[Original: The City Adel] (Pevi/Ivahn) "Snowscape" Theme #41: anthropomorphic/furry Title: Snowscape Author:ivoryandhorn Fandom: The City Adel Pairing: Pevi/Ivahn, of course. Rating: PG-13 Warnings: A lot of swearing. Very, very light m/m Length: 1272 Theme: #41 - anthropomorphic/furry Author's Note: It's sorta set in a world I've been poking at cautiously, hence: the Jacks and Jills. I'll explain if anyone feels particularly interested, but otherwise I'm going to just leave it at that. Suffice to say Ivahn used to be a Jack, but now is not, and Pevi must live with the aftermath. ...Also, I didn't get a chance to actually mention this, but Pevi is a dog.
Pevi tried to concentrate on the pages of the book before him. The novel was pretty good, or at least the first two paragraphs had been pretty good, and if he’d been thinking clearly he’d have realized that the fact he’d actually sat his ass down to read a book of his own free will was fucking klaxon that things were Not Well. Instead, his thoughts were a frantic jumble which essentially boiled down to an endless litany of: Where the hell is Ivahn, where the hell is Ivahn, where the fucking shit in hell is Ivahn!
It was late, it was dark, it was fucking cold outside. Even with his winter coat plus two pairs of socks he wasn’t sure he had any toes left. He tried not to think of the former Jack quietly walking himself to death in the snow. Or maybe finding a nice, deep drift and scraping out an Ivahn-sized hole, huddling in there until he started feeling sleepy because he’d decided to go the way of all the other Jacks and Jills that crowded the obits every day…
When the doorbell rang he vaulted over the fucking couch to yank the door open. And there was Ivahn, standing on the doorstep in no more than a thin pair of slacks and shirt, while flakes drifted gently down behind him. “Good evening, Pevi,” he said. “I was out for a walk.”
“You idiot!” Pevi hissed, yanking the cat inside. Even through the fine black fur, even through the shirt, he could feel that Ivahn’s body was cold. Shivering. “Goddamn it! What the hell is wrong with you?”
Ivahn watched him incuriously, slipping out of his shoes. It creeped Pevi out how little Ivahn moved. His tail just hung there behind him. And his ears—damn, his ears. He’d never seen them stand up, or lay flat, they were always just…there. He was pretty sure he’d never heard Ivahn purr before either. That was fucking creepy in of itself. Who’d ever heard of cat who never fucking purred?
“Did I do something wrong?” Ivahn asked blandly, after Pevi had glared for a full minute. Stupid cat’s teeth were fucking chattering.
“Later,” Pevi said brusquely, hauling Ivahn to the bedroom. The sleeve felt damp under the pads of his fingers, probably from the snow—goddamn it! “Change into dry clothes. Change all your clothes, including your underwear. Get out here when you’re done.”
Ivahn watched him for a moment—scared? Angry? Curious? As always, Pevi had no fucking clue. And then he quietly slipped off his shoes and padded off to the closet. In his bare, unsocked feet. Stupid cat.
Meanwhile, Pevi tried to open up his bedside table, yanking until he yanked so hard he pulled the damn drawer out and had to spend a few frustrated minutes trying to shove it back in until he decided, fuck this shit, and just dumped it on the carpet after dragging out the electric blanket he used less than never, but would make an exception for in the case of that stupid cat. Stupid Jacks who didn’t know anything about coming in out of the cold. Stupid Jacks who couldn’t act normal. Should’ve been born a goddamn turkey for all the common sense he had.
He heard before he saw Ivahn walking over, making nary a sound on the carpet. He stopped a few feet away; Pevi tried to make himself calm down with minimal success; he managed to get his ears to relax a little, but his hackles just would not quit. Ivahn just watched him, emotionless and expressionless as always.
“Get in bed,” he said. Ivahn obeyed, docile as ever; he’d exchanged his damp clothes for Pevi’s oldest pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “Wait, stop.” Pevi yanked his sweatshirt over his head and tossed it over. “Put that on, then get in bed.”
Ivahn complied, pulling the garment on before climbing under the blanket with careful, deliberate movements. That was how he always moved, each action precise and economical and it pissed Pevi off, for some reason he couldn’t name. He didn’t like that the cat still looked like such a, an outsider even after all this time.
“Stay here,” he said, flinging the blue blanket over the lump in the comforter where Ivahn’s body was. “Goddamn it, you stupid fucking idiot. It’s the middle of fucking winter for fuck’s sake! Don’t move a goddamn inch, okay? Just sleep or something. Or count sheep. I don’t give a shit. Just stay here until I stop wanting to shake your fucking head off for being such a dumb shit.”
As usual, Pevi’s swearing went right over Ivahn’s head. He turned to leave, because if he had to keep staring at that impassive face with its ears that were just there he was going to fucking explode or something.
And then, just before he reached the doorknob, he heard Ivahn say softly, “I did not mean to anger you.”
How was he supposed to stay angry in the face of that? Fuck, he wanted to, because the alternative was being all stupid and mushy over Ivahn’s dumb Jack head. And it wasn’t like Ivahn would be able to get any of that either. But he couldn’t. Stay angry, that is. It was hard to be angry at Ivahn for long, because inevitably Pevi’s brain liked to wake up and mutter shit like He can’t help it, and He doesn’t do it on purpose and worst of all Yelina’s probably just like that now.
He sighed and turned around. Ivahn had curled up on his side, as was his habit and possibly only expression of personality. “I’m not angry,” he said.
Ivahn looked up at him, faintly puzzled, as he walked back to the bed.
Pevi took a deep breath. “I mean, I just.” He flopped down next to Ivahn, deflated. “You could fucking die walking around like that in this cold, okay.”
Pevi glanced over at the cat, who was watching him quietly. Blue-grey eyes, long lashes; no expression. So. Fucking. Creepy.
“You could freeze to death or something,” Pevi continued. “Like, you know. Hypothermia.”
“Hypothermia,” Ivahn said, but this time his voice was bland in a different way—his eyes had that weird unfocused look they got when Pevi told him about new things, like he was reading off an encyclopedia no one else could see. “A condition wherein an organism’s core body temperature drops below the level required to maintain regular bodily function—“
“Right, right,” Pevi cut in hastily. Ivahn could go on for-fucking-ever when he let him. “That. You see what I’m saying?”
To his total surprise Ivahn’s ears moved—just this weird tiny little twitch, back then front. “I did not mean to upset you,” he said quietly.
“It’s nothing,” Pevi mumbled, uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. “So just drop it, okay?” The heat from the blanket was starting to make him feel a little drowsy, like he was curled up by a fireplace with some hot chocolate in hand. Had he let Ivahn try hot chocolate yet? Pevi couldn’t remember making any this winter. He should probably fix that.
His ears easily caught the sound of Ivahn’s breathing deepening, slowing; he didn’t sound like he was going to die, just like he did every other night Pevi listened to him falling asleep. The fingers lying beneath his under the blanket felt like actual fingers as opposed to, say, particularly mobile icicles.
Pevi managed to catch the sound of faint—very faint, barely there, in fact—purring before he drifted off himself.