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In the Duke's office, there is a cat tree. In place of plain rectangular platforms for jumping and resting, there are big plush flowers, and a little bee toy on a string hangs from one edge. At five tiers, it stands taller than the Duke himself. It's ridiculously large, pointlessly expensive, and is completely mismatched with the decor everywhere, but especially his office. Still, Minou likes it, so there it stays.
Aside from the cat tree, he also has a cat bed in the shape of an apple pie that is rarely used, various toys in the shapes of Fontemer Aberrants that are lightly used, and a well-used scratching post designed in the likeness of a sumpter beast.
Wriothesley avoids frivolous purchases in general, being very scrupulous with his money. But when it comes to his cat companion, he wastes no expense. It's different, spending money on Minou. He can choose to forgo his own luxuries, happy just having good food, tea, and the occasional treat.
The fortress is depressing for an animal though. Even if he is a special case, cats do like the sun, don't they? And so Wriothesley has to make sure he takes breaks from the dank walls and has picnics in the parks. It's basically a duty.
Minou is very much an indoor cat, but he can tell he appreciates it. Basking in the sun is indeed a nice feeling.
Wriothesley packs away the leftovers of his and Minou's lunch. It's a picnic day and he's feeling lazy. After spreading his coat out on the grass, he lies down, enjoying the warmth on his face. With his eyes closed, he feels rather than sees Minou padding up his body to snuggle into the crook of his left arm. One paw rests on his vest, while Minou settles his head on his upper arm.
It's his favourite spot. For some reason, Minou has no interest in the right side. Every night, he tucks himself into the left side, his cat bed woefully unused. Wriothesley could be annoyed about having bought a cat bed for no reason, but it's the kind of problem any cat owner would love to have. His cat companion likes snuggling him at night too much.
Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, he wonders if his soulmate will be just as cuddly. Not every behaviour is a direct translation, but he's heard that a decent number of them are, and he can't say he'd mind it all that much; in fact, it's the opposite.
Late at night, there's been many a time where he'd lain awake, listening to the tinny echoes of pipes and panels adjusting, and imagined his soulmate was lying with him. In his mind, there was a fuzzy impression of a man. What would it be like to meet him? To be able to touch him?
Before he received his Vision, and by extension, Minou, he had never spared a thought for his soulmate. But losing everything and having to atone for your crimes has a way of putting into perspective the things that you can call your own. In one day, he gained a Vision, and with it, the enviable position of having an insight into his soulmate in the form of a cat companion.
Call it an additional gift from the Gods. Your constellation is a stellar map of your destiny after all, and why wouldn't your destiny include your soulmate in it?
Wriothesley kisses the top of Minou's soft head and settles in for a nap.
He's awakened much later, when dusk is falling, by a large weight slamming into his stomach. Winded and struggling to catch his bearings, he flails, trying to get the mass off of his torso. A giant hellbeast of a wolf stretches across his middle and tries to get to Minou. Alarmed, he grabs at the beast's scruff and tries to drag it away from the small grey fluffball. From the angle he's in, he hasn't got enough leverage. Wriothesley is about to punch the wolf as a last resort, when another man lifts it off him.
"Dibi, down," the man scolds.
The wolf, Dibi(?) whines and scrabbles, trying to get free. Wriothesley curls around Minou protectively, which proves to be a pointless exercise, since Minou leaps out of his arms and rubs against the wolf, purring loudly. The wolf's tail wags furiously.
"Oh," the man says, letting go of the wolf. The wolf and Minou continue their joyful reunion, blissfully ignorant (or wilfully ignorant) of the heart attack they gave him.
Now that he has a chance to look at them for longer than a panicked second, there's not a hint of aggression at all. If anything, they seem almost too happy to meet each other.
Wriothesley blinks at the scene, still catching up, and then turns his uncomprehending stare into the other man. He has very pretty eyes.
The pretty-eyed man sits next to him. "Hello."
"Hello?"
