#catboy!xiao

[vermillionbun]

A kitten’s savior 1/2

Catboy!Xiao x reader

Warning: a bit of swearing, blood, suggestions of past abuse, on the angstier side on the first part(I promise it’ll get better in the next part scratch that, in the future)

Part 2

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Cold. Pain. Lonely. Betrayed. That’s what Xiao felt. His last owner promised they wouldn’t abandon him too. He was always tossed around. Too aggressive. Too cold. Too overprotective. That’s what they all said, except his last owner. Or so he thought.

They always pet his head, reassuring him that they won’t leave. Scratching under his chin while cooing at him, spilling praises of how good he’s been at protecting the house from mice and other invasive pests. Yet, one unfateful day, he woke up to his owner pacing around in the living room, talking over the phone with someone unknown to him. ‘Possibly a friend?’ he had thought at the time. ‘But why did they seem mad?’ was his next thought.

“Seriously, do I HAVE to keep him? He’s so annoying. He’s always so clingy all the time and won’t stop following me every second I’m home. Not only that, but no matter how much I trim them, his claws always grow back at an alarming speed and they hurt like shit! Like, c’mon, I cut them off 3 days ago and when he went to grab onto my hand I ended up with several bloody cuts! Sure, he may be useful to catch rats, mice and other insects, but I cannot DEAL with this pest anymore! I’m putting him down tomorrow. It’s better for everyone if he didn’t exist”.

That was it. That’s what confirmed his suspicions and he bolted through the closest window. Glass shattering echoed throughout the house, alerting any living being inside of what happened. His owner, if they can even be called that now, knew it was hopeless to chase after Xiao, so they let it be, huffing in annoyance about having to get the window fixed.

Xiao had already seen his owner getting more and more irritated by the day. His gut feeling was screaming at him that it was HIS fault. HE was the source of their irritation, but Xiao ignored it. He didn’t want to believe it, the person who he trusted, who finally gave him the affection he craved, lied straight to his face, but reality always catches up to everyone at some point, even to Xiao.

Tears clouding his eyes, he didn’t know where he was going, nor did he care. Anywhere was better from where he was previously. Despite the blood trickling down his fur and rain stinging on his wounds and making his fur even heavier, he ran with the wind. To the common eye it would just look like a black and green blur, a blur going between and over any obstacles in it’s way. But eventually the adrenaline wore off and the hunger and exhaustion from the panic and running settled in.

He layed down on the cold concrete under the top of an open trashcan to shelter from the rain. His wounds stung as they potentially got infected from the dirty ground, but there wasn’t much he could do. Every muscle in his small feline body was screaming, fur matted with blood uncomfortably sticking to his flesh, but he didn’t have the energy to do anything about it, or anything for that matter. Xiao slowly succumbed to slumber as a small pool of blood was pooling around him.

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You were going home back from work, an umbrella in hand shielding you from the rain. You had earbuds in your ears, blasting music to make the trip back home a bit more interesting.

You passed by a small supermarket, reminding you that you’ll have to go shopping to restock the fridge soon. Lost in thought, making a mental list of what you’d need to buy off the top of your head, a strong washed out metallic smell hits you. You look around, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone injured on your front or sides, so you turn around going a few steps back to the supermarket you just passed. The closer you got the stronger and clearer the smell got. 

Right next to the supermarket there’s an open trashcan, but the sight bellow the hanging lid is what horrified you. There layed a small black and green kitten with a vibrant red fur around it’s eyelids. It layed in small pool of it’s own blood, some small gashes gushing blood and others being clogged by pieces of glass.

You reach a hand out, placing it near the kittens neck searching for a pulse, which it thankfully had, albeit a slow one. A small sigh escapes your lips as hope of saving the small feline’s life shines in your eyes as you pull out your phone and search up on google maps where the closest vet is. To your luck, the closest was a 10 min walk away from you.

Gently picking up and cradling the cat in your arms, you ran faster than you ever thought you could, desperately hoping to get to the vet in time to save the small creature in your arms.

[itsirion]

I’m officially obsessed 😩✋

[vermillionbun]

A kitten’s savior 2/2

Catboy!Xiao x reader

Warnings: I don’t think there’s anything too graphic here

Part 1 ; Bonus: Xiao’s point of view

P.s. I have little to no idea how things actually go when it comes to medical procedures with cats or any animals for that matter, so don’t take anything I’ve written too serious. Everything is what I think would be logical, but I could very VERY wrong, so apologies for potential mistakes.

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    It’s been two weeks now since you found the black and green feline in front of the supermarket. The veterinarians immediately cleaned the kitten from the blood, glass and dirt and disinfected his wounds, before stitching the deeper gashes and wrapping him in bandages. Despite his seemingly frail appearance he made a very fast recovery, most of his wounds closing within a week, even if not fully healed. 

