Chapter Text
“Hey, babe?” Sylvain says, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of Felix’s head and leave a pat against Alondite’s exposed belly, “Mind if I use the Switch for a bit?”
Felix’s eyes narrow as he tilts back to stare at Sylvain. In front of him, his editing software loops the preview for the clip he has selected, rapidly cycling Ephraim’s sprite animation jabbing a generic enemy knight at 3x speed. “Why?”
“I’m done with my work for the day, and I thought I could do some island-hopping for you.”
“For me,” Felix repeats, air quotes audible.
Sylvain pouts. “Or, you know, because I want to. It’s fun seeing what villagers pop up.”
“That’s what I thought.” Felix gives him a wry grin. “Yeah, sure, it’s on the dock. I’ve still got some more editing left for tonight’s upload but I’ll join you after.”
Sylvain beams. “Thanks.” He drops another peck against Felix’s cheek and heads back out of the office. Alondite’s purring trails out behind him as he makes his exit.
He settles on their couch, controller battery indicators blinking at half-full. Enough to last him at least an hour of island-hopping, so he’s not worried.
The TV blinks alive with the cheery home screen of the Switch and Sylvain navigates in, selecting his own profile before pulling up the game and humming along to its soft, friendly soundtrack.
His avatar greets him with a wave and a cheery grin, and he looks back at the tiny incarnation of himself. The eyes are about as accurate as they can make them given the game’s options, and the shirt he’s wearing is Felix’s favorite one to “borrow”. Ingrid had insisted on scanning him an “I’m Sorry, Women” hat and Felix had made him wear it. And really, that’s all fine. Rude, but fine. The one thing that Sylvain can’t let go is the hair. It’s still too orange, too… Ferdinand von Aegir, but Felix hadn’t believed him while they were doing the character creation. Animal Crossing Sylvain is forever cursed with wearing cat vomit on his head because every time Sylvain thinks he’s gotten away with updating his avatar, Felix puts it back by the next day. One day, though, he'll get it right.
As though sensing his mental slander about cats and their objectively gross hairballs, Ragnell meows up at him, apparently having been attracted by the game starting up.
Sylvain stares balefully down at his least favorite Fraldarius. Ragnell always has been the most annoying cat he's ever met, but Felix had loved him immediately, even though he's always called him an asshole. Ragnell lets out another commanding yowl, insistent that he get his due, and stares accusingly at the cushion where Sylvain's seated himself. With a sigh, Sylvain scoots over and pats the vacated space, letting the king of the living room reclaim his rightful throne.
It’s mostly smooth going after that. Ragnell only tries to bat the controller out of his hands twice as he navigates through menus and across Swordworld, and Felix’s accrued 40 NMT make for a nice pile in his virtual pockets as he gets ready to island hop. He’ll use 20, max, because Felix will be furious if he uses more. Felix, for some unfathomable reason, would rather hoard them forever and let the game’s RNG decide which villagers they get. Sylvain doesn’t really get it.
He solicits his ride to the first deserted island, and then they’re off. He stops to collect a few resources, because Felix would call the trips a waste if he didn’t, but he doesn’t stay long on any one island. Felix, as a completionist, already has most things, and he's not short on Bells or any other resources, so it's okay if Sylvain doesn't farm the islands. He’s not hunting for anyone in particular, though he wouldn’t say no to Raymond showing up so they can trade him. It’s ridiculous what some fans will pay for an obnoxious cat just because he’s cute.
Ragnell once again reads his mind, butting his head against Sylvain’s leg, and he knows he’s being called out for his hypocrisy. It's a shame that he is kind of cute like this.
“Listen here, fur ball, if Felix didn’t love you, I’d sell you to Satan for free, no corn chip needed,” Sylvain says, glaring down at Ragnell. Ragnell stares back, unamused.
“What are you going on about?”
Sylvain jolts at the voice. “Felix! You’re done?”
“I’ll deal with it later,” Felix says. “The chair was starting to make my back hurt.”
Felix picks up Ragnell to drop himself next to Sylvain and places the cat in his lap. Alondite’s nowhere to be seen, which Sylvain assumes means he’s napping in the sunny spot in the office. Ragnell twists uncomfortably, unhappy to have been usurped, but a few scratches behind his ears settle him and he purrs, cuddling into Felix.
“Why does he always behave for you?”
“Because you do things like threaten to sell him to the devil.”
“He knows I’m joking.” Sylvain looks down at Ragnell. “You know I’m joking, right?”
Ragnell ignores him, face scrunched in contented bliss as Felix continues his ministrations.
“He’s a cat, he can’t understand you.”
Sylvain frowns. “You’re a cat and you understand me.”
Felix rolls his eyes. “I’m your boyfriend, and stop trying to talk me into dressing up in furry cosplay. And no, I don't care that Annette and Ingrid have agreed with you about whether I'm a cat.” He nods at the screen. “Who have you found so far?”
“No one good, just a bunch of Normal villagers.” Sylvain brings them back to the plane, leaving Trash Island behind. “I think we’ve hit 8 now? I’m gonna do a few more.”
“Just don’t use all the tickets.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sylvain says, his smile fond as he presses a peck to Felix’s cheek. Felix throws him a frown, but leans his weight into Sylvain’s shoulder anyway, jostling Ragnell slightly as he curls his legs under him.
Sylvain hops into the travel agency’s plane again, and they land this time on Butterfly Island. There’s nothing new to catch here because Felix has been meticulous with his collection, and he runs in a meandering loop in search of the island’s errant villager. It takes a minute, but eventually a spot of black appears on the horizon, and Sylvain makes his character run toward it on his stubby legs.
“Oh hey, look, is that you?”
Felix blinks at Punchy. “What?”
“You know, because Punchy’s name is Felix in—”
Felix groans. “Are you ever going to let that go? I'm not Punchy. My eyes don't look anything like his.”
“It’s just a universal truth. Felix is a cat name. You follow like six different cats named Felix on Instagram.”
“I do not.”
“Five?”
Felix scowls. “It doesn't matter.”
“It's understandable,” Sylvain says, “even if it is a little vain. They're cats named Felix, you're a cat-like person named Felix… You're my favorite one though.” He tosses Felix a wink.
Felix's eyes narrow and he grabs the controller from Sylvain. “Permission to use the Switch revoked. Don’t sully Animal Crossing with your attempts to get me to dress up in cat cosplay.”
“Not what I meant, but—Come on, you’d look so good in ears and a tail. You even have the hissing down. Like, so cute.”
“Stop making everything about sex,” Felix whispers, vehement, as he covers Ragnell’s ears with a hand. Ragnell mrrps his discomfort, and moves to grab the offending limb and nip at it.
Sylvain charitably doesn’t point out that Felix is proving his comment about the hissing. “Just, you know, consider it.” He shrugs. “Anyway, do you want Punchy? You’ve already got 4 other cats on Swordworld, and he’s Lazy, but he is still a cat.”
Felix grimaces. “If we take him, you’re never going to let the name thing go, so no.”
Sylvain curls an arm around Felix’s waist and pulls him into his chest. “I’ll stop if it’s really bothering you.”
“It’s fine, just. I’m not a cat, I’m not anyone else. I’m me. Felix.”
Sylvain buries his face in Felix’s hair. “Yeah, you are. And I wouldn’t have you any other way. So, do you want him?”
Felix stares at the TV, watching as Punchy bobs animatedly in place. “…Sure.”