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What started off as something so innocent like Elira sending photos and videos of her cat to Leo, turned into days of having to listen to the man whine about wanting to catnap Meow Meow.
At first it was funny. Leo would dramatically sigh over a picture of Elira’s cat. Then he would longingly rewatch the videos before whining about wanting a cat and then the whole sequence would repeat itself. It was cute. Leo would pout his lips and puff his cheeks out whenever he would “argue” with Elira, “threatening” to catnap her cat.
But it reached a point where all Leo cared about was a cat and Claude was a jealous man. A jealous man over a cat. Not his best moment, really.
He would just sit and stare at Leo—judging him, hard. Maybe it was his fault for hiding the fact that he was also a cat. A cat hybrid. Not exactly the same because he can transform into a human and talk but the facts were still there.
It reached a point where Claude could only ever hear Meow Meow this or that cute cat there. It was starting to piss him off. The lack of attention on him from Leo was getting to him.
It wasn’t a surprise that when Leo was whining over Elira’s cat again did Claude snap. They were just trying to have a nice lunch, Claude cooked a mean salmon with roasted vegetables and they were having a playful conversation. Their recent Valorant sessions were going great and Claude was poking fun at the times Leo would get slightly tilted over an enemy team killing him in the most devious ways possible.
Everything was nice and fun until Leo’s phone pinged with a message. Leo casually glanced at the notification and gasped. Claude had a feeling of what it could be.
“Claudeeee!! Look at how cute Meow Meow is! Oh my goshhhh!!” There he goes again. Suddenly their playful talk was replaced with Meow Meow. Of course it was. Who wouldn’t be surprised?
Claude tried to ignore the sudden topic change. He can’t really blame Leo. Elira’s cat is cute—he’ll admit that, but having all of the attention be off of him was not what he wanted.
‘Pay attention to me’ he stabs a piece of his salmon with a grumble, eyes glaring at his plate as if it wronged him. Leo was still prattling on about the cat and it was like he forgot about the delicious meal and his partner.
“My god Meow Meow is so fucking cute!! His cute little face makes me want to just cuddle him and never let go-“ Claude purposefully knocks his glass of water over, not caring if their nice table got wet.
Leo stops talking to look at the mess before looking up at Claude. Not once did Claude make eye contact with Leo after that, choosing to sulk a little before getting up to grab a napkin to clean up his mess.
‘At least his attention is on me again’
“Are you okay?” The worry bled through Leo’s words and Claude silently wiped the table. He doesn’t offer an excuse nor an explanation.
“‘M fine.” He mumbles and only stops wiping when Leo’s hand gently holds onto his, stopping him. He looks up to stare into Leo’s worried eyes before shaking his head, slight annoyance fading away when he realises how silly he’s been acting.
He knows that it’s normal to fawn over a cute animal. It was illogical to compete over an animal that isn’t even here physically.
‘What if I just tell him the truth..’ he bitterly thinks. Maybe Leo might understand where he’s coming from. He’s only a little bit possessive over his boyfriend. Only a little.
“Let’s just finish dinner.” Claude decides, not budging. He’s just being too clingy, too possessive and it’s over a damn cat.
‘Get your act together!’ He puffs his cheeks out and finishes the rest of his dinner. He didn’t notice Leo lovingly staring at him while he was devouring the rest of his salmon.
-
“I’m going to go touch some grass with Uki.” Leo reminds him and of course Claude remembers. The two are going to go on a cute little “date”, Uki’s words not Leo’s this time, and do some shopping. Claude wouldn’t forget what Leo tells him. He loves it whenever Leo decides to go touch some grass without him urging him on to step foot outside.
“Have fun.” Claude looks up at Leo, slowly blinking while his boyfriend ruffles his hair. He melts into the touch, slightly pushing his head to get more attention. Leo’s hand slips down to his cheek and Claude nuzzles into it. He puts his hand over Leo’s and moves it towards his mouth, kissing his palm before letting Leo go.
He laughs at Leo’s red face before letting the man go, lounging languidly on the couch. Once the door locks he takes time to just rewind earlier’s interaction, already missing his boyfriend.
“I already miss him..” it’s funny how love works. One moment he’s soaking in all of Leo’s compliments, melting at the seams after finally letting himself accept all of these compliments and believe in them and now he’s missing the man that would tease the fuck out of him for being so clingy.
Claude transforms into a cat once he’s sure that Leo wouldn’t suddenly return home in case he forgot something again. He climbs out of his clothes and jumps down from the couch. He lets himself wander around the familiar apartment before strutting to their shared room. He’s a cat on a mission—he wants to snuggle Leo’s hoodie.
In the past, he’s been scared of fully turning into a cat when Leo wasn’t around. He was paranoid that his fur would get all over the place and Leo would start suspecting something. He can’t lose Leo. His past relationships ended poorly whenever they found out he was a cat hybrid. Some wanted to sell him off, horrible he knows, and some wanted to just break up because he was just “weird” and that he wasn’t normal. Leo became his saving grace so to say.
Leo embraced almost every part of him. He healed parts of him Claude didn’t think were possible and yet he’s still scared to share his secret. He’s scared that Leo would find him weird and thinks he’s a monster, maybe leaves him after finding him disgusting. That thought devastates Claude.
He perks up when he spots Leo’s hoodie, jumping on the bed to find a comfortable spot on the piece of clothing that has Leo’s scent the strongest. He settles near the hood and purrs at the comforting scent. He grooms himself and lets the scent lull him to sleep.
