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Mahiru sat on the couch, his head leaned against the back of the couch, staring at the ceiling. On the floor, Kuro tapped on a controller hooked up to the tv, eyes glued to the screen and the sounds of the game filling the silence.
Mahiru was bored, but being as hot as it was outside, there wasn’t much to do. He felt like Kuro, just lazing around all day without doing much. He had finished his chores early, and subsequently played video games with Kuro for a while until he got bored of that, too.
He yawned, stretching his body out, pulling his eyes away from the light on the ceiling. His vision spotted from staring at the light for a moment, and he leaned his head back again and laid his right arm over his eyes. Bursts of shapes and colors still danced in his vision as he groaned. He heard Kuro shift and the tapping stopped, as if he was glancing at him, but Mahiru stayed put, waiting for his vision to return to normal.
Kuro’s tapping hadn’t continued, but the music from the game did. From the sounds of it, Kuro’s character was being attacked, though Kuro didn’t seem to make any movements to defend against the enemies in the game.
Mahiru was just about to lift his arm and open his eyes to see what the vampire was doing until he felt a bit of weight move into his lap.
His eyes quickly fluttered open and he looked down to find Kuro’s cat form laying across his lap, his tiny paws flexing a bit as if he were considering kneading Mahiru’s lap.
“...What are you doing?” Mahiru asked, poking the Servamp’s soft cheek and earning himself a small mewl.
“It’s more comfortable here…” Kuro murmured, adjusting himself so that he was snuggled up against Mahiru’s stomach.
“The rest of the couch is open too, you know,” Mahiru said, gesturing to the opposite end of the couch. Not that he was complaining about Kuro; the two weren’t often physically affectionate and Kuro’s body was warm.
Kuro muttered back, “I’ve already sat down and I don’t wanna move again…”
Before Mahiru could say anything back, he felt the slight vibration of Kuro’s soft purrs against his lap. Mahiru sighed, shaking his head a little before moving his hand down to scratch Kuro’s head, earning him more purring.
He sat like this for a while, feeling sleepier and sleepier. He was aware it was only early afternoon, but the way Kuro was nuzzling against him warmly…
Mahiru awoke with a bit of a start, panicked for a moment that he had over-napped and it was night already, but found it was only late afternoon. The tv was on Kuro’s game’s main menu, playing the main theme of the game in a loop. Sunlight was shining across the floor of the living room, warming the spot Kuro would have been normally.
Mahiru yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before he noticed the much bigger mass on his lap.
Despite the way he remembered cat-Kuro had been before he fell asleep, human-Kuro was situated sideways in his lap with his head resting against Mahiru’s left shoulder, arms wrapped across his shoulders and around his neck, and his legs draped across Mahiru’s lap, stretching along the other side of the couch. He breathed deeply and slowly, obviously still asleep.
Mahiru was wide awake now.
He could feel the heat on his cheeks as the fur on Kuro’s hood tickled his ear. He went over in his head what he should do. Should I move him? I don’t really wanna bother waking him up, though… Wouldn’t it be awkward if he woke up like this, though? ...When did he change back to human?
And then Kuro began to stir.
He groaned softly, pushing his hood further into Mahiru’s face, and Mahiru wondered briefly if Kuro could feel his thrumming heart.
Mahiru was aware that he was holding his breath as Kuro sat up and stretched, yawning, but he didn’t dare breathe out quite yet. Kuro seemed to assess the situation briefly, but made no big movements, simply untangled his arms from around Mahiru’s neck and stretched, cracking a few bones in his spine as he turned his neck.
“You look kinda freaked out…” Kuro said curiously, giving Mahiru a ruby-eyed gaze that read… Well, from what Mahiru could tell, complete indifference.
Mahiru willed himself to reply, struggling to keep his voice steady. “O-oh, is that so?” he said a bit shakily, and Kuro seemed to lean his head a bit closer to Mahiru’s.
Kuro hummed, looking over Mahiru like a cat inquisitively watching its owner with a kind of subtle smugness. Mahiru caught a quick glimpse of amusement in Kuro’s face that disappeared in a flash before Mahiru could even decide whether he had actually seen it or not.
“Uh, you’re… okay with this?” Mahiru finally asked awkwardly. Not that he really… minded the physical affection from Kuro, but the vampire had never done much of anything physical past brushing Mahiru’s arm or getting close to his neck or cheek in cat form when resting on the Eve’s shoulder.
“What are you talking about?” Kuro asked nonchalantly, leaning so his back rested again the couch’s armrest, and pulling his legs up so they arched over Mahiru’s lap. He casually rested his arm on the back of the couch and over Mahiru’s shoulders.
Kuro was doing this on purpose, he was sure of it. There was no way Kuro wasn’t intentionally ruffling him. The Servamp wasn’t that oblivious. But Mahiru gave Kuro the benefit of the doubt.
“Kuro, you know if you wanted to, like… touch, you just have to ask,” Mahiru said dubiously.
The look Kuro gave him made him realize how bad that sentence sounded and Mahiru’s face was instantly in flames.
“I MEAN! Like, since we’re not usually, like, physical with each other or anythi- wait no that sounds worse,” Mahiru sputtered, half to himself and half to Kuro, who seemed to watch him with incredibly entertained eyes. If he were in cat form, he’d definitely be flicking his tail in enjoyment.
“UGH,” Mahiru groaned, fighting to push the red in his face away, “I KNOW YOU’RE ENJOYING THIS OKAY. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN DON’T YOU.”
Kuro gave him an innocent look, pulling his fists up to his chin and giving him the kitty eyes while still maintaining that uninterested face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he purred, moving so that his head rested on Mahiru’s shoulder.
Mahiru unceremoniously shoved Kuro off his lap and onto the floor.
The vampire landed with a grunt and a “Hmm, so rough… No way to treat your precious cat…”.
After a moment of Mahiru attempting to cool his face down and slow his heartbeat, Kuro turned from his position on the floor and ended up resting his head on Mahiru’s lap. His cheek lay against Mahiru’s thigh and he seemed perfectly content to not move.
“Hey,” Mahiru warned, feeling the blush frustratingly spread across his face again. This damn cat was doing everything in his power to get to him. And it was working.
Kuro’s red eyes flicked up to Mahiru’s in a sort of smug questioning gaze that asked Oh? Does this bother you? You want me to move? Mahiru knew Kuro was teasing him again, but he couldn’t help the fact that he didn’t want Kuro to move quite yet. Nice, pleasant moments like this with the vampire were seldom and Mahiru wasn’t about to ruin it.
Mahiru leaned back a little, keeping his eyes on Kuro’s head in his lap, looking perfectly comfortable. Frankly, Mahiru was quite comfortable as well. Kuro seemed to shift, pushing his head into Mahiru’s stomach a bit. After a moment, he shifted again, a little uncomfortably and for a moment, Mahiru was afraid Kuro was getting tired of the affection.
“Can you move your knee a bit? It’s sort of jabbing my shoulder…” Kuro murmured into Mahiru’s leg.
Aaaaand there went the mood.
Mahiru stood up suddenly, and Kuro’s head fell off his lap. He groaned as Mahiru shook himself off and stretched while trying to ignore the way his heart was fluttering.
“You’re so finicky. Like a cat…” Kuro sighed, rubbing his cheek.
“Who’re you calling a cat?!”
But during dinner, Mahiru and Kuro sat close to each other. Nothing in particular was said about the way they brushed hands while eating, or the way Mahiru laid his head on Kuro’s shoulder afterward, or how Mahiru woke up the next morning to find Kuro snuggled up next to him under the sheets. But it continued.