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The thing about Ken and Josh’s life was that it was, to a nearly alarming degree, scheduled. Rather than in a rigid, military sense, their days flow in a comfortable and predictable cycle, one that is grounded in Josh’s inherent meticulousness and Ken’s appreciative chaos.
Every Thursday, Josh would be home by 6:45 PM, his keys landing in the small bowl by the door with a satisfying, familiar clink. At the exact same time, Ken would finish cooking his signature slightly overcooked Japanese dish for dinner. And the remaining hours of the day would be spent on the living room couch, Josh’s feet snug under the blanket on Ken’s lap, TV playing either a random anime or a random documentary, whichever won the digital coin flip.
This particular Thursday was threatening to shatter that serene, ordered rhythm, all thanks to the tiny, fluffy, black creature currently nestled inside Ken’s worn gym bag.
5:40 PM
Ken was looking up from his wristwatch when he saw him.
It was a damp and rainy September afternoon, the air cold and smelling faintly of wet asphalt. He had been walking home from the bookstore after his gym trip, clutching a paper bag of charcoal pencils and a book for Josh. His mind was preoccupied with his choice of Japanese dish to cook later when a sound caught his attention—a noise too delicate to be the wind and too insistent to be traffic.
It was a meow, small and high-pitched, like a forgotten squeaky toy.
He paused by the smallest alleyway between two apartment buildings. And there he was: a cat.
The creature was of pure black fluff and soft yet proud elegance. His fur was in disarray, some standing up from the cold, and a few others drooping from droplets falling from one of the building roofs. Ken was stared at by beautifully luminous green eyes, leaving the man in stillness and existential lucidity as his staring partner lazily stretched, yawned, and sat in wait.
Ken squatted down, put the paper bag on his right thigh, and held his left hand out. “Hey, bud.”
The cat didn’t speed away. To Ken’s surprise, he slowly walked over, rubbed his small face hard against Ken’s palm, and started purring—a loud and low grumble from his tiny frame. As if that wasn’t surprising enough, the cat swiftly climbed Ken’s hand, draped himself across the man’s forearm, and as soon as Ken automatically placed his other arm under for support, folded his tiny legs under himself, settled and unbothered.
And at that point, Ken knew he had lost.
“Oh, no, no, no,” Ken murmured while scratching the back of the cat’s ears, who responded by closing his green eyes and deepening his purr. “Josh is going to break up with me, bud. I shouldn’t.”
Josh probably wouldn’t, but Ken wasn’t confident enough to bank on that. Josh’s meticulousness translated to a lot of things in their home. If anything, Ken firmly believes that his own life would've never known order had it not been for his lover. But while Ken was positive that Josh loved animals, loving them and keeping them as pets are two wildly separate things. The latter requires time, care, and a whole lot of patience, especially when the home gets rowdy and messy. Therein lies Ken’s dilemma.
But the feel of this tiny, warm body in his arms, weight gentle and trust overwhelming, made any rational argument about potential agreements dissolve into thin air. The thought of leaving this black fluff by himself in the small, cold, and dark alleyway left a physical ache in his chest.
Ken sighed.
“Alright, fine,” he said, standing up, and opened his gym bag to make space for the cat. Ken left the zip halfway open for air, and with the black fluff neatly settled in, the bag’s interior became somewhat of a cradle for him.
“Now, I need to decide on a dish and a pitch to keep you. So, you best behave tonight, you tiny terrorist. More so than me.”
The cat only looked up at him, and Ken could swear he felt an eyebrow raise in response. Clearly, all responsibility was delegated to Ken, and that was that.
5:55 PM
Ken made it inside their apartment building with fifty minutes to spare. He knew Josh wasn’t home yet, but he still entered the foyer like a high-risk spy, careful and sleek, as if his heart wasn’t trying to leap out of his chest.
He rushed inside and paused to look at the living room: spotless, bright, not a pillow unfluffed, not a trinket out of place, not a book unarranged by height and genre; a visual representation of Josh’s belief that neatness is next to sanity. And yet here Ken was, about to turn all that upside down with a tiny yet alluring chaos.
Said chaos jumped out of the gym bag, stretched, and pranced lazily, leaving a few clumps of fur on the floor.
