He'd almost clawed the guy apart. Pacing in his room, Ranger took a swing at his scratching post every time he passed it. The heavy twine wrapped around it was already wearing thin, even though he'd replaced it recently. After an hour or so, he dropped down to sit in front of it so that he could pick at it further. His cat was extremely close to the surface, sharpening his human fingernails since he'd actually let it out earlier with Heian  for a few minutes.

And he'd nearly paid for it. It was stupid to just let him goad it out so suddenly, and when around other animals.

They hadn't exactly planned to meet, though. Or, at least, he hadn't. He'd been spoiling some of the older horses who had decided to stay in the barn overnight with apples, even though the temperatures were finally starting to rise a little.

That was when Heian had appeared. He'd brought a small insulated bag with him, drawing a curiosity from Ranger that was one-hundred percent because of his cat. It was. All his cat. They ended up going up to the hay loft to get away from the nudging horses and when Heian took the item he'd brought out of the bag, Ranger had felt his eyes widen. It was some sort of seared meat, and when the lid was unlatched from the large container, his nose greedily took in the scent of prime rib and bacon.

His stomach had growled immediately and he'd had to swallow a few times to keep from drooling. He remembered that the man had heated him up some food when he'd showed up unannounced before. It had smelled really good, too, but he had been frustrated and distracted at the time.

Just the thought of the food had his mouth filling with saliva. Heian had offered a piece of whatever he wanted, and Ranger, with his cat nearly hissing to be let it out and devour everything in front it, couldn't refuse. He took a slab of the prime rib and made very short work of it. His feline lent him some of its stronger teeth, making it a tad awkward to chew, but much easier to tear.

When he had finished it and licked his fingers clean, the sound of something below caught his attention and immediately made his cat bellow out a warning growl through his human mouth that easily echoed throughout the entire barn. Several of the animals below had hurried from their open stalls and run out into the field, but the intruder hadn't. He was considering jumping down and just dealing with the carnivore, but Heian put a hand on his head and smiled before looking toward the small opening in the floor where they'd climbed up from.

"Hello, Marsh. I forgot to mention last time, but I do have some beehives that I accidentally forgot to harvest form this season. If you'd like, you can go take some of the extra honey," he'd said, his lips turning up into a smile when they heard the footsteps below them stop.

"They are north-east of here, about fifteen minutes walk, if that."

There had been silence for a moment before they'd both heard a set of much-heavier footsteps leave the barn. Heian looked just as surprised as he was, and when he turned to him, Ranger shrugged.

"I didn't know that he could shift again. He must have figured out how to get the earring out of his ear."

Heian had let his head sag for a moment, then had simply begun laughing as he fell backwards into a large pile of hay.

"I guess I'll have to go clean up what's left of my hives later."

Ranger had fidgeted, unsure if he should have gone to stop Marsh or not. He'd thought that Heian would do so, but he didn't really seem too worried.

"I'm really a terrible bee keeper, Kit."

Kit?

The nickname had made his eyes narrow, since he definitely wasn't a kitten, but when Heian reached forward without getting up and grabbed the container of meat he'd brought with him, then set it on his chest, Ranger forgot about the name as he'd gotten a strong urge to tear apart everything in the container... as well as the man.

"You're playing wit' fire," he'd slurred out as his canines began to elongate without his consent.

Heian hadn't seemed the least bit concerned as Ranger had begun to stalk forward on his hands and feet, his body hunched and ready to pounce the second the man decided to try and get away.

"I won't try to run away from you, because I know that your cat is a sweetheart," Heian had said as he'd grabbed the container of food and slowly sat up, then took out a thick piece of bacon and offered it out to him.

The shift happened in the blink of an eye, surprising Ranger into losing control as his cat had lunged for the piece of meat. Thankfully, Heian had easily seen it coming and had released the bacon right before his hand could get bitten along with it.

"There you are," he'd said with a purr to his own words as Ranger's shift made short work of the meat, then hurried toward the container after shaking off the remnants of his shredded clothing.

Ranger had tried to put on the breaks, but his cat had refused to even let him control a single whisker, let alone any of his four huge paws. Heian had seemed far too calm for someone so close to an uncontrollable, massive predator.

He'd thought that it would be over quick, since his neighbor made a much more appetizing entrée than the simple container of meat, but to his surprise, Heian had put the container of down next to him, then picked up a big slab of prime rib, holding it by the end of a bone poking out from the side.

