Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Many would describe Nejire Hadou as a airhead to say the least, and that number of people included her closest friend and confidant Yuyu Haya, who had profound respect for Nejire as a hero and considered her a charmer, but had no faith in her ability to survive on her own. She would have trusted Nejire with her life, but not with the stove.

Unfortunately for her, she was also deeply endeared by everything Nejire did that didn’t put her in immediate danger. So when Nejire came up to her that Wednesday evening to show her what was new in the dormitory of class 3-A, she couldn’t even be mad.

“Look at her! She must be so soft!” said Nejire pointing at the semi feral cat hiding under the desk in her room.

“That is a very pregnant cat,” was the only thing Yuyu could say.

The stray was a young black and white cat, with a huge belly. She was barely an adult cat too, as far as Yuyu could tell. Sometimes stray females had their first litter when they could still be considered kittens, and they needed a hand at raising the newborns.

“She looked wet and cold under the rain,” justified herself Nejire. “I couldn’t leave her out there.”

“I feel she would have wanted you to leave her there, though,” said Yuyu, when the cat hissed at both of them.

“You think so?”

The cat left the corner where she was hiding in and crawled around uncertain, smelling the walls and the clothes abandoned on the floor. Yuyu had limited experience with cats and Nejire had even less than her. And neither of them knew how to handle a pregnant mama cat. What did she need to be comfortable? Was she going to hide to give birth? Did she need something in particular? What if something went wrong during birth? Yuyu didn’t want kittens on her conscience.

“Here, momma,” said Nejire, reaching out with her hand. “Can we be friends?”

“Be careful, Nejire,” warned her Yuyu.

“I think she likes me.”

The cat swatted her in response.

“Nejire.”

Her friend pouted and looked at her with enormous eyes. “I don’t want to put her under the rain again!”

Yuyu did her best, she really did, to keep a stern look and not falter, but she was weak for Nejire in a way that embarrassed her. She could just look at her the right way and she would crumble. This time she resisted an approximate seventeen seconds, before letting out a heavy sigh.

“Alright. I’ll help you take care of her.”

Nejire’s eyes lit up. “She can be the class’s mascot!”

“Before she’s that, we’re gonna need a litter box,” pointed out Yuyu. “Unless you want her to pee in your bed.”

“That wouldn’t be nice.”

“That wouldn’t be nice at all.”

She could probably find what she needed the store at the foot of the hill. The box didn’t have to be a litter box specifically, just something they could fill with cat litter and put in Nejire’s bathroom. As if she could sense that she was thinking about her, the cat fixed her eyes on Yuyu and observed her movements. Then, after a few moments, she snuck under the bed and disappeared.

“I’m taking a trip to the store,” she announced. “You keep an eye on her, alright?”

“Alright!”

She nodded and left. She was sure that one day she was going to regret being so soft with Nejire. Lucky her, that day still had to come.

In the shared space of the dorms she run into Amajiki, who was buy studying for a test. He looked as stressed as he always did.

“Can I ask you a favor?” she asked him before leaving.

“Uh, sure?” he said, with a tone that told her he’d rather say no.

“Can you go and keep an eye on Nejire? She has a pregnant stray cat in her room.”

“…What?”

“You heard right.”

Amajiki had the same eyes of a deer in the headlights, but she was impressed by how quickly he recovered. “Okay, I’ll stay with her until you’re back.”

It took her less than an hour to find everything that she needed: litter box, wet and dry cat food and bowls for food and water. She also eyed some cat toys, but told herself she was already spending enough money on a cat that wasn’t going to stay with them for long. With her bag of supplies, she hopped up the hill and back to the dorms.

In Nejire’s room things hadn’t changed much: her best friend was still trying to get the cat to play with her, while being watched by Amajiki, who was pressed against the wall, as far away from the cat as possible.

“I think I’m making progress!” said Nejire with excitement, before the stray swatted her again. She was starting to collect red scratches on her fingers.

Amajiki flinched.

“Nejire, maybe it’s better if you let her get used to her new place,” said Yuyu, organizing the supplies she had gotten.

“You’re probably right, Yuyu, you’re so smart!”

Yuyu was glad Nejire had her back to her, so she didn’t see her blush. It was like that every time Nejire gave her a compliment and the situation wasn’t getting better with time. Amajiki on the other hand, was looking at her, but he turned his gaze the moment Yuyu glared at him. They had a silent agreement: he pretended he didn’t know about her giant crush on Nejire, and she pretended she didn’t know about his giant crush on Toogata. So far it had worked.

Nejire backed off and joined Yuyu, who was ready to give her a bowl of wet food.

“See if she’s hungry. I think she’ll like it if you feed her.”

Nejire smiled. “Of course!”

Yuyu kept a careful eye on Nejire, as Amajiki, next to her, prepared the litter box and put it in the bathroom. Nejire, who was again crouching in front of the bed, was still wearing her gym clothes, which had been damp when Yuyu had first been called her in the room.

“Aren’t you worried you’ll catch a cold, if you keep running under the rain?” she asked.

“I just like it too much. Running when it’s raining is so freeing! You should try it too sometimes.”

“I think I’ll pass.” She’s rather stay warm and dry.

“Aren’t you worried people will think you’re weird, when they see you running under the rain?” intervened Amajiki, with his usual shaky voice.