"My name is Alhaitham," he says. "It's nice to meet you at last."
"You're-" Wriothesley's eyes widen as it all hits him at once. There's only one reason Minou would be all over this canine. "Are you- are you mine?"
"Yes." His soulmate smiles in answer.
Wriothesley stares, taking in the appearance of his soulmate properly. "I'm Wriothesley," he says when he finds his voice. "I've been waiting to meet you."
"Wriothesley," Alhaitham repeats. His name flows off of his lips smoothly, sweetly. The way he says it is like he's savouring something amazing on his tongue for the first time.
Awed, Wriothesley unconsciously reaches for him, and then catches himself, his hands hovering in the air between them. Before he can retract them, Alhaitham reaches out in turn and skims his fingers over Wriothesley's palms. The contact feels like sparks. They both react at the same time, their hands meeting, curling around each other.
"Get dinner with me?" Wriothesley breathes.
"Yes," Alhaitham agrees, studying his face. "Though I will need to look for accommodation as well before it gets too dark. The place I had booked became unexpectedly unavailable due to weather-related damage."
"You could stay with me?" Wriothesley blurts out before he can think it through, and then winces. "Ah, in saying that though, I live in the Fortress of Meropide, so maybe it's not suitable..."
"That won't bother me," Alhaitham replies, a little quickly.
"It's settled then." He nods, his heart racing. He squeezes Alhaitham's hands.
Dinner ends up being less intimate and fancy than he would have liked. While a fine dining restaurant would have been nice for a first date, they don't allow animals, a fact he overlooked. Neither of them are hung up over it though. As long as the food is good, the atmosphere is secondary.
They have to sit outside, since Dibi is too big to fit in between the tables. Neither of their soul companions mind either, content to curl up together in a monochrome croissant on the floor. It's a tight squeeze, given Dibi's hulking mass brushes the underside and threatens to overturn the table at a shake of his shoulders, but with Minou using him as a pillow, he holds very still.
Wriothesley reaches out, wanting to touch the man who is fated for him again, and feels happiness bubble up when Alhaitham does the same, their clasped hands resting on the tablecloth.
"You're from Sumeru, right? What's it like over there?" He wants to know everything.
Alhaitham starts from the beginning like he knows Wriothesley is keen to hear it all, and weaves the story of his life with ease. Wriothesley listens, entranced.
When he gets to the part about Dibi, Wriothesley finds himself sitting forward a little further. If a soul animal is a reflection of the person, then the soulmate's feelings towards the animal is a reflection of how they would feel about its owner, right? And Alhaitham talks about Dibi so affectionately, it makes him crave that affection for himself.
Since day 1, Dibi, like Minou, always stayed close. He arrived as a gangly puppy with too-long limbs and big paws and steadily grew until he towered over even the biggest mutts on the street. His size is at times an inconvenience (see food expenses), but having a giant wolf as a soul companion has its advantages too. Dibi followed Alhaitham to and from classes, and later on, to and from work. And he was very protective about it, to the point where it became known not to mess with the Lunatic of the Akademiya, because his soul companion would take issue with it, and his growl was terrifying. None were foolish enough to provoke Dibi past that to find out if his bark was worse than his bite.
Though some were scared off by this fact, being left alone mattered little to Alhaitham.
"I was not alone after all, not with Dibi by my side," Alhaitham says, fondly. "So thank you for being there."
"It's the same for me," Wriothesley chuckles. "Minou has been supporting me for many years."
It''s true. In the fashion of most (but not all) cats, Minou was agile and crafty, slinking unseen around the fortress and bringing him back
useful trinkets, like screws or little bits of metal for his gauntlets, forgotten tickets, and one memorable time, candies still in their wrappers.
Working in the fortress can be lonely and exhausting, having to watch your back against traitors or thieves. Wriothesley's lucky that he had a clever cat watching his and keeping him company, one that also pressed as gently as possible against his injuries and purred to try to make him better.
