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A bell rang about the door as Tsukishima pushed the entrance to the veterinary open, Yamaguchi following him closely. Huffing as he checked his phone Tsukishima paused in the centre of the room. Frowning down at whatever messages he was looking at.
As Tsukishima read through his messages Yamaguchi peered around the room. There were a few other people in the waiting room. Some with their pets nearby, others barely paying attention to anything aside from their phone, most likely waiting for their own pets to return.
A rack on the wall beside the reception desk caught Yamaguchi's attention. The black metal frame filled with lines upon lines of brightly coloured pamphlets. Words running over the pages as animals happily smiled back at them. A few of them had interesting patterns, bubbles and lighting thrown over the pamphlet in ways Yamaguchi wasn’t familiar with. So he quickly pocketed them for Yachi.
"Can I help you?"
Yamaguchi jumped when a woman appeared beside him.
"Ah- Uh," Yamaguchi looked over at Tsukishima who was still staring at his phone. "Um, I don-"
"Did you want to see our animals? We have a few new kittens that haven't been transferred yet."
Yamaguchi's shoulders tightened up in excitement,
"I'd lo-"
"No."
"What?" Yamaguchi spun around to find Tsukishima still on his phone.
"I said no. We're only here to pick up something for Sugawara-san."
"Oh, yeah," Yamaguchi turned back to the woman dejectedly. "Sorry, I don't think I can."
"Well, it's only for a little peak, while you guys wait for whatever it is you need?" She offered again, a cheeky smile on her face as she gestured to the side door.
Yamaguchi looked back at Tsukishima,
"Tsukki, please? I'll do laundry next time it's your turn."
Tsukishima looked up from his phone with a frown and narrowed eyes.
"And the dishes for the next week."
"For your next two turns."
"Deal."
~*~
Yamaguchi's mouth wobbled as he suppressed the primal urge to just grin all silly and make cooing noises at all the cats. Keeping himself in check, Yamaguchi followed the woman as she introduced him to each of the cats in their collection.
"So this is mayonnaise, and here's fish, and this one is spatula," she crouched down beside an older white cat with a single splotch of brown on his face. Spatula gave a deep rumbly meow before sticking a leg out to clean himself.
Some of the cats hid as Yamaguchi got closer. Wrestling with their blankets in the back of their cubbies. Others ran right up to their bars, reaching out with clawed paws as Yamaguchi passed by. Yamaguchi giggled as he watched a cat slip on it's blanket, flipping on it's back to bite and scratch up the offending scrap of fabric.
Yamaguchi paused as he looked up. Only one cubby on the top shelf was closed. At directly eye-level were two cats. Short beige fur, subtle white stripes patterning them. They were clearly not kittens, but far too small to be adults. The two of them were curled into each other, tails tucked under and paws pressed into each other. Their wide eyes stared back at him from where their heads rested on each other's fur.
"Oh, who are they?"
"Hm? Oh, Banana and Fritta. They throw a fit when we separate them so we just left them in the same cubby. They'll be transferred to a rescue centre soon."
"Huh, can I?" Yamaguchi wiggled his fingers in front of the bars of the cubby door.
The woman gave him a confused look before realisation flashed across her face and she laughed,
"Knock yourself out. Be careful though, you may get scratched or bitten."
Yamaguchi nodded his ascent, and slowly stuck a finger between the bars towards Banana and Fritta. Mindful not to try too much, Yamaguchi wiggled the little bit of his finger towards the pair. One of the cats closed its eyes, turning its head, disinterested. The other cat's eyes darted over to where Yamaguchi was wiggling his finger. It watched for a moment, then it began to nudge its companion before knocking her off completely to crouch down in her cubby.
After a few more moments of wiggling the cat had walked up to Yamaguchi's finger, sniffing it gently before presenting her neck for scratches.
"Aww, that's so cute," the woman whispered as she watched the exchange. "That one's Fritta, did you want to hold them?"
"Yes please!"
Yamaguchi retracted his finger and took a step back, silently vibrating with excited happiness as the two cats were fished out of their cubbies.
"Here you go."
Gently, the two cats were pressed into his chest, Yamaguchi quickly bringing his hands up to hold onto the cats. Banana paid no mind to what was happening. Choosing instead to curl up now in Yamaguchi's arms. Fritta was far less content with calmly being held, wiggling a little before Yamaguchi changed his grip. Now with only her butt supported, Fritta clawed her way up Yamaguchi's chest, Yamaguchi wincing as the woman giggled at him. Fritta sniffed aggressively in Yamaguchi's ear, nosed at his hair and batted at the neckline of his shirt.
"I've got what Sugawara-san wanted, we need to go now."
Yamaguchi turned, grinning at Tsukishima as Fritta got a claw stuck in his neckline, incessantly pulling it.
"Tsukishima, please?"
Tsukishima narrowed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest.
"We literally came here to pick up stuff for Sugawara-san, not to get pets."
"But Tsukki, they're so cute," Yamaguchi pouted, lifting Banana up more to rest his head on hers.
