#Can A Female Cat Spray When In Heat

[astroboots]

RED FLAGS ║ PART 13 | FINALE

CO-WRITTEN WITH @THIRSTWORLDPROBLEMSS

Pairing: Steven Grant x female reader x Marc Spector (x hints of Jake Lockley)

Summary: The end is the beginning is the end. Or alternatively: You finally get to have Marc's beautiful face buried between your thighs.

Content: will cause unrealistic sex expectations.

Word count; 17k (guys I'm so sorry)

Series Masterlist | Astroboot’s Masterlist | Thirstworldproblemss’ Masterlist

[PREVIOUS]

Your face, small and pinched and dirty, looks back at you from the tiny mirror in Steven’s loo. The unflattering fluorescent lights aren’t doing you any favours. Eyes wide and strung out. A burst bottom lip. You look dreadful. 

Your clothes are soggy and cold underneath Marc’s somewhat drier jacket, mucky with grime and mud (and god knows what else), clinging wetly to your skin. 

You look like something the cat dragged in. 

You shiver. The idiom feels a little too on the nose, considering you were dragged across East London’s dirty concrete not even an hour ago. Just… not by a cat.  You shiver again, harder this time, trying not to think about it.

A shower. Marc sent you in here to take a shower. “Go get clean,” he’d said, “Warm up.” 

Right now you feel like you’ll never be warm again.

Marc’s jacket comes off first, and you hang it carefully on a hook, running two fingers over the cuff. You stare at it for a moment, fighting the urge to clutch it to your chest and bury your face in it. On autopilot, you reach out to undo your wristwatch instead, fingers running over the bare skin for a moment, searching, before you stare down at your wrist in confusion. 

Right. Your watch is gone. 

Or… not gone. Probably still out there in the alleyway, lying face up, cracked glass and all, on the concrete in the rain… next to the carcass of some invisible monster.  You shake your head, pushing away the image. It’s as good as gone, then, isn’t it? You’re certainly not going back out to search for it at this point. You’re bloody well never going down that alleyway again if you can help it. Hell, even going outside ever again might be off the table.

Pulling the shower curtain aside, you start the shower and peel off your ruined clothing, letting everything plop in a solid, sodden mass on the corner of the bathroom floor.

The muscles in your arms and shoulders are stiffening up and threatening to cramp up as the last bit of adrenaline abandons your system, leaving bruises and all-encompassing exhaustion in its wake. Your knees throb with the leftover pain. The water stings your scraped shin when you step under the spray. 

At least it’s warm. 

The heat of the water feels like a balm on your aching limbs, and you close your eyes, tilting your head back under the spray, trying to let the comforting warmth relax you.  

In the darkness behind your eyelids, the shower sounds like rain. Your nakedness feels like vulnerability. Like maybe you never made it back. Maybe you’re still out there, in the narrowness of the alley, under threat from an otherworldly creature that you cannot see, let alone fight. 

Your chest squeezes painfully sharp, and your eyes fly open, half expecting to see the hazy moonlit sky overhead. But no, there’s nothing but the expanse of the blank white ceiling. 

You’re still here in Steven’s shower. Safe, or as safe as it gets right now.

Dropping your gaze, you watch the blood and muck sluice down your legs and onto the tiled floor in rusty red-tinted waves to pool on the tile floor. The dirty water leaves lines of fine grit behind as the rest is sucked down the drain. 

You feel strangely numb. Like some part of your brain (probably an amenable survival mechanism) is trying to block out what happened so you don’t go mad. But maybe it’s too late for that. After all, you were a hair's width away from meeting your maker tonight at the claws of an invisible blob monster. 

It’s impossible to not think about. An irritated half-healed scab itching to be scratched. You turn it over in your mind, trying to process the fact that the supernatural is real—or those creatures were, at any rate. And apparently Marc dons a mummy costume and goes out into the night to battle them like he’s magical girl Sailor Moon. 

God. All of this is right proper insane, isn’t it? You want to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness.

You almost died; your understanding of the world as you know it has fundamentally changed; yet none of it feels real. The world itself doesn’t feel real. 

The water by your feet is running clear now. The dirt and grime finally washed off, but the film of exhaustion still clings to your limbs. Turning off the tap, you step out, grabbing the towel Marc left for you in the corner by the door. Your eyes linger on the set of clean clothes waiting for you underneath, folded into a neat square. 

You can't reconcile the man who does this for you with the same man that pummelled a supernatural monster into a whimpering pulp without hesitation. Didn’t recognise the Marc you thought you knew in the man in the alleyway standing over the creature and curb-stomping it into the ground with cold and blank disdain in his eyes. Couldn’t see that man in the Marc who escorted you home and gently bullied you into the shower. 

Reaching for the clothes, you quickly dress and pull aside the accordion door only to find the very man you were thinking of right outside the door, arms crossed and back plastered to the closest wall as he stands guard.  

You barely cross the threshold before he's already pushing away from the wall and moving in to guide you gently but firmly towards the kitchen like a particularly insistent herding dog.

There’s a fairly extensive first aid kit laid out on the counter, well used by the look of it, and you try not to think too hard about why that might be. 

"Up," Marc commands, curt as ever, swatting a hand down on the surface of the countertop, and you feel like a lamb being rounded back into the pen. 

A ‘please’ wouldn’t have hurt him, but you let it go with just a glare as you shuffle over, too drained to put up a fight over something so small.  You lift your arms to brace against the countertop, getting ready to hop up, and flinch a little as your shoulders twinge and ache. 

Marc is in front of you in a heartbeat, watching you with worried eyes and a furrowed brow. His hands hover, like he wants to help but doesn't dare to touch, and any testiness in you fizzles out at the sight of him.

You give him a small nod, barely able to complete the motion before his hands come down on your waist, lifting you. Even though you’re expecting it, the loss of ground beneath your feet feels sudden, unbalancing you, and you gasp, hands instinctively flying to his shoulders to steady yourself. 

Part of you expects him to drop you, but he doesn’t. Marc’s warm and solid under your palms, strong muscles bunching as he perches you on the counter. 

Blood rushes to your head with furious speed. It must be from the sudden change in altitude. That’s what you tell yourself no matter how doubtful that is considering the standard kitchen counter height is not even three feet above the floor. You're not exactly climbing the Himalayan mountains. But you don’t want to think of the more probable reasons right now. 

You're still reeling from lightheadedness when he lets you go in favour of busying himself with the large tin box on the counter, rifling through the arsenal of medical supplies, and sets down what he needs next to you. Then he's dragging a nearby chair to position himself in front of you. Sitting so close he's practically nestled between your legs. 

It does nothing to help with your newly discovered vertigo symptoms. 

"I’m going to check you over for injuries now,” he says perfunctory, pulling you from your thoughts, “Left leg.”  

You stretch out your leg into the air, glancing down at him, unsure of where to rest it. There’s no space on the tiny kitchen stool. Do you just… put it down in his lap? On his crotch?!?! Or–

Marc's hand wraps around your ankle, and his executive decision-making ends your flailing, as he gently guides your foot to rest against his thigh. Then his head ducks down, and he starts to inspect the patch of scraped skin on your knee, dabbing gently at the scattered dots of blood with a square of clean gauze.

With how tender and swollen everything feels, you expect it to hurt. That at the slightest pressure on your skin, it is bound to sting and snag and tear. But it doesn't. Marc is gentle, barely pressing down and showing such minute care as he tends to you that you barely feel the brush of the cloth at all.

It's such an impossible contrast. The tenderness of his touch as he fusses over you, placing a plaster on your knee, compared to the brutality you’ve now seen him capable of.

You still can't make sense of it. What happened, or what that invisible monster in the rain was. Why Marc was out there. Or what he meant by that being "what he does." 

"Marc," you start tentatively as you lean forward to get his attention, "What happened toni--"

“Wiggle your toes,” he interrupts. 

His odd demand cuts off your line of thought. “What?”

“Try to wiggle your toes for me”, he repeats, without looking up. “Want to make sure you didn’t get any nerve damage.”

You frown, you’re not blind to the fact that his request conveniently just cut you off from asking a question that undoubtedly Marc doesn’t want to answer. Still, you comply, angling your foot upwards and wiggle your toes for his inspection. 

Whether you passed his ad hoc medical examination, Marc’s expression isn’t giving you any clues. His face is as stoic as ever as he sets down your foot. He doesn’t say anything. Just reaches over to your right side to draw your other foot into his lap. 

Marred with bruises, looking like something that got mangled in a bear trap. Your right foot does not make for a pretty sight. It’s swollen and bleeding sluggishly from long gashes where the blob monster’s claw-like grip must have broken through skin. 

It's a gruesome picture, but miraculously, the injury doesn’t seem to be too serious. It stings more than it actually hurts, and it’s not even bleeding much anymore. Not even worth a trip to A&E really, as you doubt it’s deep enough to need stitches. 

At least that’s the assessment based on your own limited medical knowledge. If you based the severity on Marc’s reaction, you’d think it needed amputation. 

The line of his shoulder is pulled taut and reminds you of a live wire. Mouth set in a grim tortured line. He has the expression of a doctor about to give the nearest kin some heartbreaking news as he’s staring down at your foot with haunted guilt in his eyes. 

"I'm all right. I’m sure it just looks a lot worse than it is," you tell him. 

He doesn't meet your eyes or reply for that matter. Instead, he begins to gently tend the wound. Mouth pressing down so tightly his lips go pale white from it. He dabs away the oozing blood, carefully applying antibiotic ointment to the worst of the broken skin, and covering them with large squares of gauze that he tapes in place. It’s all quite professional, really, the practised ease that only comes with repetition. 

You wonder how many times he has done this before. You wonder how much harder it must be for him to suture his own gashes and gaping wounds. Wonder how long he’s been doing this by himself, fighting these hellish creatures. These things that you still have no bloody fucking idea as to what they are. 

"Marc,” you start tentatively, “what was--" A ticklish sensation rushes through you. In panic, you think a centipede is crawling down the sole of your foot. You instinctively jerk your leg up and away, nearly kneeing Marc in the face before you realise what’s happened. 

Your eyes fly downwards to Marc who is entirely unfazed by the close call as you stare at him in shock. His index finger rests on the arch of your heel and you blink up at him in a dumb stupor, not believing your eyes.  

Did he just– did he just fucking tickle you?!

There’s no hint of wrongdoing in his expression. No grin, or crack in his stony facade. He is unflappable as always as he continues cleaning your wound with a straight face. 

"Needed to check if you still had sensation in that foot," he offers up as an explanation as if he thinks that tickling was a perfectly reasonable thing for him to do in the circumstances. 

You frown, biting down the tart comment bubbling in your throat. You want to call him out on it, that you know what he’s up to and he’s acting like a child. But you know that the moment you do, the conversation will derail into an argument and in the flare of your temper, you’ll lose track of your questions. You’re pretty sure Marc knows you well enough that that’s exactly what he is aiming for. 

Gathering a deep calming breath into your chest, you steady yourself before you take a second shot. 

"What was that thing in the rain?" you ask again. 

He acts like he doesn't hear you. "Roll your ankles side to side," he requests instead. 

Irritation prickles your face. This bastard is still trying to evade your questions. 

"Marc," you start again, "what was--"

"Press down your weight on my hand with your foot."

"Marc!" you bark. 

He finally drags his eyes upwards to meet yours without bothering to lift his chin, seemingly as detached and reposed as ever. But there's something else in there too. A tiny flicker as you hold his gaze, and he has to look away. 

He looks… scared. 

Scared of what you don't know. The man practically single-handedly beat three monsters straight out of a Lovecraftian horror story with his bare fists tonight. With strength like that, you don't think anything should ever be capable of scaring him. 

"Can we talk about what happened tonight?" you ask again, trying to keep your voice even. 

His head ducks back down again, and he busies himself by rechecking the bandaids on your injured ankle. 

“There's nothing to talk about,” he murmurs offhandedly, but his hands betray him. 

There's no mistaking it. Even though his shoulders are obscuring your line of sight, you don’t need to see it in order to feel how unsteady his hands are. How his fingers stutter against your skin as they trail over your ankle.

He’s not letting go, as if he’s afraid that if he wasn’t holding onto you, you’d get up and walk away.

Gazing down on him from your vantage point of the counter, Marc doesn’t look as imposing as when you were looking up at him from the rainy concrete in the alley. From up here, he looks small and scared even. 

Even though there is nothing in this flat that should intimidate him. No invisible monsters lurking in the dark shadows behind Steven’s piles and piles of books. The scariest thing in Steven’s flat is dust mites. 

No, the only thing Marc is scared of, you realise, is this conversation. 

That’s what Steven told you, wasn’t it? That 'there are things that Marc hasn't told you.' That 'once you know everything,’ Marc thinks ‘you'll walk away'. 

It’s the final puzzle piece, slotted into its rightful place, and you can finally see the picture that was blurred out before, crystallising in startling detail. 

This is it. This is the big secret. The thing that Marc hasn't told you. 

You get it now. Why he has avoided you all this time. Why he stayed away even after you told him you love him. 

Because how on earth would anyone even begin to explain what happened tonight to someone who wasn’t there? 

How could he possibly have explained any of this to you before now? How would he possibly convince you those things out there (whatever they are) were real without dragging you into danger, head first, to see it with your own eyes? 

Didn't you struggle with the very same thought when you’d first tried to tell Marc what you’d seen in the alley on your own before all hell broke loose? The fear that he wouldn't believe you. That he'd think you were insane. 

Even if he had managed to explain and get you to believe him– what then? 

You can understand it. Why he was convinced that you would leave not just him but Steven as well, causing further collateral damage, if he told you everything. You can see from where he was standing, why he’d worry. 

But this is where Marc is wrong. You still want this. Him. Them.

"What happened tonight, it doesn't change how I feel about you," you start, and his hand on your foot spasms, grip tightening. It’s how you know your guess was right on the button, so you press on. "What I told you on the phone, I still mean it. I–"  you hesitate on the word. 

The last thing you want is to spook him away again by repeating it. It might be too much too soon. Instead, you settle for second best. 

"I want you to come back. Steven and I both do."  

Marc lets go of your foot. You can see his hand shaking despite Marc’s attempt to make it stop. His fingers flex and curl in agitation until he gives up and reaches up to drag it through his matted curls in frustration. 

“You don’t want this,” he says quietly, and his face is still turned downwards, staring at the floor refusing to look up at you. 

Knowing Marc, you know that he could very well mean the situation or himself. After everything that’s happened tonight, the part that upsets you the most is that he still feels this way about himself. 

"I do," you counter, saying the words with the whole of your chest. “I. Want. You. I want all of this.”

In the face of your certainty, he flinches, face pinched as if telling him you want him is a physical slap that pains him. It takes him a second to recover, to shake his head in refusal as he stares down at the floor like it committed a great wrong against him. 

"You want a normal life. Steven can give you that if it’s just the two of you. I can't,” he tells you. His voice, low in that weary and tired tone you overheard in the bathroom. 

"I don't need you to give me a normal life. What does that even mean? ‘Normal,’” you say derisively. “I don't need or want normal if it means you're not there Marc. That's not the life I want.”

He's still not looking at you, biting the insides of his cheek, and you can almost see the walls closing in around him before your very eyes. 

"You said you wanted me safe”, you say, ducking your head to try to catch his gaze, and you manage to see his eyes peer up at you from his lashes, as you continue. “And happy. I'm telling you now, I'm not going to be happy if you're not here."

Marc’s eyes widen with alarm. “You were awake?”

"I–" you start, but he cuts you off before you finish. 

“You were pretending to be asleep?” 

"No, I thought I was dreaming, I–"

“What else did you hear,” he asks. There’s panic in his voice, and he’s already rising from his seat in preparation to flee the room. 

Fuck, how are you fucking this up this badly this fast? Seeing his distress almost makes you want to backtrack, to fold it up and call it a night, try again tomorrow maybe. Because you know in his mind Marc is already bolting for that door, ready to leg it and put as much distance as he can between you and him. 

But… your mind flashes to the weight of his gentle touch on your shoulder. To his fingers brushing away the hair on your forehead. To his quiet voice as he whispered, 'I love you too'. You know what you heard in the dark: a testament of Marc’s feelings for you, and it emboldens you. 

“Marc.” You lean forward, reaching out to take his hand in yours. He stiffens with a jolt as your fingertips brush up against his knuckles, and you can almost see the line of his shoulder vibrate. But he doesn't make any moves to pull away at your touch. 

“I want you. Do you want me?” you ask. 

He stills. Marc looks at you for a long unflinching moment. It’s the same conflicted set in his jaw when you were standing next to him in front of Gus’ tank. The same hesitation written over his face when you were watching him through the back window of the taxi as it pulled away from him in the night. That same pained look when your eyes met in your office before he fled from you. 

His mouth parts with hesitation, but then he bites down and grinds his jaw hard enough that you think you can hear his molars grate from where you sit. “What I want doesn’t matter,” he answers you stubbornly. 

It's enough to make you want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him back and forth and scream into his face. 

“It does!” you say, almost half-shouting. “Of course it matters. You matter.”

