Waking Up, kitten!Niall (original) (raw)

Zayn wakes up to the rustling of his bed sheets as Harry joins him and Niall under the covers, jostling them about as he slides in and snugs up against Niall’s back. It is way too early to even think about being awake, and Zayn’s eyelids are heavy as he comes to, the taste of sleep still thick on his tongue.

“Okay there, Hazza?” he murmurs, shifting over a little to make more room on the bed. Harry just yawns and closes his eyes in response, curling tighter into Niall as he presses his nose to the back of the kitten’s neck.

The light filtering in from the window shades is grey and hazy, and Zayn can feel Niall rubbing his scratchy cheek on his chest as he lets out a loud little sigh, adjusting to Harry’s weight and frowning at the disturbance. Zayn reaches up to pet Niall’s head, fingers running through his unruly hair to try and quiet his snufflings. He is never going to want to get up for work at this rate, not with two sleep-warm kittens in his bed, and he can feel himself drifting off again, lulled by the warmth of Niall beside him and the soft sounds of his breath.

The four of them have managed to develop somewhat of a routine since the kittens have been adopted, and Harry almost always joins him and Niall in bed after Liam’s gone off to work. His job as a trainer at one of the mega sport complexes downtown means he keeps the most ungodly hours, and he’s usually up and out of the flat before the sun rises. Zayn’s job provides him with a little more freedom, something that suits him just fine, and being able to wake up at a semi-decent hour of the morning is definitely a plus.

He’s been able to do a portion of his work from home ever since he started working as a graphic designer straight out of uni, and the flexibility helps now that the flat is currently occupied by two easily-bored, mischievous kittens. It’s been a little more challenging keeping on task with them in the house, especially when Niall bullies his way inside Zayn’s office, demanding pets and scritches before settling down in the largest patch of sunlight, tail flicking lazily like a broken metronome. He’s not too much of a distraction, if you don’t call chasing Harry around and trying to bite at his tail or climbing on all the furniture or randomly trying to crawl into Zayn’s lap for a cuddle distracting. Zayn has learned to tune most of it out while he’s working, but no matter what he’s in the middle of Niall always perks up right around lunchtime, nudging Zayn’s legs and letting out the most pathetic little meows to let Zayn know that it is definitely time for him to eat something so Niall can sit at his feet and look longingly at his sandwich. Zayn wouldn’t be surprised if he’s lost some weight in the past month, considering Niall ends up eating half of everything Zayn tries to put in his mouth.

“For someone so small you can really pack it away, eh, Niall?” Zayn always says, but Niall’s usually too busy licking the pads of Zayn’s fingers with his rough tongue to pay him any notice.

Zayn nuzzles his face down into Niall’s soft hair and tries not to think about everything he has to get done at the office today. God, he hopes his morning meeting won’t last forever. He was planning on taking the kittens to the park a few blocks over afterwards, letting them work off some energy after too many days inside. Niall and Harry are better at being left alone now, though the less said about that first week of “back to work” adjustment the better. Zayn and Liam know now how long they can leave the kittens unattended before they get restless, before they come home to a flat that looks like a windstorm swept through it, with Niall and Harry sleeping innocently on a mound of fluff and feathers that used to be Liam’s very expensive duvet. Liam actually managed to be cross for all of two minutes before Harry’s big green eyes made him crumble like the giant softie he is.

“Aw, bless. Look at him, Zayn! I’m sure they wouldn’t have done it on purpose,” he said, giving in to Harry’s nuzzling as the kitten purred loudly on his lap. Zayn just narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Harry is a lot more devious than Liam gives him credit for, he thinks, along with being the most pampered hybrid Zayn has ever seen. Liam wasn’t kidding when he said he did his research, and Harry is on a strict regimen of vitamins, organic kitten food, and daily grooming that involves a massive amount of shopping trips and charts. Harry preens under the attention, submitting to the incessant brushings with the promise of snacks and belly rubs and only sometimes makes Liam chase him around the flat so he can force him to brush his teeth. The best is when Harry gets into one of his moods and plays hide-and-seek with Liam’s trainers or his favorite jacket (and even a few times his keys) in order to prevent him from getting anywhere in a timely fashion.

