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"Augustus, this is a horrible idea," Matt proclaimed. The alleged Augustus just grinned from ear-to-ear, nudging Matt with his elbow while the other boy lightly slapped him away.
The white siberian cat in front of the two boys just whipped her paw at them expectantly. Though, neither could tell what she wanted. "My parents will kill me if they see this thing here!"
"'This thing'? Matty, this is a precious little furball! Besides, your parents are never home," Gus responded. It was true, to see Matt with company at his house was rare, whether it be family, friend, or foe. Infact, this Gus's second time ever being in the house, let alone inside Matt's room.
"You seriously woke me up at 5 in the fucking morning for this," Matt complained, "Why can't you just bring her to your house?"
"My dad is allergic to cats! Besides, we can be her parents! Look how cute our little baby is!" Matt went red at the words, rolling his eyes. He can't deny the slight smile brought across his face when he witnessed Gus beaming at the thought of newfound parenthood. What Matt didn't get was why he wanted to do this with him. They still weren't friends, right?
He simply waved off the thoughts and scoffed, standing up and wavering over Gus, who was hunched over the little cat. "Well, first order of business, as the responsible parent of this shitshow-"
"Stop swearing! She's innocent.." Gus interrupted. Matt just squinted his eyes down towards the boy's direction and continued, "Ahem. This thing needs food."
"Use her proper pronouns, you fiend! Besides, don't you have some food here?"
"Augustus, you idiot, she is a cat. She can't eat.. people food," Matt evaded the question. No, of course he didn't have food in his house, no one was here to eat it but him- and he struggled with that enough as it was.
"Sure she can! Whatchya got in stock?" Gus stood up carefully, lifting his hand off the cat to approach the door, whereas Matt immediately brought his body to prevent Gus from leaving.
"..Ooookay! I got the memo, no exploring Sir. Mattholomule's kingdom," Gus teased, "But still, we can't let her go hungry! Our poor baby.. but we can't leave her alone to both get cat food, either!"
"I promise you, 'Our poor baby!' won't start jumping out windows if she's left alone for a few seconds, unless you've been having affairs and she got some of that girl Luz's genes in her," Matt mocked. Gus let out a big toothy smile, eyes shining, all because of him hearing Matt go along with the little parent skit he had crafted up in his head, it was cute, Matt had to admit.
Enough of that, Matt. Augustus is a little twerp- the furthest thing from cute, if anything!
"Alright, since you so humbly agreed, let's go get her some tasty cat food," Gus jumped to the opportunity. Matt was aware that he did not, infact, agree to anything, but let little physical struggle out of his body when Gus insisted him on dragging them out the direct way he had come in (nowhere else in the house, as to not make his Matty uncomfortable).
Though, that doesn't mean he wasn't going to complain the entire time.
Even if he enjoyed linking his fingers with Gus on the way to the store- don't expect him to admit it.
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"What brand do you think she'll like?" Gus pondered. "Hmm.. I don't know! Such a variety! Meat flavored cat food, meat flavored cat food, meat flavored cat food.. Woah! look at this," Matt suggested, "A cat food that's meat flavored!"
Gus let out his built up hopes through a sigh, while Matt snickered happily at his dumb little tricks. "You're a jerk, you know that," Gus shoved Matt playfully. "I try," he responded. Matt turned his head towards Gus and saw the other staring right back at him.
There was a moment, a flicker of frozen time, where they just gazed at eachother- with no goal in particular. One would think Matt would cower first, but Gus did the honors himself, snapping his head away and covering his face with his hands.
Matt still had a reaction, just shoving his hands in his pants pockets and shifting around on his heels awkwardly. Gus had just grabbed a few cans of randomly branded wet cat food and walked off towards the cash register, Matt followed wordlessly.
Watching the town environment they had passed on the way to the store, Matt's hand felt a little more empty without Gus's hand to accompany it on their journey back.
---
"Honey, I'm home!" Gus's voice echoed into the empty house. "Who the hell are you talking to," Matt flatly asked. "My lovely wife and kids- er.. kid!"
"I thought I was your wi- nevermind," Matt turned his head away. "Aww Matty, you wanna be my wife?!"
"Absolutely not! I mispoke! You tricked me, twerp!" Gus started to climb over Matt rambunctiously, giggling as the other boy's hands attempted swat him away. Of course, he wasn't trying hard enough, and Gus managed to wrap his arms around Matt's shoulders and wrap his legs around his waist.
The sudden weight surprised Matt and knocked the two boys onto the ground in a heap, giggling along with eachother. As the laughter died down, they heard a weak call of a cat.
"Oh! I can't believe we forgot about her," Gus shook his head in disappointment towards himself, and presumably Matt as well. "Well, as the better parent, I didn't forget her. Bet'chya can't say the same for yourself, hm?"
Gus just grumbled quietly in response, "Shut up, you were probably gonna be an absent parent if I didn't make you help me take care of her." Matt stilled completely at the words.
Gus realized the gravity of what he said when he saw Matt's frozen stature, eyes widening and mouth opening to spout out apologies. Gus felt instant guilt over what he said, he knew Matt's parents weren't always around, and Matt hated the thought of becoming anything like them in the future.
Before Gus could bring in his 'sorry's, Matt just shrugged off his stillness and sat down at the edge of the bed frame, where the small white cat instantly took his lap as a seat.
Completely forgetting what had just occurred, Gus cooed at the cat, quietly squealing as the feline rolled itself into Matt with a trill in her meow.
Matt had quickly forgotten as well, eyes beaming at the little kitty in his lap. He absolutely had to pet her. Of course, Gus had climbed his way right next to the other boy, with cat food in hand, bringing it up to her mouth and letting her lick the can clean.
Matt could feel Gus's breath on his neck, tingling its way around to his jawline. The air felt like gas slowly lighting up a fire in his skin, he felt the need to hold his breath with Gus so close to him.
Before he knew it, the presence backed away from him, and he let out a loud exhale. He hoped Gus didn't think about it too much.
Suddenly, Matt's legs were lifted from the ground, cat still resting on top of him. Gus was carrying him...
...
Gus was carrying him!?
Matt was quickly set down softly on the bed, where the cat rolled up into his side, purring quietly. The bed dipped on the other side, where Gus lay himself, huddling into the cat, who was now inbetween the two boys.
Where Matt's hand was resting on the cat's fur, Gus set his own right alongside it, rubbing his thumb around the cat's back.
A long moment of silence hit, where Matt began to feel drowsy, slowly letting his eyes shut.
Of course, Gus took it upon himself to break it, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, I didn't think before I spoke."
"Yeah, well, you usually do that anyway," Matt responded. Through squinted eyes, he saw Gus's expression fall a bit further, so he quickly added, "It's okay, you know. You didn't mean any harm. I've definitely said worse."
Gus just lightly chucked and let a smile rest on his fact, cuddling closer towards both Matt and the cat. He moved his other hand, the one not resting on the cat's back, up to Matt's cheek.
"I'd never mean any harm to you, ever." Gus leaned in to place a kiss on Matt's nose bridge, right between his eyes, "I don't think I'd want to raise my kid with anyone else."
With small smiles and sleepy exchanges of comments, the two (plus the cat) had gotten the most sleep they could've in months. Together
---
And, well, if Matty takes a marker and draws on Gus's face while he's dead asleep, no one has to know but them. And the cat, of course.