Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Grief. That’s what had pushed John to move back to Liverpool after all those years living in Manchester. Nothing too major, simply losing the (possibly) love of his life to one too many arguments. And finally finding out that he wasn’t the love of his life at all.

They’d had a good run, both of them, but not together. And John doesn’t have a great track of sharing his space, apparently, so that’s why he chose to move back to Liverpool, alone. No roommates, no family, no partner, no pets. Just his space and his alone.

Well, that was the plan anyway. 

He was watching the telly one day, just finished unpacking the cutlery, ready to settle down and watch the game with a beer in hand when there was a commotion inside his bedroom. Strange, given that, as established, he chose to live alone. 

He didn’t even tell his friends that he was moving. He’s sure he can do it all by himself. 

It’d be lovely to have Rúben to cower behind when he goes to inspect the strange noise, no doubt. Trying to walk stealthily through the hall and towards the bedroom, he peers around the corner and sees some strange movement going on inside, prompting him to sprint to the bedroom door, which is ajar, and there is something on his bed.

“Oi! What?!... Who are you?” There’s a ball of fur lounging on his bed. Its bright blue eyes peer up at him, but the kitty doesn’t seem startled. “Looking for a place to sleep?” It blinks slowly, making no attempt to move at all. This isn’t necessarily the first time he’s run into a stray, however, the entitlement is baffling. This cat has climbed up seven floors, burst through the window thus causing the racket in his room, and settled on his pillow. Precisely on John’s side of the bed. 

“Alright darling, it’s time to go, okay? I’m sure your…” he tries to check the cat for a collar and there is one, hiding amongst the fluffy white coat “I’m sure your family is waiting for you, eh? Ah, you’re a lady, aren’t you?” The collar is light pink and the cat purrs softly when John pets her, trying to get closer without spooking her “Maybe you got distracted or—” slowly, John settles his fingers on the collar to check the tag, only to find out that it’s blank. “Okay, they had the intention to look for you at least, even if they fell short. Maybe you’ll have to find your own way back. I’m sorry there’s no one to call”

Kitty looks at him like he’s insane, disentangles herself from his arms and goes back to curl up on John’s pillow. 

“I guess you’ll have it your way, then?” 

This cat seems quiet enough, she just wants a nap, so John decides to deal with her later, if he must. He’ll watch the game and maybe she’ll be gone by the end of it. Wondering if the previous tenants had pets and the smell attracted her— or worse, wondering if she’s been abandoned— he makes a mental note to find a neighbor and ask about it. He’s not looking forward to being social just yet, but he’ll have to at some point anyway. Sighing he goes back to the living room, turns up the volume and promptly falls asleep right before the second half. 

When John wakes up, slightly disoriented, the TV is on a very random reality TV show, glowing at him offensively in the dark, because outside the sun has set and god knows what time it is. He feels incredibly warm though, and that’s thanks to the furry presence on his lap: the cat from earlier has settled to sleep with him and is keeping him company. He supposes that’s not such a terrible thing. 

There’s also the bottle that spilled on the floor, whether because he let it fall or the cat knocked it over he’ll never know, but he should clean that before going to bed. 

“Alright missy, we are going to have to get up— No, yes, don’t pull that face on me” the cat meows angrily but she drops to the floor, looking over her shoulder before going to the kitchen, where she starts meowing louder and louder in front of the fridge. “No! No! See? There’s nothing here” And John is being truthful: the only things inside his fridge are half a tomato, a six-pack of beer and takeout leftovers. Nothing apt for a cat. “I’m sorry baby, I wasn’t expecting guests so soon” he smiles at her and he swears the cat can hear him, because she blinks slowly before walking away. John follows her to the bedroom, where she climbs up the window, gets down on the balcony and disappears. “Well, nice to meet you too” he snorts, before going back to the living room to clean up the mess and eat his measly dinner. 

