Chapter Text
he wakes up and his eyelids sting, hurt. reon groans, rubbing his eyes and pulling the blanket off him. his phone blinks awake with 6:57am and he’s halfway through a stretch when he hears a small ruff.
your golden pomeranian stares at him, unmoving. it’s a tad unnerving—he had been bounding around you last night until he saw him at the door behind you. tooru had frozen in his tracks, tail unmoving when he spotted the stranger. reon smiled, undeterred and understanding, but the integrity of his smile chipped when, for the remainder of the night, tooru would continue to eye him. though tooru didn’t treat reon the way he did stephen, reon still found himself on his toes and sought to distract himself with your other, more welcoming animal companions.
“tooru—oh, good morning! i bought breakfast.”
he returns the greeting, stepping around tooru as he makes his way into the kitchen.
“is he okay?”
you huff, picking up tooru to bring him into the kitchen. “yeah, sorry he’s been like this. he’s never done this before.”
reon’s just happy he doesn’t bite.
he had been promoted two months ago, but got to stay at the miyagi branch. immediately, he was assigned to a project asked if you’d join his team. you said yes; with reon’s capabilities and track records, the project’d likely go through and you could use a bigger bonus anyway especially given that you had splurged on a new cat tower to replace the old one in addition to overhauling tooru’s and hajime’s worn gear.
(when you saw that the new tower had a transparent plastic bowl on one of the mini platforms, you added it to your cart immediately. anything to see issei’s and takahiro’s paw pads and squashed bodies as they made themselves comfortable in it.)
you just didn’t think the deadlines would be so tight. the final stretch, you tell yourself. then it’ll be done. today, you have a meeting with some board members at 9am.
you portion tooru’s and hajime’s kibble, picking up hiro’s and issei’s bowls who finished eating during your walk.
reon sighs, glad to not be subjected to tooru’s round, unloving eyes.
“mrya!”
you look up at your cat tower, waving at the pink fluff of takahiro’s head as he waves back, pawing at the air.
“how cute,” reon mumbles, swallowing around his onigiri.
“isn’t he?” you grin.
tooru barks and only stops whining when you call him cute as well. otherwise, breakfast is pretty quiet and the silence stretches as the two of you get ready.
“‘kay, i gotta go now.” you kiss hajime’s forehead, ruffling his fur. he makes a low noise, touching the side of his head with yours and following you as you leave.
“bye, hiro.”
he meows, shaking his head like a turntable and then meows again when you pet him. tooru gets several pats on the bum before you look out for issei. he must be in bed.
“where did you leave the prototypes?”
“in the bathroom,” you call. you can only hope futakuchi makes it to the presentation on time.
“aroo.”
you smile, a bit sadly to tooru and hajime next to him. “i’ll be back tonight, hmm?” you spare some chin scritches as aran walks up to the door.
“you have everything?”
a nod and you’re out the door. a fifteen minute drive and it’s good old shiratorizawa. you meet futakuchi and kamasaki in the foyer.
meeting room 1012-h.
you sigh, nursing your coffee and slumping into your chair. 8:46 and there’s still the pain of the whole day left.
“kamasaki-san, what is this?”
kamasaki rolls his eyes, half expecting something sarcastic but is met with an unfamiliar piece to their prototype.
“mrr.”
“a cat?”
“issei?!” you scramble over to the fluffy black mass who’s resting in the large duffel bag.
“jeez, look at all that fur,” futakuchi grimaces.
you stumble over apologies as you take issei out of the bag. he meows quietly, resting comfortably in your arms.
“shit, my bad, i didn’t see him before grabbing it,” reon sighs.
“no, it’s my—.”
“8:55,” kawanishi says.
moniwa draws a cross over his chest, mumbling, “dear lord, please don’t let any of the executives have a cat allergy.”
“hide him!” kamasaki whisper-yells as he wipes down the equipment.
you feverishly sprint into the open office, and towards your cubicle. you reassure yourself that no ones paying attention so early in the morning anyways. pulling open the bottom drawer on the right, you sigh in relief as its large size. grabbing your trench coat, you place it inside and gently drop issei in.
