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Louis hoists his suitcase out of the backseat of his rideshare. He buzzes #328 and waits a few seconds until the front door clicks mechanically. Heading through the unlocked door, he recalls the path to Niall and Liam’s flat from when he helped them move in six months ago. Niall is already standing in the hallway excited to greet him.
“Tommo!”
“Nialler!”
He wraps his arms around him, slapping his back for good measure. He hasn’t seen Niall or Liam since they’d moved in. The following week Louis had flown halfway across the world to spend half a year working in the LA sunshine. Now he’s back, and he’s thankful his friends had a spare room that he could crash in. It hasn’t been easy to search for a new place with the eight-hour time difference.
“How was your flight in?”
“Fine, it was pretty smooth.”
“That’s good. I’m sure you’re exhausted, let me show you the room.”
Louis follows him into the flat. Niall pushes the bedroom door open. A huge mass of brown fur bolts between his legs. Louis startles with a hand to his chest.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Oh, that’s the stray cat I told you that Liam found a few days ago.”
“Are you sure that’s a cat?”
“Liam took him to the vet yesterday. They had to sedate him to do all the tests. She said it was the biggest he’s ever seen. She thinks it’s probably a Maine coon. He wasn’t chipped or anything, so we’re waiting a bit to see if anyone is looking for him. I hope it’s okay with you, he’s been staying in this room the most so you might have to share the room.”
“I don’t mind. I’m just thankful you have a spare room to share right now. It’s so hard to find an affordable place. So, did you give my furry roommate a name?” Louis asks as he unzips his suitcase.
“We’ve just been calling him Cat.”
“How original,” Louis laughs.
“Liam didn’t want to get too attached in case his owner turns up. Plus, he’s never around anyway. He keeps hiding from us. It’s like we don’t even have a cat most of the time.”
“I’m sure he’ll warm up eventually.”
“Maybe. Well, I’ll let you get unpacked and settled in. You can join Liam and I for dinner tonight if you don’t have plans.”
“Thanks Niall.”
Alone now, Louis starts to unpack, removing his bag of toiletries, untangling his phone and laptop charging cables, and hanging his shirts in the wardrobe. As he’s moving the pants and socks to one of the empty dresser drawers, he drops a pair of socks. A furry paw reaches out from under the bed, batting at the rolled up socks.
Louis gasps, “You must have snuck back in when I wasn’t looking.”
He kneels slowly to look under the bed. Two green eyes stare back at him. It’s dark, but Louis can make out the shape of the huge cat squeezed between the floor and the bed frame.
“Hi Cat. That’s such a tight space for you. I hope you don’t get stuck under there.”
The cat hisses.
Louis tosses up his hands in surrender. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna bother you. You can stay under there as long as you want.”
Louis didn’t see much of the cat over the next two days. He was a furry blur dashing between rooms or a pair of glowing green eyes at night when he’d sneak out to eat.
On the third day, Louis takes up residence on the couch and opens his laptop. Louis loves having a remote job that allows him to work from anywhere that has an internet connection. He plans to spend the morning typing out emails and scheduling meetings with clients, taking advantage of the empty flat while Niall and Liam are both at work.
He doesn’t see the cat at first, perched on the kitchen counter. He’s still as a statue, watching Louis intently.
“Oh, hi Cat! Are you going to join me at work? No? I don’t blame you. You’re lucky cats haven’t formed a capitalist society so you’re free of all this bullshit.”
Louis keeps up his steady stream of yapping while he reads through his emails. He tells Cat about his favorite clients and rehashes one particularly frustrating situation that happened last week that he’s still dealing with. Louis has never had an office job with coworkers that gossip and or chat around the water cooler. But sometimes, his days do get long when the only form of social interaction he gets is a couple of instant messages. It’s nice to break up the quiet monotony, even if his companion doesn’t respond.
By noon, Cat has sprawled out on the living room floor, taking up the sunniest spot in the room. It’s the closest Cat has been to Louis, other than when he’s hiding under the bed. He keeps talking to Cat intermittently while he takes a break for lunch.
During his afternoon break, Louis decides to try enticing Cat with some toys. Even though they didn’t know if the cat would stay, Liam had splurged on cat toys, buying mice and feathers, balls and springs, strings and ribbons, and a really nice scratching post. He argued with Niall that just because they might be a temporary home, doesn’t mean Cat shouldn't have all the enrichment he could need. Much to Liam’s disappointment, Cat hasn’t touched any of them.
Louis sits on the floor, keeping a respectful distance when Cat lifted his head and glared at Louis’ movement. Luckily, Louis has picked one of the wand toys. He shakes the stick and a little bell on the end jingles. Cat’s ears perk up. On the next flick of the wand, a paw bats at the feathery end. Louis shakes and flicks the wand in sporadic motions until Cat finally jumps up and attacks. Once engaged, Louis keeps Cat entertained with the toy for over ten minutes, stopping only when Louis’ computer dings with a new instant message.
“Alright, time to get back to work.” Louis sets down the wand and reaches a tentative hand out toward Cat. He sniffs Louis’ knuckles and then knocks his head into them. Louis gets a few scratches between his ears before Cat saunters lazily back toward the square of sunshine for an afternoon nap.
That night when Louis is almost asleep, the mattress dips as Cat jumps up. He pads slowly across the bed and curls up on the spare pillow next to him.
He wakes up to a faceful of cat hair in the morning. Cat is heavy lying on his chest, but he’s warm and cuddly. Louis doesn’t want to scare off the cat now. They’ve made so much progress.
Pushing the cat fur away from his mouth, he says, “You’re so hairy.”
