Congratulations on finishing your dissertation!!! I hope I'm not too late for sending prompts.... Pillar pair, Tezuka meeting Karupin.
Of course you aren’t! You can prompt me any time :D And such a lovely prompt at that.
How are things going with you?
Kunimitsu tilted his head, the fluffy ball sitting on his bag tilted its head back. Kunimitsu liked cats, he would say, if anyone had asked him. He had lived with his grandfather’s two cats when he was very young. They had been venerable old creatures, one white and one black, and very dignified.
The tan and white thing on his bag reached out a paw from somewhere underneath it and snagged the chain on Kunimitsu’s bag with one claw and pulled it. It mrrowed angrily when that didn’t work and suddenly leaped up and started fighting his chain.
Kunimitsu made an involuntary noise. The cat (was it a cat?) was going to hurt itself when the bag fell on it. He reached out to pull the bag away, and froze when a paw snagged his sleeve. He looked down. Two blue eyes looked up.
“Hello,” Kunimitsu offered, and then oofed when the thing practically apparated on him. Apparently tennis skills were handy for having a cat as well. It rapidly climbed him and sat on his shoulder. It was making a noise. Should it be making a noise?
He turned his head carefully to the side so as not to dislodge the cat and found himself stare to stare with it again. Then it butted his nose and started making the noise.
Giving in to temptation, he raised a hand and ran it through the full head of fur. The noise intensified. He blinked, the long night’s bus journey and the long hours of playing all day catching up to him all of a sudden. He sat down carefully on his bed, and wondered how to settle so the cat was comfortable. It solved his problem by scrambling down into his lap, putting sharp claws into his skin through his shirt with reckless disregard.
He lay back, feet still on the floor. He would have to figure out whose cat it was. And who had been roomed with him. If it was Oishi then Eiji would almost certainly end up in their room as well. And Fuji and Inui shared a love for middle-of-the-night pranks that were utterly terrifying. Momo was always loud, even in his sleep. Kaidoh or Taka-san would be fine. Echizen... his ears heated up against his will and he fell asleep to the comforting noise of a tiny engine with a half-formed thought that turned into confused dreams of playing tennis and falling asleep with a big ball of fur and Echizen in the same bed.
Echizen walked in, and nearly slammed the door until he saw Buchou was asleep. His mouth fell open when he saw Karupin tucked under Buchou’s chin. With a quick look behind him to see that no one else had seen, he shut the door.
He couldn’t help the grin tugging at his mouth. It had been a terrible journey and Inui had been getting on his nerves but... he crouched down so he could see where Karupin’s ears brushed the underside of Buchou’s face.
He started back and ended up on his butt when he saw that Buchou’s eyes were opening. Buchou murmured something and reached out a hand. On instinct Echizen caught it and Buchou woke up all at once in front of him. He tugged his hand away but Buchou’s grip tightened around his fingers.
With shock and what felt something like what he felt for Karupin when he was being his cuddliest, he realized that Buchou’s face was heating up. And they were still holding hands. They both glanced down at a loud meow, and then a louder mrrow later, their grip was covered by Karupin’s front paws and tugged down.
They were still holding hands. Echizen’s grin blew up into a smirk. Hesitantly, Buchou smiled back, face still red.