"Don't. Don't do that.” Marc shakes his head, and he moves his free hand over yours, gently prying it off of him. “Save that for Steven. He deserves it. Deserves… you. I… I don't.” 

“And what about what I deserve,” you demand, fed up to the gills with his tendency for self-sacrifice, “What I want? Don’t I deserve to decide for myself?” 

That seems to catch him off guard. For once he doesn’t have a ready response, just glares at you, his jaw still set at that impossibly stubborn angle, but his eyes are full of so much pain that it hurts you to see it. You reach out again and cup his cheek.

"Remember that night Gus died? You came to me for help. You said I was the only one you could think of to ask, and it made me so happy that you did. I want you to ask me for things.”

There’s another moment of indecision in his eyes. The upper half of his body tilts in your direction, almost like he’s reaching for you, even if he won’t let his hands do so.

"I just want to be with you,” you continue, “I want to be your person. The person you come to when you need something. Can’t that be enough?"

His eyes are glued on you, mouth gaping open. For a moment you think you've succeeded, managed to stun him into silence and maybe even convinced him. 

It doesn’t last. 

He closes his parted mouth and clamps it shut until it’s compressed into a thin determined line. Then before you can react, he’s abruptly pulling away, turning with wordless efficiency, and walking away from you.  

"Marc?" you call after him, but his determined stride doesn’t even falter,  "Marc!"

Oh goddamnit! 

You hop off the counter, your sore ankle twinging when you land on it, but you ignore the dull ache as you run after him. 

“You don’t have to do this, Marc!" you shout. Slinging your arm out, you only just manage to catch him by the back of his shirt. Your fingers grip onto the fabric for dear life to stop him from getting further away, "You don’t have to do everything on your own. You don’t have to be alone. Steven and I are here. Stop running away from us! We want to support you. Please! You can lean on us.” 

He stops, turning about sharply, fire and brimstone in his eyes. The fuse of his already short temper burnt to a crisp. 

“You and Steven were never supposed to know about me or get caught up in any of this,” he snaps. “I’ve– My life is dangerous. It’s not safe.” 

“Yeah, I noticed the red flags already, you dunce. I still care about you regardless!”

“I don’t want you to care!” Marc roars, and it hits you with the force of a punch to the chest. 

You suck in a sharp pained breath, and he must see the hurt in your face because his eyes soften slightly, but his voice is no less emphatic, “You can’t go poking around in my life. Running out after me in the middle of the night. It's dangerous! You got hurt tonight. You could’ve been killed!"

And that does it. The pain of his implied rejection, the scolding tone, the way it feels like he’s blaming you for getting yourself hurt. It all rubs you the wrong way. All of the patience you had in you up until now evaporates, replaced by a fiery heat burning up your chest until it comes to a boiling point.

“Me?” you bite back indignantly. “What about you? Running around in a bloody Halloween costume in the middle of the night. Fighting invisible monsters? What if you got hurt? What on earth were you doing out there?”

“This is exactly why you needed to stay away from me. You do not want or need my fucking mess, okay!?"  

“Yes, I bloody well do! I'll take your fucking mess, Marc—every speck of it—as long as I get to have you too.”

His gaze bores into yours, eyes dark like spilt ink and brimming with anger so stark it practically sparks. 

“You really want to know what I do? Why I was out there tonight?” he asks, voice quieter, but the anger is still there, simmering just below the surface waiting to erupt. 

The sudden change feels like a gauntlet being thrown down, challenging you to a metaphorical game of chicken, daring you to back away and run for the hills while you still can.

You stand your ground, heels digging into the floor as you nod, swallowing the anxiety you feel pressed up against your throat like an acidic heartburn.  

“I serve Khonshu. I’m his avatar,” he says matter-of-factly as if it’s the most sensible thing in the world. As if any of this is supposed to make sense to you. 

It doesn’t. It makes no fucking sense at all. 

Your mind scrambles to connect the dots. Khonshu? Avatar? What the hell is he on about? Avatar as in James Cameron’s Pocahontas in space? And Khonshu? What even… You can’t even begin to think of what that is supposed to mean. Don’t recognise it save for a passing familiarity that it’s a word that Steven has used when passionately serenading you with facts on Ancient Egypt. The connection between the two is lost to you. 

“What is… ‘Khonshu?'” you ask, and this time, you don’t have to drag the answer out of Marc. 

He answers you willingly and as plainly without varnish as before. “Khonshu’s the ancient Egyptian god of the moon. Years ago, I was stabbed and left for dead. He saved my life and in return, I work for him now.” 

There’s no hint of emotion as he says it. He’s not pleading for you to believe him despite how fantastical it sounds. Not trying to convince you of anything. Marc is leaving it to you whether or not you believe him, almost like he wishes you wouldn’t. Like this bizarre rambling will hopefully finally send you packing and out of his life. And that’s… how you know he’s not lying to you. 

“Work for him… how?” you ask. 

His eyes flick upwards, grinding his teeth as if he’s biting down on a curse, before his gaze settles back on you. 

“I swore to protect travellers of the night.”

And once again, that tells you absolutely nothing. What does that even mean, ‘Travellers of the night’? As in prostitutes?! 

Marc’s obfuscation and frankly dodgy-as-fuck explanations have your blood boiling. You’re almost positive he’s doing this on purpose to get you hacked off, and he’s succeeding. 

“Can you speak in plain English?”

“I take care of bad guys so they don’t harm good people. Protect civilians who can’t protect themselves.”

“So you’re… what? Like a supernatural police officer? A monster hunter? A guardian of the night?”

He grits his teeth. 

“Something like that.” The answer is dismissive, and so is his attitude. He folds his arms across his chest, trying to distance himself from you, casting a glance at the door. “Satisfied? We done here?”

“No! No, we’re not ‘done here.’ We are the furthest thing from done. I already told you, Marc. Nothing that’s happened tonight changes how I feel about you.”

He shakes his head, jaw set mulishly, before tearing his eyes away and turning towards the front door. 

And that just won’t do. If you let Marc walk out now, you know he’ll do everything in his power to avoid you for the rest of his life.

Moving quickly, you dart around Marc and slide between him and the door. In your single-minded hurriedness, you bump into the small table by the door, sending several things clattering over and probably adding yet another bruise to your already abused body, but you don’t care. You cannot let him leave. Plastering your back to the door, you stand tall and raise your chin, prepared to act as a physical barrier if you have to.

Marc’s eyes narrow into slits, a snarl of pure exasperation erupting from the back of his throat.  

“Move,” he orders, taking a step closer to you, but there is no real threat behind it. He doesn’t reach out to touch you; doesn’t grab you or shove you out of the way

He just looks at you like you are an actual obstacle he cannot surpass. But you know that he could move you by force if he wanted to. It’d be easy for him to force his way out of the flat with little effort. 

Between the two of you, physically he’s the stronger one. You’ve witnessed him take out supernatural monsters tonight. If he wanted to, he could shove his way straight through you. Carry you into another room and lock you in. Could easily snap every bone in your wrist in the blink of an eye.

But he won't. After all this time, if there is one thing you’ve learnt about Marc, it is that harm is only ever his last resort. 

The man is squirmish at the prospect of physically harming a goldfish. Would rather visit all the pet shops in all of London in the middle of the night to find a mythical one-finned fish to avoid that outcome. At the core of him, he wants to shield and protect, not break. 

And towards you? He would never use brute strength on you. Would never hurt you. Would give his very life to make sure you’re safe and unharmed. Happy.

In front of you, Marc takes another step forward, closing the distance. His commanding presence crowds you in against the doorframe until there’s barely any space between you anymore. 

Marc is angry. Jaw tense, shoulders tied up in a tangled knot, nose flaring like an angry bull emitting a bright and blaring warning signal for you to move. But you stay put because if he’s a bull, then that must make you a matador, practically waving a red cape at him to come charge you.

He’s staring down at you again. That look in his eyes, like he knows what is best for you. That same stern gaze when he swore you to secrecy, deciding what was best for Steven. The determination there that tells you that this is not up for discussion. 

It’s a recurring pattern with Marc. He decides what he thinks is best for everyone else, with no consideration of what the person in question actually wants. 

“Last chance,” he warns, through gritted teeth, “I won’t ask again.”

Marc probably thinks this is a threat. But it’s only because he can’t see himself, the pain-filled eyes that look back down at you. Nothing is menacing about it. 

“I’m not moving,” you tell him. 

It’s only a fraction of a second, but you catch his eyes flickering to your lips. A near-growling sound tears out of his throat, and then he’s moving forward further into your space.

What is he–?

His hand cups the back of your neck, pulling you to him, and then his lips are on yours. 

Oh.

Marc Spector is kissing you.

It’s hard and demanding, his lips crushed to yours, clearly driven by the frustration and anger that seems to vibrate just under his skin. But it doesn’t matter. You have dreamed of kissing this man for so long. Even with the harshness, you can’t help but respond to him, meeting the brutal press of his lips with your own more eager one. Mouth parting in invitation for him. 

Something shifts. 

All the fight goes out of him, leaking away like hot air out of a punctured balloon, whatever anger was there fizzles out of him, and you feel him melt against your lips. The kiss slips into something softer, sweeter. Something that steals every ounce of oxygen from your lungs. 

You don’t know how long it lasts, the only thing you know is that it doesn’t last long enough. If you could have the choice, you’d want it to last forever. 

It doesn’t of course. Marc retreats from you with an unsteady step. His eyes are etched with shock as you take him in, brows pinched and pupils wide, and you already want to kiss him again. 

The two of you have been here before. Staring at each other from so close a distance that your foreheads are inches from touching. Except this time it’s not in front of a fish tank with an imposter goldfish between you. A stray curl falls into his eyes and tickles your nose. It’s the hint of clean linen, the note of coffee you brew for him every night that he will unfailingly drink because you made it for him. It’s the smell you wake up to embedded in Steven’s sheets. 

You want this man, all of him, to be yours. 

Your face tilts up to him. So close, his lips ghost over yours.

“Marc,” you whisper, and his eyes flicker over your face. “Stop running.”

Part of you expects him to stop you again. That he will pull back, eyeing you like you’re something dangerous, the way he did that night in front of the fish tank. 

He doesn’t. 

You tip your face forward even further, your nose dragging along the bridge of his.

“I love you.” 

You can hear the sharp inhale just like last time you said it over the phone when you did not know if he was on the other end or not. When you didn't know if the sound was imaginary or real. Now you know. 

You couldn’t see his face then, but this time you get to. The pinched furrow between his brow, that look in his eyes that makes your heart seize in your chest. There’s no doubt about it now. 

"And you love me,” you say. 

His lips part, and you brace yourself for another protest or denial, but it doesn’t come. Instead, his head does the slightest tilt forward. A nod, you realise. 

“Yeah.” He whispers it so quietly you nearly miss it at first. 

You smile. Happiness surges through your insides, weaving through your ribs until you think that your chest might burst. 

Marc Spector loves you. 

You swallow in relief, smiling even as you feel a sting prickle the corner of your eyes. Then Marc leans down and closes that infinitesimal space between you, bringing down the final barrier of separation that he has maintained since you met him. 

It’s a soft press of his lips to yours. So soft, it’s scarcely there, but it feels perfect all the same, a fluttering warmth that you can feel down to the curl of your toes. 

It’s an admittance. An invitation. A sign of trust. 

Marc kisses you again and again with lingering kisses that he deepens with each gentle press of his mouth to yours. His hand moves to cup your face in his palm, cradling your cheek like you're the most precious thing he’s ever touched. 

You feel like you ought to be surprised by how gentle he is, but you’re not. Not at all, because of course he’s gentle.

That’s the thing, isn’t it? Marc’s hardness is all smoke and mirrors, hiding the vulnerable softness that lies under the hardened skin. Beneath it all, Marc is protective and caring, kind even. 

And now, you finally get to have him in all his confounding complexities. This stubborn, kind, impossible idiot, right here in your arms. 

You pull him closer, even as you keep kissing him, fingers twisting into the brushed cotton of his shirt, and he lets you. Head leaning down as he adjusts his angle so he can slant his mouth fully over yours. He’s pressed up against every single inch of you, from his knees to his chest, your lips fused and somehow it’s still not even close to enough for you. You tug his collar, encouraging him to come even closer and he does, obedient, in a way that you’ve never known him to be before. 

Stepping forward, he follows your lead, inching closer, until the solidness of his chest presses you flush to the door. His arm comes to brace the side of your head, hand cupping behind the back of your neck, and you realise only belatedly it’s the reason why your head isn’t colliding with the hard wood behind you. 

Not that it would matter if you did. You don’t even think you’d notice if your head went through the wall right now. Too focused on the softness of his lips. Too lost in the quiet, near-silent humming sound he makes as he kisses you that sets your nerves alight. 

God, he’s perfect. His closeness is heady. There’s a growing hunger in your stomach that makes your limbs shake and tremble. After all the time he's been away, hiding from you, you feel starved for this. For him. You want to bite his neck, lick along the protruding line of his collarbone and swallow every inch of him down to the marrow if he’d let you. 

For all the gentleness that Marc is showing you, you have no intention of returning the favour. Your teeth sink in, biting down on his bottom lip, and he lets out a quiet involuntary gasp into your mouth. Your veins burn at the sound. Fuck, you want him to make that noise again, that careless pitch of pleasure that sounds so unguarded coming from him. You want to bite and nibble and scratch and claw and have him make every noise known and unknown to mankind. 

You drag your teeth along the swell of his lip, and he shivers, eyes squeezed firmly shut like he’s teetering on the very edge of his self-control. Then you nip down again. 

His hips stutter forward involuntarily, and he curses, the sound breathless and raw, like you tore it out of him before he was prepared. It’s all you want. To hear that sound again and again and again. You want to hear his tiny moans in your ear, the involuntary muffled growl as he buries his face into your neck trying to keep quiet, hear him gasp ‘fuck’ in barely audible decibels. You want everything. 

Hooking your fingers into the belt loops of his jeans, you haul him closer as if he wasn’t already pressed alongside your body. Thighs nestled between yours, the coarseness of denim scraping against your bare legs. You can feel the hardening bulge trapped between you, and you want him to grind against you, to rut into you mindlessly until you can feel his cock twitch against the softness of your belly. 

But Marc isn’t showing any signs of obliging you in that department, and you’re not willing to stop kissing him in order to give him directions. Instead, you arch your back away from the wall, tilting your pelvis until you rub up against his crotch. He jolts hard at the contact, the line of his body wracked in shivers with a gorgeous groan that is cut off too soon. 

"Shit!”  

His hand leaves your neck. Then he’s pulling back and away from you in retreat. You immediately miss the warmth of his body, reaching up to try to chase after the loveliness of his lips, but he stops you. A gentle but firm hand comes down on your shoulder, pinning you against the wall. 

You stare up at him, and you’re not sure you’re breathing anymore at the sight of him. You should be used to how preposterously beautiful this man is by now. But you never are. Each time feels novel and so much worse–no, better than the last time. The collar of his shirt is stretched and askew. Curls a mess against his forehead. Lips, slick and kiss-swollen as his mouth hangs open, chest heaving as he pants. 

As stunningly pretty as Steven is when you’ve succeeded in making a mess out of him, to do it to Marc is something else entirely. This orderly, neat freak of a man who makes it his life mission to repress his emotions and jam them shut inside of himself with a tight lid. You did this. You’ve made a mess of him. It’s electric, your veins buzz with the thrill, and your brain is screaming for more. 

Your hand reaches up, fingers carding through his hair as you reel him in by the back of his neck. Your mouth finds his, kissing him hard before he has time to overthink it or, god forbid, change his mind and try to bolt again. His mouth parts, and you swallow the soft oomph of surprise that escapes his throat and lean in, licking desperately into his mouth. If this is all you get, you want to try to savour him. 

Marc doesn’t stop you this time. Instead, his hands settle on your waist, fingers digging into your hips as he’s pulling you closer. It has the whole of your back from the base of your spine to the tip of your nose tingling. 

This time he’s the one grinding into you, the hard outline of his cock pressed tight between you. Even through the thick layer of denim, you can feel how hard he is, and you shiver pleasantly.

You moan into the kiss, rising on your tiptoes to meet him. There’s not an inch of space between your bodies, and you swear you can feel his cock twitch against your hip. 

And fuck, fuck– that’s– 

You need to get him in bed now before you hitch your legs and clamber onto his thighs to climb him like the trunk of a tree. Why the fuck did the architect place the bedroom section at the opposite end of the flat.

Stepping one foot sideways, you tug at the neck of Marc’s shirt to steer him towards the bed. There’s no resistance. He shows you the same obedience as before, easily letting himself be pulled by you as you start walking blindly backwards, navigating the two of you through the junkyard of Steven’s mess. 

Any second now you’re expecting to trip over the damn ottoman, except this is Steven's flat, not yours. And this isn’t Steven; it’s Marc in your arms. Steady and composed in his every step, with none of the charming incoordination of Steven. No, Marc steers you like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Arms bracketing your side to make sure your hips don’t bump into any hard-edged furniture, preemptively pushing back a teetering book from the shelf before it even has the time to leap off the ledge. 

