Prompt 7: Pets

Warnings: no

Human au

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Getting home from work Virgil immediately took a shower and then changed into a pair of black sweatpants and his favorite hoodie. He was not going anywhere else today, no, he was going to order takeout and then lie on his couch and not have to move.

Except… Virgil paused halfway to the couch, staring without moving for possibly an entire minute. There was a cat on his couch. A black cat with a white spot on its face and its back, curled up on a blanket on his couch.

Virgil did not own a cat.

He hadn't even seen this cat before, where could it have come from? Sure, he had a window cranked open, and while that felt like a reach there was no other possible explanation. 

The cat was meeting his eyes, staring unblinkingly and Virgil remembered that he shouldn't meet a cat's eyes for too long, something about that being a threat. He blinked slowly, the way he had read about people on tumblr doing.

The cat blinked back, and Virgil grinned. He might not know whose cat this was and what the hell it was doing in his apartment, but he did love cats. He approached slowly and sat down on the couch. 

The cat didn't seem scared at all, it just kept staring at him, and when Virgil reached out a hand to let the cat sniff on it, it then bumped its head against him.

"Aw, you're adorable." Virgil said, scratching the cat's chin. 

"You're just an adorable cuddly baby, aren't you?" He cooed, continuing to babytalk the cat which purred and rolled over to expose its soft belly. 

Virgil ended up sprawled out on the couch with the cat contentedly lying on his chest, purring as Virgil absentmindedly petted it as Modern Family was playing on the tv. Until the doorbell rang, signaling that the food he had ordered an hour ago was finally there.

"Sorry, kitty." He said as he slowly sat up, the cat making an affronted purr sounding noise. It followed him to the hallway as Virgil opened the door and got his food. Before he could react the cat had escaped through the front door and hopped up the stairs to the second floor.

Well, it had been nice as long as it had lasted.

--

"You're here again? You better start paying rent soon." Virgil tutted, picking the cat up from where she had just appeared by his ankles. It had been two weeks now and the cat found her way into the apartment every day. Maybe it was through the window, maybe she followed him when he got home from work. 

Virgil didn't mind. This was really the friendliest cat he had ever met, always up for cuddles and never shying away when Virgil reached for her or picked her up. She also had a habit of jumping up on his shoulders, and then just laying down around his neck, like some kind of scarf! 

It was adorable and Virgil had sent about a billion photos to his best friend, Patton, who was thrilled about the whole cat-breaking-into-his-apartment situation. 

He snapped a picture of himself holding the cat, sending it to his friend who instantly responded with at least twenty emojis. The cat squirmed out of his hold and entered scarf mode instead, a purring weight on his shoulders. Virgil sent Patton another picture.

"You just keep coming here, I'm gonna have to start buying you food, you little scoundrel, you absolute baby." He said, continuing to spew nonsense as he made himself dinner, keeping a constant one sided conversation with the cat.

It was really quite nice, having someone to talk to. Even if that someone was a cat. Virgil hadn't realized until now how lonely it had felt to live completely alone. It just wasn't the same to only talk to himself whenever he was home. (Maybe, just maybe, he should invite his friend over more.)

He ate his dinner in front of the tv, having given a jar of tuna to the cat, who he had recently begun calling Shadow since he didn't know her name and it felt wrong to only call her 'cat'. The name was maybe not very imaginative, but it felt right.

By now he kept his window completely open whenever the cat had somehow made her way into his apartment, just in case she wanted to leave again. But this evening she stayed, even curling up at the foot of his bed when he went to sleep. And when he woke up and had to get to work she was still there, for whatever reason. 

Had she decided to move in permanently after he mentioned food?

He didn't dare to leave the window open while he was at work, because despite forgetting it open sometimes he did worry about someone breaking into his apartment and stealing all his stuff, but shutting her inside was not an option as she might get hungry, and also because Virgil did not have a litter box. 

He ended up carrying her outside and letting her down in the hallways after having locked his door, then going to work. 

He didn't know what she had been doing all day, but once he got back home she was sitting outside and waiting. He sighed and let her inside, smiling slightly. It actually felt really nice to have someone, even if it was a cat, waiting for him when he got home. 

She didn't seem that interested in leaving him that evening either, even if Virgil felt like she probably should. He hoped she had been home during the day, because if she was his cat and she hadn't been home all day then he would probably be worried.

They both made comfortable on the couch, Shadow laying on his shoulders and purring loudly as he watched youtube for a while, destressing from his day of work. Though he tensed up considerably as the doorbell rang.

He opened the door, begging that there wouldn't be a murderer on the other side, but there wasn't, it was one of his neighbors, a man who had just moved in a few weeks ago. (To be fair, he could be a murderer, Virgil didn't know.)

Normally Virgil didn't pay much attention to his neighbours, but this neighbour was his age and he was cute. Tall, always dressed rather seriously, tie and button-ups. He wore glasses, he had brown hair that was always much neater than Virgil could ever make his own, and the few times Virgil had seen him he had noticed the pride pin on his bag.

Virgil really didn't know anything about him, but he was handsome and Virgil was maybe really gay and he would like to get to know him more.

Though why his neighbour would be at his door now Virgil couldn't guess.

"Hey?" Virgil said, the stranger at the door staring at Shadow on his shoulders for several seconds before looking at Virgil.

"Hello, my name is Logan, I moved in upstairs recently, and I'm actually here looking for my cat who disappeared yesterday, but I appear to have found her." He said, Virgil now feeling approximately one hundred percent more nervous than he had a second ago.

"Oh. Um, this is your cat?" Virgil said, absolutely mortified because he had just really opened the door only to come face to face with his cute neighbour, who must think he is so weird and creepy now. Oh god, talk about a great first impression, Virgil was doomed.

"Yes. She usually comes home every evening but yesterday she did not, and now I assume this is where she has been disappearing to." The man said and Virgil was sure that he had never blushed more in his life.

"I'm not kidnapping your cat, I promise. She just keeps getting into my apartment and I don't know how to keep her out but, um, don't worry, I don't mind, she's really cuddly and the company is nice." He rambled, forcing himself to shut his mouth before he told the stranger everything on his mind.

"It's quite alright, I would not put it past her to do such a thing, Athena is quite mischievous." He said as Virgil awkwardly lifted Sha- Athena from his shoulders. She immediately squirmed out of his hold and hopped back into his apartment.

"Hey- Come back here." He said, apologizing to his neighbour, Logan, before running after the cat into his apartment. Of course she had somehow made her way up on top of the fridge and Virgil cursed quietly as he reached for her, just slightly too short to get to her.

Dejectedly he made his way back to the doorway where Logan was still waiting.

"Sorry, she's on top of the fridge and I can't reach her. Maybe you could..?" He asked, scratching his neck and gesturing into his apartment.

"Of course." He said, and followed Virgil inside. Logan easily got her down and she slowly blinked at him before curling up over Logan's shoulders.

"Alright, well, thank you for my cat." Logan said and Virgil shrugged a little, walking him back to the door. Logan brought out a pen and a bit of paper from his pocket, writing something down which he then gave to Virgil.

"Here, in case you need me to come get Athena again… or for other reasons." He said, flashing Virgil a surprisingly sweet smile that made Virgil's heart skip a beat before turning around and walking back towards his own apartment.

Virgil stared after him, then down at the bit of paper, which definitely was a phone number.

--

Written: 20th, 21st, 22nd & 23rd May 2021
Published: 31st June
Words: 1615

Hmmm wanna graduate so I can just olay sims and minecraft all day