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it's late in the evening when he finally reaches the door to his apartment, the air is chilled with the late hour, and the sun is starting to disaappear behind the buildings, the vast blue above getting darker as it does. he fumbles for his keys, exhaustion settling in his bones after the hell of a week-long trip he just took for his latest set of missions, not helped by the rain pelting down on him. he's excited to get home and rest in his own bed, with his own blankets, and his own adorably clingy boyfriend. and to hopefully get out of his drenched clothes. and take a warm shower.
he fishes his keys out, careful not to drop any of his carmel candies or wrappers, and goes to open the door. his gaze pauses on the small white thing pressed against the door. a shivering wet bundle of fur, he pauses, looking down at it for a long moment. 'no collar… is it a stray?' he chews the inside of his lip for a moment, considering his options. he feels bad for the poor thing, and his apartment doesnt have a rule against pets… and he knows satoru wouldn't mind..
he crouches, holding his hand out to the poor thing. "hey little guy" he murmured, clicking his tongue gently. "you look cold-"
the shivering bundle lets out a meow immediately, uncurling and stumbling over it's paws to reach him. it stares up at him with bottomless blue eyes, causing him to freeze. it looks like satoru.
he smiles softly when the little thing nuzzles his hand, looking up at him again, still shivering. as gently as he can, he picks it up, opening his jacket and letting it curl up against him, shivering himself as the cold creature settles against his shirt, water seeping through the fabric. 'poor thing…' he unlocks the door to his apartment building and makes his way up the stairs, making his way down the fish-carpeted hallway to his apartment. the door clicks shut behind him and he doesnt bother with his shoes, breezing past the kitchen to the adjacent bathroom to grab a towel.
he opens his jacket again, coaxing the cat out and onto the towel, gently drying it off. it doesnt seem to mind in the slightest, rumbling faintly the whole time.
"satoru?" he calls out behind him, the cats ears flick as he wraps it into a delicate purrito before picking it back up, letting it melt in his arms again. "satoru, you home?"
he waits a moment for a response, earning nothing but the thrum of the heater kicking in. must be at the store or something. the hardwood floor creaks as he carries the cat over to the window, right by the heat register, letting the small thing out of the towel bundle and grabbing his phone to shoot off a text so his boyfriend wont be alarmed by the fact they have a cat in their house, suddenly.
said cat is refusing to leave his arms, and after a moment, he sighs, giving up and accepting his fate. it purrs and kneads at his chest, looking up at him with those big blue peepers. he really looks like satoru.. he pets catoru, brushing his thumb between it's eyes a few times, earning more biscuits and louder purring.
upon further inspection, the house is almost eerily empty. now that he isn't focused on getting a small creature dry, his attention is drawn to the laundry piled on the floor, in the same spot as when he left. 'did he not do his laundry while i was gone?'. nothing else seems to be moved much, if at all, actually. the book satoru had been reading before they left to their seperate missions hasn't been moved. neither has his laptop, or the pillow suguru likes to lay on but satoru hates the texture of.
and now that he's paying attention, there's a faint odor in the air. trash and dishes that haven't been taken care of in a timely manner. it's all making his stomach churn nervously. he checks his phone again, frowning at the voicemails from yaga, and a few texts from shoko. he had been too busy with his missions to check his phone much the past week..
he checks shokos messages first, staring with the groupchat..
Dr.Eyebags, Bugeyes, Weird Bangs:
(october 5th)
Dr.Eyebags: message me when you both get back, we should plan a movie night.
Bugeyes: with utahime?
Dr.Eyebags: of course.
Bugeyes: awesome, let me know what movies she picks ;)
Dr.Eyebags: nuh-uh. you spoiled All of them last time. im not telling you anything, jackass.
(october 7th)
Dr.Eyebags: satoru respond to my messages
Dr.Eyebags: your mission shouldve been over yesterday, come report.
(october 8th)
Dr.Eyebags: suguru your boyfriend is ignoring us, go yell at him.
the groupchat is silent after that. they left on the 5th, meaning satoru hasn't responded since he left, which does nothing to settle his nerves. catoru nuzzles his phone gently, and he pets its head as he taps into shokos messages.
(october 7th)
shoko: tell satoru to get his ass over here when you get the chance, he's ignoring me.
(october 8th)
shoko: i really can't get ahold of him. please message me if he contacts you.
shoko: he's not at your apartment and he hasnt reported in after his mission. windows confirmed the curse was exorcized, but theres been no sign of satoru.
shoko: i'm worried about him.
(october 11th)
shoko: still no responses from him. i hope you're both okay.
shoko: let me know when you get home tomorrow.
(october 12th)
me: i'm home. no sign of satoru and he hasn't messaged me at all either.
me: he doesn't usually just disappear like this. any news from yaga?
shoko: oh thank fuck.
shoko: still no sign of him around here, and no news from yaga.
shoko: he's going to give himself an anuerism or a heart attack from stress at this point.
me: good thing he has you there.
shoko: yeah yeah.
shoko: omw btw.
me: house reeks, fair warning.
me: and there's a cat now.
two blue eyes block his screen, staring up at him. catoru is still purring, making biscuits, but it's also gazing into his eyes so intensely it's almost uncomfortable.