    After a week the veterinarians let you have him, since you didn’t have the heart to just leave him, with instructions of what to do. He’s still recovering after all, so you have to change the bandages everyday for hygiene and give him medicine. Thankfully, he was left with you also, because he kept waking up and falling asleep again. If he didn’t keep on repeatedly waking up his stay at the vet would have to be extended, you couldn’t feed an unconscious kitten after all.

    When he woke up, it was always frantic, panic written all over the small feline’s face and hair risen, but you found a way around it. Back at the vet the doctors found a fairly worn out and a bit ripped collar with a tag with the name “Xiao” on it. A small smile appeared on your face, while remembering the first time he woke up in your care.    

    You walked into your room, with a glass and bottle of water, some tuna from the vet that’s especially made to not disturb the stomach of cats when they’ve been found starved, a spoon and medicine to lessen the pain of the left-over wounds. You were hoping that him waking up, even if for a short while, was true. He hasn’t woken up since the last time the vets saw him up and you had to give him at least SOME food and water. You placed them on the nightstand and sat next to the kitten to wait and watch over for anything unusual potentially happening. And something unusual did happen, much to your luck and dismay. 

    He suddenly sprung up, a small barely audible hiss leaving his parched throat from the pain of his wounds. Panic was evident, he started trembling and turning his head frantically left and right. 

    Panic also struck you too. What were you supposed to do? The doctors never said anything about this! 

    Hesitantly, you reached out with a small whisper of his name. “Xiao”. His head snapped towards you, ears slightly lowering in regret of the fast movement. His blazing amber eyes followed your every move. It was obvious he felt like prey cornered by a predator. You extended one of your hands almost flat against the mattress of your bed, where both of you currently were. With slow movement, you continued reaching towards him with small reassurances of his safety. “It’s going to be okay Xiao. Everything is alright now. You’re safe”. When your fingers started reaching his face you halted to let him sniff you, which he did. Taking in your smell, the feline watched out for any sudden movement. Your scent seemed to put him a bit at ease. ‘Is it because it’s not someone he’s expecting? Who would be that horrible’ you thought, but was quickly snapped out of thoughts as he gently nuzzled you a bit, with a desperate look in his eyes and a meekly mew. He was hungry, thirsty and in pain, he was desperate for ANY help at this point. 

    You took the small shot glass you poured water for him into and put it in front of him. After sniffing the water he immediately gulps it down. Fast laps and splashing of water filling the silence as Xiao drank it up. In seconds the water was gone, but it was obvious that he wanted, no, NEEDED more. You took the water bottle and filled the cup again, letting the kitten drink more. 

    While he continued to drink more water, you decided to open the can of tuna to see if you can get him to eat, even if it’s just a little. A sharp noise echoed through the room of the can opening, making Xiao freeze, amber eyes staring into your soul. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s just food I promise. See?” you said in the same gentle whisper you used earlier, while bringing the now opened can closer for him to examine.

    After deeming the can of tuna safe, his posture relaxed a bit again and tried to eat some of it, struggling a bit. To make it easier for him you took the spoon you brought and scooped a bit and placed it in front of him. Xiao started to lick what was on the spoon, slowly, but surely, getting it into his mouth and slowly chewing on the tuna, before swallowing. You repeated that again and again until half of the can was empty. It seemed like Xiao couldn’t eat anymore, dare you say he may have over-eaten a little for a first time eating properly in a while. Lastly, now came the hardest thing, the medicine. While most cats aren’t opposed to the taste, you had to keep his mouth open to pour 3 drops into his mouth and you weren’t sure if you could. You’ve already seen his teeth. Sharp and dangerous was the first thing that came to mind. If it wasn’t for the fact that the feline was weakened he could probably bite your fingers off if he wanted to.

    Taking a deep breath, you braced yourself for the potential bite you were gonna receive. There wasn’t much you could do, you had to give him the medicine. “I’m sorry…” you muttered, before prying open his mouth with two fingers and placing your other three fingers behind his neck to keep him in place. Panic struck the originally fairly relaxed amber eyes, fear pooling in by the second. He struggled in your grasp, but the pain from his leftover injuries and the soreness of not using his muscles was too much so he quickly went limp, closing his eyes and bracing for potential impact.

    Saddened, you poured three drops down his throat as fast as possible and and let his jaw go, slowly stroking from his head to mid back and again. “It’s alright, it’s over. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry”. Hushed apologies left your lips as you tried to soothe the shaking cat. He looked up at you, a bit of betrayal glazing his wide opened eyes. You continued to apologize and gently pet him in hopes that he would forgive you. Little by little he relaxed and went back to sleep, lulled into slumber by the soothing motion of your hand.

    Looking back at it, there probably was a better way to give him the medicine, but there’s no going back now. As days passed he got accustomed to you and let you do as you wish even if still a bit wary. Seems like he figured you weren’t trying to cause him harm. He also started staying up for longer periods instead of immediately falling back asleep after medicine like he used to and started to eat in normal quantities.

