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“We should get a cat,” Ace announced out of the blue, and Deuce paused in his dishwashing for a long moment before continuing through the process, a little more slowly as he thought the suggestion over.
He didn’t mind the idea. He’d never had a pet growing up and hadn’t really given it much thought as an adult, but the idea of adding something else to the home he shared with Ace made warmth curl through his chest. He set the plate he was washing in the drying rack and absentmindedly smoothed his thumb over the silver ring on his finger, smiling to himself before he registered Ace’s approaching footsteps and turned to smile at his fianc é instead.
"I would have thought you were a dog person," Deuce replied, without really addressing the idea just yet. "Some big field dog to go on adventures with you and Sabo and Luffy."
"I mean, dogs are great, I love Stefan," Ace said, plonking into one of the barstools set at their kitchen island and leaning his chin on his palm as he looked at Deuce. "I just never really got a chance to consider getting a cat before. Luffy's too high energy, he'd probably annoy a cat into murdering him, and Mum was convinced we'd try to eat anything smaller than a labrador on accident..."
"I'm not even gonna ask..." Deuce muttered, only a little despairingly.
"I just always wanted a cat, y'know?" Ace continued, with a slightly sheepish grin. "A cuddly one."
"Considering you're basically a human space heater, that's probably not gonna be a problem," Deuce snarked, grabbing a towel to begin drying his hands and turning to lean back against the sink as he faced Ace properly. "We've got a lot going on. Do you think it's a good idea to get a cat right now?"
"They're pretty self-sufficient," Ace said, eyes bright. Deuce sighed, like he didn't know he'd already caved to Ace.
"Sure you don't want a dog? You've nearly got the puppy eyes down."
Ace stuck his tongue out at him, and Deuce laughed and flicked the lingering drops of water on his fingers at him.
"Fine, fine, we'll find a shelter to check out," he agreed, winning a beaming grin from Ace before his partner nearly launched himself off his stool to start a mini water fight at the sink.
Deuce really couldn't say he was surprised by the way Ace was mobbed by multicolored fluffballs of various sizes nearly the moment they were let into the cat section of the local animal shelter. But it was adorable, and he cheerfully spent several minutes taking pictures as kittens attempted to claw their way up the back of Ace's jacket before tumbling down, as well as the lanky adult cat that gracefully leapt onto Ace's shoulder from a raised platform. Older felines curled up against his hips and legs where he sat on the floor, until it looked like Ace was simply surrounded by a writhing mass of soft fur and tails, pointed ears and nearly a dozen pairs of luminous eyes.
Ace was pouting at him, even if his eyes were bright and laughing at Deuce through the camera of his phone. "Oi, oi, you're supposed to see if you like any of them, too, not just laugh at me."
"Just need a good one to send to your mum. And Sabo."
" Not Sabo, he doesn't need more blackmail material. He's gotten enough on his own and now his job can dig up anything he's missed," Ace grouched, reaching up to scritch under the chin of the black cat lingering on his shoulder, even as he caught an orange kitten as it tumbled off his thigh.
"Luffy, then. Nami and Vivi and Robin can coo over it," Deuce countered, laughing when Ace's pout turned just a little more serious before caving and pocketing his phone again. "Fine, what do I do?"
"Sit down and let them crawl all over you," Ace snorted. "Just make sure one doesn't sneak in and steal your spot, it'll piss them off if you sit on them."
Was that a legitimate concern? Was Deuce going to have to be wary of accidentally sitting on a cat for the foreseeable future? Ace seemed serious enough, and Deuce checked around himself twice before cautiously settling on the floor across from Ace. He shouldn't have worried too much: none of the cats had budged from pressing as close to Ace as they could. Aside from a few swaying tails batting against his knees, none of the little furballs seemed remotely interested in him at the moment. "Now what?"
