I believe I began this after I drafted the first pieces of Kuro-angst for Repudiated when I felt the need for some fluffs. It sort of snowballed from there as the original idea was just 'Shiro brings home a kitten'. (I say snowballed because there's a chapter two coming . . . and maybe a couple more stories, making this a series. Whoops?)
Head's up, it's not graphic, nor abuse-related/caused by humans, but there's a sad animal backstory in this.
Keith stopped and stared, then blinked a few times and shook his head. Maybe he hadn't fully shaken off his nap yet.
"Shiro? Honey? What is that?" Keith asked gently, coming out of the bedroom doorway.
"It's a kitten!" Shiro said happily, holding out the little mostly-black bundle of fluff.
"Aha. I see that." Keith agreed, nodding.
"It's adorable!" Shiro said, smiling hopefully.
"It is." Keith reached out as the kitten stretched its tiny, smooshy paws into thin air clumsily, and got a fingertip full of needle-pricks for his trouble.
"It needs a home, baby." Shiro said, his eyes wide and almost pleading. Keith tugged, very lightly, at the kitten's hold on his fingertip, and it mewed, claws sinking in deeper.
"Honey, you are a dog person." Keith said, trying to control his amusement. Shiro's pleading eyes widened a little further, still hopeful. Keith sighed shallowly, flicking his thumb against one of the tiny ears. "Where did it come from?" he asked as it mewed.
"But she- It's precious! And . . . it needs somewhere to go." Shiro said, his mouth twisting. "I brought it- Well, Iverson said it couldn't stay in the experimental hangar - and it's dangerous there, it could have got hurt - but it ran in there with its siblings a couple of days ago, and it was the only one left, and. . ."
Keith rested his fingers over his lover's mouth. "Okay! Okay." he said soothingly. "It's . . . really tiny, what about its mother?" he asked, frowning slightly.
Shiro looked really sad now, and Keith braced himself. "That's why- The kittens, they ran into the hangar when we had it open - Smithson nearly exploded himself, the-" he broke off, shaking his head. "Their momma fought off a ranch dog from the open property next door, I guess."
Keith's stomach felt heavy and cold. "Fought it off?" he asked, unconsciously rubbing his thumb gently over the back of one tiny, soft paw.
"Partially. It didn't get the kittens." Shiro said, swallowing. "A few of us ran out there when we heard the screaming, but the momma cat was already- When we found her." he said awkwardly, tears pooling in his eyes.
"Oh, honey." Keith curled a hand around Shiro's.
"I know I shouldn't have brought her- it home, I mean. . ." Shiro swallowed. "But . . . she needed somewhere to go, and I couldn't just- We- That is. . ."
"We needed a kitten?" Keith asked wryly, inspecting the tiny claws. They were so soft they barely dug into his skin beyond the light prickle. "Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked, looking up at his lover again. "Shiro?"
Shiro was just looking at him with a slightly off expression, lips faintly curled and eyes - still wet - warm. "Oh, uh, not sure. It's really little."
"It is." Keith agreed, holding out his hands. Shiro happily passed the kitten into them, where it barely filled his cupped hands together. Shiro came closer, almost wrapping himself around Keith and looking down at the ball of shadow-fluff in his hands. "Is it healthy? Is it even old enough to be away from its mother?" he asked worriedly as he cradled it closer.
"I don't know about that, but Ki Hyun gave it some chicken earlier and it ate it without hesitation." Shiro said, smiling sheepishly. "It hasn't been sick?"
Keith raised his eyebrows. "Well that's good." He looked at the kitten, which was leaning sleepily on his thumb. "We'll need . . . cat things. And a vet to check out the kitten and make sure it's healthy . . . and maybe tell us whether it's a boy or a girl."
"That would be good." Shiro said, one hand sliding up Keith's back. He leaned his brow against Keith's, letting out a slow breath. "Thanks, baby."
"For what?" Keith said, rubbing gently behind one tiny black ear.
". . .not being mad, I suppose." Shiro said sheepishly.
Keith snorted and leaned up, kissing Shiro lightly. "No." he said, bumping their noses together playfully. "I like cats, and I already knew you were a soft touch."
"Do you?" Shiro asked, and Keith raised an eyebrow. "Like cats. Particularly, I mean."
