Midge the Neko - Boyxboy -complete-

Chapter 29 -- Plans

Scott almost made it out of rehearsal but Avi and Kevin weren't finished with him yet.

"Sit down bro, unless you've got a fire to put out" Kevin said, his chair tilted back against the wall.

"What do you need?" Scott asked, looking back and forth between Kevin and Avi, who had also pulled up a chair.

"Did you get a chance to work with Midge any? Teach him any songs? Record anything for us to hear?" Avi asked.

"No. I haven't had the chance. And honestly, guys, this is not something that's going to happen quickly if it ever does. He has a lot of other stuff going on right now and he's not ready to jump into something yet."

"But he's amazing" Kevin said, wonderment written all over his face.

"He could be perfect. The missing piece we've been looking for" Avi agreed.

"I'll see what I can do, but for now it's just the four of us, okay? But I'll work on it, I'll talk to him." He stood then, trying to get out of there and home to Midge as quickly as possible. "Gotta eat, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Thanks for being so flexible about the weekend."

"No problem" Kevin said, "I don't mind taking a day off. Lots of other stuff to work on."

He drove home the long way, sitting in the car for a few minutes once he parked because he still wasn't quite settled, but he was close. He wanted to decide here, away from Midge because whenever he was in the apartment with him he pretty much turned into mush and would do anything to make the boy happy. This was big though, so he wanted to make sure how he felt before tackling it. He had to be sure.

He walked up the stairs and stood at the door, giving himself a small mental pep talk. He unlocked the door, took off his shoes, and then realized that Midge wasn't waiting for him. He went into the bedroom thinking he was probably taking a nap. He was in the room, but not in the bed; instead he was hiding in the closet. "What's wrong?"

"Is it okay?"

"Yes, of course Midge. Why are you hiding?"

"You waited and didn't come in so I thought you were giving me time to hide. I wasn't sure, so I thought it was the best thing to do."

"It's just me, I was just thinking. I'm sorry I scared you. You bring up a good point though, I guess we still have a lot to figure out. Can we talk? Let's go to the couch."

Midge followed along, taking his steps the same time as Scott and following in his invisible footsteps. It was a game he had played as a child but he couldn't remember the last time he had done it; it had been a very long time. He perched on the arm of the couch and faced Scott, waiting.

"Your socks don't match."

"Oh, no, they do not. Is that okay? It seemed more fun this way."

"You don't usually wear them, I hadn't noticed you did that."

"I am washing my pants so I wore the shorts, but I was cold. It is okay, right?"

"Of course Midge, wear whatever. We need to get you more clothes. But, hold on, I wanted to talk to you about something, okay?"

"Whatev.. Sure."

Scott grinned and nodded his head. "Better. Thank you. So I was thinking about our conversation this morning during rehearsal so I started a pro/con list. It was on the back of my music which was stupid because I had to erase it all and couldn't bring it home, but.... sorry, never mind. So I did the pro's first, and there were several, like seeing your sister and you feeling more secure, being safer, you know. Then I switched to the con's and I couldn't think of any except you or I feeling trapped. And then I realized that you feel trapped now, just in a different way, and that what I think of as trapped, you seem to think of as security. And I wouldn't really be trapped because it's not really a legal marriage, it's more a partnership. Are you following? Am I right?"

"Yes... and yes."

"Are there any negatives for you, to being collared? You've done this before and I haven't. Help me."

"It depends on the Master. I was actually excited to be collared the first time, happy to have been chosen. And then I got to his home and it was... it was not good. But with you..." He turned his head away, then picked at a piece of dust that had gotten caught in the end of his tail. "Other than not knowing what to expect with sex, I am not worried. I do not think it will be so bad."

"That's not going to happen anytime soon and if and when we do, it will be good. I promise. So, we would need a collar; a bracelet works, right? Is that okay with you?"

"Wha... yes."

"Would you like to pick it out?"

"No. I... how honest should I be Sir?"

"Scott, and very. Completely, even. I'm ALL about honesty today Midge."

"I have preferences, but I would rather not choose it."

"Can we go online and you can show me things you like, tell me what you like about them and what you don't? Then I can choose something I think you'll like. If you're going to wear it all the time, I want you to love it."

They spent two hours searching online jewelry stores, googling images, and just messing around. Midge wanted something substantial as opposed to a soft link chain, preferably with either a cat theme or symbolism, or something resembling a collar. A piece that he believed another Neko, or owner, would recognize as a symbol of ownership.

"I hate to leave you again Midge, but I need to go shopping."

"I understand. I am fine. You are not gone very much at all and I have many.... hobbies to do while you are gone."

"Don't have too much fun without me, okay?" He winked, and grinned when he saw Midge get his reference and blush. "I'll be back. Call me if you need anything, always. Right?"

"Yes, I will. Thank you."

Half an hour later he was walking into the Cartier store in Los Angeles. He wasn't sure he'd find what he wanted here but during their google searches he had seen their Panthere line and he thought it was a good place to start.

He walked past case after case, all of it beautiful but not quite right. There was a plain gold bangle bracelet with inlaid diamonds that he considered, briefly, but it wasn't quite enough.

And then he saw it and there was no doubt. It called out to him from behind the glass and he couldn't take his eyes off of it. The black cuff bracelet looked small enough to fit snuggly on Midge's wrist but demanded to be seen. It featured a beautiful panther head in white diamonds, black specks that were just right, and emerald eyes as big and green as Midge's.

He asked to see it and was soon whipping a piece of string out of his pocket the exact size of his wrist. His credit card groaned in disgust but he didn't care, this was worth every single penny. He grinned the entire time they wrapped it up, then raced home, trying to plan out the perfect way to give it him.