41 Fifth Avenue

[JaguarOne]

Matthew Larson's Apartment
Greenwich Village, Manhattan

Seven in the morning. The sun had finally finished rising into the New York sky and the pulse that had been surging through the city all night was still surging through it this morning. Out in the streets, pedestrians were flooding the sidewalks, cars were honking at each other in the streets, and the sounds of sirens filled the air as emergency vehicles raced to where they were needed. And amidst the noise filling the air were the occupants of unit 212 in the apartment complex located at 41 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, both of whom were fast asleep.

Or one of them, anyways.

Matthew Larson was now wide awake. He had the wonderful blessing--or unfortunate curse--of waking up at seven a.m. sharp every morning regardless of whether or not the alarm went off. This morning, however, he had woken up a few minutes before the alarm, which gave him time to turn it off before the beeping woke up the other sleeping occupant in his bed: Jonathan Smirnov, son of the New York Police Department's Commissioner Robert Smirnov. Like his father, Jonathan was a German Shepherd and a cop. In fact, he was a spitting image of his father back when his father was in his mid-twenties: young, handsome, powerfully built, and with a beautiful coat.

The two of them had been on a date the night before, a date that ended rather well in Matt's opinion. Though, he could only speak for himself. Watching Jon sleep for a few more minutes, Matt carefully got out of the bed, pulled on a pair of pajama pants, and stretched before making his way into the kitchen to begin cooking breakfast, leaving Jon to sleep for a bit longer.

[Mike]

The sun warming Jonathan's slightly ruffled coat slowly roused the canine. He woke slowly and in stages, first feeling nothing but an impression of the sun's warmth and the softness of his bed, but then scents and sounds crept into his awareness. Gentle noises of activity in another room, the smell of warm food, and notably the lack of the now familiar presence of Matthew Larson with him in bed. With a gentle effort of will, Jon lifted his mind our of this twilight world and cracked open his eyes. He was met with the same room in which he had fallen blissfully asleep the night before, the simple but comfortable, if slightly cluttered, surroundings of a bachelor's apartment.

Jon sat up in bed and collected himself for a moment, then reached down to find the boxers and jeans he had worn the evening before. These he slipped on, leaving his upper body bare save for the handsome tan-and-brown fur that covered his powerful chest. This done, he padded quietly into the kitchen. He didn't expect to sneak up on Matt of course, nor was he trying to do so. The lion's senses, along with his instincts as a detective, were every bit as sharp as his own.

"You should have woke me." Smirnov said in his low, smooth voice. "I think you take your role as host too seriously." Jon's tone was soft and chiding, and he had a slight smile on his muzzle as he crossed the room to embrace the other.

[JaguarOne]

"Well you were too adorable for me to even think of waking you," Matt said with a smirk as he continued to scramble the eggs with an egg beater--one of the cheap manual stirrers that you can buy at any bodega or Stop & Shop supermarket in the city. Hell, maybe even a Duane Reade somewhere in the city might stock 'em. The lion smiled and looked over to the shirtless German Shepherd. "Even if the sight would have been worth the potential hassle of you wanting to go back to sleep." With that, the black-maned lion winked and took the pan off of the stove, using the egg beater to divide the eggs onto two plates which already had bacon and toast on them.

"Breakfast is served"

With a smile, the feline turned off the stove and set the hot pan back down on one of the cold burners, not wanting to heat the pan up again. He then washed his hands once more, picked up the plates, and set them down on the island a few feet away. "You can eat wherever you want." With another smile, the lion slinked off to the living room and turned the television on, the set already tuned to CBS 3 morning news. Matt turned up the volume a bit so that it could the few feet away at the kitchen island and walked back over to Jonathan.

"Sleep well?" He asked as he gave the German Shepherd a deep kiss.

[Mike]

Jon casually picked at a piece of bacon, feeling decidedly warm inside in response to Matt's flattery. He just wanted a taste before he'd find a place to sit and enjoy his meal. His large paw dwarfed the morsel, as he popped it into his mouth. He savored the salty-greasy taste, and was about to pick up his plate when Matt padded back up to him with a sort of loving smirk on his muzzle that made Jon hastily swallow the bacon and grin back contentedly.

Jon kissed back as he was embraced, feeling a low rumble of pleasure rise from the back of his throat. He wrapped one arm around Matt's waist and let the other caress his shoulder. Just in case the meaning of his actions wasn't perfectly clear, Jon broke contact after a few seconds and held the feline's gaze. "Very." he said, and the word contained the same weight of truth and reassurance of his warm and powerful embrace.

"I couldn't imagine not sleeping well with a cat like you at my side." Jon said, turning away as he picked up his plate of food. Somehow the words were easier to say once he'd broken eye contact. He transferred the plate to his right paw and slid his left arm around Matt's waist, leading the lion towards the living room couch.

[JaguarOne]

Diego Garcia's Apartment
Greenwich Village, Manhattan

Diego sighed and yawned as he walked into his apartment after a long shift at Bellevue Hospital Center in Midtown, Manhattan. The cheetah had managed to beat out most of the competition in his class to become a first year resident in the hospital's Emergency Room a year ago and now he can't view himself working anywhere else. There was something very rewarding about working at the emergency room. Sure he had to deal with horrible injuries and see people after they had sustained traumatizing injuries, but he was also one of the first doctor's they'd meet on the road to recovery. Working in an ER meant that he literally got to save lives. Life or death, everything he did in that hospital was for the betterment of his patients.

Locking the front door behind him, the feline slipped the chain lock on the door and walked into the kitchen where he tossed his keys onto the island counter to his left. Looking through his mail, the feline set the small pile of bills down on the counter, opened his fridge, withdrew the bottle of red wine within, and proceeded to pour himself a glass. Letting out a yawn, the feline drank the small amount of wine he had poured into the glass before setting the empty glass in the sink and putting the red wine bottle back. Making his way into the bedroom, the feline yawned as he lied down on the bed, his boyfriend, a hunky wolf named Jack La Rue, lying in bed next to him.

Little did he know, the wolf had been expecting him.