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Shinsou Hitoshi: I’ll be around for training in an hour. Is that okay?
Shouta wasn’t one to feel rejected, but this was the fifth time this week, the tenth time in two weeks, and the seventeenth time this month that Hitoshi had told Shouta that he’d be late to training. Or… it wasn’t exactly being late to training so much as it was telling him that they’d have to wait a bit. Shouta didn’t actually have a problem with it—he and Hizashi had taken Hitoshi in and really, Shouta could train with Hitoshi whenever the kid wanted, given that he lived with him.
It wasn’t that Shouta was angry or like Hitoshi asking him to wait was an inconvenience. It was just that, well…
Hitoshi hadn’t exactly told him why.
Aizawa Shouta: That’s fine. See you then.
He’d already asked, trying to not pry into the reasoning or demand that Hitoshi tell him. He knew Hitoshi well by now, after living with him and being his parent for a few months. He knew that Hitoshi was trustworthy, that he was a good kid who followed whatever Shouta said. He trusted Hitoshi and he didn’t think that Hitoshi was doing anything wrong, but—Hitoshi told him near everything. He told him about school, about the kids he had problems with (that Monoma kid never really seemed to know when to quit bothering him), about his outings with friends. He told him about tests, about his classes, and Shouta had even managed to get him to open up about his life in foster care quite a bit. Hitoshi looked up to him and told Shouta almost everything, and Shouta was just used to hearing everything about his life.
Part of it, he guessed, was that he knew to not judge Hitoshi or force him to open up to him and instead give him the chance to do so on his own. It worked and Hitoshi seemed to feel comfortable coming to him about anything. While Shouta wasn’t the best with his own feelings, picking up on the feelings of others was far easier and Shouta did his best to help Hitoshi through any problems he had.
So it was a little shocking—and even frustrating—when Hitoshi wasn’t telling him about whatever he was doing right after school.
“Aren’t you going to train with Hitoshi today?”
From his left, Hizashi’s voice drew him out of his trance, making Shouta raise his head to look at him. Hizashi was beside him, sitting at his own desk, pushed up against the side of Shouta’s, fixing him with a stare from behind his orange sunglasses. Shouta let out a breath, setting his phone down on his desk and pushing it away from him, trying to shake the curiosity from himself.
“Yeah, in an hour,” Shouta answered, drumming his fingers on his own desk. He knew he should leave it at that, should move on, change the conversation topic, and use the hour he had to work on grading, but he couldn’t bring himself to, especially with the way Hizashi was still staring at him expectantly. Shouta gave in, asking the question that had been on his mind for the past week, “....Do you have any idea where Hitoshi’s been going after school…?”
Hizashi’s expression changed, his eyebrows furrowing together in thought, his voice dropping to a quieter level as he spoke, “Now that you mention it, he has been training later with you than normal, hasn’t he? No, he hasn’t said anything to me… I figured that if anyone knew, it was you, but if you don’t… you don’t think he’s doing anything bad, do you? Hitoshi isn’t really that type of kid.”
“No, not at all,” Shouta sighed, resting his head on his hand. “No, I don’t think Hitoshi’s getting himself into trouble or anything. He knows not to go looking for villains or anything, so that can’t be it. I can’t imagine him being involved in anything actually illegal. Maybe he’s meeting a friend or something.”
Hizashi grinned suddenly, and Shouta’s stomach dropped, half knowing what he was about to suggest and only groaning when he nearly yelled out in excitement, “Or maybe he’s going on a date!”
“Every day? I don’t think so,” Shouta frowned at him, shaking his head slightly at Hizashi’s excitement at their kid having some sort of romantic interest without even logically thinking it through. “He’s been out for an hour almost every day after school this month. I don’t think Hitoshi’s even interested in anyone like that, anyways…”
“Maybe every day is a little weird, but you never know, Shouta,” Hizashi laughed loudly, and Shouta glared at him, Hizashi having managed to draw the attention of the other teachers in the room towards them, as well. “You should just ask him. I bet he’d tell you.”
Shouta wasn’t quite convinced, but he just nodded and spent the rest of the hour trying to figure out how, exactly, to ask Hitoshi, and coming up with almost nothing by the time Hitoshi sent Shouta another text to tell him he was back at the school.