“keep quiet, okay?” you plea. “i’m sorry, i think ill be done by 10am.”
issei doesn’t meow but clings to your blazer, refusing to be stuck in a drawer for two hours.
you swear, “fuck, okay okay, you can stay out.”
you pull your chair out, putting issei on the seat before pushing it in gently, watching as he pancakes to fit under your desk. you throw your coat back over your chair and sprint back into the meeting room, praying issei keeps himself hidden.
the meeting goes by in a jittery blur. luckily, your assignment to operations and the supply chain wasn’t questioned nor scrutinized much given that dateko tech’s supplier network would be doing most of the work. you just stand, smiling and nodding along.
the dateko executive representative is much receptive than washijo is, who simply hums. you and reon spare a glance at each other, knowing that’s the most you’ll get.
moniwa lets out a heavy sigh when the meeting’s done, with reon following the executives for a follow-up.
“cat got your tongue, senpai?” futakuchi smirks.
“shut up, futakuchi,” kamasaki grunts. “come disassemble this.”
you can only smile weakly.
“at least it went well,” kawanishi adds. “do you want to go check up in your cat, senpai?”
you bite your lip. as much as you’d like to help, you’re nervous about issei’s wellbeing. you apologize and thank everyone, promising a round of drinks before you head out the room.
the office is busy now. and you’re sweating as you walk towards your desk.
“heey! morning!” tendou chirps, leaning back in his chair. “how was the meeting?”
“good.” your voice is clipped.
screw it.
you pull your chair out only to find it empty.
“what—.”
“what’s wrong?”
tendou gives you a tilt of his head when you look at him.
you pull your chair out further but issei isn’t anywhere to be seen on the floor.
“did you lose something?”
“sorta?” your voice comes out weirdly pitched.
tendou hums, catching semi’s eye across the room and waving him over. when he makes his way over, the two of them lead you into the break room where issei rests in a cardboard box with a bowl of water next to the row of three vending machines.
“issei!” you pull him into your arms, whispering apologies into his neck.
“true love,” tendou sighs dramatically.
semi rolls his eyes.
“god, i can’t thank you guys enough.”
“consider it a favour repaid for when you caught that mistake i made last week,” tendou grins.
issei purrs, resting his head on your chest as you pet him.
“you’ll want to carry him out in the box,” semi adds. “just in case.”
you nod, returning issei to his box and pulling the bowl of water out while tendou empties it in the sink.
“is he hungry?” tendou asks.
“probably,” you mumble. “he likes to eat a decent amount. woke up early too.”
while you knew issei could digest human food in his feline form, it’d be hard to explain.
he peers at you, making the smallest noise.
“look at those whiskers,” tendou says, looking down at him. “and those eyes.”
the bright lights have his whiskers almost shining, highlighting them as they stick out of his little face while his green eyes gleam, pupils constricting in the bright light. semi hides a smile, amused as the way you baby-carry him.
you make it back to your desk and upon semi’s suggestion, move to one of them empty ones tucked into the corner of the room. you excuse it by saying you’ve undergone a certain facial treatment, leaving yourself sensitive to the sun.
shirabu rolls his eyes. “i know what you’re hiding.”
you’re sure that were it not for your workplace competency, he wouldn’t bother maintaining any semblance of a relationship.
you sigh. fatigued and it’s only 10:18am. you don’t go home until 5pm.
issei, resting in the open empty bottom cabinet drawer, stands on his hind legs to rub his head on your thigh. he looks remorseful, but you can’t get mad—it’s comforting having him here at work and you can’t fault him entirely. you pet behind his ears, digging into your bag for your banana and feeding him sections of it.
you ask goshiki to buy you a serving of salmon maki rolls when he mentions going to the cafeteria for a quick pick-me-up. he happily agrees, even wishing you a get well soon for your sensitive skin. you feel bad, you really do but don’t feel that bad when you pop open the plastic lid and lower the tray to issei who eats enthusiastically.
“hey, you alright?”
it’s almost comical how quickly you stiffen, but at the edge of your desk, reon can’t see issei eating sushi in the cabinet.
“yes! thanks, reon. how’d it go? i’m so glad it’s over, but it’s still not five yet, ugh.” you’re talking a mile a minute and reon merely chuckles. “yeah, don’t worry, they’re not asking for you. you have the slides, right? the dateko execs want a copy.”
“oh!” you nod, clicking into your files. “yeah, i’ll send them over.”
“thanks,” he grins. his voice is but above a whisper when he asks you, “your cat okay?”
you nod, giving him a thumbs up. issei meows. you shush him but reon only laughs.
other than leaving your desk to say goodbye and thank you to the dateko tech group, you remain at your cubicle with issei cuddled up on your thighs as you get through some deliverables.
“hey, have you seen—.”
you turn just to see yamagata looking down at your lap, making eye contact with issei who merely blinks.
“nice cat.”
