Work Text:
After an excruciatingly long day spent finalizing the mapping of the astronauts’ brains, I collapsed onto the plush, inviting couch in Levi’s house. Schrödinger, my mischievous little companion, dove into my backpack again , his playful meows echoing like a kitten's not like a seventeen year old cat that needs regular manual expression of his annal glands. I glanced over just in time to see him tearing open a bag of cat treats I had brought for Felicet, tiny ball of adorableness. The sheer cuteness of the moment ignited a long-dormant spark in my brain, prompting me to giggle like a weirdo. "Awww, Schrödinger, you old softy!" Suddenly, a idea surged through my mind, feeling almost tangible as if old wires were reconnecting and sparking to life.
It struck me as curious: why would Levi name a pet after Schrödinger’s cat? It wasn’t exactly a cheerful name for god's sake . Naming a pet Schrödinger felt a bit cursed—after all, when you don’t observe the cat, it exists in quantum superposition, alive and dead simultaneously. The very essence of a pet is to nurture it, which means getting close enough to observe it and reducing it to just one possibility—dead or alive. And that was a risk I wasn't sure I was ready to take.
I turned to find Levi standing like a stone mountain in the kitchen, tirelessly whipping up dinner. The mouthwatering aroma wafted through the air, intoxicating my senses. I inhaled deeply, letting the delicious scent envelop me like a warm embrace. “Levi, why did you name your cat Schrödinger?” I asked, my curiosity peeked.
He turned, a playful grin lighting up his face. “I thought that was quite obvious—Schrödinger's cat, the thought experiment!”
“I get the reference, but you’re not answering my question. Why Schrödinger?” I replied, a flicker of annoyance creeping in as his smile seemed to suggest I was missing something. Damn him, he was both annoying and incredibly handsome.
“Excuse me?” Levi raised an eyebrow, bemused.
“Don’t you think it’s essentially bad luck to name your cat after Schrödinger's cat?” I pressed, a scowl forming on my lips.
“No? Why would I think that?” He asked, still perplexed, and I could almost hear the neurons and gluons firing in his brain then I remembered he's an engineer cogs and wires than I guess whirring in his brain.
“Schrödinger's cat, the thought experiment!” I exclaimed, my excitement bubbling over. “When you don’t observe the cat, it’s both alive and dead. But once you do, it has a fifty percent chance of dying!” I gestured dramatically as I spoke.
“I still don’t get your point,” he said, smiling at me with those Levi green eyes, I melt a little.
I sighed, leaning closer. “If you find a random cat dead in your garden, sure, you’d feel a moment of sadness. But if it’s your cat, that grief is a weight you’d carry for life.” I locked eyes with him, electricity crackling between us.
“That's a fair point, but you’d probably carry that sadness even if it were just roadkill,” Levi quipped, trying to lighten the mood with an attempt at humour.
“Nice loophole,” I retorted, a smirk playing on my lips.
In a swift motion, Levi crossed the room and enveloped me in an oxygen-stealing embrace, kissing my forehead tenderly. An electric shot through me, and I grinned, burying my face into his sturdy chest while my mind raced. Were a few brief moments of connection worth the risk of heartbreak? I couldn’t shake the thought out of my head, this could be applied on everything . Was knowing him, befriending him like him caring too much? What would happen when Levi left me too? I couldn’t bear the thought of a second heartbreak if anything was to ever break my heart again it would be neuroscience it would do a cleaner job than stupid Tim any day. I had allowed myself to care once, and it nearly shattered me. Maybe Levi was strong enough to handle it but I am not.