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Leo settled in for the night, which meant that he turned onto his side and pulled the covers over his head. Originally he did it to block out Missy and by extension the television but he found it made the bed cohabitation a lot more tolerable in general. It was even comfortable to a degree. Good thing it was getting cold outside otherwise he’d have been sweating horribly. “Hey,” a voice interrupted his thoughts, ripping him from sleep’s grasp.

“What is it, Missy?” Leo asked, annoyed.

“You wanna do something before bed?” she asked.

“No, I’m in bed, I want to sleep.” He flipped onto his side. “Turn that thing off when you’re done.”

“C’mon, don’t you want to watch a movie before bed? When’s the last time you even saw a movie, huh?”

Leo might’ve been upset about that loaded question were it not for the fact that he wasn’t actually sure. “I’d just fall asleep anyways.”

“Not if it’s a good one. I know you watch like, movies from before they invented color or whatever.”

Leo sat up, emerging out from the sheets. “And how do you know that?”

“You’ve got boxes full of old DVDs.”

“Didn’t I tell you not to rummage through my stuff?”

“Well, yeah, this was... before that.”

“Uhuh.” He blinked and looked at the television. Like usual, some utter nonsense was playing out on the television, rife with action and death. “You’re just gonna watch a movie anyways.”

“Yeah, but I thought we’d shake it up. Chat? You know, like people that share a bed would.”

“We’re not regular people that share a bed.” Leo’s eyes narrowed. “We shouldn’t be doing it at all, but here we are thanks to my stupidity.”

Missy crossed her arms. “Isn’t it nice to have a warm body next to you?” she said all too seriously.

“Was that a joke?”

“Forget it. All I was thinking was we could have some fun for once.”

“I think we have two very different ideas of fun.”

“Hey, I did your chicken butchering, you sure thought that was fun. How about we do something that I think is fun for once?”

“I might gain a pound or two.”

Missy frowned. “You don’t have to be a dick about this too.”

“Alright, fine,” Leo said, rolling his eyes. “Next weekend we’ll watch a movie, OK?” Wait, when was that? Today was... Friday, ugh. He rubbed his eyes. Too late to go back now.

“You promise?” Missy asked, instantly brightening up.

“Yes, I promise.”

“Maybe I should get it in writing, just to make sure.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

“I’ll find us a good movie, don’t you worry.” Missy patted him on his bare arm, much to his discomfort.

“Are we done here? Can I go to sleep now?”

“Sure, sure.” Missy waved her hand at him and turned off the television. “Go on to sleep,” she said with an obvious smile in her voice. In the pitch black darkness all he could make out was her reflective eyes. She was weak, but she still had her unsettling moments.

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” Leo decided not to ask what sort of ridiculous theater presentation she had in mind for the event. He turned away from her and closed his eyes. “You like popcorn, right?”

“I bought it, haven’t I?”

“Just checking.” There was a pause. “Do we have any snacks for it?”

“Missy,” he started, keeping himself on a leash, “think about that in the morning, OK? Preferably to yourself.”

“OK, OK, I’m just so excited! It’s been a long time since I had a movie night.”

Leo decided not to interject with the observation that every single night for her was a movie night. Instead he let her last words hang in the air and he happily fell asleep. As happily as he could have, anyways.

_

Leo awoke up a little earlier than usual, having torn himself from a dream about being in one of those iron maiden devices. He reached out to shut off the alarm on his phone, and once he did, the nightmare came right back. He looked down to see Missy’s arm wrapped around him and tucked under his side. Figures. Leo eased back onto the bed gently so as to not slice himself on her daggers. He glanced back at Missy to make sure she wasn’t smiling. She seemed to be completely out. No sneer or devilish smile to torture him with. He gave her offending hand a tug, hoping she would adjust and slip away. Instead, she did the opposite, worming her way further underneath him and bringing him closer. Her snout dug into his back, causing him to flinch.

As much as Leo didn’t want to wake Missy, it seemed as though he had no option. “Missy,” he said softly, not wanting to jerk her awake and turn him into sliced cheese. No movement. “Missy.” She twitched. “Missy!” he hissed.

“Hmm?” she hummed. She took a deep breath and stretched her legs. “Shouldn’t you be at work?” she mumbled.

“Even if I should, I can’t move.”

“That sounds like a you problem, Lion,” she cooed.

“You’re holding me in place!” Her arm wriggled in response, sending uneasy chills up his spine. “Yes, that one, good work. Can you move it, please?”

“Just a second,” she said, huffing into his back.

“I need to get started on the day and you’re really not helping.”

“Oh yeah? To do what? Bang on pipes? Clean the walls?”

She was lucky she was half asleep, otherwise he’d have yelled her ears off. “I don’t have time for this, just move.”

Missy loudly yawned and smacked her lips. “OK, sorry, let me just—” she loudly strained “—move.” She pulled her arm free and rolled away. “Have fun.”

“Thank you,” Leo said with a shake of the head. He got up an worked out some kinks in his back. No doubt laying on a bony arm didn’t exactly help his spine. Missy loudly gasp. “What? What is it now?”

