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"keisuke! my cat scratched me!" you barged into the pet shop baji works at. you're afraid that you'll get rabies since you're rarely around animals and this is the first time you got scratched by an animal. and fearing for the worst, you went straight to the person you know is an expert on this
"what? let me see that" baji's face scrunched up, processing your words, then dropped everything he was doing to run and examine your outstretched hand
you just let him take your wrist as you wince and quietly stare at his face to somehow distract you from the stinging little wound you have. you can't help the bubbling warmth in your chest as he squints his eyes to take a closer look. the way his much larger hands wrapped around your wrist made the skin tingle that you can't help but forget about the sting
"how long ago was this?" you snapped out of your own observation of his… attractive highlights, making you stutter out an immediate response, "about more than fifteen minutes ago! i- i guess"
"geez did u run here? u live like – 30 minutes away!" kazutora piped in, carrying a sack of dog food and you replied with a flustered 'no!'
"i was at the park! the cat that scratched me was not birria (your cat)… i just feed that cat from the park whenever i pass by" then you looked away from both men, "i kind of… annoyed the cat by scratching his butt non-stop"
kazutora just gave you a grin, knowing exactly what that feels like since he's as guilty as you. he may or may have not spent his free time teasing and playing with the cats. like pressing on their toe beans, scratching their butt just as you had done, and rubbing their stomach. he could never escape a painful smack to the back of his head from baji and chifuyu when he gets caught tho
baji, on the other hand, gave you a disapproving look at your answer to which you immediately defended yourself, "he was meowing so cutely i couldn't help myself, okay!?"
he can't deny that the cats are cute. he's never one to tease them, but petting them as if they're his own child? cats love him as much as he loves cats. not just the cats, even the dogs, the birds, the turtles, the deers – chifuyu nor kazutora can't believe how much of an animal magnet he is
anyways, the way he let out an annoyed click of his tongue made you feel like there was a long lecture coming in so you braced yourself. you give him a forced grin and whispered out a small, "sorryyy" in advance but all you received is a sigh and a harsh flick to the nose
"be careful around stray cats, y/n" this time he's glaring at you as you rub your sore nose
"it's just a small scratch. it's not even bleeding, but who knows next time you play around and get bitten"
he brings out a big ass needle he got out of nowhere and threateningly showed it to you, "or else you'll need to get a shot"
he grinned later on as he received the reaction that he wanted to see from you, eyes wide like a saucer and mouth gaping in fear. but you started to look like you were seriously about to faint so he put the scary needle away and said, "relax, im kidding"
he never moved out of his phase of teasing his crush every moment since high school. knowing you since then and staying 'friends' to now in the eyes of people wasn't a problem to him. and it's not like you were oblivious to the way he teases you. nah, you were always too flustered with how he is with his words and actions towards you
that's why you tease him as well, more like annoy, to the point sometimes that his face and ears would turn beat red just from one poke from you, as you are the only one who can incite a very flustered reaction from baji keisuke
it's a wonder to everyone around you why the both of you haven't got together yet. but what the others don't know, is that you and baji have moved way past the teasing. now it's more… intimate. lingering touches, knowing looks towards each other, the shared smiles – and there's 'birria' the cat that you both adopted
you let out a sigh of relief, feeling your heartbeat go back to normal when baji hid the needle. it was obvious that it was a fake needle, but you were too scared to notice
just then, you see baji walk to a room and come out with a band-aid. he gestures for you to come to him, eyes looking at you pointedly, "let's wash your hand first, then i'll put a bandaid on it"
and when you literally skipped towards him in excitement, he swung his arm around your shoulders, his head dipped down as his lips brushes on your reddening ears and teasingly whispers, "maybe i'll even give you a kiss to make you feel better"