Who: Alyssa and Peeta. What: Picking out a kitty. When: 4/17ish. Where: Alyssa’s, the animal shelter. Warnings/Rating: They manage to have PG-13 rated sex en route to the animal shelter. I have no idea. Status: Complete!
Alyssa had wanted a pet for a long while, and now that Kitty was around sometimes, it seemed like a good point to get one. She owned the house, so nobody would be telling her that she couldn’t have a pet, and one cat would be fairly low-maintenance. Alyssa even knew the type she wanted, something sweet and middle aged, something the shelter would have a harder time finding a home for.
After making sure Kitty didn’t have any allergies, Alyssa texted her boyfriend to see if he wanted to come with her on an adventure to pick out a friend.
The text was completely unexpected, but not unexpected at the same time. It seemed like something Alyssa would send and Peeta was amused at the idea of helping her pick out a pet. He didn’t have much going on that day, now that things were back to normal at the bakery, so he texted her that he would be over to her place shortly. If they were lucky she would find the perfect pet and if they were unlucky she would be leaving the shelter with ten cats.
Once the car was parked outside her place he made his way up to her door and knocked. His foot lightly tapped along with the song that was just on the radio and now in his head as he waited. A smile coming to his face the moment she answered the door.
When Alyssa saw Peeta, she grinned and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him firmly. “You ready? I’m only allowing myself one cat. Just to see how Kitty gets on with it, you know? It’d be rude to be all ‘oh, here are fifteen new roommates’.” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
“Ready as I can be for you and your inner cat lady,” Peeta teased her, returning the kiss, and enjoying the look of her wrinkling her nose. That was mature of her to consider her new roommate when it came to getting a pet, “Although, with the name Kitty you would think that you could give quite a few cats and they would all get along. Have you looked at any of the cats at this shelter online yet?”
“I do not have an inner cat lady,” Alyssa laughed. “I haven’t knitted in a month.” That was actually true. She took his hand after locking the door behind them, walking with him to his car. “Kitty actually used to have cats, so I don’t think she’ll mind, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” She squeezed his hand and looked up at him. “I didn’t look yet, no. I thought that it would be better to meet them in person, so to speak.”
“Ah, going on a blind date with the cats,” Peeta spoke solemnly before cracking a smile and opening up the passenger door for her, “And you knit? Wait, don’t answer that, of course you do. That is totally something you would do with your spare time.” It also seemed very British, but he wasn’t about to say that to her for fear of retribution. Once she was in the car he shut the door and went over to his seat.
“I learned how at school, one of the teachers there taught me.” It had been on a weekend where most of the other girls had gone home to see their family, and Alyssa had been alone. She hopped into the car, looking over at him. It was such a sweet, gentlemanly thing for him to do, yet Alyssa didn’t doubt that he knew she could take care of herself. It was refreshing.
“But yes, I was hoping to get a cat that’s been there awhile, something older. Kittens are cute, but pretty easy to adopt out, so I hear.”
It was manners, plain and simple, and his parents would be proud that he was being polite to his girlfriend. He held doors open for people and didn’t really think twice about it. He plugged the address into his GPS and let that boot up before they started on their drive, “Yeah, older animals seem to have a harder time. But most of those are way more mellow and having a kitten is like having a child. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to deal with that anytime soon.”
“Exactly. And I won’t always be around to look after it because of school, or if there’s a zombie outbreak here or something and I have to go fighting. Or Kitty might be training me in the yard.” Alyssa chuckled. “My sensei is back, now I’ll be sore all the time.” It was a little joke. “Logan, my ex... something - he trained Kitty, and he was trained by samurai or something, so. Jokes.” She was rambling and she knew it. While she adored Peeta, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to be too weird or strange for him.
His brow furrowed just slightly as he tried to follow her rambling. Logan was a samurai in some capacity, trained her new roommate, and now Alyssa was training in that. Er, what? Sometimes he just didn’t believe the strange lives they were living. His eyebrow arched in confusion as he looked over at her, “you make boot camp sound like a walk in the park.” Was this what it was like to be blessed with weird super powers?
