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patches was his pride and joy, his absolute everything. well, george was too. but patches was the first, his girl. and patches always preferred the blond too —not to say she hated the other two or anything— dream was her first too.
he always put her first, never wanting her to be uncomfortable, feeling unhappy when she was. he frequently takes himself back to the day he actually got her, especially when he’s having one of those kinda days.
it was roughly two years ago, and he got her from his mom. he had just been broken up with, and lost his childhood pet around this time, and she just wanted to see his smile again, that special glint in his eye when he was genuinely happy.
he had showed up back at his childhood home, after his mom had asked him over to help her with something. he opened the door, smiling nervously at his mother as he wandered inside.
“you needed help?” he asked her, sitting on the couch, eyeing the box nearby.
“yeah,” she replied, picking it up. “i don’t have a place for this, so i was wondering if you did?”
she placed the box on his lap, a smile ghosting her lips as he shakily moved tanned hands to open it, eyes widening.
“mom?” he asked, eyes teary.
she took the box from his hands as the tortoiseshell cat began to kneed biscuits into the blond’s thigh as she got comfortable.
“this is patches,” she introduced, sitting down next to him. “i know things have gotten hard for you, especially with quarantine, so i thought this could be good for you?” she rubbed a hand up his back as tears dripped from his soft cheeks.
“i-i,” he couldn’t even speak, he didn’t know what to say. but this was his mother after all, she could read him like a book, so he didn’t need to.
“mine?” he mumbled in a soft voice, sniffling when patches sniffed his face, licking his cheek.
“all yours,” she replied with a kind smile, patting his shoulder.
after he had calmed down he put her back in the box, as they had no crate just yet, bundling her comfortably into the car and heading home. he walked through the door, heart clenching when he heard her worried meows.
“almost there, baby,” he mumbled, placing the box down and slowly opening it, stifling a giggle when she popped her head out in curiosity.
instead of simply wandering around the unfamiliar area, she stayed by dream’s side, looking up at him with matching green eyes.
“hm?” he hummed at her, head quirking to the side. she —of course— continued to stare, mewing softly up at him.
he walked off to the couch, sitting down, and patches jumped up next to him, cautiously walking across his lap and sitting down, facing him.
he smiled at the gentle cat, reaching a hand up for her to sniff before scratching her cheek and moved up to behind her ear as she purred.
“that’s it,” he mumbled, smiling when she nuzzled her nose against his.
and the rest was history. they barely ever left each other’s side; dream was going for a drive? he can’t forget patches’ leash. he wants to go visit his mom? patches will visit as well, plus she seemed to miss his mother too. dream needs to edit? patches was most likely in his lap.
she always slept in his room at night too, him going as far as to designate a pillow just for her. it was the same routine most nights, when she wasn’t already napping somewhere else. the blond would crack his door open, leaving his bedside lamp on its lowest setting, making sure his cup of ice was filled, before lying down, facing the cat’s pillow. she would eventually show up, seemingly aware of the time, meowing out a hello —dream meowing back of course— before kneeding biscuits into the plush fabrics, lying down afterwards. the blond would watch her, smiling as he did so, reaching a hand up to give her soft scratches, kissing her head thereafter. “night, baby.”
they had their little quirks, as all pets an owners do; patches would always wake dream up in the mornings, softly bapping his face with her paw, not caring how annoying she was being —“ugh, what is it patches?”— meowing loudly as she did so. he would always groan in slight annoyance, but smiling upon seeing his precious cat, scratching her cheek as he asked what she needed.
dream would always talk to her about his day as well, going on about it regardless if she cares or not. she would usually mew in response to whatever he was talking about though, making him feel less alone.
speaking of; patches also always made dream feel less alone, less lonely in this nationwide quarantine. it was the small things, it always was. like their nightly routine, or her waking him up for food and attention, or her comforting him when he’s sad. she was always there for him when his best friends weren’t able to.
when dream was sad patches always knew what to do, ever since she saw him cry for the first time.
it was around a month after he got her, she wandered into his office, pushing the door open as it wasn’t open wide enough for her slightly chubby body to fit through the crack. but halted upon hearing his sniffle, she had never heard that noise before, what did it mean? was her person okay?
she ventured closer to investigate, seeing him hunched over in his office chair, hands over his face as his body shook.
she made no noise, instead wandering closer, swatting at his socked feet with a soft paw. this got the blond’s attention, as he smiled sadly, hands dropping away from his freckled face.
“hi patches,” he greeted, tears still falling, leaning back in his chair so she was able to jump up.
she hopped into his lap, nuzzling under his chin as he stroked down her back. she didn’t know what this feeling was, but she knew it was bad. she wanted to hear his laugh again, see that wide smile he does when she sticks her head in his shoes or roll around his bed in the evenings.
“george still can’t come,” he mumbled sadly, sighing out, his pets slowly down but she didn’t mind. “god, it’s just so hard.” she mewed lowly in reply, licking his chin.
“you’d love him, patchy,” the blond said softly, a smile slowly making its way onto his face, kissing her head gently as she leaned up into it. “you’ll meet him soon,” he was speaking more to himself but she found herself meowing back anyways.
he wrapped his arms gently around her small body, holding her close. and usually she’d hiss right around now, maybe even swat him with her sharp unclipped claws. but not this time, she purred instead, surprising the blond, but he couldn’t complain.
he let her go after a moment, smiling when she looked up at him with big green eyes, mirroring his. “love you, patches,” he said softly, nuzzling her soft nose, receiving purrs in reply.
yeah, dream was her pride and joy too.