Work Text:
“Hey, Hobbes,” Nate said. Jason didn’t look up from his iPhone. He was sitting on their enclosed porch, a cigarette between two fingers of one hand, his iPhone in the other.
“Hey, Hobbes,” a higher pitched voice repeated. It didn’t sound too much like Nate, but Jason was engrossed in Angry Birds.
“I’m coming out, Hobbes,” Nate said.
“I’m coming out, Hobbes,” the higher, strange voice repeated.
Jason finally looked up, pulled out of his focus and confused. Nate’s iPhone was held through the doorway, the rest of his lover was still in the house. “What?” Jason asked.
“What?” the high pitched voice said faintly.
“I said, I’m coming out, Hobbes,” Nate replied and Jason could hear him snickering.
“I said, I’m coming out, Hobbes,” that strange voice said again. Jason saw that there was a cat on Nate’s phone, and it was speaking, repeating what Nate said.
“What the hell is that?” Jason asked, sitting straighter in his chair, trying to see better.
“What the hell is that?” the cat echoed.
Nate finally came all the way outside, laughing. “I got this today while I was at the mountain,” he told Jason as he sat in his chair across the table.
“I got this today while I was at the mountain,” the cat repeated.
Jason stared at it. “What is it?”
“What is it?”
“It’s called the Tom Cat Talker. It’s free in the app store.” Nate told him.
The cat repeated it. It sounded a little like Alvin and the Chipmunks when it spoke. Nate laughed, and then the cat repeated the laugh, and Jason couldn’t help but express his own amusement. The thing was absolutely ridiculous but even better than the app itself was Nate’s obvious glee with it.
Jason popped the caps off two bottles of beer and gave Nate a cigarette as he poked at the cat. The cat suddenly made a noise, slightly tinny over the iPhone speakers. Jason gave Nate a questioning look. “I slapped it,” Nate laughed.
“I slapped it,” the cat repeated, laughing.
“You’re a nutbar,” Jason chuckled.
“You’re a nutbar.”
“God, turn that thing off,” Jason’s chuckle had turned into a full blown laugh. “It’s terrible and I can’t have any sort of conversation with you when it’s repeating things.”
The cat got halfway through what Jason had said before it stopped, seemingly overloaded by the amount of words.
“We’ll have to use that on our drunk night this weekend,” Jason added.
“We’ll have to use that on our drunk night this weekend,” the cat repeated.
“We’ll get Damien, Laura, Wes, and David all over and not tell them about it first,” Nate added, turning off the app.
“Just make sure no one has a mouthful of alcohol when you first set it off,” Jason laughed. “I’m not interested in cleaning up vodka and Pepsi spray from the wall. Again.”
“Hey, that was your fault last time,” Nate reminded him. “I had nothing to do with it.”
“Sure, whatever, well I’m warning you now, if anyone sprays, you’re cleaning it up.” Jason smiled fondly and took a drag off his smoke.