“Nope!”

Typical Nejire, thought Yuyu. It was one of her best qualities: she was too lost in her own world to care about other people’s impression of her. She prepared a bowl of fresh water and left it in the bathroom with the litter box.

“Amajiki, you can go, if you want,” she told him, as he was still there even though she was back. “Thanks for the help.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied, leaving the room.

He had been waiting to be dismissed, she realized, watching the door close behind him. Of course he hadn’t told Toogata about his crush yet, if he couldn’t even take the initiative to leave the room.

She was distracted by a cheer from Nejire. She turned and saw Nejire looking at her with a triumphant expression, a finger pointed under the bed. Yuyu bent down to look: the cat was eating the wet food.

“She must be so hungry, poor baby.”

“How many kittens do you think she’s carrying?” asked Yuyu in a low voice, to avoid scaring the cat.

“There are probably so many in there,” replied Nejire, matching Yuyu’s tone. There was a hint of awe in her voice.

“I guess we won’t have to wait too long to see,” sighed Yuyu. She looked at Nejire. “Maybe it would be better if we took her to a shelter. Or a veterinarian.”

They were both laying on the floor prone, next to each other. Nejire turned to her with big, watery eyes and Yuyu felt her resistance crumble again. “Alright. Let’s just hope everything goes well.”

Nejire grinned at her. “I’ll do some research! I’ll be a good helper for mama cat. Maybe we could ask Aizawa-sensei for some tips!”

Yuyu frowned. “Aizawa-sensei? Why him?”

“He feeds the cats around campus sometimes! And I’ve seen him follow a cat around the school once, trying to touch him.”

She had to stifle a laugh at the mental image. “Did he see you?”

Nejire looked pensive. “I don’t think so. Why?”

“Nothing. Just don’t tell other people what you’ve seen.”

In the meantime the cat had finished her food and was staring at them with wary eyes. Yuyu slowly reached out to grab the bowl and fill it again. The cat showed appreciation for receiving seconds and dug in again.

“Maybe she’s thirsty?” wondered Nejire.

Yuyu sighed and fetched the water bowl from the bathroom.

As the cat drank her water in peace, she and Nejire sat with their backs against the wall, their shoulders brushing. Nejire’s head fell on Yuyu’s shoulder. No matter how physically comfortable they were with each other, those gestures still sparked butterflies in her stomach. She was stoic enough not to show it, or so she hoped. Maybe if Nejire had been more observant, she would have noticed how excited any kind of contact made her.

“What is a good name for her?” wondered Nejire.

“Sensei,” replied Yuyu.

Nejire giggled and Yuyu’s heart went crazy. “If she were black, it would be perfect.”

“Do you have a name you like?”

Nejire thought about it long and hard. “Bunny.”

“A cat named Bunny? Really?” she asked, jokingly sarcastic.

“You don’t like it?”

She pushed her a little with her shoulder. “Don’t you think it’s confusing?”

Nejire thought about the possible names a little more, until her face lit up like she’d had a revelation. “Cookies and Cream, then!”

“What about just Cookie? It’s cute.”

“Cookie for short and her entire name is Cookies and Cream!” exclaimed Nejire.

“Glad we found a compromise,” smiled Yuyu.

They watched the cat sneak out from under the bed and explore the room a little more. She stopped at some point to half-heartedly hiss at them, as a warning. She then snuck in the bathroom and sniffed the litter box. The purpose of the box seemed clear to her, as she climbed inside and started digging around.

“We should probably tell the others there’s a cat in the dormitory, don’t you think?” said Yuyu, as she retrieved the bowls from under the bed and carefully put them in the bathroom too, all under the intense gaze of the cat.

“Oh, yeah!”

Over the following days the cat became a sort of attraction not only for class 3-A, but class 3-B too. Toogata, who was still quirkless and on babysitting duties, even took Eri to see the mama cat. The child got scared when the cat hissed at her, though.

Even though she was still wary of most people, the stray was starting to tolerate a few students. Nejire first of all, who had once woken up with the cat sleeping on the bed. She also liked Yuyu and, surprisingly, Amajiki, who dropped by every once in a while to help with the cleaning and the food. Sometimes Yuyu sent him to the store to get more wet food. He once came back with an armful of toys too.

Nejire and Yuyu researched together what cats needed before birth and they created a little nook with a cardboard box filled with blankets for the cat to use. She seemed to appreciate the gesture and even added her finishing touch by stealing a couple of socks from Nejire’s closet. Nejire had been delighted by the gesture, even when Yuyu had reminded her that she was going to give birth on those socks.

And so a little more than two weeks passed by, until one evening, while she was getting ready to go to sleep, Yuyu heard frantic knocking on the door of her room.

She opened to find Nejire, already in her pajama, looking panicked.

“It’s happening.”

The smell in the room was more intense than any of them had anticipated.  The cat was loudly purring in her box and seemed to be quite at ease, more than they were at least. Yuyu had made a checklist to consult during the various phases of the birth, to make sure everything was going smoothly and as it was supposed to.

“She was following me around the entire afternoon,” said Nejire. “I didn’t realize it was because she’s ready.”

Yuyu checked her list. “That sounds right. Is the…” she squinted. “…red discharge already visible?” she asked.

