Franky is just a kitten and is still learning a lot about the world around him, but one thing that he knows for sure is that he loves cuddling with his human brother, Liam.

“My son is obsessed with him,” Rachelle Vaughn, Franky and Liam’s mom, told The Dodo. “He loves animals. Especially this one because he’s a cuddle monkey.”

Franky and Liam were super close from the very beginning and loved spending lots of time together — but then one day, Franky went missing, and poor Liam was absolutely heartbroken.

Vaughn did everything she could think of to try and find Franky, from putting up flyers to contacting shelters to searching through local Facebook groups. Nothing seemed to be working — until finally, five weeks later, someone finally found Franky.

“He turned up on the next street over,” Vaughn said. “Someone posted pictures of him on Facebook and I jumped all over it to find out he was right behind us.”

Vaughn was overjoyed that Franky had been found and that he was totally fine and healthy. One of their neighbors brought him inside and kept him safe until his family was able to come and pick him up. Vaughn quickly made plans to go and collect him, and decided to keep it as a surprise for Liam, who still thought that Franky was missing.

“My son did not know we were headed to pick up the cat,” Vaughn said. “I told him Amazon had delivered a package to the wrong house.”

When the pair arrived at the neighbor’s house, they went inside to collect the “package” — and when Liam saw Franky in his neighbor’s arms, he stopped dead in his tracks, and immediately burst into tears.

Franky, of course, recognized his brother right away, and even though he was a little overwhelmed after everything he’d been through, he was still so happy to finally be reunited with his best friend.

“My son cried and cried and said, ‘I have no words’ as he broke down with tears of joy,” Vaughn said.

The pair took Franky home and got him settled back in, and soon it was if he’d never even been gone at all. He’s so happy to be back with his family now, and he refuses to let them out of his sight, especially Liam.

“Since Franky has been home he has been more affectionate than normal,” Vaughn said. “I can tell he missed being home and us as well. He follows me all around the house like I’m gonna disappear or something.”

Franky and Liam have had a special bond since the very beginning, and Liam was so overwhelmed with joy when he realized his cat had finally come back to him.