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The pet houses, as Kaoru has discovered over the years, is probably one of the best places to head to when he’s skipping practice. It’s usually quiet during the day, especially when everyone else is busy with their own clubs or unit rehearsals, and even if someone does swing by he’s found the perfect hiding place so that he goes unnoticed most of the time.
He’s never told anyone about his secret hiding spot, not even Anzu. If he wants to be found he’ll head to the rooftop. The pet houses, though—they’re for him, and him alone.
Which is why he isn’t expecting it at all when he finds himself blinking awake from a nap to see Adonis of all people hovering above him, holding, in his hands—wait. What?
“Hakaze-senpai,” Adonis begins.
“Is that a cat?” Kaoru says.
“Yes,” Adonis replies.
Kaoru pushes himself into a sitting position, blinking against the harsh sunlight, and sure enough, Adonis is cradling in his arms a tiny calico kitten. Huge green eyes blink at Kaoru. Kaoru blinks back at it.
“Explain,” he says.
“I found her on the school grounds,” Adonis explains. “She looked like she was sick, so I thought I should take care of her.”
Kaoru squints up at the kitten. He’s still sitting down on a bench while Adonis stands in front of him, so the kitten ends up directly at his eye level, and he leans forward to get a good look at it; on closer inspection the kitten does look unwell, although Kaoru has absolutely no experience in veterinary science and is probably the least reliable person anyone could ever ask about the subject.
As if on cue the kitten sneezes right in Kaoru’s face. He thinks he gets the hint.
“So are you going to keep it here?” Kaoru asks. It’s actually a pretty good idea; no one really comes to check on the animals here, and there are plenty of empty cages. No one’s going to notice an extra kitten, and the fact that the area is usually empty means it’ll be easy to drop by whenever, as Kaoru knows from firsthand experience.
“Only until she regains her strength,” Adonis answers easily. The kitten shifts in Adonis’s hands, and he finally bends down to set it down on the ground. It scratches itself behind its ears, then sits down and fixes Kaoru with that same wide-eyed stare. Kaoru stares back for a beat just too long.
“Alright,” Kaoru says, finally. “Good luck with your mission then.”
He swing his legs off the bench, then stands up, dusting off his pants and getting ready to find somewhere else to continue with his afternoon nap; but just as he turns away he feels something tugging at edges of his pants. He looks back down, and there it is: the kitten clinging onto him, staring up at him with its big green eyes.
To compound the effect, it meows pitifully at him. It’s way too cute. Kaoru can feel himself crumbling right where he stands.
“I think she likes you,” Adonis says, smiling gently. Kaoru looks at him, then looks down at the kitten.
The kitten looks back up at him.
“I don’t have time for this,” Kaoru says, but even to his own ears he knows how blatant of a lie that is.
“We should name her,” Adonis says.
“Hold on, don’t go ahead and decide on anything on your own—”
“How about Kitty?”
“You can’t name a cat Kitty,” Kaoru says, scandalized.
“Spot?”
“You can’t name a cat Spot.”
The kitten meows, as if in agreement. Kaoru sits down on the grass, and it immediately crawls into his lap. Hesitantly, he strokes the top of its head, and it purrs contentedly and curls into a ball in his lap. Oh god, Kaoru is so fucking screwed.
“Fine,” he says. “Her name is Hime-chan.”
“Okay,” Adonis replies, way too easily, as he moves to sit down next to Kaoru. He’s still smiling. Kaoru scowls at him just because.
“I’m only doing this because girls like guys who’re good with animals,” he says.
“Okay,” Adonis says again. Kaoru looks away again, if only because he can’t keep scowling at Adonis any longer. Instead he looks down at Hime-chan, who appears to have fallen asleep in his lap. It is so ridiculously, painfully, and illegally cute. Kaoru feels actual, physical pain in his chest.
And thus begins the story of how he and Adonis accidentally become foster parents to a tiny, possibly sick, sneezing calico kitten named Hime-chan.
