[Instinct was not the only thing that had grown over the last few months, but it was the sharpest and always boiling close to the surface more than anything else. He paced the apartment walls, listening and waiting for signs of danger to him, his mate or anything that he considered his. He followed Steve to the market occasionally, but that was getting more difficult as his girth became more obvious and burrowing Steve's hoodies were not exactly doing the trick to hiding him completely. The bathtub was his second favourite place to sleep and always seemed to be full of water now.
However, he knew the new instinct was old, older than he was. It came from a memory from one far older than he, someone with more experience in matters of family and child-rearing. He at first paced around the apartment, restless and unable to settle before he was pulling pillows off the couch and then abandoned them. He rooted in the kitchen cabinets but was unable to wedge in, so he abandoned those as well. Steve's room of things of old had no interest to him, so he abandoned that as well without only a step inside.
He finally settled in the bedroom closet. He shoved out shoes and other objects from the floor, only exploring boxes looking for soft materials. Blankets and sheets from the bed were pulled in and twined together intricately. He lined the forming nest with Steve's shirts from the hangers above, left to get the couch cushions and pull them in as well. Spare towels and linens were also eventually victim of his pressing need, the rise of hunger with it, as he laced, braided and wrapped all this material into a nest that filled the entire closet.
In his search for other items to make it higher and protective, he found it. An old brown hat with a gold metal pressed just above the visor. He knew that hat, he thought. He had worn that cap long ago, but he couldn't remember the decoration much. It was shiny and continually attracted his attention until he slipped the military cap on his head, and it fit perfectly like it had always meant to be there.
He settled and folded his mismatched arms across the top of the intricate nesting edge. He was hungry. Slowly, he began to sing for his supper, to draw in anything - anyone - in his range, summoned by the song of his superiority and his pressing need to feed the swell of his belly that was filling rapidly with a growing child. It was the first time he had nested and the first time he had sung to draw in any living creature to his proximity.]
7 Months Later
However, he knew the new instinct was old, older than he was. It came from a memory from one far older than he, someone with more experience in matters of family and child-rearing. He at first paced around the apartment, restless and unable to settle before he was pulling pillows off the couch and then abandoned them. He rooted in the kitchen cabinets but was unable to wedge in, so he abandoned those as well. Steve's room of things of old had no interest to him, so he abandoned that as well without only a step inside.
He finally settled in the bedroom closet. He shoved out shoes and other objects from the floor, only exploring boxes looking for soft materials. Blankets and sheets from the bed were pulled in and twined together intricately. He lined the forming nest with Steve's shirts from the hangers above, left to get the couch cushions and pull them in as well. Spare towels and linens were also eventually victim of his pressing need, the rise of hunger with it, as he laced, braided and wrapped all this material into a nest that filled the entire closet.
In his search for other items to make it higher and protective, he found it. An old brown hat with a gold metal pressed just above the visor. He knew that hat, he thought. He had worn that cap long ago, but he couldn't remember the decoration much. It was shiny and continually attracted his attention until he slipped the military cap on his head, and it fit perfectly like it had always meant to be there.
He settled and folded his mismatched arms across the top of the intricate nesting edge. He was hungry. Slowly, he began to sing for his supper, to draw in anything - anyone - in his range, summoned by the song of his superiority and his pressing need to feed the swell of his belly that was filling rapidly with a growing child. It was the first time he had nested and the first time he had sung to draw in any living creature to his proximity.]