Chapter Text
Mark her words: Louise Belcher was not a cat person. So when she received a text from Logan, featuring an orange tabby and the words ‘Our newest roommate’, she was not thrilled at all.
The minute she got home from work, Louise headed straight to the upstairs portion of the house and pounded on the door. “It’s open!” Logan hollered from somewhere.
She passed through the kitchen and into the living room, where her upstairs neighbor lay in the middle of the floor with a sleeping cat on his chest. He barely moved his head to acknowledge Louise’s appearance. “Listen, he won't pay rent, but I think he makes up for it with how cute he is.”
She crossed her arms, peering down at the snoozing feline. “Then why am I still paying rent?” Louise crouched down, staring at the little guy’s face. He had a pink nose and his tongue was barely sticking out between his teeth. Okay, he was pretty cute.
“Because you don’t look this cute when you’re sleeping,” Logan scratched the cat’s neck and suddenly the sound of a small engine started coming from the cat.
Louise knelt and put her hand on the cat’s stomach. “Why the hell is it vibrating?”
“It’s called purring. Have you never met a cat?”
“My Aunt Gayle had tons, but I’ve never seen them look this happy.” When Louise lifted her hand, the cat’s eyes shot open and it looked up at her. It made a high pitched chirping sound, as if asking, Why’d you do that? “So, what’re you gonna do with it?”
Logan raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“Like, are you going to give it to a shelter? Or sell it to someone you know?” A horrible thought struck her and she immediately shook her head. “Wait, don’t tell me you’re actually thinking of keeping it.”
“Of course I am!” Logan shifted up onto his elbows, peering down at the cat with a grin. “Look at his face! I can’t just give away something this squishable and soft.”
“You don’t know the first thing about taking care of a cat.”
“It can’t be that hard.” They watched as the cat stood up on Logan’s chest and arched its back, stretching. He winced as the cat’s paws dug deep into his stomach, before it slunk off Logan and onto the ground. It looked up at Louise with big, green eyes and rolled onto its back, showing off its fluffy stomach. Louise reached out with a tentative hand and slowly rubbed the cat’s stomach. Its purring immediately grew louder and the cat almost seemed to smile.
Logan sat up and reached towards the cat’s stomach, and the cat immediately batted away his hand. “Hey!” he complained, frowning at the little feline.
“HA! He likes me better than you!” Louise stuck her tongue out.
He scoffed. “Oh, please. He’s just sucking up to you to get what he wants.”
She patted the ground and the cat jumped up, trotting over and laying down right next to Louise. She scratched under his chin and could literally feel serotonin beginning to course through her body from this little cat. “So, what’s his name?”
Logan’s hand crept towards the cat sneakily, but the cat still batted him away. Scowling, he said, “Okay, so I was thinking. He’s orange, right? Like a pumpkin. But it’s almost Halloween, so instead of pumpkin, he could be Jack-O-Lantern! Jack for short, obviously.”
Louise hesitated. She couldn’t lie, it was a pretty cute name for a cat. But Logan came up with it. “Nah, he’s got more of a cheese vibe.”
“Cheese? How basic can you get?”
“Not just any cheese, Gouda. That’s gonna be his name, Gouda.”
Logan snorted. “There’s no way in hell that my cat is gonna be named after a cheese. Especially one that I’ve never even had.”
“You’ve never had our Up To No Gouda Burger?”
“Nope,” he popped the ‘p’.
“Huh. I’ll make you one and bring it over, ‘kay? It’s one of my favorites.” Gouda twisted onto his back and stretched, his white belly too irresistible to not scratch. The minute Louise tried it, he clung onto her hands and bit gently, kicking at her with his back feet like a rabbit. It wasn’t even painful, but it made Louise jump a bit. She yanked back her hand. “What the hell, Gouda??”
“He was playing,” Logan rolled his eyes. “And his name is Jack.”
Gouda looked up at her with such a soft gaze that she knew he was trying to apologize. Louise gave him her hand and he nibbled at it before licking it adamantly. “Since when do you know so much about cats?”
Logan shrugged, his gaze focused on the animal that had apparently decided Louise’s hand wasn’t clean enough for its standards. “One of my buddies growing up had one. Then I dated a girl for a bit who had one. Plus, I get lots of cat TikToks.”
“Of course you do.”
He glanced at his phone and appeared to startle at the time. “Oh, shit, I gotta get to Petsmart before it closes. This guy is about to get spoiled as hell.” Logan stood, brushing fur off his pants. Louise felt his cautious gaze towards her and Gouda before he asked tentatively, “Do you wanna come?”
Honestly, the idea of spoiling a creature as adorable as Gouda sounded like a good time. But, that meant she would have to go with Logan, and she also needed to get ready to go out with Rudy. “Sorry, Bush. I’ve got plans. I expect some cute pictures, though.”
“No problem.”
“Of the cat. ”
“Oh, that might be a problem. He’s too chaotic for me to get a picture of. I’ll try again, though. Just for you.” Logan winked and chuckled at his dumb joke.
Louise ignored him and gave Gouda one last pet before pushing herself off the ground and heading towards the door to her part of the house. She went about the rest of her evening normally, the animal slipping from her mind the minute she went out with Rudy. They went to Chili’s, got a little drunk, and caught up on each other’s drama.
