Work Text:
Cleo turned out to be a lot more work than Even or Isak could have ever imagined. Lea, Isak’s childhood pet that had been so loved she had earned a spot on the sign outside their house, had been a dog. Isak assumed a cat would be easier to care for than a dog: you don’t have to take them outside, their meows couldn’t be as loud as a bark, they didn’t shed as much… the list went on and on.
Maybe it was because neither Isak nor Even had ever had a cat, or that Cleo was just special, but the boys had been surprised by how much work she had been. One of the reasons Isak had gotten a cat for Even was because he thought she would just sleep in the same bed as Even and make him feel better during his depressive episodes, but this was far from reality.
Lea, like most dogs, required walks early in the morning. Isak had been lucky in that his father had always done the walks and he had never needed to wake up that early. Cleo demanded the same kind of early attention. If neither of the boys had woken up before the early hour of six in the morning, Cleo would stalk around their bed, screaming. No, she wouldn’t meow, she would just scream.
A scream, an honest to God scream was the only way the boys could think of to describe the noise their feline friend made when she wanted attention. It was loud and long and high pitched like no cat either of the boys had ever met. If they somehow managed to ignore her through her screams, Cleo wasn’t the kind of girl to give up easily.
She would soon migrate to their bed and walk around and between their sleeping figures. The one time in the two weeks since they had gotten her that they were able to ignore her still, Cleo would climb onto Even’s chest and curl up there. Her muscular figure was enough to make breathing slightly frustrating and the loud purring she had ensued made it impossible for Even to sleep. Cleo was only satisfied in the slightest bit when one of the boys finally got out of bed and gave her some food.
They had come up with the idea of giving her breakfast ten minutes later everyday to hopefully acclimate her into a slightly normal eight o’clock breakfast, but on the first day they intended to implement their plan; Cleo seemed to sense their intentions.
She decided to wake them up ten minutes earlier than normal instead so that when the ten-minute alarm Even had set when Cleo first started her morning routine went off, it was still only six in the morning.
Breakfast wasn’t the only thing Cleo would demand.
Isak had always operated on the assumption that it was only dogs that would come up to their humans and ask to be pet or to be talked to. Cleo, on the other hand, Isak had found to jump up on the table when he was trying to do his homework and weasel her way under his arm as he wrote or twine her tail around it as she passed.
When they tried to make any kind of meal, Cleo would be stalking at their feet; not only ready to eat anything that fell on the floor, but to also jump up on the counter and try to take any of the meat or cheese that they had. Isak had thought they would be safe on the one night they made quesadillas in that the only thing Cleo seemed to like (the cheese) was either zipped up in the bag it came in or over the stove on the tortilla. With all the surprises Cleo had given him, Isak should have known she would creep over to the cutting board when he wasn’t looking and steal a slice of a red bell pepper.
While Isak was more than happy to entertain the more than slightly demanding cat, he was worried about Even. An active, needy animal was not what Isak had intended to give him. The thing about depressive episodes that most people who don’t have a mental illness don’t seem to understand is that you can’t simply skip everything.
While all Even wanted to do was sleep when he was depressed, that wasn’t all he could do. If Even didn’t show up for school when he was still attending, he would have been held back almost every single year by not fulfilling the 10 percent requirement. Now, if Even didn’t show up for work, he simply wouldn’t have a job.
Getting up early in the morning to feed a cat or spending his time using a lint roller on all of their furniture when he came home from work instead of resting seemed a little too much to force on Even.
Instead, as if Cleo wasn’t full of enough surprises, her antics managed to be good for Even.
Despite the fact that waking up and getting out of bed was never easy for Even, Isak had woken up one morning around seven to find Even smiling fondly at the little black cat who, after having eaten all the breakfast she wanted, was curled up asleep in Even’s lap, purring loud enough for it to have woken Isak up.
“Good morning,” Isak had said.
Even had looked up at his boyfriend in surprise, but his face had quickly changed to one of deep endearing that was usually held only for Isak. He had then held his finger up to his lips to signal Isak to be quite, “Isn’t she so cute?” he had asked in a whisper, motioning with his head to the sleeping figure on his lap.
Then Isak had come home from school, fully expecting Even to have fallen asleep after work, but was instead met with a cheery laugh once he opened the door. He had found Even sitting on the bed with Cleo using the lint roller as a cat brush to lift the hair off her body.
“I think we should call this ‘rolling the cat’,” Even had said with a laugh.
With how much Even had bonded with Cleo, Isak shouldn’t have been surprised when he came home on Tuesday to find Even, almost out of his depressive episode, standing in the kitchen filling up a water bottle.