   You were in front of your apartment door back from work. As much as you didn’t want to leave him alone you could only afford a week at best off of work, which you used to watch over him when he was at his worst. You tried calling a friend over to watch over him once during his recovery last week and it didn’t go too well. Safe to say you’re the only one he doesn’t scratch at a moment’s notice when you approach.

    Opening your door, you enter and lock it behind you, taking your shoes off and walking to your bedroom to check on Xiao. He seems quite fond of that room now that you think about it. He has been to the other rooms, but most of his time is spent bundled up in your sheets.

    Going into your room, you expect to see a small black and green cat tangled in your sheets again, but to your surprise there’s a relatively young man with black hair and green at the tips covered with your sheets, but there were two things that stood out to you. The first were his eyes. Glowing amber eyes staring at you, a red eye-liner lining his eyelids. Eyes you most definitely couldn’t mistake. At first it would seem unbelievable, but your gut screamed that that was the kitten you saved. That was Xiao. And even if you didn’t listen to your gut, the cat ears on his head and tail popping out from under the sheets most definitely convinced you.

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Quick question for anyone who made it to here, should I write this part from Xiao’s point of view?

[vermillionbun]

A cat’s perspective

Thank you to everyone who read the last parts <3 I appreciate the comments and reblogs. 

Warning: A lot of panic. Like A LOT. Kinda feel bad for Xiao ngl TvT

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I’m not sure what happened, but when I gained consciousness again I felt cold and restrained. Sure, I was on cold and dirty concrete if I remember correctly, but this was different. It was still cold, but it felt smooth. ‘Wait, it feels like metal!? Why would I be laying on metal!’.

The more I came to the more my senses returned. Suddenly a strong smell, no, smells hit. I don’t know what they are, but they’re very overwhelming. “HISS!!!”. A very strong, stinging smell stood out from the others. It was strong enough to make my nose feel like it’s on fire. ‘Wait, IS IT ON ME!!!’. Whatever that smell was seems to be coming from beneath the white cloth thing that was wrapped around me.

I tried to claw at it and take it off, but out of nowhere my whole body started to ache. Unbearable pain successfully ripping a scream out of me, but that made me hurt even more. I want to make it stop, I HAVE to, but I can’t. I can feel my whole body convulsing, pain pulsating through every nerve I have.

I couldn’t take it anymore. All I heard was faint footsteps, before everything went black.

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I don’t know how long I’ve been here. I’ve been going in and out of it, so perception of time is lost to me. All I know is that every time I open my eyes, blazing white light always blinds me, probably the lights on the ceiling. Whoever the people here are try to make me drink water every time I’m awake, can’t say I don’t feel thirsty every time too. They haven’t given me any food though, but I don’t really feel that hungry to be completely honest. Wonder if it has something to do with the plastic tube stuck under what the people in white coats called ’’bandages’’. It’s also connected to a plastic bag full of liquid that’s hanging on a metal pole.

After drinking water again I went back into unconsciousness. Admittedly I could’ve stayed up for longer, but I had no reason to. The lights burned my eyes and everything is the same as always.

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I’m gaining consciousness again. As expected, I could feel the strong lights… wait. The lights felt different, even with my eyes closed. It feels softer and more mellow, not as strong and blinding as the previous one. And the smell around me, it was different. It wasn’t the suffocating combinations of smells as before. Whatever was on me under the bandages still smelled, but it wasn’t as potent. Maybe less was added? But the new smell overwhelmed my senses. It was… kind of comforting. The first thing that stood out was the smell of honey and milk? It wasn’t too strong, but it stood out enough to be distinguished from whatever was the other one. It smells like…a person perhaps? People do have different yet similar natural smells, no matter how much scented products they use.

Oh, and now there’s footsteps… ‘Wait. THERE’S FOOTSTEPS AND THE SCENT OF AN UNKNOWN PERSON!!!”. How could I be so foolish. My eyes snap open and my muscles tensed. Sadly it seems that my wounds haven’t fully healed yet, but the pain doesn’t hurt as much as the first time. No matter, I don’t have time to focus on the pain, I started to take in my surroundings. I can’t make out a lot yet. My head is fuzzy and panic is overtaking any rational thoughts. ”Xiao”. I snapped my head towards the voice. ‘How did they know my name’. Suddenly I notice I’m trembling. ‘Huh, wonder how long I’ve been shaking for’.

Returning to the person in front of me. The same human scent and honey and milk was coming from them. That means that this is probably their room. Their hand started to reach towards me. “It’s going to be okay Xiao. Everything is alright now. You’re safe”. It was going at a slow pace, almost flat against the soft cushion beneath us or whatever it is. Their hand stops a bit in front of my face. ‘Wait…does she not know?’. It seems that this human thinks that I’m just an everyday cat. ‘I suppose I’ll have to play along for now’.

I take a quick sniff to make it convincing and I start rubbing my head against their palm. The panic from earlier started to fade and the uncomfortable feeling of my tense muscles and wounds made itself even more present along with hunger and thirst. ‘Hopefully they’ll get the message’.

