Drabbles, Ficlets, and Short Stories.

Four times Marshall thinks he loves Hara, and the one time he finally says it.

Alternative title: Four Times Marshall Levaster Being a Simp and The One Time He's Completely Whipped.

One.

"You—you did—what?"

Marshall's voice raised; and so did his eyebrows in surprise. They curled into a frown as he sighed. His hands went to massage his forehead at the foreign news he just got.

Instead of a proper explanation, he received a soft giggle from her. "I, uh, rescued a kitten...?" She said while lifting the poor kitten, who whined a soft 'meow' with the same wide eyes like hers. The kitten has brown fur; covered in dust, and probably malnutrition.

The innocence, or perhaps the obnoxious demeanor, left Marshall with a migraine. He knew she has a kind heart; especially to living things, but he didn't expect this. "Hara, you can't just bring a kitten home with you." Loss at words; he chose to start with something very basic, yet seemed to be something forgotten by his girlfriend.

"Why can't I?" She asked back in a frown; which followed by a pout. "I live by myself and I have no allergies to kittens." She lowered the kitten by her chest, and Marshall saw them looked like each other even more.

That's not the problem! Marshall thought; frustrated already. As someone logical who always thought about something at least one hundred times before actually doing it; her impulsivity really did numbers on him. He sighed. Right, at times, her mental age tends to decrease a few years—while increasing another to him—thus, he couldn't handle this the logical way. Think like her; Marshall tried to hypnotize himself. "What if the mother looks for it?"

"The mother got hit by a car, you know." She replied in sadness in her words. She carried the kitten back in her arms, definitely didn't mind the dust transferring to her clothes. Her fingers caressed the kitten gently, looking to it in pity. "And the siblings left it alone. What a pitiful thing." She mumbled; probably sympathized with the cat a little too much. She, too, was alone and definitely lonely. "I don't want it to feel as lonely as I did."

Ah.

Marshall's heart warmed at her excuse. Sure, he found it very lightheaded and irresponsible to just rescue a cat without preparation; but, the reason behind moved his heart. After all, they did look similar—he thought. Bright hair, wide eyes, left in a cruel world to fight by themselves. Maybe Hara understood how sad it was; thus she didn't want the kitten to go through that as well.

'It's just a kitten,' his logical mind replied. 'It doesn't have any feelings or even thoughts to understand. If it can survive, it will. If it can't, it will probably live for another five days.' He thought as he watched her play awkwardly with the kitten. It was obvious the kitten didn't recognize her; probably it was looker for the mother. But, she didn't give up. She tried speaking to it, saying that she would be on the kitten's side forever; she would feed it and play with it. She giggled every time the kitten snuggled to her clothes, smearing dust here-and-there.

Marshall sighed. This girl never failed to give him mixed feelings. Especially, in pushing him understanding concepts that were unfamiliar to him. "Have you buy cat food?"

She lifted her head; shifting her attention to the male. Her head was tilted a bit. "Not yet."

"How about non-lactose milk? Do you have them?"

"Uh, you know I don't drink milk."

Right. You eat ramens and instant food; Marshall thought. He sighed, again, probably he sighed way too much in a span of few minutes, but this really bugged his mind.

"That's why I called you." Hehe. He could hear her added; laughed innocently without a single burden, while the male looked like the complete opposite. She was the one who rescued a kitten, but why was he the one who looked this frustrated?