Archive of Our Own ^beta

Petey was the only child of a woman who passed away too soon. He was also the abandoned son of an absent father who didn't hesitate to leave as soon as he had the chance.

He had been alone in the world longer than he had been accompanied, so he had long forgotten what it was like to have a family with whom to share his own existence.

Birthdays, Christmas, and New Year's were things that happened to others, not to him. What was the point of celebrating any holiday if there was no one to do it with? Was he supposed to sing happy birthday to himself? Put a gift under the tree and pretend he didn't know what was inside? When the last second of the year arrived, should he fill his champagne glass, pretending to toast with invisible people like a lunatic? There are things that simply don't make sense if you do them without company.

And for a while, he told himself that was okay. Loneliness allowed him to focus on total world domination (or at least Ohkay City's, you had to start somewhere). That way he wouldn't have any distractions. In the first place, it wasn't like he wanted to have other people by his side. He spent his days in solitude because that was what he wanted. Living isolated from society was pathetic exclusively when that wasn't what one wanted. On the contrary, if it was a conscious decision, then it was the cold and calculating move of a genius.

Petey looked up from his notebook, finding the image of Gregory, sitting on a swing with their son in his lap. The child kept squealing with excitement every time they rose into the air. They swayed comfortably along with the ropes tied to the branches of the tree located outside their home. The warm evening air ruffled their fur in all directions, as did with the wild grasses that grew haphazardly in the garden.

Wow, how could he have believed that he was okay on his own?

"Greg, the numbers aren't adding up." Petey stretched out an arm to show him the calculations he had made. He put his feet on the ground, stopping his swaying to pay attention to the notebook. "We're going to have to get rid of the floral arrangements if we don't want to exceed the budget."

"It's okay, I can buy a cheaper suit." Gregory placed two paws on his shirt and stretched it slightly from the folds.

"You'd rather go to the altar in jeans than forget about the flowers?" Petey teased him.

"I like flowers." He brought a paw to his nose, fanning it in front of his face. Then he closed his eyes, pretending he was receiving the sweet aroma of the plants. "And I'm only going to get married once in my life, so I want there to be flowers."

Petey crossed his arms, but at the same time smiled sideways. This was the first time since they had started planning the wedding that Gregory had behaved so stubborn, and he found it hilarious that it was over something like this.

"Look. We can do without the centerpieces." He proposed. "That way you'll have your flowers and I'll be able to see you in a decent suit. Everyone wins."

Gregory nodded more than ten times in the blink of an eye, pleased.

"What is a centerpiece?" Their son asked.

"Something your parents won't have to pay for anymore." Petey replied, crossing that item off his list. As soon as he did, he could feel his shoulders relaxing. The calculations finally added up.

Suddenly Gregory's ears perked up. He quickly held the child, put him on the ground and ran down the hill, disappearing from sight as he crossed the edge. Before he could call him to ask what was happening, Petey heard a man's muffled scream. Hundreds of letters shot into the sky, filling the orange firmament with paper that slowly returned to the ground. Several of them landed at their feet.

"No! No, get off! " He heard someone shout furiously. "Let go of me!"

Petey and their son hurried down the hill. As soon as they went down far enough, they could see Gregory on top of a human man who was struggling to get away from him. He was wearing a cardboard-colored shirt and pants. A cap, which was surely also part of his uniform, was now on the ground covered in mud. Gregory dropped completely on top of the man, wrapping him in a brief hug. Then he separated from him a little, although he remained sitting on his lap.

"Did you bring a letter for us?" His paws moved quickly from side to side as he spoke, his eyes shining happily. "Thank you so much!"

"Leave me alone!" The mailman demanded. Seeing his face, Petey knew that he was a new worker in the area, since he didn't recognize him. He wasn't surprised, their mailmen had a bad habit of frequently requesting a change of route.

Ignoring the man's bad mood, Gregory moved away from him to start collecting the letters scattered on the ground, smiling broadly, carefully reading the letters engraved on the outside of the envelope. He was looking for the correspondence that belonged to them.

"This is unacceptable." The man stood up with trembling legs. Petey thought he looked too young to be so grumpy.

Feeling that he was being watched, the mailman turned in his direction and glared at him.

"You should have a sign warning about these kind of situations! It's the law!"

"We actually have one." Petey lazily pointed his head towards the mailbox. Next to it was a wooden post with the legend "BEWARE OF DOG" in flashy capital characters, and just below them was written "(he's too friendly)" in a much smaller font.

Having finished collecting the letters, Gregory returned them to the mailman by hand. He snatched them away, returning them to his bag. However, the dog did not stop staring at him, expectantly. The man seemed to remember something at that moment. Muttering to himself, he took out a letter that he had in the back pocket of his pants, gave it to Gregory and withdrew very dignified with his chin held high.

"Thank you for taking the trouble to come here!" Gregory raised the index and middle fingers of both paws, directing them towards his chest repeatedly.

"Yes! Thank you very much, Mr. Mailman." Added their son, waving his little paw in the air in farewell.

"I don't know why you thank him if he can't even understand you." Petey shook his head. "And even if he could, I doubt he cares."

"But the kid also said thank you after seeing me do it, right?" Gregory smiled at him in such a way that his eyes almost closed. "That's why it's worth it."

"... God, you're unbearable." Petey grunted. Then, he put a paw on the back of his neck to ask him to bring his head closer to his, and when he did, he gave him a kiss on the lips.

"What does the letter say?" Asked their son, positioning himself between both of their legs, seeking to regain the lost attention.

Gregory turned his gaze to the letter he was holding. His face retained a cheerful glow as a result of the kiss. However, as soon as he checked the front of the envelope, his expression turned serious. His eyebrows came together, his nose wrinkled slightly. Petey assumed that the reason for his sudden change of mood would be having discovered who the sender was. Gregory hurried to open the letter. He was in such a hurry that, instead of waiting to go into the house for scissors, he tore the corner of the envelope with his teeth. He unfolded the only sheet that came as content, his eyes flying from left to right as he read.

"What does it say? What does it say?" The kitten insisted, jumping impatiently. Petey appreciated that he did. Deep down, he felt the same.

Gregory said nothing for a few torturous moments. Then he raised his snout, howling so loudly that surely more than one of his ancestors would have been envious. He excitedly took the child in his arms, dropping the letter to the ground. Then he threw him into the sky, catching him skillfully. The little one squealed with laughter, begging him to do it again.

Petey bent down to recover the correspondence. Obviously, they weren't the water or electricity bills. Intrigued, he brought the text closer to his face. He had to squint when he noticed that the words were written in cursive.

Hello darling, how have you been? I imagine you are still striving every day to protect the city. Remember not to overexert yourself.

Petey raised an eyebrow. Darling? Who was calling his fiancé "darling"?

I haven't been able to stop thinking about the last letter you sent me. I feel so happy and proud. I know it's not easy to get the family together in one place, but I've already talked to your brothers to give them the good news and they agree that we should see each other immediately to celebrate. We are eager to meet your future husband and my new grandson. It seems that everyone will be free on Sunday in three weeks , all that's missing is for you to confirm. In case you can't attend that day, we can notify your brothers and their families to agree on another date. (But hopefully you'll be available soon, if your father spends much more time without seeing all his children under the same roof I fear that one morning he will start running in circles in the neighbor's crops again).

I'm so looking forward to seeing you!

With all my love,

Mom.

Just below the farewell was added another comment, with a much larger and rougher font.

AND WITH LOVE, DAD! I MANAGED TO PUT MY SIGNATURE BEFORE MOM PUT THE LETTER IN THE MAILBOX, HAHA! (What's wrong with going for an early morning run? You tell me).

Upon finishing reading, Petey felt the need to swallow hard. He blinked slowly, forced his blurred vision to focus, and discovered that the paw with which he was holding the letter was trembling.

They were Gregory's parents.

No. It wasn't just them. It was the whole family.

Petey felt a knot forming in his chest. He unconsciously flattened his ears. He suppressed the urge to put his paws to his head. He knew this day would come sooner or later (sooner rather than later, considering they were about to get married) but he didn't think it would be so soon. He wasn't mentally prepared yet. Besides, he had naively believed that he would have the comfort of getting to know them all little by little, he never thought they would agree to be in the same place at the same time. Was that common in a family? He had no idea! That was perhaps the biggest problem of all! How should he behave at a family gathering? What should he expect? How was he supposed to know, the most hermit cat in the world until not so long ago?

