Jon answered. "That is, no, it's not a person, but I don't know if that would be better. It's International Cat Day, so I had cats in class."

Because any excuse for cats, really.

He held out Eliot's coffee. "I brought the coffee. I hope you brought the gin."

Repression could only be helped by a drink.

[existencemisspent]

"Is it?" Eliot asked. He eyed the boxes as he accepted the coffee. "Hopefully that doesn't make these full of miscellaneous cats."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"There are worse possibilities," Jon said, optimist that he was.

Which also explained why he held out his own coffee cup hopefully.

[existencemisspent]

Eliot gave him a knowing look. "I'm pretty sure any cats that were shipped here like this would disagree with you vehemently."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"...Well, yes, there is that," Jon agreed. "But having cats is good."

[existencemisspent]

"I suppose you would know better than me. I've never been much of a pet person."

You dealt with your father trying to toughen you up by feeding you the goat you named yourself once, and you tended to avoid feeling attachments to any particular animals.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"I've never had one myself," Jon admitted, snuggling the cat on his shoulder. "Only other people's. So...so far."

Which he was totally not thinking about, thank you.

"But cats are good."

[existencemisspent]

“I seemed to have had a reasonably good time when I was one, anyway.”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

That got the first real smile out of Jon in a long time, even if it was small. "Me too. It was...restful." He'd mostly napped in a sunbeam until he'd woken up himself, which had been a shame.

He also hadn't had Margo pampering him.

[existencemisspent]

“You turned into a cat too?” Eliot asked. “I’m a little sad I missed that.”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"That time when nobody could sleep," Jon explained. "After that. It was only for a few hours before I finally fell asleep. I...I don't think I'd mind if it happened again, though."

Cats didn't have things to worry about.

[existencemisspent]

“You asked the moon to turn you into a cat. Jonathan, in some ways you are almost painfully adorable.”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon hmphed. "I am not now, nor have I ever been, adorable. Anyway, you're the one Margo fed fish for a week."

[existencemisspent]

“Not for the first time or likely the last. Though usually she doesn’t also have to drag me to a groomer multiple times in the same week.”

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"I didn't think cats needed that much grooming," Jon said. "Unless you were exceptionally long-haired, maybe."