Nejire glanced inside the box. “Yes.”

“We should start seeing the first kittens in an hour,” she said. Next to her, Nejire was uncharacteristically nervous. She squeezed her arm. “Let’s get something to drink, while we wait. It’s better to leave her alone and let her do her thing.”

Nejire nodded. “I want some chamomile.”

“Let’s have chamomile.”

They were the only ones in the kitchen area. Yuyu prepared the warm water and Nejire got the filters. Once they each had their own cup, they went back to Nejire’s room. In the meantime, the cat had started loudly meowing, which distressed Nejire even more. Yuyu passed an arm around her shoulders.

“She’s fine.”

“I know.” She took a sip of her drink. “What could we name the kittens?”

“We don’t know how many kittens she will have yet.”

“But we need to be ready!”

Yuyu, recognizing that it was a way for Nejire to avoid stressing over the cat in labor, indulged her. “Alright. The we could keep going with the flavors?”

“Yes! We could call them Vanilla, Chocolate, Hazel, something like this!”

Yuyu nodded. “Those are cute names.”

She hadn’t expected to find Watch over a cat in labor on the list of fun activities to do with your crush, but there they were. It was a few minutes after midnight when the ordeal was over and the new mom had four squeaking babies attached to her belly. One was almost completely black, one almost completely white and the remaining two were spotty like their mother.

“They are the most adorable thing ever,” whispered Yuyu.

“We should call Amajiki and show him the babies!”

“He’s sleeping now. We’ll show him next morning.”

“You’re right.”

Yuyu studied the kittens, as she delicately removed the dirty blankets from the box. Now she was in front of a dilemma: was she supposed to go back to her room or stay there in case Nejire needed help? The prospect of sharing the bed with her friend was alluring and terrifying.

Nejire solved her problem by grabbing Yuyu by the arm and looking at her with pleading eyes.

“Can you stay with me tonight?”

Yuyu nodded without even thinking. She was almost ashamed by how quickly she had agreed, but then Nejire smiled wide and slid under the covers, patting the spot next to her as an invitation, and she didn’t regret anything. Yuyu threw the dirty blankets on the bathroom floor and closed the door, before laying down next to her.

“Goodnight, Yuyu!” said Nejire, turning off the lights.

“Goodnight.”

There in the dark, with the only sound being the noises of the feeding kittens and Nejire’s breathing, Yuyu cursed her crush. She would have been fine sharing a bed with Nejire just a month before. Now it was almost giving her a heart attack. Her friend was too close, her body too warm, too soft. She feared she was going to wake up the next morning curled up against her, that she was going to give her feelings away without wanting to.

Well, staying up the entire night wasn’t a better option. She rolled on the side, her back to Nejire, and gave in to sleep.

She woke up the next day in the exact position she didn’t want to wake up in. During the night she had rolled on her back and Nejire had slid closer to her, and now they were sleeping hugging each other. She pressed her lips together. The biggest problem in that situation was that she didn’t really want to get out of the embrace. She was enjoying every second of it, but she couldn’t wait until Nejire woke up to break it off. It was the worst case scenario.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, as she tried to get out of Nejire’s embrace without waking her up. She was almost there, when Nejire stirred in her sleep and hummed disappointed.

“Yuyu?” she mumbled.

Yuyu froze, halfway out of Nejire’s grip. “Good morning.”

Nejire shot her a sleepy smile and Yuyu melted. “Good morning. How are the babies?”

Grateful that she had an excuse to escape the embrace, Yuyu sat up and looked at the cardboard box where the kittens were sleeping. The mother looked back at her without hostility.

“They seem fine. I’m giving mama cat some food.”

After feeding the cat, Yuyu snuck back into her room to get dressed, and then she met with Nejire again in the common area to have breakfast. The first thing Nejire did there was jumping Amajiki to tell him about their night.

“… and then Yuyu stayed with me the entire night!” concluded Nejire, as they were eating breakfast.

“Ah,” was Amakiji’s comment.

When Nejire lowered her head to take a bite of her omelet, Amajiki shot a nervous look at Yuyu. She glared at him. She didn’t want him to communicate subtly with her, first of all because he got too nervous when he tried to and what he was doing became too obvious.

“Can I tell Mirio if he wants to see them?” he asked.

“Of course!” said Nejire.

Yuyu tilted her head and looked at him skeptical. He blushed and hid his face in a glass of orange juice.

Later that day she was taking a break from the kittens and from studying, and decided to go for a walk. Right outside of the dorms she found Amajiki and Toogata, sitting on the porch and having a quiet chat. She pretended not to see them.

She needed some fresh air. Unless she decided to do something about her feelings, spending time with Nejire was going to hurt. She wanted to tell her about them, about how she thought she was the cutest thing in the galaxy. How strong and resilient she found her. But if Nejire only saw her as a friend… that would have hurt too. She sighed.

Back at the dorms, she saw Toogata jump off the porch and wave goodbye to Amajiki, who waved back and then kept the eyes fixed on his best friend’s back with a love struck expression. She came up to him and sat down where Toogata had been sitting. Amajiki started fidgeting.

“We’re a couple of losers, aren’t we?” she said.

“I think so.”

She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I really can’t help you here,” he replied. “I’m terrified.”