Marc—beautiful, stubborn Marc, who is as immovable as a rock in his decisions—is letting you pull and tug him in whatever direction you’re choosing to go. Kissing you with each unbalanced step backwards, like you’re the only air he ever needs to breathe. 

There’s a flicker of light as you pass Gus’ tank, and it dims when you move past Steven’s desk and the telly. God. It’s a journey of fewer than 20 feet that should take you less than ten seconds and not the eternity that it seems to take. 

When you finally feel the fine, gritty sand beneath the sole of your foot, it feels like victory. The soft brush of the sheets pressing up against your calves is the rope of the finish line that you’d never imagined you’d reach. 

You want to memorialise this moment somehow. Etch it into your memory so you’ll never forget. Carve it into the wooden beam structures of this very flat so it’ll outlast you both. 

Marc’s hands on your hips guide you gently to a stop, and you realise with a rush of giddiness that you’ve finally reached your destination. You break the kiss long enough to sit down on the edge of the bed, and you don’t even need to tug at the corner of his sleeve for Marc to dutifully follow you down. He helps you lay back and leans in after you, the firm weight of his body settling over you, pressing you down into the mattress. 

The weight of Marc feels perfect, as his head tips down to your face, kissing over the curve of your jaw to your neck. He’s pressing open-mouthed kisses down the line of your throat and the swell of your chest. It’s tender. Reverent almost.

Marc is unbothered by the cotton layer of clothing that separates his mouth from your bare skin as he goes. His mouth grazes your knuckles, kissing the inside of your wrist. He’s soft yet insistent. Hungry but slow. God, he’s slow, infuriatingly so, to the point where you wonder if he’s taking the mick out of you. 

His lips trail a row of devoted kisses against the bare skin of your stomach where your shirt has ridden up, barely lifting the hem up and letting it ride up against your ribs as he puts his mouth there too. If it didn’t feel so good to have his mouth on you, you’d consider it torture with the pace that he’s going. You’re aching, everything inside is pulled so taught and tight you might burst out of your skin.

Those cotton soft curls tickle against your thighs on his way down, and you spread them for him in a not-so-subtle invitation. But Marc doesn’t pay you any mind, that earlier obedience that had endeared him to you is nowhere to be found now. He continues down, knees sinking into the sand lining the perimeter of the bed until he’s kneeling down in front of you on the bed. 

Then he stops. 

You hold your breath waiting for him to continue. But nothing happens, and your first instinct is that he’s changed his mind again. You’re almost lunging after him. Fully prepared to tackle him down with a wrestling move you’ve seen on the telly and pin him against the sand and wooden floor. 

But he’s not moving away from you. 

Opening your eyes to peek, you lift yourself on one arm, tilting down your head to find yourself staring back at those pitch-dark eyes. 

You’re not prepared for the sight of him. Of Marc on his knees, peering up at you through his lashes, like you’re a solemn prayer that he’s clinging onto by his fingertips. The vision of him flattens your lungs, taking any oxygen away with it. He’s looking at you like you’re something to be protected and cared for. As if you’re all he’s ever wanted and would never allow himself to have. 

Marc’s bending down again, lips brushing your skinned knee as his warm breath ghosts over the raw skin. He goes over every scrape and scratch with his mouth. It’s his way of atoning for ever letting you get hurt. 

And as good as that feels, as much as you never want him to stop. You need more. More than this torturous, drawn-out pace that he’s giving you, or you think you’ll tear your hair out by the roots and go mad with it. 

“Marc.” You’re trying to say it with urgency, maybe even hint at your annoyance, but it comes out as a high-pitched, delirious plea, “Marc please, I need–” 

He doesn’t answer you with any words. Instead, his hands come to the side of your hips, fingers slipping into your sleep shorts, hooking the hem of your knickers with them as he pulls them down. 

“Lift,” he commands, in the same brusque way he had before when ordering you to sit on the kitchen counter. But this time you’re only too eager to comply. 

You’re so excited you nearly deal a high kick to his face, miraculously missing him by only a couple of inches. 

From the corner of your eye, you swear you catch an amused half-smile quirking the corners of his lips. But before you can take a better look to confirm it, he ducks his head back down, even though you think you can see the line of his shoulders shake from what might very well be laughter. 

But your mind doesn't get to linger on it for long. His hand curls over your thigh, and he settles your leg on his shoulder, pressing a kiss to the inner side that his mouth can reach. Then he hooks your leg over his back, and sharp heat settles deep in your stomach.

His warm breath fans against the bare skin raising goosebumps in its wake. He continues to lick  over the softness of your belly. Nipping at your hip and the insides of your legs, covering every inch of you he can reach with his mouth. Purposefully avoiding the slick ache between your legs where you need his mouth and tongue most. 

Fuck, you could kill him for that. 

“Marc.” His name is a whine between your lips. It sounds pathetic to your ears, but you don’t care. You’re not above begging. Not if there’s a chance it will get you more of this, of him. 

“Please, Marc, just– I need you to–” 

“Baby,” he murmurs, cutting off your pleas. It’s almost reproachful, but it doesn’t matter because that’s not what your mind is focused on. This is the first endearment Marc has ever used for you and it sounds so sweet on his lips. Makes you feel loved and cared for despite the admonishing tone. 

“Be patient,” he scolds, but there’s so much fondness in his voice for you, it makes you lightheaded. “I’m gonna take my time with you.” 

There’s only a brief second as you catch a peek of the pink tip of his tongue, glistening against his lips. His eyes flutter closed as he dips down. Heat crackles throughout your limbs, and your lungs pull tight in anticipation. The air around you thins, and for a moment as you try to desperately swallow down the air in your throat, the room seems to tilt. 

Then he gives you his mouth, and as cliche as it sounds, it’s heaven. A long, controlled press of his tongue through your wet and slick folds. Endorphins rush through you to the top of your head, and you can’t help how your body reacts, arching up against his mouth with a gasp that is punched out of your lungs. 

Then he does it again, and somehow, though you can’t even fathom how it’s not defying the laws of science and time as you know it, he goes even slower. The velvet softness of his tongue drags with an unhurried press across the seam of your pussy until he reaches the apex and licks with a silken glide on your wet clit. You nearly swallow your tongue to tamper the whine trapped in your throat. 

This is not the pace you were expecting. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on your part, but you thought he’d be impatient. Almost anticipated that his movements would be sparse and efficient like every other aspect of his life, pushing you to a high-speed climax like a carcrash.  

This is not that. This is Marc taking his own sweet time. His tongue is a slow decadent drag against your clit, and you feel his warm breath ghost over you, inhaling the scent of you as he takes you in. 

Sweet heady pleasure climbs up the back of your thighs, filling your stomach with it. It’s so much, you don’t know if you can fit it all within, all the emotions that are welling up in your chest to spill out of you. Your fingers grip his solid shoulders to anchor yourself. You roll your hips against his mouth in an attempt to urge him on, but he refuses to take the hint. His tongue makes a slow, thorough exploration, interrupted only by the open-mouthed kisses that he presses against your mound, your hip, your cunt. 

You can feel the tension in his shoulder under your thigh. Can hear it in the quick rasp of his breath, but still, his pace remains slow and measured. Steadily kindling the smouldering heat beneath your skin, lick by torturous lick. 

It’s perfect. Hot as sin and twice as glorious, but you could scream with how agonisingly glacial the build-up is. A strange, high-pitched sound escapes you. An unflattering blend between a moan and a sob. It sounds like you’re in pain when all you feel is pleasure, and then you hear Marc shushing you again. This time softer, comforting even. 

“It's alright. You're alright. You can take it for me,” he says into your skin, mouth pressed against your clit with a warm hum that rumbles through your flesh. Your veins drip with something sweet and honeyed at his tone. 

Marc is so exacting, not at all like Steven’s wild hunger. His tongue laves at you, warm and wet, with an unceasing gentle pressure, gliding over and around your clit. Decadently slow, but never stopping. The feeling is intense and unrelenting. Somehow dragging you closer and closer to the edge but never quite enough to push you over. 

Digging your heels into his back, you tilt your hips as far as the strain in your muscles will allow you to get closer. You rock yourself against his mouth, and Marc groans, a pleased, encouraging sound, even as his hands grip the flesh of your waist and hold you firm against the pillowy softness of the bed to make sure you don’t try to ride out your own pleasure against his face at a faster pace than he has set for you.  

You could scream with frustration. If the left hemisphere of your brain responsible for speech wasn’t so severely compromised by Marc, you would be screeching until your throat goes raw with it. Instead, you hiccup a broken sob, his name quiet and cracked on your lips. 

"That's right. You're alright," he soothes, as he presses his forehead against your stomach. If you didn’t know better, his voice almost sounds a bit shaky, slurring on the last word as he bends back down and puts his mouth back between your thighs, onto your sensitive flesh and gently sucks. 

Those unruly curls tickle against the soft skin. You only meant to brush his hair away, but as soon as your fingers curl into the soft heat of them, you can’t help but grip tighter at the silky touch. Carding your hand through the curly locks. 

You don’t mean to tug, but the careful drag of his teeth against your clit sends a sharp electric jolt up your spine, short-circuiting your lungs and sending you clawing at his curls for dear life. It should not feel this good, and yet you find yourself chasing the sensation, nearly buckling over, as your heel digs into the firm muscles of his back to anchor yourself. 

You can’t even look anymore. Why torture yourself with the sight of him buried between your legs. Cheeks dusted crimson, and those breathtakingly expressive eyes burning into yours as if he’s trying to memorise every minute detail of your expression. You can see his jaw working on your pussy. Can feel him as his tongue keeps sliding hot and insistent without reprieve against your overstimulated clit. 

It’s so much. Too much. All your senses feel overloaded. Your vision goes blurry. You’re not sure if it’s tears that are stinging behind your eyelids or if they cross at the back of your head as everything dims and darkens, like a fuse box blowing out. It’s all too much, and you’re being dragged under and drowning in the sensations. You need to pull up above the surface to breathe again or you’re sure you’re going to die. 

You grab at Marc’s hand like he’s your life preserver, and he weaves his fingers between yours. It’s surprisingly intimate, as he squeezes your hand back, pressing your intwined hands to your hip bone, reassuring you he’s right there and—fuck, it’s… It’s so much, too much. 

It’s chaos. A mayhem between your violently beating heart and burning lungs. You think there must be something wrong with you. Can’t possibly contain the pleasure that keeps pouring and pouring into you. For a fraction of a second, as your mind is torn apart by the sensations, and you are convinced that you must be having a heart attack. What other explanation could there possibly be?

“Ma–Marc, I–I’m– Fuck, oh god, oh fuck."

Marc eases back, “It’s okay.” He presses his mouth to your clit and kisses it, and the slick sound his mouth makes have you trembling and shaking so hard you’re convulsing against the sheets. “You’re okay,” he soothes. “Let go. I’ve got you. Come for me.”

Warmth floods your veins touching every part of your body, humming through every nerve and cell as your orgasm washes over you. It’s hard and unforgiving. Your body is trying to claim revenge on you for allowing it to take so long as it did. Everything else around you disappears, pulling you under with a vengeance that blots out your vision and all sounds with it. 

But it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters to you anymore is how everything in you tingles pleasantly. It lingers long after it’s over, and you can still feel it from the tip of your fingers to the curl of your toes as you come down on Marc’s tongue. 

His face is still buried between your thighs. His tongue curled against your entrance as he laps every drop of slick out of you. Drinking you down and swallowing every trace of your pleasure. He doesn’t let up for long moments until finally he’s satisfied and drags his head up your body. 

“Did so good,” he praises, voice raspy and raw as his tongue trails a long affectionate line down your femur. 

He presses his mouth to your knee with the same gentle care he did when he’d applied plasters. It’s intimate. Sweet. 

Part of you feels silly to feel this affected by such a simple affectionate gesture considering what preceded it, but your heartbeat flutters at the touch. 

It doesn’t matter that you’ve barely just come down from your orgasm or that you’re still throbbing and sensitive between your legs. Limbs so wrung out, they’re tingling and numb. You’re already craving the closeness of him all over again. 

“Marc,” you call out for him, arm outstretched in an invitation for him to join you on the bed. 

He doesn’t move, and it takes you a few moments, your mind fuzzy around the edges with the afterwaves of your orgasm to register that something's wrong. Everything is blurry and obscured by a warm haze, and you have to blink through the watery periphery of your vision before you can see him a bit more clearly. 

Still on his knees, Marc’s mouth parts slightly open, like he maybe wants to say something but he doesn’t know how. There’s hesitation there in the tenseness of his jaw as his eyes flick away from your gaze, as if there’s still some invisible barrier that he won’t let himself cross.  

It is a little bit ridiculous. After all, what barriers between you are there possibly left to cross? You and him nearly died together tonight. You love him, and he loves you too. Bloody hell, he’s just spent the better half of this night with his head buried between your thighs. There’s no stone left unturned.

But you know it’s not that simple. There’s a deeply embedded seed in Marc, buried under his skin and flesh and left to sprout for decades, long before you came along. Making him doubt himself and his place with you. It doesn��t matter how far you two come. He might always struggle with letting himself have what he wants guilt-free. Because he still doesn’t think he has a right to, that he doesn’t deserve it. 

You plant an elbow on the mattress to raise yourself. But your arms have turned into boneless gelatine, wobbling under your weight, and you nearly topple over. Marc moves so fast, you only register a blur of movement, before he’s by your side. Steadying you with his hands on your shoulders. 

“Easy. Lie back,” he says, eyes narrowed and worried, as he’s ushering you back down. The man’s got a protective streak a mile wide. 

“Marc, please—” you start, but you don’t have to finish. 

He breaks with your plea, and his knee dips into the bed, fully climbing in. His arms brace your sides as he lowers himself onto the bed. 

“What, baby? What do you need? Tell me.” He says it like you only have to speak the words, and then your every wish will be his command.  

There’s no fight left in his tone anymore. Voice gone soft. Any internal doubts have melted out of him. The look in his eyes as he gazes down on you tells you that Marc would give you anything you ask for. This man would insist on throwing himself under a double-decker bus if he thought it would make the ride a tiny bit smoother for you. 

And oh… You get it now. 

It’s taken you far too long, but you might have finally solved the puzzle that is Marc Spector. For all his aversion to let himself have even a morsel of happiness, there’s always been one overriding drive. There’s one thing that towers above the shame and guilt. One thing that’s more important to him than everything else. It’s in the way he’s always trying to meet the needs of those he cares for. Their happiness. Steven’s. Yours. 

All you need to do is ask for him. 

“You. I need you. Want you. Please.” 

You can see it in real time as it happens. How the last traces of hesitation in him crumble, replaced by a determination that carves into those rich brown eyes. He drops forward, then he's sealing his mouth over yours like he’s signing on the dotted line, giving himself over to you.  

It's everything.

Marc leans back again, fingers hooking into the hem of his t-shirt and dragging it off over his head in a single fluid motion. There’s no tangling of fabric, and it doesn’t get snagged as he tugs it over his head. There’s none of the clumsy adorableness of his alter. Marc undresses with practised ease like it was choreographed for the sole purpose of making your heart race faster. 

Good fucking grief, you might’ve already seen this man before you naked on more occasions than you can count. But as he towers above you, skin golden in the dim light, the sight of his bare chest feels novel in a way that has your heart dropping to your lungs that must be entirely medically unsafe. You can’t help but stare shamelessly. 

Chiselled and hard from the top of his head to his toes. You remember being surprised by how fit Steven was the first time, but somehow on Marc, it seems right. His physique reminds you of mythic Greek heroes memorialised in marble, and you're taken aback at how soft and warm he is under your hands. That he's human, made out of flesh and bone, and that he shivers as you drag your palms across the bare skin of his chest and stomach. 

The anticipation crackles in your thighs, burning with a searing intensity at the thought of undressing him, gingerly unwrap him like a decadent present. But you’re greedy and have none of Marc’s patience. You wrench at his belt with little to no finesse, reaching down and wedging your fingers along the hem of his jeans to shove them down forcefully against the generous curve of his ass. You tug hard enough that you hear Marc choke out a wheezed breath, but you’re not even paying it any attention. 

His hardened cock slaps against his stomach with a heavy thud and everything in you roars to attention at how thick and swollen he is for you. You feel heavy with need at the sight of it, and your brain is on autopilot, acting without conscious thought as you’re already reaching forward. Your knuckles skim down over his stomach before greedily wrapping your hand around his cock. 

A deep groan tears out of his chest, and his hand snaps up to grab your wrist, holding you still. He clamps his eyes shut and takes a deep breath, inhaling heavily through his nostrils, breathing in and out with great struggle.  

As much as you enjoy getting a rise out of him, you’re not trying to make things difficult for Marc on purpose. At least you don’t think you are. But you can’t look away from his cock. You can feel it straining and twitching in your hold, can see the trickle of glistening precome welling up from the flushed tip. 

Your tongue feels heavy in your mouth, practically salivating as your thumb gently drags over the slick wetness there. The touch has his hips bucking, stuttering into your hands with a sound that sounds suspiciously close to a whimper. Your cheeks burn and tingle, your whole body flashing hot. 

“Fuck,” he snarls and knocks your hand away, “You fucking ruin me, you know that?”

