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Over the course of his three year long relationship with Harry, Louis has learnt that he is an extremely early riser. And while Louis usually only ever has wonderful things to say about his beloved boyfriend, he will always complain about never getting a lie in as long as Harry is next to him (every day for the rest of his life, please and thanks).
So, it’s nothing out of the blue when, on his day off, Louis wakes up four hours before his usual day off wake time of midday, to Harry. Doing… whatever it is that he does in the mornings.
Louis peeks one eye open to see his boyfriend pulling on a pair of boxers. He hasn’t showered because his towel isn’t in the room, his hair isn’t wet, and Louis can see the bathroom mirror from across the hallway and it isn’t misted.
What Louis can also see is a small calico kitten sat in their doorway. Well. Near full grown cat now, but she’s still small so, kitten.
This is the fourth time this week (it’s Friday) that this cat has made her way into their house. Given it’s the peak of summer, it’s no mystery that she is sneaking in one of the windows they keep permanently open during hot days.
Now, don’t get him wrong, if she was actually their cat, Louis would have no qualms with letting her hop up onto their bed for a morning snuggle. But she’s not theirs.
The little cat, aptly named Caramel, is their next-door neighbours’ cat. They’ve been living in their house for much longer than Louis and Harry’s fourteen months in their own, and they have several cats.
Not too long ago, Mrs Bevelin had come over to say one of her cats recently had kittens, and that one was missing, and to let her know if they found her.
Louis had no idea about any missing cats but had taken a long look at the picture she showed him, and even had her send it to him so he could show Harry.
It really shouldn’t have been a shock to anyone when Harry came barrelling home holding a tiny, meowing ball of white, black and ginger fur. A ball of fur that unfortunately twinned the one in the picture Louis showed him.
It broke his heart to tell Harry they had to return her. It broke his heart even more to watch Harry, who was obviously holding in his tears, as he handed her over to Mrs Bevelin.
But now, ever since that day almost six months ago, she has been sneaking into their house every few days, and Louis barely has the heart to always make Harry to take her home.
Louis forces his other eye to open so he can sufficiently blink at the image before him. Harry is pulling on his running shorts and one of Louis’ hoodies while talking quietly to the cat. “You caught us in bed sweetheart, neither of us are decent,” He whispers, dropping to a squat in front of her. “You can’t see your dads like that.” Harry adds, scratching gently behind Caramel’s left ear, her leaning into it.
With a quiet groan, Louis drops his head back to the pillow and closes his eyes. Harry is calling the two of them her dads. He needs to stop this before they both get attached to each other.
But look. His boyfriend is the light of his life. His boyfriend who wants kids as soon as they’re ready. His boyfriend who plays music for the plants in the kitchen and talks to them while he cooks. His boyfriend who learnt all of Louis’ siblings’ names months before he even met them. He loves his boyfriend more than anything on the planet, and Louis can’t bear to take things that make him happy away from him.
Louis cannot bring himself to take happiness away from the very person who makes him happiest.
“Harry, love,” Louis mumbles, clearing his dry throat of his morning voice. “You can’t say that to her, she’s not ours.” Louis says, practically pushing the words out of his mouth.
Harry looks over at him, frowning sadly as he strokes Caramel’s head. Without answering, Harry slowly slides his hands under Caramel’s belly to give her fair warning if she wants to run off, before lifting her and cradling her to his chest.
With clearly heavy feet, Harry slumps over to their bed and tentatively slides back under the covers, bringing Caramel to face Louis. “But look at her,” Harry says, his eyes sad above her ears. “Don’t you want her to be ours Lou?” He asks, shaking her front paws to gently pat Louis’ face.
“Of course, I want her to be ours, she makes you so happy baby, but she’s not,” Harry’s eyebrows drop to match his frown. “We need to return her.” Louis adds, reaching out to poke the soft underside pads of Caramel’s front paws.
Harry huffs and stands back up, clutching Caramel firmly to his chest as he heads for the hallway. He carries on walking, past the bathroom, to the kitchen, and Louis jumps out of bed. “Haz,” He calls, jogging after the boy who is nearing closer to the front door. “C’mon wait, we can go together, yeah?” Louis offers, holding the crook of Harry’s arm.
