Chapter Text
Michael didn’t even plan to join the boys tonight, but Ashton practically forced him to come along for a round of Fifa at Calum’s house. All he wanted to do is go to bed and sleep till noon, but the boys promised him to order Pizza and have a blast of a night. In the early morning hours after Luke and Calum passed out on the couch and Ash already left around Midnight, Michael decided to leave aswell, he planned on crashing at Calum’s place but felt like sleeping in his own bed would be much more comfortable. He put on his jacket and slipped on his shoes, opened the door as quiet as possible and left the house without another word.
The air was freezing cold and Michael felt like someone slapped him across the face, he kept on rubbing his hands and blowing warm air on them to keep his fingers from freezing off. It was quiet outside and Michael wasn’t surprised because noone in this early morning hours is outside expect some wasted teenagers who hurried home after spending the whole night partying or the homeless people who had no other choice but to sleep on the park benches or abandoned old flats around the block. As it started to rain, the boy started to speed up his walk and hurry home as fast as possible. Soon the rain poured down on him stronger and the cold rain drops made his lips freeze. He cursed under his breath for being so stupid and not taking an umbrella with him even through he knew how swiftly the weather in London shifts. Calum’s house wasn’t that far away from his flat in first place and he kept his body warm with the imagine of his cozy bed. As he could see the outline of his building he let out a sigh of relief, Michael couldn’t wait any longer to finally go to bed. His whole body was freezing and his feet hurt like crazy, the entire day he was working hard and hurrying from studio to studio and he wasn’t used of beeing on his feet that much.
Kicking a plastic bottle of some kind of energy drink on the sidewalk away, he hummed one of the songs they recorded today in the studio. As he approached the steps of the house he currently stayed in, he noticed a small dark shadow sit in the corner of the railing, he squinted his eyes and crouched down, seeing a little wet ball of fur beeing curled up on one of the steps. Michael inspected the little animal a bit more. It was a completely black cat, except a white spot on top of his head. It reminded him of a skunk and his lips curled up in a smile. “Hey little buddy”, he spoke to the small kitten and she let out a quiet meow in respons. “What are you doing up here? Do you live in this building too?” Michael didn’t quite know what to expect, the Cat definetly wasn’t going to answer him but just ignoring it would break his heart. He crouched down a bit lower and pushed the fringe out of his forehead so he had better view of the small Cat. “Did you run away from home? You are so wet I hope you won’t get sick.” He crunched his nose as the Kitten let out another shaky cry. He got up from his knees and looked around the street, trying to find any other person or cat owner who was searching his lost pet. “Well” he started, turning back to the kitten, “I’m sure your mummy is going to find you”.
He searched for his door keys in the front pocket of this jeans and tried to put them into the lock. Michael felt like someone was watching him and turned around to looked at the small kitten that still stared at him. “What?” he remarked as he kept his hand on the door knob. The small animal let out another meow of protest that made Michael roll his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that.” The Cat looked back on her paws and got into a bit more comfortable position, before lifting her gaze back to the boy. Michael turned around to the street once more before looking down to the cat. He mumbled a “fine” and took a step back so he could approach the small kitten slowly. Lifting it from the wet spot on the steps, he scooped her up in this arms and balanced her back to the door.
The boy let out an annoyed groan as he tried to open the door while holding the cat in his arm but he managed to finally get into the dry apartment. After placing the keys on the dresser next to him, he slipped off his shoes and and placed the small kitten on the ground. It turned his head a bit before running though the floor into the living room. “Hey wait where are you going?” He followed the cat into the living room, but there was no sight of it. Michael turned on the light and checked behind the TV table, under the chairs at his kitchen and even behind his guitar that stood in the corner of the room. Michael puffed his cheeks and let himself fall on his small grey sofa and he heared a quiet call. He sucked in his breath and ducked down to look under the couch. He could discover a small black kitten ball under the sofa “There you are.” His hands went under the couch trying to reach the small cat, but it just backed even more into the corner.
Michael was really exhausted, all he wanted to do it go to bed and sleep for straight two days. So he got up from the sofa, made his way to his bedroom where he reached for a blanket in the dresser on that the kitten could sleep and an old laundry basket that stood in the storeroom and was not longer usable after the boys pushed Luke on top of it once and make it break at the side. He went back to the living room where he still noticed the kitten under the couch. “ Listen here my friend”, Michael grunted after sitting down on the ground and letting out a yawn. “ I am really tired and all I want to do is go to sleep and you better do the same.” He placed the blanket in the laundry basket and admired his piece of work “Here you go.”
