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As the lights in the cinema dimmed, Arthur casually stretched his arm around the back of Alfred's seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his American boyfriend grin back at him in-between mouthfuls of buttery popcorn. The first time Arthur had watched Alfred devour junk food at the movies, he had been horrified by the amount of food Alfred could eat. But now he secretly hoped that Alfred would finish off the extra-large tub of popcorn before the end of the trailers. He wanted Alfred to eat quickly partially because the American was a noisy eater, but mostly because a tub of popcorn made it difficult to snog during the boring parts of the movie.
True to form, he felt Alfred lean closer as soon as the popcorn was gone. Keeping his eyes on the screen, Arthur half-turned his face and found two warm lips pressed against his own. Despite the greasy taste of popcorn, he sighed happily and deepened the kiss.
By the time the movie reached the halfway point, Arthur's hands were tangled in Alfred's hair and he was almost sitting in Alfred's lap. Their soft moans must have drawn someone's attention, because Arthur blinked when an usher flashed a light in their face and insisted that they vacate the premises immediately.
"It wasn't that good of a movie anyway," Arthur muttered, grateful that the darkness and his coat hid the bulge in his pants as they left the cinema.
"So... wanna head to your place now?" Alfred suggested eagerly, his wide grin showing off his boyish charm.
Arthur froze and started to panic. "I thought we were heading to your place."
"Yeah, 'bout that..." Alfred rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "My roommate kinda threatened to drown my electronics in alcohol if I sexiled him one more time."
"Well, we can't go to my flat!"
"Why not?"
"Because..." Arthur's thoughts raced as he tried to think of a good excuse. "Uh, the toilet isn't working."
Alfred frowned. "I thought you said they fixed that last week?"
"Right, but the place is still a huge mess."
"Messier than my room?" Alfred asked incredulously.
"Okay, perhaps not quite that messy," Arthur admitted. "But the walls are really thin and I'm afraid the neighbors might complain."
"I can be quiet!"
"We were just kicked out for being too noisy!" Arthur reminded him.
"What a crock," Alfred grumbled. "I mean, the guy behind us was trying to film the thing! They should be thanking us for messing up his piracy."
"My point still stands."
"Come on, Artie!" Alfred begged. "I wanna see your place. It's been a month and you still haven't let me visit. I'm starting to think you've got a wife on the side or something."
Arthur gaped. "I don't have a wife!"
"Or a husband?"
"Definitely not!"
"Then what's the problem?"
"Well..." Their loud argument had drawn a number of stares, leading Arthur to blush as he glanced down at the pavement. "Let's just say that I haven't been with someone for quite some time."
Alfred shrugged. "Okay, so it's a bachelor pad. That's cool."
"No, I mean that I got a bit lonely..."
"You've got some inflatable dolls or something?"
"No! Ugh, I suppose you're not going to let up until you've seen it..." Arthur buried his face into his hands and sighed. Giving in to the inevitable, he led Alfred to the train and bought two tickets for the Catford station in southeast London. With each step closer to his flat, his panic grew. He knew he wouldn't be able to live down this humiliation. Alfred was going to laugh at him, or worse, dump him.
Arthur unlocked the front door and winced as he heard a loud meow welcoming him home. Four paws raced across the hardwood floors, and a white cat with a dark ruff around her neck approached them at breakneck speed. Arthur sighed. The shaming was about to begin.
"Hey there, big fella!" Alfred said cheerfully as he bent down to pet the large, fluffy cat. She curled around Alfred's legs and purred eagerly. "What's your name?"
"This is Augusta."
Recognizing her name, the cat meowed loudly.
"Is this what you were hiding?" Alfred asked with a laugh. "Dude, I don't care that you have a cat. I already knew you were gay."
"That's just a stereotype," Arthur muttered as he put away his coat. He was in the middle of hanging up Alfred's jacket when he heard two more cats racing their way. Arthur sighed. So much for his hope that the cats would be too scared to greet the new human.
The kitties bounced eagerly into the room. One was pure white with slightly longer hair curled near her ears, the other was a mix of white and brown with a small dark marking across her nose. Moments later a small tabby with two red bows attached to her collar pounced on Arthur's shoes. Tails swishing with excitement, the moggies swarmed underfoot as Arthur led Alfred to the kitchen.
"Whoa." Alfred's eyes widened as he took in the growing number of cats. They meowed eagerly, begging Arthur for their dinner, and he obliged.
"The white one is Wellington," Arthur explained. "Adelaide has the mark on her nose, and Victoria is the smallest."
"Dude, how did you end up with four cats?" Alfred asked as he knelt down to pet the small tabby. She mostly ignored him in favor of her fish dinner.
"Six, actually," Arthur admitted as his cheeks burned.
Alfred glanced up in shock. "Six?!"
"Well..." Arthur cleared his throat. "Regina is too shy to come out when other people are around and Perth hates pretty much everyone."
"Man, I didn't realize I was dating a crazy cat lady," Alfred teased. He stroked the soft fur beneath Augusta's chin and easily lifted the heavy cat into his arms. Always eager for attention, she purred and cuddled against his broad chest.
Arthur tried not to feel jealous of his cat. "I started homing them for the local rescue," he explained. "It wasn't supposed to be permanent, but they were desperate for homes and I couldn't say no." He didn't add that he had suffered a long dry spell before Alfred, and the cats had provided a pleasant alternative to loneliness.
Augusta mewled and jumped down from Alfred's arms when a fifth cat padded into the kitchen. As the two groomed each other, it was obvious that they were sisters. Regina had the same ruff around her neck, although hers was pure white.
"God, you're such a cutie," Alfred said with a chuckle as he reached over to stroke Arthur's soft blond hair.
"Stop that! I am not a cat!" Arthur protested.
"Aw, kitty has claws." Alfred leaned closer with a Cheshire grin. "But don't you want to finish what we started?" he breathed into Arthur's ear. Ignoring the chorus of meows from beneath their feet, he pulled Arthur into a passionate kiss.
They stumbled into the bedroom and slammed the door shut on their feline audience. As much as Arthur loved cats, he wasn't going to make love in front of them. He and Alfred soon lost their shoes as they crashed into the bed. The shirts followed a moment later, hitting the wall before they fell to the floor. Arthur no longer worried about the neighbors hearing as Alfred pinned him to the bed and planted wet kisses along his chest.
Moments later, Alfred's breathless pants turned into a cry of pain. Arthur glanced down to see an angry orange blur chomping on Alfred's toes.
"Perth! Bad cat!" Arthur yelled.
Grimacing in pain, Alfred reached down and lifted the hissing Scottish fold by the scruff of her neck. He carried the cat to the door and dumped her outside. "That's the one who hates everyone?" he asked.
Arthur nodded. "That's her. I'm sorry about that."
"Well, she's just gonna have to learn to share," Alfred declared.
"You... don't mind my collection of moggies?"
"Heh." Alfred grinned. "Just wait till you see my collection of Pokémon cards."
"You're such a dork." Arthur teased. Behind his smile, he heaved a sigh of relief, grateful that his cat hoarding hadn't scared off his new boyfriend. The friendly felines had been a great solace during the past lonely year, it would have been ironic if they had scared off his boyfriend and left him lonely again.
"Yeah, but I'm your dork," the American said as he returned to the bed with a grin. "So... can we name the next one Meowth?"