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“This is stupid.”
In lieu of a response, all Seth gets is the tightening of yellow ribbon tied into a bow at his nape. The ends cascade in straight limp lines until a sharp blade of a pair of scissors runs through the polyester. The sound sends a cotton-stuffed feeling down his body and puffs out his tail.
This is all Jane's handiwork. All of it is - down to the idea.
(If asked, Jane would say she has had this idea stuck in her head forever - the juxtaposition of being clothed in more or less tight clothes, with cute kitty ears and a fluffy tail. In Seth's case, the giant yellow bow compliments the blue and its very size balances out Seth's figure nicely. As for why it's exactly yellow…)
“This is beauty, kitty. I haven't seen you this boy-ish since our first meeting.” She teases, laughing behind her hands when her coworker blushes furiously and stumbles over his words.
They're in her apartment, late evening. Streaming golden hour light outlines Seth's body, emitting a radiant glow. The absurdly giant bow on his neck is both comical and endearing - like a pair of big angel wings (on his neck, Jane cackles inwardly).
“Drop it, Jane.” The flush sits high on his cheeks, and when he tries to rub his neck in embarrassment, he huffs and puffs at the dandelion reminder.
“Alright, alright,” the teasing lilt never leaves her voice, but her face softens, smile less cunning and more genuine, “I still mean what I said, kitty, you look dashing.”
And before Seth can say anything else, ears flicking from the compliments, his senior quickly drawls, “Your boyfriend is going to love this.”
It takes everything in Jane's tail to keep him from jumping out of her window. And god, does Seth try.
They wrestle for control for so long that Jane just about decides to give up and let the man plummet to his death, when Seth suddenly goes limp and drops dead on her floor, just beneath the window he had been desperately trying to crawl out of. At first, Jane thinks she hurt him during their brawl, but when her fingers slip into the lynx's hair and lift up his head, a crimson face greets her with unshed tears as gifts.
It makes her sigh and slide down into a narrow squat, tail wrapped around one of her legs. She knows just how much Seth hates to be treated like a baby, but it is so hard not to when he looks like one. Still, she pities him in the most un-pitiful way, “What’s the matter?”
Slumped into himself, Seth wipes the first tear that falls and looks at Jane so earnestly it’s impossible not to coo, “This feels humiliating.”
A second negative sentence since she's dolled him up; Jane's mouth presses into a line. She may think that Seth looks beyond adorable, but if the man himself is shaking in his boots at the image of himself, she would rather knock herself out than continue to let her friend feel this way.
She reaches out a hand, toys with the end of the golden ribbon, “If you really hate this, you can take it off. You have free will, you know.”
She can tell Seth knows she's serious too, with the look on his face. Tears lay stagnant on his waterline, violet pupils shine with something Jane can't name. Flashes of gratitude, amazement, humility and guilt cross his eyes and the cat thiren gulps all of it down.
He closes himself off further, legs pressed tight to his chest. Jane tiptoes on the floor, eventually ending up right at his side, shoulder to shoulder. She waits, only because she knows he's thinking.
When Seth lifts his head back up from between his knees and gently knocks it back against her wall, that is when he speaks, “Okay, I don't-” only to immediately clam back up again.
Jane's apartment is high up, on the highest floor of the building. They can just barely hear the traffic below. Instead, the prolonged cooing sound of the pigeons fills the silence.
A deep breath in, a deep breath out.
Silence. Then, a long cooooo.
“I don't necessarily feel humiliated, I don't care if I look like this. It's more so how other people will react when they see me like this.”
“You may like it, Jane, and I'm glad you do, but what will other people think? What will Harum-” He can't finish his sentence, flush creeping up on his neck, heating the nylon.
Ah. So this is what it's about.
The rat thiren snorts out a scoff, “Seriously? You're worried about that?”
Angling his head to face her with a distorted shocked expression, Seth rebukes, “What is that supposed to mean?! Is this not a valid concern to have?”
Jane only raises an eyebrow and cocks her head slightly. Unsurprisingly, it's enough to make the cat thiren fluster and look away.
“One would think that being with a significant other would entail knowing what they like and dislike.” A silver tail swishes lazily on the floor, hitting Seth's boots once or twice, “Especially what they like about their partner.”
Seth looks frustrated with himself - clearly, there's still something nagging at him, and Jane doesn't want to let him leave her apartment feeling this way. She tries a different approach:
“Kitty, there's nothing wrong with trying something new. Discomfort and discovery go hand in hand. I'm sure you, of all people, know that it's foolish to assume that trying something new will not not have you feeling skittish and unsure. It's life.”
The agent sees Seth's shoulders sinking, fingers no longer clenching hard at his knees.
“However, there is no shame in feeling like it's still not for you. Some people just know, even without trying, that something is not to their tastes, and that's perfectly fine. So long as you don't feel any regret in not having tried something, nothing else matters.”