Shouta didn’t get a chance until that night and he waited until they were alone, when Hizashi had left to go to the radio station. Hitoshi and Shouta spent Friday nights together, since Shouta liked to listen to Hizashi on the radio and Hitoshi seemed to like to sit with him while he did. It wasn’t rare for the two of them to spend time together, given that Hitoshi jumped at the chance of tagging along with him and Shouta thought that he was good company, anyways, as well as getting the chance to teach him more, but Friday nights felt more special, the two of them alone together at home.
By the end of the night, Hitoshi would usually be fast asleep on him and Shouta looked forward to this every week. It was a good close to a stressful week of working and teaching. It felt like the perfect time to ask, and to ask outright, rather than vaguely trying to get to the answer like Shouta had before.
Hizashi’s radio show hadn’t started yet, and Shouta was sitting on the couch, having finished most of his grading for the night. Across from him, sitting on the floor, Hitoshi was playing with one of their cats, the youngest batting at a fake mouse Hitoshi was waving around, a slight, small smile on his face. Music playing from the radio filled the room and usually, Shouta would take this chance to nap or read a book or do something relaxing, but all he could think about was his conversation with Hizashi earlier, and how Hizashi had suggested just outright asking Hitoshi.
He’d tried asking before, though not bluntly, given that he hadn’t wanted to pry into Hitoshi’s life or make him feel obligated to tell him. If he wanted an answer, he supposed that it was best to just outright ask, like he usually did. Hizashi had been right, anyways—Hitoshi would most likely tell him if he asked, given how open he was with Shouta.
“Hitoshi,” Shouta called out softly, leaning forward. Across from him, Hitoshi immediately looked up at him, raising an eyebrow at him as he stopped, the mouse toy dangling in the air above the cat’s head. Instantly, Shouta had all of Hitoshi’s attention and he felt a pang of guilt at it, hoping that he hadn’t made Hitoshi think that he was in trouble or anything. Hitoshi didn’t say anything and Shouta took a moment, searching for the words, softening his voice as he finally asked, “I was just… curious where you go after school?”
Just as he’d feared, Hitoshi stiffened a little, glancing away from him and sitting up straighter, his face settling into a frown, similar to the expression that Shouta had often seen on his face before taking him in. He wanted to say something else, to take it back and tell Hitoshi it was fine, but as the silence fell over them, even the music from the radio seeming to be drowned out by it, Shouta instead waited for an answer.
“I didn’t mean to make you wait,” Hitoshi eventually said, his voice quiet, looking down and not quite at Shouta. He put the cat toy down, hands settling in his lap, looking tense and even embarrassed, his face red.
“I’m not asking because I’m upset. I’ve been telling you it’s fine, and it is,” Shouta assured him, studying Hitoshi closely. He knew the kid was sensitive when it came to potentially upsetting or inconveniencing Shouta and Hizashi, given his history in foster care, but usually solid reassurance helped calm those fears. He’d suspected that Hitoshi would take this as thinking Shouta was upset about Hitoshi asking him to wait so much lately and at the very least, had been prepared to try to assure him differently. “I’m just asking because, as I said, I’m curious. I don’t think you’re up to something. I’m just curious; you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”
Hitoshi raised his head, looking at him again, as if he were considering something. Again, the quiet settled over them and Shouta waited, but it didn’t feel suffocating this time. He’d give Hitoshi time—however much time he needed—and the music played in the room, filling the air.
Slowly, he watched as Hitoshi got up, taking a few curious steps towards him.
“...How about I just show you instead?”
Shouta continued to study him for a moment. Hitoshi looked completely serious, though, staring right at Shouta, just in front of him. Shouta was even more curious now, since Hitoshi was offering to show him, rather than tell him, and he wasn’t about to say no—not when this was something important to Hitoshi and Shouta really wanted to know what it was. He nodded, and Hitoshi rubbed at the back of his neck, violet eyes flickering away for a moment.
“Okay, but you have to get up early with me tomorrow,” Hitoshi told him, his voice still completely serious. He turned, glancing outside the covered windows, pursing his lips at whatever he saw out there. Shouta glanced out, trying to see what Hitoshi was looking at, but Hitoshi answered his question before Shouta could ask it, “Looks like it’s going to rain.”
“It’s supposed to start tomorrow,” Shouta told him, but Hitoshi still didn’t turn to look at him, focusing on the weather outside. Shouta paused, but Hitoshi said nothing, only piquing Shouta’s curiosity more and more by the second, “Is that bad?”