"Papa Greg! Why are you so happy!? What's wrong!?" Their son shouted happily, being thrown into the sky once more. At its highest point, it was possible to see behind him a pink sunset that contained the first visible stars in the night. Upon returning to earth, Gregory caught him in his arms and pressed him against his chest with affection, as if he were a beloved stuffed animal.

"The letter was from your grandparents." He bumped both fists together, one on top of the other. Then he took an index finger to his cheek and slid it across his face. "They say they can't wait to meet you."

"I have grandparents!?" The boy's face lit up. "Others besides Grampa!?"

Gregory carefully put the kitten on the ground. Petey saw him take his wallet out of the back pocket of his pants. When he opened it, two photographs were exposed. The first was of the three of them. Petey on the right, Gregory on the left, the boy in the center, all wearing cheesy Hawaiian shirts by the sea. A small happy family. Petey's world captured on a piece of paper. In the second photograph, a couple of elderly dogs could be seen holding hands, both of a light cream color.

"Wow." Their son inhaled in amazement, bringing his face closer to the image. "Grandma is very pretty!"

"You also have four uncles." Gregory pulled on the photographs. An accordion extended downwards, revealing four portraits. "And each of them has five children." He stretched the images once more, and this time the photos revealed were so many that the list reached the ground of the garden. "These are your cousins."

"All of them!?"

"All of them." Gregory smiled tenderly at him, seeing how excited he was. "Do you want to meet them?"

"Yessss!" He began to jump uncontrollably in his place. "I never thought I would have cousins to play with!"

The wedding expense accounts were replaced in Petey's mind by the number of people Gregory had just mentioned. (Two plus four, four multiplied by five, plus Greg...)

"Are your family and you the one hundred and one Dalmatians?" Petey joked with a tense smile, trying to hide the growing panic in his stomach as he discovered the size of the family he would have to convince that he was worthy of belonging to.

"Our family, you mean," he corrected cheerfully. Still a victim of his own excitement, Gregory took one of Petey's paws by the wrist and took it straight to his cheek, asking him to caress him. "It is uncommon for all of us to be gathered in one place. Since my brothers and I became adults, time to see each other is very scarce, but they will make an effort for us."

Petey looked Gregory straight in the eye. This was his fiancé. His future husband. He was the man he would soon swear to love for all eternity. And although he boasted daily that he knew him better than anyone else in the whole world, he was beginning to see that that was not so true.

He had memorized all his allergies, recognized which were the recurring nightmares that made him wake up terrified at night asking to be hugged, and remembered without problems the story behind each of his scars. He saw his favorite movie so many times that he already knew the dialogues by heart. He even learned to enjoy some of the irritatingly repetitive pop songs that he liked so much.

He knew if he had had boyfriends in high school (no), he knew what his favorite toy was growing up (a simple golf ball) and he knew what he wanted to become when he was a child (a policeman, of course).

However, Petey now understood for the first time that there were people out there who knew him better than he did. His family. No matter how many anecdotes Gregory could tell him (his favorite Christmas, the time his older brother almost drowned in the canal, that day his father surprised them all by taking them to the circus when he said they were going to the doctor), Petey couldn't know him as well as they did.

But he wanted to. He wanted to get as close as possible to him. Discover in which house he had been raised, walk the streets that had seen him grow up. The feline curiosity to know everything possible about his fiancé was stronger than his anxiety.

Gregory rubbed his face against the palm of Petey's paw. Then he looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something. Under the light of the sunset, with a golden aura surrounding him completely, he looked even more unreal.

"I want to meet them already," Petey assured with a small smile.

***

"Are we almost there yet?"

"Not yet."

"Oh."

Their son leaned back against the seat. Only a few seconds passed when he leaned his body forward again.

"Almost there?"

"No, not yet." Petey looked at him through the rearview mirror. "I'll let you know when we've arrived."

"Why is it taking so long?" He wanted to know, stretching his face bored with his own little paws. "We've been in the car for like a thousand years."

"We live on one end of the city, and your grandparents live on the other." Petey silently thanked that it was so. That gave him enough time to calm down during the trip. He hadn't stopped thinking about the moment when he would have to face Gregory's parents. The night before he had slept only a couple of hours.

Since last week he had carefully chosen what he and his son would wear. The first impression was the most important, after all. The boy would wear an elegant but simple black bow. For his part, Petey would wear the red cardigan that he knew he could always count on. Underneath he would wear a white shirt and a tie; it was the quintessential combination, he always used it on special occasions because he was aware of how good he looked in it.

Although his perfectly crafted plan to project a great first image fell apart as soon as he took the clothes out of the closet. Relax, just be yourself, Gregory had told him, immediately deducing his intentions and telling him to put the clothes back in their place. That instruction had frozen him. What if being himself wasn't enough to please his parents? They both sounded like a nice couple in Gregory's stories, but he had discovered chatting with several of his acquaintances that a good parent could also be a terrible parent-in-law.

Petey took a quick look at the GPS that was located on the dashboard of the car. He had never traveled to this place before, where the city began to turn into the countryside. The closer they got to their destination, the narrower the streets were and the more noticeable the absence of people. The long fields stretched almost infinitely towards the horizon. Every few kilometers they passed a stall of freshly harvested fruits and vegetables located on the side of the road.

"You can't miss it. Just drive straight. I'll tell you where to turn," Gregory told him, noticing the tension on his face. He looked really excited to be back home. He was fidgeting in the passenger seat as if he wanted to start dancing.

Feeling a wave of tenderness enveloping his heart, Petey smiled at him. Okay, whatever happened at that family reunion, it would be worth it. If Gregory was happy, then so was he.

"I'm a little surprised to see how much you love your brothers," he admitted.

"Really?" Gregory slid one paw over the back of the other, then raised only the index finger of the one he moved. "Why?"

"Well, from what I've seen, most people with siblings can't stand them."

One of the things he enjoyed so much about being with Gregory was that he could say something like that without him thinking he was a jerk. While most people would get defensive after hearing such a crude comment, Gregory took a paw to his chin, reflecting with curiosity.

"They are complex relationships," he nodded after a few moments of thinking. "But having a brother is no guarantee that you will hate him. Just like having a father is no guarantee that you will get along with him. We all have different experiences with it."

Explained that way, Petey understood it much better.

"Would you have liked to have a sibling?" Gregory rubbed both index fingers together, pointing forward.

That was a question that Petey had been asked a million times throughout his life. Most of those times he got in a bad mood when he heard it. It was almost always asked by someone who seemed to want Petey to burst into inconsolable tears because life had denied him something like that. It was as if they wanted to hear him say "Yes! I feel so, so alone! I am miserable! You, person with siblings who asks me this question, are inherently happier than me for having them! Oh, poor me! Why did my parents punish me this way?"

As a kid, it wasn't uncommon for the other parents in the apartment building to ask his mother why she had decided to have only one child. As if Petey wasn't enough. As if the company they could give each other wasn't enough.

But this was Greg. His Greg. The interest in his gaze was genuine. He wanted to know how Petey felt about it.

"No. I'm sure I wouldn't have liked it," he replied firmly. "Things were... complicated at home, you already know that. It would have been much harder for my mother if there had been three of us. Or four."

"I do want a little brother!" their son affirmed, jumping forward once again. Petey was startled. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he had forgotten he was discussing sensitive topics in front of him. "Please! Can you give me one?"

Petey and Gregory slowly turned to look at each other. They were equally flushed, with wide eyes. Then they looked forward and remained silent, pretending not to have heard anything.

The rest of the trip passed in silence.

After a long while, Gregory's parents' house was visible in the distance. It was a structure that, although big, had a simple appearance. The paint on the exterior walls looked slightly deteriorated due to constant exposure to the hot and humid climate of the countryside. Different types of vegetation surrounded the property in no particular order, especially the famous crops of the neighbors. The path that connected it to the rest of the world was made of stones already flattened by the passage of time. To Petey's surprise, all the doors and windows were wide open, allowing access to anyone who wished to enter.

He parked the car near what appeared to be the main entrance, with its striking orange door and a rug spread on the floor that, although now faded, he assumed must have displayed the phrase "WELCOME" in its best days. Getting out of the car, he hurried to help their son down before the boy decided to jump out the window in his desperation to meet his new relatives.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" he inquired, turning impatiently to every possible angle.

"Why would we have stopped here if we weren't?" Petey smiled sarcastically.

"We're here! We're here!" Gregory replied, smiling so much that a bit of his tongue stuck out. Then, he raised his snout to the sky and let out a howl.

For the first five seconds that passed, nothing happened. And then, when the sixth arrived, the ground began to tremble beneath their feet. The tiny stones scattered on the ground began to jump slightly. Petey moved instinctively, placing a paw on their son's shoulder to pull him closer. Then he hid them both nimbly behind Gregory.

