Adore // Oneshots

Spooky Jim (Joshler)

CATEGORY: Fluff
FEATURING: Married!Joshler
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Absolutely none :3
PROMPT: Josh brings home a stray cat one day on the way home from work, much to Tyler's dismay.
WORD COUNT: Approximately 2,380

"Ty, I'm home!" a voice called as the front door slammed. Tyler was always happy to hear that slam--even if his husband always made a ruckus when he got back from work, it was still pleasing to his ears, because it meant Josh was home.

Today, in particular, it was a welcome sound, because Josh was almost fifteen minutes late coming home. Tyler had started to grow worried, and he was relieved now that his husband was finally back.

"Coming!" Tyler typed up the last sentence on his laptop. He worked from home, writing for an online magazine. He saved the document and went into the kitchen to give his husband a welcome home kiss, as per usual.

However, Josh was not alone. Tyler was surprised to see that Josh had a large, scruffy cat in his arms.

It was almost a funny sight--Josh still in his work uniform, a button-up shirt and tie with dress pants, and the cat in his arms. Josh was clean and orderly, while the cat was dirty and messy. It had striped brown fur with a white belly, and greenish-yellow eyes. It was large, but skinny, and it hissed when it saw Tyler.

"What...on Earth...is that?"

Josh rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "It's a cat."

"I meant, why is it here?" Tyler crossed his arms. The cat seemed just as annoyed with Tyler as Tyler was with the cat.

"It's not an it, it's a he. I was walking home from work and I saw him outside of the Taco Bell, eating a burrito off of the ground. It was meant to be, Tyler! He loves Taco Bell just as much as we do!"

"So, you just went over and picked him up?"

"I bought a burrito and lured him over," Josh admitted. "I couldn't help it! He just looked so skinny and hungry. So I fed him, and he let me pet him and pick him up. I couldn't leave him out there by himself, with nobody to look after him, so I brought him home."

Tyler sighed. "You know we can't keep it, Josh. If it let you touch it, it probably belongs to someone else."

Josh held the cat close to his chest. "I guess we should look for his owner, then."

And so, Tyler spent his evening searching the internet and newspaper for 'lost cat' posters. He found lots of them, but not one of them looked like that cat Josh had found. After almost three hours of searching, Tyler finally sighed and closed his laptop. Picking up his phone, he called every veterinarian's office in Columbus, but none of them could report a missing cat matching the description of the stray.

After finally finishing his call with the last vet's office, Tyler put his phone back in his pocket. Clearly, if the cat had an owner, they weren't looking for it.

He headed out of the office and into the living room. Josh was sitting on the floor with the cat in his lap. Tyler had heard him bathing the cat in the kitchen about an hour ago; the upset meows and hisses were impossible not to hear. Now, the cat looked much cleaner, and Josh must have brushed its fur, because it looked smooth and soft.

The cat was batting at a piece of string that Josh was holding up in the air. Though the sight of the cat annoyed Tyler, the broad smile on Josh's face made his heart soften. He loved his husband, even though he wasn't as big of a cat person as he was.

Josh looked up at Tyler. "Did you find anything?"

Sitting on the floor next to Josh, but at a safe distance from the cat, Tyler shook his head. "I looked online and in the newspaper, and I called every veterinarian in Columbus. Nobody's reporting a missing cat that looks like this one."