“Ah, ah, ah!” Ken hissed, scooping him up again, and pointed a finger at the cat in his arms. “You can’t leave any mess yet, bud. We still need to win tonight’s battle, you hear me?”
The cat stared blankly at the pointed finger and started giving it play bites. Ken sighed and began to think.
The only viable option to keep the cat for a few hours was the closet in the guest bedroom, which, coincidentally, was the one space Ken hadn't cleaned this week. As such, it was quite messy, full of oversized shirts, unused gym gear, and a stack of towels that hadn't seen daylight since god knows when.
He grabbed a faded black towel, quickly fashioned a makeshift bed in the darkest corner of the closet floor, and gently placed the fluffball on top. The cat looked up at Ken, blinked, and promptly stretched before curling up, as if to express a “guess I have no choice” huff with his temporary accommodations.
“Just stay there, okay?” Ken commanded, closing the door softly.
It’s been ten minutes since they entered. He has 45 minutes left until the keys clink.
Ken rolled his shoulders and frantically began a whirlwind of tasks.
First, supplies. After all, Ken couldn’t just leave the cat starving in the closet, nonchalant as he is. So, he grabbed his wallet and sped off to the convenience store on the ground floor. To avoid suspicion from the cashier that he only bought a small can of tuna, he also grabbed an aluminum pan, a tiny bag of dry food, a couple of barbecue-flavored chips, and a box of chocolates for Josh, just in case he needs to be buttered up later.
Ken checked the time the second he stepped inside the condominium. He has 35 minutes left.
He went straight to the kitchen and mixed the tuna and dry food in a saucer—he made a mental note to clean that one extra in case Josh smells any fish scent—and filled a small glass bowl with water before sprinting to the closet. Despite the air conditioner blasting in the entire unit, Ken felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple.
He then went back to the kitchen and scrubbed his hands twice with the lavender-scented soap to mask any potential lingering "stray cat" smell. He threw his gym bag into the laundry hamper, hoping the black fur inside would be mistaken for bits from a discarded scarf.
Thirty minutes left.
Now, the final and most crucial task: Dinner. He washed his hands again after tossing the can of tuna and empty pack of dry food in the balcony trash can—because Josh never checked that one—and began to prepare the dinner he hastily decided on: tonkotsu ramen.
With Ken’s mind set on making his man happy and full so he’s more agreeable when the pitch is laid down, he began to work diligently. Soon enough, the smell of garlic, ginger, and miso filled the air. He smiled to himself as he cooked the noodles, confident that the fragrance of his masterpiece would completely mask the existence of a small bundle of fluff and life hidden a few feet away.
After plating the ramen bowls and setting the light to a dim, Ken leaned against the counter and clutched his chest. Despite his pounding heart, he had created a perfect crime scene. The condominium was pristine, dinner was hot and ready, and he looked—or hoped, at least—like a man who had enjoyed his afternoon, not a man who was now harboring a fugitive feline.
6:45 PM
There was the familiar sound of a closing door, followed by the much-anticipated clink in the bowl. Ken leaped so high from his seat that he almost knocked the glass of water off the table.
“Ga? I’m home!” Ken heard Josh call out, and if not for his loudly beating heart, his lover’s cool voice would’ve made him swoon.
“I’m in the dining area, ga!” Ken replied with a shaky voice as he watched Josh’s figure enter the room, wearing his rimless glasses, velvet, long-sleeved shirt, and baggy pants. His eyes directly met Ken’s, followed by his wide, bunny-like smile.
Josh walked towards Ken with the swagger of a model and the face of a god. Ken stood up to meet him, only for Josh to come over his seat and kiss him softly on the forehead. Despite himself, Ken melted into Josh’s arms, happy and content that his lover’s home.
“You smell like miso, baby…” Josh murmured, his arms wrapping tighter around Ken’s waist. “And…something else.”
He glanced at the two bowls of ramen on the table. “Does your ramen tonight have fish?”