"I enjoy cooking, my furry friend... and I assume you enjoy eating?" he'd asked it as it smacked its nose against the palm of his hand with a low, rumbling growl before taking the chunk of meat and lying down right up against him to crunch it apart.

"I think we can be good friends," he said as the massive smilodon lifted its head back to him and licked its muzzle between its two giant teeth.

There had been silence for a few moments as they both simply stared at each other, but then, somehow, things had seemed to calm down...

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Ranger leaned forward and pressed his forehead to the scratching post with a tired sigh.

"What the hell are you doing to me?"

He stared at his lap for a few moments before his face began to heat. Of course, he knew exactly what Heain wanted to do to him, he'd said so, very straightforwardly the last time he'd come over.

You're such a cute cat, Kit.

Ranger fumbled backwards before turning and hurrying to his feet... only to see that his door was still closed and no one was there. Frowning, he looked out the window, but again, not a soul besides the horses grazing in the—wait a minute.

Heian's large stallion was coming to a stop at the edge of the fence, his full tail swishing back and forth with excitement as he bobbed his head, almost as if he knew that he was being watched.

"He's there, but I swear I heard him here..."

Shrugging off his confusion, Ranger hurried from his room. Except, when he got to the top of the stairs and realized that he was only wearing a light T-shirt and shorts, he quickly returned to his room and changed into a pair of khaki cargo pants and a black sweatshirt. By the time he stepped outside, Heian's horse was at the bottom of the porch steps to meet him. It was still bobbing its head off and on, and now it was also stamping its feet and turning in little circles every few moments.

"Alright, alright. Hold your horses, you stubborn mule," Ranger mumbled as he walked down the steps, right into a greeting headbutt that nearly knocked him on his butt.

He grabbed Heian's head and mane to steady himself, then straightened and flicked him right in the middle of his forehead.

"What's got you so riled up? You would have called me if there was some sort of problem..."

The horse danced around him a couple times before it abruptly vanished, leaving Heian kneeling in front of him, his long hair draping partially over his right shoulder. He was situated just-so, so that he didn't flash him with the body change.

"I-I'll go grab you some clothing," Ranger said as he spun around and bolted into the house.

Once up in his room, he looked around at the laundry basket of clothes he'd finished washing earlier, but had yet to put away.

What should I give him?

He began digging through the basket at the same time he heard a response behind him, "I can make a few suggestions, if you'd like?"

Feeling his face burn, Ranger whirled around, squinting one eye closed in expectation of what he was likely to see... except, Heian had on a pair of red pajama pants.

Huh?

"Your brother let me borrow a pair, but his bear didn't seem too pleased with the generosity."

I can imagine.

"Uh, yeah. Let's not make Yogi angrier. I'm sure you wearing Walker's scent isn't the best idea right after he got that earring off," Ranger said as he walked over and grabbed the waistband of Heian's pants, then hesitated.

The hell am I doing?

He glanced up sheepishly, unsurprised to see Heian's amused head-tilt and half-smile.

"By all means, continue."

The tips of Ranger's ears brightened to a tomato red and he quickly looked back down... at his fingers, still in the waistband of the pants Heian wore.

So cute. He's so darn cute!

Ranger jerked his head up, a glare settled on his face until he saw Heian's confused expression.

"You... what did you just say?" Ranger asked, unnerved that the man's expression didn't match his words.

Heian seemed to pause for a moment as he thought through the situation, then let an excited smile play across his lips as he abruptly tugged Ranger against his warm, bare chest in a hug.

"That's what I came up to your house to talk to you about!" he said with so much enthusiasm that it made Ranger suddenly tired.

"What?" he asked, still oblivious to their situation as he squirmed against the man.

Heian let him go immediately, never being one to make him do anything he didn't want. Ranger appreciated it and took a step back to put some breathing space between them.

"You're beginning to be able to hear my thoughts," Heian said with hope shining in his soft brown eyes.

He was speechless. How did he respond to such a personal thing?

Sure, he'd gotten used to Heian being able to pick up some of his own thoughts, but to hear them in return? It was extremely personal and not meant for simple neighbors.

Noticing movement in front of him, Ranger refocused to see Heian take a seat... on his own hands.

"What are you doing, you strange horse?"

Heian looked up at him with an impish grin, but the look in his eyes was anything but playful.

"Trying to stay on my best behavior," the man said honestly, not a hint of humor to his words.

Ranger felt his whole body sag in defeat. He felt like he was going around in circles with him, but not winning a single battle.