“No,” Hitoshi answered, turning to look back at him, giving him a shrug and not much of an explanation. “It’s good, actually. You’ll see.”
With that, Hitoshi crouched back onto the floor, picking up a nearby feather toy and calling the cat over. Shouta continued to stare at him for a few more moments, but Hitoshi was obviously done with the conversation, clearly wanting to leave whatever he wanted to show Shouta for tomorrow. That was fine. Shouta was patient. He could wait, even if it meant sitting here for the rest of the night, wondering where Hitoshi could possibly be taking him.
Hitoshi got him up at five in the morning.
Shouta initially panicked when he woke up to Hitoshi shaking him awake when it was so early in the morning that the sun had barely started to rise over, the sky still mostly dark. He’d quickly realized that nothing was wrong, though, and this was just what Hitoshi had meant by getting up early with him. His body protested, but Shouta dragged himself out of bed, miraculously without waking up Hizashi, got dressed, and met up with Hitoshi in the living room. Hitoshi still didn’t have an explanation for him, only handing him an umbrella, telling him that he would need it.
At first, Shouta didn’t ask anything. Mainly because it felt too inhumanly early for him to be moving around. But he’d promised Hitoshi and truth be told, even through the exhaustion, Shouta was still curious. Finally, he’d be getting his answer to what Hitoshi had been doing every day after school. It was too early to theorize what it could be or even protest at all, so Shouta just followed Hitoshi when he led him out of the house, down the street, and down a set of stairs to the subway.
“It’s not a long ride,” Hitoshi told him, folding up his umbrella as they got into the underground station. Shouta just yawned and did the same, leaning against the back wall, only thinking about how good it would feel to sit on the train again, rather than having to stand up and walk around. Hitoshi smiled a little at his tired nonresponse, “Sorry. I know this is early for you.”
“Don’t apologize,” It was interrupted by another yawn, but at least Shouta was starting to wake up, slowly. Somewhere, he thought that he should probably tell Hitoshi to just tell him where they were getting off, so that Shouta would at least have an idea of where they were going. It was so warm, though—almost July—and the warmth was slowing Shouta down even more.
It always took him forever to wake up. It took him even longer to wake up when he was getting up early. His body just didn’t seem to like mornings.
Down the tunnel, Shouta could hear an unmistakable roar of the train coming. Hitoshi glanced at him, still smiling a little, swinging his backpack back on. Shouta managed to stand up a little straighter as the train came rattling to a stop in front of them, following Hitoshi into the car he chose.
They were the only ones to get on at this stop. It was fitting. Shouta couldn’t think of a reason in the world why anyone would want to get up this early, especially Hitoshi, who liked his sleep almost as much as Shouta liked his.
The train car was mostly empty and Hitoshi said nothing the entire ride. Shouta sat, and about halfway through the ride, finally managed to stop falling asleep. The subway left the tunnel and the bright sunlight of the early morning streamed in, the sun rising higher and higher into the sky as the minutes ticked by, bringing a burning heat with it. More and more people got on, the car getting louder. Hitoshi was right about the ride not being long, though, and six stops away from the house, Hitoshi finally told Shouta that it was time to get off.
Shouta hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to where they were going, but he recognized his surroundings almost immediately. No one else got off here, and Shouta knew why, because Hitoshi had brought him to a rundown, crime-prone area, only a little ways from where Shouta had grown up.
Suddenly, he was wide awake.
“Hitoshi…?”
Hitoshi had put his umbrella back up. Raindrops hit Shouta on his head, wetting his hair as he looked on. He knew this place well—this was the train he’d taken to UA and back as a kid. Hitoshi had brought him here. This was the place Hitoshi had been going nearly every day after school. Had he been coming here alone? Shouta had told Hizashi yesterday that he hadn’t thought Hitoshi was getting into anything bad, but Shouta knew what kind of place it was, and the simple fact that Hitoshi had been coming here left a bad taste in his mouth.
Hitoshi wasn’t doing anything bad. He was still sure of that. But this was a dangerous place, and Shouta worried about Hitoshi coming here by himself. Of course, the kid had been training with him for the past few months and was getting to be a strong and competent fighter, but Shouta still didn’t like the idea of him being here alone, not as his mentor but as his father—
“Sensei, it’s raining,” Hitoshi pointed out, glancing at Shouta’s umbrella. Shouta got the hint, moving to put it up to shield himself from the droplets that were now raining down at a steady rate and threatening to turn into a downpour.