She just laughed. “I highly doubt it. I run far less than you probably did. Well. I don’t know, I’ve never been.” She leaned over so that her head was on his shoulder, closing her eyes. “It was something I started doing - training with Kitty, that is - after my ... thing. With Bellatrix. I didn’t ever want to feel weak again. So now I practice hitting people. It augments my bow and sword training. Wow, when I say it out loud, it sounds absolutely mental.”
“Just a little bit, but I get what you’re trying to say. It makes sense that you would want to do some kind of self defense type training so you can better prepare yourself if a situation like that ever happens, and I hope it never does, but being prepared is good. And it’s been a long time since I’ve done any kind of training like that. I’m probably getting soft now,” Peeta was tempted to poke at his belly to see if he was starting to get fat, but he did move around a lot at his bakery. Maybe he needed to figure out some kind of adaptive gym routine to keep in shape.
“We could do weights together or something if you wanted.” She doubted he wanted to join in on tumbling practice, despite how she looked in her workout kit. “Or however you like working out. Whenever blokes talk about training, it’s always bench pressing or lifting heavy things then yelling for ten minutes.”
“Haha, well, since you know the secret to the male workout I may have to kill you now,” he pointed out with a laugh as he reached over to place his hand on her knee, “But weight lifting is important. I’m not really the yelling type anymore, but it really helped get your aggression out during basic. Especially since you couldn’t actually hit your drill sergeant in the face at all. Cardio is also good, but I’d have to get a more adaptive leg for that most likely if I wanted it to be a constant thing.”
“Or you could swim. It’s always hot here, may as well take advantage.” She liked how cuddly he was; it was comforting to her to have him nearby. It made her feel more normal, more stable. “I like weights simply because it’s like competing with myself. Oh, I lifted a hundred with this last week, let’s do one-ten today.” She closed her eyes. “Drill sergeants all seem like wankers. I hope they’re not all like that.”
“Swimming would be fun. It’s been a long time. And if you went with me then I can sit there and admire your lovely swimsuits,” Peeta pointed out with a laugh. Oh yes, he would definitely admire the swimsuits. But hey, it actually sounded like a great idea and he wondered if there was a pool nearby that he could use. He hadn’t really tried to join any disabled groups around town, but maybe now was the time, “And that’s what it is. Just competing with yourself and pushing yourself to do more each time. And they are like that. They totally enjoy their job.”
“I don’t have a lot of them, just one, really. But this does get me an excuse to get more.” Alyssa beamed, liking the idea. “But I’ll have to get more sunscreen. And reapply every thirty minutes. And get that stuff for when I burn.” Because it wasn’t an if, it was a when. She made a grumbly noise, not liking the idea that Peeta had gotten yelled at for no reason. “Didn’t your mate Gale go into the military too? Were you friends before or after?”
“I promise that I will help you put sunscreen on as many times as you want. I will even make sure we buy you like SPF 100 or whatever the highest one is. And I will greatly enjoy the pleasurable pain you get when I put aloe vera on you after you burn,” Peeta burned but certainly not as much as she probably did. She was as pale as could be and he was mentally laughing at her turning into a lobster, “And yeah, he’s in the Army as well. We met during a tour in Afghanistan.”
“Oi! Pain can be pleasurable, but never sunburn pain.” Alyssa laughed, lightly punching him in the arm. “Honestly, I just get the highest SPF even though I’m sure at some point it stops mattering.” Alyssa nuzzled back against him, not liking the idea that Peeta or Gale had been in any sort of war. It just made her angry, made her want to hurt people. And it wasn’t simple, it wasn’t like there was one person that had hurt them that she could go and eliminate and fix the problem. So she just kissed his neck gently, hoping he understood.
“Have you never had the cold chill of aloe vera put onto your burning hot skin? Trust me, it’s completely orgasmic. And I will do that for you,” a playful grin was back on his face as she lightly punched him. But then it was interrupted by her nuzzling against him and kissing his neck. He gently squeezed her knee to let her know that he appreciated her before mocking her just slightly, “Oi, don’t go kissing my neck or else we’ll have to pull over and I’ll be forced to ravish you in the back seat.”
“Maybe I’ll burn on purpose so you can introduce me to your weird aloe vera based foreplay.” She giggled against him, waggling her eyebrows. “Yes, because that’s incentive to stop, Peeta.” She wondered what his middle name was.
