Work Text:
“Mrrrrrrow.”
Kaveh suddenly stopped walking. What had made that noise? It sounded like-
“Maaaaaaaaaaow.”
That time, Kaveh knew what it had been. A cat. That was the unmistakable meow of a cat that was near him. Kaveh looked around to see where it could be.
His surroundings were an alleyway, which was the shortcut he took to get from his normal class building to the dorm again. It was a quiet place that faintly smelled of panipuri and spices.
“Mrrrrrrr.”
And then he saw it, next to a dumpster: a large black cat that had puffy fur and green eyes. It seemed to be interested in him for some reason. Instead of being afraid like most wild animals, it had started stalking Kaveh in the shadows.
“Hey, there, little guy,” Kaveh mumbled, kneeling down and setting his bag off to the side before picking up the cat. It meowed, and Kaveh quickly corrected himself. “…Girl, then. Alright. Where’s your owner? Are you alone?”
Kaveh ran his fingers through the cat’s fur, checking for a collar. However, there was no collar. He furrowed his brow, looking around the area as if there would be someone magically calling out for an incredibly soft and adorable cat.
“Are you lost?” Kaveh asked, looking the cat over once again. The cat said nothing, as it was a cat. Instead, it started to purr and nuzzle into Kaveh’s hands.
And Kaveh’s heart absolutely melted. What an adorable creature.
Then, he made a very hasty choice.
Kaveh picked up the cat and started walking faster back to his dorm. Instead of doing the thing that most sane people would do and leaving this cat on the streets, he picked her up and practically ran off.
Internally, Kaveh’s rational mind was screaming. What was he doing?! This was a stray cat, for god’s sake! A random stray cat who was… very soft and purring in his arms, actually.
Any reasonable doubt was silenced by the idea of having a cat who loved him and actually paid attention to him, much more than Alhaitham did.
When he got back to his dorm, Kaveh managed to sneak in the cat past the other students and sighed in relief as he stood in front of his and Alhaitham’s dorm room.
“Alright, kitty cat, you can stay with me and my roommate that hates almost everything,” Kaveh said, zipping his jacket up and hiding the cat underneath it. Once again, she meowed, shuffling around on Kaveh’s chest.
Once he had located his keys (Alhaitham hadn’t stolen them for once), Kaveh unlocked the door and quickly entered.
Alhaitham was in the living room, reading book after book like he normally did. This gave Kaveh the perfect opportunity to hide the little bundle of fur in his own room. Once out of Alhaitham’s sight, the cat jumped out of Kaveh’s jacket and sat down on the floor. She looked up at him, waiting for Kaveh to say something.
“I’m pretty tired, so you,” Kaveh said, gesturing to the cat, “Stay in my room.” He pointed at the floor and watched as the cat sat patiently on the floor while grooming her face with her tongue and paw, licking off any dirt that she could have previously gotten from her time on the streets.
As Kaveh got into bed, he completely forgot about closing the door. The cat yawned, looking around.
She then walked out of the room without a second thought.
————
Alhaitham had been reading for the past three hours. He didn’t have classes today, so it was nothing but free time to have fun today. And Alhaitham’s fun was books. Lots and lots of books. Everything was good until he heard a noise that he hadn’t heard before
“Maaaow.”
Alhaitham paused. He looked up, confused. What the hell was that?
Then, he saw what could only be described as a black cat with overgrown fur and piercing green eyes. Of course, cats didn’t just walk in without someone having let them in.
And there was only one person Alhaitham knew with a bleeding heart large enough to adopt a cat off of the street.
“Kaveh?” He asked, that familiar, slightly raised deadpan tone of voice echoing through their dorm. In an instant, Kaveh came running into the living room with a nervous expression on his face.
The cat rolled over, lazily spreading itself out on the wooden floor. Alhaitham looked down at the cat. Soon after, he looked back up at Kaveh and raised an eyebrow.
“Care to tell me what this cat is doing in the living room?”
Kaveh instinctively stood in front of the cat and behind Alhaitham, protecting the cat without a second thought. “You can’t kick her out on the streets! This cat is in need of a home and we are both in need of a pet. She’s too sweet and she followed me back home! What was I supposed to do, let her starve?”
Alhaitham sighed. “The cat is just like any other cat. If you have food, the cat will follow you. Of course it followed you home, you smell like panipuri because you always pass that one street vendor on your walk back from class.”
