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Johnny noticed it first, his form glitching down the hall and insisting V follow him. V was tempted to tell the engram to piss off. It had been a long day. The Relic had malfunctioned once and left V with a throbbing headache. She'd fucked up her recent Gig because of it. Accidentally tripping an alarm and causing a small fire fight when the Gig had called for stealth. V took a pay cut for that and really wanted to curl under the rock that was her blankets.
She just didn't have the heart or energy to be callous right now. It was more than that though. Whatever it was, Johnny was excited about it. It would be shitty of V to act like an ass. It was refreshing to see Johnny like this. They'd come a long way from him beating her face into the window but the rockerboy was still very much an ass.
V followed Johnny down to the end of hall and turned. Johnny didn't walk really, he'd take a few steps then glitched forward double the amount, stopping in front of a stack of boxes.
"There's a cat bowl here, you got any food?" Johnny asked while pointing at a small white bowl. V's tired face broke into a grin.
"Why Johnny, I would have never taken you for a cat person," V knelt down and pulled her back off her back. She had all manor of things inside, small arms, a change of clothes, snacks. Johnny often joked about how V just packed the entire apartment everytime she left.
'Can't say I trust all your neighbors. Kept thinking about it while you were working. Poor thing is probably half starved and I think it'd be better off if we tamed it down,' Johnny's form flickered and a cigarette appeared in his hand. Where the hell an engram got cigarettes, V had no idea. Johnny didn't either. When ashed he just shrugged and said he hadn't thought about it.
V found a pack of cat food, making sure it was the type the note specified. It smelled like ripe fish but it wasn't the worst food V had ever smelled. She put the empty packet in her bag to throw away later and stood up.
"Hopefully by morning, we'll have a cat," V put her hands on her hips and smiled. She tried not to think too much about how Johnny had said "we". Of course it only made sense since he did mean both of them. Anytime we mentioned them in a plural sense it made V's heart flutter like a school girl with a crush. Learning that Johnny not only wanted a cat for him but for them made her happy, loved almost. Almost.
V got to her apartment. She unpacked her things and hoped Johnny hadn't heard her thoughts while she walked there. Sometimes he could, if he was paying attention. It was a dice roll really. But Johnny was quiet the rest of the evening, letting V relax in peace. She left the TV running when she climbed into bed. Her last thought before sleep took her was about the cat.
She didn't really hear Johnny's voice at first. It was just background noise to her sleep. Johnny didn't often wake her up in the middle of the night unless it was important. Taking a bullet to the skull tends to fuck with ones sleep and any sleep V got that wasn't either a nightmare or a night terror was always a win for both of them.S he started to wake up, Johnny's voice coming more into focus.
'V, wake up princess,' that got her attention. Along with the hand she felt lightly touching her face. V jumped, startled fully awake by the both the pet name and Johnny's unexpected tenderness.
"The hell did you just call me?" V sat up, blanket falling off her shoulders. She rubbed at her eyes and put her sleep shirt back into the right place.
'I said wake up, let's go check on the cat,' Johnny's normal tone was back. He made it sound as if V had kept him waiting by wasting time sleeping. V stared at him a minute, debating if she only dreamt Johnny being downright sweet to her.
"Yeah, okay," peeking through the window, V could just barely see the sky lighten. It must still be early.
Good, early morning meant the hallway would be pretty empty. She didn't bother getting dressed. Most of V's modesty vanished after she died and came back. She had more important things than pants to worry about. V pulled down her sleep shirt that way it wouldn't be 100% showing her pink underwear from the back.
"That excited about the cat?" V teased. She spoke out loud not caring who heard her. She really just wanted to check on the cat then go back to bed.
'You must be,' Johnny teased back. He stayed behind her instead of in front and V had a gut feeling why. 'Didn't even put pants on first.'
"Johnny!" V whipped around and shrieked, her face turning red
Grinning and laughing, Johnny glitched in front of her, 'What's it matter, V? We share the body pretty much. Nothing on you I haven't seen.'
V hadn't really considered this. She desperately wanted to talk about something other than Johnny Silverhand admitting to staring at her ass. Johnny on the other hand thought V's ass was a great topic of conversation.
'Get all bothered that I looked yet you're walking around where your creepy neighbors can see,' His voice was dancing in the edge of teasing and being serious.
"Wow Johnny, if I didn't know better I'd say you're jealous," V mirrored his grin. Or maybe it was his grin plastered on her face. She couldn't tell.
