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1.
Ethan wasn't a cat person. He had nothing against them, he just preferred dogs. They were more energetic, bigger, and all-around better companies compared to cats. His boyfriend Sean, however, LOVES cats. Always saying he preferred their more laid back, low maintenance demeanour, along with how small and cuddly they were. It was a simple thing they had agreed to disagree on, Ethan had Spencer and the apartments where Sean lived didn't allow pets, so both parties were content with how they were.
Well, that was until Sean moved in with Ethan.
It was Sean's first week officially living in L.A., so naturally, Ethan was dragging him around the city showing him stuff that he probably had seen before, but he was now living next to. This leads them to where they were now, Ethan leaning against a cart full of dog food as he and Sean walked around the PetSmart rambling about animals and such.
"Weirdest pet I had was probably a horse, back when I lived in the log cabin, he was sweet, definitely-"
Sean, stopped talking as soon as they rounded the corner, leaving them face to face with the wall of adoptable cats.
Sean's eyes lit up, a sight that made Ethan smile immediately. His boyfriend was adorable, and him getting super excited about cats did nothing more than elevate that cuteness level in Ethan's eyes. Sean had rushed past Ethan and the cart, leaning down so he could get a better look at one of the cats in the lower cages. They were a classic tuxedo cat who was lying on their side, giving a curious look to Sean who was watching them intently.
Ethan pushed the cart up next to the cages letting his eyes scan over the available cats. A pair of tabbies, a calico, two siamese, and of course the tuxedo cat Sean was smiling at.
"Aw, his name is Piano!"
Ethan glanced down to see his Irish partner was reading the information sheet attached to the cat's cage, while he pet the cat through the small holes in the cat's cage. Piano was purring up a storm as Sean continued to scratch under the cat's chin.
Ethan had to admit the sight was adorable, as the cat continued to headbutt Sean's hand affectionately.
Sean scratched behind the cat's ears as he shyly glanced up at his boyfriend. Ethan simply raised an eyebrow.
"He's six years old! And they've had him since he was a kitten, he needs a home!"
Sean said, trying his best to do puppy eyes. Ethan shook his head.
"Come on babe, if you bought every cat that gave you affection we'd be swimming in them."
"But look at this sweet baby boy!" Sean exclaimed as he continued to run his hand through Piano's soft fur.
"We are not at all prepared for a cat, nor do we know how Spencer would feel about one," Ethan explained.
Sean sighed, pulling himself up from the floor, "ok, maaaybe you have a point," he said chuckling a bit.
Ethan laughed too, "Ya somethings definitely wrong when I'm the one making you not impulsive buy something stupid."
"Oh shut up," Sean said playfully shoving Ethan's side.
2.
It had been about a week since the PetSmart incidence and it was something Ethan had just brushed off. Yes, Sean had made it obvious he still wanted a cat, but he and Ethan would have to talk about it, especially since they had Spencer.
Speaking of which, the dog was currently curled up in between Ethan's side and the back of the couch Ethan was laid across. Spencer was fast asleep as Ethan ran a hand through his fur while scrolling through the hellsite that is Twitter. Just some random news, and weird articles, nothing that piqued his interest much.
While scrolling a soft ding brought his full attention back to his phone. Glancing at the top of his screen he saw Sean had texted him.
'So I may have gotten a little distracted and….'
*image attached*
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Sean had been out for a walk, Ethan wasn't sure how sidetracked you could get while walking (and he should know, he was the king of getting easily distracted). Ethan clicked into his message app and was greeted with an odd image.
It was a selfie of Sean, but resting his arms was a small, Russian Blue cat, with big silver eyes fixed on the camera. Ethan had to admit the cat was awfully cute, but Ethan also knew one thing.
This cat was a kitten.
Ethan might entertain the idea of getting an adult cat, but a kitten was a whole new ballpark Ethan was unfamiliar with.
Ethan's phone rang cutting him out of his thoughts, as he fumbled to pick it.
"Ah, Hi!" Ethan said trying to sound like he totally wasn't unprepared to be called. A familiar laugh came from the other end,
"Sorry about that didn't mean to spook ya!" Sean said, "buuuut I do happen to have a tiny angel in my arms, who needs a home."
"Where did you even find this cat?" Ethan asked as he sat up.
