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If he had to be honest, Lance was more of a dog person. He grew up surrounded by them, from the shepherd collies on his uncle’s farm; to the family dog, a yellow lab named Jake, who was back home in Cuba. He always appreciated dogs for the pure happiness and excitement they radiate when they see you; it was something he could rely on to brighten his day when he came home from a bad day at school. When he heard the sound of paws thumping down the hall towards him, he knew that he wouldn’t be sad for much longer.
So yes, while he preferred dogs, that doesn’t mean he’d give up his cat for the world. Blue had only been in his life for a short time now, just about five months, but she just seemed to fit right into world. She snuggled up close to him at night, and woke him up the next morning with soft paws against his cheeks (and if that didn’t work she’d yowl in his ear), so she kept him upright. Blue also got along great with Hunk and Pidge’s cats as well; they were like their own little family.
Originally, the plan was to only visit Altea Adopts, the adoption center Hunk’s girlfriend had mentioned one day while visiting. Shay had said that her friend Allura had just opened the place with her uncle, and that she wanted to stop by to visit. Hunk, being the wonderful boyfriend he is, opted to go with her, and Lance was absolutely drained empty and was getting antsy from studying, so some animal therapy sounded perfect just about then.
It was a little ways from their university, but by the end of it all it was worth it. The building was quaint and small, bright white and blue on the outside and big windows to see indoors. Lance had immediately rushed to one window, already feeling energized with the promise of seeing cute and adorable pets, he was practically bouncing in place, smile growing on his face.
Though the place was brand new, there was already a mess beginning to build up inside. Tennis balls and feathery toys on strings strewn about on the floor; little bits of kibble spilling out of a bag on top of the counter papers stacked hastily next to it; open boxes left on the ground. Lance was getting more excited at the sight of the toys, the promise of playful pets on the inside as well; it had been so long since he’d pet a dog; his last visit to see his family being months ago. He never realized how much he missed having an animal companion around until he moved in with Hunk and Pidge.
Don’t get it wrong, he loved his friends, but it was a different kind of loneliness, the one that lacked the promising sound of claws tapping across the floor the minute you opened the door, the one that didn’t have happy tail wags just from saying something to them no matter how silly, one that lacked that unconditional love.
Hunk and Shay caught up after him, giggling at how excited Lance was, before opening the door. The bell chimed above them, prompting an orange-mustached man to pop his head up from behind the counter.
“Why hello there!” He called, standing up straight and going over to greet them more properly, accent standing out as he spoke. “Welcome to Altea Adopts, how can I be of service?”
“We just came by to check out how things were going, I’m Shay, I’m friends with Allura” She spoke shyly.
The man’s eyes brightened at that, “Friend of Allura’s ey? Well any friend of Allura’s is a friend of mine! Name’s Coran Hireonymus Wimbleton Smythe, I’m Allura’s godfather.”
He shook hands with each of them, asking Lance and Hunk their names in turn. “Allura’s in the back taking care of some new residents, I’ll take you back to see her.”
He motioned for them to follow them around the counter, down a hallway to a door where Lance could already see cages placed about through the window. Coran opened the door, telling them to get in before any of the animals decided to make a break for it. There weren’t any dogs there at present, but instead a group of five cats. A girl with hair white as moonlight—presumably Allura—sat in the middle of the room, trying to win the attention of a big, beast-ish black cat, outstretching her hand towards it, but it merely sniffed at her and walked away.
She sighed in defeat, turning around towards the group, speaking with an accent the same as her godfather, “Coran, Black still won’t let me get close to him—oh, Shay!”
Allura immediately got to her feet, her curls bouncing around her, to give her friend a hug, the other returning it with a giggle.
“Surprise!” Shay said as she pulled away, “We wanted to see how this place was working out, hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” She replied, looking towards Hunk happily. “It’s been a while, Hunk.”
He nodded towards her with a smile, “’Sup.”
Her eyes then landed on Lance, strikingly bright against her dark completion, she was absolutely gorgeous. “I don’t believe we met, who’re you?”
