One Shot Story Collection

Missing Pets and New Neighbors

A/N: The couple's names in this one shot will be revealed at the very end of the story so everyone is referred as a pronoun.

So, as you read alone, comment down who you think this couple is. DO NOT CHECK THE LAST PAGE! NO TO CHEATING!

I might try -- TRY, being the word here -- to accept requests to those who guessed right on the first try. All you have to do is give me a word, any word and I'll try to make a one shot out of it. \(-ㅂ-)/ ♥ ♥ ♥

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The bed let out a squeak when he let himself fall back onto it's soft and smooth mattress, his feet dangled from the bottom of the bed, arms spread on either side of him as he stares at the cream colored ceiling of the apartment that is his new home, he blinks tiredly.

He'd just finished collecting the last two boxes laying on the hallway outside his door and had placed them near all the other boxes stacked up chest high by the wall near the window. He couldn't remember how many boxes he had packed but looking at the stack, that must be all of it.

Sigh.

Moving is tiring. But at least he has two days to unpack and make the place more homey and comfy before he has to leave for work on Monday.

He'll deal with all the unpacking and tidying up tomorrow. For now, maybe bath, dinner and sleep.

He raised his wrist to see his watch, it says 5:14 PM. The traffic downtown was surprisingly not that bad so he'd arrived earlier than he thought. Maybe he'd take a fifteen minute nap and then take a shower then get dinner.

"Mreow.."

Oh yeah, this building allows pets. He thought, his eyes closed.

"Mreow.."

That's a really loud cat.

"Mreow.."

Or a really thin wall...

He listens to it again. "Mreow.."

WAIT! ... WHAT. THE.

Before he could get up and investigate where the sound was coming from, a flap on the box moved up by itself to reveal the noise. He immediately sat up and crossed the space between the bed and the stack of boxes against the wall and inspected one of the last two boxes he had put there.

It was a little grayish cat that had faint stripes of white and brown running from the head to the tail. It's green eyes blinked back at his surprised face. "Mreow.." It must have slipped inside the box when it was laying on the floor outside the door.

"Oh, hello there.." the tiny thing doesn't look angry or upset so he did not hesitate to take it out of the box and carry it instead. It actually reminded him of the cat in the movie Shrek, only this one looks smaller.

"..are you lost? How did you get in my box? Hmm?" he repeatedly stroke it's little grayish head and scratched behind it's ear. The little thing seems to like it.

"You don't have a tag, so I guess you don't have a name too. Does someone own you?" He mutters after he checked for a tag on the neck and found nothing.

Judging from the features of the little feline, it should be at least seven weeks old but it's smaller than it's supposed to be at this age. It's  fur is soft but it's paws looked like it used to be muddy. The nails looked like they've never been clipped too. Maybe it was a stray cat.

But how does a stray cat get in an apartment building and end up in the tenth floor without anybody noticing?

So much for questions.

He's just new here so he doesn't know anyone yet who can probably be the owner of this unnamed kitty.

He set the cat on the couch, the only thing in the apartment apart from the bed that is livable and comfy for the time being. After one last look, he set a bowl of milk for the cat and went out the door to get something from the grocery store downstairs, keeping in mind that he should also get a few necessary things for his new roommate, just until he finds who cat belongs to.
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"Help me." He says with urgency after the line went answered.

The voice on the other end grunts in response, obviously annoyed to be disturbed too early for a weekend. Then he heard a yawn and and another grunt from stretching out his stiff joints.

Finally, he says, "It's too early for a weekend, this better be important."

"Uh-hmm. My cat is missing."

There's silence.

Until the voice in the other end asks stupidly. "The cat....that you picked up from the street?"

"Yeah. Help me find him." His voice sounded pleading.

His friend sighs deeply. "The one that stinks.."

"I only have one cat and he doesn't stink. Come on, help me find him."

There was another long pause, until his friend sighed dramatically. "You..you woke me up at 6:00 AM on a Saturday to find your cat?"

He laughs. "No. I woke you up on 6:00 AM on a Saturday to help find my cat. There's a difference."

"That's not the point."

"Could've been worse." He shrugs and grins stupidly even though his friend can't see him.

"Right. I'm going back to slee —"

"Hey! No wait! I'll treat you to lunch!"
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It's been two weeks since this little kitty had strayed into one of his boxes. He'd already fixed up the whole apartment and this cat has played in every corner even before he'd tidied up the entire place.

He'd taken the cat on a walk at the park just outside the building, of course he knew that walks are for dogs but a cat is what he had, so..

Aside from the little kids that approached him and asked if they can pet the feline, no one had really approached him to ask if the cat belonged to him which coincidentally looks like the cat they've been missing.

"Can't you give me any clue as to who your owner is?" He mumbles as he stands in the elevator, running a finger to it's head, waiting for the the contraption to send him to his floor.

The cat looks up to him, waiting for another stroke of affection. "Meow."

"Meow!" He mimics.

The cat looked up again, he doesn't look happy. It made him laugh. "Awh..Did I offend you? What did I say?"

The cat twitched it's ears and looked away.

He walks out of the elevator and groped for his keys in his pocket, the cat took this opportunity to climb to his shoulder and balance himself there while the human fishes for his keys.

When the door opens, the cat immediately jumped out of his shoulder and ran inside the room to whatever it is that piqued his curiosity.

Just then, as he picked up the plastic bag on the floor containing his groceries, the door to his right opens.
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"Oh P! I didn't know we we're neighbors.."

The guy looked at him for a moment and then, as if he'd just made a life altering realization, he grinned stupidly.

"P? What's wrong?"

But instead of answering the younger boy, he looked back at the open door and teased,

"Oh Arthiiit!! Come check out who your new neighbor is!"

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