Being alone is easier in so many ways: you don’t have to wait for the other person, you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want, the entire space is yours to decorate however you like: including that awful Eiffel tower painting John is strangely fond of. But you have to keep yourself in check: you need to remember to eat, lest you let too much time pass and find that you didn’t have lunch in the past three days. You don’t have someone to shower with, or to share the warmth in bed. You don’t get a partner in crime to drive you to the 24-hr market to buy sweets at 3 AM. 

There are downsides to everything. It’s just a matter of getting used to it. 

/// 

“I made you breakfast”

“I already had breakfast, before hitting the gym” 

“Oh. Okay”

“You can have my portion then. It won’t be here for lunch”

“Another meeting?”

“Uh, no, I’m just going out with a friend. Hey, Johnny, look at me. It’s all good, right?”

“Yeah, no, it’s okay. I’ll see you later”

Chapter Text

The rest of the week, John manages not to run into any of his neighbors, which is just as well since he’s working from home and once he finished getting his apartment in order, he dived right back into his projects and shut himself off from the rest of the world. His only company has been the little white cat who comes to visit every single day. She hops on his lap and curls for a nap sometimes while he’s sitting on the computer, or stretches on the couch while he watches TV. Some nights she stays on his pillow, forcing him to roll to the other side to sleep, but it’s not a big deal. 

Some days, however, she comes to him with a thirst for blood. 

Last night, the cat managed to climb on top of his fridge and hiss at him anytime he tried to grab a beer. Fair enough, but John tried to cross the kitchen to grab snacks and she launched at him from the top of the fridge, scratching him and pulling at his favorite sweater in the process.

She has also been caught drinking water from the toilet bowl, but John had a cat when he was a kid that did that so he didn’t find it all that strange. 

“I swear you’re trying to drive me crazy or keep me away from my work, I don’t know” He says as he picks her up and away from the toilet before she can go back to being disgusting. “That’s where I pee, by the way, maybe I should teach you to go potty there as well like this video I saw the other day-“ yes, he’s been talking to the cat like she understands, like she cares, even. He’s still holding her in his arms all the way to the kitchen when something alarming appears in front of him. 

Another cat.

A cat identical to the one he’s holding.

She’s just as fluffy looking, soft and sweet, poised in her stance sitting next to the fridge like she owns the place. John looks back and forth between the kitty in his arms and the cat on the floor and he can’t spot a single difference so far, except… Looking closely, he checks the tag on the collar once again and what would you know! There is a name and phone number there. Except there wasn’t last time! Or was there…?

He softly lets the cat in his arms go, reaching for the second cat on the floor and as expected, her tag is blank. 

“Hmm” is all he can say. It seems like there is more than one cat. “Okay, I’m sorry that I’ve been treating you both as one, It seems we’ve had a weird case of stolen identities” he laughs. He literally laughs out loud and he’s never felt so happy and so lonely. “We’ll have to call your owner, shouldn't we, baby? What’s your name— come here, oh!” It seems that the tagged kitty is the wild one. No wonder he’s had such a hard time taming  her some days while other days she seemed so sweet and gentle: they’re literally two different animals. John suddenly feels very bad about it, and he wants to make it up to them but he doesn’t know how. He decides the first step is trying to find out where they came from, once and for all. 

After a small struggle where kitty #1 observes them with her huge eyes and kitty #2 gives him some renewed scratches, he finally gets to the tag and sees the name: Toffee. There’s a phone number which he promptly enters in his contacts, hovering his finger above the call button, wondering what to even say. He figures out he’ll make it up as he goes, and makes the call anyway, but it rings  and rings and  finally goes to voicemail.

”Hey, my name is John and I have your cat, I guess? Well, she’s been visiting my place, coming and going, you know? I’m not trying to steal her or anything but I’ve just noticed her tag and I thought I’d check in, anyway, please call or text me if you have any questions? Thank you, have a good day mate. Or ma’am. Or sir. Sorry. Thank you” 

It seems like he’s slowly lost his socializing abilities over time, the only point of contact with the outside world being the two cats that he  thought were just one, and his agent who’s been MIA for a few weeks anyway. He’s supposed to turn in an advanced manuscript of his new novel, with at least three new chapters in As they agreed on, but so far John has been rewriting the beginning and mapping out new characters he might never end up using. 