"do you need something, catoru?"
it blinks and nuzzles his cheek, then nuzzles his phone, then stares at him again.
"……you are a weird cat" he pets it again, sighing. 'satoru where are you.' he chews the inside of his cheek, only to be stopped by a little paw bapping at him. "hey- what was that for-"
it meows, and if he didnt know better he'd think it was glaring at him. after an uncomfortable moment of prolonged eye contact it blinks sharply before just trotting away. he blinks in confusion before getting up to follow it where it heads straight into the kitchen, hopping onto the counter and pawing at one of the cupboards until it opens, stretching up to the top shelf and batting at the box of satorus favorite candy.
"hey what the fuck catoru-"
before he can stop it, the cat bats at the box a few more times, hooking it with one of its claws and causing it to spill across the counter and ground. it sits and curls its tail around itself, sneezing and pawing at its nose.
"…bless you? why did you do that." he grumbles as he starts to pick up all the individually wrapped sweets that have spilled across the ground.
he could almost swear the cat sighs at his question, hopping down from the counter and scurrying off toward the study, leaving him no choice but to follow after quickly setting the snacks on the counter. 'damnit, what now.'
the study door is only open a crack, and the cat nudges it enough to slip in, he follows after it, watching as it hops onto satorus desk and starts nudging his favorite fidget cube off the edge of it. "hey hey hey- no-" he catches it before it hits the floor, setting the little trinket back on the desk and picking catoru up by the armpits, getting meows of protest in response.
"you can't just toss satoru's stuff on the floor, you might break something." he sets it down and closes the door all the way, barring the fluffy white criminal from entering.
he swears it rolls its eyes at him, trotting toward the bedroom instead. 'do cats usually walk around like they already know the place? it walks with such purpose. cute...'
he follows it along again, watching it push the door with it's head again and make a beeline toward satorus side of the bed, furthest from the door. it picks one of his blindfolds up from the floor, dragging it over, nearly tripping over the silky fabric as it does, and sets it down at sugurus feet, meowing loudly at him.
"thanks..?" he mumbles as catoru, who suguru is starting to suspect is some semblence of sentient beyond what a cat should be, hops onto satoru's night table next, paws his spare sunglasses case off said table, and then starts biting and pawing at it with a concerning amount of purpose.
"hey dont mess with-" he pauses, frowning at catoru. 'it shouldn't know where these things are. it knew where satorus glasses were. it knew where his blindfold was. it knew where his favorite fidget toy was. it knew where his favorite sweets were. it was comfortable with me the second it saw me..' "satoru?"
meow!
"satoru is- are you a cat-"
catoru(?) stares at him and nods.
"you've got to be kidding me." he pinches the bridge of his nose, pulling his phone out of his pocket again. "god, okay. hold on."
me: shoko get here faster, the cat is satoru.
shoko: what cat?
me: there was a cat next to my apartment in the rain. its satoru.
shoko: you two can never have a normal problem can you.
shoko: im on my way up, ill tell yaga we found him so he doesn't keel over.
a small sneeze interrupts him, and he looks up to find satoru pawing at his own face again. his brows furrow a bit "you alright, cato-.. satoru?"
satoru just sticks his tongue out, ears flicked back and tail ruffled, visibly displeased.
"mm. sorry. shoko will be here in a bit, we'll get you back to normal soon." 'hopefully.' he picks satoru up again, just because he can, and cradles him like a baby. "you're kind of cute like this though."
satoru lets out the loudest huff imagineable, curling up and hiding his face against suguru's jacket.
shoko storms into the apartment a few minutes later, where suguru is holding satoru with one hand and taking the trashbag out of the can with his other, the kettle is on off to the side, with shoko's favorite tea set out beside it.
"alright, where's the cat."
when he looks over at her, trash bag set onto the floor to be taken care of later, she raises an eyebrow, staring at the furball in his arms.
"i think you found him" he joked, glancing down at satoru where he meows an affirmation.
the sigh she lets out is something he could only decribe as long-suffering. whether its week-long or several-years-long is anybody's guess at this point. the kitchen tiles are silent under her socked feet, walking closer to plant her hand on satoru's head.
"yeah, thats him alright." she drawls, raising her eyebrows in mild amusement, her shoulders relax slightly with something like relief. not that either of them would mention it. "mission went well, then?"
satoru hisses at her, scrunching his little face up in annoyance.
"are you able to fix him or-"
"i can fix him" she shrugged "for a price."
"shoko."
"he's buying drinks for movie night" satoru wriggles in his arms, meowing at her. she snorts softly "alright alright, relax." she places her hand on his head again, closing her eyes as she focuses her technique.
watching satorus body expand and contort as it tries to return to its original shape is as interesting as it is horrific. it feels like this is something he shouldn't be watching, fur making way for flesh that ripples as if it's something fluid, bubbling into shape. he didn't expect to know what bones being forcibly stretched into shape sounded like. he thinks he probably could've lived without that knowledge.
it takes longer then he expected, shoko keeping contact with satorus shifting form, suguru struggling to hold satoru up, and satorus form morphing and warping and twisting as it tries to find itself. eventually, after what felt like forever but he knows was only a few minutes, it settles, and satoru slumps against him, paler then he should be and breathing hard.
he barely has time to grab the trash can before satoru is spilling his guts into it, shaking and heaving. he gently runs his hand through satorus hair, murmuring reassurances as he moves to rub his back.
