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Waking up early in the weekend was something that Nature was all too used to. As amusing yet exhausting as it is, the redhead would at least like to sleep in a bit more before the exhausting weekday ahead but her marvelous alarm clock of a roommate had other ideas. Well… she actually hadn't heard Marvelous’s cheery voice in the early Sunday mornings anymore ever since the former Tracen Academy student graduated.
So how the heck was she getting woken up with the sun barely peeking through the windows?
Twack!
And there was her answer…
Reluctantly, Nature pried her eyes open to find a long swishy orange striped tail flicking right above her face. She groggily raised her head to find an orange cat resting himself on top of her.
“Maverick…?” Nature murmured.
The cat’s ears twitched upon hearing his name and he turned his head around towards his owner. Once Nature made eye contact with his wide green eyes, it was practically over for her. She might as well be laying on her deathbed right now.
Maverick meowed at her, as if he was saying good morning to the now wide awake uma.
“Seriously… you’re way too cute, Maverick…” Nature muttered as she raised her hands to stroke the cat’s back.
Maverick closed his eyes and purred as Nature continued to comb her fingers through his soft orange fur, his tail flicked in satisfaction. The redhead couldn’t help but let out a giggle, already feeling the weekend sleepiness lifting from her shoulders. Man… cats really are the cure to everything. If she could wake up every morning to this, she wouldn’t mind at all…
The redhead closed her eyes and sighed. Life can really be such a bliss sometimes. “You’re just the cutest thing in the world now aren't you…”
Suddenly, Maverick disappeared from under her hands and was replaced with something else soft. Nature wasn’t sure what it was but it certainly wasn’t cat fur anymore. The uma blinked her eyes back open to find a certain pouty girlfriend staring back at her. Nature’s hand was now entangled in the shorter uma’s orange hair instead.
With Maverick in her arms, Mayano puffed her cheeks out as she kept the cat away from Nature’s reach. Her orange ears were pressed on top of her head as her tail swished behind her in frustration.
“Oh shoot, did I wake you?” Nature said.
“That’s not important!!” her girlfriend huffed. She was glaring at Nature so hard that the redhead was sure that Mayano’s orange stare could pierce through her head.
But… the orange uma was probably having the opposite effect that she wanted. Nature couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from tugging into a grin. With a cute face like that, it was almost impossible to take her girlfriend seriously whenever she would try to look mad.
“Now, aren’t you awake early,” Nature hummed, purposefully avoiding the topic. Her thumb brushed against one of Mayano’s pinned ears. “Usually, you would be sleeping all the way until the afternoon.”
Mayano’s eyebrows twitched as a blush was growing on her face. “How can Maya sleep if you keep pulling stunts like this? On today of all days!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nature sat upright, causing Mayano to roll off her. The taller uma got out of bed and turned back to look at her grumpy girlfriend with a smile. “I’m gonna make breakfast. Since you’re awake, do you want anything?”
“You.”
Nature clamped her jaw shut, stomping down any signs of the flush creeping up her neck. Resting her palm on the sheets by her girlfriend’s head, Nature leaned down.
Mayano immediately flinched at the close proximity. Fiery red quickly flared on her cheeks as the uma laid there frozen.
Then, Nature took Maverick away from Mayano’s grip. Nature hopped up to properly hold the cat in her arms, a teasing grin growing back on her face. “Pancakes it is then.”
“Nature-chan…!”
Nature could barely contain her laughter as she walked out of the bedroom with Maverick, leaving Mayano absolutely dumbfounded.
She just can’t help it. It’s so fun to mess with her girlfriend like this.
~~~
“Landing! It’s Maverick-chan! Nice to meet you!”
Nature almost jumped from her seat when an orange kitty suddenly got up in her face. The redhead blinked rapidly as wide green eyes stared back at her.
Mayano lowered the cat with the largest grin on her face. “Tada! What do you think?”
The gears were still whirring in Nature’s head as she couldn’t tear her gaze from the kitten in her girlfriend’s arms. His orange ears flicked and he tilted his head as he looked back at her.
“Y-you got a kitty…?” Nature finally mustered.
“Yeah!” Mayano sat by Nature on the couch and set Maverick down on the redhead’s lap. The kitten quickly took a liking of his new spot and he rested his head on Nature’s knee. It took all of the taller uma’s willpower to not scream from cuteness aggression.
“We’ve been talking about wanting a cat since forever. Since it’s our anniversary, I thought we could add another member to our family!” Mayano continued. The orange tail wagged excitedly behind her
Nature’s ears rung on the word ‘family.’ Seriously, they aren’t even married but Mayano keeps talking about their relationship in such a sugary tone as if they were on a honeymoon. Well… scratch that, not married… yet…
“Maverick-chan's registered under my name but he’s all yours,” Mayano said, snapping Nature out from her absent thoughts, “I was thinking that he would be able to keep you company when Maya has to-” The orange uma flinched and then quickly shook her head to dismiss the thought from the conversation. “A-anyway! His name is kinda a placeholder so if you don’t like it, we can always change it.”
Nature glanced down at the kitty on her lap. His back went up and down as he slept. Slowly, she reached up to carefully pet him. His fur was really soft. “So does this mean his full name is Top Gun Maverick?”
Mayano blinked. “Yeah?”
“Pft-”
Mayano could only look on with a confused expression on her face as her girlfriend continued to laugh.
~~~
Mayano grumbled as she drummed her fingers against the kitchen counter. She slowly picked on her pancakes as she continued to sulk.
