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Morgana had decided to sneak off for a bit while Akira was bussing dishes in the first floor of Leblanc. As much as he hated being a cat, he loved the fact that he was able to sneak around super quietly. The entire first floor of the building smelled strongly of coffee, almost to the point of burning his oversensitive feline nose. He dipped underneath vacant tables, slipped between barstools, and then jetted out of the door between a customer’s feet when they opened the door.
The weather outside was getting a little cool. The sparse trees that were planted by humans along the side of the road to remind people that they really were surrounded by a concrete coffin had leaves turning varying shades of red, yellow, and orange. A thought flitted through Morgana’s head that it would be more satisfying to crunch the leaves under his feet if they were, well, actually feet. Fall was in full bloom and the only way to truly feel warm was to stay directly in the sunlight—or in Morgana’s case, directly in the light of Ryuji. He’d been keeping this little secret from Akira for a while, half because of the teasing he would get and half because he was embarrassed to admit what was going on between him and the blond. Morgana bobbed and weaved through the city’s backstreets on the way to Ryuji’s small apartment. The little heart in his chest thumped as the building came into view, and he was sure if his paws could sweat that they would be. Ryuji wasn’t expecting him per se, but their meetings like this had become so frequent that every day almost seemed like an invitation.
As he trotted along the side of the street, dodging people’s steps and scurrying past a dog that didn’t look too happy to see him, he could see that Ryuji’s bedroom window was open and the soft, sheer curtains were billowing softly from the gentle breeze. The black cat hopped from an unsteady trashcan lid, to an air conditioner that was on that vibrated beneath his paws, and finally to the sill of Ryuji’s three-story window. When his white-coated paws pulled himself up, he caught that oh-so comforting whiff of Ryuji’s scent although he wasn’t in the room. The room was small but cozy nonetheless. Right under the window was the thin frame of Ryuji’s bed and the soft mattress that Morgana had become accustomed to. Books and crumpled up papers of math equations gone wrong lay scattered on the floor around his desk. A little smile graced the cat’s lips as he silently dropped down onto the bed. He wasted no time curling over onto his back and sprawling into the soft, plush blankets that smelled even more like home than Akira. His ears drooped comfortably and he turned his small head into the covers and inhaled as much as his tiny lungs would let him, expelling a quiet sigh afterwards.
It wasn’t long however before Ryuji’s thudding, heavy footsteps made Morgana’s black ears flick. When Ryuji pushed the bedroom door open and saw the small black and white cat curled up in his bed his whole demeanor softened.
“Ryuji…” Morgana purred, lifting his head from the bed, looking as softly disheveled as a cat could.
Ryuji’s heart gave way to the romantic palpitations he always had when he saw the fuzzy, little thing, his voice tender and not as rambunctious as it usually was. “Hey, Mona…” He said as he crawled into bed gently as to not disturb Morgana’s resting spot. “How long’ve you been here?”
Morgana let his head rest back down on the bed, his body slowly approaching semi-circle formation. “Not long. Just long enough to get comfortable. Where were you?”
“Doin’ some dishes before mom gets home later.” He rested his hand on the side of Morgana’s slim body, feeling smooth fur and the shallow rise and fall of his chest as he breathes.
Morgana sighed out a chuckle. “You’re a good boy.”
Ryuji rolled his eyes and smirked. “Whatever… Get up here.” He tucked his hands underneath Morgana’s arms and pulled him up until they were facing each other. “What’ve you been up to?”
Morgana smiled, feeling the wisps of Ryuji’s breath against his whiskers. “Ah, Akira’s been pretty quiet the last few days.” He stretched, his pink paw pads pushing against Ryuji’s cheeks.
Ryuji smiled, let him talk, feeling sharp claws poke against his face gently.
Morgana continued. “I think there’s a test coming up soon or something. He hasn’t given me much attention the last few days. He probably won’t even notice I’m out.”
“Good…” Ryuji said, nuzzling into the cat’s face and kissing where soft gray whiskers leapt from the corner of his mouth. “Guess that means I get you all to myself.”
Morgana’s heart skipped a beat. Ryuji’s kissed on him before, sure, but he never got used to it. Nervousness bubbled into his stomach and he made a tiny mewling sound while he felt Ryuji’s lips kiss his face, the corner of his blue eyes, and soft ears that were starting to lay back.