Nothing was adding up. Hitoshi had brought him here, had said that the rain was good, had needed to come here early in the morning.
“This way.” Hitoshi was off before Shouta could ask a question, waving at him to follow. Shouta did, glancing around him at his surroundings. The sun was bright, even through the rain clouds, but this part of the city just seemed greyer by nature, darker and emptier. Even now, as they walked away from the uncovered subway station and past a set of rundown shops, Shouta saw no one. No one in the shops or in the street or anywhere, and it gave him an odd, eerie feeling that sat somewhere deep inside him.
Still, though, he followed Hitoshi. Past the empty supermarket, then the noodle shop, slowing down at an alleyway between a boarded up laundromat and another, smaller food store, until Hitoshi came to a stop in front of the former store.
Shouta didn’t immediately understand. Hitoshi didn’t seem to mind, though. Hitoshi slung his bag off of his back, stooping slightly to dig through it for a moment, coming up with something cupped in his hand. Shouta just raised an eyebrow at him, still not getting it at all. Hitoshi smiled, nodding down the alleyway, starting to make his way down it. Shouta was about to tell him to stop, but Hitoshi did on his own, right by a pile of cardboard boxes.
He crouched down, taking his eyes off of Shouta. Shouta came to stand behind him and then… that was when he understood. Or at least mostly understood.
Inside the bottommost box was a small kitten, white with a few black and orange splotches and definitely not old enough to be away from its mother. The box was lined with soft things and most notably, one of Hitoshi’s jackets, placed carefully inside the box. The kitten looked like a little ball of fur, soft and just barely moving as it slept.
This was what Hitoshi had been doing. Shouta wasn’t sure why this place, but it was evident that he’d been taking care of this cat. Shouta watched Hitoshi as the boy carefully took a small glass bowl—Shouta hadn’t even noticed it go missing from their house—out of the box, dumping the cat food he’d had cupped in his hand into it before pushing it back in, obviously trying not to wake the kitten.
“I’ve been taking care of her,” Hitoshi told him, his voice quiet. He didn’t look up at Shouta, watching the kitten in the box instead, his expression soft and fond. “I’ve been coming here for a long time, actually. My first foster home wasn’t here, but my second was. I was here for about a year. They let me walk around by myself sometimes. Cats always like this alley. I used to play with the cats here all the time. It made me feel less lonely.”
There’d always been a lot of strays in this neighborhood. Shouta could remember that much. That was where his own liking of cats had come from—playing with the strays outside the place he’d lived. Apparently, it’d been similar for Hitoshi. He’d never known of this place, though.
“There’s other cats here, too, but I think they’re all hiding from the rain,” Hitoshi went on, glancing further into the dark alleyway. “This one was abandoned by her mom. She was the runt of the litter. I visited a couple times this year, but she was in really bad shape about a month ago, so I started trying to come at least once a day. I probably should’ve told you, but…”
Hitoshi looked up at him from where he was crouched on the ground, staring up at him with violet eyes. He drew a breath in and Shouta waited for him, waited for Hitoshi to speak.
“...You’re the first person I’ve ever actually taken here. It was like… a private spot for me. No one else knew about it. It felt weird telling someone else about it.”
Hitoshi gave a small, breathy laugh, looking away.
“I’m sorry for prying about this,” Shouta told him, taking a step forward to get down beside him, down to his level. It hurt, remembering how curious he’d been last night, how much he’d wanted to know where Hitoshi was going every day after school. He hadn’t known it was something so personal.
“You didn’t,” Hitoshi told him softly, looking back at the sleeping kitten in the box. “I… really wanted to show you. I guess i just didn’t really know how. I wanted you to come here, though.”
Shouta looked at the inside of the box, too. Hitoshi had put a lot of things in there, from a small water bowl to a bunch of his older clothing. The kitten seemed to like his jacket the best. It looked like it was in good health, slightly plump and with thick, glossy fur. Given what he’d just been told, though, that was because Hitoshi had nursed it back to health.
“It must’ve been hard by yourself.”
