Into the Smallest Room

J glares at the small room he has yet to be able to get into. He's managed to get into every room, big and small, in this whole place. Even managed to get out of the door that leads to the biggest door—though it makes their human very worried; and there are too much open for him to personally. Jay says it is better for their mission if they stayed with their human. But this small room hasn't let him inside yet. J knows one can get inside. He's seen the human take the tiny mouse out of the box and then back in. He's watched from the corner of their eyes as the human opened a latch and sprinkled seeds and grain into the fluff and the mouse peaks out and drags each morsel to the bottom.

Their human was fattening it up for the day Jay allowed J to finally get his treasure. But it was hard; their human was always there in peak hunting hours. The mouse was usually in its burrow when their human was away during the height of the sun.

Until today. Their human didn't go to their resting-nest; instead, staying in the day-time nest. A bright light speaking to them about many things that didn't concern neither Jay nor J.

"Please? It is far later, they have not gone to their resting nest. They are waiting for us to present our skills, are they not?" J swatted at a fake mouse, glaring at the real one as it make its way from the depths of its burrow to tease them in the glass room.

"Perhaps." Jay used their tongue to groom down their fur.

"And the mouse is getting old. It might die before we've been able to prove we can kill it." The moon full from the window, illuminating the room they have yet to get into.

"And the mouse is getting old. Has been here longer than we have, and our human has been getting worried about its age." Jay walked them back to the day-time room and saw that their human has only moved in position, laying with the glowing screen on their chest, not even giving them a moment of attention. Hasn't in a while, not since the sun set. "It is time."

"YES!" J lets out a happy yowl. This does get their human's attention. A tongue clicks and the twist of an out stretched palm, once, twice, thrice. Jay likes that this human asks for permission to pet—doesn't like it when their human ignores the clear dismissal and goes for it anyway. Scratches of all stages of healing litter arms as consequence that never seems to be learned from. Jay didn't want to be followed to the mouse—which would certainly ruin the plans. He forces them to the human; much to J's protests.

"Being such a sweet boy, JayJ." Humans can't purr, but theirs did the best they could with what they had. Their paws, long and ugly as they were, did an excellent job at digging into those spots in such a way that had both of the cat(s) almost forgetting the mission for tonight. It wasn't until the human decided to move again, changing the position that they lay that pulled Jay and J out of their pleasure. It was easy to ignore their saddened human, fore they had a surprise to carry out

The mouse had yet to return to its tunnels. A perfect time for J to pounced upon the top. It's grating only allowing for the sharpest tips of their claws to penetrate into the room. J went to the little latch, separated just-so from the rest.

"Like we've been practicing." Jay starts the movement. Claws and paws working in tandem.

J takes control. He kneads and kneads with more and more strength. The small door opens. It's smaller than they should be able to fit. However, they were a cat so size meant little to them. Even if they looked a bit full—there being two of them in here. That didn't mean they didn't know their own dimensions—all twenty-seven of them.

Shivering with anticipation, J trained his eyes onto the treasure. The mouse squeaked, fleeing in fear. His burrow was much shallower than J and Jay had thought. It didn't actually go deeper than the floor the room sat on. The mouse was between his fangs in moment, hanging limp.

"Now what?" J asked.

"We present it to the human."

"We don't eat it?"

"Why would we eat it when the human has filled our bowl?" Jay looks over to the bowl. They've already had their fill, and still it sits for them to eat more as they wish.

"So we're giving it to the human? But we did all the hard work."

"Yes. How will the human know what we did if we do not show them? They have been helping us train for this moment have they not?" Jay kicks the fake mouse.

"But why?" J whines.

Jay lets out a deep sigh. He wonders if he was this petulant during his first life as J is now. He'd have to apologize to his own mentor once he was able to retire into his tenth life. While they walked the short path back into the day-time nest, Jay explains:

"Humans may do a lot for us cats, if it is a human that does things for cats, because not all humans will do things for a cat." J rolls his eyes at the older cat, having heard this lecture before. How J was lucky for his first life to have taken a turn from the hardships of an unwanted barn cat to the lavish lap of being owned. "They are very bad at being cats. So we, as cats, must help provide cat-ly for them."

"Cat-ly?"

"The cat things humans don't do."

"Like grooming them?"

"Exactly. Catching the mouse is cat-ly." Jay nodded as they arrived back to their human.

Jay lets J drop the mouse onto the floor and sit them down with pride. Their tail swaying and chest out in a preen. Their human doesn't move for a while. When they do, they walk past with out a glance (let alone a reward of pets and smooches.)

"Smooches are gross." J always complains, but Jay knows the kit will learn to love them as he's done himself. Might take a few lives though.

As their human falls asleep, the other human wakes up. He stumbles over the mouse-treasure and looks at it. He gives them a face as he leaves out the door to the largest room. Jay and J know not to expect him back for a long time. That largest room usually takes a while to get back from.

The sun rises and rises and still their human doesn't come back out of the resting-nest.

J starts to get worried, eyeing the fallen mouse, his treasure, his prize, yet to be acknowledged by the one he wants. (The other human, while they tolerate is not their human and means nothing to either Jay or J—though they couldn't let their human know of how much they liked them more than the other one. Though Jay suspected their human knew, on account of J only ever wanting to sleep in their resting nest and not the others.)

Jay on the other hand, knows humans need a certain amount of sleep and like to take it all at once. He has tried many times to explain this to his protege—who likes to take it upon himself to awake the human when he pleases with a sharp nip to their odd-looking nose.

"Do you think the little room had other treasures for us?" J asks after one of their mid-morning naps. Their food bowl was starting to be empty, Jay could see the bottom through the kibble, and he'd not have that at all.

"Maybe so." Jay nodded and they went back into the resting-nest. J hopped them back onto the top of the tiny room and began kneading the tiny door until it opened again. As soon as their tail slipped into the tiny room, the top was ripped off.

Their human kept them in a hold, one not meant to cuddle but to contain. Feet walk heavier than usual all the way to a door next to the door-to-the-largest-room. Jay and J meow as they pass their treasure-mouse, and meow again as they past it again. The second time their human looks at their present.

Instead of a comfier hold and pets or the rare crack of a tuna-treat; Jay and J are unceremoniously dropped to the floor (landing on their feet of course).

"Thank you, JayJ." It's said in long, weighty sigh.

"You are welcome." J preens.