#MY SHAYLAS I'VE MISSED THEM SO MUCH THIS FED SOMETHING WITHIN ME

[bratbarzal]

Cheet-spo (cheeto inspo)

this blurb was literally unavoidable after these pics!!! we love cheet-spo!! my hc that they were a dog family is firmly dead and buried!! CHEETO MY PRECIOUS LITTLE ANGEL!!!!!

(no comments on those last two looking like T I know your game)

anyways enjoy this sweet little on your side lore drop, obvs set way after the actual fic lmao

"Why is there a live animal on the couch with our daughter?"

Nico probably should have been listening out a little better for Poppy to get home - especially considering the pretty big secret he's been keeping from her all day, responding to all everything good? texts with as many kitten-less photos as he could take, careful of any stray hairs that might have been visible on their daughter's clothes.

Maybe if he'd have been on top of it, he could have made it all look a little better - perfected the whole bed and litter box set up so that he looks like the kind of person who can actually be a responsible cat-dad instead of leaving all the new purchases in a heap by the couch, too distracted with all the playing him and Lina had done. Little soft mice and cat teasers strewn across the floor, discarded once Lina did her tell-tale tired crawl into his lap.

Or maybe he wouldn't have left his daughter half-unsupervised with the pet, but he can still keep an eye on everything where he stands in the kitchen, and she's historically gentle with all animals. Plus, all the kitten has done all day is play and explore, and it seemed pretty exhausted - 10 minutes for him to get the dishes done before Poppy got home was all he really needed to sweeten the deal, he thought.

But she's a little earlier than he anticipated.

Or maybe she's not, and he had just lost track of time as he so often does when him and his daughter have their rare full days together, just the two of them.

"Don't be mad," he holds his hands up, soapy residue dripping down past his wrists as he holds a plate in one and a sponge in the other. "Google said that a pet is a great way to teach babies how to share space with another living thing. It's meant to help them be more responsible."

"I swear we've talked before about Google, baby," Poppy huffs, "You don't think you could have talked to me first before you went and got a cat?"

"Well, it kind of ended up just happening." Nico winces, realising he probably should have called, or texted, or even just spoken to her about it at any point before bringing the little fur ball home.

"Right," she snickers, "You just happened upon that tiny Pinterest cat over there." Poppy hook her thumb back toward the perfect view of his little Lina Bug cuddling up to the creature, blinking sleepily as she watches TV with it in her lap.

"Well we were out walking today, and there was this adoption drive at the park, and what was I supposed to do, Poppy, tell her no?"

"Kinda." Poppy laughs, and Nico's thankful for the turn of her lips, because he really doesn't want her to be upset with him. It really had been a spur of the moment thing - if he'd have known the drive was at the park, he might have gone a different route.

Plus, Lina's walking so well now - toddling along at a safe distance where he doesn't always have to hold her hand but he still wants to - and she had found all the animals before he had any chance to stop her or do anything about it.

He thinks that he and Poppy are actually pretty lucky it was the cats that caught her eye - god help them if they had to have a puppy in the house.

"And you don't always come across kittens that cute at the shelter, you know, it was a no-waiting-around kind of situation." He defends himself, drying off his hands with a towel before he throws it to the side.

The cat really is adorable - picturesque like Poppy said; fluffy as hell, despite the fact the lady at the shelter called it a shorthair, and a gorgeous grey colour.

"Was it really?" Poppy's pretty eyes are narrowed his way, glinting under the dim light in the kitchen, the rest of her glowing in tandem, it seems.

"Yes. She's been asking me for a kitty for a while, now," he smiles softly, opening his arms for her to walk into, hands splayed out on her hips when she's close enough and tugging her the rest of the way until she bumps straight into him. "Like non-stop, and she's convincing, babe, you know that, one flash of those big brown eyes and I fold."

"I'm familiar with the technique." Poppy snarks, her hands swatting at his chest before she uses them to hold him back, trailing around the side of his neck and playing with the hair he's been meaning to get cut for a few weeks now. "You know she's calling you Kitty, right? She wasn't asking you for a cat."

