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Yugi looked sideways to his partner walking beside him. Atem’s face was schooled in its usual stoic way, crimson eyes focused ahead and jaw set firmly, but Yugi noticed how one corner of his mouth quirked upright as the two made their way to their destination—and the closer they got, an outright smile threatened to appear. A single friendly tug from Yugi between their laced hands yanked the other man back, who had suddenly quickened pace at the sight of the plaza.
“I know you’re excited, but hang on! We don’t want to seem too eager.”
Atem coughed and brushed a loose bang back with his free hand. “Right. Sorry.”
“It’s okay," reassured Yugi. He gave his partner a glowing smile. "I’ve been looking forward to this, too.”
It had started when Atem was still the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle and shared a body with Yugi. The spring and summer offered warm sun beams that enticed the neighborhood's stray cats to bask, and Yugi found himself mysteriously arriving later and later to school in a uniform covered with fur. Some light chastising kept Atem from indulging in his fondness for cats until years later when the two—thankfully in separate bodies now—were enjoying a lazy afternoon, watching television.
“A ‘cat café’?” Atem had asked. A cheerful commercial jingled on screen. “Yeah,” said Yugi, not lifting his head from Atem’s chest. He lazily pulled his arm from around the other’s neck and pointed, “See? It’s just as it shows. You can pet cats while you enjoy coffee or tea.” Yugi planted a kiss on Atem’s parted lips, grinning against them. “I’m guessing you want to go?”
Atem very much wanted to go, and he made a habit of going... to the point that the cat café employees knew his name (Atem Mutou-san), his preferred drink (chai spice latte), and his favorite cats (Plim Plim and Buttons). Yugi realized they might have a problem when his wallet grew lighter and lighter in his back pocket from all the repeated visits to the café. He realized they might have another problem when Atem began to place a furry companion in the scoop of his half-zipped jacket at the end of their visits and tease about how the cats were so comfortable, it would be cruel to remove them from the warmth of his embrace and that he simply had no choice but to take them home.
While Atem could not take the adorable Plim Plim home, Yugi figured he could solve the emptiness in his wallet and the emptiness in their home in one fell swoop: adopting a cat of their own. It only made sense, as the men recently moved out of Suguroku’s house into an apartment and were looking to make their new abode more “them.” And what could be more “them” than welcoming a furry feline into their lives, especially when Atem was so smitten with them? So the two squeezed each other’s hand, opened the door that chimed with their arrival, and eagerly followed the shelter employee and her bouncing short ponytail.
The animal shelter was bright with clean tile and pops of color on accent walls that complimented instances of warm stained wood. The young woman mentioned offhand her excitement to show off the shelter’s cats as the men took in the curious faces of those felines craning to look at them as they passed. Yugi felt the weight of a glare as he walked and turned to see an incredibly flat, mustached face behind bars, looking at him with a mix of scrutiny and disdain. He raised an eyebrow in return, surprised the fluffy cat could affect an air of superiority by just sitting there. Its large feather duster-like tail rolled with measured curiosity.
“What about this one?” Yugi asked, tapping on the red nameplate of the cage. “‘Lettuce Alone.’” The employee shook her head.
“That’s one you want to let alone . Come on, I’ve got some friendlier felines for first-timers like you two.” She beckoned them to follow with a short wave over her shoulder.
The three made their way through the shelter, the cages decorated with other interesting names that made the cat cafe’s sensibilities seem perfectly modest in comparison. There was the chunky Hamburger Helper, Ms. Ma’am, Big Head Brian whose head was as foretold, Universal Diva sporting a lavender seal-point coat, Little Latte Meow Meow, and a stocky orange tabby with wise golden eyes known as General Erasmus Dickenson. Some of these cats and a few others who shared the same blue border around their name were loosed from their cages and herded to the enrichment area. “These are our most sociable adoptees; I think any one of them would be just the right fit for your family,” the employee offered, “Feel free to get to know and play with them here, and tell us what you think!”
Atem settled on the small couch and poured a few treats from the bag provided to coax the cats to him, with some success. Big Head Brian and Hamburger Helper toddled over to claim their reward from his hand and accepted pets from his other, but left as soon as the treats and thus their incentive disappeared. Atem leaned back with a disappointed sigh, dusting his hands on his pants. He smiled weakly to Yugi who took a seat beside him. “I know it’s nothing personal, but I can’t help but feel a little hurt by that,” he laughed. Yugi opened his mouth to offer encouragement but yelped instead as Universal Diva leaped into his lap with a mighty chirp that dispelled the momentary gloom. She was immediately rewarded with pets along her back.
