Work Text:
It was a cloudy evening out as the TV in Apollo's apartment quietly aired an episode of a cooking show, with the only soul being a petite, teal haired cat boy rested comfortably on the bed watching the screen.
It had been 3 months since Apollo, a regular-schmegular 24 year old Game Store employee, found Matty alone, starved and hurt in a crumbling cardboard box in the middle of the night on his way back to the apartment. Initially, Apollo wanted to contact the authorities about Matty. But after the cat-boy begged to not have the police involved (for whatever reason..), Apollo offered to take him into his care after a bit of consolidation.
It took a while for Matty to open up about his earlier situation to Apollo. Matty had been a victim of human trafficking, and his previous owner was highly abusive and neglectful towards him. Eventually his owner dumped him out by Apollo's apartment complex after he found Matty to be "too useless" for him.
It was upsetting to hear about. Apollo had heard similar cases of this happening in the past. Cat and dog demi humans were very rare to come across, and they were typically very mistreated. And despite the fact Apollo never would've anticipated this in his life, adopting a very fucked up cat human, it was still nice that he could lend a hand to somebody in need. And thankfully for him, his apartment allowed pets, so long as they were trained.
Though.. calling Matty a "pet" felt wrong and dehumanizing to Apollo. He preferred to treat Matty more as a roommate than an animal, even if Matty had trouble grasping that for a while.
The lock to the apartment door shifted, causing Matty's ears to perk up. Seems like he was back!
The door opened, and indeed, there came in Apollo, sporting his usually work attire of a collared black, red and blue shirt, and grey pants. Matty smiled, leaping up from his resting position and scurrying over to Apollo gleefully.
"Apollo! Good evening!" He greeted, smiling up at him as he hugged his leg, nearly making the man stumble backwards. Apollo let out a strained chuckled as he shut the door and knelt down to Matty's height.
"Hey, bud, how are ya?" He said, ruffling Matty's hair. His voice was warm, and sweet; a polar opposite to his considerably athletic and tall figure.
"I'm good! I'm glad you're back, Apollo! How are you? Are you-"
Matty paused, noticing that something was.. off about Apollo. His eyes looked dreary and had bags under them. And his expression, while carrying a heartwarming smile, seemed uneasy.
"Something wrong?" Apollo asked, noticing the change in Matty's upbeat mood.
"Are you okay..?" Matty asked. His face full of concern.
Apollo was quite taken aback by this question. He held a stifled gasp, before letting out a confused chuckle as he processed Matty's sudden question. "What do ya mean?"
Matty pouted, still clinging onto Apollo's leg. "You look sad.. did something happen?" Matty asked as he hugged his leg tighter.
Apollo stammered, trying to think of a response to his worries. He gave another chuckle, this time weaker but still well meaning, and patted his head. "I just had a rough day at work today, that's all."
He stood up, but Matty wasn't exactly convinced with that explanation. He kept hugging Apollo's leg, and was about to open his mouth before Apollo began speaking again.
"Nothing a good dinner of fish n' chips could help fix up!" Apollo said in a triumphant and playful tone as he stepped forward, with Matty gasping in excitement as he lost his grip on his leg. "How's Halibut for tonight?"
Matty's tail shot up at the mention of fish n' chips. His prior concerns for Apollo were forgotten about. Matty loved when the two had fish n' chips (although, it was really the fish he was looking forward to, not particularly the fries).
"Really?! Yes!" Matty exclaimed as he jumped up in joy. "Thank you, Apollo!"
Apollo turned back to face Matty, a smile still on his face. "No problem, buddy."
The rest of the night went well, the two happily munched down on their food, sitting comfortably on the bed as they watched more cooking shows (Something that Apollo himself introduced Matty to to keep him entertained while he was at work).
A few hours later, the two were getting ready to go to bed. Apollo rested against the bedframe as he played on phone. Matty was curled up in a ball in his miniature blanket and pillow fort that, despite Apollo's repeated insistence that he could sleep on the bed with him, he made as he enjoyed snoozing in more confined cozier spaces.
And without realizing it, Matty fell sound asleep for the night....
.......
It was late into midnight, where almost everybody in the complex was sound asleep, except say for a handful of staff and residents pulling all nighters for whatever purposes. Matty was sound asleep as well, snoring quietly into the blankets.
That was until he was suddenly woken up by odd sounds.
Matty groaned, rubbing his eyes as he slowly raised his tired body up. The heck? What was that?
It took him a moment or two, but as he slowly left a state of drowsiness, the sounds Matty was hearing became clearer and clearer. And they sounded like...
Crying?
Crying...and it sounded like it was coming from the bathroom..
As Matty put the pieces together, a wave of dread washed over him.
"… A-Apollo..?" Matty whispered out, worried as he slowly got out from his fabric fort, and onto the carpet floor. He tip-toed his way to the bathroom door through the darkness, the sounds of crying becoming clearer as he approached.
Once at the door, he leaned his ear up against the wood. It sure sounded like Apollo.. crying... a lot. His sobs were mixed with sniffles and choked coughs.
Matty was panicking. He scrambled for the doorknob, lightly hitting his knuckles against it with a light wince. He turned it, and slowly opened the door.
Despite the darkness, Matty could still see pretty well; being a cat-boy allowed for his eyes to see better in the dark. And once he opened the door half way, he could see Apollo, slouched on the floor against the wall, phone in hand. His head was raised up as tears streamed down his face.
Matty held his hands together. Looking at Apollo, somebody who was his protector, his savior, the man who saved him from starving out in the cold, in such a miserable state was gut wrenching and almost painful to watch.
