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Gyurei sat in the opposite corner of the cafe. He held his...scratch that, Kimito’s, heavy as fuck camera in his hands, tossing it back and forth. What did he care if it broke, anyways.
In the middle of the bright pink room sat his twin brother, Shiren, and Kimito, both crossed legged on the floor like a couple of kids.
And presently, the two people he believed he might hate the most in the world were surrounded by adorable cats.
It had been Kimito’s idea, of course, to go to the cat cafe that had just opened up ten minutes from his place. Shiren was an idiot and would agree to anything the guy said, because most likely he would get laid for complying later. For some reason it was decided Gyurei was the unlucky person to go along with them for this venture.
“Who else will take the pictures of us, Gyu-niiii,” Shiren had cooed, but he knew better than to get tricked by that voice even for a second.
Gyu had slapped Shiren’s hand away from his shoulder as he spoke, sighing and waving the two idiots off before agreeing to go, just to get them to shut up. They really were were meant for each other, despite their persistent fighting.
This had all ended up with Gyu as the awkward third wheel in a cat cafe with these two idiots.
He lifted the camera and began to snap pictures as the cats became more comfortable with the two guys, with the added help of toys and treats in their hands.
He wouldn’t have minded just getting to take pictures of cats.
He felt the pressure of a soft, tiny paw on his knee, where skin poked through thanks to a hole in the fabric.
Looking down he faced an extremely tiny kitten, barely able to hold its own, big blue eyes popping out of jet black fur and staring up at him.
It meowed.
“Oh, that one is Michi,” the worker spoke. Gyu looked up at her. “It’s his first day being allowed out here, I’m surprised he just walked up to you! We were worried, he seemed so shy.”
The others were too engrossed in the growing pile of cats on their laps to pay attention to the conversation. Gyurei offered a fake smile to the lady so she would leave him alone. He aimed his camera at the kitten, snapping a few pics.
Michi responded with a squeaky meow.
“Yes, you’re cute. What about it.”
Clumsily, it climbed into his lap, faceplanting a few times into Gyu’s leg, but he offered no help, watching as the creature crawled over him in its determination for affection. Gyu sighed and snapped a few more pics of the other cats, then set the camera down. He scratched his fingers behind fluffy ears, and he felt Michi’s purring vibrate against his thigh.
“Oy I’m trying to take pictures here, you know.”
The cat of course couldn’t understand, and if he did he didn’t care. He stumbled up, craning for the scratches, until his front paws were climbing up Gyu’s stomach.
“Hey! You’ll ruin my shirt!” He grabbed the cat and set it down on the ground, before smoothing out the shirt, inspecting it for any claw marks.
He liked cats, but it didn’t mean they were free from being able to annoy him.
He resumed taking pictures of the dumb couple, making sure to catch moments when they were making stupid faces more than anything else. Maybe that would discourage them from inviting him out to things like this in the future. He could only hope.
The kitten, Michi, seemed to have thought better of his first venture out into the cafe and hadn’t tried to play after getting scolded.
After a mind-numbing hour, their time there ended. Gyu collected his bag and followed the two out, putting the lens back on the camera as they left the cafe. After struggling with the stupid lens, he opened the bag to place the camera in --
His fingers brushed something...soft.
He froze in his steps and looked into the bag.
Those blue eyes from earlirt stared up at him
Aw, fuck
“Gyu-nii?” Shiren with this stupid hearing turned and gave him a look as Gyu looked up quickly.
“It’s nothing. I just thought i left something there, but I have it.”
The two waved him off and resumed their conversation. They continued walking and Gyu looked back in the bag. The kitten had sat up, his paws reaching out for him.
He decided to wait until he got home, so he wouldn’t have to walk again back with the others.
Once home, he ran up to his bedroom, ignoring the strange looks from Shiren and Kimito as he passed them. He sat on the bed and opened his bag - dumping Michi out with a small yelp.
The kitten tumbled over itself a few times, then struggled a little before standing upright on the bed. It looked up at him and meowed loudly.
“What were you thinking? They are going to notice you are missing, you know!”
“Mew”
“Of course.” He fell backwards, arm slung over his eyes. He didn’t want to deal with this right now. He had to now walk the cat back over, get accused of stealing a cat, of all fucking things --
Small paws tapped over his thigh, his stomach, his chest, and poked at his chin. A tongue licked him.
He looked out from under his arm. The kitten curled up on his shoulder, nestled into his neck, and started purring.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake..”
He reached up and scratched behind Michi’s ears, and the purring increased tenfold.
“Fine, we can nap first.”