Ah. That explained a lot, actually. Kaveh blushed, realizing that Alhaitham had a point.
Of course, he couldn’t ever let Alhaitham know that. If Kaveh did that, Alhaitham would forever have the upper hand in their arguments.
Maybe the cat had followed him because she had been hungry.
But when the cat sat up and stared into Kaveh’s eyes, his heart melted. He couldn’t help his bleeding heart, especially when it came to small animals in need.
“I don’t care,” Kaveh said, standing his ground. “This cat wanted to be with me, even if it was because I smelled like food. She could’ve followed anybody else on the street, but she chose me.”
With crossed arms, Kaveh stared down at Alhaitham, who had gone back to silently reading his book and not visibly paying attention to their conversation.
After a minute of shared silence, Alhaitham came up with one last argument.
“We aren’t allowed to have pets in our dorms,” Alhaitham said, not looking up from his book. How dare he be disinterested! This was a very adorable cat who needed a home, and Kaveh was a man who needed someone to keep him company, considering that Alhaitham seemed to want nothing to do with him.
“I’ll have you know that only applies to pets that make a lot of noise, and this cat?” Kaveh argued, poking her with his foot. “She is very quiet and sweet. I’m sure that we can keep her.”
The cat meowed again, rolling a bit to the side and flopping over. She stood up, stretching out and circling around Kaveh’s legs while purring in a happy way.
“You can keep it. For a while, until the TA tells us to put her out,” Alhaitham said, turning the page to his book.
Sometimes, Kaveh wondered how he put up with this guy.
In retaliation, he picked up the cat in all of its black, fluffy glory, and placed her down directly on Alhaitham’s lap. Unamused, the cat hopped off, bopping Alhaitham on the nose with her fluffy tail. Kaveh stifled a laugh, much to his dormmate’s dismay.
Maybe it was something in the way Kaveh laughed, maybe it was how the cat acted disinterested in Alhaitham or just the fact that he wasn’t in a terrible mood, but Alhaitham sighed once again and closed his book to look up at Kaveh.
“It can stay for a while… just don’t get attached,” Alhaitham advised, “I’m sure that it will be out of here in less than a week.”
Not if Kaveh had his way, it wouldn’t.
————
A week passed, and the cat was still in the dorm room. Despite Alhaitham’s initial protests, he had given up on protesting when Kaveh brought home a collar that read ‘Mehrak’ and several other pet supplies.
Now, Mehrak was sleeping on the couch. She was curled up in a tiny little fluffy ball, like a cotton ball made of the void.
Unfortunately, the spot that she was sleeping on was Alhaitham’s usual sitting chair. Kaveh had bent over backwards to make Mehrak comfortable, losing a little sleep to help her adjust to her new- possibly permanent- home.
So now, Alhaitham was resigned to the middle of the couch, flipping through the pages of his book and ignoring the voidlike beast that had invaded his living space.
Mehrak hopped up on Alhaitham’s lap, stretching out. Suddenly, Alhaitham forgot how to act. The cat had never been even remotely interested in him, so this new development was highly unexpected.
Well, this was no longer a comfortable spot for reading. Alhaitham wasn’t used to having anything on his lap, especially something so soft that couldn’t communicate with humans.
Mehrak meowed, staring up at Alhaitham as if she wanted him to do something. With no other ideas, Alhaitham tentatively reached out his hand and set it on Mehrak’s head.
She didn’t bite. She did not hiss or pull away.
Instead, Mehrak closed her eyes and leaned into the scratches.
Oh.
Alhaitham pet her a little more. Mehrak started to purr.
…Perhaps this cat wasn’t so bad.
————
When Kaveh came home that day, he found that there was a cat toy on the floor that he hadn’t bought. It was a mouse- a neon rainbow tie-dyed mouse that was absolutely HIDEOUS. And around the corner was another toy, some ridiculous catnip fish that only a man with poor decoration taste could have bought.
A sound came from the living room that Kaveh hadn’t ever heard before. It sounded… joyful, like Alhaitham was laughing.
That couldn’t have been possible. But when Kaveh turned the corner to see what was happening in their living room, he saw the impossible happening.
Alhaitham had cat hair all over his shirt, letting Mehrak purr and lick his face. He had this precious smile that Kaveh hadn’t ever seen before.
Instead of interrupting the moment to brag about how he was right, how Alhaitham would grow to love Mehrak, Kaveh smiled and walked away.
He knew that he’d won, anyway.