Chapter Text
“Oh, Akito.”
He’s walking back with Toya from one of their lives — they’ve been doing pretty well for themselves lately, or Akito likes to think so. The jeers have calmed down, at least, and he doesn’t feel like he’s constantly on edge every time they step off stage.
They’re headed home, trying to make it back before the sun sets, but with how the neon lights of Vivid Street are beginning to flicker on around them, it’s unlikely that’ll happen.
Or — they were. Toya’s currently stopped a few paces behind him, looking at… the ground? Akito follows his gaze to see a tabby wandering past them, but when it makes eye contact with him, it stops and sprawls out on the concrete. Not a strange occurrence, considering the amount of strays that like to hang out here, but Akito’s a little surprised to realize he recognizes this one, with its orange and white spots.
Toya looks over at him too, and Akito feels like whatever is going to happen next, he has absolutely no choice in the matter. Not against those faces.
“What, you wanna pet it?” He scratches at his neck, glancing at the setting sun beyond them — a little detour wouldn’t hurt, probably.
It’s apparently the right thing to say, because Toya lights up (which is to say, his eyes widen a little) and goes “Can I?”
Akito scoffs. “You don’t gotta ask for permission. I’ve seen this little guy around before, actually. Though he’s usually pretty skittish around people…”
Doesn’t seem to faze Toya at all, considering he just squats down and extends his arm to the cat, gauging a response. Akito finds himself more interested in the tiny smile he wears than the cat, silhouette haloed in fading orange.
“Friendly, isn’t he?” Toya says, and Akito’s gaze snaps back to the cat currently butting its head against Toya’s hand. He’s not sure if Toya didn’t hear him just a few seconds ago or he’s just imagining things, but Akito’s pretty damn sure this is the same cat that scratched him the last time he tried to pet it.
(…Not that he makes a habit out of it or anything, because he definitely has better things to do than pet random cats on the side of the street, even if they’re really cute. Definitely.)
Doesn’t matter, anyway. “I guess? He didn’t like me that much. Maybe you’re just good with cats.”
“Oh, have you tried petting him before?”
Damn. Of course he’d ask that. “Maybe,” Akito says noncommittally, settling next to Toya. Either Toya’s really good at petting cats or Akito’s really bad at it, because the cat seems to lean into every movement of Toya’s hand; he scratches behind the ears, the back of its head and down to under its chin, then all the way back up again. Methodically, if Akito had to put a word to it. Toya’s oddly focused on this and that damn cat looks like it’s having the time of its life because of it.
“Akito,” Toya says again, looking over at him. “You’re making a face.”
“Huh?”
“Your brows were all furrowed.” A beat, and a glint passes over Toya’s eyes. “Were you jealous?”
“Wh—of what?!” Miraculously, Akito manages to not choke on air, but he does feel like he’s going to die anyway. There’s no way he’d be jealous of a fucking cat getting all this attention, because that’s lame as shit, even for him. It’s just a cat. It’s literally just a cat.
“Because you said he didn’t like you that much,” Toya continues, and Akito realizes he might have jumped to certain… conclusions, just a tiny bit, and the shame that comes with that is almost more embarrassing. “I thought you might feel bad since he’s being so friendly to me.”
Akito decides he’s had enough of this, so he stands back up, dusting his pants. “It’s just a cat,” and even though he’s saying it aloud it doesn’t feel any more true. “I don’t really care. C’mon, it’s already getting late.”
Toya huffs out a little half-laugh that Akito’s not really sure what to make of, but he pulls his hand back anyway. The cat chases his hand for a second, meowing impatiently when it realizes Toya’s leaving. “Bye, mister kitty,” he says, and Akito’s sure he made a face at that.
“‘Mister kitty’?” he asks as they’re walking away.
Toya shrugs. “You didn’t tell me a name.”
“Just come up with one yourself, then.” He’s looking straight ahead, but he can feel the weight of Toya’s gaze in his periphery.