Lance could feel his cheeks heating up at having those eyes on him, he covered it up by immediately putting on his most charming smile, “Name’s Lance, and I’m your dream come true.”
That earned a sigh of exasperation from Shay, while Hunk rolled his eyes next to him. “He’s my best friend, also an atrocious flirt so please forgive him.”
Allura, who had just worn an expression very familiar to Lance (one that spoke “I wish I didn’t just have to live through hearing that”), almost seemed to smile then.
“Well then, I’m very sorry to tell you, but I’m not a fan of dating men.”
Lance could feel his face flush again, this time with embarrassment, and his jaw dropped; whoops. “Oh shit—really? I’m so sorry, I take that back I hope you don’t—“
Allura cut him off with a laugh, “No worries Lance, you’re not the first guy who has tried to woo me. I’m not offended, really.”
He just nodded hastily, scuffling the toe of his shoe against the tile. God that was embarrassing, he really hoped he didn’t gross out Allura with that. Great, only one conversation in and he already fucked up, he can’t be friends with her now, not only that but he’s also probably embarrassed Shay too, way to go Lance, real nice job—
His train of self-depreciating thoughts was cut off by something rubbing against his leg. He looked down to see a beautiful blue Persian pressing itself up against his jeans. It had bright blue eyes, and when they met his she let out an almost song-like mewl.
“Look’s like someone’s taken a shining to you,” Allura chuckled.
Lance felt himself smiling, kneeling down and reaching a hand out to the cat, who rubbed its cheek up against it right away. “Hey little guy,” He murmured softly to it.
“That’s actually a girl.” Coran spoke up from behind. “Her name’s Blue, and she came in along with the other four that are out right now.”
Glancing up, Lance took note of the other cats in the room. In the middle of the room a small tabby cat that lay licking it’s paw, which brought to attention how short it’s legs were, which was slightly concerning to Lance. Sleeping on a plush cat bed on the opposite side of the room was a big tan cat, lying on it’s back with its hind legs twitching every now and then. He then saw where the black cat from earlier had gone, sniffing around at the crates in the corner of the room next to a table. Now this one, this one was big, not in the way the tan one was, with it being more fat than anything, no, this one was huge—like probably weighed the same as a baby huge. It’s midnight black fur and chipped ear made it easily the most commanding of the bunch.
“They all came in together?” Hunk asked, glancing around at the odd collection of felines.
“Yeah, found them in an abandoned building not too far from here. Looks like they had been living there for a while. We just picked them up yesterday.” Coran said, watching as the big black cat continued its investigation, hopping up on top of the crates to get to the table and look outside through the window.
“Aww, poor guys, it must have been rough…” Shay spoke with a sympathetic frown, taking in how rugged they all looked.
Lance felt a pang in his heart, thinking of all the nights they must have spent scared and alone, not to mention hungry and cold at that. Blue chirped beside him, obviously feeling distraught at not having his full attention. He chuckled at that and sat full on the ground, knees starting to protest from kneeling so much. The cat promptly then came to rest upon his legs, leaning up to bump her head against his chest. This was just far too adorable for his heart to handle, it was almost unfair. He cooed to Blue as he continued to pet her, feeling the content purrs rumbling through her.
“At the very least, they’re in good hands now, and hopefully soon they can all find their forever homes.” Allura said, a sparkle of determination in her eyes. The others smiled at this, Allura’s confidence seeping into them as well.
“So, can you introduce us to the other guys?” Hunk asked, then making his way over to crouch by the sleeping cat, chuckling at the twitch of its paws.
Coran’s grin grew enthusiastically wider, “Certainly!”
So as it turned out, the whole lot of them were named after colors. “Originally it was just Blue and Black who were named like that, but we figured that it’d be fitting if they all matched.” Coran explained, going to sit in the center of the room and motioning the others to do the same. Lance was content sitting further outside the group though, Blue curling up into a little ball so cute that it felt illegal to move. He listened in as Coran told them about the cats and their personalities.
