Their Hometown

Art's small smile turned into a wide, excited smile, looking like a little boy as he stared in awe to the small cubs, "Aww, they're so adorable! No offence Indigo." Art smiled, petting the bearded dragon before turning back to the little tigers, "You know, I would totally love to have you're job... but then again I'm sure it requires a hell of a lot of patience, right? But I mean getting to see adorable little animals like this all day must be great!" Art smiled, already cooing at the little animals.

---

Effy shook her head quickly at Mara's question, "Well he did make me, kicked me out of the apartment actually, but I always want to be near you so I came here willingly, if that makes any sense..." She answered, blushing a little as her answer wasn't quite as clear as it was in her mind. "W-well don't you think that they'll be expecting us back? I mean, we shouldn't get carried away right?" She said, her nervousness evident in her voice. Stephanie did her best to shake it off, hopping off the counter to walk over to Mara, smiling as she hugged her from behind, having to stand on her tiptoes to peek over Amara's shoulder to the batter, "So what are you making?" She questioned, resisting the temptation to dip her finger in to taste and see for herself as she eyed the batter.

"Aww, they're so adorable! No offence Indigo." Art smiled, petting the bearded dragon before turning back to the little tigers, "You know, I would totally love to have you're job... but then again I'm sure it requires a hell of a lot of patience, right? But I mean getting to see adorable little animals like this all day must be great!" Art smiled, already cooing at the little animals.

Chris laughed at Art's reaction to the tiger cubs." you can hold one if you want to, kundi, the male, need to be fed too. You could feed him if you want to." He said with a smile. " My job does intact require a lot of patience, luckily i have the patience to be able to care for beautiful babies like these." He fed the little female named Zuma and waited for his reply to the question he had asked earlier. Chris loved his job more than almost anything. Jess, of course, was the person he loved even more than his job. Caring for defenseless animals always put a smile on Chris' face. He always loved rescuing animals. He had once found a robin with a broken wing once when he was little, he nurtured it back to health, the day he set it free and watching it fly off into the distance made him realize that helping animals was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

---

A smile made it's way onto Mara's lips as she felt Effy embrace her from behind. "Well, I think it's pretty fun to get carried away from time to time." She chuckled a bit as she reached over to turn the oven on to preheat it. "Well, we can head back over there in a bit then, and I'm just making a red velvet cake, nothing too special really." After doing a bit of mixing she began to add the components for the batter together. I should have some frosting left over from last time so I don't think I really need to worry about that. With the bright red batter completed she poured it into three separate cake pans. "Welp, most of the prep is done now... Just gotta wait for the oven to heat up a bit more before I put this in."

She let out a small sigh and turned around to face Effy in their embrace, wrapping her arms around Effy's shoulders. "There really is an awful lot of waiting when it comes to cakes. Gotta wait for it to bake and then wait for it to cool off before you can put it together." Mara gave a content smile as she looked into Effy's eyes, it was moments like this that she really treasured. "But I suppose I don't mind waiting around so much since you're here."

Art looked to the little cub, practically jumping in excitement as Chris said that Art could feed one of the baby tigers if he wanted to. "Of course I'd want to! Do you even have to ask?" He practically squealed as he held the cub, watching in awe as he fed Kundi. "He is literally the cutest little thing! Not including you Quin." He smiled up at Quin, winking before turning back to the cub. Art couldn't help smirk, nudging Jessica slightly, "Well aren't you lucky, such a sweet heart you have." Art teased, laughing lightly. He cooed at the small cub, "Yes you're so cute, so lucky, but mainly so cute!" He cuddled the cub, practically in pure bliss from all the cuteness.

---

Stephanie smiled widely at the fact Mara was making red velvet cake, now much more excited for the cake. She blushed as Mara turned to face her, biting down on her lip and blushing at what she said, "You're so sweet I can hardly take it." Effy looked to Amara, leaning up to kiss her quickly. She blushed darkly, pulling away quickly, giving a nervous laugh, "So after you put the things in the oven then we'll get going right?" she questioned, playing with her hair as she walked over to the fridge. She found the frosting left over from Mara's last cake, instantly smiling as she pulled the lid off the container. Steph smiled sampling some of the frosting off her finger. It took Effy a moment to remember that she wasn't alone, her finger still in her mouth as she looked innocently to Amara. "Did I ever tell you how much I love your frosting?" she asked, smiling slightly.

