Sean met Mal at the animal hospital after both their shifts were over the day after their discussion, as he had promised. Mal led his boyfriend to the shelter areas in back, talking excitedly all the while, hands flying as he went on. Sean did his best to hide his apprehension from his talkative boyfriend, not that it was hard to do. Mal seemed to gloss over other people’s reactions when he was this excited, which meant that it was easy for Sean to hide things from him. Like all his reservations about this adoption, for example.
Mal opened the door to the cat room and rushed in, the door almost slamming into Sean’s face as he entered a full step behind. The room was small, since the building was less shelter and more hospital, but there were still quite a few animals. About twenty cats in all sat or slept in cages that lined one side of the room, the other filled with food, toys, and cat trees. The place smelled strongly of the animals, making Sean wrinkle his nose as he leaned against the wall near the door.
Sean stayed near the door, leaning against the wall silently and watched Mal jump back and forth from occupied cage to occupied cage. The excitement on Mal’s face increased with every cat he saw. Sean just stood as still as he could in attempt to hide all signs of anxiety. That didn’t last long though, as Mal soon realized that Sean hadn’t moved and pulled him from his spot by the door to a cage clear across the room.
“Look at this one Sean, she’s sooo sweet!” Mal exclaimed as he wiggled his finger at the ginger and white cat inside the cage. Sean just turned away and looked at the other cages, just glancing, not really looking. Mal ignored him and continued to try to play with the cat in the cage that he was facing.
?Sean took a few slow steps, glancing from cat to cat, trying to stay uninterested. Maybe Mal would notice and re-think this adoption thing if he didn’t show interest in any of the cats? Maybe then Sean could talk him out of this madness? Unfortunately Sean glanced down at the cage near his feet, and all hopes of staying uninterested flew out the metaphorical window. 
The cat, more of a kitten really, was smaller than the other three in the cage. Siblings probably, since all four of them had the same short black fur and short stature. Yet, the other cats seemed to want nothing with the one that caught Sean’s eye, as the other three were in one back corner while this one was front and center, curled against the bars. Mismatched eyes, one grass green, the other a hazy gold, stared up at Sean, pleading this human for a pet, a snack, a friend. A home. It was a look Sean had seen before, so often that he looked at Mal on instinct to see if the angel was giving him the same eyes. He wasn’t, but that didn’t stop Sean’s heart from catching. He knew then he was doomed.
From that moment it was only a matter of calling Mal over to see the little runt (Mal confirmed that that was indeed what the kitten was, which was why the other siblings didn’t want it around), saying the words “I like him, I guess”, then filling out the correct paperwork and the kitten was theirs. They picked up the needed supplies and a few toys on their way back to the apartment and then introduced the cat to its new home soon after.
For a week, everything went surprisingly well. The kitten had already been litter box trained, much to Sean’s surprise, and seemed to get acclimated to his new home fairly well. The only real problem was figuring out what to name it. Sean couldn’t come up with anything, since he still didn’t really want the cat, but still continued to shoot down every over-complicated name Mal tried to give the little critter. The cat, of all creatures, also seemed to reject every name conjured by both guys, which only added to the frustration of trying to name him.
Then, the tragedy Sean was waiting for struck. Apparently one of the neighbors decided to tell Mrs. Abbey that they thought that they had seen Mal and Sean bringing an animal home some time ago. From the first knock on the door, Sean knew that their fate was sealed.
“Hide the cat!” Sean hissed at Mal before opening the door with a forced but cheerful, “Mrs. Abbey, what a pleasure. What can we do for you today?”
The woman stomped into the apartment, an unpleasant sneer on her face before stopping just in front of their kitchen doorway. “Someone told me that you brought an animal in here Mr. Moralez. I let you have your cheery lover boy in here, but an animal would be inexcusable. If you-” But Sean stopped paying attention to the frightening woman as he realized one terrifying fact: Their cat was currently perched on their kitchen cabinet, staring at Mrs. Abbey with the intense hunter gaze that cats inherited from their distant ancestors, in plain view, for anyone and everyone to see. If the landlady turned just a little bit, it was over for all of them.