-
Over the course of the next two weeks, they somehow come up with some form of a routine. Kaoru visits the pet houses whenever he can, to check on Hime-chan or play with it or dutifully refill its food bowl. Adonis swings by sometimes too, during breaks or after class. Consequently it’s resulted in Kaoru attending more practice sessions than normal, since Adonis usually ends up dragging Kaoru down to the light music room with him when they’re together visiting Hime-chan.
If anyone notices anything different about Kaoru, nobody says anything to him. That is, until he runs into Anzu on his way to the pet houses one day.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Adonis-kun lately, haven’t you?” she asks.
“Uh,” Kaoru says.
“I think it’s nice that you’re getting closer to your fellow unit members,” she continues.
“Right,” Kaoru says. “I’m being responsible, because I know that it’ll impress you. Is it working?”
“Maybe,” she says, smiling. God, Anzu really is cute.
“So does that finally score me a date?” he tries.
“Sorry, Kaoru-san,” Anzu tells him, “I’m busy with producer work.”
Kaoru sighs dramatically.
“Next time, then,” he says. “Don’t forget, Anzu-chan.”
Anzu just beams at him before heading back down the hallway. Kaoru watches her go, and then turns to head to where Hime-chan—and Adonis too, his brain supplies—is waiting.
-
He’s not sure how long Adonis originally intended to keep Hime-chan for, but it’s been almost three weeks, and Kaoru’s pretty sure Hime-chan’s completely recovered from whatever illness she might’ve been suffering from by now. She’s perfectly energetic, and whenever Kaoru comes to visit now she inevitably ends up tiring herself out running around in circles and batting at string and whatever else they’ve brought for Hime-chan to amuse herself with that day.
Kaoru tentatively brings it up one day, as they’re sitting together on the grass while Hime-chan chews on a toy mouse Adonis has mysteriously produced out of thin air.
“Maybe we should find a permanent home for Hime-chan,” Kaoru suggests. Adonis turns to him, surprised.
“Oh,” he says. “Sure.”
There’s a weird awkward silence in the wake of those words. Hime-chan starts dragging the toy mouse across the floor in a way that might be kind of gruesome if it were a real mouse and Hime-chan wasn’t the approximate size of a small orange, but given how things are it just ends up looking stupidly adorable.
“I definitely can’t keep Hime-chan at my own home,” Kaoru says. Since nobody’s ever at home anyway, he doesn’t say. “What about you?”
“My oldest sister’s allergic to cats,” Adonis says.
“Figures,” Kaoru mutters.
“I could ask Kanzaki,” Adonis says. “Or Narukami.”
“Right,” Kaoru says. “I’ll ask Kanata-kun and Sakuma-san.” He pauses. “On second thought, I’m not going to ask Sakuma-san.”
Adonis laughs.
“I guess we can’t keep Hime-chan here forever,” Adonis says wistfully. Kaoru turns to look at him, and the look on Adonis’s face is so painfully soft that he has to look away again.
“Hey,” Kaoru says. “I’m sure you’ll get to visit her wherever she ends up going.”
“Really?” Adonis says, brightening instantly.
“Of course,” Kaoru replies. It strikes him all over again just how impossible a person like Adonis is—how he can look this stern and serious on the outside, but on the inside there’s a certain childlike quality to him, this boy who loves all small animals and still doesn’t know how to send a text message on a smartphone. It’s almost endearing, actually, and Kaoru is almost alarmed by this sudden realization. Endearing is not a word he has used to describe any boy ever. What the hell is wrong with him? Clearly, it’s all Hime-chan’s fault.
“Hakaze-senpai?”
Kaoru blinks, turns to Adonis, who’s watching at him with his head tilted slightly to the side. His eyes are narrowed, and Kaoru shakes himself, grins brightly at Adonis.
“Sorry,” he says. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
Somehow, Kaoru feels like you is not the appropriate response.