OOC: Sorry guys, I was asleep when you did all that posting.

"What, no beer? Maybe just one?" But it was too late everyone had already moved on to other things. Mara went to make the cake, Effy was shoved out of the apartment, Chris was feeding two cute tiger cubs, and Art was fussing over how adorable they were. Quincey moved over to them just in time to hear Art say that the cubs were the cutest thing ever, except for him. He was behind Art so he put his head on Art's shoulder. He wanted to get a closer look at the cubs too, but it was mostly that he wanted to cuddle with his boyfriend. "I dunno, I think these little guys out cute even me." He reached around Art and gently scratched one of the cubs ears. Quincey wasn't much of an animal person, but he did love cats.

---

Mara smirked as Effy retreated over to fridge, God that girl is cute. "Yep. Should take about 25 minutes to bake, and after that I'll have to wait for it to cool." She stretched before letting her hair out of her usual ponytail and running a hand through it. Mara gave an amused smile as she watched Effy, "Hey now, don't eat all of that, I need to make sure I've got enough for the cake... And if you're going to use a finger to eat it then I'd prefer that you use mine." A bit of a mischievous grin appeared on her face as she spoke before she leaned back against the counter. "So, how's the job at the library been recently?" She knew Effy had a bit of trouble there, often having to do all the work herself. Sometimes I think she's a little too nice.

Art jumped a little as Quin rested his head down on Art's shoulder. The red-head could feel his cheeks heating with a blush, normally he would have jumped and ran to another side of the room, embarrassed to have his friends see him too affectionate with Quin. But rather than run away, he stayed in place, just blushing as he didn't want to disturb the cub. "Ahh, Steph and Mara are missing out right about now!" Art smiled down to Kundi, actually trying rather hard to distract himself from Quin, unintentionally leaning back into his boyfriend. "We should get a pet!" Art said excitedly, his face brightening as he turned to look over his shoulder to Quincey, "I mean, We'd be able to do it, right? It'd be so much fun, we should get something!" Art looked up to Quin, putting on his best puppy dog face he could muster. "I really want a little pet."

---

Stephanie rolled her eyes, smiling at Mara's mischievous grin despite trying not to. "I'd prefer having more frosting..." she muttered, sighing slightly as she put the frosting back in the fridge, making a mental note to ask Amara for extra frosting on her slice of cake. Effy leaned up against the counter besides Mara, tilting her head to the side and sighing slightly as the library was brought up. She was conflicted on exactly what to tell Mara, one one hand he didn't want to make anyone worried about her and certainly didn't want to lie. Effy just sighed, biting her lip slightly, "Oh, you know... F-fine." she nodded, twiddling her thumbs slightly, "I mean, it's been a little busy but everything is fine, some of the others practically did most everything. I mean I can handle it, but helps to have a few people around to help." Steph smiled wearily, clearly tired just from being reminded of her somewhat stressful job. She already knew that Mara would suspect the lies slipping from her mouth, trying to change the subject as soon as possible. Effy grasped her girlfriend's hand again, smiling up to her, "But who want's to talk about my boring old job, what do you want to talk about?"

Jess, too, was a bit disappointed that there'd be no beer.
She used to worry that she'd become a bit of an alcoholic, until she realized that there was no way that would happen. Chris wouldn't let her... neither would Quin.
When Art mentioned him wanting a pet, Jess voluntarily held up Indigo, "You can borrow this guy!" She said, wondering if they'd really be up to it.
Probably not. Jessica wasn't, either.
"Just joking." Jess added, there was no way she'd let anyone have her ugly-even for a lizard- little Indigo. "But really, I vote on that idea! C'mon Quin, you'd love to have a pet around, right?" She asked, truly excited for her two friends.
"Chris, tell them how much fun animals are!"