He tries to push down the failure feelings coming up his throat, and puts on some music. Maybe he will get some work done today.

///

“Did you bring my sunglasses?”

“Nope. Weren’t you packing your own stuff when I got home?”

“But you were by the nightstand and you should have– you know what, nevermind. I guess I’ll buy a new pair when we get there”

“You can wear mine” 

“It’s alright, John. You already ruined the holidays”

Chapter Text

It’s late in the evening when he gets a message from an unknown number:

hey mate

thanks for calling about the cat

yeah she’s been wandering out while I work, sorry about that

do you live near goodison park? just wondering if she’s getting too far away from home

this is Jordan btw 

Hi Jordan

Yeah I live close to goodison! I hope she’s not too far

I don’t mind at all btw she’s cute! 

oh!! do you happen to live near cty rd and eton? 

I actually live right across The Brick yeah

The building with the blue windows

youre kiddinggggg

were neighbours!

brilliant

i actually have two cats but you prob never seen the other one shes always sleeping lol

theyre twins

anyway thanks for looking out for her i ow you

if she bothers you please let her out ill try to lock the windows more

No please, it’s no bother!

I think I’ve met them both actually

Today I had two kitties in my kitchen! Did you know one of them doesn’t have a tag? 

fuck me, i need to get that sorted asap

sorry again lol

im in 2C, would u like me to pick them up? 

ill sort you with some beers for the trouble

It’s no trouble like i said haha

I’m up in 3b If you wanna swing by

ill be home in half an hour

see ya john!

See you soon :) 

The two kitties are actually curled up on his lap when he hears a soft knock on the door. Trying not to disrupt them, he gets up slowly but they immediately wake up and start meowing, thinking  maybe it’s dinner time. With a sigh, John walks toward the door and opens it to a sight that takes his breath away. 

Right there, standing with his perfectly tousled hair, a six pack and a soft smile, is the most gorgeous man he’s seen in ages. He’s the softest looking man ever, clad in a simple pair of light wash jeans and a white shirt without any type of branding. His arms look strong as hell, and one of them is covered with tattoos. 

“Hiya, are you John?” He smiles and shows his teeth, and John wants to die at the sound of his voice. It’s like he fell down to an alternate universe where his deepest fantasies  materialize right in  front of him, and maybe he’s just too touch starved and he’s been away from the world for too long because having this man in front of  him makes him short  of breath. Luckily, the cats come to the rescue because he’s simply speechless.  “Oh, you are John” Jordan bends down to pick up one  of the cats and his biceps bulges. John gulps and fights down the urge to swoon.  

“Uhm, yeah, wanna come in?” 

Cat and beers in hand, Jordan makes himself at home.

”So we’ve been neighbors for how long now?” He asks a  few minutes later, bottle in hand and sitting comfortably on John’s sofa. “I know the apartment has been empty for a while now” there’s a minute change of expression in his face, one that gets John curious, curious enough to finally regain his ability to speak.

”Just a couple of weeks now. I’m not very… social” he gives an  apologetic smile “But your cats have been visiting me, funnily enough. I wonder why”

“Well, someone else used to live up here. Elsa, she’s… sweet old lady, she’s been gone for  a while”

“Oh. I’m so sorry”

“Nah! Please, don’t worry. She was getting a bit too old and she decided to travel the world before her knees gave out. Last I heard she’s visiting her best friend from high school in Rome. Don’t get me wrong, I miss her, she was great, but I think she’s doing sooo much better now” Jordan laughs and it’s so beautiful. John wants to eat him alive. 

“That sounds legendary. I hope when I’m old I’ll be having some adventures like that”

“Me too, man. Me too. How old are you, by the way?”