You want to retort that he’s the one to talk. Point out that he’s left you a dripping slick mess that’s soaked into the bedsheets and mattress and made them unsalvageable; that your thighs are an aching mess and you’re still swollen and sensitive from his mouth. But all vocabulary flies out of your head at the sight of him, as he replaces your hand with his own, wrapping one large hand around his cock.

Your heart stutters somewhere in your chest, and the breath in your lungs still with anticipation as he drops down to settle himself into place between your legs, knees nudging against your thighs to spread you wider for him as he notches the fat tip against your slick entrance. 

His eyes lock on yours, the tip of his nose brushing alongside yours. He leans down to kiss you again, mouth warm and slick. You can still taste yourself on him, tart and almost sweet. Then he pushes inside of you, and your mind goes numb.

The first slide of him inside you is perfect. A sweet filling stretch that threatens to blot out everything else into nothingness.

Even though it’s your first time with Marc, your body already knows him. Craves every inch of him, and he’s willing to give that to you now, inch by slow maddening inch as he eases inside. Large hands clutching your sides, as his hips press forward and he works himself inside you. His cock pushes deep until he’s buried  to the hilt. Then he stills, shuddering. 

“Shit—,” he groans, dipping his head to press his face into your shoulder. “You gotta be kidding me.” His voice sounds shaky and strained. You’re not entirely sure what he means or what he finds so implausible. If he can’t believe he’s finally inside you after all this time or how good it feels. You just know you can’t believe it either. 

It's flawed logic, but you’re not exactly coherent at this moment. Lungs squeezing tight in your diaphragm, you’re only capable of sobbing nonsensically at the consuming sensation of him filling you. Can barely focus on the warm tingle on your spine that settles over you. Your mind has been filled with cotton, soft and hazy as he’s completely sheathed inside, as deep as he can physically be.   

Marc holds there for a long moment, his breath hot on your skin where he pants against your collarbone. He doesn’t move. Hips pressed flush against yours, taking his time to let your body adjust to the girth of him. 

His mouth is on your bare skin, pressing kisses to your lips and then the apples of your cheek, before he drags himself downwards to mouth at the side of your neck, and under your jaw. Hands roaming along your ribs and hips like he cannot stop touching you. It’s devoted, loving even, the gentleness to his touch. It makes everything all the more overwhelming for you. He’s ruining you, with every caress on your flesh, and kiss to your skin, and he has barely even moved yet. 

And god, you need him to. 

"Marc."

He doesn't seem to hear you, mouth continuing to dot lazy kisses across your clavicle. 

"Please.” You arch your back towards him, but you don’t get very far with his weight flattening you down against the bed. 

“Marc, need you to move," you try again, voice high-pitched and needy, but you could be pleading to a stone wall for all the good it seems to do. His hips don't move from his position, immovable like a boulder. Instead, his palms fan out against your ribs, fingerprints permanently searing into your skin with the heat of his touch. 

You can’t take it anymore, everything inside you is screaming, bursting at the seams for more and you wrap your legs around his waist in an attempt to force him deeper. To move. 

Your heels dig into the rounded curve of his ass, and he jerks and gasps. You can feel his cock twitching inside you, as those stupendously gorgeous eyes flutter open. He’s looking at you again, stirred from the spell and the soft expression on his face hardens with determination. 

"Yeah, baby. I got you," he says, and he finally complies. His hand comes to rest on the small of your lower back, tilting you up to him as he moves again. The hard drag of his cock slides out of you until only the blunt tip rests inside, and then he thrusts back, unhurried and deliberate. 

Slow simmering pleasure bubbles up in your veins and you have to swallow it down with a hiccup of a sob. It's still the same ruthlessly slow and thorough pace. The one that tells you he won't be rushed, won't be hurried, even as he's giving you exactly what you asked him for. 

Stubborn. Unreasonable. Maddening. You won't survive him. 

The next thrust is demanding. It strikes heat along your spine and squeezes the air out of your lungs, until there's none of it left so you can fit more of him inside. A strange squeaky noise punches out of your throat, and in panic you clamber onto him.

He does it again. Hips dragging back as he pulls himself away, altering the angle of your hips with a small adjustment as he cants your hips upwards again. This time he lifts you further up than before and he pushes his way in with an almost testing stroke. His eyes narrow as he gazes down on you, brows furrowed in concentration and you realise what he’s doing. 

Marc is slow and exacting, studying your every reaction, learning the best way to intricately pull you apart. 

Staring up at him like this feels like you’re witnessing your own demise as it unfurls. Those unwavering eyes are focused on you, watching your every expression. He’s tilting the angle of his thrusts until he drives the pleasure deeper inside you with devastating precision until there is nothing left of you. Until tears are stinging in the corner of your eyes because you’re sure that you can’t fit more within you — the pleasure and him— and then he does somehow. 

He catches your leg, hitching them higher so that he can slide a few inches deeper. The angle shifts, striking against something raw and overwhelming. You think you go blind with it and you swear you see stars collapsing behind the darkness of your eyelids. 

"Yeah, there we go." His voice in your ear is calm, but he also sounds proud and pleased, and you're not sure if it's with himself or you. It’s all you can hear, and then he’s moving again.

A rich pleasure fills you at the slow glide of his cock dragging out of you, and then he pushes inside again, deep and determined, until his cock is kissing that deep perfect spot that robs you of your ability to breathe. 

“Fuck, that’s it, baby. Can feel–” he groans, rolling his hips into yours, and it’s fucking devastating. 

Your mind goes blank. A clean slate with no thought left in you except how good it feels. All you can do is moan and whimper, hands clutching desperately to his shoulders. "Oh– Oh, god. Marc, I– oh!"

He groans, slanting his mouth over yours and swallows the words down, cradling your head with his fingers. Soft doting presses of his lips to yours. 

"Fuck, you feel so–" His sentence is cut off, and you never get to hear the rest of what he was going to say. 

His mouth is on yours again and it’s nothing like the starved and overwhelmingly eager kisses you’re used to from these lips when it’s Steven who’s kissing you. This is slow and measured. Patient and deliberate as he takes his time with you. He’s kissing you like he’s trying to tell you a secret. Like he’s entrusting you with something important, to protect and to keep for him. 

His finger rubs small circles under your ear, his hips slow and consuming as he fucks his cock into you. His arms never leave your side. Mouth never lifting from yours. His whole body pressed as deeply into you as he physically can. 

It feels like a confession. 

The ‘I love you’ that he can’t bring himself to say in front of you and can only admit to in the dead of night when he thought you were asleep. 

His kiss is a soft and devoted touch. A complete contrast to the rest of him, as he continues to thrust into you, fucking his cock deeper inside you and he doesn’t stop, doesn’t let up. 

It’s pleasure. It’s aggravation. It’s love and a defeat and a million other contradictory emotions between you and Marc that may never be resolved. 

And you’re not going to try to. You’re happy to take him as he is, cracks and all. You accept it, his lips pressed against yours. Accept his demanding rhythm as he drives himself into you deeper and deeper. Accept the insistent heat that curls at the base of your spine, until it is a searing and smouldering burn and sparks like ember, numbing your legs with it. It is threatening to consume your very being and burn you into ashes as it flares bright in your lungs and you can no longer breathe as the pleasure of it is ready to overspill, and—

“Baby, you close again?” 

And fuck, that’s—that’s— Your stomach tenses up again. The warmth spreads, twining and branches out along every single vein flooding it with blinding bliss until you’re dizzy with it. 

You’re trying to say yes, trying to nod, but your body isn’t responding to your will anymore. It has a mind of its own, and all it wants is to be closer to Marc, to grab onto him and never let go. Your limbs are wrapped all around him, legs locked around his waist, nails digging into the meat of his shoulders so hard you know you’re breaking skin. The only thing you’re still in control of is to helplessly squeeze down tight on his cock as it slides thick and heavy in you. 

“Oh fuck, that’s–” his voice sounds pitched and almost vulnerable, the arm curled around your leg, squeezing tighter. 

Pleasure builds in you like the tide, rising slow and steady but inexorable, filling you until there's no room for oxygen or thoughts or anything else except the consuming push of Marc’s cock inside of you. 

And then it breaks, ecstasy streaking out along your every nerve, overwhelming and inescapable, threatening to wash you away with it, except that you’re pinned, held safe by the grounding weight of Marc’s body and the reassuring press of his forehead against yours as you come on his cock.  

You open your eyes to find yourself staring up at him, still bleary-eyed and drunk on bliss. You can only make out the colour of his eyes, the dark ink of his hair. But blurry as he is, you’re intimately aware of how he can see all of you. The glazed look that you must be holding in your half-open eyes as wrought out with pleasure as you are. The hair plastered to your forehead. The absolute mess of a state he’s left you in, and how debauched you must look in front of him. Face to face, all of you bare and uncovered, there in its unembellished form for him to see. 

But that means you can see Marc too. As your vision clears, you can pick out every small detail of his expression. The subtle tic of the muscle in his jaw. The furrow in his brow. How his mouth is slack with pleasure. Those rich eyes of his are blown wide open until they’re left exposed. You can see it clearly now, how he’s clearly trying and struggling to hold back. The vulnerability that he’s been trying to hide from the world the entire time you’ve known him. 

Not for the first time, as he holds himself above you, you find yourself marvelling at how beautiful he is. Identical to Steven, yet worlds apart. 

Steven is hope and light and the curve of a gentle smile. Marc is sharp lines and dark shadows and heat behind his pained eyes. Jagged edges to Steven’s soft curves. Jaded cynicism to Steven's cheerful enthusiasm. Dark secrets and carefully hidden skeletons lurking in closets to Steven's forthright honesty.

And god help you, you love them both beyond measure.

The weight of his body is pressing down against you now. Every inch of the smooth golden skin pinned against yours, warm and flushed against your heated flesh. He grinds himself against you, needy, and desperate. There’s no longer any rhythm or logic to it. Just an instinctual primal need to get closer. You spread your legs as wide as you can to welcome him deeper, to take all of him as much as you can even as your thighs ache in protest from overexertion. 

His mouth moves against yours, stuttering and trembling, and it takes you far too long to register the words that are coming from him. 

“Fuck, baby, fuck I’m–” he chokes out brokenly against your lips, his hands on your hips holding on tighter. 

He stills, and you think maybe this is it, that he’s about to come. Anticipation rises in your chest, and you hold him tighter, body clenching down in preparation. 

But he doesn’t come. Just holds himself there, shuddering against you, his forehead against your chin, panting breaths, hot and humid, against the base of your neck. His cock is pulsing where it’s buried thickly inside you. Thighs quivering and barely able to keep them upright where they’re pressed between yours. You know that he wants to come. Needs to come. You just don’t understand why he’s refusing to give in. 

“It’s okay, Marc. You can let go. Come for me,” the words are a struggle to get out. Your voice hoarse and scraped raw in your throat. 

There’s a long moment of stillness, then he heaves a sigh so weary it makes your heart clench, as he starts shaking his head.

“No,” he grits out, voice low and determined as it so often is.  His head comes up, dark, fuck-drunk eyes meeting yours, jaw set at that stubborn angle you’ve come to know so well, and he says it again. 

“No. I– I’m not–“ He cuts off, shaking his head again. “Not yet,” he says. Then he rallies through, lifting his body away from yours and drives himself deep inside you with a shudder. “Not ready for this to end.”

It sounds like a plea, and you’re not sure who he’s pleading with, you or himself, and there is a pang of pain in your chest for him. Because this idiot still doesn’t get it. 

It’s like he’s never known softness. Hardness forged from a lifetime of a man who’s always had to hold himself up without respite. There’s a loneliness in it, of being the one who always has to take care of everyone else with nowhere to put down his burdens. 

Fondness swells up in you and there is nowhere to direct it except for the object of your affection. You wrap your arms tighter around him, smoothing one palm over the sweat-slick, heaving muscles of his back, and whisper reassurances into the hair above his ear. 

“Marc,” you breathe out and at the sound of you calling his name, his eyes snap up to yours. “Nothing’s ending.” 

His arms buckle and he lets out a small choked sound that almost sounds like a whimper. He looks like he can barely hold himself up anymore.  

“You have me,” you murmur, pressing your mouth to his. You kiss the arch of his jaw and mouth at the column of his neck. “Have had me for a long time.” 

He tenses at your words, whole body trembling above you. But he still refuses to let go. 

How many times will you have to keep reaching out to this impossibly stubborn man before he starts believing that you mean it?

Your hands come to the sharp edge of his cheekbones, cradling this face that you have fallen in love with twice over. Not just because it is Steven’s face. Not just because he’s the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen. But because it’s Marc too. 

“I love you.” 

At your words, those determined eyes pitched with dark concentration blanks into a stupefied daze.  

His head tilts slightly, a movement so small it doesn’t register at first that he’s nodding. Then his face drops closer, pressing his lips to yours. The line of his shoulder softens under your locked arms, lowering himself down onto you. His hips sink into you, his cock dragging thickly inside you as deep as it goes. 

You watch in awe as his mouth falls open, eyes rolling back, and you can feel it as he comes inside you. Pulse after devastating pulse. 

And god, he’s so beautiful like this; unruly curls wild and ruined, cut cheeks a faint crimson, skin slick with glistening sweat in the dim light. So perfectly undone and at peace. The pulse of his cock inside you as he spills himself deep inside you is almost secondary.

You bask in it. The warmth of his arms caging you in, his forehead pressing down firm against yours. The feeling of him so deep inside you, you’ll happily drown in the feeling of this man after waiting for him so long. His body slumps, dropping his weight on yours, completely depleted. 

His cock is still hard, arms still trembling when Marc shifts on top of you, trying to raise himself on one elbow. It's too soon for him to move, you don't want him to move, want him to lie on top of you forever.

Logically, you know it’s out of consideration. He’s probably worried that he’s squishing you, but an irrational fear swoops low in your stomach at the idea that he’s going to leave again. Your fingers dig into his forearm, dragging him back towards you. 

He lands on top of you with a quiet and tired grunt in your ear, but there’s no other protest from him. Marc lets you, shifting ever so slightly to make sure that his elbow doesn’t jab into your ribs as he settles on top of you. Then he stays, and you get to listen to the slow steadying of his breath, as the erratic rise and fall of his chest ease into something more even. 

The two of you stay this way for a long time, staring up at each other, with half-lidded eyes worn from exhaustion without speaking, and you catalogue his face as it cycles through a series of micro-expression with each second that ticks by. 

If this was when you’d first known Marc, at first glance, each expression would have looked the same to you. But you know him well enough now that you can tell that the tiny pinch of his brow means something is troubling him. That the narrowing slant of his eyes means he can’t find the right words to express it. That him biting the inside of his cheeks means he’s hesitating on whether he would be offloading on you. Every detail says just as much as Steven’s openly variable animated expressions. 

His eyes blink in quick succession, and Marc takes a deep heaving breath as if bracing himself. Then he’s lifting himself up and away from you by his forearms, slipping out of you to a sharp pained hiss as you whine in response at how empty you feel at the loss. 

He rolls to the side of the bed next to you and settles there, and you feel a bit nervous about what’s going to happen next, because you don't know what is going to come.

“Is this still what you want?” Marc asks. 

He’s looking at you as he says it, but somehow you feel like he’s looking through you, eyes not quite meeting yours. His voice sounds impassive, and if you haven’t spent so much time with him by now, it could easily be mistaken for disinterest or even boredom, instead of the defence mechanism that you know it is. 

“Yes, of course, it is,” you say without hesitation.  

There’s no response from Marc, he’s lying so still next to you. So quiet you can’t even hear him breathing anymore. If it turned out that he’d fallen asleep with his eyes open you wouldn’t be surprised. 

You turn onto your side so that you can scoot even closer to him as you watch him. One sole stray curl is draped across his forehead, and it’s fallen into the line of his big gorgeous brown eyes. So ridiculously pretty, this one. 

Yeah. This is definitely what you want. Him.  Steven. Both. All of them. 

“You’re– okay with all this?” he asks hesitantly, and he looks genuinely puzzled as to why you would be. “With... what happened earlier too?” 

A breathless huff pushes its way up your chest. “I don’t know if ‘okay’ is the right word here, Marc. I’m not sure how to deal with the revelation that gods and monsters are real, and there’s a very high chance I’ll freak out about it tomorrow or next week. But…”

You press a kiss to the side of his cheek as you draw your eyes up and meet those rich expressive eyes of his. There’s no mistaking it, you feel it, in the same way that you do for Steven. Even if it’s different… there’s no doubt in you, haven’t been for a long time about this. 

“What I’m sure of is that I want to be with you. You and Steven. No matter what. I’m not going anywhere. I meant what I said. I want to be your person as well as his. And– and I hope you can be mine.”  

Marc tentatively draws his hand towards you, fingertips searching across the length of your arm until he finds your fingers and weaves them with his. 

The palm of his hand is warm and sturdy, sending a pleasant buzzing sensation across the back of your neck. It’s your favourite thing in the world, whenever Steven does this, and you’re pretty sure it’s going to be your shared favourite when Marc does it too. 

“Yeah”, he finally says after a long moment, “I’d like that.” His voice is soft and quiet, and a kaleidoscope of butterflies swoops your stomach at his warm tone filled with affection.  

