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Denki knew he was in trouble the moment he spotted Hitoshi, amongst the clowder of cats, trotting toward him. The soulmate stampede, it was called. A group of creatures would lead one soulmate to another. It could be anything, depending on the couple in question, from bugs to fish to, in their case, cats. Small cats, large cats, feral cats, runaway cats, kittens, elderly cats, black cats, white cats, calicoes and tuxedo cats, orange cats, brown cats, just CATS. So many cats. He tried and failed to suppress a groan.
It was sweet the first time Hitoshi had shown up, following a bunch—no, clowder, as he'd been too often reminded—of cats. He'd smirked at Denki, teased him a little. They'd already been dating and it was nice to have proof that their connection was as deep as it felt. But then one of the cats hadn't had a home to go to, like the other ones. It had started following them around. It was the first time Denki had seen the marshmallow soft part of Hitoshi that adored cats. He loved that, don't get him wrong!
For whatever reason though, the universe had decided that once wasn't enough. And now they had a cat from every group that had led Hitoshi or Denki to the other.
It was getting to be a little much.
"Hitoshi. Babe."
"She's got adorable little ears," Hitoshi said seriously, as he held up a cat with ears folded forward. Said cat was admittedly very cute, covered in what was most assuredly a soft and fluffy white coat, and looking up at him with large grey eyes.
"We've already got four cats," Denki said, rubbing a hand over his face.
"You can never have too many cats, Denks," Hitoshi said. "Besides, the universe itself brought them to us, who are we to say no?"
"Toshi, I don't know that we can afford to have this many cats," Denki tried. His resolve was already weakening. Why did he have to be the sensible one for these conversations? Hitoshi was so much better at being the sensible one.
"I just got that promotion, remember? The bump in salary should be more than enough to cover this one's expenses," Hitoshi pointed out, reasonably.
"I'm not sure we have the space–" Denki tried again, gaze steadily focused on a point around Hitoshi's chin.
"Sure we do, and I can make some more cat spaces on the balcony too." Hitoshi smiled lazily and brought the cat up closer to his face, purposefully into Denki's eye line. Denki relocated his gaze to over Hitoshi's shoulder.
"It's a lot of cats, Toshi," Denki said. Maybe begged.
"A lot of white cats don't get adopted, you know. The old superstitions about white cats being bad luck is still strong. What if no one else gives her a home? She deserves to be safe and loved. The same way I feel with you, the soulmate she helped bring me to." Hitoshi stepped carefully into Denki's line of sight, face pleading and earnest, as he spoke in that deep, hypnotic voice of his. Denki wanted to short circuit just to get out of this conversation, but he didn't want to have another lecture about harming himself to avoid confrontation. Clearly sensing weakness, Hitoshi pressed his advantage for all it was worth.
"Please, Denks?" he asked, maneuvering the kitten so it’s little cheek was pressed to his own and looking at him with pleading eyes. He looked so adorably cute that Denki couldn't keep it up anymore; he broke like pencil lead.
"You're cleaning the litter boxes," Denki said, like that somehow made up for the fact that he couldn't say no to his soulmate's cute face. Said cute face morphed into a self-satisfied grin, and Denki didn't try to hide his pout. Hitoshi sauntered over, pulling him into a hug with the kitten between them.
"I love you, Denki," he said, placing a kiss on his cheek. Denki couldn't keep up the pout.
"I love you too, Toshi. But I swear this is the last cat, or I'm naming the next one the most horrifying thing I can."
"Whatever you say, babe."