When Jane puts it like this, Seth feels a bit stupid but heard at the same time. He turns to face her, where he meets a reassuring twinkle behind mischievous eyes. She saw through him in the end.
“...you're right. It's not so much that I'm not worried about Harumasa's reaction, or anything of the sort. More so I'm just… a bit unsure about my own feelings towards this. I want to make Harumasa happy, but I don't know if I can pull through with this, even for him.”
Honesty has never been difficult for Seth. Especially when he's ripped apart like this in front of Jane, and she finally knows the reason for his uncertainty. He can't shut down anymore, and lying never went well for him, anyway.
Jane hums, signifying that she has heard him out, “That's good. But you never did correct me on if I was wrong or not: this is what Harumasa likes, right?”
“Huh?” Flush back on his cheeks, Seth's eyes dart around her apartment, perhaps looking for another way out again, “I-It's not like we talked about this. I just know that he likes pretty things. A bow counts as a pretty thing, right?” Jane nods at his cute rambling, “And- and he has this weird obsession with yellow things too, but especially on me.”
Scratching his head, the cat continues, “I once put on his bandana as a joke and instead of laughing along, he went all mushy on me and let me wear it for as long as I wanted to. God, it was so embarrassing that he took it seriously! After that, I think it was pretty clear that it had to do something with HSO's uniform.”
Jane cocks an eyebrow, lazy grin and all, “So, you admit that you do know that he likes this.”
Seth's tail loudly thumps on the floor once, canines bared and the color of agitated embarrassment coating his eyes, “No! Just because-”
“Stop it, now you're just acting like an idiot. Get a grip, Seth. Do you seriously need me to tell you that Harumasa would be floored by this? How can you not know that yourself?”
The officer gapes like a fish, scandalized and silenced.
“If you have trouble accepting the most definite outcome, at least trust my judgment. You really think I'd put you in this bow if I didn't know any better? If anything, I'm wounded, kitty. Teasing and humiliation are two different things, learn the difference.” Jane winks and stretches back up into a stand.
She wastes no time, spinning around and holding her hand out for Seth to grab, which the man does so, after a moment of hesitation.
“This is final, kitty. We're going to give your boyfriend a high of his life.”
Jane accompanies Seth all the way to Harumasa's apartment, after she fully calms him down. The embarrassment of walking around in public like this made him so red, Seth feared if it was truly possible to melt the nylon just from body heat. Deep in his heart, he prayed no one recognized him as a police officer, despite the blaring PubSec logos flashing all over his body.
Once inside, the rat thiren fusses over her coworker a little bit more; a tightening on the bow here, a fixing of a strand of hair there. Now, actually standing in Harumasa's apartment, the whole idea of it all seems that much more daunting.
Seth's ear can't stop twitching and his tail rolls into itself every few sways. His palms gather sweat no matter how many times he runs them over his pants and the back of his neck feels tacky to the touch.
Having Jane here grounds him, if temporarily.
The sun has fully set, but the sky remains a pretty gradient of orange and pink and blue. It's a tell-tale sign that Harumasa will waltz through the door any minute now, and Seth will have to face his fears head on. The lynx thiren keeps glancing over at the entrance so much he's dizzy.
When a hand tightly grips the end of his tail, Seth snaps out, hissing at Jane.
Not at all frightened, Jane drops her hold, “Are you still worried, even now?”
“What do you mean even now?! Obviously now is the time when I will most want to curl up and die.” Provoked, Seth claps back. Maybe he's being a tad too dramatic, but, hey, give him a break, he's trying.
They just about get their claws out, when a key abruptly slots into the keyhole. Raw fear clouds Seth's violet eyes, and Jane knows it's time to book it.
There's an open window just behind her. The final look she gives Seth is all he needs to know.
With no hesitation, he sees the woman sprint full force before diving headfirst through the slim opening. It's so sudden that Seth doesn't even have time to check if she's alive, before the door swings open and he stands in the middle of the room like a deer caught in headlights, feeling incredibly naked despite being more than fully clothed.
With a hand still on the handle, there stays rooted Harumasa, eyes growing wider by the second. He can't be sure if he's hallucinating.
Immediately, he zeroes in on a yellow bow. It's hard not to, when it's the only thing he sees.
It's- giant, is what it is. Comically so. The bow branches out behind his boyfriend's shoulders in a grand gesture that just demands attention, and the ends cascade in satisfying twirls, stopping just shy of the feline's knees.
The yellow, such a familiar shade, is like a kiss to PubSec's blue, a love letter to the green and red specks. It's also a very pleasant contrast to the blazing crimson searing the officer's face.
Seth looks mortified. Silently, Harumasa thinks red looks good on him too.
Neither one of them has spoken yet. Harumasa braves to change this, “Well-” Embarrassingly, his voice cracks. Now the archer mirror's Seth blush. He clears his throat and tries again, “W-Well, what do we have here?”
