Keeping the kitten wasn't the worst idea, but in retrospect, perhaps it wasn't the best.
She always loved it, though, when she came home from work to find Otis sprawled on his bed, thumbing through some book or just relaxing, listening to a record, and the kitten was curled up on his chest, asleep.
Sometimes, when he was painting, it would jump up on his knee and watch his brush strokes. The first time the kitten did it, she thought Otis would piss himself laughing.
He became slightly problematic after a while, though.
Otis often kept candles lit in their room, especially at night. The kitten apparently liked to play with the flame, or rather anything that moved. They had been awoken with its pained howling quite a few times.
Otis had left his paints out once, just to leave the room for a moment. When he came back, the white kitten had paint halfway up its legs and had walked all over the room, leaving colored paw prints everywhere. He could only put his hands over his face and sigh. When she came home that night, he had scratches all over his arms. He had tried to give the kitten a bath after the incident. It hadn't worked in his favor.
Her favorite moments were when they were just lying together, snuggled up together, him holding her in his arms, and the kitten would come and lie on his chest. Otis grunted in discomfort. The kitten was overly useful of its claws, and he didn't have a shirt on.
"Hey, kid." Otis peered down at the animal. It reached up and pawed at his face. "Aagh, stop."
"Awww. You're his favorite."
"Mm. He got his claw stuck in my bottom lip doing that this morning."
"Aww, lemme kiss it and make it better." She craned her neck to give him a kiss, then settled back into the crook of his neck.
"Tiny loves this little guy." Otis murmured, stroking the kitten's back.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. He came up this morning after I got up. Sat and held him for hours. Shoulda seen him. He was so happy. He was real gentle, too."
"Awww...That's so sweet." The kitten seemed to lose interest in them and wandered off, playing with something under the bed.
"Not as sweet as you taste, Mama." He rolled over so that he was on top of her, and kissed her passionately.
In the midst of their passion, she felt Otis jerk upward away from her. "What the fuck? Don't you dare stop." She opened her eyes to see the white kitten on his back, peering over his shoulder.
"Uhhhh..."
She burst into laughter, as did he. However, he didn't find it quite as funny as she did. That was the last straw for him, and she somewhat agreed.
Tiny ended up taking care of the kitten.