Nature sat on the other side of the table as she watched her pouty orange girlfriend. Her own plates were already in the kitchen sink so Maverick was in front of her instead. Even though Mayano was very much an adult now and also in college, she still sometimes threw these silly fits. It was something that never failed to be endearing to Nature.
And frankly, the redhead was able to see this grumpy side of her girlfriend more often ever since she brought home Maverick. It was a little ironic that it didn’t even take a week for a frown to grow on Mayano’s face whenever she saw Nature cuddling up with the cat. Those passing glances whenever the three were in the same room and the immediate clinginess to the taller uma once Maverick left to do usual cat things.
Even a block of bricks would be able to see her girlfriend’s jealousy. The irony of the whole situation and the cute way Mayano reacts was just a teasing opportunity that Nature couldn’t pass up. Today was no exception.
Of course, Nature didn’t forget what day it was today. Exactly a year ago was when they got Maverick after all.
And it was also their anniversary today.
Despite her jealousy, Mayano hadn’t really done anything to interfere with Nature from cozying up with her cat. Until today this sunday morning. Knowing this, Nature just couldn’t help herself but up her teasing in return. Though, that left Mayano a bit more crabby than usual.
The orange uma stood up with the empty plate in her hands and made her way to the kitchen sink.
A clacking of the plates followed by the sound of running water hit Nature’s ears as the uma continued to scratch Maverick’s head. The cat had his attention turned towards Mayano washing the dishes. Then, he glanced over at Nature, green wide eyes staring up at her as he meowed.
Of course he would catch whatever was going on.
“Yeah yeah… It’s our anniversary after all,” Nature sighed with a smile. She picked up the cat and set him down on the floor. Quickly, he trotted out the kitchen as Nature walked up to Mayano.
“Still sulking?” Nature said.
Cheeks puffed out.
Nature leaned over to try to catch her girlfriend’s amber eyes. “Mayano?”
“I’m not sulking…” Mayano mumbled as she turned her head away.
“Sure sure. Whatever you say. I’ll head over to the living room with Maverick then.”
Mayano quickly whipped her head towards the taller uma.
“Oh there, you’re looking at me again,” Nature laughed.
Mayano scanned the redhead’s face and glanced down, eyes widening once she realized there was no cat in Nature’s hands. “Where’s Maverick-chan?”
“Off to do his usual cat things,” Nature shrugged.
Mayano’s eyes continued to search Nature’s face before turning her attention back to the dishes, seemingly deep in thought. “...Is this because of my moping?”
Nature blinked, confused by the sudden shift in Mayano’s demeanor. It was completely different compared to her goofy grumbling. More serious. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Maya got him for a reason, after all,” Mayano said, refusing to look up from her dishes, “It’s good that you get along with him so well. Now, I won’t have to worry when I-”
“Mayano.”
Mayano’s shoulders stiffened.
Nature leaned against the kitchen counter, a frown growing on her face. “Why do you keep talking about getting Maverick as if he’s gonna replace you?”
The shorter uma stopped. The sound of the running water was the only thing that wasn’t quiet in the kitchen.
“Well… we’re graduating soon…” Mayano whispered, “I already got accepted for a pilot position at my dad’s airport last year and Maya would be starting right away. So it won’t be long until we’ll…”
Mayano’s words drifted off again. But Nature already knew what the orange uma was talking about. This conversation had been brought up time and time again in their college career after all. Mayano was planning to become a pilot just like her dad. But doing so would mean that she would only be home a handful of days per month. Or sometimes none at all. She and Nature won’t be able to be together as often anymore. They weren’t gonna break up. The couple wanted to at least try to stay together. After all, something like this was nothing new to them with Mayano and Nature still having great relationships with their respective dad and mom despite not being able to hang out with them as much as other kids normally would.
But still… this didn’t stop the ‘what-ifs’ from hanging around their heads. Especially with Mayano.
“You’re too important for me to forget about you because of a cat, or frankly anything. In fact, I don’t want to forget about you whenever you’re gone,” Nature said.
The redhead watched as Mayano’s breath hitched.
“It makes me feel a bit silly, you know? For you to think that I can be distracted that easily,” Nature continued.
Mayano snapped her head up. “I-I didn’t mean-”
“I know I know,” Nature chuckled, “Maverick is actually your way of apologizing, isn’t it?”
The orange uma flinched. “You… knew?”
“Of course… we’ve been dating for so long now. You typically take care of everything yourself because you don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. But if anything, it’s my fault. Your dream was to be a pilot way before I came into the picture.”
Mayano opened her mouth to speak but Nature quickly interrupted her.
“So what I am saying is that I’m responsible here too, okay?” She made sure that Mayano was looking at her before speaking again. “Let me miss you.”
The orange uma stared at Nature for a second or two before nodding, putting the last plate on the rack. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to talk about this again during our anniversary of all days.”
“Oh right, it’s our anniversary.”
“Don’t tell me that you forgot!!”
Nature let out a heartfelt laugh at the sight of Mayano reverting back to her usual whiney state. She stood up straight and pushed her girlfriend against the sink. Her arms were on either side of the orange uma trapping her.
A gasp escaped Mayano's lips as she staggered back with the little room that she had. Her bugged out amber eyes danced around Nature’s face as the flush down from her neck grew all the way up to her cheeks.
"Seriously… you’re way too cute for your own good..." Nature murmured, wearing the same shade of red on her own cheeks.
She didn't give Mayano a chance to reply as she sealed her lips with her own.
Nature might as well make up for all the attention she deprived Mayano of since this morning. It’s their anniversary after all.
And there will be more anniversaries to come.