"he's fine" shoko hums, pouring the hot water from the kettle into one of their mugs. "probably nauseous from how that felt." he glances down to catch satorus slight nod. "and he might get a cold. you said you found him outside? it's been raining most of the day. if he was dumb enough to stay beside the door, he's probably going to get sick"
"rude." satoru rasps.
"you disappeared for a week, consider a little cold repayment for the stress." she shrugged.
it might be a bit callous of her, but they both know she'll cave in less then 3 days anyways. she's not cruel, and she knows satoru will be taken care of until she fixes him.
he just keeps rubbing satorus back gently until he sits back on his heels, shivering slightly. he grabs a cup, grabbing some tap water before handing it to satoru. "lets get you some clothes." he hums once satoru has drank a decent amount, setting the cup aside.
"kay.." satoru lets him take most of his weight, shaky on his feet. "god.. this is weird.."
"and being a cat wasnt?"
shoko snorts at that, and satoru just shrugs. "i got used to it." his voice sounds a little hoarse, like he's been asleep for a while.
he leads satoru off to the bedroom, helping him sit down at the edge of the bed before he turns to find some clothes for him. "do i want to ask what happened to your uniform..?"
he glanced over his shoulder to catch satorus shrug. "dunno. think i lost my phone though." he sighed, frowning. "maybe one of the windows found it."
"we can ask later." he doubts they had, otherwise shoko would've mentioned it, and satoru would've been presumed dead instead of missing. he doesn't say that, though, instead he hands satoru a pair of briefs and some of suguru's looser clothes, since most of satorus laundry is strewn across the floor in various states of unclean, and he knows his boyfriend prefers loose clothes for lounging.
once he's dressed, he leads satoru out to the livingroom where shoko is already sat on one end, tea in one hand, phone in the other.
suguru sits down and barely has a moment to sink into the cusions before satoru is on him, curling up against him as best he can, nuzzling his face into sugurus neck and shoulder. he's pretty sure satoru would be purring if he could.
shoko confinscates their tv remote to put on some random netflix documentary, glancing at the two of them with a raised brow. "are we sure he's not still a cat." she looks amused, at least.
"shuddup. m'always like this."
suguru chuckles, considering it's not even rhat far off.
they sit for a while, satoru tucked against suguru while shoko tries to keep as much distance between their 'boy germs' and herself as possible.
eventually, once the documentary wraps up and he cant hold his curiosity anymore, he speaks up "so what.. what even happened. you don't usually get hit, 'toru." he kissed satorus temple gently, pulling a blanket further up onto them.
"mm. had some sort of vengence attack, i guess.." satoru kisses his neck gently. "i got rid of it and poof, cat."
"why didn't you head over to shokos?"
"do you know hard it is to navigate when you're 3 apples tall and everyone wants to pick you up." he feels satorus huff of annoyance against his neck.
"most white cats with blue eyes are deaf." shoko drawls from the other end of the couch. "and they're not super common. people probably thought you'd make a good pet."
"oh. huh. interesting."
"s'cause the dominant gene that makes em white also effect their eye color.. and it's also the gene the effects deafness." satoru mumbles against his neck. "but it's not impossible for a blue eyed white cat to have normal hearing, its just more common for them to be deaf, and sometimes a white cat is actually not a white cat, but instead a spotted cat that ended up with a white spot that covers all of them, which means they probably won't be deaf and-"
shoko just snickers a bit, causing satoru to turn and glare at her.
"what? you brought it up!"
"and you started giving us a whole lecture, nerd." she sticks her tongue out at him.
"it's interesting!"
"it is interesting, and I'll listen to the full lecture later, if you lay down and get some rest, okay?" he hums softly, rubbing satorus back gently to soothe his annoyance.
satoru scrunches his nose up at him before sighing. "only if i still get cuddles."
"you still get cuddles." he confirmed, kissing the top of satorus head before brushing his hand through his hair. shoko picks out another documentary, seemingly content to stay on their couch with them for now. he glances over at her, taking note of the deeper bruises under her eyes. 'she probably hasn't been sleeping well, worrying about us.'
"do you want to spend the night, sho?" he asks softly, aware of the way satoru has melted against him, breathing even, asleep.
she blinks a bit and glances over, taking another sip of her tea before answering. "i don't want to intrude." she whispered, glancing at the white hair tucked under suguru's chin.
he just smiles softly. "nonsense. stay and get some rest, please."
she sighs before smiling slightly, just the smallest uptick of the corner of her mouth. "alright, if you insist" she rolls her eyes and sets her tea on the coffee table. "..im glad he's okay." she admits, quieter.
he rubs his hand along satorus back again. "..me too."