A stampede of children burst through the door at full speed. It was like seeing a sea of furry heads heading towards them. The wave stopped as soon as it crashed against Gregory's legs, just like a river stopping when it encounters the wall of a dam. Delayed, a few steps away, a puppy who could barely walk on his chubby little legs struggled to catch up with the rest. Gregory bent down and managed to pick him up just before he fell face first onto the ground.

"Uncle Greg, carry me too!" begged one of the infants, trying to climb up one of Gregory's legs by grabbing onto the fabric of his pants.

"It's my turn next!" demanded another of them.

"Did you bring us candy?"

"Quick, come play with me!"

The greetings and requests sounded loudly, each of the children striving to speak louder than the other to make sure they were heard.

"Are you staying for lunch with us?"

"I want to see your badge again!"

"Is that the cat cousin that grandma talked about?" wanted to know a girl in a pink dress. Both her eyes and her fur were black.

Silence fell. Curious, they all stopped making noise. They began to look around for what the girl was referring to. Lil'Petey, feeling that he was required, timidly extended his neck, partially revealing himself from behind his father. Only his ears and eyes were visible. Encouraging him not to be afraid, Petey patted him on the back to get him to go closer. His son lowered his head and took a hesitant step forward, aware that he was being exposed. The dogs hurried to surround him, sniffing every part of his body quickly.

"He smells very good," commented a puppy with a smile.

"His ears are very pointy!" noticed another who was next to him, surprised. They must have been brothers, because they had the same black spot surrounding their left eyes.

"His snout is very small."

"His fur is very soft," murmured one of the youngest puppies, laughing, who was suddenly hugging Lil'Petey's tail.

"And he's very light!" added one of the older ones, lifting their son into his arms with ease.

"Do you want to play with me?" suddenly asked the same child who had just asked Gregory. Hearing that request, they all hurried to speak at once, struggling to be heard.

"No, play with me! I do lend my dolls. What's your name?"

"He likes me better, and he's going to play hide-and-seek with me!"

"Look, I have this action figure. My mom just gave it to me." A child with numerous colorful bracelets on his wrist brought his toy closer to the kitten's face so he could appreciate it.

Without stopping arguing, the children returned the way they had come, this time taking their son with them, in the same way that a huge wave always ends up receding and returning to the sea.

"Papaaa!" called Lil'Petey, being dragged away by them, his head barely visible among so many dogs.

Petey didn't know whether to laugh or run after him. However, the smile on his face quickly faded. As soon as the children disappeared inside the house, a couple of adults came out of it. One was identical to Gregory, except that his fur was reddish instead of golden. The other was a beagle with brown and black spots covering much of her white fur.

"Greg!" The red-haired brother rushed towards him with such force that they practically collided with each other, giving each other a hug. Petey anxiously rummaged through the memories of the anecdotes that Gregory had told him, trying to identify him among the main characters of each story. If he wasn't mistaken, this must be the older brother. "Was the road not too long?" Feeling that he was being watched, he turned instinctively towards Petey. When their eyes met, he moved away from Gregory to offer him a paw. Petey offered his in response. "Hello. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," he greeted with a polite smile. He soon turned towards the beagle who accompanied him. "Honey, this is Petey, Greg's husband."

Greg's husband.

Although hearing it from someone else's lips flooded his chest with warmth, Petey couldn't help but feel surprised. This man was addressing him as if he didn't have the slightest doubt that the wedding would take place, as if it were just a technicality and his brother was already married to him from now. He never thought that such a small detail could mean so much to him.

"He's a cat," whispered the woman, her eyebrows raised like someone who is caught off guard. The surprise in her voice sounded so genuine that Petey couldn't be indignant. She soon blushed, ashamed for having expressed herself like that. "Ahm... Hello! It's a pleasure! We were waiting for you."

"Have you ever heard that joke that says that every dog family has a cousin who likes cats, and that if yours doesn't have one, it's because you are that cousin?" The redhead stretched his arms towards the sky lazily, stretching in his place. "Well, in this family, Greg is that cousin."

Gregory made a fist with his paw and smiled with feigned annoyance without showing his teeth. Then he flexed his arm quickly, giving his brother a soft elbow in the ribs. The older one chuckled and wrapped an arm around his neck, forcing him to bend over. Gregory shook his head in an attempt to break free from his grip.

"Kids! Are you already wrestling before coming inside to say hi?"

That female voice, although somewhat hoarse and loaded with harsh words, made itself present with a sweet tone. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned towards a cream-colored woman whose brown eyes were narrowed, watching them accusingly.

It was Gregory's mother. She had her paws on her hips and wore red denim overalls. She looked much younger in person than in her son's photographs. Having her home full once again must fill her with life. She was slender and had wrinkles mostly located at the corners of her mouth that revealed a long life of many smiles.

Although Petey knew that the right thing to do was to move in her direction to introduce himself, he couldn't. His feet were glued to the ground. Any superficial knowledge he might have had about manners evaporated from his mind. His first instinct was to hug Gregory (he had always protected him from the things that terrified him), but for obvious reasons he couldn't do that this time.

The brothers distanced themselves, patted each other on the back as a sign of reconciliation, and looked at their mother with a pair of identical nervous smiles. She sighed in surrender in response, shaking her head.

"Greg, if you still have so much energy after the trip, you should help me set the…" The last words of that instruction dissipated into the air when Petey and Grandma finally made eye contact. Despite having insisted in her letter that she wanted to see him, his presence seemed to surprise her. " … Table."

Petey stepped forward, holding his breath. This was important. He couldn't mess it up. Fearfully, he extended a paw towards her.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Peter." He said, reciting from memory the dialogue he had been preparing for weeks. "Greg has told me so much about yo..."

He couldn't finish his perfectly rehearsed scene. Grandma approached him with great speed and enveloped him in a hug so firm that Petey could feel the relief of a necklace she must have been wearing under her clothes against his chest. He felt her paws on his back, the rubbing of their cheeks, the energy of her body entering his.

"The famous Petey! Finally!" She exclaimed, still hugging him. "Come with me. Come in, you're at home. God, I can't believe Gregory took so long to introduce us. I swear I don't know what he was thinking. I'm going to put him in his place as soon as I have time, I swear."

Grandma grabbed him by an arm, pulling him into the house. Petey had been wondering for days what it would look like inside. What types of furniture would she have? What objects would be on her shelves? Would there still be enough space for him, even if only for an afternoon?

As soon as he set foot in the house, he felt the atmosphere around him change, as if the door were actually a portal to a dimension where gravity was less heavy. He felt light, even a little calmer. He was still nervous, but he no longer thought he was going to die from it. Although the strength of that feeling of calm gradually diminished, the serenity that had invaded him remained inside for a few precious moments.

Upon entering, Petey didn't have the opportunity to carefully observe each of the items that decorated the home. He was distracted by the number of unfamiliar glances that landed on him. Some were leaning against a long sofa, others sitting in messy plastic chairs that were clearly only used when there were too many people in the house. Everyone was watching him. Not knowing who to look at first, Petey panicked and chose not to look at anyone. He preferred to stare at an empty spot on the wall in front of him. Stiff. Cautious. Afraid of making a wrong move.

"Hey, come and greet your brother and his husband!" Grandma called out.

That snapped everyone out of their stupor. Petey soon knew what their son had felt when he was surrounded by his new cousins. Gregory's brothers and their wives approached him with practically the same enthusiasm. Each introduced themselves with a hug, but the speed with which they came and went didn't allow him to remember anyone's name.

"It's a pleasure, really a pleasure." A brown-furred dog said to him. His brown eyes were sheltered behind a pair of glasses.

"Welcome." Unlike Gregory, this light yellow-furred brother was thin. And although his greeting was short, his smile was long, reaching from ear to ear.

"I'm glad to meet you. But it's about time you showed up! I'm starving." Whined the fourth of them, a cream-furred dog just like his parents who for some reason was wearing an elegant suit. He gave the impression that he should be somewhere else at that moment, and yet he had stopped everything to visit his family.

"Excuse him. He doesn't connect his brain to his mouth when he's hungry." Explained the red-haired brother, who immediately pulled the former by the tie of his suit. "Do you realize that those are the first words you say to Petey? Couldn't you have chosen something better?"

"It wasn't a lie." He lamented.

"Now Petey will think you're a glutton every time he thinks of you." Gregory mocked, making a gesture with a paw as if taking something to his mouth.

"What's going on? Why are you all huddled in one place? I want to see too." Demanded a masculine voice.