Tilting your head upwards, you close the distance between you, pressing your lips to his. It’s sweet and tender as his hand cups your cheeks protectively, like a promise that he’s not going to run anymore and it makes your toes curl into the sheet until you’re giddy.

You clutch at him, hands cupping the back of his neck and lace your fingers into those ridiculously soft curls of his. Marc shivers against you, and you smile like a loon as he ducks his head and buries his face into the crook of your neck contentedly, and exhale deeply. 

Who would have guessed that post-sex, the man would be the world's most grumpy cat turned soft and cuddly, asking to be petted. You comb through the matted locks and the blunt tip of his nose nuzzles into your damp skin. He makes a quiet, content little sound somewhere from the back of his throat like he doesn’t want you to stop and who are you to deny him? 

Your fingertips trail his scalp, from the nape of his neck to the crown of his head, when it occurs to you that you should probably be more careful with his head. 

He was flung several feet in the air and landed head-first into a concrete wall with a bone-cracking sound that still makes you sick to your stomach. You continue to card through his hair, mapping him out in search of any signs of injuries, but you can’t find any and your fingers still. 

It doesn’t make sense. You weren’t put through the ringer in any way near what Marc was tonight and you’ve still ended up with your fair share of scrapes and bruises. But there’s nothing on Marc. 

No swelling, no bumps. No wounds. 

On top of it all you’ve spent the better part of this evening, pulling and tearing at his hair. Your nails had been digging so deep into his shoulders you might as well have been excavating for gold and he hasn’t so much as hissed or flinched in pain even once. 

There’s a faint muffled sound of complaint from Marc as he lies on top of you. It’s so distorted that it takes you a few moments to appreciate that they’re words.

“What's wrong?” Marc asks. 

“You don’t have any injuries. You were hurt.” 

“I was wearing the suit,” he answers in his typical deadpan manner. No background information, no context, no painting out a scene for you. To Marc, the limited information he’s given you should make perfect sense to you. 

You grimace, and you’re just about to have a moan at him, when Marc seems to realise how confusing that explanation must be. He lifts his head from your neck as he continues. “Khonshu’s ceremonial armour. It protects me. Heals me when I need it.” 

An image of the swirl of bandages wrapping itself around Marc’s body to form an otherworldly magical suit plays out behind your mind, and you can’t resist teasing him. 

“So you transform like Sailor Moon and then fight evil at night?”

Marc lifts his eyebrow inquisitively, with a completely blank expression. “I don’t know what that is.” 

“Really? Sailor–” you sputter, shocked he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. “Steven would know that reference.”

“Steven has too much free time,” he sighs, but the fondness hiding under his gruff tone is unmistakable. 

The playful jab at Steven brings a small smile to your face. The levity of it is a nice change of pace from the whirlwind of seismic events and paradigm shifts tonight, because there’s been a lot to take in. Much of which, you’re pretty sure you haven’t fully taken in… Don’t even know how to start to process it. 

Ancient Egyptian gods are real, and your boyfriend—(boyfriends? Just exactly how involved is Steven?)—is some kind of indentured fighter priest who battles invisible monsters—also real—for one of them. 

What is the correct reaction to a revelation like that? How does one even begin to mentally process that? 

“Any other questions? Now’s your chance,” Marc says. 

There is no hostility like before and this time you don’t have to drag it out of him with the persistence of a detective in an interrogation room interviewing a suspect as you ordinarily have to. 

You’re not entirely sure how you feel about that, except that you’re a little bit stunned and you realise that something has shifted between you and Marc. 

He’s… opening up to you. 

You look up at him, and he meets your eyes steadily. There are a million things you still want to ask: What’s the deal with his and Steven’s mum? What did he and Steven go through while they were away? How did he almost die, and how on bloody earth did he manage to just stumble upon an ancient Egyptian God to end up in his service?

Marc hasn’t moved from the spot as he observes you. Still seemingly expressionless, except… 

There’s a tension to the set of his shoulders, isn’t there? And he’s too still—even for Marc… It hits you all at once he’s holding his breath, the line of his lips set in a thin nerve-biting straight line.

He’s waiting for you.

Regardless of how hard Marc tries to hide it, trying to school his expressions, there’s only so much his body language can repress. The ring of his eyes is dilated and vulnerable. 

He’s nervous. 

Marc’s jaw tightens in anticipation and maybe something a little like fear, and it makes your chest ache with an overwhelming need to protect him. Those other questions can wait. You have all the time in the world together. Right now you want to make him feel as safe and cared for as you do. You want to make him smile. 

"So..." you begin, and you see him stiffen, watching as he braces himself like he’s expecting a blow. It’s how you know you’re making the right decision. "Do you actually like my coffee?"

His eyes widen and he sputters out "You– Your–" then barks out a laugh. 

Even in the dark, you can see it, a soft smile on his face that illuminates the darkness of the room with it. A gentle curve, as the dimple of his cheeks carve a deep dent into those hollowed cheeks, the soft crinkle of lines around his eyes. It’s like nothing you have ever seen before. It’s bright and uninhibited. An electrical socket has been plugged in and every nerve in you is flicked alight with excitement. 

It stuns you and takes your breath away, and for the longest moment, you forget about everything else. 

Because god, he’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your life. 

It takes you several seconds, maybe even a full minute to compose yourself enough to ask him again. 

"Well...?" you prompt, and you’re gifted with the pleasure of watching him try and fail to hide that perfect smile.

"It's… a little more complicated than that," he says, and you narrow your eyes at him, trying to look playfully peeved while tampering your own smile that’s twitching at your lips and failing.

"I like that you make it for me," he tries.

"That wasn't the question, though."

Marc shifts in the bed, scooting closer to you until he’s brushing up against your knees. That small but near-magical smile is still on his face. 

"Tell you what,” Marc murmurs, as he tightens his grip around you, pressing his forehead to yours, sweat-slicked curls tickling your nose. “Tomorrow, let's make it together." 

His voice is so assured, it feels like he’s promising you a certainty, and you trust him with every inch of you. 

A warmth spreads in your chest, and you can feel the dopey grin pulling at your lips until your cheeks almost hurt, but you can’t stop yourself and you don’t think you want to either. 

There is so much that is still unresolved, so many more things you need answers to, but it’s a good start and that’s good enough for tonight. After all, as Steven would tell you: you have all the time in the world.

“That sounds perfect,” you tell him. 

When you wake, the morning light is filtering in through the large windows. The sun is blinding and makes it difficult to see anything at all. 

Reaching out your hand, the spot next to you is cold and empty, any residual heat long gone from the sheets. You’re alone in bed again. 

Marc has really got to stop fucking doing that. 

“Marc?” you call out, but there’s no response. You hesitate for a second before adding, “Steven?”

“Here.”

Then you hear familiar noises coming from the kitchen, and the tension in your chest melts away at the sound of porcelain clinking together. There are no folded clothes by your side, but to your surprise, your watch sits on the nightstand, cracked face turned up, waiting for you. 

A small smile tugs at the corner of your lips, and your stomach warms at the sight. Marc must have gone back to retrieve it while you were asleep. 

You sit up on the bed, bending over to grab a discarded shirt from the floor as well as your knickers from last night, and pull them on, smiling to yourself as you start to make your way across the flat to join him in the kitchen. 

The familiar sweet, bread-like smell wafts out to greet you, and you falter.

Pancakes? That isn’t right. Today’s not Sunday. 

In the bright morning sun, you see him standing, with his back turned against you over the kitchen stove. Wearing only his jeans, bare from the waist above, the carved muscles of his back flexing as he flips the frying pan with a dramatic flair. Even before he speaks, you already know what’s happened.  

“Morning, sweetheart,” he greets you. He's turning his head just enough to throw you a quick glance, and a one-sided crooked smile. 

You stop in your tracks. The cadence is alien, the smile off, but you recognize it immediately. 

Not Marc. Not Steven. But you have met this man before. 

That first night at Steven’s; the man you woke up to who looked at you like you were a stranger; the man who followed you to the lift to return your watch; the same man who towered over the invisible creature with nothing but cold contempt in his eyes as he snuffed out its time on earth with precision and brutality.

All this time, you thought that the first night you’d spent with Steven was also your first encounter with Marc. 

But Marc doesn’t call you sweetheart. Marc doesn’t flirt. Marc doesn’t smirk like he’s trying to imitate something he’s seen on the telly. 

This is detached and impersonal, like he’s not really smiling at all. When Marc smiles it’s snow thawing in the spring.

 It’s funny how you didn’t see it until now. Marc was never the wolf. 

You cross your arms against your chest, planting your feet firmly on the floor, standing up straight and tall as you confront the man before you. 

“You’re not Marc, and you’re not Steven,” you say and you shift on your legs, puffing out your chest in a display of put-on courage. “Don’t you think it's time you introduced yourself, seeing that you’re in my boyfriends’ flat?” 

The man huffs out a laugh, and his accent is different when he speaks again. A New York accent, you think, but almost cartoonishly so, like he’s watched one too many Martin Scorcese movies. It’s oozing out of every word as he speaks with a slow and nasal hum. 

“Nothing gets past you, does it, sweetheart?” 

He sets down the frying pan on the stove, turning it off before he wipes off his hand on a flower-patterned tea towel and extends it towards you, a polite invitation to shake. 

“Name’s Jake Lockley.”

You take a step towards him, and maybe you should be nervous—afraid of this stranger wearing your boyfriends’ face—but the panic and fear from that first night you met him is absent. That painful pounding in your chest is no longer there. 

You accept his hand, looking up into this man’s familiar eyes that are staring down at you in an entirely unfamiliar way. Not Steven’s wide and adoring gaze. Not Marc’s protective and gentle attention. No love resides in those eyes for you at this moment, just curiosity. 

But you’re not scared this time. 

Because come what may, you already know the most important part. Whatever happens next, whoever this Jake turns out to be, it’s not going to change your mind about Steven or Marc.

You’ll take them as they are. Red flags and all.

THE END.

Author's notes

This is the end. I wish I was more coherent to write a meaningful and heartwarming message about what this story has meant to me. How grateful I am to everyone reading it, but I do not think I have any words that can do it justice.

The only thing I can say is thank you. Thank you for reading this, whether you've read this from the first chapter, or whether you only read the first chapter or you've only read bits and pieces. Whether you've commented or liked or reblogged or simply just lurked-read, from the bottom of my heart thank you for giving this story your time, I'm really grateful to you all.

A big thank you to my friends who have listened to me whine and bitch and moan and generally emotionally terrorised them with this story, and especially thank you to my cowriter: thirstworldproblemss who has been put through the ringer with this story and suffered alongside with me. I love you the moooooooooooooooooooosetest

a/n: to be notified of new writing updates follow astroboots-writes and turn on notifs.

[eldritch-spouse]

Ohhh, Vorticia's heats! I imagine them to be dangerous. As in trying to over feed us incredible amounts, or attempting to eat us. Maybe even going as far as to eat anyone she considers competition?

Vorticia's heats are... Well, hectic.

She's only recently been having them naturally again, after her kids all moved out, but she's responsible about it, and she'll tell you when she feels them coming.

Pre-heat signs are somewhat noticeable, even though the Queen goes to great lengths to maintain her composure. Her appetite doesn't just become more carnivorous, she starts hungering for squirming meals. The servants counteract this by spraying themselves with foul-tasting liquids. (You know the type of thing you'd put on your couch to make sure the cat doesn't scratch it? Yeah.) What ends up happening is she snatches them up, and promptly spits them back out. Death avoided. Other people are not safe from simply being gobbled up however. You need to develop a tolerance to seeing her eat living beings in your vicinity.

In her stupor, she'll frequently throw maimed people at you and expect you to eat them. Sometimes, you can trick her by pretending to bite said person, and wait until she turns away, then hurriedly push that person outside. This usually doesn't work however, and the unlucky demon she captured will probably get their neck snapped before being torn to pieces. Pieces which, unfortunately, Vorticia will also try to feed you.

She has an unusual behavior females of her kind don't often exhibit. She nests on her own regardless of being alone or not. Initially, Vorticia expected her partners to nest for her, but they often failed to meet the standards for her size, so she simply started doing it herself. And truth be told, she has an eye for it, the Queen can make a very comfortable, massive nest. With one specific feature, it's loaded with food.

Servants keep it coming aaall day long, and you'll understand why when you realize that when Vorticia isn't fucking you or sleeping, she's shoveling it all down her trap. It's never enough to sate her, she's never full, and that irritates her to no end. The imps that serve her pay no heed to whatever she could be doing when they come in, so really, don't be ashamed if someone rolls a cart in while Vorticia's fingerblasting you to cloud nine. They've seen much worse.

Speaking of, the sex is definitely more exhaustive for you than it is for her, purely because she has a ravenous desire to eat you out, and you might dehydrate from how many orgasms she rips out of you in an effort to eat your cum. Vorticia's got plenty of toys too, so it's not like you'll be growing numb to stimulus anytime soon. Given how large the demoness is, you can easily get creative when going down on her, and, unless she shrinks herself, you might as well suck her clit like it's a cock. Ride it, with enough effort.

In temperamental moods, the best thing you could do is hand-feed Vorticia while she lies down. Usually, she'll always lick after your fingers and arm, but don't be fooled into letting her take your hand into her mouth, she'll eat it. Just keep it up until she calms down, or gets emotional/flattered enough to want to rail you.

Although Vort has always struggled with the desire to consume her partners, and will oftentimes look at you like you're a particularly appetizing crouton- You need to trust her on this. Talk to the Queen so she can focus on your voice, don't move too fast, never stop eye contact and possibly toss a snack at her if it's taking longer for her to snap out of it.

By the way, good luck slipping past her tail's titanium grip when she's asleep.

[rpmemesbyarat]

A little ago, I wrote THIS RANT about animals in fiction and the tendency in media to depict predators/carnivores as ridiculously aggressive to the point of actively evil and prey/herbivores as placid, gentle, and even downright tame by nature. . .and how that’s a lot of bunk. I would like to continue this with some other things I’m tired of regarding animals in media. Note that this does not apply to media where the animals are MEANT to be anthropomorphic to some degree (ex: All Dogs Go To Heaven, Redwall, etc) or to works that aren’t meant to be taken as terribly realistic. I’m talking about works that present these behaviors as very realistic, natural animal behaviors. Even in the context of fantasy, sci-fi, and other fiction, you can often tell by the tone how serious you’re supposed to take the world---for instance, Maximus the horse in “Tangled” is fine by me, but a horse acting the same way in something like ASOIAF would seem really off. Anyway, here are some peeves of mine--

