Chapter Text
“I have my eye on the white and orange and black one,” Genji confided in Hanzo, pointing at a calico cat loafing in its cage. Peanut Head , the name card attached to the cage read. They’d been here for two hours already, and Genji had held, played, and petted every single cat in this shelter. But he still hadn’t made his decision.
“Then we shall adopt that one,” Hanzo said decisively.
“But I also think that one really took to me,” Genji protested, turning and pointing at a fat grey cat in another cage — Distinguished Gentleman , read his name card. “Meow,” Distinguished Gentleman said, seeing that it had the hoomans’ attention.
Hanzo exhaled through his nostrils. They would be here forever. A large part of Hanzo was growing increasingly impatient because they’d only arrived in this town the day before. They still had tons to do. It infuriated him that Genji was most concerned with getting a cat.
“How about,” Genji said, breaking through the fog of frustration that had started to form around Hanzo, “I adopt Peanut Head and you adopt Distinguished Gentleman?”
“No,” Hanzo immediately said. It was testament to how exhausted Hanzo was from the jetlag that he felt no amusement or curiosity over how and why these poor animals had ended up with the names they had.
“But my cat will be lonely,” Genji insisted, turning to Hanzo with wide, pleading eyes. “He won’t have a feline friend to play with.”
Hanzo was about to offer a dry response when a staff member standing a few cages away turned to address them. “He’s got a point, you know,” she said, the spikes of her short brown hair bobbing as she nodded in agreement with Genji. “Peanut Head’s a very sociable kitty. She gets along with all the other cats during play time. Why not bring home a friend for her? I recommend those two.”
The staff member — Lena, according to her name tag — pointed at a larger cage housing two sibling tabby cats. They’d passed them by earlier when Genji was making his rounds, but the two tabbies were shy and had hidden in the shoebox in their cage, unwilling to let Genji touch or see them. “Peanut Head really dotes on those two,” Lena explained. “I think those two are her favourite buddies.”
Now that they were all standing a little farther away and the tabbies weren’t feeling threatened, Hanzo could see their two little grey heads poking out the top of their shoebox, curious eyes peering over at them. One of them only had one eye, and its sibling was missing a front leg. Incredulously, Hanzo noted that their name cards read Chicken Noodle and Juicy Juice .
“We cannot take care of more than one cat,” Hanzo said pointedly, directing his words at his brother. “We have only just moved here,” he then added, for Lena’s benefit.
Lena’s face fell. “Oh, I understand,” she said despite her obvious disappointment. “Well, you can still take Peanut Head home. If you’re ready, you can go wait out in the main lobby. I’ll bring Peanut Head out for you.”
Ten minutes later, Lena brought Peanut Head out to the reception desk in a cardboard carrier. The man behind the counter — Jamison, his name tag read — practically lit up like the sun when he saw Peanut Head’s name scrawled along the side of the box. “Oh, Lena!” he called out excitedly. “This is excellent news! Did somebody also adopt the siblings?”
“No,” Lena said, reaching the counter and shooting Jamison an apologetic look. “Just Peanut Head.”
“O-oh…” Jamison said, deflating on the spot. “D’ya think somebody will take the other two in time?”
In response, Lena was solemnly silent.
Genji, ever the inquisitive and nosy one, was quick to ask, “What do you mean, will somebody take the other two in time?”
Lena and Jamison shared a look between themselves before they looked back to the brothers. “Well,” Lena said, her large brown eyes tinged with sadness, “It’s just… There are so many abandoned animals out there, and people regularly dump their unwanted animals at our door because they know we are a shelter. We only have so much space here, so…” Lena winced sheepishly. “Some of them get put to sleep whenever we get too crowded. Peanut Head was in line to be put to sleep tonight, but… so are Chicken Noodle and Juicy Juice.”
Genji suddenly looked dangerously close to tears. “But the tabby cats are so young!”
Jamison sadly nodded his head. “Sick or handicapped animals also get bumped to the front of the line, I’m afraid. Sorry, mate. We don’t make the rules. We wish it wasn’t like this.”
“Hanzo,” Genji said. “We need to adopt them.”
Hanzo hated Lena and Jamison at that moment. He hated them for explaining things to him, because now he couldn’t say no.
Once he got to the pet store, Hanzo found the cat food aisle easily enough. What he hadn’t been expecting was row upon row of food, all of different brands, different types, different flavours… Another flare of hatred for Lena and Jamison bubbled up in Hanzo’s gut. Why hadn’t they advised them on these things? Surely they must have known that this was a common hurdle for first time pet parents.
Hanzo sighed, glanced around, and wished Genji was here. Genji would have no problems approaching a staff member and asking for help. But Genji was currently gathering groceries at the store, and Hanzo preferred avoiding socialising if he could help it. Ever resourceful and diligent, Hanzo pulled out his phone and started to research cat nutrition on the Internet.
That was how Jesse found Hanzo some fifteen minutes later, Hanzo standing in the same spot and frowning fiercely down at his phone. Jesse blinked curiously at him, then put on a wide smile and made his way over. “Howdy,” Jesse greeted, his voice smooth and sweet as honey. “Can I help ya with somethin’?”
Hanzo noticeably stiffened as he was addressed. “Yes,” Hanzo said after a few moments, sounding awfully reluctant. He sounded so unwilling to talk to Jesse that Jesse’s grin faltered quite substantially. “I have never had a cat before,” Hanzo said, swiftly pocketing his phone. “I am having some difficulty picking out an appropriate food for them.”
“Well, I’ll be! A first time cat owner! Well, what kinda cat yer got?” Jesse said. Working in retail meant he met all sorts of people, so Jesse didn’t judge the guy for being a little shy and maybe a little awkward.
Hanzo’s face contorted adorably in confusion as he realised he had no idea what breed his cats were. “My cats are grey… with stripes… and my brother’s is white, spotted with orange and black.”
Before he could rein it in, Jesse let out a large peal of laughter, amused by the customer’s clueless response. And then the laughter died down abruptly as Jesse spotted the stern, unamused look the customer was giving him.
“Aww, sorry, darlin’,” Jesse was quick to make amends. “What I meant was, how old are yer cats? Their dietary requirements change as they grow older.”
“...I see,” Hanzo said, his cheeks and the tips of his ears still pink with embarrassment. “Mine are seven months old. My brother’s cat is eleven years old.”
“That’s real sweet,” Jesse said, another wide grin slipping onto his face. “Here, follow me. I’ll show ya what t’ get,” Jesse said, leading Hanzo further along the aisle.
Hanzo left the pet shop forty five minutes later, feeling significantly less panicked about the new additions to his life. Although he was a little too loud and boisterous for Hanzo’s preferences, Jesse was knowledgeable, patient, and very helpful. Besides the food, Jesse also helped Hanzo pick out collars, bowls, litter, toys and beds for the cats before sending him on his way. He taught Hanzo how much to feed them, how often to feed them, and made sure to share other tips and tricks so that his pet-owning experience would be as pleasant as possible.
On his drive home, Hanzo reflected that he was quite grateful that Jesse had been the one to find him in the aisles.
“Who’s that?” Mei asked Jesse once the fierce-looking Asian man had left the store.
“Mister Hanzo Shimada,” Jesse replied, standing by the store entrance and watching Hanzo’s retreating back as the glass doors closed behind him. “He an’ his brother’re new in town. New cat owners, too.”
“Oh,” Mei said, coming round to stand by Jesse and look out at Hanzo as well. “He’s rather attractive, don’t you think?”
“You’ve got no idea,” Jesse groaned wistfully.