Work Text:
közi was walking back home from the studio when he heard the heart-wrenching sound of tiny, helpless meows.
immediately, poor cat-loving közi turned on his heel. as if on autopilot, he let himself be led by the sound, until he found them: a litter of tiny kittens, abandoned in an alley and, just as cliché dictates, in a cardboard box.
his first thought was: i need to take them with me. the sweet, poor babies.
his second thought was: mana will kill me.
but the tiny eyes stared up at him pleadingly, and the tiny meows still beckoned him to pick the precious furballs up and into his arms.
so, against his better judgement, közi did just that. he crouched down and carefully took the box in his arms, trying not to rock it too much.
"hello," he whispered. "aw, you guys are just so cute. how could anyone abandon you? come on, papa's gonna take you home."
home - that meant his and mana's tiny but, in közi's opinion, very comfortable house.
upon entering, he put his shoes where they belonged, hung his coat orderly on its rack and overall did his best so that mana would have no complaints with him except for the glaringly obvious one: the giant cardboard box full of furry joy.
"közi?" mana called from the kitchen.
it was then then that közi's nose picked up on the smell: curry. he grinned wide, despite his looming fear of mana rejecting the kittens. oh, the joys of married life, he thought to himself, already anticipating mana's cooking.
"yes honey! i'm home," he answered.
he had set the box down next to the door, deciding to go and greet his husband first to ease him into it.
as he was approaching the kitchen, mana piped up again: "what's this, you sound cheery. something happen?"
"ah, yes."
közi hurried past the kitchen island to give mana a kiss.
"curry," he said with a sappy smile.
"yes, közi, i made curry, i can imagine your sense of smell works enough to discern that. now out with it, what's got you all fidgety? clearly something happened," mana accused, a hand on his hips.
"oh mana-chan, you know me too well. i can't hide anything in this house! ah, not that i need to... now, i have a, uhm, surprise! for you," közi stammered.
he beckoned mana to follow him back into the hallway, where crouched down with his back to him and turned around just as one of the cats let out a tiny mewl.
"ta-da," he said weakly.
mana stared at him in utter disbelief, and after a few seconds of silence, közi added: "please can we keep them? please honey, please!"
mana sighed, his eyebrows scrunching together as he pondered how to handle the situation.
admittedly, the kitties were cute, and his husband looked adorable holding them with a pleading expression, but realistically, they could not take care of this many pets. not to mention they had to take them to a vet before anything else, too.
"közi love... you know i like a clean house... and that's just way too many cats. i'm sorry, but they'll have to go. i understand you couldn't leave them be, but we're not keeping all of them. shelters exist for a reason," he finally said.
"but mana-"
"i said. not all of them."
mana's gaze was piercing.
"my love, i knew you had a big heart!" közi exclaimed joyfully as he realized what this meant.
"yeah, yeah. two. we are keeping two, because that's healthy for us and them. they'll have each other to keep company when we're busy."
"mana-chan~" közi swooned as he tried to hug him with the box still on his arm.
mana quickly maneuvered out of the way and grabbed the box from közi's hands, disappearing to the kitchen.
"come on, beloved husband. don't you want that curry while it's still warm?"
perplexed, közi followed.
"yes darling. whatever you say, darling," he mumbled, beside himself.
although he was a bit sad that he wouldn't be able to stay in kitty heaven, he would at least get to keep two of them. the thought filled him with a gentle warmth.
mana's curry was indeed delicious, and after they had both finished eating and telling each other about their days, it was time to give the kittens their much-needed bath. they had to keep them all for at least the remainder of the day, because at this hour, all the vets in the area were already closed.
since it was közi who had brought the cats in, mana saw to it that he was the one doing all the work.
and so, mana, being the cleanly person he had always been, sat atop the toilet bowl in a safe distance while he gave közi first a pair of rubber gloves and then instructions on what to do with the bathtub full of meowing little cats.
an hour of struggling and scratching later, they finally had nicely smelling kittens that passed mana's cleanliness requirements.
they were forced to immediately do research on what to feed baby cats since the poor babies started meowing louder and louder, and then közi was swiftly sent out to buy the exact product written on the little scrap of paper mana had given him. mana would hold the fort with some milk until he returned.
