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Living Arrangements

It had been one week since Matt regained consciousness, and he was already close to fully recovered. "Another odd piece," I thought.

"This is amazing! I thought he was supposed be stuck there a while." Molly said as she practically bounced into the ceiling with her usual energy. She, Patrick, and I were approaching Matt's hospital room.

"The doctors don't know what to make of it. It is good news, but they still haven't made any headway on how to restore him to normal size," I replied.

"Worry about that later. The first step was getting well soon!" She exclaimed a she took a particularly bouncy step. "I wish I could recover that quickly. The last time I had a bad injury I had to use crutches for weeks! And why weren't you by my bed nearly every waking moment like Alex is with Matt?" She asked Patrick pointedly, but made me feel a little embarrassed all the same.

"I had an exam coming up, and you were fine. I thought you had your teammates for company."

"They only stopped by for a bit after practice each evening that week. I was sooo bored the rest of the time, and when you did visit you barely touched me. Alex lets Matt use his hand as an extra blanket."

I started staring at the floor in response. I was hoping that no one would catch me at that, but the only time I didn't Matt had an extremely bad nightmare. He wouldn't tell me what he saw, but I had a feeling it had to do with a certain green eyed lion. That was the other reason I was constantly in Matt's room. A few days ago we got the news that he had disappeared from his cell in the jail where he was being kept until the trial. The prisoner in the adjacent cell also vanished, but given that the other prisoner's clothes were found in his cell with a tiny puddle of urine, it seemed likely he had taken the poor man as a snack. We didn't know if he would come after the only victim known to have escaped him alive, so I had a better excuse to stay close.

We reached Matt's door before Patrick could come up with an excuse for Molly, and came in single file (Molly, then Patrick, them me) to find Grace already there and ensconced in the chair by the bed as if it were her throne.

She looked up once we were all in the room. "Aha! My subjects are finally here. Took you long enough, but that just gave me time to chat with Matt here." His legs were under the covers, but he was propped up against the pillow so that he was almost sitting up straight in bed. I could see from his face that she had succeeded in having her usual fun: he looked ready to die from embarrassment. He made eye contact with me and smiled; clearly relieved to not be alone with her anymore. Grace noticed: "And don't think I didn't see that! I know who you're most happy to see here!" At this Matt started and lowered his eyes as he blushed; looking ready to slide deep into the covers. Something he could have easily done with the casts and bandages already removed.

"We were just discussing where he'll stay while he's still at his current size. We've all got apartments equipped for temporary micro guests, but we think Alex would be the best one to take in Matt here. I've already had the arrangements approved, though I thought I'd leave informing Doug, his roommate in the dorms for those of you who didn't already know, to you." I glared at Grace in response. She usually got what she wanted, but this was going too far, even for her. But then I noticed Matt nod affirmatively.

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"Yes. I'm not as familiar with the rest of you, and as a fellow college age male feline you're more aware of my needs than the rest here. No offense intended."

"Ok," I was pleased with this news, but something needed to be established: "but you," I pointed at Grace and gave her a warning glare, "need to stop playing matchmaker."

"If this goes on much longer I won't have to honey." She knew my buttons too well, and I couldn't fight it as I stared at the floor and blushed in an obvious show of embarrassment. I was surprised to see Matt respond similarly as he took sudden interest in the covers of his bed. Grace looked at both of us in turn with a look of mischievous amusement, and then laughed with Patrick and Molly. "It's just too easy to get you two!"

Then Dr. Freeman strolled in. "Ah, you're here. Good. The scans we took earlier today have confirmed it. I don't how you've done it, but you've fully recovered. Remarkable. I'd like to have weekly checkups for a while to be safe, but you can be formally discharged from the hospital now."

"Thank you Dr. Freeman," Matt replied.

"You're quite welcome. Now, if one of your friends would like to carry you, we can head to the desk to finalize it, and then you can go." Matt looked up at me, and I stepped closer the bed and lowered my left hand palm-up onto the bed as he stood up and approached. He stepped onto my hand, and then gave me a slightly mischievous look before clambering quickly up my arm to my shoulder. I turned my head to the left to look at him with an expression of puzzlement.

"I've wanted to do this for a while now." He seemed to be eyeing my mane, and I realized what he was thinking. I turned my head to face straight-forward, and felt him walk into my mane, then gently use his claws to crawl up on onto the top of my head. I heard Grace and Molly gasp at this development. As I turned and carefully moved to a mirror on the wall I felt Matt gently use his claws again to keep himself in place. I looked into the mirror and saw that the only part of him visible through my mane was his head, poking out over my fore head; with his golden amber eyes sparkling playfully and a matching smile on his muzzle.

I returned the smile and asked: "How is it up there?"

"Pretty nice, you wash your mane nightly, don't you?"

I gently nodded affirmative.

"Could be softer, you should try my shampoo."

"I just might," I replied.

