[Synopsis: MrEgg gets a surprise dinner guest one night...who decides to stick around. Wonder what he'll do about this situation?]

[Location: MrEgg's house]

____________________________________________________________

MrEgg sighed contently as he settled down into one of his armchairs with a tray of freshly cooked Salmon Meunière and scalloped potatoes, a hot cup of chamomile tea on the far right corner of the tray. The fish market not far from where he lived certainly had high standards when it came to freshness; the salmon barely smelled fishy at all.

Nothing like a hot seafood dinner to wrap up the day with, he said to himself, taking a sip of his beverage before cutting into the tender fish...The rich smell wafting up from it by itself was enough to make his mouth water, and he promptly stuck his fork into one of the chunks he'd cut out.

Scritch scritch scritch

"Hm?"

The sound of something scraping against the front door caught his attention, and he looked up for a moment...By the time he raised his head, however, the scratching has stopped.

Not thinking much of it, he shrugged and went back to his dinner, finally taking a bite of his homemade culinary masterpiece and humming contently at just how delicious it was.

Scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch

The second time he heard the noise, it was louder and faster. A bit on edge now, he looked back up at the door, staring at it for a few moments.

...He knew the neighborhood he lived in was fairly safe, and most of the homes, including his own, had security cameras or the like in the event of an attempted break-in; therefore, such attempts were few and far between. But it wasn't impossible, so he kept his guard up, took his tray off of him as he got off the chair and placed it down where he'd been sitting...He carried the knife he'd used on his fish with him in case things got hairy.

He checked the screen on his camera system, which sat just on the far end of the foyer, opposite to the door...He didn't see anybody there, but a quick replay of the footage revealed some odd movement in the dark street. Perhaps the perpetrator had decided to go around, in case they noticed he had a security system.

He dared to open the door and have a peek around the camera's blind spots. He knew he didn't look particularly intimidating with his night robe, egg-patterned PJs and below-average stature, but something like that could come to his advantage should he be ambushed.

"...Who's there?" he called out. "Show yourself!"

But nobody came...He took one more look around before closing the door and heading inside, deciding it would be a good idea to check the other security cameras around his house before settling down.

If my food gets cold, so be it, he decided. I can just reheat it if it turns out there was never-

"Wha-HEY!!"

He looked up at where his food was just in time to see the unmistakable figure of a CAT hopping up onto his chair and closing in on his tray of food. But before it could put its nose in the salmon, MrEgg ran back over, grabbed the animal by the scruff of the neck and pulled it away, hoisting it in front of his face.

It was obviously a very young cat, but it was old enough that its eyes had changed from blue to a muted brassy yellow. It had a short, but thick coat of bluish grey fur, and its face was rather round despite its skinny body.

MrEgg wasn't sure why he'd just decided to grab it instead of shoo it away and risk being scratched to bits, but now here he was holding it and looking it in the eye.

"So...It was you scratching on the door, was it?" he interrogated.

"...Yeaw?" the cat meowed, as though to respond.

"And you thought you could slip in and steal my supper, did you?" he continued. The kitten didn't respond that time, and he let out an exasperated huff as he picked up its back end and carried it to the kitchen.

"Well, I guess I can't let you starve," he said to himself, looking at the cat's body. "You're barely more than skin and bones anyway."

He put it down on the tile floor, and it sat there patiently as he got a can of tuna out from the cupboard and opened it up, scraped some of it out onto a small plate and set it down on the floor.

"There. You can eat this," he told it. "But then you'll have to go back outside; I don't have any litter box you can use, and I'm not having you do your business on any of my furniture."

The cat stuck its nose into the tuna as MrEgg went back to the living room and looked at his salmon...The lack of steam rising up from it meant he had to stick it in the microwave for a bit to heat it back up, so he took his plate back to the kitchen, ran a tiny bit of water onto the plate to prevent the fish from getting too dry and stuck it in the nuker for twenty seconds to regain some of the lost heat. He took it back out just before the timer went off, and he brought it back to the chair with him, glad to finally sit back down and continue eating.

...When he only had a few bites of fish left and his potatoes were gone, he saw the familiar grey figure of the animal he'd fed hop up onto on of the arms of the chair he was in.

"Done with your dinner?" he asked it.

The kitten looked down at what was left of his fish, then back up at him...MrEgg's eyes narrowed a bit and he raised an eyebrow.

"You're not still hungry, are you? Or do you just want some of mine because it smells better?"

"Meew?"

MrEgg sighed again and shut his eyes for a moment...The tiny little meow that the cat emitted was enough to make his heart melt three times over.

"Oh, alright," he caved in, sliding the piece of fish on his fork down onto the wood-look tile for it to eat. The kitten promptly hopped down from the arm of the chair and started nibbling away at it, and the orange crewmate continued with his own dinner, finding himself looking down at the little grey cat the whole time.

When he was finally done, he took his dishes to the sink and washed them, then stored the tray back in one of the bottom cabinets...When he turned around to go back into the living room, he saw that the kitten had followed him.