“A little,” Hitoshi answered, Shouta glancing towards him to find him smiling. “But she’s okay now. I had to bottle feed her for a while, but she eats just fine now. She’s pretty active, too. I just kinda worry about her with the other cats. Like they’ll attack her or something.”
“That’s understandable.”
Shouta couldn’t help but to feel like there was something else underneath Hitoshi’s concern. He’d said that she hadn’t been healthy and with a kitten this small, Shouta could imagine that probably meant close to death. Hitoshi had come to them in November of the previous year. It was July now. In January, their oldest cat had died, leaving them with the other two. It’d hurt all of them a lot, especially since Shouta had nursed their oldest back to health when he’d adopted her, but eventually, Hitoshi had mourned her and things got better again. But… Shouta couldn’t help but to think that Hitoshi was so adamant in taking care of this kitten because he was trying to prevent another animal death.
Their cat had passed in her sleep, being elderly, and she’d been happy, but Hitoshi had been understandably devastated.
“She looks healthy,” Shouta commented, still looking at Hitoshi. He couldn’t believe it—Hitoshi had been coming here for a month to take care of this tiny, abandoned kitten. He’d apparently saved it, because it looked well-fed and uninjured. Hitoshi had done a good job. “Looks like you did well.”
Hitoshi seemed to beam a little at the praise, some of the tension lifting from him at Shouta’s words. Hitoshi had seemed fairly nervous, as well, and now Shouta understood why. This was a private place for him, somewhere he’d never shared with anyone else. Shouta was the first. He was grateful that Hitoshi trusted him enough to show him this place and share with him what he’d been doing.
“Thanks,” Hitoshi was smiling. “I’d let you hold her, but she’s sleeping right now. Maybe next time?”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
Next time. Shouta hoped that Hitoshi would feel alright taking him here again.
“A kitten—?”
“Keep your voice down!” Shouta hissed at Hizashi, immediately fearful that Hitoshi had heard Hizashi’s loud voice through the walls of the house. The kid was napping right now, given that he’d been up at five in the morning. Shouta needed a nap, too, but he’d needed to talk to Hizashi first. Hizashi shut up, casting a glance outside the slightly ajar door to their bedroom, checking to see if Hitoshi had heard them and gotten up. “Hitoshi hasn’t told anyone else. Just me.”
“Oh,” Hizashi grinned, but kept his voice down, a little more hushed than before. It was a small improvement, at least. “A secret.”
“This is serious.”
“Is it? Okay, okay,” Hizashi put on his best serious face, showing off for Shouta. Shouta just narrowed his eyes at him and Hizashi sighed, “Well, at least now we know what he’s up to. He’s just been taking care of a cat. Sounds like something you’d do, Shouta.”
Shouta just stared at him, expression unchanging, “I want to bring it home for him.”
That got Hizashi to shut up for once. His face fell into a more serious look and he studied Shouta, as if to see if he were serious. Shouta was. It’d been a thought that he hadn’t been able to let go of since Hitoshi had explained everything to him in that alleyway. It seemed like the most logical explanation.
“Hitoshi’s already raised it. He’s attached to it,” Shouta added on, Hizashi listening to him. “He’s done a good job. He’s clearly responsible. His birthday’s coming up. We had three cats until January. There’s no reason to not bring it home for him.”
And I don’t want him having to go back there everyday, Shouta went on silently, not wanting to admit aloud that he still wasn’t liking the idea of Hitoshi going to such a crime-ridden place so often. It was the safe, better solution that would make everyone involved happy. Shouta had already weighed everything out, and there were no reasons against it other than the two adult cats in the house being a little unhappy about it at first. They’d take it to the vet to clear anything leftover up and then take it home.
“Well,” Hizashi hummed, frowning slightly in thought. “It would be a good birthday present, wouldn’t it? Kid doesn’t want a party. I’ve already tried that. You think a cat would be a good gift for his first birthday with us?”
It didn’t surprise Shouta one bit that Hizashi had already tried to convince Hitoshi to let him throw a birthday party for him. It also didn’t surprise him that Hitoshi didn’t want that. This would be his first birthday with them and he was turning seventeen. He and Hizashi had been trying to come up with something to do for him, something special and meaningful, and with the way Hitoshi had spent the last month trying to get this kitten back to health and caring for it, Shouta thought it might be the thing they were looking for.