As they talk, the plates arrive full of food and leave empty without either of them paying much notice.
By the time they leave, it's dark and the streets are quiet, the last of the stragglers making their way home. Minou leaps onto Dibi's back and loafs in his fur, letting out a big yawn. Around now, he'd usually be asleep on Wriothesley's lap while he finishes up some paperwork for the day.
As he pays, Wriothesley debates trying to hold hands with Alhaitham on the way back. They've been holding hands a lot already. Would it be too clingy to try again?
A gentle touch to his bicep interrupts his musings. Alhaitham loops an arm through his. "Lead the way," Alhaitham sighs, briefly tilting his head into Wriothesley's shoulder.
Well that settles that. "Okay."
It feels like only minutes pass by in the time it takes to walk to the fortress. Wriothesley's attention remains fixed on the points of contact between them, hyper aware of the light pressure of Alhaitham bumping into him gently as they walk.
It's all a blur after that. At the fortress, the only spare rooms are for staff or prisoners, so Wriothesley sets aside a staff room for Alhaitham to use, and then has to dig around to find nicer bedding since the standard-issue linens are rougher, built for sturdiness rather than comfort. He hurries, since Alhaitham will be out of the shower in no time, and he'd rather have the bed made by then.
And then he gets called away for an emergency when an unruly inmate tries to break out of the prison late at night. Wriothesley has just enough time to smooth out the covers before he's taking off again to do some damage control.
An hour later, he returns to his room and washes up. When he exits the bathroom, there's a knock on his door.
Again? He only just got back.
Wriothesley opens it, and swallows at the sight of Alhaitham waiting on the other side, dressed in loose sleeping clothes, a pillow in his hands and a furry shadow at his heels. The last hour of work evaporates from his mind.
"Yes?" He manages, relieved that his voice comes out normally instead of how nervous he suddenly feels.
"Can I sleep here?" Alhaitham asks.
Wriothesley gulps. Against his better(?) judgment, he says, "Of course." It's probably too early for sleeping in the same bed, and it would be just sleeping, no shenanigans at all, no sir. He's not even going to think about it. That way lies madness, and likely a ridiculous amount of horniness, and there's no way he will be able to sleep tonight, let alone if he starts thinking about that.
He'll struggle tomorrow, but right now there's nothing that could make him turn his soulmate down; being closer to his soulmate sounds fantastic.
Alhaitham climbs into his bed, Wriothesley following slowly, still trying to get his head around the fact that they will be sleeping together (but not sleeping together, nope, still not thinking about it).
Minou takes the hint and leaps off the bed, curling up on top of Dibi.
When Wriothesley inches under the covers and gingerly lies down, Alhaitham shifts closer and settles flush against him, throwing an arm across his chest.
Woahhhh?
"Just like Minou," Wriothesley jokes, trying to distract himself from the warm body next to him. "He always favours my left side for some reason."
Alhaitham rests his head on Wriothesley's shoulder. He smells really good. "Your heart is on this side."
Wriothesley blinks. That's... So cute. His soulmate is too cute. While he's trying not to die from this knowledge, Alhaitham pulls the covers up over them both.
Wanting to initiate something, anything, Wriothesley reaches up to squeeze Alhaitham's hand where it's laying on his chest and is surprised to feel Alhaitham's pulse rabbiting under his touch.
It seems his soulmate wasn't as unaffected by all of this as he's been acting. Is he bluffing or just brave? Or maybe he's feeling as drawn to Wriothesley as he is to him, which is a heady thought.
"Good night," he murmurs.
"Good night," Alhaitham replies, nestling into him further. He flicks a chisel light mirror at the lamp switch, plunging them into darkness.
As expected, Wriothesley doesn't sleep a wink that night, his senses dialled up to 9 by the proximity to his soulmate.
But by the speed at which Alhaitham's heart gallops along where his chest is pressed against Wriothesley's side, neither does he.
It's just as fantastic as he imagined.