Just Like Snow

Chapter Four

  A light snowfall had started, blanketing the ground with a fresh layer of white. MafuMafu shivered and pulled the muffler closer to his face.

"Uwah, it's so cold..." MafuMafu complained.

"I told you it was going to be cold out," Soraru pointed out, looking over at the white-haired male.

MafuMafu pouted. "Still..."

"I take it you're not a fan of the cold weather?" Soraru commented.

MafuMafu shook his head. "No, I don't like it at all. It's better when it's warm out." He then turned his gaze to meet Soraru's. "What do you think, Soraru-san?"

Soraru gave a thoughtful hum. "I suppose I don't mind the cold. It beats being ridiculously hot."

The conversation seemed to die off after that, with neither having much to say. MafuMafu couldn't think of a topic, while Soraru just had a lack of interest in communication. While trying to think of something to talk about, MafuMafu spotted a cafe not too far away that caught his eye.

"Hey, Soraru-san, let's go to that place!" MafuMafu suggested, pointing excitedly toward the cafe.

Soraru followed MafuMafu's gaze until he saw what the other male was pointing at.

"Nico Nico..." Soraru muttered the words on the cafe's sign quietly to himself. He'd never been to that place before, but it seemed pretty popular based on the amount of people going in and out.

"Can we go there to eat breakfast, Soraru-san? Please," MafuMafu practically begged, his red eyes gazing up at Soraru in a pleading way.

The look was almost irresistibly cute, and Soraru gave in without much protest. MafuMafu cheered and began dragging Soraru over to the cafe. Soraru would've preferred to just pick up some stuff from the grocery store and make something simple at home like he had planned, but since he was out anyway, trying something new wouldn't hurt. For such a busy place, Soraru and MafuMafu were seated surprisingly quickly. The little cafe, named Nico Nico, was alive with a chatter of happy people who were enjoying a good meal. The atmosphere was very lively and fun, seeming to suit MafuMafu just fine. As soon as they sat down at their table, MafuMafu picked up the menu and began wondering out loud about what he would get.

"This looks good... Oh, but this does, too! Wow, there are so many things to choose from, I just can't pick!" MafuMafu exclaimed with a bright smile on his face.

Soraru thought it was amusing how excited MafuMafu seemed about all of this, even though they were just having breakfast at a cafe. For a while, he just watched MafuMafu study the menu as if he was making the biggest decision of his life. He made the funniest expressions.

"Have you decided on your orders yet?" their waitress, a young-looking girl with short brown hair, asked them with a sweet smile.

"Oh, um," Soraru looked down at his menu, realizing he needed to pick something. "I'll have the omurice." He decided to go with something simple, just like most things he liked.

"And I'll have this," MafuMafu held up his menu and pointed to a picture of a large pancake dish with many different kinds of sweet toppings on it.

The waitress nodded and wrote the orders down, before saying, "Alrighty then," and walking off.

"Why didn't you just tell her what you wanted instead of pointing to it?" Soraru asked, turning his gaze back to MafuMafu.

"Because I can't read," MafuMafu laughed sheepishly. "I was just looking at the pictures the whole time to see what looked good."

"You can't read?" Soraru said incredulously.

"Cats don't need to read," MafuMafu pointed out. Then, he added as an afterthought, "Well, not usually."

Soraru sighed and rested his chin on his propped up hand. "How old are you, exactly?"

"Well, in cat years, I'm twenty four," MafuMafu replied with a small smile.

Soraru didn't really want to ask what that equated to in human years. The fact that MafuMafu continuously referred to himself as if he was the same as the small creatures Soraru loved was starting to really creep Soraru out. Plus, if anyone heard their conversation, they'd definitely be questioning MafuMafu's sanity.

"Okay, look, from now on I want you to speak as if you're a human and only a human, got it?" Soraru stated while fixing MafuMafu with a slightly stern gaze. That statement sounded so weird, what was he even talking about? It was still hard to believe MafuMafu was actually a cat, and rightfully so.

MafuMafu tilted his head and looked at Soraru confusedly, not understanding what was wrong with the way he spoke, but he responded with a simple, "Got it," anyway.

Soraru nodded, satisfied, and leaned back in his seat. "Good."

At that moment, the waitress returned with their food. She placed their respective plates in front of them, then left with a polite, "Enjoy your meal!" MafuMafu's eyes widened at the sight of the food before him, a grin spreading onto his face once again. Soraru wasn't sure if MafuMafu knew how to eat human food correctly, so he pointed to the silverware next to MafuMafu's plate.

"Use those, okay?" Soraru said.

MafuMafu blinked and picked up a fork and a knife in each hand. He then looked to Soraru as if silently asking "How?" Soraru rolled his eyes and demonstrated how to properly use a fork and knife. After carefully watching for a few minutes, MafuMafu finally tried his hand at it. It took a little bit of effort, but MafuMafu soon got the hang of it. Why does it feel like I'm looking after a little kid? Soraru wondered as he ate.

"This is really good!" MafuMafu exclaimed happily with a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth. And slow down, too. You're going to choke if you keep eating that fast," Soraru lightly berated him, noticing how much MafuMafu had eaten in a remarkably short amount of time.

MafuMafu stopped eating for a moment to give Soraru a sheepish smile. "Haha, sorry. I just naturally eat fast, I guess. Plus, this food is delicious!"

"That's fine with me, but if you choke just know that I'm not helping you," Soraru said bluntly before taking another bite of his own meal.

"Soraru-san, that's so mean!" MafuMafu pouted while looking slightly hurt.

Soraru chuckled. "Don't look at me like that. I'm just messing with you, geez."

"Just for that, I'm taking some of your food," MafuMafu stated as he took a piece of Soraru's omurice before the other male could react.

"Hey, you have your own food!" Soraru exclaimed, but his protests were of no use now.

MafuMafu had already eaten the forkful of stolen omurice, and his eyes lit up with joy again. "This is really good, too! Maybe I should get omurice next time we come here."

"Next time?" Soraru echoed questioningly.

MafuMafu nodded. "Mmhmm, I really like this place. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is great, and it's fun being here with you, Soraru-san. I would really like to come again someday."

Soraru opened his mouth to say something like "That probably won't happen", but he didn't have the heart to tell MafuMafu, who was looking at him with such innocent bliss, such a thing. Instead, Soraru continued eating and said nothing other than a mumbled, "We'll see." MafuMafu seemed content with this, and he resumed eating as well. The rest of the meal passed by in silence, but it wasn't necessarily uncomfortable. In fact, it had the same kind of feeling as sitting next to a good friend, the kind of friend you didn't even have to talk to in order to enjoy their company. Though, Soraru thought something like that was almost laughable as he glanced up at MafuMafu and smiled softly.

A/N: Here's a little bit of fluff for you all. I'm not sure why, but I always seem to portray Mafu as really child-like in my stories. Maybe it's because he's a precious little thing ww