“Yeah,” Shouta nodded, looking out of the ajar door, finding once more that Hitoshi wasn’t out there and thus, wouldn’t overhear them. “I think it’d be perfect for him. He told me he wanted to take me back there. Why don’t I ask him then…?”
Hitoshi asked Shouta if he wanted to come with him two days before his birthday, on a Wednesday afternoon. Shouta was quick to agree.
“Hold out your hands,” Hitoshi instructed him, the two of them back in the alleyway again, though this time it was neither raining or early morning. They were in the same spot, though, Shouta next to Hitoshi, both of them looking into the cardboard box as the white and black kitten looked them both over curiously, clearly a little nervous about Shouta’s presence with Hitoshi.
Shouta did what he was told, though, like a child being told how to hold an animal. He held his hands out, cupping them together. Hitoshi reached carefully inside the box, managing to not jostle anything around, and the kitten inside rubbed up against his fingers, letting him pick her up with nothing more than a soft mewl. Hitoshi held her for a moment and then just as carefully, set her down on Shouta’s hands, the kitten giving another soft cry and then peering curiously at Shouta.
“I think she likes you,” Hitoshi said, watching Shouta closely.
“Most cats do.” Shouta looked down at the small kitten, and somehow, she seemed even tinier up close. It was hard to believe that she was more than a month old, given how small she was. Tiny paws batted at his fingers, small claws outstretched. She’d stopped looking at him, seeming more preoccupied with playing with his fingers, making Hitoshi laugh beside him.
“I think she’s gonna grow up to be really people-friendly.” Hitoshi reached out, gently petting the cat’s soft fur, earning him a purr that sounded entirely too loud for that tiny body. “You know, like the type of stray that comes right up to you.”
Shouta had never quite been good at subtly. He’d never really seen much of a point in beating around the bush. This was no exception, and Shouta saw no point in doing anything but just asking outright.
“Hitoshi, why don’t we bring her home?”
Hitoshi looked up at him, violet eyes wide, huge in the darkness of the alleyway, his mouth dropping slightly open. Hitoshi said nothing, though, eyes flickering down to look at the kitten in Shouta’s hands. A long moment passed, filled with silence. Shouta waited, waiting for Hitoshi to find his words.
“Are… Are you serious?” He eventually did, his voice every bit as shocked as his expression. Shouta just nodded, wanting Hitoshi to make this decision. He’d already put together all the preparations, calling their usual vet and telling them about the situation, as well as buying kitten food and doing his best to keep it a secret from Hitoshi.
“I talked with Hizashi about it. If you want to bring her home, we’d be more than happy to have her as a pet,” Shouta told him simply. “Think of it like a birthday present, if you really want to.”
“I—” Hitoshi glanced back down at the cat, still batting at Shouta’s fingers. He paused another moment, as if thinking it over, but it wasn’t long before he decided, “Yeah, I’d love to. She deserves a good home.”
July came. The first was Hitoshi’s birthday.
Hizashi and Shouta baked him a cake, though it was really Hizashi doing most of the work since Shouta was prone to baking accidents and neither one of them wanted Hitoshi’s birthday cake to be ruined. Luckily, that was also the day that Hitoshi’s cat finished up her exams at the vet and she was allowed to come home. Hizashi insisted on tying a ribbon around her neck, as well, and Shouta wasn’t going to argue with that, especially when it looked undeniably cute.
Shouta left school a little early to pick her up from the vet. Hitoshi didn’t seem to know, or have any idea that was why he wasn’t staying late at school. They intentionally hadn’t told him when his cat was coming home, though Hitoshi knew it would be soon. Shouta wanted that, at least, to be a surprise, and it worked out well that the vet finished everything up on the day Hitoshi turned seventeen. It worked out even better when Shouta returned home before the other two did, not taking their new cat out of her carrier just yet, setting the carrier down on the table, along with the cake they’d made Hitoshi.
Hitoshi hadn’t wanted a big deal made out of his birthday. Shouta understood that. He was similar and had never been much for celebration, but this was different. This was Hitoshi’s first birthday with them, and even Shouta wanted to celebrate a little.
Shouta also wasn’t one to usually get excited at things, but the moment he heard Hizashi’s car in the driveway, he sat up straight, waiting, waiting, his heart beating hard in his chest. It felt like forever, but finally, the front door swung open, Hizashi coming in first, followed closely by Hitoshi.
