Chapter Text
“Rin.”
She looks up, raising an eyebrow as she wipes her wet boots on the welcome mat by the doorway.
“What?”
“What… is that?” Nezha asks, exasperation dripping in his voice.
Rin raises her hand, shaking her drink, ice sloshing in the liquid.
“A coffee.”
“Rin, that’s not—” he cuts himself off, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I meant that. ”
Nezha points to the box slung under Rin’s arm, damp from the rain pouring outside. The box itself is inconspicuous, just regular cardboard from a local shipping company, incredibly mundane to anyone who sees it—that’s not what’s bothering him. No, Rin has done lots of questionable shit over the course of their relationship, including bringing home an alarming array of items like rope, duct tape, and a gallon of bleach that convinced Nezha she was planning on murdering him for a week (and to this day, still doesn’t know what she used it for), so really, Nezha should be happy it isn’t anything out of the ordinary.
But the box is moving , squirming around lightly as Rin adjusts her hold on it.
“A box.”
Nezha bites the inside of his cheek to stop the impulsive “No fucking shit” from coming out of his mouth, and notes that she’s stalling telling him, meaning she knows he would fight her on whatever it is she brought home, and that just worries him more.
Fantastic.
He and Rin have been living together for a while now, dating for even longer than that. It was a rocky road of tearing each other’s throats out, reluctant friendship, a fist fight turned into a make out session in a locked closet, and eventually spilling their guts out onto the pavement in an embarrassing confession. The longer they spent time together, the better they got at reading the other’s tells and mannerisms, able to detect the slightest change in their expression—and they only got better when they decided to move in with each other.
So, Rin acting like this is very out-of-character for her—he would know.
“I meant what’s fucking in the box, Rin.”
He swears, if she’s brought home anything illegal like drugs or a gun—well, he wouldn’t turn her in, she’s still his girlfriend, but she better fucking believe he’s going to be pissed at her.
“Oh,” Rin blinks, pretending to be surprised, before setting the box down on the floor. She lifts the flap, and out pops the last thing Nezha expected to be inside.
“A… a kitten. You brought home… a kitten,” he says slowly, staring at the inside of the box.
His first thought is “ Thank the gods it’s not contraband.”
His second thought is “What the fuck?”
It’s a tiny thing, no bigger than the size of hands cupped together—curious, bright gray eyes looking up at him, a wet gray coat of fur streaked with white stripes, a white belly and little paws. It blinks right back up at Nezha, and it’s then that he realizes that it’s trembling slightly, presumably from the cold.
Before his surprise wears off, Rin scoops it up unceremoniously in her arms, marching to the bathroom.
Nezha shakes himself out of his stupor, following her.
“Rin. You brought home a kitten? Are you fucking serious right now?”
Rin ignores him in favor of setting the kitten down on the closed toilet seat and grabbing a towel— Nezha’s towel, of all things—and using it to gently dry the kitten.
“Rin!” he protests, trying to snatch it in vain. “That’s my fucking towel.”
“Buy a new one, it’s the cat’s towel now.”
“You’re fucking joking.”
She doesn’t answer, eyes glued to the kitten. Rin carefully wraps the towel around it, pressing it gently on the kitten’s fur to get rid of the water, enclosing it with the short ends like a burrito. The cat squirms, so Rin holds it securely in place, bundling it in her arms before breezing straight past Nezha back to the living room.
“Not on the damn couch, don’t get it wet!”
Rin sits on the couch, placing the cat in her lap, who’s begun to purr as she rubs its head.
“Wh—where—what—Rin, what the hell?”
She rolls her eyes, having the audacity to look annoyed at him, like she didn’t just bring a random, probably unvaccinated animal home.
“I brought her home.”
“Yeah, I could fucking tell.”
“Oh, fuck off, Nezha, it’s not a big deal,” she says, huddling closer as the kitten nuzzles its cheek on her hand.
“Not a big deal, not a big—Rin.”
“I’m keeping her.”
Nezha blinks incredulously, jaw dropping. “You can’t just bring home a random cat to the house, what if it has rabies, or—”
“It’s not a random fucking animal, alright?” Rin says heatedly, the seriousness in her voice taking him aback, making the retort Nezha had die on his lips.
He stares at them, watching Rin carefully remove the towel and fold it, not taking her hands off of the kitten. Then she strokes its now semi-dry fur gently, making it purr louder than it had been before. Nezha watches Rin’s face soften ever-so-slightly. Her touch is lighter than he’s ever seen it before, and her lips twitch into the beginnings of a smile when the kitten meows happily up at her.
Something like warmth sparks in Nezha’s chest when he sees it.
Gods, pull yourself together, Yin.