The brothers stepped aside, and then Petey ran into Gregory's father. Despite his age, a glance at the thickness of his arms and legs was enough to notice that he was still a physically strong man. Petey soon witnessed it. As soon as he opened his mouth to introduce himself, Grandpa put his paws on his sides and lifted him into the air with an ease that reminded him of when Gregory threw their son into the sky. The need to break a visitor's rib or two in the name of love must be genetic.

"The family is finally complete." The words that came out of Grandpa's lips sounded heavy due to the intensity he was using in the hug. "What would you prefer me to call you? What do you like more, Peter or Petey?"

"Call. Me. Whatever. You. Like." He managed to respond with the almost non-existent oxygen he had left in his lungs. His voice came out high and brittle. His eyes were closed tightly, but he managed to open one with great difficulty to look at Gregory, asking him to help him.

"He prefers to be called Petey, Dad." Gregory spoke with his right paw, using his left hand to press his father's shoulder in an attempt to get his attention. "And he also prefers to be able to breathe." He added with an apologetic smile.

"Darling, leave the boy alone." Grandma nodded. "It's not time to be playing around. Help me convince the children to come sit at the table to eat."

Grandpa put Petey back on the ground. He took advantage of having Gregory close to him to lean on his arm. His legs felt shaky. And yet, he didn't feel bad inside. Just… overwhelmed. He wasn't used to this type of interaction. To the cordial smiles, the warm hugs, and being asked what name he liked best. It was difficult to decipher if they were just being polite to him to show their support for one of their own or if they truly appreciated his presence so much.

Petey could only remember a single family gathering he had been a part of, and it had been a funeral. His few relatives had behaved coldly towards him, always looking down on him and smiling somewhat mockingly every time he spoke.

Days later, when the social worker revealed to him in a soft voice that none of them had offered to take care of him, he even felt relieved. The woman had told him almost with tears in her eyes, expressing how terrible she felt for giving such news to such a young child. Petey could only think that surely that stranger experienced more remorse than any of his relatives. But it was okay. He didn't plan to be a burden to anyone, nor to thank for help that hadn't been offered sincerely. Petey could do it all alone.

"Okay, I'll go get the kids." Grandpa leaned towards his wife. Petey could immediately guess what would happen next, it was a gesture he had seen Gregory do countless times. The man rested his head on her shoulder, looking at her with pleading eyes. The woman gave him a kiss on the forehead, satisfying his need for affection, and only then did he leave.

"Guys, go set the table." She ordered. Her five children hurried towards the kitchen. However, as soon as Petey prepared to go after Gregory, Grandma stopped him by carefully holding his wrist. "Oh, no no. Petey, darling, don't you worry about that. Come sit with me."

Petey hunched over upon hearing that, slightly embarrassed.

"I want to help too." He assured her, because he was sure that it wasn't part of the etiquette rules to let the hosts do everything on their own.

"Today you're our guest. Just worry about keeping me company, okay?"

Petey didn't know what to say. On the one hand, he feared that if he insisted again, Grandma might interpret it as a rejection of spending time with her. On the other hand, deep down he feared that the woman expected him to insist a little more, that she wanted to see how eager he really was to help. Hoping he had made the right decision, Petey chose to give in.

"There are people who look very different in photographs and in real life." Grandma said, as they both took a seat in front of a long red wooden table. "But you look identical."

Petey gave her a tense smile. He had no idea what she was talking about, but it was universal knowledge that smiling at the right moment in a conversation could avoid many awkward situations.

"Oh. I think I confused you." Grandma laughed, somehow managing to see through him. "Greg has shown me a couple of photographs of you and the boy in the letters he sends me." She shook her knees with her paws, as if she had dirt on them. It seemed to be a type of nervous tic. What could she be nervous about? "Before he met you, his letters were just long summaries of what he had done at work. Now all he talks about is you two. A much more pleasant topic of conversation, if you ask me."

This time Petey's smile was sincere.

The uncontrollable wave of puppies arrived in the room, filling the place with a wide variety of noises, mostly the high-pitched screams of infants. Grandpa appeared behind them, leaning against a nearby wall to catch his breath. Petey lifted his chin, searching for their kid, and when he found him, he made a signal, indicating he should come closer.

"Lil'Petey, come." He called, leaning his back against the chair's backrest to make space for the boy on his lap. He obeyed, running excitedly in his direction.

"Papa! I’m... very happy!" He panted, his face sweaty after a while of playing.

"I'm glad." Petey wiped his forehead with one of the napkins on the table. "Look, here’s your grandma. Say hello."

Instead of greeting, his son looked at her with wide-open eyes, his mouth slightly open, and his head tilted.

"She’s even prettier than in the photo." He finally murmured. The woman was taken aback, clutching her chest with a paw.

"And you’re even cuter." She murmured back, slightly affected. Neither broke the silence that had settled between them. They were too absorbed in each other. It had been love at first sight.

Gregory approached their end of the table, carrying so many plates supported on his forearms that Petey jumped to his feet, ready to run to his aid. However, he arrived first and skillfully placed four plates in front of them, making sure to kiss each one on the forehead when handing them theirs. Petey closed his eyes momentarily when his turn came, enjoying the sensation of those lips on his skin.

The food was good. No, better than that. It was delicious. It tasted exactly as Petey had always imagined that dishes prepared by a caring grandma would taste.

Gregory was not shy about showing his feelings for him in front of his family. They ate together, paws linked, both resting on the table as a sign of their union, available for anyone to see. While one of his brothers spoke about something important that had happened since their last meeting, Gregory gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. If anyone noticed, no one commented. A dog and a cat. A policeman and a former convict. Sitting at that table, they were just another normal couple.

"So you’re the son of a kind couple of farmers, who became the hero of an entire city by fighting crime in a blue suit." Petey muttered quietly. "Sounds very similar to one of the comics the kid loves. Do you remember what it was called?"

Gregory huffed, giving him a sarcastic smile. And Petey felt happiness running wild through his chest.

But he still didn’t feel at home. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that the peace in this blessed home couldn’t be real. It was... simply too good to be true. Deep down, he couldn’t stop wondering if they were being so kind to him only because it was the first time they saw each other. No one was supposed to love you more unconditionally than your own family, and Petey had been left behind a long time ago by them. He doubted that complete strangers would welcome him into their lives so easily. He shouldn’t get too comfortable, nor lower his guard. A family had already disappointed him, why should he expect something different from another?

Petey watched them all with curiosity. The siblings joking around, the nephews playing with their toys on the table while eating their desserts, the grandparents making sure their guests’ needs were fully covered. He had never before seen an image like that. Deep down, he feared it was all fake. The staging of a play.

Suddenly, he couldn’t stop thinking about the foreign food restaurants he used to go to dinner with Gregory. They were nice, their spaces decorated in an attempt to evoke a brief visit to the country of origin of the dishes on the menu. But once inside, it was still obvious that everything was superficial decoration. The greetings from waiters in distant languages were mispronounced, the music belonged to the wrong folklore, and the food was adapted to the local tastes. Petey felt like he was in a restaurant where the theme was “family gathering,” not a real home. Once his plate was finished, he would have to leave.

"Aren’t you forgetting something?" Grandpa asked as he took a piece of bread to his mouth.

"You could just remind me instead of making me play riddles."Grandma raised an eyebrow and looked at him intrigued. "But it’s okay. I like when we play." She took a sip from her cup, giving herself a couple of seconds to think. "Let’s see… Today we didn’t use the oven, so I couldn’t have forgotten to turn it off. Are you talking about giving Greg the jacket he left here last time he visited us? Because I already returned it. Or are you talking about leaving the back door open? That was intentional, it’s too hot outside. I don’t know. Fine, I give up. Help me."

"The collection." Grandpa chuckled and pointed ahead. Petey instinctively looked around, coming face to face with a wall full of photographs. They were all of different people, no one appeared twice, and from the number of portraits, Petey assumed no one was missing either. The one belonging to Gregory showed him with an extremely serious face, wearing his police uniform, sitting on a bench in front of a gray background. A flag to his right was the only additional element visible.

"Right!" Grandma stood up despite her plate still containing more than half the portion. "I’d better do it now, before I forget again."

"You should finish eating first." Gregory formed a small circle by joining the tip of his index finger with his thumb while the others were extended.

"Believe me, if I don’t do this immediately, I risk not doing it until your father repeats it to me. My memory isn’t what it used to be." Grandma moved to the other side of the room, stopping at a large black wooden cabinet. She opened a drawer with some difficulty, pulling out a stack of letters so tall it could have been turned into a memoir book. She placed the stack on the table and began searching through the letters, one by one. "This will take some time. That’s what happens when I don’t organize them. Greg, do you happen to remember when you sent me…?"

