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The gray day rolled slowly by, so slowly it seemed unending. Arriving home, wet from the rain threatening to flood the city, Call sighed. Finally at home, he opened the front door of the apartment and rested his umbrella in its stand, turned left and slogged into the kitchen, where a white tiger was preparing their dinner.

"You're a bit late! Long day?"- the tiger asked, still minding the food.

Call didn't say anything, he just walked towards the bigger feline. Noticing the silence, he turned towards the human.

"Hey, wh..."- he turned around, laying his eyes on Call –"You're all wet!"- he commented upon seeing his soggy clothes. The tiger, Kote, walked towards him and put his arms around his shoulders, one hand on his damp black hair – "Is it raining that hard?"

"Long day, yeah."- Call murmured, head hanging low.

Holding Call's chin, Kote inspected his face before tenderly telling him-"You should go take a bath, or you'll catch a cold. Don't worry, I won't use the hot water!"-he added with a wink.

"You'd better..."- Call tried to sound threatening, something he was having trouble with at the moment, what with the exhaustion and being handled by the perky tiger. He remembered the last time the feline had dared with such a prank... Call wasn't a vengeful person, usually, but every now and then a little counter-attack didn't hurt, and the tiger had taken it all in stride.

Pushed out of the kitchen by Kote, he headed for the bedroom, where he took his shoes off and then slowly got himself out of his wet shirt and pants and threw them over a chair. Sitting on the bed, he lifted each foot in turn over the opposite knee and pulled his socks  off, taking a few seconds to just lie in bed and breathe deeply. After the moment of self-indulgence, he knew he had back up. Picking up the fumbled clothing once again, he headed out the bedroom and into the bathroom.

The bathroom was mostly white and kept spotless, being regularly cleaned meticulously. A grey rug and the pink and grey towels added some color to the mix.

Climbing into the tub, he turned the shower on. He shivered as the cold water hit his lower legs and feet, but the water quickly warmed, allowing him to completely submerge himself under the falling droplets. Enjoying the warmth for a moment, he inspired deeply with his mouth, holding his breath for a second before expiring.

Call went through the motions, lathering himself and letting the hot water drag the suds, and the tension in his muscles, away. He filled his hand with lemon-scented shampoo and covered his hair with it, slowly massaging his scalp, using his thumbs to press into his temples as well. That done, he then started to wash the bubbles out of his hair

Finishing that he turned off the shower he turned to get out of the tub, but he hesitated. Eyeing the shower head he considered taking the opportunity to run a longer bath. On one hand their dinner couldn't take much longer to be ready, but on the other an immersion bath would do wonders for him after a stressful day. The temptation to indulge grew.

"Screw it. Didn't take that long anyway...." He thought, turning the hot water on again. If he lost the track of time Kote would come to call him anyway. He got out of the tub, grabbed a small towel they used to dry their hands and stepped back in, sitting down with his legs stretched forward. When the water had filled most of the tub he turned it off and folded the towel, producing a makeshift pillow, which he used to rest his head on, a comfier surface than the hard porcelain.

Feeling the warm water relax his muscles, Call's eyelids grew heavier by the second until he gave in and just closed his eyes. His hands floated slightly below the water's surface, the only vague and distant noises reaching his ears were metal and glass clinking in the living room. Eventually, even his mind let go of its tension, finishing replaying the day's events and moving on to wilder and stranger sights, his imagination running free in a half-dreaming-half-awake state.

In this calm state he barely heard the door open.

"Enjoying yourself?"- the white tiger stood in the doorway, completely naked; or rather, wearing only a cocky smile on his lips. He had well defined and proportioned muscles, built not just from weight-lifting, but mostly from years of use, while his fur was clean and well-groomed, pure-white with the exception of his stripes.

"Mhh-hm..."- was all Call could muster, a faint smile taking over his lips.

Kote closed the door behind him, approached the bathtub and squatted next to it- "Mind if I join in?"- he asked softly, dipping his hand into the water and running his fingertips over Call's stomach.

"How could I?"- the human responded, his smile spreading as he grabbed Kote's hand and gave it a squeeze.

After squeezing back, Kote got up and grabbed the other towel, folding it as well into an improvised head-rest. The tiger lifted his right foot and slowly dropped it into the water, carefully avoiding the human's legs. He grabbed the edge of the bathtub to support himself and lowered the rest of his body into the inviting warmth. Sitting between his companion's legs, he slid until only his neck was over the water, his left leg going over Call's body, the right one staying on the human's left side, while he grabbed the human's legs to position Call's left foot over the soft fur on his chest and leaving the right one over his left arm.

For a while they simply laid there looking each other in the eyes. The staring contest proceeded for a minute, their smiles growing wider and wider despite their struggle to control themselves, until both their facades broke down in laughter.

"... silly tiger!"- the human punctuated his statement by bonking the tiger's snout with his toes

"He-hey! Watch where you put toes!"

"... was that supposed to be a pun?"

The tiger simply grinned.

"That was terrible..."- Call jokingly mocked, taking the excuse to bat at the tiger's nose again.

"Hmpf!"- the tiger faked offense, moving his head away from the foot-" If these attacks on my poor person won't stop..."- he grabbed the foot and pressed his thumb against the ball to force the toes to spread-"... I'll have to stop them myself."