They reach to their side where my vision is blocked by a pillow, unfortunately. My ears stand up. ‘Is that water pouring?’. I hear a liquid getting poured into a glass. They bring a small glass in front of me and set it down. ‘Huh, I think my last owner almost hit me with a few of those at some point. Wonder what they’re called’, but I don’t ponder it for long. I start drinking the water. Feeling the cool liquid going down my throat feels quite nice… ‘Never realized how warm I actually am’.

After I drank my water she took the glass and refilled it and returned it at it’s previous placement, letting me continue drinking water. “TSSS!!!”. A sudden loud noise grabbed my attention. ‘Was that… a can?’. I lift my eyes up, halting any movement. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s just food I promise. See?”. They brought it closer to me, letting me examine the content of the can. By scent alone, it smells like tuna. While fish may not be my favorite food, currently anything sounds good.

My mouth waters a little as I stretch my neck a bit to eat. Or at least try. The tuna is very tightly contained and it’s difficult to bite a piece off, so I start to lick it, trying to see if there’s any crack I can grip onto and rip a piece off.

Their hand with the can drew back. ‘Wait, no no no no! I promise to be faster, please!’, but before I could make any noise they placed a spoon in front me with some of the tuna on it. I start licking it, slowly moving it in my mouth and chewing on it, relieved that they didn’t take away the food as I originally thought.

They kept scooping more of the tuna and letting me eat it a little by little until I couldn’t eat anymore. ‘Tch…Damn it, I may have overeaten’. I was full and tired from all of the movement. This is probably the most moving around I’ve done in a while. ‘I’ll have to get used to moving more when I can get up again’, I thought, frowning internally.

“I’m sorry…”. ‘Huh? What are they apologizing for-!?’. Two fingers pry my mouth open and the rest of their hand grabs me by the neck. All alarms go off in my head. What are they doing? Why are they doing this? ‘Let go. LET GO. LET GO!!!’. I went to claw at them, but the sudden pain shocks my senses. ‘No no no no! I can’t move!!!... Is is this it?’. I don’t know anything anymore. They seemed so nice, so gentle. I should’ve learned by now, appearances are always deceiving.

I shut my eyes, bracing myself for whatever comes next… But nothing happens. A weird tasting liquid is dripped into my mouth that I’m forced to swallow and they let me go. I drop my head low, now aware of my whole body shaking. “It’s alright, it’s over. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry”. Repeating apologies fall out of their mouth as they start to gently pet my head.

‘I don’t understand anything anymore. I give up…’. I don’t have any energy or care left. I’m too tired from this whole rollercoaster of events nor do I want to deal with it right now.

Little by little I lose consciousness, dragged into a black void, bound to later contort into a dream or a nightmare, most likely the latter.

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Taglist, as requested: @vault-of-reblogs @sweet-almonds

[vermillionbun]

Daily life

A couple of head-canons for our lovely catboy <3

Warnings: none, only fluff.(Ok, the word asshole was used once and there is a mention of violence in one of the paragraphs, but it's nothing graphic)

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Cuddling:

Xiao loves them, that much is obvious, but is he willing to ask for them? Yeeaahh, no. Not at first at least. While he’s indeed grateful for taking care of him, trust issues don’t disappear out of nowhere after all. At first he was always a bit tense. Sure, he let you get close to him, but he was always cautious, so you had to always use slow movements and describe what you’re doing and/or going to do.

After a while of living together he got comfortable and little by little he started seeking you out for cuddling or just to lay on your lap to feel your warmth. He may not voice it but he adores your scent and body warmth. It makes him feel at ease and even a bit floaty(you know that feeling when you’re so comfortable that you feel like you’re floating on clouds, yeah, that’s what he felt).

Sadly, Xiao never really has the courage to verbally ask you for any sort of pets, hugs or affection in general, but he does something else that you(and me) find adorable.

If he’s in his cat form, he comes up to you and gently paws at wherever he can reach(mostly your legs, but if you’re sitting or laying down he’ll paw at your arms or shirt) and if you’re lucky he might rub his head against you and let out a low mew to try and get your attention.

Later on, when he’s comfortable enough to be in his catboy form around you, when he wants hugs he’ll either gently tug at your shirt or tap your shoulder to get your attention and give you a pleading glance and look away a bit embarrassed.

Bonus: If he wants cuddles, but you have to leave for work or to run errands, he’ll turn into his catboy form and hug you from behind, asking you to stay as he wraps his tail around one of your legs. If you’re going to work you’ll turn around and give him a quick squeeze and a few kisses on his cheek, apologizing that you couldn’t stay, and parting from him with a promise to cuddle when you come back and to make him almond tofu. BUT, if you’re going out for errands, well, it can wait a couple of hours. Bonus points if you work from home, cuz he can sit on your lap in his cat form while you work. 

Feeding:

Xiao is what people would often refer to as a picky eater. His top favorite food is almond tofu and a close second is tuna and fish in general, but that’s about it.