Black, the giant cat with (you’ll never guess) black fur, seemed to be the oldest of them all, maybe four years old, and had quite possibly lived on the streets for some time. If you looked closely enough, you could see tiny scratches along his muzzle and paws. According to Allura though, he’s quite docile, if a bit distant, and gets along well with pretty much everyone, almost acting as a parent to all the other cats.
Yellow, the sandy colored cat napping, was also very friendly, known to rub up against legs and rub his head against anyone’s hand, especially if they had any food on them. “A guy after my own heart,” Hunk laughed, accidently waking up the feline in question and cooing at him as he stretched out.
Green, the cat with short legs and bright green eyes, was the youngest of the bunch, perhaps only one or two years old. The reason her legs were short was because she was a munchkin cat (basically the cat equivalent of a dachshund, Lance had to be told). She seemed pretty disinterested in people, but was easygoing and loved all her cat friends, never afraid to sleep right on top of one of the others if they were napping as well.
Then, there was Blue. She was easily the most outgoing of them all, quickly warming up to Allura during their rescue, which had apparently helped greatly as it made the others feel safer as well. Coran theorized that she used to live with people, therefore explaining how comfortable she was around them. Her, Yellow, and Red were estimated to be two or three years old, which in the end didn’t necessarily matter as they all got along well regardless of their ages.
“Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute, who’s Red?” Lance quickly interrupted, backtracking in his head to see if he missed something.
“Well, Red is—” Coran started, looking around the room. Allura did the same, and Lance took the look of dawning horror on her face to be a bad sign, eyes zeroing in on the window near the table, which seemed to be slightly ajar, now looking at it. “Oh dear god no, she got out?!” She blurted.
Lance, Hunk, and Shay were quickly asked to leave as Allura and Coran now had to hunt after the runaway cat. Lance was quite sad to leave actually; it was peaceful, having Blue rested on his lap; he felt bonded to her instantly. She just seemed to be so comfortable around him, and in response he felt comfortable with her as well. It was hard for his mind to wander to self-deprecation with a cat purring on his legs, which he didn’t realize had occurred until he got back home. He felt attached to her, and while that wasn’t necessarily unusual for him when it came to any animals he interacted with, this time it felt different. As if Blue was attached to him as well; he remembered the solemn aqua of her eyes as he had to scoot her off him and leave, looking back to him as he closed the door to the cat area. The feeling kept nagging at him, keeping him quiet as he ate dinner, much to Hunk and Pidge’s surprise.
“Something on your mind, buddy?” Hunk questioned him with a raise of an eyebrow.
Lance stayed quiet for a moment, trying to come to a decision. After a moment he looked up to his roommates, determination set in his eyes, “How do you guys feel about me adopting a cat?”
***
They came back the next day, this time with Pidge in tow, having demanded to come with them after hearing about the tiny-legged cat, Lance once again running ahead of the group to reach the building first, excitement at adopting a pet far too much to contain. The illustrious Red turned out to be in a separate room this time, where she was in a cage until they could get a better handle on her. While Lance appreciated knowing that another member of the pack was safe and sound, his attention was more focused on adopting his new friend.
Soon enough though, the trip to adopt one cat quickly turned into three, as Pidge couldn’t get enough of Green, filling up their phone with videos of the short-legged feline walking around and playing, and Hunk growing fond of Yellow as well. This of course changed things; they’d have to buy more cat supplies and inform their landlord of the change in plans, but hey, the more the merrier.
Coran just about burst into tears when they told him that they were going to adopt Yellow and Green as well, and Allura crushed them all in a hug, laughing with joy at the cats being adopted already.
