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Deuce didn't normally swear, but holy shit what was that.
I'm front of him, his roommate stood outside the entrance. With something at his side. It was covered by a black fabric. A really long fabric. But by the way it moved, Deuce could tell it was alive.
"What do you have there, Ace?" he asked, though he didn't know he'd like to hear the answer.
"It followed me around! It's not my fault I'm warm." he quieted down for a few seconds "and that I saved it from some assholes trying to capture it"
Deuce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose "Can I at least know what we're dealing with?"
"Uhh sure. Lemme just" Ace entered the apartment and beckoned at the creature to come, which it did. 'Kotatsu', he called it. An unsurprising name, knowing Ace's naming process first-hand, but he shouldn't have named it to begin with.
When Ace fully closed the door, Deuce spoke
"Ace. Did you seriously give that a name? You know we can't have it! I don't even know how they let you into the building with that! Did you forget something? No! Pets! Allowed! We're going to get into so much trouble"
"Shhhh. Just look at him and tell me he's not the cutest shit" Ace janked the fabric, revealing… a cat of sorts. But giant. Even bigger than a Maine Coon. Which meant, it would be impossible to hide.
"Why…"
"Big cat! He followed me around and now he's mine"
"Did… did you vaccinate him, at least?"
Ace rolled his eyes "Hell no. Do you think I have enough money to do that? Why else do you think I even looked for a roommate."
Deuce opened his mouth to respond but closed it. The 'cat' thing, Kotatsu, was looking at him. Attentively. If he looked away for a mere second, he knew it'd jump on him.
And then, it slow-blinked at him.
In just one small action, that cat had managed to win over Deuce's heart, and he was clearly doing a bad job at hiding it given Ace's chuckle.
He cleared his throat and looked straight at Ace, ignoring Kotatsu' s soft purrs "If they find him, it's completely your fault and you will have to take care of all the expenses and everything related to him in any way, shape, or form. Even litterbox." He extended a hand "is that a deal?"
"Deal."
Ace was grinning like a maniac, and he was starting to regret his decision.