We have this now - Peter

[st_x5_494]

Alec had gotten back to the room about an hour or so before the other world closed up. It felt a little weird to be going back to a place with far less freedom and far less things to do. It was almost like choosing to go back to prison.

He pushed any of those thoughts aside. There was no time to dwell.

He was currently taking a shower, but there was a peculiar addition to the room. On Peter's bed was a little kitten that was currently pouncing at the small hills made from the bedding and bounding up and down the bed itself as if chasing some imaginary assailant.

Comments

[st_arkintern]

Peter had just stepped into his room and was pulling his backpack off when he saw it.

A cat. Or to be precise, a kitten. Peter's eyes immediately widen.

"Oh my god," he says, dropping his backpack with an audible sound.

"Oh my god," he repeats.

He rushes to the bed in an instant, the door to their room still open, his bags still blocking the path. He crouches down near the edge of the bed, trying so hard to hide his excitement but failing.

He wiggles a finger playfully for the kitten to sniff or bat at. And sure enough, the kitten's taken the bait and approaches.

[st_x5_494]

Alec finished he shower and, for once, had clothes with him in the bathroom. He came out wearing black cargo pants and pulling a dark grey v-neck t-shirt over his head.

"Oh, hey, you made it back." As if everything was status quo.

[st_arkintern]

The kitten paws at Peter's finger experimentally. Peter feels a jolt of joy and affection race through him.

Peter's head spins to face Alec; there's no hiding how obviously delighted he is right now.

"What did you name them?!"

[st_x5_494]

Alec had to work really hard not to smile at that. Peter was such an open book and clearly happy.

"What who?" He glanced to the kitten. "Oh that. No. It wouldn't stop following me."

[st_arkintern]

The look Peter gives him is of true dismay.

"You haven't named them yet?"

[st_x5_494]

Alec's brow furrowed a little. "No... Why would I name it? It's a cat."

[st_arkintern]

"You can't just call it cat," Peter insists. "What if you just called me human? That'd be weird!"

[st_x5_494]

He lifted his arms up. "Okay, fine. You name it. You're the one who likes name anyways."

[st_arkintern]

"But," Peter says, distressed. "You were the one who found him, so you're technically his father."

Peter can't name him. Only the father can.

...is it a him?

[st_x5_494]

Alec pinched the bridge if his nose. "Peter.. I'm not the father of a cat." Although he did have big cat DNA in him so maybe that's what the kitten attached to.

He felt like Peter was going to argue this.

"How about you think of a name you like and I'll have the final say. We can be... Co-Fathers."

Well that sounded ridiculous.

[st_arkintern]

Peter considers this, then flips the cat over so he can identify its sex. Sure enough, it is a boy cat.

Peter sets him back down, then stares at him, clearly thinking this through.

"The Great Catsby?" he begins, frowning. He's just going to start throwing names out there. "Fuzz Aldrin? Mr. Meowgi?"

[st_x5_494]

Alec stared at Peter with a deadpanned expression. "Are you really going to name him a pun?"

[st_arkintern]

"If you're going to be critical, then you should name him," Peter says, pointedly. Like he suggested in the first place.

[st_x5_494]

"No, no... Pun away." He gestured to the little kitten that let out a soft mewing sound.

[st_arkintern]

"Shakes-purr," Peter continues, looking at Alec instead of the mewing cat, as difficult as it is for him to ignore the precious, tiny thing. "Ravenclaw. Pounce de Leon. Tom Pawyer."

[st_x5_494]

He stared at Peter. "Well now you're just doing it on purpose."

Alec paused, almost saying the first thing out of his mouth, but actually stopping again - see? He was trying.

"I'm not good with names. I didn't even give myself a name. How am I supposed to give a cat a name?"

[st_arkintern]

Peter turns back to the kitten and scritches it under the chin. It leans in against his fingers. Peter's never had any pets of his own, but he did tend to pet the strays when he saw them.

And Mr. Delmar's cat.

"You only think you're bad with names," Peter says. "Naming yourself would probably be difficult, anyway. But when you're naming something else... you just think about something you like that just fits."

Peter shifts his fingers to behind the kitten's ears.

"Or you just name it after someone it looks like," Peter says. "Mr. Delmar named his cat Murph because he looked like this guy who lived in the apartment complex next door to him when he was a kid. Had the same personality, too."

[st_x5_494]

Alec looked over at the kitten. He hadn't been lying that the kitten hadn't stopped following him. And then it was raining and it would 'go away' and get out of the rain so finally Alec picked it up.

"How about Peter Junior." His expression remained neutral.

[st_arkintern]

Peter looks at Alec, perplexed. He's not able to tell if Alec is messing with him.

"Why Peter Junior?"

[st_x5_494]

He shrugged. "He's young, eager, and can't get rid of him."

It was a little bit of column a and a little bit of column b. Mostly messing.

"Shouldn't this be a name you like too? It's probably going to like you more anyways."

[st_arkintern]

"You shouldn't be so negative," Peter says, turning away from the kitten to look over at Alec. "There's a reason he was following you."

And it wasn't because he hated Alec, either.

"How about Ace?"

[st_x5_494]

Alec didn't think he was exactly a good candidate for taking care of living things. He had already gotten Peter into trouble a few times.

"Ace." He looked at the tint creature who was occupied with Peter on his bed. Alec actually looked like he was considering it, despite all the protesting that he didn't care.

"Ace is good." It was strong too and somehow he thought Max, who waa rhe name giver in his life, would even like it.

[st_arkintern]

It's hard for Peter to hide precisely how pleased he is that Alec agreed so easily. He'd chosen it specifically because it had most of the characters in Alec's name.

"Great!" Peter grins, then strokes Ace's back. "Do you have everything that Ace's going to need yet?" Litter, litter box, food... what else did a cat need?

[st_x5_494]

Alec blinked. "I told you, he followed me home." Okay, not entirely literally. "The chef makes chicken, so it's not like he's going to be starving."

Alec had no idea what a cat needed.

[st_arkintern]

"What about a litter box? Litter?" Peter might not have ever owned a cat, but he at least knows the basics of what a cat needs. "We're going to have to make sure he has a place to use the bathroom."

Probably the most important part, but still, there's more.

"What about something to scratch? Or toys?" Peter frowns, thinking. "We might be able to make something for him." They still needed to worry about the litter box and litter, though.