Quincey didn't want a pet, animals weren't his thing, but Art seemed to really want one. Besides, he couldn't resist Art's puppy dog eyes. "Sure, let's get a pet. Just not a dog. Anything else is fine with me. I'm gonna move the boxes into the bedroom for now. So they aren't in our way for the movies." Quincey picked up the nearest box and took it to the bedroom. He set it down, the realized that it was the bad movies box. "Whoops." he said to himself. He picked up the box again and put it by the tv. "We kind of need the bad movies for the bad movie marathon." He started moving the other boxes into the bedroom. He thought about asking one of the others for help, but they seemed to occupied by the cute animals, so he didn't. He didn't really need the help anyway, he was strong enough to lift them without tiring himself out.

Chris laughed when Art almost literally jumped from excitement as he took the cub and fed him.
"Well, now that i've gotten that promotion I've been working on, i'll bring more babies home for you to coo at." He said with a chuckle and a smile. Chris had moved to a higher position at his job and had more responsibilities. Which meant more baby animals to care for. But it also meant he got paid more, which meant he could spoil Jess as much as he wanted.

Quin put his head on Arts shoulder and arts face turned red, Chris couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Art then started talking about getting a pet.

"Chris, tell them how much fun animals are!" Jess said, seeming very excited about Quin and Art getting a pet.

"Animals are very fun, but they are a big responsibility. You two should figure out what kind of pet fits your lifestyle best. Cats are pretty independent, yet affectionate, maybe you should consider getting a kitten." He said, sounding like a professional, even though he wasn't meaning to. Chris smiled, though Quin didn't look like he wanted a pet, but he knew that Quin would probably give into Art and get one anyways.

"And, well, you guys could always get a simpler pet...like a gold fish." He said with a chuckle.

---

Mara crossed her arms and let out a sigh as she listened to Effy try and calm her worries with a few thinly veiled lies, "Mm. Should just fire one of them, maybe they'd learn that they can't just push you around. And really dear, you're a horrible liar." She gave a small smile, deciding to let the topic drop away as Effy was obviously uneasy talking about it. Maybe I should just show up at the place someday and try and scare'em. She was a bit amused by the idea but she was sure Effy would be upset about it. "What do I want to talk about?... Hm... Maybe how pretty your eyes are?" She giggled a bit to herself as she moved her hands up to Effy's face, squishing it a bit. "Gosh your cute, wonder how I got so lucky." Mara glanced over at the oven. "I think it's about time I put the cake in." The oven creaked loudly as she opened it up and placed the three pans inside quickly, apparently an action she was quite accustomed to doing and took her phone out to set a timer. "Well, we could head back over there now if you want."

Art only had time to slightly open his mouth to gladly accept Indigo until Jess cut him off, adding in that she was just joking, Art just pouted before smiling again. He looked to Chris eagerly, "Yeah Chris! Tell us how much fun animals are!" Art gently put the little tiger cub back into the pouch where Chris had taken it from, not quite wanting to stop playing with the adorable little animals but feeling he should give his friends his full attention. Art practically jumped through the roof as Quin willingly agreed to getting a pet, so long it wasn't a dog. "Aww, but how cute would a little puppy be!" Art gushed but didn't push the topic though, already knowing of Quin's dislike for dogs. He frowned slightly as said boyfriend moved away from him to start moving boxes, soon laughing lightly at Quin's mistake, turning back to Chris before he could get a quip in towards Quincey. Art nodded, trying to put on a serious face to go along with Chris's professional sounding voice but unable to wipe the grin off of his face at the very prospect of having a cuddly animal of his very own. "Right, all that responsibility stuff, I got that down, sure. But wouldn't a little kitten be so cute!" He smiled, laughing a little at Chris's joke, "Well last time I checked, the only fish you could cuddle is a dolphin.... We should get a dolphin!" Art paused for a second, seeing the flaw in his logic, "Oh wait, I'm not a great swimmer so maybe that'd be a bad idea..." he laughed a little, turning and practically running towards Quin, pulling him into a hug, "Oh, a kitten would be so cute! Thank you thank you thank you!" He grinned, reaching up and kissing him regardless of the fact that his friends there there.

