Page 78 of Gratification in Gluttony

As the noodles boiled, Gem dragged Toni to the middle of the kitchen, forcing him to dance too. With him wrapped around Toni, chin propped on Toni’s shoulder, he whispered, “You and me. Always, right?”

And Toni promised, “Always.”

After gorging on sweet and spicy noodles, Toni collapsed on the couch, nursing a beer as Gem propped his paws on Toni’s lapand wiggled his toe beans. Setting his beer on the coffee table, Toni ran his hand through the fur on Gem’s lower legs, then proceeded to massage the thick pads of his feet, steering clear of his sharp tarsal claws.

Gem sighed, sinking lower into the couch cushions. “I’ve missed this.”

“Me rubbing your feet?” Toni asked, pinching Gem’s left toe bean.

“I mean, that too,” Gem said, flexing his barbs, nearly snagging Toni’s wrist.

“Watch it,” Toni warned.

“I’ve missed this,” Gem repeated, pushing the foot Toni wasn’t massaging into Toni’s stomach. “I’ve missed you.”

“Of course you have,” he said with mock bravado. “I’m the best part of your life. What have you even been doing without me?”

Gem blew a raspberry. “I have a very active social life outside of you, I’ll have you know.”

“Yeah, okay. Ow!” This time, Gem caught Toni’s hand with a tarsal claw, and Toni carefully slipped a pinkie finger under the curved keratin, lifting them free of his skin. “Be nice. I cooked for you.”

“Stop being a dick, and I’ll be nice.”

“Okay, okay. For real, what’ve you been up to?”

Picking at his chipped nail polish, Gem shrugged. “Getting, like, so much dick it’s unreal.”

Toni threw his head back with a laugh. “That’s my boy.”

“Actually,” Gem sobered some, fang catching his lower lip and dimpling it. “I’ve been—and you can’t be judgy, okay?”

“Judgy? Me?” Toni pressed a hand to his chest, aghast at such an accusation. “I’m never judgy.”

“You’re always judgy,” Gem said as Toni’s phone pinged.

He lifted his ass to wiggle his phone out of his pocket as he said, “Okay, I won’t be judgy.”

“You promise?”

Toni glanced down at his phone as another text appeared, both of them from Jude. He couldn’t stop his grin as he unlocked his screen.

Remind me why I signed up for this course again?

This final paper is making me wanna pull my hair out.

“Toni?”

Toni glanced up from his phone. “Yeah?”

Gem’s smile had dimmed marginally. “Don’t you want to know my secrets?”

“I very much want to know your secrets,” Toni said as he typed out a response to Jude.

Please don’t pull your hair out. I happen to like your curls attached to your scalp.

Setting his phone screen-down on his thigh, he gave Gem his undivided attention. “Sorry. Your secrets?”

“Well,” Gem said, scratching harder on his thumbnail, “I’ve actually been hanging out with—”

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