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It was Friday morning, and by the time Natsume woke up, he was already late for school.
He sat up and got out of bed, squeezed into his binder, and threw a clean shirt over it, and then put on his uniform. Half asleep, the boy quickly combed his hair and washed his face in the bathroom. Natsume then went to make himself breakfast but didn’t rush; he was already late, so why rush his most important meal?
When Natsume had finished his food, he went to leave, grabbing his bag off the top of a shoe rack on the way out. Natsume had only taken one step out the door when he heard a squeak from below, and he hastily stepped back in surprise. It sounded like a squeaky toy, but he had no pets, and therefore did not own any squeaky toys.
He looked down, and it was a plushie. A small… roll cake-shaped, rotund plushie, he could probably fit it inside his pocket. Its legs were short and small, and it looked… like his unitmate, Tsumugi. “WeirD,” he thought, “I’ll pick this thiNG up to show senpAI at his worK.”
Natsume reached down and grabbed it; he immediately recoiled and dropped it, earning another squeak from the plushie. The thing moved. It slowly waddled toward his foot, and Natsume tentatively reached for it again. The plushie, or whatever it was, stopped moving to let him grab it. Natsume picked it up again, this time not dropping it. “What the heLL?” Natsume wondered out loud, the thing just stared at him and wiggled its legs, somehow sentient despite appearing to be completely made out of fabric and stuffing. Natsume gave it a firm squeeze, and it made the same soft squeaky toy noise again. He put it in his jacket pocket, and the plushie, or creature, whatever the hell it was, stopped squirming around when he did. Natsume was confused nonetheless, but brushed it off; he would be even more late to school if he sat there pondering why it behaved like such.
Occasionally throughout the day, the thing would squirm around in Natsume’s pocket, the nuisance it was, and Natsume would have to hold it still or just pray nobody noticed his pocket moving. The creature was very affectionate, rubbing its soft velvety face on his hands whenever he put his hands in his pockets, and it also liked to nibble at his fingers, which made Natsume jump. At lunch, the unfortunately observant Sora noticed the creature squirming in his pocket. Intrigued, he leaned toward Natsume. “...Shishou? What’s in there?” He pointed to Natsume’s pocket, restraining himself from poking his pocket. “N-NothinG.” Natsume put his hand in his pocket and slightly squeezed the wiggling creature to hold it still. The thing squeaked in return, which just piqued Sora’s interest more, eyes looking up to meet Natsume’s. “Sora can tell there’s something in there, what is it?” He tilted his head, eyes curious, and leaned closer toward the red-haired boy.
Natsume looked around, sighing, “Follow mE.” He got up and walked to the nearest bathroom, Sora excitedly following behind him. The bathroom was empty, so Natsume took the creature out of his pocket, holding it by its back so it couldn’t bite him. Sora looked at it, both confused and in awe; It looked just like Tsumugi. Sora poked its head, and it squeaked. “It’s so annoYING.” Natsume groaned, holding it by the back. Sora bent down to be eye level with it, still poking at it. “Huh, it looks like senpai!” The creature squeaked back when it was prodded, and Natsume slipped it back into his jacket pocket. He gave it a light squeeze to make it stop squealing, and turned around. “Lunch will be over sooN, I need to finish my fooD.” He walked out, Sora trailing behind him, calling out “Okay! Sora needs to eat too!”
The two boys would walk back to the cafeteria, return to their usual seats and finish their lunch.
Later that same day, Natsume was leaving school with Sora. Stopping in his tracks, he turned to Sora, “I’m going to Senpai’s worK, I’ll see you tomorrOW.” Sora looked at him, expression turning mildly sad like he wanted to come too. However, he just nodded and wished him goodbye and to have fun. Natsume turned, feeling mildly guilty, and walked to Tsumugi’s office building alone. When he arrived, he then entered the looming building and walked to the elevator. Natsume decided on taking the elevator up to the floor Tsumugi’s office was on, the elevator dinging softly when he arrived. He took a breath and stepped out. It was quiet, not many people were in the office at this time on a Friday.
It wasn’t quite late, but a lot of people had already left. He approached Tsumugi’s desk, ready to hear the annoying, even grating voice of his unitmate excitedly greeting him, but the usually occupied, busy desk with paperwork and whatnot usually strewn around it was.. surprisingly empty. No papers were on the desk, the monitor dark as it had been turned off. There were no other signs he was there, such as a coffee mug left over, or his jacket nearby. Natsume approached an employee that knew Tsumugi, “Where is senpAI?” he asked, motioning to the desk with confusion in his voice. The man looked at him and shrugged, “I don’t know, he hasn’t shown up for work all day, has he said anything to you?” Natsume simply shook his head no. As he thought about it, he knew something was up. Tsumugi never really tried to skip work, and for all he knows, he hadn’t said anything to him, his coworkers, or Sora. Natsume nodded and thanked the man, turning to leave and go home.
