The Cat Next Door
Pairing: Max Verstappen x Original Female Character
Summary:
Jimmy Verstappen has fallen in love.
Unfortunately for Max Verstappen, the love of Jimmy’s life lives on the balcony next door, which means Jimmy keeps escaping to visit her.
Even more unfortunately, her owner is very pretty.
(Sassy thinks everyone involved is an idiot.)
Warnings and Notes:
As always big thanks to @llirawolf , who listens to me ramble.
Jimmy knew love.
He knew it in the way he knew the sunny spot on the rug moved three times a day.
He knew it in the way he knew Max’s suitcase meant betrayal, but Max’s hoodie left on the chair meant forgiveness.
He knew it in the way he knew Sassy was going to hit him before she hit him, because her tail did a particular twitch first.
And he knew it because the most beautiful creature in the world lived on the balcony next door.
She was white.
She was fluffy.
She was round in the way expensive pillows were round.
She had a face like she had been disappointed by every human alive and was simply enduring the world until someone finally presented her with the appropriate throne.
She was, Jimmy had decided, a goddess.
The first time he saw her, she was sitting on the neighbouring balcony while the late afternoon sun made her fur glow.
Jimmy had been minding his business.
He had not been doing anything wrong.
He had merely been standing on the back of the sofa, pressing his nose against the glass door, while Max said, “Jimmy, don’t even think about it.”
Jimmy had not been thinking about anything.
Then she appeared.
White fur. Blue collar. A little gold bell. Eyes the colour of rainwater.
Jimmy forgot how to breathe.
Sassy, from her place on the armchair, opened one eye.
“Don’t,” Max said from the kitchen without looking up.
Jimmy placed one paw against the glass.
The white cat blinked at him.
Jimmy made a very soft, very dignified sound.
Sassy lifted her head.
Max looked over.
“Oh no,” he said.
Jimmy did not know what that meant, but Max sounded like he had just lost a race before the lights had even gone out.
The white cat turned, showing him the full glory of her tail, then disappeared behind a curtain.
Jimmy remained frozen.
Sassy yawned.
Max came over, crouched beside him, and looked through the glass toward the empty balcony.
“No,” Max told him.
Jimmy looked at Max.
Max narrowed his eyes. “I know that face.”
Jimmy did not know which face Max meant. He had several.
“No escaping,” Max said. “No dramatic Romeo and Juliet balcony situation. I don’t have time for this.”
Jimmy understood only three words in that sentence.
No.
Escaping.
Balcony.
All deeply concerning.
He pressed his paw harder to the glass.
Max sighed.
Behind him, Sassy jumped down from the armchair, walked over, sniffed Jimmy’s ear, and then smacked him on the head.
Jimmy accepted this. Sassy was his sister. She had been smacking him on the head since they were kittens. It was one of her love languages, probably.
“She is right,” Max said.
Jimmy did not think Sassy was right. Sassy was never right. Sassy once hissed at a cucumber. Sassy had no authority here.
The next day, the goddess returned.
This time, Jimmy was prepared.
He had positioned himself on the dining chair closest to the balcony door after breakfast. He had ignored Sassy when she called him pathetic with her eyes. He had ignored Max when Max walked past and said, “Still? Mate.”
Jimmy was not still.
Jimmy was devoted.
The goddess appeared just after noon, carried out onto the balcony by a woman with soft hair and a long cardigan.
The woman was not Max.
Jimmy knew most humans were not Max. Humans had different smells and voices and levels of competence. Max was his human, which meant he was the best human, even when he left for loud weekends and came home smelling like champagne, rubber, and other people’s hands.
The woman next door smelled faintly of vanilla, laundry soap, and something floral. She spoke gently to the goddess as she placed her on a cushion in the sun.
“There you go, princess,” the woman said. “Fresh air.”
Princess.
Jimmy’s ears went forward.
Yes.
Correct.
The goddess was a princess.
Maybe a queen.
Maybe something above queen.
The goddess settled onto the cushion and looked across the gap between balconies.
Jimmy stood.
Sassy made a disgusted little noise from the back of the sofa.
Jimmy ignored her.
He lifted one paw.