“Twenty nine” John says bitterly. The dreaded thirties are fast approaching and he’s not looking forward to that, at all. He thought he’d be married and settled by then, be it with a man or a woman, but no such luck occurred yet. 

“Cheers, me too. We’re bringing down the average age of this building in half all by ourselves”

“I did wonder why  it’s always so quiet” John finds himself inching closer to the man, drinking up every word. 

“It’s not a very big building, there are nice parks nearby. The apartments are pretty big if you ask me. Lots of empty nesters around here too. It’s nice, and they’re in bed by nine which is amazing when you have to get up at six”

“Do you now?”

“I work construction, mate, I should be up even earlier” He steals a glance at a scratched watch, but doesn’t say anything else, so John ignores him. He doesn't want him to go anytime soon. “What do you do, anyway?”

”I’m a writer” John looks away with a certain shame because he hasn’t been writing much at all lately. “Should we feed them? I’m sorry, I don’t want to intrude on how you take care of them” he gestures at the cats, which have been pacing around the room and occasionally meowing at them. “I don’t necessarily have cat food but I have tuna and stuff…”

“That’s alright, I should take them home— again, thanks for watching over them” he gets up and John tries to hide his disappointment. “I’ll stop by tomorrow and bring you some wet food, what do you say? For them, I mean” he adds after a concerned look “That way if they’re hanging out here you can feed them sometimes, if you don’t mind? I’m outside all day,I know they might  be feeling lonely…”

After Jordan leaves with the cats, John sits there sipping at another beer and staring into space. He’s eagerly agreed to co-parent two cats with a total stranger just because he was thinking too hard about fucking him while he paid him a friendly visit. He doesn’t even know if he’s single— or gay. 

Sometimes he doesn’t even know how he gets into these messes. He sighs as he shoves a hand down his pants: he needs to get laid soon. 

///

“I got a ticket back to Lisbon next week”

“Yeah, when do we leave?”

“I’m going on my own, you know, I’m visiting my family…”

“Okay. When are you coming back?”

“I don’t know” 

Chapter Text

It becomes apparent that Jordan does not, in fact, have a girlfriend or anything of the sort. It also becomes apparent that both John and Jordan are quite lonely, as his visits become a common occurrence after he reveals that yes, the cat is named Toffee, after Everton, the club they both support. 

“We definitely need to catch the game this Saturday, it's going to be a show”

“I don't know, Man United? They've bombed the season pretty badly already”

“Which is exactly why they are the perfect rival for us right now. And we should crush them”

“I don't know about that…” John pets Toffee while she purrs on contentedly on his lap, and he furrows his eyebrows while finally asking the question he's been meaning to ask:  “What's the name of the other one then? Why is her tag blank?” 

“To be completely honest with you I haven't come up with a name.Yet! Hear me out, hear me out! At the shelter they said she was a boy”

“Some lousy shelter that”

“Whell they just found them both in a dumpster and immediately went up for adoption. Not much time to do a gender reveal. I just took them home that same day because I didn't want to leave one behind” he gestures at the cats, like it's obvious, and it is. No one could have the heart to pick one over the other. “I originally called her David Moyes but then I found out she was a girl. Bit of a mistake on my end”

“So you haven't named her at all then?! What kind of monster are you?!” John punches him lightly on the arm “Moyes... Moyesy wouldn't be thaaaaat bad I reckon” he tests out the name on his tongue, and the cat is completely unphased. “Moyesy, Moyesy…” he calls out but she ignores him, and Toffee jumps off of his lap as well.

