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Anthy’s hand felt warm in hers as the two of them meandered down the city street, their destination in mind but no urgency to get there. It felt nice to just walk, savoring one another’s company, window shopping, giggling at all of the odd sights one tends to find in a large city—all of the little things that made life enjoyable. They’d gone on scheduled, planned out dates before, from restaurants to the museums to movies, but Utena always found moments like these to be her favorites. Of course she loved her girlfriend’s company no matter what they did, but there was just something about these moments in between the hustle and bustle of life that really did it for her.
“Utena I am quite excited,” the shorter, purple-haired girl beside her chirped with an adorable smile, still used to speaking formally after all this time. Utena loved seeing her smile—it was always wonderful of course, but in all these years of Anthy learning to embrace herself bit by bit, it was even more stunning. It was genuine, and toothy, and made the corners of her eyes crinkle a little when she did it. And her laugh, god her laugh. It was Utena’s favorite sound, relaxed and genuine, and she snorted in between giggles when she was hysterical, which she seemed to hate but the taller girl found adorable. Seeing her smile, hearing her laugh—Utena would be content doing that and nothing else for the rest of her life.
“Utena? Are you alright? You zoned out for a moment,” Anthy said, gently squeezing Utena’s hand. She snapped out of her mental tangent, or what Kozue would affectionately call ‘simping episodes’ when they hung out.
“Oh sorry! I’m all good pumpkin don’t worry, I just got distracted thinking about how much I adore your smile,” Utena said with a wink, making the shorter girl blush furiously.
“Stop it, you are so ridiculous Utena!” Anthy giggled, lightly pushing the other’s shoulder. Utena leaned down to peck her on the cheek as the two kept laughing at each other.
They were on their way to a new place that had opened up a few blocks down, one Utena had heard about from one of her coworkers. Another personal trainer she worked with at the gym had heard about a cat café opening in their part of town, which instantly had Utena asking Anthy if she wanted to go. It was a known fact that Anthy loved animals, and, (second to Chuu Chuu, of course), cats were probably her favorite. They’d exhausted all the destinations in the area awhile ago anyways to go on dates, so that was even more of a reason to go.
When Utena had asked her about it the week prior, the violet-haired girl’s face lit up instantly, making it a done deal for Utena. They were going to go to this new café, get some sort of cutely themed food or drink, sit by the window, and have Anthy coo at and pet all of the cats wandering around. As for Utena not petting any, it was not that she didn’t like them. She did, and she would’ve loved to have one herself if she could.
Utena, however, was severely allergic to cats—but she would be damned if she was going to admit that to Anthy. She was a stubborn piece of shit by nature, and this time was no different.
Love is an interesting thing, and quite an influential one—so much so that a certain pink haired girl was 100% okay with lying and having an allergy attack in order for her girlfriend to be happy.
What’s the worst that could happen? I’ll probably be fine as long as I don’t pet any, Utena thought to herself naively, false bravado coursing through her system as she steeled herself for the tricky afternoon she had ahead.
“I forgot to ask—why do you have your bag? You normally do not carry bags unless you are going to work, if I am not mistaken?”
Utena felt a pang of nervousness begin to lodge itself in her gut, using the hand that wasn’t holding her girlfriend’s to toy with the hem of her denim jacket. She knew that she couldn’t actually tell Anthy what she had in her bag, because she had a strong feeling that a tote bag full of tissues, cough drops, a mask, Benadryl, and a goddamn EpiPen would raise some uncomfortable questions.
“Nothing important, just some gym stuff for later and all,” Utena replied enthusiastically, hoping that she was selling her lie well enough.
The taller girl held her breath as the adjacent girl's face betrayed a hint of suspicion, but in a split second she was back to smiling contentedly, seemingly unaware of her bluff.
“Utena, is that it up there? I hope it is, even the sign looks cute!” Anthy exclaimed, pointing at a pale blue shop sign with a cartoon cat on it, hanging parallel to the café. Utena forced an even bigger smile and nodded, trying to calm her racing nerves as they approached it.
I’ll probably be fine, Utena thought to herself, I haven’t even been around a cat since I was a child, I’m sure that I’m not even allergic anymore!
