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Scar darts through the streets leading to his and Grian’s apartment. Around him, the rain falls in sheets, leaving him soaked immediately. When he had left, the sky had been clear. He hadn’t brought an umbrella. He didn’t think he’d need one. He’d just left to go on a little walk, maybe go to the nearby ice cream place to get some ice cream for the two of them.
By the time he’d got there, though, it had started to rain. And then it just got worse and worse, and he didn’t want to risk getting their ice creams wet, so he headed back empty-handed. A little disappointing, really - he’d been looking forward to it.
He tries to rush back to the apartment, already looking forward to drying off and cuddling on the couch with Grian, when a sound cutting through the rain on pavement catches his attention and he slows, looking around.
It almost sounded like a -
Meow.
He hears it again, whirling around to look against the side of a nearby building. It takes a bit, rain still pouring down, but he can see what looks to be a small lump of fur hunched under an overhang.
Scar takes a step closer, frowning. The lump meows again, and - yup, that’s a cat. He quickly rushes over before slowly outstretching his hand. The cat eyes it but eventually reaches forward to give it a sniff. After a moment, he gently rubs a finger against the cat’s cheek. The cat meows again and rubs its face against his fingers and Scar just about feels his heart melt.
“C’mon, we gotta get you out of the rain.” He unzips the top of his jacket then picks up the cat - they’re so tiny, surely just a kitten - and tucks them into the space between his chest and the jacket before zipping it back up, leaving enough space for the cat’s head to poke out. He once again wishes he had his umbrella, but this would have to do for now.
Scar rushes back home with his precious cargo. He knows Grian probably won’t be pleased, but it’s not like he could just leave the kitten there! Luckily, he’s not far from the apartment now. He quickly unlocks the building and climbs up the stairs before unlocking the door, calling out a “Grian!” as he goes in.
“There you are, did you get the ice - Scar.”
“G, you’ll never guess what I found!”
“Scar, why are you holding your chest like - Scar!”
He unzips his jacket before reaching in and grabbing the kitten. “Look!”
“Scar. Darling. Love of my life. Why do you have a kitten? You do know our apartment doesn’t allow pets, right?” Grian sighs, but he gets up from the couch to come closer.
“She - he? I haven’t checked - was crouched against the side of the building! I couldn’t just leave her!”
“Scar - I’ll remind you again, our apartment doesn’t allow pets. We can’t keep a cat!”
“Aw, but just look at her face! Can you say no to that?” He holds up the cat before giving his best puppy-dog eyes.
“I…” Grian closes his eyes, looks away. “No. No. Our landlord already doesn’t like us, there’s no way she’ll let us have a cat.”
“Who says she has to know about it?”
Grian slowly ran his hands down his face. “Scar. You cannot be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”
“Think about it! Cats are quiet, yeah? And they don’t need to be let out. Nobody will know!”
Grian sighs. “What if she has a home already?”
“I really don’t think she does, but we could take her to the vet, make sure she’s not microchipped. And make sure she’s up to date on her vaccines, and -”
“Can we afford that?” Grian asks, wary. “That can’t be cheap.”
“I’ll take a few more shifts to make sure we can cover it. C’mon, Grian, I know you can’t say no to her cute little face.” Scar nearly shoves the cat into Grian’s arms. He yelps.
“Scar, she’s still wet! And so are you. Ugh, go dry off, I’ll dry the cat off.” He grabs a nearby towel and starts drying the cat off, watching as what was a bedraggled dark-colored cat turn into a silver tabby with white.
The cat purrs while he dries them off, and he sighs. “What am I going to do with you, hm? Scar’s already gone and fallen in love with you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already named you.”
“I was thinking of Jellie.”
Grian jumps as Scar comes over to him, towel on his shoulders.
“Why Jellie?”
“I dunno, it just seems right.” He pets Jellie, smiling as she starts purring. “Doesn’t it?”
“I guess? Scar, we - we can’t keep her.”
“Grian.” Scar turns to him, takes Grian’s hands into his own. “I will do whatever you want if we can keep the cat. I’ll do the dishes, I’ll do laundry, anything you want.”
“Anything?”
“Anything,” Scar insists.
Grian purses his lips before sighing. “Alright, fine. I’m cashing in on that ‘anything’ later.”
“Yes! Thank you, love you, you’re the best.” He leans over to press a quick kiss to Grian’s lips before turning his attention back to Jellie. “You hear that? You’re gonna stay with us! We’ll take good care of you, alright?”