-
“Claude?” Claude’s ears twitch at the faint whisper and snuggles closer to the hoodie. Nothing registers into his mind and it’s only when he feels a hesitant stroke over his head did he realize something was up.
“Meow?” He mewls, lifting his head sleepily to see a blurry figure next to him. He should be on high alert at this possible intruder, but the scent felt so soothing, so comforting, like it was home.
He just nuzzles his head further into the hand and it was only when he realized that he should be alone is when his eyes widened with panic. He looks up to see his boyfriend and jumps from surprise.
“Claude, wait-!” He scrambles out of the room, panic setting in at the truth being out so soon.
‘No no no! This can’t be happening!’ He hides under their couch and watches as Leo’s feet pass the couch. He doesn’t make a noise and sadly stares off into space.
This is it. Leo’s gonna find him weird and break up with him. He’s going to lose the only man that ever loved him so much. The man who accepted almost every part of him, imperfections and all and the one thing he kept a secret was this.
“There you are.” He felt kind arms gently grab him out from under the couch and he mewled. He’s face to face with the love of his life and he doesn’t understand what’s going on or what’s going through Leo’s mind.
“Can you transform back for me?” Leo’s voice sounded so soft and so full of love that Claude could only paw at Leo’s hand. He didn’t know what to say. What could he say? That “oh yeah I’ve been a cat hybrid all my life and hid it from you and that I’ve been hurt by previous relationships and couldn’t handle ours ending up the same?”
“I promise I’m not mad.” It was like Leo could hear his thoughts. He didn’t sound angry, didn’t sound disappointed. He sounded warm and that convinced Claude that maybe this time will be different. Maybe Leo would stay.
“Leo, I can explain-!” He transforms back into his human form and lands on top of his boyfriend. He only realizes he was bare when Leo’s hand landed on his waist to help steady the sudden weight shift and he could just feel the touch burn through his skin.
“Can you uh..explain everything after you get dressed? Don’t want you getting sick.” Leo mumbles out a lame excuse and Claude didn’t miss the way Leo’s eyes scanned his entire body. His ears perk up at the attention before shifting his eyes to the side of the couch and spots his abandoned clothes from earlier. He climbs off of Leo and promptly puts on his clothes. It’s hard to ignore the burning gaze on him, sending electrifying shocks down his body.
Once he was fully dressed they were on the couch, thighs and knees touching at the close contact and Claude was trying to put his thoughts together. Leo, sweet and lovable Leo, was patient. He didn’t rush Claude into saying anything.
“So, um as you can see I’m a cat hybrid. I was going to tell you eventually, but I was scared because my past relationships ended horribly whenever they found out that I’m not a normal human. They think I’m just some sort of freak of nature when other hybrids exist but I just didn’t want to lose you because this relationship means so fucking much to me, you know? I wanted to tell you when I was ready but the timing was never right and I didn’t want to like assume the worst of things but I just really-“ He was rambling, eyes darting everywhere but at Leo’s face and he could feel the way his heart was racing, could hear the blood pumping through his veins but he didn’t care. He needed Leo to hear him out, to hear that he didn't even mean to keep this secret from him.
“Claude. Please breathe in for me.” Leo’s voice snaps his out of his ramble, out of whatever torture his mind was conjuring up because Leo was so silent until now.
He takes a deep breath and exhales, finally gathering enough courage to look into Leo’s eyes.
“There’s my pretty boy.” Leo coos and fuck, Claude was just a weak man.
“I understand why you didn’t want to let me know. I’m not mad, okay? I’m sorry that you had to tell me this way. I wish you told me when you were ready.” Claude felt like crying. Leo was everything he ever wanted. He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t look at him with disgust, didn’t break up with him because he was a cat hybrid. Instead Leo accepted every part of him, talked to him, listened to him, understood him.
He only realized he was actually crying when he felt Leo’s fingers wipe away the tears from his eyes. The gentleness in that action causes Claude to cry even more, sniffling as Leo pulls him into a hug.
He just lets all of his emotions go, feeling free to finally, finally be himself. Leo did heal all of the parts of him that he never thought were possible.
‘How did I get so fucking lucky to have you?’
-
Life moved on after that. Leo didn’t talk about Meow Meow as much as he did before now that he’s aware of how jealous and possessive Claude can be. He does bring him up from time to time when Elira sends him pictures and videos. He just has to pay extra attention to his sulking boyfriend.
Claude had never felt so free in his life. He can roam around their shared house without a care in the world if his ears and tail were out. He can get away with just wearing one of Leo’s oversized shirts, despite the fact that he has a wider build than Leo, and some booty shorts. Maybe he was aware of how much that outfit has an effect on Leo.
He felt the glances, felt the burning gaze on his body. He didn’t miss the way Leo would stay by his side whenever he had the chance, hands wrapped around his waist, the touch leaving an imprint on his skin.
And maybe Claude reveled in the attention, soaking it all in like the greedy boyfriend he is.
So it wasn’t surprising that when Leo was busy grabbing himself a glass of water did Claude saunter in, sliding up by Leo’s side to also get some water.
“Hey.” He starts and drinks his water, tail wrapping around Leo’s wrist and he feels almost smug when Leo pauses what he was doing. They both share a glance and Claude just walks away, tail uncurling from Leo’s wrist to caress Leo’s chin before glancing back at his boyfriend with a wink.
And Leo was also just a weak man. He ignored the heat crawling up his face and followed after Claude. The two disappeared into the bedroom and only those two knew what transpired that night. It’s safe to say that Claude was a rather satisfied kitty by the end of it.