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He couldn‘t just leave them there. The poor little souls. Put into a small box and left to starve in the outskirts of New York City. He didn‘t have the heart to leave them there. Five little furballs, two white, two black and a grey one.
„Poor little babies.“ He mumbled, before picking up the box and picking each one up to check for injuries.
A little meow of protest was emitting from the tiny body he had just picked up. The baby viciously tried to bite his flesh hand and made him chuckle.
„I see, you‘re healthy, little guy.“ He put the white kitten back with the others and picked up the box that had a little „For Free“ standing on it.
You weren‘t at home right now. The perfect opportunity to get them checked and maybe adopted out. Well, maybe he already had grown fond of them, maybe he wanted to keep them all. But he knew you were well read on how to care for kittens and had your opinions on shelters in the area.
Under the sound of his motorbike and tiny meows he made his way to your shared apartment.
After counting them again he carried the box up the stairs, opened the door and set the box down on the countertop of the kitchen isle.
„Um.“ He looked around for more fitting things to put them in. His eyes fell onto the cabinet holding your swimming pool stuff. He got out the little kids pool and three of your throw blankets and created a little makeshift playpen.
Under more protesting meows he put the five little furballs into their new space and opened the laptop while sitting down next to them.
„Kittens need warmth.“ He muttered and got up to get the little space heater you had for when he wasn‘t at home.
„They need to be taught grooming. The best way to to do that is with a toothbrush.“ He read quietly and got up again.
He picked up the grey one and started brushing over its fur, getting tiny little purrs vibrating his metal hand.
„What do I give you to eat and how do you know if you‘re a boy or a girl?“ He muttered and got a tiny meow back, as if the tiny thing said, „You got this.“
„Hey Friday?“ His phone lit up, „How do I know how old a kitten is?“
The AI explained the little details for guessing a kittens age and he determined that the babies must be around 5 to 6 weeks.
„Oh, I know from your new mommy that you can eat wet food now.“ He said to a black kitten he held up to his face.
He got up…again, filled a shallow plate with water, put it into the playpen and went to the neighbor.
„Oh, hello young man.“ Miss Blume was a cute old lady in her 70s, „What can I do for you?“
„I just found some little kittens abandoned on the street and since you have a cat I wanted to ask if I could borrow a bit of wet food until I can go out and buy it for them.“ He scratched his back. He might be 100+ but he still felt like a little boy in front of the elderly.
„Of course, one second.“ She vanished for a bit before coming back with a few little cans of wet food and handed them over.
„Thank you, Miss Blume. You are a lifesaver.“ He smiled at her.
„No problem, just knock if you need anything else.“ She smiled before closing the door.
He‘d have to buy the lady some new cat food and flowers, but at least he could try and feed the kittens now.
Coming back into the living room he saw two of them walking around the rug and picked them both up again.
„No breaking out of the baby prison, okay?“ He looked at both of them and got one meow back.
The following hour was spent feeding them carefully, laughing at their ridiculous faces full of food stains and then cleaning said food from their faces.
„Friday? How can I determine what sex these kitten have?“ He yelled over to the phone and got an in-depth explanation. And she also gave an explanation on how to help them pee and poo if they still needed it, while she was at it. A sigh left him, but he was a dad now, wasn‘t he. He would have to train them to go potty. Another sigh before he started determining their gender.
The grey kitten was a girl, he decided to name her Shadow.
The black kittens were a boy and a girl, he named them Jiji and Void.
The white kittens also were a girl and a boy, those two got the names Alpine & Cloud.
„Shadow, Jiji, Void, Alpine and Cloud.“ He mumbled and looked at them proudly. Until he heard a key outside of the apartment door and panicked.
„Please be nice kitties and don‘t be chaotic.“ He pleaded before picking up two of them.
Your footsteps got louder until you stood in the door with a raised eyebrow.
“I may have accidentally sort of adopted five cats,“ he immediately commented and made you laugh.
You put down your bag and threw the shoes away before sitting down in front of him, seeing his apologizing smile.
„Already fed them?“ He nodded with a super proud smile.
One of the white kittens tried to walk towards you in a wobbly manner and lots of meows.
„Hello, who are you, baby?“ You cooed.
„That‘s Alpine, well, could also be Cloud.“ He mumbled and you grinned at him.
„I need all the names!“ You giggled excited.
„That‘s Shadow, she‘s a shy girl. This is Jiji, a girl. Obviously named her after your favorite movie cat. And that one is Void, a good boy. Alpine is a girl and Cloud is a boy.“ He smiled a little nervous.
„I love them.“ You smiled at them and grabbed the toothbrush laying around to groom little Cloud.
„Cloud because Claude. I get it. Idiot.“ You rolled your eyes and saw him get a paw on the nose with a big grin.
„Do you like your new mommy, Alpine?“ he cooed and your heart melted like ice cream in the sun.
A little meow came back at him and you heard the tiny purr. He looked so happy and at ease. How could you not keep them?
Hours of sitting with the kittens and a pee incident later you laid on the rug with him.
He got a light pinch into his side from you and giggled, „Oh, you‘re ticklish? Since when is that a thing?“ You grinned and attacked him.
„S-Stop.“ He grabbed you closer, still giggling.
Your face was right there, right above him, a sight he‘ll never grow tired of.
„If we had babies they would each have one cat.“ You contemplated and saw the sparkle in his eyes.
„Do you…want babies?“ He angled his head all cute and innocent.
„I don‘t know. It‘s definitely something I‘m thinking about.“ You smiled down at him and he mirrored it.
„How many?“ „I always thought one, but now that I think of it…we could handle three.“
„As a bigger sibling. You don‘t handle three children, you minimize chaos.“ His nose crinkled with a big smile.
„I‘m sure we could have three at once if we IVF it and I‘m healthy enough.“ You continued spitballing.
„You sound pretty serious about it.“ He bit his lip to hold back all the happiness threatening to burst from him.
„I mean, you took very good care of these fur babies. I‘m sure you‘d be equally as good with human babies.“ You leaned down for a kiss.
„And we could move into a big house and live the suburban life.“ He was all warm inside.
„And have cute nurseries.“ „Maybe some goats if the property is big enough.“ „You and your goats.“ „Hey, they are lovely animals!“
„We can have all the babies you want, darling.“ His hands wandered down your sides.
„Well, let‘s research the hell out of it tomorrow.“ You leaned down for a kiss before attacking him with tickles again.