“I was wondering if Anzu-chan would say yes if I asked her out on a date after school today,” he says instead. Adonis looks at him.
“She’s rehearsing with the twins today, isn’t she?”
Kaoru sighs. “Maybe tomorrow then,” he says.
Adonis just hums in response. They don’t say anything more, just continue sitting together side-by-side as they watch Hime-chan bat at a toy mouse. The silence is surprisingly comfortable. Kaoru doesn’t let himself think about it.
It’s just Adonis, he thinks. It’s just that stupid damn cat.
-
They ask around, and eventually the Aoi twins agree to take Hime-chan in—as Yuta tells him, they already have two cats, so one more isn’t much of a struggle. Adonis and Kaoru let them see her, and they seem perfectly charmed by her, so Kaoru’s confident that she’ll have a good home with the twins.
Still, the unintended side effect of trying to find a new home for Hime-chan turns out to be that she rapidly becomes the entire school’s collective pet, because Adonis tells Souma and Souma tells Kuro and Kuro tells Shu and Shu tells Mika and Mika tells Arashi and it goes on and on, and frankly Kaoru’s just relieved that the student council doesn’t end up giving them hell for it (technically they’re not breaking any rules), but it also means that any alone time Kaoru gets to spend with Adonis and Hime-chan dwindles down to an almost complete zero.
Not that—not that he minds. It’s not a big deal. It’s just—it was a routine, that’s all. Kaoru likes routine. Kaoru likes routine, and he likes spending time with Hime-chan and Adonis, the comfortable silence between them and the way he can talk about everything and absolutely nothing at all, and how Adonis is never disparaging or dismissive but instead surprisingly thoughtful at times, and the soft look on his face whenever Hime-chan climbs onto his lap and he gets to scratch her behind her ears, and Kaoru finds himself wondering what it’d be like to have that look directed at him instead, but it’s not a big deal. It’s not a big deal at all.
After all, it’s still easy enough to spend time alone with Hime-chan when he’s cutting class. The only person who skips class as much as him is Sakuma-san’s little brother, and even then he spends most of his time sleeping in random places around the school anyway, so it’s fine. He’s alone, and he’s not going to be disturbed.
When he gets there Hime-chan’s curled up into a ball in a corner of her cage, but when Kaoru approaches her ears perk up, and immediately she has her front paws pressed against the edge of the cage as she meows loudly.
“If only girls were as happy to see me as you always are,” Kaoru says.
Hime-chan blinks at him.
Kaoru kneels down next to her little hut and fiddles with the lock, finally swinging the door open to let her out. She springs out eagerly, and Kaoru picks her up, lets her curl against his chest before moving to sit down on the grass, Hime-chan still perched gently against his arm.
“I’m going to miss you,” he sighs.
Hime-chan meows.
“You’ll miss me too, won’t you?”
Hime-chan bats at his chest. Kaoru picks her up so that they’re face to face, and she gently presses a paw against his nose.
“Tell me,” he says. “Who do you like better: me or Adonis-kun?”
Hime-chan blinks again.
“Well, it’s obviously me,” Kaoru continues. “I’m definitely the fun parent.”
Hime-chan meows in response. Kaoru sighs, and then presses Hime-chan against his face; he can feel her tiny nose against his, and he shuts his eyes, lets her lick at his face.
“I wish I could take you with me,” Kaoru murmurs.
Suddenly Hime-chan starts fidgeting in his hands. He opens his eyes, sets her back down on his lap, and she immediately turns and runs in the opposite direction. Kaoru starts, shifts to see what’s caught Hime-chan’s attention, and that’s when he sees Adonis, leaning casually against one of the animal houses. Hime-chan leaps at him, and he picks her up, deposits her on one shoulder while she nuzzles against his neck.
“How long have you been standing there?” Kaoru asks. His face is hot, but he’s not sure why—not a big deal, he thinks. Not a big deal at all.
