"Alright, who is it?" 

Grim snapped out of his thoughts as he forced himself to sit up in his computer chair. 

"Your mom," Grim growled back as he tightened his grip on the little collar in his left hand. 

He had no doubt that his gamer friend, Ammo, rolled his eyes at his comment. 

"You couldn't handle her. Now stop evading my questions. You're so distracted you nearly died during our last match and we aren't even streaming yet." 

Grim scowled at the screen, then looked back at his partially open bedroom door. 

The hallway was dark, of course, and comfortably quiet... but not completely so. 

He could just-barely hear the softest remnants of a content, rumbling purr. 

It made his shift cower in his mind like the wimpy shit it was. 

"Are you even listening?" Ammo asked, making Grim huff out an annoyed breath and tap on the side of his headphones, muting himself as he stood up. 

A moment later he was walking back to Ian's room... for the second time in the past three hours. 

He never went in, but he did nudge the door open a tiny bit in order to check on the sleeping man. 

Still curled up. 

He wanted to go in and press his hands against the man's hips and legs until he extended them into a more logical sleeping position, but he knew better. 

Ian didn't belong to him. 

"Dude, are you even there anymore? Our next match teleport timed out because you didn't accept!" Ammo yelled into his headphones, making Grim sneer and quickly tug the door mostly closed again before returning to his room. 

Dropping back down into his chair, he grabbed his controller and accepted the second match request... that was about to time out again. 

The collar he still had in his left hand kept pressing against the controller as he had his character rampage across half the combat zone moments later, but he didn't feel like putting it down yet. 

When the match ended early with a congratulatory chime, Grim leaned back in his chair and reached up to unmute his headset mic. 

"You gonna be my partner for the stream?" he asked, wanting to know if he was going to have to go with some random or not. 

"Sure, I have time," Ammo replied, then added. "But seriously man, what's going on? You're never this quiet unless you have someone on your mind." 

Pursing his lips, Grim leaned back further and held up the collar still in his hand so that he could examine it for the hundredth time. 

"...Ren is here." 

Ammo was silent for a long stretch of time. 

"Ren... as in Renegade?" he asked in a quiet, stunned voice nearly two full minutes later. 

Grim turned the collar as he held it slightly over his head, allowing him to see the name he'd had engraved on the little metal heart plate. 

When he didn't respond, Ammo continued. 

"You don't mean your simp from online, do you? Grim? Answer me, man. What the hell is going on?" 

Grim licked his lips as his eyes narrowed on the name Ren carved on the little metal heart. 

"I wanna tie him to the bed..." Grim finally mumbled, more to himself than to his friend. 

His friend didn't seem as interested in his delusions. 

"Dude, that situation is dangerous! Why did you let someone who is obsessed with you into your house?!" 

Unbothered, Grim reached forward and turned on his streaming camera but didn't join the game chat yet, then ran his fingers through his damp hair, freshly-washed hair. 

"He's no threat. The guy's more submissive than that skank who was after you recently," he said honestly, making a face at the memory of the desperate shit that had tried to weasel her way into his friend's bed. 

Thankfully, his friend figured out that she was planning on forcing him to have kids, and also had several STI's she didn't want to disclose, even though she wanted to bareback with him. 

"Tch, she just pretended to be. Bitch nearly got me," Ammo grumbled as he turned his own camera on, showing a handsome face with brownish-red hair and caramel eyes. 

He was a looker, and a pretty nice dom, but tended to draw the bad lot in most of his relationships. 

"Well, Ren is different. Some dude was harassing him at work and shit got tense so I told him to come to me," Grim said, understanding that his words sounded a bit crazy, but he wasn't interested in lying. 

He already had when he'd told Ren that his stuffed opossum didn't have a name... or a collar. 

"And?" Ammo asked as they both got teleported to their official match together. 

"And he came to me at the gym... then I got him to calm down and rest before I took him out for some food. He's way too thin, so the least I could do was feed him. I could have sent him home afterward, but it was going to be at least an hour of travel and he was already starting to fall asleep again at the restaurant." 

He knew that he sounded pathetic. 

He'd told people in much worse condition to fuck off many times before after just meeting. The only difference between them and Ren was that Ren hadn't tried to suck up to him. He hadn't tried to offer anything, nor did he try to take charge of anything. 

"I can mold him into whatever I want," he said, voicing his thought out loud. 

 "Dude, you sound psychotic," Ammo scolded, though his words didn't hold much real force. 

Grim rolled his eyes. 

"You know that I would never force anything on anyone. I want my subs to want it, not to fear it," he said as he finally joined the voice chat for their streaming match. 

He ignored the MC as he got things started, deciding instead to continue his conversation with Ammo, even though everyone now watching their stream could hear every word. 

"It's too bad I'm not very interested in ass." 

He would just need to let Ren go come morning. The guy might tick a lot of his boxes when it came to what he wanted in a submissive partner, but the biggest issue was what was between his legs, unfortunately. 

