(Part 2)

The Human burst in the apartment. Toast couldn’t help herself, and fell into the routine of frantic joy, barley stopping herself from bowling him over.

The Human fell right in line. “Oh, hi Toast! I’m ho-ome! Did you miss me? Did you miss me girl?”

Mittens rolled his eyes. The Human—Darren—was doing that absolutely pathetic thing where he changed his voice to muddle the syllables and vowels to make it sound like he was talking to an infant.

To his credit, nothing much had changed in his routine. He was giving Toast the absolute requisite amount of belly rubs and head kisses and ear scrunchies. So Mittens hopped down and cautiously wound his way through the legs.

Darren responded immediately—correctly.

“Aw, hey buddy. I missed you, too, Mittens.” Chinny scritches. Oh, yeah, that was it.

But then he stopped, and walked over to the counter with the axoltol. But he…beckoned to them, as well.

“Ok, guys. This is Enrique, he’s an axolotl. And he’s going to be living with us, now.”

Well, that certainly sounded inclusive to Mittens. But it wasn’t exhaustive of assurances.

Toast slumped again. Mittens let his tail flick and his ears twitch.

Darren paused. He looked confused. “Buddies, did you—did you think I was replacing you?”

Toast thumped down, letting out a small whine. Mittens stood up and walked away.

“Oh, babies!” Darren continued. “I could never replace you! You’re my buddies!”

He knelt down next to Toast, giving her more head scratches. Her tail begin to reluctantly wag.

Mittens didn’t believe for a minute this human knew what he wanted. But when Darren reached out to give him head pats, he resigned himself to accepting that the Human would at least let them stay for the foreseeable future. And maybe he could live with that. Maybe it wasn’t so bad.

Darren stood up, and took down the food containers. Mittens had been so preoccupied, he’d forgotten it was dinner. And if the Human remembered without being reminded every minute, maybe it really would be alright.

Darren paused as he encountered the open book. Then he made a joke. “Looks like someone was doing a little research on their new brother.” He grinned and rolled his eyes. Enrique put a hand on the glass.

Darren placed the dishes of food before them and continued about his own routine, muttering under his breath. “Ha! Reading. Must’ve left it open by accident.”

He would never know.

And that was incredible, really: to spend so much time with someone and never really know what they were thinking. But for now, all that Mittens could consider was dinner.