The goddess blinked slowly.
Jimmy nearly fell off the chair.
Max, who had been drinking coffee, looked up from his phone.
“Why are you making that noise?”
Jimmy had not realized he was making a noise.
He closed his mouth.
Sassy swatted his tail.
Jimmy did not even care.
The goddess had blinked slowly at him.
That meant something.
Jimmy did not know what, exactly, but it meant something.
For three days, Jimmy watched her.
For three days, the goddess appeared on the balcony in the afternoon.
For three days, the woman in the cardigan spoke to her in a warm, amused voice.
“Careful, Cleo.”
Cleo.
Her name was Cleo.
Jimmy had a name now.
A real name.
Not just goddess, though goddess still applied.
Cleo liked sleeping in the sun. Cleo liked turning her face away when her human tried to take photos of her. Cleo liked batting lazily at the leaves of the potted olive tree on her balcony. Cleo did not chase bugs because bugs came to her. Cleo did not run. Cleo reclined.
Jimmy admired this deeply.
Sassy did not.
On the fourth day, when Jimmy climbed onto the sideboard for a better view, Sassy joined him.
For one hopeful moment, Jimmy thought his sister had come to support him.
Then she shoved him.
Jimmy landed on the floor with a soft thud.
Max looked up from where he was stretching on the mat.
“Sassy.”
Sassy sat down exactly where Jimmy had been and looked at Max like she had done him a favour.
Jimmy got up and shook himself.
Sassy began washing one paw.
Max sighed. “You deserved that, probably.”
Jimmy did not deserve that.
Jimmy was a lover.
Sassy was a criminal.
The problem was the door.
The door was glass.
Glass was unfair. Jimmy could see through it, but he could not pass through it. This was one of the great cruelties of the universe, along with empty food bowls, closed bathroom doors, and Max refusing to let him sit inside the suitcase.
But Jimmy was not stupid.
Sassy thought he was stupid because Sassy thought everyone was stupid except herself and sometimes Max, depending on whether Max had fed her recently.
Jimmy was clever.
Jimmy had observed the humans.
The balcony door opened when Max pushed the handle down and slid it across. The handle was high. Jimmy could not reach it.
But sometimes Max left the door not quite closed.
Max had a habit of doing this when he came in after watering the plants. He would slide it mostly shut, then get distracted by his phone or a call or the other human who sometimes came over and made him laugh in the soft voice.
Jimmy waited.
He was patient.
He was a hunter.
He was a romantic hero.
He was also, according to Sassy, extremely annoying.
On the fifth afternoon, the opportunity came.
Max had been on a phone call for a long time, pacing barefoot through the apartment.
“No, I know,” Max said into the phone. “But it’s stupid. Why would we do that?”
Jimmy did not know what was stupid. Many things were stupid. Vacuums. Rain. Sassy’s attitude.
Max went onto the balcony with his phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear, watered the plants, argued with someone named GP, then came back inside.
The door slid almost closed.
Almost.
Jimmy’s heart began to pound.
Cleo was on her balcony.
She was sitting on her cushion, watching him.
This was a sign.
Jimmy crouched.
Sassy, from the sofa, lifted her head.
Her eyes narrowed.
Jimmy ignored her.
He pushed his nose into the tiny gap between door and frame.
It moved.
Not much.
Enough.
“Jimmy,” Max said.
Jimmy froze.
Max was still on the phone, looking directly at him.
Jimmy looked back.
Max pointed at him. “No.”
Jimmy considered this.
Then he ran.
“Jimmy!”
The gap widened under his shoulder. The balcony air hit his whiskers. The floor was warm under his paws. Behind him, Max swore.
Jimmy darted across the balcony.
There was a gap between his balcony and Cleo’s balcony.
It was not enormous.
It was, however, a gap.
Jimmy stopped at the edge.
Cleo watched him.
Jimmy looked down.
That was very far.
Jimmy looked back.
Max had dropped his phone somewhere inside and was coming toward him with the expression he wore when someone on television said something stupid about his driving.
“Don’t,” Max said.
Jimmy looked at Cleo.
Cleo blinked.
Jimmy made his decision.