"Well, what do you want now?"

It rubbed up against his legs and made a figure 8 around them, purring the whole time. It finally stopped to look up at him, seemingly satisfied.

"...You're welcome," MrEgg told it, picking the kitten up to take it back outside. "If you show up here again, I'll find something to feed you, but just don't sneak into my house again. I have to INVITE you in first."

As he headed over to the front door, the cat in his hold realized it was going to be put back outside, and made a struggle to escape MrEgg's grasp, though with no success to get down and run back into the main part of the house. When the crewmate finally reached the door, the kitten hung onto him with his claws, hoping he wouldn't be able to put him down.

"Ow...! Watch where you put those things!"

MrEgg opened the front door, gently but firmly pried the cat's claws out of his side with his free hand, then stuck the animal outside on the welcome mat.

"There. If you want to stay on the porch, that's fine, but please don't go scratching the door again. Goodnight."

He shut the door before the cat could try to slip in the house again, then locked it, went back to his chair, finished his chamomile tea and sat there for a few more minutes relaxing...For some reason, though, he couldn't take his mind off the cat he'd fed for any longer than a minute, and he found himself wondering about it after a little while.

Looks like a British Shorthair, he said to himself. But the face is a bit small for it to be a purebred...Wonder where it came from? It's awfully young to be striking out on its own...A stray from a feral litter perhaps? Though I don't see many feral cats around here...Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't any. 

He looked over at the door...He didn't hear any clawing or meowing, so he figured that it'd either left or gone to sleep.

...Wonder if it will be back tomorrow? he thought as he got up out of his chair and took his dished to the kitchen. After cleaning up after his meal, MrEgg got ready for bed and headed off to his room, settling down under the covers with a copy of Oliver Twist. But even as he read, the mental image of the kitten still popped up in his head every few minutes, and when he finally put the book down for the night, snapped his lamp off and settled down into the blankets, it entered his mind yet again.

...I hope it'll be alright.

____________________________________________________________

...

____________________________________________________________

The next morning went on as it usually did. MrEgg got out of bed, washed up and made himself a pair of fried eggs with toast, paired with a hot cup of Earl Grey. As he ate his breakfast, he started to wonder about the kitten he'd fed again, and what he should do with it if it were still on his front porch.

"I suppose I'll have to see if it's still there," he decided as he finished up, rinsing his dishes off and sticking them in the washer before entering the living room and making his way to the front door. His paper was there anyway, so he figured he'd be killing two birds with one stone.

He opened the door and looked down...Right there beside his newspaper was a little grey lump on his welcome mat, who stared up at him when it saw his face...All of the kitten's limbs were tucked underneath its body, making it look like some sort grey bread loaf with a face and ears.

"I see you've made yourself comfortable on the welcome mat," MrEgg remarked.

That was when the cat realized the door was ajar, and it took the opportunity to quickly get up and slip inside.

"Whah-!? I-! You get back here!" the orange crewmate called out as he shut the door and ran into the house after it, forgetting all about his paper. "I thought we talked about this last night!"

He chased it into the kitchen, where they both slowed down, and the cat stopped, looked up at him and let out another squeak of a meow.

"Mew...?"

MrEgg sighed and deflated, his anger fading in place of mere frustration.

"Why must you torture me with that tiny voice...?" he groaned slightly, slumping against the counter as he looked down at it...The kitten started to purr again, and it circled around his legs like it had last night before meowing again.

"You want breakfast, I assume?"

"Meaw."

"Well...I was going to bring you in to eat again anyways."

He got the open tuna can out of the fridge and prepared the dish, putting it down on the tile floor for the kitten to munch on...As it ate, MrEgg got a closer look at it.

"Hmm...Well, you don't have a collar," he noticed. "And judging by the dirt caked in your coat, it seems as though you haven't been in the best of living conditions as of late. Let alone had a bath."

The kitten paused for a moment to swallow its food and look up at him, then dipped its head back down.

"...You're awfully tame for a stray, though. Perhaps you got lost? Hm...But I haven't seen any flyers up at all lately. I imagine any sensible cat owner would put out missing posters within a day or so of you being gone. And dirt does not cake like that on any surface overnight. Especially seeing how much cats like yourself are known to groom themselves."

The kitten made another noise as it ate, and another theory entered MrEgg's head.

"You weren't...abandoned, were you?"

The cat paused eating once again, and looked up at him with the shiny brass orbs it had for eyes, which seemed to have a glimmer of understanding in them. He almost didn't want to believe it; after all, he knew a thing or two about what living on the streets was like, and he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy, much less a scrawny kitten.

When the cat went back to eating, MrEgg lifted its tail up and took a peek down below...The kitten was male, and looked like he'd been fixed. This was odd considering where the cat had been as of late, but it was also proof he'd had an owner or other caregiver at some point, which explained his sociable behavior.