He got up again and went to the couch where he peeked under the piece of furniture to meet the eyes of the small kitten. “Come on, I even made you a bed okay, Luke wouldn’t have that luxury if he crashed here for a night” The Cat turned her head to the sight and let out a small sleepy meow in response. Michael got up to his feet again and toddled back to the laundry basket. He sat next to it with crossed feet and his elbow leaning again his knee, his hand supporting his head. He played with the hem of the blanket and bit the inside of his cheek. “Come here kitty kitty, uncle Mikey made you a warm cozy bed you can sleep in.” He layed down on the hard ground mumbling a quiet “You better apreciate it.” before another yawn left his lips. His eyes slowly started to close and he thought to himself “I’m just gonna rest here for a few minutes before I head to bed” but in the same second he started to drift off into sleep.
While Michael was already asleep and small snorrs left his lips, the small kitten got out of her hideout and headed slowly to the place where Michael was falling asleep. She watched him intensive before pressing her nose against his hand that was lying on the floor.
The first thing Michael noticed when he woke up was that his back was hurting and that he did definetly not sleep in his bed. He opened his eyes slowly and scrunched his eyebrows together as he slightly moved. Something on his stomach was vibrating so he leaned up on his ellbows to have a better view. There on his tummy, was lying the small black kitten, curled up in a ball, sleeping peacefully. Slowly the memories of last night flooded back to his mind and he inspected the small creature for a bit longer. He really had to get up because his neck was hurting like crazy, but he didn’t want to risk waking the small animal. Shifting slighty and slowly, he lifted the kitten from his stomach and put her careful in the basket that was placed next to him. Michael got up and rubbed his eyes while heading to the kitchen.
He opened the fridge and mentally slapped himself for not doing a decent grocery shopping in the last days. The frigde had nothing in it expect some rotten cheese and pizza leftovers from yesterday. He closed the door and big the inside of his cheek and leaned against the kitchen island. A small whiny meowing made him snap out of his thoughts, he looked down to his feet where his small friend was rubbing his head against his ankles and purring. This made Michael smile and he bent down to his little buddy. “Did I wake you? Sorry but I’m grumpy in the morning, especially after I slept on the hard floor because of you.” The kitten looked up to him and started purring even more as Michael started to ruffle the fur behind his left ear. He let out a small laugh. “You like that, don’t you?” The boy continued on stroking the cat for a few minutes before she started to meow out in protest again. “I guess you are hungry”, Michael stated as he opened the fridge once more. “Hope you like pizza because that’s the only thing I have.” He placed a slice of the leftovers on a small plate and put it infront of the small creature. It sniffled on it before turning back to michael and meowing loud in protest as if in it was horrified of having to eat this. The cat rubbed her body against michaels legs and never stopped crying out for some food.
Michael rolled his eyes before picking up the plate and taking a bite of the slice. “ I don’t understand how you can’t like this. Cat or not, pizza is the best food on the world.” He took another bite before placing the rest on the kitchen island. The boy eyed the small cat licking her paws and cleaning her fur. He still didn’t really figure out what to do with the cat, but he decided that he should at least get some milk and cat food.
Michael checked the clock and read 1pm, before putting on his boots and coat. He grabbed his apartment keys and turned around, where his little friend was waiting impatiently for him. He crouched down and stroked the small kitten once more before pointing dangerously with his finger at him. “ Don’t you even dare to ruin my sofa and if I find bite tracks on my playstation cable it will be the death of you.”
He turned around and was about to leave as he noticed the small kitten following his steps and leaving the house with him. “ Where do you think are you going?” Michael asked as he slightly pushed the cat away with his feet, carefully not to hurt her. But the kitten just hissed at him and Michael actually felt as if he was arguing with her. “Okay okay, geez.” He scooped her up in his arms and tried to calm her down.
For a second he thought of carrying her in on of his large beanies but they probably wouldn’t let him in the shop if they saw him with an animal. So he decided to hide her in his coat, slowly zipping it up so he wouldn’t hurt her. He chuckled as only the small head was poking out at the top and she lazily purred with closed eyes.
Michael felt weird running down the street with a fucking cat in his coat, but he didn’t seem to have another choice. He got some weird glares of strangers and giggles from small children, asking if they could stroke the cat. Michael just laughed at it and continued his way to the closest supermarket. Sometimes he would catch himself talking to the cat and asking her questions and he could swear that the small fur ball would actually understand him and meow in respons.
When they finally reached the shop, Michael approached the pet section and and looked through several brands and offers on Cat food. He was surprised that there was such an selection and he honestly had no idea what to choose. “ What do you think buddy?” He looked down on his small friend before seeing the cat fast asleep. Michael smiled to himself before carefully stroking her forehead.
He picked some random cans of cat food and headed home after paying for it. On his way home Michael checked every few seconds if the kitten was still asleep, and his heart melted at the sight of it purring against his chest.