He did not jump across the gap.
Jimmy was romantic, not suicidal.
Instead, he discovered something better.
There was a low dividing wall at the far end, where the two balconies met around the corner. It was narrow. It was slightly ridiculous. It was absolutely climbable.
“Jimmy, I swear to God—”
Jimmy climbed.
Max lunged.
Jimmy was faster.
He scrambled onto the wall, tail high, paws careful, heart full of purpose.
The world became ledge and air and Max saying words Jimmy was probably not supposed to understand.
Sassy appeared at the open balcony door.
She did not look concerned.
She looked entertained.
Traitor.
Jimmy crossed the little wall and dropped onto the neighbouring balcony.
Cleo did not move.
Jimmy landed, shook himself, and looked at her.
He had done it.
He had crossed kingdoms.
He had defied glass.
He had escaped.
He had proven his love.
Cleo stretched one front paw luxuriously, then the other. Her bell gave a tiny, perfect chime.
Jimmy approached slowly.
Cleo did not hiss.
Cleo did not swat him.
Cleo leaned forward and sniffed his nose.
Jimmy’s entire soul left his body.
From the other balcony, Max said, “Oh, you little idiot.”
Jimmy did not care.
Cleo had touched noses with him.
Jimmy was never going home again.
Then the balcony door behind Cleo opened.
The woman in the cardigan stepped out.
For a second, everyone froze.
Jimmy looked up.
The woman looked down.
Cleo sat beside him, serene and innocent, as if she had personally invited him for tea.
“Oh,” the woman said.
Max, from the other balcony, said, “I am so sorry.”
The woman looked across.
Jimmy turned his head.
Max was standing on his own balcony with one hand braced on the railing, hair messy, wearing an old Red Bull T-shirt and the expression of a man whose cat had just ruined his life.
The woman blinked.
Then she smiled.
It was a nice smile.
Jimmy noticed because Max noticed.
Max always noticed things like apexes, tyre degradation, and people smiling at him.
“Is he yours?” the woman asked.
Max looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy sat down beside Cleo.
Cleo’s tail curled around her paws.
Max exhaled through his nose. “Unfortunately.”
Jimmy did not know what unfortunately meant, but Max used it often when talking about people he loved.
The woman laughed.
Max’s expression changed.
Not a lot.
A little.
Jimmy knew Max’s faces. Max had many faces even though humans often thought he only had three. There was angry Max, sleepy Max, race Max, cat Max, soft Max, and the very rare Max who had just realized someone pretty was laughing at something he said.
This was that one.
“He seems very sweet,” the woman said.
Max looked at Jimmy again.
Jimmy looked back with dignity.
“He is not,” Max said. “He is a menace.”
The woman crouched and held out her fingers.
Jimmy sniffed them politely.
Vanilla. Laundry soap. Flowers. Cleo.
Acceptable.
“Oh, he is sweet,” she said.
Max snorted. “He waited five days to break into your balcony.”
“Determined, then.”
“Stubborn.”
“Romantic.”
Max paused.
Jimmy’s ears twitched.
The woman smiled down at Jimmy. “He came to visit Cleo.”
Cleo lifted her chin.
Yes. Obviously.
Max dragged a hand through his hair. “I should come get him.”
“I can pass him over.”
“No, no. He will act like you are murdering him. Better if I come around.”
The woman stood. “I’m in 42B.”
“I know,” Max said, then immediately looked annoyed with himself. “I mean—not in a weird way. It is just next door.”
The woman’s smile widened.
Jimmy thought Max was doing badly.
This was surprising. Max was usually good at things. Driving. Cats. Looking angry at people. Opening food pouches.
Flirting, apparently, required Jimmy’s supervision.
“I’m Élise,” the woman said.
“Max.”
“I know.”
Max’s eyebrows lifted.
Élise looked amused. “Not in a weird way. It is just next door.”
Max stared at her for half a second.
Then he laughed.
Jimmy had heard Max laugh many times. Loudly, with his friends. Softly, at his phone. Breathlessly, when Sassy fell off the sofa and pretended she had meant to do it.
This laugh was different.
It came out surprised.
Jimmy was very proud of himself.