The girls couldn't hold it any longer, and they squealed loudly. "Grace wondered where you would carry Matt, but she never expected this! Hold still! Grace needs a picture of this for her followers!" Grace exclaimed as she reached into her top and pulled her phone out from between her breasts. Molly also took a picture as Patrick sighed and looked on at the spectacle with mild disgust.

Eventually, we got to the desk to check Matt out of the hospital. Since all he had for clothing right now was a hospital gown, I had gone and gotten some clothes for his original size, then used the shrink gun that the SMCU had given our group to reduce them carefully to fit him at his current size. He decided to forego the shoes, since he would need the claws on his paws to hold on and move about on my shoulder and in my mane. He then surprised me again by gripping the change of clothes with his teeth a clambering back up my arm to my shoulder, and then back up to my head to change in response to the Dr. Freeman pointing us to a changing room that Matt could use. I gave an amused smile at this as the girls giggled. "I think my smallest subject has already found his new home," said Grace.

"If there was a toilet and shower in here I'd be inclined to agree." We all laughed that, and shortly after the hospital gown came flying out of the top my mane wadded up in a ball, and Matt poked his head out of the front again. "I'm ready. Thanks again Dr. Freeman."

"You're quite welcome. We'll keep looking for answers on how to get you back to normal size, and don't forget about you're check-up next week." We entered the elevator, waved, then descended to the ground floor. Shortly afterward, we were out onto the street.

I heard Matt take deep breath of the fresh, cool March air.

"Are you still sure you don't want the coat?" I called up. That was the other thing Matt had decided not to use for now.

"Yeah, your head is pretty warm under your mane. It feels like a heated bed." I felt him lay down on some hair from the lower layers of my mane. Patrick and Molly split off to head for their apartment as we approached the university.

"I'm participating in the pony con going on at the convention center, and I've already missed part of it as it is, so I'll see you kittens later."

I was surprised by this statement, as I had never pictured Grace as a pony fan. She must have noticed: "What? Grace does what Grace wants, and ponies are a vital part of her therapy for all the evil she witnesses while helping her subjects, and she has seen a lot more than she signed up for lately." With that she took off for her and Cody's place; leaving me to head to Matt's dorm and help him get anything he needed while staying with me.

"Why didn't you get annoyed at her?" Matt asked.

"What would I get annoyed at her for?"

"For calling us kittens. You got annoyed at Patrick for that. Why not her?"

"That's just part of how me and Patrick act together, trading insults and retorts. Grace is very different. Don't ever throw insults at her without being prepared for a storm. There's a reason she's both respected and feared in the computer science department. Besides, she was being affectionate."

Before long we were there, and I approached the dorm manager in her office. "I need a key to Matt here's dorm room," I said glancing up at the top of my head to indicate him. The manager, a slightly heavy raccoon woman whose staff ID lanyard said Alice looked at me, puzzled.

"And do you have written permission or something from Matt to enter his room?" Alice asked.

"What do you mean? Matt's right here on top of my head. Don't you see him?" I knew I felt him shift back to sitting up as we entered the dorm.

I got the impression she was beginning to think that I was crazy, but she moved a little closer and leaned forward to peer in to my mane. I looked up, trying to see too, wondering why Matt was hiding.

"HI ALICE!" Matt shouted, popping his head out the front. This elicited a scream from the unsuspecting dorm manager as she almost fell backwards onto her butt in shock. He laughed at this.

"Oh dear, please don't do that again," gasped the dorm manager. "I'd heard about what happened, and you have my sympathies, but I didn't expect you to come get your stuff hiding in someone's hair. I'll get the key." With that Alice went over to a locked metal key cabinet on the wall, opened it with another key, then grabbed the one for Matt's room and handed it to me.

"Don't forget to bring it back when you're done."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I turned and headed back into the lengthy main hallway. "Go left", Matt said, "And it's just down past the main entrance."

"Matt!" I said once I thought we were out of Alice's hearing distance, conveying annoyance at his prank, mostly because I hadn't been in on it. I don't mind pranks; I'm a cat for goodness sake, but that was getting awkward, and we did need the key to his room.

"What? I thought I'd see if that would work. There isn't much else to do but lie down up here right now, and I did plenty of that at the hospital."

"I could always put you on the ground and let you run while I follow," I said, only half-jokingly. I wanted some sort of minor payback.

"No thanks. I wouldn't mind doing some climbing though, would you mind if I explored your chest, arms, and back?"

"No. But wouldn't that be risky? You could fall."

"I think I'll be fine if you just tuck in your shirt."

"Oh, ok," I thought he wanted to climb around on my shirt and exposed arms, not inside my shirt. "If you're sure, just be careful. You just got out of the hospital, and I'd rather you didn't go back any time soon."

"Nor would I want to," he replied. With that, I tucked my shirt into my shorts, and then felt him climb down the side of my head and seek out the back of the neck of my short sleeve shirt. It was hidden by my mane, but he found it, and managed to pull it open just enough to slip into my shirt. Next I felt him half slide, half climb as far down my lower back as he could with my shirt tucked in, and then start climbing up and to the right as I reached the door to his dorm room, or rather the outer door.

