"That's disgusting!" Arron growled.

He couldn't believe that Rylan had seriously ground up peas into the sauce he'd made. No wonder it had a funny after taste. Arron had just too hungry to question it at the time, but now that he knew, he was quite unhappy.

The look on Rylan's face, while obviously trying to remain perfectly serious and still slightly annoyed, was totally showing just how much he'd loved his stupid little prank.

With a disgusted grumble, Arron headed for the kitchen after tugging on a pair of shorts that had been folded on top of a small stack of clean laundry in a basket by the laundry room. He yanked open the fridge, intent on finding something to get the nasty aftertaste out of his mouth, but what he saw there was honestly surprising.

"A birthday cake?" He said to himself as he stared at it.

His birthday was in two days, but everyone had been so busy and he honestly hadn't thought that they even liked him enough to consider celebrating. The writing on top of the dessert proved him wrong, though.

Happy birthday, Arron. Welcome to the Leo family.

His heart skipped a beat as he read those words over and over again. He was so focused on the dark chocolate fudge cake that he hadn't even noticed Rylan leaning over his shoulder until he opened his mouth to lick his lips.

"That's a good idea, Spots."

Arron turned his head slightly, his nose brushing against Rylan's for a brief second before whispering.

"Huh?"

Rylan decided not to answer him with words and instead leaned forward into the fridge, pushing against Arron's back enough to make him lean over. Even with the chill from the refrigerator, he could feel his face heating up.

"Wait, what are you doing? That's for my birthday." He said, confused as to why Rylan was taking it.

He evidently didn't hear him, or more than likely, didn't care, because he was already walking over to the counter and setting it down so that he could get the plastic lid off. Arron quickly ran over, trying to press the large plastic top back on to keep him from eating it.

"Oh chill, Spots. I'm just gonna have one piece. There will be plenty left for your birthday."

Arron nudged himself between Rylan and the counter before wrapping his arms around the big cake. He half expected Rylan to tease him by pressing him against the counter or something perverted like that, but when his fingers tickled beneath his armpits Arron yelped, trying to get away as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he moved so quickly and abruptly that he accidentally took the cake with him. The lid came off and dropped to the floor right away, but the cake, and their faces, weren't as lucky.

It got Arron first, splattering frosting and chocolate fudge all over his face and hair. The cake was big enough, though, to easily get Rylan, too. He was evidently about to duck, but just wasn't fast enough as Arron heard him growl from the impact and saw him swipe at his face, then shake his head like an annoyed cat.

At first, Arron supposed that it was a bit funny, but when he turned and looked down at the mess of his birthday cake on the floor, he couldn't help but sniffle once.

Rylan was still trying to get the smeared icing off of his face when he heard him.

"Spots?"

Arron pursed his lips and took a deep breath, then looked up. He didn't want to make him mad by ignoring him, but he was pretty upset. That cake had looked delicious, and it had meant so much to him. He'd wanted to enjoy it with his temporary family, but now it would have to be cleaned up and he would probably have to apologize for causing another problem for Jordan.

"Hey, hey. It's okay, it's just a cake. I'll get you another one, Spots." Rylan said as he reached forward and wrapped his arms around Arron. It was a little awkward, but the gesture was appreciated.

He closed his eyes and sighed out his stress from the situation, and was just about to open them again when he felt a wet tongue run along his cheek.

"Gross!"

Giving an annoyed growl, he shoved Rylan back, but when he smirked and licked his lips, Arron knew that he was in trouble.

"You taste good, Spots."

Before he could even think about talking Rylan out of what he was about to do, Arron was pounced at. Thankfully, his cheetah had a very overactive instincts button and overreacted to almost everything. The second Rylan lunged, Arron was bolting out of the kitchen. He could definitely hear the guy hot on his heels, though.

They ran toward the stairs, but Arron only made it halfway up when he felt a heavy weight on his back and dropped to the carpeted steps with a grunt.

Rylan's tongue started lapping at his face immediately.

"Rylan, stop!" Arron groaned as he turned his head from side to side, trying to keep his tongue off of his face. He wasn't sure why Rylan was being excessively attentive toward cleaning his face all of a sudden, but he was sure that he didn't want to get in trouble when Jordan came home to see cake all over his kitchen floor.

After a minute he was able to squirm his way free from under the crazy lion shifter and run up the rest of the stairs. Maybe I can lock myself in my room before he can catch me. With that in mind, Arron bolted down the hall, only to face-plant a few feet from his door. This time he was flipped and promptly licked from chin to forehead.