“i—.”
“a cat? where?”
goshiki, seemingly showing up from nowhere, peaks over yamagata’s shoulders and gasps when he sees issei.
you’re about to engage in damage control when you hear an unmistakable voice say, “goshiki.”
ushijima, looking devastatingly handsome with his hair slicked back, sharp eyes and dressed in one of his more expensive suits (not that all of his suits weren’t luxuriously tailor-made, but evidently this one looked more so as ushijima never wore his black-banded rolex unless he had "one of those big shot meetings,” according to tendou.
("wakatoshi usually wears his submariner. said it was more comfortable, who knows. for those meetings, he goes with his day-date.”
“ohh,” you hummed, as if you were familiar with any of those models.
during a quick snack break, you looked up the prices. a rolex submariner started at $10,000. the day-date was nearly triple that price. you nearly dropped your packet of pocky.)
he was probably presenting to some other external company, you muse. )
you and goshiki stiffen, but yamagata smiles. at an attempt to hide issei, you pull your keyboard closer to you (useless, the keyboard was still on your desk), move your hands together (useless, issei’s tail still hung over your thighs) and try to shuffle closer into your desk (useless, you couldn’t close much distance without hurting him).
“ushijima-san!” goshiki salutes him as he always does for some reason as you smile awkwardly. ushijima nods at all of you and walks closer.
luckily, he doesn’t seem to notice. unluckily, he actually does. the way he says your name makes it seem like you’re in a witness stand. issei peers over at him too, peeking his head up and sitting up on your lap. ushijima blinks in surprise, but doesn’t berate you, in fact, he steps closer and lowers his voice.
”are you alright? tendou told me you recently adopted another dog and cat. would you like me to help you request more rest days?”
you smile, surprised but more than grateful and relieved . you explain the conundrum that went on this morning to him and the pair on your side.
“ah, so that’s what semi was doing earlier with his jacket,” yamagata chuckles.
“may i pet him?” goshiki whispers. you nod, letting issei take over that particular interaction.
“there’s a cat cafe on the second floor of the building,” ushijima offers. “maybe they wouldn’t mind watching over him.”
you think about it, but decide against it. “hmm, yeah, i forgot about that, but he doesn’t really like strangers so i think i’ll just drive him home.”
ushijima nods his head.
“if you’re late coming back, we can cover for you,” goshiki offers.
“your break is at 12:30pm, right?” yamagata asks.
you nod.
with the entire team aware of the newest “employee,” yamagata suggests returning him to the breakroom and giving him a spot on one of the small lounge chairs near the tall glass windows. from there, issei is given a sunbathing spot and is even serviced with a bowl of water and one of the breakroom’s pillows. yamagata folds your jacket on top of it before placing it on a table close to the windows.
issei lazes in the glow of the sun while you move back to your desk. everyone makes their way over to take a look at him at least once. goshiki makes the most detours and tendou snickers at how obvious he’s being. when you take a step in to refill your coffee, you see kawanishi and shirabu standing near him. you catch a hint of a smile from shirabu when issei licks the back of one of his paws to clean himself. even more, you can only grin from ear to ear when semi tells you he saw ushijima happily petting him and holding a one sided conversation.
(“he asked him ‘what do you think of the seats? we replaced them last month.’ as if a cat was going to reply with a detailed review,” semi recalled.
tendou snickered. “did he nod at him afterwards?”
“yeah, after he meowed.”
tendou broke out in guffaws as you stifled your giggles. you made a mental note to ask if ushijima would like to see some photos of your other pets for later.)
when it’s time to say goodbye, reon approaches you. “here,” he smiles. “for our newest office assistant.”
he loops a lanyard around issei, complete with a badge that had his photo and name.
“oh my god,” you half-laugh.
issei meows, pawing at the plastic badge.
“ya like it?” tendou grins.
semi sighs next to him while kawanishi snaps a photo.
“she might as well bring all the other ones in then,” shirabu says sarcastically.
“you should!” goshiki grins.
reon grimaces thinking about tooru.
you laugh, adjusting the ribbon. “maybe when this covid thing blows over.”
ushijima nods and gives issei a small handshake. “we’ll see you soon.”
“drive safe!” tendou chirps.
you grab issei’s paw and wave goodbye, scanning yourself to report the start of your break. curiously, you scan issei’s as well and are a bit floored to see that it works. the system even displays his name, “issei (cat).”
“pleased to meet you, issei,” you grin, looking down at him. “is today your first day? what department did you get assigned to?”
“mreow!”