Parenting?

I was alone in my house that Sunday morning. Well, not exactly alone. There was a tiny cat who would start screaming at me if I went into the bathroom. I know there are people out there who find it funny, but I’m not pooping with a cat staring at me.

I had to be careful of Cake’s clinginess. On the one hand, it was cute. On the other, it was dangerous for both of us. I read that it was important to set boundaries, but at the same time, this cat had been separated from its family early on. Of course she’d be clingy. Balancing affection with rule enforcing was a tough act. It made me believe I understood just a tiny bit of what being a parent was like.

Anyway, the girls would arrive in about an hour, so I decided to play with Cake in the living room until she got tired. That said, the girl had energy. I was waving this wand with a feathered toy tied to it by a cord and Cake would not get tired of chasing it. The first time she jumped high to catch it I was so surprised I started laughing.

I waited a bit to feed her, though. I still remembered how she reacted to my girlfriends, and that was just unacceptable. And as you know by now, I’m not big on choosing one thing over the other, so I had plans to let Cake get accustomed to the girls.

The bell rang at 11:00 am. I went to open the door and saw all three girls there. They all came in Sarah’s car.

“Morning!” Mila greeted cheerfully.

“Morning.” I made space at the door to let them in. For a moment I thought Grace was giving me a scrutinizing look, but that went away just as she kissed my cheek.

“Are you alone?” Sarah asked, fixing on her shoulder the backpack she was carrying.

“Not if you count her,” I said, looking behind me towards the approaching cat.

“Cake!” Mila was about to rush to the kitten, but I held her back.

“Wait. I have a plan.”

I led the girls to the kitchen and Cake followed. She knew what was supposed to happen and was eagerly waiting for it. It distracted her from the fact that there were strangers around.

I had already prepared her formula, so I filled the syringe and picked Cake up. The kitten forgot all about the world and drank her milk in pure bliss. But after the first few sips, I looked at Mila and gave her the syringe.

“M-Me?”

“Yeah. Just do it slowly.”

Mila swallowed, inched the syringe closer to Cake’s mouth and watched as the cat completely forgot she disliked her and drank her milk.

“Oh my God!” Mila squealed in hushed tones. “She’s adorable!”

After a few more sips, Mila gave the syringe to Grace, and then Grace gave it to Sarah. They kept feeding the cat in my arms until she drank three syringes worth of milk. We watched Cake lick her mouth and whiskers.

“I’m gonna steal her from you,” Grace said, giggling.

“This isn’t my only weapon, you know?” I smirked. We went up to my room, where the girls easily made themselves comfortable on my bed. I set Cake there as well and brought out the ultimate weapon from my drawer. “Here you go,” I told Mila, passing her a cat brush.

Mila reached for Cake tentatively, but the moment the brush made contact with her back, the purring began.

“You’re a cat whisperer already, aren’t you?” Sarah said, surprised.

I shrugged and sat down on the bed as well. “She likes eating and getting brushed. I don’t want her to act aggressive towards guests, so I read on how to fix those bad habits.”

“What a responsible parent,” Grace teased.

I kept a straight face, but I felt my cheeks heat up. “My sister brought her, but I agreed to be responsible for her, too. I need to do my part.”

“And that means staying home with the cat while she goes out?” Sarah asked me.

“I volunteered,” I clarified. “It meant that… You know, I could… invite you over.”

Grace crawled on the bed and hugged me from behind, planting soft kisses on my neck. “Do you have dirty ideas in that pretty head of yours?”

“Kind of, but I can wait until next week if you girls prefer to do something else.”

“Oh no, sir.” Sarah stood up and moved to sit on my lap. “I haven’t had enough of my weekly dose of you.”

Cake seemed to realize I was getting attention from the girls, and she didn’t like it. She hissed as threateningly as a tiny cat could, which wasn’t much, but even so, I wouldn’t have it.

“Cake!” I said, raising my voice. “No!”

The kitten flinched, lowering both her head and her ears. I tapped Sarah on the leg to ask her to move. She did so blinking at me, almost like she didn’t know me.

I stood and picked Cake up. “I’ll have none of that.”

I left the girls in my room while I took Cake down the stairs and to the laundry room. I left her on her bed, made sure she had enough water, and once she had forgotten what happened, I left and closed the door.

She’d played for a long while, and she still had her toys. It was fine to leave her alone for a bit, right? I would check up on her later.

I went back to my room, but before I went in, I overheard something.

“Makes you believe he’d be a good dad, right?” Mila said.

“A strict one, surprisingly,” Sarah said, laughing. “But yeah.”

That’s when I walked in. “I hope you’re not talking about me.”

“We were,” Grace clarified with a sweet smile. “Is there a problem?”

“Cats and humans are completely different,” I said.

“I’m sure there are some transferable skills,” Grace said.

“I’m not sure about that.” I sighed. “Not like it matters. I’m not planning on being a dad anytime soon.”

Sarah snickered. “That coming from the mouth of someone who’s been finishing inside for about two months.”

I flinched. “Y-You’re taking pills.”

“We could stop and not tell you,” Mila teased.

I nodded. “You’re right. I’ll start using condoms.”

“No!” shouted the three girls at the same time, all of whom blushed deeply after the fact.

“I-I mean… It’s not necessary, right?” Mila tried to laugh it off.

“Pills are a better contraceptive than condoms, anyway,” Grace said. “Proven to be more than 99% effective if used correctly, which we do. Condoms are only 98% effective.”

“Y-Yeah! Do you really want to risk that 2%, Oliver?” Mila asked.

“Does it have to be either or?” I asked.

“I got used to doing it raw,” Sarah said, strengthening her face despite the blush. “I’ll even get an IUD if you’re worried.”

I crossed my arms and grinned. “Only one person here is being honest.”

“An IUD wouldn’t be a bad idea, actually…” Grace said, choosing to ignore my teasing.

I sighed with a smile, taking a moment to take it all in. I was talking about the method of contraception we chose to use with my three girlfriends. At the very least, mom couldn’t tell me I wasn’t being responsible.

Author's Note: Consider supporting the story on Patreon. Up to 8 chapters ahead of what's public. Updates on Mondays and Thursdays, two chapters at a time. I recently started adding some commentary on my thought process for how and why I write certain things for those interested.

Also, I just noticed this is my 1000th chapter here in Chyoa among all the things I've written. Wild how time flies. Scary thing.