Ace scooped up a kitten with surprising ease, and Deuce found himself with a handful of Extra Fluffy grey fur, two bold green eyes blinking up at him, seeming just as bewildered by this turn of events as he was. The little thing mewled quietly, soft paws shifting awkwardly in his hands, and then the kitten was sniffing at his thumb before mouthing at it with sharp little teeth, luckily without too much of a bite behind it for the moment.
Deuce melted a little. Just a tiny bit. And only if the kitten continued to not draw blood.
Ace was grinning when he looked up again, utterly fond and bright, the sweet image only slightly hindered by the utterly ridiculous sight of the orange kitten curling up on the top of his head. “Whatcha think?”
“That you look insane,” Deuce sniped, but he drew his hands closer to his chest, curling carefully around the little body he was holding and looking down at the kitten again. He ran the tip of his finger over the little cat’s head, smiled to himself when its ears flicked at the gesture, and snorted when Ace yelped and caught the orange kitten as it slipped from his head, cooing apologies and endearments at the little troublemaker before settling it against his chest as he leaned back against the wall behind him, hands smoothing over every cat he could reach. Deuce continued petting the kitten in his hands until it got mouthy again and started gnawing on his knuckle, and he released it to rejoin its friends before a chunky yellow cat decided to take over his lap of its own volition, seemingly unimpressed with the lack of access to Ace.
“Seriously, though,” Ace said again after a while, keeping his voice pitched low, and when Deuce looked up again it seemed like most of the cats were beginning to doze, the one on his shoulders sprawled gracefully, tail curled lightly around his neck and just the tip flicking lightly at the ends of his hair. It wasn’t necessarily the most content Deuce had ever seen him, but Ace looked soft and happy, his eyes as gentle as his smile. “What d’ya think?”
Deuce’s hand smoothed over the back of the yellow cat in his lap, and it purred loudly, nearly vibrating under Deuce’s palm. It was a weird feeling, and he smiled back.
“I could get used to it,” he said simply. “How about you? Any of them stand out?”
Ace hummed at that, looking down at the kitten in his hands thoughtfully, tipping his head to consider the cat sprawled across his shoulders that he could probably only see from the corner of his eye.
“I’m not sure yet,” he hummed, scanning over the mass around him, eyes lingering once or twice but never for too long. Deuce nodded, shifted his weight just enough to make the yellow cat in his lap meow sternly, and murmured an apology with a scratch at its ears before sitting back. Another cat sniffed at his knee curiously, and he reached out to offer his fingers as well. Ace could take as long as he needed; Deuce didn’t mind waiting at all.
Ace’s frown was barely there, only visible in the slight downturn of the corner of his lips and the furrow between his eyebrows. Deuce hummed at his side, elbow nudging at his arm gently.
“Sorry,” Ace said, shifting to put his arm around Deuce and pull him closer, and he huffed in exasperation, sliding his arm around Ace’s waist in return.
“Don’t be sorry. We’ll keep looking. Or come back next week and see how we feel then,” Deuce replied easily, shrugging just a little, careful not to displace his partner. Maybe it was a good thing not to bring home a pet the first day of looking? Be sure about the cat they did pick?”
But Ace still seemed a little forlorn, and Deuce tipped his head to rest on his shoulder as they waited to cross the street, their car already in sight in the public parking lot on the other side.
“Yeah, maybe next week,” Ace conceded after a moment, pressing a quick kiss to Deuce’s hair before shifting again, dropping his arm from Deuce’s shoulders in favor of taking his hand instead. “I’ll have to ask Pops where they found Stefan again, I think it was somewhere outside the city.”
“We can make a trip of it,” Deuce offered, warmed by the smile sent his way as the light changed and they crossed the street.
“Gonna have to be careful when I ask Pops, then. If Thatch or Haruta hear about it they’ll invite themselves along before we can stop them.”
Considering how the pair usually overreacted and carried on at any sign of affection Deuce offered Ace, or vice versa, he wasn’t terribly worried about that, but he snorted at the sight of Ace’s amused smirk.
