Crossing balconies - Aone x reader
for my Follower Celebration - requested by @fuzztacular
A/N: does anyone notice that I love Aone?
About an hour ago Aone had been sure what he had adopted was a cat and not a shapeshifting Ninja.
He’d only been gone for a quick shower and Nyan, the little Calico he had found out in the streets last week, had been napping in the sun when he closed the door after him.
Now, however, Nyan was nowhere to be found.
Aone waved the little bell around that Nyan usually loved to play with but she didn’t come running.
He laid flat on his belly and peered in every corner, but no eyes were glinting back at him.
It took him an embarrassingly long time to put two and two together and realize that she must have climbed through the half-open window onto the balcony and from there, he didn’t know…
Aone stepped outside and looked down. His apartment was on the fifth floor and even though he had heard that cats always landed on their feet, he didn’t want to think about Nyan falling from this height.
He heard a soft mewing and turned, hoping to see her hide between the plants he could barely keep alive. Nothing.
His eyes moved over the balcony next to him. There was a cute little pink chair with a matching table and a few flower pots with healthy-looking plants. That was no surprise.
Aone had met his next-door neighbor the day he moved in.
You’d been so sweet, knocking on his door with a plate full of cookies and a friendly smile and he’d been so flustered by your sight and the little dusting of flour on your cheeks that he couldn’t bring his lips to move. He’d gripped the doorframe so hard you had noticed and excused yourself, “not wanting to keep him up if he was tired from moving”.
Aone hadn’t been tired. Just awkward, like always.
After that, he’d only been able to nod at you in passing, his tongue in a knot the moment he thought he’d seen the swish of your hair or caught a whiff of your flowery perfume.
In a way, you reminded him of Hinata.
Beaming like the sun whenever you meet someone, and never tiring of treating everyone and everything with kindness.
If only you’d been as daring as Hinata when it came to talking to him.
Aone had always done better with friends who were more forward than he was.
-
Another sound pulls him from his thoughts and he takes a step forward, realizing that the door leading to your balcony is open. Nyan has likely taken that route.
This is bad. This is very bad.
Sure, it’s not worse than Nyan falling off the balcony, but what if you’re allergic to cats? What if Nyan scared you? A fear of cats is a real thing, he’s read about it once in school.
What if you thought he couldn’t take care of a cat?
Aone hasn’t exactly proven himself worthy of having Nyan today, so he can’t blame you for that.
With shaking knees and a knot in his tongue, he stalks through his apartment and out the door, knocking on yours with a bit too much force.
“Coming!” He hears from inside, giving him just barely enough time to steel himself before the door opens.
“Oh, Aone-kun! Hi!” You smile, and he manages a grunt, trying to untangle his tongue.
“Cat.” He finally gets out.
“Oh, is it yours?” You blink innocently. “I didn’t know you had a cat.”
“Last week.” Aone presses through his teeth. “Found her on the street.”
“Oh really? How sad!” You clutch a hand to your chest, the movement pulling down your sleeve. His eyes flit to the colors adorning your arm. Is it a bruise? No, he realizes, it’s a tattoo.
“This was my first.” You explain and pull your sleeve up further to reveal it. “I really like Octopuses.”
He blinks, not daring to stretch out his arm and touch your arm.
Somehow, just in that little moment, his impression of you has shifted.
You’re not some unreachable goddess, but real, like him.
It’s that thought that unravels the knot in his tongue.
“Her name’s Nyan.” Aone says, eyes still locked on your arm. “Because she mews a lot. She talks a lot.”
You laugh. “I noticed. Do you like that?”
“Yes.” He admits eyes on the floor now. “I like to listen.”
“Come in.” You open the door wider. “I don’t mind Nyan coming over for a visit, but I’m sure you’re already missing her.”
Aone nods, unable to form words yet again when he realizes he’s in your apartment.
His eyes dart around, to the plates in the open cupboard you once used to bring him cookies, to the plants on the shelves that seem to wink at him, and the cardigan over the chair that he’s seen you wear at least twice this month.
“It looks like you.” He says because he’s been taught to compliment when shown an apartment.
You laugh, the silver twinkle of it running down his back.
From somewhere behind you, Nyan mews loudly and you gesture for him to follow you.
“She got into my bedroom, don’t mind the mess…”
Aone follows you through the doorway, heat rising to his cheeks when he sees your unmade bed, your pajama a heap on the middle of the mattress.
It feels indecent to stand so close to you in such a private place and he doesn’t want to know how red his face is right now, his eyes darting around in the search for Nyan.
He finds her, to his horror, in a little woven basket next to your nightstand. The basket must have been filled with yarn before, balls of wool in different colors covering the floor around it now.
“Nyan.” His voice is low but stern and he gingerly takes the few steps necessary to come to her side.
His cat, troublemaker that he now knows her to be, stops in her madness and looks up at him like she’s never done anything wrong in her life.
He picks her up as carefully as he can, strands of wool still hanging from her claws. As he holds her up to his chest, the strands of wool hang around her almost like tentacles and before he can stop himself, he presents his cat to you with one single, stupid word: “Octopus?”
For a second, you stare at him wordlessly. Then, you press a hand against your mouth, but your laugh splutters out like water from a pressure washer.
You’re belly laughing now and he can’t look at you, knows his face is as red as Nekoma’s Volleyball Jerseys. He picks the wool from Nyan’s claws, the cat curling into a purring ball in his left arm. Aone drops to his knees, collects the wool on the floor with one hand and puts it into the basket while you’re still laughing, although it’s growing into more of a giggle now.
“Aone-kun…”
He doesn’t look back at you until he’s sure all the wool is back in the basket and he’s standing again.
Your eyes are still gleaming with amusement and even knowing that it’s at his expense, it just makes you more beautiful.
“I am very sorry.” He presses through his teeth. “It will not happen again.”
“That’s a shame.”
He freezes, your words rolling through his brain like bowling bones in search for cones to hit.
“Your cat is very sweet. Just like her owner.” You step forward and scratch Nyan behind her left ear, your hand dangerously close to his thundering heart.
“I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to stay a bit longer. With Nyan or without her. I could order dinner.” You add on, your voice growing more timid at the end.
He’s doing it again. Staring at you until you’re ready to flee, unable to open his mouth.
Nyan’s sharp claws dig into his arm, pulling him out of his head just long enough to speak.
“I eat a lot.” Aone says and wants to slap a hand to his forehead. What?
You smile. “That’s good. I like ordering a lot.”
Nyan mews loudly, calling for attention and Aone feels like his cat has decided for him.
-
Months later:
Somewhere in the distance, Nyan mews loudly, calling for her breakfast.
Aone’s head is buried in your hair, arms wrapped around you. It’s Sunday, the one day he gets to sleep in.
“Nyan’s hungry.” You mumble, sleep slurring your words.
“Can wait.” He mutters against your skin, drawing you a little closer.
He’s falling asleep again when the bed dips behind him. He’s got not even a second to prepare himself before the full weight of Nyan, the most spoiled cat in the world, lands on his back.
Nyan mews loudly and once more when Aone pulls back from you, knowing he’ll get no rest before the bowl is filled.
When he slips back into bed five minutes later, you’re already dead asleep again, not even noticing that he pulls you back into his arms.
His cat might be a troublemaker sometimes, but she has very good taste in women.