🖤🐾 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐥 & His Catlike Personality/ Behaviors :3 (x Reader) — Headcanons
He probably has that feline flinch reflex — fast, precise, and nearly silent. You could drop something behind him and he’d instantly tense, head snapping toward the sound with those black, slit-pupilled eyes widening slightly. Then a muttered, “…D-Don’t do that.”
He’ll try to act calm after but his tail would’ve puffed up if he had one.
Water, especially — yes... A few drops splash near him and his body jerks before he catches himself, grimacing. “Tch— it’s cold.” He pretends he just doesn’t like it, but deep down, water makes him feel exposed. It reminds him he can’t wash, can’t heal, can’t be normal anymore.
Because of The Hole, he doesn’t risk showers, not even rain. It’s dangerous if water seeps near it; it could amplify the void’s reaction or destabilize his body. Instead, he cleans up with a damp cloth or dry fabric, slow and careful. He’d avoid letting you see it, even if you insist on helping. There’s a quiet shame there, literally like a cat hiding when it’s hurt.
His coat always carries that faint earthy, smoky scent — clean in its own strange way, like rain-soaked stone and dust rather than soap.
Just like a cat, he’s selective with physical contact. He won’t touch you first but when he does, it’s deliberate. A hand brushing your sleeve, a lean into your warmth, a rare moment of closeness when he’s half-asleep and his guard is down.
Once in a blue moon, he circles you without realizing — slow, studying movements like he’s checking you something. If you notice and tease him for it, he’ll look away and mutter something about “making sure you’re safe” but the twitch in his expression gives him away.
His catlike pupils are a manifestation of the Hole’s corruption, yes — but they also respond to emotion and light in subtle ways. Wide and round = startled, emotional, vulnerable. Narrowed slits = anger, focus, or predatory calm. (You start to read him through those eyes, even when his voice doesn’t change)
He doesn’t like sudden contact, too much at once overwhelms him. But gentle warmth? A slow hand brushing his hand, or sitting near him so he feels the heat radiating? He melts into that silently. “You’re warm… stay like that.”
He purrs in his own way, not literally, but through soft, barely audible hums in his throat when he’s calm around you. It’s subconscious, low and soothing.
The Hole feels alive to him feeling like something lurking just beneath his ribs, watching. It reacts to strong emotion, and he feels it pulse when he’s wet or cold. So perhaps he avoids water because it makes the Hole “wake up” and it’s why he’s always wrapped in his coat, always dry, always distant.
There are little subtle cat mannerisms in him:
Tilts his head slightly when curious or confused.
Prefers high or quiet spaces where he can see everything at once.
Moves almost silently; you can barely hear him approach until he speaks.
His gaze lingers on lights, fire, or reflections - his pupils shifting slightly as if tracking invisible movement.
With you, you’re the only person he lets near when he’s in a vulnerable state either half-awake, injured, or cold. He’ll resist at first, but if you touch his hair or rest your hand over his chest (careful not to touch The Hole yall), he’ll slowly relax. It’s like the sound of your heartbeat grounds him. He might whisper, “Don’t… move yet, p-please.”
If you ever splash him with water accidentally, he’ll hiss out of reflex — not in anger, but sheer instinct. “—Hey! That’s— …you’re lucky I like you.”
He’s not the type to express emotion openly, so these tiny physical cues with the way his eyes soften, the pupils widening when he looks at you (his body betraying the tenderness he tries so hard to hide). Ex when he’s tense or wary, his pupils are razor-thin slits, sharp and almost inhuman. But when you’re near especially when you speak softly to him or stand too close they widen instinctively, reflecting more light. It gives his eyes this deep, soft, almost glowing look. His normally stoic face loses that rigid, frozen stillness. His eyebrows relax, his mouth almost curves (not quite a smile, but the closest he gets). There’s this faint warmth in the black of his irises, they absorb light instead of reflecting it.