"A-Apollo?!"
Matty speaking quickly caught the attention of the weeping Apollo, who turned his head back down to face Matty. His eyes widened in horror as he sharply inhaled.
"Wh... no... Matty please... I..." Apollo stammered as he tried to speak, bringing his legs up closer to his chest.
Matty took a step forward. "Apollo what happened to you?! Are you ok?!" He asked worriedly, reaching a hand out. Apollo only attempted to back up as far as he could from him.
"No! No no no please.. Matty I'm… I'm sorry. Y-You don't need to be here- please just-"
Matty refuted "But you're crying! I can't just... leave you like this!"
"S-Seriously. Sniffle. You don't need to worry a-about me I'm fine I just.. had a nightmare. Just let me-"
"No, Apollo! Please! You're hurt and I want to help!"
Apollo winced. Trying to rebuttal against him was adding onto his stress. "Matty… p-please... please you don't need t-to worry about me, I don't wanna bother you with my crap… you-"
Apollo was cut off as Matty, who was growing annoyed, ran at him, wrapping his arms around his neck tightly, causing Apollo's tears to hold as he sucked in a choked breath. "Stop it! Just stop!" He whisper yelled, his voice tense. "Stop saying that! I want to worry about you, you dummy! You're not ok!"
Apollo said nothing, his breath trembling, and his entire body shaky. A grumble escaped from Matty, who sounded like he was about to tear up himself. He turned his head to face Apollo. "I'm not stupid, y'know! Why are you lying to me?!” Matty scolded. “Just let me help! You helped me, so why can’t I help you, huh?!”
Matty planted his face Apollo’s shoulder, and hugged him even tighter, letting out a sniffle. His caregiver’s insistence on pushing him away was hurting him just as much as it was hurting Apollo.
“M-Matty...”
”Please Apollo, pretty please you’ll let me help you? I won’t stop until you say yes.”
Following that, Apollo’s sobs resumed, the flow of whatever pain he felt in that moment started pouring from his eyes once more. He gently hugged Matty, making sure he didn’t crush him.
”I’m sorry... I’m so so so so SO sorry…” He pleaded. Matty said nothing, finding it better to just allow him to let it all out in silence.
After what felt like forever, Apollo’s tears slowed down, and he came closer to returning to his senses. Matty loosened his grip on Apollo, stepping back a little to give him space.
”U-Um… do you feel… better, Apollo?”
Apollo looked at Matty, his eyes exhausted and red from crying, and his cheeks wet with streaks of tears. “…Yea I’m… better… t-thank you…”
Matty gave him a gentle smile, before leaning in to wipe a tear from his eye.
“Do… do you want me to get you anything? Do you need water?”
”No… no thank you. Just...” Apollo trailed off, bringing his knees up to his chin as he hugged them.
“Can you just stay here with me.. please..”
Matty blinked. Before walking back over to Apollo, and sitting right beside him against the wall in the darkness of the apartment room’s bathroom.
”… Why were you crying? And please don’t lie to me anymore!-“
Apollo sighed, before inhaling.. then exhaling.. then going quiet again. ”… I just… I cracked, I guess?”
Matty stared at him, confused. “Cracked? What’s that supposed to mean? Like..an egg?”
Apollo chuckled “No.. no not like that. I.. how do I word this..” He stopped for a moment.
“By ‘cracking’, I mean I cracked under pressure. I wasn’t feeling good this week, and today seemed to be the last uh straw for me. So I just… lost it.”
Matty gave him an empathic look, but remained silent to let him keep talking.
”… Matty, if I’m going to be real with ya? I’m not a great person. I’m a disaster.” Apollo continued. “I’ve messed up and wasted a lot of my life doing stupid things. I don’t like myself, bud. I… really don’t.”
The cat-boy’s ears fell down more as he heard his caregiver’s words. Hearing that the man he loved dearly didn’t even love himself was heart-wrenching.
“I never wanted to make you worry about my problems, Matty. I felt like you’ve been through enough and… I didn’t want to make you feel like you were at fault for me trashy n all..”
Matty turned away for a moment, facing the wall in-front of them, before looking back up at Apollo. “But… you let me tell you my problems when we first met.”
Apollo chuckled. “Heh… well… I guess the only difference between you and me is that my problems are more… petty…”
Matty grunted at that. “So? Why does that matter? We’re both sad and hurt, right? Everybody should be helped, no matter what.”
Apollo looked down at the floor, looking lost in thought. “I guess you’re right…”
Matty smiled, before going back in for another hug against Apollo’s leg, his cheek nuzzling against the sparse hairs. “Apollo, I wanna tell you that even if you think you’re mean, ugly, stinky, or… whatever! I love you, and nothing can make hate you, ever.” He said as his ears perked back up. He looked up to face Apollo.
”You got that, silly?”
Apollo stared at him back, confused but appreciative. He grinned. “Yea… got that. Thanks, buddy.”
Matty chuckled. “Great! Are you ok to go back to bed now? I don’t really think the bathroom is a good place to sleep…”
“Ah, yea… let’s head to bed. Kinda tired after that…”
Matty nodded, before scurrying out of the bathroom. Apollo stood up and walked to the mirror above the sink. He stared at himself for a moment, before grinning.
After washing his face up a little, he exited the bathroom, and saw the figure of Matty curled up on his bed. Apollo sighed, maybe he could use this extra comfort to soothe him.
He climbed back into bed, being careful to not rustle Matty too much.
“Night night, Apollo…”
”… Good night, Matty.”