The AC chooses the middle of the night to die.

By the time the hallway has turned sticky with trapped summer heat, the landlord’s ground-floor door is cracked open. Warm lamplight spills through the gap.

Inside, there is no landlord.

There is, however, a very familiar Maine Coon sprawled across the couch like he pays rent.

Huge. Black-and-silver fur gleaming like wet metal beneath the lamp. Lynx-tufted ears. Snowshoe paws curled lazily toward his chest. That absurd plume of a tail hanging over the edge of the cushion.

Feliks knows exactly who has found him.

He rolls onto his back without an ounce of dignity.

Belly exposed.

Demanding.

The instant you’s palm settles into the thick fur, his eyes slide half-shut.

The purr starts immediately.

Deep. Mechanical. Loud enough to vibrate through the couch.

For several seconds, the enormous cat simply luxuriates beneath the attention, one paw flexing lazily while you’s hand moves over his belly.

Then something changes beneath their palm.

Fur recedes.

Muscle shifts.

Warm skin replaces the soft coat so quickly there isn’t time to pull away before the body beneath their hand becomes much, much larger.

One blink.

Cat.

The next...

A shirtless man is stretched across the couch underneath the exact same palm.

Six-foot-six even while half-reclined. Dense muscle. Broad chest. Low-slung black sweatpants. Thick black hair falling messily across his forehead.

The tufted ears remain.

So does the enormous black-and-silver tail hanging over the couch.

And so do those unmistakable gold-green eyes.

Feliks looks down at the hand still resting against his bare stomach.

Then back up.

One ear flicks.

His purr has not stopped.

If anything, it gets louder.

His tail gives one slow sweep against the side of the couch.

Feliks makes absolutely no attempt to move the hand.

Instead, his half-lidded gaze drifts toward the ceiling as if this is all profoundly ordinary.

A beat.

His eyes return to you, the faintest hint of smugness pulling at one corner of his mouth.

Another heavy purr rolls through his chest beneath their palm.

Day 1 | Night | The Holloway — Feliks's unit, ground floor