“Remind me to call later?” Ace asked, dropping Deuce’s hand to go around to the driver’s side, and Deuce nodded, opening the back door to abandon his coat, nudging the bag of cat toys and initial essentials they’d already gotten into the footwell to wait until their search continued. One of the little bells within rang merrily, either from a toy or the smaller of the two collars they’d bought, and Deuce smiled before shutting the back door and reaching for the passenger side.
The clatter of empty cans on pavement caught his attention, and he turned toward the more abandoned back section of the public lot, which opened to a shadowy alleyway and the backs of several shops and a small apartment complex. Something rustled near a grouping of trash cans, knocking against the previously toppled aluminum, and then a plastic bag came rolling into view, accompanied by the sound of plastic film crinkling and smacking angrily. A dark tail wavered out from within the bag, followed by a fluffy paw scrabbling for purchase.
"Deu?" Ace asked, already behind the wheel, rolling the passenger window down to speak.
"There's something over there," Deuce replied, nodding toward the little creature, still in the throes of battle against the plastic bag, beginning to hiss and yowl, quiet but high pitched. Ace turned, trying to look out the back windshield, and then climbed back out of the car.
"Raccoon?"
"Tail's wrong," Deuce replied, squinting like he might actually be able to catch more details over the distance. Ace, on the other hand, simply shut the car door quietly and started making his way over, and Deuce stuttered out a protest. "Ace, wait, we don't even know what it is...!"
"I'm just taking a look," Ace said, waving a dismissive hand, flashing a reassuring grin over his shoulder.
Deuce wasn't particularly reassured. That grin had prefaced all sorts of misadventures and incidents and injuries over the time they'd known each other, at least for Deuce to witness the aftermath of, though he'd been dragged into a fair few as well. He could just see an emergency room visit for animal bites or scratches in their future.
"Definitely not a raccoon," Ace called back quietly when he was within arm's reach, Deuce lurking a few feet back, like Deuce didn't already know that full well. "Hey, little guy. You stuck?"
The tail flicked against his outstretched hand and the creature jumped, hissing again before releasing a nervous, plaintive mewl that had Ace stilling in surprise momentarily. Deuce leaned forward as well, unable to help himself.
"Did it just meow ?" he asked, and Ace nodded before reaching out again, snagging the creature with broad, gentle hands, carefully avoiding the kicking, swiping paws as he tried to untangle the bag around its head and shoulders.
"Aww," Ace cooed , the moment the animal was properly revealed, even as an oversized paw made another, more accurate swipe for him. Deuce leaned a little further forward and found large yellow eyes blinking up at them, ears flattened back and fangs bared. It wasn't an immediately cute image, but the fierce expression on a little kitten was becoming more adorable the longer Deuce laid eyes on it. It hissed again as Ace shifted his hand around it, discarding the bag in favor of cradling it with his other hand, drawing it closer to his chest. "Deu, it's a baby ."
It had to be some breed that the shelter didn't have. It certainly seemed bigger than the other kittens they'd seen earlier, but it definitely wasn't a grown cat. It sure had some teeth and fangs, too, though as Ace brought it closer the hissing and yowling died down, the little thing seeming startled at the warmth of Ace's shirt and body, giving him a tentative sniff before its body relaxed some and it released another sweet little meow.
Deuce melted again, just like at the shelter. Of course he did. Ace turned to look at him over his shoulder again, grey eyes bright, and Deuce sighed softly and nodded, entirely bemused and fond. "I'll go knock on a few doors to be safe."
"Thanks, Deu," he said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a little piece of beef jerky, and Deuce snorted and rolled his eyes and left to see if anyone was missing a cat from the little apartment complex.
Two hours later found Deuce giving up on finding anyone missing a cat in the general area and all three at home after a quick stop for tick and flea shampoo for the kitten that had apparently imprinted on Ace, considering how he plastered himself to Ace’s chest, little claws catching on the fabric of his shirt to make sure he stayed in place.