Gyu yawned as his eyes fluttered open. He noticed immediately he hadn’t been dreaming before - there was a tiny ball of fluff currently snoozing against his neck, cold nose pressed up against his skin.
He collected the kitten, who mewed reluctantly at being moved. He smirked and sat up, looking the creature in its blue eyes. It was so small, it fit his his hands easily.
“I have to take you home, you know.”
He knew the cat didn’t understand, but it plopped down stubbornly as if it did, tired of trying to stand in between palms. He squeaked again.
Gyu looked at the time - it had been several hours since the cat had eaten, and it was tiny….
He stepped to the door and listened for sounds of life downstairs, but heard nothing. He hoped Shiren and Kimito had retired to their bedroom ..
Never thought I would wish for that while I was actually home.
He hurried down stairs. Michi tucked away in the hoodie of his sweatshirt, every now and then tiny paws brushing against his neck.
Once in the kitchen he made quick work of browsing through cabinets, the fridge, drawers, everywhere, trying to see if there was anything for a kitten..what did kittens eat, anyways? Wasn’t it just cat food?
Shit.
The nearest pet store took a train ride over, at least as far as he knew. He sighed and reached back, scratching Michi’s fur, eliciting a purr.
With a resounded sigh he collected his bag and keys and ran out of the house, walking quickly to the train station. He got on the train just before it left, and kept near the door.
A meow and stares from a few people made him realize he maybe should have left the cat behind. Michi had climbed out of the hoodie and perched on his shoulder, staring out the window at the buildings as they moved by quickly. Gyu smirked and curled a finger under his chin, the cat purring, and he tried to focus on that instead of the glares. Eventually the stares softened as people smiled at the sight of the kitten. Gyu imagined how he looked, headphones on, beat up jeans and hoodie, and then a tiny black kitten perched on his shoulder.
He imagined what Shiren would say if he saw him, and snorted.
Once at the pet store, he stood in the aisle, pondering over all the kitten foods. He finally just filled the basket with several different cans, mumbling about which one the cat might like the most. Then he grabbed a few cat toys, maybe to take as compensation for the worry of the kitten to the cafe.
Back outside, it had started to rain. He pulled the hoodie up and tucked Michi into his front pockets as he moved quickly, without an umbrella to help protect him or his cargo.
After getting back home, he flopped Michi on the bed while he got dried off, then placed a can of food - tuna flavored, it was, in a bowl and set it on the ground with water beside it.
He sat on the bed, camera in hand again, as he watched the kitten devour the food.
“Heh, hungry, little guy?” He could hear the cat purring from where he sat. He snapped a few pictures as Michi ate. He had to admit the kitten was pretty cute, and not terrible company. Two things that definitely couldn’t be said about his brother.
He sighed and set the camera down on the nightstand, then stretched out on his belly on the soft mattress, staring at the cat.
Would it be so bad if he didn’t take it back? Maybe they wouldn't notice until the end of the day. How would they know what happened to him, then?
The sound of the rain hitting his window and the cat purring lulled him back to sleep.
When he awoke, it was dark outside and he could smell dinner downstairs. He scanned the ground - Michi wasn’t there.
He was about to sit up when he felt the pressure in the middle of this back. He looked back as well as he could to see Michi curled up at the dip in the small of his back, sleeping soundly
Gyu cursed under his breath and carefully rolled over, moving the cat barely so it was sleeping on his tummy.
“Gyu-niiiii”
He quickly threw the blanket over him and Michi as Shiren waltzed into the room, phone in hand.
“Hey, the cafe called, they said one of their kittens is missing. Apparently the one that paid attention to you?”
“That scrawny thing? He ruined my shirt so I shooed him away. Didn't see him after that.”
“Tch, so mean, Gyu-nii. But what else would I expect from...you.” He offered a smile, as he laughed and walked away, talking on the phone then to no doubt someone from the cafe.
Gyu wondered at his laugh. Then looked down at the floor - strewn about were the cat toys, the food…
He looked back up but Shiren hadn’t come back, hadn’t shouted that the cat needed to be returned.
He moved the covers off him and ran his palm over Michi’s fur, stroking slowly. The kitten stretched and yawned, making some sort of adorable sound as it did so.
“What do you say, Michi?” The cat opened its eyes blearily. “Wanna stay here with me?”
Even though of course the kitten couldn’t understand, let alone respond, it still stood and bounced its way up Gyu’s chest and began licking his chin, his cheeks, his nose. Gyu couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
Michi curled on the pillow next to Gyu’s head, paws in his hair, purring loudly. Gyu lifted a hand to rest on the kitten’s back, slowly scratching and petting, until he fell asleep again.