“Just burn a little bit. Maybe on your ass,” that was a hard enough location to get a sunburn on anyway, so it would never actually happen, “We can go lay out naked in your backyard or something. And I also can introduce you to my weird sunscreen foreplay. And yes, you kissing my neck is quite the incentive to stop the car and have a little fun. I’m sorry that I like you so much that I look for simple excuses to get you undressed.”
“How am I going to get sunburn on my bum?” Alyssa laughed, then shook her head. “But if you want to lay out naked in the backyard, we can do that. The fence is high enough. I’ve shagged back there and not gotten arrested.” She nipped his neck gently, almost daring him to pull over.
“You really shouldn’t tell me all the places you shagged, it’s almost a bit of a turn off. Let me pretend that you’ve never shagged anywhere in your house before,” he couldn’t help but point that out to her. The less he had to think about her other boyfriends the better he would be in the long run. He knew most of them were out of the picture, but it was still something a strange about knowing that. When she nipped his neck his voice was huskier than usual as he spoke in a warning tone, “Alyssa...we are not going to look for a cat if you keep that up.”
She just laughed at that. “Oh, do you want to pretend I’m a virgin next time? I still have my school uniform.” Her eyebrows waggled yet again, and she leaned back. “So, if I took my top off and just sat here in a skirt, what would you do?” Well, maybe that wasn’t the most virginal thing, but the low tone of his voice was kind of a turn-on.
“No, not the virgin part. Just pretending you’ve spent most of your time sleeping with your past boyfriends at their place and not theirs. Although the school uniform I wouldn’t complain about,” he was but a simple man and the previous girls he had slept with were rather tame by comparison. Alyssa was far more open than he ever expected and she was certainly opening his eyes to some new ideas. And there she went with her next question and a dark looked passed over his face briefly, “I would probably pull the car over because that’ll be another time when you give me a heart attack and I die.”
“You firmly underestimate your cardiovascular health.” Smirking, Alyssa tugged off her top and toed off her heels at the same time, tossing the shirt into the back of the car. At least she had on a cute bra?
And as her shirt went off a string of obscenities came out of his mouth in a low mumble as he tried to concentrate on the road and watch her at the same time. “Jesus fucking christ,” he really wondered what he had gotten into as he got into the right hand lane to get off at the exit that was coming off. He would pull over, but he didn’t want a cop coming to investigate what was wrong, so he would pull off into the parking lot of whatever was right at the exit, which happened to be a gas station, and parked at the furthest end of the lot.
Alyssa had forgotten that boys tended to like to stare at girls in bras. Really, for her, seeing a bloke with his shirt off was nice, but she didn’t really have much in the way of tits, so who cared? She could see if she’d taken her skirt off, but then again, she was sitting, so anticlimactic.
But he’d pulled over as he’d promised, and Alyssa didn’t like backing down from a challenge. So she simply moved so she was straddling him in the driver’s seat, grinning down at him. “Easier than the backseat by loads,” she murmured.
“You are so lucky I didn’t crash the car,” he pointed out to her as he wrapped his arms around her and removed her bra. He held onto her waist with one hand as he reached down to activate the lever to slide his chair back to give them a little bit more room. Once that was done he didn’t waste any time before taking the opportunity to grope her as he looked up at her and wondered what in the hell they were doing.
“You wouldn’t have, I’m not that stunning,” she murmured, reaching down to undo his belt and zip. Quickies were fun, and it wasn’t like they were going to be there for hours. She did still want to go to the animal shelter, but she couldn’t help but grin down at him. “We don’t have to. If you don’t want. I know, I’m a bit mad, but I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. I just like you, and when you smile it’s just ... you don’t do it enough, you know? So if I can do it more, make you happy, it’s good.” She’d have been more articulate if he weren’t groping her.
“You are that stunning,” he countered quickly as he watched her actions. A blush colored his cheeks when she explained why she was doing this and that he needed to smile more. Okay, maybe that was true, but he thought he did a lot more smiling now that he was around her. It was certainly cause for smiling. He was completely gone for her and she had to know that by now. He lifted one of his hands to cup her cheek as he smiled up at her, “You make me happy, period. And I have to admit that you’re certainly the most adventurous girl I’ve been with, so don’t take it as being uncomfortable, more so surprised than anything. But I’m not going to say no to you.” He didn’t add in the part where he would probably never say no to her because he was already wrapped around her finger.