The kitten was even fluffier now that he was clean and mostly dried, and while he had spent a few minutes ambling around the living room and kitchen and sniffing inquisitively at just about everything, he seemed far more interested in looking toward where Ace was sitting on the floor, back braced against Deuce’s knees and the bottom of the couch. He nearly tripped over his own oversized paws as he tried pouncing at the feathered toy Ace was slowly sweeping across the floor, and Deuce barely suppressed a laugh at the ungainly tumble he took before recovering, growling playfully at the toy all the while.
Ace hadn’t stopped grinning yet. Deuce didn’t think he had either.
"I love him," Ace whispered, like it was a secret he was hesitant to divulge, like Deuce couldn't see that for himself already. Instead of responding he leaned over, draping his arms over Ace's shoulders to rest his hands against his chest, tilting his cheek against Ace's hair to watch as the kitten swatted at the toy for another moment before yawning widely enough to unbalance himself, plopping into a sit and blinking bewilderedly when the yawn finally ended. Ace barely stifled a laugh, though he definitely cooed again, and it was enough to draw the kitten's attention back to him. A brief trot and respectable hop found the little thing in Ace's lap again, circling a few times before lying down and beginning to purr.
"So we have a cat," Deuce said, once the purring died off into little breathy snores, Ace's hand settled over his back and probably providing plenty of warmth.
"I'm gonna call him Kotatsu," Ace replied, turning enough to displace Deuce just a little and catching his eye. "What do you think?"
Deuce hummed, leaning forward again to look down at Kotatsu, whose tail flicked contentedly in his sleep before falling still, one fangy tooth visible from under his lip. "Kotatsu sounds fine to me."
Ace hummed, tilting his head to meet Deuce's cheek gently again, thumb smoothing down Kotatsu's fur slowly to not disrupt his nap. "He's just the cutest. Gonna be the handsomest baby, aren't you, Kotatsu?"
Deuce snorted, pressing a kiss to Ace's hair and closing his eyes, content to stay where he was for a while. He had a long list of things to do and buy for their newest family member in the morning, and he doubted Ace would be able to pull himself away long enough to come with him for those errands. But they had a bed for Kotatsu that he'd only shown about two second's interest in, and he'd eaten far more of the little bag of cat food they'd already purchased than either of them expected, and he seemed comfortable enough considering the way they'd found him and that he'd only been in their company a few hours. It was a victory to Deuce, and he was happy.
Maybe a little less so in the early hours of the morning, when he got a soft, oversized paw to the face as Kotatsu squirreled himself into the crook of Ace's shoulder, purring contentedly all the while. Ace grumbled in his sleep, eyebrows furrowing but otherwise not reacting, and Deuce shot the kitten an only slightly disgruntled glower before huffing and closing his eyes again, throwing his arm over Ace's waist rather than curling up to him like he had before.
Kotatsu...wasn't exactly the handsomest cat Ace had predicted he'd grow up to be. Deuce wasn't entirely sure he was really a normal house cat at all, considering he didn't think Kotatsu was done growing yet, his fangs long enough to poke out even when his mouth was closed, his eyes ever watchful.
But Kotatsu was theirs, even if he purred like an engine and had a bizarrely cute meow at odds with his sort of smushed face and ever-growing body.
Even if he was an unrepentant treat beggar and knew exactly which of them was the weak link to his big longing eyes and swishing tail.
Deuce tried to hold firm, keeping his face turned toward his laptop and journal on his desk even if he kept glancing at where Kotatsu was sitting on the floor beside him and looking expectant from the corner of his eye. Another one of the sweet plaintive meows came, and Deuce caved. Exactly as he knew he would, and worse, exactly as Kotatsu knew he would.
He slipped the treat to Kotatsu, watching the way his eyes slit in pleasure as he received his snack, purring almost deafening compared to the quiet of the rest of the apartment, and Deuce counted his blessings that his partner was out for the moment. He'd be able to hear that from across the apartment for sure.
"Don't tell Ace," he murmured to Kotatsu, scritching under his chin, and he received another meow. He’d take that as an agreement.