---

Effy laughed softly at Mara's suggestion to fire one of them, "No I don't think I'd be able to do that." she smiled softly, shaking her head shortly, blushing as Amara pointed out that Effy was a horrible liar. Steph already knew that she was a bad liar but it was a bit embarrassing when it was pointed out to her. Maybe she would work on her poker face when she had the time... No, she really did hate to lie to anyone, she didn't feel the need to learn how to. Mara quickly pulled Effy out of her thoughts at the compliment, her blush darkening as she squished her face. Of course she was speechless when ever Mara complimented her, or at most very awkward. "Um, thank you?" she muttered, "Well, I wouldn't say you're the only lucky one." Effy tried to compliment her as well, but just ended up embarrassing herself even more, looking away from Mara to unsuccessfully hide her blush. She turned back to her as she mentioned going back to their friends. Stephanie didn't quite want to go back to her friends just yet, it wasn't that she didn't enjoy their company, she just enjoyed the times that she and Amara were alone a bit more. "No!" Effy cursed herself as she reacted too quickly, pausing for a moment, "I mean, we don't have to go back just yet, and of course the other's might be a little disappointed if we don't show up with a cake." Steph reached up to wrap her arms around Mara's neck, hesitating for a moment before kissing her cheek lightly, a small smile on her face, "What do you want to talk about until the cake is done. Besides my eyes." She added the last part with a blush, though still content in the slight hug she had Amara in.

---

Mara chuckled to herself as Effy went into a tizzy of embarrassment and blushing at her words. Ah... It's so easy to get her all flustered like that, but I have to say her reactions like that just make her look even cuter. She was however a bit surprised at Effy's loud reaction to the suggestion of returning to their friends. This quickly brought a grin to her face as she tried to restate her desires in a more calmed fashion. "Haha, alright alright. We don't have to go back yet. I didn't know you wanted to be alone with me so badly though." She smiled and returned Effy's kiss with one of her own. "Well, let's get out of the kitchen for now." Mara took Effy's hand and lead her to the living room, laying back on the couch and pulling Effy down gently with her. "Hm... Well, do you think you'll be drinking tonight? I know you don't very often but it's not so bad every once in a while."

Effy gave a small smile as Mara returned the kiss, simply nodding at her suggestion to leave the kitchen, allowing Mara to lead her. A light laugh escaped her as Amara pulled her down, cuddling closely into her girlfriend. "I'm not sure. I hardly just turned the legal age, I'm no expert on alcohol." Steph muttered, but close enough to Mara's ear for the girl to clearly hear. "Maybe a beer? I heard wine is good. How's tequila?" she asked inquisitively, looking up wide eyed to Mara, "There's way to many choices for me to chose, I'd rather you chose for me when the time comes." She nodded, yawning slightly. Her nights of no sleep were quickly catching up to her. She could just never put her books down, sometimes to the point where Amara would have to force her to put her book away and go to bed. Effy rested her head on Mara's chest, being able to faintly hear her heartbeat. Her hair was splayed over her face and shoulder and even some on Mara, not that Effy particularly cared, to content in this moment to even consider moving from her spot.

Chris laughed at Arts response. And safely tucked the other tiger cub into his critter pack.
"So, movies and...drinking.. right?" He said, a bit confused about what was going on. He was excited about the movies, but not so much about the drinking. Chris hated the way alcohol tasted, so he didn't drink hardly at all. He really liked margaritas and bloody mary's though. But he drank them very, very rarely. He couldn't drink tonight even if he wanted to anyways, he had tiger he had to take care of. He'd get fired if he drank while they were with him.

Art kissed Quin, even though Chris and Jess were still there. Chris had only seen the two kiss on maybe one or two occasions. He made kiss faces at art, joking around about him kissing Quin. Chris put his arm around Jess and pulled her closer. She was standing too far away and he needed some sort of physical contact with her since he hadn't seen her all day.

---

Mara looked up at the ceiling, giving Effy's question some thought before replying with a bit of a chuckle. "Haha, well, I think you'd be better off sticking to beer or wine really, I suppose you might like some of the more fruity mix drinks but I don't think any of us really know how to make those." She smiled and stretched a bit before placing her hand gently on Effy's head, ruffling her hair a bit. "Sleepy?... If you want to take a nap I'd be more than happy to let you sleep right here... Now if only I could get you to sleep normally at night." She said the last part a bit more quietly but smirked a bit and closed her eyes, quite content with her current position.

