Page 13 of Glitter

“Iknowyoudon’tlike people, Sir Cattus, but I need you to not be an asshole tonight when Blue comes over. Do you think you could do that for me?”

From the sunny spot in the spare bedroom that was the only place in the house to fully capture the last rays of the day, Sir Cattus lazily looked up at me and slowly blinked. A wide yawn followed that before he rolled over and promptly fell back asleep.

“Good talk,” I said, standing in the doorway with my arms crossed. Sometimes I didn’t even know why I bothered to chat with him.

I’d rushed home from work to check that Sir Cattus hadn’t gone on a random wild bender and undone all the cleaning I’d done ever since Blue had agreed on Tuesday to drop by tonight so I could see if my prep work would fit into his lunchbox.

Considering that it was Friday, Thomas had seemed pleasantly surprised that I’d hightailed it out of work right at five when everyone else finished up for the week instead of sticking around to all hours like I usually did. He’d been happy that I’d beenleaving earlier than him every night this week, but thankfully he hadn’t questioned me as to why.

All week, I’d been tinkering away on building a small glitter bomb that would fit inside Blue’s lunchbox, which sounded simple enough in theory, until I factored into account that it needed to be a comparable weight to at least one of his lunches so it wouldn’t immediately set off alarm bells to anyone picking the lunchbox up, and the blast radius of the glitter needed to have a narrow target window so it wouldn’t affect other people’s lunches or the overall fridge too badly if it was opened inside said fridge. Add in the fact that I also wanted to have a camera in there to record the culprit and their reaction to being bombed, and it was proving to be quite a challenging build.

I loved every minute of it.

Working on this project every night since I’d watched the video reminded me what I loved about engineering and why I went into the field in the first place. Sure, there were frustrations when something wouldn’t go my way, but every failure meant I was one step closer to my goal.

Plus, putting a bully in his rightful place was an added bonus. Blue deserved to be left alone, and if I could help make that happen a little more quickly, then I’d end up being happy, too.

After exchanging numbers on Tuesday, he’d been able to text me the measurements I needed for the build, but it wouldn’t be until I could properly fit the prototype into his physical lunchbox that I’d be sure if what I’d worked on would actually function in practice. There were always unseen variables in this type of build, which is why I’d requested he drop it off tonight after work so I could have the weekend to make sure it was fit to be rolled out in practice this coming Monday morning.

There was obviously no deadline that I had to hold to, but honestly, the sooner we deployed the glitter bomb, the better off both Blue and I would be. Blue, because Travis would hopefullynot only get off Blue’s back but also be officially warned, or better yet, let go from his role in Eckersley’s Institute. And me, because the longer the build would go on, the more I’d want to tinker with it and second guess myself.

The smell of my mom’s lasagna lingered in the air while I was fussing with all the electronics that I needed on the dining table when the doorbell rang. I hurried to the door and flung it open to find Blue poised to ring the bell again, his finger hovering in midair.

“Henry!” Dropping his hand, he beamed at me before holding his lunchbox out in front of him for me to take. “I have brought what you requested!”

Carefully taking it from him, I weighed it in one hand to take a guesstimate of what lay inside. I’d need to use a set of scales to get a proper record, but this would let my brain work in the background while I showed Blue around my home. I’d asked him to fill it up with his heaviest lunch so I could compare what I’d built to what he might typically be expected to carry.

Plus, we could add it to what I’d prepared us for dinner and have the meal act like a quasi-date.

Not that I was telling him that. As far as Blue was concerned, this was just a meeting of the minds over a shared meal while we nutted out how to take down a bad guy.

But wouldn’t it be wonderful if he thought the same as I did?

“Wow, something smells good,” he said, his nose twitching in the air before a slow grin emerged on his face. He looked at his lunchbox in my hands and bit his lip to stop himself from smiling more, though I didn’t know why.

“Come in,” I said, holding the door open for him and motioning him in with the hand that still held his lunchbox. “Let me show you around.”

He entered, then waited for me to give him a quick tour of the front section of the house, which was basically comprised of thecombined lounge and dining area with the kitchen immediately in front of the front door.

“The bedrooms and bathroom are down the hall,” I said, nodding in their direction as I wandered over to the dining table to place his lunchbox down, before turning around to wait for his reaction. I ran my hands through my hair, trying to tamp down the cowlick I knew would be sticking up like it always did. “And there’s a covered patio on the other side of this wall where I thought we could eat?”

Blue looked around at my humble little two-bedroom cottage, his eyes wide with wonder. “Henry, your home is gorgeous.”

Even as I felt my cheeks flush, I felt the tension drain from my shoulders, not realizing until that moment how much I needed him to say that he liked my house. It was only a small place, but it was home, and I wanted him to be comfortable here, even if it was only for a couple of hours. “Thank you.”

“And who’s this?” he cooed, crouching down in front of the hallway.

A vision of him on his knees in front of me, naked and looking up at me as he lapped at my cock, rushed through my head. I coughed to stop the pulse of arousal that worked its way quickly to my dick at the thought, then turned around to see my cat sauntering down the hall like the king that he was, which surprised the hell out of me considering he hated almost everyone and hid away for hours whenever I had visitors. “Ah… That’s Sir Cattus.” Astonished, I watched the cat in question sniff daintily at Blue’s outstretched fingers, then headbutt his hand looking for pets. “Sir Cattus Weatherington the Third, actually.”

Blue grinned. “There have been two Sir Cattus’s before this beauty?”

“No, he’s the only Sir Cattus I’ve ever shared my space with,” I admitted with a frown as I watched them both interact.

“Well, hello, Sir Cattus Weatherington the Third. Aren’t you a stunning creature?” Blue gently ran his hand over Sir Cattus’s head, scratching behind his ears. A loud purr vibrated through the room, letting everyone know how happy he was.

“What the fuck?” I muttered under my breath, blinking stupidly at the pair in front of me.

Blue raised his head to look at me quizzically, even though he was still patting my cat. “What’s up?”

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