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“I can't believe we forgot the butter…” Lumine mumbles, having just exited the grocery store alongside her ginger-haired boyfriend, who was burdened with carrying all but one of the bags. It was a cold day out, the cool wind biting at the duo's skin, with each step leaving a crunch in the snow that had gathered overnight. Ajax's bare hands were as flushed red as his pale nose, slender fingers trembling in front of him, with two plastic bags in hand—of course, the cold barely bothers him although it may seem otherwise with how red he is. Growing up in a cold climate really helped toughen him up. He shivers, responding,
“You forgot the butter, love. You made the shopping list after all.”
“Yeah, but I told you to remind me if you realized that I didn't get it,” the blonde responds, huffing. An amused smirk pulls at the corner of Ajax's lips in response to her aversion to taking account over something so minimal.
“Fine, fine,” he relents, “I suppose I should've remembered as well,” and Lumine reigns superior. A satisfied smile overtakes her earlier frown, glad to see that Ajax has come to reason.
“We'll make do—maybe we won't need butter for the whole week,” she says as they approach their sleek, black car. It was, surprisingly, in decent shape. Ajax drives like an intoxicated man who's also high on crack who's also texting while driving, and Lumine loathes to recount the numerous times he has busted their car—fortunately, praise whatever higher being there is, he has never actually crashed it into someone else. Though…she's sure he's wanted to sometimes, with his road rage and competitiveness. How can one even be competitive when it comes to driving?!
“In what world do we rarely use butter? Kuni eats it up. Butter is an integral part in all his meals, for whatever reason,” Ajax snorts, a fond smile on his lips, haphazardly stuffing the plastic bags into the trunk.
“It goes well with his toast,” Lumine defends, neatly nestling her grocery bag into the car, between the ones Ajax had placed earlier. Kunikuzushi is their other partner, whom they both adore. He didn’t feel like shopping today, so he stayed home to work on his story that he's planning to publish in a few months, give or take.
Lumine gets into the driver's seat after closing up the trunk, determined not to let Ajax even touch the wheel. She values her life, thank you very much. Ajax pouts at this, leaning against her obnoxiously, the left side of his blue coat flush against her own.
“Can't I drive? You drove on the way here, it's only fair—”
“No,” she instantly cuts him off, pale blue eyes glaring at the now sheepish ginger, “I don't feel like getting into a car crash today,” Ajax nods slowly, understanding that his pleading will prove useless. Lumine rarely, if ever, budges on her decisions. It's something he's had to come to terms with many, many times. He leans back in his seat as she starts the car, driving down the streets. He stares out the window for most of the ride, occasionally glancing at Lumine to take in her beautiful features, observing how the sun hits her blonde hair at a perfect angle to make it almost glow. He's head over heels.
One the way home, they erupted in occasional chatter here and there, but it was cut short as Lumine pulls into the front yard, parking the car. She unbuckles her seatbelt, along with Ajax, and gets out. Ajax collects the grocery bags—tossing one to Lumine which earns him a huff—and walks to the door. As he steps onto the first step in front of the door, he pauses, his blue eyes catching a ball of black nestled in the green shrubbery near their quaint house.
"The hell…?" He mumbles, slowly approaching the flecks of black. Lumine raises a brow as his attention is captured by something else. She follows behind him, raising a brow.
"What is it?" She inquires, but Ajax stays silent. Placing the bags down, he slowly pushes the bushes apart and looks down.
Mewl
Ajax bites back a squeal, afraid of scaring the small thing. Inside the bushes was a tiny, adorable black cat, staring up at Ajax with its beady eyes. Lumine coos, crouching down beside him.
"Oh my God, it's precious!" She says, reaching a slender hand out to pet it's head. Surprisingly, it doesn't flee, merely cocking it's head to the side as Lumine rubs it carefully. It's void-coloured fur is stiff underneath her fingers, matted.
"Poor thing. I think they're a stray,"
Ajax nods, "probably. They don't have a collar," he observes, reaching a sun-kissed hand out to scratch behind it's ear. It purrs, leaning into the touch.
Ajax hums, a fond smile tugging on his lips. "You know," he starts, "the cat kinda reminds me of Kuni,"
Lumine giggles behind her hand, "you're right! He would so be a black cat," at that, a thought pops into her head.
"Hey," she says, diverting all of Ajax's attention onto her, "should we…take it in? Kuni loves cats, and he's been begging us to get one,"
Ajax hums thoughtfully, remembering all the times Kunikuzushi had practically gotten onto his pale knees and begged for a cat, which was always met with a firm no by both of his partners. Neither of them wanted to be saddled by the responsibility of a pet, but recently they've all gotten their life sorted out—mostly—and…a pet doesn't sound half bad.