It was a valid question, Sean had just been out walking how did he manage to get his hands on a cat. Ethan could practically hear Sean beaming as he answered the question,
"I was walking past the shelter and they were doing an event where they bring a ton of the pets and let you play with them! And this baby came and plopped himself in my arms!"
Ethan couldn't help but a giggle a bit, "Man I haven't even heard you baby-talk Spencer this much,"
"It's not my fault he's adorable, look at his face!"
Silence fell over the call for a moment, interrupted by the one thing Ethan didn't want to hear.
"....can we keep him?" Ethan bit his lip, he didn't wanna sound like he was completely against the idea, but now? This very second? A kitten was a lot of work, and both of them had busy schedules.
“Sean, you know we can't right now."
Sean let out a sad huff, "ya...was worth a shot though."
3.
Mark, Amy and Evan were all spread out around Mark’s living room, all waiting for a certain ADHD bastard to arrive so they could get filming for one of the last weeks of Unus Annus done. Amy was fiddling with the main camera, double-checking all the settings were right, Mark was laid across the couch scrolling through his phone, all the while Evan was sat with the next Unus Annus ‘guest’ in his lap. That guest being a medium-sized black cat named Domino that Evan had got a month or two back. Mark had suggested they do a video similar to ‘Woofus Arfus’, but Evan would bring Domino instead of Bodhi. The idea was liked by everyone so it was settled that Evan would bring him the next day they were filming.
“I BROUGHT A FRIEND!!!” Came a familiar voice from the front of the house.
Sitting up, Mark watched a bouncy Ethan and Sean walk into the living room.
“I’m slightly offended I’ve been moved down to a friend, but I'll suffer in silence,” Jack said dramatically.
Ethan elbowed him in the side, “shut up I love you.”
Mark looked at Sean semi-curious, “We recording a collab with Jack today?”.
Ethan nodded, “Had an idea I thought would be funnier with Jack here,” Mark simply nodded.
Jack had meanwhile been catching up with Amy and Evan when he felt something soft brush past his leg. “Aww, dudes, whos cat? He’s adorable!”
Evan smiled, “He’s mine, his name's Domino.”
Ethan smirked before looking back over to Mark, “Give it ten minutes and I’ll lose my boyfriend to Evan’s cat.”
Ethan was almost spot on, to say the least, they had recorded the collab with Sean first to get it out of the way, and as soon as Sean went out of frame so they could record the next video, Domino planted himself in Sean’s lap. Ethan would often find his eyes drifting to stare back at his boyfriend and the cat when Mark was going on tangents during filming. Let’s just say the sight was not making it easier for Ethan to keep denying Sean a cat.
They were about half-way through filming when they decided to break for lunch. Ethan walked over to where his boyfriend who was sat on the floor, Domino snuggled contently in his lap. Ethan crouched down next to him, giving Domino a few hed-pats before speaking.
“So you enjoying watching me and Mark potentially kill each other?”
Jack laughed “Ya, definitely better with front row setting”.
Ethan smiled, glancing back to the cat in Sean’s lap.
“This persuading you any more to buy a cat for us?” Ethan glanced back up to the smiley Irishman,
“Potentially”.
“You know we could just take this one off Evan’s hands,” Sean suggested jokingly,
Ethan rolled his eyes, “not your most persuasive suggestion to get a cat”.
Sean smiled and shrugged, “Gotta get creative, you know?”.
4.
Ethan loved watching Jack's content. It might be weird noting Ethan was dating and lived with Jack, but there was something about the passion Jack had during recording and streaming that Ethan could watch hour after hour of. That was one of the reasons Ethan was currently watching Sean's stream, that and he may be putting off recording and in his head, watching his boyfriend's stream felt like a valid enough excuse. So he sat on one of the kitchen countertops, watching his boyfriend's stream contentedly.
Sean was about fifteen minutes in, taking random questions while he waited for the group he was playing among us with to be ready. Ethan tried to pay attention to what Jack was talking about. but he found his eyes wandering to the background.
He remembers when Sean first moved in how nervous he was, he had never had a relationship be this serious before. He remembers setting up all of Sean's recording equipment in the new room. He remembers buying decorations for Sean's office. He remembers rehanging Sean's whiteboard, then telling Jack to "test it" followed by Sean slapping it and it falling off the wall. They were Ethan's favourite memories, and he hoped there was more coming.