“We’re going to need to go to the store and pick up some things, and take her to the vet…I’ll probably have to take a few extra shifts, too. This better be worth it.”
“Look at her cute face, of course it’ll be worth it!” Scar scratches under her chin, smiling widely as she closes her eyes and purrs. “See?”
Grian sighs, but he can’t stop his smile. “Alright, alright. She is pretty cute.”
He joins Scar in petting her, running a hand down her back before going up to scratch around her ears. Jellie soaks in all the attention, continuously purring as she rubs her face against their fingers.
Maybe a cat is exactly what they need to liven up their tiny apartment a bit.
---
“Oh, Gri, we have to get this one!”
Grian looks over to see Scar eagerly holding up a cat bed. It’s circular, with a portion rising out and giving the bed a little overhang. It’s gray with darker stripes and cat ears poking out.
“...Do we even have room for that?”
“I’m sure we can find room. C’mon, it’s perfect! It looks like her!”
Grian sighs as he walks closer. “Do we even know if the cat’s a ‘her’?”
“Oh, yeah, I checked before we left. Couldn’t tell if she was spayed, though. She looks pretty young so I’m guessing she’s not.” Scar puts the cat bed in the cart, giving a satisfied nod. “She’ll love the bed, I just know it.”
Grian sighs. Great, if she’s not spayed that’s just more that it’s going to cost them. He looks at the price of the cat bed, wincing a little but it wasn’t too bad, at least. “Alright, fine. C’mon, we need to get some cat food.”
Scar pushes the cart over to the next aisle where all the cat food is. While Grian looks over the cat food - most likely trying to find the cheapest one - he directs his attention to the end of the aisle where there’s a bunch of cat toys. Most of them are pretty standard - some mice, some puff balls, some string on a stick. But there’s one in particular that catches his eye.
He doesn’t have to look at the price tag to know it’s well outside their budget. But he can’t help but think about how funny it’d be. A robotic mouse toy with a feather attached. Oh, he’s sure Jellie would have a blast chasing it! Not that they really have the space in their apartment for it, but still. He just knows she’d love it.
“Okay, hopefully the food I’ve picked will be good for Jellie. What’re you…” Grian’s voice trails off as he looks at what Scar is holding before sighing. “No, Scar.”
“I know,” he sighs. “Maybe one day, though!” He puts it back on the shelf before looking at some of the much cheaper toys.
In the end, they end up with a few of the mice toys and one of the strings on a stick. Scar puts them in the cart, grinning widely. He hopes Jellie likes them.
“Okay, we’ve got food, bowls, toys, a collar, a cat carrier…I think that’s it. Is there anything else?”
“Grian.” Scar puts his hands on Grian’s shoulder, leaning in until their noses are practically touching. “Grian.”
“What?”
“We have to get her a cat tree!”
“Scar, where would we put it? She can just jump up onto the bed or the desk. That’s enough, right?” Grian pulls away, taking Scar’s hands off of his shoulders as he starts to push the cart towards the front of the store.
“We can just get a small one! It’s good enrichment. C’mon. Can we at least look at them?” He gently grabs Grian’s arm, and the man sighs.
“Fine.”
The two go to a couple aisles over where the aisle is full of cat trees of varying sizes. Grian doesn’t even look at the large ones - far too expensive and they have nowhere to put it - but even the smaller ones…
Grian looks at them warily. “We can get one later, okay? I don’t want to spend too much money. We still need to take her to the vet.”
Scar sighs but gives in. “Alright, alright. We’ll get her one later.”
Grian pats his shoulder before heading to the front of the store, praying the cost won’t be super high.
---
They’re both exhausted by the time they get back to their apartment after the vet visit. Jellie is too, almost immediately going to the cat bed they had set up.
The vet visit hadn’t been too expensive, luckily. And Scar was right - she hadn’t been spayed. They have an appointment set up for that, and the estimated cost wasn’t super high either.
Scar sits on the couch, soon pulling Grian down to sit on his lap, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin on his shoulder as he closes his eyes. “Nap time.”
Grian sighs but doesn’t protest, leaning his head against Scar’s as he watches Jellie sleep, curled up in the bed. She lifts her head, looking over at them. Letting out a meow, she gets up and jumps onto the couch, putting her paws on his thigh.
He pets her, smiling as she starts purring, before she jumps up onto his lap and curls up there.
Eventually, his own eyes start to drift closed, so he leans back against Scar and falls asleep in his arms with their cat on his lap.