He prefers to avoid fruits and vegetables for either being too dry, having too much flavor, being too sweet, having a bad texture and so on. You can usually bribe him into eating vegetables and some fruit with affection and almond tofu, but any heavy and too savory dishes you won’t even be able to bring within 50 feet of him. He’ll hiss and run away if ever even consider feeding him a steak and don’t even ask what’ll happen if you mention dumplings of any sort.(fun fact, canonically Xiao’s least favorite food is dumplings).

Bonus: He might eat a dish he knows he won’t really like if it'll make you happy, especially if it’s your cooking.

Bathing:

Xiao can take showers in his catboy form on his own, but that doesn’t mean his cat form is clean too. Which is where you have to step in.

Like most other cats, he absolutely despises water. It makes his fur stick to his body, when it soaks him he gets heavier which slows his movement and almost anything sticks to his fur when it’s wet. So overall, not a great experience.

He prefers baths only in his catboy form, because he doesn’t have fur, so he can properly relax and not worry about later consequences, but alas that isn’t always possible.

The first time you had to bathe him he tried to hide in every nook and cranny, but you eventually managed to catch him.

He proceeded to throw a temper tantrum by hissing, meowing, biting and scratching anywhere he could reach.(Safe to say your hands look like they’re been through war. He was very guilty when he realized how much damage he had done, so he stayed mostly still during the bathing process and licked your wounds as an apology later)

You had filled a small laundry basket(one without holes) with warm water and put him inside. He immediately went stiff, but didn’t resist due to guilt. You used your hand to gently soak his body and the top of his head, avoiding his ears.

It was a surprise for Xiao how gently you handled him, he wasn’t used to such nice treatment. His entire body melted even more when you started rubbing shampoo all over his body, it was practically a massage for him and your hands felt really soft too.

He may or may not have been dozing off a bit by the end of it.

Bonus: Expect him to demand to sleep snuggled against your chest, wrapped in soft towels, happily stuck in dreamland.

Going outside:

Xiao isn’t particularly fond of crowds or people in general, so if he has to go outside with you he prefers to be in his cat form so he can hang on your shoulder or have you hold him against your chest. Bonus points if you’re wearing a black hoodie, so he can blend in and seem like he isn’t even there.

Another thing he despises when going out is random people asking to pet him. He isn’t really fond of the idea of random people touching him.

He might make an exception for a child if they don’t seem like the type to randomly pull on his tail.(There’s rarely any young kids that wouldn’t do that, so he favors young teens since they’re actually considered enough to be gentle and mostly stick to just petting his head instead of stroking his whole body)

However, while willing to go out as a cat, he refuses to go out in his catboy form no matter what. It brings even more attention and he would rather not risk a group of random assholes to attack the both of you to kidnap him and either kidnap you too or leave you beaten up in the middle of the street.

Bonus: if anyone irritates or poses a threat to you he’ll jump on them and leave them wounded enough to need a hospital visit. Can be a problem if it’s in the middle of the store though, especially if it happens to be a rude employee and there isn’t a camera to prove that you were innocent.

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Taglist: @vault-of-reblogs @sweet-almonds @venyan @traumamakesmefunnier @nillajhayne @apyrose @crowbird @reisinnie @sweetsandwichgardener @mizutatoes  @clxudy-sky3z

[vermillionbun]

hello!!!!!! i read ur cat xiao fics and ugh just *chef kiss* 😭🤌 and i have a request? brainrot??? ask???? i guess????????

so after a not too long of living together, xiao maybe slips up and mentions that his birthday is coming soon and reader decides to surprise him with a little party at home and get him a gift but the catch is, reader is super bad at choosing gifts so they decide to enlist the help of their friend(s). one day xiao accidentally overhears the reader talking to their friend on the phone but only small little snippets like “hybrid, shop, money” and he immediately assumes the worst but decides to wait a while and see if the reader’s planning smt. soon he confronts us abt it bc he just can’t take it anymore and we have to awkwardly explain him everything and cue a flustered, on the verge of tears, kitty xiao bc he misunderstood it all😔

I'm so sorry it took so long T<T. I rewrote this thing multiple times, since I didn't like how it turned out and then there was Ani-fest this weekend in my town, so I also went there. Also (F/n) stands for 'Friend's name'. I know, very creative, but what else could I really put?

But, without further or do, hope you enjoy ^^

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‘Hmm, I wonder when Master will be back’. I don’t track the exact time they come home, but they’re back before sunset and it’s almost fully dark now. *Tap* *Tap* *Tap*. Footsteps. Someone is coming up the stairs outside. I straighten my ears and raise my body as the footsteps get closer to the front door. “...I don’t know… hybrid shop… money…worth it?...”. I feel a shiver run down my spine. ‘What was that?…’. What do they mean? It’s obvious the conversation is cut off, but these words… Something doesn’t feel right. ‘Wait… Are, are they going to get rid of me!? No no no, it can’t be, can it? They promised, th-they…’. I could feel the fur on my face getting wet. Master wouldn’t do that, would they?