“Fish? H-hahahaha…no silly!” Ken’s entire body froze in Josh’s embrace before slapping his back as weakly as his laugh. “T-that’s probably the narutomaki, maybe the one I bought was extra fishy? Y-yeah! That’s it! Hahaha…”
Josh pulled away and looked at Ken, his expression gentle, affectionate, and amused. “You’re acting weird. What did you put in the ramen this time?”
“Hey!” Ken slapped Josh’s arm for real. “Tonight’s dish is perfect, okay? Ban me from the cake stash if it’s anything less.”
Ken didn’t want to be banned from the cake stash, of course, but he had to put on a confident front tonight. If it seemed out of place on his face, then the best he can do is to keep Josh as far away from the closet as possible for as long as he can manage.
“I’ll take your word for it, then.” Josh only chuckled before letting Ken go and sitting across from him. “But you’re not sick, are you, ga? You really look strung out.”
“I’m okay, ga,” Ken said as he sat back down, relieved knowing his large-ish frame effectively blocked Josh’s view of the closet. “Probably just a bit huffed from the gym.”
Things were going great, Ken thought. No noise coming out of the closet, the scent of ramen filling the air, Josh worrying for nothing as always. Ken relaxed and started digging into his ramen in relief.
Josh excused himself to wash his hands, to which Ken absentmindedly nodded and continued eating. A few minutes later, Josh remained standing behind his chair, a speck of lint in hand.
“Ga, I saw this on the floor near the guest bedroom. Hasn’t it been cleaned yet?” Josh asked, his voice casual, but Ken perceived the underlying tone.
Ken’s chopsticks almost fell on top of the bowl had he not been gripping them tightly. “Uh…yeah, I was planning to work on it after dinner. Got too focused on the ramen, you see. Uh…did you need something in there?”
“No, not really…” Josh remained standing, eyes narrowing directly above Ken’s head. “I just think it’s looking like organized chaos? Like it’s too…staged?”
Ken let out a single nervous laugh. “Oh, that! I didn’t want you to get mad by making it look like a whirlwind’s aftermath, so I fixed a few things here and there. You know, hot mess express.”
He laughed again, then went back to his ramen, careful not to say too much or he’ll unknowingly push up his scheduled pitch.
“Ken.”
Josh’s flat tone and use of his name made Ken stop eating and look up at him. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes had an unusual sparkle in them.
“I see small, green eyes looking back at me.”
7:00 PM
Ken heaved a sigh in surrender. He gently put down his chopsticks, stood up, and walked over to where his lover was standing. He hugged Josh from behind and rested his lips on the man’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, okay?” Ken mumbled on the curve of Josh’s neck. “Please don’t be mad, ga? I don’t know how you feel about keeping a pet, but I couldn’t leave him in that cold and dark alleyway. His fur was wet from the raindrops, and he’s just a little guy.”
In an attempt to be more convincing, Ken turned Josh around to face him and held his waist. “Ga, he chose me. He…he just settled himself in my arms when I reached out to him. I…I just had to choose him, too.” He hugged Josh again, like an apologetic child after confessing to stealing a cookie.
In his arms, Josh remained still. Ken was about to spiral when he felt his boyfriend’s chest and shoulders shaking.
It was followed by the warmest giggle Ken has ever heard.
Josh gently pulled back and held Ken’s face between his hands. He was smiling so widely that the dimples at the lower corners of his eyes showed up. “You look like you tried to rob a bank with a teaspoon!”
Ken didn’t know what his face looked like, but if Josh is not fuming mad, then can he take it as a good sign?
“Is that an affirmative?” he asked, his voice small and hopeful.
“You’re so weird and sweet and ridiculous. And I love you, okay?” Josh smushed his face and smiled fondly at him. “Now, go and get your little fluffer before he eats your ‘I heart Okinawa’ shirt.”
Ken gave Josh’s waist one last squeeze before sprinting to the closet.
But since the door was already slightly open, the cat only pushed it further to let himself out, stretched lazily, and sauntered out of the dark bedroom and into the dining room light.
Josh met him halfway. As soon as they were inches away from each other, the cat sat down and looked up at Josh with his beautiful green eyes, as if luring him and judging him at the same time.