Quincey was surprised when Art kissed him with their friends around. He never did that, he must have been happy. Quincey just went with it. He kissed him back and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, pulling him as close as he could. Quincey was an affectionate person who didn't mind showing his relationship with Art in public, even if they were shunned by a lot of people. But he knew Art wasn't the same so he didn't want to take it too far. He dug his fingers into Art's back, to stop his hands from going up Art's shirt. The realizing he was hurting his lover he stopped. He didn't want to pull away, so he waited for Art to first.

Art had to hide a cringe as Quincey dug his nails into his back, knowing his boyfriend was probably just trying to restrain himself. Art smiled up to Quin devilishly, his own hand trailing up Quin's shirt and tracing the light outline on his abs. He as about to reach up for another kiss but soon froze as he recalled that they were not alone in the room. He turned, blushing at the kissy faces Chris directed at him, sticking his tongue out and crossing his arms over his chest, mentally cursing himself and forgetting that his friends were still in the room, mentally cursing as he turned back to Chris, his face practically matching the red hair that fell into his eyes. With a small smile and a laugh, he pushed his hair back, "I guess yes to the movies, and to the drinking, it's just Quin that can't have any." He smiled a bit, turning back to raise an eyebrow at Quin, "Isn't that right babe?" He questioned.

Art dropped to the floor, kneeling before the box labeled bad movies, "We might only have time to actually watch a few movies, and since it's partially my apartment, and my boyfriend's movie's I get the first pick!" He exclaimed with a smile as he opened the box, "But, since I'm nice I'll let you guys help me pick." I smiled as he pulled out the movie on top, a cheesy romance that Quin and Art actually kissed for the first time in front of their friends. He blushed slightly, putting it aside and pulling out a few more movies excitedly.

---

Effy looked up to Mara, her face slightly burning with a blush at their position, "A fruity drink sounds good. Something really sweet." Steph smiled a little, wondering slightly how she would behave when drunk. Maybe a little more affectionate? Who knows, hopefully she wouldn't be so drunk as not to remember the next day. She could only imagine how embarrassing it would be to hear stories about what she had done the night before. "No... No, I'm not sleepy." she lied, not wanting to fall asleep if only so she could cherish the moment she had alone with her. She blinked, resisting sleep as she was cuddled into the warmth of her girlfriend, "I heard that." she murmured, "It's not my fault, the books I read are too good." Effy smiled a little, lifting herself up slightly, propping herself on her elbow so she could look at Amara, "I don't want to go to sleep, talk to me, please?"

Chris had to restrain himself from bursting out with laughter when Art's face turned as red as his hair.
" Well, at least i have a sober buddy for tonight." he said looking toward Quin. He turned to the box of terrible movies and looked through them, picking out a few that he, personally, would like to watch more than the other horrible movies. One was action, one was a failure of a horror story and the other was the cheesy romance one that art had looked at earlier. Chris liked to laugh at the romance movie because he felt the overly dramatic lovey dovey scened were kind of funny.
" when you two decide to get a pet can i go with you when you go to get it? I'm thinking about getting one so I'm not completely alone in my apartment at night. And it would be nice to have a pet of my own anyways." Chris had never actually had his own pet before, he only took fostered them. He planned on getting one he could call his own, one he didn't have to turn over to the zoo after a few weeks.

"When you two decide to get a pet can I go with you when you go to get it?" Chris asked, and Jess listened in on the rest of what he had to say. She was particularly interested in the part about him wanting a pet of his own...
"You're not always alone at night," Jessica reminded her boyfriend, a sly grin on her face. "But, if you're so lonely when I'm not there, I'd like to help you pick one out, too! Or you can just borrow Indigo..."
The last part was a lie, there was no possible way Jess would give up the lizard for someone-even Chris- to borrow.

As she spoke she was looking through the box of Quins impressive collection of unpopular, barely known, terrible movies that for some reason the six friends loved.
Jess then looked at the three that Chris picked out, "This one!" She exclaimed, snatching the cheesy romance movie from his hands, "I haven't seen this in ages. Can we watch it?"