ANIMALS AREN’T MONSTERS See the linked rant above. ANIMALS AREN’T ANGELS The other end of the spectrum from depicting animals as so vicious that they’re actively villainous, some people go full-on idealistic in their depictions of animals, carnivores included. Indeed, favorites of this type of writer tend to be large majestic carnivores like wolves and big cats and orcas, along with the more attractive herbivore species like herds of wild horses or flocks of swans, perhaps “cute” ones too like bunnies; rarely are slugs, weevils, weasels, pigs, or “vermin” type animals given much praise. Much ado will be made by these writers about how nature is good because it’s natural, how all species live in harmony, how humans should imitate animals in all things and how the world would be so much better that way, how animals are so much better than nasty rotten evil people and would NEVER commit acts like theft, rape, or cruelty to children. What a bunch of malarkey. This is JUST as wrong and dangerous a mentality as the notion that some animals are consciously evil. While I’d much prefer to defend maligned animals (especially very misunderstood and unjustly demonized ones like sharks), the fact is sometimes it’s also necessary to point out that lots of commit atrocious acts that have nothing to do with hunting for food. Plenty of male animals will kill the young of their own species to bring the females into heat again so THEY can mate with them. Lions are most famous for this, but you see it many other species such as zebras, grizzly bears, and more. Ducks, otters, seals, dolphins, and a certain type of penguin are all HORRIFICALLY rapey to a degree I won’t detail here, but it’s absolutely disturbing. And with how smart dolphins are, they damned well likely know what they’re doing too. It’s normal for hamsters to devour their young when under stressed, or just nibble off a limb or two if peckish for some protein. Hyenas begin killing each other as babies, and only a percentage make it to adulthood because of that. And speaking of killing/eating babies, while it’s true that predators typically pick off the old/weak/sick from the herd, they ALSO very commonly go for the cute little babies too. And then there’s the stuff that isn’t “evil” by human standards, but also isn’t majestic, glamorous, or inspiring either. Chimps throw their poop.  Male giraffes drink the urine of female giraffes to determine if they are at the optimal point in their cycle for breeding, and will often headbutt the abdomen of the female to try to force her to urinate. The koala population is riddled with chlamydia, and they fight each other all the time, leaving each other covered in scars and open wounds, which only helps to spread said chlamydia. Hippos spin their tails to spray their poop all over the place. Animals aren’t evil, but they’re not good either, and certainly not angelic morally superior beings. They’re animals, and morality just doesn’t apply to them. They’re amazing, beautiful, wonderful, and inspiring. . .and also gross, nasty, and frequently pretty fucked up. ANIMALS AREN’T ALL DOGS Dogs are the animal that most people are most familiar with, and many people mistakenly use their behavior as the baseline default for dealing with other animals. Heck, one of the most common reasons that many people seem to dislike cats, in my personal opinion, is that they’re expecting doglike behavior from them and take it as “unfriendliness” or “aloofness” or “snobbery” or whatever else when cats don’t act like dogs, and in fact have a totally different communication style because THEY ARE DIFFERENT ANIMALS. See: People being upset that cats will show you their bellies and then bite you if you touch it, because when a DOG does it, it means the dog WANTS it touched, so therefore the cat is maliciously tricking you. . .instead of you not understand that a cat isn’t a dog and the same signals mean different things from it. This expectation often carries over into fiction. Horses, cows, rabbits, big cats, and reptiles all get this treatment. Wolves and foxes get hit particuliarly hard with it, the reasoning being that since they’re members of the canine family, they must act just like domesticated dogs, especially if they’re raised from birth as a pet. . .no, no they do not. They have some similarities, but they are absolutely NOT the same animal, and don’t at all have the same urge to please humans that drives so much dog behavior. This also frequently carries over into wolf-based fictional creatures like werewolves, in which case my opinion depends on how it’s presented. If it’s presented as coming from “natural wolf behavior” then no. But if it’s like in Discworld, where werewolves act doggish because dogs are a mix of wolf and human, that angle I absolutely love! Speaking of fictional creatures, I see dragons depicted like this a good deal. Ditto for dinosaurs and other extinct animals like smilodons. While TECHNICALLY we don’t know what extinct animals acted like, and TECHNCALLY a fictional species can behave any way you like, it seems a little lazy to me to just go “it’s a really big dog” and also detracts, in my opinion, from the “wow” factor of these creatures. If you want to write about owning a dragon or a dinosaur that’s domesticated, putting thought into how such a creature would behave and why will take awhile, yes, but the result will feel probably feel far more realistic, immersive, and interesting for your reader. After all, horses and cats are domesticated too, and THEY don’t act like dogs; why would an animal that’s even LESS related to canines do so? Dogs got to be the way they are through literally THOUSANDS of years of selective breeding by humans. They’re an extremely unique animal. While depicting realistic animal behavior isn’t necessary in works that are aimed at children or are meant to have a more lighthearted tone, when it comes to works that are trying to take a more serious approach (even in a fantastical setting) accuracy is better. ANIMALS AREN’T HUMAN This one seems obvious, right? But as with “Animals Aren’t All Dogs” and “Animals Aren’t Angels” a lot of writers will treat animals as if they’re essentially humans wearing furry skins, with humans morals and values. Again, as stated at the beginning, I don’t mean “talking animal” stories like Beatrix Potter stories or The Wind in the Willows, which are tales in which the animals are very deliberately anthropomorphized, and do things like wearing waistcoats and having tea. Or films like “Oliver & Company” and “All Dogs Go To Heaven” where the animals do speak (even though humans can’t understand them) and have very human personalities. That’s a genre unto itself and it’s fine, and I in fact *love* all the works I just gave as examples. They’re not what I’m talking about. I mean when our heroine in a fantasy book a wolf familiar, or a trained falcon, or a horse. And unlike the aforementioned stories, this is supposed to be an animal that is no different from the wolves and falcons and horses in the real world, with perhaps some enhanced intelligence. And yet, this animal has a very human attitude towards the world, and not only understands human concepts easily but shares them. The wolf, rather than wondering why their human is so against being seen in the nude, will leap to attack any man who dares sneak a peak without ever even asking why the idea is attractive to a human man in the first place. The horse, whose natural inclination is to just piss and shit wherever it happens to be when the urge hits, acts ashamed upon dumping a load in the palace foyer. The falcon, whose diet is based upon small mammals, passes up the cute sweet bunnies easily available to it and only feeds on mean, nasty weasels and stoats. You COULD explain this by saying, if they have a mental bond (which is common in fantasy) that the human’s feelings and desires are influencing the animal. That’s a pretty solid explanation for all these examples. But that’s rarely the case. In a lot of stories, this is just presented as the animal’s natural behavior in a work that otherwise veers very realistic (as opposed to, say, a Disney film like “Tangled” in which the horse behaves in some unrealistic ways, but it fits the setting tone) Animals don’t share human values and their behaviors aren’t always palatable to humans, as discussed before. Some are; many people admire animals that will fight viciously for their young, because a parent defending their child is congruent with our own values. But a great many animals will abandon, kill, and even EAT their own young if their baby is weak, sick, or deformed in some way. Some animals, such as the quokka, are even content to let a predator have their offspring because hey, they can always make more if they survive. This is appalling to many people, because it’s very much NOT in accordance with our values. But it doesn’t make these animals bad. And there’s no reason an animal would adopt human values just because it hangs around a human enough (I had a cat for years, he did NOT stop killing small animals just because I hated it) or because something upsets the human they care about. Ask ANY pet owner---and pets are typically domesticated animals that are easily trained, so imagine how much more removed from humanity a typically wild animal will be, even one raised in captivity. I’d like to see more “tame” wolves and wildcats in fiction that don’t obey their tamer’s every command, but do things that REAL pet wolves and wildcats will do in real life. Like, say, go after smaller creatures when tempted, like a noblewoman’s nearby cat or the live chickens for sale at market, and cause their owner some real trouble because of it. Or worse, direct physical or emotional damage to the hero---like the bear cub that the hero nurses back to health kills his beloved dog! I’d also like to see some telepathic animal companions that don’t actually give a shit that their master was stood up at the ball, because they don’t have a concept of human romance. They may feel sympathy as far as they are able that their human is sad, but their advice probably is just “mate with someone else” And I’d like to see our heroine’s beautiful magical white stallion kill a foal in front of her because it was born with a bad leg, and then act like nothing happened while she reels in horror lamenting how she could have healed it. Animals are wonderful. Animals are fascinating. Animals are frequently in many ways better than people. They’re also frequently horrific, gruesome, and, to our perspective, disgusting and cruel. In many cases, the same animal is BOTH. And this isn’t bad, because they’re NOT humans. Don’t make them have to behave like humans in order to be treated as “good” by the story, because that’s not a concept that should be applied to animals in the first place. Let animals act like animals. ANIMALS AREN’T MACHINES Animals have to eat. They have to shit. They have to rest. Yet horses in fantasy never seem to tire, they never have any problems with grass colic or eat plants that are dangerous for them, they never had any quirks or hangups, they’re immediately trusting and obedient to a new rider the moment they’re obtained, they only get injured or spook at the single most dramatic moments when the story requires, and they certainly never take a dump UNLESS it’s at the perfect comedic moment to punctuate a point or humiliate a villain. I’m pretty sure these horses are robots. Similarly, I’m pretty sure that the big glamorous dogs and majestic panthers and clever cats and tiny dragons that accompany so many heroes and who never trouble their master for food, or attention, or cause any problems, or run away during long stays outdoors, and may go unmentioned for chapters on end despite supposedly being at their master’s side the whole time. . .are all actually animatronic stuffed toys and puppets. You don’t need to derail the story every time an animal goes to the bathroom, of course. It’s the same reason that you don’t need to mention every time a character does that; it’s unnecessary, we can assume it happens. But in the case of critters, it does make it seem a little more real to work something like that in once in awhile. It reminds the reader this is a flesh-and-blood creature, not a moving doll. It makes the story more immersive, and it can also add drawbacks to animals that are useful or impressive power fantasies. For instance, a pet dragon is super cool, but it delays travel for days while it’s shedding its skin. Not to mention the cost to feed it must be MASSIVE, and if you just let it go hunting on its own, someone will probably shoot it! Let your hero worry about these things, and have to find solutions for it. It doesn’t need to consume the story, and in fact doing so will probably annoy the reader because they want to get back to the action, but a mention of this kind of thing here and there will go a long way.

[amgurd]

One of my friends just gave me a kitten. Do you have any advice on how to raise it?

Uhhh, I'm no cat expert, but I can try and give you a few things I've picked up, but a few things depend on how old the kitten is.

One thing I cannot stress enough is do not play with them with your hands, at least at a young age where they're developing. For kittens, playtime is a good way for them to practice hunting, and you don't want them to associate your hands with hunting.

I did that with my cat and it's paid off tremendously. I don't worry about her scratching me unless it's for something really weird, like she was resting on me and fell off because she was sleeping. When she "hunts" my hand now, she always just bats it with her paws with her claws in, so it's paid off for hand playing now.

They are little monsters, so be ready for a high energy creature for a while. If you can get them some reasonably-sized things to climb, they like that, and cats like to pretend to be tall in general, so a tree is a good investment. Just make sure that a kitten won't run the risk of hurting itself on one.

Personally, I prefer to have kittens alone or with other kittens. It can be a hassle with other animals, especially if those animals aren't really trained or monitored. Since kittens can have so much energy, it can be disruptive for the other pets, and if the other pets aren't really trained or taken care of very well, it can cause some aggression issues too.

Pleeeeease spay or neuter your kitten. It can be done as early as around eight weeks, although I don't care to get it done that early. Generally, before five months is preferred in most cases, I think. I got my cat fixed at around six months old and it ended up being fine, but you should probably shoot for a bit earlier if possible. It can help reduce the risk for health concerns in the future and can help curb some behavioral issues.

In male cats, they can have a tendency to spray if they're intact, which might not be an issue if the cat is alone, but there's just no need to risk it. If you got another cat in the future and you wanted to neuter him then, it'll make the healing process more annoying on you, since it's not really advised to keep cats around each other when one is healing after being fixed.

Females will be more likely to run out of your home if they're not fixed, and if they do, there is a veeeery good chance they'll get pregnant. There are plenty of unwanted cats and kittens out there, so having yours get pregnant, on top of then having to deal with helping to take care of the litter, just isn't worth it if you have her as a pet. Also, cats going into heat are just dang annoying.

There's a video that I watched that help me with taking care of Shoemaker. It helps go through the first eight weeks of a kitten's life:

[mothlightfilm]

Why Do Cats Spray?

The vast majority who are not cat sweethearts or owners don't have a clue about that cat's spray region for a wide range of reasons. Spraying happens when a cat upholds itself to an essential spot, lifts its tail, and sprays a little portion of pee put find out more here together fluid with respect to an item. Spraying an item can mean a wide range of things relying upon the kind of cat an individual possesses.

For male cats particularly, spraying things is significantly more normal since it is a testosterone based blend that can incorporate pheromones. Pheromones are explicit fragrances that creatures and individuals produce for a wide range of reasons. Male cats spray in a standing situation while female cats will spray an item in a hunching down position.

One reason cats spray things is on the grounds that it's a type of non verbal communication between them. The most ideal way to make sense of it resembles an individual abandoning a marker to let other realize that they have been in a specific region. Spraying a thing means can intend to significant things in the cat world, it marks territory and the pheromones radiated draw in potential mates when the creatures are in heat.

Cats overall are extremely territorial creatures by their tendency alone. Decisively spraying an item could imply that a cat is denoting its territory to avoid different cats from attacking their space. By spraying an item, a cat tells others that they are not wanted and ought to continue to move along. Notwithstanding, this could be the beginning of a spraying war and a cat battle could follow in the event that two guys take a similar spot.

Another reason cats spray is to draw in likely mates. The actual spray is a pee and pheromone based fluid that radiates explicit fragrances when one of these cats is in heat. On the off chance that a cat sprays a region it very well might be on the grounds that they are effectively seeking after a male or female in that location. Female cats will smell the pheromones in the spray and wait around the area wanting to track down the male with the right fragrance.

Spraying can be a disturbance to mortgage holders and can be dealt with in the event that a pet's regenerative organs are removed. Notwithstanding, even cats that have been fixed or spaded can in any case deliver spray when they get stimulated. Spraying is a way for cats to stamp territory and draw in a mate. It is the most non verbal type of communication between the catlike species.

[shoremclain95]

Best Tips About Cats Of which Anyone Can Follow

If anyone are looking for the pet to share your current days and nights with, a kitten is a wonderful selection. While these animals are certainly independent, they are as well great friends. Even so, presently there are a few items that you have to be aware involving when it comes for you to their attention and just how to help them have got a cheerful life. In the event your cat abruptly runs off its feed intended for no apparent reason, test tempting treats such because jack port mackerel, tuna, or maybe lotion of chicken soups inside small amounts. These kind of are not finished meals and shouldn't be given long term, but they are extremely delicious in order to cats. A finicky pet cat may start eating yet again and keep on whenever offered one of these types of treats. Choose a top quality food. The key to help a wholesome cat will begin with nutrition. Look into this ingredients label. If a person look at many "popular" commercial cat foodstuff, anyone may be surprised to help see the major compound listed is corn. Felines are carnivores, consequently search for a food with a real meat because the top ingredient. You may pay more upwards front, but these food items can be often more nutritional thick, meaning your kitty consumes less and the tote lasts longer. https://ralph.bakerlab.org/show_user.php?userid=516435 Have your own personal kids help you take care regarding the cat. Allocate everyday jobs such as nourishing the cat and washing the litter box. Not necessarily only can taking attention of the cat instruct them responsibility, it as well gives you a break via these tasks. This means that anyone can invest more time period hugging with your feline. Your kitten might not necessarily come running if you call, yet most cats and kittens appreciate cuddling on their terms and time. Cats love to have their heads and buttocks pet. Not all felines just like their tummies rubbed thus be very careful. Investing good time with your kitten will make long lasting thoughts to look back upon someday. Keep your feline inside your home. Contrary to dogs, the idea is nearly impossible to be able to confine the kitten to a yard. This could lead to many dangers regarding your feline, from automobiles, dogs, diseases from feral cats, and merely disappearing to help parts undiscovered. Loose cats and kittens also be some sort of bother to others, often getting rid of songbirds and leaving unwelcome "deposits" in neighbor's back gardens. If your cat really enjoys the outdoors, they can be trained to help wear a harness and even lead or you could invest in a specialised kitten fence or screened-in outdoor patio. Have your kitty spayed or neutered. Pet overpopulation is a rising problem, along with millions involving homeless cats and cats euthanized every year. Furthermore the problem of very a lot of kittens and definitely not good enough homes, unfixed pet cats may have a wide range of conduct issues. Males who will be not neutered at a new young age often commence spraying to mark their territory, and females who else are allowed to are available into heat yowl incessantly as they try for you to avoid to find a new mate. Kittens may start to breed as early because 4 several weeks of era, so get your different kitten spayed or neutered as soon as achievable. Wash your cat's bed with least once a 7 days to remove all associated with the germs from this. Even if the bed looks like it is usually clean, it will probably commonly have got toxins around that that can cause your pet for you to become sick. Replace often the bed every six several weeks to keep your kitten in a sanitary surroundings. If your cat looks to wish to avoid his or her foodstuff dish, try having the various kind regarding bowl. Plastic can occasionally flip a cat off if this isn't cleaned continually, and can hold on to selected scents. Try glass or even a metal jar for best results, so your pet cat will keep taking. Use your kitten to help teach your children duties. A pet demands care that will the total family can certainly participate throughout. Each baby can take distinct day time to feed the pet cat, for instance. Same thing for litterbox care. A person can make a good plan and post the idea about the refrigerator. Then, everyone should know what they are responsible for. If the cat offers to have a surgical procedures such as being spayed or even neutered, they will need sleep when that they come home. This is not easy to keep a feline from leaping up about furniture, nevertheless required to stay away from pulling out stitches. Designate a great area in your house on your cat to be able to recuperate where they will be not as much likely to injure their selves, until they are recovered good enough to roam free of cost. Most veterinarians recommend of which you give your pet cat food that may be in the particular can as opposed to the dry out varieties in the box or maybe case. This is because typically the canned food contains whole lot more water, fat and necessary protein compared to dry variety. That can also be easier to take in for pet cats with common issues. Supply your cat top quality food items. Give attention to the compound list with any food you give food to them. Necessary protein needs to be one of several very first items upon the list, while filler injections like corn and other spore should be avoided. Have a tendency give your cat meals that have corn or perhaps additional components that have simply no protein. Pet cats are obviously carnivorous. If you need to keep them all healthy and happy, you need to give these people plenty of animal necessary protein. You can't go incorrect by selecting a cat while your animal companion. They may be smart, they generally avoid require all the care while dogs and they also can offer you with all the love the fact that you are craving. However , remember that cats even so demand a number of factors from their proprietor. Make use of the tips above to help you carve out a good life to your pet.

