Chapter Text
"You really do need to find more friends."
Abolish scrunched up his nose at her, fighting the urge to melt into the couch cushions until he disappeared entirely. They were over at his house this week, since they'd been at Apo's last time, his friend sitting across from him in a different seat with her knees pulled up to her chest. She raised an eyebrow, continuing, "I mean it. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but as much as I love being your friend, it's a bit lonely being your only friend."
A sigh left him, squeezing his hands a bit tighter together in his lap. This wasn't the first time they'd brought this up to him, and he doubted it'd be the last, but that didn't make it any easier each time. "I mean, you're not my only friend."
"Tolerating the other guards doesn't count," Apo countered, pointing a finger at him. "I know you're scared of talking to people, but surely you can find at least one friend or something. You're always welcome to come hang out with mine."
As tempting as it sounded to have more than just one person to talk to, Apo's friends were… well, they were her friends and not his for a reason. The few times he'd tried to spend time with them, he'd felt awkward and completely out of place like he usually did around people. There was maybe one person he felt better around, at least, but they'd been missing for weeks now so there wasn't much he could do there.
And speaking of them, he wasn't sure how Apo seemed so calm about their absense. No one had any idea where Princess Cherri was and she'd hardly even brought it up once - of course, he had no way to know what was going on in her head, but it certainly seemed like she was perfectly fine with it. Her behavior was especially off considering everyone in the kingdom was well aware she and Cherri were in love with each other, if they weren't already dating in secret.
But there wasn't a good way to tell Apo any of that, and he'd rather not upset her by telling her he felt excluded around her friends in the first place, because it wasn't her fault really. So, instead, he sighed, "Yeah, I'll think about it. I'm really fine, though."
He didn't think about it much. In fact, he didn't have the time to spare her suggestion another thought for a while, quickly getting caught up with work and trying to deal with the newest recruits - since as one of the more experienced Moon Knights, it was his job to get all of them trained and settled into their new jobs. Even when he'd really rather be doing anything else besides lecturing teenagers who barely knew how to put their armor on properly.
The second he got his armor off four days later, he collapsed into his bed with a heavy sigh. At least he'd gotten surgery on his chest a year or two ago so he didn't have to worry about that anymore; his lungs certainly felt a lot less strained now. But exhaustion was still weighing down on him, the rain tapping against his window not helping in the slightest, to the point where he almost didn't hear the noise just above the storm.
Then his eyes fluttered open to the sound of something batting at his window, thumping against the glass harder than the water was. Propping himself up on his elbows, he squinted in the darkness, just barely able to make out the vague shape of some sort of animal - a cat?
The mattress creaked beneath him as he moved, before he was standing in front of the window, fumbling to unlock it and throw it open. As cold and emotionless as everyone thought he was - as much as he tried to be - there was no way he'd ever let a poor little kitten stand outside in the thunder and lightning, especially not one begging to come inside like this. Rain sprayed into the room as he reached out and hooked his hands beneath the cat's front legs, lifting it up and bringing it close to his chest.
When the window shut, he found himself standing in the middle of his unlit bedroom, wrapping his arms tight around the tiny, shivering animal. Its fur, various shades of brown and orange with patches of white, was completely soaked through and sticking out in every direction. He couldn't be bothered with his own clothes getting wet at the moment, instead focusing his attention on searching through his drawers for a spare blanket to dry the poor thing off with.
"How'd you get out there?" he wondered aloud, voice barely audible to even himself while he tucked the fluffy blue blanket around the cat. It simply stared up at him with its big sapphire eyes, completely silent. As he dried off its fur, he noted that one eye had an old scar running through it; maybe it wasn't as young as he'd thought it was.
Despite his own confusion, he had a feeling someone had either lost track of their outdoor cat or had abandoned it on purpose. Either way, the owner was clearly irresponsible at the very least, not even putting a collar on it, so it was his now. He was mostly sure that it was fine for him to own a pet, although what everyone else didn't know couldn't hurt them anyway.
"Poor thing." Sitting down on the bed, he cuddled it close to his chest again, running his nails behind one of its ears. There were small fluffy tufts at the tops of each; he brushed one between his thumb and forefinger. The cat seemed unbothered by all the touch - he swore he could hear it purring softly already. Pressing his nose to the top of its head, he whispered, "I'll get you some food in the morning, alright? It's late. And I don't really feel like going out in the rain."
It shifted in his hold as he laid down, but it only tucked itself closer to him until its head was pressing under his chin. He was sure it was purring now, able to feel the gentle vibrations even through the blanket wrapped around it, sinking deep into his chest until he was already beginning to drift off after hardly thirty seconds. Even though part of his brain urged him to fight off his exhaustion like it always did, he was far too tired for that tonight.
His last thought before he fell asleep entirely was that he hoped Apo would be happy he had another friend now, even if he was sure this wasn't what they'd meant.