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Natsume and Mika walked down the side of the empty road hand in hand. The day was frigid enough that they relied on each other and hot drinks for warmth, yet not so much so that it took a strong will, or a hatred for life and your own body, to take a long walk outside on a day off, wandering into an unfamiliar part of town guided by a vague recollection of how to get back home and a thirst for exploration. On the other side of an overgrown yard was a street similar enough to the one they'd come from, and on the street among the shops was a tucked-away animal shelter.
Mika poked a curious head in, followed by Natsume, who took on a totally different aura around the kittens and bolted past him to make kissy faces at each one. Before he could catch up, Mika was stopped by a passerby, who asked him to hold a box. Unquestioningly, he obliged, watching Natsume until he got swept up in being confused for a volunteer and dragged into assisting others. By the time the other could catch up to him, he was in the middle of being sent to sort out donations, carefree and absorbed in his work to the point of forgetting the (lack of) reason they were here.
"Mika," came the voice from behind him, sharp but never cruel, and the addressed turned around to give a wave. "What are you Doing?" His gaze came across as a glare, but his soft eyes and tone neutralized it, and Mika realized he hadn't actually signed up for this.
"Ah, they seemed like they needed help, 'n I jus' ended up gettin' dragged along, so I'm dealin' out some toys fer 'em. I'm like a real Santa Claus, ain't I?" He pulled out a few to prove his point, setting them aside from other necessities and holding out a cat toy to Natsume. "Ya can help, too."
"Mika, this is Unnecessary." Despite saying it, he pulled the toy from Mika's hand and examined it, eyes flicking from it to a cat he had left behind on his search. "There is no need to involve yourself in others' business for no Compensation."
"Ya say that, but yer lookin' right at a kitty, ain'tcha? That one was gonna get a toy, so ya can give it to 'em if ya want." He smiled in that way that got Natsume's eyes to dart away out of embarrassment, but it was effective as the latter made his way toward the kitten he was fawning over, approaching it gently with the toy, giving Mika a heartwarming sight before he had to continue on his volunteer "job", similarly accustoming the pets to their gifts.
When he returned, he found Natsume excitedly digging around in the box he'd been sorting, practically radiating an aura of sheer joy as he tugged out as many cat toys as he could to distribute and leaving behind sorted piles. Between his vigor and Mika's ever-present determination, their workload was completed in what felt like no time, leaving them to get back to what they'd come here for.
Or, in Natsume's case, to not leave it at all. When they met up it was in the middle of the cats, within which was a mass of red hair sticking out from a pile.
"Wow, the cats really like ya, huh?" he murmured, squatting down to pet a few.
"Cats are commonly witches' familiars for a Reason," he explained from beneath the pile, making no move to get up or make himself heard through the fluffy mass. "They can sense their Allies."
"'Zat so? Hey, li'l guy," Mika cut off as a kitten stumbled into his lap. "Yeah, I'm yer ally, yer real cute... Woah, hey Nakkun, look."
Slowly, Natsume raised himself off the ground to lock eyes with Mika, and the kitten he was holding up.
"It's got my same eyes," he chirped, juxtaposing himself by the odd-eyed black cat to prove it, and for once on the topic of his eyes, he found himself smiling.
"How Adorable. And black cats with odd eyes are quite a genetic Rarity, are they not? Perhaps another familiar has shown itself to Us, now that the magician's apprentice is with me as Well. I suppose being impulsive won't be so bad just this Once." Mika didn't have to ask for clarification, as when Natsume reached over to take the kitten, he saw in his arms the orange cat he'd given a toy to first, and both of them were carted off to the adoption center, leaving Mika alone in the cat pile, which now descended upon him.
In his playing, Mika noticed another oddity of a kitten - so small the others could have trampled it, with a leg and some fur patches missing, and immediately he reached a hand out to it. Skittish at first though it was, it crawled clumsily into his hand and when Natsume returned, he only gave an understanding laugh.
"Come Here, we can bring them all Home," he stated before Mika could even start his sentence.
Once guided through the adoption process, the two boys and their three cats set back off for home, the kittens bundled up with their toys and each other in their new dads' jackets as the duo reversed their adventure, stumbling their way home together.
Soon enough, they unleashed the adoptees on the house, where they were taken to kindly and guarded by the already-present cats as they got adjusted to their new home. Natsume leaned on Mika as they watched them together, guiding his finger in the direction of the two kittens he'd gotten.
"Those two are your familiars Now, meaning you're well on your way to becoming a true Magician."
"Nnah? But I don't know any spells or anythin'."
"Nonsense. If you Didn't, you would never have been able to cast a love spell on Me." In Mika's surprise, his hands were gripped firmly, now being held in Natsume's arms, heat and love and perhaps more than a bit of magic flowing through the both of them.
In that moment, Mika understood. A moment, a day, a feeling could end, but love, like the growth of a kitten, was a journey, one he wanted to take with Natsume. He gripped on tightly to his lover's hands and felt the magic surge through his fingertips.