(no subject)

Frogspawn eyes Guppy suspiciously.

"You've been spending most of the day assembling that pushchair rather than staying in bed, haven't you?"

"Maybe. But my temperature's down and I feel fine."

"Well you should still be taking it easy, remember." she ruffles his hair. "I'll take Sparky out for you."

"Thanks." he smiles a little as she deposits one of the kittens on him. Jigsaw flops contentedly on his shoulder. Frogspawn sits next to him, fiddling with the pushchair.

"Guppy, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why don't you have furniture?"

Guppy looks around the living room, with its bean bag, very old sofa, cardboard box tables and now various kitten pens.

"I have a sofa."

"It's not that I mind sleeping just on mattresses, really." she says quickly. "I was just a little... concerned."

Guppy smiles slightly. "Yes, the mortgage is crippling, but it's mainly because I just haven't had time. And I've had to spend even more patching this place up. I had to move quite suddenly, the last place I lived in the kitchen burned out. It wasn't me."

"Well, now that there's two of us living here, how about I give you a hand with that?"

He slips a hand into hers. "That's sweet of you, but let's not get carried away. It's a bit early in the relationship to be talking about furniture. But we should go bargain hunting some time."

"Then think of it as rent." Frogspawn replies, depositing another kitten on him.