Then the dreaded thing squeaked. Natsume squeezed it tight, enough so it would stop. The employee looked over in his direction, “Did you say something..? I didn’t hear, sorry.” he politely asked, “N-no, I didn’T.” Natsume choked out, thoroughly embarrassed. “Alright, well I’ll be leaving if you don’t need to ask me anything else. It was nice seeing you.” the man said, gathering his stuff. “It was nice seeing you as weLL, have a good daY.” Natsume took the creature out of his pocket and tossed it on the desk. The creature happily squirmed over to the keyboard at the desk and struggled to crawl up it. Natsume watched, very confused. The plushie creature waddled around the keyboard, barely heavy enough to press the keys. It wasn’t typing anything coherent, though, just random letters as it waddled around on its fat body. Not like it mattered, as the monitor was off. Natsume sighed, picking it up and shoving it back in his pocket roughly. It squeaked again, quieter this time, and headbutted his hand, seemingly not liking being handled so roughly.
Natsume left the office, pondering where the hell Tsumugi could possibly be as he walked home. The stupid thing in his pocket wouldn’t stop squirming, Natsume’s patience was being tested as he tried to keep it still with his hand. By the time he got home, he put his bag down on top of the shoe rack and took the thing out of his pocket. It squeaked, supposedly happy to see him, and happy to be outside of his pocket. Natsume sighed and brought it with him to his room, setting it down on his bed once he got inside. He decided he should change into some comfier clothes, grabbing pajama pants and a hoodie from his dresser. He was going to change quickly, somewhat embarrassed that the creature could see, but he decided to change in his bathroom. Natsume slipped off his school uniform, his binder, and then got into his pajamas.
Once he was finished changing, he left the bathroom, grabbed the plushie creature, and put it in his hoodie pocket. Natsume walked to his kitchen, grabbing himself a tangerine to eat. The creature started squeaking when he peeled it, so he took it out of his pocket, “I can’t give you thiS, it’ll get all over yoU.” Natsume said, annoyed. The creature just sadly squeaked in response, it wanted a piece. Natsume sighed and put it back in his pocket, eating the tangerine. After throwing the peel away, he went to go lay down in bed. He took the creature out and tossed it onto his bed, laying on his side next to it.
Natsume looked at the weird plushie thing, trying to think of a way the stupid thing got to his house.
How did it even exist?
Natsume stared at it as it waddled around his bed, making soft squeaky noises as it approached his face. Natsume didn’t move, but his eyes widened, the stupid thing was rubbing its soft face on his nose.. or, well, it was at least trying to. The creature was slightly headbutting him in the nose. Natsume pet its head, finally allowing himself, although resentfully, to give in to the idea that it was cute.
Even if it looked like his unitmate.
That damn glasses-wearing bastard.
Natsume rolled over and sighed, grabbed his phone off the nightstand, and started texting Tsumugi.
“where are yoU???”
“are you skipping worK????”
Natsume received no reply, even after he waited for 10 minutes. He groaned and put his phone down on the nightstand again, turning back over to look at the weird creature.
When he rolled over, he heard a loud squeak from under him. Natsume sat up slightly, pulling the creature from under his side. It had waddled over, trying to climb on him, and when he rolled over he had squished it. Natsume tossed it gently to the side of the bed and laid back down. He watched it struggle to crawl over to him, settling itself next to his cheek on the pillow.
Natsume stared at it, deciding whether or not to do something that would utterly embarrass himself.
He decided on doing it.
Natsume pushed the creature towards his lips and gave it a kiss on the head, begrudgingly grumbling about how cute and soft the thing was. It squeaked in surprise upon receiving the kiss and squirmed around to get closer to him, ending up under Natsume’s chin.
He let the creature get closer, embarrassed of what he had done. He put it on his chest, rolling over to grab his phone and scroll through social media. Natsume was still waiting on a reply from Tsumugi, but he decided to kill time by watching videos on his phone.
After a few hours had passed and the evening had turned to night, Natsume decided it was time for him to sleep. He had gotten no response from Tsumugi and Natsume decided to brush it off as Tsumugi just being an asshole and ignoring him. On the inside, he was extremely bothered and worried by this, but he would never ever admit to that. The creature was content and already asleep on his chest. Natsume checked that he had set his alarm for the next morning, and put his phone away on his nightstand. He crawled under the heavy grey and white blankets on his bed and settled down to sleep, enjoying the comfort of his bed. “GoodnighT,” he whispered, trying not to disturb the weird thing from its sleep. Natsume struggled to sleep on his back, so he turned over onto his side and slept with the creature on his pillow.
