Chapter Text
the satisfying slice of your switchblade through the cardboard box’s tape has you humming. the smoothness of the slide makes everything come apart easily as you open the latches and take out a new fluffy and lined cat bed. the one you had in the living room was quite old, but well loved. last weekend, you went online and found a nice sale on a more pricey bed made of fancy linens.
putting your blade away and leaving the cardboard box folded next to the gekkan, you make your way into the living room and place it next to the space heater that’s yet to be turned on. with the dropping temperatures, hiro, more susceptible to the cold than the others, spent most of time tucked into something. right now, he has himself hidden away in the nook between the back of the couch and its cushions.
“hey, sweetie,” you coo.
he looks up at you, letting you pick him up and settle him in the new bed. “ryow?” you smile at him, reaching behind the heater to turn it on. it makes a gentle whirring noise as it does. soft waves of warm air soon start filtering out through it. takahiro raises a paw against the machine, touching it. he turns to you, curiosity brimming in his doe eyes.
“it’s a space heater, hiro,” you say, rubbing under his chin. “it’ll keep us warm.”
he mews, letting the warm air gently blow across his face. you grab your sweater off the couch, putting it over the bed and repositioning hiro on it. you give him a quick kiss before getting up to start dinner.
the space heater and bed quickly become hiro’s new favourite spot. hajime frequents it too, often resting his back against the heater. tooru and issei enjoy the heater, but their thick double coats also mean that the heater is just another one of the many lovely spots in your apartment.
today, hiro’s cuddled up into a ball in the middle of bed that seems like an ocean. a small foot sticks out so you bring a hand to poke at his beans. takahiro purrs, tucking into himself even more as his foot slips inside. his ears flicker when you pet his head, rubbing two fingers across his head.
“mrya.”
you look over to watch issei climb into your lap, pawing at the unopened packet of churu in your hand.
“hungry?”
he gives you a quick meow, making quick swipes at your hand and sniffing the tube. when you’ve had your fill of watching him, you peel the tube open, pushing out some of the treat. he eagerly licks it up, rough tongue scraping against the plastic. sitting him in your lap, you feed him the churu as his paws come up to hold your hand in place. when you pull it away, he chases after it.
“no more,” you chide, putting the tube far away on the coffee table.
“mreow,” he complains, rolling over. cooing at him, you rub at his tummy and pat his bum a couple times. he could definitely be a glutton at times. in petulance, his left foot comes up to kick at you. it works in the opposite way he intended as you start laughing at his defiance.
“‘sei,” you lilt, kissing his forehead. “fine, just a lil more.”
he licks up a good half of the tube before you pull it away again. meowing, he looks at you pleadingly with his pretty green eyes, but it doesn’t deter you. you set him back down on your lap and rub his head a couple of times for good measure.
“tomorrow, okay?”
he hopes so, rubbing his head against your chest. he licks at his paw, satisfied for the moment.
“roo?”
tooru, front paws on your thigh, tilts his head. he licks his chops, shifting on his paws. one of them comes up to sway in the air.
“do you want a treat too?”
he yips, tail swishing as he follows you to the kitchen. you fish out the dog treats, giving both tooru and hajime their fair share. hajime walks a ways away to eat his in peace while tooru get’s right to it in front of you. after you’ve cleaned the floor of any crumbs, you take them out for their nightly walk.
when takahiro wakes up, the three of you aren’t back yet, but he smells the churu on issei who’s cuddled up next to him. he rubs his paw over his face, brushing the sleep off as he lies in bed waiting for you. he rolls closer to issei, who touches their heads together.
his pointed ears flicker when he hears you enter the apartment. the click of tooru’s and hajime’s nails on the hardwood floor ring out in the gekkan. walking into the living room, hajime yawns. you laugh softly, patting his head.
“nya!” takahiro rolls onto his back, eager for attention. you’re more than willing to provide, detouring into the kitchen to grab the churu.
“did you sleep well?”
he purrs, basking in your pets. he can see the tube of churu in your hands and gets up on his hind legs. he puts his two front paws together, moving them up and down in endearing begging motions as he mewls. of course, you offer him the tube of treats. he meows happily, lapping it up and bringing a paw up onto your hand as he licks and licks and licks. issei watches behind him, hoping you’ll give some to him too.
hiro lets you pick him up, cradling him like a baby while he goes back to work at the churu. he’s tiny in your arms. you can see the pink of his beans on his little feet and you half wanna cry at how precious he is. his small tongue licks rapidly as he tries to get as much of the yummy churu as possible. you laugh at his eagerness, letting him have just a little more before pulling it away.
“mroew!” he chirps. he tries to paw at your hand for more, but you keep it away, bending down to kiss his forehead.
“no more,” you say.
issei takes the chance to stand on his hind legs to sneak a couple tonguefuls. hajime comes over to take a couple sniffs but lies down when he finds out what it is. tooru rushes over too, wanting also to be carried in your arms. giving takahiro a sweet kiss on his forehead, you place him back in his bed before picking up tooru. wanting in on the fun, issei pleas to be carried too. hajime joins in just to spite tooru.
you spend the rest of the night as their personal amusement park ride.