Now that he thought about it, though, the guy did have a nice ass. He needed some more meat on him, but it did look pretty good. 

"Do you have a picture of him?" Ammo asked as they were teleported to the battlefield and began buffing up their characters with spells. 

Grim tugged out his phone and sent the guy the only picture he'd taken of Ren... while he'd been sleeping, cuddled up with his possum plush. He only ever shared stuff with him, and they knew that what the other sent them wasn't something to spread around.

Ammo replied a few moments later as their characters began running through the forest towards their enemies pillar. 

"Fuck dude, I think I just became bi." 

 "Shut up," Grim said as he nonchalantly dodged a sudden magical attack from his left, then parried a too-large weapon to send its wielder stumbling forward from the sudden redirection of its weight. 

Ammo stepped in with his tiny dwarf character and swiftly ended that opponent before they could recover. 

"No seriously, if you really aren't interested can I send him a private message?" Ammo asked, making Grim's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. 

"What are these two talking about?" the MC asked their audience, since neither of them seemed to be paying him any mind at all. 

Grim could hear the chat blowing up as they continued to stomp their opponents, but as Ammo nudged him again and again about Ren, he decided to turn the tables and ended up getting the other man killed on their second pillar attempt. 

"Dammit Grim, I'm being serious," Ammo grumbled as he waited on his respawn timer. 

He was long-since used to Grim's antics of getting his own teammates killed, so he didn't take it to heart, but he was clearly getting annoyed with his lack of response concerning Ren. 

Grim was about to tell him to fuck off for the fourth time when he heard something that had his inner animal screaming in terror. 

Purring? 

It was growing in volume rather quickly, drawing his attention over his shoulder and to his bedroom door just in time to see a medium-sized cat walk into view. 

A bobcat? 

They stared at each other for several moments as the cat's ears and tail flicked here and there. 

"Go back to bed," he eventually told it, not needing a distraction right now. 

His inner animal was already making him fidgety with the cat there, he didn't need to have a full-blown panic attack because of the worthless shit's overreaction. 

Unfortunately, the cat listened about as well as, well, a cat. Soon it was stalking towards his chair, purring louder and louder as it approached. 

Grim's hands began to shake as they tightened their grip on his controller and he returned his attention to the game, trying to distract his other half. 

Hell, it was more his one-eighth at this point. He hadn't let it out in months, but for good reason. No matter what he did or how quiet it was, the stupid thing would just freak out and play dead for hours until he finally managed to wrest control back from it. 

It was even terrified of everything when still safely inside his human body!

He snapped out of his stressful thoughts as he felt the cat rub the side of its face against his left knee, purring even louder than it had been. 

"Did you get a cat?" Ammo asked at the same time the MC questioned the same thing, clearly hearing it through his mic. 

Everyone knew that he hated animals... mainly because his inner one was an absolute pussy. 

"Shut up," he growled again as they started attacking the enemy's pillar. 

He was doing his best to ignore the attentive feline, but nearly dropped his controller when the thing leaped right up onto his fucking lap seconds later!

Ammo had to quickly change tactics to guard him in response, sending bursts of strong magic at their approaching enemies as Grim froze, his eyes narrowing into slits and his jaw clenching from the cat's sudden proximity. 

It even went as far as to settle against his chest, a paw on either shoulder, as it rubbed the left side of its face against his left cheek, purring and flicking its ears and whiskers. 

"That's so adorable..." the MC cooed, completely forgetting to do his job as he simply watched the big cat nearly give Grim a heart attack!

Grim, on the other hand, was wrestling with his inner worthless shit, trying to keep it from shifting and playing dead to save them from the evil cat.

He managed to regain enough control to mash a bunch of buttons on his controller a few moments later, sending a wall of magic over Ammo's shoulder at their opponents, obliterating their healer and sending their damage dealer running for the hills, his armor on fire!

"Fucking hell!" Grim snarled as he threw set his character to automatically attack the pillar, then muted his microphone and threw his controller on his desk, then turned his head to glare daggers at the cat still vying for his attention. 

It seemed to notice that it finally had it now, too, because it leaned back a little so that their eyes could meet. It's big paws also began to knead the fabric of his shirt into little wrinkles.   

"Ian, get down, now!" he hissed, literally five seconds away from grabbing the vibrating sack of fur and throwing it off himself. 

The cat seemed to understand that it had made him upset and slowly leaned back a bit more in order to sit comfortably on his lap, but it didn't show any actual indication that Ian was the one in control... or it would have listened right away. 

He was honestly about to just shove the damn thing down when he realized something and glanced at his screen. 

Their opponents were still busy, with one respawning and the other being chased down by Ammo, but that wasn't what stole his attention. 

Reaching forward slightly, he grabbed his mouse and clicked onto his profile screen, then furrowed his brow. 

I don't normally make that much money unless it's my match day...

Scrolling down, he read through one comment, then another, then another... 

The fuck is going on? 