Of course with adoption, they were given the option to give their new companions new names. Green was given the name Rover, Pidge saying that they had a toy named that when they were younger. Yellow was given the name Mera, after Shay’s hometown, apparently (Hunk blushed bright red as Lance and Pidge teased him for being so mushy). Blue, well… Lance couldn’t think of a good name to give her. He spent a good time staring at her, those crystal eyes blinking slowly at him in turn, trying to come up with a good name for her. Maybe after one of his sisters? Nah, that’d probably be weird if they came over to visit. One of his many crushes? Not likely either; too many memories, and not all of them pleasant, also kinda weird.
In the end, Lance decided that Blue seemed to fit her perfectly anyways. It was his favorite color after all. Blue didn’t mind either way; she was going home.
***
Honestly, cats are the perfect little heaters. Blue was curled up on Lance’s chest, purring up a storm. His arms were starting to get tired from propping his physics textbook above her, but hey, that’s what you do for love.
It’s been about five months since the trio decided to adopt their cats from Atlea. It had taken some adjusting to; Mera refused to leave his carrier for almost a whole day; and they had to learn quickly not to leave glasses of water unattended, lest Rover decided to release her chaotic impulses upon them; and Blue kept hiding in places where Lance was scared she couldn’t get out of, therefore giving him a mild heart attack each time he couldn’t find her. But, in the end, everyone adjusted quite nicely. Mera is the friendliest guy ever, though he still jumps at loud sounds and is terrified of cucumbers. Rover now unleashes her fury onto toy mice and cat trees instead of cups. Blue doesn’t hide anymore, in fact, she does quite the opposite; she always seems to be checking up on everybody now, wondering throughout the apartment to see if everyone’s doing okay before trotting back to be with Lance.
He was head over heels for this little feline. A smile grew on his face as he placed his textbook to the side and caressed Blue’s cheek, earning a little ‘mrrp!’ He chuckled at that, continuing to pet her as she leaned her head further into his hand.
It was always so interesting to Lance how animal companions can change your life. Getting Blue somehow made him feel more grounded. She was a solid, unwavering and unconditional presence for him, which he was immensely grateful for. Hunk and Pidge were definitely great, the greatest friends Lance could ask for in fact, but it was still comforting to know that he didn’t receive any sort of judgment or discernment from Blue, save for when he was late feeding her, but still.
Suddenly, a loud yowl from the window disturbed the quiet reverie that had grown in the room. Blue’s head darted up, then using Lance’s body as a jump pad to launch herself onto the floor and quickly hop up onto the windowsill.
Ah, it looks like somebody had decided to pay them another visit. And sure enough, when Lance got up and looked outside to his fire escape, there she was.
That fiery orange cat, starring up at him with those stern, expectant eyes. Blue mewed back to Lance, begging him to open the window and let their guest in. With a sigh, he pulled up the window, their feline friend wasting no time in hopping inside and greeting Blue with a chirp. At the sound, the two other household cats suddenly ran into the room, going up to greet their friend as well.
Pidge came not long after, poking their head through the door and looking down at the congregation of cats settling in Lance’s room, “Looks like she’s back for another visit already, huh,” they spoke with an inquisitive gaze.
Lance hummed in agreement, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah, I guess she is. This is what, the third time this week?”
It all started around four or three months ago. The cats were just starting to adjust to their new home and new family. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were all in the living room, focusing on their own studies or lazing around. Mera was splayed out on Hunk’s stomach sleeping soundly, Rover hunting a toy mouse, and Blue was settled comfortably on a cat tree dozing off. Blue was the first one to react, her eyes grew wide and she sat up in attention all of a sudden, staring out towards Lance’s room. He didn’t think much of it, was too focused on homework to notice. She jumped off the tree and made a beeline out to the hallway. Rover suddenly stilled then as well, following after Blue. Mera soon followed after, awoken by the sound of his friends leaving.
At that point, the three left in the room all looked to each other, confused as to what just transpired. Pidge just shrugged their shoulders, “Cats be weird like that I guess.” Which was an acceptable answer.
Then, they all heard loud cries coming from the room the cats had all went into. Lance got to his feet first, concern etched onto his face, with Hunk and Pidge soon following after him. The cats were all huddled on the windowsill in Lance’s room, blocking the view of the fire escape.
