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“Okay! Jon is about to come in, whoever can get him to say something that is definitely romantic partner or definitely cat wins!” Tim whispered before taking his place at the break room table. Martin was prepared to give Jon tea, and Sasha was poised to come in after Jon to hand him files. Jon rarely came out of his office, so they had to do as much as they could to get him to stay in the break room to figure this out.
The first they had heard of Cecil was when Tim asked Jon if he was coming to the company Christmas party, to which Jon replied “no, Cecil hates it when I get home late.” So Tim thought he had a boyfriend.
The second time they heard of Cecil was when Jon had made a comment directed at no one in particular about having to buy “specialty food for Cecil since he got sick.” So Tim was half convinced Jon had a cat.
This was something that Tim had suffered alone until Sasha was talking with Jon before she left for the day and heard him say “Cecil’s been inside all the time, I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” Quickly followed by “I mean I guess I haven’t been paying much attention to him but he’s never been THIS clingy” Which Sasha could very easily see going both cat and boyfriend. Even Martin had heard it! They had started making bets on it, and if Cecil was a cat Tim owed at least three people twenty dollars. It was an institute wide mystery, and they were dying to crack the case.
“Hey Jon! How’s Cecil?” Tim asked as the man walked into the break room. Jon looked confused.
“He’s good. I just bought him a new plant that he loves more than he loves me, so he should be fine for about a week with me out of the house. Why?” Damn it!
“I was just wondering, you talk about him so much it’s almost like he’s working with us.”
“Oh please, he gets scared far too easily to work here, not to mention he can’t live in a basement. He could hunt the worms though, would give him a good chase.” DAMN IT!
“I’m sure he has better things to do than to chase worms around.” Martin said, giving Jon the tea he’d made for him.
“Not really. It’s either chase worms around or bird watch from the living room window.” SHIT!
“Bird watching? What birds does he like?” Sasha asked, walking in and putting the files on the table. Jon narrowed his eyes at them.
"What is this? Why are you all so interested?” Ok Tim couldn’t take it anymore.
“I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Jon, Is Cecil your boyfriend or your cat?” Tim asked. Jon just stared at them for a full minute before bursting into laughter.
“Is that what this was? All of these questions just to find out if I have a boyfriend or a cat?” Jon said through laughter. “You could’ve just asked!”
“WE ARE ASKING!” Tim said as Jon pulled out his phone.
“You’re going to hate me when I tell you.” Jon said, smiling.
“Why?” Martin asked, desperate for it to be some type of animal so he didn’t have to burn his poems. Jon put his phone down on the table, showing a photo of what looked like a squirrel mixed with a bat jumping to Jon’s hand.
“This is Cecil, he’s a sugar glider. I’ve had him from when he was able to be adopted and he’s 5 years old.” Tim was shocked, Sasha was absorbed by the thing cuteness as Jon scrolled through pictures, and Martin was breathing a sigh of relief.
“Jon you NEED to bring him into work, he’s SO CUTE! ” Sasha said. She was determined to see this thing in person, Tim could see it in her eyes. She could and would kill for Cecil.
“I can’t, they need to jump around in trees to be healthy, keeping him down here all day would be horrible for him. Plus, I don’t think I can get his enclosure down here. I can however, invite you to meet him. They usually live in groups and they like meeting new people, so I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.” And that was that. Instead of going home, they all went back to Jon’s flat and met Cecil, who was the most adorable thing in existence. No matter who held him he would only really stay in Jon’s hands, which made sense but it was also a little rude.
“Hold on,” Jon said, before walking over and placing Cecil on a cat perch that was almost at the ceiling. He then stepped back and held out his hand. Cecil jumped from the platform to Jon’s hand in seconds and everyone cheered. Cecil then crawled up Jon’s arm and on to his head, where he nestled into Jon’s hair. It was the most Jon had smiled in their entire time working together. The only thing was, now Tim had to tell the rest of the people who had heard of Cecil, and they would not be happy.