"What battle would you like to win against me?" Heian asked calmly as he looked up at him with curiosity. "I'll let you have any victory that you'd like."

He still wasn't sure how he should respond, so he simply took a few more steps backward, then slid down to sit against his large scratching post.

"I don't even know what victories I want with you. I don't understand you," he eventually said.

Heian thought through his words for a bit before carefully standing up and walking over to the large basket of laundry on Ranger's bed. He peeked through the top pieces for a few moments, then held up a pair of worn black pajama bottoms.

"May I?"

His cat, which had been quietly watching the situation, finally decided to nudge itself back toward the surface, making Ranger nod faster than he'd wanted to, multiple times over. The gesture got a chuckle from Heian as he turned around and grabbed the waistband of the pants he currently wore.

Fighting back his beast, Ranger quickly turned around, pressing the side of his cheek to the rough twine as he stared at the wall as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

"It's getting late."

Heian's voice suddenly right behind him made Ranger stumble to his feet. He tried to turn around at the same time, but his cat, which normally lent him its balance for any awkward mistakes his human self made, decided to retract its abilities for that brief moment. Instead, strong arms slipped under his own, catching him just before he could drop back down to the floor.

You traitorous cat!

The light laughter that came from his mental remark told him that Heian had heard his thought. After so much stress already on his shoulders, though, he just ended up shrugging it off as he straightened back to his full height and turned.

Per usual, Heian had on his curious but playful grin, but for some reason, Ranger didn't buy it all of a sudden.

"Are you okay?"

The man's smile faded into a confused expression, but he didn't respond right away.

"Is something wrong with Nia? You went home earlier, but then you came back soon after. It's already dark outside, too," Ranger said, suddenly worried about Heian's little girl.

Heian pursed his lips and sighed as he backed up to sit down on the edge of the bed. He stared down at his hands that had settled in his lap, but they couldn't seem to stop wringing each other. It was odd. He'd never seen Heian look stressed out before.

"I'm sorry to come over here like this. I just..."

I just woke up feeling... sad. I tried to play with Nia, but she wanted to run in the back pasture with the herd, and I don't really watch TV or have friends... I didn't meant to bother you. I was just going to stay outside with your horses for the night.

Ranger felt his heart squeeze a little. He was just beginning to hear the man's thoughts off and on, but he heard that one loud and clear.

"Come on, it's getting late," he eventually muttered as he looked down at his own pants.

"Uh, turn around," he said as he reached for a second pair of pajama pants from his laundry basket.

When Heian silently did as told, Ranger quickly tugged off his sweatshirt and pants, then replaced the bottoms but left his top bare. He got hot enough at night... and he was going to have a plus one this evening.

"Come brush your teeth and whatnot," he mumbled as he walked out the door.

It took Heian a few moments to follow after him, the man seeming a little out of it. He did as told with the spare toothbrush Ranger offered him, then they took turns relieving themselves and washing their hands before Ranger led the way back to his room.

He fell into bed immediately, relishing in the cool sheets he had beneath his only light blanket. He had a comforter, but that wouldn't be needed tonight. When he didn't feel the bed depress on either side of him, though, he slowly sat up and glanced toward the door.

Heian was standing there, looking a little nervous.

"I can sleep on the couch. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable in your own home," he said as he looked away from Ranger's gaze.

He really wasn't one for dealing with others' emotions. Which was probably why he never managed to keep a girlfriend very long... if at all. Not that he wanted a boyfriend all of a sudden, but Heian had been really nice to him, and never really pushed things when he was told not to or thought that he was making him uncomfortable.

"What do you want to do?" he asked before yawning and falling back against his pillows, already ready to pass out.

When he got no response, he glanced sideways at the man again, only to roll his eyes at the expression on his face.

"Get your butt in bed or I'm going to toss you out. I'm tired and you're a pervert," Ranger growled before turning onto his side and giving the man his back.

I wanna cuddle, just a little...

The thought came from Heian at the same time Ranger felt the bed depress behind him. He expected the guy to do exactly as he'd just thought, but to his surprise, he held himself back. He could feel a slight wisp of breath against the back of his neck every few seconds, but not a single part of the man was touching him.

You're as stubborn as a mule, you horse.

Stifling another yawn, Ranger scooted backwards slowly, stopping the moment he felt Heian's chest press against his back. He was definitely not interested in cuddling their lower halves, but as an arm hesitantly slid beneath his own and wrapped around his middle, pulling him a tiny bit closer, Ranger decided to let the man have what he wanted... but only for the night.