“Do you think they saw a bird out there or something? I know they do that sometimes.” Hunk interjected curiously.
Blue, upon realizing that the humans were now there, jumped off and went to rub against Lance’s leg, mewing up towards him. He leaned down to pet her, glancing back up towards the window as the other two followed en suite. With the cats out of the way, the trio could finally see what was causing all the commotion.
Pidge was the first to speak, “What the—did they—what’s another cat doing on the fire escape?!”
It was just standing there, tail swishing back and forth, staring them all down. A cat with bright orange, almost red fur, and fierce yellow eyes. It let out a muffled cry, breath showing up against the glass. Lance’s jaw drop to the floor.
“Did it like, call to them, or something?” He asked incredulously, slowing walking to the window.
“Maybe that’s why they all acted weird like that suddenly…” Hunk said as he studied their visitor.
Blue followed Lance step for step, mewling at him as if he were on his way to fill her food bowl. She jumped back onto the windowsill, looking to him with those crystal eyes. The visiting cat mewed and bumped her head against the window where Blue was pressed up against it. This was so beyond weird, what was he supposed to do? He didn’t have a lot of experience with outdoor cats, seeing them around his old neighborhood sometimes, but never sitting outside the window staring inside as if… as if…
“Does it want to come inside?”
Pidge and Hunk stared at him in awe for a moment. “No way dude, a—” Pidge started.
“Oh my god I think it does. Oh no, is it a stray?” Hunk interrupted, worrying frantically.
Lance pretty much ignored the other two as they began to have a, somewhat heated, discussion about feline behaviors, and he simply opened the window. The other cat easily jumped inside with a thump and a jingle, causing Hunk and Pidge to squawk.
“Nope, not a stray.” Lance noted as he closed the window and bent down, taking in the bell attached to the collar their feline friend was wearing. It’s ears flicked back at his approach, but was then distracted by Blue coming up to it and giving their friend a sniff before rubbing against them, Rover and Mera following quickly to do the same. “Aww!” he cooed, “Look, they’re friends!”
“Dude!” Pidge shrieked, “You can’t just let some random cat in here, what the hell?”
He looked back down to the four cats, rubbing against each other and purring in a chorus. “They don’t seem to have an issue with it.”
“This is so weird and random, yet also so adorable, I’m gonna go get my phone.” Hunk said before leaving the room.
Pidge was still keeping their distance, nervously glancing between their fiery guest and the household cats, Rover in specific. Lance looked to them, eyebrow raised, “Pidge, chill, she’s not hurting anybody.”
They stared at him for a moment before huffing a sigh and kneeling next to Lance. The cats were all starting to lie down, Mera doing his signature belly up pose, Rover curled up on top of his stomach, leaving Blue and the friendly cat to curl into each others space next to the other two. If Lance didn’t know any better, he’d almost say they looked like a couple, Blue and their unnamed friend, oddly enough. To be truthful, he wasn’t surprised at how well Blue was acting towards their guest, (okay maybe just a little as the whole thing was a little bit odd), but she’s always been really friendly. What really surprised him was how well Rover and Mera where reacting; Mera was the resident scardey-cat, but he didn’t even hesitate to take a nap near this strange cat. Rover had her boundaries as well, but also showed no resistance to let this cat in.
Pidge must’ve been thinking the same thing, “This is so weird. They’re acting weird.”
Lance nodded, he had to agree with them, “I dunno. Maybe they’ve run into them before when they were out on the streets?”
“I guess that makes sense…”
Hunk eventually came back with his phone, taking hundreds of pictures of the kitty cuddling pile taking place on Lance’s bedroom floor. The cats seemed content where they were, so after a while, the humans took their leave, returning to their tasks and not having many second thoughts over the whole matter. About an hour or so later, when the sun just begun to set, their guest walked into the living room, staring at humans the way all cats do when they want something. Lance let it lead him back into his room, where the other cats were still sleeping. Their friend jumped onto the windowsill, looking back at Lance again.