Mal appeared in the corner of Sean’s view, a semi-panicked expression on his usually peaceful face. He had realized the placement of their cat as well, and seemed to be struggling to keep it together in the face of the disaster he had begged for. Sean, on the other hand, managed to keep a fairly straight face. He had years of experience in these types of situations, and he wasn’t going to waste it all now.
“Well, obviously someone was lying.” Sean stated, his voice cool and level. There was no way in hell he was giving her any hints, not after all he had gone through to keep this apartment.
“You know that there are some people in this building that don’t care for Mal and I, Mrs. Abbey. They probably made up this absurd rumor as a half-hearted attempt to get rid of us.” Sean kept careful eye contact with the landlady steady, doing everything he could to appear truthful. Mrs. Abbey pursed her lips and leaned forward a little, narrowing her eyes at Sean. Sean didn’t think that she had seen Mal’s expression yet, and hoped that it would remain that way. If she saw the look on the other’s face then it would be clear to her that Sean was lying.
“Perhaps, but you did come to me asking about pets a while back, Mr. Moralez.” She stated proudly, as if that alone was enough evidence to kick them both out. Sean tilted his head a bit, his features morphing into a more scolding expression.
?“Yes, I was, but we have since gotten over the possibility of owning another animal. Perhaps someone overheard our conversation and got the idea to spread this dreadful rumor from that.” He paused, watching as the landlady crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back, her expression turning neutral. “Feel free to search the apartment, but I can assure you that you won’t find any cat here.”
There, he had said it. He had made his bet, gambled with their safety. He and Mal had hidden the litter and cat supplies fairly well, but he was sure that if she searched their apartment she would find something, something they had forgotten, something that they hadn’t hidden as well as they could have….
“No need for that.” Sean let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. “I suppose that I can believe you; for now, at least.” Mrs. Abbey didn’t seem content, but she didn’t seem like she was scheming either, and that was enough for Sean. He saw their landlady out and locked the door as fast as he could, before dashing back to see that their cat hadn’t moved from his spot. Sean let out another breath, and the cat finally unfroze, scampering off his perch and twining around Sean’s legs, meowing happily all the while. Sean looked down at the cat, relief swelling in his chest as he picked the furry creature up.
“That was too close. You’re quite the little ninja, aren’t you?” In that moment, Sean had the answer. Liiiiight buuullllb! Sean looked over to the living room, where Mal had collapsed into their couch and was now looking at Sean and the cat. “Mal! I know what we should name him! Ninja!” Mal only gave a quiet nod and a grin, before leaning his head back against the back of the couch. Apparently the encounter with the landlady had taken more out of him than Mal had considered. Perhaps next time he would think twice before putting them in that amount of danger again.
Sean looked back at the cat, who was staring at him with mismatched eyes. “What do you think, Ninja ok with you?” The cat rubbed his head against Sean’s chest and Sean took as it a yes.
And suddenly, Sean no longer had apprehension about having a cat. Sure, it was still against the rules, and they could still be caught and kicked out. But, they had survived the danger once already, so who was to say that they wouldn’t survive it again? Perhaps having Ninja around could be a good thing.
‘Like Mal’ A tiny voice said in his head. He had never asked for an angel to appear to him, never asked to take him in, never asked to fall in love with him. Yet, he had. He had, and it had made his life infinitely better, no matter what risks they both faced now because of it. Same thing with the cat. He never really asked for Ninja, he just kind of got stuck with him. But perhaps their life would be better with him.
Maybe the most unexpected gifts were the best ones? Sean would never know for sure, but he did know that one hadn’t really hurt him. On the contrary, it had saved him. What was another unexpected thing in his life?
The answer to that was simple: a better life.