Caramel breaks their silent eye-contact with a timid meow, reaching one of her paws out to touch Louis’ nose. “Fine,” Harry mumbles, leaning his nose and mouth into the side of Caramel’s face. Louis hears Harry give her a tiny kiss before pulling away. He leans over and pecks a kiss to louis’ lips. “Put some clothes on first, though.” Harry says, a smile breaking through on his face.
With a relived smile, happy to see him in slightly better spirits, Louis pulls back. “Obviously, one second.” Louis jogs back to their room and races to put on some underwear, a pair of joggers that are clearly Harry’s and a zip up hoodie, also Harry’s, that he zips up to just above his ‘it is what it is’ tattoo on his chest.
He grabs two pairs of slides on his way out and meets Harry by the front door. Harry, who is chatting quietly to the cat who is rubbing her face intently on his cheeks, smiles politely and offers a small ‘thank you’ when Louis drops the shoes in front of his feet for him to slip on.
With a supportive hand at the bottom of Harry’s spine, Louis leads them out of the door and along the short bit of pavement they need to walk to reach their neighbours’ house. Louis steps first, one hand behind him under Harry’s hoodie, and leads them to the front door.
Harry gives Caramel one last kiss on the soft tuft between her ears before Louis raises his hand and knocks on the door. It only takes a couple minutes, in which Harry mumbles something and buries his nose in Caramel’s neck before the door swings open.
“Oh dear, not again,” Mrs Bevelin says, putting her fists on her hips and tapping her foot. “Young lady, this is getting out of hand,” She scolds, reaching her hands out for Harry to pass her over. Which he does, albeit hesitantly. “I promise she’s very well taken care of, none of our other cats do this.” Mrs Bevelin says, softly scratching the top of Caramel’s head.
“That’s alright,” Louis answers, pasting on a smile. “Harry enjoys when she comes over,” Louis adds, rubbing his hand up Harry’s back and stepping closer to him. “Reckon it’s only a matter of time before he convinces me to get one of our own.” Louis says, looking up and grinning at his boyfriend.
Harry clearly does his best to smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “It really is no trouble; she’s perfectly behaved always.”
They spend a few more minutes chatting, about mindless things to do with their neighbourhood and the other cats Mrs Bevelin and her husband have. Caramel wiggles to be put down soon enough, and Louis takes that as their cue to leave so none of the cat’s escape onto the main road.
Once the door is shut, Louis removes his hand from the skin on Harry’s back and instead laces their fingers together. “I’m sorry love.” Louis says, pulling him gently towards their house and up the stairs to their front door.
**
The next time Louis sees Caramel is a mere two days later.
He is on an afternoon shift at work, so he ravishes in some morning kissing and cuddling with Harry before he sidles away for a workout. Meaning Louis gets to starfish in the middle of the bed and snore as loudly as he wants to.
It’s only been forty-five minutes since Harry left when he hears light scratching at their window. Thanks to the early sunrises and their sheer curtains, their room is quite bright in the morning at this time of year. So, it doesn’t take more than a glance at their window to know the cat shaped shadow sat there is Caramel.
For exactly seven seconds, Louis contemplates ignoring her and turning over to try go back to sleep. But it only takes one second longer for Harry’s disgruntled face to appear in his head if he were to come home and find Caramel’s needs disregarded.
With a groan he wishes was filled with more annoyance than fondness, Louis pushes the curtain away and opens the window exactly one inch wider than it already was, in order to be big enough for Caramel to slip through.
She meows happily, slowly, and carefully going up on her hind legs to reach her front paws out to Louis’ shoulders. “Yeah, yeah you’re really cute,” Louis says, indulging her and picking her up like she’s one of his baby siblings. “Let’s get you home before Harry sees you.”
Louis intends to take her right next door, he really does, he promises. But when he puts her down on the bed so he can put some clothes on, she immediately starts sniffing around until she reaches their pillows.
Louis only has a pair of boxers on when he stands up to watch her process. She sniffs Louis’ pillow twice, then her nose drifts closer to Harry’s pillow and she sniffs that one a couple times, before she pauses right in the middle of them. She sniffs for a full ten seconds before lifting one of her paws to pat the indent between their pillows.