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“(F/n), you aren’t helping. Not only is everything overpriced, but it’s usually garbage quality. I was thinking of getting him a small accessory or something more sentimental. Sure the toys and extras at the store could be entertaining for normal cats, but he’s a hybrid. He didn’t look interested in any of the toys when we went there the first time, plus, one of the few things he plays with is yarn, which, you guessed it, I can buy at a craft store. Anyways, I’ve been standing in front of my door for 15 min now, we’ll talk tomorrow. Have a good night.”.

I sigh, closing my phone. I’m still lost. Xiao doesn’t have a lot of interests. The few things he likes are almond tofu and yarn, but I’m not about to buy him that for his birthday. He already sees small things like that as a privilege, I’m not going to make him think he’s restricted to things he enjoys only on special occasions!

Twisting the key, I enter my apartment, expecting Xiao to be looking at the door from the corner, but… he isn’t? ‘Huh, weird. Maybe he fell asleep in my room? He doesn’t seem to be in the living room.”. I take off my shoes and head to my room. As expected, Xiao’s laying on my bed, but something doesn’t feel right. He’s curled up a lot tighter than usual and his face is tucked in his paws like he’s trying to hide his face. ‘This doesn’t feel right’.

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I can feel myself giggle again. Tomorrow is finally Xiao’s birthday and, admittedly, I've been way too giddy the past few days. I’ve hidden his gift in my backpack in my closet and I have almond tofu at the back of the fridge ready for tomorrow.

Coming out of the bathroom, I stretch and continue to dry my hair with a towel. ‘Wait, it’s Friday night now. I can spend the whole day tomorrow with Xiao!’. A smile tugs at my face as I enter my bedroom. Xiao is sitting on my bed in his catboy form, wearing a loose gray shirt and black shorts. His brows are furrowed, mouth in a frown and eyes staring at the floor. He seems to be deep in thought. "Achem, Xiao, is something wrong?". His head snaps up, as his body suddenly tenses up. His mouth keeps opening and closing, trying to say something. ‘Are…are those tears!?’. His eyes get watery as a tear slips from one of them.

Dropping the towel in my hand, I rushed to his side. “Xiao, baby, is something wrong?”. His body turns slightly, hands grabbing onto my shirt and clutching it tightly. “You-you promised!”. He said through choked sobs. His whole body is shaking as he’s burying his face in my shoulder, tears soaking my shirt. “Sweetheart, everything is alright, no need to panic.”- I say as I pat his head. 

Little by little his choked sobs are reduced to quiet sniffles. By this time my hand has settled by the end of his head, twirling a lock of his hair between my fingers. “There there, a bit better?”. He nuzzled his head closer to my neck, hugging me tighter, as he let out a low hum in agreement. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”. He lifted his head, red, puffy and teary eyes looking at me. “You won’t abandon me too, right?” “Of course not, why would you ever think that?”. He looked down in shame, blush creeping up his cheeks from embarrassment. “A couple day ago, I overheard a conversation you had over the phone…It was something about the hybrid shop and if something is worth it, so I-I th-thought…I-I’m sorry…”. Xiao was tearing up again.

Tucking him into my chest, I kissed his head. ”Oh sweetheart, I would never. I was talking about something drastically different”. Getting up, I head to the closet, taking a small teal box with a black and yellow ribbon wrapped around. “I was supposed to give this to you tomorrow, but I suppose I can do it now too. Happy early birthday Xiao”. 

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Taking the box in his hands, he undoes the ribbon, eyes sparkling with curiosity. Opening it, his eyes widened. There layed a silver necklace of a vermilion bird, black stones engraved at the tips of it’s tails and wings and a green gem for it’s eye. It seems you noticed the tattoo on his arm. Memories come flooding back as tears appear in his eyes again. “Thank you”. Was all he said and that was all that needed to be said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Safe to say he still hasn’t, nor does he plan to, take the necklace off. You spend the rest of the night cuddling until you both fell asleep and the next day was spent in a similar fashion, along with almond tofu and having to untangle Xiao from yarn a couple times.(You may have gotten a bit annoyed after the 3rd time, but could you REALLY deny the way his eyes sparkle every time he starts messing with the yarn and when Xiao looks at you with those cute wide doe eyes as an apology and an ask for help yet again)

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And that's all for now for our lovable catboy <3 Also, apparently while writing this my brain decided to expand on the lore even more, so would anyone be interested in those 'memories' that flooded Xiao's mind when he saw the neckless?(May or may not lead to future angst)

Taglist: @vault-of-reblogs @sweet-almonds @venyan @traumamakesmefunnier @nillajhayne @apyrose @crowbird @reisinnie @sweetsandwichgardener @mizutatoes  @clxudy-sky3z @moguu0

[vermillionbun]

Settling in

I’m sorry this took so long, I’ve been a bit busy recently with family and guests, so I didn’t have a lot of time to write TvT Also, sorry that this one’s a bit short,

Warnings: None

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    Little by little everything set into place. Albeit the awkward interactions at first, both of you built trust as time went on.