"Rylan, what the heck are you doing?" Arron yelled.

His response was to lean over a bit more and bite at his ear.

"Hey!"

Arron swatted at him again, but this time he jumped back into a squat, panting quietly as he waited for him to move.

What are doing you strange cat?

Well, he wasn't going to pass up the chance to get away from him, so he quickly jumped up, only to be tackled the second he started trying to run.

"Aw, come on! What do you want?" Arron growled, frustrated.

Arron glared over his shoulder at Rylan, who didn't seem to care that he was getting more upset. In fact, he was much more interested in biting at his ear again.

"Stop that!"

He stopped for a second, then nipped his nose, then his other ear before yanking on it.

"Okay, you're being an ass." Arron hissed as he shoved him back and tackled him, biting his ear hard.

See how you like it!

Evidently he didn't mind it, because he tossed Arron off, only to tackle him again. He then ran toward Arron's room and dropped to his hands and knees with a growl. Arron wasn't too sure what was going on, but when he started backing up, Rylan began stalking forward. He definitely didn't look aggressive, so maybe this was playing?

He seems a little out of it, though.

It was hard to think that Rylan would play with anyone, let alone him. When Rylan tackled him again and Arron bit him lightly without any repercussions, he decided that they were indeed playing.

He'd never really played much. His parents had always been busy and his teachers at school hadn't let him play with the bigger kids because his shift was so small. He guessed that he could try since Rylan was, for some reason, making an effort to initiate.

Getting down on his own hands and knees, Arron gave a hesitant growl, hoping that Rylan wouldn't get mad at him for possibly challenging him. He spent most of his life submitting to bigger kids, so he knew that growling would usually land him on his back. When Rylan growled right back and started running after him, he yelped and bolted toward the stairs.

Rylan caught him by the sofa in the living room and tackled him onto it, but the force had them both bouncing off and onto the floor. There they wrestled and nipped at each others' ears, noses, and just about anywhere else they could bite safely. None of the nips really hurt, so he was truly enjoying himself as they rolled around, then he jumped up and ran again, wanting to start another chase.

Arron never thought that being tackled by a lion would ever be joyful, but his instincts were finally taking a much-needed rest and allowing him to try playing with another predator.

They skidded around the table and Arron even jumped on it to dodge a particularly fast swipe. Thankfully, Jordan wasn't due home anytime soon. Half of their dinner was still on the floor, and the cake, too.

Arron was caught again in the kitchen and unintentionally slipped on some frosting and took a dive into a piece of cake that had flown away from the larger portion by the sink. After a quick shake, he darted away from Rylan just in time to keep from getting caught again and headed back upstairs.

He was aiming to run into his own room, but when he heard Rylan close behind him, he redirected to his room instead.

It only took Rylan a second to change his course and send Arron sailing onto his bed with a shove. He was atop him in nearly the same amount of time, resting his panting body on Arron's. They were both worn out, but Rylan still leaned down to slowly begin cleaning off the new cake Arron's face had acquired.

At first, Arron wanted to swat him away, but then he heard something that had him speechless.

I forgot that shifters could purr, and am shocked that I'm hearing it coming from Rylan.

Arron had thought that it was a growl at first, but now that he focused on the deep sound it was definitely purring. His cheetah chirped in his mind and instantly began humming right along through his human mouth.

After a minute, Rylan shifted his body a little and lifted his left hand. His pointer finger gently moved along Arron's cheek, then pressed against his lips as he smirked. Arron could see a small piece of cake and frosting there and looked up as he slowly parted his lips and swiped at it with his tongue.

The taste was pretty delicious. He was a little upset that he wouldn't be able to have more since it was on the kitchen floor, but when he met Rylan's eyes, he knew that he'd make it right. Hell, all that play from such a strict dominant lion... he had already made him feel so much better, and Arron hadn't even realized it till just now. Cheetah were meant to run, and he'd very much enjoyed playing around with Rylan.

"Someone likes being chased and pinned down. Do I sense some bondage tendencies in your future?" Rylan said, shattering the relaxing moment Arron had been having.

He shoved Rylan off to the side and got out of his bed, rolling his eyes as he walked out of the room to the sound of the guy's laughter.

"You better help me clean up the cake!" Arron yelled over his shoulder before heading downstairs to get started on the mess. Hopefully they could get it all taken care of before Jordan got home.