Chapter 7 - Work

It was about a week after Xiao and Aether's last meeting. Aether was getting up to get ready for work. It was about four in the morning because he had to be at work in about an hour and it was a twenty minute drive from his apartment.

He got out of bed and immediately went to take a shower, which usually only took him fifteen minutes, even with his long hair. After his shower, he started to get dressed for his day. He put on a pair of scrubs that he had stored in his closet. The pants were black with pink and red hearts all over them. The top was a light pink color with no patterns on it.

Once he was dressed, he began packing his work bag with a couple energy drinks, a notebook that he used to write down story ideas and a few other things that he thought he could use, specifically during his breaks.

He walked to the bathroom again, this time to make sure he looked good. As well, he did his hair, doing it in his usual braid.

After everything he thought he needed was packed, he put his backpack on. Before he left his room again, he grabbed his keys from the nightstand next to his bed, then walked out of the room.

As he reached his front door, he began putting his work shoes on when he was greeted by his cat, Paimon, who immediately began meowing at him for attention.

"I can't stay, Girl. I have to go to work, you know this." Aether said to her, lightly petting her head. This only made her meow more, as if she was trying to talk to the man.

Aether stood up from the squatting position he was in and unlocked the front door, walking out of it before closing and locking it. He then began making his way to his car. Unlocking it and getting in, he put the key in the ignition and started it. He then began his drive to work, which he would make it to work in time since there was still thirty minutes until he had to be there.

Suddenly, during his drive, a thought came to him about when he had first adopted Paimon. She was about two months old when he had gotten her. Back then she was a very verbal cat, even now, three years later, she is still that way. She's an all white cat with a fur mark that's hard to describe on her chest and bright blue eyes.

"So, what do you think you're going to name her?" A woman asked at the adoption center where Aether currently was.

"I'm thinking of naming her Paimon." Aether replied, holding the cat in her arms.

"That's such a beautiful name!" The woman responds excitedly to the man. Aether just continued to hold his new kitten.

Aether snapped out of his train of thought once he arrived at his workplace parking lot, trying to find a good parking spot in the staff parking area. Once he found one, he parked and turned off his car. Then grabbing his stuff, he began making his way into the building as he locked his car behind him.

It was around two-thirty in the afternoon when Aether was back in his car after work, he was exhausted from his day at work having to tend to plasma donors all day among the other things he had to do like stocking things.

He took his shoes off at the doorway where he was happily greeted by Paimon. She immediately began meowing at him for attention.

"I have to go change, then we can cuddle, Girl, okay?" Aether asked the cat, to which she just meowed back and began walking to the bedroom, hopping up on the bed.

Once he was in his bedroom, Aether began routinely changing his clothes as he always did. Then tossing his dirty clothes into the dirty laundry hamper. He then flopped onto his bed, waiting for Paimon to come up and cuddle with him.

He grabbed his phone that was lying next to him to open up his messaging app and to text Xiao. He began typing before hitting send: "Hiiiii! I just got off work hehe"

He knew he wasn't going to get a response as of now since Xiao was still at work and he knew how Xiao never looked at his phone during work.

A few hours later, Xiao had finally responded to his message. Though, he wasn't able to text long due to the fact he would have to drive home, so he suggested they call and that way they could still talk.

"Hi!" Aether said excitedly as he hopped on call with Xiao.

"Hey." Xiao responded quickly, the sound of a car starting could be heard on his end.

"How was work?" Aether asked curiously,

"It was okay. Just doing the same stuff as I usually do, so nothing too exciting. You worked today, right? How was it if you did, of course?" Xiao

"Yeah, I did work today! And it was okay! I had to stick a lot of people today because I was on the floor rather than up front. I did a lot of disconnects too." Aether

"Sounds fun. Better than doing paperwork all day, that's for sure." Xiao

"Yeah, but I had to be on my feet all day except for my break which kind of sucked." Aether

"Fair enough. Do you have any plans for dinner?" Xiao

"Hmm, not as of now. Though, it is only six in the afternoon, I still have about an hour to figure it out."

"There's this new Japanese restaurant that I wanted to try, but it feels awkward going by myself. If you want, we can go out for dinner together there. I'm almost back to my place, so I would just change then come and pick you up." Xiao

"Sure! I've been craving sushi for a few days now so it works out!" Aether

"Okay. See you in about eight minutes. Bye for now." Xiao said as he continued his drive home, never taking his eyes off the road as he hung up the call with Aether.