Chapter Text
You work at a plant nursery.
There’s not much to say about that other than for a small business it pays pretty well and the owner, an old lady with a wicked sense of fashion, has taken an odd liking to you. You’re pretty sure it’s your patient but take-no-shit demeanor that won her over. She even allows your dog at work provided he behaves and remains out of the aisles. Which he does so kudos to him. He’s such a good boy. At any rate, it’s a simple job with little to no stress save for one thing.
That cat.
For the past two weeks you had a bit of a feud going on with a small orange tabby that not only insists on nipping some of the plants, but has also gotten into the rotten habit of stealing directly from your dog’s bowl. Your dog, Tommy as you call him, is too much of a wuss to actively do anything about it so instead takes to barking and causing a general ruckus whenever the feline menace makes it’s way around.
It’s starting to get annoying. Really annoying. It’s even to the point where your boss has begun second-guessing Tommy’s presence at the nursery.
“I just don’t want him to cause guests to panic,” she tells you as you open your locker to exchange your work clothes with your street clothes. “I know he’s a good dog. Hell, if it were my little Smootzy she probably would’ve killed that darn cat by now.” She brings her long acrylic nails up to her ruby red lips and lets out a snort that some might consider a laugh.
“But all the same,” she continues as she returns her attention to you, “Tommy’s a big dog. He has a big bark. We all know that he’s all bark and no bite but well, guests don’t know that.” She pauses for a bit as she studies your face before finally saying, “I think you should leave him alone come this Monday. At least until the cat stops showing up.”
And there it is. You let out a heavy sigh as you pull your bag up and gently close your locker. “Okay,” you murmur as you look down to meet with Tommy’s ever cheerful expression, his tail going a mile a minute. You give him a soft pet as you pick up his leash and make your way out the door.
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You look up and notice that the sky is a depressing shade of grey. Typically you love cold weather like this but you can’t appreciate it in the mood you’re in right now. However none of this affects Tommy in the slightest and he continues to happily lead the way home.
You’re about halfway through your walk when Tommy suddenly stops in front of you. You nearly trip over him but quickly get a hold of yourself. “Hey, why’d you stop you big doofus?” you playfully inquire. You assume that maybe he spotted some food on the ground and turn your head in the direction he’s facing only to meet with your current enemy.
It’s that cat.
The annoying orange tabby stood before you, petrified on the spot as it tried to cross the sidewalk. In it’s mouth it held what looked like a small fish. Even after they stole from your dog that cat had the gall to grab even more food. The absolute nerve of that cat!
“Hey!” you called out to that cat. In a split second all three of you took off running. The cat scrambled towards the alley with both you and Tommy following. You weren’t planning to hurt the cat and honestly, you’re not even sure why you were so determined to catch it. Maybe you wanted to try to call a truce? Maybe you wanted to warn it away from you? Or maybe you wanted to find out who the owner was?
Whatever the case, you were quickly about to the answer to one of those questions because as you rounded the corner you saw the cat desperately leap into someone’s arms. “Ah! Tommy no!” You frantically shouted as you yanked on your dog’s leash and steadily pulled back as to avoid collision with the figure in the alleyway. This didn’t come without consequences and due to the force of the stop you found yourself slipping backwards and landing square on your butt.
“Augh…” you hissed out in pain as you rubbed your lower back and tried to register just what happened. You heard a bark from Tommy but soon found him sitting by your side and licking your check. “Yeah yeah, I’m okay,” you said as you tried to comfort your dog.
“Oi.”
You heard a voice call out, low and distant, and turned your head back down the alley.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
The voice was calm but the tone was clearly one of anger. You gave yourself a few seconds to get back on your feet and regain what little composure you had.
“The fuck am I doing?” you replied, “The fuck is your cat doing?”
Currently the cat was clearly scared out of it’s mind and trembled against their arm. You instantly felt bad for asking that but all the same, a response was a response.
The figure maintained their distance but you could feel a dark, menacing aura around them. You were certain they were shooting an intense glare at you but you held strong.
“Look,” you continued, “You cat has been pestering my dog all week. I don’t want to take any action against your or your cat. I just want them to stop. So please, keep-”
“He’s not my cat,” the figure quickly interjected.
You raised an eyebrow and scoffed. “If you’re worried about legal action then you can just drop that. I just told you I won’t take any action against you or your cat so ple-”
“Not my cat,” the figure interrupted again.
