My first time writing for Reedsy prompts. I'm not sure if I kept to the theme perfectly, but I'm quite happy with the result. Went quite a bit over 3k, though, so I had to trim a lot haha I hope you enjoy! Also, I'm posting this on my phone instead of my laptop so I'm sorry if there's any formatting errors!

Prompt: Write a story involving a friendship with an adorable animal.

Word Count: 2,993 (max 3,000)

Contest: Cozy Corner by Reedsy Prompts -> https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/contests/211/

Synopsis: Jen is a human who loves cats. Mizuiro is a cat who doesn't trust humans. Stripes is a raccoon who's getting on in years. When she stumbles upon the stray cat one night at work, she's instantly smitten by how adorable he is. Despite himself, Mizuiro finds himself starting to trust her. When winter arrives and Stripes starts to struggle, will Mizuiro finally put his trust in her?

Genre: Fluff, slice of life

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A lot of people don't like cats. They compare them to dogs and say that they're cold or disobedient, but that's not a fair comparison. Dogs will love anyone that gives them attention and they're desperate to please humans. Cats are independent, giving their trust only to people who earn it. They don't like to be ordered around and they live life at their own pace.

It's hard to gain the approval of a cat, so most people just choose to get a dog because it's less work. To me, there's no greater feeling than knowing that a cat trusts and loves you. You've proven yourself worthy of their love and they reward you like no other animal can.

Maybe it's because they've always been associated with witches, but they've always felt magical to me. No matter what kind of mood I'm in, a cat can always make me smile. They fill me with warmth and love. For that, I'm proud to admit that I always have been and always will be a crazy cat lady.

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I stifled a yawn, shaking my head to try and wake myself up. Today had been a long, boring day. I was ready to get home and crawl into bed, but I still had an hour to go before I could leave.

My eyes scanned the convenience store. There wasn't a single soul inside and no one had stopped by in the past hour. It was always slow this late at night, usually not picking up until around two in the morning. Thankfully, I would be home by then.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice having an easy job where I didn't have to deal with a lot of rude customers, but it could get so boring sometimes. I basically just sat behind the counter, hoping I didn't fall asleep before someone got the munchies. We weren't allowed to use our phones while clocked in, either, so I couldn't even watch videos or play games to pass the time.

I yawned again before slapping my cheeks in an attempt to wake myself up. Shaking my head, I stood up to walk around the store, hoping the exercise would wake me up, but I continued yawning. Actually, I think it got worse once I started.

I needed caffeine.

I approached the soda machine, grabbed the biggest cup we had, and filled it with Coke. Definitely not healthy, but it should help me stay awake, at least. As I headed toward the register to pay for it, I heard a faint sound coming from the back of the store. I paused, straining my ears, but the sound was gone. Had I imagined it? Great, I'm so tired I'm hallucinating!

I had just slipped my money into the register when the sound started again. My brow furrowed as I approaching the door leading into the backroom. The sound was getting louder.

It sounded like something was scratching against the metal which should have been creepy. I didn't feel scared, though. I've always been morbidly curious, almost to the point of stupidity. If this was a horror movie, then I was definitely the dumb character at the beginning who gets killed first.

My fingers wrapped around the doorknob and the sound stopped. I paused, considering for a moment if this was a terrible idea. I knew it was, but I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it if I didn't check it out. Besides, if it's an attempted robbery and I report it to the manager, I might get a raise.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and glanced around. The humid night air hit me in the face, the sound of cicadas and frogs mixing together like some poorly made nature remix. The light next to the door was dim.

No one was there.

With a furrowed brow, I turned to head back inside when I heard it.

Meow.

A smile immediately came to my lips. A cat was sitting at the edge of the light, half hidden by shadow. His fur was as black as the night surrounding him, though there was a circular patch of white fur over his right eye. The tip of his tail was also white, resembling a brush dipped in paint. His eyes seemed to glow, the left one a dark blue, like a sapphire, while the right one was lighter, like ice.

"Hello there," I called softly, squatting down so I was closer to his level. I held my hand out toward him. "Come here, boy, it's okay. I won't hurt you."

He didn't budge, just staring at me.

"Are you hungry?"

Meow.

I was surprised that he answered me, briefly wondering if he actually understood my question. "Don't move, I'll be right back." I straightened up, heading back inside. I grabbed one of the paper containers that people use to put their hotdogs in and a can of tuna.

I made a mental note to pay for the items before rushing back outside. The cat was gone. Should I open the tuna? Maybe he'll hear it and come back. Surely he'll smell it but... if he doesn't come back, the tuna will go bad and smell something terrible.