Ryuji pulled away a little and smiled. “Why’re you all nervous?” He rubbed at Morgana’s ears until they relaxed some. “Y’know, I can always tell how you’re feelin’ based on your ears.” Ryuji almost felt a little proud of his “perceptiveness.”
Morgana’s eyes flitted away. “It still just feels a little weird…”
Morgana and Ryuji had cultivated this odd pseudorelationship outside of how they usually acted when the Phantom Thieves were collectively together. They still shared the sharp, almost painful quips with each other from time to time, but somewhere along the way both of them realized they had some connection, some spark, between them. They had long since had talks about how a boy being with a cat was weird and how they would probably never tell the others, but that still didn’t alleviate all of Morgana’s grounded anxieties in how he was physically portrayed and how he felt.
Ryuji got a little quiet. Morgana sat up on his haunches, hung his head and shook it from side to side slightly.
“I-I’m a cat, Ryuji.” Morgana’s voice laced with a certain self-loathing that even dim Ryuji was able to identify. “What are you doing with yourself being with me?”
“We’ve been through this, Mona.” Ryuji propped his head up on his arm, keeping his gaze on the cat. “It don’t matter.” Ryuji’s voice was kind.
Morgana felt a strange lump take his throat by a stranglehold making it hard to talk. He wasn’t sure if he could cry—he never let himself get to that point to begin with—but he imagined this is how it felt to really be on the edge of it. “I promise…” Morgana spit out the same phrase he always did when he was feeling down about his own existence. “When I’m human again, all of this will be normal and I’ll be normal and—”
“You’re normal already, dummy.” Ryuji rolled his eyes and plopped a heavy hand on Morgana’s furry head. “Sure, all this shit ‘tween us is a lil… unorthodox, but it don’t matter. I like you no matter what shape you come in.”
Ryuji’s smile was so genuine that Morgana swore he could feel his eyes water and the image of the blond reflected in his eyes blur a little. It was hard to believe that the same boy who once called him a stupid cat now loved him regardless of the fact that he was one. Morgana rubbed his face against Ryuji’s cheek, a grateful purr catching in his small throat. Ryuji just chuckled and pulled the little, black thing close again.
“Thanks, Ryuchan.”
The nickname gave Ryuji butterflies.
“Anytime, kitten.”
Morgana let the petname wash over him in stride, accepting his current place in the world and telling himself to learn to enjoy this sort of moment.
“Will you still call me ‘kitten’ when I’m human?” He asked, leaving soft lovebites on Ryuji’s fingers as he traced around his collar and shoulders.
Ryuji almost grinned, almost smirked. “Why? You like it?”
Truth be told, he almost really did. He was sure if cats could blush, he would be right now. “Just answer the question before I really bite you…” Was all he could muster instead of admission.
“Yeah, I will… whether you like it or not.” Ryuji snorted.
Morgana’s ears laid back flat and he chomped sharply on Ryuji’s index finger.
“Ow, ow, ow! You bad fuckin’ cat!” He griped through the pain until a soft chuckle left his lips—he couldn’t stay mad at the little feline with the sharp, beautiful blue eyes. “C’mere, you…!” He pushed Morgana to the bed, tickling up his sides and causing the cat to let out the cutest slew of meows Ryuji had ever heard in his life.
“Stop, stop!” Morgana begged through a chirp, almost tempted to bite and scratch the boy he had started to love. He hated that he had begun to laugh, started to enjoy it when it was his specialty to be standoffish and aloof.
Ryuji just smiled and rubbed the cat all over before he became too oversensitive, placing those uncharacteristically gentle kisses along his head and face again. This time Morgana let it happen, let himself enjoy it like he knows he wants to. The cat sighed softly, purred, and stretched out his front legs so they rested relaxedly on Ryuji’s neck. There they laid in the soft, warm September sunlight for hours—Morgana nuzzling Ryuji’s cheek and giving him sparse licks against the lips while Ryuji returned the affectionate behavior by rubbing Morgana behind the ears and kissing his nose and little mouth on occasion. Small flocks of birds chirped in the distance, and the hustle and bustle of residential Tokyo seemed far away to the two boys who just stayed curled up around each other for the rest of the early, fall day.