“She was abandoned by the bus stop. She was shivering and mewling inside the box when I heard her, and I just couldn’t leave her sitting there in the rain, Nezha. Trust me, if you’d have seen it, you wouldn’t have been able to resist taking her home, either,” Rin says quietly, gaze never straying from the tiny creature in her lap.
This isn’t fair. He can’t say no to her when she acts like this.
“Fine, alright. I get it. You couldn’t leave it in the rain, it would have been cruel,” Nezha concedes, raising his hands in surrender. “I know there’s a shelter near Khurdalain Avenue, we can take it there—”
Rin’s eyes snap up sharply, giving him a glare. Her hand pauses in petting the kitten, making it nudge her hand with its head to keep going.
“No, I’m keeping Lun . ”
“You already named it?” Nezha says, expression twisting into disbelief.
“You fucking heard me.”
“Rin,” he splutters, wanting to tear his hair out. She’s so damn stubborn. “Rin, you can’t possibly think you can just keep a kitten out of nowhere—”
“Fucking watch me.”
“Taking care of it will be so much work—”
“I can handle it,” Rin snaps back.
“You have university classes and a part-time job—” Nezha argues.
“And I’ve managed to balance raising Kesegi and doing shit for Auntie Fang in the past, I can do this just fine—”
“What if I’m allergic—”
“That’s a straight up fucking lie!”
“ Rin!” Nezha shouts, making the kitten startle at the volume of his voice, but she meets his irritated look with one of her own. She clenches her jaw, eyes hard with determination.
“I’m keeping this kitten whether you want me to or not.”
“Shouldn’t we fucking talk about this before you make a decision?”
“No. Lun is staying with us.”
“The apartment doesn’t even allow pets.”
“I’m sure they can make a fucking exception to the only two people who actually pay their fucking rent on time in this goddamn place. Just call the management,” Rin scoffs.
Nezha’s patience is reaching its limits. He runs a hand through his hair, lips curling into a frown.
“You know what? Fuck this. Talk to me when you’ve thought this thing through. I’m going to take a goddamn nap,” he says, turning on his heel to go to their bedroom.
“A nap won’t fucking change my mind, asshole,” Rin calls, making him huff in anger.
He doesn’t take a nap, though. Nezha stares at the ceiling, silently stewing.
He knows how impulsive Rin can be, diving headfirst into things without thinking all of the possible outcomes through, and sure, it’s gotten her into trouble before, but most of their best memories together were due to her random spur of the moment decisions like their first kiss in a university storeroom or their first date bungee jumping off the Red Cliffs. So really, her doing something like this was never out of the realm of possibility, even if he had never imagined this particular scenario.
He’s always known Rin is stubborn, too. It’s one of the things he’s come to love about her, as much of a headache it tends to be. But with that knowledge comes the realization that Rin would never, ever budge on this, extreme inconvenience and other very valid reasons for his refusal.
That doesn’t mean she should get her way.
He doesn’t know how long he just lies there, listing off arguments in his head, listening as Rin walks around their living room, presumably drying the kitten off on her own, probably muttering to herself about how stupid she thinks he’s being (even though he’s being perfectly reasonable, thank you very much ), and Nezha stops himself from barging out there and making the whole argument worse.
After a few hours, when he thinks he’s finally cooled off enough, Nezha sits up and walks out of the bedroom.
And he finds Rin curled on the gray sofa, fast asleep with the kitten nestled against her chest—eyes closed, hair falling in her face, breathing even. The kitten shifts ever so slightly, letting out a tiny yawn that Nezha refuses to admit he finds fucking adorable, and Rin’s arms tighten, drawing it closer to her.
She looks so peaceful.
Not fair. Not fucking fair in the slightest.
Nezha knows he’s going to deeply regret this in the near future. This is probably a horrible idea that will bring him a whole slew of headaches the moment the two of them wake up. The best thing to do is to stand his ground and convince Rin that the shelter will take good care of the cat.
He finds his hand dialing the landlord’s number on his phone and asking them to make an exception for pets in the apartment the next moment.
When the call is done, he pads over and sits next to them, leaning close to Rin.
“Gods, you’re such a stubborn idiot,” Nezha whispers, grinning at the tiny crease in Rin’s forehead at the sound of his voice. “The things I fucking agree to for you. You’re lucky I love you.”
He presses his lips on her forehead, and he hopes he isn’t imagining the sigh of contentment he hears escaping from her.
Then he pulls back, giving the kitten a critical once over. Sighing, he gives its head a short rub before crossing his arms.
Lun, he thinks, a little amused, meaning humanity. Rin chose the name 'humanity' for a rescued stray kitten. How fitting.
“Welcome home, I guess, Lun.”