As I contemplated my next move, I heard another meow from beside me. Glancing to my right, I realized the cat was sitting on top of the dumpster, peering down at me as if frustrated that I was taking so long. He meowed again, tapping his paw against the lid.

Hurry up, human, I'm starving, I imagined him saying.

I chuckled, popping the lid before dropping its contents into the container. I held it out to him, trying to entice him to come closer so I could pet him. "Here, boy."

The cat didn't budge. Instead, his eyes shifted to the door and back to me. He did this a couple of times as if telling me to get lost. I set the container down before grabbing the empty can and heading back inside. I left the door cracked so I could watch him, feeling at peace as I did so.

From that day on, he appeared every night that I worked. I would feed him some tuna which he refused to accept until I returned inside. It was taking a lot of time to earn his trust, but I wasn't surprised. He was an outside cat which meant he knew how cruel humans could be, especially toward strays.

I'd give anything to be able to take him home and give him a safe place to live. Would he get along with the little monsters I had already? Would he be sad, yearning for his life of freedom? I didn't know. I just wanted him to be happy and safe.

I started to call him Mizuiro, the Japanese word for light blue or color of water. It seemed fitting because of his beautiful eyes which reminded me of the ocean. He didn't seem to mind and accepted the name, often looking at me whenever I said it. He was honestly the cutest cat in the world - just don't tell my furballs at home I said that.

I started to look forward to going to work. He made it more bearable and time went much quicker when he was around. I often asked my co-workers to look out for him, but none of them ever saw any signs of a cat. This was strange to me, but I didn't dwell on it for too long.

I started bringing dry food to work with me so I wasn't giving him tuna every day. I could only hope that, with time, he'd come to trust me and allow me to give him a home.

A smile came to my lips as I stepped outside, finding him sitting at the edge of the light, looking at me expectantly. The cat bowl I bought for him was sitting halfway between him and the door.

I pulled a bag from my pocket, pouring the food into the bowl. As usual, I waited a moment to see if he would approach but he stayed where he was, planted firmly against the concrete.

Meow.

It sounded sassy, as if telling me to go away so he could eat.

"Fine," I laughed, turning around and heading inside.

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Mizuiro narrowed his eyes as the human returned inside. He waited a moment before cautiously approaching the bowl and giving it a sniff. It smelled heavenly, though not nearly as good as the tuna she was feeding him before.

He was surprised by her kindness, though he didn't fully trust her. How could he when so many humans have treated him poorly? If he had his way, he'd hate all humans.

'You shouldn't judge humans by the poor actions of most,' his mother had told him. She was a cat that saw the good in everyone, even when there was none. He never understood it, but he wanted to honor her by at least trying to do the same.

This girl was the first human he tried to trust since his mother's passing. She wasn't anything special, really, but he could faintly smell other felines on her clothes, which helped calm him.

Before he first approached her, he spent days watching her through the large windows of the store. He thought he could get a grasp on her character that way. Apparently, judging someone just by watching them at work offered little information.

Plus, he had gone days without a proper meal, eating whatever scraps he could find. She had taken longer than he wanted to finally investigate his scratching at the door and, when she finally appeared, he expected her to shoo him away.

He knew he should be cautious when she offered him food - humans use it quite often as a way to trap strays - but it just smelled so good and he was so hungry.

It took every ounce of self control he had not to immediately pounce. The human took even longer to realize that he wanted her to go away, though she finally obliged.

Mizuiro didn't trust the other humans who worked there. They smelled strongly of chemicals and he hated the smell because it bothered his nose. If it was that strong from outside, he didn't want to think about how bad it would be up close.

When his human wasn't working, he stayed hidden in the bushes. There was a hole that had been dug beneath a large tree behind the store and, though he had an unwanted roommate, it was better than being out in the open. Besides, the raccoon had been there first. He could have easily run off Mizuiro, but he allowed the feline to stay.

It probably helped that the cat often shared his food once the human was gone. The raccoon, whom he had decided to call Stripes due to his striped tail, was quite old, unable to hunt for food. He struggled to climb things, especially if they were high off the ground. He was quite slow, too, waddling like a duck who ate too much.

Despite claiming he needed no one, Mizuiro was grateful for the company. He hadn't realized just how lonely he felt until he had someone at his side. He'd never admit that aloud, though, claiming that the old animal talked too much. Stripes did love to tell tales, though the feline doubted they were true. The tales were far too fantastical.

As the days passed by, growing hotter as Summer progressed, he found himself looking forward to meeting his human. He hated it when she had days off but he wasn't too sure why. Was it because he didn't get fed? No, that didn't seem right.

