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"It's so cute. Are you sure?"
Lynx stopped silently, afraid to break the moment. It was early morning; the café wasn't open yet, but Tiger was already here. He leaned down on the counter, propping up his chin, his other hand was gently caressing behind the tiny fluffy ears of a kitten next to him. For a fleeting moment Lynx wanted to go scold him for letting her sit there, but they looked so sweet under the golden light of a rising sun, his sensitive heart just wouldn't allow him, so he paused for a second, taking in the view. Tiger was enthusiastically talking to the kitty, his whispers barely reaching Lynx's ears. Admittedly a bit pathetic but very touching nonetheless.
"I knew there was something going on, but I would have never imagined it was him. He's so adorable," he smiled at her, unaware he was being listened to.
Lynx frowned to himself. Who was he calling adorable all of a sudden?
"Did you see him draw it?" Kitty waved her tail with a tiny meow.
"Oh, that's a shame. I would've loved to see him sketch that cute little heart in the corner. And the kitten was so lovely, I think it was supposed to be you," Tiger basically meowed to her in response.
Lynx's heart sank in an instant and Tiger turned to him with a surprised expression behind his eyes because apparently he let out a scared gasp, hearing something he clearly shouldn't have — couldn't have, because it was obviously impossible.
"Please tell me you're not talking about what I'm thinking you are..."
Tiger scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "Which is?"
"Do you know who drew you that postcard?"
"Maybe..." He bit his lip to stop smiling.
"How?"
"Someone told me."
"Who?" Lynx crossed his arms. There was clearly a reasonable explanation for this.
"Someone... who saw you putting it in my bag?" Tiger looked at the ceiling, trying to come up with an answer.
"There was no one there at the moment, except the cats." Silence followed when Tiger shrugged his shoulders as if it explained something.
"Don't you dare say it."
"Look, I'm not saying anything, but, you know, if it's the only answer," he defensively raised his arms.
"Please, just tell me you have spy cameras installed or something. I'm not going to be mad."
"I don't. Can we talk about the drawing instead? Especially how you secretly gave it to me on Valentine's Day," teased him Tiger. Lynx could tell he was buzzing with excitement, practically jumping from joy like a kid.
"We can talk about it after you assure me we are not having a mutually induced psychosis about speaking cats."
He sighed and leaned against the counter, coming to terms with the fact that Lynx wasn't planning to let it go. "Well, I can't exactly do that... but trust me, I had the same reaction at first! It just kind of becomes trivial after a while?"
"I'm going to call the nuthouse right now so they can take both of us away..."
Kitty jumped down from the counter and sat in front of Lynx, meowing loudly.
"What is it now?" He was definitely going insane, talking to her like this.
"She's saying you should tell her something while I'm not listening so she can prove it," Tiger shrugged, clearly finding the situation amusing.
"I'm not going to condone your madness." Kitten's claws painfully dug into his foot. "Ouch!" Lynx picked her up, annoyed. "Fine! I'll prove you both wrong so we can stop this insanity," he stomped to the other room, holding her gently. Both? Maybe his case was worse than Tiger's.
When he came back, the kitten jumped from his arms and proudly strutted to Tiger. He leaned down and happily scratched her under the chin when she meowed to him.
"According to her, you said, and I quote — this is so fucking stupid, what am I doing with my life?"
"I need to sit down." Lynx walked to the couch because it felt like all of the blood in his body rushed to the brain, trying to make sense of the situation.
Tiger cautiously came over and sat down next to him. "You shouldn't swear next to her. She's only four months old," he said quietly, trying to comfort him.
"Tiger, I don't care! We are hallucinating talking cats; I don't give a fuck about swearing in front of them! Or maybe it's only me? Are you real?" He reached out to poke his cheek.
Tiger giggled and nudged his hand with his nose, like he himself was a kitten. "I am real. At least it feels like it."
"Okay, that means we're both crazy. How romantic! I must admit, when I thought about spending the rest of my life with you, I didn't imagine it being in a mental hospital, but I guess I can live with that."
"You thought about spending the rest of your life with me?" Tiger's cheeks were hurting from smiling so much.
"I'm going to kill myself," Lynx pulled up his legs to his chest.
"I would love to be crazy with you... together," he tucked his hair behind the ear.
"That's very sweet, Tiger. You always have the right words for everything," Lynx nodded sarcastically while hugging his knees tighter.
"Have you really never thought about it? Never questioned how I always know about everything going on here? I felt I was insane at first too, still feel like that sometimes... But maybe it's a magic spell or something."
Lynx snorted. The fact that Tiger basically found out he liked him and kind of reciprocated his feelings slowly started to replace the initial shock about the cats in his mind.
"What? I'm serious. Sometimes science can't explain everything, we just have to believe it. Or we can believe we are both mad. I don't mind," his arm rested on Lynx's shoulder, fingers softly playing with his hair.
They sat in silence for a few seconds, contemplating, before Lynx sighed and looked Tiger in the eyes. "I think I would love being crazy with you too."
Tiger smiled and turned to face him fully. "So what about the drawing?"
"It was a present for you," Lynx shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal. "Did you like it?"
"Mhm, I thought it might have been you. Made me think about things..."
"Like?" He leaned closer, breathing in Tiger's sweet smell of coffee and cinnamon, lips almost touching.
"Like kissing you?"
Lynx giggled and wrapped his arms around his neck, connecting their lips, and Tiger melted into the kiss, holding his waist like he was the most precious thing in his life. His touch was so fond and at the same time starved Lynx wondered why he had ever even worried about confessing to him. That was his Tiger, of course he liked him. They even shared hallucinations, there couldn't be a deeper connection than that.
"Wait," Tiger lightly pushed his shoulders away and Lynx practically groaned from disappointment. "Maybe we shouldn't... here," his eyes darted to the kitten who was watching them curiously.
"Oh, yeah you're right. We can't let our subconsciousness make fun of us through them later. How could I forget?" He stood up, taking his hand.
"You're such a stoic," giggled Tiger, following him to the bedroom.