“Oh fuck! I’m sorry! I didn’t— Just— Just stay right there I’ll get something for it!”

“What?” Leo replied. He turned to look back at Missy but she had already bolted out of the bed.

“Shit!” There was some fumbling in the bathroom. “I didn’t mean it!” Leo furrowed his brow and glanced around the room. It wasn’t in any worse condition than it was last night. His eyes flicked to where he had laid on the bed, quickly spotting a small spatter of red on the sheets. Huh? Leo looked down and found the source, a small cut on his side. Even after noticing it, it didn’t hurt. Missy burst back into the room, crushing a box of bandages and shakily holding one out. “Sorry! Sorry!” She dropped the box. Leo reached down and snatched it up, and in the process, grabbed her wrist.

“Easy. It’s just a small scratch.” Missy stared daggers into the wound. “Thanks for the band-aid.” Although it was your fault.

“Sorry!”

“I accept your apology, so hush.” He took the bandage from her hand and released her wrist. “Be careful with your knives in the future.”

“Yes! Sorry!” Missy crossed her arms tightly.

“Just stop saying you’re sorry. I get it.” At least she seemed legitimately concerned, but concerned for who was the question. He placed a bandage over the cut and smoothed it out. Leo would’ve much rather just wash it off, but he doubted Missy would be fine with that. “You gored that grouse, aren’t you fine with blood?” Leo joked deadpan.

“That’s not funny, Leo,” Missy said, arms still crossed. She rocked back and forth. “Are we still gonna watch that movie?”

“Unless this scratch does me in.”

“Leo!”

“Yes, we are. I already said we would.” Leo looked at the splotch on the bed, then back to Missy. “Can you do something for me? Just take off the sheets and put them in the hamper, OK? You can do that, right?”

“Yeah.” Missy nodded.

“Don’t rip them.”

“I won’t!” She immediately got to work despite Leo still sitting on the bed. He got up as she yanked on the sheets underneath him. Briefly, he considered monitoring her progress, but figured if she could handle trash, she could handle wrapping up some sheets. Hopefully. He prepared himself for a shower and left the room.

After refreshing himself and confirming the wound in his side was a light scratch, he checked back in on Missy. Surprisingly she did it well, though it was a task any five year old could do. Missy was currently lounging on the bed and running her hand across it. “You’re supposed to lay on it only when there’s sheets,” Leo said.

“It’s super soft though.”

“Just don’t get your fur on it, otherwise it’s never coming out.”

“I’m not shedding fur for the winter or anything.”

“Tell that to the blockage in my sink,” Leo replied. Missy huffed and stood up. He went to his dresser and picked out his clothing for the day. It occurred to him that his embarrassment of being in front of Missy had long since faded. He couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing, but he supposed he’d have to get used to it eventually. “You pick out a movie?”

Missy perked up, eyes widening. “Uh, no, what kinda movie you wanna see?”

Leo furrowed his brow. “You’re asking me that now?”

“Sorry, thought you’d get all grumpy if I asked.” She looked down at the bandage on his side. “You’re OK, right? I didn’t cut like, an artery or anything?”

“Considering I’m still standing, I don’t think so.” He paused. “You do know there aren’t any arteries there, right?”

“OK college boy. It’s not like I went to school and got straight A’s in case you didn’t realize.”

“You do have a computer with literally limitless knowledge though.”

“You told me not to touch that.”

Leo smiled and shook his head. “C’mon, Missy, you didn’t really listen to me when I said that.”

Missy shrugged. “It’s boring OK? Not like I could use any of that info anyways when I’m stuck at home.”

Leo shrugged back. “Could teach me, you know.”

“As if a genius like you needs to be taught anything.” Leo wasn’t sure if that was asskissing or not. “I’d rather be doing something fun.”

Leo shut his dresser and walked away. “Improving yourself is always fun, Missy. At least learn anatomy before you do some real damage.” She was using it to take care of her needs anyways, might as well let her do something more productive with it.

“OK, professor!” Missy called out. Not the worst name he’s gotten.

Leo walked out into the living room and glanced around for the day’s project, or at least distraction. Not going outside, he didn’t feel like having fowl for dinner. He wasn’t in a particularly exercising mood either, nor did he even want to think if anything needed fixing. Getting riled up over another busted pipe wouldn’t suit him this early in the morning. Maybe he should finally go through storage and get rid of all the junk. While sorting through a bunch of plastic tubs didn’t sound like anything particularly productive, it was something to at least do and maybe get a new room out of it. He crossed the living room and stepped inside the trove of wasted space.

Despite being an assembly of pointless junk, Leo had still organized it fairly well, or at least to the point where he knew how things were categorized. As expected, though, Missy had already gone through a few of them and didn’t bother covering them back up. Must’ve gotten bored fairly quickly, figures. He stepped over to the piled plastic repositories and peered inside. This was plain junk he had amassed over the years that possibly could’ve served some future purpose. He started sifting through the thing, setting aside anything that seemed possibly useful, what little there was.