"About three weeks ago." Gregory looked at the ceiling, trying to remember.

"Three weeks… three… Got it." Grandma pulled out a letter from the pile, opened the envelope, and took out a couple of photographs. Then she hurried to the wall covered with images, approached Gregory’s portrait, and inserted the new photos into the corners of the frame. "I didn’t have enough time to buy picture frames for these photos, but I promise to get some as soon as I can. Although they don’t look bad there, don’t you think?"

Petey had no idea what he was expecting to find when looking at those images, and yet he was surprised to see himself in the collection, in the lower right corner of the frame. Gregory had chosen a quite flattering photo of him sitting in the passenger seat of the car, waving at the camera. In the lower left corner was a photo of their son on his first day of school, wearing the green primary school uniform and carrying a backpack on his small back.

The boy inhaled deeply in response. Petey stayed very still, his eyes wide open.

"It’s us!" He heard him exclaim in wonder.

"Us." Petey repeated softly.

Grandma turned toward them. Until then, she had maintained a serene expression, but she quickly noticed that Petey looked more bewildered than excited to see himself among his relatives’ collection. When their eyes met, the woman curled her lips into a mocking smile.

"What’s wrong, Petey?" She asked, her voice playful. "Sorry to be the one to tell you, but now you’re part of this chaotic family." Then she winked.

Part of this family.

Petey started to feel dizzy. His vision blurred. When he blinked, he realized it was due to a couple of tears threatening to escape. He looked down at his plate to hide it and kept eating while struggling to fight the urge to cry. Those were the sweetest words he had heard in a long time. He really, really really wanted to believe them. To allow himself to fantasize about being accepted into a loving family that cared for him and for him to care for them.

But this was not the happy ending of a Christmas story. Grandma was only being polite by making that comment. It was better not to get his hopes up, he shouldn’t forget that. And he was okay that way; he already had more than he could have ever asked for—a future husband he adored and a beautiful son. He didn’t need anything more.

He finished eating as quickly as his stomach allowed. Despite trying to take his dirty dishes to wash, Gregory’s red-haired brother took them from his paws with a friendly smile before he could object.

"I’m going out for some fresh air." He told Gregory in a whisper. His voice had become hoarse from bad humor. He cleared his throat trying to hide it.

"I’ll go with you." He offered, standing up. Petey restrained a sigh. He wanted to be alone, but admitting it would be like revealing that something was wrong.

Resigned, he walked with him to the door. Both of their feet stepped on the doormat as they passed. Gregory started walking without saying where he was going, so Petey followed him. Together, they circled the property until they reached what looked like the backyard (hard to say, being in the middle of such a large land, it wasn’t easy to tell where the yard ended and the crops began).

"Did you like the food?" It was obvious Gregory was just trying to break the ice. "Husband." He added with a smile, his lips trembling shyly.

"Your family calls me that a couple of times, and you let it go to your head. " Petey took him by a paw. He lowered his head, hiding his own smile. "You look happy. I like that."

"All the people I love are under one roof. Of course I’m happy." Gregory took advantage of their paws holding to bring them to his mouth, tenderly kissing Petey’s. "Sorry about my parents."

That last comment made him stop abruptly.

"What? Why are you apologizing?"

"I know they get too excited, and it can be overwhelming. They don’t do it on purpose."

"Gregory, they’re just like you." Petey let out a heavy laugh. The statement sounded more like a reprimand. His mouth tasted bitter. Deep down, he couldn’t help feeling some annoyance. He was aware that his fiancé apologized to show consideration, but asking for forgiveness because his parents were overly affectionate only made Petey feel envious. If his father were still in his life, he might have had to apologize to Gregory for the huge tantrum he would throw upon discovering that his fiancé was a dog. And then he would have to apologize again if the old man caused a disaster at the wedding for drinking too much.

"Just like me?" Gregory raised both thumbs and made them touch, looking confused.

"Affectionate. Kind. Gentle." His voice softened word after word. With each description, Petey’s courage diminished until only the sadness hiding beneath remained. "Don’t apologize for something like that."

Gregory stared at him intently, his pupils dancing with uncertainty. He sensed there was more behind what Petey was letting on. Still, he didn’t pressure him.

They ended up sitting on a wooden bench at the back entrance of the house. Petey hugged himself, meditating while admiring the fields stretching toward the sky, the sun’s rays touching the branches of those plants fortunate enough to have a lofty and privileged position.

Why did he feel so bad? The afternoon had gone much better than he could have wished. Was he really so used to being despised by everyone except his small group of friends that now he was outraged by the opposite?

"I’ve been thinking a lot about my family lately." He said.

"Do you miss them? Any of them?"

"No. I don’t." Petey massaged his neck. "It’s just... This is going to sound very strange, but I miss what I could have had with them if we had connected more. Christmases. Birthdays. A big album of memories to appreciate during tough times and remember that not everything is bad. That kind of thing."

"You were a little kid the last time you saw them. It was their job to connect with you, not yours."

"That’s the worst part, Greg. I feel like none of them saw enough value in me to bother."

He wasn’t worth it for his own people. And now he had to believe that somebody with whom he only had a political relationship would want him? There were still times when he woke up in the middle of the night, looked at Gregory sleeping, holding him, and wondered what the hell he was doing there, with so many people in the world who could do a better job as his partner.

"Petey." Gregory stroked his cheek. "If they couldn’t find the huge value in you, it’s because they weren’t even paying attention."

"And what do you find in this moment?" Petey whispered.

"A man trying to be better every day. And every time I wake up, I see someone even more beautiful by my side than when I went to sleep."

He wasn’t surprised that Gregory answered the doubts that had just crossed his mind. Gregory had always had that ability, maybe that’s why he was able to break down the walls he had built to keep everyone away.

Petey kissed him on the lips. He did so tenderly, wanting to thank him for loving him despite knowing him so well and being aware of each of his flaws.

"Greg, are you here?" A female voice suddenly asked. Although it sounded somewhat muffled, the volume made it clear it was very close. They didn’t have time to process what that meant before the back door was slammed open. The noise intensified as it hit the adjacent wall. The birds resting in nearby trees flew away in a panic. Petey, instead of pulling away from Gregory, clung to him even tighter, overwhelmed by the noise. "Sorry! I didn't want to interrupt you." Grandma lamented, bringing her paws to her face upon seeing them hugging with a look of fright. "Just ignore me. Continue with your business."

"What’s wrong?" Gregory stood up. "Do you want me to help you with something?"

"No, thank you. I was actually looking for Petey." Grandma pulled out from under her arm what looked like a rather thick notebook and waved it for emphasis. "I have a bunch of baby photos of you I want to show him."

Gregory threw his head back and whined.

"Mom!"

"Nothing too embarrassing, I promise." She took a step forward, leaving the house. "Although, now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind if you helped me serve the cake I have in the refrigerator to the kids."

Petey felt a knot in his throat as Gregory hurried off to the kitchen. He cast a quick glance at Grandma, anxious. They were alone. One part of him, the most paranoid, prepared for the worst scene possible. He waited for the woman in front of him to suddenly remove the mask of kindness she had maintained all afternoon, analyze him from head to toe, and end up looking at him with disdain once her inspection was over. (Did you really think you could belong here?)

"Come on, Petey, let’s take a walk." Grandma extended a paw to help him get up from the bench.

They were introduced together into one of the cornfields. They were plants so tall that, once well into the crop, it was difficult to see where the rest of the world remained. It was like entering a new dimension where only two colors existed; the green of the stalks and the blue of the sky. Even the earth smelled different. Petey imagined Gregory as a child running through the narrow divisions that separated one row of crops from another. For some reason, the puppy's laughter in his imagination sounded exactly like their own son's; free, luminous, light.

"Be careful where you step." Grandma advised him. Only then did Petey realize he was so engrossed in contemplating the top of the plants that he was starting to walk irregularly, almost bumping into the vegetables. Noticing this, he got back on the path and stood straighter. She laughed. "You were lucky to come during a good harvest. There are years when it doesn't rain, and we can barely grow a few square meters."

"Do you cultivate all this?"

"Just the two of us, at our age?" Grandma shook her head. "Not even when we were a young couple with five kids at home could we handle everything. It's too much work. We hire people seasonally."

"Sounds difficult."

"It is." She looked down at the notebook on her paws, opened it, and brought it closer to Petey so he could see the contents of her pages. They were filled with individual photographs of her children looking at the camera while eating an ear of corn. The image in which Gregory was captured showed him struggling to take a bite, his sweet childish features twisted with helplessness. "Anyway, I like it. It's a rewarding job most of the time."