In a trance, Josh kneeled in front of the cat and held a hand out. Regally, the fluffball closed the gap between them and rubbed his face hard on Josh’s hand, much like what he did to Ken’s palm a few hours ago. Not even ten seconds later, the cat walked right up to Josh’s arms, knowing full well that the man would support his ascent to a new spot with his other arm. He kneaded Josh’s arms for a bit, then curled up his small paws under him.
Ken could only watch the entire thing in awe, and when Josh smiled up at him, he wanted to drown the man in affection. He felt the tension leave his shoulders, replaced by something soft and fuzzy like the cat’s fur against his lover’s skin.
“He likes you, ga,” he murmured, kneeling beside Josh.
“Yeah, well, he’s like you in many ways. Sneaky and incredibly sweet.” Josh replied, rocking the cat slowly like a baby. “And I like him because he liked you first, so in that sense he’s like me too.”
Ken resisted the urge to grab Josh into an embrace, lest he break this moment of peace with their newfound companion. Instead, he let a thought pop into his head.
“Do you want to name him?”
Josh was, apparently, focused on scratching the cat’s ear, still rocking the cat in his arms. For a moment, Ken didn’t know if he was jealous of Josh for being liked by the cat so much, or if he’s jealous of the cat for being the current focus of Josh’s cuteness aggression.
“Ga.”
“Oh,” Josh looked up at Ken, as if he didn’t know the man was even there. “Huh?”
Ken only smiled back. “Do you want to name him?”
“Oh! Well…” Josh glanced back at their unfinished ramen bowls, then looked back at Ken. “How about ‘Kuro’? It’s the meat you used for the Distraction Ramen, which you were also so happily eating before the surprise reveal. And you like anything Japanese.”
Ken fought a blush at how Josh easily read him like a glaring road sign. “Kuro, huh? I guess it fits him visually, too.”
“Of course it does. That’s also what our relationship would’ve ended up when you risked it just like that for a cat.”
“Ah! I—”
Josh interrupted him with a giggle and put his head on Ken’s shoulder. “I’m kidding, ga.”
Ken pouted and kissed the top of Josh’s head. “I know our relationship’s stronger than a cat, no matter how fluffy he is.” He petted Kuro gently, who was still sleeping in Josh’s arms.
“I know, and I know you wouldn’t leave him in that alleyway. I wouldn’t want you to, and I’m happy you didn’t.”
Josh lifted his head and reached out to pull Ken into a gentle kiss, one that the latter smiled into. He relaxed against Josh’s lips, smelling lavender handwash, cold air, and a new, fun life awaiting them.
When they pulled away, Kuro was already staring at the two of them. His green eyes dilated at the sight of his fur parents being so audaciously sweet and loving. Josh laughed when the cat climbed his chest and stared at Ken, challengingly for some reason.
“Down you go for now, Kuro-chan. Dada and I will have our date first.”
Ken stared at Josh in surprise, at how easy he slotted himself into the fur parent role. And the Dada pet name was definitely making all kinds of butterflies flutter in Ken’s stomach.
Kuro may have won the cuteness aggression category, but at the end of the day, he can never take away Josh's love for Ken.
9:00 PM
The ramen was colder and a bit overcooked, but they ate it anyway. Meanwhile, their new audience sat perfectly between them, eyes lit up, perhaps hopeful for scraps that would fall his way.
Rather than flipping a coin to see whether they’d watch a documentary or an anime, Josh and Ken were occupied by their shared laptop, one side on each of their thighs, debating who gets which pet-related job, deciding on scratch posts and the necessity of cat toys, and trying not to get distracted by Kuro’s sly prancing between the two of them. They failed every time.
Ken leaned his head against Josh’s shoulder. “I was so nervous you’d get mad, ga.”
“I was surprised, to say the least,” Josh admitted, affectionately scratching the back of Ken’s scalp. “I’ve always loved the harmony and order we have here. But knowing how you came across Kuro showed me more of why I love you. And that’s worth accepting this new chaos and working our way around it.”
In the silence that came after, Ken allowed himself to relax in Josh’s arms, their breathing in sync and eyes trained on the graceful, fluffy, wonderful ball of purr in front of them.
What a nice way to end this mayhem of a day—his lover, a good meal, and the cutest additional chaos.
“Welcome home, Kuro.”