“Not long,” Adonis says. He moves over to sit down next to Kaoru, and Hime-chan climbs from Adonis’s shoulder to Kaoru’s. She bats at his hair, and Kaoru picks her up, places her back down on the ground.
“Don’t you have class?”
“It’s lunch now.”
“Really?”
Adonis nods, his eyes fixed on Hime-chan. Kaoru suddenly feels weirdly self-conscious, so he turns to watch Hime-chan too, who’s currently pawing at the grass eagerly.
“So the twins will be taking Hime-chan home at the end of the week,” Kaoru begins. Adonis nods again, not meeting Kaoru’s eyes.
A pause. Hime-chan gives up on scratching at the ground and curls into a ball.
“Are you okay?” Kaoru tries.
This is awkward for him—he doesn’t really know how to react in a situation like this. It’s Adonis, and he’s never really considered them friends before, but they’ve spent so much time together recently, and—and. Kaoru’s not sure what else there is to say.
Adonis finally turns to him, his eyes hard and serious.
“I don’t want things to go back to normal,” he says.
“What?”
“This.”
“I don’t—”
“I like spending time with you like this,” Adonis says. Kaoru is definitely blushing now—his cheeks feel like they’re on fire. This is undeniably uncharted territory. He opens his mouth, but he doesn’t know what to say. Surely there’s something he could say to get him out of this awkward situation, some witty reprieve or offhanded comment, but Adonis’s eyes are fixed on him and it’s as if the words have dried up in his throat.
It’s not a big deal. It’s not a big deal at all. It’s just Adonis, so why is he—
“Hakaze-senpai,” Adonis continues. “I’d like to spend more time with you from now on.”
Another long pause. Kaoru’s heart feels like it’s threatening to burst right out his chest.
“Are you,” he says, “asking me out?”
Adonis’s brow furrows.
“Is that not okay?” he asks.
Kaoru has no idea how to answer that question. All he knows is that Adonis is looking at him, looking at him and only him, and they’re sitting with their knees barely inches apart, and when did his face get this close? When did Kaoru start noticing these things? Why isn’t he moving away? Kaoru likes girls, he’s always liked girls, but lately when he watches Adonis treat Hime-chan so gently he’s started wondering if maybe, just maybe—
“Hakaze-senpai?” Adonis asks again.
Kaoru does the only thing he can think of in that exact moment: he leans in, and he presses his lips right against Adonis’s.
For a moment, neither of them moves. For a brief, heart-stopping moment, Kaoru thinks: shit. Kaoru thinks: I fucked up. Kaoru thinks: Adonis’s lips are surprisingly soft.
Then Adonis shifts, places one hand on the back Kaoru’s neck to drag him forward, and then Kaoru’s lips part almost unconsciously and he sighs against Adonis’s lips, and suddenly it’s perfect. It’s absolutely, incredibly perfect. Adonis’s lips part against his and he has one hand fisted against Adonis’s shirt, and just when he’s starting to think he never wants this to end he feels a sharp pain that makes him pull away immediately.
It takes a second for it to register that Hime-chan actually bit him.
He looks down at her, and Kaoru swears that she’s actually pouting at him. Which is ridiculous. Cats don’t pout. But then again, he was also just kissing Adonis against one of the pet houses in their school, so all bets are off right now, really.
“Are you jealous?” he asks.
Hime-chan narrows her eyes at him. Kaoru scratches her behind her ears.
“It’s okay,” Kaoru says. “I always have time for cute girls.”
Hime-chan meows. Kaoru looks up, and Adonis is smiling at him, soft and fond and gentle. The same way he smiles at Hime-chan too.
Oh, Kaoru thinks, suddenly dizzy.
“So,” Adonis says.
“So,” Kaoru echoes.
“Can we do this again tomorrow?”
Kaoru looks at Hime-chan, then looks back up again at Adonis.
“Okay,” he says, and smiles.