cats don't always land on their feet (soraru and mafumafu story)

9

we arrived at mafumafu's house first. amatsuki pulled into the driveway.
"have a goodnight mafuuuu-!!!" he said happily.
mafu exited the car with a "mhm" and slammed the door.
he quickly entered his house without waving goodbye or even once looking back at us.

amatsuki sighed and drove to my house just down the street.
"what happened with him?" he asked.
"i," i paused, "i'm not sure..."
"hmm, alright. well, let me know if there's something we can do," amatsuki said and everyone else in the car nodded.
we arrived at my house.
"thanks guys," i said getting out of the car. i waved goodbye and thanked them for the drive.

i entered my house. i locked the door and fell to the floor with a sigh. i sat and leaned up against the door, my mind racing.

i had no energy to stand or really do anything. i felt as if i could fall asleep at that moment. my stomach was hurting and my head was spinning. my mind was only thinking of mafu. why was he acting that way... i can't just do nothing but, at the same time, i don't know what to do, i thought. i grunted.

flashes of his words and his actions kept replaying in my mind.
"he looked so emotionless.. i've never seen him this before..." i said to myself.  "uGH!!!" i hit the back of my head repeatedly on the door behind me in frustration, "gahhh!!!!" i yelled and put my hands to my head. "right,, i was supposed to be careful with my head, ugh...." my headache was growing worse and worse by the second. i was distracted all night having fun with mafumafu i completely forgot about my headache.

i leaned back again slowly and closed my eyes. and sighed. maybe i should call him, i thought, opening my eyes and grabbing my phone from my pocket.
"huh?!" i reached in both pockets, not feeling anything, "uh oh..." my eyes widened.
i jumped up to my feet and scanned the area, "man, i totally lost my phone-" i said nervously. i checked my pockets again. "yep, it's gone," i said in defeat.
i glance at the door, "maybe it's in the driveway...?" i reach for the door handle.

i unlock the door and open it.
as i opened the door i saw a dark figure approaching.
"eh..??" i said with fear growing in my stomach. it got closer.
"h-huh?????" i said trembling slightly.
"relax," the figure said, "it's just me." the figure stepped into the small light outside of my front door, revealing it to be mafumafu.
my eyes widened then i deflated with relief, "oh man, you really scared me for a sec... what are you doing h-"
"here," he handed me my phone, "i still had it in my pocket. you should've reminded me to give it back earlier."
"o-oh, i forgot i gave it to you, actually. thank you for bringing it back! i was actually just looking for-"
"mhm," he shoved it into my hands then turned to walk away. he still had that dark aura from earlier.
"um... would you like to come in for a bit?" i said without thinking. i mentally face-palmed myself, why would he want to stay, i thought.
he stopped walking but didn't turn around or say anything. i blinked a couple of times and fidgeted slightly, this is awkward, i thought. i shivered, it had gotten quite cold that night. i rubbed my arm to try and heat it up when suddenly, he turned and walked towards me. he was looking down and a shadow was cast on his face. he stood in front of me without saying anything.
i gulped nervously, "d-do you want to come in..?"
"you..." he raised his hand slowly. my eyes widened slightly and i flinched a bit. suddenly i felt his hand grab onto the front of my hoodie shakingly. mafu's breathing became shakey as well. i wasn't sure what was going on for a moment, but then he tilted his head up slightly to reveal his face.
his eyes and cheeks were red and tears were pouring out of his eyes. he then put his head against my chest and started sobbing.
"wh-wha..? mafu...?" i said as he started to collapse. he fell to his knees and covered his face in his hands, i went to my knees as well and tried to take his hands away. i held his wrist, his hands are freezing, i thought.
"hey, hey, come on maf.. it's okay, it's okay. i'm here, i'm here.." i said repeatedly as i pulled him into a hug, with him weakly returning it. i stood up with him and walked him into the entrance of my house, closing and locking the door behind us. he fell again and i sat beside him. he cried into my shoulder, not saying anything.
i hugged him and rubbed the back of his head to comfort him, "it's okay, mafu.. talk to me..."

he slowly started catching his breath and stopped crying a bit. i walked him over to the kitchen and sat him down. i threw a blanket in the dryer to warm it up, then gave it to him. he wrapped it around himself and sat quietly. i gave him a tissue box to wipe his tears and blow his runny nose with, and in a short amount of time there was a mountain of tissues on my kitchen table. i brought over a little garbage bin and put all the used tissues in it, and left it by mafumafu's chair. i placed a glass of water in front of him and sat at the table with him. he drank some water but was still silent.

we sat in silence for a few minutes. as much as i wanted him to open up so i could help him, didn't want to push him to talk about anything he's not comfortable with. i could tell me being with him was enough to comfort him. he seemed a lot less tense and more relaxed.
i cleared my throat, "so, do you want anything to eat? or maybe something else to drink?" i asked. he remained silent.
"erm.. uh,, oh! how about a bowl of soup? or maybe a hot chocolate?? it'll help you warm up if you're still cold!"
he nodded but didn't say anything.
"hm?" i raised an eyebrow, "which would you like?"
"maybe just a hot chocolate for now.. if it's not too much trouble..." he said quietly.
i shook my head and waved my hand, "no no, it's no trouble at all!" i stood up and began making his drink.
he brought his knees to his chest and hugged them. he sighed and closed his eyes.

***