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Lorenzo hated it when Andrew came home late after patrol, not knowing if he was injured or not. Not that he was used by now to Andrew coming home a little worse for wear every now and then.
So this evening he was pacing in the lounge as well, waiting for Andrew’s call to portal him home. He should have been back an hour ago, so when Lorenzo’s phone finally went off he was already conjuring up a portal, expecting the worst.
Andrew seemed to be fine, but he was slightly doubled over, and was holding his forearms across his abdomen.
“Are you hurt?”
“What?” Andrew looked up. “No. No, I’m not hurt. I’m just...”
The tiny mewl made Lorenzo freeze. “What is that?”
“See...” Andrew carefully reached under his sweater, and after some rummaging, pulled out his hand again, holding a ball of black fluff. The ball of fluff mewled, and two eyes appeared.
“A cat?”
“A kitten,” Andrew said. “I found it on patrol; it had fallen down a drain and couldn’t get out, and its mama was nowhere to be seen and...” He looked at Lorenzo with a half-apologetic, half-embarrassed smile.
“And you want me to keep it?”
“What? No!” Andrew held his forearm against his chest so the kitten couldn’t tumble out of his hand. It was so small it fit neatly into his palm. “I just thought... I mean I couldn’t leave it out there, could I? It would have died. So I thought... you know, just for a few days! You know a million people, there has to be someone who wants a black kitten?”
“I shall...” Lorenzo looked at the tiny thing in Andrew’s hand. “I shall ask around. And what do we do with it in the meantime?”
“Ahm...” Andrew gently rubbed his thumb over the tiny head, right between the ears. “She probably needs a basket or maybe just a box with a towel, to sleep in. And a litter box. And food. But I have to admit I don’t know the next thing about kittens.”
Lorenzo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a moment he inhaled through his nose, and snapped his fingers, conjuring a small basket with a towel, a litter box, and a bag of kitten kibbles. “I will start calling people tomorrow, so please, don’t get attached to it.”
“Don’t worry. I just didn’t want it to die.”
“You know, for a Shadowhunter, you have a really soft heart,” Lorenzo said and stepped closer.
Andrew shrugged. “I hunt demons. Doesn’t mean I have to be a killing machine.”
The kitten looked up and emitted a sound that could only be described as ‘mirp’.
“Yes, you can stay. Until we find a home for you. This isn’t permanent.”
The kitten purred, and stretched in Andrew’s hand to butt its head against Lorenzo’s belt.
Lorenzo looked down and took a step back. “No cat hair on my wardrobe.”
“You heard him,” Andrew said to the kitten. “Off to bed with you. After some dinner, I suppose.”
The kitten wasn’t quite sure about the kibbles; it probably hadn’t been completely weaned yet. Once it discovered that these things were edible and apparently quite tasty, it munched them with audible enthusiasm. It also had nothing against being put into a basket with a towel, and was soon asleep.
After making sure that it was okay, Lorenzo fixed Andrew some food while the latter took a shower, and they went to bed soon after. They both had had a long day.
Lorenzo was not amused when, at two in the morning, the kitten mewled and whined at their bedroom door.
“It’s alone, and scared,” Andrew said.
“Don’t you dare even think about letting her sleep in the bed.”
“No.” Andrew got up. “But I can put the basket in here, maybe? So it knows it isn’t alone.”
“No bed.”
“No bed.” Andrew opened the door. “Hey there, button!” He scooped the kitten up. “You should be in bed, cat or no. You’re a baby cat.”
Lorenzo fell back into his pillow with a groan. It took far too long before Andrew was back with the basket and the kitten. He crawled back to bed, and switched off the light again.
The kitten was apprehensively exploring its surroundings the next morning when Andrew left for work, and the first thing Lorenzo did after breakfast was grab his phone.
That evening, the kitten was still there.
“No luck?” Andrew looked up from the kitten that was rubbing against his ankles, the tiny tail pointing straight up.
Lorenzo looked up from his book. “I had one, but he wanted a tomcat.”
