Abracadabra pspsps

      Living with Neil is as disastrous as one can expect. Andrew thought that the familiar would leave at first chance, but no – the little devil stayed and brought mayhem into Andrew’s house.       For one, Neil’s been in his cat form for three days now, refusing to change. What’s the reason for this, Andrew doesn’t know. Their ‘talks’ consist of them glaring at each other or Neil meowing back at Andrew. For such a small creature, he talks a lot, as Andrew’s found out.        Two, Neil’s a pure chaos in the kitchen. Andrew can’t cook dinner without a cat paw outline on his pizza dough or cutlery being thrown on the floor with a clatter. One time, he left some grated cheese to use on spaghetti for one minute, and when he came back, it had disappeared. What greeted him instead was an innocent-looking orange cat sitting on the countertop, an empty plate just next to him. No evidence, nothing – a perfect crime.        ‘You’re eating cat food,’ Andrew said then, unimpressed. The next day, he actually served Neil the cat food in a bowl, not on a platter at the table like he’d done so far. But guess what? The little fucker looked him right in the eye, ate the whole bowl, and then walked away with his tail raised high. Andrew’s face didn’t show anything, but on the inside he was truly baffled.        Later Neil had the audacity to vomit all over the carpet. Of course, the pleasure of cleaning it up fell on Andrew.       If he didn’t know the whole truth about Neil, he’d really think Neil’s a cat. He has this asshole vibe all the cats have.        It’s been two weeks now since Andrew brought Neil to his house. At first, he was skittish and avoided Andrew in general. He came out of his room for meals only or when it was time to take care of his burns. There was distrust in Neil’s eyes whenever Andrew as much as breathed in his direction.  Good thing that Andrew has experience with managing familiars that are a flight risk (maybe he should add it to his resume). His house’s warded so that nobody came in or out without Andrew’s knowledge and permission. He’s sure, though, that if Neil really wanted to run away, he could – Andrew would even open the door for him. But for some reason, Neil stayed.        Maybe it was because of Andrew's patience or calm aura that after a few days Neil started to warm up towards him. Andrew’s been seeing Neil around the house more, the familiar’s ears twitching and tail flicking when he observes his surroundings. Neil spends his days exploring every nook and cranny of Andrew’s house (leaving behind some casualties like broken plates) or lying in the patch of sunlight while in his cat form mostly, soaking up the warmth. The sight never fails to amuse Andrew. As he said, Neil really could be taken for a regular cat if someone didn’t know better.       Since Andrew needs to take care of his new idiot roommate, he hasn’t been taking any new jobs, which often require him to travel. Soon, he’ll have to go back to work, but he still has some time. Having so much free time feels really weird for Andrew. What do people even do with so many hours?        Surprisingly, Neil’s been quite compliant when it comes to taking medicine and letting Andrew take care of the wounds. It makes Andrew suspicious, but he’ll take it for now – better this than having a repeat from a few days ago. Most of the injuries have already healed, aside from the burns. Normally, with the help of magic, it’d take only a few days for them to disappear, leaving no scar behind, but that’s not the case here, apparently. Andrew’s seen something like this before, and his shoulder stings at the memory. Isn’t it funny that he was right when he joked that Neil looked like he’d had a run-in with demons? Well. it’s not a joke anymore.       That reminds him – he has to take Neil for another check-up. That’ll go splendidly as the last time, for sure. Whereas Neil’s a model patient for Andrew, Aaron has no such luck. Last time, Andrew thought he’d have to intervene before his brother murdered the familiar. Fortunately, Neil wasn’t in his cat form, so at least Aaron didn’t get mailmed (Andrew has to admit that it would be a little entertaining).       A rustle behind him jerks him out of his thoughts, and he quickly turns around. “Are you kidding me,” he says to Neil, who munches on the monstera plant standing on the windowsill.        The cat looks at him with his strikingly blue eyes then bites on a leaf.        “For fuck’s sake, leave the plant alone.” Andrew glares at Neil, who pays him no mind at all. Just splendid. Andrew must have lost his touch since the familiar doesn’t fear him.       “Okay, see what’ll happen. I don’t care.” Andrew turns the TV on and sprawls on his sofa, ignoring Neil’s shenanigans in the background.  And guess who’s vomited after half an hour? Andrew’s going to kill the orange demon. While he’s tidying up, he sends a murderous look towards the familiar, who doesn’t look apologetic at all. Fucker.       When Neil isn’t wreaking havoc, his presence is barely noticeable, actually. His steps are so quiet that Andrew nearly had a heart attack a few times (but he’ll never admit it out loud). He really should tie a bell around Neil’s neck, he thinks and nearly snorts at the image.        Also, Andrew should buy Neil some clothes because he’s tired of seeing him wearing the same three shirts that Andrew found at the bottom of his closet. The familiar had no belongings on himself aside from the clothes on himself, which had to be thrown out because of the blood. Andrew’s clothes aren’t fit for Neil’s thinner and slightly taller frame, and he refuses to go with Neil anywhere when he’s dressed like that. ANdrew has a reputation to uphold.        The problem is that he can’t just leave Neil alone – he doesn’t trust him enough yet. Maybe it’s time to cash in on his favor and let Kevin pay him back for all the shit Andrew did for him. But, there’s the matter of the potential danger that follows Neil, as Andrew predicts.       You see, the familiar told him that he’s looking for Kevin and Jean, but nothing else. And sure, Andrew knows the stories about Neil and knows Neil’s like a brother to the two men. On the other hand, he can’t help it but worry that it will bring danger to Kevin, just after he managed to make a quite stable life for himself here. Andrew really doesn’t want it to happen.       But, he still remembers what good it did him when he made some decisions for Kevin’s safety. The fall out wasn’t pretty, and thinking about it still makes Andrew grimace. The upside of the whole shitshow is that Kevin showed some backbone after all, Andrew thinks with something close to pride. Yeah no, thank you – he really doesn’t want a repeat if he can avoid it.       Maybe it’s high time the brothers reunited.