He shook his head lightly, directing his attention back to the stream.
"Any new plans for the new house?" Sean read out from chat. Sean thought on the question for a bit before answering, "not anything big, I do need to find a place to put my drumset. It's still in boxes and I've been here for what, fuckin' two months Jesus christ. Besides that, I might,"
Sean leaned in closer to his microphone, whispering into it "don't tell Ethan, I might be trying to find a cat for us to get. "
Ethan paused the stream, knowing he'd have to catch up. They really needed to talk about this cat thing, didn't they?
5.
Ethan laid on his stomach. He was currently curled up in his and Jack's bed, deciding he had earned a nap after a day full of filming. He had just started dozing off when his phone buzzed from its place on the nightstand. Ethan ignored it. He was really tired, he'd check it when he woke up. Less than a minute passes and the phone buzzed again. Probably just an email, he'd be fine checking it later.
Buzz
Ethan flipped to his side, if it was super important they'd call.
Buzz, buzz, buzz
Ya, this was getting annoying. He let out a sigh and sat up. His nap would have to be put on hold. He reached over and picked up his phone.
6 new messages from 'Sean <3'
Ethan clicked into Jack's contact, semi confused, do to the stream of texts he'd just gotten.
'❤❤❤
*link attached*'
'*Picture attached* ❤'
'*Picture attached* ❤'
'*Picture attached* ❤'
'*Picture attached* ❤'
'I saw an ad for this shelter and, got kinda excited'
Ethan ran a hand over his face, smiling like an idiot. He couldn't stay mad at Sean even if he tried, especially when Sean got super excited over stuff, it was too adorable to not smile at. The link Sean had sent him was to a local pet shelter, all of the pictures had been of a classic orange tabby named Mango.
'He does look like a very sweet boy'
Ethan sent the text, before deciding to check the website himself. It was for a smaller shelter, though by the looks they held quite a few animals, mostly dogs, but they had their fair share of cats as well. A notification from his boyfriend interrupted his scrolling.
'Sweet boys do deserve homes…'
Ethan held his phone for a second, thinking carefully about his response
'Sweet boys will sadly have to wait for homes, homes are not ready for sweet boys :'('
' :'( '
Ethan frowned a bit, he knew he had to eventually make this all up to Sean. Clicking back onto the shelter website, Ethan's eyes drifted to the bookmark button.
He might know how to make this up to Sean...soon.
+1 BB
Sean rolled onto his side, the bed feeling strangely cold. He opened his eyes a bit staring at the empty side of the bed. He typically was the first walk up since Ethan always filmed late, so it was strange for Jack to wake up alone.
Jack grabbed his phone before padded down the stairs, making his way to the kitchen hoping Ethan already made a pot of coffee. He paused at the bottom of the staircase, seeing the outline of his boyfriend sat on the couch.
"Ethan?" He called out semi-confused.
Ethan turned around to face Sean, a massive smile on his face.
Before Sean got to ask any questions, Ethan stood up, picking up something in his lap to take with him. Ethan slowly walked to Sean keeping a special something curled close to his chest.
"Eth, what are you holding?" Sean asked voice laced with tiredness and confusion.
All Sean could tell was whatever Ethan was holding was small, brown and fluffy.
Ethan smiled a bit before adjusting his arms to show the small brown cat's face. "Your Christmas present."
Sean's brain stopped working for a second. "But- I...how?"
Ethan giggled, "I picked him out about a week ago so I knew I'd have him in time for Christmas. It also gave me time to take Spencer and make sure he was ok with BB."
"BB?" Sean asked curiously.
Ethan shrugged, "it's what ended up sticking after I played with him."
Sean stared at Ethan fondly, "you wouldn't let me get a cat for 3 months, only to then go out and buy me a cat for Christmas?"
"Hey, I had to make sure we had enough room and that the cat and Spencer got along, plus we didn't have anything for the cat- fuck the cat stuff!" Ethan carefully shoved BB in Jack's arms before grabbing his keys off the dining room table.
"I left all the cat stuff in my car!"
Sean glanced down into BB's big Amber eyes. "Welcome to the family."