     You’ve noticed that Xiao is hyper alert, tracking every little sound he could hear. From a random bug, to you simply approaching your apartment door, nothing escaped his ears. Every time you would come home he would just be sitting somewhere, staring at you as you entered, as if already knowing you were going to open the door that exact moment(which he did). 

    It creeped you out at first, but at this point you’ve gotten used to Xiao tracking your every move. You are unaware as to why he has such a habit, you’ve seen other catboys be quite relaxed and pay little to no attention to their surroundings unless it’s something painfully obvious, so what Xiao’s doing is a learned behavior.

    You’ve tried asking him if he had other owners and what they were like, but he tensed up immediately after the question, obviously not comfortable with the topic, so you never pried and just changed the topic immediately after.

    You also went shopping with him, he does need to change in his catboy form after all and mainly your pants weren’t very comfortable due to the weird bend Xiao’s tail would have to do, so it doesn’t get trapped in one of the pant legs. However, despite having his own clothing now, you’d catch him wearing some of your shirts and hoodies from time to time.

    You didn’t really mind, of course, but the first time you caught him with your hoodie Xiao went into panic mode, thinking he’d overstepped by using something he doesn’t have explicit permission to use. You spend a good half an hour reassuring him that you weren’t mad and that you don’t mind him wearing some of your clothes from time to time if he finds them comfortable.

    Since then, he’s become a bit more daring. At first he’d go up to cabinets and look at you, waiting for approval, but now he rummages as he pleases, unless you’ve told him he can’t open the cabinet. The only ones off limit are the medicine and cleaning supplies cabinet, since you’d prefer if he didn’t poison himself by accident(be it out of curiosity or mistaking it for something else entirely).

    You’ve also found out that Xiao doesn’t recognize a lot of everyday things. Sure he knows what plates and utensils are, but he didn’t know what to call a pan until now and couldn’t even begin to make out what mixers and other “odd shaped spoons” are for(ladles, spatulas, draining spoons, ect.).

    You were surprised by how little he knew, but you always explained to Xiao what it was for and how it worked. He listened carefully, trying to remember everything you told him, silently thanking you for the amount of patience you have with him.

    It may take a long while, but you’re willing to put in the work. You’re Xiao’s new owner now, both on paper and in his eyes, and you’ll stick to your promise of taking care of him. Who knows, maybe in the future you’ll be able to find him a friend, but for now you’re more than enough.

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While not soon, I wanna add more characters, but I don’t know who TvT Sure, other anemo short guys as catboys make since, but I wanna spice it up a bit. Like let’s say a bearded dragon Zhongli(cuz dragons, sadly, don’t technically exist irl, so this is probably the closest thing) or a cockatiel Venti. I wanted to get your opinions on this, cuz 1. tbh I don’t have that many ideas for other animals, so I’ll have to give it some more thought and 2. I still can’t decide what characters to add.

Taglist:  @vault-of-reblogs @sweet-almonds @venyan @traumamakesmefunnier @nillajhayne @apyrose @crowbird @reisinnie @sweetsandwichgardener @mizutatoes  @clxudy-sky3z

[vermillionbun]

A silent promise

    I apologize for taking so long, I hit a bit of a writers block -v-’’’ I also apologize to the people who commented about wanting to be added to the taglist. For whatever reason tumblr doesn’t let me comment on anyone's posts, including mine. Also, I’m open to requests if anyone is interested, but please, if you have a request write as an ask, so I can respond. Hope you enjoy! ^^

Warnings: brief mention of sex trafficking and fighting rings, I promise the end is fluff

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Going into your room, you expect to see a small black and green cat tangled in your sheets again, but to your surprise there’s a relatively young man with black hair and green at the tips covered with your sheets, but there were two things that stood out to you. The first were his eyes. Glowing amber eyes staring at you, a red eye-liner lining his eyelids. Eyes you most definitely couldn’t mistake. At first it would seem unbelievable, but your gut screamed that that was the kitten you saved. That was Xiao. And even if you didn’t listen to your gut, the cat ears on his head and tail popping out from under the sheets most definitely convinced you.

Both of you stood frozen still, staring at each other, an awkward silence enveloping you two. It was obvious neither of you expected for this to happen.

Gathering all the courage at the moment, you decide to confirm your suspicions. “Umm, Xiao? Is that you?...”. Hesitance was evident in your voice. It is quite a bold statement to assume the person laying in your bed is the cat you were nursing to health. And it seems he knew that too.

With a small and stiff nod, your assumptions were confirmed. Silence, again. Neither of you knew what to do. 

“I hope it doesn’t come off as rude, but what’s going on?”. His ears twitch at your voice and his gaze shifts to the side. He seemed… embarrassed? “Well, as you already know, you saved me from bleeding to death, to which I owe you my gratitude. It seems that the doctors you took me to didn’t figure out exactly what I am and assumed that I’m just a regular cat”. 

