Chapter Text
"Gerald Anthony Generazzo, do you not know the meaning of the word,'no'?!"
This was going worse than Jerry thought it would. He'd hoped that when his mother came home from work to the sink emptied of the past two days of dishes, freshly mopped floors, and dinner in the oven, she would be softened up for the reveal. What he hadn't accounted for was the exact thing he'd been hoping to hide until the right moment running up to investigate her at the door.
Jerry shifts from foot to foot, holding the small bundle of scruffy black fur tighter to his chest. Orecchiette mewls protestfully against him, squirming against his constricting grip. Carefully loosening his hold until he only had a firm grip on her rather than suffocating, and she settles until her cold nose is pressed against his neck. Curling up in his hands, Orecchiette turns her head, most likely to give his mother the same orange-eyed, distrusting look that she had given him some weeks ago before he had persuaded her with some leftover ham from his sandwich.
"She's my friend," he replies stubbornly, heels planted firmly against the hardwood. "I can't just put her outside after I said she could come in!" If his mother decided to actually grab him by the arm, he didn't have any doubts that she could haul him out the door and toss him into the alleyway with his new friend, but he was holding onto hope that his mother would stay reasonable.
Although judging by the expression on her face, he was fighting a losing battle. She had her 'you-must-have-lost-your-damn-mind' expression on her face. Lips thinned and arms crossed, his mother glowered down at him and the little ball of fluff in his arms. By the minute his chances were lowering at a disturbing rate, and it seemed he was only minutes from the point of no return, where not even his cry-on-command tactic would work.
"We are not having a cat in this house!" she declares, voice leaving no room for discussion. This wasn't good. She was doing that thing with her eyebrows she only did when she had really had it. "Animals belong outside, Gerald. As in: not in this house."
"She was scared and hungry! She needs help!" Jerry shot back, clutching the little black kitten in his arms tightly. "She needs a home, we have a home… it all fits!"
His mother shook her head, muttering to herself under her breath. Orecchiette's little whiskers tickle his neck as she squirms, unsettled by the yelling and offers her own contribution with a tiny mew. "Where did you even find her? I haven't seen any kittens around here."
"I found her by the glade-"
"The glade?! What were you doing in the glade?!"
Uh oh. Her voice went up.
"And by yourself?! There are bears there, honey, it's not safe!" Her hand falls to his shoulder, heavy and tight, nails digging into his raglan shirt. Her blue painted nails matched the fabric just right. He'd painted them two days ago, but they'd already chipped on the corner of her index finger where she would always pick them. "Honestly, when did you even have time?"
Coolly, Jerry adjusted the kitten in his arms, petting her with a heavy hand, hoping to calm her protestful mewling. "While you were at work," he replies with a calm he doesn't feel. This is getting very rapidly out of hand. "Why does that matter? I was careful. That's how I found her-"
"I cannot believe you went there without telling me-"
"You didn't even notice I left!" Jerry snaps, shrugging her hand off his shoulder and taking a step back. He could run to his room if he needed to buy time, but that's all it would do. Buy time. In his arms, Orecchiette mews and pushes against him with tiny paws, her even tinier, needle-like kitten claws. "You weren't even here! Why do I have to be stuck in here and alone? Why does she have to be outside, by herself? Why can't she be here with me, when she needs a home?"
His mom's expression twitches, the raging wildfire of anger at his disobedience dimming to a slightly guilty expression. "Jerry, she most likely already has a home. Her mom might be looking for her-"
"She doesn't!" he interrupts, words rushing out like a geyser. "I've been asking people if they're missing a kitten and they all said no! I've been feeding her for a week or two, and I never saw a mama cat at all!" When Jerry looks up at his mother, he doesn't bother to hide the desperation growing on his face. "Please, Mom?" Jerry looks up at her, eyes wet and pathetic, watching the raging forest fire slowly dim to a tamable campfire. "I have you to look after me, but she doesn't have anybody."
The campfire smolders down into the warmth of the hearth he knows so well, his mother's shoulders slumping in exhaustion. He doesn't feel good about exploiting that. His mom has been so tired from working extra hours with clients that she hasn't had as much time to spend with him, and he knows she feels guilty about it. Even so, he'd feel even worse if she made him leave Orecchiette out in the cold. With a sigh, his mom lays a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, how about this: she can stay here-"
"Yes!" Jerry exclaims immediately, grinning brightly even as his celebration is cut short by the lift of a single finger.
"But," she says pointedly, "When your father comes to pick you up, she goes with him. He's going to have much more time and space for a cat, anyways."
Jerry didn't have to think about it for a second. "Yes! Thank you! Thank you, Mom!"