While it was correct that she hadn’t been around a cat since she was young, in calming herself down she chose to omit remembering her going into near-anaphylactic shock around said cat. Utena, being Utena, pushed that thought to the back of her mind as the girl beside her clutched her hand harder in excitement, the door of the café now coming into view.
She shut her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath, assuring herself that there was no turning back now. She was going to get her girlfriend some tea in a cute shop full of adorable cats, even if it killed her.
On that note, the two opened the café’s glass door, Utena filing in behind Anthy. The walls were multi-toned, with two being a pastel pink and one being white, with different cartoon cat-themed murals painted on each. The storefront was essentially one big floor to ceiling window, with café tables close to it. The café bar itself was to the left, with a woman in a pale blue apron behind the register cleaning something. The menu was along the wall as well, with various assorted fruit and milk teas, as well as some sweets.
Most noticeably of all, however, were the several cats wandering around the café. There was a sign by the door outlining rules, ‘don’t feed the cats café foods please,’ or ‘you may pet the cats, but please be gentle or you will be asked to leave,’ and other basic things of that matter. The color drained from Utena’s face upon seeing the cats, as the possible stupidity of her decision hit her, but the did her best to ignore it as she turned to Anthy.
The purple haired girl was smiling so wide that Utena imagined she would be sore later, giggling as she dropped Utena’s hand to clasp her own together in excitement.
“Hello there! Welcome to the Nekafe, are you new?” the two girls turned as the woman at the counter called out to them with a smile.
“No, we haven’t! This place is so cool, and the cats are adorable! How do things work?” Utena asked, carefully toeing her way to the register with Anthy so as not to hurt any of the cats.
“Okay! So we essentially function like a regular café, order up here and sit at a table until your order is called, but you’re welcome to hang out with the cats for as long as you like! Just make sure to use any rules you’d normally use for a cat—be safe, don’t feed them anything, don’t let them out onto street or anything crazy like that,” she chuckled, “so that being said, can I get you anything?”
Anthy turned to Utena, instinctively looking for approval out of habit. The pink haired girl smiled and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“U-um, can I please get a peach tea, with the n-normal boba?” Anthy replied demurely, her voice softer and higher as she ordered anxiously.
“Of course! How sweet, would you like ice, and what size?” The woman tapped away at the register screen as she waited. Anthy was visibly a bit overwhelmed at this development, put did her best to remain calm.
“Oh gosh, can I get f-fifty percent sweetness, a little i-ice, and a small? Thank you so much!” She sighed with a nervous giggle.
Utena laughed a little, knowing Anthy’s order by heart. A few years ago, they had been out getting tea, and she had asked Anthy what her usual order was. The other girl had told her to guess, and then told her she had guessed perfectly, which Utena knew was just an excuse not to decide. She found the fact that her girlfriend had stuck with that same order for years now heartwarming, and she sniffled as her eyes got watery at the thought. She normally never got emotional like this, so it was odd that she was now.
Wait a second , Utena thought, suppressing an audible groan of frustration as she realized what was happening, here we go with the fucking cats.
“Utena?” She heard Anthy say, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“Oh yeah, sorry—can I please get a medium taro tea, 75% sweetness, and please no boba, thanks!” she responded, trying to sound as relaxed as possible as she pulled out her debit card from her pocket and handed it to the woman. Anthy always made fun of her for how much she hated boba, but she just couldn’t do the texture. Something about the little pearls just didn’t work for her, and after trying to stick it out a few times at first to look cool in front of Anthy, she gave up.
“Could you sign here?” The woman said, turning the touch screen around. Utena signed her name quickly, and made sure to leave a good tip, like a decent person. She sniffled again, as quietly as she could, and tried to muffle it with a brief response as she turned the screen back around.
“Alright! Take a seat wherever you’d like and I’ll call your drinks when they’re ready,” the lady chirped, flitting off to the back of the bar.
Utena led them to a table by the window, and Anthy set her bag down on her chair before immediately going to crouch by the nearest cat. Utena sat down, hanging her bag on the back of hers while pivoting to watch the other girl across the room. She discreetly pulled out her phone to take a few candid photos of Anthy with the cats, petting them and cooing at them, her sheer happiness practically infectious.
Utena was yanked out of her sweet observation of her girlfriend by an oncoming sneeze, followed by several in succession that she did her best to muffle with her sleeve. Luckily, Anthy was far too distracted in her little sea of cats to notice, allowing her to relax a little.