Yugi cast his eyes downward at the cat in his lap and exhaled. “I know we’ve prepared and agreed to get a pet, but somehow I still feel anxious.” He petted the animal’s silky coat idly, feeling Atem’s eyes harden on him.
“Have you ever had a pet, partner?”
“Me? No, not really,” Yugi scritched behind the cat’s ears absent-mindedly, “There was one time... in the summer before middle school. I scooped up a goldfish at a festival booth. I was really proud, too! But me and grandpa didn’t know how to take care of it well, so it died within the week.” He barked a short laugh and ducked his chin into his chest to hide his embarrassment. “I promise that won’t happen to whichever cat we choose today!” Atem smiled too. “I have the utmost faith in you.”
Yugi looked up to meet his gaze. Atem always spoke with an uncomplicated sincerity that made him believe anything he said. He shook his head roughly, as if to rid his face of the worsening blush he felt hotly on his cheeks. “Well, how about you? ”
“I had a cheetah.”
“A cheetah?!” A few employees turned their heads curiously at Yugi’s yelp of surprise. The cat in his lap too was alarmed, immediately sinking her claws into his thighs before launching herself somewhere quieter. Yugi winced, then asked again more quietly, “Really, Atem, a cheetah?”
“What’s so strange about that?” Atem hissed back, blushing now. “It’s not like I picked it out myself, or the rest of the menagerie of animals from other kingdom leaders. They were gifts.”
Yugi pinched the bridge of his nose. “Before, you made it sound like you’ve never had a pet.” Atem shifted and tilted his face downward. “I didn’t get to care for any of those animals. Like you hardly got to care for that goldfish.” He blinked in a moment of thought. “Oh, not to imply that any of them died so immediately. They were well taken care of by my servants.” Yugi made an indignant sound in mock offense before lightly shoving Atem.
“Gee, thanks! ”
As laughter between the two dissolved, a rumbling purr took its place. Yugi and Atem looked at each other and all around them before Yugi’s ears caught in the direction of Atem’s feet. He nodded to his boyfriend with his chin, “Hey, look down there…”
Cuddled comfortably against one of Atem’s shoes with its eyes closed in happy slits was the tiniest cat either young man had seen that day in the shelter. She had tawny fur with black tipped ears and a cream-bathed belly that quivered with the fullness of a recent meal. Atem looked to Yugi, who nodded back in encouragement, then reached his slender fingers down to the kitten’s ears cautiously. When his touch was rewarded with a head bump into his palm he scooped her into his lap, and the loudest purring either Yugi or Atem had ever heard suddenly erupted from her upturned face.
Yugi tilted his head and smiled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she actually wants you to take her.” He bumped Atem’s shoulder with his own. “It seems you don’t have to try stealing this one.” Atem bumped Yugi’s shoulder back and chuckled. The kitten stretched and exposed her round, short-velvet belly that begged to be rubbed, earning delighted coos and attention from both men.
After indulging his weakness to the cat’s charm, Atem glanced around at the emptied cages. “Partner, I don’t recall seeing this one among those shown to us.” Yugi took in his surroundings as well. “Huh, you’re right.” He bent his forefinger and rubbed the kitten’s cheek, “I wonder… just who is—”
“Big Expectations!”
Yugi and Atem looked suddenly at the employee shuffling in their direction. “ There you are! Ugh, wiggled out of your cage again, I bet!” She leaned between the two nonchalantly to scoop up the kitten and raise it to her face, chastising in a soft voice, “So naughty!” Atem raised his hand hesitantly after the young woman as she spun on her heel to return Big Expectations to her cage. “I…” His hand waivered, curled into a fist, and fell shyly into his lap.
There was no way Yugi was going to let that cat get away. “Excuse me!” He stood up and took a step after the girl. “Actually… we were very interested in that kitten!” The employee looked between Big Expectations and back to Yugi. “This little thing?”
Both men nodded earnestly.
After a few beats of contemplative silence, the employee smiled. “Well, we hadn’t quite prepared her for adoption on account of how young she is, but I think we can work something out if you two are willing to keep in touch. We want to see her grow up happy and healthy—actually, we expect it.” She winked.
They exchanged money and information, and not long after was Atem once again cradling his beloved new friend and she purring loudly in his arms–a scene that made Yugi’s chest swell with indescribable joy. He reached two fingers to the kitten’s face and rubbed her cheeks. “‘Big Expectations’... sounds a bit weighty for such a small cat.” Atem rolled his eyes.
“I have to say, as someone who would know, I’m rather tired of expectations.”
“Well go on, I’m sure you have a suggestion for a better name.”
Atem drew the cat closer to his chest and looked Yugi in the eyes with a sparkle in his own. “ Bahja… ‘one who brings joy’.” Yugi’s smile grew soft.
“I’m sure she will, Other Me.”