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You hummed to the tune of your favorite song as you prepared the last meal of the day. Just something simple to hold you over through the night. The kitchen was nice, warm and cozy thanks to the oven still being on. You had settled for oven-baked sandwiches with tuna, sliced tomatoes and cheese on top. One of your favorite meals since you were a kid. You glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost 8 pm. Freppa should be home soon from cat-sitting. In fact, he should have shown up already. You couldn't help but feel a little worried. What if something had happened? You were just considering going to get your phone and calling him when you heard a key being turned in the lock. Relieved, you hurried to greet Freppa and to welcome him back home. To your surprise, he wasn't alone. Behind him you could see Tommy and Määnin.
"Welcome home, bug!"
you said happily and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then you glanced at Freppa's friends.
"Are we having overnight guests?"
you inquired and earned a sheepish look from Freppa.
"I ran into them when I was about to start driving home and kind of told them that you're making sandwiches in the oven, so Tommy asked if they could tag along. I couldn't say no. I hope you're not mad."
"Of course not, friends are always welcome. Good thing that I made more sandwiches than I was at first going to,"
you said and touched Freppa's cheek. Then you turned to the other two and approached them in the narrow space right by the door. First you gave a hug to Määnin and then pulled Tommy in as well, making sure to hug him extra tightly. You could hear him mumble something, but his voice was so quiet that you couldn't make out the words. Regardless, his arms were also around your waist. He wouldn't even hug you back when you were only getting to know both him and Määnin. He'd simply stood still, awkwardly as you'd hugged him. He'd come a long way, it seemed.
You saw the smile on his face when you finally let go of him.
"Come on, you three. Food will be ready in just a bit,"
you announced as you turned to walk back into the kitchen. Once there, you set down two more plates, glasses and cutlery. The egg timer went off a few minutes later. You saw the way Tommy's eyes widened hungrily when you placed the baking tray down on the stove.
"Alright, everyone dig in. Self-service. Eat as much as you want,"
you encouraged the others. You let the guys plate up some sandwiches first, because all three of them seemed really hungry. In the meantime you took a jug of freshly made apple juice from the fridge and placed it down on the table.
"Did everything go okay?"
you asked Freppa as you finally took your own place at the table, next to Tommy.
"Yeah, just fine. Except that Linnea and Freja almost didn't let me leave even after their owners had come home,"
Freppa told you and took a sip of apple juice. You smiled at that.
"Those cats really love you. I can't blame them."
"One of them scratched me once.."
Tommy mumbled with his mouth full.
"I'm not even sure which one. But the cat sure didn't like me. And I didn't even do anything to her.."
The atmosphere in the kitchen was nice and homey. Tommy kept the conversation alive with ease. You were the first one to finish eating, so you excused yourself, placed your dishes in the sink and went to prepare the sofa-bed for Tommy and Määnin. As you worked, you heard the muffled voices from the kitchen and smiled happily to yourself. Right there you, once again, understood just how grateful you were that you had Freppa be part of your everyday life. Him, and his friends, too.
When you returned into the kitchen a while later, you saw that every last one of the sandwiches had disappeared from the baking tray. The last three were just about to be eaten, as well.
"Did you all have enough to eat?"
you made sure as you stopped behind Freppa's chair and placed your hands on his shoulders. All three men nodded, almost in unison.
"I made the sofa-bed to you two,"
you then announced, gesturing at Tommy and Määnin.
"You guys can watch TV or do whatever, as long as you don't make an awful lot of noise."
You winked at Tommy as you said that, making him blush and suddenly become very interested in his empty plate. You couldn't help but laugh softly at his embarrassment.
"Well, it's been a long day, so I'm going to head to the bedroom. Bug, I'll be seeing you in a bit,"
you said and let your fingers slowly brush against the back of Freppa's neck.
You were already comfortably under the covers with a book in hand by the time Freppa entered the bedroom.
"Did Tommy and Määnin settle down?"
you asked and looked at Freppa. He nodded.
"Tommy still seemed to be hungry, after all, so I gave them a bag of cookies from our stash,"
he told you with a snaggletoothed smile and got in bed next to you.
"They're watching TV and cuddling on the sofa-bed. It's good to see them like that. They've struggled so much with coming to terms with everything about themselves,"
he sighed and got comfortable, resting his head on your shoulder and eyeing the book you were reading. You nodded, agreeing with him.
"They're meant to be together.. Both in good and bad, even if they at times tear each other apart in the process.. Still, it's clear how much they mean to each other."
Both of you quieted down after that. You kept reading your book and Freppa did his best to follow along, looking down at the pages. He really tried his hardest to stay awake. But he was so tired and comfortable that he fell asleep in the first 15 minutes. You found it to be incredibly adorable, put away the book and placed a kiss on the tip of Freppa's nose. Then you turned out the light of the bedside lamp and snuggled close to him.
"Good night, bug,"
you whispered.