“It’s the problem of having crushes on extroverts. How can you tell if they feel differently about you? They seem happy to spend time with anyone.”

He sighed. “I wish there was a way to know their reaction beforehand. Why do we have to go in blind?”

“I know, right? It’s unfair.”

Yuyu appreciated Amajiki’s friendship. As much as she loved Nejire, it was nice to take a break from her chaotic energy and spend time with someone quieter.

They watched the sun settle and then went back inside together.

They had class the next day. Nejire didn’t like the idea of leaving the cat and the newborns alone for the day, so Yuyu had to remind her that feral cats raised kittens on their own all the time. All the help the help they were providing was an extra. She seemed to relax.

“Still, I would have liked to have Toogata watch over the family,” she said, biting her nails.

“Toogata needs to take care of Eri. She needs him more than the kittens do.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

The morning flew by and by mid afternoon Nejire was reunited with her protégées. She had quickly started taking the initiative when taking care of the stray, remembering to feed her every day at the right times, cleaning and changing the litter, washing the blankets and pillows they had given to the cat and her litter. It was a side of her Yuyu had seen come out only with Eri so far: she liked taking care of others and she was able to do that seriously when she wanted to.

She liked her so much it made her feel stupid. She needed to do something about it.

That evening she was studying with Amajiki and Nejire was out on a run. When they were finished with their homework, she loudly closed the book, making him jump.

“Amajiki?”

“Yes?”

“I fear I’m going to do something stupid, sooner or later.”

He looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I want to tell Nejire how I feel,” she said and she saw him pale.

“Please don’t do it,” he whimpered. “If you do and everything goes smoothly, I’d just feel more pressure to tell Mirio how I feel about him too.”

She planted her hands on the table and stood up, leaning towards him. “Good.”

“G-good?”

“Yes, good. I propose a deal: if I confess to Nejire and it goes well, you have two weeks to tell him that you like him.”

He leaned back. “And if I don’t?”

“I tell him.”

Amajiki went even paler. “That’s cruel and unusual punishment, Haya-san.”

“Well, it works the other way too: if I haven’t confessed to Nejire in two weeks, you’re allowed to tell her how I feel. We need to get out of this, Amajiki. Come on, I’m even going first,” she insisted.

 “Are you leaving me a choice here?”

“Not really.”

He sighed, defeated.

She offered him her hand. “Deal?”

He reluctantly took her hand. “Deal.”

Yuyu sat back, satisfied. She was a little cruel to Amajiki sometimes, especially considering his anxious nature, but it was all done in good spirit and with good intentions. He needed the people around him to push him, otherwise he was never getting out of his shell.

She was feeling optimistic about her plan, until Nejire came back from her run and her confidence crumbled. She was going to be heartbroken if Nejire rejected her, but there was no backing down now. Her honor was on the line.

Of course, the confession couldn’t happen at any time. The occasion had to be right, so that Yuyu could tell Nejire everything without being disturbed. She tried to approach Nejire between classes, during breaks, or after school, but there always seemed to be something more important that required her attention. The fifth time that happened, Yuyu started thinking Nejire was trying to avoid her and she got worried. Maybe she had figured her out and wanted to spare her the embarrassment of rejection. That caused her to have a two hour long internal debate over whether it was better to let Nejire know she had gotten the hint by backing off or playing dumb and acting like she hadn’t.

In the end she decided she was getting those words out of her mouth. She needed that for her sanity.

Finally, Friday evening she went to visit the kittens in Nejire’s room, and she couldn’t run from there.

“Hey,” she said, closing the door behind her.

Nejire was holding one of the kittens, the white one named Vanilla. When she saw Yuyu, she delicately put the kitten down.

“Hey.”

Yuyu sat in front of the box, on the opposite side of Nejire. She gave the mother some pets and dared to touch one of the kittens, the black one named Licorice. They were all starting to open their eyes. One of them made its high pitched meow.

“They’re growing well!” said Nejire. “Look, they’re already almost twice the size they were a week ago.”

“I can see that,” said Yuyu and paused. “Nejire, I-“

“I’m sorry!” exclaimed Nejire, putting her hands on her face.

Yuyu went quiet for a moment, dumbfounded. “Why are you apologizing?”

“Because of when I asked you to spend the night here! I shouldn’t have. I didn’t take into consideration your feelings. I’m sorry.”

Yuyu was only growing more confused. What was Nejire talking about? Had she done something during the night that she didn’t remember?

“Nejire, it was just for a night, it wasn’t anything weird,” she tried to reassure her, even though she didn’t  understand what was the heart of the matter. Nejire’s face was still hidden behind her hands.

“No, I made you uncomfortable, didn’t I? That’s why you left so early.”

“That’s not-“

“And I’m sorry I avoided you all week! I was terrified, because…” She took a deep breath. “Because I thought you wanted to tell me you don’t like me that way.”

It took Yuyu a moment to process all the information. Nejire had been avoiding her, but for the opposite reason she had thought. She was-

“Nejire, look at me.”

“No!”

“Nejire.”

Slowly, the girl lowered her hands, but she didn’t look Yuyu in the eyes.

“I’m so-“

Before she could finish the word, Yuyu grabbed her face and planted a kiss on her lips. Nejire at first made a noise of surprise, then Yuyu felt her relax. She broke off the kiss and looked her best friend in her big, blue eyes.

