Work Text:
Yuki began messaging amia at 6:31 PM.
Yuki: You're in VC
amia: on purpose
Yuki reacted: 👍
Mizuki twiddled her thumbs. As per usual, Mafuyu was not one to press. This was usually a trait she appreciated, but all she wanted right now was to be bothered. Hence why she was in the N25 voice chat. She was hoping that perhaps someone would spot her, and maybe, just maybe, decide they wanted to hang out with her. Her efforts had insofar been fruitless. She would probably need to bother someone if she wanted attention. She did not want to bother anyone.
She wasn't sure why this was, exactly. She was usually the patron saint of bothering. Today, though, she felt shy. Shy and not very good with words. Hence her extremely dry response to Mafuyu's message, which probably did not do her chances of being bothered any favors.
Ping!
Unless…?
Mizuki clicked the Nightcord icon on her taskbar. In the voice chat window, Yuki's icon sat next to hers. For a few seconds, a red microphone adorned its side, then disappeared.
“Hello, Mizuki.”
A normal response to a greeting is to offer one in kind. Examples include “hi”, “hello”, “hey there”, or “what's up?”. Mizuki went for none of these options. It was not of her own accord, but rather due to her tongue's sudden decision to become tied.
“Mm.”
She had such a way with words.
Mafuyu found her way with words to be concerning, it seemed. He waited, for a moment, for her to say more. When she didn't say anything, he sort of half-hummed, half-grumbled. This was his “worried about friends” noise. A needle of guilt stabbed through Mizuki's heart. Not a particularly crushing feeling, but still a little ouchy, enough to make her internally flinch. She didn't mean to make him worried! She just wanted to spend time with someone, and her stupid dumb mouth was messing things up.
“Are you feeling okay, Amia?”
That was tough to answer. She certainly wasn't feeling herself, but did she feel bad ? She didn't think so. Maybe a little lonely. Not bad enough to be “not okay”. Probably.
She communicated all of this in one word: “Mmgh”. This served to tell Mafuyu nothing, and heighten his concern further.
“Can you not talk right now?”
Now there was a question Mizuki could answer. Some of the tension released from her shoulders, relief washing over her as she realized she could finally offer a satisfying response. “Mhm.”
“Can I come into your room?”
“Mhm.”
Yuki's red microphone made its reappearance.
While Mizuki was unaware of the cause of her strange behavior, Mafuyu had the benefit of seeing her body, and all of the language it had to offer. As he padded into her room, she slowly turned in her chair to face him, propelled only by a halfhearted push of her hand against the desk. Her feet were not on the floor as they should have been, as her knees were tucked up against her chest. She removed her hand from her mouth to offer a slightly spit-shiny wave.
Mafuyu made for her bed, sitting down and patting his lap. Mizuki instantly perked up, nearly falling out of her chair as she scrambled to accept the silent offer. As she stood before Mafuyu, a flash of uncertainty crossed her expression, and she glanced down at his lap with a tilt of her head. Mafuyu opted to deliver the last mite of encouragement she needed by reaching out, taking her not-spit-covered hand in one of his and pulling her gently in. The other hand soon met the small of her back, and he noted the noise she made, a gasp of surprise that melted into a contented little hum.
As she settled down sideways on his lap, more sounds of contentment followed, little sigh-hums that would be inaudible, were she not right next to his ear. Though she could not purr in the traditional sense, being that she was not physically a cat, this certainly came close. Her acting like this when he wasn't even offering her a particularly large amount of affection confirmed this to him: she was touch-starved.
This wasn't surprising, now that Mafuyu thought about it. Lately, the N25 household had been about as lonely as a house of four very, very, very close friends could get. Their evasion of flu season had come to an end, so for the past couple of weeks, at least one member of the group had been sick. Work, personal projects, and exams, too, had lent fuel to the not-hanging-out fire. It dawned on Mafuyu that he couldn't even remember what films had been chosen for Niigo's last movie night.
“You've been lonely, haven't you?”
The words slipped almost unconsciously from Mafuyu's mouth, and they were more a musing than a genuine question. Mizuki's body replied before she could, tensing up. Mafuyu responded by smushing her into a tight hug, partially in the name of comfort, mostly so she wouldn't fall off of him.
The squeeze was all Mizuki needed for her emotions to bubble over. She hiccuped, her sleeve flying to cover her mouth just as the first sob came out. She looked anywhere but at Mafuyu, babbling frantic nonsense. Though her speech was far beyond any hope of comprehension, Mafuyu knew her well enough to know that this was her apologizing, for being needy, for being clingy, for wanting attention when the flu had only just left the house, for a thousand other perceived sins she was sure she had committed.
Mafuyu's reassurance did not take the form of words. Instead, he rubbed the nape of Mizuki's neck, a favorite spot of hers. It was working, albeit slowly; her volume was gradually decreasing, her strings of messy speech growing shorter. As the petting continued, Mafuyu scanned the surrounding area for a certain item that never failed to calm Mizuki down.
Though its pink fur served as effective camouflage against Mizuki's sheets, its bold, embroidered smile gave it away. Mafuyu grabbed the stuffed animal, a soft, well-loved kitty wearing a ribbon around its neck, slightly rumpled for reasons that its owner insisted did not include being chewed on.
“Mizuki.”
It had been long enough since Mafuyu had last spoken that Mizuki was startled into brief silence. She stared at Mafuyu, wide-eyed, as if she were the first person to ever catch him talking. He stared back, inching the plushie towards her. Its nose soon collided with her cheek.
“Boop.”
Weakly, Mizuki giggled, taking the kitty from Mafuyu and cradling it. She stroked its fur with her thumb, and her shaky breathing began to even out. With steadier hands, she brought the plushie to her face, rubbing it on her cheek. The tension visibly left her body a bit, and she subconsciously used the kitty to wipe her nose. Mafuyu winced, making a mental note to surface wash it as soon as it wasn't the object of Mizuki's affections.
Mizuki turned the cat around, mimicking the motion Mafuyu had made earlier. With a handful less grace than he had, she mashed the cat's face against the side of his, mumbling a “Boop!” of her own.
Immediately after delivering her own boop, Mizuki looked away, withdrawing her cat to her chest. She stared at her lap for a few moments before glancing up at Mafuyu.
“Mm… Yuki?”
Mafuyu hummed, stroking Mizuki's hair.
“Think I might be small…”
Mafuyu snorted, almost inaudible. “I'd never have guessed.”
Mizuki's face reddened, and she looked away rather bashfully. “W— Listen! Was inna bad mood, s'hard to realize ‘m little when I'm all yucky.”
“That's fair.” Mafuyu hummed, idly detangling his girl's hair. “Do you want me to stay here and look after you?”
Mizuki hesitated, nervously gripping her cat. “You don't have to…”
Mafuyu, ever the master of gentleness, stared firmly at her. “That is not what I asked.”
When Mizuki's eyes widened, Mafuyu registered that perhaps he had come on a little strong. Softer, he followed up with “I'm guessing you were waiting in VC for someone to play with you, right? Is there a game you'd like to play?”
Mizuki softened, looking contemplatively over at her PC. Then, her gaze returned to Mafuyu, and she shifted in his lap a bit.
“I did wanna play, but… Think I like Yuki's lap better? We cuddle?”
Mafuyu leaned in, pressing a kiss to her forehead that made her giggle. “Sure.”