“… Alright. I’ll come up with something.”
—
It’s not until later — much, much later that Toya decides to tell him what he ended up with. In fact, Toya has a feeling Akito forgot about that little encounter entirely.
They’re relaxing in Akito’s room, with Akito resting his head in Toya’s lap, hands folded atop his chest as he tries to nap. Toya’s got a book in one hand, the other carefully carding through Akito’s hair.
His hand drops a little bit, scratching Akito behind the ear in an absentminded gesture, hand trailing back up before returning again. Somehow, neither of them notice, their thoughts elsewhere.
But around the third or fourth chapter, he begins to lose focus on the novel. He might’ve imagined it, but he thought he heard Akito make a noise. His hand settles behind Akito’s ear again and — there it is. It’s a low, quiet grumble, and it’s only if Toya scratches in this one specific spot.
There’s no way he’s going to be able to finish reading that book, not when there’s something more interesting holding his attention, so he sets it aside to better look at Akito. He moves his hand a little and watches how Akito naturally follows, head leaning up to meet his hand, and that’s when the realization hits him.
It sounds like purring. That’s what it is.
He manages to stifle the quiet laugh that comes with the thought, not wanting to disturb their peace in wake of it. But a part of him wants to push his luck a bit.
So he shifts his hand a little lower, scratching under Akito’s chin as he would a cat’s, and he gets another grumble in reply — just this time, a properly disgruntled one. “Feels weird,” Akito mumbles, grogginess evident in how his words seem to blend together. “What’re you doing?”
“Nothing,” he answers a little too amusedly as he continues his ministrations. Akito, observant as ever even through a haze of sleep, picks up on it immediately.
“The hell are you laughing at,” Akito says, and Toya thinks he can see the exact moment it clicks for Akito too, watching his forehead scrunch up. “Hey, ‘m not a fuckin’ cat. Cut that out.”
“You purr like one,” Toya says. Akito raises a hand to hit him square in the chest, knocking a wheeze out of him.
“Oi.”
It’s a warning but an ultimately harmless one, because Akito’s still leaning into him and doesn’t make any attempt to move. Toya returns his hand to that spot behind his ear and amuses himself with the little purr-grumble he receives.
“Do you remember that cat I saw on Vivid Street?” He pulls his hand back to get a little more comfortable and Akito mumbles out something a little closer to words this time, angling his head up to chase it.
“Lotta those,” Akito says airily. He nuzzles back into Toya’s hand and the sight makes his heart clench.
“Yeah, but the one I said I’d name. The little tabby. You know what I named it?”
“What?”
“Akito. It reminded me of you.”
“… What?”
He’d thought about it when he first saw it, honestly, but his suspicions were only solidified with Akito’s words that day. “You said he didn’t really like people, but he warmed up to me really quickly.” He’ll save the mentions of Akito’s own cat-like tendencies to save himself from another knock to the chest. “And he was orange.”
Akito huffs from below him. “Asshole, is that all I am to you? An orange cat.” Toya’s hand stills as he brings up the other to cover his grin. “Hey, I didn’t say stop.”
He resumes, not wanting to be on the receiving end of a grumpy Akito. “Sorry, sorry. But you’re a very cute cat.”
That gets Akito to finally open his eyes, and… actually, this might be the most flustered Toya’s seen him in a while, lips pressed into a pout and red coloring him up to his ears. Just like he said — cute. Immeasurably so.
“What do I even say to that…” Akito mutters under his breath, shutting his eyes again. “‘m going back to sleep.”
“Sweet dreams,” he says, to which he earns yet another huff.
There’s a lot more he wants to say, like how endearing he finds all of this or how grateful he is that Akito’s willing to share this side of him, but it can wait. For what, he doesn’t really know; there’s a good chance Toya will end up keeping these thoughts to himself anyway. So for now, he’ll simply treasure the moment, another lovely part of an already perfect evening.