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It's been about six months since Armand and Daniel welcomed Gizmo, a sleek black cat with bright orange eyes, into their lives. Together, they form a sweet and happy little family. She was discovered by Daniel initially, and he was so taken by her resemblance to Armand that he felt like they had no choice but to keep her.
Armand was not happy with Gizmo joining their household at first, but once he gave her a chance, he found that he actually liked her quite a bit. He fully loves her now, of course. He can say that. Any reservations or ill-will he felt towards her are long gone and he's fully dedicated himself to spoiling Gizmo absolutely rotten and doting on her always. His camera roll contains nothing but photos of Daniel, Gizmo, and Daniel and Gizmo together.
Daniel had been thrilled that Armand took to her after all and is just as invested in buying Gizmo every toy, food, treat, and any other cat products she could ever want. Even those her little cat brain couldn't conceive of. Don't take that as Armand calling her unintelligent though, because she's quite the opposite. Armand has sometimes half wondered if she has any supernatural elements to her because of how smart and sensitive she is.
One example of this is how she somehow can sense when they're about to wake up for the evening, even though their wake up times aren't always consistent. Even before they themselves are fully awake and moving, Gizmo knows. And on days when they sleep in the coffin instead of the bed, the moment one of them begins to rouse from their sleep she'll be outside it meowing and pawing at the lid. They don't usually let her sleep inside with them so she isn't trapped if she needs to eat or use the litter box, but she convinces them to allow it occasionally, much to her delight.
Gizmo really has been the perfect addition to their household, and Armand would have it no other way.
This morning starts like any other. They'd slept in the bed today and Gizmo, still technically a baby at eight months old, had plonked down across both of them, purring loudly as she fell asleep with them. Armand wakes up first. Gizmo senses it and immediately wakes up as well. She meows excitedly and moves to sit on his chest at once, staring down at him with her huge, unblinking orange eyes. It's only since adopting her that Armand has understood why some people find his own eyes unnerving.
"Good evening, Gizmo." Armand mutters, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Gizmo chirps at him cutely and rubs her head against his hands affectionately. He gives her a few pets before sitting up and checking the time, forcing her to move to his lap. 3:30 p.m., a bit early even for the winter sun to set. Daniel will be asleep for a while longer still.
Gizmo does not understand this and walks across the bed to sit directly in front of Daniel, pawing at his face gently.
"He will not awaken for a while." Armand tells her. He's certain that she can understand him, at least in a vague sort of way if not exactly.
She paws at Daniel for another minute or so before giving up as Armand leaves the bed. She follows him to the kitchen where she enthusiastically yells for her breakfast like always. She circles his feet, nearly tripping him at least once despite his vampiric senses being able to anticipate her movements, all while screaming her head off like she's never eaten a single thing in her life.
"You had some kibble during the day. I can tell. You cannot possibly be this hungry." Armand says to her, amused by her antics.
Armand had never spent much time around cats until Gizmo, so when she was still new to the household, he'd been concerned there was something wrong with her given how loud she meowed and how extremely hungry she acted when they got up. Daniel assured him that this is perfectly typical cat behavior, and that growing up his parents had a cat who acted similar. That, and the fact that she usually still had some kibble left her in bowl when they got up put his fears of her being genuinely starving to rest. She's just delightfully dramatic.
Gizmo screams again, long and loud. She stands up against his leg and slaps him with her paws as he opens an expensive can of chunky meat in a gravy sauce. He dumps it into her genuine gold-lined food bowl that matches the ones holding her kibble and water across the room. Daniel thought they were a bit excessive when Armand first bought them for her, but Armand insisted she deserved nothing but the best, which Daniel agreed with. Now it's almost impossible to get her to eat out of anything else.
Armand mixes her daily multivitamin treat into the canned food and sets it down on the floor. Gizmo almost moves faster than her little feet can carry her to get to the bowl, so excited to eat that she almost face plants in the food.
"Easy, my little predator." Armand laughs gently as he watches her eat. "We wouldn't want you to aspirate."
Gizmo slows down a little after the first few monstrous bites, but doesn't stop eating for even a moment until every last crumb is gone from the bowl.
"Good job, Gizmo." Armand says fondly. He gives her a pet then takes her bowl and rinses it in the sink. She waits for him to be done so, as per routine, they can go to the living room and sit on the couch together. Armand will conduct whatever business needs to be done today on his iPad, Gizmo will take the longest bath of her life before settling in for a nap, and they'll both wait for Daniel to emerge from the bedroom.
Gizmo has long since fallen asleep when Daniel finally wakes up and joins the two in the living room.
"Good morning." Daniel says with a sleepy smile as he leans down to kiss Armand. Armand hums happily against Daniel's mouth as he kisses him back. Gizmo awakens at the sound of Daniel's voice and runs to Armand's lap to greet him.
"Good morning to you too, little lady." He says as he scratches her chin.
"I have some errands to run in town today. Would you like to join me?" Armand asks.
"Definitely. This one can come, too. You wanna go on a walk, Mo?"
Gizmo meows as if agreeing and knocks her head against Daniel's hand. They recently started training her on a harness to go for walks outside, which she's absolutely obsessed with. Since it's been so cold recently, they've had to buy her some winter clothes to wear when they take her out. Not that she minds. She even gets irritated when they try to remove them sometimes.
Technically, one coat would be enough. But this is Gizmo, so she needs to have an entire wardrobe just for her. After Armand and Daniel get dressed, Armand starts the long and arduous task of deciding what Gizmo will wear. He's stuck between a periwinkle sweater sprinkled with pale yellow stars and a forest green chunky knitted sweater.