A smile curled at the corner of her lips and the hand his mom had laid on his shoulder gentles, tugging him in close for a hug. Sensing the danger is over, Jerry relaxes, heels un-dug from the floor and shuffles forward until he's embraced in warm, familiar arms. Securing the little cat in one arm he wraps the other around his mom, relaxing into the familiar touch. Arms wrapping around his shoulders, his mother held him close. "You're welcome, baby. I love you, okay?"
"I love you too, Mom." Jerry pressed his face into her belly and hugged her extra tight so she would extra know it. "You're the best."
When Jerry looked up, his mom smiled down at him. He smiled back, wide and relieved as her hand brushed over his brown hair fondly. Blue eyes crinkled at the corners and all the exhaustion seemed to leave her for a moment, taking the tenseness in his shoulders with it. "But she's going to be your responsibility to take care of in the meantime, alright?" his mom said, stern and sudden, although the smile didn't completely leave her lips.
"I know." With a smile, Jerry pulled Orecchiette up from where she was slipping and rubbed behind her ears. Hesitantly, his mother did the same and they both smiled when the kitten leaned her little head into the touch, eyes squinting happily. "I will!"
His mother's smile returned, the tired lines in her face disappearing before his eyes. "Alright, let me go. I've got to put the bird in-"
"I already got it!" Jerry chirps, releasing his mother from the hug and standing up straight. Orecchiette began to playfully chomp at her tail, grabbing it with frantic paws. "I put, um, a timer on."
Peering down at him, Jerry's mother smiles, her eyes flicking from the floor to his face. "…Did you mop the floors too?"
Jerry nods quietly and his mom ruffles his hair fondly. "You're such a good kid. Thank you, Jer-Bear, that's very helpful." Leaning into the touch, Jerry's mom brushes her thumb over his cheek. "What would I do without you? Here, why don't you go get your new friend situated and I'll take it from here, Deputy."
"Yes, Sheriff!" Jerry cheers, saluting her before scampering up the stairs to his room, heart lighter than it had been in a while.
He rushes into his room, grinning widely to himself as he closes the door. Orecchiette would get to stay! Sure, apparently his dad was supposed to take her, but he was sure his mom would let her stay once she got to know her. Maybe if a mouse got in, Orecchiette would catch it, and then his mom would be so thankful that she'd forget all about giving her to his dad!
"It's okay, Orecchiette," Jerry says, setting her squirming body down. "You can stay in my room." She wriggles at the last moment, her side settling on the hardwood first before she sweeps her paws under her. Orecchiette turns to him and blinks her orange lamp-like eyes, watching as he sits down on the floor next to her. Despite demanding he let her down moments ago, she stomps back over to him and begins grabbing his shoelaces with small swats.
She looked much better than she had when he'd found her. No more matted fur or scabbed ears, and although her eyes were still a little crusty, they didn't seem to be bothering her nearly as much. After a few dish soap baths, she wasn't itching as much anymore, either. The last of his allowance had gone into a couple of cans of cat food and her flea collar. Now that he thought about it… she would need some name tags too. Maybe the neighbors would pay him if he weeded…? Mr. English two doors down usually had some chore or another that needed doing, but he didn't pay much-
A small thump interrupted his thoughts. Blinking, Jerry looked down at Orecchiette who was now quite tangled in his shoestrings. Her rump was in the air, shoelaces twisted all around her and in her paws, with one struggling to retract her claw from the fabric. Her big eyes looked up at him, unblinking as she turned her head in a dizzy, twitchy movement to catch the lace again in her teeth and began to chew.
Although it was obvious she was right where she wanted to be, Jerry grinned and knelt down in front of the kitten trap to rescue her all the same. "Geez… Come here, you silly girl. You got your paws all tangled up!" Picking the little black kitten up in one hand, he struggles through separating the cat from the strings. Although Orecchiette gets distracted through much of it by the movement of the laces being pulled free, he finally manages to end with two shoes that were now knotted impossibly together, and one newly freed black kitten.
Taking a seat on his bed, he set her down and watched as she investigated his cowboy bedspread, disturbing the neatly made bed as she bounced along, grabbing the folds in her claws and kicking it. With a laugh, Jerry unhooked her claws again when they got stuck in the fabric. They left little loops of ruined threads behind, but he didn't mind. If things weren't perfect, then that meant his new best friend was around, and that made them good enough to him. Purring, Orecchiette crawled into his lap and knead her paws on his leg as if she were working on a lump of dough, her little claws poked through the denim. Jerry stroked her head, rubbing his thumb against her little black whiskers and along her cheek.
"Don't worry. Everything's going to be okay, as long as we stick together," he told the kitten who cuddled closer in his arms. Wrapping his arms around her, he felt her little ribs and the powerful purr that vibrated out from within them. As Jerry lay his head against the kittens, he smiled to himself. "I'm going to take good care of you from now on, and you'll never be alone again. I promise."