“You just make me feel... dunno. Deliciously normal.” She let her forehead rest against his, smiling to herself. “And I like making you happy. Ugh, I’m making public sex sappy, there should be a law.” She reached over for her purse, still in the passenger’s seat, digging through it until she found a condom. Looking down at him, she could feel the blush in her cheeks from when he’d called her stunning, and she wondered how she’d gotten so lucky.
“I’m going to take that as a compliment?” He voiced skeptically because he wasn’t sure if it truly was one despite the way she seemed quite happy about it, “And you’re allowed to make it sappy. Don’t worry about it.” When she looked down he leaned up slightly to kiss her before letting his lips trail down her neck and to her breasts while one hand slipped in between her legs. This wasn’t just about him and he made sure that she was going to get as much pleasure from this as he was.
“Oh, it is. It’s absolute shit having powers and nonsense, and - “ She was going to say more, but his hand was moving and she was trying to roll a condom onto him, and at the same time people were probably watching which sort of did things to her, so instead she just moaned against his chest. “And you make me happier than anyone I’ve ever known. I swear, if I have to keep talking about feelings instead of focusing on you, though.” She resumed nipping his neck, liking that she knew it was one of his spots. Knowing things about him made her feel like she’d accomplished something.
“I love when you start to ramble,” he admitted aloud with a playful smirk as she finished rolling the condom on. It was true because she usually revealed more about herself when she started rambling and it just made him fall even more for her because she wasn’t afraid to hide herself. The nip to his neck however earned a husky groan as he positioned himself and slid into her, which made that groan turn into her name. It was a confined space, but he managed to find a pace that would work, one hand rubbing between her legs, and the other reaching up to grab onto the hair that he might admit was one of his favorite things about her.
“I’m glad someone does,” she murmured. Whimpering a bit as they found a rhythm, she let her head rest against his shoulder, trying to muffle the noises she was making. It was a bit more difficult when he was pulling her hair, though; that was one of her favourite things in the world, ever. In the cramped space, she giggled a little when the car started moving, high on adrenaline and the way he smelled.
He really wanted to pull his shoulder away from her because those noises she was making were an absolute turn on, but he also didn’t want to ruin the moment. And he was starting to pick up on the fact that she liked to have her hair pulled and looped a section of it around his hand as he continued to move against her. “Oh god,” he groaned as he felt himself getting close with a little help from the turn on of being in a public area, the car rocking like a bad 70’s movie, and her wonderful noises. At least she wasn’t expecting him to last for hours right now.
Once they were close, she figured there was no harm in being heard - they’d be leaving soon anyway. Leaning back a bit, she looked down at Peeta with heavy lidded eyes, glad that he was with her, feeling loved and loving in return, all the sappy things her schoolteachers told her she would feel someday with a boy. That was also probably the orgasm talking; that never hurt. She braced herself with a hand against the window, whimpering his name louder than she’d intended.
That look was really all he needed to send him right to the edge and that whimper of his name was what sent him over. He let his head fall forward onto her chest as he groaned her name loudly. He didn’t care if anyone heard them because right now was an amazing moment and he wouldn’t even care if someone suddenly came upon them and told them to stop. As he came down from that high he lifted his head back up and smiled at her, “I think I may love you a little bit.”
She stroked his hair, leaning down to kiss him. “I know exactly how you feel,” she murmured. Which was terrifying: should she be falling in love so quickly? Would he suddenly realize this was too fast by most people’s standards and run away screaming? She tried not to worry so damn much and simply kissed him again, smiling a little when she realized they should probably try to get back on the road as to not get yelled at by anyone.
At least she didn’t run screaming from him for that confession. They were moving incredibly fast by anyone’s standards, but there was just something that fit between the two of them. It was almost like he had finally found that missing piece and he couldn’t be happier with anyone else. The kisses were returned before they finally broke apart and he helped her get off of his lap and get everything back to normal so they could continue their drive. The condom went into a fast food bag he had left in his back seat and he glanced around to make sure no one had noticed him before he drove out of the parking lot, “I think my plan of not saying no to you is working well so far.”