“For being one of the big three, you’re very dense sometimes,” she said. “I’m in love with you, stupid.”

Nejire blinked a couple times, then her face lit up with the biggest smile Yuyu had ever seen.

“I’m in love with you too!”

Between them, the kittens complained.

Chapter Text

The worst had happened. That Saturday morning he had seen Hadou come down for breakfast holding Haya’s hand, both smiling and being affectionate with each other in a way that was different from just the day before. He had immediately understood what had happened. And what had happened started the countdown to the deadline two weeks from then. In two weeks he had to find the courage to tell Mirio he was in love with him.

Easier said than done: he lost his voice every time he tried to talk to Mirio about his embarrassing crush.

That day he had agreed to spend time with him and Eri. Mirio had gotten permission from Eraserhead to take Eri to the teahouse at the foot of the hill to enjoy a special afternoon. It just meant that they were going to have tea and cake altogether, but for a child like Eri, who never saw anything outside of the school and its campus, it was like an adventure.

He arrived at the teachers’ dorms before Mirio. There he found her in the company of Present Mic and Midnight, who were politely fighting over how to dress her. Their tone was quiet, to avoid unnerving Eri, but he could tell they were ready to rip each other’s throat out. Eventually Mic was the one who caved in and admitted defeat. Midnight flashed him a sly smile and took Eri with her to get changed.

Mic fell on a couch and sighed.

“Women, uh?”

Tamaki nodded, oblivious to what Present Mic meant. Midnight was back a few minutes later and she officially passed the responsibility of looking over Eri to him. After that she grabbed Mic and dragged him to the common area near the kitchen, demanding his help to grade some assignments.

He wasn’t the one who often spent time alone with Eri, so at first they just stared at each other in silence.

“Lemillion is late?”

“No, I’m early,” he said. He looked around at the toys left on the carpet. “Do you, uh, want to play while we wait?”

She followed his gaze and slowly nodded. “I want to play cat family again.”

“Of course. What does the cat family do?”

Mirio arrived ten minutes later, finding Tamaki with his arms full of stuffed cats. Eri had kept adding more to the family, but when she saw Mirio, she dropped everything and jumped up to greet him.

“Lemillion!”

He drew a sigh of relief. Mirio was much better than he was at taking care of Eri. The only thing he was good at was worrying about her. Aside from that, he wasn’t much of an entertainer and kids got, rightfully, bored with him very fast.

Mirio on the other hand was the perfect person to take care of Eri, with endless cheerfulness and his positive attitude. Tamaki could have watched him interact with the little girl for hours. The peace and tenderness that sight reawakened in him couldn’t be found anywhere else. He watched them as he grabbed her under the arms and lifted her up in the air. Her delighted squeals filled the room. In terms of spontaneity, he couldn’t compare, but then again, there were few people who could compare to Mirio. In general.

“Were you playing with Tamaki?” he asked, still holding her up.

“He wanted to see what the cat family does,” she explained.

Mirio beamed at him. “So next time we can all play cat family together, right?”

Tamaki nodded, not having the courage to admit he still had no idea how cat family worked. He had the feeling it was just about Eri making him hold as many cat soft toys as he could.

“Eri, are you ready for our special afternoon?”

She raised her arms in the air. “Yeah!”

They led her down the hill, with Mirio and Tamaki on either side of her, each holding one hand. She was listing all the cakes she had never had and the ones she hoped to try. Tamaki’s heart broke every time he realized how little that girl had experienced being a child. Mirio was still smiling at her, but he knew he felt the same way.

“I have an idea,” said Mirio. “We all get a different cake and you try one bite of all of them. Then you decide which one you want.”

She looked at him with huge, amazed eyes. “I can?”

“Of course!”

Tamaki smiled softly.

“Tamaki! What cakes should we try?” asked him Mirio.

Eri looked up at him, waiting for his guidance.

“I think the best cake is chocolate cake,” he said.

“Chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache, right?” smiled Mirio.

Mirio always remembered little details about his preferences. And he hated it, because it made him feel special, even though he knew he did that with everyone. Mirio remembered the little things about the people he cared about.

“Right,” he said. “And you’ll go for a fluffy cheesecake.”

Mirio smiled wide. “You know!”

“I’ve never seen you eat a different kind of cake.”

Eri’s eyes kept going back and forth between him and Mirio, following the conversation. When they were finally at the tea house, seated and relaxed, they passed a menu to Eri so she could explore her options. She looked unsure, until a word caught her eye.

“Apple pie?”

“That’s right! You like apples, so you should try this one,” suggested Mirio.

She agreed.

They ordered and waited. Mirio, in the meantime, told Eri about the newborn kittens and how they could drop by Nejire’s room and see them. He even showed her some pictures that he had taken on his phone. Judging by the look on her face, and the game they had played before, Tamaki could tell that Eraserhead’s tastes were rubbing off on her.

When the cakes arrived, Eri’s eyes lit up with wonder. He too was impressed by how skillfully those cakes had been decorated. He hoped they were as good as they looked, mostly for Eri’s happiness.

“Food can be very pretty, right?” said Mirio.