Cat meows loudly, surprising Louis. Cat is not a vocal cat. The most sound he’s made in the past four days is the thud of him landing on the floor when he jumps off the counter.
Louis pets the long brown fur. It’s soft and silk, but could use a brushing. He makes a mental note to ask Liam if they have a brush. He cards his fingers through Cat’s fur, careful of catching any snags. “Such a hairy kitty.”
Cat meows again. He turns his head and bops his forehead against Louis’. Louis scratches between his ears.
“Hairy, huh. Do you want to be called Harry? Like the prince? You’re kind of regal like him. It’s a better name than Cat anyway.” Cat makes the noise again and flops onto his side, letting Louis rub his soft furry side.
Once Louis pulls himself out of bed, Harry follows him everywhere. Harry sits outside the bathroom door while he showers, jumps on the counter while he makes a cup of tea, and lies beside him on the couch while he works. Louis expects that his companion will run off to hide in their room once the others return, but to his surprise, Harry stays in the living room.
Liam sits on the chair across the room and stares suspiciously at Louis with Harry curled up on his lap.
“How’d you get him to do that?” Liam asks.
Niall says, “I bet he’s been bribing him with treats.”
“I talked to him a bit, and we played with his toys. I bet Harry will warm up to you guys eventually. Just give him some time.”
“Harry?”
Louis points at the large cat in his lap. “The cat you named Cat. We agreed you two weren’t very creative. Harry suits him better.” Louis scratches between his ears.
“We would have come up with a better name if we’d ever been able to spend time with him.” Liam pouts.
“Sorry, Li. I know you tried. But I guess he just prefers me.”
When it’s time for bed, Louis finds Harry curled up on his side of the bed. He’d gotten bored of their action movie half way through and finally jumped down from Louis’ lap, much to the relief of his tingling legs. Louis’ legs had fallen asleep under the weight of the cat, but he didn’t dare move when he heard Harry purring for the first time.
A week later, Louis and Harry have fallen into a comfortable routine. Louis works during the day, searches for a place of his own at night, and at bedtime, Harry stretches his long body against Louis’ side, liking to be the little spoon. Louis never would have guessed that he’s a cat person, but he’s starting to love Harry and is so happy he ended up in his life. Niall and Liam have agreed that if no one claims Harry by the time he’s found a place, Louis can take him.
One night, Louis wakes in the middle of the night to use the loo. Harry isn’t in bed anymore. The flat is silent. Niall and Liam are away visiting Niall’s family for his birthday. Louis doesn’t bother to put on shorts, opting to walk across the hall in just his boxer briefs.
Louis gets up and trips over something on the floor.
A loud bang comes from under the bed, followed by a deep voice exclaiming “Ow!”
“What the fuck?” Louis turns on the light. There’s a human leg protruding from under his bed. “What the actual fuck?”
“Louis, don’t freak out.” The voice says from under the bed.
“How do you know my name? And why are you under my bed?”
“I’m Harry.”
Louis drops to the floor and means familiar green eyes in the dark of the tight space under the bed. The face is human instead of cat, but the wary expression is much the same. “I can explain. But first, I’m stuck. Can I get some help?”
Louis manages to lift the bed frame enough to give Harry room to army-crawl out. Once free from the tight space, Harry stands fully naked in the middle of Louis’ room. He’s muscular yet soft, strong yet curvy. His wavy brown hair matches the soft fur Louis has brushed. And his moss green eyes are the same color, though the pupils are more human-shaped than cat-shaped at the moment.
Harry clears his throat. “Um, do you have some pants I could borrow?”
“Sorry, yeah. Here let me just…” Louis turns around and digs through his drawers. His cheeks flame with embarrassment that Harry had noticed Louis looking at him. But who’s to blame him? He’s half awake and there's a gorgeous naked man in front of him. It’s like a wet dream. He pinches himself just to be sure this isn’t some weirdly vivid dream.
Louis grabs a pair of boxers and tosses them back to Harry. Once he’s slipped them on, he sits awkwardly at the edge of the bed.
Louis turns around and stands with his hands on his hips. “Okay, explain.”
“I was trying to hide so you wouldn’t see, but there’s really not much room under the bed, and I got stuck. And then, I fell asleep.”
“Why were you hiding?”
“I forgot it was the new moon tonight. it’s not usual for a cat to suddenly become human. I didn’t want to scare you away.”
“Wait, so you’re really Harry? Why are you a cat?”
Harry nods. “I know this sounds wild, but please believe me. I was cursed. A wizard turned me into a cat, and one day a month I get to be human.”
“Like a werewolf?” Louis sits down on the bed next to Harry.
Harry chuckles sardonically. “Like a reverse werewolf, yeah. I’m a cat every day except for the new moon. The wizard said it was so I would always remember what he took away.”
“Well, how do we break the curse?”
“I don’t know.”
“Would a kiss work?”
“I don’t know,” Harry repeats.
“Maybe it’s worth a try?” Louis raises his eyebrows cheekily.
Harry laughs. “Sure, I’ll try almost anything.”
Louis leans in and presses his lips softly to Harry’s. Harry’s palm cups his cheek and pulls him closer. They fall back onto the bed as their kisses grow hotter.
Louis asks, “Did it work? Do you feel completely human?”
Harry shrugs. “It’s still the new moon, so we won’t know until tomorrow I guess.”
Harry yawns, then Louis yawns too. Louis suggests, “We should go back to bed and sleep. Whatever happens in the morning, happens. I’ll be there for you, cat or not.”
“Hopefully, not.” Harry kisses him once more, and then curls into Louis’ side.
Louis wraps his arm around his favorite little spoon and hopes that he’ll wake up to this wonderful man still in his arms. If not, he’ll do anything and everything to help Harry break the curse.