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John Silver had many many quirks. It didn’t take long for Flint to discover most of them. Especially at first, when they’d first started dating. For one, John liked his coffee almost cold. He’d make coffee before breakfast, place his mug on the table and then first eat his breakfast before finally downing his coffee. James, who liked his coffee scolding hot, had raised an eyebrow in question.“Isn’t that cold?” he’d asked. John had swallowed and shook his head.“No? Not entirely? I mean it’s not hot. I like it like this, this way I can drink it all at once and I don’t burn my mouth or tongue.”“But what about the taste?!”“What about it?”James had dropped it.—
Then there was the incident with the cat.John had just moved in with James. They both enjoyed this a lot, except for one thing. James spent most of his days at the office, at office hours. John, however, was a nurse at the local hospital and worked irregular hours, many which included the night shift. So while James was gone, John would stay at home alone and had become quite lonely during the day. Before he’d moved in, his own cat had passed away with age. He still missed Oreo a great deal. The thing is, James wasn’t truly a cat-person. He preferred dogs. While growing up his grandparents had had a Labrador and James had spent hours training him to do tricks. But James had gotten older, went away to college and then pursuit his career as a business man, and he found himself short in time in general. He decided against taking any pets, as it would only result in the poor things being lonely while he was away on business trips more often than not. John Silver did not agree. He wanted a cat. He had to have a cat. He brought it up a lot, at the most random places. It drove James insane.“We’re not buying a cat!”“But what about this one? Isn’t it cute?” At which moment John would press his phone in James’ face to show a picture of a kitten. They’d bicker about it for another half hour, before John dropped it.Which is why it never occurred to James that John would just go and buy a cat, until it was too late.They had been in bed. James was just finishing the chapter from the book he was reading, while John lay curled up on his side, his head resting on James’ chest and his phone just centimeters away from his face. It was peacefully quiet, until John decided to speak.“I’ve bought us a present.”James was immediately suspicious. He didn’t like surprises. John knew this, as James had once refused to go on a date with him until he told James what he had planned. It had been their first fight, but the date had been wonderful, once John had told him of his plans for the day.“What did you buy?” James squinted at John’s curls in suspicion.“Popcorn!” John answered, while tilting his head so that James could look him in the eyes. His smile was radiant.“Alright,” James said, a little less suspicious, and finished his chapter.--It didn't occur to James that John would mean anything other than, you know, actual popcorn. He once found his boyfriend at four AM, so in the middle of the fucking night, in front of the TV in the living room, bawling his eyes out watching some medical soap program and hysteriously pointing out all the medical errors the actors made, all the while munching angrily on some popcorn. He even flung some of the popcorn at the screen when one of the 'patients' died.
"He didn't have to die, you asshole! You just needed to follow protocol!"
He'd only noticed Flint when James had nearly died of laughing.This event happened regularly. Especially when John couldn't sleep, being kept up with worries from his work (he cared a lot about his patients, especially the younger ones), or when he decided to stay up for his night shift. He found it easier to just stay awake than to go to sleep first.Needless to say, John buying a lot of popcorn wasn't that unusual. He kept stacks of it. It baffled Flint that he never got sick of it. Silver, however, would even eat it for breakfast if it wouldn't horrify James so much and James wouldn't force-feed him some normal healthy stuff. --Popcorn, as it turned out, was a fucking cat. It was almost fully white, with a few light grey spots here and there. It was also rather small for a cat, and it had the most horrible meow in the entire universe. James loved it immediately. Not that he would ever admit it to John, but the smirk that John had had, told James he already knew.“I can’t believe you’ve named your cat Popcorn.”“Oh, shut up. It suits him fine.""You really love popcorn, don't you?""My love for it would never end."—They had been together for almost four years now, so John and his quirks shouldn’t surprise James anymore. That’s why the first words that left his mouth once he descended the stairs were;“What the fuck?”James had woken up a few minutes before and noticed that John’s side was already cold, which was odd. John had had a late shift the night before, so usually he slept in to catch up on sleep. So he’d gotten up and went downstairs to prevent John from making breakfast which would result in another kitchen burnt down. He was half anticipating the smell of burning to reach him, but what he saw instead he could never have prepared for.John lay sprawled out on the floor, stark naked. He had a distant look in his eye as he stared st the ceiling. His left hand rested on his stomach, while his right hand was rubbing the belly of Popcorn absently, as Popcorn lay on his back tightly against John’s thigh. At James’ exclamation, John tilted his head so that he could look at James.“Good morning,” he smiled. James stared.“What are you doing?” he asked, baffled. He’d seen John do many strange things before, but he’d never found his boyfriend lying naked on the floor in the morning sunlight that filtered through the windows. “I’m lying here on the floor,” John answered, innocently.“You shit, I can see that. But why?” James said exasperated. He really had to keep his muscles under control as he was very close to burst out laughing.“It helps me reflect. It calms me.” John smiled, but there was a little sadness as well. James walked towards him and sat next to his head, his legs cross-legged. His hand reached out to card through John’s curls, which lay fanned out on the floor. Now that he was closer, he could see the goosebumps covering his boyfriend’s skin. He must be cold.“Rough night?” He asked quietly. John sighed and nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?”“No, not yet. Later maybe. But thank you.” "No problem." James extracted his hand from John's hair and grabbed his hand. It was cold. "How long have you been here?""Half an hour, maybe? I don't mind, really, don't feel bad. It really is soothing, lying on the floor." John looked at him and smiled. "Come, lie next to me."James shifted so that he could lie down next to John. He scooted over until they were lying tightly against each other. He sighed deeply."Why do you do this?" he asked. To be fair, it really was quite soothing. Popcorn got up from next to Silver, walked over and snuffed at Flints hair. He sneezed and John snorted."This fucking cat," he laughed. Popcorn meowed in a dignified manner and stalked off. John sighed deeply and stared at the ceiling."It puts... things in perspective," he admitted. "It makes me feel small, lying here on the floor and suddenly all your furniture is like, fucking huge around you."James snorted. "I think your ridiculous," he said and smiled. John looked at him and rolled his eyes."Admit it, you find this relaxing as well.""No I don't.""Yes you do."The smug bastard. He could always see right through James.John stretched and James could hear how his back popped.“Ah, that’s better. Wanna get of the floor?” John got up and made a bee-line for the kitchen. James clambered up after him."What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously."I'm making breakfast," John replied cheeringly. Oh, fuck!“I’ve got it! You go take a shower, get warmed up." James forced his way beyond his boyfriend and proceeded to push John out of the kitchen to the stairs.“Are you sure?” John asked, but the gleam in his eye told James that he got James right where he wants him - making breakfast. James couldn’t suppress an eye roll and quickly slapped John on his ass.“Go. Shower. And wash your hair!”"Stay away from my ass!" John replied, sounding offended but there was an indulgent smile on his face. He turned to face James, and James took the opportunity to kiss him briefly, then slap him on the ass again. Just for good measure."Go, shoo!""Don't slap my ass!""Breakfast will be ready when you get down," James replied cheerily, ignoring his boyfriend's comments. "Also, you love it when I pay attention to your ass. Don't pretend that you don't!""Fuck you!""I love you too!"