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

Tamaki pushed his chocolate cake in front of Eri, so she could take a bite. She studied it with reverence, then gently pushed her fork through the slice, cutting away the tip. Tamaki smiled watching her face as she put the bite in her mouth. He felt eyes on him and looked up at Mirio, who was observing both of him with a peaceful expression.

He blushed and focused on Eri again. She appreciated the chocolate cake, but the ganache was too bitter for her. Next she tried Mirio’s fluffy cheesecake. The experience was enhanced by the amusement at seeing the cake jiggle that much.

At last she tried the apple pie and the moment she took the first bite, Mirio and Tamaki knew that was the winner.

“I’ll keep my cake,” she announced.

Mirio nodded and served tea to all of them. His scarred hands looked so gentle holding the teapot. When he wasn’t on the battlefield, he touched everything with kindness. It was impossible not to fall for a guy like him, thought Tamaki. He found it weird how he wasn’t hounded by girls on Valentine’s day, but, in a petty way, he was also glad.

There was a sublimated jealousy coursing through his veins, the kind that pretended to be more noble by turning possessiveness into protectiveness. He was aware of his hypocrisy and kept it under control, but it didn’t change the fact he thought no one was good enough for Mirio. Himself included.

Too bad he had only two weeks to overcome that feeling.

He brought the cup to his lips.

As promised, after the tea and cakes, they went to Hadou’s room to see the kittens. She was there and it was clear that they had interrupted her studying, but she didn’t make a big deal out of it. She too had a soft spot for Eri and she was always more than happy to interrupt any activity to make her happy.

Unfortunately for him, Haya was with her. They eyes met across the room and he felt a chill run down his spine. The game was on.

Eri craned her neck to look in the box where the kittens were still confined.

“We’re here to see the kittens!” announced Mirio.

“Eri-chan!” exclaimed Hadou jumping in front of the box. “Do you remember their names?”

Eri shook her head and Hadou’s face lit up at the prospect of introducing them again. “So, these ones are Mint Chocolate and Cookie Dough…” she said showing Eri the two black and white kittens.

Tamaki sat on the floor in front of the box, with Eri between him and Mirio.

He felt Haya’s eyes on him. He wished it was only him, Mirio and the child, but it was a necessary ordeal. He had no way to communicate to her that, yes, he was aware the deal was still on. He just needed time. If he had only two weeks, he wasn’t going to rush it any more than that. He had any right to wait until the last day, if he wanted.

Then Mirio put a hand on his shoulder and his thoughts derailed. The hand squeezed him tight from the excitement of seeing the kittens, leaving Tamaki speechless and a light red. He knew that his reaction was worsened by having Haya stare at him with such intensity, but it didn’t make the short circuit any less shameful. He was in too deep if a hand on the shoulder was enough to reduce him to a mess.

“Tamaki, look how small Vanilla looks in him hand!”

He put the confused kitten under Tamaki’s nose. The kitten was indeed small, but he wasn’t the focus of Tamaki’s attention.

“If you three are here, maybe me and Nejire can go study somewhere else,” said Haya, gathering her books.

“We can leave if we’re bothering you,” he said.

“Oh, don’t worry! I don’t want to take Eri away from the kittens!” chirped in Hadou. She too grabbed her things and put on slippers to go study in the common area. Tamaki thought they looked like a couple of moms escaping from their kids to have a nice evening out together.

Right before the door closed behind them, Haya turned and gave Tamaki a big wink. He repressed a terrified whimper.

It was just the three of them. Non that they were gone and he was once again alone with Eri and Mirio, he wished that Hadou and Haya had stayed, even if that meant he had to endure Haya’s constant provocations. Anything, he realized, was better than agonizing with Mirio so close and yet so far.

While Eri and Mirio squealed over the kittens, he went up to the mother, who was sleeping on Hadou’s bed, and gave her some attention. She started purring loudly, accepting with gratitude the touch. She had put on some weight since she had arrived in the dormitory a little less than a month ago.

After a while she seemed to make a decision: she jumped on the bed and into the box where the kittens were confined. Under the curious eyes of the three humans, one by one she started picking them up and bringing them on the bed, to dump them on Tamaki’s lap.

Tamaki watched in disbelief the kittens fall on him. Once they were all on him, the mother flopped down next to him and started grooming herself. He met Mirio’s eyes.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I think you’re the mother now,” said Mirio, only half joking.

Tamaki looked at the cat. “I’m not ready for this,” he told her, but she didn’t seem to care.

For some reason that scene and Tamaki’s words were immensely funny to Eri, who started laughing. “Suneater is the mom cat!” she exclaimed, delighted.

“Is this like cat family?” asked her Mirio.

She smiled excited. “It’s like cat family!”

“Can I be cat dad?”

“Yes!”

Tamaki listened to them while watching the litter crawling in his lap. They were warm and very light. Licorice looked up at him with his eyes still half closed.

“Tamaki, that makes us the cat parents!” told him Mirio.

He hoped his blush was not noticeable. “Uh, sure.”

He should have told Haya that he wasn’t going to respect their deal, because he was going to die before he could. That crush was going to be the end of him.

He found Haya in the common area the next day. She was reading something on her phone with Nejire’s head resting in her lap. He started walking towards them, then changed his mind and went back to the stairs leading to the boys’ rooms. He changed his mind again and tried to approach them, only to quit at the last moment. When he realized he was drawing more attention this way, he decided to stop going back and forth and just stood in front of them.

