It's been an exhausting day for everyone, so when you sleepily head straight to your shared bedroom, Viole withdraws from the conversation he's engaged in and follows you.

"Hey, Viole," you say, rubbing your eyes. It takes a lot for you to be this tired—usually you can get by on energy drinks, resentment, and maybe an hour of rest for a good while.

"Are you tired too?"

"Yeah. I thought I'd go to bed with you." Viole smiles.

"Without keeping me awake tonight," you joke, rummaging through your headlamp for your nightclothes. You begin to unbutton your shirt. Viole tosses away the hair tie and stretches.

You change and flop onto the bed, grimacing at the creaking sound. "Ah. Cheap. We can get something better upstairs."

"That's all they had." Viole puts on his own pajamas and lies down next to you, snuggling right under your chin. You pull him close gently, kiss his head, and wrap the blankets around him.

You smile slightly and start playing with Viole's curls and scratching his scalp a little. And maybe it's just because Viole is so tired, and scratching and playing with his hair feels so good, but he starts making a little rumbling noise in the back of his throat. You pause, and the noise dies away. "What was that?"

"Oh..." Viole looks embarrassed, which is rare. "I haven't done that in a while. Um, no... don't worry about it. I won't do it again." He thought he'd lost the ability to purr like that, to be honest. Rachel had said no, humans don't make animal sounds, and he stopped and focused on actual language.

"You can purr?" You blink, surprised. "And you never told me?"

"I thought I couldn't do it anymore. I used to do that a lot, but I stopped... making noises."

"If I keep scratching your scalp and holding you, will you do it again?" You sound anxious, almost like a child, and Viole thinks that's true. You love animals... especially cats.

"Maybe so. I purr when I'm happy, so..." Viole whispers.