“Halla,” Even said when he saw Isak enter the room. Even walked over to Isak and gave him a chaste kiss before going back to filling his water bottle. When Even was depressed, almost all of his kisses were chaste. They were like that because it was all the boy could manage in his state. But Isak could feel the difference in this kiss. It was short because Even had something to do.
“Halla,” Isak said in return once Even was already back at the sink, “What’s up?”
Even looked back at him with a mischievous smile on his face, “Okay,” he began as he screwed the top on his bottle of water, “I was hoping that I could do this before you came home so I could send you a video while you were at school, but I got held up when the laundry didn’t dry totally,”
Isak didn’t miss the fact that Even had found the energy in himself to do the laundry, something that took a little extra when Even was depressed, “Take a video of what?” Isak asked, trying to dampen the smile that was already spreading across his face.
Whether or not it worked, Even didn’t give any indication. Instead, he turned back to the bedroom, “Pippa!” he yelled. How ‘Pip’ or ‘Pippa’ had become Even’s nickname for Cleo, neither of the boys could explain. Even would say that all that mattered was that Cleo responded to it.
On cue, Isak heard the soft jingle from the bell on her collar as Cleo jumped off of something (most likely the bed where she technically wasn’t allowed unless it was bed time). When she came into Isak’s field of vision, he couldn’t help stifle a soft chuckle when he saw the bright pink straps around her body in the shape of a harness that Even had undoubtedly bought on his way home from work. Actually, if Isak was being honest with himself after all that had happened recently and the amount Even had bonded with Cleo, Even had probably gone out during his lunch break to buy the harness.
Even uncharacteristically (in his depressed state) joined in with Isak’s soft laugh, “She’s been staring out the window most of the time she isn’t with me and keeps trying to get out the front door,” he explained, “So I was thinking… maybe we could take her out for a walk?”
It came out more of a question than Isak knew Even had wanted, but just like when Isak had first brought Cleo home, he felt his heart swell as full as it could when he saw just how excited Even seemed to be behind his calm demeanor.
He should have responded to Even right away, but Isak couldn’t help himself from walking up to Even and threading his arm around his boyfriend’s lower back. Isak smiled wide and warm at his lover as he leaned in closer to place a long kiss on his lips.
It was one of Isak’s favorite kisses with Even. It wasn’t domestic and quick (don’t get him wrong, Isak loved those too) when Isak was going to school or Even was off to work. It wasn’t full of need either when one or both of the boys had spent far too much of the day needing something hot and heavy at night. It was “just” a kiss. It was one of those kisses that conveyed pure, unadulterated love.
It told Isak that Even was okay: that there was nothing in his mind that would require constant watching or the dreaded visit to the hospital or jail cell. It told Even how much the small boy in front of him cared for him and how that same boy could never, never, see Even as anything less than the beautiful, strong, powerful man in front of him: it was a kiss that told him he would never be a burden.
This was the kind of kiss that lasted mere seconds, despite felling like they had spent years linked at the lips. It was the kind of kiss that they were now only brought out of by the shrill meow/scream of Cleo who was always reminding them that they lived in the real world and not their own universe.
Both of the boys chuckled themselves out of the kiss at their cat’s noise, but they stayed with their foreheads pressed against each other, their noses brushing against each other with every other movement.
“I mean, she was born a stray,” Isak said softly, “She probably misses being outside,”
Even smiled back at his boyfriend as if his last statement had been all the validation he would ever need, “Yeah,” he almost whispered in response, “That’s what I thought,”
Isak found himself threading his fingers in Even’s hair and pulling him into another kiss. This one was different than the last one. This was one of their kisses with need. It was a kiss that would have lead to a lot more… if Cleo hadn’t managed to meow, yet again.
“I think we ought to take her out on a walk,” Even whispered.
“Yeah,” Isak said back, but he made no move to leave. Instead, he leaned down and kissed the junction between Even’s jaw and his neck, “I guess we should,” he said in between sucking a bruise onto Even’s neck.
And in that moment, Isak was happier than he could have ever been. It wasn’t because he could be sexual with his boyfriend (not that that was a bad thing) but because Even was in a solid enough emotional place where he could really love Isak again and make Isak feel loved without it feeling like an obligation on either of their sides.
The boys ended up taking Cleo out for a walk within ten minutes of Isak coming home, despite Isak feeling weary the entire day. Cleo had inspected cars and gardens and everything in between, but it was really only Even that was paying attention. Isak had spent the entire time watching Even light up at every marginally cute thing Cleo had done. Isak had spent the entire time relishing in the fact that Even was happy again. That was all he needed. That was all he wanted.