Early in the morning, Natsume’s phone alarm blared at maximum volume, waking the boy up from his deep sleep. The alarm was ear-splitting and dreadful to listen to as Natsume smacked his phone with his hand, barely awake but desperate for it to be off. He sighed in relief when it was finally off, and turned over to get up and get dressed.
Natsume almost screamed when he was met face-to-face with an unconscious man in his bed.
The man in question was of course his unitmate, Tsumugi.
His glasses were crooked on his sleeping face, and his blue hair was messier than ever, which said a lot since it was messy most of the time anyway. Natsume took a deep breath, absolutely stunned and confused as to why he was in his bed. “Where is that thinG? Why is he herE??” He thought, and then it hit him, and he wondered how he didn’t think of it before.
Tsumugi was that creature.
He had kissed Tsumugi on the head. And now he was in his bed, asleep.
Natsume sat up, still in shock. He pushed Tsumugi off the bed, the blue-haired man tumbling onto the floor and waking up with a yelp. He sat up, still on the floor, and rubbed his eyes. “G-good morning Natsume-kun..!” He gave Natsume a weak smile. Natsume glared at him, “Why were you in my beD.” Natsume crossed his arms, hoping he would come off as upset, but he came off more as just flustered. “I.. Um, you brought me in your bed..” Tsumugi fixed his glasses, looking off to the side as he was obviously also embarrassed by the question. Natsume said nothing, just huffed and glared at him.
“W-well, I think your kiss fixed me!” Tsumugi gave him another smile, this time out of happiness. “I might’ve been stuck as a plushie forever, you helped me, Natsume-kun!” He grinned and looked up at him. “I wish you stayed a plushIE,” Natsume growled, clearly not enthused by his presence. “Now get ouT.” Tsumugi’s smile faded, “Whaat?! Why?” He looked at the red-haired boy with pure disbelief at the idea he would kick him out.
“I need to changE. LeavE.” Natsume got up from his bed, going to his closet to grab his uniform for school. “O-oh, I’m sorry!” Tsumugi got up hastily and left the room, waiting outside for him. Natsume sighed and stared at his uniform. He really didn’t feel like going to school today.
Natsume put his uniform back in his closet and shut the door, leaving his room. Tsumugi stood just outside the door, waiting for him like an annoying puppy. Natsume walked past him, “I’m not going to schooL.” He walked to the kitchen to make himself breakfast, which consisted of a few pieces of toast and some juice. Tsumugi followed him in, waiting to be allowed to make himself food as well. Natsume vaguely waved to the kitchen with his hand, starting to eat his food at the table. Tsumugi took this as permission to make himself something, and started making himself a bowl of cereal.
Tsumugi sat down with the boy, giving him a kiss on the cheek as he sat down. After he set his bowl down, Natsume gripped him by the roots of his blue hair and dunked his face in it.
Tsumugi cried out, surprised and very confused. Natsume let him go, and wiped whatever milk had got on his hand on Tsumugi’s shoulder. “What makes you think you can do thaT?” Natsume growled. Tsumugi sat up, lifting his face out of the milk. “S-sorry Natsume-kun..” He looked absolutely pathetic, face, glasses, and hair dripping with milk.
Natsume sighed and grabbed a few napkins to wipe his face off, roughly rubbing and dabbing at spots on his face to get it all off. Natsume sighed, “..Sorry senpAI.” he said quietly. Tsumugi smiled wide, “It’s okay!” Natsume turned away, blushing slightly, and started eating his food. “Natsume-kun, I think you should be eating more than just that..” Tsumugi sounded worried, “I-I can get you something else from the kitchen?” Natsume nodded, the toast currently in his mouth rendering him unable to speak.
Tsumugi stood up and grabbed him a tangerine and a banana, and brought it back to the table. “Here,” he said, setting them down onto the table next to Natsume’s plate, “Please eat them, they’re good for you!” He sat down next to Natsume, not touching his cereal until Natsume started opening the tangerine and eating it. They ate together, and after they were finished Natsume turned to him.
“..You can kiss me noW.” Natsume huffed, and Tsumugi smiled. Tsumugi leaned in and gave Natsume a chaste kiss on the lips, grabbing the red-haired boy’s hands and holding them gently as he did.
“I love you Natsume-kun..” he mumbled, smiling softly. “I love you toO.” Natsume huffed, cheeks burning red.