“Haya-san?”

Both Haya and Hadou raised their eyes on him. “Yes?”

“I-I need to talk to you. For a moment. Please.”

She blinked at him and then sighed, gesturing to Hadou to move. The girl pouted, displeased, but let Haya go, who stood up and stretched.

“Here or somewhere else?”

“Outside.”

They sat on the porch of the dormitory. She waited for him to talk.

“What would be the conditions for breaking our deal?” he asked, his voice brittle and defeated.

She studied him with a neutral expression. He shrank nervously under her gaze, waiting for her verdict.

“You can’t do it?”

He swallowed. “I’m sorry. Just don’t tell him.”

She twisted her mouth. “Well, I’m feeling generous because of how well things went with Nejire. I could agree to breaking off our deal if you do my homework for the next three weeks-“

“I can do that,” he quickly agreed.

“I’m not done. And if for those three weeks you don’t spend time with Mirio,” she concluded.

His heart sank to his stomach. “What?” he wheezed.

She smirked. “What? I’m helping you, right? You need to spend some time away from him, if you want to stop being so miserable.”

He pressed his lips together. He knew what game she was playing. “But- how do I explain him that we can’t spend time together?” he tried.

“You figure it out. So? Do you agree to these conditions?”

He clenched his teeth. The answer was obvious.

It was already a few days later. It was after school and technically Mirio wasn’t supposed to take care of Eri when classes were over, but Eraserhead was particularly busy that afternoon. Obviously Mirio had requested his presence and support in keeping Eri company. Hadou was still busy with the kittens.

He brought his notes so that they could study while Eri kept herself entertained with her toys. She sometimes went quiet and started playing by herself, leaving them free to occupy the time in a different way. In that case,  the way was revising the notes about the evolution of hero legislation. Tamaki had a test the next day and he needed to repeat the notions one more time.

Eri got bored of playing by herself at one point and crawled over to read Tamaki’s notes together with Mirio.

“And in what year was the temporary license introduced?”

“In the year 2098,” immediately answered Tamaki.

“Right!”

Studying with Mirio was rewarding. Every correct answer felt like the greatest achievement. It still linked back to Mirio’s ability to make someone feel special, no matter what they did. It left him with a bittersweet aftertaste in the mouth. He couldn’t deceive himself: Mirio might have made him feel special, but he wasn’t doing it because he wanted Tamaki in particular to feel special.

He should have been honest with Haya: he couldn’t tell Mirio he was in love with him, because he couldn’t afford to risk that friendship.

This realization ran through his mind as he watched Mirio read to Eri, who was leaning against him and studying Tamaki’s notes. He was explaining her the notions in a way a child could understand. The kindness he reserved for her squeezed Tamaki’s heart. If he had given in to his current instinct he would have kissed Mirio without a second thought. For some reason he was particularly attracted to him when he interacted with Eri and considering the amount of time Mirio spend with Eri, it had become a problem.

“Tamaki?”

He jumped out of his thoughts and realized Mirio had asked him a question that he hadn’t processed.

“What?”

“I was asking you, is this my name?” he asked again, holding up the notebook and smiling.

Tamaki wished he could die on the spot. Yes, that was Mirio’s name, that he had doodled absentminded during a boring class. He felt all the blood leave his face.

“Y-yeah,” he stuttered. “It’s nothing, I was bored and I doodled something, but there’s no meaning behind it, it’s just because-“

“Because you’re the person I think about the most,” he stopped himself from saying.

Mirio, worryingly enough, wasn’t saying anything, but he was still smiling. He lowered his gaze to look at his name again.

“You think about me in class?”

“I think about you all the time,” he wanted to answer.

“Sometimes. You’re my best friend.”

Mirio smiled again, but his smile was not as big as Tamaki thought it would be. His first, terrified thought was that Mirio knew. He pushed that thought away. He would have said something. Mirio couldn’t leave things alone, especially not a revelation like this one.

“Can I have the notes back? I think I’m ready for the quiz.”

There was a moment of hesitation, then Mirio closed the notebook and passed it to Tamaki, who skillfully hid his shaking hands. He didn’t meet Mirio’s eyes. Eri looked between them.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, meek.

“Nothing’s wrong,” they both replied.

“Oh. Okay.” She stood up and went back to her toys.

“Right, Tamaki?” said Mirio, with a strange expression on his face. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he replied with an unconvincing smile.

Later, in his room, he suppressed the need to slap himself. What an idiot he was. First he had gotten lost starting at him and then he had forgotten about the doodles he had made on his notebook. He could see it from a mile away that Mirio had been uncomfortable. That was just one more occasion he added to the list of times he had wished he could turn back time. Him and his stupid crush. If there had been a switch that he could push and turn off his feelings, he would have pushed it. Anything to get rid of that potentially dangerous infatuation.

He tossed and turned, ashamed that even Eri had been witness to that awkward moment. The poor child didn’t deserve to find herself in the middle of that situation.

“Why did I agree to that deal? Why didn’t I accept Haya’s conditions?” he thought, knowing well enough which was the answer to that question.