[zamoramunn67]

Suggestions To Maintain Your Feline Satisfied As well as Healthy

cat earrings Cats are just one of numerous animals that clean themselves. This works for the cat in many circumstances, there is just so much that pet cat can do. You have to tip in and also groom the pet cat to maintain it healthy. Below are some useful brushing techniques to use on your cat. Allow kittens and cat-friendly pet dog dogs are familiar with each other slowly. Set up a baby gate to keep pets in one area while your new kitten obtains used to its surroundings. Manage meticulously when the kitty endeavors to the gate to satisfy the pet dogs. When the kittycat feels safe, it will certainly climb eviction. If it feels intimidated, it will pop right back out to safety. If your pet cat is a female, you'll wish to spay her once she gets to the proper age. It is best to purify your feline, even if you want to maintain it as an indoor pet. Your best choice is to have your female feline spayed. Take care when treating your cat for fleas. Be sure to seek advice from your veterinarian before using natural alternatives to manage your cat's fleas. Felines are extremely sensitive to important oils as well as several natural herbs. Your vet will most likely recommend you use a prescription flea therapy, which is typically best for pet cats. Prevent your cat from eating on inappropriate points by utilizing bitter apple. Most workplace stores offer a tube that you can stick every one of your cables as well as cables via if the spray does not work. Any kind of loose cords need to be dressed as well as positioned crazes like paper towel rolls. The cords on electronics must be concealed as well. Secure your pet cat from suffocating by seeing to it the cords of curtains and blinds are secured as well as unreachable. When you make or buy a dangly toy for your pet cat, be certain to supervise during play. Place the toy away if you will certainly not be around to enjoy. When you move your pet cat from one home to one more, make certain to relocate the feline last. Establish a silent area with familiar things for the feline. Keep your pet cat in the room and also silent for a day or 2. See as well as feed the feline in the room. After a number of days, the pet cat can check out the rest of the home. If you pet cat is expecting is with babies, you can expect to have a lot of kittycats on your hands. Develop a comfortable area for the pet cat to provide her infants someplace in your house. Ensure the spot is big sufficient for the kittycats to move about as they expand. Have your pet cat purified or neutered. Family pet overpopulation is an expanding issue, with countless homeless cats as well as kitties euthanized every year. The trouble of also lots of kittens and also not adequate homes, unfixed cats can have a wide variety of behavior problems. Men that are not neutered at a young age often start spraying to mark their territory, and ladies who are enabled to come into heat yowl persistently as they try to escape to locate a mate. Kittens can begin to reproduce as early as 4 months of age, so get your brand-new kitten purified or sterilized asap. Get a scratching blog post to keep your cat from wrecking your carpeting. If you can, get a message that does not have the same type of rug that gets on the flooring of your residence, so your feline does not link both. Instead, get a message that is covered in cardboard, sisal, or thick rope. Is your pet cat regularly ruining your toilet tissue? Make sure that your bathroom tissue is stopping it from surrendering the top. You can also make or acquire a toilet paper cover. These covers are not costly and also will certainly save you cash if your furry close friend insists on having fun with your tissue. While felines are great pets for kids generally, smaller children may treat them also roughly. Show your kids the proper way to hold a cat. The purpose is to be as gentle as possible with your cat. Maintain in mind that a pet cat's bones are a lot more delicate than a pet dog's. When bringing a brand-new kitten home, take it slow. It is alluring for youngsters to wish to play with the new addition to your residence promptly. The young cat will likely be terrified. Give the pet cat time to accustom itself to your home and to get comfy with everyone. A cat that is tidy as well as well brushed will certainly enjoy, healthy, and also good looking. Remember, the feline can't do all of the grooming job. It depends on you to give it a little extra assistance. Use as a number of the provided brushing techniques on your cat and see how good it looks.

[tilleyoliver14]

Top Tips To Raise A cheerful And Healthy and balanced Cat

On the surface area, owning a cat may seem just like an easy task. After all, they are famous for becoming independent. While this is true, you may still find many things to consider when patient for your furry friend cat. The following article will show what exactly those things are. Read on and pay attention to. Groom your cat. Cats must get brushed and mown frequently. Such methods help to keep cats' layers clean. This may also cut down on shedding and can reduce issues with hairballs. Grooming a cat properly will enhance the appearance involving your property and cat. Get your cat using proper cat toys. Cats enjoy toys that assist them seem like the particular predators they consider they are. Consider sticking with toys that help them dance around or perhaps jump. This can likewise help them work with extra energy by simply pouncing on toys instead of people's feet. Be careful when your cat for fleas. End up being sure to talk to with your doctor before using normal alternatives to command your cat's fleas. Cats are very sensitive to essential oils and lots of natural herbs. Your vet can probably recommend you make use of a prescription flea treatment, which is definitely usually best regarding cats. Keeping the cats away from counters can be challenging. A cat will naturally desire to be higher enough to watch everything around these people. Making a place high-up for your cat can solve this matter. Putting a cat tower within or near the kitchen area can help maintain your cats from laying on the table. Have your cat spayed or neutered. Pet overpopulation is usually a growing problem, with an incredible number of homeless cats and cats euthanized annually. Besides the problem associated with too many cats rather than enough residences, unfixed cats could have a multitude of behaviour problems. Males who else are not neutered at a youthful age often begin spraying to mark their territory, and even females who happen to be in order to come into heat yowl persistently as they make an effort to escape to get a mate. Kittens can begin to breed as early as 4 months of age, so get a new kitten spayed or neutered as soon as possible. Should you keep the house with your cat, make confident that she actually is wearing a collar together with tags. This way, if anything happens and also you two turn into separated, anyone can easily find her and know how in order to reach you. Your own cat may not really like the dog collar all the period, but when she has out of typically the house it could save her. Really important to let your cat see where you place the fill box, but it can not always smart to force your cat to learn precisely how to use that. This comes really naturally to these people and it is not some thing that is discovered. Some individuals feel they should have their cat to be able to the litter box and rub paws directly into the litter. This kind of actually can get quite traumatic intended for a cat. Realize that your cat is easily influenced by their surroundings. Cats have superior memories and can usually retain working out for a lifetime. On the other hand, additionally, they retain distressing experiences and this takes them a long time in order to get over their fears. Be pushing with your cat and avoid situations that scare these people. In case your cat offers recently given birth, be sure she has a safe, personal area to acquire care of all of them. Mother cats may become frightened by strangers or noisy noise, sometimes major to decreased milk production. They may also hide the kittens in spots where you can find them, such while closets, or underneath beds. Do an individual feel like almost everywhere you turn you are surrounded by your own cats hair? A person need to remember to brush your cat frequently, especially if she sheds a great deal. If your cat sheds a lot, you need to brush that more regularly. Brushing may also keep their very own coat in good shape. A person can use certain scents to discourage your cat coming from entering certain regions of your home. Aloe gel, citrus peels, and citrus drinks smell wonderful to be able to us, but felines don't feel the similar way. Soak a new cotton ball in a of these beverages, then place this on top associated with an item of foil to prevent the liquid from staining your surface. Put the evade and cotton ball near the off-limits area. Switch way up cat food flavours. Cats can become notoriously picky predators. This can be frustrating in the event that a flavor is usually out of inventory or, worse, terminated. Don't allow your cat enter the behavior of eating one food and just one food. Make positive there's some healthy variety in your current cat's diet. If it comes to be able to owning a cat, there are a number of responsibilities every proprietor must be conscious of. Having go through the article above, you should surely have a good thought of what individuals responsibilities are. Be sure and apply the advice stated to keep your cat happy and healthy. best gifts for cats

[pridgenogle01]

Great Cat Tips Are located in The Below Article

Cats are some of the cutest beings on earth. These kinds of are very playful together with most people they meet and include a friendly temperament. If you've wanted to use a cat, but weren't positive what you should do to take health care of one, then that article is simply what you will need. Give it a search. To assist prevent tapeworm infestation in cats, feed a smaller amount of foodstuff grade diatomaceous world for two weeks out and about of every month. Concerning a quarter of a teaspoon per cat per day will be adequate. Food quality diatomaceous earth kills internal parasites plus causes these to get expelled from your system. Your cat might not come jogging when you contact, several cats take pleasure in cuddling on their very own terms and period. Cats enjoy having their own heads and backside pet. Not every cats like their bellies rubbed so get careful. Spending good time with your cat is likely to make lasting reminiscences to appear back on someday. Have your own cat spayed or even neutered. Pet overpopulation can be a growing issue, with millions involving homeless cats plus kittens euthanized each year. Besides the particular problem of also many kittens and not enough properties, unfixed cats can have a multitude of habits problems. Males who are not neutered at a young age often start spraying to mark their territory, and females who are allowed to are available into heat yowl incessantly since they attempt to escape to locate a mate. Kittens may start to breed simply because early as 5 months of age, so get your new kitten spayed or neutered just as soon as feasible. Use short terms when you want to convey displeasure along with your cat. A new short 'no' is going to be remembered, even if not always followed. The lot of individuals think that cats no longer listen to anything, although short word orders are certainly realized by cats, and even they will interact to those commands for anyone who is consistent with these people. Look for a litter that your cat enjoys. Different litters have got different smells and textures, so aid your cat to get a litter that he is generally comfortable together with using. Cats usually like to retain things the identical though, so don't experiment too usually or your cat may avoid typically the cat litter box. Play with your cat. A lot of cat owners don't carry out this. They are delighted to let their very own cat entertain themselves. However, playing with your cat can easily help to psychologically stimulate him and give him the physical activity he needs. Employ small balls, document bags and numerous small toys towards your cat moving. Understand that your cat is definitely influenced by their surroundings. Cats include superior memories and definitely will usually retain training for a lifetime. Alternatively, additionally, they retain frightening experiences and it takes them some sort of long time to be able to get over their fears. Be stimulating with your cat and avoid circumstances that scare all of them. cool cat toys Provide safe and engaging entertainment with regard to your cat always. Even if an individual cannot be in the house with your animal, you need to ensure of which it has entry to toys and some other diversions. Sometimes we perceive that pet cats are lazy creatures, but that won't mean indicate delight in playing to pass the particular time. This will be especially important in the event that your cat is alone in your current house for extended periods of time. Clean your cat's eyes as frequently as probable because their perspective is extremely important and intensely sensitive. Cats and kittens interpret five times as much image stimuli during their very own day and the smallest particle may become stuck plus cause damage. Some thumbs and some sort of damp cloth are usually perfect for removing the eyes and keeping your cat clean. Your cat's choice to toilet outside the fill box could indicate something more a worry than misbehavior. There are conditions that will cause a cat to achieve this. These circumstances include kidney and bladder problems. End up being sure to go see your vet should your cat stops using its box. Sometimes that seems like your cat is sleeping all of his 9 lives away, even so, this is flawlessly normal. It is definitely not unusual with regard to cats to rest upward to 16 hours per day, and even even more. A lot of their sleep is definitely light sleep, an instinct that maintains them ready throughout the event that will a predator will be nearby. About twenty five percent of the sleep is deep rest, where they wish and conserve power. Cats want to sleep-a lot! Medical conditions plus other dietary components may make that important to switch your current cat from moist foods to dried out formulas. Cats happen to be finicky enough previously, and many avoid the change. For the first week or even so, mix typically the dry food together with a small volume of warm water in order to soften up. Progressively decrease the liquid until your cat will eat the dry food. Should you try this method, do not let the moistened food to stay for longer than 20 minutes; this could spoil. As stated before, cats are incredibly cute. Their lively and friendly ways will have anyone starting to warm up to them in no time. Since you realize what to do after reading this kind of article, you could have the cat of your. Bear in mind the information and possess a fun moment with all the feline.

[loomisholcomb52]

Get Great Cat Tips Here WITH ONE OF THESE Simple Tips!

Only other cat owners understand how strange and wonderful it usually is to have a pet like a cat. Cats can present unique challenges and unique rewards. As their owner, you have special responsibilities to your cat, despite the fact that they seem as if they can get along without you. Below are a few ideas for taking care of them. If you have a male cat, it is important to have him neutered before he goes into heat. When male cats start maturing, they'll begin to spray around the house. It smells like ammonia and is hard to eliminate. Having your male cat neutered can help prevent this from happening. If you own a female cat, it's imperative to spay it at the appropriate age. You may keep your cat inside, but she could still slip outside and become pregnant. Spaying the feline is actually the optimal way of dealing with this. To help keep your cat healthy and strengthen its bond with you, always set aside plenty of play time. Kittens especially need plenty of attention, that you can easily share with them through play. Pull a piece of string around for a great and gentle way to keep a cat entertained all night! https://www.ted.com/profiles/40689671 As your cat gets older, changes in behavior may signal pain. If your cat doesn't prefer to jump or climb any longer, it can be in pain. If your cat stops taking care of grooming or stops using its litter box, pain could be the cause. Be sure to have your older cat checked out by your vet if you notice behavior changes. Keep your cat's coat healthy giving them a supplement of nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast can be an inexpensive supplement that can be found in most health food stores. Simply sprinkle a little bit on your own cat's dry food, or mix it in making use of their wet food. Not merely do they love how it tastes, but it's full of protein and vitamins which will keep them looking their best! Is your cat constantly munching on your house plants? If so there is a fix because of this. Growing oat grass or catnip yourself might help entice your cats away from your plants. Providing them with plants that they can eat and like will help draw them to those plants over and over again. Wash your cat's bed at least once a week to remove each of the bacteria from it. Even if the bed looks like it really is clean, it will usually have toxins in it that can cause your pet to become sick. Replace the bed every six months to keep your cat in a sanitary environment. Take your cat to the vet periodically. A great deal of cat owners tend to steer clear of the vet because it could be harder to get a cat ready to go anywhere she does not want to go! It is also an easy task to steer clear of the vet because cats seem so self-reliant. However, it's best if you get your cat to the vet to avoid any problems. Usually do not flush clumpable litter in your toilet. This can lead to issues with your plumbing. Instead just lift the clumps and dispose of them in a trash bag. Don't forget, moisture is why is the litter clump to begin with! Avoid doing that to your pipes and just dispose of it properly. Cats are pretty low maintenance pets. They do not need as much attention and one-on-one time as dogs do. Cleaning the kitty litter box is among the most dreaded chores inside your home. Purchasing a good self-cleaning litter box can help reduce the amount of times you will need to clean it out. Play with your cat. Plenty of cat owners don't do that. They are happy to let their cat entertain themselves. However, playing with your cat can help mentally stimulate him and give him the physical exercise he needs. Use small balls, paper bags and a variety of small toys to get your cat moving. Taking care of cats can be an interesting pasttime. The ideas in this posting might help make things easier for you. It is not always easy being truly a cat owner, but if you are like most cat owners you wouldn't own it any other way. Try the information in this article and see how well you do with your cat.

[hopkinsgoldstein]

Principles To Help A person With Your Cat

If you own or perhaps are considering owning a cat: best wishes! Animals of the particular feline persuasion happen to be some of the most amazing companions you can easily find anywhere. Typically the following article provides you with expert tips upon managing life along with your cat plus in taking care of him. Read on for enjoyable and helpful details. Create a comfortable bed for the outdoor or atroz cat by paving a banana box using a thick level of newspaper. Minimize a piece regarding Mylar to suit the bottom with the box. Put another layer of newspapers on top. Put a warm baby blanket. Place the entire box inside a dog house or under some sort of porch where it can't get rainy. Before acquiring some sort of cat, be sure that you possess the wherewithal to take care regarding all necessary veterinarian care. Cats recreate at an challenging rate, and spaying or neutering is crucial to keeping cat population under management. Check spay, castrate and vaccination charges and packages along with local vets plus clinics and become sure you can afford to give your current cat proper clinical care. Maintain your cat occupied by causing your own own dangly gadgets. Using soft natural cotton rope, cut the length of around two feet. Connect a knot with one end. Link another knot concerning three inches through the opposite conclusion. Unravel the string below this knots. Attach the string to the rear of a kitchen chair for the cat to enjoy. Avoid being kept awake because of your cat romping with the property at night. When you initially get your kitten, establish a habit regarding putting it to be able to bed in a comfortable crate together with a nice sleep, litter box, food and water in night. If an individual start this earlier, your cat will appreciate having the own safe, cozy room. Have the cat spayed or perhaps neutered. Pet overpopulation is a developing problem, with millions of homeless cats in addition to kittens euthanized each year. Besides the problem of too a lot of kittens rather than sufficient homes, unfixed cats and kittens can have a great number of behavior problems. Males who are not necessarily neutered at the young age generally start spraying to be able to mark their place, and females who else are permitted to are available into heat yowl incessantly as they try to escape to find a mate. Kittens can get started to reproduce as earlier as 4 a few months of age, so get your new kitten spayed or neutered at the earliest opportunity. Get the scratching post to be able to keep your cat from tearing way up your carpet. When you can, find a post that does not include the same sort of carpet that will be on to the floor of your current home, so the cat doesn't associate both. Instead, find a post that will is covered inside cardboard, sisal, or perhaps thick rope. Use your cat to instruct your sons or daughters responsibilities. A pet demands care that the whole family can take part in. Each child may take different day to feed the cat, for instance. Same thing for litterbox care. You can make a schedule and blog post it on the refrigerator. Then, everyone understands just what they are responsible for. good cat toys for bored cats Do you possess even more than one cat? If you are, then a person should have several litter box simply because well. Having one particular for each of your respective cats will provide them multiple spots to look. If the odor gets too much you could add a bit cooking soda for the fill to freshen that up. Find some sort of litter that your current cat enjoys. Different litters have different odours and textures, consequently help your cat to find the litter that he or she is generally confident with using. Cats normally like to maintain things the identical though, so don't experiment too much or perhaps your cat may avoid the cover box. Cats will be said to get very intuitive and sometimes more useful as companions compared to even other human beings! If you own one, you currently know this! Hopefully this article provides given you responses for the questions a person have about cats and set you straight on significant issues. Enjoy your current cat for numerous years in the future.

