muse

spark

"It's nice to meet you, Kazutora," you bow slightly. It's nice to finally meet you. Honestly, every part of you wants to run out the door so that you don't have to deal with the embarrassment of this entire situation. But that would be rude and you don't want to hurt his feelings. 

"Y-yeah... you as well, Y/n," he stutters softly. Chifuyu doesn't even notice the awkward tension. Dumbass. "Great, that's settled then! I have some paperwork to do so I'll be in the office. Please do not bother me," Chifuyu says. He walks to the back room and shuts the door. You know damn well that he's going in there to play video games. At least he found what brings him joy. 

"I'll start showing you the ropes," you smile warmly. It's not in your nature to hold a grudge. In fact, you're more worried about how he's feeling right now than yourself. Always putting others before yourself. 

He just nods. You start at the front of the store, explaining the checkout process. Then you move to how to clean the fish tanks and cages. You show him the feeding schedule that hangs in the break room. All that's left if to introduce him to the cats and dogs. 

"Are you still a cat person?" You ask him as you lead him to the room. Your back is turned towards him, so you don't see him widen his eyes. "Y-yeah," he coughs out. The two of you enter the room and you shut the door behind you to prevent the felines from escaping. 

Joy radiates from you as you kneel down to pet the animals. Like Kazutora, you've always been a cat person. You love all animals, but cats just resonate with you. He kneels down next to you and Kyo beelines straight for him. He purrs and attempts to climb into Kazutora's lap. "Oh my gosh, Kyo likes you!" You laugh excitedly. Kyo hates everyone except you... and apparently Kaz. 

"Kyo?" Kazutora raises an eyebrow. You nod and pick up the calico cat, squishing her close to your face, which only seems to make her happier. "This is Tohru," you smile. Kaz laughs softly, "I take it Fruits Basket is still your comfort anime?" Your heart does a backflip at his words. He remembers? 

You nod. It's weird... knowing so much about someone, but feeling like you don't really know them at all. "I'm surprised you remembered," you say quietly. You wrote to each other for two years and in that time, you learned so much about each other. Now he's a stranger who knows you better than anyone else. It's too complicated. 

"Me too," he says. Your heart falls, but you don't know that that's not what he really wanted to say. He wanted to shout from the rooftops that he could never forget a single thing about you; he reads your letters every night. It was the only possession that he left the prison with. 

"You should meet the pups, too," you put on a fake smile and brush away at the sadness growing in your chest. "They're a rowdy bunch." You lead him to the other room and let him get acquainted to the canines. Animals just seem to be drawn to him. Green flag. 

Eventually, it's time to close up shop. Chifuyu explains to Kaz the closing process while you wait outside. The two emerge from the building. "See you tomorrow?" Chifuyu asks you. Your face falls slightly.

"Oh, shit, Y/n... I'm sorry, I forgot," he gushes. You just give him a smile to let him know that it's okay. Kazutora watches your expression, making a mental note of the way your eyes look when you're sad but trying to play it off. 

"Hey... why don't the three of us go get dinner this Sunday? Celebrate the new addition to the team," Chifuyu suggests. Kazutora stays silent as you agree. You go to wave to the two as you depart down a different street, but Kaz stops you. "You're walking home alone? It's dark out," he frowns. 

"It's okay. I do it all the time," you say. This just makes him frown harder. "I'll walk you," he says. You shake your head, "No, really. You don't have to do that-"