"Can I...?" Petey dared to point his paws toward the album.

"Of course. That's why I brought it." She handed it to him without hesitation, as if she weren't giving away the most precious memories of a lifetime. "I thought you'd like to see it. I always show it to the boys' partners."

Petey superficially flipped through the pages of the notebook, trying to find more photos where Gregory appeared. Moments later, he stopped, worried. Wasn't he supposed to show the same level of interest in each family member? He discreetly looked at Grandma, trying to see if he had somehow offended her, but the smile on her face didn't break, so he continued with his mission.

Gregory arriving first in a school race, the photograph capturing the exact moment his chest broke the finish line tape. Gregory eating cereal in his bed wearing pajamas with a star pattern. Gregory being carried in his father's arms, so young he hadn't yet learned to smile at the camera, looking forward with a face full of curiosity.

A voice unfamiliar to him began whispering from the farthest edges of his consciousness. It was a homesick longing, the desire to care for someone smaller than himself. He still had the cloning machine; he had never dared to get rid of it for reasons he could never explain. Until now, when he suddenly fantasized about turning it on once more. If he put some of Gregory's fur into the device, he would get a baby just as adorable as in the photographs. "I do want a little brother! Please! Can you give me one?" Lil’Petey and he would turn their home into a real chaos. But it would be their chaos. The inevitable result of a couple of children making their way in the world.

Petey closed his eyes for a moment. No. Just no. He had to be realistic. Taking care of their son was already enough work. Not because he didn't love him, but quite the opposite. He loved him so much that deep down he feared he wouldn't be able to give him the upbringing he deserved. He was improving day by day, and even with all he had advanced, he still had a long way to go to become worthy of being his father. How can you give what was never given to you? He didn't have a father to teach him how to be one. He was trying, but it was like trying to build a robot from scratch without basic mechanical knowledge. He relied solely on the upbringing his mother gave him, and that had been enough for now. Petey didn't mind being a mother. Mothers are attentive, remember the smallest things about you, and always come to your aid.
However, Petey had no idea how an adult was supposed to raise two children at the same time. It was better he didn't experiment. These weren't machines he could disassemble, reset, and inspect from the inside if he made a mistake. They were children.

But Gregory is the youngest of five brothers, that voice insisted. She was alone. You are not. He would support you. He would make things work.

Suddenly, he felt something caressing his feet. Petey looked down, eager to have been pulled out of his thoughts so abruptly. When he bowed his head, he discovered it was a photograph that must have been poorly stored in the album. It had gotten stuck between his feet, the air making it flutter back and forth.

He bent down to pick it up, and upon seeing the image captured on the paper, his body tensed suddenly. It was another photo of Gregory. He was dressed in a green suit. He had a serious look that bordered on stern; squinting eyes, possibly due to the sun shining directly on his face, his mouth was a straight line showing no hint of a smile, his shoulders were tense. However, that wasn't what caused his fur to stand on end. The truly unsettling part of the image was that Gregory's face had been crossed out with undeniable hatred, a bunch of rough lines made with a black marker obscured much of his face. But Petey didn't need an impeccable portrait to recognize him. Because he could distinguish him in the dark just by the weight of his steps. Because he knew perfectly the size of his paws from countless times he had had them on his body.

"What's wrong? Why are you making that face?" Grandma asked, leaning toward him. Petey was so stunned he didn't move when their shoulders met. He couldn't even take his eyes off the image. It contrasted almost violently with the warm family scenes that had taken place inside the house. Realizing what he was looking at, the woman just let out a; "Oh."

Then Petey finally managed to move his head. He turned to look at her. Oh? Was that all she had to say? Oh?

"That's not who you think he is, darling." She added when she saw he wasn't satisfied with her reaction. Despite his frowning, Grandma spoke to him with the same tenderness. "I know they look very similar. At least physically. They are identical to my father."

"Your… father?"

Grandma stretched a paw to retrieve the photograph. Her gaze saddened as she looked at it again.

"This was my twin brother. I am the youngest, by the way. I'm telling you this now because people always want to know." Instead of returning the paper to the album, she put it in one of her overalls' pockets. "A few days ago, I was cleaning up for today's gathering. Dusting off so many old things made me nostalgic, so I looked for this photo among my albums. It must have fallen by accident into the children's album."

"The resemblance is astonishing." Petey said, hoping it sounded like a compliment.

"Just on the outside." It was hard to tell if now Grandma was crossed arms or hugging herself. "Greg is a good boy."

"He is." Petey immediately understood the missing phrase floating in the air; her brother wasn't.

"We were supposed to share all of this." She murmured and began to caress the leaves of a corn stalk next to her as if the plant was the one who needed comfort. "The house. The crops. The children. The weddings."

Petey didn't dare say anything. None of the comments he thought of sounded right in his head.

"But the promise to grow old together wasn't enough for him." Grandma spoke as someone who had already pondered the matter over and over. Her words were quick, controlled, and slightly poetic. "They say people don't change. I prefer to think they do. Otherwise, it would mean this boy in the photograph was always the man who would end up disappointing me years later. So I don't want to see him that way. Maybe it's denial, I don't know. Just… I live more peacefully imagining him changing overnight. I want to think that one morning he woke up and stopped being the brother who once loved me so much. Maybe one of his friends put a very silly idea in his head, or suddenly something tragic happened, something that forced him to see the world in a way I could never understand. That would mean that, for a while, his love for me was real. On the other hand, if he never changed, it would mean he was a terrible person from the start, and I was so attached to him that I didn't notice the feeling wasn't mutual."

"People change." Petey assured her. "We all have the capacity to change for better or worse. But my mother taught me long ago that love doesn't. She used to say that love never ceases to exist. That's a very scientific statement. Did you know that there are theories within the study of physics that claim time isn't real? At least not in the way we understand it in daily life. The present, the past, and the future exist simultaneously. That would mean that while we're talking, somewhere else I am being hugged by my mother at this very moment, and you are taking that photograph. Love is still there; we just can't see it."

Grandma smiled at him. Her eyes partially squinted, giving her a much sweeter look. Petey felt seen, but not observed. She wasn't trying to dissect him, she didn't want to discover what was hidden inside him. She was content just to admire the surface because she already took for granted that there was something valuable underneath. No proof was needed.

"So, in some way, in a part of the universe I can no longer access, he and I are planting these cornfields. And his love for me remains intact." The woman looked up at the sky. "Thank you, Petey. That's very sweet." She whispered.

Petey wasn't used to his name and the word "sweet" being spoken so closely. He felt his cheeks reddening, his tail wagged anxiously in all directions. He feared he had meddled more than he should have. Who was he to give words of encouragement to Gregory's mother? He barely knew her. He didn't know what problem had arisen between them. God, he didn't even know how sibling fights worked.

But she looked better. That made him feel satisfied.

"When my father died, he decided to leave the house and the fields only to me." Grandma sighed. "I didn't know that was what he had stipulated in his will. None of us believed he had written a will in the first place; we found out the day he died. My brother was furious about the news. I've always believed that it was nothing more than a technicality, that my father was trying to protect his daughter in the last way he could. That he did it because he was aware that I was a fair person and would give half of everything to my brother."

Petey noticed it was becoming difficult for her to talk about the subject, so he tried not to make too much eye contact to avoid making her feel pressured.

"I explained it to him so many times. He never listened." She continued. "Every time I tried to reason with him, his behavior worsened. He accused me of manipulating dad, or altering the documents. When I told him I would gladly give him everything if it meant getting my brother back, he told me he didn't need my charity. He left and I never saw him again. I was angry with him for years. I even came to hate him. I crossed out, tore, and threw away all the photos I had of him. All except this one, which I sometimes look at now and then."

"I could restore it for you, if you want." He offered. "If I scan the image and use an algorithm to deduce what is behind the black lines caused by the crossings, a much cleaner image would come out."

"I don't know." Grandma shook her head. "I still haven't forgiven him. Doing something like that feels like forgiving. Do you know what's the worst? For a while, I was afraid it could happen again with someone else in the family. I kept thinking that if my beloved brother had already abandoned me, anyone could do it even more easily."

Petey held his breath.

"And what did you do to stop feeling that way?" He asked hurriedly, almost breathless.

"Trust." Grandma took a deep breath."I didn't want to spend my whole life feeling afraid. I had to resign myself to trusting and hoping for the best from others. That leaves you vulnerable, but loneliness is an alternative I wasn't willing to take refuge in." She extended both paws toward him. He held them. "I trust you, Petey."