"That's not a bad idea," Ajax says, "but…we'd need to get it all of the necessities. Toys, a bed, a litter box, food, and a visit to the vet first and foremost,"
"You're right, but that's easy stuff. You know Kuni would immediately drive to the store to get it everything it wants," she says with a chuckle. Ajax sighs, amused because that is literally what would happen. He'd be ecstatic and rush to the store, immediately wanting to take care of it and spoil the cat. That is something Ajax really wants to see. He loves seeing his partners happy, and to see Kuni riddled with joy at having a tiny feline to dote on makes his heart swell—to see a smile appear instead of his usually grumpy frown would be a welcome sight.
"Then let's take it in," Ajax relents, raising his hands to the cat to scoop it up.
He freezes, "wait, is this even legal?"
"Pretty sure. I see people adopt stray cats all the time. Besides, when have you ever cared if something was illegal?" Lumine responds, waving a dismissive hand.
"Never," Ajax shrugs, picking up the feline. It fit perfectly in his hands, it's tiny head rubbing onto his chest as he cradled the pet, rubbing it's side in a soothing matter.
"The little guy's not jumpy at all," Ajax comments with a laugh. Lumine smiles, picking up all three of the bags as they walk back to the entrance. They step into the house, the smell of warm pasta engulfing them. Ajax's stomach growls as he slips off his shoes, kicking them off to the side before padding to the kitchen. Lumine scowls at his carelessness—her and Kuni really cared about being neat—putting her own shoes neatly to the side, next to Kunikuzushi's.
Kuni perks up as they enter, lifting his gaze from the pot filled with tomato sauce to the doorway. He sees a familiar mop of ginger hair approach, and as he was about to stray from the food to hug his boyfriend, he stops.
Holy crap.
His eyes immediately zeroed in on the ball of fur cradled to Ajax's chest. He rushes up in front the taller man, hands pressed to his cheeks in surprise.
"What the hell?" Kuni exclaims, "w-where'd you get this cat? No way you two went to the pet store—"
Ajax cuts Kuni off with a finger to his pink lips, earning him an annoyed frown. "He was a lonely, lonely little stray. We found him in the bushes near our house," Ajax explains. An empathetic expression appears on Kunikuzushi's face, a rare thing. Kuni rarely expresses his more softer soft, always hiding behind a facade of smugness. It was easier that way. But Lumine and Ajax both know he feels deeply, but his past experiences make him feel reluctant to show those mushy emotions that make him vulnerable. It's a slow process, coaxing him out of his shell, but it's worth it. Lumine is especially great at that.
"It must be hungry. I have some cat food—"
"Since when did you get food?" Ajax cuts him off, incredulous.
"Since I've been preparing for this moment," Kuni shoots back, already going to the cupboard, standing on his tip toes to grab the food.
It was at that moment Lumine walked in, stifling a giggle behind her hand at the scene. Kunikuzushi needing to get on the tips of his toes to get something will never not be funny to her. He glances at her, grabbing a bowl, and glares, daring her to comment.
Once he pours the kibble into the bowl, Ajax sets the small cat down, ushering it to the dry food. The cat slowly approaches it, feeling nervous in this new environment. It sniffs the food hesitantly, taking a tentative lick. Then another. Feeling safe enough to eat, it quickly digs in. Kuni smiles fondly, scratching it's head with nimble fingers.
"There you go…" he mumbles. He turns back to his two lovers, a sincere and grateful glint in his eyes.
"Thank you," he says quietly, almost nervous to be speaking so tenderly, "I can't believe you guys actually want to keep a cat, after so many refusals. I'm so—it's childish, but I'm just…thank you," he gives up on finding the proper words to express himself.
Lumine smiles softly, walking up and placing a gentle peck on Kuni's lips. He blushes, shrinking back.
"Don't thank us," she says, "we're just happy to see you so content. And, we thought the cat needed a home,"
"You are taking him to the vet, though," Ajax piques up, walking behind Kuni and pulling him into a loose embrace, tightening after a beat when the shorter man makes no move to escape.
"Way to ruin the mood…" Lumine mumbles. Ajax squawks, saying how he was just trying to ease out of the sappy moment for Kuni's sake. Kunikuzushi's mind was elsewhere, though. He feels touched that Lumine and Ajax agreed together to take in the cat, knowing that Kuni would be overjoyed. Today, Kuni realized something. He couldn't have chosen anyone better than the two people standing next to him to live his life with. He melts into Ajax's embrace, the pasta boiling on the stove slipping from his mind. Tomorrow, he'll take the cat to the vet, and purchase all the necessities and whatever else it would ever need.