She just laughed at that. “Really, it’s not like I’ve asked you to rob a bank.” Then she took a dramatic pause, pitched her voice low, and tried to look ominous. ”Yet.” The peal of giggles should’ve clued him into the fact she wasn’t serious. “You make it very easy to absolutely adore you, you know.”
“I don’t think I’m very inclined to go the whole Bonnie and Clyde route, sorry,” he answered her back with a grin as she started to giggle and completely demolish any attempt she had at being serious about her bank robbing future. The compliment earned a blush on his cheek as he took her hand into his, “That’s sweet of you. I appreciate hearing that because honestly, I didn’t know if anyone would care about me after the accident. There’s a lot of things going on in my head and I didn’t really know if being with someone would be in my future. But you -- you fit so perfectly into my life now and I feel like we’ve been together for ages already.”
“Peeta, if someone doesn’t care about you because of your leg, they’re an idiot and a shithead.” Alyssa didn’t swear often, usually using cuss words for emphasis. “If they don’t like you because you’re still sorting through what happened - you were in a bloody war zone. Just - someone not liking you for those reasons is so stupid, it makes me want to punch this hypothetical woman in her stupid hypothetical face.” She put on her bra and top as she spoke, grumbling to herself. “Though I agree, I do feel like we’ve been together for a million years. In a good way. Want to move in?” Her tone was teasing, but she knew eventually she’d ask him to move in for real.
“That’s the problem though. People have a predisposition to not really gravitate towards people who have a handicap physically and mentally, which puts me at a disadvantage. It also really didn’t help that I did not feel like I should be in any kind of relationship. But I completely get your anger because I’ve felt it as well. And that’s why I’m glad I grew some balls and asked you out on a date,” Peeta was still pretty proud of himself for even managing to do that. The fear of rejection had been high, but he was so thankful that everything was working out for them. And even though her tone was teasing a look of panic crossed his face for a split second at the thought of moving in together, “Let’s wait until we’re together at least a month before we start talking about that next step.”
“I’m glad you did to. I thought you were having me on at first.” She squeezed his hand for a moment, then grinned at the look of panic on his face. “Don’t worry, Peeta, I was joking. Promise. I’m fairly sure Kitty would chase you out with a hose at this point. Besides, the only roommate I’m taking home today has four legs, whiskers, and hopefully no testicles.”
“Why would she do that?” he looked aghast at the idea of Kitty chasing him out of the house. He was a nice boy, although they did have some loud sex, but that wasn’t enough to get chased out of the house, was it? However he did manage turn and give her a look with a raised eyebrow once again, “Are you saying you refuse to get a male cat? Or are you going to make damn sure that it’s fixed before you bring it home?”
“If you tried to move in already? Yeah, she’d chase you out. No, she likes you, promise. I think she’s glad I’m dating someone my age who isn’t jealous.” Alyssa ran her fingers through her hair, leaning back. “I want to make sure it’s fixed. If it’s not, I’ll get it fixed, but since I want a middle aged cat, I’d hope it already is.”
“Well, I’m obviously jealous because I’m telling you to pretend you’ve never had sex in your house before,” he couldn’t help but point that out to her. He wasn’t really a jealous person by nature, but the idea of knowing where your girlfriend had sex around her wasn’t one he was overly fond of. The GPS signaled that they were close to their destination and he got over into the lane to take the next exit, “I’m sure it will be. I know a lot of places, if the animals are a little older, try to fix them before they adopt them out. Bob Barker would be proud.”
“But you don’t think I’m going to run off with other blokes. You don’t ask if I still talk to them and blah blah blah. Jealousy’s like any other emotion. Of course you’ll feel it, you can’t stop how you feel. You can control how you express those feelings, how they manifest into action.” She thought to herself. “It’s the difference between having a civil conversation or punching someone. And I hope this shelter’s like that. It has a high turnover rate, so I thought no matter who I went home with, I’d be saving them.” It made her feel awful, tiptoeing around “they put a bunch of animals to sleep”, but for all of her fistfighting and training to shoot people with arrows, Alyssa’s heart was big and easily bruised.