"And you'll do what exactly?"- Call teased, scrunching and relaxing his toes

"If these little piggies keep misbehaving"- Kote uttered, pulling the captive foot in his direction-" I might just have to eat them!"- he exclaimed, sticking his tongue to meet the pampered digits and then using his front teeth to lightly nibble them

Call couldn't help but giggle slightly at the ticklish feeling. Kote was scrapping the undersides of his index and middle toes, his rough tongue gently licking their tips. Meanwhile, he had started rubbing the sole of the other foot with his thumb. Call smiled widely and sunk into the water until only his chin was above the surface. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the attention.

The tiger had learned a couple of tricks over the years. He pressed both thumbs deep into the arch of Call's foot, forcing the muscles underneath to relax and a long moan to escape the human's mouth.  He kneaded the sole up to the ball of foot, rubbing his thumbs in spirals in place before running them over the length of each toe, stretching them out individually.

The massage, along with the hot water, were exactly what Call needed to unwind after such a stressful day. His eyes closed once more, he allowed the tiger to manipulate his feet however he wished, almost falling asleep once Kote started working on the second foot as well. Opening his eyelids just a twinge, he looked up at the white tiger's focused face, his eyes unmoving from Call's sole. He adored the tiger for a few moments, thanking fate for bringing them together, as he often did.

After a while, he turned his attention to the paw in front of his face. It had a black pawpad on the heel, another bigger one on the ball, near the toes, and then one more on each of them. Kote personally had never cared for feet, even his own, but after meeting Call he had started to... appreciate their aesthetic a bit more. Where before they were never really cared for, he now took some time to put at least a bit of lotion every once in a while. Not that he needed to, as Call was more than delighted to give him pedicures, something they could both enjoy. These regular sessions had made the rough pads incredibly soft. The fur was silky, silkier than it'd ever been, and his claws were blunt and shined like they were permanently polished.  In fact, every once in a while he'd catch someone eyeing his feet while he was giving his class. Even the receptionist once asked whether he had started getting pedicures. His face got red, he muttered a quick "yeah" and walked away. Later, she had told him there was nothing wrong men taking care of themselves, how it was charming. Kote had to wonder whether she was flirting with him.

Call slowly lifted his hands through the rippling water's surface and directed them to play with the tiger's toes. Rubbing the pads, wiggling them back and forth, squeezing them gently until the claw popped out. He lowered both hands slight and lightly scratched the main pad with eight fingers, causing the whole paw to shake in place for a second and then freeze up in tension, obviously straining to stay as Call teased away. On the other side of the tub, Kote started chuckling out loud. He closed his eyes and bit his lip, but never stopped massaging. Soon enough Call moved on to running those same eight fingers over the white-furred sole below the pad, not wanting to torment the tiger on the occasion. He ran his fingertips over the arch and the blade of the foot, feeling the soft fur and the strong muscles underneath. It was so big and beautiful. Eyeing the other paw by his side, he placed one hand over it and interlaced his fingers with its toes, feeling their warmth and squeezing them tenderly. The foot over his chest kept getting its arch rubbed with his thumb, occasionally getting the area where its arch met its heel teased with a sneaky index finger.

Kote teased his human as well, lowering the ball of his foot onto Call's lips and catching his nose between his toes. Call minded not. He smiled widely and rubbed the top of the foot with his hands, feeling the tendons shifting under his fingers, and laid kisses all over the sole and pads. He licked the tip of his tongue over the plush pads once or twice, nuzzled the silky fur with his brow and cheeks, kissed it all over in the most loving manner he could, he worshipped the footpaw like it deserved.

Kote's heart raced faster, and he tried showing the human feet in his possession a similar adoration. As his thumbs rubbed over the blades of feet and the rest of his fingers did the same over the toes' tendons, he kissed the balls of Call's feet and ran his wide tongue from the heel up the soft sole, taking care for his raspy tongue not to tickle or hurt the sensitive skin. Amidst licks, he realized Call had stopped moving. Peering beyond feet and paws, he saw his eyes were closed. His face completely calm. Fallen asleep. The tiger smiled caringly. He wished he could let Call rest, but he needed to have dinner.

As hazy dreams and fantasies entangled themselves in the human's skull, he felt a shifting weight ontop his stomach and limbs. Struggling to pull his heavy eyelids open, he looked up to see his tiger laying over his body, his arms and legs keeping Call's own in place.

"Wanna go eat?"- the feline licked Call's cheek.

"Mmm, no...."- Call closed his eyes again and lifted his head to rub them against Kote's chest. -"... but let's go."

Kote chuckled and slid his handpaw under Call's back to pull the bathtub's plug. As the bath water drained from around them, Kote wrapped his arms around Call and pulled him up, helping him onto his feet and then picked up a towel. The two dried each other before heading out of the bathroom.

"We need to do this every day."- Call suggested.

Kote grinned -"What a well washed pair we'll be."

The two ate side by side, shoulder and sides touching each other. That night, they forewent TVs and computers and books and any other such distraction. After dinner they headed straight to bed, cuddling together until sleep came for them.