There was a strange feeling in his chest when he saw her. The best way he could describe it was how he felt when his mom would return home from hunting. She would always nuzzle his face with her nose, asking how he was feeling.

At first, he wanted to use the human for free food but... now, he wasn't so sure. He wanted to spend more time with her, to have her pet his fur. The thought made him both nervous and excited at the same time. He couldn't bring himself to get closer, though, choosing to keep his distance despite his desires.

He was just afraid, a scared little cat alone in a big bad world.

When winter rolled around, he was surprised by just how cold it was. It rarely dipped below 60° Fahrenheit in Florida, but this year was proving to break the mold. Some nights reached almost 40° which wasn't fun to survive in as a small animal.

More than anything, he worried about Stripes. He was old and brittle, could he survive a winter that he wasn't used to?

Mizuiro paused at the entrance to the hole, looking over his shoulder. Stripes was curled up in a ball on the blanket that the human had given him, his fluffy body shivering. He thought about how he felt when he lost his mom and he didn't want to experience that again.

With determination now filling him, he ran through the forest toward the store. His human was just stepping out the door when he broke through the fence.

She was humming softly as she poured food into the bowl. She hadn't yet noticed him. Mizuiro meowed loudly as he approached her, his heart hammering in his chest.

She smiled when she saw him, patting the edge of the bowl. "Food's here, buddy." And then she stood, turning to head back inside.

He started to panic, darting toward her and meowing loudly. This confused her and she stopped suddenly, causing him to run into her ankle before falling backward. If she hadn't been so alarmed, she would have laughed at how comical it looked.

Her brow furrowed. "Are you okay?"

Mizuiro jumped up, shaking his head to regain his senses before swatting at her leg, careful not to use his claws. He worried that, if he accidentally scratched her, she might turn aggressive.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She squatted down, expecting him to back away, but he didn't.

He bit down on her pants and tugged as hard as he could, trying to pull her toward the fence. She didn't budge an inch, but she seemed to understand him.

"I'll follow you," she said softly, standing to her full height.

He nodded his approval before darting toward the hole in the fence. It was too small for her, so she had to climb it, using a large wooden box to help her over. Overgrown vines and branches tugged at her clothes as she walked through the forest. She kept losing sight of him due to the overgrowth and how dark his fur was, but he kept returning, making sure she was still following.

He stopped in front of the tree, waiting for her to catch up.

"Where are we?" She wondered, her breath coming in a cloud of thin smoke.

Mizuiro smacked his paw against the ground a few times, staring her in the eyes.

She tilted her head, scratching her cheek in confusion. When she took a step forward, he quickly shook his head no. "You want me to... stay?" She guessed and he nodded. "Okay."

Feeling satisfied, he darted into the hole to gather the old raccoon.

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I squatted down, looking at the hole curiously. It was too dark to see inside so I could only wait for Mizu to return, which he did a moment later. He wasn't alone, though.

Slowly waddling behind him was a large raccoon. His fur was thin, looking faded and gray. He wasn't moving very fast, either, so I assumed he must be an older raccoon, though I'm no expert.

A frown tugged at my lips when I noticed he was shivering. "You poor thing, you must be freezing," I spoke softly so as not to scare him, holding out my hand. He sniffed it cautiously, ice-cold nose bringing goosebumps to my skin. "I'm going to pick you up, okay? Don't freak out."

The two animals exchanged a look and he didn't back away when I reached for him. Instead, he curled against my chest, seeking out the warmth I offered. I held back the urge to aw as I turned, heading back toward the store. I glanced over my shoulder, but Mizu wasn't following.

"Come on, Mizuiro," I called out, motioning for him to follow. He seemed surprised, slowly making his way through the undergrowth. I made a beeline to my car, holding the door open for the cat before sliding into the driver's seat.

The car stuttered to life and I quickly flipped on the heater, running it on its lowest setting since that was the max I could handle. The car warmed up quickly, the raccoon slowly crawling away from me so he could explore. He ended up finding the bag of chips on my floorboard, his tiny hands flipping it around as he tried to open it.

I chuckled, gently taking it from him so I could tug it open. I don't think that's the healthiest treat, but he's probably had worse. Mizuiro, sitting in the backseat, put his front paws on the armrest between the seats, his blue eyes staring into my own.

I'm not sure how, but I swear I heard the words, thank you.

I smiled warmly at him, reaching forward to pet him gently between the ears. He allowed this, pushing against my hand.

A chip was shoved in my face and I glanced over at the passenger seat, seeing the raccoon holding it with both little hands, giving me the cutest look ever.

"Aw, thank you!" I took the chip, patting him gently on the top of the head.

Well, I think my family just extended by two.