“How about this: You name her whatever you want but you have to promise me you're going to come with me to the vet to get her vaccines up to date and we'll stamp her tag. She's a nightmare getting into her carrier”

“You've got to be fucking kidding me Jordan. She's an angel! The only one who's ever scratched me is Toffee. And I feel terrible about it because I was blaming her ” he points at Moyes “all the time and I didn't know there were two of them for a while. So I thought she was bipolar or something”

“Fuck off, how come you didn't realize there were two of them?!” Now is Jordan’s turn to shove him “Have you not been paying attention?! Toffee has longer whiskers for starters”

“Oh soooorry Mr. Detail let me pull out my measuring tape to make sure I can distinguish between Toffee and her sister who has shorter whiskers” John says mockingly, feigning that he's looking for something in his back pocket. Jordan flicks his ear. 

“It's not about a measuring tape, you twat, you can just look at her and you will notice. Besides her tail is fluffier” he stretches out his arm to pet her and she rubs against his leg. 

“How come you know all of these things about your pets but you haven't bothered giving her a name?” Jordan shrugs. He doesn't have a real answer. He's had the cats for a year now and is feeling a little irresponsible about it. It's just one of those things that slips through your fingers. Time gets away from you. 

The next day it's Jordan's day off and he and John set off to the vet, carrying one cat each. 

“See? she's an angel she hasn't even so much as meowed yet”

“Stop defending her just because she's your favorite”

 “I am obviously going to defend her because she is my favorite” 

They don't stop bickering all the way to the vet’s office and back.

“She did so well, she deserves a treat”

“Just because they did not scratch out the doctor's eyes doesn't mean they deserve a treat. Toffee was really good today but I don't want to spoil her too much”

“Again, you are a monster” 

Jordan does end up getting treats from the vet's office for the cats and they go back home absent-mindedly making their way back up to John's apartment even though they should get them back to Jordan's. 

“Did you maybe want to stay for dinner? I mean we already have the cats here and they're going to eat their treats so we might as well…”

“Sure, wanna get takeout?”

“I was thinking maybe cooking something up”

“Do you even own any pots and pans?”

“Don't you worry, I know my way around the kitchen. You just sit back and relax with the beer and I'll whip something up for us”

“Fancy. I haven't had homemade food in ages. Just don't have the time”

“That is going to change today, mister” John smiles warmly and starts making his way into the kitchen, Jordan trailing behind him “Sometimes I think we should just move together, I mean we are raising two children and we would save so much in rent” John comments lightheartedly, simply throwing it out there as some wild idea that he's thought of from time to time. 

Jordan stops, looks at him like he's insane, then sets down his bottle and grabs John by the shoulders, shaking him. 

“That's the most brilliant idea ever. We could be roommates. Like a little family!” 

Those words do bring up some feelings inside of John, who suddenly feels stupid for bringing it up and astonished that Jordan seems to be taking it so seriously. They've known each other what, three months? And sure, the practical side of things seems to indicate it would be a good idea. Logical, even. But realistically speaking? They barely know each other. There's so much that could go wrong… and there's the small tiny detail about John's little crush on Jordan. Not a big deal, at all. But living together? It might end in disaster. 

Or he could run into him, morning breath and bleary eyes, and finally get over it. It would be an easy enough cure for his longing.

“I– I didn't mean it like that but…”

“No, it's seriously genius, John. Imagine how much more free time we would have if we had to clean half the house! Pay half of the rent! And utilities! We could even adopt another cat”

“Now wait a minute no one's adopting more cats for now I think… besides, my lease is for another two years still so”

“My lease is up next June. I just won't renew it. Seriously, what do you think? I know you'd have to give up your spare room for my bedroom, but I'm out of the house most of the day anyway. You can set up your office in the living room, I don't mind…” 

“I… I'd have to think about it”

“I'll do the dishes”

“You might have just convinced me, Jords”

“Did you hear that babies? You're getting a new dad” he tells the cats jokingly. 

John's stomach riots. 

///

“We could move to a warmer place is all I'm saying”

“I like it here just fine”

“Yeah, you've lived all your life with shitty weather. No wonder you're miserable all the time”

“It's not the weather, I'm just like this” 

“You make me miserable too” 

“Go chase the sun, then. I'm not stopping you”