Curiosity taking over, you cut him off. “Wait, if not a cat then what are you?”. A look of annoyance flashes in his eyes, before resuming to talk. “I’m what you humans call a catboy. We can choose between a cat form and a more human form, albeit the cat ears and tail. We prefer to stay as cats for… safety precaution, to put it simply. It usually takes us years of building trust with a human to show them our more human form, but there are always exceptions such as these”. 

The “safety precaution” bit both confused and concerned you. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you mean by “safety precautions”?”. Xiao’s body tenses up, tail slowly curling around him and ears lowering as he gives you a panicked look. You also tense up at that. ‘Oh no, I said something wrong didn’t I’.

“I-it’s alright! You don’t need to.. an.. swer…”. Realization quickly dawned on you, a look of worry and horror crawling up your face. It has been circulating recently around the internet about underground sex trafficking and fighting rings with half human half animal creatures, with half dog and half cat being the most common. The police have been busting a lot of those rings, saving many of those like Xiao, but they can only do so much. It isn’t easy to find the rings in the first place. There’s a couple of shelters where volunteers help take care and find a home to the poor beings and you were planning to see if you could take one and give them a home, a place where they don’t have to fear for their lives or do… inappropriate activities to hopefully get fed and avoid further abuse. At least that was the plan, but it seems like fate decided to set you up with a catboy a bit earlier than expected.

“Achem, sooo… You were telling me how we ended up in this situation?”. Thankful to you not expanding on the previous topic, Xiao relaxes a bit. “Yes, as I was saying, the doctors failed to recognize what I am and in turn didn’t inform you. When catboys are in a frail state we remain in the last form we took, since we don’t have enough energy to switch. In my case I last turned into a cat and stayed as such until today. I was feeling better than previously, so I wanted to test out if I could transform if a need for it arose, but it seems I didn’t account for the time and you walked in on me like… this.” He pulled the covers towards him a bit more, tightening his grip on them.

“I see, but, why’re you wrapped in my blanket like burrito?”. Xiao’s face went beet red, stuttering over his words. “W-well, one downside when it comes to transforming is that the clothes I wear when I’m in half human form don’t, ummm…” He was throwing you side-glances, hoping you’d catch on to what he meant, which you did. “O-oh! I-umm, I can let you borrow a t-shirt and shorts if you’d like?”. An almost inaudible ‘yes please’ left his lips as he buried his face beneath the blanket.

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You were now sitting in your living room, trying to calm yourself down from what transpired minutes ago. Your face was still warm, but at least it wasn’t overheating, so that’s good. Faint footsteps alerted you of Xiao entering the living room.

Looking up, you saw the catboy standing still next to the wall, tail moving slightly as he looked everywhere, but you. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and black shorts, both baggy on him, if the collar being lower than it should be and the elastic on the shorts being tied tighter than normal say anything. He also seemed a bit uncomfortable, probably due to his tail having to go over the back instead of there being a hole like the clothing made specifically for catboys you’ve seen.

“What now?”. That grabbed Xiao’s attention, his eyes shifting to look at you, a bit of panic showing in them if you looked at them carefully. “What do you mean?” Your eyebrows crease, small amounts of worry evident in your features. “Well, if you were just a cat I would’ve probably taken you to a local shelter, but you aren’t, so that’s out of the plan. Well, not really, there is a catboy shelter not that far from here-” The sound of a rip stopped your musings. Xiao’s hands were shaking, eye’s blown wide with fear swirling in them. His hands were gripping onto the pant of his shorts, his claws easily ripping through the fabric from too much pressure.

“Or you could stay with me, if you wish”. His head and ears snapped towards you, hope filling his now on the verge of tears eyes. “Really? I can? Are you sure I’m not gonna be too much of a burden-”. “Xiao.” He shuts up, nervously waiting for you to say something. And say something you did. “I’m more than sure. You aren’t and never will be a burden. I was going to look for a companion soon anyways”.

Xiao lunges at you, catching you by surprise. He buries his head in the crooks of your shoulder as a warm liquid starts trickling down your shoulder and soaking your shirt. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you”. Repeated whispers of ‘thank you’ came from Xiao, as his trembling hands clung to you.

You wrap your arms around him, engulfing him with warmth Xiao doesn’t remember feeling. He presses his body even closer to yours as he continues to cry, little hiccups appearing from time to time. Looking down at the catboy in your arms, a small smile creeps up your face as you begin to run your hand through his hair. ‘I promise you Xiao. I promise that you’ll never have to go through the horrendous experiences you’ve endured ever again. Not while you're with me’.

Laying in each others’s comforting embrace, you continue to pet his head as a silent promise was made and your smile grew at the thought of what the future holds.

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Taglist: @vault-of-reblogs @sweet-almonds @venyan @traumamakesmefunnier @nillajhayne @apyrose @crowbird @reisinnie