"uhm, i need... this," közi gave up trying to pronounce the english brand name immediately as he asked the wrinkly-looking, elderly owner of the small pet shop around the corner for the required cat food.
"i see. your family recently had kittens?"
közi hesitated, then nodded. he didn't feel like explaining.
"yes, that is a good choice then. you have an educated wife at home, i'm guessing," the old man said with a wink in the direction of közi's wedding band.
"ah, uh." közi contemplated letting it go, used to it as he was by now.
but then he figured: if they were to keep two cats, he would have to come by this store a lot. it wouldn't sit right with him to pretend he had a wife at home each time.
he cleared his throat. "no sir, my husband wrote that note."
"ah! my apologies! i just went and assumed..."
the man genuinely looked worried and apologetic, so közi smiled at him.
"it's okay, you aren't the first to do so. and you apologized, so i'd still like to buy the cat food, please."
"of course. again, i'm very sorry. here you are, this is the one your husband wants. how much of it would you like?"
"i'll just take ten packs, thanks."
"alright. that's 4,50 then."
közi made a dumbfounded expression.
"listen, i'm bad at math, but even i can tell you just told me the price for five," közi said, not wanting to shamelessly accept such a huge discount from a tiny shop.
"yes, yes, it's the 'i'm sorry'-discount. take it, please."
the old man looked at him with kind eyes. közi didn't want the discussion, and he was also simply happy about the discount.
"that's very generous, wow, i almost feel bad accepting such kindness," he said with a bow.
"i promise to come back and buy here again, gramps!"
the old man smiled and gave a little wave.
"until then. introduce your husband sometime, too!"
"you got it, grampa."
with that, közi headed back, grinning to himself.
maybe the world wasn't all bad.
nothing could have possibly prepared közi for the sight that awaited him when he got back home.
mana was sat on the carpet, knees pulled to his chest, and he was surrounded by the kittens. currently, he was holding one of them to his chest and feeding it milk through a reusable lidded coffee cup.
közi, upon laying eyes on the tranquil scene, froze in place at the door frame of the living room, practically melting into the floor.
"oh, közi! you startled me," mana said as he set the cup down on the coffee table next to him and looked up at his husband.
"what? is there something on my face?"
közi looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"no, honey. it's just so adorable. i have come home to heaven," közi explained as he finally moved towards mana.
"my mana-chan is surrounded by kitties, and the kitties are purring and meowing so happily... the milk is just the cherry on top. i wish you could see how cute you look right now! i'm falling in love all over again," he continued to gush as he carefully moved a few kittens out of the way so as to sit down next to mana, who was looking at him with a soft expression, obviously taken aback at his husband's sudden declaration.
"i love you too, közi," he whispered and kissed him as soon as his face was in reach.
they slowly started making out, their lips dancing around each other tenderly, until one of the kittens decided to paw at mana's hair, which was long enough to be in reach for the tiny creature when he was sitting down. mana winced a little as he reached behind his back to pick up the offending cat.
"we're still only gonna keep two of these little gremlins though," he said - practically into közi's mouth.
közi was already starting to say something in defiance, but as he opened his mouth, mana bit down hard on his lower lip, shutting him up.
"ouch! mana-chan is such a meanie!"
"oh really, am i? then who is letting you keep two animals in this house that you share with me, just because you want them and with no prior warning, simply because i have a hard time denying you anything?"
mana looked at him expectantly while he stroked the kitten in his lap.
közi was utterly defeated.
"that would be you, great mana-sama. i'm deeply sorry for ever insinuating you could be anything in the same vein as mean. do you want me to make you a hot chocolate or perhaps massage you? i could also start bowing-" he interrupted his own monologue because mana was laughing.
közi could never focus on anything else when he heard mana laughing. it had always been like that, really - the world just narrowed down to that adorable sound for a few precious seconds.
dopey smile still on his face, közi came back to reality when one of the kittens suddenly started meowing unfathomably loud considering its tiny body.
"well stop staring, you idiot. be good and get the cat food ready in a bowl, i bet they're starving. i might even reward you if you're quick about it," mana instructed with a giggle.
"yessir!" közi was up within seconds, eagerly getting a clean bowl from the kitchen, already anticipating his reward.
undoubtedly, fortune had befallen him in the form of tiny, adorable kittens.