He stayed beside Cleo while Max disappeared from the balcony and reappeared a few minutes later at Élise’s front door.
Jimmy heard the bell.
Then footsteps.
Then Élise opening the door.
Then Max saying, “Hi.”
Then Élise saying, “Hi.”
Then nothing for a moment.
Humans were so inefficient.
Jimmy leaned toward Cleo and sniffed her cheek.
Cleo allowed it.
Best day of his life.
Max appeared on the balcony through Élise’s apartment, looking around like he was trying very hard not to look around too much.
“Nice place,” he said.
“Thank you,” Élise replied. “Cleo has allowed me to decorate it.”
Max glanced at Cleo. “Generous of her.”
“She’s very strict.”
“I have one like that. Her name is Sassy.”
“Is she the one who judges everyone from the window?”
Max nodded gravely. “That is her main job.”
Jimmy was offended. Sassy had other jobs too. Hitting him. Sitting in boxes. Refusing food until Max became concerned, then eating it when he turned around.
Élise crouched beside Jimmy again. “And this one is?”
“Jimmy.”
Jimmy lifted his head.
The way she said his name was nice.
“Jimmy,” Élise repeated, stroking one finger gently between his ears. “You are very handsome.”
Jimmy closed his eyes.
Yes.
Finally.
Recognition.
Max muttered, “Don’t encourage him.”
“I think he has excellent taste.”
Cleo, as though she understood that she was being admired, tucked her paws under her chest and became a cloud.
Max looked at Élise.
Élise looked at Max.
Jimmy opened one eye.
Ah.
There.
The thing.
Humans had it too, apparently.
The slow blink.
Only with more awkwardness.
Max cleared his throat. “Sorry again.”
“It’s fine. Cleo enjoyed the company.”
Jimmy perked up.
She did?
Max picked Jimmy up.
Jimmy considered protesting.
Then he remembered he was in Max’s arms, which was one of the safest places in the world, and chose magnanimity.
Élise walked them to the door.
Cleo remained on the balcony like a queen receiving departing guests.
“Maybe next time he can come through the front door,” Élise said.
Max stopped.
Jimmy felt him stop.
“Next time?” Max asked.
Élise’s mouth curved. “For Cleo, obviously.”
“Obviously.”
Jimmy looked between them.
Max was not looking at Cleo.
Élise was not looking at Jimmy.
Interesting.
“I can give you my number,” Élise said. “In case he escapes again.”
Max’s hand shifted under Jimmy’s paws.
“Yes,” Max said. “That would be good.”
Jimmy purred.
He was a genius.
When Max carried him back into their apartment, Sassy was waiting in the hallway.
Her tail flicked.
Max shut the door behind him, still looking faintly pleased with himself.
Jimmy wriggled until Max set him down.
Sassy walked up to him.
Jimmy lifted his chin.
He had touched noses with a goddess.
He had crossed a balcony.
He had helped Max acquire a number.
He was untouchable.
Sassy sniffed him.
Then she smacked him so hard he sat down.
“Sassy,” Max said, distracted, still looking at his phone.
Jimmy shook his head and glared at her.
Sassy turned and walked away, tail high.
She was jealous.
Obviously.
Over the next week, Jimmy escaped three more times.
The second time was through the window above the balcony doors, which Max had not realized opened far enough for a cat until Jimmy proved that it did.
The third time was when a delivery man arrived and Jimmy slipped between Max’s feet with the grace and determination of a professional criminal.
The fourth time was, admittedly, Sassy’s fault.
Jimmy stood by this.
Sassy had pushed a throw blanket off the sofa, distracting Max for exactly four seconds.
Jimmy used those four seconds to slide through the balcony door and make his way to Cleo.
Sassy later denied involvement by pretending to be asleep.
Max did not believe her.
“I am being outsmarted by cats,” Max said that evening, standing on Élise’s doorstep with Jimmy tucked under one arm like a furry handbag.
Élise leaned against the doorframe. She was wearing soft trousers and a jumper with the sleeves pulled over her hands.
Jimmy liked her. She always smelled kind. She always scratched his chin properly. She did not speak to him in a silly voice unless she thought no one was listening.