“Leaving already, huh?” He asked quietly.
Of course, the cat gave no response other than to continue to stare. Lance took that as an affirmation and opened the window, watching as the cat slipped under it and walked down the fire escape.
Ever since then, their feline friend has been a regular visitor, coming around every couple days or so to play or hang around with the household cats. Lance and the others grew accustomed to their friend after a while, feeding them treats and petting them under their chin. They began calling the cat Fire, one for its reddish orange coat, and two for how it always entered from the window viewing the fire escape. The cats get along great with them, grooming each other and creating more cuddle piles, so it was honestly no surprise when they heard the telltale sound of a muffled yow coming from the fire escape every couple days.
What continued to be a mystery, however, was who this cat belonged to and where it lived. After the fourth visit, Pidge brought up that the cat was also wearing a tag on it’s collar, but it only said that it had it’s vaccinations, and that it was an outdoor cat. It looked well fed, and had no scratches or other wounds that would show it being lost, so they figured that it was being taken care of, where it lived or it’s owner not necessarily mattering at the end of the day. Lance, however, was still curious. Whenever they came to visit, questions came burrowing in his head. How far away did they live? They couldn’t possibly live miles away, could they? Could their owner tell if they traveled far when it got home? What if one day it got lost? Did their owner trust them that much? What if it got hit by a car?
That’s what really struck Lance, the cat’s owner. They obviously cared enough to get them vaccinated and fed them and such, but he felt that letting the cat wander about was somewhat dangerous. He could never imagine letting Blue go outside on her own, he’d have an anxiety attack before she was two feet out the door. Maybe it wasn’t really his business, but that didn’t stop him from wondering.
What was also striking was how often Fire visited as well. At first, it was maybe just once a week, but recently she seems to be waiting outside the window with much more frequency. The amount of time she spent there during each visit increased as well. She went from staying for one hour to a whole day, sometimes even two.
“Damn,” Pidge said as they turned to leave, breaking Lance from his train of thought, “It must really like Hunk’s gourmet cat treats or something.”
Lance looked back to the huddle of cats, who were walking out of the room towards the kitchen as they spoke. He rubbed his neck, mind going back to Fire’s owner. Did they ever get worried when they didn’t come home for a couple days? Did they ever get scared, thinking that maybe they got hurt? If it were Blue, he definitely would be filled to the brim with restlessness.
Lance let out a sigh, resigning back to studying, trying not to think too hard on it. At first, not thinking about it was pretty easy. It wasn’t all too serious a subject, he just had to stay in the moment and be happy that his cat has a friend that comes around every now and then. But then the visit went from being a one day thing, to a two day thing, to a three day thing, and then into a four day thing.
That, Lance could not let go of. Not only was his worry for the owner’s sanity multiplied by Fire’s extended stay, but he was also just slightly concerned at how at-home Fire seemed to be. He’d find them taking naps on his homework, following him around to watch him work, and every night they’d come up onto his bed and cuddle up with Blue next to him, like they lived here or something.
When he woke the next morning to Fire fast asleep on his chest purring away, Lance figured that some form of action had to be taken at this point, right? It just felt as if there was some social standing that said an outdoor cat with an owner should return home just about every night, right? The question was, however, what kind of action should be taken? It’s not as if he can just go to her owner’s place and just drop them off, not without an address at least.
He let out a yawn, awaking the cat on his chest and leading her to stand up and stretch herself off of him. Blue was curled up at his side, still sleeping soundly. Fire seemed to be on a schedule this morning, as she immediately trotted over to the window, jumping up and giving Lance that expectant stare. He sat up rubbing his head, guess she finally wants to leave, shouldn’t he do something now to address this? It’s not as if he can talk to Fire and tell her that she should have probably gone home earlier— and should stay home more often at that. Lance sighed, getting up and walking over where his guest waited.
