Ficlet: Zlatan Ibrahimović/Lionel Messi, PG
Title: Kittens
Rating: PG
Pairing: Zlatan Ibrahimović/Lionel Messi
Warnings: only if you count my idea of humour as a warning
Word Count: 328
Disclaimer: That girl who always lies? It's me, and I'm doing it right here, right behind the cut. I shamelessly lie.
Summary: Written for 4jinx_removing's prompt "Zlatan, doing something completely sappy and out-of-character". So yes, the result is exactly what you'd expect it to be - total nonsense. There be kittens and Zlatan inside…
There was a strange mewling sound, followed by a growl-like cooing coming from the locker room, and Leo pushed the door open curiously. Zlatan was…cooing. Cooing at a tiny little kitten which he held on his big palm, gently caressing its fur with one of his fingers and…cooing.
"Kitty likes Zlatan? Zlatan will take care of kitty."
He was baby-talking to the kitten - all two meters of Zlatan, motionless except for the caressing finger, all focused on the small creature on his palm.
Leo bit his cheek hard to prevent himself from laughing, but he couldn't help it.
Zlatan jumped.
"You're scaring her!" he yelled at Leo while the cat mewled, scared by the sudden movement.
Leo laughed.
"Zlatan doesn't like scared kittens," Zlatan said menacingly, but much quieter this time, his big palm patting the cat soothingly.
Leo wisely retreated.
"And you'd better not tell anyone about it," he could hear Zlatan saying to his back.
Of course they all knew about Zlatan's new friend in less than an hour. Leo thought it was worth it, even though he'd have to spend the rest of the week, at least, watching his back. He didn't think they'd torture Zlatan quite that much with silly jokes and catnip in his locker, so he does feel a little bad about it. Bad enough to show up at Zlatan's with cat food, ready to apologise and grovel if necessary.
Zlatan doesn't want to accept the food ("Zlatan's kitty eats real food") or the apology ("No. Zlatan is mad"), but when Leo asks what can he do to make it up to him, Zlatan has an idea.
"Zlatan likes kitties. Zlatan can make Leo mewl like a kitty."
Well, he'll do what he has to do to make amends… and luckily for him, Zlatan definitely can make him mewl and arch his back like a kitten. And Leo suspects he enjoys having Zlatan's big hands caressing him even more than the cat.