It took Smokey a 10 year old rescue cat almost eight years to feel comfortable showing his affection to people, but when he finally did it, it was a breakthrough that nearly brought his humans to tears.

"We got Smokey from a shelter about eight years ago when he was 2. Apparently he was badly abused as a kitten and subsequently was very wary of people at the best of times, he especially dislike men, which I only found out when I tried to pick him up the first time and got some really nice gashes in my arms," vanderwoolf of Imgur wrote.

"When we took him home he hid under the bed for nearly a week. Only sneaking out to use the litter box and to eat. Smokey was very aloof for about 6 years, then a couple years ago he started to show some small signs of affection. He would let me hold him for extended periods of time (this is relative, extended in this sense is up to 5 minutes at a time) and loved getting petted as long as he was on the floor, it seemed like he felt much safer getting attention there as he could easily escape should things go sour. I was the only one he would really show lots of affection to."

"Fast forward to about 6 months ago. All of a sudden he started sitting on the back of the couch with us. If I was sitting down, he would inch closer and closer until he was basically leaning against me. But if he heard anyone else walking into the room he would run off, almost like he was embarrassed. A couple weeks ago he started the half-lap thing you see in the first photo, which I thought was great. Until...

Yesterday, when he walked over and plopped himself right down onto my lap for a 30 minute cat-nap. I couldn't believe it! It's been such a long road to get to this point but I couldn't be happier."

It took Smokey almost 8 years to feel comfortable showing affection to people, but when he finally did it, it nearly brought his humans to tears.

"When he walked over and plopped himself right down onto my lap for a 30 minute cat-nap. I couldn't believe it! It's been such a long road to get to this point but I couldn't be happier."

Story by Smokey's dad via imgur.