“Utena!” Anthy called, turning away from a grey cat she was petting for a moment, “you should come over here and pet them! They are so adorable and SOFT!”
Utena knew that this was a horrible idea but, ever the simp, she decided that it would be fine. Sure, she was sneezing a bit, had a bit of a runny nose, and had eyes that were beginning to itch some, but it wasn’t nearly bad enough yet to constitute a problem! She was sure that this was probably the full extent of her allergies, and that nothing more could possibly go wrong.
Predictably, she was very much incorrect.
“Maybe,” she replied with a nervous laugh, “but I don’t want to intrude! You guys look like you’re having a lot of fun!” She was stalling and she knew it, but there was only so long she could put off the inevitable.
“No, I am sure that they will love you too! They are so friendly, aren’t you,” Anthy trailed off, murmuring at the cat nearest her as she rubbed behind its ear.
Utena took a deep breath and got up from her chair, waiting until she was sure the purple haired girl was distracted again to muffle another sneeze into her shirt sleeve. She slowly made her way over to where Anthy was crouched, trying desperately to ignore the impending realization of how stupid she was as she approached the sea of fluff around her girlfriend.
Once she got there, she just stood awkwardly, waiting on Anthy to make the next move.
“Well what are you waiting for Utena? Come here and pet them! Look at her,” Anthy said, stroking a brown cat with white spots next to her, little metal nametag jingling, “her name is Petunia! Isn’t that cute!” Utena let out a laugh and assured her that she would, trying to calm her nerves, and to hold back another sneeze as she slowly started to bend down to pet the cat.
“Do not be shy, Utena, she does not bite!” Anthy said, taking her hand and guiding it to the cat.
“Oh wow, she’s so soft!” Utena said with a strangled laugh, already feeling her throat begin to itch as she tried to lightly pet the cat for Anthy’s sake.
“Come on, crouch down here with me! They are just the sweetest little things, I am sure that Chuu Chuu would be jealous if he were here,” whispered Anthy, giggling lightly as she gently tugged on Utena’s shirt.
“Okay pumpkin,” she said, trying desperately to both stall and simultaneously not touch her incredibly itchy eyes. Especially after just having touched a cat.
Right as she thought she was done for, she heard the voice of an angel swoop in to rescue her. Or rather, the barista.
“Two orders for Utena?” The woman yelled out, leaving their orders on the counter as she went to the back of the bar again. Utena let out a little sigh of relief at this, now having her out to step away from the sea of furry creatures.
“Sorry, but I’ve got to go grab the drinks,” she said to her girlfriend, striding away from the majority of the cats and over to the counter as fast as her legs could carry her. Luckily, she had long legs, but even then those few seconds seemed like forever.
“Here, come and sit with me for a little,” Utena said, gesturing to their seats by the window, “you need some sugar in you, and I promise the cats will be there when you get back.”
The other girl let out an airy chuckle as she stood up to walk over the table, sitting across from Utena as she slid her drink to her. Anthy took a sip of it and grinned, shutting her eyes.
“This tastes lovely Utena!” she chirped, covering her mouth with her hand as she chewed the pearls.
“Well, you’ve gotten the same order every time we go out to get tea for the last 5 years, so I sure hope it does!” The two girls broke out into peals of laughter, only to be cut short by Utena sneezing into her arm. She did this a few more times in rapid succession, before apologizing quickly with a nervous smile.
“Are you alright Utena? You look a bit sick, do we need to leave?” her girlfriend said, eyebrows knitted in concern.
“No, no,” Utena assured her, sniffling a little, “it’s just seasonal allergies, don’t worry about it!” She said this with a slightly fatigued smile, trying to force her enthusiasm as much as she could.
“Alright, that makes sense—your eyes do look a little red. If you feel unwell, please tell me and we can go home!” Anthy said, drumming her fingers on the table nervously.
“I’m okay, I promise. Now enjoy your tea and get back to the cats! I think they really like you,” Utena joked, relieved to have successfully deflected any suspicion from Anthy about her symptoms. She let out another laugh as Anthy quickly gulped down her tea, draining at least half of it in the blink of an eye before darting back over to the cats excitedly.