“True. I know that you’re not going to run off with them,” well, Logan seemed a special case, “So, I guess I do have that jealousy part under control. It just seems like a non-issue because if you were still hung up on one of them then you would be with them and not me. When you’ve done the things that I’ve done in my life then you pretty much let things like ex-boyfriends roll off your back. And you are going to be saving an animal today and hopefully they will shower you with lots of love and affection and not so much fur and hair balls.”
“Thank you for knowing that. If I wanted to be with someone who wanted me, I’d be with them. Full stop.” Logan didn’t know what he wanted, which was Alyssa’s entire problem. The idiot. But it was telling that Alyssa didn’t think about him as much with Peeta around, and she smiled to herself. “Oh, they’ll give me fur and hair balls and poop aplenty. That’s their job!”
“Alright, I think we are here,” Peeta declared as the GPS alerted them to their destination being ahead. He turned on his blinker and slowed down as he turned into their parking lot. It looked really nice from the outside and as he parked her realized something, “Um, did you bring a carrier or anything? Or are you just going to put the cat on your lap for the way home?”
“They sell carriers here too, I looked online.” She smiled to herself, though in retrospect she should’ve worn flats. Oh well. “I feel I should apologize in advance for the yelling that they’ll likely do en route home.” Cats probably hated being in a box inside of another box.
“It’s fine. Now, let’s get inside and start playing with some kitties,” he leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before he got out of the car, rushing over to her side, and opening the door for her again. Once she was out he locked up the car and slipped his hand into hers as they made their way into the shelter. Playing with cats was a much more fun way to pass time than sitting around at the bakery.
“I’m so glad you’re not allergic to animals.” She’d have not gotten a pet if that was the case, just out of respect. Well, maybe a fish, but fish were boring. And you couldn’t cuddle fish. When they got inside, she mentioned that she wanted to look at adoptable cats, but the ones they’d had a harder time adopting out. They were lead to a part of the shelter that was just cats, and Alyssa had to steel herself to not cry. Every animal just looked so sad.
“So am I because life isn’t as much fun without a pet. Or I would totally suffer and drug myself up,” it was a very viable option. But thankfully they didn’t have to deal with anything like that. As they wandered into the part with the cats he couldn’t help but look around at all the other animals that were around. They did look sad, but at least they seemed well cared for and the room with the cats was completely enclosed and looked like cat heaven.
“I’ve never had a pet before,” Alyssa murmured. She walked past the kittens with some effort, biting her lower lip hard against their adorable little mews. “Have you?”
“My parents had a dog when I was younger. He was very sweet and let me ride him around as a child - a large husky dog,” Peeta explained before opened up the door to allow her into the room and quickly shut it behind him before any of the cats escape, “I’m surprised you’ve never had a pet before.”
“Boarding school. We had a turtle in one of the classrooms, but that was it. And Mum was allergic.” She walked toward the areas furthest away from the door, figuring they’d get the least amount of attention. But she was smiling at the idea of Peeta riding on a husky. “I’m sure you and your brothers just treated him like another brother.”
"Well, I am happy to assist you in finding your first ever pet," he watched her with a smile as he took a seat in the middle of the floor to allow the cats to approach him, "see any that you are immediately drawn to?"
Alyssa shook her head. “It’s less about me, and more about them.” She sat down on the concrete, not caring if she got a little dirty, and waited for any of them to crawl over to her.
“Yeah, but you can still pick out some that you want to see if you have a connection with,” he pointed out with smile as a few cats came over to him. He held his hand out so they could sniff him and they then decided that they liked him and he was able to scratch them behind their ears before they started crawling into his lap, “Do I smell like catnip?”
“I”m guessing they can just smell a soft heart,” Alyssa chuckled. She noticed one that was in the corner snoozing, and liked that it was a little older, a little chubbier. Scooting toward it, she scritched it behind the ears, giggling when it trilled its approval and butted toward her hand. “Peeta! It likes me.”
“Awww, one has chosen you worthy,” Peeta praised her with a laugh as he was slowly becoming covered in cats. They were certainly loving him at the moment and he let himself fall back so he was laying on the ground and the cats quickly pounced on his chest, “I think I may die of cuteness.”
Alyssa fished around in her purse, grabbing her mobile phone and snapping a picture of Peeta with the cats, giggling. “Oh, that is so going on the network. I can’t deprive the world of this!” She was absentmindedly petting the cat on her lap when it started to fall asleep, purring contentedly. “I think I found the one for me. The stinky, chubby one.”