“Where did I put the bloody thing? I swear I just had it!” Liam says, hand scrubbing violently over his buzz cut. He looks so bewildered that Zayn can’t help but laugh from the couch while Harry just looks on innocently, pretending not to notice that he’s sitting on Liam’s missing jumper.

Zayn’s approach to hybrid ownership is, unsurprisingly, a lot more laid back, but Niall could run the most organized person ragged with his boundless energy and curiosity. He’s managed to explore every crawl space in the flat, knocked over numerous picture frames and knickknacks, broken two lamps, and even gotten himself locked in a particularly tricky broom cupboard for half the day. Zayn nearly had a fit when he came home and heard the yowling. He rushed around to find a frantic Harry trying to scratch down the door before he figured out what was going on, and when he finally jimmied the door open Niall shot out like his tail was on fire, leaving a destroyed cupboard in his wake. Niall spent the rest of the evening glued to his side, curled up under Liam’s Granny’s ancient quilt, demanding pets and attention for surviving his harrowing ordeal.

Liam had just chuckled at the pair of them.

“You’re really good with him you know,” he said, smiling fondly at Niall as the kitten crunched down on the crisps Zayn was feeding him. “I was a bit worried about it all working out, but I have to say that you’re managing quite well. You’re a natural.”

Zayn just looked down at Niall and scratched that spot under his chin that made him close his eyes and stretch out his legs. “He makes it easy, I think. Drives me crazy sometimes, but I already don’t know what I’d do without him.” Zayn thinks he would be a lot lonelier.

Having Niall around is kind of like having a little furry shadow. His favorite pastime, besides eating and napping, is to follow Zayn around the flat, generally getting underfoot and chittering away at anything and nothing. More often than not Zayn will find himself responding, asking for Niall’s opinions on everything from what he should make for supper to which design layout he likes best. Zayn can usually tell what Niall’s thinking by the ridiculous faces he makes, and Niall always lets his opinions be heard loud and clear in his own kitten language.

Niall seems to like it best when Zayn’s singing, humming along to the radio or the latest song stuck in his head while he has his tea, passing bits of biscuits down to Niall as the kitten puts his head in his lap, eyes closed in bliss. Most of the time he just stares at Zayn, entranced, and sometimes Zayn can get him to sing along, tiny chirps and meows that warble along with the melody. Zayn’s managed to record some clips on his phone, showing them off to his mates like a proud mum.

The blare of his alarm startles Zayn out of his doze, and he reaches out to blindly bat at his nightstand, grumbling when he finally snatches up his mobile. He moans quietly and stretches, careful of the sleeping kitten twined around him, and tries to work up the energy to actually get out of his warm bed and into the shower. Having a lie in is the much more attractive option, but he thinks of the proposal notes he still has to go over and about how the sooner he leaves the sooner he gets to come home. He’s already envisioning spending the evening watching X Factor with Liam, cringing at some of the less-than-stellar performances and trying to keep Niall from sticking his whole head into the popcorn bowl.

Niall lifts his head up when Zayn finally rolls out of bed, annoyed at having his warm, snuggly pillow snatched away. Even his hair looks grumpy, full of whorls and snarls and all pushed down on the left side, and Zayn knows he’s going to have to wrestle him down later to try and force it into submission. Maybe he can stop by the Tesco after work and pick up something to bribe him with.

“Don’t worry, Nialler,” Zayn says, voice rough from sleep as he sits down on the edge of the bed to tuck the kitten back in. “I’ll say goodbye before I go. You stay here and keep Harry warm for me, yeah?”

Niall lets out a displeased little rumble, but he’s already cuddling back down into the sheets, yawning as Zayn scratches gently behind his ears. Harry wraps his arm tighter around Niall’s waist, pulling him into the curve of his body and fitting their legs together as Zayn tucks the covers in around them. He’ll have to snap a picture to send to Liam before he goes.

Zayn kisses the top of their heads and stumbles off to the bathroom before he makes himself late. The skies are still grey and cloudy, and it’s still too bloody early, but it’s not so bad, he decides, not when he has Niall to come back to, not when he has someone waiting for him to come home.