Gilbert was a lonely man.
He had friends, sure, but he lacked something more. He lacked a special person deep in his heart, to love and to hold, to cherish-
Fuck that shit, Love is for pussies.
Gilbert Beilschmidt liked being alone. It was fun, and much more awesome than being in a relationship! Especially marriage. There was no chance in Hell that he'd get married.
Gilbert took long steps, walking home from his crappy job of 9-5, 6 days a week, at some froofy French restaurant owned by his friend. Home, his dingy, one bedroom apartment that was way too overpriced for the rat problems. Joy.
The albino grimaced at his Hell of a life, shoving his hands in his pockets. He blinked as something hit his nose, then his cheek.
Fuck, it was raining.
He pulled the hood of his red jacket up, trying to hurry home as quickly as his long legs would take him. The rain started to come down heavier, making it nearly impossible for the albino's red eyes to see more than even a few feet in front of him.
"..meow..."
What the shit? Gilbert looked up, which was mildly pointless by the thickness of the rainfall. At the sound's repeat, he stopped. Why the Hell he was stopping for some probably rabies infested animal, he had no clue.
"..maa...ow..."
With a look of genuine concern, the young man wandered into an alleyway of New York City at damn near midnight, for some animal that was probably dying of various diseases. What he found in that alley was not what he suspected.
Battered and beaten, was a small dark cat, its fur seemingly black. Drenched to the bone, the kitten didn't appear to be moving at all, and this worried Gilbert greatly.
As much as Gilbert hated cats, he actually felt bad for the thing.
There was no way he could take it home, and he doubted that animals were allowed in his lease. The albino looked into the striking violet eyes of the cat and knew he had to. It's not like they ever inspected his apartment for animals, and cats don't make that much noise, right? Riiiight?
So with that thought, he picked up the animal, surprised to find that the animal was actually moving, and extremely light. Not moving exactly, but shaking, a lot like a certain teenager he knew. The cat, who was in such a state of terror, did not fight him, thankfully. Tucking the dark furred cat under his arm, he began running home again.
Once he had arrived home, out of the rain, and given the cat a nice bath, he was surprised to find it wasn't black, but a deep chestnut brown furred cat. The cat was a boy, also.
Gilbert idly pet the animal, staring at its violet eyes some more, thinking.
"...What should I call you?" he mumbled to the cat, "Gilkitten?"
The brown mess of fur hissed at him, seemingly displeased by this idea. Gilbert flinched, eyes widening slightly. He scowled.
"Okay, okay! Maybe not that..." Gilbert sighed, "Fritz? Berlitz?"
Each name he listed off, the cat seemed displeased, choosing to ignore Gilbert in favor of licking his fur shiny and neatly in place, priming himself.
"What a sissy animal..." the man murmured, staring at the cat in slight disbelief, "You need a pansy name, like..."
He stared at the cat, thinking seriously for a few minutes before he shot up. Snapping his fingers, he grinned.
"I got it!" he nodded; sure this name wouldn't failed, "Roderich! That's a real aristocratic name, or some shit..."
The cat did not seem upset at this, almost happy. Maybe he liked the name after all? Gilbert laughed happily.
"Good! You like it..." he mumbled, petting the cat. Gilbert smiled lightly; maybe this wouldn't be too hard...
In the next few days, when Gilbert was idly petting Roderich some more, he noticed something odd. One piece of the cat's fur on his head stood up, curling back slightly. No matter what he did to flatten the curl, it wouldn't stay down, and Roderich did not seem to be pleased anytime he chose to mess with the curl in the first place.
"What the fuck is with this thing..." he said one day, when he was playing with the lock of fur. The cat beneath his hand shook lightly, making at odd noise, before it swat at his hand. Gilbert jumped in surprise, grabbing his hand with his other, looking at the scratches, which were bleeding lightly.
"Fucking stupid cat!" he growled, kicking the thing before stalking off into the bathroom to put peroxide on the cuts. The albino grumbled under his breath as he pulled the bottle of antiseptic out of the medicine cabinet, holding his hand over the sink and pouring the clear liquid onto it. Biting his tongue at the light sting, he looking up into the mirror, staring at himself. "Why the fuck did I bring that thing home? Oh yeah, because I felt bad for it."
He kicked the cabinet under the sink in a random burst of anger, jumping slightly at a loud scurrying noise. "Eh..?"
Gilbert looked to see the backside of Roderich, scamping away down the hall in alarm at the man's sudden outburst.
"Oops..." he murmured, feeling a pang of guilt that he had scared the cat. Gilbert sighed, putting a large Band-Aid over the cuts and putting the brown bottle away. He stepped out of the bathroom, looking to where Roderich ran and sighed. Well shit.
"Err... Roddy?" the albino called into the room, looking around his bedroom as he took a few tentative steps inside. Gilbert quickly spotted the cat, which was hiding in a mess of covers, quivering in fear. He walked over to the lump, pulling the sheets off of him, and picked up the cat.
"I'm..." he flushed slightly, looking away from the cat in embarrassment; he was too awesome for this, "I'm sorry." There. He said it. Though why he was expecting the cat to understand him, he didn't have the faintest clu-
Gilbert blinked, looking down at the cat in his hands curiously. Roderich was... licking his hand, purring quietly. He smiled, lying on his bed and sitting the brown cat on top of his chest. Gilbert pet Roderich, scratching behind his ears, earning a happy mew from the cat. The albino laughed.
"You can sleep with me tonight.." he mumbled, feeling his eyelids grow heavy as he began to doze off, snorting as the bundle of fur curled up on his chest and fell asleep also, still purring.