Pressing his lips together Tsukishima held his ground. They stared at each other a moment longer before Yamaguchi sighed and dropped Banana back down to his chest.
"Fine, can you at least take a photo?"
Tsukishima still didn't look pleased, but he pulled his phone out nonetheless.
~*~
After a few quick photos, the pair thanked the staff members and were on their way home.
"I still think we should have adopted them," Yamaguchi mumbled as he swung his and Tsukishima's joined hands.
"Stop," Tsukishima gripped Yamaguchi's hand tightly, stopping him from swinging his arm, then pocketed their hands. "We didn't go out to get pets."
"So if we did go out to get pets then you would have said yes?" Yamaguchi turned with a smile.
Tsukishima sent a quick glare towards Yamaguchi before pulling out his phone,
"We're not the only ones who live in our apartment."
Yamaguchi thought about their other partners for a moment, then grinned.
"I don't think that'll be an issue."
~*~
"What! You didn't get them?" Yachi asked, surprised, gaping at Yamaguchi's phone.
"You're so stingy! Stingishima! I want cats!"
Kageyama just stared intensely at Yamaguchi's phone over Yachi's head as Hinata bounced around their living room. Tsukishima rolled his eyes and sighed in irritation, moving into the kitchen to get away from them.
"They were so cute, their names are Banana and Fritta."
"Oh my god," Yachi gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. "How could you not?"
"I don't know, ask Tsukki."
Kageyama and Yachi turned to Tsukishima, who was now grumbling into their fridge as he pulled out an assortment of ingredients.
Tsukishima jumped as he felt small hands wrap around his waist and a soft body press against his back.
"Kei, why can't we have cats?"
Tsukishima looked down at Yachi, looking into her big pleading eyes.
"Tch," Tsukishima turned back to look in the fridge.
"Come on! Stingishima!" Hinata had joined Yachi and was now shaking the pair.
"Stop!" Tsukishima snapped at him.
Hinata jumped back surprised, holding his hands up as though Tsukishima was going to attack him.
"I don't see why we can't have cats," Kageyama piped up, watching the kerfuffle in the kitchen.
Tsukishima straightened out and turned to look at Yamaguchi, pointedly ignoring the whining going on around him. Yamaguchi just raised an eyebrow and shrugged, clearly trying to suppress a smile. Tsukishima closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
"Fine, but I'm not looking after them."
"Yay!"
~*~
"What did Kei say about not taking care of them?" Yachi whispered as she came to crouch by Kageyama.
The two watched as Tsukishima emerged from their bathroom, a small plastic bag in hand. He paused on his way to the bin to crouch down beside Yamaguchi, reaching over to ruffle the fur on Banana's head.
Yamaguchi laughed as Fritta pounced onto his stomach, sticking her head under his shirt before flopping over and pulling a paw of the fabric into her mouth.
"Fritta, I just washed this shirt," Tsukishima scolded as he fished her out and dropped her higher on Yamaguchi's chest.
Yamaguchi just laughed as he laid there. Hand snaking out to hold onto Tsukishima's ankle.
"Come sit with me," he whispered, turning to where Banana was cautiously crawling up Tsukishima's leg.
"I'm still cleaning up after them."
Yamaguchi eyed the bag in Tsukishima's hand,
"After?"
Tsukishima just rolled his eyes as he stood up.
Kageyama and Yachi watched as the two cats climbed up onto Yamaguchi's chest, Yamaguchi making a few noises of pain as Fritta kneaded him before curling up into Banana. With his arms outspread and the two cats dozing off on his chest, he closed his eyes with a smile.
"He really gets what he wants, doesn't he?" Yachi muttered.
"Especially from Stingyshima," Hinata added as he joined the pair in watching Yamaguchi.
"Are you guys going to keep watching him like creeps?"
The three of them jumped in shock when Tsukishima spoke up from behind them. Yamaguchi giggled, eyes still closed.
"You're so mean," Hinata grumbled as he crawled over to Yamaguchi. Plopping down, Hinata snuggled into Yamaguchi's side. Murmuring as he stuck a hand into Banana's fur, the car murping before giving him a quick look.
Yachi looked between Kageyama and Yamaguchi before deciding to join the two snuggling on the floor.
"Well, are you waiting for a written invitation, King?"
Kageyama reached out to punch Tsukishima's leg, though Tsukishima moved before he could.
"What about you?"
"I'm still cleaning up after those animals," Tsukishima scoffed.
So with a shrug, Kageyama too crawled over. Hinata complained as Kageyama jostled him to get comfortable. Yamaguchi lifted an arm atop Hinata to sink his fingers into Kageyama's hair.
Watching them Tsukishima pulled out his phone and took a picture of the pile on his living room floor. A small smile cracking his face as he gave the photo a look before getting a move on.
~*~
Yamaguchi's content smile as he lay on his back, cats on his chest, partners snuggling up to him, would always set Tsukishima's heart aflutter. Even in the poor lighting of their single ceiling light Yamaguchi still looked ethereal. Face splashed with freckles, fluffy hair framing his face. And if you noticed Tsukishima had set it as his phone background no you didn't <3.