You rolled your eyes. “If they’re not your cat then why are they all bunched up in your arm like that?”
“Because some crazy lady and her rabid dog chased him.” they retorted.
Ignoring most of his comment, you replied, “Oh. Him? So you know his gender.”
“Mhm.” the figure nodded.
“So then you must be his owner.”
“It doesn’t take much to know their gender,” he smirked.
“UGGH,” you let out a loud groan. You were not at all in the mood for this. Your feet hurt, your head hurt, your butt hurt, and worst of all your ego was hurt. You were at a loss as to what to do and stood there silently for a few minutes as you wracked your brain for some sort of resolution. The figure also stood there, unmoving and quiet.
After a few minutes you muttered, “...I’m sorry I scared the cat. I honestly didn’t want to hurt or frighten it. I just wanted… it to stop bugging my dog...”
A heavy silence fell on the alley. Another couple of minutes passed before you softly asked, “...What’s his name?”
“...” The figure remained still. You weren’t sure if they heard you or were just ignoring you. It was most likely the latter at this point. As you were about to speak again, the figure slowly stepped out of the shadows. They remained a fair distance from you still, but at least now you can clearly make out who they were.
The man before you was young, around college age you guessed, and looked pretty unkempt. His hair was messy and his clothes were a worn-out mess of wrinkles. He didn’t appear homeless, but he could’ve fooled anyone. You let out a small sigh of release nonetheless. As weird as he looked, he was pretty non-threatening.
“...ESP Kitty,” the young man finally replied, refusing to make eye contact with you.
“Oh.” You glanced at the small tabby still in his arms. “That’s a weird name.”
“Tch,” the stranger scoffed, “What’s your dog’s name then?”
“Tommy,” you replied.
“That’s a weird name,” he smirked, his tone clearly mocking you.
“Actually his full name is Tom Hanks,” you stated as a matter-of-factually.
Clearly this wasn’t what he was expecting and he turned his head to you only to give you the most baffling look of utter bewilderment.
There was something about his look and the ridiculous amount of tension in the air that just caused something to break and send you into an uncontrollable giggle.
The young man’s lips warped into a strained, confused smirk as he watched you break down in hysterics. “W-.... What the hell….” he muttered, more puzzled than ever. He could feel his anxiety well up in him as his mind wracked with reasons upon reasons as to why you were laughing right now, most of those reasons being because of him.
“Ah… Ah… I’m sorry!” you breathed out in between laughs, “It’s just… I forget how stupid my dog’s name is!” You held your gut as you continued laughing.
“Oh…. Yeah, it is really stupid.” His tone remained flat but internally he was just relieved to know that you weren’t laughing at him or anything of the sort. All the same though, he remained uncomfortable with the interaction and nervously shifted on his feet.
Your laughs soon turned into small chuckles and soon you found yourself clutching at your knees as you tried to catch your breath.
“...Are you done yet?” the figure inquired.
“Ah, yeah,” you said as you let out one long breath and quickly stood back up. “I’m sorry about that it’s just… I don’t know. Everything about the cat just got me so stressed out.”
“...”
“It’s been a weird week, trying to get that cat to stop messing with me. I felt like I was in some sort of cartoon only instead of it being a cat and mouse it was a cat and a full grown woman who should know better by now and should have her life under control h-haha.”
“...”
He remained quiet and soon enough your nerves got to you again.
“I’m sorry, sir, just pl-”
“Ichimatsu.”
“Huh?” you raised an eyebrow and stared quizzically at him.
“My name.”
“Oh…” You revealed your name to him as well and continued, “Uh… Ichimatsu… Do you think that you co-”
“I’ll get ESP Kitty to stop bugging you.”
You were a bit annoyed that Ichimatsu continued to interrupt you, but all the same you were grateful to hear him actually do something about your issue. “Thank you so much!” you said cheerfully, “If you want I could leave out his own food bowl and-”
And before you could even finish your sentence, Ichimatsu picked up his bags and began to walk back down the alleyway. You scrunched up your face in a small annoyed pout. “Whatever,” you scoffed as you turned on your heel, “Problem solved.”
You gave Tommy’s leash a slight tug. The large dog stood up and closely followed behind you. Tommy looked over his shoulder at the young man in the alley who had only briefly stopped to look at you. They made eye contact before the figure turned away yet again and walked out of sight. Tommy always liked meeting new friends.