With a couple more sniffs, she walks all the way onto their pillows and starts kneading, with her back to Louis. “You’re joking.” Louis whispers, huffing out a quiet chuckle.
He slowly makes his way over, careful not to spook Caramel who he finds is quite in the zone of her kneading. She has her eyes shut, with tiny slow intermittent blinks every few seconds. And when Louis properly listens, he can hear her purring loudly.
Louis bends down a bit and brings his face closer to her. “Love,” He whispers, clearly quiet enough to not spook her because she slowly opens her eyes and turns to look at him. “What do you think you’re doing sweetheart?” He asks, lifting a hand to brush down her back. With a tiny meow, she stops her kneading and instead starts nosing at his cheeks.
In hindsight, Louis should have known his mistake was when he sat down on the edge of the bed.
It didn’t even take her two seconds before she started climbing all over him. Then she started meowing, as if to say, ‘lay down so I can get comfortable,’ and Louis knows the rules. He knows you can’t not listen to a cat, so did as she said. Or did as she meowed, and laid down.
He had only just gotten slightly comfortable when Caramel climbed onto his chest and placed her paw on his chin. “What are we doing Mel?” He asked, and his answer was Caramel closing her eyes and kneading on Louis’ chest.
Thankfully, Mrs Bevelin takes care of her cats in such a manner to clip their claws, otherwise Louis would have disregarded every cat rule and moved her off him. But because of her blunt claws, it feels more like a massage.
She keeps up with her kneading for a good five minutes before she settles down on his bare chest. She tucks her paws under her body and wraps her tail up so it can’t be seen, creating a perfect loaf. “Good job, love.” Louis praises, softly stroking her head and shoulders.
He can’t be blamed for dozing off again. It’s his morning off, and there’s a content weight on his chest purring right into his face. Louis rarely ever sleeps well on his back, but with Caramel sleeping soundly, he drifts off in no time.
When he wakes up again, it’s to Harry kneeling on his side of the bed, gazing down at them both. “Already took a load of pictures.” Is the first thing he says, which makes Louis chuckle and jostle Caramel. She stirs slightly and opens her eyes to look at Louis.
“You two look adorable.” At the sound of Harry’s voice, she snaps her head to Harry and meows happily. She stands up on all four of her paws and stretches her back, before arching down and pushing her front paws onto Louis’ face to stretch her shoulders. Her ears turn back, and she lets a big shiver run through her whole body before she steps over to Harry’s knees.
With a couple happy meows, she climbs onto Harry’s lap and steps her paws up his body until Harry wraps his arms around her. “I’d stay for a cuddle, but I’m sweaty and I stink,” He starts, pressing a kiss onto Caramel’s head. “Can we keep her just for the morning? I promise we’ll give her back later.”
Louis is helpless to deny him.
After his shower, Harry pulls boxers on (“I don’t want to scandalise her!”), and crawls back into bed beside Louis, who lifts his arm for Harry to cuddle in under. Without wasting a second, Caramel sniffs around at the crease separating Harry and Louis, before settling her bum down and starting to knead.
With one paw on each man, she closes her eyes and blissfully kneads while they watch her. “Please can we keep her? Please, please, please.” Harry begs, placing a few kisses on Louis’ chest as he asks.
If there’s one thing that Harry is, it’s sneaky. He knows Louis can barely deny him anything, and he knows exactly what to offer, say and do to make Louis say yes to pretty much everything he asks.
Usually, Louis is weak to ever say anything but yes, but in this case, this cat belongs to someone else, and they know that. So, in this extremely rare case, he has to say no. That does not mean, however, it’s easy to do.
“Haz, baby,” Louis starts, tangling one of his hands in Harry’s thankfully dry curls. “She belongs to the Bevelin’s, we can’t just take her.” He says, using his other hand to run his finger down Harry’s jawline.
Louis watches as Harry stops himself from pouting. It’s a useless fight, because whenever something goes wrong in the big plan Harry always has in his head, he makes the same face; Lips just barely protruding, eyebrows tilted down, and his lips in a tiny frown.
“Maybe Mrs Bevelin would sell her to us?” Harry suggests, using his left hand to stroke Caramel and his right hand to prod his knuckle into Louis’ nipple.
