Fran lets his cat roam around outside unsupervised.
Maybe that's negligent, but it's not like Fran hasn't thought about the dangers. There are three main things that a pet owner worries about when letting their pets outside: What if they run into trouble?, What about cars?, and What if they accidentally have babies?.
Fran's seen the effect his cat has on other creatures and he's sure there isn't an animal (or even a human) that has the balls to pick a fight with it, crossing the first worry right out. Cars would be an issues if it was the dog, but the cat knows how to look both ways before crossing and even then he prefers to walk on top of the fences rather than the street or the sidewalks. Meaning the second worry is out as well.
The idea of his cat having unplanned kittens, however, was never an issue.
Fran's seen his cat around male and female cats alike, and he's never gone farther than brushing their cheeks together. Even when the neighbor's cat - a siamese, absolutely gorgeous coat and eyes - was in heat he barely paid her any mind as she meow incessantly for him, deciding to chase birds while he waited for her to quiet down.
His cat has never shown any interest in mating, so why worry about kittens that will never exist.
Fran is outside playing tug-o'-war with the dog when his cat jumps back into their yard after visiting the neighbor's for a minute.
The dog wins when a loud Deadbeat! from the other side of the fence makes Fran lose his focus.
He blinks towards the fence his cat just crossed over, blindly stroking the cat's fur as he comes over to rub against Fran's side.
'Are they fighting over there?' Fran wonders as he lifts himself to his feet. From what his guardians told him when they gave him the keys to the house, there's only three people living in the house next door, and they're all siblings with a pair of lovey-dovey parents that are currently on honeymoon. They shouldn't be having any domestic drama.
Fran presses himself against the fence and slowly peeks over, trying to catch a glimpse at what's going on. He knows it's rude to spy on people, but frankly, Fran's a nosy bitch. Plus he figures if something's really wrong someone should be there as a witness.
When he peeks over the fence, though, he sees two of his neighbors (the younger ones, still high school brats if he's remembering right) lying on the floor in their living room, laughing their asses off. The third neighbor has their back towards him, but he can see their ears burning bright red as they grumble something under their breath. They're crouched next to a bundle of blankets, fussing with something Fran can't see that clearly.
Fran carefully lifts himself up, carefully craning his neck to look at what they're fiddling around with. He has to pull himself up until his hips are pressed against the top edge of the fence, but eventually he sees them. A cat is lying in the pile of downy sheets, six smaller fluff balls nestled against its stomach.
Oh.
Fran hops down from the fence before he's spotted, whirling around to look at his cat (who's rolling around in the grass without a care in the world). "You're the deadbeat." Fran says as he snatches the cat up to look it in the eyes, nose wrinkling when the stupid thing starts to purr. "This is a punishment carry, stupid cat."
He tucks the cat under his arm, letting out a small sigh when he starts nuzzling into his side, and makes his way towards the house, the dog following at his heels.
"Who's going to take responsibility for this?" he asks as soon as they're inside, carelessly chucking the cat to the floor. He bends down to lock the pet door before starting the manhunt for his keys and wallet.
The cat lets out a sweet Meow. as saunters over to the kitchen to see if his food bowl has magically refilled since he last ate an hour ago. Fran blinks at him, hoping he can feel his disdain.
"That's right. Me." he says, flipping over some cushions and fishing his keys and wallet out from inside the couch. He shoves them into his back pockets and sends another hard blink the cat's way when he walks up with his food bowl in his mouth. "Can you focus on something besides food for a second, you chubby boy? You're a father now, get your priorities straight."
The cat's cries of starvation follow Fran as he walks out the house, looking up Japanese kitten food brands on his phone as he makes his way into town.
Fran drops off two bags of cat food on the neighbors' door step on his way to work.
It's around 4:35 in the morning. The sun is still sleeping, and the neighbors' porchlight is in dire need of a new bulb. He squints and struggles as he duct tapes a sheet of printer paper on one of the bags, having to bite the tape free from the roll because he forgot his scissors at home.
It takes a while, but he finally secures the paper and whips out a permanent marker. Quickly, because after all this struggle he's running a bit late to help his boss open up shop, he scrawls two words on the paper:
Child support.
well, heres another chapter of this thing. if you enjoyed it, leave me a comment, reading other peoples input and thoughts on the story really motivate me. feel free to give constructive criticism on ways i can improve. also reminding everyone that im currently taking requests since the holidays are coming up and ill have more time during the break. send me prompts on tumblr (same user name) through dms or the ask box and ill pick the ones i like to write about. if you have a work you want me to update you can also suggest i do that (otherwise its cat city until this fic is complete). thank you for reading, remember i love reviews, and have a nice day.
