"I can't remember what my parents look like any more."
Chuckles looked up at the other cat, even though he couldn't really see anything in the darkness. They'd been lying in bed together for a while now; Chuckles knew the other cat - Finn - was still awake, it always took him a while to fall asleep. Chuckles had just started to drop off, but he was wide awake now.
He moved slightly closer to Finn, unsure of what to say. "W-well, it's been a long time since you've seen them, right?" he mumbled eventually.
"Yeah..."
"...When did they leave?" He felt like he'd regret asking, but he couldn't just say nothing. Giggles had told him her parents had walked out, but she was always so vague about it all.
"Um... er... well," Finn started, drawing out the last word as he thought about it. "G- uh, m-my sisters, were really little at the time. Like, uh.."
"How old?" Chuckles knew from past experience that Finn tended to have a... tenuous grip on how old his sisters actually were. Well, he seemed bad with numbers in general, to be fair. He had to think about it when asked about his own age.
"W-well, they weren't in high school yet, y'know?" From the way he said it, Chuckles was fairly sure Finn had no idea how old his sisters had been at the time, but he didn't press the matter. "Um, but I was? So... sssso that means I was.. um..." He hummed a bit more, trying to remember. "Oh, it was after my birthday. Cause it was after I'd met... um, y'know." Chuckles stiffened slightly; he knew exactly who Finn meant. His ex-boyfriend... he'd told Chuckles about him before. Chuckles had never met the guy, but he didn't like the sound of him. "S-so... well it wasn't that long after that, anyway." Finn added hurriedly, clearly unwilling to linger on the subject of his ex. "That, um, that they left, I mean. My, uh, my parents."
"R-right..." The question hadn't been resolved, but Chuckles decided to just leave it there; he didn't really want to know how long the siblings had been alone for. How on earth anyone could leave their kids alone like that, he'd never understand. Parents were supposed to look after their kids. No matter what else they said or did, he was certain his parents would never do anything like that.
Yes, that's why you haven't told them about Finn, a voice in the back of his head reminded him. Well, that was true. He'd never so much as mentioned his name to them. He knew his parents loved him, he was sure they would never... but every time he thought of it, he remembered what happened when he was twelve, when he'd told them he liked another boy. He didn't want that to ever, ever happen again. He hated lying, so he just... didn't say anything, instead. It was better this way for everyone involved, really.