Louis doesn’t feel strong enough to deny Harry anything, but barrels on. “I don’t know love, but we need to get her back soon,” Louis reaffirms, brushing his thumb softly over Harry’s eyebrows, admiring the perfection that is his boyfriend. “Let her finish this biscuit then we’ll go, yeah?”
Harry just nods, huffing quietly as he keeps stroking the cat’s head. Louis keeps scratching lightly at his scalp, running his hand all over the features of Harry’s face, poking gently at his sparse freckles.
Caramel finishes kneading far too quickly for both of their likings, and Harry moves to pick her up. As if she knows what that means, she petulantly meows and attempts to pull away from Harry’s embrace. “Oh no, Caramel don’t make it hard.” Harry pleads, going in to try pick her up again.
She spots the attempt and takes a few steps back. “Mel, c’mon now.” Louis warns, pulling the duvet away from his legs and getting up. Louis rounds the bed and is about to pick her up before she bolts off the bed and out of the room.
“Shit.” Louis mumbles, moving to put on a pair of joggers so he doesn’t have to run around their house in just his underwear.
He’s just grabbed a shirt before heading for the door when Harry speaks again. “What did you call her?” He asks, slowly climbing off the bed to step towards Louis. “Mel?” He adds, massive smile breaking out on his face.
Louis fiddles with the shirt in his hands. “Oh,” He says, grinning slightly. “Yeah, like Caramel, Mel makes sense.” Louis says, opening the shirt to slip it over his head.
When his head comes up through the other end of the shirt, Harry leans in and places a soft kiss on his lips. “That’s adorable,” He whispers, pulling Louis in again to kiss him deeper. “She’ll become our cat one day,” He sucks another kiss to his lips. “I’m counting on it.”
Louis giggles into their kiss, wrapping his arms around Harry’s neck as Harry’s arms go around his waist. What interrupts them is an attention dependent cat winding through their legs. When they part, they both look down to see Caramel staring up at them.
With a meow, she stands on her back legs and paws up Louis’ leg. “Quick,” Harry whispers, rubbing a hand up Louis’ spine. “Pick her up while she’s nice.” Harry adds, pulling back to let Louis lean down and swoop her into his arms.
They return her to the Bevelin’s house with little effort. Caramel meows when she’s handed over and immediately squirms to be let down. After a short chat, Louis drags Harry away from the door where Caramel is sat staring at him, and back to their own home.
**
In the back of his mind, Louis knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time before Mrs Bevelin got sick of Caramel escaping and seeing the two of them on her doorstep near every day before she caved.
When Louis and Harry inevitably had to bring her back another fifteen times over the next two weeks, Mrs Bevelin said the one thing Harry had been waiting for.
“Why don’t you two lovely boys just keep her, hmm?” She says, refusing the cat when Harry makes to pass her over. “She’s just going to keep coming over, and she clearly loves you both a lot.”
Louis feels Harry stiffen beside him, his hands tightening a little bit around Caramel’s little body. “Really?” Harry breathes, scratching lightly at the cat’s back.
Mrs Bevelin waves her hand. “Of course, God knows I’ve got enough cats, and we’re on the way to selling most of the litter, I never put her up for sale because she never stayed here for longer than two days before wandering off,” She chuckles. “I didn’t want a potential buyer to turn up and she’s nowhere to be found.”
Harry is wearing a face of pure shock, so Louis places his hand on one of his love handles and steps in. “Mrs Bevelin that’s so kind, are you sure?” Louis asks, squeezing where he’s gripping Harry in what he hopes is a reassuring manner. “We’re happy to pay for her, whatever you’re asking for the others.” Louis offers, reaching out with his other hand to stroke Caramel.
Again, Mrs Bevelin waves them off. “Oh, don’t be silly, nonsense, you’re both lovely boys and I know that, and I’d hope I’d be seeing her at least sometimes, no need to pay for her, and I wasn’t asking a lot for them anyway.” She replies, reaching a hand out to scratch Caramel’s chin, receiving a lick in response.
“Thank you so much, yeah, that would be great,” Louis says, looking between his boyfriend and their neighbour. “Wouldn’t it Haz?”
Harry nods, looking up from Caramel’s fur. “I can’t thank you enough, seriously, we both love this cat so much.”
“I’m glad dear, she’s going to a good home, and I know that, so thank you.”