In that moment, Shouta finally understood why people made a big deal out of birthdays, because it took everything in his body to not jump up and make a big deal out of it. He restrained himself, though, but he didn’t have to wait long. Hitoshi stopped in his tracks, frozen, staring at the pet carrier on the table.
“Happy birthday, Hitoshi,” Shouta told him, smiling warmly at him. He glanced away, only to undo the latch on the pet carrier, picking it up and setting it down on the floor. He opened the small door, hearing a mewl in response, and after a moment, Hitoshi’s kitten came out, cautiously stepping out of the carrier and looking around.
“We baked you a cake, too!” Hizashi announced, grinning from ear-to-ear at Hitoshi. Hitoshi just nodded, silent, and Shouta swore he could see a hint of red dusting his cheeks. Still, the boy focused only on the cat, coming forward a few steps and crouching down, gently petting it.
“She doesn’t have a name, you know,” Shouta pointed out, watching Hitoshi closely. Hitoshi was close with their cats, playing with them every day and always offering to feed and clean up after them, and he’d grieved a lot when their oldest had died, despite only knowing her for a few months. He was glad to see that Hitoshi had mostly recovered now.
“A name…?” Hitoshi looked up at him from where he was on the floor, his cat sniffing at his hand.
“You never gave her one, right?” Shouta asked, even though he knew the answer to that. Hitoshi hadn’t named the cat, even though he’d gotten attached to her. Hitoshi had explained it to him the day that Shouta suggested they take her home—apparently, he’d never thought to give the cats he visited actual names, even though most of them lived in that alley long-term. It was just never something that had crossed his mind.
“It’s only fair that you get to name her!” Hizashi added on, loud and bright and always so full of energy. “Besides, Shouta’s names are terrible. If you let him name her, she’ll be stuck with a horrible name forever.”
Shouta shot a glare at him, “Be nice.”
Hizashi just continued to grin at him. On the floor, Hitoshi was focusing intently on the cat. A silence fell over them and both Shouta and Hizashi let him think. This was something else they’d agreed on—since this was a cat Hitoshi had found and taken care of, they’d call it his cat, though Shouta wasn’t about to make him do all the work with her. Since it was Hitoshi’s, he’d get to name her. Honestly, Shouta wasn’t the best at naming their cats, hence Jelly and Blanket, and Hizashi’s names were just as bad—Shouta still couldn’t believe that he’d named their youngest Present Meow—so it was up to Hitoshi. Whatever name he liked, they’d go with.
“What about…” Hitoshi looked up at him, glancing between him and Hizashi. “...Maneki?”
That was… shockingly normal and catlike compared to their other names. Shouta had a tendency to name cats after the first thing he thought of, that usually being typical household objects, and Hizashi liked named he thought were funny. This would be their first cat with a normal name. Shouta didn’t know why he’d chosen that name in particular, but it was a good one for—
Shouta stared at the cat, suddenly understanding why Hitoshi had picked it.
“Maneki, like the lucky cat?” Shouta asked, looking a little harder at the kitten. Stark white fur with a couple black and orange splotches, one splotch on her mid paw, another on each of her hips. Shouta didn’t know why it’d taken him so long to realize it. Hitoshi’s cat looked almost exactly like the cat figurines that many people liked and swore brought them luck. Shouta even had a couple of them in the house, mostly because he liked cats rather than actually believing in luck. They were called maneki neko statues, and Hitoshi’s cat looked just like it.
“Oh, fitting,” Hizashi commented, beaming down at Hitoshi, clearly proud that he’d come up with a good name for the new addition to their family. “I bet she’s lucky!”
“Yeah, I think so, too,” Hitoshi pet the cat, always so gently, and Shouta swore he could hear a quiet purring as he did.
“We should get her a red collar. Then she’d really look the part,” Hizashi laughed, kneeling down on the floor with Hitoshi. “It’d make her extra lucky.”
Shouta nodded his agreement. Hitoshi looked up at him, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Thanks, Sensei,” He murmured quietly, keeping Shouta’s gaze. “I’m really glad we could take her home.”
“You did a good job taking care of her. It’s only logical.” Shouta tried to play it off, but he reached down, gently patting Hitoshi’s head, Hitoshi leaning into him. “Happy birthday, Hitoshi.”