Because deep down he was dying to take that leap and jump into the unknown. The rush he got every time he was close to telling Mirio how he felt about him was intense, terrifying and, worst of all, addictive. He wanted to feel it again, to get closer to the edge and have the strength to not pull back at the last minute. He wanted to fall and survive.

The problem was, he had no way to know he would survive. Surviving, in that case, meant learning that Mirio felt the same way. And he couldn’t test that beforehand.

It took him two hours more to fall asleep. Luckily for him, that didn’t influence his performance on the test the next day.

Two days later, he was with Eri again. He was alone this time. She seemed to be absorbed in one of her imaginary games, so he didn’t feel the pressure to entertain her. He was reading a book and relaxing, as he waited for Eraserhead to relieve him from his duties.

“Suneater?”

He raised his eyes from the book. “Yes?”

“Lemillion is worried,” she told him, with concern in her voice.

“Really?”  He hadn’t had that feeling, but he was interested to hear from Eri why she thought that. “Did he tell you why?”

She shook her head. “He didn’t want to.”

“Do you have an idea?” he asked her, closing his book and putting it aside.

She put down her stuffed toy and looked at him with childish seriousness. “I think it’s you.”

Tamaki raised his eyebrows, trying to keep a neutral expression. “Me?”

She nodded.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. But he talks about you. A lot. So maybe it’s you.”

Tamaki felt his heartbeat accelerate. Mirio talked about him to Eri? That was a big surprise and he had no idea what to make of that information. He licked his lips.

“What does he say about me?”

“That Suneater is very cool. Even cooler than he is.” She looked down at the floor. “And that Suneater is pretty too, but I think he’s wrong.”

Tamaki didn’t register that he had just been roasted by a six year old. His brain was jammed on the last sentence. Had Eri just spilled the truth out of worry for Mirio? He stood up with every intention of finding Mirio immediately.

He sat back down, remembering he couldn’t leave Eri alone.

“I’ll ask Lemillion why he’s worried, Eri, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore,” he promised her.

She smiled at him, relieved. “Thank you!”

She picked up her toys again. He, on the other hand, tried very hard to go back to studying, but there was no way to keep him mind anchored to the present. He was jittery, excited even, and for the first time he wanted to confront Mirio about his feelings. Maybe he was going to survive the fall.

The door of the room opened and Eraserhead walked in. “Amajiki. You can-“

Before he could finish, Tamaki shot up and ran out of the room, forgetting his book behind. “Thank you, Eraserhead,” he yelled behind as he ran away.

He couldn’t  waste another moment. He needed the rush delusion gave him and if he waited too long, that was going to fade. He ran to the dormitory of class 3-B, barging in the common area, where a few students were studying together.

“Where’s Mirio?” he asked, out of breath.

“Toogata?” said one of the students. “He said he was going to your dorms. Something about watching over some cats…”

Tamaki ran to the next building.  He was close. So close. Even a flea’s heart could find courage every once in a while and that was his moment. He was never going to forgive himself, if he didn’t put that burst of audacity to use.

He knew where Hadou’s room was, but in his agitation he knocked on the wrong door the first time, waking up a disgruntled classmate from her nap. He apologized and found the right room.

“Mirio?”

His shyness came back all at once the moment he saw him, shining like the sun. He was holding Vanilla and looking at Tamaki with concern.

“Is something wrong? Weren’t you with Eri?”

Tamaki caught his breath and sat next to him on the floor. “She’s with Eraserhead. I’d never leave her alone.”

“Of course, I shouldn’t have doubted that.”

They listened to the squeaking balls of fur calling for their food. The mother, who was enjoying her own kibbles, interrupted her meal and jumped in the box.

“What should we do with the kittens when they grow up?” asked Tamaki. “I don’t think Nejire thought about that.”

Mirio laughed. “She probably hasn’t.” He peeked inside the box. “We should give them to the families of the other students. Or maybe the teachers! Eraserhead would love to have a cat.”

Tamaki nodded. It was now or never.

“Mirio,” he repeated. His friend turned and watched him. “I need to ask you something.”

“Ask away.”

Tamaki bit his lower lip, hoping that his voice wasn’t going to come out shaky. He took a deep breath. “Did you describe me as pretty to Eri?”

Knowing beforehand how Mirio would have reacted to that, he would have taken out his phone and taken a picture. His friend turned a bright red and started stuttering an explanation.

“I-It was just an example! You know, learning new words, you-you make a sentence, and-“

Tamaki put a shaky hand on his shoulder and Mirio shut up.

“If I asked you to kiss me,” he said without looking Mirio in the eyes, “what would you do?”

There was a silent moment and a split second before Tamaki gave up and ran away, Mirio answered.

“I’d kiss you.”

With the heart beating so fast he feared it was going to kill him and hands so sweaty they had probably already stained Mirio’s shirt, he said: “Then do it.”

Mirio happily obliged.

A few minutes later the door of the room opened and from the floor where they were laying, he heard Hadou’s voice.

“Hey! No kissing in front of the children!” she scolded them.

Both he and Mirio stood up, blushing. Haya looked unbothered by their antics in her girlfriend’s room.

“Nejire, we did the same,” she said. She looked at Tamaki and crossed her arms, positively impressed. “I can’t believe you actually had the guts to do this.”

Tamaki fiddled with his fingers. “Well,” he said and smiled shyly. “I might have cheated.”