He glitched right in front of, stopping V in her tracks. His hand was already under her chin lifting her face to look him in the eyes.
'What if I am?' his voice had a deeper, more possessive tone to it. Something V hadn't heard him use on her. Something V might want him to use on her.
V froze, having no idea how to react. She had always been shit at feelings. Basic commutation was fine, working with fixers meant V had to know how to talk. Anything deeper than that left her feeling uncomfortable. She sure as fuck wasn't against Johnny grabbing her chin or looking at her ass. She just had no fucking idea how to say that out loud.
Over Johnny's shoulder, V saw movement. The cat's small pale body walked over, sniffed the food bowl and started to eat.
"Johnny," V whispered, "Look".
Johnny turned around. He glitched over and was sitting on the floor by the cat.
'Well, well, well,' he motioned for V to walk over. V did so and felt like she was obeying an order. She pushed the thought out of her mind, not sure if it was even her thought.
She bent down and put her hand on the cat. The cat "mrowred" at her touch. It's little back raising up for a fully body pet.
"Aww, poor thing," carefully V picked up the cat. The cat got cozy on her shoulder, it's head nuzzled into her collar bone. With her other hand, she picked the bowl up and slowly carried both back to the apartment.
Johnny glitched behind her but V was pretty sure he was just looking at the cat, maybe.
'What about a name?' he asked.
V hadn't gotten that far yet. A cat did need a name after all.
"Never been good with naming things," V said as she opened the door to the apartment.
'Explains why you only go by one letter,' Johnny was in a good mood. He always flirted more when his spirits were up.
Wait, he was flirting with her?
"Okay then smart ass," V set the cat down next to her bed. She placed the food bowl next and started looking for a water dish. "You name the cat."
V was stretched on her toes to reach a bowl on one of the higher shelves. She lived a busy life and didn't often eat at home. Most of her dishes stayed put up high and didn't get used alot. Her shirt rode up to the middle of her back. If Johnny didn't get a good enough view of V's ass before he definitely could now.
'Nibbles,' he answered quickly. Just like in the hall he'd sat down next to the cat V knew he was starting at her ass again
"Fast answer," V's fingertips finally grazed the bowl and she hooked her nails over the edge and pulled it down.
'It was my cat's name,' Once V had stepped off her tiptoes, Johnny went back to looking at the cat. 'She was more hair than cat. Use to have to lint roll myself before I went on stage because of it.'
V's heart was melting like heated candy. Thinking about Johnny making the entire band wait because he had to get the cat hair off his shirt was equal parts adorable and hysterically funny.
'Don't know what happened to her, came home and found her asleep. Permanently asleep,' a cigarette glitched into his hand. He took a drag and blew the digital smoke away from Nibbles.
"Johnny, I'm so sorry," most of Johnny's stories ended that way, in some form of heartbreak. V filled the water bowl at the sink and placed it next to Nibbles. "This is a good way to honor her memory."
Nibbles was mostly hairless, petting her was similar to touching a peach. V assumed so at least, she'd only seen peaches in books. Johnny sat silently, maybe regretting getting as deep as he did. V didn't push him. She sat in silence as well, the only sound in the air being the low hum of the TV and the purr of the cat. V broke the silence but didn't speak verbally.
'Thanks Johnny, for waking me up,' she thought loudly. She always imagined a channel in her head, connecting the two of them on this unseen wave length. When she wanted to speak, she sent what she wanted to say through the channel.
'Cute little thing would have gotten picked up if I hadn't,' Johnny was talking about the cat but both knew that's not what V ment.
V yawned, it was still early and she still had time to go back to bed.
'Go,' Johnny said, picking up on her line of thinking. 'I'll watch Nibbles.'
V understood. Johnny wanted to make sure Nibbles would make it through the night. Nibbles looked healthy, a bit thin, but healthy. Logically there was no reason for Johnny to cat watch but this wasn't about logic. Trauma and grief were a bitch.
'Wake me up if you need anything,' V offered. She walked to her bed and slid under the covers for the second time.
She was almost asleep when she felt Johnny glitch over. V didn't move, pretending to be asleep. She kept her breathing in check and if Johnny noticed he didn't say anything. Instead she felt his hand move over the side of her face lovingly. She leaned into his touch, trying to make it seem like an involuntary action. Neither of them wanting to acknowledge more than just the moment. V fell asleep that way, her face cradled in Johnny's hand.
When she woke up a few hours later, Johnny was still sitting by Nibbles, smiling.