"Well, I suppose that's one less thing to worry about," he said to himself as the kitten finished eating. He looked up at MrEgg and circled his legs yet again, purring contently as he rubbed against them. The crewmate smiled warmly; for having known him for such a short time, the cat had certainly decided it liked him.

...And he couldn't help but return the feeling.

MrEgg already had a feeling everything was headed in this direction, so he decided to make the decision right then and there.

"Well, seeing as you have no collar or apparent home, and you haven't been taken care of in quite some time, I suppose I have no choice but to do so myself," he shrugged, mocking his own unsurprised tone. "I should give you a bath, though; you're filthy after living on the streets for so long."

After picking up after the kitten, he took it to the bathroom along with his bottle of dish soap, turned the warm water on in the sink and started to wash the dirt off, holding the cat by the scruff of the neck with one hand as he used the other to lather on the soap.

"Nyeaow!"

"I know, I know, you don't like it, but this won't last forever."

MrEgg gently wiped the kitten's face with a damp wash cloth once his body was clean, clearing it of gook and dead fleas he'd found on it...Strange that none of the fleas he saw were alive; maybe he'd been given some kind of anti-flea medication before being deserted?

Likely so...Though by who, I wouldn't know.

When the kitten was rid of most of the dirt, he rinsed all of the suds off him, then turned the water off and stuck him in a towel, rubbing him down until he was sufficiently dry. His fur puffed out once he removed the towel.

"There we go, all clean," he remarked. "See, that feels a lot better than before, now doesn't it?"

The kitten sat down on the bathroom floor, lifted his paw and licked it, then rubbed his face, smoothing down the damp fur on it.

"I'll be putting you back outside before I leave to go out this morning. Can't have you...doing anything in the house while I'm gone," MrEgg told him. "Again, I advise you stay on or around the front porch; we wouldn't want you to get all dirty again, now would we?"

He bent down and reached for the kitten's head, and he was met with him rising up onto his hind legs and rubbing his furry head against his palm, his purring growing louder and his eyes shutting contently...MrEgg smiled again at the display of mutual affection.

"I think we're going to get along just fine," he told him, standing back up and tearing a piece of paper off of the magnetic notepad on his fridge, reading over what he already had written down.

"Let's see...Eggs, orange juice, salt, floss, paper towels, vitamin D...I should be able to pick things up for him without much trouble. But before I do that, I'd better make sure of one last thing."

He went into the living room with the kitten in tow, put the list down on the coffee table and sat down in one of his chairs as he got his phone out and pulled up his contacts, pressing one one of the names to call before bringing the phone up to his ear.

When he heard the other end pick up, he smiled a bit yet again...The sound of her voice always gave him a rush of energy and happiness that could get him through nearly any day.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, Ria."

"Oh, hi Eggy! How are you?"

"Oh, I'm quite good," he told her. "Just about to go on a few errands...Say, I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"Are you, by any chance, allergic to cats?"

"Cats? No. I am slightly allergic to mushrooms, though."

"Are you really?"

"Yeah, sorry I never mentioned it until now; we usually don't eat them, so I keep forgetting."

"Oh, well that's alright, love. We know now, don't we?"

"We do...Any reason you're asking me if I have a cat allergy, though?"

"Yes, and may I follow that question up with another?"

"You may."

"Do you LIKE cats? Or are you more of a dog person?"

"I like both," Ria replied. "Ah, let me guess. You got a cat?"

"So to speak. I apologize for the short notice; I took him in last night, and we ended up growing attached to each other quickly. British Shorthair mix, I believe, and still a kitten."

"Aww, he sounds cute~! You give him a name yet?"

"A name? Hmm...I haven't decided yet, no. Though I suppose he seems like a George to me, you know?"

"Hee hee, I like that! Think you can introduce me next time I come over?"

"Certainly! Oh, ah, I hate to cut this short, but I need to go now, Ria. Now that I know you're on board with this, it means I can add kitten chow, litter and a litter box onto my shopping list."

"Oh yeah, you might want to get those things if we're gonna be keeping him."

"Indeed. I'll see you on Saturday, love. Mwah~."

"Hee hee...Bye, Eggy. I'll call you later."

"Have a lovely day."

Click...

With that, MrEgg wrote down the essentials for George down...The kitten jumped up onto the table and stared at the pen scribbling out words on his paper with wide, attentive eyes.

"What? Are you unfamiliar with the concept of writing?" the orange crewmate joked.

...The response he got was George swiftly raising his front paw and swatting at the pen, intent on catching it.

"Playful today, are we?" he remarked, gently moving him aside so he could finish writing. "Well, while I'm at it, I'll add a pack of bell balls and a laser pointer to the list as well..."

____________________________________________________________

Multiple times while writing this, one of my OWN cats hopped up onto the chair and either stayed in my lap or draped herself over my shoulders like she was some kind of fancy fur scarf. XD

I'm glad I finally got this one done; I was itching to finish it up and get it out there, but my darned Writer's Block came back. Fortunately, I think it's beginning to go away, though.

Aight, that's all for now. See you guys next time! :D