Louis and Harry says a few more ‘thank you’s before turning away to walk back to their house.
Harry is uncharacteristically quiet as Louis pushes their front door open, motioning his hand to let Harry in ahead of him. “Are you happy darling?” He asks, sliding a hand up underneath Harry’s shirt.
They’re quiet as Harry sets Caramel down on the ground, standing back up to face Louis with a blank expression before his face breaks out in a huge smile, his dimples in full display. Without saying a word, he grabs Louis’ face and pulls him into a bruising kiss.
He shouts, “We have a cat!” When he pulls away for a couple seconds, before leaning back in and kissing Louis again. “We have a cat now! Mel!” He looks down to where Caramel is scratching her face on the corner of their couch. “You’re our cat now!”
Louis breaks out in laughter at the sight of his boyfriend so happy. Harry dances around Caramel, eventually baiting Louis into joining him by grabbing his hand and swivelling his hips.
They laugh into a few more kisses, Caramel sitting and staring up at her new official parents with what Louis imagines is a confused expression. But Louis doesn’t care, he just picks her up and twirls Harry with an arm above his head, dancing around with his boyfriend and their cat.
“Oh!” Harry beams, twirling to a stop suddenly. “I need to bake something to say thank you,” Harry starts, grabbing the front of Louis’ shirt and tugging him towards the kitchen. “And we need to get her cat things.” He adds, rummaging through their cupboards, turning to check every few seconds that Louis is still there.
As always, Louis can’t say no to Harry, so they end up driving to the closest Pets At Home, which is twenty minutes away, and spending a truly horrifying amount of money on cat ‘essentials’.
(Harry actually put more toys than food in the trolley, and managed to convince Louis to buy a cat tower far bigger than any singular cat would want. He also refused to put the vast amount of cat food back, saying they’d need to figure out what brand she likes best.)
With a quick trip to Tesco for some baking things Harry needs, and some more cat treats, they get home to find Caramel sat by the front door. “Oh no, please don’t say you waited here the whole time, I’ll cry.” Harry says, dropping the bags he’s carrying to squat down to Caramel.
All she does is meow, before leaning up and licking Harry’s cheeks. “Thank you love.” Harry whispers, placing a kiss between her ears.
“A little help with these bags would be great babe.”
**
Louis stirs to the feeling of someone jostling his shoulder. He was in a deep dream about he and Harry as an elderly couple, sitting in their back garden with a cat on each of their laps, and a couple grandkids playing. All to be ruined by someone viscously shaking his shoulder.
“Hmm?” He grumbles forcefully, not opening his eyes lest he wake his body up even more.
“Lou!” Harry whisper shouts, leaning down to pepper a few kisses behind Louis’ ear. “We need to walk the cat.” Is all he says, and surely Louis has heard him wrong.
Louis rolls over, and against his better judgement, forces his eyes to blink open. “You what?” He asks, blinking a few more times at Harry’s wide-awake expression.
“Yeah! Look,” Harry shoves a phone, with the brightness far too high in his opinion, into his face, too close to be able to read any of the words. “People walk their cats, I think Caramel would love it, we should start while she’s young.”
Louis grumbles, turning back to his original position to find it doesn’t feel the same as it did mere seconds ago, shuffling to try find that comfort again. “We’ve had that cat all of one week, how have you already gone insane.” Louis questions, shuffling his bum back to find a squishy lump. A squishy lump that lets out a petulant meow at being prodded.
“I’m not insane, I think she’d really love it, can we go? Like now?” Harry asks, running a hand down Louis’ arm.
Caramel places her paws on Louis’ bum and jumps up onto his side, putting extra weight into the paws that are touching his most ticklish places. Typical. “What even is the time, baby?”
There’s a moment of silence then, before Harry mumbles something. “Say again?” Louis asks.
“It’s eight thirty, but!” Harry says, clearly knowing that that’s far too early for his boyfriend. “It’ll get too hot later, now is the best time, please Lou?” Harry asks, peppering a few more kisses along his neck and behind his ear.
With a grumble, Louis starts sitting up, much to Caramel’s dismay. “If you hate this,” He says, angling his words to their cat. “Take it out on that father,” He points to Harry. “Not this one.” He points to himself, before leaving a kiss on her forehead.