His room was in one of the newer dorms that were suite-style: two actual dorm rooms sharing a small entry way with two sinks in a rectangular space to the side where the only wall without a door would be, with a doorway into the bathroom proper at the end of that space. The outer door was unlocked, so I entered and crossed the entryway to Matt's room, which was directly opposite me.

This door was unlocked too, and I opened it to find someone I assumed to be Doug sitting cross-legged on the bed by the window using a sleeping bag as a cloak, facing his TV on the other end of the room from the door. He was clearly playing a video game. He must have heard when I entered, because he left the online match he was in, put his controller down, and got up. As he emerged from the sleeping bag two things became obvious. He was clearly Doug, the large, fit grey wolf and Matt's roommate, who visited once while Matt was in the hospital; and he was only in his boxers.

"Hey, Matt's out of the hospital. But he's"

"Matt's out of the hospital? That's great! Where is he?" Doug cut me off after the first statement.

"In my shirt" I realized the moment I said that why I was a little hesitant before to let Matt climb around in there. Doug examined me with puzzlement for an awkward moment before I felt Matt climb onto the top of my upper right arm and down it until just before the end of the sleeve, then he let go of his grip and free fell feet first briefly before I angled my arm in a successful attempt to turn his fall into a gradually shallower slide down the outside of my elbow and across my forearm. He managed to angle the slide toward the edge between my thumb and index finger, and turned and gripped the edge with his hands as he slid off it and I turned my palm face-up; allowing him to swing onto it with his momentum, and end up executing a bow for his feat as he stood up out of the crouch he went into on landing to disperse the rest of his momentum into my palm without falling down.

"Hi Doug!" he exclaimed, thrilled to have pulled off that stunt.

"Hey!" Doug replied; then he proceeded to pull his large sack out of his boxers and grip it in such way that his sheath was hidden as he flapped his balls at me and Matt and made a trilling noise for a moment before putting them away. "That was awesome! I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I! But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try; especially with such a cooperative assistant," Matt said, tickling my paw with his tail at that last part.

"Are you staying here?" It was obvious that the wolf had mixed feelings about this idea, but they were edging toward interested after his roommate's stunt.

"No, I'll be staying with Alex here until I get back to normal size. His apartment's equipped for micro guests, and his class schedule is a lot closer to mine."

"Okay." Doug managed to convey both disappointment and that he thought there were other reasons Matt didn't want to stay with him for the time being.

"What happened wasn't your fault Doug, we went over this. There's no way you could have known there was someone like that at the nightclub, and I was the one that followed you there instead of heading back here. For all we know that guy followed us to the bar and to the nightclub."

"Alright," Doug responded, cheered up. "I'll help you guys carry what you need. Oh, and the police returned your wallet, keys, and phone."

With that, we eventually got to my apartment with some of Matt's clothes, backpack, games system, TV, clarinet, and a few other things. I set up his TV and game system and with his help gradually shrank a wireless controller to the perfect size for his hands, then did the same with his clarinet; since we'd gotten permission to order a growth gun to try to return Matt and his stuff to normal size, but it could be months before they got around to sending it. Grace had his laptop, and was supposed to have everything from it uploaded into one of her secure servers for him to access with a specialized laptop for micros that was thin, light, and designed to work well with the use of a shrink gun to reduce the computer to a useful size. A similarly designed cell phone would also be prepped for Matt after Grace got ahold of his actual phone.

I also showed Matt and a curious Doug the micro accommodations, which were basically an apartment similar to mine, with a bedroom, bathroom, and living area all built into a sturdy metal box with a door as well as a hinged roof for access. The box was designed to be shrunk in increments, with adapters for water and sewer pipes and power via a normal outlet for each size. Matt tested out the bed and other furniture, and was surprised to find most of it as comfortable as the average normal-sized furniture, if not more so.

"We'll have to join up and dominate some matches online sometime," Doug said as he prepared to leave, "See you guy later." He then proceeded to flap his balls like earlier, before walking out of the apartment.

"Does he do that often?" I asked as we continued getting Matt situated in the micro apartment.

"Yeah, it's just sort of his thing. Some dogs actually do sniff butts in greeting, and he...well...does that."

Then my cell phone went off and I stood up to answer it. It was Patrick. We had gotten a call from local law enforcement about a possible sighting of a certain lion at the convention center

I informed Matt of this, and then asked: "Would you like to stay here?"

"No. I'd feel much safer in your mane than sitting alone here, and I wouldn't mind seeing him taken down if he is there."

"Okay." I lowered my hand to the floor and Matt hopped on, and then proceeded to climb quickly to my shoulder and finally the top of my head as I stood up. "You're getting good at that," I observed.

"It helps that you're letting me practice, and speaking of that, I'd like to try some new stunts later. I have a lot of ideas to keep things interesting as I use you for transport."

With that we were out the door and on the way to the convention center.