"Why don't you lay them out and see if she has a preference?" Daniel suggests after Armand has spent the last ten minutes holding each sweater up to Gizmo in an attempt to determine the best choice for tonight.
Armand considers this for a moment. He doesn't necessarily trust Gizmo to make the most reasonable or stylish choice, but Daniel is becoming impatient and even Armand has to admit he would like to just get going already, so he lays them out on the bed in front of Gizmo.
She has a choice right away, running to and sitting on the periwinkle sweater that Armand had been leaning towards anyway. He pulls it on her, and after taking at least twenty pictures of her in it at multiple angles, they finally leave the house.
Armand typically lets Daniel be in charge of Gizmo when they take in public since she tends to attract quite a bit of attention. Armand cannot fault people for cooing and awing at Gizmo, considering she is the cutest and best cat in the entire world, but Armand is not usually in the mood for all the attention himself. Daniel likes it though, and is happy to talk about Gizmo to anyone who will listen. Armand is happy to carefully monitor the interactions from the sidelines.
Gizmo herself absolutely adores the attention, reveling in the excited exclamations of people on the streets or in shop when they see her.
They're in a record shop tonight when two young women notice Gizmo with delighted gasps and approach her to get a closer look.
"Your cat is so cute! Can we say hi?" One of them asks.
"Go for it." Daniel chuckles, gesturing to where Gizmo is already pushing up against the women's legs and chirping. They crouch down and Gizmo practically melts at all the affection. She flops over, baring her sweater-clad belly and stretching out her long arms and legs as far as they'll go.
"Oh my god, the sweater is so cute, too! What's her name?"
"Gizmo."
"Aw, hi Gizmo! Your eyes are so pretty!"
Gizmo meows, blinking up at the two women with her large eyes and continuing to roll around on the carpeted floor. No doubt her sweater will be filthy after this, but that's what their top of the line washing machine is for.
Armand watches Gizmo eat up the attention, getting as many pets from the women as possible before they finally decide it's time to leave. Armand can get a little protective of her if anyone lingers on her too long or seems a little too taken with her. He's always in the minds of anyone petting her to make sure they aren't planning a cat theft. Thankfully, that has yet to happen. He'll continue monitoring though, just in case.
After a few more stops, extended by a considerable amount of time thanks to Gizmo's many new fans, they're finally back home. Armand sheds Gizmo of her very dirty sweater much to her annoyance, meowing angrily and slapping him with her claws retracted in protest.
"Calm down. I'll get you something else to wear. Something clean."
Gizmo follows Armand throughout the house as he tosses her sweater in the washing machine, then goes to the bedroom to find something new for her to wear. This is a lot lower stakes since she isn't leaving the house, so he quickly chooses a black and green plaid patterned shirt for her.
When they enter the kitchen together, Daniel is preparing Gizmo's second meal of the day.
"Great choice. She looks adorable."
"Are you saying there's times when she doesn't look adorable?" Armand says teasingly.
"Of course not. She just looks especially cute in this shirt." Daniel replies as he leans down scratches Gizmo's small head. She conducts her typical screaming and prancing routine as Daniel prepares her food, then scarfs it down as soon as the bowl touches the floor.
After her meal, they go to the living room where Daniel rummages through her toy box. He pulls two of her favorite toys out, a battery powered plush fish that flops around and colorful plastic feathers on the end of a fishing pole-like device. Armand likes playing with Gizmo, but for Daniel, it's his favorite activity to do with her.
They both spend the next half hour or so playing with her. Daniel laughs with delight as she soars through the air to leap on the fish or jumps several feet directly upwards to capture the feathers in her mouth, and Armand praises her endlessly whenever she gets in a particularly good attack on one of the toys.
"We should bring in another bird for her. She loved it and I liked seeing her hunting skills being put to practical use." Armand says as he slowly drags the feathers across the floor. Gizmo watches with her pupils fully dilated, ready to pounce at any moment.
"Maybe it should be a rat or something this time." Daniel suggests. "The birds always make a massive mess. All those feathers… Not to mention how it pooped everywhere." Daniel shivers at the memory as Gizmo takes a flying leap at the fake feathers, wrapping her arms around them and kicking at them with her back feet. Once she's satisfied the toy has had the nonexistent life beaten out of it, she drops it and lets Armand and Daniel know she's done with playtime by hopping up on the couch.
"Birds are more of a challenge for her though, and she really likes being challenged."
"I guess you're right. She's worth the cleanup, anyway."
They put her toys away and Daniel joins Gizmo on the couch, lying longways on it and stuffing a pillow behind his head for support. Armand leaves for a few minutes to get himself and Daniel a few reheated blood bags so they don't have to leave the house again tonight before finally sitting on the couch himself, handing off one of the bags to Daniel. He lies in between Daniel's legs, resting his head on his chest, then Gizmo situates herself on top of Armand. A perfect and comfy little stack.
Armand turns on a channel that plays nothing but 80s movies. They watch the random movie playing and sip from their blood bags until they're empty. Gizmo purrs loudly and kneads her paws on his shirt until she falls asleep, comfy and cozy with Armand's freshly blossoming body heat warming her up. The comforting vibrations of her purrs and the noise from the TV lulls Armand to sleep for an exceptionally rare mid-evening nap. Similar to Gizmo, he snuggles closer to Daniel and his renewed body heat.
Daniel smiles fondly at the sight beneath him. He takes a couple pictures of the two creatures in his lap before tossing a blanket over them and settling into the couch, letting his own eyes fall shut. He's thankful for their tinted windows so they don't have to move if they don't want to. Which they don't.
The three of them nap there for a couple hours. They rest easy with the knowledge that they have no plans ahead for the rest of the evening, and that when they wake up they have no obligations other than spending time together and enjoying each others' company.