『 Aisle Three 』

6.

『 Nyah, Nyah~ pet the cat? 』

Somehow just a bit turned out to be like an open invitation for Hinata to invade Tsukishima's personal space without a worry.

"You are like a tree for her!"

Tsukishima didn't know when he had become a cat tree, however, one minute he was amused by Hinata's interesting reactions and the next thing he knew was that the other boy had placed the little cat on his shoulder.

A little shiver ran down his body when the furry creature licked his jaw and mewled softly.

"How cute!" Hinata's eyes got a glint as he watched the cat's interaction with the blonde man. "I'm jealous." He pouted.

"Then take her off me!" Tsukishima gritted out, frozen in his place. He was not a big fan of animals. "This is stray. You don't know where she's been and how many germs and diseases she's carrying."

Hinata made a little growling sound. "If you were not so tall, I would have flicked your forehead so hard!" He picked up the little creature, who was now pawing at Tsukishima's hair, and snuggled her lovingly.

"Do you not have work today? Or studies?" Tsukishima sneered, not wanting to be lectured by some university student.

Hinata looked away, looking dejected. "I have an off my shift. Studies.. uh, yeah."

"Are you one of those slacking off students?" Tsukishima asked.

"More or less, yes." Hinata seemed quite unashamed, unfazed. His hand was unconsciously running along the cat's fur. "Let's not go there, Tsukishima-san." He let the cat climb on his shoulder, seemingly, enjoying the attention. "What do you do?" He enquired curiously.

"I'm a teacher."

"That explains your witty remarks." Hinata chuckled. The conversation was short lived, settling into an uncomfortable silence as they were basically strangers to each other. The short boy looked away from the man, with his hands clasped together at the back. "So...?"

Tsukishima did not know how to carry a conversation. That was not one of his strongest departments. He looked at the cat who was still toying with Hinata's cardigan, nibbling on it. "Get that off of you." He grumbled. "That's definitely a disease carrier."

"Not a chance!" Hinata huffed, quickly petting his new furry friend. "Tsukishima-san, don't be so cold. You should pet kitty-chan too. She's very clean." He alleged confidently.

"Not a chance." Tsukishima mocked the redhead's previous comment, narrowing his eyes at the stray, cat who was now doing something he had unconsciously wanted to do. The cat was pawing at Hinata's hair, trying to take off the trinket attached to his hair.

The redhead pulled her par away from his pin and chuckled. "She's friendly."

"Clearly." Tsukishima sneered. "Get that off of you!

"You are not my parent or my teacher. I will not listen to you!" Hinata scoffed, but then his expression changed to being a coy one. "Unless... you pet her. Then I might consider putting her down."

"Don't act smart with me." Tsukishima scowled, shooting daggers at the cat who pawed at the clip again. It really annoyed him for some reason. "Fine!" He spat out, adjusting his glasses that had slipped off a bit.

"Aw, yeah!" Hinata laughed delightfully, whereas his genuine happiness sort of irked the blonde out. It was just some cat. Jokingly, the younger lad brought his fists to enact them as ears and mewled. "Nyah, nyah~ pet me, Tsukishima-san." He tried to pretend like a cat.

Tsukishima has always been a cool, calm and collected man with a great intellect. He was never the one to act upon his emotions and end up doing something stupid. However, today seemed to the worst day for his overwhelming emotions that had been crowding his mind and heart for days now and were apparently making him do embarrassing things on a whim.

Without giving much thought or understanding Hinata's mockery, he raised his hand and gently caressed the redhead's hair.

They felt just how they looked- soft and fuzzy.

"The, uh, cat, Tsukishima-san. Pet the cat..." Hinata sputtered out, flustered; to some extent. It was somewhat of a bewildering gesture. Getting attention from a good looking person was actually a perplexing situation. Although this was not the first time, for he was embarrassed.

Unlike Hinata, it was the first time that Tsukishima had done something involuntarily and embarrassing. There was no turning back; the action was taken. Adding more to his embarrassment, he just couldn't move his hand from his hair. Nevertheless, when Hinata cleared his throat and brought him out of his perturbing facet, he slowly retracted his hand from his hair, not before subtly tracing his finger over the hair pin. "Y-Yeah... yeah, yeah- the cat, the cat. Pet the cat,"

It was like the man was literally schooling himself for the embarrassing mistake he had made. Unwillingly, he gently grazed his fingers against the furry creature's coat, only to receive a hiss from it. Their faces were still burning hot.

Tsukishima closed his eyes in disbelief; the boy's small cat noises were still playing in the back of his head. "I-I am, uh, sorry." He found himself whispering the words he rarely used.

"It wa- um, it wasn't a bad thing- quite an innocent misunderstanding, I'd- erm, I'd say, Tsukishima-san." Hinata made an attempt to comsole the abundantly blushing teacher. He did not like when people were uncomfortable around him. It was a genuine mistake and truthfully, Hinata loved headpats. They were the ultimate form of affection. Not that, he was going to tell that to Tsukishima and make him even more awkward.

Tsukishima swallowed the lump that has been tightened in his throat and gave a low hum. "Um, true. I did, uh, did not take you for a smart per-person."

His ears were still ringing with those cat noises that the other boy had let out some time ago, burning his chest with a heavy emotion. He needed to get away from this boy who was just creating problems for him, turning him into someone he was not. It was not what he wanted, but it was something that had to be done eventually.

"Y- oh!" Hinata exclaimed loudly in disappointment when the cat that had been lounging on his shoulder for a while, jumped off him and ran in another direction.

Tsukishima scowled at the creature who was the sole reason for his embarrassment. If only she wasn't there, he wouldn't have acted like an idiot.

"Well, it's goodbye then." Hinata's sad voice pulled him out of his thoughts again.

"I mean, the bookstore, um... it- I'll drop by it." He muttered sincerely.

"Kitty-chan." Hinata spoke out. "I was, uh- I was talking to kitty-chan." The boy pursed his lips, blushing brightly yet again.

And Tsukishima wanted to kill himself then and there.

I am f'd in the a.

end.

My inconsistent arse isn't able to update little by little. I want to publish it all at once. It makes me knackered as hell.

ugh!