Cleo liked him too.
Probably.
She allowed him to sit near her. Sometimes she touched his tail with her paw. Once she had groomed his ear for six full seconds before deciding he was beneath her again.
Jimmy was prepared to be patient.
Great love required sacrifice.
“You look very defeated for someone who drives cars very fast for a living,” Élise said.
Max gave her a flat look. “The car usually listens to me.”
“Does it?”
“No,” Max admitted. “But more than Jimmy.”
Élise laughed.
Jimmy purred in support.
Max looked down. “You are the reason I am here.”
Jimmy blinked innocently.
Élise reached out and stroked his head. “Maybe he just misses Cleo.”
“He saw her two hours ago.”
“Love has no schedule.”
Max opened his mouth, then closed it.
Élise’s smile became smug.
Max huffed. “You are enjoying this.”
“A little.”
“You could pretend to be annoyed.”
“I could,” Élise said. “But then you might stop coming over.”
Max went still.
Jimmy felt it.
A tiny shift.
A change in breathing.
A moment where Max, who was usually so fast at everything, needed a second.
Élise looked suddenly less smug.
Jimmy looked between them again.
Humans.
Hopeless.
Max said, “I could come over without him escaping.”
Élise’s cheeks changed colour.
Jimmy’s ears flicked.
Oh.
Interesting.
“Yes,” Élise said. “You could.”
Max nodded once, like he had just received important strategy instructions.
“I could bring wine,” he said.
“I like wine.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
Jimmy waited.
Max waited.
Élise waited.
Cleo appeared behind Élise’s legs and gave a small, delicate meow.
Jimmy immediately forgot the humans existed.
He wriggled.
Max tightened his grip.
“No,” Max said.
Jimmy wriggled harder.
“Absolutely not.”
Cleo meowed again.
Jimmy made a desperate little sound.
Élise put a hand over her mouth.
Max looked personally betrayed. “Do not laugh. He knows when people laugh.”
“I’m not laughing.”
“You are.”
“I’m smiling supportively.”
“You are enabling him.”
“I am supporting love.”
Max looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy looked at Cleo.
Cleo blinked.
Max sighed. “Five minutes.”
Jimmy loved Max.
Max put him down.
Jimmy trotted to Cleo with great dignity.
Behind him, Max and Élise remained near the door.
“So,” Élise said. “Wine?”
“Tomorrow?” Max asked.
“I’m free tomorrow.”
“I’m free after training.”
“Is that afternoon or evening?”
“Depends if my trainer wants to kill me.”
“Should I be concerned?”
“No. He usually fails.”
Élise laughed again.
Jimmy settled beside Cleo.
This was excellent.
The following afternoon, Max spent too long choosing a shirt.
Jimmy knew this because Max changed three times.
Max did not usually change three times. Max usually wore the first thing that did not smell unacceptable. Sometimes even that standard was flexible.
Sassy sat on the bed and watched him with cool disdain.
Jimmy sat beside her.
They were united, briefly, in judgment.
Max held up a dark shirt.
Sassy blinked.
Max held up a lighter one.
Jimmy yawned.
Max looked at them. “You are no help.”
Sassy began washing her shoulder.
Max wore the dark shirt.
He smelled nervous, though he would have denied this under oath.
He picked up the wine bottle from the counter, then put it down, then picked it up again.
Jimmy followed him to the door.
“No,” Max said immediately.
Jimmy sat.
Max pointed at him. “You are not coming.”
Jimmy looked wounded.
“You are the reason this is happening,” Max said. “You do not also get to attend.”
Jimmy meowed.
Max crouched. “No.”
Jimmy meowed again, softer.
Max’s face changed.
Jimmy knew this face.
Victory was close.
Then Sassy walked over and smacked Jimmy on the back of the head.
Max stood. “Thank you, Sassy.”
Sassy accepted this praise with the regal indifference of someone who had done it for herself.
Max left.
Without Jimmy.
This was unforgivable.
Jimmy sat by the door for three minutes.
Then he went to the balcony.
Sassy followed him.