Bright yellow eyes pierced right through him, and he stared right back. What to do… He rested his hand down on his desk beside the window, leaning his weight onto it. He tapped his fingers against the surface, brain trying to work despite the early hour of the day, when he felt the brush of paper against the tip of his pinkie. Lance looked down, seeing his notebook still open wide from a long night of studying, doodles sprawling along the margins. Ah, now that was an idea.
He quickly ripped out a small bit of paper and wrote out a small note, and when he was finished he tucked it as comfortably as he could into Fire’s collar, sending them off like a carrier pigeon back home to their owner.
This should get interesting.
***
It had been a long fucking day. The shop’s AC broke down, and while it hadn’t been a particularly hot day, having to deal with an asshole of a customer certainly made his temperature boil. Like seriously, it wasn’t his fault the tattoo ended up looking like shit, it was obvious the guy didn’t follow up with the after-care instructions properly! God, just thinking about it made Keith’s blood boil.
All he really wanted to do was go home where it was nice and cool, fall onto the couch and sleep for about twenty hours straight. Kolivan had offered no support, as usual, telling Keith that he could handle at least one angry customer on his own. Sometimes working with that guy was the equivalent of working with a giant fucking fly or something; not there most of the time, but when he was he made sure to be a dick about it.
He huffed under his breath as he trudged up the stairs to his apartment. At least he’d have something to look forward to when he got inside. Just as he took out his keys, he heard the telltale signs of claws tapping against the floor right outside the door, the thought of the sight alone making the tips of his lips curve up slightly.
When Keith opened the door, he was immediately met with the force of a very excited 130-pound canine putting her paws on his shoulders and leaning her full weight onto him. If this were a year ago, Keith would’ve fell flat on his ass from the impact that Comet would greet him with, but he’s grown accustomed to it and only stumbles back slightly. He chuckles and pets her behind her ears, already feeling the stress from work fading off his shoulders.
“Hey girl,” he murmurs quietly to her, “Miss me much?”
Comet just keep wagging her tail in the process, trying to reach up and lick his face. He takes that as a yes. With another chuckle he gently nudges her off of him and leads them both inside, locking the door behind him and dumping his keys on the table nearby. He kicks his shoes off and heads into the living room, Comet following behind him enthusiastically. Once there his eyes go straight to the window leading to the fire escape, looking for any signs of—nope, still hasn’t come back home yet. Anxiety crawls into his gut, it’s been a couple days, she’s usually back by now...
He feels a wet nose at his palm, as if Comet could sense his worry. He rubs her head, trying not to let his mind run instantly to the worst-case scenario. Allura told him that this might happen, that Red needed to be outdoors, that she wouldn’t truly be happy otherwise, and that she might be gone for days at a time.
He’s trying to fight over whether or not he should call Allura and ask if he should be worried, when Comet barks towards the window. Keith looks up and—there she is, climbing up the steps, safe and sound. He doesn’t even have the mind to tell that he’s smiling before he unlocks the latch and let’s Red hop inside. She quickly goes to rub up against his legs, already purring up a storm and meowing up at him. Comet gives her a good sniffing, as if checking to make sure she’s okay as well. Once she seems satisfied she steps away, and Keith brings Red up into his arms, where her purrs grow incessantly louder and she brings her head up to bump against his cheek.
“And just where have you been these past four days, missy? You had me worried, you know.” He condemns her softly.
His reprimands seem to fall on deaf ears, as she keeps purring away. He lets out a sigh of resignation, maybe he should just buy her a cat harness and take her out on walks. Red stands up against his shoulder, brushing herself against Keith in a manner that her collar tickles his cheek. He laughs gently at the action, when he feels something not-so-collar-like touch his skin.
With a furrow in his brow, he brings Red down to examine her neck. She pays him no mind, simply basking in his attention as he finds—whatever that just was. There, tucked into her collar, is a curled up piece of paper. For a moment he just simply stands there staring; that’s… bizarre. He cautiously removes it, letting Red drop out from his arms as he unfurls the note.
“Hey there, I think your cat is trying to move in with me?”