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When Thomas was a child, he always dreamed of having a cat. He likes dogs just fine, but he’s always wanted to hold a cat without sneezing and breaking out into hives. Now he’s going to be able to, because today he and James are going to adopt an adorable little sphynx cat from the pet shop at the mall a few miles away from their apartment complex. As he sits in the passenger seat of their old, beat up car, he thinks of what to name it. Maybe something elegant like Alexandria, or something ironic like Fluffy. He’s not sure. Maybe it’ll come to him once he sees it. What he does know is that once they get the kitten they’re buying it little sweaters and mittens, and he’s going to buy some toys and a little laser pointer, and— oh! A scratching post, too, they’ll need one of those. A nice big one, because his cat will settle for nothing less than the best. They’re also going to need a nice, big bed.
He’s pulled out of his thoughts when James starts talking as he drives around looking for a space to park the car. “Look, Thomas, I was thinking it’d probably be best if you not get to close to the store. I’ll video call you, so then you can be the one to pick out the cat, but I don’t want you getting sick in there.”
“That’s fine Jem,” the smile planted on Thomas’ face hasn’t faltered. Maybe it’s stuck. “As long as I can name it.”
James smiles back. “You thought.” He opens the door and leaves the car. Thomas quickly follows him.
“We’ll see, Ma dison.”
“I guess we will, Jeff erson.”
As they walk to the entrance of the mall, Thomas can tell James wants to hold his hand. He’s become psychic when it comes to noticing those things. He wants to too, but he thinks back to Virginia and his family and his old school and— well, he just can’t, so he doesn’t. Actually, it’s not a matter of can’t it’s a matter of won’t . He wants to, but he won’t. It makes him feel like a huge pile of shit, but he doesn’t focus on it. Today is a good day. At least james respects him enough not to grab his hand in public. He’s thankful for that, at least.
As they walk a bit deeper into the mall Thomas asks if James would like a coffee, but James shakes his head no.
They make it to the shop. Just standing in front of it causes a hive to form on his forearm. He picks at it, and James notices.
“Go over there.” He says, nodding his head to the benches places around each other to form a square, with a small palm tree in a pot places in the middle. Not many people are seated there.
Thomas goes and sits on the one farthest from the shop. He watches James walk in, and he takes out his phone waiting for the Facetime call. It doesn’t take long at all, and he answers immediately. He’s greeted by a cage filled with little sphynx kittens meowing at James behind the phone. Thomas smiles a little brighter than before.
“Okay,” James says through the speakers of the phone. “I’m gonna be honest here, dude, I want them all—” Thomas chuckles. “— But choose one.”
“Uh…” Thomas trails, looking at all of them. Each of the kittens have their front paws on the glass, standing on their hind legs. Except for one: a little gray kitten curled up in the far left corner sleeping soundly. That one catches his eye. “I like the one sleeping in the back.”
“That gray one?” James asks. “Alright, then. I’m gonna get its food and bed. Wait there.”
James hangs up, and Thomas leans back in the backrest of the bench. He’s so excited he has to bob his left leg up and down just to release some energy. It takes James about ten minutes to exit the store. Thomas stands and rushes toward him, and takes the cage where the cat is being held.
“I’m naming her.” Thomas says.
“We’ll do a coin toss. James says, taking out a quarter from his pocket before placing down the cushy bed with the bag of food on it. “Heads or tails?”
“Heads.”
James tosses the quarter up in the air and catches it. He grunts. “Go ahead.”
Thomas pumps his fist into the air. “Okay, um…” He’s blanking on names. “I don’t know.” He has to think of something. Just say a name, he thinks.He closes his eyes a blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. “Tequila!”
He and James stare at each other for a while.
“You’re joking.” James’ eyebrows are pretty close to touching his hairline at this point.
“Nope.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Yup.”
“Okay,” James sighs. “Our daughter is gonna get bullied, but okay. Let’s go.” He picks up the bed and food. They walk out and back to the car in relative silence, save for Tequila’s meowing. James opens the back door and places the bed on the seat. He motions for Thomas to put the cage there too.
“I’m gonna hold her up front.” Thomas says. James shrugs and swings the door closed.
The climb into their respective sides of the car.
While James drives Thomas looks at Tequila through the slits in the top of the cage, and notices she has blue eyes.
“Hey Jem, can I take her out?”
“No,” he says. “You’ll scare her more than she already is. Wait til we get home. We’re almost there.”
Four minutes later, they’re in the apartment. Tequila has been taken out of her cage and left on her bed to rest. Thomas sits on the couch watching Maury with James’ head on his shoulder.
“James, if you ever get me pregnant and deny it’s yours, I’m gonna call Maury.” Thomas says.
“We’re both dudes.” James chuckles.
“Oh, yeah.” Thomas smiles down at him.
James kisses Thomas’ cheek, and they go back to watching TV. At some point Thomas gets up to place Tequila on his chest. The three of them fall asleep on the couch together.