Seth doesn't look like he hears him. Frankly, Harumasa ponders whether the thiren's still lucid. But his tail still swishes anxiously and one of his ears swivels back towards the executive.
When Harumasa takes a step forward, Seth finally snaps out, “Sur-Surprise!” This reaction is extremely delayed and the man seems to catch up to himself. The heat lacing his face looks scalding, and Seth has a crazed look in his violet eyes, as though all of reality is just now settling in.
Why was he even doing this, again?!
“It is a surprise! I'm surprised!” Harumasa cringes inwardly at how flaccid he sounds, but there's nothing much he can say - his wittiness has left him to fend for himself against the overpowering aura of his boyfriend.
Seth is stressed, painfully grinning through his clenched teeth, and Harumasa has the vague idea that he's probably scanning for an out. He hopes it's not the open window.
In an effort to calm the officer (and himself) down, he gently swings the door back, turning the key just a single time. He turns back to the colorful mess in his open hallway and stops just enough for there to still be a respectable distance between them, and asks, fascinated, “Can I touch your bow?”
It seems to do the trick, because the slits in Seth's pupils dilate out to more oval-like shapes and he takes in a deeper breath. Steeling himself, the lynx thiren nods.
Harumasa doesn't rush. He takes time in first raking his eyes over the bow up close. The yellow ribbon rests flush to his throat with no wrinkles, and with how the ends sink, the tying must have been precise. Whoever put Seth in this bow is truly a master of their craft - it looks like Seth was made for this bow, and it for him.
Tentatively, the archer raises his hand. His fingers grip the edge of the bow and rub the fabric in circles between his fingertips, “Hmm, polyester. I thought it'd be silk.”
“Silk wouldn't hold its form.” Seth corrects, gaze unwavering on Harumasa's face. He’s waiting for something; for Harumasa's gotcha! moment, where he says that maybe this is going a bit too far. But his pulse reaches dangerous levels of beating and Seth fears his heart is going to either going to give out entirely or he'll vomit it up - because Harumasa is still very much so in front of him, extremely close, and almost as red as he is, with shaky, infatuated hands.
“Ah, you're right.”
The fingertips lightly glide up the edge of the ribbon, where loop meets tie on Seth's nape. Harumasa feels for the starting point of one of the tied ends and encases it in his palm once he finds it. With as much carefulness as before, his hand slides down the end. When the executive reaches the bottom swirl of the ribbon, he brings it to his lips, gently, so very gently presses a kiss, then lets the polyester slip out of his grasp.
It's frighteningly intimate, and Seth has nowhere to run. He gulps, “S-So, you like it?”
Harumasa doesn't understand how Seth doesn't see the hearts in his eyes, but he confirms anyway, “You really dolled yourself up for me…”
It causes the lynx thiren to break out of his stupor and hiss, “Don't say it like that!”
Harumasa flashes a dazzling smile, “But that is what you did!”
Seth looks away, conflicting emotions swirling on his face.
“For what it's worth, Seth, you look amazing. Thank you.” When Seth glances back, he's blinded by Harumasa's radiance. The man looks on cloud nine, high on life. The stupid grin he wears makes Seth's hair stand up straight.
“The color, too. You know how much yellow looks dazzling on you?” Harumasa's eyes sparkle. The shade of infatuation and love on his face almost makes Seth's knees buckle.
“You never told me outright, but I figured you had a thing for it, yeah.”
“I should start doing that then, with every color ever.”
Seth brings his hands up to hide his face, startled at just how heated it is, “Stop it!”
The executive laughs in a captivating breathy tone, one Seth has to zone out lest he gets a heart attack. The ears on his head fold down as he hears the archer coo,
“Aww, don't hide! Where's my pretty kitty's face?”
The officer has had enough - with weak knees and cherry cheeks. It seems Jane's judgement had been more than correct, and Seth sees now that he was worried for no reason. He throws his arms out, dandelion ends moving with the motion, and crashes into Harumasa, wrapping his arms tight around his waist and burying his scorching face into his boyfriend's neck instead.
He feels the man still, “Seth, Seth- you can't do this to me, kitty! How can I hug you back without messing up your bow?!”
Feeling bold, Seth counters, “Take it off me, then.”
Harumasa gasps, scandalized, “It's like you asked me to commit murder!”
It makes Seth break into laughter for the first time today, from joy, from love, from the absurdity of the situation itself. He feels his shoulders relax and he sinks further into the support of Harumasa's body. He doesn't stop even when warm hands find themselves on his cheeks and lift him to face brilliant yellow eyes, “I love you.”
“I love you t-” He isn't given enough time to respond, before Seth is captured in a mind-bending kiss.
As his tail straightens then swirls around Harumasa's shin, and as he feels teasing fingers slip underneath the ribbon at his throat, Seth thinks that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to try a few other colors too, if only for his lover.