"Me?" He frowns, "Why would she be calling me Kitty?"

"Monsters Inc, babe," Poppy raises a brow in amusement, her fingers coming down to slide gently along his bulky forearms, tickling delicately as she goes, pushing against the dark hairs that line them all the way from past his elbows to just past his wrists. "You're big and fuzzy like Sully, and she's tiny and adorable like Boo."

"Oh," Nico pouts, thick brows slanting in the middle as he peers over into the living room, where their daughter is cuddling with the little ball of fur in her lap, calm and quiet as Bluey plays on the television. She wears her hair in little pigtails that he is sure were much neater when he did them earlier in the day - he's getting better at piggies or bunnies, he swears - and he can see it, now, with the context. She'd been asking him for piggybacks, more, too. She'd even thrown a sock at him when he changed her earlier and darted off in a clumsy run, a combination of screams and giggles ricocheting off the walls. "Was that her logic or yours?"

"Is there even a difference?" Poppy scoffs, turning in his hold as she watches the scene, too, her head resting back against his chest.

"Probably not," he chuckles, his arm extending around her frame so that he can hold her there, and the two of them stay in that position for a minute or two, a blissful, serene silence filling the air around them. "Can you try make this next one a little more like me?" he asks, lips pressing to her temple and his hands coming to rest on Poppy's stomach, fingers flexing around the swell of her bump and a reminiscent smile tugging at his lips at the feeling.

"I don't know, I think she's a lot more like you than you realise." Poppy's sigh is a little dreamy, probably in the same headspace as him, he thinks, her body lax and melty in front of him until it all of a sudden isn't. "Watch this."

Poppy peels herself from his body and heads straight for Lina, smiling soft as she kneels beside her, reaching out to stroke along the cat's back whenever their daughter leaves her space to do so.

"Hey Lina-Bug," he hears, Poppy's tone soft and melodic, specific to his little girl's ears. "What do you think you're gonna call your new kitty, huh?"

"I fink," their baby girl's voice is sweet too, dragging out the word as she takes a moment to ponder her answer, Poppy's eyes darting knowingly upward to meet his at the sound of the subtle mis-pronunciation. "Möckli."

Nico can't help the snort that comes out at the name, fist coming to his face in an attempt to conceal his amusement as he watches Poppy's face slowly turn in recognition.

It's what he'd called the kitten when he had belted the carrier in the back of the car beside Lina after they left the shelter, earlier. She'd picked the fattest one in the litter, it's face all rounded and the abundance of fur doing little to lessen it's plump-ness.

He keeps forgetting what Poppy tries to remind him - that tiny ears pick up everything.

But at least he'd only called it little chunk, and not something rude or inappropriate.

"That's very cute, baby," Poppy coos, tickling at the kitten's chin and smiling herself when it starts to purr back. She does the same to Lina's chin, which doubles when she giggles a little in response. "Five more minutes then I'm gonna take you to bed, okay? I'll let you put your kitty to bed, first."

"Okay, mama." Lina hums back sleepily, neck craning to look past her mommy to watch the TV again, absentmindedly running her own chunky little hand along Möckli's back.

"You're right," Poppy scoffs as she returns to his side, "Not like you at all."

"I don't know what you could possibly mean," he opens his arms for her to slot back into them before he wraps them back around her - her back to his front, his chin resting on the crown of her head, and her hands coming up to stroke at his arms again. "Möckli is cute."

"Don't get attached, she'll have a new name by the morning."

"Tell that to baby Lulu in your belly," he chuckles, deep and hearty as his hands travel back, "She hasn't changed her mind on that one, yet."

"I'm not naming our baby after Luke." She huffs, body melting straight back into his again. "I don't care that Lina and Lulu sounds like some sort of cartoon dream team."

"It's not me that you have to convince, babe." Nico shrugs, "I don't make the rules around here, anymore."