“And... it’s a girl?”
“It’s a girl. I had to check. So he didn’t want her.”
“Damn.” Andrew sat down next to him on the sofa, and the kitten immediately climbed up his leg and clambered into his lap.
“I shall call more people tomorrow,” Lorenzo said.
The kitten made an attempt to climb into Lorenzo’s lap now, but Lorenzo pushed it gently but firmly back. “No cat hair,” he said.
The kitten insisted.
“I said no,” Lorenzo said, giving the kitten a stern look.
The kitten looked up and said, “mirp?”
“Come on, button,” Andrew said and picked the kitten up again. “Uncle Lo isn’t-”
“If you call me that again you will sleep on the couch tonight,” Lorenzo cut in sharply.
Andrew snorted and chuckled. “I was just kidding.”
“I wasn’t.”
Andrew tilted his head and lifted both eyebrows. Lorenzo cleared his throat and made a point of focussing back on his book. Shaking his head, Andrew rolled his eyes, but he picked the kitten up and gave her a few belly rubs until she playfully bit his finger. Lorenzo refrained from making a comment, but he did so very pointedly.
The next evening, the kitten was still there.
“Still no luck?”
Lorenzo was again sitting on the couch with a book, the kitten a tiny ball of black fluff next to him. “No luck. It’s ridiculous. There should be one warlock somewhere who wants a black cat.”
“You’d think so.” Andrew carefully picked the kitten up to sit down next to Lorenzo. “I assume you keep trying?”
“Of course I do. I want a good forever home for her as much as you do.”
The kitten nibbled enthusiastically on Andrew’s finger. “You got pointy teeth, button,” Andrew said.
“Is that her name now?” Lorenzo asked him.
“Button?” Andrew looked at the kitten. “Well... I call her that because she’s so tiny. But... I don’t know.” He held the kitten up, his hands gently closed around her midriff. “What do you think? Button?”
“Mrrreep.”
“Settled then. Hi, Button.”
Lorenzo shook his head and looked back at his book, but there was a tiny smile playing around the corners of his mouth.
The next evening when Andrew came home, the kitten was still there. It was curled up next to Lorenzo who was reading again, a large, heavy looking leather-bound tome this time. She was snuggled against his thigh and asleep.
“Hmm.” Andrew said down and gave Lorenzo a long, calculating look. “What happened to ‘no cat hair on the clothes’?”
“The trousers are black,” Lorenzo said absentmindedly. “So I think it won’t be such a big deal.”
Andrew nodded, and looked at the sleeping kitten.
“We do not keep her,” Lorenzo said after a moment. “She farts when she sleeps.”
“All mammals fart in their sleep,” Andrew said gravely.
Lorenzo looked up from his tome, meeting his eyes. “Are you implying I fart in my sleep?”
“I am only implying it would be totally normal if you did,” Andrew replied, but he had a hard time biting back his grin.
Lorenzo rolled his eyes so hard they were about to fall out off his head, and shaking his head, he looked back at his book. Next to his thigh, Button popped another tiny fart and sighed.
“Still no luck?” Andrew finished untying his boots.
The kitten was winding around Lorenzo’s ankles as he was laying the dinner table.
“Obviously not.”
“Hey, Button!”
Tail pointing upwards, Button sprinted across the room and rubbed hectically against Andrew’s ankles now.
“Had a good day?”
“Mreeep!”
Button was merrily munching her kibbles while the two men had their dinner, and curled up on the sofa between them when they had a cup of tea before bedtime.
“You’re not even trying anymore, are you?” Andrew crossed his arms and leaned into the doorframe.
Lorenzo looked up from the sofa, and couldn’t have looked any guiltier. Button was curled up in his lap and purring like mad while Lorenzo’s fingers combed through her fur.
“Not one word,” Lorenzo said, a hint of pleading in his voice.
“Not one,” Andrew said soothingly and sat down beside him. “Welcome home, Button.”
Button closed her eyes in bliss and purred even louder as Andrew scratched her between the ears.