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It is a cold night in Staten Island and Q is walking home from his job as a firefighter. Everything is sore and he cannot wait to get home and cuddle with his husband.
Two blocks away from his apartment, Q runs into a stray cat. “You’re so fuckin’ cute”, Q says as he picks it up. The cat has a luscious black coat. “Are you a Maine coon? Maybe a tabby? It’s too dark to tell.” He decides to take the cat home to check its gender and breed. Q cannot wait to get home, now due to the cat. “I don’t care what you are, you are mine now.” He sneaks the cat into his coat to protect it from the harsh temperature.
Q was now on the porch of the apartment he shares with his husband. He went to grab his key just to realize that he left them at work. “Fuck me.” He uses his numb hand to knock on the door. No response. “Is Sal asleep? I know it’s late, but it’s not that late.” He knocks harder to try and wake up Sal. “I’m gonna fuckin’ freeze to death before he wakes up.”
Sal is awoken suddenly by a harsh knock on the door. “That must be Q. Why is he home so late?” Sal throws on some slippers and groggily walks to the door. He unlocks the door and sees Q with his head in his jacket.
“What are you doing honey? You look crazy,” Sal says confused but entertained.
“I’m making sure I don’t lose my nose to hypothermia”, Q joked. “Were you ‘sleep?”
“Yea”, Sal says as he rubs his eyes. “ How long were you out here?”, Sal says with a concerned tone.
“No longer than ten minutes, I think.” Q says as he walks into their home. “I left my keys at work.”
“What’s under your jacket?” Sal points out the strange bulge in the center of his jacket.
“I’m just really happy to see you I guess” Q says as he inches his way to the bathroom.
“I wish you were that hung,” Sal
Joked. “But seriously, what the hell is that.”
“Nothing. It’s nothing” Q is now in the bathroom with the door cracked. “I need to piss real quick. Give me a second.” Q quickly closes and locks the door. He places the newest addition to their family in the bathtub and tells it to be quiet.
Sal jingles the doorknob, trying to enter, and he realizes it’s locked.
“What’s in your jacket?” Sal screams at the door. “ And why is the door locked?”
“ I might be able to stay here all night” Q says under his breath. “I have so many cats already, he might not even realize I added another one.”
After five minutes in the bathroom, deliberating with himself and the cat, Q realizes that he hasn’t heard anything from Sal for a while. This worries Q a little bit.
“Sal” Q exclaimed feebly “Are you there?”
Sal was in fact, not there. He had remembered that they have a master key that opens every door in the apartment, and he went on a hunt to find it.
“Where is that damn key?” Sal exclaimed in frustration. “Why didn’t we put it somewhere memorable?”
Just as Sal was about to give up, he opens the drawer they have never opened. The key was laid in the center of the drawer.
“Here it is” Sal said as he picks it up.
Q decided that Sal must’ve went to sleep, so he leaves the bathroom with the cat wrapped in his arms. “I’m gonna put you in the kitchen and I need you to pretend that you’ve always lived here” Q says to the cat as if it could understand. “ And if he asks, I’ve had you since college.”
Just as Q entered the kitchen, he locked eyes with Sal and he sees his eyes dilate.
“Who the fuck is that?” Sal asks with a slight tremble in his voice.
“Fuck” Q says in his head. “Think of something.”
“This is Benjamin” Q says, knowing he wasn’t convincing anyone with that.
“No the fuck it’s not” Sal says as he slowly backs away. “You are not bringing another cat into this place.”
“Cmon Sal. Another cat isn’t going to hurt anyone.”
“Is the fuckin thing even vaccinated? I not catching anything from it” Sal almost yelled, but he managed to bring his voice down.
“I don’t know, probably. I found it on the street” Q said as he pets the cats head.
“That’s even worse. Get rid of that thing” Sal points towards the door.
“It’s below freezing Sal, it would be inhumane to put it out in that weather” Q said with genuine concern in his voice.
“It’s inhumane to make me live with a cat that might have all kinds of diseases” Sal said.
“Please Sally, just for the night” Q said looking at Sal with puppy eyes (or kitty eyes).
“Fuck, he so handsome” Sal said in his head. “Why did I marry such a beautiful man” Sal said out loud.
Q blushed, but his beard covered it well. “Please?” Q said still doing the puppy eyes at Sal.
“Fuck, fine. He can stay. Just for the night though” Sal said defeated. “Handsome bastard” Sal exclaimed.
“Thank you Sally” Q said excitedly. He places down the cat and hugs Sal tenderly. “I love you Sally” Q said as they embraced.
“I love you too Brian” Sal said as the embrace warmed him.
Q leaves the embrace and palms Sal’s cheeks. He pulls Sal closer and plants a kiss right on his lips.
“You still have to get rid of it. You cannot kiss your way out of it “ Sal said jokingly as he returned the favor.
“Damn it all” Q said dramtically. “That was my entire plan.”
“Too bad. Let’s go to bed, I’m tired as hell” Sal said as he yawned.
“Let’s go” Q said.
Q wrapped his arms around his lover as they walked to their room, continuing to plant kisses on exposed parts of Sal’s body.
“I love you so much” Q exclaimed.
“Do you love me more than the cat? ” Sal teased, pushing the door open to reveal their cozy bedroom.
“Know your place Sally” Q said jokingly.
“Wow” Sal said, feigning offense.
"Don’t worry, I'm saving the best for last," Q replied with a wink.