cat in the window

1

Dream's apartment felt lifeless.

The living room window was cracked open to let the summer breeze pour in, but not so much that the room would become warm. At his parents home, he had a room decorated in art and posters, he had his desk space. His little sister would come into his room and frequently mess things up, but people filled up the space and made it feel more real. In the apartment, there was nothing like that. Even when Sapnap would come over, he couldn't make it feel full enough.

Sapnap. Shit. They were supposed to meet up for lunch - Dream looked at his phone - in 3 minutes.

Dream grabbed his skateboard that was leaning against the wall before leaving his apartment, hurrying down the stairwell. He hopped on his board as soon as he got outside the building, swerving through the sporatic groups of people, the Florida sun beating down on him.

Luckily, their usual lunch spot wasn't terribly far from Dream's new apartment, and on his board he arrived less than 10 minutes late.

He walked in, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, grinning at his friend when he saw him inside.

"Dream!" Sapnap hummed, patting the seat next to him. "Fashionably late, I see."

Dream rolled his eyes, asking the server for a glass of water. "By like, 5 minutes."

"Make that 7." Sapnap corrected, earning a soft chuckle from Dream. When the server came back around, Dream ordered his usual, the two enjoying their food and talking amongst each other.

"Your parents called you yet?" Sapnap was chewing loudly on his fries, pausing to ask Dream the question. Dream looked up at Sapnap through his eyebrows, smirking and looking back down at his meal.

"3 times this morning alone." Dream mumbled, taking a bite of the sandwich he was so accustomed to. "Would you be able to help me move some stuff around?"

"Like, today?" Sapnap furrowed his eyebrows, receiving a nod from Dream. "Can't, sorry. I have stuff to do for school."

Dream groaned. Sapnap was in a computer science program at the community college, and when he wasn't working on school stuff he was with Dream. Guess his apartment would have to keep feeling empty for a while.

The boys finished their food and paid, going in the same direction. Sapnap lived a few blocks farther from Dream's apartment.

Dream carried his board by his side as they walked, a few clouds rolling in above them. "I'll admit, it feels empty." Dream started. "Lonely, I guess."

"Is that why you wanted me around?" Sapnap teased, getting a grin from Dream. "Do you just wanna get more stuff to fill up the space?"

"I dunno.." Dream mused, slowing as they neared his complex. He glanced down the alleyway next to the tall building. It was between his apartment and a small restaurant, a large dumpster further back with 3 or 4 cats around it. "I kind of need something alive. Like a cat."

One of them walked out of the alleyway, sitting and swishing it's tail, admiring the two. It had a grey coat and a few mats in its fur, but looked pretty content otherwise.

"I guess you couldn't take Patches with you." Sapnap looked over at all the cats and turned up his nose at the smell of trash. Dream had zoned out, absentmindedly staring at the stray cats. "Dream?"

Dream averted his attention back to Sapnap, remembering what he was asked. "Uh, no." Dream scoffed. "My sister wanted to have her around.. I figured I'd let Patches stay."

Sapnap chuckled and stood in front of the apartment, Dream stopping in front of the glass doors. "Let me know when you're available next." Sapnap nodded and they waved goodbye, Dream taking the elevator back up to his floor.

He set his board down where it was before, heading to his room to set up his computer. Although he had plenty of other boxes to unpack, he relied on his computer for work as a programmer.

Dream glanced out the window. The dark clouds that were looming over got darker, and rain eventually started to drizzle down. He could see the top of the restaurant next door from his window. The overhang covered the area where he and Sapnap saw the cats by the dumpster, and Dream opened the window and leaned out. He decided to keep it open as he busied himself, setting his computer up and unpacking some of the boxes specific to his room, procrastinating his work.

Dream jumped when he saw the cat in his window. It was the grey one he saw earlier, but up close Dream could see it had a blue tint to its coat. And the eyes were unique; one was blue and the other brown. "Hey little buddy..." Dream mumbled, setting down what he had in his hands and stepping closer to the window. The cat was extremely thin, malnourished almost, and its underside was covered in mud. Dream reached his hand out hesitantly, scratching the top of the cats head, noticing a black collar with a tag.

"Do you belong to someone?" The cat mewled and sat on the thin window ledge. "If you do, they sure don't take care of you. You look hungry." The cat leaned down, jumping off the ledge and inspecting the room.

Dream was quick to pick it up, his hands wrapping around its thin body. "You're all muddy... Will you hate me if I give you a bath?" He headed towards the bathroom and set the cat in his tub, the animal not seeming to care as it licked its paw.

"I'll take that as a no." Dream started the water and the cat pawed at the puddle pooling around its feet. It clearly didn't mind, maybe because it knew how filthy it was. Dream ran his fingers through the mats, which weren't as bad as he thought, the cat meowing and rubbing its face into his hands. He could only give the cat a rinse but the cat seemed to enjoy it.

"G..." He mumbled, reading the engraved letter from the metal tag on its collar, which was well worn out. Dream figured it was the first letter of its name.

He picked the cat up in a towel, bringing it out to the kitchen and looking in his cupboards. He hadn't done a proper grocery trip so all he could offer was a can of fish in brine, opening it and setting it on the floor.

"Hope you don't mind. It's all I've really got." Dream mumbled, the cat sniffing it before starting to eat. He watched for a moment before going back to his room, continuing his work on an important project, now that he had fewer distractions.

Dream hadn't realized how much time had passed until he looked outside. The sun had started setting. The cat he fed crawled onto his bed at some point and curled up, fast asleep. Dream smiled at it, spinning in his desk chair and petting its head. The cat blinked its eyes open and stretched out.

"Had a good sleep?" Dream hummed, leaning forward and touching his nose to the cat's. The cat's eyes widened at the action and it stood up, walking towards the window.

"You're not gonna stay?" Dream asked, slight disappointment in his voice. The cat meowed and hopped onto the ledge, looking at Dream and swishing its tail, before carefully jumping to the roof of the restaurant and walking across it. Dream poked his head out of the window. "I'll leave the window open for you."

The cat looked back before it disappeared into the sunset, and Dream leaned back in his chair. He hoped it would come back.