“You are terrible,” Peeta quipped when he heard the shutter from her phone and groaned. One cat was currently trying to groom his hair as he looked over to where she was with her cat, “The stinky, chubby one will suit you quite well. However, you may need to go home with all of these as well.”
“Why would I get all of those? They love you, you idiot.” Alyssa beamed, scritching her own cat, trying to take a video of Peeta with cat spit on his forehead.
“Don’t make me toss a cat at you so that you’ll stop filming me,” Peeta pointed out with a laugh, “And I can’t have pets at my place, so I can’t adopt them. And it would be nice to feel so wanted when I came over to your place. I mean, I know you want me, but a horde of cats wanting me too? Kind of hilarious.”
“I can’t adopt a feline army for you, Peeta. Besides, Kitty seems more appropriate to have a feline army.” Alyssa lay down to snuggle with the cat that liked her, who promptly stretched out and started to snore.
“Why do you have to dash my hopes and dreams? Maybe I’ll go sweet-talk Kitty into adopting all these kitties,” he reached for his own cell phone and snapped a photo of her snuggling with the cat, “And we should probably go get your cat’s paperwork done and you two can nap at your place and not on the dirty floor. Any ideas on a name?”
“Hmm. We’ll have to see what his name is.” Alyssa smiled, standing up and hoping that the cat wouldn’t notice. It did, and yelled loudly at her, as if admonishing her for daring to move. She looked at the paper clipped up outside the area where he was housed. “Flower. I hope they mean after the skunk in Bambi, because he’s the least floral animal I’ve ever met. I’ll keep that one.”
“You’re gonna keep Flower as the name? Hm,” Peeta was kind of surprised because that cat certainly didn’t seem delicate in any way. It mostly had a child as a previous owner who decided that name was a good idea. But, if the cat acknowledged the name then so be it. He slowly stood up, petting the cats as he pushed them away and got to his feet, “Alright, let’s get out of here before I adopt a cat I’ll have to illegally smuggle into my apartment.”
Alyssa smiled, feeling her heart break as Flower toddled after them. She knew she was going to take him home soon, but he looked so upset. She tried not to jog down the hall toward the reception desk where she told them she wanted Flower, and was informed that he was already neutered and she could take him home that day. She payed for him and a carrier, squealing and jumping a little before hugging Peeta.
It was kind of hilarious to watch how excited Alyssa was about all this. He watched with an amused smile and returned the hug to her as they made their way back to the room and he helped Alyssa get the cat into the carrier, which was way more complicated than it should have been, “He’s going to be a loud meower, isn’t he?”
The cat started to yell in response, a scandalized yowl that was quite obviously UNHAND ME, HUMAN in feline. Alyssa just looked at Peeta. “Thank you for jinxing everything, Mr. Mellark.”
“You like me anyway,” he quickly pointed out as he closed the door to the carrier and held it out for her to take, “He loves you, so maybe you should speak soothingly to him or something. He’ll calm down eventually. If you want you can sit in the back seat and let him out of the carrier.”
Alyssa nodded, getting into the backseat with the cat and smoothing out her skirt before letting him out. The cat apparently just hated the carrier, because it proceeded to flop on the floorboard and lick its paw.
“I think he’s just not fond of being in the carrier, which I guess I understand,” Alyssa reported.
“I think the two of you are going to be best buddies. And he’s totally going to interrupt us when we’re laying in bed together,” Peeta could totally picture the cat just coming onto the bed while they were snuggling and worming his way between them. It was amusing and he knew Alyssa would probably enjoy every moment of it.
“Probably, yes.” Alyssa smiled, then leaned down to pet the cat. “Now, Flower, you can’t jump up on Peeta while we’re mating, all right? You’ve got claws, and that will hurt him. And then he’ll jump, and you’ll jump, and I’ll laugh.”
“You’re absolutely crazy,” it was said with a hearty laugh as he drove them back to her place. Alyssa had found the perfect cat for her and he was sure it would be a lot of fun getting to see how the cat flourished with her. Maybe some day he’d move out of his place and into some place where he could have a pet of his own and he would make her to do this with him.