"You're not always alone at night," Jessica reminded her boyfriend, a sly grin on her face. "But, if you're so lonely when I'm not there, I'd like to help you pick one out, too! Or you can just borrow Indigo..."
The last part was a lie, there was no possible way Jess would give up the lizard for someone-even Chris- to borrow.
" I know I'm not always alone, but I'm incredibly lonely when you aren't there to cuddle me and keep me company" He said with a slight smile, still flipping through the movies.
" if i get a pet, you would definitely be included in the decision of with pet i get. After all, it would be awesome if you liked it too. " He said smiling warmly at her. "Are you gonna spend the night at my home tonight?" He asked, looking back at the movie box. It had been a while since she had and he wanted a chance to get to cuddle her to death all night.

Jess then looked at the three that Chris picked out, "This one!" She exclaimed, snatching the cheesy romance movie from his hands, "I haven't seen this in ages. Can we watch it?" Jess said, looking quite excited. Chris was okay with the choice she made in the movie she wanted to watch, so he didn't say anything. He waited for both Jess' response to his question, and Art's, and Quins's responses to the movie choice.

Quincey shivered when Art stuck a hand up his shirt. But before he could do anything Art moved away and turned his attention to the movies. Everyone was picking different movies. Quincey didn't care what movies they watched, he just wanted to snuggle with Art as they watched them. He missed cuddling with his boyfriend, he hadn't gotten the chance to do it much after the accident. With being in the hospital, all the physical therapy to get his strength back, and refinishing his senior year, there hadn't been much time. He gave up the beer thing, he knew he couldn't win against all his friends. "Yeah sure, any movie is fine with me. As long as I get to cuddle with Art." he said voicing his thoughts.

Art smiled slightly as his friends picked the cheesy romance he was just looking at, bouncing a little, "Yeah! I love this movie." He exclaimed, though really what he loved more was the memories of cuddling with Quin while they watched the movie. He turned back to his two friends, "Gah! You guys are so adorable together." Art smiled, "And duh, Chris we need the animal expert of the group there. We should make a day of it, have all six of us go. Maybe Mara and Effy will get a few cat's and be that crazy cat couple," He laughed out loud, trying to stifle his laughs with his hand. Art blushed again for what seemed like the hundredth time today, "Damn it Quin, stop making me blush, it's embarrassing." He shook his head, red locks flying about his face, landing in front of his eyes. "I don't want to just be red for the rest of my life, it's not that great a look on me." He muttered.

"Gah! You guys are so adorable together." Art smiled,

"You here that Jess, we're adorable together" Chris said, pulling his girlfriend closer to him and wrapping his arms around her. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as well.

"And duh, Chris we need the animal expert of the group there. We should make a day of it, have all six of us go. Maybe Mara and Effy will get a few cat's and be that crazy cat couple," He laughed out loud, trying to stifle his laughs with his hand.

"That would be incredibly funny" Chris said almost bursting out with laughter. Art's face got red and Chris chuckled. "I'm so glad that Jess doesn't make me blush like that. I wouldn't want to be a tomato either" He said, grinning at art, practically teasing him about how much he blushed all the time. Chris found it highly amusing most of the time.

"Gah! You guys are so adorable together." Art said, a smile on his face.
"You hear that Jess, we're adorable together." Chris chipped in, pulling Jessica closer to him before giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Jess grinned, "Oh I know we are."

Art continued with the pets and animals subject and suggested that all six of them should go, perhaps even Mara and Effy would turn into two crazy cat lady's. Jessica didn't find it too hard to imagine, the two weren't very fond of dogs, and cats are usually everyones choice if they don't get a dog.
Chris seemed to be holding back from bursting out with laughter, while Art was struggling to stifle his own laughs. It was true that laughs were con­ta­gious because Jess found herself laughing as well, mostly because of Art's reddening face.

"I'm so glad that Jess doesn't make me blush like that. I wouldn't want to be a tomato either." Chris said to him, and Jess nodded in agreement,
"I've tried, but it seems that it's only you, Art, who's face decides to be a lookalike to a tomato. But fear not! You still look terrific!"