Utena waited until her back was turned to dig through her bag, feeling around for the small container of Benadryl. Her heart dropped when she felt a tangle of fabric. And a towel. And her reusable water bottle. And nothing else.
It was then that she realized that she had grabbed her gym bag by mistake, leaving the things she desperately needed at home.
As she was about to swear audibly at this, her breath caught in her windpipe and she had to cough into her arm, throat starting to hurt like hell. Her eyes itched quite a bit too and she went to scratch them, not realizing until afterwards how stupid of a choice that was. As she had just pet a cat.
“Utena, come over here! Look, he’s purring!!” Anthy called out, stroking a large and terrifyingly fluffy cat, face lit up. Having essentially no sense of self preservation at this point, she walked over, dropping to a squat as Anthy grabbed her arm and pulled her down.
Utena now found herself near eye level in an ocean of fur, Anthy next to her cooing at the cat she was petting as it purred.
“They’re so cute, wow!” Utena said, desperately trying to hold back another sneeze as she felt her throat become even more irritated and her skin begin to grow itchy. She had forgotten about the hives.
“Forgive me, I need to go use the restroom, but I will be right back! Play with them while I am gone!” Anthy sung, obliviously rising to her feet and walking off, quickly asking the barista for directions before walking to the bathroom door at the far end of the café.
As she felt the hives begin to break out on the skin beneath her long pants and sleeves, she turned to the fluffiest cat of the bunch, him and several others side-eyeing her ambivalently.
“Now look here you little bastards. I came here to show my girlfriend a good time, and I’m not going to be beat by some fucking cats,” Utena whispered, glaring at her lukewarm feline audience.
“Do you know what I’ve been through? I have dealt with more shit than a motherfucking war veteran. I almost died violently several times in MIDDLE SCHOOL,” Utena continued, her whisper morphing into more of a hiss, “so you can’t break me, you FUCKING DEMONS”.
The cats, unsurprisingly, didn’t seem to care as Utena continued to stare them down in frustration, eyes puffy and nose red and irritated from aggressively rubbing it. She knew her symptoms were starting to get pretty bad, but she really wanted to stick it out for her girlfriend, no matter what. Anthy had been so excited for this, and seemed to be having such a wonderful time that she couldn’t bring herself to admit defeat.
She snapped away from her little catfight, (authors note: i am so fucking funny), as she heard the door to the bathroom close, Anthy striding over.
“Sorry, I am back now! How are things—Utena are you okay???” Anthy said, pulling Utena up as she grabbed her face, turning and inspecting it.
“I’m all good, what do you mean?” Utena said, doing a horrible job of lying at this point. Her throat was swollen, her eyes and nose were red and burning, every once and awhile she would cough so much it hurt, and her skin was breaking out in little pink hives. She was done for, and she knew it, but god knows she was going to fight until the end to let her girlfriend pet these motherfucking cats.
“Yeah, I think I’m just kind of sick. I can go home and rest later, don’t worry! I’m fiiiiine” she replied, turning to walk away from Anthy and find some sort of distraction. She walked up to the bar, albeit a little haphazardly as her head started to spin, with Anthy worryingly trailing after her to greet the lady behind the counter.
“So, how did you guys get all of these cats? They’re so cute!” Utena asked, bracing her hand on the bar for support, trying to look as perky as she could in front of a very skeptical Anthy.
The lady ignored her appearance, presumably out of politeness, and leaned over the counter to respond excitedly.
“Well actually, all of our cats are rescues! We take them in and take care of them, making sure they’re always healthy and fed well and happy, and the best part is that they are all up for adoption!” Before Utena could open her mouth to say anything, Anthy gasped, seeming to forget her worry for the other’s health as she turned to her.
“Did you hear that? They are up for adoption, isn’t that wonderful!” the shorter girl exclaimed, looking up at her with her hands clasped together. Utena felt a suffocating pang of guilt, (or perhaps it was just her intensifying feline-induced respiratory issues), as she saw her girlfriend’s eyes spark with joy.
For years Utena had made every excuse in the book for why they couldn’t get a cat. The apartment probably did not allow pets, she had said at first, only to be met by their neighbor carrying a dog into their apartment complex one day. Wakaba, she had told Anthy, had a deathly fear of cats and would be scared to come over if they had one—also proven to be false when Wakaba came over for dinner later that week and happened to talk about the adorable cat she saw on the street walking there. She’d been adamant about not wanting Chuu Chuu to get upset over having competition in the house which, while Anthy agreed was a fair point, she insisted he could get used to. There were various other silly excuses here and there, and while flimsy, they had seemed to work this long without her having to reveal the truth.