The lights were on next door. Through the glass, Jimmy could see Max standing in Élise’s kitchen while Élise poured wine. Cleo was on the bar stool, which Jimmy admired because Max never let him sit on the bar stools unless Max did not see him do it.
Max looked more relaxed now.
Élise was smiling.
Cleo flicked her tail.
Jimmy pressed one paw to the glass.
Sassy sat beside him.
For once, she did not hit him.
They watched.
Max laughed at something Élise said. Élise touched his arm. Max looked down at her hand, then back at her face.
Jimmy did not understand everything humans said.
He understood tone.
He understood warmth.
He understood Max looking like the apartment had become a little less empty while he stood in someone else’s kitchen.
Sassy’s tail brushed his.
Jimmy leaned into her side.
She allowed it for seven seconds.
Then she bit his ear.
Normal.
Max came home very late.
Jimmy was waiting in the hallway.
Sassy pretended she was not.
Max opened the door quietly, stepped inside, and looked down at them.
“You two are creepy,” he said.
Jimmy smelled Élise on him.
Wine. Vanilla. Flowers.
Also Cleo.
Jimmy immediately forgave him.
Max locked the door, kicked off his shoes, and bent to scratch Jimmy under the chin.
“She asked if you can come over tomorrow,” Max said.
Jimmy perked up.
“For Cleo,” Max added.
Jimmy purred.
Max smiled faintly.
Then he looked at Sassy. “She asked about you too.”
Sassy stared at him.
Max grinned. “Yes, I told her you are horrible.”
Sassy turned and walked away.
Jimmy thought this was fair.
The visits became regular after that.
Sometimes Jimmy went to see Cleo.
Sometimes Cleo came over to see Jimmy, carried in Élise’s arms like royalty visiting a lesser court.
The first time Cleo entered Max’s apartment, Sassy acted as though an enemy nation had invaded.
She sat on top of the bookshelf and glared down at the white Persian with magnificent hatred.
Cleo did not care.
Cleo walked directly to Jimmy’s favourite blanket, sniffed it, and sat on it.
Jimmy nearly fainted.
Sassy hissed.
Cleo blinked slowly.
Sassy seemed offended by the elegance of the response.
Max, standing beside Élise, whispered, “This is going better than expected.”
Élise whispered back, “Sassy looks like she is planning a coup.”
“She always looks like that.”
“Has she ever attempted one?”
“Several.”
Élise laughed softly and leaned into Max’s side.
Max went still for one tiny second before his arm moved around her waist like he had been doing it for years.
Jimmy saw.
Sassy saw.
Cleo probably knew already.
Cleo knew many things.
Later, when Élise and Max sat on the sofa with wine glasses on the coffee table, Jimmy lay on the rug beside Cleo. Sassy remained on the bookshelf, refusing to participate in diplomatic relations.
Élise’s voice was soft.
“I’m glad he escaped,” she said.
Max hummed. “Jimmy?”
“Yes.”
“He is very pleased with himself.”
“He should be.”
Max looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy closed his eyes and pretended not to listen.
“He is still a menace,” Max said.
Élise said, “Maybe. But a useful one.”
Max was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, “Yes.”
Jimmy’s chest warmed.
He did not know what useful meant, exactly.
But Max’s voice was soft.
That was enough.
Cleo shifted closer until her side touched his.
Jimmy stopped breathing.
Sassy, from the bookshelf, made a noise of disgust.
Jimmy ignored her.
His sister could be mean.
Max could be stubborn.
Humans could be very slow.
Glass doors could be cruel.
But Jimmy had known love when he saw it.
White fur glowing in afternoon sun.
A gold bell.
A slow blink from a balcony.
And now, Max laughing softly beside Élise while Cleo slept next to Jimmy on the rug.
Jimmy had crossed kingdoms for this.
He had escaped four times.
He had been smacked by Sassy, carried by Max, praised by Élise, and blessed by Cleo’s presence.
Worth it.
Completely worth it.
Then Cleo opened one rainwater eye and gently placed her paw on top of Jimmy’s.
Jimmy purred so loudly Max looked over.
Élise smiled.
Sassy jumped down from the bookshelf, marched across the room, and smacked him.
Jimmy barely felt it.
He was in love.
