(Thursday, October 24th, 2019)

Luke knocked on the open door of Michael's at-home-studio door. The blue-haired paused the beat leaving the loud speakers. "Do you hear that?" He asked.

"It sounds great."

"No!" Mike yelled, pulling his hand through the top of his hair. "At 1:06:27 the guitar chords and bass riff are 1/32 off beat. It's fucking awful."

Luke nodded, pretending he knew exactly what his lover was saying. "I liked it. I'm going for a walk, though. So, if I'm not back in an hour, please make sure I'm not adopting another cat or something."

A smile peaked out of Michael's stressed out face. "Okay, babe. Text me if you need anything." He turned back around, starting up the track from the previous measure. His album was out in less than a week, and the fine tuning they were doing was stressing Michael out galore. He felt like he couldn't breathe half the time.

Luke squeezed into Michael's pair of Converse. Luke's feet had swollen up, making his usually thin feet much larger. They're actually, like, normal-sized now.

He went out the garage, closing the door behind him. It was a sunny day in LA, only a slight breeze keeping it from being too hot. He went through his pockets, finding his phone to call his mother.

He's started a routine of these walks around the neighbor and catching up with his mother. His doctor swore that the hour of fresh air would make him feel a little less dead.

"Hello?" His mother's voice filled the device.

"Hey, it's me." He walked along the sidewalk, kicking at a few pebbles.

"Hi, Honey, how are you?"

Michael jumped when something touched his back. He turned around, Taco leaning up against his chair with her paws on his leg. "Dude, chill, I'm doing stuff," he told the animal.

She sat back on the hardwood floor, looking up at him with big, green eyes. Green eyes looked at green eyes and Michael suddenly questioned if he, too, was a cat.
She let out a meow, circling his feet.

"I already fed you." Michael was wondering if this was the break of insanity: talking to a cat. He figured as long as they didn't answer, he was okay.

Luke cracked a few of his knuckles as he listened to the warming voice of his mother. "Are my grand-babies doing well, too?"

"Yeah, they're heavy and making me fat," he complained. Luke placed a hand at the bottom of his belly, holding up the tough skin. With so much happening the small space inside of him, he was much larger than normal.

"Isn't it cute, though? I saw your Snapchat this morning of you and Mike, you're glowing with pregnancy, Luke."

"Everyone says that," he sighed. He liked being pregnant at times, but it was such a drag most of the time.

"It's true, you just look amazing!"

"I'm scared, Mom." Luke's voice cracked as he tried not to start crying a quarter of a mile from home.

Michael stood up, letting out a heavy sigh. "Why don't you do anything?! Get a job! Contribute to society!" Mike yelled at Taco. She wouldn't leave him alone, no matter what he did.

Screw cats and their advanced brains being able to open doors Michael was positive he closed.

Taco went running, standing at the top of the stairs and turning around to make sure Mike was following. Her belly of fat was swinging back and forth with every step she took, and Michael constantly laughed at it.

She was a big cat.

"Yeah! I'm feeding you! Leave me alone!" Mike answered.

Luke's mother tried calming him down, hoping his outbreak wouldn't cause her to cry, too. "It's okay to be scared, but you don't need to be."
"There are four, Mom! Four!"
"Baby," she tsked, "You've got your loving husband at your side. You aren't doing this alone."

He sniffled, wiping at his nose. "But it's so scary. It's been the two of us and now there's gonna be six of us. And Taco!"

She laughed. "Do you remember after you graduated the teacher-training program? You sat in your car crying to me on the phone."

"Okay, I cry a lot, don't be mean about it." Luke turned around, starting to make his way back to their house. He pulled the sleeves of his long, grey shirt closer to his hands, wiping his nose again with the seams.

"I'm not being mean, Luke. I just want you to know that sometimes you freak yourself out. You've always been like this, even as a child. You just need to take a really big breath and tell yourself it's going to be okay, no matter what." Her voice was happiness. "No matter what, the sun will rise and set. Every day is going to be a little bit hard, but you have Mike and Cal and Ash and even the girls. You've got this."

"Can I send them to you when I'm sick of them?" He laughed through a few drops of tears.

"You won't want to, trust me. They're going to be adorable and cuddly and your true happiness. I promise you that."

"But, I'm afraid of needles."

Michael nudged Taco with his foot as the cat ate another serving of her dry food. "You're an attention whore." He leant down, petting over the soft coat of fur. "But you're really cute."

The front door opened, Luke shuffling in and kicking off his—actually Michael's—shoes. "I'm back," his voice cracked.

Michael stood up, taking the cat with him. He shushed Taco when she hissed and tried to swat at his face. He continued petting her fur and curling her up like a child as he made his way to Luke. "You know, if you keep crying on these walks, I'm just not going to let you go on these walks."

"You can't control me," the blonde answered. He looked up at Michael and their curled up cat, both of them looking pleasant and content. "Did she miss me?"

Mike looked down at the cat, turning his body so Luke couldn't touch her. "No, we bonded and we're now sidekicks. She left your sorry ass, bye." Michael turned back around, giving Luke a kiss on the forehead.

Luke's hands pet over Taco's stomach as Mike leant his head against Luke's. "One day soon, this is going to be, like, a child."

"Sweetie, Taco is never going to be a real human."

"That's not what I meant!" Luke whined. "You're so annoying."

Michael finally let Taco run off, probably to go chew through phone chargers and earbuds. He held out his arms, engulfing Luke in a warm hug. He held him close, liking the feeling of Luke's arms wrapped around his waist. His lips pressed to the older boy's forehead once more. "I know what you meant," he said, "I think about it a lot, too. I'm excited. I'm really, really excited."

Michael did this thing a lot. He did the thing where he took Luke's insecurities and fears far away.