My best friend's cat // Mashton

1.8

AN: watch out for another update later :D

1.8 - Dogs and cats

"Hey," Calum said, "hey. Hey. Hey."

"St-op!" Michael finally groaned, only now removing his hands from his face to glare at the dog-boy.

Ashton and Luke had by long come back and were sitting across from the two, watching it all play out. They were amused at how unwilling Michael suddenly was, but also a little concerned. They let the two boys be, however, because they were sure Michael would come out of his shell.

"You said something to me!" Calum happily said, smiling widely at the cat-boy as his tail wagged quickly. His dog-side was coming up, which Calum didn't like that much because then he could think less... well. But maybe his dog-side was just what Michael needed.

To everyone's surprise, the reaction Michael gave was a giggle. Luke and Ashton gave each other a look, before smiling, liking this progress.

"Now you even giggled! See!" Calum grinned widely, his tail wagging even faster, if possible.

"D-did not," Michael said, hiding his face again, but not really hiding the smile he had. He didn't want to admit it, but this Calum person wasn't that bad.

"You did, you did," Calum countered. "Come on, let me speak to you properly."

Michael moved one finger so one of his eyes could see, green meeting brown. The brown eyes were sparkling, making Michael a little excited. It was kind of as if Calum's excitement was contagious.

"W-what to s-say?" Michael asked quietly, still hiding most of his face and only revealing that one eye.

"We can talk about anything!" Calum told him, before adding in a whisper, "we can share secrets, or talk about what we like, or dislike."

"D-dis-li-ke d-dog." Michael said, hiding his eye again, a little afraid of Calum's reaction. Maybe it hadn't been smart to say that to Calum, but he had said to talk about dislikes.

"Why?" Calum asked curiously, pouting a little because after all, he was part dog.

"D-dog l-loud. Bark. M-ean." Michael said quietly, thinking back to the stupid dog from the park. The dog had been barking and not in a nice way. And Michael was quite convinced that all dogs were like that. He had seen it on the TV sometimes anyway.

"Not all dogs are mean. I'm not mean, am I?" Calum said, looking at Michael with big sad eyes. As Michael moved his finger again to look at Calum, his eyes widened at the sad puppy face.

"N-no," he quickly, but quietly spoke, looking at the boy a little worriedly. Did he really make Calum sad?

"See, so not all dogs are mean," Calum tried to reason, his ears twitching on top of his head as he smiled. "Not all dogs hate cats. I like cats. Cats are just like dogs, just, well, they're different, but the same."

"C-Cal-um not dog." Michael spoke, using the dog-boys name for the first time since he had arrived here.

"I am," Calum frowned, pointing to his ears, "see? I'm part dog. Not all, but I'm part dog. And even when I was a dog I liked cats. I always played with the cat from the neighbours, George."

"G-Geo-rge cat?" Michael asked quietly, wanting reassurance to keep up with the story.

"Yep! And George liked to play with me a lot. He always sneaked into our yard and then played with me when my family was doing something else," Calum explained, grinning from ear to ear.

"M-eet Geo-rge?" Michael asked, moving his hands even more, now only hiding his mouth behind his sweater paws.

"You want to meet George? Why?" Calum asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Geo-rge tell Mich-ael d-dogs ni-ce." Michael spoke slowly, making sure he pronounced everything right. Because for some reason, now Calum was here, he wanted to speak the best he could.

"Oh," Calum finally understood Michael, but his expression saddened, his ears flattening sadly as his tail fell silent. "George died. He was, well, a car ran over him."

Michael gasped, tears gathering in his eyes. "Geo-rge d-d-dead?"

Calum nodded slowly, smiling at the cat-boy sadly. "But it's okay. George was pretty old. He's in a better place now."

A small 'oh' escaped the cat-boy as he looked down sadly, his ears telling the same. Even if Calum assured him it was okay, he was still sad.

"But I'm sure George wouldn't have minded to meet you and tell you just that." Calum assured, carefully putting his hand atop Michael's. He wasn't sure how the boy would react, but Michael simply sighed.

"Hey, but how about we try and be happy? George wouldn't want you to be sad. He would want you to be happy and smile," Calum smiled at the cat-boy, trying to lighten up the mood. And it worked, as Michael smiled as well. Not widely, but he smiled.

"That's it!" Calum said excitedly, his tail wagging again. Michael giggled as the dog-boy got all excited, his hands going up to his face again to hide it.

Calum smiled fondly, looking back at the two boys that were still watching them quietly. Both were smiling lightly, nodding at Calum for him to go on.

He didn't really know what to do, but he did know that he was getting closer to getting Michael to like him. The cat-boy seemed okay with him so far and if Calum would just continue talking, he would eventually get to the point where he can teach Michael things.

And Calum was beyond excited that he had gotten the chance to teach someone. He loved the idea of helping with Michael's speech and just the general things, like Michael's knowledge about everything and nothing.

Yeah, the time that was ahead of them, was definitely a time to learn. Mostly for Michael, but also for the others.

Luke had to learn to not lash out at Michael again, because it wasn't always someone else's fault.

Calum had to learn how to teach someone things, but also a little how he could express his liking. And mostly how to express to one that he liked him as a friend and how to express to the other that he liked him as more than a friend.

And Ashton? Well, Ashton had to learn about his feelings. He was already getting there and he was getting closer to understanding, but he didn't really want to realise it just yet. But then again, that would come with time.