And the supposedly nonexistent time seemed to freeze around Petey at that moment.

The woman in front of him had also been abandoned by someone very important to her. However, she hadn't let that trauma paralyze her. She moved forward, formed a happy family, and dared to admit others like him with open arms. She built bridges instead of walls.

Petey felt a sudden need to reciprocate. If Grandma had the generosity to trust him, then he would trust her back. He would trust this whole family. It was the least he could do to thank them for the great generosity that not everyone had offered him. He would trust. It didn't matter what he knew so far about families. He would trust. In a few months, he would become Gregory's husband, he would be officially related to all these people, and he couldn't be happier that it was so. He would trust.

"Can I hug you?" He didn't feel silly asking. That was the first thing he didn't have to overthink all day. He felt like doing it, so he simply asked.

She happily gave him a smile, taking a step forward. She was showing that she was willing, and at the same time, she patiently waited for Petey to be the one to continue.

He bent down to her level. He pulled her to his chest. He hugged her with the affection he reserved only for their son and his fiancé. His heart pounded strongly; he could feel it expanding inside his chest to make room for one more person. He was finding it hard to breathe. But instead of feeling pain, he felt a relief similar to arriving home and finally being able to take off his shoes and tie.

Suddenly, they heard the leaves of the crops whispering in the distance, as if something was making its way through the plants. They looked at each other in surprise and turned their heads just in time to see a strange creature cross the tall green walls that surrounded them, stopping abruptly in front of them.

It was a chimera from the most feverish dreams; a face of reddish rodent, a broad and muscular dog body. Its chest rose and fell uncontrollably, they could hear the air coming out of its nose with intensity. Petey jumped in place and didn't relax until he examined the hybrid more closely, discovering that it had a long, excited golden dog tail wagging from side to side.

"Greg!?" Grandma and Petey exclaimed simultaneously. However, while her voice sounded cheerful, his tone was high-pitched from confusion.

Gregory pulled the squirrel mask back, revealing his face only from the nose down. He gave both of them a playful smile, his white teeth shining in the afternoon sun. He brought a finger to his lips to ask them to be silent, then covered himself completely again with the paper mask. Being caught off guard made the mask seem much scarier than it really was; just a simple circle with two holes in front, held on his head by a couple of elastic threads.

"Follow me, I’m telling you I can smell him around here!" A child's voice swore in the distance.

"No, no, listen to me! I saw him go that way!" Another child insisted.

"Papa? Are you there? Papa!" Exclaimed their son, causing both Gregory and Petey to turn instinctively toward the call. "How strange, normally Papa Greg comes as soon as I call him."

"We're playing Catch the Squirrel! He won't come that easily." Someone else snorted.

"Oh! That makes sense." Lil'Petey laughed sheepishly.

"Come here, little squirrel, little squirrel!"

"I just saw it! Meh, forget it, it was a bird."

Taking pity on them, Gregory lifted his chin toward the sky, letting out a howl so long that the distant neighbors must have heard it too.

The children's voices fell silent at once, replaced by the noise of urgent footsteps moving over the ground. They were stalking. They didn't take long to appear just as Gregory had done moments before. They pushed carelessly through the cornfields, jumped among the crops, some even tripped upon arrival. There were so many that they could have easily filled a classroom.

Upon seeing that they had just found the squirrel, they turned into a flurry of tiny heads that shot off without stopping until they crashed into Gregory. Together, they charged at him with such fervor that they managed to knock him to the ground. Some climbed onto his back and jumped on him, others pulled his arms mercilessly. The last to arrive was the baby, the youngest of all, with his blue pacifier in his mouth. Despite how roughly they were playing, Gregory laughed as if they were tickling him.

Suddenly, their son stood in front of Gregory's head. Since he was lying on the ground, it put him in a position that allowed the kitten to easily remove the mask.

"I found you, Papa." The child rubbed his nose affectionately against Gregory's. A habit he had adopted from him. "I knew you would come to me."

Since a bunch of puppies were sitting on his arms, Gregory could only respond to the kitten with a smile so radiant that it made Petey feel the urge to kiss him right then.

"You should play with the kids." Grandma suggested suddenly, causing Petey to straighten up in surprise. Upon hearing that, Gregory sat up so quickly that some of the puppies rolled away.

"I don't even know how." He said in a vague attempt to get out of it. However, upon saying those words, he realized he was only saying it out of his bad habit of always avoiding any social interaction that exceeded more than three people. So, he took a deep breath and added; "I can learn, though."

"It's very simple." Gregory brought an index finger to his chin, then turned his hand and made the tips of his index and thumb fingers touch several times. "You're the squirrel, and the others are dogs. If they catch you, they win. If they give up before reaching you, you win."

"But I'm just one, and they're like a hundred." Petey frowned. The children laughed mischievously upon hearing that comment. They knew they had the upper hand.

"Not everything is bad. They give you ten seconds to hide before they start chasing you." Gregory handed him the mask.

"Wow, how generous." Petey curiously examined the cartoonish squirrel face he now held in his paws. It was even a bit adorable, with those long teeth and chubby cheeks. As soon as he put it on, his peripheral vision disappeared entirely; it was like seeing through two long tunnels.

"Alright, kids, get ready. Cover all your eyes. I don't want any of you cheating. I swear I'll notice if you do." Grandma cleared her throat with a light cough. "One, two, three, four…"

However, Petey didn't make the effort to move. He stayed standing in the same spot, watching amused as their son placed his little paws over his eyelids.

Gregory and his mother looked at each other. The confusion on their faces quickly gave way to the shy smile of a couple of locals who don't know how to explain the customs of the area to a foreigner.

"You're supposed to start running, darling." They both explained to him at the same time. They must have thought he had misunderstood the game's instructions.

"It's okay. I've got it under control." The mischievous smile that decorated Petey's face remained hidden behind the mask.

Grandma pronounced the number 'ten' with more emphasis than the previous ones, and that group of children who had remained still came back to life under the power of that single word.

Upon opening their eyes, they set about checking their surroundings, but each of them froze again upon realizing that their target was still in front of them without showing the slightest sign of fear. None dared to approach. They were proud predators, not used to their prey ignoring them.

"What are you waiting for!?" Screeched one of the children, a puppy whose entire body was white except for his black paws. "Catch him!"

That war cry served to snap everyone out of their stupor. The barks didn't wait. They lunged together in a pack toward him. A single organism, a single clan.

Petey dodged them by jumping on all fours over their heads, landing behind them without letting out even a gasp from the effort. The dust from the ground rose, forming a dense cloud around him that gave him a mysterious air. The children let out a long 'ohhh' in chorus, full of admiration. Then they started barking again, indignant.

One of the children tried to surprise him by attacking forward at full speed, but Petey calmly took a step in the opposite direction and the puppy landed face-first on the ground. Another tried to jump on him from behind, so he withdrew just in time to escape her. While their movements were erratic, Petey's remained elegant.

"That's cheating! GranGran, tell him that's cheating!" One complained.

"He's too tall!" Followed another.

"He's too agile!"

"He's a cat!" They all groaned at once, frustrated.

"Hmm? Since when do you let yourselves be defeated so easily?" Gregory made an exaggerated surprised face, raising his eyebrows more than necessary and forming a big 'O' with his lips.

"Haw haw haw!" Petey began to laugh from his throat, adding a villainous touch to his performance. "I suppose with those complaints you've just declared me the winner!"

"Never!" Swore one of the older children, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You are going down! Everyone, after him!"

Petey hurried to lose himself in the cornfields, running at full speed between the plants. Although he was supposed to make the greatest effort to be discreet and stay hidden, he couldn't stop laughing out loud. He was so excited that he couldn't focus on anything else but his heavy breathing, the pounding in his ears, and the sharp barks in the distance.

One of the children appeared practically out of nowhere, but he felt it coming with enough time to dodge by jumping over her. Suddenly, he felt a paw brushing his foot, almost catching him, so he immediately withdrew his leg and sped up.

The range of what he could see improved significantly once he left the crops, and now he could move more freely. However, he was also more exposed; he had just entered open field. It didn't take long to reach the wooden bench that decorated the back entrance of the house. He took a second to catch his breath, glanced over his shoulder, and saw how the first children began to emerge from the cornfields, shooting toward him.

Petey waved an arm mockingly to greet them, then set about looking for a suitable place to hide, or at least something that would serve as an obstacle between them and him. In the end, he decided to head toward the trees at the edge of the property, a long strip of oaks that served as the only guardians of the land.