“Utena, I know there are a lot of issues with having a cat in the apartment, but I am sure that we could try and work around them! I promise I will make sure they are not a nuisance to you, or anyone else, and that you will enjoy their company!’ Anthy whined softly, being slightly more assertive than usual. Utena felt her chest get tighter as she turned to cough into her arm again, beginning to struggle to breathe.
“Anthy I’m not sure about that, can we think about it? I’m sure we could get a cat but—” she cut herself off mid sentence, hacking into her elbow again, “I’m sorry, I have to go outside for a minute, go have fun with the cats I’ll be right back!” Anthy turned to respond, but she was out the door before she even had the chance.
Utena bolted through the glass door, not even stopping for her bag before stepping out onto the street and letting the cool autumn air fill her lungs. She leaned back on the wall of the building beside the café and shut her eyes, trying to relax and let the breeze soothe her irritated skin and face. Her head was pounding, her throat was tight, her body was covered in what she assumed to be hives, and her eyes and nose were irritated as hell. She couldn’t think of anything else other than how happy she was to be outside, until she heard the creak of the café door open again.
Fuck, she thought, what am I gonna say to Anthy?
“Utena!” Anthy shouted, rushing over to her in a panic. Utena was out of excuses, and just slouched in resignation as Anthy ran over and took her hands.
“You have to tell me what is wrong! You look terrible, and I am worried!” The smaller girl choked out frantically, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. Utena looked at the ground dejectedly, feeling guilty for making her this upset.
Anthy’s expression turned from anxiety to realization as everything clicked, squeezing the blue-eyed girl’s hands in hers.
“You are allergic to cats, aren’t you dear,”
Utena was about to speak in her defense, but she cut herself off. Anthy, anxious as she was, only whipped out the pet names once in a blue moon, when she was really serious. She pulled back to hack into her elbow one more time, before turning back to her girlfriend, face full of shame.
“Yeah, I am. I’m really sorry Anthy, I knew you were looking forward to this a lot and I wanted to see if I could stick it out for you, so you could have a good time. We barely get to go out anymore with me working all the time, and this was supposed to be something perfect for you,” Utena continued, starting to choke up a little, “and I ruined it. I didn’t want to lie, but you looked so happy with all those cats, and I know how much you love these things and I’m so sorry…”
Utena didn’t have the opportunity to finish her apologetic rant as she felt a soft pair of lips on hers. Before she could lean in to it, they pulled away just as quickly, but the taller girl remained quiet nonetheless. It was rare enough to hear a pet name from her jade-eyed partner, but any public display of affection was borderline unheard of. Utena, of course, never had an issue with this—she would never want to force Anthy to do something that made her uncomfortable—but she certainly didn’t object to it right now. Anthy wrapped her arms around Utena’s middle and pulled her in for a tight embrace, standing on her toes to nuzzle her head in the crook of the taller girl’s neck.
“Utena,” she said soothingly, playing with the other girl’s hair, “you did not ruin it. Yes, I had fun today, and yes, the cats were all very sweet, but what I was looking forward to the most is spending time with you, which I did not get to do as much as I would have liked, due to how sick you got. I am touched that you went to such great lengths to do something for me and make today perfect,” Anthy paused here, pulling back to make eye contact with Utena.
“But the only thing I really need to have a perfect time is you, okay?”
Utena let out the breath she had been holding for what felt like forever, feeling her lips curl into a small smile. She couldn’t think of much to say to Anthy, so she hoped that her eyes, (swollen as they were), communicated everything she wanted to. Utena loved her more than words could say, and she was beyond relieved that today wasn’t a failure. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of her chest, all of the days anxiety seeming to dissipate with her girlfriend’s returning grin. She knew that she had overthought this all, and she clearly suffered the consequences, but for little moments like these, it was worth it in the end.
She broke out of yet another daze as she heard the shorter girl’s voice pipe up in front of her.
“Hey, Utena?”
“Yes pumpkin?” She responded, feeling another set of sneezes coming on.
“Next time, how about we go to a museum or something.”