"Malik?" Altair's head poked into the apartment but he was greeted by silence. He opened the door further and stepped inside, kicking it shut behind him before placing his keys onto the small kitchen counter. "Malik?" he asked again and then, finally, he heard a muffled little 'Yeah' coming right from their bathroom followed by the noise of softly lapping water. Aw shit, this wasn't how he had planned it to be. He put the box he was carrying down to his feet and made sure the blanket was still covering it. "Uhm, how much longer are you going to take?" Altair asked and took his leather jacket off and placed it across the couch. He could already hear Malik bickering about it but Altair liked to life dangerous after all.
"I just got in," Malik called back from the bathroom and then, "Come here if you want something, I'm tired of yelling."
Altair waddled all the way over to their bathroom, glancing back over his shoulder at the box staying there. Alright, for now everything was good.
When he opened the door there was steam rising from the tub, Malik sitting in it with bubbles everywhere. "You're having such a nice bath without me?" He'd even lit some scented candles too!
"I needed to relax," Malik sighed, his eyes closed and head tipped back. "Did you get everything at the store? You took awfully long."
Altair rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah I got everything-"
"But?" Malik cracked an eye open and looked at Altair from the corner of his eye, as if he was suspicious – he had every right to be but Altair thought it was unfair and he sent him a small pout. "Nothing," he said but could tell Malik didn't buy it.
"Why did it take you so long, couldn't you find the mushrooms... again? What was that?" Malik sat up a straight, both eyes fully open now. Altair swallowed heavily and he took a step back, about to close the door again. "What was that?" he asked all innocent.
"I swear I just heard a cat."
Altair swallowed once more, Adam's apple bobbing. "I think you're mistaken-"
Meow.
"Is the TV on or something?" Malik looked confused.
Altair started to sweat and his left eye twitched a little. "No...?"
"You are so lying," Malik told him angrily and got up in the tub, a waterfall rushing down his body and he quickly grabbed a towel, tying it around his waist and he didn't bother to dry himself properly but went straight into the living room. He almost knocked Altair over when passing him and it didn't take long before his eyes found the little box standing right next to the door, blanket still draped over it.
.
"Altair what the-" Malik pulled the blanket away and looked at a cat sitting inside. It wasn't just any cat but a beautiful orange tabby with... oh. Malik's shoulders slumped a little. "She has only one eye."
"He," Altair corrected him. "They couldn't rescue it and uhm..."
"He's missing a leg to," Malik said confused. Left hind leg, to be correct. "Altair, I swear if you got that cat because I'm missing an arm and he's missing a leg then I swear I will punch you so hard-"
"I didn't get him because of his missing leg," Altair said quickly and held up his arms. "Look, Malik..." He rubbed the back of his head and sighed, shoulders slumping. "I've been thinking about this a lot and we've talked about it after all, and today, when I was at the store I saw that there was a new pet store right next to it and I went there and... and then..."
"And then you thought you get me a crippled cat?"
"No!" Altair cried. "I saw him and I thought, damn, Captain Old Jolly Limps-A-Lot needs a new home and when the woman opened his cage he came right at me and was purring and really cute and-"
"Old jolly... what?"
"It's his name. Or as I thought, for short, just 'The Captain'. I mean... look we could get him a wooden leg and an eye patch and he would make a great pirate!" Altair opened the cage and sure thing, the cat came out right away and circled around Altair's legs, rubbing his head against him. He noticed how Malik looked at him as if he'd just lost his mind. "The Captain," he said and Altair wasn't sure if it was a question or not. "Yeah," he told Malik.
"What happened to him?"
"The woman said he was thrown out of a driving car-"
Malik made a grimace. "Ouch. What kind of asshole would do that?"
Altair shook his head, sighing sadly. "I have no idea but... look, Malik I really didn't get him because of his missing leg but because I fell in love with him right when I saw him and I knew- I knew you would so too... can we please keep him?"
The cat now switched places and went to purr around Malik's legs. "He's not scared at all?" he wondered out loud. Altair shook his head, "No he's really friendly. It seems he's overcome his trauma pretty well. The woman said he's about three years old and it happened when he was still a Kitten."
"And nobody else wanted him?"
Again Altair shook his head. "Nobody wants a pirate these days." He set his eyes pleadingly at Malik. "So please? Pretty please? Don't say no now... he likes you."
Malik looked at Altair for a very, very long time, the cat meowing every now and then to demand some attention and eventually he crouched down and picked the orange ball up, the cat climbing right on his shoulder like a little parrot. Altair grinned, "See? He's The Captain! So can we keep him now?" He tried his best to look especially heartwarming.
Malik rolled his eyes and glanced sideways at the cat. "Aye... we can keep him."
Altair cheered and the Captain meowed.