Petey waited amused until some of the children were close enough to reach him before starting to climb one of the trees. He wasn't used to so much physical activity; the muscles in his forearms stung from the effort he was putting into scaling the huge trunk he had against his chest. When he looked down, he noticed he was surrounded by hyperactive puppies; some watched him with eyes full of disbelief, others were already getting ready to climb without wasting any time.

"I didn't know adults could climb trees."  He heard a child reflect as he opted to start climbing.

"My Papa can!" Exclaimed their son, using his little claws to grip the trunk and make his ascent through the tree easier.

"Your parents are kinda crazy." Mentioned a girl who had preferred to stay on the ground to watch the scene unfold. "It must be fun. You have to invite me to your house soon."

Petey made sure to move on the lower branches in case one of the infants ended up slipping by accident while trying to follow him. He toyed with them mercilessly, letting them think they were about to grab his legs or arms before jumping to a nearby branch out of their reach. If he felt them too close, he hurried to camouflage himself among the leaves.

"He's above you!" The children indicated to those who had dared to climb. "No, below! Up, he just jumped! Behind you, behind!"

Out of breath, Petey lay on his stomach on one of the thicker branches, panting with his mouth open. He felt the sweat running down his back and neck. He had the mask on wrong after running around uncontrollably everywhere. His right eye was the only one that allowed him to see through a small hole, though partially. Only when he could recover enough air did he notice that their son was hanging from a branch above him, his fluffy tail floating in the air.

"Papa, I almost have you." The boy warned him with a sing-song voice and a huge smile.  "Stay there still, please."

"What did you say?" Petey placed a paw behind his ear, pretending not to understand. "Do you want me to move away?"

"No!" The kitten burst out laughing. He must be the only one on earth who found his father's sarcastic jokes funny. "Don't move!"

He launched himself downward without bothering to look down, trusting completely in his instincts. Since the crowd of dogs was waiting for him in front of the tree, he decided to descend from the back, completely forgotten by them. If he was careful, he could take them by surprise by shooting off in the opposite direction...

A shiver ran through Petey from his toes to the tips of his ears. Someone was holding the tip of his tail tightly.

"Lil'Petey? Is that you?" He asked. His vision was even more reduced; he could barely see flashes of light. Even when he lifted the mask, he didn't immediately understand what was happening; he didn't see anyone else present. It wasn't until he lowered his head that he came face to face with the baby with the blue pacifier, who had his fist closed around his tail with the merciless strength that only a child that age can exert. The baby looked at him from below with huge brown eyes full of expectation. "Oh. Hello."

"Over here, I just heard him!"

"Let's go!"

"I can't feel my paws anymore…"

The rest of the children approached running without hesitation, exhausted but with a clear goal. Petey mentally prepared himself to be charged by each of them just as he had seen them do with Gregory. He closed his eyelids and waited for the impact. However, the seconds passed and the blow never came. Confused, he opened them again, finding that all the children were looking at the baby with wide eyes.

"What's…?" Petey fell silent upon seeing that one of the older children shot toward the baby. He picked him up in his arms and lifted him victoriously toward the sun, as if he were some kind of magical chosen one. The little creature looked at them confused, his little legs kicking in the air, but he didn't let go of his pacifier at any moment.

"Baby winner!" Declared the child in a shout, presenting him to the rest of his comrades with a solemn face.

"Baby winner!" Cheered the others, clapping and jumping in celebration.

"It's the first time he's won at Catch the Squirrel!" A girl explained to Petey, taking the baby from who she supposed was her brother due to the physical resemblance. Then she cradled the infant with more delicacy. "We have to go tell his parents! Right away!"

The girl trotted hurriedly toward the house, her dress waving in the wind with each step she took. Her cousins followed closely, the howls they let out in excitement didn't stop until they entered the house. Once inside, silence settled for a few moments, only to be suddenly replaced by much more powerful adult barks.

"Papa, I'm a little bit tired." Lil'Petey yawned beside him, leaning on one of his legs. "Can you carry me?"

Petey dropped the paper mask to the ground, crouched down, and held their son in his arms, bringing him to his chest.

"Look at you, you're a mess." Petey rolled his eyes, getting ready to lick their son in the spots where he saw his fur was ruffled.

"It doesn't matter. I had a supa good time." The kid snuggled against him, rubbing his little head on his neck. Both purred contentedly from that simple display of affection.

Petey stopped at the sensation that they were being watched. Puzzled, he lifted his chin and scanned the surroundings. He didn't relax until he made eye contact with Gregory a few meters away.

He was smiling at them, the rural sky clouds reflected in his moist eyes. He seemed about to burst into tears of happiness at any moment.

During the first days of their relationship, Petey would have been overwhelmed by such a display of affection. But now they were engaged, so he walked over to him with their son hugged around his neck and caressed his face to console him. Gregory felt things so intensely that sometimes he needed to be consoled even when he was happy.

"I'm fine." He hurried to assure. "I just got a bit sentimental. It means a lot to me that you're here." He stretched out a paw to place it on the kitten's head. "Tell me, did you have fun playing?"

"A lot-lots and lots!" The child wagged his tail like a dog. "I don't want this day to end ever. Can we come back tomorrow? I want to play with my cousins more often."

Gregory's smile tensed slightly, as it always did when their son asked for something he couldn't grant.

"Well… The thing is, our family is very big. Some of my brothers live far away. It's hard for everyone to be free on the same day at the same time." Gregory stroked him behind the ears as a sign of apology. "But, what about your grandparents? This is their house, you can find them here whenever you want to visit."

"I like that too." The child nodded at the proposal.

"Me too." Petey admitted, glancing sideways at the house. No. At the home. That was a home in every sense. Something really fun must be happening inside, because the sound of laughter began to be heard, muffled by the distance and the noise of the dancing leaves in the trees.

Gregory's face lit up again upon hearing him say that.

"Really?"

"Your mother is quite likable to me."

"Really!?" Gregory made fists with both paws and shook them, excited. His eyes widened to such a size that Petey couldn't help but remember the baby with the pacifier.

"She's a nice woman. I don't know why you're surprised. Or what surprises you is that she likes me?" He teased him.

"I'm just happy that the two people I love most in the world get along."

Their son pretended to sneeze to get his attention.

"Right. Sorry." Gregory kissed the boy's forehead. "The three people I love most in the world." He then started counting on his fingers. "Of course, I also have to mention my Dad, my brothers, my nephews..."

"How lucky that you have a heart big enough to make room for all of us in it." Petey handed the child to him in a somewhat sneaky tactic that he knew would prevent him from responding to what he was about to say. "Greg, when you said your parents wanted to meet me, I felt so…" Petey took a deep breath. "Scared. Maybe even terrified. I was afraid I wouldn't fit in. I was afraid they wouldn't accept me. It wouldn't have been the first time. And then it turned out that everyone is incredible. Even your youngest nephews. They're kind, energetic, adventurous… They're like you, I've already told you so. You've always been able to see value in me, so I'm sure they do too. It's strange to feel like I belong to something so big, but I could get used to it."

He held Gregory's chin with a paw and brought his lips to his, giving him a kiss that made their son burst out laughing.

Petey placed a palm against Gregory's chest, then closed it, pulling a bit of his shirt fabric in the process. When had he stopped kissing him shyly and started doing it with the same naturalness as breathing?

Petey extended his arms, wrapping Gregory in them. Lil'Petey let out a squeal, pretending to be crushed as he got trapped between the two, although it was evident that he was enjoying it. Both lowered their heads at the same time in an attempt to give their son a kiss on the face, but what they achieved was accidentally bumping their foreheads. Although they first let out grunts of annoyance from the pain, they soon began to laugh. The child hugged Petey's neck, fearing that they would drop him because they were distracted.

"I would have preferred you told me how you felt." Gregory clenched a fist in front of where his heart was. "I've just decided that I'm going to change the swear jar for the repressed emotions jar. And the fine will be ten bills instead of one."

"What will you do with all that money collected?"

"Save for the child's university, of course. Whatever is left, because at this rate it's obviously going to be money left, we'll donate to charity."

"How funny."

"Are you going to deny that you feel better after talking about it?" Gregory ran a couple of fingers through Petey's whiskers. "Tell me, how do you feel now?"

Petey paused for a few seconds to admire his fiancé's face. The laughs coming from inside the house returned, even more vigorous than before.

Suddenly, he perceived in his heart the need to join that conversation to discover what was making them so happy. And the best part was that he could do it. It didn't matter that the living room was already full of people; they would take care of finding an extra seat for him. After all, there was a photograph of him hanging on the walls. He was family.

"At home."