Keith huffed, lips curving into a faint smile. "I do. I've not had one before," he paused, mouth twisting; he hadn't ever owned a cat for obvious reasons, Keith's life had always been a bit of a mess before the school that had led to his current job, before Shiro, "but I do. They're independent, quiet, hunters, and most of the ones I've seen have been clever. This one's only a baby but. . ."
"They're you." Shiro said lightly, nudging his nose against Keith's again, grinning. "Keith in tiny, furry form."
Keith huffed again, looking away, turning his attention back down to the kitten. It rolled over in his hands and purred, tiny paws flexing, then yawned. "It's adorable." Keith said softly. "And so teeny."
Shiro kissed his temple and cupped his big hand over the kitten's head, gently petting its fluffy fur and stroking his thumb across the tiny nose.
A week later the kitten had been seen by a vet, treated for worms and ear mites, and he was deemed officially on his way to being healthy. He had also taken to sleeping in a shoebox - which Shiro had padded with an old sweatshirt - that sat beside their dresser.
His paws still weren't quite shaped like proper paws and his tail was thin and tapered, looking more like an exclamation point than a proper cat tail, but his jumps were getting . . . slightly more coordinated - or, well, they were getting more energetic, anyway.
He was a determined climber, too, scaling their shoulders whenever he was held. When he made it to Keith's shoulder, and could balance there - claws sinking into Keith's shirt or his skin beneath - he occupied himself with chewing on the ends of Keith's hair. Keith had thus far failed in all attempts to dissuade him from the apparent fascination.
Shiro had slipped into calling him Kuro in the few days before they saw a vet, though they had intended to hold off on naming the kitten, and it had stuck. He tried to say it wasn't a proper name really but the argument was difficult to pose when Keith only snickered and pointed out his own name.
And then Keith somehow managed to train Kuro to answer to that name - although he still answered to 'teeny mew', which was what Pidge had called him from the first time she met him, a few days after Shiro had brought him home.
A tiny mew accompanied by a jingling bell drew his attention, and Shiro bent to collect the fluffy patch of shadow from the kitchen floor. Then he looked around for Keith, because Kuro was still too small to be allowed to roam free, and last he'd seen the kitten Kuro had been shut in their bedroom with his still-sleeping lover.
Keith was leaning in the doorway, sleepy-eyed and smiling, his hair fluffed up from his pillow. "Morning." he said softly, pushing away from the wall.
"Good morning, baby." Shiro murmured, drawing Keith in for a light kiss when he came close enough. Keith made a low sound of contentment and leaned into the caress, then startled back abruptly, hands coming up to catch Kuro as he flung himself across the narrow space between them. He clawed his way over Keith's bare collarbones and towards his shoulder but quickly began to fall. ". . .that was ambitious."
"Yes. Ow." Keith unhooked one small claw from his neck. "Good morning, mew." He tapped Kuro's nose with one finger, then let him scramble up to balance on Keith's shoulder properly, with a little supportive nudge. "I think I'm more awake now." he added wryly.
Shiro chuckled, reaching out and smoothing a strand of Keith's hair out of his face. "I imagine so. That's a new trick."
"Beats 'attack dad's ear when he's sleeping' Keith said, lips pursing.
Shiro tried very hard not to laugh, but Keith's raised eyebrow promised he saw the reaction anyway. "If you say so." he said simply, and Keith hummed contemplatively. He caught Kuro as he began to slip, and passed him off to Shiro without warning, walking past and heading for the fridge.
Shiro was a little startled by the sudden ball of fur against his chest, but he adjusted easily, and the kitten took being passed abruptly between his 'parents' once again with equanimity. He wrapped his paws around Shiro's fingers and started to gnaw industriously on the side of his hand.
Shiro winced a little, but let Kuro teethe and left sorting out breakfast to his lover.
Kitten floof Kuro - his name means 'black' in Japanese (as you likely know from the fandom name for the dark!Shiro alter ego)
My friend M is responsible for Kuro-kitten's name. As she suggested it when I wondered what to call the kitten, with absolutely no shiftiness whatsoever I'm sure. XD
Kuro's backstory here is (sadly) based in reality; I adopted a kitten in November last year who went through almost exactly what Shiro describes. (She's female, and grey and white, though. Her name is Miku.) Replace 'hangar' etc. with 'construction site' and she was hiding out in a tile shop. A friend of a friend inspects construction sites and found her, brought her home, and commenced panicking about finding her a home. Six hours later she was in mine.