It wasn’t until Louise stumbled down to her apartment, making her way blindly through the dark because she was too lazy to find the right lightswitch to turn on. She nearly made it to her room when she heard a distant wail.
“The fuck?” she muttered, turning on her bedroom light. Maybe it was her drunken self crying about how bad the hangover was going to be when she woke up?
But the little wail continued, over and over and over. Louise followed it, leading out into her kitchen and towards the stairs that led up to Logan’s house. She quietly climbed the flight, inching towards the sound. It got louder, its cry becoming higher pitched.
Oh! The cat!
Louise unlocked her side of the door and cracked it open, thanking the fates that Logan had forgotten to lock his side. Instantly, the small howling stopped and a ball of orange flew past Louise’s legs and down the stairs.
“Gouda, wait!” Louise hissed. She left the door cracked open and ran down after the cat, who was giving himself a careful tour of her apartment. He sniffed the dining table and the fridge before moving onto the living room.
Louise bounded after the animal and nearly scooped him up, but he was too nimble for her tipsy self. He darted into her bedroom and immediately jumped up onto her bed. Gouda quickly made himself at home on her bed, snuggling right up against the pillows. He purred so loud she could hear him from her doorway.
“Fine,” Louise groaned, pointing a finger at the cat. “But if you even think about peeing in my room, I’m kicking you out.”
After changing into some pajamas and brushing her teeth, Louise crawled under the covers right next to Gouda. He was almost asleep, but still purring away like a racecar. She pet behind Gouda’s ears and his purring got even louder.
“Yeah, you like me better, huh?” Louise cooed in an embarrassingly soft voice. “It’s okay, I do, too. I’m definitely the cooler one. You’re a smart cat.”
The sound of Gouda’s purr was too similar to the white noise machine that Louise had used when she was younger, and it lulled her to sleep almost instantaneously.
THUD.
Louise jumped awake with a start. Her eyes couldn’t focus in the dark, but her ears picked up the distant sound of chaos. Something clanked to the floor, followed by a light tapping sound. She narrowed her eyes. Gouda.
Tiptoeing into the kitchen, Louise turned on the light. Gouda paused mid-run, his ears flicked back and eyes wide. He was on the counter, climbing into the sink, and had the guiltiest look on his face.
Louise checked the time. 5:03 in the morning. “Really, Goud?” she groaned. “I only have two hours left till I gotta get up. Let’s go back to bed.” She hoisted the cat up into her arms and brought him back into her room. He squirmed a bit until he saw her bed, and quickly leapt from her arms to the mattress. He then plopped himself down right on top of her pillow.
“Ew, gross!” Louise grabbed him and put him next to her pillow. “There, that’s as close as you’re getting.” She crawled under the covers and stretched her legs a bit. Gouda froze in place before launching himself at her shifting feet. He grabbed at one of her feet with his paws and bit down on it. “What are you doing,” Louise mumbled, kicking him away. Gouda only took it as a challenge and pounced on her other foot. They went about this until Louise drifted back to sleep with Gouda gnawing on her toes.
She woke up only a couple more times because of Gouda and his playful antics, but the next thing that shocked Louise awake was someone pounding at the door.
“Open up!! Louise!! Jack is gone!!”
Louise rolled out of bed, grabbing her robe. Gouda yawned and stretched his back paws, blinking up at her with sleepy eyes. She shrugged and said, “Looks like your dad is going crazy.”
She strolled up the stairs lazily. Logan was on the other side, the door still cracked open. Louise crossed her arms and smirked. “Hey, dingus, it’s literally open.”
He didn’t even make a retort, only pushed the door open completely. “I’m not going to just barge into your place at 6:30 in the morning! But Jack, have you seen him? I can’t find him anywhere. ”
Louise yawned, stretching her arm and covering her mouth. “Your cat is an absolute menace, did you know that?”
As if on cue, the orange nuisance bounced up the stairs, his tail high and arched in the air. He gave a little mew and curled up on Logan’s feet. Logan’s shoulders heaved with relief and he bent over, picking up the cat and squeezing him tight.
“Dude!” he exclaimed to the cat. “I was worried sick! Seriously, I didn’t realize cats needed a curfew.”
“Maybe just yours. I think he was only following the example of his owner, by driving me insane all night.”
Logan’s eyes lit up and he grinned down at Gouda. “Jack! My man! You’re smarter than you look.” He set the cat down and let him run off into the upper part of the house. Logan shifted on his feet, glancing to the side. “Uh, thanks for indulging him, though. Sorry if he actually kept you up.”
Louise cocked an eyebrow. “An apology from Logan Bush himself? You really are different from when we were kids.” Then she shrugged, keeping him from making another snarky response. “It’s okay. Gouda is pretty cute. I--”
Of course, he stopped her short and protested, “His name is Jack. Jack-O-Lantern.”
“Gouda.”
“Jack.”
“He loves me more, so it’s definitely Gouda."
“Loves you mo--excuse you, I’m the one who rescued him!”
“And who did he decide to spend the night with?”
Logan spluttered. “I--you know--shut up, Four Ears.”
She snickered. “Nice one, Bush.”
He rolled his eyes. Logan paused for a moment, before asking, “Wanna see what I got him at Petsmart? There’s a dinosaur costume that I wanna stuff him in.”
Louise grinned. Sticking Gouda in a costume? “Hell yeah.”
Okay, so she might be a bit of a cat person.