QuintessentialApplesauce: 20$ for the kitty giving Grim a hard time! 

HornyMommy: Who is the cat?! You guys know Grim isn't keeping a cat of all things!!! 10$ for an answer, Grimmy! 50$ if you say it's your Renegade baby!

HonkHonk: Donated 10$ to Grim's pussy. 

Reaching up, he tapped his mic back on, since it had to be on for the majority of a match in order for him to get his streaming credit. 

"Let's just finish this shit," he told Ammo as he leaned forward alittle more and grabbed his controller, flinching slightly when the cat resettled its paws, and claws, against his left shoulder in order to hold on and not fall backwards. 

It took all of his focus and effort not to try and push the cat away as he settled back in his chair, but he managed, and allowed it to curl up a little against his chest as he reclined and began honestly wailing away at their enemy's pillar. 

It was already at half health, but Ammo wasn't with him, making the task far more tedious. Not to mention that he'd just been auto attacking instead of using any of his good spells or abilities on it. 

"You guys know that I hate cats, but I'll let this little shit hang out if you make it worth my while," he goaded, not bothered in the least that he was using Ian to make more money. 

If his cat wanted to force its way into his space during a match, then so be it. 

He heard his donation chime constantly ring after he finished speaking, making him smirk and lift his left hand to pat the cat between its twitching ears. 

At least he's soft. 

There was also a ton of fur, so he could barely feel the cats actual head beneath his fingers. 

He didn't like petting bones, whether it was on a person or an animal, though he much preferred petting people over any kind of other living thing... thanks to his shift. 

It was still running around screaming about the feline now holding them down, just waiting to bite their throat and suffocate them in blood, but thankfully it had retreated a good ways into his mind, allowing him to at least not pass out from stress. 

Ammo rejoined him a minute later and, while keeping their enemies at bay, they managed to topple their pillar with plenty of time to spare. 

When all was said and done, he'd made nearly twice the amount of money his normal late night stream did, earning Ian's cat another pat on the head. 

Huh?

Glancing in his game screen as it went black for a moment after they were teleported out of the arena, Grim realized something that finally had his inner animal calming down slightly as he saw his and Ian's image reflected at him. 

It fell asleep?

Ian's cat was contently settled against him, purring with its head resting against his left shoulder. 

His donation chime continued to go off. 

"So then, Grim and Ammo!" the MC began, making Grim want to mute him.

Too bad he had to do an after-match interview. At least this one wasn't going to be one on one. 

Thankfully, his headphones didn't allow much sound to escape,  so Ian's cat remained fast asleep, even with the MC's loud enthusiasm blowing up his ears. 

"I think we all know what my first question is going to be," the man said, making Grim roll his eyes. 

"I'm not telling you guys who it is. They are a guest who's shift evidently woke up and walked into my room. They don't seem to respond to me so it's probably just their cat wanting attention while the human part is still asleep," he answered truthfully. 

Thankfully, Ammo understood that he wanted to be discreet and played along perfectly. 

"Just a friend staying with him for the evening," he confirmed, taking over the conversation no matter how many times the MC tried to bring it back to the bobcat fast asleep against Grim's chest. 

By the time they finished it was close to two in the morning. That didn't stop Ammo from rejoining their private chat and immediately questioning him, though. 

"How can you not fall in love with someone who likes you so much that even their cat subconsciously goes to you?" he chastised, now singing a very different tune from his original cautious warning earlier. 

"Let me know what you plan to do, okay? I really am serious. I'll totally talk to him about a possible relationship if you aren't interested. He's cute as heck and is an amazing Infinity player, too."

Grim bit back a scowl and silently sighed. 

"I'm gonna send him home tomorrow... do what you want after that." 

Grim left the chat, not waiting for his friend to respond again.

He was annoyed, but there wasn't anything he intended to do about it. Ian was a guy, and a cat. It wasn't going to work. 

With a bit of effort, he hefted the big cat up, along with himself, and got the lights turn out. Then set the sleepy thing down on the floor so that he could go to the bathroom. 

When he finished relieving himself, he realized that there were eyes on him and glared toward the cat now sitting in the bathroom doorway. 

"Like the view, ya furry pervert?" he asked it as he tucked himself back into the shorts he'd changed into earlier, then went to wash his hands. 

He heard the sleepy little beast purr in response, making him roll his eyes even as a smile snuck onto his lips. 

"Well too bad," he said as he dried his hands on a towel, then turned off the light and walked back into his room. 

Soon he was situated in bed, stretching out comfortably beneath his thin blanket. To his surprise, Ian's cat hadn't joined him. Instead, it had stopped near his computer chair, seemingly watching him in the darkness but unwilling to move closer. 

It ended up slowly circling his gaming chair then, to his surprise, hopping up into it and curling up.

His shift immediately gave a dramatic sigh of relief as it settled down for bed, but for some reason, as Grim began drifting off to sleep, he found that he wasn't nearly as happy about their sleeping arrangements as his other half was.