[munchkinisland]

Spaying of Cat For Better Health

Cat spaying is the common word for the surgical surgery that sterilises a female cat by removing the ovaries and uterus. Spaying a cat has various health benefits, hence it is advised that all non-breeding female cats be spayed. First and foremost, spaying a cat reduces the incidence of ovarian and uterine cancer. Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in un-spayed female cats, and if your cat is spayed before her first heat cycle, her chances of acquiring breast cancer are greatly reduced. The probability of developing breast cancer increases with each succeeding heat cycle. Spaying your cat is the most obvious way to avoid unwanted pregnancies in kittens. Cats mature quickly, and it is now advised that most cats be spayed between the ages of four and six months. The term “cat neutering” refers to the surgical procedure of removing a male cat’s testicles in order to sterilise it. The majority of the behavioral benefits of neutering cats come from the fact that neutered male cats make better pets. When male cats reach puberty, they go through a series of behavioral changes that make them less appealing as pets. A male cat will get more territorial and start spraying urine to designate locations even within the house. The odour of male cat urine is quite strong and difficult to get rid of. Cats who have not been neutered have a proclivity to roam and attempt to escape to the outdoors. They frequently battle with the neighborhood cats, which can result in bite wounds, more serious injuries, and dangerous infections. FIV and FeLV, which are incurable and lethal infections, are more common in unneutered male cats. It’s best to neuter your male cat before it reaches puberty, which usually happens between the ages of 5 and 7. Also get you cat/kitten vaccinated against all viruses and other microbial agents by consulting a experienced vet.

[goodtigerclaw]

Cat Spraying A Common Annoyance

'Cat spraying' is the point at which a homegrown cat will soil its house to stamp its territory by maneuvering into furniture or any household thing and delivery an impactful spray. Roughly 40% of all ruining protests are made of such occurrences. Females cats will now and again do it when they are in heat, yet by and click here large it is generally un-neutured male tom cats.

Cats spray for various reasons. They spray during territorial debates, when they know about one more cat in heat, when stressed and frequently after battles with different cats. So the cats, normally single animals, mark their territory as a method for decreasing contentions with different cats nearby. For the most part cats will spray outside, however on the off chance that there are clashes inside the home, they will spray inside also.

At the point when a cat "sprays" an item, the spray delivers a foul scent generally similar to smelling salts. The smell might urge the cat to spray once more, so it is critically to remove the smell quickly and totally. While eliminating the smell, clean the article completely with an enzymatic cleaning agent, one extraordinarily intended to remove awful scents. Stay away from chemicals that contain alkali: they will just aggravate the smell!

Anyway, how can one forestall this annoying propensity? Could it at any point be kept from occurring in the principal place?Neutering a tom will essentially lessen the event of cat spraying. Distinguishing clashes inside the home with the assistance of a cat whisperer, or somebody sensitive to cat brain science, can help resolve or limit the issue. On the off chance that a cat is spraying in one location, you can organize furniture or items around to make them less interesting to spray. Outside the home, you made need to keep your cat inside until clashes are settled with neighborhood cats.

Cat spraying can't be relieved by discipline. A stressed cat might try and spray more regularly, and hitting your cat will essentially energize dread, not dutifulness. Nor will taking your cat to the sprayed region for discipline be a powerful obstacle.

Indeed, even with playing it safe, cat spraying will be hard to kill totally yet can be effectively be controlled and limited. Just an event shows up with the obligation and joy of possessing a catlike companion.

[purocleanmyrtle01]

How to Get Rid of Cat Pee Smell in Your Home

Do you have a cat that likes to pee in inappropriate places? If so, you know how difficult it is to eliminate the smell. In this blog, we will provide several tips on how to get rid of cat pee smell from your home. We will also discuss how to prevent your cat from urinating in inappropriate places. Let’s get started!

Why Does Cat Pee Smell So Bad?

Urine is a concentrated metabolic by-product of urea, creatine, uric acid, detoxified chemicals, salt, and other electrolytes. The color comes from the presence of urobilinogen.

Bacteria break down the urea and give off an ammoniacal odor typical of stale old urine. The second stage of decomposition produces mercaptans, chemicals that contribute to cat urine’s unpleasant stench. Other factors, such as diet and environment, naturally influence each animal’s fragrance.

Older animals have less efficient kidneys, resulting in cat urine odor. Because of certain steroids, male cats’ urine has a distinct smell compared to that of female cats.

Additionally, male cats that aren’t neutered produce testosterone-spiked urine, which warns other males to stay away and signals to females that they are in the vicinity.

It is worth noting that if you buy pee pads when potty training your four-legged friend and put them down on your floor, you are telling your pet that you want them to pee in your house. Preventing this behavior is just as important as mitigating it!

How to Get Rid of Cat Pee Smell on Couches

Here’s how you can remove cat pee smells from couches:

1. Locate the cat pee spot. Use your nose or a pet urine detector if you can’t see it.

2. Using paper towels or an old rag that is somewhat damp, blot as much of the urine as possible. If you have a wet vac, you can use it in the cold setting to remove the urine. Don’t scrub; doing so will only intensify the smell.

3. Use an enzymatic cleaner or create a cleaning solution by mixing one part white or cider vinegar and one part water. Because the vinegar is acidic, it will destroy the cat pee’s bacteria, diminishing its odor. Let the solution sit for three to five minutes, or follow the directions on the cleaning product’s label carefully.

4. You can also sprinkle baking soda on the stain and let it sit for an hour before vacuuming. This will help to eliminate the cat pee smell.

How to Get Rid of Cat Urine Odor in Fabrics

Before following these tips on how to get rid of cat pee smell, a warning: never mix bleach with ammonia. Doing so can release harmful gases into the air.

1. If your bed linens and clothing are machine-washable, rinse them with cold water before putting them in the washer.

2. Pretreat your clothes using an enzyme cleaner. This will help break down the stubborn stains before they’re washed. 

3. Place the smelly fabrics in the washing machine with detergent. If you’d like, add a cup of baking soda or a quarter cup of cider vinegar for an extra cleaning boost.

4. Always air-dry urine-soiled clothing and linens after they’ve been washed. Please don’t use the dryer, as its heat may retain the odor before it has entirely vanished.

5. You may need to rewash the clothes more than once until the scent is completely gone.

How to Get Rid of Cat Pee Smell in Carpets

Here’s how to get rid of the cat urine scent from carpets:

1. Blot away remaining pee stains as soon as possible with a clean towel.

2. Remove the water from the area with a wet/dry vacuum. Don’t use a steam cleaner since the heat might cause the stain to set in place.

3. Use an enzyme cleaner in a spray bottle to eliminate lingering smells. However, spraying a light coat over the stain will not be effective. Instead, remove the sprayer and soak the area thoroughly.

4. Allow 10-15 minutes for the cleaner to do its job. After that, blot up as much of it as you can with a clean cloth.

5. Cover the area with aluminum foil or an aluminum baking sheet to deter your cat from returning to it during cleaning. Alternatively, place an upside-down laundry basket over it.

6. Repeat the procedure to remove any residue or use a different cleaner if stains are discolored or pungent.

7. You can also put baking soda over the cat urine stain and let it sit for 30 minutes. Vacuum thoroughly afterward.

Removing Cat Pee Smell From Unsealed Hardwood Floors

If your floors are unsealed, here’s how to get rid of cat pee smell from them:

1. Remove the cat pee with cold water and a brush. Then, use white or cider vinegar to scrub the spot and rinse with cold water.

2. Wipe the stain with a towel until it appears dry.

3. You can use an enzyme cleaner, but be mindful since it can harm your unsealed flooring. Do a spot test on a low-risk area before spraying it on the stain.

4. If the cat pee stain and odor persist on the floor, consider sanding it since the urine may have seeped into the wood.

5. To prevent your floor from being damaged by cat urine, have it sealed if possible.

Preventing Your Cat From Urinating in Inappropriate Places

There are several reasons why cats may urinate outside of the litter box. Common causes include stress, anxiety, illness, and a desire to communicate with you.

If you think your cat is urinating in other places because of stress or anxiety, it might be a good idea to head to the vet for a check-up. Illness can also be a reason for inappropriate peeing.

The best way to prevent your cat from urinating in inappropriate places is to have a litter box that is easily accessible. The litter box should be kept clean and in a quiet location. Your cat may not want to use a dirty litter box. You should also scoop the litter box daily and change the litter altogether every two weeks.

You can also try using a litter attractant to help train your cat to use the litter box. Finally, ensure that your cat has plenty of fresh water and a balanced diet. If you think there may be a medical reason for your cat’s inappropriate urinating, please consult your veterinarian.

For Carpet/Upholstery Cleaning and Biohazard Remediation, Contact PuroClean Today!

If you’re struggling with cat urine smells in your home, PuroClean can help. We offer a wide range of carpet and upholstery cleaning services that can remove any traces of cat urine or feces. We also offer biohazard cleanup services for homes affected by excessive cat urination. Our experts are highly trained in odor removal, and we use the latest technologies and equipment to get the job done right.

We understand how important it is to keep your home clean and free of unpleasant smells, so we’ll work quickly and efficiently to remove any traces of cat urine from your carpets, furniture, or floors. To schedule an appointment, please visit our website or call (800) 775-7876.

[ydesampson6]

Necessary Advice And Guidance For Brand new Cat Owners

cat water bowl A good deal of folks think of which cats are not just as affectionate as dogs, nevertheless that is simply not necessarily true. Your cat can certainly be a great close friend to you, and any cat owner knows that. You just need to know how to adequately care for this kind of excellent animal. Here are several successful ways to care intended for your own personal cat. Keep a clean up litter box. Such as you, a cat is going to generally not use a good bathing room that is dirty. Find a quiet area out of the means that the container could stay in, and have a tendency move it unless completely necessary. Deal solids out a couple time of day. Make sure to dump often the whole pack, wash it with a gentle washing liquid, and refill it when a new week. If your puppy and cat are best friends, make sure to keep them separate after flea treatment. Your dog's flea products are very hazardous to get cats. Cats that are available in touch with dog flea items generally die. Be positive to use only cat products on your cat and they only dog solutions on your canine. To continue to keep your cat healthy and strengthen its bond with you, always set aside plenty of orgasms. Kittens specially need plenty of attention, which will you can easily give to them through play. Take a piece of thread around for a good fun and gentle method to maintain a cat entertained throughout the day! Give your new feline quite a few space. Moving for you to some sort of new home can be demanding on a new cat, especially individual who is definitely no longer a cat. To help them modify, give these individuals a quiet place the fact that they can call their unique, such as a free toilet or maybe laundry place. This gives them all some sort of safe space they can certainly retreat to until they have turn into comfortable with checking out the whole home. Based on the pet cat, this technique may take some sort of few days up to 30 days or more. Have your own personal cat spayed or neutered. Pet overpopulation is some sort of rising issue, with hundreds of thousands of desolate cats together with kittens euthanized every season. Besides the problem of too a lot of kittens instead of enough homes, unfixed felines can have a multitude of behavior problems. Guys who else are not neutered at a young age group typically start spraying to level their territory, in addition to females that are allowed to help come into heat yowl incessantly as they attempt to avoid to locate a mate. Kittens can begin to breed as first as 4 weeks of age, so get the new kitten spayed as well as neutered as soon like possible. Perform definitely not assume that because a good medicine is okay for anyone to get, that that is safe for your current cat as well. Quite a few medications suitable for humans can be lethal to cats, such as acetaminophen containing prescription drugs and acetylsalicylsäure. Always check using your veterinarian before a person give you a cat anything. Many natural male cats get the urinary system uric acid, but this will be preventable with proper eating habits. A cat passing this crystals can be incredibly hurtful with an high priced veterinarian bill to boot. Keep your own personal cat's diet reduced levels of magnesium. Consult the particular substance list. Fish normally has more magnesium as compared to bulgaria. Get your cat dispersed plus neutered for you to prevent illnesses and bacterial infections that form in often the reproductive : system. This may also help reduce the possibility with regard to overpopulation in the particular country, as just one single males who is definitely not neutered can produce up to be able to half a million offspring over the course regarding his life. Are there pups and cats? Dogs may typically try to feed on the cat's food whenever the opportunity comes along. A person should create a providing area for the kitten that is very much as well high for a doggie to get to. Carrying out this will in addition support you avoid fights within the water bowl. When getting a new kitten property, go slow. It is tempting for kids to help want to play using the new addition to your own home immediately. But the particular young cat will in all likelihood be scared. Provide the kitten time to acclimate alone to your home and even to get comfortable with anyone. While it is correctly normal for a good doggy to pant a lot of the time, you have to be alarmed if you see your own cat doing it. The idea may only be some sort of tiny case of anxiousness, in some cases it is something considerably more severe like aerobic or maybe respiratory distress. Caring for the cat can take some time period and tolerance, as felines will ordinarily express joy and annoyance about often the way things are going. Nevertheless, the information in this case can help you to care for the cat in an effective means that keeps both of you happy. Your friendship may last regarding years to come.

[lara47mclamb]

Seem Here For Some sort of Great Guide About Caring For Cats

A cat can become a great animal. After all, indicate need to end up being walked, dislike bathrooms and manage to get care of on their own. However , there will be some things you should do for all of them, even though that they may well not think so. Below are a few kitty tips you can follow in order to give your cat a great living. Make a free toy for the cat by positioning a little dry out rice or the few dry espresso beans inside an empty pill bottle. Close the lid and spin the rattly plaything through the floor. Almost all cats can't avoid requirements and movement. chicken soup cat food You can also tie a period of twine around typically the neck of typically the bottle to generate a draw toy or perhaps a dangly toy. Play with the cat using proper cat toys. Pet cats love toys that will help them feel like the predators that they can think they usually are. Try sticking together with toys that assist them dance close to or jump. This could also help all of them use extra power by pouncing about toys instead involving people's feet. Always keep your cat healthful and non-finicky simply by introducing a various diet. Always order several different brand names of food and rotate them. In this manner, the cat to be used in order to trying and taking on new tastes. When one food brand goes out associated with business, you can always have lots involving other acceptable choices to offer. Have your cat spayed or neutered. Animal overpopulation is a growing problem, with millions of desolate cats and kittens euthanized every yr. In addition to the problem of lots of kittens in addition to not enough houses, unfixed cats can certainly have a wide variety of behavior issues. Males who will be not really neutered at a small age often begin spraying to indicate their territory, and females who are allowed to enter into heat yowl incessantly because they try to be able to escape to discover a mate. Cats can begin in order to breed around 4 months of age, and so get your fresh kitten spayed or neutered as shortly as possible. Choose an own enclosed cat litter box by a large tote box with a lid. Use a new coffee can sport bike helmet as a design to cut the door in one side of the carry. Place the espresso can lid fairly high up on the side of the tote. Trace all-around it with a permanent marker. Cut out the group with tin snips or a field cutter. Add litter box. Put on the particular lid. Get some sort of scratching post in order to keep your cat from tearing up your carpet. When you can, acquire a post of which does not possess the same sort of carpet that is definitely on the ground of your own home, so your current cat doesn't connect both. Instead, obtain a post that will is covered found in cardboard, sisal, or perhaps thick rope. Stay away from giving your cat any food that is certainly spoiled. This can easily lead to indigestion in addition to food poisoning, which often can set you back the trip to the veterinarian. Always get your food refreshing from the store and be confident to check the departure date prior to deciding to feed it to your cat. Should you leave the house with your cat, be sure that she is usually wearing a training collar with tags. That way, if anything happens and you only two become separated, anyone will find her in addition to discover how to reach an individual. Your cat may possibly not just like the scruff of the neck all the moment, but when she's out and about of the home it can save your ex. In case you have more than one cat, it is a good idea with regard to you to provide them with each their individual food bowls. Spot them far apart so that every cat has their own space. If you provide just one single dish for the pet cats to share, it may cause bigger cats to anstoß the smaller ones. Do not depart wet cat foods inside the bowl intended for longer than 20 or so minutes after your current cat is completed ingesting it. After you discover your kitten is performed for the time being, throw out all of those other food plus make sure in order to wash their dish thoroughly with light source soap and water. When the cat first gives birth with her cats, resist the urge in order to pick them upward. This is some sort of crucial time for cats to bond using their mother and find out some basics, and so leave them on your own. You ought to be able to be able to have more interaction with the cats after about a new week. Look for potential problems to acquire some sort of new cat. Their very own eyes should always be clear, nose obvious too, and typically the ears with no kind of discharge. Typically the cat should have got a shiny coating along with the mouth and even gums should be free of sores. Taking on an unhealthy cat can easily be expensive. Should you be expecting a little one, it is more than enough reason with regard to one to have the pet spayed or neutered. Some pet cats get very intense when they see little ones in the house. Following having this treatment done it is usually less likely for the cat to do anything to hurt the baby. Your own cat may certainly not think he requires you, but he or she does. If a person use the tips in this post, you can easily make yourself much more necessary. These guidelines can assist keep your current cat happy and healthy, and so give each of them a new try. You can even search out more tips, so your cat has the top life possible.